started meeting with the guys that have signed up for the church planting class for this term. some really sharp guys have registered. from TN, AL, and all around ATL, even have a guy that intends to go to Ohio when he is ready to plant a church.

what i’m generally listening for is PASSION. is this something you have to do to be satisfied in the plan God has for you. Do you love people and want to see people brought to a relationship with Jesus and other believers.

i listen for a PAST. what have you done in the past that gives you any indication that God has prepared you for this moment. what have you started: a club? a business? a ministry? what obstacles have you overcome to start something? what teams did you have to build?

i listen for PREPARATION. who are you meeting with? who are you pursuing to make yourself better. met with a guy the other day, told me he has 3 men speaking into his life. asked me to be the 4th. that is preparation. and he doesn’t yet know even what community he will target. what books, seminars, training, mentoring, coaching, studying are you doing to prepare yourself for this journey?

i listen for a PLAN. a church plant does not just happen. i recommend that a church planter spend 6 – 9 months preparing the field for a church plant. what will you teach a core group? why should a family join your core group? what and how will you disciple people to know and be? how will you pay for this venture and supply for your family? believe me there is a 99.9% possibility that you’ll just show up and build a big church.

now perhaps a big church is not in your plans. i can handle that. but you still want to know the basics. discipleship, growth, doing the right things the right way. we are not about a method. we are about the message. use whatever method God has given you to communicate the message. we don’t need little WRC’s we need KINGDOM churches.

Good Morning America reported yesterdayabout this kid and a miracle of sorts. you have probably seen the stunt before. i have. you take a kid at a pep rally. take him out of the gym. tell the entire student body how you will play a trick on the kid. tell him if he makes a shot from 1/2 court blind-folded he’ll win a big prize. when the blind-folded kid shoots the ball the entire gym will jump up and scream hysterically making the blind-folded kid believe he had accomplished an impossible shot. oh, and here’s the incentive – some impossible prize.

well, GMA reports with the video proof, that they pull this kid out and tell him if he makes the shot he will win 4 all expense paid tickets to the Final Four. so they blind fold him, walk him to center court, point him toward the basket, he shoots…HE MAKES IT! the gym does go crazy and so does the coach…you see, there are no tickets to the Final Four. GMA reports the kids in the gym take up a collection and get $35 bucks for a dinner out. the community is trying to raise the money now to live up to their commitment.

what if it happened church planter? what if it happened to you? you pray big dreams. ask God to bless. ask God to do more than you or your friends can imagine. and HE DOES IT! you see 100’s of people at your first service. or dozens accept Christ. what do you do next? that will determine where you go next.

you see a lot of people pray big prayers but really don’t expect God to answer. and because they really don’t expect God to answer they don’t plan on the next steps. they aren’t ready to disciple, they aren’t even ready to reach out and assimilate the increase.

you can’t just plan to plant a crop, you must be ready for the harvest.

what if, church planter, 400 show up for the first service…50 people indicate they accepted Christ…100 people said they want to serve…the children’s area overflows…you didn’t have enough seats…someone gives you $50,000…a guy shows up and says “God has called me to help you”…what if. you gotta prepare for the what ifs…take the shot, pray for a miracle. don’t let your God be too small.

i love meeting guys that are preparing and praying for the what if…they are the ones God will bless, because they can handle the harvest. got a new class of 10 church planters ready to start asking the “what if…” questions. excited.

one of the joys of my job is getting to see how God does things in completely new situations. i got to have lunch with Tim Grandstaff on Saturday, the day before launch. Tim shared several stories about God’s provision. church from California saw a tweet and sent money. family from church in California moves to area and connects with Genesis after pastor recommends they meet. local church sends money and band members. it was just great listening to Tim in his excitement and hearing him tell the story.

the launch went well…as i said before about 150 in attendance. about 30 folks from WRC or family members that showed up. after the service the Hunts and the Gilcreases were helping breakdown the children’s area. seemed like old times at WRC.

during the service their faith was expanded as they had to set up two full rows of seats for an “overflow” crowd. there were some technical difficulties that i am sure will be worked out. lots of kids, this is a young congregation. i was by far the oldest person in the building and that included Tim’s mom and dad.

tim held up a yard pincher (?) don’t really know what it’s called but it’s one of those things that picks up items off the groung without having to bend over. Tim told his core group that “every manager at Disney walks around with one of these. it is a symbol of servanthood that they will do anything necessary to keep the park clean for guests.” he challenged the core team to have that same attitude to be ready to serve whenever and wherever he/she may be needed. in most of our established churches people have forgotten that lesson.

good positive comments after the service. several new people and families hung around for the cook out to get a free burger or hot dog.

next week i get to go to Charleston and hang out. we’ll arrive just in time to do some door-to-door canvasing with information about the River Church. see what Todd Mag and the team have prepared and of course we’ll probably end up at Hyman’s for dinner and if we’re luck kaminsky’s for dessert. then we’ll all roll into the service on Sunday.

The Grove in McDonough started previews this past weekend can’t wait to hear Chris’ report.

Also launching this Sunday in south Atlanta – Hope Church. Maurice and the team there are gonna kick the doors down. great place to worship. wish there were two of me so i could be at Todd and Maurice’s. God is good!

WRC is touching four new communities this month. Excited about the future.

if you are friends with me on facebook then you probably have seen a lot of this story. i was in Orlando this weekend for the launch of Genesis Church. Tim Grandstaff and the team did an excellent job. after weeding out the visitors from home and the on-lookers that seem to attend every church plant launch and then disappear, i figure Genesis will settle in at about 100 – 105. great start!

but i digress, i got to the airport early hoping to catch an early flight. i have learned my lesson, get on the internet to find out what is happening. well i had turned my car in before I found out that airports were jammed because of back-ups in ATL. so no early flight. that’s okay i say to self, “self go find a restaurant with a TV watching the nfl playoffs.” so self obeyed.

then at half-time i head to the terminal and security. i get through security and my phone rings. Delta, your flight is delayed until 8:40. not too bad i tell self, “at least you’ll get home tonight.” call wife, tell her the bad news. decide to get a coke and watch the rest of the game.

go to the gate. the 3:30 crowd (it’s 7 p.m.) is still waiting to take off. getting a little nervous, don’t panic. they usher everyone with boarding passes onto the plane the plane headed to Atlanta. 8:00 p.m. plane pushes away from terminal. 5 minutes pass at which time the lady behind the counter says, “flight 1033 to Atlanta has been canceled. you should probably hurry to the phone bank and make other arrangements. at which time there is a stampede. i being old and hobbled because of a bad knee am not the first or second person in line at a bank of 12 phones. i’ll beat the system i tell self, “just call the Delta line.” on hold for 20 minutes (remember there are several folks at the phone bank).

Lady at the other end says, “sorry Mr. Akins but the next flight out is 6:30 in the a.m. and because it is weather related there are no hotel vouchers for you but i’ll be glad to put you in touch with some preferred partners of Delta.” so i start to figure. 9:15 p.m. – 20 minutes to phone bank to call a hotel shuttle. 9:40 – 20 minute ride to hotel – 10 p.m. – 20 minutes to check in at standard rates because I didn’t plan ahead for the tornados in GA. – 10:20 – an hour to get over the day’s excitement – 11:20 – have to be up at 3:15 to shower and catch the 4:15 shuttle to the airport to go back through security – to be at the gate at 5: 15 to board at 6 to take-off at 6:30. maybe 4 hours sleep.

so i say to self, “why waste the churches money? just stay here in the terminal.” i get to watch the entire Saints/Vikings playoff game. buy me a late snack because I pretty much missed dinner. sit down with 2 black pastors that have been at some sort of conference and that also had to catch early flights to their respective cities in the a.m. bottom line, we talk, we laugh, we doze. i get maybe 2 hours of sleep on the floor of the Orlando airport, when the crew wasn’t cleaning and vacuuming and the announcer was not announcing for the hundreth time, “The terroristic threat level is at Code Orange. Please do not leave your bag …” they play that all night even when there is no one there.

i did get another nice nap on the plane ride. so i’m in the office with about 3.5 hours sleep.

what is the lesson in this? 1. know your situation. i might not have gone to the airport so early had i checked on the flight schedule. 2. in all situations be prepared. don’t get locked into someone else’s time schedule. plan ahead. and plan for every contingency. i am proud to say that i had an extra pair of clean underwear just in case. my momma taught me that one. 3. when things are out of your control. there is no reason to go crazy. some did. the Delta counter people are not God, they did not cause the storm. i’m not sure they handled the information in a great manner but no one is perfect. 4. even when tired the work goes on. i came to the office, albeit a little late. i’ve got stuff to do. 5. when it’s all over learn a lesson. next week i’m driving to Charleston for the River Church launch. 6. share your foibles with others. they can grow.

seriously, when you are preparing to launch something will go wrong. how you handle that will tell people a whole lot about your leadership, your attitude, and your adaptability. teach them well how to handle adversity, it is coming. think i’ll take a nap now.

i did one of those silly facebook things the other day. there were two items side by side: your actual age and your real age or something like that. anyway i took both surveys…one said my age was 53 the other said my age was 64. now being that i just turned 57 i hope the first one was right and i really am just 53.

i think that i think a lot younger than i am. i mean i get church planters and young guys in ministry much more than i get guys my own age. i don’t know that i always agree with the message but i sure love most of their methods. i hate sitting around discussing my latest diseases, injuries, or ‘cussing the local politics or that kids these days ____ . i want church to change. i want church to be relevant and real.

that being said, my body sometimes tells me i’m a lot older than i am. you know i have old injuries that keep me from doing the stuff i used to do. i miss tennis and softball. i miss throwing the football around with the guys.

so how do you justify the two…the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak? this is not a blog that is going to answer the question for you. right now it is just my question.

here’s what i do know that when i get to the point where i am just complaining all the time – weather – body – church – different – young people – government – i hope that God takes me home. let me live as long as their is hope, let me die with a twinkle in my eye and mischief in my heart. 53 – 57 – 64 is an attitude. i hope mine always stays younger than the chronological age. what about you?

while in NYC my wife and I visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral. undoubtedly one of the most beautiful church buildings i have ever seen. gold, stained glass windows, beautiful wooden pews, marble floors, statues, burning candles, a middle aisle that looks as long as a football field. it is an awe inspiring sight.

now some people would say that it was wrong to spend all that money on a building. too fancy, cost too much, money could have been better spent in some kind of mission endeavor. etc. etc. and there is no way that even the Catholic Church could build such a facility. i don’t know if anyone could actually afford the art and the intricate windows and carvings of the church today.

i saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral back in my younger days (18 I think). boy did i have a fit about all of that stuff. “why didn’t they feed the poor with that money?” “what missionaries could be funded?” “why build a building like that to only be used one day a week?” i was an arrogant, overly critical, ignorant snob.

i went in this time with a completely different outlook. i admired the handiwork, i admired the art, i admired the magnificance of the structure. and here is something else i admired. in the middle of the day there were people all over the place in private worship. one man looked to be homeless – bible open, prayer book open, humbly praying to God. one African-American man, very well dressed in a suit and tie, looked like he might have been a business man on lunch break – crying out and pleading to God. (i must admit i sat down a few rows in front of him so i could here what he was praying. it was an amazing prayer!) sure there were the tourist, i was one. but this was a working church that was really working. for what it was worth i felt a little guilty that i don’t take the time out of my day to go and pray as i saw some of these folks praying. i don’t see our worship center full of folks praying in the middle of the day.

i am sure that we have people praying and i know it’s not the location that matters, but there just seemed to be something about that great old church, with its great “presence” that made me want to worship. just have to make sure i am worshipping the creator and not the creation.

i won’t be so quick to judge next time. i hope.

just got back from a vision trip for Gallery Church Baltimore with Ellis Prince. while traveling the wife and i decided to take a side trip to New York City, as we had never been there together.

anyway as we were planning our trip we were considering how to get to NYC from Baltimore. my daughter who lives in Baltimore suggested we try out this “new” bus service called either Megabus or Bolt. these two services are the “new” thing in travel in the East Coast/New England area. for a mere $16 you can travel from B’more-NYC in three hours and it’s non-stop. about what it takes to ride the train but a lot cheaper. free wi-fi, electricity provided, good deal actually.

i said to the wife, “i wonder why someone has not thought of this before. people have stopped riding Greyhound and Trailways. this is much more convenient.” well to my surprise when the bus pulled up for our stop, there in little letters on the side of the bus – “Service provided by Greyhound Interprises, Dallas, TX.”

here’s the deal for me. i probably would not have considered a ticket on Greyhound because of my image of dirty, dark, insect infested, low-class (forgive me) people riding to get away from someone bus station. that is my image. i went on the “bolt” website and there is no mention of Greyhound. i probably would have been a little skittish of riding a Greyhound bus to NYC.

but now the Bolt Bus was a cool experience. big orange bus with lightning bolts on the side. free wi-fi, comfortable reclining seats, pick-up on a convenient corner (the only drawback standing on the street) next to Penn Station in both B’more and NYC. they ran on time, the drivers were courteous, the people ran the gamet from college girls on a week-end trip to a family moving and on an outing to see how the building of their new home was going.

this is an example of a company that found a way to survive. rebranding itself and providing new, better service to reach a new market and is doing well. it just gets me to wondering “why can’t churches “rebrand” themselves, retool and reach their communities for Christ.” unfortunately i also have the answer to my wondering…we want people to be like us. we like who we are and if people don’t like us they can “go to hell.” after all that is what we say to the world when we refuse to change. 

it’s more than a new name, it’s more than a new paint job, it’s about providing a new service that 1. no one else was providing; 2. that met a niche need; 3. that updated current service, they were still a travel company; 4. that were willing to change to survive.

i know this was probably not much help to church planters (although if you’re stuck you might consider what your brand looks like to your community) but i think it speaks to about 80% of churches in America.

thanks Greyhound for a good experience this weekend. we even got to watch WRC on the computer while riding from NYC to B’more on Sunday. not a bad experience at all.

got into a chat session on one of the church planters FB just before Christmas when a lady asked “why are there different denominations?” “why not just one church?” thought I might expand on that a little bit, sorry if you’ve heard it before…

first, THEOLOGY matters. we believe different things, and interpret scripture differently. even within denoms we have our differing opinions but most of them can be worked around. over Christmas my nephew and i had a rather lengthy, probably a little heated discussion over a topic, that i don’t want to fight over here so i won’t mention it. it got so intense he called later to make sure we were alright. i loved the discussion actually. i know neither of us left with a new opinion but it was fun, challenging to “argue” over some fine points of theology. anyway…one church believes you can lose your salvation, one church does not. one church believes you don’t receive the Holy Spirit until a “second baptism”, one believes you recieve the Holy Spirit at salvation. one church believes that water baptism is essential for salvation, one believes it is merely a sign of obedience. one church believes that to inherit eternal life you have to die in a “state of grace,” one believes it’s all about grace. some think they are the only ones going to heaven, they are wrong. i could go on. but THEOLOGY is one issue we gather around.

another issue that denoms and churches gather around is related to theology but it is PRACTICE. how we worship is one practice. one church worships with robes on the pastor and choir, one does not. one church sings out of the red hymnal, one does not. one church reads from the “lexicon” each week, one does not. one church (denom) appoints pastors through a superintendent, bishop, whatever, and one does not. one church practices the sign gifts each week (tongues, healing, ecstatic worship), one does not. some denoms have a set preaching schedule that each pastor is supposed to follow, one does not. some churches think all missions is local, some think all missions is international, some think you gotta balance the two.  so some churches gather around PRACTICE.

another way we gather is around PREFERENCE. one church likes to sing out of a hymnal, some do not. some churches need an organ playing to worship, one does not. some want country music, some do not. some want music to rock, some do not. some want the pastor to teach and explain every little detail of the Hebrew/Greek/Latin languages, some do not. some want the pastor to scream and holler and throw a fit when he preaches, some do not. some want to whoop and holler and jump pews, some do not. some want worship to be contemplative, some do not.  some want all preaching to be evangelistic, some want all preaching to be to the saint, some need a balance. so we gather around PREFERENCE.

then you have the discussion of interdenom or non-denom. i personally just want to be part of a church. you know like the designations in scripture…the church at Antioch, the church at Jerusalem, the church at Rome. why can’t we just be the church that calls themselves ________ . let the church call themselves whatever they like but be the church. in a sense West Ridge is Baptist because we give to Baptist causes. in a sense West Ridge is Christian Missionary Alliance because that’s who we work with in Burkina Faso. so we are interdenominational, not really because we have our distinctives that keep us from being a part of every denomination. so we are non-denominational, not really because we participate in denominational activities from time to time. so i think we are just a church, called West Ridge that works with a lot of different organizations. now honestly here at West Ridge i am the minority voice on this issue. most would say we are non-denom and that is the official line.

and so we can all disagree on the finer points of theology, practice, and preference but we need not be disagreeable when it comes to agreeing that the majority of the world, nation, state, city, neighborhoods are lost and going to hell. therefore i want to help you be better at being who God has called you to be. believe, practice, and preference all you want but let’s work together so that “whosoever will” may be saved. (oops, just tipped my hand on my theology ).

West Ridge School of Church Planting has trained Christian Churches, Methodist Churches, Assembly of God Churches, COGIC Churches, and a lot of Baptist, Non-denoms and Interdenoms. but they all believed that Jesus is the way to salvation. as my friend Tilly Burgin says, “let’s just hover around John 3: 16 and let God do His work.” amen to that.

so, thanks to all of you who have recognized my birthday. i am of the age that it would be nice to forget a few, but as my father in law says, “birthdays sure beat the alternative.”

but thinking about the old saying, “another day older and deeper in debt” have you seen the interest rates they are throwing up on visa/mastercard bank cards? in the old days , they used to call that highway robbery.

i was having dinner with my old friend the other night. he and i have birthdays very close to one another and celebrate together each year. anyway we got to reminiscing about the old days. another thing that we have seen change is language. my friend said, “remember when “butt” was a dirty word, preachers say that from the pulpit now.” (showing my age aren’t i) i responded affirmatively and mentioned a few more that are permissable now that weren’t back in the day.

we also talked about how the weather right now was more like we remember it in “our day.” seems i remember more snow and cold weather in the dark ages of the 60’s and 70’s.

in the old days, adults complained about teen music, hair too long, shorts/shirts/skirts too short, ragged jeans, peace patches on jeans, nose rings, earrings for men, the way we talked, the way we danced, the way we protested, high interest rates, dirty politicians, the price of gas (50 cents a gallon, oh my gosh!), the way young people dress to go to church, and what in the world is Christian Rock, the lack of respect of my generation, should i go on?

another day older, deeper in debt and you know what? the more things change the more they stay the same. this generation shall pass and when it does i hope i’m not the one sitting on the sidelines going, “i wish we’d sing, “Open the Eyes of My Heart” some day, i sure miss it.”

to my friends of another generation, don’t ever get stuck in a rut. change, if you don’t the church dies, and when you are my age, you’ll be saying, “those darn young people!” but at the same time, challenge them to reach their generation. if you read church history that’s how it works. for my generation so many got stuck in the 50’s. don’t you get stuck in the 10’s.

so i don’t enter another year of “bah, humbug” i enter another year wondering what God will do and how the church will change and stretch me. i think it’s gonna be a good year.

it MIGHT snow. that’s all. here is the way the forecast has gone in the ATL for the last week. 1. It may snow on Thursday of next week. 2. Snow will start on Thursday morning and last through the day. 3. Snow will start in the morning and last 1/2 day. 4. Snow will start in the afternoon, around noon, and last a few hours. 5. Snow will start in the late afternoon. 6. It may snow, but it will be late in the afternoon. 7. We might have an inch of snow but it will be from 6 p.m. – midnight. 8. This morning: Don’t expect much. Probably just a dusting if at all between 8 p.m. – 1 a.m.

BUT, What do the schools do? The six 0′clock news on Wednesday started reporting school closings for Thursday because it MIGHT snow! And now the likelihood is that it won’t, at least until after everyone is home and snuggled around the fire.

what if the church operated like that? well in fact many do. “we can’t do… because we MIGHT not have enough money.” “we can’t have ….  people MIGHT not show up.” “we can’t start a church, it MIGHT lead people away from our church.” “we can’t play/sing music because it MIGHT offend people.” “we can’t preach that message it MIGHT hurt someone’s feelings.” “we can’t… we MIGHT not have enough leaders.”

what is stopping you from doing something because something MIGHT happen? get over it. i wonder if Paul had operated that way how long it would have taken the gospel to reach the rest of the world. imagine Paul saying, “we can’t sail to Malta tomorrow, it MIGHT rain.”

i return to one of my favorite scriptures, Provers 16:9, “Man makes his plans, God directs his steps.” do something because something good MIGHT happen. don’t panic and close it down. sad the way some people operate out of fear!

oh well, maybe we can leave at lunch after all it MIGHT snow.