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My blog moved...

2008-06-21T21:29:00.001-04:00

Hey People,
My blog has moved...you can find out about what is happening with me and the Malone family at www.jasonmalone.wordpress.com

Have a great week!!!!

One Year Later....

2008-04-16T09:09:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of our first Sunday at the Merovan Center with our Core Group. One year ago we began to meet every Sunday to dream and pray about reaching the Upstate with the Gospel...below is an e-mail I sent to those first few families that joined us on that first day...

Hey Core of the Core Group,

I don’t do a very good job of remembering dates but my wife does and she reminded me that yesterday, April 15^th, was the one year anniversary of our first Sunday Celebration at Merovan Center. I can’t believe it has been a year since we gathered as a core for the first time to talk and pray and dream about being the church in our circle of accountability. It has been encouraging to see who God has brought to join us in what He has called us to do and be. There are people with us now that were un-churched and formerly churched that had given up on the church and churched that wanted to join a group desiring to be the church. We’ve seen people baptized and come to know Jesus. We’ve been able to serve the servers of our community and the teachers of our community and the churches of our community. Most of all we’ve seen God changing and transforming us. He’s shown us that it is not about us but about joining Him in His mission of redeeming people. He’s showing us that our own relationship and time with Him is the most important thing to living on mission. He’s teaching us to live with others for the sake of others and He’s giving us opportunity after opportunity to share our grace story.

Thank you for being apart of the Core Group. Thank you for having the guts and the patience to begin something new. Thank you for serving and giving of yourselves so that others could join the mission. Thank you for modeling the values in your own life so that others can watch and learn. Thank you for being on mission with our God. I can honestly say that I’ve been able to enjoy this journey more because of the people God has brought to journey with. I love you and thank God for you…be on mission today.

The Windy City

2008-04-04T11:42:00.002-04:00

Well I realize it took me a week to get back with everyone about how the Envisioning Discussion went last Thursday. It was AWESOME. We had 80 pastors from 35 churches join us to talk about what it would look like for us to link arms and start getting intentional about reaching the Upstate with the Gospel of Jesus. Thanks to all of you that were praying for us.

As a result of our meeting last Thursday we are starting a Renovation Center at Summit. We will meet once a month for the next year to begin to talk about God's heart for the world and for the Church in Greenville. It looks as if we will have 30-40 pastors joining us for the Renovation Center. I'll do my best to keep you updated on what we are thinking through as we have our meetings.

On another note and the reason it's taken me longer to get back to my blog...I spent most of this week in Chicago. I have not been to the Windy City in many years but it was good to be back for a few days. I was meeting with pastors from 10 cities around the USA. We are all talking about God's heart for 303 million Americans. We see the need to re-evangelize the United States and it must start with the continued spiritual formation of Christ followers....

Mission Upstate

2008-03-27T07:38:00.003-04:00

Today is an awesome day! It hasn't even really gotten started yet but it's awesome! In a few hours I will be getting together with 80 pastors from about 25 different churches in the Upstate of SC to talk about how we can partner to reach every man, woman, and child with the Gospel. I could hardly sleep last night I was so excited.

You see when we were starting Summit this is the one thing that people told us wouldn't happen. They said pastor's are to busy and to stuck in doing things their way to meet with other guys to partner. But we knew if we were supposed to take responsibility for 1.3 million people in the Upstate of SC then we would need not just 1 Summit Church or 50 Summit Churches but we would need to partner with every church that is preaching the Gospel of Jesus to share Jesus with those in the Upstate.

So over the past year I have met with many pastors to talk about what God is calling us to do. I have emphasized over and over that it's not about us or a "right" way of doing church but it is about being on mission with our God who is on mission and His mission is simple....He is redeeming people to Himself. He is using His Church to accomplish His mission so it's time we started working together.

Step #1: Meet with as many pastors as you can (this is what we've spent the past year doing)
Step #2: Get them in the same room and share God's Mission for redeeming our city (today and it's going to be awesome)

I'll post tomorrow about how it went...

God of this City

2008-02-28T09:43:00.003-05:00

I love music! I'm not a musician by any stretch of the imagination but I do enjoy some good tunes. As a matter of fact if I am awake, there are two things you can count on, that I'm drinking sweet tea and I'm listening to something. I still remember as a kid riding with my dad in his truck listening to MY102.5 and singing whatever 80's easy listening song was hot at the time. I really enjoyed the power ballads of Bon Jovi, Mr. Mister, Bad English, The Jeff Healey Band and Sheriff.

In the 90's my ear turned to country music mainly because it made me laugh and I hated the whole Nirvana/Pearl Jam grunge thing...they didn't seem very happy and it turns out they weren't. Diamond Rio, Alabama, Little Texas and Brooks & Dunn are what I spent my time Boot Scootin Boogieing too.

These days I listen to about anything with the exception of rap, unless it is Weird Al making fun of a rap, or heavy metal where I can't really understand what they are saying but I can tell they are really mad. I usually have one or two songs a year that jump out and just grab me and move me and won't let me go until I play them 200 straight times on my IPOD. Currently that song is God of this City off of the new Passion CD....Here are the lyrics for you....simple and powerful...go buy it and begin to pray it for you city...every man, woman and child.

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are

Bridge
For there is no-one like our God
There is no-one like our God

Chorus
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done here

Learning How to Die

2008-02-24T07:03:00.003-05:00

I find it hard to die to myself even though I know Jesus tells me I should. I find it hard to do life for the sake of other people even though Jesus did. But I'm praying that as God continues to transform me that verses like John 12:24-25 will become more and more true of my life...

"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal"

May we not confuse our desire for what is good and right with our desire just to have our own way. Those of us that are students of Jesus can be passionate about lots of things but not getting our way can't be one of them. How will we die to ourself today? How we answer that question determines how we will live today....

Seeing Dust in the Light

2008-02-20T10:24:00.004-05:00

Hey Kids,
I'm back from Florida! It was a great vacation in Southwest, Florida where the people are older and the cars are bigger. I've been reading what I would call...the best devotional book of my life....Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. It's written by Dallas Willard.

These were some of his thoughts today:

"Becoming a "better Christian" doesn't mean becoming a nicer version of ourselves or getting involved in a local church. Although those things may happen, focusing on such things misses the point. The life from above is a completely different kind of life that may seem odd to others. Building self-esteem or trying to look good doesn't matter anymore. I'm now aware that I am not okay. We are all in serious trouble

The ones who are immersed in the life of God have a power and character that are strange to this world. They know they are dust (see Psalm 103:14) and have attached themselves to the life that is the 'light of men' (John 1:4)"

I am thankful for men that are living this kind of life in front of me....Brian Briley, Todd Milby, Jeff Shipman, Dwight Smith....They are strange to this world...why? They understand they are dust and they have attached themselves to the life that is the light of men...

May you have the guts to follow hard after the One that will give your life true significance as the world looks on and thinks how strange you are.

I LOVE the Greenville/Spartanburg Airport

2008-02-04T10:34:00.000-05:00

I am currently sitting in the GSP airport waiting to board a flight to Florida. I'm going on vacation for a week and I'm excited about the break. I've always said I never wanted to leave the Greenville for 3 reasons...the golf, the restaurants and the airport. Here is what I love about GSP...

Easy in/Easy Out
I can check in and go through security in 10 minutes on most days
Free WiFi
Spacious walking isles
Clear air space which makes for quick take offs and no holding patterns upon return
My house is 5 miles away

Have a great week...I'm going to go sit on the beach...

Me and Willie Nelson

2008-02-02T09:59:00.000-05:00

The month of January has been full of travel and after trips to Columbia, Charlotte, Atlanta and Los Angeles I'm looking forward to a little vacation. Most of my trips have pertained to church planting things so they have been very exciting...here is what I was doing at a few of the stops.

Charlotte: Meeting with church planters from Columbia, Atlanta, Greenville and Charlotte about how to reach our geographical regions with the Gospel. It seems God is bringing together a group of people with the same passion and mission.

Columbia: Meeting with guys from Infinity Alliance. Infinity is a group of churches from around the United States where different churches and church plants are taking responsibility for their geographical regions. These cities would include: Ft Myers, FL, Columbia, SC, Philadelphia, PA, Buffalo, NY, Austin, TX, Los Angeles, CA, Chicago, IL, Syracuse, NY, Charlotte, NC and us in Greenville, SC. The churches of Infinity get together a few times a year to discuss our strategies for reaching our regions.

Los Angeles: I was meeting with church planters with C&MA (Christian and Missionary Alliance) to talk about church multiplication.

Atlanta: Driving Rustam and Masha back to the airport for their return trip to Ukraine where they pastor Agape Church. They joined us in worship on January 15th at Summit Church to share what God was doing in reaching Ukrainians on the other side of the world!

As I look back over the busy month what jumps out to me is what God is calling us to locally, nationally and internationally. God is calling a people to Himself all around the world...be on mission!

The Gospel is on the Road!!!!

2008-01-07T21:57:00.000-05:00

"What if every man, woman and child in our circle of influence had the repeated opportunity to see and hear the Gospel of Jesus without them ever having to come or go anywhere?"

This was a question posed to me a year and a half ago that has challenged and re-shaped my thinking of "church". Those of us that grew up doing the church thing often seem to think we need to get people who need Jesus to come to something whether it be a church service or "outreach" event so that they can hear the "good news". But what if we grasped that everywhere that God wants the Gospel to go today it will go because it goes in us. What if we accepted the fact that the Gospel could go to every man, woman and child if we changed our focus from getting them to come to something to realizing we are taking the Gospel with us everywhere we go.

I was reminded of this yesterday as I read through John 4 and saw how Jesus interacted with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus talked with her and shared who He was in the "everydayness" of life. Is that not the beauty of God's plan? That in our everydayness He would be put on display through our lives....

It's not that I'm against strategic events at a church but you have to hold in balance the time, energy, staff and finances it takes to make an "event" happen plus if you are not careful you continue to communicate to your people that if they can get people to attend "something" then the "professionals" can take over and talk about Jesus.

The Gospel will go everywhere that God wants it to go today because it goes in us. That means it goes in you and it goes in me.

Grasping and living this reality will determine whether or not we take the Gospel to the Upstate of SC or wait for the Upstate to come to us (the local church building). And if you haven't done the research, I'll let you in on the fact that they are not coming to us. I just spent the last two days meeting with pastors from around NC and SC discussing the state of the un-churched and the churched in our two states and it's very interesting, discouraging and challenging...more on that in the future.

Asking BIG in 2008

2008-01-04T16:53:00.000-05:00

So what are you asking for BIG in 2008? What are you trusting God for that if He doesn't show up you are toast? I've been thinking about that this week as I have prepared to teach this Sunday at Summit Church. We are starting a new year! 2007 was an incredible testimony to God's grace and provision as we launched Summit. My fear is getting complacent and "settled". What will we ask for that is BIG this year?

I've been studying Luke 11 and seeing how Jesus taught the disciples to pray. It seems that God is honored when we persistently come to Him with boldness. I want to pray and ask for things this year that only He can do and not get caught up in the minutia of life.

Speaking of answered prayer, in my last post I wrote about Port City Java closing on December 30th unless we had a Christmas miracle. Well our miracle came. A man by the name of Victor read my blog and sent it to another guy named Nathan and now to make a long story shorter....Port City is staying open...the power of the blog I love my coffee house!

Ask Big in 2008....

So I Took A Month Off

2007-12-22T17:47:00.000-05:00

Well it's good to be back to blogging. I took a few weeks off after getting back from Ukraine...not weeks off from work just weeks off from blogging. I was trying to get caught up with other things but in case you were wondering here are the highlights from November 24th till December 22:

I got home safely from Ukraine but not before being detained with all other passengers in my section of the Atlanta Airport during a surprise "breach of security" test.
I had a wonderful thanksgiving with my family and tried to put on some of the weight I lost in Ukraine
I watched the Gamecocks play horribly and let Clemson win yet again
I'm back in the gym regularly trying to stay at 170ish lbs.
On December 11th I turned 32. I had a nice dinner with my wife and bought some new pants
I just learned today that my favorite coffee house, Port City Java, is closing down on December 30th unless we have a Christmas Miracle
Summit Church is growing not just with new people but with people being transformed in their walk with God
Over the past week I've been thinking about how quickly this past year has flown by and what we've seen God do in us and through us...more on that as we near the end of the year.
I'm back to blogging...I missed it.

Ukraine: Mission Kiev

2007-11-23T09:32:00.001-05:00

My last two days in Ukraine were spent meeting with 3 pastors in Kiev. There names are Rustam, Deema, and Akiev. They are all pastors at Agape Church. I had the great privilege to worship with them at there church this past Sunday.

They have been teaching through the same values as we have at Summit Church. They have been challenging their people to allow intimacy with God to be their first priority in life. So the first part of our 3 hour service was to have the people share what God had been teaching them as they had spent time with Him. It was so encouraging. I also had the opportunity to share during this time. It's not easy to speak through an interpretor but it was a nice challenge.

We took communion together and worshiped together through song. It was as little different because Agape church meets in a city student center and that center is owned by the government they have recently been told they can't worship through playing their own instruments and singing their worship songs. So on Sunday we worshiped through watching I-Worship videos, all in English, and praying and reading scripture in between songs. It was one of the most meaningful worship services of my life.

All in all this was an encouraging trip as I was able to see pastors and believers on the other side of the world working through the same things we are working through here in Greenville, SC. We are asking the same questions and have the same heart...that every man, woman and child in our circles of accountability would have the repeated opportunity to see and hear the Gospel. May God keep expanding our view of His Kingdom.

Ukraine: The Church

2007-11-18T03:13:00.000-05:00

In my time in Ukraine I have had the opportunity to see what God is up to on the other side of the world. Some things you may or may not know:
1. There are 25 states in Ukraine
2. Kiev is the capital with 4.5 million people living in a city the size of Columbia, SC (there are 4.5 million people living in the state of SC so Kiev would look like every man, woman and child in SC living in Columbia)
3. There are currently 67 church planting teams in 22 of the 25 Ukrainian states
4. There have been over 5000 churches planted here since 2002
5. There are a total of 11,000 churches in Ukraine most planted since 1992 after the fall of communism
6. So that is 11,000 evangelical churches for a country of 48 million people
7. The Antioch Movement here has identified 17,000 residential points that have no evangelical church presence
8. The men and women we have been working with have a passion for every man, woman and child in their country to have the repeated opportunity to see and hear the Gospel just like we do in Greenville, SC and the Upstate

God has expanded my view of His Kingdom during this trip. As we talked about last week at Summit Church it is His story and we can play our role and our role is to keep pointing people to Him. It's refreshing to see that being done not only in Greenville but half way across the world in Ukraine. We as Americans sometimes think we need to go before God can do something but the fact of the matter is that God is their before us doing what only He can do. Sometimes I am arrogant enough to think that I am the answer for people's questions and issues and hang ups with God but as we are learning...

He is the answer...it is His story...He is in the process of drawing a people to Himself...will we point people in His direction no matter where we are? Will we Unveil the Kingdom? Will we invite people into our grace story? That is the question that needs your answer...

Ukraine: Footloose

2007-11-16T19:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I jumped in a rental van and rode 9 hours to a “resort” city in Western Ukraine. Evidently people come to this town from all around the Russian World to drink mineral water from the fresh water springs. And this is where pastor’s from around western Ukraine are meeting to talk about all the churches that need to be planted to reach every, man, woman and child in their country.

Please understand I use the word “resort” very loosely. Their resort city could be compared to Greer, SC. Nothing against Greer but there is nothing resortish about it. As we traveled yesterday two things became very evident to me pertaining to life in Ukraine:

1. It doesn’t matter how fast you drive.

2. Bikers really don’t have the right of way.

As we rode down the road yesterday we came upon something in the road and that something turned out to be a man that had been hit on his bicycle by a man driving a BMW who had to be doing about 100 mph at impact. The bike was in pieces everywhere as was the body. I can’t get the image out of my mind. The body was covered by a bag thankfully, but we saw the guys’ foot and part of his leg lying in the road…crazy stuff! (Pictures to come) Tomorrow I will give some thoughts on what God is doing here in Ukraine. My heart is encouraged and my vision is expanding….

Ukraine: Leaving on a Jet Plane

2007-11-16T19:40:00.000-05:00

I woke up this past Monday excited about my first trip overseas. I have been visiting the country of Ukraine to learn more about the Antioch Movement that is taking place there. This was my first trip across the Atlantic. I spent some time in Cancun once but that is another blog entry all to itself.

I arrived at the airport early like they ask you to do especially when traveling internationally. I didn’t know but the time required to check-in for traveling anywhere in the world or flying to Georgia is the exact same at The Greenville/Spartanburg International Airport…I love it. What I don’t love is that for some reason on Monday my plane from Atlanta that was to take me to Atlanta never arrived. Needless to say, I missed my flight which means I missed meeting up with my friend Todd Milby which means that I was flying overseas all by myself.

Instead of a straight flight from the States to Ukraine, I was rerouted through Frankfurt, Germany and then over to Kiev. Fortunately for all my trouble they bumped me up to first class…just kidding. I sat in the back with the rest of the peasants. After arriving in Germany I tried to find my way to my gate for Kiev but not before being stopped “randomly” for a bag and body search. Big fun! I then jumped on Ukraine International Airlines. They do things a little different. First off, I couldn’t understand anything anyone was saying. They started taxing out to the runway with passengers still standing in the aisle. We landed in Ukraine but fortunately I was sitting beside a young lady who spoke English and she asked me where I was going and I said Kiev and she said stay on the plane when we land…this isn’t your stop. Didn’t know this but in Ukraine they stop and drop people off and just keep right on going…it’s one way.

Upon arriving in Kiev it was through customs only to discover my bags weren’t there and through finding a few people that spoke English I was told my bags had missed the plane in Atlanta and been shipped through Amsterdam and had arrived 2 hours before me…go figure. Got my bag, found my friends, ate some pizza and went to sleep after being in airports or airplanes for 24 straight hours.

Today, I saw a dead man laying in the middle of the freeway…I’m a little tired so I’ll give you that story tomorrow.

Why Plant More Churches?

2007-11-10T17:10:00.000-05:00

The State of South Carolina

Greenville County has 417,000 people living in it.

The Upstate of SC, which is 10 counties, has 1.2 Million people living in it.

The state of South Carolina has 4.5 million people living in it.

80% of the state of South Carolina is unchurched.

The State of the Unchurched

An estimated 73 million adults are presently unchurched. When teens and children are added, the total swells to roughly 100 million Americans.

To put that figure in context, if the unchurched population of the United States were a nation of its own, that group would be the eleventh most populated nation on earth (trailing only China, India, the churched portion of the United States, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan and Mexico).

Included among the unchurched is an estimated 13 to 15 million born again adults and children. (Barna)

The State of Churched Christians

The biweekly attendance at worship services is, by believers own admission, generally the only time they worship God. (Barna)

Eight out of every ten believers do not feel they have entered into the presence of God, or experienced a connection with Him, during the worship service. (Barna)

Churched Christians give away an average of about 3% of their income in a typical y ear. Barna)

9% of all born-again adults have a biblical worldview (Barna)

The typical churched believer will die without leading a single person to a lifesaving knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ. (Barna)

At any given time, a majority of believers do not have a specific person in mind for whom they are praying in the hope that the person will be saved. (Barna)

Most churched Christians believe that since they are not gifted in evangelism, such outreach is not a significant responsibility of theirs. (Barna)

Hearing Voices in July

2007-11-07T21:08:00.000-05:00

Back in July of 2004 I was spending some time talking with God and journaling. As I was reading and praying I felt the Lord say, "I want you to plant churches in the Upstate of SC". Pretty weird stuff for a kid that grew up in a Baptist church but looking back, it would be the first of many things that would blow my mind.

I wasn't sure if that "feeling" was God or me or the pizza I had eaten earlier. Like I've said before the thought of planting a church wasn't new to me but two things were different on this day...one, that I was being led to plant churches, plural. I don't even know how to plant a church much less churches and that for the first time a location was laid on my heart, the Upstate of SC. I had always hoped that if I planted it could be in Southern California or on some sort of tropical island. This would be something later on that I would come to test because I tried to pursue a few other places but God kept pushing me back to the Upstate.

So why plant churches in the Upstate of SC? I'll share some thoughts and stats on this area I call home in the days to come. In the meantime I'm going to watch the CMA's and be reminded of how much I loved country music in high school. Why does Kenny Chesney always wear sleeveless shirts?

Who's a Jerk Face? This Guy!

2007-11-05T17:59:00.000-05:00

Church planting has always been on my radar. I think many guys that come out of college or seminary have dreams of planting a church. They think that their ideas are fresh and innovative and when they are honest, closer to the heart of God. That was probably the premise I was working from back in the 1990's when I was first dreaming of planting a church. To be honest with you I was probably just being an arrogant jerk face who thought he could do it "right". A funny thing happened on the way to planting that perfect church...I fell in love with the church I went to work at right out of college.

My first ministry gig was at a large fellowship church called Southside. I had grown up in the church and loved it and the people. When I graduated from Cedarville University I went to work at Southside as an intern. I had planned to only be there for 3 months to learn and mess up and grow. However, God had other plans because I ended up serving there for almost a decade! I loved that place! I loved the middle school students and the high school students and the college students and I loved the parents. Who I grew to appreciate most though was the staff that I had a chance to rub shoulders with. They are wise men who love Jesus and love making Him real through the Word. It was like going to seminary for 9 years hanging out with those guys.

I learned a lot about myself while at that first church. I learned who I was and who I was not. I learned how God had gifted me and not gifted me. I learned to listen a lot and try not to speak so much. The greatest thing I learned is that this story that I find myself living in belongs to God. I learned that He is the star of the story and we are not. It's not that I don't matter it's just that He will not share His fame or glory with anyone. I was reminded that if I don't keep this in perspective that I can spend my time trying to hijack the story of God.

I do believe that God is looking for people to get in on His Story for His fame and glory. I believe that God is looking for little leaders that will point others in His direction. I see this in John the Baptizer. He is a guy that understood whose story he had walked in on. Just a little leader pointing people to Jesus.

Getting my head and heart around this is what launched us out to plant Summit Church and my journey pretty much began on a day like any other in the middle of July....more on that tomorrow.

Your story or His? How you answer determines everything....

Looking Back to Appreciate the Future

2007-11-02T13:51:00.000-04:00

I'm not naturally a "look back" kind of guy. I like to think about the future...it energizes me. My wife on the other hand likes to look back at life. She is a reminiscer. Jen can take a whole day and just sit and look at boxes and boxes of pictures and think about how things used to be. I grew up in a family that didn't take many pictures while my wife comes from a home where you would think that Olin Mills is one of her parents. Or we can be riding down the road and she can see any number of restaurants and ask me, "Do you remember the first time we ate at....insert restaurant name" I have no idea! I just normally don't take the time to look back but I'm changing I think.

Life has changed a lot over the past year and I'm learning to appreciate looking back at where God has taken us. What I'm learning is looking back is essential to having a vision for the future. As God calls us to things that we have not experienced before the sense of hope and trust often come from seeing where He has shown up in the past. So I'm learning to look back and see what He has done so that I will have the guts to keep moving forward.

I thought I might take the next few post to think back over the past few years and how God has led us and challenged us and changed us as a family and as a new church. As I mentioned in the previous blog God is resetting our default on the church. For me this is something that has been taking place for over a year and a half and I hope will continue. So in the days to come I will plan to share where we've been to get a better understanding of where we are headed.

I will also be adding in some thoughts from the Gospel of John because that is what we are studying at Summit Church on Sunday mornings. Today I read from John 1 on John the Baptizer. I'm pretty sure he was a wild dude. Wouldn't you have to be to eat what he ate and dress like he dressed? I'm teaching on John the Baptizer next Sunday so I'll fill you in on what I learn about him as I study over the next week...

Enjoy the Journey

2007-11-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

Here I am in the world of blogging. It took me a while but I thought I would join the noise. I think since this is my first blog that this is where I am supposed to write what drove me to blogging and justify why I'm doing it but I'll skip all of that and just say I want to.

So where do you begin? My wife and I have taken the phrase "Enjoy the Journey" as our own personal motto for the year 2007 because our lives have been totally turned upside down. Here are some things that should bring you up to speed:

I worked for almost 9 years as a student pastor at a church in Simpsonville, SC
For almost 2 years I argued with God about planting churches
We started planting Summit Church in the spring of 2007
We "launched" Summit Church on September 16, 2007
My default on church is being re-set
I'm not planting because I am angry
I'm not planting because I think I can do it better or right
I am planting because I believe that the church is God's vehicle for what He wants
I believe what God wants is for every man, woman and child to have the repeated opportunity to see and hear the Gospel
In oder to accomplish this we will plant as many churches as God will let us plant and we will partner with other churches to accomplish the mission of reaching every man, woman and child
We don't have all the answers but we worship and journey with the One that does
Since this is the case, why wouldn't we Enjoy the Journey?