Monday Reflections

These past few days having been exciting, rewarding, and exhausting. Here are some brief reflections since last Thursday...

First, I wanted to let everyone know that God has sent us a worship pastor. Several weeks ago, Kyle Wigington lead worship for our launch team, and not only were we impressed with his musical abilities, but we also quickly realized that He passionately loves God and understands the true meaning of worship. Over the past few weeks, he has went through several interviews with me, and one with our initial leadership team. We are pleased to announce that this Sunday, August 22nd, will be Kyle's first Sunday leading worship as our worship pastor. Kyle is a graduate of the University of Mobile with a degree in music. In addition to singing and songwriting, Kyle plays the guitar and keyboard. I can't wait to see how our worship band progresses in the days ahead under Kyle's leadership!

Thursday evening was all about the future. Our initial leadership team met at South-Doyle Middle to do some planning for our launch in January. We all left in awe of the space and facilities that God has provided for us. We just kept thinking, "God if you've given us this much space, then we are just going to believe that you will send the people to fill it up!" I can't wait to see how things continue to come together over the next few months.

Friday was a fun family day with great food! Jennifer, Kaden, and I took a trip to Atlanta. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and it was absolutely awesome! Then, we watched the Braves beat the Dodgers in a 1-0 pitching duel.

Saturday was physically exhausting, but such a great opportunity. Several people from our launch team gave up some of their time to allow God's love to overflow on the college students at Gateway Apartments. We carried boxes, furniture, and some pretty random things (like a yellow pig) all because we wanted those students to experience God's love overflowing from our lives. We met dozens of people from all over the country. I personally talked to students from New York to Kansas. We had a blast helping these students move into their apartments, and guess what? I already have a plan for how we can make an even bigger impact at the move-in next August!

Sunday was a day of rest for our launch team. As we move forward this week, it's full speed ahead. so we encouraged our team to get some rest and enjoy the day because beginning next Sunday, things are about to pick up.

As this week gets going, please keep these things in your prayers...

-On Wednesday, I'll be taking several dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts to the staff at South-Doyle Middle. We want them to experience God's overflowing love in a very "good" way as school gets started.

-On Thursday night, we'll be serving between 150-200 college students free Marble Slab ice cream. We're really pumped about this opportunity to allow God's love to overflow on campus.

-Sunday night is the beginning of our "Stupid Christians" series. Find out more about it by clicking HERE. It's also a transitional step for our group as we'll begin assimilating people into different roles on our launch team.