Last night I had a good chat with two buddies who are may age (actually a few years older…had to rub that in) and grew up in Tallahassee like me.

We talked about everything from the genius that is Bono and U2…to the challenges and opportunities in starting a Church in Tallahassee.

The challenges facing the Church in our city was not something we were complaining that much about, but more of a reality we were facing that gives everyone at the Well such an amazing opportunity to impact Tallahassee.

Challenges:

1. Religion: There is such a disconnect in many who claim to be believers/attend Church maybe twice a month, and what takes place in their lives the other 6 days of the week. The mindset is basically…Yes, I go to Church…it is my life and I will do whatever I want the rest of the week.

The issue and challenge? There is a need to strongly present the Gospel to people that already claim to be believers and attend Church regularly! Matt Chandler talked about the challenges of evangelizing church members who think they are saved but aren’t.

While it is not my job to judge who is a genuine believer and who is not…there is certainly a religious majority in Tallahassee that results in our city being over-churched and under-reached.

2. Consumers:

It is amazing how many genuine believers in town just can’t seem to find the perfect Church (as if it exists). I know many who are on their 4th or 5th Church in 5 years. Eventually you have to look in the mirror and realize that the Church might not be the issue.

If I was not in the ministry, we would look for two things when searching for a Church to call home for as long as we lived in a certain city:

-The theology of the Church (theological liberalism, an absence of Christ-centered preaching, affiliations will liberal denominations, etc…are REASONS TO LEAVE…actually, reasons to not go in the first place.

-The mission of the Church: is this Church about moving from program to program…filling dates on the calendar and basically shutting the Church down for a month to prepare for choir concerts…or about engaging the culture where God placed them?

Those are the questions we would ask. Not…what do they have for Tommy (while the Church is called to evangelize and disciple children…that is our job at home), not…is the Pastor funny, not…do they do songs I like?

We expect unbelievers to ask questions like that. Not those who know Christ.

The goal of many youth ministries in town (secretly) is simply to get the kids of Church members to stay at the Church and not go to a Wednesday night program down the street because they have cooler stuff and ski trips. This consumer mind-set usually comes from the top..down. The goal…keep Church people busy, happy, and here.

3. An absence of preaching the truth:

In our 3 guys from Tally conversation, we discussed the amount of people our age who were raised inside the Church walls in Tallahassee, but never sat under biblical preaching. While we thank God for the Pastors and Youth Pastors in town that do preach the Gospel…it is certainly a glaring absence here.

People are taught that their biggest problem is…they haven’t reached their potential in life.

Learn a few lessons from Jesus, try and be a good parent (at least show up for Church and have everyone sit together so you give off the perfect family image), find your purpose, give more this month so you can have a better life.

It is all over the map.

Our challenge? Well…people are arrogant and on top of that… so starved of truth to know that all the man-centered theology they have been brought up hearing doesn’t work!

Why?

-We can’t do good on our own…I have reached my potential…a sinner who needed saving!
-We can’t earn our way to heaven by following some steps and life principles, “…the cost for the recipient of God’s grace is nothing - and no price could be higher for arrogant people to pay.” Dan Allender, from the Gospel Transformation
-There is one mediator between God and Man and that is Christ!
-God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
-and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

4. Priorities:

Is the most important thing really how many people were in Sunday School? Really?

Oh the challenges!

I was energized by my late night conversation with good friends last night.

Some takeaways:

I am convinced that we are doing what we are called to do.

I am convinced that we must pray for and support other Churches in Tallahassee that want the ball when it comes to these challenges.

I am convinced that people need to pick a Gospel preaching and people connecting Church and STAY THERE.

I am convinced we are going to see God do amazing things in Tallahassee.

I have met very few Christians (especially Pastors) who don’t struggle to have solid prayer lives. I am certainly included in that. I am not sure how exactly to define a good prayer life…but David wrote this and it isn’t close to anything I am doing:

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear me. - David, Psalm 55:17

How about this quote:

I’d rather be able to pray than be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach but only how to pray. - D.L. Moody

And this:

The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. - Samuel Chadwick

I want to be someone that places prayer above everything. So hard…not sure why it is…but the really discipline of meaningful prayer is crucial for a true relationship with Christ. Isn’t it amazing how we neglect this amazing privilege?

Join me in this….

1. Pray when you first wake up…while still laying in bed. I know, you aren’t quite with it yet. Its cool…ask the Lord to clear your mind.

2. Pray while driving in the car (this is hard to do while flicking off the person that just cut you off).

3. Spend time praying before and after you read your Bible.

Tonight straight up rocked! What a night!

I thought it was one of the best services we have ever had. How great was the swimming video? I am loving the random Santa appearances too.

We have such an amazing opportunity at the Well to impact our city with the truth of the Gospel. I am seeing new faces every week and I drove home tonight more energized as ever about what God has called us to do. Please be praying for our Church! When awesome things are taking place…the enemy attacks. Those attacks will come in all different forms.

Get excited about the Moon. I cannot think of a more important thing that anyone can be doing that night than bringing someone who needs to hear about Jesus to our Christmas service. Please get on board with it and make that night happen!

When Tonya and Matt were singing Mighty to Save at the end of the service I was seriously ready to explode! What an awesome truth and what a great song!

This Week at the Well:
Monday Night: College dinner at Matt Long’s, three different adult community groups meeting throughout town.

Tuesday Night: Adult Community Group, I will be on the deck at PoBoys.

Wednesday: Senior College Ladies Group, Adult group at the Stubblefields, my new 22-25 year old fellas group…holla!

Thursday: I turn 28! dude.

Friday: Men’s weekly breakfast pow-wow with Marty.

Top 5:

1. Texas Tech
2. Bama
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma
5. USC

I was not expecting Boston College to move the ball on FSU like that. My brother was calling it all week.

People need to get over the SEC this year. Seriously. I am doing the overrated cheer.

President Obama needs to put a college football playoff into law. Can he do that?

To start your week off right:

Biblical holiness begins with the Holy. But the holy, by its very nature, can be approached only when we come as sinners. He is never accessible to us as consumers. We come in sackcloth and ashes, not as buyers. Indeed, we cannot approach the Holy at all on our own terms. We must see that the Holy has first approached us in Christ and, through him, reconciled us to himself.

-David Wells (the author, professor…not the fat pitcher).

I am tired of blowing my nose!

Matthew…James 4 kicks my butt too. Preaching that text was brutal!

This is going to be a great weekend.

Our first ever Couples Night Out is tonight. It will be great to get together with everyone! We gotta get some of these married folks out and about.

We will also have a great group of Well-ers serving at the concession stand for the Godby football game. They are playing Lincoln. As a faithful Leon grad…Go Godby! Lincoln could be playing a team with Hugo Chavez as the QB, Bill Ayers as the Running Back, and Al Franken as the Wide Receiver and I still would not root for them.

College Football Gameday is at FAMU this Saturday for their game vs. Hampton. How cool is that? If I feel better I am going! That is a great thing for FAMU. Coach Taylor will have them competing for a national title very soon.

Homecoming this weekend at FSU vs. Boston College. FSU should win pretty easily. Minus 5 points for doing a black-out though.

I am speaking on the first half of James chapter 4 this Sunday night at the Well. We will also have the Lord’s Supper that evening. James 4 asks a simple, yet important question…what causes the issues between you and others? The answer is not necessarily what we like to hear. It will be an important talk though that can help us all have relationships that honor Christ. Make sure you are there this Sunday night.

Big Canes win last night. That is the best I have seen a hurricane defense play in ages. 5 in a row! Chick-Fil-A or Emerald Nuts Bowl here we come!

I really do get tired of people talking about how busy they are. Who isn’t? Seriously…everyone has packed schedules.

This is from C.J. Mahaney and was posted on theologica

I forget now who first brought these points to my attention. But the realization that I could be simultaneously busy and lazy, that I could be a hectic sluggard, that my busyness was no immunity from laziness, became a life-altering and work-altering insight. What I learned is that:

When considering our schedules, we have endless options. But there are a few clear priorities and projects, derived from my God-assigned roles, that should occupy the majority of my time during a given week. And there are a thousand tasks of secondary importance that tempt us to devote a disproportionate amount of time to completing an endless to-do list. And if we are lazy, we will neglect the important for the urgent.