38 posts from 2007

It's not very often that I do blog post that are bullet point in nature, but I'll take a stab it.

• Midtown Christmas Gathering w/ 450 people....what? We had 89 last year and 30 of those were from another church.
• A father (who does NOT do the church thing at all) of one of our college students said, "I enjoyed church for the first time ever." His daughter accepted Christ this year at one of our Gatherings and was also baptized this year. That's why we do what we do. I hope for more stories like that in 2008. 
• Renie (my wife) and I had her family here in Columbia for Christmas (well the 22nd - 24th) and it was kind of fun to be the host for Christmas for the first time.
• We was the Trans Siberian Orchestra absolutely unbelievable...everyone should go at some point in your life. Crazy Amazing.
• Homecooked Meals by my wife...she did a great job.
• Peanut Butter Balls - I am now fat...seriously I am!
• Guess I'll join a gym for at least 2 weeks of 2008
• New Clothes and shoes (yes, I got new shoes and as many of you know I have a shoe problem so yea I got some Diesels that were on sale)
• Gift Cards have to be the best gift you could ever give someone, besides cash money.
• Tickets to the Chick-Fila Bowl - We leave tomorrow w/ two of my roommates from college and their wives. (both of them are Pastors...crazy and we didn't even go to a bible college. lol)
• We spent time with my family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They are awesome and I love them to death....and are just flat out fun to be with.
• Money towards mine and Renie's trip in February. (I will post about our trip this week)
• Resting a good bit.
• God told me to go back to school...so I am. Not leaving Midtown obviously but I will be doing some more Masters level work this spring. I am working on a Masters in Church Planting (should be fun and tough) But God said go at about 3am last night while I couldn't sleep...so I told him YES, I will go. Where you might ask...Liberty University's Seminary. Which by the way is crazy that I will be taking some of their church planting classes, because I am scheduled to be a guest speaker in some of their classes during 2008. When God says move...MOVE otherwise He just doesn't let you sleep.
• Bowl Games on TV all the time.
• Playing Nintendo Wii and ROCK BAND.
• Hopefully I am getting ROCK BAND for my birthday, which is Valentines Day for those of you that care. That game is sick and I love the drums and honestly wish I was a drummer not a preacher. O' well.
• I won our annual family trivia that my grandfather does all the research for. Not that I am counting but if any of my family reads this...that is 6 out of the last 9 years. Yep...it's true. And I made lowest SAT score out of all of us....what is that all about!
• Well...I am sure there is more but that is all for now.
• I will be posting more stuff that is "teaching" in nature during the new year along with some stories here and there and maybe a new video every blue moon.

Before you read this post, please know that the VIDEO SERIES of post is not over...just taking a break. Will bring it back in a few days.

As the days roll forward so does our story as a church. When I meet other pastors and church planters, they always ask, "So what's Midtown's Story?" I love that question because it grants me the opportunity to talk about something that I am extremely passionate about.  Well, I recently wrote up " Our Story" for Midtown website and thought I would just paste it on to here for those of you that are interested in reading a very brief version of our story.

In September of 2005 a group of friends joined together for the purpose of planting a church in downtown Columbia, SC.  9 people moved from the upstate of South Carolina in hopes of building a church that would be a light to the city of Columbia. Our hope is to be a Jesus-centered family on mission with Him.  How did we start once on the ground.

On September 1st of 2005 we had our first meeting in a small coffee shop on Main St. downtown Columbia, just blocks from the SC State House. There was no music, sound system, video, pro-presenter, intelligent lighting, or even coffee for that matter (the coffee shop was closed...we rented it for $50). There were 22 people who showed up to sit and talk through what it would look like to see a missional church planted in downtown Columbia. We met in that coffee shop for the next 5 weeks. During those weeks our numbers grew to about 45 or so people. We did not do mailouts, phone trees, mass emails, billboards, or even really tell anyone to invite anyone. We simply were NOT ready for people to be honest. We were still figuring out what in the world we were actually going to do.

After those 5 weeks of meeting together and serving in our community. Yes, on our 4th week of meeting together we sent everyone out in groups of 6-8 to serve at different non-profits in the community that we had set-up to work with. From day one we wanted everyone to know we were going to live beyond our own needs and give ourselves away to the community we live in. We then broke up into 3 smaller groups and those groups met together on a weekly basis for the next 3 months. During those 3 months they got to know each other, discussed through Midtown's Core Values, and served in the community.

On January 29th, 2006 we launched our first "public" worship gathering at the Town Theatre in Columbia. Again, no mailouts, phone trees, mass emails, billboards, but we did manage to have coffee this time around. We did ask the folks that were attending our 3 small groups to invite some of their friends. We had just over 100 people in attendance, with about 30 of those being friends from out of town who came just to give their blessings in our launch. So the number was probably more like 70 people. At this point we did NOT launch into a weekly worship gathering, but rather we began meeting on a monthly basis. We met on the last Sunday of each month for the next 8 months with our numbers growing to about 115 people. We met monthly for 2 main reasons: One we wanted people to get people plugged into small groups NOT just some big gathering. We wanted people to understand that church was more than a meeting time each week on Sunday. Secondly, we did NOT have a lot of money and meeting monthly was a lot more affordable. 

On August 19th, 2006 we moved from meeting once a month to the 1st and 3rd Sunday's of each month. We also moved from meeting on Sunday Mornings at the Town Theatre to meeting on Sunday Nights at The SC State Museum. We met the 1st and 3rd Sunday Nights for the 4 months. During this time we saw more people being plugged into small groups and more people beginning the journey of living life beyond them selves. Also, during this time we remodeled The Family Homeless Shelter. This was amazing project that cost over $40,000 and yet all the money was raised outside of our regular "very small" budget.

On January 28th, 2007 we FINALLY LAUNCHED our 1st long awaited weekly gathering.  We had just over 120 people in attendance that first night. Over this past year we have seen just under 50 people baptized,

Baptism Pic

over 700 people become homeless for the homeless for one night, over 200 people plugged into a small group, and over 450 people at our December 16th Gathering. We have seen God do some amazing things over the last  couple of years, especially the past 12 months. We anticipate and incredible 2008.

This is OUR STORY thus far and we look foward to many more stories and transformed lives to come....Thanks Jesus!

I think the saying goes, "A picture is worth a 1,000 words." Then what is a video worth? Who knows, but sometimes video can be an incredible tool when teaching God's word. You don't need it...it's not required in today's culture...but sometimes it really does help teach the point you're trying to convey. Now I know some of you are thinking to yourselves, "The word of God stands alone who needs some silly video to teach that." I agree it does stand alone and His words never need anything else, but remember watching the movie The Passion of Christ. Sometimes it is amazing to see an artist attempt to portray the stories of Jesus on film.  Well, I recently spoke on Luke 7 at The Gathering at Midtown and challenged one of our video guys to illustrate the story of Luke 7 on film.

Let me set the stage before you actually watch the video below: 

• The guy who shot and produced this short film is a 20 year old junior at The University of South Carolina.
• He shot this film in the basement of the duplex that he lives in.
• The budget for this short film was a whole $0.00. (yep...that's zero)
• He used a 2 robes, a floor lamp, a desk lamp, a black bed sheet, vegetable oil, 2 people acting, 3 people to hold props, and some sound free sound effects.

Watch the Video 2X

• The first time just watch and listen and allow it to teach you the word of God.
• The second time pay close attention to the details - the sound effects, the lighting, the realness of it all. Hands down the kid is good and I would tell you his name, but some of you awesome RICH church planters may steal him from us. Believe me, I am all about the Kingdom, but I know you can offer him more money than we do and frankly the Lord is leading me to NOT give Jeremy that option at this point. Ok, so I said his name...Enjoy!

When planting a church as many of you know volunteers are absolutely key.  Without volunteers it simply doesn't happen.  We currently have 9 people on staff with only 2 of us being paid full time (and honestly full time is a stretch, but I am more than grateful), 2 very part time folks, and the other 5 are all volunteers. There is not a person working on our staff that has not been a volunteer at Midtown and yes that does include me. I did not receive a pay check from Midtown for the first 6 months and my starting salary after the first 6 months was $18,000 a year and that was all from outside financial support. Those volunteer staff numbers obviously do NOT include all of the other volunteers that it takes to do all that we are doing in the city of Columbia. There is no way to ever thank all of the people who have given there time and energy to this incredible mission that God has given us. One way that we attempt to thank them is through what we call VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION NIGHT.

Our Vision Team plans and executes the whole night.  Last year it was a black tie affair with a sit down dinner that we served along with the background music of a Live Jazz Band. Throughout the night we had "Thank You Videos", live entertainment by us (Broadway in nature...had to be there) and an incredible rap video. Yes that's right a rap video written and performed by one of our Pastors and one our volunteers.  Even crazier than that is that I have a copy of that video and you can watch it below. 

The main point of this post is two things:
1.) Do whatever it takes to appreciate those who sacrificially GIVE on a consistent basis.
2.) So you could laugh and maybe be impressed with the caliber pastors we have here at Midtown. lol

I just wanted throw one numerical fact your way that when I looked at it tonight I honestly cried. Yep, real tears. They were wet and on my face and no I wasn't watching Rudy, though I do cry everytime I hear that chant....seriously I DO. You can watch the clip Rudy here and cry as well.  I looked at how many people we had just 12 months ago at our Christmas Gathering and the grand total was 89 people and that included about 30 or so from another church who joined us for the night. Tonight, we had 450 people at The Christmas Gathering at Midtown. I am just blown away at all that has happened in the last 12 months around here. It has been an incredible, tough, crazy, I would do (most of) it all over again, good....RIDES. From 89 people to 450 people. Now again those are simply numbers and yes they do indicate something, but they are definitely NOT the goal. (you can read my post on numbers here, if you like) But, Praise God for what he is up to in Columbia, SC.  The reason we do what we do is in this video below. This is from the 2nd Baptism Gathering we did in 2007 at Midtown.

Slide1

O 'and by the way here is the picture of the Baptism that did NOT make this video. A girl accepted Christ while sitting in her seat listening to the stories of the people getting baptized. (hey preacher man...make sure that people here the stories of life change not just our cool illustrations. It is powerful and affective. You can read the full story of her baptism HERE) 

Adrian Despres is a long time mentor of mine and the chaplain of the Gamecock football team. He gave me some advice over the phone just 2 years when I told him I was planting Midtown here in downtown Columbia. He said this and much more,  but I want some of you deep thinking church planters to catch this: "Make sure people laugh!" We take that serious and do our best to have fun in the midst of this incredible tough adventure. So below is a video we created and used a number of months ago. Why you ask? For Fun! O' and by the way the two guys in the video are both pastors at Midtown.

For the next few days I wanted to share with everyone some of the videos from 2007 at Midtown. I will post some that are highlight type videos, illustrations, and some that are just absolutely funny. Today, I wanted you guys to see one of our Baptism Gatherings. We did this one back in April in downtown on the river.  Enjoy and again I will have some more videos up throughout the week.

So this past weekend was wild, long, tiring, and amazing all at the same time. Here are some highlights from the weekend:

• Over 700 people united together becoming homeless for the homeless.
  
• 31 degrees (that's below freezing by the way)
• 2 articles in the State Paper, 2 articles in The Gamecock, and coverage on all the TV Major Networks (Jesus was all over the news...for real)
• 2 Grateful Dead followers playing bongos, a redneck homeless man playing the guitar, an African-American woman singing gospel music, and a bunch of white middle class college kids listening all at the same time. (where else does that happen...seriously...heaven maybe?)
• Partnering with the following: Salvation Army, Killingsworth Children's Home, Calvary Outreach Ministries, Lexington Interfaith Community Services, Bellmont, St. Lawrence Place, Goodwill Industries, Winter Shelter, Habitat for Humanity, Free Clinic, The Family Shelter, America Recycles, Christ Central Ministries, Mission Columbia, Metro Baptist Association, Hannah House, Midlands Interfaith Homeless Action Council, Midlands Homeless, SC Baptist Convention, The City of Columbia
• A breakfast corn dog (don't knock it till you try it)
• Around $11,000 raised just this weekend for the Blue Print to end homelessness In Columbia
  
• Great videos done by our video guys
• Tony Campolo speaking to conclude the weekend in Finlay Park. He was solid, hilarious, and over 70 years old. (I never knew he was that old)
• An incredible group of volunteer leaders who led 700 people in what was an incredible weekend
• Stories more stories and more stories (hopefully I will have the chance to post some in the future)

Overall...incredible

Tonight www.homelessforthehomeless.com begins and will end tomorrow night in Finlay Park @ 7pm.  We have almost 1,000 people who are registered to be homeless for 24 hours at this point. God is amazing and we are pumped to see what happens in our city as a result.  Every homeless organization in our city will be served tomorrow, we will be giving away thousands and thousands of dollars, and we will be doing it all because Jesus said so. If you are NOT able to be there please be praying for the event. Thanks so much and I will do a story/report on the whole thing on Monday! I am off to get some junk done.

As many of you may know, we as a church are doing an event this Friday and Saturday entitled - SERVE THE CITY - Homeless for the Homeless. On Monday I got a phone call from a number of our college students letting me know that the event made the front page of THE GAMECOCK (the school paper at USC) The article was very well done and I just thought is was awesome to get that type of coverage on the campus that we are desperately seeking to reach with the message of Jesus. Not long after that USC's TV Station was in the offices shooting an interview previewing the event.  All the time I am thinking....this is crazy and all together incredible.  O' and by the way while I was being interviewed in my office one of the other pastors here at Midtown, Adam Gibson, was taking his shirt off through the door and flashing me his chest...it was a bit ackward for me but the girl running the camera had NO clue. I kept a straight face and finished the interview. By the way we are all "adults" at the Midtown Offices but seriously we do have some fun...well....if you consider what Adam was doing fun...ummm...maybe not. My point: Pastors don't take yourself so seriously. Anyways, then I woke up this morning to the crying voice of my wife on the phone. Normally, that would be a bad thing but this time she was crying because of her excitement about Jesus making the front page of THE STATE NEWSPAPER here in South Carolina. 

That's right this morning "Homeless for the Homeless" was the feature headline article in the State Paper. I am talking HUGE FRONT PAGE...It was the deal.  And in huge quotes in the article was a statement given by Steve Venugopal, who is heavily involved in Midtown, that stated this:

“I believe that Jesus gave up his life for me,” he said. “It seems that he also said you need to take care of the poor.”

That is absolutely unbelievable. Thank you STATE PAPER for putting that in there and NOT hiding the reason we do what we do. You can read the article HERE. Thanks Steve for speaking the truth with absolutely no shame.  Jesus made the front paper and it was NOT for some church scandal or a the latest "Jesus Spoof" on some TV Show. God is at work here and thank you to everyone who calls Midtown their family for being a part of this great mission God has given us in this city. Keep it UP! And again if you are interested in joining us THIS FRIDAY, go to www.homelessforthehomeless.com and register NOW!