1. I am getting ready to get in the car and drive for the next 6 hours. This will probably be the last time I ever drive “home” to Memphis, TN.

2. Oceans 13 was pretty good. There were more previews before that movie than any other movie I have ever seen.

3. We ate at Copelands Cheesecake Bistro before the movie. Amazing!

4. Pro Volleyball girls are very tall.

5. If you ever go to Atlantic Station - do not wear a hat. I kept having to take it off to pacify the various business owners.

6. I am thirsty.

7. We better be building bridges if we desire to have ANY impact in the lives of people. Removing yourself from society is NOT the answer.

8. I think the Cavs might be in trouble.

9. Our worship pastor is leading at MLC tomorrow. Bueno!

10. I am very thankful for all the emails, phone calls, and text messages (1100 in 10 days and no I am not kidding), over the past several days. Great and encouraging friends are awesome!

Gary posted a great quote here…

Go check it out.

1. The process of buying a house seems like a never ending process…”If only this house was in that neighborhood and this kitchen was in that house, etc., etc., etc.” The decision has been made and now we just wait to close.

2. Selling the house this time around was much easier that selling the last time around. We had two house payments for the first 14 months we lived in Millington.

3. Planning on watching Oceans 13 later tonight…It has to be incredible because it is extremely hard for me to sit through an entire movie. My mind starts racing and I will count ceiling tiles and fight the urge to jump up and down repeatedly every 10 minutes.

4. As Todd let you know, I found out that I use to wrap a towel around my head and pretend I was a smurf when I was little.

5. If I still did that, I would be the world’s tallest smurf!

6. I am very thankful that God uses jacked up people to reach other jacked up people…

7. We really need office space. God knows this and already has a plan. Now, I am just waiting for Him to reveal the details.

8. I have learned a LOT about people in the past couple weeks. That is both good and bad.

9. I have never been more excited about God’s plan for my life than I am right now.

10. Gratitude and humility are two sides of the same coin.

More later

Since we are traveling back to Memphis tomorrow morning we decided to hang out and watch some Pro volleyball in Atlantic Station early this morning. It was pretty crazy just sitting on the front row watching this event.

We play volleyball every once in a while and I use to think that we were pretty good. I got a huge dose of reality this morning. Let’s just say that the difference between a bunch of people getting together to play is much different from a group of professionals competing for $200,000.

If you get a chance, go check it out.

One of the most intense things that I have experienced so far in the church planting journey is the amount of trust that has to be placed in the One who calls you to plant.

I have always said that I “trust” God, but I am not sure that I really understood what that meant until recently. It was easy to trust when I felt like I had everything under control. When everything, and I do mean everything, feels like it is out of your control, your “trust” gets put to the test.

Consistently trying to negotiate with God and hoping to get Him to work on my schedule has proven futile. I am learning that the very things that cause me to worry and panic are simply part of His plan to prove Himself faithful. He has never failed me before and He doesn’t have any plans to do so in the future.

With that in mind, I am not at the point in my life where I fully trust. I am learning. I am on a journey. The journey is hard, but the journey is priceless.

Today was an extremely productive day. We went to our “portable office” at the Cocoa Bean Cafe again today and we knocked out the first 4 months of message planning.

We already had about half of that nailed down, but it was good to get the creative ball rolling on everything else.

We had lunch with Brett Morey today. He is the pastor of First Baptist Acworth which will be just a few miles down the road. He is a great guy that gets “it” and is doing a great job at FBCA. I look forward to getting to know these guys and watching what God has in store for that church.

We have some meetings today that should be a lot of fun. I love meeting new people and hearing what God is doing in and through their lives and ministries. While those meetings are happenening, we will be awaiting word on a potential office complex that we could never afford.

Seriously, if it happens, the offices would be WAY nicer than anything we thought we would be able to obtain. Pray that it works out.

For the second day in a row, we will move our “portable offices” to the Coco Bean Cafe. They have the best white raspberry coffee (frozen) thing on the planet. I am not even sure what it is and I think they invented it yesterday - but it was amazing.

A good friend of mine, Woody Cumbie, (doesn’t have a blog yet, but he will or he has volunteered to forfeit his tickets to the Miami/FSU game in October) is looking for a childrens minister.

He is the Lead Pastor of Lifepointe Church in Carmel, IN.

It is a great opportunity for someone to jump on board an exciting church plant in an INCREDIBLE community. Indianapolis is pretty unbelievable and Woody is not so bad himself. If you are interested or know someone who is just contact him here.

One of the most influential people in my life over the years has been Pastor Johnny Hunt. He has been huge in my life personally and huge in the planting process of Freedom Church.

Pastor Johnny is a wealth of knowledge and the picture of integrity. First Woodstock has grown from 250 to over 7,000 every Sunday and their influence is worldwide through various ministries that most people do not even know about. They have partnered in the launch of a ridiculous number of churches over the years and they continue to be instrumental in the life of a countless number of churches, pastors, and ministries worldwide.

In spite of his crazy schedule, he is very accessible and always willing to do anything he can to help. They have partnered with Freedom Church financially in a HUGE way. Without them, we would definitely not be where we are right now. Thank you FBCW and thank you Pastor Johnny! You are definitely and extremely incredible person…

Todd and I drove around for what seemed like forever today looking for an office complex and a place with free WIFI to set up our “office” for the day.

I love Starbucks, but for some reason they do not believe that $4 coffee makes them enough money so they choose to charge for their WIFI service. As a result, no Starbucks for me for quite a while since we have officially found a home at Atlanta Bread Co. They have everything you need (except for outlets for the laptop), a cool atmosphere, and the willingness to let two officeless guys work all day.

I was able to introdue Todd to Jason (our church planting intern for the summer). Jason is a cool guy and will bring a lot to the table. We will break him in a little more tomorrow. Not quite sure if he knows what he is getting himself into!