Church planting is sexy to a lot of people for a lot of reasons.   Some that seem good and others, well, not so much.

I can’t emphasize this enough - don’t start a church because it seems appealing.  The only reason to start a church is to answer a calling.   I’m sure that previous statement sounds cliche, but if you attempt to start something for any other reason - it’s not going to last.

If God’s called you to do it - go after it!  If not, don’t waste your time (or the time of anyone else).

The economy is a mess, but you’re personal finances don’t have to be!

I know I wrote about this a few days ago, but because of the response, I wanted to let you know that you need to sign up now!  We have limited seating and spots are filling very quickly - before we even begin promotion in the community.

For now, you can sign up here.  Do it now!

Don’t have time to write a real post today.  As a result, I leave you with this…

This guys parents forgot to explain the rules about playing with knives.  Heed the warning…

We will officially begin promotion for this very soon but Debt Free Acworth is almost here!

I can’t wait for this series (November 2nd, 9th, and 16th), and the One-Day event (November 8th from 9-11:30 AM with Joseph Sangl who was recently featured in Money Magazine).  It will go a long way in helping YOU get out of debt and develop a plan to do far more than you ever thought possible in the area of personal finances… We only have room for a few hundred people for the one day event.  If you want in - send an email here in order to reserve your seat as this will fill up quickly!

In conjunction with this series, we now have an opportunity for you to get one-on-one help with a guy who is passionate about helping develop a financial plan that will work for you.  Email us here for more information!

• We baptized 24 people on Sunday!  It was a great kickoff for the NEXT series…
• I got soaked! That didn’t happen last time. Not sure what happened.
• The 11:00 was strange on Sunday.  It ended well, but had a weird vibe.
• I have a BIG meeting tomorrow that could open up huge doors for Freedom Church.  Pray for wisdom so we can make the right decision.
• Devin and I have now been married for 8 years.  Like I said in that awkward moment way back during the marriage series…”She is amaaaazing!”   You had to be there to appreciate that.
• What’s restaurant should we check out tonight?
• There will be 7 of us headed to Catalyst on Wednesday night.  Looking forward to catching up with some friends I don’t get to see that often.
• I can’t wait until Sunday!  Trust me.
• Will and family came to hang out with us this week.  He is going to do great things in Australia - even though they think diapers are called “nappies”.

Sinus stuff has been driving me crazy!  I was trying to find something that would work and came across this…

I hope this lady is already married.  If not, there probably isn’t much hope…

I think I might stick with nose spray for the time being…

By the way - totally random thought, but anyone out there going to Catalyst?  Let me know and we can get together…

Guest Blog:  Brian and Shannon Ladd (Life Change story from Freedom Church)

Last December, a group of crazy guys had decided to sleep in a crane to help kids get bikes for Christmas.  As a result, I decided to go check this church out.  Brian and I never went to church except for an occasional wedding or Christening, so I walked in not knowing what to expect.  Before walking out, I knew we had found the church for us!

We had both considered ourselves Christians, but never realized how far from God we really were.  On September 6th, Brian came up to me with a huge smile on his face.  He said, “I did it.  When Pastor J.R. was praying, I prayed for Jesus to come into my life.”  I have never been happier for Brian!  During the next week, we sat in the evenings and read the Bible and prayed.  We joined a small group and have begun a spiritual journey together!

The next week, as I sat in the auditorium, I really felt like Pastor was speaking directly to me.  I couldn’t sit still during the message because I just kept waiting for him to say “Shannon, I AM talking to you”.  So on that day, I called Brian (he was out of town) to tell him that I too had prayed to accept Christ!

It’s only been a few weeks since then, but we can already see a difference in our lives.  We are different people.  My kids even get excited about Freedom and can’t wait to learn about God every week.  Things that use to get us stressed and upset just don’t seem to matter as much.  Now, we pray about it and let God handle it.  We are both looking forward to growing in our relationship with God and with each other.  We are truly thankful for Freedom Church and truly blessed that God led Pastor J.R. to start a church in Acworth!  We love seeing Freedom grow and reaching more people who are far from God so that they too can experience life in Christ!

I think that we all set goals…

• losing X amount of weight
• getting out of debt
• accomplishing ________
• seeing X amount of growth by ______ in church, business, etc.

With that in mind, I am curious to hear how it is that you work your strategy.  Do you just begin taking the steps that you think will get you to the desired destination or is it more intentional that that?  Do you simply pray for the desired result and then watch and see what happens?  What’s the method behind the madness in your life?  Fire away…

So What’s NEXT?

We are all at different points on a journey. We all have a next step that we need to take. The newest series at FreedomChurch, beginning October 5, is designed to help all of us navigate the next steps in our lives.

For some, that next step will be walking into a church for the first time. For others, it will be experiencing baptism, learning how to effectively spend time with God, and/or partnering with FreedomChurch so that people far from God can experience life in Christ.

Whatever your next step may be, we invite you to be our guest beginning October 5. 

• Very good day on Sunday.  For the first time in a while - we actually switched a lot of things up between the 9:30 and 11:00.  Transition went flawlessly.
• Supposedly, the gas shortage is getting a little better - sooner than they thought.
• I wish I had $100,000 to invest in mutual funds today.  Everything is on sale right now.
• I am going to sign up for a few 5K races over the next few months.  If you want in let me know.  Way more fun to run with people than by yourself.
• FreedomGroups is going very well.  I am excited about that.
• Baptism on Sunday.  If you still need to be baptized - take the next stop now!  Sign up here.
• NEXT is going to be a great series during the month of October!  The preparation process alone has challenged me in a major way.
• Don’t forget to keep Saturday, November 8th from 9-11:30 AM open on your Calendar.  DebtFreeAcworth is going to help you do more with your finances than you ever thought possible!
• Good to see Josh and his crew on Sunday.  I believe in that guy and think God has big plans for him in Rome.
• My dog ate a bunch of grease yesterday out of something called a FryDaddy.  His stomach is not happy with him and we made him sleep in the garage.
• Let’s go Phillies!