Lessons from the Journey--Church Unity

(Left to right) Scott Thomas, Jonathan Falwell, Mark Driscoll

One of the things that gets me most excited is the increasing levels of willingness for church networks, denominations, and spiritual influencers to work across lines that may have previously divided.  This week Acts 29 and Pastor Mark Driscoll visited my alma mater Liberty University, Thomas Road Baptist Church at the invitation of Pastor Jonathan Falwell.  This is so encouraging because there is far more that unifies these two great ministries than divides them and there is no way of measuring the potential kingdom expansion that can occur when two Christ-seeking movements cooperate.  May there be many more meetings just like this all over the world, for His glory.  Here is the link to Acts 29 and their blog on the meeting.

Discover Church Commissioning Service @ LU

Dr. Earley with future lead planters

Britt/Stephanie and Me with Matt Willmington (TRBC)

Side view of Jonathan speaking to us

Today was a HUGE day for Discover Church and our team. In Liberty's convocation Pastor Jonathan spoke a tremendously encouraging message that was based on his father and founder of Thomas Road/Liberty Dr. Jerry Falwell's famous message.  This was the first time since Doc passed away (two years in May) that Jonathan preached one of his dad's messages.  He led off the talk by asking us four big questions that Doc used to ask us regularly.  I pass them on to you for you to answer:

• What would I try to do if I knew I could succeed?
• What goals would I set if I knew I could not fail?
• What price am I willing to pay?
• What sacrifices am I willing to make?

Pastor Jonathan then went on to preach to the 12,000 person audience from 2 Timothy 1:7, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind."  Here are the main thoughts that he attached to us and challenged the church planters. 

• Be bold!
• Don't focus on the problems!
• Believe God for the impossible!
• Commit to Him daily!
• Learn to play hurt! (Never, Never, NEVER quit!)

At the conclusion of the talk Jonathan invited all the church planters, their wives, and team members to stand below the platform and challenged each of us by name and location.  Then Dr. Elmer Towns (co-founder of Liberty and church growth guru) prayed for us as the pastors of LU and TRBC laid their hands on us!  This was truly a remarkable day.  If you are interested in hearing/seeing the convocation service click here and look for today's date (April 22nd); it may not be posted just yet.  Click here for the story from Liberty's site.  Here are some pics from this morning...

Discover Church Update

Pastor Jonathan mentioning Discover Church in convocation on April 3rd.  God is doing some remarkable things in and through this man!  We deeply appreciate Thomas Road's support of Discover Church!

Weekend in Review

Thank you to all of you who prayed for me over this past 10 days.  It has been an exciting several days.  Here are a couple pics and overviews from some of the events so that you can be a part of them and see how your prayers were used by God.  Sorry this is so long because but there is a lot going on..

Friday AM Pastor Jonathan Falwell highly effectively and graciously shared his heart in 17:6 Ministry Chapel.  He transparently talked about growing up as Dr. Falwell's son, leadership growth he has experienced since his transition to Sr. Pastor of TRBC, the futures of LU and Thomas Road, and his three ministry non-negotiables.  

1. The ministry will never take the place of his relationship with God.
   
2. The ministry will never take the place of his relationship with his family.
3. The growth of the ministry will never take the priority over teaching true doctrine.

This was certainly one of the highlights of my semester. Pastor Jonathan was the last one to leave and I am sure that is not because he has no where to go.

He showed a true shepherd's heart to the roughly 600 students (don't tell the fire marshall) in attendance.

Friday afternoon, I did get to spend some time with Mormon Missionaries Elders Yaunt and Webb.  

There was the obviously, tangible presence of God while we were talking. Pray that they will find the true Jesus

and that I will be a good friend to them. I am supposed to call them this week to get together soon. I will keep you updated...

Friday PM Brittni and I took in Roanoke, VA for the evening. We went and had a good dinner at Flat Rock Grille, took in

the sunset at the Star overlooking the city, and got some coffee at Mill Mountain Coffee Shop 

in the downtown area. This was our last BIG date in Lynchburg as non-married folks.  

33 days and counting!

Saturday at 2pm 7 prospective church planters and myself left LU for Raleigh, NC and Journey Church. Many of these guys 

who made the trip are apart of the 3:5 teams on either Monday or Thursday. Pastor Jimmy and his staff were incredibly hospitable

and left all of us with no doubt as to why this church has grown to over 1,000 people in less than 3 years!  

Lisa Bauer orchestrated a great overview so that we could be exposed to all of what Journey offers. 

If you are in the Research Triangle area you should definitely get involved at Journey!

Thank you again for your prayers...