Creative Scribble

I had an interview with the Knoxville News-Sentinel yesterday for quite a long time. It went really well and I'm really looking forward to the article in next week's paper. One of the questions she asked was "Why are you doing the preview services instead of just starting?" To be honest, if I had answered this question two weeks ago I would have had to make something up. I didn't fully understand why we shouldn't just start full blown on July 26.

But after an awesome first preview service, I now see that it's time to tweak a few things before the next one. Instead of rushing through a week to make those adjustments, we have time to celebrate the great day that we had and rethink a few simple areas.

Read more »

The one system that seems to make or break churches more than any other is that of leadership and accountability. If the leadership structure requires too many hoops to jump through (committees, votes, boards, etc.), nothing can get accomplished. But on the flip side, if there is a single leader with no accountability it will often end disastrous (moral failure, financial struggles, staffing issues, etc.).

Striking a healthy balance for OneLife Church has been my top priority in this area.

Read more »

The most obvious system at any church is the Sunday morning worship experience. Think about it: even in the most traditional church somebody has to plan the bulletin, print and fold the bulletin, rehearse the music and choir, pick the hymns, plan a sermon, make sure the offering is collected, clean the sanctuary, practice the “special music,” get those flowers on the offering table, and on and on the list goes.

But what I’ve learned over the past two years is that most of these churches – in fact most all churches – operate in a “put out the fire closest to the tent” mode when it comes to preparing for what really is our most influential hour of the week. Afterall, this is the hour that our target, the lost and unchurched, are most likely to attend.

So what is OneLife’s plan?

Read more »

This past Sunday was our first Launch Team meeting and this Sunday morning will be the first time we get to meet at the high school. We are very excited about that!

The challenge has been trying to determine what exactly we should be talking about. For nearly two years I’ve been thinking, planning, praying, and preparing for launching this new church. So now I have to whittle down those two years into just a couple of months for these people who have bought in to the vision and are ready to roll up their sleeves to make it happen.

Read more »

Yesterday was a crazy busy day. Tyler is now officially working for OneLife one day a week so we met bright and early to get some priorities set for him. He hit the ground running and had a hugely productive day. I can't wait to post our website he's working on. It's great. Then I was off to meet with a guy from a church planting organization to talk about how we might be able to partner together. They are helping to plant a ton of churches so this could be a very good thing for OneLife and the churches we hope to one day start.

Read more »