Make a budget…

Now that you know how much debt your have its time to make a budget.  A budget is a plan (Proverbs 21:5)of how you are going to spend your money.  Spend EVERY dollar you make on paper BEFORE you spend it for real.  Living on a budget takes discipline and hard work but if you are ever going to become Boss of Your Bling it is something that you must do.  Click HERE for a budget worksheet.

Make a list…

 

 

To follow up with the message from sunday and help you Act Your Wage, I wanted to give you some practical tools this week through the blog.  This first one may be painful but you need to do it.  The only way you can get control of your finances is to KNOW your finances.  Some of us have NO CLUE how much money we owe and we always wonder where the money went at the end of the month.  The beginning of becoming the boss of our bling is making a list of what we OWE.  Alright class you have your homework, see ya tomorrow.

Sunday night thoughts…

• Today was incredible!  The band ROCKED (seriously, we have GOT to do an album) and I think the message really connected.
• We are seeing tons of people beginning to get connected at Lifesong… Very cool!
• We had 26 kids in the childrens department!  Are you kidding me!  Tammy (our smokin hot childrens director :-)) and the rest of the volunteers in there are doing a GREAT job.  If you want to make a difference and volunteer send her an email at tammy@lifesonglive.com.
• Thanks to everybody that helped load out today… it was great to have the extra help!
• If you missed the service today, you missed alot!  We have unveiled the Lifesong Act Your Wage Financial Advisor, for more info click HERE.
• Much props to Jason for getting the above video put together.  Josh and Chris just might have a new career.  I love the attitude of our volunteers… I had the idea for this Thursday morning and THEY made it happen.  It is one of the funniest things that I have seen in church anywhere.
• I will be posting some helpful tools on the blog this week to help you act your wage so check back often.
• The Mayfling was alot of fun and we had the chance to make an impact in the community. 
• It has been a LONG weekend… I am going to crash now.

Pretty funny…

People have found our church website and this blog alot of different ways… but this Google search today was my favorite – “Andy Stanley cult leader.”

Oh crap!  They found us out!  Quick… to the compound and don’t forget the snakes! 

For the record Andy Stanley is not a cult leader… but he is trying to form a one world government 😉

I hope I could do this…

Kinetic church in Charlotte, NC is a portable church that meets in a theater like us.  One weekend in early March their trailer was stolen along with most of their equipment.  I can not imagine the emotions that they must have had when they discovered the trailer missing.  Their response to this is amazing and truly demonstrates the love and forgiveness of Christ.  I hope I would respond in the same way.  This video messed me up… watch all of it.

 

Happy Birthday…

It is hard to believe but this blog is one year old today.  I started Behind The Song as an online journal to help me remember some of the journey of the song and to cast the vision of Lifesong church.  It has been an amazing year in my life and the life of Lifesong and I cant wait to see what is next.  Here is the very first post…

Man, ain’t I cool!  Blogging on the WWW!  For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not the most tech savvy guy, heck I usually need help every other week to fix what I have messed up on my laptop!  Yet, this tool is an awesome way to keep people updated to what is going on with Lifesong church and a way for people to get to know me (as scary as that is) and my passion to see this generation reached with the Message of Christ.  I look at this blog like another pulpit.  A place to cast vision, share my amazing wisdom (insert sarcasm here), and post the ramblings of a scared to death church planter!

I do have a few concerns though.  What if only my wife and a guy in the mid-west looking for a new cult-leader read this thing?  What if people actually do read this blog and find out just how messed up I am!  What if I’m not a good blogger (what does that mean)?  What if…

That is a question that I have been asking alot lately… What if? 

What if I really followed God’s call in my life with all my heart? 

What if we started a church that would do everything that it could to reach those who are disconnected from God and His people?

What if church was’nt a place to go to and instead became who we are to become?

What if I was as concerned with pleasing God as I am with pleasing people? 

What if…

Well, we are going to find out!  We are going to turn up the volume in Griffin with God’s message.  I am going to update this blog several times a week and see where it leads.  Check it out to see what is going on behind the scenes with Lifesong church.  Be patient, I am new to this blogging thing and I don’t really know what I am doing, but hey, I don’t know much about starting a church either, so they will both be an adventure!  I wouldn’t have it any other way! 

Lets turn it up!!!

Sunday night thoughts…

• Another great day at Lifesong.  I said last week that things just “clicked” and today was even better.
• I am so proud of our worship leader Jenny, she is doing an awesome job and has really stepped it up the last two weeks… today’s worship was simply amazing.
• Good news/Bad news… Good news… our lead guitar player, Ryan was signed this past week by a major record label!  The bad news… Ryan was signed this past week by a major record label.  I am really excited for him and will miss hearing him shred on the guitar.  Anybody know of any really good lead guitar players?
• Just finished up with our first partnership class… it is amazing to see how far God has brought Lifesong in six short months… and to think this is just the beginning!
• We kicked off “Bling” this week… this will be a really practical series that we all need.
• I got a little reminiscent tonight as we sat in our living room for the partnership class… this time last year there were eight of us meeting in the same living room dreaming… very cool!

 

No building, no problem…

One of the questions I get asked alot is, “when will Lifesong get its own building?”  The answer to that question is simple, when its Gods time, although it will be a while.  I love meeting in the movie theater, here are some reasons WHY…

• COST– Lifesong spends about 20% of our budget on facilities.  That is WAY below what most churches spend on a building.  Because our overhead is low it allows us to spend more money on MINISTRY.  Too many churches are strapped to a mortgage payment and other debt connected with a building that they are handicapped in their ability to impact their community.  Lifesong church is about building PEOPLE not BUILDINGS.
• Location– I believe that the theater is THE best place to meet in Griffin.  We could not afford to build anything nearly as nice as what we have now.  People know where the theater is, its easy and accessible to get to (for alot of churches that’s not the case).  We do all we can to make it easy for people to come and hear a dangerous message and our location is part of that.
• Enhances Ministry – I love the fact that most of Griffin has been to the location that our church meets without having been to a service (yet).  For many people, a church building is a barrier.  The theater is a neutral place for someone who has not been to church in a while to check things out.  Our job is to remove ANY distraction that might keep someone from hearing the Message and if a church building is a distraction we remove it.  I also love the fact that we are getting back to our Christian roots… the early church (read Acts) met in the marketplace, in a sense so are we.
• Redemptive Value – I know some people have made issue of that fact that we meet in a place that shows “R” rated movies (usually these folks wont come to a theater to watch – they rent them at Blockbuster 🙂 ).  We are redeeming a theater and using it for God’s glory.  How cool is that!
• Seats – We have the most comfortable seats of ANY church in town… they even have CUPHOLDERS so you can bring your freshly brewed Rwandan coffee with you!  We even have an ARCADE in the lobby… that’s AWESOME!

Whats YOUR favorite part about meeting in a theater?

Sunday night thoughts…

• It was an awesome day.  Some days just “click” and it was one of those days today!
• The band ROCKED today… Trey (our drummer) has not played in nearly a month and I think he wanted to make up for it today! 
• We wrapped up our “Supernatural” message series today.  To a certain degree I feel like I preached the same message four times… but judging from your feedback, God used it to make an impact in your life.
• DUDE night was awesome!  Great race (this is my blog, so I WON 🙂 ), great food, and great fun.  One phrase comes to mind to sum it up… “ding-a-ling.”
• Don’t forget to sign up for NEXT Step (Partnership class) on next Sunday.  Send an email to lifeline@lifesonglive.com to register.
• We also need some help at the end of the  month for the Mayfling.  This is a chance for us to serve our community and have alot of fun.  Send an email to the above address if you want to help out.
• Next week we are kicking off a series called “Bling“… trust me, you don’t want to miss it!
• Man I love seeing first time guest’s and those who come back again.  If you are one of them, please help us out by filling out our guest survey!
• Thank you God for allowing me this chance to make a difference with my life and lead Lifesong church… this is just the beginning!

Friday’s funny…

This is love… I think we went to Bible College together.