.:Tally Wilgis:. Captivate The City

TallyWilgis.com HAS MOVED

2010-11-02T12:50:00.004-04:00

I've changed blogging platforms from Blogger to Wordpress so I have to ask you to take a moment to update your feed. One of the biggest reasons I avoided the move for a few years was the fear of losing those of you who read on RSS feed.

As God opens doors and grows our ministry I want to invest more time into sharing that story as well as possibly inspiring others to live out their potential as well. Wordpress ultimately won out for its ease of use and the ability to intuitively create great looking content with very little effort on the back end. I'm looking forward to putting out stronger and more consistant content in the weeks, months and years ahead. So join me at the new site.

Please follow this link and update your feed!

The new feed is located at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/tallywilgis

Reflections on the 1st Year

2010-10-04T10:46:00.003-04:00

October 4, 2009 a new church was born in Baltimore. Over the last year we have seen God do an amazing work in our region. God has given us a front row seat to see many people come to faith and be baptized as a public sign of following Jesus.

In addition to the 87 who have come forward in our services to receive Christ and the 26 baptisms we saw in our first year, we’ve seen many people come back to Christ after years of drifting. We’ve also been able to become a church home for some people who felt called to become missionaries with us and found Captivate to be a place on mission where they could use their gifts for God’s glory.

There are four major "human" reasons I believe we've had a great first year:

1. Unique Vision matching Pastor and Place- God has been birthing this vision in my life for many years. I'm a match for the culture and the vision is a match between my giftedness and our area.

I get sad when I ask a potential church planter about the area to which he is called. When the conversation jumps to spreadsheets I start to snore. During our fundraising phase I had guys call me every few weeks to ask how to get started. Finally I stopped being polite and started being honest. I told one guy "I don't hear a gut-wrenching vision. Why should people give money to YOU for THIS PLACE? What is the God-story?" I told him to save his graphic-design budget until God revealed to him why he was the one for the task.

What is your God-story? How has God been preparing this church to be birthed? If God has called you, you must be able to articulate the answer to "Why you?", "Why there?" "Why now?" and "Why you, there, now?"

2. The Team- I could not do this alone. Let me repeat, I could not build Captivate Church by flying solo.

I just deleted a long rant about my frustrations with parachute plants and the denominational employees who advocate them. Moving on...

We're so blessed with Captivate. There are many people who sacrifice without fanfare. They are the ones who make Captivate happen.

3. A Strong Base of Support- We have been blessed with two major pieces of support. Financial and Human. I have documented over the last year the people and churches who have helped us. We were blessed to receive a great financial push at the beginning. This allowed us to launch well. We are so thankful to have these partners committed into year 3 of our church. This is huge for us.

4. Preach through the Invitation- I've learned to preach through the invitation. I heard this principle at Elevation Church's THR3E on April 28, 2009. Pastor Furtick spoke on the fact that Pastors often preach a strong sermon but then ask nothing in the way of response.

In my previous ministry experiences I didn't put as much of an emphasis on response to the sermon. I've come to see that as a mistake.

When God is moving in someone's heart it is so important that we allow that person to respond. We have a come-forward altar call at the end of every service for people making a decision to follow Christ. Here are a few reasons:

A. Puts The Pressure On- I don't want to encourage 'easy' decisions. People don't just check a box, they actually acknowledge Jesus publicly.

B. Allows Our Church To See God At Work- As a Pastor I often get emails, cards or phone calls from people who want to share what God did in that week's service. As a church I want our people to have access to all God is doing as well. It's an encouragement to the church to see God active around them.

C. Reminds Our Church That Preaching Prompts Response- Part of what I love about the altar call is that the Christian in the seat has a few moments where they can respond to God at the end of every service before the worries of the day get in the way.

To Be Continued:

At Captivate we have much to learn and a long way to go but I will tell you that I have started to pray for the day when God gives our church the honor of seeing Him work in 1 day the way He worked in us this first year. I'm asking God to allow our ministry to grow to the point when we will see 87 salvations and 26 baptisms in the same day. I believe that day is coming and coming sooner than we may think.

ReFRESH Conference Recap

2010-09-30T10:30:00.009-04:00

The reality is that most of you do not know much about Sherwood Church in Albany, GA. if you do, you know them from their movies: Facing the Giants and Fireproof.

What I wish you could know are the people I've been blessed to know over the last year. The people of Sherwood make up a powerful Christ-centered church.

This past week I went to Sherwood's "ReFRESH" conference. In a day when most conferences are about 'leadership' or 'church growth' or 'systems' it has become unique to have a conference focused on REVIVAL. A fresh touch of God.

The Team:

Ed Litton, Daniel Simmons, Tom Elliff, Bill Stafford, Ken Jenkins and the host, Pastor Michael Catt. (see also: Dr. Catt's Twitter)

The Messages:

The messages were powerful and there is absolutely no way I could reproduce the power of the Holy Spirit in the room during each presentation but there are a few nuggets I'll share in this post from just 3 sermons. To be honest, I have far too many notes to post here. I didn't tweet much because the preaching was so strong and my notebook was filling up far too quickly.

For a much better slice of the conference, I encourage you to watch last years sermons here. They will also be offering this years videos at some point.

Do Yourself a Favor this Spring:

I want to encourage you to consider going to ReFRESH in the spring. I'm planning to attend. If you are a Pastor who wants to calm down and hear from God, you must get there. Look, I'm a young guy with a new and vibrantly growing church. The readers of this site are like me. We keep up with all of the coolest and newest and the fastest... but we need to get back to God's heart. Pastors of my generation are missing out if they do not connect with those who are older, wiser and more focused on revival than we are. Our generation has proven how to begin well. Many of these men are walking examples of how to continue well over the long-haul and even how to finish well. Don't make the mistake of judging your health based on current results and strategies. God (and his principles) are timeless. We need some truths that are simply not 'cool' right now. Teaching on biblical revival and a personal walk with the Holy Spirit fall into that category.

This conference is so unique because it is laser focused on the revival of our own human hearts. Take a load off and plan to come to ReFRESH 'In the Smokies'

NOTES FROM REFRESH:

I'll give just a few quotes I noted from a few of the preachers. If the comment is not quoted then I'm just explaining my take on the quote.

Ken Jenkins: Phil 1:27

Mr. Jenkins is a world class photographer who as Dr. Catt put it "Exegetes nature" better than anyone alive. His message centered around the similarities of 'the song' found in every little bird and the song found in every human heart. It was a powerful message of hope, inspiration and yes, challenge.

"We don't trust in Christ so we can add the word 'Christian' to what we already are." Christ transforms us. Are we living out a transformed life? Our 'song' should reflect that new life.

"Our Conduct is our song." Just as a bird has a unique song, we either clang like symbols or our lives reflect harmony with our beliefs.

"We tend to repeat what sounds churchy to others instead of relying on Jesus for our life's song."

"Don't live your life repeating a memorized song you heard from someone else." Live out your unique song in harmony with Christ.

Tom Elliff: Ephesians 5:15

Dr. Tom Elliff is the Senior Pastor of FBC Del City, OK. He is also a former President of the SBC.

"Coming to church is not the test of our faith, it's what we do when we leave the church that is our test."

"The Southern Church has become quaint moralism" -- Let that sink in. When our faith is not much more than being 'nice' or 'moral', where is Jesus? Where is redemption? Where is reconciliation? Where is repentance? We must be more than just a moral group of people who act kindly to one another.

"Don't squander time."

"Every moment to the child of God is momentous." Our lives should be one divine moment after another. No part of time should be taken for granted if you are a child of God and believe God knows the number of your days and his power is available to every one of those moments. It is a powerful occasion to walk with God and doing so everyday deserves our complete awareness that in our lives is 'heaven meeting earth'.

1 Chronicles 22

"For every victory there is a price, for every triumph there is an opponent."

"If the church is going to reach people, it must be led by a Pastor who is reaching people. If the church is going to be spiritually healthy, it must be led by a leader who is spiritually healthy."

"When we pray, we often pray to God's hands. What God wants is for us to keep our focus on his eyes." (This reminded me of a very powerful passage in my life right now 2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

"Am I filled with the Holy Spirit?"

"Today a dirty word is 'submit'. "

Daniel Simmons: Psalm 51

Pastor Simmons is the Senior Pastor of Mt. Zion Church in Albany, GA. He and Dr. Catt formed a relationship in Albany which transcends race and lifts up the gospel. The deep south has a lot of racial division but a flood in 1994 brought these two men of God together to the point that they call one another the 'co-Pastor' of their respective churches. What a shining light to see.

Pastor Simmons is a powerful preacher. Last year I watched him preach Ezekial and the dry bones story like never before. It was indeed something to see. Go to http://albany.refreshconference.org/video/ and click on the 3rd picture from the right.

"If revival is to happen it must start in individuals first."

Psalm 51 is David asking:

1. Cleanse Me

2. Restore Me

3. Use Me

David displays genuine and heartfelt repentance for his sin.

David was walking around like most of us, not knowing he needed personal revival. He would walk past the temple and hear people singing HIS SONGS to God. Think about that. The power a person must feel when people are worshipping God through arrangements and words written by you. It must give a sense that you're closer to God than you may be.

David, like many of us needed someone to speak truth to Him in love to call him to personal revival.

2 Sam chps 11-12 Nathan confronts David

"We all have what David had. The ability to cover our sin."

"Ever since Adam and Eve we have been covering our sin and hiding."

"We cover up because we rely on 'the Gospel of Public Opinion." (If people 'think' we're walking with God we allow ourselves to be comfortable that people think that way instead of inspecting our own hearts)

"We cover up because of 'the Gospel of Private Opinion." (If I think I'm not as bad of a sinner as other people --I didn't kill anyone-- then we feel that we're doing just fine and don't need personal repentance and revival)

"In my private gospel, I tend to justify a lot. Do you?"

"Leaders of the church have become experts at cover-up."

"Sometimes people confusing God's anointing with God's approval." (This was an amazing point! God wants to do His will. At times he will do his will through a vessel that is living in sin. God's goal is to reach people and he will use people with poor motives to do it. DO NOT believe your success in using God's anointing is automatically tied to God's approval of your personal life. At times God uses you IN SPITE of your sin, not because of your purity. We must be certain to live in perpetual repentance and keep a pure heart before God or else we'll feel that his work through us indicates something about our heart that God is not trying to communicate at all.)

"I cannot cleanse myself of my sin."

"Acknowledge your own sin. The only cure is God Himself."

"If you can't acknowledge it, God can not heal it."

1. Acknoweldge the sin.

2. Acknowledge the consequence of your sin.

3. Surrender to the cleansing power of God.

- We need His blood. The blood of Jesus is the only thing to cleanse us from our sin.

"If you have me on a pedestal, I want you to take me down. I am a sinner. But I DO have a SAVIOR."

My Greatest Gift

2010-09-22T17:38:00.009-04:00

Over our first year at Captivate Church we've seen God do amazing things. The greatest things have been to see 80 people respond on Sunday mornings to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and then to see 25 baptized all before our first year anniversary.

When I returned home from a recent trip to visit one of our great partners- Dr. Johnny Hunt, Mr. Bill Agee and the rest of the FBC Woodstock faith-family, I walked into the hall leading to our downstairs office to find this: Pictures of those we have seen baptized at Captivate Church in this last year.

click to enlarge

I stood in awe! This is easily the greatest church-related gift I've been given thus far in the life of our church. The biggest reason is the people pictured in it...

Each of these people is a life that Jesus has transformed! Each of these people are people who have seen God move in an amazing way. Each of these people represent why Captivate Church exists and why my family moved here to start this church nearly a year ago. This wall also represents the labor and sweat of many people who give and serve at Captivate week after week to make it happen. It is a wall that represents the sacrifices of church members from our amazing partner churches who give their tithes, offerings and time to see Captivate reach Baltimore with the gospel of Christ.

As we approach our first anniversary we have so much to be thankful for. God is moving and we are excited week after week to see his will carried out for the people of Baltimore.

I serve with some amazing people. Two of them are Mikael and Ashley (who came up with this idea and executed it while I was away). They told me that they ordered extra frames. I tested their faith by asking "How many did you order? How big is your faith that we'll need more?" Lets just say that by their answer (and the size of their order) that they believe God is about to do "immeasurably more than all we would ask or imagine." Ephesians 3:20 type of stuff!

I'm ready. Lets go!

Welcome to a life-giving Church, welcome to Captivate Church!

Sun Stand Still

2010-09-21T13:47:00.005-04:00

I believe you need to order Sun Stand Still by Pastor Steven Furtick. I read books. If you lead, you read.

In 2008 my family accepted the call to return to my hometown of Baltimore, MD to launch Captivate Church. I took time to travel the East Coast and visit with over a dozen great churches (usually a few churches a day). I met many friends during this trip and observed various ways God had gifted great leaders and teams to build great churches. There were some commonalities among them but I found that many of these churches possessed leaders who held strong to a few key principles that made their churches great.

At Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC I met Pastor Furtick for the first time. While my visit was brief, the impact will last a lifetime. Meeting his staff (I had a great time learning from Chunks Corbett and Larry Brey) gave me a great insight to the quality of people who are drawn to a Sun Stand Still vision. Audacious faith brings audacious partners.

Two major keys I found to be superior among the people of Elevation. The first is a tremendous sense of honor. Their entire church culture revolves around the theme of honor for their Pastor, one another and their guests. When you're with the people of Elevation you quickly find that they genuinely practice Philippians 2:4 "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others."

The second key ingredient I observed in Elevation Church is the audacious faith with which they pursued life. This faith was everywhere: from the volunteers I observed mid-week serving in the office to the staff who all believe God was going to use Elevation to flip their city upside down. Up, down, left and right you can look around Elevation Church and see the "page 23 vision" coming life. The audacious faith that believes because God called us to it, he would see it come to pass. The type of faith it takes to see God make the Sun Stand Still is the same faith you need to see him move in your life and in the life of your city.

My outside observation is that Pastor Furtick seems to have written this book with an intention to impart to you the lessons of faith he's learned by seeing God grow a church from a handful of people to a multi-campus church that filled up an 11,000 seat arena in Charlotte this past Easter. Having read a pre-release copy of the book, I decided to have our entire church walk through this book together. I'll preach through the topics and our small groups will discuss its contents. We'll use the resources found at SunStandStill.org

Maybe your Sun Stand Still prayer is for healing, for reconciliation with a prodigal child or for your city to be changed by the power of the Gospel. No matter the particular prayer you will find inspiration in this book. Pastor Furtick shares story after encouraging story of seeing God move greatly on the behalf of the average man and woman of God. You are that man or woman but your faith need not be average. Go grab yourself a copy of Sun Stand Still today. Here's the link, stop reading and start buying.

Wilgis Fam On The Farm

2010-09-18T17:53:00.022-04:00

We went to Webers Farm today as part of their Johnny Appleseed Festival. We had a great time and came away with some cool family memories!

I'm In Awe

2010-09-14T09:12:00.028-04:00

I'm in awe of God. What we experienced on Sunday is difficult to put in words.

Quick Aside:
As I shared on Saturday, our church showed up big time at our East Baltimore location where we are preparing to launch our next campus. The Baltimore Sun ran a story about an initiative that some political leaders are trying to get started in our area. Unbeknown to us, we are on the cutting edge. :) Check out the story by clicking here.

Back to Sunday: This Sunday was one of our most powerful services to date. We baptized 6 at the beginning of service. I'm including the video at the bottom of this post. CHECK IT OUT. When we baptize I like to take time to tell their stories. I truly believe Baptism becomes one of the greatest avenues for the Gospel to be shared. It's one thing for a Pastor to preach and tell people what they should do. It's an entirely new ballgame when someone sees an adult profess Jesus as Lord and follow through in Baptism. Suddenly it's not the Pastor preaching... its their friend or someone with whom they can easily identify. (See pictures at the bottom of the post)
I preached from Luke 15 about the lost sheep and then asked people if they would like to respond to the prompting of Christ in their life. What happened next was powerful. Over the next few minutes we saw 10 people come forward to respond to the invitation to receive Christ. We have people come forward to make a public decision. One by one I hugged each person as our church celebrated. This is new life in Christ! Every one of those people are special but one of them was my own 15 year old sister. I was wrecked when I saw her coming.

What you should keep in mind about our weekend was that not only did a bunch of our people come to serve in East Baltimore on Saturday. They brought friends and 10 received Christ. Then after service we had a "VIP" team meeting. (We've jacked the VIP concept from our friends at Elevation Church) While the previous week we had 12 sign up... close to 40 came out to the training!

Not only that but it was raining here and the restaurant we selected wasn't conducive for a meeting so a few of our guys went and grabbed our VIP tents and set them up outside of the restaurant. Right there, outside, in the middle of the Towne Center we held our VIP team training! Our people are ready to do whatever they can to reach people with the Gospel and I love them for it!

What a weekend, what a church, what a God!

East Baltimore Block Party

2010-09-11T20:56:00.000-04:00

I could not be more proud of the people of Captivate Church than I am today!

If you want to see the photos in an album, simply click: View all

We hosted a 'Back to School Block Party' in East Baltimore today. For those of you who don't know our story, we were given this property in East Baltimore last year. This property is actually my former home church. I accepted Christ and was baptized in this church. God has called me back to Baltimore to reach this entire city. One of the ways we're going to do that is by creating new models for how suburban and urban churches interact. Instead of having a 'mission' in the city, we want to be one church in two very distinct areas. Captivate Church is outside the beltway and most of the people in our community are educated and financially stable. Our East Baltimore location serves a population segment with very high unemployment and very little education. To captivate the entire city we're going to build a prototype of a singular church in diverse areas that can function as one church.

Our 'model' hasn't been done as far as we know. I was told to my face by someone who approves church planting that they wouldn't have supported our concept because "You can't get suburban white people to care about inner city black people." This person has obviously not met the people of Captivate Church!

Here is a random stream of thought from the day. I'm so humbled and thankful for what God is doing here in Baltimore. It isn't flashy, it's just seeing the gospel of Christ saturate a city one life at a time. In word and deed we saturated a community with Christ today.

- Today we were able to supply many kids with backpacks filled with school supplies. Everything was donated by the people of Captivate. The same people who served at this event today.

- We had a prayer tent set up. It was cool to glance over and seeing our people talking to and praying with people. Praying in public doesn't draw the crowds like games or food so whenever I saw one I silently prayed for them and the Captivate church member doing the ministering. About 10 years ago I saw a prayer tent as part of an outreach strategy in New York. I thought it was the absolute stupidest idea ever. I thought that until I actually prayed with people. I realized in that moment that some people don't have a clue what it feels like to hear their name spoken before a holy God. That act alone, praying out loud by name for someone can be one of the biggest bridge builders there can be. Not a lot of people are willing to come over to a canopy with "prayer tent" written on it... but when they do, it's usually one of the most powerful moments of that person's life.

- Over 500 meals were eaten at our event today. Because the event lasted 3 hours on a city block it's hard to estimate the crowd over that time but the food is a decent indicator.

- We hired a DJ who is a Christian and loves what we're doing. He's been amazing to work with and always knows how to keep a crowd into it. As a church the community is expecting to dismiss you. We've built a great reputation in the neighborhood and little things like a DJ help in that regard.

- This is the community where a little 9 year old girl asked me last year "what's a Pastor?"

- This is also a community where a program called "Safe Streets" exists in an effort to reduce gang violence. We've had many shootings and several murders in this community within the last few months. Click here to see a video of a shooting response from a few years back. It's good in giving you a tone of what they do.

- Safe Streets came out to our event today. We believe in developing great partnerships. Unfortunately in the city environment most churches get taken because they don't choose partners carefully. I've come to appreciate Safe Streets and I'm glad they're in our area. I've got love for them. They show love to us as well.

- The McEldery Park Community is practically begging us to start Sunday services. Today I received no less than 15 requests to start the church. I've been waiting for the right time. I think we're close. It's good when people start to nudge you to open.

- I talked to a young man who had a good friend shot 3 times in the face around Memorial Day. The shooter unloaded the rest of the gun. The murdered young man was 18 years old and the one arrested for the crime is 18 as well. Two lives gone over what amounts to nothing. This incident happened right behind our church building. We must start and revitalize churches in Baltimore. There is a hope in Christ that people don't know because we're not there. As a side note I wonder how many of our famous Christian leaders minister in areas where violence like this is commonplace. I'm concerned we have our priorities out of whack in pop-Christendom.

- One young woman from Captivate Church worked a 16-hour shift at Johns Hopkins Hospital and then drove over to work another 4 hours at our block party! I was in awe to see her serving children and sharing Christ in her scrubs and a Captivate T-shirt!

- Several of our Captivate families stopped me to tell me that they have never before felt so alive than to be in a church as active as Captivate. I firmly believe the way to grow a great church is to put people on mission following Jesus and being the ambassadors He's called us to be. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

- Another man in our church shared with me that God is working him over about priorities in his life. We had this conversation on a street in the middle of East Baltimore. If you knew just how different his life is from where we were standing at that moment, you'd never again doubt that God can move hearts to care for those who are very different than us.

- In some of the pictures above you'll see we had a rap group perform. I was a little nervous (I rapped in college a little bit and I enjoy the music) because Christian rap suffers from quality issues but these guys tore it up. If your ministry doesn't require a rap group from time to time, come hang with me for a while :)

- Several of the people who served today are being baptized tomorrow! God has been moving in lives at Captivate in a big way. I'm so thankful for what HE is doing.

- My family has been big in supporting the work I've been doing. My mom and two of my sisters attend Captivate while today my other sister (who attends a church plant near her house) came with her husband to help as well. From my grandfather to uncles to several cousins, God has given me a huge blessing by seeing my family drawn closer to Christ over these last two years. In some ways that was happening before I came home and in others it's been noticeably stronger upon my arrival here. In both ways I thank God that I get to have a front-row seat to their spiritual growth. He's an amazing God.

- Our staff team and a few others who organized this event were absolutely incredible! I did NOTHING for this event today. I cast vision and started to work on other things. They did everything from dealing with the city to shut down the block, to calling the Fire Department to get them to bring their truck, to organizing, purchasing, picking up supplies (using the church truck which means they had to unload, then load, then unload and reload again tonight before they unload into the church tomorrow and reload again...did you get that?) God has brought to me a group of loyal and strong men and women who want to see God sweep across the city of Baltimore through Captivate. They are truly 'Heart and Soul' type of people. I love them dearly.

Wheels on The Bus

2010-09-03T08:57:00.006-04:00

Today was Caleb's first day riding the bus. He couldn't wait. To him this was like getting to ride a roller coaster by himself.

He's enjoying this stage. Kristy and I don't want him to grow up.

Kristy wants to create a scrapbook of him holding the name of the grade he's in on each of his first days. In Kindergarten this is fun... I'll be interested how he reacts in the 9th grade.

At the bus stop! The little girls on the left were enamored with Ainsley. I understand, she's a cute kid.

Cman was pumped. He almost forgot to give his mommy a hug... almost. :)
A new chapter in my little man's life has begun.

Jesus: Your Pocket or Your Platform?

2010-09-01T15:54:00.005-04:00

I've been fascinated over the last few years to observe the body of Christ become 'the body of everything else'. When the local church of the living God becomes the local church of anything and everything else it loses its spiritual power and worth.

On a regular basis I remind the people of Captivate that while there are many ‘good’ things we could do, we are intent to focus on being ministers of reconciliation. We are not the Boy Scouts, we're not the 4H club, we're not a social justice organization, and we are not a social welfare agency. Those groups have a purpose and are intentional about their scope. They don't apologize about their focus and they work hard not to shift from their focus. The church has a focus. Jesus. We are a local expression of the body of Christ who is charged to use everything we have to be Christ's ambassadors.

There is nothing more powerful, more relevant or more exciting than the local church focused on the glory of God through His son, Jesus Christ. Conversely there is nothing more pathetic than to see a Pastor put Jesus in their back pocket and use the pulpit and platform to point to something else.

One of the most powerful verses of scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.

The passage of scripture focuses on the final few verses:

²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

When church is about something else and not about reconciling men to God as its primary and ultimate focus... it is no longer a church. It may 'look' like a church. It may 'feel' like a church. There may be music and there may be a person who talks but if it's not a body of believers acting as Christ's ambassadors... it's not a church.

What is the unmistakable message of your church? In your church could someone do what is asked of them without Christ? Could they 'do' what is taught and not speak the name of Christ? When your Pastor preaches this week, is Salvation in Christ his focus or something else?

No matter what you're talking about it must ultimately be about the person and purpose of the gospel, Jesus Christ.

The church has life when the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not only invited into the room but invited to the front and given the spotlight.

Pastors, please take Jesus from your back pocket and put Him on the platform. Jesus is the first, last and only reason for the church to exist. Don't allow your church or yourself to become spiritually bankrupt by maintaining a focus on anything else. Many things are good for the church to do but there is only one who should get our worship. Let no one be confused about who or what you worship.

Captivate in Pictures 8-29-10

2010-08-29T17:03:00.007-04:00

Today at Captivate we finished up our "Together" series with a challenge for all of us to come together and grow up into and under the headship of Jesus Christ.

I'm a product of a fatherless home. In my life I was on track to be a statistic when it comes to boys growing up without a father and passing that on to a third generation. Fortunately along the way God brought people who believed in me and I have been blessed to be mentored by a few men who love Jesus and His Church. Sadly, many young men don't have those examples. I believe the Church should provide examples of biblical manhood to the culture. We first have to teach boys how to grow up and be men. To say this message was well received today would be an understatement.

There are many reasons that boys don't grow up and that men don't learn biblical manhood. They range from the subtle to the obvious. We take our cues about manhood from so many places other than Christ. Its part of my passion to develop boys into men. Captivate will do that.

To give men a proper view of self we have to begin with a proper view of Jesus. I took some time to read a 'poem' (church song) to a big African American biker who I pulled from the crowd today. I asked the audience how many men felt comfortable singing "Cause nothing else could take your place, to feel the warmth of your embrace. Help me find a way, bring me back to you." The reality is that singing is awkward for many men and on top of that the average guy has no desire to sing songs about feeling warm embraces with a man.

In the picture above I also addressed our own view of Jesus. This picture I brought on stage used to hang in the fellowship hall of my childhood home church. I described all of the graven images it sends. A white man with long perfect hair and a manicured beard gazing off into the distance. God didn't give us a description of Jesus because none of us has a corner on the identity of God. I reminded our church today "We are made in the image of Christ but yet we spend time making Christ in our image." That is a sin we must repent of and stop. It's idolatry. We don't worship an image, we worship a Savior.

Finally we discussed headship of Christ by pointing out his attributes in Hebrews 1:1-4. He is creator, sustainer, forgiver of sins, savior, higher than any other... etc. I then closed by taking the men in our church to Revelation 19 where we see a returning and triumphant Jesus coming back. He makes the UFC men look like they prance around with tulips and daisies in their teeth. Our coming Savior returns to handle business. Men can afford to worship that Savior. Men need to learn to worship the fullness that is Christ. The compassionate, just, righteous, loving, powerful, mighty and masculine "radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being"(Ephesians 4:3)

We need our churches to be under the headship of Jesus Christ. We must be about nothing else that can distract us. We are indeed His body on this planet and He alone is our head. Men, lets become great men of God who demonstrate to the world who our Savior is. Lets lead our churches with grace, love, truth, boldness and strength.

References from today: (Ephesians 4:11-16, Hebrews 1:1-4 and Revelation 19:11-21)
Article about 20-somethings: http://tinyurl.com/233doxp
Article by Mark Driscoll: http://tinyurl.com/2exdoe3

Coffee Talk (a cure for new-church isolation)

2010-08-26T12:40:00.010-04:00

A few months ago we started to do "coffee talks" at a local independent coffee shop. We stole the idea from Tadd Grandstaff and Pine Ridge Church. As you can tell from the pics below we moved this month's gathering to "The Empire: Starbucks" because of some repairs being made to the independent up the road.

The concept is simple. If you've started to attend Captivate Church in the last 8 weeks, we'll buy your drink. If you're a part of Captivate we'd like you to come and welcome new families to the church. It's a simple but effective way of getting people connected who may never realize others share similar interests.

From our staff's perspective we know a lot more about families in our church than they usually know about one another. We typically spend time during the coffee talks getting to know recent additions to the church and then going across the room and introducing them to someone who share similar interests.

Last night we had a volunteer fireman who is also a police officer get introduced to a full time fireman and then later in the evening I introduced both of them to a college student who is taking the fireman exam in about a month. These guys had a connection based on fire fighting that they may not have realized just by attending services each Sunday.

When people come to the church they find out that we exist to send them on mission for Christ. Anyone attending Captivate for more than a week understands that. What we as a church understand is that in order to be fulfilled while on mission our people need the feeling of connectedness with one another.

When you look across the room at a stranger and then you find out you share 15 years of an interest (hobby, job, unusual workout routine, etc.), you instantly have a 15 year bond with this stranger. He/She knows many of your frustrations, hurts, pains and victories. Then when they talk about the mission of the church together, they now have some common language already built in to unite together and get a task done.

No one likes to feel alone. The only thing worse than being alone is being alone in a crowded room.

Great People build Great Churches

2010-08-25T10:34:00.005-04:00

(random photo: myself and Mr. Jim McBride, Executive Pastor of Sherwood Church)

Great Partner Churches:

We have been able to do what we're doing in part to some great partner churches. One of them is Sherwood Church in Albany, GA. Sherwood is a church that is changing the world from Albany, GA. Do you know where Albany, GA is? No? It's okay, most people don't. Many of you probably don't even know who Sherwood Church is. It's your loss. They are best known for being the makers of "Facing the Giants" and "Fireproof". They have a forthcoming movie about fatherhood coming in 2011 called "Courageous".

Their Pastor, Dr. Michael Catt is a great leader who is passionate about Jesus, the local church and revival in the hearts of God's people. The true test of a leader however is several levels down from the church office. Dr. Catt leads a church that is one of the most passionate group of Jesus-followers I've ever seen in my life. They have been beyond generous to us in Baltimore and I can't thank God enough for the impact their church is having in my hometown. God is using Sherwood in ways they may never know in order to advance the Gospel.

Some of the 'Great People' who make Captivate Church happen have never even been to a service and most will never travel to Maryland. The great people of Sherwood Church in Albany, GA are not unlike the great people of a dozen other churches who contribute to make Captivate happen. Individuals who give their tithes and offerings to their church to advance the gospel and then their Pastors send some of those resources to places like Baltimore where we need the supply line to keep going to battle every day over souls. These are some of the great people who make Captivate happen.

Thank you Dr. Michael Catt, Mr. Jim McBride and Mr. Jim Jewell for investing in Baltimore through the ministry of Captivate Church.

Great Captivate Attendees:

Last night my wife and I sat down with eight recent additions to Captivate. Seven of them (to my knowledge) are believers and one accepted Christ this past Sunday.

This group is a breath of fresh air. They all didn't know one another prior to last night but they all were connected through one of the couples who started coming to the church. As I talked to them about their stories and as they responded to the vision of Captivate Church I can tell that these are solid people who just want to see God move in their lives and through the life of their church.

A few quotes from last night that caught my ear:

"I appreciate when you give high standards because it lets me know you're serious and you value the church."

"I expect to serve, service in the church is a built in part of being a member."

"Our son is going through a hard time and he watched Captivate online. He wants to get things together and after seeing the sermons online he's moved down here to come to the church and get things right in his life."

As we got to talk to these families I got the sense that God was doing something I prayed for many months ago. I started to pray that God would send us missionaries. I asked God to send us people who were NOT connected to a local church but who would come in attracted to our mission of reaching Baltimore with the gospel, not come in to try to make us something different. As I heard story after story last night I couldn't help but to feel like God is bringing us some great people to build a great church. I'm so excited for where we are and where God is leading us.

We've been able to add some believers to our mix who love Jesus and love His Church without losing sight of our mission to reach people with the gospel. We baptized two on Sunday and saw one come forward to receive Christ. We have several more baptisms lined up for September 12th. God is doing a great work and we're honored to be part of this church.

Adorable Kids Post

2010-08-24T08:51:00.008-04:00

This weekend my bride went down to Lynchburg, VA, home of Liberty University (Lets Go L.U.) where she set up a photo shoot with Jane Bradley Photography. Jane is a gifted young woman who has become a great photographer. She has a great family and is married to a young man who was in a youth group of mine in Virginia Beach. I highly recommend her work if you live within a drive to Central Virginia.

Here are some recent photos of my adorable children. Click to enlarge.

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him." - Psalm 127:3

The Real Captivate

2010-08-22T23:00:00.028-04:00

So often you see pictures of the lights, the preacher with the microphone, the band rockin' it out and the the pictures say "This is our church." Usually they don't tell the real story.

Much of the real church happens before and after the service. Those people who sacrifice to arrive, set up and tear down equipment at the end of the day. These are my heroes in our church. They are the special forces. Along with the people changing diapers and the greeters giving a great "hello" they make up the backbone of Captivate Church.

Here are a few pictures from today. Check out the REAL Captivate Church!

We're collecting 100 backpacks filled with school supplies that we'll distribute as a church on September 11th at an East Baltimore block party.

These guys are loading up our baptistry which we used this weekend. We baptized two! Another baptism is scheduled for September 12th. We get excited whenever we dunk around here.

This new generator is a beast. We had to purchase it because someone broke into our box truck and stole two generators and a few other expensive things. Mikael bought this new generator as a replacement.

The guys bought a pretty strong chain to temporarily hold down the back door. It's what you gotta do when someone breaks in and steals from the church box truck. We kept rolling... didn't flinch... and God kept blessing. We had two baptisms and a man came forward to receive Christ.

What a powerful service today! Some of the people who makes this happen each and every week are found in the pictures above.

I Will Let You Down

2010-08-19T22:48:00.005-04:00

As I type this post I sit on my recliner in the living room. It's Thursday. It's 10:44 p.m. It's quiet. My family are all sleeping and I just walked in from a fantastic visit with a family who has recently started to attend our church. As we continue to grow I will not be able to have these dinners, coffees and deserts with most who come to Captivate so I genuinely value these times during this season of our ministry.

As I talked with this great couple we discussed all the usual things a meeting like this would entail. We talked about our testimonies, the Bible, God, culture, vision for the church, our city, etc. We just had a great conversation. This couple is a 'diamond in the rough' kind of family. It was sincerely a pleasure for me to be with them this evening.

As we wrapped up our conversation and before I departed I shared a sentiment that your Pastor would likely share with you. I said something along these lines (insert your Pastor's voice for my own):

"Just so you know, I'm human. I'm likely to let you down. I'm likely to say something, do something or neglect to say or do something which may cause friction. Please know, even now, I will not willingly do so. If you would pray for me regularly I would appreciate that very much. If I do happen to cause you pain please feel the freedom to speak with me. If we come together in humility we can always end up at love even if we disagree on an issue at hand. I commit to come to you in humility longing for reconciliation and I ask that in that spirit you come to me as well. In doing so we can honor Christ and His Church."

If you're at Captivate Church I want you to know that this is my heart. If you're not a part of our church family I want you to know that most Pastors who love Jesus and the Church will carry a similar heart. We may use different words to say things but we share one common Holy Spirit. It is in that Spirit that we all long for reconciliation.

Reconciliation does not mean however that your Pastor will always agree with you. He is not made in your image. He is made in the image of God. As you pursue maturity in Christ and your identity is found in Jesus you will usually find that your Pastor is on the same road. He wakes up every day, washes his face and in that image on the mirror he sees many enemies, insecurities and uncertainties. It is not the absence of those things that cause Him to move forward, it's in spite of those that he steps forward to serve Jesus and His Church. He has no "S" on his chest and his calling didn't come with a red cape. What he has is a certainty that he is set aside by God to be a priest among priests. He is broken and sinful and saved by grace the same way you are.

Your pastor is called to be committed to the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ (Gal 1:6-10). Your pastor is called to encourage and equip you to fulfill the work that God prepared in advance of your life for you to do (Eph 2:8-10, Ephesians 4:11-16). Your pastor is called to lead the church to be ministers of reconciliation "...as though God were making his appeal through us." (2 Cor 5:21).

So as your Pastor is attempting to live up to God's standards there will be times when he will fall short of your standards. He's sorry. He's sincerely sorry. Even better than that you can expect (whether public or private) there are times he will royally blow it in your eyes. He needs your grace. He needs your forgiveness. He needs to hear that you love Him. Most of all he needs your fervent prayer. If he's anything like me (or you)... he needs a Savior and therefore he will let you down.

Pray for him early and often and pray that if he does let you down it will not be because of sin issue but rather because you simply saw a time where it was confirmed to you that he is indeed human and you were reminded that he doesn't wear a red cape. Pray then for reconciliation, grant forgiveness and ask God to grant him the strength and wisdom he will need to continue to point people to Jesus in a way that honors both the Father and the Father's people.

Captivate in Pictures

2010-08-15T22:00:00.011-04:00

We're blessed to have many talented people as a part of Captivate Church. One of them is Ben Ritter. Ben is a student and staff member of Liberty University. He recently took a few pics of our environments and I'm placing them here for to to get a glimpse of Captivate through an artists eyes.

Recent Life in Pictures

2010-08-14T11:30:00.047-04:00

Over the last few weeks I've had a lot going on and as I reflect on the latest happenings I figured I'd save some of these pictures for posterity sake. Here's a little of what's been going on in my world as seen through the camera on my EVO.

Sherwood Church visit and City Uprising:

Fellow church planter Ellis Prince holds an event each year in conjunction with a few other groups in order to test for H.I.V. This year we opened our East Baltimore site as a host for testing. In the evening we joined Ellis and his team for worship with other mission teams coming to the area for the week.

I loved the violin as a part of the band!

Sherwood is an amazing church led by Dr. Michael Catt. They are known for the movies Flywheel, Facing the Giants and Fireproof. They have the forthcoming Courageous scheduled for a 2011 release. What I'll say about Sherwood though is that the movies are the least of what they do to "Change the world from Albany, GA." As one of our strongest ministry partners they are a generous, loving and prayer-filled church. These are people of God who serve Jesus in such a way as to give everyone hope for what the Church can be.

The New Deck:

One of the things the Sherwood team did for us was to build a brand new deck to the back of our missionary home and office property in East Baltimore next to the church. These men built a very high quality deck which is not only safe and usable but provides desirable space in the city environment to get outside. Here are a few shots of their work.

East Baltimore Block Party:

The Sherwood team also worked with our team to hold a block party in East Baltimore where we were able to share the gospel and invite people to consider making East Baltimore Church their home. It was a fantastic event with about 20 families indicating they were interested in more information about the church. We estimate a crowd of nearly 500 over the 3 hour event.

Lunch at the Harbor:

At the end of the Sherwood trip I got the honor of having lunch with some of our team and some of the Sherwood team. Pictured in the back on the left is Jim Jewell. Jim is the Mission's Pastor of Sherwood and has coordinated a few trips with us already. He's a joy to work with and has a true heart for missions. I appreciate Jim and the entire Sherwood team for the love they've shown us here in Baltimore. People are being reached for Christ because of their love and support.

Caleb's Birthday:

My son had his 5th birthday and we hosted his party at a local laser tag venue. He had a great time with some of his family and friends.

Visit from Daniel:

My friend Daniel McCollum came up to Baltimore to see what God is doing with our church. We spent some time down in East Baltimore where we're doing some work on our row homes.

I've always respected Daniel since our freshman days at Liberty University. I've come to respect him more as an adult. Daniel spent two years in Russia as a missionary. He lives in Charlotte and has demonstrated concern for Christ in the city. Then last year he and his bride Jamie moved to Malawi, Africa for a year. I was honored that he came to visit so soon after returning home. Daniel and Jamie are also expecting. Congrats Daniel. Check out his site: McCollumsInMalawi.com

Happy For Hannah:

Hannah is a member of Captivate who recently graduated from Towson University with a degree in Education. Around the time this picture was taken we had recently learned that she was hired to our first teaching job. We're excited that God provided and kept her close enough to remain with us at Captivate.

The Sausage of a Sermon:

This is a recent sermon as it was scribbled out. Any Pastor worth his salt spends hours upon hours of time not only reading and studying the scripture for accuracy but also spends time in prayer to be certain that what will be spoken is coming from the Lord and not personal interests. I find that one of my toughest jobs each week is to know that God has the platform, not my opinions, not a message from memory and not a reaction to anything going on around me. I always want to teach our people from a pure place of prayer and communion with God. I could write 10 messages a week but it doesn't mean they are from God for these people at this time. That's the harder part of writing a sermon.

Outreach, Outreach, Outreach:

Last summer and fall we reached out to community organizations to partner with them on community events. This year we're finding these organizations reach back out to us INVITING US IN. As a church planting Pastor there are few things more exciting than to have developed such a relationship with our community partners that we are getting invited to participate in their events. Churches aren't often the first groups though of during planning meetings. We're honored to be on the list. This particular event was the recent "National Night Out".

Cman loved the fire trucks.

'Double Date' Date Night:

Kristy and I went to dinner with our worship Pastor Danny Hallis and his new bride Kara. They are an amazing young couple who we're honored to have part of Captivate Church. Here's a picture of Kristy and I outside the restaurant 'Bo Brooks' which is a good seafood place down by the water in Canton.

Cman's Doctor Visit:

I took Caleb to his Dr. appointment. He's entering school this fall and needed to get his annual check up. His eyes checked out and he's a healthy kid. We're very thankful.

Cman's book bag:

Caleb was getting ready for his preschool day on 'water day'. He packed his bag so tight that he leaned over and said "Daddy my bag is too heavy." He's a funny kid!

Date Night at the O's Game:

Kristy and I got away to see the Orioles play thanks to some tickets she received from her law firm. Lawyers get good seats so we were right near the 1st base side about 6 rows back. Apart from being concerned a ball would take off my head, it was a great night with my bride.

New Orioles Manager Buck Showalter got into the umpire over a bad call. I think he took about 6 minutes to argue this call. It was a little gamesmanship in my opinion as he tried to 'ice' the pitcher.

Kristy and 'Inception':

Kristy had been wanting to see Inception. Since our kiddos were safe and sound with John B. Smith and Amber, we decided to act like kids again and take in a late night movie. I saw Inception the day before and I don't like seeing movies twice but who could resist this face?

Daddy Daughter Time:

Ainsley's looking at me like I'm a goofball. I can't say I blame her.

Birthday Gift:

My mom brought Caleb his birthday gift. He wanted a new Spiderman Bike. Thanks mom-mom.

Family Time:

We like to hang out from time to time over some breakfast. Spot for this picture was Bob Evans. I'm a city boy with a country edge. I like to get away to the country to get time with God and to refresh. Bob Evans and Cracker Barrell are two spots I go to to get some good grub.

Touring East Baltimore:
I had the honor of spending some time with my friend John B. Smith who Pastors locally and Michael Harrison from Martinsville, Va. Michael is growing a great church and he's reaching people across his town. It was an honor to spend some time with him casting vision and celebrating victories God has won here in Baltimore.

We had to stop off at Chaps Pit Beef! It's a must.

Crash, Bang, Boom:

My sister got in an accident. This is a picture of the car that hit her from behind as she was stopped in traffic. Apparently the driver wasn't aware of the 40 cars in front of her at a stand still. Pay attention on the road people. Fortunately my sister is okay and her car will be repaired without much problem.

Caleb Wins!:

I was picking Cman up from preschool the other day when I snapped this shot. He was the winner in a game of "Doggie, Doggie, where's your bone?"

Candid Shots:

Just hanging at the house I grabbed a few shots of my lovely fam. I'm so appreciative to live life with them.

Karate Caleb:

We decided to enroll Cman in Karate classes. Cman did really well in his first week. He's a natural. It may help that he and I fight around the house every few days. He's a tough kid. I'm looking forward to seeing him develop through this new sport. We're treating it as a base for other sports and coaching he'll have in years ahead. The discipline of Karate will be great as he gets older.

Eminem's Confession Lessons

2010-07-08T14:15:00.007-04:00

On my Twitter feed I posted the following statement:

Its a shame that Eminem's "Not Afraid" confesses, repents and declares victory bolder than most Christian leaders I know.

The only thing I should have changed is to say "...better than most Christians I know"

On my Facebook, our BBA Executive Director, Dr. Bob Mackey asked a few probing questions. The conversation was good and it prompted me to share a little deeper here on the blog.

I've always been a fan of rap. I grew up in Southeast Baltimore and I've lived all around this city. Hip Hop is a staple of our area and I'm a fan of the music. To be honest, from a musical quality standpoint, most Christian rap simply doesn't hold a candle to the secular. A few exceptions in my humble opinion are LaCrae, Cross Movement, CZ and Everyday Process. Since childhood, my taste for music has grown to include nearly all varieties (no bluegrass) but I always have my pulse on Hip Hop. While many of my church planting friends talk fondly about classic rock or hair bands of the 80's I think similarly with Rap and 90's R&B.

At the end of this article I post the 'Not Afraid' video, lyrics and a summation of my thoughts on Biblical and Cultural exegesis for those educated or bored enough to explore further. The following comments are my own little exegesis on Eminem's "Not Afraid" as it relates to the tweet mentioned above.

Let me begin by stating the obvious:

The object of Emenim's worship is misplaced. He worships his fans. It's a shame to me that he confesses (to his fans), repents (to his fans) and declares victory (to his fans) over his drug addiction. That's the shame part.

His aim and god are false and yet many Christian leaders can't confess sin, repent from sin and declare victory over sin with the boldness of this person who is far from God.

The question is why does this hold to be the status quo for Christian leaders and Christians in general?

We're all prideful and confession requires swimming upstream against our pride.

It's not just public confession and repentance I'm thinking about either. It's private. Too many Pastors in the last 18 months (in the limited view of my slice of the evangelical world) have been exposed as adulterers, cheats and liars. Those big sins didn't come by accident one day. They started with unconfessed sin in the privacy of their own homes, cars and prayer closets.

While these Pastors went about preaching to and praying for their congregations they burned with lust, were rude to their families and treated the pulpit as a platform for their own pride.

When I hear an artist like Eminem come out and repent to his fans for his mediocre effort, effects of his drug abuse, not fighting the demons of drug addiction, etc., it makes me think that he, in this area, is probably closer to true repentance (albeit without the lynchpin component of Christ) than the prideful Pastor who hasn't shed a tear for his sin in 10 years. It seems that for some it is more dangerous that they prayed a prayer 14 years ago because while their life is not much different than this rapper, the rapper shows no false humility about the sin and its consequence.

It's a constant struggle to be clean before God.

Does Eminem make money from his album of confession? Sure.

To make money, does he NEED to make an album detailing his battle? No way. He could rap the alphabet and people will buy it.

Will it sell? Yes.

Why will this album about a battle with evil and drug addiction sell? Because so much of the world we're trying to reach can relate more easily to him being honest about his battles and his desire to overcome the 'demons' of his life than they can relate to Christian leaders who pretend their lives have Teflon when it comes to struggle and confession. As I look at the religious leaders of Jesus day I see striking parallels to ours. Clean on the outside but rotten inside. When a secular artist expresses repentance to the best of their ability, they seem to do it with more integrity than we do in the Christian world and the world forgives and embraces where the Christian church tends to condemn and throw stones.

It's so easy to say "Well, Eminem doesn't know Jesus so he can't teach us anything." I think it's quite the opposite. Without the yoke of the churchanity, this is is what true repentance looks like. Now if only he wold repent to the one who can make him whole...

We have the one who can make us whole but we don't know how to repent. Which situation of the two is the most depressing?

BONUS MATERIAL:

As a Pastor, I'm required to demonstrate a grasp of Biblical exegesis. Basically I should be able to understand the text on several levels so as to draw out its original meaning. Additionally if I want to be effective at communicating this unchanging message to a culture far from God I am committed to becoming great at Cultural exegesis. That is, I see it as my responsibility to study and understand the culture(s) we're trying to reach so I know which scripture best speaks to the cultural challenge of the moment. There is always a tightrope. Like Paul with Areopagus (a.k.a.Mars Hill), he studied the culture. He examined. He looked closely. Did he see evil? Did he see sin up close? Did he expose himself to the possibility people would see him at an altar of a false god and make an accusation of his character? Yes. But he then took this observation (cultural exegesis) and applied the Truth of God's word (biblical exegesis). Today the masses don't have to gather in a particular venue or worship at a stone altar. The modern false prophets are found online and (after a download) make their temples on iPods and computers within seconds. I see it important to my effectiveness to have a pulse of the culture. Music is one way to observe our modern day Areopagus. -- Pastor Tally

Click here to read the lyrics. Foul language. To the easily offended: If you haven't heard foul language in the last week, that says more about how isolated you've made yourself than it does about the people who use the language. Are you fishing in the sea of lostness or the aquarium of church life?

Click here to hear the song(Clean Version)

Click here to see the unedited video (Foul Language)

Why I'm going to STORY...

2010-06-24T07:13:00.009-04:00

... and why you should too!

I'm a student. I'll always remain a student. I'm fascinated to learn the motives and movements behind every person's passion. I learn more from the 'why' than the 'how' in most conversations. Before we started Captivate Church I went around to some of the most respected leaders I knew (and many I didn't know at that point) and asked them questions of 'why', not 'how'.

I've found that artists are especially insightful when it comes to discussing the 'why' behind their work. Tremendous thought and insight is found when you can hear an artist describe what moved them to act. Tremendous insight is found when an artist describes the birthing process of a work of art. Whether it be a song, a book, a painting or a play it doesn't matter... the medium simply receives the motive.

I'm going to Story to explore the 'why'. Why is it vital that we consider the weight of our words? Why is it vital that we see Jesus' parables as inspiration and not merely a transfer of information?

Ultimately, why is it important that we become better communicators of the Gospel story? Because our entire calling hinges on our effectiveness in this arena. At the end of the day, our culture is shifting and stories now carry 10 times the weight of outlines. Spreadsheets are worthless without the story.

Let me point you to a verse that has become my central focus over the last year.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. -2 Corinthians 5:19(b)-21

As a man or woman of God who is called to the ministry of reconciliation I submit to you that your chief end is to become the greatest storyteller who's ever lived because you are telling the greatest story ever told. It is as though God is making His appeal through you! No matter your vocation I want to urge you not to take a vacation from becoming great at sharing God's redemptive mission in an effective and compelling way.

I'll be at Story because I want to learn from those who tell stories best. You should do the same.

Check out details of the conference below and go get yourself a ticket because seating is exclusive.

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STORY
Sept 23-24
Chicago, IL

STORY is a conference for the creative class in ministry on September 23-24, 2010 at Park Community Church in downtown Chicago. The purpose is to fuel the church's artists, writers and producers in communicating the greatest story ever told. You’ll hear from some of the best creative practitioners in both ministry and the marketplace, from filmmakers and authors to actors and musicians. Presenters include:

# Dan Allender - best-selling author, professor at Mars Hill Graduate School
# Charlie Todd - creator of Improv Everywhere in New York City
# Princess Zulu - AIDS victim from infancy, advocate for the oppressed
# Jason Fried - founder of 37Signals, creator of Basecamp, author of Rework
# John Sowers - president of Donald Miller's The Mentoring Project
# Shauna Niequist - former creative director at Mars Hill, author of Bittersweet
# David Hodges - formerly of the band Evanescence, award-winning songwriter
# Leonard Sweet - futurist, author of 40 books, professor at Drew University
# David McFadzean - creator of Home Improvement, producer of Roseanne
# Richard Walter - accomplished screenwriter and professor of film at UCLA
# Sean Gladding - member of Communality, a new monastic community
# Andrew Klavan - author of True Crime (Clint Eastwood) and numerous novels
# Gary Dorsey - founder of Pixel Peach Studio in Austin, TX
# Music by Vicky Beeching, Kari Jobe and Carlos Whittaker

Seating is limited to just 500 attendees, and the event is scheduled on a Thursday and Friday so you can enjoy the weekend in the city. Following its inaugural event in 2009, STORY is now a two-day, main-stage event with no breakouts or workshops; just an intimate audience with the top creative minds. You’ll be able to ask questions during the event and continue the conversation after it's over.

Visit www.storychicago.com.

Zac Smith

2010-05-17T08:39:00.006-04:00

A few months ago I came across the story of Zac Smith, a member of the New Spring Church staff. Please watch this video.

Zac's faith is an inspiration to me and another reminder of the gift that is each day. His testimony by all accounts has been that he trusted Jesus no matter the outcome. So often times we set a far less glorious standard for our own faith. Often our faith is conditional. We won't come out and say it but if we are faced with adversity or a challenge we curl up in a ball and question God without giving him the glory He deserves.

Thank you Zac for being a man of God who set the example for those of us watching from afar. Your faithfulness is inspiring and your commitment to Jesus should become a springboard of faith for the rest of us. You knew pain and confusion but you knew Jesus and you made him known through your faithfulness in the midst of the storm. It is my prayer that God blesses your bride and children in abundance and that your sons grow into great spiritual giants as a result of the deep faith you've imparted to them. Thank you for your example. Thank you for your legacy.

From Pastor Perry Noble's blog:

I would ask you to please keep Mandy, his wife, in your prayers…as well as their children Luke, Jake and Lizzy. AND I will keep everyone posted as to when Zac’s memorial service will take place. One of his requests to me was that we live stream this service so that his friends from all over the world (literally) could participate.

Also…here is a link to his blog…I encourage you to read through his writings some time this week…he knew what was in his body, he knew pain and suffering in ways many of us will never know…but He KNEW JESUS, and THAT was the difference maker!!!

“…God is still good…to God be the glory!” Zac Smith

Salvation and a Fist-Bump

2010-05-10T11:43:00.002-04:00

One of the joys I have had in being a part of Captivate Church is seeing people respond to the gospel. Of all of the various types of people who respond to the gospel my favorite segment are men in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties.

Sunday I preached on "The Pirate of Fear" (link later today) and we discussed how living in fear is not God's plan. We are to fear Him but nothing else. We are to live in faith and not doubt. Our text was Matthew 14:22-33. As I began to ask people to come forward if they wanted to respond to the gospel and receive Christ's salvation I noticed a young man in his mid to late twenties sitting a few rows back and to my right.

As the band played I could see in his eyes that he wanted to respond. I silently prayed and asked God to give him the courage. Sure enough I saw this guy turn to the friend who brought him (a 2nd time guest himself) and he gave him dap (a fist bump) and then he stepped out in the aisle and came forward. Our church went nuts. We love to celebrate steps people make to respond to Jesus. I love seeing men respond. I love it when God calls men out of the culture and into the Kingdom.

It was a first for me at Captivate... salvation and a fist-bump.

Our Next Series

2010-04-29T15:35:00.006-04:00

I'm excited about our new series at Captivate that begins this week. I'm really praying that our people see the need to surrender their earthly treasures for the sake of a heavenly one. This series won't be about money, it'll be about motives. God wants us to surrender to Him but instead so often times we surrender to the 'pirates' of our pride, our fear, our past and our greed. Check out the bumper below and the description of our next series.

song credit: Surrender by Blake Lewis

For years, tourists in beach areas around the country have seen the moniker “Surrender the Booty” emblazoned on flags, beach towels and bandanas. This pirate-themed saying harkens to a day when pirates on the open seas would capture cargo ships and steal their valuables. Even today at auction houses around the country you may find remnants of old pirate ships, treasure chests or cannons from these days gone by.

The Bible talks repeatedly about a similar hijacking taking place in the minds and hearts of people across the globe. God, in His great love for us, desires to give us an abundant life found in His Son, Jesus Christ. Life, however, is filled with various "pirates" who steal this true treasure and sink our proverbial ships as we sail the seas of life.

At Captivate Church, we will discuss the treasure of an abundant life and all of those pirates in life trying to steal what can be yours in Christ. We invite you to grab your eye-patch, wooden peg leg and a fake mustache as we explore a new series called “Surrender the Booty”.

Captivate Update

2010-04-19T21:21:00.006-04:00

I've been silent on the blog for about a month. If you've read before you know that I've been keeping up the blog since 2003 when blogging wasn't 'in' yet. Over those years I've learned that I have to take a break from time to time to ensure I'm not addicted to posting or keeping myself 'out there' for the world to see.

I've had more than a few friends give me a hard time about not updating everyone as to the happenings here in Baltimore at Captivate Church so I figured I'd oblige.

- Captivate is doing very well. We had an amazing Sunday this week with another salvation. That makes 43 people in 6 months who've professed Jesus as Savior during a Captivate worship experience.

- My doctor found some skin cancer. I had a spot removed just above my eyebrow. It's Basal Carcinoma. It should be just fine but it was news that certainly makes you think about your mortality. It's healthy to do that from time to time.

- We've started radio ads and they're paying big dividends. We've seen many families come since our move to the movie theater and several have stayed. Out of the gate we were much younger than we anticipated. We've seemed to begin to diversify our demographic and we're excited about that.

- We're seeing some Christians come through the doors for the first time since we launched. Most of the people who came to Captivate initially were not 'churched'. Now we're beginning to see Christians who are attracted to our mission. That's exciting. We've been blessed so far to only see Christians with good attitudes come through the doors. We don't have time to fight with disgruntled believers. It has been great however to see God bring partners in ministry.

- We have great partner churches. I can't tell you how great it's been to work with our friends around the country who are helping us get healthy. They are all led by spiritual giants in my book. I'm so humbled and honored to know these churches. If Captivate becomes half as healthy as these churches we will indeed be a great witness to our city.

- I'm certain I have the joy to work with some of the most amazing people on the planet. They work so hard with so little compensation and demands. God is using them to bring people to himself and God uses them regularly to lift me up and allow me to be most effective doing what only I can do. I'm thankful for our staff and volunteers!

- Baltimore has some great Pastors who've come along in the last few years. I get the joy of working with BaltimoreChurchPlanting.com and the churches connected to our local association. Additionally my friend John is now in the area doing a phenomenal job bringing new life to a church that wasn't sure about it's future. He's started a blog to document his journey at RevitalizeChurch.com You'd be wise to check it out.

Answering God's Call by Pastor Aaron Pankey

2010-03-12T12:27:00.002-05:00

One of the joys I have since returning home has been to connect with some solid guys plowing the fields here in Baltimore. One of these great guys is my friend Aaron Pankey. I've asked Aaron to post here today a thought on Answering God's calling. Many of my readers wrestle with this so I thought his words may be of use to you. Have a great weekend.

Answering God’s Servant Call

(Luke 1:26-38)

Imagine receiving news as a young female teenager. Your whole life is before you. Yet on this day, you get a call that would dramatically and permanently alter the trajectory of your life. As a matter of fact, the news that you receive threatens to make your plans for your life collapse. Have you ever been there?

That’s the dilemma facing Mary in Luke 1:26-38. She’s introduced to us as a young virgin engaged to be married to the man of her dreams. Life is going well for her. However, we meet Mary in this text at a time where she is faced with the monumental decision to answer an astonishing call to service.

Mary responds twice to this call: 1). how can this be . . .? v. 34 and, 2) Lord, let it be . . .” v. 38. Faced with a similar call to serve today, will we respond in questions that lead us down the road of distrust and resistance to God’s call OR will we respond in complete vulnerability and trust to the Sovereign, Master plan of our Heavenly Father who has chosen us for the task for such a time as this. Prayerfully, our time in this text will nudge us, by the grace of God, and by the Spirit of God, through the Word of God to answer our own call from God to serve. It’s interesting, God’s invitation to Mary was “Greetings, O favored one! The Lord is with you.” His welcome, His grace, and His presence need to be focused on as we answer His call.

Mary’s First Response: “. . . How can this be. . . .? (v. 34)
Answering God’s call may cause us fear for numerous reasons. It could be because:
1. We feel too insignificant for such responsibility
2. We feel too inadequate for such responsibility
3. We feel too ill-equipped for such responsibility

How will this be . . . (v. 34)?
When we feel too insignificant, remember Our significance comes from Him. He relishes placing His servants in impossible positions so that they can trust Him and bring Him glory in the fulfillment of His call on their lives. When the task seems BIG, remember that the God who gave the task is BIGGER. Rest assured, He makes no mistakes. He called Mary to answer His call to serve. He never sends a message to the wrong address. Mary was the right person for the role. The task He may be giving you today does not come by accident or coincidence. His personalized call to you to serve came especially for you and especially from Him. He will never put more on you than you can bear (I Cor. 10:13).

How will this be . . . (v. 34)?
When we feel too inadequate for the great responsibility to answer the call to serve remember the very moment we sense fear is the very moment we can have our fears addressed. The angel said . . . “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (v. 31). We have no reason to fear. He hasn’t given us the sense of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). Our adequacy to serve comes because the Lord is with us. Fear comes from elsewhere but, most assuredly, not from Him. He has called you to this! What’s more staggering is that He has extended this precious call to you precisely because He knows you can handle it. Mary found favor in God’s eyes and for those of us who know Christ as our Lord as Savior, we have, in a very real, tangible manner found favor in His sight.

How will this be since I am a virgin. . . . (v. 34)?
When we feel too ill-equipped, like we don’t have the necessary experience we are often tempted to believe, “Surely, someone else would be better able to carry out this task. Certainly, there is someone else out there more experienced to handle this duty?” However, you already know God doesn’t make mistakes. His servant call came personally to Mary. He has taken care of her fear issues, and now she is coming to the place where she is prepped to own the servant’s call that has been given to her.

And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her (v. 38).

Mary’s second response: I see in Mary a young, vulnerable individual who has responded to a daunting call to serve. She may have felt insignificant, inadequate, and ill-equipped. However, because the Lord was with her (as He is with us who know Christ) she was able to rise to the occasion and fulfill God’s Servant Call. Today, your initial response may have been to question His call, but will your final reply be to embrace His call for you to serve?

Devotional Reflection Questions?
1. What about God’s call to serve makes you feel too insignificant to answer?
2. What about God’s call to serve makes you feel too inadequate to answer?
3. What about God’s call to serve makes you feel to ill-equipped to answer?

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (verse 38).
I pray that this will always be the response of God’s people . . . Will you answer His call today?

Humbly submitted by
Aaron Pankey
Pastor of Infinity Church
www.infinitychurch.com
Twitter.com/AaronPankey

Called to a People, Called to a Place

2010-03-01T23:37:00.003-05:00

For many years I would tell you that I was not called to a place. I have felt called to be a follower of Jesus which includes the basics of loving others as myself, placing others above myself and stuff like the golden rule. Then along the way I felt called to use my gifts and talents, my time and energy, my very being to lead others by developing their abilities to expand God's Kingdom. I even felt a call to starting churches nearly 10 years ago but still not called to a 'place'.

Nearly two years ago I was in Virginia 'doing ministry' when I got a phone call that ultimately turned into a divine call. Through a process of praying, fasting and seeking counsel I felt (6 months later) that God was calling me to a people and a place. God was calling me back to my hometown of Baltimore.

We've seen tremendous receptivity to what we're doing here. We've been fortunate in just about 5 months to see 34 profess Jesus publicly in front of our church by walking the aisle and trusting Christ as Savior. We've seen of that group 14 who have been baptized as an outward symbol of that inward change. We have also certainly faced adversity (usually with a smile) and we're certain to face more. Ultimately though every day I fall more in love with the fact that God has brought me home to Baltimore.

Baltimore is a funky town with dozens and dozens of population segments, neighborhoods, history, tradition, eclectic-ness and plenty of drugs, violence, crime and fear. What Baltimore needs more of in my humble opinion however is the hope found only in Jesus Christ. It's an honor for me to be here. It's such an honor to be among a people that you know God has asked you to live life and proclaim His love.

3rd Sunday at the Theater

2010-02-28T17:03:00.003-05:00

Main Service

Children's Ministry Entrance

We're doing great with set-up and creating an environment at the theater. We'll be getting out more marketing soon as we gear up for Easter. God is being glorified at Captivate Church!

Daddy & Cman Snow Fun

2010-02-11T20:06:00.012-05:00

Caleb and I spent some time outside this evening. We built a sled slide and an igloo. This was easiest the most fun I've had this year with a shovel in my hands.

Caleb got some speed on this little hill we made!

Failing Forward- What helped me

2010-01-30T12:38:00.003-05:00

When I was 21 years old I helped a church get started in Corpus Christi, TX. I was invited to join a group of high capacity leaders to launch this church in a Holiday Inn ballroom. It was a great and challenging period of my life.

My first meeting with our students was in the lobby of the hotel and I sat around a table with 4 middle/high school students. My budget for that year was next to non-existent. My salary was low and I didn't have insurance. I had a pre-law degree but no one cares about that when you're a Student Pastor at a fledgling church that meets in a Holiday Inn. So I cast vision and encouraged these students to invite their friends and off we went. Over the next 12-18 months we blew the doors off in terms of numerical growth. At our first year anniversary the church had 320 people show up and the youth department was a success. (I remember one staff meeting where I was told 70% of the church was connected somehow to our youth department through relatives of our kids). We were using the hotel's bar and dance floor for our services, I was preaching every week and learning leadership lessons. Well, I say I was learning but really I was doing a lot of failing.
Up to this point in my life I was successful at nearly everything I took on. Typically if I tried something I excelled at it. During my time in this youth ministry however I experienced a lot of failure. While our numbers were growing I found myself falling behind when it came to leadership, organization and follow-through. Balls would get dropped on a regular basis and the team of volunteer leaders (nearly all could be my parents) were often left picking up after me. Compound that with the fact that the leader I was serving under didn't take time to teach me but rather humiliate me in staff meetings and come down hard on me on a regular basis.

All of this ultimately became too much and I lost respect for my Senior Pastor. I asked a friend one day in McDonalds. "What do you do when you can no longer see your Pastor as a Pastor but simply a boss?" My friend said he wasn't sure. I ultimately came to the conclusion after much prayer that my new bride and I would move out of this situation and get closer to our families on the East Coast. I honored my Senior Pastor and I only spoke about our desire to be near family, not about my feelings of distrust for this Senior leader. I believe in honoring those in leadership so I modeled that at a time where I couldn't muster respect for the man but honor isn't tied to respect.
During that transition I felt like a complete failure. Here I was married with a beautiful new bride whom I was treating like garbage because I was so frustrated with my job performance. While on the outside everything looked great on the inside I was shaken to the core. To be honest I felt like a shadow of myself. I'd look in the mirror and think things like "This isn't me! I've never felt this beaten and broken. When I touch things they turn to gold. Life is turning to garbage."

Over the next few months I was blessed to find a great position in Virginia with a church and leadership structure that allowed me to grow. During that transition time I read several books that helped me. For the first time I read Doug Field's book "Purpose Driven Youth Ministry" which outlined a lot of what it takes to systematize a ministry to develop organization and purpose to each thing you do. To this point I was building my ministry off of a calendar, not a reason for existence or spiritual development. This was a big help to my ministry especially since the church I moved to was 100% a Purpose Driven Church. Even if you're not a PDC church I'd fully recommend that book to anyone who needs to get a framework for the 'whys' behind the 'whats' of ministry.
The second book I read was a book on marriage by Tommy Nelson called "The Book of Romance" from Song of Solomon. This book helped me refocus on my bride. As a young guy who was allowing ministry to take a front seat to my wife this book helped me refocus.

The third book I read during this transition time was possibly the most important for my own ability to recover emotionally. This book is called "Failing Forward" by John Maxwell. I highly recommend it for anyone feeling down on their recent performance. In this book Maxwell really gets into the concept that everyone fails and feels like a failure but you don't have to stay there. When you fall you can fall forward or backward. The book goes into detail about how to ensure that with each of your 'failures' you evaluate, grow, learn and move forward. Ultimately life will hit you with some failures.

You will make mistakes, you will slip and you will fall. The question isn't about whether or not life will happen to you, the question is really what will you do to fail forward? Make the most of your mistakes.

The promting for this post is because of a post I read today by John Maxwell (@johncmaxwell). He describes an account of a recent mistake that humiliated him and serves as a reminder to even him-- this great leader-- that he's human and can fail forward. Check out his post here.

To be honest I'm not sure why I decided to walk you through this period of my life. It's not a fun one. It doesn't show me in the best light. It brings up a period where I felt miserable and like a failure. I guess what I hope is that if you're going through a period of perceived failure that you will do what it takes to fail forward. I pray you will see yourself as a child of the King and that you will believe God's promises about his children. Take this period of time to get with God, ask Him to search your heart and take steps to make this moment a time of growth and not despair. When nearly 17% of the American workforce is without work, when many churches are struggling to pay bills and in the winter when weather doesn't provide us a 'pick me up' sometimes it's good to be reminded to keep moving forward, even if you fall forward to get there.

God is not through with you so learn what you can, dust yourself off and look forward to what God has in store for you just across the horizon.

Powerful Original Worship Song

2010-01-19T17:43:00.005-05:00

Last week I got a call from our Worship Pastor Danny Hallis. He shared with me that he wanted to write a song from his heart in response to the devastation in Haiti.

The truth is that incidents like this are faith-shaking events for many Christians.

New believers and immature believers aren't yet sure how to respond to something so tragic as what we saw coming out of Haiti. Danny had begun the process of composing a song and called to seek out some input. We discussed the event and I pointed him to Psalm 46 which begins: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea."

Danny is a talented young man with whom I'm honored to serve. I've been excited to have a front-row seat to God's working in Him as a worshiper of Jesus and a leader to others.

What God gave Danny turned out to be a pretty powerful song. One of the things I've prayed for is that God would give our church songs of worship that come from our people. To me, this song is the first of what will become many. This song is theologically sound and serves as a powerful cry to a sovereign God. The song effectively proclaims that we trust when we cannot see and the ability to do that is in my mind the essence of worshiping God.

Watch this video a few times. I promise it will catch your heart. You can follow Danny on Twitter at Twitter.com/DannyHallis. You cannot hire him away from us ;) The lyrics are below. I love this song. By the way, we gave 50% of our offering last Sunday to Haiti relief. God moved in our services last weekend.

Inspired by Psalm 46 & Haiti
by Danny Hallis

I don't have all the answers
So I'm questioning
Amidst all the chaos and destruction
how am i supposed to sing?
If You're God of tomorrow
then You're God of today
You're here in this moment
in our suffering

I will trust in Your unfailing love
You remain, You remain when all else is not enough

So come make beauty in these broken hearts
when all around is crushed by loss
Make Your name glorified above all else
Until the ends of the earth will know of Your love

You are my refuge
You are my strength
When trial comes
You're there in the break of day
I won't be afraid
When the earth gives way
and the mountains are swallowed by the sea

I will trust in Your unfailing love
You remain, You remain when all else is not enough

Come make beauty in these broken hearts
When all around is crushed by loss
Make Your name glorified above all else
Until the ends of the earth will know of Your love

Let us be the church that shines Your light
in the darkest place, in the darkest times

Pray for Haiti: Captivate 1/17/10

2010-01-18T13:05:00.023-05:00

Sunday at Captivate Church was as powerful as we've ever seen. I felt led to address the situation in Haiti head-on from a biblical worldview. So many people have deep questions about where God can possibly exist in the midst of devastation. We want to be a church that can be salt and light to our city and we must be equipped to answer the challenging questions about our faith.

In the following pictures you will see 3 young women who were baptized, an original song about the Haiti devastation from our own Danny Hallis, myself preaching from Romans 8:18-28 and the response of two women and a man to the Gospel. After service we trained around 30 people to be mentors in East Baltimore. These mentors will all be assigned a student in our inner-city after-school program and begin that year-long relationship within the next few weeks. God is moving!

It is a joy and honor to be on the front lines of what God is doing in our city through Captivate Church!

Captivate Rewind

2010-01-11T18:19:00.017-05:00

At Captivate this month we're doing a series called "Simple: but not easy" talking about the truths found in Mark 12:30-31:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

The idea of loving God with everything is simple but not easy. In conjunction with this series we encouraged our church to grab a copy of Mark Batterson's book "Primal" which focuses on these concepts. I'm not preaching out of the book but some attendees have shared that this series is a great compliment to their reading. Check out some pics from this past Sunday (click to enlarge).

We baptized one and saw another come to faith in Christ.

My favorite part of Captivate is seeing our crowd go nuts when people come forward to receive Christ. We've been fortunate to hear these celebrations 29 times in our first 3.5 months.

Photos credit: Ben Ritter

Miracle on 34th Street - Baltimore Style

2009-12-31T10:48:00.028-05:00

One of the reasons I love my city is that it has so many neighborhoods with their own unique personality. In general, people in Baltimore are not pretentious. They tell you what they think and they don't care what others think about them. By and large this city celebrates life and overcomes life's hard knocks on a daily basis. Life circumstances that rock people from other parts of the country just kind of roll off the shoulders of Baltimoreans. We're quirky and we don't care.

One of the unique things that happens each year in Baltimore happens over in Hampden on 34th street. "The Miracle on 34th Street" is an all-out community light display that covers a block (34th St.) in the city. It's a funky and friendly eclectic mix of lights and Christmas creations. It's Griswald times 50. What I like about 34th street is that this isn't a light display of off white lights and manicured lawns. It's a mix and match display of everything under the sun and very little is 'new'. It's good old fashioned lights and winter creations by people who care about keeping tradition and putting smiles on the faces of perfect strangers. We had a great time checking out the display this year.

Check out the display from a week ago. Photo credit: Ben Ritter

(How Parking Spots are saved in Baltimore Snow)

(Captivate's own Mikael & Ashley Ritter)

(Hilarious display of what appears to be a Geppetto as Santa letting Pinocchio know he was on the naughty list)

Merry Christmas from Captivate

2009-12-24T16:59:00.002-05:00

As we approach our Christmas Eve service I just wanted to thank you for following our journey this year and for all of your encouragement along the way. Merry Christmas!

Blizzard of '09 Pictures

2009-12-23T18:01:00.016-05:00

Photo Credit for Set: Ben Ritter

Photo Credit: Ben Ritter

Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity

2009-12-23T14:39:00.003-05:00

I was honored to receive an advanced copy of "Primal" by Pastor Mark Batterson. Pastor Mark is the founding and senior Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. If you're not familiar with his story I encourage you to read up about him and see what God is doing in both his life and the life of his church. Additionally you can check out some of his sermons here.

A little disclosure. I'm a fan of Pastor Mark Batterson. A few years ago when I was leading a church plant in Virginia Beach I was honored to sit in on a staff meeting with the team of NCC. During that time I observed a high-caliber team who have a deep respect and love for their Pastor. I also noticed a Pastor who leads with humility and wisdom.

A few years ago I went to a conference NCC hosted called "Buzz" (day 1, day 2). From there I have kept an eye on NCC and read two other books by Pastor Batterson, "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" and "Wild Goose Chase". Both of these books provide inspiration and insight worthy of your time. I also happen to own Pastor Mark's "ID: The True You" so I'm familiar with his work.

Primal is essentially a book written to awaken within the believer a passion to get back to the very essence of our faith. Through fascinating storytelling the reader gets to engage in a lifetime of adventures all the while uncovering deep spiritual truths. From joining Pastor Mark as he explores ancient ruins to hiking the rim of the Grand Canyon, this book is full of amazing tales of personal achievement and adventure.

The premise is that in Christianity there is a deep and primary truth to which we must return. That truth, a truth we often forget, is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

If you are a follower of Jesus there is no doubt that you have explored this verse but like many you may have come to an uncertain conclusion on how "exactly" I can love God with my heart, soul, mind and strength. Primal should be your primary read!

One of the attributes God has given to Pastor Batterson is an ability to stretch our mind by pointing to God's creation in scientific terms while simultaneously pulling in compelling stories. For me, his writing style is a one-two punch on my left and right brains to keep me engaged throughout the reading of this work.

Finally, as a Pastor I've decided to take principles and concepts from this book and use it in our first series of 2010 at Captivate Church. We will re-brand the series but we are going to point people to pick up a copy of Pastor Mark Batterson's compelling work, Primal. I want to encourage you to get yourself a copy this weekend and read it sometime in January before your calendar begins to complicate your new year. Thanks Pastor Batterson for putting out great work for us to chew on in the new year.

Let's all get back to the core of our faith in 2010 and show the world this God to whom we give our entire being.

East Baltimore Christmas Party

2009-12-20T16:12:00.011-05:00

The vision of Captivate is to build a church for the entire city of Baltimore. We want to create a prototype of what a church could look like in various locations around a very diverse city. Our suburban campus is filled with people who want to do more with their faith than drop an offering in a basket each week.

We are a church filled with idealistic people who really believe Jesus transforms lives. In partnership with some other churches we hosted at our East Baltimore location a Christmas party for kids from Liberty Learning Center (our after school program partner) and Prison Fellowship Ministries Angel Tree kids.

Check out some pics and a recap video from last week.

Blizzard of '09

2009-12-19T15:01:00.002-05:00

The Blizzard of '09 has arrived. Caleb is loving it! It's been a day of Wii, Hot Chocolate, Connect 4, Christmas movies and wrestling in the den. Take a look at a few minutes of footage when Cman ventured out. We've been letting him go out in bursts of of 5 minutes at a time. This will show you how deep it was getting. This video was from around 2pm. The news is reporting this as one of our top-5 snow showers in Baltimore history!

Early Adopters

2009-12-06T21:38:00.002-05:00

In the business world the term "Early Adopter" refers to those people who purchase a product or try a service before the rest of the world. They can be extremely valuable to the success of a company because they provide traction for everything that comes later. Early Adopters are a group of people willing to risk being on the front of a trend, movement or company. They don't mind stepping out of comfort zones and giving something new a shot. They know they are taking a risk but the potential reward is so much more exciting than living with status quo.

In the church planting world you have various types of 'early adopters'. While the church is certainly not a business there are some crossover lessons when you think about those early stages. Early adopters in the business world become a group of 'fans' if you will. When real bands (Not the over-produced garbage- think "O-town") put out music most of the time they aren't setting out to target a 12-15yr old age group unless they are 12-15 years old themselves. Many times what happens is a band of 18-25 yr olds appeals to that group of younger listeners. The band has an option. They can fight their fan-base and say "We're a real band, we've got to figure out how to get ____ age group." Or they can say "Cool, maybe we are appealing to a different crowd but we are appealing to someone. Let's figure out how to appeal more strongly to that crowd."

At Captivate we're finding that in our first few months the early adopters are the coveted 18-34 year old age group. In fact I'd say it's the under 30 crowd. While I certainly don't believe we'll remain under 30 after we're going a year or so, this is the crowd God is using us to reach. This is a generation that most churches are not reaching and yet for some reason God is blessing us to see many people far from God come to know Him because of our church.

We've seen many salvations and baptisms among this age-range so we're having internal conversations as to how to move forward in light of this 'early adopter' base. We could fight it like that band and do our best to be something else OR we can adjust and lean in towards reaching this age-group like no body else. We can fight it or embrace it.

In the days and weeks to come I'll share how we're going to respond to our early successes with our early adopters. I want us to be faithful not in trying to be something we think we should be but rather be the hands and feet of Jesus to whomever wherever we can do that.

Pastor Steven Furtick noted on Twitter last week wisdom:
"Etch your vision in stone-but sketch your strategy in pencil."

To be successful in business, making a band or church planting you must heed this advice. We are a life-giving church. We bring life by giving people the message of Jesus Christ. That will NOT change. Ever. If anyone wants us to be about anything else, the'll get frustrated pretty quick. However, HOW we do that will change over time so long as we believe there are more effective ways to achieve the vision God has given us.

How about you? Do you have some early adopter trends in your organization? What did you learn, how did you handle it? What advice would you give others in the beginning stages of building an organization/ministry?

The Principle of Expectation

2009-11-23T21:57:00.006-05:00

In launching Captivate Church on October 4th we were stepping out in faith that God would act on our behalf. It has been an amazing first two months in the birth of this church.

We have been privileged to have a front row seat to a move of God every single week since we've been open. It truly has been remarkable.

In our first 8 services we have seen 26 people receive Christ as Savior (we do an old-fashioned alter call every week for those who want to receive Christ). Additionally we've seen 12 of those people baptized! Every week at Captivate we have seen in living color how God is working in the lives of people.

We started the church determined to be a life-giving church. We exist to give people life in Jesus Christ. To those far from God that life comes firs through receiving Christ as Savior. For those who know Christ that life comes from living out God's word through discipleship and spiritual maturity. No matter who people are when they come through the door we as a team desire God to move on their behalf and for them to find life in Christ by the time they walk back out into the parking lot.

The weekend before we opened we were honored to have with us Mr. Larry Brey of Elevation Church. Larry had been kind enough last year to spend some time with me and pour into my life in preparing for the opening of this church. We invited Larry to come and speak life into us as we launched. (He informed us that he was simply reteaching truths his pastor, Pastor Steven Furtick taught him.) Through all of the discussion with Mr. Brey we sensed that one ingredient would be vital to our ability to give life to people far from God. Expectancy.

The principle of expectation flows throughout our ministry. I'm expected to bring a message from God each and every week. Our team each are expected to do their jobs with excellence and without a punch-list from me and without daily supervision. Our members are expected to partner with the church through their time, talent and treasure. We expect guests to have questions so we answer them before a guest even has to asked. Its a way we can honor them. We expect these things because we expect people who do not yet know God to walk through our doors and be given life.

We've been blessed by God with a spirit of expectancy. We've taught our crowd to cheer like crazy when anyone steps into the aisle to make that walk to the front and pray with one of our leaders. When this happens (as it has nearly every week) the roof comes off because our people have been ready to burst since they woke up and got in their cars. Captivate is a church where the people come expecting to see the miracle of salvation. It's pretty phenomenal.

So let me urge you to live with a sense of expectation. If you are a Pastor and you do not expect God to move and draw people to Himself right before your eyes, please repent and get before your face to pray for God to move.

Make no mistake, the principle of expectation is never on the sidelines. Every moment you wake up you are either expecting today to be either 'another day' or the 'one day' when God would do something incredible in your midst.

Innovation in Depravity

2009-11-14T11:46:00.005-05:00

An unbelievable story of a young man from Malawi who built a windmill in his village out of junk.William Kamkwamba

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

In the midst of adversity and a downturn in the economy it's refreshing to see this young man's story. Here is someone who lives in a place where 10% unemployment would be a luxury.

Your circumstances do not define you. We often are limited by our short-sighted vision and because of this we often don't realize our potential. An inspiring picture of what can happen when you can see your vision and not simply your immediate surroundings. His line at the end is priceless.

Ace of Cakes

2009-11-13T12:54:00.003-05:00

Just got a publisher's copy of "Ace of Cakes: Inside the world of Charm City Cakes"

I'm pumped to see Baltimore on the map in a positive light and I'm honored to check out the book and review it here. Be on the look out in an upcoming post.

Community Fall Festival

2009-10-31T17:08:00.002-04:00

Captivate was invited to join local organizations and businesses like Target and McDonalds in putting on a Halloween event called "Fall Fest". It's an honor that businesses approached us about participating and we were excited to be there. We got to have many great conversations and many invitations were given. Volunteers from the church came out and a great time was had by all. We're pumped to see how God uses these events in the community to bring people to himself. Here's a quick peek at what we had goin' at the Fall Fest.

A Sorry excuse for Sorry

2009-10-21T10:36:00.002-04:00

Today I came across an article on ESPN where Jeff Fisher, coach of the Tennessee Titans (who have as many wins in the NFL as I do right now) apparently upset some people by wearing a Colts jersey while introducing former Colts coach, Tony Dungy during a charity event.

Understandably, some fans and radio personalities have raised a fuss about a coach who lost last week by 59 points wearing the jersey of another team.
Let me first say that I don't particularly care about either side to this trivial story. Football is a game. Nothing that I'm about to say should be taken to indicate I care very deeply about this situation. I care more for the principle at play and how I see this reflected in society as a whole.

According to the article, Fischer did something that I believe reflects a very poor use and understanding of an apology. This is Coach Fisher's direct quote from the article: "I'm sorry if I offended anybody but if I had to do it again, I would do it again."

Coach Fisher is not unique in his definition of an apology. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this type of apology between people. I can't tell you how many people I've met who believe this is an acceptable approach to their relationship with God.

Apologies to People:
"My bad, but I'd do it again."

When you give an apology you are admitting fault. At the very least you are admitting regret that your ignorance caused harm. What an apology is not is what Coach Fisher expressed. If a person is sorry it means they genuinely repent. They wish they could go back and do things completely different.

We can't have healthy relationships without healthy repentance. If we believe a healthy repentance is to say "I apologize but I'd cause the same harm again." A true apology is admitting fault and expressing a sincere desire that things would have been done completely differently.

Apologies to God:
"My bad, but I'd do it again."

The scripture is full of examples where God encourages us to live with integrity. God's word goes as far to say that even our thought life should be lived above reproach. We are called to a higher standard under the grace of Christ, not a lower one. Fortunately for us, in Christ we are forgiven of much. Our knowledge of how short we fall is no longer simply a reflection of how far off the mark we are but rather it is now used as a springboard to giving God more praise, honor and loyalty with our lives.

We are called as His children to present ourselves as living sacrifices because He first sacrificed himself for us. So when we sin our response can't be "My bad God, but I'd do it again."

If you want to see a genuine apology check out Psalm 51.

Psalm 51

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

² Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ^a]">[a] ;
you teach ^b]">[b] me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

⁹ Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.

¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are ^c]">[c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Simply Captivating

2009-10-21T01:07:00.009-04:00

To date: 23 professions of faith and 9 baptisms in 3 weeks. We're pumped at what God is doing!

Check out a few shots from this Sunday, October 18th.

Daddy and Son Fun!

2009-10-15T21:42:00.004-04:00

This evening Caleb and I created a monster. A pumpkin monster!

Captivate Week 2 In Pictures

2009-10-11T18:02:00.024-04:00

Worship Leader Danny Hallis (Danny got engaged just 3 weeks ago!)

Visiting us today was one of our interns from this summer named Zack. Zack has led a life that until a few years ago would have gotten him not much more than a ticket to prison or a morgue. God got to him in such a huge way that Zack is now a freshman at my Alma Mater Liberty University! I'm so proud of him. I wanted to show the crowd that God gets joy out of making broken people whole. Zack is a testimony to that!

See more below from this video which can be seen with others at CaptivateChurch.com

Drugs from Stories on Vimeo.

The point of the sermon today was that God goes on offense to save the most broken and busted among us. He used even Paul (self described persecutor and violent man) to plant churches and go on to write 2/3 of the NT... he can save and use you! Our scripture came from 1 Timothy 1:12-17. We also talked about the fact that the scoreboard is the Lamb's book of life. The place where the names of those who trust Christ for new life are found. Christ is on offense to get the score up! God doesn't want to just win, he wants us to run up the score. As a result, this church exists to reach people far from God.

3, 4
A set of friends from Stevenson University. Both received salvation in Christ today!

5, 6
Another set of friends who came together, both giving Christ their life!

This will never get old!

I'm begging God to make this only the beginning of what happens here in Baltimore through Captivate Church and many others who preach Christ and draw people to Him.

Video Clips from Concord

2009-10-09T10:28:00.003-04:00

We couldn't do what we are doing without the support of some amazing churches. One of those churches is Concord. We have been having a wonderful week getting to know the people of this great church. Sometimes people don't think about how new churches ever get started. For us most of the reason we even exist are because of amazing people sending us.

This morning some of Concord Christian's students came over to our booth and made up a cheer with us. I got into the act. We had so much fun one of the teachers invited me to stop in on their chapel service and say hello. Over at TheBaltimoreProject.com I've had several groups do the wave so I thought it'd be appropriate for this occasion!

This is a simple way for us to connect and have fun. Sometimes we relegate missions to something that happens far away. Visits like this let us interact with all age groups so they know who exactly they are praying for and supporting through their contributions. When we're on the front lines every day it's great to know people like this have our back! Check out some fun we've had this morning!

Larry Brey visit Recap

2009-10-07T11:00:00.005-04:00

It's Wednesday and I'm on a plane to Knoxville, TN via ATL to see one of our great partner churches. This past week has been a whirlwind week! God has been more than gracious to us.

On Friday and Saturday we were beyond blessed to have with us Mr. Larry Brey of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. I've been around the church world for over 10 years since time as a volunteer at TRBC. There are very few churches like Elevation. There are very few leaders like Pastor Steven Furtick and there are next to no church cultures like the team assembled at Elevation. God is doing a very unique work in Charlotte through this group of men and women.

Last year I had the honor of visiting Elevation's office during my south east road trip with TheBaltimoreProject.com. My time with Elevation was of the highlights of my year. Pastor Furtick was generous enough to take a few minutes with me, Chunks Corbett, their Executive Pastor took a few hours over lunch and Mr. Larry Brey, their Connections Pastor spent several hours pouring into me. Prior to my visit this team knew next to nothing about me. I understand they made a call or two to some friends to verify who I was but I was not given nearly a day of their attention because of anything about me. I was given time because they are a gracious church who wants to share what God did through them.

During the visit with all of the leaders I was able to spend time with I did not ask about pipe and drape or where they buy their projectors or how they make their stage look cool. I spent my time trying to understand the "why" behind the "how". My philosophy is that anyone can make a stage 'cool' but not everyone can see a move of God on their watch. I wanted the wisdom that comes with a move of God. Not man's wisdom, but that piece of knowledge that spurs everything else.

That day I observed a team like I hadn't seen before. There was a cultural difference about the place. That cultural difference in my opinion comes from a culture of honor. Elevation has a few spices that make the flavor of what they do very unique among the church planting culture of today. One of those spices is honor.

Honor at Elevation is honor up/down/left/right... they bleed honor.

Bringing Larry Brey in was huge for our team. He doesn't do this every weekend. Again, he did not join us because we gave him a ton of cash (we didn't) or because we are so special (we're not), Mr. Brey came because Pastor Steven Furtick has encouraged his team to share freely with others. They remember when they were just getting started. Again, I am humbled and honored that Elevation has open hands with the blessing God is pouring out and it is such a privilege to have them invest in us.

I'm not going to get into the details of what Larry shared with us. Many of these principles can be learned by attending an Elevation event such as IMPART. I had the privilege of attending THR3E in April and it was like drinking from a fire hose. As an aside: To be honest I'm not a fan of guys whining about the cost of training events like this. Sell your TV if you believe God has called you and you believe what they have to say is a great investment. Too many people want a steak dinner for the price of a happy meal. Okay, that's off my chest.

What I will say about Mr. Brey's visit is that he is an encourager beyond belief. He teaches to the heart and he digs deep to make certain our team - all of us - are counting and have counted the cost. He asked challenging questions and he affirmed often. During our time with him we literally laughed, some cried and all of us hurt our hands trying to scribble enough down to keep up with the powerful lessons he shared.

I'd imagine we could catch more of the Niagra Falls with our open mouth than what could be crammed into our brains over the two days from the wisdom Larry shared. Another aspect of Larry's visit that was unique is the speed and repetition with which he reminded us that he was not the author of the wisdom. He gave so much credit to Pastor Furtick and said "I have the easy job, I just hit 'record' when I'm with Pastor and I hit 'play' when I'm with you."

Pastor Furtick thank you again for blessing us by affirming your team as they share with others. Thank you for believing in us and thank you for imparting wisdom to people like Larry Brey so they can bring it to the far reaches of the nation. Baltimore will be blessed because of your investment.

Mr. Larry Brey, thank you. Thank you for believing in our team and for teaching us the many valuable lessons we will need in moments, days and weeks to come. For our opening service our team implemented several of your suggestions immediately and we saw a big payoff. One example is that Drew gathered more parking team members and gave a speech to our parking guys that Vince Lombardi would be proud of. Our team was on fire for our opening day because of the investment you made. We are carrying those lessons forward as we prepare for week 2.

Again, thank you!

Night Before Launch

2009-10-04T08:18:00.002-04:00

God has brought this church a long way. We want Baltimore to know Christ through us.

When it tastes like vomit

2009-09-29T23:56:00.004-04:00

You can thank me for the title later.

As a Pastor I'm constantly in contact with amazing people who are thirsty for someone to call out the potential that sits dormant in their lives. Everyone has some level of it and like all things, God has given people unique areas. For some their potential is obvious and for others it takes a little digging but everyone has it.

I'm not one of these people who believes everyone can be anything they put their mind to. Not everyone will be able to swim like Michael Phelps and win 8 gold medals in one Olympics for instance. I can barely swim a lap without holding the side for a rest. While I have played football, baseball and basketball you're not going to find any articles written about my skills in any of those sports being very noteworthy.

Potential isn't about everyone winning gold or everyone holding a microphone or everyone being the PTA president. Potential is becoming the man or woman that God created when He brought you into being. It is fulfilling every ounce of opportunity with what God gave. I've often read that the human mind only fulfills 10% of it's capacity. In my unscientific estimation I'd say that's about what the average person uses in their total potential.

What keeps us from reaching our potential? The lure of the lackluster.

Lackluster is the word I use for the life not challenged. A lackluster life is one that returns to the same behavior as the day before. Usually the lackluster life is one that becomes routine and predictable. The lackluster life does not challenge assumptions, does not work through difficult circumstances, it worships comfortable and often wakes up fighting the same battles and noticing little change over long periods of time. That's a lackluster life.

YAWN! What a waste of potential.

The book of proverbs speaks to this life:
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. Proverbs 26:11

I really believe that many people live the lackluster life because they have accepted returning to the old ways of life just like a dog returning to eat their own vomit. The very low expectations they have continue to ruin them time and time again. Sin is not viewed for what it is - the reason for Christ's execution (2 Corinthians 5:21) - but rather the lackluster Christian sees sin as nothing more than an acceptable alternative to momentary boredom.

What will it take for some to finally put an end to the wasted life? What will it take for some people to wake up and realize that they are created in the image of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit they can overcome their lackluster approach to living? I believe for many people they have to see their current existence for what it is. Vomit.

Once a person can view their current situation and begin to taste status quo as vomit then they will have enough. So long as you continue to spray Cool Whip on your problems you'll continue to eat the meal of mediocrity and never fully realize the abundant life that is found in obedience to Christ.

I'm not interested in people achieving material success and using the cross as a means to an end. Quite the contrary. I'm interested in people getting so frustrated with the status quo that they get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit move them into communion with the Father through the sacrifice of the Son. I believe God does not create junk and every person has been wired to fulfill their potential to the glory of God.

When we don't fulfill our potential, God gets his glory reflected into fewer places where people need to know Him. Christian man or woman, God put you right where you are to shine for Him and to make his name famous. Part of achieving our potential is to leverage all of our influence for his Glory. When we live the lackluster life then we miss out on one of the most powerful parts of our existence... to have God use us to touch the eternal destiny of another soul.

So when will people finally let go? When will Christians who know better quit "falling" (read: mistake, slip, accident, oops, screwed up, mess up) repeatedly? When they trust in Christ not only as fire-insurance but as Lord of their lives and begin to notice that sin tastes like vomit. Then and only then will they see their life as Jesus sees them. They will see that they are eating a meal not befitting for a child of the living God.

If you're living a lackluster life because you continue to return to your vomit I pray today is the day you see it for what it is. See that temporary gratification you run to as the very wall separating you from the fullness of Christ living in you.

Don't waste another day on excuses and lackluster living. Fulfill your potential, give God glory and change the world by living out the reason for which God created you.

Why We Need New Life

2009-09-28T19:35:00.006-04:00

The human condition is not that we 'do bad things'.

The human condition is that we are all sinful beings. We are "b-b-b-b-ba-ba bad to the bone."

By our very nature we are people who are predisposed for things that do not line up with love. Christianity points out that we're all on the same playing field at the cross of Christ. All of us have fallen short of God's standard. All of us are in need of grace from God.

Today I came across a story on CNN about a 16 year old who was beaten to death in Chicago. To get the full passion with which I write the following words, read that story before you continue.

Having grown up and now ministering in Baltimore I can assure you that this identical story can be written with the city of Baltimore as the backdrop just as easily.

What this story points out is that there is an evil in this world so brutal and so deranged that it's unspeakable to most people. This evil however does exist.

As a society we have allowed a vocal minority of people rise up to tell us that our children should not hear of God. We are told that we must depend on government regulation and intervention for our society to work. We are told that a family is no longer the necessary cornerstone to society but rather 'it takes a village'. In the meantime our society suffers. Our children are brainwashed to think their great great great grandparents were monkeys and their greatest of ancestors was a tadpole created from electrocuted snot soup.

The reason people need to learn of the love of the Gospel of Jesus is that we are not people simply who do bad things. We are naturally (when left to our own) people with a rebellious nature. Certainly not everyone is out to kill but we all at the very least consider ourselves above others. We have lost the common courtesy to hold a door in most cases. We are a self indulgent people.

Many of us have the capability to help and love our neighbor but we walk on by instead. After years of social media, the One Campaign, Kiva, Blood Water Mission and other fine organizations alerting us of needs around the world we continue to let people die for no reason. We are all broken people. Lets just admit it already. As a society lets stop trying to pretend we're all naturally good. We're not. We're all screwed up. Some just mask it better than others.

The typical reaction to a murder is that our politicians come out and talk about creating new gun laws. We blame inanimate objects for the problem. Our politicians blame metal. I wonder if after reading this story will our politicians lobby for tougher 2x4 laws? I'm not making a joke here. I'm making a point that this is the 'leadership' we receive because this is the leadership we choose. At the very least we allow a void that gets filled by people who have yet to acknowledge their own frailty and brokenness. In short we follow leaders who consider themselves a god. They believe they have all of the answers and faith is a fairy tale. The problem is not with the tools used for violence or hate, the problem is found in the heart that hates in the first place.

We must take off our rose colored glasses.

We are fooling ourselves if we believe that our societal issues can be repaired by government, 'villages' or highway signs. What we are dealing with are conditions of the heart. Whether you like faith or hate it you must acknowledge that the more Christianity is pushed to the sidelines and the more that Christians sit silent in the public square, the more common these incidents become.

Today America has more children born into families without both mother and father married than ever before. We are right now seeing the results of fatherless homes in our inner cities. We are handicapping authorities in every way possible by allowing groups to get publicity out of attacking the public servants who protect us as a society. Ultimately we as Christians are to take the blame for remaining silent and on the bench.

Every school in this country would love to have us volunteer and love on young people but we don't. We leave it to 'someone else, something else, somewhere else'.
People need to know of the new life they can find in Jesus Christ. People need to know that their life is not an accident. People need to know that their life is ETERNAL and not simply a 70 year sprint with no meaning. People need to know that love wins. People need to know that there is a God who knows them, loves them and expects no magic tricks. He simply wants to be allowed to take up residence in their lives so HE can do his thing. People need to be loved.

People need to know that their life matters, their existence matters and they have a Heavenly Father who believes they matter!

People need the love that leads to new life in Christ.
------------------
This is why we're here!
This past Sunday at Captivate Church 4 people crossed the line of faith and trusted Jesus Christ for new life in Him. Ephesians 2:8-10 promises that they have an eternal life in Christ not because of their inherent 'goodness' but rather because of grace through faith. If you are interested in learning more about a new life in Christ please contact me or visit CaptivateChurch.com for our grand opening this Sunday at 10 a.m. - 10626 York Rd, 21030!

We're also starting a new church in East Baltimore at the corner of Orleans and Luzerne Avenue near McEldery Park. Pray for us as we attempt to bring people new life in Christ.

Vote for Me!

2009-09-28T11:31:00.003-04:00

This blog has been entered in a blog contest put on by the Baltimore Sun. I'd love to drive some traffic here as we prepare to open. If you would be so kind to help our cause, please take a moment to vote for this blog in three places.

1. Misc. - Defies a category.
2. Personal- Blogs about people.
3. Best Overall- You know what that is.

We're Better Together

2009-09-25T14:52:00.012-04:00

(Some of our staff with Ben Arment. We work better together.)

I'm constantly reminded that we're better off together rather than alone.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

¹² Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

(These are men we baptized this summer. As a church we're better together.)

This past week I was invited to spend some time down at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. Sherwood is the church home to the movies "Facing the Giants" and "Fireproof". In a previous post I shared with you some of the impact this church made on my life.

Dr. Michael Catt invited me to a conference he hosts each year called "ReFRESH". The church paid for myself and an associate to fly in, gave us a rental car and great accommodations at a nice hotel by the water. Their church greeted us with a standing ovation which made me speechless at their love for us. What you need to know is that it wasn't corporate either, we were truly impressed with the love we received from every single person we encountered at Sherwood. Whether it be staff, volunteers or an elderly lady who grabbed me and smiled as I walked by in the worship center. A spirit of love rests all over the people of Sherwood.

From the Executive Pastor Jim McBride giving us a personal tour of their 100+ acre sports park to various staff members like Pastors John Spencer and Jim Jewell taking us out to eat, we were treated with a great deal of love and appreciation. We also had a great time hanging with Tracy Goode in the technical production room. Everyone and I mean everyone went over the top to love on us and we appreciated every bit of it. We only were able to spend 3 days on th e ground but I walked away feeling like honorary members of this great church. What Sherwood doesn't know is that God used their pledge of support to nudge me into taking a step of faith with our facility selection. Once we signed on the dotted line I had no idea how generous they would be. As a missionary on the front lines it is great to know that myself or m y team are not left alone. This church will reach many people far from God because we've got friends and our ministry is better together!

(Our marriage is stronger when spiritually, emotionally and physically we're together. We're better together.)

Upon my return from Sherwood it felt that the weight of the ministry was landing on my chest. I went from being in a place of peace and comfort and rest in God's word communicated by great preachers of the gospel to being thrust back into the day to day grind of getting our two locations off of the ground. With bills beginning to come in and systems not quite in place to even some heated moments within our team I quickly longed to be back on a plane to Sherwood. As you may suppose, God have any of that though.

What God does have are brothers in Christ going through the same thing here in Ba ltimore. This morning (Friday) I hustled around to get things in order to take the time to drive and pray with some fellow church starters. We ended up over in O'Donnell Heights, the housing project in which I was raised through my elementary years. I had the opportunity to pray for the people and beg God for him to pull more boys and girls out of that environme nt and place them into the Kingdom of God so they too can rise up to lead others. As I walked the streets it became clear to me as well that many of my concerns are petty compared to the streets on which I walked as a child. God has brought me far.

(Our summer college bible study found strength in numbers. They found that they grow better together.)

During that time this morning I was able to speak with several other church starters a bout their efforts in and around Baltimore. I spoke spanish (poorly) for a while with a hispanic Pastor. I spoke with my Kenyan brother who is working in the Odonell Heights area and I spent time with friends who are in Bolton Hill and Fells Point. For lunch I spent time with my partner in crime- Aaron Pankey who is an African American friend starting a great church near Morgan State University. As I wrapped up lunch today I thought to myself that my ministry is blessed because of these men. Each time we meet and pray with one another I can go back into my mission field with the knowledge that we are not alone and our ministry is better tog ether! I want to encourage you today. If you are alone and isolated in your work for God you must reach out and find people with whom to have fellowship. Fellowship is not stuffing your face and laughing about trivial things. Fellowship is time spent with Christ at the center of the relationship. I dare say that most Christian leaders do not have a genuine understanding of fellowship in their own everyday lives. It breaks my heart because we are better together.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter and took time to pray this morning, thank you. I felt your prayers and God spoke to me when I needed it most. As I received your many text messages, emails and facebook comments I was able to thank God for you and return the favor because we truly are ... that's right... better together. God bless.

(No such thing as a 1-man-band here. Our band plays sweet tunes better together.)

Evening at Sherwood

2009-09-23T03:54:00.000-04:00

Sherwood's ReFRESH Conference, Albany, GA from The Baltimore Project on Vimeo.

Sherwood: More than a Movie Church

2009-09-22T08:11:00.004-04:00

Sherwood Baptist Church is known as the church that put out the movies "Facing the Giants" and "Fireproof". Both movies are known for their powerful story lines and life-giving messages. What I am left with during my visit is the overwhelming sense that this church is NOT a movie church. This church is FIRST a life-giving church in their community and then a church that does movies to spread that spirit to the rest of the world.

Sherwood is lead by a Pastor in Dr. Michael Catt who loves Jesus, loves people and is a man full of faith that God wants to move on behalf of his people. It shows.

The church sits in Albany, Ga which is a nice town but not exactly as large as Atlanta. It is a small town with some small town charm. Within this 'small' town is a church with a big-time heart. Sherwood has many ministries to reach out to those less fortunate, they have an 82-acre sports park they have built for the public, they give generously to many ministries all over this town.

In addition to what Sherwood does alone here in Albany, they have partnered in a very close way with a neighboring church that is almost exclusively an African-American congregation. Dr. Catt calls his friend, Dr. Daniel Simmons the 'co-pastor' of Sherwood Baptist Church. Dr. Simmons is actually the Pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church here in Albany. Both of these men deserve great credit for the friendship they have forged, how closely they work with one another and how their partnership has bridged the racial divide for many in this community. I had a gentleman tell me during a break yesterday that he is thankful for their friendship because there are words that were spoken in his home that his children have never heard spoken in theirs. Powerful testimony to the power of Christ in the lives of these men.
Their friendship has enabled these two congregations who reach different people to often partner together as one in order to reach more people with the gospel of Christ. In a small southern town this is nothing to sneeze at. Their friendship is evident and their ministry is more effective because of their willingness to love one another and minister together.

I'm truly honored to be partnering with Sherwood Baptist Church. They have been an exemplary model for how a church reaches their own town and out to the world. Thank you Dr. Catt and thank you Sherwood.

Get To Know Me & My Personality Pattern

2009-09-17T21:10:00.005-04:00

Taking Tony Morgan's lead I completed the new Personality Pattern test. Mine is pretty accurate. What's your pattern?

(click to enlarge)

1. Poised

You tend to feel at home wherever you find yourself, even in unfamiliar settings, with new people. It takes a lot to rattle you, and when rattled you recover quickly and gracefully.

You are usually not self-conscious or nervous when you're in an unfamiliar environment or with people you don't know.

2. Optimistic
You are a "glass half-full" kind of person, always on the lookout for the silver lining. Your happiness is contagious, which is why others like to be around you.

You do not feel that the world is an intrinsically depressing place; you are not the kind of "realist" who thinks that only fools find joy in life.

3. Innovative
You come up with a lot of ideas; if one doesn't work out, there's always another waiting in the wings. You often have interesting solutions to difficult problems. You're practically a one-person brainstorming session.

You are less interested changing the world than in dealing with things as they are. Unlike those who spend all their time trying to solve problems, you prefer to zero in on things that work and stick with them.

4. Creative
You are good at solving problems, coming up with original ideas, and seeing connections between things, connections that most other people miss. People with a high score on the "creative" trait often are employed in such fields as finance and scientific research, and enjoy avant garde and classical music as well as literary fiction and scholarly non-fiction.

You do not shun abstractions and concepts in favor of the concrete and tangible.

5. Astute
You are a quick study. You generally don't need to have things explained to you more than once. When presented with a problem, you will often have an instant understanding of where to look for the solution.

You do not take your sweet time when presented with a new task to complete or problem to solve. You don't avoid assignments that require you to learn new skills.

6. Intellectual
You are thoughtful, rational, and comfortable in the world of ideas. People find you interesting to talk to. You're the living embodiment of the saying "You learn something new every day." In general, those with a high score on the "intellectual" trait are employed in such fields as teaching and research, and are enthusiastic about reading, foreign films, and classical music.

You do not avoid abstract conversation, experimenting with new ideas, or studying new things. It bores you to stick to the straight and narrow of what you already know.

7. Extroverted
You are ready to talk at the drop of a hat. Whether you're in the office or at a party, you're likely to be found gabbing away in the middle of a group of people. If you have a high score on the "extroverted" trait, you are probably among those who enjoy communicating with their friends (on the phone, on line, texting…), hanging out, and finding the best parties.

You are not shy or unwilling to spend a fair amount of time socializing. People you meet generally do not feel they have a hard time getting to know you.

8. Friendly
You would rather hang out with others than spend time alone, and you'd far rather be doing something with your friends than just sitting around. You're happy in a crowded room, club, stadium, or auditorium.

You're not a private person who is ill at ease in a group; you don't view excessive socializing as a waste of time.

9. Unflappable
You are not a slave to your emotions. It takes a lot to upset or unnerve you. That's why you're a good person to have around in a crisis.

You don't let it all hang out, which means that those around you often don't know the pressures you're under or what you're going through. You're not the kind of person people run from in a crisis.

10. Competent
You strive to master everything you undertake. You tend to learn quickly and do not shy away from challenges.

You are not a "que sera sera" type of person, nor do you go easy on yourself when attempting to master a new skill or get a job done.

Captivate Update

2009-09-14T13:57:00.003-04:00

This weekend was a great weekend in the life of this new church, Captivate Church. We believe God draws people to Himself with an irresistible appeal so we're working to build a church that does exactly that.

During the month of September we're inviting people who are interested in Captivate Church to join our 'launch team' for worship. On Sunday we had a great crowd and we had an amazing time together.

We're just 3 weeks away from public launch on October 4th but we can feel the momentum building. Paint is going up on a bunch of walls, we're unwrapping chairs and electricians were at the facility this morning installing power to the Children's auditorium. It's all coming together.

Our team is pretty amped up and we can't wait to welcome the community to weekend services in our new space. God has blessed and we're honored to create a church that will reach people in the Baltimore area.

Thank you to all of you who sacrifice and give so that this church gets birthed here.

Why We're Here

2009-09-03T16:38:00.003-04:00

This video explains why we're here. It is a thank you to each of our partners so far and it also serves as a clarion call for people in our region to know that we're focused on people far from God finding freedom and life in Jesus Christ.

It pumps me up!

Encouragement: Soak it Up

2009-08-31T19:30:00.005-04:00

As a church starter (or human being) you have to balance out genuine encouragement and people who are overly flattering. You get both. It is important however when you get the genuine to stop and soak it up. You never know the next time you'll receive positive, Holy Spirit induced encouragement. I'm telling ya... soak it up because it just may be the refreshment you need when you're in the desert of life.

Today I spent some time checking on a particular product we may need. What I got in an email this afternoon I just had to stop and soak up. I also emailed this to our team and asked them to soak it in. I believe as the Pastor I tend to get a feel for what God's doing and it's important for me to share these things with our team (who make nearly everything happen anyway).
I'm very thankful for the encouragement God sends our way and this was one example from today. It was kindness about our site- CaptivateChurch.com - The thing is that I didn't ask this person to look at our site. They simply took it upon themselves to look from the domain at the end of the email address I gave.

"Hi Tally, Thank You for your time today, I enjoyed talking with you! Please let me know how I can be of assistance. I just got through looking at your website and praying over your church launch. I spend every work day talking to churches all over the country and looking at thousands of church websites every year. Your site looks very, very good, such an excellent look for such a new church. You did something that I often find churches miss the mark on, and that is the way you broke down videos by topics. When a seeker goes to a church website they are hungry for answers. Your format lays it out in a way that by topic you can get to what you are looking for.

God has impressed it upon my heart to continue to pray for your church launch. I am praying for God’s continued Favor and Blessing for you, your staff, Captivate Church and the many, many people that will be touched by your ministry. "

So if you wrote us today. Thank you. If you think to encourage someone, please do. If you receive encouragement and you have a team around you, share it with them. It's our spiritual responsibility to take a moment and enjoy a win.

Another win was this group from Wake Forest, NC who came to visit us just about a week ago. It was great to have them here to serve. Check out a video they put together of their time with us.

To Pastor the City

2009-08-23T08:59:00.004-04:00

I believe God brought me back to Baltimore to be a Pastor to this city. The entire place. The entire people.

I think in our modern day missiology we may be unintentionally killing fruit on the vine. In my heart of hearts I believe if you are a Pastor with a heart for those far from God you should want every type of person to experience a saving relationship of faith in Jesus Christ. As we look at a culture divided into every conceivable demographic, educational background and native tongue we can rightly aim our focus to take root in the culture in a particular demographic only to wrongly ignore those who are outside of our chosen area of expertise.
Baltimore is an amazing place filled with people from every walk of life you can imagine. There are rich and poor, black and white, Asian and Latino, Italian and German... everyone is here. I can't help but to want to create compelling environments to draw each of these population segments to the King.
I believe in a Captivating God!

I believe in a God who - in his divine nature, power and glory - transcends every imaginable man-made road block.

Now I certainly know that we are finite and we have our own limitations but if we point to HIM and we think with HIS ends in mind we can become cultural caretakers whereby we do not just build churches that take on our own personalities but rather we build churches that take on the personalities of the community in which they rest. Connecting those congregations together at the footstep of fellowship (The genuine definition of fellowship: I digress, I don't have time to talk about that in this post) we can show the community that God indeed is a captivating God and no matter who you are or where you're from, there is a place for you with the King.

This is my passion, to Pastor the City. Part of that passion means that I do not make every environment compelling to me, it's to make every environment compelling to those we're trying to reach. As I look at what God has done through us in our inner city facility as well as our Timonium location I believe we're seeing this passion come to life. We have worked hard to create environments where the Gospel can be shared in a relevant way to the culture in which those facilities rest.
I cannot wait to share with you all that God does to bring people to Him from every part of this city!

Somethin' for your Friday

2009-08-21T08:23:00.001-04:00

Amazing Story

2009-08-14T08:18:00.003-04:00

At Captivate Church we put a lot of stock into stories. So much so that if you visit our site at CaptivateChurch.com you will be able to scroll down a list of struggles that people go through and find stories that match each one.

Today Tony Morgan shares a link on his blog to a story that you must watch. It's worth an hour of your time but it only lasts 5 minutes.