Halloween

Briggs actually has two costumes for halloween.
His first.....
A Man Cub.

I'll post pictures of Briggs in his other costume at a later time.

I'm a little nervous - the outfit is a little risky...

Christmas At Mountaintop

Here's how you can help.  Click on the picture.  Instructions are listed.  This file is set up to be printed.  I'll share more next week about a big event we are doing in December to help raise money and gifts for Christmas @ Mountaintop.  Enjoy.

An opportunity to make a tangible impact.

Connect Rome - and the rest of you who read this blog - have the opportunity to really make a legitimate, tangible, life changing impact on one family.  We are trying to fully furnish a family's home.

Currently, we already have beds, mattresses and living room furniture.

WE STILL NEED...

Appliances (washer, dryer, refrigerator, etc)

Kitchen table and chairs 

And all the little things - towels, sheets, rugs, picture frames, kitchen stuff.

You to pray for this family (right now, take a few seconds out of your day and pray that this family will discover a God who is madly in love with them!)

Give me a call (706.409.2379) or drop me an email (joshtalks@me.com), and I will make sure that we have someone come pick up the things that you can give.

Please don't just overlook this blog.  YOU can make a difference TODAY!

Connect Rome is shutting down ...

if we are not making a real, tangible impact in Floyd County.

• I'm not interested in simply getting our name out there.
  
• I'm not interested in just having a lot of people's butts sitting in seats during one of our worship environments.
  
• And I'm definitely not interested in rallying a bunch of people together so that we can all feel better about ourselves.
  

God called us to transform a city and that requires getting messy and working hard.  

• That is the reason why we did the Buy A Little More Project (we'll be doing this again next year.)
  
• That is why we filled a trailer and truck full of clothes, furniture and games and delivered them to South Rome.
  
• That is why we dressed up like ghosts and goblins for the haunted trail this past weekend to serve our community.
  
• And that is the reason we are doing the Christmas at Mountain Top Project. It's going to be awesome! (I met with a local business man today about an event we are doing for the project - and it's going to be crazy.  I'll share more about the event with you all next week.  If you want to know before next week then you will have to come to our gathering this Sunday at 10 am.)

Here's what's on the dock for this week - I'll be asking for your help:

• Tomorrow - I'm going to share how you can get help provide furniture and other items for a family in need.
  
• Wednesday - I'm going to share how you can get in the middle of our Christmas @ Mountain Top Project.
  
• Thursday - I'm going to talk about our upcoming events (including our Beta Service on Sunday Nov. 23!!) and ways for you to jump in with Connect Rome.
  

Tonight - Haunted Trail

Tonight, our launch team is working alongside The Carroll's at Cloud 9 Farm in Rome to host a Haunted Trail.

It's going to be a blast.  Parts of it will be quite scary, but it's safe for the whole family. 

It Starts at 6pm - but you can wait until after the Georgia game is over if you'd like. We'll be there for several hours.

There will be hayrides through the haunted trail.

There will be a bonfire

There will be inflatables and games

AND IT'S ALL FREE!

All you need to bring is enough hot dogs and buns for your family and either a side or a dessert.

If you have any questions - drop me an email or call me at 706.409.2379.

Cloud 9 is located at

2270 Turkey Mountain Road (Hwy 140)

Rome, GA 30165

You can view a map and get directions by clicking here.

Notorious B.R.I.G.G.S

It's been a while.

Don't worry, He's still incredibly good looking.

see for yourself...

1000 people giving $25 dollars to change a city

Connect Rome is a movement of people trying to Make it Simple for People to Connect to God and Each Other.
We have a desire to see Rome transformed.

People deserve to eat.
Children deserve school supplies and clothes.
Families deserve the opportunity to have a great Christmas.
Marriages deserve to be restored.
And every man, woman and child deserves multiple opportunities to make an informed decision about Jesus Christ.
This takes money.
That's where you and your friends fit in...

We're going to raise $25,000 dollars before 2008 ends.  We're not looking for a few people to give 1000's of dollars. We are looking for one thousand people to give $25.  God is doing incredible things in Rome, GA.  Would you consider helping play a part?

I need you to do three things. 

1) Go Here

2) Consider giving $25.  I know the economy is rough.  Just eat cheap a few days.  Or brew coffee at your house rather than making your morning trip to Starbucks. Make a sacrifice. Invest in the Kingdom. Your donations are tax deductible.  You will get a receipt for your gift.

3) Ask your friends to give.  Send your friends an email or give them a call.  Tell them what we are doing and ask them to consider being a part.  You can post a link to our cause page by copying this link -  

https://www.causes.com/fb/donations/new?cause_id=115215&fundraiser_id=18187177&m=e006ddf7

Feel free to post this on your blog, as well.

Thanks friends.  Your support, encouragement, and participation means the world to me! I am so excited about what God is doing in Rome, GA!!

Friday goodness

just one of the boy.  he's 3 months and 12 days old today.  this photo is courtesy of Joni's blog.

transparency

Recently on this blog, I talked very openly about some of my past struggles. You can view them beginning here. I am a huge fan of authenticity. I want to be honest always. I truly believe that we must admit who we are so we can become who God wants us to be.

So, in my confessions, I talked openly about my struggle with pornography. I also talked openly about how I have overcome most of those struggles. I have received a lot of support and kind emails. Thank you for the encouraging words.

But here's the question.
What would your response be if I just simply shared that currently, as a pastor, I struggle daily looking at pornography and having impure thoughts. Would you be as supportive? Would your words be as kind? Would I even have the balls to be honest about those things?

Why is it that it's so much easier to talk openly about our PAST struggles, and yet, it's so hard to talk about our present ones?

It's hard to be honest.
But I'll start...

Sometimes, I raise my voice and say, not so nice, things to Julie.
Sometimes, I am jealous of people who have really nice things.
Sometimes, I am really annoyed by people who ask stupid questions.
Sometimes, my thoughts are not pure. I think about things that I should not think about.
Sometimes, I cope with stress the wrong ways.
Sometimes, I want to lead and I want God to follow.
Sometimes, I resign from church work.
Sometimes, I blame Julie for things that are definitely not her fault.
Sometimes, I get so angry and frustrated that I grit my teeth. I mean really grit my teeth.
Many nights, I have so much anxiety that I can not sleep.
Most of the time, I do not show patience. In fact, I'm not certain that I ever exhibit patience as one of my fruits of the spirit.

How about you....

Oh No He Didn't

A few weeks ago, Julie and I few out the Tulsa to be a part of an ARC - Church Planter's Roundtable. I heard the following quote while I was there. It was actually credited to the wrong person (or I may have just wrote it down wrong). Thankfully, my buddy Jason, found the correct quote.  Here it is.

"In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock."
- Thomas Jefferson

I love it. I love that it's possible to continue to present an unchangeable message in changeable ways. Here's what that means for Connect Rome.

The Vision & Mission will never change.

We will always Make it Simple for People to Connect to God and Each Other.
We will always make sure that everyone has multiple opportunities to make an informed decision about Jesus Christ.
We will always be bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth.
We will always expect people to do life together.
We will always expect people to invest in others' lives.
We will always teach directly from the Word of God.

The Strategy will definitely Change.

We may not always meet only on Sundays.
We may not always meet in a bar.
We may not always use live teaching.
We may not always use the same teachers or worship leaders.
We may not always have emcee driven video curriculum for our children's environments.
Many of the things that we will be doing in 5 years (or even one year) will be different than the things we are doing right now.

So, if you are merely buying in to the church in a bar,the music, the live teaching, or the fancy plasma screens you probably won't stay around too long.
But...
If you are buying in to Making it Simple for People to Connect to God and Each Other, then I can assure you that Connect Rome is, and will continue to be, the place for you.

it was nice to get away but...

last week, Julie and I hopped on a plane for Jamaica.  It was good times.  I love the beach, and I really really really love my wife.  We had very little on our agenda.  I spent most of the week sitting next to the beach sipping on frozen beverages.  It's hard for me to relax and unwind, but I feel like I got to relax a little.  We both would agree that we enjoyed our vacation and that it was definitely needed, but...

Briggs didn't go with us.  Briggs spent the week with Julie's folks. We knew he was in good hands. But it sucked.  Every time we saw or heard another baby we were sad.  If we saw baby clothes we were sad.  If we looked at our phones or computers (Briggs is the background picture on all of our media items), we were sad.  We greatly missed the boy.  

It's strange.  We knew he was safe.  We knew we would see him again.  We were only gone 4 nights, but our heart ached. We were only separated temporarily.

Imagine our heavenly father.  He made us.  He created us unique and wonderful.  He loves us immensely - far more than I could ever love Briggs.  And, daily, many of his children, whom he loves and cherishes, enter in to an eternity separated from Him.  I know how His heart aches.  

I could not imagine being separated from my boy for all eternity - I would do anything to keep that from happening. Perhaps that is why God gave his only Son so that anyone who would believe in His Son would not perish but spend an eternity connected to Him.

allow me to introduce myself - the finale

This is part four of a series that ends right here.

Recently, my mother had the opportunity to sit down with a young lady whose husband had recently left her for another woman. The young lady had been broken and hurting for quite some time. My mother shared with her my story of hurt, shame and sorrow. My mother also shared God’s story in my life of restoration, Glory and triumph. That young lady pulled my wife, Julie, aside recently and told her that my story gave her hope. And it should give her hope – not in finding a new spouse – but in God being the Romans 8:28 God that we know. A God who works everything for His good and His glory! So, I guess, at this point, the hypothetical questions really don’t matter. It does no good to wonder what I would do differently if I had it all to do over again – I don’t have the opportunity to do that. I do, however, have the opportunity to live today and the rest of my life as beloved to the Most High God. And I have the opportunity to represent Christ’s Love for His Bride by the way I treat, care for, and serve my Bride, my child, and the church.

allow me to introduce myself part 3

This is part three in a series that begins right here.

I’ve made some poor choices. I’ve repented, and I know I’ve been restored to my Father in Heaven. I don’t write these statements apologetically, although, I’m ashamed of the circumstances that I put myself and others in. I write this blog with praise and gratitude for what Christ has done in spite of my blemishes and choices. He’s good – He’s always good and He’s always sovereign. That’s not an excuse – I had to stand before my Father in heaven and my wife, Julie, on June 24, 2005, and make promises to both of them while knowing that both of them already knew that I made promises before. That’s not fair to either one of them – but I know and truly believe in a 1 Corinthians 13 type of love – and it was personified on that day through my beautiful bride and the Savior of the Universe.

My prayer has been continued to be– “God use ALL of me for your GLORY!” I believe he continues to do that daily. I do believe that Julie and I had to start out on un-level ground. I brought baggage from my past. It’s not always been easy. But isn’t it just like our God to take something messy and turn it in to something clean!

I haven’t beaten this thing with the divorce. To be honest with you, I don’t want to beat it. I believe God beat it, and I need to continue to learn from it. I fully trust that God has ordained and guided my steps over the last few years, and I as I continue to fully place my trust in Christ Jesus and take up my Cross daily and follow Him, I believe he will continue to guide my steps.

allow me to introduce myself part 2

This is part two of a series that begins right here.

Now that I stand removed by 6 or so years, God is good. He took a ragamuffin, conceited and arrogant, and through my poor choices and disobedience, still made everything work together for the good. Hindsight, that time period, thus far, has been the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s interesting, though, the very hardest thing in my life has been the very thing that made me who I am. Would I do things differently if I had the chance? Absolutely. But I am good with where God has placed me. Yes. Did I make the wrong choices? Absolutely. Do I have regrets? Yes. Do I believe that God’s grace is sufficient? Yes – with everything I am – I believe it.

As life began to move forward, after the Divorce, I really felt like I should wear a sign that said I was divorced. I felt like the proper way to introduce myself was “Hi, I’m Josh – I’m divorced.” I’ve tried to pinpoint what helped me move past that being who I was to being “Hi, I’m Josh – I’m inadequate – But Christ Jesus who lives within me is more than adequate – He’s perfect and righteous!” I think there was several components that helped lead me there. They are as follows:

1) I truly fell in love with Jesus. I understood why I needed him, and through brokenness, I clung to Him. He was not only my savior, by being the atonement for my sin, He was my savior by, daily, being my very best friend.

2) God continued to work in and through me even though I was a mess. God used my story to restore people to Himself. Our church began to notice what God was doing and used our student ministry as a rallying point. Our staff and deacons affirmed what God was doing in me and through me. They pursued ordaining me and licensing me as a pastor and minister of the Gospel. They examined me. They discussed and researched my life – including my Divorce – and they saw me as someone that God had set apart. I believe that with everything that I am. God has called me to pursue people, pastor people, and lead people from where they are to where God wants them to be. It’s incredible! God wants me to be a part of growing His Kingdom.

3) I met, Julie, my wife. I met her in the strangest of circumstances and had no intentions, in the beginning, of pursuing a relationship with her. I introduced myself to her by saying “I’m Josh, I’m divorced.” She responded by saying “Who cares?” She’s incredible. God designed her to be in relationship with me, and he designed me to be in relationship with her.

Allow me to introduce myself.

Before I jump in to one of the meatiest, grossest parts of who I am.  I want to inform you all that I will be out of town this upcoming week.  Julie and I are going on a hot vacation!  But don't worry.  I've written a few posts that will be published during this week. There are a lot of folks that keep coming by here.  I thought I'd take this week to talk through my healing after the divorce. Because I will not have internet access, I will be unable to moderate comments.  Therefore, I have closed my comments for the week.

So keep coming by.  I won't be here, but my blogs will be.

Divorce.

It's probably one of the ugliest words I know.  Still, to this day, when someone mentions that word, I cringe.  Cringing is better than hiding.  5 years ago, if someone mentioned the d word, I hid.  A lot has changed in five years.

here's my story of grace and restoration.  It began when the life I led, on my own ended.

I was a student pastor when my wife of a few months left me.  Because of the circumstances of the divorce, my church felt comfortable allowing me to continue to be their student pastor.  I was grateful.  My job, on those 12 or so students, were all I had. One of the recommendations of our church deacon board was for me to share what was going on with our entire church during a Wednesday Night Business Meeting.  It was absolutely horrifying.

I had to air my deepest, dirtiest, most embarrassing secrets, and for the first time, I got to be exactly who I was. I got to walk in absolute truth in who I was – blemishes and all. And I pursued students with absolute authenticity. I got to witness God do incredible things in my life and the lives’ of others. I continued to pray that God would have his way. I petitioned for Restoration for my marriage.  But there was very little correspondence.  And with each correspondence, it became increasingly clear that restoration was of no interest to her.

And then, papers showed up at my house. That day, as I remember it, was the beginning of the end of absolute brokenness. I met with our pastors again, sharing with them that my wife had requested a termination of our marriage. Again, they were quite supportive. Our marriage ended, I was ashamed and hurt, but life continued. 

I continued to work at the church and pour my time in to students. I had a lot of free time – I pursued God with vigor and poured my life in to students. I began to better understand grace and find my absolute value in Christ Jesus. It was no longer in arrogance or pretense that I was pastoring students. It was with humility and authenticity that I lead and spoke. God began to do miraculous things. I got to be a part seeing students and their parents come to know Christ (in about a 3 year period we saw over 150 students accept Christ through the student ministry.) Week after week, God was doing incredible things. It was incredible....

Check back for part 2 of my crazy journey.

it's still not easy.

Here's what I discovered:

Re: pornography.

Most of my personal failures – especially the ones involving morality – came as a result of my desire to control my problems (which ironically just created more problems.) There are numerous reasons why I ended upmaking the choices I made. But in regards to overcoming sexual sin, I made the incredibly difficult decision to expose darkness. Darkness and Light do not coexist. When I exposed the dark parts of my life to light, the light chased out the darkness. It was hard. It was embarrassing. I was broken. But God worked in the middle of it all. I confessed my struggles honestly and openly. And I asked for and received help and accountability. I still have accountability. Each week, two Godly people in my life receive emails with any possible inappropriate Internet sites I may have visited. (For those of you who need the same accountability go here!!) And Julie holds me accountable. She asks the tough questions – sometimes really, really tough questions.  

In Hebrews, we’re told to encourage one another daily so that no one becomes hardened by sin's deceitfulness. The keyword there is DAILY. I think we all have struggles (sin) that limit our ability and confidence in pursuing the Kingdom of God and bringing it to Earth. The solution is for us all to daily be encouraged so that we don’t get hardened the sin’s deceitfulness.

Here’s today’s two takeaways.

1. What darkness in your life do you need to expose to light? Do it now! Confess it. Find someone in your life that you can confess these things to and then allow them to hold you accountable.  Don't say you'll do it later.  You won't.  You'll chicken out. And you'll fall right back in to your old patterns.  You can not fix this on your own.  Quit being an arrogant coward. So, go - confess.  I promise this blog will still be here when you come back.

2. Who can you encourage today? Who are you doing life with? Who can you daily hold accountable, love, and support? Who can you unconditionally love so that they will feel safe to confide in you?

Just discovered that Mark Driscoll's new book Pornagain Christian is available chapter by chapter here.  Thanks Catalyst blog for providing the link!

Saturday, I’ll be talking about my divorce and my discovery of grace and unconditional love.

my failure.

Failure.
It’s probably the thing I fear most. And it’s not because I haven’t done much of it because I definitely have. I’ve screwed up a lot. And because of it, I’ve hurt a lot of people. Let me explain. And this is going to be awkward because both my in-laws and my parents (not to mention a lot of other family members) read this blog. Because I’m trying to be brief, I’ll just throw out a couple of the big ones.
Big bad choice numero uno.
I spent a most of high school and a portion of college immersed in incredibly impure thoughts. There were very few days in that period where I did not look at pornography. It came in several different forms – sometimes magazines, the internet, late night HBO and Cinemax, and sometimes even trying to decipher scrambled cable signals on my television. It’s hurt a lot of my relationships. It gave me a ridiculously flawed view of women and of intimacy. It’s ridiculous what pictures can do to distort your mind. Julie and I still have intimacy problems because of my screw up.
Big ugly bad choice numero uno.
I’ll spare the details and get right to the meat. I got married at 21 to the disappointment of a lot of family and friends. I was married for a very few months when a lot of real messy, hurtful, crap went down. There were a lot of things that were beyond my control and left me pretty damaged. After sorting all of the mess out that happened, the conclusion can be summed up in this: my wife (seems so weird to type that now), looked me in the face and made it clear to me that she never loved me. It hurt. I was embarrassed, ashamed and broken. I cried for months. It was the most humiliating thing that ever happened to me. My world came crashing down. It sucked.
But life eventually moved on. A few years later I met the love of my life. We dated. We became more serious about our relationship, eventually became engaged, and then got married. On our wedding day, Julie, who has been incredibly gracious, loving, and has always looked beyond all my baggage, had to listen to me say my wedding vows to her knowing that I had already said vows before to someone else. Then, on our honeymoon night, Julie had to face the fact that I had already had another honeymoon night. That still breaks my heart.
Failure sucks. Especially when your own flesh causes it. But I believe in a God who is gracious, loving and merciful. And I also believe in a God who can make all things work together for good. So, tomorrow, I’ll finish up this post. I’ll explain what I’ve discovered through the process, how I’m combating my flesh, and what I’m learning about an incredibly loving God.
See you tomorrow.

BTW - Today is exactly 100 days from when we officially launch Connect Rome!!!  I can't wait.

Blogarama

Today, I am beyond excited to introduce you to Jay Hardwick!  Jay is no stranger in the church planter world.  In fact, in most circles, Jay is not a stranger.  Jay knows most people.  Jay planted a church in Greenville, SC.  And is now launching a new church plant in Columbia, SC.  I am quite certain that the movement Jay is leading in Columbia is truly going to transform that city.  I've been reading Jay's blog for quite some time now.  It's one of my top five, must read blogs, that I read each day.  There are many guys who are great theorists in the church blog world.  But Jay goes beyond being a theorist.  He is a practitioner.  He is taking his ideas and thoughts and actually putting them in to action.  So, take a few minutes, head over to Jay's blog, and get to know him.  And then, come on back over here and read Jay's guest blog.

enjoy.

Failure Changed Me

A while back, I read this quote from Sir James Dyson, the man who made Hoover weep when he introduced his line of Dyson vacuum cleaners:

“I made 5,127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one…So, I don’t mind failure. I’ve always thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures they’ve had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to get there is probably more creative.”

Can you imagine trying something 5,126 times before finally getting it right? I don't know about you, but that's freakish to me.

In 2005, God called our family to join with several others to start a church in Greenville, SC. I'd never started a church. I'd never pastored a church. I'd never led a staff. I'd never raised money. But, we knew it was what God wanted and we jump out and did it.

That church closed earlier this year.

As I write this, my family now lives in Columbia, SC...the city where my wife, Lara Beth, and I grew up. Guess what we're doing? Yep...starting another church. Here's a question I wrestle with every day:

"So, Hardwick, what do you think you're doing trying to start another one when the first one you started doesn't exist anymore?"

When we started in Greenville, I was your typical, arrogant, hot-headed, solve all the world's problems while I stick it to you and your pipe organ church planter. Most everything I had ever done or led eventually succeeded. Surely this new church would follow the same path of success.

It didn't. But, not without reason. As I look back on it, I see two clear reasons why God allowed me to struggle so much in my first dip into church planting:

1. He was breaking me of me. Nothing decreases your dependence on you and increases your dependence on God like failure. In failing, you realize you don't have all the answers, you don't have what it takes, and God does not bless or use you when you think you do have all the answers and have what it takes.
2. He was numbing my fear of failure. Ultimately, my fear of failure was about me. What would people say? What would people think? Would I get invited to sit at the cool kids table at Catalyst Conference? But at the end of the day, my life, calling, and gifts are from Jesus and for Jesus and His Kingdom. Am I willing to follow Him anywhere to do anything?

Failure broke me and failure strengthened me...all at the same time! We would not be where we are now doing what we are doing now had we not failed in Greenville.

Our great God is on the move in your city and mine. He is right now at work in the heart and soul of every man, woman, and child drawing them to Himself in and through Jesus. He is birthing or has birthed a vision in you and me for how we can join Him and help others join Him in what He is doing. You might be ready to go for it or you might already be going for it.

Either way, here's the question: Are you okay with failure?

If it's worth doing...and the vision God has given you is definitely worth doing...it's worth failing. God uses failure to break us and to strengthen us for the next chapter. If He's birthed a vision in you, it's because He wants to use you. And if He wants to use you, He has to break and strengthen you. And...failing might very well be the teacher He calls on to make it happen. God used failure to change me. If He needs to, He'll use it to change you, too.

I just hope He doesn't have to call on failure 5,126 times!