Miles Past Normal

What a month of February for our Family Worship Gatherings at  Momentum! Our two Family Worship Gatherings are now completed for the month of February and we will resume Family Worship Gatherings on Sunday, March 6, and Sunday, March 13, as we prepare for our Grand Opening on Sunday, March 20!

We came into this month with a goal of averaging somewhere between 45-50 in attendance for the two weeks combined and praying for a total offering of around $1800 for the month to meet our various rental fees.

God smashed our goals as we averaged 68.5 (not sure how you count half a person so we should probably round that up to 69) in attendance and received a total offering of over $18,000 for the month. We have been awestruck at the hand of God in Momentum during the month of February.

Our offerings won’t continue to average $9,000 a week but our church bonded together to give to the vision God has called us toward. We are so thankful for the many financial partners, both churches and individuals, who continue to help us towards that goal.

I’ve been so encouraged to watch our Launch Team begin to draw on relationships and bring their friends and family to Momentum. We haven’t done a single bit of marketing and already have come into contact with several new families. Over the two weeks combined we had 89 people attend Momentum. We are pumped to see what God is preparing as he continues to grow us before we even open!

I’m also very proud of our staff. Philip, Alec, and Andrew have done a phenomenal job, not just in their own areas, but in being utility and team players in the other ministries of Momentum as well.

Alec has formed a solid core to a band and has led moving worship experiences that have touched and inspired me personally.

Andrew has built our entire audio/visual/lighting schemes as well as tweeked each week with the theater surroundings. We received quotes ranging from $75,000-$125,000 for all of our equipment needs. Andrew researched and put the package onsite for $17,500. 

Philip has staffed and grown the momentumKids to a point where after just two weeks, we’ve outgrown our space and are working with the theater to provide more space for our kids programming. He’s also had a huge impact on our teaching each week as we research the passages together so that Studio252 (elementary age) receives the same Big Idea as the adult worship gathering.

With everything that has happened in just two short weeks, we have some definite prayer requests as we move forward:

1. Pray that our marketing efforts will have an impact and a draw on the 10,000 homes we are targeting.

2. Pray that we can continue to find creative ways to utilize our space for worship, connection opportunities, and children’s ministry.

3. Pray for our search for a Ministry Center. This will be the home of Momentum for all things except Sunday Morning Worship for the next year. It would house our offices, meeting space, and group events.

4. Pray for our financial needs. God continues to bless Momentum financially through both churches and individuals. However, as we expand as a church in the weeks to come there will be an even greater need and stretch placed on the church financially. Pray that God will meet those needs as He has through-out our young history.

5. Pray for your place in the story of Momentum. Who is God calling you to reach to? How is God calling you to get involved at Momentum? God wants to use you to write his story of Momentum. Will you make yourself available to him?

6. Pray for our Grand Opening on March 20!

We’re excited to close the books on February’s Family Worship Gatherings. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for March and the months to come!

We didn’t know what to expect heading into our first Family Worship Gathering preview service. We wondered if we would be able to get the trailer unloaded and set-up in time for church. We wondered if we would have anyone show up. We wondered how many blunders we would make. We had so many questions and so few answers. God heard our questions, considered our prayers, and answered in a big way on Sunday. Our goal for our first preview attendance was 45. We had 69 in attendance. We hoped the offering would break even with our rent for the week. It far surpassed our need for week one.

Most importantly, it was impossible to miss the enthusiasm and excitement of our Launch Team on Sunday as we dared to dream what God might due through Momentum. This week, we’ll talk about what it means to follow that dream.

Over the next few weeks you’ll notice gradual changes as we get our solid footing. Our Children’s Ministry will look a little different this week as the theater will actually be providing us with an actual room for our nursery opposed to our portable classrooms in the hallway. We’re working on securing yet another room in the theater as well as we are close to outgrowing our portable hallway spaces already and the theater actually has concerns about Fire Marshall regulations due to how many children we already have! What a great problem to have after week one!

Lastly, I’m so proud of Philip, Alec, and Andrew. You guys did a great job on Sunday and it’s my joy to be able to serve with you guys. Keep up the great work!

Grab a friend or family member and bring them along with you this week as we begin our growth towards God’s dream for Momentum.

Ricky Gervais made himself a household name last Sunday for those not already familiar with the long-time stand-up comedian. While angering several celebrities with personal jokes during his stint as the host of the Golden Globe Awards Sunday night he also closed the evening with his declaration of atheism.

It was nothing new for those familiar with Gervais. His atheism tends to rise to the top of his conversations frequently. In fact, he wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal, entitled “A Holiday Message From Ricky Gervais, which was published on December 19, 2010.

Gervais spends a great deal of the article discussing the weak intellectual capacity of those who believe in God and most interestingly, the reason he doesn’t. Gervais was raised a Christian and held Jesus to be the greatest hero of his life until an encounter with his brother and mother changed all of that during his childhood. I’ll let him tell the story in his own words:

“But anyway, there I was happily drawing my hero [Jesus] when my big brother Bob asked, “Why do you believe in God?” Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. “Bob,” she said in a tone that I knew meant, “Shut up.” Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong it didn’t matter what people said.

Oh…hang on. There is no God. He knows it, and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist.”

One question at the age of eight years-old completely destroyed his faith.

Ricky Gervais matters to Momentum. Not because he is an enormously gifted comedian. Not because he is a celebrity. Not because he made headlines. Ricky Gervais matters to Momentum for two reasons:

1. We love families. We believe that the light of the church and the love of the family should combine to engage the faith of our children. You can read much more about why we believe that at the blog of our Family Pastor, Philip Carroll here.

What happens when we as parents have the opportunity to engage important questions and dialogue with our children about their faith and we have nothing to work with? A life of disbelief if we’re not careful.

Momentum wants to strengthen you to walk with your child along the faith journey together. We’ll provide you the elements to do just that on a weekly basis in an easy to understand way. This isn’t philosophy. This is practical. We’re not going to tell you should do it. We’re going to help you do it.

2. Ricky Gervais matters to Momentum because he matters to God. God crafted, designed, and breathed life to Ricky Gervais. God sent his son for Ricky Gervais. God offered a path of restoration for Ricky Gervais. If Ricky Gervais matters that much to God, then he matters that much to us and he’s not the only one. There are more than 200,000 Ricky Gervais’ in and around Lexington right now. We care for each one without a relationship with Jesus because he cares for them.

And in case you’re reading this, you matter to Momentum because you matter to God. You’re not a number or a stat. You’re not a spiritual conquest. You’re a loved person who matters for eternity. I hope you’ll give Momentum a chance to love you.

2- There are 2 of us on staff now. Andrew Baker, our Technical Director, officially joined our staff yesterday.

4- There are 4 days until Philip Carroll, our Family Pastor, joins our staff.

7- There are 7 days until the Momentum Women’s Study begins.

8- There are 8 days until the Real Men of Momentum begin their first study.

11- There are 11 days until our Family MegaVent at GattiTown! Adults are $7 for the buffet, Kids are free (includes the buffet, a game card, and carousel/bumper car ride ticket)…be sure to invite your friends down the street, co-workers, or family for this great night. RSVP to tim@lexmomentum.com by Thursday, January 13.

15- The number of points Kentucky beat Louisville by to end 2010 in fashion.

19- The number of days until Alec Schram joins our staff as Worship Pastor.

33- The number of days until our first worship gathering together at Cinemark 16 Fayette Mall!

40- The number of days until our second worship gathering (you get the point).

It’s official! We have a venue for our Sunday morning worship gatherings! We will be gathering at the Cinemark 16 Fayette Mall Cinema. We are meeting in a theater for a couple of reasons:

1. We value families. That means we value children. Where else could be a more exciting venue for children to learn, love, grow, and most importantly, want to come back week after week?

2. We want to be like the church in the Book of Acts found in the New Testament of the Bible. The lead church planting team, led by a guy named Paul, constantly went to the marketplace to engage culture. What other venue is more symbolic of engaging that marketplace than a movie theater located at the largest mall in our city and state?

3. We are a video-driven culture. So much of what we think, feel, and live is generated through a constant bombardment of video. In the middle ages, the church told the story of Jesus through stained-glass as it was the medium of communication. We now live in a culture where that medium is video. What better place to proclaim the glory of God than in a theater?

We are so excited to worship with you at the theater. We will have four special preview worship services. We’ll do everything we will normally do, just with a more intimate group. We hope you’ll join us for each of those preview services on February 6 & 13 and March 6 & 13. Our GRAND OPENING will be March 20.

I’m so excited to begin gathering together on Sundays. Be sure to make plans now to join us for all four of the preview services.

- Check out the post below about Shaun King & aHomeInHaiti.org

- Enjoyed spending some time with the Central Kentucky Ministers Association yesterday and talking about Miles Past Normal.

-Speaking of Miles Past Normal, sales have been very strong and have exceeded expectations. The new shipment has arrived to retailers after selling out of the first run. You can purchase it from Amazon by clicking here.

-Several updates and experiences to come over the next couple of weeks.

-Finally, God’s doing some amazing stuff right now in the life of our family as He shapes and moves our hearts in a big way. If you have a second, keep April and I in your prayers over the next week or so. Thanks!

You should know who Shaun King is if you don’t already. While I don’t know Shaun personally, I’ve followed his blog (http://www.shauninthecity.com/) and church plant, The Courageous Church (http://courageous.tv/) in urban ATL for quite some time.

Shaun is in the news most recently for his project that has garnered the support more than 100 celebrities (from Eva Longoria to Ryan Seacrest to Emmitt Smith) called aHomeInHaiti.org. Remember the devastation in Haiti? We cared 10 months ago.

Haiti now faces the devastating Hurricane season with what was already a non-existent infrastructure. aHomeInHaiti.org is an initiative started by King to raise money to supply simple tents to provide shelter from the pelting of the rainy season in Haiti. The effort has been featured on FOX News, CNN, NBC, and more media outlets.

The group is now preparing for TWITCHANGE, a celebrity auction which will open this week and has already attracted more than 2 million page views in an effort to raise even more money.

Shaun King and The Courageous Church are giving legs to their faith as they travel miles past normal.

I just wanted to take a second a give a quick update on Miles Past Normal since the release on Tuesday, August 10.  MPN sold out of the first run/initial print last week after amazing support from friends and family through a powerful grassroots movement of which I am incredibly thankful.

Miles Past Normal has consistently ranked within the top 150,000 out of more than 4,000,000 books on Amazon with a four consiecutive daily rankings above 40,000 last week.

You can continue to purchase MPN online through Amazon, Wipf and Stock (my publisher), Borders, Borders Australia, Cokesburry, Infibeam, Angus Robertson, and through your local bookstore.

If you are going to order MPN online, Amazon is the best scenario for me. Click here to go straight to the Amazon listing.

Thanks for all of your support and for helping to spread the Miles Past Normal message.

Just a quick rundown on some places you can purchase Miles Past Normal:

If you live in United Arab Emirates, Australia, Belgium, Bahrain, Switzerland, China, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, South Africa you can find it here: http://infibeam.com/Books/info/tim-cooper/miles-past-normal-principles-journey/9781608996735.html (currently sold out, and my mom  hasn’t even visited one of these countries in the last month).

If you live in Australia: http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/book/miles-past-normal/12021927/ or http://www.borders.com.au/book/miles-past-normal/12021927/ (available soon at Borders in the US).

I’ve heard confirmation it is on shelves in the states now, including Delaware, Oregon, Kentucky, Ohio, California, Texas, and I hope more.

Best (2) Places To Buy Miles Past Normal:

www.wepastor.com (my resource site)

Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/Miles-Past-Normal-Principles-Journey/dp/1608996735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281987260&sr=8-1

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” - Hebrews 11:8

I’m working frantically this week on what promises to be an extremely hectic week with some great opportunities. I have several meetings to make, big lunches with big conversations to digest, lots of cool family stuff (by the way, our daughter Makayla made the SCMS Volleyball Team), a huge event at church this weekend, guest “teaching” (not sure what to call it) a class at Cincinnati Christian University tomorrow night for my friend Dave Miller from Church Solutions Group (www.churchsolutionsgroup.com), my wife is working frantically to get ready for one of the largest consignment sales in the state of Kentucky, and, by the way, the University of Kentucky is playing basketball in August.

With so much converging on one week, I decided to take a look at my teaching lesson for this coming Sunday from the Miles Past Normal Small Group Study. This week happens to fall in Hebrews 11:8 and the calling of Abraham (Abram for all you Bible scholars keeping score at home).

I’m not so sure I like the calling of Abraham. Hebrews 11:8 says, “[Abraham] obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” That makes me uncomfortable. Didn’t he have questions? Probably. Didn’t he have reservations? I guess so. Didn’t he want to know where he was going, how he was going to get there, and what would happen to everyone around him? Maybe. Instead of being stuck in his questions, Abraham journeyed miles past normal in his faith.

Time-out. This is the point where I’m going to be very transparent (and maybe a bit selfish if I’m really honest). I want to know where I’m headed. I want to know what’s up ahead around the bend. Instead, I need to focus on the fact that it’s not really my place to know. I’m not God.

Have you ever felt like you’re searching for direction, purpose, or meaning in life but you just can’t seem to grasp it because you’re not exactly sure what it is you’re supposed to grasp? Maybe you’re not sure which way to go. I’ve been there. So have you.

The beautiful part of our story with God is that it’s not up to us to search high or low for direction or purpose. It’s up to us to “obey and go.” God’s calling each of us toward something right now. Maybe it’s a better relationship, stronger marriage, better parenting, an occupational change, a deeper walk with Him, or all of the above. Whatever God is calling you towards today, He knows. It’s up to us to follow Him there. That doesn’t make me feel so uncomfortable. He won’t disappoint. There’s no safer place than in the center of His will.

I kind of like searching for God knows what.