Times of Refreshing

This has been one of the most interesting Novembers that I can remember experiencing. And, it certainly has been one of the busiest months full of Atlanta-visits, meetings, retreats and special moments with family and friends. In the midst of it all, it’s been a special time of refreshing.

To begin, I was privileged to attend a leadership summit sponsored by the strategic partners of North Point Ministries. The summit was held at Winshape Retreat Center, which is on the largest college campus in the world. Seriously!!!
Berry College is located just north of Atlanta and the campus covers…get this, 28,000 acres. That’s right, 28K of acres for one college campus (feel free to check it out at www.berry.edu). It is also houses Winshape, which is one of the many kingdom-building designs of Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-A. North Point holds it’s annual strategic partner leader’s meetings there and I can’t begin to enumerate how beneficial it was for me to meet the guys who are already on the journey we’re embarking. (Winshape pictures above & below)

On the same day I was heading home from Winshape, Sam & Tina Dula were boarding a plane to meet Angie and I for a weekend in Little Rock. We had a blast! It was the first time Angie and Tina actually met, while also being a welcomed opportunity for Sam and I to discuss plans for the remainder of the year. Even the kids got a chance to meet their son, Myles and together, they ran themselves silly at Chuck-E-Cheese.

Five short days later, I boarded the plane for my final Atlanta visit of the year. Although I’ll actually be bringing in the New Year in “the A” this trip was my last opportunity to meet people and personally invite them to our vision-cast in January (more info about this event coming real soon). So, for four days, Amisho, Sam and I averaged anywhere between three or four meetings a day (I actually had FIVE on Friday…I know, CRAZY)! My good friend and mentor, Nolin Egbert also joined us in Atlanta that weekend.

Frankly, these were some of the most insightful and strategic meetings I’ve been in during this building phase. Some of the meetings were reconnects while the majority were brand new contacts (I didn’t know them & they didn’t know me)! Still, the Lord was truly with us and I’m sure several of our brand new contacts will become life-long friends. There’s no way I could put a price tag on the wisdom we received from these connections and I can’t wait to get settled in Atlanta to continue growing these relationships.

This was one of those months that in the midst of busy-ness, the Lord carved out moments of refreshing. As the holidays approach, let’s make time to connect with family and friends and be refreshing agents for them. There’s no way I could’ve predicted the encouragement I’d receive from the meetings we had in Atlanta. I’m pretty confident that most of our contacts didn’t realize how much they encouraged me. And, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Being an encouraging agent without the title and certainly without expecting anything in return. These are true times of refreshing, and believe me when I say, there’s nothing like it.

A Little Something for the Wives

The Retreat That Changed Me...

Well, we are here in Little Rock getting settled and transitioning from small town Denton to medium-size town Little Rock, and preparing to move to big-city Atlanta. It has been great for our family. We are all transitioning well, but we wanted to share a little about our journey with Trinity. Dhati and I made the decision to send Trinity to public school. At first, I was very weary. The first week of school, Trinity came home tracing letters that she has known for a couple of years, BUT she was loving every minute of it! Such a social bug. About 2 weeks into her being in school, we were given the opportunity to go to an academy for FREE, (a true blessing). This place had a higher academic record and more bells and whistles, but neither of us felt peace about sending her there. We felt God urging us to keep her at her current school. Now, I think we know why. She is really loving school, has a genuine love for learning and for her peers. She has shared Christ with one little girl whom we are praying for! According to Trinity's teacher, she has really been a light and has exemplified a godly example! What a blessing that we do not know we would have been able to recreate at home. She has excelled in school and has gained the confidence she needed to move to the next step. She is reading now, and writing her own thoughts on paper in her 'diary.' She comes home telling us of how she had to forgive the way Christ forgives, that she choose to respond with kind words when someone hurt her feelings. She is really getting to put her faith into action--at 5 years old. We are thrilled for her and cannot be more excited about the little girl that God is developing her into. One thing we have learned in regard to new city with school-age kids--it is best to register your children in January with the school district in order to get into certain schools. (There are waiting lists and overcrowded schools) Something to keep in mind if you don't want to drive further than necessary to get your little ones to school. Please continue to pray for Trinity and for our parenting of her as we cannot be dependent on our own wisdom. More to follow on the other Lewis'.

Seeing God in the Lives of Our Children

Well, we are here in Little Rock getting settled and transitioning from small town Denton to medium-size town Little Rock, and preparing to move to big-city Atlanta. It has been great for our family. We are all transitioning well, but we wanted to share a little about our journey with Trinity. Dhati and I made the decision to send Trinity to public school. At first, I was very weary. The first week of school, Trinity came home tracing letters that she has known for a couple of years, BUT she was loving every minute of it! Such a social bug. About 2 weeks into her being in school, we were given the opportunity to go to an academy for FREE, (a true blessing). This place had a higher academic record and more bells and whistles, but neither of us felt peace about sending her there. We felt God urging us to keep her at her current school. Now, I think we know why. She is really loving school, has a genuine love for learning and for her peers. She has shared Christ with one little girl whom we are praying for! According to Trinity's teacher, she has really been a light and has exemplified a godly example! What a blessing that we do not know we would have been able to recreate at home. She has excelled in school and has gained the confidence she needed to move to the next step. She is reading now, and writing her own thoughts on paper in her 'diary.' She comes home telling us of how she had to forgive the way Christ forgives, that she choose to respond with kind words when someone hurt her feelings. She is really getting to put her faith into action--at 5 years old. We are thrilled for her and cannot be more excited about the little girl that God is developing her into. One thing we have learned in regard to new city with school-age kids--it is best to register your children in January with the school district in order to get into certain schools. (There are waiting lists and overcrowded schools) Something to keep in mind if you don't want to drive further than necessary to get your little ones to school. Please continue to pray for Trinity and for our parenting of her as we cannot be dependent on our own wisdom. More to follow on the other Lewis'.

Opening Ceremonies

On Monday, August 11th, myself and 3 others officially began the Fellowship Associates Residency (www.fellowshipassociates.com). The residency is a 10 month commitment, where we will discuss everything from church planting to team based ministry to support raising. It is called a residency rather than an internship because we do not have any responsibilities concerning the day to day operations of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock. I am joined in the program with a very gifted and diverse team literally from all over the western hemisphere. Between Cliff Jordan, Daniel Bran, and Will Chenault, we will be planting new churches in Guatamala city, Birmingham Alabama, and Richmond Virginia.

I will be updating this blog two to three times a week, to let everyone know the day to day life of a preparing for a church plant. Please leave any comments or questions so I can write more specifically to types of things you would like to here about.

Support Raising

I just finished hearing a sermon on the Greatness of God. It came from Isaiah 40:12-31 and to be honest it rocked me—hard. Ha-ha, it’s amazing to think that The Lord Our God is as BIG as He is. So many times in my life things get in the way of my view of God. Rather, I put so many things in my way that I can’t see my compass. I forget, at times, why I breathe. Why I am here. I get so caught up in learning and “growing” and doing that I don’t stop and do what verse 26 in the text says to do: “Lift up your eyes on high and see.”

How BIG is our God! Our God, God of the Universe, is the Creator of all things. The Liberator of our souls. He measures the waters in the hollow of His hand and marks off the heavens with a span (the distance from your thumb to your index finger). He needs no parliament, no congress, and no cabinet. He needs no consult or counsel. He sits high and looks down at the very people and things He made by His might. How BIG is our God! Think on this: that there are 15 million species on this earth. There are 50-100 trillion atoms comprising your body. The sun could hold 50 million earths. A star called, Betelgeuse, could hold 500 million suns. The number of stars in the universe? 70 trillion, that’s the number seventy with twenty zeros behind it. And the crazy part about all of this is that God created ALL of this. Is that crazy to anyone else?

As we continue to prepare for planting ourselves in a completely new city with an entirely new culture and people with new fears and worries and anxieties we can rest assure that our God is so much BIGGER than all of that. Sometimes I catch myself asking God, “Where are you?” And every time, in some way or another, He whispers right back, “right here”. Isaiah used these words to comfort the nation of Israel that God had not left them, but was right there in the mist of it all.

So, whether you are dealing with something that’s financial, medical, relational, or spiritual, stop and lift up your eyes. Trust in the Lord God that has so precisely hand-carved this universe that if the earth was one percent closer to Mars we would freeze to death. Know that we can rest on His word and know that He’s got it. Let’s put our complete confidence in Christ. Let’s not forget that we are daily seeking to share this BIG God with those who think He’s so small, but He’s not. He’s BIG. So BIG that the word BIG is actually pretty tiny.

BIG?

I just finished hearing a sermon on the Greatness of God. It came from Isaiah 40:12-31 and to be honest it rocked me—hard. Ha-ha, it’s amazing to think that The Lord Our God is as BIG as He is. So many times in my life things get in the way of my view of God. Rather, I put so many things in my way that I can’t see my compass. I forget, at times, why I breathe. Why I am here. I get so caught up in learning and “growing” and doing that I don’t stop and do what verse 26 in the text says to do: “Lift up your eyes on high and see.”

How BIG is our God! Our God, God of the Universe, is the Creator of all things. The Liberator of our souls. He measures the waters in the hollow of His hand and marks off the heavens with a span (the distance from your thumb to your index finger). He needs no parliament, no congress, and no cabinet. He needs no consult or counsel. He sits high and looks down at the very people and things He made by His might. How BIG is our God! Think on this: that there are 15 million species on this earth. There are 50-100 trillion atoms comprising your body. The sun could hold 50 million earths. A star called, Betelgeuse, could hold 500 million suns. The number of stars in the universe? 70 trillion, that’s the number seventy with twenty zeros behind it. And the crazy part about all of this is that God created ALL of this. Is that crazy to anyone else?

As we continue to prepare for planting ourselves in a completely new city with an entirely new culture and people with new fears and worries and anxieties we can rest assure that our God is so much BIGGER than all of that. Sometimes I catch myself asking God, “Where are you?” And every time, in some way or another, He whispers right back, “right here”. Isaiah used these words to comfort the nation of Israel that God had not left them, but was right there in the mist of it all.

So, whether you are dealing with something that’s financial, medical, relational, or spiritual, stop and lift up your eyes. Trust in the Lord God that has so precisely hand-carved this universe that if the earth was one percent closer to Mars we would freeze to death. Know that we can rest on His word and know that He’s got it. Let’s put our complete confidence in Christ. Let’s not forget that we are daily seeking to share this BIG God with those who think He’s so small, but He’s not. He’s BIG. So BIG that the word BIG is actually pretty tiny.

Hot Potatoe!

Before I could write another blog, I had to write this one. This has been on my mind for a while.
The fact of the matter is this: I hadn’t taken any type of ownership towards Issachar Fellowship, the church plant, at all. It hadn’t really concerned me all that much until I really thought about it:
Issachar Fellowship is actually going to be a real church, in a real city, dealing with the lives of real people! Now, you may be thinking like, “Duh Damon, we know that.” But, do we really? I know I hadn’t. Truly I hadn’t. Yes, I’m excited about going to Atlanta, and being ‘salt’ and being used by God, but the reality of it hadn’t gripped me by the throat, threw me on the ground and made me shout ‘uncle”-- until now. I had no ownership of Issachar. It was some awesome plan in the distant future that was going to happen sooner or later and I would become more involved later. Besides, I still have another year in school and a wedding to plan...
However, the time is now. This isn’t a game of hot potato, where I can continue to pass the potato around to others because I don’t want to deal with the consequences and obligations of it being in my hand. No, everything matters now. From the planning, to the prayers, to the advertising, to the blogging, to the whatever, EVERYTHING matters NOW. Issachar Fellowship is my church now. And it’s time I started acting like it. So, on one hand I want to apologize to everyone involved because I haven’t given my all. I haven’t put all my effort and time into this church plant. On the other hand, I challenge myself and everyone, who is as pumped about this opportunity as I am, to not be idly thinking “in due time”. Rather, to be diligent now...constantly going before the Lord asking for His hand, continually investing into “our” church financially and collectively encouraging and spurring on one another to strive in excellence in all that we do to prepare ourselves for the chance to be used by God. Therefore, I guess the question now isn’t how am I going to get this hot potato quickly out of my lap, but how am I going to effectively use this potato for the sake of Christ?