Even South Florida, commonly referred to as a highly unchurched area, represented half of the Florida churches listed in the largest churches category. This does not change the statistics that this one of the top five most unchurched areas in the country, but for a church planter it is encouraging to think that it is possible to reach people here.

Any time you talk about “Mega” churches there are always the people that question the methods that are used to grow churches to this size. This week I was discussing one of the individuals on the overall list and I got “checked” by a friend with this thought… “Have you ever been in one of their services to know what really goes on?” My opinion was based on interviews, edited video and audio, media, etc. In reality I had no right justification for  the opinion I had.

I have attended a few of these churches but this isn’t about methods today. What I want you to consider is that every one of these thousands or tens of thousands represents one of God’s kids. The word “go” in the Great Commission doesn’t say a lot about “how” we are to make disciples. There are some specifics on baptism there, but if these churches are expanding the kingdom of God and there really are 90,220 Floridians headed to heaven because of these ministries who are we question?

For a list of Florida Churches in each category click throught to the next page…

Largest Churches

#9 Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Pastor: Bob Coy

Attendance: 18000

#25 Christ Fellowship

Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Pastor: Tom Mullins

Attendance: 12339

#62 Northland, A Church Distributed

Longwood, FL

Pastor: Joel Hunter

Attendance: 8792

#73 Flamingo Road Church

Cooper City, FL

Pastor: Troy Gramling

Attendance: 8005

#75 Calvary Chapel Melbourne

West Melbourne, FL

Pastor: Mark Balmer

Attendance: 8000

#95 Iglesia Cristiana Segadores de Vida

Hollywood, FL

Pastor: Ruddy Gracia

Attendance: 7069

#96 Celebration Church

Jacksonville, FL

Pastor: Stovall Weems

Attendance: 7015

#97 Antioch Missionary Baptist Church

Miami, FL

Pastor: Arthur Jackson III

Attendance: 7000

#100 First Baptist Church Jacksonville

Jacksonville, FL

Pastor: Mac Brunson

Attendance: 7000

#101 First Baptist Church Orlando

Orlando, FL

Pastor: David Uth

Attendance: 7000

Fastest Growing

#18 Lifepoint

Tampa, FL

Pastor: Brad White

# 21 Potter’s House Christian Fellowship

Jacksonville, FL

Pastor: Vaughn McLaughlin

#51 Christ Fellowship

Miami, FL

Pastor: Rick Blackwood

#67 Northland, A Church Distributed

Longwood, FL

Pastor: Joel Hunter

#68 Bethel Baptist Institutional Church

Jacksonville, FL

Pastor: Rudolph McKissick Sr. and Jr.

#69 Iglesia Cristiana Segadores de Vida

Hollywood, FL

Pastor: Ruddy Gracia

#74 First Baptist Church Jacksonville

Jacksonville, FL

Pastor: Mac Brunson

#95 Bell Shoals Baptist Church

Brandon, FL

Before becoming a church planter life was pretty simple for us. We lived a life right out of 1960’s television. Not the “Honeymooners” but more like “Leave it to Beaver”. I was home everyday at 4:30pm and our involvement in church was limited to a Council Meeting once a month, 2 services per week, and an occasional weekend event.

Our families were close and so Owen would have weekly contact with one set of grandparents or another. We had multiple family friends including some really close friends in our immediate neighborhood. So it wasn’t unusual for random drop-ins from neighbors so Owen and their kids could play while moms chit-chatted over cookies and coffee.

All that changed with our move to South Florida and is taking its toll on a 4 year olds emotions (and some 30+ emotions too.) So I spent an hour this morning explaining some pretty significant concepts to my son. These thoughts can encourage the 4 or the 40 so I thought I would share.

1. A house is made up of walls floors, ceilings, doors and windows. But a home is made by a family. So even though we have moved to different houses and will hopefully be moving again in the not too distant future we will remain a family and that is what makes a home.
2. God is bigger than all the monsters. Hence when we have God inside of us, regardless of how small we may be, we take on the size and power of God. So when we are scared of things we just need to remember that we have God on our side.
3. God doesn’t always answer our prayers because He knows what is best for us. I was able to use our recent dog catastrophe to explain that even though we thought it would be a great idea to get a dog (two if you’re my wife) it wound up not being the right timing for us, given some of the other things going on in life. With a few scars to remind him he understood. So it isn’t that God doesn’t hear you or is ignoring you, it is that you may be asking for “good” but He wants to give you great!
4. Enjoy the “fun” moments in life instead of worrying that they are going to end. In the last week or so my son (and wife) have made some new friends and since my son has just been starving for some play time he gets all worked up because he knows that at some point he is going to have to go home. Obviously we cleared up some “home” thoughts, but he needed to realize that worrying over what is going to happen in an hour or two when play time is over was cutting into the fun that he could have right now.

   To relate that to us adults… The Bible says don’t worry about tomorrow because just as God has made provisions for the birds He will make provisions for us. This is that unexplainable joy that we read about.

    

   The joy of the Lord is to be our strength so that even when it appears that the whole world is crumbling around us we don’t have to have an emotional breakdown. We can place our faith in God and even if a rough road comes, He able to bring us through it. 

    

5. God loves when we obey. Just like when Owen obeys us and we reward that, God also rewards our obedience. I explained to Owen that God asked us to leave the house that he loves in Oakland, FL and move here to plant a church. That even though we had to give up some things that made us comfortable, God was proud of us for doing it and in the end obedience pays. It may not always be in the dividends that we expect or desire but God certainly rewards obedience.

Seems like there were a few more things we discussed but in the end he just need some reinforcement. There are many things based on our current position that are in flux but there are certain things that are solid. Even though I have previously mentioned some chinks in the family armor we are fortifying that and have come a long way. So my wife and I are reinforcing that our relationship with God and our relationship with each other are things he can count on. I think we all need to know that those are things we can count on.

Regardless of the recent losses in back to back championship games I still support my Bucks. Saturday night for those of you that missed it OSU played the Wisconsin Badgers. With our freshman quarterback, Terrell Pryor making his first start on the road, we found ourselves behind with about 6 minutes left in the 4^th quarter.

Terrell proceeded to drive the offense down the field making some clutch throws and ultimately making a great run to get in to the end zone for the winning score. He showed some great composure under some intense pressure. The momentum of the game was against them. The crowd was against them. The fact that he had never been in this position before…

Life is full of pressure. Life is full of opposition from people and environment. There are even times when you can’t rely on your past experiences to help you through. But I believe God is looking for some clutch players in this 4^th quarter; men and women who He can trust with the ball. He is looking for people who will say, “God I want to leave it all on the field for you.” Is that you?

This past Sunday as a part of our New Testament Challenge we discussed the Challenge of Generosity. One area that we are to be generous is with our time. We looked at the story in Luke 10 of the Good Samaritan and how he felt that the best use of his time was to help the badly injured Jew laying beside the road.  

We discussed how we really don’t have any promise of time for tomorrow but we have right now so that leads to the question: “God, what is the best use of my time right now?” To be honest I have not done a great job of asking that question. So because of that I have misappropriated my time and needed to evaluate my priorities based on the actual time I was designated to them. 

This thought began with the definition of radical love: (previous week’s message) Love is the choice you make based on the actions you take. So was I really showing love to my wife and my family? Well in looking at the numbers I am proud to say that this week was one of the most balanced weeks I have experienced in a while. I proved that by making some conscious decisions in certain areas I could improve some areas I was clearly lacking in. 

Still have some distance to travel and some areas to improve but I feel that this exercise helped me establish a base line to work from. So check out the results: 

12:01 am – 4:45 am

• Sleep

4:45 am – 5:10 am

• Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)

5:10 am – 5:40 am

• Cut and assembled program/response cards (I usually have a volunteer do this but I didn’t get the design completed in time)

5:40 am – 6:00 am

• Power nap

6:00 am – 6:30 am

• Got ready to go

6:30 am – 7:30 am

• Went and picked up the trailer to meet the set-up crew

7:30 am – 9:50 am

• InDependence set-up

9:50 am – 10:00 am

• Got cleaned up and changed

10:00 am – 10:15 am

• Greeted people with Owen (he loves doing that)

10:15 am – 10:29 am

• Final preparations

• Prayer with team

10:29 am – 12:05 pm      

• Service (audio here tomorrow)

12:05 pm – 1:15 pm        

• Teardown

1:15 pm – 2:15 pm

• Return trailer

2:15 pm – 5:00 pm

• Lunch

• Play

• Relax

• Nascar

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

• Pool time w/ family

6:30 pm – 8:15 pm

• Movie night with Owen

8:15 pm – 9:30 pm

• Read books and got Owen to bed

9:30 pm – 10:30 pm

• Couples devotion with Harmony

10:30 pm – 12:00 pm

• Sleep

• Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)

• Worked on sermon

• Finished program/response card design

• Printed programs & Response cards

• Watched new Knight Rider Premier during printing operation (slightly cheesy but at least it didn’t have David Hasselhoff) Just to be honest if they remaid the A-Team or The Dukes of Hazzard (again) I would watch those too.

2:00 am – 7:30 am

• Sleep

7:30 am – 8:30 am

• Pretended to be asleep because I wasn’t ready to get up. Trying to remeber what sleeping in felt like

8:30 am – 9:00 am

• Breakfast

9:00 am – 10:30 am

• Can’t really remember but I think it involved Buzz Lightyear.

10:30 am – 1:30 pm

• Detailed the inside of both trucks with the help of Owen

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm

• Got cleaned up… first time shaving on a Saturday in a while

• Gave Owen a hair cut

2:15 pm – 3:45 pm

• Finished sermon

• Prepared Media Shout presentation

3:45 pm – 4:30 pm

• Watched a little college football

4:30 pm – 5:00 pm

• Got ready for date night to celebrate our 9th anniversary

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm

• Went to Publix for chocolate and flowers

5:30 pm – 9:30 pm

• Dinner –a little more than anticipated

• Roll of Mentos - $.89

• Change from purchase of Mentos for metered parking - $.90

• Stroll on the Commercial Street pier - $4

• Babysitter - $40

• First date night in too long - priceless

9:30 pm – 10:15 pm

• Getting Owen calmed down and asleep after 4hrs with the new babysitter who “let me do whatever I wanted” (she was actually a great sitter)

10:15 pm – 11:15 pm

• Alone time with Harmony

11:15 pm – 12:00 pm

• Sleep

• Sleep

4:00 am – 4:20 am

• Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)

4:20 am – 6:30 am

• Just couldn’t do it today so I went back to bed.

6:30 am – 7:00 am

• Got ready for work

7:00 am – 7:30 am

• Breakfast w/ Harmony (no Owen today…)

7:30 am – 8:15 am

• Travel to work

8:30 am – 12:30 pm

• Work

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

• Worked on sermon during lunch

1:30 pm – 5:30 pm

• Work

5:30 pm – 6:15 pm

• Travel home from work

6:15 pm – 6:45 pm

• Dinner

6:45 pm – 8:45 pm

• Trip to storage and Costco

8:45 pm – 10:15 pm

• Book time and getting Owen to bed

10:15 pm – 10:45 pm

• Started a new couples devotion book with Harmony

10:45 pm – 12:00 pm

• Worked on sermon

• Sleep

4:00 am – 4:20 am

• Uploaded NTC (New Testament Challenge) e-votional for the morning delivery (Want in on it… e-mail info@TheInChurch.org to be added to the mailing list)

4:20 am – 6:00 am

• Designed an anniversary card and polished off the love letter for my wife (Crap…out of ink so I can’t print it)

• Set up her gift and prepared to take a walk down memory lane with our photo albums (We participate in the traditional anniversary gift list and this year was willow/pottery)

6:00 am – 6:30 am

• Devotion

6:30 am – 7:00 am

• Got ready for work

7:00 am – 7:30 am

• For the third time Harmony and I had our “us” time interrupted. As we prepared to walk down memory lane Owen woke up early and so anniversary talk quickly shifted to Woody and Buzz.

7:30 am – 8:15 am

• Travel to work (Drove truck again, due to 40% chance of rain, so I was able to listen to a sermon on the way… tough to do on the bike)

8:30 am – 12:30 pm

• Work

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

• Worked on sermon during lunch

1:30 pm – 5:30 pm

• Work

5:30 pm – 6:15 pm

• Travel home from work (listened to John Bevere – Bait of Satan… good stuff)

6:15 pm – 6:35 pm

• Got the family rounded up for a trip to the mall

6:35 pm – 7:45 pm

• Romantic dinner at the food court (Doing the real deal on Saturday night)

• Took my wedding ring to be resized (anniversary gift)

7:45 pm – 8:45 pm

• Went to Toys-R-Us to get Owen a keyboard to practice on

8:45 pm – 9:45 pm

• Book time and getting Owen to bed

9:45 pm – 10:15 pm

• Alone TV time while Harmony finished up some stuff… I think some of the first all week… hello Speed channel, I missed you

10:15 pm – 11:30 pm

• Alone time with Harmony

11:30 pm – 12:00 pm

• Sleep