We are 19 days away from our first test drive service. 19 days away from getting a big trailer full of stuff to unload and turn a school into a church. 19 days from kicking off our series “Driven”. 19 days to invite people like crazy in hopes of drawing a crowd of potential launch team members. 19 days to finalize our band selection for our first service. 19 days to complete the list of 17 things that I currently know that I need to get done before the 19 days expires, and I just thought of one more item to add to the list. Oh yeh, the 19th thing on my list…secure a full time job before the 19 days is up because the trailer full of stuff cost $10k more than budgeted which is money that we were going to live on.

WOW! Life in a pressure cooker is tough, but what a rush. I have to tell you that the latest parallel that is being made to church planting is extreme sports. I couldn’t agree more. Even though most times your physical body is not in life threatening danger, your mental health, spiritual health, financial health, marital health and family health are in danger almost every second. Don’t believe me…just try it. I dare you!

Really I do. The bottom line is we need more churches to reach the growing population. We need more individuals who will lay it on the line for Christ. We honestly can not say “whatever the cost” because it was already paid in full by Christ, but the risks involved are great. “Great risk = Great Reward” echoes in my head almost everyday. Man, I can’t wait for the payout. It may not come in the form of a check, a house or a car, but God knows I am in this for the hardened hearts, the lonely, the widows, the orphans, the lost. You know all those people that need Jesus and probably don’t even realize it.

Right now I stand naked before the Lord. Not in a physical way because that would be weird, but in every other aspect of my life. As a man, a husband, a dad and as a son, all that I have ever been, all that I am, and all that I will ever be is His or is because of Him. Without Him I bring nothing to the table, I am naked. There is no wife that I can love, no child that I can raise, no body that I can keep, no money that I can earn, no church that I can build, and no people that I can reach. The Bible says “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” to break it down King James style, but that verse could have easily read “I can do nothing without Christ strengthening me.”

Think about it… What can you do, what do you have to offer, who are you, and what are you without Christ? For those of you who don’t believe in Him this isn’t going to make any sense, but for those of you who have had a life altering experience and have committed your lives to being Christ Followers, you may find yourself repenting. You thought you had it all together, you thought you were changing the world, you thought you had big plans and dreams, you thought it was about you…but maybe now you are realizing that you are naked…just like me.