Thanksgiving – Hood Style!

Thanksgiving is probably many people’s favorite holiday. Those of us in our family celebrate every year with great food and time together. This year seemed a little different. The food was great as always, and the time with family was nice as well but there was something missing.
Some of my greatest memories as a child were spending the holidays with my MawMaw and PawPaw Hood. Every year on Thanksgiving night the Hood’s all gather at somebody’s house and hang out for several hours. Some of my greatest memories are from those nights. Memories of throwing the football outside, listening to old stories about my dad and his siblings growing up, watching videos, and even a slug fest with one of my cousins (sorry Chris). Things have changed a lot since I was a kid; I am now married and have a family of my own.
A couple years ago my grandmother went to be with the Lord and since that time my grandfather has been in failing health. He is currently in a nursing home and unable to get out and about. This was the first year I have ever been to a Thanksgiving night family gathering that my grandparents weren’t present.
Every year at some point in the evening somebody breaks out the paper and people start going through the sales adds for Black Friday, that was no different last night. As some of us sat around last night looking through the paper and telling tall tales, it was obvious that people were recognizing that this was the first year with my grandparents not being there. Although nobody mentioned it, you could tell that it was on peoples mind. There was a void there. A void that no matter how much fun was had, it could not be filled.
It is amazing the heritage and wisdom that was handed down from just two individuals. I am so grateful that they invested in me. I feel like such a chump as I sit here writing this. I think of the shoes that they filled and the love they had for their family and God. I am so grateful they shared their stories with me as I grew up. They not only shared stories, they lived lives of integrity and had great passion for their Savior.
I will share my stories with the next generation, I just hope they look as favorably on me as I look to those who went before me.

The Traction Distraction

In the church world, we always seem to be looking for traction, or momentum to take our church or ministry to that next level. Our human instinct tends to be lets find a strategy that will allow us to get that traction we seek. First, let me say I am all about being prepared and knowing your direction in ministry. But many times we spend more time trying to find who we are rather than just being who God told us to be. This is such a trap; we get so caught up in trying to determine our direction that we lose our intimacy with Father. It is our intimacy with the Father that provides us with the direction that we seek. If we get the intimacy thing right, we get the traction we seek. To all you volunteers and pastors, stop looking for the template for ministry and focus on your intimacy with Father. Do this and you will be amazed at what God will show you in your ministry.

God show me your paths daily and help me to walk in them, that I am not distracted by the busy things that may or may not give me traction.

Why do you do what you do?

I know I have probably written about this before, but it is probably the one question that I am constantly thinking on.  The reason I am always thinking on this is because the one thing I desire most in my life is to honor God with my life.   I also ask this in the ministry or organization I am serving in.

Three weeks into our church plant, we did something for us that was intimidating.  We gave each family $50 to give to a family that needed it more than themselves.  To be honest my first thought was can we afford to do that?  I am really ashamed to admit that, but in reality we should have given more.  We asked that those who participated in this experiment in generosity to email us there stories.  I have been absolutely blown away by reading and hearing everyone’s stories.

As a church it helped each family to answer the question “Why do we do what we do?”  I pray that we keep that outward focus in the things we are about at Crossroads Church.  A bigger hope that I have personally is that everyone individually would grab a vision of something bigger than themselves and commit to it for a lifetime.
Eric

YES, We are still ALIVE!

Thought I should post a blog letting everyone know we are alive and well in the original Sin City.  It has been February since my last post, and so many things have happened in our lives. Here are the bullet points:

• Valerie, Eli and myself  just welcomed home baby Addie!
• My dad had a scare with his health, but he is recovered well and just went back to work.
• Valerie is trying her hand at homeschooling Eli.  It is only pre-school, but he really loves it.  He has a great teacher!
• Our house has felt like a construction zone for the last few months as we prepared to bring home Addie!
• We also officially launched Crossroads Church on 9.13.09.

I will be updating the blog much more frequently now that things have somewhat started getting back to normal around our place.

Eric

MESSED UP – BUT LOVIN IT!!!

I get asked all the time why did you leave the church you were serving and why do you want to launch a new church. Instinctively many people believe that I had an issue or falling out with the leadership or that I got tired of the petty nature of church politics (the petty politics part might be true), so I decided to tell my story.

About 4 years ago (at least) my friend Todd McMichen at Developing Churches Network held a church planting conference in the Birmingham area. I had recently accepted a position to serve at a prominent local church as the Youth and Education Pastor. As the Education Pastor it was easy to see that we were completely out of space for small groups and need to create a solution. So I receive this e-mail from Todd and Developing Churches Network about a church planter’s one day gathering. I really wasn’t interested and church planting was the furthest thing from my mind, but I noticed they would have a break out on the subject of “creative space planning.” Instantly I thought even if I walk away with one idea about solving our space problem the day in Birmingham would be worth it. So I paid the small fee and off to the event. It was during this event that I was blindsided by a couple guys named Bob Roberts and Shawn Lovejoy. Seriously they messed up my plan of ministry; I always anticipated being in rock solid churches with a long rich heritage. That one day messed me up, and for the next two years I could not get that one day out of my spirit.

The desire to be a part of  new church in the Columbus / Phenix City area began to get stronger as time passed. So in 2007 I decided to take a couple days off from the church and go to the churchplanters.com conference. I thought if this is God’s direction for me, He will surely confirm it during the two days at Mountain Lake Church. Without a doubt God confirmed that He was leading me into this very uncomfortable arena for a season. It was no secret to everyone I was on staff with at my church that I had a passion for church planting, it consumed me. By October of 2007 I was still on staff at the same church but my role had changed to more of the Education and Evangelism Pastor (we referred to me as the E-Pastor). It was during October of 2007 that I took our staff to Catalyst in Atlanta and by the end of day 1; I could sense that the Holy Spirit was telling me get ready for some major changes in your ministry. Within two months I had a job offer in a professional field and had to make a decision to resign from my church. I knew with NO doubt the job was a God thing, and it was going to allow me the freedom to prepare for the church plant that God wanted me to be a part of.

Fast forward to 2009 and so many things have happened. I am now working with a group of guys that and we will be planting Crossroads Church in Downtown Columbus, GA in September of 2009. I have never had more fun in ministry. Someone at the churchplanters.com conference in 2007 said that planting a church is the most spiritual thing they have ever done, I now know what he meant. The one thing that I am continually being reminded of is that I MUST be broken for this community. As God breaks me I pray that I never loose sight that all of this is for His glory, and not anyone else.

I need a digital recorder, because I can’t type fast enough to get all of my thoughts down. Off to Circuit City to see if they have any deals before they close the doors. PEACE!

WHAT? WHAT! – Another one! – THANK YOU, GOD!!

I have shared in the past our heartbreaks and trials as we struggled for so many years with infertility. It only seems like yesterday that the doctor was telling us that we really should stop treatment and begin the process of adoption. However, that was not a recommendation my wife was yet ready to accept.

I estimate that we spent approximately $28 – 30 K trying to have children, and nothing we did worked. We went as far as we could ethically go to try to have children. I remember sitting in the parking lot of Carmike Cinemas waiting on a call from the doctor to see if our In-Vitro was a success; and I remember the pain and disappointment on Valerie’s face when the doctor told us that she was not pregnant. We prayed that day for another miracle. I remember Valerie saying she was going to the mat with God about this, and to be honest that scared me a little. The next week our fertility doctor explained to us our other options and we did not feel ethically we could attempt them and besides that we were completely out of money.

We resolved that if Valerie were not pregnant within 6 months we would begin to explore adoption. To give every detail of what happened through this process would take a book (which may be in the works), but we look back now and see how God was orchestrating every step. To be honest what happened next floored me. Within 45 days of our failed In-Vitro procedure, we found out Valerie was pregnant. We called our fertility doctor and asked if his tests could have been wrong, and he assured us that the IVF was a failed attempt, but wanted us to come in for an ultra-sound. I will always remember the look on Valerie’s face as we both heard the sound of Eli’s heart for the first time. The thing we never thought would happen had just occurred.

Eli is now three and is an incredible child, we recognize every day just how fortunate we are to be parents and how difficult the road to parenthood was for us. Because we had such a difficult time having a child, we thought why the heck pay for birth control every month – so we just cut that expense completely from the budget. Several weeks ago Valerie woke me early on a Saturday morning to tell me we are expecting our second miracle. WOW! To honest for a few days I was in a fog about it, but now I am JACKED UP!

The next few months are going to be major in Sin City. New baby, New Church, lots of changes; but bring them on!

Identity Crisis – Surf Punk or Silver Spoon

I know this post may not be something that others deal with but, man I have struggled with this stuff my whole life.  I look at my life now and think “what the heck!  I have waste my time in life trying to find my identity in others.”  I know I am rambling but hear me out.

From the time I was a kid in elementary school I always wanted and yearned for acceptance by the popular kids (I know everyone does, but I would do just about anything to get their attention.)  I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth and was not raised in private schools or any of that, but I always wanted to be those kids.  Now I am an adult and I recently realized a few weeks ago, I still wanted to be in that crowd.  As the thought hit me I reflected back on my life and realized I have fought this Identity Crisis issue most of my life.

Thinking back to my high school years; I did some pretty stupid things (although they were funny) to get the respect of people who were popular.  I think I was pretty popular in high school and people I went to school with would probably say the same thing, but inside I always struggled with this feeling that, if people really knew who I was they wouldn’t like me.  All of my buddies listened to country music, but I secretly hated it and I listened to underground punk music.  I was scared to death that my buddies on the baseball team would find out my secret music choices and ostracize me.  I secretly wanted to be a surfer and live in Australia, but I knew if that got out I would have been a laughing stock.  I look back now and wish I would have just been myself, and stopped trying to be something that I was not.  I did the same thing in college and it even carried over into my adulthood.

A few days back I was reading through some blogs and someone posted a blog that really got my attention.  It was all about not trying to be someone else or copy what someone else is doing when it comes to ministry.  After I read that post I was pissed that I had allowed myself so many times to be someone else and not myself.

I have always tried to have a New Years resolution, but this year I didn’t want to just make a resolution just to make one; I wanted it to be something that would be life changing for me.  So I did something I have never done; I prayed that God would show me what my resolution should be (novel concept). So in 2009 I have decided to loose the identity crisis; my identity is found in Christ and my lifelong goal is to make him famous, not me.

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What’s NEXT???

I have spent the better part of the last several weeks preparing myself mentally and spiritually for what I believe God may be preparing me for.  As many of you know I resigned from my church this time last year.  I accepted a job making considerably more money that gave me more time to spend with my family.  I also knew God never removed my calling, but this change was actually an opportunity for me to follow God’s direction for a season.  That may seem weird, but the change has opened many doors for me to work within a church plant.  I now sit in the church I resigned from and I am preparing to hear a dear friend and the person who was hired to fill my role within the church.  It is bitter sweet, I know he is going to bring this church and its ministry to a level I never would have but I also know my season of worship and service at this church is coming to an end and that a new season will be beginning soon.

When I resigned from the church last year it was not because of some big moral or ethical failure or any dissent between me and the pastor. Earlier in the year I experienced a very bad ankle injury that required my ankle to be rebuilt, as a result my medical bills were massive and we could not afford to pay for my medical expenses on my salary. As Valerie and I experienced the financial crunch of this I had a very good opportunity presented to me to make the money necessary to pay the medical expenses. During this same time I was also experiencing what I felt like was a season of change from my day to day ministry. For the last three years God had been creating in me and expanding my passion to work with or in a church plant. I knew based on previous discussions that the church that I was serving in would not likely venture into planting a church in the near future and if it did it would be years down the road. Because of my situation (medically, financially & ministry) I knew that this new opportunity would allow me to accomplish all of the goals before me. So here I am a year into my new job (which is no longer new) and all of the dust has settled. Valerie and I are still worshiping at the church from which I resigned and the medical bills are being squashed. However, God is going to do a very awesome thing this year in the area of ministry. Can’t say exactly what it is at this point, but I will surely update the blog when the hammer drops. Stay tuned!!!

Eric

Christmas JOY!!!

Eli and I have developed this ritual: every night after we say our prayers, he twists : ) my arm in lying down by him and telling him stories. Most of the times I just make up some story as I go, and it’s fun just to see how far fetched I can make the story. I relish Eli’s bedtime every night; not because he is going to bed, but because it is a valued time for me.

Lately because of the Christmas season, we have been telling Christmas stories at night and singing Christmas songs. Well last night while Valerie and her mom went shopping, Eli and I had a guy’s night. We hung out at the house and watched some very manly cartoons and MMA. So Eli looks over at me and says sing that Bad Bone song (he is three, what does he know about George Thorogood? Oh yeah I taught him the song). So for what seemed like 20 minutes we are singing “Bad to the Bone,” and finally we move onto some other manly activity. Later that night when Valerie comes home and we have said our prayers, I say to him let’s go tell stories and he was like NO, I want to sing that song to mom! So we serenade Valerie with “Bad to the Bone” while she fights back tears of laughter. One of those moments I want to never forget as a parent.

I share this story because Valerie and I know the pain of not having children and desperately wanting to be parents. For several years as we struggled through the infertility process, special holidays were no fun (especially Mother’s Day and Christmas). To be completely honest we looked at holidays with anxiety, because some bonehead would always ask – “So when are you guys going to have kids.” I lost count of the tears shed and the frustrations I felt at what appeared to me as peoples disregard for tact, but it was usually some old person so they had a built in free pass to offend people (or so they thought). We knew we would ultimately be parents, whether it is naturally or through adoption. For us God chose it to be naturally. Since we welcomed Eli into our lives our holidays have gone from anxiety to pure joy. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t hate the holidays; there was pain that was experienced through them that I wanted to avoid. However the last three years I have experienced so much JOY during the holidays, I honestly feel like a kid again around the holiday times and it has been a long time since I could say that.

Eli meets Rudolph

A few nights back we went to Callaway Gardens to the Fantasy in Lights Christmas Celebration. Fortunately my wife works for a great company that allows us to go for free, and annually we make the journey. This year was the second year Eli actually went through and could enjoy all the lights and festivities. As we were walking through the Winter Wonderland tent Eli spotted a character dressed like Rudolph. So with the enthusiasm of a three year old, he runs over to him and says; “Hey, I know your song.”

Before I had a child I really did not like all of the lights and decorations and American traditions of Christmas. I don’t know if I had just become old and jaded or if the consumerism of it all just bugged me. This year I have really enjoyed it more than I can remember since I was a kid.

Stay tuned for the story of Leon the Christmas Elf.  I hope everyone has a great Christmas.