God Is Moving

Young Church Planter Gathering in Orlando

I have the privilege of being connected with a group of churches called the Grace Brethren Fellowship.  When our family moved to the Hampton Roads area 7 years ago to work with church planting it was my hope to see my tribe of which I came to trust Jesus through encourage more church planting throughout the U.S.  In October I was invited to hang out with some great people from all over the country in Orlando Florida who are seeing the gospel expanded through the planting of new works.  There were great conversations and all kinds of different stories of what God is doing within His Church.  Honored to have been invited and be apart of seeing Jesus expand His Kingdom! Thanks FGBC for putting an emphasis on seeing new churches started!

Boxing Gloves and Small Things

The other day each of our kids received a treat from Grandma and Grandpa... a $5 gift card to Five Below where everything is $5 or below (astounding name)!  I watched the excitement in each of their eyes as they spread through the small store like an army invading the shores of Normandy.  The girls looking for bracelets, necklaces, Dora, and whatever else young girls look for.  Malachi and Silas, like most boys, were looking for the biggest toys; guns, bats, lightsabers, etc.  I must admit I was looking for the biggest toys for them.  

I've been reading through the book of Mark lately and was reminded how we often look for the big things even as adults.  In Mark 8 and the feeding of the 4,000 I was reminded how Jesus more times than not decides to work through the smaller things than maybe the biggest and greatest plans we have.  When you compare the two stories of the feeding of the 4,000 and the feeding of the 5,000 there is an interesting anomaly.  

(5 loaves = 5,000 men = 12 basketfuls left)

(7 loaves = 4,000 men = 7 basketfuls left)

Forgive me as I geek out and use my Engineering mind that I paid thousands for in school and dissect this complicated equation above.  Hold with me for a minute I don't want to lose you.  Jesus did more with less!!  I know the math above is not hard to analyze, but I do believe it is hard to understand that Jesus often does more with less.  Jesus fed more people with less bread and even collected more baskets of bread afterwards.  I know the miracle of feeding that many people with so few loaves of bread, but I found it intersting that the more loaves didn't even feed more people and that the more loaves had smaller amounts left over.  Is it because the 4,000 men were more hungry?  Or is it possible that God chooses to pay no attention to the things that we think are important.  

How often do we think that to do more we have to have more people, more resources, nicer stuff, more access, more charisma, more you fill in the blank?  Just like Malachi and myself thought the big guns were cooler than maybe the smaller toys maybe Jesus reminded me in this text that he measure something entirely different.  And in case your wondering we landed on Boxing Gloves!  

Below are some pics of Easter Events done through our neighborhoods.  Instead of holding one large Easter Event and asking people to come to us, we decided to work in the small and have Awaken go in their neighborhoods.  For us a reminder again how God works in the small.  

Our Aragona Group reaching a lot of their neighbors in a racially diverse area of Virginia Beach

Our Lynnhaven Group reaching some young families in their neighborhoods

Our Norfolk Group decided to have their event at the local park and interacted with 60+ people who would not have come to a Worship Gathering.

Below are some pictures from our special Memorial Day celebration honoring our military.  We had LCDR (Lieutenant Commander) Robert Rodriguez, who is an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician) Specialist and has seen plenty of combat during his 28 years in the United States Navy.  LCDR Rodriguez did a great job sharing with the Awaken family about the correlation of Military Combat and Spiritual Warfare, how men are called to lead their families, and how the Church is called to be the ultimate community and brotherhood.  Also here is the link for the interview.

LCDR Rodriguez sharing about Faith, Family, and Warfare

Some of our own military presenting the Colors

RE:Awaken 2016 Perspectives: Elise Grybos

Elise excited for true community in Awaken

After high school I somehow found myself at a small liberal arts Christian college and it was great. I was surrounding by other God loving people who were on fire for Jesus. I could walk to my classes and hear people using the word Yahweh without batting an eye. People didn’t think I was addicted to carbs when I talked about my daily bread (although I am totally addicted to them…). Then the day came when I had to leave my little bubble and I was seriously unprepared.

I had gotten into a bad state of mind where I expected community to be created around and for me. Like many Christians, I was so used to going to a church building one to three times a week where other people had created a community for us. We enjoy our “free pass” where we don’t need to step out of our comfort zone and actually get to truly know, love, and support the people around us.

Having an authentic community is scary and our culture is probably the laziest at creating it. I mean we, pat ourselves on the back for being a good friend because we sent an old friend a Facebook birthday post with a picture attached. I give myself extra friend bonuses if I type in some false promise of getting together sometime soon with some vague location and time. We retweet a friend who is obviously crying out for help instead of calling or visiting with them, because you know that would just be awkward.

A true community isn’t always there to make our lives easier; I typically find it to be quite the opposite. It is when we are in an authentic community, we realize it isn’t all about me.  When we live in community we not only deal with our own problems, but the problems of our community.  In a true community we don’t show up and unload. We show up unload some of our issues but then gain the burden of others and feel for the people we have grown to love. We have people who won’t let us get away with “yeah I’m fine,” or “I’m doing ok.”  We are surrounded with people who love us enough to make us dig deep and ugly cry when needed. It can get messy and it is definitely hard but the beauty that blooms from it is so worth it.

We need to live in community not because it makes us feel better, but because it brings glory to God. In John 13:34, Jesus tells his disciples that people will know they are disciples of His because of how they love each other. Reading that makes me automatically start to want to bargain with God, I mean does he know how annoying some of these people He created are?  The answer is, yes of course He does. Then he asks me if I know how annoying I am, and I do…most times.

When I think of our community groups at Awaken, I see it as a designated time to intentionally develop relationships with others. Yes, we meet together to discuss God’s Word and theology, but I wouldn’t say that’s our only focus because knowledge is easily accessible, relationships are not. These  groups are a safe place to invite others to come without the Sunday morning pressure. Where you’re not asking them to “church” but you’re still surrounding them with God’s Church. Our community groups are a place for us to practice and nurture each other, so that we can go out and develop community with others. 
 

It is easy for us, as Christians to go to church and be disciples, sitting still and listening to our preacher Sunday morning. We often forget that we are all pastors, and our church meeting on Sunday is equipping us to go out, leave, and join little churches in our homes, neighborhoods, work, play groups, and everywhere else our lives touchdown. Why do we hold back from doing this? Besides being downright terrifying for the introverted at heart, it is hard, messy, and makes us come face to face with the responsibility we have as Christians.

So while I believe our Sunday morning gathering and community groups are essential and teach us, they need to be our pushing off point to create community with others around us. God doesn’t want us to only do what makes us comfortable,  as much as I would like to lay on the couch marathoning shows on Netflix, I know it is not how I’m going to build a community and add to God’s church.  As a church we need to step out of our comfort zones, do something courageous- have a five minute conversation with your neighbor, ask your co-worker what they’re passionate about, pay for the coffee for the person behind you, tell someone who is often overlooked just how much you appreciate them. It doesn’t take much to raise up others around us and it can be done with words or without them. God can help us run and fight through any barricade (2 Samuel 22:30), even if your barricade is crossing the street to love your neighbor.

5 Leadership Convictions

This past summer I had the privilege of sitting in on a Satellite Branch for the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.  Yet again there were many great speakers and every year it just seems to get better and better.  One in particular that stuck out to me was Oscar Muriu who I had never heard of before, but came to find out he is the Senior Pastor of the Nairobi Chapel a mega-church in Kenya Africa.  I wanted to share 5 leadership convictions I found extremely helpful that he has had over his years of experience in developing other leaders.



1.  The size of your harvest depends on how many leaders you have.  He simply made the point that the more harvesters you have the larger your harvest will be.  The harvest fields are plentiful according to scripture.  There are no shortage of harvest fields, but there is a shortage of harvesters.  Therefore our capacity is met by the number of other leaders we are able to raise up and send back out.   Matthew 9:37-38

2.  Live for the next generation.  Oscar challenged that the gospel has spread to our time and place because those that have gone before us made a specific intent to reach down to the generation behind them.  He therefore challenges all his staff to at least bring 5 other people with them for at least a year, but hopefully 2 years.  He challenges them that some of these 5 need to be the generation coming up behind us.  I can look back on my own life and the best schooling I had in scripture and what it meant to lead and follow Christ was because the men that went before me found a vested interest in bringing me along with them.   Psalm 71:18

3.  Identify the budding leaders around you and take them to the Lord in prayer.  Oscar told of his conviction while he pleaded out to God to bring some of the sharpest and brightest potential leaders into his church.  I can say I've had some of the same eager prayers to the Lord.  God convicted Oscar, of which I can identify, to look around and see that they were already there; they were just untapped.  So now he keeps a long list of possible future leaders of which he prays that God will show them their leadership potential and give them the hunger to grow.  He calls this his HIT LIST.  Who do you have on your HIT LIST?   Numbers 11:10-17

4.  Instill the 5 loves into your budding leaders.   Mark 12:30-33

• Heart = Character
• Soul = Conviction
• Mind = Comprehension
• Strength = Competence
• Neighbor as Self = Compassion

5.  Never do ministry alone.  Acts 4:13
The last thing that Oscar pointed out from his years of experience is to always have budding leaders around you.  As I write this I can't help but think not of the books that I read or the lectures that I've heard (and all these are helpful in developing leaders), but the people that I have had the privilege of spending valuable time with.  Some of the best things I learned were not taught, but caught.  As I learn to develop leaders I am striving to always bring people with me. 

Why We Do Sermon Based Community Groups

1. Makes the Message Memorable:  If people know they are going to be discussing the sermon from Sunday they will be much more focused and engaged.  Over time more people will take notes, and will dramatically increase their ability to hold onto truth when life requires it.
2. Allows Everyone from the Spiritual Novice to the Newbie To Participate:  Having groups that work through the material from Sunday allows everyone an entry point into the conversation.  Everyone having listened to the sermon will feel like they have something to share.  You always want groups with the spiritually mature interacting with those maybe less mature.
3. Church Wide Focus:  When everyone in the church is looking at the same material more than once it helps keep everyone in the church moving in the same direction.  Whether it is vision material, difficult material, or just clarifying direction everyone is going the same place. 
4. Easier on the Preaching Team:  It helps knowing where everyone has been to know where to go in the future.  
5. Sticking Truth: There are four stages of knowledge that people go through before a truth sticks; groups help this progression.    a) Inspired = when people hear a new truth that rings true.  b)  Familiarity = something where people say I remember that.  c)  Bored = people say I’ve heard that all before and there is nothing new to learn.  d)  Knowledgeable = know a truth and use it without being reminded, sub-consciously becomes a part of my everyday life.  Material truly impacts when it becomes knowledgeable. 
6.  Reaching More People:  People in groups are much more apt to listen to the sermon on line if they missed it due to serving or missing worship.
7. Reeling in the Marginally Interested:  It is a smaller leap for someone on the fence in their faith to get involved in a Sermon-Based Community Group than if it is about something entirely different.  If they go simply because their spouse wanted to or because of another relationship they will find themselves slowly drawn into God’s Word based simply on their knowledge from Sunday.  This is how someone marginal in his or her faith becomes a committed follower of Christ. 
8. Bettered Prepared:  There is little prep time for anybody involved.  The leader has little prep time because he has heard the sermon and has been given questions that he can use.  The people coming have no homework (which we all know most people won’t do including you) and feel ready to engage.  Everyone has already put in 45 minutes of prep from Sunday without thinking about it.
9. Allowing More People to Lead:  Sermon-Based groups don’t require someone gifted in teaching to be able to lead.  The problem in most churches is that as leaders are raised up there is nowhere to let them lead.  Within a Community Group that discusses the past weeks message all that person needs is a growing relationship with God and a heart for the people in the group.

 adapted from Larry Osborne Sticky Church 

(also just makes sense and have seen played out)

Healthy Church, Healthy Groups

Here at Awaken we believe that the health of the church will go as the health of our groups go.  Our approach at Awaken is to filter as many people as possible into Community Groups during the week.  This is our main mode of discipleship.  We treat our Sunday Worship Gatherings as the front door to the house where everybody is welcome.  Not that everybody isn't welcomed into groups, but we see our groups really then as the living space of the house.  This is where we believe it is necessary to teach believers how to grow and live out their faith in Community.  We believe it is in these groups that people will learn together, grow together, hurt together, cry together, love together, laugh together, and wrestle through God's truths together.  Therefore again we believe that the health of Awaken will be built off the health of these groups.  What follows is an adaptation of 7 Elements to a Healthy Community Group taken from Craig Groeschel.

1.  A Great (Community) Group Needs a Leader:  Every community, tribe, group, needs someone that everybody is looking to at the end of the day.  Now we don't want our people to be dependent only on us.  I mean the purpose at the end of the day is to help our people to follow Jesus.  But they need someone who will exemplify for them what it means to know and love Jesus.  They need someone who will help them steady the ship when rough waters come.  They need someone who will navigate them as a group.  So the health of a group is largely dependent on the health of the leader.  Please don't misunderstand people don't want to know you have all the answers they just want to know you care, but you do need to be consistently growing as a leader.  How are you growing as a leader in your group so your people know they can trust you and go to you to help them steady the ship of life?

2.  A Great (Community) Group Is Built Around God's Word:  Yes we want these groups to be where true community and relationships can develop and mature.  Yes it is also true that the heart beat of these groups is not teaching, but is much more.  These groups are shepherding groups where the leading back to God's Word should be the norm.  People don't want your pithy sayings and intellectual thoughts, nor do they need them.  At the end of the day they need to be challenged to go back into God's Word through their lives.  How are you leading people back to God's Word not just during your time together, but throughout their lives?

3.  A Great (Community) Group Is a Safe Group:  People need to know that the group is a safe place and that the leader is a safe person to confide in.  If the group is not seen as safe people will not stay long and will resist opening up.  As a leader in a group your people need to see you as a trusting shepherd who they can go to with problems.  How can you help your people see you as a loving shepherd they can confide in?

4.  A Great (Community) Group Looks Outward:  Serving together is life changing.  I can remember missions trips or community projects I have done and how God uses them to build a common foundation for a group and also how God used them to grow me as an individual.  This is why we want each group to be serving several times a year together.  Think about ways your group can be a place of light in your particular community and neighborhood.  Can your group do a cookout and invite the neighbors, can your group serve together at a battered women's shelter, can your group do something to reach the kids in your neighborhood?  Think through what ways you can lead your group to serve together.  This should happen several times a year.

5.  A Great (Community) Group Birth's New Groups:  Our groups are designed with the intent on seeing them multiply within a given community with the potential for some to evolve organically into a potential church lead church plant down the road.  All through the gospel we see the idea of multiplication.  How are you multiplying leaders, how are you multiplying your reach as a group, how are you drawing new people in, how are you leading your people to think about multiplying their reach with the gospel?  Healthy things multiply.

6.  A Great (Community) Group Takes Breaks:  Life can sometimes get busy and tiring.  Though we want these groups to be a place for rest from the pressures of everyday life we should also be giving our groups regularly scheduled breaks.  This is why within our structure of groups we take off three different months every year.  December because of the busy holiday season, April because of spring fever, and August for back to school and last minute vacations.  This allows breaks to be short as to not lose touch with each other and also allows a natural time for new people to feel like they can jump into a group.  Does your group understand the importance of these groups?

7.  A Great (Community) Group Hurts Together:  Please never forget as we already mentioned these groups need to be a safe place.  People need to know that struggle is a part of life; often times part of God's maturing process. Is your Community Group a place where people can hurt and learn together how to navigate troubled waters.  Do you know what is going on in each of your people's lives?  Do they know that they can talk to you?  How do you stay up with people that are struggling or seem to be drifting?  Do you sit and have coffee outside of group with people who may need extra help during a season of struggle?

Numbers Show Trends

So I have been looking at some percentages and numbers over the last week. This could get a little scary coming from a past engineering graduate. I recently compared an average Sunday with the same Sunday from last year and found some interesting statistics of growth.

Based upon some numbers we have seen:

--At least 20% of our current average attendance have made first time decisions to follow Jesus through Awaken. This is approximately 15 people in the last year to year and a half. Though I can't find current trends with average churches I know this is high. This is like a church of 1000 seeing 200 people baptized and commit to follow Christ in one year.

--We have seen a 58% increase in our average attendance on Sunday Worship going from in the 20's last year to 50's and 60's this year. I know attendance doesn't tell everything like how Community Groups are growing and how close to half our Sunday Morning attendance is involved, but it does show a healthy sign of reaching and influencing new people.

--As most of you know our vision for starting a church here was to reach military for Christ and see them sent out. Over the past 6 months we have sent out about 8 family units or 16 people through military replacement, job transfers, and deployments. This is roughly 25% of our average attendence that we have seen go out to other places to take the gospel. We are accomplishing the Vision!!

--Based upon the above numbers of 58% and 25% means that our reach of ministry over the last year has grown to over 80% as a church in the last year. That means that if we were in a more traditional area we would be seeing about 75 to 80 people in average each week. Based upon some stats I saw this is almost double the size of most church plants almost 2 years in.

It is amazing for us to look back to almost two years ago and remembering there only being 9 people in our living room. For me this is a reflection of God's Grace in the influence he is allowing us to have in reaching people and seeing the gospel advanced.

Though the numbers show we are seeing God grow and build His Church here at Awaken some of those numbers make some of the work challenging.

Please pray for us...

1. When we are losing 25% of our people each year it makes it hard on several fronts. Leadership Development... we are developing leaders with sometimes no idea how long we may have them to help lead here.

2. Financial Giving... reaching 20% far from Jesus and even more unchurched we have to teach how them to Financially Give. Most of the time this is the last area for somebody to relinquish to Christ. As we continue to send people out it makes it hard as we work at becoming self supportive. Right now we are a little above halfway becoming a fully supportive church. Therefore our outside partners are crucial for us to continue this work.

3. We right now need to raise between $5000 and $10,000 more to stay on track. Please pray whether God might have you help meet this need and thanks for those that currently give and have given in the past. People's lives are being changed for eternity.

4. For our 2 Year Anniversary Celebration coming up on March 25th and Easter Sunday coming up on April 8th. We are asking for God to double us as a church this spring and summer.

5. That as we send people out through here that we would be able to continue to develop an internal leadership structure that could sustain growth and influence here locally.

6. Praise God with us for the influence he is allowing us to have!

The Beauty of Ashes

Nothing about this journey is easy. The journey is hard. The journey of leadership that is. If you find me someone that says they have leadership all figured out, I will find you a lier. The longer I lead the more I realize it is more of an art than it is a science.

I was speaking with a gentleman yesterday who asked me how my journey has been. The journey of moving to a strange land and now has become home to plant a church. He asked me if I have had any struggles along the way. When he asked I must admit I just looked at him perplexed. Perplexed because there had been so many struggles I didn't know where to begin. So I just smiled and simply said yeah quite a few.

It turns out this older man has planted churches through his life in Africa, Germany, and now here in the United States and as i smiled and said yes plenty of struggles he knew exactly where I had been. This man, or if I might be as bold to say a vessel God was speaking to me through, continued to share with me these trials and struggles was God's way of preparing me for God's next step and future work for us in the church plant. He continued to tell me that I can't take someone or something somewhere I have never been myself. He said to me that the future of this ministry lies in the beauty of the ashes of past struggles. Wow what a concept for all of us to grab hold of. Let us begin to celebrate together the challenges we have all faced because it is in those that God is building His leader.

I praise God for how he speaks to us at just the right times! Thank you Jesus for helping me celebrate the ashes!

Growth Everywhere

I remember moving to Virginia Beach two years ago to start a church with the hope and prayer of seeing people come to know Christ in a real and life changing way. That dream and prayer became a reality over the past couple of months and just this past Sunday was evidenced in our first baptism as a church.

It was great to see people in the church look on as we gathered in an apartment complex pool where the family being baptized lives. You could genuinely tell that the people of Awaken were not only excited for this husband and wife, who recently made decisions for Christ, but were also envisioning this being a regular occurance within this newborn church.

How fascinating that a new birth of a church brings a new birth of people following Christ and new birth of mothers to children. Thank you Jesus for new birth and growth everywhere. Please pray for this growth to continue into the Fall.