Encouraging Stories!

God is doing some cool things here!

Recovery

It has not been a fun few days but I am feeling better now, not completely but I'm getting there. I don't feel like death anymore so thats good!

On a lighter note, Freedom had a great launch yesterday with over 225 in attendance. Many were friends and family/church planters, but there were about 175 just from the community! That's awesome! I hate to have missed it but am stoked that everything went well!

Encouraging Email

Read this email that J.R. received after the launch team handed out cookies in the neighborhoods around where Freedom meets. This is awesome!

Bikes or Bust Recap

I saw this on JR's blog and just had to share it with everyone! Keep it up guys!

Final Count!

Rumor has it that the final count of bikes was 120! That's awesome!

All the bikes are being donated, through the school systems, to families in need for Christmas gifts! A couple of the principles even came out and got a ride on the lift!

Bikes or Bust!

So I went by to see the progress on Bikes or Bust before flying out to CO for the holidays! Its going great! They had many bikes already and the number was growing steadily! Walmart sold all they had and had to order more! Starbucks came over and offered them free coffee as long as they're up there and a couple of the news stations came by as well! I don't think they will have any problems reaching the the goal and will probably exceed it! I can't wait to here the final number!

I'm diggin the scruff! Keep it goin Todd!

A view from the lift!
It was pretty cold most of the time, it even rained some!
It was a lot higher than it looks and pretty wobbly up there!

Bikes or Bust!

In a few minutes I'm going to head over and check out an event put on by Freedom Church called Bikes or Bust! I have some pics that I will add later! Check out the website!

Freedom Church

Last night, before I headed back to Louisville, I was able to stick around for Freedom's launch team meeting. Man, a lot has changed since I left this past summer! It was great to see how things are progressing, and they are progressing quickly! JR has been discussing some of the core values and the band was rockin, Blake does a great job! I can't wait to see where God takes them! I hope to be back in the ATL around Christmas time and there is no telling where things will be by then!! You guys rock! Keep it up!

Moving On

Today I must say goodbye to Atlanta and Freedom Church as the summer comes to a close! I can't believe its already over. It seems like I just got here! I never anticipated all that I would learn and was admittedly a little apprehensive about the whole thing seeing as they are still in the beginning stages, or so it seemed. In the beginning, I wondered if I had made the right decision when deciding to come to Atlanta instead of going back to Venezuela but now I can't imagine having missed this amazing opportunity! Thank you J.R., Todd, Mark, and Jon for letting me be a part of what God is doing through Freedom Church, as well as and ask a million and one questions about everything! You guys are awesome and I can't wait to see all that the Lord is going to do through you! Acworth won't know what hit them! We will keep in touch, know that I am praying for you all!

Days Past

The weekend finished pretty well! Sunday morning we attended NorthStar Church in Kennesaw where the Lead Pastor, Mike Linch, kindly introduced our team! It was a good service! I think, for this area, they are the church that will be most like what we will be like. And, as I have mentioned previously, they are an extremely helpful and giving church. They donated all our office furniture and have also offered to help in many other ways. They are also one of the few churches in the area that are effectively reaching the community, they always have there hands in some sort of community event. They are not creating there own community events but participating in the events are are already exist in Kennesaw. This is what Freedom Church desires to do in Acworth.
The Last week in the office has gone well so far! I continue to be challenged each day by new things and ideas. It has truly been a great summer!

Great People

We got to eat lunch with Mike Linch, Pastor of NorthStar Church in Kennesaw today. What a great guy! He has been such a help already to Freedom church. A couple of months ago, they moved into a new building and he gave us a ton of their old, yet very nice, office furniture...gave it too us, even though we didn't have anywhere to put it at the time. He is so willing to help get things going for us and that is such a blessing! I have been very encouraged by all the people that we have met this summer that get it. They realize that its not about territory or stealing everyone else's people but that we are all on the same team and just desire to reach as many people with the gospel as possible. People like this, people like Mike Linch and others we have met this summer encourage me greatly!

Come one come all!

Tonight will the the first official Launch Team Meeting of Freedom Church. We are six months out, as of a couple days ago, from the official launch Sunday. Tonight, however, you can come and hear J.R. cast the vision and learn what we are about. The meeting will be held in the Club house in J.R.'s neighborhood @ 7:oo. Hope to see you there!

NewSpring Church

We had our second unofficial launch team meeting last night at J.R.'s house. The actual official launch team meetings will start this Wednesday at 7:00pm. I am pumped! I get more and more excited every time I hear the vision cast!

This morning we got up early and headed to South Carolina to attend NewSpring Church! The Staff has been building up curiosity and excitement from day one about how awesome this church is. J.R. wanted anyone and everyone to go with us and see it because it is the church that most closely resembles what Freedom will look like. Perry Noble is the pastor but unfortunately he was not speaking this morning. It was o.k. though because the guest speaker was Steven Furtick, Pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, another Church plant that is flourishing and growing rapidly. NewSpring was amazing and inspiring! I could see Freedom in everything I looked at! Steven Furtick was awesome as well! His passion for the lost was so evident in his message from First Samuel. It was a great visit!

Launch Meetings

Well, we had out first launch team meeting for Freedom Church on the ground in Acworth last night! From now on we will be having these meetings weekly on Wednesday nights. I was definitely exciting for everyone and more and more reality is starting to sink in as each day goes by! January will be here before you know it! I will only be here through the end of July but would love to come back for the first launch service! I was great to here J.R. cast the vision for the Freedom church! I can't wait to see it happen!

Meetings

Today was a good day at the office! We basically spent the day in a really long meeting! We discussed a myriad of different issues including whether we want to have a "greeting time" or fellowship or visiting, whatever you want to call it, at Freedom. Also what are some of the non-negotiables of a church, and what is a Christian. What are the non-negotiables of the Christian life and what we desire the people at Freedom Church to look like. J.R. posed the question: "if someone were to get saved today at Freedom Church, what would we want him to look like in five years?" Many of these issues are very challenging to think about! It can be difficult sometimes to know what is truly biblical and what is just traditional or preference; sorting through the nitty gritty! It was a good meeting!

Meetings

In the last couple of days Todd and I have had the opportunity to meet with some cool and or interesting people. Yesterday for lunch we went up to Cartersville and met with the connections pastor of Oak Leaf Church, Tim Samples. Again, this was very educational for me. They have only been around for about nine months or so and are already doing well in attendance. It was very helpful to here some of the ideas of how they do things.

Let me take a second to say how amazed I am at how friendly and helpful the "church planting community" is. There are so many people around here that have planted churches and now are doing anything and everything they can to help other church planters. They will meet with you, help with recourses, let you sit in on there meetings, basically open up the back door on everything they do so that you can learn how to do things and not to do things. These people believe in church planting and are willing to do whatever it takes to help you in your journey. Amazing!

We also got the interesting opportunity to meet with the Mayor of Acworth with about 25 others from local churches in the area. There was a whole mix of people that came. We thought it was going to be awkward because when we showed up, most everyone else around us had on suits. We had jeans and polos and as Todd said earlier to J.R. "I dressed up today...I wore shoes." The Georgia heat demands that you ware flops if you have any hopes of staying cool! It ended up being ok, however, not everyone wore suits. It was a great time to make some good contacts with other churches of Acworth as well as with the Chief of police and, of course, the Mayor.

Networking is everything! Ok, maybe not EVERYTHING, but pretty close!

The Day

Todd and I spent some good time this morning at Atlanta Bread Company (no link because I was displeased! We couldn't connect to the internet and they didn't have any outlets!). Anyways we did get some things accomplished. I was able to listen as Todd walked step by step through the process of the beginnings of Freedom Church until now. This was very educational for me! There is soooo much to think about, and it hasn't even launched yet! When J.R. asked me what I wanted to get out of this internship I told him that if I could walk away with the knowledge of where to start if one day I desired to plant a church I would be happy. Today was a big step in that process!
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Meet The Chillins

Last night, everybody who will be involved in Freedom Church and are in town got together last night to spend some time together. This was great for me to get to know everyone. There are some great people involved in Freedom! I plan to post some family profiles at some point but for now, here's a look at some darn cute chillins!

This is London: One of J.R's Little girls
Truly a Precious Moments Child

London with Brayden, Todd Lollis' little Boy

London and Lexi: J.R.'s little girls

Brayden Lollis

London loved this slide!

This is Anniston: Todd's little girl.

Noah Ayers, Mark and Heather's little boy.

There was quite a bond between these two.

May I Introduce You To

The Pastor of Freedom Church, J.R. Lee. Always a good time, for sure! My history with J.R goes back quite a ways. I first met J.R. when I was in Middle school. He and a good friend of his Mark Ayers were my camp counselors. Some of my favorite memories were at camp in Panama City at a Coffee Kettle at 3 o'clock in the morning while J.R. tried to eat a whole plate of pancakes drenched in a pitcher of syrup. There was never a dull moment let me assure you!
On a more serious note, J.R. and Mark were both extremely influential in my spiritual growth as a young person. We had some crazy times but also some serious spiritual growth times as well. His heart and passion makes him a great fit for the pastor of Freedom Church!