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Kicked off 5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life today with a message called How to Have an Affair. Samson’s life is such a lesson for us in how not to walk in purity and faithfulness to God.

If you want to have an affair:

1. Minimize the value of a vow.
2. Channel your restlessness in the wrong direction.
3. Follow your impulse, not your insight.
4. Presume God’s forgiveness.
5. Rationalize your ruin.

My heart breaks knowing that nearly have of husbands and wives will commit adultery by the age of 40, but I was really encouraged by some conversations after the services with people talking through how they got help and some that need it now.

Opened with The Thunder Rolls. Any service that includes a Garth Brooks song is great! Ha. Worship songs were: Hosanna, Let God Arise, Til I See You, and It is Well.

3rd largest crowd we’ve ever had (including Easter), and school doesn’t even start until tomorrow. I’m so proud of all the volunteers and inviters who make this possible! You may want to get here early if you want a seat next week!

Exhausting day. I think I’m getting weak in my old age! I don’t care what anybody says or how unspiritual it sounds, church is more fun when people actually come! It’s good that August is here. I was blown away that we grew like we did in July, but I’m a creature of routine and so many of us are. It’s good to see lots of people back at church.

• Wrapped up a 2-week look at some things to get us ready for the fall with a look at Mark 2:1-12. Because of the faith of the friends of the paralytic, his sins were forgiven! I’m so proud to pastor a group of people who invite their friends and family to church. This is how it’s supposed to be. If you don’t, it’s generally because we don’t believe Jesus is powerful enough to change lives.
• There are people around here who really believe the power of God is for right now, and they are strengthening my faith day after day.
• Songs were: All Creation Sings, Today is the Day, Hands of the Healer, How Great is Our God, Reign in Us.
• Next Sunday we start a series called 5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life. It’s easier than you think! Bring a friend.
• Great volunteer training times today. God is expanding our willingness to volunteer so that He can expand the capacity of our influence. Hold on!

Wrapped up our Freedom series with a look at Freedom from Approval. By our own admission through the raising of our hands, living for the approval of people is a major struggle for us as a church.

• God’s approval is based on perfection, not performance. Jesus came to give us His righteousness, and we live from that.
• Songs were Great and Greatly to Be Praised, Not to Us, The Stand, With Everything, and In Christ Alone. I sensed His presence in a greater way than I have in a long time as we worshiped.
• Still blown away by the number of first time guests each week. You guys are inviting machines. I love it.

Wrapped up the day at the park for Picnic Baptism! This is probably my favorite day of the year. There’s no way for us to visibly see the mission of our church like 2 hours of hanging out at the park and then celebrating new life for 9 people going public with their faith. I pray we never lose sight of the move of God among us. I love Arrowhead Church!

Continued the Freedom series today, and from what I heard everybody came back but me! There was a great crowd for Dan Peterson’s continuation of the Freedom series, but I was away teaching at a church that in many ways I consider to be my home church. I missed being at Arrowhead bad!

• Dan taught on Freedom from Sin from Romans 6:1-14, and I can’t wait to watch it online this week.
• Jamie McGregor led worship, and I heard he did an awesome job.
• Why do things go so well when I’m away???? Hmm.
• Tons of first time guests. All I know is we better hold on for the fall. It’s going to be fun.
• Next week is Picnic Baptism. Sign up now! info@arrowheadchurch.com

4th of July…aka Lake Day in East Tennessee! Those of us at church had a great morning!

• Started a 3 week look at Freedom with a message on freedom from fear. The story of Gideon pretty much removes all excuses for us from moving forward in obedience despite our fears.
• Great worship set: I Am Free, Solution, No Sweeter Name, From the Inside Out, Our God.
• Talked for a minute about the panic and despair in our country. Our problems now run deep. The recession and events it has spun off are no longer new. We have to remember we submit to our government, pray for authorities, and serve a king of an unseen kingdom.
• 2 weeks until Picnic Baptism! If you’ve never been baptized or want more info, make sure to let us know. Everybody mark your calendar - 5:00-7:30 July 18.

Not sure why but extra exhausted after today! We wrapped up One Prayer with a look at Unstoppable Generosity. Jesus made it clear that it is impossible to serve both God and money. They compete for our hearts, and most of us are letting money win!

• Generosity: giving until you notice it’s gone.
• We don’t teach a “tithe only” type of doctrine here, but we do teach that each of us ought to give until it hurts a little, and a tithe is a great place to start.
• Tyler Rhoton was out on he and Emily’s 10 year anniversary trip to the Bahamas. Pray for God to strengthen their marriage as they celebrate.
• TP and the band led us in: Let God Arise, Hosanna (Hillsong), Til I See You, and Give It All.
• Great crowd but a bunch of latecomers! At 9:35 and 11:05 I thought everybody was at the lake but me!
• I’m so encouraged with the number of first time guests each week. So proud to pastor a church who invites their friends. I love seeing new faces and love meeting new people every week.
• Remember that next week we’ll be on a normal schedule at 9:30 and 11:00.
• Mark your calendar for July 18 for our picnic baptism. You do not want to miss it!
• We also need you later that week as we love the Lakeway. More details to come.

Have a great week!

Father’s Day at Arrowhead! Loved our service. It was exactly what I needed after a week at Children’s Hospital with our baby girl.

• We continued the One Prayer series with a look at Unstoppable Unity. Churches are so far from answering Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that it almost seems impossible to return to that kind of attitude and spirit in our relationships. I’m so glad Arrowhead is enjoying the unity described in Ephesians 4, and I believe with all my heart that it’s one reason God is using us like He is.
• We gave away a huge Father’s Day surprise…beef jerkey and Gold Bond. Hey, church plant budget!
• Songs were Your Grace is Enough, You Never Let Go (this messed me up after a week at the NICU), Mighty to Save, and Here I Am to Worship.
• I’ll just vent for a second to both release sadness and anger that Father’s Day is a day when a lot of dads choose to do anything besides worship with their family. If you choose to stay home on this day, it’s going to be really hard for your kids as teenagers to get why their faith and the local church should be important to them. Mild rant over.

Have a great rest of the week!

Well, it’s Monday and I should let you know about Sunday, but there’s just one problem. We had our baby today! Sally Beth is 5 hours old as I type, so don’t expect much!

• Josh Duncan from The Overflow Church in South Knoxville (launching January 2011) spoke about Unstoppable Faith in our One Prayer series. So pumped that we are going to be able to help out another new church so early in our existence. This is a testimony to awesome people and partners who’ve invested so much in us!
• This week a team from Roopville (yes, Roopville), GA is in Morristown to serve our community as part of a mission trip they’re doing. So grateful for these 20 HS students giving part of their summer to serve our area! Too bad I’m at the hospital and can’t be there (well, not “too bad” but you know what I mean!).

That’s all! Have a great week! I’m going to!

No excuses, just plain forgot to post the recap yesterday! And, since the moment has passed, I’ll keep the recap short.

We kicked off One Prayer with a message called Unstoppable God. An unstoppable God working through obedient people produces supernatural results.

• Tyler Patterson led worship, and it was like old times but in a new place! Songs were Happy Day, Sing Sing Sing, Hosanna, How He Loves, and Unstoppable (Rascall Flatts, incredible job by the band).
• So excited to unveil some One Prayer initiatives we’re working on as a church over the next couple weeks.
• We’ve postponed our Picnic Baptism because someone (me…) can’t read a calendar, and the previous date was Father’s Day. So, July 18 is the big day. If you’ve recently come to faith or never been baptized before and are considering whether baptism is for you, the answer is yes! Contact us at the church (info@arrowheadchurch.com) for more info.

Week 2 in our new place! I think the energy level reflected that we all felt a little more at home. Honestly, I thought that our numbers would be really low coming off a big week straight into Memorial Day weekend, but that didn’t happen at all.

• We wrapped up our Punctuation series with this idea: When God wants to add something to your life, something else has to go away. If you want to add something this summer, something else will have to go. We’ll generally press the delete key on our devotional plan, our relational efforts, our professional life, or our moral boundaries.
• Worship set was incredible. Songs were: Salvation is Here, Everlasting God, Blessed Be Your Name, Glory to God, and Lead Me to the Cross.
• Kids are coming out of the woodwork at our new space! I think a bunch of them were just hanging out here waiting on us…ha. Love seeing kids connecting with God and the local church. Traci Bishop and her team are doing an incredible job.
• So ready for One Prayer next week! Stay tuned to the blog for more info.