Upcoming One Life West Training Dates

June 26 -- One Life West will join the One Life East group

July 6 -- Training at Lighthouse @ 6 PM. Food served at 5:30.

July 17 -- Training at Lighthouse @ 4:30 PM. Food served following.

August 3 -- Training at Lighthouse @ 6 PM. Food served at 5:30.

Sunday Set List

This past Sunday's set list:

Friend of God by Phillips, Craig & Dean

Glorious Day by Casting Crowns

God with Us by Mercy Me

Give Me Jesus by Jeremy Camp

A Living Prayer by Alison Krauss

Sunday Set List

The set list from this past Sunday's worship service at Discovery:

Prelude: I Will Survive by Cake
Break Free by Hillsong United
My Soul Longs for You by Misty Edwards
Desert Song by Hillsong United
How He Loves by John Mark McMillan

Why I Didn't Preach Last Weekend

I didn't preach at DIscovery Church last weekend. I was at the theater (and no, I wasn't just skipping to watch a movie) but others led in worship and teaching. I've been asked a few times why and here's the reason:

Reason #1: We have talented teachers who need to be given the opportunity to grow and use their gifts.
At Discovery, we've been blessed with some incredibly talented teachers. Yesterday, one of those talented individuals, Janet Oberholtzer, got the opportunity to share about the purpose of and her passion for ministry to college-students. Each time she has preached, she has done a good job...and she's grown in that gifting. Later this summer, you'll have the opportunity to learn from Matt Breivogel, another young, gifted teacher in our midst. I look forward to teaching more at Discovery (and One Life) in the days ahead. However, some times it is good for me and for the body of Christ for others to have the opportunity to share what God is teaching them.

Reason #2: I was serving in KIDS ministry.
Our KIDS ministry rocks! The team does a great job each week in preparing quality lessons that teach and grow our kids. And our KIDS ministry is growing. Sunday, I got the opportunity to pour myself into the life of the kids for one morning. They got to know that their pastor loves them, cares about them, can be goofy, and wants them to love Jesus. All very important lessons in my book. Another exciting part of leading in our KIDS ministry was the chance to teach my incredible 7 year old. Dads, it is so cool to get to lead and love your kids and set great examples for other kids at church.

How to Think Missionally

The following post has been ripped almost word-for-word from the One Life playbook in preparation for the launch of One Life West. Thankful for the hard work and great teaching of Bret Nicholson.

What would you do if God spoke to you this weekend and told you to move to Yemen by this time next year? What steps would you take? What would you do once you arrived? When this question was asked in a recent training session, the lists were formed quickly.

Prior to leaving, many of us would study the culture. Yemen is really different than Evansville. We would study the language. We would learn how to connect with the Yemenis. We would pray. We would begin to arrange our financial situation to prepare for this new reality. The next 12 months would be filled with excitement and anticipation.

Once we arrived, we would begin to identify the

needs in the area. We would look for quick wins that would give some credibility to the more important messages and work that we would be sharing. We would look for individuals to partner with. We would begin to engage the Yemeni population in their cultural water

ing holes.

No matter where a missionary would go, they would go through a similar process. This process defines what it means to think missionally. Missional thinking approaches the environment with a mindset that God has placed you there to make a difference.

Here's the catch: God might not be calling to Yemen. He might not call you to Afghanistan, China, or Egypt. However, if he has not called you to someplace else, it means He has called you to where you are today. How can you begin to think missionally about how you reach your neighbors, your co-workers, and others that God has put within your sphere of influence.

Side note: David Platt noted this morning that North Yemen has 8 million people and only 20-30 are Christians. Maybe God is calling you to Yemen.

Second Look @ Sunday

Some quick take-aways from yesterday:

• Our set-up team is so dedicated. I wish there was a better way to celebrate them but here you go: Thanks Marty, Chet, Chase, Kirk & Jack! I appreciate all you do.
• Speaking of Chase: He did an awesome job on the lights yesterday.
• The band did a great job of leading us in worship. Love the hard work that they put in each week.
• Highlight of the day: Getting text messages all day long that said, "I'm in." At the end of the message yesterday, I challenged those who wanted to commit to following Jesus for the first time to text me that message. Literally all day I was getting messages. So sweet.
• Thankful for the team that God is bringing together at One Life West (Discovery). Awesome stuff.

Sunday Set List

What did Ascended play this morning at Discovery Church? Here's the Sunday Set List for May 22, 2011.

Prelude: The World I Know by Collective Soul

Worship Set:
Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew
Mighty to Save by Hillsong United
We Will Worship You by Carlos Whittaker
Revelation Song by Kari Jobe

What's Next?

It is an exciting time in my life. For the past years, I have served as the pastor for Discovery Church. When we planted Discovery Church, we desired to be a church for people who did not like church. Further, we wanted to be a church that planted churches. In voting to merge into the One Life Network, we believe that we are going to be able to see the vision that God has given us fulfilled in new and exciting ways.

The big question I’ve been getting is: What’s next?

One step is to connect. As the automotive great Henry Ford said, “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” As we become One Life West, we need to get to know each. Build relationships across the church. We’ll be giving you some specific ways that you can connect with others and creating some opportunities for this to happen.

Another beginning step we will be taking is train. We want to make sure that everybody is on the same page. Doing life together in Christian community is sort of like running a three-legged race; progress only happens when we work together striving for the same goal. We will be having opportunities to sit down together and learn some important lessons. Further, as people get integrated into the areas that they feel called to serve, we will need to learn some processes so that there is consistency and excellence in all that we do.
Finally, I want to invite you to pray. It’s been said, “One should never initiate something that he cannot saturate with prayer.” Our heart from the beginning has been to see God move in a fresh and new way through the Tri-State area and specifically on the Westside. We are going to be encouraging you to pray. Starting next Monday, we will be re-launching the email blasts with specific ways to pray for the Westside. If you are interested in receiving those blasts, let us know so we can add you to the distribution list.

These are exciting times. I cannot wait to see what God has in store as we spend our one life in service to Him.

Discovery Church Votes to Merge into One Life Network

This past Sunday, April 17th, Discovery Church voted in a congregational meeting to merge into the One Life Network. Believing that we really can be better together, Discovery voted nearly unanimously (with 2 abstentions) to partner in the One Life Network.

Sunday Set List

Want to hear more of the music from this morning's service? Here you go.

Beautiful Sound by Newsboys

You are Worthy of My Praise by Passion

It is You by Newsboys

Thief by Third Day

Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew

Second Look @ Sunday

Some quick take-aways for me from yesterday:

• You have to get to AMC Stadium 16 pretty early to beat Marty Smith there. When I got there, he had already worked up enough of a sweat that he needed to take off his jacket (his hat).
• Thankful for Ascended. They worked hard and it clearly paid off.
• By the way guys, if you have a Twitter account, use it.
• Was surprised to see Lindy Weatherly join us. Anxious to hear her notes from the service.
• Big idea: God is always faithful and He is still in the redemption business.
• In what part of your life do you need to experience redemption?
• So sweet to see some of our people serving the residents of Riverwalk Communities. Here's the proof that I even participated.
• Had a great time at lunch hearing one of my high school friends share her heart for missions. It is amazing what God is doing in her life. Abso-freakin-lutely Amazing.
• Sad news came to me on Sunday night: another friend from the youth group I grew up (quite literally) in passed away Sunday morning. I got a chance to spend a few moments with him on Saturday evening. Not enough time in hindsight. He truly was semper fi (always faithful).
• Finally: looking forward to a great Super Bowl with two legendary teams. Now just have to determine the perfect venue to watch it at.
• 
  

Sunday Set List

Here's the set list that Ascended rocked this AM:

Prelude -- Shine by Collective Soul

I Am Free by Newsboys

Always by Generation Unleashed

Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew

We Will Worship You by Carlos Whittaker

How He Loves by John Mark McMillan

Why I'm Excited (part 4)

I have already confessed to you that I am not a scientist. Here is another confession for you: I am not an economist (and I did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night either). I did take a basic macro economics course during my freshman year at the University of Evansville. One of the principles I learned in Dr. Blalock's classroom was economy of scale. The basic concept is that at a certain point it is easier and cheaper to produce a great quantity of a product.

As I think about the proposed merger between Discovery Church into the One Life Network, I am excited by this economic principle again. The One Life Network has been able to assemble a team of individuals that are really talented. To be able to free those individuals to use their gifts to bless individuals at more than one location or site is really exciting to me. To this point in Discovery's life, our media department has consisted of primarily two college student volunteers (thanks Eric and Ben). To think that we could partner these two gifted individuals with other incredible talents like the team at Fat Head Media or Rocket Plant Studios is so exciting. To think that we could partner our talented worship teams with other talented musicians is exciting. To think of being able to offer small groups around the region.

The beauty to me in this is that it reflects what the body of Christ should look like. There is nothing as beautiful as the body of Christ coming together, bringing their gifts, talents and abilities, to offer life, hope and truth to others.

To read the first three parts, click here: part 1, part 2, or part 3.

Why I'm Excited (part 3)

I got the opportunity to spend today in Nashville visiting with the Crosspoint Church team. First, it is an amazing team that God has assembled there. Second, the staff could not have been more generous in their time. Even though our appointment was just a lunch meeting with Pete Wilson, there were several staff members who spent time answering questions and offering us tours of their facilities (thanks to: Evie, Jarrod, Matt, Wendy, & Justin). As we were driving back from a great time of learning, we began to process all these new insights.

And then it hit me...

I am so thankful that I do not have to walk down the road of ministry by myself. I have been surrounded by great minds from the very beginning. One of the things that excites me about partnering with the One Life Network is the opportunity to learn from other like-minded and passion-driven individuals, some of who have been doing ministry for much longer than me.

John Maxwell has said, "Everything rises and falls on leadership." There is so much truth in that statement. To see the passion, the excitement, the insights that God has blessed these men with is encouraging and challenging. Let me share an example:

Mark just returned from spending three weeks overseas in a southeast Asian country where Christianity is far from the religion of choice. He shared with us the story of Elijah, a church planter, who serves a church of roughly 50. He sleeps in a bamboo car-port so that his lifestyle would not be a stumbling block for those outside the church. His church has taken in a half-dozen widows and cares for them. His passion and commitment to the church is inspiring and convicting.

The chance to partner together with these leaders on a regular basis, sharpening each other, is very exciting to me.

Thrown Under the Bus

Lindy Weatherly threw me under the bus on Sunday morning. Following the (rocking) prelude, there was awkward silence. It lasted just a few seconds, unless you knew that something was suppose to fill it. She said, "We're looking for Trey...." beep, beep.... Bus coming through. I quickly corrected the situation by throwing John Miles under the bus. "It's not me. It's video."

This morning as I was thinking through the service again, the Holy Spirit smoked me. Not just a gentle wrist slap; it was more of a full-on slap across the face (could have inspired a song like this). In the quiet of the morning, God clearly said to me, "The issue is not who was right. You do not have to always be right." (I hate it when God says things that my wife has already told me before.) He continued, "The issue is not being right; the issue is your pride. Your pride will not allow you to be wrong." (Now you see where the bright red marks across my face were there.)

As I sat and thought, I immediately thought of some of the verses from the Bible that speaks to the issue of pride:

"Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall." (Prov. 16:18)

"Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." (Prov. 11:2)

"Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor." (Prov 29:23)

So many of the nations that the prophets of the Old Testament speak out against are condemned for their pride. And I am no better. My pride can drive me to make decisions that glorify myself, my thinking, my knowledge or skill set...and it's not about me. I wasn't there when the earth was set on its axis. I was not there when the sun burst forth into light. I was not in the beginning. I was not before the beginning. I am not God.

So I confess and ask for forgiveness to God, to Lindy, to John. It's not about me and my desire to be right or proved correct. I should have not thrown you under the bus in an unintentional attempt to preserve my pride. And now the really hard part: making this a lifestyle change and not just a blog post.

Second Look @ Sunday

Another amazing week at Discovery Church. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Thanks to all the Discovery volunteers who came early to help make sure things went smoothly. Your consistent service is inspiring.
• Thanks to the One Life tech team that came to inspire our production team. Thanks to all the sound, light, and CG volunteers.
• Thanks to Second. Can't wait for you guys to come back. ;-)
• Thanks to Bret Nicholson for challenging us via video. If you missed the video, you can watch it here.
• Bret taught from John 4. Great story.
• "Jesus did not just want her as a convert; He wanted her to be a worshiper."
• So exciting to see new faces and familiar faces back at Discovery.
• Blessed beyond belief by a great family. Unfortunately, Morgan had to miss the big day due to a stomach bug. My mom stepped up big for us and watched her.
• Can't believe the Patriots lost (and the state of Indiana rejoices)!

Sunday Set List

Want to know what songs the band used in worship Sunday? You can find them (along with iTunes links) below.

Hero by Skillet

My Future Decided by Hillsong United

King of All Days by Hillsong United

Revelation Song by Kari Jobe

Came to My Rescue by Hillsong Live

Why I'm Excited (part 2)

Confession: I am not Bill Nye, the Science Guy. In fact, if I were forced to pick one subject area which was my particular weakness, it would be science. I chose to take the SAT instead of the ACT because of the science component. However, I did enjoy one science class: physics. I convinced myself that physics was more mathematics than science.

One of the equations that I remember from physics was the equation for momentum. The equation reads: p=mv. This fancy equation simply means that momentum can be determined by understanding it as the result of mass multiplied by velocity. Simply put, to increase momentum you must either increase mass (size) or velocity (speed). If you either of those components decrease (without an increase in the other area), you'll see decreased momentum.

This basic understanding is one of the reasons that I am excited by the possibility of merging into the One Life Network. I believe the merger will increase the momentum of both movements in the Evansville metropolitan area. The velocity that One Life has been moving with over the last four months has been exciting. The combined mass of the overall network would aid the people of Discovery as we strive to make an impact on the Westside of Evansville. It's exciting to think of the momentum that God might bring when two unique and exciting groups partner together to make Him known throughout the Tri-State area.

Today's prayer: Lord, do what only you can do. Increase the passion and speed with which we pursue you. Prepare the hearts of those who have not yet heard. As we lift your name up, draw men and women to you.

Why I'm Excited (part 1)

Do you remember the day or weeks before a major event in your life? Do you remember the way your stomach felt funny, like you just tangled with some bad sushi but you had not even had any? Or your mind was racing with a million different ideas and you were so excited that you couldn't sleep? Got those moments in your mind. Great. Now you know where I've been over the last several weeks.

I remember where I was when Discovery really began taking shape in my heart and mind. I knew we were called to plant a church on the Westside. I knew that God was going to go before us. I didn't know where we were actually going or more importantly (or least it seemed that way to me) how we were going to get there. I felt like I might puke from the excitement and nervousness. I was excited by one thing: VISION.

I did not know the details of meeting space, worship teams, production quality, or even things like board members or denominational affiliation. But I knew what we were being called to be. We were being called to be a church that reached out to those that were not in the church in a compelling and authentic way. We were not to ignore the culture or be lost in the culture, but wade through the culture to make the case for absolute truth and more importantly for the Way, the Truth and the Life.

As the elders have met and prayed about this recommendation to merge within the One Life Network, I keep being drawn back to the vision: to be a church for those who do not like church; to help people far from God experience Jesus. As we sat in meeting rooms and living rooms, I kept being drawn back to why we exist...and amazed that God was leading us to partner with another group that had same pressing desire.

Today's prayer: Lord, give us eyes to see as you see. Remove our blinders so that we can see (a) all that you are up to and (b) all the ways that you desire to include us in your awesome work. Let us be driven by our desire to see you glorified and made much of.

Second Look @ Sunday

So much to process from this past weekend, but I'll give it a try anyway.

• Had a great time visiting with Kitten's siblings this weekend. I've been blessed with some fantastic in-laws.
• Speaking of blessings: the nephews came too! Love those guys.
• Alyssa did an incredible job as a cheerleader at the Reitz game on Saturday night. So stinking cute I'm going to have to hire a militia in a few years to keep the boys away.
• Our set-up team is pretty much the most amazing thing since Bacon Bandages. By the way, if we had those in my house, I'd get paper cuts all the time.
• We had a worship team emergency when the drummer went down on Saturday night. God blessed us with an amazing last minute fill-in. Thanks Chris Clark!
• Had a great time looking John 4 on Sunday morning. Pretty amazing how Jesus meets us right where we are and takes us where we could not go on our own.
• He truly is all we need.
• Congregational meeting after service went really well. We talked about the elders' recommendation to transition to the One Life Network. Exciting times.
• Coming this week: why I'm excited about the One Life Network. Can't wait to share some of what excites me about this possibility.