Jeff Jackson Live

I was recently talking on the phone to one of my good friends John Stamper and he reminded me of a story I told him one time about a personal experience I had growing up.  It’s funny how you will forget and someone else will remind you about yourself.  I told him a story one time about when I was working on a farm in High School.  I worked for an old school farmer who pretty much rigged everything he did.  We were walking a fence line one day repairing the barbed wire.  The old farmer would get me to place my shoulder behind the fence post and he would swing a SLEDGE hammer nailing the wire back to the fence post.  You can imagine that every time he swung I was praying that it would be the last because it would rock my world every time.  He was hitting me so hard that I kept falling down and all I heard him saying was “Buck Up Boy!” Swing after swing, “Buck Up Boy!” Its a funny story to laugh at now but the reality is the majority of people who call themselves Christians, need to “Buck Up Boy!”

Done are the days up pathetic Christianity.  I envision a group of believers not of afraid to speak the name of Jesus.  People who not afraid to stand up for what we believe in.  Dads, man enough to lead their families and do what is right no MATTER the cost.  DONE are the days but the reality is that we all need to buck up and take the bull by the horns.  Who will come with me?  Who will stand up and say enough is enough?  Now is the time, today is the day.

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God is doing big things at Journey Church.  I just wanted to take a quick reflection on what we experienced today at church:

• God is always in control
• We need to run towards the will of God
• Our actions affect others
• Running away is not the answer
• God’s will, will be accomplished with us or without us
• We may have quit on God but God has not quit on us
• We need to reach out to our neighbors. co-workers, family and friends
• We had a room full of Journey Group Leaders
• We have the best Children’s Ministry Leaders in the world
• Lots of outreach to be done in our community
• We are training so we can take this ministry public in the Fall

I encourage everyone to start praying about who you will bring on Easter Sunday.  This is a great way to invite the people you have been building relationships with and we are starting a new series that Sunday called “Jesus Is…”  its going to be awesome and people will hear the Gospel.

Pastor Jeff

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First, I would like to express that I do not consider myself to be a church growth expert, although I would like to become one!! I wanted to share some insights that I have discovered from some of the churches that I follow. I love to follow churches that are experiencing growth that can only be explained as a work of God. Most of these church plants have been in existence for less that five years with the exception of a few churches by they are still thinking like a church plant and not a church (there is a big difference). I started seeing some trends between these churches and here is what I learned.

1. Document Everything – Nothing is worse that to have a great outreach event or baptism and not have the media to document the event.  If you need a great video camera and your on a tight budget I recommend The Flip
2. Celebrate the Wins – This creates great moments for casting vision and reinforcing what your church is all about.  You should celebrate big wins and the small wins even if they seem too small to celebrate.
3. Never Compromise the Truth – There is a generation out there that want authenticity and they appreciate truth event if it is not PC.  God will bless your ministry if you stick to this step.  The truth can hurt but you will reap a harvest that will be worth documenting and celebrating.

So that is what I have learned about church growth.  Here is a short list of some of the churches that I follow.  If you are thinking about planting a church here is some questions you might want to ask CLICK HERE.   If are interested in planting a church in Indiana hit me up HERE.

New Spring Church
Elevation Church
Aviator Church
Coming Soon Covenant Church

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There has been this ongoing debate about the XXX Church who is now based in Las Vegas. This Church founded by Craig Gross, ministers to the women who have been forced into the porn world so they could provide a means of income. It is not unusual to find XXX Church at the major porn conventions passing out Bibles and shirts that say, “Jesus Loves Porn Stars.” The “Church” has many stories of lives that have been changed because of their ministry. I mentioned before that XXX Church made a recent move to Las Vegas and have started another church called Strip Church (before for you get your panties in a bunch, the church is located on the Vegas strip).

There are definitely opposing Christians to this movement. The organization has posted, in the past, hate mail from conservatives and liberals a like. So, you be the judge and tell me what you think. Is this real ministry or is it just a publicity stunt?

If you are stuggling with porn you can see a post I wrote with some resources click here.

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Here is one of the reasons I like WordPress. I just downloaded the latest versin of WP for the blackeberry. This make blogging very quick and easy. I am now able to share my thoughts as they come. This is also great news for Church Planters and Pastors. Now next time you have a great idea don’t loose the napkin, blog about it.

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That is right, I am asking everyone not to go to church but instead to be the church.  How about we raise up a generation that is passion about Kingdom work and not afraid to stand up for Jesus.  It is not enough to just stand on the side lines it is time to get in the game.  So how can we be the church?

1.  Make church and your relationship with God a priority.

2.  Don’t sit back and let the hired guns (your pastors) do all the ministry.  Ministry is meant for the people!

3.  Go for broke! (this is my current life saying…take no prisoners…charge hell with a water pistol…you get it!)

4.  Live your life through the eyes of Jesus.

5.  As Perry Noble says, “Kick Satan in the cookies.”

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1. I dream of being Bear Grylls.
2. I always think about winning the lottery but never play.
3. I’m addicted to the internet, not any one site, just the internet in general.
4. I’m secretly a computer geek.
5. I have the best wife and daughter in the world.
6. I love playing sports.
7. I hate cabbage.
8. I love everything to be in order but hate organization.
9. I tend to over commit myself.
10. I want to write a book.
11. I am going to run for local government.
12. I always act like I don’t like chick flicks, but I love to watch them with my wife.
13. I want a tattoo but will probably never get one.
14. I played basketball in Puerto Rico on and All Star team.
15. I was in a chess club in the 8th grade.
16. I love helping people, but hate social gatherings.
17. Mountain biking is my new sport.
18. For the firsts time in my life I don’t drive a truck. I drive a Honda Civic.
19. Most of the time people think I know what I’m talking about but I’m usually making it up.
20. Someone once told me I walk a thin line between cockiness and confidence. (You be the judge)
21. I want to live in Mexico one day.
22. I would have no problem living in the days of cowboys and Indians.
23. I have a Kentucky drivers license but have lived in Indiana over 2 years…Oops!
24. I’m always thinking about new business ideas.
25. I’ve had many jobs in my life.. I’ve bagged groceries, worked on a farm, worked at Brady Nursery, been a referee, counselor at kid’s day camp, telemarketer, server, host, trash man, framer, handyman, youth pastor, coached high school football, security guard, helped start a non profit, flooring specialist, residential youth worker, foster care supervisor, free lance graphic designer, general manager of apparel and promotional company and i still want to be a…police officer, bounty hunter, chef, city council man, mayor and a church planter.

26. I love Judge Judy

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I love God sized goals!  There is no way the the ARC (Assocation of Related Churches) will complete their hefty goal unless God is the central focus of what they are doing.  I believe that God is very much a huge part of what they are doing to plant 2000 churches by 2020.  Do you have God sized goals?  If you don’t you really should.  Lets take this example of ARC and apply it to our lives.  To read more about ARC you can visit their site here.

If you are interested in planting a church ARC would be a good organization to research to see if they would be a good fit for your ministry.  Also check out 21 questions you should ask yourself before you plant CLICK HERE.

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Can you believe this sign?  I want to hear peoples thoughts on this sign.  This reminded me of an article that I wrote on my blog previously click.  Some of me thinks that this is a joke and that a church would never post this in their parking lot.  But the other side of people and my experience with churches tells me that this is probably not a joke, its real!  What do you think people do when they see this sign?

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What if the Church could be the answer to Jesus’ Prayer?

We pray to Jesus asking Him to answer our prayers – what if we became the answer to His? In John 17:20-24, He prayed that we would be one, and One Prayer is an opportunity to see what can be accomplished when the Church works together. Jesus has a vision for His church and I fear that we are not answering His prayer. Look at what happens when a few hundred churches decide to join together as one. In 2008 here is what happened:

Pastors Enrolled: 609
Evangelistic Contacts: 65,563
Bible Study Participants: 44,618
Baptisms: 7,112
Churches Planted: 667

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this year at One Prayer 2009.  For more information go to http://www.oneprayer.com

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