Eric Taylor

Doing life together @ Riverwalk Stadium

Last night we took our growth group on the road to Riverwalk Stadium to see the Montgomery Biscuits play the Birmingham Barons.  The cool part was we got to watch the game from the Coca Cola Suites and eat all the hot dogs and chicken wings we could. Yep, I overdid it... but nothing beats a hot dog at the ball park.    We had a great time together watching baseball and talking about what God is up to at Journey.  Thanks to Drew Elkins for setting this up for us.

Reading and ReReading

I'm getting ready for this weekend's message and have been reading some great stuff on Risk.  Pulled out one of my old favorites... it's not really that old... but it is definitely a favorite... "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson.  I forgot how great this book is!  I'm taking it home and rereading it again.

We had a great staff meeting today... Got a lot accomplished, especially in creative planning.  We have the whole series planned... we're getting ever so close to the Big Idea planning model that I want... 6-9 weeks out... Right now we're at 4... I'm hoping we'll get there by the fall.
We finished the roll in video and the graphics slide for the new series.  Check out the graphics... I'll post the roll in video later.  Right now, I'm headed to the Montgomery Biscuits game with our Growth Group!

Between Two Worlds

I'm usually glad when we finish a teaching series and look forward to beginning a new one, but this week it's a little different.  We're through with Mad Money except for our ReThink Money Financial Seminar this Saturday (click here if you haven't registered yet).  I'm so excited that Casey Graham will be back with us for this seminar.  It's been so cool to hear how a lot of you are getting fired up about your finances.  There are some radical things happening to help set people free from debt and give them hope.  Casey said it when he was here to kick off the series, "every financial decision is a spiritual decision"... I believe that... We've seen people trust God more with their finances and they've said they feel like their growing spiritually more than they've ever grown.  We're beginning to hear stories of how people are using the money they received from our Project Generosity "reverse offering".  It's so cool... we'll share some of those on Saturday. 
With all that happening, I'm really excited about our new teaching series called "Road Trip" that begins this weekend.  I have to tell you... it's tough to keep the lid on this "top secret" video.  I can't wait to show it.  Whatever it takes for you to get there and get your friends there... do it!  It will definitely be worth it. 
I believe as we head into the summer we're going to see God do amazing things through Journey Church...that includes what happens in worship on Sundays as well as what happens through the week as you impact the lives of people you come in contact with every day!

Sunday/Monday Rewind

We finished our Mad Money series with a BANG!  My prayer is that people will experience freedom and hope in their finances because of the past 3 weeks.  Here are some thoughts from the weekend:

• I'm glad Joey Seales got to come down and lead worship.
• He is amazing on the keyboard and pretty much everything else he does.
• Glad he brought Mandy and Charlie with him... otherwise he would have had to fight some of our folks who love his whole family.
• Zach Benson is a machine... He made yesterday happen.  From music to video, to website stuff that I can't explain,  pulling off band auditions yesterday ... He had a full day... plus, he got to back the trailer!
• I can't believe I made Andrew do the welcome with his voice like it was.  Feel better, dude!
• Worship was very cool.  Even in rehersal some of our set up crew stopped and worshipped on the spot.
• The video we shot last week came off well... had some issues with dropping it into Pro Presenter the night before but their tech support is second to none! 
• I can't believe we gave away over $1000 yesterday... When I announced the reverse offering, I could see people's eyes get bigger.  This was just like Christmas.
• Our offering yesterday... about $1000 more than what it usually is!
• Can't wait for Saturday's ReThink Money Seminar with Casey Graham. 
• There's still room to sign up... we'd like to get about 3-4 more families to sign up.  Do you know anyone you can bring?  We even have scholarships available.
• This week is going to be incredible!  We start "Road Trip--The Road to Becoming a Passionate Christ Follower".  I'm excited about this first message... and the video (it is still top secret until Sunday!)
• Mother's Day this Sunday... Baby Dedication... New Series... Lots to do!

Lowest Gas Prices

I was reading Joe Sangl's post this morning and he provided an incredible cost saving tool... a link to the lowest gas prices in your area.  You type in your zip code and it pulls up the prices for all the gas stations in your area and tells you where to get cheap gas.  Here's the link.   What's the cheapest gas in your area?

Burned up the roads today

Today I logged a bunch of miles on the Xterra.  I went to Kennesaw, GA this morning for a Fusion Seminar at NorthStar Church.  I'm reading the book by Nelson Searcy, but the Seminar led by Marty Martin from Northstar Church in Panama City fleshed it out... We've got staff meeting in the morning and I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time unpacking this.  After the conference was over, I took a detour to a small Georgia town to film something for our upcoming "Road Trip" Series.  I'm not telling where I went or what I did so you'll have to come to Journey on Mother's Day and find out.  It will be well worth it... I promise!

A Video World

This week is shaping up to be a very busy week... We are shooting several videos this week... just shot one for this Sunday at Target for our last week of Mad Money... You DON'T want to miss it...it's going to be awesome.  Tomorrow I'm going to Atlanta for the Fusion Workshop from Nelson Searcy's folks at The Journey -NYC.  Then... as part of our ROAD TRIP series coming up beginning Mother's Day, I'm shooting a video that, well, has to be labeled TOP SECRET.  It's going to be wild and you don't want to miss it either.
Because of the crazy week and traveling, I may not be able to post as much... I might just try the mobile blogging... we'll see how that works.

Money Talks...

Man, I'm loving hearing all the stories of people who are seriously tired of being mad at their money and are ready to do something about it.  God is really stirring in people's lives to set them free from debt and bad habits with money.    I've gotten emails and  phone calls and  we talked about it in our growth group last night.  That's why we're in this series called, "Mad Money".  You don't want to miss the next 2 weeks because there will be some RADICAL stuff happen then and you'll be sorry if you're not there.  Think of a friend or a neighbor you know who would benefit from this series and go today and invite them... give them a call, send them an email, or walk up to them and hand them one of our special invite cards.  I've said before that this series could have the most impact of any series we've done at Journey.  I'm so glad people are getting into it.  Remember to sign up for the ReThink Money Financial Seminar on Saturday, May 10th.  Click here for more info and to register. 

Where is the week going?

Ever have one of those weeks where you look up and it's Wednesday already... that's me today.  I was in Birmingham all day yesterday for a meeting and by the time I got home I was whipped but my teenagers WANTED to hang out with me last night... (if you have teenagers you know how rare that is so I took the opportunity!)  We hung out watching American Idol... I have to agree with my friend, Dave's post... it may have been my least favorite show ever... maybe it's because I'm not cultured enough to appreciate Andrew Lloyd Webber.  But it was cool sitting with bad posture in our oversized chair with my daughter... just hanging out thinking about how we only have about 3 1/2 years left with her before she goes off to college (unless she goes to Auburn 3 miles away).  Regardless, time seems to be flying... whether I'm writing a sermon, meeting with church planters or my staff/leadership teams, or watching my daughter drive my Xterra out of my driveway, or my son slam dunk a basketball over me (it was on a 9' goal)... I'm living James 4:14...

"How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone."

That's why I want to make the most of EVERY opportunity... in my family, in my leadership, with my church, when I meet people I don't even know. 

Now, I've got to make the most of my opportunity here at A.K.'s Coffee and finish writing my message  before my next meeting!

Weekend Rewind

• Church was awesome yesterday!
• We kicked off our series called "Mad Money".  Casey Graham did an amazing job. 
• I was so proud to see someone from my youth ministry teaching for me... He hit it out of the park!
• We had some people laughing, crying and really understanding for the first time that every financial decision is a spiritual decision.
• We had a bunch of people sign up for the ReThink Money Seminar.
• There's still room if you want to sign up or sponsor someone.
• We're about to get radical about our money!
• I hate doing the welcome and greeting...I think I talk WAY too long and ramble a bit.   I think you've seen me do it for the last time.  Andrew, Justin, Zach... get ready... it's your turn.
• We're a little more than a month away from heading to Jamaica.
• We have a Mission Trip Training meeting this Sunday I have to get ready for.
• I'm so glad to get to preach this Sunday.  After 2 weeks off, I'm ready to get back on stage.  There's some stuff we're going to do over the next 2 weeks of this series that will rock your world.  It's going to be exciting!
• Even though I didn't preach, I was still worn out yesterday.  I'm getting old.
• Lee-Scott has their play tonight so after this week our stage will be back to normal. 
• They also had prom Saturday night... but they cleaned the building pretty well.  Dr. Roberts, the headmaster, came by to check on us... I thought that was cool... We have a great partnership with a great school!
• God is doing some great stuff @ Journey... I'm hearing stories of life change every week.
• I love being the pastor of the greatest church in the world.