jakemiller

on vacation...

i'm taking an email / blogging / twitter / facebook... pretty much any form of social contact... break for the next 8 days.

kristi, logan and i are on vacation in cape hatteras.  it's our first trip to the outer banks... and so far, we love everything about it.  it's a little change of pace from the south carolina beaches we're accustomed to, but we like change.

i'm looking forward to some much needed down time with my family.  see you when we get back...

the fray

taking a break from my normal sunday evening responsibilities to hang out with these guys tonight in virginia beach. 

jack's mannequin is opening. 

we've got 4th row tickets. 

yeah... 4th row. 

it should be a killer show. 

grand opening

our grand opening on sunday was unbelievable. i'm still trying to wrap my brain around everything that happened over the weekend. it's ridiculous. stories of people who walked in the doors of a church for the very first time. stories of how people ended up there... and stories of the people who invited them. stories of people's lives that were changed. wow.

seriously... i have yet to figure out why God is allowing my family to be a part of this, but i'm so thankful He is. i mean... it's not every day you get to be a part of a movement of God.

in case you're curious, sunday numbers shake down something like this...

:: 75 - number of first time KIDS on sunday.

:: 409 - total number of preschoolers and kids on sunday.

:: 81 - connection cards. this how people tell us they want to take a next step... i.e. groups or strategic service.

:: 400 - a conservative estimate of first-time guests on sunday.

:: 1,923 - total attendance across 4 services. incredible!

and look... i know it's not all about the numbers. i get that. but come on... those numbers are crazy. to give you some perspective... my first sunday up here last november, when i was still in the interview process, waters edge broke 1,000 for the first time ever on a non-holiday. 

7 months later... we almost broke 2,000. 

welcome to the neighborhood.

confession: i make fun of church signs. 

you know... the ones with the hokey messages and goofy sayings that would never attract anyone to come inside. you've seen them. you've made fun of them too, so don't act like you haven't.  

but one church sign caught my attention this week... and i thought it was really cool. the oldest church in york county, grafton christian church, decided to welcome the newest church, waters edge, to the community.

our new building is just around the corner from their church. we are two completely different churches, with completely different methods and strategies, reaching completely different types of people. but at the end of the day... we are on the same team. i think it's cool that grafton christian church embraces that. i wish more churches did.

first sunday

so yesterday, we opened our brand new facility. this wasn't our "official" grand opening... that'll happen this weekend. but we opened our doors yesterday for what we call a "soft" opening... and it was nothing short of incredible. 

yesterday was our chance to make sure everything was ready. across the board, we have a lot of new systems in place. that happens when you go from portable to permanent. it was great to see them in action... not just on paper. 

we have an amazing team of volunteers @ waters edge. easily the best i've ever had the privilege of serving with. yesterday was no exception. they've endured weeks of training in preparation for this move. they've put in a lot of hours and gone way above and beyond to make this happen. they've embraced these changes and these new systems with open arms... and they freakin' knocked it out of the park yesterday.

now... before you go thinking this was just a "test" sunday... think again. we baptized people in every single service yesterday. each one of them with a unique story of life-change. we had a TON of first-time guests. stu's talk was incredible. worship was great... the band was on a completely different level. we shattered the attendance record for a non-holiday. not too shabby for an unadvertised "soft" opening.

i can't wait to see what happens next weekend. we've got a huge celebration planned for saturday night, followed by four services on sunday. if you're anywhere near the peninsula... get your rear-end to waters edge this weekend. and bring somebody with you. they'll thank you.  

where's jake?

here's jake.

yes. i do realize that it has been over a month since i've updated my blog. feel free to keep pointing it out to me every time i see you... i don't mind. it's nice that you notice... it feels good to be missed. i hate that i haven't posted in so long... life has just been to flippin' busy to blog. 

what's been keeping me occupied? three things...

:: our brand new building. that, in and of itself, has kept enough on my plate to feed an army. this sunday, may 31, we open up our brand spanking new building... and it is sweet! it's amazing. but getting this building open has brought its fair share of challenges. we've had some delays. we've called some audibles. we've implemented some new systems. our staff has been stretched a ton during these last few months... and i'm so proud of the effort that's gone into getting this building ready. i can't wait to see what God does in the coming weeks... 

:: sunday's coming. a little phrase that means a lot. in the midst of all the preparations for the new building that have kept so much on our plates... we've still had a sunday to prepare for each and every week. no small task. but again... so proud of our staff and volunteer teams. we finished our portable days strong. in the midst of all that's been going on, sundays haven't suffered. pretty remarkable. 

:: my family. easily the most important of the three. i've been putting in more hours at work, which translates to less hours at home. that means the precious time i get with my family is just that... precious. when i'm not working, my attention and energy is on my family. they have been, and always will be, my number one priority.

i really love my job... and i really, really love my family. when i'm at work, waters edge gets 100% of me. when i'm at home, my family gets 100% of me. i used to carve out little pieces of time here and there to post... but those pieces of time have become fewer and fewer. doesn't mean i'm never going to blog again... just means you shouldn't count on daily posts. i love the fact that a couple hundred of you still drop in here on a daily basis. it's really cool... and i hope you'll keep coming back.

jake :: unfiltered

if you've ever had surgery, you know they give you some pretty heavy drugs beforehand. the most remarkable thing about the drugs they give you is that you think you're totally coherent but you have absolutely ZERO recollection of what you've said when you "wake up". 

until now. 

thanks to the quick thinking of my beautiful wife, i have a record of what i said in my drug induced state. as i lay in my hospital bed, COMPLETELY UNFILTERED... she took notes. i thought i would share a few (not all) of the nuggets of wisdom i dropped on the nurses and doctors (edited, of course... we're trying to keep this PG-13).

:: "dude, i feel like i'm drunk. i haven't felt like this in a long time." // at this point, the nurse apparently looked at kristi and asked how long we had been married. she was worried kristi was getting ready to find out some things about me she didn't know...

:: referring to the oxygen tubes in my nose // "i'm gonna pick some boogers and leave them on this thing for a surprise."

:: still referring to the oxygen tubes // "this d--- thing is making my nose itch."

:: referring to my itching nose // "i can put a lot of stuff in my nostrils." (i have no idea.)

:: "i think this is how we should interview people at waters edge." kristi asked why. "because this stuff is like truth serum." (editor's note... stu, you can't go back now.)

:: apparently i've spent too much time in kid kraze because i busted out a little "rainbow" from hillsong kids. apparently i even tried to do the motions in my bed. i'm sure it was amazing.

and my personal favorite... 

:: to kristi... "i think that nurse just grazed my wee-wee (shut-up. i have a two year-old. that's what we call it). don't worry, it didn't turn me on. it scared me a little. i was like... 'lady... don't be touching my (um... the medical term would be "testicles")."

honestly... i'm just thankful i didn't say worse.

we closed a church.

today i wanted to open up the vault a little bit and share something about myself that, if you haven't been following my blog very long, you may not know about me. 

since moving to virginia, i've gained a few new readers... and most of you know me as the guy who works at waters edge church. what you don't know, is that i used to be the guy who worked at catalyst church. a church i helped start in late 2004... and helped close in 2008. one year ago today in fact... sunday, april 20th, 2008. 

(at this point, i'm sure you're thinking to yourself... "do churches really close?" well, yes they do. for lots of reasons. ours were primarily financial, but i won't go into all of the details here. if you're interested, i have a list of links at the bottom that explain it a little more in depth.)

in many aspects, it's really hard to believe it's been a year. in other aspects, so much has happened in my life since then that it seems like it's been much longer than that. 

the memories of my time at catalyst are good ones. i loved our church. when we planted catalyst, it was a different kind of church (for me, anyway). a church that existed for unchurched people... something greenville didn't have many of, if any, at the time. i saw God do some of the most amazing things i've ever seen in my time there. i also loved the team of leaders that i had the privilege to work with every day. they were not only co-workers, they were friends, and i'm still close with each of them.

my time at catalyst was so valuable. i grew so much during those years. so much of who i am as a leader today is a direct result of my time at catalyst. so much of how i ended up at waters edge is because of my time at catalyst. and, although the months following catalyst were difficult at times, i'm so thankful for that time in my life. i wouldn't trade it for anything.

thanks for opening up the vault with me. hopefully, it gave some of you a little more insight into who i am and where i came from. if you'd like to read some of my thoughts during that time, i've linked to a few of the most significant posts from those days. feel free to click on the links below and read them. of course, you can always dig through the archives to read everything.

announcement of the closing

taking the first steps

our final sunday

my friend josh leading us in "we shine" our final sunday

finishing well

moving on 

knee surgery

well... today is the big day. about 6 weeks ago, i tore the anterior cruciate ligament and the meniscus in my right knee playing basketball. today, i'm having arthroscopic surgery to repair it. 

the doctors tell me that if all goes well, i'll be as good as new in about six months. 

for the first week, i'll pretty much stay in the bed. i'll begin physical therapy after that and get around using crutches for about two weeks. at three weeks post-op, i should be walking on my own. i will continue physical therapy for about five months after that. it's a lengthy process, but it will be worth it. 

if you think about it today, i'd appreciate your prayers. i've never had any type of surgery before, so i'm a little nervous. pray that everything goes smoothly, the doctors are able to fully repair my knee, and that the recovery isn't too painful.

thanks... i'll post updates as soon as possible!

:: UPDATE :: 

i'm home from surgery... recovering well, i guess. i'm drugged up like there's no tomorrow, so don't hold me responsible for anything i type that makes no sense. i think surgery went well. they told me it did. i'm not in any pain yet, but they told me it was coming. i was awake for some of it, but i don't remember a flippin' thing. they wouldn't let me twitter during surgery. i asked. they thought i was weird... and had no idea what twitter was. kristi took notes of some of the asinine things i said when i was sedated. i'm sure she'll find a way to call me out on some of them. apparently my "verbal filter" was disabled for a little while.

thanks for the prayers and well wishes. i'll respond to the texts and emails and messages and stuff as i'm able to.

oh, by the way... can somebody come and scratch my freaking leg? it itches underneath my bandages and i don't have a clue how to get to it. neither does kristi. that's all.

magnificent

we opened up our services on sunday with u2's "magnificent". such an incredible song... it was a great way to kick off easter @ waters edge. 

i thought phil and the band did a really good job with this... and the dudes playing percussion on the trash cans were a great addition. the video doesn't really do it justice, but you'll get the idea.

for the record... this isn't our "official" video. i shot this with our flip mino, so the quality is a little less-than-perfect and you'll have to excuse a few shakes from yours truly. just pretend you're watching a bootlegged movie and you'll be fine.

(if you're in an rss feed, you may need to click through to view the video.)

easter sunday thoughts

over 300 people became Christ-followers at waters edge church today. 

i should just stop right there. i mean, there is an awful lot i could tell you about easter @ waters edge... but nothing else i say in this post is more important than that first sentence. seriously. more than 300 people walked into the ferguson center this morning... broken, hurting, lost... and walked out changed by Jesus. forever. are you kidding me?!?!

today was incredible. i'm not even sure where to begin. our staff and a team of close to 300 volunteers were up well before sunrise, setting up the ferguson center in preparation for the thousands who would eventually join us for one of our two egg drops, and one of our two easter services.  

here's the rundown from the day...

• we don't have an official count yet, but the early estimates are that somewhere between 2,600-2,800 people attended one of our two services... which were phenomenal, by the way.
• phil and the band did an ah-mazing job leading us in worship. 
• we opened the services with "magnificent" from u2's latest cd "no line on the horizon". i love that song... and the band blew the roof off with it. 
• stu hit an absolute homerun with his talk today. it was great... and he destroyed a couple of cars on the stage in the process. yeah... you had to be there.
• we dropped thousands of easter eggs out of a helicopter all over the front lawn of the ferguson center... twice. 
• how many eggs did we drop? 30,000. it. was. crazy.
• as with our service numbers, we don't have an official count yet, but the early estimates are that 4,000 people attended one of our two egg drops. that's just ridiculous... and it was a TON of fun!
• our volunteers are the most committed, most talented, most amazing group of volunteers on the planet.  
• did i mention that over 300 people became Christ-followers today?

today was the most incredible easter experience i've ever had. period. what God did @ waters edge today... i can't even begin to explain it. i'm not sure why in the world God allows me to be a part of what he's doing here, but i couldn't be more thankful.

if you're interested... rob has a few pictures on his blog, and a few thoughts on easter. phil posted some thoughts here as well.

happy easter, everybody!!

champions.

 

it is a beautiful thing to see your team anointed the favorite to win it all at the beginning
of the season... and be crowned national champions at the end of the season. 

GO HEELS!!!

forty minutes

just a quick post to say how amped up i am about the championship game tonight. i've actually used the word "giddy" several times today. i'm not sure if that makes me weird or not. 

it's been a great season for carolina. they've had a solid tournament run... and it would be nice to close it out with a victory over michigan state for the national championship. 

i have absolutely no idea what to expect in this game tonight. my gut tells me the heels win, and i don't say that casually. i think we're the better team, first of all. but more importantly, i just think that this team has been on a mission since last year's final four. everyone came back to avenge that embarrassing loss to kansas and win the title... and i just don't see them losing tonight. 

but it's the championship game... and anything can happen. 

so... forget all the media hype, forget the "home court advantage" for michigan state, forget the fact that carolina beat michigan state earlier this season by 35 (which means absolutely nothing, by the way). it's time to play. 

forty minutes to the title.

GO HEELS!!!

coldplay!

 

look what came in the mail this week... coldplay tickets! 

we're still months away (it's not until august...) but i couldn't be more excited. coldplay is... without a doubt... my absolute favorite band. i've not had the chance to see them live, so needless to say... i can't wait! 

if you could see any band, past or present, in concert... who would you see?

update on will

so i have some great news about my nephew will. 

if you're just tuning in, will was born prematurely on march 12, and has had a pretty tough first few weeks of life in the nicu. in fact, this time last week, things really didn't look very promising at all. one of the most troubling issues was that he wasn't eating, and doctors were doing tests on his brain to rule out some pretty significant complications. 

after several days, the test results came back completely normal... and not only that, will began eating almost immediately! our bold prayer had been that he would drink a full bottle in one feeding. you have to understand... he had not managed even a quarter of a bottle in one feeding at that point.

things really began looking better, and doctors said that if will could consistently feed, they would send him home. since late last week, he's had full bottles at each feeding! simply amazing. 

this morning... will woke up at home with his mommy and daddy. 

thank you so much for your prayers for will, clint and kelly. they have been so encouraged by them. i don't know that will is completely out of the woods yet, but we're rejoicing in the fact that he is home now, and getting better. i know they would appreciate your continued prayers going forward.