jakemiller

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.

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 

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 amazing 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 one of the most incredible easter experiences i've ever had. what God did @ waters edge today... i can't even begin to explain it.

happy easter, everybody!!

thursday thoughts

it's been a little while since i posted. i guess i need to get caught up. this could take a while, but here's what's happening in my world...

• waters edge church turned six years old!
• if you've ever wanted to know why we are who we are and why we do what we do... give this a listen. 
• we're baptizing a bunch of people this sunday. i love baptism. evidence of life-change. there's nothing better than seeing people take the next step.
• my ibook is dying a slow death. it's really quite sad. i'm currently accepting donations for my new macbook...
• only 2 weeks until easter. you won't believe what we're doing. trust me. 
• only 9 weeks until we move into our building. 9 weeks! so much to do...
• work is moving at a frenetic pace right now. i've never worked so hard in my life... but i love it!
• i'm trying to plan our family vacation for june. where should we go? 
• my community group put my "slightly used right knee" on ebay. very funny. 
• speaking of my knee... it's getting better. no more swelling. i'm moving around like a man twice my age, but i am driving again... which is nice.
• surgery is scheduled for april 16th. i've been told i can watch the surgery on the screen above me... which i will most definitely do. they're giving me a nerve block from the waist down, so i'll be wide awake.
• i want to be the first person to give live twitter updates during their arthroscopic surgery. since i'll be awake, i figure i should make the most of it. i've asked my doctor if he'll let me bring my iphone in the operating room... so far, he's not going for it. i'll keep asking...
• my house still hasn't sold. keep praying!
• i never thought i would say this, but... it's entirely possible that i eat too much chick-fil-a. 
• carolina advanced to the sweet 16! i think gonzaga will be a really tough matchup friday night. nothing comes easy from here on out. 
• i'm not gonna lie... my brackets are looking good (for now).
• i'm currently at 98.8% in the espn tournament challenge, currently leading the bloggermadness challenge, and i'm currently tied for 35th (out of 947) in the catalyst marchmaniac competition.
• i'm currently out of things to say.  

one down, eleven to go.

my first sunday at waters edge church was january 4th, which means i've been here for a little over a month. in that short time, i've learned a lot. probably the most important thing i've learned, though, is this... i have a lot to learn!

tony shared his take on new employees the other day and it hit the nail on the head for me. take a look at what he had to say...

It takes 12 months in any new job to figure out the role.

I’m talking about leadership roles here. If you are a widget-fabricator, maybe it’s different for you. For those of us that transition into new leadership positions, though, it always takes a full year to find out what we were really hired to do.

In those 12 months, we get to figure out what the unspoken expectations are. We have the opportunity to determine how our uniqueness fits into the unique organization that now provides our paycheck. We have the chance to see how we relate and work beside the people on our team. It takes 12 months. Until then, we aren’t really adding true value. We’re just trying to survive.

This is why finding the right people before you offer the job is so important. This is why finding the right employer before accepting the job is so important. This is why keeping the right people in your organization is so important. Every time the position opens, we lose 12 months.

when i first read that, i thought "man, that stinks. twelve months?". but i have to say i agree with tony's thoughts here 100%... because i'm there right now. i can attest to it first hand. i know i found the right employer. and (hopefully!) they think they found the right employee. but i'm still the new guy. i'm still learning the ropes.

it takes twelve months. well... one month down, eleven to go...

history.

 

today is an historic day for our nation.

there is an excitement around this incoming president unlike any we have ever seen. there are expectations that fall upon him unlike any we have ever seen. which means that today, more than ever, and regardless of how you voted, you have a very important choice to make.

you can choose to be pessimistic about our nation's future. you can choose to complain that "your" candidate isn't up there on that podium. you can choose to harbor and spread negativity. you can choose to poke holes in his policies and point out all of the things you disagree with.

or... you can choose to pray. 

you can pray for our new president, barack obama. pray that God will grant him wisdom. pray that God will give him strength, and the courage to do what is right. pray that God would keep him humble. pray that God would protect he and his family. and you can pray for those same things for the leaders that surround him.

the choice is yours.

getting away from it all

i spent the last few days over in virginia beach with our leadership team for an off-site. it was a chance for our team to get away from the distractions of the ordinary and get focused. three days of dreaming, discussing, debating, and ultimately... decisions. decisions that will be significant in the life of our church over the next several months. 

to say our time away was productive would be an understatement. we came away with some clear direction on a number of things. a couple of things were tabled for future discussion. by the end of our time... i was cooked. my brain was fried. i've seriously been stretched over the past few days. i think we all have. 

i loved every minute of it, though. 

i'm fully aware that i'm blessed to be a part of what God is doing here. i mean... the types of discussions we are having... they aren't happening in every church. God is moving at waters edge church. it's obvious. and we're growing. the "problems" we're working through... these are good problems to be talking about. believe me, i've had to work through the bad kind.

i'll take the problems that come with a growing church all day.

my daily reading

i rarely make new year's resolutions. even more rarely do i keep said resolutions. but this year, i made a resolution and i'm proud to say i've stuck to it... at least for the first 11 days of the year.

what is this resolution, you ask? to read through the entire bible in one year. 

how am i doing this, you ask? (you ask a lot of questions, by the way...) i'm using youversion. more specifically, i'm using youversion's one-year reading plan. 

i love youversion. it's revolutionized the way i read my bible. it's available online and features so many options including multiple translations in numerous languages. there's even a social networking aspect that allows you to create an online journal and share your reading with friends.

my current favorite method of getting my daily reading is through the youversion app on my iphone. if you're like me, sometimes it's hard to stay disciplined with reading daily. having it available on my phone makes it simple and convenient, and it's with me everywhere i go.

if you haven't given youversion a look, check it out. it's not too late to sign up for the one-year reading plan.

are you listening?

read this on pete wilson's blog the other day...

if you want to be a great leader, you've got to be a great learner. if you want to be a great learner, you've got to be an exceptional listener.

this is so true! 

there are a handful of leaders that i make an effort to spend a fair amount of time with. i don't know if i would call them mentors, but that's probably the most accurate description for the relationship i have with them. i look up to them. i seek counsel from them. and most importantly, when they talk... i listen. 

as a young, developing leader, one of my favorite things to do is sit down with leaders whom i respect and just listen to them. sure, i'll talk a little. i'll answer a few questions. but i'll ask a lot more. i'm not there to talk about myself. i'm there to listen. i'm there to learn.

who are you listening to? 

pete went on to share some really great guidelines you can use to find out if you're listening enough. good stuff. you can click here to read the rest of his post.

update... in bullet points

• hard to believe in 19 days we'll be living in virginia... in someone else's house!
• that's still a little strange to me... but really cool. 
• january 4th is my first official sunday on staff @ waters edge.
• people keep coming to look at our house, but no bites so far. keep praying!
• do you know anybody that needs a house in greenville? let me know. 
• had logan's 2nd birthday party yesterday. so much fun. his birthday isn't actually until the 27th, but we sort of have a lot going on around that time... 
• the next three weeks of my life are going to be insanely busy. 
• our good friend heather did a photo shoot with us @ falls park in downtown greenville on saturday. we had a great time. thanks, heather! 
• i love christmas parties. just thought i'd share.
• watched the dark knight again the other night. best superhero movie ever?  
• in case you missed it, my good friend and former co-worker ryan fitzgerald just went on staff at north point. congrats, ryan! 
• speaking of north point... another good friend, david mcdaniel, executive director of campus expansion has started a blog. you need to be reading it. he'll make you smarter.
• speaking of blogs... i wish i blogged more. 
• is anybody going to beat my tar heels this season? will anybody come close?
• speaking of carolina... i'm not usually one to brag, but... the heels went 8-4 this season in football, and well, i called it. here's the proof. 
• i'm headed to the championship game in one fantasy football league, and the semi-finals in the other. nice.
• the killers new cd = awesome. 
• i wish it would snow. since it's supposed to be in the 60's all week, i'm probably out of luck.

headed to the atl...

it's wednesday night and i'm getting geared up for catalyst 08. it's entirely possible that i've scheduled more "let's hook up @ catalyst" meetings than there are hours in the day, but that's part of the experience. i can't wait to get down there and dive in tomorrow. 

i wasn't able to make it down today for the pre-conference labs with the rest of the cool kids, so i had to live vicariously through anne jackson's catalyst backstage. which... by the way... if you're not able to make it down to catalyst this year, this is the next best thing. it's an all-inclusive behind the scenes look @ the catalyst conference, complete with interviews w/ the speakers, webcasts, a chat room, and real-time updates from people blogging and twittering from catalyst 08. make sure you check it out.

i'll be getting on the road well before sunrise tomorrow morning so i can beat the traffic and get to the arena before the first session. i'll try to post some thoughts from day one tomorrow night. if you're on twitter, i'll be posting regular updates throughout the conference. follow me on twitter here.