December update - Stay Focused!

Hey, I know we are about halfway through December but I still wanted to let you guys know what is going on here in Macon. 

We started our church planting journey in September and have not looked back since then. We have been meeting with a small group of people weekly. Though we have small and simple meetings, we focus on the one thing that matters most; Jesus and how to make him known! I'm proud to say that we have the opportunity to work with the most humble and most giving people. We are very eager to see what the future holds. 

For the last couple of months I have been commuting between our home town and Macon for work but come January my job will be transferring me to Macon so that I can work in the same city I'm called to reach! I'll admit that this dynamic has made it hard because I was not able to engage my city the way I feel I need to. But we made this move not knowing how God would get me a job in Macon. We came to Macon with only a word from the Lord and knowing He is faithful. So I'm glad to tell you all that He is faithful and His grace is sufficient for every situation!

We have had the privilege of meeting some great people in Macon. We have met some amazing pastors who lead amazing churches. We believe we are going to have the opportunity to work alongside great ministries that are doing big things for the Jesus here in Macon, Ga. We often wonder,"God, why do you need us here in Macon if you have great people like this?". Then I remind myself of the 60,000 to 90,000 people who are not involved in a local church here in Bibb County. More than likely that means they don't know Jesus! Don't be fooled friends, America is a major mission ground that needs to be worked. 

We are finally settling in to our new home and our new surroundings. But there is a dangerous temptation to slide into when "new" surrounds you. That is to forget why you are there in the first place. Daily I wake up to remind myself why I am waking up in Macon, Georgia. That is to make Jesus known! I encourage myself with this passage from Philippians;

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14 ESV)

Church even though we have been called into God's family, have been called to enjoy His blessings, we have also been called into His mission. We have been called as ambassadors for Christ to make His appeal known to mankind to be reconciled to God. 

If you are attending a local church and have not found a way to serve and be on mission with your local church than you are missing out on a great adventure. I challenge you to make time to help your church succeed in the city it has been placed. 

If you are not involved in a local church and you live in the Middle Georgia area we would love to talk to you!

And if you live in the Macon area we NEED TO TALK TO YOU!

Contact us at pharlan@vc2online.com.

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Meet Mike and Jamie Aldridge

I want to introduce you to Mike and Jamie Aldridge. These are two dynamic people who have just moved from California to plant a church in Macon, Georgia.  These two people are truly disciples of Jesus and because of that have become friends of ours. 

I can say that after spending time with them, their love for Jesus is contagious and leaves you wanting to know and worship the Lord.

For those of you who are apart of VC2 (Victory Central Church), our heart and vision has always been to plant life giving churches in Central Georgia. We would be foolish though to think that as a church we can take Central Georgia ourselves, which is why we fully believe that God is sending church planters and ministers to Central Georgia to accomplish the will of God in our region. 

I'm asking if you would join me in praying for this couple as they venture out to be obedient to the Lord and seek to establish His kingdom in Macon.

If you have ever thought of joining or supporting a church plant in the Macon area you can connect with Pastor Mike Aldridge on Facebook.

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November Update - Leaning on Promise!

We are settling into month two of our time in Macon. This last month we as a family have encountered many trying situations both emotionally, financially and socially. In the midst of such circumstances though one thing has become apparent. 

We have an enemy, but there is a Savior. 

www.21st-century-christianity.com

The worst thing you can do is go into a battle not prepared or worst not knowing there is a battle. Our battle so far as been an attack on the mind to undermine the plans and promises of God. The enemy likes to use the age old trick he used in the beginning "Did God really say?". 

I look at the vastness of this place the Lord has called us to and feel so ineffective, inadequate, so unprepared, but I hear the Holy Spirit urging me to lean upon promise and not strength. If I lean upon my own strength, that limits the realm of my influence, but when I lean upon promise my possibilities are unlimited. Jesus promised that He would build his church and that He would give us power through the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses.

Ephesians 3:20 "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us."

Jesus has plans for Macon and Middle Georgia that are far bigger than I can imagine or accomplish. Which is why my most powerful tools now are not strategies and tactics but rather scripture, prayer and the Holy Spirit. As I write this I am reminded of Paul's words to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18 "This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare..".

Words of advice I would give any aspiring missionary/church planter, either domestic or abroad, do not naively step out being unaware of the tactics of your enemy. You have one and he wages war against your soul. But meet him on the offensive because he is a defeated foe! 

As a church we believe that the battle is always won in prayer. Ephesians tells us that we battle not against flesh and blood but spirits in the heavenly places. So everyday do battle in the place of prayer by declaring what Jesus has promised us.

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October Update

Well we have done it. We have moved to Macon. With the help of great team members we have been able to finish bringing all of our things from Tennille to Macon. So we thank everyone who made this move possible!

We are still adjusting to our new life. My wife, Sophia, was horrified at what our little apartment looked like when we began moving in because we went from 1500 square feet to 700 square feet. I promised my wife that we would make sense of it and that in time it would all come together. As i have been unpacking though i have realized that not everything is working the way i want it to. Unpacking everything right now is just not possible because we don't have the space. We are already tripping over each other. So several things will be put back in boxes until we get a bigger place.

We sit in Macon, Georgia with a dream in our hearts. Not just for Macon but for all of Middle Georgia. Our dream is to see people come to know Jesus and be changed by his grace. I meet with our team every week full of vision for the future, but realizing that it is not time for most of it. If i were to unpack everything that was in my heart it would make things confusing and hard to navigate. Just like my little apartment we are only unpacking things when we find the right spot for it. So in time we will do the same for the things the Lord has put in our hearts. So I sit with many things still packed away in my spirit waiting for their appropriate time. 

I look at what we are doing and i don't know what it is going to look like. I don't know how God is going to do it. But what I do know is that Jesus is faithful and he said he would build his Church. I just resolve myself to be a faithful servant over his house. 

If you are in the Macon area or looking to move to the Macon area and would like to know more about how you can get involved in seeing Jesus build his church you can email us at pharlan@vc2online.com or visit us online at macon.vc2online.com.  As we always say at VC2 (Victory Central Church) "Together we are stronger".

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All Moved Out

Hey guys. We just wanted to let everyone know what is going on. 

In case you didn't know

My wife and I moved out of our house in Tennille, Georgia to pursue a new life in Macon, Georgia to take on the task of planting a church. We will be doing this along side our local church VC2. This work will also bear the name of VC2 and embody the same vision and values as our main church because we believe that God has a plan for Central Georgia and where better than the Heart of Georgia. 

Inbetween

We have been staying at Sophia's parent's house this month as we transition our life to Macon. We plan on living in Macon hopefully in the next week or so. I'll continue working at my current job in Sandersville until the Lord opens a door to transition the rest of my life there as well. The Lord has been extremely faithful so far and I don't expect him to fail me anytime soon!

The 60,000

We have also began meeting with a great group of people who's heart is also to see Jesus do something great in Central Georgia. We are believing to work with this group of people to see the gospel go forth to reach the 60,000 people who do not attend a church on Sunday morning in Bibb County.

I believe this statistic is actually worse but we use it to remind ourselves that we are not after those who are faithfully involved in a local church but that we are after those who do not know Jesus and those who love Jesus but are not presently in a local church.

We are for the local church and believe that it is the only institution that Jesus said he would build to get HIS mission accomplished. 

We need Your....

Prayer.....We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we launch out to do what the Lord has put in our hearts. We need boldness to do all the things He has put before us. We also need the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives because i can't preach good enough to get people saved. 

Encouragement.....We thank everyone who has been a help in this whole process. We thank everyone for their kind words and prayers of encouragement as we have stepped out into this unknown territory.

And as always if you would like to know more or want to know how you can get involved you can email us at pharlan@vc2online.com or visit us online at macon.vc2online.com.

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VC2 - Macon

The other night was pivotal for us as a family because we announced to our church family, VC2, that we are moving to Macon, Georgia to plant a church. After spending almost ten years with my home church and almost three years there with my wife, we have fully bought into the vision and values of our VC2 family and want to endeavor to extend the reaches of our church to Macon. So we will be planting VC2 - Macon.

I know that many people have questions about the "Who, What, Where and When" of everything and we want to assure everyone that those answers will roll out in time. For now we are asking for people's blessings and prayers. We announced this to our church last night and know that word will spread. So there are a couple of things we want to make sure stays clear.

This is the result of CHURCH VISION not CHURCH DIVISION: At VC2 We are a REGIONAL church of diversity preaching the life giving message of Jesus Christ with Central Georgia and the World. We totally expect people to leave and go do Gospel Work!

This is a VC2 Church/Campus: The vision of VC2 has always been to plant churches across Central Georgia and this we will do as long as the Lord allows.

Statistics show that almost 60,000 ppl do not attend a Church in Bibb County: We want people to stay in their churches, we just want to reach the 60,000 that don't know Jesus.

When do services start? : Alot of ground work has to be done before services start. Which is why it is imperative we get on the ground as soon as we can. What is more important is that we begin to make disciples.

We are packing up this weekend and moving to Dublin to stay with family through September and are planning to move to Macon in October. We will continue to have periodic updates from this blog and our facebook pages. If you have any questions or are curious how you can be involved you can email us at pharlan@vc2online.com or visit us online at macon.vc2online.com. 

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Torrent 2014 - Reaching Maturity

Message I delivered at the 2014 Torrent Conference at VC2.

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St. Patrick's Day

So I never really knew what St. Patrick ’s Day was really about.  It was never really something I thought about until today. Sitting at my desk I decided to feed my curiosity and see what this holiday was really about. Watch this short video and find out who St. Patrick was.

My challenge next year is to redeem this holiday for the Gospel of Jesus of Christ. Lets make it next year that when people say "St Patrick's Day" their first thought is not about green beer, parties, leperchauns, pots of golds or anything of the like, but rather they would think about the grace of God. I'm marking my calendar next year March 17 2015. Will you join me?

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Maintaining Unity

I’ve had the privilege of being in different churches over the years for several different reasons. I’ve been to big churches, small churches, house churches, new churches, old churches, Baptist, Methodist, Pentacostal, Non denominational, the list could go on.

The last message I preached recently was from Ephesians 4. To sum up the entire passage Paul tells the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of their calling, that there is One Lord, One Faith, and One Spirit. He exhorts them to strive for the unity of the Spirit. Paul is telling them to walk in manner that shows that they are one body even though they are a diverse group of people ethnically. The same can be said about us today and our spiritual backgrounds as believers.

Under the great umbrella of Christian faith there are many different traditions. All will admit to hold to the greater tenants of the faith, that there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, who atoned for sin and that he redeems us by grace through faith. What makes us differ are subjects such as spiritual gifts, manifestations of the spirit, end times theology, proper worship attire, church leadership, all this is stuff that won’t keep us out of heaven, but does affect how the church functions, but should never affect how it worships.

What the problem seems to be sometimes is we get more concerned for what makes us different than what makes us the same. We at times are more concerned if this believer holds to the same view of the gifts of the spirit that we do or what version of the bible they read. Once we find that these other believers hold to different traditions than we do, we make sure we both understand that there is a boundary between us. We may not always say it or verbalize it but we sure say it in our heart.

Very seldom do I see people, even myself, stopping and being in awe of the one thing we have in common, the blood of Christ. Isn’t it beautiful to see that God saves such a diverse group of people to be the Body of Christ? Even after Christ saves us, we all come to hold our own opinions and views yes, but by the power of the Holy Spirit we are being made into one body, knit together in love. What if we all threw ourselves head first into that, when Baptist and Pentecostals could come together in one place and raise their hands to heaven and be in awe of the one thing that truly brings them together, Jesus Christ.

What if he was really the only thing that mattered? See striving to keep the unity of the spirit is not that we all believe the same thing, but that we all believe what is important, that Christ died for sin, saves men and women, and calls them to turn from sin by His Spirit. Striving to keep the unity of the spirit is that when I see there is some difference between us that the bible does not say for us to break fellowship over, I should do everything in my power to see that it does not divide us.

My prayer is that Jesus would be greatest theological truth we strive for. The deep doctrinal truths we find in the scriptures were not meant to divide us or to hurt and cut down our brothers and sisters but was meant to lead us into deeper worship. Because friends it is only through Christ that we can understand truth, He is the beginning of all truth. We only understand forgiveness because of His forgiveness for us. We only understand love because of His love for us. The list can go on but if we only use truth to cut down then have we really learned Christ. 

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Looking into 2014

So here are a couple of thoughts I've had that have followed me into 2014 and what I feel will mark most of my thoughts and discussions this year. I have more thoughts but these are the first ones on my mind and I wanted to go ahead and put them out there. 

   “Discernment” ministries.

I’ll be honest and say that there are plenty of ministries and preachers that I don’t agree with. I use to like finding different ministries that said this person was wrong and was a “false” prophet. But it doesn't take much these days to be a “wolf” apparently. Most of what I've read lately is disagreement over secondary issues. I've heard my Pastor say it doesn't matter if you are post-tribulation or pre-tribulation what matters if we know the Grace of God and are we making that grace known. Even though I believe we must contend for the faith there are people who are out there making shots at many well-meaning ministers who love Jesus and desire for people to come to the truth. I just wonder if those people are actually out doing the work of the Lord (making disciples) or do they just invest their time in shooting people down?

   The Spirit doesn't have to be weird to be Powerful.

I’m reading a book right now about discipleship. I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy the book, so I just flipped through it looking to see how I felt about it. My eye happened to catch a portion about the Holy Spirit and here is the quote that made me smile, “I’m discovering that most of the time the power of the Spirit is subtle, not showy.” (Gospel Centered Discipleship, Jonathan Dodson).  At times I seem conflicted because I consider myself a charismatic Christian, but many times feel very disheartened by what happens among many charismatic groups. I always leave saying “Why is that not the Holy Spirit I know?” The scriptures tell us that that Holy Spirit will testify about Christ and will always point to Christ. Instead a man or manifestation is made the focus, they won’t admit it but it’s true. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about then you’re probably better off that way.

   The Gospel

I've discovered that so many people have had bad experiences with the Church because they really have never heard the Gospel. I mean they've heard of Jesus but what they heard was if you can do all the right things then God will take you to heaven. That is not true, while God’s heart is for us to live holy and righteous lives; He does it in us by His power via His Spirit. Many people are stuck in this idea that they need to conform themselves to God’s standards where what is closer to the truth is that God wants to TRANSFORM us into the image of Jesus. One emphasizes your ability, the latter emphasizes God’s ability AND responsibility. I've come to realize this year that the Gospel needs to be preached to those not just outside but INSIDE the Church. That those sitting in your pews and in your small groups need the gospel preached to them.  

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