Starting Over

If you’ve ever moved, you know that you need about a year to get into the rhythm of your new season in life. Eight months ago, we dove headfirst into this new season we’re currently living in.

For some, starting over can be a source of stress, pain or regret. Some “starting over’s” are necessary, because the past isn’t acceptable. We have to push forward to a new and better reality.

Yet others are starting over because of a core conviction (this is our category). A disturbing force settles in our soul and won’t let us sit still until we chase down the thing that we know we were created to do.

On June 19, 2007, we started over in Bryant, Arkansas . This is a picture of our moving truck (I think we used every square inch)! We never knew that we would live in Arkansas, but it ended up being a place full of people that we DEARLY love and miss. We would spend a little more than 7 years there and I dream of going back to visit almost on a daily basis.

It was new. And then it wasn’t. It became home. And then we left.

Starting over can be fun but it has its challenges, too. I miss the community in Arkansas. I miss walking in Starbucks and seeing people I knew and sitting down and catching up. I miss our church family in Arkansas, where it always felt like home because the people were just that good.

But I can honestly say that our community here in Columbus is so good. Our network isn’t as big and the stories don’t run as deep (yet), but we have been blessed to have met so many great people and re-connect with even more old friends.

Never once did God leave us on our own. He never left us without a support system or a family away from family. And today, I’m thankful for that.

Discipleship Isn't...

Discipleship isn’t:
– one and done.
– accidental.
– easy.
– clean.
– random.
– effectively carried out in a large group setting.

Discipleship is:
– in it for the long game.
– messy.
– patient.
– on purpose.
– centered around the Bible.
– going to require a strong investment in a few people.

It’s my belief that very few disciples are being made today, because very few Christians are willing to make them.

Trusting God

I’m afraid our culture has gotten all too good at believing that our actions will move God to action. I know this, because that thought has crept in my heart. Sadly, it has caused me to mold my spiritual disciplines in such a way that, under the surface, represents itself in the purpose of my spiritual disciplines.

Somewhere along the line, we stopped pursuing Jesus to get close to Him. I’m afraid most of us want to make Him move.

As if God were a Magic 8-Ball and we could just shake Him again and get the answer we want.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve caught it in myself.

There’s nothing wrong with praying for God to move in big ways in your life. In fact, not doing so might just be a symptom of a lack of faith in you.

However, let us rest in the fact that God’s answer is always best!

When There's No Hope

A few weeks ago, I was working at a local coffee shop, when I looked up and saw a mom and her son at a table next to the window. The boy was playfully gazing out the window, smiling and cracking jokes to himself. He couldn’t have been more than seven years old.

Mom was tired. Bags under her eyes. She wasn’t at Starbucks just to hang out. That caffeine was helping her hang on. Her facial expression told a story. I couldn’t tell you the specifics, but the obvious subplot was clear.

Life has dealt her a tough hand and her son had no clue.

I don’t know about you, but when I was this boy’s age, I didn’t have a clue that there were problems in the world. I only knew that sometimes, you get in trouble for acting up. You don’t get dessert unless you eat your vegetables. And you go to church on Sunday. Other than that, life was a breeze.

I count myself fortunate to have had parents that didn’t allow me to know everything that was going on. Surely, there were financial problems, relational tensions, and health issues. But I didn’t have a clue.

As I watched this boy look back at his mom with a huge smile on his face, I could see that this is one of those situations. The weight of the world is on her shoulders, and he’s light as a feather.

And that’s the way it should be.

But as we grow up, we learn, don’t we? We begin to learn that freedom comes with a price. We experience the hardship that is associated with a broken world. We feel the sting of loss and moments where it seems like there’s no hope.

This is why you thought your parents were weird. You weren’t fully aware of the weight on their shoulders. And you shouldn’t have. But we learn that the real world is full of suffering.

So what do you do when there’s no hope? When you’ve exhausted your resources and you honestly believe there’s nowhere else to turn? Maybe you’ve “tried God.” Many of us have. If you had a bad experience with the church, there’s a good chance that you gave up on God.

Maybe you’re all too familiar with the struggles of life. “How could there be a God?” you’ve asked, pleaded. You shook your fist at the sky.

I have, too. Recently.

And I don’t have all the answers for what you’re going through. But I know this. Our God is strong and loving. And He is not absent; nor is He unaware.

He is near to the broken-hearted. He hears the cries of His people. Call out to Him today!

One-Word Theme For 2015

Cards on the table: I’ve never done this before.

I’ve made a ton of New Years Resolutions. Some stick. Some don’t. And I don’t agree with the crowd that thinks resolutions are stupid because you don’t keep them. If you want to commit to a resolution, then commit to it. Change your habits and make it happen!

So why is 2015 different? Why does it require a one-word theme?

If we don’t know each other, here’s a quick intro. My name is Mark. I’m 31, married to an amazing woman named, Christi, and I have three kids. I’m strongly considering keeping at least one of them.

My family and I have lived in Arkansas for the last 7 years doing student ministry. In September, we packed our lives away in a truck and moved 12 hours away to Columbus, Ohio to plant a church.

And planting a church is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done.

I’ve worked harder than I ever have.
On things I’m not good at.
To start something I’m incredibly passionate about.
That doesn’t currently exist.

It requires legal paperwork, incredible balance, and a steadfast focus on a family who have just left their friends in the rear view mirror. I work in an unfinished basement, in which my kids bust in every 5 minutes while I’m on the phone making fundraising calls. It’s legitimately cute one out of every fifteen times.

It’s a stressful thing to start something from nothing. Hence the need for the theme.

Every once in a while, I come up for air and have a moment to sit and think. A couple times, my thoughts have been less than encouraging.

“This isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.”
“I didn’t know it would be this hard.”
“Am I going to be a failure?”
“Everyone is going to laugh if this doesn’t work.”
“When does it get easier?”

In those moments, I cling to Jesus tightly. I know that HE is with me and that this is HIS mission and HIS people. I know that God will see this through!

So when I had a couple moments to think about what the one-word theme might be, I started thinking about all the fun ones.
BUILD.
START.
MOVE.
CREATE.
GO.

Those are energizing, right? They make you want to get out and take the world by storm! But I knew those weren’t right for me. At least not this year.

Because what I need right now isn’t to man up.

So many times in Scripture, great men of God were merely men who trusted in their great God. There would be trouble. They would pray and ask for God to help. They would experience a miracle of God. And then, before they just rushed past the miracle, they would set up a memorial.

When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lordsaid to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’” 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

Joshua 4:1-7

Did you catch that? He said, “When your children ask you what these stones mean to you.”

When people ask how you made it through the illness.
When people ask how dealt with that crisis.
When people ask how you kept your head up with that loss.

When people ask, point to the memorial and remember what God did.

My theme for this year is REMEMBER.

Remember that God miraculously saved you at 16 years old.
Remember that He walked with you through hard times (even before you were ready to surrender your life.
Remember that He never once left you on your own.
Remember that His promises are true.
Remember that He’s not done with you.
Remember that He is intimately aware of your pain.
Remember that He is walking with you, even today.
Remember that He hears your prayers.
Remember that, before you were walking through your struggle today, He sent His Son to die on a cross 2,000 years ago, so that you might be able to cry out to Him.
Remember that He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving, and He hasn’t given up on you.

This year, I want to be great at setting up memorials. My friend Patrick Martin calls these, “stone-stacker moments.” I don’t want to rush past the work of God. I’ll journal and reflect more, being careful to intently watch the bush burn.

Also, my prayer this year is that my identity won’t get lost in the whirlwind of church-planting. Or whatever mess I’m in. I’m a follower of Jesus, a husband, and a dad first. I refuse to let the demands of this life distract me from the few callings that God has placed on my life that matter the most!

Best Of 2014

Every year, I put together a quick list of my blog posts that are most popular. Last year, I added my favorite tv shows, movies, books and albums as well. I had fun with that (and with your feedback), so I decided to do it again.

To be clear, the top blog posts are the most popular ones written by me this year (not merely my favorite…they got the most views). The top tv shows, movies, books and albums are all totally my opinion. I’ll also add some honorable mentions in the movie category, because I didn’t make it out to see every movie that did well this year (apparently planting a church and having a kid in the same year leave you penniless).

Top Five Blog Posts Of 2014

5. “Church Planting: The Miracles” – This was a post that told the story of all the miraculous ways that God affirmed that we were supposed to plant a church. These stories are still extremely important to me.

4. “Interviewing A Three Year Old” – This was a fun video post, in which I interviewed my son (then 3 years old) Kipton. We talked about big life decisions and God’s will for a student ministry series called, “How Does God Speak To Us?”

3. “Buy A Shirt. Plant A Church.” – This got a lot of attention because we sold t-shirts to help us move to Columbus, Ohio to plant our church. We were so thankful that all of our friends got involved. By the way, we’re about to launch another shirt sale! Be on the lookout in 2015 for that one.

2. “Cox Family Update // June 2014” – This was just a short post to update people right before we set out to move to Ohio. The fact that this was the second most popular post this year proves that we have some pretty awesome friends that are praying for us! Thank you!

1. “We’re Planting A Church!” – This was the most popular post of 2014. It was also most important to me, because we finally announced publicly what God had been doing in our hearts for the last three years! It’s extremely difficult to keep the biggest secret in your life under your hat for that long! We believe this announcement was signaling the future for our family for the rest of our lives. We are praying that God would allow us to pastor this church for the next 40 years! For the rest of my life, I want to be a husband to one wife, a dad to my kids, the pastor to one church, and to serve this city.

Favorite Books

1. Ben Arment – “Church In The Making”
2. Alan Hirsch & Dave Ferguson – “On The Verge”
3. Scot McKnight – “King Jesus Gospel”
4. Dallas Willard – “The Divine Conspiracy”
5. Lance Ford & Brad Brisco – “The Missional Quest”

Favorite Albums

1. Elevation Church – “Wake Up The Wonder”
2. Brooke Fraser – “Brutal Romantic”
3. Alt-j – “This Is All Yours”
4. Coldplay – “Ghost Stories”
5. This Will Destroy You – “Another Language”
6. John Mark McMillan – “Borderland”
7. Tycho – “Awake”
8. Phantogram – “Voices”
9. Andy Mineo – “Neverland”
10. Balmorhea – “Balmorhea”

Favorite Movies

1. Interstellar
2. Mockingjay: Part 1
3. Million Dollar Arm
4. Captain America: Winter Soldier
5. X-men: Days Of Future Past
6. 300: Rise Of An Empire
7. Guardians Of The Galaxy
8. Lego Movie
9. Locke

Honorable Mention: I’m looking forward to seeing Selma, Gone Girl, Fury, and Exodus: Gods & Kings.

Favorite TV Shows

1. The Walking Dead
2. Gotham
3. State Of Affairs
4. Suits
5. Brooklyn Nine Nine

What were some of your favorite tv shows, movies and books from 2014? What did I miss?

If/Then

I love the Bible. I especially love the promises God makes to us in it.

They give me a glimpse of God’s heart for us and help me through tough times. Recently, I was reading through the second chapter of Proverbs and was reminded of what God promises us through His Word. Listen closely as God is communicating a truth, while inviting us to press into Him.

“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding: yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”       Proverbs 2:1-5

Receiving His words, treasuring His commandments…what do these things involve?

Sometimes we try to go after His words, commandments, statutes and wisdom without going after HIM.

We see this in the difference between reading a text message from someone and sitting down and talking face-t0-face over coffee. We see it in the gap between commenting on social media and eating dinner with someone. There are feelings and emotions that aren’t processed until we are in front of them trying to

How can we perceive His words if we don’t chase after HIM!

Don’t miss the beauty of this promise.
You WILL understand the fear of the LORD & find the knowledge of God.
You WILL understand righteousness and justice and equity.
Wisdom WILL come into your heart.
Discretion WILL watch over you.
Understanding WILL guard you.

But don’t do it apart from staring Jesus dead in the face! May we not seek Jesus because of what He can give us, but simply because He is good and He is enough!

His promises are trustworthy because HE is trustworthy.

Successful Big Give Event!

I just wanted to take a moment to brag on my neighborhood for coming through BIG on the Big Give Event we ran last week!

We invited all of our neighbors and 4o of them showed up with donations in hand (not including our family)! We were able to bless Stowe Mission with 191 pounds of food (and then some diapers and toys)! It makes me excited to know that several people will have a meal because of the generosity of our friends! Not to mention, we got a chance to hang out with our neighbors and meet some new friends.

So I’d like to thank everyone who got involved in donating to make this happen!

It’s not much of a secret that our family moved to Columbus to plant a church. And while we didn’t pull out a Bible or a guitar or anything, one of our core convictions is that we will always reach out to help those around us!

We know that Jesus said,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”     – Luke 4:18-19

There were a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds in our home last week and everyone was willing to help those who are less fortunate in our city! I was thrilled with the outcome! If I haven’t made it abundantly clear, we love our neighborhood!

We’ve got some difference-makers in Coppertree Estates!

Because We're Not A "Church" Yet

The big question that everyone has been asking me for the last six months is this: “Do you have a building yet?”

The second most frequent question has been: “So when are you going to be a REAL church?”

For the record, I’m not mad or anything. But I am concerned about our picture of what “church” is. Let’s start with a re-orientation.

What is the church? Maybe a better question is WHO is the church? The church is a group of people who are called out by God to live on mission for His glory!

If the church is a who, then what is that building that we go to on Sunday mornings? I don’t mean to get into a semantics battle, but I think our understanding of God’s mission is at stake! So what is it that happens on Sunday mornings? And are we living out God’s call for our lives throughout the week?

Maybe the scarier question is this: Are we BEING the church throughout the week? If not, what exactly is happening on Sunday mornings?

Is it possible that we can attend a service on Sunday morning, but never really do church?

I think so.

Are we living out the gospel? Are we taking Jesus’ words seriously? Does the church need a building to thrive? Whether you’re a church planter that just moved to a new city, a student who follows Jesus, or a mom who’s trying to figure out how to teach her kids about God, the answer is the same for all of us!

If you are a Christian, are you on mission with God? Not “is your CHURCH” on mission with God. You ARE the church. Are you on mission?

Today is the day to:
– Love that neighbor.
– Pray with your kids.
– Invite that student to sit with you at lunch.
– Take the conversation deeper with your co-worker.
– Be generous to those around you.
– Start the bible study.
– Embrace a local ministry and commit to serve in it this year.

How is God calling you to step up and step out to embrace His mission today? Don’t wait for the next initiative that your church starts up. Because if you’re like me, “it’s not a church yet.”

WE ARE THE CHURCH.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

1 Peter 2:9-10

Cox Family Update [October 2014]

It has been a wild ride ever since we left Arkansas! We lived out of suitcases for a little while as our life was packed up in a truck. We had some great help getting unloaded though! I’m super thankful for the people who came by to help us get settled!

As soon as we got a sense of normal in the house, though, we had to pull out the suitcases again to be part of a church planting assessment in Northern Ohio. The grandparents watched the two older boys while Cohen got to experience the adventure with us.

The assessment was intense. We were tested, grilled, and had a meeting with a psychologist (to my surprise, he didn’t tell me I was a nut job). We spent 4 days in Northern Ohio with a brilliant group of church planters, with whom we hope to re-connect down the road!

Now we’re starting to get a sense of routine and we have had such a fun time getting to know the people in our community! We’ve really enjoyed the neighbors! Everyone has kids and everyone loves to hang out outside in the afternoons/evenings. I don’t know who’s having more fun: Christi and me or the Kipton and Caden!

We’ve also been honored to spend time with several other people from different parts of our lives: former students, high school and college friends who live in the area, and a bunch of very welcoming pastors! We’ve really been able to make some good connections. I didn’t realize we would be this busy this early in, but it has been the good kind of busy.

As we move forward, we’ve got a lot of exciting ideas for this last quarter to BE the church while Access is in it’s incubation stage! I’d love to be able to share updates and stories with you! From here on out, almost all of our updates are going to be happening through our email newsletter system. It’s easy to get signed up. Just fill out the form below and you’ll get our emails as soon as we send them off and I promise not to send more than one email per week! This will be the primary place for us to share stories, prayer requests, updates and opportunities to get involved!

Thanks so much for keeping up with us! Please continue to pray for us as we hit the ground running! We appreciate your support greatly!

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Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike.

Ephesians 6:18-19

To Our Friends In Arkansas

It’s October 10 (10/10).

So I thought it was appropriate to write this post today.

We miss you. For real. We talk about you every day, multiple times. We look at your pictures and remember the times that we had together. And I haven’t experienced a single Wednesday night where it felt normal not to be teaching.

You had such an amazing impact on us.

Those of you who were around in 2007 know what it was like to see a couple of newlyweds show up from far away. And you welcomed us in like we were family. You had us over to eat and swim. You invited us over on holidays when we weren’t able to make it home. You supported our youth ministry and supported us. We will never, ever forget that.

All the way through, we had amazing youth workers that served our students selflessly. I didn’t tell you enough, but I bragged on you to other youth pastors often! I can’t tell you how many of their jaws dropped when they heard that you guys stuck with a small group for six or seven years through middle school and high school! You guys are all stars and our students were greatly impacted because of you! You have left and are leaving a strong legacy! Thank you so much for that!

I’m so thankful to have been able to work with Tom and the rest of the staff at Indian Springs. You guys took a chance on me and were always patient with me as I learned the system and grew up in that church. I’ll never forget following Daren’s footsteps and feeling very inadequate. And he never once told me how to do things or that I needed to change my style; not a single time. He only encouraged me and that stuck with me.

And we were spoiled with the absolute best students in the world! Whether it was serving our community or just hanging out together, you guys were always on-board, respectful and fun. It was always a highlight of my week to spend time with you. Obviously, Beach Camp was the high point because we got to spend so much time together. I’m not saying we didn’t need a nap when it was over, but those were some beautiful moments that have been sealed in our hearts forever. You loved us and our boys. We can never thank you enough for that.

Indian Springs is full of gracious people who want nothing more than to love God and love their neighbor. You are a testimony to your community and to us! As we left to plant Access Church, you blessed us with gifts and financial support. You will never know how much that meant to us! We are so very thankful for you and your generosity! We love you and look forward to the day we can see you again!

Grace and peace, Indian Springs. We love and miss you very much!

Church Planting: Part 4 [The Vision]

Our vision is to guide people to experience life in Jesus Christ!

This vision statement fits us perfectly for a couple reasons:

1. “Access” is the name of our church because it has been one of the greatest burdens on my heart for the people that God is reaching out to (both in the church and outside the church). In our day, it can feel like God is far away or unreachable. We see the atrocities of evil gaining ground around the world and in our own lives. Sometimes, it just seems like God isn’t available…or accessible. That’s why it means so much to me that, when Jesus breathed His last breath, the veil was torn in the temple. That’s not just some minor detail. Jesus, by allowing them to tear His flesh, tore down the walls between God and man! Jesus gave us access to Himself! This is at the heart of the gospel, and it will be at the heart of our message!

2. We sense that discipleship has been overlooked in recent years. To be fair, it’s been overlooked in my own life up until a few years ago. Nevertheless, it is the heart of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20. We are called to make disciples! Our vision statement simply states that we’re all about guiding people to experience life in Jesus Christ. This is the essence of discipleship, especially if we pay attention to the multiplicative element of it all (making disciples who make disciples who make disciples…). If you think deep enough into this equation, you get to a really fun part of our vision. Our vision (and mission) is to make disciples. Eventually, we’d like to see a group of those disciples take ownership of a community on their own. In other words, we want to be a church that plants churches! From the outset, our goal is to plant more than one church in Ohio. But let’s start simply: one should be enough work for now!

These two elements work hand-in-hand. Discipleship and Access. Helping people know Jesus more (which is to help them help others to know Jesus more). At the end of the day, we’re all seeking comfort and significance somewhere. My desire is for my family and I to find that in Jesus, and then to walk with the people that God puts in our path, for the purpose of guiding them to experience life in Jesus Christ!

What does that mean?

It means that we won’t start by launching a church service. We’ll move into the neighborhood and start hanging out with people…wherever they are in life.

Grilling out.
Front yard hang-outs.
Neighborhood get-togethers.
Families doing life together.

They may not be interested in church, but we can walk with them where they are. That’s how we’ll start the church and that’s what we’ll continueto do the church. What I mean by that is this: we’re not going to stop walking with people when “our church gets started.”

That is church to us. Doing life with people.
Wherever they are in life.

So, when we say that we want our people to go out and love their neighbors, that means the senior pastor does it, too. Not just to get people in the doors. This is what it will look like for us to be the church. As we walk with people, some of them will stand out as people who are willing to walk the greater journey with us. My utmost desire is to disciple those people, so that they may, in turn, disciple their friends and family. We will always get on the ground level in peoples’ lives. And if we’re running a million people, we will still invite people to do life with our family.

Don’t get me wrong. We’re not against gatherings or anything. We will gather to study God’s Word, and we’ll have a blast when we do it! But the people who need something like that will need a slower on-ramp to something like that. There’s a process at work here.

If we were sitting in a coffee shop, I might grab a napkin and a sharpie and describe it to you this way…

1. SEEDS: We strike up friendships with those in our path.  This stage is all about beginning slowly by getting to know these new friends. This may make people nervous, but we’re not even trying to share the gospel with them yet. At this stage, we’re planting seeds, loving our neighbors, and getting to know our community.

2. WATER: At this stage in our relationships, we’re inviting people to be a part of something bigger. At the beginning stages, that looks like being part of a periodic Bible study in our home. We’ll dig into some deeper conversations, but only in the context of knowing them and being known. When seeds have been scattered, they will be watered to inspire growth. This is where people will begin to discover Jesus at a deeper level and (hopefully) desire to be a part of a church.

3. HARVEST: Eventually, we’ll walk with certain individuals who have surrendered their life to Jesus. They have been discipled and are ready to begin discipling others. At this point, we’ll walk with them through these same steps. To be extremely clear: this process is only a win if this person reaches out to people in his core of influence to disciple them as well. Our desire for people is to grow in the Lord and that only happens in the context of serving, being discipled and making disciples.

Now, I’m smart enough to know it won’t always be easy. In fact, if you’re proactively spending time with people in the first stage, you know that it gets messy. There’s not really a manual for this, because this process looks different for everyone. I’ve never experienced a discipleship process that looked like another one. In most cases, you have to walk with people through some really tough situations.

I remember, as a teenager, hanging with a guy named “John John” (or at least that’s what we called him). He spent more time smoking weed than I did sleeping. He started coming to our church and opened up about his struggle. He confessed that he wanted to stop, so we all agreed to be there for him. We told him that he could call us whenever he felt the urge to smoke. And he did…a lot! As teenagers do, we grew tired of the constant phone calls and expected him to get it together a lot sooner than is humanly possible. I learned a lot from John John that carries into this very moment.

Some people aren’t on the fast-track to surrendering their life to Jesus. And that’s ok. We will walk the long road with them.
When they struggle, we won’t abandon them.
When they fall, we won’t turn our backs.
When they need us, we’ll be there.

Because when Peter took his eyes off Jesus in the ocean, Jesus was right there to catch him. Our God is merciful and compassionate! And He offers us abundant life in Him! He gave us access!

And that’s what our church is all about!

Church Planting: Part 3 [The Mission]

What would it look like if a group of people decided that the rest of their lives would be spent on one thing: making disciples in a specific city. What if they really didn’t set out to start a church in the traditional sense, though? No mailers. No media blitz. No fancy promotion.

That’s silly. No one would come.

They would have to go to the people, rather than expecting the people to come to them.

I think we might be on to something.

One more question: What does it look like when a church stays laser-focused on God’s mission in that city?
They would enter every sector of society.
They would serve the city.
They would spend a lot of time just being with people.
They would meet tangible needs.
They would be moved by compassion for the people of the city.
They would point people to Jesus with every breath.

Every step of the way, they would invite people into God’s Mission!

The way our vision & mission plays out for us practically is to move into the neighborhood, to start loving and helping people practically, cultivating relationships, and identifying people who might be interested in dropping their nets to follow Jesus.

This is less about starting a church and more about being the church!

That means we won’t start by buying/renting a building.
We don’t need any projectors, lights or soundboards.
We don’t need a marketing budget.
We need a place to live and a lot of stinking food.

So what is our mission?

If life is all about worshiping Jesus, most people are missing the purpose of life! Our mission is laid out in front of us. We received our Great Commission from Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). We are supposed to be making disciples!

It couldn’t be any clearer! But so many of us have drifted from our mission. So many churches get distracted by other [good] opportunities.

What would it look like for a church to remain focused on their mission?What if a church could somehow keep discipleship at the center of our work? My friend and I have designed a process/strategy that will always bring us back to the primary mission; that is, God’s Mission in our neighborhood and in the world!

One last question: What would a church need to do to reach this city? Is there a plan for multiplication? What if we planted a church that plants churches? What if, rather than just growing, it was part of our plan from the beginning to send missionaries back into the city?

Our plan is just that! Our vision is to plant more churches in the city, making disciples and raising up leaders!

As we get started on this journey, our family will need help making this vision a reality! We know that God has called us to go, and we believe that God is raising up Kingdom-minded people who will send us! Would you pray about becoming a partner with us in this effort to plant a church in Columbus, Ohio?

Grand Avenue Baptist Church (Fort Smith, AR) has committed to be our sending church! We are so thankful for their investment in the Kingdom! They will be receiving all of the donations for a while, as we get started. If you’d like to help us get started, you can visit our page on their website at www.grandfamily.net/access. There is a PayPal link there where you can donate. It will go straight into their account and their amazing finance team will be handling all of our finances as we start (did I mention how thankful I am for them?!). Thank you so much for considering investing in this Kingdom work!

Cox Family Update [June 2014]

In March, I announced that my family would be leaving our current ministry role at Indian Springs Baptist Church to plant a brand new church in Columbus, Ohio. Most people have some idea of what it looks like to leave one position for another, but I’ve found that a lot of my friends and family don’t have context for what it looks like to prepare to be church planters. Here’s what we’ve been up to lately.

1. We’ve been really busy with the student ministry. Graduation season is always really busy as our students are graduating high school and college. Also, all of our services in the summer are student-led, which makes it sound super easy on the youth pastor (it’s not). But it’s so worth it! I love that we’re spending our last precious months investing in our students, so that they can be equipped to do the work of the ministry. I like that picture better than me soaking up my last few moments on the stage.

I’ve had a couple people talk to me about when we’re going to “check out.” I just have a fundamental belief that God has us here on purpose and that the people in front of us are the ones we’ll serve. We’re not gone yet, so don’t expect us to check out. Even when we’re living in Columbus, we expect to keep in touch with everyone via social media. We said we were in it for the long haul, and we weren’t kidding.

2. I’m carving out as much time as possible for fund raising.We’ve been blessed with a huge financial partner (can’t wait to tell you that story)! But we still have a lot of work to do on fundraising. My goal is to raise an entire year’s worth of money before we ever move to Columbus. This will include our family’s living expenses and ministry budget. That may sound crazy to you, but we believe that our God is with us and will provide for us!

Thankfully, we won’t need many funds at all for our first year’s ministry budget. This will be another blog post for another day (again, another part of the story I can’t wait to tell), but we just have a desire to spend a lot of time with the people in our neighborhoods, schools, and community gathering places. This means we’ll be spending a lot of time around dinner tables and coffee shops. We won’t need a facility bigger than our house for a little while. Still, this requires the work of connecting with people who have a heart to expand God’s Kingdom through the work of church planting! It’s a lot of work, but I’m loving it! God has been doing a lot recently to show us that He’s got this!

3. We’re having our third child any day now! This is the point where you’re probably shaking your head and questioning our timing.“You’re going to walk away from a steady salary and plant a church a couple months after you have a baby? Are you crazy?!” My friends will readily tell you that crazy is just one of my shining characteristics.

Seriously, though, it is crazy. We know that. To help you understand, this is not our timing. God has done some crazy things over the last 6-12 months to make it extremely clear that this is His plan for us. Yes, we’re nervous. Yes, our parents are freaking out a bit. But you know what? God is faithful and He’s a better parent than I can even try to be. On the practical level, my wife is in the late stages of pregnancy and is ready to have a kid! We’re doing everything we can to get ready to welcome this baby into our home (cleaning off the old bassinet, pulling out the newborn clothes, trying to help our older kids to understand that this baby isn’t a punching bag, etc.).

4. I’m writing again. A couple years ago, I started a writing projectand I dropped it. I grew discouraged with my lack of time to write and just filed all of that content away. Recently, I’ve felt a strong burst of inspiration to pick it back up. In fact, I’ve been writing furiously the last couple weeks or so and think I might be able to wrap it up by the end of the summer! Simply put, this book is about what it takes for the current generation of teenagers to step up and become next generation leaders. I’m convinced that there are a few disciplines that pastors, teachers, coaches, small group leaders, and parents can embrace that will help students realize their potential in the Kingdom. I’ve done some research around this topic and can’t wait to finish it! I’m hoping it will be a great resource for the church!

5. I’m selling t-shirts. Random, right? Well, I joined the team at Ink Custom Tees as an Account Executive. My work travels with me, which means I’ll be selling shirts in Ohio to help make ends meet. I’m thankful for some of you friends out there that have already put an order in for t-shirts (thanks Mandy, Casey and John!) and hope to be able to get churches, schools, businesses and non-profits connected with really great shirts! All proceeds will go to feed hungry children. Mine.

As of right now, we ship out in less than 4 months. We hope you’ll continue praying for us! We have lots of ground to cover, but we believe that the Lord has already covered it! We’re just walking the path that He has laid out for us!

One Last Thing Part 2: "Punishment Or Preparation?"

In this message, I cap off the series, the school year, and my role as lead teacher at the Student Ministry of Indian Springs. In last week’s message, we looked at the life of Elijah (his prediction of a drought and time with the Widow at Zarephath).

In this week’s message, we answer the question, “Why did God choose to use Elijah here?” The key to this question lies in Elijah’s trust in God from the first moment that we meet him. It all stems from where your heart is, for our actions proceed from our heart, mind and soul.

"God Is Enough" [Stand-Alone Sermon]

Scott Workman, our summer intern, gives a message about the sufficiency of Christ, and how we try to fill our need for Him with other things. The following quote inspired the message: 

““There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God made known through Jesus Christ.””
— Blais Pascal

One Last Thing Part 1: "Consider The Source'

It’s the end of another school year. More than that, this series comprises the last two messages that I will give in this student ministry. When given the opportunity to utter last words, you want them to count. This message was laid on my heart as the last thing I wanted to say to the student ministry.

The sermon title, “Consider The Source,” refers to the fact that God is the Author and Perfecter of our faith, as well as the Giver of all good gifts. HE is our source. As we live our life, we tend to put our trust in the gifts and not the Giver. This sermon series will stem from Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 17-19. When God calls us to do something, we need to remember that He will equip us for the task and walk with us through the tough times, even when it doesn’t make sense to us. We walk by faith, not by sight! Here’s Part 1 of “One Last Thing.”