The Church at Avenue South

Sunday Blessings

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“O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

I’m still processing a lot of what happened today.

My church met at the Fisher Center today while our sanctuary is being renovated. It was a bit like having church at Carnegie Hall or at The Met. It was a different kind of Sunday, but I believe God still knew where to find us. He still showed up as always.

I’m still so thankful to be a part of an amazing congregation that is growing not only numerically but spiritually as well. I love how so many of our members have such a willingness to serve and to be flexible to do whatever God asks, whenever God asks.

Ultimately, that’s the only fulfillment. Learning to discern the voice of Jesus and to follow where He leads is the only pathway to joy. Any other voice that promises joy only delivers disappointment.

Jesus spoke about how He knows His own sheep and calls them by name. Each one of them. He knows the very number of hairs on our heads and cares for each one of us. He said that we in turn are learning to recognize His voice and only heed His voice above all others. We know that where He leads is better than any other way that promises fame or wealth or power.

Lord, we are Your sheep. We don’t always know where to go. We recognize that without You, we are lost and helpless as any other sheep would be without a shepherd. Teach us more and more to know and love Your voice. Teach us to follow You as You lead and never doubt that they way You lead us is the only way that leads to life everlasting. Grant us to lead others to follow as You lead us in paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Amen.

Spiritual Pivot

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Starting this Sunday, my church will be temporarily meeting in a new location. We’re doing some upgrades and improvements to our sanctuary, so we can’t meet in the building for a few weeks. That means that we’ll be in the Fisher Center at Belmont University for a bit, then over to Sevier Park for an outdoor worship service.

It will be different, and different isn’t necessarily bad. Sometimes, different can be a good thing. I imagine people that have no connection to The Church at Avenue South might be intrigued by Sunday services on the Belmont campus. Some people might be driving by the park one Sunday and see a bunch of people gathered in worship. People who might not step foot in our present location might still hear the gospel and see the tangible love of Jesus on display.

That’s definitely a good thing. I know ideally in a perfect world, all the improvements would have been completed before we moved into the present location. But as my pastor always says, this is a beautiful but broken world we’re living in, so perfect doesn’t exist. Still, God can take what’s less than perfect and work good from it.

I imagine when the people of God first arrived into their new homes in Babylon, it took some adjusting. They had lost everything they knew and loved back home and were completely unfamiliar with their new surroundings in Babylon. But what did God say? He said to plant gardens and get married and have lots of kids. You’re going to be here for a while.

In our case, the exile is only for four weeks, but God is reminding us that the Church is not brick and mortar or a location. It’s the people of God gathered to proclaim the praises of God and live out the purposes of God through the preaching of the Word and worship. We are the living stones that make up God’s dwelling place in this world.

Right now around the world, people are gathering together in homes and in sheds and under a canopy of trees to worship. Some aren’t allowed to have large gatherings. Some don’t have a building to meet in. But they are serving and singing to and loving the same God as the ones meeting in megachurches. It’s the same Holy Spirit power that lives inside of them that lives inside the ones sitting in comfortable chairs in air-conditioned buildings.

It’s like in the Christmas Vacation movie when the kid asks how Santa will know where to find them since they’re staying with the Griswolds. Church isn’t like that. The Holy Spirit knows exactly where to go on Sunday when the people of God are temporarily displaced. God is still showing up and we can still experience that presence if we’re prepared and prayed up.

Thank You, Lord, that wherever Your people are gathered in Your name, even if it’s only two or three, You’re there in the midst of them. Make Your name famous wherever we are, whether it’s at 901 Acklen Avenue or 2020 Belmont Boulevard or 3021 Lealand Lane. Do what only You can do and draw people to Yourself and thank You that we get to be a part of it. Amen.

Christmas Night of Worship

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It’s been a while since I attended a night of worship, but I think tonight qualifies as my first ever Christmas Night of Worship. There’s something powerful about declaring the might and majesty of God out loud with a multitude of other believers, especially in the season where we celebrate the arrival of Emmanuel who forever altered and changed the course of history.

There was a good mix of old and new with songs that were overtly Christmas-themed and songs that weren’t but felt very appropriate in the context of Christmas worship. It was the first but I believe not the last as I hope that this will be the new tradition at The Church at Avenue South going forward.

This is why gathering as believers is so vital. It’s one thing to praise God by yourself, but something almost miraculous happens when we stir each other in worship and community. Hearing all the other voices emboldened me to want to sing louder and more passionately.

I’m so thankful for such an amazing staff and worship ministry at my church. Not only to come up with the idea but to pull it off in the midst of a crazy and hectic December schedule blows my Baptist mind. I feel so blessed to call Ave South my church home.

I hope and pray that you belong to a community that doesn’t shy away from singing Scriptural worship music. I hope that you will be intentional this season about singing as loud as you can, whether you consider yourself a good singer or not. After all, the Bible tells us to make a joyful noise.

Being able to sing on key and in tempo is not a requirement to make a joyful noise. You don’t need a music degree or even any musical knowledge at all. All it takes is a heart full of gratitude and a reckless boldness to open your mouth and let your praises pour forth. The sweet aroma to God isn’t from the perfect pitch or the beautiful melodies but from hearts so captivated by grace that they can’t help but sing.

A Good Word from Dietrich

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“Christians are persons who no longer seek their salvation, their deliverance, their justification in themselves, but in Jesus Christ alone. They know that God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces them guilty, even when they feel nothing of their own guilt, and that God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces them free and righteous even when they feel nothing of their own righteousness…

Because they daily hunger and thirst for righteousness, they long for the redeeming Word again and again. It can only come from the outside. In themselves they are destitute and dead. Help must come from the outside; and it has come and comes daily and anew in the Word of Jesus Christ, bringing us redemption, righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. But God put this Word into the mouth of human beings so that it may be passed on to others. When people are deeply affected by the Word, they tell it to other people. God has willed that we should seek and find God’s living Word in the testimony of other Christians, in the mouths of human beings.

Therefore, Christians need other Christians who speak God’s Word to them. They need them again and again when they become uncertain and disheartened” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

That’s called community. If I read my Bible right, community is not optional for the believer. It’s required. It’s essential. If I really want to do more than tread water spiritually, I need brothers and sisters around me who can encourage and exhort me toward godliness in all areas. If I want to prosper, I need to be in a place where people gather together to sing, pray, hear God’s Word proclaimed, and give.

My pastor always says that the first person you lie to is yourself, so you need other people around you who will remind you of what’s true, whether you feel it’s true or not. Tonight was a good example as we broke bread together for the first time on a Wednesday night at The Church at Avenue South. It was a good Baptist gathering, so there was fried chicken, of course. But also there was plenty of fellowship.

Life can be a bit of a grind sometimes, so it helps to have people who speak life into you and lift you up in prayer. Some days, you will be in a good place, so you can return the favor. The beautiful thing about community is where I am weak, you can be strong for me, and where you are weak, I can be strong. In all our collective weaknesses, we find God’s strength is perfected.

I look forward to the next few weeks of fellowship and Bible study at my church. It will be a break from the norm, but sometimes that can be a really good thing.

11 Years Later

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I figured out a little while ago that it was 11 years ago today that The Church at Avenue South had their first ever Easter service at 2510 Franklin Road, months before the official September launch of the campus. I distinctly remember we had rows of white plastic folding chairs set in front of a screen. There were maybe 100 of us with a handful of kids.

This Sunday, we had an overflow set up in the basement with just as many chairs. Upstairs in the sanctuary, we had three services to accommodate over 900 worshippers with plenty of kids in attendance. Not to mention we celebrated our first ever Easter Sunday in our new facility that probably seemed like a pipe-dream 11 years ago.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the tyranny of the urgent and forget that sometimes we are living in the answered prayers of the past. So many of those things we pleaded with God to have are now the same things we routinely take for granted in our quest to get more from God.

That’s why gratitude is vital to the life of a believer and to a community of faith. It stops entitlement dead in its tracks and keeps us reminded of God’s continual faithfulness because we like those Israelites of old are forgetful and prone to wander.

I love that we have so many new members who never set foot in the 2510 Franklin Road location. Probably a small handful are left who remember that first Easter service in 2014. But God was there. And He still shows up every Sunday at 901 Acklen Avenue.

I can’t wait to see what the next 11 years holds in store. Or even the next 11 months. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be exceedingly abundantly beyond anything we could ever ask or dream or imagine or hope for. That’s just God’s way.

New Beginnings

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A few years ago, I told my friend who was the Groups Minister at The Church at Avenue South at the time that whenever he took his first job as senior pastor at a church and preached his first sermon there, I wanted to be there.

Today, I fulfilled that promise. He was called to be the campus pastor at The Church at Woodbine, so I was there as I said I would be. It was actually an honor to support my friend, plus I got to see what God is up to in the Woodbine area of Nashville.

During the prayer time, I prayed for that church that they’d grow beyond the capacity of their current building. I also prayed that they’d become a church that looks like heaven with every tribe, tongue, nation, ethnicity, language, and race represented.

I know that was a bold prayer, but I know that God is able. I believe God put that prayer in my heart because I know I’m not wise or brave enough on my own to think of a prayer like that. I know greater things are still to come in Woodbine just as they are in the Berry Hill area where Ave South is located.

The point of all this is that is good to support your friends in new ventures. It’s good to keep promises, even if it means driving a little outside of your comfort zone. Also, I believe it’s good to pray big bold prayers. I think God honors those. I’d rather pray big and not see it come to pass than to not pray at all and alway wonder what could have been had I been braver.

I still believe God’s about to do some amazing things in the Greater Nashville area and I’m praying for revival for Middle Tennessee and the nation. I hope you’ll do the same for your area and for the nation as well.

Like a Dream

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“Remember when the Eternal brought back the exiles to Zion?
    It was as if we were dreaming—
Our mouths were filled with laughter;
    our tongues were spilling over into song.
The word went out across the prairies and deserts,
    across the hills, over the oceans wide, from nation to nation:
“The Eternal has done remarkable things for them.”
We shook our heads. All of us were stunned—the Eternal has done remarkable things for us.
    We were beyond happy, beyond joyful” (Psalm 126:1-3, The Voice).

We had our very first worship service today in our newly renovated, fully paid for building. It really was like a dream. I kept expecting to wake up and find myself going to the old campus.

But God knew. Even before The Church at Avenue South was a dream in the minds of those who had a goal of reaching the city of Nashville for Jesus, God saw this day. God planned this day.

Long before creation, God orchestrated that one day there would be a church that met on the hill overlooking the intersection of Elliott and Acklen, a virtual city on a hill.

For a while, it didn’t seem possible. We were told that there was nothing available and even if there was, we couldn’t afford it. Some developers would swoop in and pay in cash way more than we could hope to match.

Then we found the property and ran into red tape. For a while, it seemed improbable. I was beginning to think we’d never get the necessary paperwork to even get started on the renovations and additions.

But God showed up. Any time you see a passage in the Bible that starts with “but God,” then you know something good is about to go down. Something amazing. Something miraculous.

Every time we meet, we are standing in the faithfulness of God. We are standing on the promises of God — literally as many of us wrote Scripture on the floors and walls before the carpet and pain went in.

Hudson Taylor said it best: “There are three stages to every great work of God; first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”

I’m reminded of something I heard at another church: what seems impossible to us isn’t even remotely difficult for God.

I can look back and see the hand of God all over this new property, starting on day one. I can’t wait to see what God will do in the weeks and months and years to come at 901 Acklen Ave.

The Last Sunday

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There’s something a little sad about last things. Even if you know something better is coming, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be sad about the ending.

I got a little emotional singing the Doxology for the last time at The Church at Avenue South’s last service at 2510 8th Ave S. I know the new campus on 901 Acklen Ave will be so much better in so many ways, but it’s hard to deny 10 years of history.

As my pastor reminded us all, when we set out to plant a church in the Melrose/Berry Hill area of Nashville back in 2013, many “experts” said we’d never be able to find suitable property. Even if we did, we’d never be able as a church to compete with other bidders or afford space to accommodate our needs.

But God. That’s how all the best stories start. God showed up. A property opened up that was exactly what we needed at the time. The owner was the son of a pastor. His name was Gabriel. Does it get any more God-ordained than that?

Fast forward 8 or so years later and we’re looking for a permanent home. Again, those in the know said we’d never find it in the area we felt called to serve. But God stepped in again. A church half a mile away had relocated to Hermitage and wanted to sell the property to another church to keep the gospel presence intact in the neighborhood. They left money on the table to sell to us versus selling to a developer.

God’s fingerprints are all over the move, yet it’s still a goodbye. We’re saying goodbye to a building where so many God-moments have taken place. We’ve seen God show up time and time again. So many of us (including me) are different people than we were when we first walked into 2510 8th Ave S. We are more like Jesus.

There are not many left from those early days in 2014, but everyone who has been in the building for 10 years, 10 months, 10 days, or 1 day has a story to tell about how God met them in that place.

May there be many more stories to tell in the years to come at 901 Acklen Ave.

A Tale of Two Grandmothers

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At The Church at Avenue South this morning, the guest pastor, Hunter Melton, talked about how four women played an integral part in the spreading of the resurrection news on that first Easter Sunday.

It may not seem like a big deal now, but in a 1st century world were women were seen as second class citizens and had little to no rights, this was revolutionary for the gospel writers to include them.

I’m certain that most of you can point back to at least one woman who helped to shape who you are today. I know that I can point to at least (but not limited to) two women– both my grandmothers, Iris and Ruby.

Iris was a lady who loved her Bible and loved her hymns. She was almost always talking about her love for Jesus or singing one of the old hymns that you don’t hear much of these days. She definitely had a huge impact on my faith.

Ruby didn’t vocalize her faith as much but she sure did live it out. She was always ready to help out and lend a hand. She made incredible sacrifices for her friends and family, and we are all better for it.

I miss both of them. If you have one or both of your grandmothers, take every opportunity to let them know how much you love them and how much they mean to you. Don’t just call– go and see them and spend time with them and listen to their stories (even if they get repeated a few times).

If you are a mother or grandmother, never take for granted the incredible influence you have on the next generations. If you are faithful to be present in the lives of your children and grandchildren, one day they will rise up and call you blessed.

1 Corinthians 13 Love

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If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump,’ and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always ‘me first,’
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love” (1 Corinthians 13, The Message).

This isn’t warm and fuzzy, Nicholas Sparks romantic love. This is agape unconditional love that’s impossible by strictly human standards.

It’s the love that Christ loved us with when He laid down His life for us when we were yet sinners.

It’s the “not I, but Christ in me” love that fills us up to overflowing and spills out to those around us.

It’s still the only love that can change the world.

I want that kind of love. I want to be that kind of love.