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The Chowning’s are moving…

January 7, 2010 By 13 Comments
charlotte

…to Charlotte, NC.

Over the past 18 months, I have been working closely with a very talented group of people to dream, craft, strategize and launch Halogen TV. It’s been a lot of fun, a huge learning curve and a tremendous challenge. During this time, repeated conversations came up about my involvement and I was asked to consider taking the open slot as the Vice President of Marketing.

As of January 1, I have stepped into that position.

There’s a lot that needs to happen before we actually move. In the next week or two we’ll put our house on the market (want to buy it?), I am beginning to transition out of being a full-time consultant, and we’ll start looking for a new home in Charlotte.

Don’t worry, there are Chipotle’s in Charlotte too. (haha)

In all seriousness…did I mention that they have an IKEA?

Okay, really serious now. Leaving Nashville is going to suck on so many fronts, but we are going confident that there is a story that God has for us there that is waiting to be written, and we can’t wait to see what it’s all about.

So, thank you to our friends for strapping into the roller coaster of “do we move to Charlotte, or not?” for the past year. We can’t thank you enough for the counsel, advice, insight and wisdom you’ve shown. You’re welcome to come with us! Thank you to our parents for being so supportive. Jacob & Tara, wanna move with us? Come on, it’ll be fun. To the Halogen crew, this is going to be a fun ride—I can’t wait.

To the friends we’ve yet to meet, the church we’ve yet to find, the paths we’ve yet to cross and the worlds that have yet to collide…we’re coming and we can’t wait to meet you.

To my wife, who had no idea what she was signing up for when she married me, you give me the strength to live this story with enthusiasm, anticipation, boldness and the dare to believe that we really can change the world. I can’t wait to live out this new story with you. And to Savannah and Caleb, I love it that you’ll be with us no matter where we go…well, until you decide that mom and dad are fuddy duds and want to write your own story. Until then…

Filed Under: Featured, Personal Tagged With: , ,

What if you weren’t afraid?

January 4, 2010 By 19 Comments

I started my first Sunday of 2010 at Cross Point church here in Nashville. The title of the teaching was “My Prayer for You” by pastor Pete Wilson.

The title didn’t immediately hit me, so as he started to talk, admittedly, my mind wasn’t fully present until he said, “You may not want me to pray this for you, but I’m going to anyway.”

What? Why would he say it that way?

His message was simple:

  1. Faith
  2. Purpose
  3. Wisdom

But what he said wasn’t.

He spoke about faith, and fear, and limitations, and lack of faith. He said things like…

“Fears establish the limits on your life…”

and

“The reason why you’re paralyzed by fear is not because of fear, it’s because of “little” faith.”

All of these were fine to listen to, but I didn’t really hear them, like I hear a harp, until he started talking about money (of course). Basically the story went like this…

A man commits to giving $600, because it was doable. God asks him to step out in faith and commit to $2000. Man does. Questions his commitment. Man get’s a $2080 raise three days after.

But provision is not the point of the story.

A man commits to give what he knew he could. God asks him to commit to a number that wasn’t possible. Man’s heart was turned and expectant upon God. God surprises him. Man is overwhelmed. Man’s faith increases.

I wondered what $ amount I would have to commit to see my faith exercised? Then I wondered, “if God can do all things, what stops him from sending $100,000 my way, to commit and giveaway?”

My faith.

Honestly, I don’t believe that I have the faith to commit to that kind of faith. That’s just scary faith…like stupid scary faith. It would surely end up in failure? Right? I mean, how in the world could I dare to believe that God could do that?

And there you have it. My own “little faith,” rooted in fear, has already established the limits that I put on God’s ability to use me like that. This, my friends, is messing with me in ways that have only just begun.

For Discussion: Imagine if I/you really did believe that God could, would and will use me, you, us, like that? What then, could be possible? What’s stopping you/us from believing like that?
Filed Under: Misc Tagged With: ,