I’ve had a few days now to catch my breath, get my voice back, and try to recouperate amidst the Virginia pollen (to no avail), since the Aletheia Network’s (2nd Annual) Reflect Conference ended on Saturday. It’s weird that this time last week, everyone was beginning to make plans to be in Richmond the next day for the beginning of what I feel was a monumental 3 days. Honestly, May 12-14, 2011 will probably go down as the most pivotal moment in the history of this 10 year old Network. It takes a lot for me to say that because quite frankly, God has moved in some big ways before. But when you get 200 people together from 4 of the 5 Aletheia Churches in one place, at the same time, in complete unity, filled with the Holy Spirit, the results are profound.

For 3 days, we came together, worshiped our creator and Savior, elevated His name, emphasized His church, and celebrated what He had done in our lives and in our churches over the past year and the past decade. The task during the main sessions for the speaker’s was to teach through the entire book of Ephesians. What better way to learn about Christ’s church than to look at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians!? I feel like our pastors did an incredible job presenting what it looks like to be churches that are Christ-centered, gospel-centered, missional etc… The bands from Richmnond, Norfolk, Harrisonburg, and Tampa led us in some fantastic worship. The people who organized the event did an incredible job and we are so grateful for them. There were break out sessions (the one on “are you interested in church planting?” drew somewhere around 60 people), special times of worship, and wonderful times for our people from our churches to draw closer to one another. There were countless twitter posts with the tag #Reflect11, lost of pics uploaded on facebook, and a crazy amount of laughs…Heck, there was even an engagement! We had it all at Reflect this year. I’ve never been in an environment where you can go from not knowing someone to becoming their best friend so quickly. It was truly a sight!

Jesus is moving in some big ways in the Aletheia Church Planting Network. We have a lot to look forward to. We have a lot of work to do! As I spoke at the Friday night session, I mentioned how this conference made me reflect (no pun intended) on the last 10 years. I was able to think back to what God had done in such a short time; the people whose lives had been transformed, the baptisms, the discipleship, the global mission trips, the early stages of each church plant, the relationships that had been developed etc… And what the reflecting does is only make me that much more excited about the future. As I write this, I have no idea what the next 10 years will hold. But I can rest assure that there are going to be a lot more Aletheia Churches in American and around the world. In the next 10 years, my hope is that we will plant 25 churches. That is my vision. This can be accomplished. Nobody is more passionate about church planting than Jesus and He (thankfully) is the one who is building this movement.

There is so much to look forward to and being able to reflect on what God has already done only gets me more pumped about what is going to transpire in the coming years.

Buckle up people! It’s going to be a crazy adventure.

I would love to get your feedback if you attended Reflect this past weekend. Thanks.

Out of the the 33 comments, J.R. left comment #29! He said: “It’s not “The Good Book” but it’s definitely a good book inspired and filled with insight from “The Good Book”. I know Allie and I need a copy for our bookshelf.”

Congrats Juan Rueben! You are the proud owner of the first hard copy edition of this sweet book. I heard you are going to Reflect!? You can pick up your copy there and even have Dave Proffitt sign it for you.

It pays to play people! We’re going to have another give away real soon. In the meantime hop on over to www.daveproffitt.com to download the E-Book version which was released today on the world wide web.

It’s been a long time coming, but Dave Proffitt’s new book “In The Trenches: Ten Vital Reminders to Assist Church Planters” (the e version) is finally available right HERE. The official book web site is www.daveproffitt.com where you can read a bio on the author, and download a sample chapter.

Today, the digital release is available to you for only $9.99. If you have a desire for ministry and church planting, this is a book that you will want to add to your collection. Don’t miss out on the special price. Also, remember, hard copies will be available this week at the Reflect Conference in Richmond, Virginia.

Get on it everbody!

The E-Book version of “IN THE TRENCHES: TEN VITAL REMINDERS TO ASSIST CHURCH PLANTERS” will be released on Monday, May 9th right HERE. For now, you can download a free chapter.

There is still a chance for you to win a free hard copy (exclusive hard copies will be available at REFLECT on May 12th-14th). To enter the Free Book Give Away go HERE. It will only take a minute.

And for your reading pleasure today, here are some more excerpts…

“When it comes to the serious apprenticeship of Jesus or assisting
with apprentice development, “cricket sounds” is probably the best way
to describe the level of spiritual enthusiasm.”

“We need to deconstruct the postmodernism within our philosophy of
life in order to become like the historic church and take the message
of God verbally to the ends of the earth.”

“Ask the question: ‘What are our prayers like?’ Could they ever
possibly shake a building, toss away demons or move mountainous
difficulties?”

“How many more silly, shallow, thrown together, ill-researched,
superficial and essentially plain ignorant, awful and often boring and
embarrassing talks are we to continue coming up with before we realize
we are losing a generation?”

Remember, you can dowload an entire chapter for free right HERE at www.daveproffitt.com

E-Book Release Date is Monday, May 9th.

Exclusive hard copies available at REFLECT, Thursday, May 12th.

And remember to check out our free hard copy give away right here. Contest ends Sunday night at 11:59pm. It’s easy to enter, plus you can write some nice things about how the ministry of Dave Proffitt has impacted your life or just write about how this book is going to help your ministry.

We are also giving away a free hard copy of the book – the E-Book will be released on Monday May 9th and the hard copy will be made exclusively available at the Aletheia Network’s annual conference REFLECT on May 12-14 – and you can get your own free hard copy before then by entering our contest. More details on that can be found here: Book Give Away

And just to tickle your taste buds a little so-to-speak, I am going to be pasting some of the (what are many) memorable quotes from the book itself. Remember, you can read the entire first chapter HERE.

Here are a couple of our favorites:

“The challenge is to rock the under-challenged church and see it
radically reflect “His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all”
(Ephesians 1:23).”

…”The same Spiritual leadership that is often either too distracted,
too cowardly, too post-modern, too lazy or too embalmed culturally to
pray over the objective, isolate some biblical strategy, toss in some
personal sacrifice and have confidence in the resources God has
provided.”

“IN THE TRENCHES: TEN VITAL REMINDERS TO ASSIST CHURCH PLANTERS”.

Today through Sunday, you have an opportunity to win a free hard copy of the book.

It’s really simple to get involved. In fact it will only take you a moment to enter.

///

3 CHANCES TO WIN!

( 1. COMMENT TO WIN )
 Simply leave a comment here on the blog with a statement about why you want to win this book

( 2. & 3. EXTRA ENTRIES )
Twitter and/or Facebook about this giveaway. (You can just share the link to this post.)
Come back here & comment that you did so!
*note: if you twitter, please tag it with #inthetrenches
//
Give Away ends on Sunday, May 8th at 11:59pm (est) Please check next Monday's post to see if you are the winner!

With all that being said, you don’t go through 35+ years of doing something and not learn anything about it. In fact, my dad has learned a lot about ministry…specifically, church planting. I can attest to the things that he has learned because I have been able to be a part of his journey in ministry since (pretty much) the beginning. Let me tell you, the man knows his stuff. He has a great biblical understanding of what Christ’s church should look like. And with all of that knowledge, why not put it down on paper? Well, that’s exactly what he did.

So it is with great joy that I have the privilege of making the announcement that my dad has written a book on church planting and it is finished. And it is going to be made available to the public really soon (Monday May 9th to be exact). So GET EXCITED!

The title of the book is “In the Trenches: Ten Vital Reminders to Assist Church Planters”. You will be able to get a first hand look into the mind of a man who has developed a proven biblical model for church planting. Also, you will be able to read about the humor and the horror that often accompanies church planting as my dad recounts dozens of stories from all of his ministry experiences. And, if you are looking for a strategic church planting guide, look no further.

So without further ado, here is the book’s cover:

Go to www.daveproffitt.com to download a free sample chapter of the book, as well as check out some other excerpts, Dave Proffitt’s bio, and testimonials from people who have been personally impacted by the ministry of Pastor Dave. The ebook will be available on May 9th. An exclusive hard copy of the book will also be available from may 12-14 at the Aletheia Network Conference. So if you’re attending REFLECT, you can get one then!

2011 has been a pretty awesome ride as far as ministry goes. There is a ton going on at my church plant as well as the Aletheia Network as a whole. We have seen slow but consistent growth at Aletheia Tampa, and although I have been super discouraged at times about the lack of explosive growth, God is bringing some faithful people to our ministry and the momentum seems to keep building and building. We have seen dozens come to know Christ this year already and have seen some follow that commitment and be baptized. Our Sunday morning services have teetered somewhere between 100 and 150 over the past 3 months. I know that’s a big disparity as far as numbers go, but that is the nature of collegiate church planting. I must say that our church is attracting more young families at an earlier stage than the other plants and for that, I am encouraged. It translates into stability.

We’ve got some big things coming up also. On April 23rd, our church plant here in Tampa will be putting on the largest single community event that any Aletheia Church has ever put on. For that, we are scared but excited about what the possibilities may hold. We are going to be hosting a community Easter carnival in one of the largest housing developments in the New Tampa area in order to attract some of the younger families with children in our area. It’s going to be big time with food vendors, moon bounces, carnival games, give aways (i.e. a 55″ plasma screen television), and of course an Egg hunt with over 2500 candy filled eggs. The potential of 1,000 people showing up for this event is not out of the question. Pray for us! Also, Easter Sunday evening we will be hosting our 2nd annual Easter at the USF MSC Amphitheater. Last year, it was our highest attended service. This year we are praying for God to send 250 people to the service as we celebrate our risen Savior. Right now, we are currently in a 4 week Easter series entitled IMPACT. We are taking the 4 weeks in April to look at the LIFE, DEATH, BURIAL, and RESURRECTION of our King. I’ve got my dad teaching the first two weeks and if you missed last Sunday, you’ll want to watch the sermon here. God did some great things in Week 1. I am praying for Jesus to be elevated and for lives to be transformed in the coming weeks.

And if you haven’t heard, Aletheia is now an official partner with the Acts29 Network. Some call it trendy, I call it strategic. You can read Aletheia Tampa’s profile on the A29 web site here. We are excited to be a part of another Network that is all about Jesus, church planting, evangelism, and Driscoll (ha ha just kidding). God has already used this Network to encourage our church in some incredibly unique ways.

This summer is going to be huge. First of all, the 2nd Annual Aletheia Network Conference on May 12-14 is going to be incredible. If you want some additional info, it’s not too late to register. Info can be found here. You will not want to miss this event that is taking place in Richmond, Virginia.

The Aletheia movement is expanding. Our Gainesville team continues to get ready to be sent out in the early part of 2012. Kevin and Jackie Anderson (along with some of their team members) will be moving to Tampa for 6 months the latter part of this year to further their church planting training. We are excited about having them with us. Also, I sat down with one of our young guys this morning who has been asked by the Sun Coast Baptist Association in St. Petersburg, Florida, to start a church that targets the USF community there as well as the ever-present youthful population (young singles and married’s). We are stoked to get behind this and in the coming months might very well see an Aletheia Church planted in St. Petersburg, Florida. Please pray for this.

And I’m not done yet. Also, this summer, our good friends Cameron and Sarah Sandel, who we have had the privilege of getting to know over the past few months, will be moving to Tampa this July to begin a year long training process at the Dave Proffitt school of church planting The hope is that they will begin to cultivate a team in the coming months and get prepared to lead that team to Jacksonville, Florida in the summer of 2012. Yep, that’s right, Aletheia Jacksonville baby.

Oh, and finally, after two+ long years, my bro-in-law/best buddy and sister will finally be moving to Tampa. We will be reunited and it feels so good (isn’t that a song?).

God is working. I am humbled. All for His glory. I can’t wait to see what takes place over the next few months and years. Buckle up. Be a part of it. It’s going to be an incredible journey.

But for now, here are some helpful links for those of you who happen to make your way here and want to know more about what I am doing right now.

Aletheia Church, Tampa, Fl
Aletheia Network
Acts 29 Network
My Twitter
My Facebook
Aletheia Church, Harrisonburg, Va
Aletheia Church, Richmond, Va
Aletheia Church, Norfolk, Va
Aletheia Church, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico

Stay tuned for some more blogging action in the near future. God bless!