And then it came to me. I realized that I spent about 8 hours on the phone this week alone talking shop with fellow church planters, pastors, or soon to be church planters. I get quite a few calls or e-mails each week to get advice or to just talk strategy. It is very hard to stay connected with everyone due to the fact I am starting a church from scratch myself again and am up to my ears with everything that comes with that…

So, I think what I’m going to do is begin to use this technological medium to begin to transfer information, insight, principles, and strategic ideas via my blog to the outside world so that more of a mass audience can learn from my/our experiences. Not sure exactly what it’s going to look like but I’m thinking every few days I’m going to throw something up, whether it’s a theological, practical, or relevant church planting concept. I am probably going to get some of the other Aletheia pastors to guest blog every now and then, especially the godfather himself, Pastor Dave Proffitt.

Let me know what you guys think. It’s going to be an online coaching church planting know-how blog. How does that sound? We’ll see where it goes…

This will be me the next two Saturdays …

So I decided to raise support last year, realizing that to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish with this new plant, it would require about double the amount of time that a normal job would require. With that in mind, I hit up all of the people that I could think of and asked them for assistance. And people came through in a big way…I’m talking huge! We seriously have the most incredible support team and I want all of the world to know it. We have some very incredibly faithful friends and family members. What a blessing it has been over the last 11 months to not live month to month. God has validated our decision to step out in faith by coming through for us in a big way.

But now, a year has gone by, and we are right back to square one (with another family member in the mix to boot). We have some promised continued income from some of our previous supporters, but there is still more that is required for us to live and to minister in this great city. God has shown us that He is going to take care of us. But we still need help. We need some of you who faithfully read our blogs to pray about getting behind the Proffitt family as we continue to do God’s work a part from me having to get a secular job. Graham made a really sweet support page for our family that details how somebody can support us financially. You can check the page out here: http://www.aletheiatampa.com/proffitts/Support_The_Proffitts.html

Our request is that you would pray about helping us out this next year. Graham made it really easy for anyone to support us either through a one time gift, or monthly. Please check out the page and please pray about helping us out. Any little bit will go a long ways.

Thanks everyone who reads my blog and thanks to everyone who has shown so much love, care, and support to our family over the past days, weeks, months, and years.

Ashlee has once again become my hero. She was a trooper the last couple of days. Nothing from a physical nature ever phases her. I’ve never seen her is so much pain this last go around, but after the five minutes of pushing (yeah, she pushed out a 9 pounder naturally in only 5 minutes), she was ready to go take a walk. Seriously, she was up and about just moments after birth. I love her and can’t believe how great she looks after what she just went through. All of the Proffitt’s and Halterman’s agreed that she actually looks younger than ever before (we’ve been doing a little skyping in case you were wondering how our family saw her). She is an amazing woman and I am proud to have her as my wife.

We are now ready to embark on the next phase of our journey. It will take a little getting used to, having two boys in the house again, but we are looking forward to many great memories with our little studs. We know there are so many who have been praying for us…people who have faithfully interceded for us. For that, we are thankful and don’t have enough words to express that thankfulness. We follow a great God who is loving and caring and who has surrounded us with many who reflect that love and care so well. We love all of our friends and family so much. You guys and gals are great.

So without further ado, here is our newest addition…

I am getting really excited about the arrival of our third born son Asher Nathaniel. Really, he will be here any day. The time is near. And there is so much that I will not take for granted this time around. My goal is to intentionally enjoy every moment from when I see the crown of his head for the first time, to the first glance of his wet body as he comes out of mommy, to the sound of his first cry, to the sight of his little eyes (if they are anything like mine were, we won’t be able to see his eyes for a few months), to packing him up in the car for the first time as we come home from the hospital, to tucking him in his cradle for the first time, to changing his first nasty diaper (not sure how much I can enjoy that), etc… I think you get the point.

When you lose a child like we tragically did over a year ago now, your perspective changes as you can imagine. Don’t get me wrong, I still have moments where I neglect to savor certain moments with Drew (my 2 year old), but in the back of my mind now is that ever-present question, what if Drew was not here? What if Drew wouldn’t have lived past five weeks? That usually hits me in the face pretty hard after I’ve been mean to him or after I have told him to leave me alone because I’m busy. I’m still a human being at the end of the day though, so I still don’t take advantage of every moment with Drew, but many times, I quickly adjust, remembering that I should have two sons who are alive and healthy now with a third on the way, instead of having one two year old, one with Jesus, and one who has not entered the world yet…

Things will be different this time my friends. I can’t wait to meet Asher. I already love him to death. It’s going to be fun. We are trusting in God, especially when those insecurities become insurmountable as they so often do. You can imagine the uncertainty that always fills Ashlee’s mind. But God is faithful and we are resting in His hope and grace.

Knowing that most people will never do specific intentional evangelism, we needed to start thinking of new creative ways in which people could be involved with the sharing of the Good News. Because the fact of the matter is, people are scared to go up to random strangers and get into spiritual conversations. So as much as I push it to our people, very few ever step up. Well, the wheels started turning in my head, but I am not very creative (in other words, these proverbial wheels were stuck in mud), so I asked my most creative guy here in Tampa, Graham. Well, he immediately started strategizing (his creative wheels are like good year all-terrain tires). He in turn went to our other creative guys Emilio and Ace (they have the good year thing going on too). And what was birthed out of those three creative minds coming together was “The Black and White Forum.”

If you haven’t checked it out yet please do so. What we do is get on campus at least once a week and put out a box and hand people cards asking them to write questions down on these cards that relate to spirituality and put them in the box. Well, the idea has gotten off to a pretty great start. Not only is it a great idea, but the design is fabulous. Our design team here in Tampa is amazing! And we are answering the tough questions. If you want the site address it is http://blackwhiteforum.com/

Most of my blog readers are the very ones who stepped up to take care of us and provide financial support for our family this past year. But not all of you. So I figured this time, I will let everyone in on what we do for those who have so sacrificially stepped up for us this past year. Each month, Ashlee and I write a news letter to our faithful supporters to keep them in the loop as to what’s going on in our lives and in the life of the ministry. We feel it necessary in order to insure that they will be reminded to continually keep us in their prayers. As a result, there are more prayers being said for the ministry and for our family, and therefore more great things are taking place. Here is the letter we sent out this past week. Once again it’s an update (and it’s minus all the cool design and pictures that Ashlee put with it). Please read and be encouraged as to what God is doing here in Tampa through the ministry of Aletheia.

Hi faithful supporters,

Ashlee and I hope and pray that everything is going well for you so far this new year. We miss you all and think of you often.

We just wanted to update you on some of the latest news from Tampa. Things are moving right along. 2010 has been jam-packed and very eventful so far. Ashlee is doing splendidly as she continues to carry baby Asher. The arrival date is coming soon (less than 4 weeks) and the doctor’s suspect that our little man might come a little early. This is great news to Ashlee. She is feeling great and Asher is developing perfectly in the womb. We can’t wait to welcome our new addition. We are pleased to announce also that some reinforcements are joining us this next month. Mom and Dad are finally selling their home and will be in Tampa at the end of February. This will provide timely help for us not only for baby-sitting purposes, but also for ministry purposes i.e. Having the greatest Bible teacher on earth at my beckon call isn’t a terrible thing

Speaking of ministry, I have never been more encouraged about what God is doing here in Tampa. After a very difficult and challenging 2009, we are finally seeing some incredible momentum. We are in a new and more accommodating room on campus now and it has worked out masterfully. Our volunteer army has worked tirelessly to make Sunday nights even better. Since we launched our services again on January 10th, we have seen our attendance increase from 52 to 60 to 72 just this past Sunday. That was our largest attended gathering to date. We also have a baptism coming up in two weeks. And people are receiving Christ. Another 4 lives have come to Jesus, and many others have heard the truth. In fact, I have had conversations just this week alone with JW’s, Mormon’s, and Hindus. USF is a melting pot of every religious and cultural background that you can imagine. And we don’t shy away from talking with anyone. As a result, we offend a lot of people. Just yesterday, I brought a Mormon student to tears. Really, it was the Word of God that could be blamed for that. In a loving way, I communicated what the Bible says about the nature of God and she was not good with it because it went against everything she was taught growing up. This story is not an isolated one either. Things like this are happening all of the time as we battle in the trenches in order to see the lost reached.

We need your constant prayers for the battle that is going on in this city and on the campus of USF. Hearts are turning towards God but it is not easy. Please continue to pray for the momentum to continue. Pray that hearts will be softened to hear the truth. Pray that our church will see more rapid growth as we have the capabilities and the personnel to accommodate that. Pray for the rest of the pregnancy, for the labor, and the delivery. Pray for that precious little life that is about to come into our lives. Thanks so much.

We love you and will continue to pray for you. Please keep in touch with us.

In service to Christ,

aaron, ashlee, andrew, and asher

As I have taken on my new role this last year as teaching pastor, I have really had to put forth quite a bit of effort to plan and prepare to teach God’s Word on Sundays. Let’s just say that I have to put a little more into preparing for a study than my dad has to. When I have been teaching the Bible for 35 years, then maybe I can slack off a bit

One thing that has helped make the transition as teaching pastor easier for me is that I have borrowed some of the themes and series titles that some of our other Pastors have used. This a. eliminates the amount of work load that is put on our creative team (although Ace designed “Crash Course,” the current series Aletheia Tampa is doing) and Emilio designed “Exile,” (the next series I will be doing as we study 1 Peter), and b. It cuts some of the cost as we can borrow some of the design props that the other churches used for the series. For instance Josh is sending me two “Exile” banners which will be used here in Tampa when we start the new series, after being used in Richmond when Josh taught the series. Pretty sweet right!

Also, not only do we get to borrow the design elements of the new theme, but I also am able to borrow the notes that the other pastors used, or in Aletheia Harrisonburg’s case, watch their video podcasts. This has helped me tremendously and what a blessing it is to have a community of like minded churches and pastors who share the same vision, where we don’t have to feel like we are stealing somebody else’s thunder.

The Network is expanding. We have hopes of seeing more collegiate ministries and church plants started this year and in the many years to come God willing. In April, we have been asked to speak at a United States Air Force chaplain’s conference (Thanks Bill Evans!) to instruct them about our model and to see it used and reproduced at Air Force locations all over the country and the world. In addition, we are scouting out places like NC State in Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as places such as Perugia, Italy….And, any other place that has a major college and University.

We’re dreaming big. Because we believe in a big God who does big things.

If you want more information on how to get involed or how to pray for the Aletheia (Collegiate Church Planting) Network, visit the web site @ http://aletheianetwork.com/

We had a great service. With school not even being back in session yet, we had a relatively large group out, everybody seemed to be excited, and everything went off without a major glitch…not counting the breaker being tripped during set-up or Ashlee’s Mac malfunctioning during rehearsal of course. But once things got kicked off, everything went perfectly. God answered our prayers, brought people out, the band rocked the house, and the truth was elevated. I am really encouraged right now and can’t wait for the coming weeks to see what God does on the campus of USF and in the city of Tampa through this little budding ministry. I get to serve God with the finest team and I am so grateful for all that they do. They were amazing last night once again.

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! Enjoy these images…

Pic 1: Part of our set-up team Pic 2: A new addition…cafe Aletheia Tampa

Pic 3: Emilio’s fine graphic design skills Pic 4: Megan and Shay at the hospitality table (what a spread)

Pic 5: Band rehearsing Pic 6: Two pretty Aletheia ladies

Pic 7: Attempting to communicate God’s Word Pic 8: The after math

Pic 9: Porta-church at its finest (don’t worry, all of this stuff was hidden behind our pipe and drape)