troy austian | blog

Prayer Request and Tribute to a Life Lived for God

Mark Johnson, the Senior Pastor of Calvary Temple in Springfield, Illinois, called me this evening.  Mark was my pastor and mentor for some very formative years in my life and my faith.  He helped me lay the solid foundation of my own growing relationship with Jesus.  He remains a great friend and someone I look to for wisdom and godly counsel.

Mark was calling to let me know that his father passed away this morning, and to ask for prayer for his family.  His father, M.C. Johnson, was a war veteran who went on to build a very successful business...and then left it to answer God's call to be a pastor.  Mark impacted me first as my youth pastor, but it was in the church that his father had planted years before.  I came to that church because of a friend who had been impacted by it.  I learned to love Jesus in the midst of others doing the same because they were impacted by it.  The ministry of Calvary Temple Christian Center, where I grew so much, was there for me and so many others because M.C. Johnson said yes to God and labored faithfully.  Pastor M.C. Johnson loved God, loved people, loved his family, loved the church, and loved reaching people with the life-changing message of the Gospel.  He dedicated his life to this, and he leaves a great legacy...one that lives on in the lives of so many, including me.

As I've gotten a bit older, I understand more the value of foundations...that they need to be built properly so that many other things may be built upon them.  In the midst of leading people to Jesus, Pastor M.C. Johnson built foundations upon which much will continue to be built.  I give thanks to God for him, and as I write this I'm challenged and encouraged by the responsibility and the great honor I have to build on the foundations others have laid in my life.  It's absolutely God's work.  I'm just so grateful that those who went before me were faithful in doing their part.  Because now I have the great joy of striving to be faithful in doing mine.

Please join me in praying for the family of Pastor M.C. Johnson and in being challenged and encouraged by the legacy of his life.

       Pastor M.C. Johnson
        "A Winner of Souls"
May 11, 1924 - August 22, 2007

Visiting HighPoint Church

I visited HighPoint Church this past weekend, and I've got to say I was impressed.  I'd been meaning to visit HighPoint ever since my friends Tory & Elizabeth Farina planted it last year.  They're portable and meet in a theater, which is working quite well for them...and it's pretty cool too.

Their setup was well done.  The people were friendly. The worship was rockin', and the message from Pastor Tory was exceptional.  I've known Tory for several years, but had never heard him preach before.  I was really impressed, and the message was particularly meaningful for me.  The word is that he's that good every week!

It was great to see my good friends, Neil & Rhonda Schafer, their kids, and so many others working as a big happy team to make all of the stuff of a portable church happen with excellence.  If you live in the area of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, or are passing through, I'd highly recommend checking out HighPoint.  It's a great church with great vision and lots of good things happening.  For more information, service times, directions, etc., check out myhighpointchurch.com.

Click HERE for more pics.

Pictures from My Farewell Weekend at RVC

Sorry for the delay, but, as promised, I've finally posted the pictures from the weekend of my farewell party at RVC.  Click HERE to check them out!

Future A/G

If you're an Assemblies of God minister, I want to strongly encourage you to check out the Future AG blog prior to General Council next month.  If you haven't checked it out yet, it's worth your time as we look at the future of the Assemblies of God in light of the resignation of Brother Trask.

The Future AG blog is a temporary site for Assemblies of God ministers to openly discuss the future of the AG. With the election of our next General Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent coming very soon, this site was designed to give AG ministers a forum to dialogue about the characteristics, experience, and values needed in our next generation of leaders.

Props to the guys for making this happen...and congrats on the massive number of hits!  Nicely done.

Preaching at Evergreen Church

This past Sunday I preached for my very good friend Al Kinnunen at Evergreen Church in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  He and his wife Steph were doing a wedding in Minnesota on Saturday, 07/07/07.  (This was a huge day for weddings because people wanted to get married on that rare date with three 7's, considered by many to be lucky.)  They weren't going to be able to make it back for Sunday morning, so Al asked me to speak.  I was glad to do it and had a great time.

Al & Steph planted ECSP in 2004.  It's a very missional work that continues to impact people that most churches would not likely reach.  ECSP is growing and lives are being transformed.  It's a very real and relational community of people, which is such a cool and beautiful thing, and I always have fun when I go there.  And I've gotta give props to my ECSP friends who apparently read my blog!

Online Church Service Planner

I ran across this online church service planner.  It looks pretty slick and seems quite capable...definitely worth checking out for the collaboration, organization, communication, and tracking that it offers.

Website:  http://www.planningcenteronline.com

Demo:  http://www.planningcenteronline.com/home/tutorial/11_minute_overview

Planning Center is the brain-child of a gentleman named Jeff Berg who served for 6 years as the Director of Creative Technologies at Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells, California, before leaving to fully dedicate his time to Planning Center.  That definitely gives some credibility to this service compared to something written by an "outsider."  (According to Planning Center's website, Willow Creek and North Point both use Planning Center.)

My RVC Farewell Party this Saturday Night

In case you haven't heard, I'm transitioning out of River Valley Church.  It has been a huge chunk of my life, almost 11 years, and a great adventure with so many great moments, growth, and precious things along the way.  This Saturday night following the 6:30 p.m. service is my RVC farewell party.  Please come if you can!  It should be fun.  If you can't come, please shoot me an email to say 'hey' -- click on 'ABOUT' on the left to get to my email link.  I hope to see you tonight or this weekend at church!

Relevance Conference 2007

Eagle Brook Church hosted their 2007 Relevance Conference yesterday at their Lino Lakes, MN, campus.  I attended along with about 20 people from the RVC crew.  I've got to say that they did a great job with their content and presentation, and with the "relevant" selection of sessions offered.

Bob Merritt spoke on leadership, talking about how things have transpired at Eagle Brook with regard to church growth and leadership, and taught on the two key leadership components of Task and Relationship.  Jason Anderson spoke on Making Messages Stick, and included some memorable techniques in the process!  The other general sessions were quite good as well.  I attended two breakout sessions: Strategic Planning Workshop and Building Teams for Transformational Ministry.  Both were excellent and more than I expected.  I was impressed, took lots of good notes, and found this one-day conference to be very worthwhile.  I've got to give a shout out to Eagle Brook Church for doing such a great job and for offering some good stuff to invest in effective church ministry in our area.

Volunteer Appreciation -- Kickin' It 80's Style!

Our 2007 Volunteer Appreciation Night last night was totally awesome!  It was 80's night and it was feelin' right!  The place was decked out with 80's style decor, lavish desserts, and an 80's rock stage.  It was a blast!  It was all about celebrating our great volunteers and having a ridiculously great time together.  The River Valley Rock band rocked the house with a live stage show, complete with 80's trivia, 80's prizes, and an original 80's style music video. And if you heard rumor of my amazing 80's dance moves... yeah, it's true.

Huge thanks to all of our volunteers that make the ministry of RVC possible.  Here's a pic of a bunch of the staff gathered together afterward.  We couldn't do it without you!  I mean, without you we'd just look silly.  (-:

"Sign" Language

RVC got a new sign! It was just put up this week.  It's a nice, big sign right on the front of the building to communicate to the world (at least those that drive by this part of the world) that we're here.  The big letters look black in the daytime, but at night they shine white.  Yes, I know, very cool.  So if you haven't seen it yet, check it out.  It's hopefully hard to miss!