November 22nd, 2010 by Josh Bayne | News
One of my favorite things about this new project of ours is the picture it paints for our community. This part of town across from the mall used to be the center of everything in Athens. The building we’re renovating used to be a Walmart before it was a Steve & Barry’s and there was a very successful Uptons department store nextdoor as well, and if you can remember back that far you know this was the epicenter of the town. Things are different here in November 2010, when more cracks then people grace this parking lot in a given week, but not for long. We dream about this community becoming vibrant and alive again!
We look at our lives and realize just how broken we were before we met Jesus. We battled addictions, we made poor decisions, we were a mess! But God, in His mercy, came into our lives and cleaned us up. He took what was dead, and actually made us alive again! It’s the kind of restoration that makes Extreme Home Makeover look like child’s play. God is in the business of restoring.
So that’s why I get so excited when I stare at a rundown building in a beat-up parking lot. I see myself in the cracks and the wear and tear, and I know when this renovation is all said and done, we will have seen an incredible picture of restoration- a building and a slice of town that were abandoned, filled with life again! And you get to be a part of it. When you give to this project, you’re revitalizing a city. When you sacrifice for this building, you’re providing jobs to the men in our community who’ll be working to build it. When your gifts go above and beyond in this season, you are single handedly pitching a shovel in the spiritual restoration of every husband, wife, daughter, and son who “try” church for the first time in this new building. Thank you for helping us lead the people of Athens into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ!
Visit Cogun who we’ve hired to help build the future home of Athens Church.
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November 11th, 2010 by Josh Bayne | News
A couple times a year we host an event for the people of Athens Church called Community Celebration. It’s a night of worship, prayer, and communion for those who call AC home, and a great chance not only to catch up with friends we may not have seen in a while, but also to dream about what God has next for us in this city. This semester, Community Celebration was held inside our future facility on Huntington Rd and it all went down this past Sunday night.
The new building is very much a construction site (as well it should be!), so guests entered through a pathway we had sectioned off to keep everyone safe from the dust and debris. The path led to where we had marked off the location of our future auditorium, and it’s in that future auditorium space where we began the night with some singing. How cool that the first worship song ever sung within those walls is now officially “Our God” by Chris Tomlin! After three songs, our pastor Sean walked us through one of the most compelling and personal chapters in all the Bible: Psalm 139. “[God] created our inmost being” the psalm says. “He knit us together in the womb.” A God so involved like that isn’t a distant God at all. We know He’s not finished with us yet! That’s why, after Sean finished his talk and after we took time for communion, we broke up throughout the building to pray, and not just pray for the people yet to experience all that God is doing in our church, but for those of us here already. That that same life-making, soul-shaping God might do something incredible in our lives and in the life of our family! Some of us even wrote our prayers on the floor and on exposed places like this structural column shown below.
After we prayed, the evening concluded with a song of celebration- Bless Your Name. It just felt right, looking back at all that God has done in the first 6 or so years of our church and looking forward to all that’s to come, to bookend this night celebrating the greatness of our God and His activity in our lives. Were you at Community Celebration Sunday night? How was your experience?
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October 28th, 2010 by Josh Bayne | News
Construction officially began this week and step one is demolition. Here’s a sneak peak inside!
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October 11th, 2010 by Josh Bayne | News
North Point Community Church lead pastor and Athens Church teaching pastor Andy Stanley takes a minute to talk about Athens, I Love You.
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October 10th, 2010 by Josh Bayne | News
It’s neat to experience a Sunday at Athens Church now in the Classic Center, then look back at a picture like this from the “early days” at Cedar Shoals High School on the East Side of town. Our first service as a church was Sunday night, January 23rd, 2005, and we’ve seen God do some incredible things in the first five and a half years of our church. When I look at a picture like this, though, I remember something we knew was true … even in the beginning: Athens didn’t need another church.
She just didn’t. If you’re like me, you drive past half a dozen churches easy, just on your way to Athens Church on a given Sunday. So the goal isn’t building more buildings. What Athens needed was a church specifically designed for inviting our unchurched friends to. That’s the thing that sets Athens Church apart, isn’t it? That’s why I get so excited about our new building project! That’s why I can feel so confident giving to it.
So for me, it’s just a good reminder. Athens, I Love You isn’t about a building. It’s about people. And it’s less about the people who are here now, even, and more about those who will give church a try and God a try for the first time, or the first time in a while, once we move into 10 Huntington Rd, Suite E in 2011. It’s about creating environments they love to be in, with experiences they can’t forget. Athens doesn’t need another church building, but I’m sure glad we’re building one we can be proud to invite our unchurched friends to.
For more, watch the “Why Another Church? video now.
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