journey | Church On Purpose

The Most Valuable Question You’ll Ever Ask

20FebAugust 29, 2020 By Coach Jonathan

⁷“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ⁹Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)

Some years ago, I began my journey with an amazing network marketing company. Now, regardless of what your opinion is about network marketing, it is a great industry that helps a lot of people but of course has its bad eggs and bad moments. Kind of like your family. Haha. The good, however, certainly outweighs the bad. But anyway, back to my post.

Up until this time in my life, most of my decisions and governing philosophy for life were based on WHAT I was doing or WHAT needed to be done, and HOW I was going to get it done. This consistently left me with mixed results and outcomes that rarely met my expectations so that even in my mid-twenties I was beginning to feel like I was spinning my wheels chasing an ever-elusive state of fulfillment.

Then I went to my first Saturday training with a company that I believed in and had vision for. There on that Saturday morning I was introduced to the life-changing concept of WHY, and I realized sitting in that seat that for most of my life I had be asking the wrong questions. Like a lot of people, I would ask “Who am I?” instead of “WHY am I?”. I would ask, “Where should I go?” instead of “WHY should I leave?”. The list could go on and on, but suffice it to say that the power of that WHY question began a transformation in my life that DIRECTLY influenced where I am today.

As an outgrowth of that moment I began asking the WHY question about everything in my life. It helped me begin to understand my motives, my habits, my behaviors, my patterns of living, why I went through the cycles of life I was going through and why I was getting the results from my efforts that I was getting. When I began asking WHY, I started to realize that I was more responsible for the condition of my life than I had liked to think up until that point. It was always easier to find someone or something else to blame for my condition in life, until I started asking WHY. When I did, I realized that no matter the external circumstances, there was always SOME role I played in the equation. And the exciting part was realizing that since I’m a part of the equation that produces the results, then if I change, if I get better, then things around me would get better.

And they did.

But not overnight. It’s been, and will continue to be, and life-long journey toward understanding the WHYs in my life. But I wouldn’t change this sense of awareness of purpose for anything. And that ladies and gentlemen is the foundational premise for Church On Purpose. One of our primary goals for the culture of the church is to be able to create a community where it’s ok to ask WHY.

My prayer for you, is that with all the questions that you have in life, that today you will just start asking WHY. Why am I here? Why did that happen? Why am I the way I am? Why do I struggle with the things I struggle with? Why do I care so much? Why do I care so little? Why am I so mean? Why am I still at this job? Why am I afraid? Why am I worried? Why do I deserve to be respected and loved? Just begin to ask WHY.

When you do so, with a sincere and open heart, our Heavenly Father will begin to answer you, and help you begin to understand yourself and your place in His plan. Now it is important to understand, that just like in all of your other interactions, there will be some answers that you don’t necessarily like. Asking why you struggle with relationships may very well take you back to a place in your life, long forgotten, that He needs to heal for you to move forward. But appreciate the fact that any hurts or pains He uncovers, He is more than able to heal. And your life on the other side of that brokenness, is the life that you’ve been dreaming of.

Start today with one WHY, and allow that to take you down the rabbit hole of WHYs. And over time, watch how the fruit of your life begins to line up with the desires of your heart. Because like I learned at that network marketing Saturday training all those years ago, when the WHY is clear, the HOW is irrelevant.

Live each day, but especially today, on purpose!

Coach J

Baby Steps: The Journey From Vision to Reality of Church On Purpose

12OctAugust 29, 2020 By Coach Jonathan

JUST BE PATIENT. Those were the words consistently expressed to me by each of the individuals whose counsel I sought prior to moving with my family to Omaha, Nebraska to plant Church On Purpose.

As much as I wanted to believe those words weren’t going to apply to this story, wisdom and experience taught me a long time ago that the best pace to move is always God’s pace. Regardless of how clear the vision may be, how many smaller steps you may have broken it down into, or how many bullets you’ve already checked off the list, the truth of the matter is that God will do, what God will do, when God will do it, and not before. And the last thing you want to do is try to force the vision to become reality.

For me, I accepted the position long ago that if God has a plan to get me from point A to point C, then sure, I could spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get there myself. Or, I could stay connected and just follow directions. I could learn to maximize the potential of where I am today, so when tomorrow comes I am already equipped with everything I need to maximize the potential of that day too. And over time, I learned that that method not only allows me to arrive at point C with everything that I need to move forward, but it would ensure that I would hit point B along the way.

So here we are. We’ve been in Omaha for two months now, and when I talk to people back home I smile whenever they ask me any of the following questions:

Have you had your first service yet? (no, we’re finally actually getting settled in a brand new place and getting our bearings)
Have you found a building yet? (no, we can’t just buy a random building for two reasons: 1. we have to designate an area where we will serve and 2. we haven’t grown to the point in size to generate the income to financially support any type of facility yet, as a matter of fact we’re still just trying to make sure our own rent is paid every month)
Have you preached at any of the churches out there yet? (you know that old TV show CHEERS where the theme song said, “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name…”? Yeah, well this is pretty much the opposite of that. Nobody knows who I am, or even that I exist at this point.)
How many people do you guys have now? (well, including me and my family, we’ve got……..well……me and my family, and our Admin Leader Anthony. We start vision dinners soon so more people will be able to connect to the vision, but it takes time)

I smile because when you’re in an established church, everything seems so simple. But when you move halfway across the continental United States, to a place where you only have a pre-existing relationship with one person, and you’re planting a church for the first time, it’s going to take a little longer than a few weeks to get things up and running, make the connections, and start growing; much less buying/constructing a facility to house the operations of the ministry.

So here are some baby steps that we’re focusing on now and we prepare for the realization of the vision of Church On Purpose:

CONNECT CARDS: As we connect with people in the Omaha community, our connect cards allow us to leave them with something tangible in their hands so they can CONNECT with Church On Purpose via social media or directly with the person they talked with. The back of the cards have directions for registering for our Vision Dinners where I’ll be sharing the vision of Church On Purpose with interested people over a monthly meal. (design complete and just arrived on 10/8! super pumped!)
VISION DINNERS: As we make connections with the community, individuals interested in learning more about Church On Purpose will be able to attend one of our monthly Vision Dinners where I will share the history and vision of Church On Purpose over a meal. This will afford them the opportunity to decide whether they feel called to partner with us in this effort.
LEADERSHIP TRAINING: As individuals connect with the vision of Church On Purpose and express a desire to partner with us, they will be invited to attend Leadership Trainings where I will walk them through a curriculum of culture development. During these sessions, through Bible Study, role play, and candid discussion I will, as clearly as possible, paint the picture of the kind of culture we want to create with Church On Purpose. These meetings are not training for positions and titles, but preparation to be leaders in creating the culture of the church family. Over time, these sessions will expand into the equivalent of a New Members type of class.
SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY: Once we’re clear on the kind of culture we want to create and have a core group of individuals that will help lead us in developing that culture, then we will initiate our regular weekly Bible Studies that will be open to anyone that wants to join us.

After all of that, THEN we move into PHASE 2!!

hahaha

And in between all of those bullet points are sub bullets including but not limited to: (in no particular order)

paperwork processing
financial management
lesson development
relationship building
pastoral care
other administrative duties
clarification of next steps of the vision
prayer, prayer, prayer
website and social media maintenance
and two lovely children that I happen to be homeschooling as well!!

BABY STEPS!!!

So rest assured, you may not see a lot happening on the surface with Church On Purpose right now, but that’s only because the seed has just recently been planted. And before a seed ever breaks through the surface, there’s a lot of work that takes place underground and out of the view of the world.

Sequance of bean seeds germination in soil — The work of the tallest tree begins underground and out of sight

We’re germinating right now. And although we want to grow and change Omaha and the world for the Kingdom, we understand the value of preparation, building a solid foundation, and patience.

We’re going to get there. We didn’t move halfway across the country to NOT get there.

But for now……..baby steps 🙂

SIDENOTE: Some of the items on our list are only hindered by the availability of finances to complete them. Starting a ministry is expensive, and if they Holy Spirit so prompts you, any contribution you make would certainly help us to continue to advance toward our goal of community impact for the Kingdom! You can make contributions here —> DONATE, or you can find me on social media and get our mailing information. Thank you in advance!

Live each day on purpose!

Coach J

Back To Scratch…

01SepAugust 29, 2020 By Coach Jonathan

The last time I got to start from scratch was in the Fall of 2002. I was a freshman at Norfolk State University and nobody knew who I was. Nobody cared who I was. I was just another face in the crowd with no reputation, no relationships, and no history. It was a chance to reinvent myself and become the person I’d always wanted to be but couldn’t because where I came from, I already had a reputation.

Over the next thirteen years, rather than DEFINING who I am I would DISCOVER who I am. Through good times and challenging times. Through celebratory moments and moments of distress, I came to understand who I was. The more comfortable I became with who I was, the more clearly I began to see who I could be. And the more clearly I saw who I could be, the harder I worked to get there.

Over time, I developed a reputation. I leave that to others to reveal what that reputation was, but I was proud of the associations I had developed with my name.

Then I moved to Omaha, Nebraska. A place where only one person really knew me besides my wife and children. In a new place, where nobody knows who I am, nobody knows what I’ve done, nobody knows what I can do, and honestly at this point, nobody cares.

It’s a humbling experience, but a refreshing one. There is a new fight and a new drive within me to continue chasing who I know I can be. A refreshing opportunity to move beyond the failures and start building something new.

It’s the same thing that happens everyday when God wakes us up. Each day is a new opportunity to start back at scratch, to strive to be the person that you know you can be. Every day God gives us new mercy and fresh grace so we can move beyond our faults and failures and pursue the excellence of who we were created to be.

Today is a new day, and if you desire, it’s a chance to start back at scratch. Today is a chance to move beyond the failures of yesterday and look forward to the potential and possibility of tomorrow.

I was afraid starting over was going to be difficult, then I realized how exciting it’s going to be to become an even better me.

Decide today to become a better you! You can start from scratch.

~ Coach J

Moving Day…

11AugAugust 29, 2020 By Coach Jonathan

Monday, August 10, 2015 will forever be a LIFE moment.

A “LIFE moment” is an event that you remember vividly for the rest of your days. Today was a LIFE moment. Today was moving day.

A little less than a year ago, I journeyed to Omaha, Nebraska for the first time in my life. Today, I packed up my family and left my home, my friends, my church family, everything familiar to me. I left my comfort zone in search of God. I already know Jesus, have a relationship with the Father because of him, and dialogue with Holy Spirit regularly (how do you think we ended up in Omaha?? lol) But one thing that has been clear to me since making the commitment to obedience over comfort, is that God has been waiting for me BEYOND my comfort zone.

My comfort zone was that place where I knew all the short cuts to get from point “A” to point “B”. It’s that place where I could drive most of my usual places on autopilot. It was a place where I had an established reputation that did most of the heavy lifting for me.

What I didn’t realize is that my comfort zone had become my CRIPPLING ZONE. The familiarity, the routine, the established customs and habits were leading me down the path to mediocrity because my life was on autopilot. Until God pushed me out of my comfort zone.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY out of my comfort zone.

When the call to plant Church On Purpose in Omaha, Nebraska became clear to me, one of the things that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was that I was going to get to see more of God than I ever had.

And I have!

Obedience to a plan that hasn’t always made sense to me has opened the door for God to do miraculous things. This last year has been a constant reminder of how God works and how He desires to work through Church On Purpose and the Body of Christ as a whole. Over the last year, there has not been a single week that has gone by where God didn’t make himself known, and EVERY time he did it, it was through one of his children.

This last 12 months has exposed so many of the people around me as genuine, loving, humble, Holy Spirit-led believers as God has moved through them to bless my family with love, encouragement, support, prayer, and resources for the work. The outpouring of love and support has been God’s tangible demonstration to us that we are on the right track, and that He is faithful to provide for the call.

We haven’t always had more than enough. As a matter of fact, there have been a number of times where it seemed like we didn’t have enough. The testimony of being able to pay every bill on time isn’t our testimony. Our testimony is that when it got cut off, we found out whether it was a necessity, and the necessities always got cut back on. But those things that weren’t necessities found themselves being cut OUT. Our testimony is one of education and equipping. We have had many difficult, but much needed lessons over the last year.

And it has been a looooooooooong 12 months. It’s crazy to think back and realize that nearly EVERYTHING has changed. What’s weird about all of this though, is that I’m actually more “comfortable” in all of the newness than I was in all of the familiar.

Even in the familiarity of the familiar, there was always an uneasiness inside of me poking and prodding me toward MORE.

But there’s a wonderful thing that happens inside of you, in your heart and your mind when you actually TRUST God. I don’t mean just say it, but I mean ACTUALLY TRUST HIM. In the face of challenging, confusing, and even ridiculous circumstances, He still provides His peace. Through all of the good byes and moments of reflection, He still provides His peace. The Bible puts it perfectly because it truly is a peace that passes all understanding. It isn’t logical. It rarely makes sense. But it’s real.

I don’t know how it works. I don’t how long it lasts. But I DO know, that the same peace I’ve experienced in these last 12 months, is available to you too. It’s waiting for you in your obedience to His call. And in case you were wondering, yes God is still calling people from the land of their father and mother to a land they never knew, to be salt and light, and to experience the limitless power of our God, that we can only access beyond the borders of our comfort zone.

God changed my borders from Norfolk to Omaha, but YOU have to find out what lines you need to cross. Maybe your borders will expand to the neighbor next door, or maybe even the next cubicle over. That’s between you and Him. But one thing is for certain, there’s a reason his final charge to us all started with the word “GO”.

Is this moving day for you too? It CAN be.

Where is He calling you? His peace is waiting in your obedience.

Remember, everything is created with purpose but only you have your vision.

~ Coach J

A Select Few…

18MayAugust 29, 2020 By Professor Q

Matthew 22:14 ESV

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Upon his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the religous leaders sought to corner him and Jesus, in is classic style, spoke to them in parables. At the heels of a parable he gives to describe the Kingdom of Heaven, he says these words, “many are called, but few are chosen.” This was not only an indictment against the Pharisees, but also a proclamation of who shall enter the Kingdom. Who are the chosen? Without bogging you down with theological arguments about predestination, free will, etc., the chosen can simply be understood to be those who are the children of God by faith in Christ and marked by the Holy Spirit.

As the days press on, many have offered feedback about the journey we have embarked upon. Some encouraging and supportive, some curious and indifferent, and others doubtful. All in all, we have learned to be resolved and content regardless of people’s opinions because ultimately they don’t matter anyway. (the opinions, not the people)

When you choose to be one of the few and live your purpose, you will always get feedback from the majority. Some will encourage you, some will be indifferent, and others will be doubtful. When the feedback comes, “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). When you get cornered, listen to the voice that matters, the one that is sure, the one that directs and affirms. Thank those that support you, inspire the indifferent, and ignore the doubters. Run with the select few and become all that God has called you to be! After all, life is much sweeter when it’s lived on purpose…

Grace and Peace,

Prof. Q

What’s Next?

13MayAugust 29, 2020 By Professor Q

Having come back from Omaha just a few days ago, the meditations, thoughts, and experiences are still fresh. The rides around town, the conversations late at night, the meals, and the experience of the city still dance around in my head. Even though reflecting is nice and how I do wish we could have stayed longer, the relevant question that stares me in the face is, “What next…?”

Honestly? The next step that the Lord has given is to prepare for growth. Up until this point, the focus has been prepare to see; prepare to see more of the vision and the opportunity. Now the focus is shifting to prepare for the growth of disciples by putting in place the necessary tools and resources to help facilitate that growth. This is where the rubber meets the proverbial road, where feet are put onto prayers, and action is taken!

Won’t you pray for us as we move forward? Visit and browse the site and as you feel lead, show some PDA.

Grace and Peace,

Prof. Q