Angelic Ministries has been a partner for us for a little over a year now. So why should you serve at Angelic Ministries whether you currently serve on a volunteer team or not? Great question! We hear all the time about students, parents, and families wanting to go on a mission trip or go away somewhere to experience serving in a missions type of setting. Angelic Ministries gives all of us that chance right here in our own city of Knoxville! This will be a chance for you to come experience a side of Knoxville that you may not see very often. You will be able to serve the least of these and help a ministry who does it every week!

There will be multiple types of opportunities to get involved this weekend. Angelic Ministries can use our help cleaning up their space, organizing their food, and of course serving food to the homeless. Maybe you can’t make it Saturday, but would love to help us provide food. We have multiple food and drink needs such as lasagna’s, bread, fruit, and drinks that we would love for you to partner with us on. So serve with us! If you would like to come help and have not signed up or want to help provide food, simply send an email to volunteer@onelifeknox.com. We look forward to seeing you there.

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As I sat in the auditorium a few weeks ago and you introduced the “Generosity Challenge”, I sat prepared for you to give the rally cry in hopes to get people to step up the giving. I even know some behind the scenes of the church and know that typically giving declines going into summer. So I was ready. Again, being from a church background I knew what was coming. Or so I thought.

As I climbed in our late model vehicle after the first service and headed to be waited on hand and foot at a comfortable booth in one of my several favorite restaurants I was taken aback. In all honesty, I hadn’t said much to this point. Then my wife took the words completely out of my mouth when she asked, “Can you believe the Generosity Challenge is just to get people to pay tithes? I mean just their 10%?!” It’s exactly what I was thinking! Still reeling, I couldn’t believe it. Here I was prepared for some capital campaign type of fund raising but it was simple and to the point. For the first time, I heard of a church offering a 90-day money back guarantee which I thought was cool!

You see for me, I grew up poor. My mother instilled in me the fundamentals of giving. Accompanied with that foundation, I am by nature a giver. Giving for me has never been an issue. In fact, in one of my careers, I remember getting a cash advance on my check so I could pay tithes that week. But then I read the Stories of Generosity – Part 1 about the single dad that was struggling to pay $32.00 in his tithes. Then he did! What an incredible story! But as I read that story again and again and again, God just began to wrestle with me. Wrestle is probably putting it nicely. In fact, it was more like a kick straight to the crotch.

I don’t consider myself rich by any means but given the statistics that you shared at Powell High School, I know that I am part of the 1% of the richest people in the world. Not only do I have one vehicle, I have two; running water; electricity; and, for the most part, everything that is convenient in this world. That very day of the Generosity Challenge it worked out where I would receive some bonus reimbursements from work and my wife would get her first paycheck from her new job (she was laid off from her previous job) so we dropped a check in the bucket for $700.00. Without being conceded, it didn’t even hurt. I mean $700 is $700 but as a business man with multiple companies/entrepreneurships, it’s money that I haven’t even thought about. I want to be super spiritual and say that’s cause I love God and know that the first 10% is his and it’s my commandment to do. But not quite.

Like I said, God gave me a swift kick in the pants when you published that story as I began to read it again and again. I was reminded about the widow in Luke 21:1-4 and when Jesus said “she put in everything”. Then I began to wrestle with the idea, “Who do I relate to most in this story?” Sadly, it isn’t the widow. I don’t know if it’s the desire to have the faith that the widow has but I know that I relate to the rich that dropped in gold, silver, and other fine things more than I do the widow. I no longer want to do that.

As I sat at the lunch that day with my wife, I dismissed the Generosity Challenge because I was already doing “my part” and paying my tithes. Actually I rounded up each week so that was extra (at least that’s what I always told myself). If I could be honest with you, I am jealous of that dad’s faith. Don’t get me wrong, I pay my tithes and I know that God provides, but like that dad I want to take this challenge head on. I don’t want to do it just to test God but I want to trust God like he did. I also want to invest in the local church, my local church, OneLife Church. I want to invest in the lives that have been radically changed, the marriages that have been restored, the addictions that have been shattered, and the relationships that have been seeded. For the next 90 days, I want to give like I have never given before – above and beyond my normal tithe. In addition to my personal tithes, starting this Sunday, OneLife Church will receive a large portion of the gross on my companies/entrepreneurships in hopes that OneLife can continue to help people discover God and equip their one life to make a difference!

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Join in the Generosity Challenge today! Click here for more: onelifeknox.com/generosity

Many times it’s easy to see a change that needs to be made. Other times it’s a lot harder. But in both circumstances one question clears the air on whether or not a change is needed: is what I’m doing working!?

That question can save a lot of heartache and years of defeat. Whether it is in your church, your job, your family, or your finances. When you feel that irritation in the pit of your stomach, or the anger of someone telling you that you’ve got it wrong, or even the confusion of what you should do next – just step back and honestly answer that question.

It amazes me to watch people justify why they make decisions for their family that are going to have devastating effects. I’m shocked almost weekly at pastors who refuse to even entertain the thought that there might just be a better way than what they’ve done for years. I know that it USED to work or that’s what you THOUGHT scripture said (just remember that little detail that you aren’t Jesus!) And – most notably – I’m baffled at how many people continue to make dumb choices with their money that go against everything logical and biblical. If your way is so great in each of these circumstances, why isn’t it working?!

So something must change. I’m thankful for a church and a group of staff who will make the changes with me when necessary. I’m thankful for a wife who is willing to change how we spend our money or spend our time when what we are doing just isn’t working. And I’m thankful for a God who uses these changes in direction to redeem my own failures time and time again.

So what are YOU doing that might need some adjustment? What is it that you are fighting so hard to hold on to? How you do church? Your job? Money? Raising kids? Relationships? If you are honest for a moment, you’ll be ready to make some big changes for the better. But first, you just have to admit that what you’re doing now…well, it’s just not working.

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In Part 3 of the Generosity Challenge, Pastor Rodney unveiled what the “easiest- yet hardest- step” of this challenge would be – trust. Within his post he proposed to us that if we would dare to take this step, God would grow us and take care of us like never before. My name is JR Isham and this is one story – of many stories – in my life where God has shown Himself to be the God that He says He is.

A little over two months ago, my Bride and I resigned from a church that we dearly loved and told them that we believed the Lord was leading us toward church planting. At that point, we needed to raise $20,000 of support in less than two months in order survive and we also needed to sell a house that we had previously placed on the market for a year and had not received one single offer. We had no idea how in the world this was going to happen. How in the world could we continue tithing while taking a huge pay cut and trying to raise $20,000 of support? On paper, we knew that this looked very unwise, but we were confident that God would provide for us if we trusted and obeyed Him. So, we took a step of faith and began the journey by crafting a support letter and making preparations to sell our house again. This step of faith is big in and of itself with two small children and no certainty for the future, but little did we know that God didn’t want us to stop there.

About a month later, God crossed my path with a gentlemen that I came to find out was raising support as well because God had led him to adopt a child in Africa. God instantly spoke to me and said, “JR, are you going to live a life of fear and try to hang onto the abundance I’ve given you that was never yours in the first place or are you going to continue to live a life of faith and trust and obey me by giving to this gentleman that I’ve placed before you?”

I was FIRED UP! I was so grateful that the Lord wasn’t finished with me and I saw at that moment, he was sharpening me by giving me the opportunity to give although I desperately needed to receive. God allowed My Bride and I take another step of faith that day and we partnered with this gentleman by generously giving towards his adoption.

This is where God revealed Himself loud and clear. Five hours later, I received an email saying that we had received an offer on our home that had only been on the market for four days! We are also thrilled to announce that the Lord has provided over $22,000 in support in just two months! We stand today proclaiming from the roof tops that God is a God who can be trusted! He is a faithful God who blesses those who trust and obey Him!

What about you? What’s your story of God’s faithfulness when you gave generously in faith? If you’ve never stepped out in faith to give sacrificially, will you dare to take that step today? Will you dare to test the Lord and see that He will indeed “open the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so great that you won’t have enough room to take it in!” (Malachi 3:10). May the Lord richly bless your obedience! I can’t wait to hear the awesome stories of how He shows up!

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Take part in the generosity challenge online today! http://onelifeknox.com/give

One of the things we were intent upon when OneLife started was being a church that reproduced churches. We believe that can happen in a variety of ways. It can happen by assisting churches that are going to start in our city, as we’ve already done with one church plant and are now assisting another set to launch this fall. We’re also launching our own new church in the form of a second OneLife location in August. And now we are also turning our attention to intentionally developing future church planters.

Starting this week, JR Isham is serving as OneLife’s first ever Church Plant Resident. He comes to us after three months of interviewing, raising financial support, and moving his family from Durham, NC to Knoxville. For the next 1-2 years, he will be spending time at OneLife in an intentional training program – along with our future campus pastors – to prepare for one day starting a new church. This is just another way that we can intentionally be part of starting new churches all over East Tennessee to impact our region with the gospel.

Originally from Rockwood, JR and Lindsey also sense God calling them to be part of new churches starting in East Tennessee. So they are now immersing themselves into the day-to-day life of a two-year old church plant at OneLife. JR will be learning everything he can about making disciples, leading the different ministries of a church plant, planning sermons and services, and starting a church from scratch. Then at some point in the future we’ll get to send him and his family out to start a new work. Along with OneLife, this residency program is a partnership with the Ignite Church Planters Network in Knoxville, giving JR more opportunities for training and exposure to other churches.

It is my hope that JR will be the first of many future church planters that we get to help prepare for the future. You’ll be seeing him and his family around OneLife a lot in the coming weeks. Make sure you introduce yourself and welcome them to the OneLife Family!

Check out JR’s blog here and Lindsey’s blog here to learn more about this awesome family!