I've moved!

Hey thanks for stopping by! This was the primary place that I was blogging, but now I've moved my blog over to www.jeremycopeland.com.

Hope to see you over there!

Read More

7 things I'm learning right now

This is simply a collection of random things I'm learning right now:

1. Following Jesus is messy. Those that see the world in black and white, clearly right and clearly wrong choices aren't living in my world. I'm not saying that there aren't right and wrong choices, I just don't think they are always that clear.
2. I just finished a book by N.T. Wright called "Simply Jesus." I wouldn't recommend it for easy reading - it was heavy and often difficult. But it was rich and deep. Here's a short summary of the book: Jesus is awesome. He's the King who has initiated a kingdom where things on earth are becoming "as it is in heaven." 
3. I spent parts of last week with a pretty controversial leader in church circles. Guess what? No one outside of the church cares how controversial he is. No one outside of the church bubble is debating what he says or writes. They are learning to love Jesus because of this person's winsome and loving approach. It brings to mind what I heard Andy Stanley say one time - "We can make a point, or we can make a difference." 
4. At that same gathering I was reminded of God's love for me simply because I am His child - not because of anything I do. Crazy unbelievable love.
5. Sin is painful. It's painful to watch those who have to live with the consequences of their choices. It's painful to watch the ripples carry through to family and friends and just about every area of life.
6. Friendship is really valuable. I spent a few days with some friends in CA last week and they restored my soul. So did In-N-Out and lots of mexican food.
7. Marriage is the greatest gift of God outside of forgiveness. My marriage is more important than my relationship with my kids and more important than ministry. If the only significant thing I do in my life is to have a healthy marriage I will consider myself wildly successful. 

What is one thing you are learning right now? Join the conversation.

Read More

A few reminders for STORYCHURCH

This is a big weekend for all of us who follow Jesus. And for STORYCHURCH, it's one of the biggest weekends in our short history. Here are a few things to remember going into the weekend for STORYCHURCH.

• Keep inviting. They say that most people will say yes if you simply invite them. Let's pack out the Carolina Theatre!
• Speaking of the Carolina Theatre - we're meeting there! Don't show up at Spring Valley Elementary or you will be lonely!
• Plan on joining us tomorrow (Saturday) at the Durham Easter event downtown from 2-4pm. Your kids will love it!
• On Sunday, please arrive early. We want to make sure we are ready to receive our guests so help us out by getting there early and getting your kids checked in.
• Parking will be at the YMCA across the street from the Carolina Theatre.
• It's not too late to volunteer to help us out as a greeter! Just show up early (at least 30 minutes) and we'll get you in place.
• Get those last eggs out for EggDurham!!
• Finally, continue being the generous church we have become by giving whatever you can to help the Durham Literacy Center through EggDurham.

I can't wait to celebrate the resurrection with you. Let's celebrate like never before!

Read More

2 Thoughts from yesterday

Yesterday at STORYCHURCH we talked about a story from Luke 8:40-48. It's a story about how Jesus healed a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. For 12 years she had been ceremonially unclean, which meant pretty much no human contact for the entire time. Can you imagine that?

I thought that maybe it was worth repeating here, so here are the highlights:

In a crowd of many, Jesus notices the one.

1. Jesus notices the one because He isn't in a hurry.

• The fact is that even while on his way to an emergency healing of someone else, Jesus has time for the woman in Luke 8. One of the things we pointed out yesterday was how often we may completely miss an opportunity that God has put in front of us to notice someone on the fringes. And many times, it's simply because we're too busy or in too much of a hurry to do something else.

2. Jesus notices the one because He is sensitive to those who reach out in desperate faith.

• While the crowd was pushing in on him to the point that Luke tells us it almost crushed him, Jesus asks "who touched me?" Lots of people were touching Him, and yet He noticed the touch of the woman who needed Him most. I wonder if we sometimes miss what is right in front of us because we just aren't sensitive to someone's desperate reach. What about when someone asks you about your church, or that STORYCHURCH bumper sticker on your car? What about when your coworker suddenly goes to another level with you by sharing about a personal struggle? What if we began to see the question beneath the question? What if we were alert to those who were hurting and looking for answers? How would that change our interactions with people?

3. Jesus notices the one because He values her story.

• We've all got a story. Yours may be exciting, or maybe it's boring. But it's your story. And if you've been transformed by Jesus then you need to tell that story. For this woman that Jesus healed, she had been relegated to the fringes of society for 12 years. And here in this moment, Jesus puts all the attention of the crowd on her so that she has an opportunity to tell her story. Do we value the people around us as stories of restoration and forgiveness? Do we long to see and hear those stories played out? What about your story? Are you happy to just hide in the crowd or will you allow Jesus to give your story a voice? Maybe your story is exactly what someone else needs to hear today.

In the end, I felt like God was challenging us with two specific action steps this week.

First, we committed to notice the one this week. To slow down enough to notice those who are hurting, and to be sensitive to the question beneath the question.

Secondly, we committed to share our story at least one time this week. For those who go to STORYCHURCH, we're willing to help give your story a voice. On our website we would encourage you to click the link that says "Share My Story". If you'll do that there, then we will help to spread your story and maybe connect it with those who need to hear it most.

Read More

Manager

Last week I had the opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour of the Baltimore Ravens training facility. We saw everything from the locker room to the weight room, from the the classrooms to the indoor practice facility. It was incredible. One of the highlights was getting to hear General Manager Ozzie Newsome share a bit about leadership.

One thing that stood out to me was his sense of accountability to the owner. He said that he was getting ready to have his annual meeting with the owner - something he called "a trip to the principal's office." Even someone as high up in an organization as Mr. Newsome still has to be accountable.

And that got me thinking. This week at STORYCHURCH we began a new series called "Treasure." My message this week was about how the biblical view of money and possessions is that we are MANAGERS not OWNERS. Everything under the heavens belongs to God. My car is actually God's car. My lumpy couch is actually God's lumpy couch. My role? I'm the manager. In fact, I like to think of myself as the "General Manager of the Copeland franchise." It's my job to spend the money, to take care of those who rely on me, to make sure my family is staying focused on what we are trying to accomplish as a family. But at the end of the day I'm just a manager. God is the owner. And I'm accountable to Him for what I do with what He's given me.

Jesus teaches us about this in Matthew 25:14-30. Three servants get entrusted with their Master's wealth. The Master goes away for a bit and eventually returns to settle accounts with his servants. He wants to know what they did with what He had given them. Two of the servants put those resources to work and actually earned more. One of them did nothing with it and actually buried it in the ground. The first two get rewarded with even greater things, while that third servant has everything taken from him because he proved that he wasn't a very good manager.

I don't know about you, but I want to be someone the Master can entrust with even greater things.

Read More

Tools

I love reading from other people what helps them be more efficient and more productive. Here's a couple of things that are helping me lately:

Evernote.

Seriously it is unbelievable. It's the only such tool that I actually pay for the premium service (though the free version is absolutely enough for most people).

In case you don't know, Evernote is basically a place to store anything and everything you need to remember. You use "tags" to organize things. Everything in it is searchable, including photos!

I currently forward every email that I want to keep to my evernote (every evernote user has a unique email address they can forward things to and it goes straight into their evernote account). I have also set up my printer/scanner so that I can scan every important document or receipt or photo or magazine article straight into Evernote - and then I THROW IT AWAY! Seriously. No more paper files.

I also have an evernote extension on my web browser so that every time I see something cool online - a blog post, a picture, an idea of any kind - I simply click the evernote button and it is now forever in my evernote account. No more bookmarking everything, no more trying to remember where I saw that post before.

The ipad and iphone apps are amazing and everything is synced instantly so it's all available no matter when or where I need it.

Kindle app.

So I'm one of those guys who loves the physical book. I love to feel it in my hands, I love to write on its pages and I love to be able to see my progress through a book. So going to an e-reader has been something I've really hesitated to do. But in a very short time I'm beginning to see the HUGE benefits to reading on my ipad.

First, if I continue to go this route - my entire book collection will eventually be with me at all times. Pretty cool. AND it will be searchable. Ever try and find that one quote from Andy Stanley but you aren't sure which chapter, or maybe not even sure which book it was in? Problem solved.

Second, the notes. So this is taking some time to adjust to - but I still have the option of highlighting and making notes on everything I read. Typing in my thoughts, using a stylus to highlight - these are new things I have to still get used to. But the benefit is this - everyone who has a kindle account (free through amazon.com) has a dedicated kindle page with all the books you've read and everything you've highlighted and every note you've made. Not only are those notes and highlights searchable on the ipad or kindle, but they are also searchable online. AND HERE'S THE KICKER - since they are on a webpage, I can "clip" them (an Evernote extension) and send them to my Evernote account. Which means, all of my notes for a particular book, and every highlighted paragraph or line is now right there in my Evernote account with a dedicated note for that book. And yes, it's searchable.

IFTTT.com

I've just recently started using this site, but if you use social media or blog or anything like that then this page is brilliant. It is basically a tool to help you organize your online presence. Through it you can create rules for everything you do online. IFTTT stands for "If this, then that". For example, I have a rule setup to where everytime I post a picture to my Instagram account, it adds that picture to a photo album on my Facebook account. I set it up once, and never have to worry about it again. You can set up rules for twitter, for your blog, for Facebook, or for any other account you use. It's amazing.

Anyway, that's a few things I'm using right now that are making my life more manageable. What tools are you using and how are you using them?

Read More

5 of my favorite things about yesterday at STORYCHURCH

Yesterday was another incredible day at STORYCHURCH. I believe we are experiencing some of the greatest days we have ever had as a church right now. Here again is a few reasons why I believe that:

1. Our Fight For Your Heart series is blowing my mind. We are seeing unbelievable breakthroughs for people as we confront some of the most dangerous attitudes of our hearts.
2. Andrew Cron made his singing debut for us yesterday. (Yeah, that made the top 3.) Oh, and you can buy the song he sang HERE and watch it above.
3. STORYKIDS is making giant leaps forward every single Sunday. It is one of the BEST things going for us right now. New check-in, new classrooms, new bright colorful classes, new signs, new technology that has brought in new energy and excitement. The WOW factor has gone WAY UP. (PARENTS - did you know you can follow STORYKIDS on twitter? Now you do.)
4. We had 15 people at CHAPTER FOUR: DREAM TEAM yesterday learning how they can be used by God in our church community!! YES!! (By the way, don't miss CHAPTER ONE: CHURCH this Sunday.) To find out more about the GROWTH TRACK - go HERE.
5. Saw this on Facebook from a STORYCHURCH mom this week: "[My son said] I don't wanna go to dr., I want to go to church." - LOVE THAT!!

If you go to STORYCHURCH, tell me what excites you about what is going on right now. I'd love to hear from you.

Read More

7 Reasons yesterday was awesome

Yesterday was one of the best days we've ever had as a church. Here's why:

1. People were set free. Many of us CANCELED THE DEBT of someone who hurt us. And in doing so, we not only set them free but ourselves as well. Anger no longer holds the power over us that it did.
2. Our first ever CONNECTION GROUP FAIR! ->
   This spring STORYCHURCH launches 9 different connection groups. Yesterday was your first opportunity to see each one, to learn about their groups and to get plugged in. If you didn't get to sign up, you can go HERE now.
3. We played Angry Birds. I'm not talking about that guy who plays on his cell phone all service long - we played it from the stage. That was pretty fun.
4. The worship team was outstanding. We have seriously one of the greatest teams on the planet and we are so blessed to have them lead us every week.
5. STORYKIDS continues to be more and more exciting. I am SO IMPRESSED with our leaders, the work they put in, and the quality of ministry they put forward each week.
6. Speaking of our kids ministry - we added two new staff people yesterday to our kids ministry. Shawn and Annie are HEROES!
7. Our DREAM TEAM knocked it out of the park yesterday. I saw people switching roles to cover for others who were sick, greeters standing out in the freezing cold (because the 1>99!), people creatively solving problems and finding new and better ways to do what we do, and never settling for "good enough."

I LOVE MY CHURCH!

What was your favorite part of yesterday?

Read More

Fight for Your Heart

It's time for a check up. Your spiritual health depends on you having a healthy heart.

Guilt. Anger. Greed. Jealousy.

These four things represent spiritual heart disease.

If you've ever found yourself lashing out and wondering "Where did that come from?" or you find yourself secretly celebrating a coworker's failure, or maybe you constantly try and make up for something you did long ago - you've probably got a heart issue. And it won't be long before it affects every area of your life.

Over the next few weeks at STORYCHURCH, we will challenge you to move toward confession, forgiveness, generosity and celebrating other's successes. We will challenge you to fight for your heart.

I can't wait to see what God does in your life and in mine. I believe He is going to bring about healing in ways we didn't even think was possible.

(If you want to get a head start, I recommend reading Andy Stanley's book Enemies of the Heart.)

Read More