Over the past few weeks, I began waking up and thinking about really small and random things about church planting and I just couldn’t get back to sleep. It was really small things like, ‘I don’t know how to run pro presenter 7, and we don’t have anyone who does right now!’  I’m telling you, this small thought kept me up 2 hours! It’s been crazy!

I wanted to title this post, “I’m in trouble with the law. Kind of,” but my wife always keeps me from making bad choices. (Usually).. But just last week I got contacted by a lawyer representing another church, saying that Grow Church has been trademarked since 2019 and we can no longer use it. I called the pastor thinking it was a joke, but sure enough, they trademarked it so they could be the only one in the nation, even though almost every church in the nation shares a name with someone, somewhere. Also, most of you know how our name is tied very closely to our mission and values. It rattled me! If a tiny thing like a computer program kept me up at night, imagine how I slept this night!

I was angry, hurt, and I dreamt about being really petty and trying to put them on blast for their community and the world to see the injustice of this church that is 22 hours away bullying our little church plant in Iowa and forcing us to change up everything from our designs and logos, to all the signage and banners (that we had just ordered a week before)!  Come on, you know you dream about being petty sometimes too. 🙂  But just the thought of having to go through all the cost and work of redesigning and re-ordering everything made me sick.

As I lied in bed awake yet again, I began to shift my focus on Jesus. Thanking Jesus for what He has done. Praising Jesus for who He is. Thanking him in advance of the hearts that will be impacted no matter what our name is. Even praying for this church across the country with the same name as ours; not because I felt like it, but because I just wanted to be obedient to scripture. I began worshipping Jesus in the middle of these problems that probably aren’t big for anyone else, but in the moment they were to me. A funny thing happened as I shifted my focus from my issues to my savior… those issues seemed to get smaller and smaller, and that anxiety seemed to disappear!

Why? Because what you focus on is MAGNIFIED! If you focus on your issues, they are magnified, but if you focus on your God, He is Magnified!!  If you focus on hurt, it grows… but if you focus on love, it will grow!

Philippians 4:8 says “Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

I love how it says to fix your thoughts, because they so easily wander. However, we are in control, and in one moment we can choose to fix them on something pure, right, and lovely!

Because the truth is, God has been so good and faithful, that He’s not about to let us down now! I had an incredible visit to Freedom Church in Oklahoma a few weeks ago and had the opportunity to preach, and they blessed and supported us financially in an incredible way! Praise God! We have a location that will be fantastic as a meeting space. Thank you Jesus! I have the opportunity to speak at Crossroads church in Lincoln this Sunday, and I can’t wait! People’s Church in OKC showed a video of our family to their church last week as well and it was awesome to see the church that we were a part of for 5.5 years rally behind us!

We have added more people to our launch team, and asked a few others who are considering it as well! This is all before we officially start inviting people in the community to join us this March!

I love how God grows our faith, and I love how when we apply God’s word to our situation, something amazing happens… it actually works! So this week take some time to FIX your thoughts on the things you want Magnified.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! God has been soo faithful, and He’s just getting started!

Pray for:
– Lives to be saved and changed through our church this year
– Our church name trademark issue
– 100 launch team members by September 1
– Open doors and favor in the city
– Increased financial support, provision, and growth
– Truck (praise God for our trailer to store things, and we are praying for a truck to haul it, or a launch team member that would just oversee this totally.)

Even if our name changes, our mission won’t! Let’s Go Reach Our World!

Arjay Johnson