I just got an e-mail this morning saying that our domain name, www.ExponentialChurch.tv had automatically renewed as per my contract with the hosting company.  What this simply means is that it’s been 2 years to the day since I officially decided on what the church name was going to be.

It was in October of 2009 that God gave me the vision for Exponential.  The next few months consisted of making sure this was God’s will for our lives and not just a bad reaction to the pepperoni pizza I had eaten the night before.  A part of this process took Lisa and I out to San Diego for a week-long church planter’s assessment.  It was a grueling week of assessments, psychological testing, team exercises, quizzes, presentations and constantly having 25+ people evaluate your every move.

Although we had previously discussed names for the potential church, God didn’t confirm any until Lisa and I were back in our hotel room after yet another intense day of evaluation.  That was two years ago today and of course the name chosen was Exponential Church.

The reason for this was quite simple.  During my years working for Purpose Driven Ministries, part of the teaching I did for pastors was about Exponential Faith Thinking.  Essentially this means that you must have a vision, goals and dreams SO BIG that if God doesn’t show up and do something miraculous, those dreams and goals will never come true.

By thinking this big, it does two things for you.  First, it will drive you to your knees in prayer begging God to do something great on your behalf.  Since you know you can’t  do it without Him, this big vision will force you to be utterly and totally dependent on Him.  Second, when your dreams and goals are fulfilled, you won’t possibly be able to receive the credit for it…all the praise will go to how great God is, not how smart you are.

This whole line of thinking fit perfectly with the vision God had given me.  What I was experiencing in San Diego was only confirming that. It’s a huge vision that I’m not nearly smart enough to accomplish without God doing something great in and on my behalf.  The name Exponential also described the type of impact I know God is calling us to have.  Yes, we are starting in Harrisburg and that is our primary place God has called us to reach, but I truly believe that we’re going to do things that will make an eternal difference in our state, nation and world.

Now you might be saying, “That’s awesome but what about the .tv part?”  Glad you asked.  So 2 years ago today as God confirmed the name, I immediately decided to go ahead and buy the domain name.  One problem… .com, .org, .net, .info and many of the other common extensions are owned by others.  Immediately God reminded me of that a couple of churches that I greatly admire have the .tv extension…in fact some of them even made it a part of their name since it’s still uncommon here in the US.  A quick search and sure enough www.ExponentialChurch.tv was available.  A month later when we filled out all of our legal paperwork, I included the .tv in the name so people won’t have to guess how to find us on the web.

So now you know.  Two challenges for you:  First, are you thinking Exponentially in your own life and ministry?  Life is too short to waste it on small dreams.  Second, if you’re a part of ExponentialChurch.tv are you serving in some way?  The vision is too big and the stakes too high for you to simply sit on the sidelines as a spectator.  Discover what it is that God is calling you to do to help make this Exponential vision a reality!