Thoughts On Being Prepared July 21, 2005

I mentioned that the creativity team met and I feel that we have put together an awesome message for my return on the 31st of this month. If you attend New Spring or listen on-line then I know you have probably heard me speak about the incredible team of creative people I have surrounded myself with…and on more than one occasion I have had people ask me exactly what goes into preparing a message at New Spring.

Let me be very up front–I believe in being prepared–and being prepared as a speaker involves a lot of time. This has not always been a conviction of mine…I used to sort of have the attitude that I would get up to speak, have a passage in mind, read it–and then “let the Spirit move me” in whatever direction He wished.

But since that time I have discovered that the moving and working of the Holy Spirit is not limited to a one hour window on Sundays. The Holy Spirit moves me to always be thinking about the message that I will be speaking on–He is present with me in my times of study–He is present with me as I am preparing and running through the message in my living room–and He is present with me as I present the message.

I can honestly say that every message that I speak is Spirit led–I usually have about 90% of what I want to say in mind when I step out on stage to speak every Sunday–and He always moves and gives me about 10% more than I had planned to say.

I believe God honors those who honor Him through loving Him and the people who are going to be in attendance. How do we honor God & those people–if we are the speaker–it means that when we step up–we are prepared. I am guided by the conviction that people are willing to give me 30-40 minutes of their time every week…and I do not want to communicate in that time that God is boring or meaningless–so I prepare.

My preparation for a message usually begins at least three weeks out. (Sometimes it will be several months!) I begin with a Bible and a blank sheet of paper without any lines! (It’s a personal thing!) I begin to explore passages of Scripture and I journal my thoughts as I go through this–this normally takes at least an hour or two.

Then I take those thoughts and try my best to put them in some sort of outline form that will make it both easy for me to communicate and easy for people to understand. This is probably the most challenging part of the process. After I put my thoughts in outline form I continue to add to the outline and take away from it for about a week. (I usually develop four or five days a week to this process.)

Then, after I feel like I have squeezed as much out of it as possible I send my notes to our creativity team here at the office. They have about a day to review it & then we meet, usually at 9:30 on Tuesday mornings, to review the message. The people on this team will often offer other views that I had not thought of, challenge views that I may be presenting, assist in the development of incomplete thoughts…it is an amazing process and I feel has helped me to be a much more effective communicator.

(For example–this past year for mother’s day I invited every female in our office to assist in the development of the message. I met with them one day for a brainstorming session that I expected to last for 30 minutes–we went for an hour and a half–did you know that women are extremely detailed? Then I took their thoughts, developed them around a passage of Scripture, and gave a message that totally communicated to women on a level they could connect with. I feel that pastors many times forget that there are people in their congregation who do not always appreciate sports illustrations–that is why it is so important to have females on this team!)

After the team assists me in dissecting the message I then wrestle with it for the rest of the week, often asking two or three people from the team to come into my office so I can bounce “my new angle off of them.” Then the next week I usually begin trying to speak the message on Tuesday or Wednesday–committing it to memory so that I can connect with my audience instead of my notes on stage.

Well–that’s it–that’s how we do it here at New Spring. I am not saying that we are the best…this process continues to develop–but we are convinced that we need to work as if everything depends on us…and then pray as if everything depends on God–that combination will assist anyone in becoming a more effective communicator.

Quick Update & Return Date To Speaking July 20, 2005

I wanted to let everyone know that I am doing great. I actually got out of the house today and went to Sullivan’s for lunch. Oh wow–it was so good! And tonight Lucretia and I went out with Jason & Sherry to Brick City Grill and then to Brusters.

(Yes, I had birthday cake ice-cream. I have said it before–I will say it again–if you have not had birthday cake ice cream from Brusters, please, stop what you are doing RIGHT NOW and go get some–your taste buds will leap for joy.)

My energy level is slowly getting back to normal. I am still a little tired during the day–which I have been told is normal since I lost so much blood. (Sorry–I went from ice cream to blood–my bad!)

Anyway–it looks like that I will be speaking again at New Spring on Sunday, July 31. Trust me–go ahead and begin inviting people now! If you have friends and family that do not know Christ…or that might be bitter with God about something–start telling them now. The creativity team and I spent a lot of time on the message and I think it will be one that you do not want to miss.

If you do not live in Anderson…or you happen to be out of town that week you can go to our church website and the sermon will be up on the following Monday!

BUT–if you are a “New Springer,” please do not miss this Sunday! One of my good friends, Tracy Barnes, from Fellowship Church is going to be speaking. This dude is awesome…and I am pumped about what God is going to do through him. He has an amazing story that he will be sharing with us this Sunday! Don’t miss it. Remember this–New Spring is going to rock whether I am there or not–so don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “It’s not going to be good b/c Perry is not there.” I am not the only person God can speak through…and I am telling you that Sunday will be one for the books!

Pray for my strength to continue to build…and pray that the Lord will do a great work through me on the 31st…I can’t wait to get back! I am fired up!

I will be doing another post later on–right now it is around 10pm…I am going to be sleeping late in the morning so my post will be up probably by lunch time. Thanks again for all your prayers.

No Wonder They Make Fun Of Us July 19, 2005

I have wrestled with posting this thought…but I have to–I can’t get it out of my mind.

This past Sunday was hard for me–really hard. I was going to stay at home and not go to New Spring–this is not normal–but I was told to try to “take it easy!” But I did want to receive some sort of inspiration–to hear someone teach God’s word in a creative, relevant manner…so I thought, “No problem–I’ll just cut on the television and watch some good ‘ole TV preaching.”

I have not yet recovered from the trauma that took place!

Let me be very clear–there are about two, count them, two television preachers that I like. The first is TD Jakes–seriously, I would listen to that guy talk about how to sell shoes. You might not totally agree with his theology–but hands down he is one of the top communicators in America.

The second one I like is Ed Young. And no, it’s not because he is a friend of mine…but because he has a way of taking the Bible and making it creative and relevant to the audience to which he is speaking to. And–in my opinion–he is the coolest dresser ever! Seriously, when it comes to my personal wardrobe selection I always catch myself asking the question, WWEW? (What Would Ed Wear?)

But as far as the rest…well, I have five suggestions…

#1 – Please get in touch with reality! I felt as if I needed a theological dictionary to keep up with many of these guys. They used words like “anointed” and “redeemed” and “in the Spirit” which all have a very significant meaning to the mature believer; however, the lost and unchurched person has no idea what these words mean.

#2 – Can I just say two words–BAD HAIR! Oh my gosh, I make fun of bad hair TV preachers sometimes–but I had no idea it had gotten that bad.

#3 – Stop begging me for money! And no, this is not just “the faith movement.” I was so bothered by people saying that God wanted to bless me…but that His blessing on my life was dependant upon whether or not I “sowed a seed” into their ministry. (Seed sowing can be done by check or credit card–ONE GUY ACTUALLY CLAIMED THAT BY PUTTING “YOUR SEED GIFT” ON YOUR CREDIT CARD–IT WOULD CAUSE GOD TO RELEASE HIS BLESSING MUCH QUICKER!!! I wanted to go through the television!!!)

Also there was a dude saying how his show was going to have to be discontinued because they were not receiving the support they needed. You know what I always say–if the horse is dead–let it die!

#4 – Give me something I can use in my life–today! Yeah, it’s awesome that David killed Goliath, I’m pretty proud of the guy. But honestly, if I am at rock bottom and in desperate need of a relationship with Christ–I don’t really care about David and Goliath–but I am interested in a God who can help me slay the giants in my life–tell me about that.

#5 – Get the choir out of the picture. Seriously–those people look mean and mad. I honestly don’t think I saw one happy person in the choir! If you are going to allow them to sit back there then have a sign put in front of each of them that says, “Smile–please–I will be done in less than 5 minutes!”

I am not trying to be mean…it is just that I deeply care so much about people who are outside the kingdom–who do not have a relationship with Christ. I know these people are surfing their channels and they see the same things that I do–and what is worse–they think all Christians are that way.

Please don’t take this post the wrong way! I KNOW I am not the best communicator in the world…and I know that I have a lot of growth opportunities in this area of my life–but it is my passion to be able to communicate in such a way that the mature believer in the room can get it and the lost and unchurched person can get it as well. This comes through preparing as if all the work depends on me and then praying as if all the work depends on God.

Speaking of that–maybe I will post in the future how I feel about sermon preparation…and how my opinion has changed over the past three years.

Leadership Thoughts July 18, 2005

The executive staff at New Spring had our meeting yesterday morning in my living room. (The doctor said I should not return to work yet–but he didn’t necessarily say that work could not come to me!) :-)

Let me just say this–I could not be more proud of the group of people whom I feel God has surrounded me with to assist in the leadership of this church.

To put it bluntly–I almost died last week. I was in ICU for several days–I was completely incapable of making a decision or attending a meeting…I was out of the loop.

But the work of the church went on; in fact, these guys didn’t miss a beat. They knew what they needed to do and they got it done with level 10 excellence.

I was speaking to a staff member last week from my hospital bed and said, “You know, it is sad–but if this had happened to the senior pastor in a typical church then I believe that church would be freaking out and its foundations would be falling in.” And please believe me…I am not saying that we are better than everyone else–it is just that in many chuches the pastor does EVERYTHING–the visiting, the preaching, the meetings…you name it. And so when the pastor leaves or something bad happens to the guy the church sort of dangles there–praying for the next senior pastor to come along and rescue it…or for a quick return of the current senior pastor.

But not New Spring. We have a structure in place where each person leads a main area of the church and I am in charge of leading the people who lead those areas. I have hired people who I love and trust–who get the vision–who are in love with Jesus–and who know how to make things happen. And because of this structure I can honestly say that while I was flat on my back last week…I didn’t worry for one single second about the ministry of New Spring–I knew it was going to be awesome because of the capable people in place who were getting the job done.

I am not one of those pastors who feel like I need to do everything; in fact, I have discovered that I am good at about three things…leadership, casting vision, and teaching…and if you get me outside of those core areas then I promise I will mess something up.

The argument here is, “Well Perry, you need to work on your weaknesses and become a more complete person.” That is a bunch of bull. Let’s take Michael Jordan for example–he was an excellent basketball player–probably the best the game has ever seen. But what happened to him when he tried to “develop his weakness” as a baseball player. Uh, yep–he bombed and eventually had to make a return to basketball.

I do not believe in the “well-rounded” person. I believe that God has designed each of us to be good at two or three things…and when we get into that zone is where we see the most effective results.

One of the reasons our staff is so effective is that each person is “in the zone” and doing what God has called them to do–and that is so cool because when I was out–well–the truth is–I wasn’t missed that much. Don’t get me wrong…I don’t think the staff threw a party because I was in the hospital–but once again they did their work and didn’t need to consult me to make sure they were doing it right. They had been released to do ministry–and they felt the freedom to operate within their areas the way God was leading them.

I have always heard that in leadership those closest to you will determine your level of success–if that is the case then I feel I am in good hands–because the people around me are awesome…I could not do ministry without them!

A Wife Of Noble Character Who Can Find? July 17, 2005

Lucretia is awesome! If you attend New Spring you hear stories about my hot wife a lot; however, during this recent issue with my health she has gone far beyond what I could have ever expected of her–she truly is a Proverbs 31 woman.

Without giving a lot of information away (I am saving the story for my first sermon back) she saved my life. It was her persistence that led to the discovery that I wasn’t doing as well as I should be after my first surgery. She called 911…I have listened to a recording of the call…she was so calm and was totally in charge of the situation. I admit that I would have probably freaked out–she was a rock.

When we got to the ER she stayed right by my side, I remember her explaining what they were doing to me…although I could not really respond. When it came time to do the emergency surgery on me one of the surgeons offered to let her go into the OR while they operated on me and watch the whole thing–she went, she literally put on scrubs and everything. Once again, I don’t think I could have done that–but she wanted to be in there with me.

When I woke up in ICU on Friday morning she was right there, holding my hand. She told me what had taken place and explained what was going on from a medical point of view. (It is so good that I married a doctor!) She would not leave my side; in fact, I had to assure her over and over that I wanted her to go home and get some rest and that I was in good hands before she ever would leave.

When it came time to give me my first bath in the hospital bed…she assisted the nurse who was in charge. And nearly every time the surgery incision had to be cleaned–she either offered to do it or assisted in the procedure.

When I needed something she made sure I had it. If I asked her to do something then it got done. When we came home she practically waited on me hand and foot and made sure that I was not lacking anything. Seriously, there was never a time during this entire ordeal that I felt neglected by my wife.

And get this–and this is HUGE–she has done all of this without complaining. NOT ONE WORD of moaning and groaning. She has not said, “Now you know you owe me big time for all of this.” She has not kept track of all the things that she has done. She has not had to “go and vent” to her friends about what a burden taking care of her husband is. She has had a gentle and quiet spirit and has totally honored the Biblical role of a wife by making sure that I am taken care of.

I have to admit that the way she has treated me has been overwhelming. However, if I had thought about it before hand I would have expected nothing less. She has always given her very best in our relationship…and we just experienced a time where she had a lot to offer and I had a lot of need. At times along the way I have felt bad about not being able to give back…and when I say something to her about it she always says, “It’s not a big deal,” and then goes about whatever she’s doing.

So I said all that to say this–if you are a husband, take the time today to appreciate your wife. Do something nice for her–for no reason at all. (In other words–do something without expecting something in return…some of you may need help with this!!!) You never know when you are going to be flat on your back one day and she is going to be the chief caretaker for you. I would like to think that one of the reasons that Lucretia has taken such good care of me is that I am all about always taking good care of her. (One of the other reasons is that she is the godliest woman that I know!!!)

If you go to New Spring there is a good chance that you don’t have an idea who Lucretia is. She is not a “spotlight” person, she does not really enjoy crowds…and she doesn’t speak unless she really feels like she has something of some importance to say. (Right the opposite of me!) However, that’s the way I like it. I have always told her that she is my wife–not the churches, and she has embraced the role of being my wife and has always done an incredible job.

Yeah God for giving me Lucretia–she’s the greatest!

Quick Update And A Few Random Thoughts July 15, 2005

It’s Friday and my recovery is going very well. Lucretia took me to the doctor this morning and he said that things are looking great and feels that maybe his biggest challenge ahead of him now is trying to hold me back! :-)

After the doctors visit Lucretia took me to Sonic and I had their awesome onion rings for the first time in a long time. Oh wow–they were so good. If you have never had the experience of Sonic onion rings then do yourself a favor and go get some!!! My appetite continues to improve…I am seriously thinking that tomorrow night that I will get a to go plate from Little Pigs. (If you live in Anderson then you know how awesome Little Pigs is…if not then I am truly sorry–their BBQ rocks!!!)

Oh yeah, while at the doctors office we had some of the incredible nurses who work there tell us of more rumors that they had heard concerning me such as I had my wisdom teeth removed, hemorrhoid surgery…and my personal favorite–a vasectomy reversal! Uh…yeah–none of these are true either–I promise!

It was totally fun just being outside and seeing trees and the sun and people riding around in cars–the things we often take for granted. I am going to be trying to get out a little more over the next few days–nothing too heavy–just one step at a time.

Thanks once again for all of your prayers and support…continue to pray that my body will heal quickly so that I can get back into the swing of things.

Have You Heard The One About… July 14, 2005

I had this thought last Saturday morning while lying in the ICU unit, “Oh my gosh, what in the world are people outside the hospital saying about my condition.” Anderson, SC is a southern town, people talk–they even talk about things they do not know about–and when they do not know all of the information–they fill in the holes with their own ideas.

So far this is what I have heard has happened to me…(and please understand…I am writing this with a smile on my face!!!)

#1 – I had a heart attack! This is not true–I promise, I had a heart cath done and was told everything looks great. Sorry to disappoint those who thought they had the scoop!

#2 – I was in a major car wreck. This is not true either–if it is then the dude who repaired my car did an amazing job and was able to complete therepair in record time. Also the ambulance that came and got me came to my house–so I guess this major accident would have had to have taken place either in my driveway or my garage. I admit that my garage has a lot of stuff in it…and that I do think major damage could be done in there…but the car wreck thing just isn’t true.

#3 – I had bypass surgery when I was younger and suffered complications from that. I will admit that before I came to Christ that I had a problem with alcohol; however, I would have had to have been seriously intoxicated to have had bypass surgery without knowing about it. I promise I have never had heart surgery.

#4 – I had a stroke. Nope, this one isn’t true either. My father had a stroke about a year or so ago–and his last name is Noble as well–maybe somebody just had some really delayed information on the wrong Mr. Noble.

#5 – I had a blood clot. Uh…wrong again! No blood clots at all.

#6 – I had an abdominal aortic aneurysm – my wife had to assit me on the spelling of this one. (She’s a doctor!) And survey says–WRONG! This one, once again, is not true.

Gossip–I think it has been well illustrated here.

A few of the things I have personally taken away from this…

#1 – When you are telling someone about something–make sure you have your facts straight. All too often I have been guilty of telling people what I have heard and they ask for clarification on an issue…and instead of saying that I do not know I respond with what seems to make logical sense. This may seem harmless–but saying something that isn’t true is–well–it’s a lie.

#2 – Make sure that your source is reliable. If you hear something from your neighbor who had just received a phone call from his friend, whose cousin had ran into someone at Wal-Mart, who was at a meeting when they happened to overhear a cell phone call–maybe the facts have been diluted just a tad by the time they make it to you.

#3 – Resist the urge to seem to be the person “in the know.” All too often I find myself wanting to be the source of information–don’t you. And with this temptation comes, once again, the desire to “fill in the holes” with your side of the story.

Proverbs 18:8, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”

A friend of mine once described gossip as “verbal pornography.” Basically it gives you stimulation without any accountability. That is what a gossip does–spreads false information and then when they are asked, “Why did you say this,” they reply, “Well so-and-so told me,” and the buck continues to be passed on.

As I have said–God has taught me a lot through this process…and one of the things has been to keep a tighter grip on my tongue…and if I talk about something–that I should know what I am talking about–that way I will be considered reliable.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support. I do have a follow up visit with one of the doctors in the morning…I will let you know how things are continuing to develop.