Thank You! October 24, 2005

Yesterday was an amazing day! October is pastor’s appreciation month & while it might not be a big deal in other places it is huge here in the Southeast.

For those who are members and attenders of NewSpring…I would like to say thank you for the kind words and the nice gift. (For those wondering what I might have gotten…it was a trip for my wife and I to go to Snowshoe, WV and try skiing out…keep in mind that ‘Cretia can ski–and the last time I tried I wound up coming down the mountain on one of the medical snowmobiles.)
This time I pray it is different! :-)

It is so amazing to see how God has worked at NewSpring over the past five and a half years…lives have been changed and people who would ordinarily have never darkened the doors of a church have came and embraced Christ and the concept of Biblical community. Who would have thought something like this would have happened so quickly? We always knew that it would grow–but this is amazing.

And when we say, “It’s a God thing” around here–we mean it…now back to yesterday.

I truly felt appreciated as your pastor–BUT I want everyone to know that what is going on here is not the result of me “doing my thing,” but rather God working through an incredibly gifted group of staff and volunteers to impact the region around us.

For those who volunteer each and over week–thank you! God is using you to make a difference in the lives of people that you may never even get to meet on this side of eternity.

And to the staff–you guys rock. I heard John Maxwell say something a few years ago that has always stayed with me, “The teamwork makes the dream work.” God is using US–the TEAM to make His dream for our community happen. I appreciate each one of you more than you can imagine.

One more thing about yesterday–we had some special guests last night from Clemson–a few football players came with their chaplain, Tony Eubanks, and afterwards we went to Pizza Buffet & threw down on some food. I will be posting pictures later–if I can figure out how!!!

It’s A Great Day October 22, 2005

Saturday–football is on the tube, I am keeping up with the Clemson game on ESPN’s gamecast, we are going to wrap up a series that I have really enjoyed tomorrow at church called, “Living on a Prayer.” (For all you 80′s boys and girls…yes, we have used Bon Jovi’s song.)

Also we are going to be giving building tours tomorrow–YEAH! Only a few more months…

Also–if you are a NewSpring attender and want to read ahead…the text for tomorrow will be Luke 1:5-25. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

And yes, our band is going to rock it out…it is so hard to sleep on Saturday nights!!!

And next week we begin a new series called, “Hitch!”

Fun stuff!

Sound Great–Super Cool Person of the Week October 21, 2005

I don’t know how many of you were able to check out the concert last night–but it was awesome! The band did an incredible job…and I still say that Lee is the best worship leader in the country, his talent amazes me.

(For those unaware of what I am writing about–the worship band from NewSpring did a benefit concert last night to raise money for the victims of hurricane Katrina. A big shout out to the Civic Center and Custom Audio for partnering with us to make this work.)

I stood at the sound board during the first set of the concert and could not get over how incredible the band sounded. And that leads to my super cool person of the week.

As any musician (or former musician…that’s me–Lee kicked me out of the band when I hired him–I’m not bitter) knows–the person who runs sound has a lot to do with people’s perception of how good or bad the band really is. I have witnessed great bands and/or singers with amazing talent–but have seen them at the mercy of a clueless person running sound–and either people do not appreciate what is before them because they either can’t hear them–OR their ears are bleeding!

I have seen this in churches as well–too many times we will let someone with “a good heart” and is willing to run sound–NOT GOOD! We should give our best in everything that we do–and that means that the person running sound should have knowledge of what does & doesn’t sound good.

Props to my hero–Joel “Swole” Yates! He is the best sound engineer on the planet…trust me, I have never seen anyone as good as this guy. Ask our band–they will tell you that when Joel is running sound that there is no fear AND that they totally trust what he is doing.

Joel has been with NewSpring since the beginning. He met with us when there were about 15 people in a living room…and he actually played bass for a long time in our band. One day he told Lee that he did like playing…but his passion was running sound–thus a transition took place and BAM–here he is.

The thing that makes Joel so awesome is not just his ear for sound. (By the way–he is a student of sound…he travels to shows–reads–he is constantly in a state of learning.) But his servants heart is what sets him apart. He is one of the hardest and most dedicated workers I have ever seen.

Pastors–also–if you want to know who is and who isn’t coming to your church–you need to ask the person running sound. Joel & I usually talk about once a week about who he sees coming in…and he is an incredible resource for feedback because he can see the crowd’s reaction a lot better than I can.

I could go on and on–but Joel Yates rocks! Thanks Joel for all that you do–we’ve seen God do a lot in the past five and a half years–and the best is yet to come. You’re awesome dude!

Random Thought Thursday–Part One, It’s Still New! October 20, 2005

About a year and a half ago I bought a car…about the nicest car I have ever owned. (WOW, I have came a long way from the 1978 AMC bright orange Gremlin that I used to have. YES–there was a model of car actually called a Gremlin! It was a piece of work–I literally had to take two quarts of transmission fluid and a quart of oil with me everywhere I went!)

Sorry–I ramble at times!

Anyway–this new car had some features on it that I was not completely aware of, for example–seat heaters. I had never heard of these things–but when I bought the car I was told all about them and of how useful they would be on those cold winter mornings. I sort of halfway listened and began asking about things that mattered–like the stereo…

So about three months later I am riding down the road and I rolled down my window. However, unknowingly I hit the button on my seat heater and it began to work its magic.

After a minute or two I began to get really uncomfortable–my rear end was beginning to burn–I was sweating profusely…I began to run through scenarios in my mind, “What is happening to me? Am I going flippin’ crazy?” I literally thought at any moment I was going to see a bright light and then hear voices saying, “Come into the light, come into the light!”

My wife is a family practice doctor and was in the car with me at the time. I looked at her with what she describes as a desperate look and said, “Honey, something is wrong with me.”

“What do you mean,” she asked.

I didn’t know any other way to say it, “‘Cretia, my butt is on fire–it’s burning–it just started–am I crazy?”

There was a look of confusion on her face & she asked, “What exactly do you mean your butt is on fire?”

I said, “It is burning–it feels like someone is holding a blowtorch to it–look at me, I am sweating all over–what is wrong with me?”

She was doing her best to diagnose me and I just happened to look to my left & noticed a little yellow light on…it was the one indicating that my seat heater was working–of course, I didn’t need that stupid light to tell me that–my rear end was well informed.

Lucretia and I laughed about that–and we still do; in fact, I have been laughing the entire time I have been writing this! “But what does that have to do with God, the church, the Bible, leadership–anything spiritual,” I am sure this is the question some of you are asking.

Well–here goes…I had owned this new car for quite some time before I discovered the function of the seat heaters. Truth is that I had the seat heaters the entire time–I just never used them, or never even attempted to find out more about them. But once again–they were there all along. We have all experienced that when getting someone new–we continue to discover things about it as time goes on.

I had this thought as I was reading in the book of John this morning, “This is so awesome–this still feels so new to me!” John happens to be my favorite Gospel–I have read it dozens of times, but this morning I was seeing stuff that I have never seen before–and it was amazing. Now the truth is that what I saw this morning has always been there–but the more I investigate the more I learn.

The Bible says that His mercies are made new to us every morning. With a God as creative and exciting as the One we serve–how dare we portray Him as boring…or worse than that–allow Him to become boring in our lives. He gives us new stuff every day if we will simply keep our eyes open. I have never approached Scripture that I didn’t get some new thought or idea. I have never seen a sunset that looked the same. Every morning when I wake up next to Lucretia she is more beautiful than she was the morning before.

Jesus said that He would make all things new–and I believe it is up to us to not let the freshness of our faith get scuffed up by the world.

My prayer for you today is that you would allow the Lord to allow you to see something new! Seriously, take a look @ the sunset tonight–talk with someone and ask them, “What have you been learning lately?” I guarantee you they will tell you something new!

That’s the thing I love about my faith in Christ–it still feels new! He has made me knew and is creative enough to keep my attention…but I have to always be looking for it.

That’s it for now–check back later on for some “shout outs!”

Sometimes You Have To Laugh October 19, 2005

Whether you like it or not–you will offend someone. No matter who you are or what you do…for some reason there is a person or group of people who will get mad. You don’t even have to try to be offensive…trust me, I learned this on Monday morning upon arriving at the gym.

Let me set this up–I drive a Yukon that has one of those remote thingys that you can lock your door with. (I remember the first car I had with one of these…I would stand and lock and unlock the door just because I could!) When you lock the car the horn goes “beep.” (I know, some go “beep beep;” however, mine is just one “beep.”)

So I get out of my car, lock it while I am on the way in with my remote…and I see this older guy walking in…and he’s giving me a really dirty look. So I smiled at him (not the wise thing to do–I found this out later) and said, “Good morning–how are you?” (Once again–not the wise thing to do.)

This dude nearly melted down! He went off on me by saying, “I’m not good at all…these stupid people with these new cars…they are too gosh darn lazy (his exact words) to lock their stupid car…all they have to do is run their finger over a button–but NO, they have to blow their stupid horn and scare people half to death–there’s just no sense in that.”

Keep in mind that this was Monday morning…I had preached four services the day before and was still sort of out of it…so I didn’t realize at first that he was talking about me–so I kept smiling at him and said, “Man–that’s awful.”

Then he gave me a look that told me I should go to somewhere I can’t go because I am a Christian and walked in the door ahead of me.

Then it hit me, “He’s talking about me!” I realized that I must have scared this dude when I locked my door and that he was going off not on some random person–but me!!!

I stopped in my tracks…and then I just started laughing…I could not help it, I tried not to–I guess if I had been godlier I would have felt sorry for this guy–but I could not get the picture of what it must have looked like when I locked my car out of my mind.

Trust me–I didn’t mean to offend this dude. I didn’t sit in my car and scope him out and then blow the horn…I had no idea that this would even remotely affect anyone in a negative way. But nonetheless…he was ticked.

So what should my response have been? Maybe I should have apologized. Maybe I should not use my remote thingy anymore. Maybe I should just not lock my car! I am not sure what the Biblical thing to do was–but I could not help but laugh.

Like I said–sometimes you will offend people without even trying…and if you take the time to run around and apologize for every misconception or misunderstanding that you are involved in then…well…let’s just say you are going to live a miserable life.

I had a friend tell me once, “words don’t have meanings…people have meanings.” And that is so true–people hear what they want to hear and believe what they want to believe. Our job as followers of Jesus is to live a life that is above reproach…realizing that sometimes people will get offended without our knowledge…and we have to live with that. I suppose from time to time an apology might be necessary–but I didn’t feel that doing the “beep beep” thing with my remote was a clear violation of Scripture.

So how has this altered my life? Well…not really at all. I will continue to use my remote…I do not feel that repentance is in order here–but I will try to make sure when I use it that this dude isn’t even in the parking lot (unless I am feeling mischievious!)

Have an awesome day–and remember that our job is the relentless pursuit of who Christ called us to be–anything else is sin. (Props to Rob Bell for that quote!)

Did Jesus Smile? October 18, 2005

I believe that people have a really warped view of Jesus. It’s not their fault–the blame is to fall on the church. We have often painted Jesus as a dull, boring man who spouted out a list of rules and regulations that had to be followed…and we also think He spoke in 1611 King James language.

And my gosh…the pictures we’ve hung in our churches and homes have not boosted His image at all. There he is…pale, skinny, wearing a white robe with a purple sash, a sad look on His face & holding a lamb. Anyone inspired?

I’ve had a different view of Jesus since becoming a Christ Follower in 1990…I don’t seem Him as boring, dull, weak (remember the story of Him clearing the temple–He did it by Himself…He didn’t need any help) and having a really bad taste when it came to fashion. I have always thought quite the opposite.

I challenge you to read Scripture and see this for yourself–everyone wanted to be around Him, tax collectors, prostitutes, children…well, there were the religious people who thought their poop didn’t stink–they didn’t like Him–but pretty much everyone else did.

I think He was a joy to be around–He had to have smiled. In my quiet time right now I am going through the book of John…and I am seeing some things that I KNOW He smiled at. For example, in John chapter two He’s at a wedding. This isn’t your typical 20 minute ceremony–a Jewish wedding in these days was a major celebration–it was a PARTY! And why was He there? To preach against dancing and having fun? Nope–when you examine the text you see that He and His disciples were actually invited guests. Like it or not–Jesus went to a party!

Then in John chapter four He’s talking to the Samaritan woman–they have this really cool conversation about water and He tells her that He can give her water & she will never thirst again. Her response, she is confused and says, “Hey dude, you have nothing to draw water from a well with.” And then she goes on to say–DON’T MISS THIS–”Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well…”

This had to have brought a smile to His face. Here was the created asking the Creator, “Are you better than Jacob–it was he who gave us this well.” Uh, nope–the well was pretty much the work of Jesus–He was involved in Creation…and He created this woman as well–He created the mouth that spoke those words–the mind that had the thought. I think He smiled.

In another section in John the Pharisees asked Him, “Who do you think you are?” Um, yeah–can you imagine the look on their faces when they stepped into eternity–I promise you they had no doubt as to who He was and is! But when they asked Him this question–once again we see the created questioning the Creator–they had no idea–and I believed He smiled.

Or how about the time that the Apostles were going nuts over the temple? (OK–this is in Matthew 24, not John!) They were saying, “Hey Jesus, look at this place–isn’t it awesome, have you ever seen anything this cool?”

STOP! Where did Jesus come from? Heaven! He’s seen far more than our minds can handle! He’s seen the glory of God…and here are some men going crazy over a building. I don’t know about you–but I think He smiled.

Or how about the time the disciples were in a boat and He went two them, walking on the water? (The Bible says they were about 2 and 1/2 miles away from land.) Now Jesus was fully God–but He was also fully man…and every man loves to scare their friends if they can, right? So Jesus is walking on the water and the disciples “cried out” in fear. You may not think so–but I think He smiled.

I’ve said all that to say this–I believe that sometimes the godliest thing that we can do is smile at someone? Trust me–people don’t smile that much anymore–we’re too busy. But I have always seen Jesus in a God honoring smile. You say circumstances are overwhelming. Think about Jesus–He knew He was going to have to pay for the sin of the world–and He still was able to smile, we can learn from that.

Like it or not–Jesus smiled! He’s the coolest to ever walk the planet! So give someone a smile today and watch how it changes their attitude.

Who Let The Dogs Out? October 17, 2005

I have noticed an interesting development in my neighborhood…maybe you have this going on in yours; however, I have never seen anything quite like this.

First of all we have a lot of dog owners in our neighborhood. (Lucretia and I are considering purchasing a dog!) And many times I see these dog owners taking their dog for a stroll in the mornings and evenings so they can “handle their business.”

So this weekend I began to discover that people are putting up signs in their yard that say, “no dogs.” And I noticed this morning that one person had put signs up all over their yard indicating that dogs needed to stay out. (I can only imagine how the poor dogs feel!)

Now I am no detective…but I can only guess that what was happening was people were actually taking their dog (or dogs) to a neighbor’s yard and letting them take a poo-poo and then taking them back home. (Great neighbors, right?) WHAT IS THAT?

I can hear people trying to justify this, “Oh…well…uh, yeah–see, we were just strolling down the road and, well…I can’t control where the dog goes…and so right here is where it wanted to leave a message…and so what was I supposed to do?”

My question in return would be, “If it is YOUR dog and YOU are holding the leash then YOU could have made it stay in your yard and not have allowed its mess to affect me.” Nonetheless, I am sure countless dog owners place the blame on their canine friends and try to not accept personal responsibility.

This has no real spiritual meaning…I just thought it was really funny and really random. If you live in my neighborhood and you notice that ‘Cretia and I get a dog…don’t worry–we’re not coming to your house so our dog can make an attempt to mark his territory.

As far as the type of dog we are going to get–probably a chocolate lab…and I am considering naming him “Dog.” That way there will be very little confusion in his life.