Be Careful February 28, 2006

So I am riding down the road the other day and I saw something I have never seen in my entire life. I look at the car next to me and the driver is WATCHING TELEVISION! Maybe this is normal, maybe this is something that is coming our way…but for some strange reason I felt just a little nervous considering I was next to this person and they were traveling at a high rate of speed.

Have you seen things like this? I have had conversations with people who change clothes riding down the road. (Please don’t do this–can you imagine explaining yourself if you had a wreck, “You see officer–the reason I was totally nude was…”) And then there are the ladies I have seen putting on makeup while cruising to work!!! And then, of course, there is the cell phone talker who has to use their hands when they talk–which is not a problem except for the fact that their HANDS SHOULD BE ON THE STEERING WHEEL!!!

Yep–I would say that the reason that many accidents take place on our roadways today is simple…people just are not careful. We are supposed to be driving…but instead we watch television, put on makeup and change clothes!

You know its crazy–but I think this all ties in to our walk with Christ as well. I have been reading through the Bible since December…and one of the things that has always fascinated me was in the book of Deuteronomy where Moses is reminding the Israelites of all that God has done…but then he uses the phrase over and over again, “BE CAREFUL…”

Seriously, read through the book of Deuteronomy and see how many times God communicates to His people that they need to be careful to follow His ways…be careful not to follow other gods…over and over you see it.

And that message is still relevant today. Just in case you may not have noticed–we do not live in a morally neutral culture. We have to make choices everyday that will affect our walk with Christ…and so we need to be careful.

Singles–BE CAREFUL when it comes to dating. How many of you have made serious dating mistakes because you said, “Well, they are not godly–but I can fix that,” and so you go along thinking you are the Holy Spirit…and before you know it you feel trapped in a relationship that is not at all what God had in mind. BE CAREFUL…godly men and women have options and should never settle!!!

When making financial decisions–BE CAREFUL! How many of us have rushed into buying something we did not need…but we were convinced we could make the minimum payment & so we went for it. And now the money we make does not go to us…it has DISCOVERED a way to make banks bigger and our homes smaller.

When it comes to marriage–BE CAREFUL! You will never just have “extra time” to spend with your spouse. One of the things I have discovered is that Lucretia’s love language is quality time, and as her husband that flatters me…she actually WANTS to be around me…and so I HAVE to guard that time with her…I have to BE CAREFUL or my schedule will fill up with other things. I have to “choose to cheat” as Andy Stanley would say, and cheat other people or other opportunities…but never my wife.

I learned an incredibly valuable lesson in this last week…when it comes to twho you listen to–you need to BE CAREFUL. There are some people in your life (hopefully) that love Jesus and love you…these are the people you need to listen to the majority of the time. You cannot let those who do not even know you let the general statements they make about you dominate your thoughts and actions.

In life in general–we need to BE CAREFUL. I have to shake my head when I think of how many bad decisions I could have avoided if I had just been careful…if I had just slowed down long enough to really think about the situation.

I have to confess–when I left the house this morning…I WAS NOT CAREFUL and so I forgot the recipe again…I will try to put it up tonight.

What A Weekend!!! February 27, 2006

First of all–let me apologize for not putting up the red velvet cake recipe on Saturday…I had the best of intentions; however…we did our 12 mile run–and it was AWESOME. It began raining about 2/3 the way through and it felt great.

BUT…I think I have sustained my first running injury…it is my left hamstring. It doesn’t hurt, but it is definitely letting me know that it is there. I felt it twitch in about mile four of our run–and yet we still managed to do an 8:45 pace for 12 miles.

So I got home and had lunch with ‘Cretia…and then was going to take a nap for 30 minutes…I woke up TWO HOURS LATER! Oops–my bad!

So I grabbed the recipe this morning and was going to bring it with me…and upon looking at it there are some things that I need for ‘Cretia to explain to me first–so I promise–sometime this week.

We had baptism this past Saturday night! This was one of the most moving things I have ever experienced, watching 87 people confess Christ as their Lord is an amazing event. Let me share a few stories…

The first is about a couple that came in and was registering. One of our staff members began to ask them about how they had first began attending NewSpring and how they came to receive Christ. They said that they had both been in church all their lives…but they accepted Christ the first Sunday they ever attended NewSpring because this was the first time they had ever heard about anyone having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

That pumped me up AND fired me up at the same time. I was pumped that they had received Christ…and I was fired up at the fact that they had been in church all their lives and had never heard the GOSPEL!

The second story was about a dude who was in attendance and seemed to be sort of in awe at the entire ceremony. He asked one of our staff members, “What do you guys do here?” She asked him what he meant and he replied, “Why are all of these people being baptized…I’ve been in church all my life and I have only ever seen two people baptized…I am going to come back here sometime and see what you guys are doing.”

That pumped me up AND fired me up at the same time! This dude had been in church for most of his life–and had only seen two people baptized! WHAT IS THE DEAL? What in the world is going on in the church? People are not receiving Christ. People are not being baptized. I don’t know about you but that bothers me!

Yesterday was a great day! (And it seems that Granger had an awesome day as well…the church I posted about last Monday…you can read about it here.) I spoke with Tony on the phone yesterday and the dude was PUMPED!

AND this week is going to be a blast–First Wednesday will be THIS Wednesday at 6:30! I can’t wait!

That’s about it for the day…oh yeah…I know I link this dude A LOT–but Mark hit it out of the park with this post…it has a lot to do with what I dealt with last week–check it out!

Random Thought Friday February 24, 2006

WOW–what a week! After all that has been happening–especially in the realm of “blog-world,” I have to say–God is AWESOME…I can’t believe I get to do what I do.

A few thoughts on this Friday morning…

First–tomorrow night is baptism at NewSpring. We will begin at 5:00…it will be the first baptism in our new building. We will see right around 100 people confess Jesus as Lord tomorrow–and in my opinion–there is nothing sweeter on the planet!

Second–our messages at NewSpring are now available on itunes…to subscribe to our podcast you can go here.

Third–our home group met last night and the discussion was awesome. We are currently going through the book of James…we did chapter four last night. WOW–James was an intense dude!
Oh yeah–Lucretia made another one of her awesome cakes–but it wasn’t red velvet–it was a white chocolate fudge cake…the cake has white chocolate in the mix…and then it has a layer of fudge between the two layers of cake…and then the icing is whipped cream and white chocolate. Uh–our home group at THE ENTIRE CAKE! I was ticked–there was none to take home!!!

(I will put the red velvet cake recipe on this blog tomorrow)

Fourth–Encouragement is AWESOME. Thanks to all of you who have e-mailed in encouraging words and said prayers for me this week. What you need to know is this…

I am more passionate about Jesus than I have ever been…I am more fired up about the church than I have ever been…I can’t wait for Sunday…I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next. The things that happened this week didn’t discourage me–they fired me up…and God has used it all to show me that we are on the right track!

Fifth–Tomorrow is a 12 mile run for the marathon crew. This will be the longest run most of the group has ever done–pray for us!!! AND if you see us–PLEASE do not honk your horn, that scares the mess out of us!!! Besides–if you DO honk the horn…you have usually passed us…and we are not going to turn around to see who you are! A runner has to look at what lies ahead!

That’s about it–enjoy your Friday…I am off to the gym!

Thoughts On Unity February 23, 2006

W0w–this has been an interesting week…a GREAT number of things have taken place…and while the battle between heaven and hell has been raging–the people who claim to be in God’s army have been shooting one another.

Sad!

I was led to this passage earlier on this week…I just can’t get it out of my mind…and so I thought I would share it…

Luke 9:49-50, “‘Master,’ said John, ‘we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.’ ‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said, ‘for whoever is not against you is for you.’”

AWESOME stuff! Here is a dude who is busy about the Lord’s work…you know, driving out demons…and I’ve heard it said, “Everyone’s day is a little better with a few less demons!” Anyway, the Apostles, specifically John, has a problem with this because this other dude (we don’t know his name) is apparently not in the “inner circle” and maybe is even using some type of unfamiliar method.

And Jesus basically says, “Uh, guys–get over it! DO NOT stop his work–because if he is not against us–he’s for us!”

In light of all that has happened this week–I think there are some things we can learn here.

#1 – The Bible specifically says in Ephesians 6:12 that our battle is not against flesh and blood. I have been called out on websites for NOT defending what we do here at NewSpring. I’ve been asked why I won’t respond to e-mails that question our motives and our methods.

It’s really quite simple–I do not have time. You see, the staff and I are so focused on lost people getting found…and found people getting grown up…that we don’t have time to debate methods. I am not getting caught up in it–nor will I allow the staff to go there. We realize who our competition is with…and it’s not with various websites or the church across town…it’s with the kingdom of darkness…and every single piece of artillery we have will always be pointed in that direction…and NOT at people on our own team.

I am incredibly open to criticism…I need it–it is how we get better; however, we do not need it from name callers and people who do nothing but dedicate their time to fighing Christians rather than going after those who are not in the kingdom.

#2 – It Takes Different Types Of People To Reach Different Types Of People. (Wasn’t that profound!)

I remember a time when I thought the way we did church at NewSpring was right…and everyone else was WRONG! I was so stupid–I thought that if other churches could just be more like us then we could win the world.

And so God allowed me to have a conversation with one of the smartest men on the planet, Lee Royce, former president of Anderson University and now the president of Mississippi College. He told me, “Perry, I appreciate what NewSpring is doing…you guys are reaching an incredibly diverse group of people and God is in this; however, I do not think my family and I will worship with you every week.”

I was DUMBFOUNDED! “Why not?”

“Because Perry–I enjoy more hymns…I enjoy an orchestra…I enjoy hearing a choir…I enjoy a different style.” It was then that I realized how cocky and arrogant I had been…to think that our way was THE way. Lee Royce is one of the godliest men I have ever met in my entire life, and to say he was wrong would have been…well…wrong!

So…I am in favor of different styles and methods…it takes that! The world needs that. Just look at the group Jesus assembled to be around him…a fisherman…a zealot, a tax collector–and these dudes did not like each other–but they worked together…maybe that’s why Jesus said, “They will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another.” Notice He did not say, “by the degrees you have on your wall,” or, “by the way you kick the crap out of people on your side.” Just a thought! :-)

#3 – If Something Is Not Of God–Time Will Tell!

There is a story in the book of Acts about the Apostles and them being persecuted…the Pharisees were TICKED at what they were doing and wanted to try their best to stop them. And then this dude named Gamaliel said,

“…in this present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” Acts 5:38-39

Enough said!

#4 – We Need To Be Very Careful About What We Say And How We Say It!

Folks–the world is watching! There are lost and unchurched people who read this blog everyday…along with other Christian blogs. And when they see nothing but negativity and venom spewing out of one person or group of people towards another–that’s just not right.

I lashed out on Tuesday…and I meant it. I am all about healthy, godly debate…I welcome it! However, to tell someone they “do not love Jesus,” or, “they are going to burn in the pits of hell” is–well, it’s extremely judgmental…AND I think we could say it is wrong.

As I said earlier–we do not have time to answer every question from critics and skeptics as to why we do what we do. We are not the perfect church…and never will be as long as I am the pastor. We make mistakes…but we are trying–we are trying our best to do what God has called us to do the way He has called us to do it…and we will not stop–we can’t–there is too much at stake.

In other news:

To those who responded about the typing–we will be getting back to you–we are looking for people who can type REALLY fast…because I talk really fast. :-)

BAPTISM is this Saturday! WOW! I can’t wait! It looks like we are going to baptize right around 100 people. YEAH GOD!

Marathon Update: We have a 12 mile run on Saturday–PRAY HARD!

What’s Heading Our Way… February 22, 2006

First of all–thanks to everyone who e-mailed yesterday with some encouraging thoughts and prayers. You guys rock! There are still some angry people out there (as evidenced by the fact that someone actually told me yesterday that I do not fear God AND that I am going to hell); however, enough of that…let’s get on with life. :-)

We’ve got some awesome stuff heading our way at NewSpring...

This Sunday will be part three of our series entitled traditions…we will be talking about the subject of “endure.” I remember someone saying about that aspect of our vision, “Hey P, that makes it sounds like living for Christ is tough at times.” BINGO! BUT one of the things that makes it a lot easier to live for Christ is…well…let’s wait until Sunday!

Then–on the FIRST WEDNESDAY of March–we are going to have our very first FIRST WEDNESDAY service. It will begin at 6:30 and last for about an hour. What will it be like? I guess you are going to need to come and check it out for yourself. I do promise this–it’s gonna rock!!!

(NOTE: We will be having these services once a month…on the FIRST WEDNESDAY of every month…thus the reason for it being called FIRST WEDNESDAY! And yes, the children’s ministry will have a fully functional deal going on that night as well!)

In March we are going to begin a new series entitled “March Madness–How To Be A Full Court Follower of Christ!”

I am REALLY excited about this series because on March 19, Ed Young, senior pastor of Fellowship Church, will be speaking. (Yes, he’s the dude on television!) Ed and I have developed a pretty cool friendship over the past few years…and I love his vision, creativity, and love for Jesus. I am PUMPED about him being here.

And then–the very next day–Fellowship Church will be hosting a C3 regional right here at NewSpring. DOUBLE WOW! I can’t wait! I have been to four C3 conferences…and every time I go God rocks my world and fires me up! The registration cost is $325 per church–which is AWESOME because you can pay and then bring as many peeps as you want!!! For more information on the conference you can go here.

And then on April 16, Easter Sunday, we will be launching a brand new series called, Davinci Decoded! Here we will be taking a four week look into some of the questions that Dan Brown’s novel raises about Christianity–did Jesus REALLY claim to be God…did Jesus really rise from the dead…how do we KNOW that the Bible is reliable…and is there something about Mary?

Understand this–this series WILL NOT be all about boycotting the movie…nor will we be having any sort of book burning; in fact, I am currently reading the novel and will go see the movie. The purpose of this series is to simply show how reliable the Christian faith is…and that when any aspect of it is put to the test…it passes with flying colors!!

Mother’s Day this year will be CLASSIC! More on that to come…

Yep–we’ve got some REALLY exciting things heading our way…

Oops, I almost forgot…”Summer Blockbuster” will be taking place in July. This will be a deal our children’s ministry is doing–watch for more information–especially around Easter.

One more thing…there have been several requests for Lucretia’s red velvet cake recipe. I will put it up either on Friday or this weekend. I was going to put it up today…but there are some things I need for her to explain to me before posting it; after all, I am a man!!! I NEED an explanation! :-)

I lied–one more thing…and this is it–does anyone out there type REALLY fast…I mean like REALLY fast? I am currently working on a book…and if I could have someone to assist me by typing as I write…I could get it done a lot faster–drop me an e-mail if you are interested.

Sometimes You Just Can’t Win February 21, 2006

Whew! I kind of thought that yesterday’s post might stir up a hornets nest…I had NO idea!

I cannot believe some of the things have been happening–calls calling me a “moron,” hate e-mail (I have literally had worse things said about me by pagans!)-and this is best–people questioning my love for Jesus and my motives for doing what I do.

You can question a lot of things about me…and I usually do not respond to things such as this because I understand that I am in a no win situation (I will explain later.) BUT when someone questions my love for Jesus Christ and my motives for doing what I do–that sets me on FIRE!

To those who would question these things–who in the heck do you think you are? You have no idea what my life was like before I met Jesus! I was one of the most screwed up individuals on this planet. I was so far away from God it wasn’t even funny. I made my best attempt to give it my all when it came to rebellion.

You see–my mother died when I was 12 years old…and she was one of the godliest women I know. And I was hacked at God–here was my mom, she read her Bible, went to church, I mean in the mind of a 12 year old she did everything RIGHT! And God “took her.” I didn’t want any part of a God like that.

But on May 27, 1990 at 6:50 on a Sunday evening before the church service even started…I realized how much God, ins pite of my running and rebellion, loved me and wanted to forgive me and have a relationship with me. So–I surrendered…and I have been passionately in love with Jesus ever since!

You ask my why I do what I do–it is my love for Jesus and my love for people who are in the same boat I was in. You can question my methods–but to question my motives–that just isn’t your place. You are not the Holy Spirit!

God knows I make mistakes. God knows I need His help! This church is not growing the way it is because of me…but rather in spite of me. I am “Captain Stupid” when it comes to making dumb decisions…yet God still continues to work…and lives still continue to be changed.

Speaking of changed lives…and you can receive this OR ignore it…and this is true whether it’s NewSpring or Fellowship…or any other church–if it is slightly possible that God is at work here, if the Holy Spirit is drawing people to Himself…and you speak against it–then my friend, you are speaking against the Spirit of God–and we all know what that is–even those of us who are “uneducated morons!”

I am not trying to start a fight here…I realize I can’t win. I mention that I do not have a seminary degree and people attack me…and then I read those same people who attack Rick Warren and Rob Bell…who do have seminary degrees and are brilliant men…and so I can’t win that argument.

I can’t win the argument about numbers. I say God is growing our church and people point out that numbers are not a measure for success. YET they would not say that in regards to their portfolio–evidently numbers do matter…they would not say that in regards to a test score…yet they will say that to defend the fact that they are not reaching anyone. I can’t win that argument, I understand that!

I can’t win the argument about methods of reaching people. We are doing church the way God is leading us to do church…this staff is do desperate for God it isn’t even funny–we weep over lost people–we rejoice when people come into the kingdom–we are doing all we can to put resources in the hands of people to see them grow in the Lord–and yet to some we don’t do enough or we don’t do it right…and I can’t win that argument.

I can’t win the argument about how “soft” our church is on sin. I have spoken out against homosexuality, couples living together before they are married–heck, I even did a complete message on the wrath of God–and yet some still say we are too focused on making people think that God is ok with sin…I can’t win that argument.

There are several arguments I can’t win! I understand that–that is why I don’t even try. I can’t–I don’t have time to try to defend what we are doing…you see, I care too much about the people around here that are going to go to hell if they don’t hear about Jesus.

But the reason, once again, for this post, is that my love for Jesus and my motives have been questioned by people on various websites. And if you are thinking, “Perry sounds a little mad in this post,” it’s because I AM! I make no apology for this!

If you disagree with me then that is AWESOME! I thank God for calm, intellectual people who e-mail in or call or see me in public and wish to discuss things in an intelligent manner.

However, when I disagree with you…and you question my love for Jesus, call our church office to rip me…or send me e-mail saying that I am an idiot…my friends–we just are not going to go there.

Jesus Christ changed my life–I am MADLY in love with Him…and I am doing exactly what He called me to do…and I am doing it EXACTLY the way He called me to do it. My vision is clear…and so is my conscience.

I praise God for His forgiveness of my past–and for His direction concerning my future. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Shame On You Granger Community Church February 20, 2006

In case you have missed it–the media has taken the ball and ran with this one…there is a church in Indiana called Granger Community Church that has raised the eyebrows in the religious community.

You see–they started a new series of messages called mylamesexlife.com AND to make things worse…they have billboards all over town with www.mylamesexlife.com on them…and when you go to this site it is an advertisement for the series.

People are going bonkers! There are people on both sides of the argument…and so I decided to weigh in on the melee that is happening and give my two cents.

Granger–I am ashamed of you! How could you do something so outrageous? How dare you try to meet people where they are! Seriously–no one in America EVER thinks about sex–so just who do you think you are connecting with?

Don’t you know that people don’t need practical help with their lives? What they need is large doses of theology–you know, stuff that confuses the heck out of them. And when they don’t understand–just point out how stupid they are and then they will repent. Tell them stuff that will REALLY help them–like how much the Ark of the Covenant weighed OR have an hour long discussion on the peccability/impeccability issue–that will DRAW them in!

And how DARE you use the Bible to talk about sex! Let Hollywood define morality for us all–and then when people begin to dive into immoral practices on the subject just yell at them and tell them they are going to hell–that works, don’t you guys know this?

Seriously–God is silent on sex isn’t He? Look at Genesis–wait, uh, well, according to Genesis chapter two it was His idea–yep, there it is–one man, one woman, in the bonds of marriage, commited for life. But don’t tell people that–just scream at them about pagan lifestyles and practices!

Ok, that’s just one instance. Let’s look at the Song of Solomon, oh my! Is that stuff really in the Bible? I am sure that book has nothing to do with sex, yeah–uh, it is actually some type of metaphor of Christ and His love for the church. Right?

And the Apostle Paul had nothing to say about sex–just read his letters…no, wait–uh, well, there’s something about the subject in just about every one of them.

I admit we tried something like this before. We did a billboard campaign and series entitled ihatemymarriage.com

It was awful! Why? Because our church grew…people actually received Christ…marriages were actually restored…God moved in an awesome way!!! I am so ashamed that we did this. How dare we be concerned about being practical! How dare we actually show people far away from God how relevant Scripture is!

How dare you actually think you are following God! I mean just look at the Bible–He never asked people to do things that seemed “wild” just to get people’s attention. No, wait–there was that deal where He asked Isaiah to walk around in his birthday suit for a few years…but that is an exception, right?

Don’t you guys know that you are supposed to not attempt to be unique–but rather be uniform. You should NOT talk about sex…but rather direct your people in the “deeper” meanings of the word and make sure they spend a lot of time on websites that quote Spurgeon more than Jesus and hate Rick Warren more than they hate the devil!

Jesus NEVER did anything like this! He never tried to reach people where they were…no, wait, it says here that He fed 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish…and after He had their attention He challenged them…uh, well…

Once again–SHAME on you guys–shame on you for actually having a plan to reach those who are far away from God. Haven’t you guys been reading on the anti Rick Warren websites…numbers do not matter–God wants to keep His work small…and He does not want the world to know what His word says. He would be so happy if you guys would simply just tell your community to go to hell and NOT make any efforts to do whatever it takes to reach them.

OK–that was fun! On a serious note–yeah God…and yeah Granger. I am proud of you guys, you are following through on what Christ has called you to do…and there is no way I would be so cocky and arrogant here as to tell you that you haven’t heard from the Lord.

And for those who are attacking them and then reading this site–folks–we are all on the same team! And what does it matter to you–you may think churches like Granger and NewSpring are foolish…but wasn’t it Paul that said that He didn’t care HOW Christ was preached…and long as Christ was preached? Didn’t Jesus rebuke His disciples when they told Him they stopped someone from driving out demons because he wasn’t doing it “the right way?”

Guys–I believe if you would spend the time that you invest tearing other brothers and sisters down into actually reaching people for Christ–then the Gospel would be forcefully advancing!

Thanks Granger, once again, for being obedient and making a bold move…I pray that the harvest will be plentiful. I don’t know a ton about you all–but the thing I have seen out of the ones that I do know is a passionate love for Jesus–a passionate love for people–and a passionate love for His church. Keep it up…and may God bless you!