I Do Not… March 26, 2006

…normally post on Sunday mornings…but you have GOT TO READ THIS LINK!!! I don’t even know these people and I love them! I guess its the redneck in me!

(Scroll up to the top when you click on the link for the story.)

One more thing–HEY GARY, for some reason I thought about you when I read this link!!!

Random Thought Friday March 24, 2006

To those who think all religions are the same…please read this. Folks–if you make the claim that all religions are the same and that we are all basically taking different roads to the same place…then that tells me two things about you…

#1 – You have never taken the time to seriously investigate what other religions believe. And if you have….then…

#2 – You are an intellectually dishonest individual!

Can you imagine if the story were reversed? Can you imagine if America began executing people who were not Christians? There would be World War III…but for some reason I feel that this dude, if he is executed, will fade away into the third segment of the national news and eventually be forgotten.

I think it was John Piper who said it best, “A Muslim will kill to convert you–a Christian will die to convert you.” Enough said!

In other news…

My brackets are so screwed up! I had Duke and UNC going to the finals…I usually pick with my heart and not my head! I could not believe my eyes last night!!! Oh well…now I will just pull for the underdog!

Pray for my calf muscle–my left calf is experiencing some serious soreness…AND we have a 16 mile run tomorrow!!! Believe it or not–I am stoked about the 16 mile run…we are not going to be heading to Clemson or anything–it will be a course around here! What I am REALLY excited about is going to Pizza Buffet tonight to load up on some carbs!!!

I am PUMPED about this weekend! I really enjoyed taking last Sunday off…but right now I feel as if there is a fire in me…and I am about to explode. Let me just say this about Sunday…it’s going to be AWESOME…the band is going to do a song that is going to knock you out of your seat…and the video we are going to show will…let’s just say you’ve never seen anything like it.

Quick question–is it supposed to be spring? I thought so…would someone please ask the Lord to turn up the temperature! :-) Don’t get me wrong-it is HIS weather and all…it’s just that I would like it a little warmer for these long runs.

One last thing–EASTER at NewSpring is going to be incredible. We spent a lot of time this past week working on the environment we want to create…and I have been laboring over the message like crazy! I can’t wait!!!

We are going to do four services Easter weekend…there will be two on Saturday night and then two more on Sunday morning. We will be doing that schedule for one week only…the following week we will move back to our normal times! We are doing a series of messages called, “DaVinci Decoded” that will investigate the claims Dan Brown makes in his novel about Jesus. (I will post a complete article on this at a later time!)

OK–I lied…one more thing…we did series planning this past Tuesday and planned through Thanksgiving–OH MY! I can’t wait…we also threw some initial ideas out about Christmas Eve this year AND next year! WOW! I love my job!!!

I Think I Am Doing Something Right March 23, 2006

Last night was date night! ‘Cretia and I went to the Cracker Barrel…it was awesome, especially the baked apple dumplin’!

But something cool happened last night…it made me feel pretty good as a husband. When I arrived home at about 5:30 and walked in the door Lucretia ran to meet me, had a big smile on her face and said, “I’m glad your home.”

Immediately I began to think that maybe something was wrong–maybe she had set the house on fire or something like that…so I asked, “Is everything ok?”

She said, “Yep–I’m just really glad to see you!”

Let me be very clear about something…I am NOT the perfect husband…I tend to be insensitive at times…I don’t communicate well…and there are times that I try to change the way Lucretia feels rather than understanding why she feels the way she does. (EVERY man is guilty of this!)
However, last night…I could not help but think I must be doing something right.

It carried over to this morning…

Our home group is going out for dinner tonight…and so she asked me, “What time do you think you will be home tonight.” I told her I wasn’t sure & then asked why–she replied, “Because I like to spend time with you before home groups–I love our time together.”

Once again it hit me…I must be doing something right…we’ve been married nearly six years and she doesn’t want me to work late–she wants me HOME. She HATES it when I go out of town without her…she wants me HOME.

If you ever needed evidence for God’s grace you can just look at how He has allowed Lucretia to love me. However, I must admit that it takes work! Pastoring NewSpring and being married are both enormous challenges in and of themselves…when you combine them…oh my dang!

But there are a few things I do to make sure that I have a healthy marriage–such as…

#1 – Lucretia Is The Most Important Human Relationship I Have On The Planet!

Nothing trumps my relationship with ‘Cretia–NOTHING! She understands that there are times that the church is going to be busy…but she always gets tons of attention before AND after the busy time…because she matters to me more than anyone or anything.

If I have my cell phone with me and she calls…I ALWAYS answer the phone…I don’t care who I am meeting with–she trumps that meeting. There have been times I have told her, “Hey, I’m in a meeting…can I call you back in 10 minutes,” and she says yes. However, I do not dismiss her phone calls!

I have a conviction on this–and it’s strong…but a husband that would ignore his wife to give more attention to his boss or a client is a pathetic loser! Yes–I meant that…and please do not e-mail me your exceptions!

And to take this a step further…when we go on a date…I do not answer my cell phone–PERIOD! If the world cannot survive without me for a few hours then we live in a messed up world. The same is true for you dude…if your church or company can’t survive without you–you need to get a new job–QUICK!

(Pastors–please–do not ever let the church become your mistress!!! God is not pleased when this happens…and your marriage will suffer!!! You can’t use the pathetic excuse that you serve the church and God will make up the difference with your family–STOP SAYING STUPID THINGS and be a man!)

#2 – I Do Not “Innocently Flirt” With Other Women!

This one makes me angry. I heard the other day of a married man who goes out and shops himself around on singles dating sites just to see if anyone will show him any attention. Once again–PATHETIC LOSER!

Men…let me be very clear–there is ONE opinion that matters when it comes to how I look–and that would be Lucretia. I know we all have huge egos–but to try to feed that ego with attention from a female other than your wife is just flat out wrong!

#3 – I Make Time To Listen!

Lucretia knows that usually on Monday’s I am fried when I get home…I usually refer to Monday as the day I have a “holy hangover!” And so she doesn’t really ask me a ton of questions, nor does she bombard me with information.

Also–when I get home on Sunday’s it is the same thing…she encourages me, asks me how the service when…but that’s about it…she knows I am fried.

BUT–she also knows that on Tuesday…and for the rest of the week…she has my ear. Don’t get me wrong…it IS a challenge to listen at times. Men need to speak about 5,000 words a day…women need to speak about 12,000 with gusts up to 20,000! And trust me when I say that my wife is into the details…most women are…to them it really DOES matter what the person they say at Wal Mart was wearing…

Sorry about that…anyway…so I listen with intention. I ask her questions about what she is speaking to me about. I understand that the reason she is telling me things is that she wants to feel as if I am a part of the world she lives in…she wants me to experience what she has experienced…and by going into the details she isn’t trying to kill me with information…but rather she is sharing her life with me.

#4 – I Pray With Lucretia Every Night!!!

I think we have not prayed together three times since getting married. This is priority one for us!!! It does a couple of things–one, it allows us to share a spiritual connection…AND two, it forces us to clear the air of any disagreements we have had.

Men–here is a fact–I can’t pray with my wife if I am mad at her…and so it forces me to talk about things…and because of that we do not have arguments that last several weeks…or even days for that matter.

These are just some things that are working for me. They are not biblical mandates by any means…but if you are a man then I challenge you to have some ways you are intentional about making your marriage work–you’ve got to have a plan…and she’s worth it!

Qualities of a GREAT Worship Leader March 22, 2006

“Hey Perry, we are starting a church and were wondering where we could find a good worship leader…”

If I had a dime for every call I have received like that I believe I could pay off the national debt!

I will be honest–great worship leaders are HARD to find. Don’t get me wrong–there are lots and lots of talented people in the world who can play a guitar and sing…but to LEAD worship, that is something totally different.

We are blessed here at NewSpring to have Lee as our worship leader. I hired him right out of college and he and I have been neck deep in this thing ever since. It’s amazing what I have learned about leading worship just through observing him…and so the following insights I want to share are things he has taught me.

(By the way…when we hired Lee I was actually the one leading worship–he was gracious to me for a few weeks…but then he fired me!!! He told me the band could not go where it needed to go with me in it…I’m not bitter–really, I’m not…I mean…if that’s what he wanted…if he…oops, sorry!)

#1 – A Great Worship Leader Is A Deflector!

A friend of mine came to NewSpring for the first time a few weeks ago and so I picked his brain as to what he thought about our service. He told me, “I was amazed at your worship leader–he refuses to touch God’s glory, he literally takes all of the attention that would come to him and lets it deflect off of him and on to God.”

In my mind there could not be a greater compliment!

Anyone–I MEAN ANYONE–can perform! AND…we are fascinated by performance…look at the ratings on American Idol if you don’t believe me! However, the church doesn’t necessarily need someone performing for them–they need someone on stage who is “smoking what they’re selling.” People need to see people on stage who are EXCELLENT and what they are and who are RADICALLY in love with Jesus…which leads to my next point…

#2 – A Great Worship Leader Is Intimately Connected With God.

If you say the name “Lee” in front of me I will admit that the first thing that pops in my mind is NOT how talented of a musician he is…but rather how much the dude loves Jesus. Lee is a student of the word–I have him in on every single creativity team meeting that I have because of his creativity AND his PASSION to see lives changed.

Trust me on this one…if your worship leader, or anyone on staff for that matter, isn’t connected with God…well…they can only fake it for so long. Sooner or later junk will come out!

If someone is into worship leading because of the show–they will ultimately fail. I will say this–Lee is fun to watch…he’s full of energy…he’s all over the place; however, he did the same thing when we had 75 people coming…because of his connection with Jesus!

#3 – A Great Worship Leader KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS The World He Lives In.

Once again…Lee does an amazing job at being able to connect with every single aspect of culture.

I know this might make some pastors nervous…even a little upset…but Lee went to a Nickelback concert last Friday night!!! How do I feel about that? I LOVE IT! I do not like every song that Nickelback sings…but I love the fact that Lee understands that the secular world knows how to grab people’s attention…and he is a student of every single band that he goes to see.

I not only don’t mind Lee not going to secular concerts…I encourage it! He always comes back with fresh and creative ideas as to how we can ramp things up in our services and make them better.

But not only that–Lee understands how to connect with those who have grown up in church. For those who attend NewSpring…you have GOT to admit that one of your favorite songs is when Lee and Jon sing, “It Is Well With My Soul!” That song puts goose bumps on my goose bumps!!!

There is a balance…and that balance must be managed well.

#4 – A Great Worship Leader Must Be Attentive To The Holy Spirit!

It’s amazing…I will say about 90% of the time a song will be in my head and so I will go to Lee and say, “Hey dude–I was thinking that next week we should do such and such a song.” He will laugh, pull out the set list and BOOM…there it is…he already had it down. We laugh like crazy every time this happens.

A great worship leader does not just throw a set list together…but rather he meets with the pastor to try to get a grip on what is being talked about and then he goes and spends time in prayer–seeking God and asking Him what songs He would like to be in the service.

Once again–if a worship leader isn’t listening to the Holy Spirit then he will inevitably gravitate towards doing his favorite songs…and people will then see that its a show and not a worship service.

#5 – A Great Worship Leader Must Have A Great Relationship With The Senior Pastor

Like it or not–the worship leader and the senior pastor are the two most visible people in your church…and those two people HAVE to be on the same page–or there will be tension on Sunday…and everyone can see right through it.

Lee and I have a great relationship…one of the things I am dedicating to this year is spending more time with him one on one, finding out what’s going on in his world and sharing the same with him. We are a team!

Senior pastors, worship leaders–understand this–it’s not about the EGO…and if it ever becomes about the ego then one, or perhaps both, of you will flame out because instead of trying to reach people for Christ the attention will swing to who gets the most attention…and it just can’t be that way.

Lee can say ANYTHING he wants to say to me about a message…and I listen to him. AND…I can say ANYTHING I want to say to Lee about the music…and he listens to me. The worship leader and the senior pastor MUST value the opinion of the other person…or conflict is unavoidable.

#6 – A Great Worship Leader Will Seek Talent

A great worship leader doesn’t have to sing every song…they don’t have to be on stage every Sunday…they are not afraid to share the stage at all…AND they are constantly seeking ways to encourage and tighten the band they minister with.

Lee is so good at this…there are times he leads…and other times one of “the Meghan’s” or Daniel (aka “Rocky”) will lead…and Lee is FINE with this…because he understands that it is not only his job to lead worship…but to train and mentor others to do the same.

#7 – A Great Worship Leader Will ALWAYS Pay When He And The Senior Pastor Go Out For Lunch!

I’m just saying that if…oh, let’s say for instance that Lee and I had scheduled lunch for today that…well–Lee–look at #7 one more time! :-)

Always March 21, 2006

There are some things in life that are ALWAYS going to happen…no matter what, such as…

There will always be 28 cash registers @ Wal Mart, two will actually be open, and one line will actually move because the other will ALWAYS break down! (And that will always be the one you are in!)

There will always be someone who pulls out in front of you and goes much slower than you were going…when, if they would have waited for two seconds they could have pulled behind you because another car wasn’t even in site!

People will always ask, “Did I wake you up?” when they call at 3:00 am!

ALWAYS!

There are some things in ministry that will always take place as well–here is a list of things that will always happen…or always need to be happening:

#1 – People Will ALWAYS Attack Your Vision

Whether you are a pastor, youth minister or Bible study leader–people will attack you if you have vision. I have discovered that people are either motivated by vision…OR…they are intimidated by it…and if they are the latter then they will attack.

By the way…if people are not attacking your vision then I would say you don’t necessarily have a vision…what you have is more like a daydream!

Get used to it…when you have a desire to do something great for God then the enemy will be hacked off…and he will use some of the most unlikely sources to come after you. Stay the course!

And let me say this–don’t chase these people–you will be tempted to do so…you will be tempted to compromise what God set in your heart to do…don’t do it!

#2 – People Will Always Question Your Motives

You had better know why you do what you do…because there are tons of people out there who will be glad to tell others why you do what you do…and it will actually have nothing to do with why you are doing what you are doing. (WOW–that could be confusing…I hope it made sense!)

Ed Young said yesterday that people have always questioned why he did what he did. He made the comment that people criticized the kind of car he drove and the kind of house he lived in when he was driving a clunker and living in a dump…so he knew if they did it then that it would never stop.

It is very healthy to question your own motives…VERY healthy; however, understand that, as a leader, you will never…and I mean EVER…be able to explain yourself to some people…and you will waste VALUABLE kingdom time trying to do so.

I’ve heard it said so well…your friends won’t need an explanation…and your enemies won’t believe you anyway!

#3 – You Will Always Have People Leave

This is a fact…I can remember the early days of NewSpring, sitting in living rooms and restaurants, enjoying people and fellowship…and then the same people that I shared life with and said they were in for the long hall would leave.

I will be honest–that hurts; however, I realized early on that it happens…and that’s ok. Some of the people who have left our church have plugged into other churches and are valuable kingdom servants…and I praise God for that.

Two things to keep in mind about the people in your church…don’t get caught up in what is being said about you, whether good or bad. I had a friend make a comment to me once that I have never forgotten, “Perry–be careful when it comes to people–because those that deify will crucify!” WOW!

The second thing is this…no matter how many times you get burned…you CAN’T EVER stop loving people! Jesus said to love God and love people are the two most important commands! You CAN’T let a person, or a small group of people, ever make you desire to live in a cave. As a church we are called to reach people…even the difficult ones.

#4 – You Should Always Visit The Question, “Why Do I Do What I Do?”

I remember several months ago I was talking with Lucretia one night about ministry. It had been a really rough week…I had taken a lot of personal shots…and I was exhausted. I told her, “There are much easier jobs out there.” She laughed and made the comment, “There sure are…and you would not be happy doing ANY of them!”

WOW–what a godly woman!

She’s right…I do what I do because of Jesus Christ. He completely changed my life, power washed my soul and made me into a brand new person. I have been going through the book of Hebrews over the past several days…and there the author challenges us to fix our thoughts and our eyes on Jesus!

I ask myself that often, “Why do I do what I do?” And the reason is always the same…I could not imagine myself doing anything else. Jesus set my soul on fire and it just keeps getting hotter!

By the way…I am SOOOOOO looking forward to Sunday! I had a week off and now I am ready to roll!

From The Mind of the “P” Man…On A Sunday Night March 19, 2006

OK–this was an awesome weekend…several things….

#1 – Thank God for Al Mohler!!! Seriously, Lucretia and I were watching the O’ Reilly factor on Friday night and Bill was really going off on Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson because of recent remarks they had made about the Muslim religion.

I am not sure if you are familiar with the factor…or shows like it…but usually the host presents his case as then has someone on that he discusses the matter with. O’ Reilly had made the comment that neither Graham or Robertson were available that night…and immediately I broke out into a cold sweat.

Why–because the media usually seems to find the biggest moron in the world to represent Christians. But then…Al Mohler was on the screen…and the dude ROCKED! He remained calm and presented an incredibly credible argument as to why the Christian religion and Muslim religion are complete opposites…AND the dude shared the Gospel! Thank God for Al!

By the way…Robertson and Graham did not slam the Muslim religion–they merely stated the facts about it and how it is not a peaceful religion and is in no way teaching the same thing that Christianity teaches.

#2 – The Run Was AWESOME! The marathon crew ran 15 miles this past Saturday–we began at the NewSpring building and ran all the way to Tillman Hall at good ‘ole Clemson University. Props to Chris, Laura, Sydney, and Jenn for hooking us up with water stops on the way!

The toughest part of the run was the hill right in front of Macs drive in…it was literally a half a mile of a steady incline!!! AHHHHHHHHH! I wanted a milkshake so bad…but I kept going!

Did you know that after running 15 miles you feel like you could eat a horse?

#3 – Ed Young Is The Man! Ed did a message today at NewSpring on authority issues and how many people have a problem with authority…it was informative AND convicting!!! It made me look at the authority issues that I deal with…and also allowed me to see why some people deal with things the way they do.

I was having lunch with a pastor of a large church about this time last year and he told me that well over 90% of the people that leave his church do not leave over theological issues…but rather authority issues…I would say that is true in MOST churches. (I might blog about this later!)

#4 – I LOVE Desert! All I am saying is that I ate at Capri’s tonight and they had this desert called Creamsicle Cake…OH MY! It was so good it made me want to slap my grandma! (For those NOT in the south…that is merely a figure of speech…no Southern boy in his right mind would EVER slap his grandma!!!)

That’s about it–it’s been a great weekend. I am going to go to bed now–4:45 comes early!

How Do We Prepare A Message? March 17, 2006

WOW–thanks to everyone who sent both restaurant suggestions and blogging ideas yesterday…as of 4:00 I had read every one of them. On the restaurants…wow…so many choices, only one meal…I have it narrowed down…I will give you an update later. And on the blogging ideas…one really grabbed my attention…so I thought I would hit it head on this morning.

The question was about message preparation. The person asking wanted to know what goes into a message and how we go about doing everything that we do. He also commented that he has received some criticism regarding our church (NO!) because there are some that think we are to “frivolous” in all that we do. (I will address that at the end.)

Let me say up front this is not a magic formula…this is just what happens to work for us…and this process is being constantly refined. Here are some steps that we take.

First of all…a message has to come from deep inside the messenger. If you can’t speak with passion and conviction then the people you are speaking to would rather you just say, “There’s nothing inside my gut today–go home!”

So with that in mind I would say the most important thing for a speaker to concentrate on is personal time with God!!! I have a daily habit of getting out of bed and diving into the word. I firmly believe this is how God speaks–His word is living and active.

Along with reading and praying…I journal. I will write down random thoughts and ideas as I go through this process. I do not try to develop messages in my quiet time…but I do find that writing ideas down helps my mind to begin to think in that direction throughout the day.

In addition to my personal quiet times there are three other sources in which I get message ideas from…

#1 – Books – I LOVE to read…and I will tear through books…and many times I have gotten message ideas…OR an idea for a complete series by reading…both secular and Christian books!

#2 – Other Speakers – I LOVE listening to other speakers…they help me to sharpen my speaking skills. The three I listen to the most often are Erwin McManus, Rob Bell, and Andy Stanley. I will not speak one of their messages word for word–but if the say something that sparks a thought or idea–I will take it and run with it.

#3 – Culture – A good communicator HAS to be aware of the world that he or she lives in! I brush through magazine, read various websites, and pay attention to music, television, and the movies. Instead of fighting against culture we at NewSpring attempt to see where culture is at and then show people how relevant Jesus is in the world that we are living in today!

I have a notebook with blank pages in it that goes just about everywhere with me. (When I say blank I mean NO lines…I want nothing on the page.) I will take the random thoughts I collect throughout the day and jot them in that notebook. When I say I collect thoughts throughout the day…I am constantly writing stuff down…on my hand, on a napkin–I constantly try to grab on to ideas.

Then, about three times a week I have a section of my calendar blocked off for study time. This is a time when my phone is turned off and I am unavailable to just about everyone except for Lucretia. I have to get in a “zone” and I do so by uninterrupted time. I write–type–and basically go though page after page, developing ideas, researching ideas and topics on-line and in commentaries…

After I develop a talk I send it out to about 8-10 people on staff–this is our creative team. We meet every Tuesday from 9:30 until… I send them about a two page manuscript of what I want to communicate to the congregation and we go thought it and add to AND take away from. Basically–they make it better!!!

(On this team I have a mixture of men and women, marrieds and singles–I want to make sure I hit every section of people that I can.)

After it is decided what is going to be talked about and how it is going to be done–we begin to discuss things such as videos, lighting, music, drama–and anything else that may come into play. We are currently three weeks ahead on message prep and so it makes it much easier on our production team as they have time to plan out video shoots and such.

(We are generally three weeks ahead on message preparation…but about six months ahead as far as having a general idea of where we are going in a series.)

That is about it in a nutshell. After we get the message ready I put it in a folder and look at it and refine it for the next couple of weeks…then on Wednesday the week of I lock myself away and really begin to pray over and preach through the message over and over until I am comfortable doing it without any notes.

We put a ton of time and effort into what we do at NewSpring. Are we obsessive? YOU BET WE ARE!!! We figure we have about an hour of someone’s time once a week…and that God wants us to use that hour the best that we can. I just don’t see how God is honored by the pastor that is putting the final touches on his message right before he goes out to speak on Sunday morning. (Or the Sunday school teacher that doesn’t read the lesson they are to present until the Saturday night before.)

Some in the past have questioned us in regards to being open to the Holy Spirit. They say, “You guys put so much into what you do that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to move.” If that happens to be your mindset I would say you have a very limited view of God! Why limit Him to a one hour window on Sunday? What we have discovered is that the Holy Spirit guides this entire process–from planning to creating to preparing…He’s there the entire time!!

Yes, we put a lot into what we do–because we feel like it matters. We don’t want to waste people’s time. As a good friend of mine says all the time…if you go to church and it is boring, don’t blame God–blame the church!

It is our goal to take the most exciting book ever–the Bible, and the most exciting man ever–Jesus Christ, and to present them both at the most exciting organization ever–the church…in a way that honors God an inspires people.

WOW–that was long–hope it helps!