Archive for April, 2007
Sunday Night Reflections April 29, 2007
I watched the NFL draft yesterday. (I REALLY wish they would speed that thing up!) I guess the thing that I could not get out of my mind is the guys being drafted and how excited they had to be…this was their chance to play in the NFL–to live their dream, heck, who in the world ever gets to do that?
AND then I thought–that’s me!!! Just like I am sure those guys had butterflies in their stomachs…I have those same feelings every week. Just like those guys probably could not sleep the night before the draft–I usually don’t sleep on Saturday nights. And just like those guys are “living their dream” in life–so am I! I always get geeked up about Sundays!!!
I was especially geeked up this morning because…well…I didn’t speak today. Clayton King, one of my best friends and our teaching pastor, brought one of the best messages on tolerance I have ever heard. I don’t just get excited about NewSpring when I speak…I get excited about it EVERY Sunday! It was fun to be able to walk around and hang out with people…I had a blast.
Some of the things that Clayton said that really stuck out to me were…
- “We have learned to tolerate sin, which is both deadly and dangerous.”
- “The truth has a longer shelf life than any of the most creative lies we have ever heard.”
- “The problem with humans isn’t that we do bad things but that we are bad inside.”
- “I am NOT open minded about certain things, I can’t be. For example, I am married to my wife, I love her and I am completely closed minded to ever being with another woman.”
- “I am not afraid of other religions in our country because I believe that the truth will eventually rise up to the top.”
- “It’s not about tolerance–it’s about what is true.”
- “Many times when people use the word ‘tolerance’ they are really just asking you to celebrate sin with them.”
- “Homosexuality is a sin, BUT it is NOT the only sin the church should focus on. The church has their favorites, homosexuality, abortion and so on–but what about gluttony and racism?”
- “At the end of this day there IS an authority in this world!”
- “Many times we are ‘tolerant’ because we are afraid of offending someone.”
- “The worse thing a leader (preacher) can do is give people what they want. If I give my kids what they want they will eat nine corn dogs for dinner, be unhealthy, go off to school, flunk out, live in our basement and eat Lucky Charms for lunch while playing HALO and typing on their blog. My kids need TRUTH, to give them what they want would hurt them!”
- “The disciples were NOT convinced that they were right, they were convinced that the Gospel was true–and there is a difference.”
- “The most loving thing that God can do for us is show us our sin so He can save us before we die.”
Those were the highlights in my mind–it was a GREAT Sunday! A few more things…
#1 – Do Not Miss This Coming Sunday!!! We are closing out the America’s Idol series…and I cannot wait to preach the message the Lord has put on my heart. Warning…this will not be a talk for the faint of heart…but I promise it will be one of the most unforgettable services we have ever had at NewSpring until…
#2 – MOTHER’S DAY! Folks…I can’t even begin to explain this weekend and how awesome it is going to be. Every lady who comes into our church will be given the ROYAL treatment…the Gospel will be shared…and ladies, PLEASE bring tissue!!! This is going to be one of the BEST Sunday’s in our history!
#3 – We begin a new series on May 20th…and you will not believe how we are starting it!!!
That’s it for now–if you think about it please pray for me this week…it’s going to be extremely busy!!! :-)
The Bible IS AWESOME!!! April 27, 2007
DUH!
I just HAD to share where God led me this morning!!! As I have said here before I am currently reading through the Bible…and I am about to finish II Samuel.
I really do like Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel, those books sort of have an Braveheart element to them!!! I especially loved II Samuel 21:18-22 where the Philistines kept sending these big honkin’ men to fight against Israel…and every time someone would step up and kick their butt!!! Translation…the Lord will allow us to handle ANYTHING that the enemy throws at us!!! What is coming at you today that seems too hard to handle? God is able!
But after that I was flipping through Scripture and wound up in the book of Habakkuk. The Lord quickly reminded me of two verses…
One was Habakkuk 1:5…I remember reading this verse when we began NewSpring and praying, “Lord, I want that!!!” And I still pray this often!!! I want the Lord to continually do things at NewSpring that cause the world to be amazed…He has called us to be THE CHURCH…and somehow I don’t think hot dog suppers and sending second hand clothes overseas counts as amazing…we are capable of so much more!
The other was Habakkuk 3:2…here the prophet is saying, “God…I’ve heard about what you have done, who you are, but I don’t just want to hear about these things–I WANT TO SEE THEM!!!” YES!!! I am truly in awe of God–what He is doing among us is amazing…but I want to see Acts 2!!! I want to see Him do such an amazing work among us that even the most vile pagan in this community has to say, “There is no way a man is capable of THAT…there HAS TO BE A GOD and I want to know Him!”
Finally…I wound up in I Thessalonians 5:12-13 (please don’t ask how you go from Habakkuk to Thessalonians…I have no idea!!!) This passage challenged the snot out of me!!! It basically tells others to respect the leaders in the church and hold them in high regard. I have met some pastors who use verses like these to demand respect…and it makes me want to hit them!!! (Just being honest!)
I see these verses in a different way…I didn’t take them as being to the people in the church…I took them to heart! If I, as a leader, and going to be held in high regard and respected…then the life I live and the work that I do needs to demand that…NOT the position that I hold. I MUST keep Jesus my main focus…I must desperately seek HIM and HIS ways. I must lead the church the way HE tells me too–never making it about me. I must seek to preach HIS word and desperately pray that lost people get found and found people get grown up!!
And finally…I Thessalonians 5:16 was the icing on the cake. After this post from earlier this week–this verse simply reminded me that, by allowing that crap to get to me, that I was allowing the enemy to steal my joy. The Bible COMMANDS me to be joyful always…and so stuff that steals my joy (religious nuts who have a passion for the law but not Christ) can’t be listened to or looked at any longer.
WOW…it’s been an awesome morning…think I’ll go run now!!!
What Sparks Creativity April 27, 2007
I am often asked how creative ideas are developed at NewSpring…so here are a few things that we do…
#1 – Prayer! I am not trying to over spiritualize this…but I pray for creativity. I figure if God created the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, the oceans…then He’s pretty creative. I would call Him a lot of things…but BORING is not one!
#2 – Working Out…I have some of my best ideas while I am running and/or lifting weights.
#3 – Brainstorming meetings…I will gather groups of people together to develop ideas…YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AT NEWSPRING ON MOTHER’S DAY! In my opinion it will be one of the top three Sunday’s we’ve ever had in the history of our church!!!
#4 – Listening to other speakers…I listen to tons of other guys…and have literally developed entire sermon series ideas from one point they have had in their message.
#5 – Getting in different environments…the other day I walked out of my office and around the church…and in doing so I came up with two points for the message I was working on that became my strongest points for the whole talk. Sometimes you’ve got to change environments…go for a walk!
#6 – Rest…we are NOT creative when we are MAXED out…and the more you force it…the more it is not going to happen.
#7 – Go to conferences…I always come back with creative ideas from any conference that I go to…and if I go to a conference and do not get a creative idea…then I don’t go back!!!
An Open Letter To Rick Warren April 26, 2007
Hey Rick! I know you have visited this site at least once…and dude, I am beginning a new series of post entitled “An open letter to…” & so I thought I would begin with you.
I would like to thank you for being one of the first people that God used to MESS ME UP in regards to my view of church. There were a series of events that took place in my life back in the mid 1990’s–and reading your book, The Purpose Driven Church, was one of them!
You see, I HATED church when I was a kid–I often joke with people that I had a drug problem as a child, my mother “drug” me to church on Sunday morning, then she “drug” me to church on Sunday night–and I was even “drug” on most Wednesday nights as well. And so when she passed away when I was 12…I made a break from church.
Until Jesus found me!!! I thought receiving Christ would be enough. I had ran from Him for years and had actually developed into a pretty good pagan. BUT He changed me…and then began dealing with my heart about being in the ministry.
I resisted–BIG TIME! I didn’t want to work in the church…I didn’t really like the church…but, as always, God wins & I surrendered.
At first I thought about going with some sort of para-church organization…and even considered traveling around and speaking for a while…but when no one really invites you to speak…well…that kind of tells you that isn’t the way to go.
Then somebody told me about your book, “The Purpose Driven Church.” I will have to admit I wasn’t that interested–dude, it was 399 pages and I have A-D-D!!! (Up until this book I believe the most intense thing I had ever read was Green Eggs and Ham!)
BUT…I thought I would give it a try…and I could not put it down! I read your book…then I would read the book of Acts…and then I would read your book…and then the book of Acts…and I got so PUMPED UP that I literally could not sleep at night! FINALLY I was reading something about a church that I believed could and should be taking place…and the Lord used your writings as a catalyst to spur me AND encourage me.
Long story short–a group of about 15 of us began a church in the fall of 1999 in a living room here in Anderson, SC. (Our entire county has about 170,000 people.) It has been a ride…God has blessed our socks off…we moved into our new worship facility last February…and this past Easter we had over 10,000 people show up!!! God is doing amazing things…and we know there is more to come.
So dude, I am just writing to thank you! I know you hear this all the time…but your book and your example has served so many of us pastors. AND…you have had a part in every move that NewSpring has made…God used you (and many others) to inspire what is going on here.
I know you receive your fair share of criticism…dude, wow…I get it–but there are literally days when I have thought, “At least I am not Rick Warren or George W. Bush!” But I want you to know that what you are doing IS making a difference…and for you to keep up the incredible work…and not to come down off the wall & get tangled up in the web that the enemy seeks to spin through detractors.
I admire you because, despite people cracking on your PDL material and your funky shirts, you have stayed faithful! Stay the course…stay on task with what the Lord leads you to do…and know that there are tons of us out here who can clearly recognize the blessings of God on you and your ministry!!!
Finally–I would say that the Lord used you to…
- Teach me what church CAN be
- Show me that if you do not have a plan in ministry that it will be obvious to everyone that you have no plan!
- Teach me patience as I read all 399 pages…and then I did it again!
- Show me how to stay focused…no matter what people say about me! (I am still learning this!)
- Show me that people CAN receive Jesus–even if the pastor wears Hawaiian shirt!
- Show me that pastors can be on television and represent Jesus in such a way that the rest of us do not look stupid!
Thanks Rick!!!
It’s Official–God Kicked My Butt! April 25, 2007
At times I am the world’s worse hypocrite! (Stay with me…this is going somewhere, I promise!)
I really do believe in what we are doing here at NewSpring Church. I believe that lives are being changed. I believe that Jesus is being lifted up. I believe that the word “church” is taking on a new meaning in the community of Anderson, SC…and even the upstate. I believe so much in what we are doing that I can’t even sleep most nights…I am consumed.
And so when people want to speak against our church and attack what God is doing here I usually have one response–FIGHT!
I wish that wasn’t me. I really do wish I could let that stuff slide…but I can’t because I have dedicated my life to what we are doing…and I sincerely believe it is the right thing.
SO…because of this I have spent an unhealthy amount of time over the past year or so trying to defend what we are doing here…and in doing so I believe I have managed to convince exactly zero detractors. I have allowed the enemy to distract me and get me so unfocused–and it has done this church AND the Kingdom no good at all.
The Lord has been dealing with me on this BIG time…
Lee sent me an e-mail about a month ago basically telling me to stop it!!! He reminded me to look around and see what God is doing here…that we have nearly doubled in a year…that hundreds are being saved and that I should stop wasting my time answering people who have exactly zero going on in their church…that is the reason they have time to look at ours!
Lucretia, my wife, made a comment to me the other day when I asked her opinion regarding what I should blog about, “Write about something happy.” When I asked her what she meant she told me that my site had taken sort of a negative tone and that she felt I had spent too much time trying to defend this church. OUCH!
I had a friend that I have known for years come by and see me the other day. After talking for about an hour he was about to leave–but before he did he turned around and said, “I read your blog everyday, I love it…but dude, STOP DEFENDING THIS CHURCH!” DANG!
And then Monday’s meeting with John Maxwell was the icing on the cake…he said…
- Very few attacks are worth fighting over
- If you start answering every critic–all you’ll get is more critics
- If you explain yourself then all you’ll do is explain yourself
- The more successful you are the more criticism you will attract
- NOTHING frustrates the critic more than them not getting an answer
He said a few other things about the subject…but these are the ones that I wanted to share here because God used them to kick me in the gut!!!
One of the things I have discovered about the internet is that it is pretty much a place for cowards. People have written things about me and to me that they would never say to my face. The internet provides anonymity–which is NEVER a good qualification for someone who actually thinks they have something of value to say and cares about the person they are saying it to.
I share this for several reasons…
#1 – To ask for your prayers. I am going to try harder not to let stuff get to me. I know as soon as I say this all hell will probably break loose…but hey, I’ve got to learn to handle this somehow, right.
#2 – To let you know that this does not mean I will not continue to cast strong vision! I will continue to be on the offensive against religion without Jesus…I will continue to go after churches who want to stay the same…I will continue to share our vision here at NewSpring and invite people to either get on board or go elsewhere…I will continue to challenge pastors to do their part to fulfill the Great Commission.
BUT…I will no longer respond to detractors here. Sure, I will make fun of some of the stuff you say (like this post), but like it or not–God is at work here and I MUST focus on reaching people for Christ and leading this church…and so that means that critics no longer matter.
#3 – To inform people that if NewSpring Church can help out in any way with your life, your church, ANYTHING then we are just an e-mail or phone call away. However, myself NOR our pastoral care staff will waste no more time answering to people who don’t attend here OR sincerely want to learn what is going on.
NewSpring…I apologize for allowing the enemy to distract me. I am repenting of this attitude and asking for your forgiveness. We are going to press forward from now on…this site will be used for casting vision, encouragement and church leadership. (And some personal stuff–did I mention I am going to be a dad?)
I love this place…and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!!!
Yesterday Was So Cool Because… April 24, 2007
I had an AWESOME day yesterday…why…because…
- I ran seven miles in 1:03:10–which is REALLY awesome for a big boy like me!!! :-)
- I drove to Atlanta & had lunch with John Maxwell. He and I meet about 2-3 times a year & I just ask him questions and I highly value my time with him. God used John to drive home a point in my life that others have been telling me about for quite sometime…more on that later this week.
- Lucretia and I went to the hospital and we were given a tour of the labor and delivery facilities. WOW…this is REALLY going to happen…and I am PUMPED!
- Speaking of the baby–I think we FINALLY completed registering at Babies ‘R Us…I will do an entire post about that experience…it was fun…AND educational…AND overwhelming!!!
- Heroes made its comeback!!! Holy COW!!! What an awesome show! Hands down it is the BEST show on television! I wish I could go and actually watch them film an episode–that would be cool!
And finally–the following e-mail was in my inbox when I got back from Atlanta…and it should serve as a reminder to ALL pastors to preach the WHOLE TRUTH–THANKS “Vic!”
For the record–I really did wear a T-shirt this past Sunday that said, “God is watching you download that porn!” I thought it was appropriate considering I was speaking on character!
Sunday Night Reflections April 22, 2007
Today was HARD!
I would say that on a scale of 1-10, one being an easy sermon and a ten being a hard one–today was around a 158!!!
I will make a confession as a pastor–something that you may have never heard one of us say…but deep down–everyone of us want to be liked. We want people to say, “great job!” There is something in every single human being (even pastors) that desires to hear the applause of men.
And last weeks message–the one about purpose–well, that was a message that everyone could get fired up about! Everyone LOVES to hear they are not an accident. Everyone loves to hear that God has an incredible plan for their lives. AND…I had a BLAST last week preaching.
BUT…this week was different…this weeks message was on character and it was a STRONG challenge to Christians for us to be more and more like Jesus Christ–not less. It was a call to confession and repentance. It was a call for those INSIDE the church to stop focusing OUTSIDE of the church and blaming them for the condition of this “sinful world.” The reason the world may be going to “hell in a hand basket” is NOT because of Hollywood and Disney World…it is because many times those of us who claim the name of Christ don’t look like Him.
All week long I was nervous…I knew the message needed to be preached…BUT I also knew that it was going to be TENSE! If you are a pastor then you KNOW the tension that I felt…you’ve been there. (Unless you are just a sick, legalistic weirdo who LOVES to preach on wrath and judgment.)
Please understand that every single week I get nervous before I speak…VERY NERVOUS; in fact, there have been weeks that I wanted to throw up! And this week was NO EXCEPTION!!! (No, I am NOT lying. No matter how much I study I still walk out on stage shaking!)
BUT…one of the promises I made Jesus when I entered the ministry is that I would be HIS man and preach HIS word…that I would be passionate about HIS opinion rather than the opinion of the crowd. AND THIS IS NOT EASY–IT NEVER IS! (And there have been times that I HAVE not done this!)
BUT…God honored this today! We saw drug addicts come forward. We saw men addicted to porn admit their need for help. We saw God do an amazing work…and I believe He will continue to do so. I sincerely believe that God wants to do an awesome work among His people…and we are seeing the beginnings of Him doing something amazing!!!
Let me says a word of encouragement to pastors–preach the entire counsel of God’s Word! We are called to preach it all–confession, repentance and wrath included. This isn’t fun…but God will honor the church that does this. (It’s funny–at times NewSpring is referred to as the “feel good” church. Honestly, today did not feel good–at all! But it was necessary…it will always be necessary for Christians to be called to confession and repentance.)
AND let me say this as well…the times when we are the most nervous, the most desperate, the most “out of control,” those are the times when God moves and does things that only HE can do!!! He’s like that!!! He doesn’t need our talent and abilities–He wants our obedience.
If the message hit you today but you did not respond–please let us know how we can help…call us, e-mail us…whatever. If God pulled me out the of hole I was in–He can do the same for you. My encouragement is to allow your heart to be open to Him…and continue to let Him reshape your life. (I am in the process of Him rocking my world right now…I will share more later this week or next.)
Let me say what I said so many times in the message today–OUR CHARACTER MATTERS TO HIM. How we live REALLY MATTERS…and those of us who claim the name of Christ need to look more like Him–not less.
I love this church so much…and I am thankful for all of your prayers. This next Sunday is going to be incredible as we will be addressing the subject of “tolerance.” DON’T MISS IT!