Archive for December, 2007
Goals For 2008 December 31, 2007
I don’t really have any resolutions…but I do have some goals for 2008 that I thought I would share…
#1 – To SERIOUSLY discern God’s direction for my life and this church.
This will take me intentionally carving out more time in my schedule to spend in solitude, purposefully being quiet so that I may better hear His voice.
#2 – To be a wildly romantic husband!
That’s about all you need to know about that one!!! :-)
#3 – To continue to grow in wisdom as a father!
I have to admit sometime–when it comes to raising kids…I’m stupid. I am praying more and more for God to fill me with His wisdom so that I don’t screw being a dad up.
#4 – To read at least 20 books.
That is MAJOR for me.
#5 – To do at least 20 new things I’ve never done before.
I want to experience life more…and there are tons of things I’ve never done that I need to try to take a stab at this year…some are easy, such as visiting the aquarium in Atlanta…and others will be more, let’s say, adventurous, such as…oh, I don’t know…we’ll see!
That’s about it–we’ll see what happens!!! :-)
Sunday Night (and Year End) Reflections December 30, 2007
Today was special…that is the only way I know how to say it. I can honestly say that I am more excited about this upcoming year of ministry than I have EVER been about ANY coming year in the history of our church. I know I say that a lot–but in my opinion a pastor can either be excited about the past, thus the church he serves becomes a monument to what God DID…or he can be excited about the future, this the church he serves becoming a MOVEMENT of God.
I can’t describe today…to me it was so awesome to sit back and reflect on how good God has been to us…some of the things I will never forget as long as I live from this past year are…
- HANDS DOWN…announcing the birth of our daughter was the HIGHLIGHT of my year! WOW…I had no idea I could love a child like this!
- When we wrote the names of our lost family members and friends on the walls of our sanctuary during our “What If” series…there are over 6,000 names currently, with more being added just about every week.
- The week after that seeing 250 people receive Christ (this was when I smashed the car on the stage.)
- Our Unleash Conference…we planned it in January–expected around 100 people…and around 900 church leaders from all over America showed up! Our volunteers stepped up HUGE…and I believe everyone had a blast. We are doing it again this year–March 13th…and we already have around 550 signed up!!!
- Seeing over 10,000 people show up for Easter. Folks…when we began NewSpring Church I NEVER dreamed that we would ever serve this many people in a weekend. In fact, our ten year goals say that if we could reach 1,000 people by 2010 that we would be successful. LESSON LEARNED–when making plans with God…make them BIG!!!
- Giving away a house to a single mom for Mother’s Day…I honestly don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.
- Our youth trip to the beach…nine charter buses full of teenagers and chaperone’s, games on the beach, incredible times of worship…and a baptism service where over 70 teenagers confessed “Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord” out loud!!!
- Our Illuminate series where we had nearly 800 people come to Christ, I came out of a coffin, our band played “Hells Bells” and we had fire on the stage!
- The Baptism service where I asked people to show up and tailgate just like a football game…and they did! That day we baptized 562 people…it took six pastors and hour and a half to do so…it was by far one of the most memorable days of my life.
- Gametime–where we shared the vision God has placed on our hearts to build a children’s facility, youth facility, begin a Greenville campus and give away 10% of every dime that comes in to missions…and we, as a church, pledged $14.3 million dollars! WOW!
- Going to Homeland Park Elementary School and putting a brand new pair of shoes on the feet of nearly every child there…and giving them a jacket and some toys as well.
- Seeing 12,795 people show up for one of our Christmas services!
- KNOWING that God has even more in store!
I could literally go on and on…and I am sure you could as well. God has been so good to us…and I know that our best days are ahead. I can’t wait to see what He does next…I am so amazed that He would allow a screw up like me to be a part of this! Thank You Jesus!!!
It’s Friday??? December 28, 2007
I will have to admit–this week has been a little messed up for me…I can’t keep my days straight for some reason. This week…
- I have ENJOYED hanging out with my girls! Charisse is beginning to laugh out loud–WOW!
- I have also enjoyed some chocolate chip bread that a wonderful lady in our church bakes for me every Christmas!
- I have enjoyed my brand new one cup coffee maker that “Santa” brought me…I think he got it from Starbucks!
- I have enjoyed getting a little extra rest!
- I have enjoyed coming into the office and really being able to focus on what I feel God wants me to speak on over the next month or so–and I am EXCITED!
- I have enjoyed hanging out with friends…EXCEPT for last night at the Cracker Barrel. They “discontinued” their baked apple dumpin’ for the “holiday season” and, instead, have some “yummy pies.” Uh…NOTHING is better than the dumpin’! I was so sad!!!
- I have enjoyed getting an invite to eat at Fogo de Chao next week before the bowl game!!!
I will be posting a little more next week…I hope all of you have had an awesome Christmas break!!!
A Few Random “After Christmas” Things… December 26, 2007
It’s been quiet in blog world this week–and this site is no exception. I did want to chime in with a thought or two…
- I am just now feeling normal again. I have had a few people ask how it felt to preach six services–and I can’t really describe it…all that I know is that I was in a zombie like state all day yesterday (Christmas) and that I have slept a lot. The last time I felt like this I think someone referred to it as “Senior Week!” (Just being honest!)
- AND…to top that off…I got some sort of stomach virus on Monday which REALLY bummed me out because I wasn’t able to fully enjoy Lucretia’s cooking on Christmas day. :-( BUT…today it began to feel better–which meant that I went to Chic-fil-a and got a milkshake!!!
- Charisse had a great Christmas! “Santa” brought her a rocking horse that sings a song…which was cute the first time I heard it…and the second time…but now that we are on the 184th singing of it I am beginning to be disturbed because…IT IS STUCK IN MY HEAD!!! I have literally been singing it all afternoon! AHHHHHHH!!!!
- I went into the office for a few hours today and began refining the message for this coming Sunday. I’m really excited about what we will be studying together…and the band is going to be doing the songs that you guys said were your favorite of the year!!!
- I am excited about our new series we will be beginning on January 6th entitled, “Crank It Up!” More on this later.
- I found out today that I will be going to the Peach Bowl next Monday…YES! Go Tigers!
That’s about it for now–maybe more posts this week–maybe not. I do want to try to get a picture of Charisse with her singing horse! I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!
MONDAY Night Reflections December 24, 2007
Whew, six services…after the sixth service Lucretia and I had some supper with friends and now I am at home trying to keep my eyes open…here are a few thoughts on yesterday and today…
- The message for this Christmas became more and more real to me every single time I taught it…God absolutely ROCKED my world, especially when I considered John 3:16 from the point of view of a father. AMAZING!
- I love the way we began our services–as a CELEBRATION! Don’t get me wrong, there is a time for reflection and meditation–but when Jesus was born the angels were singing at the top of their lungs about Jesus–and we got to do the same today. (Which begs a theological question–do angels have lungs?)
- Personally, I thought the music for our Christmas celebration was off the hook…and the song that Lee wrote is my new favorite song!
- I have had several people ask…and the answer is “no,” I was not actually behind the screen doing the walk through live. A team of us went to a studio in Spartanburg several weeks ago to record the journey through the universe.
- Which…by the way, meant that message preparation had to be done at the beginning of December. I have learned as a pastor that our media department does not serve me but rather we serve Christ together…and in order for them to continually take it to the next level they need to know where I feel the Lord is directing me as far as message prep.
- I love the team I serve with because we all have one common goal–to communicate Christ in the clearest way possible so that hundreds and thousands of people may ultimately confess Him as Lord.
- I said it today in the service AND I will say it again on this website–Jesus IS NOT the reason for Christmas, HE IS THE REASON FOR LIFE! How dare we reduce the glory and awesomeness of Jesus to one day per year. Christmas is a time the celebration is to be magnified–but we should acknowledge Jesus EVERY SINGLE DAY! Yes, He IS Lord on December 25th…but He is JUST as awesome and holy on August 12 or May 7…or ANY OTHER DAY of the year!!!
- A we had a total of 12,795 at church for our Christmas services–that’s amazing!
- I don’t know a total…but I KNOW there were several decisions made for Christ both yesterday and today–YES!!!
NOW I am going to go put together a rocking horse for Charisse! :-) Tomorrow I am celebrating Christmas with family and probably will not post very much this week. Have an awesome Christmas!!!
Sunday Night Reflections December 23, 2007
I am sitting here in my study at home trying to wrap my mind around all that has taken place today. I thought we had four outstanding services…and I am PUMPED that we have two more tomorrow (Monday) at 2:00 and 4:00…there are about 200 tickets left if anyone wants to come.
I don’t want to blog a whole lot about the service because what I want to say may give some of the service away to those who have not yet attended…but I will say this, today’s message was one of those times when I became MORE passionate about the message as the day went on.
Honestly, I am usually feeling more and more worn out on a “normal” weekend…but for some reason today I felt like my passion and energy INCREASED…and I am so looking forward to tomorrow.
Saying all of that–here are a few random thoughts running through my mind…
- I am REALLY craving pizza right now!
- Dallas has home field in the playoffs–YEAH!
- I took a nap today on the couch with ‘Cretia…she snored! :-)
- My daughter is STILL loving, “head, shoulders, knees and toes,” I’ve GOT to introduce her to some different music…maybe some 80’s rock!!!
- This picture of Joe really disturbs me!!!
Seriously, that’s it–I’m tired and going to bed.
A Few Friday Thoughts… December 21, 2007
This has been a crazy/busy week…here are some things running through my mind on this Friday morning…
- Right now Lucretia and Charisse are watching some sort of video–and EVERY TIME they do so when I am at home I sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” all day long. AHHHHHH! (I can also sing it in Spanish…just in case you are wondering!)
- This story about Tony Morgan made me laugh out loud!
- Last night we had our staff Christmas party…and I laughed so hard I nearly got sick. One of the things I’ve learned so far in ministry is that at staff MUST laugh and celebrate life together.
- During our creative planning session yesterday I heard screaming in the parking lot–I looked out the window to discover Joe Sangl in an elf costume (complete with yellow tights) riding around in a golf cart – I will never look at him the same again!
- Yesterday I had the privilege of hanging out with six church leaders from across the upstate and hear about what God is doing in their churches–it was so encouraging and I cannot wait to do it again.
- Our Christmas services are just about here…and I am PUMPED. I was informed today that we’ve distributed over 15,000 tickets. We still have a few hundred seats left in our Monday services. Yesterday I walked into the sanctuary and saw the stage for the first time–DANG!
- Oh yeah, I know I’ve said this already–but get their early Sunday…the service is going to begin in a really “unique” way and I would HATE for you to miss it.
- AND also–please remember that it’s ok if you forget your ticket–we are not turning anyone away!
- I really do miss college football…and I have NO IDEA where that came from.
- There’s that “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” song again–why must children’s videos sing things over and over?
- I will be posting after the Christmas services and then MAYBE sporadically next week…we always shut the office down the last week of the year to allow our staff a breather.
- That’s it–I’ve got to go workout now…there have been WAY too many “goodies” in our office lately and the Bible says in I Opinions 3:17 that, “Thou shalt not pass by Christmas goodies without partaking in the goodness that the Lord has allowed.”
- (OK–I made that verse up–that’s really not in the Bible!)