Archive for July, 2008
Five Reasons I Am In Panama City July 24, 2008
Over the past few years I’ve had a couple of pastors scratch their heads when they find out I come down to the beach with the youth group every year and hang with our teens. They say something along the lines like, “Where do you find the time to do that?” My answer is, “I make the time!”
This is the third year I’ve done this…and I hope that I will continue to do it. Here’s why…
#1 – God Wants Me To!
Yep, played the God card! But…it’s not a canned answer…it’s the truth. I really have felt the past few years that God has said “go” every time I am asked, “Do you want to do the beach camp this year?”
#2 – I Believe In Our Teenagers!
I opened up middle school and high school week the same way! I told them…
First of all, let me clearly explain to you why I am here. I love you! Seriously, I love you guys much more than you could ever imagine. I don’t believe you are the future of our church – you ARE our church!
Second of all, I honestly believe that the next senior pastor of NewSpring Church could be in this room! I am not going to do this forever. One day I will either die or pass the leadership reigns over to someone else…and it could be one of you! I believe the next Billy Graham could be here. Or the next Lee McDerment! I believe that one of the greatest missionaries to ever live could be here…and so I want to spend as much time with you as I can!
#3 – Teens Are An Incredible Predictor Of The Future!
Pastors, if you think your church is going to look the exact same way it looks right now in ten years and still grow…you are STUPID!
I remember when I was in youth ministry the way we did it…we had bands, screens, used videos, met kids where they were and taught them Scripture using every method we could think of.
Uh…sort of looks like the way church is being done today!
The question I am constantly wrestling with is, “What’s next?” Seriously, something is coming! Something is on the way that is going to revolutionize ministry! Something is going to happen to radically transform thousands of lives in the future. AND…I believe student ministry is going to unlock that “SOMETHING” that will impact the next generation.
#4 – It Allows Me A Chance To Form Relationships
Sunday’s are game time for me. I am a focused maniac! I don’t have a ton of conversations that day because I am trying my best to make sure that I have all my i’s dotted and t’s crossed. BUT…when I get away in this environment I am able to focus and spend time with these kids…here their stories, their struggles, answer their questions, pray for them, encourage them…and so on. I love it!
And…when I see them throughout the year there’s a bond there that is absolutely priceless!
#5 – I Love Our Youth Staff And Volunteers!
I love our youth staff…they are amazing!
And, our volunteers are TROOPERS! Seeing them serve Jesus challenges and inspires me!
The other night I nearly lost it right before I got up to speak!
Rob Miller, one of the volunteers on this trip, and I were standing at the back of the auditorium watching the kids worship and he said to me, “Hey man, what if you had said ‘no!’”
I looked him and asked what in the heck he was talking about.
He said, “What if you would have told God ‘no’ when He asked you to start NewSpring Church? Forget everything else that is going on – you would have never gotten to see this.”
When he said that he pointed to over 200 high schoolers worshiping Jesus…and I nearly lost it. I had to walk away and gather my thoughts before getting up! These kids are worth every single dime and every ounce of time we can give them…and I am so glad that God has allowed me to be a part of this.
Pastors, my advice…you CAN’T INVEST enough in student and children’s ministry!!! You’ve heard me say it before–but GIVE TO THEM before any other group in the church! Stop sticking them out in front of Wal Mart on Saturday’s with donuts and brownies…challenge your church to step up and give to them. And…when cuts need to be made in the budget…ALWAYS take away from the adults before you take away from the kids…and if they get mad–let them LEAVE and go another church that will organize their trips to pick apples and visit museums where they can view the worlds largest ball of twine!!!
NewSpring…I can’t wait to see what happens in our student ministry this next year…and next ten years…and beyond. We have some amazing kids who love Jesus and are going to accomplish far more for HIS Kingdom that we’ve ever dreamed.
Panama City Update, Week Two, Day Three July 23, 2008
I seriously can’t think of words to describe what happened this evening!
Last night (Tuesday) I challenged the students to ask God all day today (Wednesday) to rock their worlds this evening. AND…there was a sense of expectancy among them like I’ve rarely seen or experienced!
(I’ve always said that one of the things missing in our churches is a sense of anticipation! Too many people act surprised when God does something amazing when we should be begging Him to work and then anticipating what He’s going to do. OK…enough of that!)
Last week when I was down here with the middle school group I felt like God was directing me to lead our high schoolers through the Lord’s Supper. And so…tonight we took communion together…and it was one of the most POWERFUL times of worship, brokenness, repentance and celebration that I have been a part of in my 18 years of ministry!!!
The Scripture passages that we covered are Matthew 22:36-40, Ephesians 4:25-32 and I Corinthians 11:23-29. I gave the students five questions to wrestle through that basically challenged them to look at their relationship with Jesus and their relationship with others.
I am still blown away. Yes, we did take a lot of video…but it just won’t do what happened tonight justice! Thank You Jesus!
Please keep us in your prayers…we have one more night and God is still working on a few guys & girls! Seriously, pray that there would be even more fruit on our last night (Thursday) that the entire week combined. In fact, if you would just stop what you are doing and pray for our services on Thursday night that would be awesome!
One more thing…we have baptism on the beach in the morning. Can’t wait! AND…one of our volunteers was telling a family here at the place we are staying about our service on the beach in the morning. One of the young ladies told her that she had received Christ but had never been baptized…and then asked would we do it! We told her heck yes!!! WOW!
OK…I’m trying to calm down. I really need to go to bed! WOO – HOO! This has been an amazing week! One more night to go!
Unleash! July 23, 2008
Gotta be honest here…I’m already getting excited about Unleash 2009!!!
I’ve been praying about the direction of the talks ever since the last Unleash ended and I really feel that God is going to, once again, do something pretty awesome this year.
And…we lowered the price! Yep…that’s right–lowered it!!! Why? Because we want pastors and leaders to bring as many volunteers with them as possible.
And…this year we are going to try a few different things…such as…
We will be doing our normal Unleash conference at our Anderson campus…but we will also have Unleash sessions going at our Greenville campus as well!!! The music in Greenville will be live…and the messages will be streamed in live just like we do for a Sunday service.
I will be hosting the event in Anderson…and we will be doing breakouts and such…and Tony will be in Greenville where the focus will be more directed at how we are currently doing multi site…and all of the good, the bad and the ugly associated with that kind of stuff.
One conference, two locations…and thousands of people!!!
Mark the date down, Thursday, March 12th…and plan to bring as many people as possible with you! (AND…register early–we sold out last year and are expecting to do the same this year.) We will be opening registration next month!!!
One more thing…if you want to view the sessions from the two previous years (for free) you can go here! Seriously, I can’t WAIT for this…it’s gonna be so much fun!
Panama City Update, Week Two, Day Two July 22, 2008
The waves down here are much larger than I’ve ever seen; in fact, they put out the double red flag today which pretty much means that no one can get in the water. BUT…I think you can still rent a waverunner–which, if these waves continue…I’m doing!!!
Today was an incredible day…our teenagers and leaders were able to get some rest last night and hit the ground running this morning. Lucretia spent some time speaking to the girls…and Lee McDee talked to the guys. Both of them did incredible jobs from what I hear.
Also today was the day that the great tug of war battles took place on the beach. I still say that tug of war is one of the best games ever! It was intense…and so was the heat. BUT…we all had a blast. I wore my, “Jesus is watching you smoke that weed” T-shirt…and now nearly all of our teens want one!
Tonight’s worship service was awesome. God altered the message I was going to give about five minutes before I was going to get up to speak…and I am so glad I listened to Him. DANG! I really feel like He got our attention this evening in a huge way. The invitation time was unreal…and I feel that it really prepared the way for what God wants to do tomorrow night.
One more thing…there was one young lady who stood up tonight and gave her life to Christ…and, once again, that absolutely PUMPS me up! If the angels in heaven throw a party…so should we!!!
Please keep us in your prayers…we have two more nights and I really feel that God is really drawing some guys & gals to Him! I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Unlimited Access July 22, 2008
On Sunday night I was typing away in my office at home, trying to get ready for the trip that I am currently on with our High School students when Charisse, my daughter, walked into the room.
I will have to admit, I was in “a zone” and managing to get a lot accomplished. I heard her stirring around over in the corner where she has a box of books and didn’t think anything of it…until…
I felt her tapping on my leg–when I looked down I saw her with her HUGE beautiful, blue eyes looking back and me…and she was holding a book.
Needless to say–I STOPPED what I was doing, put her in my lap and read to her.
After we were finished with the book she was content to get down and go on her way…and I got back to my work.
However, later on that evening I could not get what happened out of my head. I felt the Lord saying to me, “Perry, that’s the way it is with you and me…you have unlimited access to Me, and anytime you want to talk I’m here…all you have to do is reach out for me.”
His message is the same for all of us. God is NEVER too busy to spend time with us. He’s closer than you think.
Just thought someone might need to read that today!
Panama City Update, Week Two, Day One July 21, 2008
Props to our youth staff and volunteers for being INCREDIBLE troopers and keeping and incredibly positive attitude through what could have been a very frustrating day.
Long story short…there were actually come kids and leaders that didn’t get their into their rooms tonight until around 6:00 because the place we are staying dropped the ball on a couple of things.
BUT…let me say this again, props to our leaders…I saw tons of smiles and the vibe stayed very positive!
Tonight’s service was awesome! I had a lot of fun speaking to our high schoolers. We saw three people stand to receive Christ…which absolutely made my day! I know there are more to come!
Please keep us in your prayers! Tomorrow we will see teams do battle on the beach in intense games of tug of war…going to be LOTS of fun. Lee McDee is speaking to the guys in the morning, and ‘Cretia is speaking to the girls. (It is SOOOOOO nice to have her and Charisse down here this week!)
Gotta go to bed…unbelievably tired!
Initiator Or Responder? July 21, 2008
Are you an initiator or a responder?
- An initiator spends their time trying to think big and extinguish the fires of hell…a responder spends their time trying to figure out how to keep people happy and tries to extinguish the fires of small minded people.
- An initiator spends their time asking God to lead them to take huge risks…a responder spends their time asking God to keep them safe.
- An initiator takes God led risks…a responder will call a business meeting.
- An initiator spends all of their time trying to please God…a responder spends all of their time trying to please people.
- An initiator will preach what he feels that God has told him to preach and not fear the consequences…a responder will preach what makes people happy so he can receive a paycheck.
- An initiator spends all of their time trying to figure out what’s next…and a responder spends all their time trying to figure out how to guard the past and the present.
- An initiator prays huge prayers and asks God for impossible things…a responder doesn’t really think God is in the miracle business anymore & will pray prayers that doesn’t require God’s help to accomplish so that “God doesn’t look bad!”
- An initiator will surround himself with leaders who will speak their minds…a responder want people around him who will say, “Your poop doesn’t stink!”
- An initiator wants to meet with people who do not think like him…a responder is threatened by people who aren’t just like him.
Just a few thoughts…