Archive for February, 2009
Ten Things I Am Excited About… February 17, 2009
Here’s a few things that have me absolutely pumped out of my mind right now…
#1 – Starting a campus in Columbia!
#2 – Our web campus is going strong! (Had someone receive Christ last night during our 6:00 service!!!)
#3 – The opening of our children’s facility at our Anderson campus! (WOW!)
#4 – The opening of our youth facility at our Anderson campus!
#5 – Ruth Chris opening in Greenville!!!
#6 – UNLEASH!
#7 – What the Lord is going to do in our church as we fulfill the Great Commission by taking the Gospel to Kenya!
#8 – Easter (yes, it’s coming quickly!)
#9 – Football season being one day closer today than it was yesterday!
#10 – THIS COMING SUNDAY!
A Very Wise Investment February 16, 2009
I spoke about this a little yesterday…but wanted to hit it one more time.
If you are a couple who is planning on getting married in the next year or so…you REALLY should attend our premarital class beginning tomorrow night (Tuesday) at our Anderson campus!
(If you attend our Greenville campus the class will begin on March 3rd…and for our Florence campus, keep your eyes open for when the class may be offered in that location!)
BTW…here is the link where you can sign up!!! (For either Greenville or Anderson)
And you should!!! One of the problems I have seen when it comes to marriage today is couples wrecklessly spend thousands and thousands of dollars and numerous hours planning a ceremony…but never spend any time or money actually planning for the marriage that is to follow!
The result (at least 50% of the time) is a really nice evening with lots of weird food and maybe some dancing and lots of smiles that eventually turns into custody battles and attorney’s fees!
AND that is SO uneccessary!
SO…here at NewSpring we want to do something to help…and we feel this class is a good step in the right direction!!! Jake Beaty will be teaching it at our Anderson campus…and the dude can straight bring it when it comes to teaching on marriage! (And Alden Ellis will be teaching it when we launch it in Greenville!)
BTW…in every class that we’ve had there has been at least one couple that has realized that they do not need to get married and called off the wedding. Just wanted you to know that…and if that scares you…then you ESPECIALLY need to be at the class. Better a little embarrassment now than a bitter divorce in a few years!!!
The class costs $25…and please SHUT UP about it costing “that much!” You are going to spend WAY more than that on flowers and fru fru food that doesn’t actually fill anyone up!!!
One more thing…I HIGHLY advise that BOTH people come to this class. If you are planning on coming and your future spouse isn’t…uh…that just isn’t a good sign. Trust me…you cannot teach them what Jake is going to be teaching…I HIGHLY recommend that you learn together.
AND…gotta say this…if the marriage IS important enough…then your significant other will find a way to be there! You are only doing this marriage thing one time (hopefully) and preparing for it is WORTH rearranging a schedule for!!!
Sunday Night Reflections February 15, 2009
A few thoughts as the day winds down…
- International travel REALLY screws me up…wow…pretty much been on fumes the entire day.
- BUT…every service today was awesome I felt…every crowd seemed pumped up and eager to both worship and receive God’s Word!
- Marriage is WORTH fighting for!
- Marriage was God’s idea…and since HE is the expert we should constantly seek to submit to the Scriptures…trust me, we CAN’T go by obeying Him!
- Marriage is not our opportunity to be served but rather to serve! (More on this in two weeks!)
- YES, I did say that I want the married couples in our church to have regular and awesome sex lives!!! If the sex is awesome INSIDE the marriage then people are less likely to look for it OUTSIDE of the marriage!
- Once again, I was tough on the single guys…dudes, it is because I love you and desperately want you to continually surrender to Jesus and view women as God views them!
- Oh yeah…get a job!
- Single ladies, I did challenge you today…only because I love you! Having a daughter really has messed me up in a good way…I want the best for her, and I want the best for you as well! Ephesians 3:20 should be your standard for a man!
- Once again, the challenge I left with married people is for us to pray this prayer all week long, “Jesus, show me what I need to do in order to fight for my marriage!”
- In other words…we should ask God for insight as to what we need to change rather than focusing on what we believe our spouse needs to change!
- If two people are passionately pursuing Jesus they will not pursue divorce…this is why putting Him first in EVERY area of our lives is SO important!
- Singles, I was SERIOUS with the challenge I left you with today…find a godly married couple and ask them to dinner…ask them questions about marriage and take a lot of notes!
- I believe the Lord is going to do an awesome work over the next two weeks…praying that there is MUCH healing in marriages that are seemingly hanging on by a thread!
- God is SO MUCH BIGGER than any problem that seems to be coming at your marriage!
- BTW…the enemy WANTS your marriage…he’s convinced the single people that marriage will solve all their problems and convinced the married people that divorce will solve all their problems!
- Looking forward to next Sunday already…and the next! :-)
- Unleash is SOLD OUT…WOW! Can’t wait…it’s gonna be awesome!
About to go to bed now…still trying to wrap my mind around all Jesus was speaking to me about while I was in Kenya! He REALLY changed me (and is continuing to change me) as a result of that trip…GREAT THINGS are in store for us here at NewSpring Church…can’t wait to share with our church what I believe is about to happen!!!
Friday Morning February 13, 2009
It’s Friday…a few thoughts on the trip…
- There is no way I can put into words what the trip was like.
- Please don’t ask me, “what did the Lord DO in you while you were over there?” BECAUSE…He’s still doing “it!” It’s only the beginning.
- We are WAY more blessed in this country than we could ever imagine!
- We lived out of suitcases for 10 days…never stayed in the same place two nights in a row…spent HOURS on a bus without AC…ate some funky stuff…and got very little sleep…and yet it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever experienced!
- I am seriously still processing a lot of information…but coming soon, I promise, we will be presenting the vision on a Sunday as to what the Lord is leading us to do…it will be awesome!
- Going through customs in Detroit made me want to say not nice words!
- The first meal I had when I got back into the U.S. was FUDDRUCKERS! :-)
- Went to Cracker Barrel last night! :-)
- REALLY can’t wait for Sunday!!! This is going to be a fun series.
That’s it! Going to pretty much hang out with my girls today…planning on doing a whole lot of nothing! I REALLY missed them!
Have a great weekend!
Seven Things We Allow To Guide Us At NewSpring–Part Seven February 12, 2009
Here we go…last one in the series…
#7 – We Are PUMPED About Sunday’s!
I once had someone ask me, “Why do you always tell people that the following Sunday is going to be the best ever?”
My answer was simple, “Because I really do believe it is going to be!”
If a pastor and a staff can’t be excited about Sunday…then how in the world do they expect the people who attend to be excited?
SO…we promote Sundays! We pray, plan and then tell people, “Do whatever it takes to get people here next week who do not know Christ.”
AND…the next week when they do come…we try our best to deliver on the deal by presenting a clear excellent presentation of the Gospel…and then BEGGING GOD to make up the difference!
When people ask me which series I am most excited about I always reply, “The next one.” (By the way…if a pastor is most excited about a series he did two or three years ago…it’s over!)
I am looking forward to what God wants to do…THIS SUNDAY. And then, when the day is over…I will be living in anticipation for NEXT Sunday!
Let me say it one more time…if a pastor and staff are not excited about Sunday…are not begging God to show up and so something great…then there is NO WAY they can expect others to be that way.
Let me be very clear…I don’t think I’ve preached my best sermon yet…it is still yet to come, maybe this weekend! (And pastor…I don’t think your best days are behind you either! You are STILL doing what you do because GOD ISN’T THROUGH with you yet…so let Him set you on fire!)
Seven Things We Allow To Guide Us At NewSpring–Part Six February 11, 2009
#6 – We Preach Felt Needs
Right now we are going through the Sermon on the Mount, you know, the longest sermon Jesus ever preached. AND…upon reading it it is EASY to see that Jesus addressed people where they were in order to bring them where they needed to be. He dealt with issues such as…
- How to walk with God.
- How to endure being persecuted.
- Forgiveness
- Marriage and divorce
- Money
- Prayer
- Worry
- Heaven
- Building your life on a solid foundation
- And a LOTS of other things that we happen to think about EVER SINGLE DAY!
Jesus taught in a way that people could understand…yet NEVER compromised the Gospel…we try to do the same.
When it comes to series planning…we take it seriously. We pray, we brainstorm, we constantly dig into the Scriptures and we also constantly dig into culture to see what people are dealing with. Some people call that compromise…I call it being a good steward of the responsibility God has given us.
I once heard someone say, “The church IS answering questions. The problem is that they are answering the questions no one is asking!”
DANG!
I believe it is a win when a church can answer the questions that people are already asking and use it as a way to lead them to the GOSPEL.
(By the way…one of the reasons some are not willing to do this is because IT TAKES WORK! Lazy leadership, in my opinion, is a reason many churches are not who God is calling them to be.)
Kenya Update & Sunday’s Coming… February 10, 2009
We’re headed home tomorrow…woo hoo…around 20-25 hours on an airplane and in airports and we will be home!!! Here are a few thoughts…
- Yesterday and today absolutely MOVED me like never before. I saw living conditions that are unimaginable in our country.
- THANK YOU to everyone who has been praying for us…God’s voice has been so clear! WOW!
- Today we worshiped with a group of ladies underneath a tree in their village and it was awesome…they kept singing, “Jesus does miracles!!!” AND…THEY HAVE NOTHING (according to American standards!) It was MOVING!
- One of them gave Sherry a necklace…GAVE IT! It was one of the most moving things I’ve ever seen…it made II Corinthians 8 come to life in a way.
- Sherry cried…a lot! (I did too!)
- NewSpring…God has definitely called us to make a difference here…and I believe that God is going to blow our minds with what He is about to do!
- We can’t do something everywhere…but we MUST do something somewhere…and this place is the somewhere He wants us to focus on!
- Tonight we are staying in tents in the middle of a wildlife park!
- I walked outside of my tent a few minutes ago and there was a giraffe about 30 yards from it. It was SO COOL!!!
- I can’t wait to get home…Cracker Barrel is on the agenda for dinner!!!
And now about Sunday…
- I CAN’T WAIT TO BE BACK AT NEWSPRING!
- The married people are going to be challenged this Sunday (I have been while studying)!!!
- Singles…trust me…you need to be at this one! :-)
- I will talk about Kenya for a few minutes…but not for the entire service.
- We WILL do a service in which we share the vision of where God has called us to be in Kenya and the details of when we are going soon!
- The best is yet to come!!!