Archive for November, 2009
Pray For Your Pastor November 30, 2009
This particular post may seem a little self serving…but so be it…this needs to be said (AND…I don’t mind asking people to pray for me!) :-)
This past Thursday (Thanksgiving) I was enjoying some great food and watching a football game when all of a sudden I began receiving text messages about something happening to Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village Church in Texas. Long story short…Matt passed out, hit his head…was rushed to the hospital and after some tests was diagnosed with a mass on his frontal lobe that will be looked at this week. Matt is a young leader (33 or 34 I believe) whom God’s hand is all over. His preaching/teaching is amazing…and God has used him to grow the Village Church from about 100 or so people to over 7,000 in just a few years. (He is an incredibly gifted preacher/leader!)
Hearing about what happened to him shook me up…BIG TIME. I had VERY few words for the rest of the day as I began to think about the stress and pressure that is on pastors that simply is not understood by many.
My prayer is that things like this will cause the church to rally behind their pastor…and pray for him with more passion and intentionality than ever before. Here are several areas where you can be praying for your pastor…
#1 – His Walk With God – Pray that his relationship with Jesus isn’t one out of obligation…but of OBSESSION for HIM!!! It is VERY tempting for a pastor to read the Bible for sermon prep and NOT to know Jesus. Pray that His relationship with Jesus will be FRESH and that he will be filled with vision and passion like never before.
#2 – His Integrity – It takes YEARS to establish integrity…and it can be destroyed in seconds. Pray for your pastor to keep his eyes on Jesus and OFF of anything that might lead him astray!!!
#3 – His Marriage – Pray that your pastor just doesn’t preach about a healthy marriage…but LIVES it out. I promise you the enemy comes STRONG after his marriage…and his kids!!! Lift up his wife and children by name as well!!!
#4 – His Sanity – He deals with critics, he deals with unrealistic expectations, he deals with accusations, he deals with pressure that is intense. Pray that he will keep his sanity. I recently heard of a survey that said only 10% of the men entering the ministry actually retire…the others either get disqualified OR drop out! That is a 90% failure rate!!! THE STAKES ARE HIGH!!!
#5 – His Health – I was in a meeting of pastors a few years ago…everyone of us were leading large churches…everyone of us were under 35…and over HALF of the men in the room (remember, we were under 35) had been hospitalized in the past two years because of serious medical problems (most likely brought on by stress and anxiety!) Good health is so vital for ministry…and I can promise you that physical, emotional and spiritual health do not just “happen!” Do not assume that just because your pastor is young that he is healthy…lift him up.
Whoever your pastor is…seriously…I would ask that you lift him up. No matter who you are…no matter who your pastor is. I don’t care if you are reading this site and hate me…don’t hate your pastor. Cover him…and pray that Jesus will speak to him and through him in ways that he has never experienced.
Rick Warren once said that he believes pastors are the most underrated changes agents in the world…and I believe that!!! SO…let’s lift him up before God…and pray that Jesus will have HIS way in his life!
AND…keep praying for Matt!!! He is in God’s hands…God has a plan for him…and I know God will receive ultimate glory out of all of this!!!
Sunday Night Reflections November 29, 2009
A few thoughts on an amazing day!
- Clayton King hit a HOME RUN with today’s message, “Don’t Get Married Until You Deal With Your Junk.”
- (BTW…Clayton will be doing a breakout at UNLEASH entitled, “Protecting Your Pastor!”)
- Everyone has “junk”–many people allow it to go un-delt with…and that can be damaging to marriages!
- I love the motto that Clayton and Charie have, “No secrets and no surprises.” (Lucretia and I have the same thing!) We keep NO secrets from one another…and we’ve told each other EVERYTHING so that there will be no future “surprises.”
- Oh yeah…we saw well over 50 people come to know Christ today…THAT never gets old.
- Funny thing…I sat on the front row during the 9:15 service in Anderson and watched Clayton speak…and instead of looking at him I looked past him so that I could see him on the screen! The speaker was live…and yet I preferred video!
- We begin our new series entitled, “Home For Christmas” next Sunday with the first message being, “How Do I Hear God’s Voice?” And…yes…I am PUMPED!
- It was so nice to hang out with Chris Elrod and his wife Denise tonight…love getting to spend time with other pastors!!!
- Going back to the singles series…I am SO glad we did this…and it has been amazing to me the number of positive comments from MARRIED people who said, “I know you were speaking to singles…but you preached on exactly what I needed to hear!”
- When God’s Word is preached and people are pointed towards Jesus…it doesn’t matter WHAT the series is about because WHO it is about (Jesus) is CLEARLY seen.
- Lucretia has gone into Christmas decorating mode…and I’m afraid that if I stand still long enough she will have lights wrapped around me and candy canes stuck up my nose…she’s a machine!
- Yes, I am sad about the Clemson loss on Saturday…but excited that we will be playing for the ACC Championship THIS Saturday!
- I did TWO seven mile runs last week and felt GREAT afterwards…until…last night. WOW…my body at 38 doesn’t quite recover as well as it did when I was 28!
That’s about it for now…
New Coaching Network Opportunity November 27, 2009
One of the questions often asked of me by other pastors is, “How do you transition the church you are in from something that got lost in time to where you really feel the Lord wants you to take it?”
My answer is always the same…
“I don’t know!”
The best I could EVER offer to pastors in this situation are some untested philosophies and wild ideas…because…I didn’t transition a church, I planted one.
However, I do think that God has called some pastors not just to plant…but to transition existing churches as well…and EVERY time someone asks me about how to transition a church…I always point them to the same person–Scott Hodge.
SO…when I saw that Scott is beginning a coaching network for pastors who really have a desire to transition a church I almost yelled out loud! Seriously, I am SO excited about what Jesus had led Scott to do…and would encourage ANY pastor who has a desire to transition their church to get in on his new network ASAP!
Here is the video he did explaining why he is launching this network!
Scott is the real deal…I can’t tell you how much of a WIN I believe this is for the Kingdom!!!
A Little Help… November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving…early!!!
I’ve got a personal question for all who read this site…I need your help/advice with something.
This coming April Lucretia and I have been married for 10 years (she deserves a trophy.) AND…I want to take her somewhere REALLY nice to celebrate. (She wants warm, tropical and all-inclusive…I would like snow, mountains and hiking…SO, we are compromising and going to somewhere warm, tropical and all inclusive!!!) :-)
Here’s my question…
What is THE BEST place you’ve ever been on a vacation that is in a tropical location? (All inclusive is a definite plus!!!)
Ten years is a big deal to us…and I want to take her to an amazing place.
So…any suggestions?
If so then please email my assistant, Lindsay Taguba (Lindsay.Taguba@newspring.cc) with your suggestions.
Thanks!
We Will Never… November 24, 2009
Here’s a list of 20 things I believe we will NEVER do…
#1 – We will NEVER be without a message as long as we are desperate for God’s voice.
#2 – We will NEVER make everyone happy; therefore, pleasing everyone should never be our goal.
#3 – We will NEVER be successful in ministry by immersing ourselves into full blown competition with other churches.
#4 – We will NEVER be content in life if we believe we have something to prove.
#5 – We will NEVER be able to serve Jesus to our maximum capacity if we are not actively obeying His commands to rest and disconnect. (See Isaiah 30:15)
#6 – We will NEVER accomplish what Jesus is calling us to accomplish if we are not willing to take risks.
#7 – We will NEVER do what God has called us to do alone…if He’s called us to accomplish something amazing then He will also surround us with the people to pull it off.
#8 – We will NEVER discover a strategy that has been the “secret” for church growth all along…because each church is different.
#9 – We will NEVER honor God by seeking to build “our brand” rather than building disciples.
#10 – We will NEVER achieve our maximum potential in ministry if our goal is simply to impress our online audience and, while doing so, neglect the people in our own community.
#11 – We will NEVER see people become who God is calling them to be if we make INFORMATION rather than TRANSFORMATION the goal.
#12 – We will NEVER see God’s power unleashed in our churches if we refuse to talk about Jesus and what HE did for us on the cross.
#13 – We will NEVER truly connect with the people we lead if we always pretend that we have it all together…people identify with our failures way more than our success’s.
#14 – We will NEVER be able to teach about self control with integrity if we are obese because we are gluttons.
#15 – We will NEVER be looked at as successful in ministry if we grow a great church, but sacrifice our family to do so.
#16 – We will NEVER see great things happen in our ministry if we believe that every great idea must come from us!
#17 – We will NEVER see staff members achieve their maximum potential if we don’t trust them…and if we don’t hold them accountable.
#18 – We will NEVER have a great staff if we make it their goal to serve us rather than serve Jesus!
#19 – We will NEVER successfully motivate the people we work with through manipulation and/or fear…if your vision isn’t enough motivation then there is a problem. (AND btw…if you take pride in the fact that people “fear you,” then it is obvious that there is no fear of God in you!)
#20 – We will NEVER honor God by compromising the vision He gave us in order to not ask so much of people.
Ten Things I Believe About Your Ministry! November 23, 2009
#1 – God’s heart is not for your to fail and/or drop out!
#2 – God’s plans for your life/ministry are greater than yours! (I Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 3:20, Isaiah 49:6) SEEK HIM!!!
#3 – God will surround you with the right people in order to make His vision become a reality. (Proverbs 15:22)
#4 – God will reveal what He wants in His time…and it will be amazing! (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
#5 – God cares more about your character than He does your churches numerical growth. (II Chronicles 16:9)
#6 – The tomb is empty…and He didn’t mean for THAT to lead to boring, lifeless church services.
#7 – We should fear becoming IMPOTENT (having the equipment but lacking the passion to perform, via Bishop TD Jakes) way more than we fear becoming IRRELEVANT.
#8 – Success needs to be viewed through the lenses of obedience and not through comparing yourself to another ministry.
#9 – If what you are doing doesn’t cause you to say “oh crap” internally…then there probably isn’t any desperation for God…which means He will allow you to do ministry without Him.
#10 – If everybody likes you then you’ve spent way too much time kissing rear ends instead of being faithful to who God has called you to be and what He has called you to do!
Sunday Night Reflections November 22, 2009
Here are a few thoughts on an amazing day…
- Began the day by talking about our Christmas offering we are taking in December…praying for our church to step up BIG…II Corinthians 9:6-8 is SO TRUE!
- It was SO awesome to have my awesome wife join me on stage today for Q & A…she’s smart, godly…and beautiful!
- WHOA FLORENCE campus…set another attendance record today!!!
- We made a commitment to be as honest and transparent as possible…and promised not to dodge any question that came to us…WOW!
- Every service asked a question about inter-racial dating/marriage…
- Every service asked a question about conflict resolution within marriage.
- Three out of four services asked a question about homosexuality.
- Every service seemed to have at least one question where a single was seeking to “push the limits” sexually…
- One of the things for singles (and marrieds) to remember is that when we pursue Jesus we will naturally pursue purity. (We don’t wind up in impure situations because we followed Jesus there!!!)
- And…purity does not come about by us being passive about it…but rather by us being passionate about it and doing whatever it takes to fight for it.
- The question in the 4th service asked by the young lady that was raped broke my heart…if you are reading this…PLEASE talk to someone about what happened to you. God did not mean for you to carry around the load that is weighing down your heart, mind and soul! (See Matthew 11:28-30)
- Yes, it’s true that ‘Cretia and I have never gone to bed mad at one another…we take Ephesians 4:25-27 seriously.
- AND…we understand that our main purpose when having a conflict is to settle the issue and not merely to win the argument.
- A godly relationship is built on trust…NOT lust! If you can’t trust him/her now…then you WON’T trust them when you get married.
- A woman never gets tired of hearing she’s beautiful.
- A man never gets tired of receiving respect from his wife.
- God DID NOT ASK anyone to sleep with someone so that they will come to church the next day!!!
- Yes, I did say, “You cannot masturbate and sing ‘Amazing Grace’ at the same time” in the second service…because…
- Someone asked can they masturbate if it keeps them from sleeping around (NO!!!!). Then I said that you cannot masturbate without lusting, which led to the comment above.
- If you want to watch the video of the service…it will be up on our website by Tuesday…and the podcast should be up on Tuesday as well.
- AND…we are also working on a video that will take every question that we answered that may have been unique to a particular service and will be posting it on the web in the next week or so.
- Please pray for our crew in Kenya…we’re hearing great stories about all that God is already doing over there. (They arrived on Friday and will be back home this Saturday.)
- AND…I AM about 90% sure I am getting a motorcycle (it came up in a service today)…and I am excited about it! I know…they are dangerous…so is texting while driving a car!!! We only live once…and I don’t want to live a life in which I am afraid to do anything b/c of what might happen to me! :-)
OK…it’s a great night for sleep (cold and rainy!) Good night!