Archive for June, 2010
You Are CRAZY If You Miss This Sunday At NewSpring!!! June 30, 2010
Seriously! This Sunday is going to be INSANE…
We’ve made NO APOLOGIES about the fact that we really do invest heavily in our children’s ministry program here at NewSpring Church. At every campus we always strive to do our best to communicate to our kids that they matter to Jesus TODAY…and not just when they get older and can tithe!
AND…that mindset has proven to be fruitful as HUNDREDS of kids show up to NewSpring Church every weekend to hear about Jesus in a way they can understand…on their level.
From time to time people will ask, “SO…what does the children’s program look like at NewSpring?”
Great question…and it will be answered THIS SUNDAY (July 4th!)
This Sunday KidSpring (our children’s ministry program) will be taking over the main service. AND…on every campus we’re asking the parents to bring their kids into the auditorium so that they can sing and hear the message as a family.
(BTW…if you are single, OR you don’t have kids I promise you that you will absolutely LOVE Sunday…it is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen!)
We will have a nursery available at every campus for babies 23 months and younger…but pre school and grade school will be in the main service for a Sunday that will NOT be forgotten.
CLICK HERE for more info from our incredible children’s team!!!
AND…for the Anderson campus (because it is our only permanent facility) we will have a fireworks show for the entire community around 9:15pm. Everyone is encouraged to come hang out in the church parking lot…to “tail-gate” and have a blast as we celebrate the 4th of July together.)
Our KidSpring team has worked SO hard for MONTHS to make this Sunday come together…we’re working hard and praying hard that as a result of this particular Sunday that lives will be changed.
SO…show up, plan to bring your kids to the service with you…AND INVITE SOMEONE – trust me, you won’t regret doing so!
See you Sunday!
Extreme Desperation = Revelation June 30, 2010
#2 – Extreme desperation often brings undeniable revelation!
I’ve personally experienced that the times that I’ve truly become the most desperate for God are the times that I’ve been able to hear His voice SO much clearer than ever before.
He doesn’t bring us to times of desperation to reprimand us but rather to remind us that, apart from His power, we’re screwed.
I believe the reason that so many times the church isn’t hearing from God is because we don’t really think we need Him…we have ceased to be desperate.
YET…over and over again in the Scriptures we see that extreme desperation brings undeniable revelation. Take a second and read Acts 16:6-10. Seriously…go ahead, either look it up or just click on the link. Here we have the Apostle Paul in a desperate situation…He is passionately pursuing the vision God gave him back in Acts 9. (AND…he keeps meeting resistance to what he thought he needed to do!)
YET…in Acts 16:9 God’s purpose and plan for Paul becomes UNDENIABLY clear…the vision was straight forward, all because Paul was willing to stay DESPERATE until he heard from God.
Pastors…church leaders…when was the LAST TIME we were truly desperate for God? Because…extreme desperation often brings undeniable revelation. Let’s be leaders who are not merely dependent upon our own strategies…but rather are DESPERATE to see Him move in a way that is unexplainable and undeniable.
A Follow Up To Today’s Post… June 29, 2010
I woke up at around 2:30 this morning with a few more thoughts about vision and discipline that I cannot shake and wanted to share…
Like I said earlier today…having a GREAT vision is only a fraction of accomplishing great things, we also need the discipline to make the vision become a reality…
Here’s how that breaks down practically for all of us…
We can have the VISION to lose weight and be healthy…but until we get the discipline to move our rear ends off of the couch and onto the treadmill…that vision just isn’t going to become a reality!
We have have the VISION to really know God and know His Word…but until we get the discipline to actually open His Word and read it for extended periods of time instead of channel surfing (or tweeting or facebooking)…that vision just isn’t going to become a reality.
We can have the VISION to have a really great marriage…but until we get the discipline (and wisdom) to understand that marriage is not our opportunity to be served but rather to serve – it’s not our opportunity to shape another person but rather an opportunity to be shaped by God by serving another person…then the vision of a great marriage isn’t going to become a reality.
We can have the vision (as a single dude) to want to find a wife and have a great marriage…but until we get the discipline to get out of bed before 11am, get a job, make some money and get out of debt so that your home and car are not the same thing and pursue JESUS with EVERYTHING…then the vision of finding a Proverbs 31 woman probably just isn’t going to happen.
We can have the vision to have a great ministry that accomplishes great things for God’s Kingdom…but until we get the discipline to STRIVE to hear HIS voice, to read as much as we can, to pray harder than ever before and to seek wisdom from people, even the ones we may disagree with…then our vision will always be a “prayer request” and never a reality. (It’s amazing the number of people I meet who have been praying about doing something for five years or more…and they claim they are “waiting on God.” Uh…God made an undeniable move 2,000 years ago with JESUS on the cross…odds are He’s actually WAITING ON YOU–STEP UP!)
Huge vision means extreme discipline! This concept is ROCKING my world right now and directly challenging me to change/alter many of the things I am currently involved in.
Just some more thoughts to chew on…
You’ve Got Vision…Big Deal! June 29, 2010
Last week I tweeted (that is now a verb) three leadership thoughts that got quite a response…so much so that I wanted to follow up with them in this weeks posts…
#1 – A vision is useless in the hands of a person who lacks the discipline to do what needs to be done to make it happen!
I have always said that we need to dream HUGE dreams…we serve a God who really CAN do so much more than all we could ever ask or imagine! In fact, one of the things I feel that probably insults God is the fact is that so many times our dreams are so small (especially when we consider what Jesus said in John 14:12!!!)
However, dreaming big is just ONE aspect of accomplishing great things for Jesus…we must also have the discipline to do what needs to be done in order to do OUR PART in making the dreams that God has placed inside of us come to life.
God fills us with vision…but He also gives us the gifts and talents needed to make that vision become a reality…and to sit back and “wait on God” to do it all for you isn’t being spiritual…it’s being lazy.
He doesn’t merely share vision with us for the purpose of information…but rather transformation…and the FIRST person that has to be transformed by His vision is the one He gives it to. It can’t be something that we are content to sit around and dream about…but rather HAS to be something that sets us on fire with a white hot passion to do whatever it takes to make that vision become a reality.
LOTS of leaders want to dream big…few people want to pay the price and do whatever it takes to make that dream become a reality. If you are a leader then you need to understand…the bigger the vision, the higher the price we need to be willing to pay.
If you have a BIG vision from God…then you also need to be willing to embrace the BIG responsibility that He’s given you to do your part in making that vision become a reality.
It’s Monday…You Might Need This! June 28, 2010
Monday is the day that most pastors/church leaders struggle…some call it the “holy hangover,” others call it “life!” So many are tempted to quit, give up and/or throw in the towel.
Don’t do it!
Don’t quit!
Galatians 6:9 is true about you!!!
I don’t know about you…but I have several quotes in my office, things I look at to challenge and inspire me…here is one I thought I would share because, well, it’s Monday!
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” Teddy Roosevelt
Sunday Night Reflections June 27, 2010
A few thoughts on a great day at NewSpring Church…
- First of all…you are INSANE if you miss next Sunday at NewSpring Church…the children’s ministry is taking over the service and it is going to be straight up awesome!
- People always ask me, “Did you have a fun time really bringing it to the men?” The answer is no…because, well, I’m a man…and I am FAR from perfect. :-)
- Being a godly husband and father are two of the most difficult things I’ve ever done…it honestly feels like so many times I am playing “king of the mountain,” I will do good for a little while and then fall on my face!
- We are called by God to fight for our families (see Nehemiah 4:14)
- Men…if you don’t lead your family then satan will! (See Genesis 3:1-6)
- EVERY family in the Bible was jacked up…so is mine…so is yours!
- The harder a family tries to pursue image over integrity the harder the fall will be when it all comes crashing down.
- The family today has sacrificed integrity for image…it’s not what we do that really matters…it’s how we appear to others. And…uh…it’s NOT working.
- Men…the way we walk and talk WILL impact our families…this was SO evident as we examined Ruth 1:1-4 and Acts 10.
- In America it seems all to often that the ritual that makes a boy become a man is when the boy tells his mother that he is staying home with his father and not going to church.
- Call it what you want…make excuses for men all day long…the bottom line is that we tend to want to walk away from a challenge, especially the one to lead our family spiritually.
- BUT…the man who will STEP up MAKES a difference…I read a statistic the other day that BLEW me away – if a woman takes her kids to church there is a 1 in 50 chance that child will become a regular church attender…if a man takes his kids to church there is a 1 in 3 chance that they will become regular church attenders.
- Ezekiel 22:30 says God is looking for a man to take a stand…I want to be that man will all my heart.
- If you are a dude and think that at times it feels weird to lead you’re family spiritually…that just means you’re normal! It’s weird at times for me as well…we all struggle with this!
- Quality time with our kids is not letting them watch a DVD in the mini van while we drive five minutes to the grocery store. (We usually do that so we don’t have to talk to them.)
- The reason most men would rather spend more time at work than at home is because they are actually built up and encouraged at work…ladies, it is your job to make sure you encourage and build up your husbands as much as possible.
- Single ladies…if the dude isn’t running after Jesus now then he’s NOT going to be able to lead your family! (AND…if you are making excuses for him you probably know what you need to do.)
- Our words to and about our kids have power…to build up OR destroy. (If you didn’t get to see it you really should take a look at the message when we get it online on Tuesday when I shared the paper and glass illustration.)
- Too many men seek to lead their families through intimidation…but, INTIMIDATION leads to ISOLATION…we can intimidate them for their first 10 years…but that will isolate them for the next 50!
- Dads…when is the last time you told your son/daughter that you are proud of them. UH…they NEVER get tired of hearing that!
- Too many parents refuse to talk to their kids about the tough issues…uh…the world is talking to them about those issues! (Telling our church about the conversation with Charrise after she asked “what’s that” after I got out of the shower was…uh…uncomfortable!)
- Our kids are not just listening to our words…they are watching our lives. SO…that means we can’t do things like tell them not to speed when we have a radar detector in our car!
- If you are a husband/father and you feel like you’ve dropped the ball…you can start TODAY and make things right! There is ALWAYS hope in Christ!!! I am praying Romans 15:5 for you as well as Romans 15:13!
- It was SO moving to see HUNDREDS of men stand today to be prayed for!
I really could go on and on about today…it was great. I hope you will check out the service online this Tuesday…or you can download the podcast. It honestly was the most challenging “man message” I think we’ve ever put together…and I am praying that God continues to do GREAT things through it.
Eleven Wishes on My Birthday June 24, 2010
I’m 39 today…
WOW…I can’t believe I just typed that sentence. It really does seem like just yesterday I was having my 10 year old birthday party at McDonalds (I had a crush on the McDonalds party girl!) And now I’m 39…when did THAT happen?
People always ask, “what do you want for your birthday…what are you wishing for?” So…here’s several things that I’ve written down.
#1 – I really want to know Christ, to hear His voice clearer than I’ve EVER heard it before. To KNOW what it is like to be completely filled with and consumed with HIS HOLY SPIRIT and follow Him with reckless abandon!
#2 – That I will be the GREATEST husband on the planet, that I will pursue Lucretia for the rest of my life, that I will do all that I can to make her feel beautiful, honored and special. That I will honor the vows I took on April 8,2000 and that I will NEVER allow the church replace her as the love of my life.
#3 – That I will be an amazing father to Charisse…that I will be the kind of dad that, one day, after she moves away and has a family of her own, that she WANTS to come back around and see me rather than doing so because I make her feel guilty if she doesn’t. I want to lead her well…to honor what God says in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 by teaching AND modeling for her what it means to follow Jesus.
#4 – To continue to lead NewSpring Church–to break up our unplowed ground (see Hosea 10:12)–to see over 100,000 people gives their lives to Christ…to see WHAT can happen in a church WHEN people are completely sold out to Him, refuse to play it safe and do ANYTHING SHORT OF SIN to reach people for Christ.
#5 – To be a friend…one that loves, trusts, forgives and believes the best about people.
#6 – To be a great boss, a leader worth following…one that refuses to use people, manipulate by fear and/or throw his integrity away because he desires self gratification more than honoring Christ.
#7 – To continue to pour into pastors and church leaders…it KILLS me to see so many struggling and giving up on what God called them to do…and I feel God wants me to do all that I can to try and reverse that trend.
#8 – To write at least four books.
#9 – To go to Italy…seriously–Florence, Venice and Rome!!!
#10 – To own a Cadillac Escalade…I know, I know, that’s incredibly materialistic and all that jazz…but, it’s my dream car! (Black with leather interior…just in case you were wondering!) :-)
#11 – WHATEVER…seriously, for the rest of my life I want to be “that guy” who is willing to do whatever God calls him to do. I believe that there’s more in store for me…that His plans are greater than mine and my best days are still ahead if I will just continue to listen to His voice, make war on sin and try to live out John 3:30 to the best of my abilities.