Archive for July, 2010
Nine Monday Morning Questions For Church Leaders July 12, 2010
#1 – Did I preach God’s Word yesterday? If so then rely on the reality of Isaiah 55:8-11…these verses are a promise, rest in them instead of your perception of the crowd.
#2 – Am I thinking about giving up? If so then check out Galatians 6:9…this is a promise from Scripture, rest in IT and not your discouragement.
#3 – Am I feeling like I really sucked it up yesterday and am really beating myself up in my mind? If so then check out Romans 8:1…correction does come from Christ…but condemnation does not! Don’t allow them voice of the enemy to be the dominant voice in your life.
#4 – Is there a really tough conversation that I’ve been avoiding that I really need to have? If so see Galatians 2:11-14…I am sure this was not an easy conversation…but it was essential for the unity of the church.
#5 – Is there someone I need to encourage? See Philippians 2:3-4, if all of us in the church just followed the commands in these two verses then I am convinced that our churches would ALL become irresistible environments!
#6 – Am I allowing fear or frustration to take my focus off of who God is and what He’s called me to do? (If so see II Corinthians 4:16-18.)
#7 – Am I willing to take the steps of radical obedience that He is leading me to? (Hebrews 11:6)
#8 – Am I thinking I’ve got to do it all…or am I actually relying on HIS strength and power? (See Isaiah 30:15, Zechariah 4:6)
#9 – Am I currently on a path that will allow what Paul wrote in II Timothy 4:6-8…if not then what corrections need to be made?
Sunday Night Reflections… July 11, 2010
A few thoughts on a great day at NewSpring Church…
- Pete Wilson was our guest speaker today…he is the pastor of Crosspoint Church in Nashville, TN…and I thought his message was INCREDIBLE!
- After spending some time with Pete this weekend I can see why God is blessing his church so much…he is a humble leader who has surrounded himself with great people…and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to reach people far from God.
- His first question blew me away, “Where in the Scriptures did God give anyone an easy job to do?” WOW!
- I also loved the statement, “we automatically assume that God is not with us when bad things happen.” (Despite the fact that in Isaiah 43:1-3 He promises to walk with us!)
- And finally his statement, “My greatest temptation is not to chase after the ridiculously evil but to chase after the deceptively good,” ROCKED my world…seriously going to marinate on that one for a while.
- Pete just released his first book called Plan B…here’s the link…and I HIGHLY recommend it.
- If you are from Crosspoint in Nashville…you really do have an amazing Pastor (his wife is awesome as well!) Get behind them, pray for them…encourage them because your best days are ahead of you…I can’t WAIT to hear about what happens next up there.
- I spent the entire last week in Colorado with Dr. John Walker, an INCREDIBLE, Godly, biblical counselor at the Blessing Ranch in Colorado…pastors, EVERY one of us need a counselor…and if you don’t have one, I HIGHLY recommend John.
- Anderson campus…I will be blogging more about this later on during the week…but I really want us to step up big time for this food drive, seriously, let’s do all we can to IMPACT this community.
- I cannot believe The Gauntlet (our youth beach camp) is only two weeks away! We have 1,008 students going to the beach…and are praying that Jesus moves in amazing ways.
- I’m also SUPER excited about our all staff meeting this Thursday…we didn’t get to meet in June and I feel that this upcoming staff meeting is going to be one of the BEST we’ve ever had! EVER!
- The passage of Isaiah 61:1-4 is ROCKING my world right now! Can’t stop thinking about it!
- Two years ago this weekend we launched our Greenville campus…wow…can’t believe how much has happened since then. So proud of our Greenville staff and volunteers!
- Also had no idea at the time that we would also be launching Florence, Columbia…and pretty soon, Charleston!
That’s all for now…already looking forward to next Sunday!
A Few GREAT Links… July 8, 2010
Wanted to share a few links that I’ve loved over the past few weeks or so!
- I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this post from Scott on, “Are you most or some?” WOW!
- Pastor Steven Furticks post on, “Staying Out of Trouble vs. Walking In Your Calling” – uh…yep…awesome!
- This post by Seth Godin…and this post…AND this post are all worth a minute of your time!
- LOVED this quote from Tim Keller on Jonathan’s blog!
- Jeff Henderson was bothered by THIS conversation…and we should be as well!
- Clayton’s blog on depression = money!
That’s it for today! Lots of GREAT stuff out there!
Intimidation Leads To Isolation July 7, 2010
Here’s a clip from the message I preached on June 27th about the point that intimidation leads to isolation – that if we seeking to yell and scream at our kids for their first 10 years then we will isolate them for the next 50 – many times as parents we think our words are not a big deal…but we’re wrong!
PUMPED About NLC…AND We’ve Lowered The Price! July 7, 2010
Registrations for our upcoming leadership conference on Thursday, September 16th are awesome…honestly, we are a little ahead of where I thought we would be at this point. It’s going to be a great day as we get to hear from six great leaders…
- Steven Furtick
- Mark Driscoll
- Francis Chan
- Judah Smith
- Jud Wilhite
- Me (I just threw me in there…I’m more excited about hearing these other guys speak!)
We originally priced the event at $149…however, the more our leadership team has been thinking about this we came to the conclusion that we really do want as many people as possible to be at this event…so…we’re cutting the early bird rate.
You can now register for this event for $99!!! Yep…$99 for this event…and that price is good until Friday, August 13…at that point it will increase to $129 per person.
Like I said before, registrations for this event were going SO GOOD before we made this decision…and with us making this announcement we are expecting these seats to sell out QUICKLY. (We only have 2,450 seats…and once they’re gone…they’re gone.)
SO…here’s the link where you can sign up.
AND…if you have already registered for this event and paid the $149…uh…sorry about that, we’ve already spent the money! JUST KIDDING! :-) We will be refunding you $50 per registration and you should be hearing from us within the next couple of weeks.
I can’t WAIT for this event…we’re praying for AMAZING things!
Don’t Look At What Is Wrong But Rather Who He Is! July 6, 2010
I have found during my most stressful times it is best if I just stop and focus on who God is…it’s a time when I set my requests aside and just seek HIM…
I’ve made a list that helps me when I tend to freak out…
HE IS…
- Sovereign…He reigns over everyone and everything and has never been stressed out.
- Unstoppable…and so are those who follow Him.
- Holy…perfect, which means everything He wants/desires for my life is so far greater than anything I could have thought up.
- Consistant…I don’t have to worry about Him being in a bad mood.
- GREATER than any temptation the enemy throws my way.
- Better than anything the world has to offer.
- BIGGER than any sin/failure in my life.
- Gracious in that He knows every stupid, foolish, sinful thing I’ve ever done (or will do)…and yet He loves me anyway! (Romans 5:8 ALWAYS amazes me!)
- ALWAYS there with me…He has NEVER walked away from me. He doesn’t always deliver me from the fire…but He has ALWAYS walked with me through it! (See Isaiah 43:1-3)
- Faithful…if I fail to see His faithfulness in my past I will probably not recognize the fruitfulness of my future. (Philippians 1:6)
- The ONE who pursues me…even on the days I tend to walk away from Him.
- RELENTLESS…He NEVER has given up on me!
- PASSIONATE…His passion and zeal that the Scriptures reveal cause me to be in AWE.
I could go on and on…the point being is that when stress comes it is an awesome opportunity to KNOW HIM. SO…if you are stressed out, freaked out and feel like you are about to give out…then “check out” for 10 minutes from your busy life, sit down with a piece of paper, make a list of who the Scriptures say that HE IS…and focus on that rather than your circumstances.
Just a thought…but it sure has helped me!
Three Convictions About Children’s Ministry – Sunday Night Reflections July 4, 2010
A few quick thoughts tonight before heading to bed…
I LOVE our children’s team here at NewSpring Church…their passion for teaching kids about Jesus on a level that they can understand is SO appreciated by me as a pastor AND as a dad!
I see a monumental problem in churches today…when we consider that unchurched people are not being reached AND we combine that with the fact that MANY students that were raised in church walk away when they graduate high school…well, that’s a problem.
I think one way to combat that issue is striving as a church to have a healthy youth and children’s ministry. (I won’t say that much about youth ministry in this post…I did cover some things a few months ago here if you are interested.)
Here are three convictions I have about children’s ministry…
#1 – If you want to reach kids…then you’ve got to spend money on them. It BLOWS me away that church world always seems to be scratching our heads and wondering why kids FLOCK to Disney (even the Baptist ones) but they don’t flock to church. MAYBE it’s because Disney spends “squillions” of dollars on them…and many churches have more money in their graveyard fund than they do their children’s budget. We will spend money on what is important…and I think children’s (and student) ministry is THE most important mission field in the church.
#2 – If you want to reach kids…they’ve got to have fun. When I was growing up “fun” and “church” were never used in the same sentence; therefore, as soon as my mother died and I didn’t have to go to church anymore…I didn’t. Kids are not growing closer to Jesus by being forced to sit and listen…or by coloring (with crayons provided by their parents). They should want to come to church, should look forward to coming to church…and so we unapologetically go all out every week to make sure these kids have a GREAT time.
#3 – If you want to reach kids…they’ve got to learn something. I’ve told our children’s ministry that when parents come pick up their kids that they will ask two questions – the first will be “did you have fun,” and the second will be, “what did you learn?” I told our children’s team…make sure kids can answer both in a positive way…and THAT’S a win. (BTW…a “WIN” is when the parents and the kids actually talk about what the child learned! When parents and the church work together…its an awesome team!
Does it work? Well…Charisse (my three year old) quoted her memory verse to me the other day. (AND…she asked me the other day when we were riding around the other morning could we go to the church because she loves it so much!) Kids LEARN about Jesus on THEIR LEVEL…thus the Great Commission is being fulfilled, disciples are being made because a biblical foundation is being laid in an environment that they LOVE!
To ALL of our staff and volunteers at NewSpring that work with our kids…YOU ARE ALL AMAZING! THANK YOU for the COUNTLESS hours of prayed and preparation you guys gave in order to make today happen! The Gospel was preached…and according to Isaiah 55:8-11 there WILL be a harvest. Thank you for fulfilling I Peter 4:10 and simply doing what the Bible says to do, because of the way YOU ALL served today…God’s Kingdom was both honored and enlarged!
Keep up the GREAT work!