Archive for December, 2010
Top 20 Blog Posts in 2010 (#10 – #1) December 30, 2010
#10 – 15 Books That Have Impacted Me Personally
#9 – 11 Questions We Should Ask About Our Marriage
#8 – My Thoughts On Health Care Reform
#7 – Sunday Night Reflections…And Zac – note, Zac’s video is at the end of this post…every time I watch it I miss him more and more, yet I know he is more alive right now than I have ever been!
#6 – Every Single Dude & Dudette Should Read This – this was a repost originally written by Clayton King!
#5 – Hey NewSpring (And Every Church)…Let’s Step Up And Be The Church – this post was written in response to the Nashville flood where I encouraged people to rally behind my friend Pete Wilson and his church as they did ministry “on the ground” to the hurting and the hopeless!)
#4 – Ten Signs A Leader Is Losing It!
Top 20 Blog Posts in 2010 (#20 – #11) December 29, 2010
#20 – How To Make Sure Your Church Is Boring
#19 – Ten Choices A Leader Needs To Make About His Staff
#18 – Four False Ideas That Destroy Leaders
#17 – Top Five Temptations Single People Face When Considering A Relationship
#16 – Hey Pastor, Want A Successful Youth Ministry?
#15 – 18 Myths Singles Believe…And A Quick Note About Sunday
#14 – Ten Hard Questions We Should All Be Willing To Ask Ourselves
#13 – Ten Personal Spiritual Growth Questions We Should Be Willing To Ask Ourselves
#12 – Ten Things Jesus Did Not Say
#11 – Ten Reasons I Believe God Is About To Do Something GREAT In YOUR Church!
A Letter From Pastor P To NewSpring Church… December 28, 2010
I literally can’t believe another Christmas has come and gone…it seemed like when I was a kid that Christmas was so slow in arriving every year and now it seems like I blink my eyes and BAM…it happened again.
I wanted to share seven things on this last week of the year with you guys…
#1 – We saw God do AMAZING things in our Christmas services…around 532 people gave their lives to Christ and 19,224 people attended one of our 19 services in five locations. Each campus had record numbers of people show up…and I honestly don’t think I will ever get over the sound of all of the glow sticks breaking and then seeing them light up…WOW!
#2 – Found people find people…so THANKS to everyone who went all out to bring someone to a service. Our willingness to be like Jesus and embrace the uncomfortable DOES matter when it comes to eternity. AND…for those who invited someone and they did not say “yes” to the Gospel, don’t be discouraged, MAYBE that was the thing that God wanted to use to bring them one step closer. Don’t give up…if God is still putting them on your heart then there is a good reason for it…if HE is patient with them (II Peter 3:9) then we should be as well.
#3 – Saved people serve people – a HUGE THANK YOU to all of the amazing volunteers that stepped up to make sure all of our Christmas services happened…your willingness to do what you did made an eternal difference in the lives of over 500 people!!!
#4- I’m still amazed that I got to see a white Christmas…I’m nearly 40 years old and have never seen that in my life.
#5 – This coming Sunday has become many people’s favorite service of the year as we take time to celebrate all God has done. (Can you believe we had a service in the BILO Center about a year ago with 15,000 people?) God RICHLY blessed the ministry of NewSpring Church this year…and we are taking this Sunday as a time to say “THANKS!”
#6 – We are going into the 11th year as a church…and…wow, I wish I could share it here on this site right now…but trust me when I tell you that God is challenging me in new and huge ways to continue to step out on faith. I believe 2011 is going to be our most productive year ever as a body of believers and the Lord takes every single one of us to greater levels in our walk with Him…and as He uses our church to continue to IMPACT the communities in which we exist. Some of the stuff I’ve been writing in my journal is blowing my mind. I LOVE MY CHURCH and I LOVE THE VISION God is pouring out right now…He’s NEVER asked His followers to play it safe, so we will continue to follow wherever He leads.
#7 – I know I said last week in this post that I would write about the subject of weight and weight loss this week. I’m still going to do a post on that (probably next week)…I was going to do it this week but as I began to write it, well, it was/is a longer post than I expected, so I’ve had to break it up into two parts.
That’s about it…I hope all of you have an amazing week and I will see you Sunday!
Making An Investment That Matters December 23, 2010
Here is what I shared this past Sunday in regards to giving. Long story short…we’re called to invest in things that matter, and honestly I don’t think there is a better investment than HIS CHURCH!
“You’re Fat!” December 22, 2010
I hear those words in my mind a lot!
I have always battled with my weight…ALWAYS. I was the “fat kid” in school beginning in about the third grade…and remained “the fat kid” all the way until my junior year in high school. (One of the worse lies in the world is, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Honestly, there are many times in my past that I would have preferred sticks and stones rather than the words spoken to and about me!)
So…the other day I walked into Chic Fil A with Charisse and ran into a couple of awesome families who attend our church…and one of the teenage girls commented to her father, “daddy, he’s (meaning me) really skinny.” The dad told me about it and, honestly, that was a VERY encouraging comment. Until…
Later on that day the thoughts FLEW through my mind, “you’re not skinny; in fact, your a fat a#@!” (I know that seems crude to some…but I’m being as honest as I know how to be…it was brutal!)
I thought back to the visit to the doctors office when I stepped on the scale and it said 280 (I was in the 9th grade…eventually got to over 300!)
I thought back to the time I had to go get a suit in the 10th grade and my pants size was a 50!
I felt defeated, heck, I think I actually felt my jeans getting tighter and tighter as I wrestled with who I used to be. Pictures of my past began flying through my mind…I began to revisit feelings of when I was in school and could not participate in certain activities because I was too huge. I thought about the time I went to a theme park and had to ride a roller coaster alone because I was too fat for a person to ride next to me.
I seriously was about to lose my mind…until…I had this thought, “If I allow my past to define me then I will NEVER truly become who God wants me to be!”
Some people cannot enjoy their present OR step into the potential of their future because they continue to place themselves in the prison of their past.
I’ve said it before…I will say it again, if you don’t let your past die then it won’t let you live!
One of the realities that I have to constantly remind myself of is what Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:17…in Christ I am a BRAND NEW CREATION, the OLD has gone and the new has come!!! Who I was is NOT who I am…meeting Jesus completely changed not only my eternal destination, but also my identity while I am still here on this planet.
In ministry I’ve met so many people who just can’t seem to understand then fact that IN CHRIST we are completely forgiven! His invitation in Isaiah 1:18 is breathtaking…that if we will come to Him that He will wash us and make us whiter than snow!
For many of us who have a somewhat shady past it is literally one of those deals where you may have to tell yourself, even out loud at times, “in Christ I am completely accepted and completely forgiven!”
2,000 years ago with the birth and eventual death and resurrection of Jesus EVERYTHING changed. Because of Him who I used to be no longer has to define me…I am free.
Two more thoughts…
#1 – Next week I will do a post on how and why I finally decided to battle my weight issues.
#2 – We will deal with getting past my past in the upcoming “Make War” series that begins on January 9th!
A Letter From Pastor P To NewSpring Church… December 21, 2010
I LOVE MY CHURCH! Seriously, I love this church and all that God is doing at EVERY campus. For some reason it seems ok to be proud of sports teams, musical artists and political parties (you know, things that REALLY matter and make a difference in the grand scope of eternity)…but people think you’re weird when you say you love your church!
Well, I’m weird…because I LOVE MY CHURCH! With that in mind I wanted to share four things…
#1 – We saw over 150 people receive Christ this past Sunday as Clayton King preached THE BEST message on the peace of God that I’ve EVER heard in my life! (That NEVER gets old!) Four people received Christ in Charleston in a PREVIEW service…if that is what God is doing BEFORE January 9th…just think what He’s going to do after!!! If you were not able to be here for that service then I am telling you that you’ve GOT to hear that message…you can go to our website this afternoon and it will be available…or you can download the podcast off of the NewSpring Church podcast on itunes.
#2 – Christmas services begin TOMORROW at the Anderson campus and on THURSDAY at every other campus…and…we’ve distributed over 24k tickets! (You can STILL get yours here!!!) Three things in regards to this service…
- First…please pray that God will make HIS presence known among us AND that He will draw people to Himself in an undeniable way! HOSANNA!!!
- Second…it’s NOT TOO LATE to do whatever it takes to bring someone with you to a service. I am asking everyone to stop for a few seconds and ask God if there is anyone else that you need to invite…and if He places someone in your heart and mind then don’t just pray for them…GO GET THEM!!!
- AND…as we communicated Sunday, if you lose your ticket OR someone is able to come with you who does not know Christ but the service is “sold out” then JUST COME…we will find a place/make room for you. No one will be turned away!
#3 – Reminder for everyone that we will not be having Sunday services on Sunday, December 26th in order to give our staff and amazing volunteers some time to catch their breath as we do 17 services across four different campuses. We will resume services on Sunday, January 2nd with our annual “Year in Review” service where we literally take one Sunday to CELEBRATE all that God has done among us over the past year. The church that cannot celebrate the past will often cease to anticipate the future!!!
#4 – I cannot wait until our brand new series that will begin on January 9th entitled “MAKE WAR!” I talked about it here yesterday…if you were not able to watch it then take a few minutes either now or sometime later today to see what God is doing and where we’re getting ready to head in regards to our teaching series here at NewSpring Church.
That’s about it for now…I LOVE MY CHURCH, looking forward to a GREAT WEEK!! Pray hard!!!
Some Quotes From Sunday’s Message On Peace… December 20, 2010
Wanted to tweet these…but figured it would be better if I shared what I felt were some of the most powerful/profound things that the Lord said through Clayton this past Sunday…
- “Peace is not something we work for or earn on our own – it is a gift given to us.”
- “Peace is NOT the absence of crisis – it is the presence of Christ!”
- “When you do not have peace you try to cope and manufacture it.”
- “You cannot fix what is wrong on the inside by rearranging what is on the outside.”
- “The real lack of peace is not because we don’t have enough stuff but rather because we don’t have the right relationships with God and others.”
- “When we focus on fear we become a failure – when we focus on the Father it increases our faith.”
I could go on and on…the message is on itunes and on the NewSpring Church website…trust me, it’s amazing!