One More Thing About Celebration! December 23, 2011

So, yesterday I wrote about celebration in the church and how we should CELEBRATE all that God is doing.  (Here’s the link if you don’t want to scroll down!)  :-)

I forgot to mention one thing though…

Blogs, twitter and facebook CAN be incredibly discouraging for pastors and church leaders as they monitor what is happening in other churches.

For example, we see where BLANK church had hundreds of salvations, and then we see where another church had the same…and then we look at our services and we had four salvations…and for some reason we are tempted to not celebrate and not let the world know because on the surface it seems insignificant in comparison to what God is doing in other churches…

So, we’ll just stay silent because “four salvations” isn’t as “sexy” as four hundred!

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT believe that lie!!!

Take a look at Luke 15, ONE sheep was lost, ONE coin was lost, ONE son was lost…and when ONE was found there was a celebration!!!

JESUS Himself said that when ONE sinner repents of his/her ways that the angels CELEBRATE!!!

If the angels celebrate over ONE then the church should as well!!!

Don’t you dare hold back letting the world know because it doesn’t seemingly “measure up!”  TELL PEOPLE WHAT GOD HAS DONE!  If you went to a funeral and the person in the casket came to life you would not say, “wow, while that was cool it was only one person and so I won’t tell anyone.”  HECK NO, you would tell EVERYBODY, “I saw a dead person come to life!”  When someone receives Christ that is EXACTLY what happens…they cross over from DEATH to LIFE…CELEBRATE THAT!!!

And for those who preached the Gospel and didn’t actually see anyone accept Christ…CELEBRATE the fact that God’s Word is true and Isaiah 55:8-13 says that God’s Word WILL NOT return void…it WILL take root and there will be fruit whether we get to see it or not.

Don’t hold back!!!  Don’t let the world out celebrate us!  The world will go crazy in a little over a week because a ball drops and a new year begins…we need to show them HOW to celebrate because sins hold on a persons drops and a NEW LIFE BEGINS!!!

CELEBRATE!

A Quick Note To Pastors/Church Leaders… December 22, 2011

I said it earlier this year…I will say it again, CELEBRATE what God is doing in your church!

I was reading the other morning in my time with the Lord through the book of Ezra…and Ezra 3:11-13 literally LEAPED off the page at me, THEY MADE NOISE when they saw the work of God being done, so much so that the Bible literally says that the noise was heard from far away!

THEY CELEBRATED!

In fact, as we read through the first five books of the Bible it is VERY clear that God wants His people to CELEBRATE as He COMMANDED celebrations (festivals) all throughout the year!

Unfortunately, the church just doesn’t celebrate that well anymore.  It’s sad…WE ALLOW THE WORLD TO “OUT CELEBRATE” US!  What the crap is that?  Why in the world would we allow the unveiling of a new iPhone or a three point shot trump what we’ve been given to celebrate?  (I wrote more about this back in June here if you want to read it!)

I say this because I really do believe that Jesus is about to do some amazing things all across the world in HIS CHURCH during this Christmas season…and I want to encourage you to CELEBRATE what HE DOES!

DON’T HOLD IT IN…LET THE WORLD KNOW!!!

CELEBRATE!

Blog about it…

Blow twitter up…

Put it on Facebook…

Tell EVERYONE what’s going on!

How many people came to church?

How many people received Christ?

CELEBRATE!!!

Sure, people will accuse you of bragging.  People will accuse you of being about the numbers.  People will take shots at you for doing so…don’t let them steal your joy because people on “TEAM JESUS” WILL celebrate WITH YOU!

Church leaders need to be better stewards of celebrating what God is doing.

God’s about to do something GREAT in your church…CELEBRATE IT!

I Have Never Forgotten… December 21, 2011

One of the greatest mistakes that a leader can make is to forget where they were when God rescued them and how far He has brought them.  Pride and arrogance often come as a result of a leader believing they have done some really great things all by themselves…which is why it is good for a leader (anyone for that matter) to reflect on God’s faithfulness.

For example…I have never forgotten…

• Where I was when He saved me.  There was absolutely NOTHING good about me, I was so far from Him…and yet He chose to save me anyway.
• Where I was when I preached my first “sermon” to a group of 6th graders in a vacation Bible school class at my home church!
• The first church where He allowed me to serve as a staff member (youth pastor), their were eight kids in the youth group and the church had literally split the week before I started on staff with the pastor and the music minister resigning.  I am SO THANKFUL for that church and their willingness to “put up with me!”
• The church where God allowed me to serve afterwards, where I stayed for six years under the leadership of my Pastor Bill Rigsby and learned that ministry was so much more than just preaching to people but loving them as well.
• Where I was when God called me to start a church…I had never been a pastor before and was scared out of my mind.
• Starting the church with NO MONEY, NO STAFF and no “three year strategic plan.”  Just stepping out in obedience and doing what God said to do.
• The first month of income for NewSpring Church being around $2,300.
• Making the decision to step out in faith and hire Lee McDerment, our worship leader, even though it did not make sense financially.
• Making the move from a room that sat around 120 people to a room that sat 1,100…and on our first Sunday there we had 188 people (fall of 2001!)
• Making the HUGE financial decision to rent office space for $750 a month in the fall of 2001…and fearing that I had somehow bankrupted the church!
• Getting in front of the church in December of 2001 and asking them to give money so that we could buy computers for our new offices!
• Having four trailers with our equipment for our church in them behind our office…and two of them getting stolen in one week!  (Our children’s trailer was discovered missing on a Saturday morning!!!)
• Nearly losing my life in 2005 and how the Lord was so faithful in that time period to show me that the church was so much bigger than me!
• Sitting on the stage of our Anderson campus on a Sunday night in January of 2006 before we moved into our Anderson campus and crying because I was fearful that there was no way we would ever fill up 2,500 seats.
• Making the decision to launch a campus in Greenville but still wondering if people would actually show up to see a preacher on a video screen.

I could go on and on…but you get the point.  ANYTIME I am tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness in my current circumstances I simply have to remind myself to stop and look at all He has done in the past and KNOW that I am not where I am (and our church is not where it is) because I am a really smart person who has it all figured out…but rather because God is so good and kind and He still uses “unschooled, ordinary men” for His glory (see Acts 4:13!)