Archive for Prayer Requests
A Couple of Other Things… September 5, 2007
OK…I said a couple–but there are really four. (Hey, I made a 790 on my S.A.T–BACK OFF!)
- You have GOT to read this post on Jake’s blog–this is one of the coolest things I have ever read. Folks, THIS IS CHURCH!
- Tony blew me away with this post about the Clemson game…if the church became as passionate at the fans were at the game the other night…this nation would once again be a Christian nation.
- I am REALLY excited about speaking at Clemson’s FCA on Thursday night! Please pray for me!
Finally, a friend sent me the following quote from Martin Luther last week–it REALLY encouraged me, I hope it will do the same for others.
Hell Yes Or Hell No? August 2, 2007
Tony did a Q & A with me on his blog here about the subject for this weekend’s message on hell. I wanted to add another thought or two…
In working through and praying over this message the past few days I am sensing that this will be one of the most powerful presentations of the Gospel that we have ever done here at NewSpring. Our creative team came up with a few ideas for this service that will be…let’s just say…unforgettable.
Hell is NOT a popular subject today…in fact, many liberal scholars and denominations have tried to dismiss its existence. AND…to be honest, I wish that hell did not exist. However, Jesus talked extensively about it, Scripture is NOT silent on it–and so I feel an obligation and calling to speak truth on the subject this weekend.
I have NEVER prepared for a message and felt the heaviness that I have felt this week. I would deeply appreciate your prayers heading into Sunday…and once again I would ask you to invite as many people as you can get here on Sunday. NO! We are not going to try to scare the hell out of them–but we are going to present Biblical truth in an unforgettable way.
See you Sunday!
Top Seven Things Not To Say To Your Pregnant Wife March 9, 2007
#7 – I unloaded your dishwasher for you!
#6 – Didn’t you just eat?
#5 – What’s taking you so long?
#4 – We’ve already eaten there five times this week!
#3 – MOVE!
#2 – No you CAN’T have a bite!
#1 – Scoot over, you are taking up too much room!
In all seriousness, Lucretia had a doctors appointment yesterday and Charisse is doing GREAT…’Cretia said she saw her stick out her tongue!
Continue to pray for ‘Cretia…she is doing GREAT…and so far I haven’t had to go to the grocery store and some weird hour to buy pickles and graham crackers. BUT…she has loved Cracker Barrel a lot more!!!
Uh…don’t forget to wind your clock forward an hour on Saturday night–and get people to NewSpring on Sunday!!!!
It’s Thursday…And I Have Been Up Since 3:00!!! March 8, 2007
I could not sleep last night. I literally woke up at 3:00 this morning and felt like I needed to get out of bed and attempt a marathon. (My last attempt at this wasn’t so successful…but I did get a really great ambulance ride!)
Our First Wednesday service was OFF THE HOOK! In my opinion it was one of the BEST we have ever had. Especially the end where I was able to cast vision as to how God has raised up our church to make Him famous.
I am proud of our church–proud to serve as the pastor of people who WANT to reach the upstate for Christ. I am STILL moved by the names that you all wrote on the walls of your friends and family members who do not know Christ.
I had this thought…maybe one of the reasons that NewSpring is growing is because instead of putting the names of the people who purchased the furniture and memorializing them…we have chosen to write the names of those whom we want to see Christ purchase on our walls…and when that happens we lift up HIM instead of someone who dropped a check for a nice pew! (In case you are wondering…churches that put the names of people on a piece of furniture or a room makes me sick!!! Your church can lift up Jesus or people–you can’t have both! AND…it is HIS church–HIS–HIS!!!)
NewSpringers–PRAY!!! We are currently praying through some plans that, if we attempt them, the ONLY way they will succeed is if GOD IS IN THEM! We will be presenting a very rough outline of our next steps on May 6th...you DO NOT want to miss that service!!! I believe it insults God when we dream small!!! He owns a cattle on a thousand hills…and too many churches are content to asking Him for a cheeseburger rather than a filet! DANG…I am PUMPED!
ALSO I have been thinking about Unleash. I know I have said this before–but our original plan was for 100 people. We literally just put this thing together in January. HOWEVER, I was informed yesterday that over 800 people are now coming from all over the country–TO ANDERSON…WOW…that’s GOT to be GOD!!!
If you are coming then I want you to know that our staff and volunteers are PUMPED that you are going to be here…and it is our goal that day to serve you. You will see that we are NOT the perfect church & we do not have it all figured out…BUT…what we have learned we want to pass along. AND…it is our prayer that everyone who walks away will do so with a refreshed attitude and hunger to IMPACT their community for Christ.
For those who go to the “Y” early in the morning…I was there at 5:15 today and I made a discovery–Rufus DOES work out!!! I actually saw him on a treadmill! :-) (Everyone LOVES Rufus!)
Finally–I have to give MAD PROPS to my boy Steven. His blog went AWOL for several days…but he made a comeback–and THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME THINGS I HAVE EVER READ. If you are a pastor then you just might SHOUT OUT LOUD…and if you are a…well…read it… :-)
That’s it for now–got to put the final touches on Sunday…IN REGARDS TO SUNDAY…
#1 – GET PEOPLE HERE! Seriously…we are going to be talking about WHY WE KNOW Jesus is alive. Your friends and family members who do not know Christ…I PROMISE they have seen the news over the past couple of weeks and they will be interested.
#2 – WIND YOUR CLOCK FORWARD! Yes, it is daylight savings time THIS WEEKEND!
WOW…I am so excited…and I am so A-D-D! Pray that I can actually calm down and get some work done!!! :-)
Desperation February 28, 2007
I remember being an incredibly frustrated youth pastor back in the early 1990′s and complaining to another youth pastor who was MUCH older and wiser than me. I told him, “Nothing, I mean NOTHING is happening in the youth ministry I am leading.” He very calmly looked at me and asked, “What are you praying that you might see happen?”
BAM…busted, seriously, it felt like someone had given me a swift kick to the mid-section. It hurt…DEEP…because I had been so busy leading and preparing that I had forgotten a pretty important issue–God’s hand!
God taught me a lesson that day…and since then I have been desperate for God…desperate for HIS leadership in my life. The Bible says in James 1:5 that if we lack wisdom that we can ask God and He will give it. Well…if there’s anyone on the planet that lacks wisdom–it’s me!!! I tell people all of the time that NewSpring is NOT the result of my brilliance…TRUST ME…NewSpring is what happens when people get desperate for God, seek Him daily and who have one goal…TO MAKE HIM FAMOUS!
Sure, I offer prayers of thanksgiving…confession…repentance…but to be honest, most of my prayers are out of desperation!
I am desperate for God to continue to give me guidance in my marriage. With marriages falling apart all over the U.S. I have came to realize that I need His guidance. I desperately want to be a godly husband, but I need His wisdom to show me how. Are you praying for your marriage? (Or your future marriage?)
I am desperate for God to show me how to be a father to a little girl. Like I have said…I am so messed up already. A staff member who recently gave birth to a little girl recently came by the office and I got to see her…I had to walk away because God hit me with this thought, “That’s coming your way!” I AM DESPERATE…I want to be a godly dad…but I need HIS wisdom!
I am desperate for God to provide me with wisdom in regards to leading NewSpring. One of the things I have discovered about leadership is that it isn’t that hard at its core–all a leader has to do is listen to God and then do what He says…it’s just that listening seems so hard at times when I seem to have it all figured out!!!
I am desperate to see people come to Christ. I am obsessed with it!!! As many of you know, we wrote names on the walls of our church of people who do not know Jesus…and every time I get up to preach I am reminded that one of those people are probably attending that day…and I am desperate to see God draw them towards Him!
What are you praying for? What are you desperate to see God do? Prayer is NOT a formula…it’s not a coin in a vending machine…it is a chance to connect with the Creator of the Universe…and I DO NOT do this out of obligation, I do it out of desperation. I spent 18 years of my life seeing what Perry can do…and I was not impressed. I want to spend the rest of my life seeing what God can do–I’m desperate!
Weekend Reflections February 25, 2007
I know this is normally a time when I do “Sunday Night Reflections;” however, this weekend has been so eventful that I had to include some of the things that have happened.
I cannot even begin to describe the Friday session at C3 with TD Jakes. He is one of the FEW people that have moved me to tears during his speaking…and when he was done I could not keep myself in my chair. He BROUGHT it.
We flew home on Friday night…and I was in a weird mood–so I began singing the theme song from “The Love Boat” really loud in the DFW airport. It was fun and seemed to make the people around me happy–either that or they thought I was drunk!
Saturday was AWESOME because I was able to spend a lot of time with my incredibly beautiful wife! We did our normal Saturday routine of hitting the gym and then going to Sonic. I know it doesn’t make sense to work out like crazy and then eat onion rings–but that is our thing and we love it!!!
Saturday afternoon–HOLY COW…we celebrated one of THE most awesome things that we do at NewSpring–BAPTISM. (Tony has a picture here.) We stood and saw 212 people confess Jesus Christ as Lord…and it was MOVING! Baptism is one of those things that I never get tired of–it is what makes all of the work and all of the crap I put up with from negative people worth it!!!! To see changed lives–THAT is why we do what we do–and NewSpring–there are THOUSANDS more who need Christ…and we ARE going to reach them!
Today was awesome because I didn’t speak. I counted and I had spoken for 13 weeks in a row…and to be honest…I was TIRED. I know that some people don’t understand that; in fact, I have had people ask me, “Why do you say you are tired…all you do is speak on Sunday!” If you are a pastor and someone says this to you…I really don’t think God would be mad if you hit them…just being honest.
BUT…for those who do understand–I was tired…and so I handed the stage to Joe today and he brought it!!! I thought it was an excellent message…I know God spoke to me through it.
Tonight I stepped over to see Ignite, our Middle School ministry. I was HIGHLY impressed with the creativity and excellence that our middle school staff demonstrated. Alden Ellis is one of the finest youth pastors I have EVER seen in my life…and his love for students is SO obvious. I love students as well–and tonight I began to get REALLY excited about our upcoming summer trip!!! (I serve as the speaker for our summer camps…and it is a BLAST!!!)
Oh yeah–speaking of youth ministry–we have a REALLY exciting announcement this coming Sunday!
AND…speaking of this coming Sunday…we begin our new series called “Girls Gone Wild!” YEAH–it’s going to ROCK!
NewSpring…I am going to go ahead and say it–mark you calendars for April 1st…and DO NOT MISS THAT SUNDAY!!! It will be the last message in the “Girls Gone Wild” series and I will be sharing some REALLY exciting news about the direction of our church–especially in the area of missions. TRUST ME…if we are able to do what we are investigating then I believe our community will be COMPLETELY turned upside down for Jesus Christ. I have NEVER heard of a church doing what we are looking at doing! (Yes, things done in our community IS CONSIDERED MISSIONS!!! God help the church that will send money overseas but ignores the very needs that exist within a nine iron shot of the parking lot!)
I will be speaking here on Tuesday…and I am REALLY excited AND nervous. YES–I get nervous when I speak–especially when I am not at NewSpring–for those who pray for me–PLEASE pray hard on Tuesday. And for those who DO NOT pray for me–please start on Tuesday!!! :-)
And then the conference we are doing here at NewSpring–wow–I never expected to see what we are seeing–274 people are signed up from 75 different churches in 14 states. (Don’t forget that the early bird rate deadline is Wednesday!!!) We have put some things together over the past week or so that is going to put this thing over the top…and I can’t wait for NewSpring to be able to serve other leaders! And NewSpringers–let us know if you want to volunteer–we already have about 150…but we can always use more.
Pastors–once again–do not come to this thing alone. Trust me–GET PEOPLE HERE WITH YOU!!! I promise it will be WELL WORTH $45!!!
That’s it–I am going to bed…BUT I am doing a post on Tuesday that God has been building inside of me for weeks now…I can’t wait! (Yes, I do believe it will ruffle some feathers!) :-)
I Am SO PUMPED Up! February 8, 2007
There is a TON going on in my life right now…but let me just say I am VERY excited about three things…
#1 – Lucretia and I are going today to find out if our baby is going to be a boy or a girl. People keep asking me what I want…and honestly, I do not care. It would be easier for ‘Cretia if we have a girl first because we have actually agreed on a name. Watch for my post tomorrow morning as I announce if it will be Karis (the girl name) OR Boaz!!! :-)
Let me just say some people love the name Boaz…and some people are not so fond of it, my father actually asked me last night at church, “Are you REALLY going to name him that if he is a boy?”
Seriously though…doesn’t Boaz sound like a dude that you just don’t want to mess with?
#2 – Tony gets in town today. I have had a lot of fun getting to know him better over the past several weeks…and I feel like I know SO MUCH about him since our trip to Wal-Mart so that he could buy underwear!!! Lucretia and I are taking he and his family to Fuddruckers tonight!!! YEAH!!!
#3 – SUNDAY!!! Folks–Sunday is going to be one of THE most awesome days ever at NewSpring Church.
For those who do not know–this past Sunday I spoke on personal evangelism and the need to invite people to church…AND…at the conclusion of the service we took magic markers and wrote the names of the people who we know that need to come to church and accept Christ–there are literally THOUSANDS of names on the walls!!!
I told the crowd that if they would get their family members and friends there this weekend who do not know Christ that we would present the Gospel in one of the most creative ways possible…and TRUST ME, we are going ALL OUT THIS WEEKEND!!! THIS IS NOT THE WEEKEND TO MISS!!!
I would love to ask everyone to…
PRAY! Please–even if you do not attend NewSpring, pray that God will draw people to Him and change lives!!!
INVITE! Like I said–GET PEOPLE HERE!!!
PLAN AHEAD! If you are bringing people this weekend then I would ask that you either consider the 4:15 or 6:00 service…OR please make plans to be here early for the 9:15 or 11:15 service–we are expecting around 9,000 people this weekend…so let’s be patient!!! :-)
God is so good!!! I love what I do!!! Oh yeah…pray for me as well…as I will be presenting the message! WOW…gosh, I hope I sleep this weekend!!!