Moving to my own domain

Thanks to blogger.com, I have been blogging for over a year now. I finally decided to get my own domain and make a few changes. To continue following my blog, you will need to go to http://blog.burlwalker.com You will also be able to link to it from my website http://www.burlwalker.com

Doing something different

This morning, I went to a yard sale. It was put on by a group from my church going through financial classes at our church. The cool thing is, they aren't just learning about personal finance and thinking it would be nice to be debt free. They were doing something about it! Selling off a lot of their stuff to go toward paying off their debts that they accumulated buying that stuff. These people got up on a Saturday morning and were out making a difference in their lives and in the process, they were able to talk to other people about what they were doing. Was it a super spiritual thing? Maybe not, but they were making connections with others and talking about something they believe in.
Shouldn't we as Christians be doing something different to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our communities? Just being there at the yard sale gave me a chance to talk to someone about my church. Is that the same as sharing the Romans road with them and bowing our heads for the sinners prayer. No it isn't, but it was establishing a positive relationship with this particular man toward a church that is letting people have a yard sale in the parking lot. Many people who first make friends with people in a church later become believers in Jesus Christ through seeing God work through those they meet. My hat is off to those trying to get out of debt and achieve financial freedom! I myself am on that journey...and 20K less in debt this year than I was two years ago! Let us all go out and do something different for Jesus Christ. Like in the movie "Pay if Forward", just come up with something that will change the world.

My Website

I started my own website. You can click here to go there. While there, if you like my blog, download a free copy of the rough draft of my book. It is only the first four chapters, but hey, its free! If the click through link isn't working for some reason, the URL is: www.burlwalker.com

What are you doing?

OK, so you have a church. What is its purpose? Who is it trying to reach? I know that all churches have some things in common. They at least should have in common that they are trying to reach people for Jesus Christ and disciple those people and most likely be a place of fellowship for believers. Beyond that, there are differences. Example: if you are trying to reach out to young urban professionals, would you really want to start your church in a barn or a rodeo arena? However, if your target is to reach cowboys, that might be the perfect place. Some things to keep in mind as you plant a church or redefine the church you have just started pastoring...or even just realized something needs to change because you have been in a downhill rut for years in the church you are a leader at.
1. Know what you are about. If you don't have a passionate call from God to reach the people you are trying to reach, then why should they come to a laissez faire church? Like writing a blog, if the church doesn't offer quality content, then there is to much competition for their time. They won't waste it on a church just because it has a building and a sign out front.
2. Be proactive in evangelism. You can't expect people to come through the doors of your church on their own. They need a reason to come. Some will occasionally come because they are family of the people already there, but to reach the rest of the community, it is important to go to them. There are thousands of ways to do that, but the important thing is that you are reaching out beyond the walls of the church.
3. Don't rely on tradition to bring them in. This may just be a continuation of point 2, but just because peoples parents are from the Church of God of Methodibapticostal Episconazaratholic doesn't mean that they will follow in those footsteps unless they have a reason to. This is also a point to look at what you are currently doing. Is your church doing X program because it is effectively helping you reach one of the goals of the church like reaching out to the community or discipling believers, or is X program in place just because as long as grandma has been there in that church that is the way it has been done?
4. Help your congregation find their passions. Most people have them they just need help focusing their passion. They need leadership, and that is where you as a pastor or church leader come in.

I hope this gave you a few ideas for kick starting your church if you were in a slump and if you are a church planter, my hat is off to you! Hope this helped you too.

Christians are WHAT?

I am sitting here at my desk thinking about how some sales people will tell you anything to make the sale whether it is true or not. "Yep, This here 1984 Ford Pinto can do an 8 second quarter mile...no problem." Do we ever do that when trying to lead someone to the Lord? Just like the guy who drives the Pinto off the lot and finds it really needs a quart of oil each tank of gas to keep running and the quarter mile is more like 8 minutes than 8 seconds, he won't be coming back to that car dealer for another car in the same way, people who "make a confession of faith" due to a high pressure "sales pitch" or misinformation are likely to just as quickly turn their back on God and "religion" when they realize that being a Christian doesn't mean that you will get rich or suddenly everyone will like you... Here in America, people aren't often killed for their faith in Jesus, but shouldn't those people who decide to follow Jesus do so knowing that they could be killed for their new found belief?

The Excitement of New Believers!

This weekend at 5 Point Fellowship we had 7 people that I counted, and our pastor said 8 people in staff meeting that gave their hearts to Jesus Christ on Sunday morning! Either way there is a party going on in heaven! Sunday night, I taught the New Believers Class. It is incredible to hear their testimonies of HOW God reached down into their lives and caused their hearts to turn to HIM! New life is contagious! New believers are incredible witnesses! Like the blind man who Jesus healed in John chapter 9, they don't have to know all the right theology, but tell everyone, "One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!"(John 9:25). In our congregation we have so many people that can say, "I was a druggie, but now I am clean!" or "I was a sex addict, and now God has made me whole!" or "I really screwed up my life in this or that way, but now God has cleaned me up!" It is great to see God working in people's lives and then seeing them get so excited about it that they want to tell everyone they know! Sometimes, those of us who have been Christians for years have to so intentionally go out to find people to witness to because all our friends are Christians. New believers don't have that problem. They still know lots and lots of sinners! And they are thrilled to attack hell with a water pistol and go tell those friends all about the brand new relationship with Jesus Christ that they have discovered! This isn't much of a teaching blog, but I wanted to share the excitement of this week with you. Thanks for reading.

Scripture memorization

This week, our senior pastor asked the staff of 5 Point Fellowship to memorize Colossians 4:5,6 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." As I have worked on getting this verse not only into my head, but also into my heart, God has been using it to speak to me. The horrid thing for me to admit is that I haven't consciously tried to memorize scripture since the summer of 2007! There is a difference between just reading and studying God's word, and memorizing it so that it is a part of you. I know that isn't new to anyone reading this blog, and it isn't "new" to me either, but it seems that I had forgotten this truth somewhere along the road. Now that I have written about it, hopefully this will help me be accountable to the people who read this and I will stay on track putting Gods word in my heart so that I won't sin against HIM.

God working though 4th of July Events

The following has nothing to do with my church. Another church that I have visited from time to time puts on a great 4th of July event out in Missouri. The following is a letter sent to them after this years "I Love America" Festival. To see the original blog post by Pastor John Lindell, click here.

The following is a testimony we received on Sunday morning. This woman writes:

I started praying for my dad’s salvation when I was about 8 years old. He was abusive in every way. He became a full-time drug lord when I was about 11 or 12 and eventually went to prison when I was 15. I didn’t have much contact with him during the next 15 years of my life, but I continued praying for him over the years whenever I could get out of the flesh long enough to quit hating him.

A few years ago, he reinitiated contact with me and my family. It’s been awkward and difficult to say the least. We’ve invited him to church on different occasions, but he would never darken the door of a church.

He just “happened” to be passing through on July 3rd and said he’d stop for a visit if we were going to be around. I told him, “Sure, we are going to a fireworks event and he could come along.” I couldn’t quite get the “it will be put on by my church” part out of my mouth so I was a bit nervous, wondering how long it would take him to realize we brought him to a “church” event. However, the setting was comfortable enough and everyone was so down-to-earth-JRA-friendly that nothing was said.

Money is a big deal to an old drug lord and about halfway through the day my dad, in rather deep thought, leaned over and said, “You know most places would’ve charged you to do all this stuff. When we pulled in and saw all the [inflatables], I was wondering if I brought enough money.” And then he said in total shock, “And anywhere else like this would try to get five dollars out of you for a bottle of water, but here someone just gave me one.”

I don’t know who the volunteer is that God prompted to bring water to the people standing in line at the helicopter ride, but your thoughtful generosity in that one small act of service was the straw that broke a 50-something-year-old ex-con and opened his heart to hear the message.

Some of you planned and prepared, others waved and smiled, but all of you made it happen and on Friday night I got the privilege of walking my father through the crowd and “into heaven.” I also got to lay down my own baggage of abuse by finally confronting him and forgiving him. Thank you church for being the church and for bringing the church to someone who wouldn’t have ever come to it.

That testimony is an example of the amazing things that can happen when a church works together to love people in the community!

July 4th Freedom Fest

Yesterday at 5 Point Fellowship, we celebrated the 4th of July by having sort of a community party/festival that we give to the community for free. There were inflatable rides, bungee slingshots, a rock wall, music, popcorn, cotton candy, sno cones, face painting, hotdogs and most of all, lots of smiles for free! I, along with many other volunteers, was able to share the love of Jesus Christ with people in word, but also through what we were doing. I was really proud off all the people from the church that started setting up about 1:00 and didn't leave until the parking lot and church were cleaned up at almost 11:00 at night! It was great to have so many hands pitching in, and when asked to do anything, no one said, "That's not my job." Every single volunteer pitched in where they saw a need! I love working with this bunch! For those who may read this who have never even heard of 5 Point Fellowship or even Easley, SC...Sorry the blog is a little off my normal fare...I just had to brag on my people!

Getting Attention...

Tim and I went to Walmart today to pick up some drinks for the 5 Point Fellowship Freedom Fest coming up on the 4th of July. We bought about a thousand cans of Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet and regular of both. That makes two grocery carts very full of nothing but 24packs of canned soda. The cool thing is that people came up and asked us what we were doing just because we were buying a ton of one product. We were able to tell them about the church and the event. Not that everyone is going to start a church marketing campaign build around buying cartloads of Mountain Dew, but it was interesting to see how it worked!

Freedom Fest 4th of July!

This Saturday, our church, like many churches around our great country, is throwing a great big party for the 4th of July. Part of my job at the church is coordinating events like this. Today, I was getting the last of things together and two volunteers came in and offered to help me set up the "staging area" (A nice word for putting all the stuff that goes to one area on Saturday, in one pile in the church lobby). With their help, what would have taken me hours to do only took about 45 minutes! Earlier in the day, I was unloading a truck full of water, and a friend stopped by and helped carry cases of water. Others helped unload some stage platforms. God is great at sending help when we need it! There are so many incredible volunteers that make events like this possible! If you are one of them and reading this, whether you are volunteering for my church or another one, I want to tell you Thank You! Without all you guys pitching in, things like this would never happen! Oh, and if you are looking for something to do on Saturday, July 4th in Easley, SC, just swing by 5 Point Fellowship anytime after 3:30 and enjoy the fun! Everything is free! Inflatable rides, Thomas the Train, Rock Climbing, Bungee Swings, Hotdogs, Snowcones, Cotton Candy, Popcorn, Drinks, lots of smiles... Hope to see you there!

Redefining Church Membership

I was sitting here thinking about church membership. At our church, people who want to become members must go through a class and then sign a covenant agreement. People can serve in our church without being members. One would think that with such a system in place, only those serious about participating in the ministry of the church would want to join. Over the years however, I have seen that many people still join just to get their name on the roll list. Which by the way won't get you any discounts, or a get out of hell free card or anything...but they still want to join. When joining doesn't require anything, than it also doesn't mean anything.
In 8th grade, my friend Adam joined the AARP. While the AARP is a great organization for retired people or people over 50, it doesn't cater in any way to a 13-14 year old. For some reason, maybe his lack of a job at that time, Adam was accepted and received his AARP card in the mail. Many churches seem to be like that. Anyone can join. Let's be honest, we are a very inclusive club. We are a family of like minded people who love and serve Jesus Christ and we want everyone to be in our club. However...if we give people a card that says they are in the club while they still haven't met the requirements like loving Jesus with all their heart, serving Him or at bare minimum having asked Him to forgive them of their sins...are we really doing them a disservice? Like my friend Adam who when he turns 50 may have some trouble getting an AARP card due to the fact that he will have already had one for almost 40 years, will these people stand before God on judgment day and say, "But Lord, I know I didn't know you, but I have my membership card from ________________ Church! Doesn't that get me into heaven?" While not wanting to revert to a legalistic draconian method like the board inquisition that led to D.L. Moody not being able to join his local church, I would love to hear suggestions on how to make church membership be an accountability tool and to mean something. Now you get to post a comment!

A HUGE God!

Our God is so BIG! This is really a random thoughts type blog post today, but I have a lot of thoughts about all that God is doing in this world that I know about...He is doing so very much that I have no clue about! (That is your cue to post comments about things you see God doing!) Many times, he works through people! Yesterday in church, Pastor Dean asked the church to step up and buy 200 chairs for a growing church in Africa. The chairs are simple plastic $10 chairs. It was great to see the congregation give above and beyond what they were asked for with a cheerful heart! Now the church in Africa will not only be able to have chairs under their tarp, but they will be able to buy a piece of land they were looking at and will be able to build a church! God is incredible!
I blogged last time about going to my Aunt's house to help her out with some house projects. It was not only great to work with my dad again, but seeing the joy that doing that list of simple projects brought to my Aunt was wonderful! God knew that she needed help, and through an odd series of events, brought my dad and mom to this part of the country at this time. I couldn't have done the projects myself, but with Dad's help, they went smoothly, and we had a good time working together.
Seeing new believer's growing in the Lord never gets old! God is doing some incredible work in the lives of many new believers in our church!
There is a camp in Honea Path, SC that has been having a great affect on kids and teen's lives over the years. This year, a group of retired people got together to go work on the camp before it opened. This year was also the first year that the camp director was able to feel like things were ready when the first day of camp came around! (Note to retirees, you have worked hard and can spend your retirement years as you wish..but I want to put a bug in your ear to investigate one of the many groups that volunteer to work and help out volunteer organizations. Most denominations have a ministry that helps match up retirees with jobs around the country. It is a great way to travel, meet new people and also lend a much needed hand at the same time.)
God is using youth to reach out to the community as well. In our own area of the upstate of South Carolina, Youth are helping out with groups like Meals on Wheels, Miracle Hill(children's home), Soup kitchens and many more...
I am amazed at the things God is doing through people and I am praying for magnificent supernatural things to happen that can only be explained by giving credit to God! Have an awesome day! We serve a HUGE God!

My Aunt...

This week, I am heading to my Aunt's house along with my parents. This means that I will be interacting in an environment in which once again, I am the kid. No longer will I be a respected college instructor or pastor...I will just be the son/nephew that they have known since birth. I love those times! (For those who are reading that with a sarcastic bent, you are dead wrong!) I absolutely love the times when I can work with my dad and just be his son. No one is looking up to me for answers or advice or relying on me for anything more than, "Hey son, can you hand me that hammer?" type stuff. We will knock out my 70 year old aunt's "honey do" list of things she needs done around her house. Her husband is long gone, so trips to see her brighten up both of our lives. A few blogs back, I mentioned that I have great parents. They come from families of wonderful people. This Aunt, Abby is her name, has been like a second mother to me at many times in my life. It is great to be able to give something back to her now after she has done so much for me throughout my life. To those of you reading this...I know it isn't cutting edge church leadership ideas, but it is very, very important stuff! In a day when pastors and politicians seem to be falling by the wayside right and left with problems stemming from problems in the family/marriage, it is important to put God first, spouses second, kids third, and keep our priorities straight. Not sure exactly where God plans for extended family to fall in our list of priorities, but I am sure it is near the top. In Jesus' day, I don't think they differentiated much between "immediate family" and "extended family". Take time to take care of your family today!

Some thoughts on Acts Chapter 5

Acts 5: Verses 12-16 seem almost impossible, and if we separate it from the rest of the chapter, it most likely would be. After verse 16, we see how the early church leaders were persecuted. Even though they were spared death by Rabbi Gamaliel’s speech, they were still beaten. (vs. 40) Notice that in verse 41, the apostles who had been beaten with whips were rejoicing “because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. “ So how does that affect the miracles going on in verses 12-16? The early church lived dangerously and at the same time powerfully! Not in their own power but in the power of the Holy Spirit! They didn’t just pray about the sick in their congregation, they healed them! Many of these healings throughout the book of Acts are sudden and dramatic. They aren’t just someone feeling a little better after a prayer is said, they are crippled people getting up and walking, paralyzed people not just twitching a toe, but getting up and leaping and jumping in the air! People are raised from the dead! Before you start thinking, “that was then, we live in the 21st century now and those things don’t happen”, remember, our Lord Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever! (Hebrews 13:8) Pray believing that the Lord will do miraculous things!

Excellence

The following quote is by Richard Pachter and is referring to the book The Dip by Seth Godin.
The one possible weakness of this otherwise terrific little volume is that it is aimed solely at people who are creative, intelligent and want to succeed. Those who are mediocre, unmotivated or just coasting through life will probably not get much from Godin. He is not an elitist, but his message is squarely aimed at those who want to succeed or at least achieve excellence.
After reading the quote, it made me think of the Bible! The message isn't elitist, God wants that ALL people recognize HIM and come to know HIM in a very personal way. HE would love for ALL people to fall head over heals in love with HIS Son Jesus! Why is it that the church is so full of "mediocre, unmotivated or just coasting through life" Christians. Have a great day serving God with excellence!

Dealing with Attendance Slumps...

Ok, so your church has been thriving and growing, and it seems like God is blessing you immensely! And then, something happens. Is it sin in the camp? Is it the music? Are the greeters to friendly? You experience a drop in attendance. It may, or may not be accompanied by a drop in offering, but you notice that there aren't as many people coming. How do you as a leader approach this new dynamic. You can put your head in a hole and not admit that anything is going on. You can make excuses, "Its summer." "Holiday weekend" "Raining" "Beautiful weather for a day at the lake" "Game day" "Race day"... You can blame people in the church for not being holy enough to make God a priority. (And there may be some truth in that one.) Or you can get away with God and find the passion for Him that helped you through when your church was just a church plant. Find the excitement that you had when you first took over the church and you saw all the potential that this congregation had for reaching out to the community. As a leader, are you casting a vision that people want to follow? Will they really miss anything if they skip a week? When someone asks, "So what's new at your church?" Do they respond with enthusiasm about all the great things God is doing and the ways the church is reaching out to the community and changing lives? Or do they say, "You know how it is..., same old, same old." If the leadership of the church doesn't know where it is going, then those on the outer circle won't make it a priority to be there because they won't know either. Have an awesome day! Let God inspire you to greatness in your ministry whatever that may be!

Just for fun...

Ok, not my normal fare, but my aunt sent this to me in an e-mail. I found it quite funny.
TOP 12 INDICATORS THAT THE ECONOMY IS BAD....

12. CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

11. I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

10. I went to buy a toaster oven, and they gave me a bank.

9. Hot wheels and Match box car companies are now trading higher than GM in the stock market.

8. Obama met with small businesses - GE, Pfizer, Chrysler, Citigroup and GM - to discuss the Stimulus Package.

7. McDonalds is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

6. People in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and are learning their children's names.

5. The most highly-paid job is now jury duty.

4. People in Africa are donating money to Americans.

3. Motel 6 won't leave the lights on (Gore & Pelosi are thrilled).

2. The Mafia is laying off judges.

............And the Number 1 indicator

1. If the bank returns your check marked as "insufficient funds," you have to call them and ask if they meant you or them.

Are you Hungry?

Today, my best friend Tim had his wife and kids come in and join him for lunch. His son Caden, who is three, stated that he wasn't hungry when his dad said it was time to go get lunch. It got me to thinking about the church. How many times does a pastor pour his heart into a message after seeking God for that message. He has studied, prepared, and then preached his heart out only to have those hearing say, "I'm not hungry." Now, if they aren't hungry for God's word because they have been pouring over the scriptures day and night since the last service and spending hours and hours in prayer each day...then I have no problem with their not being hungry. However, it seems that most people who are seeking the Lord and living for him are still hungry to hear more. So are the people who know nothing of God! It is the person whose heart is hardened by years of sitting through services without ever experiencing a change in their heart that is perennially full. They really are empty, but like the starving child in Africa with the bloated belly..they look like there is a lot in their stomach, but in truth, they are dying inside. I hope you are hungry! Go and devour God's word! It is really good!

Beginning or End?

As a teacher, I get to experience a lot of beginnings and endings. The first day of a new semester to giving the final exam. Today, was exam day for my students. As they have worked like crazy to master the material so that hopefully they can move on from this class to something even harder, I look at them taking the exam and remember their first day. I also know that I will never again have exactly the same classroom dynamic as I had with that group. Sometimes that is a blessing, other times I wish they could all come back for a few more weeks. In churches, we also see many beginnings and ends. New believers who grow in the Lord and then move on into the ministry they have been called to. Pastors come and go. Sometimes leaving the church stronger than when they found it, or founded it as the case may be...and sometimes ripping it in two as they leave. Parishioners are the same...they come bringing vibrancy and new life to a church, or they tear it down with bitterness and division. Beginnings and endings...today, is the end of the first summer semester of 2009,and the beginning of a week long break! It is saying goodbye to one set of students and getting prepared for another set. (Summer-2 2009) It is on these days that I reflect over the time I spend trying, not just to teach some Spanish to students who may or may not want to learn it, but also to be an example for the Lord to them. I hope that they not only remember some grammar, but more importantly how to live honestly, lovingly, caringly and with character that we can all be proud of. I know that is a lot to ask of a Spanish class, but none the less, it is my wish. If you were in one of my classes this semester or at some time in the past. I wish you well and pray that you are living a life in such a way that I can proudly say, "I was his/her teacher."

Storms

There is a thunderstorm outside. The crash and boom of the fronts smashing into each other as they drop buckets of rain on us is a reminder of the storms in our lives. Each of us faces storms. Some just get us a little wet, others are more like a tornado size destruction. The great news is that God is with us in those storms. He never leaves us. He never lets go. The winds whip around us, but He is still there! Praise the Lord!

Godly Parents

It is a week before Father's Day, but it got me thinking about my parents. No parents are perfect, but I got really lucky! Both of my parents are serving the Lord and have been great examples for me since I was little. I heard many horror stories from other kids as I was growing up about how their perfect deacon dad wasn't so perfect Monday-Saturday, but while their parents may have been coming home drunk and beating them, my parents were daily having family devotions with my brother and I. They couldn't force us to become Christians, but they certainly gave us every opportunity. The biggest thing is that they weren't fake. Kids know! They had flaws, and I saw them, but they loved Jesus and shared Him openly with everyone they came in contact with. They weren't pastors, just people who loved the Lord with all their hearts! Now, they travel the country in their RV serving with a group called MAPS/RV. They build churches, children's homes, Teen Challenge Centers (Drug rehab), Church camps...Needless to say, I am very proud to call them my parents. Burl and Karen Lee Walker, if you are reading this, Thanks for being great parents!

Facing Problems

"What's the problem?"
"Why is it important?"
"What are some solutions?"
"What do those solutions look like?" Jason Womack
These four questions could help you as a leader turn around a ministry or company that is having trouble. Not all problems are important. Some can be fixed with a simple phone call or picking up that piece of paper off the floor yourself. However, if your organization is facing a dilemma that won’t go away on its own, then you need to address it quickly, but with a plan. Know your solutions, if you can’t find them, ask those around you. If they don’t know either, find an expert. You don’t know any experts…google it! That is usually the quickest way to find what you are looking for. Before implementing the solution, picture what it will look like. Not doing so could lead to disaster. An example: Some soil conservation expert found a great plant that would serve as a ground cover in the south eastern United States. It would prevent erosion and make everyone happy. So, he introduced a wonderplant known as Kudzu. Now if you are reading this and you are from the north, think white tail deer in West Virginia..sounded like a good idea to someone at one point in history. Kudzu now spans field after field taking over land faster than owners can cut it back. Kudzu infested land becomes practically worthless. (Side note- If you can come up with a machine to harvest it and a great use for it, you could become a millionaire!) Once you have thought through the solution and know that it is better than the problem, implement it and move on. What’s the next problem boss?

Out of Africa

The senior pastor from my church just got back from Tanzania. Watching some of the videos and listening to his stories reminds me of each time I have left the country and come back. There is something about getting out of your comfort zone and having your beliefs, morals, morays etc...challenged by another culture. We so often take for granted simple things like running water, air conditioning, electricity, windows, cars, a change of clothing, carpet or at least a floor in the church. Have you attended a church with no roof? Worked with people who don't know what a shower is? or deodorant? Preached to people sitting on a dirt floor? You might feel like you are suffering for Jesus as you sleep on a mat on the ground until you realize that the people you are ministering to do the same every day of their lives. If you haven't had the chance to get out of your comfort zone, you can go to Africa or Latin America, or maybe you just need to go across town to help out a church that is ministering in the part of town you don't want your kids going to. Challenge your faith! It will open your eyes in new ways you never expected.

Being a great #2 or #3 or #4...

If you are a senior pastor, you can skip reading my blog today. Take a little extra time to prepare the sermon you will be preaching on August 30th or September 6th. This is for associate pastors or staff pastors. We, I am included in this group, know that we are vital to the health of our churches, but often it is tough being the #2 guy, or even the assistant to the assistant to the assistant in some cases. Here are some ideas to help you be the very best that you can be at your ministry.
1. Be the best in YOUR area of ministry! Just because you aren't in charge of the church doesn't mean that God Almighty hasn't put you in the possition you are in to affect people's lives. You need to do the very best job that you can to see that your area of ministry runs with excelence!
2. Be your senior pastor's biggest cheerleader in public. Never tear him down in front of other people and don't gossip behind his back. In private, you can let him know you disagree with him, and the two of you can duke it out if necessary. But in public you have his back 100% at all times.
3. Self critique often. Does your area of ministry need to exist? It is better for you to realize that you need to change than to have someone else tell you that you are obsolete.
I have to run, so I may blog more on this later...as a part timer, have to get to work at the other job. Have an awesome day!

Getting out there...

I saw an interesting statistic this morning that of this last year's crop of college graduates, out of those who have applied for a job, only 20% of them have achieved employment status. That means that 80% of them are still looking for work, or have moved back in with their parents. As a church, how does this affect what we do? It means that there are a lot of recent college grads with energy, and way to much time on their hands! Can we employ them all? Of course not, but we can get them involved in community activities that will get them off their mom's couch and interacting with people in the area who might be able to offer them a paying job. In this market, it also means that if you are looking for some rather inexpenive labor to hire, even in a skilled labor field, you very well might be able to find a great person at a bargain price. Just a mix of thoughts today.
If you are a recent college grad who is still "looking" for a job. My grandfather's advice has served me well. He said two things when it came to job hunting, 1. " Until you find a job, your job is finding a job. Work at it at least 40 hours a week until you do." 2. "Until you have had a hundred resumés regected, you haven't begun looking for work yet." C.L. Richardson

Joy of the Lord...

Ever have a day in which you are just glad that the Joy you have comes from the Lord and not from your surroundings. Yesterday, I found that a man I look up to in the ministry resigned his church due to moral reasons. Also found out that my parents surprised me by showing up a little earlier here in South Carolina. Both are big news to me. One had the potential to shatter a church, the other is a great surprise! Just two examples of information or outside circumstances that could have an affect on our mood. Our joy isn't dependent on ouside circumstances or information. Psalms is full of verses about joy, but just two are Psalm 28:7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." and Psalm 30:11 "You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy," Notice that in the midst of wailing and wearing sackcloth, there was the Joy of the LORD! The LORD is our strength, not the things happening around us. HE gives us joy! Have a day full of JOY, no matter what the circumstances.

Personal shock

Ok, this is one of those posts that has nothing to do with anything you care about...but feel free to read it anyway. A couple days ago, I added a Twitter account.(@burlw) Before doing so, I honestly thought Twittering was stupid. The inspiring reason for me to do so is that my friend Tim and his wife Erica were having a baby girl. I knew that Tim would Twitter as soon as Josie was born, so I added an account and added Tim. Just because I don't mind writing, I did post a few things. The first couple were about Tim's new baby...mundane stuff to the world. This morning I woke up and checked my e-mail like many Americans, yes, I know it is Saturday. Twitter sent me e-mails letting me know the people who had decided to "follow" my twitters. Some are friends, two were some kind of mass marketers who probably hit up every new twitterer they can find, but one really stood out and surprised me! John C. Maxwell the author of many books, one on my computer table at the moment is The Difference Maker. Next to my bed I have a copy of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. That John C. Maxwell was following my twitter. I think I felt a little bit like Steven Furtick getting invited to speak at Catalyst last year. Anyway, I just thought it was really cool. I realize he follows thousands of people, but it isn't everyday that one of my heros decided to want to hear(read) what I have to say. And if by chance you are reading this Dr. Maxwell, Thanks! You made my day!

An idea...feel free to use it.

I have this crazy idea...it isn't really new to me, but don't know how to get it going...so here it is. If you get around to organizing it before I do...Great! In the Education world, there are a series of conferences called "In Search of the Great Teacher", in which teachers from multiple disciplines get together and help each other out in an iron sharpens iron type environment. In the business world, Seth Godin has his MBA program that only allows the best and brightest marketers to attend. Great things happen when you get a bunch of like minded people together intent on helping each other reach their maximum potential. In both cases, there isn't necessarily one guru who knows it all and teaches all the others. It is a collaborative effort on the part of all involved.
My idea is to do the same thing with pastors. Get a group of 10-15 pastors together in a room for a couple days. Preferably from different denominations,different size churches, and different age ranges. Each one bring two ideas from their ministry that just really seem to work well to share with the other pastors. They will also bring one thing that just seems to stand in their way. They feel like they beat their head against the wall with this issue. Of course there is no guarantee that anyone will have a solution, but with 10-15 other pastors in the room, someone might have faced that same problem before. There, that is the whole idea. Putting minds together who want to grow in their ability to minister to the people God has called them to minister to. It isn't a competition, and no perfect pastor is going to come explain to the peons how ministry should be done. If you are interested and live in the upstate of SC send me a message and if I have much response, I can put it together. If you are from another part of the country and you like the idea...Have at it! No charge, I am giving it away for free!

Starbucks and Churches...

Ok, so what can we learn as church leaders from a place like Starbucks? They have a site called, My Starbucks Idea On this site you can submit ideas for ways Starbucks could improve their service, or a new product they could offer, or another way to improve their company. You can vote on other people's ideas, discuss those ideas with other customers. So Starbucks, through this site now knows, what their customers like, what they don't like and what they want that Starbucks doesn't currently offer! Now, as a church, we aren't going to change the Gospel of Jesus Christ to fit people's taste. But, what if the suggestions are simple? It broadens the idea of a creativity team to the entire church, entire community... People might tell you that the very creative (so you thought) spotlight that you just installed for the choir is really blinding the first three rows to the left of the platform. (Pulled that example out of thin air, my church doesn't even have a choir, but you get the point.) People often see things in a church that the Senior pastor and the pastoral staff of a church don't see. Sometimes we become so comfortable in "the way things are" that we forget what it is like to be a new person trying to find the nursery, or trying to find offering envelopes, or how communion cups are to be handled after communion... Having a forum on your church's website, or an old fashioned comment box, might be a way to help out the pastoral staff without adding cost to your staff budget. One other lesson to learn from the Starbucks site is the "see" part of the site where you can look at the most popular ideas and what is being done about implementing them. People want to see that comments are taken seriously. Does that mean that every suggestion is immediately or ever put into practice? Of course not, but it does mean that people will see that suggestions are not just thrown away. The good ones are looked at seriously and the great ones are put into practice. Anyway, just my thoughts...I think I need a Chai Tea.

Making waves

Did you ever notice that no matter how much he might want to, a surfer can't make waves? Only God can. This isn't my original idea, but I can't remember who it belonged to. All a surfer can do is ride the wave that God makes. He can set himself up to be able to ride the wave. We as church leaders are like the surfer. We can't create a revival, but we can be ready for one! God's Holy Spirit draws people to repentance, but we can share Him with them, live a godly life in front of them, show them the love of Jesus Christ...These things don't save anyone but they do create a place where we are ready to ride the wave when God sends it. Have fun surfing!

Home TEAMs

About a year ago, I started working with the small group ministry at our church. We call them Home TEAMs, you may call them small groups, cell groups, Sunday school... As it continues to grow, I am amazed at how each group has its own dynamic. While all are accomplishing the two primary goals of Home TEAMs which are to help people build relationships with God and with each other, I find that each group interacts in different ways. It is, on a microcosm level, a great example of how churches are all different, but should be all working together toward the same goal of reaching people for Jesus Christ and then discipling them to help them grow in their walk with the Lord. Some of our Home TEAMs seem to grow by leaps and bounds, so I am constantly working to find new leaders and hosts so that we can divide the group up into smaller Home TEAMs. Other groups seem to go for months and months without gaining or losing members. That second group isn't a failure! Those people are growing in the Lord, they are serving God in many ways both inside and outside the church! Just the Home TEAM itself doesn't see its primary mission as evangelistic. The people in the group are, but they invite new believers or non believers to our church, not to their Home TEAM. Other Home TEAMs invite people off the street who aren't a part of our church at all. Each is serving as a different part of the body of Christ, just as each church and each member is serving doing their part of the work of the Body. Keep doing what God has called YOU to do!

Policies and Procedures

It seems in most churches that there are countless policies and procedures. Some of those are written, some are not. The question I want us to consider today is: Why is it so easy to write a policy, but seemingly difficult to change one once it is in place? In your church, is there a way to change or challenge existing policies without causing a church split? I am not talking about challenging the deity of Jesus Christ. I am more referring to things that the senior pastor may not realize. Example, a couple weeks ago, we had a guest speaker. Our pastor sat in the congregation and took notes along with the rest of us. At staff meeting the next day he remarked that the pens that we give out with the bulletins don't write well. We decided then as a staff that new pens were not an out of the question change and set about ordering some new ones. Now, if our senior pastor hadn't had occasion to sit in the congregation and use one of our pens; How long would it have been before a change would have been made? (I am looking at and thinking about our own church's policy/procedure as I write this.) The funny or not so funny thing is that each of us in the room knew that the pens weren't that great, but hadn't rocked the boat to look for new ones anytime recently. (We still have a case of the old ones that haven't been used up yet.) Pens are just an example, but it makes a few points come to life.
1. If you are a senior pastor. Take a Sunday to sit in the congregation and watch how your church operates from a different point of view. Let an associate speak or bring in someone from the outside, but other than the speaker, let things go on as normal. (Other than that, you will get a twisted view of the service if everything is done up specially for the guest speaker.)
2. If you are not the senior pastor. Remember that your senior pastor isn't in every ministry area of the church. There may be a glaring or not so glaring problem that needs to be changed that he quite simply is not aware even exists. Let him know. It helps if instead of just pointing out the problem, you also have a solution in hand.

Have an awesome day!

Your First Time?

Some of us have been in church so long that we don't remember what the first time we stepped into a church felt like. Stop and think. What does your church look like to the person who is showing up for the first time? What if it is their first time in a church EVER? How is your church constantly keeping in mind that there are people coming who don't know "the rules" who don't know what "an offering" is or a "clap offering"? There are so many micro-culture things that go on in a church that many times we don't even remember why we do them. Does everyone pray out loud once the prayer is started, or do they bow their heads in silence when the person leading in prayer prays? Do you put one finger in the air when you walk across the front of the church? Do people kneel, stand, jump, shout, lay down, spin around? All of that is fine, but can you explain it quickly to the person who doesn't know anything about the Lord and even less about your church?
A quick thought for the end of my morning rant: God doesn't give us more than we can bear. Is your church ready to bear the burden of new growth? Baby Christians? Messy New People?...

Communication to Lead

I want to start with this quote from Saul Alinsky’s book “Rules for Radicals”:

“One can lack any of the qualities of an organizer – with one exception – and still be effective and successful. That exception is the art of communication. It does not matter what you know about anything if you cannot communicate to your people. In that event you are not even a failure. You’re just not there. Communication with others takes place when they understand what you’re trying to get across to them. If they don’t understand, then you are not communicating regardless of your words, pictures or anything else. People only understand things in terms of their experience, which means that you must get within their experience.”

This is from a secular book that has nothing to do with churches, but the truth of his arguement rings true. We have the greatest story ever told! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a life changing ideal that we need to communicate to everyone! Doing so effectively is a challenge that we as "The Church" seem to struggle with. We as Christians are always communicating something to the world. The question is: What are we communicating? How effective is our communication? Is it relevant to the hearer? Have a great day, and communicate the Gospel effectively to someone today while you are at it!

Preaching Questions

Here is a questions for pastors who preach. For those who don't know, I am the Connections Pastor at my church; which means I never preach from our platform. I have only spoken from it once, and that wasn't preaching a sermon. I love when I do get the chance, but that isn't what God has called me to do in this chapter of my life. Here are some questions for pastors who do preach. When you put a sermon together, what are you trying to accomplish? Are you just telling people something that is true? (If you are taking your sermons from the Bible like many pastors in the country, the sermon should be something that is true.) Do you present helpful information? While it may be true that Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim were the sons of Javan, most people do not find that information relevant helpful information to their getting through life in this century. Sermons need to address subjects that will help people in their lives. Thirdly, are they engaging? A sermon can be true and present helpful information but in a manner that quite helpfully cures insomnia. If people are going to see God changing lives, they need to want to hear about God's love for them. They won't do that if they feel like church is just a place for a nice hour nap on a Sunday morning. Look over your sermons, are they True, Helpful and Engaging? If not, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.

Losing People

Inevitably, any church plant will at some point experience the loss of a family that has been working hard along side the church planter. For whatever reason, the vision that the congregant didn't quite mix with the vision that God had lain on the Pastor's heart for the church. Often, the church member doesn't see the "big picture", sometimes, the pastor is casting his own vision instead of God's. If both are truly seeking the Lord, I have to believe that God doesn't send mixed signals. One verse helps me out when I struggle with people leaving the church. John 6:66 says: "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." Not just one, but many, and Jesus was the pastor of that church! I guess if He lost some, then how can any pastor expect not to have people leave? Simple point today, but if you are a pastor struggling with people who have left your church, wish them well, pray for them that they will find a church where they can get involved and use their gifts for God's kingdom. Just remember that Jesus lost some too.

Swine Flu - Christian Response

I don't often do this, but the following post by John Lindell was excellent. I didn't want to just rewrite it in my own words, since there wasn't much I would change..so I cut and pasted his entire blog entry here. Click Here to see original blog.

As the World Health Organization raised the pandemic level to 5 on a 6 step scale governments worldwide are being encouraged to take steps that could diminish the spread of the 2009 H1N1 virus or as its better known the “Swine Flu.”

If you’ve never been a thorough “hand-washer” now would be the time to acquire that discipline! But of greater concern to me is the response of Christians during a time of crisis–how should Christians respond?

1. There is no substitute for prayer. We can pray God’s mercy and protection over the lives of people. A pandemic is not inevitable…prayer changes things…and our prayers can make a huge difference!

2. Walk in love and faith as opposed to selfishness and fear. Because we have a God who loves and cares for us. Because we have a God who watches over us and is a healer; during this time of potential crisis we are set free from fear and the need to save ourselves which should allow us to be a people of compassion.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness…” (Colossians 3:12). One of the hallmarks of the Early Church and one of the reasons that it made such an impact on a totally pagan culture that hated Christians was the fact that Christians were compassionate and kind. They understood the power of compassion when it comes to touching people’s lives. They lived in a society that devalued life-deformed boys were thrown in the city dump. Unwanted girls were thrown on trash heaps and it was the Christians who came along and rescued those little babies by feeding them and providing for them.

Often you read that the churches’ passion for the poor and the needy was so great that they had seasons of fasting–not just fasting and prayers for the poor but they saved their money from missing those meals and collected it to give to the poor and the needy! In a culture that cared nothing for the poor; it was the Christians who walked the streets and reached out to care for them.

Early church historians tell us that when two devastating disease epidemics swept through the Roman Empire (165 A.D. & 251 A.D.) one third of the people across the Roman Empire died. En masse, people fled the cities for fear the plague might overtake them. In the mist of those epidemics it was the Christians who stayed in the towns and cities to minister to those who were dying and it made a huge impact on the culture. Over time an entire culture was changed because of the Christians’ compassionate and kind response to those around them.

No one wants a crisis but the darkness of the hour creates an opportunity for the Gospel light to shine even brighter if the followers of Jesus will walk in faith and love.

Out Reach stuff

A guy I talked with last night just made my week! Maybe my month! April 4th, our church put on "Easley Egg Drop 2009". The concept was simple. Drop a bunch (about 180,000 or so) plastic eggs from a hot air balloon. We gave away prizes, cotton candy, snowcones, popcorn, drinks...everything was free and open to the community. About 200 volunteers from our church helped put on the event. From a numbers perspective, it was a success, somewhere around 10,000 people or more came and participated. Kids had fun, lots of smiling faces etc. Now, back to the guy I talked to last night. He was sharing his testimony with me in a parking lot. He and his wife both got saved after coming to the Egg Drop! They couldn't believe that everything really was free! They interacted with people from our church and found them to be friendly and helpful. So they decided to check out our church. A couple weeks later, the wife asked Jesus into her heart! Then a week after that, this man had asked Jesus into his heart! God is now working in both of their lives! So what does dropping a plastic egg with a tootsie roll in it have to do with bringing people to know Jesus Christ in a very personal and wonderful way...absolutly nothing...unless it is accompanied by people who are sharing the love of Jesus Christ with others while not expecting anything in return. That selfless love is what brought this man and his wife to the Lord!
PS. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out! This family's salvation is in a large part due to your actions!

Searching for New People to Hire?

Many people Blog, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc... I was thinking that when a potential employee applies for a job, one good thing to put on the application/resume is their blog URL. People who follow my blog know much more about what I do, what my passions are, how I think and much more than some one who just read my resume. If you are a blogger, that might also influence how you blog if you think your future employer might read what you wrote five years ago to see what your thoughts are on a subject. Not a really spiritual post, but thought it might interest pastors and leaders who are looking to hire someone new.

Questions?

Is God your all consuming Passion?
Do you wake up each morning praising the Lord for letting you live another day to serve HIM?
Are people a burden or an opportunity?
Do you see the Bible as something you have to read each day to be a "good Christian" or is it an awesome love letter straight from God to you?
Is church something you go to? Or is it something you live?
Who is in your life that you are actively pursuing for Jesus Christ...both in prayer and in action?
Is missions something those professionals do in other countries, or is it something that burns deep in your own heart?
Is your wallet living for God?
Have you told God yet today how much you truly love Him for all that He is and all He has done?
Have an awesome day! I can't answer these questions for you...only for myself...you will have to fill in the answers for yourself.

Rethinking Church...

Before I write anything on this topic, I must first confess that I am church cultured all the way through. I have been in church since the first Sunday after my mother and father created me. Nine months or so later, I became a regular in the church nursery. You get the picture. In the world of business, a lot is changing, old business models aren't necessarily working as well as they once did. Technology and the internet have made it possible for people to make business connections that were nearly impossible 5o years ago. So, my question is, how is that affecting the church? Should it? While the message we have to give away must remain constant through time, the way in which that message is given must be ever evolving and changing if we are to reach this generation for Christ! Pastors, we are awful about finding something that works and sticking with it long after it has ceased to work. Flannel board was all the rage and the newest and coolest way to reach people with the love of Jesus about 40 years ago. Fanny Crosby wrote incredible hymns that were put to the popular music of her day in the later half of the 1800's. Overhead projectors shining the lyrics to "Majesty" up on the front wall of the church were great in the 1980's! None of those things are bad. None of them will send anyone to hell. So why wouldn't we keep using them in church? (Some churches still do.)The sinner on the street wouldn't connect with the method in which the message was portrayed. Fanny Crosby herself said that her songs were written to speak to the man on the street, not to the highbrow church person. I am not just writing about music. Fellowship is meant to be relational. We can worship together in a large church, but fellowship only happens in small groups. How do we as a church, unless your church is only 10-15 people, continue to reach out to people while also creating environments in which small groups can assemble and spend time getting to know each other in very real relationships? At our church, we use a small group model that we call "Home TEAMs". They are great! The problem is that less than 25% of our congregation are actively involved in one. That means that 75% basically show up on Sunday for a worship service and never experience the meaningful relationships that Christ meant for His Body - The church, to share.
Going back to the idea of rethinking business. Often 80% of your customers only account for 20% of your profit/income. In the church, we often say that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Nice to see that isn't only a church problem, but is it possible to get the other 80% actively involved in the work of the Lord? Yes it is! Here is my "Rethinking church" idea. We often refer to certain organizations as "para-church organizations" or "faith based organizations" I would propose that maybe some of these are really undercover churches. An example: I used to work as a volunteer with a group of theaters in the Midwest called Stained Glass Theatre. They put on plays using volunteer actors. All the shows contained a strong salvation message, but were not "Bible stories". (Except for very few.) This group of stage hands/script writers/actors/editors/...were a fellowship of people who loved the Lord and loved theatre. Through that ministry and its offshoots, thousands of people have come to know Jesus as their Savior. Thousands more have had their walk with the Lord strengthened, and I am only referring to the spectators! The people who were in the theatre, were all working toward a common goal. Some had big jobs, others little ones, but all were involved with a purpose. When one is sick or hurting all are their to comfort and help. When one rejoices, all rejoice. Is SGT perfect? No! But were real meaningful relationships build every day? Yes! People found fellowship with other Christians and with God there. So is it a church? You can decide that one...maybe we should look at that model though, and see how it can affect our church. Having a common goal and purpose, and each person having his or her role in carrying out that goal can cause a revolution in Christendom. Sorry this one is so long. Have an awesome day! Hopefully you are thinking a bit.

Borrowed Vision

Marketing guru, Seth Godin, wrote: "You shouldn't pick your strategy by modeling someone else's success." He was talking about bloggers and marketing, but in the ministry world, this holds true as well. It is easy to see other pastors who have been successful and think, ((Well, if I had that building I could have a church of 20 billion too!)) or the many other thoughts that pop in the head of someone who for whatever reason feels like the ministry God has called them to isn't quite measuring up to the ministry God has called someone else to. And there you have my main point. IF you are doing what GOD called you to do, and you are doing it to the very best of your ability, then you are successful in God's eyes, and He is the one that matters. It is tempting to steal someone else's vision just because we see it working somewhere else, but sadly, God gave them that vision for their time and place in history. If He didn't give it to you, than you still may see some success(As the world would judge success) with a lot of hard work, but it won't be what God had planned for you. We can all learn from others, but there is a huge difference between learning from them and trying to copy what they did. Have an awesome day and seek GOD'S vision for you and your ministry!

Connecting a Vision!

Many pastors and leaders have a vision for their church/community/company...Remember that it isn't enough to tell people once! Many times, we as leaders wonder why the people we work with don't catch the vision. Maybe it is because we aren't communicating it well. (I am a Spanish teacher and on exams, I see when I have communicated the material well and when I haven't.) In church, we don't usually give exams to our parishioners, but we do see the results of people making the vision of the church their own! If the vision can be "sloganized" it should be used every week! A more detailed version of the vision should be communicated to the church body a minimum of once every six weeks. Yes, I know that is 9 of your 52 sermons a year. Remember that I am not a senior pastor. I do know that the pulpit time is very valuable to communicate the message God has given you. If the vision God has given you for the church you are leading isn't the same as the messages He is giving you throughout your ministry, then you might need to take a second look at what you think the vision for your church is. At our church, the Vision Statement is to "Reach lost people with the love of Jesus and Teach them to love like Jesus" It is simple, but that idea permeates each sermon/series/activity/ministry that we do. As people get a hold of that vision, they will be excited about it with the same passion that you as the pastor are. (Note: if you don't have a passion for the vision, neither will the people in your congregation.)Have fun and let people in on the vision. It isn't a secret that others will steal, it should be given away freely!

Video of Egg Drop

Just thought you might want to see a video from the Egg Drop event from April 4th.

This Weekend

This last weekend, the staff of my church went to Asheville for a retreat. Some of the questions we went over are worth posting on here for those who aren't on staff at 5 Point Fellowship who read this blog.
1. What questions do I need to be asking?
2. Is there anything that I need to be dealing with that I am trying to deny? (Sin, lack of ability, conflict...)
3. Am I broken over the state of our community?
4. Am I leading with pure motives?
5. As a leader, do I understand my position?
6. Am I prepared to share the vision? (Do you know the vision of your church? Can you share it?)
7. Do I really expect everyone to be excited about this vision?
8. Am I willing to fight for it(The vision of the church)?

There were many more questions, but these were some I thought my readers might find applicable no matter what church you are serving in.

Riding with God.

This morning, I rode the motorcycle to work. One of the benefits of doing so that is different from all the normal ones you hear about is that there is no stereo. Yes, I realize that some higher end bikes have systems in them, but mine is a cheap 500 Kawasaki Ninja with no frills. So why is a lack of stereo a benefit? It gives me some great time to pray! God and I can talk uninterruptedly through my commute to work! It is great! Yes, I know I can just turn the radio off in my truck and do the same thing, but there is something about riding a motorcycle that just puts you in the mood to pray. From what I hear, bike riding atheists even pray from time to time. There were no near death experiences, it was just a beautiful ride down the country lanes I commute on. Somehow, God's creation seemed even more beautiful from the bike seat vantage point. It just seemed natural to talk with Him and thank Him for all that He does in my life and all that He is! God is awesome and He makes a great riding buddy! Next time you are out for a ride, try riding with God. (And if you don't have a motorcycle, I am sorry, but you might just have to make do with turning off the radio in your car or truck.)

Math isn't my strong point...

To start with, I will admit that math isn't my strong suit. I read today that President Obama has promised to cut 100 Million Dollars from the budget. That sounds like a good thing, and it is! I want to commend him for cutting the budget at all if he indeed does so. However, that is cutting $100,000,000.00 out of 3,550,000,000,000.00. If we remove all the zeros to bring that down to size, that is a cut of $1.00 for every $35,550.00 currently in the spending plan that some refer to as a budget. That is sort of like my getting national media attention for cutting $1.00 from my annual salary. No offense to the president, but saying that his porposal "likely will be criticized by Obama's opponents as inadequate" doesn't change the fact that in national budget size numbers, a hundred million is pocket change; it isn't even decent walking around money. I know most of you don't read my blog for political reasons, and for that I appologize. Just read that article and it made me think for a second about our government. Have an awesome day! Remember, an economic crash only affects the living!

Where did 440 people go?

I usually don't give lots of attendance numbers, but this one is sadly humorous. On Easter weekend, 970 people came to church at 5 Point Fellowship! It was an incredible day that by far exceeded our good ol attendance record. Now, fast forward seven whole days! We had 530 people yesterday which is about 70 or so under our average! So I wonder (((What happened to the 440?))) I am reminded of the parable of the 99 sheep in the fold, but the shepherd went to look for the one missing one. What did the shepherd do when 44 of the hundred where missing? I really don't have any answers here, it was just an observation that saddens me, yet at the same time I find laughable on some level.
On a much happier note, three people gave their hearts to Jesus yesterday! One was a woman who had been in church most of her life, but realized she had been doing it to please people instead of because she had given her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now she has!!! Praise the Lord! Have an awesome day!
Upcoming happy news, on May 24th, we will be having an outdoor baptism! Plan to come early and stay late for tailgating! Bring lawn chairs!

Individualism vs Collaboration

Nate Larkin, founder of The Samson Society said, " Almost everything changes when Christian faith escapes the prison of individualism and becomes truly collaborative." Nate and I have a similar history in many ways, so I really appreciate his ministry! This quote of his really spoke to something more than just pastors who were/are porn addicts or struggling with sexual addictions. We as an American society tend to fight for our individual rights. We find in life that we can do so much more when we work with others in a collaborative way. We have a tendency to see our faith as personal, I challenge each of us to see our faith in a more community oriented way. We challenge each other as we grow in the Lord when we are open and transparent with our brother's and sisters in Christ. Ultimately, our strength comes from the Lord, however, I have found that when I am weak spiritually, having a Jesus with skin on is a great help. Having a brother in Christ who can hold me accountable, encourage me, etc. is a great thing. I pray that I can be that same brother in Christ in return when others are weak and I am more spiritually/emotionally strong. As we share with each other in a safe environment, we can say exactly what is going on in our lives without fear of being ridiculed for our weaknesses. That is what the church should be. All of us who are Christians are redeemed sinners striving toward holiness. Let us strive together in that journey!

Beat Down!

Last night, I had one of those conversations that any pastor hates to have. It doesn't matter if you are a senior pastor or a staff pastor, this one makes your stomach turn into knots. An old friend, who is called into the ministry and was, until this point serving on a church staff contacted me. He lost his job and his wife due to his letting his guard down and having an affair and now his life is all upside down. Men, pastors, keep your guard up! Unfortunately, we as men have been falling for the same tricks for thousands of years! Samson wasn't brought down by an army...it was one pretty woman. Way to many pastors and lay leaders in the church are brought down by pornography and women with whom they have an affair. Sometimes, we have to be a little rude, but you can't be alone with a woman, and at very least, you can't be alone with her on any kind of regular basis. (If you are a female pastor or lay leader reading this, just switch the gender, it goes for you too.) Billy Graham is famous for not even riding an elevator with a woman if they were going to be alone. I used to think he was extreme in this, but the older I get, the more I not only respect him, but feel he was on the right track. Can't say I have gotten off an elevator yet because everyone else got off except one woman, but it isn't a bad idea. Sorry for ranting, this just rips my heart out!

Church Planting and staffing

Have you ever thought about planting a church? What does it take...other than everything you have and a bit more? God has allowed me to be part of a church that was a couple years old when I first attended. It is now a 4 1/2 year old church plant. The senior pastor is a visionary who is also quite ADD, I am much more conservative, structured...the rest of the staff is as different from each other as they are from us. We ALL have two common goals - to reach people with the love of Jesus Christ and to teach them to love others with the Love of Christ! Many would consider our church a "successful" church plant. It wasn't accomplished by finding a bunch of people who were exactly like the church planter. (If it were, I would not have been allowed to even attend, much less end up on staff.)If you are considering planting a church, this is one small point among many to keep in mind. As you start staffing even if that is unpaid lay staff, find someone who has strengths in your weaknesses. My wife often laughs that 1/2 the staff here are ADD or ADHD and the other half are uber-organized number-crunching nerds....you can guess which category I fall into. That is a good thing! Guess what, if I were the "front man" for the church...it wouldn't look anything like it does, and I must admit, it would probably be much more boring to many. I am not the super get excited kind of person. Those people are needed! Calm, cool and collected doesn't inspire people unless there are guns involved. Passion does! I thank the Lord that he let me be a part of such a diverse bunch every day! Have fun with your church plant! We need more of them! Until everyone on the planet can claim to have been presented with the gospel and have made a choice to accept Jesus or reject Him, we still have a lot of work to do!

Easter was an Awesome Sunday!

So, like most churches across the world, Yesterday was a larger than normal service for us at 5 Point Fellowship! Like I mentioned in my previous blog, we had added a Saturday evening service to take care of some of the extra seating. We still had more on Sunday morning even with the 250 people who gave up their Sunday morning seats to come on Saturday night! The greatest number isn't the number of bodies who showed up, but the 20 people who gave their hearts to Jesus! Integrating new believers into the body of Christ is messy work! It just so happens that I love it! Surprisingly, I don't much care for real babies and changing diapers and all that, but I love baby Christians! They are so full of energy and haven't gotten their theology all screwed up yet! They just believe what the Bible tells them. And those who get saved often begin pouring over the Bible like a college student cramming for final exams! I love that! There are a million questions. Sometimes you laugh at the questions, but many times, those questions will really make you think! This blog is just to praise the Lord and say thank you to Him for all the baby Christians that were born in churches across the world yesterday! And a shout out to New Spring Church in Anderson, SC!(Where my brother in law attends.) Somewhere around 350 people gave their hearts to Jesus there! Praise the Lord! I would love to hear comments from readers on the great things God is doing in your church!

Saturday Night Service

Last night was the Saturday night before Easter, so we had an extra service. Our Sunday morning services have been fairly full, so to be ready for the extra Easter crowd, we announced that we would have a 6:30 service on Saturday. The really cool part is that over 250 people came! That is a lot of seats freed up for today's service! I can't wait to see what God is going to do this morning! As we remember Christ rising from the dead, remember that He is Alive and Well and working in our communities today! Have an awesome Easter!

Options

In life, we often have many options to choose from. The cereal isle in the grocery store for instance. However, in our view of Jesus Christ, there are only two options. Many people seem to want to say that he was a good man, or a great teacher or a myriad of other things, but they don't have that option. Jesus was one of two things. He was either God like He claimed, or he was the craziest lunatic to walk the planet. There are many people today in insane asylums that claim to be God. They however don't make the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, feed thousands with a few loaves and fish...They don't let themselves be killed and then come back from the dead to be witnessed by hundreds of people! I choose to believe that Jesus is exactly who He says He is: God! I also understand that I do this on faith and that not everyone shares my faith. Taking Jesus half-way as just a good man isn't an option though...only full time commitment is allowed...each of us commits one way or the other. Savior or deranged insane one. Take your choice.

Snowballs

Yesterday, there actually was a short snow fall here in South Carolina in April,but that isn't what I am talking about today. If you have followed this blog or my Home TEAM blog, you know that our church just put together an Egg Drop event in Easley, SC. It was a great success...which means we are already working on the next events. Yes Plural. Next year, we will be doing a bigger, better Egg Drop on March 27th! Mark your calendar! Currently, though other than having reserved the field for next March, I am working on some smaller events. May 17th is Tennis Shoe Sunday! May 24th is our Outdoor Baptism! We are planning for a big day there! July 4th is a big block party event in the parking lot at 5 Point Fellowship! It takes time to put together a great event! If you are a leader in your church, you will quickly find out that those events that you just "throw together" look like exactly that. Spend the time and money to do everything your church does with excellence! Oh, and if you are wondering why a church is involved in city event planning...Sunday morning about 10 people gave their hearts to the Lord! Many new visitors have come because they attended one of our community events. Have fun in your community showing people the love of Jesus Christ and then see what happens!

A picture from the Egg drop.

Here is a picture of one of the 5 fields during the egg drop. As you can see...a lot of people were having a great time. This field had about 30-50,000 eggs on it...and was picked clean in about 3 minutes. The kids are ages 4 and under on this field, so the parents were allowed to go with them.

Friday Morning

It is the day before the big event! The egg drop you have been reading about for the last month or so. All has come together wonderfully! Of course the next 36 hours or so will be very busy, but it is great to see it all working! Hundreds of awesome volunteers have come together to accomplish vast quantities of work that I could never have gotten done alone! This morning, a man who used to go to our church delivered over 2000 hotdog buns! It is great to see even people who aren't going to 5 Point Fellowship getting involved in reaching out to the community! Do something different to reach your city or community for Christ this year! Love on people outside the walls of your church and see how God will work!

A Wednesday Night

Last night, we celebrated the Lord's Supper at church. That in and of itself is always an amazing event as we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made of Himself for us. This one was special. Almost all of the 100+ people in attendance had spent the day fasting for our egg drop event that is coming up on Saturday. Having over a hundred people, who have spent the day praying, come together for a time of worship and sharing in communion was an incredible way to break the fast! The idea of corporate fasting is honestly new to me. I am sure many other churches have times when they fast. The Roman Catholics give up stuff for Lent which is sort of like fasting. But having a large crowd of people who show up ready to worship the Lord, and who are already focused on God made the worship time something extra special last night. Hopefully this encourages you!

National Atheist Day

OK, so today is National Atheist Day, but as with all holidays in our politically correct world, this brings about problems in everyday interactions with other human beings. Examples: Is it OK to say "Happy Atheist Day"? or is that showing a preference for a deity free religion over those religions that require their constituents to follow the dictates of a deity? Even words like "Happy" and "Merry" if combined with a religious holiday like National Atheist Day could be misconstrued to be synonyms of "Gay" which while it is defined similarly to "Happy" could also be "homosexual" and we aren't trying to say that all Atheists are homosexuals. Not that being a homosexual is in any way antithetical to the Atheist religion. Some Atheist's might be offended at sharing the holiday with "April Fool's Day". From those with a Christian world view, this is easily explained. The Bible says in Psalm 53:1, "The fool says in his heart 'there is no God'" and since the definition of an Atheist is one who doesn't believe in the existence of a Theos or God, then the sharing of the holiday makes sense. So then, are Atheist Day pranks in order? Would people make up evidence to prove that God doesn't exist? That would be an awful prank. They could probably get lawyers at the ACLU to fall for it! Anyway, I have typed enough. Have a Happy/Merry/Gay Atheist/Fool's Day!

Obamaburger

This blogpost has nothing to do with the church or Christianity, and I am not going to try to add a spiritual application...it is just something funny I heard. A local restaurant here in the upstate of South Carolina has a new item on the menu. It is a burger called the "Obamaburger". The burger is about the same size as their standard burger and costs just as much. The funny part is that if you order one, the waiter or waitress brings out the burger and then cuts it in half in front of you. You get half but the other half is given away to a random customer at another table. You don't get to choose who gets the other half of the burger you paid for. As far as political satire goes, I found this one quite creative! Have an awesome day!

Updating on Year Goals...

For those of you who have followed my blog...Hi Mom. Just wanted to update you on the progress of my goals I set back on my birthday in November. On the goal of reading through the Bible twice, I just finished the first read through this morning. On the professional goal of presenting at at least one conference; last month, I presented a workshop at the SCFLTA (South Carolina Foreign Language Teacher's Association)Conference. The third goal was to have the Home TEAM ministry representing 50% of the church or more. We have three new Home TEAMs, but our church is growing faster than the Home TEAM ministry, so I need to do more on that goal! Please keep me in your prayers on that one!

Easter Egg Drop

As April 4th comes closer and closer, it is amazing to me to see how many people are stepping up to volunteer time, money and possessions to help make the event happen! One of the things that really is amazing is that people who just got saved and/or just started attending our church are jumping in with two feet and signing up to help out! This morning, I got an e-mail from a man who saw the ad in the paper and wanted more information. He is new to the area and is just looking for something for his 5 year old daughter. I look forward to meeting him. And even if I don't get to, it is great to know that he will get to meet many of the wonderful people from our church and I pray that he will feel the love of the Lord as he has a great free day with his daughter. For all of you who are volunteering, I can't thank you enough!

Reflections on Sunday

This last week we had over 600 again! It is great being a part of a church that is growing by leaps and bounds! People are giving of their time and money which is allowing this church to do some crazy things for God! As we gear up for the Egg Drop on April 4th, it is great to see how the church pulls together for an event. Everything from stuffing eggs with candy to picking up supplies to doing advertising campaigns. At last count, we have between 150 and 200 volunteers signed up to help with the event!If you think of an old saying that 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work, it is great to see about 40 percent doing the work. (If you remember that 200 of the 600 people in our church are in our children's ministry.)Wherever you are reading this from, if you aren't involved in your local church ministry, I encourage you to do so! It is amazing, even in a small church how much it will encourage your pastor to find he has someone volunteering to help out before he even has to ask!

Incredible Week

Ok, some would say my brain doesn't work, but, here is a glimpse as to how it functions....

This last week has been an incredible week of positives and negatives. One friend got saved! Three young men at a camp I worked last week got saved! Six were baptized! One friend from church died. One student died in a car wreck. Girl Scout cookies came in, so I and my work study have enjoyed those! A friend lost his job. I picked up some more work for this summer. My wife and I paid off one debt! The April 4th egg drop is really coming together! The city is changing their mind on some of the things we had agreed on. My church office was repainted while I was gone, and it looks great! Home TEAM ministry is growing like crazy! Need some new leaders and hosts! Sunday was incredible! 8 people accepted Jesus into their hearts! Started New Believers class Sunday night!

Back from Honduras!

I am back from Honduras! It was a wonderful trip. God is awesome! While there, I and a group from North Greenville University ended up running a youth camp for a region where most of the people are Lenka Indians. Three youth accepted Christ as their savior and some more were baptized. It was truly a blessed week!

Mission Trip

I want to thank you if you check my blog every day! Thanks for being faithful. I hope I don't lose to many readers, but I am heading out in about 8 hours for Honduras and am not sure how often I will be near a computer between now and next Saturday. Pray for me as I, and a bunch of students from North Greenville University are working with a bunch of kids at a kids camp representing 15 churches in the region.

Ad Clicks for Missions

To the right, you notice that I started another blog. What is 5 Point Missions all about? I had a thought today. I love blogging, and I am beginning to understand how the advertising payout works with google adsense. I thought (((What if I create a blog where people can support missions simply by clicking on the ads. I would give 1/2 to missions, and the other part could pay the taxes.))) So that is what that blog is. I plan to write about mission trips. Hopefully people will see this as a way they can help support missions even if they don't have the cash to help out. Just clicking on an ad could send 20cents or even 50cents to missions! Feel free to actually use the services advertised. They are paying for you to actually look at their page when you click through from mine. Thanks for helping out!

Easter Egg Drop

In case you read this blog, and not my Home TEAM blog, I want you to be in prayer for our April 4th Easter Egg Drop. It will be a huge event for our church. (If you don't know about it, we are dropping a bunch of plastic eggs onto the soccer fields at the J.B. "Red" Owens fields in Easley, SC on April 4th between 3 and 6 PM.) We need volunteers! If you can come help either before that date or on that date, your help would be greatly appreciated. We currently have about 100,000 eggs that need to have a piece of candy put in each one, and then the seam taped so that the egg doesn't come apart when dropped. Please pray for me, as I am the one putting it together. There is much more to "Event Planning" than I ever dreamed possible. Here is a link to the sign up sheet: http://files.me.com/ttimw/s52sly We will be passing them out in church, but feel free to download it and hand it in to Ann or Burl on Sunday at 5 Point Fellowship. It is going to be a great time!

Desert Times/Transition Times

I was just thinking about Moses wandering in the desert. I have heard pastors say they feel like such and such a time was their time in the desert. So lets look at the bright side of desert wandering. Look at the desert as the transition time between where they were, Egypt, and where they would end up, Israel/The Promised Land. It took some work to get the people out of Egypt! Remember the plagues?! Then, as Moses and the people of Israel are out in the desert, there are those church members (Oops, I mean Israelite people) who want to go back to the way things used to be. However, even in the desert, some of the greatest experiences took place! God gave Moses the 10 Commandments in the desert, not in Egypt or the Promised Land! Please, as a pastor don't take this example to far and think (((Great, so my job is to lead through the desert, and then God is going to need someone else to take my congregation to their promised land.))) However, It probably does mean that you will need to make changes in your leadership style! Doing things they way they have always been done tends to give you the same results you have been getting...or worse, not better. Just remember in any change out of Egypt, there is some transitioning desert time of struggle and complaining before you get to the Promised Land. Where ever you are in this journey, praise the Lord that He is allowing you to lead a group of people there!

Staff Meetings & Event Planning

Yesterday we had our weekly staff meeting. In addition to the normal stuff, we were planning this years Easter Egg Drop event. It is beginning to dawn on my why people hire event planners and party planners. I used to think that was code for "un-employed". I am learning however that event planning is a lot of work! Mostly, hours on the phone trying to track down stuff and making sure it is available for the day it is needed. Micro-hitches come up. Just an example, we have the venue, but found out that while there are power outlets, there isn't nearly enough power to run all the inflatable rides! So, tracking down generators begins. (If you live in the Easley, SC and have a big generator, feel free to contact me and let me know that you would love to let us use it for a day!) All in all, it has been a rewarding experience, and I am sure that when it is done, it will have impacted people in our city with the Love of the Lord in a very tangible way that they will be able to remember when they hit a point in their lives that they realize their need for God.
The staff meeting went wonderfully, and the great part was realizing that I am not having to do this alone! Having a great team to work with on staff and with the volunteers, it will all get done and we will have an exciting day!
PS. Thanks to all you volunteers who are helping out! We couldn't do it without you!

Fun Times!

Yesterday, we baptized 34 people! It was a great service! The number 34 isn't necessarily important, but it represents people with souls who have now publicly declared their allegiance to the one and only God, The Lord Jesus Christ! That number represents people who are growing in their faith and contagiously telling others about how God has changed their life for the better! Some of them were serious sinners, and others were fairly good people who just didn't know Jesus as their Savior, but all of them have turned from the sinful life they led and have connected with Jesus, asked for His forgiveness and want everyone in their lives to know about it! One really cool example is that we had two couples that wanted to get baptized together. I don't mean one after another, I mean together....at the same time! So, as they linked arms, two pastors dunked them. They proclaimed together their new faith in front of family and friends and the whole world, (Since you can watch our services online.) It was an incredible day as people from retirees to kids told their testimonies and made a public declaration of faith! God is doing awesome things!

Jeremiah and the Megachurch

My friend Kase recently commented on my blog that Jeremiah didn't have a mega-church, yet he was walking in Gods will. I happen to be reading Jeremiah right now in my devotions, so I thought I would make a comment on that. Kase is 100% right! Jeremiah's ministry was not that of a pastor. He was a prophet. As such, though he was beaten, imprisoned, put in a cistern of mud...he never gave up on his call, even when he wanted to. He did however influence the king. He did make God's case before all the important people of his time in his region. He stood up for God's message when that message was not popular. The message that we pastors in the United States of America have is not always popular either. It isn't often that we are beaten or imprisoned like Jeremiah though. We are called to risk everything for our Lord, and we can't do that unless, like my previous post alluded to, we are CRAZY IN LOVE WITH JESUS!!!!
On a completely different note, if you haven't checked out Kase's new blog, you are missing out on some very well thought out posts on faith!

Missioneeds

I know I already posted today, but I was reading my friend Travis'blog and he mentioned a site developed by Cody Thomas that helps churches get rid of stuff that they have outgrown and helps church plants get stuff free/cheap that they really need. The site is called Missioneeds If you are a church pastor that has a closet full of cool stuff that a church plant could use, but you have upgraded to the newest and best, then check out Cody's site!

Marketing

Is marketing a bad term when it comes to the church? I don't think so. It does depend on what we are marketing. Are we trying to just make a big name for ourselves, or are we making a big name for Jesus? If the former is true, then you may as well just join any club and make a name for yourself. If the latter is true, then we should be shouting from the rooftops that Jesus is Lord! Advertising and Marketing can be as simple as telling a friend about Jesus over coffee. No matter how technologically advanced our world gets, it still takes one on one interaction with people most of the time to lead someone to Jesus! If computers could do it, the whole world would have been won for Christ by now. We must be His marketers here on earth. As we go and make disciples we are helping people become more like Christ. That makes Christian our brand name, our tribe, our corporate identity. Have fun marketing!

Crazy in love?

So, if you are a pastor or leader, and you are trying to figure out why someone else's ministry seems to be doing better than yours, ask your self: "Am I crazy in love with Jesus?" You know the kind of in love I mean. You can't wait to see Him, You can't wait to read His letter to you, You can't keep yourself from talking about Him to your friends, family, total strangers, because you are so completely head over heals in love with Him that it is impossible to think of a subject you would rather think about or talk about or dream about than Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. If you can say that about yourself without any hesitation (and you aren't lying...which would be some kind of weird, given the topic) then you are where God wants you even if your ministry doesn't seem to be heading for mega-church status anytime soon. People who are crazy in love with Jesus are contagious! If you aren't, find someone who is and work with them. If I am right, and it is contagious, then you will soon catch it! People who are 100% sold out for God are awesome witnesses! So get a little Crazy in Love!

Planning Events

Part of my job is planning events. I can't say that I enjoy all aspects of the job, but I do enjoy seeing it all come together and seeing all the volunteers and workers who make it happen. The end product is always fun, but it made me think about God working in our lives. He knows what He wants in the plan for our lives, but sometimes there are some details that have to be ironed out before we can get on with the big picture stuff. Just like trying to track down generators for a bunch of inflatables for a kids fun day at the park, God works on the "little sin" in our lives that could cause the whole thing not to work if it isn't fixed. So, when we find ourselves in the middle of God's fixing time instead of the big event time, count it all joy that He is working in our life at all!

State of the Union

Last night, President Obama addressed both houses of Congress and the American people. After that, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana gave the republican rebuttal. In this crazy world we live in, God is still in control! No political party or great leader can defeat the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We as Christians are not struggling against flesh and blood but against the princes and powers of darkness. With God, all things are possible! Don't let fear of the current economy and wars and rumors of wars get you down!