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!