Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Meeting w/ First Baptist Hartsville Pastor

Yesterday a handful of us leaders went and had lunch with the pastor of First Baptist Hartsville. We wanted to introduce ourselves and cast the vision to him for what The Journey desired to come do in the area.We also wanted to pick his brain for all he knew about the area. He was more than supportive. In fact, he offered their building for preview services and informational meetings. He even began asking us questions about what we are doing to be successful here. He shared with us that of the 8,000 people in the county, 80% are unchurched (6,400). He believed that what we wanted to do and the style in which we do it could be very effective in the area...there is no church doing it. A staggering and dissappointing thing he shared was that when the Association of Baptist churches in Sumner, Trousdale, and Macon counties met, they decided not to try and plant a church in Hartsville because it is not growing as fast as some of the other towns. My question was: But what about the 6,400 people in the community that DO NOT go to church anywhere? He agreed, but indicated that Hartsville always seems to get passed on because it is not growing like Gallatin or Mt Juliet. I believe God is going to blow our minds with the harvest that will occur in this city...I'm claiming it right now!

He also shared that at 120 adults/kids, they are the largest church in the area. When I asked him what the evangelistic temperature of his church was in regards to being on mission in the area, he indicated that they were not. I believe this pastor wants to experience more and I told him we wanted to see life infused in all the churches of the area. I pray that God would bless this pastor and his church. Ignite a fire in them Lord and bless them for the support of our ministry!

It was God-ordained time in which the full expression of what the kingdom is supposed to look like was manifested: Churches working together to reach those far from God. He is excited about us coming. I'm even more excited now that we are going. Keep on praying Journey folks, the days ahead are going to be amazing!

Get Away Time

I believe that it is important from time to time for leaders of organizations, families, and churches to get away from the grind of day-to-day operations and evaluate the state of the union. Beginning tomorrow morning, the elders of The Journey are going to do just that. We are getting away Thursday through Saturday and asking God to reveal to us where we could be better, what He wants us to do, and how He wants us to do it. We are going to ask fun, but hard questions about our effectiveness and how we can reach more people for Christ. I pray we come back with some Big Hairy Audacious Goals for The Journey that can only be accomplished by God's doing. Pray for us. Pray for clarity to hear from God on the issues we are discussing. Pray that the strategy for launching these new churches/campuses will be clear and effective to expand the kingdom.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Intentionality

When you think of coming to church the word that comes to mind is usually not "intentionality" -- at least, I'm guessing it's not. But perhaps it should be. Do you attend church as a consumer of goods and services or do attend church as one who wants to connect with God and others, but understands the importance of others connecting to God and others as well? If we want to see our churches grow and become places where guests feel at home, those of us who call the church home have to make that transition easy for them.

The way this looks can vary, but the core elements remain the same. When we come to church, we must have our eyes on the lookout for guests and people we notice are sitting alone. Instead of running to our circle of friends, why not have the circle of friends make the intentional effort to divide and conqueror. It is imperative that we begin to see our church through the eyes of the first time guest. We have to be able to answer the question of whether our church welcomes people into community or makes them feel like there looking in from the outside. This is all fixed and handled through intentionality.

If you are woman at church and you see another woman that you have not met before, walk across the room or through the lobby and go introduce yourself. Ask her about what she does, where she's from, and perhaps how she heard about the church. Same goes for the men. DON'T ASK PEOPLE IF THIS IS THEIR FIRST TIME THERE!!! As innocent as the question is, if it is not their first time, you just made the person feel unnoticed. Start asking people if they have found a small group to attend. Ask them if they are enjoying the teaching series. Whatever you do, just make sure you're in the company of those we gather to reach every week.

Remember, if you have taken time, energy, and prayer to invite your friends and family to church, you want to know that others in the church, not just you, want to ensure they have a great experience when they come. We have to always be ready for that person. I prepare my messages every week with one person in mind: the person who is coming to church for the first time ever or in many years, who may never step foot in church ever again. This is how I prepare and deliver my messages. Statistics show that people who find relational connections at church will actually "stick" to that church, those that don't will eventually fade away. In other words, Sunday services won't carry them forever. Let's make the effort to be intentional with our time on Sunday's at church and seek to create an environment in which people far from God can find Him and those who walk with Him can journey deeper. You have the power in your hands to create that environment.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Getting Saved and Stuff

Kids will say the darnedest things won't they? Yesterday while Katrina and I were at the Griffin's house for dinner, Kaleb was talking to himself while playing in his own world. While he was talking we overheard him say something and we asked him to repeat it.

Laurie Griffin: "What did you say Kaleb?"

Kaleb: "I'm talking about getting saved and stuff."

All of us: "Getting saved?"

Kaleb: "Yeah."

Laurie Griffin: "What would you tell someone about getting saved?"

Kaleb: "Watch out for the dinosaurs!"

I looked my son in the face and told him, "that will preach!"

I'm so proud of my son. He is only 4 years old, but there is so much that is right about him. He loves church. He loves going every week to sing, play guitar, and being with his friends. We are constantly teaching about Jesus and what it means to be a leader for God. He really is starting to get it. I ask him all the time what a leader would do and he can always give me the right answer.

The things we talk about and pray about at the house and at church are the things that are on his lips and in his mind. What are you exposing your kids to? Are the conversations within the home effecting their conversations?

Yesterday after church he was taking a nap and I went to lay beside him and he gave a big grin and opened his eyes. I said, "Are you awake son?" He looked at me and smiled and said, "Yeah...tell me a story about Jesus."

"Gladly son."

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Sunday Reflections

I am truly emotionally and physically drained after what was an incredible two services at church today. As tired as I am, I am so satisfied and ecstatic about what God did in the lives of people. We had two full services today and it was great to see the enthusiasm of everyone following services.

As I sit and reflect on today, here is what brings a smile to my face:

* the awesome job of the people involved in the skit -- that includes everyone who was on the stage and everyone who worked the lighting and sound to ensure a smooth flow. That was the most powerful element we have ever had at The Journey and it was pulled off to perfection and with passion

* Todd Bates and Shawn Allen leading the Journey 101's today -- it is so freeing to believe in and trust other people to accurately communicate the vision and culture of The Journey to others. It allowed me to spend time meeting people and following up with others. Great job guys!

* Seeing the Rountree family ready for all that God wants to do through their leadership -- as a family they have made such an impact on my life and I know they are going to touch many others at the campus they are leading. May God bless their efforts and leadership.

* The worship team's sensitivity to what God is doing -- for the second straight week, Robbie has made the call to make an adjustment after the first service to try to make everything even better. They have done an amazing job of ushering in God's presence and creating an environment in which we are compelled to worship. By the way, 'Voice of Truth' special was phenomenal today!

* There were people in our audience today who heard the message of Christ for the first time ever -- today we had visitors in our church who haven't been at church in years, a few who have never been church ever! This tells us we are reaching the intended audience we desire to seek. Keep up the great work Journey people and continue inviting friends and family into the conversation.

* We have not seen anything yet -- I know I have said this before, if not every week, but I believe it with all my heart. There will soon be a day in which we will look back at these days and say to ourselves that we had no idea God could do that. Believe that! He desires to blow our minds in the days ahead.

It has been a great series. It has been fun to teach, even though it has been difficult. I pray that each of you have walked away empowered and prepared to live out the life you have been created for. Believe it or not, I am actually just as excited about our next teaching series coming up called: DNA - you'll see a sneak peak video next week.

Forward we go...fighting for the heart of our king!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Football Season Approaches

I wanted to post something on a little bit of a lighter note this morning. It is Saturday morning and it is starting to feel like College Football season. There is that aroma in the air welcoming in tailgate parties, fight songs, and the sound of pads colliding. I can't wait for both college and NFL football to start up.

I'm a huge Tennessee Volunteer fan. I love the Titans as well. Here is my question for you all: what are you a bigger fan of college or NFL? For the ladies who read this blog: are you a "can't stand football season" girl or a "bring it on" kind of girl?

Regardless of league, it is ALMOST football time in Tennessee!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Proud to be pastor of The Journey

I just wanted to make known, if I haven't done it enough before, of how proud I am to be the lead pastor of The Journey. This is a church in which I have never experienced the realness, authenticity, and true genuine desire to live and become all that Christ calls us to be. We have handled conflicts well, by getting face to face and resolving issues. I have never seen churches that do that. James Ulmer, one of our elders, has been to many churches in his years and said that he has never witnessed it either -- he has seen a lot of churches :-). It makes me proud to know that we have people who are willing to deal with each other in love, even when they don't agree with one another or have had a conflict arise.

I love the transparency that people have. It is rare to find people who are not putting up a front about their life. I'm engaged with conversations with many throughout the church. It seems that their is an openness at our church to just be yourself. It is OK to admit you have struggles and to voice those. Those attitudes and that culture creates an environment of acceptance. It allows for us to invite the roughest and most broken into our community as they are, believing that God can do the work needed to be done.

I want to end by saying don't miss this Sunday if at all possible. In fact, invite friends to come with you. It will be inspiring. It will be uplifting. It will make you grateful for all that God, through Jesus Christ, has done for you. Thanks to everyone who has put in the hard work to make this series special and to prepare for this upcoming Sunday.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Negativity in the Body of Christ

I want to pause and delay the series of post that I have been doing the last two days to highlight a couple of things. Something I have been noticing a lot of lately, and it is not new, is negativity in the Body of Christ -- toward each other. Just today I received another "friendly" email from someone who does not know me, but insists on telling me everything about what I believe and correcting me. I also had a meeting today with Chad Jordan, a new bud and guy who's family is checking out the Journey. Chad works a local organization that develops curriculum and resources for twenty-somethings. Chad was showing me his folder of "friendly" letters. He even received an email after I left today from someone completely dogging his efforts to create curriculum that is relevant to the audience they are seeking. He is criticized for the color of the paper and the pictures of paper-clips and blue-jeans...I'm not joking.

All of these people claim to follow Christ and claim to have the love of God in them; however, these people are taking time out of their day to tear-down other Christians, not seeking to reach non-Christians or uplift others. It happens inside of churches as well. We always assume the worst with people. We read into emails and conversations. We rarely seek to hear both sides of stories. We think people have something against us. We assume people are talking about us or don't like us. On and on it goes. The world will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another...I believe Jesus said that! I often wonder what kind of love we are truly displaying for the world to see?

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Becoming Truly Human

I want to share a concept today that I was first exposed to by Alex McManus over three years ago. This concept also recently surfaced in the book 'The Shack' that I just read. I thought it was important enough and intriguing enough to blog about and allow for you to chew on it.

Here is the idea of what it means to follow Jesus: to become a Christian or to follow Jesus is a quest to once again become truly human. What does that mean? You see, Jesus was the purest example of what it meant to be human. We often just write off his miracles, teachings, and ability to make the right choices as his divinity. Jesus did not exploit his divinity to change the rules, instead, he even suggested that we would do greater things than him -- last time I checked we were not divine. No, Jesus was able to do the things he did, because he was living what it truly looks like to be fully human. We were created to do so much more than what we realize. It is sin that has corrupted our ability to live as we were created. Through Jesus, we can recapture our true purpose for being created: to be human. The problem in our mind with this is that we blame our humanity for our problems. This is not how it was to be.

This is why Jesus came: to give us the picture of what it means to live in the relationship with God we were created for. The first Adam blew it, but the last Adam (which is Christ), lived up to the calling of what it meant to be human (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). He is the full expression of what it means to live dependent on and connected to the God of this universe. When we give our life to follow Jesus and surrender our lives to him, we too can become truly human - the full expressions of what we were created to be. This is all made possible by the fact that Jesus lived it out perfectly, and yet, was crucified for all the areas where we have blown it.

I hope I'm coming across clearly. It probably requires a book and not a blog post. If nothing else, it will give you something to reflect on today. Tomorrow, I will attempt to explain the simplicity of why Jesus' death and resurrection rescued us. I will piggy-back off of today's post to make my point.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Following Jesus

What does following Jesus mean to you? It is a question that I think is worth asking often. It is a question I believe we must all wrestle and come to grips with our answer. For some, following Jesus can be viewed as "believing in God" or "believing that Jesus died on the cross." It is possible to view following Jesus as "going to church" or "reading the Bible" often or whenever you can. You see, a lot of people claim to be Christians, but how many of them are truly following Jesus?

If we really had to give an answer to what it means to follow Jesus, what would it be? This week I'm going to be posting my thoughts on Jesus and following him. I hope together we can learn and grow in our quest to truly become his disciples.

I believe that following Jesus goes well beyond a "belief" in Jesus or a prayer that we spoke at some point in our life. I believing following Jesus has to do with being "in him" - (John 15:5). Following Jesus goes beyond making him our belief system, and instead puts him at the center of all that we are. The Scriptures tell us that in Christ, we are new creations, the old is gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). Simply stated: in Jesus, the old us is dead and Jesus gives new meaning and definition to our life. Jesus said, "If you hold to my teachings, then you are really my disciples" (John 8:31).

Our lives are to be wrapped up in his life. We are to surrender our complete will over to him. We are called to love, forgive, show compassion, mercy, grace, and kindness from his strength, not ours. In him, we begin to live lives of gratitude and purpose. Perhaps following Jesus isn't as hard as we've often made it. It simply requires us to surrender everything about ourselves to him. Following Jesus isn't copying Jesus' actions, it is finding ourselves "in him." As John the Baptist put it, "He must become greater, I must become less" (John 3:30).

Take time today to think about how you can surrender your life and will in order to live "in him."

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sunday Reflections

It feels like I have not blogged in forever. Without desiring to, I have been on blogging sabbatical. Our Internet at Gulf Shores quit working after Day One -- bummer. I am back now. I'm excited to be back on the blog and reading others blogs as well.

As I sit and think about today and all we experienced, I'm grateful for all we have went through to get to this point. We have had technical difficulties, critical emails, and spiritual attacks come against leaders and their families. In spite of all of that, God is doing a great work in people and revealing Himself to folks at The Journey. I have received many emails during this series about how God is waking people up to different issues and revelations about their life. This series has not been easy to preach, it has definitely taken more out of me than any other series, yet it has been very rewarding. As of now, we should be aware of the war going on around us, the tactics that the enemy uses against us, and how we are to put on the armor of God to stand firm against those attacks. Next Sunday, I will outline how we live as conquerors in Jesus Christ. You do not want to miss next week's service. It will be the grand finale of them all. We'll wrap up the series, but also have some special elements.

It was awesome to recognize Shawn and Miranda Allen today. They have a special place in my heart. Miranda cared for Kaleb when he was in the NICU at Vanderbilt. We spent many tearful nights with her by our side comforting us. It has been a privilege to watch them grow and find themselves at this point. They are going to do great things at the campus they serve in the days ahead. Honor both Todd and Shawn by recognizing them as pastors, for that is what they are.

Journey Church, I love you guys and love serving you. We have only seen the beginning of all the great things God wants to do if we trust Him. If we'll remain obedient to Him, God will use us, along with others, to reach this community for Jesus. I love hearing the stories of what God is doing in your marriages, your daily life choices, and how your growing in Him. I'm grateful for your support and love. Together, we will experience incredible things in the days ahead. Just to bring some perspective for you, most churches decline in attendance and giving during the summer -- we have grown in both. What this tells me is that this fall is going to be crazy! We are going to have some opportunities to see God moments happen and many lives changed. Keep inviting others into the conversation.

**Prayer Update**
- continue to lift up Elaine Staggs -- she is experiencing double pneumonia and having the beginning stages of congestive heart failure. Elaine is only 20 or 21 years old. She did the childcare for The Journey back before we even opened the church and has been with ever since. Keep her lifted up to God.

- continue to pray for Fiona Soltes -- she is experiencing incredible results on her mission trip. Pray God will grant open doors for His message to move forward

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Week on the Beach

This week the family and I, along with the Allen family, are vacationing in Orange Beach. We left at 9pm last night and arrived at 4:30am this morning. We immediately went to the beach...Kaleb was wide awake - I couldn't believe it. We slept for a couple of hours and decided to sleep later tonight...it is time to go to the beach.

It is beautiful here. The beach and ocean are awesome. This is the first time in 5 years that I have been to the beach. The beach often provides some God moments for me in my life. It was at the beach that I finally heard and surrendered to the call of ministry. There is something deeply spiritual about the ocean for me. I look forward to relaxing and having time with God and family on this trip.

I will post pictures daily and will be twittering often what is going on @ www.twitter.com/erikreed

Monday, July 14, 2008

Sunday Reflections

Yesterday's services were by far some of my favorite all-time at The Journey. This subject matter is so real to us, yet sometimes so misunderstood. I believe people truly walked away equipped to see how the enemy attacks us. In understanding this, my prayer is that we would be more aware of the warfare that rages around us. I was so excited to see everyone lay things at the foot of the cross yesterday. Anytime people give more of themselves to Jesus it brings an excitement. I hope everyone wears their armbands proudly and continue to remember the war we are in.

The worship yesterday was so energizing. 'Sing, Sing, Sing' is quickly becoming a crowd favorite. I thought the roof was going to pop off the place at both services during that song. Also, Molly just smashed those two songs at the close. She has got such a powerful and magnetic voice.

My favorite part of the day was recognizing Todd Bates. Todd has been through quite a journey with us. He has transformed in character more than any person I have ever witnessed. I'm fully confident in his ability to bring campus pastor leadership to wherever he goes. I'm even more confident that this is a calling from God in his life. Congrats Todd!

** Side note: I hear the Foundations class during the 11am service is absolutely incredible. If you are someone looking to seek a better understanding of Christianity and link with others who want the same, this class is ongoing, every six-weeks. You can go during week 5 and just cycle back around. I encourage anyone considering to take the plunge.

Next week I'll tackle the issue of how we begin fighting back against the enemy. We will learn how to don the armor of God. Invite friends. Get the word out to others. People need to be in an environment where they can have life changing encounters with God...an he uses us to do it.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Daddy's Little Stud


I couldn't help but post this picture of the next great kingdom of God leader. He's rocking his skull shirt with his cross. Lord, may his lips forever declare Your praise!

This Weekend @ The Journey

I can't wait for Sunday. I'm so pumped about the next month of services that I am busting at the seems for them to arrive. This weekend I continue the War Zone series by unveiling the tactics and schemes of the enemy. I want to expose that sucker and his ways so that we can live in recognition of how he comes against us. The message came so quickly from God this week. I even have Week Three's sermon finished already. We have some tremendous creative elements coming in the week's ahead -- awesome stuff. Invite a friend or family member this Sunday. Come prepared to worship and praise God -- this pushes the enemy back. Come ready to hear from God. Come ready to receive new eyes to see how the enemy tries to attack you. I am praying for liberation and freedom for many this week.

We are also going to be announcing each week for the next three weeks of this series who our campus pastors are. We are going to highlight one each week. The week after my series we are going to have a slamming commissioning service. We will have communion, extended praise and worship, and commission these men as pastors.

God is at work at The Journey. Keep believing that He desires to blow our minds in the days ahead. It is time for a Jesus movement to be ignited in our age, in this place. Forward.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

What's the Evidence?

While reading Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges with the new campus pastors, we came across a question in the book that we had all highlighted: If following Jesus was a crime, what would be the evidence that would convict you?

Whoa...powerful question! I would hope others could just as quickly spout off the evidence against me for this crime as I could, after all, isn't it important that it's not just you who thinks there's evidence?

I would hope the evidence would say:
* he models it with his love for others
* he models it with his compassion
* he models it with his love for his family, and also by what they have become
* he models it with his finances
* he models it with his time
* he models it with his vigor and passion to point to Jesus in all things
* he models it by his desire for God's presence
* he models it by his commitment to God's Word
* he models it with his zeal for life and others
* he models it through servant leadership

Ultimately, I hope the question is one in which the reply is, "how could you not convict him."

What would the evidence be for you? Would you be convicted? Are there things that others would quickly be able to point to or would they struggle? It's something worth reflecting on today. If you want to take it a step further, ask someone to list the evidence they see...evaluate if yours and theirs matches up.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Fasting Growing Cities


Did you know that Mt Juliet just recently took it's place as the largest city in Wilson County. Lebanon is not very thrilled by this, but the "city between the lakes" has grown up. In fact, Mt Juliet is on America's fastest growing cities list. It ranks as the #83 fastest growing suburb in the country. LaVergne is ranked #61. There is no doubt about it, Middle Tennessee is a rapidly growing area of the country.

You may be asking why that matters or why I would post this. The answer is simple. As the church, we are in the business of reaching people. It should excite us that all these people are moving to our area. I personally believe that God wants to do something incredible here and He is preparing the assembly by bringing them in from around the country. I happen to think that He is preparing us for a tremendous opportunity to reach people with the gospel of Jesus and to ignite a movement. Is it coincidence that you live here, in this time, in this place? Perhaps God is orchestrating something beyond our wildest dreams. Let's keep our eyes on the mission of "making disciples" and we can't go wrong.

We are living in a place that people are flocking to. Perhaps their flocking to God and don't even know it.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Something I'm Learning

Fasting is one of those elusive spiritual disciplines for most followers of Jesus. It seems as though we know it's out there, but we simply don't practice it. For most of my life I have not truly understood what fasting was and why it was done. Here recently I have started a journey to truly seek out and understand this practice. I have started doing some fasts and reading about them.

I bought a book yesterday by Jentezen Franklin entitled: Fasting. In the book he makes the case that fasting is one of a three cord strand of our three duties as Christians. Our three duties are: giving, praying, and fasting. He pulls this from Matthew 6 and the Beatitudes Jesus gives. In that passage Jesus addresses the three specific duties. "When you give..." and "When you pray..." and "When you fast." He made it clear that fasting, like giving and praying, was a normal part of Christian life. He sites many examples throughout Scripture of people who did great things for God and their habit of fasting, everyone from: Peter, Paul, David, Moses, Abraham, Elijah, and Jesus himself. There are many other examples, but these men fasted regularly to seek God's anointing and direction.

This really opened my eyes and has made me reevaluate my need to explore fasting even further. He has a really funny, but sad chapter about "King Stomach" - our reason for often not practicing this duty. Here is my question for all of you: If Jentezen Franklin is correct and fasting is suppose to be a common practice of our faith, how are we doing? Are we exploring the blessings and growth that can come from this practice? Are we actively exploring all three of these duties mentioned?

I personally want to learn more about all three of these duties and ask God to reveal more about them. I believe that exploring the discipline of fasting will help unlock that growth. Are you willing to give up food for a closer relationship with God? Jesus said that he was the "bread of life." He also said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). Notice that the hunger is for righteousness, holiness, a closeness with God, not food. There are many different types of fasts to participate in. Be willing to learn about them and explore them, but more importantly...do one! I'm going to take the journey; how about you?

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Sunday Reflections

I don't know any other way to begin but by saying WOW! We began our War Zone series this week and today was just a great day. It was awesome being back with everyone after being out sick the week before. The worship was simply incredible today. Robbie is bringing great leadership and a heart of worship is undeniably been birthed in him. It is awesome to watch God grow him. The band also did a great job with the special song and the bumper video for the series was excellent.

Now that I have mentioned all the things that I enjoyed, let me tell you about what I didn't. I did not enjoy the extreme battle I was engaged in while speaking today. I've excepted it, but not enjoyed it. During the entire message I was struggling with confidence. I never have those type of thoughts and emotions going on. I felt as though the crowd was staring at their watch thinking, "come on dude wrap it up!" I could hear voices in my head telling me I was stupid and that nobody was listening. It was a horrible feeling, but I kept believing that God was at work. It was much better the second service; however, we had some technology woes that sprang up -- imagine that. Overall, many came forward for prayer in both services and afterward. I believe many eyes were opened. I hope we were all awakened to the war today.

Thank you all for the encouragement you gave me expressing how the message spoke to you. I realize that we are all going to be experiencing more spiritual warfare during this series than perhaps we have ever seen. I want all of you to be on your guard this week. Stand firm against the enemy and remember that "greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world" - 1 John 4:4. The next three weeks of the series we will dive deeper into how we can recognize those attacks and how we respond.

I love this church. I love the spirit of our people. I love how everyone is willing to embrace this subject and take a serious look at their lives in light of it. As we growing internally, we will continue to grow externally. May God's grace and love guide each of you.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Three Areas Where God is Growing Me

God is definitely growing me. There are areas in my leadership where I feel God wants me to stretch and grow. Here are the three areas that God is asking me to stretch myself:

1. Let Him build His church. The Scriptures say that unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain. They also tell us that Christ is the Head of the church; he is building his church. I have to continue to trust God and let him be the builder. This means I can't force things. I can't get ahead of God. It means I have to let the church go in directions that "I" wouldn't have taken it. I have to let God be God.

2. Trusting that He has placed me into this position. This may sound strange, but if I don't trust that God placed me in this position, my tendency will be to fight to keep it. If I fail to realize that God has placed me, I will lead out of pride and fear. If I fail to recognize why I'm in this position, I will focus my time on how to stay in this position. By not trusting God in this matter, I will lead from a position of defending my decisions, always having to be right, and not trusting others in leadership. I have to trust God has put me here.

3. I can't lead people to go somewhere I'm not willing to go first. If I'm going to call people to radical devotion to Christ, I have to have radical devotion to Christ. I can't ask people to surrender everything to him, if I'm not willing to surrender everything to him. I have to model everything that I want others to do. That includes: time with God, the way I treat people, the conversations I'm engaging with, what I do with my money, what I do with my family, and what I do with my life. I'm always weary of not living up to the standard required of a godly leader. This drives me to my knees.

These are some areas where God is growing me. I could probably list more, but these stand out. What are some areas where God is growing you? It is important as followers of Jesus to be able to take a good self-inventory of how you are doing. If you think you are doing fine, you may want to ask someone else to do an inventory on you. The stakes are too high to not be engaged at the deepest levels.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Meetings Galore

I have been in meetings all day today.

My first meeting was this morning with our future campus pastors at The Journey. I am excited about their growth and the adventure that lies ahead of them. We are reading and discussing 'Lead Like Jesus' right now - great book.

After that meeting I went to Hartsville to meet with the principal of Trousdale County High School. The principal was not interested in having an organization with exclusive rights to the building on a weekly basis. He was a nice guy, but I could tell the issue was something he wanted to avoid discussing. This is technically not his decision to make because it is a public facility, but I doubt we want to cause a stir in a town we are going to minister in. I had some conversation with him and thanked him for his time.

I then went to the school board and met the Superintendent. I had a great conversation with him and he wants to get back together and discuss the posibilities of meeting at one of the schools in Hartsville. I still believe we will eventually land at the high school, it just may not be at my timing. It may not be our starting point, but our ending point?

My last meeting was with Craig Gleerup, published author of 'The Type of Marriage that Endures'. He was a great guy, plus he bought my lunch. He was a very humble man and offered great advice and suggestions about navigating through the whole book publishing process. He gave me some advice on dealing with publishers and marketing the book. Very helpful stuff.

I think I'm going to finish up some loose ends and call it a day.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Counter Act from the Last Post

So the last post in my opinion was something that people in our culture can not relate to. I don't want to be highly critical of anyone doing God's work, I just wonder how effective he is to the lost??

Check out the below video and see if there is not a distinctly different approach and vibe, and yet still ministry. Who knows, perhaps we could see something like this at The Journey one day?

Thanks to Pete Wilson for me seeing this.

Word of advice, after you hit play, click and grab the timer and keep it in place. The video will skip repeatedly if you don't let it load.


'Send Me' - Live at MHC | Ballard from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

This is a Head Scratcher

OK, before you watch this video, turn down the volume just a little bit - just make sure you can still hear. This is as bizarre as they come. I watched this video from Todd Rhodes website this morning and was left wondering how the church and followers of Jesus are stuck trying to overcome perceptions from the outside world. Just take a look.