New Passion Church – Nickcarnes.com

January 20, 2020December 16, 2020

What If We Joined Boats?

What if you joined our boat? Or, someone else’s boat and their crew?

While speaking at Azusa Pacific University’s chapel, Francis Chan shared that he and his family are moving to Asia, this year, to become missionaries. He said, in part:“I feel like I’ve been fishing in the same pond my whole life and now there’s, like, thousands of other fishermen at the same pond, and our lines are getting tangled and everyone’s fighting over stupid things. One guy tries some new lure and catches a fish, and we’re like, ‘he caught a fish, let’s all try his method,’ and it just feels like, what are we all doing here?”

For Francis, he feels led to go to Asia where there aren’t so many “fishermen” to share the gospel with the people in that region. I commend him for his obedience to the Great Commission, in this way.

When I heard Francis Chan’s message, my immediate thought was, “Why not join efforts?” This might be because I have long believed that we have too many churches (yes, I know I started one), and many of those churches could and should join together. That’s why I was not shy about asking Dayspring if they were interested in merging with New Passion, and whether or not we would be “Better Together?”And, we found that we are better together. Dayspring wasn’t the first church I had talked about merging with, and it surely won’t be the last.

Together, now one family (New Passion Church), we share the same mission to lead people to become passionate followers of Jesus.

Dayspring won’t be the last church we’ll merge with because our heart is to help the local church be as effective as possible in leading people to become passionate followers of Jesus.

Francis Chan is right about many areas in the United States. There are a lot of fishermen fishing in the same ponds and in many cases their lines are getting tangled. Everyone sees the other as ‘competition’ and that shouldn’t be the case. We are family. Let’s be honest, it’s even more difficult for smaller, struggling churches. Especially when they are limited in finances, people, leaders, and facilities. It limits what ministry they can do, effectively. It’s more difficult when the ministry load is dependent on a smaller group of people who have to do everything. You can’t afford staff or quality leaders to help facilitate change and growth. Eventually, it leads to burnout and people depart for a boat they can rest on, without having to be the sole responsible person for their specific ministry. The already small, struggling church shrinks even more, until eventually it just barely exists or it has to fold.

Some churches have declined so bad they only have their life-long core group, & can’t even afford to hire a pastor.

What’s the silver bullet to change that? What’s the solution that will finally get the church over that hump, and keep it there? What’s the answer?

Some churches seek that silver bullet for years and never find it.

What if we were to untangle our lines and join our fishing crews? Our lines could be focused in specific directions to effectively catch fish, without overlapping each other. The weight of the mission wouldn’t be on just a handful of fishermen. And, there would be more resources to work with.

I am fully aware that not every church can be joined together successfully, but that shouldn’t be an excuse not to try, or to have a conversation.

I’m not the only one who believes this way. Just the other day, Eric Mason was advocating for more urban churches in Philadelphia to join forces.

I’ll tell you the biggest reasons why many churches won’t entertain this idea. Pride and Ego. It may mean having to admit failure. It may mean changing positions on the boat. It may mean giving up power. It may require giving up tradition. It may mean change. But, what could happen, if we didn’t allow pride to decide for God what He could do, when His people decide to work together for a greater purpose than the name on our boat?

If you would like to join New Passion’s boat, we would love to talk to you. But, just as importantly, if you and another church decide you want to join forces together, to become more effective, New Passion’s team would love to help assist you in that process, or to help orchestrate that process, as we have had a very successful merge with Dayspring. It’s not about New Passion Church, so however we can help you, we are willing to try.

May 18, 2016May 18, 2016

Excerpt from Reflection Week 1

An excerpt from ‪#‎Reflection‬ Week 1:
“Can I be honest? There have been occasions, I’ve thought about quitting as the pastor of New Passion. Pastoring & being in ministry can be tough. You dream dreams & hope for things much quicker than they become reality. It’s tough building a new church in a military & Govt. community, and was made even tougher with some issues we had to deal with in the past….I’ve told Nicki on a few occasions I’d rather go be a janitor at a church where I can personally sit & be inspired than to continually deal with the same struggles…..

….Do you know what kept me from quitting & continues to keep me from quitting? Sure, this is what God called me to do, but in the Bible God calls people to do stuff all the time & they simply ignore him….you know it, because there’s stuff in your own life you’re not willing to do or willing to give to God because you just don’t want to. You’re “called” to do it, but you just don’t want to do what you’re called to do, so you don’t do it. It wasn’t just because I was called to pastor New Passion. What keeps me from quitting is YOU!

It’s your life change! You’re an encouragement to me. When I hear New Passion was someone’s last chance they were giving church or God; when I hear that the light bulb finally switched on & you finally understood the gospel during a sermon; when I hear someone has spent more of their life outside of church than in it, but God changed them here; when I hear how God worked in your life at New Passion & helped you give up drugs, alcohol, pornography, or some other vice. Your life is a letter of recommendation of the Good News’ power; your life story encourages me & keeps me from giving up, because I see clearly how real it is. (Sermon text: 2 Corinthians 3:2-3)

August 5, 2015August 5, 2016

Big News for My Family and New Passion

In 46 days there will be some big changes for my family and for New Passion Church. In 46 days, New Passion will have already celebrated our 6th birthday and as great of a milestone as that is, it’s been a long, tiring, challenging, yet rewarding 6 years. Although we knew the right answers and felt prepared mentally for the challenges of planting a church in a military and government community, it’s a whole new ball game once you actually put the wheels in motion. Within two weeks of our launch, we had two new families, who loved the church (and there wasn’t much to love back then), receive orders to move. Launching with 37 people, 16 of which were children, we needed people who agreed with our mission and loved our style of ministry to plug in with us early, but immediately we realized the challenges that would lie ahead of us in the years to come. It didn’t even take a month to realize theory and reality are two totally different things.

[tweetthis remove_hidden_urls=”true”]Theory and reality are two totally different things[/tweetthis]

The Struggle

Over the last 6 years, all of our leaders have either been volunteers or bi-vocational; meaning we’ve all been distracted from giving proper attention to the needs and demands of the church, because we have to pay bills and put food on the table for our families. Thankfully, God has given us great leaders, but that means in the business world they (including myself) are involved in high demanding jobs that take a lot of attention and require a lot of time. At times, this has only served to hinder New Passion. A big part of our struggles have been the lack of time and ability to train and develop new leaders and volunteers who can assist us in some of the everyday/every week ministry responsibilities, especially when we only have many of our people for a limited amount of time, before they’re shipped off. Without properly trained people, when things have to get done, it falls back on our shoulders. I cannot speak for the rest of my team, but for me personally, I am exhausted and I have decided I cannot pastor New Passion full time, take on additional roles we have not found qualified people for: Youth Pastor, Graphic Designer, Publications, etc, in addition to working a job that demands 45-50 hours per week while also having me on call 24/7. I can no longer work 5 days per week, full time, and then come home on Friday night mentally and physically exhausted, yet still have to stay up until 5 a.m. to write a message for Sunday and then with just a few hours sleep try to spend a little time with my family before working almost all night Saturday to make sure programs and everything are ready for Sunday. I can no longer require my children to sacrifice being children by not being able to participate in extra curricular activities with school and the community. Nicki cannot play the role of both parents for three children and get them to practices and games and recitals or whatever the event might be by herself, because I cannot be there due to an evening meeting, counseling session, or something else required of me as a full time bi-vocational pastor. I have been a poor leader for New Passion because I have been spiritually, physically, and relationally unhealthy, myself. My first ministry is not to the church, it’s to my family. So, I have had to pray about and make a decision for the future of my family and for New Passion. On one hand, I have a full time job that provides a majority of my income to provide for my family; I do ministry there and have had great success. On the other hand, I have a church that I felt God lead me to start; it’s been tough and it has struggled to get to a place where it can support staff; beyond a handful of leaders, there has been very little desire expressed by our people to make this a priority. It has not been an easy decision, but I have to put God and my family first.

[tweetthis]I have been a poor leader because I’ve been spiritually, physically & relationally unhealthy, myself[/tweetthis]

Moving On

I have made the decision to move on, in 46 days. My final day will be Sunday, September 20, 2015. This is the right decision, it’s the healthiest decision, and it’s the most obedient and faith driven decision. After September 20, I will no longer be the CSRC Manager at the Salvation Army. I have officially resigned and will be stepping out on faith by trusting God to provide for New Passion in such a way that I can focus full time on leading the church God called me to start. Without a full time pastor, the church will never become all God intended it to be. This decision is not being made independently, but rather through the guidance of our executive leaders and our pastoral advisory team. The decision was actually made over a year ago, but the finances were not there.

[tweetthis]I have made the difficult decision to move on, in 46 days. My final day will be Sunday, September 20[/tweetthis]

Permission to Go Second

The Carnes family is going first. This is the church we believe God called us to start and therefore if we are going to preach that we are called to live by faith, we must set the example by first living it. The biggest step of faith I ever took was to launch New Passion with $15,000 and 37 people, but now we are casting ourselves on the mercy and generosity of the very people God called us to lead. The finances are still not 100% where I would like them to be in order to make this move, but that’s why it’s called faith. If we are going to see our church go to the next level, this move has to be made. We are taking the first step of faith and hope it will spur you on, to go second. Many of you are generous and consistent givers. Thank you! You have been the catalyst to help us see hope in making this move through our growth. It’s you who are helping us lead people to a passionate relationship with Jesus! However, there are still many of you who have yet to take a step of faith for yourself. You either don’t give, you don’t give consistently, or you don’t give sacrificially and generously. When you give, you’re not giving to the Carnes family, although one of the responsibilities of the local church is to provide for their leaders. When we give, we are first giving to God and He distributes the money in the local church for the work of the ministry and the advancement of our mission. He does this through the church leaders He sets in place and He does this through the people by adopting our annual budget. The act of giving and the characteristic of being generous is an act of worship towards God, it’s also an act of faith and obedience.

One of the reasons I have been bi-vocational for the last 6 years was to prevent our family from being a burden to the church and handcuffing us financially from being able to do ministry, however I can no longer allow another person’s lack of faith or disobedience in generous giving to be an excuse to be disobedient myself by not taking the step of faith God has called me to. I am asking you to step out in faith with us. Start giving if you haven’t; give consistently if you’ve been inconsistent; give generously if you’ve been stingy. Am I asking you this because my family’s welfare is dependent on God through the church? No, I asked this of you when I had a paycheck coming in from an outside source. I’m asking you this because it’s spiritually healthy and right and it allows us to do even more ministry and eventually add even more staff to help lead us to become a great church. The responsibility of the church is to take care of their leaders; we are dependent on you following Jesus in your own personal life and taking the steps of faith He calls you to. Statistics show that a church should have one full time staff member per 86 people in attendance; therefore we should truly not be talking about adding one full time staff member, but two. When we don’t have the right people on the bus, we’re prevented from getting to where we should be; or we get there slower and with more bumps in the road. When we don’t have the finances to put fuel in the bus, we get nowhere!

Your Turn

When you use your gifts and talents to serve at New Passion, you make us stronger and healthier by helping take the load off of those doing too much. Listen to my sermon, Stagnant Cells, from a couple of weeks ago and then make a decision to do your part by serving in a ministry environment or on a service team.

You can help fuel the bus to help us get where God wants us to go, by making a commitment to give. You can start today through our online giving option. It allows for one time gifts, gifts by guest, and reoccurring giving. You can give at New Passion, on Sundays, by way of offering envelopes or through the Connection Point KIOSK. Every financial gift given to support the ministry and mission of New Passion Church is 100% tax deductible.

You play a much larger role in the local church than you think. You help make New Passion an awesome and effective church in Grovetown and in every place God has given us influence. Church is not about sitting in a seat, hearing a sermon, and going home. Church is about coming together to be encouraged, to be challenged, and to be an encourager before going home to live out your faith in the community and in your workplace.

[tweetthis]You play a much larger role in the local church than you think.[/tweetthis]

I am excited for the potential we have at New Passion and I look forward to being able to provide the full time care that it needs. I’m excited for this new season of life where I can also provide the proper care for my family, as well as for myself physically. I’m excited for us to work together to make New Passion all God wants it to be!

October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

Creating a Great Church, Together (Part 1)

Old Church

Over the next several weeks, I am going to share some thoughts and challenges on how we can create a great church, together, at New Passion. I hope you’ll tune in each week.

The first step to creating a great church is to ARRIVE EARLY.

Notice, I didn’t say arrive on time. Typically, if we aim to arrive “on time” we set ourselves up to arrive late, especially if we face traffic issues or other complications along the way. It may seem elementary to ask people to arrive early, but here are some reasons why it’s important:

1. Glory not Guilt: We don’t aim to just be on time with anything of importance. When I go to Athens to see the Dawgs play, I don’t aim to just arrive on time. I want to get into the stadium, find my seat, go to the bathroom, purchase refreshments and be ready for the kickoff. I’m excited to be there and I don’t want to miss anything. If I aim to just get there on time, something can happen and cause me to miss a portion of the game. When Nicki and I recently went to see Expendables 3, we didn’t aim to just arrive on time, just as we don’t with any other movie. If we arrive in the theater as the movie is starting that means we’ve missed the previews, we’re going to end up in a horrible seat and once again, something could happen to make us late and we’d miss a portion of the movie. There’s no way I’m missing a second of Stallone on the big screen! I like to get to the theater, get my seat, go to the restroom, and catch all of the previews for upcoming movies. I am sure some of us try to arrive just on time to work, but some like to get in the building, get settled and clock-in without having to rush, risking a late clock-in….that could eventually cost you your job.

I don’t say these things to make you feel guilty. I have found guilt is a poor motivator. I can motivate with guilt until that guilt wears off and then the old behavior returns. I challenge you to arrive early for God’s GLORY. If we arrive early to those things that we value, that we’ve invested in, and that we don’t want to miss, why would we want to give God anything less than what we have given our favorite sports team? Regal Theaters? Or, your place of employment? Paul said, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV) I don’t want to miss anything that we do on Sundays at New Passion. I don’t want to give God less than I give my job, my favorite teams, or my favorite actor; none of those people or things provided my salvation like God did through Jesus. One of the ways that we create a great church, together, is by arriving early. God is not glorified when we are slack, he is glorified when we give him our best and give him our all. David said, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory….” (Psalm 115:1 ESV)

2.For the Community of Faith, not Yourself: It would be easy to share all of the benefits that you gain by committing to arrive to church early, but to be straight forward with you, as Christians we are not called to live our lives for ourselves, but rather we are called to do good to our faith community. Rick Warren opened his famous book, The Purpose Driven Life, with this life-altering statement, “It’s not about you!” Paul said, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

“Everyone”: It’s disheartening to guests and to new families, who have only been to New Passion a few times to look around and see an empty auditorium when the service starts. By being early, you have the opportunity to be in your seat when the service starts, but you also have the opportunity to connect with those new guests and families when they’re sitting in seats all alone. This is just one way that we have the opportunity to do good to everyone, simply by arriving to church early.

“Household of Faith”: Our band works hard to provide a service that is uplifting to our hearts as we sing and worship our Savior and God, together. The band has a weekly practice where they take time out of their personal schedules to rehears the Sunday set list and learn new songs; they arrive early (7am) on Sundays to set up the stage, the tech booth and to rehearse the songs before the service starts (10:30am). The band does this to provide quality music during that portion of our worship service…and if you ask me, they do an amazing job. HOWEVER, it is extremely difficult to sing and lead worship to an empty room or a room with just guests, who don’t know the songs we sing and therefore stand silently. By arriving to church early, you have the opportunity to be there with the first strum of Jonothan’s guitar, you get to help fill the room with worship, as your voice fills the air, you get to help make guests feel comfortable in a full room and you make it easier on the band to actually have people to lead and sing with. You arriving early and participating is vitally important to the worship service. The band is not there to sing FOR us, they are there to lead us, so they can sing WITH us.

Another way you do good to the household of faith, by arriving early, is that you enable other people to enjoy the entire service. If you arrive at 10:30 (when church starts), or even at 10:35, the Guest Services team does not have the liberty to go into the auditorium because 1) we want everyone to receive a warm welcome, but 2) if you have children, they will need assistance getting checked in. By arriving early, you serve your church family by helping them get ministered to through the music portion of our service.

One final way that you do good to the household of faith, by arriving early, is that you do not cause disruptions to the PassionKidz environments, or to the adult service. It can be a major disruption when a large number of people are dropping children off in the Grove and the Ridge, after they have already started, as well it causes disruptions to the adults when a large number of people are walking in late and looking for seats.

If we want guests to be excited about what’s happening at New Passion, that excitement has to first flow through and be seen in us. Let’s work together to create an environment that is God glorifying, where we do good towards our community and the household of faith.

Let’s make a commitment, together, to arrive early and be in place to start the service powerfully each week! Instead of thinking of church starting at 10:30 a.m., think of it starting at 10 a.m., after all, each of us are the church, so “church” begins as soon as you walk through the door.

October 8, 2014

I Asked God….

I asked God to see through His eyes, so He made me a pastor.

I asked God to help me understand His grace, so He sent me addicts and alcoholics, and then he let me watch them relapse.

I asked God to help me love like He loves, so He sent me the homosexual who has been made an outcast by society….and even churches

I asked God to help me understand His patience, so He sent me the greedy who are more concerned with themselves than their neighbor

I asked God to help me understand His forgiveness, so He sent me parents of wayward children

I asked God to know His mercy, so He sent me the self-righteous

I asked God to understand His promises, so He sent me couples who are struggling in their marriage

I asked God to show me who I really am; He told me to simply open my eyes and look around me

The greatest pleasure of my life is to pastor New Passion Church and to serve as the manager of a local substance abuse program. Everyday I have the opportunity to share life with people who struggle to make it each day; they are messy, they are broken, and they definitely aren’t big on social graces….they are human. My daily experiences have shown me God in ways I would have never seen Him, doing anything else. The gospel is a beautiful and powerful message. I am grateful God has called me to pastor myself through many different people.