Tag: Church

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Weekend Re-Cap

Here’s a recap from this weekend:

  • Friday was awesome for two reasons:
    #1 I was off.
    #2 TCAG put on our bi-annual Movie on The Lawn for the community, we had over 2,000 people from the community show up!
  • Movie on the Lawn is a night where we show a free movie on a huge screen at our community outdoor amphitheater. We give free popcorn, free drinks, free sno-cones, and sometimes free hotdogs to all who attend. Its a huge bridge event for our church.
  • Saturday, I went to breakfast at Sunrise Grill with Nicki, that’s our Saturday morning breakfast date, we don’t miss it unless we are out of town. I don’t let anything interfere with this “date” as Nicki loves it there.
    Continue reading “Weekend Re-Cap”
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The Church Being the Church: A Sunday Review

Tornado Damage Bath, SC

We canceled services today at church (the church @ greenbrier). Last night several local cities and communities were devastated by tornadoes. As you can see in the picture provided some people lost everything, while others sustained major damage to their homes and property. Reports of businesses and churches being completely destroyed have been circulating, more pictures can be seen on WRDW 12’s site.

Instead of having church today, we lived it out. We became Jesus to the immediate community where our church body meets. We helped some of our immediate members who’s yards were destroyed by the tornados, and then we went door to door seeking people who needed assistance cutting trees off of roofs and fences. We were able to help out several people, but many wanted to wait for insurance to give further instructions before they attempted to clean up any damage.

Continue reading “The Church Being the Church: A Sunday Review”

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Unleash 2008 Session 2 Highlights

Session 2 of the 2008 Unleash Conference was probably one of the best messages I have ever heard from Perry. Last years closing session was close, but I think this one topped it. I didn’t take too many notes, as I was fully engaged in what he was saying, plus Shane and Hank and I were all agreeing every time Perry said something. I did find out however, that Perry used to come to Augusta a lot to meet his now wife for dinner on the weekends when she was studying at the MCG hospital. I knew Perry didn’t get all of his anointing from Anderson, SC, but God used my hometown of Augusta, GA to help!

Session 2:
Perry used an example of Moses from Exodus 4:1-7

  •  Main Thought: Encouragement to Senior Pastors with a challenge to their staff

5 Things Senior Pastors MUST Do:

1. Deal with your pride & insecurities – (This is good for any pastor) (Vs. 1) One of the most dangerous things for a pastor can be success, many people let a little bit of success make them prideful. – YET, God accomplished a lot through a Donkey, we should not forget this!
In verse 1 Moses dealt with his insecurities (“What If”) – Pastor are you a Prophet of God or a Prostitute of your church? If God puts something on your heart to say, then say it…don’t say what you feel will be acceptable to the congregation!
(1 Corinthians 1:26-31) To help overcome insecurities we must go back to where God called us. God doesn’t change his mind. – Pastors did not sign up or volunteer for this, God called them.

2. Use Your Staff – (Vs. 2) (Perry used the illustration of Moses literal staff to paint a picture of a church staff – Brilliant!) God gave Moses his staff so he could lean on it, he did not give the staff Moses, so the staff could lean on him. Staff should stand with their pastor, get his back. Pastors should take care of their staff, their personal needs, financial needs (Pay your staff what it would cost to replace them, not the bargain you think you got them at), and make sure they don’t allow the ministry to come before their homes! (I wish I would have had that kind of pastor when I was full time – oh well)  (Hebrews 13:17)

3.  Take God Directed Risks (Vs. 3) Many pastors run from God directed risks versus embracing them.
(Vs. 4) God wanted Moses to take a risk, one where if God did not intervene, he would get bit (He told Moses to pick the snake up by the tail) – God wants pastors to take         risks where if God does not come through it will be a total failure.

4. Understand at times its going to hurt (Vs. 6) – Criticism, Dealing with People’s hurts and Problems, Pressure, Stress, Worry, People taking advantage of you, etc.

5. Follow God’s Leadership (Vs. 7)

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Unleash 2008 Session 1 Highlights

Perry Noble kicked off the Unleash Conference in Perry fashion. God always speaks through this man…my prayer is that He would do the same in my life.

Session 1:
Perry used  the story of the Prodigal son as a foundation for his message to the church leaders: Luke 15:25-32

3 Questions Every Church Needs to Ask:

1. What is it the God wants to do in our church?

  • Main Thought: The older brother was so busy being faithful to his work; he didn’t know what his father’s heart was. The older brother was doing his own thing!
    (Vs 26) God can be doing something all around us (our churches) & we can be clueless about it because we are too busy doing our own things.

    2 Things that will help us understand our Father’s heart for our ministries:

  • Time – Vision comes by spending passionate time with God – – The problem with conferences is, many times you get inspiration not revelation, that comes by spending time with God.
  • Effort – God wants our very best effort. – – If you are going to reach the world for Christ, you have to spend money – – The world gives excellence, why does the church give God any less?

2. What are the Barriers that Stand in our way?

  •  Refusal to Change – Personal Preferences (Deuteronomy 34:5-6 & Joshua 1:1-2) God had to kill what was old (Moses) to bring about something that was brand new (Joshua)
  • Jealousy – Some people get jealous of what God does in other churches while ignoring what he does in our own churches. – – 1 person getting saved deserves the same celebration as if 300 got saved in one service, the 1 salvation took as much of God’s power as the 300! (WOW!!! Great thought!)
  • Lack of Understanding – (Vs. 31) “Everything I have is yours” – The older brother complained about not getting a celebration, yet the father pointed out that everything he had has always been his…he could have had a fatted calf anytime he wanted!
    Jesus said He would build His church – We have to realize what the Father has promised us.

    3. What do we want to celebrate? (Vs. 32) – In the Bible, every time someone who was lost was found, there was a celebration.
Jesus and Heaven does not celebrate when we recycle (Perry commented on the disgrace of the Southern Baptists’ recent embrace of going green), Jesus and Heaven celebrate when a lost person gets saved. What is our focus as a church?

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Maryland Trip

I just got home last night from a short, yet long, trip to Maryland to visit Nicki’s dad. The trip was fun, but when you take a 5 year old and an 18 month old on that long of a trip, it wears you out…and drives you crazy! To make matters worst, the kids get up earlier than God, and since my father-in-laws house only has two bedrooms, that meant we had to get up earlier than God as well! We did not get much sleep, and I don’t think I will ever take an 18 month old in the car for that long of a trip again either, Gavin was fine with his portable DVD player, but we only have one and it is on his seat, so Tristan got bored.

I also had the opportunity to visit my friend Mike Kemper. We visited his church (Charm City Churchy) in the city of Baltimore. West Baltimore to be exact, and when you think about “Downtown” I guarantee you he is no where near the downtown you see in your city. (Here is a slide show from a random website, the pictures show a glimpse of the area, but they do not do it justice. I didn’t see any trash on the streets in these pictures, and no people…the trash along the curb would have come up to about my ankle). Mike’s church does not have all of the flash and bang that a lot of churches have, but I guarantee you he would put a lot of American churches to shame…for that matter…a lot of churches period! He is truly reaching the addicts, the prostitutes, the poor…those who are totally disconnected from God. His vision to reach the city of Baltimore is awesome, and God is sending him people from everywhere. I will be blogging about his church more in a later post, but I know God is going to use Mike Kemper in an awesome way!