Sailors, Saints, & Sinners

It Depends …

I’ve been studying Moses a lot lately and Exodus 14:14 has been rocking my world. 

I think one of the greatest temptations I face is to act and believe and think that it depends on me.  Yet Exodus 14:14 reminds me clearly that it really depends on me being still and letting God do His thing.  I translate being still as not getting in God’s way. 

When Rock Bridge first started I believed if I was not present things would not get done.  I rarely took days off and I definitely did not miss preaching.

There are a few things wrong with this thinking. One is you quickly burn out.  Two is that you carry a burden you cannot carry and fight a battle you cannot win.  We can storm the gates of hell only when we confess Christ as Lord.  God guarantees victory only when we are still and let Him fight.

Now that I’m a little older (at 32!), I realize that being still means being in a blessable position.  It is a position of strength in Christ, rather than strength in me.  I also know that I am not indispensable to God’s work.  I know that God works at RBCC when I am there and when I am not there.  The key is not my presence but God’s presence … the key is us being still in His presence so God can work.

Me & Mo

Been hanging out with Moses lately in Exodus … WOW! Good stuff on how Moses’ developed as the spiritual leader of God’s people.

Here’s just a few things that struck me:

–Moses’ was discontent with the status quo early on (He killed an Egyptian for mistreating some Hebrew slaves). However, he lacked the maturity and God-given revelation to deal with it appropriately.

I think a good portion of visionary leadership begins with discontentment — we see things that just are not right and then develop a passion to do something about it. God takes our passion and focuses it with an inspired vision that leads to action.

–When God called Moses to act (Exodus 3), Moses was focused only on himself. His doubts, his weaknesses, and his worries totally drove his conversations with God. God kept reassuring Moses with Himself: “I am who I am.”

Whenever my focus on me, there is doubt, fear, and worry. Whenever the focus is on God, there is peace, confidence, and clarity. We have to remember we ain’t nothing without God. Where’s my focus????

–After all the trouble to call Moses to lead the Hebrews, God still almost killed him. Moses had not circumcised his son in accordance with God’s law.

As leaders of God’s people, we cannot neglect our own personal walk with God. Many times we focus on who we are leading and forget our own relationship with God. God demands integrity and purity and repentance constantly in order for Him to use us for His purposes.

Shot in the Arm

Just got back from the Churchplanters.com conference in Cumming … WOW! What a shot in the arm for us at Rock Bridge! I am pumped and excited about getting back to work on the vision & mission we have at RBCC!!
Here’s some of the things that are sticking out in my mind right now:

–Be mean about the vision. (Shawn Lovejoy)

–Seek to relate the Gospel to people not just creativity. We relate to people in our culture so we can take them to the Cross. (Ed Setzer)

–God wants our churches to be successful more than we do.
–Value risk taking for the kingdom more than success.
–When was the last time you/we/I took a risk on God. (Dave Ferguson)

–God wants us to live with holy urgency for His mission.
–God is resolved to bring us to a place of trust. (Matt Carter)

–Then Perry Noble spoke from Exodus 33 and challenged us to RELOOK at four things:
1) Our calling: God always calls us to things that are unsafe
2) At our people
3) At our vision
4) At our potential — Eph. 3:20-21

This conference was a shot in the arm for me. It affirmed a lot of things we are thinking about and things we are doing. I am more excited than EVERY about what God is doing and is ABOUT to do at our church!!

Things that make you go ‘hmm’

Here’s some great sayings …

If the goal of getting saved is to go to heaven, then why don’t we die once we’re saved?
–Because God leaves us here for one purpose: to be salt & light … to help others come to know Christ!

If God told a church or the church or our church, to do worship in Rap because it would help reach more people for Christ … would we/you do it?
–After all, it is His church and worship is for Him and as long as He is worshipped in Spirit & Truth He is honored. That means music style is negotiable, not sacred. That means God can be worshipped in a variety of musical styles. That means we can use music as tool BOTH to honor God and CONNECT with disconnected people!!
–(P.S.–God has not asked us to switch to Rap … that’s not the point. The point is are we willing to do whatever it takes to reach people?!?)

The church is a body and every body has a rectum.
–We cannot please everybody and let’s face it, not every person belongs at your church or my church. It’s okay for them to leave … it’s hard but okay and sometimes necessary.
…Another phrase for this is ‘addition by subtraction’

Check your EGO at the door.
Ego = ‘edging God out’.
I really do not believe a church can grow or sustain growth if people in the church are interested in control, power, and/or personal advancement. Those things leave no room for the God who wants to fill us with His power & might to do His work for His glory.

You can structure your church for control or growth.
–Hard one for some of us to give up control, especially if you started or helped to start the church.
–If I tried to control everything at Rock Bridge, we’d be running about 400-500 people right now. I think this is a major reason we’ve hit a plateau at certain points in our history … I had to grow and change as a leader.

Just One More Mistake (Ha!)

Actually there are a lot more mistakes I’ve made, but I thought I’d share one more BIG one:

ON YOUR FEET vs. ON YOUR KNEES
In the Navy when doing P.T. (Physical Training) after we’d finished sit-ups or push-ups or something else, they’d yell “On your feet.” It signaled the time to move on to the next exercise.
As a pastor/planter/leader I find the desire to get ‘on my feet’ but the need to stay ‘on my knees’ in prayer before God.
Being a task-oriented, results driven person … extended times of prayer have been a hard and difficult discipline that I am still learning.

BUT when I do pray, I know with 100% certainty that God works more in me, around me and through me than when I shorten or cut my prayer time. In other words, results still happen but they are much greater and God-glorifying.

John 3:30

Mistakes I’ve Made

I just got a shot in my left cheek to help me get over a massive sinus infection … so with steriods pumping through my blood, I’m going to share some mistakes I’ve made.

TOO MUCH, TOO FAST
When this happens you run the risk of burning people out, burning yourself out (or your family) or just confusing people.
Lessons learned:
#1–A strong foundation of vision should be laid before an any acceleration of ministry. Part of this vision includes being opportunistic … that way when you do have to act fast, folks know it is to achieve a great vision = reaching lost people!
#2–Most of the time, less really is more.

POOP OR GET OFF THE TOILET
I know this may appear contradictory … but sometimes I have delayed making a decision that needed to be made.
Lessons learned:
#1–Always err on the side of action over inaction.
#2–Have a wise process for making decisions (mine includes prayer & godly counsel)

BE OBESSIVE COMPULSIVE
It is true the devil is in the details. Pay attention to EVERYTHING!! When you start seeing problems in ‘little’ areas, bigger problems are usually right around the corner. It’s better to put out a small brush fire than a forest fire!
(Nelson Searcy has a great CD resource called: “OC Church Leaders”.

QUIT TRYING TO PLEASE EVERYBODY
Somewhere along the way I thought I would be the one exception that could keep everybody happy. Boy, was I wrong & stupid … and I’ve wasted a lot of time trying!
Lessons learned:
#1-Play for the Audience of One.
#2-Cast vision, love people, lead with example, & lead through your legitimizers.
#3-Those that don’t get it, don’t get it. Lead on & move on.

There’s a story behind each of these but hopefully you get the idea.

Isaiah 26:8

This morning I read Isaiah 26:8 and it totally woke me up. The verse says that “your Name and renown are the desire of our hearts.”

How often my desire is simply for my own name and my own fame instead of God’s. The lure of self and the danger of pride are constant obstacles in my path for intimacy with God.
Ironically, is the fact that when I pursue my own ends and my own agenda with my own strength I lose peace and gain anxiety, I forfeit God’s unlimited strength for my limited strength.

Here’s some insights into how this plays out for me:

a) The temptation of pride is HIGH for people who work in public (i.e. preach)

b) The need for humility is great because God can only fill & use a person empty of himself.

c) Pastors can be very competitive and comparative.

d) There are really two questions:
–Who really builds a church?
–Who is the church really built for?

e) How I am working to be humble, stay humble and get humble:
i) I pray John 3:30 a lot
ii) Pray more and “work” less = “stress” less and “me” less
iii) Celebrate the successes of other churches and pastors
iv) Pray for other pastors and churches
v) Thank God that He lets me do what I get to do.
vi) I don’t have to ‘do it’ all. (There was a time when I did and thus there is a dangerous tendency to think: “If it is to be, it is up to me.”)
vii) Laugh at myself…there is plenty of material!

How Far God Has Brought Us!

Today was another incredible day!! We had TONS of guests, TONS of people, and very FEW seats! It was a record crowd (except for Easter)!!

After church Beth & I were reflecting on how far our church has come since we launched. Here’s where we came from:

–We had 1o-year old projector of 500 lumens (that’s about like a night light) projecting onto a 6×8 screen. No one could see any of the words.
–We had drums and a keyboard and that was it. No true worship leader. No one with any real experience in a band.
–I had preached only like nine times and never twice in a row. I read through some of my old sermons and think, “What was I thinking?!?!”
–We used no graphics, no banners, no signs, no creative sets, and no drama.
–Our children met in cramped rooms in the back of the theatre with no central heat or air. We had no signs telling parents where to go.
–We had to use the theatre’s sound guy who was not happy to be helping us out. Our sound was sorry. I preached a sermon without my mic on. Feedback was the norm.
–Our bulletin looked like it was made out of recycled cardboard. It was dull and boring.
–I knew NO ONE who was planting churches up this way in Northwest Georgia. Everything we did was from scratch and everything we learned was the hard way. We went through the mine field of church planting alone. So many of the church plants that are starting today are years ahead of where we were and that is a huge plus to kingdom growth.
–Our Youth group met in people’s houses (until they got tired of us) and then we met in an old pharmacy with one toilet that barely flushed and clogged easily.
–I was the preacher, evangelist, janitor, and secretary. Beth did children, youth, and music. We were burning the candle at both ends.

BUT we had a few things:
–BIG VISION. The Wink Theatre (seats apprx. 1100) was 90% empty which according to experts is a HUGE mistake. But we had a dream to fill-up it with people seeking God and needing Christ.
–LOTS OF LOVE. From Day #1 our Core Group loved people … whoever came through our doors on any given Sunday was welcomed, accepted, and valued. Love overcomes a ton of the previously mentioned shortcomings.
–A CALLING. On January 12, 2002 God called my wife and I to leave Virginia and return to Dalton to start Rock Bridge. No matter how tough it was or is or will be, I know that we are 100% obedient in following God’s call to start RBCC.

A day like today reminds that the journey has BEEN WORTH IT!!

The Play-Action Pass

The play-action pass has got to be one of the greatest plays in football. It works only when a team is patient, disciplined, and understands timing.
(For those who may not know, the play-action pass in football is a pass play that looks like a run so it lures defenders up to play the run, when in reality a pass is coming. When it works the play makes big gains).

For those of us whose team (like UGA) runs the play-action, we understand how frustrating it can be. The Coach calls boring run play after boring run play. The Crowd gets frustrated and maybe even boos. They wonder what he is up to. But the Coach is patient and knows that boring run plays in the 1st quarter will set-up bigger plays (like the play action) in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The Coach is seeing the big picture … he understands that football is not just about one play … but about an entire game.

In leadership, we have our own sort of play-action pass. We do things now that hopefully will pay off later. We are patient now doing things that some people may question, but later will pay off big. As a leader anytime we make decisions today with tomorrow in mind, it is similiar to the play-action pass.

For example, at RBCC we are changing some things today while our church is running 900-1000 to set us up for success when our church is running 1500+. It involves change, patience, and vision but it is worth it.
For example, we are changing our membership class (Inquirer’s Lunch) to get people more involved faster. We are restructuring our Children’s Check-in because what worked at 500+ is not working now and certainly won’t work later. We are revamping all of our hospitality and usher/greeter processes to better greet, direct, seat, and treat the people coming to RBCC who need Jesus. We are retraining and rethinking our small groups to make them easier to get into, improve the overall group experience, and rapidily multiple new groups for new people.
Why?
Because we believe we are in the 1st quarter of an awesome, God-thing. We are thinking about the 2nd quarter and how to get better, how to score more points for the Kingdom of God, and how to be more effective in fulfilling our God-sized vision.

Get ‘R Done

Great Elders meeting last night!!
I usually leave those meetings excited and thankful –
Excited about what God is doing and thankful for the collective wisdom those guys have. They have allowed our staff to focus on ministry efforts while they help RBCC navigate through our facility, financial, and other big issues.
We had a great discussion last night about long-range planning for our downtown campus/facilities. I’m pumped, and we all continue to sense God’s hand at work @ Rock Bridge.

Two ministry areas we are working hard to put good systems in place are our small groups and our children’s ministry. Our facilites create some unique challenges for our children’s ministry that we are working to solve through our volunteers, better signs, and clear communications.
Aaron Gable, our Associate Pastor, is working hard and doing a great job getting our small group ministry to the next level and I can’t wait to see all God will do once our groups reach flank speed!

I guess after last night’s meeting and a great day of meetings with our staff, I felt like we got a lot accomplished. I like getting things done … and especially for God’s purposes!!