Opportunity

Ephesians 5:16- "Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days."

Once Christ invades our life to become our life, giving us a new identity with new desires for Him and a new power (Holy Spirit) from Him, the rest of our lives are a giant opportunity.  We don't enter into a holding pattern waiting for heaven. We don't continue living in habitual sin because God will just forgive us.  And we don't just sit around hoping for a good sermon or song every now and then.  We have opportunities to seize!

As Christ-follower we must constantly ask the following questions:

• How alert am I for God-given opportunities to love, serve, encourage, invite, & share?


• How willing am I to act on those opportunities?


• What keeps me from making the most of opportunities ... fear? Comfort? Complacency? Disobedience?

Where to spot opportunity:

• In the family of believers, our local churches -- God's church will always have great opportunities.


• In our sphere of relationships ... anywhere you have influence with people, you have opportunity.


• At work ... God created us to work and fills the workplace with opportunities to honor Him.


• Wherever challenges exist ... every obstacle presents an opportunity (think David & Goliath).

Weekly Rundown (11.29.2009)

• Short week due to Thanksgiving ... ate way too much!!


• Spoke this week at the 40th anniversary of my elementary school (Roan School).  I went there in 1st and 2nd grades.
  
  
  
  • Saw my 1st grade teacher ... my first crush!
  
  
  • Also saw my 2nd grade teacher and former P.E. teacher.
  
  
  • All impacted my life!
  
  
  
  


• Beth & I headed south to Florida to spend time with her family. Great trip, great weather, and great food!


• Saw the movie, The Blind Side ... awesome movie, even if you don't like football.


• 'Dawgs looked good in a BIG win over rival Georgia Tech.


• Some things I am thanking God for ...
  
  
  
  • My salvation ... done nothing to deserve it and can only thank God for it!
  
  
  • My wife ... 8 years and counting of joy, laughter, and joint obedience to God.
  
  
  • The Bible ... one of the greatest miracles of God that I have access to every day.
  
  
  • Our church ... 7 years of seeing God build His church and beautify His bride for His glory
  
  
  • The future ... adoption, seeing God continue to build Rock Bridge, more grace, heaven, and seeing Jesus!
  
  
  
  

Twilight: What Can the Church Learn?

In an attempt to learn about our culture so we can better minister to our culture, I will stay on the Twilight bandwagon for one more post (first post is here).  This time let's see how we in the church might learn from this series.

1)  People like a good story and the Bible is full of them.  Bible & boring do not belong in the same sentence.

2)  People are starved for people they can identify with and relate to and will even pursue pseudo-relationships with fictional characters.  Church & the opportunity for meaningful relationships should go hand-in-hand.

3)  People want a hero.  Jesus is the ultimate and only real hero.

Why Is Twilight So Popular?

{Forgive me for this momentary lapse in my blogging to comment heavily on pop culture, of which I try to study or at least be somewhat aware ...}

The #'s are in and they are shocking: Twilight New Moon took in $140.7 million dollars on its opening weekend (#3 all-time)!!  It was the biggest Fall opening in history.  And what is even more remarkable is the storyline seems so, well, so outlandishly freakish: girl falls in love (nothing new there) ... with a vampire (Whoa!) ... who is opposed by a pack of guys who become wolves (What!?!) ... one of whom likes the girl who fell in love with the aforementioned vampire (Say that again!).

So here's my question: Why is it so popular and why did I, of all people, get drawn into this freakishly weird love-gone-wrong story?

1) People like realistic love stories. I know the vampire-wolf part is not "realistic" but love is never easy, is way more complicated than we care to admit, is opposed by forces often outside our control, and takes a lot of effort to work.  At the core the Twilight series is a love story ... the vampire-wolf stuff is just part of the "complications", as Edward would say.

2) There is a character in the story that most people can easily identify with. Again, look past the vampire-wolf mythology to the heart of the characters.  We all want someone who understands us, someone who shares an experience, a struggle, a hope or a dream that we have.  This is the power of a good story ... fiction or not, realistic or fantasy ... it does not matter.  People will flock to something they can relate to either personally or emotionally, either in real life or only in their dreams.

Do you struggle with a habit? Do you have a "fatal flaw" that sometimes holds you back? Are there things about you that you wish you could change?  Then look no further than everyone's favorite vamp, Edward Cullen.

Have you ever fallen in love with someone or something that you couldn't have ... or have in the way you wanted? Ever had your heart broken?  Ever struggle with where you fit into life's big plan?  Then you'll identify with Bella Swan, the main character who tells us this story.

Ever compete for something you valued and lose?  Ever feel like you're always a day late and a dollar short? Ever feel like the nice guy who always finishes last?  Jacob Black is your guy!

{Incidentally, regarding points 1 & 2 ... this why I love the Bible: full of real people experiencing real life! I can relate!}

3) The plot line is anything but predictable and routine. Most stories fall into a predictable pattern that has the audience or reader guessing with incredible accuracy how everything will end.  Not so in this book.  The twists and turns are virtually non-stop.  This is why we see the two camps: Team Edward and Team Jacob emerging.  People are pulling for their guy, but unless you read all the books you really never know who Bella will choose or how or why she will make her choice.  This is creative story-telling at its best because routine is death to creativity.  Now some will say that this creativity is too much and is big-time "jump the shark" stuff.  That criticism may be fair but the audience is so desperately hooked on getting to the final answer, they tolerate and even enjoy it.

4)  Twilight scratched an "itch" by finding a good niche. This series has proven that teenagers and women are a powerful bloc of people who were ripe for a blockbuster made for them.  80% of all ticket sales on opening weekend were purchased by women!   A film, book, or movie rarely succeeds by trying to be all things to all people.  It's wise to know your target audience.  It's also wise to know that your target audience will bring people outside of your target audience with them for the ride (i.e. the husband or boy friend).

5) For whatever combination of reasons Twilight has reached a cultural "tipping point". Tipping point is a term that basically means unstoppable momentum.  People on the outside of this momentum can't understand it, they criticize it, question it, mock it, and even hate it ... but they are powerless to stop it.  Think about the emergence of social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).  Many of these tools have reached a tipping point where now we see CEOs, football coaches, and politicians updating their status and sending out "tweets".  Only in hindsight do these waves become explainable.  So it is with Twilight -- we can't really explain it ... yet.

Weekly Rundown (11.22.09)

• Losing My Religion series continues to be a blessing for me to preach and I pray a means for God to open people's eyes to His love, grace, and character.
  
  
  
  • We're celebrating numerous salvations :)
  
  
  
  


• Tonight Rock Bridge Student Ministry (@ Calhoun & @ Dalton) taught about the needs of the world and the Christian's responsibility to help meet them -- praying the eyes and hearts of young people are enlarged in a mighty, Christ-exalting way!!
  
  
  
  • They took an offering to buy a family village in Kenya a cow through Possibilities Africa.  One cow can totally transform a village with jobs, hope, and openness to Gospel love!
  
  
  • They will also be sponsoring a child through World Vision!
  
  
  
  


• I'm playing sermon "catch-up" this week since I missed a week of preparation when I was out in San Diego.


• Great discussions this week about how to better communicate our mission and core values to provide better clarity regarding WHO we are as a church.  As we grow and add new people, we must reinforce who God has called us to be and remind ourselves about the Spirit-given uniqueness that exists in our church.


• Congrats to our Associate Pastor, Alfred Turley, and his wife, Heidi, who had a beautiful baby girl this past week.


• The football rundown:
  
  
  
  • Georgia is just sad and way below their potential as a team.  It is NOT great to be a Georgia Bulldog right now.
  
  
  • If you like leadership-type stuff, pay attention to how Coach Mark Richt handles this.  It will be a lesson in what to do or what not to do ... either way we can learn something from how he responds.
  
  
  
  


• Great anniversary celebration with Beth this week.  Hopefully, this time next year we'll be parents!!


• My take on the second installment of the Twilight saga: New Moon:
  
  
  
  • Special effects: much better!
  
  
  • Acting: still solid and true to the characters of the book.
  
  
  • Music/Soundtrack: horrible ... didn't match the scenes at all.
  
  
  • Felt rushed and some transitions were abrupt ... hard to compress a 500+ page book into 2 hours.
  
  
  • Still a freakishly popular cultural event.  Asking myself, "Why do sooo many people love this series? Why do I love it?"
  
  
  
  


• Short week this week thanks to Thanksgiving ... ready for some turkey!!!!!!!!

Rock Bridge and the World

Sometimes I think our Christianity is too small.

• We define Christianity solely in terms of our personal relationship with God, instead of community with others where radical love is experienced and sacrificial service is given.


• We think only in terms of our church instead of His Church which is both local and global.

Consider how God described the impact of Christianity when he was speaking to just the 11 disciples:

• Matthew 28:19 -- Go, and make disciples of all nations ...


• Acts 1:8 -- You will be My witnesses ... to the ends of the earth ...

These verses are raising new questions for me as a Christian, as a pastor, and for our church.

• What does it mean to be a global Christian? A kingdom-minded local church?


• What are our responsibilities to fulfill Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8?


• The church in America has been blessed with an abundance of resources.  The church in the rest of the world is either severely persecuted or stricken with incredible poverty or both.  How do we respond and come alongside our global brothers and sisters?

A few weeks ago our Elders affirmed for Rock Bridge to move forward in 3 broad areas, praying and exploring where God would leverage us for His glory to show His love, serve His people, and help the downtrodden.

LOCAL IMPACT: efforts in NW Georgia to come alongside various local agencies with manpower and resources to share the love of Christ.

GREAT COMMISSION PARTNERSHIPS: partnering with others to make disciples all over the world.  These efforts include church planting here in America and missionary work overseas.

GLOBAL POVERTY: 1 child dies every 5-6 seconds due to hunger.  Thousands die daily because of malaria.  The orphan crisis in certain countries is epidemic.  While the statistics are staggering, the resources are available to reverse poverty and combat disease worldwide.  We are looking at exactly how we should leverage our God-given resources to be part of the solution to these challenges.  Specifically, we believe God is calling to focus on a particular nation and community in that nation.

Much more to come ... but let's all start by praying for God to broaden our vision of His Kindgom and deepen our burden for all nations and all peoples.

Leadership Ruminations: 2-year Summary

Last week I wrapped up a 2-year journey with other pastors in a group put together by Leadership Network. This type of experience was new to me but something I needed.  As I reflect back on the journey, here's some things that come to mind:

• Leaders must pay attention not only to the organizational health but also the emotional health of the teams they lead.


• Churches must continue to take risks for the sake of the Gospel.


• Pastors must not use "guilt" to motivate and lead their congregations.  {Larry Osborne famously calls this "drive-by guiltings"}


• We can't confuse methodology with theology.  Methods will always change while our theology (beliefs) should never change.


• We have to have margin (space) in our lives to be effective.  God gave us the Sabbath for a reason.  We need margin emotionally, relationally, and in our schedules.


• The financial landscape of America is changed for the foreseeable future.  How will this affect giving in the church? It will require more visionary leadership.  For example, candidate Barack Obama raised more money than any other presidential candidate in history during the worst recession in recent memory.  People will give to causes they believe in ... what cause is greater than the cause of Christ?


• Churches must develop new and younger leaders.  "Young eagles" must be allowed to fly. What are we doing to develop the "future" leadership of Rock Bridge?


• Student ministry is perhaps the most difficult "ministry nut" to crack today in the church.  Why? Because it is becoming less & less about the program of ministry and more & more about significant relationships facilitated by the ministry with adults and other students {This is our model at RBCC!!}


• Multi-site and multi-venues are here to stay.  In a resource challenged world, they are excellent ways to multiple the impact of the church.


• More churches will use the concept "volunteer" staff to meet the demands of ministry. Retirees, college students, interns, and those who have a "passion" to work in the local church will fill these roles as their time allows.  Volunteer staff will not be paid in the traditional sense; they will be paid with official positions, positive experiences & compelling ministry opportunities, insider influence, and perhaps even a desk or office or other "perk".


• As churches grow, the pastor has to lead more and do less.


• We must be comfortable being ourselves, living secure in our identity in Christ.

Weekly Rundown (11.15.09)

• Had a great week out in San Diego with my Next Generation Leadership Network group.  I have been meeting with this group of pastors every six months for the past two years.  I can honestly say I am a better pastor, leader, and Christ-follower because of this opportunity to walk in community with others.  I must thank Leadership Network for their work to serve pastors and churches.


• Great services today as we continue in the Losing My Religion series.  I pray many are finding life in Christ through this series.  Next week at both campuses is a GREAT week to bring an unchurched guest ... someone who needs to know about Jesus and pray they hear God and experience His love!!


• Some in our Chatsworth launch team are taking road trips to visit other churches that meet in high schools.  This week they headed down to Charleston, SC to visit Seacoast Church's James Island campus.  They are learning a ton as we prepare to invade Chatsworth.
  
  
  
  • Last week they were up at Elevation Church in North Carolina.
  
  
  
  


• I'm really excited and encouraged by how our staff is thinking right now -- innovative, creative, and BIG!!  We have some amazing ideas to pray over & discuss.


• The 'Dawgs looked respectable against Auburn ... good win, bowl eligible.


• Football Friday is over for the year.  Good luck to the Calhoun Yellow Jackets as they continue in the state playoffs.


• I love to go to movies with my wife.  Our first date was at Star Wars: Episode I in Jacksonville, FL.  We have fun, are able to relax, and make memories together.  Well, this week is a BIG movie week:  the Twilight sequel, New Moon and the football movie, Blind Side both are in theaters this week.
  
  
  
  • My take on Twilight: pop culture phenenom; very entertaining; solid acting; unrealistic plot with a realistic emotional storyline.
  
  
  • Blind Side: based on a true story.  Good acting line-up.  Cameos by several college coaches.  Will be inspirational!
  
  
  
  


• Beth & I celebrate 8 years of marriage this week :)
  
  
  
  • So I'm justified in taking her to at least two movies this week, right?
  
  
  
  

Whose Approval Am I After?

Let's face it, we are all approval addicts.  We want to be accepted, approved, and validated.  The two big questions we must ask are "Where do we go to get the approval we so desperately want?" and "What is the cost of gaining that approval?"

Most of the time we look to other people for this approval and much of the time this will lead us to compromise a conviction, change our beliefs (to fit in), or be manipulated by the fear and insecurity of losing someone's approval.

The Bible warns in Proverbs 29:25 that "fear of man will prove to be a snare [a trap] but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." In other words, only in God do we find the approval, acceptance, and security our hearts want and need.  And the good news is this ... that because of Jesus we have God's approval and acceptance!!

So how does this shake out in our lives?

• It means that we can obsess and stress over what others think about us and therefore, forget what God thinks about us.


• It means criticism must be filtered through God's Word more than the sting of the critic.


• It means I can labor endlessly in a futile attempt to please everyone or I can rest peacefully in the pleasure of God's unfailing love.


• It means that sometimes relationships will be lost as you follow God's leading and pursue His mission.


• It means that your source of approval will ultimately be the authority in your life.

As a young church planter/pastor, many times I stressed over what people thought of me, the sermon, our church, etc.  I was easily shaken and upset.  People's opinions & comments were where I sought approval causing me to make some mistakes, forget who I am in Christ, and at times disregard the voice of God.

To overcome this I had to develop some basic principles, and here's what they are:

• I must preach "the whole counsel of God" and do it "in season and out" which won't always be popular or well-received.


• I must have sources of wise counsel and accountability in my life whose voices I can trust as either encouragement or constructive criticism (Thankfully, I have incredible Elders, a staff that seeks to hear from God, and a godly wife).


• The bottom line for me is to obey God.  Beth & I never would have started Rock Bridge if we took a poll or listened to our critics (and there were/are a lot).


• I will listen to critics and what people have to say, seek to learn, practice humility, but those voices do not have the final say ... God does.  Therefore, all voices must be filtered by God's Word, godly counsel, and prayer.


• I will readily admit when I am wrong, sin against another, or make a mistake and seek forgiveness.


• I am who God says I am, period (I Corinthians 15:10).

Weekly Rundown (11.8.09)

• We're into the Losing My Religion series.  I've been thinking and praying about this series for a LONG time.
  
  
  
  • The message I preached the day RBCC began was titled, "The Trouble With Religion."
  
  
  • I'm convinced that "religion" is keeping more people from God and out of heaven than drugs, alcohol, and sex combined!!
  
  
  • Let's celebrate freedom in Christ this series!  Great series to invite a friend.
  
  
  
  


• Went to see Georgia play yesterday against Tennessee Tech.  Several local boys playing at Tech.  Fun day!


• I saw my first ever Cheerleading competition yesterday ... WOW! Intense and exciting.  Congrats to Northwest and Dalton High Schools for making it to state sectionals!!


• Great all-staff meeting this week with Brad Leeper sharing thoughts on how to be a "great" staff. Some takeaways:
  
  
  
  • Staffs must risk together, have fun together, and create "stories" together.
  
  
  • Bad staffs make their specialty (i.e.-music, children, students) MORE important than the church's mission.  (That's good!!)
  
  
  • Staff members must constantly learn to grow and develop.  Must be curious, read, ask questions, and never stop growing.
  
  
  • Staff members must be flexible in their roles ... jobs will change as the church changes.
  
  
  
  


• First Wednesday was amazing again.  Both campuses experienced God's presence in powerful ways!
  
  
  
  • This service literally "sets the temperature" for our church for the whole month ... prayer, worship, & communion TOGETHER is powerful and desired by God ... He shows up when we seek Him as ONE!!
  
  
  
  


• Navy beat Notre Dame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekly Rundown (11.1.09)

• Appreciate all the prayers for my trip to Charlotte to speak at a conference.  I had a great time reconnecting with some friends around the country, was challenged, and hopefully brought encouragement to pastors/church leaders.
  
  
  
  • On a side note to the NASCAR fans, my hotel was right next to the future NASCAR Hall of Fame!! It is a sharp looking building.
  
  
  
  


• For the first time in years, Beth & I were home on Halloween ... it was fun but our neighborhood was pretty quiet.


• Our two Fall Festivals (Calhoun & Dalton) were amazing.  The volunteer effort was once again tremendous.  We blessed our two communities with something free and family-friendly ... Jesus was well-represented by His church.


• Ok, Georgia is just sad and bad.  Can't say much more ... I'm still eager and curious to see how Coach Richt handles this from a leadership standpoint.


• I'm loving the Fall weather!


• The week is FIRST WEDNESDAY at both campuses!!


• I'm out!