Rolling down the interstate today, a slightly peaceful time. Stacy is driving right now and I’ve got the Macbook plugged into the cigarette lighter via my new $6 power converter. This weekend was lots and lots of fun. We started on Saturday heading up to Charlotte for our friends’ Mom’s birthday party. Then Sunday after church in CLT we drove down to Columbia to see two great men of God graduate from the South Carolina Master’s Commission. Graduation was a blast and the disciples of Christ were so excited to be there and make God big.

After the ceremony we went to Ruby Tuesday and encountered the most interesting waiter I’ve ever had. We ordered one hamburger add salad bar and another salad bar. He told us that he wouldn’t charge us for the salad. We figured he meant the added salad bar. So we got the check and it was for one hamburger. $7 and change for a $20 meal. We tipped him well and left before the deal reversed on us.

Somewhere after the graduation and dinner we decided not to return to Spartanburg but go ahead and drive to Charleston. I called my favorite Aunt Tina who welcomed Stacy and I down to her house. We had a great time with the relatives. We stopped in at Blossom’s (downtown Charleston) for lunch and it was wonderful! Stacy had the white pizza and I had lamb sausage pizza. Wonderful waiter, beautiful atmosphere, and exquisite food.

A truly wonderful weekend.

ALSO.

I’ve started working for a financial services firm and I have a very exciting opportunity ahead of me! If you know of anyone who is interested in making some extra money let me know!

I want to dream Your dreams, I want to speak Your words, I want to love Your sheep the way You do. I want to touch Your heart with Your voice. Oh, God, do something in me to speak for You.

Let Your face shine upon me so bright that they see You through my eyes.

A $50 Lesson

I recently asked my friends’ little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, ‘If you were President what would be the first thing you would do? ‘

She replied, ‘I’d give food and houses to all the homeless people.’

Her parents beamed with pride.

‘Wow…what a worthy goal.’ I told her, ‘But you don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.. ‘

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, ‘ Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50? ‘

I said, ‘Welcome to the Republican Party.’

Her parents still aren’t speaking to me..

I don’t know what the Lord has for me. But one thing I have learned in the past couple weeks is I will always aspire to be something greater than I am. Even if it doesn’t make me the most money. What do I really care?

God already promised he would take care of everything I need. I can literally sit back and wait for him to move. Patiently wait. Sit back and enjoy the stillness. Enjoy peace. Enjoy Love.

Thanks Luke from Covenant Eyes for letting me know about this. Head over to the Covenant Eyes blog to see more from Luke.

What would happen if churches all around the country took time out of their busy church schedules and focused completely on personal evangelism? This idea is not a scheme where the Pastor, Associate Pastor, and/or Worship Pastor do the work. It is a plan to motivate and (if necessary) frustrate the church, the body of the Christ, into intentionally getting their “unchurched” friends and families to church.

First pertinent question to answer: why?

• The Great Commission. Take a few minutes to read it. Understand it. Meditate on it. Fall in love with it.
• 60% of the unchurched admit they would attend church if someone would invite them.
• “There has been a 92% increase in the number of unchurched Americans in the last thirteen years. In 1991 there were 39 million unchurched Americans compared with 75 million currently.”*
• “63% of unchurched adults believe that a good person can earn his or her way into Heaven.”* They do not understand that the price has already been paid for them.

Second, how does it work?

One word. You.

• In 2007 35% of adults all over America agreed that it was their responsibility to tell others about their faith.*

So here is my proposition: Pastors, cancel your planned sermons that might as well be history lessons. Yes, you preach them, because I have heard them or rather slept through them. So I thought I’d come up with my own topics for you to use that I believe are relevant and direct to the point. So here is two services that I think could work and get your church excited about evangelism.

Topic One

Speak on tithing. Your church will never be able to get to the next step if they are not honoring God with their money. If you rob God of His money, He will not bless you. I did not say this. He said it. How many seats do you have in your sanctuary? Are you ready to see lives changed, chains broken, and those empty seats filled? Challenge your members to repent of their greed and press in to the heart of the Lord. Present an opportunity for them to accept Jesus and then take up the offering.  Tell them the statistics about the unchurched.

A question that I have used in a service was this: “Think about someone you know that does not know the Lord. Now if salvation possessed a monetary value, how much would you pay? How much money would you be willing to pay out of your bank account or savings for that person to instantly have eternal life?” When you think about it in the terms of it being your own money, you well-being, or your possessions, it seems to shed a new light on the idea. God understood this so well that He sent His son to die the  most cruel death ever recorded for our eternity, and all we have to do is receive it.

Topic Two (2 week topic)

Present the gospel in the most creative way possible. Use video, use lighting, use sound, or use nothing. Clear the stage, sing a capella, and preach without a microphone at the top of your voice. I am not giving details on how I would do it because how I would do it is not how the Lord is calling YOU to do it in your church. You preach the living word of God and talk about Jesus in a way that facilitates people coming to know Him for the first time.

Week one is going to look exactly like week two. Preach the same message (more  polished now and 10 times as passionate) and the challenge. Tell your people they have seven days to get their lost friends and family to church. Tell them that next weeks service will be identical to this weeks. Ask them what are they going to do, how far are they willing to go, to get the people they love in the doors to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Challenge them to bring at least one unchurched person with them to church. Lets go as far as to say if they cannot bring someone with them, then they can take their sabbath at home as they’ve already been to the identical service a week before anyways.

Among born again Christians, seven out of ten (71%) say they are “absolutely committed” to the Christian faith.*

If that is true, then my hypothesis for this experiment is: lives changed and the church growing like it’s never been before.

*credit research to the Barna Group

2008 was a year of a lot of changes. I graduated college, bought a car, found the love of my life,  and started my first full-time ministry position. I have hope that the Lord is going to do BIG stuff in my life during 2009. To you and yours.

I felt creative this morning and started to write a new song.

pour |pôr|
verb [ intrans. ]
(esp. of a liquid) flow rapidly in a steady stream

Who is pouring into you? Who do you let speak into your life? Who do you allow to see the depths of who you are?

Motive

Many times even in the church calling there will be people who want to tell you things that they believe are truth. What you must do is discern their motive. Have they been encouraging in the past? Or have they repeatedly torn you down? If it is the latter you might want to listen to them. I know what you’re thinking but hear me out.

• It will help your job security to listen to that person.
• That person wants church to be catered to their needs/desires so you should probably listen to them.
• That person also probably has a lot of friends in the church who listen to him. He is one who influences others.
• It will make your church job very easy to listen to that person and do what that person says.
• So what if you’re listening to the voice of Satan? Your job will be easier.

DO NOT listen to people who have bad motives and cheer at your failures. If you do listen to them, you are listening to the voice of Satan NOT Jesus. You do not have time to be torn down by them. YOU have potential because God says you do. When God says something, it happens.

Charismatic

Listen to charismatic people. The word charisma comes from the greek word “χάρισμα” which means “gift”. The word charismatic literally means “gifts of the spirit”. We know that the Holy Spirit gives everyone at least one spiritual gift. Listen to those who are walking in the Spirit, talking in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit. If they are not speaking to you in the Spirit, they are speaking to you in the flesh and you are NOT to listen to them.

I feel like that’s enough for you to think about and let sink in today. Pray this prayer with me.

Jesus, help me to listen to Your Holy Spirit. Keep me close to those who love You and exalt Your name on high. Let me be so close to Your heart, Your ways, and Your will for my life. I surrender my all to You. My everything. Consume me, Lord.