Beginning THIS SUNDAY, July 12 and running through next Saturday, July 18, we are going to show the love of Jesus to our city through acts of service and blessing.

We call it…LOVE COLUMBIA WEEK!

On Sunday, we’re doing something a little different. We’re meeting at Polo Road at our regular time of 10:30a, but we won’t stay there. We’re going to kick off LOVE COLUMBIA WEEK the right way! I can’t wait to see how God will use our people on Sunday!

Teams of people will be delivering Starbucks coffee and Krispy Kreme doughnuts each morning next week to area businesses and service agencies like fire stations, police stations, nursing homes, hospitals, etc. Right now, we’re scheduled to serve around 150 people per day!

On Wednesday night, we will love on and serve the 176 residents and numerous staff members at Life Care Center of Columbia, a nursing home less that a quarter mile from our meeting location. We asked what they needed the most…and the answer surprised us. Sing hymns! Yep, on Wednesday night, a team of AC’ers will lead a hymn service at Life Care Center! For those of us who aren’t singers, we’ll love and serve the residents during their dinner and during the service.

On Saturday, July 18, we are going to do a clean-up, prayer walk, and block party at a local trailer park that is a haven for drug dealers and has little to no gospel influence. We are praying about “adopting” this community and these people and this will be the first step towards seeing what God has for us there long term.

Next Sunday, July 19, we’ll meet at Polo Road Elementary at 10:30a to celebrate what we saw God do during the week and to share stories of how we have been impacted.

If you are interested in serving in any of these projects or interested in learning more about Awaken Church, we’d love to hear from you! Email Sam Frye (samlfrye@gmail.com) to volunteer for Love Columbia Week and email me (jay.hardwick@gmail.com) for more info on Awaken Church.

AC’ers…let’s get ready to show our city how much we love Jesus and love Columbia!

Be sure to read the introduction and first part of this series of posts on healthy, gospel-centered, mission-driven unity. This series was inspired by conversations I participated in and themes I heard at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting three weeks ago in Louisville, KY.

Almost everyday, I talk with young church planters and pastors from all over our state and around the country. Inevitably, the conversations turn in the same directions and land on the same challenges.

The church planter is struggling to raise money and to make wise leadership decisions in planting his church. His inexperience and hidden fears are being exposed more and more everyday and he knows it.

The young pastor of an already established church is dealing with the inevitable discontent that comes with leading change. He just can’t figure out how to lead his church to renewed focus and gospel-effectiveness. Patience is what’s required and he’s running dangerously low.

At the end of every conversation, I’m left with two feelings. One, an increased level of gratitude for the pastors/leaders who have invested and who are investing in me. Two, an increased brokenness for my brothers in ministry who do not have that kind of relationship.

Fathers, it’s time to step up and love your sons. I’m talking about older, established pastors loving…really loving…the younger pastors and church planters that God has placed around you.

My dad and I were about as different as a father and son can be. He was short; I’m tall. He was stocky; I’m skinny. He was a handyman and could build or fix anything; I call people to build and fix stuff. He was a quiet administrator; I’m a loud motivator.

As different as we were, one thing I never doubted: My dad loved me and supported me. Always.

When I screwed up, he still loved and supported me. When he didn’t agree with me, he still loved and supported me. When I wouldn’t listen and then paid for my mistakes, he still loved and supported me.

Older pastors…us younger pastors need the same kind of relationship with YOU! Yes, we’re different – our hair is different, our dress is different, our worship styles are different, our church strategies are different, our church names are different, our preaching styles are different…

But on one front, we are the same. We love Jesus and we are laser-focused on the Great Commission! And we need you to help us succeed…and by helping us succeed, you are helping the gospel succeed in your city!

This got a little long, so I am breaking it into two parts. Part 2 has some stories and ideas and will post tomorrow…

Yesterday, I wrote an introduction for this series of posts on healthy, gospel-centered unity. If you missed it, make sure you read it so that you approach this and the next two posts with the right context.

When I speak of sons and fathers, I am not talking about the biological son/father relationship. Rather, I am speaking of a “son in the ministry” and a “father in the ministry.” Just like every son needs a father, every young pastor needs a “father in the ministry.”

Sadly, just like many sons go through life without a dad either by choice or by tragedy, many “sons in the ministry” labor for the gospel without a “father in the ministry” to lean on and learn from.

If we are going to see healthy, gospel-centered, mission-driven unity, the relationship between sons and fathers must be strong. It’s a two-way street and I’ll talk about the other side tomorrow, but today we’re talking about the foundational side.

Young pastor, just as you are called to honor your biological father, you are also called to honor your fathers in the ministry. If you love Jesus and care about the gospel advancing in your city, you must honor your fathers in the ministry.

We stand on the shoulders of these men. We run on the trails they have blazed. We harvest the fields they have planted and toiled in for years. Yet we often treat them like their voices, labor, experience and leadership are meaningless and antiquated.

We think…what they couldn’t do, we can and will. The questions we perceive they could not answer or didn’t answer well, we will answer and we don’t need them to help. The ideas they could not or did not run with, we will run with them…and we will succeed…without their help.

In the midst of our white-hot vision, we forget that some of the men pastoring in our cities led with the exact same white-hot vision 30 years ago. We forget that the men who seem so antiquated to us now were pushing the envelope years ago. We forget that they were the church planters who planted churches way before it was cool to plant churches. We forget that they were the missionaries taking the gospel to the nations way before there were the resources available like we have today.

We forget that they have learned and forgotten more than we could have possibly learned to this point. We forget that they have made mistakes that we are about to make…and have learned that lessons that we need to learn. We forget that they have led people, led change, celebrated victory and endured pain much, much more than we have.

We forget. And when we forget, we get arrogant. And when we get arrogant, we hurt the gospel because we break unity. We become idolators, worshipping our way as the way, our voice as the voice, our church as the church. It’s sinful and it must stop.

In order to see healthy, gospel-centered, mission-driven unity in our cities, the needed posture is honor. Young pastors, we must honor our fathers in the ministry. They’ve already earned it. Now, we must show it.

Young pastor, when was the last time you shared a cup of coffee or a meal with an older, established pastor simply to ask questions and learn from his experiences? Young pastor, when was the last time you wrote a thank you note to an older, established pastor? Young pastor, when was the last time you prayed for an older, established pastor and asked God to bless and use him and his church?

Sure, some won’t respond. It might surprise you who will and who won’t respond. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t show honor. For the ones who do respond, you have a gift…a true gift. You have a father in the ministry.

I am convinced that if we will give honor, we’ll see the kind of response we really want and need from our fathers in the ministry. More on that tomorrow along with some personal stories…

It didn’t take much thought to pick up on a theme that seemed to run through every sermon, every presentation, every hallway conversation, and every shared meal at the SBC Annual Meeting two weeks ago. In fact, this theme didn’t just pop up when everyone descended on Louisville, KY – it was evident in conversations and meetings I had been a part of in our state for several months.

Jesus prayed for it in John 17, Paul called the church at Corinth to display it in 1 Corinthians 12, and Paul called for the church at Ephesus to protect it in Ephesians 4.

The bottom line is that if we are going to see a true, Great Commission Resurgence…a true move of God in our denomination…or any denomination or church or anything else for that matter…there must be a healthy, gospel-centered unity already in place.

The call for unity in the SBC is a call to move past generational and methodological differences in an effort to partner together for gospel advancement in our cities, our nation, and around the world. We can do far more together than any of us could do apart. And when we display gospel unity to the world, they see and believe in the One we love, worship, and preach (John 17).

The flip side is also true…when we bicker, compete, fight, slander, gossip, and act like fools, we do serious damage to the gospel work God has called us to locally and globally.

Uniting around the gospel is hard…kind of like sometimes your marriage is hard, your kids drive you crazy, and you wonder if it’s all worth it. But to disregard it and act like we are exempt from it is to completely disregard Jesus’ prayer for us to be one.

The gospel-centered unity that we need is not just in our individual churches. While certainly that is important and applicable, the greater need is that we begin to see gospel-centered unity in our cities. That pastors who love Jesus and are focused on the Great Commission lock arms together for the gospel in their city. That church planters are welcomed with opened arms by existing pastors and churches. That older, traditional church pastors and young, hip, contemporary pastors meet at the same table with the same broken heart for the city and the same determination to see the gospel advance and the same commitment to work together to see it happen.

Over the next couple of days, I am going to share 3 key relationships where I think this kind of gospel-centered unity needs to be more clearly seen. In each relationship, there is a natural posture and there is a needed posture. The natural postures fight unity because they’re born in pride while the needed postures foster unity because they are born in humility.

I hope you’ll track with me and engage in the conversation. Let’s get together…for the gospel!

Here’s some HOT stuff for you on a HOT 4thof July weekend…

1. The next several weeks are going to be crazy as we move closer and closer to finally and officially launching Awaken Church (September 13 baby!). Next week, we’ll be announcing a HUGE community event, a serving initiative, and…drumroll…rolling out a fresh, new, official website. Exciting stuff!
2. You need to stop what you are doing right now and watch David Platt’s sermon from the SBC Pastors Conference. Easily, one of the most important, most powerful, and most prophetic sermons I have EVER heard. David is 30 years old and pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL.
3. While you’re there, watch Francis Chan’s message, too. He can drop hammers all day long because he reeks of (in a good way) authenticity and humility. My favorite hammer from his sermon was, “I’m sick of being ALMOST biblical.” That’ll preach!
4. Speaking of Francis Chan, did you know you can download the audio version of his book, Crazy Love, for FREE on christianaudio.com? Well, you can. And, you should. Fabulous book!
5. Awaken Church is going to party, party and celebrate the oft-forgotten about 5th of July on Sunday afternoon! If you’re in Columbia…or not…and want to eat burgers, swim, play kickball, throw the frisbee, and you’re okay with the possibility of getting hit with a water balloon, then come on out! Gonna be fun!

Happy 4th of July to you and to America!

You know…the uncle that you’re scared to introduce your new girlfriend to at Thanksgiving. Every family has one. And one way or another, the crazy uncle always finds a way to make himself known.

The Southern Baptist Convention is no different.

A lot of you got all riled up last Tuesday when a few ultra-minority and obviously off-mission people made some off-the-wall motions in the business session. The Twitter-verse, or whatever it’s called this week, lit up like a Christmas tree with people saying the SBC is going to boycott Pepsi, pull Driscoll off the shelves, and kick out everyone who cusses. As I read those tweets, my heart broke. Two reasons…

One, we allowed 10 minutes of nonsense to push out 3 days worth of gospel-centered, mission-driven movement. Seriously…10 minutes totally ripped out of context began to dominate the airwaves. All the chatter made it sound like someone got up and preached a hellfire and brimstone sermon condemning Driscoll, Pepsi, cuss words, public schools, and whatever else and then gave out a Braveheart-esque yell at the end while they were met with vigorous applause from a captive audience ready to jump at the chance to boycott stuff. SO NOT TRUE! The reaction and chatter stems from a lack of understanding of Baptist polity and a lack of understanding what is really going on in the SBC right now.

What happened was a few voices made a few motions…motions that never even made it to the floor, never were voted on, never were supported from the stage, and never had any merit in the big picture. The motions were made AT the SBC, not BY the SBC. Big difference.

Second, it seemed that there was a waiting world ready to jump on the “SBC Gone Wild” train. I saw Christian brothers immediately begin ripping the SBC without having a clue as to what was really going on. Almost like everyone was waiting on the crazy motions to come so they could throw the SBC under the proverbial bus. As Lee Corso says….”not so fast my friends.”

If I met the crazy uncle in your family, you’d probably beg me not to judge your family as a result of my encounter with him. He probably said something that was not representative of the family, he probably dressed a little different, may have even smelled a little different…

I would ask the same of you. Please don’t judge the SBC because of the crazy uncles in our family. There are a handful, no doubt. But that’s a small handful…and getting smaller.

As Dr. Mohler twittered during the 10 minute fiasco last week, “Keep in mind, the motion process allows us to see where we need to do the most work.” Yes, we need to do some work – that’s why the Great Commission Resurgence, the money raised to send 2000 stalled missionaries to the International mission field, and the Adoption and Orphan Care resolution are such significant marks of this convention. We’re moving in the right direction!

Let’s celebrate those initiatives that the ENTIRE convention adopted almost unanimously rather than making much of the 10 minutes when a handful of our crazy uncles made themselves known.

Not only did I survive it, but I really enjoyed. Way more than I thought.

It wasn’t because of the business sessions…I know, you’re surprised. It wasn’t the mini-donut smell that permeated everything. It wasn’t the 3 consecutive BBQ meals I enjoyed. It wasn’t being back in the great nation of Kentucky.

The number 1 reason why I enjoyed the SBC Annual Meeting, why I’ll go again next year, why my church will continue to be a cooperating church, and why I am going to be engaged for the forseeable future is this…

My brothers and sisters took a strong, unified, and loud stand TOGETHER for the Gospel of Jesus and for doing whatever it takes to ensure that our singular focus is taking that Gospel to every city, tribe, tongue, and nation. We united around the Great Commission, not building the Great Denomination.

From the preachers to the conversations in the halls to the dinners hosted by the agencies to the Baptist21 panel lunch that saw 600 young Baptist leaders gather together, the theme was not “How do we save our denomination?” The theme was “How do we better build the kingdom?” Big difference.

I saw the President of the Pastors Conference, Ed Litton, call for Pastors to “give ridiculously” to world missions instead of using the offering to help his church stomach the costs of the conference. The result was 10’s of thousands of dollars given to helped stalled international missionaries get to the field.

I saw our Convention overwhelmingly unite around the Great Commission by passing a motion to form a Great Commission Task Force that will work hard over the next several months to ensure that every dollar given to missions through the Cooperative Program is best used and that every agency is focused on the Great Commission. In other words, leaders and agencies will be held accountable. The Kingdom and the future matter more than the denomination and the past.

I saw our Convention overwhelmingly support an unprecedented initiative for Adoption and Orphan Care. It’s a call for EVERY family and EVERY church in the SBC to do more to care for orphans all over the world.

I could go on and on, but I will leave it with this: it’s a new day for the Southern Baptist Convention. Everyone told me I would be one of a handful of young guys there – not so much. The place was packed with young leaders who have been energized by our convention’s obvious move away from denominational superiority to gospel-centered, mission-driven unity. We were there in full force and I don’t think that will change. The door is wide open for new leaders to step in. I, for one, plan on walking through that door, as God leads and provides opportunity.

I’m thankful for the SBC and believe in the SBC. Our best days are ahead and the 4 days that we got together in Louisville, KY were nothing less than historic and powerful. Now, may God grant us the faithfulness, courage, focus, and passion to pursue Him, His Kingdom, and to carry out His Great Commission.

I have a couple more posts coming with thoughts and reflections from the SBC, so stay tuned.

“And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ And immediately, they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:17-18 (ESV)

I’m captivated by this and I wrestle with it everyday. Jesus did something here that frankly, we just don’t do very well. I don’t know if it’s because we don’t trust Him, we don’t trust the Holy Spirit…I don’t know. But everyday, I wrestle with what Jesus did here with His first followers.

One thing…He didn’t go after the religious elite. In fact, He went in the exact opposite direction. He found uneducated, ordinary guys. Fishermen. When He called them to follow Him, they had no idea who He was, where they were going, what they would do, or why it was important.

But, immediately, they dropped their nets, left everything that was comfortable and known, and followed Him.

And they didn’t even ask the most obvious question beyond those I just mentioned above. “Uhh, Jesus, what the heck does it mean to fish for men? Fish for fish, we got that. But fish for men…we’re a bit confused.” For some reason, it didn’t even matter. They just followed.

Now, here comes the wrestling match for me. What did Jesus do with these uneducated, ordinary guys that left everything they knew to follow Him?

Did Jesus lead them to a classroom and take them through the 10 points of being a disciple? Did he distribute notebooks with fill in the blank outlines and say, “Pay attention and take notes, boys…?”

No. He didn’t take his new, impressionable, uneducated, ordinary followers to the classroom. He took them to the streets.

The next part of Mark 1 finds these new followers listening and watching Jesus as he taught about the Kingdom of God to the crowd gathered in the synagogue in Capernaum. They watched as He cast out a demon and followed as He left the synagogue to heal Simon’s mother in-law. That night, they saw the huge crowd gather and watched as Jesus healed many who were sick. The next morning, they woke up only to find their new leader was already awake and was off by Himself praying. They found Him and followed Him on to the next towns for more preaching, more healing, and more praying.

No classroom. No fill in the blanks. No Survivor Kits.

Jesus skipped the classroom and went to the streets. His new followers learned what it meant to follow Jesus and fish for men by going with Him, watching Him, learning from Him, and then engaging in the work themselves.

What does this say to us who lead churches and attempt to lead people to love, worship, and follow Jesus with their whole lives? What does this say to people who have surrendered their lives to Jesus and now think they have to learn something before they can do anything for Jesus?

That’s where I wrestle. I’ll share some more throughout the week. Would love to hear your thoughts, if you have any on the matter.

Call me sappy. I don’t care.

Our oldest has her last day of preschool today. Seems like we brought her home from the hospital two weeks ago. Probably will feel like two weeks before we’ll be moving her into a college dorm room.

God is challenging me big time as a husband and a daddy…calling me to take advantage of every moment He gives me to love and lead my family to love Him and others. Oddly enough, He’s using this song to call and motivate me.

I’m a Hootie nut. Darius Rucker could sing the phone book and I’d buy it. But this song is special. Enjoy Darius’ acoustic rendition of his #1 hit, “It Won’t Be Like This For Long.” Then, go love your kids, especially your little girls, and make the most of every moment you have to love and lead them.

It won’t be like this for long.

This is going to be a great weekend…I’m really looking forward to it!

1. Sunday is going to be huge for Awaken Church! I will be asking people to make commitments to join our Launch Team that will serve as the foundation of Awaken Church and will work together to engage the community and build a healthy culture before we officially launch in September. It’s time for the rubber to hit the road! Can’t wait to see people step up to own this vision of joining God in the transformation of people, Northeast Columbia, and the world!

2. My best friend Lee Webb, his precious wife Rachel, and their linebacker son Walker will be stopping in for a visit today and tomorrow. Lee and I became really good friends during our time in Shelbyville, KY, but in the 6 years since we left Shelbyville, our friendship has gotten stronger. Can’t to have some quality talk time with him on the golf course this afternoon, grill some burgers tonight with our families together, and who knows after that!

3. Sam Frye is moving to Columbia to join the team at Awaken Church! Sam interned with us last summer, went back to Liberty to finish up his master’s degree, and now is moving back to help plant Awaken Church. Sam reminds me a ton of Jonathan’s armor bearer – he’s wiling to do whatever it takes to see the gospel advance. Can’t wait to have him back in Columbia! He will help us craft our serving partnerships in the community and help people discover their gifts and how they fit into what God is doing in Northeast Columbia. Welcome back, Sam!

4. I think I figured out why I am struggling so much to get back in a good blogging rhythm. The focus of what I want to write has shifted which means my intended audience needs to shift. Playing around with some ideas now and might pull the trigger over the weekend. This can be such an effective platform and I am not leveraging it as I used to and as I should…drives me crazy!

5. God is doing a great work in Columbia, SC and I am honored to be here to be a part of it. This is my hometown – my heart bleeds and breaks for this city. We need to see a move of God…a powerful, awe-striking move of God. I know that our church is not the answer, but I do believe that we are part of the answer. Would you pray with us and pray for us? We’re ready…let’s do this!

Have a great weekend!