Baccalaureate 5.23.10

This morning, we honored the 2010 graduates affiliated with our church family. Fifteen students walked down our aisle in cap and gown as their pictures were shown on the screens. Our Student Ministries Pastor read a brief bio of each student. My wife and I had the privilege of greeting each one, and handing them a gift. Just past us were the youth leaders who had invested their lives into these students. Some students had been here for a long time and others were new to our ministry, but we were so glad to have a part in the life of each one.

Rather than preaching a specific baccalaureate sermon, I chose instead to continue with our series on "Making Disciples." The first step in making a disciple is sharing our faith and seeing a person enter into a relationship with God. Each of these graduates needs to be a disciple and be making disciples via whatever career path they choose to enter into. Their highest calling is to serve God with their life.

Tonight's service was entitled, "When Bad Things Happen to God's People." It's not a matter of if, but when. I encouraged our folks to realize that God will often allow these things for the purpose of Punishment, to Prepare us for something, or to Purify us in order to make us more like Christ. The bottom-line is that we need to focus on how we handle adversity, rather than why it occurred.

Innovate Church Conference

This week, I had the privilege of taking our pastoral staff to the Innovate Church conference hosted by Thomas Road Baptist Church. It was awesome! The line-up of speakers included Jonathan Falwell, Jim Cymbala, Ed Stetzer, Mark Batterson, Egun Caner, Brian Bloye, Jack Graham, and Chuck Swindoll. That is an all-star line-up all in one conference!

The theme was "Refuel" and it did just that for me. It is rare that a pastor gets to go anywhere and just sit back and soak in some great Bible teaching. The topics were pertinent and much of what I've been preaching at our church over the past 7.5 years. In addition, it affirmed to our staff that we are headed in the right direction. It was good for us to spend some time away from the church and get refueled together.

Read more about the Refuel conference at www.innovatechurch.us

Sunday Summary 5.16.10

Yesterday, I started preaching through some things that our staff and deacons began discussing during our recent retreat. I started by laying some ground work for measuring success in the local church. Too many simply look at numbers to gauge success, but I've found that drawing a crowd and building a church are usualy two different things and each decade had its own "bag of tricks." In the 70's & 80's, churches swallowed goldfish, cut off ties, and ran busses. In the 90's, the seeker driven mentality told us to camouflage Christ, until we had them hooked. In this new millenium, we focus on music and the concert mentality. Nothing wrong with drawing crowds and anything alive and healthy should be growing. In June, we will be removing our attendance numbers from the Sunday bulletin and move away from the numbers equal success mentality.

Based on Matt 28:19-20, we've determined that the measure of success in a church is whether or not the church is making disciples. Are people being saved, connected, serving, and learning to disciple others? If not, then a crowd of 20,000 is a large crowd, but it's not a successful church. We've developed a process for producing disciples and that will be the focus of my sermon series in the days ahead.

Last night, I focused on the topic of divorce and remarriage. Statistics now tell us that "Christian" homes are experiencing more divorces than those outside the church. My focus passage was 1 Cor. 7, but I also used many others. Bottom-line... unless your spouse died, was unfaithful, or deserted you because of your Christian faith; you should remain married and work out your differences. Scripture is clear that God hates divorce!

If you were the victim of the items mentioned above, you are free to remarry. If you were the offender, you are to remain unmarried or be reconciled. True repentance will lead you to restore your marriage... if your former spouse is still alive, and has not remarried. There are many different views on this, but I believe mine is biblical. Too bad there isn't room to expound in a blog. Remember, some of the best counseling comes by sitting under good preaching.... so be faithful in the services.

Mothers Day, 5.9.10

Mother's Day is always interesting around EBC. The median age of our church is coming down, so we have more families that travel to be with mom each year. So, while it is not a "big attendance" day, it is a very special day. We started the service with a video of "momisms." They were great and brought back many memories, like what mom taught us about religion... "You better pray that comes out of the carpet," or what she taught us about time travel... "I'll knock you into next week."

Like most churches, we always give away awards to a variety of mothers. Most churches recognize the oldest mother, mother with most children, etc. At EBC, we make it fun! Last year, we recognized the mom who killed the biggest buck (deer) with ammunition or their car. This year, we recognized the mom who has accumulated the most traffic tickets, the mom with the most friends on Facebook, the 15th mom to text in, the mom whose child could convince us that she deserved an award, and the mom who had been married the longest... to the same man! Congratulations Ms. Hoffman on 67 years!

A highlight of the service was to show the picture of the first baby born with the help of the Carolina Family Planning Centers and then interviews with two of the moms and several of the volunteers. It obviously struck a cord, because our folks took 75 baby bottles to use as coin banks between now and Father's Day to benefit the CFPC.

We gave away tote bags to the moms and we gave them encouragement by looking at four moms in the Scriptures: Jacobed- the example of protection, Hannah- the example of prayer, Eunice- the example of teaching, and Mary- the example of persistence. We prayed for those who desire to be mothers, but are struggling with infertility. We closed the service by encouraging all of our ladies to be mentors to other women. IT WAS A GREAT MORNING!

Since so many local churches don't hold a service on Mother's Day evening, we started hosting a local concert. Last night, we hosted Lumber River and had a great crowd! It's a good reminder that people like all types of music and we need to minister to all types of people.

Why is a "spiritual" Worship Leader so hard to find?

Worship leaders appear to be "a dime a dozen" these days, but "spiritual" worship leaders have become difficult to find. We posted our church's open position twice on church staffing websites and received over 150 resume's each time. Sadly, most candidates had a shady past, were unhappy where they were, had been released from their previous position, had no experience, received an unfavorable reference, etc. Out of all the resume's we received, we only seriously considered about 12 of them each time. There are some good worship leaders out there, but most of them are already involved in a church, and the others seem scarce.

I've talked to numerous pastors who have experienced the same difficulty in finding "spiritually minded" worship leaders. Our search started when our last full-time worship leader engaged in adultery. Sadly, this seems to be the norm among worship pastors, rather than the exception. The church in which I grew up experienced this same situation 30 years ago. One of the churches in which I served had the same experience... with several worship leaders. In another church, the male worship leader ran off... with a man. Sounds unbelievable, but pastors across the country are sharing the same sad stories -- it appears to be an epidemic!

What happened to the days of the music "minister?" What ever happened to leading people into God's presence, rather than whipping them into an empty emotional frenzy? What happened to those who served in the background, rather than today's prima donnas who love to be in the spotlight? What happened to using music to prepare people for preaching, rather than making music the main event? What happened to those worship leaders who were godly examples... soul winners... true ministers?

How do we change the trend? How do we repair the damage imposed on onlookers? How do we teach people to trust "spiritual" leaders again? Something MUST be done! My suggestion is that we start by focusing on God as the object of our worship; rather than worshipping worship.

By the way, our church is still looking for a spiritual worship leader. Interestingly, the best worship leader we've had in my 7 1/2 years at EBC was a layperson, a lady that God brought into our congregation. She understood the importance of balancing styles, emphasized spiritual lyrics, loved people, and developed others. She was humble, and anything but a prima donna. She would move over to play the piano and allow others to lead publicly, she would share the responsibility of leading our choir, and she understood that her role was "ministry" through music. We brought her onto our staff and thought that would be a long-term relationship, but God had other plans and relocated her family to Myrtle Beach. So... we're looking, again, and praying that God will send us a true "minister" of music, who can truly lead people into authentic God-focused worship.

How does a church measure success?

We recently surveyed our congregation regarding how they defined success in a church. The question received a wide variety of responses. Most of our members gave the same responses I would expect to hear in most churches. Most gage their success by attendance numbers. So, consider the following:

- If a church grows from 200 to 1,000; but all their growth comes by members transferring from other churches... are they successful?

- If the church attendance drops by hundreds in one week, but on that Sunday someone is saved... is that success?

- If a church doesn't grow at all for 10 years, but during that time 2 dozen people commit their lives to serve God in a vocational capacity... is that success?

There are a thousand scenarios and just as many opinions; BUT there is a very simple way to measure success. Stop and ask, "Is your church making disciples?" Are people being saved, baptized, growing, and going? Is the church developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ? Simply seeing people saved, but never growing any further, is certainly NOT success; neither is growth by stealing people from other congregations. Success is developing disciples who can disciple others.

EBC will soon be implementing a new process for developing disciples. It includes the following four steps: Share, Connect, Serve, and Disciple. We realize that every member is at one of these stages and their needs differ at each stage. At the first stage, the person needs Christ for salvation or needs to return to a right relationship with the Lord. At the second stage, they need to connect with the church and other believers by attending services, Sunday School, special classes, building friendships, etc. At the third stage, members begin to minister to others. Level three people no longer hold the mentality of "what's in it for me," but instead ask, "what can I do for others?" Finally, those in stage four will begin to reproduce themselves in others by making disciples.

So, success can be measured by moving people through the process of developing disciples, resulting in -- disciples of Jesus Christ, who are discipling others. So, which one of the four levels are you at in the process? ... Okay... now go back and answer that question honestly. :-)

The Church's Response to Homosexuality

I'm sure some of you have preconceived notions about what this post will sound like. I hope you're wrong. I preached on this topic last Sunday night in my sermon series "Biblical Ethics in an Unbiblical World." With several Christian singers "coming out" in recent years: Ray Boltz, Kirk Talley, Jennifer Knapp, etc.; with the development of homosexual friendly churches; with the political and religious ruckous surrounding this topic... I felt like I needed to address it. The basis of my sermon was "What is the church to do?"

I personally believe that Christians point out homosexuality because it is a relatively "safe" sin to attack. Since the majority of Christians won't ever participate in homosexuality, it makes them feel somewhat safe to rant against it. No mistake, I did call it sin and won't debate that point, since the Bible is so clear about it in both the Old AND NEW Testaments. In addition, the Bible is the only absolute truth, so I refuse to be drawn into debates based around moral relativism. By the way, it is easy to find someone (including a preacher) who will agree with your opinion, but that doesn't change absolute truth.

So, what did I preach? I preached intolerance... for every sin. I shared that we should not tolerate gossip, discord, gluttony, or any other sin in our lives. True Christ-followers should be broken-hearted over ANY sin, and quickly drawn toward repentance. You shouldn't try to justify gossip, neither should you try to justify homosexuality. The fact is that God abhors all sin... even the socially acceptable sins. Realizing our sinful condition makes us more appreciative of God's forgiveness and grace. It also makes us more tolerant, loving, and patient toward others who are caught up in a variety of sins.

I preached that we should gain our identity in Christ, rather than being identified by what sin we are struggling with. We examined whether homosexuality was a condition or a choice. Finally, I reminded our church that we need to preach God's model of one man and one woman for a lifetime. God's plan was established in Genesis, and reiterated in both the Old and New Testaments. While some will argue that grace eliminated the OT Law, I remind you that grace always exceeded the expectations of the Law. The only thing that changed was the motivation..

So what do we do? The church needs to love those who are caught up in homosexuality. We need to accept them where they are and love them to where God wants them to be. We need to realize that nasty comments or antagonistic confrontations will only fuel the fire; it won't result in change. We need to see the plank in our own eye. We need to be as bothered by our own personal sin, as we are about the sins of others.

So, I dare you to look at your own sin, with the same distain that some of you look at the sin of homosexuality. I dare you to honestly ask God if He is okay with your sin? Sadly, some reading this post will miss the whole point and fail to recogize their own sin struggles.

Sunday Summary 5.2.10

For the past two Sundays, I've had our staff pastors preaching. I believe it is good for our congregation to get to hear them, it is good for them to be able to share what God has placed on their heart, and it is good for me to be able to show my support by sitting there while they are preaching or having the confidence to let them fill the pulpit while I am away. We have a great staff and I am truly honored to be able to work beside them.

Yesterday, David (our children's pastor), preached about having a joy filled life. He did a wonderful job and the message truly challenged our church. As he preached, anyone with children quickly realized how blessed we are to have David working with our children.

God has also been blessing our church with spiritual decisions. Last Sunday, a mother and her two daughters joined our church family. During this week, a man trusted Christ as his Savior. This morning, a child and his uncle were baptized. The uncle was saved during Team Impact at EBC. Praise the Lord!

We are so blessed to see God's Spirit moving in our church. I hope we never get used to or overly familiar with watching people make spiritual decisions.

Why Do You Attend The Church You Do?

Let me continue to challenge your thinking as it pertains to "nursery" style churches and "Army" building churches...

Tomorrow morning, people across our nation will attend church services. Some of them are already dreading it. I know this, because I hear people in our "culturally Christian" community constantly berating their church, pastor, deacons, choir members, other churches, etc. I talk with pastors in our community (and in other states) who are broken hearted because of the infantile behavior within their congregations. People know the Scriptures, but fail to apply them. These pastors feel like babysitters, rather than spiritual leaders. Sadly, this appears to the be the norm, rather than the exception.

Such common behavior prompts me to ask a few questions:
1) Is berating other believers helping or hurting the cause of Christ?
2) Do "Christians" understand that their negative comments may keep some from salvation?
3) Do people who gossip, sow discord, and divide the body; really think they can also worship?
4) Do those who attend churches as martyrs, really think that is a spiritual act of service?
5) Would we allow on a sports team, what we allow in the local church?

Some people in our area do crazy (and sinful) things under the guise of being 'spiritual.' The majority of believers simply laugh at them and call them crazy, but my heart breaks as they play the game of religion and worship the god of self. They are harming the body of Christ and such behavior certainly does not please a holy God.

So tomorrow morning, evaluate "why" you attend the church you do. If your answer begins with "God," then you're probably in the right place and probably for the right reason. If God led you to that church, and is using you to encourage others, exercise your spiritual gifts, lead some to Christ, and bring others to spiritual maturity; then stay put and keep serving Him!

On the other hand, if your answer contains the words "I," "my," "me," "mine," or anything similar... you only have a couple of options:
1) Repent of your self-centeredness, and rejoin your team.
2) Go find a church where they will worship you, appreciate you, sing your favorite songs, and avoid preaching against your sins. Hey... they might even let you choose the service start times, set the thermostats, and give less in the offering.

Remember: Setting up a nursery is all about keeping the infants comfortable; but building an army is hard work, it's uncomfortable, and it focuses on the needs of others. So... what type of church are you looking for?