Pseudo-Vacation

I wasn't really on vacation.  A few of you got on my case for working so much after I told you that I would be on vacation this week.  That meant a lot to me.  I need people to hold me accountable.  I am quite capable of being a workaholic.  The work I do is like a dream job.  Not that it doesn't have it's challenges, downside or bad days - it does.  Being the Senior Pastor of a large and new church has more than it's fair share of discouragement and hardships.  But for the most part I love doing what I get to do.  Really.  So, I'm grateful for friends who get on me for working when I should be playing, being a dad, being a husband, relaxing, etc.

But not this week.  My intent was to be off on Christmas day, of course, and Friday and Saturday.  Then I had planned to work on Sunday by doing reconnaissance at New Spring Community Church (I'll write about that experience soon) here in Greenville and working from that point all week.  I'm even working on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  Why?  

Because next week I really am on vacation.  Like no email, no cell phone, no work of any kind at all vacation.  I might tweet or blog - but not about church.  I'll do those things as a friend telling my friends about my experiences while on vacation, much like you would send a postcard to a friend while you were on vacation.  

I've been planning next week's family vacation for almost an entire year.  We gave this trip to our kids as a Christmas gift and they are bouncing off the wall.  We've been eating beans and franks, turning the heat down and using our towels 3 times for months in order to pay for it.  And now it's almost here.

One of my friends FB Messaged me and said, 'you work more than a dairy farmer!'  Well, now you understand.  I don't want to wonder if I left the iron on, so to speak.  I want to be completely free to enjoy this trip, and that's why I've been working like a dog this week.   

Run interference for me next week, will you?  I assure you that I will be completely out of touch.  Lori Wheeler, Beth Brawley and Dennis Green (and my mother, of course) will be the only people who know how to reach me.  

I'll let you know later where I'm going...but it will be the trip of a lifetime for my family!

Thank You

Just a quick note to thank all of you to have gone out of your way to express your thanks to me and what I mean to you through your cards, messages and posts these past few weeks. You have no idea how much your affirming words mean to me. I save them in a file and read them when I have hard days. They sustain me and they remind me why I do what I do. They remind me that what I do actually makes a difference. So, thank you for taking the time to write. If it weren't for people writing me words of affirmation like yours, I wouldn't still be in ministry today. You sustain me. God is literally using you to partner with me in this way. That's incredible. We literally require each other - we are equally important to the end result - and God gets all of the credit for every good thing that happens!

Thanks for taking the time to let me know that I matter in your lives. I love being the Senior Pastor of Powhatan Community Church!

Criteria I Use to Select Someone to Speak at PCC

In the past 6+ years, we've had a handful of people who have spoken for me in my absence.  Most have done a good job, some have done a great job.  But this kind of language is subjective. What does it mean to do a good, great, mediocre or poor job when standing in for me?  To be sure, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.  One person will think a joke is funny while someone else won't even get it.  One person will be moved to tears and the person next to them will be offended.  So the point is not to make everyone happy.  If that was the goal, it would be an effort in futility, because it's simply impossible.  Any given Sunday I get a word from somebody somewhere that I've upset them in some way.  I understand that in a church our size.  

But there are some criteria that I use to evaluate a person to determine if I will ask them to speak, and if I will ask them to return to speak again.  Here are a few of the guidelines I consider:

1)  Do they have the gift of preaching?  I don't use this word - preaching - very often.  It's a churchy word that has lots of negative connotations.  People remember mean 'preacher', a boring 'preacher', and a judgemental 'preacher'.  So I try to avoid the word.  But the truth is that the Bible says that God gives every Christ follower at least one spiritual gift, and among the list of options from which He chooses is the gift of preaching.  People who want to preach who do not have the gift of preaching end up being bad preachers.  Unfortunately, there are lots of these folks out there.  So, I try to look at a person and ask, "is the gift of preaching inside of this person somewhere?"  I've sometimes thought it was there and been wrong, but usually I can spot it.

2)  Are they coachable?  I am not the world's gift to public speaking.  I still have so much to learn and I am still growing.  One, Five and Ten years from now, I'll be so much better than I am today.  But, having said that, it's not a prideful statement to also recognize that this is something I have a good bit of experience, training, and a gift at doing.  I've learned a lot of lessons.  When I work with someone, I want to know that they are going to actively seek out my advice and that they are going to take some or most of it.  I want them to ask questions and seek feedback from me.

3)  Do they want to learn?  In short, I don't want anyone who thinks they already know it all.  I'm looking for someone who will take advice on books to read, CD's to listen to, other speakers to go online and seek out and learn from.  I want them humble, hungry, and hopeful that they can be better than they are.  

4)  Do they understand our church?  Almost always, I use people who are already at PCC because I don't want to have to worry about whether or not they understand who we are.  I don't want a mess to clean up.  At PCC, there is a certain structure, a certain theology, a certain style, a certain leadership, etc. that is important for a speaker to honor.  If someone were to stand on the stage and violate certain boundaries, it would hurt our church.  

5)  Can they meet deadlines?  We work as a team.  There are certain things that I do that are acceptable because they are the norm because I am the normal speaker.  When a guest speaker comes, he or she has to live within a set of deadlines.  Being on time to meetings, with early copies of outlines or manuscripts or pictures or slides is important.  

That's probably more than you ever wanted to know, but just in case anyone ever asks, now you can tell them to come to the blog and find the answer!

Understanding The Bible

Guest blogger Sammy Frame will teach one of our iD courses for this upcoming semester.  Interested?  Here's what Sammy has to say...

The Bible. Sixty-six books carefully written and compiled, spanning more than two millennia. Throughout its pages you can find the words of truth, the words of life, time-honored and time-tested principles that have proven priceless for countless generations. It has structured and shaped our world in profound ways. In it, God’s story unfolds, unbroken, precious, vibrant, and compelling. Tens of thousands of words so precious, so valuable, so rare, that mankind still searches through them looking for hope, promise, and eternity. A book so delectable, so enjoyable, and so fantastic that the ancient rabbis would compare it to the sweetest thing they knew: honey.

You can get your complete copy today from christianbook.com for $1.69.

So … maybe it’s not as valuable as it once was. And, despite how easy it may be to acquire a copy (we’ll give you one for free at PCC by the way), it doesn’t always seem that easy for people to read. For many it comes across as cryptic, old, irrelevant, boring, and (depending on the translation) difficult to read. Most folks tend to think of it as more like spinach than honey: good for you, but not all that tasteful. How, then, can a book that tells the story of God, the best selling book of all time, have come to this? How could the most important document in world history not be enjoyed?

In part, the answer lies not in its age or how exciting it seems, but in how we read it, in how we understand it. Like all communication, the Bible has to be interpreted, and interpretation can be a difficult thing to do. So, starting the evening of Sunday, January 11, let’s talk about how to interpret scripture. Let’s look at the Bible and wipe away the confusion. Let’s regain the excitement that the ancients felt whenever they encountered this beautiful, powerful book. Let’s learn and exercise some methods of interpretation together that will bring forth meaning from the Bible that we’ve never encountered. Come and join me for “Understanding the Bible”, an 8 week iD course on Sunday nights from 5:00 to 7:00 in the Art Room at Powhatan Elementary.

Perhaps, though, the Bible isn’t a strong point of connection to God for you or you don’t have much difficulty with it. Part of what PCC endeavors to accomplish in our community is to guide people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. PCC’s iD program seeks to accomplish just this. If the Bible course doesn’t do it for you, try looking at some of our other course offerings that will help you along your journey of growing to become more and more like Jesus. Perhaps Chauncey Starkey's “Experiencing God” class, Bob Pino’s “The Tabernacle”, or Kevin Salyer's “S.H.A.P.E.” class can help you further your knowledge and love of Jesus. Check out all of our course offerings here.

Beth Brawley's Debut to the Stage

Most of us know Beth best in this role - on a piano or making music in some way.  Even those of us who work closely with her know her best in her capacity to make music and other creative worship elements happen.

But that's not the hat she wore today.

Today, for the first time, Beth made her debut as a speaker on our stage.  For a long time, she and I have been talking about her taking this step.  Beth has some considerable gifts in this area and has worked hard to ensure that she was ready for this step.  I'm proud of her, and I know you are proud of her, too, for the work she did today.  Let her know, won't you, for the specific ways that her words touched you.

Let me also briefly tell you about how I approach others who speak on our platform.  The stage at PCC has tremendous power - power to influence, power to transform, power to motivate.  But it also holds the power to manipulate and to abuse and to lead astray trusting people and to take advantage of an unsuspecting crowd.  The trust that people have built in the platform we have at Powhatan Community Church is a tremendous gift that I hold in the highest regard.  It is both a priceless and a fragile treasure, and I will guard it vigorously.  Therefore, I hold it tightly, not because of ego, but because I want to be absolutely sure that someone standing in my stead will care for you the way that I do.

In tomorrow's post, I'll give you a few criteria that I use, just for you to have and know.

What Does it Mean to be a Christ Follower: Part 2

Ten days ago, I gave you Part 1.  Here is Part 2.

If being a Christ Follower is NOT focusing on a list of do's and do not's, than what IS it.  Well, you may feel that this is a cheating, condescending, over-simplified, insulting answer, but here it is:  A Christ Follower is someone who...follows Christ.  When Jesus met people who wanted to be changed, transformed, start over, get into heaven, become better, get healed, gain forgiveness, etc., he usually said something like (or often exactly like) "follow me".   Let's break this down.

In Matthew 5:20, Jesus tells his listeners that unless they have a righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees and the religious leaders, they won't enter the Kingdom of heaven.  This is a serious problem, because nobody was considered more 'righteous' than the Pharisees.  They were perfect keepers of the law.  The checked off every one of the 10 commandments, every item in the Law of Moses, every ordinance and interpretation of Jewish code.  They were complete rule followers.  By human standards, they had attained perfection.  But Jesus said their righteousness was so inherently flawed it would prevent them from entering heaven unless it was improved upon.  Did anyone have hope?

Yes.  Jesus wasn't looking for 1000 more rules to keep.  He was looking one relationship to make.  The Pharisees had made a religion based on moral code - we call this legalism.  Jesus wanted people to build their lives based on a relationship with the one true God.  We call this 'being a Christ Follower'.  This is why I say I can't stand it when people call me a religious person.  Religious people are stigmatized as those who are focused on what a person is allowed to do and what he or she is not allowed to do.  Jesus was focused on God.

Does that mean there are no boundaries?  Of course not.

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus tells his followers to seek first the Kingdom of God and God's righteousness.   I believe that when we focus our lives on following Jesus Christ, our hearts are then open to what is right.  We are open to the truth of the Bible, the authority of the church, the care and respect we have of other Christ followers in our community of friends.  

Focus your life on Following Christ first and foremost, and let other things fall naturally into place.  That is the order that God intended.  Be less like a Pharisee and more like a Christ Follower and your life will be better for it.

For Men Only and For Women Only

Last Sunday, I referenced a book by Shaunti Feldhann called For Women Only.  When couples come to us for Premarital Counseling, we usually ask them to read their respective copies of For Men Only and For Women Only, but these books are not only for people who are engaged.  These books are highly effective for any couple in any stage of marriage.  They are still good tools in my own marriage....and you know, Susan and I will celebrate our 19th anniversary on January 6!  You'd think that we wouldn't need anymore books after all that time, but marriage is like that.  In the famous words of Ricky Ricardo, we still have 'a lot of splaining to do'.  

So, why don't you go to Amazon, or better yet, plan a date right now, and on the way stop by the local book store and pick up these easy to read books.  Talk about them, learn about each other.  You'll be glad you did!