Sunday, February 24, 2008

Top Seven

Here are the top seven things that happened to me this week (not necessarily in any order):
1. Being asked by my son, Justin, to come out to the 'shop' and feel a fender of a 1956 pickup to see if I thought he had sanded it smooth enough to paint. He is astonishing -- completely different basic interests than me, but I could not love him any more. I have no idea if he has the fender ready (not in my gifts inventory), but I love that he asked me.
2. Laughing my head off in the ER at the hospital last night with Milford Gibbs. That guy is really special to me also. I am watching God rework his DNA as a radical church planter right before our eyes. He is fine by the way.
3. Learned what church planters' DNA looks like in people by going to the Evolve Conference in Atlanta. I basically knew this, but it was clarified by God after driving 18 hours and 1100 miles over 3 days. They are people who cannot stand the thought that there are people in their community or a near community that don't know Christ and are going to hell. If you want to hear from one of them, check out this talk by Bill Cornelius the link . They are loyal and completely committed to mission and vision. But it is not for everybody. If you are not sure what the vision is, show up next Sunday night at 6:30 to be sure.
4. We had a very special family visit our church this morning. We have that every week, but this was extra special because they were spending time with my sister in Christ, Juanita Gray, who has just discovered that her youngest grandchild, Kyle, has Down's Syndrome. This couple's beautiful daughter also has Down's. I saw such look of hope in everyone's eyes. Juanita's eyes said, "This is doable." Their eyes said, "We are blessing someone."
5. I am writing the Easter sermon. I have never preached at Easter, and I am scared to death and excited at the same time. As usual, we are preparing and writing the unusual. One thing that never changes is the incredible Scripture record that God sent to us so that we could discover the events of that week and worship the One who carried out the most important act of love in all history that week. Studying God's Word is an honor and a privilege.
6. Seeing that a lot of people could not stay away from worship celebration this morning despite the weather. That did not happen because of the quality of our presentation; it happened because of the magnificence of the Object of our worship.
7. My wife told me that she loved me. Nuff said.

Sunday Morning

I had great plans to go in at 6:00 and help set-up this morning, but it just did not happen. Our dear friend Milford Gibbs had chest pains last night (and if you know his history, when he has chest pains, the hospital is a quick destination), and so Kel and I were with him until late. I thought we went to minister to him, but he told us a story (influenced by morphine I am sure) about the fire doors closing to his ER room and the doctor not being able to get to him to work on his situation that was just hysterical. We laughed so hard that all of his buzzers and bells went off and that just made us laugh harder. Not fearing death is a great thing. It looks like he did not have a heart attack, and his chest pain was probably caused by a double order of beef tips at Ponderosa. It was truly an honor to pray with one of my mentors that God restore his health quickly and that Christ be glorified in the process. Then when we got up this morning, our son Flavio (exchange student from Rome, Italy) came upstairs looking like Will Smith in Hitch (swollen up with great big red hives); he was having an allegic reaction to something and so Kel took him to hospital to grab a bed right next to Milford (that should be an interesting conversation).

The great news is that I snuck in some reading from Genesis this morning, prayed for all of you, and prayed that God reveal Himself in some powerful way today in the music, Alan's words, and our fellowship. This is crazy, but it is fun. I will update later in the day.

May Christ be glorified in all that we do today!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Super Bowl Sunday

We keep running into a man named Steven Furtick. Actually, he is just a kid -- turned 28 on Tuesday of this week. Steve is the lead pastor at Elevation church in Charlotte, NC, and the reason that we feel so drawn to him and his church is that they started exactly at the same time that we did at The Bridge with the same intentions to change the world for Jesus Christ. If you guys think I am whacko, check out this blog by Steven http://www.stevenfurtick.com/elevation/i-promised-you-a-good-comeback%e2%80%a6/. Now I am not proposing that we start saying things like, "Who do you think you are, Simon 'freakin' Cowell?" But these serious church planters are a different breed; they have a God-ordained DNA that is very passionate about Jesus Christ and ALSO very passionate about finding people who are far from God and introducing them to Him. What I am finding out is that I am not alone in this world in feeling like we do not have time to focus on things that -- while they seem important at the time -- really are rather insignificant compared to how much Christ wants us to experience His Kingdom while we are here. I have this DNA, and I think most of you who will read this do also.

Steven Furtick is where we got the idea to start our capital campaign with the "Bridging Back" effort where we gave away a week's offering. The difference was in the risk factor. When they gave away a week's offering of $40,000, it left them with nothing in the bank -- zero. They almost had to take out a loan to make payroll the next month (however, it is more likely their staff would have worked for free like they did the first 6 months of the church). We did it the safe way -- gave away our $5,000 from reserves; we had a lot of money in the bank. How was God honored by each effort? I think God poured open the floodgates of heaven for Elevation's risk by receiving a 3 year commitment of 6.4 million dollars for a building that they have not even planned yet and for land that they do not even know where it is yet. I am very proud of The Bridge's $126,000 3-year commitment, but I think we have become safe. We did not risk; we did not trust that God would take care of us. The good news is that it is not too late. I think that God has been speaking loudly to some of you to join in the cause with a little more risk (maybe a lot more). There are probably 60,000 people not going to heaven in St. Francois County and I say that we take the Gospel to them all. There are over 200,000 people in Jefferson County and they are next as we are looking to plant the next Bridge up there somewhere in 2009.

At first glance, Elevation is dominating The Bridge as a January 2006 church plant. In January, they have averaged 3,100 in attendance at two sites. Why are we at 80% capacity in blessed little E-Hall and only have one site? They got their second site up and running in a school with less than a month of planning. They risk; we play it safe. Things are not all gloom and doom for The Bridge though -- LET ME BRAG ON YOU A LITTLE! I thank God for every one of you and I think that you are all awesome! At the church planters conference in Atlanta this week, we received quite a few check lists of what makes a successful church plant. We have probably 90% of those in place now. Just a little tweaking and we are in superb shape. We have been a little too safe and let a little 'biting and devouring' from Galatians 5 just plain slow us down. That must stop. Let's be unified and be risk-takers for Christ. By the way, Elevation's 3100 in worship in a county of 877,445 (0.35%) as compared to our average attendance of 480 in a county of 65,000 (0.73%) means that per capita, we are kickin' Elevation's hindquarters by double. That won't last long if we don't pick up the effort to deliver Christ to the rest of our county by storm. Lastly, we also have two other things in common with Elevation. We started completely from scratch financially like they did (big risk -- not one penny from a denomination, or church planters group, or anybody), and our staff worked free for a period of time to get the church off of the groud. That is church planters DNA! Do you have the DNA?

While you are figuring out what else to do, please get on your face and your knees and pray. Tell God who you believe He is, better yet, who you know He is; praise Him for every -- and I mean every -- large and small blessing in your life. Thank Him for every trial that you are going through. Thank Him for all of His provision in your life. Take just a little time and ask Him for what you need and for what others need (praying for yourself and others should take only about 10% of your prayer time), and then shutup and listen. Pray to hear from Him as you pray through the scriptures and then be quiet and listen. We talk too much -- let's listen. I have bumped into no fewer than six references to the book "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" in the last week. This book is about prayer revolutionizing a fouled up world for Christ's Glory. God used page 23 to call Steven into what he is doing now. It is worth your time to read. Oasis has it; Amazon.com has it; I have a couple of copies. I suggest that you join the masses (all 6 of us) and read it this month. King Jesus is going to change the world through our little group; let's grab on and enjoy the ride. If you want to pray with me, I will be at the Oasis every Thursday at 5:00 to pray through the Scriptures. You are welcome to join me, but don't expect me to talk to you because I am not there to drink a Latte; I am there to listen for direction about how to do our part to bring these people to Christ.

On his two-year anniversary video http://www.stevenfurtick.com/uncategorized/two-year-anniversary-video/, Steven says that every Sunday at Elevation is the church's Super Bowl. I understand what he means by that. He means that we should never give God anything but our best. I am planning on being a little nervous at 6:00 am on Sunday when I hit my knees for the first time that day praying that all of you become a little more Christ-like on this day (I pray that for you everyday after I pray it for me), and that some people who were bound for hell when the morning began will be bound for heaven when the day is done. How about that for a Super Bowl Sunday? How about that for some purpose? Who are you supposed to hogtie and bring to church Sunday so that they can experience the magnificent Gospel of our Christ Jesus?

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Conquering Addictions

I have lots of thoughts this morning as I look out at the sleet hitting the ground that has called off school for the 423rd time this winter. I hope that you do not have a vacation planned in June because our kids will be in school on Independence Day. I know that our Conquering Addictions team from the GAP ministry held a training last night and I just wanted to give you some thoughts about that. It begins on March 19 at 6:30 in Room AS206 at Mineral Area College (AS is the main building where most classes meet). This team will be presenting "Desiring God" by John Piper first, and they will do a great job with that. I would assume that your thoughts are this morning that this ministry is for hard core addicts and alcoholics to recover from their 'addictions.' That would be true, but is is far more than that. I thought I would send you a list of areas that you might want to consider if you feel a nudge to attend this ministry:
1. Chocolate -- You don't understand Tim; I need my chocolate -- or really any other food or types of food that may have questionable benefits to your health that we feel that we cannot do without (fried foods, high fats, sweets, the morning Mountain Dew, etc, etc, etc). Caffeine may be on this list; I fasted from coffee for a couple days last week and thought my head was going to come off. By the way, one piece of dark chocolate or a couple of cups of coffee (moderation) a day may actually be healthy - half the bowl or half the bag or 4 pots of Starbucks means that you might want to consider CA.
2. Desperate Housewives -- Missing cell meetings to make sure that you don't miss the season premier of DH or American Idol might be a possibility. How many hours are spent with your face aglow from High Def? I am a recovering sports freak; my moderation now means that I watch a few minutes of the Big Monday basketball games as a I prepare for church staff meetings instead of all three games beginning to end. Men are not off the hook here. If you just spent the football season watching all three games on Sunday beginning to end, we will see you on the 19th.
3. Church Work -- If your middle child asked you what your name was when you returned from the Beth Moore Bible study this week, cancel your entire church schedule except CA on Wednesday night and Sunday morning Celebration at The Bridge and do your Bible study with Johnny and Susie for a few months. You have made church an idol.
4. Promotion at Work or Next Business Deal -- nuff said. See you there.
5. Kids. Do you have your kids prioritized in front of God and your spouse? That is 6:30 on the 19th.
6. Technology. How much money does ATT actually make from text messaging? People do it during my sermons at The Bridge. May God smoke them (just kidding). If I had to listen to me, I might text message also (but someone would have to teach me, I have never sent one). I wish I had a dollar for the building fund for every e-mail I read a day. Think that Facebook might be an idol for some, Google surfing, reading blogs like this one? We have some members of our staff that just read this and signed up for CA. HAAAAAAAAa!
7. Yourself. -- Wanna test? Break down your prayer life: if 95% of your pl is "God, I need this. God, I need that. I need ________, Whoa is me," you may be addicted to yourself. Don't feel alone; we are all addicted to ourself. You can start your recovery by spending 90% of your prayer time telling God who you understand him to be, praising Him for that ID, thanking Him for what is right in your life, praying thru some scriptures, and shutting up and listening to Him. You can take the remaining 10% and ask God to help you and pray for others. Our sin nature means that all of us are addicted to ourselves, so everyone qualifies for this ministry.
8. Anything else that you place in front of God. 6:30 -- main building -- MAC -- March 19!

These eight concepts are probably much more dangerous than whiskey or meth or sex. Most of us who have had serious problems with those 'big three' knew that we had a problem; most who are dealing with these eight think that we are fine. Think about it. Would you rather overcome some fears and swallow some pride to attend a ministry that looks it is for those 'addicts,' or continue with these things that will limit your relationship with the King? Call 573-747-4044, or e-mail help@conqueringaddiction.com, or check out this website http://www.greatadventureproject.com/id2.html.

tim