Leaning on your Staff

Today I am extremely grateful for the kindness shown to me by our congregation.

Yesterday, Beverly, Kaitlyn and I were surprised by our church family with a special 10 year celebration. All week we have been celebrating the completion of phase one and two with nightly services & events. As we were beginning our second morning service, our staff stopped everything and began a surprise for us that was incredible.

We received letters from city officials, local agencies and friends in the ministry from around the country. We were also surprised to have members of our families in attendance. Our choir & dance teams performed special songs in our honor and a 10 year video was shown in our honor. Also, Bishop Wayman Ming preached a message that was very inspirational!

In addition, our family was overwhelmed with a generous offering & gifts from our congregation, a brand new stainless steel refrigerator, a Wii and a Caribbean cruise.

I am encouraged and thankful to our staff who led the way in this very thoughtful gesture. Apparently they have been planning this for several months and did it all right under our noses. :-)

When your team plans something like this, you are truly grateful and quite frankly embarrassed. However, their thoughtfulness is such a shot in the arm!

Today I commend our team for their affection and love towards their pastors!!!

What do you expect?

"The spirit of expectancy is breeding ground for miracles". Those are the words I heard Mike Murdock speak years ago at my church where I first youth pastored almost 20 years ago and I still remember it as though it were yesterday. I listen to what people say and their words indicate they don't believe something good is going to happen for them. I not o nly believe, I expect good things to happen to me and for me according to God's Word and His promises.

I do not expect to be tomorrow where I am today...it is that simple! I am doing what I can with what I have to the best of my ability and am leaving the rest to God. I know He loves me and has my best interest at heart and wants me blessed more than I want me to be blessed!

Today is the day the Lord has made.....let us rejoice and be glad......and expect God to do great things! Have a blessed Sunday!

Let the Word do the work

I have a guy in my church who works for PGA West golf club just a few miles from us and can get me free golf whenever I want. Problem, I either don't have the time or don't take the time to play like I want to. So today, the first time in almost a year I went golfing and it was not pretty. I am not very good anyway, normally shoot in the 90's but today was OUCH...bad.

It took me until the 16th hole to realize one of my MANY problems. I wasn't letting the club do the work. I was swinging too hard and trying to do to much instead of letting up a little, try not to kill the ball and let the club do what it was designed to do.

So on my way home I thought about us as pastors that at times we try to do too much. We think if we work a few more hours and just a little harder that the church will grow. I have found out the hard way that it is simply not always true. You see, when you try to do too much swinging a golf club you end up getting your stance messed up or moving something that needed to be still or bending what needed to be straight.

The point is this. When we try to do too much we usually end up messing things up one way or another. Things get out of whack instead of letting His Word do wat it was intended to do. His word does not fail. That does not mean we should all play golf all week long, preach Sunday and let the Word do the rest. We have some responsibilities and things we should be doing to partner with God. However, nothing we can do, no matter how hard we try can make God's Word more powerful than it already is. So next time, do what you can within reason and then......

LET THE WORD DO THE WORK!

Are You Done Yet?

Last night I received a very disturbing call that wrecked me for a time. It was my Bishop on the other end informing me that on of our ministers (35) had been pronounced brain dead following a fatal car accident while away with his wife over the weekend.

I am not ging to lie, we were on different planets when it came to our views of ministry and though we were not enemies we were not buddies either if you know what I mean.

After hanging up with Bishop Lake I said a prayer for his wife and kids and started to get emotional whn my wife walked in and asked me what was wrong. I told her what had happened and we both sat there stunned for a few moments. My mind raced with thoughts about his family, his ministry & did he make provisions etc. You see moments like that cause all differences to go away if not but for a short period of time and we remember we are all brothers on the same team. It also makes you realize how much there is to do and if we do not get busy we may miss it!

Jesus said "work while it is yet day for the night comes when no man can work". I am 2 years older than Jason and I have s much to do for my family and for the Kingdom. The question is if there is much to be done..are we doing it and if not, why not?

Let me close with this. None of us have been promised tomorrow or how much more time we have to do what needs to be done so.........ARE YOU DONE YET? If not, what are you waitin for?

Busy or Productive

Recently in the last year or so we have trimmed away some things that consumed time and money but really wasn't effective when it came to our true purpose. I realized that at times we were doing things just because it seemed everyone else did them. Before I knew it our calendar was always full which at the time seemed really "spiritual". I soon came to realize that busy was foolish if it was not bringing forth the purpose for which we were called. We could be a church known for having alot going on, none if it really great but we had something for everyone. Or, we could be a church known for being very good at certain things, the right things! We are not a buffet church......there are enough of those all around. Instead my goal is to get Legacy to a place that we know exactly who we are and what God wants us to do and if IT does not accomplish exactly that then we will cut it off and let it die!

I realize that some things are not neccessarily bad things but they don't have to be wrong to not be the right things either. Our people have alot going on between work, family and personal responsibilities. If we are going to ask them to participate in something let's make sure it is the right things and if they are worth doing let's do them well!

Any thoughts?

5 Styles of Leadership that always Lose

#5 - The Fearful Leader

I remember the first staff member we hired I was scared…I knew it didn’t make sense on paper…but I KNEW it was what God wanted.
I remember the first time we moved to being a portable church. I was scared to death…but I KNEW it was what God wanted.
I remember when we moved from being portable into a 1.4 million $$ facility. I was scared…but I KNEW it was what God wanted.
I remember when we launched 2 Sunday worship experiences. It didn’t make sense…it was CRAZY…but I knew it was what God wanted.

I could go on and on. The bottom line ISN’T that a leader never comes face to face with a fearful situation…but rather a leader learns to trust in God’s direction and power rather than give into fear and uncertainty.
When a leader allows fear to control him…the people he leads ALWAYS lose.
Fear forces a leader to embrace the “way things are” rather than how they should be.
Fear causes a leader to think more about what they have to lose rather than what the Kingdom has to gain.
Fear makes a person depend on their power and ability rather than God’s.
Fear leads to impulsive and unwise decisions rather than prayed through and processed ones.

MY prayer for myself is that I NEVER become obsessed with safety and lose sight of HIS SOVEREIGNTY.
He reigns…and IF I BELIEVE THAT THEN I HAVE TO LEAD LIKE I BELIEVE IT!

Any fears you need to face? PCG Pastors…what steps is God asking you to pray about that will only be done if He shows up. Those are God led steps of faith…and never play it safe because we have WAY too much at stake!

5 Styles of Leadership that always Lose

#4 - The “Keep Everyone Happy” Leader.

You will NEVER please everyone in your church…EVER!
AND…the thing I’ve learned is that when people are upset they are usually the loudest…which makes them seem like the majority.

One of the problems that exist today in church world is that very few people are willing to LEAD…to have convictions and stand up for them…no matter who gets ticked off.
Paul addressed this in Galatians 1:10…we cannot please people AND please Jesus–period!
And if it ever becomes a leaders goal to keep EVERYONE happy…they will be successful in reaching NO ONE.

Leadership takes guts…thick skin…a willingness to take a slap in the face and keep on going.
God didn’t call leaders to make people happy…He called us to lead people to Jesus.
AND…being obsessed with what others think of you is the QUICKEST way to enter into a state of depression that you will never pull out of.

Acts 20:24…we need to consider our lives worth nothing…and do all we can for HIM…not “them!”

Jesus consistently ticked off the religious scholars and pharisees because He spent time with sinners. They even made the statement that He gets cozy with them and treats them like friends.

If they were ticked off at Jesus, they will get ticked off at you. Quit trying to please everyone. Please the one that matters.