Christmas services

Still recuperating from 5 Christmas services. We had a blast!
We had our highest attendance ever with 2,026!! Tons of 1st time guests.
I'm not sure about how many spritual decisions were made, but I believe there were quite a few!
I want to thank all of our volunteers who served to make it all possible. You guys and gals are the best!

What a great day!

We have had 3 incredible Christmas services so far (there are still 2 more on Monday---4:30pm and 6:00pm)
In spite of some very dreary, rainy weather we had huge numbers of people. The energy was tangible and all in all it was phenenomenal!
If you didn't get a chance to come today, make sure you don't miss out tomorrow.
I'll update more about the services next week.

Countdown to Christmas

Just a couple days left until our Christmas services! Whatever you do, make sure you come, and bring your friends.
You are not going to believe what we are going to be doing during those services, but let's just say that there will be some audience participation that is going to make someone's Christmas even better!! (that's the only clue I am giving you. You'll have to come and see for yourself!)
Remember, we will be having 5 identical services to choose from. Sunday 8:30am, 9:45am, 11:15am and Monday 4:30pm and 6:00pm

friends

I got a chance to spend half a day yesterday with some Pastor friends of mine from the Upstate of SC. I always come back from these type things challenged and stretched. It is amazing how similar our experiences in ministry are. All of these guys are the founding Pastors of their churches, and I was the rookie having planted only 9+ years ago!
It's kind of funny, as we were swapping stories it kind of reminded me of a bunch of old geezers sitting around comparing stories of all of their surgeries!
Christmas is a great time of year to hang out with your friends!
Tomorrow, I will be doing lunch with some more Pastor friends! Should be fun.

Wow!

If you were at our services yesterday, you know that we did something that we rarely ever do (maybe never). I had read in the local paper on Saturday evening that there were 300 children in Oconee County that would not receive Christmas gifts because of some financial shortages of a couple of local agencies. After reading that I thought to myself, "Foothills Community Church can step in and make a difference." So we took a special spontaneous love offering after each of our services. It is absolutely amazing how you all stepped up. We collected over $5,500 yesterday (money is still being received today)!!!
I'm not sure how much money is allocated for each child, but, I'm pretty sure that that will help make sure that quite a few children get presents this year.

Also, yesterday we gave out DVD's to every person that attended. On each DVD there is an entire service (yes, with music!), as well as some other cool stuff. These are for handing out to your friends to make inviting them easier. I'm sure all of us has tried to describe what a Foothills service is like, only to say, "well you just have to come, because I can't really explain it". So now you can just hand them the DVD. They can watch it at their convenience, and if they like what they see, then they'll probably show up. Pretty simple!
Make sure you give yours out this week as we move toward this weekend's Christmas services. The service times are Sunday at 8:30am, 9:45am, 11:15am, and on Monday 4:30pm and 6:00pm

This Sunday

Whatever you do, make sure you don't roll over and go back to sleep tomorrow because we will be giving everyone who attends a very special gift to help you invite your friends to one of our 5 Christmas services on Sunday December 23rd and Monday December 24th!
Not only that, but the services tomorrow are going to be phenomenal as well.
See you tomorrow.

2008

Over the last couple of weeks I have been giving a lot of thought to 2008. I have been asking myself some tough questions about some personal goals I want to accomplish in 2008.
I haven't formalized them yet, but I will set spiritual goals, physical goals, personal growth goals, leadership goals, relational goals, etc.
2007 has been a great year, but I want to take it up a few notches personally in 08.
Because I tend to be fairly structured by nature, I have gotten myself in too much of a predictable pattern from a schedule standpoint, so I am going to shake things up a bit.
I think it's healthy to do personal evaluation on a regular basis. Statistically about half of us make New Year's resolutions. Whether you call it a resolution or not, a new year is a great time to reflect and to make changes.

Monday thoughts

** Pray for the people whose lives have been affected by the tragedies in Colorado. Both at New Life Church, and Youth With A Mission (Y.W.A.M.)
The Y.W.A.M. one really hits home for me because my daughter is at the Orlando base of Y.W.A.M.

** We had great services yesterday. Don't forget to come back this Sunday. We will be giving you something to take with you that will make inviting your friends to Christmas services easy! (I'm not going to tell you what we're going to give out. You will have to come to find out!)

** Mondays are meeting days around here. Once a month we have an all-staff meeting. Today I kicked off a new format for those meetings that hopefully will make them more productive. Our emphasis will be on Leadership Development Training.

** We got a copy of our seat layout for the new building. We have made a decision to have more legroom between aisles and larger theater style chairs, so it will be very comfortable. We will be able to seat 1,035. We could sure use those extra seats now!

** I love the warm weather we are having. I heard that we will probably break a record today. I am ready for summer!

** After yesterday's message I have decided that I have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!

Christmas is just around the corner.

Here's something that makes me laugh:
Merry Christmas!

I love this place!

Today after our staff meeting I played a phone message that was left for me by someone who came to Foothills two weeks ago for the first time. It was awesome. I won't go into the details, but basically what the man said was that he was 51 years old and he has been looking for a place like Foothills all his life!
What is incredible is that those same sentiments are shared by hundreds of people. We get to hear stories of life-change on a very regular basis, and I never get tired of hearing them.
God is doing something very special at Foothills Community Church. I am honored to lead such a great church. The hearts of the people here are nothing short of amazing. People serve with a smile, they invite their friends, they embrace the vision and they love the Lord. What more could you ask for?
And the best thing is-----that our best days are still ahead of us! There is no telling what God will do through this church. Thanks for being the best church in the world! Let's continue to reach this community for Christ!

Clemson Football Church Day

It seems that the ACLU is unhappy that Tommy Bowden has a voluntary team church day every August (they came to Foothills in August of 04).
You can read the article here. I must say, this is ridiculous! Don't these people have anything better to do?
Keep up the good work Coach Bowden!!

Thinking Outside The X-box

If you were to ask most Pastors, what are the most difficult sermons to preach they would probably mention Christmas or Easter. That probably sounds strange, but if you think about it, it makes sense. Typically most Christmas and Easter messages use familiar Bible stories, and therefore it's hard to find new angles to teach from. This is precisely the reason we have to be even MORE creative during these seasons.
I am very excited about the new Christmas series we are starting this Sunday, Thinking Outside the X-box! This week the message is titled, X-haustion. We're going to look at some outside the box ways of preventing the Holiday season from leaving us totally wiped out.
We are expecting to see record crowds so it's gonna be a blast!
If you attend Foothills make sure you bring your friends with you. The Christmas holiday season is a time that most people would attend church if invited.

One other thing please pray for our Creative Arts Pastor Josh Gregory. He's been having some stomach problems, and they are doing some tests to try to figure out what's up.

Barry Bonds

Some people are still not convinced that Barry Bonds took steroids.
Here is a copy of his rookie card. You decide for yourself!!
I'm not sure, but he looks a little bigger now!!!

great thanksgiving weekend

** Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did! It is one of my favorite holidays. Eating and football. What more could you ask for?

** My wife kept her streak alive. Another Black Friday marathon. She got started at 2:00am!
If shopping ever becomes an Olympic sport. She will win the gold! The best thing is that my wife refuses to buy anything that is not ridiculously marked down.

** Scott Chatfield preached yesterday for me (and did a great job!). I got to sit and watch and relax. We had a pretty good attendance for a holiday weekend.

** Got deer #5 on Friday!

** We start our Christmas series this Sunday: "Thinking outside the X-Box" Plan on attending for the entire series

what a day!

** It is absolutely beautiful outside today. High is supposed to be 78 and sunny!

** It looks like they are really moving on the new building. They have the roof all on, and they are getting ready to pour the concrete for the floors, and put up some of the exterior siding. Very exciting!

** We are going to ask all of you to help us design the music set for January 6th service. I will be giving our annual "state of the church" message, and what we are asking you to help select your favorite worship songs from 2007 and your favorite feature song. The top ones will be performed on that day. We'll be giving you a list to choose from in the next couple of weeks. (I know what I'm voting for already!)

** My computer has been driving me crazy for the last week. I thought everything was finally fixed, but now I can't get anything to play through my speakers. UGH!!

** I was at Walmart this morning. They have a lot of archery stuff on clearance, so I bought some new broadheads. The lady working at the register asked if I was 18!! ( you have to be 18 years old to buy them) I know what you're thinking; that poor lady needs to get some glasses---quick! But it sure made me feel good!!!

sunday recap

Had 4 great services today. Attendance was a little lighter at 9:45am. All the others were about normal. Somehow I think Clemson playing last night caused some people to sleep in today.
Speaking of Clemson, it was a heartbreaking loss, but hopefully they can right the ship by next weekend for the South Carolina game.

During the services today, I mentioned that I had a problem with flying squirrels getting in my attic. But I took care of the problem by trapping them and then killing them. I think the animal lovers got mad, but hey sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do! For the record, I killed 27 last year!

The DNA of God series is definitely one of my favorites. I think we may do a Part 2 next year! Today we talked about Jesus being our Redeemer. It caused me to have a new admiration for the work that Christ did for us on the cross.

Last Thursday afternoon we went to pick up our daughter from Ridgecrest NC, where she was at a Youth With A Mission Conference. It was so cold in the mountains. Believe it or not there were snow flurries.

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for!

sermon prep

These days a large portion of my week has to do with what happens on Sunday mornings. Everything from prior Sunday service evaluation meetings to upcoming creative team meetings to the actual sermon preparation time, and finally to the sermon rehearsal time.
Here's what I've discovered. The larger our church becomes, the more important it is for Sunday mornings (as well as every other area) to continue to improve. Like it or not people expect better quality everything from a larger church.

Here's what I want to tackle in this post. What do I feel the keys to quality sermons are. So here are my thoughts.

I think if you want to find out what the ingredients are to a great sermon we need to look at the best communicator ever, Jesus. Jesus delivered His messages different than others. In Mark 1:22 it says that when Jesus taught, the people were amazed because He taught with authority. If you study Jesus communication style, you will see that Jesus was a storyteller, he used creativity, props, illustrations, and whatever else was necessary to drive home a truth.
He also was a big believer in life application, so His teaching consisted of about 30% Information, and 70% Application.

Whenever I am preparing a message I ask myself 2 important questions; What do I want them to KNOW?,and What do i want them to DO?
Alot of Pastors are good at the first part---What do I want them to KNOW? Some Pastors are just disseminators of a lot of information. They can tell you what something means in the original Greek, but they can't help you figure out how to apply that information so that it impacts your life on Monday.
People don't want to get out of bed on Sunday morning and come to church to gain more information. If they wanted to do that, they could stay home and read the newspaper!
People come to church because they want God to touch their life. Which means that a sermon must include information, but it also should include a heavy dose of application. James reminds us to not just be hearers of the word only, but be doers.

Here's what I believe sermons would look like if they were mathematical equations:

Information + Application = TRANSFORMATION

Really the desired outcome of a message should be transformation.

So here's the takeaway. Let's learn to communicate the message of truth, like our model, Jesus Christ!

beautiful Wednesday

** Had a great creative team meeting yesterday. There are going to be some incredible series in the next 6 months!

** Everyone is still mourning the loss of the 3 West Oak High School students who died in the auto accident Monday. What a tragedy. Please pray for the families.

** Why do I always feel like I'm playing catch-up? Can you relate?

** It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week , and Christmas is only 6 weeks away!

** It's supposed to be 76 degrees today!! I love it.

** This Sunday's message is stretching me.

** I don't know why, but I am on everyone's spam list. I have people trying to sell me everything under the sun. From replica watches to computer software to Cialis to other things I won't mention. It's crazy!

monday thoughts

** Our staff finally finished the book The Starbucks Experience. We covered the last chapter today. In my opinion the last chapter was the worst. Found it a little boring. Starbucks wants to leave their mark by being known as an environmentally friendly company. That's cool. I'm all for protecting our environment, but I'm having a very hard time jumping on the save the planet bandwagon! Is it just me or have you noticed that it is the politically correct "in" thing these days is to be GREEN?

** Services were incredible yesterday! God was moving big time!

** Clemson looked very good Saturday. Now if we can thump Boston College like we did Wake Forest, maybe we can get revenge against Va. Tech in Jacksonville (that is IF they can beat Virginia)

** They just about have finished putting the roof on the new building. It's looking good.

** We're having some traffic back-ups on Sunday mornings because of the large crowds. Please bear with us we are looking for a solution (maybe a police officer helping direct traffic back onto Bountyland Rd.)

** Supposed to be up to 70 degrees today! I can hardly wait for summer!

** Had a lady catch me after one of the services and tell me she just moved here from out of state and absolutely loves Foothills. Since her mother and sister are still in the other state, she calls them on her cell phone and lets them listen to our services live from her cell phone! That's a first!

great Sunday so far

Well 3 services are in the books and I'm just doing a little relaxing before service #4 at 6:00pm.
In all 3 services I sensed God's presence in a very tangible way. We are talking about God revealing Himself to us as the God of comfort.
The video testimony and feature song really capped things off. It was definitely a God moment for me.
Attendance has been extremely strong the last couple of weeks. The good thing is that it appears to have increased across the board so there is still a little room in the 9:45am and 11:15am services (and the 8:30 am and 6:00pm have plenty of room)

One more thing. I just got off of the phone with my Aunt, who is facing heart valve replacement surgery in a week. She is an amazing person who loves Jesus. If you think about it, please offer up a prayer on her behalf.

working ahead

Ask any Pastor about the most stressful part of his job and he would probably say, that it is the intensity of preparing messages week after week after week. It doesn't let up. It's like standing on the shore of the ocean. The waves keep on coming. Our Worship Pastor Eric Peters refers to this as the relentless onslaught of the Sabbath.
Whatever you call it, it is hard work. One of the ways to relieve some of that pressure is by working as far in advance as possible. For me, having general message series ideas and topics 6 months out feels about right.
Yesterday I (sort of) completed January through June of 2008. Next Tuesday our creative team will meet all day trying to fine tune the creative elements. This is by no means an exact science, because things can (and sometimes, should) change.
If you are a Speaking Pastor or anyone on a creative team and have never had the luxury of being out ahead, why not start by putting your 2008 calendar together now? Start with the Big Idea, (the topic or message series) you want to cover in 2008. You don't need full outlines or anything real in-depth at this point, just where you are wanting to go with the message in general, and then start filling in the details as you get together. For instance, I am going to do a 3 week message series called "Obey". The 3 things I will be talking about will be, Obeying God even when it doesn't make sense (The story of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrififce). The next week is obeying God even when you don't really want to (The story of Jonah), and the last week will be obeying God even when it costs you something (Jesus willingness to go to the cross).

When we get together as a team next Tuesday we will try to nail down creative elements (series logo ideas, staging design ideas,video needs, faith stories, etc) Each of these things has a timeline and a deadline. Once the decisions are finalized everyone has their assignment, and(in a perfect world) it comes together just like it's supposed to!

The bottom line is that all of this is hard work, but when lives are changing, it's all worth it! One last thing that is the key that we can never forget: No matter how slick or creative our services are---if the Holy Spirirt doesn't show up, it's just entertainment! He is the one who changes lives, so leave room for Him to guide the entire process.

God's protection

My youngest son Cole recently got his learners permit driver's license. After I picked him up from wrestling practice the other day, he wanted to drive so I went to the passenger side and he took the wheel.
In his brief time of driving I have tried to express the importance of defensive driving. I have told him to expect the unexpected when you are operating a car, because people will often do what they're not supposed to. Well, as we were leaving his school a little ways ahead I noticed a car in front of us was making a right hand turn so I said "slow down a little". It was a good thing he did because the driver of the other car did a u-turn right in front of us and never bothered to look our way until we were right on top of her. He slammed on the brakes and we stopped just a foot or two from her driver's side door. A close call for sure, and a lesson learned for him.
What would have happened if I would not have been in the car with him? What would have happened if he didn't listen to my warning to slow down? Who knows? But it probably wouldn't have been pretty.
One of the greatest things about having the Lord in your life is that He is always right beside us, instructing us and keeping us from harm if we will listen to Him and obey his commands. Life throws out a lot of unexpected things our way, we need God.

Sunday recap

We continued our DNA of God series, with a message about God being our Rock. All of the services were amazing.

Attendance was very strong. Having an extra hour of sleep had people energized for sure!

Yesterday's services were all recorded so we could create a new DVD for our Newcomer's packets. Eric and his team brought their A game. We are also going to use the new DVD as an invite tool for our Christmas services.

The feature song was very different but very cool yesterday!

You don't want to miss this weekend's services, as we talk about God being our Comforter. We are going to show a very powerful video of someone from Foothills who walked through an extremely difficult time in her life, and felt the comfort of the Lord throughout that ordeal. If someone you know is currently going through a difficult time, make sure you get them here on Sunday.

one word

If you had to describe your church in one word, what would it be? Friendly, warm, relevant, fun, boring, exciting, celebrative, liturgical, worshipful, high-energy(I guess that's 2 words), ritualistic, welcoming, obsolete, sameness, dynamic, ingrown, accepting, family, safe, big, small, wonderful....

Now ask yourself this question. If a guest showed up for the first time, what word would he/she use to describe your church?

Every church is known in the community for something. When people mention the name of your church is it in a positive light? If not, how come?
I believe that it is our responsibility to honestly examine ourselves and if our overall one word assessment of our church is not positive---then we need to make some tough decisions and set out to change the perception.
Unfortunately this process is difficult so most churches won't deal with it. For instance if you were to ask some church Members to describe their church, they may say, "Friendly", but if you were to ask a first-time guest how they would describe it, they may say "unfriendly" because the reality is that the church is friendly to their members, but not friendly to "outsiders"

When we moved to this area we were invited to many churches. Some were good experiences, some were not. One particular church we were attending seemed to be a possible choice for us to join, but we had some apprehension because it seemed like we just didn't fit in. Now keep in mind we were actually trying to fit in. We didn't sit near the exit and bolt for the doors as soon as the service was over. We attended a couples Sunday School class, we engaged people in converstaion, and yet it just wasn't clicking.
The thing that finally convinced us that this church wasn't for us was when we attended a church-wide party at a local park. My wife went to try to connect with some other ladies, and I went to try to connect with some guys. Neither of us were successful. When we came back together we both commented that we were not accepted into their established cliques.
We decided to move on because the word that we came up for our experience at that church was "unfriendly." Maybe that's not a fair assessment, but it was our assessment.

One of the things that thrills me is when someone says, "I came to Foothills because I kept hearing what a great church it is, and now that I've visited, I see why they said that!"

So what is the word for your church?

ramblings

**Make sure you bring your kids to the Trunk or Treat sponsored by Walmart tonight from 6:00pm-8:00pm (at Walmart). Foothills Community Church will be represented well. If you've never been, all I can say is that it is the best thing I've seen for kids when it comes to Halloween. Last year there were like 4,000 kids that showed up and each of them had tons of candy. I think there are about 5 churches that will be giving out candy including us.

**They are starting to put the roof on our new building! I can't wait to have more space.

**Don't forget to set your clocks back this weekend.

**I am behind in my schedule this week. That stresses me out.

**My son started wrestling practice this week. The bad news is that their practices are mostly from 7:30pm-9:15pm. Which means we have to drive back and forth to Walhalla (25 minutes each way)

**I am really enjoying playing basketball on Monday and Wednesdays, even if it is at 6:00AM!

**We are going to be doing 5 Identical Christmas services this year. Right now it looks like the times will be Sunday 8:30am, 9:45am, 11:15am and Monday (Christmas eve) 4:30pm and 6:00pm. Remember they will all be identical. It is going to be a really cool service!

More random thoughts

** Last Thursday some businessmen in our area put together a Pastors Appreciation luncheon. Many area Pastors including myself and a few of our staff were able to attend. They fed us a nice lunch and gave away some prizes. One of our guys won $100, and another won $50 (it must have been rigged because I didn't win anything!) We all had a great time.

** Clemson looked really good against Maryland. South Carolina made a nice comeback only to lose to Tennessee (nice try!)

** Kicked off our new series yesterday called, The DNA of God. Yesterday we talked about Jesus being our Good Shepherd. Our attendance was strange. 9:45 had plenty of extra seats---11:15 was packed (usually they are pretty close. I think everyone must have slept in yesterday)

**I did some trivia yesterday in all of the services. I gave the birth names of some famous people and I had people guess what their celebrity names were (overall the 11:15am service were the winners), but the thing that I was most surprised about was that someone in the 8:30am service knew that Cordazer Calvin Broadus is who we know as Snoop Doggy Dog!!

** I've got a lot of meetings today--gotta go!

slip sliding away

Brian Marshall, our Pastor of First Impressions said something in our staff meeting on Monday that I have been processing. He said that someone once told him that "if there was ever a time in your life that you were closer to Christ than you are right now, then you have backslidden."
I have thought alot about that.
Almost every pastor that I know will tell you that the line between study for Sunday messages and personal devotion time is very blurred. It can be tempting to substitute message prep for personal quiet time with God.
In a recent Pastors Roundtable that I participated in, this topic came up, and someone said that the key to delivering great messages was learning to preach from the overflow. The "overflow" that they were talking about was the overflow of what God was teaching them from their quiet time with God and what God was speaking into their lives on a personal level.
You can't preach from the overflow, if there is nothing that is overflowing.
David says in Psalm 23:5b, "You annoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

So, the question we need to ask ourselves is; "has there ever been a time that I was closer to God than I am right now?" If so, what are we going to do about it?

creativity

Don't you just love creativity? One of the things we work hard to do here at Foothills Community Church is to be creative. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Here's what you can be sure of when you see something done in a creative way: 1) It took alot of hard work. You don't accidentally fall into creativity. If creativity was easy, then every one would do it. 2) It took longer to pull off than you may think. Creativity takes time. 3) It probably wasn't the first idea. Usually the creative idea or elements we use were not the first ones we came up with. When you are with other creative people, there is a very cool interaction that happens that is hard to put into words, but generally one idea spawns another.

One other thought. Sometimes the most creative things are the simplest ones. It doesn't always take some sort of full-blown production to be the most impactful. Sometimes saying things SLIGHTLY different is all you need.

Here is a great example of what I'm talking about: (I would love to have this guy in our creative team meetings!)

God use me!

One of the questions I'm often asked is, "when you first started Foothills Community Church did you ever imagine it would grow this large?"
I always try to answer that question with caution. I don't want to come across as being arrogant, on the other hand I always believed that God had the ability to do anything.
So my answer is usually something like this. "I'm not surprised that God is doing such an incredible work here at Foothills, but I AM amazed that He is using ME to help reach this many people.
When I look at Foothills Community Church, I still believe that we have not even begun to scratch the surface as far as our potential to reach people for Christ. Our most productive days are still ahead of us!
During our staff meeting this morning we asked God to do more at Foothills than we have ever dreamed or imagined (Ephesians 3:20). I would love for you to join us in that prayer.

Be sure to invite your friends to church with you this Sunday as we begin a new series called "The DNA of God". I think after this series we will all know God a lot better!

quick thoughts

**Clemson looked very good today. (I know it's only Central Michigan, but hey South Carolina lost to Vandy!) They put up some huge numbers. Is it just me, or does it seem like Cullen Harper gets no respect. His numbers are incredible. I'm a Willy Korn guy, but man, Harper is doing phenomenal.

**Speaking of South Carolina, how do they lose that game? They had an outside chance at a National title, but not anymore. I actually feel bad for them.

**We are going to wrap up the RelationSHIPS series tomorrow, talking about "Submarine" (taking your relationships beneath the surface. I am really looking forward to it!

**Got deer #2 this morning! What a beautiful morning to be in the woods.

**I am on a losing streak playing cards with my wife. I hate to lose, but if I am going to lose I would rather it be to her than anyone else!

one of my favorites of all-time

This video has been around for a while, but it is still one of the best ever made.

Unfortunately Mr. Bean's experience is happening in real life in many churches every Sunday.
Every time I watch this video it cracks me up!

random thoughts

** I finally broke down and went to play basketball at 6:00am this morning. It was a blast! A little hard to get up at 5:20am, but it was worth it (I think I am going to play on Mondays and Wednesdays)

** Had 4 great services yesterday. Attendance was a little light because of Fall break (or whatever it's called) for the schools.

** We are wrapping up the RelationSHIPS series this Sunday, the next series is called The DNA of God

** We are developing an advanced Leadership internship program for young emerging leaders who have an interest in going into ministry. We are going to launch the first 12 week session on January 7th.

** Broke the ice on my hunting season Friday. Got a nice fat doe. Can you say venison sausage! (sorry to all who don't like hunting, but it's how we roll around here!)

** Did you see the cut on Eric Peter's (our Worship leader) bald head!! Ouch, I know that had to hurt! (Note to self---Don't shave head)

transparency

A few posts back I shared that I had made a decision to just be "real" as a Pastor. I want to continue to look at this a little more today.

I think all of us have a built-in radar that allows us to detect when someone is not being genuine.
I once greeted someone and asked him, "How are things going?' He answered by saying, "if things were any better, I'd be twins"! That answer would be fine IF things were going good in his life, but what he didn't know was that I was aware that things in his life were going very poorly. What a shame that he felt the need to try to cover things up. Wouldn't it have been a lot better if he would have felt comfortable enough to say, "Well actually things are a little tough right now. I could sure use some prayer".

I'm not coming down on that guy, because I've done the same thing at times.

My question is why do we feel the need to put on some sort of disguise, pretending to be someone we're not?, Or putting on a fake smile to pretend to be happy, when we're not? Are we that insecure?
Here is the biggest key for us to understand, that will set us free from these insecurities: NO MATTER HOW YOU VIEW YOURSELF OR HOW OTHERS VIEW YOU---GOD VIEWS YOU AS A MASTERPIECE! ("For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago". Eph 2:10)
When we truly come to grips with who we are in Christ, our personal insecurities melt away.

My friend Jeff Kapusta recently blogged about Pastors being real. (Great post Jeff!)

Another friend, Troy Gramling is just finishing a message series called MyNakedpastor.com where Troy let video cameras follow him around 24 hours a day for a month and it was being shown live across the internet to let people get a glimpse into the life of a Pastor. (just for the record he didn't get naked in front of the cameras), he was saying that emotionally most of us are afraid of getting naked.

Why not let go of your insecurities today and let God show you how valuable you really are?

incredibly powerful

Eric Peters, our Worship Pastor sent me this video. It is very powerful. It is such a great reminder of the sacrifice made by our Savior!
I'm sure you will see our band do this live sometime in the near future!!

One other thing. we met with our general contractor yesterday. Unfortunately, it looks like the building won't be ready by Easter. It is now looking more like May. Oh well, there are some things in life that we don't have any control over. Fortunately God is still in control though!

a couple of thoughts

** We have a meeting today with our general contractor who hopefully will be able to give us a firm date for us to move into our new building. Our hope is that we are still on track to be able to have our first service in the new building by Easter.

** Tickets are now officially on sale for KidzBlitz Live
Last year's event was an incredible night of family entertainment. you can pick up tickets at the KidZone entrance on Sunday morning

** I had a great time having lunch with Matt Evans and his wife Beth yesterday. What a great couple that are passonate about reaching people for Christ!

**Last Sunday we had 401 kids and volunteers in our Children's area! We have the most phenomenal Children's ministry!

** I heard that the temperature is supposed to drop into the 40's by the end of the week. Some people like that news, but I wish it could stay warm a little longer!

lunch

Just getting ready to head out to have lunch with my friend Matt Evans. Matt is the Pastor of Rockbridge Church in Dalton Ga (The carpet capitol of the world)
Actually they opened up a 2nd campus in Calhoun Ga recently. I am looking forward to talking to Matt about what he has learned so far about this new venture.
They are doing an amzing job of reaching their corner of the world for Jesus!

another great day

We had another great day at Foothills yesterday.
We had a big crowd, and the band showed their diversity by doing some country (we even had a steel guitar player). Rebecca Walker sang a Kelli Pickler song. It was awesome!
It was a message that created tension for many people. We talked about learning to truly forgive people who have hurt us in the past. I talked to many people after the services who said they they have struggled to forgive people, but knew that they needed to.
There is probably nothing as detrimental to your spiritual walk with God than harboring unforgiveness. If you have been struggling to forgive someone, you may want to listen to the message here (it should be online by late tomorrow)
Next Sunday, I will be sharing about what to do when you have relational conflict.

keys for success

Over the years I have noticed that there are 4 main ingredients to success in just about everything, but especially when it comes to Church services. (If any of these 4 things are left out, results will be mediocre at best.)
Here is my list in the order that they need to be in.

#1 Prayer -- Before any endeavor we need to pray. Prayer sets everything else into motion. It is important to note that my prayer should NOT be,"Lord bless what I am about to do". Instead it should be more like, "Lord help me to tap into your heart and do what you are blessing."

It seems like prayer would be a no-brainer, but too often in church service planning, we start with a cool idea, and then tack on a prayer at the end like, "oh yeah,by the way, God bless this."

The times we get this part right, God moves in extraordinary ways!

#2 Planning-- Once we figure out God's direction through prayer, we should start planning. The farther out you plan, the better the execution will be.

I have to laugh at the number of people who have actually convinced themselves that somehow planning doesn't leave room for the Holy Spirit to move. The Holy Spirit should be moving at every one of these 4 steps. And considering that God is a God of order, it makes sense that planning should be a part of every service. (Planning creates order!)

One more thought about planning; My plans must always be flexible enough, that if God wants to change things up at any point in this process, it is OK

#3--Preparation--Once the plans are made there needs to be some action. That's where preparation comes in.
In this phase assignments are handed out (with timelines), materials are ordered and people are working toward the final execution of the process.
You can have the greatest planning in the world---but if no one prepares, all you had was an IDEA!

#4 Presentation--The last step in the process is the presentation. The presentation is the culmination of all of the above steps. It's where the rubber meets the road.
The likelihood of the presentation being excellent is totally proportionate to the amount of prayer, planning and preparation that have been done.

The only thing else I would add to the process--a #5, if you will, would be the assessment or review (I wish I could think of a word that started with a "P"!)
At the end of every service we evaluate. We ask questions like, "What was really good?", "what could have made it better?" (Kind of like a football team watching the film of the game, even though they may have won by 40 points. There is always something that could be tweaked)

Bottom line: Every Sunday may be someone's last chance for hearing and experiencing the Good News of Jesus Christ. The stakes are high, we need to give our best efforts!!

a few thoughts

It's pretty quiet in the office this morning. More than half of our staff is in Atlanta at the Catalyst conference. When we bought the tickets a few months ago, I decided that I wasn't going to go this year----now I'm wishing I would have gone! Oh well, maybe next year.

One thing that I am very excited about is this weekend's service. We are continuing our RelationSHIPS series. I will be talking about what to do when someone hurts you. We will be showing a video of someone who has worked through some major relational pain and then the band will be doing a very powerful song. It's going to be good! If you or someone you know is dealing with emotional pain from a relationship make sure to be at Foothills Community Church this Sunday!!

Just for laughs

I felt like a good laugh today. I don't know about you, but I love the comedy of Jeff Foxworthy.
As long as the "You might be a redneck" stuff has been around, it still cracks me up.
Take a break and laugh a little! Click here if you're a redneck!

building progress

Here are a couple of pics of the new building under construction from this morning. The pictures don't do justice to the magnitude of the project. The new facility gives us an additional 36,000 square feet of space.The new worship center (on the right hand side, if you're looking at it from the street), will have 1,050 seats.

wow!

I don't usually blog on Sundays. After speaking at 4 services I am pretty much wasted. But tonight I thought I had to.
Today was an incredible day at Foothills Community Church. We have been planning, preparing and praying for today's service for a long time, and I have to say it was amazing. We told the story of the Prodigal son in music, video and with a message. The video was a really cool modern spin of the story, and then Carol Strickland sang the old Kansas tune, Carry on My Wayward Son. We also ended it with Eric Peters singing the Daughtry song, Home. Let me just say that the band just flat nailed it! (When they did Wayward Son in the 11:15am service I thought to myself, "Foothills has the best band I have ever heard!"----You guys and gals are incredible)
There were so many people in tears thinking about God's amazing, unfailing love for us.
We had right at 1,600 people today and the feedback I received was so positive!
We haven't tallied up all of the spiritual decisions yet, but it looks like tons!
These are the kind of days where I am reminded how blessed I am to be at a church like Foothills!

Foothills is "real"

One of the most common compliments I hear about Foothills Community Church is that it is "real". Sometimes it may be worded differently, but essentially that's what they are saying.

I made a decision a long time ago. As a Pastor I could either stand up on stage and pretend to be perfect, and have it all together, OR I could just be "real." I decided that I was just going to be real.

Being real means that it's o.k. to let people know that you have struggles. It means that I still get impatient standing in lines. It means that I am not always a very compassionate person. It means that sometimes I lose my temper. It means that I'm not a perfect husband or parent.

There are many areas that I am trying to grow to become more like Christ. I'm a work in progress. I think that is what Paul was saying in Philippians 3:12 when he said, "I don't mean to say that I have already acheived these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ first possessed me."

If you are looking for a "perfect" church, led by a "perfect" Pastor, Foothills is not for you. But if you are looking for a place that is authentic and real maybe this is the place for you.

Servelink was a blast

Well our first Servelink is complete. It was a lot of fun. There was a party-like atmosphere. There was a great attendance and lots of new people signing up to serve and there was such a great excitement in the air.
If you were unable to come last night, it's still possible to start serving. Just let us know either by emailing us at joel@foothillscc.org or by checking off the "serving opportunites" box in your Foothills Flier next Sunday.
Again I want to thank the hundreds people who volunteer their time to help Foothills complete our mission to reach people for Christ. We could not do it without you!

getting people connected

One of the most important things that I do is to help people take steps toward higher levels of commitment. Commitment tends to be a very scary word. Whenever Jesus would raise the bar and call for radical commitment, people would bolt. And yet, taking those steps are vital for the growing Christian.
Several weeks ago we had a Grouplink. Grouplink is basically a big open house for people to check out and sign up to be in a LIFE group. It went amazingly well, so much so that we decided to do the same thing to allow people to get their feet wet in serving. Tonight we are having a Servelink.
We will have all of the ministry teams of Foothills Community Church represented. Many people have signed up to be a part of this. People will be able to browse different tables and ask questions, and hopefully sign up to start serving here at Foothills. (There are hundreds of people at Foothills that have discovered the fulfillment of being involved in serving---but there's room for you!!)
If you are interested but didn't register, you can still come. Be here tonight at 7:00pm and check it out.
I promise you, once you start serving your life will never be the same!

Proud father

I am so proud of my daughter Kristen. On Saturday we took her and our granddaughter Mia to the airport so they could fly to Florida to start training with Youth With A Mission.
They will be in training down there until the first of the year, and then they will be off to a foreign country (not sure where yet) for another 6 weeks helping reach this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Pray for them if you think about it!

This is exciting

Over the last couple of days we have been shooting some video for our September 30th service. We are going to do some things that we've never done before! The video will actually set up and close out my message that day. We will be tying in a couple of killer songs in the mix.( I can't tell you what the songs are yet, but one is a classic 70's rock tune and one is current on the charts. All I can say is that it is going to rock so be prepared.)
Speaking of September 30th. We are starting a new series called RelationSHIPS, and we will be giving you some cards this weekend to invite your friends for the kick-off of that series. If you have friends who don't know Christ, trust me, this will be THE service to bring them!
It is going to be crowded, so you might consider the 8:30am or 6:00pm service.
The building construction is moving along, but in the meantime it's going to be "cozy". I'll try to post some pictures of the construction progress soon.

yesterday's service

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Mainly because we talked about what our mission is as individuals and as a church----to help lost people get found!
One of the tendencies for people who have been "found' spiritually, is that they tend to have no "lost" friends. We distance ourselves from the Secular world to be sequestered into our holy huddles, because we don't want to be contaminated.
The only problem with that line of thinking is that it's not biblical! Jesus spent his time with lost people. He hung out with sinners. He was Relational, not Religious.
I shared about the best compliment about our church that I've ever heard. (What makes it even funnier is that it wasn't meant to be a compliment). A lady found out that someone went to church here. She was outraged, and said, "I can't believe you go to Foothills, that's the church where they let sinners in!!!!!!" WOW, what a compliment. I followed up by saying that I would love to let that lady know that Foothills is not only a place where we let sinners in, but it's a place where a sinner stands up every Sunday and delivers the message!!
My statement may have raised some eyebrows. A Pastor actually admitting that he sins? Yep that's right. I am totally dependent on the grace, mercy and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In my humaness there is nothing good. Anyone who says that they don't struggle with sin is struggling with the sin of lying!
This morning I was handed a card that someone put in the offering basket. There was a note that said, "I have struggled with drug addiction for many years. Foothills is the only place I have been able to attend where I was love and accepted, and never once condemned. Thanks for being that kind of church." (That's what it's all about!! Foothills family, you are an amazing church! Keep it up!)

Unbelievable Story

Had lunch yesterday with Tony Morgan (Tony is the Chief Strategic Officer at Newspring Church. I have no idea what that means, but I love that job title!), and Howard (sorry Howard I don't remember your last name, but Howard will be Newspring's campus Pastor in Greenville)
During our time together we chatted about what the Lord was doing at our churches.
As I talked about what was happening at Foothills Community Church I was reminded how incredible this story really is. To my knowledge there is not another Church in America that is in a semi-rural area that has the influence that God has given us!
We are in a county of 68,000 people that is very spread out. (Within 15 minute drive there are probably less than 40,000 people) We currently have 1,500 in attendance (and growing rapidly). We will probably have over 2,000 people attending within the next 12 months (depending on when our new facility is completed).
That is mind-boggling! I wish I could say, that my leadership is the reason for this growth, but it's not, because I ain't that smart. It is a 100% God-thing! (And I wouldn't want it any other way)
The future is bright!

try something new

For many people, change is scary. Change takes us out of our comfort zones and challenges us to try things that are new. For many people that is more than they can handle. If it weren't for change we would still be riding in covered wagons, and rubbing 2 sticks together to build a fire to cook our dinner. Our willingness to be flexible is needed to follow God.
I have been learning the challenges of change recently. I have been hunting with a bow for over 25 years. For the last 12 years I have been shooting a Long Bow (which is what the Native Americans used---basically it is a stick and a string). This year I have gone back to a compound bow (which is a modern bow with cables and pulleys and sights, etc) The big change though, is that this year for the first time ever I will be shooting left-handed. I am right-handed, so this has presented a host of difficulties. It is a challenging change, but I have been able to adapt. And I am pretty confident if a deer gets within 25 yards of me, I can make the shot.
Has this been easy? No. It has been pretty difficult, but I believe it will pay off. (I'll let you know)
In a church setting there is often change. Change is not something we should fear, but rather something that we should embrace. no matter how difficult!
I am thankful at Foothills we have a culture of change. Over the years there have been tons of changes, and there will be many more!

we always find time to do what we want to

I have a motto; We always find the time to do what we want to do. That is a fact.
Isn't it amazing that when my wife wants me to take the trash out, that I can't seem to find the time, but when a friend calls with an invitation to go fishing, miraculously my schedule always seems to have an opening?
I have some friends that have been inviting me to play basketball with them. I would honestly LOVE to play, but there's just one small problem. They play at 6:00AM!! On top of that, I live nearly half an hour from the gym, which means I would have to leave my house at 5:30AM.
For some reason, I just can't seem to be able to make that happen. (hunting season starts very soon. I will be able to find the time to be sitting in my deer stand by 6:00am-----go figure!)
There are many things like that; We wouldn't mind doing them, we see the benefit in doing them, but basically it takes just a little more effort than we're willing to give.
Spiritually speaking many times I am the same way. There are many things that I SHOULD be doing for the Lord, but I just don't seem to find the time to do them. And I have plenty of reasons or excuses why. Can you relate?
There is one word for this: PRIORITIES
Sometimes I just need to re-evaluate my priorities. Our priority list should be something like this: 1. God 2. My wife 3. My kids, and somewhere (much farther down the list) should be work.
How are you doing with your priorities?
What do you need to find the time to do today?

another great day!

Yesterday at Foothills Community Church we had an historic day.
The day started off with three incredible worship services and then it was topped off with a Baptism party where we baptized 29 more people! It was the first time ever that we baptized over 200 people in a year!! (202 is the total)
I am still trying to process this. There are times when God moves in such an amazing way that the only response is AWE. That's how I feel right now.
But here is the best part----- We have only just begun!!
There are thousands of more people we will reach with the most incredible story ever told---The Good News of Jesus Christ.
Get ready because our best days are still ahead.

why we do what we do

Yesterday afternoon I was moving some things on my desk when I came upon a DVD from a Baptism Party from June. It just so happened that my family had to be out of town that weekend, so we missed the baptisms. I put the DVD in my computer and watched. I was moved to tears. I watched as person after person went under the water. It had a slow motion effect so I could see the people's expressions as they came up out of the water. It was absolutely incredible! Many of the faces I didn't even recognize, but God knew each and every one of them.
As I was watching, many thoughts rushed through my mind. When my wife and I started Foothills Community Church 9 years ago, we didn't know any of these people. We had no way of fathoming the amazing things God was going to do in the future.
I thought about the people being baptized. I wondered about their stories; about their lives to this point, and how God had this wonderful plan for them.
I thought about all the prayers of family members and friends that were prayed for these people, and now those prayers were coming to fruition.
I also thought about all the people we have not reached yet. The thousands of people in Oconee county and beyond that we would be priveliged to baptize in the years ahead.

Foothills family, we have been given an unbelievable opportunity to reach our friends and family for Christ. Keep inviting them to church, keep praying for their salvation.

This Sunday afternoon, we get to see more people baptized. maybe you are a person who needs to be baptized. Maybe you have invited Christ into your life, but have not taken that next step of obedience---Baptism. You can do that this Sunday.

At 4:00 pm we will be having a huge baptism party at Biggerstaff retreat center (if you don't know where it is, call the office, we'll send you directions). Come out and support those that we will be baptizing. Come and be inspired.

One last thing. I'm not sure if you realize it or not, but we have baptized 173 people already this year!!! Most likely when it's all said and done, we will baptize over 200 people this year. Let that sink in for a a moment. Is that incredible or what?

I'm tired!

I'm tired! But I know I'm not alone. There are at least 84,000 other people who are dragging this morning. That's how many were at Death Valley last night. By the time I got home from the Clemson vs FSU game it was 1:00 am. The good news is that they won. It would have been alot more difficult to get out of bed if Clemson would have lost.
It was a great game. In the first half, Clemson had their way with FSU. The second half wasn't quite as dominating. (We almost gave the game away)
So it's back to work. No time to waste, it's a short week because of labor Day.
Don't forget that this Sunday at 4:00pm we will be having a Baptism Party at Biggerstaff Retreat Center on Lake Keowee. There will be The big inflatable games for the kids, food, and lots of fun. We are praying that we have many more people who are baptized. This will be your last opportunity of the summer. If you haven't signed up to be baptized, it's not too late!
Because of the Baptism Party, we will NOT be having our 6:00pm service this Sunday, so plan to attend one of the other three.

multi-site meeting notes

I just got back from a multi-site roundtable that I put together for a few Lead Pastors. It was an amazing time for many reasons. First, I got to hang out with some incredible Pastors for a day and a half that are doing some great things to reach people for Christ. A few I already knew, but a few I met for the first time. I have mentioned before that among lead Pastors there is an immediate camaraderie. These are guys who have been in the trenches, so you just kind of "get"each other. Here is a list of the guys that participated:
Roger Blackmore Grace Church Long island New York
Bryan Mills Meadow Heights Church Fredericktown, Missouri (Brian Pastor's a church of 700 in a town of less than 4,000 people!)
Tony McCollum Fusion Church Hamilton Mill, Ga.
Jim Carpenter Compass Church Athens, Ga.
Gary Lamb Revolution Church Canton, Ga.
Eddie Cox Marathon Church Powdersville, SC


We talked about how to mobilize to reach more people through the use of a multi-site strategy. We got a chance to laugh (a lot). I would share some of the things we laughed about, but it's top secret so then I would have to kill you! It's amazing what you learn about people when you spend some time with them.
A third thing that I enjoyed was the tremendous hospitality we enjoyed from the Wayko family for opening up their beautiful lake house to us and then treating us like royalty.

There is no doubt that going multi-site creates an unbelievable opportunity to reach so many more people. I am so pumped about our future!!

Happy birthday Cole

It's hard to believe, but my youngest child, Cole is 15 years old today!
Time really does fly. He is an incredible young man.
He truly is an answer to prayer, because before we had him, my wife and I were praying and asking God if we should try to have more children (we already had two at the time). God revealed some incredible passages of scripture to me as a away of confirming that we should keep trying to have another child. The result was Liz got pregnant, and 9 months later Cole arrived.
Cole, no matter where life leads you, remember keep Jesus first! I am proud of you son.

I need to be more sensitive

Yesterday I posted this video from the Miss Teen USA contest. Miss South Carolina, well, let's just say she struggled a wee bit trying to answer her question...such as.
I showed my wife the video. She didn't think it was very funny. She said, "Oh, I feel so sorry for that poor girl". I was like, yeah, ok, but isn't that hilarious? She just didn't find the humor in it.
I guess I am just a little bit insensitive, because I find that kind of stuff to be very funny. Maybe it's a guy thing.
For all of you that have a wierd sense of humor like me, here's another one that makes me laugh.

say it isn't so

Representing South Carolina well. You've got to be kidding!
Watch this.

Kicked off Mi-Tech series

Yesterday's services were absolutely amazing!
Attendance was over 1,500 and everything was really tight from a service flow standpoint. Our creative and tech teams hit a homerun, and the stage set was awesome. Eric Peters and the worship team were on the money,
The topic was worship, and we experienced worship big-time. Now comes the real test of worship--Monday morning, because worship is not just something we do for an hour on Sunday. It's what we do with the other 167 hours of our week. Keep God in the #1 position of your life, and fight the urge to replace him from that spot with anything else.
Whatever we do, let's do it with our whole hearts, as if we are doing it for the Lord and not for another person----that's Worship!

As promised

In case you haven't driven by the church this week, you have missed the first of the steel building going up. So here is what it looks like so far!

(What you are seeing is the front of the new lobby)

Multi-site roundtable

I am getting very excited about a multi-site roundtable discussion group that I am hosting next week. Myself and 6 other Lead Pastors from 4 different states will be getting together to discuss all of the ins and outs of going multi-site.
As I look ahead to the future of Foothills Community Church it seems very evident that adding new sites to begin new churches is the most strategic way of continually growing. Foothills has averaged around 35% growth per year for 9 years, which is amazing! As you know, we are constructing a larger facility to help accomodate continued growth. But the reality is even if we are able to reach 5,000 people on this campus, that still leaves alot of people who we are not reaching.

I mentioned in my message Sunday that in addition to people in South Carolina, we have people from North Carolina and Georgia that come to Foothills every weekend. There is no way that these people will be able to invite their neighbors. It's just too far to travel. But with the multi-site strategy, we can take Foothills to them!
Basically what we would be able to do is open new locations once we develop a core group of people in a new area. We would find a location to meet (a school, or movie theater), hire a campus Pastor, send some of our people to help and try to impact the area. (OK, it's a little more complicated than that, but you get the picture)
Over the next couple of months I will be trying to arrange meetings with churches who are currently successfully using this strategy to see what steps we need to be taking. I will give you updates as we progress.
I am so pumped about our future!!

Get ready for Sunday!

This Sunday is going to be amazing at Foothills Community Church. There has been a lot of time and effort to create an incredible back to school message series called Mi-Tech. We'll take a close look at a look at some high- tech products that captivate our attention these days. This week I'll be talking about the iPhone. You may be wondering what an iPhone has to do with your spiritual life. Come this week and you'll find out!
Also, one more reminder. If it is possible, consider coming to either the 8:30am or 6:00pm service to free up seats for guests at 9:45am and 11:15am. School starts back this week, so it's going to be a little crowded.
We are experiencing some amazing things at Foothills. Don't forget to invite your friends.
Oh yeah, tonight is the first of two Grouplink's, hope you plan on being there to get connected to a Life group.

video

Yesterday was incredible! We had huge numbers of people, and a great response to signing up for our Grouplink on Tuesday evening.
During the message I talked about how important it is for everyone to get connected to a Life Group. I shared this passage from Ecclesiastes which talks about how we are stronger in a team. I shared a story about a video I saw on Youtube with a baby Cape buffalo who is attacked by lions and a crocodile, but survives because the other buffaloes were there for him in his time of need.
Here is the link to the video
The bottom line is that we need each other. Do yourself a favor, Get Connected.

Lesson learned

Yesterday we loaded up the family and headed out to a long awaited fun day-trip excursion. Our destination was Fontana Village North Carolina. We love this place. There is lots of family friendly stuff to do. Mini-golf, hiking, softball games, scavenger hunts for the kids, tennis, shufflebard, volleyball; but the thing that we were really looking forward to (with the record heatwave) was the waterslide and swimming pool.
We have gone to Fontana Village every summer (except maybe one) for the last 20 years. It had become a family tradition. The one thing we had noticed over the last several years is that the resort was showing some serious signs of age. It was sold to a new company a couple of years back, but they weren't maintaining things properly. Rather than repair things they would close them. First it was a cafeteria, then another restaurant, then the basketball courts. Year after year there were less and less people.
So yesterday we drove up to spend the day. We drove the 2 1/2 hour trip, looking forward to spending time by the pool and waterslide. When we arrived, we couldn't believe our eyes. The pool had been drained and the waterslide was shut down!
The place was like a ghost town. There were literally no cars in the parking lot but ours. This once thriving growing happy family destination had all but closed up. How sad.
We bought an ice cream and loaded back up and turned around and came back.
I thought about how this same thing happens many times in churches all across this country.
Many, at one time were growing, happening, relevant places that people looked forward to coming to, but over the years they didn't make adjustments. They hadn't made the necessary updates. The parking lots that were once full are now empty. The lobbies that were once filled with the sound of excited people, are now silent. They used to be a shining lighthouse in the community. Now they are barely a flashlight. How sad.
It doesn't have to be this way. God has called The Church to be hope of the world. Churches must be willing to make updates when it comes to the methods we use to reach people, while holding firmly to the message that we have been mandated to deliver.
From a physical appearance standpoint, facilites must be constantly cleaned, maintained and updated.
If churches are not willing to make the changes they will die a slow agonizing, pathetic death.

Building activity

It looks like there is some progress on our new building. Yesterday they moved the steel from the pile it has been sitting in to inside the footprint of the building. It is basically laying on the ground next to where it will be erected. It kind of reminds me of a big jigsaw puzzle.
This morning there are a couple more concrete trucks pouring some concrete.
As impatient as I am to see this building get put up, I realize that the laying of the foundation is the most important part of construction. If they don't get this part right there will always be problems with the building in the future. Kind of reminds me of something Jesus once said about building our lives on a solid foundation!
Anyway, as soon as there is something moving vertical I will post some pictures.

Everything Matters

As a staff we are reading through the book "The Starbucks Experience."
Chapter 2 is titled, Everything Matters. In a church setting the philosophy that everything matters is crucial. From the time a person enters the parking lot, everything matters. Are they being directed by a parking attendant so they don't have to drive around in circles trying to find a space? Are there smiling greeters strategically placed throughout the campus welcoming and directing guests? If it is raining, are there greeters with umbrellas ready to help people stay dry from the time they get out of their cars until they get to the building? (This is fresh on my mind because our umbrella crew did an incredible job in the storm yesterday). Is there adequate signage for people to be able to navigate around the building? Is the building clean and inviting looking? Is the children's area the kind of place that kids don't want to leave to go home? (We have kids cry when their parents pick them up because they are having so much fun!.) Is the lobby atmosphere full of energy and expectation? Are the band and worship team thoroughly prepared and ready to lead in worship? Is the message relevant and will it connect to people's lives? Is the bulletin helpful for people to follow along? Is the stage set changing often to give a fresh look? Are the people responsive to the worship experience?
All of things are important because, EVERYTHING MATTERS!
At Foothills we desire to have the kind of place that when people come for the first time, they go home and tell all their friends about how much church impacted their lives, and they come back the following week with a carload of their friends.
This blog is read by many people from around the country who are at different churches, so my question is, do you believe that everything matters? If so, are you constantly striving to make improvements to become a place that is reaching more people in your community?

New opportunities

Had a great time yesterday catching up with my good friend Jay Hardwick over lunch.
Jay was the Lead Pastor of Catalyst Church in Greenville, but is heading to northeast Columbia, SC to plant a new church.
Humanly speaking this may not make sense to some people. Catalyst Church is one of the strategic partner churches with Northpoint Church. Things were going well in Greenville, the church is growing, there is a good staff in place. Basically it was the type situation most people would love to be the Lead Pastor. So then, why is Jay leaving and going to Columbia of all places (home of the Gamecocks)? Because he feels God's calling.
I have no doubt that Jay will be successful. He is a bright, sharp guy, but ultimately he will be successful because he is aligning his life with God's will for him.
Anytime we are willing to abandon our own agendas to seek God's will we will succeed. Is there something that God is asking you to do, but you've been running from it?

A great verse

If there is one verse in the Bible I have tried to live by as a Pastor, it's Psalms 78:72.
Here is what it says: "And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them."
The two main components of David's success as a leader are the two areas that I try to base my leadership on.
First, David shepherded them with integrity of heart. David was a great leader because of his integrity. He wasn't perfect (as we all can recall his affair with Bathsheba), but he was also known as a man after God's own heart. A leader without integrity, in my opinion, forefits his right to lead. Integrity and character are traits that need to be evident in our lives. We should be trustworthy and honest in all of our dealings. A regular time with God praying and reading the scripture helps us stay centered.
Secondly David led with skillful hands. Not only did David have the heart as a leader, he also had the skill. I imagine David as being someone who was a life-long learner. Someone who was like a sponge when it came to learning about how to lead better. There are so many practical ways to hone your skills as a leader. There are conferences, books, magazines, face to face meetings with other leaders and other things you can do. If we ever get to the point where we think we have it all figured out, we're in big trouble.
I meet people all the time who say they are too busy, and don't have the time to read a book, or go to a conference or go online and see what others are doing. All I can say about that is that mentality is short-sighted. There is an old adage that says, we all have time to do what we want to. In other words if we really want to do something, we find the time to do it.
Do you have integrity of heart? How about skillful hands? A great leader needs to have both.

Back to 4 services

This Sunday we will be going back to our 4 service schedule. We gave all of our staff and volunteers an 8 week break for summer.
People ask me all the time, how do you preach 4 times in one day? Don't you get tired? Well, the answer is, sometimes you just do what you've got to do. When we started Foothills we said that we would do whatever it took to reach people for Christ in this area. God has blessed us and our building kept getting filled up, so we kept adding services, so for this season we will continue to do 4 services. but the answer to the second question is YES, I do get tired. This may not make sense unless you are a Pastor that speaks every week, but delivering a message drains you physically, and emotionally more than anything I know of. I must admit though, the most difficult service I speak at is the 6:00pm service. Mainly because I have already spoken three times that day. I get home at 1:30 or 2:00pm, grab some lunch and then I just kind of hang out and wait for 4:45 so I can head back to the church. It is during that couple of hours that I am home that I really start to feel it.
I am definitely looking forward to getting in the new building so that we can get back to something a little more doable, like 2 or 3 services on Sunday.
In the meantime, if you are currently attending the 9:45 or 11:15 service and you can switch to the 8:30am or 6:00pm service that would really help free up more seats during those prime times. We are still in summer and last week both the 9:45am and 11:15am were at 85% capacity. It's a fact that guests feel uncomfortable when they feel too cramped for space.

Creative team retreat

This week we had a mini-retreat for our creative team. It was great getting together and spending time with them. There is so much that goes into trying to create engaging services. When I left the meeting, I was drained.
In this meeting we were able to finalize sermon series ideas for the next 6 months. There are a few details that we will still need to nail down, but overall it was very productive. It feels so good to get ahead.
Let me try to explain why these meetings are so important. First of all, it gives the entire service a theme. I have been to church services that seemed obvious that there was no communication between the person leading the worship and the person delivering the message. The stage didn't reflect any particular theme, nor did the bulletins. Basically it was left up to the person sitting in the congregation to try to connect the pieces. I'm sure most people would leave the service with more questions than answers.
By spending the time to sit down with a team of people and hashing out creative elements to the service, it helps take the person in the congreagtaion on a journey that has some common thread. This allows them to stay engaged during the whole service.
I can't wait to share these new series, but I can't let the cat out of the bag. Just make sure you don't miss a Sunday!

Students

One of the things that I am really impressed with here at Foothills is our student ministry. We have a great leader in Scott Chatfield, we have great adult volunteers, but I must say, we have the greatest bunch of teenagers I have ever been around!
Many of those teens just got back from Bigstuf camp in Panama City. They had an incredible time. God touched many of their lives, in fact 17 of them were baptized in the ocean in Panama City! (That means we have baptized over 170 people since April!!!!) A couple of them came up to me and shared with me that they had been baptized. They were so excited. And I am excited and proud of them.
They also won the Ultimate Frisbee and the Volleyball competitions. Way to go!
If you think about it, pray for all of our students as the head back to school in a couple of weeks.

finally!

Most of you know that we have had a major struggle with the permitting of our new facility. There have been delays that were totally unforseen. I suppose that is the nature of constructing a large facility.
I've got good news! It seems that everything has been ironed out and we are moving forward once again. Yesterday we had concrete trucks pour the pads for the perimeter supports for the new building, which means it won't be long before we see things moving vertically.
It can't come to soon. Our attendance through the summer has been amazing! There have been Sundays at the 11:15 am service that we have had to bring in metal folding chairs so everyone could get a seat.
I wanted to remind you that on August 5th we will resume our 6:00pm service, so there will be 4 different service times to choose from (8:30am, 9:45am, 11:15am, and 6:00pm)
Buckle up your seatbelts because when school gets back in it is going to be crazy!!

words of wisdom -- part 3

Another thing I tell new church planters to make sure of, is taking your time when it comes to choosing who will be in leadership positions.
New churches have a way of attracting people who are looking to become a big fish in a small pond.
You must take time to get to know people before you invite them to become leaders. They must walk with God on a daily basis. They must share the values of your church. They must love you and have your back. They must be totally unselfish. They must be servants.
When I have people who come in and want me to fast-track them into a leadership position, I generally say something like, "would you be available to help sweep a floor or clean a bathroom?" If they look at me with that "you must be kidding. How could you expect someone as talented as myself to do something so menial?" look, I won't consider them for leadership.
Don't be in a rush to annoint someone as a leader. Take your time, and God will bring the right people.

words of wisdom --part 2

I'm often asked what I would do differently if I were starting Foothills over again. My first answer is always, "I would start with a larger core group." I think I would try to build a core of at least 50 people before launching.
Statistically speaking I have read that churches that have core groups of less than 50 people will rarely ever make it to the 200 level.
I remember 9 years ago when we started with our core group of 17, and held our first service. It was great 70 people showed up! We were ecstatic. The problem was that the next week we had 38, and then 32 , and one Sunday after about 4 or 5 weeks our attendance was about 25 people.
I was discouraged personally, but what I was really worried about were the people in that core group. I was afraid that they would be ready to bail out. I remember after that service, gathering everyone together and giving the best motivational speech I have ever given. I told them that God was at work, that next week there would be more people, that this was really going to work. That we just needed to trust God.
I'll never forget all of them looking at me and saying, "Hey, you don't have to worry about us, we're not going anywhere. You can save your speech"
After that Sunday we began to grow. Literally week after week, we would set attendance records. That was definitely our turning point.
Thinking back on those early days, I'm not sure how we ever retained any of our first-time guests. It must have been extremely intimidating for guests to walk into a service where there were 30 people. Had we built a larger core we would have been able to have critical mass, even when there were very few guests.
Another reason that it's good to have a larger group is for logistical reasons. You need people to serve. You need people to set up and tear down every week, serve in the children's areas, greet, play in the band, sing, hand out bulletins, follow-up with guests, etc.
Then there's the financial side of the equation. It's very expensive to start a new church. There are a lot of expenditures that you have to make for the first time. like letterhead, envelopes, logos, bulletins. There is a ton of expensive sound equipment, and trailers to haul it, and a million other little things that you don't think of.
Yes, Foothills has defied the odds. I was forttunate to have people who surrounded me in that core group who had tremendous faith, and were willing to do whatever it took to reach people.
But if you are thinking about starting a new church, do yourself a favor, spend the time to build a bigger core group.

church planting words of wisdom

Many times I meet with church planters, and soon to be church planters. It is a great joy to be able to pass along some of what I have learned over the last 9 years.
Actually my first exposure to church planting came in about 1993. At that time I was a member of a great church that was reaching many people for Christ. This church was very special to me because I was saved there, baptized there and married there. I was actively involved, serving in many capacities. (I was not on staff. I was still in business at this point.) This church was about a 30 minute drive from where I lived. One day the Pastor approached me and asked if me and my wife would be interested in helping begin a new church in our community (Jupiter Farms)
Our first response was "no", but we agreed to pray about it.
After wrestling with God about it, we reluctantly agreed. Our first meeting was in our living room with a very small core group. We eventually "officially" began and started meeting in an elementary school. Keep in mind, I was not on staff, but nonetheless got an up close and personal picture of church planting. I learned aot about what to do and even more about what NOT to do! I am proud to see how God is using that church (Church in the Farms) to impact the Jupiter Florida area. If you would like to know more about that church you can click here.
When we moved to Seneca, South Carolina in the summer of 1996 we didn't think we would ever be involved in beginning a new church again. We actually moved here to start a new business, which we did, but after 6 months I felt God's call to ministry, so I began to take some seminary classes. It was obvious to me that with my background of starting businesses and being involved in the church plant in Florida, that church planting was in my DNA.
I won't bore you with the details, but we launched Foothills Community Church in April of 1998. It has been such an incredible journey!
As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, I meet many church planters who want to know what to expect, so I thought that i would devote a couple of days to pass along a little bit of what I've learned along the way, as well as some things that I would do differently if I was starting over.
Today I want to leave you with one thing.---- Church Planting Is The Hardest Thing You Wll Ever Do!
That's it. It's hard! That's why so few actually make it.
To those who have never done it, it looks easy. It looks glamorous.---It's not.
It is fun. it's exhilirating. It's the greatest adventure you will ever have. But it's not easy!
Many guys want to plant a church for all the wrong reasons (that's another topic for another day) They read about churches like Northpoint, NewSpring, Elevation or even Foothills, and think "man that's a great job. Just prepare a message and stand up in front of thousands of people and deliver it."
What you don't see is all of the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into laying the foundation of that church. When everyone else leaves for the day, the one who carries the burden of that church is that Lead Pastor. No one, no matter how committed, carries the responsibility like that Lead Pastor. If that church closed down tomorrow, everyone else would find a new church, but for that Pastor he would grieve as if he lost a loved one.
So if you are an aspiring church planter, that's cool, but just be ready to pour yourself into that role. It is not a job. It is an absolute calling! Go for it!

summer attendance

We were discussing in our staff meeting this morning how this summer's attendance is doing incredible. We are slightly lower than before summer's numbers, but we have an enormous amount of first-time guests. What that means is that when school gets back in and everyone is back from their vacations we are going to see another major jump in average attendance!
Seats in the 2 prime times (9:45am and 11:00am) are going to be at a premium.
Here's what I'm asking you to consider. Consider attending either the 8:30am or 6:00pm services.
I realize that not everyone can make that shift, but if you can, it would free up some seats for guests at our 2 prime times.
Our new building should be ready for us to occupy in March, so it would be a temporary shift.
We are experiencing some amazing momentum this summer, so make sure you don't miss out on what God is doing.

An incredible day!

Today was a phenomenal Sunday at Foothills for many reasons.
First it was fun to bring the message after two weeks off. The second reason is that I believe that the Lord did an amazing work in so many lives. I could sense the Holy Spirit at work bringing freedom for so many people today. In case you missed it, we are in a message series called "Livin on a Prayer". We're looking at some famous prayers in the Bible. Today I talked about David's prayer. Just 3 simple words, but so profound.... "I have sinned" David after a year of misery and trying to cover up his sin, gets confronted by Nathan the prophet and admits, I have sinned. Those 3 little words don't sound earth shattering, but they set David free from his gulit, shame and bondage. Those same 3 words are just as powerful today! There are so many people who are enslaved because of their past mistakes, but God stands and waits for us to just come to him and confess and receive His freedom.
No matter what you may have done. No matter how much you may have blown it, there is forgiveness at the cross of Christ.
One more thing, don't forget to pray for our teenagers who left for Bigstuf camp in Panama City (pray for the adult volunteers too!)

Inspired

I was totally inspired while I was on vacation. I was inspired by how orderly my Dad's garage was. Everything had a specific place, everything was put up where it was supposed to be. So yesterday I stopped by Home Depot and bought some shelving units, and some plastic storage containers and starting wading through the accumulation of junk in my garage. I threw away some things. I moved some things to new places. I got rid of some cobwebs. And now my garage has order! I feel so much better.
Spiritually speaking that's what we need to do every so often; take a close look at our lives, and start getting rid of some junk and get things in order. It feels so much better than allowing spirtual junk to accumulate in our lives.
What are some things that are in your life that you need to throw out?

What I did on my summer vacation--part 2

As promised, here are some pictures of some of the fish I caught down in Florida.
The snook were caught in Sebastian Inlet (3 of us caught between 15-20), and the little shark was caught off the beach in Jensen Beach.
One of the things I miss the most about Florida is the great fishing. There are so many options. You can fish in freshwater, the intracoastal, off the beach, or go offshore.