What a day!!

This past Sunday we celebrated our groundbreaking. It was incredible. Despite low temps and howling winds, we had around 700 people show up and participate.
I have been to several grounbreaking ceremonies. Usually there are a lot of dignitaries and gold shovels, which is fine, but that's just not us at Foothills. We are a team. So our groundbreaking was a B.Y.O.S event (bring your own shovel). It's hard to describe the feeling of watching hundreds of families grasping their shovels around the perimeter of what will be our new building.
As I looked at the crowd, it occured to me that this was history in the making. Years from now, there will be people worshiping the Lord in that building who have no idea who I am. They will have no idea of the sacrifice that so many made so that they would have a place to worship. But the reason we do what we do is not to gain the applause of man, but to gain the applause of our Almighty God.
I am proud to be a part of a great movement of God like Foothills Community Church.

Newspaper ad

Yesterday the Seneca Journal ran an article about our upcoming groundbreaking. Although they aren't exactly the New York Times---we appreciate the pub.
Whatever you do, Don't miss this historical day. We have got a great celebration planned!
This Sunday January 28,2007 at 4:00pm

conferences

I am really excited about a couple of conference coming up in the next two months.
The first one is the Church Planters Conference at Mountain Lake Church. Even though I planted Foothills over 8 years ago, I have a real passion for Church planting and church planters. There are also a couple of sessions that really caught my eye. We are bringing several of our team to this one.

Then there's another one that I am looking forward to. Our friends over at Newspring are doing their first conference, "Unleash". This one should be killer. Perry and his crew at Newspring always roll out the red carpet and do it right.
If you get a chance, plan to attend one of these. It will be worth the investment.

Looking ahead

We just finished our weekly staff meeting. One of the things we discussed was our Easter services. After some great input we decided that we are going to be doing 5 services on Easter Sunday (7:15am, 8:30am, 9:45am, 11:15am and 6:00pm)
This is going to be a really long day, but we want to reach as many people for Christ as possible, which means that it's not always going to be convenient. I am extremely excited thinking about what might happen that day!!
Between now and then you can bet there will be a lot of planning and preparation to make it happen. But in the meantime I am extremely pumped about our current series that we began yesterday called "You To Be". We'll be looking at the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Yesterday we kicked it off with Faithfulness (I know, we're not going in the right order!) This week we'll look at Joy.
Don't forget also this Sunday (Jan. 28th) at 4:00pm we will be having our Groundbreaking celebration. Be here by 4:00pm with your shovel, family and friends, as we break ground Together! Then we'll head back inside the auditorium for about 20 minutes of Praise and Worship.

You have not because you ask not

I have always tried to learn from the wisdom of others. I did that when I was in the business world, and I continue to do that in the church world.
Many people are too proud to ask their peers questions because they want to seem like they've got it all figured out. I admit that I don't know everything.
In 2007 I have made a goal of trying to talk to as many Pastors of churches that are 2 or 3 levels ahead of where we are right now. The thought is that they have already been in my shoes and probably have some valuable insight to offer. There are probably some things that have worked well, and there are probably alot of things that haven't. I would like to hear about both. I have drafted a series of questions that I am trying to get answered from these men.
In January I emailed 9 different Pastors of churches that range in size from 1,600 to over 5,000.
I have heard back from 5 of those Pastors. I have spoken to 3 so far, and have 2 scheduled for phone conversations later this month. Most guys know what it's like to be in the trenches. They remember what it was like to be where we are, and are willing to take time out of their busy schedules to help. I believe God honors that.
They have been a wealth of knowledge. I will post some of my findings at a later date.
I have challenged my staff to do the same thing in their respective areas.
I will also try to continue to be a resource for other churches that have questions for us too.

Get in the Game wrap-up

We finished our Get In The Game series yesterday. Yesterday was basically our annual State of the Church message. You can hear it here.
It is definitely one of my favorites messages to do every year. It is a chance to celebrate what the Lord did at Foothills in 2006, and where we believe He's directing us in 2007. It is so much fun to just cast the vision of the church.
2006 was a year of many milestones. Our average attendance increased 32% from 2005. We had 198 first-time salvations. We had another 207 people who recommitted their lives to Christ.
But there are a couple of areas that we want to improve on. Only about 33% of our adults and teenagers are involved in LIFE groups and only 33% of adults and teens are serving in a ministry.
Even though many churches would love to have those percentages---it's not good enough. We are trying to create a culture where when you become part of Foothills, you are expected to be involved in a small group and a minstry.
Our people are so cool. Whenever we issue a challenge--they respond. So I expect that these percentages will increase dramatically this year.
One last thing that was really incredible was when we counted up all of the people who have signed up for our BELONG (membership) class this week and last week, we had over 100 people say "I want to be a part of Foothills !!

In case you're wondering if numbers really matter...

Sometimes I read something and think.... "I couldn't have said it better myself", or "why didn't I come up with that idea?"
Well this blog post that Perry had from Clayton King is one of them. Brilliantly stated reasons why numbers truly matter.

Pet Peeves

All of us have pet peeves. I have quite a few of them. Being late is one, rude people is another. But one of my biggest pet peeves has to do with Pastors who use the "I'm just a poor little old Pastor" card.
I have noticed that many Pastors pull that card out whenever they want something, or they are looking for some pity.
If they go to a restaurant, they want a discount because they're just a "poor little old Pastor". If they buy a car they expect a better deal because after all they are just a "poor little old Pastor!"
I once met a Pastor when I lived in Florida that actually tried to get a guy to build him a pool--- for free---because he was just a "poor little old Pastor"
Give me a break. Do you really want people to pity you? I don't. I want people to treat me like everyone else. I'm not looking for handouts or sympathy.
Now, I know that many people like to express their love to Pastors tangibly by giving gifts. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Pastors who walk around with their hands out, and always whining about what a big sacrifice they are making to serve God. And constantly dropping hints about how they may not be able to pay their bills. QUIT IT---PLEASE!!
You are giving the rest of us a bad name.
Now a word to the churches. If your Pastor(s) is truly struggling to make ends meet because you are too cheap to pay them a good income, then shame on you. That's not even Biblical.

Alright, I feel better.

Get In The Game

We had an incredible day yesterday. Despite terrible weather we had a great crowd.
We kicked off a new series called, "Get In The Game". It is a 2 week series about our vision as a church. We are using a baseball theme, and challenging people to take some spiritual steps this year toward full devotion to Christ. In addition to coffe and donuts, we had a popcorn maker out in the lobby, with pennants , and even some bleachers on stage. During our welcome time we did a 7th inning stretch and gave out sets of tickets to Clemson's opening game of the season. The only catch was in order to get the tickets, the person had to lead the congregation in "Take Me Out To The Ballgame"---It was hilarious!
The best part however was the response to the challenge for people who have been sitting in the bleachers as spectators, to put on the uniform and commit to being part of the team. We had dozens of people sign up for our next 3 membership (Belong) classes.
Next week we'll cover the rest of the bases and have our annual State Of The Church message. That's always one of my favorite one's to do.

Ground Breaking

When we moved into our first facility 3 years ago we knew that it would be temporary. We believed that the Lord would multiply our church and we would eventually need to build a second phase. He did. We have nearly tripled in size during those three years!

To keep up with the growth we have added more services. (We currently do 4 services)
Having four services has helped by adding more space, but what we have found is that most people still prefer to attend church in our prime times (Sunday mornings 9:45am and 11:15am)

In order to continue growing we needed to add more seats in those prime times, so we began a capital building campaign last year, and had blueprints drawn up, and met with contractors and FINALLY we are ready to break ground on phase 2! To see a video you can click here

It is very exciting to think that this dream will soon be reality-----but here's the thing we must make sure we don't lose sight of; Jesus Christ didn't come to this earth and die on a cross for a Building. He came for People!
Buildings are great. But building buildings are not our goal at Foothills. Our mission is not complete because we built a new building. Our mission will only be complete when every person knows Jesus Christ personally.

What should really excite us, is to think that God has used Foothills Community Church to lead hundreds of people to faith in Christ!

By the way, We will have a ground breaking celebration on January 28th at 4:00pm, followed by a brief time of praise and worship. It's going to be incredble. Do not miss this event.

Recap of Christmas

2006 ended with a bang for Foothills Community Church. Our Christmas services were phenomenal. We had a record crowd (1,730 people) and tons of spiritual decisions. (11 salvations and dozens of people recommitting their lives to Christ).
One thing that I'm constantly reminded of is, that not only do we have the best staff in the world, but we have the best volunteers too. To be able to pull off the type of services that we have every week takes between 150 and 200 people serving. To all of you who have found a meaningful place of service and have given of your time to help people find Jesus---Thank You!!

Overall 2006 was our best year ever. Our average attendance grew by 32%. We had around 200 salvations. We had another 200 people make recommitments. We had more baptisms, more people involved in serving and more people participating in LIFE groups than ever before.

2007 is going to be incredible!