Why do bad things happen to good people?

That may be one of the most asked questions. I'm not sure anyone can adequately answer it, but this Sunday we'll take a stab at it. We will be continuing our message series, "David's Blog", our study of the Psalms of David. If you have ever felt that life was unfair, you do not want to miss it!

For our 6:00pm service we will be doing something different, as our Pastor of Connections, Paul Carr delivers the message on Psalm 139. I'm really looking forward to that.

I can't even begin to describe how exciting things are at Foothills. There is a huge wave of momentum. Fortunately we will be able to move into our new building soon to give everyone a little more elbow room. (I will take some more pictures to show you the progress one of these days-- I promise)

Oh No!

What is the world coming to?
A friend just gave me this book. Should I read it?

Hug your spouse

This morning I got a chance to talk to a friend that just lost his wife of 42 years to cancer. The thing that stuck out the most in our conversation was his reminder to hug your spouse and let them know how much you love them, because they won't always be around.
It's not that I didn't know that already, but when someone who has just walked through something so traumatic tells you that, it just sinks in a little more.
I am so fortunate to be married to the love of my life and my best friend, Liz. She is the most godly Christ-follower that I know. And besides that, anyone who would put up with me has got to be pretty special! I need to do a better job of letting Liz know how much I love her (not just with words, but also with my actions)
So here's my challenge to you; stop what you're doing right now and call your spouse and tell them you love them!

Pray for Kristen and Mia

Many of you know that my daughter and my 2 year old grandaughter are in South Africa in the School of Biblical Studies with Youth With A Mission. If you are tuned into world news, you have probably heard that there is a lot of civil unrest in that Country. There is widespread violence against foreigners (mainly foreigners from other African Countries). The State Department issued a warning for Americans in South Africa today that has us concerned for their safety. If you think about them, please pray for them. I spoke to Kristen a little while ago, and she says everything is quiet where she is, so that makes us feel a little better about the situation.

sunday thoughts

**Kicked off our new series, David's Blog, a series on the Psalms of David. We talked about Every Person's Battle (the battle with sin). Lots of positive feedback. This is going to be a great series

**David Odom and his band from Atlanta came and led worship for us and knocked it out of the park. Eric and our worship team got a well deserved weekend off.

**Attendance was a little off, but on a sunny Memorial Day weekend, it's somewhat expected. (speaking of Memorial Day, thank you to all of our brave men and women who layed it all on the line to protect our freedom-- you are heroes!)

**The new building is coming along. They completed the indoor playscape. Man the kids are going to have a blast on that thing! I think we have power now, so we are in the home stretch.

**Short week this week, and lots to do before the weekend.

Toccoa

Spent some time yesterday afternoon with our Toccoa Campus Pastor cruising around looking for possible meeting places. There are not lots of options that fit what we are looking for.
We are looking for something that is at least 8,000 square feet with good parking and is in a decent location. If you know of anything, let us know.
I am very pumped about our potential to reach into Toccoa. We will probably have our first informational meeting in June or July, so if you live in Toccoa, Lavonia, Westminster or just want to be involved in this great undertaking, make sure to attend the info. meeting.

This weekend we are starting a brand new series that is going to be great, it's called "David's Blog". It is a series on some of the Psalms of David. I have been wanting to do a series on Psalms for a while, so I'm really looking forward to it.

A few thoughts

Had lunch with my friend, Dean Herman yesterday. I love Dean's tenacity and his willingness to do whatever it takes to reach people for Christ. Dean is the Pastor of this church in Easley, SC. He also used to play football for this team. If for some reason I ever need a bodyguard I would like to hire Dean! They are making a huge impact in Easley.

Yesterday evening we held our Servelink event. It was great. Josh Gregory and Paul Carr did a phenomenal job of organizing it and I think we had quite a few people get connected to Serve teams here at Foothills.

Heading over to Toccoa this afternoon to meet with our Campus pastor to take a look at a couple of potential locations to meet in September.

Staff meeting

Since Easter, my staff has been going non-stop. From preparing for Easter, to helping pull off our Shine 2008 project, to the big baptism celebration (and all of their regular responsibilities). So yesterday instead of our regular staff meeting we all went bowling.
We rented 4 lanes and divided up into teams, and the competition began! I am a very humble human being, so I wasn't going to bring this up, but I felt like I needed to respond because Paul called me out. My team went undefeated. That's right a perfect 3-0 baby! We utterly destroyed our competition. Our team was as close to bowling perfection as humanly possible. I'm pretty sure that if I ever decide on a second career, professional bowler could be an option. You know what they say, "It ain't braggin' if it's true!"
And I say all this with true humility!


EDITED 5:35pm

OUCH!! Yes it is true, I do have my own bowling ball and shoes. And it is true that Paul did bowl the high game of 186, and I got second with a 171. But no doubt I Would have had the high game had it not been for me having to bowl with a broken thumb!! I rest my case.

Sunday highlights

** We wrapped up our "Shine" series yesterday, and all I can say is WOW!

** We set up the swimming pool in the auditorium and had baptisms in all 4 services. We ended up baptizing 96 people!!!!

** Probably had 20 or so people make first-time decisions to follow Christ as well. It was incredible.

**The lobby was electric yesterday--- people everywhere.

** Set another attendance record yesterday!

** Not sure, but we may have set a donut consumption record yesterday too!

** I managed to insult lots of people yesterday---Nascar fans (you know I love you!), N.C. State fans, people who roller skate, the guy who invented the Hokey Pokey, and probably others. I did NOT however insult the Gamecocks this week (plenty of time for that later!).

All in all a fantastic day.

Newsflash

The University of South Carolina Gamecocks have just announced that they have completed the construction of their new football stadium.
The Gamecocks Head Coach, Steve Spurrier was quoted as saying, "At least my boys won't have to leave home to play their home games anymore!" Rumor has it that the new team colors will be black and white stripes.

customer service

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my TV is on the blink, so I was going to break down and buy a new one. I shopped everywhere and decided on purchasing one online. The company that I purchased from had good reviews from their customers, so I felt pretty good about it.
Anyway, it was scheduled to be delivered last Thursday. I was told to make sure someone would be there from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. That was no problem because I work from my home on Thursday afternoons. At about 4:15pm they were still not there, so I called the shipping company who told me that my TV was stolen in a break-in at their warehouse. I asked the lady why no one bothered to call and she said, "I don't know."
She then told me that I needed to call the place that I bought it from (in New Jersey), and tell them what happened. I called and was transferred to apparently their Customer Service Manager. He wasn't there, so I left a voice mail. I never heard back Thursday so I called again Friday. Left another message. Called back 2 more times on Friday, and left 2 more messages. Never got a returned call. Didn't hear back on Saturday, or Sunday or Monday. So I called again on Tuesday, and told the person my dilemma and she transferred me to the manager. I told him that I had left 4 messages. He told me he was sorry, but they had been very busy.
He sent out another TV Tuesday afternoon and if all goes well I will receive it next Thursday.

But here's my question, is bad service just normal these days? Let's face it there are plenty of excuses for not providing good service.

After my experience I began to wonder about the Church in general. I have been in churches where I was treated like an inconvenience to them. We should ask ourselves, Do our guests (customers) feel like we are doing everything that we can to make sure that it is an enjoyable experience for them. Wouldn't it be great if we could exceed their expectations when it came to our guest services?

At Foothills, we have made an effort to do that. Our First impression Pastor, Brian Marshall and his team do an excellent job of making sure that our guests have such a great experience that they want to come back.

Even if you aren't in the position to have a Pastor of First Impressions, you should have someone who volunteers to oversee this crucial ministry in every church.

Shine H2O

This weekend we will celebrate baptism in all 4 services. I am very excited about this. Up until last year we have done all of our baptisms in Lake Keowee. That has always been exciting, but over the last couple of years we outgrew all of the county parks and other gathering spaces on the lake. So last April we did a spontaneous baptism service on Sunday and God showed up! We baptized 112 people that day. (We also did a couple of other baptism parties last summer at lake Keowee)
We have decided to bring in the swimming pool once again and baptize during the services. It is going to be incredible. DO NOT MISS THIS SUNDAY!

I have been asked by other Pastors how we pulled off a spontaneous baptism. Logistically it was difficult, because although it was spontaneous to the church, it took a lot of planning and preparation from our staff and volunteers to pull it off.
Here are some of the things we had to think through:

Time issues------ How long will it take to baptize larger amounts of people? How do we minimize the time it takes for people to get in and out of the pool? How does that affect the length of the worship set and sermon. (we have 4 services on Sunday, so you have people who are showing up for the next service while the other service is still in progress)

Safety issues----- When you baptize lots of people, they get the floors wet and slippery. We brought in lots of the kind of mats and runners you use at a front entrance for people to wipe their feet on, and laid them down the aisles where people would walk. Plus you have to make sure there is no electrical close by (microphones, etc.)

General issues---- We decided to buy tons of shirts (dark shirts are a must) and gym shorts and towels and gave them to everyone that was baptized. We ordered the T-shirts with our logo on the back and on the front it said, I got dunked at Foothills.
We had lots of volunteers. We had volunteers distributing the shirts, shorts, and towels by size. We had volunteers helping people get in and out of the pool, and writing down the names of the people who were being baptized. We had some people who could counsel people who were still a little unclear, etc.

Preparation issues---You have to figure out how to arrange the chairs to fit a pool in the auditorium. You have to allow plenty of time for the pool to be filled up (and heated, if you are wimps. Our people are tough. No heat!)

Prayer issues--- This is the biggest part to the whole day--Prayer. If God doesn't show up, you will look pretty foolish. So pray hard.


If you have never done this, let me encourage you to consider it. I would say without a doubt that that service was the most moving service we have ever had at Foothills!

If you want to see a little glimpse of what it was like click here, then go to the multimedia tab

Shine 2008

I have had a few great stories about people who are getting fired-up about Shine 2008.
You can read more about Shine 2008 here and here.

One man told me Sunday that he had an idea of a project that he was going to do on his own. He drove by a cemetery in a small church that has many veterans buried there. The grass had grown tall and it needed someone to pull weeds, so he is going to try to get permission to take care of that.

Another person from our church lives in a community that has probably over 100 homes. They approached their whole community about doing a food drive so we could restock the local food bank. Many of the neighbors (that don't even go to Foothills) are participating.

Another person who coaches one of the local High School football teams said that he was going to have ALL of his players participate in Shine 2008 by doing community service projects.

I have received many emails of people who can't be there Saturday because of prior appointments that are doing their projects during the week.

When it's all said and done, there is no telling how many lives will be impacted by people willing to let their lights shine in the community by doing acts of service.

Staff planning retreat

Today we had a staff planning retreat up in Clayton, Ga at the home of one of our members. It was an incredible location to meet. What a view!
Anyway, the reason for the meeting was to make sure we were all on the same page in our preparation for moving into the new building. Generally when a church moves into a new building there is a sizable attendance jump (when we moved into our current building we grew by nearly 50% in the first couple of months!) No matter how many plans you make to compensate for the new growth, it seems like you still aren't ready. So this time we are trying to be proactive by implementing new systems and structures.
We are also planning on a complete dry run service from start to finish with all the volunteers in place, prior to our move-in date.
These are very exciting times here at Foothills Community Church.

sunday debrief

We kicked off our Shine series today. It was incredible.
We designed the service to last 45 minutes and then for the last 15 minutes I challenged our people to walk next door into the lobby of our new building where we had about 50 tables set up with information on around 100 service projects all over this county. We had everything from jobs to build wheelchair ramps for the elderly to clean up of schools and parks, to food collection---you name it, we had it.
Our goal was to have 1,000 people sign up for a half day of service next Saturday. I don't know the numbers for sure but my guess is we will have closer to 1,200 people! Think about that, 1,200 people who will volunteer to serve our community next week. Awesome!
Foothills people, you blow me away. You always seem to rise to the challenge. I am proud to be your Pastor.
Next week we will be doing baptisms in all 4 services. Put on your seatbelts, it's going to be crazy!

Big Mac Attack

Well, my iMac arrived and Scott got me all set up, so I am typing this blog on my Mac! So I am now officially a Mac man. Well sort of, because I still use a PC at home. It's a little tricky getting used to, but overall I like it. It definitely looks cool. The picture above is its side profile.

New building service thoughts (part 1)

As we get closer to move-in day for our new building there are lots of things that we are preparing for. A couple of the major changes will be the format of when and how we do services at Foothills in the new building.For this post I want to address the "when" question.
One of the major changes will involve the times of the services. By necessity, because of our growth we have continued to add services over the years. As most of you know we currently offer 4 services on Sundays (8:30am,9:45am,11:15am and 6:00pm.) The reason we have these options is because we ran out of room at the two prime times (9:45 and 11:15). When we go into our new building we will begin with 2 service times because we will have a lot of room in the prime times again. We will Probably offer services at 9:30am and 11:15am. We realize that there are some people that come to the 8:30am or 6:00pm service because it's the only service they can attend. We apologize for any inconvenience to you. But for the majority, they come to those services by choice rather than necessity.
As you can imagine it takes an amazing amount of energy and resources to do 4 services every Sunday, so by going back to 2 service times it makes sense from a resource standpoint.
As these two services get filled up, we will offer additional services at the same times (9:30 and 11:15) where we will simulcast the message to our current auditorium. Everything else will be live, including the music, etc. Essentially by doing this, between our current auditorium and our new auditorium it will give us about 1,600 seats per service. which means for the 2 prime times we would have 3,200 seats available. Not too shabby!

Upcoming things

Remember, this weekend we begin our new series, Shine.
It is only a 2 week series, but it is going to be huge.
This Sunday I will be talking about Shine 2008, which is a community service project that will take 1,000+ volunteers from Foothills for a morning of service on Saturday May 17th. We have about 85 projects ranging from building wheelchair ramps to beautification projects at our County Parks and waterfalls and everything in between.
Then the following Sunday (May 18th) we will be celebrating baptism in all 4 services. It is going to be phenomenal. Bring your friends with you!

Big things happening at Foothills

Here are a couple of thoughts that are running through my mind today:

** Yesterdays services at Foothills were fantastic---possibly the most important message I've ever done.

** Strong attendance, especially considering it was Commitment Sunday for a mini capital campaign

** Not sure how much was pledged yet. Hopefully enough to cover some of our move-in costs

** In one way or another I have incorporated the vision of Foothills in about every message for the last 6-8 weeks

** I believe that it is absolutely true that if your vision isn't big enough that people are leaving, then your vision is too small!

** This Sunday we will unveil Shine 2008. It is a community service project on steroids. Foothills is going to turn this County upside-down with acts of service

** Believe it or not we are going to let people out early this Sunday!

** May 18th we will be doing baptisms in all 4 services. Don't miss out

** They delivered our children's playscape and (I think) our seats for the auditorium for the new building (a little early, but when we ordered them we thought we would be moving in in May)

Sidelined

Yesterday morning I jammed my thumb pretty bad blocking a pass while playing basketball. I have probably jammed every finger at some point during my life, but this one felt different. It was definitely more painful. I thought by this morning it would feel better. I was wrong. I could barely tie my shoe.
I decided I better go have it x-rayed. So I went by the hospital today and I found out that I broke my left thumb. Bummer. I have to keep it splinted for a few weeks, so I won't be able to shoot hoops for a while. I can't tell you how much I am going to miss playing basketball. I play every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:00am--- it's awesome. Oh well, I guess it could be worse.