Starting this Sunday

You do not want to miss this Sunday at Foothills Community Church! We will be starting a new series called, Revolution (the Beatles Guide To Family)
During this 4 week series we will be talking about marriage, raising kids, blended families and being single (pretty much something for everyone).

Every time we do a series about family it goes over big-time. That's because no matter how much experience you have, there's always more to learn.

I am REALLY looking forward to Sunday!

God is at work in Kentucky!

Got an email yesterday from my friend Daniel Lucas. He planted Crosspoint Church in Morehead, Kentucky one year ago.
This past Sunday (their one year anniversary) they had 478 people in attendance! They are knocking it out of the park. People are being saved and lives are changing. Way to go Daniel!

In case you're wondering

I am going to be twittering, so if you're interested in checking that out click here.
At this point, it's an experiment, because I'm not sure whether I'm going to like it or not, so I'm not making any promises!

Choosing

I am a firm believer that the choices we make will define who we become. So at the beginning of the new year I wrote out 7 questions that I asked myself for 2009. They are not original, but they challenged me. I thought I would share them with you.

** Do I want to IMPRESS people or IMPACT people?

** Will I settle for GOOD or strive for GREAT?

** Do I want to be DISCOVERED or DEVELOPED?

** Will I seek to be SERVED or choose to SERVE others?

** Will I MICRO-MANAGE or choose to LEAD and EMPOWER?

** Will I settle for SUCCESS or strive for SIGNIFICANCE?

** Will I choose to SIT ON THE THRONE or BOW AT HIS FEET?



What questions are you asking yourself?

Sunday recap

We had an amazing day again at Foothills!

We had large crowds again (especially at the 11:15am service)

There was a ton of energy (in both services)

I spoke about the responsibility of people stepping up and finding a place to serve, and the response was awesome!

We wrapped up the Sticky Church series. During the 3 week series we had about 100 people sign up to take the Belong class (membership class) next Sunday, we had over 100 new people sign up to be in a Life Group, and around 150 new people sign up to begin serving!

I love hearing the stories that people share about how Foothills has made a difference in their lives.

Our Toccoa campus also had a great day. It was Jonathan Bryant's first official day as their worship leader. Shannon Chiles (campus Pastor) and Jonathan Bryant will make a good team.

Speaking of Toccoa, big things are in store for the Toccoa area. I believe our impact there is about to go to the next level!

Can't wait for Sunday!

I love Sundays. I love worshipping with all of you at Foothills. I love the energy and anticipation. I love everything about it. Fortunately there are a whole lot of you that feel that way too!

One of the comments I hear alot from people who visit Foothills Community Church for the first time is, "It is great to come to a church where the people actually want to be there!"

I have been to churches where it seemed like most of the people were there out of obligation, but not really because they wanted to be there. It's kind of depressing. There seems to be no life; no energy; no enthusiasm.

I am very fortunate to be the Lead Pastor at such a great church!

Tomorrow, I'll be wrapping up our Sticky Church series, and I want to encourage you to continue to bring your "A" game to worship. I want to encourage you to keep bringing your friends with you. We've got an incredible service planned. I can't wait for Sunday!

Challenging myself

Last week I got a chance to hang out with Dave Travis and Sam Chand. They came by for a tour of our facility. Then we headed to Greenville to hang out with Matt from Grace Church. It was a great day!

There was a lot of discussion about what it takes for a church to continue to grow, and breaking through potential growth barriers. And as you might imagine, the discussion turned to the responsibility that the Lead Pastor has to continue to grow personally in order for that church to grow.

Sam is an author and church consultant that travels all over the U.S. working with leaders. The average size of the churches that he works with has about 5,000 people in attendance. Dave is an author and on staff at Leadership Network . So these guys know what they're talking about.

I am still trying to process our conversation, but here are a couple of things that stood out to me:
A church can only grow to the level in which the leader is willing to endure the pain. (in other words, a leader must be willing to endure pain for his church to continue growing. If he can't endure the pain that comes with going to the next level, the church will stop growing) (If you're not a Lead Pastor that statement will probably not make sense)

As the church becomes larger, what type of structure and systems changes will need to be made?

As a church of 2,000 I have to become more focused on just a few things, and be strategic with my time now more than ever.

I am in the process right now of some more changes in my personal life, so that I don't become the bottleneck of our growth. I have shared some of this with our staff and they are excited about it. That's good because the changes will affect all of us.

There was so much more that we talked about, but that's it for now.

email problems

Here's an update on our email problems at Foothills. Apparently our email host's server is down. We can't get a hold of them (it's like this company has vanished into thin air). So if you have emailed us since last Friday---we haven't received it!
We have changed hosts, but it will probably be another day until we are up and running.
This is extremely frustrating, but we are doing the best we can.

We are getting a chance to develop the fruit of patience, and it's not fun!

Sunday recap

We had a great day at Foothills yesterday. Unfortunately there was more bad weather on Sunday (that's 4 Sundays in a row!) But yesterday there were a few snow flurries and some sleet, so it definitely hurt our attendance. (If one snow flake falls within a ten mile radius, people absolutely freak out -- it's crazy1)

I talked about the importance of having relationships at church. I made a statement that if people don't get involved in either a LIFE group or serving group, they won't be here 12 months from now. That's what we have found over the last 10 years. Just coming on Sunday mornings is not enough to keep you at a church----no matter how good the services are!

The good news is, we had a whole bunch of people who signed up to come to the Grouplink event this evening at 6:30pm to find out more about how to connect with others at Foothills. If you didn't sign up, but would like to come, just be here at 6:30pm


One last thing. If you have sent an email to pretty much anyone at Foothills since Friday, we haven't received them. Our email server is down! Be patient.

In case you're wondering

In case you missed this past Sunday at Foothills Community Church, or you're just wondering what our vision is, you can watch this.

This Sunday is going to be incredible. Make sure you're not late---trust me!

If you have been feeling cramped in the 11:15am service, then you may want to check out the 9:30am service.

Thursday thoughts

As I mentioned in a blog a few days ago, this past Sunday was kind of the state of the Church message that I do every year. It is all about our vision as a church.

Sunday was also our membership renewal Sunday. (Every year we ask people to re-sign their membership covenant if they are still behind the vision).

But we also give people the opportunity to take the next step toward becoming a new member, it's a class called "Belong". We had 95 people sign up to take the class on February 1st!

I know that some of you have been thinking about it since last Sunday, but you didn't sign up yet. Well, it's not too late. You can bring your cards with you this Sunday (or pick one up at the Welcome Center), and put it in the offering buckets.

Here's what I've discovered about vision:


You can't talk about it too much

People are attracted to a church with a clear vision from God

People are attracted to a leader who has a clear vision from God

You can't sell a vision that you don't believe deep down inside

The stronger you communicate that vision, the more people will want to be a part of it

Not everyone will agree with your vision (but at least they will know where you stand)

Vision leaks --talk about it often

Vision makes it easy to make decisions

A clear vision will give you the confidence to take risks

Where there is no vision the people perish

Excellence at every level

Yesterday during our staff meeting we watched a message from T.D. Jakes that he delivered at a past Leadership Summit. It was awesome. He is one of the best communicators out there. I could tell he was holding back a little bit because he was speaking at Willow Creek and not his own church, but nonetheless he challenges all of us big-time.

I was writing as fast as I could, but I still didn't catch everything he said, but here are a few of the things that stood out to me. His talk was Excellence at every level. He spoke from Exodus 17.



**Moses led on 3 different levels-- Moses led WITH the people--IN FRONT of the people, and ABOVE the people.

**We miss who we could be by emulating others.

**Leaders are controversial.

**You can't be insecure and lead.

**If your leadership style doesn't change as you grow, you can't get to the next level.

**The change begins with ME!

**Make a list of the top 10 changes you need to make---start with the thing you are complaining about most.

**Good leaders anticipate problems --good leaders develop solutions to these problems

**Any problem you don't conquer, will conquer you!

**You can't fight today's challenge with yesterday's weapons.

**If you are still doing what you were doing, you're stunting your growth

**You will know what you're called to do, by what you can't stand.

**The thing you're complaining about--that's what you're called to do!

holy cow, what a day!

Hands down, this Sunday's message topic was one of my favorites to talk about---the Vision of Foothills Community Church. Here are a couple of things that stood out to me:

** I am praying that God would break my heart for what breaks His. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem and looked over the city, He wept. When is the last time we wept over the lostness of our cities?

** Vision messages do one of 2 things. Either they fire people up or they chase people away. Either way, it's good. (If someone can't get behind the vision of their church, they need to move on and find a church with a vision they can get behind.)

** Today was also Memebership Renewal Sunday. Basically ever January 1st we purge our membership rolls and start from scratch. If people are still behind the vision and want to continue to be a member, they re-sign the membership covenant. (what's the point of having names of people on a membership roll who don't even attend there anymore, or who no longer agree with the vision?) Tons of people re-signed today, and tons of people who have not been through our Belong Class, signed up to become members.

** I think today's message was the longest I have ever preached. It's hard to be brief when you are as passionate about something as I am about our Vision!

** The music in both services was unbelievable!!!

** God is rocking my world right now and I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

** I played basketball after church today. We started a basketball league at Foothills, and we had our first practice. Actually we ended up scrimmaging one of the other teams. I am wiped out. I play basketball 3 morning a week, but I usually only play half-court, but today we played full-court---oh my, what a difference!

Do Not Miss Church This Sunday!

Trust me, you do not want to miss church this Sunday. I just finished wrapping up my message, and we are going to cover what God did in 2008 and look ahead to 2009. Any time I get to speak directly about the vision of Foothills Community Church I get so hyped I can barely contain myself!

We are starting a new series called Sticky Church, and over the next 3 weeks we're going to talk about the heartbeat of Foothills Community Church. So whether you've been a part Of Foothills since day 1 or you've never been before, it is probably the most strategic Sunday of the year.

Not only that, but the worship time is going to be amazing too!

Resolutions

I know that many of you made some resolutions for 2009.

Whether you call them resolutions or goals, all of us should look for ways to improve ourselves in different areas of our lives. I thought I would share a few of the areas that I have personally set some goals in for 2009.

Intellectual goals (my goal is to read 2 books a month in 09)

Spiritual goals (spend at least 1 hour with God (not including sermon prep) per day at least 5 days per week, share my faith regularly, a total dependence on the Holy Spirit daily)

Physical goals (exercise 5-6 times per week, eat right)

Relational goals (become a better encourager, love and serve my wife better, express love to my family more)

Professional goals (attend at least 2 leadership events, begin a website dedicated to small town Pastors, begin a leadership roundtable group, start a second satellite campus)

These are a few of the things that I'm shooting for in 2009. There are some others too, but for now that will give you a little glimpse into what my focus will be in 2009.

What are your goals? Write them down and then live them out.

What a day!

Today was a tremendous day for me. I got to speak live at our Toccoa campus for the first time!

It was actually the first time that I had seen the gymnasium transformed into an auditorium. I must say that it looked awesome. Here are a few of my takeaways from today:

**Shannon Chiles, our campus Pastor is doing an incredible job.

**As soon as you pull into the parking lot you can sense the Foothills DNA all over the place. It's even more evident once you get inside.

**The volunteers are amazing. They truly seem to love what they're doing. They broke down the entire building and had everything put up in 40 minutes!

**They had donuts and other goodies (definitely Foothills!)

**The band rocked. Jonathan led worship today, and did a great job.

**Met lots of new people. They seemed so excited about Foothills. Most of them commented that I looked a lot different in person (not really sure how to take that!)

**I believe that our Toccoa campus is going to really reach lots of people in Stephens County, Georgia.

**The only downside to my entire experience was when the guys back at the tech table flashed a Georgia Bulldog logo on the screen and played their fight song!


Meanwhile back at our Seneca campus, I heard that Brian Rhodes brought it today delivering the message! A big thank you to all of the crew in Seneca for keeping things rocking, even though I haven't been there in 2 weeks.

Look out next Sunday because we are starting a new series called "Sticky Church". Next week's message is one of my favorite topics to talk about----Foothills vision.

Happy New Year!

Well, it's 2009. that is so hard to believe. 2008 went by like a flash.
I just wanted to do a quick blog post to wish everyone a Happy new year.

Why not sit down and reflect on 2008, and take some time to write out a few goals for 2009. Write out your spiritual goals, physical goals, relational goals and intellectual goals.

2009 has the potential to be the best year ever. A lot will depend on what your goals are. Nothing great happens by accident. It takes focus. 2009 is a blank slate. Seek God like never before in 2009, and He will open up great doors for you.