Sunday review

Yesterday was fun. I got to speak on money, which for a Pastor can be a little awkward, but we approached the topic a little differently than I ever have before. In essence the message was more about faith than it was finances.

** We wrapped up the One Hit Wonders series with a message from Mark 12 about the poor widow who gave all that she had..... which was only 2 small coins.

** The 2 spiritual principles were, a little becomes a lot when we give it to God, and giving is really not a financial thing, it's a faith thing.

** The biggest mistake people make in relation to giving is when we reduce a spiritual act of worship (which is what giving is), down to a mathematical equation.

** Giving NEVER works out on paper.

** I loved walking down memory lane and sharing stories of the miracles of God at Foothills Community Church in relation to finances. Wow, God has been so faithful!

** A.W. Tozer once said, "Anything God has ever done, He can do now. Anything God has ever done anywhere, He can do here. Anything God has ever done for anyone, He can do for You!" Remember that the next time something seems impossible!

** So many great things coming up at Foothills in the next 2 months I can hardly stand it! (Baptism Party on September 5th, LIFE group semester begins in mid September, We will be having a huge volunteer appreciation dessert and party on September 30th, and then on October 3rd we'll have a ServeLink to help people find a place to serve, and then on October 10th we will have a Friend Day (not really sure what else to call it) where everyone will be encouraged to invite their friends)

** Hard to believe that school started today.

** This Sunday we will begin the new series called, Questions Uncensored 2. Looking forward to that.

Why I'm excited about FCC

I love Foothills Community Church! I have worshiped at many churches, but there is something very special about this place.

** People are being saved and lives are changing. I just left a memorial service for a man who gave his life to Christ at FCC 2 years ago. The common theme was about how his life had changed since that time!

** So far in 2010 we have had over 350 people give their lives to Christ at FCC! Read that again.... 350 people saved! God is at work.

** We have 2 campuses. one in Seneca, SC and another in Toccoa, GA. Both of our campuses are filled with awesome people!

** The people are genuine. I find it very refreshing when people can just be themselves. FCC is a place where you can take the mask off. We're all broken, messed-up people in need of God's grace.

** The worship is amazing. Every time I am at a service I can feel the Holy Spirit in a very real way.

** The Bible is proclaimed without compromise. As the Lead Pastor, I make no apologies for this. We believe that God's Word changes lives, so we stand on it's authority.

** There are so many unselfish people who serve God with their gifts, abilities and talents. Hundreds of people serve every week. We could not do what needs to be done without our Dream Team of volunteers! (If you are not serving, you are missing out)

** People are growing spiritually and connecting with one another. We have dozens of LIFE groups that meet in homes, on campus and on the ball fields and all sorts of other places. (If you have not connected through LIFE groups, sign-up will be in a couple of weeks for the Fall semester)

** We have the most phenomenal, hard-working, committed staff anywhere. These guys and gals are dedicated to Jesus and to the Church.

** We have an outward focus. We believe that God wants everyone to be saved, and it is our responsibility to share Christ with our friends.

** Our Children's ministry flat out rocks. Hundreds of kids every week are having fun and learning about Christ's love for them.

** Our Student Ministry is doing an incredible job of reaching teens for Christ. In the last year attendance has skyrocketed!

** Hundreds of people annually are being baptized! In fact on Sunday September the 5th at 4:30pm we will be having our next baptism. We are going old school--- it will be held at Biggerstaff Retreat center, and we'll also have a huge covered dish dinner and games and other stuff!

** We have an awesome Care team that helps families with benevolence, during times of bereavement, and during crisis. We have prayer teams and meal teams that deliver meals to people, we have people who help those with marital and family difficulties, and teams that are serving the needs of our community.

I could go on and on, but if you attend Foothills you already know all of this--- but if you don't, why don't you give it a shot. We would love to have you!

Who are you learning from?

This is my friend Michael Fletcher being interviewed by Wayne Smith from Leadership Network. I am part of the group that Michael talks about. There is just something really wonderful about meeting with a group of your peers and learning from them and being challenged and encouraged by them. It is absolutely priceless.

If you are a Lead Pastor in your 40's (or early 50's)of a large church, and you've been there over 10 years, you should contact Leadership network and sign-up for the Sr. Pastor 2 group TODAY!

sunday review

I had a great day today. It was a bit different, but a lot of fun.

** Me and my good friend Eddie Cox swapped churches. He preached at Foothills, and I preached at Marathon Church.

** The people at Marathon were extremely friendly and very gracious hosts.

** It's funny how similar our churches are.

** Their band did a super job leading worship.

** They flopped the order of service around for their current series, so I did the message first, and THEN the band came out and did the music.

** I heard that Eddie knocked it out of the park at Foothills. I'm not surprised. He is a gifted communicator.

** I also heard that our Toccoa campus had another person give their life to Jesus today!!

** I am just about to head over to Foothills as we will be observing the Lord's Supper tonight. We have a couple of other things planned, so it should be exciting.

** I will be wrapping up our One Hit Wonders series next weekend. then on August 22nd we will start our Questions Uncensored 2 series.

Don't forget

Don't forget that this Sunday evening at 6:00pm we will be celebrating the Lord's Supper at Foothills Community Church.
This may be the best one yet. We've got a very powerful evening planned.
This is an incredible time of worship and celebration that you do not want to miss!

Also, our LIFE groups are ready to crank up in September, so if you want to meet others and grow in your faith, these are your opportunity.

At Foothills we have 3 LIFE group environments that you can find out more about here.
You can also sign up for our flag football league online as well.

Sunday highlights

What a great Sunday it was at Foothills Community Church.

* The praise choir was back on stage-- what extra energy they bring to the services.

* Spoke on the nature of God. Used the story of Elisha and the chariots of fire. That scripture always encourages me! (God is omni-present, omniscient, and omnipotent)

* Attendance was up yesterday. I can tell summer is coming to an end.

* Shane Smith created a killer graphic presentation for the song My Glorious.

* The presence of the Holy Spirit was so evident yesterday. Many people commented that yesterday was one of the most inspiring services ever at Foothills.

* Lots of things coming up in the next couple of months that you need to know about.

1) next Sunday at 6:00pm we will be celebrating the Lord's Supper together at our Seneca campus.

2) Our Flag football league will be kicking off in early September. You can sign-up this Sunday. This is a great chance to meet other folks and get some exercise!

3) speaking of groups, our Fall semester of LIFE groups will be coming up in mid September. If you aren't a part of a group yet, we will be giving you more information in the next couple of weeks. LIFE groups are a great way to get connected.

4) On Sunday September 5th we will be having a huge baptism/party at Biggerstaff retreat center beginning at 3:00pm Stay tuned for more details.

By he way, you do not want to miss this Sunday at Foothills!

Sunday review

It was an incredible day at Foothills Community Church yesterday. It was great to be back.

** The worship team is absolutely on fire. It is easy to take for granted the quality of our worship because we see them every week, but I can tell you that what we experience Sunday after Sunday at Foothills is among the best teams in the Country!

** We continued our One Hit Wonders series. I spoke about Caleb. Every time I read about Caleb, I get inspired. He was a guy that lived on the edge for God throughout his entire lifetime. He was full of passion and focus, and he wholeheartedly followed God.

** Do we "really" follow God wholeheartedly? Remember, the word "wholeheartedly", means complete, in every area. It's so much easier to be half-hearted in my devotion to the Lord, but we need to continually relinquish control of our lives to Him

** Next Sunday, the message will be on a more obscure Biblical character. You don't want to miss it. I will also be sharing a story about me and my wife and some alligators!

** I am working on the Questions Uncensored series. It's hard to narrow down the questions.

** We will be celebrating the Lord's Supper on August 8th at 6:00pm at our Seneca campus. Those are such powerful times together.

** We are planning our next Baptism at Foothills. It is going to be unbelievable. I can't give you any more details yet, because we are ironing out some details. All I can say is, it will be a huge party!

vision test

Tomorrow morning I am scheduled to go for my annual eye exam. I know what to expect, I've done it before. They'll do a series of tests (including the dreaded puff of air in your eyeball!), and then he'll suggest any improvements that can be made.

For the first 40 or so years of my life, my eyes were stellar, no problems reading at any distance or any font size. These days, not so much so. I have to wear glasses to read my Bible or the newspaper.

Here's what most eye doctors will tell you: the older you are, the more your vision tends to get out of focus.

The same is true for churches. The longer a church has been in existence, the more the vision tends to get out of focus. Foothills Community Church began 12 1/2 years ago. In the early days when we were meeting in my living room, or in the high school, everyone seemed to know the vision. It was crystal clear. The numbers of people attending were smaller, and it was just a given that Foothills was all about helping people find and follow Jesus.

12 years later, as we have grown, a large amount of my energy as a leader is poured into helping people stay clear on that vision-- helping people find and follow Jesus. And if you think about it, is there anything else that even comes close to that in its importance to our church.... or our lives?

For 12 years we have held to that vision and we will continue to do so. We have been mandated by Jesus Himself in the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to teach these disciples to obey everything he has has commanded.

You may ask, "is it paying off?" My answer is ABSOLUTELY. We have seen hundreds of people saved, baptized , transformed and connected into the life of the church. That's the power of vision!

sunday review

We are wrapping up our vacation soon and it has been SO relaxing. I planned it so that I would be gone for 3 Sundays. I miss preaching, but it was essential for me to take the break and recalibrate a bit. I have had a phenomenal time with my family and I can hardly wait to be back at Foothills Community Church.

We worshipped again at Christ Fellowship's Stuart Campus. It was a great service. God really spoke to me through the teaching of His Word, and through the music.

I love to let some other guys speak for me while I'm away. The first 2 Sundays, Brian Rhodes preached and today Tim Wadsworth preached. I watched Brian's sermon online, and he did an awesome job. Obviously I have not had a chance to hear Tim's message, but I heard it was fantastic (at least that's what Tim told me :-)

If you have teenagers, you realized how blessed we are to have both Brian and Tim leading our Student Ministry!

I am personally thankful to have such an incredible staff, that I can go on a vacation and not have to worry. That is a blessing. I am also thankful for all of the people who give of their time, talent and treasure to make Foothills the amazing church that it is!

You do not want to miss this Sunday as I will be continuing the One Hit Wonders message series.

vacation fun

Here are a few pictures of some fish we've caught so far on our vacation. Picture quality is poor because they were taken with a cell phone. My wife as usual is outfishing me.



here's one I caught



here's my wife



here's my son and nephew with a bunch of croakers



here's Liz again

sunday highlights

Well, this Sunday was a little different because we are on vacation down in FL.
I did hear that things at Foothills Community Church were outstanding today.

** Big shout out to Brian Rhodes for doing the message. Heard it was great.

** I also heard that the music was excellent. We are blessed with the most talented worship team anywhere.

** Our Toccoa campus baptized 3 more people. That's why we started the Toccoa campus!!

** We worshipped this morning at Christ Fellowship Church in Stuart FL, and it was awesome.

** They did a very patriotic service. I was reminded again that we are blessed to live in this great country.

** It has been cloudy and a bit rainy, so we haven't fished much, although I did manage to catch a 4 lb bass. My wife showed me up again with a 5 lber!

** The airlines lost my suitcase on the way down here. Apparently it never made it on the airplane. They said they found it, but will have to send it to me. Hope it shows up soon.

** Hoping the weather clears up so we can hit the beach tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July weekend

The 4th of July weekend begins today. It's a great time to spend on the lake, or barbecuing in the back yard or just being with friends and family, but why not take a few minutes to thank God you live in this wonderful country.
In spite of our nation's flaws we are still the greatest nation on earth!
Have a safe, wonderful weekend!

Sunday highlights

Very powerful day at Foothills Community Church yesterday.

** We baptized 35 more people! (Toccoa campus will be doing baptisms THIS Sunday!)

** Had another 12 salvations! God is up to something huge.

** The band brought the heat. It was good to have David Odom back in town.

** Kylie Ayres knocked the feature song out of the park. (Where has that girl been hiding!)

** I couldn't help but notice the wide variety of ages of the people being baptized---very cool!

** We have a steady stream of children being baptized. That is a sign of an effective children's ministry!

** Tons of youth being baptized too. Another sign of an effective youth ministry!

** The tech team was scrambling yesterday morning before the services trying to reprogram things that were affected by a thunderstorm on Saturday. Props to them.

** There will be a Get In The Game class this Sunday at the Seneca campus at 9:30am. If you would like to know more about Foothills, or are considering joining, this is your next step.

** I'm so thankful for all of our volunteers at Foothills. We could not do it without you! Thank you for doing what you do.

This Sunday--Baptisms!

This Sunday is Baptism day at Foothills Community Church Seneca campus (July 4th at our Toccoa campus). I never get tired of these days. You may wonder why?, Here are a few reasons:


1) Baptisms are to a church, what a goal is to a soccer team (unfortunately goals are rare in soccer :-)) It is a very big deal, and we celebrate baptisms.

2) It is an outward expression of an inward decision (like wearing a wedding ring)

3) It unifies the church. It keeps the main thing, the main thing.

4) It is a symbol of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord.

5) It is a symbol that someone who was lost is now found. That someone who was dead is now alive!

6) It is an indicator that the church is doing what they have been called to do.

7) It is a chance to party with all of heaven. Lk 15:8-10

Here's the deal---If you have given your life to Jesus Christ and have not been baptized, then plan on coming to Foothills this Sunday at 9:30am or 11:15am and be prepared to take the plunge!!

Sunday review

Had a lot of fun celebrating Father's Day at Foothills Community Church yesterday.

** The band kicked things off with Simple Man. Yes, in the 11:15am service I saw some lighters held up after they finished!

** Had a little friendly competition with some men in each service. We did a push-up contest. They were competing for Home Depot gift cards.

** Since school let out the attendance in the 9:30am service is larger than the 11:15am service.

** Mother's Day is always a high attendance for us, but Father's day is a low attendance. What's up with that Dads?

** At the end of the service we asked all Dads that wanted to commit to becoming Real Men of God to stand up for prayer. It was a very powerful time.

** Most men want to lead their families well and finish strong, unfortunately many won't because they get detoured.

** Yes, It is true that I had a stand-off with a skunk.

** No, I will not do my Rocky Balboa impression again. Nor will I do my Adrienne impression either, so don't ask :-)

** In the 11:15am service I totally forgot the punchline to the Chuck Norris joke. For all that were wondering.... Chuck Norris doesn't lick his postage stamps, he just looks at them and they wet themselves!

** We had 15 more people give their lives to Jesus yesterday!! God is doing some ridiculous things at Foothills!

** Our giving is down for the summer, because people are taking their vacations, and attendance is sporadic. If you have not signed up for online giving, why not consider it? It will help you to give more consistently.

** Next Sunday we will be celebrating baptism. If you are a Christ-follower and have not been baptized, what are you waiting for?

** I have heard that our students are having a great time at Bigstuf camp in Pananma City, and best of all----no tar!

** In other news.... our middle school Pastor, Tim Wadsworth's picture was in the paper this weekend with a fish that he had caught. The caption mentioned that it was an 8lb. striper. Tim has the makings of a great fisherman, he already has the exaggeration part down pat. I was with him when he caught it. It was maybe 4lbs. on a good day. In fact I took a video of it. you can watch it here.

Saturday thoughts

Had a busy week, but I'm looking forward to this Sunday----Father's day!

** Did a memorial service for a 21 year old young man this week. It is always difficult to see young people pass away at such an early age. Fortunately he was a Christ-follower, so it was a great opportunity to share the gospel.

** Got a chance to shoot my bow a little bit this morning. just 3 months until archery season. I'm totally pumped about that!

** Had fun yesterday evening, with my wife and 4 year old grand daughter catching fireflies. There were tons of them out last night. The only problem is that she won't let them go, so we still have them.

** My son Cole headed out this morning with a bunch of other teenagers from Foothills to head to Bigstuf camp in Panama City, FL. This will be his last year going because he graduated high school. I believe he has gone every year since middle school. I'm praying that Jesus would do amazing things in all of the kids lives.

** Looking forward to Father's Day at Foothills Community Church. We've got some fun stuff planned, and will be giving something to each dad that comes. Trust me, it's something that every dad will enjoy!

Questions Uncensored 2

You may remember back in May of 2009 we did a series called Questions Uncensored, and it was the most popular series we have probably ever done.

Well, I am excited to announce that in August we will be doing a series called, Questions Uncensored 2, and I need your help. I need you to go to this website and submit your questions that you have about God, the Bible, Church, life----whatever. These are the type of questions that you've had for a long time, but didn't know who to ask.

This is a video from last year's # 1 question that was sent in, Can A Christian Drink Alcohol?

sunday review

Another great day at Foothills Community Church!

** God continues to blow me away. We had people saved again at both campuses!

** Week #2 of combined worship teams for both services= AWESOME!

** SonSports starts tomorrow. If you have a child, get them there. They will love it.

** I talked about "godliness" today, from 1 Timothy 4. Godliness is a very misunderstood thing, but we are told to live godly lives, which means we're to grow in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

** Got a chance to do some fishing Friday. It felt good to be on the water, and it was a bonus to catch some fish!

** Father's day is next Sunday. Make sure to bring your Dad to church with you. We're going to have some fun!

It's officially summer

I love summer. I love the warm weather and the relaxed attitude of summer.
I am a firm believer that everyone should take time off and relax, but one of the things that I see as a Pastor is that there is a tendency for people to take the summer off, when it comes to things like serving and giving.

Churches are able to function because of people who volunteer their time and give of their finances. So here are a couple of suggestions:

1) When you are not out of town, make sure to not only attend church, but to serve on a ministry team. There are hundreds of people that serve at Foothills Community Church on a weekly basis---BUT there is always a need for more people to get involved.

2) Just like in your personal budget, the church has financial needs 12 months a year, so if you are going to be out of town on a weekend, please remain faithful in your giving. A lot of people are discovering the convenience of online giving. Here is a link to make it easy for you.

3) Keep inviting your friends. Historically we add a lot of new people during the summer. One thing I can promise you is that our Sunday morning services will be approached with the same level of enthusiasm and creativity as any other time of the year, so don't worry about that!

I am praying for all of you to have a safe and wonderful summer. Thank you to all of you that are part of Foothills. We could not do what we do without you!

What a weekend!

This was one of the busiest, but most enjoyable weekends for me in a long time. I got to see my son, Cole graduate from High School. I also got to spend time with my parents and in-laws, and my softball team won the tournament and kept our undefeated record intact.

On top of all of that, our services at Foothills Community Church were probably in the top 10 services of all time. Here are few things that stood out for me:

** We had 33 people give their lives to Jesus at our Seneca campus!

** The message was called "One Way". We talked about the way to get to Heaven-- Jesus.

** God's not trying to keep you out of Heaven, He's trying to get you in!

** I am thankful that God took the guesswork and confusion out of how you get to Heaven by giving us one way. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me".

** The energy was unbelievable. People were singing louder than I've ever heard them sing.

** We combined worship teams, and both David Odom and Eric Peters led worship. We also had a mini-choir which really enhanced things. Plus we had more instruments than usual. I think everyone really loved that as well.

** Attendance was way off (I think everyone took a vacation as soon as the kids got out of school for the summer!), but it didn't stop the excitement.

** This was the first time we did our announcements via video in the 5 minute countdown. I had people coming up to me asking why we didn't have announcements. I told them you need to be in your seats a little earlier from now on!

** We also moved the offering up in the service (which was mentioned in the pre-service announcement video that everyone missed), so many people didn't have their offerings ready. (Don't worry, if you missed the buckets being passed, we will still accept your offerings this Sunday :-)

** I am really loving the series on the book of 1 Timothy. Very practical stuff.

** I am already looking forward to this Sunday!

busy weekend

What an exciting weekend I've got planned.
Both my parents and my in-laws will be staying with us to celebrate my son, Cole's graduation from High School.
I have a softball tournament and then on Sunday we have some incredible services planned at Foothills Community Church!

You do not want to miss Sunday at FCC. The band has got some cool things planned. The praise choir will be up on stage too. The message is going to be a clear presentation of the gospel, so bring your friends that do not know Jesus with you!

Sunday review

We had a great day at Foothills this past Sunday.
I was there, but didn't preach, so that was different.

Brian Rhodes, one of our High school Pastor filled in and did a great job. He is really developing as a speaker. I have never used many speakers from outside of our church, because I think it is very healthy for a church to hear from some of the other Pastors once in a while. I also believe that another benefit is that it gives some experience to some of the younger people.

I take very seriously the honor of preaching and I convey to anyone who steps on the stage to bring the message, that they need to do the same.

Right now I am working with our middle school Pastor, Tim Wadsworth for a message he will be doing this summer. He speaks to our students, but has never had the opportunity to speak in front of the entire congregation. If you were to ask him, he would tell you that there are a million hoops that I have him jumping through right now in preparation for that Sunday. I want to set him up for success, so I am challenging him on many levels.

My goal is to speak around 40 Sundays per year. Taking a Sunday off now and then or a couple of Sundays in a row helps keep me sane and creative. It also allows me to work farther ahead, and as I mentioned before, it is good for our congregation to hear from other people.

My goal is for the congregation to not be dependent on me. I have seen many churches built around the personality of the Pastor. I pray that would never be the case at Foothills Community Church.

By the way, I will be continuing the Walk This Way series this Sunday. If you know someone that is not a Christ-follower, get them here this Sunday!!

The good news about a bad past

Lots of people struggle getting past their pasts. The memories of past mistakes haunt them. The good news is, that no matter what you've done, God still has a plan for your life. This is from last Sunday at Foothills Community Church:

Love your enemies

I got this video sent to me, and I wanted to share it. Simple, but powerful message.

Get In The Game

I wanted to take a minute to invite you to the Next Get In The Game series that will be coming up on Wednesday June 9th at 6:15pm in the Planet Kidz auditorium.
Normally we offer the Get In The Game every 1st and 2nd Sunday morning at 9:30am---- BUT in June it will be ONLY on Wednesday.

Here's the deal--- I am totally excited about this because I get to personally lead it! In the early days of Foothills Community Church, I used to lead all of the classes (many of them at my house), however since we began doing them on Sunday mornings, obviously I'm unable to do them anymore.

The reason I'm so excited about it is because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE leading this! WE cover the vision, values, strategy and structure of FCC.

So here's what you can do, next Sunday, sign-up to attend on your info card. There will be child care available, but we need to know in advance how many kids you will be bringing.

The session will run from 6:15pm (sharp!) until 8:15pm

You may be wondering, what is Get In The Game?----well here is a link (just remember, the date is June 9th at 6:15pm)

See you there!!

Feeling a little stuck?

This is from last Sunday at Foothills Community Church. It is the last message from our Fix You series, called, "Stuck"

Sunday review

Another solid day at Foothills yesterday. Here are few highlights:

* We finished the Fix You series. We had more salvations during that series than any other we've ever done!

* I spoke about how to get unstuck in life. Talked about how Nehemiah got the people re-focused on rebuilding the wall after getting stuck half way through the project.

* It is interesting how a few negative people were able to put a halt to an entire construction project by being critical.

* There are two types of people, Critical people and Catalytic people. Choose to listen to the catalytic voices. The critical people want to bring you down, the catalytic people will build you up!

* Stuck is defined as the inability to move. Lots of people are stuck in their finances, marriages, careers, parenting, spiritual lives. Through Christ we have the ability to move forward.

* Eric Peters and the band did an incredible job singing a country song called, Stuck. It was phenomenal.

* We did our Seneca Shine 2010 projects Saturday. Lots of people served. I don't know how many yet, but a bunch. Toccoa campus will do their Shine 2010 projects this Saturday.

* We start a brand new message series this Sunday, called "Walk This Way". It is a 5 week series from the book of I Timothy.

* I know most of you already know this, but we are blessed at Foothills with an incredible staff. One of the ways you could bless them is by just thanking them for what they do (another good way would be by serving on one of their teams!)

some random things

I've got a bunch of random things rattling around in my mind right now.

* I am fired-up about some of the message series that are coming up through the end of the year!

* This Sunday, I will be doing a message called, "Stuck". I shared this message with my staff a couple of months ago in a staff meeting. If you've ever been stuck before (in your finances, job, marriage, spiritual life, school---whatever), you need to be at Foothills this Sunday.

* Can't wait for Saturday. FCC will be doing Shine 2010 projects. Hundreds of people signed up to perform 3 hours of community service this Saturday.

* We have some cool things planned from our worship teams for the next series. I can't wait! Rumor has it that the praise choir may be back up soon. (If you like to sing, this is a great opportunity to serve)

* I am hearing so many great stories of how our Care team has been helping people going through all kinds of stuff. You may not realize this, but FCC has an entire team of staff and volunteers that help people.

* If you attend FCC, but have never served before, you're really missing out! Sign-up for the next Get In The Game series which is scheduled for the first Sunday of each month at 9:30am in our small auditorium (you'll be out in time for the 11:15am service)

* I love hearing stories of life change that's happening at FCC. One of the places that really is making an impact is in our Kidzone. Parents, if you are bringing your kids in the main auditorium with you, you are making a huge mistake! Recently the kids were asked what they liked about Planet Kidz? The number one thing was that they really understood the messages.

Sunday review

We had a great day at Foothills yesterday. It was nice being back at FCC yesterday. I love our church!

* We celebrated Mother's Day, but not with the usual Mother's day service. Our focus was on Shine 2010.

* I don't know how many people signed up for the community service projects, but there was a bunch. Thanks to all of you, who will be serving our community this Saturday from 9:00am until noon in SC, and the following Saturday in GA.

* When we serve people, we are doing what should come naturally for a Christ-follower.

* In James 2:14-17, James actually questions if we even have faith if we are unwilling to serve others----wow!

* We did parent/child dedications yesterday----lots of them. I believe there were 30 in Seneca, and 5 in Toccoa. tons of small children in our church. Love that!

* About to head into our staff meeting. We are going to be talking about some very cool things.

Thursday thoughts

We're preparing for a huge Sunday this week at Foothills Community Church. Here are just a few things we're preparing for:

* This Sunday is Mother's Day, so don't forget to bring your Mom to church with you (and don't forget to get her something nice too!)

* We will be doing Parent/Child dedications at both of our campuses. We have a ton of people who will be participating. That will be fun.

* We will be collecting canned goods, diapers and gently used women's clothing for a few area ministries this Sunday in Seneca, and the following Sunday in Toccoa.

* This Sunday we will have tables set up for people to pick up their Shine 2010 projects

* God is doing spectacular things at Foothills. We had 255 people saved in April! Are you kidding me? God is up to something big!

* Today is the National Day of Prayer. Be sure to pray for our Nation and our leaders.

* Got a chance to watch the message that Brian Rhodes preached last week. he did an awesome job.

* Why not invite someone to attend church with you this Sunday?

Fellowship Church

Last week while I was in Dallas, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with Tracey Barnes and Chris Prater from Fellowship Church in Grapevine TX. Tracy and Chris are both Campus Pastors, and long-time staff members of Fellowship.

Fellowship Church, whose Lead Pastor is Ed Young Jr. is one of the most influential churches in America. They have approximately 20,000 people in attendance on a typical weekend.

It was very cool hearing about the ministry of Fellowship Church, and also getting the opportunity to go behind the scenes, and comparing notes with Tracey and Chris. What's pretty encouraging is realizing that even though Fellowship Church is on a different scale than Foothills Community Church, we have a lot in common.

I not only came away inspired, but also encouraged about what God is doing right here in SC and GA through Foothills Community Church!

sunday review

I had a different sort of Sunday today. I got a chance to fill the pulpit for my friend Dean Herman, who pastors a church in Easley, SC called 5 Point Fellowship. Dean and his wife were out of town celebrating their 30th anniversary.

* I rarely speak at other churches, but I had a lot of fun. I'm not sure they knew what to think of me though! (In case you're wondering, yes Foothills I missed you all!)

* I heard that the services at both of our campuses were fantastic today.

* At our Seneca campus, Brian Rhodes spoke on forgiveness. I hear that he did a great job. He is an excellent communicator!

* I also hear that the feature song was very cool with the acoustic feel to it.

* In Toccoa they had another solid attendance and from what I understand they did acoustic worship and had a prayer time at the end of the service that was powerful.

* This past week I got a chance to spend a couple of days in Dallas with 10 other pastors from around the country. One thing is for sure, God is at work in America!

* It is cool hanging out with guys who are going through similar things and understand you. Over the next 2 years we will be getting together several times.

* Looking forward to tomorrow's staff meeting, because my friend Perry Duggar from Brookwood Church in Simpsonville will be coming to lead it.

Who are you learning from?

Most of the people that know me, know that I strive to learn something new every day. I never want to become the leader who thinks he already knows everything.

There are many ways to learn. Some of my favorite ways are from books, magazines, the internet, blogs, etc. But my favorite way to learn is from personal interaction with other people.

Sometimes it might be through a one on one meeting with another leader, or it may be in the context of a round table discussion group. Sometimes it may be via a telephone call. It has been my experience that there is almost no one you can't speak to if you are professional and persistent.

For instance, a couple of years ago, we were growing very rapidly as a church and I wanted to get insight from other Pastors whose churches were a few steps ahead of us, so I made a list of some churches that I thought could help us and I called them. Surprisingly I was able to speak to about 90% of those Pastors. Keep in mind, I had never met these men in my life.

Here are a couple of rules to follow if you attempt this. First, understand that you will begin the discussion with an assistant whose job is to protect that Pastor, so you need to be professional. These are busy men, so don't think its going to be a leisurely chat. You need to do your homework. You need to make a list of questions to forward to the assistant. You also need to ask for a specific amount of time. I believe I asked for 15 minutes.

When you make the call, let them know you appreciate their time and then get down to business. Ask your questions and write things down. When your time is up, thank them and let them get back to other things

Another thing you should do is to send a thank you card letting them know you appreciate their time.

The bottom line is this. If you go about it the right way, most people are more than happy to help another person. At Foothills Community Church, I have told my staff that when another church needs anything, make it a high priority to help. Literally ever week we have churches that contact us about something. It is a joy for us to try to help another church. God has blessed us with so much, and we feel it is only natural that we would be available to help others.

Who are you learning from?

sunday review

Another stellar day at FCC!

* I need to brag on our Toccoa campus for a minute. They had another record attendance today, but even better than that, they baptized 11 people!! The cool part is, the best is yet to come.

* Seneca campus was incredible too. I would define today's service as a day of healing for many people.

* The message was titled, "God never Wastes A Hurt". We talked about how God can use the pain in our lives to bring glory to Himself, and bring growth in our lives.

* The music in both services was awesome.

* In the 11:15 service David Odom sang a song that he wrote called "Save Me O God", and told people if they felt moved to stand during the song, to do so. So many people stood as a declaration to the Lord. It was a very powerful moment.

* We have seen more life-change during the month of April than any other month. Over 250 salvations, and 65 baptisms----AWESOME!

* Really praying that we would see greater things in May.

Thursday thoughts

It's been a busy week so far, but some great things going on.

* Still in awe of what God did Sunday at our baptism service!

* I'm totally fired-up about baptisms at our Toccoa campus this Sunday. I have no idea how many people will take the plunge, but I know it's going to be great.

* This Sunday at our Seneca campus, I will be doing another message about pain, but this time I'll be talking about how God has a way of using pain for productive purposes.

* We'll be showing a video story of one of our church members who went through a personal tragedy, but has seen God show up in the midst of it.

* Got a chance to hang out with Ritchie Miller this week. He pastors Avalon Church in McDonough, Ga. He is a great leader, and it was a lot of fun to talk.

* We wrapped up our Campus Life Group last night. My wife and I really enjoyed leading it. We got a chance to meet some really cool people. Thanks all of you that participated.

* Looking forward to participating in a Pastor's leadership group next week in Dallas.

* We will be beginning our promotion of Shine 2010. Stay tuned for more details. It's going to be huge. You need to participate!

* I am finalizing the rest of 2010's preaching calendar. We are going to do some incredible message series. Right after we finish the Fix You series, we will begin a new one called, Walk This Way, which will be a series on the book of 1 Timothy.

* Our next baptism for our Seneca campus will be June 27th. We will probably change things up a lot.

* Can't believe my youngest child will be graduating from High School in a month and a half.

Don't Blink

Here's the message from last Sunday at Foothills Community Church:

Sunday review

Wow, what an awesome day yesterday at Foothills Community Church!
Here are some key things that happened:

* 30 people raised their hands to become Christ-followers

* It was Baptism day, which are always my favorite days.

* 54 people publicly identifying their allegiance to Christ through baptism does something to me!

* One lady that was baptized had not been to church in 24 years until she began attending FCC. One man had not attended church in 68 years before FCC!

* Strong attendance yesterday. Lots of first-time guests

* The energy level was through the roof. It makes my job so much easier when people come in with such great anticipation.

* Our volunteers knocked it out of the park, as usual. Thanks to all of you who serve the Lord through the ministry of FCC!

* I did a message yesterday that compared the rich young ruler and Zacchaeus. One missed an opportunity, one seized it.

* The band did the song, Don't Blink. Love that song!

* Incredible staff meeting this morning celebrating what God is doing!

* I'm really not bitter at Hank Aaron for not wanting to sign his autograph----really! (you'll have to listen to the message to understand this)

Baptism Sunday

This Sunday at our Seneca Campus (April 25th at our Toccoa campus), we will be celebrating baptism!

Some people wonder why we make such a big deal about baptism at Foothills Community Church, so I thought I would address that question;

1) Because the Bible makes a big deal about baptism.

2) It is a huge step of obedience for the Christ-follower

3) It motivates the church (there's just something about watching a new believer being baptized that just jump-starts my faith!)

4) For a brief second, you actually get to see inside the heart of a person (baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith)

5) It is a symbol that someone who was lost is now found. That someone who was dead is now alive!

6) It is an indicator that the church is doing what they have been called to do.

7) It is a chance to party with all of heaven. Lk 15:8-10

Here's the deal---If you have given your life to Jesus Christ and have not been baptized, then plan on coming to Foothills this Sunday at 9:30am or 11:15am and be prepared to take the plunge!!

Sunday review

Great day at FCC yesterday. I talked about dealing with pain, and used Job's life as an example. Clearly, no one that I know has ever dealt with so much pain in such a short amount of time as Job did.

* The Fix You series, is a series of messages that we are admitting that we are broken people in need of fixing, and the only One capable of fixing us is Jesus---period!

* Whenever we talk about something like pain, it connects with so many people. I had some incredible conversations and prayers with people in the concourse that were going through some difficult times. I mean really, really difficult times.

* I love hearing from old friends from my B.C (before Christ) days on Facebook that watch our messages and contact me to let me know that the message impacted them!

* Our Toccoa campus tied their non-Easter attendance record yesterday. They had 2 more people saved there! Our campus Pastor, Brian Marshall preached live. Heard it was great.

* Don't forget that THIS SUNDAY at our Seneca campus and the following Sunday at our Toccoa campus we will be celebrating baptisms!! We did things a little differently this time, so we don't know how many are going to be baptized. This should be a lot of fun!

* There is such an excitement right now at Foothills, it's awesome.

* We had a phenomenal staff meeting this morning, where we began discussion about some huge shifts we will be making in the Fall about serving opportunities. This is going to be radical!

* Looking forward to some coaching meetings that I have this week, and also looking forward to a leadership meeting in Dallas later this month with some other Pastors.

* After 8 weeks of ankle pain from a basketball injury, I am finally feeling good. Played softball on Saturday, and was back at our 6:00am basketball game this morning!!

* I've been thinking about a quote from the Experiencing God study lately. "See where God is at work and join Him". Most of the time we kind of get this backwards. We are praying the wrong prayer. we pray, "God bless what I'm doing". We need to pray, "God, help me to do what you're blessing".

* The local paper interviewed me last week about a story they will be publishing this week about the changes in worship in the Bible Belt. This should be interesting. For the record, although our style is more contemporary/modern/progressive (or whatever you want to call it), I do not feel for a moment that the way we do services is THE way. There are some dynamic churches that have a more traditional style, that's cool too. It's not an "us" against them". We're all on the same team. I liken it to a net. Different styles create a bigger net, and consequently more fish are caught. That's a good thing!

Easter message

God used this message to reach lots of people during the Easter services at Foothills. If you know anyone who has doubts about God's love for them pass it along.

Does God Really Love Me? from Foothills Community Church on Vimeo.

I want

I was cleaning off some stuff on my desk, and I came across this. I'm not sure if I've ever posted this before, but here we go:


I want Christ to build HIS Church

I want services that are Spirit-driven and Spirit-filled, not displays of human talent and effort.

I want Acts 2 miracles and community

I want messages that come from the overflow of the Holy Spirit working in my life, not some human presentation of facts.

I want the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to permeate every person that drives onto this campus, and to direct every person as they drive off of it.

I want to die to the selfish, self-promoting desires of my sinful nature. I don't want to care about the number of twitter followers or blog readers or how many facebook friends I have.

I want to celebrate the movement of God in other churches as much as I celebrate it in my own.

I want to be transformed more into the image of my wonderful Lord, who gave Himself for me.

I want live my life for the applause of God, not the applause of men.

I want to speak with the power and authority of Jesus Christ, not oratory brilliance or great eloquence.

I want to become more of a servant and less of a sergeant in my leadership.

I want my heart to break for lost people.

Easter Sunday highlights

I don't even know where to start, but basically today was probably the greatest day we have ever had at Foothills Community Church.

* I don't have all the numbers, but our attendance was around 2,900 people between our 2 campuses. (570 of them were in Kidzone)

* Our Toccoa GA campus set another record attendance today with 271 people!

* We had 203 people saved in Seneca, and 100 people made recommitments! We had 9 first-time salvations and 6 recommitments in Toccoa! Pause and think about that right now---212 people saved today. That is incredible! That is why we do what we do!

* Our volunteers stepped it up big-time today. Hundreds of people serving. Some of them were there by 6:00am. Thank you all for your commitment to do whatever-it-takes to reach people!

* Our worship team took it to a new level today. They blew me away.

* The love medley was unbelievable!

* We started the Fix You series today. It is going to be a fantastic series, so make sure you come next Sunday for Part 2

* Today my messsage was all about the extent of God's love for us. When you stop to consider the love He has for us it is hard to comprehend.

* I was so proud of our people. They went out and invited their friends. That was cool.

* In case you are wondering, yes, I really did pull the gorilla prank on my wife---it was awesome!

* Don't forget, when you look into the mirror tomorrow morning, say, "wow, I'm a Masterpiece!"

* I got a chance to hang out a lot in the concourse. I love to meet new people.

* I sense a wave of new excitement at Foothills and I can't wait to see where God leads us!

* We celebrated our 12th anniversary as a church today too. We've come a long way since that first service with 70 people in attendance back in 1998!

Lessons about leadership at the 12 year mark (part 3)

Here are a few more lessons:

** Number are important---but if you live by the numbers, you will die by the numbers!
I am a numbers guy. I have on file, the attendance from every service we have ever done. We count people, we count salvations, we count baptisms, we count offerings, we count membership numbers. We count everything that can be counted. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact if you don't keep track of things, you are making a huge mistake. BUT, you have to be careful to track patterns as opposed to individual Sundays. For most church planters (myself included), our self-worth is tied to our weekly attendance. If we have a Sunday with a record attendance, we feel great, but if the attendance is low, we go into a funk (this is so unhealthy, and will drive you to an early grave). Look at a quarter rather than a week. Look at things annually rather than monthly. try to look for trends or patterns, you will enjoy the journey a whole lot more.

** Comparison is a killer.
One of the most unhealthy things you can do is to compare your church's progress with someone else. If you compare with a smaller church, it can lead to pride. If you compare to a larger church it will lead to envy and discontentment. You are YOU. You are not someone else. God is fully aware of that! Your church should be unique. If God wanted cookie cutter churches, we would all be the same. God will never judge you based on comparison with another church or Pastor, he will only judge you based on whether you have been faithful in what He has given you.

** Don't limit God
I have found that the only limits I have are self-imposed limits. We say, "we are going to reach our community for Christ", do we really believe that's possible? Our lack of faith restricts the activity of God in our churches and in our lives. God is omnipotent, and sovereign. He is limitless. We need to pray bold prayers. Dream big dreams, and take huge risks to be the leaders that God has called us to be.

More Faith

Is your faith running a little low these days? Here is last Sunday's message about increasing our faith.

Lessons about leadership at the 12 year mark (part 2)

OK, here's part 2 of things I've learned in the first 12 years of leading Foothills.
If you missed part 1, you can read it here.

** It is normal and healthy for people to leave.
If you're a Pastor that's just getting started, you need to accept this. It is painful, it is heart-wrenching, and part of you will want to compromise the vision to retain them, but let them go.
When you study the ministry of Jesus, you will see that people left Him on a regular basis. Even one of His hand-selected 12 disciples, left Him. If they left Jesus, they will leave you too, it's ok. Sometimes God leads people to another church where these people will flourish and be able to take some of what they've learned at your church to help the next church. That is a good thing. The last thing you want is someone staying at your church that no longer believes in what the vision is.

** Sometimes the ones who love you when they come in, won't be quite so loving when they leave.
The same crowds who put out the palm branches and shouted "Hosanna", were the same crowds that shouted "crucify Him" a couple days later. This is tough. All of us want people to like us, so it's very painful when people take shots at us and the church when they leave. It's as if they feel the need to justify why they are leaving. I wish people would just say, "God is moving me on. During the time I was here, God did some wonderful things in my life, I wish you all the best".

** As the leader, your best use of time is listening to God.
What your people need more than anything else, is a leader who is hearing the voice of God. It all starts with this. You can't cast a vision, if you haven't first heard that vision from God. You can't grow up your people if you aren't first growing yourself. There are so many things that will compete for your time. Spending time with God (and not just sermon study time), is your best use of time.

** Being "Cool" is overrated
I believe in doing everything with excellence, but I have discovered that I would rather be effective than cool. The goal of our services should not be to see how many people posted on Facebook how "cool" the services were at church today. My goal is to hear people say, "At church, I sensed the presence of God in such a powerful way and as a result my life has been changed"

Sunday review

Yesterday was just one of those days when everything just seems to fall into place. I love those days! The services at Foothills Community Church were absolutely phenomenal. The energy was tangible. Here are a few highlights:

* Eric Peters and his team brought it at the 9:30am service. I actually think the 9:30 crowd was more lively than the 11:15 crowd!

* Bill Swindle did a great job with the feature song. Love that guy.

* 11:15 was rocking. David O and his crew lit it up. We have the most unbelievably talented worship teams anywhere.

* Loved getting to share Abraham's faith journey. We covered 25 years of history in 40 minutes.

* I was reminded again how powerful faith is.

* Can't really explain it, but there is a sense of excitement in the air that is contagious.

* Concourse conversations were awesome. One guy told me that his friend in FL watches our messages online and was saved last week! Love technology!

* We have given out 3,800 Easter tickets. KEEP INVITING YOUR FRIENDS!

* Our Toccoa campus set a non holiday attendance record yesterday. Big Mo is really rolling over there! I don't know what's going to happen over there this Sunday. my guess is, that it will be standing room only.

* Easter services are going to blow you away.

* Powerful staff meeting this morning. All of our staff walked over and prayed over every seat in the auditorium and every chair and room in Kidzone. We are praying that hundreds come to know Christ this weekend.

How God Can Use Your Life

Week #2 of the Revealed series:

How Can God Use My Life? from Foothills Community Church on Vimeo.

Lessons about leadership at the 12 year mark (part 1)

Next month Foothills Community Church will turn 12 years old! Over the last 12 years I have learned some valuable things about leading a church.

Many of the lessons I have learned, I have learned from fellow Pastors and leaders who are ahead of me on the journey.

Much of what I am learning these days is also from some of the younger Pastors that are blazing new trails that have some amazing thoughts and insights.

And throughout the last 12 years, much of what I have learned have come from lessons the Lord has taught me from my own mistakes! But the bottom line is that I am committed to being a life-long learner, because I believe what Rick Warren says; "The minute you stop learning, you stop leading."

I thought that I would reflect on some of what I've learned in hopes of helping others that may be facing some of these things. So here are some very random thoughts:


** You can't do it all yourself.
Most people who plant churches, have to be a jack-of-all-trades in the early days. Here are just a few of the things that I did at some point: Drove the trailer to the High School. Unloaded the trailer. Set things up, put up signs, made sure the bathrooms were clean-- and clean them if necessary, greeted people, preached messages, stacked tables, etc, etc. The problem for many Pastors is that they never get past that mentality. They feel the need to control everything, and they soon become the bottleneck to the growth of the church. You can't do all yourself. Learn to delegate, and find good people with the gifts and passions to get things done.

** You have to be committed to the Vision God has given you.
Being committed to the vision helps you make decisions. It helps you know what to say "Yes" to, and what to say "no" to. I have discovered that almost everyone has an opinion about the direction of the church. (and they're not shy about giving you their opinion!) We chose early on that we would operate by God's vision rather than people's opinions. You have to be willing to die for this. You have to be willing to let people leave because of this, you have to be willing to protect this at all costs.

* Never apologize for being a leader.
Pastor, please hear me clearly on this. God has called you to lead that church, don't you dare apologize for leading. I talk to many Pastors who are afraid to make decisions. But here is the key: Walk with God, seek the Lord's guidance, pray, spend time in His Word, listen to the voice of the Lord, seek wise godly counsel, and make decisions. Will you always get it right? No, but that's OK (most of them need to be right though!) Here's what I've discovered, people will follow a godly, confident, decisive leader. So don't be afraid to lead!

Sunday review

Solid day at FCC yesterday. Despite the rain and a long weekend for schools, the people were pumped up!

* Spoke about how to be used by God. I said that one of the greatest ways God can use our life is when we lead other to Jesus.

* I challenged people to pick up Easter service tickets and invite their friends to come with them----2,500 tickets were picked up!

* If you didn't get yours, I would recommend not waiting until Sunday because there are not many left. You can go here and print out tickets online.

* INVEST, INVITE, and INCLUDE. That is the key to making an impact this Easter.

* Our student ministry is seeing teenagers saved every week!! If you are a teen or are a parent of one, get them to Thrive this Wednesday!

* Speaking of student ministry, they are taking deposits for Bigstuf this summer. Parents, please get your kids to this event. It will be life-changing!

* Awesome staff meeting this morning, strategizing for Easter. Then I got a chance to share with our staff about what God has been teaching me.

* I will be sharing some of what I shared with our staff, in my message on April 25th.

* Began doing some coaching with a church planter in Kentucky. I love that!

* Looking forward to a trip to Dallas next month to meet at Leadership Network.

Easter Services

Easter is just 2 weeks away, and we are busy planning the details, so I wanted to share a few key things you need to know about Easter at Foothills Community Church:

Here's a couple of things you need to know:

On Easter Sunday, April 4th we will begin a new series called, "Fix You"

We will have 4 services in 2 locations

Our service schedule will be as follows:

Seneca campus: 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:15am

Toccoa campus: 11:00am

We are expecting around 3,000 people to attend!

To try to make sure everyone gets a seat, we are giving out tickets.

The tickets are free, and if someone shows up without a ticket we will do our best to make sure they get a seat. But it would be extremely helpful if you would either pick up your tickets this Sunday in the concourse OR go to our website (beginning next week) and print a ticket for yourself.

If you are a regular attender of Foothills it would be great if you could come to the 8:00am service to free up seats for guests.

When you pick up your tickets, get enough for yourself, and the people you will be inviting. (Kids do not need a ticket for Kidzone)

Please pray about who you can bring with you that doesn't know Christ, because they WILL get a chance to meet Him!

Our team has some incredible things planned, and it will go down in history as one of our greatest days ever! (by the way, we will also be celebrating our 12th birthday as a church this Easter as well!)

How Can I Hear From God?

Week #1 of Revealed:

Sunday review

Getting to the Sunday review a little late, but overall it was another great day at Foothills.

* Started the new series called, "Revealed" yesterday. Although it's a short series, I think it's going to be good.

* Spoke about hearing God speak.

* Most people miss God speak, because they don't really know what He sounds like. We're looking for an epiphany, but generally He speaks in a quiet whisper.

* God will never tell us something that contradicts the Bible---Never!

* God speaks through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and people.

* Hearing from God does not depend on a method or formula, but on a relationship.

* God is our Heavenly father, and we are His children, so it stands to reason that He desires to have communication with us.

* One of the best prayers you can pray is, "speak Lord, your servant is listening"

* We need to be still and know that He is God.

* Samuel heard God speak because he was in the right place at the right time with the right attitude.

* Music was really tight today. nice job Eric, David and worship team!

* Loved the short devotion that Brian Rhodes shared before the offering.

* Daylight Savings Time really messes with attendance.

* Don't forget to pick up your tickets for the Easter services, this Sunday!

* Nice job with the bumper video, graphics, etc for this series. Shane is the man!

* I hear that the Toccoa campus was rocking yesterday. College students were on break, but they had a very solid attendance.

Thursday thoughts

** We kicked off our new marriage Campus Life group last night. We had a blast. Around 100 people came, including several single people. I think that is really cool. I believe if more people would learn about marriage BEFORE they got married, instead of learning "on the job", they would have better marriages.

** Don't forget to set your clocks forward on Saturday night.

** Our next baptism service will be on April 18th for Seneca campus, and April 25th in Toccoa. Sign-up on your info card this Sunday.

** We start a new message series this Sunday called, Revealed. This Sunday's message is How Can I Hear From God?

** You won't believe what we're planning for our Easter services at Foothills Community Church!

** Speaking of Easter, we will have 3 service times at our Seneca campus. 8:00am, 9:30am and 11:15am You will need to get your tickets for the service time you will be attending (just like Christmas Eve) Last Easter we had over 3,000 people, so the tickets will help us regulate the traffic a bit.

** In case you're wondering, the tickets are FREE. Tickets will be available beginning March 21st. You will be able to pick them up at Foothills or online. (I will do an entire blog post about Easter, next week.

** Toccoa campus will have one Easter service at 11:00am. (Yes, I know it will be jam packed!)

** Also, if you have never gone through the Get In The Game series, the next class is scheduled for April 10th at 9:30am in the small auditorium in Foothills North. In this class you will get to know all about Foothills Community Church, our vision, values, history, future, etc. To sign-up just check off the box on your info card this Sunday.

** Shine 2010 will be held May 15th in Seneca, and May 22nd in Toccoa. Shine is Foothills annual community service emphasis. Our goal is to have 1,000 people from Foothills volunteer to serve in one of the many projects we will make available. Stay tuned for more details!

Sunday's video

Well, here's the video from Sunday with Liz and I sharing the stage together for the first time ever. We had a blast!

sunday night review

I had a blast this morning at Foothills. It was the first time that my wife got to join me on stage to do a message. Here are a few notes from this weekend:

* My wife knocked it out of the park. She has so much wisdom, it's scary!

* It is hard to narrow marriage questions down to only 3 questions.

* I think the waffle/spaghetti illustration sums up why it is so hard to understand the opposite sex

* Attendance was pretty strong--especially in the 11:15am service

* The Toccoa campus had a few technical difficulties today, but I hear they had a great day in spite of that.

* Tons of kids today in Kidzone! (Thanks for taking your kids there instead of the main auditorium)

* Eric Peters feature song was so funny this morning in the 9:30am service.

* In the 11:15am service Joy Honeycutt sang with David Odom-- she is unbelievable.

* Our student ministry held their Ignite weekend this weekend. I hear they had a ton of kids, and several salvations! I had one teenage girl catch me after the service to tell me that she gave her life to Jesus on Saturday night! Thanks to Brian Rhodes and Tim Wadsworth and all of the volunteers!

* I will begin a new message sreies next Sunday that I'm looking forward to. It's called "Revealed"

busy week so far

This has been a whirlwind week so far, but I am so looking forward to sharing the stage with my wonderful wife this Sunday at Foothills Community Church. You definitely want to be there, as we try to answer the 3 most common questions I get asked about marriage.

I have mixed emotions about Sunday, because it is the last message in our "First Comes Love" series. I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yesterday, about a dozen of our staff headed to the Unleash conference in Anderson. It was awesome! We have an amazing assortment of people that make up our staff, and they love Jesus and want to reach more people for Christ. There were so many takeaways from the conference for me personally. I love when God stretches me.

Great things are in store for our future, Foothills!

Our student ministry will be having their Ignite weekend beginning this evening---PRAY for all of our students, staff, and volunteers

It was also fun to catch up with a lot of Pastor friends that I don't get a chance to see that much.

Lots of other things happening. Life is good.

In case you missed last week's message, here's the video --- by the way, you definitely want to watch near the end of the video for the rap that a few of our staff performed---priceless!:

'Til Debt Do Us Part from Foothills Community Church on Vimeo.

sunday night review

What a day at Foothills today. long day, but very rewarding. Here are some of the highlights for me:

** Talked about money today. It's a topic that you can't ignore when talking about marriage. The statistics about money and marital problems are shocking.

** When I talk about money people get the deer in the headlights look!

** From the bottom of my heart I wish people would learn to apply Biblical principles to their money management.

** Most people want a silver bullet, instant fix to their money problems. There is none. It takes hard work, discipline and following God.

** Had a blast watching Brian Rhodes, Tim Wadsworth and Eric Peters do the tithe rap. If you missed it, you missed one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

** I've had a lot of people share with me how much they have enjoyed the marriage series.

** Next week we'll wrap it up. I can't wait, because my wife will be joining me on stage. bring your friends!

** Attendance was solid today in Seneca and Toccoa.

** We had a communion service this evening at our Seneca campus. Awesome time of worship and celebration. A very different feel, with a totally acoustic worship set.

** Toccoa campus had a Grouplink tonight. I hope lots of people will get connected.

** My wife and I will begin a Campus Life group on Marriage on march 10th. we would love to have you. Here's more info.

** Looking forward to a great week. my friend, Dean Herman who is the Pastor of 5 Points Fellowship in Easley will be leading our staff meeting tomorrow.

Marriage Life group

I am excited to announce that my wife, Liz and I will be starting a 6 week Life group for couples interested in taking their marriages to another level beginning March 10th.

** Each session will run from 6:30pm until 8:15pm on Wednesdays.

** The cost for the study is $10 per couple.

** Childcare will be available for a small fee (A flat rate of $5 per evening no matter how many kids you have).

** If you can't afford childcare, that's ok, come anyway. We'll cover it.

** We will be doing the IMarriage study from Northpoint Church---good stuff!

** We will have some built-in discussion time each week.

** No one will be put on the spot, or forced to do anything, so relax!

** This study is for all couples--- dating, engaged, married and struggling, married and doing great already,... whatever.

** This is a great way to get to know other people at Foothills.

** We will meet in the Planet Kidz auditorium.

** We are really excited about this, so sign-up this Sunday, or email us at office@foothills.cc to let us know you will be attending.

sunday night review

What a fun day at Foothills Community Church today. I did a message called, How To Enhance Romance. Talked about Sex and Romance. Here a couple of highlights from the day:

** Using humor definitely takes the tension out of uncomfortable topics. This is especially true with the topic of sex. Today was a lot of fun.

** When I gave the disclaimer about parents taking the kids to Kidzone because of the topic, it was like a stampede!

** Love to brag about our Toccoa campus, but after they gave me the GA Bulldog shirt, I'm rethinking that!

** The weather was amazing today.

** Our worship teams knocked it out of the park today. Eric Peters did a totally acoustic set. David Odom busted out a little Keith Urban on us.

** "Sex is AMAZING" Tim Wadsworth's text to David Odom on his honeymoon. (you had to be there)

Here are a couple of quotes from today's message:

"The best sex you will ever have is when you have sex with your best friend----provided that your best friend is your spouse!"

"Appearance is important for romance. You may not look like Brad Pitt or some cover girl, but do the best you can with what you've got"

"Your wife finds you irresistible when you're vacuuming the floor"

"Here's your homework assignment, go home and do a load of laundry, but make sure you first go out in the yard and find a big stick, because you're going to need it to keep your wife away from you. You give her assistance around the house and she'll be on you like a hobo on a ham sandwich"

"Sex is not just a body on body experience, it's a soul on soul experience"

"Single people need to hold out until God brings you a spouse"

"Be creative and spontaneous in your romantic life".

First Comes Love

This weekend at Foothills Community Church we will be continuing the First Comes Love series. Generally when we do a message series on marriage, the most requested message topic is romance/sex. Well, this weekend we will be looking at the Song of Solomon, and discuss how to enhance romance.

** This weekends message will be as practical messages you will ever hear about this topic.

** This would be a good weekend to NOT bring your children with you into the auditorium. (Actually EVERY weekend would be a good time not to bring your kids with you in the main auditorium----the reason is because we offer the most incredible Children's Ministry program anywhere. It's church on THEIR level. They will be glad, you will be glad, and those people sitting near you will be glad! So check them into KIDZONE, then come and enjoy the services in the main auditorium)

** We've got a few fun elements planned for this weekend too!

** If you have not sent in your questions for the message I will be doing with my wife in a couple of weeks, why not do it today? Basically, the angle we will be talking about are the differences between men and women.

** We are also busy planning our next series called, "Revealed"

** I am so looking forward to Spring. It's hard to believe that Easter is only about 6 weeks away.

** Speaking of Easter, we are making huge plans, so stay tuned for details and ticket information.

** Glad to find out that my ankle is not broken. Unfortunately, no basketball for at least 2 weeks though.

** Cool things are always going on around the offices of FCC during the week. This morning, Pastor Joel led 2 people to Christ!

sunday night review

Had a great Sunday. It was very different, but it was a lot of fun.

** I drove to our Toccoa campus and hung out with those guys. Man, they are rowdy. So much fun!

** It was the 1st time I got a chance to see the video teaching. other than it being a little tough to watch yourself, it works really good. We need a few tweaks still to optimize the quality.

** The new building they have is incredible. Large enough to grow, small enough to not get swallowed up in it. Tons of energy.

** JB (Jonathan Bryant) and his team rocked the worship time.

** Brian Marshall is doing a nice job of handling the Campus Pastor role.

** It was good to see Shannon Chiles on the keyboard!

** I showed up about 10 minutes before the service began to get the vibe of what guests feel when they come.

** Very impressed by their volunteers. Parking lot attendants were awesome, Kidzone check-in was cool, the Welcome desk, auditorium hosts and the Stoop resource center was well manned.

** If you know anyone in that area, tell them to check it out.

** I heard the the Seneca campus was great as well.

** I'm thankful for Brian Rhodes handling the preaching duties to allow me to catch my breath.

** Is it wierd that we talked about marital conflict resolution on Valentine's Day?

** On another note, during our basketball game this afternoon, I had someone roll my ankle. So it's going to be slow going for a little bit. Hoping there's no major damage.

** Got a chance to be in Tampa last week for a meeting with the guys from the Sticks conference. We were going to host a Sticks conference in November, but there was a concern that we are located a little too far from a major airport, so most likely it will moved to somewhere around Nashville, TN.

** I love what i get to do, and I love the people I get to serve with!

Last Sunday's message

This is the message and special features from last Sunday that I posted about on Sunday evening. I hope it inspires you to become a marathon marriage:

sunday night review

Wow, what a day at Foothills today!

**There are certain Sundays where everything just clicks---today was one of them.

**Attendace was great at both campuses today. It's surprising what nice weather can do for attendance

**The last part of the services with the couples dancing was incredible.

**We talked about marathon marriages. I love learning from couples that have been married for decades.

**After the first service I had a couple come up to me in the concourse who told me they have been married for 42 years. He told me that he would show me the secret to their success---then he and his wife began kissing! Awesome, 42 years and the fire is still burning!

**Saddest part of the message was the Gallup poll that said that 73% of Americans under 45 years old believe that a life spent with the same person was both unusual and unnecessary.

**Couples who have been married for 50+ years are true American heroes!

**Spoke to another couple in the concourse that have been married for 63 years.

**Next Sunday we will be discussing resolving conflict in marriage (I know, it's not real romantic for a Valentines Day message, but it's going to be highly practical.)

**The music today was great today too. The feature song, You Are So Beautiful, with the saxaphone was sweet.

Foothills, God is doing some incredible things!!

From Last Sunday

Despite the terrible weather last Sunday, we had some amazing services.
This was the second message in the "First Comes Love" series. It was geared towards married couples who are struggling a bit, and are looking for improvement.

Ministry in a small town

I am blessed to Pastor a church in a small town. I love small towns. Foothills Community Church has 2 campuses right now, and both are strategically planted in small towns. Our main campus is in Seneca, SC which is a town with a population of about 8,000, and our second campus is located in Toccoa GA, a town of around 9,000 which is located approximately 45 minutes from Seneca, just across the state line.. We are praying about location #3, which we plan to begin in 2010. It will also be planted in another small town.

I often get contacted by Pastors in small towns across America, that have heard of what God is doing at Foothills Community Church. I do my best to describe it, but words really don't do justice. One of the things that I try to communicate is, that what is happening here can happen anywhere.

I want to carefully write this blog post so that I don't come across as being the mastermind behind what is going on here. It is God at work. I can take no credit for that. God has however given me some insight about ministry in a small town.
I thought I would jot down a few quick thoughts.

** Small towns are under served----not because they lack CHURCHES, but because they lack CHOICES!

** To reach your small town, you must love them. Ask God to break your heart for your town.

** It's all about contextualization. You can learn a lot from other churches, but your church is unique. Small towns are unique.

** Just because you're in a small town (or in a small church), it does not excuse a lack of excellence.

** Lack of resources should not hold you back from doing things with excellence.

** Quit telling God why He can't build an effective church in a small town.

** Don't be numbers obsessed. If you live by the numbers, you will die by the numbers! Think in terms of percentages rather than gross numbers. In many ways churches in small towns are actually making more of an impact than large churches in large towns.

** Comparison is a killer.

** Small town ministry is not a lesser calling.

** Network with other churches to learn and grow.

** Don't let discouragement get the best of you. It's hard work, and sometimes it can be very discouraging.

If you want to know more, why not consider coming to the Sticks conference that we will be hosting on November 9-10 2010