relaxing

I am blogging from Virginia today. We came up to Virginia to visit some family for a couple of days.
I wasn't at Foothills this past Sunday, but I got the full report, and it sounds like they had a great day!

I heard that Paul Carr really connected with his message at our Seneca campus.

I also heard that our campus Pastor, Shannon Chiles did an amazing job doing the message live in Toccoa (at least that's what he told me!) Seriously though, I am so proud of Shannon. It was his first EVER sermon. Way to go bro!

David Odom led worship at both services at Seneca, and as usual, knocked it out of the park.

Numbers were off a bit in Seneca, but up in Toccoa.

I remember in the old days, almost being afraid to go out of town, because I thought the place would fall apart without me. I realize now, it was my fear and pride. Now I have such an amazing team around me, I could be gone for months and Foothills wouldn't miss a beat.

I can't wait for this weekend! 2009 is going to be our best year ever!

video blog

sunday recap

We had 3 amazing Christmas services at Foothills Community Church! Quite possibly the best services we have ever had.

** The place about came unglued when the band played Little Drummer Boy--It was Incredible, you guys rock! (If you missed this, it stinks to be you!)

** The stage set was amazing, and the lighting was unbelievable.

** We had tons of guests. I love seeing their faces when they first experience Foothills.

** I know alot of families have already headed out of town, but we still had ALOT of people.

** I'm probably going to have nightmares after seeing Brian Rhodes in green tights! (if you didn't get a chance to see him, you should thank God for protecting you!)

catch-up thursday

I am back in the office today after two days in Dallas. I had a great time. I got an opportunity to spend a day with some amazingly smart people (not really sure why I was invited!). Anyway when we got there it was about 30 degrees and earlier that day they had freezing rain and sleet, so the roads were salted down --what a mess. It was cold and cloudy and foggy and dreary, and we got stuck in some major traffic. In spite of that, I am glad that I had the opportunity to go. I met some Pastors and other leaders and I was challenged by what was shared.


Here are a few of things that were shared that have me really thinking:

** The church historically has been about "catch and keep", but the goal should be to "catch and release" (as in sending people back into the community and around the world to influence the world for Christ, not just to have everyone show up for a church service)

** There are 4 levels to live life on:
Level 1 -- Struggle
Level 2 -- Success
Level 3 -- Significance
Level 4 -- Surrender

** My job is to DIRECT and RELEASE energy, not to SUPPLY it.

These things probably won't make sense unless you were there, but I am going to be unpacking these thoughts over the next few weeks.




Because I was gone for 2 days, I am playing some serious catch-up today. I can't believe that this weekend we will be having our Christmas services. I am so pumped I can hardly stand it!


Don't forget to hand out those invite cards.

Sunday recap

Another incredible day at Foothills.

In Seneca, major props to worship leader David Odom for leading worship in the 9:30am service because Eric Peters was at home sick as a dog (the stomach flu is running rampant around here). It was cool to see the band come together and make it happen.

We started a new series for Christmas called, Wrap it Up. Yesterday I talked about prioritizing worship at Christmas. I stressed coming prepared to worship on Sundays. Wouldn't it be cool to see everyone have the same zeal and passion on Sunday mornings as we have on Saturdays at the Clemson football games!

At our Toccoa campus they had a major milestone because they baptized 4 people! I heard that the water in the pool was just a bit chilly, but everyone survived. I am looking forward to preaching in Toccoa live soon!

This weekend is going to be unbelievable! Our Christmas services will be Saturday at 6:00pm and Sunday at 9:30am and 11:15am. Bring your friends and family.

I'll be out of town Tuesday and Wednesday, so this week is going to be very busy. I'm really looking forward to this trip because I am going to get to spend some time with some incredible leaders.

busy Friday

Most of you know that our offices are closed on Friday, but there is so much to do as we lead into the next couple of weeks and the Christmas services, that I needed to come in for a little while.

It has been a great but hectic week. I had a chance to bring some of our staff to my coaching network on Thursday. That was very cool. I know that I got challenged personally by a few things that were discussed.

This Sunday we begin our Christmas series called, Wrap It Up. This weeks focus is keeping the right priorities during Christmas.

Don't forget that next weekend are our Christmas services. Make sure to invite everyone you see because the services are going to be incredible. Here is the schedule again: Saturday Dec. 20th at 6:00pm and Sunday Dec. 21st 9:30am and 11:15am (all 3 services will be identical) Plan to come a little earlier than usual because it is going to be crowded!

A church member gave me tickets to the Clemson men's basketball game for Saturday. Really looking forward to hanging out with my youngest son Cole.

reunion

Went to Atlanta yesterday to pick up my daughter and granddaughter from the airport. It was a great reunion. They have been in South Africa for the last year serving with Youth With a Mission.
I am so proud of her commitment to get out of her comfort zone to serve God. She is praying about what her next assignment will be.

Here's what I have discovered. There is a whole generation that wants to change the world, not just talk about it. I wonder how many of us that are "slightly" out of our 20's would be willing to take on these kind of challenges to reach people for Christ?

Here's the honest truth, most of the time I don't want my little world and my little routine to be disrupted for anything or anyone.

When is the last time that you went out of your way to share Christ with someone, or to help someone in need?

Sunday recap

Another fantastic day yesterday at Foothills. We baptized 65 people. That makes over 200 people baptized this year!

We had a few technical glitches in the first service, but by the second service things were clicking pretty good.

This Sunday we begin our Christmas series called "Wrap it Up." Be sure to keep inviting all of your friends.

This week is going to be a little hectic. I have to go to Atlanta on Tuesday, and then on Thursday I've got my coaching network. This month all of the guys are bringing some of their staff members for leadership training with them. I'm really looking forward to having some of my staff go with me.

Next week is shaping up to be another crazy week as well! I love what I do!

This Sunday

I am so excited about this Sunday. We will be doing baptisms in both services. I'm not sure of the exact amount of people that we'll be dunking, but there's a bunch!

There is nothing I do that gets me more fired-up than watching people go public with their faith through baptism.

If you have not already signed up, you can still be baptized. Bring an extra change of clothes and a towel and we'll walk you through the rest.

This is going to be one of the most incredible services we have ever had at Foothills, so don't miss out!

30 days to live

What would you do if you found out you had 30 days to live? That question has been the topic of many sermons and songs, such as Tim Mcgraw's, Live Like You Were Dying.

But what would you really do if you had 30 days left?

This past Sunday we showed a video of someone from Foothills Community Church who basically found out that he had just a short period of time to live. His name was Ray Stamm. Ray and his wonderful wife Lucy have been part of Foothills Community Church since our days in the High School. By his own admission the music style and volume of Foothills was not the type he would listen to in his car, but Ray was passionate about seeing people reached for Christ, so he set his personal desires aside to see young people come to Christ.

Ray has battled with cancer for many years, but this time the cancer got the best of him and he has gone on to be with the Lord. but before he died we went to his home and interviewed him about his faith. In a sense this video would be a legacy that would continue reaching people for Christ even after he was gone.

This video was shown at his funeral, and this past Sunday we showed it during my message. It is one of the most amazing videos I have ever seen. If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and click this link and watch it(Ray's video begins at 31:25)

Goals--Leadership Development

I have an honest confession. I love to set goals. I don't know when it started, but as far back as I can remember, I have been doing it.

I'm sure we've all heard that when you set a goal, you should write it down. It should be measurable and it should have a deadline.


I have been thinking lately about some of the goals that I want to set for 2009. Under the category of Leadership Development, one of the things that I am going to do is to set more time aside to develop young leaders. I have asked 4 of our younger staff members to join me once a month for a time of leadership development and mentoring. I am really looking forward to that.

I also know a couple of younger church planters that I hope to be able to pour myself into in 2009.

Along those same lines, I hope to be able to be a part of another leadership round table discussion group in 2009. I have been in one for the last several months and it has stretched me as a leader. I want to be exposed to as many great leaders as possible. I will also attend leadership conferences as well.

I have always been a reader, yet in 2008 I have not spent nearly enough time reading as usual, so in 2009 I will set a goal of reading a certain number of books to hone my leadership abilities.

I will make a concentrated effort to put myself in a position to grow as a leader so that as our Church continues to grow that I will not be a bottleneck to our potential.

Obviously some of this I have not finished working through but that is a rough draft of the type things I will be doing in 2009.

What goals have you set?

monday stuff

We had some incredible services yesterday at Foothills. More people flipped the switch! Next Sunday we'll be doing baptisms during both services. I can't wait.

Our attendance was off a bit, not surprising on a cold, rainy, Thanksgiving weekend. Overall though, the month of November was our highest attendance ever. We have added over 500 people in the last 12 months!

We had a great all-staff meeting this morning. I taught on risk. Had a lot of great input. I am fortunate to have a staff that is 100% sold-out to helping people meet Christ!

We are finalizing a few things for our Christmas services. All I can say is, they are going to be amazing. The band is going to do a few old Christmas favorites, and they have some surprises as well.


A few other random thoughts:

Clemson rolled South Carolina. Maybe next year Gamecocks.

I hate cold weather.

I have a bunch of meetings on Mondays

after Thanksgiving random thoughts

Thanksgiving is a great Holiday. We had a lot of fun with family and friends (and too much food). I have so much to be thankful for!

My wife almost broke her tradition of waking up at dark-thirty to go shopping on Black Friday. The key word there is "almost". She gave in and went shopping and saved us lots of money. She told me that the stores weren't as crowded as usual.

On the list of things that I hate to do, shopping is near the top, just below going to the dentist for a root canal.

Clemson/Carolina game today. I'm not going, but I will be watching on TV. With this weather it could be a mud bowl. Go Tigers!

Speaking of the Tigers. I hope they offer Dabo the job.

With the bad economy many families in Oconee County are having tough times, and as a result there are a whole bunch of kids who may not get any gifts this Christmas. Foothills is going to do something about that, so we will be taking a special offering for the kids for the next 2 weeks. Last year we did it spontaneously after the services on one Sunday and received over $5,000. So this year I want to see us surpass that mark.

Don't miss tomorrow at Foothills. It's going to be awesome!

The goal of a church service

This may not seem like a very spiritual question, but what is the goal of your church service? I have found that most churches really don't know the answer to that question.

Over the years I think my answer probably has changed somewhat, but I believe that basically the goal of a church service is to lift up Christ so much that people genuinely encounter God.

The goal is not to entertain (although sometimes it is very entertaining). The goal is not to just gather corporately to catch up with people you haven't seen in a week (although that happens). The goal is not to become a spectator of a performance, where the people on stage become the players and the congregation becomes the audience.

The goal is to engage. To connect with a holy God. To offer praise. To be challenged.

When we sit in our creative meetings we try to think through the elements of a service. We want to be sensitive to what God wants to do during that service. We purposely try to help people connect the spiritual dots. We want to design services where people have an opportunity to engage, and interact.

I really feel that 2008 has been one of the most spiritually enriching years our church has ever had. As I reflect on some of those services, it gets me fired up! Every service we do, I truly believe that God is going to show up and change lives----and He always does.

I am so thankful to all of the people who are part of Foothills Community Church!

Sunday recap

Things keep on going well at Foothills, and yesterday was no exception. My message was on John 3:16, and when you talk about God's love people respond.
We had many more people flip the switch and begin a relationship with Christ! (Not sure how many yet) Our baptism services on December 7th are going to be incredible.

Tons of first-time guests, especially in our Kidzone ministry. I have to say that our Children's ministry is one of the best that I have ever seen---anywhere!

Our Toccoa campus set a record for attendance since going to one service. Shannon is doing a great job of leading. I can't wait to go there and hang out with them. I am planning on getting over there one Sunday very soon and do the message live!

I made a mistake in a previous post about our Christmas service times. The correct times are Saturday December 20th at 6:00pm and Sunday December 21st at 9:30am and 11:15am

Mark this on your calendar

As most of you know, God is doing some things at Foothills that have been indescribable. There have been record numbers of people that are being saved, and coming up on Sunday December 7th we will be doing baptisms in both services. As usual, we will be doing them different than ever before, but I promise you they will be exciting!

If you are a Christ-follower but have never gone public through baptism, this is your chance. Just let us know by checking off the box on the info card in the Foothills Flier this Sunday and we'll contact you to let you know what to do next. We are expecting a ton of people to be baptized, so it is going to be awesome.



Another thing to note is that this year's Christmas service schedule will be as follows:

Saturday December 20th at 6:30pm and Sunday 9:30am and 11:15am

This year we have decided to pour all of our energy into these 3 services, so we will not be holding Christmas eve services. Instead we're asking you to invite all of your friends and family to one of these 3 services and then on Christmas eve spend that time together with your family.

December is going to be an exciting month!

Sunday recap

**We continued our Switch series yesterday. Lives are changing!

**The feedback from yesterday was awesome

**I think we had another 30 people or so who gave their lives to Christ.

**They had 3 people "flip the switch" yesterday at our Toccoa campus!

**Had the largest attendance we have ever had (not counting Holidays or the Grand Opening of the new building)

**Tons of first-time guests and tons of people returning.

**Looking forward to this Sunday's message. We're going to take a real close look at what could be the greatest verse in the Bible!

**Our student ministry is on fire right now with lives changing. Brian told me that there are around 15 teenagers who will be baptized in December.

**Foothills has the most incredible staff of any church. These men and women are committed to the core to reach more people for Christ.

**I am truly blessed to lead such a phenomenal church!

Saturday thoughts

Haven't blogged in a few days, so let me try to catch you up.

**On Thursday I went to my monthly coaching network. It was awesome, and I always take away so much good stuff.

**Went hunting in the fog and rain on Friday morning. Shot a nice buck!

**Friday evening we had a family night at Foothills.It was a lot of fun, and lots of people attended. We had a magician come and perform, and he did great.

**On a sad note, a wonderful Christian man and a great friend lost his battle with cancer last night.

**Praying really hard for this Sunday's services. Please, if you have a friend who doesn't know Christ, get them there Sunday!

**Sunday's message is going to get a little uncomfortable, but that's a good thing sometimes!

**After all the rain and wind, my yard is covered in leaves. I guess that's why it's called "Fall." It's supposed to get cold tonight. I miss summer already!

What would you ask?

In December I have been invited to be a part of a group of Pastors that will meet in Dallas to spend a few hours with a very well respected leader. One of the things that I was asked to do before the meeting was to email 3 questions or topics that I would like to have discussed.

I just sent my questions in. My fear is that the rest of the Pastors are going to send in some deep, profound questions and mine will sound really stupid! But the reality is, I have always heard that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

I have tried to make it a practice to ask questions. Some people are naturally more inquisitive than others, but when you ask questions, you get answers. Let me say that again. When you ask questions, you get answers. (Profound, huh?)

I cant tell you how many times by asking someone a question it saved me from making some bad decision, or saved me a lot of time or effort.

Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. When we started to prepare for our second campus, I knew that I didn't have the answers, so I asked questions. In fact I put together a group of 7 or 8 other Pastors that were also considering second campuses and we got together for a couple of days and asked each other lots of questions.
There were still many unanswered questions, so we sent our campus pastor to a multi-site conference before we started so that he could ask questions.

Do yourself a favor, start asking lots of questions. You may be surprised at what you will learn.

Can you say, amazing?

Yesterday we continued our Switch series, and it's hard to describe what happened, but I'll do my best.

Another huge crowd. People definitely invited their friends!

We had over 40 people "flip the switch", and give their lives to Christ yesterday! (that's what it's all about)

We actually did a "come forward" invitation yesterday (we normally just do response cards) it was different, but very cool.

The worship teams did another fantastic job leading us.

There is an unbelievable buzz at Foothills right now.

Sunday is coming again in just 6 days, so go out and invite your friends that don't know Christ. Pray that they will flip the switch.