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?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
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.
* 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, April 22, 2010
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.
* 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.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
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)
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)
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
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!!
Monday, April 12, 2010
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!
* 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!
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
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!
* 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!
Thursday, April 01, 2010
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.
** 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.
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