Pics of new building

If you have never been to Foothills, these pictures should give you the feel for what's going on here.

Don't forget the Grand Opening this weekend. there will be 3 services to choose from. Saturday 6:30pm, Sunday 9:30am and 11:15am.

busy week

Lots going on this week. Here are a few things that I am doing:

* Preparing for our grand opening this weekend. It is going to be phenomenal. Our creative team has been working hard to kick off our new series, Bonding With James. Whatever you do, don't get in the auditorium late or you will regret it!


* Figuring out some details for our next baptisms on August 31st. If you are a Christ follower and have not been baptized yet this is for you. We're going to be doing baptisms a little different, which is going to be very cool!


* Looking forward to going to a Pastors Coaching Network on Thursday. It is a group of a dozen Pastors learning from each other. I love this type thing.


* Trying to finalize a meeting location for our Toccoa campus which will begin on September 28th---Yikes! A lot of closed doors so far.


* Finishing my message for Sunday



* Tons of meetings, and stuff like that.

One more side note. For those who watch or listen to our weekly messages online, you may have noticed that for the last couple of weeks there haven't been updates.
Here's the deal. With all of the stuff going on getting in the new building, we have had our attention drawn to other matters. We also found out that we did not have adequate equipment to do this properly. Hopefully we should be up and running soon.

Proud Daddy

I just read my daughter Kristen's latest blog post. She blows me away with her passion for God!

What a Day!

Yesterday's services at Foothills Community Church were unbelievable. Our worship leaders, Eric and David did an awesome job.
The message was about king Josiah who made a revolutionary spiritual change.
At the end of the service we asked people to respond to their willingness to change by filling out a card that said, "Lord empty me of_______ , so I can be filled with you." It was very moving watching all of those cards laid at the foot of the cross.

We are getting prepared for the grand opening this weekend. If you have some free time this Saturday at 9:00am, we are going to put the finishing touches on the building and could use about 100 volunteers.

It's In the Air

The excitement about our Grand opening is in the air!

I just got finished being interviewed by our local newspaper for a story that will run about Foothills (I think it will be this weekend). Every time I talk about Foothills I am amazed. I get a chance to re-live where we have been and how far God has brought us. I get re-energized about our vision to reach people who are far from God. I am also reminded that this is a "God-thing". What is happening here could not be manufactured by man.
For the record, The Grand Opening of the building will be Saturday August 16th at 6:30pm and Sunday August 17th at 9:30am and 11:15am.

Of course you don't have to wait until then to come to Foothills, because we will be wrapping up our message series, Young Guns, this Sunday (9:30am and 11:15am) in the new building.

Controversial Jesus

When you read the Gospels and follow Jesus' life you realize how controversial He really was. He turned the "religious establishment" upside-down. In spite of all of His great works, the miracles He performed, the healings, and the love He poured out, there were those who hated Him.
The most interesting thing to me is that the ones who hated Him were the "religious" ones. The Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat. They were blind to the great works He was doing and who He was, so they lashed out.
On the other hand the ones who loved Him most were those who were the furthest from God, the down and out of society. The ones who gravitated to Jesus were the prostitutes, the thieves, the hurting, the hopeless, the lost. In Him they found freedom and life.
If you are a leader in a church that is truly reaching out to lost and hurting people, please understand---you WILL be misunderstood. There will be those who will hate you as well (even though they don't know you!) Most likely the ones who will slander you, and lash out will be the modern day Pharisees. Don't be discouraged, you're in good company!
We made a decision when we started Foothills, that we would be a church were hurting, lost, lonely, messed-up people could find healing, hope and salvation. And we would do WHATEVER IT TOOK to reach people for Christ. Are we misunderstood sometimes? Sure. But I am willing to take that risk to help people find Christ.
Rick Warren author of the "Purpose Driven Life', and Pastor of Saddleback Church once said, "When your church is small they ignore you. When your church is growing they will criticize you, and when your church is large, they will resent you."
I am so excited about our future. I believe that we will see thousands more who will come to know Jesus Christ in the days ahead. We are committed to that cause!!

The power of a team

One of the things that I am constantly reminded of is how blessed I am to be surrounded by such a great staff team. Without a doubt we have the best collection of staff members we have ever had. There is such a great feeling knowing that you have capable, competent people around you.
When a team comes together there is synergy and cohesiveness. There is a sense that even greater things are on the horizon.
When we meet together on Mondays we go around the room and share in 3 minutes or less what God is doing in our lives and ministry area. I come away from those meetings excited about our future.
Staffing is THE most difficult thing we do. We have learned to not get in a hurry when selecting new staff members because you usually end up regretting it.
We definitely look at the 3 C's when hiring new people. Character, Competency, and Chemistry. Of these 3 Character is first, then Chemistry and then Competency. I used to underestimate the importance of Chemistry (how that person "fits" in the team and with the Foothills culture), but this one is huge.
The big thing is waiting on God's timing when looking for new staff.

Monday thoughts

Had another great Sunday at Foothills in the new building. We had a few minor technical difficulties, but overall it was awesome. A pretty good size crowd, and a ton of excitement.

I discovered that we have a ton of Clemson fans, and based on the cheers, next we have a lot of Georgia fans and very few South Carolina fans (I guess that makes sense!)

After church we went to the Atlanta airport to pick up my youngest son who was at my parents for an extended vacation in Florida. I want to officially go on record as saying I hate Atlanta traffic! We figured that on Sunday afternoon the traffic would be light. Boy were we wrong. They were re-paving I-85 and we had to merge 5 lanes down to 2. It took us about an hour to travel just a couple of miles. I'll take a small town over a big city any day. But it was great to have Cole back at home!

I've been in meetings non-stop today. That's how we roll around here on Mondays.

pumped about this Sunday

I can't wait for Sunday! We're going to talk about a topic that I think will hit home with alot of people ---Commitment.
It's something that most people shy away from. Commitment is scary. We don't like to feel obligated. That's why we have pre-nuptial agreements, and escape clauses in contracts. That's why people say, "I'll TRY to make it", instead of saying, "you can count on me." And yet commitment is one of the things that God honors in our lives.

It's going to be an awesome day at Foothills, so show up a little early and be prepared to connect with God!

Leadership lessons from my Dad (part 3)

One of the biggest lessons I have "caught" from my Dad is to Never Stop Dreaming.
My Dad is an outside the box thinker. He has always kept on dreaming bigger.
Even now that he is in his 80's he continues to dream. He is still contemplating new business ventures.
Every now and then someone will say to me, "Foothills is so amazing, did you ever in your wildest dreams believe this would happen?" Honestly, I didn't know exact details, but I really did always believe that it was possible. I think the reason I always believed it, was because I was not afraid to dream.
One of my life verses is Ephesians 3:20, "Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."
Do you have a dream? If not ask God to help you dream bigger. If so, then pursue that dream!

Leadership lessons from my Dad (part 2)

Another lesson I learned from my Dad was to always find a job that you love. He taught me that life is too short to be in a job that you don't enjoy.
I have met so many people who have a career that they absolutely hate, but because of financial obligations they feel like they have to continue. So day after day and year after year they punch the clock hoping that they can hit the lottery or retire---anything to get out of their job.
The problem that most people have when it comes to choosing a job, is that they ask all the wrong questions. They ask, "how much does it pay?" (which is a legitimate question, but it shouldn't be the first question). If the job pays well, they take the job.
What are the hours? How much time off do I get? What are the benefits? Again, these are all good questions, but they're not the BEST questions. The best question is, "Is this something that I will look forward to waking up and doing for the rest of my life?" Because if you don't like what you do---there is not enough money in the world to make it worthwhile.
You might be thinking,"how do I find the right kind of job?" First ask yourself, "what do I enjoy doing?" "What am I gifted to do?" "What abilities do I possess?"
If you're stuck in a dead-end job, but you feel trapped because of financial commitments why not start trying to scale back on some things to put yourself in the position to make a career move. It might take a couple of years, but in the long run it will be worth it!

Leadership lessons from my Dad

I am very fortunate to have grown up in a home where I was always loved unconditionally and encouraged to pursue my dream. My parents are incredible people. My dad is a great leader, and there is much that I have learned from watching him. I thought I would highlight a few leadership lessons I learned from him in a couple of posts.
The first lesson I learned is that truly great leaders are people of character. Character is not something you can go to school to take a course on, or read a book about. True character is something that is at the core of who a person is.
One of the things that stood out to me growing up was hearing my Father's friends and customers always saying "Your Father is a great man." I can verify that. I have always seen my dad go the extra mile to do the right thing. He is a second generation jeweler that has been self-employed for as long as I can remember (he's sort of semi-retired now). I remember sitting at his store when I was a kid and watching customers come in and watching his interactions with them. His customers were more like friends.
I remember times when someone would come into his store and want him to make a small repair on a piece of jewelery (that they bought somewhere else), and when he was done fixing it, he would say, 'there's no charge." I would ask him, "how come you didn't charge them?", and he would say, "it was an easy repair, and who knows, maybe the next time they need some jewelery they'll come back."
He wasn't about the bottom-line, and that's pretty unusual these days. to him your reputation was much more important.
As a leader, does your life reflect character? Are you honest? Is your life above reproach?, or are you taking some shortcuts?

a few other thoughts from yesterday

I thought I would link a few of our staff bloggers for their feelings about our first services at Foothill's new facility.

Check them out here, here, and here

If you missed yesterday, don't worry, we'll be having services again this Sunday!!

Holy Cow

Just got home after our first services in the new bilding, and all I can say is "Holy Cow!"

We had 2,198 people show up today! (there were 480 in our kids area!) Folks this is still the middle of summer. Our first service we had over 90% of the chairs filled in the auditorium and in the second service we were at 75%!

The good part is that everything went pretty smooth. I am not aware of any major glitches, but there are a few small things that we'll have to work on this week. People were so excited. What a great vibe we had in the concourse, and the energy in the auditorium was amazing.

The new series (Young Guns) is going to be awesome. Looking forward to talking about Daniel next Sunday.

That's all for now!

overwhelmed

I stopped by the church this morning and all I can say is---WOW! I am blown away by the people of Foothills. They looked like a bunch of ants descending on a candy bar, they were everywhere. People just wanting to help get ready for this weekend. There were dozens of people outside finishing the landscaping. There were people in the kids areas putting the finishing touches on what will be the coolest kids facility around. there were people in the auditorium getting the sound, lights and video ready. There were people in the concourse tidying up. It was absolutely amazing!

This weekend is going to be huge. Our first Sunday in our new facility. There are still a lot of kinks that we'll have to work out, but we'll be in! Of course our Grand Opening will be August 16th and 17th (We will be doing 1 saturday evening sevice and 2 Sunday morning services for that weekend only), so hopefully we'll work out all the kinks by then.

A couple of reminders for this weekend. First--remember, Two Services, 9:30am and 11:15am. please get there a little earlier than normal to have your coffee and donuts because you can't bring them into the auditorium. Also it might take a couple extras minutes to get your kids checked in. Trust me, you will want to be in your seat when the service starts because the opening is going to be powerful.

We are starting a new series tomorrow called Young Guns. I am really excited about that too! See you tomorrow.

I love it!

I was taking my trash to the local convenience center (that's a fancy name for the dump), and as I was getting ready to leave I spotted this hanging from the fence.
I had to laugh. You know what they say, any advertising is good advertising!

By the way, what's the strangest place you have seen a Foothills license tag?

Latest picture

Here is a picture of the front of the building I took this morning. You can see that some of the landscaping is in. It's looking really good.

On the inside it's shaping up too. I was over there a little while ago while they fired up the sound system-- Dude, it's awesome!

Sunday is going to be crazy, but it's going to be a blast!

Incredible weekend

On Saturday around 100 volunteers converged on the Foothills Community Church campus for a day of service (I wasn't there). They landscaped, and set up children's rooms and put up sound panels. Man it looks great. I'll try to post a picture.

Then on Sunday we had 3 absolutely incredible services. People are jacked up with excitement. It's crazy! We had a large crowd--- we are almost at pre-summer numbers, and it's the middle of July!

On Sunday evening we had a Toccoa campus informational meeting over in Toccoa. A great turn out with about 50 people. There is so much excitement, it's incredible. If you are interested in helping out or know someone who might be, have them email toccoa@foothillscc.org

Don't forget--- this weekend we will have our services in our new facility at 9:30am and 11:15am. Try to get there a little early especially if you are checking in your kids. And whatever you do, be in your seats when the service starts. You do not want to miss the opening. Remember, in the new building you can't bring your refreshments in the auditorium, so get there early so you can enjoy them while you hang out in the concourse.

Almost ready

I just finished walking around the new facility. It looks amazing!

It still is hard to believe that we will be having our first service in it in 10 days. There are a lot of little things that have to be finished. I'm sure some will get finished by July 27th, and some won't. But either way we're going to meet in there (If we pass all of our inspections)

Here is the outside of the building. The irrigation system is in, but the landscaping is still yet to be done, but the sign is up!

**Held our first Toccoa Informational meeting yesterday at Foothills for our new site in Toccoa Ga.. Lots of interest. The next one is scheduled for this Sunday at 6:00pm at the Days Inn in Toccoa.

**I need to hurry back and teach Paul some slick moves so he doesn't do something like this again!

**I am pumped about this Sunday at Foothills. We'll be talking about spiritual markers. It will be our final service in our current facility.

**I'm thinking about going on the Bassmaster tour! What do you think?
First there was this one, now there's this:

Great day at Foothills

We had another great day at Foothills today----at least that's what I have been told because I wasn't there! I had the opportunity to go back down to Florida for a couple of days, so that's where I am. With the new building coming up and preparing for our Toccoa, Ga launch I figured I better get as rested up as possible.

Paul Carr, our Connections Pastor did the message today and I hear that he knocked it out of the park!

David led worship today for the first time as a Foothills staffer! I heard he brought his "A" game!

I also heard that the attendance was way up. The momentum is building for the Fall.

Unfortunately, we had some computer problems at Kidzone check-in.

Next Sunday will be our last worship service in the current building--- it is going to be an amazing service. You do not want to miss out.

It's all about the Kingdom

God is at work at Foothills, no doubt. We see lives changing every week. We have grown rapidly and we have alot to celebrate. But this weekend is also a special weekend for my friends over at Newspring Church. This Sunday they will be launching a second site in Greenville, SC.
Perry, Tony, Jason, Jason, Jake, Paul, Shane, Lee and all the rest of the staff and attenders, we are praying for God's blessing on you! May God continue to use you to reach Greenville and beyond.

Some things on the horizon

Even though we still have 2 more weeks of our Crossing Jordan series, I am extremely excited about our next series which begins on July 27th. It's called Young Guns.I saw the bumper video yesterday. Scott did a nice job. We will look at the lives of 3 young revolutionaries from the Bible.
On week 1 we'll look at the life of Jesus and his revolutionary Compassion. Then the 2nd week, we'll talk about Daniel and his revolutionary Commitment, and finally we'll look at Stephen and his revolutionary Courage.
It will be our first series in the new building, and it's going to be awesome!
But until then don't miss the next 2 weeks of Crossing Jordan.

A new blogger

I want to welcome to the blog world Dave Odom!

David along with Eric Peters are Foothills worship leaders.
Dave is one of our newest staff members at Foothills. He is a tech savvy guy, so the big question is why did he wait so long to start blogging?

Creative Teams

One of the things that I really like to hear after a service is, "Wow, everything just seemed to tie together. From the music to the message to the flier (bulletin), to the stage, etc. Basically from the beginning of the service til the end there was a common thread")

Those things don't "just" happen. They are result of a collective effort of many people who sit around a table on Monday afternoons discussing upcoming services. I wish I could say that every one of those meetings was one great creative thought after another, but the reality is that many times it just doesn't seem to flow.

Here are a couple of ways to make those meetings more effective:

Add new faces ----every once in a while bring in a new person. They bring with them fresh ideas

Change locations --- We don't do this enough, but for some reason a change of locale can stimulate new ideas.

Come to the meeting prepared--- when people come already armed with ideas, it makes the meetings a whole lot more productive.

Create an atmosphere where you can brainstorm freely. Where every idea has potential. Where you can take time to let one idea spawn another, than another. I have found that seldom do we choose the first idea. Most of the time it is a variation of the first idea.

Set aside adequate time--- It's hard to schedule creativity. You can't really say, "OK from 2:00pm until 3:00pm we are going to be creative. It might happen, but it might not. Don't be afraid to adjourn the meeting if it just isn't clicking.

If you don't have a team of people who meet with you regularly to help with the creative elements of your services, they will soon become stale. Find some people who seem to have a creative flair and invite them to meet with you. It will make a big difference.

stepping up

At Foothills we believe that kids matter. When you walk through our facilities you will see lots of space for kid's ministries. Our new building has a large percentage of space for children, and when we vacate our current building the teenagers will take over a majority of that building. We decided a long time ago that if you really believe kids are important, you have to put your money where your mouth is!


Consequently we have been having some amazing things happening in the lives of our young people.

A couple of weeks ago, we had our Son Sports summer program. Over 200 kids were involved and there were several dozen spiritual decisions.

Then last week we had over 80 teenagers head down to Panama City FL for Bigstuf.
Our new Student Pastor, Brian and his wife Michelle got a chance to connect with them. You can read more about it here.

Also last week we had 18 children go to kid's camp in Alabama. I have heard some incredible reports about what happened there.

If you know a child or teen that is not involved with a church, tell them they need to check us out.

monday thoughts

It's been pretty crazy around here lately. Here are a few thoughts from some recent stuff.

** The new building is really is getting close. They are putting down the carpeting today!

** Second week of our Crossing Jordan series yesterday at Foothills. We talked about how to be used by God. I understand that we had a lot of people who are willing to make themselves available to start serving!

** We have introduced a new concept called Worship 1-Serve 1 The idea is that when we move into our new facility we want EVERYONE serving somewhere. So we are asking people to worship at one of the services and serve in the other.

** Had a great attendance yesterday, especially considering it was 4th of July weekend!

** Yesterday was the first time we didn't do the 6:00pm service. It was a nice break. I almost felt guilty!

** First service in the new building will be July 27th. (9:30am and 11:15am)

OOPS!

Someone sent me this picture. It took me a second to notice the spelling mistake. (you have to look close)

Imagine this guys reaction when he looked in the mirror.

Obviously the tattoo artist was a University of South Carolina grad!

More stuff

** David Odom showed up for his first day at Foothills. Glad to have him on board!

** I'm so proud of my daughter. Here's one of the reasons why.

** Talked to my wife today. She told me that everyone was having a great time at kid's camp in Alabama. I sure miss her.

** Just found out that a friend and long-time Foothills member is having surgery today. It's pretty serious.

** I don't know if this happens to everyone or not, but it seems like whenever I am preparing for a message, that God puts me in a situation where I have to try to practice what I preach! Ouch!

** Had a great time last night with 5 other Pastors last night over dinner. These guys are great friends and their churches are making a huge impact in the state of SC. They're supposed to stop by this morning and tour our new building.

** I picked up my bow this week to practice for archery season. It's not until September, but I'm already starting to get excited about sitting in a tree trying to shoot Bambi!

Monday stuff

** Started our new series, Crossing Jordan yesterday. I got a chance to talk about something most people don't like to talk about---Change!

** I did a very unscientific survey yesterday. I asked these questions. How many of you don't like change? How many of you do like change? It was split about 50-50.
Then I asked, how many of you think that change is basically bad? How many think change is basically good? The results were amazing. 100% of the people thought that change was basically good. (Which means even among people who don't like change, they recognize that change is good!)

** Kind of weird yesterday I talked about the Batman ride at Six Flags yesterday in an illustration. Then I heard about this. Please pray for the family of this teenager.

** Over 80 of our students and volunteers are in Panama City at Bigstuf camp, and a bunch of younger kids are in Alabama at camp this week too.

** I hope to get a chance to hang out with some church planter friends tonight for dinner.

Thursday thoughts

** Getting ready to kick off our new series this Sunday called, Crossing Jordan. The message this week is called "On The Brink Of Greatness"

** Son Sports wraps up this evening. It has been a huge success. Lots of kids and lots of people volunteering.

** Had lunch with my friend Jason Wilson today. Jason is the Executive Pastor for this church. I also got a chance to give him the tour of our new building.

** Speaking of the new building. It's getting very close (Looks like the first service will be on July 27th)

** Had a great meeting meeting with our Toccoa Campus Pastor, Shannon Chiles today.

** We will be doing 2 informational meetings for our new location in Toccoa. All of you who have expressed interest, or are just curious are invited to be a part of these meetings. The first one will be on July 14th at Foothills at 6:30 pm. The second one will be in Toccoa (location to be announced) Sunday July 20th at 6:00pm. Stay tuned for more details.

** My broken thumb is almost better! I may try to play basketball next week. (On Monday it will have been 9 weeks since I broke it)

Mansions

When I was down in Florida last week, I had my nephew snap a picture of this house (Yes, it's a house even though it looks more like a condo). I have no idea who the owner is. I have no idea how many square feet it is (Probably more than 20,000). I have no idea what it looks like inside.I have no idea how much it cost to build (definitely out of my price range!) All I know is that it is an amazing oceanfront mansion.

I doubt that any of us will ever have a house like this here on earth, but for Christ-followers Jesus is preparing a place for you that will make this place look like a shack!

leadership traits

One of the traits of the leaders that I know is their willingness to grow.
They never get to the place where they think they know it all. I have been to lunch with some leaders of churches (many much larger than Foothills) that are just as interested in asking me questions as I am to ask them questions.

Let me give you an example of this. Once I was having lunch with my friend, Perry Noble (this was when Newspring was still meeting at Anderson University)and I had just been to one of their services a couple of weeks prior to our lunch. Perry asked me what I thought of their services, so I shared a few thoughts. Then he asked me if there was anything that needed fixing, so I mentioned that I had trouble finding my way around because there were not enough signs. He took out his notepad and jotted it down right then. It was obvious that he was concerned about it, and to my knowledge, they added some signage. This isn't unusual for Perry. Every time we get together he is in the learning mode. Perry is one of the sharpest leaders in the country,who pastors one of the largest Churches in SC but he always is seeking ways to grow and learn.

I had lunch recently with another friend that asked me to watch a DVD of his Church's services and give some feedback. Why would anyone subject themselves to critique? because this Pastor is interested in becoming the best Leader/Pastor that he can be. That's a sign of a great leader--- a willingness to grow. (Whenever another Pastor asks me to listen to one of their messages and give feedback, I respond by saying, "I would be happy to do it IF I can be totally honest with you")

Whenever I encounter a person in leadership who is not teachable, I think to myself that their days as a leader are probably numbered.

What are you doing to grow yourself as a leader?

Kristen's blog

Many of you know that my Daughter, Kristen and my granddaughter, Mia are in South Africa. She is now blogging so if you're interested you can check that out and stay up to date with her. Thanks to all of you that support her in prayer and through your finances!

Son Sports

We had a great kick-off to our Son Sports kids program with over 200 kids last night. It looked like they were having a blast!

It's not too late to join in the fun. Come to Foothills at 6:30 to get registered.

In case you aren't sure what Son Sports is, this might explain it.

Thanks again to all of you who are volunteering your time to invest in a young person.

Big week

** We had another great day at Foothills yesterday. Normally during the summer our attendance is down 10-12%, but we are actually still growing. Once school starts back up and everyone gets back in their normal routine, you can tell.

** We wrapped up the David's Blog series. It was a lot of fun

** Rachel did an awesome job with "Bring On The Rain'

** Today at 6:30pm we start our Son Sports kids program. My wife Liz has done an incredible job coordinating this event. There are around 150 volunteers that will be serving this week to help us reach out to our children through sports. There is going to be hundreds of kids involved. If you didn't get your child registered, it's not too late. Just bring them to Foothills this evening by 6:15pm to give you time to sign them up.

** Brian Rhodes, our new Student Ministry Pastor begins today.

** This Sunday will be our last 6:00pm service (it's been a great run, but with the new building, we will have space once again in the morning!)

Toccoa Campus Pastor

Well it's now official, Shannon Chiles will be the Campus Pastor of our new location in Toccoa, Georgia! Shannon has been a part of Foothills since the early days. He has led worship, created videos and graphics, led a Life Group....basically about everything. He knows and lives the Foothills DNA. Shannon, his wife Amy and their 4 daughters have just closed on a house in Toccoa and will move there shortly.
Welcome aboard Shannon!

Back to work

Well, we made it back to SC today at 12:00, so I decided to head over to the office to see how things are going. I was amazed at how the new building looks with the driveway paved. It's getting very close.

While I was away I had some incredible thoughts about leadership. One of the thoughts that has been marinating in my mind is the qualities of a good leader. I thought I would share a little bit about this.

It occurred to me that great leaders are generally visionaries, and have the ability to take that vision and make it reality, but even more important than that, I believe that great leaders are agents of change. They don't just tolerate change, they embrace change. In fact I'm convinced that the best leaders actually look for things to change, not for the sake of change, but they seem to have an intuitive sense when things are in need of change. For instance Steve Jobs, Apple CEO has an uncanny ability to initiate change. Where most people wait for things to bottom out before they change, Jobs makes changes to products and services that are doing well. The new iPhone is a good example of this. According to reports, the first edition of IPhones which came out only one year ago and have already captured 27% of the smart phone market, yet rather than rest on his laurels Jobs has introduced the new iPhone which sells for $199 (about 1/2 price of the first iPhones)and has even more features. Why would he make changes when things are going so well? Simple, he's a great leader. He knows that if you ever stop to pat yourself on the back, technology will pass you by.

In the church world generally there has been a resistance to change, and the consequence is that churches are dying in record numbers. Some church leaders now see the need for change,and are reacting, but unfortunately for many of them it's a little too late. Great leaders are people who initiate change at the right time (usually when things are going well). Great leaders help people to become what they desire to become, by creating enough tension for things to change.

In a few weeks we are going to introduce some incredible change. I mentioned in this post about our 2 worship service strategy. The obvious question is with how well things are going,why change? The answer is, because it will allow us to reach even farther into our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ by offering additional choices. I am so pumped about what God is going to do here at Foothills!

all good things must come to an end

We are wrapping up our summer vacation today and will fly back to SC tomorrow.
It has been a blast! My parents are incredible hosts.

It's easy to get spoiled going to the beach everyday and doing pretty much nothing, but it's time to get back to reality. I feel refreshed and am ready to hit the ground running. I can't wait to be back at Foothills!

It is important for all of us to get away from the routine of life and unplug. So if you haven't scheduled a vacation, do it today. You'll be glad you did.

still relaxing

Vacations are great! I am officially relaxed....
Still in Florida soaking up the sun, fishing, eating, hanging out---just relaxing.

Meanwhile back at the ranch I hear things are going well at Foothills (yes I do call in and check... sometimes) I have ben told that the new building is really starting to look finished. They installed all of the new theater seating, and I believe they are going to try to asphalt the new parking lot. We are still looking good for our first service in the new building on July 13th! We are planning some really cool things for the first service, but our official Grand Opening will be August 17th (when people are back from vacations)

new staff hires

We are very excited about a couple of new staff hires we have made recently.

To lead our student ministry we have hired Brian Rhodes. Brian and his wife, Michelle are from Greer, SC, so they're fairly local. Brian will begin at Foothills in late June. Scott Chatfield, our current Student Pastor will take on a new position at Foothills as our Technical Director.


We also bringing on a second Worship Leader. David Odom will join the staff of Foothills in July. David is married to Amanda and they have one son, Noah. They currently reside in Georgia.
Beginning in mid July (when we move into the new building), Eric Peters (our current Worship Leader) will mainly be leading worship during our 9:30 am service and David Odom will mainly lead worship during the 11:15am service.

The 9:30am service music will be pretty much like it is now at Foothills. Great upbeat contemporary worship with Eric leading. The 11:15 am music will be slightly different. It will be more of a modern worship feel (a bit edgier, a little different vibe), with David leading. I honestly believe we will have 2 of the most gifted Worship Leaders in the Nation!

As Foothills continues to grow, we need to add staff to keep up with the demands.
Make sure to make them feel at home!

relaxing day

We had a very relaxing day today. Went to church this morning, then out for lunch and then hung out for a while until it cooled down a bit, then headed out to do a little more fishing. Here's a good example of why I love Florida fishing!

down time

I'm blogging from sunny South Florida today. I'm on vacation and so far it has been extremely relaxing. I don't know about you, but it usually takes me a few days to start really unwinding.
I've been fishing a couple of times on the beach so far, but there's a lot of seaweed in the water, so it's been a little slow. I'm getting ready to head out bass fishing in some golf course ponds. Hopefully I'll catch a few.
Tomorrow at Foothills, Scott Chatfield will continue the David's Blog series speaking about worship from Psalm 100. If you're in town make sure to be there!
That's all for me, I hear a bass calling my name!

Son Sports

At Foothills Community Church, we have always sought to be a little different. In our area there are probably 150-200 churches. My guess is that 99% will be having Vacation Bible School, which is great! But our thought has always been to try to offer something that isn't being offered, so rather than a typical V.B.S. we are doing what we call Son Sports.

Here's a little blurb to describe what will be offered: Get ready! Son Sports is a super summer spectacular event June 23rd-26th 6:30-8:30 pm (K5 to 6th grade). Activities include basketball, football, soccer, cheerleading, arts/crafts, and an incredible magic show by BAM Magic.

Not only will there be the sports element, but each evening there will be music and a skit that conveys a Biblical truth.

If you have kids/grandkids/neighbors that might be interested, get them signed up today. For a registration form call the church office at 864-888-8008 or go to our website

If you would like to volunteer to help out let us know.

Change

Change. The very word causes some people to break out in a cold sweat. Yet change is a part of life.

While it is true that we serve an unchanging God who is the same yesterday, today and forever, this same God has made things to change. The seasons are a great example. Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer (actually for most of my life living in South Florida, I thought there was only one season). There are many examples of change. If you don't believe that everything changes, pull out your High School yearbook and look at your picture!

At Foothills Community Church we have always embraced change. In a lot of ways change has been a great friend rather than a foe. Our vision has never changed. Our pursuit of God has never changed. Out heart to reach lost people has never changed, but many of the methods have changed over the last 10 years.

As we get ready to begin a new season at Foothills (moving into a new building), we are once again facing change. In my view it will be a wonderful change. Yes, there will be the chaos associated with the initial newness of change, but overall it's going to be great. With this new change there are going to be challenges, but if we approach this with a willing heart and an open mind, it will be fine.

Later this month I am going to spend a couple of weeks helping us prepare for the new changes with a message series called, "Crossing Jordan." Until then, we're going to need a lot of help coordinating the move. So if you have some free time around the beginning of July, let us know.

building picture

I finally got a picture of the front of the new building. (They're finishing the floors, so I'll get inside pics later.)

Sunday Highlights and Monday thoughts

** We had some great services yesterday. Pretty good attendance in spite of the rain. We continued our David's Blog series, with a message called "Why Isn't Life Fair?" (By the way, in case you hadn't noticed, Life isn't fair!)

** Had some really good feedback from some people who are dealing with some very difficult times in their lives.

** Paul Carr, our Pastor of Connections did a great job speaking at our 6:00pm service on Psalm 139.

** Our volunteers are amazing. We couldn't make it without them!

** Had another Belong class yesterday (That's what we call our membership class). So far this year I think we've had nearly 200 people attend already!

** We just finished a marathon staff meeting. Part of that meeting was our calendar planning. It is very difficult to plan for the future when you are in the middle of a building project. We are hoping to have our first service in the new building on July 13th (don't hold me to that date), and then have our Grand Opening on August 17th. There are so many variables that it's hard to nail everything down, but I must admit, it's very exciting.

** We have just made another key staff hire. I'll give more details in another post.

** Have another meeting (Creative team) in 3 minutes, so that's it for now.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

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

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

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

Oh No!

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

Hug your spouse

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

Pray for Kristen and Mia

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

sunday thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

Toccoa

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

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

A few thoughts

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

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

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

Staff meeting

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


EDITED 5:35pm

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

Sunday highlights

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

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

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

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

** Set another attendance record yesterday!

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

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

All in all a fantastic day.

Newsflash

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

customer service

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

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

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

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

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

Shine H2O

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Shine 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

Staff planning retreat

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

sunday debrief

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

Big Mac Attack

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

New building service thoughts (part 1)

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

Upcoming things

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

Big things happening at Foothills

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sidelined

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

coming over to the dark side

For the last 2 days my office computer has been down. Our IT guru, Paul has been back and forth trying to revive it. The problem seems to be virus related. In spite of our anti-virus software it still made it through (which is not the first time).
After some counsel from the Mac guys at Foothills, Paul, Scott, and Josh they have convinced me to come over to the darkside and buy a Mac. So today they hooked me up and ordered one. My old computer will become a check-in computer.
In case you are wondering I'm getting the iMac

Baptism service coming soon

On May 18th we will be doing baptisms during all 4 services. If you were at Foothills in April of 2007 you will remember that we did a spontaneous baptism service (click on the multimedia tab), and baptized 112 people that day. It was by far, the most moving service I have ever been a part of.
Well this year we are doing it again. The only difference is that we're letting people know in advance (so I guess that technically it's not a spontaneous baptism!)
If you are one of the people that have become a Christ-follower and have not yet been baptized, this is your chance.
Whatever you do---Make sure you are at church that day!

sunday recap

We had another great day at Foothills. Here are a couple of the highlights:

** OTHERS is what Foothills is all about! The only legacy that will truly outlive us is the spiritual investment that we make into OTHERS

** Great energy yesterday, even with the rain

** We did our new building tour. People were pumped to see the inside of the building. Most people couldn't believe how big the new building is. We are going to see it filled up pretty quick.

** We have hired a Campus Pastor for our new location in Toccoa----more on this later.

** WE gave out our "Their Chair" commitment cards. We hope to raise $750,000 to help offset some of the costs for furnishing the new building as well as the Toccoa location. Some people already turned their cards in(I guess they couldn't wait until next Sunday!)

** We are planning some very cool things when we get in the new building (First service July 13th)

"Their" Chair

As Foothills Community Church gets to the last stages of construction on our new building we are going to be asking people to help cover some of the cost to equip the building (chairs, children's equipment, furnishings, sound, lighting,video, etc.) Sort of a mini capital campaign, if you will.
We are hoping to raise an additional $750,000. Basically here is what I will be challenging people to consider over the next 2 weeks: I will be asking people to purchase chairs for the new auditorium and also chairs for our new location in Toccoa.
Obviously the chairs won't cost $750,000, but it is an easy visual reminder of what we are giving to. Here is the breakdown, we are going to ask people to purchase 1,500 chairs at a cost of $500 each. But here's the key---they aren't purchasing that chair for themselves, but for someone who isn't even attending Foothills yet. In essence we believe that when we step out in faith and sacrifice for the sake of others, God will send the people to fill those chairs. They are purchasing chairs for the family member or friend who doesn't know Christ yet.
Pray and ask God how many chairs you should purchase. Some people could easily purchase 100 or more, others maybe 1 or 2. Every chair counts because every chair represents someone who will have a chance to hear the Gospel of Christ.

bite the bullet

Since about January my TV has been on the blink. I have to literally beat on it in order for it to work. And I'm not talking about a couple of love taps--I mean beat on it. It's crazy. Lately it has gotten worse, so I am finally going to bite the bullet and purchase a new TV.
A couple of weeks ago we went to Best Buy and were looking at the TV's on display and it is amazing how nice the pictures are in the high-def TV's. Call me a late adopter, but the thought of spending $1000 for a TV does not make me happy. My old TV held up for over 10 years, so I suppose if I get 10 years out of a new one it comes to $100 a year. When I look at it that way, it's easier to swallow. The positive side is that I can now watch the games in high-def! Come on Football season.

More building pictures

As promised here's a recent picture of the outside of our new building. They are doing the stucco (that's why there is scaffolding up)
The inside is being painted and it's really beginning to look like the end is in sight.
Don't forget our building tour this Sunday at 4:15pm.

New website coming soon

Foothills website is in the process of getting a face lift.
Our current site has served us well, but it's time to have a fresh look. We hope to have the new site up some time in the early part of summer.
Based on a recommendation from my friend Gary Lamb we have chosen Factor 1 studios to create our new site, so if it doesn't turn out good I can blame Gary!
We are hoping to simplify operation on the new site and have it load much faster by not using as much Flash. We will be adding a couple of other things like E-vites so it's easier to invite friends.

Sunday Recap

Wow! Yesterday was amazing. Here are a a few highlights:

** Set another attendance record

** Tons of first-time guests that are really enjoying Foothills

** Our students were on fire. They had a huge turn out for IGNITE weekend. Then they carried their enthusiasm with them into the Sunday morning services.

** 38 students made spiritual decisions at IGNITE!

** We have an incredible staff

** 15 Minutes series is going to go down as one of our best ever

** Our people can eat some donuts!

** We're having fun at Foothills watching God at work

new building progress

I took a couple of pics of the interior of the new building yesterday. It was late evening so only a couple are light enough to see. I'll try to post a couple of the exterior soon. If you would like to get a sneak peek of the new building, plan on being at Foothills at 4:15pm on Sunday April 27th for a tour.
Pic #1 is the bookstore entrance
Pic #2 is looking across the lobby from the auditorium toward the Kidzone check-in area.
Pic #3 is in the lobby looking from the front doors toward the back

15 Minutes

This Sunday we are starting a new message series called, "15 Minutes."
We are basing it on the words of Andy Warhol who said that "everyone has their 15 minutes of fame." The whole premise behind this series is that all of us will be remembered for something, and the things we do today will determine the legacy we leave tomorrow. I believe this could be the most impactful series we have ever done!
Whatever you do, don't miss the next 3 weeks!

Ignite Weekend

I am very excited about our Student Ministry's Ignite weekend beginning this Friday evening. Scott Chatfield and his team do an excellent job putting this together each year. There will be about 250 students participating this year, and I am praying for them big-time!
Growing up, I didn't go to church so I missed out on this type thing. I wish I would have been a part of something like this, because they have a blast.
If you are a Middle school or High school student and you haven't registered yet, it's not too late (you can even sign up at the door.) If you are an adult and would like to help us pull this off, contact the church office.
I am so proud of our students at Foothills. They are amazing. Students---you guys rock!

10 year anniversary newspaper article

Our local newspaper ran this article recently about Foothills Community Church.
Time flies when you're having fun!

Sunday highlights

** Celebrated our 10th Anniversary yesterday as a church--What an incredible milestone!

** Got a chance to share the vision of Foothills (again). I love talking about our vision!

** I'm more passionate about our vision today than I was 10 years ago

** Vision messages are "pruning" messages. They fire-up the people who love the vision, but they prune out people who aren't behind the vision.

** We had our second-highest non-holiday attendance--- and it was spring break!

** I shared that in the last 10 years over 1,000 people have become Christ-followers at Foothills --- that's 1 out of every 70 people in this county!

** Our best days are still ahead of us.

** Look out Toccoa, Georgia, here we come! We're about to get moving on our second location. The start up day will be in September. But between now and then there is lots to do.

I used a lot of exclamation points in this post. Can you tell I'm excited?!!

Pastors I enjoy listening to (Part 2)

OK Here are some of the other Pastors that I listen to on a regular basis:

Craig Groeschel at Life Church Oklahoma (Never met him, but I feel like I know him, and I think that's what I like about Craig. He comes across as a friend who is trying to help you out. Besides leading one of the largest churches in America, he basically is one of the best communicators out there.)

Troy Gramling at Flamingo Road Church Florida (Troy is a friend of mine and what I love about him is that he is one of the most creative communicators I know of. He is a visionary leader that has great vision to reach South Florida and beyond)

Andy Stanley at North Point Church Georgia (Don't know him, but he is one of America's favorite teachers. He just has an amazing ability to take a passage of scripture that you've read a thousand times before and preach on it, and it's like "wow, that was amazing. I never saw it like that before.")

Bil Cornelius at Bay Area Fellowship Texas (Bil is also a friend and what I like about Bil (besides the way he spells his name and his cool hairstyle) is that he is genuine. I will tell you he is about as nice a guy as you will ever meet. It comes across in his teaching style)

Ed Young Jr. Fellowship Church Texas (Ed is the king of creativity and is among the best communicators in the country. Besides that, he is a fellow fisherman so that counts for something!)

That's enough for now. I might do a part 3 soon.

Pastors I enjoy

There are lots of phenomenal communicators out there. I am often asked "Who do you listen to?"
I have a long and diverse list of Pastors I enjoy listening to. I thought I would list a few here (and what I like about them). Bear in mind this is more of a sampling than an exhaustive list.


Judd Wilhite at Central Christian Church Nevada (Don't know Jud but what I like about him is that he always seems like he's happy. He's leading a church of thousands in Las Vegas)

Miles Mcpherson at The Rock Church California (Never met Miles, but he's one of my favorites. I like him because he's very funny and beside that he used to play football in the NFL)

Perry Noble at Newspring Church South Carolina (Perry is a good friend and in my opinion one of the best communicators anywhere. He's extremely funny, yet he can get in your face with his messages)

David Hughes at Church by the Glades Florida (David is a friend of mine, and what I like about him is that he is articulate, and he's got a great voice--makes me jealous!)

Francis Chan at Cornerstone Church California (I've never met Francis but what I love about this guy is his authenticity and love for scripture)

Bob Merrit at Eaglebrook Church Minnesota (I've never met Bob, but I love his stories and his midwestern friendliness that comes across when he speaks. And beside that, any person who could survive a Minnesota winter is my hero!)

Buddy Cremeans at Northway Church New York (Don't know Buddy, other than an email chat, but I love his creativity and the fact that his church is reaching an extremely unchurched area and they are knocking it out of the park)

Mike Ashcraft at Port City Church North Carolina (Don't know Mike but I love his laid-back style. Seems like he would be a cool guy to hang out with)


That's enough for now. I will do a part 2 to this post later.

ME church vs WE church

AS I was putting my message together for this Sunday and our 10th anniversary,I was thinking about Foothills Community Church and I realized that one of the main reasons that we continue to see phenomenal growth (even after 10 years) is because we are a WE church not a ME church. Here are a couple of my thoughts.

ME Churches VS WE churches:

ME churches have a tiny front door—you are expected to meet certain standards to fit in -jump thru hoops ---WE churches have a huge front door—always open—everyone welcomed—no strings attached (background, economics, race,etc don't matter)

ME churches are all about what makes ME happy –first question they ask is how can I make the saints/Christians comfortable? --- WE churches are about what makes God happy. 1st question, how can we leverage culture to introduce people to Christ?

ME churches internally focused –WE churches externally focused

ME churches are about maintenance-------—WE churches are about being missional

ME churches are stagnant and dying----WE churches are vibrant, growing and dynamic

ME churches resist change----WE churches embrace change (Message never changes—methods do)

ME churches grow mostly through church members transferring---WE churches grow mostly through conversion

ME churches see minimal life change---WE churches see life change on a regular basis

ME churches content with status quo---WE churches realize there is still much to do

ME churches ask “WHY?”---WE churches ask, “WHY NOT?

Is your church a ME church or a WE church?

Teamwork

Teamwork at its finest!! (I just needed a laugh this morning)

painful

I was looking at some old video footage from the early days of Foothills for our 10th anniversary next Sunday, and the only word to describe it is PAINFUL!
How anybody came back a second time is a mystery. The music was bad, the messages were bad, the stage sets were bad. Most of the videos I watched were from 1999 (our 2nd year). Anyways it just goes to show you, it's really a God thing! Bottom line --- it ain't about us! No matter how good we think we do services, it's still the same principle, if God doesn't show up we might as well go home. If you don't believe me, read Acts 2.

Lessons I've Learned over the last 10 years (part 3)

Here's another lesson that I have learned. Planting a Church is the hardest thing you will ever do!
My background is business. I have started and owned and operated 2 businesses, and I can honestly tell you that that was a piece of cake compared to planting and pastoring a church. There are many reasons that this is true.

First there is the pressure of knowing that there are lives literally hanging in the balance every week.If a business doesn't "make it", they just shut the doors and go home and do something else. If a church doesn't "make it", there are many people that have devoted their lives into that church, and then they have the burden to find another family of believers do life with.

There is the pain of people you love, leaving to go to a new church. In business if someone leaves, you've only lost a customer. In a church you've lost a friend.

There is the difficulty of getting most of your work done by volunteers instead of employees that you have the leverage of a paycheck to keep them going.

In a business you close up at 6:00pm and you're done until tomorrow. In a church you are always on call. Every Pastor has gotten the phone calls in the middle of the night from a person that is in crisis.

I meet people all the time who want to be a church planter. I think that's great IF God has called you to it. If you want to plant a church because you think it would be cool, or because it looks easy, or because you are a disgruntled staff-member, or because you want to be the next Steven Furtick or Perry Noble then don't do it. (I know both of these guys, and they are amazing leaders who work HARD)
It's not as easy as it looks. Contrary to what you may think, it's not hanging out at Starbucks everyday and preaching on Sunday for an hour. It's hard, disciplined,getting dirty in the trenches type work. And the Sundays come with amazing regularity!

Please understand, I'm not complaining. And I'm not looking for sympathy. In fact, I'm having the time of my life! There is nothing I would rather do. I am saying that there are many potential church planters that are called by God, and I want them to know what to expect so it doesn't blind-side them.

Lessons I've Learned over the last 10 years (part 2)

Another thing that I've learned as a church planter/Lead Pastor is that you need to figure out what it is that you NEED to do, and spend the majority of your time doing that. For me that would be Vision casting, General leadership of the church and more specifically my staff, and Preaching on Sunday mornings.

This has not always been the case. In the early days, by necessity, I not only did these things but I drove the trailer to the High School, helped with set-up and tear-down, counseled people, performed the weddings and funerals, tried my best to be there in people's time of need, ran errands, met with lots of people, etc.
As we grew I selected people to lead some of these things. As we continued to grow, we added staff that I could delegate more of these responsibilities.

Many Pastors never seem to be able to grow their churches beyond a certain point. My guess is that they have never embraced the art of delegation. They feel like they need to know everything that's going on, and thus by their unwillingness to hand-off some of their responsibilities, they become the bottleneck to the church's growth.

Recently I have been studying Moses and some of his leadership tendencies. In his early days he felt like he needed to be involved in every detail of his congregation. Fortunately for him he had a wise Father-in-law with the gift of leadership that challenged him to begin to delegate. The story is found in Exodus 18. If you are struggling with delegation I would strongly recommend you read it.

I believe that there are 3 lies that we believe that prevent us from delegating:
1) I am the only capable of doing this.
2) No one can do it as well as me
3) It would be faster to just do it myself
I'm not going to elaborate on these 3, but I will say that they are not true. There are other people that can do it--maybe better than you, and in the long run it will save lots of time to train someone to do something now and then let them do it in the future.