confessions of a church planter

Here are a few of the highlights from last week:

• On Monday, I had the privilege of leading a 68-year-old to faith in Christ.  Loved that experience.  For week’s he’s been facing his own mortality.  He said that the trigger was when he sat in his chair and thought, “I can do a lot with dirt, but I can’t make dirt.”  DANG!  Bottom line: While he believed in God, he was unassured of his salvation, and I simply asked him if he wanted to be sure that when he died he’d spend eternity in heaven.  He said, “yes!”
• That encounter made me realize that most people still think they have to be “good enough” to get into heaven.  It grieves me b/c there will be a lot of good people in hell.  I want to make it hard for good people to go to hell if they live in Braselton.  Do you?  The reality is that it should be easy to make it hard.  Jesus did all the redemptive work.  The Holy Spirit does all the prep work.  All we’ve got to do is throw the seed.  Who’s in?
• Tuesday I got to have some good hang-time with some of our staff, which means that I missed some of our staff too.  We’ve got a good team.  If you’re an intercessory, would pray the following for them: Faithful first to Christ; Pursue the presence of God; Place a priority on their spouse/family; Lead well; Serve well; No compromising their integrity; Grow as a leader; Honor each other!
• Wednesday I got to hang-out with Brayden’s baseball instructor.  He’s cool.  He’s a newbie to the faith and so fresh to be around.  His fire burns bright!  I love being around people like that.  It’s refreshing and it makes me wonder why Christ-followers ever lose their passion!  Do you have passion for Christ?  If not, why not?
• Wednesday afternoon, Gregg and I rode with Jamie Donaldson to film a video for the church.  It was a little ways off-the-beaten path.  We passed a stack of fire wood that said “FAR WOOD for Sale!”  That’s funny.  What was even funnier was that I couldn’t concentrate with herd of cattle behind me.  It’s definitely the most uncomfortable I’ve felt filming a video.  Gregg probably felt uncomfortable too b/c there was a donkey who seemed to really like Ole’ Gregg.
• Thursday I got to meet with a young man who I absolutely admire.  He pursues the Kingdom like no one else I’ve met.  He’s fearless in his faith.  God’s got big plans for this guy’s life and I’m hoping those plans include The Vine.
• I knocked out some Karate (Tang Soo Do) during the lunch hour on Thursday.  If you’re interested in taking class at a beginner level, come and join me!
• Friday was Cade’s birthday.  It’s hard to believe he’s one!  It’s also hard to believe that Liz didn’t get pregnant during that year!  We celebrated by taking the three oldest to the Buford High School game.  The Lady Wolves lost, but Draya had a heckuva second half and nearly won the game for them.  Would’ve been cool!
• Friday night, Liz’s closest friend from college and her family arrived from NYC and stayed with us until Sunday.  They’re awesome people!
• Saturday was Cade’s one-year-old birthday party.  He was slow to warm up to the birthday cake!
• Sunday’s worship was good!  It was an acoustic set w/ Candice Wiginton rocking the vocals.  It was awesome.  The message was on how finances can break the flow of abundant life for people of faith.  We busted out the farm video and the testimony of Melissa Driggers.  Her testimony was powerful!  It was also a catalyst for people joining FPU and for one woman giving her life to Jesus Christ!  As soon as it’s posted to youtube, I’ll get you the link!
• That’s right, the week started with a man accepted Christ and it ended with a woman accepting Christ.  That’s a pretty good bookend to a pretty good week.  I can’t wait for the week ahead!

Last night when I was putting Carley to bed, she desperately wanted her mommy. I confess that I wasn’t too appreciative of her request for Liz. Furthermore, there’s some gratification when my kids prefer me to Liz. When they prefer her, I don’t take it well! I tried to reassure Carley that her mommy would come in and check on her after she finished putting Cade to bed. That reassurance didn’t work. She started crying. She arched her back. She kept petitioning for her mommy. So, sat down in the rocking chair and started rocking her. That didn’t work. I then tried to reason with her about why she should want me rather than Liz. That didn’t work. I was left with one final measure. I started singing. Her tears of sorrow quickly turned to tears of laughter. Just kidding…my singing is bad, but not that bad.

I was singing one of my favorite worship songs to Carley, which was weird b/c it was to her for God (or the other way around). Either way, it worked. She settled down. I could even hear her singing along at certain points. That song turned into another song. Then, before I knew it, I was singing over her. I was taking the melodies of old tunes and changing the words for Carley’s benefit. What happen next was awesome! She repositioned herself from being cradled like a football to snuggling up to my neck. Instead of crying, she was smiling. For the first time in my life I realized the difference between singing to someone and singing over someone! I can’t even tell you the lyrics to the songs I was singing, but they were words that were imparting esteem, beauty, peace, beauty, wonder, beauty, uniqueness, and beauty. The words flowed easier than a song I’d sung a million times. I sang over her for only 15 minutes, but it felt like the time was lost in eternity. I closed by singing her Aaron’s blessing that the Lord would bless her and keep her, that the Lord would make his face to shine upon her, that the Lord would lift up his countenance upon her, and give her peace! I say that to her every night, but last night, I sang it over her. She went to bed with a smile on her face and a glow about her.

I didn’t want to leave her room or the sweet fellowship we had, but 24 was calling! As I idled my brain last night, I kept reflecting on that experience. This morning, the thought kept crossing my mind: THAT’S WHAT GOD DOES FOR US! I tracked down the passage of scripture pointing to this truth. It comes from Zephaniah 3:17, which reads, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Look at the promises in this one verse!

• The Lord God is with you-You might not be with God (fully present, I mean), you might not want to be with God, and you might not want God to be with you, but God is with you. You might unknowingly want someone or something else. You might knowingly call for someone or something else. BUT, God is with you!
• He is mighty to save-Whatever it is you saving from, God is mighty. There’s nothing too strong for the Lord. There’s nothing too big for God. If God can conquer sin and death, God is mighty to save.
• He will take great delight in you-Wow! God being with you and saving you are a result of God’s delight in you. Though I was singing over Carley to calm her at the beginning of my concert, by the end I was singing over her b/c I was delighting in her. To know that God does the same for me even when I don’t want Him around or try to save myself is a powerful truth and overwhelming.
• He will quiet you-Just like Carley stopped crying and repositioned herself, God quiets our cries and repositions us. The quiet comes not just to the volume of your voice, but also the volume of your heart.
• He will rejoice over you with singing-God sings over me. God sings over you. That makes me smile and gives me rest!

Confession: I was looking forward to today as an opportunity to really get ahead on some work and hang-out w/ the family and friends later.  So far, I’ve done neither.  The day’s only half over and I thought I’d take a break from work to check-in with my blog reading friends.  I hope you’re well.  If you’re off today, I hope you make the most of it.  If you’re not off today, don’t be mad!  Be glad.  Here are a couple of thoughts I’ve had racing through my mind today:

• It’s MLK day and it got me thinking about martyrdom.  His life was pretty amazing.  His message was radical.  B/C of both, he was killed.  You have to admire someone w/ that life, that message, and the fact that he lost his life.  Thinking about him made me think of modern day martyrs.  I’m not talking about the folks who use their own death as a weapon to kill others.  I’m talking about the people who are living holy and loving lives, sharing the gospel of peace, and are being killed b/c of it.  Right now, there are thousands of folks across the globe who are under persecution and will have their lives taken from them b/c of their faith in Jesus Christ.   These folks need our prayer.  You might not feel called to “go” to lands and people groups where it’s illegal to be a Christian or share the Christian message, but I’m pretty confident you’re called to pray for them.  Would you pray for them today?
• It’s Monday and so I was thinking about Sunday.  Services were great yesterday as we continued to discuss the statements of Jesus about why He came, his purposes for being here, and how that gives us purpose for our life beyond this year.  Of course, we’ve already challenged people to read through the Bible in a year, invest in and invite 4 people to Christ this year, and yesterday we challenged people that if they weren’t serving to start serving.  One person described the message as a “suppository sermon.”  (It’s a play on words b/c there’s a style of preaching called “expository.”)  I guess he felt that it would loosen up spiritual constipation!  Ok, I’ll move on.  I like the way another person described worship yesterday.  He said, “Great gathering.  God’s presence was sweet!”  That’s what I’m talking about!  We pray for an encounter with God and that’s what we got.
• We celebrated communion yesterday at church.  It was first of the year and it was awesome!  Matthew 20:20-28 really helped an additional layer to the meaning of communion.
• I don’t think I’ve celebrated this, but we’ve seen 21 commitments to Jesus Christ over our last 4 worship experiences. That’s awesome.  Pray that God continues to bring people to The Vine who’ve yet to commit to him.
• We’ve also given away a ton of free Bibles.
• Yesterday, we were without our fearless youth leaders and some of our students.  HD had their annual, MLK weekend, winter retreat called “Contagious.”  I told people not to get near them when they returned or they might catch something!  That’s funny, right?  Well, no one laughed.  There wasn’t even the sound of crickets.  Anyway, Gus said that 2 kids were called into ministry last night.  That’s awesome!  Looks like The Vine won’t have a staffing problem!
• Also, this weekend Jason Sebren spoke for a Disciple Now weekend for a few churches in Mississippi (dang, that’s a lot of crooked letters).  While I haven’t received a detailed testimony, I’m sure it was awesome.  Per his twitter updates, a few kids accepted Christ!  Sweet!

So there you have it!  Just a few thoughts during my lunch break!

Need to confess?

I’m trying to catch-up on the blogs I started during the holidays, but never finished.  This is a story that was incredible.  I’m glad I came across it.  It did my heart good!  Maybe it will do your heart good too!  I thought it’d be a great way to start the week!

Need to confess?

I was reading Matthew 4 this morning along with the other scheduled reading that our church is going through and there’s one thing that I definitely wanted to pass along to anyone out there in blog land:  Don’t neglect/reject your identity!

When Jesus was tempted by satan in the wilderness, the temptation wasn’t to eat or turn stone into bread.  The temptation was to doubt his identity.  ”If you are the Son of God, then __________.”  Jesus didn’t need any validation outside of the validation he’d already received at his baptism.  Just a few verses before satan’s temptation of Jesus, God spoke clearly with this proclamation:  ”YOU are my SON!”

When a person is in Christ, he/she is adopted into the family of God.  If you’re in Christ, you’re an adopted child of God! That’s your identity!  Your inheritance is eternal life.  You’re an heir to Kingdom.  Don’t let satan or anyone else strip you of that identity.  Don’t doubt who you are.  Don’t neglect your identity.  For YOU are a CHILD of GOD!

Need to confess?

We’ve started talking about creative ideas for our Year Three Recap Video!  In doing so, however, I couldn’t help but reflect on Year Two.  It’s good to look back at where we’ve come from in our short history.  Here’s a glimpse of some highlights!

A number of thoughts flooded me today as I read:

1. Genesis 3 begins the system of sacrifice. When humanity sins, we are ashamed, we hid from God, we fear God, and we try to cover ourselves up for God! However, that covering fails and is insufficient! Instead, God must provide a covering for us! That covering was skin and was provided through a sacrifice.

2. You see the theme of sacrifice throughout all four passages that were scheduled for today. In Ezra 3 there’s the rebuilding of the altar for the morning and evening sacrifices. In Matthew 3, Jesus is baptized. According to John’s account of the baptism, JB declares “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” In Acts 3, Peter proclaims to the religious Jews praying in the Temple that if they repent, their sins would be wiped out. How is that possible? B/C earlier Peter proclaims that they’d killed the “author of life.”

3. Speaking of the author of life, Peter gives Jesus these titles: glorified servant; holy and righteous one; author of life. While all those titles are awesome, there’s just something about the name Jesus. Peter says that it’s by “faith in the name of Jesus” and “Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him” that gave healing to the crippled man. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus-there’s just something about that name!

4. Not only does Peter promise that the repentant Jews will have their sins wiped out, but they’ll experience times of refreshing. Ummm…times of refreshing. Maybe like the refreshing that the Israelites felt in Ezra 3 when some of them cried and some of them shouted during their praise and thanksgiving fest at the laying of the foundation of the temple? Maybe like the refreshing we receive when we get lost in worship, in prayer, or in Bible study?

5. Did you notice the supervisor for the rebuilding of the Temple? Jeshua. Y and J are relatively interchangeable. Jesus’ hebrew name would of been Yeshua. Jesus was the supervisor of you becoming the temple of the Holy Spirit. Bring it!

Confession: I’m almost as giddy about today as I am about Christmas Eve.  Why?  BECAUSE it’s the day before the day before Christmas.  That means that within 24 hours, The Vine will have the opportunity to serve and worship with hundreds of folks from the community.  This year I’m especially jazzed b/c of a few things:

• The gospel will be presented and many people will give their lives to Jesus Christ.  If you know someone who doesn’t know Jesus, bring them.  Force them into your car, bribe them with food, get them their favorite gift, but get them there!
• I’ll get to spend some good time with our staff.  I love our staff.  They’re awesome, and there’s something special about spending Christmas Eve with them.
• I’ll get to worship with my family at one service.  My son’s so jacked to hear me preach.  That messes me up.  He’s been saying, “Daddy, you’re going to preach in my room on Christmas Eve.”  I keep saying, “Nope, you’re coming into my room on Christmas Eve.”  He’s excited.  So am I!

Being a pastor has its privileges.  One of those privileges is that you get to do life with some pretty amazing people.  Believe it or not, most people are incredible and I think that every person has some incredible elements whether they’re recognizable or not.  The more I get to know the folks, the more incredible they seem.  Well, today, I got this link from a woman in our church who is an awesome intercessor, which makes her incredible.  She’s also the wife of an incredible guy.  She’s also the mother of four incredible kids.  To be the mother of four incredible kids you have to be an intercessor and an incredible mother.  Anyway, her oldest daughter, Andraya, is an incredible basketball player.  She’s so incredible that she was offered scholarships by 3 major colleges, including my alma mater, before she even stepped onto a high school basketball court.  Her on the court achievements speak for themselves, but overlooked by her basketball accomplishments is her heart for Jesus Christ.  She loves Jesus and exudes Jesus.  I think that’s why my kids absolutely adore her.  They see Jesus Christ in her.  They see the family resemblance.

For those of you at The Vine, thanks for the privilege of being able to get to know just how incredible you are!

Need to confess?

I got this from an attendee of The Vine.  I asked for her permission to share it with you.  She, of course, said yes.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

There he was again, Scruffy Guy.That’s what we call him.

He lives in our area. I see him often as I’m out and about running
errands. My kids have seen him too. They wonder about him, because he
looks like he might be homeless; always commenting on how they feel
sorry for him, hoping he has food or a place to stay.

I’ve secretly thought to myself, that when and if the opportunity
presents itself I would pull over and give him some food or money, next
time I saw him. Surely he needs help.

Thursday morning I got the chance. I took time off from work so I could
attend my son’s class Christmas party. I had some banking and other
quick errands to run before going to the school. I had some time to
kill, so I squeezed in a little more Christmas shopping before heading
off to the school for the party.

The party was great and went along right on schedule. I was done and out
of there by 11:00. I’d have a little more time to squeeze in maybe one
more stop for gift shopping before heading to work for the afternoon.
Only problem, my husband accidentally took off with my keys when he left
the party. I was stuck at the school until he could turn around and
bring them back to me. I tell you this, because as we all know, timing
is everything.

Well, due to the key fiasco, I had to head straight to the office and
forget about another quick shopping stop. No worries… I’d still get to
work by noon. So, off  I went… heading down Spouts Springs Road to
I-985 South. I wasn’t 100 yards down the road before I ran into a
traffic snag. Not sure what it was but there was an emergency vehicle
and a fire truck tending to the scene and of course traffic was at a
stand still. My smooth schedule and extra time continued to dissolve.
It’s always something.

Luckily, it was only about a 5 minute delay…. and I’m off again.

Just as I was about to take my left onto I-985 south, there he was.
Huffing it down the road in his usual scruffy fashion, with a purposeful
walk. I looked across at him, then at the Target bag sitting on the seat
next to me. It had the plain white, flannel twin size sheets I bought
for Olivia to take back to school with her. Do you have any idea how
hard it is to find plain white sheets? Flannel at that? They were the
only ones at Target, in twin size, and on sale. Sweet.

Yes… I did the illegal U turn and whipped it around to meet him on the
other side of the road. I felt good about what I was about to do. A
little scared, but good.

“Hi! Would you like some sheets?”, I shouted out the window to him. I
raised the bag to him and extended it out my open window. He approached
and gave me a huge, scruffy guy, bad teeth smile and said…. get this….

“Why no, but thank you. I have some sheets. Are you doing OK?” …. Me?
Am I doing OK????, is what I was thinking.

“Christmas is coming, isn’t it!”, he continued with cheerful enthusiasm.
“You gonna have a good one, right? You be real careful out here, OK?” I
felt he was truly more interested in letting me know he was OK and he
hopes I am too. It was weird, but in a good way weird.

It was nice to know that he was OK. I guess that was a gift. Maybe he
is, maybe he isn’t. Appearances would say he isn’t.

I have contemplated on this little exchange since Thursday. I felt so
good after that little encounter and I couldn’t figure out why. He
didn’t take the sheets that I was sure he could use. He didn’t ask for
anything else. But, he also didn’t try to snag my purse right there on
the seat, by the open window. He could have, I guess.

Here’s what I finally figured out. Someone cared more about how I was
doing, than about his own obvious needs. A complete stranger. He cared.

As we offered each other our “Merry Christmases” and good-byes, I looked
in the rear view mirror as I was pulling away and he was watching me
pull away…. and smiling and waving. Like a father would his child.

I don’t know why I wanted to share this with my friends and prayer
warriors, but I do. It may mean something completely different to you,
but for me, Scruffy Guy was not who I thought he was. I thought he was a
poor soul, who was in need of much. I was going to be his helper, just
one little hand or gesture reaching out to help save him. But I think he
probably gave me more on Thursday than I attempted to offer to him.

Someone is helping him. He didn’t need me. That’s good news.

Merry Christmas.

Love,

Lisa