This Saturday I was on my way to Clemson with my two sons (8 and 6 years old) to speak to over 1000 students at the FCA Rally in the Valley event sponsored by the adult chapter of Clemson’s FCA (the largest chapter in the nation!). 

About 10 miles outside of Clemson I passed by two teenagers pulling 4 suitcases.  I don’t always pick up individuals who are on the side of the road and especially when I have my boys with me but as I passed them the Holy Spirit prompted me to turn around.  You know what I’m talking about if it has ever happened to you.  That thought of “You are going to speak to 1000 students, but what about them?” 

So I told the boys as I turned around that we were going to help them.  Caden is a bit more cautious than Connor and was a bit concerned, and it didn’t help matters when Connor exclaimed, “He’s smoking a cigarette Daddy!”  I assured them that I wouldn’t allow him to smoke in the car :>.  I got out and asked them where they were going.  They said they were going to Seneca.  It turned out that the young lady was from a struggling home and that she was going to a homeless shelter and the boyfriend was helping her get there.  I don’t know how accurate their story was, and quite frankly I don’t care.  Here were two kids who needed help.  God loved them and died for them and for that reason they are valuable.  I told them I could take them to Clemson.

So they got in the car and we began to chat about their life.  Their names were Hastings and Patricia.  They were boy freshman at  a technical school.  She made the statement that her family frequently told her they hated her, and that they had never told her they loved her.  It is hard to imagine teenagers growing up in these types of homes, but they are. 

So I pulled up to Littlejohn Colliseum and they got out.  I prayed for them and Connor gave them a pocket Bible he had in the car.  It happened to be orange!  Then I asked them if they wanted to come to the rally with me that we were going to.  They both agreed. 

So now as they walk in, unbeknownst to them, they are celebrities because they are with the featured speaker.  They get a free pass in.  God is wild in how he does things.  My wife and Rokeem were supposed to come with me, but they didn’t come.  Therefore, I had 2 extra tickets to the Clemson game.  So I approached them and said, “Would you two like to be my guests at the Clemson game.  You can sit with me.”  Eyes wide open they said, “Sure!”

The music was great and they played some games.  One side of the Colliseum was filled up with teenagers.  Then it was time for me to speak.  You’ll never guess the message that I had prepared…the story of the prodigal son.  At the conclusion of the message I challenged the students to not be a “Gameplayer” but a “Gamechanger”.  To repent of their sin and confess Jesus as Lord of their life.  To do as the prodigal son did, “Get up and go to the Father.” 

Over 150 students stood up to confess Christ as Lord, and their was one in the crowd that caught my eye….Hastings.  According to a youth minister that was sitting beside him he told his girlfriend who was clinging to his hand, “I’ve got to go and talk to someone.” 

So, Patricia walks down to wear I was on the front row during the music and says in tears, “I have to tell you something.  No one in my life, including my own family has ever been as nice to me as you have been to me today.  Thank you so much.”  I whispered in her ear, “It’s because of the Father.  Your heavenly father loves you more than I ever would.  Run to him.  His will was not for your family to treat you the way they have.  He desires to restore you.” 

And then…we partied.  We went to the Clemson game and they sat with us.  Laughing and eating pop corn.  It didn’t even matter that Wofford was beating us in the third quarter.  Connor asked them a 1000 questions and they didn’t seem to mind it.  Including, “Why don’t you just live with him instead of going to the homeless shelter?”  He assured him that it wouldn’t be right to have his girlfriend live with him.  He said, “You can sleep on the couch.” 

As we left, I was deeply moved as to how God granted me the pleasure of partnering with him that day.  Not just the 100’s of kids who stood for Christ expressing their desire to repent of their sin.  But it was the 1 that really rocked my world. 

Patricia and Hastings, thank you for letting me share your story.  I hope to see you again one day.  Thanks for being a gamechanger.

Leisa is pregnant!!  Woo Hoo.  We told our boys by putting a note in a plastic egg on Easter.  When our 8 year old son Caden found out he yelled out “When did you do it!”  We caught our breath and asked him to repeat the question.  He then said, “When did you put the note in the egg?”  Of course that was what he meant.  We told him that morning.

 Every year we talked about what it would be like to have a third child and every year we decided that next year would be the right time.  Now at just the right time, God has blessed us with a third child that he is molding  and shaping in Leisa’s womb.  And before we even get to meet him/her, God already knows them! 

Well in a few weeks we will find out the sex of the baby.  So a few nights ago, Connor was praying (he is our inquisitive 6 year old.)  He said, “Dear God, please let the baby in mama’s belly be healthy.  And let it be a boy or a girl.  It doesn’t matter which.  Just don’t let it be a monkey.” 

Now that is funny. 

We are created in the image of God and didn’t come from Monkeys.  Thank God.

Wow!  What a party.

The Scripture says that the kingdom of God is a lot like a party.  A banquet with laughter and everyone is invited to the table although not everyone will come.  We experienced a bit of the kingdom today.  From the beginning of the day to the end, missionaries and volunteers got to experience what it is like to partner with God in His redemptive mission in the world.  This morning we began the day with 150 volunteers circling up to pray as a steady stream of volunteers continued to pour into the parking lot and others were already in place at some of the ministry sites.  The end of the day was a party as we were joined by those we served during the day for a FEAST prepared by individuals in our churches.  About 300 laughed together, ate, and listened to  our children sing songs and play rhythms that they learned at music camp.  I had the luxury of traveling to each of the sites and watching individuals pray with others, sweat, laugh with kids, and experience the joy of serving others.  The believers who served were able to love on people in the name of Jesus because He first loved us.

Here is a recap of the day.

CitySERVE Report

• Over 275 Missionaries and Volunteers were deployed to our community and performed and logged nearly 1500 hours in community service.
• 33 single mothers participated in the Litchfield and Barnwell Arms Ministry receiving over $1000 worth of resources and were prayed with and loved on.
• Truckloads of free clothes and household goods were distributed to those in need.
• 266 packets of resources totaling $1200 were delivered to 266 homes in Litchfield and Barnwell Arms.
• 40 mattress sets were given away
• 200+ children participated with Sports camp, heard the gospel, 2 responded to the gospel, and were given a Bible.
• 75 Children participated in Music Camp
• 78 meals were prepared and delivered to shut-ins
• Over 200 people were served through Medical Fair
• All four schools received help including BPS leveling of old playground to prepare for new playground, All bathrooms repainted at GBMS, and Cleaning of classrooms and painting at BHS.
• City Recreation Equipment sanitized and cleaned for next year saving 40 hours of taxpayer dollars on maintenance staff.
• 15 Volunteers served at 5k City Run for Relay for Life
• 300 joined the celebration party at BES listening to children perform and connected with those we served and one another….and there was food left over for another 100.

God is on the move.  The church in the city…for the city.  Well done CitySERVE.  Well done.

Isaiah was in the Temple praying as normal when He saw a glimpse of the Lord.  The experience shook him as much as the Lord shook the Temple and He was never the same again.  His response to the Lord’s question of who will go and be sent was “Here am I.  Send Me.”  In this message Lee Clamp urges the church to Look Up at who God really is, Look In at who we really are, and Look Out at a lost world and do something about it.

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Yesterday I had the honor of reading to Mrs. Bolen’s 5th grade class.  She has some real winners in her class with a lot of personality!  I read Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go.  As I looked at the faces of the young people of her class I have great hope that they will catch a passion for reading and that it will carry them to new heights in their life.

I am a football coach for middle school students and when I ask them what they want to be when they grow up, they always say:  “A football player!”  My response:  “You weigh 90 lbs and do not have a starting position on the middle school team.  You better have a plan B.”  The reality is that only about .3% of the football players in our county over the past 20 years have gone on to be an NFL star.  One play can shatter a knee cap and your chances of even playing football in college is shattered along with it.

Education cannot be taken away from you.  Being proficient (look that one up Mrs. Bolen’s class!) in reading leads to being successful in all sorts of subjects.  Being successful in the classroom gives you the opportunity to go to college and opens up more doors in the future for work and success. 

Did you know they decide how many prisons they will need to build based on the number of students in the state that are not reading on grade level by the third grade!  There is a direct correlation (there’s another word!).  Therefore we need to do whatever we can to help these young people excel, especially in reading and we need to do whatever we can to invest in early intervention to insure that they are ready to learn when they come to Kindergarten!

Be a mentor!  Maybe you will have the priveledge of working with kids full of personality like Mrs. Bolen’s class.  Hope to see you again!

Connor’s 6th birthday is coming up.  We asked him what he would like to do for his birthday.  It didn’t take him long.  “I’d like to fly to Texas.”  My Uncle Len lives in Texas and Connor is fascinated with the rodeo and cowboys and such. 

So Leisa says to him.  “Connor that costs a lot of money.  We will not be able to spend that kind of money on a birthday trip.”  His mind began to church and I could see the light bulb go off. 

He said, “We’ll just take it out of the offerings on Sunday at church.  Then we will can go.”

She laughed and said, “Son, we can’t just take the offerings to go to Texas.”

Connor said, “Why Not?  Daddy took them to go to Belize.”

Quite the observer.

Mr. Bickley was an 82 year old man in our church.  He found out his house was on fire while at church.  Those who went to tell him hurried him out of the church, as he walked slowly by me, he stopped, turned around, and told me he saw my picture in the paper and dialogued with me a bit to encourage me.  Even made me laugh.  I was thinking, “Dude.  Your house is on fire.”  After talking with me, he slowly walked out of the church.

Imagine the fire department getting to the house.  The house is a blaze and sparks are shooting off of the house and landing on the ground.  Small, insignificant lawn fires are breaking out.  So the fire department frantically drops their hoses and rushes the lawn.  They begin to stomp out each little fire.  It only takes a few stomps, but by the time they get on out, there is another being formed from falling debris that is ablaze.  They call in reinforcements.  Others storm the yard and put out each little fire.  Just when it looks like they are about to get them all out another begins.  They think, “If only we can get all of these out, THEN we can tackle the larger fire.”

Finally the chief arrives and says, “Dude.  Put out the house fire and these little insignificant fires will go away!”  Thank God for the chief!

Do you want to snuff out a missional movement in your church?  Fix and deal with every little insignficant fire that pops up.  Poor leaders are notoriously known for always fixing the urgent without focusing on the important.  Those little fires are really not that big of a deal.

I miss Mr. Bickley.  He had a habit of focusing on the important rather than rushing to fix the urgent.   BTW.  His house survived and even got a new paint job.

In the year 2000, an amazing thing happened to me.  I went to the town circle and there was a multitude of people there.  All anxiously awaiting someone.  I just assumed it was me and began to shake everyone’s hands.  Then I noticed someone standing up in the back of a truck.  I assumed he was looking for me and so when I caught his eye, he stepped off of the truck and shook my hand.  It was George Bush.  I couldn’t believe that he came all the way to little old Barnwell to see me!  I took a picture with him and it made it on my Christmas card in 2000.  The caption read “A Crowd” gathers to wish Lee a merry Christmas.

Well maybe it didn’t happen exactly that a way.  The truth is Georgie did not travel here, and seek me out of the crowd to shake my hand.  It was the other way around.  In fact, I doubt if he even remembers the experience.

But what if that were the case.  You get news that someone of great importance was coming to your office, your home, the town circle especially for you.  They were stopping their busy schedule just to come and see you….Someone already has! 

This is what makes Christmas so astounding.   These past two weeks I have been meditating on the fascinating concept of God making himself known to us.  It is quite astounding when you think about it.  God has the ability to end history as we know it with one word, and then to speak in a totally new world and creation with the second word.  We are as a dust mite to him, yet he is concerned about us.  He has invested in us.  He makes himself known to us when we could not even begin to comprehend the depth of who He is.

The Incarnational God is now sending us to be the Incarnational Church.  A church not built of brick and mortar but flesh and bone.  The Father sent the Son, the Father and Son sent the Holy Spirit, and now the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit send the church into the world.  Pretty cool when you think about it. 

Be the church today and give others an understanding of who God is as they watch your life.

I came across this today as I was reading.  I thought I would just pass it on along.  It is written by Brad Brisco, a missional strategist.

“Despite the fact that missional terminology has been in use for at least a quarter of a century, it is being applied today in such a wide variety of ways that many times it results in confusion. Therefore, I want to share three theological distinctions that I hope will bring some clarity and explanation to the use of the word “missional.” Without such theological considerations we run the risk of simply attaching the word “missional” onto everything the church is already doing rather than gaining a fresh perspective to see more clearly what the missional church is all about.

1. The Missional Church is about the missionary nature of God and His church.

The church is a vital part of the missional conversation. However, the church must not be seen as “a place where religious goods and services are provided,” but instead it should be understood as the “gathered and sent people of God.”

Scripture is replete with language that speaks to the missionary nature of a Triune God. God the Father sends the Son, and God the Father and the Son sends the Spirit, and God the Father and the Son and the Spirit sends the church. In the Gospel of John alone, Jesus describes Himself more than thirty times as “one sent.” In the final climatic sending passage in John’s Gospel, Jesus sees himself not only as one sent but also as one who is sending: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

The Missional Church recognizes the purpose of the church is derived from the very nature of God which in turn compels it to be sent as a missionary people, individually and collectively.

2. The Missional Church is about the church being incarnational rather than attractional.

Those with a missional perspective no longer see the church service as the primary connecting point for those outside the church. The missional church is more concerned about sending the people in the church out among the people of the world, rather than getting the people of the world in among the people of the church. Others have described this distinction as a challenge to “go and be” as opposed to “come and see.”

Missional churches see their primary function as one of actively moving into a community to embody and enflesh the word, deed and life of Jesus into every nook and cranny. Eugene Peterson’s “incarnational” rendering of John 1:14 in the Message paraphrase illustrates this well when it states, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”

3. The Missional Church is about actively participating in the missio Dei, or mission of God.

Many times we wrongly assume that the primary activity of God is in the church, rather than recognizing that God’s primary activity is in the world, and the church is God’s instrument sent into the world to participate in His redemptive mission.

This distinction clarifies the difference between a church with a missions program and a missional church. A church with a missions program usually sees missions as one activity alongside many other equally important programs of the church. A missional church, on the other hand, focuses all of its activities around its participation in God’s agenda for the world.

As the sent, missionary people of God, the missional church understands its fundamental purpose as being rooted in God’s mission to restore and heal creation and to call people into a reconciled relationship with Himself. It is God’s mission, or missio Dei, that calls the church into existence. Or in the words of South African missiologist David Bosch; “It is not the church which undertakes mission; it is the missio Dei which constitutes the church.””

www.missionalchurchnetwork.com

“He did a great job.  But don’t tell him.  I wouldn’t want him to get the big head!”

When the individual told me this, I was alarmed.  Could I actually cause this man’s head to explode.  I know it probably happens as I have seen many statues of men that it has happened to.  I believe they call them bobbleheads. 

But now that I think about it, I have never actually seen someone’s head get larger as I lifted them up.  In fact, the only thing that I have seen enlarge is the smile on their face.

Why do we not encourage?  It is common to hear teenagers in the hallways of school cutting each other down, but rarely do you hear words of encouragement.  When adults encourage, they do it with caution so not to turn them into a bobblehead.

I say…Let the entire church turn into a bobble head.  Who cares if their head gets big, encourage them anyway.  In a climate of despair and anxiety someone needs to hear a word of hope.  Church, you’ve got the greatest source of hope known to man…the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Encourage one another daily as the day of the Lord approaches.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like surrounding myself with people who put me down.  I gravitate around people that lift me up and encourage me to move forward.  Leader remember that about others.  Do you want to increase your influence?  Then begin encouraging others so that actually like being around you.  Then you can lead them somewhere.

Who can you turn into a bobble head today!  Go for it.