Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of my father, Alex Clamp’s, death.  His birthday is today.  He would have been 67 years old.  I would be honored if you would listen to his funeral I had the pleasure of preaching.  My 4 brothers also took part in the Eulogy.  He will be loved by many for a long time, and he has seen clearly the face of our savior Jesus.

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Squeals of laughter and the smell of cotton candy, popcorn, and hot dogs filled the air.  Children were scurrying from one large inflatable to another.   The church had come to town, not the circus.  Kershaw Second Baptist Church moved their Wednesday night service outside the walls of the building and into the community in order to host a block party to engage the neighborhood. Pastor Jamie Rogers is leading his congregation to engage those who are lost and focus on loving the community.  During the night, the individuals of the church served and had an opportunity to get to know those who did not go to church anywhere.

“I met Calvin.  He told me he believed in God, but I challenged him and told him Satan believes there is a God too.  I then shared the gospel with him.”  said Rogers.   A few minutes later he encouraged a young father to come to their Sonrise service on Easter Sunday.  He along with four others attended the service.  On Monday, he ran into Calvin at the store who told him he told all his co-workers about their conversation at work.

A member of the First Baptist Church in Montmorenci  approached lead pastor Tommy Richardson and wanted to start using his skills on his grill to make BBQ for block parties around the state.  He calls it “Holy Smoke BBQ”.  They conducted a block party for a church that was running only a dozen in worship.  When they smelled the BBQ they came from all over the neighborhood.  There were 75 at the block party and 14 were saved!  Holy Smoke!

Ebenezer Baptist Church in West Union joined with 9 other churches in the association for a community wide block party.  Over 3000 attended.  “We can do so much more together than separate.  Our DOM David Shirley did an amazing job bringing us together to bless the community.  God is doing something in our community and I’m excited to be a part of it!” said Pastor Brad Kelley.

“Missional communities are shifting the responsibility of our people from attendance on Sunday morning to mission Monday through Saturday,” said Joel Ainsworth, community pastor of the Church Cane Bay.  Lead Pastor Charlie Swain’s missional community hosts a low country boil for new comers to his growing neighborhood.  The last one had 50 adults and children in attendance.  None of them had any connection with a church.

Churches all across our state are throwing a party, but you don’t have to wait on your church to organize one.  Pull out the grill, invite the neighbors and their kids, and start the conversation!  Get ready community.  The church is coming to town.

Article orginally published by Lee Clamp in www.baptistcourier.com

“Before my church could change, this old boy had to change.”  All of us listened intently as Pastor Jerry Broughton from College Park Baptist Church told us of his journey through the Intentional Church Multiplication Process with the SCBC.  I was energized by his excitement for his church as they embraced change to more effectively make disciples.

No one really likes change.  Think about it.  What do you do with your loose change?  My loose change piles up in my car.  It rattles around in my washing machine when I forget to take it out of my pocket.  I find it on my dresser and in my vacuum cleaner.  A lot of times, I’ll just tell people to keep the change.  Eventually, all the loose change finds its way to a jar in my room.

It seems like when you finally figure things out, they change.  Do you remember Myspace?  Just as you opened up a Myspace account, everyone flocked to Facebook.  So you left myspace behind to master Facebook.  You get all settled with your Facebook friends in place and then you start to hear of other social networks on the horizon like Twitter and Google+.  There reaches a point, where you say, “That’s it!  No more change!  If everyone leaves Facebook, I  just won’t have any friends.”  And some of you are thinking right now, “What’s Myspace and Facebook?”

Our mission is to go into the world and make disciples of those who do not know Jesus.  Our church programs were initially developed to make disciples, but the world has changed.  Sometimes we get so used to our programs and the busyness of our church activity that we don’t slow down and ask, “Are we making disciples that produce disciples?”

We must keep coming back to the mission.  Why are we doing what we are doing?  The mission is to take the whole gospel to the whole world beginning right here in SC.  There were 3.6 million people that were not in a church building this Sunday.  They are not waiting on us to get our music right or to have better parking attendants.  They are waiting on us.  In order to get the message of the gospel to them, we will need to change from an internally focused organization to an externally focused organism.  The change will take you out of your comfort zone and will push you beyond the walls.

By the way, I cashed in on all that loose change the other day.  I couldn’t believe it was $200.  Change produces treasure over time.  The future disciples of SC are valuable treasure.  They’re worth our change.

Article orginally published by Lee Clamp in www.baptistcourier.com

My friend Lesley’s heart fluttered as she heard the words spoken to her on the phone. “We have a newborn baby waiting on you at the hospital.”  It had been nearly a year of praying and filling out paperwork to become foster parents.  Their paperwork was approved the day before.  They have two children of their own, but were being obedient to God’s command to take care of orphans.  They join others from the First Baptist Church of Barnwell who have taken the responsibility to foster children in our community.

Every child deserves a family.  According to the Administration for Children and Families there are 1700 children in foster care awaiting adoption in SC.  So what are we waiting on as the church?  I realize that everyone is not in a stage in their life where they can take on the responsibility of a child, but there are many who pretend the children do not exist or hope God gets someone else to do it.  Do you realize that no child would be left behind if 1 family from every Southern Baptist church adopted just one?  Who will care for them if the church doesn’t step up?

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27.   God said through the prophet Ezekiel in 16:49 that His people were like those of Sodom who were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned, but they did not help the poor and needy…so he did away with them.  Let us not be like them.  How far have we regressed as the church if we gather Sunday after Sunday singing our songs, shaking hands, and listening to a sermon; but turn a deaf ear to the little children who call out to us and continue to wait.

I can’t think of a better evangelism strategy than welcoming a child who has been abandoned into your home and adopting them into the family.  That’s what Jesus did for us.  It’s time we return the favor.  I’m thankful for my friends Jeremy and Lesley, Rena and Russell, Don and Vana, Lisa and Bobby, Keri and Brian, Keith and Debbie, and Brian and Susan who have accepted children into their family from Barnwell.  Churches like North Rock Hill Church, East Pickens Baptist Church, and North Spartanburg FBC are also raising the bar in this area.  So if this article keeps you up at night, I dare you to start the process at www.adoptnowsc.org.  There may be a little boy or girl waiting for you.

Article orginally published by Lee Clamp in www.baptistcourier.com

“When are you coming back?  It’s no fun when ya’ll aren’t here.”  Anyone would have melted if they looked into his big brown eyes.  The small boy clung to the teenagers who had completed a day of service at a local apartment complex.  It was just around the corner from Riverland Hills Baptist Church in Irmo, but it was a world away.  Something was happening among the teenagers that day.  They were being infected with the missional virus.

The teenagers and parent leaders began to talk among themselves.  They were heard saying, “Why can’t we come here every week?  Maybe we could begin a tutoring program here.  Is anyone responsible for this apartment complex?”  If the church doesn’t take responsibility for them, who will?

Jesus prayed, “Thy kingdom come.  On earth as it is in heaven.”  Taking the whole gospel to the whole world includes those who aren’t like us just around the corner, and the whole gospel includes restoration and redemption from a broken life now.  The church must intervene to break the cycle of poverty, brokenness, and fatherless homes.  As the church serves, they earn the right to be heard and the ability to tell them the gospel.

The church has done well at setting up programs and worship services to “reach” people.  We are willing to change music styles and wardrobes in order to make others feel more comfortable in our gatherings.  All of these efforts are a great start to doing whatever it takes to reach the lost, but regardless of what we do, some will not come.  Movement will occur when we begin to break out of the walls and penetrate areas of lostness in our city and begin to say, “We will go to them and be responsible for their understanding of the gospel.”

What if churches began to look at different areas of the city and work together to take responsibility for each area?  What if individuals in the church began to take responsibility for retirement centers and recreation leagues?  What if the church began to ask schools how they could serve them?  What if believers took the church into the city?

The missional virus is contagious.  Be careful.  If you become infected it may cause you to see the world through a different lens.  It has the power to break your heart.  The virus causes you to change how you spend your time and cause you to question what is important.  If you want to protect yourself from it, hold tight to the pew and do not venture outside the walls of the church building.  And whatever you do, stay away from infected teenagers.  They cause it to spread like wildfire!

Article orginally published by Lee Clamp in www.baptistcourier.com

I was startled in the middle of the night by someone banging and yelling at my front door.  Groggy and half asleep, I stumbled down the steps to see my next door neighbor, Mandy, frantically yelling, “Your house is on fire!  Your house is on fire!”  She was pointing at the window directly behind me, and I slowly turned around to see my storage building through my kitchen window engulfed in flames.

My wife, Leisa, came down the stairs, screamed, rushed back upstairs to awaken my young boys, and then hurried them out of the house.  I thought this to be a bit comical and said, “Honey, why are you going outside?  That’s where the fire is.”  She didn’t laugh.  I called 911, but Mandy had already called.  As I walked outside, I noticed embers falling from the sky as the raging inferno rose 20 feet into the starry night sky.  It was then I realized that if she had not awakened us, our home could have easily caught on fire.

The cavalry rode in on shiny red trucks.  They were disappointed it was only a shed fire and methodically began to put it out.  I stood talking to one of the firefighters and he told me that before Mandy called there was another neighbor who phoned the fire department directly.  The neighbor said that someone’s house was on fire in their neighborhood but they didn’t know the address.   The fireman said to hang up and call 911 and give them their address which would at least get them within sight of the fire.  Then the neighbor said something that will send a chill down your spine.  They said, “I don’t want to get involved.”   Startled the fireman said, “You can be anonymous.   Just let us know what street you live on.”  The individual said, “I’m still not sure I want to get involved.”   It was at that moment that the tone sounded from Mandy’s 911 call and the firefighter hung up on the previous call.

Can you believe that!  How could anyone see their neighbor in imminent danger and not get involved?  I know what you are thinking.  “I would never do that.”  Really?

Do you know the spiritual condition of the neighbors on either side of you and down the street?  What about the individual next to you at work?  You may have invited them to church, but have you started the conversation with them about Jesus?   Has it been 10 years and you are still waiting for the right timing?  They may be in imminent danger for eternity and yet you still haven’t gotten involved.   They are your responsibility.   Stop reading about Baptist life and go start the conversation!  Get involved!

Originally published in Baptist Courier, www.baptistcourier.com 

Who saves a broken sea shell?  A trained eye knows how to look past the broken shells to find the real jewels on the beach.   Thousands upon thousands of shells lie broken on the beach, but the valuable ones are those few shells that have it all together.  On a trip to the beach, I began the process of training my three year old son, Caden, how to look past the broken shells to find the jewels.

It was a beautiful day.  The blue sky was broken up by pockets of white clouds and the waves gently rolled up on our feet as we strolled down the beach.  I took his tiny hand in mine and walked slowly while scanning the shore line for sea shells.  Occasionally I would find a shark’s tooth and explain to Caden how he could spot one.  I explained, “You’ve got to look past all of these broken pieces.”

He refused to listen.  Every shell we stepped on he would pick up.  “Is this a good one, Daddy?” “ No, son, that is just a broken piece of a shell.”  I would then toss it over to the side.  His head would drop and he would keep looking.  Then his eyes would light up again and he would say, “What about this one?”  Hardly looking this time, I glanced and said no.  The question was repeated shell after shell.  Each one was just a pathetic broken piece.  I knew he was only three, but why couldn’t he get this!

It was then that he picked up a shell, and walked over to my wife.  “Mom, I know it’s broken, but it was once beautiful.  Save it.”  Of course, she melted and put it in her pocket to keep.   I was the one who didn’t get it!

This world is full of broken people and we look past them every single day.   When Jesus looks out over the sands of time, he sees beaches full of precious treasure that desperately needs to be restored.   So how do you see lost people?  Some see the lost as projects to fix on a mission day.  Some see the lost as problems.  Jesus sees them as people that need a savior who will completely restore their brokenness.    As we get older we learn to judge others without listening to their story and overlook those who are not important.

So I dare you this week to pray two prayers every day.  “Jesus, open my eyes to see people today like you see them.”  And “Jesus, use me to help pick up the pieces of their brokenness.”

I remember how nervous I was before the deacon’s meeting.  I was about to ask them for permission to leave the office early in order to coach middle school football.  We had seen God do amazing work in our student ministry as 12 radical eighth and ninth graders grew to over 200 gathering each week in a town of 5000.  We had seen 100’s of teenagers baptized.  I wasn’t satisfied.  There were more teenagers out there that would not come inside our walls.  We were going to have to go to them.  I knew other student ministers who had asked similar questions to their pastor and deacons and were told to do those activities in their spare time.

There was little discussion.  They said, “Go!”  So, I crossed over from chaplain to coach.  It was a dramatic shift.  Every day I worked with the offensive line, and met Kevin.  He was a good football player, likeable kid, and didn’t know Jesus yet.  I began to talk to him about Jesus and invited him to our student ministry services.  He didn’t come, but he listened and watched me.  A month or so later he came and one night confessed Christ as Lord.  His father was a coach and his mom and sister loved music.   The first time they had been in a church building in a while was when they came to see Kevin  get baptized.  Through conversations over the next year, they understood the gospel and wanted to turn over their life to Jesus.  I had the pleasure of baptizing the rest of the family.  His mom now leads our children’s choir, his dad is a Christian coach, and his sister plays in our praise band.   Kevin is now at North Greenville University pursuing a call to ministry.

There would be others.  Rokeem, who became my unofficial adopted son, was about to quit the football team because he was walking home 5 miles after practice.  I began to take him home and get involved in his life.  He has accepted a full scholarship with Miami University to play football and be the first in his family to go to college.  There was James, who died on the football field from heat exhaustion his junior year.  There were triplets this past year who inquired about Jesus.  Kevin, then a senior, told them his story, and they were all baptized and also helped bring reconciliation to their family.     We have the greatest immobilized missionary force on the planet sitting in our church buildings each Sunday.  Break out of the walls and into the world.  Who knows?  You may partner with God to radically change someone’s life.

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.