It’s taken me a week for this past Sunday to sink in.  Our new pastor Keith Richardson spoke and we confirmed our pastor search committee’s recommendation.  Keith is a very faithful and authentic man of God, and I will look forward in transitioning leadership to him of our congregation.  He said some very encouraging words about me, but I was not prepared for what happened next.  The congregation gave me a standing ovation.  If you have ever received a standing ovation unexpectedly, you know how overwhelming and humbling that it is. I was speechless to say the least.

As I reflected on that this past week, a few things came to mind.  First, I am not worthy of any praise compared to what the Lord has done for us.  Many times we believe that leaders of churches are making the difference.  Leadership is important, but it is what that leadership points you to that is monumental.  Christ must be the one that receives the credit and the glory.  I want to be a leader of a movement of churches that are focused on the mission and relentless in their pursuit.  A movement that is so huge that no one even thinks about giving me credit, but are found sitting in awe (along with me) at what God is doing.  Think about what happened at Pentecost.  Peter stands up and preaches and 3000 come to know Christ and are baptized.  No one afterwards was saying, “Great sermon, preacher.  Appreciate your message pastor.  Worth every cent of the offering today.”  NO!  They were speechless at what the Lord did. The Lord is the one that deserves a Standing Ovation.  How often this past month have you cheered for him with as much emotion as you exhibit at a football game.

Second, I desire a standing ovation from Jesus.  That is not a prideful statement, but a recognition that I want to please an audience of one.  In fact that was one of Keith’s points in his message this past Sunday.  I want to be like Stephen.  (Well maybe not the stoning part)  Stephen is about to die and he says these words, “Behold, I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father.”  WHAT?  STANDING?  He is depicted as sitting almost everywhere else in scripture.  But here it is said that he was standing to receive Stephen.  What an honor?  Talk about overwhelming.

Finally, my grandmother kept me down to earth.  She was sitting a few people over from me.  When everyone stood up, I looked over and she was looking at me…still sitting.  For a split second I thought about standing myself and helping her to her feet and sitting back down.  I know she just couldn’t get up that quickly, but we laughed about it nonetheless.  I told her, “Thanks for keeping me humble.”  Sometimes you need people in your life that no you aren’t that big of a deal and that God is bigger.  I appreciate people like that.  Seek them out for yourself because sometimes you can begin to believe that God owes you something because of your great service to Him.  He doesn’t owe you anything else, he already poured out His entire life for you.  It’s about time you gave Him a standing ovation.

You share Christ with someone (Congratulations you are in the 5% of the church that does!) and they come to know Christ and get baptized.  Then what do we do?  We plug them in of course like they are an appliance or something.  Sunday School Class, Youth Choir, Handbells, Churchwide visitation, Small Group, Lock-in, and service project.  We assume that they “get in” along the way yet we never give them a test after Sunday School and we don’t even really make them sing on key.

This was not the model found in scripture.  A new believer needs a life coach, someone that can walk with them over the next 6 months to a year of their life.  Someone that will touch base with them formally and informally weekly to teach them how to pray, how to study scripture, how to look for ways to serve others, and how to share their faith.  They do not get that on day one of Sunday School. 

The most natural person to be that life coach is the one that leads them to Christ.  But for those of you who are soul winners, you may need help.  Recruit individuals in your churches that will walk them through these critical months.  Focus on three things at first.

1.  How to pray. 

Jesus taught his disciples to pray.  You teach them.  I like that acronymn PRAY.  Praise, Repent of specific sin, Ask God to move in specific areas, and Yield to God in his directions.

2.  How to read scripture.

Start them in a book.  I like for new believers to start in John and James.  I get them to underline scripture that speaks to their heart and put a question mark next to scripture they do not understand.  When we get together we talk about it.

3.  How to look for ways to serve.

Pray one prayer all day long.  “God show me someone I can bless today.”  Then as God answers the prayer, they are to partner with him.  They may even have the opportunity to share their new faith in Christ with them.

They don’t need to be plugged in.  They are already plugged in to a power source that is much greater than our programs.  They need to learn how to turn on the switch and have a relationship with the Lord Jesus.  Then your church begins to move as Reggie McNeal says from being “program driven to people development.”

Wow!  This week at Summersalt started off wide open and didn’t seem to slow down.  We studied the life of David and were challenged from God’s word on our own lives.  The staff at Summersalt is solid, and have a heart for the Lord and for teenagers.  It was such a pleasure to work with them.  I had the pleasure of being the camp pastor for 550 students and adult leaders.

The highlight of the week for me was Wednesday and Thursday night.  On Wednesday night the students were challenged to let God take off the chains of sin and be free.  About 15 students stood to confess Christ as Lord.  Hundreds came to the altar to confess sin.  On Thursday night I was blown away at God’s moving Spirit.  My nephew and niece Blake and Kelsey were there along with his girlfriend, Emily, and Kelsey’s friend Jessica.  When the invitation was given to follow Jesus and confess him as Lord, they all four stood.  It was a moving experience for me.  I closed my message with a testimony from my father.  My father continues to be a witness even in his death.  He would be so excited that they surrendered their lives to Christ totally regardless of the cost.

I was so proud of our teenagers from our church.  Kevin Miller felt like God was calling him into full time ministry, youth ministry.  Several teenagers repented of sin, and still others wanted to make their commitment to Christ public and be baptized.  They had such a great attitude all week and as they interacted with others they were so respectful.  My family was also there all week and had a ball.  The boys climbed to the top of the 15 foot inflatable in the middle of the lake.  I wish you could have seen Connor’s face when he got to the top!  They had a blast being with the big kids.

Something entertaining was the College World Series.  It was the bottom of the ninth and the game was tied.  Over 150 students and adults crowded around a TV watching USC try to capture the crown.  Curfew came, and the staff had to shut off the TV and send everyone to their rooms.  I thought there was going to be a mutiny.  The children were actually cool and respectful, but the adults were MAD!  They were very disgusted to say the least.  Maybe if we had the same passion and desire to see God move as we do a game, revival would break out!  Needless to say, it was a good call because the game wasn’t over for another hour.  USC did win the championship!!

Looking forward to next week.  I’ll be camp pastor again.

This past week my family went to the beach with my brothers and mother.  We love to get together once a year with all the cousins and hang out at the beach.  The guys get together and fish.  We caught about 15 sharks that were about 3 foot long and of course I hooked and landed the 2 biggest.  I landed two 40 inch Black Tip sharks.  Some guy working in Columbia at the state house that would probably be scared to be in the same boat with the shark said I had to throw back according to the rules and regulations.  He said they have to be 54 inches.  Not sure where he got that number but he was probably thinking to himself, “It is 54 inches they won’t even try to put it in the boat.”  My two boys caught 2 of the biggest sharks they have ever caught, put them in the boat, and my 5 year old kissed it before throwing it back. 

So I’m telling my church about this yesterday.  Then later in the service during the announcements I told them about our churchwide mission trip.  We are building a church facility in Rock Hill at New Kirk Baptist Church.  We send nearly 125 if our people and about 50 from other churches including those we have built in the past.  Awesome week.  You should sign up.  It only cost $50.  I thought about sending my kids because it would be cheaper than keeping them home!

Anyway someone visited our church this Sunday for the first time.  It was a young man and his two sisters.  They needed a ride home because they did not have a car and probably walked to church or had someone drop them off.  He misunderstood me during the announcement time and said, “How do you sign up for that week long fishin trip for $50?  I’d like to do that!”

I laughed when I heard it, then I thought. “He’s right.”  It IS a week long fishin trip.  Jesus told the first disciples who by trade were fisherman, “Follow me.  And I will make you fisher’s of men.”  He basically was saying, “Catching fish really doesn’t matter.  Follow me, and I will make your life matter.  Follow me, and you will make a real difference.  Follow me, and lives will be changed.  Follow me, and I will let you partner with me as I transform people.  Follow me, and you will make history.”

So today at work, you are on a fishin’ trip.

Life’s a Trip…Live It.

It has been a week since we celebrated my dad’s home-going, Alex Clamp.  Nearly 650 individuals packed our church and paid tribute to a fine man and a Wonderful Maker.  You do not have the ability to choose your father.  I am so thankful to the Lord that he blessed my brothers and I with such a great man.  He held no degrees, but he was wise beyond reason.  There were plenty of people that made more money than he did, but not too many that gave as much away.  This is the audio of the funeral.  What better tribute can a father have than his 5 sons speaking on his behalf with clarity and conviction.  We hold 9 degrees among us, we are all strong family men, and we follow Jesus.  To a father, that is worth more than silver and gold.  Take the time to listen to the words of my brother and I.  Hopefully it will touch you as much as this great man touched us.  We miss you Daddy.

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OK.  I have been in the ministry for about 14 years now.  I have had the honor of leading a lot of people to the Lord.  Nearly everyone of them when we started talking said that they were a Christian…

Therefore, stop asking this question, “Are you a Christian?”  95% of America would say that they are a Christian.   Almsot like it is synonomous with being an American.  Many can’t even tell you what one is and they claim to be one!

Start asking a question like this, “Tell me about your faith journey or tell me about your spiritual life.”  The answer to that question will reveal if they are a born again follower of Jesus.

Try it and don’t forget to ask those people in the church either!  They might not know what a Christian is either.

Mission Trips are life changing.  The first one I went on was when I was in college at Clemson University.  The fellowship of Christian Athletes went to Kentucky to help work on houses.  The entire week we were focused on serving people, looking for ways that we could partner with God, expecting God to do something, and sharing our faith when we had hte chance.  Here is my question:  Why can’t that happen everyday?  Why can’t life be a trip?  The first sermon of this series is focused on the call of Abraham.  God called him to A.  Rise from his Recliner and B.  Be a Blessing.  Join with us for the next 40 days in praying one prayer all day long, “God, show me someone I can be a blessing to today.”  I promise he will answer that prayer, will you answer the call?

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My Dad has been going through the toughest battle of his life as he battles metastatic renal cell carcinoma in his liver.  He has been very strong throughout the battle, but it gets tough.  Yesterday as I was messaging his back everything was quiet and he started to think about shrimping at the coast at sunset in the fall.  It’s was one of Daddy’s favorite places to be.  I remember being with Daddy on the water this past year and him gazing out into the sunset and said, “You can’t look at that and know that there is a God.”

So as we sat there yesterday out of the blue he said, “When the water is slick as glass, the sun is setting, you prop your feet up on the side of the boat, no one is around and everything is quiet…that’s a good place to be.  People who haven’t been there don’t know what their missing.”

I said to him,

“Daddy, when you are hurting you need to go to that place.”

He choked up a bit and said,”It’s too far away.”

I said, “It’s closer than you think.”

Are you ready to try an experiment?  Over half of our congregation has participated in our church-wide mission trip.  If you have had the fortune of going on a week long trip, you know how life changing it is.  It is hard to put the experience into words, but for those of you who have not been you have heard some of this testimony.  It is a week where you are totally focused on serving others, looking for opportunities to share your faith, and seeking out what God wants you to do.  Instead of going through the regular routine of work, your focus is on the work that God has set before you.  Each day you are encouraged by other believers.  When the week is over, individuals begin to count down the days until the next trip.  Why do we have to wait 51 weeks?

So here is the experiment…make life a trip.  How?  I’ve got to go to work!  Pretend you are an undercover agent at work, posing as an employee but really a missionary.  I’ve got to take care of the house and children.  Pretend you are raising a missionary.  I’m shut in!  Great.  You can be one of our greatest prayer warriors.  Be specific and follow up with staff and our prayer ministry to see how God is working.  Make phone calls, write notes, and bake cookies for someone in need.

So here is the assignment….For 40 days pray one prayer all day.

“God, show me someone I can bless today.”

Pray it all day.  Make a note and put it on your mirror.  Pray it over and over when you are getting ready for work.  Make a note and hang it from your rear view mirror.  Pray it in the car on the way to work.  Put a sticky on your computer at work and pray it throughout the day.

I promise you…God will answer that prayer.

The next step is to look for the opportunity to tell them why.  “Jesus has changed my life and served me, the least I can do is serve you.”

On our Facebook page we want to chronicle the stories of how we are partnering with God.  For those of you who are not a fan of our Facebook page, send an email to leeclamp@barnwellsc.com.  You can also write a note and mail it to the office or call Andrea at the church.  We want to celebrate how God is working through our lives.  This is not intended to lift us up, because we can’t do anything of supernatural significance on our own anyway.  This is intended to get us moving in a direction that God is already moving in.

Don’t waste any time.  Make the most of every opportunity.

Each Sunday we will give you the opportunity to let us know how many days you participated in the project and the number of individuals you were able to bless.  Over the 40 days, our goal is for us to serve 1000 people!
Life’s a Trip.  See you Sunday.

We are in a war.  It is not a war against flesh and blood but against the powers of the dark forces of the heavenly realms.  In Ephesians 6 God gives us everything we need to fight the battle and to be the finished work of art that he is painting.  What piece is missing from your life.

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