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.

“Having lunch with an old friend, Perry Noble.”  I’ve been surprised at how much conversation that twitter brought last week.

Perry was the life of the party in college and attended FCA with us every week at Clemson although he went to Anderson.  He was the youth and college minister at North Anderson Baptist Church where we went our freshman year.  There are two things that stick out in my mind about Perry from those years.  I remember how he always lifted up his teenagers in public and claimed that they were the best teenagers in South Carolina.  I also remember how he would go out to the hang out areas of Anderson and share the gospel with people with boldness and courage.  He had a burning passion to see people come to Christ and have their lives changed.

He felt a strong desire to plant a church in 1996 and started Newspring in 1999 at Anderson University.  Since then it has grown to over 10,000 in weekly attendance and has planted 3 multisite churches.  Many of my students after going off to college worshipped at Newspring and were impacted by his ministry.

In the church leadership world, Perry has been talked about and ridiculed by 100’s of people.  Ironically, most of them are church leaders. 

The bottom line is that Perry has a heart for Jesus and a love for other people.  He has a burning desire to see people come to know Jesus and he is open to doing what God wants him to do in ministry at Newspring. 

The lunch was great.  He was the same guy I remembered from college. 

And… he found out our waitress didn’t go to church anywhere.  They talked a bit about how he was a waiter at one time.  We asked her what day is the worst to work.  She said, “Sunday lunch.”  That’s the one time of week that tips are the lowest.  That is discouraging church!  God wants you to be a blessing to the world! 

He invited her to come to Newspring.  I’d be very surprised if he never saw her again.

The bill was $26.  Perry paid the bill and I left her a $26 tip.

There is a man who walks around town in Barnwell.  If you live here, I know you know who I am talking about but you may not know his name.  I didn’t for about 2 months until finally I was compelled to talk with him.  My previous assumptions of him were proved to be false as he did not accept anything I wanted to give him, and I watched him give every dollar he had to children in the apartments who were running up to him.

He is an African American man in his late 60’s or so with a dread lock beard and wiry hair.  He is very fit as he walks what seems to be about 5 miles a day.  He is not homeless and worked for many years as a field hand for a farmer.  When I asked him why he was giving all of his money away, he simply said, “Because the Lord tells me too.”  I picked him up one day when it was pouring down raining.  As he stepped into the car I asked him where he was going.  He told me and I began to take him there while water dripped off his beard.  He was soaked.  I offered to take him to lunch and he opted to take the money as he was not hungry.

I saw him again the other day.  I approached him and asked him if he remembered my name.  He said, “I do not remember your name, but I remember your heart.”  Wow.  What a compliment.

I then reminded him my name and he said, “Do you remember mine?”  I said, “It’s Willis.”  He smiled.

Check out Hebrews 13:2.  It will challenge you.  Do you think that this scripture is true?  Isaiah 53:2 talks about Jesus.  Check it out.  It may give you a different picture of Jesus than what you envision.   You know:  brown flowing hair, nicely trimmed beard, and blue eyes.

Next time you see him walking around town, say hey to my friend Willis.  Take him out to lunch.  He may teach you something.

I am standing in the back of the worship center at the close of week one watching students worshipping our Lord with hands raised high.  There is an excitement at what God has done in their life this week.  Our desire was that they might leave this week owning their faith.  That they would havde statements that begin with I believe… that they could defend and be firm about.

My prayer is that as they go back to their communities that they will be missionaries on the largest mission field in North America.  If people do not come to know Christ by the age of 18 there is only a 20% chance that they will.  College students are leaving the fellowship of believers in the droves.  30% of those active in church ministry will remain.  That is not including those who are not even a part of the church.  Statistically, parents are not raising their children in the Lord and are not impressing the truths of the faith on their children.

So WHO is going to take the message of the gospel to them!  Jesus used 10-11 teenagers (his disciples) to change the world (there is evidence to believe that John was as young as 13).  I believe that he can do it again.  Don’t let your life be a Christian Walk…Run, Set the Pace, Be the Church to the Community and allow God to transform the World through you beginning where you are.

Now that I have had some time to process and decompress, I thought I would put my thoughts down.

My pastor, mentor, and friend Stephen Burnette, the Dr. has accepted a call to be the senior pastor at Sumter First Baptist Church.  I am very excited for that church because they will be receiving a leader who will help them transition to a vibrate, missionally minded church.

Steve has been the type of pastor that student ministers dream of serving under.  I came on board 6 months after he started at First Baptist Church in Barnwell 13 years ago.  I was fresh out of college at Clemson and single.  Steve allowed me to make some stupid mistakes in those first few years, and always lifted me up in front of the leadership.  In fact I remember times where we would have a fifth quarter and students get saved, but would also leave the campus a wreck.  As adults would complain about coke cans on the lawn, Steve would say, “Did you hear about what happend.  We had 200 students here Friday night and 10 students came to know Christ.  Isn’t that exciting?  Now what were you saying about the coke cans?”

He did not micromanage.  He let me lead.  He let me take risks.  He provided leadership and vision and suttle hints, but he always has allowed me to be the student minister.  Steve, as busy as he was, always took time if I needed him to listen and provide insight and direction.  I will miss him greatly.

Since I have been in Barnwell, he has married me to my high school sweetheart Leisa and counseled with us, presented my children Caden and Connor to the church family and prayed for them, and championed me to begin and finish my Seminary degree including two 6 week sabaticals to complete it during the summer.

Thanks Steve, I will miss you; and I promise to continue to bug you for advice!  Have fun Sumter!  Be the Church.

Nations Rise and Fall.  No nation ever stands forever.  Think about it.  There has not been a nation in history to my knowledge that has stood the test of time.  Some author (let me know who it is if you know) said that every nation follows 5 cycles.

1. Birth
2. Rapid Construction and Development
3. Preservation
4. Moral Deterioriation
5. Collapse

So where is America in this stage?  Can a nation repent in stage 4 and move back to number 2?  Ninevah did.  Will America?  I believe it begins with leadership.  Who will rise up in the next generation and lead us? 

 ³⁰ “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. ³¹ So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.” Eze 22:30-31.

I don’t know about you, but I live in a world where families are not passing down the truth of scripture to their children.  (Surely no one in my church of course!) Actually the reality of it is that only 52% of our students who meet on Wednesday nights NEVER have a parent that prays with them and 69% of our students NEVER have a parent that reads the scripture with them or challenges them to read scripture and then debriefs them on it.

Early in Scripture as he brought his people out of slavery he instructed Moses to tell them to diligently teach their children about the Lord and to love the Lord.  Deuteronomy 6:7. 

Many of you may not have a spiritual legacy to continue.  But don’t come down so hard on your parents, because chances are their parent didn’t teach them, and their parent didn’t teach them.  You may not have a spiritual legacy, but you can start one.  For those of you who are beginning a legacy, don’t just stop with your family.  1 out of every 2 children are growing up without a father.  Dad’s take one more on.

It is hard to break the cycle because children learn a pattern from their families and then repeat.  You can be a chainbreaker.  You can break in and release the chains that hold down the next generation and allow them to soar.  But it isn’t easy.  It will take work.  Are they worth it?

Be a Chainbreaker.

What if our schools assessed themselves like many of our churches? 

Imagine.  The superintendent calls a faculty meeting at the beginning of the year and says,

“Things are going to change around here.  We want to be successful so we are going to start measuring our progress a little differently.   We are going to teach, but we are not going to track whether or not they are learning.  We are going to assume if they are present, they are “getting it”.  Therefore, don’t waste time giving tests.  If we are going to move from good to great we are going to have to have more kids to educate and the ones we have are going to have to be present more often.  We need to track their attendance.  Are they showing up for our classes?  We are going to give incentives to students and prizes for those who show up everyday.  If you see them at Walmart, ask them if they are coming to school that next day.  If you see them at the ball park, encourage them to come to school.  

Here is something else innovative that not a lot of schools are doing.  We are going to set a goal to increase our attendance by 7%.  How are we going to do this you ask?  Well there are a lot of students in private schools and home schools around here that we can attract.  We are going to start having some very large events that those students will want to attend.  We are going to have games and give aways.  We’re going to hire some very famous people to come here and speak to them.  In fact, we might even get Miley Cyrus to come and do a concert. 

At school, we may have the parents of these kids visiting to see our school so we need to be perceived as being as friendly as possible.  I’m going to need a few of you to serve as greeters at the front doors with a smile on your face.  I need a few of you to volunteer to be in the parking lot directing them to the front entrance.  I am also going to need some enthusiastic teachers in the hallways getting them fired up and cheering as they walk in.  Everyone in the state will be talking about us.”

At the end of the year, he calls his people together and says, “Congratulations!  We grew from 800 students to 1000 students in average attendance.  We had 50 new students come into our school, and we  created 5 new classes.  Our back to school concert with Miley Cyrus had over 2000 students and parents at it.  Job well done.”

Someone in the crowd asks, “How were our test scores?”

“Guys we had some of the lowest scores in the state.  But guess what, everyone in the state is talking about us.” 

I wonder why? 

If this is so absurd, then why does the church keep doing this?

We need a new scorecard. 

Go pick up a copy of Reggie McNeal’s new book.  Missional Renaissance

http://www.pursuantgroup.com:80/leadnet/advance/feb09s2.htm

Our team is in the middle of our second trip out to Dallas to participate in the Leadership Community hosted by Leadership Network and led by Reggie McNeal and Eric Swanson.  We are in collaboration with 10 other churches from around the nation that are being missional to their community.  Steve, Ren, and I returned and brought with us Angel Brabham, the guidance counselor of Barnwell Primary School and creator of the mentor program that currently has 42 mentors.  Elizabeth Buxton, president of the School Improvement Council for BPS and active member of Rosemary Baptist Church joined us as well.  

Today we were challenged to look at 6 areas in our church (Prayer, People, Time, Money, Facilities, and Technology) and see how these areas change when we move from internally to externally focused.  We then developed measurable scorecards for each one of these areas to determine if we are “winning” in our efforts as a church.  Many churches scorecard consist of Baptisms, Butts, and Budgets.  Our desire is not to necessarily eliminate these measurements (Baptisms are important if they symbolize transformed born again believers) but to add to these other measurable objectives.

Included in these were objectives such as measuring the number of families that were praying and serving together, the amount of teachers who had a prayer partner, the amount of missionaries deployed to the local business, plants, and schools; and the amount of money that is earmarked for blessing the community. 

Looking forward to another challenging day tomorrow.

In this Podcast we talk to Kodee Holbert as she job shadows Lee Clamp. Kodee is a Sophomore at Barnwell High School.

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