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.

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.

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.

I dropped Connor off at our CDC, The Creation Station, on his birthday.  Teachers had smiles on their faces, Connor was welcomed at the door, and there was life and energy.  The level of excellence in preschool and after-school care has been raised in our community because of the Creation station.  I was talking with someone in our community that has helped to fund educational research in early intervention and they have marked our CDC as the model for the community.  I do not say this with pride or to pat ourselves on the back, but to say that you do make a difference and are responsible for raising the level of excellence in our community. 

The church should not simply be reactionary to the problems of the community.  The church shouldn’t just be the one coming behind a collapsing community and pick up the pieces. The church needs to be blazing the trail for the world to follow.  If our community is going to progress, we as the church must raise our level of excellence.

So where do we start?  First, we must not be satisfied with where we are.  One of the reasons communities die is because they want to coast and not be progressive.  If you coast, you slow to a stop. 

Second, leaders must rise up and take ownership of their community especially young leaders.   Why young leaders?  Because they haven’t figured out yet that it can’t be done.  We cannot sit back as the church and let others lead.  When someone is needed to lead something, our first reaction cannot be “I don’t have time.”  The church needs to run for city and county council, run for school board, serve on committees, and coach recreation ball. 

Third, our failure rate has to increase.  What?!  If we are not failing very much, it may mean that we are trying new things.  I think back to when we helped our city do something they had never done before:  a family day on July 4^th complete with family games, fireworks, and musical program.  Nearly 1000 people attended.  It started with an idea. 

Finally, we must begin to make more “What if” statements.  What if we tried this?  What if we did this?  What if we organized this?

Have we forgotten how to dream?  Have we settled for where we are?  Are you willing to do something about it?

If our community is going to progress towards excellence, it must first start with God’s people seeking Him.  I hope to see you at our community wide prayer gathering on Monday, March 22 at 6 pm at the circle.

Serving our city into a better tomorrow.

We finished up our leadership collaboration with Leadership Network in Dallas this past week and it has been quite a journey.  We went to Fort Worth, TX to the stockyards on Tuesday.  It looks like old time Texas with old saloons, cowboys on horses, and a long horn cattle drive where 6 cowboys lead about 20 long horn cattle down the street for people to take pictures of.  Something struck me as I stood about 5 feet from a 1000 lb longhorn walking down the street.  If one of these guys were to take off, the cowboys would be able to lasso him and hold him check…maybe.  But if all of them said, “We’re done walking this same circle track day in and day out.  There’s got to be something else out there that is better than this;” there would be a stampede and the only thing we could have done is watch the dust.

Being the missional church is simply the people of God partnering with God in his redemptive mission in the world.  This includes not only saving souls but bringing the kingdom of heaven to this earth, which is far better than what we are experiencing now.  We are serving our city into a better tomorrow.  That’s what it is all about.  If a few people want to see it happen, there are probably a few cowboys that will see to it that things are done as they always have been done.  If we stampede, there will be better community when the dust settles.  Lives will be transformed which will mean that businesses will operate more effectively, schools will be the top of the state, crime will plummet, and God will be glorified.

Continue to serve your city into a better tomorrow.

This past weekend my family rented a cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN to take the boys to see snow.  Kind of ironic that the one weekend we are gone, Barnwell receives the largest snow in 6 years.  At any rate, we found the cabin fine after a 8 hour journey and detour.  The quote of that night was on a country rode off I40 when I pulled into an unpopulated gas station and the attendent in her Tennessee drawl said to me, “You gotch you a GPS?”  “Yes” Then she said, “Turn it off.  It won’t help you here.” The next day we went to the Dixie Stampede.  A lot of fun and Caden and Connor just laughed and laughed.  It started snowing a couple of hours before the show.  Not being from the mountains it didn’t even register that I may not be able to get back to my cabin.  We started back to the cabin at 8:30 pm.  As we approached the first road off the main road we saw car after car stopped.  I then turned right and approached the first steep road.  It was covered with snow.  There were two cars in front of me.  Both slowed to a stop.  A dually truck came flying around and started to slide and a large tree saved it from going off the side of the mountain.

It was at this point that I realized I was stuck.  I couldn’t back down the mountain.  It was too slick.  I couldn’t go up the mountain, I would slide.  I couldn’t sleep in the car…We were one mile at the bottom of the mountain from our cabin.  I wrapped the boys up and we started to walk.  I had a car full of groceries and only a few groceries at the cabin, but it was too much to carry.  I grabbed my gps and off we went.

As we walked it was a bit taxing as the steep grade was tough especially in the cold air.  The roads were not well lit and only a few individuals were walking. I was trying to act like everything was fine as not to alarm the boys, but Caden wasn’t buying it.  We prayed to Jesus and said, “Please get us to the cabin safely tonight.”  Why do we pray prayers and then assume that God isn’t going to answer them… After about a quarter of a mile I reached in my pocket to look at my gps.  We had traveled in the wrong direction.  I stopped the family and turned around.  The bad part is that it was a stretch that was down hill so we started back up the hill.  As we were walking back up the hill, I looked at the gps and noticed that we were to turn right…just when the gps went dead.

So here I am walking down a dark road, responsible for my family, no directions, a mountain to climb.  I didn’t panic but it was at this time that I said to myself, I’m turning around and going back.  Back to familiar territory.  Closer to my car.  Closer to civilization.  And as I turned around to tell Leisa, head lights of a vehicle were approaching.  The closer it got I could tell it was a gator ATV with an enclosed cabin.  It was as if God whispered in my ear, “Calm down.  The Gator is the answer you have been looking for.”  The driver of the gator  told Leisa and the boys to get in the cabin and I climbed in the back and off we went.  I knew that the hill going up to the house was going to be a steep one even in an ATV so I wasn’t completely convinced yet that God was answering my prayer.  She asked where we were going and I said, 2535 Raccoon Hollow Way, Sevierville, TN.  She asked where that was and I said, the only thing I can tell you is turn right.  As we approached what was familiar territory there were two drives to the left, both steep.  I wanted to make sure that we went up the right one because I did not want to come back down on that snow and ice.  I prayed, “Please Jesus make this gps come on.”  and it did.  I got a glimpse of where to go but it wasn’t conclusive, so she started up the farthest road.  As we went up the steep road I wasn’t convinced we were going the right direction.  Then I began to read the house numbers and they were larger than mine and climbing.  I realized we were going the wrong way, and I freaked.  I tapped on the glass and said, “I don’t know where we are mam.  I think we are in the wrong area mam.  I’m not sure which way to tell you to go mam. It may be best just to take me back down to where my car is.”  That’s when she said, “Just calm down.  I’m going to get you to your cabin.”  As we crested the hill the road continued down the mountain and sure enough the numbers started to decline meaning we were just a few 100 feet from my cabin.  Then there it was, “A glimpse of Heaven.”  (That’s the actual name of our cabin!)  I then got out and breathed a sigh of relief and choked up a bit realizing how awesome God was.  I asked her name.  She said Nell.  I told her she would one day be an illustration in front of 500 people.  She said, “You’re a preacher.”  I told her, “Yes”  She said, ‘Pray for my husband.  He just passed away in November.”  We gathered with her and prayed and also prayed for her safety as she was continuing to help others.  I gave her $20 for gas.  And down the hill she went.  I’d say that I was worried about her, but I’m starting to believe in prayer.

I’m sure there is a spiritual lesson in there somewhere.  You can probably figure it out.  For me though it was pretty simple.