Recently I was talking to an acquaintance of mine when he just, “went off” on a pastor friend of mine who I greatly respect. Apparently he doesn’t like the approach this very godly man takes to ministry—translation…He has the audacity to reach out to the lost.

Truth is, I didn’t get to hear very much of his complaining because I stopped him dead in his tracks. With all the ‘fruit loop, self seeking pastors’ around today this guy was slandering a man who is humble, full of grace and a role model for a lot of us. I shut him down verbally but, if I’m being brutally honest, I wanted to shut him down painfully with a holy punch to the throat—just saying! Pastors are human too.

One particular phrase this town gossip used especially bothered me because I hear “Christians” use it from time to time as though they are holier than thou (“thou” meaning everyone else). Here’s the phrase…

“You know, I think it’s ‘so sad’ what so and so is doing.”

“So sad?” Really? Then why do you seem so glad to share it? Doesn’t sadness usually equate to tears or a frown, or at least a sorrowful countenance? Why then, when “Christ Followers” use this phrase do they always seem so, well, glad?

“It’s so sad what’s going on over at such and such church. I hear everyone is leaving…”

“Everyone” Defined usually as the gossip and their one friend.

Truth is, I used to go to this church. My wife and I were members, and over the years we’d heard different individuals use this gossipy, damage intending, doubt inducing phrase several times. One time the ring leader actually did manage to lead about 100 people to his version of the ‘promised land.’

“Promised Land” Defined in this case as a new church plant that went from 100 to 60 to 30 to death in less than 2 years.

Now that’s sad!

At the time this church was about 1200. Today they are well over 5,000. Numbers certainly don’t tell the whole story, but changed lives usually do. And there are thousands—literally thousands of changed lives because of this one man’s faithfulness to follow God no matter what the cost.

Which reminds me. There was once a group that talked about us with the those infamous words of doom… “Isn’t it sad what’s happening over there?” And they too were successful in convincing other immature people to take up the sport of church hopping. We (then known as Grace Community Church and running about 200 plus) dropped all the way to 50. And, for a time he looked to have been right—things did look…so sad.

Until 5 years later when we grew to 2,000 and over 4,000 gave their lives to Jesus Christ.

So sad?

If it is, I’ll take that kind of sadness every time! It may seem sad to the naysayers, but as for me, I’m glad.

No Comments »

• Had a wonderful and relaxing week at the beach! Singletons and Watkins, second year running! Hope we make a tradition of this one! The Watkins are dear friends of ours who ha a job relocation to Texas. But every summer we reunite at Litchfield Beach for fun and sun! Oh, did I mention that they have a chocolate Lab named ‘Duke’ who happens to be Bear’s (my chocolate Lab) “little” brother? This year we were almost outnumbered by dogs with Bear, Duke, Paws (my little girl’s yellow Lab) and Strider (the yappiest Terrier on planet earth!). I’ll get some pictures up later this week.
• Spending a sabbatical time this summer after 10 years pastoring Southbrook. Thanks Brookies for giving me this much needed time! Pray that I will hear clearly the Lord’s voice for direction for the next 10 years!
• The kids are growing up waaaaay too fast. This is the summer of camps and soccer and dance—not necessarily in that order.
• Snuck into our Southbrook Monroe campus today to hear Perry Noble’s One Prayer message. It was awesome! Seriously, it really spoke to me. If you missed it, make sure to catch the video on our website later this week.
• Can seriously NOT WAIT for “Diary of a Wimpy Christian” to begin. I have been chewing on this one for a long time!
• Hope everyone can make it this coming week. I have a One Prayer message tailor made for Southbook Church! Seriously, you do not want to miss this one!
• Well, I’m off to sleep. My father in law is here (some of you know him as Bob the Builder) and we are attempting to clear a gazillion trees from the yard.
• To keep up on all that is going on this summer—you can go to any one of the following (or all of them ) and follow along…

• Twitter
• Facebook (providing you can still stomach all the garbage it allows—For me that’s becoming a very big “IF!”
• Facebook (Southbrook Church)
• Facebook (fan page. Even typing that feels lame!)
• My blog (please forgive the summer slackness!)

See ya soon!

No Comments »

Every church leader knows there are several different numbers when talking about the congregation. For instance…

• The Christmas and Easter crowd (twice a year — includes ‘out of town’ guests)
• The Unchurched and Occasional Attendees (3 – 10 times a year)
• The Crowd (twice a month?)
• The Members (2–4 times a month)
• The Core or Ministry leaders (volunteers, etc). These people attend whenever they are in town—come what may. They wouldn’t miss it!

And the difference in attendance for these groups is all over the place at a typical, evangelical church. Let’s use Southbrook as an example so you can see what I mean.

• The Christmas and Easter crowd for us is somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000
• Unchurched and Occasional Attendees (3 – 10 times a year), about 6000
• The Crowd is between 3,000 and 4,000 (men, women and children)
• Members…around 2,000 (This is where most churches average attendance is)
• The Core? Drum roll please…(dadalut, dadalut…)

About 800!!

Isn’t that awesome?

Of course not—it’s sad—pitiful really. But it’s also the status quo. And not for an anemic church on life support—these are categories first used by Rick Warren of Saddleback church! In other words, this is how it is at the most alive, thriving, get’er done churches in…the world, oops, I mean America.

You see, it’s really not like that anywhere else on the planet—even in places where assembling in the name of Jesus is illegal. No, as Don King, the great fight promoter would say, “Only in America!”

Sad but true.

BUT! I have an idea! What if one church started turning this around? No more only joining with your church family on good hair days, no more attending only when you feel like it or…

• If it’s convenient
• That particular church is on your rotation that week.
• You’ve decided to stop dating the church and actually commit to one.
• You realize that Church Shopping is probably not what God actually desires of His people
• “Christians” didn’t always flock to the ‘check out’ the latest church plant and left those for who they are set up to reach—the unchurched.

And on and on.

What if?

Tell you what, “Brookies” think about this over the Summer—better yet, pray about it and ask the Lord if maybe I’m right on this one. Seriously, don’t take my Word for it. God and I have already talked about this one, but if you need to hear from Him loud and clear, I’m confident His answer to you will be the same—go ahead and ask. He loves to talk!

Then be ready Saturday evening, August 21^st for the kick off of our back to school series, “Diary of a Wimpy Christian.” No more wimpiness at Southbrook. We’re seeking Christ followers who are serious about living all out for God! And we’re looking to reach those who are far from God and do not know Him at all.

Oh, and one more group…

All of those who call Southbrook Church home!

What if everyone actually showed up?

Now that would be awesome!

No Comments »