I’m not sure if anyone has tried leaving comments lately, but one of the options was clicked saying that people must have had a previously approved comment to leave a comment. I must have clicked that inadvertently. I’ve changed it now, so leave comments if you want to.
A couple of weeks ago I was able to meet with one of my former students that is following a call into full time student ministry. I asked him his thoughts about student ministry - what his goals are, what his primary emphases would be, etc.
I shared with him some of my thoughts and insights from 12 years of doing student ministry, but what I emphasized most to him was that students do not need another best friend. If the youth pastor is simply a “best friend” type, then the student ministry is just a glorified babysitting service. He must be a friend to students, but that is what he should be to anyone. His role as youth pastor is far above the level of friend. Students need their youth pastor to be a mentor and a model.
As a mentor, the student pastor must realize his job is to move students toward fulfilling their God-given potential. He must cast a compelling vision that will motivate students to want to live a life fully sold-out to God and he must give them opportunities to live out their faith. His job is to help students become the disciples of Christ that God intends them to be. Though the youth pastor cannot mentor everyone personally, he must lead the discipleship charge and the missions mandate. He sets the tone of the ministry for all the students and adult leaders.
As a model, he realizes that students, parents, adult leaders and others are watching. He is called to a higher level of accountability in all things because he is in the spotlight. His life has the potential to inspire people to steps of greater and greater faith and Christ-likeness, but it can also have the opposite effect.
Being a mentor and a model is not just for youth pastors though; it’s for all of us.
I am going to be talking to this former student of mine regularly, seeking to be a mentor to him in the coming days. As for modeling a life of faith, I realize this student and many others are watching, even if it’s from a distance. Here’s a quote from a guy I have only been able to spend a little time with, but he’s been watching me.
I feel like God is leading me to jump out in faith (you taught me a little about that just by watching your story unfold)…. Thanks for the prayers and the encouragement. it means a lot! and thank you for being such a good friend and mentor. God has taught me so much through you and you didn’t even know…thank you for being so committed to serving and trusting Him.
Who are you mentoring? Find a couple of people who are not as far along as you and pour some time and energy into them. A little bit of time and wisdom goes a long way.
And who is watching you? Let me give you a hint… if you’re an average person, hundreds of people are watchng you. If you’re in the spotlight, the number may be thousands or tens of thousands.
Make your life count!
This past Sunday at Northpointe Church in Adairsville, the pastor was continuing a series called, “One Month To Live.” He had asked the people the preceding week to write down some of their “one month values/priorities,” meaning, what would be the most important things in their life if they only had one month to live.
Though I’ve heard and even taught on a similar subject, it is always good to be challenged to re-evaluate our current lifestyle and priorities.
I recently read a book by Andy Stanley, entitled Choosing To Cheat. Stanley’s point in the book is that we live in a world where we’re torn between the priorities of work and family, but we choose which one gets cheated by how we allocate our time. There is only so much time in a day, so we must wisely choose how our time is spent because our days turn into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. What we invest in now, is what we will reap down the road.
Five, ten, twenty years down the line, when we look back through the years, we all want to have no regrets. That’s why it is important to ask questions like, “If I only had one month to live, how would I live differently?”
Here’s one of my favorite quotes on the subject of time:
“Every moment comes to you pregnant with divine purpose; time being so precious that God deals it out only second by second. Once it leaves your hands and your power to do with it as you please, it plunges into eternity, to remain forever what you made it.” - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Here’s God’s Word on the subject of time:
Ephesians 5:15-17 says, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Take some time to evaluate your priorities and time allocation. I’m trying to spend more time praying and more time with my wife and kids. What do you adjustments do you need to make?
We’ve had two Launch Team meetings so far and have had about 16 folks each time. We spent this past Sunday night eating and getting to know each other better before we looked at Isaiah 6:1-8. You can read more about the night’s activities on the Expedition Church blog.
Here are some prayer requests for the new church:
1) Pray for us to be sensitive to God’s leadership in all aspects of planting this church
2) Pray for God to direct us to the facility He wants us to use for the rest of the year with the Launch Team and children who are involved. We’re currently meeting in someone’s home.
3) Pray for God to provide us a permanent facility to meet in once we “go live” each week with public worship.
4) Pray for God to provide the resources we need to get things up and running
5) Pray for us to know God’s strategy for discipleship and outreach in this community
For those who want to contribute to Expedition Church, you can send checks made out to the Bartow Baptist Association, with “Expedition Church” written in the memo line. All funds will go to Expedition Church and are tax deductible. The BBA mailing address is: 125 Postelle Street, Cartersville, GA 30120.
We went to Northpointe Church in Adairsville this past Sunday morning. Two things stood out to me. First was that the pastor said to me, “You’ve been here before haven’t you?” I said, “Yes,” without elaborating. It’s been over two years since I was there. Then he said, “you came with a guy that worked for Georgia Power.” This was a statement, not a question. I was impressed with this guy’s memory and I told him so.
Second, was the fact that this church has its own distinctive personality. There were lots of trucks and several really nice Harleys in the parking lot, the music had a country-western flavor to it, but it was solid - the main worship leader had a powerful voice and the band was really good. The pastor is a kind, salt of the earth, love on ya - but tell it like it is, sort of guy. He gave a strong message on something or other. Just kidding; he spoke on forgiveness. There was no rush to the service and people seemed to be enjoying themselves. There were a lot of people there too - close to 300 I’d guess, in the second service.
They are definitely impacting a segment of Bartow County that needs to be reached and they seem to be doing a really good job at connecting people with God and each other.
I think it is unfortunate when a church body thinks it has to be just like another church in another place. I think it is impossible for this to be a real success because no two towns are exactly the same and certainly no two pastors are exactly the same. Even churches in the same town should not try to be exactly like one another. God has a distinct purpose for each church and each pastor has a distinctive style.
Churches need to strive to be who God has called them to be, but this only comes by spending time seeking God’s will for that local church and then following His lead.
So I give kudos to Pastor Jim for leading his church to be who God has called them to be. May God continue to bless their efforts!
We just got home from a Rome Braves game, which was preceded by a picnic at Berry College. We had a crew of 24 go. It was a blast! The kids had a particularly fun time with all their friends - 13 total kids. The Braves won but the fireworks were very disappointing this year. In the past they’ve been some of the best around. They had a couple of cool ones I had not seen before, but overall the show paled in comparison to previous years.
After the game we hung out in the parking lot and let the kids do some sparklers while the traffic dissipated.
It was good hanging out with lots of old friends for the evening.
Two and a half years ago my family began a new faith adventure. We left a great church where I was serving as youth pastor to follow God’s call to help start a new church in town. It was a faith adventure because we left knowing with certainty what God had called us to do, but not knowing how any of it would work out.
When God released us from our ministry at Cartersville First Baptist, we sensed God telling us to sell our house. We had a contract on it within two weeks. We were ready to go anywhere that God led us. The only direction we had at that point was knowing that God wanted me serving in a position of greater influence in the life of a local church - an associate pastor type role.
As we prayed about where we would go, we did not sense God leading us to leave Bartow County, so we began looking for houses in the central and north part of the county and waiting for God to show us what to do ministry-wise. We closed on our old house and our new house the last week of January, 2006. By this time we knew we were being led to help start Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, but we didn’t know when we’d actually leave CFBC to join the new church plant. God had not given me an exact time to turn in my resignation, so I waited and prayed.
On Super Bowl weekend, 2006, God was speaking to me all weekend, telling me to have my resignation ready to turn in on Monday. I followed God’s lead and resigned after staff meeting on Monday.
As we headed out to help start the new church, I had no promise of a salary and no idea when it might even begin. The new church would not hold its first public worship service for another seven months and no place had even been secured to start the church. There was no guarantee of success, but we knew God would take care of us.
I sent out a slew of support letters asking folks for prayer and financial support. I know there are more people praying for me and my family than I know about, but I send out an update email periodically to 117 folks currently. Their prayers for me and my family have sustained us and helped us determine God’s plans for us throughout the past two years and a half years. There are also 53 couples or individuals who have sacrificed financially to help support us during our time at Oak Leaf. We started off living on total support for several months then the church salary gradually kicked in. As I finished up my time at Oak Leaf, one third of my salary came from support that friends and family sent in. AMAZING! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!! You each played a significant part in what God did in my life and in my family’s life, but also in the lives of people impacted through the ministry of Oak Leaf during the time I was there.
Now we’re on the threshold of another adventure starting a church in the north part of Bartow County and we’re just waiting to see how God provides. Once again, we have no guarantee of success, no idea where my salary is going go come from, and no idea how we’re going to secure all the gear we need to start this church.
We’re starting a Launch Team in July and plan on beginning weekly worship services sometime between January 11 and April 12 (Easter), 2009.
If you’d like to be a part of launching Expedition Church or supporting this endeavor through prayer and/or finances, please contact me by leaving a comment on this blog or the church blog and I’ll forward you some information.
I know I am not the only one with a friend who has cancer, but my friend and former co-worker Rhetta has been fighting cancer for several months now. Thursday night and Friday morning she was having some sort of muscle spasms on her right side. They took her to the ER and did a scan. They determined she has a brain tumor that is in an inoperable place. She was having a full body MRI scan and possibly a spinal tap late this afternoon. I have not heard a report on the progress. It was a multi-hour procedure. They are supposedly going to try a relatively new procedure called CyberKnife on the tumor at some point in the near future.
If you don’t mind, please pray for Rhetta’s healing. My family is praying diligently for this.
For me, this is the third good friend of mine that has had to suffer through cancer. The lady across the street from us is also going through chemo at present. Another friend is suffering from a multi-year battle with a yet to be diagnosed condition that causes migraines, rashes, itching, and other horrible symptoms, plus I have several other friends with MS.
It seems there are so many suffering all around us. I don’t have a clue why God allows godly people to suffer like this.
I’ve concluded that all we can do is trust in the supremacy of God, being convinced that he is in control and has a purpose beyond our understanding in all things. I pray on, asking God to heal my friends, but ultimately I will trust in his purposes. That’s all I can do.
This morning after a great Bible study with some guys in town, I met with a former student of mine from FBC Cartersville. He just got back from Africa on a short term mission trip. It was great to hear how God used him to touch lives in Africa but it was equally exciting to see how God is expanding his vision about what he should do ministry wise in the coming months. He indicated that he wants to reach out to college-age guys and do a house church sort of thing. I challenged him to think about enlarging that vision a bit and begin a ministry on the campus of Georgia Highlands College. I don’t think anyone is reaching that crowd yet. It’s a mission field waiting for a missionary.
I also got to have lunch with one of my lifelong friends, Walt. He was best man at my wedding and my best friend in college. We keep up with each other but don’t get to actually see each other much. We had some really fun times during our college days, especially eating at Waffle House, making movies with Alex Kendrick of Facing the Giants fame, doing campus evangelism and going on Campus Crusade for Christ mission trips and retreats together.
My favorite Walt memory was when he got married. We had been creatively trading back and forth this “Wet Paint” sign that was shaped like a big paint droplet. We’d put it on each other’s car, in one another’s book bag, etc., for several months. When Andrea and I moved to Texas, he had it in his possession. When my first child was born, Walt tried to have the doctor “deliver” the Wet Paint sign. They thought he was crazy and said, “No!” But when Walt got married, I created a smaller version of the wet paint sign for delivery at the reception. When Walt went to take his bride’s garter off, he lifted up the dress and the sign was safety pinned to her garter. It was priceless!!!
Glad to see old friends when I can!
I didn’t want to break the news on the same day that Apple told about the new iPhone so I waited until today to post our news. LOL
We have been praying about church planting during the last few weeks. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us during this time of transition and seeking of God’s plan for us.
I have been meeting with various pastors in the Atlanta area ever since I left Oak Leaf two months ago, to learn about the role of Lead Pastor. I have served in vocational church ministry for more than 14 years now, and while I have an idea about the Lead pastor role, I have never sat in that chair before. I’m trying to learn all I can from these guys.
One of the guys I met with early on is David Franklin, the new Director of the Bartow Baptist Association (BBA). He was a lead pastor for 12+ years and I knew he’d have some great insight. During our second or third conversation, David asked me to pray about planting a church in north Bartow County and serve as the Lead Pastor.
Andrea and I began to pray about the opportunity. We feel like we have received several confirmations from God to do this, one of which is the support and affirmation of several local pastors. It’s really cool to see them support this idea.
Why North Bartow? There are 31,000 folks within 5 miles of Hamilton Crossing Park, 25,000 of which are estimated to be unchurched, and over 13,000 of those are between the ages of 11 and 40. I think we have a good mission field around here - lots of people to be reached. We believe a contemporary styled church up this way will reach a lot of people.
Since we have recently served on staff at Oak Leaf, I met with Michael and Anthony (Lead Pastor and Admin Pastor) to let them know what God is leading us to do and to let them know that I will not be asking anyone from Oak Leaf to join us in starting this church. Oak Leaf needs its volunteers to keep serving there to make it all that God wants it to be.
We hope to officially launch the church shortly after the first of the year, but no official Grand Opening date has been set yet.
As you might imagine, there are a lot of expenses in starting a church and resources at this point are minimal, so If you would like to contribute to the cause, the BBA is now officially taking tax-deductible contributions for the launching of this church. Contributions should be made payable to the “Bartow Baptist Association” and please write “North Bartow Church Plant” in the memo line so it goes to the right account. The Bartow Baptist Association address is: 125 Postelle St., Cartersville, GA 30120. All the funds go directly to the church plant.
If your church might be interested in helping to support this church start financially, I would be happy to come share the driving force behind this church and answer any questions the church’s leadership might have about it. Contact me through this blog.
Thanks for your continued prayers. We’ll post more details as they happen. Until then, we’ll continue seeking God’s best for us.
Ephesians 2:10, 3:20-21, 4:11-16.
