Mid-Week Check-In

Ok. It's become apparent that being able to provide a weekly review of the weekend on Monday morning is just not possible for me. I think it's mostly because by Monday morning, I am pretty tired from the events of the weekend. I am usually spending some time in the morning winding down and also catching up on things that set up the week ahead. So, I am changing the "Monday Morning Clarity" to a "Mid-Week Check-In". I will use this to review some of the highlights of the weekend and announce some things that are coming.

• We had another great crowd at Sixth Street with a tangible, thick presence of the Holy Spirit. I was very thankful to have my mom with us for the weekend. She had a great time meeting the people of the church and getting to see me preach.
• We had a powerful start to the services by seeing two new Christians get baptized! I believe that baptism and celebrating life-change are the best way to start worship together and provides a tangible excitement to the crowd. Let's get active church in sharing the gospel so we can continue to see changed lives.
• We finished the "EKKLESIA" series this past week. This Sunday, we are starting a three week series called "Going Public" about sharing your faith. This is part of preparing us for the "Across Alabama" campaign to prayerwalk and distribute invitations to attend church on Easter. My hope is that we can overcome our natural fear of witnessing and be able to comfortably share the gospel with our family, friends, and neighbors.
• If you missed Sunday night, you missed a treat. We were blessed to have two couples that are very dear to me share about their upcoming journey to Swaziland, Africa. The Clyburns and McAdams are friends that Alison and I got to know in Alabaster. They are leaving the states possibly in June for at least a two-year ministry to orphans in Swaziland. They shared stats and photos of the dire situation in Swaziland. Please continue to pray for them as they seek to get financial support.
• The Across Alabama stuff is really beginning to develop. We will have a 24-hour prayer vigil on March 12-13 and a community prayerwalk on Saturday, March 20th. Please sign up at the info desk or see Gary Hines to be a part of this event.
• On a selfish, personal sports moment - congrats to Kendall Graveman who made his first two appearances for the Mississippi State Bulldog baseball team this last week. I am proud to have Kendall as part of the Bulldog family. He has looked pretty good in his first two relief appearances! Go Kendall and Go Dawgs!
• Buckets of Hope - several of you have taken the flyers to get stuff together to send to Haiti. I have heard that because of the response from area churches that getting buckets and lids is hard to do. Keep trying. If you are going to do a bucket, please have it here by March 4th so we can deliver it.

Hope you are having a great week and see you Sunday!

A Late Monday Morning Clarity

Great weekend! The snow on the ground late last week was beautiful and made for a refreshing change of scenery all weekend. It was cool to see some of it still on the ground pulling up to the church Sunday morning.

• Great crowd again Sunday morning. The new year has seen an increase to our weekly attendance. We are looking at the possibility of having to go to 2 services later on this year to accommodate future growth.
• Pray for the "Feasibility Team". We are having regular meetings to go over plans and opportunities to reignite the vision to move "Forward in Faith". These godly men need your prayer for wisdom and insight.
• The Valentine's Banquet Saturday night was amazing. Thanks to Debra Perry and her team for all the work they put into it. Over 200 people were there. Great food! Much thanks to the guys who stood out in the cold and cooked so many steaks.
• I have heard a lot of funny comments about the "Not So Newlywed Game" at the banquet. It was a lot of fun to hear some of the answers to the questions. Who knew that Claude Thomas was a "Hot Tamale"?
• I spent this past Tuesday in Birmingham at an event sponsored by ALCAP about the proposed legislation to legalize gambling. I was privileged to hear Dr. Richard Land from the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission speak. We are blessed as Southern Baptists to have this man represent us in Washington. This is an issue that as Christ-followers we need to be writing our congressional representatives to let them know our feelings. There is also a rally at the State Capitol next Tuesday, March 23. If you want to go, call the church office and let us know.
• Don't forget we have a lot of stuff coming up that you can partner in to spread the gospel. Sign up for our Across Alabama Prayerwalk of the community on March 20th. We'll also go the next week to give invitations to attend church on Easter. Also, remember our Mission Trip to Kentucky June 20-25. There are only 26 spots available.

We have some baptisms coming up this Sunday! That always makes for a great day! See you Sunday!

Monday Morning Clarity

Wrapping up another great weekend at Sixth Street yesterday.

• The weather was cold, but there was a great spirit of anticipation yesterday. It manifested itself in our music and prayer time. I am thankful for such a sensitive church family that deeply desires to see God move in our midst.
• We took a group of 21 men to the Johnny Hunt Men's Conference at Woodstock on Friday and Saturday. We had an awesome time on the vans together. The teaching was great and the music was incredible. It's always a blessing to see men band together to worship God and surrender to His purposes. I told the men before we left that I was praying God would "ruin them." I heard many great comments from the guys and the energy was transferred to Sunday morning.
• I honestly believe that the key to seeing God move in our church lies in our ability to reach, challenge, and equip men to be godly, spiritual leaders. We've got lots of room to improve in this area, but God is moving.
• I enjoyed preaching on worship yesterday. I have a deep passion to see God's people worship God with freedom and transparency. I agree with Bob Russell that the most magnetic evangelistic tool we have is the power of a church that worships God in "spirit and truth."
• Awesome time last night at our "Big Game Fellowship." We had a ton of food and it was all awesome. It was great to see the Saints win, but honestly, the best part was seeing people spend time together. Most people sat around tables and played games or talked with very little attention to the game. That's "koinoinia"! I also had the opportunity to talk with a young man who has spent years in addiction and self-destruction and see him now embrace the grace and forgiveness of the gospel. Pray for Michael. God has given us stewardship over him. He needs much prayer and discipling in the days ahead.
• We have a Valentine's Banquet coming up this weekend. Hope you bought your tickets!

A Late Monday Morning Clarity

Sorry for the delay this week. Lots of stuff going on, been mulling around in my head lots of things I want to write about but haven't been able to carve out time to do it.

• Another great time of music and worship Sunday morning. The last few weeks we have had a tangible move of the Spirit in our singing.
• The choir and Whitney Patterson did an awesome job on The Stand! I love this song and they knocked it out of the park.
• We are really moving closer to having a corporate understanding of our mission to "make disciples." Had a great time preaching on the Great Commission Sunday morning and got some great response.
• Tuesday was my son Drew (he likes to be called Andrew now) birthday. God blessed us nine years ago with Drew. Happy Birthday Drew!
• Look for some changes in our Guest Services coming up soon. Robert Forbus has agreed to help Kevin and me make some changes in our front-door ministries of parking lot, greeters, ushers, and more. This will also open up some opportunities for a lot of people to find a place to serve.
• Wow! Sixth Street stepped up in giving a special gift to the people of Haiti. As of Tuesday, you guys had given over $1600. We will be sending that in the next week to the State Board of Missions to be given over to SBC Disaster Relief. Great job!
• I finished a great book by John Piper last week called "Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ". It helped me to realize how little we in the church in America understand suffering for others to hear the gospel. I am thankful for men and women who risk life and family to fulfill the Great Commission.
• If you haven't signed your kids up for Student Life Kids Camp or Youth Camp at the beach, you need to do so now! This will be a life-changing opportunity for them. Talk to Eric about the details.
• We are doing some work on the layout for the church directory and hope to get that ready soon.
• Don't forget the Sunday night party to watch the big football game (due to NFL liscensing, we can't advertise it by it's real name anymore). Bring tailgate food, chili, etc. I am working up some soup and some chicken wings!

Monday Morning Clarity

Wow! It was a rainy day at church yesterday. When I left the church Sunday, I got absolutely drenched running to my car. I also got a good sight at the drainage at our new house. I haven't seen rain that hard, that much in a long time. However, it was a wonderful spirit inside the church building. Alison and I continued to feel blessed each Sunday by the honor to serve the Lord here.

• We had a spirit-filled time of music and worship. It was tangible from the opening song. I am thankful for Kevin and the choir and band and their leadership. The choir gave us a wonderful reminder of Christ with Jesus Saves.
• The music really gave me some freedom to preach yesterday. I had a great time researching and preparing the message on the gospel as the message of the church this week. I firmly believe that we need to constantly be focusing on the gospel. Lots of churches and church leaders talk about the gospel when what they really mean is "seeing people saved" with little about the truth of the gospel as revealed in Scripture. My hope is that we will all see life through a gospel lens and what impact the gospel has on my everyday life.
  
• We had a great Great Church Council meeting yesterday. We are mining down and having some great conversations about making disciples and the purpose of the church. My hope is that real soon we will have a process for making disciples and a vision that shows that to introduce to the church.
  
• The rain yesterday reminded me even more about the need to beef up our Guest Services. I have had some really great conversations the past couple of weeks with some men who want to see us create a helpful and welcoming environment for guests. Days like yesterday show me that we need about 5 guys in the parking lot with umbrellas. We need to be intentionally seating people. We can't wait until we have lots of guests to start doing better. I believe that we won't have lots of guests until we do better. Nelson Searcy says that a guest makes their impression of the church within the first seven minutes. People decide whether your church is worth coming back to before the pastor's greeting and long before the sermon. Pray about your involvement in creating welcoming environments for guests.
  
• What a blessing to see Eric Sapp and Grayson Walls both coming forward to announce that they have trusted Christ as Savior and Lord. It's amazing to see real-life stories and how God changes lives. Eric's a young man with a son; Grayson is a young boy, but both are new Christians that God has given us the responsibility to disciple. Commit to pray for both of these guys as they begin the adventure of life with Christ.
  
• I met with a friend of mine last week who is working on a new logo for our church. I hope in the next couple of months to be able to show it to you.
  
• The Church Council decided yesterday to not have evening services on February 7. We have a couple of classes that will be meeting that night, but we will not have evening worship. I know that some will say "Why do we let the culture and television control the Church"? However, that is not what is happening. Simply put, the Super Bowl is the most-watched event every year. I know that most of the people of Sixth Street will be watching it anyway and not at a worship service. My hope is that we can leverage events like the Super Bowl to give our people something to help build community around. There is nothing unbiblical about gathering around the community enjoying food and laughing at the silly commercials. That actually sounds kinda like Acts 2:42-48 (with the exemption of the apostle's doctrine). If people are going to watch the event instead of coming to church, it's better to do it with other believers than by ourselves or in some other environments. We have some people working on showing the game in the gym. We also encourage the SS classes to get together and watch it as a class fellowship.
  
• If you haven't picked up information on the Children's and Youth Camps this summer, call Eric Miller. I highly encourage you to make time and money to get your kids to one of these events. When I served as a youth pastor, I saw how God used these events in a mighty way. Youth Camp is July 5-9 and Children's Camp is July 19-22.

Verse of the week - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." Romans 1:16

Monday Night Clarity

We had another great day of worship yesterday at Sixth Street. We continued with week three in our series Ekklesia on the topic "Community: The Glue that Holds Us Together." It felt like a great spirit of expectation as we left yesterday to be the church.

• I received some great feedback and encouragement on my sermon. I can sense a real hunger that many of us are longing to put aside the religious masks we have been carrying so long and really being to experience life together. I know that some of the stuff I said yesterday may have sounded very different from what we've grown to expect at church. However, I believe that as we develop a sense of biblical community, we will find what we've really longed for in church for a long time.
• Our music was very good yesterday, especially as we sang "Revelation Song". It was great to hear God's people singing such sound doctrine and getting a taste of what heaven will be like.
• I mentioned yesterday that I have three goals for Sixth Street for this year. First, I want to see us begin to develop a real sense of biblical community and possibly being some "Community Groups" later on this year. Second, I want to see us begin to move towards our long-range plan of relocating. We have lots to pray about and need to reach more people to accomplish our plan. However, I believe that as we stay sensitive to God and His timing, the plan will be clear. Third, I want us to outline a clear process for making disciples and a mission statement that reflects that. These challenges will take us far down the road to being what I believe God wants us to be.
• It was great to hear Morgan Jones share about her trip to Honduras. I know that God used Morgan and the team despite the obstacles that they faced. I loved seeing the slide-show of pictures and some of the places that I had visited on my trips to San Pedro Sula with Dan Moran.
• It was also awesome to see young Jackson Tucker singing last night. Jackson is a great kid with a great smile! Thanks for blessing us Jackson.
• Thanks also to my father-in-law Dr. Scotty Hogan for blessing us last Wednesday night. It was great to have "Papa" visiting the family and preaching in my church for a change. He challenged us to dream big dreams for God.
• Big thanks to Ginger Young, Deborah Perry, and Willie Ward for all their help this past weekend making the church directory happen. It was great to see so many families showing up for their pictures and to think about what the final product will look like. These three ladies did much of the work behind the scenes and stayed their for three days until past 10:00 each night. That's going above and beyond.
• On a not-so-spiritual note, I am stoked about the new season of 24. I'm a big Jack Bauer fan, but I have been real disappointed by the last couple of seasons. However, the first 2 nights show some of the old traces of 24 may still be there. Been typing this tonight during commercial breaks.

Verse of the day: "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23

Monday Morning Clarity

It was another great week at Sixth Street. Despite the continuing cold weather, attendance was good and the spirit inside was warm.

• We continued in our new series "Ekklesia" this week looking at the focus of the church is God's glory. I was pumped during the prep and teaching of this sermon. God has taught me a lot in the last 5 years about the centrality of the glory of God and it's purpose in the lives of believers. I owe a lot to men like John Piper, Matt Chandler, and Louie Giglio for their insights into this. You can listen to the sermon here. I'd love to hear your feedback.
• For the first time since November, I got back into the pulpit preaching on Sunday night. We are starting a new Sunday night series preaching through 1 Peter. We will look at what Peter had to say to these believers who were suffering opposition and persecution.
• I have been reading a really good book by Joshua Harris called "Dug Down Deep" as part of my book review agreement with Waterbrook Multinomah. Hope to have a review up soon.
• Exciting things are happening here at the church. I believe that 2010 is a strategic year for us and we have a lot of work to do.
• We had several visitors this past Sunday. I am thankful for the momentum that God has begun and honored to have visitors check us out. We need to make sure that all our Sixth Street people are aware of the newcomers around them and creating a welcoming environment.
• I am excited about a new effort that Sixth St will be doing along with many other churches in Alabama in the weeks leading up to Easter. We will be prayer-walking homes in the area and asking God for a spiritual harvest on Easter Sunday.
• Pray for Faye Abrams as she joins a team from FBC, Alex City on a mission trip to Kenya this week. I am thankful for her obedience to take the gospel to the nations. Pray for strength and open doors for the gospel.
• Don't forget to be spending time in God's Word. Here is an online link to the Bible reading plan I mentioned Sunday morning that I will be using this year. It's the "Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan" at the bottom.

Hope you have an awesome week. Verse for the week: "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Monday Morning Clarity (one day late)

We had a great start to 2010 this past Sunday. It was awfully cold outside, but inside we had a warm spirit and people ready to see God do incredible things in 2010. Here are some thoughts as we start the new year:

• I feel challenged that we as a church need to pray with more desperation. I’ve only been pastor for 6 months, but I feel incredibly guilty that we aren’t praying enough mainly because we aren’t desperate enough. We’ve become very good at doing Christianity without the source of eternal life. I pray that God increases my desperation in 2010.
• We started a new series Sunday called “Ekklesia” about the nature and purpose of the church. The biggest observation I have had as pastor is that we are better at “doing” church than we are at “being” the church. My hope is that over the next few weeks, we can upack the nature and purpose of the church in such a way that we will see exiciting things happening real soon.
• This week, I am at Passion 2010 with Eric and some of our college students. I love Louie Giglio and the Passion movement. It’s awesome to see what God is doing in this generation. These students have been challenged to make a difference in global sex trafficking, poverty and education, translating the Bible into a language of an unreached people group, and more. In addition, we’ve been challenged by Francis Chan, Beth Moore, and Andy Stanley. John Piper is coming up tonight!
• In case you missed it Sunday or in my newsletter article, I have challenged Sixth Street with three goals for 2010. First is to commit to read the Bible regularly, possibly all the way through. See my post below for a Bible reading plan. Secondly, I have challenged us to commit to pray for 3 people specifically and strategically this year. Write the names down on a card and put it in your Bible, wallet, purse, or your dashboard of the car. Third, I have challenged us to find a place to serve in the church and kingdom. If you can’t find a ministry to serve in, talk to me and let’s make a ministry. There is lots to do and we all have a part of it.
• Thankful for Bill Middlebrooks subbing in for me Sunday night. Bill is a wonderful pastor and I know he did a great job.
  
• This Wednesday is my wife Alison's birthday. Be sure to wish her Happy Birthday if you see her. She is the love of my life and God's biggest blessing for me.
  

Christmas Week Clarity

It's Incarnation Week - my first here at Sixth Street. We have one more Sunday to go and we'll close out 2009. Hope to blog some thoughts about Christmas this week. I'm at my Mom's house today so this is the Road Show edition of the blog.

• The crowd was a little better than I anticipated Sunday morning. The weeks of Christmas are usually hard on attendance with people travelling to see family. I knew of several families that were going to be out, but I was surprised that the crowd was still a good size.
• I thought the music really accented the theme of Emmanuel Sunday morning. It was a great mix of a couple of Christmas carols with some new songs like Glory to God Forever and Mighty to Save. It was a reminder that the Incarnation message is a message of salvation come and God's glory revealed.
• Alison and I have really felt welcomed by all the Christmas parties we have been invited to. The food has been awesome and the fellowship even better. Seems like everyone loves to play Dirty Santa but me. It's a personal thing. I know every time I get something really good, I am probably not going to keep it. However, it's fun to see everyone laughing and enjoying themselves. We need much more of that in the world today.
• Remember to pray for Myles Palmer. He came home Monday to some pain in his chest and found out he has a collapsed lung. The doctors inserted a chest tube in him Tuesday morning and said he would be there at least 3 days. Looks like it might be a Christmas in the hospital for Myles, Matt, Mel, and Melinda. Keep them in your prayers.
• I was really struck with the enormity of my message this past Sunday. I spent most of last week thinking and meditating on the implications of "Emmanuel: God with us". I think most of the world misses out not just on the meaning of Christmas but also of salvation because they do not understand the Incarnation. If you really believe that the baby in the manger is not just a human, but also the very incarnate Son of God, then everything changes. If God came not just because he wanted to be a human, but because he had to bring an answer to our sin virus and change the course of human destiny, then everything changes. This Christmas, don't just focus on the baby in the manger, but also on the meaning of "God with us".
• Don't forget out Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We've collected just under $7000 towards our goal of $10,000. Be a part of supporting our missionaries around the globe. If each family at Sixth Street makes one small sacrifice for missions, we'll hit our target.
• I'll be in town most of the next couple of weeks. I am travelling to my Mom's this week, but will be back Wednesday night. Alison and I will be at her families for a couple of days beginning next Tuesday. The office will be closed on December 23-25 and Dec 31-Jan 1. If you need anything or have an emergency during this time, please give me a call.

Monday Morning Clarity (one day late)

Christmas is fastly approaching. I know that many of you have already finished your Christmas shopping while many others haven't bought anything yet. My dad announced to my wife and I at Thanksgiving that he had one more present to buy and he would be finished. That's dedication! My wife and I went this past week to the Galleria Mall in Birmingham for our annual trip to get the mall Santa picture. I was reminded once again how hectic Christmas has become. Toys R Us resembled a battle zone with armored carts bumping into each other and people lining isles to get those Legos and video games. I was glad to be back in God's house Sunday morning for some sanity and the chance to refocus on the worship of our Savior.

• The Christmas season has affected our attendance with lots of families having to take the weekend to go and visit extended family. Crowd was down a little this past Sunday. However, the spirit of the crowd was strong. Sixth Street is a special place because of the people who love the Lord and love their church.
• Elisa Bowles did an awesome job Sunday morning on "O Holy Night"! That's one of my favorite Christmas songs. It's also not an easy one to sing, but Elisa knocked it out of the park.
• It's great to have some of our college students like Kendall Graveman and Morgan Jones back home. Some of our students will be going to Passion Conference in Atlanta in January. I'm stoked! Passion has long been one of my favorite events.
• Speaking of Morgan Jones, she is going to Honduras after Christmas on a mission trip with our old pal Dan Moran. I am trying to give Morgan a crash course in "How to Survive a Dan Moran Mission Trip." Please be praying for her and the people of Honduras. I am thankful for any church member who has a heart for missions.
• The Children's Choirs did a great job Sunday night on their musicals! These are by far one of my favorite things. One of the reasons I love them is because they are messy. Kids forget their lines, the motions to the songs are never in sync, they speak their lines too fast and without any inflection, and usually someone is picking their nose or putting their hands down their pants. However, in all this, these children present the gospel in such a simple way. And they really believe what they are singing! I wish we all had a little more childlikeness in us from time to time.
• Thanks to Carrie Keel and her team for their leadership so far in our Children's Choir! We've had record enrollment and the kids are having a good time.
• Don't forget the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering! I know that the economy is down and times are tough. However, let's be sure to be faithful to the task of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ above and beyond spreading the commercialism of Wal-Mart and Amazon. We have hundreds of missionaries that were denied appointment this year because of the lack of funds. The Lottie Moon Offering helps Southern Baptists to be the most dominant missional force among all denominations. Please consider making adjustments to your Christmas list this year and be generous to this important cause. Sixth Street has a goal of $10,000 and we've already collected $6,200! Let's close it out Sixth Street!
• I'm working on my sermon plan for 2010. This is the first time I have been responsible for setting out a long-term sermon plan for a church. It's an adventure. Pray for clarity and that I stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit as I go through the planning process.
• I want to challenge all of Sixth Street to be faithful in God's Word in 2010. Perhaps you can dedicate yourself to read through the Bible this year. Perhaps that's too ambitious and you can just work through the New Testament. Find a good Bible reading plan. Some good plans can be found on the ESV Bible website. Also check out bibleplans.org. Another great online site is youversion.com. Here you can not only select a plan, but you can jot down notes and interact with others who use youversion. I will be using youversion quite frequently during 2010 and would love to interact with you. Find something and let's dive into God's Word in a deeper, more faithful way in 2010.

Wow. That's a lot of stuff to get out of my head! See you Sunday!

Monday Morning Clarity

The Christmas holiday season is underway in a powerful way at Sixth Street. What a great Sunday yesterday! Great music, hopefully inspiring message, and the gospel presented through music.

• Big thanks to Marie Tidwell and her team for the awesome job they did decorating the church campus last week. They spent many late evenings putting up wreaths, spraying snow, and decorating the trees. It looked awesome and created a very festive spirit allowing us to worship the gift that God has sent.
• The adult choir hit a home run last night with their Christmas musical. I heard several comments from attendees that this was the best program that Sixth Street has ever put on. It was awesome to see the name of Jesus lifted up and the gospel so clearly declared through music. Not only did it sound good, it was biblical and evangelistic too. Thanks to Kevin, Angela and the tech crew, and all the choir for giving Jesus your best.
• Yesterday, we looked at the character of Joseph and what happens when God's plan interrupts your plans. Ultimately, we saw that 1) Our present circumstances do not always tell the whole story. 2) My reactions to divine interruptions expose what's in my heart. 3) God's plan usually seems impossible, at first. 4) God will work through our faith to bring glory to himself. The summary was "What we may view as an interruption, God may view as our destiny."
• Last minute preparations are underway this week for our Children's Christmas musical Sunday night at 6 PM. Please make plans to join us. I know the kids have worked real hard and will do a super job!
• Don't forget our emphasis on the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. There are as many as 600 SBC missionaries that may not get to go to the field this year because of budget shortfalls. Our church goal is $10,000. It's ambitious, but I believe extremely achievable. Please take some money you might spend on another Christmas present that might not get used and give it instead to support the mission of making disciples around the world. As of today, we have collected $6,261. Help us reach the goal!
  
• I had some wonderful gifts yesterday from some church members. Reminds me that being a pastor does have it's privileges. I am humbled and honored to serve alongside some great people.
• Our church council met last week for the first of several meetings to formulate our vision and strategy to make disciples at Sixth Street. I hope that soon in the new year, we will have a vision and plan to help us turn the corner.
• I have seen a lot of new visitors the last few weeks. Some of this is due to the holidays, but I hope we will continue to be a church that lovingly welcomes all people with the life-transforming truth of the gospel.

Verse of the week - "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

Monday Morning Clarity

Hoping you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. My family and I went to MS to spend 4 days with my extended family in Columbus. We had a great Thanksgiving day at my grandmother's house. It was our first Thanksgiving without my grandmother and I think she was in our thoughts throughout the day - as we made the food, while we ate without her there, as we cleaned up. We truly miss her.

On another note, we had a great holiday weekend watching MS State blow away the Rebels from "that school up North" in the Egg Bowl. Go Dawgs! I couldn't score tickets to the game, but watched it with my brother, my dad, my wife, and my sister-in-law. It was a great game and awesome to see the job that Coach Dan Mullen has been doing finally pay off.

Here are some other random thoughts from the weekend:

• We started our emphasis on the Advent season. Thanks Myron and Holly for kicking us off! Advent means "coming" and is a recognition of the coming of the Messiah. As believers we celebrate Advent as we remember his coming as Savior and his future coming as Lord. Each week we will have a family do a selected reading on Advent and light the appropriate candle. My hope is that this will be a reminder to us all about the anticipation for the real reason for the holiday seaon.
• We also started our "Characters of Christmas" series by looking at Simeon and what we do while we wait on the promise of God to be fulfilled. My hope is that each week we will look at a character and see what their life teaches us about God's plan. I hope it is an encouraging and practical look at Christmas.
• Don't forget that this week is the Week of Prayer for Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Our SBC missionaries need our financial support, but more importantly, our prayer support. God can work around any limit we may have on resources, but he allows us to be part of the process through our prayers.
• Speaking of the SBC, be praying for the Great Commisssion Resurgence Task Force that is meeting this week in Atlanta to help set the tone for much of Southern Baptist life in the next few years. Pray for wisdom and insight for these godly leaders. Go to pray4gcr.com for more info.
• The Sixth Street Adult and Children's choirs are putting on the finishing touches for their Christmas musicals. The adult choir will be this Sunday night at 6 PM and the children's choir will be next Sunday at 6 PM. Thanks to Kevin and these awesome leaders for their hard work.

Verse of the week - Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Monday Morning Clarity

After being out with a busy week at the Alabama Baptist Convention last week in Huntsville, it made for a short week. However, we had another great Sunday at Sixth Street yesterday. The crowd seemed a little smaller than the last few weeks. I wondered if the weather had something to do with that. I felt like there was a great spirit among everyone that was there. Here are some of my thoughts about the day and the upcoming holiday season.

• We finished our series on "The Walk" yesterday by looking at Ephesians 5 and how to imitate God. Paul made "Walk this Way" cool long before Aerosmith when he said for us to walk in love, walk as children of light, and walk wisely. I heard several positive comments about the practical application of the message. That always means a lot.
• Had a great lunch with our friends Byron and Christy Meadows and their family yesterday at Mama Ella's. This has become our most popular choice for Sunday lunch. Great food and lots of it.
• Speaking of food, we had another great time at the SSBC Thanksgiving Meal last night in the gym. The turnout was awesome and the food was even better. It's always good to fellowship around the table with other Christians. One thing that Baptists do real well is eat. I was also encouraged to see such a great spirit among our people. It was difficult to interrupt them to do the devotional because everyone was so engaged with each other. That's the power of biblical community.
• Speaking of community, I am hoping that one of our major areas of focus for 2010 is to develop a healthy, spiritually sound groups system that allows everyone in our church to have a place to live the Christian life in community with other Christians and not just attend a class to hear someone teach. People in the church today are starving for real, genuine, deep, and Spirit-filled relationships with other believers.
• This is Thanksgiving week which means I am going to my Mama's house for the holidays. We are excited. Thankgiving is a special time for us, but it will be more so this year because this will be the first Thankgiving without the family matriarch - my grandmother Mama Alice. We are doing Thanksgiving at her house this year in honor of her. In addition, we are celebrating with both my mom and my dad's family and their spouses. I'm looking forward to a great day. I have a lot to be thankful for.
• Sunday morning will start our Christmas series called "Characters of Christmas". We will be looking this week at Simeon and "When You Finally See God's Promise." Hope you will be there.

Monday Morning Clarity

We had another great day yesterday at Sixth Street. I preached the 4th sermon in our "Amazed by Grace" series entitled "Sufficient Grace". We looked at Paul's reminder from God that "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Doing this series has really given me a greater appreciation for God's grace and its power in our lives. I believe that most Christ-followers miss out on seeing the power of God displayed in their lives because of a misunderstanding of the grace of God. It's been refreshing for me and I think the church has really enjoyed it.

• We had another great partnership yesterday with the children's choir and the adult choir. They did "Your Love is Amazing" and Davey and Shelley Macon led in a solo. It's always great to see our children's choir on stage and the parents really show up so the crowd's better. I appreciate Carrie Keel and all her choir workers for their hard work.
• I looked out over our parking lot yesterday before the service and we have some real parking issues. If we increase our average attendance at all, we are really going to have trouble parking the cars, especially when it rains. I hope to get our frontline teams on board by the first of the year helping to solve these issues.
• I have noticed several new people each week, or at least new faces to me. I need to do a better job of encouraging them to fill out a connection card. I think we need to redo the connection card and find another way to disperse it to get information from everyone.
• One of the major tasks for 2010 for Sixth Street is to start talking about developing Biblical community and small groups. I think we have some great couples that are not connected in any way to a small group and that disconnection is showing in the congregation. We are made by God to live life in community with other believers. Expect a major emphasis on this soon.
• We are going to be having some hard talks about finances and budget planning the next few weeks. We need to find a way to balance proper stewardship of God's resources with our plans. I fully expect that the finances will get better, but we need to do a better job all around with teaching stewardship both as families and as a church family.
• We are supposed to close on our new house here soon. My lender tells me we are scheduled for this Friday which would be great! We are really ready to get settled down and get in our own place and establish roots. The move to Alex City has been good for Alison and myself to spend more time together. It's also given us more time with the kids. However, they've gotten stir-crazy without their own house. Pray that all continues to work out.
• Alison started her orientation at Russell Medical Center this week. She's excited and nervous about starting a new job.

Monday Morning Clarity

Well, it feels like I have finally caught up and for the first time in weeks, I had the chance to be somewhat productive on Monday. Didn't have to deal with houses or feeling sick. We're still looking for a house here in Alex City, but hopefully we'll have something in the next couple of weeks.

• I started a new series yesterday at Sixth Street called "Amazed by Grace". I felt like it got off to a good start. We looked at what grace is and looked in depth at Ephesians 2:1-10. I was especially impacted by the depth that God had to go to secure my salvation. It wasn't just a matter of making me a better person or make what was deficient in my righteousness. I had no righteousness. He had to make my dead spirit alive by the work of Christ.
• Yesterday was Homecoming at Sixth Street and we celebrated our 59th anniversary. Looked like a great crowd with some new faces and some old members that choose to return. Lots of energy. However, we need to do a much better job at reaching and being ready for new people. We've got a great team of guys who serve as ushers and greeters. Need to do a better job as church members inviting and doing whatever it takes to get people there.
• We also celebrated Homecoming yesterday with the great Baptist tradition of the "Covered Dish Meal." One of my favorites. One thing I know is that Baptists can eat. That's one reason I couldn't see myself being anything else. What a great spirit among the people of Sixth Street celebrating around a meal. I couldn't help but think that on a larger scale, this was what the early church looked like, minus the fried chicken though.
• I can't wait to get to Catalyst Conference this week. My other two ministerial staff are joining me on the trip. I have been excited about this for months. I have been 2 other times and this is always one of the most creative and transforming times for me as a leader. Gonna have a chance to see some great old friends that are also going to be there.
• I am reading a couple of great books right now. One of them is "Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religions" by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. These guys are young and spot on with their theology and their ecclesiology. Very fresh young minds that aren't sold out to the emerging church and believe that sound doctrine and a love for the church are still important. I'll post a review of it with some highlights when I finish.
  

A Midweek Update

Still lots of crazy things happening around here that are keeping me from being consistent with my Monday morning updates. Some Mondays are so filled with catching up that I find myself late Monday night trying to come up with something. Anyway, here is a midweek update on life and ministry.

• Great Sunday this past weekend at Sixth Street. However, attendance continues to be sporadic and less than what I anticipated. We have been getting several visitor cards the last few weeks though. I hope that we can develop an attitude of anticipation that motivates our church members to be more faithful.
• My youth minister, Eric, preached for me Sunday night and did a pretty good job. He's young and eager to serve the kingdom and has a great future ahead of him. I know that one of the reasons I am where I am is because men like Mickey Dalrymple, Wes Cantrell, John Gibson, Scotty Hogan, and Les Hughes believed in me and nurtured in me ministry and opportunities to preach. I hope I can be as good at mentoring the next generation as those guys were to me.
• Sunday was my birthday. It was a great one. I turned 41. Lots of great well-wishes from the congregation and someone even bought our lunch at Pizza Hut. Then, Wednesday night, one of my church members brought me a pound cake! It was still warm when I cut into it. Mmmmmmmm!
• I am starting a new series this coming Sunday called "Amazed by Grace." I have been doing a lot of reading in the Scripture and in some great books on grace. It has been a wonderful and enriching time. I don't do it enough, but this kind of saturating in God's Word is great.
• One of the main reasons for the lack of postings has been our housing situations here and in Alabaster. This past Tuesday, we drove back to Alabaster and signed the paperwork to sell our house. It was a huge blessing. Our house sold in 2 months from putting it on the market to pocketing the money! (And this in a down house market) Many thanks to our realtor Tim Mitchell. He did a great job! Check out his website at timmitchellsells.com. Now we have to find a house here. We are back to square one in our search, but I hope we will put a contact down on something in the next week.
• I am challenged each and every day by my need to be a more effective father. God has blessed me with three incredible gifts and I am way too passive in their spiritual development. They have been very challenging lately. I know this is in part to the chaos of moving, new schools, and an uncertain housing situation. Alison and I are starting a new book from Kevin Leman that looks great. It's called "Have a New Kid by Friday." I also have to start being much more proactive with starting and being consistent with family devotions. I want them to be students of God's Word and they need to get that from me. Much prayer is appreciated on this.
• I am trying to be more active in getting out of the office and visiting some of our dear saints that can no longer attend church. I got out to three of them yesterday afternoon and it was a major blessing for me.
• It's a great time of the year sports-wise. The Red Sox clinched the wild-card berth this week and start the playoffs next Wednesday. I got to go to the MSU/LSU game for my birthday. So close! It was a great rocking environment. Good days are ahead in Starkville!

That's about all so far for this week. Lots of stuff on my mind and I hope to have some time to do a mind-dump later on this week.

Monday Morning Clarity

Seems like the Monday morning clarity is hard to get going on Monday recently. Yesterday (Monday) I spent all day in Alabaster packing up stuff to prepare for the movers that will come soon and take it all away. So, no blogging yesterday, but a lot of time for personal thought as I was driving.

Housing Update: We have a contract on our house in Alabaster and were supposed to close this Friday, Sept 25. However, their is a delay and it looks like closing is pushed back to next week. Which...affects the closing on the house we are trying to buy here. We have not been able to set a firm closing date b/c of the uncertainty on our house in Alabaster. All said, hopefully we will close on both houses next week and can begin moving into our new house in early October.

Now on to other thoughts:

• Great Sunday morning at Sixth Street. The crowd was still a little smaller than I had hoped. I think some of the college football games are affecting attendance - especially the late night Auburn games. However, the atmosphere of those here was great. Good job by the praise team and choir. I appreciated Adam's lead-in to "From the Inside Out" and Whitney Patterson did an awesome job on the vocals.
• I preached Sunday morning on the Parable of the Ten Virgins and being prepared for the coming Kingdom. The main takeaway was "What gets me into church isn't what necessarily gets me into the kingdom." Felt a lot of freedom in the message.
• We'll be wrapping up the "Kindoms Collide" series this weekend and I am working on the next sermon series. Hope to have it mapped out by the end of the week, but with all the closing stuff on the houses, no promises.
• Sunday night was a great time of fellowship and food at the Family Life Meeting. Baptists and covered dishes go hand-in-hand. I also told everyone that I am convinced that the Greek word for "chicken" is somewhere in the Acts 2 passage on the church. I've never seen so many combinations of chicken dishes.
• At the Family Life Meeting, I introduced to the church what I felt like should be our Core Values for Sixth Street. I have received good reviews so far and lots of positive comments about the future. I am convinced as we focus on the Word and develop a missional strategy to make disciples, God will bless Sixth Street. Lots of work to do between now and the end of the year.
• I'm really looking forward to the church's kickoff of AWANA beginning Oct 21. Our church needs to have a program to help disciple children and reach families. I am glad for the volunteers that have stepped up to the plate.
• I am digging my weekly disciple group with two guys from the church. It's great to meet with other guys to talk about being better followers of Jesus. The success or failure of the church will be how well we can reach men and disciple them.

Gonna put a post up tomorrow about a review of If God is Good by Randy Alcorn. It's a great read.

Monday Morning Clarity

I didn't get to post my Monday Morning observations last week from sheer business and yesterday I was knocked out in the bed with fever and coughing. Seems like I may be dealing with some flu symptoms. Anyway, here are a few thoughts about this past weekend at Sixth Street:

• I've started a disciple group with two of the guys from the church on Friday mornings. I believe that most churches have missed out on the benefit of intentional, peer discipling. I am using Greg Ogden's Discipleship Essentials and some of his thoughts in his book Transforming Discipleship. I hope to have at least one triad disciple group that I am personally involved in at all times.
• I took my first trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium over the weekend for the MSU/Auburn game. While I was disappointed at the outcome, the game atmosphere was great and the Auburn fans showed a lot of class. I also had to give a "War Eagle" out to the church which was met with a small round of applause.
• I really struggled with my focus and delivery during this last week's sermon. Probably because I was feeling ill and my voice was really straining. Hope it was communicated clearly.
• We were blessed to have a wonderful young lady, Baylie Kizziah, share in song on Sunday night. She has a great voice and stage presence for a high school student. We need to get her on stage more often.
• I'm thankful for the tech team at Sixth Street led by Angela Mullins. She and her team work very hard and with limited resources to bring this church into the 21st century with media technology. I know even greater things are in the future in that area.
• I'm meeting tonight for my first meeting with my church council to present to them my first draft of the Core Values I think we should adopt as a church.

Monday Morning Clarity

Well I missed last week's Monday morning update. Lots going on and not much time to get clarity last week. All in all, it's been a good first month on the field here in Alexander City. Lots of stuff has happened rather quickly. We did a lot of work to prepare our house in Alabaster to sell and then got out as soon as it was done. We moved into a temporary lodging provided by one of my church members. (Thanks Tina and Dewayne) We enrolled the kids in new schools, met teachers, learned the drop-off lines, etc. We've also learned the Sunday morning routine here at the church. Here are some random thoughts now as we enter into September.

• Great day of worship yesterday. The band and worship team sounded as good as they ever have in my first month here. There was a real sense of expectation among everyone yesterday.
• I'm enjoying preaching through this series on the Kingdom of God. Yesterday we tackled the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13 focusing on the truth statement "Eternity is too long to serve the wrong kingdom." Felt like it was the best sermon in the series so far for me.
• This weekend we are looking at the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18. Gonna learn a lot about being grace receivers and grace givers.
• The worship center was very full yesterday again. It looks like we can comfortably sit 250 people in there and then it's full. We are already at 80% capacity so we need to start figuring out the next step. It was suggested to me last night that we need to start looking at 2 worship services.
• I also heard that several guys from the CACC Baseball Team showed up yesterday at 10:50 only to find out that worship was almost over so they left. That breaks my heart. We need to do a better job of communicating publicly as a church who we are and inviting people to come.
• I looked out over the crowd yesterday and I saw a great group of church members excited about their church. However, I didn't sense many visitors or unchurched. We may have become too complacent at doing church instead of being the church. We need to capture desperate prayer for the lost and unchurched around us.
• I have begun a routine that has left little time for personal prayer on my part. I must be leading out to make this a "House of Prayer" so I need to make some adjustments in the calendar.
• We had a great meeting with some of the parents yesterday about our children's ministry. We are bringing back the AWANA program to Sixth Street starting October 21 on Wednesday nights. We will need a lot of parents to support and volunteer to put on a first-class program for our kids. We have an awesome responsibility to train our children and a children-friendly church is a family-friendly church.
• We were led musically last night by a three-man group of students from Troy University named "Transistor". Great group of guys that blessed my heart and showed me that God is still doing something amazing in the generation of 20-somethings right now.

That's about all for now! Lots of stuff to consider, but I must get back to business (and prayer).

Monday Morning Clarity (one day late)

Alright, I intend each week to start off the blog with observations about the past week in ministry and the gathering of the saints on Sunday. However, the tyranny of the urgent, the opportunities of the day, and the tendency to have a brain drain (especially after preaching twice on Sunday) all join together to keep me from writing. Nevertheless, here are my observations about ministry and pastoring this past week.

• The great momentum here at Sixth Street continues. I meet new people each Sunday morning that are returning. There is a real sense of hope and purpose here. There is a real pioneering spirit among the remnant here that wants to see great things happen.
• My prayer for each and every one of us in the church is that we continue to see that the church does not exist for me, but I exist for the church. I want to develop in them a missional lifestyle that helps them to see themselves as missionaries living among one of the largest unreached people group on the planet.
• I hope that we can dumb-down religion and elevate our dynamic, powerful relationship with Jesus Christ so that we don't substitute religious activity for relational affection.
• I am loving the studying and preaching on the kingdom of God for Sunday mornings. I believe as we elevate the kingdom, we gain purpose and meaning in life.
• I have had some great "after church" conversations that make pastoring exactly what its meant to be. God is breaking down our walls so that we can be empowered to serve Him and reach others.
• I have to spend a lot of time in the next few weeks on several priorities: 1.) Define who we are as a church (vision, core values) and create a strategy to make disciples (mission, strategy) so that what we do makes sense and is not just what we do. 2.) I have to fight the tendency to create programs and instead facilitate ministry. 3.) We have to become much more family friendly in our programming and make great programming that reaches children. 4.) Create systems that help people feel welcomed and help them get where they need to go. We are not very visitor friendly in our structure right now. We have great people at the door to greet them, we just don't know what to do next.
• I am pumped about working with our men in developing a life-changing men's ministry. I mentioned this Sunday having a BBQ in a couple of weeks and we already have a location along with cooking a whole hog! Nothing more powerful than men who love Jesus sharing experiences and burnt pig flesh. I believe that Sixth Street will experience powerful spiritual renewal in the next year because of the men in our church.

This Sunday's message will be a good one. We'll be looking at the kingdom parable of the sower and the soils. Looking forward to it. See you Sunday!