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My A-Team...

Do you remember Mr. T? Hannibal? Face? Murdock? I used to LOVE watching these guys shoot their guns at the bad guys every day (BTW, did you notice they never shot anyone? They were terrible shots!). Why did many of us love this show so much for so many seasons? It was the chemistry the team had together. Whether it was Hannibal and his cigar, Mr T and his jewelry; Face and his impersonations, or Murdock and his insanity, somehow, in an odd way, they all seemed to compliment each other! That's why they were the A-Team!
        Today I'm headed out for a couple of days on a Retreat up in the mountains with my A-Team: Our Pastors here at MLC, and their wives. Every year, this is the highlight of my year. There is NOTHING I love more than hanging out with my A-TEAM! We're all so different, but there's an incredible chemistry that exists among all of us! Over the next two days we will   hang by the fire in a cabin, hike together, laugh together, XBOX 360 together, and share our lives on a deeper level with each other. First and foremost, our being together will keep our team close to each other.

So here's to my A-Team: Guys, I wouldn't want to fight 'the bad guys with anyone else! I want each of you to know that YOU COMPLETE  ME! I don't tell you enough, but when I'm in a foxhole with spiritual gunfire blazing over my head, there's no group pf people on this earth I'd rather be in the foxhole with than you. I wouldn't trade you seven guys for ANYTHING. And I'm sorry, but we have the coolest Pastor's wives club in the world! You guys rock! Your servant's hearts and support of the men in your lives does not go unnoticed. you are my best friends, my partners, and the group of people I want to spend the rest of my life with! Thanks for saying YES to God's call to join the Mountain Lake team! As Hannibal often said: "I love it when a  plan comes together!"  I love you; I'm honored to be your leader; And you make me better than I would be alone! So here's to my A-Team! Let's retreat to our hideout and so we're ready for the next battle! BTW, don't tell anyone where our hideout is! It's a secret!

check my buddy David out...

Check out what my buddy, church planting partner, and Executive Pastor David Putman has rolling out this year! David I'm proud to serve with you!

GREAT Meetings...

        Today, I will have a 6 hour strategic meeting with our Leading Elders here @ MLC: David, Casey, and Chad. These guys are my best friends and my partners in the mission like no other here at our church. So many people HATE meetings. I honestly can't ever remember HATING or NOT looking forward to a meeting here at MLC. I think we have GREAT meetings here! They're not perfect, but there are several components of a great meeting. this list is not exhaustive, but here are a few components I believe must be in every meeting for it to be a GREAT MEETING:

• Food. IN MANY meetings, we have food, and a hang time for 15-30 minutes before we get into the bulk of the meeting. Does so much for the REST of the meeting!

• Execution. We take minutes of EVERY meeting we have here. No details. The only thing I want in the minutes is:1. What we decided; 2. Who's responsible for this; 3. When's the deadline?. This helps people know in our meetings know that what we discuss is actually going to make a difference!

• Communication. We use our meetings to communicate across ministries. I know my children's ministry guys may or may not care as much about what's going on in our Small Groups, but by gosh, I am going to make them care! Communication about what's going on in our different ministries helps keeps ministry SILOS from forming.

• Leadership Development. there is always a Leadership Development component or spiritual development component in our meetings. I want people's lives to be better in some small way because they've been to my meeting.

• Laughter. I work hard at creating laugher in our meetings. We need to learn to laugh at ourselves more and enjoy life! If people are laughing at your meetings, you don't have a GREAT MEETING.

• Vision. Vision must be a part of every great meeting. People who work for us want to know that: 1. THEY matter; 2. What they're doing matters. 3. The WHY behind the what. We must constantly remind our team WHY we're doing what we're doing! All the time in our meetings, we talk about life change in our church. Nothing boosts morale more on our team than being reminded that we do what we do to change lives!

Team Worship Planning...

        Today I'm headed out for a half day Worship Planning Retreat with our Key Pastors at a lake home nearby. I have spent hours praying, thinking about, and processing where God may be leading our church over the next six months.  Then I have laid out the messages series I believe God is leading us toward over the next six months. All of this has been by myself. NOW, however, I will spend a half day laying all this out before our pastors, talking about it, inviting feedback, and working on the finer details of the messages and message series TOGETHER as a TEAM. During this time I will be open to "tweaking" or changing altogether some of the things I have on my mind and calendar.

Working on our message series calendar TOGETHER as a TEAM has tons of benefits:

• Diversified theological perspectives.
• Diversified perspectives on where people are in my church.
• More creativity.
• More LEAD TIME for even MORE creativity.
• More Synchronization of Ministries over the next six months.
• "buy in" from the other pastors on what we'll be talking about.
  
• A GREAT TIME of  "robust dialogue," food,  and laughs with my main guys!

        I can't imagine "going up on the mountain" to get the weekend messages without support, feedback, and perspective from my other pastors. Our TEAM makes our worship services WAY better. Can't wait, guys!

Honoring those in authority...

    Yesterday I had an incredible time with Steven Furtick at elevation. (see yesterday's posts for links. I'm too lazy today). One of the things we ended up talking about was honoring those in authority. We talked about the need to honor those whom God has placed in leadership over us. Obviously, the reason, we should honor and worship Jesus, is because He is our leader! However, this principle carries down through every human relationship inside and outside of the church. In our world, there are different layers and levels of authority that God has placed over us: In our nation, in our states, our communities, in our jobs, in our churches, and in our families.
    IN today's world however, most of us don't do well with authority. We question it, buck it, accuse it, second guess it, and dismiss it. IN God's economy, however, honoring those who God has placed in leadership over us is a form of honoring God.  Look at some specific instructions from God regarding this idea:

• 1 Peter 2:13-2:14 (NIV) 13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.

• 1 Peter 2:18-20 (NLT) 18You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters. Do whatever they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are harsh. 19For God is pleased with you when, for the sake of your conscience, you patiently endure unfair treatment. 20Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing right and are patient beneath the blows, God is pleased with you.

• 1 Peter 3:1-2 (NLT) 1In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands, even those who refuse to accept the Good News. Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words. They will be won over 2by watching your pure, godly behavior.

• 1 Peter 3:7 (NLT) 7In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. If you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard.

• 1 Peter 5:5 (NLT) 5You younger men, accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for “God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.”

        Yesterday was an important reminder to me. Here are several questions I came away asking that I think all of us would do well to ponder:

• Who has God placed in leadership over me?

• How am I honoring them with my attitude, words and actions?

• As a leader, how can I live a life that's worthy of being honored?

THANKS STEVEN! God speaks to me through you every time we talk! Shocking, huh?

Another hero of mine...

    I got to hang out with my friend Perry Noble of  Newspring Church last night before their worship services. Perry continues to be one of my heroes. Perry leads one of the fastest growing churches in the country, yet he took time to hang out with myself and my team for a long time yesterday afternoon before he was about to teach (for the third time)! To boot, he had M & M's and coffee for me! Thanks to Lindsay, Trish, Jason, Michael, and  the rest of the crew for being GREAT hosts.
    By the way, if I ever hear of any of you Pastors criticizing Perry or accusing their church of watering down the Bible to achieve their fast growth, I am going to be tempted to, in Perry's words,  "punch you in the throat". This man preached the Bible last night! He preached AGAINST SIN and FOR JESUS as clear as you will EVER hear anyone preach it! People's accusations that fast growing churches are growing because they are watering down the Gospel is HOGWASH, and  most of the time, this idea is being spread by jealous pastors whose churches aren't reaching people! NEWSPRING IS A GREAT CHURCH! Is it just like yours? NO! Is it just like mine? NO! Is it perfect? Just ask Perry, and he will tell you "NO!" But what church ever has been?! Is yours?
    But don't be fooled by Perry's "AW, GOSH, we don't know WHY this is happening here," statements. Perry is a great leader who models the way in  his love for God and people. He loves his wife and family well and loves the church well. He's also done and INCREDIBLE job of raising up incredible Staff Members who have experienced life change at his church. If you want to be challenged and encouraged, then take your ENTIRE TEAM to their UNLEASH CONFERENCE in March of next year. Just promise me you'll come to ours first! Thanks, Perry. You're still one of my heroes. In fact, you're the hero of many. That's why I said what I said last night: "Just don't screw up!"

      

Learning from other churches...

        Today after church, we're taking our entire Ministry Team up to Newspring Church, one of the fastest growing churches in the country,  in Anderson, SC. Newspring is led by a friend of mine, Perry Noble. We'll even get to hang out with him some after the services. We'll learn, be encouraged, challenged, and have lots of fun together! If nothing else, it bonds our team together in a way that no meeting can!
        If you're a pastor, take some time to corral your entire team and visit other churches! Don't try to copy them, but  learn from them! Don't live on a ministry island or be a ministry know-it-all! Be a learner!

Ministry Team Thoughts...

    My schedule today has me thinking a lot about what an awesome Ministry team we have here at MLC. Here are some highlights (and some great people) on my schedule today:

8:30 - I will meet with Chad Ward, our Creative Arts Pastor and Rodney Anderson, our Teaching Pastor, to continue to develop content for our next several message series. After I spend time with God, these are always the first two people I want to talk to and allow God to speak through them. Chad and Rodney, God has blessed you with an uncanny ability to sense the pulse of this flock of sheep and works with me to help them belong and become!

10:30 - I will meet with two new Ministry Team members that I hope you get to meet soon:
*  Sarah Alvarez is our new Children's Small Group Director, and will be working with Carol Jones in our Children's Ministry. Sarah is an incredible, young, emerging leader in our church. If you don't know her, just look for long, flowing black hair in the Wee Wonders Hallway!
* David Isbell is our new Student Ministry intern. He will be working with Jeff Bagwell in our Student Ministry and learning more about how to minister to people in an environment like Mountain Lake! He is going to help our church reach new kids for Christ like never before!

11:30 - "Leadership Challenge": Every Tuesday I meet with all of our Pastors and Executive level Ministry Directors here at MLC for the propose of infusing into them some of the things I have learned about spiritual leadership. We eat lunch together on campus and then grow and learn together! Right now, we are reading a book together called Practicing Greatness. THIS is the main reason why every member of our Ministry Team seems to grow exponentially with each passing year!

1:00 - I will meet with the most incredible Creative Arts and Worship team ever assembled! Chad, Rodney, and I will be joined by Casey Darnell, our Worship Pastor, and Mary Fortson, our Creative Arts Director to program out the flow of our worship services over the next several weeks here at MLC. This meeting is where all of the creativity (things like Confessions videos!) and final song selection comes from here at MLC! We're already working on Easter services and our "WOW" Message Series in April and May! As you can imagine, this is a long, draining meeting, but you're worth it!

4:00 - I will meet with my assistant, Mellissa Munda, who put this day all together for me, and without whom, I could have the effective ministry I do! Thanks, Mellissa!

If you get a chance, hug our Team, for helping lead the greatest church in the world!

Note: Tomorrow through Saturday, I will be on a a Pastor's and Wives Retreat up in Blue Ridge. I will try to post some, but it might be less frequently. in the mean time, keep those comments coming in!