Big Time in Blackshear

Tara and I had a great week-end in Blackshear Ga. We spoke for their homecoming celebration and I even sang Sunday evening. I was good to be back among people we know and love. Their pastor, Bill Young, is a gracious man who has been faithful in ministry for over 40 years. The church is doing well under his leadership.
Here are some take a ways from this week-end…
• The church in North America must be willing to adjust to the culture of the un-churched around them in order to lead them to Christ. Folks like Jesus but they are not sure how the church fits into their lives.
• The church must return to a Christ centered view of existence. The church exist to display God’s glory in the world
• I love the south and southern culture!
• God is ahead of us in meeting our needs
• I need to play more…I have been a little overwhelmed lately!
Tara and I had a great time in South Georgia. We are very excited to be back in Tallahassee and at FOTH this week-end. It looks like Fitwize 4 Kids will be opening Nov. 8th. We are so excited!!! See www.fitwize4kids.com for more information.

Random thoughts

I have had a crazy week with many meetings. I have also had amazing conversations with people who have been attending FOTH. I am excited about what I am hearing and seeing. The vision that God has placed in our hearts is becoming reality. Here some random thoughts…
• God is interested in a church planting movement in Tallahassee and in Florida
• Churches need a guide to transition and fresh eyes to help them see how to create environments for that change.
• We have allowed ungodly people too much freedom in the church regarding vision, direction, and decisions. If you are a whiner you are not a worshipper!
• Church health is not about size but about building people to look like Jesus.
• This has been a difficult season of leading but I will not surrender.
• My mom is better but will never recover. I will cherish the days I have with her and I am thankful that I am close.
• God is always ahead of us and worry does no good.
• Relationships of authenticity are truly revealed in the fires of adversity.
• God is always sending people to help you and you are always being sent to help.
• Tara’s gym has the sign up and we hope to open in November. To learn more about her gym go to www.fitwize4kids.com
That’s enough for now. I am headed to South Georgia to speak at homecoming for First Baptist Blackshear. I am excited about returning to these folks that I love. This was my first church out of seminary and the third time I have been back in 18 months!

Bedrocks

I have spent some time today just being thankful for God calling me to lead. Leadership is tough because it means leading yourself. I find that I drift faster and further than anyone. So this morning I returned to the call of God in my life and found that stable place of leadership. God is good and His calling in my life is all that matters. So today is the day of the Lord’s favor and I will serve Him.
For me there are a few “bedrocks” in my life that keep me somewhat grounded. The first is the call God has on my life. I first heard his calling at 15 and that call grows stronger every day. Even in the days I want to walk away His call holds me. I can’t do anything other than serve Him. The next is the legacy my father has left through God honoring leadership. My dad led like Jesus. Then there is the love I have for Tara. Her love holds me, calms me, and empowers me. The love I have for my children is like unto Tara’s love. The pressure of living out my calling for them drives me to make changes and confessions. Last for today, is the love of God’s people. People bring problems but they matter to God and deserve a pastor who walks with Him. God is moving in Tallahassee through a church in a middle school. I am honored to join God in this movement.
So today is the day of God’s favor and I will serve Him!

My Mom

It is interesting how life twist and turns. I love my mom. I have and always will be her “baby boy” (best heard with a deep Mississippi accent). In the last few years mom’s health has been on the decline and now she is just in bad shape.
On Monday night my sister called and told me she was taking mom to the hospital. Mom was having chest pains and at 80 things can go downhill quickly. I debated about making the trip over to check on her and I left Tuesday afternoon.
I arrived to find her sitting up and very confused. The amazing thing is when I spoke to her she “cleared up”. I then fed her diner thinking about what it must have been like 50 years ago when she was feeding me. I love my mom and I struggle with the why’s of her condition. The very one who has loved me all my life now sits in wait for the Lord to call her home. This is a tough season for my family so I would appreciate your prayers. I am seeing more clearly that the call to come back to Florida was not just about starting a new church but being reconnected with my family. I am so glad that God is ahead of me!
I learned a big leadership lesson while helping my mom. Leaders reach back to serve those who have helped them become.

Planting the spear

November of 2007 I got to watch the FSU football game from the sidelines. It was amazing and it was spiritual. Ok, not from the whole I love football and the Seminoles stuff, but I really felt God speaking to me about starting a church in Tallahassee. In fact it was very clear. God planted the spear in my heart about a church start here that would launch a movement.
Last week I got to watch the game from the sideline again. Well, not the whole game just a few minutes of the second half. I got ran off after I had my picture made with Renegade (the horse). It was once again amazing. This time I felt God’s approval. We have been obedient to the call of God. We have risk everything to follow Him in this adventure. It has been a difficult year but things a Fellowship of the Hills are beginning to really get exciting. God is doing a miracle in a middle school. You don’t want to miss what God is doing.
God uses all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people and I can say there is not another church like FOTH in Tallahassee. We are intentional about loving God and loving people in a culturally relevant way. We teach God’s word (preach the gospel) and expect God to build our lives. We make the path to the cross plain and rock your soul with some great music all of this in a casual relaxed atmosphere. I am not saying that we are better than any other church. We are different. God loves verity even in His church.
I watched the game from the sideline in 2007 and God launched a church for Tallahassee!

Feed Me!

One of the most common attacks a pastor gets is from the super spiritual crowd that openly declares that you are not preaching the bible and you are not “feeding” them. I don’t know who coined the phrase “feed” me when it comes to church life but it makes me want to puke. There is nothing more self condemning and self centered than “Feed me”.
The reason this accusation stings is based on our frailty as mere men. Pastors are people and we handle holy things with great respect and face our short comings every time we speak. With that in mind when someone says that my preaching has fallen short in their measure of shortness it stings because at some level it is true. So how do you react to such critics?
• Make sure you are walking with God and preparing. If you are being lazy then you should get blasted.
• Keep growing as a speaker. Listen to others, read, have folks you respect listen and give feedback. Set up a process of evaluation and grow every week. Great singers keep taking lessons and even Tiger has a coach!
• Don’t waste your time defending your preaching. You answer to God not to men. I have heard some of the greatest communicators of our day say that people leave their church because they are not being “Fed”. This “feed me” stuff is a load of bull!
• Help people learn to feed themselves! Build spiritual disciplines into your systems.
• Be yourself. God want you to be you and He called you to preach. If you are using another pastor sermons make sure you make it yours. I have used other pastor’s material before and it takes me longer in preparation but they are a great resource. It is amazing how a guy can get a talk from a commentary and it be scholarly but if uses a sermon it is plagiarism. One source is stealing, two or more is research!
• More often than not there is more to the whining than preaching. People like to sound better than they really are and the “feed me” card sounds so spiritual. I have had people break out the “feed me” junk when they were covering up their sin. If I am not “feeding them” then their sinful behavior is somehow my fault. I have learned to look closely into the lives of folks who break out the “feed me” card.
• The truth is some folks are going to leave the church for whatever reason. You can spend a lot of time trying to make them happy but they will go anyway. Don’t waste your time and energy on this. Be gracious and let them go. Move with folks that are moving with you as you move with God.
In my experience the biggest critics of my preaching is other pastors in town. That is just plain wrong and I can fall into that trap as well. So I must choose to keep my mouth shut about other leaders unless I am invited into helping them grow. There is more but this is enough!

Attacked Dos

An onslaught like being accused by something immoral or illegal is one thing but most leaders are attacked in a less obvious ways. The most common attack comes as the church grows and the leaders must adjust to the higher level of demands on their life.
I have always been highly relational. The statement “relationships make life rich” has been my leadership cry. I believe that a leader who leads from the center of relationships is more effective and models Christ like leadership. I think that any pastor who prizes isolationism really needs to get a clue. With that said as your church grows relationships change. The time you give must be that of investing and recharging. In the early days of the Texas plant I could hang out, play golf, fish and so forth with folks. My life started changing with the added responsibilities of leading and family life. I came under fire. The biggest complaint was “Scott has changed. He is no longer (fill in the blank) as he once was.”
When I first heard this I thought “what the heck! Don’t these people know all I do and how much pressure I am under?” The truth is they didn’t. And to make things worse, I had changed. I had to change in order to survive. What stung was that this heat came from folks who were friends. What I discovered was that these friends were more interested in being close to the leader than they were being my friend. My real friends understood. One of my closest friends, Brian Williams, never expected me to adjust to him. He understood the time pressure and stood by me. He still is one of my closest friends although we are separated by miles.
So how do I need to react when I get this heat?
• Go public with the growth struggles
• Let someone else handle your calendar. A Good ministry assistant is a blessing. I had certain days I did certain things and limited what I did. My assistant would say no for me. I currently have no assistant so I have to control my calendar. I use the same rules as then.
• Don’t be a jerk!
• Don’t waste time and energy trying to explain your schedule. Negative people will never have enough information and all meeting with them does is burn up your time and makes you frustrated.
• Invest in leaders and people who pour life into you.
• Never react and become defensive. It is what it is.
• Don’t become relationally disconnected. I have seen guys who could not handle this natural flow of leadership react into extremism. We are called to love people and that means being connected.
• Know how you are wired. If you are relational like me crowds energize you. If you are introverted you will need more space. Explain publicly who you are and then live that way.
That’s enough for now. I hope this helps.

I was Attacked!

If you are a leader there will come a time when somebody says something about you that is just not true and is very damaging. Most of this kind of talk is guised under “concern” but there are straight up attacks that can rattle you. Some attacks or accusations can be so damaging that although you are innocent you are ruined. How do you handle this stuff?
While in Texas I had a man accuse me of having an affair. He went so far as to call my wife stating he had proof. Thankfully Tara didn’t give it any credence. He didn’t stop there. He shared his information with another pastor. Once again my pastor friend gave it no credence and called me. He didn’t stop there. He went to the local police and reported that I was involved in several elicited activities. I didn’t understand these attacks because I had befriended this person several years before and had even baptized him. Here are the steps I went through to clear this up.
• I asked the Lord to be my helper. I did this first.
• I took a deep look at my behavior. I wanted to make sure that I was not sending wrong messages.
• I opened my life to everyone. Because I was innocent I had nothing to hide. I made sure Tara was secure and that my life was an open book. No secrets no worries! I involved my trusted friends and gave them access to cell phone, computer, and schedule.
• I didn’t become angry. I was mad but I didn’t lash out and try to discredit my attacker. I knew my character would stand this attack.
• I confronted my attacker in the company of those who held me accountable. Never confront something like this alone. Jesus gave that instruction in Matt. 18. Those who knew me and what was going on in my life became my defenders.
• While confronting I asked questions that were probing and sought to understand. I was careful not to belittle. This guy was convinced he was right. After I opened my life to him he saw that he was wrong. If you are dealing with someone who is mentally challenged more drastic actions will be needed. It was amazing how even after we “solved” this situation that he kept attacking me. I chose to distance myself and honor him from afar. He left the church. If he had not then other action would have to have happened.
• I became still and waited. After confrontation and disclosures I felt that I need not defend myself anymore. I kept my mouth shut which was very hard. Soon it all cleared up.
• I protected the congregation as a whole from this by not going public by trying to defend myself publicly.
• I shared all my emotions and actions with Tara. She knew everything that was going on. This involved her as much as me. She was and is the most important person in my life.
Tomorrow I will share some other attacks that follow a leader that are a little less daunting. Leadership is about character and character is doing what God expects in the face of attacks. I hope this helps.

Vision

I heard a lot in the church world about “vision”. It seems to be the battle cry. Mostly I am hearing guys dream. The difference between vision and dream is vision has a plan. God plants a vision into a leaders heart then He gives him a plan to make what God see be. If there is no plan then it is not a vision, it is a dream or better said “wishful thinking”.
What I am also hearing from some leaders is a vision couched in what they are against. I could call it the railing against what is to force what they think should be. I many cases these leaders don’t have a solution to what they are against, they merely have a complaint. Over time people grow weary of the negative outcries and long to be a part of bring hope to people. A negative vision soon becomes the incised rants of a mad man.
Taking our clues from Jesus we see He had a vision, He’s the solution. The cross was His plan. He was against religion as expressed in His day as well as ours. His vision is about redemption and reconciliation. Maybe that should be our vision as well.

We are One

FOTH celebrated our first anniversary yesterday! We had a great time. Lots of folks, cool vibe, and God honoring life change that makes for a rocking day. We wrapped up the day with a fish fry on Coach and Patti Gladden’s ranch. We brought the dish that goes with fish and experienced a slice of heaven in North Florida. I am more convinced than ever that God has planted the spear in the heart of Tallahassee in the form of a new church for His glory.
In my time with God this morning I was reading in Romans 14 where Paul was giving instructions about judging other believers. As I read I could not help thinking about all the competition within churches in Tallahassee. We get caught up in stuff that doesn’t matter. I felt the Lord telling me to be faithful to what He has called me to do and not worry about His other servants. God has called FOTH to build lives that honor Him and that is what we are doing.
I will be blogging this week on leadership and vision. Stay connected!

Sacred Echo, You've got to read it!

I recently read Margret Fienberg’s new book “Sacred Echo”, WOW! That girl can write. I was third in line when the book arrived because Tara and Caleb beat me to it. Margret has a way to communicate God’s truth in an easily understood way that attracts and draws folks into a deeper understanding of a relationship with our great God.
The book is about prayer, but it is more than prayer. Several times I had tears roll down my checks as Margret reminded me of God’s promises. What she has done through “Sacred Echo” is to infuse my heart with hope. You must read this book!
They say that Margret is a writer for the younger generation. She is young but she hits us all with her compelling style. God is using her to tell His story. Pick up a copy, read, and listen for the “Sacred Echo”.

It's been awhile

It has been a week since I last blogged. Why? I had nothing to say. No really, I had lots to say but I just couldn’t bring myself to saying it. It has been revealing week. God has been pushing on my resolve and character. Here are some thoughts
• I have learned to live with a resilient optimism. God is my hope
• Family matters and family is more than just my kinfolks
• God is always ahead of us in His provision. Today’s bread is baked in God’s bakery last night!
• God will allow me to contend with Him but He will not be ignored
• My emotional responses influence everyone around me for good and bad
• If I am defeated them my family is defeated
• I will not surrender Tallahassee and the vision God has for this city
• Doing church makes me sick but being the church brings God’s hope to the world
That’s enough! Fellowship of the Hills turns 1 this Sunday and we are having a fish fry to celebrate. If you are in Tallahassee don’t miss this. We also start a new series called Sport Center. In the south football is king but Jesus is Lord! See you Sunday!