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Monday Morning Reflections

A few thoughts from yesterday at LowCountry Community Church...

- We wrapped up the series "Old School" where we studied and made applications to our lives from five Old Testament saints: David, Jonah, Elisha, Samson and Ruth.

- Yesterday we extracted principles from David's life in 1 Samuel 23 and discovered some ways in which we can discern God's will in our lives.

- The question I have probably been asked most often during my years in ministry is, "How can I know God's will?"
 
- The five principles that we should work through as we are seeking God's will are: Scriptural confirmation, external circumstances, a multitude of godly counselors, inner desires, and the peace of the Holy Spirit.

- The message will be up later this week on our website.

- We had some interesting lighting issues...for no apparent reason during the first service the lights - all of them - were just turning themselves on and off. It was quite entertaining. (And frustrating if you're the preacher.)

- But our crack team was on top of it and got things sorted out by the second service. So no lighting issues then...only a lightning storm!

- A few times, as the rain was pounding the roof, and lightning cracked above, we had a few loud pops and surges - it kept us all on our toes!

- The coolest part was when our sax player Dean was playing this really soulful solo, and the thunder was rolling above us ... just adding to the drama of the experience.

- We then enjoyed some great fellowship after the service...no one wanted to leave! Was it the preaching? The music? The sense of love as the family of God worshipping together? No - it was raining so hard no one wanted to go outside to their car! But I overheard one person say, "This is great! I got a chance to visit with folks I haven't seen in months!"

- And on Saturday, August 14th, we celebrated our 16th anniversary as a church. In 1994 a group of about 50 people gathered for the first official worship experience as the Church at Hilton Head. They met at Tom and Nona Mosley's home in Moss Creek.

- And Mosley's, I know you're probbaly readng this, so let me shout it from the rooftops: THANK YOU for the incredible foundation you laid. You two are awesome and we love you!

- When we look back over these years, we cannot help but be blown away by God's faithfulness. Since that first day, thousands of people have heard the gospel and said yes to Jesus, hundreds have been baptized, and many are serving Christ overseas as missionaries.

- This Sunday we kick-off a brand new series called "Happily Ever After." It's a seven-week study of the Beatitudes. Can't wait!

A few other random thoughts...

- Football season is just around the corner. Will I be in Death Valley for game number one in19 days? You'd better believe it! (And game number two, and game number...) Hope springs eternal...

- I watched the movie "Inception" last week. As I sit here typing this, I cannot recall anything about the film, never understood what it was about, thought it was completely weird, and felt like it was a colossal waste of time. Yet everyone I know who has seen it has raved about it. What the heck did I miss?

- Join me at THE NINES on 09/09. "Game Changers" for church leaders is the theme. It's entirely on-line. Register for free here. Our entire LCC staff will be participating that day.

- If you're Dustin Johnson today, how are you feeling? Wow...

- Have a great day, everyone!

Monday Morning Reflections

- What a great day at LowCountry yesterday!

- Pastor Todd preached at the Bluffton campus and four people prayed to receive Christ! THAT NEVER GETS OLD!

- I had the privilege of speaking at the Hilton Head campus and really enjoyed my time there. I'm trying to preach there every five to six weeks.

- We do need to do something about the A/C there though; either that or our next summer series will be on Hell and we'll entitle it: "And You Think It's Hot in Here?"

- The worship and the spirit of the congregation was vibrant and alive...and the place was slam-packed.

- I enjoyed preaching on Jude's doxology (vss. 24-25) ... we began by me singing a doxology I recalled from my younger days...yes, I sang! I was more nervous about that than the rest of the message! Others joined me (thankfully) as we sang another doxology which many knew and remembered. Brought back a lot of memories for some...a few even teared up!

- Afterwards, we had lunch with some local friends and a visiting, believing family from Northern Ireland. We really enjoyed our time with Graeme, Sharon, Erin, and Katie. My first Irish friends! My great-, great-, great-, great-grandmother, Sarah Mullins, who emigrated from the Emerald Isle would be proud.

- What's the one truth I will remember from yesterday?  GOD IS ABLE!

- I've got some vacation time coming up next week and I'm ready for it. I have a lot of good reading to catch up on. I wake up before anyone else usually, and love to make a cup of good, hot coffee, grab
a book, go outside and read. I know that to some of you that sounds incredibly boring, but I like it...

- Tubing, wakeboarding, chasing around Bear (the world's greatest dog), and more fun stuff comes later in the day.

- Meeting with our interns later today. We're really enjoying their ministry among us this summer. Three are from Liberty University and one from Toccoa Falls College.

- The winner of last Friday's "So You Think You Know?" is Barb Weatherwax! The answer is that the paragraph does not contain the letter "e". Six of you correctly guessed. A copy of F. W. Boreham's Loose Leaves is on its way to Barb today. Thanks for playing. By the way, I grabbed that brain-teaser from the Car Talk Puzzler.

- Enjoy your day!

Monday Morning Reflections

- Writing this on Sunday night as I sit on the couch nursing a nasty head cold and watching the Vikings v. Saints. The cold hit me this morning and by the end of the 3rd service I felt like I had been run over by a Mack truck. (Okay, enough whining: feel sorry for me now?)

- Guys, we really are babies when we're sick, aren't we? It's pathetic!

- But it didn't stop me from having an enjoyable lunch date with our youngest daughter, Emily, at Hampton Lake. Sure enjoyed my time with her. 

- Great day today at LCC on both campuses. LCC-Hilton Head had their largest "regular" Sunday attendance with over 170. Can anyone say, "Three services?" How about, "larger worship venue"?
(Todd, are you reading this?)

- Great spirit at LCC-Bluffton today, too. Seeing hundreds of people signing up for Serve Day, getting their t-shirts, and just hanging out with one another did my heart good. (I received a "special" t-shirt...can't wait to rock it next week. Hint: a Tiger paw is involved!)

- Spoke about how fear can hold us hostage today. Some truths I want to remember are:
+"In any situation, what you are determines what you see. What you see determines what you do." - Haddon Robinson
+Don't tell God how big your giants are. Tell the giants how big your God is.
+To decide to delay is to decide to deny.
+"Without God, we cannot; without us, He will not." - Augustine
+You will be criticized by those closest to you when you step up and decide to face some giants in your life. Expect it and then overcome it.
+The Israelite army looked at Goliath and said, "He's too big to hit!" David looked at him and said, "He's too big to miss!"

- Speaking of Serve Day, we are totally pumped!!  Our church leaves the building next Sunday to do dozens of service projects all around our communities. It's always a blast and God gives us many divine opportunities that we don't even know about yet.

- Need more information, want to view available projects, or nned to sign up for Serve Day? You can do that here.

- Kristen sang a great song, "Rescue Me," to close all three services and gutted it out with a mild case of pneumonia. What commitment! Kinda makes my cold look weak...

- I've been invited to speak at the one of the country's largest Celebrate Recovery groups ... at Cokesbury United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., February 4th. I am pumped...almost 500 people in recovery show up every Thursday night. It is awesome. Check them out here. I'll be speaking on insecurity.

- Have a great day, everyone!

"And We're Back!" - Monday Morning Reflections

- Great to be back at LCC yesterday. I always miss everyone when I'm gone.

- Enjoyed a really wonderful time with our friends at Longton Community Church near Preston, England. They are really making an impact for the kingdom and seeing heaps of lives being changed by God's power, grace, and love. I'll hopefully blog about them a bit more this week - complete with photos! (If I can figure out how to input them correctly...)

- Yesterday was all about contentment and, no, I do not have a fetish for Tag Heuer watches ... just an unhealthy, unfulfilled obsession. Here's my favorite one (notice the color...isn't it beautiful!?).


- Contentment is living with what you have and being available when God asks.

- In this new series called "Revolu$ion," we'll discover that people who are financially free trust God, save consistently, spend intentionally, build purposefully, and give freely. It's going to be a blast!

- "Stuffitis" is when we have an insatiable desire for more and better stuff - it's the Elvis-head Chia Pet syndrome... "I just gotta have it!"

- Last year, over 5.3 billion credit-card offers were put in our mail-boxes and, according to CardTrak, Americans currently have $660 billion (that's a "b") in credit card debt. Hebrews 13:5 really puts this in perspective.

- Generous giving - whether it's of our time, talent, or treasure - also helps keep things in perspective for us. And God owns it all anyway (Ps. 24:1).

- The balance in the bank and the numbers of the paycheck aren't ours. They are resources God has blessed us with. They all belong to Him and we show Him honor when we give back our first fruits to our Provider. This reminds us of who we are and who He is.

- Tony Morgan has really challenged me with the following statements. I'll be thinking these through this week. Check them out and wrestle with them along with me:

When you teach on “felt needs,” you aren’t watering down the message. You are helping people find forgiveness and healing and a new direction for their life. It’s easy to preach through the Bible. It’s much harder to preach to hurting people who need to understand how the Bible applies to their lives.

When the person sitting beside you is dealing with a marriage crisis that’s leading to a crisis of faith, it makes your preferences of music and volume seem pretty small.

When you neglect the mission field in your neighborhood because of your desire to help people across the ocean, I wonder if you’re just choosing the path of least resistance.

When you choose to focus on your theological differences at the expense of helping people find healing and hope, could it be that you haven’t spent enough time living out your faith because you’re too busy defending your faith?

- Lauren surprised me and made a quick trip home from Atlanta this weekend. It was so good to see her again.

- Bear, the world's greatest dog, hung out with us this weekend. Tiff and Bryan went to see our Tigers paste Wake Forest. Wins sure do feel better than losses.

- So, what's on for this week? As always, getting ready for Sunday, then catching up on over 100 emails, blogging, heading to Atlanta with our youth ministers, Rob and Aaron, to check out Grace Fellowship's youth ministry, annual staff evaluations, meetings, and getting over jet lag.

- Have a great one!

Monday Morning Reflections

- At LCC yesterday we examined how to handle conflict in a biblical manner - which is always the best!

- We can be peace fakers, peace breakers, or peace makers. Jesus calls us to the latter. Matthew 5:9

Here are the "Seven A's of Confession" from Ken Sande's book, The Peacemaker:
1. Address everyone involved.
2. Avoid the words, "if," "but," and "maybe."
3. Admit specifically both attitudes and actions.
4. Acknowledge the hurt.
5. Accept the consequences.
6. Alter your behavior.
7. Ask for forgiveness and allow time.

- Ever wonder how to pronounce those hard-to-pronounce Bible words or names? Here's a website I use from which I learned to correctly pronounce Euodia and Syntyche.

- My Mom and Dad were visiting with us this weekend. It was great to have them here again.

- The video lead-in to the message highlighting Ohio State football was definitely NOT my idea!

- We dedicated some of the sweetest children yesterday. I love child dedications!

 - After church we went to one of our favorite restuarants, Fiesta Fresh, (where we saw about a dozen LCCers). Their Fiesta Grilled Chicken Salad is the best around!

- Busy week ahead as I prepare to leave for the U.K. again on Thursday night. I'll be with the great people at Longton Community Church near Preston, England. God is doing some great things there and I can't wait to see it all first-hand again.

- LCC peeps, we have our third annual Clothing Connection coming up again on November 14th. We need your gently used clothing, shoes, baby furniture, and household items. Sorry, no toys accepted. Please bring your donations to the Bluffton campus on Sunday mornings, or Monday through Thursday during normal business hours. Please call Alaina at 843/368-1752 to help sort or for more information. You can also click here and Mark will give you more info. Let's all get involved; it's one of the best outreaches of love we make to our communities.

- That's the same weekend as our church's senior high retreat up in the S.C. mountains at an awesome place called Awanita Valley. I took my first youth group up there in 1986. And this year, Pastor Rob has asked me to be the speaker! I am so jacked about it. I've been wanting to get to know our kids better and this will be a wonderful opportunity for that...can't wait!

- I'm out. My computer is freaking out for some reason this morning. Have a great day!

Monday Morning Reflections

- I really enjoyed being with our Hilton Head campus yesterday. Great things are happening there!

- Two hundred were on hand to celebrate two years of God's faithfulness to us as we celebrated our island campus' birthday.

- Four huge bouncy "things" for the kid's, the BBQ Krew fed us all, Cynthia and the worship band did an incredible job of leading our worship, Todd led so confidently from the stage and behind-the-scenes, and to top it off, they asked me to speak!

- I loved being with our island peeps. I shared from Philippians 2, keeping us in our current series, and was able to communicate some vision, dreams, and God's call to us.

- There are still thousands yet to reach. If not us, who, and, if not now, when?

- I heard Brian did a great job preaching at the Bluffton campus yesterday and I can't wait to watch it on-line later this week.

- By the way, did you know you can view messages from the Bluffton campus? And download messages from iTunes? Click here and follow the Messages link for the Bluffton campus. Click here for the HHI campus downloads. Then click on "Hear Our Weekly Podcast."

- One of the most awesome things I saw yesterday at the HHI celebration were the volunteers from the Bluffton campus who came to serve to free others up to attend the worship celebration. You guys rock!!

- Beach Baptism is soon upon us! This is always one of the coolest things we do as a church. We see changed lives personified and we celebrate (and eat)! Plan on attending ... Sunday, September 27th, 5 p.m., Chaplin Park, HHI. Watch the church blogs and worship folders for details.

- One of my best ministry friends is leaving the area this week. Mark Beebe planted and pastored The Harbor, which meets at Shell Hall in Bluffton. Mark is joining the staff at Cokesbury United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, to direct their Celebrate Recovery ministry and serve as one of their three campuses teaching pastors. He is so wired for this! Their CR program is the largest in America, averaging 400 people on Thursday nights. I'm going to miss you, buddy, but it's the right decision at the right time for the right reasons.

- This Sunday, as we continue our Philippians series, we'll answer the question, "Will I be Happy When I've Reached the Top of the Ladder?" This will give us a wonderful opportunity of presenting the gospel again in a clear and understandable manner. Paul uses such vivid word pictures and gets to the heart of our relationship with God.

-  LCCer's, I'm asking you to do all you can to invite and bring someone with you this Sunday! Don't come alone this weekend ... Jesus will be preached .. lives will be changed ... we're partners in the gospel ... let's do this together! God wants to use you in a big way through one sentence: Will you come to church with me this weekend?

- I'm totally pumped!! Can't wait for Sunday!

Monday Morning Reflections

- I heard good things from both campuses yesterday. Clay and Todd both brought strong messages. Thanks, guys, for leading us so well.

- I went up to Clemson's opening game which turned out well for us. Had a wonderful time seeing extended family and friends I haven't seen in a while and enjoyed spending the weekend with Bryan and Tiff.

- The Tigers looked decent against a middle-of-the-road foe. The real test is Thursday night against Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

- There's nothing like sitting at a college football game in the rain. Yeah, I left a little early, but I was amazed at how many thousands of people sat through it. So I think, "They'll sit through the rain to watch 18-22 year-olds play a game. Then, why can't we get people to come to church?"

- I could go off on a rant here and now, but I'll save it for later. And when and if I go off, my rant will be against those of us in the church - not those who aren't yet attending...

- We attended NewSpring yesterday and heard a powerful message from Brad Cooper, their Student Pastor. He was speaking on lies Satan seeks to deceive us with and yesterday's was: Follow Your Heart. I wrote down a few points I want to remember...
    - Don't follow your heart. It is desperately sick. (Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?")
    - If we're bored with life, it's because we're following after our heart; not God's. Follow God's heart and life is exciting!
    - The Cross is important because I have failed.

- I am jacked about this upcoming weekend! I will be preaching at one combined service (imagine: preaching only one service!) at the Hilton Head campus. We will be meeting at the HH High School Performing Arts Center and it's gonna be a blast!

- Our HHI campus is two years old, averaging about 150 in attendance and really starting to come into its own. We are offering ministries for children 0 - 18 now and our outreach into the community has been healthy and strong.

- So, this Sunday, we celebrate!  Check the HHI campus blog for more information.

- College football "kicked off" this past week. How did your team do? More importantly...

- What do you think is on God's scoreboard for us when He looks at our lives? God's scoreboard for our churches? Something to ponder as we walk through this day.

- If you missed yesterday's blog, "You Think You Know?", check it out.

- Happy Labor Day, everybody!

Monday Morning Reflections

- With the coming of the school year, there has also come a new energy at church these days. People are back, and even worshiping early! Our 8:30 a.m. service had the largest attendance we've seen there in quite some time.

- We also had parking problems challenges again. Bluffton peeps, remember: we have three services: 8:30. 10:00, and 11:30...

- We are taking some steps to add parking in Bluffton. You'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks, but we hope to have something done in September. Right now, it's a "permit" thing...

 - Revolu$ion and Financial Peace University are off and running. Approximately 400 people are in FPU classes at both campuses! This stokes me because folks are getting some sorely needed help with budgeting, spending, giving, and overseeing their total financial picture. And we all need a dose of that these days.

- We began the new series on Philippians yesterday called The Pursuit of Happiness. I am really looking forward to teaching through this wonderful letter that Paul wrote to the Christ-followers in Philippi. It is incredibly relevant to us today.

- Yesterday we sought to answer the question, "Will I be happy when my circumstances change?"  We found that Paul's example and teaching tells us that if we desire to have joy (not fleeting happiness) in life's changing circumstances, then we must: 1) rely on the power of prayer; 2) rely on the provision of the Holy Spirit; 3) Give Jesus first place in our lives; 4) be prepared to die, and; 5) decide to really live! 

- And the greatest thing that happened yesterday was that over 20 people confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. That is always awesome!!!

- This week we tackle the query, "Will I be happy when my problems disappear?" If you want a head-start, then read Philippians 1:27 - 2:2.

-  After church we headed up to Lake Marion and spent about three wonderful hours tubing, skiing, and wake-boarding. On our way back home, we stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Santee. Our son-in-law, Bryan, announced that he believes Cracker Barrel is the best place in the world to eat - even better than the Golden Corral! (For my overseas readers, don't ask!) I'm still partial to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. (But I do love Cracker Barrel with the Waffle House as a close third!)

- We had a great time - and Bear, the world' greatest dog - went out on the boat with us. But we missed Lauren! She's coming home for a few days on September 9th and we're counting the hours!

- Speaking of hours and days, only 12 days, 7 hours, and 10 minutes until the Tigers kickoff the 2009 season! (Of course, I'll be there...what a silly question!)

- Are you a leader? Do you lead creative people? If so, check out Tony Morgan's recent post on how to lead creative people. It's short, to-the-point, and helpful.

- LCC's own, Al Allnoch, is serving Christ in South Africa and he shares a wonderful story about a recent ministry opportunity utilizing the film, "Facing the Giants." Check it out here.


And today is our daughter's birthday! Tiff, you have always been an absolute delight and joy to your mom and I - and you're sisters would say the same thing! We love you and wish God's richest and choicest blessings upon you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you.

Monday Morning Reflections

- What a fun day we had at LCC yesterday!

- Great time of worship and a real sense of excitement as we have started Revolu$ion.  There's still room and time for you to register if you do it now. Click here.

- We are beginning to understand and live a new kind of normal. Debt is normal; we want to be abnormal. Having no savings is normal; we want to be abnormal. Using credit cards as an emergency fund is normal; we want to be abnormal. Retiring with $10,000 as the average American does is normal; we want to be abnormal.

- Financial Peace University has helped thousands of people in great ways. Darlene and I are just two of them. And now hundreds of LCC peeps are being, and will be, greatly aided by this tremendous and biblical ministry.

- Following the third service we had a picnic/water wars afternoon. It was a fantastic time. We tailgated, ate out in beautiful weather (yeah, hot and sticky, too), got to meet some new people, got to know one another better, and watched HUNDREDS of LCC kids have a soaking wet blast.

- Schools start back this week. Teachers and administrators, you all are in our thoughts and prayers. We appreciate all that you do for our children. You are underrated, underpaid, and underappreciated. But you are doing one of the most important jobs in the world! I wish you were being paid the millions instead of entertainers and ball players.

- I'm pumped as we begin a brand new series this coming weekend called, "The Pursuit of Happiness." We'll be taking a walk through Philippians - one of my favorite books.

- This coming Sunday's message is entitled, "Will I Be Happy When My Circumstances Change?" Author Henry James said, "The best use of your life is to invest it in something which will outlast it." Good advice. Ever wonder why God doesn't just translate us to heaven after we're saved? Because he's got some work for us to do. And it's eternal. Can't wait to unpack this!

- We have an LCC elder meeting this Thursday, and as always, we appreciate your prayers for wisdom and guidance. I am privileged to serve with, and we are privileged to be led by, a great group of elders.

- I'm excited as we enter yet another new season of ministry. Good things are happening: longed-for help to hundreds in our church in the area of finances and stewardship, reaching out to thousands in our community, and new levels to which God wants us to climb! Let's go!

Monday Morning Reflections

- Captivate on Friday night was a pretty cool time. It was so refreshing personally to be able to sing, worship, and focus on God without thinking about what my next responsibility was in the service.

- It made me realize that I too often allow what I "have to do" on Sunday mornings crowd out unfettered worship of God. Captivate helped remind me that the worship of Almighty God really cannot be done with a mind cluttered by other things .. I guess that's true for all of us.

- I was able to preach at our Hilton Head campus yesterday and really had a wonderful time. It was good to see some folks I haven't seen in a while and to meet many new people.

- There is a real spirit of friendliness, love, and worship on that campus. Some Bluffton peeps decided to worship there for the first time, saw me, and "Give me a break!" was written all over their faces! You just can't escape me! I am speaking in Bluffton this weekend, Lord willing, so this weekend would be a great time to worship on the island! (except I'll be there again via video ... ha!).

- Behind-the-scenes, we've been working with an architect on developing a master plan for a new Bluffton facility. We just received the first draft and it's pretty exciting! I still dream about reaching thousands on weekends through maxing out our Bluffton campus and utilizing other campuses.

- Revolu$ion registration is really picking up. Financial Peace University starts next week. If you haven't signed up yet, what are you waiting for? Go to www.mylamebankaccount.com and get 'er dun!

- We're going to have a Revolu$ion celebration at the Bluffton campus immediately after the third service this Sunday. Water games, tons of things for the kids, and just some fun time hanging out with friends. Plan to make it a part of your day. I'll be under the Clemson tent, of course. And I've heard rumors of a dunk tank!

- I'm a big John Maxwell fan. The man has mentored me in leadership for years and he doesn't even know it. I watched a fantastic sermon this morning preached by John Maxwell on Peter and how Pete overcame the failures in his life. Peter experienced despair, disappointment, and discouragement. But these things didn't keep him down forever. Have you hit the wall in some area of your life? It's worth your time. Check it out here.

- Promiseland will be implementing a brand-new, computerized check-in system this weekend at the Bluffton campus. Parents, please be patient. It might take a couple of Sunday's to work out the bugs - but it will be worth it. It's providing greater safety in our children's areas. It's the way we've wanted to go for a long time ... thanks. 

- We've been invited by some friends to dinner this Wednesday night for lobster!! I'll be there early.

- Thought for the day: Why is the Jerry Springer Show still being televised? (And no, I'm not linking that.)

- Better thought for the day: 26 days, 8 hours, and 29 minutes from now the Tigers kick-off the 2009 season! (Of course, I'll be there!)

- Ultimate thought for the day: "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are - yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15, NASB)