unlikelyclay.com

If you read the newpapers, everyone is doing their year end retro-spectives. Who am I to buck the trend?  Here are some things, both personal and church, that stood out for me in 2007:

• ADBC calls Nathan Waganer as Student Pastor.  Great move, great guy, great things happening.
• Build on the Rock campaign shows us we’re not quite ready for the next chapter.  Still, ADBCers are faithful in giving and we are moving forward with some bite sized chunks of the building project.
• God really ignites our church and my heart to make a difference in Africa.
• The search for a Education Pastor goes on and on and on and on and on ….
• I have the gift of prophecy:  Florida quarterbacks who had fathers in ministry:  Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, Tim Tebow. Florida quarterbacks who have won the Heisman:  Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel, and - yes I saw it coming - Tim Tebow!
• Since launching Unlikelyclay.com in August, I’ve had 5,607 page hits from over 701 unique sources.  Talk about unlikley!
• Some great worship moments:  A whole tree brought into the worship center; Family Imperfect - all copies of the book gone; preaching a series through Leviticus this summer - and people stayed awake!; Why I give - definitely the most personal stewardship sermon I’ve ever preached; Build on the Rock - this church is built on nothing less that Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
• Fantastic VBS - record setting - so many kids accepting Christ.
• Saying good bye to Mike and Emily Smith was tough, but God has opened new doors for them.
• Great crowd on Easter - second largest ever!
• Doing the college search with my son - special trips, special times.
• Last child leaves elementary school - and I cried.

All of this and more has been marked by God’s good hand working among us.  He has guided us through the good and bad times.  Thanks be to God for His faithfulness!

I’m taking a few days off after Christmas - resting, painting a daughter’s bedroom and so forth…

But I couldn’t resist saying “WOW” about the Christmas Eve service.  In case you missed it:

• Standing room only!  We brought in chairs and still had folks standing in the back and out in the lobby.   One thousand candles look really cool!
• Three great soloists! They did a great job
• Nathan, Jivan, and Rhyanna did a great job illustrating the angels telling the shepherd the Good News.  For everyone who ever thought the good news was impossible for them, it was a real picture that Good news of Jesus is for all.
• I’ll be spending this Sunday in church with Gina’s parents - but Clay will be preaching (for all the non- ADBC people, Clay is our Outreach Pastor - same name, no relation).  I know you will hear a great message!

This story is fiction, but it could have happened…
I’m tired, I’m cold, I’m hungry.  I’m in this crowded guest house in a town my grandfather left thirty years ago and said good riddance to.  It’s all because stupid Caesar needed some more revenue for his imperial ambitions.
Let me introduce myself.  My name is Nereus.  My grandfather was a Jew, descended from King David himself.  When Herod took control thirty years ago, he saw which way the political winds where blowing and maneuvered himself into being Herod’s man in Bethlehem.  My grandfather was adept at climbing the political ladder, and soon he was promoted to be an administrator of a big public works project Caesarea on the coast.
My father was raised in an environment that was more Roman than Jewish.  He became a successful trader, and found it convenient to lower his religious profile – it got in the way of business.  That’s why I was given a Greek name, not a Jewish one.
I picked up the family skill of maneuvering and joined my father in the trading business.  Since his death three years ago, I’ve expanded quite a bit.
But now this.  A decree went out from Rome that everyone needed to go back to the home of their ancestors to be registered for a new tax - as if we need anymore taxes!  I had to shut down my trades just as the stormy weather was about to allow movement on the sea again, pack up my grumpy trophy wife and kids and come back to this backwater town that has not one decent place to spend the night.  Only because I bribed the owner of the guest house, could we get a corner of a room.  I’ve had to beat people away just to protect my family’s space.
Why just tonight, a young man comes through the room, leading his very pregnant wife.  The guest house owner asked me if I could give up a piece of my space for the two of them.  I told him, “Certainly not.”  Do you think I want my children to learn the where babies come from this very night?  Besides, this is my floor.  I paid hard earned cash for it.  If they want a place to stay, let them earn their own money and pay their own way.
Tomorrow, I just want to deal with the authorities, get through this bureaucratic nightmare, and get on my way home.  After this experience, I hope I never have to hear about Bethlehem or anything that happens here again.
The lesson?  You don’t have to hear anything about Bethelehem or what happened there.  You don’t have to give up anything to make room for a needy woman about to give birth.  You don’t have to interrupt your life for anything God is doing.
But you sure will miss a lot. 
I hope you don’t miss anything God wants to bring to you this Christmas.

Great Day at ADBC this past Sunday:

Great to sing the carols.  Laugh out Loud children’s time in all three services.  Best of all - two people accepted Christ in 3rd service.  That’s what it’s all about!!!

Thanks to Jim Arnemann for making the manger and the cross - and for making it fool proof for a guy like me!

Cool stuff this Sunday.  Remember the tree?  We’ve (actually Jim Arnemann) taken parts of the tree and used them to tell the story of this sermon:  Not Here:  It’s Impossible.  We’ll be talking about God doing His most important work in three unlikely places. 

No Bible Community this Sunday.  Childcare for 4 and under in each service.  Bring the folks from out of town and join us for a great time of worship.

PLUS - be here for Christmas Eve!  Candlelight, Christmas Carols, and something really cool  that we’ve never done before!

I hope you will take the FISH challenge in 2008 - to read the Bible through in a year.  I’m almost done with this year.

I’m finishing up in Job.  I was reading Job 4-6 and thought Eliphaz - one of Job’s so called friends.  When Job was in need, he thought it was a great time to correct Job’s theology.  WRONG. 

I thought about some Eliphazs in my life.  It’s not that I don’t need correction.  But you don’t need to read Hebrew to hear the condescension in Eliphaz’s voice. 

When you offer correction, get the condescension out of your mouth and out of your heart.

For the past few days, leadership has been very much on my mind.  Every organization will rise and fall on the back of its leaders.  In church, there has been far too much emphasis on leaders who get paid.  The truth is, ever person who teaches, serves, encourages, counsels, and sings leads at some level. Influenced by the book Leadership Pipeline, I see leadership unfold like this:

Level 1 - self leadership - being to motivate yourself for basic goals.  In the Christian world, this has to do with Bible Study, Prayer, serving, giving, ethical choices, etc.  Scary how few people can even lead themselves.

Level 2 - Doing - doing a task that helps someone.  Often refered to as “leadership by example,” it can also be understood as leadership by open door for someone.  To serve as a greeter is to lead because you open the door to the worship experience (sometimes literally) by helping people feel welcomed.

Level 3 - Leading others - by serving as a leader in group, by leading someone through difficult times, by helping a group get an agenda and moving forward.

Level 4 - Leading Leaders - leading a group of leaders through encouragement, empowerment, and equipping.

Level 5 - Devising strategy - How do we get our leaders to focus on accomplishing the same goal.  Learn how to do this and you will be one of the most successful people in America!  Most companies can’t do it!

Level 6 - Setting Vision - determining what needs to be done and why.

What level are you at?

Thanks for the great response to the Impossible series.  I had one woman tell me that she had already done one thing she thought was impossible.  Now, she was ready to move on to the next thing.  Neat.

We had great feedback about bringing the whole tree into the worship center.  It’s one thing to see a video of cutting down a tree.  It’s another thing to see the tree. 

Why did we bring it into the worship center?  Because it reminded us that God can do the impossible - do we notice when He does?  Do we ask what it means?

I shared that I think our church is being asked by God to step up to the next level - to make a choice for a road less traveled.  This is not a plea to your guilt, but an invitation from God to take a next step to the next level.  I think God wants us to commit to spiritual health - and do the basic step of self leadership.  SO… be looking for FISH in January!

Great Christmas lunch with the Deacons.  What a great group!  They covered all the follow up visits - over 40!

I like this series we’re in - IMPOSSIBLE.  Christmas is all about God doing the impossible and making the impossible possible for you!

This Sunday is about things we can’t explain.  What’s your reaction when something happens in your life and you can’t explain it?

I’ll be talking about somethings that have happened to our church family this year, things we couldn’t explain - and talk about how God is using those very things.

PLUS - you will see something you saw in worship two weeks ago - this time, live and personal -Oops, I’ve said too much!

See you Sunday.

I do love this church.  Here are at least two reasons why:

We asked you to make candy and cookies and holiday treats for our students to give out.  You did.  Wednesday night, 45 students and 8 adults went to some parts of Sumter they hadn’t seen before, went out in groups with adults, knocked on doors and gave people a Christmas surprise.  Random kindness in the name of Jesus - neat!

Second reason - the special needs banquet.  Dozens of volunteers come together to feed, entertain, and give holiday cheer to the “least of these.”  Big crowd.  Way to go.  Jesus said, “When you do it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.”