This past year I watched one of the most gifted and talented worship leaders that I’ve ever been around walk through an incredibly difficult pregnancy that resulted in a painful loss for their family. In the middle of it all I watched that same family demonstrate a resiliency and faith in God that is rarer than it should be. Most recently I’ve been able to celebrate with them the music and unexpected blessings that have come from this moment. What follows is a bit of his story. You can also check out the video and free download below!
A week ago Lisa and I took a quick trip out to Atlanta to nail down a rental house. While we were in town we had the opportunity to attend a worship service at North Metro and were blown away by how the Lord moved. The preceding week the Staff had wrestled through the idea of doing a spontaneous baptism. That is to say, call people that have not repented and or who have never been baptized to get it done right there on the spot in the service. The Staff had prepared changing kits ahead of time for those that responded which included appropriate clothes and towels among other things (BTW there was an extra run to Target involved to pick up more towels). Between the two services over 170 people responded and drew a line in the sand to publicly be identified with Christ! The first service went almost 2 hours and the second went 3 hours! For those of you who are used to 60 minute cues for your weekend services you get what an amazing moment this was. Fathers were baptizing their children, children baptized their parents, and spouses baptized one another. Grown men (the big hulking manly kind of men) were in tears, broken in response to the grace of God in their lives. Lisa and I stood in the back and wept over the stories of life change and this tangible demonstration of the obedience of people as they responded to and followed the Lord. We are continually humbled that the Lord would allow us to partner with Himself and the leadership at North Metro to help shape this community of people into what God has dreamed up for us to become!
Like many pastors I’ve made a couple of moves along the way from one church to another. In reflecting about this at one point, my heart was stirred about why Church Staff change churches. And while this isn’t an exhaustive list, I thought it was a great place to start. So in no particular order, here is my top 10 list of “Why Church Staff Change Churches:”
It’s ironic to me that in church-world where honesty is inherent we have such a difficult time telling the truth to ourselves and to those around us. Very few churches that I’m aware of have built a culture of or even simply have a plan to do evaluation well. My experience has shown me that the majority of people on staff or in a high level leadership role in the church are afraid of evaluation. Maybe it’s more convenient or simply easier to keep our head in a hole. But our lack of courage to take an honest look in the mirror does nothing to help us become more effective in reaching a lost world for Christ. Socrates said it this way, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” So here are a couple of reasons why we run from doing the work of evaluation.
I can remember as a young teenager going to bed praying and weeping night after night, begging God for the opportunity to influence thousands of people for Him. From the time before those prayers were ever uttered until today, God has been shaping me, forming me through His Word, His People, His Spirit, and His Wisdom for this very moment. For this moment, this community of people, this church, this mission…this is what I was made for.
Cornerstone, I could not do what the Lord has placed in front of me to do without you. What the Lord has done in my life through you and during my time among you will be treasured. I’m honored to have served along side of you and will take with me the many friendships, memories, and incredible moments that we’ve shared together. Thank you for your kind words in this moment. They have breathed affirmation, empowerment, courage and life into me and I am grateful.
North Metro, I cannot tell you how honored, humbled and excited Lisa and I are to be a part of what God is doing among you. You have already embraced us through emails, phone messages, and direct messages and it is so good to feel your love and affirmation, even from across the country. I cannot wait to get there this summer and get into the thick of life with you, and what the Lord has in store for us together.
While there is so much that could be said about how the Lord moved each step of the way in this process of calling us to North Metro and bending our hearts towards one another; I’ll simply say out loud to the Lord thank you for Your kindness and both shaping in us and leading us to what You know is best.
In order to finish well where I currently am, my family and I won’t I won’t be making the move to North Metro until later this summer. So as a result, we decided to have a video put together to introduce ourselves to our new church family! Below is the video that was shown this weekend at North Metro, happy viewing!
BTW got to give a big shout out to Chris Loope for doing the video work, the guy is simply amazing!
