8 Years and Counting

Yesterday marked 8 years at NHC for me. I was surprised by the recognition of my 8 years in the first worship gathering. I'm glad I have been here this long. I guess my time here at NHC and the other youth pastors that stick around a while helps keep the average a little above two years. Pastor Steve has been here 15 years as a volunteer. Incredible!

The past 8 years have been a tremendous time of growth for me. I have learned so much about the church and ministry, much more than I have learned in school.

A few things that stand out to me over the past 8 years:

>The growth of NHC
>Moving into our new building
>Watching students learn to own their faith
>Parents grasping that discipleship of their teen is their responsibility
>The growth of our youth ministry team
>The change and growth of our children's ministry and the CM team
>The growth of Trunk or Treat
> The Call's birth, growth and now remodeling
>High percentage of NHC partners involved in ministry (over 90%)
>Changing music styles without a church split (SBC Church Planting) ;)

A few lessons learned:

>Ministry should never be done alone. Always bring someone along in ministry
>Leaders build leaders
>Ministry Teams are the way to go
>The best way to recruit for your team is to have team members "tap" others to join the team
>Evaluate
>Don't do events and activities just to do events and activities
>Focus on purpose
>Nip it in the bud, church discipline is vital to church health

I have been blessed to serve with 4 elders in the church who have vision, who want to do God's will at NHC.
I have been blessed to serve with 4 great ministry teams.

I'm also blessed to be married to a wife who is very supportive of my "job" and what I do. It has been a blessing to watch our family grow over the past 8 years. I am a blessed man.

I think the key to longevity at a church, from what I have learned from watching others who have served for a long time at the same church, is to find the church that is a "fit". The "fit" includes finding God's will, knowing the church's "personality" and "traits and trends". A church that goes through pastors like a kids goes through candy in a Pez dispenser would not be a "fit" for me. :)

Worship or Boxing Match?

I read the following verses this morning and thought is sounded like a descriptions of many churches today:

17  Your worship services do you more harm than good. I am certainly not going to praise you for this. 18 I am told that you can’t get along with each other when you worship, and I am sure that some of what I have heard is true. 19 You are bound to argue with each other, but it is easy to see which of you have God’s approval.  1 Corinthians 11:17-19

Your worship services do you more harm than good.  Ouch!  You can't get along with each other when you worship.  Apparently some of these church members could have used 2 years in Mrs. Tillet's pre-school to learn how to get along with others and play nicely.  You are bound to argue with each other.  Ever been around those people that argue everything?  I like to argue but often I just keep my mouth shut (not always successful at that either).

Since I'm a part of the SBC, what I know is SBC, I know that this description sadly fits a large portion of SBC churches.  Church split in SBC = Church plant.  This happens all too often and usually not because of doctrinal issues but because someone didn't like what the preacher said or the color of the new carpet isn't to their liking, etc.

Here's a novel idea!  Don't let the church choose the color of the carpet.  Just lay the carpet and say, "Look at our beautiful new carpet!"  Business meetings are nothing more than a set up for a church split.  At a business meeting, as a member,  you are forced to take sides.  Why do that in a church?  Why set up for division?  Makes no sense but somewhere along the way many churches and denominations have decided that they like the idea of "majority rules".  What if the majority hasn't spent a minute in God's word that week?  Month?  Year?  Years?  How can someone out of sync with the Father make a godly decision?

Makes no sense.

I'm glad has placed me at NHC.  I have four pastors who I trust.  God put them in leadership positions to lead.  At NHC we don't vote on much of anything.  We built an entire building without voting on the design, interior decor, color of the carpet.  We had to demolish the old building, didn't vote on that either.  We didn't lose any members in that process, but I know of churches who have lost members during a building program.  Plus process was faster because we didn't have to wait on a committee to bring it before the church, we trusted our building team and turned them loose to get the job done.

The only time I find a vote in the Bible is when Moses sent out the spies.  Ten (the majority) said "No way!".  Two (the minority) said, "Let's take the land!".  There were giants in the land!  What were they thinking?  They weren't thinking, they were trusting.  This is where the heart of most issues in churches today.  People don't trust.  They don't trust God.  They don't trust leadership (sometimes for a good reason).  They don't trust each other.

I pray it can never be said of our worship services, "they do more harm than good".

Tomorrow at NHC

Tomorrow's worship gatherings at NHC will be totally different than usual.   I'm stoked about tomorrow and we will be having a "first" at NHC.  

On top of that tomorrow is Mother's Day and my kids have a rockin momma.

I'll be bringing the message in big church, Family Matters, I'm looking forward to that and will post the outline here on the blog tomorrow night.

No Contagious Youth tomorrow night so the students can spend extra time with mommy on her day tomorrow.  Several of our YM team are moms so they need the day off.  It's good to do stuffs like that for your volunteers because they are super special and without a YM team you are "toast" because you can't effectively minister to the students.

"I've grown more . . ."

This past Wednesday night we had our 1st Wednesday worship gathering.  1st Wednesday is a night of worship for our church family, we get together and remember Christ's death through communion and we spend a little more time worshipping together than we usually have on Sunday morning.

This past 1st Wednesday was a great time of worship in music and remembering Christ's death.  We had a first at our 1st.  Rick did an exit interview with two of our members who are moving away soon.  It was great to hear Tommy and Claire's thought about NHC.  Lots of good stuff was shared. 

Two things that stood out in my mind from listening to them:

1.  Connection - Tommy and Claire were very well connected in the church.  There were active in serving in ministry, both were plugged into a small group.  The love the church's warmth and friendliness.    What this confirmed to me is that if a partner of NHC doesn't think the church cares for them and loves them reveals probably two underlying issues in their own life:

a.  They don't serve in ministry

b.  They are connected to a small group

If you want to feel connected and a part of your church you roll up your sleeves and serve in ministry to your church.  If you want to feel connected to your church you build relationships with other believers through a small group.  Tommy and Claire love serving!  They "get it"!!

2.  Spiritual Growth - Because I'm part of a contemporary church and a church that is purpose driven I sometimes hear or read that contemporary churches or purpose driven churches aren't effective in helping believers grow spiritually.   I believe someone can grow just as much in a contemporary, PD church as they can in a traditional church.  I believe that spiritual growth more often than not is an individual's responsibility learning to feed self.

Here is what Tommy said about this contemporary, PD church, "I've grown more in the past 6 years than I had in the 39 before that."  Tommy has been a follower of Christ for 45 years.

Tommy helped drive home an excellent point.  You can be PD and contemporary and still mature in your faith.

What's Happening at NHC!