Created First…
By David Branker
Proverbs 8:22-27 NLT
“The Lord formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began. I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters. Before the mountains and the hills were formed, I was born-before he had made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil. “I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans.”
Did you notice? Before anything was created, Proverbs 8 tells us that God formed her. She was formed and set in place before the earth, waters, mountains, hills, heavens, soil… who was she? Wisdom. God also made her available to help us in the daily challenges of family, career and life. Today, don’t let presumption become a cheap substitute for the vast treasures of God’s wisdom made available to you. He says… whoever finds wisdom finds life and receives favor from the Lord. (vs 35)
David
Mistake #3: Over Committing
By Stovall Weems
Momentum is a great thing, but the dangerous thing about momentum is that you think you can just keep piling on to that energy because everything is growing and working.
My friend Craig Groeschel has written a great book called “It”. When you have “it” everything just seems to work and be blessed. One of the quickest ways to lose “it” is to overload your church and ministry calendar with too much activity, too many new initiatives, too many events, etc. The quickest way to kill momentum is over committing your church to too much activity instead of focusing on the things in your mission that will produce what you are trying to produce (hopefully disciples-fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ). It seemed like every time the big mo was rolling we would overload the calendar, thus killing the momentum. Then we would simplify the calendar and stick to the main things of our mission and the mo would come right back. Then we would overload again and repeat the cycle. When your church calendar is overloaded, you are overloaded, your staff, leaders and volunteers are also overloaded. Then the soul of the church starts to fatigue which leads to killing the spiritual momentum.
The good news is this problem is so easy to fix. All you have to do is learn one powerful word and understand how crucial it is to keep the church healthy and moving forward. That word is “NO!” Our lead team is constantly fighting to keep the main thing the main thing and not allow ourselves to overload. There are always seasons of stretching and working super hard, but it has to be taking you to a place in your mission. It needs to be a step to get the church where it needs to be. There is a big difference in stretching yourself and working hard and just overloading the church with activity. You need to be thinking long term health and sustainability. If your church is growing you will always be saying no, not only to good events, activities and ministry ideas, but also to things currently going on that were valuable to the mission in one season of church life but not necessary in the next season of church life. One of the questions we ask in our staff meetings is: “What are we currently doing that we need to stop doing?”
Keep the main thing the main thing. Reach people, make disciples, and serve your community. There are some great books out right now that are all about simplified church life and ministry. When you say yes to something you are saying no to something else. So it is not really an issue of saying no, but what are you already saying no to because of the things you have said yes to? Have you said no to health and longevity because you have said yes to too much church activity?
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is to say no and not over commit myself or the church.
Stovall
Love Transcends
By David Branker
A new student was checking in at the front desk of Eugene Butler Middle School and noticed three to four mentors from Celebration Church who were waiting in the lobby for their mentees. Eugene Butler is a school that is predominantly African-American. The new student looked over at the mentees and asked another student, “Hey, what are those white people doing here in this school?” The other student looked around and said, “Who, what are you talking about?” The new student said “Those white people sitting over there.” The other student looked at the people in the waiting room and said, “Oh those aren’t white people, those are Celebration mentors!”
The love from Celebration volunteers has transcended racial barriers and helped to build trust with students in the school. It remains true – God’s love transcends culture, color and any other potentially “dividing” characteristic among people groups. When the love of God permeates who you are and what you do, it changes the way people see you, and ultimately how they receive you. No wonder, 1 Corinthians 13:8a says “Love never fails…”
David
Mistake #2 – Allowing the business of ministry to affect my time with God
By Stovall Weems
This one probably should have been listed as #1 in my “Top 10“ because this is the most important. This is a killer for pastors.
I allowed the business of ministry to affect my relationship with God. Too many times I allowed my time studying for the message to replace my time in the Word to fellowship with God. Too many times I was looking for the right series instead of seeking God and waiting for Him to burn something on my heart. This is the quickest way to burnout and the fastest way for the church to stop growing.
There is so much emphasis on church leadership right now and that is very important. But if you are out of balance -constantly reading leadership books and not spending enough time with The Leader of the Church (Jesus) your leadership is going to suffer big time. I have had seasons where I devoted too much time to developing and working on the ministry but neglecting prayer and time in God’s Word. Lot’s of creative meetings, discussions on church strategy, etc. Those are all so important but they cannot be to the neglect of the Word of God and time with Jesus. So many pastors today can get message and leadership resources so easily. That is a good thing. But it cannot replace the ONE THING they have to have to be a success in God’s Kingdom-sitting at Jesus feet and spending time with the Master! We are all blogging and twittering, but are we praying and fasting?
If there is one thing I have learned over the last 10 years- this is the non-negotiable in my life- time with Jesus.
Stovall
Craig Groeschel at Celebration Church
By Stovall Weems
I can’t wait for this weekend! I am so pumped to welcome Pastor Craig Groeshel as he speaks at our weekend services…it’s going to be off the chain!!
Craig’s one of the most dynamic pastors in the nation and is the founder and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv. Under his leadership, LifeChurch.tv became one of the country’s first multi-campus churches and get this – they have over fifty weekend worship experiences at fourteen different locations throughout the US! Isn’t that awesome? Many of you have read his books, follow his blog, and have been blessed by his ministry. Craig’s not only a great leader and pastor, but also a good friend of mine and I’m honored to have him with us. I just know you’re going to be blessed. See you this weekend!
Stovall
# 1 The fear of man – not being me
By Stovall Weems
In talking about my leadership mistakes I am grateful that at least I feel I have learned from them. I have always heard that your 30’s are the years where you are setting the foundation for your life and ministry and that it is crucial during those years to be able to define who you are, your style and gifting and what God has called you to do. I cannot over emphasize the importance of being you and being who God has called you to be as well as minister in the style and environment that God has gifted you for.
At 39 years old I feel that the last 10 years has been just that for me. It has been about figuring out who I am in Christ. It has been about figuring out who I am in ministry. It has been about finding my voice. When you come into a greater level of your identity there will always be a greater level of growth in your ministry (see Jesus come into His identity and then His ministry explode in Matt 4). Ten is the number of testing and I truly believe there is something significant about the first 10 years of ministry. It is during that period of trials by fire that we can go from being an echo to being a voice. You can copy or be like other people and be an echo or you can be yourself and have a voice.
There will be a lot more trials in my next ten years. But at least I am finally comfortable in who I am. I can preach and lead from a dependence on Christ but also with the peace that I can just be Stovall. I don’t have to worry about what others think, if everybody is going to like me, if my message was the best, if I was invited to speak at a certain event or particular conference, if what I said was the right thing, etc. In other words, I don’t need everybody’s approval to feel good about myself. Really even up until last year I felt this pressure to preach a certain way, lead in a certain style, and do ministry in ways that just were not really me. The root of this was the fear of man. God had to set me free from this. But it took me nearly 10 years to even realize that this was a limiting issue in my life. I just need to bring Stovall to the table and be myself. That is what God wants me to do. That is how I will continue to grow and be used by God. That is how God can use me as a voice and not an echo.
Stovall
Top Ten Mistakes I’ve Made
By Stovall Weems
Celebration Church celebrated it’s 10 year birthday this past August, and I have to say that it has been an awesome ride. God has been so good and it has been so rewarding to watch our church grow from an initial launch team of just 7 people to nearly 10,000 in regular weekend attendance at all our campuses. But to be honest, there have been some very difficult times and a lot of pain and growing in the process. There have been tremendous challenges and I have made a lot of mistakes as a leader. Over the next few weeks, I am going to share what I feel are the biggest mistakes I have made as a pastor and in leading over the last 10 years. My hope is that if you are a church leader or pastor, you will learn from my mistakes and be a better leader for it. I will post one every couple of days. I pray God uses them to encourage and inspire you.
Stovall
Get Ready for a Great Weekend
By Stovall Weems
We’re going to be starting this weekend off strong with FLEX AM this Saturday morning. For all you guys – can’t wait to see you there, and bring a friend, because it’s going to be awesome. It’s a free event and it all starts at 8:30am at the Midtown Campus, and we’ll be serving breakfast, so come on out and join us.
Also, don’t forget – we all move our clocks forward one hour this weekend. But even though we’re going to lose an hour of sleep – trust me, you’re going to be so glad you got up early and came to church. We’re continuing in our “Discovering the God First Life“ series, and one of the things I’m going to be talking about is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as well as several other things that have been confusing to the body of Christ for far too long. I am so ready and fired up about this weekend. See you there!
Stovall
Preaching the Truth
By Stovall Weems
Today the church is so focused on felt needs that many times we forget how crucial it is to focus on Jesus, the power of the cross and the simplicity of the Gospel. As leaders we need to constantly preach Jesus and Him crucified. Many of our needs would be met if we would just discover and know the person of Jesus. The other day I heard that a well known Christian leader said that he wasn’t sure that there was a literal Hell. (How can you read the Bible and come to that conclusion? There are so many scriptures on eternal punishment!) Let me assure you that the wrath of God is real and that there is a literal Hell and if you are a Pastor you had better make sure your church is aware of it. I am not talking about being a Hell-fire preacher, but I am talking about expounding on the big picture of why the cross and God’s beautiful saving grace are so necessary. And the consequences people face for not accepting God’s love.
John 3:36 NKJV
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
This scripture (and many more like it) means what it says – if people don’t receive Christ they will spend an eternity in Hell, suffering the wrath of God. But, if a person repents and receives Christ, then that person is saved and is forgiven of all sins! That is right— all of their sins are totally forgiven – their past, present and future sins! (Heb 10:10-10:18; 1 John 1:7-2:2) If you know Jesus, you know forgiveness. We are saved by grace and grace alone (Eph 2:8).Wow- is the Gospel of Jesus Christ powerful or what?! God loves us so much He sent His only Son to die for us and pay the penalty for our sins, so we could spend eternity with God. God does not relate to us according to our performance, but according to Jesus’ performance (His perfect life). So get freed up in the grace of God and get passionate about the truth and reaching people for Christ. There is a real Heaven to gain and a real Hell to escape! And only Jesus saves!
Stovall
Led by God
By David Branker
Though we live in the world, we are not of the world. We have been called to lead, to influence and to impact, not simply to react, respond or adapt to the changes around us. In a down economy, there is a great temptation to hoard, to worry, and to look out for our own affairs, and to allow conditions to be the loudest voice we hear. We can unknowingly allow our daily decisions to be shaped by externals, rather than by God’s prompting and leading from within.
As the Church, we have an opportunity to live and demonstrate what a life governed and held together by heaven’s economy looks like. Our peace is influenced less by everything working in our interests, but rather by God’s spirit at work within and through us. We consider the facts, but we take them all to the cross and invite God’s guidance in our decisions first. We consider the Word before everyone else’s words. Isn’t that what following Jesus, the living Word, is all about? It is that kind of living and leading that the world needs to witness today.
Matthew 6:33 NLT
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
