Audra and I were talking this evening and she brought up an interesting point. I observed how interesting and unplanned it was that the kids, the youth, the mens study and the womens bible study all were studying Ephesians 6. If you are unfamiliar with it.

“¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

This passage is special to me…it is the first passage I preached on when I was 17 years old at Morningside Baptist Church in Columbus Ga. It was also the first passage of scripture that I remember reading that led me to a search for Jesus. It is a powerful passage rich in imagery and practical application. It is also a siren…warning that we wage a spiritual war and the enemy ain’t happy. We need to be ready for the battle is at hand and will be on our doorstep soon.

You see, our little church in rural Johns Island SC is beginning to see some life. People are getting saved, discipled and hungry for God and his word. The enemy will have no part in that. We (the leadership) know that the fight is coming. We know it as sure as anything that the fiery flaming arrows will be hurled our way at any moment. Audra brought up THAT is why he has led us all to Ephesians 6. We need to be ready for it.

• We need to be ready to STAND, because a Christian never runs
• We need to hold onto the TRUTH of God
• We need to guard our hearts with the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God
• We need to walk ready to spread the GOSPEL of PEACE
• We need to have FAITH in the Lord and in our brothers and sisters to extinguish the daily attacks of the enemy
• We need to guard our minds and be assured of our SALVATION in Christ Jesus
• We need to be ready and trained with our only offensive weapon the WORD of GOD

How great is it that the Lord lined up this passage for all of us to study completely unplanned by us all. How great is it that the Lord gives us the tools we need to live out the mission he has called us to IN SPITE of the coming attack. How great is our Lord.

Are you ready?

The psalmist writes “…weeping may tarry for the night but JOY comes in the morning.” I tend to write a lot about dealing with struggles. I don’t know if I have a proclivity towards darkness or if it is typically when people struggle that they reach out to a pastor for help thus the reason for many of my posts. I am not going to sugar coat it…the last two years have been the hardest of my life. Planting Live Oak Church has proved to be the most difficult thing I have ever done. It has tested my faith, my strength, my family, my finances and my emotions.

However, this week was a good week. I don’t know exactly why it was a good week. I seem to be sleeping better, I am eating better, I am more disciplined in my prayer life. It seems like this week, I just breathed in and for probably the first time….really felt like the pastor of Live Oak Church. We are reaching people, discipling people, baptizing people, training people, empowering people all for the purpose of spreading the gospel of Jesus to Johns Island.

I was having a conversation with a man last night and he introduced me as his pastor, it was no longer weird. I feel called to pastor him, I feel called to pastor Live Oak…I feel called to pastor all of Johns Island (whether you go to my church or not).

So…I had a good week. I mention this not to brag but to encourage you to remember your good moments. In the Old Testament when people had an encounter with God they built an alter so that whenever they came across it, it would remind them of that encounter. Do something to remember your GOOD days. Don’t simply harp and hang on the bad days. Embrace the good ones, thank God for the good ones, pray for more good ones.

Examine your good days, what made them good? Are there transferable behaviors that you can duplicate to ensure more good days.

Maybe you had a bad week, know that a good one is coming. Maybe you had a good week, know that a bad one is coming…but when it does…know that JOY always comes in the morning.

What would make a good day for you, reply in the comments.

So…for churches, businesses and organizations this is the time to finalize vision, plans and budgets for 2021. I don’t know about you but this is the hardest year I have ever had to do it. We can all admit that 2020 has been a dumpster fire and if you read my post “HOLD ON” 2021 isn’t promising to be a whole lot better. I have been beating my head against the wall, as a church our entire budget is based on the faithful giving and generosity of others. That is difficult when you are not sure if half of your congregation will have a job. So, I prayed and whiteboarded (sure that is not a word, but it is what I do) and came up with a few tips to help navigate your strategic planning for next year…admittedly most of these steps could/should be applied any year but here it goes…

1. STAY MISSION FOCUSED – Your mission statement should be the foundation of your church and thus should be able to withstand economy, time, politics or crisis. If you have a firm mission, then whatever you do or plan, no matter who elaborate will still have the fingerprint of your organization and thus still provide inspiration and vision for your people.
2. THINK BIG BUT ADAPTABLE – This is probably not the year to plan a HUGE over the top festival where you have to put deposits down months in advance…However, don’t surrender the spirit of the idea. How can you pull off this idea if you had to change the entire thing within a month or even a week. Put checks in place to protect you. When Live Oak Church went into quarantine in March like everyone else…we thought it might be a week or two…however the leadership already began planning as if we would miss Holy Week. How were we going to provide the high level of excellence for this big time in our church IF we were not able to return. We came up with the Home Worship Kits and they were a hit.
3. GO OLD SCHOOL – You know when I started ministry in 1992, we didn’t have nearly the technology or the production that we have now. This was in the beginning of the “relevant – seeker church”, this was the dawn of Willow Creek and Saddleback. When I started ministry it was me, a guitar, a bible and a notebook with my chord sheets and game ideas in it. Maybe this year your theme is to go “OG” as the kids call it. Strip down the flash and focus on substance…you don’t have to throw away creativity if it feels like you are doing it on purpose.
4. LEAN IN ON SUPPORT MINISTRY – This has been a tough year, suicide rates are up and the longer this drags on people are going to need the church. People who have never cried out to God before will be seeking you for help. Be ready, train your leaders and most of all pray.

Those are just some of the primers I am using this week as I pray for what God has in store for Live Oak Church and Johns Island so I thought I would share them with you. If you have any others let me know in the comments section.

The running joke lately is about what a crummy year 2020 has been…when you think back about all those 2020 vision jokes, nobody saw this coming! I have been praying and seeking the Lord and watching people online and I want to tell you something…there is nothing that the turn of a calendar is going to fix. The problems in our country is not bound by the year 2020….consider the following.

The Election.

If Trump wins, our religious freedoms are safe and the economy will probably rebound but half the country will lose their minds…there will be screams of scandal and the riots will continue. If Biden wins we will see a liberal social agenda the likes we have never seen. The freedoms we have to worship, assemble, speak or live will be severely attacked. Either way, we are facing another tumultuous year because neither of these two candidates are a uniter.

The Virus.

Let’s say that we did indeed NEED to shut down our entire economy for 3 months to curb the virus and let’s say that the masks did indeed flatten the curve…everyone is waiting for a vaccine. I read that 2 vaccines are almost ready to be released. However, there is at least half of the country that does not trust the vaccine and will not take it even IF their lives depended on it. What if the schools require it for entry? Let’s not forget that cold/flu/virus season will be in full swing come January of 2021.

Dude…stop being a downer.

That isn’t my point. My point is don’t wait for the turning of a calendar to find your joy. Our joy comes from the Lord. I want you to dwell on 2 passages to help give you peace during these trying days.

Psalm 56:3

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Philippians 4:7-8

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Just remember, Jesus is LORD over 2020 and 2021 and beyond.

It is a popular thing these days to kneel in protest…from Kaepernick kneeling at the anthem to Pelosi and the democrats kneeling at the house steps. Besides the fact this is just a bunch of white folk virtue signaling I don’t understand the imagery. Kneeling is a sign of surrender. When a man is knighted in the old kingdom, he would kneel before the King or Queen showing his complete surrender to their will. I have no intention to surrender to anyone but Jesus. It is one of the top 10 rules by the way.

Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

They are bowing to the false god of politics. I choose to stand.

I choose to stand for Black Lives Matter…I will not bow to the violent anarchist agenda it has turned into.

I choose to stand for Black Lives that are truly oppressed by bad policemen.

I choose to stand for Black Lives that are slaughtered by the hundreds by other black men due to gang violence and crime.

I choose to stand for Black Lives that are aborted by the thousands.

I choose to stand for Black families because over decades the nuclear family has been decimated in urban areas.

I choose to kneel to God the Father and pray for revival.

That he would revive our hearts, that we would see no-one less than we are, we are all sorry sap suckers in need of Gods grace.

That he would revive our minds, that we would learn to think again and not simply accept the dribble that comes over our computer screen (this included).

That he would revive our hands and feet, that we would know that it takes more than a hashtag to make a difference. Get out there, volunteer. Have a conversation. Make a difference.

So, today I will kneel…but I will also stand.

Stand with me.

Do you know your enneagram number? My wife made me take the test but I don’t remember what I am. Maybe you have worked for a company and they made you take the Myers-Briggs test…funny I took it recently, I used to be INFJ, now I am ENFJ. My point is for years an important tool for organizations was knowing their team. Not only their skillset but also how they interact with others and their comfort level under pressure. Why are these so important?

Because we are all not supposed to do/be the same thing. In a world that is pushing so hard for equality the simple fact is we are not all equal. I love football. When I was a kid I loved the game, I understood the game, I had some game but I was a bean pole and when the coaches took a look at me they said…no. It didn’t matter that I WANTED to be equal with the guys on the team…I wasn’t.

1 Corinthians 12:¹² For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 

We all want to be the hands and feet…but in the words of Bill Murray in the movie Stripes…someone has to be the big toe.

A good leader is a good evaluator. A good leader will evaluate his team and recognize where they are thriving and where they need coaching. A good leader may need to move that team member to another position or even in extreme cases remove them from the team altogether…not because they are a bad team member, they simply may not be a good fit.

I am 18 months into our church plant and we have already had a few turnovers…but we are beginning to have some stability in our leadership. My goal is to regularly evaluate, coach and shift as necessary so that our organization can thrive.

Have you ever been on a team that was dysfunctional because of bad gifting management? Share in the comments (don’t share names please).

This Sunday I will be preaching on Luke 9:1-6, in this passage Jesus sends out his disciples to heal the sick and proclaim the Kingdom of God. Amazing when you think that this marks the halfway mark of Jesus’ ministry. His public ministry only lasted 3 years! Telling that at this turning point he began to empower his leaders.

Ironically, Live Oak Church is 18 months old and though I hope our public ministry lasts longer than 3 years it is fitting that we are beginning to see others step up and take leadership of the mission of Live Oak Church.

When you are a church planter in the early days the pastor does everything. He is the preacher, teacher, youth guy, finance guy, counselor and janitor. However, as a healthy church grows and as you disciple…others begin to take on leadership roles.

I am proud of our leadership team and how they with passion keep the mission of the gospel out front. The Live Oak Ladies (our women’s ministry) had the vision for a Yard Give and in a pandemic and in very little time and NO resources pulled off a fantastic event that helped many people.

I am proud of our Elders and Deacons who give me wise, godly counsel and keep us on track.

18 months in and we are leading our community closer to Jesus, we are worshiping boldly and teaching the gospel with passion. Thank you Jesus for loving me, saving me and being an example in Leadership.

Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Last week I was blessed to take the family up to the mountains of Tennessee. I will admit it was a much needed break from all the covid nonsense and the riots on television. I packed away the phone and spent the week reading, praying and enjoying time with my family. This was the view from our porch and every morning I sat with a cup of coffee and simply rested in God’s presence. This verse came to my mind this afternoon and brought me back to those morning moments on the mountain. In the midst of the pain, frustration, vitriol and madness I want to be a man that brings GOOD NEWS. I want to bring PEACE and remind our country that MY GOD REIGNS!

You see despite whatever happens, my God reigns. Jesus is still God. We need to get back to that declaration. We need to stop cowering in fear of this cancel culture and be willing to proclaim the name of Jesus. Not watering it down, not tip toeing around people who may be offended. When Jesus was born he was called Emmanuel the Prince of Peace. When Jesus was teaching the beatitudes he called us to be Peacemakers. I have said this before but it is worth repeating…to make peace is not to be passive but to proclaim he who brings peace. To cause a stir. To be BOLD.

Live Oak Church has suspended services out of an abundance of caution for 14 out of the last 16 weeks. No more. We will get together. We will pray, we will worship, we will study and we will get through these days together. Why? Because we are the children of the most high God. We cry out to the city, country and the world…Our God Reigns.

Even as a pastor I am not one for hyperbole. However, to look at the political landscape both nationally and internationally it rightfully causes concern. For over 200 years we have been a nation, though flawed, with a freedom to speak our minds and share the gospel. Over the last twenty years we have entered into what is known as a post-christian phase of our republic. Where Christian morality once guided our decisions that is no longer the case. We are now in the minority (well we who will speak up at least). As the years pass and our liberties slowly are stripped away will we look back and regret what we did with these years past?

Will we regret not taking the gospel more seriously? Will we regret those conversations that we were free to have that are no longer able? Will we regret turning our churches into celebration centers instead of disciple makers? Will we regret the decision to cave to sin in order to be relevant? Will we regret making stands on things that weren’t sinful to begin with?

Or will we simply roll with it and justify it by declaring the providence of God. I am concerned. There is a stirring in my soul that says…you don’t have long. Share the Gospel, make disciples! The Lord gave us freedom and we wasted it. Maybe in persecution the wheat will be separated from chaff and the church will rise up and make a difference.

Oh church! speak life but don’t get pulled into foolish controversies that only exist to puff up the ignorant on our social media. Your lenses should be the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don’t fall on the sword of Trump or Biden or BLM or SBC or anything else that distracts from Jesus.

Maybe, just maybe if we buckle down and BE the church and recognize what is going on…the Lord will trust us with freedom once again and our children and grandchildren will not have to pay for our complacency.