merry christmas

i am resting from blogging this week!

I said that

Here are some things I never thought that I would say and I could have said before I became a church planter.

-Almost everyone at Whataburger knows me by name (and give me a discount).
-I have worked at Starbucks for over a year.
-I have had three people tell me that I am an incredible pastor and that they are behind me 100%, who later said that I was terrible and the worst pastor ever.
-I have to walk on egg shells around the custodians at Antioch elementary school.
-I have 240 - 400 bottles of water in my car at any time.
-I love the feeling of being overwhelmed and watching things come together.
-I have four people who serve under my leadership that "work for food."
-I guess they're right, senior citizens although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose.

well done

I constantly struggle with what God views as success and what man views as success.

When I worked in the mortgage industry what I needed to do was clear, whatever made me the most money.
When I played competitive sports what I needed to do was clear, whatever caused me to have the best chance to win!

I know that God has called me to pastor for a reason. I know that He wants me to help lead people to be more like Him and for them to lead others to be more like Him. (Ephesians)

For those of you who do not know, I didn't plan to plant a church. I didn't dream of it for years and years. I didn't even know much about church planting. It just happened ( which has been cool and not cool in many ways, lol).

I believe that it was God's plan. I believe that I was obedient to His call on my life. I believe that He is using us to do incredible things.

Our church is growing numerically, but I don't just want to have bigger numbers.
People are getting excited, but I don't just want our church to be cool.
We are doing things, but I don't just want to do a lot of stuff.

I want God to be pleased with me. I want to be in His will. I want people to be transformed through what we are doing.

I see a lot of guys who are pastors or want to be pastors who (regardless of what they say or what I will say about them) want man's recognition for what they do.

I do not want to be that guy; I can't be that guy even when I try.

I don't want to be successful, I want to be a servant. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve.

Love is not a victory march,it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen

what is your motivation?

Just over four years ago I served as a summer intern under John Cross at South Biscayne Church. I did not grow up in church all my life and I had never actually "worked" for a church until that summer so I had no idea what to expect. When I got there, what I found was that it was hard work. In addition to the fact that we as interns had submitted ourselves to serve in whatever way they needed, it was also a transition time in the church and there were a lot of staff issues and people issues going on. We had one day off a week (every once in a while and I usually didn't get home until 9) It was tiring, stressful, aggravating, painful, etc, etc, etc. To be honest at some moments I felt like breaking my 3 month commitment and going home.

But then I took part in a service at the beach where 67 people showed their commitment to Christ and how He had changed their life through being baptized. As I stood there in the water helping people to and from the Pastor; the cleaning bathrooms, walking to homes in 100 degree weather, and daily hard work became worth it! So, I continued to work hard, I continued to do things that I wasn't excited about doing, I continued to do whatever it takes because I was playing a part in the Church reaching real people.

Some people will work harder if you pay them more, if you give them some fancy title, or if they get recognized by others. God wants to work hard because of the need. In Luke 10, Jesus said that the Harvest is great but the workers are few.

I know as staff and as volunteers at mosaic (and other churches with a similar vision) we do a lot, but people's lives being changed is worth it!

open

Last night, I decided to drop in on our life group entitled open. Open is a group that meets at Starbucks every Sunday night. They usually start by discussing the topic of that day's sermon and then whatever is going on in someones life. The idea behind this group is to be a small step for someone to make to get more plugged into our church.

WOW!

I was absolutely amazed at the openness between people who had not met each other before that day. I was amazed at the willingness for new people to share what is going on in their life. I was encouraged by this small groups success in doing what we believe God has it there for.

If you are not seeing guests/regular attenders become more invovled in the body, then be creative. Start service based groups, interst groups, use different nights of the week, go to public locations, and do whatever it takes!

What works for us may or may not work for you, but is part of our call as Pastors and leaders of the church to do something to try and equip people (eph 4) and we have to figure out steps that people can take to move them along on their walk with Christ!

30-45 minutes of my day

I usually try to listen to one sermon each day. Who I listen to changes, but here is who I listen to right now.

Monday - me
Tuesday- Eric Partin, Shoreline Church
Wednesday- Andy Stanley, North Point Community Church
Thursday- John Cross, South Biscayne Church
Friday-various (Francis Chan, David Hughes, Troy Gramling, Ed Young)

parenting

this Sunday i am talking about parenting. If you have any good qoutes or illustrations, comment on my blog or send me an e-mail (james@mosaiccrestview.com).