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Pastoring is different when you are young

All of my life, I have tried to be older than I am.  

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a bigger kid.

When I was in middle school, I was ready to be in high school.

When I was a high schooler, I kept looking forward to college.

In college, I was ready for a career.

When I was single, I anticipated marriage.

Now I am a young pastor.  I feel a lot of pressure to act more like an older pastor.

Then I read 1 kings 12.

You have Solomon, this incredible King (with faults) who dies.  His son, Rehoboam takes over.  The people want Rehoboam to lighten their load to be less authoritative. They want to feel more appreciated, they wanted the younger leader to be different.

Rehoboam then asks advice from His father's elders who tell him that he should be less authoritative and serve them.

Then, he asks for advice from his inexperienced friends (who have read books, been to conferences, and follow blogs, but don't really know what they are talking about) for advice.  They say, man you are the King, you need to show them who is in charge.

He follows his friends advice, things don't go well.

Lesson:  I am not 40,50, 60..... I am 26.  I have not been a lead pastor for 10,20,30 years....I've been one for 1.5 years.  I'm not Solomon, I'm Rehoboam.  

I don't need to act like I am a king that expects everyone to follow my direction at the drop of a hat.  I need to realize that people are going to respond best to me as they see me lead by example, serve the people, and personally invest in the vision that God has given me.  

Leadership flows out of Authority and Affinity.  When you are younger, you have less authority, so love on the people more.  God calls the young, but it's more difficult.  But He wants to help us grow, so follow His advice on leading while being young....

or don't.... you know what you are doing; you have read books, blogs, and been to conferences. 

update (part 2) personal life

One word can summarize my personal life lately; strength.  I have had to rely on the strength of the Lord, like never before.  I have come to a greater understanding of my inadequacies and of His ability to work on and through me.  I am continually challenged by Scripture and my relationships with other Christ followers to walk further, run faster, and jump higher than ever before.  Here is what is going on in my personal life.

1. I am more faithful than I have ever been in reading the Bible and praying.  

2. I am being stretched to be continually giving of myself; time, energy, emotion, and money.

3. Cameron is 9 months old now.  He has become an incredibly smart, funny, and beautiful little boy already!  He crawls like a maniac, stands up on his own (close to walking), waves and does more fun tricks.  I am so blessed to have him in my life. 

4.  Christie is three months pregnant.  She is nursing Cameron and has a growing baby in side of her.  Her body has a  lot of work to do!  It is very good that she is able to stay at home.

5.  I am working 40-50 hours a week for the church and another 18 at Starbucks.

6.  After this semester, I will have 18 hours left for my masters!

7.  I am incredibly out of shape and have battled with a good plan to change that over the past year.  I am currently working on a new one.  

8.  I have made some great friends through my involvement in mosaic church of Crestview.

9. As a result of the popularity of our churches nomorechristians.com teaching series, i have several non-Christians who listen to my teaching regularly.  This has provided some cool opportunities.

10. I wish my friends and family from the Jacksonville/Starke area could pack up and move to Crestview.

what you can pray for

Christie and I's relationship.  This is a stressful time for us and we have to be intentional about working on our marriage.  We are both immature and struggle with being the spouse that we need to be.

Christie and I having two kids that are 15 months apart.

Our personal finances. It has been tough for Christie to stay at home.

My continual trust in God's provision and sovereignty.  

Increased opportunities and influence to use the gifts that God has given me.

Thank you so much for your support and love of Christie and I.  God has used so many of you to strengthen us to do the overwhelming tasks that He has called us.

update (part 1) church life

Over the next few days, I will update you on what God is doing in my life. I will begin with a snapshot of what is going on with mosaic church.

1. Jesus is being honored and glorified by our leadership. We are trusting in Him and He is the focus of all that we do.
2. I have been blessed with an incredible staff (Walker, Tripp, and Joey) who are continually improving in their dedication to our church and devotion to helping me focus on what I need to focus on.
3. We have some great volunteers who are giving so much of themselves to see the vision of our church carried out.
4. During July we averaged 110 in attendance which is our second highest month ever.
5. Our worship services and environment has become incredible. (thanks to the staff and volunteers)
6. God has brought some new faces to be a part of our church that are going (and already are) do so much to further the Kingdom of God.
7. We have got some office space for very cheap, so while we remain a portable church we will have a central office.
8. We have seen several trust in Christ. We are excited about them being baptized in August!

what you can pray for

God has been burdening me that we need a few couples that are more mature ( age wise and spiritually). We need some strong older married couples that are passionate about our vision to reach the unchurched.

Finances are pretty bad for mosaic church. Please pray that God provides in a supernatural way. Christie and I are exploring the possibility of me working bi-vocationally gain. We'll do what we gotta do!

Other than that, just pray for me to listen to God and not my desires or other peoples desires. There is a great amount of momentum building right now and we don't want to do anything to quench what God is doing!

Thanks for reading and thanks for loving on my family and mosaic church!

WHO IS THIS?

Storms.

With the exception of a privileged few, we are all guaranteed that times of great uncertainty will come in our lives.  

In Luke 8:22-25 you find that the disciples are on boat with Jesus and while he is sleeping they are engulfed by a fierce sudden storm.

The disciples freak out and do a good thing.  They go wake Jesus.  They want his help.

Jesus calms the storm and then questions the disciples; where is your faith?

Why would he ask this?  All of the factors show that the disciples had reason to be afraid.  They should have been scared....except for one thing!

In verse 22, it tells us that Jesus was the one that put them in their situation.  He is the one who was in control.  Since they were where Jesus wanted them, they should have been calm.  

When we are following Jesus and storms come, we have to follow His example and......

rest. chill.  be at peace.

There is nothing that we can do.  A storm is beyond our control.  So we need to be at peace.

God will put storms in your life for a reason.  Not to make you stronger, not to help you help others.

He put storms in your life so that you will be amazed by Him.

In verse 25, the disciples questioned "who is this" that calms the storm.  

So when financial, relational, physical storms come in your life; be still and KNOW that He is God.  Let Him amaze you and who he is.  

when a word changes

Growing up, all that grace meant to me was a 15 second cliche saying that happened before dinner around certain people.

Wow, has that word changed for me.

I don't think that I will ever cease to be amazed by the grace of God.  To think that He completely loves people who reject him or that claim His name yet live in contradiction to what He desires is unbelievable.

Literally, it is hard to to believe that someone has that much grace.  But, He does.  I am thankful for that grace.  I am thankful for how much that He has grown me.  I am thankful for how much He has changed me.  I am thankful that He uses me to be a part of His church.  

I really am not worthy of His grace.  But He gives it to me, and for that I am thankful.

Michael McDuffie

This morning Michael McDuffie left Crestview to begin his two year commitment to teach English at a university in China.  While Michael will do an excellent job of teaching college Freshmen English, Michael's primary goal is to build relationships with the students and people he encounters and share the love of Christ with them.  

Michael graduated from Auburn last December and has spent the past eight months in Crestview and serving Mosaic Church.  I have learned some incredible things about Michael as we have built a great relationship.  

Michael is in love with Jesus.

Michael loves people a lot.

Michael has a great shared love for His family.

Michael is a natural leader.

Michael has a servants heart.

Michael is hilarious.

Michael trusts God for provision.

Michael is going to do an amazing job of sharing the light of Christ wherever he goes.

Please join me in praying for Michael as he moves across the world to share the light of the world.

you can follow him on michaelmcduffiejr.com