Clemson 31 – South Carolina 14

Thunder & Lightning

You’re invited to Coastal’s Clemson/Carolina Game Party on Saturday! Kick-off is noon. Bring your favorite game day snacks. Invite and bring a friend. We’ll be watching the game at the church on the largest screen in Charleston – 16’x21’ (that’s FEET)! Even if you’re not a Clemson or Carolina fan or even a football fan for that matter – come for the food and the fun. Here in SC, it’s kind of like the Superbowl – an event that everyone will be talking about, without all the funny commercials. Well, more of a pathetic, redneck Superbowl, but ours none the less. But no matter who you pull for, chances are you’ll get to see your Pastor cry and scream in the span of 2 hours!

Wow! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day yesterday! We decided to stay home this year and not go to Georgia to see Janet’s family. Although I’m sure we would have had a great time, it was nice to stay put and not travel. We did so for several reasons. Next year, Lydia goes off to college, and although I assume she’ll be coming home for Thanksgiving, you never know what’s in store. So we wanted to be “selfish” and be together at home as a family. We also love having people over for Thanksgiving! We call it our “orphan” Thanksgiving. Other than my mom, we had several people from our Small Group and several other people from the church who either don’t have family here in Charleston, couldn’t travel, had spouses who had to work, or who came over after work. We had lots of food, lots of good conversation, and lots of laughs. My wife, who is an awesome cook, out did herself. She was a cooking tornado for two straight days.

I have so much to be thankful for. Most of all I am blown away by God’s grace! I am thankful for my Heavenly Father who loves me and was willing to sacrifice His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, for a sinner like me. And then, this just blows me away, He is willing to keep loving me, keep showing me mercy and grace and forgiveness and truth, as I slowly, very slowly, and sometimes even kicking and screaming, hopefully, become just a little bit more like His Son Jesus – which is how He already chooses to see me in the first place. That is not a love of this world or like any other. And then somehow He uses a screw up like me in His redemptive plan of rescuing people who are far from Him!

And then, if that were not enough, He has blessed me with the most amazing, beautiful woman I could ever imagine in Janet. What can I say? Words are not enough to describe my love for her and what she means to me. I love her, everything about her – more than I thought ever humanly possible. She loves Jesus and she loves me. And then come Lydia and Christopher into our lives! They love Jesus, they love people, and they love the church (which is a lot to say about Pastor’s kids). I am so proud of both of them – who they are and who they are becoming. I have some of the best friends a man could ever have. And on top of all of that, I am so thankful to be the Pastor of Coastal Community Church – a group of wonderfully imperfect people who love God, love people, and who really believe there is more to life and are willing to do whatever it takes to share and experience the life of Jesus with the world. I live the adventure of a lifetime! I am a blessed man.

(For those of you who were worried about me, I wanted to give you a grill update. I bought a new one! At our house, not having a grill is almost like the oven going out. Home Depot had their after Thanksgiving Day sale early. Merry Christmas to me! Don’t miss the spatula!)

1998-2008

I think God is trying to make me a vegetarian! For 21 days our family was on the Daniel Fast – nothing but fruits, vegetables and whole wheat. I think on Day 2 we started making plans for our first day off the fast. We were going to have a MEAT binge this past Sunday after church – grilled steaks! In fact, Bi-Lo had steaks on sale last week.

Then the unthinkable happened. I had a health insurance physical scheduled for Monday. They wanted me to fast the day before. No way! The steaks would have to wait. Then, when I did eat meat (and other things I had not eaten for almost a month) on Monday after the physical – let’s just say it didn’t sit well with my stomach.

Okay, we decided that we would grill the steaks tonight. The steaks were thawed out, seasoned, and ready to go on the grill! I went out to old faithful (a 1998 Weber Genesis 1000) and it bit the dust! I knew it was on it’s last legs, but nothing prepared me to finally pull the plug. He has been a good friend – feeding my family faithfully for 10 years. He has already had several transplants and makeovers over the years. His time has finally come. There is nothing that can be done. Can you see my tears?

Then I had to lower my standards and do something we never do – actually cook the steaks in the oven! NOOOOOO! We eat a lot of chicken at my house. 98% of the time I cook it on the grill. Most men claim to be the “Grill Master”, but I AM the “Grill Master” (at least at my home). At least I know what I’m getting for Christmas this year! It probably won’t be a Weber, but tomorrow I’m stopping at Home Depot, Lowes, and Wal-Mart and see what’s on sale. Good bye old friend! I shall eat meat again!

Well, I woke up early this morning, very early – about 3:30 – and could not fall back asleep. I have to get up at 5:30 anyway for my Oakland Prayer Group, so I decided to go ahead and get up. Actually, I went to bed pretty early last night – about 9:30. That’s very early for me. I’m usually up til midnight. To be honest with you, the reason I went to bed so early is that I wasn’t feeling well. I have a little bit of a cold, but after 21 days of the Daniel Fast, I started eating meat again yesterday and it didn’t sit well with me.

So what do I do at 3:30 in the morning? Try not to wake everyone else up with my sniffing and coughing for one. I finally added Wes to our Pastoral Staff page on our website. I guess it’s about time since he’s been here since July. I caught up on a few blogs that I read and people that I’m friends with on Facebook. If you haven’t already – send me your friend request.

Probably another reason I’m up is because I’m reading a lot more lately. Let me explain. When I read, I think. I think about the church. I think about people. I think about next steps. I think about the future. And when I wake up, it seems as though a million thoughts race through my mind and I can’t fall back asleep.

Yesterday, I took Christopher to the Dentist. We waited 1 hour and 40 minutes in the waiting room! For 40 minutes I was standing up because they were so crowded. Customer Service suggestion: when scheduling goes bad or when Doctors get pulled away because of an emergency, do something unexpectantly nice for the waiting (many of whom are frustrated) patients – like pass out Skittles or a free whatever coupon. And it doesn’t hurt to explain the delay. At least that way people won’t get so mad at the receptionist (it’s not her fault!). When we left the Dentist, I thanked the receptionist and told her to hang in there. She almost cried. The good news – I had a book with me! I read about 6 chapters. The book is called, Fusion: Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church. It’s a book by Nelson Searcy, Pastor of the Journey Church in NY City. It’s all about assimilation systems. It’s a very practical book that covers everything from Guest Services to follow up. We will start implementing parts of this system now.

The other book I’m reading right now is Jim Collins’ book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t. Honestly, I’ve had the book for a while and kind of skimmed through it when it first came out. But I heard Jim Collins speak this year at the Catalyst Conference and now Wes and I are reading it together and discussing it at our staff meetings. I can’t hardly put it down. It’s great stuff about leadership that has enormous implications for the church.

These are the two areas that I’m focusing on for our church this year – leadership and systems. In fact, I was talking to a good buddy and Pastor friend a couple of days ago, and he said the same thing – leadership and systems. If we are going to take the next step as a church, I’ve to got to improve as a leader. I’ve got to keep growing as a leader. I’ve also got to create and facilitate leadership development. In other words, Coastal needs to be a place that grows and develops leaders. That’s the main driving force for our monthly Leadership Development gathering that we’re beginning in January (we might call it FUEL – stole that from Scott Hodge). I’ve also got to implement new systems and improve existing systems at our church. Systems are simply an organized way of getting things done, that produce the desired results. I watched Andy Stanley’s message from last years Catalyst Conference on systems and took 11 pages of notes.

Anyway, I guess this is why I couldn’t go back to bed. By the way, Sunday was awesome! Lots of guests and return guests. I’ve loved preaching this Stewardship Series – getting lots of great feedback. Our offering was great Sunday – one of the largest we’ve had in a long time. Keep it up Coastal. Can’t wait for Thanksgiving! Having lots of people over! If you don’t have a place to go – give us a call, we’d love for you to join us! I’m serious.

Yesterday morning, at about 3:30AM, I was awakened by a phone call from Security Central – the alarm company for our church. The woman on the phone proceeded to tell me that the alarm was going off at our church and that the police were on the way. She wanted to know how long it would take for me to get to the church and what would I be driving. I got to the church in about 15 minutes (record time). A thousand thought were racing through my head – “I hope this is just a false alarm. What did they steal? Computers? Sound equipment? Times are tough financially and now this! I hope I don’t get a ticket. Is Bryan Miller on duty?”

When I arrived at the church I was met by the police. They told me that they had already walked around the perimeter of the building and didn’t find anything. They asked me to unlock the building, turn off the alarm (it was still going off), and they would search the church. Nothing. It could have been a bug that scattered across a sensor or a large moth flying past a motion detector – who knows? Either way, I was relieved. One of the police officers commented that he now knew where he was going to go to pass the time – our Youth Room. Of course, I invited him to church. I locked the building, set the alarm, and drove a lot slower back home. I crawled into bed about 4:30AM for a few more hours of sleep.

John 20 begins with, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark.” I can’t imagine the emotions Mary must have felt as she found the tomb with the stone rolled away. What were Peter and John thinking as they raced to the tomb in dark? And can you imagine the huge rush when Jesus calls Mary by name?

When I was 15 I went to Israel and visited what many believe to be the empty tomb of Jesus. It is a life changing experience to walk inside that empty tomb – one I will never forget. Chapter 20 ends with these words, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Life in His name. That’s what I have – LIFE! Coastal, that’s why we exist – to share that LIFE with the world around us. Just like Mary and the Discples, who will you tell that you have seen the Lord?

I can’t read this chapter without seeing these images:

“But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!”
1Corinthians 15:57 (The Message)

Well, today was a first in ministry. We get calls all the time from people asking if we will pay their rent or their power bill. Sometimes people drop by the church looking for money. Well, today a guy came by the church and told me that he was a hair stylist and would cut my hair for gas money. He said he had his scissors and supplies in the car and would do it on the spot. I simply pointed at my head and said, “Are you serious? My hair?” He told me that everyone needs a hair cut, even me. I told him I didn’t need a hair cut and all I had was a dollar, but we had some gas in one of our sheds. Apparently, he really didn’t want the gas, but he took my dollar. And I didn’t even get a hair cut! I just know I’m going to see this sign on the road soon:

It was a little chilly early this morning on my way to Oakland Elementary School. Okay, my wife says it was freezing. I left my jacket at the church and 4 teachers asked me where my coat was (I was wearing a short sleeve shirt). They’re such moms. At my Prayer Group this morning, I talked about the importance of unity – in a family, on a team, in the workplace. I then read from John 17 and talked about Jesus’ desire for unity among Christians. In fact, He says that our unity will have a direct effect on the world coming to Christ. Vs. 23, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

But here’s what blew me away: later this morning (the same day we’re reading John 17 in our fast) I received an email announcing One Prayer 2009. Remember One Prayer? It was the series we participated in back in June flowing out of Jesus’ prayer in John 17. Over 1800 over churches representing over a million believers around the world participated in the series. The premise of the series was if you could pray one prayer that God would answer, what would you pray? “Lord, make us __________.” Well, they’re going to do it again this June. This year the series is going to focus on the character of God. “God is _________.” Here‘s a portion of the email sent out by Craig Groschel of Life Church:

“The foundation for this year will remain the same: we pray to Jesus asking Him to answer our prayers—what if we became the answer to His? In John 17:20-24, He prayed that we would be one, and One Prayer is an opportunity to see what can be accomplished through a unified Church.”

So what would you preach? What comes to your mind? I’d love to know. “God is . . .” What?

It was great being back at church today (last week I was preaching at Branchville Christian Church for their anniversary). I just missed it all – our people, our worship, our “vibe” – everything.

We continued in our Stewardship Series, “Can I Speak to the Manager?” We looked at an often overlooked parable of Jesus, frequently called the parable of the Shrewd Manager. At first glance you’re almost sure you know where Jesus is going with this parable. You know he’s going to blast this guy for his seemingly dishonest ways. But then out of nowhere Jesus goes in a totally different direction. He commends the guy for his resourcefulness, for leveraging the little time and little opportunity he had for his future benefit.

He’s the reality: we all have a little bit of time and a little bit of money. From God’s perspective we all have just a little. And He is watching to see what we will do with what we have. Will we leverage our resources, our stuff, to further God’s kingdom? The challenge today was to see everything we have, all of our stuff, our time, our talents, our money as a tool, as a test, and as a trademark.

I hope people have been surprised by this series. Typically, people think that when Pastors preach about Stewardship, the messages are all going to be about giving. Now don’t get me wrong. We need to teach and preach truth about giving. But again, stewardship is so much more than that. It’s a way of life.

A few other observations about today. Our band seems to be getting more and more comfortable playing with each other and it shows. The first service the last few weeks has definitely been the larger service. It’s kind of flip flopped. It might be the time change. Who knows? We keep having first time guests. Lots of people come from our website.

The other thing that stood out about today was Operation Christmas Child. Huge props to Teresa Spell. She is the “Organizational Queen”! I think they packed and wrapped over 50 shoeboxes. And if you’ve seen what Teresa does with a shoebox, you know that one Coastal shoebox is probably 2 1/2 shoeboxes from somewhere else.

Today we read John 15. In some ways, vs. 5 is one of the reasons for this time of fasting, prayer, and scripture reading, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” It’s all about staying connected to the vine. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing – nothing of any value and nothing that will last. However, the sad truth is that we as Christians do that all the time. We work, we do, we serve, we give and it doesn’t flow out of our daily walk with Jesus. It’s in our power, our strength. We don’t pray. We don’t spend time in His word. We don’t cry out to our Father. We don’t listen to His voice. It’s so easy to do. But it’s also so easy to change. No matter how long you’ve drifted, once you turn around, you will discover that God is right there with open arms ready to welcome you home. Reconnect to the Vine.

Jesus also issues a challenge for us to love each other. In fact, He says it several times. But He goes a step further and tells us to love as He has loved and that there is no greater love than to lay down our lives for our friends. In fact, He calls us His friends! Wow! I am God’s friend! God’s grace never ceases to amaze me! Coastal, let’s love each other. And let’s show the world around us what God’s love looks like.