tomorrow morning, 6:30 – 7:30 WRC, multi-purpose theater. MEN ONLY, coffee and prayer. drop by stay a few minutes, stay the hour. no more boring prayers. directed prayer time. see you there.

i recently did one of those on-line personality assessments. i find them pretty accurate if you are half-way honest about who you are. here is one of the descriptions of me:

“you feel that a clean, orderly desk is the sign of a person that doesn’t have enough to do. you don’t need everything in its place; it is not empowering to you to feel that the world around you is neat and organized…”

i think these folks took a picture of my desk before they wrote that part of the report. what leads me down this path is that i decided to get rid of some stuff that has cluttered the top of my desk for some time. in the midst of cleaning off the desk i found some interesting stuff. stuff i didn’t even know i had or was supposed to have.

one of the sets of papers on my desk was a series of quarterly reports to the irs. i think they were income statements, pay period reports or something of the sort. being that i don’t even attempt to do my own taxes i didn’t understand the reports anyway. i took them immediately to our finance folks. i have no idea how they got on my desk. they were useless to me.

second was a series of papers dated 1997 that were the original organizational statements for WRC. Listed the staff, sponsor churches, how much money each had raised for salaries, vision, values, evangelism plans, schedule of events. it was pretty interesting but basically useless to me. again i have no idea how they got on my desk. i have enough “junk” on my desk without having someone elses “stuff.”

except for the quarterly reports which i returned to finance 99.9% of this “stuff” got thrown away. i think i probably need to go through my computer files and do the same type of clean-up. but then i needed a document from a couple of years ago from someone and they were able to go back 2 years and have a record of just what i needed. so you never know.

there is a point to this…there is enough clutter in our lives, clean it out once in a while, get rid of the old “stuff” and make room for new “stuff”. it is the same way for our emotions. what “stuff” is taking up space on your emotional data bases that are holding you back? clean it out and clean it up. 1 john 1: 9 confess it, get rid of it, move on.

you can see the top of my cabinet for the first time in some time. i need to make sure i’m not littering my emotional and spiritual life with junk. need to clean that up too. hope i remember that lesson more often.

i’m gonna make a confession, i am tempted, and sometimes even sin. gasp! and i struggle like most men with the temptation all around me of sex and the media. i have mostly protected myself as much as possible. i have tried to assure my wife that the home computer is safe. she knows how to read the history and cookies and such. she has complete access to the computer so there’s no where for me to hide if i were tempted to go to a sex oriented website. btw i’m also such a technogically stupid person that i don’t know how to hide these sites. anyway i feel like i’m pretty accountable on the computer side of things. and i’m not stupid enough to use my work computer for anything that would get me fired.

but there is the tv. i have never allowed us to have or subscribe to movie channels because i know, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” so, i’ve never subscribed to HBO, Starz, Encore or any of those channels. i don’t want to fall to temptation. so it’s easier just not to pay for something that may trap me.

soooooooo…this weekend the GA/ASU game was on ESPNU, which is not part of my DISH package. well, we decided to bite the bullet and pay the extra so i could watch the game. the lady told my wife “with this package you get 50 extra channels in addition to the sports channels. well we thought that was cool, at least until this morning.

i got up early this morning. one of those mornings i couldn’t sleep. i went to the living room so that i didn’t wake my wife. i have a bad habit of turning on the tv no matter what else i am doing. i like the noise. i checked some email and sat down to watch the news after i answered the email. a commercial came on and i decided to channel surf. ahh, i think, we have new channels let’s check them out. so i go surfing and all of a sudden there is a porn movie on my tv screen. not a pay-per-view, one of those blasted cheap movie channels. not HBO, i know the trash they offer, not Starz, not Encore, but another channel. i quickly change back to the news channel and go to the bedroom to get ready for work. at which time my wife says, “you sure are getting ready early.” to which i replied, “one of those new channels, guess what, a porn movie came on and i didn’t want to be tempted so i came back here to get ready until it goes off.”

i could have lied to her but i want to be accountable. she needs to know that she can trust me. i need to know she’s gonna hold me accountable. anyway…

guys, if you have all these movie channels, how do you stay away from temptation? if i had these things in my house (we plan to find ways to lock them out and if there is a password, my wife will set it, or we will cancel, there goes my college sports package) i would be too tempted to look when no one else is looking. in other words, i am weak. but i know that so i protect myself. you know the scripture “flee evil”. i’m trying.

so guys, how do you avoid temptation? do your wife and children trust you to avoid “any hint of evil?” i’m not saying my way is right for everyone, but if sex is your problem, then tv may be your master. for me, just not subscribing has worked for years. avoiding temptation is more important than football. how about you?

still buzzing like crazy in the WRC parking lot. still needs dozens, yea hundreds of volunteers. i heard that Samaritan’s Purse (678-202-5974 for help or volunteer) had received over 600 calls for assistance. that’s a lot of clean-up and a lot of man (woman) hours. if you can give a day, or bring a team to give a day it would be amazing. be ready to get dirty, cleaning up mud and carrying furniture. on-site volunteers handling clothes, shoes, food, etc.

you can still be a blessing.

Disaster Relief

How do I get HELP?

Contact Samaritan’s Purse by phone 678-202-5974 or by email at disasterresponse3@samaritan.org

Where can I STAY?

Contact the Red Cross 404-876-3302

Where can I get FOOD?

Contact Warehouse of Hope by phone at 770-489-0509

Where can I get WATER, BLANKETS, AND SHOES?

You can pick these up at West Ridge Church between the hours of 10:00am to 7:00pm.

How can I DONATE?

We are accepting donations of CLOTHING at West Ridge Church between the hours of 10:00am and 7:00pm.  If you have household items you would like to donate, please email brittneyf@westridge.com.

How can I SERVE?

Contact Samaritan’s Purse by phone at 678-202-5974 or by email at disasterresponse3@samaritan.org

Where can I GIVE?

Click the ‘Donate’ button at the top of this page to give through Engage Atlanta.

How can my church help?

Contact Paul Richardson by phone at 770-222-2125 ext. 308

Church Planters, if you are a WRC partner we may be calling you today to ask you to partner in a particular venture of relief.

from my quiet time this morning came this line, ‘our direction determines our destination.” i always know this but i sometimes act as if it doesn’t matter. i may even be on a parallel path sometimes but leading to the wrong ending place. i may feel good until i pass something that i’m not sure where it is. for instance, traveling to Baltimore to see my daughter google maps sends you on a highway marked 123, at a certain point 123 becomes a state highway that sends you into the inner city of D.C. assuming you come out the other end you end up in Baltimore but you have taken a 
VERY circuitous route. when if they had only told you to stay on the road you were traveling and leave 123 behind. you are on a road that runs parallel for a long time and then suddenly you are not where you want to be.  

in my talks with church planters sometimes i hear them talk about their destinies but i often find them on the wrong path to that destiny. things like the community you plant in, the ways you do outreach, the way you communicate with people, the way people are treated when they come into your building, etc, etc.

church planters often think if i just do a like joe does a i will be a success. a’s path may lead to Orange County, California and you don’t won’t to go there. or it may lead to Illinois, and you aren’t going there either. you have to be able to interpret your community and the path you are following. the more you are able to do that the more successful you will be. but don’t tell me about having 1000 in worship unless you are willing to follow the path to get there.

one of my favorite verses, “man makes his plan, but God directs his steps.” make sure following the directions of the Savior when the plans are completed. make sure they’re not parallel paths that find you in a different location.

my wife and i decided to do a project together. not always a good idea but we both like puzzles. we went to the store and bought a 1000 piece puzzle. now me i buy one with bright colors. you know instantly where the greens, the reds, the blues, etc go. my wife buys a beautiful landscape of a lighthouse in a storm. now her puzzle choice was a LOT of browns, greens, darker browns, lighter greens, some white, some more browns, tans, khakis, do you see where i’m going here. this is a hard puzzle. just slight variations and a piece could fit at the top, middle, or bottom of this puzzle. in other words it is a pain.

and then there is the solving of the puzzle. i’m pretty traditional i think. put the border together find an area and complete the area. i tend to work across the puzzle from bottom to top. order, i say, order. my wife found a section of the puzzle she liked and began to put the puzzle together from the inside??!! now i must admit i have never seen anyone do this before. i didn’t say anything to her but i was wondering how will she know where to connect this nuanced piece of the puzzle with it’s varying shades of purple (which i swear is brown, another slight difference in solving the puzzle).

well, last night there was a breakthrough. while i was building from the bottom and my wife had put together a major piece of the interior i noticed something. her lighthouse fit into my seawall and crashing waves. Praise Jesus a meeting of the minds, a better picture of the whole, something working from opposite angles came together and we are beginning to vision the end. now all we have left is the big sky with its purples, (browns) and other dark shades.

here is what i learn. people looking at one project with two different ways of solving the problem can still arrive at the right solution. now i still get frustrated, as does my wife, when i can’t get her to solve the puzzle my way. but with a little negotiation, with a little conversation, with a little maneuvering the lighthouse fits into the seawall. i believe that churches need to learn to function this way. we have one goal – allowing God to use us to build His Kingdom. we may come at it from different perspectives and different methods but in the end it is His plan. we can work together, one body, many parts – don’t let methods confuse the message. Jesus said, “if I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men to myself.” ljbt (little jim’s bible translation) no matter how you lift Him up, it’s a good thing. so, lift Him up.

i have been around church planting now for 18 years in some form or fashion. i remember my first conversation when a pastor asked me if i had considered church planting, “who’s mad at you?” turns out the guy was just pretty kingdom minded and gave me my first start. not a lot of money but 4 families that were servants in that church. which has nothing to do with my topic but…

anyway, having been around i have learned to set my expectations according to the called, the culture, and the community. now what do i mean by that. this morning i have already received 2 reports from church planters. one just barely a year old and the other his first preview service.

the first thing i set my expectations on are the called. is the church planter really a church planter or is he a pastor with no where else to go. harsh, but true, a deacon gets mad and the pastor goes and starts a church. not good. but a guy called to church planting, God will bless if…

he is in the right culture. there was a little discussion among some of my twitter friends last week about growth and evangelism, etc. one of my spiritual friends said, “God draws all men to himself” as if that should be a churches growth strategy. well, now i believe that, but i am in the church growth business somewhat. a church planter is trying to grow a church. most likely, (unless there are missionary/apostolic gifts) a called person will reach people like himself (culture). God calls ‘em, you gotta attract ‘em to your church…

which needs to be in a community like the called and the culture. a church planter is going to be most successful if he plants himself and his church in the community that is most like him culturally and to which he feels called. there are a few Jonah’s out there reaching a people they don’t particularly like but not many.

so anyway, these reports, one from Baltimore a year old, in the heart of the city, reaching pagan’s. Ellis reports 80 people in attendance. GREAT job. growing a group among skeptics and unbeliever’s is tough. Ellis is called to a culture (they meet in a pub) and a community that is taking a lot of time. my expectations were not that he would grow a mega-church next year but that he would grow a series of churches that will create community in a large city.

the second guy had a preview service yesterday and drew 90+ people and one person committed their life to Christ for the first time. he is in a small town in north GA. he grew up in the community. he loves his small town. expectations are a little higher numerically. he is called to reach his culture (small town, dechurched and unchurched people, most with a religious memory) and community. I think he will become a large church fairly soon. GREAT job.

here’s the quick lesson if you’re a church planter. make sure you are called. make sure you know the culture. make sure it’s in the right community. set your expectations accordingly. (and then there’s a little thing called strategy but i couldn’t think of a “c” word so that’ll be another day.) peace.

in the Christian Index (the paper of the GBC, i know i’m still a baptist at heart) today is this late breaking news: “A 2003 study released by Purdue University revealed…”

Evidently we just got the news, oh yeah, the study revealed that Baptist were the fattest group of religious people in America, duh!!!! it’s all that fried chicken and country fried steak and GRAVY, wooo dawg we know how to eat! only problem is that it’s killing us. i heard a comedienne say one time, when he grew up gravy was a beverage like iced tea. that’s the way i grew up. big ole biscuits and gravy for breakfast, cornbeef gravy, sawmill gravy, roast beef gravy, brown gravy, white gravy, even onion gravy (chop up the onion add it to the roue and saute for a few minutes till you add the milk or cream, ummm) diabetes, heart problems, obesity, high cholesterol, poor circulation, i think i have a disease for every gravy.

if you’re interested: here’s the list: baptist, fundamentalist (i thought most baptist were), piestic protestants (you methodist), non-denoms, reformation (you presbyterians are pretty healthy), catholic, non-traditionalist (jeh wit, mormon, 7th day, christian science), jewish, and other non-christian.

so what group do you fit in? me i’m working toward the methodist body, don’t know if i’ll ever reach the non-traditionalist, but then i’m not having to work my way to heaven like these guys are. here’s to being a good healthy middle of the road reformation body. if it’s good enough for Calvin, it must be good.

seriously, the methodist church conducted an initiative a few years ago among their pastors and churches to move them toward a more healthy lifestyle. my understanding is that health insurance for methodist pastors went down almost 10%. that is pretty amazing. well here’s to your health, and oh, pass the gravy. i’ll put it on my tofu steak.

if your answer is no, then you are way beyond “not normal.” listening to thenines conference on line @ tonymorganlive.com. and the speakers are cool and there is lots to learn but the most creative part of the entire day is the concept: 09/09/09 the 252 day of the year (2+5+2 = 9) on Wednesday (nine letters) in September (nine letters and the ninth month).

how long did it take someone to think that kind of stuff up? i get jealous of such creativity. i love it! but i just wish God had given me some of that kind of marketing, thinking, planning, creativity. oh well, as i tell my church planting classes, “i steal from the best.” so i’ll probably steal some of this too!

the danger is that we get so hung up on what others are doing, or that God did not give us that kind of creativity and we get stuck in our own self-pity. truth is each one of these guys/girls struggle with something that God gifted you to do. i love the concept of the body that Paul describes. if only we could learn and practice that more fully. i don’t know which part of the body i am, but i know that some part of the church world doesn’t function correctly if my body part is not functioning at full capacity.

how about you? are you functioning at full capacity. what part would you be? (no porn reponses please) the head (Jesus already claimed that one, sorry), the heart, the ears, the mouth, the feet, the hands, the hips, the stomach, the arms, the legs, or perhaps the inner parts that are hidden but vital, maybe even you’re the appendix that is needed but we don’t know completely why but we sure know when it hurts.

as Paul says, we need all the parts. be yours. the church does much better when you do your part and i do mine. but i sure do wish sometimes God woulda made me a brain (thinker) like these guys. but i won’t get stuck there, don’t you.