The scary part of leading

By God's grace and design on my life, I have found myself in leadership positions most of my life. Seriously, from the time I was playing pick up games with my buddies to my current role as pastor, I have always tended towards leadership. This is nothing of my own doing, just something God decided to do in my life. All credit to him. My journey does certainly go with our theme for "WALK" this week that the Holy Spirit uses many different means in our everyday lives to help us grow. God has graciously given me a chance to lead in a lot of settings, but today I was reminded why leadership is so scary...DETAILS! Surprise...I'm not a details guy. So I get excited about this big vision that comes easily for me...it's all so clear in my mind...THEN people started asking questions like "how?" and "why?" and "have you thought about..." and "well, I think we should". I just sat through three hours of meetings for the North American Christian Convention in 2014 (shadowing the president because in 2015, I'm going to be in that role)and I have a "details headache". I just want to dream about the theme and we have to assign workshop classes, leaders, topics, locations, etc... Well, what to do. Relax...just as the Lord created visionary leaders, he also created organizational leaders and detail leaders and stretegic planning leaders...praise God for them. Here's the big lesson they didn't tell me when I was first in ministry. I DON'T HAVE TO BE A DETAIL PERSON to be successful in ministry. Now, don't get me wrong...I've learned and matured in my ability to cover some details (like sermon preparation, and leadership meetings) but here's the "aha": someone else is dying to to the detail stuff of ministry in partnership with my vision. They get just as excited about details as I get about preaching...I had to breathe into a paper bag for a few minutes today and realize...I don't have to be scared....I'm not going to organize all of these details...someone gifted to do that will make that happen...Ahhh... I feel better now!

Walk this way!

Our all-church study called WALK began yesterday with an invitation to take a first step in the journey with Jesus and several responded! One deeply touched me. A lady that I knew because our sons played basketball in high school came forward in third hour with tears in her eyes. I hadn't seen her in at least four years, but her name came to me immediately and we prayed as she was broken before the Lord. She spent time after service talking with my wife and it was a glorious conversation. Again, God never ceases to amaze me at His ability to get everyone's attention. My soul was deeply touched by this encounter. Then I met a great man in the airport as I was flying to Dallas. He introduced himself and told me he has been going to Eastview for a year or so and is involved in a men's Bible study group. He even went to the Dominican Republic in April on a construction trip. As we were boarding, the woman at the ticket counter brightened when she saw Sara and I, she goes to our church and actually said "Great sermon today Pastor". That means she had been at the 8:00 a.m. service and then gone to the airport for work (love it!). Well, when this man heard she had gone to Eastview, he said, "You go to my church" and to which she replied "you go to Eastview?" She went straight to, "You in a study group?" To which he replies "yep". It was a regular revival right there as we were boarding. Later as we picked up our luggage in Dallas. This man revealed that four years ago he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer, but he's still going, feels good and the cancer has actually spread. I wish I could paint for you the expression of joy on his face as he literally lives one day at a time for Jesus! Inspiring.

Time to WALK

A bunch of things fill my mind as I get ready for the kickoff of our all-church study called WALK. I'll get to that in just a minute... Got my weekly dose of humility from the anonymous who really doesn't like me and usually gives me a mean-spirited response to my blog...it's o.k. Me and Jesus have talked and we're cool. Please pray join me in prayer for a bitter, yet anonymous person. I love them even if I don't know them. Now for some good news. Hundreds of small group leaders showed up for training for WALK campaign...excitement in the air! That was followed by hundreds getting plugged in to their small group for this study...nearing 500 new small group participants. Many kudos to the small group staff and volunteers who are doing all of this crucial assimilation! Another bit of Eastview celebration. WE made the Outreach Magazine top 100 for fastest growing churches in America. There are over 350,000 protestant churches in our country and this is a huge honor. We're number 91 on the list. TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY FOR THIS. SERIOUSLY, THIS IS ALL HIS DOING AND MY DESIRE IS TO CELEBRATE HIM BY SHARING WHAT HE HAS CHOSEN TO DO AT EASTVIEW. Eastview family, chant it with me, "We're 91", "We're 91". Finally, let's walk. Beginning Sunday we will start a six week journey breaking down the following spiritual growth definition by our own J.K. : "God, the Holy Spirit takes te initiative through various means in cooperation with our response changes us to look like Jesus in order to serve others for the glory of God". Each week a sermon, will follow with six daily devotions (hope you've got your book), and a video teaching in your small group setting! Ready to grow in the faith with you all. If we are obedient to study and follow God's will...He will bless our desire to grow in Him. Let's go for a walk together.

What to do with a near tragedy

Well, by now many of you have probably heard what happened in Normal this past weekend, but for my international readers, a brief recap. A young man brought a gun to NCHS last Friday and took over his classroom firing a few shots into the ceiling. He was apprehended by the teacher and when the school was locked down, the students made their way through rain and mud to our church building where our staf and some Eastview members showed incredible love to the staff, faculty and students during this emotionally draining and scary time. By God's grace no students were hurt and everyone got home safe...but it was a wake up call! What to do as a Christian when this stuff happens? Well, this is where I've landed and some thoughts on what God seems to be saying to me: 1. Life is fragile, short, unpredictable and not promised...so how does that affect my love, my witness, and my walk with Jesus today? If I knew today was it...what's different? 2. God is generous. The only thing I know to do when something good happens on a grand scale is to think how God must have covered that school and that classroom with his grace because of the prayers of the hundreds of parents who pray for their kids all the time. 3. The church is beautiful. When stuff that absolutely shakes the world goes down, the church is seen as this place of safety and reassurance (I love that the church was referred to in the news as the "reunification" place). And you know how the church does it? By being itself. God designed the church for times such as this...absolutely beautiful. 4. God works in mysterious ways. God will use this event to bring some people to His Son and will also light a fire under some of us who are just too complacent in our walk. God has already turned this very crazy scary event to change hundreds of lives! 5. The preached word always makes a difference. There was talk of doing some different things in our service yesterday but my spiritual instinct was to simply do what we do. Assure people of God's word for our lives and praise him in song. What have you done with this experience?

Dangerous

Well, it's dangerous week around here. Seems inconsistent that "dangerous" week is a shortened work week, since the workplace is where most of our "dangerous witness" takes place, but God can do in four days what he can do in five. The memory verse from Colossians 4:5 has really inspired/convicted/messed with me...especially that phrase: "make the most of every opportunity" - the Greek word "agoradzo" has to do with shopping in the market (agora). You could translate this, "buy the opportunity" - KJV says "redeem the time" My father-in-law is famous for going to flea markets and finding great deals on a variety of collectibles (or junk as I call it). Often, he walks away from a great deal without buying only to find that when he changes his mind later and goes to purchase the item he now wants; it is too late...someone else already bought it. I wonder if we are the same spiritually. Does God give us unbelievable opportunities to share our faith, start conversations, get into people's lives only for us to say, "that was weird"? What if we looked for a chance to buy (redeem) every opportunity in our day for Jesus? Here are the questions I'm obsessing on? 1. Is there any truly chance encounter with another human being in my life today? If not, why did it happen? 2. How many opportunities have I asked God for? 3. How many will I get today? 4. How many opportunities to talk about Jesus will it take for someone to respond by following him as Lord? 5. What if a non-Christian friend is looking for an opportunity to talk with me about the faith they see in me? 6. Does everyone I meet today see Jesus in me? Why or why not? 7. If God "you tubed" a video of all the people opportunities I've missed in my lifetime, how many would there be and how sad would I be to see those I've missed? We'll stop with seven...very holy number.

Ridiculous

In my experience, it's not that hard to be ridiculous...just act outside the norm and people will ridicule your words, actions, or appearance! But our vision is not to be ridiculous, but to love ridiculously! What does that mean? Could we love like the early church and the way Jesus taught? If we could, we would be ridiculed for our love...I pray this week, the Lord shows you who and how to love in a ridiculous way. 1. Jesus said to love one another. Maybe your ridiculous is to shower someone in your circle that you often take for granted. Sometimes loving those close to us (especially in the church) is the hardest to do, but Jesus says this is how people will know we follow Him. 2. Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. Maybe your ridiculous love is to literally do something for someone who lives close to you. Of course, when asked "who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with the story of the good Samaritan. Who is around you, in your school, in your workplace, in your social setting, that is maybe not like you but is truly your neighbor. 3. Jesus said to love your enemy. As a Christian, you should not normally have an enemy by your choice, but there are certainly some people in our world or lives who do not like (or even hate) Christians. Is there someone in your world that you know probably doesn't like who you are or what you represent? Why not do something loving for them this week. Our goal, 1,000 acts of kindness! Let's do this. I'm praying for God to show me who I am to love this week. Follow my progress on twitter @bakerpastor for updates and also some useless stuff I tweet from time to time. Memory verse for the week: John 15:12&13: "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." KNOW IT AND LIVE IT!

Fearless

Well, fearless week is in full swing here at Eastview. Working at memorizing Matthew 16:24...a very fearless and following passage. Our vision at Eastview is to be a fearless church of Christ-followers and yesterday we gave a fearless vision for our future...some highlights: 1. We will not be afraid of growth...since we don't bring it, God does...we will be faithful with all he entrusts to us! He has grown Eastview by 8%/yr. the last five years and that means we will be a church averaging 7,200 in weekend attendance in 2017 if this continues. There is much to be afraid of: where will we put our kids? Parking? Who will we need to hire? More teachers/leaders of small groups? More volunteers? More toilet paper?! Whatever the challenge, God will provide the growth and the strength for us to be faithful. 2. We will not be afraid of finances. Obviously, everyone is a little tense about economy these days, but God has all the resources in the world! He's not worried, he can get the money to do the ministry here any way he wants. It's just more interesting (and for us a privilege) for him to involve us in doing it! So, we are adding $1M to our budget for next year...over $200K of which is going for outreach (overseas and domestic). This is a big step, but God has provided and we are convinced he will continue. If you can give more why wouldn't you? 3. Finally, we will not be afraid to speak. As God brings the growth, our voice in this community will increase and we will be opposed. But we are committed to preach Jesus as the living Word of God and the Bible as the written Word of God...no matter what. We are working at increasing our voice by using more and more social media to get the word out about our Savior...so if you are on facebook - friend the Eastview page. If you have an i phone go to the Apple app store and download the Eastview App and (this is the craziest one yet) if you are on Twitter you can follow me @bakerpastor - yes, the man who never learned to program a VCR is now "tweeting" that really is fearless! Praying for you to have a fearless week!