David and Sonja Bates:

David and Sonja have been coming to our church for over a year and a half. When I first met them, they were uninterested in attending church, and had a custody issue with their baby girl. Over some time, the people of our church really stepped it up in ministering to them and reaching out to them.

After a short time, David and Sonja started attending Fellowship Church, and quickly became part of our church family. I got to witness them both quickly grow closer to Christ, had the opportunity to baptize David, and eventually had the opportunity to meet their beautiful baby girl.

Through giant steps forward they were making in their life, a little help from some great people at our church, and of course the miraculous workings of God; we, as a church, got to see David and Sonja permanently regain custody of their daughter.

I had the privilege of walking them towards marriage through premarital counseling, and the joy of performing their wedding ceremony last November.

David and Sonja understand fully what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ. David works two jobs and rarely gets any sleep in order to support his family, but that doesn’t stop him from serving way above and beyond any expectations at his home church. He and Sonja are two of the most vital people that we have as a church in seeing that the work of the ministry is accomplished. They have huge hearts for people who come from similar backgrounds as them, and to be honest, are hands-down the most sacrificial givers I know.

If most Christians knew how much David and Sonja gave to the Kingdom of God (in all areas of their life), they would be put to shame.

David and Sonja: Thank you for all you do and for setting a fine example to the Body of Christ!

Give me a church full of people like Jeremy, Chris, David, and Sonja; and watch us change the world for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Chris Simpson:

Chris Simpson has been coming to our church for about a year and a half with his wife Jeanette and his son Cameron. Chris always has a smile on his face and is always ready to serve.

Chris is a “little” older than me, and much more mature, but he insists on holding doors open for me, taking trash out of my hands as I am trying to put it out, etc… To be honest, sometimes I try to avoid Chris if I’m doing any type of work because I don’t want him to do (the work) for me- I want to give him a break, and honor him as my elder by doing it myself. It’s impossible for me to see Chris and not have him ask if he can help me with something.

I love watching Chris pray and worship, as he takes his time with God so seriously regardless of who is around him.

Lately, while working in my office, I have been hearing various yard tools being used outside. Usually, I think it’s the yard maintenance crews working at the businesses or apartment complexes in the neighborhood, but then I realize that the sound is too close. After a while, I’ll peak my head out of the door and see Chris weed-eating, mowing the lawn, or doing various other projects around the church’s yard- All Without Being Asked!

If there’s trash to be picked up; Chris does it.  If there’s a garbage to be emptied; Chris does it. If there’s a lawn to be mowed; Chris does it. If there’s weeds to pull; Chris does it. Chris does whatever he sees that needs to get done without being asked and without asking permission. He does whatever his hand finds to do with all of his might as if he is doing it unto the Lord.

Simply put; Thank you Chris! The example you set for your family, the people of this church, and the community, is exemplary! If we had a church full of Jeremy’s and Chris’……the possibilities would be endless!

I want to spend this week pointing out some people that I’m thankful for, certain individuals that if I had an entire church full of, the entire city would be reached with the Gospel.

Now inevitably I will forget all sorts of great people who it is an honor to serve with, but I just wanted to take some time to honor some people that have really been on my heart and have gone above and beyond in serving the Kingdom.

REPEAT- Do not get your feelings hurt if I do not write about you- you’re awesome too, this is just a five day sampling of some great folks.

Day #1:

Jeremy Allen:

I had the privilege of walking Jeremy through premarital counseling with his wife, Jennifer a little over a year ago, and the privilege of performing their marriage ceremony. We all hit it off right away as friends. I never expected them to become a part of our church as a result of the marriage process, but that’s what happened. Over the past year and a half, I have watched Jeremy grow leaps and bounds in His walk with Christ, and it has been nothing short of remarkable! The changes God has made in his life are so awesome and evident!

Jeremy’s desire to be involved in ministry, and to serve the local church, is awe-inspiring. If he sees something that needs to be done around the church, he does it. He doesn’t say it needs to be done. Doesn’t ask if it should or could be done. Doesn’t ask someone else to do it. Jeremy sees a need, takes initiative, makes a plan of action, often purchasing materials that are needed with his own funds, and sees the need through its total completion. He doesn’t leave a project half-finished, and doesn’t leave a mess behind to clean-up.

Recently we covered the windows in our church’s auditorium with black plastic (that Jeremy provided) underneath of our vertical blinds to help control our stage lighting. Jeremy wasn’t satisfied with the black plastic, and one day, without asking, I saw him start bringing in plywood, cutting it down to fit the windows, and inserting custom made panels into every single window- Wow! Thank you Jeremy.

In fact, right this instant, I am typing this blog from a desk that Jeremy custom-made, just for me!

Over the past year, it’s becoming obvious that God is calling Jeremy into ministry, and I, as his pastor, want to help him see that calling through. As a result of God’s calling and empowering, and Jeremy’s awesome ability to connect with children; he has recently become Fellowship Church’s Kid’s Pastor. And he’s been tailor-made by God for this position. I am so excited to where he and his wife Jennifer take our kid’s program, and excited to see what else God has in store for them as a couple- in life as a whole, and in ministry.

Bill loves Jesus. He loves to pray to Jesus. Loves to worship Jesus. Loves to read the Bible. Loves to watch glamorous pastors preach on tv. Loves to read the latest “Christian” blogs criticizing heretics. Bill has some sweet Christian t-shirts and bumper stickers. Bill is such a great moral person, bit there’s one big problem with Bill……

restoration to life, consciousness, vigor, strength, etc.

As He approached, one who expected Jesus to come for her became furious with Him as He was making too much noise. She walked away, shouted something about “the nerve…” and missed out altogether.

A man who had been waiting for his mansion over the hilltop was offended when he heard the angels breaking though the sky with Jesus singing a song he’d never heard before. Surely, if this was for real, the angels would be singing an old-time hymn, not this atrocity. So he stuck his nose up in the air, plugged his ears, ran inside, and missed out altogether.

When Jesus appeared, a woman who had been waiting to escape this earth, was inside of her home watching the news. When she saw and heard all of the commotion, she couldn’t believe that Jesus would return when she wasn’t even in a church building. She was in her pajamas, on her couch, with a remote control in her hand. “How dare He come when I wasn’t even ready?!”; she murmured to herself. She made her way into the bathroom so she could do herself up, and try to get to the church building down the street before she would be caught up to meet Jesus in the sky. But as she walked down her hallway, she missed out all together.

One man, was upset that the sky grew dark. He couldn’t even see those around him that were going to miss out on the rapture. Another was ticked that Jesus was too bright. It hurt his eyes. “Jesus, of all people, should know about the sensitivity of my eyes…”; he said. One went to look for a well lit sanctuary. The other to his bed where he could pull his blankets over his head until the bright burst of light would be over. They both missed out all together.

Jesus came back and started gathering millions of His followers to Himself. As one woman saw tens of thousands of people around her being lifted into the sky, she was repulsed. Jesus should have known that she didn’t like big crowds of people. “When there’s a big crowd, it’s hard for me to focus on Jesus”; she thought to herself. A deep resonating voice responded within her heart; “When there’s a big crowd, it males it difficult for you to focus on yourself.” She missed out altogether.

One woman was upset because her daughter had a softball game to get to. Another man irritated because he was approaching his all-time high score on a social networking site game. One man was frustrated that Jesus was coming back, and it wasn’t even Easter.’And a woman was upset because she had a big deal to close at work. All of them, believing in their hearts that they were saved, missing out altogether.

Jesus came back. He did His thing. He got the glory. He wasn’t concerned about people’s opinions, traditions, preferences, or feelings about the event. He was concerned with redeeming, for all time, those He had saved so that they could be with Him for eternity, worshipping Him, and giving Him all the glory.

Are you passionate about Jesus? Or yourself? Will you miss out altogether? Or will you go to be Jesus, for Jesus, for eternity?

We have been given a great vision to reach many with the good news of Christ this Easter season. God has supplied us with the vision, given us a leader to lead us towards the pursuit of that vision, and is continuing to supply us with the resources to see that vision realized.

As always, God is ready and waiting to bless us, and to use us in reaching a multitude for His glory. We simply need to step into the promises God has given to us, in order to take the ground He has claimed. In order to step into promises of this level, we must all be on board with all of our resources; especially our time. Now more than ever, we must realize that we are all vital members of a larger body, and that if one member flakes-out, the whole body suffers.

Just because you have heard that big things are going to happen; that doesn’t mean that you are not valued or needed. It means that you are very valued, and very needed! If big things scare you or make you nervous, you need to know that we serve a God who does big things and accomplishes them for His glory.

Now more than ever; we need you to be at every worship service, we need you to be actively involved in your small group, we need you to actively be volunteering, we need you to actively be giving, and we need you to actively be anticipating exciting things to happen!

Get on board. Stay on board. Be a part of something new; something big! Grow with us. Work with us. Be a part! And do not grow weary in well doing.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is the church’s job to show an intense love to the outside world and welcome in the hurting and broken with open arms. It’s also great for people to get highly involved in the life of a church. And, believe me, I know that Jesus can take someone from death to life and utterly change them from the inside out in an instant.

But, often times, people like this, are actually developing a codependence upon the church and/or its pastors. They have major spiritual, emotional, and sometimes even physical or financial issues, and the church steps in, rightly so, to help. But if they become consumed with how the church can help them, or has helped them, they can miss the very thing that the church is trying to portray: the grace, love, and hope of Christ.

My wife and I recently hung out with a person like this. For years, it appeared that his life was together. He even started to gravitate towards giving the majority of his life to ministry. He was very involved in his local church and extremely close to the pastor, the pastor’s family, and other ministry staff. But because so much of his focus went to the church and its leaders, and not to growing in a deep foundational relationship with Christ; after several years, he began to feel burnt-out. His burn-out somewhat surprised the people at his church and they didn’t know quite how to react. He had become such a fixture at his church, that once he started gradually pulling away to take a breather from his burn-out, the church suffered for it- because they hadn’t trained up someone else to fill-in (and to their defense may have not had anyone to fill-in)- and actually became a little frustrated with him. They had relied on him for so long, and now he wasn’t as available.

Because he had built his foundation on the church and its leaders, instead of Christ, when the church become frustrated with him, he was devastated. Someone else had let him down, again. Someone else proved not to be perfect, again. The nice little family that he had gravitated to, turned out not to be as nice as he made them out to be, just like every other family he had ever encountered.

And instead of seeing this for what it really was, people disappointing people (which happens all the time, with all people), he saw it as God who had disappointed him. And he pulled himself out of church, Christian relationships, and any resemblance of following Christ all together. He has since actually reorganized his schedule so he has no opportunity to ever go back to church and deal with things like this again.

Now obviously the fault is his own. He’s the one who allowed himself to become so codependent on the church and its people. He’s the one who missed out on the reality that the church’s people are to point others to Christ and lead them to dependence in Him alone.

But part of the fault lies with the church. They, for whatever reason, allowed him to develop a codependence in them. I don’t believe that it was intentional on their part, at all. But a church and its leaders must always point people to Jesus, push people to Jesus, teach people about Jesus, and train and mature them into developing a dependence and identity in Jesus-alone.

I grew up seeing this happen all the time- Needy people gravitating to, and sucking dry a pastor’s time, energy, and focus so that the church cannot grow or be as healthy as Christ intends it to be. And the second a pastor who has allowed this to happen, says “no” to such a person’s request for constant support; they’re usually off to find someone else to leach off of for a while, church or not.

So as a young pastor, I am trying to learn from what I have witnessed, from the study of Scripture, and the leading o the Holy Spirit.

I am setting a precedence:

• That I am not always available for people, and that there are other leaders and lay leaders who are just as capable to help as I am.
• That people need first and foremost to feed themselves the Word of God, and be in constant communication with Him through prayer.
• That they need to surround themselves in Christian community and accountability.
• That they need to serve their community, the world, and their church.
• That they need to spend a substantial amount of time outside of the church, and in the world, so that they can be the light in the world that Christ has called them to be.
• That they need to seek and pray for the power of the Spirit to work in their lives so that they can draw from His strength and depend on Him, instead of on others.
• That people will always let them down, but that Jesus cannot and will not.
• That people are flawed, even in the church, but that Jesus is not.
• And that Jesus is the ultimate source for your needs, life, and desires through His life, burial, and resurrection, and the Power of His Holy Spirit which He has supplied for us.

It’s my prayer that the church I lead will create true followers and disciples of Jesus who will, in-turn, go out into the world and lead others to be disciples and followers as well. That the church I lead will never create a false expectation that the church and its leaders are the solution, but instead, that Jesus is the ultimate solution, and in Him is where we find our greatest identity, relationships, and dependence.