I read an article this morning entitled, "Is Your Leadership Failing?" Some great thoughts for me to think about as a pastor. One of the warning signs is not communicating a clear, compelling vision. Each month, I interject in some way through the sermon our church's purpose. I seek to communicate it through our monthly newsletter and our weekly Ridgeview Church update email. I must realize I can never overcommunicate our purpose as a church.
Another warning sign is the fear of taking bold, courageous steps. I never play it safe, to get comfortable in ministry. God is not pleased with those who coast.
Finally, character corruption. I used to think that wasn't a big deal. Yet, within the last year I have seen a Ph.D from a Christian college leave his wife and a youth pastor leading a dynamic student ministry with hundreds of kids and one of the best youth facilities in the nation be unfaithful to his wife with 3 small kids. Satan wants to destroy all of us. I must remind myself that these things didn't happen overnight. They were small steps that led to bigger steps. I am reminded today of what Erwin Lutzer said, "Make prayer such a priority than only an emergency would make you miss it." When I spend time with God each day Satan's attempts to lead me astray become much less appealing.

I had my last meeting today with my sponsor church pastor, Dr. Frank Page. He has met with me faithfully for the last 3 years so I could share with him how things were going in the church plant Taylors First helped start. He has been a great encouragement to me over these last 3 years. I certainly could not have done this without his support and the support of Taylors First Baptist. In spite of the fact he's a candidate for the SBC presidency, he still mad time to meet with me today. Great man!

Wow, some weeks ago I wrote about my two year old son Ethan and the pain he was having in his ankle area. Turns out after a follow up appointment that he had a bone infection! Poor little guy knew he was in some serious pain. He spent 5 days at Greenville Memorial. Turns out it was Strep A. The bacteria ate a small hole in his bone. Fortunately, it will grow back. He's on the road to recovery. He has a pick line where we feed the antiobiotics through. He'll be on that for a month and then all should be well. It was so hard to see my son go through that at the hospital; everything from trying to find a vein in his little arm to putting him down for the surgery. Reminds me to treasure the time I have with my family. Life is so fragile

After working for 7 years in the mental health counseling profession as a child and adolescent counselor, my Tanya turned in her 2 week notice and came home recently. We have a 2 year old named Ethan and she wanted to spend more time with him (and me, of course). Well, let me tell you, she had less than a week of tranquility before Ethan has made life quite difficult. After two x-rays of his ankle, legs, and pelvic region, the doctors can find nothing broken. Yet, he has been a different child crying incessantly off and on all day. It has been a challenge, especially on Tanya because she has been there for him more than me. She's a great mom!

It's been a great week at Ridgeview Church. Our children' s ministry kicked off a neat thing called "Champions for Christ (C4C). It went really well. I am also so proud of our church. Saturday we had our first single mom's oil change and car wash. Over 40 adults participated and 15 of our students. Awesome! We were able to service around 12 cars. It's great to see our church fulfill our purpose of "being a bridge of God's love to all people so they may experience His purpose for their lives."