Yesterday I spent the day at the Cliff's Valley clubhouse as part of a Pastor's mentoring network I'm a part of led by Dr. Ken Hemphill. Our guest Pastor for the morning was Dr. Don Wilton of First Baptist Church Spartanburg. Don is from South Africa and he has one of those accents that keeps your attention even if he read the back of a cereal box. Fortunately, he gave us something more substantive. Right before lunch Jim Anthony, CEO and founder of the Cliff's, dropped by to say hello and welcome us. Jim is a Christ follower who really wants to help Pastors. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for making this opportunity available to us.

Here are some key thoughts I gathered from Dr. Wilton:

*Preaching is the power of God through an individual personality.

*Your conversion, your call, and your commitment to Christ means when you preach you fear no man but God.

*There is nothing more important than the preaching ministry in your church- a weak pulpit is a weak church.

Ridgeview Church Mega Sports Camp June 2008

Mega Hit!

I just finished the book mentioned above. The premise of this book: "The secret to winning and keeping customers is to reward them." Ok, as a Pastor I don't look at the people in my church as "customers." But, there is much to be applied here. Our staff team and volunteers work hard to reward those who may be first timers or long term attenders at Ridgeview Church. It comes with inspiring worship services, relationship building, opportunities for spiritual growth and service, and events each month to be outward focused in our community. In fact, tonight I received a call from a man in our church who had just come home from one of our Growth Groups led by Rob & Sandra Smith. He was rewarded by going tonight and wanted to call and let me know how much he and his wife enjoyed it. He's one satisfied Christ follower tonight. My goal is for everyone in our church and community to experience the rewards of knowing Christ and serving Him. I believe it don't get no better than that!

Make Us One

This Sunday Pastor Craig Groeschel from LifeChurch.tv will be speaking at Ridgeview by means of video. He will continue the message series begun last week called "One Prayer." Craig is the originator of this campaign that is seeing many churches around the country and world take part. Pastor Craig will deliver a powerful and humorous message. His "one prayer" for the church is that God would "Make us one."

Pastor Craig shared a humorous story about someone telling him they heard their pastor say his church waters down the gospel. I had someone in my church a few years ago tell me a fellow Pastor in our area state that Ridgeview is fine for people if "all they want to do is show up on Sunday morning." This same Pastor stated about my church, "They do things differently over there." He wasn't being complimentary.

We as Christ followers can do so much more when we are united rather than divided. It is my prayer that as a Pastor I will always have a spirit of cooperation and unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ and the sister churches in my area. It isn't about competition; it's about cooperation. We have a common enemy! Imagine what we could do if we Pastors and churches focused on doing battle with him with the full armor of God rather than focusing on lesser issues.

With that thought I'm going to bed. Good night!

O'Neal Village: Future Home of Ridgeview Church

This past Sunday I shared with our people the good news that Ridgeview Church has officially found a home. Jeff Randolph, the developer of O'Neal Village, has graciously agreed to give our church two acres in which to build a church! We will be nestled in a mixed use commerical/residential development known as O'Neal Village. The development will have shops as well as office space. We will build the church basically on the corner of the town center square. I am delighted about this opportunity. One day our church facility will be in the middle of people going about their daily lives playing, eating, shopping, etc. This is exactly where we want to be- among people! I believe we will have an incredible opportunity to splash people everyday by showing people love and sharing how they can experience His purpose for their lives. Thanks Jeff Randolph for giving us a wonderful gift. It is an answer to prayer! Five years ago I had no idea what course Ridgeview would take. It's neat to see the doors God's Hand has opened for us. "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 4:20-21 NIV)

Spiritual Warfare

This Sunday I finish up a series on spiritual warfare entitled, "Flying under the radar." I shot a video testimony today of Don and Beverley Brown, along with Michele Turner. You will hear their stories at Ridgeview Sunday. They have all experienced very real encounters of demonic presence. In fact, Michele's body experienced major downturns in health that were inexplicable. After intense times of prayer over several months with husband Tracy, she was freed. Some will balk and say this is a bunch of nonsense, etc. To those who understand the battle at hand, we underscore the words of Paul in Ephesians 6:12, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."

P.S. Pictured above standing at the mics are Tracy and Michele Turner. They are former worship leaders at Ridgeview and wonderful people!

Just Do Ministry & Shut Up About How Your Church Is Like No Other!

Maybe in my older age and in my 5th year of a church plant I'm getting a bit grumpy, but if I hear one more church declare how Jesus Christ personally appeared to them and wanted to let them know how their church was the coolest, most relevent, authentic, real, cutting-edge, exciting, happening, church like no other and not like all the other churches around, I think I'm going to explode! Where in the Bible does Jesus say our goal as churches is to outdo one another and to compete for "coolest" church around award? If your church attracts bikers on Harleys wearing leather and is reaching people for Christ, I'm for you! If your church is reaching blue collars, white-collars, or no collars, using guitar and drums, banjos and bluegrass, or Steinways and handbells, I'm for you! As one famous Pastor declared, "We need all kinds of churches for all kinds of people."

So, with that said, the church I Pastor (Ridgeview Church) will be out this Saturday from 10 am to 12 pm conducting a "Single Moms Free Oil Change" over on highway 101 here in the Blue Ridge area of Greenville County. We're not the first to do this in our community. It's not original with me; as if that has to be a criteria for doing minisry. We're simply going to be out there seeking to obey the Great Commandment and the Great Commision because we believe good deeds can be the bridge upon which the good news can travel. We're part of the Kingdom of God working alongside our sister churches to do what Christ has commanded us to do. Life is too short to get caught up on any other cause than that!

Happy 1st Birthday,

Landon Jack!

We had a good day, didn't we? We went to Brushy Creek Park and rode "George" the train. We went to the playground afterwards and watched

your brother run around. You'll be out there soon enough. Mom baked you a cake and it sure was good, wasn't it? You liked the wrapping paper more than the presents themselves, didn't you?

God has blessed us with another blond-haired, this time blue-eyed, little boy. We pray for you every day and with the Lord's help will do our best to "train up a child in the way he should go.." (Proverbs 22:6)

I came across a 2006 survey that identified occupations that have the highest satisfaction rate. Here is the sampling:

Clergy—87 percent percent
Firefighters—80 percent percent
Physical therapists—78 percent percent
Authors—74 percent
Special education teachers—70 percent
Teachers—69 percent
Education administrators—68 percent
Painters and sculptors—67 percent
Psychologists—67 percent
Security and financial services salespersons—65 percent
Operating engineers—64 percent
Office supervisors—61 percent

For every one negative experience I have as a Pastor there are ten wonderful things I enjoy about the opportunity of being a shepherd to a group of people God has entrusted me with. Let me share a few: seeing people grow, counseling people as they prepare for marriage, officiating weddings, comforting those who've lost loved ones, giving hope and encouragement to those struggling, preaching on Sunday and seeing life change by repenting of sin or commiting to an action step of growth, overseeing and being part of small groups that connect people to their church family and foster spiritual growth in their lives, leading our church to reach out to the community and being a bridge of God's love to them by single mom oil changes, community basketball tournaments and community Easter egg hunts and community Christmas eve services, and ultimately, to see people come to know Jesus and have the opportunity to baptize them showing to everyone the outward sign of an inward change.

Being a Pastor is a high privilege and I thank the Lord that He has given me this opportunity. I will have to give an account one day of how I led God's church. That's what keeps me on my knees in prayer!

I returned from my monthly trip to NYC last Saturday. I had never gotten the opportunity to venture into Central Park. My brother met me up there and we went walking through part of the park on Saturday before I returned. Neat place!

When I return to New York next month for my coaching network we will be discussing financial stewardship in the church. Unfortunately, our giving at Ridgeview has taken a major dip into January. I have to do a better job of teaching our people on giving. One thing I do know: you cannot separate giving from discipleship. Any person who claims to be a Christ follower will be a person who gives financially to his church. And when I say financially, I mean the "tithe." Some say that's Old Testament stuff, and we are now under grace. I would say I agree; in fact I believe as Christ followers we should be giving even more than the tithe, or 10% of our income. Remember, Jesus talked more about money more than any other subject. He knew that where our money goes our heart will follow. I want my heart following Jesus. Therefore, my family sends our money to support His Kingdom.