Keyes for the Kingdom

Great day at GRACE!

It was so awesome to get to preach at Grace Church today. Aaron led worship - spirit in the room was so wonderful. They have so many people coming that they have to have a 3rd service, which I will do tonight at 5:30. I saw Mark and Alicia Casey and their new nine month old son. Mark was our youth pastor at CRCC (twice!) - He's becoming the new missions pastor at Grace, which is EXACTLY the right place for Mark and his gifts. He has such a passion and heart for the world -especially the Muslim communities around the
world. He's designed a seminar for churches called "Jesus and the Koran"...

Another joy was to introduce the children's ministry leader at Grace - Denise Cox. She just completed a whole week of "back yard Bible clubs" with hundreds of kids and workers. The reason this was so special to me is because Denise was in MY youth group at Southside back in ther early 80's. She was one of the most awesome teenagers I ever had the joy of knowing. To see her lead the ministry at Grace and know she has THREE of my grandsons under her care - well -that just was the icing on the cake.

Tomorrow I head back to town - Sabbatical is coming to an end - it's been so much fun, restful, and relaxing, but I'm looking forward to starting to work and get going again!!!

Rich - up to bat!!!

Don't MISS this Sunday at CRCC! - You'll be able to hear the one and only KING of all CRCC bloggers - RICH BUTLER! Here he is DEEP in preparation for this Sunday's talk. This will be our last message in the "Octane" series and we'll start a new series the first Sunday in July: TRIBES - based on the book of Ephesians.

I am so blessed to have great people serve with me on staff at CRCC. Rich has been a great joy to me and he has a great love for people to have a deep personal relationship with God. He has helped bring intercession to a whole new level of importance in our church family. I love reading his blog daily and do consider him to be the "godfather of blogging". He has covered ALL the bases for me while I've been away on Sabbatical and I know the church has been in GREAT hands with Rich at the helm! Pray for him as he delivers his talk this coming Sunday.

Good bye Sarah and Hal....

Tomorrow will be the last day in the office for our wonderful Admin. asst: SARAH WEBER - She and husband, Hal, will be moving to the Myrtle Beach area. Hal will stay around for another month working for us on maintenance and continuing to run sound on Sunday mornings. Sarah will be taking a marketing job with Chick-Fil-A. She told us yesterday she'll be able to eat all the chicken sandwiches that she wants! I'm jealous!

She has done a WONDERFUL job working with us the last few years. VERY thoughtful, faithful, and has such a servant heart - she's far MORE than just an able office girl - she has a heart for ministry - She worked with Teresa Cron in our Good News Club at Simpsonville Elementary School. They had scores of kids come to faith this year! She also serves in our youth group as a girl's small group leader. She pours her life into the lives of others.

Yesterday our staff took Hal and Sarah to Wasabi Japanese Steak House - it was such fun to eat, laugh, eat some more (VERY GOOD place to go!!) We all expressed what Sarah had meant to us - a little teary, but very sweet. I got the nicest letter from Sarah from ANY employee I have ever known. I read it three times - let Becky read it, framed it (not really), but the encouragement from that letter MADE MY WEEK!
So, pray for them - Hal still is in interviews about teaching High School Math - pray that just the right job will open up for him - pray for their housing need, and pray that they would find a GOOD Christian church "like CRCC" according to Sarah - so they can continue their spiritual journey - some church in Myrtle Beach is about to get ONE AWESOME COUPLE for sure!!! Lucky dogs!!!!

Heading to Atlanta...

  This will be my last Sunday away before returning to the pulpit at CRCC! We're heading to Atlanta to spend a few days with Aaron, Megan and their boys. Nyle (youngest) turns "2", so that should be a fun birthday. (My oldest grandson, Keyes, turns 8 this Saturday)

I've been invited to speak at Grace Fellowship - so it will be fun to speak and have my "baby boy" leading worship! We'll also get to see Mark Casey (former youth pastor at CRCC) who works at Grace as their Discipleship pastor. Denise Cox, who heads up their children's ministry - was one of the BEST young ladies I ever had in my youth group at Southside - so I'll bet to see lots of "old friends". Pastor Rich Butler will be doing the last message in the Octane series - I KNOW Rich will be amped up and ready to roll - so don't miss this last Sunday at CRCC before people all over the church say next week... "He's BACK!!!"

Time Flies....

Today I got an email that was a blast from my past! I graduated from Bible college in 1974, then went to work at the Brook Hollow Baptist Church as their youth pastor. There were so awesome teens in that group and today I heard from one of the young ladies - Lisa "Rocket" - (today she's Lisa Hand).

She told me she had been married 20 years and had two kids, 18 and 14. She expressed thanks to me for being involved in her life. She was one of the best girls I ever had in youth ministry and it was WONDERFUL to see her still going on for the Lord! We often touch people at various ages and stages of life and don't really know what happens to them.

In ministry, hearing from Lisa today was like a "bonus check" from heaven. She's now passed her faith down to her own kids - and so it goes - the cycle of life...

Our youth pastor, Dustin Hughes, will also have this experience in the future - so hang in there Dustin - someone will write and thank you..... about 20 years from now!

Get Ready for "TRIBES"

I've been reading and studying a lot for our new upcoming series that will start in July: TRIBES - based on the book of Ephesians.

During my Sabbatical, I've had the privilege to be in a lot of different churches: Presbyterian, Christian Missionary Alliance, Baptist, Non-Denominational, Cowboy Church, Charismatic, Multi-Site, large ones, small ones. Each church has a certain distinctive "tribal flavor" and atmosphere that you sense from the moment you walk through the doors.

Some I liked much better than others...BUT they are ALL A PART OF GOD'S KINGDOM! They are all beautiful in His eyes! It was such a joy and blessing to go early to each church - meet with the pastor and pray for him and his ministry.

I certainly have a better picture of "the Church AT Greenville". My eyes and heart are open more than ever to love, pray, and care for other ministries in our city. Rich Butler is our resident "Catalyst" for thinking a LOT about this idea. Thanks Rich, for keeping our feet to the fire for the heart of God!!!

Crawfish Experience...

Last night my neighbors served us a "Crawfish Lo-Country Boil". Becky and I weren't too sure about the whole deal when we saw them ALIVE crawling all over the bucket. Apparently, there is a "crawfish farm" where you buy these little creatures, then boil them to death in a matter of minutes. Yum... the joy of eating freshly killed shellfish. We were TOLD that true people from Louisiana bite the heads off before breaking off the tail (where the miniscule bite of meat resides).

I said "We are NOT from Louisiana, so we just broke off the tails and ate the meat. It really did taste pretty good, but it's a WHOLE lot of work for a little bit of meat! I did enjoy the fellowship with the neighbors and several other couples that were there.

This morning I had the privilege to preach at Horizon Church, pastored by my friend, Jim Stephenson. What a wonderful group of people! They were so kind and responsive to me and my message. So eager to listen and learn. I love preaching to people that seem to devour the truths from God's word - that's the people at Horizon. This week I'll be taking two of my grandsons there for VBS. The auditorium was already decked out for this BIG EVENT - it looked AWESOME! They expect over 200 kids to participate!

Landscapes....

I read another pastor's blog - from West Winds Church - about how their church is often in a different season of life he called "Landscapes" - I thought this was a great word to describe a snapshot of a church's current stage of life. Here are a few:

Desert - this is when a church is worn out and thirsty - they need nourishment -a nice cool drink to be refreshed. They feel hot and tired...

Jungle - when a church is in mire and muck. Watch out where you step! Things are scary and dangerous. They need a clear path out of the jungle to find shelter.

War zone - Bullets are flying overhead - bombs are exploding all around you. You move only with caution and deliberate steps. You need to WIN the war - to have peace again. There will be casualties in this struggle.

Disney World - Fun and laughter are everywhere you go. Everything is beautiful - not a care in the world.

What OTHER LANDSCAPES can YOU come up with regarding "church life"???? Which landscape do you believe our church is in RIGHT NOW? Come on... There are no wrong answers - what do you think and why?

Pulpit Switch #2

Do NOT miss CRCC this Sunday - you'll get to hear my very best friend of all time: Jim Stephenson - pastor of Horizon Church. Here's a picture we took of them at Christmas last year - he's beside his wife, Debra, son Jay, and Jay's new wife, Stephanie.

Jim and I were room mates in Bible College and also worked together after graduation at a church in Dallas, Texas. We've played a LOT of golf together, vacationed all across America with them, and feel very blessed to count Jim and Debra as our dear friends.

I'll be preaching both services at Horizon this week while Jim will be speaking for us. He'll be speaking on LIVING out the gospel in our daily lives. Jim is one of the smartest and most knowledgeable Biblical scholars I've ever met. He KNOWS the "book"!!!

Our whole church is invited to join Horizon for their annual "Independence Day Firework Spectacular" - at least that's what I call it! - It will be on the FOURTH of JULY.  They'll have live music, refreshments, great fun for kids and an awesome firework show to end the night. Horizon Church is on the corner of Holland Road and Butler Road - bring blankets and chairs and enjoy a wonderful family friendly night of fun! It starts at 6:00 pm - you can even come early and donate BLOOD for their blood drive. Hot dog plates are $5 and proceed go to their mission trip.

Celtic Pride is back!

Last night I watched the Boston Celtics defeat the LA Lakers in what the Greenville News called "The Boston Massacre" - As a kid, I always like the Celtics, which was strange since I lived in Texas. Today I don't really even watch much basketball at all, but I DO always love to see "final games" - I like good endings in a season of various sports. Last year Boston only won 24 games - this year they won the whole deal! What made the difference in the two seasons? Boston got NEW PLAYERS in the RIGHT POSITIONS with great team UNITY going in the RIGHT DIRECTION.

Working at CRCC over the years, I notice the same thing - people leaving for all kinds of various reasons and then, BOOM, some new people come on the scene - Aaron leaves, and David Walker comes. Tony leaves and Rich Butler steps up in this role. I've been reading and studying the book of Ephesians during my break and it's LOADED with Paul's encouragement to them to have UNITY between factions and various tribes. FOCUS on going forward and not looking backwards - I'm chomping at the bit to get back in my teaching role the first Sunday in July - our new series will be called "Tribes".... stay tuned!!!