Hanger Radio Z

I just wanted to let anyone who didn't know that there is a cool new radio station in Seneca called Hanger Radio Z. They can be found at 102.1. They play the coolest Christian music around....stuff like Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Flyleaf, P.O.D. If you are looking for the Gaither Vocal Band.....don't go there! This isn't your grandpa's radio station!

There are actually several translators for the station around the upstate....here they are
104.1 FM in Spartanburg SC
97.3 FM in Cowpens SC
104.3 FM in Gaffney SC
97.7 FM in Six Mile SC
95.7 FM in Greer SC
105.7 FM in Easley SC
102.1 FM in Seneca SC
94.1 FM in Wellford SC
94.9 FM in East Greenville SC
and 105.9 FM – Fountain Inn
& Simpsonville

It's about relationships!

I am currently reading "The Multi-site Church Revolution" by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird. The following is a quote by Craig Cheney, a campus pastor for Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. In talking about how their church's outreach is framed in a relational pattern he says "Without the relationship, we're just bringing them a program. Programs don't produce life change. God uses people in relationship to each other to bring about life change. And life change is what it's all about." That's it! We have got to be relational. Not just listening but being real and transparent ourselves, showing those we come in contact what Christ's love is all about.

New Building

Foothills offered tours yesterday of the new building. It was awesome! It is so exciting to see the new facility coming together. The thousands of people that are going to come in touch with Jesus within that building really gets my blood pumping. Understand though that the building is just a tool, the people make up the church. It will be the people who step up and say that they want to make a difference in the eternities of people that they don't even know yet that will insure that the new "tool" is used to it's fullest potential.

Being an engineer, I like to think in terms of potential energy. Potential energy is the energy that an object has at rest, not moving. Kinetic energy on the other hand is energy that an object has when it is in motion. Potential energy changes to kinetic energy when the object begins moving and energy produces work.

Right now the potential energy of the new building is huge....and the more of our time and money that we invest into the ministries that will result because of that building...the more potential is created. It is like taking a bowling ball and raising it from the ground to the first floor of a building, it has potential energy. But if I take that same bowling ball to the 20th floor it has MORE potential energy and when I let it drop, the amount of kinetic energy will do far more work than if I had dropped it from the first story.

I guess what I am trying to get at is that the building itself is nothing but a tool. The effectiveness of that tool depends on each of us and the amount that we invest personally into it. If you want to see substantial life change in the people of this county and the surrounding counties invest of yourself, raise the bowling ball as high as possible and see what God can do!

Clogs - (not the shoes)

I have spent the last two nights dealing with clogs.

Last night our dishwasher decided to relieve itself all over the kitchen floor. I was actually in Easley (30 min away) sitting in the parking lot of the gym that two of my daughters take gymnastics class when Amy called me to tell me that the kitchen, and the basement below the kitchen were flooded from the dishwasher. I was pretty helpless accept to make sure that she had everything turned off that needed to be turned off. When I got home and had a chance to take a look....I determined that for some reason, the dishwasher was not draining correctly....instead it was spewing (is that a word) all over the floor. After much very high tech diagnostics involving blowing in drain tubes, I discovered that the sump drain in the dishwasher was clogged! That's all that was wrong....it was clogged with junk like candy wrappers and plastic....things that certainly didn't belong in a dishwasher. Small things all by themselves, but grouped together caused a whole lot of mess.

Tonight Amy and I faced another type of clog. Amy was experiencing some pain and other symptoms that her doctor (if you are reading this Kelly - thanks for all you do) thought could possibly be blood clots. She was sent to the hospital to get some tests done. After several hour there, they sent her home. Apparently there were not any blood clots....at least nothing serious enough to admit her. Praise God! Once again....a very small thing such as a blood clot sure can cause a big mess.

What is so important about all this clog talk? Here is the deal....sin causes a clog in our relationship with God. God hates sin because it separates us from Him. We tend to want to justify our sin or take it out of context and minimize it as small and "no bid deal"....kind of like a single candy wrapper in the drain of my dishwasher. But eventually unrepented sin will cause a very serious clog and create a serious mess. The only way to fix the mess is to clear the clog....meaning falling on your face, confessing to God your sin, asking for forgiveness, putting your faith in Jesus Christ and strive everyday to stay in God's will.

The American Family

I had an opportunity to sit down and visit with the Principal of my two oldest daughters school, Oconee Christian Academy. While sitting and talking about ministry and life and family, I shared a little bit about how our (mine and Amy's) blended family came into existence. Two family's, products of divorce, and all that entails came together to make this incredible family that we now have. When Thad had heard the story, his comment was simply "The American Family." My initial comment was "Sadly, that is true." Divorce is so common today....I think that was the commentary, and God hates divorce because divorce hurts people.

As I have thought about that conversation today, I can't help but want to shout at the top of my lungs....."But look what God has done!" Though divorce was not in God's plan for Amy and I, He was able to use that to bring us together and build a strong family that is anchored on the Rock of Jesus Christ! And in doing so...God has put us in a place where we can minister to "The American Family." There are plenty of divorced people and blendend families out there that need to hear that God can heal their lives and I believe that if we remain transparent and "real," God will use us to reach these hurting people...one "American Family" to another "American Family."

Patience...

I am on the phone as I type. I am on hold, dealing with my health insurance company. Talk about a lesson in patience. My daughter had an emergency room visit last year (that is a whole other story!). Anyway, the insurance paid the hospital, but denied the claim for the emergency room physician. That makes no sense! I don't exactly know how these things happen, but it seems like this kind of "confusion" is common with insurance claims. Do they randomly deny claims during the first go around on the hopes that they won't be challenged?

Good news. I just got off the phone. The claim has been resolved! The doc is getting paid.....wooo hooo!

Dog, Cat, and Rat

My friend Pamela sent this to me and I thought it was worth passing on.

Disconnected

My ear is still plugged up! I tried everything I could think of yesterday. Drops, irrigation, heat, allergy medicine, nose spray. My wife suggested baby pee this morning. I have never heard of this but apparently it is an old wives tale to put baby pee in your ear to relieve pain and pressure. I PASSED ON THIS ONE! I may be desperate, but I am not crazy!

My clogged ear has caused some problems. For instance, I didn't hear the alarm this morning. I was laying on my left side when the alarm went off. My good ear was muffled in the pillow while my completely useless ear was left to tend to the listening. I NEVER HEARD IT GO OFF. My wife who is typically deadwood in the morning, who usually relies on me to wake her up, ended up waking me to tell me the alarm was going off.

The second observation that I have made is that my inability to hear has made me feel completely disconnected. Last night I had the opportunity to have dinner with my daughter, Lily, all by ourselves. It was a real struggle to have conversation. I had a terrible time hearing her and she had a hard time hearing me. I had a very hard time gauging my speaking volume. We were in a crowded restaurant and I didn't want to be that "shouting guy" who didn't realize how loud he was talking but I ended up talking too softly most of the time for Lily to hear me. We struggled through it, but for me at least, I felt disconnected from Lily and everyone around me.

This must be the way unchurched people feel when they come to a church that doesn't meet them where they are. I wanted to connect with Lily. But I couldn't understand what she was saying a lot of the time. I wanted to understand it...and I believe that what she was saying was important and that I would have benefitted from hearing it.....but there was a disconnect. I believe that God put in each of us the need and desire to know him. Unchurched people come into churches all over the country every week trying to meet that need. There is something inside of them that tells them that it is important and that they will benifit from hearing....but there is a disconnect. Churches, sometimes knowinging, sometimes not, create the disconnect. They use "churchy" words that the unchurched don't understand. They set requirements of "goodness" that people must meet before being accepted into the church. They design liturgical gauntlets that you must go through to feel like you are participating. Todays church has got to constantly examine EVERYTHING that we do on Sunday morning to eliminate any obstacles that prevent unchurched people from connecting. From the parking lot, to finding out how to get your children to the right place, to an inviting atmosphere that says "I don't care what you have done, or where you have been, I am glad you are here." God is in the business of changing lives....we need to create an environment that makes hearing from God ACCESSIBLE to EVERYONE. Eliminate the disconnects.

I am feeling completely lopsided

My right ear is COMPLETELY plugged up. When I say completely, I mean I cannot hear ANYTHING outside of my head coming into my right ear. I guess it's allergies or something that has caused this condition, but honestly it feels like I have hotdog stuffed straight up my ear canal! As a result, I feel like I am sitting crooked, my head is constantly tilted, and I am spending an absurd amount of time saying "huh?" This is miserable!

Anyone have any home remedies? I don't know when I will have time to get to the doctor.

My wife so gets it!

On Sundays after Church, we always go to eat lunch over at my in-laws house. It is a family tradition for them that I have grown to love. My wife, Amy, is the oldest of 4 daughters and when they all get together with their parents and children it is quite an event.

Yesterday, I sat quietly while my wife explained Foothills' vision and strategy for reaching the unchurched to her family. It was AWESOME! At one point, she deferred to me on a question or for a more complete answer or something....but I chose to affirm what she was doing with "You are doing a great job yourself!" because she was...

I continually recommit myself to the vision and feel that I have a firm grasp and passion for it......it was very cool to see Amy get excited about the vision too. I love that!

Humor

I think I am a pretty funny guy! Whether you think so or not...I don't know, but I can tell you this - SOMEONE always laughs at my jokes.......okay, sometimes it is just me, but man do I crack myself up. A lot of times, Pastor Eric just looks at me, shakes his head, and says something like this "You are one twisted dude!"

Let me give you an example. My smokin hot wife, Amy, recently had a hysterectomy. (If that is TMI, sorry, but it is important to the story!) So yesterday I took her to her follow-up appointment at the OB/GYN office of the doctor who did the surgery. We are sitting in exam room, waiting when the doctor walks in. He greets me first, extending his had to shake mine and says "Hello, how are you doing." To which I replied in my best Seinfeldesque delivery "Fine, thank you. I'm not the patient." To which he dryly responded "I know." and turned to greet my wife. Dude! That was flippin' hilarious! I don't think Doc Sourpants got it....but I was busting on the inside!

Anybody got any stories of when they thought they were completely funny...and no one else did? Feel free to post your story in the comments. I would love to hear some of yours.

Faith, Fear, and Wisdom

I have had a hard couple of weeks as I have tried to figure out God's direction in my and my family's immediate life. I wish I had the faith of Abraham when God told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac on the alter. That was the kind of faith that says "God said to do it, I don't understand it...but I am going to do it anyway." Instead I am probably more like Abraham earlier in life when God had promised him and Sarah a son but they had gotten old, Sarah was barren, and Abraham decided that maybe he should take things into his own hands and conceived a son with Hagar, Sarah's hand-maiden. I guess that Abraham thought God needed a little help...that maybe God had made a mistake when he told him that he and SARAH would concieve a son. That is probably more like me.

That leads me to wonder about the relationship between faith, fear, and wisdom. I am probably going to pose more questions here than answers....and I would welcome anyones insight.

- Fear opposes Faith
- Faith opposes Fear
- There is Wisdom in Faith
However....here is the part that concerns/confuses me.
- Fear can disquise itself as Wisdom!

I think that is what Abraham did. He thought it out too much. Logically it didn't make sense. He must have thought that it was obvious that this was going to have to be up to him because even Sarah laughed at the idea of her giving birth at her age.

I think God wants us to make wise decisions full of Faith. How do I acknowlege Fear for what it is when it may appear as Wisdom?

Senior Citizens that Rock!

I love this! Can anyone say "Shannon in 40 years!" Better yet.....we need a group like this singing Skillet and Sanctus Real!

Continuing in Exodus

I continued reading in Exodus today and found a couple of things that really stood out to me today.

First, in Exodus 6, God tells Moses to go to the Isrealite slaves in Egypt and tell them that God has promised to free them from bondage. He wants the Israelites to know that he will claim them as his own and bring them to the Promised Land as he had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then look what happens....

Exodus 6:9 (NLT)
So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.

Everywhere we look, there are people that will not accept the promises of God because they have become "too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery (sin)." My past isn't a picture of perfection. It is filled with a lot of bad choices and selfishness. It is possible that you may be ashamed of your past as well....maybe your present. Satan wants us to believe that we have blown it...he wants to discourage us, through our sin yesterday and today, to the point where we don't believe we are worthy to be freed. Just like the Israelites!

God knows what we have done. God knows where we have been. God knows what we have thought. And he loves us anyway! God says in Him we are new creatures, the old is past away. It is hard to understand that God will take you right where you are....but He will! If we could become "clean" or "perfect" before we came to Him...why Jesus? Jesus was sent to cover all that junk in our lives....we can't do it on our own.....God knows that! Let God have your past sins and mistakes....please don't let the discouragement of your sin keep you from accepting the freedom that God is offering.

Moses had a big BUT!

I have been reading Exodus and it is almost comical how reluctant Moses is to being used by God. I think that he may have gone to the the same "School of Excuse Making" as my children! In Exodus 4, God is laying out his plan to use Moses to lead the Israelites out of the Egyptian bondage. And it seems that everything God says to direct him, Moses has an excuse why he can't do what God is asking him to do! "But what if they don't believe me?" "But I'm not a good speaker." "But I think it would be better if you sent someone else." Moses sure had a big BUT!! You can almost hear the whine in his voice as you read it!

In verse 2, God answers Moses reluctance with a simple question. God says "What's that in your hand?" God knew what was in Moses' hand....it was not that God needed info....it was rhetorical. God was making a statement to Moses and to you and I that we already have what we need to do the work that God has called us. That staff that was in Moses' hand became a powerful instrument of God. And it was all God! Moses' part was that he was willing to do what God asked.......insecurities and all. I am not saying that we shouldn't continue to learn and grow and develop new tools. But if you are thinking that you have to have it all together, be a Bible scholar, be a great public speaker, and have all the answers before you can make a difference for God......you are dead wrong! God wants to know "What's that in your hand?" because he wants to use it....and he will blow your mind with what he will do with it.

Get rid of your big BUT, and let God use you!

Rock On!

Last night I got to take a step back in time and spend several hours with my generation rocking out to some of my favorite music from my ill-spent youth! My friend Brandon and I went to the Def Leppard - Styx - REO Speedwagon concert last night at the Bi-Lo Center! It was awesome! Before I get to the music, I must point out something.......my generation, my people, the people who made big hair iconic......have gotten old. But we can still dance! And there were plenty of people willing to show off those classic 80s dance moves! It was awesome! It was like one big high school gymnasium in 1985!

Highlights from the night (in no particular order):

- Tommy Shaw of Styx! What an incredible guitarist/vocalist/performer! In my humble opinion Tommy's vocals were the BEST of the night!

- Chuck Panozzo of Styx. Chuck is the only founding member of Styx still performing. James Young and Tommy Shaw were on stage too....but they were not founding members. They joined the band in the 70's.

- Come Sail Away and The Grand Illusion. These are two of my all time favorite songs! The Grand Illusion was the very first album I ever bought. I think my brother Evan stole it! If you are reading this, Evan, I want it back....I know where you live! As a side note, you could do a great Sunday message on "The Grand Illusion."

- Neil Daughty of REO's Hammond B3 organ solo in "Roll with the Changes". Yep, he had a real Hammond B3 on stage.....very cool!

- Rock On by Def Leppard. This was very cool......an awesome extended Bass solo intro that truly rocked!

- The strange and uncanny resemblance between Mark Medlin (bass player for Foothills) and Rick Savage (bass player for Def Leppard)

- The guitar work by both the Def Leppard guitarists was incredible!

- Rick Allen playing drums with one arm. If you remember, Rick lost his arm in a car accident int he late 80's and now plays a modified set using his left foot in place of his missing arm. They had 3 different camera views of him playing....including one of his feet!

- Def Leppard's accoustic version of Two Steps Behind and Bringin on the Heartbreak. This was so cool.

- And finally, the last song of the Def Leppard set was "Pour Some Sugar On Me." The place came unglued! But they saved the best for last.....their encore song was "Rock Of Ages"!

Overall the concert was a blast! Joe Elliot of Def Leppard struggled some vocally but the show was still awesome.

Remember, in the words of the great theologian Joe Elliot - "It's better to burn out than to fade away!"