You Can Know God

Oak Leaf Comments

We get some great comments on our Communication Card and from our first time guest survey, and I wanted to pass some of them on, especially to all 250+ volunteers who make Oak Leaf Church happen every week.

• My kids loved it.  You are a breath of fresh air.


• I have never been closer to God as I am now and I have my children and Oakleaf Church to thank for that.


• I make notes in the NoteMaker Bible that you gave me.  I did not have a Bible, now not only do I make notes on Sunday, but I read it before I go to bed or while I am waiting to pick up the boys from school.


• Form the time we started moving things in this morning it was there.  The comradely of the set-up team was rolling the message was on spot the band was playing from the heart and the scrolling prayer requests hit it out of the park.


• I have been to a lot of churches I and I have never heard thing put the way you put them.  I have also been listening to the services on CD in my car which is something I have never like to do when I am driving.


• In the past, it was almost like pulling teeth to get my husband to go to church.  I am just SO THANKFUL for what Oak Leaf has done for him. He is not even like the man I fell in love with, he's even better!!!

I'm proud of our church.  I'm proud of our volunteers.  I'm proud of our people.  And I'm excited to be a part of a church that is leading people from where they are to where God wants them to be.

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Are the Conversions Real?

Note: My actual blog site, including comments on this post is here.  I was going to move over to typepad, but decided to stick with Wordpress.  Sorry for any confusion.

It’s not really surprising to see that the day after I posted about 39 people stepping out to follow Jesus, that one of the watchdog blogs criticized the post and called the entire day into question. I do my best to stay away from useless arguments, but I want to respond here for the benefit of all those who attend Oak Leaf, invite their friends, and work so hard to see what happened Sunday keep happening. I have no desire to argue with the blogger or debate his disciples, this post is meant for Oak Leaf Church.

The particular criticism this time centered around the fact that those decisions weren’t real and lasting. The blogger (whom I’ve never met but takes every opportunity he can find to point out what is wrong with our church and other churches like ours) says that you can’t really know if a person genuinely repented. The Bible says that only God knows…that God will judge our hearts and motives (Proverbs 16:2). I don’t really know if a person was sincere about his desire to follow Jesus, but God will sort it all out. For me, I’m going to trust people. I’m going to try and encourage people. I’m not going to always be skeptical and critical. Maybe some of those 39 people won’t “stick.” We’re going to do our best to not let that happen, but we can’t guarantee that.

Another criticism from this guy is that people can’t decide to follow Christ on their own, so he attacks our methods. The Bible teaches that it’s not possible to have always been a Christian. In fact, you’re born a sinner. You’re born separated from God. Romans says that when we call on the name of the Lord, we can be saved. Paul writes that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts, then we will be saved. If you’re not a Christian from birth, then logic dictates that there must be a point in time when a person becomes a Christian. On Sunday, we gave people an opportunity to respond to the grace of God - to call on His name - and to confess Him with their mouths. 39 people did that. It was the moment in time where old things passed away, and all things become new. The prayer that Tony led people in wasn’t a magic word formula - it was just a way for people to call on the name of the Lord and confess with their mouths.

The critical blogger ends by accusing me of just using the number 39 to say “look at our church.” You know what, I’m proud of our church! I’m proud of the people that get to a building at 6 AM to spend 3 1/2 hours setting up. I’m proud of the hundreds of people that work with our children, teaching them about Jesus. I’m proud of people who invite their friends and neighbors and co-workers, not so we can have a “high attendance day” but so those people can meet Jesus! It’s much easier to just write a blog than it is to get up early, set up class rooms, write a check or invite your friends to church. These blogs can criticize away, but I’ll cast my lot with the faithful people of Oak Leaf Church who are actually doing something to advance the Kingdom. I am proud of my church, and I’ll keep bragging on them. And I’m proud of what God is doing in Cartersville, and I’ll keep bragging on Him.

I’m not going to spend my time commenting on these blogs or trying to justify what God is doing. I’m writing today to encourage all those associated with Oak Leaf Church to keep pressing on. Whenever God does something, there will be people there to criticize (read the first few chapters of Nehemiah). Sometimes, the criticism comes from other so-called Christians. Don’t be surprised about it; don’t be discouraged about it. Just keep on doing what God has called you to do.

Sunday Recap

Here’s some thoughts from today’s service @ Oak Leaf Church.

• 39 people decided to follow Jesus!  39 people who are now Christians!  It’s cool when you run out of counselors.
• I saw the fireman down front, the guy that we first met when our Journey Group took a goody bag to the firehouse!
• The band sounded great today.  They did some of my favorite worship tunes.
• Tony Nolan spoke in both services, and I think he was a real hit with our people. Tony is a great guy and is one of the only traveling speakers that I would trust on our stage. If you missed the service, you’re definitely going to want to watch it online.
• Attendance was about 650.  And did I mention that 39 people gave their lives to Jesus today?!
• I let people know about A Rockin’ Christmas Eve Eve concert.  I reserved my tickets on the website.
• Three girls from Berry College in Rome, who drive down every week, brought me Starbucks. Wouldn’t it be cool if we started a campus of Oak Leaf Church in Rome?
• The four-eyed possum that was supposed to be in our elementary environment actually was killed by another possum!  So, Michelle went home to get her three legged cat.  It turns out that we did actually have a 12 foot python, which was pretty cool.  Now, I’m sure there will be rumors about us being the snake handling church.
• Will is going to start providing details of the set list and service elements on his blog, you you might want to add him to your blogroll if that kind of information interests you.
• DO NOT MISS THE SERVICE NEXT WEEK. If you have vacation plans, change them. If your car is broke down, hitchhike. If you have family coming in town, bring them.

The Great Goat Giveaway

There's a write-up in the local paper about $3,000 that was raised during the Great Goat Giveaway.  The school systems sold $1 raffle tickets and the top earning school got $300.  Cartersville High School raised $1,000 and the the fund raiser was dubbed  a success.

I think this was an interesting way to raise money, and it sounds like a lot of fun.  I think Dot Frazier's teacher grant program is a wonderful idea.  And I'm for giving as much money as possible to our schools.  I'd just like to point out that our church contributes nearly twice as much as this entire fund raiser in the form of rent...EVERY MONTH.  And no livestock is involved.

In and around Jacksonville, Florida (where I spent Thanksgiving), all three counties rent facilities to churches.  It's obviously a great partnership that is working well across the country.

Friday Five: Books

I like to read all different kinds of books. Here's five recent reads that I'd recommend.

1. The Year of Living Biblically. A.J. Jacobs is the editor of Esquire and an agnostic, but he tries to follow every rule in the Bible for a year. It's insightful and very funny. Just like his previous book, where he read the whole encyclopedia.

2. Quiet Strength. Tony Dungy is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and a Christian.

3. UnChristian. This book looks at what young adults think of Christianity. It's filled with stats and analysis and it's a great look into culture.

4. Raising Respectful Children in a Disrespectful World. We have three kids and I want to be a good dad. I read quite a few books like this, and I do recommend this one if you're a parent.

5. Words to Live By. This is a little CS Lewis compilation. It's full of great nuggets and super quotes. CS Lewis really makes me think.

And even though today is Black Friday, and people are shopping before the sun comes up, you could order these books from Amazon in the comforts of your own home at any hour of the day.

The First Confession Video

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=oewoTpmik28]

My Schedule

A few of you have asked about my daily schedule. It changes a big here and there, but I try my best do get certain things done on certain days. Everyday, I spend time reading the Bible and blogging. In addition, here's a typical week:

Monday: Send out a staff e-mail update, send message notes to production team for upcoming Sunday, send e-mails to all first time guests, write a few thank you notes to some volunteers, do some stuff in the office, lead team meeting in the afternoon.

Tuesday: Production meeting in the morning (review this weeks service and talk through a message for about 3 weeks from now), spend the afternoon working on messages.

Wednesday: Leadership development, send out an all church e-mail blast, work on some graphics or communication stuff, spend the afternoon studying - usually at Starbucks or somewhere out of the office.

Thursday: Meeting day - meet with people in the church, maybe a church planter, and get any random things done for Sunday. Everything that can be done for Sunday is done by the time I go home.

Friday: My day off. Sometimes, I come to the office for a few hours in the morning to read.

Saturday: Nothing. Sometimes, I'll go to Starbucks at night to look at Sunday's message.  I don't answer my cell phone.

Sunday: Get to the PAC around 7 AM. Leave around 1:00. Eat lunch. Go home and chill. And I usually go to the office for a couple hours in the late afternoon to write down some thoughts and get a jump start on next week.

Sunday Recap

I confessed that I'm not always a good parent in today's message, the third in the Confessions of a Pastor series. It was good to be back home at Woodland today. Here's some other highlights.

• Lauren from Liberty helped us with worship today. It's rare that you have someone in the service that sings the song better than it sounds on the CD, but that's what happened with Sing to the King. She sounded great. I offered her a job on the spot when she graduates. Seriously.


• Attendance was about 675. We're still down about 150 people from before we moved, but we're slowly inching back to normal. (I'm not going to be one of those that only posts numbers when they are all time records or really high). The excitement level is high and God is working at Oak Leaf Church.


• Two weeks in a row of kids check in working right. We started assigning key cards today, so we now have three bar codes to check in our three kids. It's one step closer to the mark of the beast or something.


• Jennie said I was pretty funny today in the message on parenting.


• We gave parents a home Bible study that they can do with their kids this week. And we handed out "I'm proud of you" cards for parents to write their kid a note this week.


• In case you're interested, here are some pictures of our setup at the school.


• Next week, we finish off the Confessions series. The week after that, we start a Christmas series called ReGift. And the Christmas series will culminate with A Rockin' Christmas Eve Eve.

Guests are Coming

Every Sunday is someone's first Sunday @ Oak Leaf Church.  We expect guests to show up, and when they do, we want them to see Jesus.  I know that tomorrow, somebody has been working and working on a neighbor or a co-worker, and tomorrow might be the day that they show up.

One of the custodians who works at the school, who is out on leave, is coming tomorrow with a friend.   I met her the first day there, and I've been inviting her.  The guy who rents us our office building is coming as well.  And I know there are a bunch of other people who will get up and decide to give church or God one last try.

You know, a church service just means more when you've got someone coming with you.  It's like there's more at stake.

Christmas Series

At our program meeting this week, we decided to change up our Christmas series. We're going to call it "Re-Gift." I'm sure you're familiar with the notion of regifting. I personally take part in it every year!

But as Christians, we should be the ultimate re-gifters. God has given us so many good things - we should pass them on to the rest of the world. In the series, we're going to look at some of the gifts that God gives us (His Word, new life, mercy, His Son, and second chances). We'll also talk about some ways that we can pass on God's gifts to our community. We're getting serious about serving this community and reaching out to people.

And on December 23, we're going to give a gift to the community. We're hosting Cartersville's Rockin' Christmas Eve Eve. It will be an awesome, free, Christmas production with music, kids singing, and a bunch of top secret stuff I can't say yet. But Will tells me there will be a lot of intelligent lights so that makes me want to go right there.

By the way, after a week at Cartersville High School, we're back at Woodland tomorrow.  The confession is "I'm not always a good parent," and I have another funny video for you.