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T90+
14 years ago
9.27.2009
Granger Community Church Adds SecureGive
The giving kiosk is spreading across America. What was once just a Stevens Creek Church concept is now helping churches reach their stewardship potential. Just recently Granger Community Church added three kiosks. To promote this technology within their church, they launched a very cool ad campaign. Take a look.
9.23.2009
Using Teaching Team at Church
The calling to preach the word is one of the most humbling tasks that a person can be given. To know that you are responsible to "rightly divide the word of God" and do it in a creative and compelling manner can be daunting.
For me, preaching is not easy. In fact, it's tough. I pray over and labor over the messages that I am called to give. It's has gotten somewhat easier with experience, but hear me, it's never easy.
There's nothing like preaching the last service of the day (8:30, 10:00, 11:30) and walking off the stage knowing that you have given the Lord and your congregation your best effort and also knowing that in your weakness, the anointing of the Holy Spirit makes the difference.
I have been serving the congregation at Stevens Creek for nearly 22 years. I have learned during this time that I am not the only voice for the church. Yes, I have directed the vision of the church, but God has blessed us with capable communicators to preach the vision.
I started Stevens Creek, but Stevens Creek Church outgrew me soon after that day. The church has grown because God has caused it to grow and because there are capable, competent, God-anointed people leading the charge.
One day you will log on to Actscelerate and hear that I have transitioned from this life to the next. When you read that post (hopefully not in the near future), you can rest assured that the ministry of Stevens Creek will be strong and will press forward. There will not be any frantic calls to the overseer saying, "What's going to happen at The Creek?" He will say, "I think everything is in order. Just pray for them."
Before this post sounds like a good-bye letter (which it's not), let refocus on the purpose of this note. The Creek is strong because it is centered in God's word and it is a life-giving ministry. God's word is communicated in a way that people understand it and can apply to their lives. As I said earlier, I have a teaching team in place.
In the olden days, I thought that I had to do all of the preaching, but maturity tells me that when you have competent communicators around you, it's prudent to develop them and thus multiply your ministry.
Our teaching team features Dave Willis. He is a graduate of Georgetown College and has a Masters Degree in Communication from the University of Kentucky. He teaches part time at Augusta State University. Presently, Dave is 30 years old. He is a master communicator. It is not uncommon for me to send Dave my sermon a few days before I preach it for him to help me craft it.
Next, we have Kevin Lloyd. Kevin attended Lee and as you know is out of the North Rome Church of God. He has served at Maranatha in Baton Rogue, LA and Forest Hill COG in Mobile, AL. Kevin is a great preacher. He knows how to build a bridge to the audience. He touches people not only spiritually, but emotionally too. He always has a few one-liners that people think. They take it home with them and remember it. I have been out in the community and met people who said, "I remember when Kevin preached..." They remember what he says and that's powerful.
One of the most prominent members of our teaching team is not necessarily a teacher. It's Todd Sturgell, our worship pastor. Todd typically preaches on the main stage once or twice a year, but he has as much influence on what is communicated and how it is communicated as anyone else (I may have a little more influence ... sometimes). One several occasions, Todd has chosen the sermon series that we use. He has a spiritual sense about him and he has an urgency that helps all of us stay focused on the mission.
Preaching is hard work and it demands great attention. I did not turn the pulpit over to these guys initially or because I am tired and getting old. They were developed over time. They grew in their calling. Pastors need to guard their pulpit. I had lunch recently with a guy that attends another church. He said, "Marty, you need to tell out pastor not let people in the pulpit that cannot preach." I told my wife that story and she responded, "I know. My un-churched hair dresser attended that service and said that it was awful and she did not go back."
Here's what I know. If you are not confident in your own calling and abilities, then you do not need to use a team teaching model. If you are insecure, don't use team teaching. If you have to be the star or the prophet, don't use team teaching. If you want to be a short-term pastor, don't use team teaching. If you never want to go on vacation without worry, don't use team teaching. Don't use team teaching if you want your congregation to be bored with familiarity.
Using a team teaching approach is NOT for every church; it is for Stevens Creek. Team Teaching allows us the freedom to open a campus in Grovetown and then who knows where .... maybe in Aiken County, South Augusta, Greensboro, GA, Greenwood, SC or even Cleveland, TN ... now wouldn't that be something?
These are just some thoughts to mull over....
Enough for now.
Marty
For me, preaching is not easy. In fact, it's tough. I pray over and labor over the messages that I am called to give. It's has gotten somewhat easier with experience, but hear me, it's never easy.
There's nothing like preaching the last service of the day (8:30, 10:00, 11:30) and walking off the stage knowing that you have given the Lord and your congregation your best effort and also knowing that in your weakness, the anointing of the Holy Spirit makes the difference.
I have been serving the congregation at Stevens Creek for nearly 22 years. I have learned during this time that I am not the only voice for the church. Yes, I have directed the vision of the church, but God has blessed us with capable communicators to preach the vision.
I started Stevens Creek, but Stevens Creek Church outgrew me soon after that day. The church has grown because God has caused it to grow and because there are capable, competent, God-anointed people leading the charge.
One day you will log on to Actscelerate and hear that I have transitioned from this life to the next. When you read that post (hopefully not in the near future), you can rest assured that the ministry of Stevens Creek will be strong and will press forward. There will not be any frantic calls to the overseer saying, "What's going to happen at The Creek?" He will say, "I think everything is in order. Just pray for them."
Before this post sounds like a good-bye letter (which it's not), let refocus on the purpose of this note. The Creek is strong because it is centered in God's word and it is a life-giving ministry. God's word is communicated in a way that people understand it and can apply to their lives. As I said earlier, I have a teaching team in place.
In the olden days, I thought that I had to do all of the preaching, but maturity tells me that when you have competent communicators around you, it's prudent to develop them and thus multiply your ministry.
Our teaching team features Dave Willis. He is a graduate of Georgetown College and has a Masters Degree in Communication from the University of Kentucky. He teaches part time at Augusta State University. Presently, Dave is 30 years old. He is a master communicator. It is not uncommon for me to send Dave my sermon a few days before I preach it for him to help me craft it.
Next, we have Kevin Lloyd. Kevin attended Lee and as you know is out of the North Rome Church of God. He has served at Maranatha in Baton Rogue, LA and Forest Hill COG in Mobile, AL. Kevin is a great preacher. He knows how to build a bridge to the audience. He touches people not only spiritually, but emotionally too. He always has a few one-liners that people think. They take it home with them and remember it. I have been out in the community and met people who said, "I remember when Kevin preached..." They remember what he says and that's powerful.
One of the most prominent members of our teaching team is not necessarily a teacher. It's Todd Sturgell, our worship pastor. Todd typically preaches on the main stage once or twice a year, but he has as much influence on what is communicated and how it is communicated as anyone else (I may have a little more influence ... sometimes). One several occasions, Todd has chosen the sermon series that we use. He has a spiritual sense about him and he has an urgency that helps all of us stay focused on the mission.
Preaching is hard work and it demands great attention. I did not turn the pulpit over to these guys initially or because I am tired and getting old. They were developed over time. They grew in their calling. Pastors need to guard their pulpit. I had lunch recently with a guy that attends another church. He said, "Marty, you need to tell out pastor not let people in the pulpit that cannot preach." I told my wife that story and she responded, "I know. My un-churched hair dresser attended that service and said that it was awful and she did not go back."
Here's what I know. If you are not confident in your own calling and abilities, then you do not need to use a team teaching model. If you are insecure, don't use team teaching. If you have to be the star or the prophet, don't use team teaching. If you want to be a short-term pastor, don't use team teaching. If you never want to go on vacation without worry, don't use team teaching. Don't use team teaching if you want your congregation to be bored with familiarity.
Using a team teaching approach is NOT for every church; it is for Stevens Creek. Team Teaching allows us the freedom to open a campus in Grovetown and then who knows where .... maybe in Aiken County, South Augusta, Greensboro, GA, Greenwood, SC or even Cleveland, TN ... now wouldn't that be something?
These are just some thoughts to mull over....
Enough for now.
Marty
9.21.2009
Do Something Different
Here's some follow-up thoughts from yesterday. So many times our problems take center stage in our lives and basically that's all we see. We have issues like: too little money, too little time, not enough attention from our spouse, locked in a dead-in job and etc. We focus on these issues so much that they grow larger and larger until they dominate our view of the world. That's all we see. Our world revolves around our problems and sometimes we convince ourselves that we are the only ones with problems like this.
Open your eyes. You are not the only one with issues. We all have issues. We all have challenges. If you would spend as much energy on finding a solution to your problems as you do on complaining about them, I believe that you would discover a whole new world. I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but it irks me when people have a possible answer right in front of them and they don't act on it. They talk about it, but they never do it. The Bible says that mere talk will lead to poverty. You don't have a money problem, you have an idea problem. It's time to start thinking new thoughts.
How do you think new thoughts? What are you listening to? Listen to something different. What are you reading? Read something different. You cannot do the same thing over and over and get different results. If you want something different, then do you something that you have never done.
Most people are stuck in the same place because they are scared to do something different. What are you afraid of? God has not given you a spirit of fear. Instead, he has given you a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. Use what you have. The answer to your problem is right in front of you.
9.13.2009
Stevens Creek Goes Multi-site
It's official ... Stevens Creek Church is a multi-site church! Now I am sure that some of you are scratching your head and saying, "What is a mult-site church?" Well, a multi-site church is one church that meets at multiple locations. Churches began to use the multi-site church model in the mid 1980. In fact, Dr. Paul Walker, the long term pastor of Mount Paran Church of God brought this idea to our state way back then. Times have changed since Dr. Walker helped pioneer this phenomenon, but the heart is still the same and that is, to create life-giving worship experiences in as many areas as possible so that lost people can be found.
Churches do multi-site in different ways. Some churches transmit the message by satellite to multiple locations, some churches have a rotating teaching team and others use video technology to communicate the message at a later time. The multi-site movement is sweeping America. Here's an example, in 1990, there were 10 multi-site churches.By 1998, that number had expanded to about 100. By 2008, there are an estimated over 2,000 multi-site churches across the US.
I have been watching this movement develop over the last several years. God has placed us in an association of churches called the ARC and they specialize in raising up life-giving churches. Many of these congregations are multi-site churches and one, in particular, is leading the charge in the movement and that one is Seacoast. Their pastor, Greg Surratt preached at the Creek several months back. He, along with Billy Hornsby, have helped coach our church through this process.
Last year, we made the decision to move Stevens Creek to a multi-site model. Kevin Lloyd, along with our Grovetown campus pastor, Steve Sturgell, went to work preparing a launch team for Grovetown. Along the way, some people have said, "Why Grovetown? Why would you need to open up a campus there?" The answer to that question is simple: there are people in Grovetown who are headed toward a Christ-less eternity. These people matter to God and they should matter to the church.
On September 13, 2009, we launched. After months and months of planning and praying, Stevens Creek Church opened up a new campus in the Grovetown High School Auditorium in Grovetown, GA. The opening service had 355 people in attendance.
It was a great day. I am so appreciative of all of the people that set up and tore down, the people that invited their friends, and the people that donated money to make this dream a reality. A lot of work has gone into this launch, but the real work now begins. It's time to invite your friends to The Creek and let's pray together that your friends will hear and receive the life-giving message of Jesus Christ. I look forward to seeing this campus expand to two services ... now, wouldn't that be cool.
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