If you read my blog with any regularity you know I've really been working through how to better disciple our people.  This past Tuesday at staff meeting we began trying to improve what we do with new converts.  Want to make sure none leak through the cracks.  I want to help every new believer become everything God has in store for them.

We are in the process of revamping the way we do life groups.  I'd love to see 100% of our people get involved but we're aiming at 50% right now.  If your interested please let us know on Sunday or e-mail Miss Ann at ann@5pointchurch.com

A lot of our people have never experienced the Lord's Supper.  We only do it once or twice a year because I don't want to hurt the feelings of people who don't know Christ and can't be involved.  SO, we're going to do something we've never done at 5 Point Church.
On Good Friday, April 2nd, at 7:00 PM we'll be having a very informal time of worship and the Lord's Supper.  Tim has something special planned for us during worship already.

I will have a very brief challenge for us and we'll take part in the Lord's Supper together.  Children will be allowed into service because this is geared towards families.  Please explain beforehand to children that they can't take part unless they have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. 

Some random thoughts:
* Can't wait til Sunday.  Gonna be awesome.
* Getting ready to go downstairs and shoot the 4th of 5 New Believer video.  this will be a great help in discipling new converts.
* Just received DVD from Renatus.  It was amazing watching my African brothers and sisters worship together in the tin building we help to provide.  Can't wait to show it to all of you.
* EGG STUFFING this Saturday.  The fun begins at 10:00 and goes until.  We'll be proving the pizza.
* We still need lots of candy so please bring a bunch with you.
* Who are you praying about bringing on Easter Sunday?  We're going to pack this place out.
Don't forget we'll have 3 services going on that day,
     9:15
    10:45
    12:15
We're hoping all our regulars will serve during 2nd leaving seats for visitors.
* The egg drop will produce a bunch of visitors and we want to be ready for them.
* I am fishing all day tomorrow and can't wait.
* See you Saturday at the egg stuffing or Sunday morning.

Do you ever get tired of not having the money you think you deserve?  Ever see the guy down the street with a bigger house, newer truck, boat of your dreams, four wheeler, pool, land (the list could go on) and wish you had them also?  I know I certainly have.  I can remember not only wishing I had those things but thinking I deserved them.  Then I went to Africa and saw how the majority of the world lives.  For the first time in my life being asked if I ever went to bed hungry because there was no food.  Seeing lepers actually starving to death.  Seeing kids sleep under a tree because they have no home or parents.

Africa helped me realize just how fortunate I am.  Sometimes it takes a reality check to wake us up.  I am so scared the majority of Americans will continue thinking we deserve the best of everything without working for anything.

I saw this site and statistics on a friends blog the other day and couldn't help but share them also.  (Thanks Burl) 

According to http://www.globalrichlist.com/  I am in the top 1% which makes me one of the richest people in the world!!!  If you have been feeling poor, check this site out and it will make you feel quite rich!

If you don’t have time to check out the site, here are some quick facts we all need to look at:

$10,000 annual income = top 13%

$20,000 annual income = top 11%

$30,000 annual income = top 7%

$40,000 annual income = top 3%

$50,000 annual income = top 1%

Instead of always wanting more we need to take our eyes off more stuff and say thank you to our Father above for blessing this nation and us individually so greatly. 

 

2010 Egg Drop

I am so excited about our upcoming egg drop on Saturday,March 27th from 3:00 - 6:00.  We have rented the entire J. B. Owens complex for this event.  We had over 10,000 in attendance last year and we're expecting twice that this year.  We are adding a new element, a bunch of the eggs will be dropped onto the fields from a helicopter.  Doubt it gets caught into the lights. 

Many people have asked why were doing this?  Several reasons:

1.  To show our community we love them.  Everything we do is free.  The hot dogs, cotton candy, snow cones, drinks, face painting, 200,000 stuffed eggs (each one has candy in it) dozen inflatables.  We just want people to see a church giving instead of asking.

2.  Incredible opportunity for our people to come together and serve.  So many people told me they loved doing the egg drop last year because it allowed them to serve and get to know others from the church.  This is huge as we continue to grow. 

3.  Show people the love of Jesus.  I ask every volunteer to be Jesus with skin on.  No matter how rude or obnoxious people become, just smile and love on them. 

For this event to be successful we need some help from our people:
First, sign up n Sunday to serve.  I promise you you'll have a blast.
Second, come this Saturday from 10:00 AM until to help stuff eggs.  And if you can come anytime during the week, please do so.
We already have individuals coming in during the day and stuffing.  Mandy Dowell stuffed over 3,000 today by herself.  WOW!
Third, we need candy and a lot of it.  In fact, about another 196,000 pieces.  Please go out and buy a lot and bring by the church any time this week.  Bring on Saturday, bring more on Sunday, just bring candy.  Remember, it has to be individually wrapped pieces and can't be chocolate.
Fourth, be praying for the event.  I've already starting praying these three things:
     a. beautiful weather.  there is no plan B
     b. 20,000 people in attendance
     c. people to see the love of Jesus through our people
     d. through our efforts thousands of people will come to know Christ in the upcoming months and years

Here is a video from last years event if you weren't with us at that time.

    

Another really good day at 5 Point yesterday.  Just a few of my thoughts about it:
* Awesome to have such a beautiful day weather wise.  Loving this weather.
* Volunteers were on their A game.  High energy with smiles and open arms.  Great job guys.
* As I walked through the Kid Zone I was amazed at how many kids there were and how the volunteers were ministering to kids.
* Kid Zone had 210.  Kids had fun and learned about Jesus.  That equals a good day.
* Spoke to a bunch of first time visitors who commented on how much they enjoyed the service.  Loving that.
* Received one of the greatest compliments I've received about 5 Point thus far.  A rough looking man around the age of 30 came to me and asked if he could talk to me.  Thought this was going to be ugly by his tone.  Told me he had been out of church for many years because he thought church was nothing but a bunch of bull crap.  (It was at this point I though it was going to get ugly) He then took a couple of minutes to tell me just how awesome 5 Point was because it was so real.  Shared how much he loved it and that he and his family would be back next week.  WOW!  That's what were all about.
* Met a woman who had lost her 18 year old son a few weeks ago and it had all of them thinking.  My heart ached for her.  First time in church for years. 
* Had several other first time visitors share just how much they enjoyed the service.  Here is the funny thing.  Before I stepped onto the stage I thought the message sucked but felt it was exactly what God wanted.  Goes to show you no matter how much you think it depends on you its really all about the king.
* Really thought worship was powerful.  Didn't feel as if Tim and the band tried to perform at all but just led us to the throne.  Makes teaching God's Word so easy after a powerful time of worship.
* In our second week of "FOCUS."  Discussed Satan's three attacks:
     a. Lust of the eyes
     b. Lust of the flesh
     c. Pride of life
* Really excited about what God is doing.  We have great momentum right now. 

Some random thoughts:
* Four young people gave their life to Jesus last night during the youth service.  LOVE IT!
* Announced we'll be starting a third service Easter Sunday and continuing during the month of April. Re-evaluate at that point.
* We've begun to really promote serving at the egg drop.  Great opportunity to get to know a bunch of people and serve our community.
* Started up my home group again last night.  We had a blast.  My precious wife does such a good job hosting so many people.  Truly one of her gifts.  Most of them took their shoes off, the rest of them will spend eternity, never mind.
* Going to Sherman this evening to have dinner with Andrew, my 21 year old med student.  Want to see the campus and have dinner with my upcoming chiropractor.
* Gotta go, God is already burning a message in my heart for this Sunday.

The past four weeks have been incredible.  My four days in California listening to Rick Warren were some of the best teaching I've received thus far.  The staff and I were at Mountain Lake last Monday and Tuesday and it was unreal.  All of us left excited about taking 5 Point to another lever.  While there I had the opportunity to have lunch with Rick Warren.  This past Monday I led the staff meeting for Foothills in Seneca.  I consider Pastor Greg Oraham a friend and mentor.  I was honored to share some leadership thoughts with their staff.  And then today 30 plus 5 Pointers attended Unleash at New Spring in Anderson.  WOW is all I can say.  Perry, his staff and volunteers had their game faces on and did an unbelievable job. 

I have spent a lot of time thinking about all I've heard and learned during the past four weeks.  Upon much reflection I want to share what God has laid on my heart about myself and 5 Point:

1. Dean Herman has to be Dean Herman.  I'm not Perry Noble or Rick Warren.  God created me to be me.  My style of leadership and teaching is nothing like these two men, but I'm ok with that.  I just gotta be me.

2. Everything rises and falls on vision and leadership.  I gotta do a better job of sharing vision weekly and taking our leaders to another level.

3. Never be scared or apologize for challenging people.  Jesus ask people to come and see and later demanded his followers to come and die.  As I teach the Holy Word of God I must challenge God's people to step up and be everything God expects.

4. To love all people regardless.  Seriously, love all people regardless because Christ does.

5. Volunteers are the heartbeat of any successful church.  We've got to do a better job of allowing our people to serve their
Savior.  I'm as excited about this challenge as anything.

6. I'm 100% convinced God wants churches to gage their success not by their seating capacity but by their sending capacity.  As the Pastor of 5 Point I can promise you we're going to make some radical changes in discipling people.

7. I've got to do a better job of enjoying what God is doing right now.  It seems like we can't enjoy what we have because of what we want.  My goodness, think about what is happening right now.  A woman got saved in our New Members class last week.  3 people stood in front of hundreds of people last Sunday and admitted they didn't know Jesus.  Counselors led all of them to Christ.  WOW!

I'm as excited about what God is doing at 5 Point as any time in our brief history.  Hold on 5 Point, we're just getting started. 

Life Change has become a key term in the life of 5 Point Church.  Its what we're all about.  It is my honor to show you a great deal of life change today.  Through the generous giving of our people we have fed the leper colony for the next two months.  Thank you so very much to everyone who gave.  We are making a difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate.  Renatus sent me some pictures and you know the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words."  I'm about to write my longest blog ever.

ENJOY THE PICS:

Here comes the food.  Can you imagination the excitement it would bring if you hadn't eaten anything.



Here are just a few of the people sitting patiently as they wait for their allotment of the food.  I recognize many of them.



Some of the people of 5 Point Tabora are giving out the corn to the lepers.



This is some of the soap that was bought with the money.  We take something as small as soap for granted.  For these lepers it is a special treat.



This is a good picture of the bathrooms to the far right.  The straw hut looking bathroom.
The white building is similar to a duplex in America.  Numerous people live in each side.
all the houses are identical in the colony.


Great picture of how the food is divided among the people of the colony.  Everyone brings a bag and it is measured out with the five gallon buckets.

I have spoken about leadership numerous times on this blog.  I am convinced everything rises and falls upon it.  I have realized that the leadership it took to lead a church of 30 to 200 won't work in leading a church to 500.  And the same is true with leading a church to 1,000 and so on.  This is my first church.  I have never Pastored before and I'm not ashamed to admit I don't have all the answers.  My life passion is to reach and teach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and because of this we have asked David Putman to come and help us answer some of the tough questions we're facing.

Last night David arrived at my house to a grilled steak.  We then talked for the next four hours about families, church growth, leadership and whatever was tossed out.  This morning we started throwing ideas back and forth over a bowl of cereal.  David hung out with me and the staff until 5:00 pm.  I don't have time to share everything we discussed.  But I do want to list a few:
* How to best maximize the space we have.
* Creating a culture of life groups into our church.
* Leadership styles.
* Going to three services on Easter Sunday.
* How Dean Herman can grow as a leader.
* Conducting staff meetings.
* Creating an atmosphere of teaching people and not just reaching people.
* And A LOT more.

Really looking forward to spending a lot more time with David in the very near future as he helps 5 Point become everything we can be. 

Hey Guys, Tim here, and I wanted to talk a little bit about Sunday's service.  First of all let me say that Satan was/is ticked off about what happened here yesterday.  All week we knew something amazing was going to happen at 5 Point, and let me tell you, Satan knew the potential for life change yesterday, and he was working hard to stop it.  From the second I walked in the door at 6:15am on Sunday, I knew satan was working hard against us.  If it could go wrong before the service yesterday, it went wrong!  First all getting the computer to work with the projector, and the cameras to work with the projector was an extreme pain(keep in mind that this is something that has been setup numerous times with no problems).  Then the band run through was a complete nightmare because no one could hear themselves, not to mention that an amp that previously worked with no problem decided it would not work at all yesterday, so it delayed practice about 20 minutes.  I think we made it through one song without any sound adjustments needed.  We are normally finished with band run through no later than 830, but yesterday was 9:05, that is how bad it was!  Then around 925 the computer crashes, and all of the adjustments that had been made between 8 and 925 was completely lost, so all of Dean's church pictures, and numerous song slides had got out of order(sorry to the first service attenders who became dizzy due to quick changes of slides) the guys in the booth did a great job not completely freaking out, and they stayed for another service).  Then there was the whole picture taking issue(thanks to the band for stepping up and getting a ton of pictures after a very stressful run through).  When all of the pictures were taken, it was then time to get them printed, well that was taking entirely too long because our copier/printer has not been working properly.  Under normal circumstances the pictures could have been printed in 15 minutes total, but instead it took 30, so to get them downstairs in time was very stressful.  Having said all of that, it was absolutely amazing to see the reaction of people seeing their picture nailed to the cross.  I think for many people it was the first time they thought of it that way, that Jesus didn't just die on the cross, he died on the cross for me!  Thanks to all the band, tech crew, and other volunteers who fought off Satan yesterday and helped to see Jesus WIN again!  Several people gave their life to Christ to yesterday, so take that satan!!

While in Georgia one of the speakers hit me right between the eyes with a statement.  I'm going to try and quote him,
"As a Pastor, you must love the babes as much as you love the marines."

You may be wondering what this means so let me explain.  As Pastors were driven to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I'm telling you right now, there isn't much that excites me more than seeing people get saved.  But as Pastors, we also desire to see people who are driven to become more and more like Christ.  But that isn't the case with a lot of people.  Churches are full of people who have been saved 20 -30 years and still haven't read the Bible or led someone to Christ.  As Pastors, its easy to appreciate the person who once saved is ready to attack hell with you and take nothing but a squirt gun.  In other words, they become the marine style Christian.  Their attitude is, "I don't care what the world thinks, I'm winning the world to Jesus."  That is the correct attitude but it doesn't come to some as easy as others.

Now here is the tough part, who does Jesus love more?  The marine who has nothing but a squirt gun and his Bible or the person who is growing but at a MUCH slower rate.  JESUS LOVES and DIED for them both. 

The speaker asked all of us if we loved marines any more than the others and if so why?  He continued to point out that if we were about names, we loved them all the same as Jesus.  But if we loved numbers, we loved them more because it helped draw more numbers into the church.

As a Pastor, I am guilty of loving the marine more than the slow developer and one of the reasons (just being honest here no matter how painful it is) because he can help me grow a church, not the kingdom.

What I've come to realize through all this is that I will never apologize for wanting to draw as many numbers into this building as possible.  Each number has a soul, but I must slow down and recognize each number also has a name and Jesus loves them both equally and so must I.

As Pastor of this church I can promise you we will continue reaching as many as possible, but we will also put names with each one as we disciple them to become the marine Jesus expects of them.

Some other thoughts:
* Awesome new members class Wednesday night.  One of the main reasons, a woman admitted to not knowing Jesus Christ and was saved.  It was amazing.  I had to regroup to keep teaching.
* Having a home group (calling life group) meeting in the morning.  I want to see people getting plugged in and one of the first places were starting is life groups.
* Had a meeting with the elders this morning about some major decisions for the church.  More later.
* Thankful for my elders.  Their wisdom and maturity is always a great help.
* Just finished recording part three of the New Believers DVD.  Hope to finish next week. 
* I truly believe something awesome is going to happen this Sunday morning.
* See you there and bring a friend with you.

I have had the privilege of attending two of the most powerful and life changing conferences of my life the past three weeks.  While in Georgia yesterday God and I had some pretty tough conversations on the topic of people and how we look at them.  You see God looks at people through their names.  The majority of us Pastors look at them as numbers.

Several of the speakers in Georgia we're honest enough to admit that successful pastors are successful because they have a lot of people, also known as large numbers.  My heart's desire has always been to see changed lives through salvations and to reach as many as possible.  Every person that spends eternity in hell or heaven is a number.  But, everyone of them has a name also.  Jesus Christ sees every person through their name, not just another person with a number.

One of the speakers asked how we saw people, as names or numbers?  I gotta admit, the question got all over me.  Why, because one of the first questions I ask at the end of Sundays is how many did we have today? 

Rick Warren pointed out that Christ did give us the great commission and it says,

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

I've begun to ask myself if we're making disciples or just reaching a lot of people.  Don't get me wrong, nothing excites me like seeing lives changed eternally through accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  But, Christ said to make disciples.  I can't get this thought out of my mind.  God just keeps pressing me towards taking those we've reached and turning them into warriors for Christ. 

Let me be real honest with you, turning baby Christians into disciples of Christ is tough work.  But its a job I'm excited about tackling.  With this in mind your going to begin to see a few changes at 5 Point.  I'm going to begin to encourage people to get involved into some type of discipleship and we're going to offer several ways.

Some other thoughts:
* Excited about teaching New Members class tonight.  Have a big group coming.
* Lunch with Rick Warren yesterday was incredible.  Definitely an experience I'll never forget.
* Tim, Corey and myself met this afternoon and I'm jacked up about what we're doing this Sunday.  Off the chart creative and I'm convinced God is going to do some incredible stuff. 
* Make plans to be here and bring a friend.  I promise you they won't be disappointed.
* We start our new series FOCUS this Sunday.
* Easter is almost here.  We need eggs.  Stop by Hobby Lobby in Easley and buy thousands (seriously) or just give Sunday towards the eggs.  We'll be stuffing 200,000 eggs this year.  Can't wait to see them being dropped from the helicopter.
* Got word on my foot today, no ruptured tendons which means no surgery.  But the doctor still has no clue why this has happened again.  So aggravating. 
* Quick question, have you done anything to help the Kingdom of God grow this week?
* Another question, how much have you already done to grow your personal kingdom?
* Go do something radical for Jesus!