Year Anniversary Tornado Block Party

On the year anniversary of the tornado, we decided to throw a block party for one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by the tornado on December 26, 2015. Over the past year we were able to make some good relationships with many of the families in this part of our community, and it was a pleasure to spend the afternoon with them. We ended the festivities with a candle light vigil around the time the tornado come through our town.

The Big Christmas Do-Over

We had the opportunity to partner with #RowlettStrong and host "The Big Christmas Do-Over!" The event was planned to replace toys that children had lost the year before. It was an incredible event where the community came together to love on the tornado families!

Coleman's Baptism

Coleman's Baptism: December 4, 2016

 

Rowlett Neigbhorhood Block Parties

Tonight we held two block parties for those in our community impacted by the tornado. Both were really great events, and everyone had a great time.

Our church family was awesome! We had so many people show up to help setup, greet our honored guests, serve food, visit, cleanup, and just help however needed. Both block parties also saw a good amount of people from the neighborhoods show up as well. We distributed gift cards for those who registered, served dinner, had games and inflatables as well.

My favorite part was hearing stories of our members sharing Christ with others. An unexpected benefit for those in attendance was the residents having an opportunity to share some of their experiences in the recovery and rebuilding process. Glory to God for a great night sharing His love with others!

Relief, Recovery, & Rebuild Partners

Relief, Recovery, & Rebuilding is a journey that no one can do on their own. While it would be impossible for me to properly express my gratitude to all that have helped me and FBC Rowlett throughout this process, I would be doing many of our partners an injustice not to try and mention some of them. Let me just say THANK YOU to all who have offered your wisdom, insight, experience, love, encouragement, and advice during this ongoing process.

Sam Porter with the BGCO Disaster Relief put me in touch with Terry and the Texas Baptist Men. The Texas Baptist Men put in over 1,100 man hours, with over 450 volunteers across the Great state of Texas. The Texas Baptist Men stayed in our church for over 6 weeks. Their team slept on cots and showered in a trailer. They were the first ones in town and the last to leave. They are awesome!

Prestonwood Baptist Church has been invaluable as well. Mike Buster, Joe Perry, Jarrett Stephens, and Pastor Graham have been kind, helpful, and generous to the church and me throughout this process. I am grateful to have worked their during my early days of ministry, and am grateful to still be a part of the Prestonwood family!

Victim Relief Ministries have been incredible as well. Jim was an incredible resource throughout the first 3 weeks of the relief effort, and still serves as an advisor to me personally. He gave us our greatest initial advice in our relief efforts by advising that we not accept used clothing, which allowed our church to have the resources people in our community really needed from the get go. VRM also housed disaster counselors throughout the first 4 weeks at our church.

Guidestone Financial Resources provided us with the opportunity to be Jesus in Workboots to our community. As a result of the insurance they provide, we were able to send out teams from our church to go serve the families in our community to remove debris without having to worry about what would happen if someone got hurt. Not only do they provide this peace of mind, Guidestone actually celebrates the fact that they provide such tremendous services to churches like FBC Rowlett.

Home Depot has been incredible as well. Our local store in Rowlett donated over 1,400 storage bins during the first month of the relief effort. They also sent in corporate executives from Atlanta to Seattle. One multiple days, they sent over 100 workers into the community to do hard work in freezing rain. They were even cool enough to ask me to pray over them before they went out to work!

KLTY was so great to our community as well. They provided 50 families with incredible gifts that went far beyond the monetary dollar figure. For those 50 families, they provided gift cards, crock pots, cleaning supplies, storage bins, and other essentials people needed to get back on their feet.

This is where the list is not long enough. We have been helped by churches not only in Texas, but throughout the United States. We have seen people and donations sent from New York, Michigan, Oklahoma, and beyond. Churches from across the DFW area have sent teams to work in our donation center, to work with our church family in neighborhoods, and have even helped us get the word out. The help offered by so many has been completely and totally humbling. THANK YOU to all who have helped our church in this process, we are grateful!!!

Baptist Disaster Relief

I am convinced the greatest disaster relief workers in the world are from the Southern Baptist Convention. My first call after the tornado was to my friend Sam Porter with the Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief team who connected me to the Texas Baptist Disaster Relief Team. Within 48 hours of the tornado, we had men and women from across Texas and beyond housed out of or church. Some stayed for a few days, others stayed for a few weeks, it was unbelievable.

One of my regrets was not getting a picture of each disaster relief truck and trailer from all over the state and country that came to help. Each of these individuals were world class workers, world class people. They brought their own cots or air mattress, made their own food, and showered in their own shower trailer.

My goal for those staying in our team was to simply be the greatest host they have ever had. While we gave it our best effort, they deserve way more than we were able to provide. The Texas Baptist Men were the first in Rowlett, and the last to leave by weeks. Even after the last group left, they still sent teams to help our city recover all the way into the summer. I am a huge fan of the SBC Disaster Relief teams!

HARD WORK --- TOGETHER!!!

Below is such a great promotional piece on coming together. I am not a Lebron or Cavalier fan, but I love this video. If we can be inspired by this, a man from Cleveland going home to play basketball, how much more should we be inspired for the cause of Christ at First Baptist Rowlett... TOGETHER!
 

 
FBC Rowlett family, bring it on in, it’s our time! Jesus is our Savior we gotta do it for Him. We gotta do it for Christ, His people are waiting on us. What we do here will define what we’re about. Lets get it going.
Every single Sunday, every single Wednesday, every time we meet, we’ve gotta give it all we got. Because He’s gonna ride with us. Everything that we do as a church is because of our Savior. We owe Him. We’re gonna grind for Him. He’s gonna support us, but we gotta give it all back to Him. If we get it done, the toughness we have as a church, it’s going to come from our Jesus. Everybody. The whole church. That’s what it’s all about. It’s time to give Him something special. Let’s go, bring it on in, everybody, let’s go. Let’s go.
Hard work on 3, together on 6. 

First Baptist Rowlett: 1, 2, 3 --- HARD WORK --- 4, 5, 6 ---TOGETHER!

Internally Strong, Externally Focused by Mark Spence

My longtime friend, Mark Spence, recently wrote a blogpost I'd like to share called "Internally Strong, Externally Focused." This is posted with his permission. Enjoy:

In the book, The Externally Focused Church by two pastor-theologians, Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, coined the phrase “externally focused” that defines a church that equips, empowers and encourages church members to be missionaries to their community, particularly through service. Before going deeper into how a church can be internally strong and externally focused, I would like to take a brief look at other types of churches that maybe aren’t as interested in practicing both internal strength and cultivating an external focus.

Internally strong, internally focused

An internally strong and internally focused church is mainly interested in itself.  This is a program heavy church with a full church calendar.  The goal is to keep members busy and to attract new members by offering as many events, ministries, programs, etc. as possible.

A sign that a church is internally focused is that although it may be adding new members every month, the new members join by transfer from other churches.  This type of church may baptize many each year as well but it is likely that the baptisms are of members’ children.  So the church may seem evangelistic due to its new members and baptisms, but in reality, it is not reaching non-Christians outside of the walls of the church campus.

This type of church is more of a Christian country club than it is a church on mission with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Internally weak, externally focused

An externally focused but internally weak church is outstanding at evangelism.  This type of church attracts a huge crowd at weekend services and consistently witnesses many adults, students and kids come to saving faith in Christ.  The majority of the church’s time and resources are poured into making the worship services as exciting, creative and attractive to the lost as possible. Using a tired cliche, this type of church is a seeker-oriented or seeker-friendly church.

Because the focus is on the worship services, an internally weak church has a huge “back door”.  Meaning that while it sees many new Christians come to faith, it also sees many members looking for a church that offers more depth in discipleship.  The disciple making ministries, such as small groups, are an afterthought of an internally weak church.

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Internally weak, externally unfocused

An internally weak and externally unfocused church is an unhealthy church heading towards closing its doors.  The age of the church members tends to be older, with little interest in doing what it takes to reach new people with the gospel.  While the church may have small groups and other discipleship ministries, the small groups have not added new members in recent memory.  Unfortunately, the baptistry is dry with members unable to remember the last time it was used.

The scariest aspect of this type of church is that far too many churches in America are both internally weak and externally unfocused; too many churches in America are more likely to close their doors within the next generation than they are to reach people with the gospel.

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Internally strong, externally focused 

Externally focused churches encourage members and leaders to become involved in the community. Service, outside the walls of the church campus, encourages members to build relationships with the unchurched.  As relationships are developed through community involvement, hearts will be opened to the gospel. Service allows Christians to be the salt and light that Christ has called them to be.

Church members can discern where to serve through their personal interests and proclivities.  For my family, this means that I coach my boys’ soccer team.  For others, it can mean active engagement in scouting, service organizations like Lions Club, dance troupes, bands, sports at all levels and ages, PTA, biker gangs, gaming (video game)…things…, etc.   The sky is the limit and creativity should be encouraged. 

Community engagement and service, when done with intentionality for the gospel, has great potential for the church to the unchurched with good news of Jesus Christ.

An externally focused church will have fewer activities and events.  Some events, such as Fall Festival, may have to be sacrificed in order to free church members towards externally engagement.  Ministries, such as upwards sports, may also have to be given up so that a church member can enlist their children in a local sports league and for parents to help lead the team.

Even though there should be fewer ministries and a cleaner calendar, the church will have to prioritize disciple-making ministries in order to be internally strong.  When someone is lead to Christ through community engagement, there has to be a process in place through the church to help the new Christians to reach spiritual maturity.

In addition to a strong disciple making process, the worship service will have to be engaging, sermons will need to exposit the scriptures faithfully, small groups must be a place for fellowship, community and accountability, the pastors will have to take their responsibility to shepherd the church seriously and the church must have a means to equip church members to share the gospel.  In short, the church must be internally strong in order to fulfill the great commission’s command to reach people with the gospel and disciple them.

Also, pray for Mark today (9/25/14), he is having knee surgery.

Book Review: The Good News About Marriage

What if I told you that everything you thought you knew about marriage and divorce was wrong? You know, that 50% of marriages end in divorce and the divorce rate in the church is the same as in the rest of the world… Would you feel deflated? Would you be discouraged? Perhaps you would feel a bit hopeless, and maybe destined for defeat? I think most everyone would feel that way, and even the best of marriages might have times where the doubts of, “are we really going to make it” might creep in.

Shaunti Feldhahn (a research analyst) decided to examine the divorce rate, factors influencing the divorce rate, and then she found The GoodNews About Marriage! Basically, over the past several years we have been told the divorce rate is 50% in and out of the church, Church Matters!

Not only has the divorce rate never been close to 50%, it has never been the same for church attenders and non-church attenders (listento a sermon on Church Matters here). Feldhahn also discovered the actual divorce rate to be between 20-25%, with that number dropping in half for those attending church. These are just a few nuggets in this book I would recommend to anyone wanting positive information on marriage and the church!

Dealing The The Pressure Cooker Reality of Ministry

I read an article by Carey Nieuwhof and wanted to share it online. It details the biggest mistake/struggle a longtime minister has made. He described it as “knowing how to handle the pressure of ministry.” Here are some exceprts and major points from his post:

Ministry brings pressure that seems to be unique to the calling. I love ministry and am so thankful to have been called into it, but with it comes pressures that is well, just different. Here’s my theory as to why ministry is such a pressure cooker for many. Ministry combines three areas of life that are intensely personal:

• Your faith
• Your work
• Your community

Because of that, it gets confusing. 

• What you do is what you believe.
• What you believe is what you do.
• Your friends are also the people you serve and lead.

Throw your family into the mix (because they believe what you believe and are friends with the people you/they lead and serve) and bam — it’s even more confusing. Due to this, things that normally happen "at work" very seldom stay "at work." The pressure can lead to problems that impact your home, your life, and even your faith.

Here are six habits that have helped me learn to handle the pressure of ministry well:  

1.     Understand the perfect storm of work/faith/community: Church world is the only place I know of where what you believe is what you do and the people you serve are also your friends. You need to understand this. Understanding why something is emotionally confusing is the first step toward untangling the confusion.

2.     Find friends who aren’t in your church or organization: Be friends with the people you live with and serve, but find some friends you can talk to about anything.

3.     Don’t base tomorrow’s decisions on today’s emotions.

4.     Seek a Christian counselor.

5.     Develop a devotional life that has little to do with work: One of the casualties of serving in the church is your devotional life. You get too busy or you "cheat" and make your sermon or lesson prep your devotional time as well. Don’t. God loves you for who you are, not for what you do.

6.     Develop a hobby or interest outside of work.

My Role As Executive Pastor

Recently, I read a blog and saw a leadership video on the role of Executive Pastors. Being in that role of I have often been asked, “What does the executive pastor do?” According to Dr. David Fletcher, there are three different kinds of Executive Pastors: Overseer of operations, Ministry Strategist, and the Second-in-Command.

                                

My pastor, Rick Frie, explains my job as, “being responsible for everything that happens outside of the worship service (except for building and grounds).” With that being said, the overseer of operations (writing checks, maintenance of facilities, dealing with insurance) is outside of my job description and I rarely have to do anything with that. The closest responsibility I have to that role would be my involvement as an ad hoc member of the finance team, but my role is for ministry and budget oversight responsibilities.

For my is a combination of the Ministry Strategist and the Second-in-Command. I work with the pastor to clarify and fulfill the vision God has given him for our church. My duties include goal setting and constant evaluations, while overseeing ministry and church functions to free the pastor to shepherd the church. Oversight of our spiritual development, ensuring that we have a process and measurement system in place. When the Senior Pastor is out, I am the one held accountable for the daily operations of the church, staff oversight, filling the pulpit, etc. Additionally, I oversee our spiritual development, small groups, missions, evangelism, discipleship, and assimilation of lives into our church family… and other tasks assigned by the pastor. For example, I have been responsible for three capital stewardship campaigns in my time at First Baptist Jenks, with a fourth campaign looming as we are preparing to expand our children ministry facility.

I am not sure that there is an ideal job description for all executive pastors, but I do believe the key is to make sure the person in that role understands his job. Equally important is for the Senior Pastor to provide his executive pastor with the authority to fulfill the responsibilities he has been given and will be accountable for. Another key component is for everyone on staff to understand what that job entails and the how that affects working together as a team.

For me, I find great joy in being able to preach (about 8-12 times a year on Sunday mornings) and weekly on Wednesday nights. I love the leadership development aspect of my job. God has given me an outlet for my passion of missions, being able to oversee that area of the church. I thoroughly enjoy being able to critically think about our ministry strategy and evaluate how we are doing.

While there are times where the executive pastor role can stretch you, it is in those moments where I find my effectiveness increase as I naturally depend more on God. And be sure about it, God is the source for anything good that comes from my job performance. He provides the ideas, strength for execution, and a heart to fulfill His mission in my ministry setting!

2012 in Review

1.     Dr. Hedgecock – Finally! I obtained my Doctor of Ministry degree in May. So grateful it is finished, for the sacrifice of Christy and my children, and the support of my friends who encouraged me along the way: Kyle and Jamie, and so many more.

2.     Mexico – Christy & I went on a cruise stopping in Prgoresso (swimming in cenotes and snorkeling & dunbuggying in Cozumel

3.     Chloe is Reading and her team Repeated as champions in her basketball league

4.     Coleman dominated in Soccer, football, and school - I am really happy about sports and his early educational development. 

 5.     Clays has one favorite in the world, and so far it is me!

 6.     KC mission trip – The family went to KC and participated in the mission trip together. It was great to share in God's commission as a family. This was a great memory!

7. Father/Son and Father/Daughter Campouts - I am not much of a camper, but I had a great time taking Coleman for an overnight campout in the Spring, and Chloe for an overnight campout in the Fall!

8. Interim Student Pastor – I was our interim youth pastor from January until May.

9. Great Wall Visit – The great wall visit was great, and it is great to be a man officially according to Chinese proverb/folklore... the funny thing is that this is nowhere near the best part of my trip to China, this just represents why this trip made the list!

10. Bible in a year – Typically, I will read ahead and skip a day here or there. In 2012, I read the daily allotment every single day. It was a great thing!