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I think I might write a book that challenges all the dumb stuff that is said about God.  Like:  "God works in mysterious ways". Actually, God works the way He works.  Nothing about God is mysterious. He doesn't hide stuff from us.  We just don't look...or don't want to.  He is showing me a lot of stuff right now and it's not because He's ramped it up...it's because I'm looking!  So.....look!

 

So It never snows in Knoxville....ha!  This is three times this winter!  Not good weather for flip flops and Hawaiian shirts! 

I had emergency eye surgery this week for a detached retina....it's ben a challenge.....I felt the empty house deal for a lot of this week.....I've never had any kind of surgery and never been put to sleep....pretty wild....all part of a pretty intense 6 months that I won't forget.....

But for all of that stuff.....this is the deal....

 God is REALLY getting it done at Celebrate Recovery here!   

 

Thanksgiving 2009: The New Place

My  daughters  got here from Clemson on Tuesday night...it's been so much fun to have them here!  I've never lived someplace without them....this time I moved to Knoxville a few weeks ahead of them ever  seeing it....so we've been discovering Knoxville together the last few days....

We cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner Thursday and they went to Celebrate Recovery with me Thursday...the first time I've ever been in worship on Thanksgiving night....very cool experience.

What moves me is how much it helps to have them here...they make Knoxville seem so much more like my home....their hearts make all the difference....

We've all felt like we're still kind of "on vacation" this week....but that's a relaxing way to ease ourselves into a new place....12 years on Hilton Head was a long time and we all miss it....but we see God at work here....we know He loves us and is seeing life for us....and we know that He has brought us a far way together....and we are so grateful......

 

Welcome!

Every Thursday night I give what may be  my most important gift as Director of Recovery Ministries at Cokesbury....I put on a name tag and go outside to get people as they start showing up for dinner.   For some of the folks coming, I know that it's a small highlight in the day....for others, well they most likely endure my greeting....but each week I'm there....I hope that our people know this:

That I expect them...

That I love being with them...

That they matter...that they count...that they are valued....

That they are in the right place for encouragement, strength and hope.....

It's a good gift....I plan to give it out for a long time!

Tonight

So tonight it starts in Knoxville....I've been here a week.....totally new city.....totally different church....totally different place to live....and tonight I teach for my first time at Celebrate Recovery here. To say I'm jacked up is a huge understatement....

I have survived no tv for 5 days...(got it Tuesday!) finally finished getting the house ready to sell, moved some stuff here.....figured out what I forgot...met a ton of loving people....missed Hilton Head and my peeps there....and then tonight....

Tonight Jesus does His work in me....I know He has me where He wants me...and I know He has arms around me....and I know He is working through me...and for all the questions floating around in me right now, those are pretty strong answers....

He loves me.....He laid himself down for me...He is my shepherd and I'm his sheep..   in the end that's more than enough for me to know about tonight....

So tonight it starts in Knoxville....I've been here a week.....totally new city.....totally different church....totally different place to live....and tonight I teach for my first time at Celebrate Recovery here. To say I'm jacked up is a huge understatement....

I have survived no tv for 5 days...(got it Tuesday!) finally finished getting the house ready to sell, moved some stuff here.....figured out what I forgot...met a ton of loving people....missed Hilton Head and my peeps there....and then tonight....

Tonight Jesus does His work in me....I know He has me where He wants me...and I know He has arms around me....and I know He is working through me...and for all the questions floating around in me right now, those are pretty strong answers....

He loves me.....He laid himself down for me...He is my shepherd and I'm his sheep..   in the end that's more than enough for me to know about tonight....

One

Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue. "  Luke 15:4-7

 

Did you see the last line in this story?  The "good people"....religion is in the hunt for the "good people", right?  We treat everybody else like a mission project and then we wonder why everybody in our church looks alike.  We may even pray for the "other ones".....but do we love?  Even more, do we deliberately go out looking for the lost ones?  If Jesus was pastoring a church here on Hilton Head and left the church owners to find the lost ones, there is a better than average chance He would get fired.  Most people would just answer no to leaving the church owners to seek the ones. 

 Here's the thing....Jesus isn't most people....He's setting the table, preparing the meal, inviting the guests, and naming the game.  Why is it we're too busy trying to make His body little more than a puppet on a string?  Problem:  Jesus will never be anyone's puppet and if churches think they can manage Jesus, the puppet they are holding on a string is the body opposite of Jesus. 

 He seeks the lost ones.  He loves the lost ones.  He brings the lost ones home.  He has deep joy for them.  They are a mess.  He knows it.  He loves them. 

Jesus shed blood for the ones.  Most of us in church are afraid of them.   Jesus' body is a body on the move...in the hunt....on the loose.....always relentless about loving the lost ones. 

 You have to be a lost one to know a lost one.  Jesus did that.  He came to live with and for the lost ones.  He took on the pain and suffering of the lost ones.  He walked out of death for the lost ones.  Do you think the heart in His body for the lost ones has changed?    Are you still sitting on your hands...or seeking?

Coaching

Pastoral Coaching

All Pastors have drivers.  Some drivers come from life experience, even life trauma.  Some drivers come from expectations of others.  Some actually come from Jesus.  Jesus was a Pastor.  He was more of course, much more.  His pastoral function taught us a lot. 

Lots of Pastors have a murky view of the variance between pastoral counseling and pastoral coaching.  Pastoral counseling is a degree based skill set that in fact very few Pastors have.  Based on  perceptions and misplaced internal and external expectations, however, many pastors work feverishly to engage I counseling they are not equipped to do, producing pressure on several fronts.  Referral is a healthy pastoral practice, both under used and underappreciated.  The premium support Pastors can give therapeutically is often helping people to a trusted therapist who is skilled, gifted and loves Jesus.   Engaging a sister or brother in a therapeutic environment and remaining in the healthy role of Pastor is responsible and effective. 

What‘s the distinction then of coaching?  Pastoral coaching is the practice of inviting people into a conversation with Jesus that gives people the frame to see, hear, and be led by Him.  Pastoral coaching is transformational and Jesus is the transformer.  Pastoral coaching seeks to hear the heart of the sister or brother and the heart of Jesus.  The gift comes when the voice that is heard is Jesus.   He says…. Listen….

Be loved….

Follow…..

Trust….

Pastoral coaching opens people to the voice of Jesus.  Seemingly simple……but  the gift of a lifetime once people hear. Pastoral coaching is conduit work. Good preaching is coaching….it’s all about the connection…..all about the contact…all about the one clear, precise, loving, engaging voice.  Coaching is about clearing out the room.  It’s about making way for the King of hearts to come on in.  It’s about Jesus setting people free.  Pastoral coaching is about knowing the transformer and desperately wanting to work for Him knowing that He will change lives.  Pastoral coaching is watching Jesus give people their lives back and watching him breathe life into many for the very first time. 

Once you understand pastoral coaching, think about the impact Jesus will begin to have through you.  Think about the way you will treasure staff.  Think about the opportunities when seemingly mundane meetings will become points of intersection with Jesus.  Think about the transformation work Jesus will do.  Get ready to be amazed. 

  

June 10, 2009

  Hey Baby,

Here we are honey….you’re graduating!  I remember the day I stood at the end of Chadwick ct. in Charlotte and put you on the bus to school for the very first day….and I could not wait to see your face when you came home that afternoon….  Do you know something?  Now you drive yourself to school….you’re a young woman and look how far you come……but I still love to see your face after you come home from school….even though it sometimes takes us a little more time to land in the same place! 

My word for you is my brave one…..I so admire your curiosity, your tenacity, and your courage….you never quit, always question, always want to know more….what a priceless gift that is.  I love you for the loyalty you show to your friends….I cherish the way you have built such a strong relationship with Erin and how deeply you love her….I love your deep heart and know that you will love Jesus fiercely and love His lost ones right into His arms over and over again.   

We have come so far through so much pain as  family and Jesus has held us tightly…today is your day to step back and take a deep breath and take in the pride you should feel for all you have accomplished as the beautiful young woman you are.

 You have worked hard in school and in life.  You are gorgeous.  You are a daughter of the King and you know it...I love that! 

I have also love all the dinners and lunches we’ve had when we could just talk about anything and sometimes everything.  I remember thinking when Erin left that it was entirely possible that by the first time Erin came home she would find both of us dead!  Look at how well we’ve done!  We’re still not dead! 

I know that you are going to take Clemson by storm and then take a look at what comes next and take all that by storm too….always remember “my brave one” how much I love you and how much Erin loves you and how much Jesus loves you.  In the end, and in the beginning, it’s really all that matters.  The cool thing is you already know that….it takes some people a lifetime to figure out what you already know.  How about that?

Remember that I will always think that no boys will ever be worthy of you (How could they be? Boys are stupid!)….that you have my heart, and that, as you said in your essay, you will change the world someday.  You really will honey.  In fact, you already have.

I love you.

Daddy

  

June 10, 2009

  Hey Baby,

Here we are honey….you’re graduating!  I remember the day I stood at the end of Chadwick ct. in Charlotte and put you on the bus to school for the very first day….and I could not wait to see your face when you came home that afternoon….  Do you know something?  Now you drive yourself to school….you’re a young woman and look how far you come……but I still love to see your face after you come home from school….even though it sometimes takes us a little more time to land in the same place! 

My word for you is my brave one…..I so admire your curiosity, your tenacity, and your courage….you never quit, always question, always want to know more….what a priceless gift that is.  I love you for the loyalty you show to your friends….I cherish the way you have built such a strong relationship with Erin and how deeply you love her….I love your deep heart and know that you will love Jesus fiercely and love His lost ones right into His arms over and over again.   

We have come so far through so much pain as  family and Jesus has held us tightly…today is your day to step back and take a deep breath and take in the pride you should feel for all you have accomplished as the beautiful young woman you are.

 You have worked hard in school and in life.  You are gorgeous.  You are a daughter of the King and you know it...I love that! 

I have also love all the dinners and lunches we’ve had when we could just talk about anything and sometimes everything.  I remember thinking when Erin left that it was entirely possible that by the first time Erin came home she would find both of us dead!  Look at how well we’ve done!  We’re still not dead! 

I know that you are going to take Clemson by storm and then take a look at what comes next and take all that by storm too….always remember “my brave one” how much I love you and how much Erin loves you and how much Jesus loves you.  In the end, and in the beginning, it’s really all that matters.  The cool thing is you already know that….it takes some people a lifetime to figure out what you already know.  How about that?

Remember that I will always think that no boys will ever be worthy of you (How could they be? Boys are stupid!)….that you have my heart, and that, as you said in your essay, you will change the world someday.  You really will honey.  In fact, you already have.

I love you.

Daddy