Opportunity

Okay, how good is God!?! We have never had an event that drew so many people, never had so many willing, awesome and enthusiastic volunteers, and the word is out: First Baptist Church loves Pocatello!! People were stopping our folks to thank them for the help with businesses, the BIG slide, and the positive attitude. We even made it on the Channel 6 news!

People in our church got the opportunity to love the community, the community got the opportunity to see Jesus at work in our lives, and we made the name of Jesus a little more famous in our town. THIS IS THE STUFF THAT PUMPS ME UP!!!! WAY TO GO, FBC FAMILY!!!

Keep praying, there are more opportunities coming. Finishing up the I Saw The Lord campaign in the next few weeks, the Lord still has something to say to us. Keep listening, keep watching, and keep serving; God is up to something big!!

Why I Love This Church!!

Wow! I just got a look at the candy pile! We have five HUGE tubs of candy, and more on the way! I love it when we get to show what a generous church we are. People have been coming in all week bringing little packages of love to give out to kids tomorrow during Trick or Treat the Old Town Streets, and now we're about ready to give away some Jesus in fun sized bites!

I'm also blown away that we had 75 people sign up to help!! We always struggle with getting folks to tell us that they're coming to help with events, so to have 75 names a week ahead of time means that we'll have over 100 at the event!! Again, I love the heart for serving and sharing that God has been building in the lives of people in this church family. It is a privilege to be a part of such a great move of God.

Pray for the event, the city won't shut down the street, nor will they provide traffic support, so there will be 5000 people, mostly little kids all hopped up on sugar and adrenaline, running around a 10 block area with rush hour traffic and no crossing guards. Ask God to protect and bless this event so that not only will kids find candy, but someone will find Christ's love.

And if you figure out which costume is mine, make sure and laugh at the jokes. :)

Weekends Were Made For This

The consensus is: God is up to something BIG!

After a great day of team building with the staff in Boise on Friday, we had another great day of learning and growing at the Re-Tooling event Saturday. Much good from both the general sessions and the workshops, plus the bonus of lunch with John Jackson. The lunch was worth the price of admission, and for proof of that, see Aaron's blog. The drive home was an idea incubator, and that was just the cherry on the cake of a great trip.

Then Sunday happened. God was obviously speaking to people in the room. I know this from two sources: one, the feedback about what people heard in the message about being where God is and asking to see more of Him in our lives, plus how that equates to seeing something happen in Galveston this spring, and two, that people complained about the 'butt crack' comment.

Yes, I know it was close to the line, however, if you could have seen how folks were dialed into the next few minutes, you would know that it was worth the risk. People were leaning forward physically, open to hear what God was doing in Moses' life and how He wants that same relationship with us. I may not always make everyone happy with my comments, but if people are listening to God, I'm more than happy to take the heat.

God is speaking, people are listening, and the world is waiting for the changed lives of people in Pocatello to go out and make a difference. That's what I call a great weekend!!

Phone Call

When the phone rings at church, it can be anything. I mean anything: someone is in the hospital, can you help with gas, we want to sell you insurance/curriculum/office supplies, my satellite dish just went out (for reals, someone called and told us his dish went out, and can we fix it...). It can be a prayer request or a praise report, it can be a person with a question or an agenda or a critique, it can be literally anything. But this morning it was encouragement on the phone.

Stacy knocked on my door and said, "Anne Graham Lotz is on the phone for you."

I don't name drop, that's not my style, and that's not what this is. This is a WOW moment for our church, our place in the Kingdom of God, and for me personally. We are one of the few churches around the country that has taken the I Saw the Lord material and used it church wide, so the folks at Angel Ministries have asked us to keep them up to date, and give them any feedback we have. I wrote an e-mail yesterday with some of the exciting responses we've seen to people studying God's word, and some suggestions to make it easier for future churches to go church wide on this. Apparently, Anne herself saw the e-mail and decided to call to say 'Thank you' and 'We're praying for you.'

It was surreal. Here in my cluttered little office, in the middle of downtown Pocatello, Idaho, I'm talking to the daughter of a legend, the leader of a nationally known ministry, a gifted and in demand preacher and speaker, award winning author, and all that is Anne Graham Lotz, and she's thanking me on behalf of our church.

Some will say, "Bill, get off your ego trip. So what, she's just a person God uses." I will reply, "It's not about me, it's about the graciousness of this lady, who has more to do than most, who has a greater ministry footprint than most, and who has no reason whatsoever to be so kind as to pray for us, much less call and encourage us in our work for the Lord, but she picked up the phone and made my week." So no, I'm not going on an ego trip. What God is doing right now is so far beyond me that I'm sprinting to keep up. But what I am going to say is that God is up to Something REALLY BIG, and one phone call out of the hundreds we will receive this week is proof enough that it's really happening.

Pay attention. God is talking.

Quick Sunday Post

I'm sneaking in a post during the dinner break of the 101 CLASS. I'm still in awe of what God is doing right now in our church. We have a ton of people taking the core classes tonight, plus a huge response to I Saw the Lord - we ran out of books!! The service today was electric, I felt people connecting to God's spirit in both services, and the way folks were listening to what had to be for some a hard message to hear, it all just made me stop and praise God for the good stuff going on right now.

A quick clarification: what I said today was that we need a full time youth pastor. We have it in the budget to pay a full time salary, and we started Chris Boblit off as part time because he was a rookie. But now as he rounds into shape and is doing great ministry with the teens, we don't have the giving support to pay the full time salary. We're in the black financially, but barely, and with spending still cut to the bone. We need to see giving come up dramatically to get back to the level of ministry needed to change this valley for Jesus. We're already saying no to opportunities, and we need to say yes to a full time person leading our youth ministry. Pray about it, and follow the voice of God as He speaks from His word.

Gotta run, second half of 101 about to start.

What a Team!

I am a blessed man. For all the storms of my life (for more on this, come hear the message on Sunday), I am blessed many times over. One big blessing in my life is the incredible staff of people I get to work with every day.

Thursday was National Boss' Day, and October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and those two events combined to become a lunch Wednesday after our staff meeting. They got together and gave me an IPod Nano and a cool speaker dock for it. Now I am able to listen to all the pod-casts they've been telling me I need to listen to, but that's not why they gave it to me ( at least that's what I tell myself). They made sure to tell me that they were excited to be a part of what God is doing here, and they were glad to have me in their lives. It was a wonderful lunch, a great gift, and more importantly, a great encouragement to me to know that these amazing, talented, gifted, hard working, dedicated folks are with me, for me and by my side as we work for God's best in this church family.

I was blessed by them, and I want you all to know what a great blessing you have in this church staff. I know lots of pastors and I've seen lots of church staffs in my life. This group of people here at FBC Pocatello is the finest, most dedicated, most amazing group of people I have ever known in ministry. I'm sure there are others who feel the same about their team, but my team is the best there is.

God is up to something big, and I am glad to have these folks with me while we discover it together.

Not Just In An Ordinary Way

The song that Karl sang during communion yesterday has been in my mind quite a bit lately. It's by Chad Marvin at Second Baptist, Boise, and the lyric that is stuck in my head is in bold:

There's a stirring in my heart to worship You,
It's getting stronger everyday.
There's a stirring in my heart to worship You
And not just in an ordinary way.

'Cause You are anything but ordinary,
Anything but common place,
Way beyond extraordinary
So what I want to do

Is run to You and find Your presence,
Let it shine upon my face
Your calling is the very essence of the stirring in my heart
To worship You.

We treat God like He's common place and ordinary, yet He is anything but. We treat God like a side of fries, but He's really the main course. We treat Him like dessert, we can take Him or leave Him, it's good, but optional. God is not optional. God is everything, and He is calling us to Himself, calling us to a closer relationship with Him. Just like we talked about on Sunday, God is calling His people to love Him and listen to His voice. I hope you'll hear it, because God is calling us to read His word and hear His heart in it's pages.

It was a powerful moment on Sunday - both services - when we took communion and recommitted to follow God's commands. I sat on platform and watched person after person come up and remind themselves of the sacrifice of Jesus for them, and commit again to follow His commands. I was touched by the changed lives that I see in our congregation and the work that God is doing in our lives together. Every time we do communion, I am reminded of the places God has brought people out of and the life He has given to them. The baptisms were another reminder of the lives that are changing around us.

I said it again on Sunday, and I believe it more each day: God is on the move in the Portneuf Valley, and we have the privilege of trying to keep up. Run with me! :)

Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind that divide the world into two kinds of people, and the kind that don't. Old joke, but I like it.

There are the kind of people who step up and talk to folks when they need to, and the kind that run away from conflict. I have worked very hard to be the first kind, but it means overcoming a lifetime of being the second kind. I got a good example today of what it means to step up and talk to someone, and I was in a place (finally!) to not let it mess with me and make me re-think everything I'm doing and want to change and make them happy. Here's what I mean:

Someone called me today and told me that they were leaving the church. Actually, they had quit coming a while ago, but they called to talk to me about it. I appreciate that kind of honesty. They said that they just were not getting fed in the sermons. The irony of that after what I said on Sunday was not lost on me, but I kept that part to myself. We talked about what it meant to get 'meat' in a sermon, and it basically came down to a difference of opinion on what is important in a sermon. He wanted me to use Greek and Hebrew, share the 'deeper' meaning of stuff, and I believe that knowledge is only worth something if you can apply it.

We can agree to disagree, and we can affirm each other and respect each other in our differences, and when we hung up, we both said we would love to be a help to each other if the need came up. That's what being a Christian is supposed to be about. That's what it means to walk together in the journey of faith. We don't have to agree on everything, and we don't have to convince each other of our personal 'right-ness' all the time. We can love each other in Christ and serve where we serve, use our gifts in the place that God put us without having to bash each other over the little places where we differ.

He's not going to convince me that I need to 'feed' him 'meat' from the Word, and I'm not going to convince Him that it's more about what we do with what we know than it is about what we know. He needs something different in this season of life, and I pray that God will reveal Himself to my friend in a fresh way wherever he ends up going to church. And I pray that people will come and fill in the gaps that he leaves in our church by his departure.

But in the end, I appreciate the fact that my friend was honest, that he talked to me rather than about me, and that he took the time to listen to me, too. I respect him even more for that. He didn't dump and run, he didn't fire a rocket over his shoulder, and he didn't leave mad. Good for him, better for Jesus.

That's what I want to be when I grow up. More like Jesus. That's why I'm excited to get into His Word in the I Saw the Lord campaign. God is up to something big, and it's not just in my life, it's in all of us. I hope you see it. I hope you get it. I hope you see the Lord.

Post Launch Thoughts

Got the I Saw the Lord campaign off the ground on Sunday, and I'm thrilled with the response so far. It was out of the box for folks to talk to each other in worship, but I was proud of everyone for trying, and the feedback was all good. There have been over 140 people get participant's guides, and I'm praying that everyone will get the maximum blessing out of the time the spend in God's word.

Props to the youth ministry for bringing the teens into the service to get this Bible study method in front of them, I hope it helps them to start digging into the Bible earlier than some of us 'old codgers' did.

If you still need to get into a Connection Group for the discussion part of the campaign, call the office or drop us an e-mail and we'll get you pointed in the right direction.

Here's why I'm so excited about this: I keep seeing and hearing about how the church in America has lost it's footing in society, and how the churches that are making a difference all have one thing in common - they are all getting back to a simple set of basics, including the idea that God's Word needs to be central to the life of the church and the lives of the people. I'm excited to see more people get into God's Word and see what it really says, and I'm looking forward to hearing what the Holy Spirit prompts in people when we give Him the opportunity.

Pray for God to use His Word to push us in the right direction, both individually and corporately, so that we all end up where He wants us. I'll pray for you to get the most out of this experience that you can get; you pray for me to hear clearly from God what He's saying to all of us in the First Baptist Family.

And here's a little something extra for my readers: We're doing baptisms this Sunday!! Pray for the folks getting baptized, that it will be a moving, spiritual experience for them, and pray for the folks who come to watch, that they will be moved by the commitments of these folks and make their own spiritual commitments. Should be a good time this Sunday!

No Place Like Home

We made it home safe from Post Falls, and I'm glad to be home. A big "thank you" to all who prayed for us while we were gone and for safe travel. Despite rocket powered UPS trucks on the freeway, it was a mostly uneventful travel experience. Also a bit "thanks" to Aaron Floyd for driving and leading worship at the conference, he did a great job at both. Thanks to Stacy Rude and Kathy Nelson for going along and keeping their ears open for God to speak. It was a good conference for all of us.

If you'd like a taste of what we heard and learned, check out Aaron's blog, he posted live during the sessions.

I'm going to be a single Dad this weekend while Beth is away at the Women's Retreat, as are some of you other dudes. Let's all pray for each other, and pray for the women at the retreat that they will be able to leave this all behind and listen to Jesus while they are there.

We're starting the I Saw the Lord campaign this Sunday, and I just finished the first message. After the conference and the discussion on the way home, I'm more convinced than ever that
God has been setting us up for something. This next eight weeks is part of it that God started in us back in May, and everything since then has been pushing us in this direction. I hope you will join us as we look to see what God has for us in this. I'm excited, and I'm praying for both of us to hear more clearly from God than we ever have before.

Get Away Day

Just about to hit the road back to Pocatello, but I'm so full of great stuff from yesterday, I had to stop and post. David Putman rocked us with his talk on the Discipleship Code, and I'm still buzzing about the idea that we in the American church (and we in Pocatello specifically) have gotten our theology backwards, and it's keeping us from really making the eternal impact that we should be having. I'm still processing how we need to teach and communicate this, but it was a eye opener with pratical and personal application. Not 'book learning' theology: crusty, dusty, philosophical meanderings, but real, hard core, how what we believe about God and ourselves can and will impact how we live and serve and follow Jesus. Great stuff, stay tuned.

Here's a shout out to Katie at Brodie Mack, my new favorite clothing store.

It's always good to get together with other pastors who are leading their churches to hope and missional effectiveness, the energy, prayer and hope just fills me up. It's a long drive home, so I'm getting on the road. Pray for the beginning of I Saw the Lord this Sunday, God is definitely up to something.