Leadership is Intentional

COMMUNITY HAPPENS

John Link -  jlink@firstconyers.com

My wife and I were traveling down I-75 towards Atlanta late one afternoon when we had an interesting experience. We were involved in a light conversation, not really paying attention to the cars that passed us (or the cars that we were passing) when “community” happened. As we turned a slow curve on the interstate, traffic suddenly came to a screeching halt with cars lined up on the road as far as the eye could see. At first you could feel the frustration rise in the cars around us. Lost appointments and broken schedules kept everyone intense as they frantically looked for some way to escape the standstill. Eventually the red tail lights began to fade as people put their cars into “park”. Windows rolled down, cars were turned off and doors began to open. The most peculiar thing happened. These people who, just seconds before, were oblivious to those around them were thrown together with a common concern.

At first it was a concern over what had caused the traffic. People went from car to car sharing knowledge or conjecture about the problem. A helicopter flew overhead and people began to be concerned about an accident and who was injured. It became obvious no one was going anywhere soon!

Suddenly, as if they could stand it no longer, people began pouring out of the cars. Several people draped their car hoods with blankets and soaked up the afternoon sun. Some walked among the cars and opened hoods as if they were at a car show. Music flowed freely between the vehicles. In a way only they can do it, the children quickly invented games to play with their newfound friends. Someone brought out a soccer ball and a “league” for the youth of I-75 was instantly formed on the side of the road. A mother brought out cheese and crackers and began to feed whoever looked hungry. Grand conversations and debates rose up from newly formed groups of people who were, just seconds earlier, blindly racing by with no idea or concern about the other.

Now I’m sure that, if we had been detained long enough, differing opinions would have spawned envies and strife, violence and crime would have increased, political parties would have polarized the people of I-75… but what I saw on that warm fall afternoon was “community”. There was a basic need for people to have interaction with each other. People need people!

Just about the time that I was about to form a group for a worship service… it happened. Up ahead you could hear engines revving to life. It was time to move on. Handshakes were given freely and good-byes were said. Blankets were folded, children hugged each other as if they had been lifelong friends and people found their place. The last child was gathered back into the cars and life began to move again.

We never found out what actually happened up ahead of us on the road that day, but we learned a valuable lesson. When all is removed from us… the high speed cars, the schedules and deadlines, the high tech world that blocks us from hearing, seeing and even touching each other… when the rare opportunity happens for us to stop and recognize that there are people around us… then community happens.

Are we prepared to take advantage of opportunities such as this? Do we know our neighbors? Or do automatic garage doors close the path to them each time we get home? Are you ready or even willing to start new relationships when God opens up a path to do so? God has given mankind a need for community so that we might relate and influence others in our walk of life. Be ready! Just around the next turn… “community” may happen!

Vicki Chesney, Family Minister

I must admit, although I’m fully aware of the whole “Going Green” concept in our society, it isn’t at the forefront of my mind.  (I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, because I  really do love and appreciate this incredible creation called “earth” that God allows us to live in and manage.)

There is a “Going Green” concept that is in the forefront of my mind however.  That is the “green” concept of Family Ministry.  When I looked up the word “green” in my dictionary, the definition that really struck a chord with me in this particular instance is, “not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition; fresh, recent, or new.”   That’s what we are as a Family Ministry and a Family Ministry Team.

I have  been a Children’s Minister since January of 1989, and continued in that role until January of 2010.  At that time, I made the SHIFT to Family Ministry, and we began to put a Family Ministry Team together.  We were looking for a team that had a heart for their particular area of ministry, but were also under the conviction that the primary spiritual nurturers in a child’s life, have to be the parents.  We weren’t looking for seasoned people who were stuck in a mode of how to do ministry with their particular age group, but we wanted people who could grow in Family Ministry as our Family Ministry grows.

This is an exciting time in our church, and I believe part of what we see God do will involve what He does in our families.  As parents are trained to be the ones who take the lead in their child’s spiritual formation, and as we come alongside parents and grandparents on a strategic path or journey that speaks to life stages in each child’s life, I believe we’ll see the development of spiritual champions, or as our goal states, “high school graduates who have a Biblical worldview and possess the leadership skills to make a significant impact for the cause of Christ in their world.” 

We’re green, and we know it.  But in our “green-ness”, we’re compliant to God’s leadership, and we understand the necessity of Him guiding this ship.  Will you journey with us?  We can’t wait to see what will happen!

Alan Isted, Children’s Minister – aisted@firstconyers.com

Those who confess Jesus Christ as their Lord were first called Christians at the church in Antioch (see Acts 11:19-30) because, as the Greek word Christianos means, they were followers of Christ.  Therefore, a Christian leader can be rightly called a Christ follower leader. 

Well, are we really supposed to be a follower and a leader at the same time?  Yes indeed!  We are to be foleaders – I just made this word up, and no, I do not expect it to catch on in your everyday vocabulary .  As Christians, we know that we are to imitate Christ.  In 1 John we’re told, “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.  This how we know we are in him:  Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”  (1 John 2:5-6, emphasis mine)  So, the mark of Christian should always be following Christ.  All Christians should understand this, but whether they truly obey his Word is the question. 

If we do obey his Word because the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit within us enables us to do so, then I will submit that others cannot help but to follow us.  In this sense, then we will most definitely be a follower of Christ and leader among men at the same time.  I believe we, as Christian leaders, always need to remind ourselves that the best way to lead is by example.  For instance, if I am telling parents to have family worship times at home, and I myself do not do a worship time with my own family, then people would more than likely not be inclined to apply to their lives the action that I told them to take.  I would then be called a hypocrite, which is something that clearly Jesus does not want us to be.  However, if we are living out what God has called us to do, in following Christ by obeying His Word, then we can be justified in telling others, just as Paul did, to, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”  (1 Cor. 11:1)

In conclusion, my prayer for you and myself as well is that we all strive to be foleaders each and every day!

Sorry this is Long but its worth reading:

Our society does not understand the meaning of rest and it directly reflects how we worship.  I believe that our worship and our response to God are backwards in a lot of churches.  Many times our worship reflects our life style.  What we do during the week and how we operate throughout the day is exactly how we worship.  True worship is obedience and if we are going to experience Gods fullness then we must obey everything he commands.

The Sabbath in particular is something today’s church does not practice because church often reflects what we do on a regular basis.  We are always on the go and society has convinced itself, if we slow down then opportunities will pass and we will miss out on something big.  In today’s church body the people interpret the Sabbath as a day in which they don’t “work to make money” but it is still a day in which they work on many other things.  I recently read an article that said,  “it is not a day in which man is to do what pleases him, but rather one in which he is to do the will of God.  God, not man, must determine how the Sabbath is to be observed.” If we take this for what it implies then in most cases we are sinning every Sunday.

We represent the glory of God and the best way to do so is to imitate His actions. The word says love others as God loves us.  We are to do it because God first loved us, God does everything first so that we can have a plum line to adjust to.  What did God do on the 7^th day?  He rested.  He didn’t take care of some undone matter in heaven or create anything new, he stopped and rested.  It is funny to me that whenever we imitate God we are 100% successful but when we veer away from His example it always results in failure, fatigue, and disappointment.  The very fact that God created man in his image should urge us to imitate him in everything we do.

Although the law does not bind us today it is important to imitate Christ.  Was not the point of the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) to show us our need for grace but also to show us what not to do so that we can be more like Christ?  Jesus even observed the Sabbath not because it was a Law but because he knew that as a human he needed rest.  “He became like his brothers in everyway.”   In Mark 6:31 Jesus tells his disciples to get away from the commotion of this world “come with me by yourselves to a quite place and get some rest.”  We especially need to observe rest in today’s world because of how much goes on day to day.

Allow me to end with this thought.  This past weekend some of our students attended a state wide worship service called Acquire the Fire.  During one of the large worship times the speaker stood up and from the stage told the students to be quiet in the lords presence. At first no one wanted to stop clapping and praising God but finally a holy hush fell over the place. The students had a hard time doing this because being quiet, to them, means stopping and resting. So let me encourage you this week, take some time and just…..Chill with the Lord.

I overheard a church music leader from another church recently as he talked about his Sunday morning service… “You would not believe the service last Sunday! Everything was clicking! The brass section was the best sound we’ve ever had. It really brought the Holy Spirit into the worship!”
Something about that comment really didn’t settle with me that day and after thinking about it for several weeks, I’m ready to respond. The notion that a certain sound, volume, or style of music could bring us to have “true” worship is an Americanized version of the Gospel. Our society influences us to have bigger and better in order to be successful in what we do. This thought has infiltrated the church to where the evaluation of worship comes with preferences of our own listening pleasures.
Does God have a preference in music style or volume? Does He wait around, wishing we would sing a certain song or style? Does it really please Him to hear a certain volume (loud or soft) that “allows Him” to work in our hearts and minds???
What do the scriptures say about worship? Certainly there were a variety of sounds and styles in Old Testament Worship. Mentions of “loud clanging cymbals” and “harps” were made frequently, but what does God require in our worship?
Most of what we glean from the scripture about worship has to do with a preparation beforehand. Psalm 24 says that we must come before God with clean hands and pure hearts. John 4 gives the requirement of worshipping in Spirit and Truth. In other words, it is in our daily walk that we live during the week that makes true worship possible. All of the other trappings of worship preferences are for our own gratification, not God’s!
So let’s prepare for worship in our daily lives. Let’s come before Him with clean hands and pure hearts, ready to receive what the Spirit would teach us. God wants our hearts and minds devoted to him, however we couch the service with our preference of styles.

Reccomended Reading: “The Heart of Worship” by Matt Redman

Phil Wages – Education / Discipleship Minister, pwages@firstconyers.com

1 Timothy 4:7 (NASB): But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

Not long ago, my wife and I agreed that we both needed to be more disciplined in the area of physical fitness and eating. For the last several months both of us have been exercising several times a week and we also monitor our daily caloric intake. The result is that both of us have lost weight, we feel better, we sleep better, and our clothes don’t fit as ‘snug.’ Our discipline has gone a long way.

Discipline is a necessary quality for anyone in leadership, especially Christian leadership. Paul encouraged his young preacher friend Timothy to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. The word for “discipline” in Greek is the same word from which the English word “gymnasium” comes from.  A gymnasium is a place where people can go and exercise for the purpose of physical fitness.  Christian leaders should be well acquainted with discipline for the purpose of being conformed into the image of Christ. Continue reading →

By Craig Beall, Executive Pastor,  cbeall@firstconyers.com

Recently I went to a big box home improvement store and purchased several sheets of plywood. It was about 8:00 PM and I was the only vehicle in this section of the parking lot. The sheets of plywood were heavy and I struggled to get them in my vehicle. At one point I even dropped the plywood because I lost my balance. What amazed me the most was an employee walked right past me and looked at me as I was obviously struggling with the wood, said nothing, and continued gathering carts in the parking lot.
Have you ever experienced poor customer service? I am sad to say that lately I have experienced more poor customer service than good. Interestingly, customer service overall has worsened during our down economy, which blows my mind.

I remind our staff that we are servants and our “customer service” should be the absolute best in the industry. I believe First Baptist Church of Conyers’ staff and members have the best customer service. For our staff the answer, “I don’t know” or “that’s not my area of ministry” is not acceptable when asked a question.

We are always striving to do better. How can we do better? Let me bring this home…how can you and I have better customer service as a Christ follower?

Would you walk by someone struggling with a piece of plywood and not offer to help? Would you look the other way when someone is in need? “Customer service” should be what Christians are known for.

Recommended reading about customer service (this book is for everyone):
QBQ! – The Question Behind the Question by John G. Miller