The Grace Community Church middle school camp is this week. Thanks to our family pastor Michael Bayne for letting me grab this video from his blog. (I didn’t ask permission, so I hope he’s okay with this.) Our youngest son Nate is serving as student pastor this summer and so he’s at the camp and in the video. I wish they would let me go sometime. I’d show them a water party!

Anyway, I’m thankful for those that invest in tomorrow’s church leaders. Be sure to follow Michael’s blog for updates on the experience.

Do you wish you were at middle school camp?  Want to start a food fight?

“But your servants, every man armed for battle, will cross over to fight before the LORD, just as our lord says.” Numbers 32:27

Living in a military town and serving as pastor of a church in this city, Cheryl and I have the privilege of knowing hundreds of military families who serve our nation to keep us free.  Grace Community Church is a better church because of the hundreds of these families who choose to worship, serve and grow with us.

One thing some soldiers often do is to leave behind a letter to his or her spouse and/or family in the event that something tragic should happen to them while deployed.  They sign the seal of the envelope and ask that it not be opened unless the worst should occur.  At times, they leave the letter with another family member and other times with a trusted friend. Some of the most sobering moments of my life have been receiving one of these signature-sealed envelopes from a solder leaving for war.  Each time I felt honored and humble by being asked to hold such a letter, but it has always been a sobering reminder to me of the harsh realities of war.

Thankfully, I have never had to deliver one of these letters.  I hope I never do.  Usually when the soldier returns, he or she will request the letter back from me.  At times, I’m asked to continue holding it due to the volatile nature of their career.

I’m also reminded, however, as Memorial Day is designed to do, that many families have had to endure the delivering of their own “letter” from a fallen soldier.   Today I’m praying God comforts them with the memories of happy times together and with the pride of knowing and enjoying the freedom their loved one gave his or her life to protect.

In my experience, soldiers are brave men and women, with families and friends they love, but who choose sacrifice and service over personal pleasure because of a special calling to serve for the cause of freedom.  These are men and women who love their country, respect what freedom brings to a nation, and are courageously willing to put their life on the line to protect it. Many of our Fort Campbell soldiers are deployed this year and Cheryl and I are praying for their continued safety and for the comfort of loving families waiting for their return.

Some of Cheryl and my best and lifetime friends have been military families.  My father and brother are both veterans, along with many of my extended family.  My pride, gratitude and thankfulness for their service to our country cannot be described in words.  I still get goose bumps hearing the National Anthem or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  Today, to our soldiers and their families, please accept Cheryl and my sincere appreciation for your service.  We couldn’t do the ministry God has called us to do if you didn’t do what you were called to do.  God bless you and keep you safe!

What do you think of when you think of our soldiers and their families?

(Diana Sumpter)

Cheryl and I love to visit with other churches. We always learn something that can help us at Grace Community Church. Today, after attending the first service at our church, we visited Cross Point Church’s Dickson campus and it was a great experience. We enjoyed the music, heard a wonderful message by Justin Davis, and we were truly ministered to this morning. I encourage all pastors to find times to experience worship without the responsibility of leadership occasionally.

Perhaps the part that most helped make it a successful visit was our first impression welcome from a volunteer. Diana Sumpter met us shortly after we walked through the front door with a smile and a handshake. With a welcoming spirit, Diana quickly made us feel at ease in a strange setting. She gave us a quick tour, introduced us to other people, and made sure we were comfortable. We learned that Diana has been with the Dickson campus since they launched and is apparently just as passionate about her volunteer position as she was the day she started.

The experience with Diana reminded Cheryl and me how thankful we are for the volunteers we have at Grace Community Church. Each Sunday at least 150 to 200 people give of their time so that others can experience life change through the ministry of the church. The truth is that the structure and workings of a church are only as good as the church’s volunteers. We serve an incredibly amazing God, but He builds His church with people who are willing to love and serve others. The staff can and should do much to lead this, but regardless of the size of the church, paid staff is never enough to accomplish the mission.

Please allow me to say thank you for those who sacrifice each week to make the church work!

I’d love to hear from you. Do you serve the church in some capacity? Where are you currently serving?

If you are a staff member, feel free to give a thank you to those who serve!

One Sunday at Grace Community Church I talked about two essentials to a healthy marriage; communication and honesty. You can view that message below.

In that message, I also shared 7 tips for better communication in marriage:

Be a good listener – You can never expect to grow in your communication until you learn to truly hear one another.

Timing is important – Don’t try to address major issues when the other party is distracted.  Set aside time to address important topics.

Never criticize the person – You can address actions, but when you attack the person, defenses rise and communication fails.

Be willing to give each other credit for differences

Guys, can’t talk to wives as they talk to their guy friends…She is more tender hearted…

Girls, if they want the guy to understand something…You must say it in a language he understands…men understand facts…men don’t read subtleties or between the lines…

Keep emotions under control – When girls start shedding tears and men’s anger rises, communication is hindered.  Wait until the intense emotion passes, then address the issue.

Prompt resolutions – Don’t let issues linger too long.  Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.  The longer an issue lingers, the harder it is to address.

Be willing to humble yourself and forgive – Marriage is hard; people make mistakes; marriage must be free flowing with grace.

What would you add to the list? What has improved the communication in your marriage?

I also asked this question in my message: What is the real state of your marriage? Be honest and be willing to get the help you need.

For more help for your marriage, click HERE.



Last week I got an email from a woman in our church. She has moved into a new neighborhood and instantly began to make new friends.  She found out one particular family didn’t have a church, so she invited them to Easter services.  The invitation seemed to fall on deaf ears.  She was persistent though and invited the family several more times, but each time got no response.  The Saturday before Easter the family sent her a text asking what time the services were for Easter.  Long story short, they came, they loved it, and they will continue to attend.

Grace Community Church has grown because people got excited about what we are doing and brought their friends. That’s the short and the long answer. We continually think through ways to improve upon what we are doing, but the bottom line remains that it is the people attending our church that have grown the church. (Obviously, God grows the church…I get that…but He uses people!) As people get excited about what God is doing, they bring people with them.

With that in mind, here’s a great question to ask if you want your church to grow:

Who are the catalyst type people in your church that if they ever get excited about your vision will bring others along with them to help implement it?

That’s how we planted a church. We looked for people who were influencers within a circle of people; whether in business, in their social life, or in the community, to find a core of people to start our church and we invested in them and released them to lead in the church. Four years later, we continue to invest in influencer type people that come to our church to lead our ministries. I have personally looked for influencer type people to add to our staff.

Look for and invest in people who others follow and the natural system of multiplication will work for your benefit and the benefit of your church.

Aren’t you amazed…and grateful…that God chooses to use you in His work?

I love creativity.  When we started Grace Community Church, we surrounded ourselves with highly creative minds and allowed them to dream big dreams.  One thing I realized early in the life of the church, however, is that creative people are more difficult to lead. They don’t always fit within the established systems of the organization.

I’ve learned a few things along the way about leading creative types.  Perhaps some of these tips will help you.  If you want to lead creative people without stifling their creativity:

Give clear communication of your expectations and the vision you are trying to attain – Creative people need to know your expectations and where you want to go, but they don’t like to be held to standards they didn’t know existed or put into a boxed set of rules or a script of how to attain the vision…

Help them find the structure that works for them – Creative types need and want appropriate boundaries that are not too constricting, but they are often not good at developing those boundaries for themselves…

Forgive them easily – Creative types often are messy people when trying to explore new ideas and they make mistakes along the way…recognize that this is part of what makes them successful at what they do…

Exhibit lots of patience – Creative types don’t always fall within the established system, but remember that’s one reason you want them…

Reward and praise often – Everyone needs to feel appreciated, but in my experience, highly creative people tend to thrive on it.  It stirs their creative energies even more…

Do you lead creative types?  Are you a highly creative?  What tips do you have?

Today at Grace Community Church we delayed our series to address the issue on everyone’s mind. The flood of 2010 shook many people in our community and in the Middle Tennessee area. Fear and anxiety has been on the increase. People are seeking answers and looking for hope. That’s perfectly understandable during days such as these.

In this message, looking at a story from Acts Chapter 27, I attempt to encourage a renewed faith during uncertain times.

I’m so proud of the Grace Community Church volunteers. The Clarksville, Nashville, and Middle Tennessee areas experienced a devastating flood last weekend. Since the water took longer to recede here, recovery in Clarksville is really just beginning. Grace people have been actively involved in the relief efforts. Grace is a church that truly loves our community. Here are a few pictures from the week. If you’ll notice, Jason Roy, our worship leader is in one of them. He’s a hard worker. (I interviewed him HERE.)

Our sister ministries (Grace people help run them), Africa for Jesus and Manna Cafe Ministries, have also been involved in the flood relief. Soles4Souls, who we support and collect shoes for, is participating in the relief efforts also. In addition, we have worked with the Red Cross, the mayor’s office, and other churches and non-profits. There has been total cooperation in our community to respond to this emergency.

There’s more work to be done. Register HERE and we will keep you posted on the greatest needs.

What will be your memory of the flood of 2010?

Please keep praying for the people impacted by this devastation in Clarksville, Nashville, and around our state.

Years ago I served on the local city council when a major tornado destroyed our downtown. As an elected official, with the title of mayor pro-tem, I got a first hand look at disaster response. One thing I learned in the process is that disaster may strike quickly, but recovery takes extended time. In addition to physical damage, the town suffered emotional damage that had to heal.

This week our town is again suffering; this time from a major flooding disaster. As a pastor, I now serve in a completely different role. Even with experience with a major disaster, however, it’s been another learning week for us as a church.

The biggest question has been what we are to do while we wait to respond to this tragedy. Grace Community Church is a doing church. We have serving our community in our DNA. Our people have been anxious to do something tangible. In cooperation with local officials, however, we have been encouraged to wait. In the early stages of this disaster, it was determined that mass numbers of people are not the greatest need. With the layout of our community divided by two rivers, transportation has been at a standstill. The safety of people, stabilizing the road system, and assessing needs of the community is where local officials are focusing attention.  We now have teams in motion.  Check back HERE daily to see what’s needed next.

When the time is right, we can easily mobilize people. We’ve proven that previously and we do it weekly during our Sunday services and annually with our Operation Serve community service project. When we ask our people to serve, they show up ready to plug in where needed.

The current answer we have landed on is not to quit everything we do waiting until our community needs us. In the months to come the community will still need a strong church organization, so we must continue to develop and grow as an organization. There are ongoing ministries and practices that we must not quit doing.

At the same time, we must be sensitive to what has happened. We decided to begin collecting names of people who are ready to serve and collect projects that are ready to be completed. (You can join our list HERE.) Some of our people have already offered assistance through agencies like the Red Cross. There will be immediate things we can do and when they are discovered, we are ready. We will be respond as we are called upon, but we don’t want to hinder the work of local officials.

My advice from experience is that when a disaster comes into the life of an organization, don’t stop everything because of it, but it should and will alter some of what you do in the future as you respond to the situation.

Has your church or organization experienced disaster? How did you respond?

Do you ever struggle with questions about prayer, such as why, how, when, how much to pray, etc.? If so, you are not alone. In this message I addressed some of the main questions we have about prayer. Watch the message and see the questions below that I addressed and references I referred to in the message.  (It may be helpful to listen to last week’s message first.  You can do that HERE. )

Questions posed and References Used:

What is prayer?
Psalm 39:12
Psalm 5:2
Psalm 130:2
Luke 16:15

Why do we pray?
Matthew 6:5-15

What do I need to pray about?
Ephesians 1:16
1 Samuel 12:23
Matthew 6:5-15
Matthew 5:44
Matthew 9:38
Psalm 122:6
James 4:2

How do you remember details to pray for people and what if you forget? Will God make up the difference?
Romans 8:26

How much do I need to pray?
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Romans 12:12

How do I pray?
Romans 8:12-17

Can Satan hear my prayers and use them against me?
Romans 8:9-11
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
1 John 4:4

How do you develop patience while you wait for God to answer?
Galatians 5:22-23

Does prayer make a difference?
James 5:16
Psalm 37:4
Mark 9:14-29
(You’ll have to listen to the message for some of these references to make sense.)

Then I closed with this question:
What in your life is never going to be solved until you commit some time to prayer?

You might also want to read THIS POST.