lifeofapastor

Many times I use the words “Do Work” and from time to time I am asked “What do you mean by that?” ….”Do Work” for me describes two things: 1. Purpose and 2. Passion. If I say I am going to “Do Work” you can bet I am going to do something that I feel a Purpose to accomplish and a Passion to complete. For example sometimes instead of saying “I am going to preach” I simply say “It’s time to go DO WORK” why? because Preaching the Gospel is my Purpose in life, and I have a Passion to deliver a clear and relevant message according to the Word God lays on my heart for that day, week, or month. There is no greater feeling then accomplishing the Work that you are called to do as a follower of Christ, and yet so many good believers do not know what to have a passion and a purpose for. Can you imagine your life as a Christian with no Purpose or no Passion? No “Do Work” mentality. Maybe you can, maybe you Love Christ with all your heart but have not found the place or the ministry to go and “Do Work” do not be discouraged….be encouraged today, God has something for you. God has a ministry for you to go and “Do Work” in. It doesn’t mean your going to be the leader, it doesn’t mean you  are going to be the grunt. If God has equipped and called you to lead than “Do Work” if God has called you to do the unnoticed sometime dirty work than go “Do Work” whatever it may be. Seek the Lord, find out His will for your life and spend the rest of  it fulfilling your purpose and pursuing your Passion. It may not be easy at times, you may grow weary, but be resolved to not let tired beat you! DON’T LET TIRED BEAT YOU!!! Get your strength from Jesus, ask him to give you the strength to go and “Do Work” it’s time we get serious about fulfilling our Passion and Pursuing our Purpose. Stop what you are doing for a moment and write down if you have to what your “Do Work” thing or things are. Than thank God for them….Then get up and go “DO WORK”

Pastor Andy

I have been thinking for awhile now about comment number 9 of my previous post, and studying the context of Matthew 6:1-4. I am as careful as I can possibly be before using scripture to instruct or correct others in the matters of life and their Christian walk. Now with that said comment #9 was not out of context for what was being explained so I have no qualms about how the scripture was used. However, (don’t you love that word), in an instant it can change the whole tone but not this time. I simply want to share my thoughts of Matthew 6:1-4. The biggest mistake we can make in life is first feeling like we have alms (KJV) to offer. My righteousness is as filthy rags, and any alms I do have to offer God does not need. So at the root, bragging about what you give is at it’s core defiled as the scripture goes on to say. So in sticking with the basics may it be clear, My righteousness is as filthy rags, and any of the petty things I do have to offer God I realize He does not need. In post #1 (many, many posts ago) I made a promise to those that would give of their time to read this blog that I would give them the most in depth look at what lifeofapastor is like, the ups the downs, the good times the challenging times. So if some how my fulfilling the purpose of this blog is seen as alms than I do apologize. I knew there would be times when being open and honest as a Pastor would cause some controversy, since Pastoring by many is seen as a top secret type of lifestyle. I in no way feel that these are the beliefs of comment #9. To be honest I have no idea who this person is, all I know is that they take there time to read this blog, and I am astounded that anyone would even want to read what I have to say. In fact comment #9 has been an encouraging voice and even in the latest post and has caused me to look at myself and evaluate my communication in this last post. In conclusion..my motives are pure, simply fulfilling the purpose of lifeofapastor blog. May all who read this understand that I have nothing to give, and God gets all the Glory for anything I get. Comment #9 thank you so much for speaking what God lays on your heart. It is always a challenge and encouragement to me. It has also allowed me to re-afirm the purpose of this blog. My journey in ministry is far from over, I will continue to share openly the works of God in my life and in life of Sinclair Baptist Church church.

Pastor Andy

What does it look like? what does it consist of? Who does it happen to? How do we retain it? All good questions that come with the Words Spiritual Growth.  When God called me into ministry I really had no idea what I was getting into, I did however have an older brother that tried to warn me though.  Through my young life I watched my Dad as a Pastor, through my teenage life  I watched my brother as a Pastor but that was not enough to scare me away. I have recently had a talk with my oldest Son, and explained some things to him. With what has happened to our church from the years 2004-2007 it has put us in a challenging place. I have been praying for sometime in how I should lead this congregation during a time of what seems to be endless challenges.  I felt the best thing to do at this point and time was to give up my salary as Pastor. A move that will be debated for sometime by many I am sure. But here is what led to my decision. As a Pastor you have a responsibility to tend to the congregation and do what is best for the Church. Now in doing this things will change drastically for my family very quickly. My wife is prepared, the babies are of course to young to understand, but I have a almost 5 year old little boy who understands a lot.  And this is what I have learned in my spiritual growth process, and I pray this is lived out in his life as it is mine. This world can take your stuff, but it can not take “Right” away from you. Here is what I mean. If we spend our lives doing what is right and right only being based on the characterof Jesus, then no one can take that away. I know within my heart that I am doing what is right, I am preferring my brothers and sisters over myself. I am preferring this Church body over myself. Why? 1. They need that example from a Pastor. 2. It is what we do as followers of Christ.  It is our reasonable service. So to my Son if he reads this one day later in life with a greater understanding then he has now. Your Dad may have lost some “Stuff” but he did not loose “Right” in his life. God honors right. God honors a life of preferring others over our self. I believe it, and I will live it to the best of the abilities that have been given to me by Christ. What does Spiritual Growth look like in your life? for me it was recognizing “Right” according to the scriptures and living my life as best I can to fulfill this calling in my life.

Pastor Andy

Now this is a funny one, usually everyone likes to talk about negative Influence unless it’s dealing with them, then it’s a personal attack all of the sudden. If you have ever had to confront anyone about their influences you know exactly what I am talking about here.  You know what boggles my mind…that negative influence is as prevalent in the church as it is in the world..yep I said it..”Well what do you have to base that on?” you may ask me, years and years in church 32 to be exact. There is a lot of things that make “good Christians go bad” as they say,  and usually we are pretty brave to talk about most of them. Influence however remains somewhat taboo for some reason. It’s like if you confront someone about the influences that are having a negative effect on their spiritual life  that they can pull the “personal attack” card and continue walking down the path of destruction.  Now as the Pastor of Sinclair Baptist Church I am very fortunate because I have to rarely deal with this anymore. (for the first few months it consumed my time) but one good thing about calling out negative influence they usually either accept what you are telling them in the name of Jesus, or they move on. Most moved on, people will rarely except this correction in their life unless they are walking closely with Christ and have some discernment abilities.  Now our Church is not perfect I still have a few somewhere I am sure working against what God wants to accomplish here, Now I take personal criticism as an incredible motivational tool for my pursuit to the calling of God in my life. However when I see negative influence effecting the precious sheep of a Church it breaks my heart. We see that phrase “Above the Influence” in our society, most of the time it will be in a commercial or on a billboard and it will be referring to drug use. But what about being “Above the Influence” in our personal lives? In our Church lives? what if we were committed to being Influenced by God and those who wanted growth for the Kingdom of Heaven? So the next time negative nelly comes up to you in Church call them on it. Do not let them continue their abuse of God’s people or HIS Church..It’s time we choose to stand for Christ and be “Above the Influence” of negative attitudes or actions…

Pastor Andy

This is a thought that has just been consuming my mind as a pastor for the last few months, but I have been very hesitant to speak about it until know. Up until a few weeks ago it was only a thought, but I came across some new information that verifies the title of this post.  After all how can rich men always be poor? well there was some recent polling done that puts legs to this theory…Here is what was uncovered..When households who had a combined income of $35,000 were asked what is rich they responded $55,000 a year was rich to them. When couples who made $55,ooo a year were asked the same question they said $75,000. When couples who’s average income was $75,000 a year were asked this question they said $100,000 a year. and on and on it went, now here is the reality, if you are a 40 hour work week individual this country sets a minimum wage for you as an earner. Do you know what rich is to 52% of the world? $864.00 dollars a year combined household income. The country in which we live will not allow us as 40 hour a week employees to make this low of a wage. We live in a country that minimum wage is in the top 2% of earners in the world. But yet we never have enough. We never had enough to give. How many times I have heard if I just made more than I could give more, that sounds good and probably eases the conscience. But maybe we do not have more because we do not give more…When it comes to our church and my lifeasapastor I am asked the question every week..How can you still do this job and not even know if you are going to get paid? I mean chances are there will be no paycheck this week..Now I may look at it foolishly but if if I miss 10 pay checks I and my family are still more fortunate than 52% of the world.  Many people who ask me that question do not understand I am already rich…they are already rich…I have heard it said that often times the worst place you can be as a pastor is in a church with rich men, because in there mind they are always poor, and they only need a little bit more to give a little bit more…You see I am starting to believe the statement that “rich men are always poor,” and it makes me sad for them.  I used to think that way, I still suffer from the effects of when I did think that way. (you reap what you sow)..Today I have spent time praying for rich men, because unless God changes their hearts they will forever be thirsty….

Pastor Andy

We have heard this statement many times. “One good decision leads to another.” The reason why that statement has stood the test of time is because it is true.  Here is what has happened to me…..So a few weeks ago I reluctantly drug myself to Bodyplex “local gym”  and I was expecting to hate it with every fiber of my being. See I went to a small High School so while I was active in every sport a person could play we did not have a weight program. And it was just something I have never done. Well fast forward to now, I have  felt very convicted about mind, body,soul when it comes to the personal health of me and even the church I pastor.  I feel as a leader it should start with me. Soooo off to the gym I go, I drag myself in the door and say here I am tell me what to do, One of the trainers there took some time and asked me what my goals were and so on blah blah blah I thought. So he sets me up a little bit of a routine to follow, I am thinking an hour of lifting weights…boring. uh no, the first 45 of my workout was cardio. What??? can’t you just take my money and punch me in the gut and we call it even? it’s going to feel that way anyway…at least that’s what I thought. But that’s not the case at all I love it! I mean I really have a great time doing it, I got a great workout partner (Mangus) and we get it done. And in the beginning I was like no matter what I will not go on a diet (I have tried a lot of the hokey diets that work for a little while) so I will lift weights and no diet…but for some reason I now find myself eating healthier than ever. Why? I do not want to waste 2 hours a day 6 days a week in the gym on a whopper.. So in this circumstance one good decision has led to another. Now enough about earthly things that really don’t matter let’s apply this in a spiritual sense. I think one good decision leads to another in our spiritual life as well. So give it a shot this week start making some good, Godly spiritual decisions and see if it does not begin a cycle of better decision making in your spiritual life. How do I do it? Begin small, easy, simple things, and God will give you wisdom for the greater decisions that are to come in your life. After all “One good decision leads to another.”

Pastor Andy

From time to time I am told “Andy, you can’t save the world!” And I have a few responses to that comment….My first one being “Why not?”  Now granted that may be a true statement but don’t you as a follower of Christ get tired of people telling you what you can not do? The verse says “I can DO ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.” Guess what I believe it…Can I save the world?   I say it’s not a bad thing to be known for trying. Think about the day when people come to honor your life at your funeral..I don’t think it would be bad to have said, “They, tried to save the world.” Not bad at all. But what do I mean by save the world?  Am I speaking of Doctrinal Salvation through the blood of Jesus? Am I talking about saving the world from their troubles, what type of Salvation am I talking about here? Well Salvation is of the Lord, that part is clear in scripture so obviously I do not feel that I can Save (doctrinal Salvation)  anybody. So can I save the world from their troubles? well, that’s tough because here are the facts..bad things to not happen to good people, bad things do not happen to bad people…bad things happen to all people..So can one person stop bad things from happening to all people? In essence saving them from worldly problems….Doesn’t sound possible does it? easy question to answer huh. But does that mean we should not try? Again, not a bad thing to be known for.  So let’s try..let’s try to change the world..First we start at home, then we start at work, then we start with our friends, then other people we have influence over. Then we hop on a plane  from time and share Jesus with the world and we do this over and over and over until we can not do it anymore. So when you are in the middle of working for Jesus and someone stops you and says “You can’t save the world.”  Politely say “watch me” and get back to work. For if we give the hurting Jesus then He can save them from whatever He wishes…..after all, trying to save the world is not a bad thing to be known for.”

Pastor Andy

 Starting tomorrow I will be a single Dad. That’s right Becky and I are going our separate ways while I try to continue to Pastor Sinclair Baptist Church. It’s not that she does not love me or the kids she just needs a change of pace, all I can do is pray that she is making the best decision and that God gives her peace and wisdom….Could you imagine if  I left it at that? Now on one side the gossipers would love to have some juicy half truth information to chew on again. Well sorry to the gossipers but what I am actually talking about is our Women’s retreat this weekend. Yes, I will be a single Dad for a few days but I plan to make it through o.k. as for my wife I am so excited she gets some time away. Her life is absorbed with taking care of people…Me, kids, nursery, things like that. So I am excited for her to be a single gal for a few days. I pray that she gets rest, sleep (according to her they are 2 different things) and some peace. I am not sure how that will be accomplished with all of the ladies that are going though, last I heard it was a little more than 30..So to my wife: have a great time sleep well, rest often, and let God speak to your heart. To all of the ladies that are going may God be with you all and may you have an incredible time.  And to the men please, please, please pray for me..did you know that there are different diapers for night time than there are for daytime?

Pastor Andy

That is the best way I can describe our Worship experience at SBC yesterday. I will confess I was somewhat doubtful of moving the entire church outside for the Connect service. It’s funny you can act in 100% obedience to God but still wonder “Am I making the right call?” but God upheld His promise to us. Our biggest challenge yesterday was with the production team. They began setting up at sunrise (no joke) and worked all the way to 11:00, but they did it. I have seen a lot of production crews at a lot of different churches and ours are some of the best. ( I won’t say the best, I want to leave them something to strive for:) but they are good no doubt. Then I thought will people even come to outside church? what if it’s to cold? what if it’s to hot? what if it’s to windy? I mean is singing and the preaching of God’s word going to be enough? after all there is not a church around that has the guts to just offer those two things alone. What about the show? as it’s called by some. Guess what…It turns out singing and the Bible was ALL we needed yesterday. God moved in an incredible way. Sure we had no alter but people came forward and prayed. Sure we had no power point but we still praised our creator and Savior.  In this lifeofapastor God teaches me new things everyday, He teaches me about people, He teaches me about actions and reactions, He teaches me about His grace, and yesterday He taught me to trust Him. No matter what…If God wills it and you obey it than He alone fulfills it. What a God! What a church! then if that was not enough I tell folks “hey ya’llcome over tonight for some fellowship time and Becky and I’s house.” Not sure how many came at one point there was over 100 peopel and cars were lined down the street! but here is what was touched my heart, you didn’t have little groups, you didn’t have people sitting of to the side to quietly announce whose side they were on and what they were standing for… that immature child like behavior had no place in our church body last night, and greater than that  it has no place in our church anymore.  The road to Victory is not an easy one but as for days like yesterday it gives this lifeofapastor encouragement. It’s happening, our church is moving and no matter how hard some (only a few) but some people try they can not stop it. God has defeated rumors, lies, evil plotting, (no joke) and God has crushed that junk under His fist. I believe this, and God’s Word goes into detail many times about this: “if you do what’s right it can not be stopped!” Sinclair Baptist Church it is an honor to be your Pastor, it is an honor to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in the trenches..Milledgeville needs us! Keep up the fight, Stand for what is right no matter what the cost. And as for yesterday…Solid, thank you God for moving on our behalf…

Pastor Andy

You don’t wanna miss this Sunday. We are moving the entire Church outside for our CONNECT service. Also, a big thank you to all those you have joined “THE NEW” SBC over the last month. This past Sunday was the 3rd week in a row where multiple families have joined and we have 3 new families to introduce this Sunday as well. Keep up the hard work Church, and let Jesus be the example that we follow. Remember “by your fruit He will know you.” so don’t be a stranger

Pastor Andy