Let Them Talk!  :-)

(To the daily readers who may have thought I forgot about posting yesterday…I did post…but it was late—you can scroll down and read if you would like…now, on to today’s topic.)

Home groups last night was awesome—we tackled the second chapter of James. Our fearless leader, Allen, walked us through some pretty deep discussion…my head was hurting by the end of the evening.

During the last few minutes of our group, someone mentioned that they had “heard” two things this week concerning NewSpring…

#1 - That we are a cult. WOW—I have NEVER heard that one before. (wink-wink)

And—oh wow—this is awesome…are you ready for it…

#2 - That the new building is going to have a statue of me in it. Darn—there goes our big surprise for opening weekend—the unveiling of a statue of me. (In case you are wondering…there will NOT be a statue of me—EVER…I do not know where in the world this came from.)

The statue thing made me laugh…OUT LOUD…in fact, I am laughing right now. What in the world would that look like anyway? Gross!

I used to get REALLY fired up about these comments. I remember on one occasion actually picking up the telephone to call a local minister, and was going to give him a piece of my mind—until I realized that I could not afford to give any of that away! :-)

Seriously, I used to want to fight—to defend what is going on; however, I am seeing a pattern establish…and it is becoming more and more frequent. If you are a pastor or a church leader—hang in there with me on this one.

I have had several conversations over the past week with people who come to NewSpring. These talks have began with them telling me how much Jesus is doing in their lives, and how thankful they are for our church. When these conversations take place, I ALWAYS ask, “So how did you wind up coming to NewSpring for the first time?” The answers I have gotten over the past week have all been…

“Well, I heard so many negative things about this church that I wanted to come and check it out for myself.”

“I wanted to come and see what the cult was about.”

“You guys were growing so fast that I knew you had to be doing something wrong—so I came to see what kind of screwed up theology you were teaching.”

“Well, my kids loved it…and I figured that if my kids loved church that you guy HAD to be doing something wrong.”

So it hit me like a ton of bricks last night—don’t fight with negative people. Don’t argue with people who are “going off” on our church—let them talk…because—GOD IS USING ANGRY, BITTER Christians who think they are tearing down His church to actually build it up. Isn’t that awesome?

Right now there are hundreds of people who had heard so many bad things. came to see for themselves, and have been engaged by Jesus at some point in the service and are now more in love with Him than ever before.

So let them talk…let them say we do not teach the Bible…and when someone comes to see it for themselves they will realize that have been listening to a foolish person who has no idea what they have been talking about. Let them say that we do not care about children…and when they come they will see that we put just as much time, energy, and money into our kids than just about anything else in our church. (Except for the “statue fund,” of course!)

If people are talking about our church—whether it is positive or negative—at least they are talking about church…and God is using that to draw people here and change their lives. So it’s not a bad thing. I usually say to people who have something negative to say, “Have you ever been?” The answer is usually “no.” And then I reply, “You ought to check it out something.” And then leave it all in the Lord’s hands. No fights…no arguments…just put out the invitation and let it go.

Hope this helps…

Marathon Update:

We did a four mile run yesterday and a three mile run today. I designed a course with a lot of hills…and by the end of it I was really mad at myself!

HOWEVER—today at the end of the run I believe the Lord spoke to me in an incredible way. I nearly had to take my shoes off because the ground I was on almost seemed holy. You see, a “Blue Bell Ice Cream” truck pulled out in front of me…and I believe that was the Lord telling me that it was ok today to consume large amounts of ice cream!

Clemson peeps—see you tonight @ FCA…I am wearing some “special shoes” in honor of you guys!

AND…if you want a good laugh…check out this post from Mark—it about made me spit my coffee on my monitor.