Pastor John Atkinson

Blogging Leaders You Proabably Don't Know II

Last week I shared some of the blogs of leaders I'm reading that you may not have heard of. I'll share a few more with you today.

Mark Howell- Mark is the founder of Small Group Resources.net  and one of the top small groups experts around, on top of that he's a great guy and a friend. If you're looking for a consultant that will really help you get your small groups ministry growing, Mark is your guy. Mark was the Small Groups Pastor at Fellowship of the Woodlands for many years where he grew the ministry by hundreds of groups, and also worked at Lifetogether as a consultant for several years. He's got some serious experience, but he's also the kind of guy you'll enjoy hanging out with while you're working on your ministry. Check out his blog and see what Mark is doing.

Grant Clark- Grant is the Community Connections Pastor at Element Church in Cheyenne Wyoming. Grant is part of a team who planted Element Church less than a year ago and they're already running in excess of 500 people. Grant serves under Pastor Jeff Maness someone he obviously very much respects and admires. Not sure whats in the water in Cheyenne, but these guys are tearing it up for Christ in the Big Sky country. Check out whats going on at Element Church through these guys blogs. OK Grant now you have to start writing more often, no pressure!

Shawn Lovejoy- Shawn's not near as unknown as some of the other leaders I've blogged about so you may have read his blog, but I wanted to throw him in too because I love what he's doing at Mountain Lake Church in Cumming Georgia. Shawn's one heck of a leader and his church is tearing it up reaching the lost for Jesus Christ. They've grown to close to 2000 people in attendance in a very short period of time. They also lead a fantastic conference every year for church planters that you can check out at their Church Planters.com web site.

Gotta run but check out the blog later in the week and I'll talk about all the cool stuff going on here at BAF.

John

Blogging Leaders You Probably Don't Know

I'm a blogger and a pastor, so like pretty much everyone else I know, I read the blogs of great leaders like Craig Groeschel, TD Jakes, Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, and all the rest that we all know and follow. But recently I've found myself really drawn to leaders that most people have never heard of. I've gotten to know some of these people and some I still don't know, but there are some great leaders out there who are blogging their journeys, so I want to share a few with you. Most have church planters hearts because that's who I'm drawn to.

1) The Connection Church in Kyle Texas is led by Senior Pastor Cole Phillips and his Executive Pastor Zak White. These guys are good friends and they're leading a great church. They recently moved into a new facility with 900 seats and their worship looks like it's off the charts. They started the church about three years ago and it's running close to 600 a weekend so these guys are tearing it up for Christ. Both of these guys are my buds and really cool dudes so check out what they're doing.

2) Rindy Walt is a friend I met through my blog. Rindy felt a leading from God to sell her home and walk away from all the safety and comfort she had around her, load up her three boys she's raising alone, and go be a part of a new church plant. She moved her family to Cincinnati Ohio to join Walls Down Church with her pastor Paul Peterson. This was a tough decision for her, but she made it because God asked her to. That's faith folks. Check out what's going on in Rindy's life though her blog.

3) One of my best friends is Pastor Loui Canchola. Loui is the pastor of Cornerstone Church in McAllen Texas. One of my greatest honors is serving on the Board of Loui's church. Loui is an amazing leader with a sold out heart for God. He's an amazing pastor, husband, father and friend. Check out whats going on at Cornerstone through his blog. As with all great people there is also a dark side, sadly Loui is a Texas Longhorn. Please pray that he will see the light and become an Aggie because clearly that's what God would want for him.

4) Larry Boatright is the small groups slash pretty much everything else Pastor at Sherman Bible Church in Sherman Texas. Larry and I became friends through our blogs then he showed up here in CC and we had a cup of coffee that lasted four hours. Since then we've built a great relationship and recently I had the opportunity to go hang with him and talk small groups and church stuff with him and the folks from Sherman Bible Church. Larry is a learner and he is always thinking about how to make the church better. Check out what Larry's doing through his blog.

5) Jason Curlee is the campus pastor at the new BAF 5 Points Church. Jason and I became friends through my blog a few years ago and ended up building a great relationship that led to me asking Jason to lead one of our two new campuses. Jason is a great pastor, leader and more importantly, an amazing family man. I love watching Jason, his wife Robbie, and their three girls all doing ministry as a family. I believe Jason will soon be leading a church of hundreds.

So there it is, five leaders you may or may not have heard of that I love following. Check them out when you get a chance.

I'll blog about five more next week.

John

Praying With Purpose

If you're a Christian chances are you pray, and in those prayers you more than likely ask God for certain things. So heres two questions I want you to ask yourself. Do you ever pray prayers, that if you're completely honest, you don't really think will ever be answered? And second, have you ever prayed prayers asking God to bless something even though you know you need to do something first so He can bless it ? I'll be honest and say yes, I don't always pray as expectantly as I should, and sometimes I ask God to bless something even though I haven't done all I can do first.

I'm not talking about our selfish prayers, like the Harley Davidson Heritage Softail Classic I've been praying for, or the call from Dana White asking me to be the Pastor to the UFC! I'm talking about prayers that would be considered in line with the heart of God. Come to think of it, me being the Pastor to the UFC could actually be in line with the heart of God! If anyone knows Dana White tell him I'm available?

But on a serious note, is it possible that sometimes we may not get to see just how big our God is, because one, we aren't pray expectantly, or two, because we aren't doing the things we should be doing prior to asking God to do what only he can do?

Here's some examples of both:

1) Say you've been praying for a car, maybe not the million dollar Ferrari of your childhood dreams, but a good car that will get your family around and get you to work. Do you already have a set of fuzzy dice hanging in the garage so they can hit your mirror when God delivers that car? No I don't have fuzzy dice hanging from my mirror but hopefully you get that the point is to pray expectantly.

2) Let's say you're a pastor of a church and you're praying like crazy for God to bless you with more people; would you be ready for them if they showed up? Maybe they haven't come because God knows that while you want them, you're not really ready for them yet.

3) Say you've been praying for God to bless a new business you're trying to start; are you already taking big steps of faith and doing some things now, so there's actually something for God to bless? Goes back to asking God to do all the work for you.

4) Say you're praying and asking God for wealth; what have you done with your life prior to asking God for wealth that would make Him think you would use it to honor Him? God doesn't bless the desire to give, He blesses givers.

The point is, we need to be careful that our lack of faith, action, or both, isn't the missing key to getting answers to the prayers we're praying. Honestly I'm as guilty of this as anyone else on this, so I'm writing this, to remind me!

John

The High's and Low's of Ministry

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've had a chance to post, and for some crazy reason you all keep checking in to see whats up on the blog. I apologize for it being so long, but I honestly think I'm the busiest I've ever been since coming on staff six years ago. Not complaining though, this multi site ministry has me pumped like I haven't been in a long time. I love what Pastor Bil told me the other day at the ground breaking for Padre Island, "this taking new ground." I love taking new ground for Jesus!!!

Yesterday was a crazy day because it was a day of great highs and extreme lows. We had our first official service at BAF Padre Island in our temporary location at the Sea Shore Learning Center. We moved from the planning stage to the actual church stage and it was awesome. We expected it to be crazy, and we thought we'd probably look back and wonder how we got through it, but the service went off flawlessly and everyone loved it. We had 65 people show up to our first service and no one but us even knew we were starting. We were really just doing a dress rehearsal of sorts and we didn't even have worship yet, and no one cared. The prevailing comment was, "this feels right." We actually had about four people show up who were not even part of the core group. Children's was great, hospitality was great, Greeting and Parking were great, and not one person complained about the message being on video. In fact they were clapping and amening Bil.

Later last night the low hit when I found out that one of our long time faithful members passed away. She had some problems with her medications and they think she got sick and aspirated. From an amazing high to a very sad low. Jeanie De La Garza and her husband Juan have been a part of the BAF family for a long time. One of their daughters and her family have attend BAF almost since the beginning, and her other daughters husband served on our staff for many years. We love all these awesome people and have each and every one of them in our prayers. Last night I watched two churches come together as one to serve this family, which is awesome, because there's really only one church anyway.

The reality is that ministry, like life, is it's about highs and lows. You relish the highs so you can get through the lows. I'm so thankful that God is who He says He is, because He is big enough to hold you up during the lows. I know the families will feel God holding them up during this difficult time because they all love Him deeply.

My brother who doesn't believe in God, once asked me something to the effect of what would I do with my God if one of my boys died, I remembering answering him by saying, " if one of my boys died, I can't imagine what I would do without my God." I'm thankful that Jeanie's family won't have to worry about going through this tough time without their God. And I'm even more thankful to know that Jeanie is with that same God now.

John

Mindless Dump

Here's whats on my mind right now. Not sure anyone really cares whats going on inside my crazy cranium but here it is anyway.

1) I am so thankful to all the people that are responding to my call for prayer for Pastor Brian Crown. I have been receiving so many wonderful emails with promises to pray, new healing scriptures we hadn't thought of, and stories of people who have beat ALS. This story was amazing and it came from someone who received the emails for prayers.

2) I have a new found respect for church planters. I've always had a lot of respect for them, in fact a really large amount of respect for them, but I now have gargantuan respect for them. Starting two new churches at the same time has really allowed me a look into the world of a church planter. KJ, love ya bro, what your doing right now, takes some serious faith. Check out whats going on at my buddies new church plant called Imagine Fellowship in San Antonio.

3) Build out at the new BAF 5 Points has begun. We hope to complete the Sanctuary this weekend, and also frame up the Children's Ministry. Time permitting, we may even sheet rock the frame work. I'm also hoping to get all the outside areas mowed and cleaned up. We need some BAF people with mowers and weed eaters to show up on Saturday. Come one come all we need ya!!!!!!

4) Sunday were taking the leadership teams from Padre Island and 5 Points to our first site in Kingsville. We're going to the late service and Pastor Rudy is going to have his leadership team hang out and answer questions after the service. You rock Rudy. We have a 21 year old campus pastor in Kingsville that is tearing it up. He is going to be an amazing church planter some day.

5) Hooray!!!!!!! My twin 16 year old sons got jobs. They start tonight at Baskin and Robbins. Apparently the folks who own it go to our church. Church connection is goooooood! I'm pumped because keeping four cars full of gas at almost $4.00/Gallon was about to drive me to Baskin and Robbins for a second job. Pretty cool knowing their headed to their first real jobs. I am truly one of the proudest Dad's on the planet. These are two fantastic young men who love God with all their hearts. I'm so thankful they're living out their lives for God in a world where so many students are not.

Gotta run.

John

Prayers for a Great Pastor

I usually try to stay upbeat on this blog but today I'm simply blogging to ask each of you to pray for a brother.

Pastor Brian Crown serves on my staff as the leader of the Pastoral Care and Counseling ministry here at BAF. Brian in one of the best men I know and he has been faithfully pouring his heart and his life out on others for almost 30 years as a pastor. Brian has just received a diagnosis of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease which it's more commonly know as.

ALS is a degenerative disease that attacks the nerves of the brain and spine and has no known cure. Doctors tell him it's a three to five year process that ends in death. However, there are medically documented cases where ALS does what they call "burn out" and the symptoms basically disappear. There are also cases where it moves much slower and people live for ten to fifteen years. We are believing God is going to cure Brian of this completely.

I would like to ask each of you to pray for Brian. He is a huge part of my team, but more importantly he's my friend. Please pray for him, his wife Tracey, their six children, and three grandchildren. This is a tough time for all of them made tougher because Brian and the family watched this disease kill his Mom and Brother as well.

If you can forward this information on to all the people you know and ask them to pray I would appreciate it. Please leave comments and let me know if you or your church is praying for Brian and I will make sure he gets them. Every time we hear from someone else who is praying for him and his family it really lifts them up.

I'll go ahead and say thanks to all of you who are adding Brian to you prayer lists.

John

Team: The Key To a Great Church

What makes a great church? In my opinion, it's a great team!

Let's first go ahead and accept that clearly the Church is Jesus' bride, and no church can be healthy apart from Him, but past that, I believe what makes a great church, is a team of great people leading it. People coming together with different gifts all focused on the same vision and goals.

Team has always been something I believe in deeply, but recently it has taken on fresh meaning. As I have been blessed to take over the Multi Site Ministry here at BAF I have once again been reminded how much I love and appreciate the team God has blessed us with. Starting two churches from scratch has reminded me how little I know about Media, Lighting, Children's Ministry, Student Ministry, and construction, and that's just the ones I can think of right now. It has also reminded me that it's not really necessary for me to know all those things, because I'm surrounded by a great team of people who do know how to do this stuff and are willing to step up to help because they believe in TEAM too.

I wonder how many churches never move forward because there's so sense of team? I say that because I've gotten to know a lot of pastors over the years and many of them say they don't feel like they're a part of a team. That's hard for me to understand because Jesus gave us the example of teamwork when He surrounded himself with His Disciples. Even Jesus, the son of God, didn't try to go it alone. He built a team around him because He knew he had a limited time here on earth, and that if the Gospel was to spread across the world it had to be taken there by others. That team started with 12, shrunk to 11, and has grown to hundreds of millions. That to me is a pretty good example of Team Building.

I'm thankful Jesus taught us about TEAM, because I would be in a world of trouble right now without the team He's blessed us with here.

John

Great to Be Back

Vacation was great. I enjoyed hanging out at Sherman Bible Church the first weekend because I met a really great bunch of people who love the Lord and are moving forward. I also really enjoyed hanging out with April at the Marriage Retreat in Dallas. We really needed some time away with just the two of us.

Between the two events, we just hung out with April's family in Amarillo which was very relaxing. I'm very blessed to have such an amazing family on April's side. From her Granny Helen who is 95, to her nephew Joshua who is 6, and everyone in between, they're all awesome people who have completely welcomed me into their family.

Now it's back to the grind at BAF. Here's the coolest part of me coming back today; the Multi Site ministry didn't slow down one bit while I was gone. That's a testament to great leaders like Dave Cotham, Jason Curlee and Alex Harris. Jason gathered a group of people together last weekend and they tore it up at the new BAF 5 Points building. They didn't just start cleaning stuff up, they started building a stage and a nursery. Alex Harris and his team were busy drawing and redrawing plans for the Padre Island Church too.  The media team is at 5 Points right now looking at what it's going to take to get video, sound and lights going. Man I love leading a ministry that doesn't need me to thrive.

This weekend the Padre Island team is meeting at our temporary location to see what it's going to take to get started having church during the construction faze on the permanent location. 5 Points is also going to have their first service this weekend even though they're not even close to having the facility ready.

A couple of months ago these sights were just dreams. Today they're alive and moving towards great grand openings. This is a testament to moving forward with nothing more than complete faith in God, and not waiting for all the t's to get crossed and i's to get dotted. God is great at dotting i's and crossing t's, He just needs us to get started.

Have you stepped out on faith lately and done something crazy for God?

John

Marriage Retreat II

The retreat ended with a bang last night as Craig Groeschel brought it big time. I've always been a huge Craig Groeschel fan for many reasons, and last night just added one more.

The whole gist of Craig's talk was two things. For men it was for us to make a covenant with God to never quit pursuing our wives. He talked about how our wives need to know we think their beautiful, valuable, and that we cannot be who God has called us to be without them. I took away that I need to be more intentional about making sure April is way more important than the ministries I oversee, because they won't be there to oversee unless my marriage is solid.

For women Craig challenged them to make sure their husbands know they respect them and believe in them. He talked about how some men begin to fail because the most important person in their lives has lost respect for them. Last night was the bomb, and I finally got a chance to meet Craig. When I told him who I was, he recognized me from my blog because I blogged about his book Going All The Way. As a faithful viewer of his blog I got a early copy of his book to read and blog about. I keep copies in my office for dating couples and premarital counseling. He also remembered that I had sent him a copy of my book. I was blown away that he knew who I was. I really admire this guy for his leadership and willingness to help other churches and leaders.

We're headed back to Amarillo to pick of the little dude so we can head back to CC tomorrow. I'll be back in the office rested and ready to go for Monday. Thanks for hanging in there on this vacation journey.

John

Marriage Retreat

We arrived yesterday at the Gaylord Texas in Grapevine yesterday for the Pastors and Wives marriage retreat. April and I have really been looking forward to this because we don't have any family in Corpus Christi that can take Caleb for long weekends so it's been a long time since we've really had a few days to ourselves. We wanted to go so bad that we actually drove Caleb to Amarillo to leave him with April's parents. That's a 12 hours drive, then a 5 hour drive to Dallas, and then, we get to do it all over again in reverse. I told you we really wanted to go.

Last night we had a great dinner and heard from Ed and Lisa Young of Fellowship Church. The talked very candidly about their 25 marriage, both the good and the bad. The high of the night was when they began to talk about intimacy and instead of trying to explain it, they played the funniest video I have ever seen. The entire place was in tears. Take a minute or two and listen to these two guys play a song they call Business Time. I promise you'll laugh your brains out.

Today we head to breakfast at 8:00 and then we'll hear from Craig and Amy Groeschel, as well as some very well known counselors who have a lot of experience helping pastors keep their families healthy in the midst of the complete mayhem that is ministry. We're really looking forward to the day. For four hours this evening we have date time. As amazing as the Gaylord Texan is, and it's seriously bad to the bone, we'll probably head out and check out the town.

Gotta run

John