G Notes

All organizations have stated core values - organizational ideals communicated to be of paramount importance. However, often is the case that an organization's stated core values are not reflected the life of the organization. The result is a disconnect between stated core values and actual core values. So the question before all organizations is this: Are the stated core values the same as the actual core values? When there is a disconnect between stated values and actual values the result is confusion. It's the same as telling someone that you're enjoying kung pao chicken when you're actually eating a pepperoni pizza. Both are good, but each represents a different culture. And that's what core values are all about. Core values are indicative of an organization's culture. As a church it is paramount that all of our members foster the same culture. Confusion works against our mission. Therefore, we want everyone to hold the same values. As a church we want f...

What is a core value? Let's start with what a core value is not. In the business world, "making money" isn't a core value. Clearly, a business exists to make money, but so does every other business. In the church world, "making disciples" isn't a core value. Clearly, a church exists to make disciples, but so does every other church. My point is that a core value isn't something that is true of everyone else. A core value simply the bottom line (making money or making disciples). An organization's core value(s) isn't what it makes but rather how it makes what it makes. Core values are the characteristics that define the manner in which the organization makes what it makes. Core values are not to be confused with methods, strategies, or tactics. Core values are the glue that give an organization's methods, strategies, and tactics uniqueness and distinction from other organizations. So for example, you have two churches, both with the same...

This past Sunday we celebrated our ONE YEAR anniversary since beginning Sunday morning worship services in Angier. This is huge given that not every church plant survives its first year. But Anthem Church isn't just surviving; we're thriving. Why are we thriving? There are four reasons. First and foremost, it's because God's favor rests upon Anthem Church. This is His doing. This is His show. He is blessing us, growing our church, and providing everything we need. The Lord gets all the glory, honor and praise. Second, we are thriving because of continued support from outside of Anthem Church. Our sending church Explore Church continues to support us financially and continues to send volunteers to serve in various ministries (i.e. praise team, children's ministry, building work). We also receive much needed financial support from the Little River Baptist Association and from the NC State Baptist Convention. If not for their commitment to church planting, we would...

In working toward my doctorate I have read numerous books on church leadership and organizational structure, and there appears to be much confusion as to what defines a core value. There is a lot of ambiguity, disagreement, and contradiction on the subject, and that is partly due to the fact that individuals are blurring the lines between an organization's core values, and an organization's purpose, mission, vision, strategy, and methodology. This confusion is prevalent in our churches. For example, churches often list activities such as worship, prayer, Bible reading, fellowship, etc. as their core values. However, in my personal (and as humble as possible) opinion, I would argue that those activities are not core values. Those are spiritual disciplines that should be valued and should be characteristic in the life of every individual believer and every church but they are not core values. A core value refers to an organization's behavioral values. It's a church...

All organizations, including churches, have core values. A core value is what gives an organization its own distinctive flava. It's what gives a church its unique culture, feel, and vibe. Our mission is what we are here to do. Our strategy is what we do in order to accomplish our mission. Our core values are how we do what we do. In other words, our core values are our operating system. These are our organization's behavioral characteristics that determine the manner in which we do what we do so that we may fulfill what we are here to do. At Anthem Church we have eight core values: Celebration Excellence Responsibility Teamwork Alignment Vision-Focused Ministry Gospel-Change Urgency of Mission These core values are the parameters that delineate and delimit what we do and how we do it. Thus, it's vital that we keep our core values in front of us. It's important that we read off the same sheet of music (we are Anthem Church after all). So this week, here...

This brings us to our final installment in this blog series. Over the past several weeks we've been reviewing a recent sermon series entitled Freedom. The premise of the series was that many Christians miss out on enjoying a life of freedom in Christ, and that is often due to a neglect of the spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines include: worship, prayer, giving, Bible study, serving, and community. These are tools given to us by God by which to enjoy the freedom that Christ has won for us. It's important to note that practicing these disciplines are not what make us Christian. A Christian is a Christian because they have placed their faith (their lives) in Christ. We become a Christian by the grace of God through faith in who Jesus is and what He accomplished through His life, death, and resurrection. We were all born enslaved - under the bondage of sin and under the tyranny of its power over us. But Jesus came from heaven to liberate us. Through His death on the cr...

Here's installment #5 in this current blog series. I'm in the process of summarizing the six spiritual disciplines that we discussed in a recent sermon series. This week I'm reviewing the spiritual discipline of serving/service. As I've mentioned in each of these blog posts, the best way to learn about or to be reminded of the spiritual disciplines is to listen to the messages from the sermon series. To do so click here: Freedom . Usually, the topic of spiritual disciplines is taught with an individualistic emphasis. Each of us as individual followers of Jesus are to worship, pray, give, read our Bible, etc. That is true. Each individual follower of Jesus should practice the spiritual disciplines on their own. However, the richness of the spiritual disciplines is experience more fully and completely when they are practiced alongside other believers. The discipline of service illustrates this well for us. During the sermon series we looked at 1 Corinthians 12-20 a...

The good things in life require work. And it's no different when it comes to enjoying spiritual freedom. The good news is that spiritual freedom is a free gift. Jesus did the hard work. He endured the cross in order to win our freedom; and now anyone who repents of their sin, who commits to Jesus, and who believes that He was raised from the dead is granted spiritual freedom. That's the moment of conversion. At that moment, sin is no longer master over that person. By grace through faith, the new follower of Jesus is freed from sin and from it's eternal consequences. Jesus makes us free, but we do have to live out that freedom. We do have a role to play if we want to enjoy the freedom that Christ has secured for us. This is where the spiritual disciplines come into play. Today, I'm summarizing the fourth spiritual discipline that we covered in a recent sermon series entitled Freedom . I hope these summaries are helpful, but I do recommend listening or re-listening t...

Here's installment number three in this current blog series. What I am doing is providing a basic summary of the sermon series which we concluded a few weeks ago. The series was entitled Freedom. Many of us struggle to live a life of spiritual freedom, and one of the main reasons that is often the case is because we neglect to practice the spiritual disciplines (i.e. worship, prayer, giving, Bible study, serving, and Christian community). Practicing these disciplines doesn't make us free. Faith in Jesus is what makes us free. It's trusting in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that makes us free. However, it's through the disciplines that we enjoy the freedom that Christ won for us. I recommend taking the time to listen (or re-listen) to the messages in the series. To do so simply click here: FREEDOM . What I am doing in my blog is simply summarizing some of the key points we made in regard to the six spiritual disciplines that we discussed during the se...

Last week I began a six week blog series in which I am summarizing the six spiritual disciplines we recently covered in a sermon series entitled Freedom . If you did not read last week's blog post, I recommend starting there. I also suggest listening to the sermons. The summaries I am posting are simply...summaries. Listening to the specific messages, whether for the first time or as a reminder, should help you to better understand and apply the spiritual disciplines into your daily life. To listen to our sermons, click here: Freedom . The second spiritual discipline we discussed in our sermon series was prayer. What is prayer? I personally find prayer to be a mystery. A child can do it yet adults stumble over it. It's simple yet profound. It's the easiest thing in the world to do yet the hardest thing to do. It's very practical yet very theological. Anyone can do it yet many don't. Prayer is a mystery. So what is prayer? I'm not sure that's the right qu...

This past Sunday we concluded a 12 week sermon series entitled Freedom . The premise of the series is that too often too many of us don't experience spiritual freedom. That's usually due to one of two resons. First, it may be never having repented of sin, placing wholehearted trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and succumbing to His Lordship. Freedom begins with embracing the gospel. There is no spiritual freedom apart from Jesus. Second, it may be due to neglecting the spiritual disciplines in daily living. Spiritual disciplines include: worship, prayer, giving (stewardship), Bible study, serving, and Christian community. That's not an exhaustive list; but simply the six disciplines we covered in our sermon series. Spiritual disciplines are gifts from God. They are God-given tools given to us by which to stand firm in our freedom (Galatians 5:1). Practicing the spiritual disciplines don't make us free. Jesus makes us free. We are freed from sin, from its ...

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." ~ Galatians 5:13 (ESV) That one verse is packed with theological goodness. First, it reminds believers that we have been called by God to live a life of freedom. To be called "called" means to be urgently invited into a new type of life. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God urgently invites us to receive freedom from sin and to enjoy a life in which sin is no longer master over us. By grace through faith, we are invited into a life of freedom - a life with new privileges and responsibilities. Second, the verse warns us that it is very possible for followers of Jesus to turn back to a sinful life. It is possible for believes to walk back into the prison that Jesus has unlocked rather than to enjoy the freedom that Christ has won. Thus, each of us every day have a choice: walk in freedom or walk back into sin's prison...

Last week, I provided a few thoughts in regard to the importance of discovering the spiritual gift(s) God has bestowed on us as followers of Jesus; and I gave a suggestion on the best way to go about discovering those gifts. This week, I'd like to provide a few insights into some of the spiritual gifts that are specifically mentioned in the Bible. Scripture doesn't provide an exhaustive list of every possible spiritual gift, but it does mention a few. It is important for us to have a proper understanding of the gifts that are mentioned for three reasons: a gift will not be used properly for the common good of the church if it is not understood and applied biblically a misunderstanding of gifts can (and probably will) cause division in the church a proper understanding of the gifts listed in Scripture will help us to better discern those gifts that are not listed in Scripture. So let's take a look at some of the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-29 and Rom...

One of the joys of belonging to a church is discovering where we should serve within and outside the church. Serving is a blessing. It is a blessing to serve God and others. As Acts 20:35says, " It is more blessed to give than to receive ."  In order to enjoy the blessing that can only come through a life of service, two things are absolutely necessary. First, accept the gospel. We can't the blessed servant God wants us to be unless we first humble ourselves and allow God to serve us the grace we so desperately need. Jesus came from heaven to earth not to be served but to serve; and He did so through His sinless life and through His atoning sacrifice on the cross. Second, we must discover what spiritual gift(s) God has blessed us with. God doesn't only bless us with grace and forgiveness, but He blesses us also by empowering us to live the blessed life of a servant. So here's my quick attempt to provide a little insight into the spiritual gifts. Hope,...

In war, all things being equal, the army that is able to secure its supply lines is going to win. The army that is able to cut-off the other side from its supply lines is going to win. In war, armies have to be able to re-arm and re-fuel. If they can't do so, they'll lose.  For followers of Jesus, the war is won. Jesus has definitively won the war on our behalf. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin, death, darkness, and the devil. However, despite the war having been won, we still face lingering battles this side of heaven. Each day we face spiritual battles. On the battlefield of our heart two armies have filed into ranks. One army is safeguarding our enjoyment of the freedom we have in Christ and the other is trying to disrupt our enjoyment of that freedom. And in these daily battles we have a large say in which army advances. We get to choose which army we're going to supply and which one we're going to cut-off. When we spend time in God's...

This past Sunday during the sermon I made reference to my concerns about how we present the gospel. I saw eye brows being raised and smoke coming out of people's ears as their mental gears started grinding. I'd like to take a little time to further articulate my thoughts for three reasons. First of all, I don't want there to be any confusion or misunderstanding about what was said. Secondly, I am concerned that we may not be communicating the gospel very well. Our choice of words do matter. Thus, I think it's a good idea from time to time to challenge our choice of words. We need to make sure that what we're saying is in fact what we mean; and we need to make sure that those we're talking to understand what we mean. Our mission is to make disciples and that requires using language that explains God's truth properly, adequately, and fully. And thirdly, it's a matter of worship. As followers of Jesus, our ambition is to please the Lord, and included i...

The mission of Anthem Church is to fill Angier and the world with love-filled, faith-filled, hope-filled followers of Jesus. In other words, our desire is for people to daily display love of God, faith in Jesus, and hope of the gospel. That is what spiritual freedom looks like. Freedom in Christ is a life of love, faith, and hope.  It is a life characterized by LOVE - gratitude to God and generosity toward others. It is a life characterized by FAITH - integrity and wisdom in our daily decisions. And it is a life characterized by hope - joy in the gospel and boldness for the gospel. That's freedom! But we live in a world that is anti-freedom. Our world is chaos. It's a mad scramble for power and identity. It's a frantic pursuit for security, luxury, and comfort. It's a rat-race. The degree of busyness this world demands is dizzying. This world isn't happy unless we're living like chickens with our heads cut off.  So many times over the past se...