Servelloism

Steve (the guy that runs Gencon for me) just sent me the pictures of Ed and I from the conference, and no I didn’t Photoshop myself in this. It is the real Ed Young JR. I thought I’d post one of the pictures on my blog. Really, you will never know what an honor I was for me to even get to spend 5 exclusive minutes with this guy. He is has been gifted by God as Ecclesiological Genius. Anyways, on a side note, I actually lost about 25 pounds since this picture was taken. One of the things that motivated me to do it was a video I saw of Ed and myself. My stomach was sticking out so far I couldn’t believe it, so my wife and I went on the south beach diet. Boy did I ever need it. I love it. I can eat this way for the rest of my life. I feel like a new man. So here’s to Ed Young and the South Beach Diet. Cheers!

Recently, while reading a book by Rick Richardson on Evangelism (Great book by the way: Reimagining Evangelism), He said something while building the point about sharing your testimony. I thought this quote summed up my feelings on stories in preaching. Here’s the quote:

“…stories are the only containers big enough to carry truth, because stories convey not just the facts but also the FEELINGS and the NUANCES of truth.”
Rick Richardson

Well said.

Have you ever been part of something that is obviously larger than yourself? When I say larger than yourself I mean larger than your gifting or ability and larger than anything you can do. Well that is how I have felt most of the time with the Generation Conference. It’s like God just has decided to use this conference for whatever reason to bless people. Over the last ten years GOd has blessed us with unusual favor and have brought me around the perfect people. Nothing so clearly illustrates this point than the fact that JOYCE MEYER came to Utica, NY for this years Generation Conference. I wanted to talk about Joyce a little. I have had the opportunity to do this conference for over 10 years now. I have had the opportunity to have a lot of different speakers in. Some you would know some you wouldn’t. It’s amazing sometimes the different personalities that come through. Anyways I wont get into that. Joyce was the most amazing person you can meet. A real genuine person. I was overwhelmed at how down to earth her and her family were. Here’s my first encounter with Joyce…. Joyce and family walk in to the green room where I am anxiously awaiting her arrival. When I see her come through the door I nervously greet her and her husband and exchange pleasantries. Joyce than says something like, (In a humble down to earth tone) “Don’t worry about me, if you got something else to do don’t stay her on my account.” I assure her I have nothing better to do right now…She than asks me permission if it’s okay if she leaves after the service. Can you believe it? Joyce Meyer asking a 33 year old nobody if it’s okay if she leaves after the service. Again, I assure her that we’re just thankful she’s here and she can leave whenever she wants. Here’s another one…A little bit into the conversation she asks, “Is it okay if i mention my product table?” By this time I want to say you’re JOYCE MEYER you can do whatever you want, but again I assure her that that would be fine.
Are you getting what I am saying? This woman is the real deal. If you have ever heard Joyce preach and teach I have to say from the limited time I met her she is a woman who lives what she preaches. Why is that such a surprise now a days?
Believe it or not I gave a lot of thought to how I would introduce Joyce Meyer. I could have talked about her packing out stadiums or her TV show, but I didn’t. I introduced her for what she does best and that’s change live. Joyce carries an anointing for transformation. Here’s the story I told as I introduced Joyce. We had this woman show up to church last year and sit in the second row with her family. I asked where she was from and how she found the church. She began to give me her testimony of the messed up lifestyle she was in…Multiple adulteries, financial difficulties, etc. etc. One day she was looking for a book on addiction and came across Joyce’s book approval Addiction. She ought it not knowing Joyce was a Christian and never having heard of Joyce. You know what? Half way through the book she gave her life to the Lord and got saved. When I saved, I mean she got SAVED! Her life has been totally transformed from the place she was at. Her marriage was even saved from the brink of divorce as a result. I think that’s awesome. I think it is the hallmark of Joyce’s ministry. I thank God for Joyce Meyer and people like her who are willing to go wherever the spirit of God tells them to go…even to a youth conference in Utica, NY!

A great Man of God went home to be with the Lord this year. David Schoch was one incredible person. A legend in his own right. I meant to write something about him on my blog but at the time I didn’t have Internet at my home. He was a truly incredible individual. The picture above is a picture of him with my daughter I took back in 2005. I had the opportunity to see Pastor Schoch just before he died. I was actually down in Texas at Ed Young’s C3 conference and decided to give him a call. We scheduled a time together and went out to dinner. It was such an awesome experience just to sit there and listen to him tell so many amazing stories of God’s power and Faithfulness. He told of us of Smith Wigglesworth, of his Dad, Dennis Balcombe coming to his church and him referring Dennis to the Kitely’s. Simply amazing! It was great to hear him tell not only about God’s faithfulness in the past but about recent miracles God had been doing for him in his declining health. What is most memorable for me is I had the opportunity to look Pastor Schoch in the eye and tell him how much I appreciated him, not just for his incredible gift, but for the tremendous example he has been to me as a man of God. Love God, Love People…David Schoch was a prime example of the Great Commandments. At the end of the night he invited me and my friends to his house where he sat with us and continued to tell his amazing stories and as we left he laid hands on each of us and prayed for us. Anybody who knew David Schoch would agree he was one of those people that you could not help but love. I knew when I left Texas, it was most likely the last time I would see him, but I thanked God for the opportunity to see him one last time.

Ed Young Jr. has had a profound impact on my life. My first encounter with Ed came from a Leadership Uncensored CD. These CD’s were given to those who are part of the Creative Pastors network. They are a roundtable discussion with Ed talking with his staff about relevant Church topics. I can’t tell you how original and refreshing theses CD’s were to me personally. In my opinion Ed Young Jr is a genius.

So…I actually had the opportunity to have Ed come speak at the Generation Conference this year. I still remember when I got the phone call from the conference director telling me Ed had accepted our invitation. I almost fell on the floor, literally. I called all my friends for the next couple hours telling them what happened. Meeting Ed only increased my opinion of him. Not only did I get to meet him, but he brought his family as well. They were all GREAT!!! Here’s what I’ll say: Ed is a genuine guy. Ed was down to earth, personable, and humble. He was truly a pleasure to have at the conference. One pastor who is very close to us that came to the conference commented that he was so impressed with Ed and his desire and ABILITY to make the church better. I couldnt agree more. Ed is a big part of the reason why we are putting a state of the art children’s wing on our church. I’ll never forget this statement he made…”When children come to church they generaly have a neutral or negative experience, at fellowship church we want them to have a positive experience when they come to church.” This statement has become a mantra for me.

One thing I appreciate is Ed’s willingness to come to a conference that is Pentecostal/charismatic. His ministry brought a much-needed addition to our conference and everybody enjoyed him! Recently, Ed was on the cover of Ministries Today and they asked him about his mixing with Charasmatics..The title of the section, “has Ed Young Gone Charasmatic?”…Look what the article says..

Has Ed Gone Charismatic?

His father may be a traditional Southern Baptist pastor who twice served as president of the Convention, but Ed Young has continually and intentionally kept one foot in the Baptist world and the other amid the smorgasbord of interdenominationalism. He’s a frequent speaker at of denominational conferences, and his buddy list spans the faith spectrum with names such as Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Mark Driscoll and Erwin McManus. Still, it’s his association in recent years with the likes of T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Tommy Barnett and Creflo Dollar that’s raised eyebrows and drawn harsh criticism from fundamentalists.

Young, in typical manner, deflects the negativity with his clear-cut passion to grow in both ministry and education. “I have a lot of great friends in the charismatic-Pentecostal world,” Young says. “I’ve learned so much from them and their churches and gained so much from their friendship. Our church has been heavily influenced by charismatic and Pentecostal churches. I love their openness, the expectancy of those styles—that God is going to do something great, something big. I like the encouragement, the positivity, obviously the worship and the music, and the entrepreneurial vibe in many of those churches. I like the structure; many of those churches have a great view of some of the authority issues that our culture is trying to process.

“I can learn from everybody whether their church has five people or 50,000. Leaders need to ask the right people the right questions to get the right answers. But the tough thing is finding the right people to ask the right questions—and to do that, you got to ask the wrong people the right questions and discover who the right people are.”

Have you seen this video? I happened to watch the O’reilly Factor tonight and saw this much to my shock. I think Kathy Griffin can be really funny, but she really crossed a line here. Maybe i’m participating in her plan by posting this, but personally I find this offensive. By the way, before you watch, Beware it is extremely offensive. I post this to ask a question…How do you think Jesus would respond to this? Also, how should the church respond to this? I’m curious what you think…

Recently my brother and I had attended a conference at Willow Creek. To be honest, one of the reasons I went was because of an email from Mark Conner to a good friend of mine informing him he was going to be a speaker there. I had never met Mark personally but have had the privilege of knowing his dad, Kevin Conner, for some time. Knowing that Mark was going to be there gave me the incentive I needed for a much-anticipated visit to Willow Creek. The A2 Conference was probably the best conference I have ever been to. It has become a new standard by which I judge all other conferences…. and I have to tell you no other comes close, but that’s another story. Back to Mark…

When Mark got up to speak I hadn’t realized that he’d been on the journey I was just starting. The session was not only great for where I was at and gave me practical insight, but it was a Holy Ghost moment for me. The session gave me one of those “markers” for my journey with the Holy Spirit saying you’re on the right track. Mark had not only been on the same road but he had been on it for over 15 years and had made some much needed transitions in his church with a lot of wisdom. Stuff that I needed to learn from. If you are in a Spirit-filled church and you have come to have heroes like Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, and Ed Young and are wondering how to balance the truth you are learning with the distinctive of a spirit-filled church..Check out Mark’s blog. I appreciate Marks willingness to be open and honest and unafraid to talk about seeming controversial issues. I like the fact that he doesnt always just “play it safe”. Yet in all of this I feel he is balanced and wise. Yea! Finally a good example of someone who can talk about hard issues in a God-honoring way. If you check out my blog roll there is a link to it…Check it out!

This is an excerpt from the recent Willow Creek Leadership Summt. All I can say is Amen! Check it out yourself.

I had my first date with my oldest daughter. By the way she’s 2.5 years old. My wife went with a friend of hers to Albany today. She took our youngest, so my oldest and I had a night out on the town. Here’s what we did…
1. Quick trip to Chuck E. Cheese…$2.00 (She likes one ride .25 x 8times)
2. Dinner at Outback……$24.99 (she loves steak! Boy, am I in trouble!)
3. Trip to Wal-mart to buy the new release of the Jungle Book….$19.99
4. Having my Daughter tell me about Yo Gabba Gabba today…..Priceless! “Don’t bite your friends! Don’t bite your friends!”…if you’ve ever seen YO Gabba Gabba you know what i’m talking about, if you haven’t seen it…well, I cant explain.

The evening culminated with me giving Giulia a Dora Lollipop, (Jesus brought these for her this week. Remind me to tell you about this later. It’s a story in and of itself.), popping some popcorn and watching the Jungle Book together. In my opinion, it was a great first date…I think my daughter would agree. check out yo gabba gabba…