BillLaMorey.com

Why I am not teaching for awhile pt. 3

The 3rd reason I am not teaching for awhile is to pursue personal renewal.

For the past 3 years+ in the time leading up to the launch of the Calvary Fellowship and beyond, I've been running pretty hard. In my mind there are many great things about being a pastor, but one of the downsides is that you rarely get to go and simply experience church like everyone else. You are focused on whether or not you're message will be effective, distracted by things not working right, or scrambling to find someone to fill the shoes of a volunteer who didn't show up...you get the point.

So I am exited for this season to be able to go to our church, and just worship God and hear messages to minister to my soul. Sure, I cannot fully disengage from the issues and challenges that any given Sunday may bring, but it is still a vastly different experience for me than normal.

Not only that, it is very easy for the prayer life and bible reading of a pastor to gravitate towards centering around what he's teaching next Sunday. It is great to temporarily remove that challenge and just pray and read scripture to connect with God because I need to...just like everyone else.

It's been said that growing churches are led by growing leaders. I spend a lot of time intentionally growing in technical proficiency, but I am excited to also spend some time pursuing intentional spiritual growth as I seek God and ask Him to do a deep work in me during this season.

 Don't get me wrong, I miss teaching and cannot wait to get back to it in many ways, but I think this time away from it will be valuable in many ways. And I cannot help but think that my effectiveness at teaching will be even greater after I've had a season seeking God to refresh my soul, and to experience a personal renewal with Him.

Worship rocked yesterday!

Heart Work

This morning we continued in our Ecclesia series with a message entitled "Heart Work" by Paul Sideranko. Just like Simon, when we follow Christ we will be confronted with some deep work that needs to be done in our heart. We ourselves are incapable of doing this, so we must turn to the one who is.

To hear the sermon you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

We are in the 76th best small city to live in...

At least according to this report from CNN/Money...

8 years

8 years ago this day Rebecca & I were married. Let's just address the elephant in the room...yes, I clearly got the better deal! I love you, Honey!!!

LaMorey fun fact: Shortly before we were married, Rebecca informed me that we needed to pick "our song." I had no clue what she meant, but she explained that we needed to choose a song that would be our lifelong song. A song that would bring back fond memories, a song that we would dance to whenever it came on, a song which would always make us think of one another whenever we heard it. After she vetoed "Calling Dr. Love" by Kiss, we agreed upon "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer. The only problem was that though the song at the time was doing well on contemporary Christian radio, it had no mainstream success. This was a concern because we would never hear it on the radio, at a wedding, on the oldies station decades later, etc. We chose it anyway. Shortly after, the song appeared on a movie soundtrack [several I think] and the song and band enjoyed wide mainstream success. And now we hear still the song often and reminisce. In fact we just danced to it this morning [yes, I engineered it this time]. Bottom line: I'm not saying God let Sixpence get wildly popular just for us...but I'm not saying He didn't either!

Filled Up

We continued in our Ecclesia series this morning with a message entitled "Filled Up" taught by Nicholas. Stephen was an ordinary man empowered by God to do extraordinary things which included becoming the first martyr for the Christian faith. The same power that Stephen manifested is available for each follower of Christ to fill up on as well.

To hear the sermon you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

Why I am not teaching for awhile Pt. 2

A big reason I am not teaching for awhile is I so I can work on the church instead of in the church for awhile. It's been said, and it's true, that Sunday comes with amazing regularity! And each week people rightfully expect a brand new message that is biblical, practical, enlightening and engaging! Such a venture requires many hours for me to research, reflect and write...and even then, I don't always hit the mark! In additions to the message, there are many things associated with planning for a weekend service to occupy my time. And while it has became painfully obvious to me that we have some bigger pictures issues we need to address in order to move forward, the tyranny of the urgent has kept from working on some very important things. But I cannot wait anymore. And since I never want to torture our church with bad or ill-prepared messages, I need to share this responsibility for a season.

So, all of the time I would normally dedicate to message preparation will be reallocated towards working on the systems, structures, and parts issues of our church. I am painfully aware of many of the tweaks and even overhauls that we are in need of to prepare us for sustained growth...and I am learning even more as I meet with all of the people in our church body! So, during this next season I will be dismantling everything, asking questions and putting it back together with the help of various teams that will be assembled for this purpose. I will also be asking the parts [people] questions. What parts are needed? Are the current parts in the right place? What parts are in too many places? What parts aren't in being utilized at all? How can we better equip and orchestrate all of the various parts? Again, the feedback from those I have met with thus far has been phenomenally insightful and helpful.

A word about systems and spirituality. Someone I met with jokingly called me Bill Gates when I talked about the intense system development we needed. I got her concern. I think it is important to remember that systems and spirituality in a church are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are complementary. Here is the bottom line: systems in a church should serve and under-gird ministry. Systems do not control or limit ministry, they support and expand it. In fact, when systems are properly designed, implemented and managed the average person shouldn't even notice them; just their results.It is just like a pleasant experience we may have at at a store that leaves us with a smile and a good feeling because we were intentionally and strategically given the best care possible. We don't tell our friends about the wonderful systems the store had in place, we tell them about what the system produced! That is what I hope to work on behind the scenes. Creating systems and getting the right parts in place so that we can all enjoy the benefits and blessings of active participation in a church that is intentionally functioning biblically and effectively.

Why I am not teaching for awhile Pt. 1

As I mentioned in this past weekend's message, I will not be teaching at Calvary for awhile. One of the reasons I want to shut-up for awhile is so I can listen. Of course, I want to listen to God [that will be another post], but I also want to listen to EVERYONE who regularly and even occasionally comes to the church. If our church continues its current growth track, there may never again be a time that I can take the opportunity to extend an invitation to meet one-on-one with everyone like I'll be doing in the next few weeks.

I have extended the invitation to our church that I would like to have a 1-hour meeting with each person to discuss systems and parts. Again, this will make most sense after listening to the "Parts" message, but here is what I am asking people to share while I listen and take notes:

1. What systems issues have they observed at our church? In other words:

• What isn't working right?
• What could be made better?
• What is confusing?
• What is missing?
• What challenges/barriers have they experienced?
• What improvements could be made?

1. What part are they playing in our church?
   • Are they over-extended?
   • Under-extended?
   • Do they need help identifying their part?
   • Are they willing to just step in and do any part?

I believe the perceptions and observations of everyone will be extremely valuable as systems overhauls and parts re-arrangements are made [oops, another post again!] in the season ahead. I have had my first meeting, and already heard some excellent ideas that we will implement for improvement. I may not agree with every observation or recommendation or act on every suggestion that is presented, but I still want to hear it all. [I think most of us are OK with people not agreeing with our opinions or ideas as long as  we know someone values us enough to just listen to us.]

I already have a bunch set up for this week, and I can't wait to schedule more. So if you are a part of our church, have you set up YOUR meeting yet?

 

Parts

This morning we continued in our "Ecclesia" series with a message entitled "Parts." The early church had systems and parts issues that threatened to divide them, but when the proper solution was applied, the church instead multiplied. Churches today have much to learn from their example as each of us learn to do our part.

In this message I shared why I will not be teaching at Calvary Fellowship for awhile...

To hear the sermon you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

Thank you anonymous, generous person for making a dream come true!

A few days ago, my wife Rebecca was opening the mail when she examined the contents of one letter, smiled and told our daughter Lily, "Give this to Daddy, he has been waiting for this." To my great surprise it was an anonymous check...a dream come true!

This is going to sound really weird, but ever since we've  been married [almost 8 years ago], I've wanted an anonymous check to come in the mail for no good reason [this is not a solicitation for more BTW] . Not because I deserved it...or even needed it...I just wanted one to come...can't explain it really. And so from time to time, I would ask if my letter had come today and I'd always hear the same "sorry honey." Until now.

So since I don't know who you are, I'll take the opportunity here in case you happen to read this to say thanks for the fulfillment of a long-standing dream...and ummm, thank you for the money too!

And bonus lesson for everyone, never give up on your dreams!