The young guys…

Posted December 22, 2008

I'm sitting watching one our young guys, Ernest Smith, doing a message run thru. We affectionately call it 'waterboarding Seacoast style'. Ernest is going to take a swing at the big stage soon, so he is preaching his message to a mostly empty room. There are only 12 of us here, pen and notepad in hand, poised to give feedback. It's brutal. Not the feedback, but the process. His message will be better for it. I'm not sure he cares about that right now…he's just trying to survive the moment.
I remember when Ernest was a 16 year old messed up kid trying to find his place in life. Now he will be speaking to thousands. Nobody knows his name outside of our team. Maybe someday they will. The cool thing is, he's getting a chance.
Here's what we do to develop future speakers:
1. We give them a seat at the table in message planning.
2. We give them a swing in pressure situations a little before they are ready
3. We try to give them honest feedback without crushing creativity.
What are you doing to give the young guys a chance?

Category: Leadership

1 Comment »

  1. Tithing: My husband and I decided to try the tithing challenge offered during the "How to be Rich" series. We always gave money to the church but the amount certainly did not average out to be the full 10%. This past year was by far the toughest year of our marriage and probably lives. We have always had smooth sailing in most areas of our lives – marriage, finances and careers. This past year we had hardship in all three areas. Pastor Michael Morris was an angel to us and helped us through the toughest time in our lives. We both grew closer to God and each other when all was said and done. We were struggling financially but decided if we were going down, we would go down with God's blessing, knowing we were doing our part. The day after we made the tithing decision, I had my employer come to me stating they received notice from the bank that one of my paychecks from July had never been cashed. How did I overlook that?! They wrote me a new check. This was my part time chemist job. I am also a Realtor and this past year has been extremely slower than usual. I had two closings the week of Thanksgiving, which was the first big tithing check I had to write. It was hard knowing Christmas was around the corner, I had not bought the first gift and we were not sure if we were going to be able to make the mortgage payment. We were faithful and wrote that check to honor our promise to God. I got more leads, the mortgage rates dropped which sent my husband, who is a mortgage loan officer with Bank of America, more business in December than he had done in the last 6 months! I just had another large closing, which this time I was glad to give back to God. I have always heard people swear by the blessings they get from tithing. Since our lives have seen those changes firsthand, I am now the one spreading the word. Thank you Greg for the sermon and challenge which pushed me to make the commitment I had long struggled with. We love you being our pastor!

    Comment by Wendy Green — January 11, 2009 @ 11:22 am

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