Preach IT Pastor Perry!

Hey DAGer's some of you may remember Pastor Perry from NewSpring Church in Anderson SC. We watched him a couple of Sundays ago during our ONE PRAYER series. I was reading his blog recently and came across a series of post entitled "Pastors/Church Planters BEWARE that totally echos how I feel regarding SEVEN types of persons that try to neuter a church. I will be reposting his post because I believe we could ALL learn from Pastor Perry's and NewSpring's experience.

I was thinking the other day about what I would types of people I would warn a pastor/church planter about–there are seven, here are the first few…

#1 - The “I’m Going To Leave If” Person
Pastors, you are going to have people threaten to leave your church–period. And 999 times out of 1,000 the best thing you can do is let them go. I remember once in the early years being on the telephone for over an hour, begging a young lady in our church not to leave. Why was she wanting to leave? A group of singles had gotten together and forgotten to call her. You are going to have people who don’t like the music, your wife, you talking about your kids, the way you dress, the kind of car you drive, the version of the Bible you use, your hairstyle, your zodiac sign, your staff, and your belief on the end times. You can’t please everyone…and, to be honest, that BOTHERS me! But, reality is, according to Hebrews 13:17 you and I will stand before God one day and be held accountable for how we led the church…and I would much rather a disgruntled person walk out that God’s presence go instead! Don’t ever be held captive by a person who keeps threatening to leave.

#2 - The “Let Me Tell You How Much Money I Have” Person.
Pastors, you’ve GOT to make a choice early - are you going to be motivated by money (thus becoming a prostitute, not a prophet) OR are you going to resign to the fact that Jesus purchased you, thus making you not for sale? I remember early on a guy calling my assistant and demanding that I come to his house for dinner. (Something I just don’t do…explanation later!) He told her where he worked, where he lived (a NICE neighborhood), the kind of car he drove and also told her he wanted to get financially involved in the church…all I had to do was some to his house for dinner. I didn’t go. I don’t play that game. When people begin to dangle money in front of you…it is ALWAYS attached to an agenda.

We have some incredibly generous people at NewSpring Church who give faithfully every single week. In our two campaigns that we’ve done we had a giver once give $1.4 million and another one gave $1 million…and neither of them ever asked me for one second of my time. They gave with a pure heart and with pure motives.

When people threaten to stop giving then that is an issue they will have to work out with God. Don’t let a person who has a lot of $$$ keep you from doing what God has called you to do.
When a person begins telling you how much money they have…trust me, they ultimately desire to either buy you or control you. Don’t let it happen. Tell them you are excited they have money, ask them to give generously, challenge them to be faithful in their giving…but don’t EVER begin to let them dangle money in front of you, thus becoming your source of motivation.

All I got to say is PREACH IT PASTOR PERRY!!!