{"id":3618,"date":"2016-12-06T10:19:45","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T15:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/?p=3618"},"modified":"2018-11-09T05:42:47","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T10:42:47","slug":"a-decade-of-lessons-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-decade-of-lessons-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"A Decade of Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the video of my message from Sunday, followed by the article I wrote for our newsletter, RoadSigns.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Decade of Lessons Learned\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/194386438\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>December 4, 2016, I walked into The Gathering for the very first time, excited with anticipation and hopeful for the future, but having little idea of what I was really walking into. \u00a0Of course, then it was Memorial Baptist Church, a 55 year-old church that, like most Baptist churches in the south, experienced a season of growth and expansion before ultimately growing stagnant and becoming identified more for inward fighting than outward ministry. \u00a0To say the least, it was not the most enticing offer a pastor could receive, but one I was certain God had led me to.<\/p>\n<p>Now, after all these years full of victories, trials, growth, pain, mistakes and ministry, God has brought us to where we are today. \u00a0To look at the numbers, one would say we haven\u2019t done much in ten years. \u00a0We\u2019re a congregation with 150 on a really good day. \u00a0To some, that is considered outright failure. \u00a0To me, not at all. \u00a0One of the things I felt committed to from day one was worrying less about growing wide and more focused on growing deep, though I must admit that reading the \u00a0annual issue of <i>Outreach<\/i> magazine\u2019s \u201c100 Fastest-growing churches\u201d could, at times, be very depressing.<\/p>\n<p>These \u201cfast-growing\u201d churches spread quickly, adding programs and buildings and, to be honest, that\u2019s very appealing. \u00a0Just imagine having no real financial worries or no concern about keeping the doors open or the lights on. \u00a0Seems nice. \u00a0I have been tempted, throughout the years, to adopt some of those practices until I realize that quite often (<i>though not always<\/i>), those churches are a big crowd of people and little more than that. \u00a0Discipling people is hard in any church, but it\u2019s exceptionally hard in large churches. \u00a0I cannot be satisfied with growing a large crowd of people that I can preach at each week, but cannot disciple. \u00a0So, I have to re-center myself on the ideas of \u201ccalling\u201d and \u201cchurch\u201d and what that means and what that looks like.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, I\u2019ve \u201cretaught\u201d myself that lesson over and over. \u00a0I remind myself of our purpose and the Truth of what the church is. \u00a0Many of the lessons I\u2019ve learned along with that have been painful. \u00a0I\u2019ve made many mistakes; I have many regrets, but I know that\u2019s a part of life and that is why I need a Savior. \u00a0Fortunately, most of those who have stuck with us have been patient and full of grace, and I\u2019m grateful. \u00a0As we\u2019ve grown in being a church, I\u2019ve grown in being a pastor, and hopefully, a person. \u00a0Yes, I have much more to learn with much growing yet to do, but God has taught me that His grace is sufficient throughout it all.<\/p>\n<p>So, I\u2019d like to share a few of the major lessons I\u2019ve learned over the last ten years that I hope will help us to continue growing in the years to come, should God be pleased to grant it.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b> \u00a0\u00a0Christ must build His church and the Word of God must be its foundation<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Matthew 16:13-19 reads:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, \u201cWho do people say that the Son of Man is?<\/p>\n<p>14 And they said, \u201cSome say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>15 \u201cBut you,\u201d He asked them, \u201cwho do you say that I am?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>16 Simon Peter answered, \u201cYou are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>17 And Jesus responded, \u201cSimon son of Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The first important fact about this revelation of Jesus is that <i>Peter was not the builder<\/i> &#8211; Jesus was. \u00a0Yes, Peter (and the apostles) would be instrumental in the building of the church, but that\u2019s just it: \u00a0they were instruments. \u00a0They were to be the agents used, but the architect and builder is Christ, alone! \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because Peter was not <i>equipped<\/i> to be the builder! \u00a0He had no idea how to do that. \u00a0Peter couldn\u2019t even know who Jesus was unless God had made it clear to him. \u00a0That\u2019s what Jesus said in verse 17. \u00a0So, if he couldn\u2019t even <i>know<\/i> Jesus as God without the Father telling him, how is he supposed to build the church that he\u2019s never even heard of before? \u00a0The knowledge was given through revelation.<\/p>\n<p>That revelation is the Word of God. \u00a0Here is a truth you need to hold onto: \u00a0We cannot know the Son of God rightly unless we know the Word of God thoroughly, and we cannot follow the Son of God faithfully unless we are committed to the Word of God exclusively. \u00a0This is what is meant by Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone).<\/p>\n<p>People have often asked me how you take an old, dying church and re-plant or revitalize it to become a healthy church. \u00a0I\u2019ve always said, \u201cI have no idea.\u201d \u00a0I don\u2019t. \u00a0I\u2019m the first to admit that. \u00a0Again, Peter didn\u2019t, either. \u00a0Jesus did, though! \u00a0<i>He<\/i> must build His church in <i>His<\/i> way, in <i>His<\/i> time and according to <i>His<\/i> blueprint or it\u2019s just another man-made edifice, created for the pastor\u2019s glory. \u00a0I think that might be one reason we stay small because that keeps us humble and it keeps us depending on HIM for our lifeblood rather than our money and ingenuity. \u00a0That\u2019s not to say all big churches are proud and self-sufficient, but many are and all of them face that temptation.<\/p>\n<p>What I have learned over the years is that the main thing we <i>can<\/i> do&#8230;the thing we MUST do, is to stand faithfully, unshakably and unashamedly on the Word of God. \u00a0If we compromise the Gospel, we have forfeited our right to be called a church of the Lord, Jesus, regardless of size.<\/p>\n<p>I have also learned that to do that is costly. \u00a0It has cost us potential members who disagree with one or more teachings or doctrines in Scripture. \u00a0It has cost us former members who have agreed with Scripture in theory until it actually meant life-change and forsaking of particular sin they weren\u2019t prepared to give up. \u00a0Put simply, standing on the Word of God is always going to cost us and that cost will continue to rise.<\/p>\n<p>As the acceptance and embrace of secularism grows in American culture, it will be more difficult for us in the next 10 years than it has in the previous 10 years. \u00a0Of this I am convinced: \u00a0Churches may come and they may go, but if we determine to stand on the Word of God with boldness and grace, The Gathering will stand because God will uphold us.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><b> \u00a0Real ministry must happen with the entire church or doesn&#8217;t really happen at all<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Ephesians 4:11-17 provides the core of our ministry philosophy in that God has given church leaders (elders, deacons, teachers, etc.) for the purpose of equipping the church for ministry. \u00a0That has been the core of what we believe since day one. \u00a0What I have learned over the years is that <i>saying<\/i> it\u2019s your ministry philosophy doesn\u2019t make it so in practice. \u00a0Ten years later, there is still a small group of people doing the majority of ministry at The Gathering, though it is certainly a larger number of people than it has been. \u00a0We have tried many things over the years, some things more successful than others. \u00a0What we have seen is that those things that have made a real impact; that have changed lives have, without exception, have been those things that were championed by someone within the church. More times than not, the way we identify new leaders that God is raising up in the church is the involvement they have and the leadership qualities they display as they just get busy serving the Lord through His Body, the Church.<\/p>\n<p>The only way this church or any church is going to survive and thrive is for every single member of the Body to find a place of ministry and \u201cown\u201d it. \u00a0Real ministry cannot happen any other way because no one person, nor one small group of people, can do all of the ministry and when they try, real ministry ceases to happen. \u00a0For the sake of our ministry in the world, find your place and begin pouring yourself into it.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><b> \u00a0Unity is fragile and can only be maintained when we serve each other and are focused on the same goal<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>One of my favorite passages is Philippians 2: 1-4:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. 3 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I love these verses because they put unity in such simple terms. \u00a0If there is <i>any<\/i> encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship with the Spirit, affection and mercy&#8230;any at all, it says. \u00a0In other words, if God is doing <i>anything<\/i> in your midst, then unify around that, focused on the one goal of honoring Christ with the benefit of receiving the blessing that results. \u00a0Be the Church! \u00a0How can this happen? \u00a0How can we be unified? \u00a0There is only one way and this passage explains it: You have to take your eyes off of yourself. \u00a0You have to give up the notion that you are the most important person in the room and look around for ways that you can \u201cshow family affection to one another with brotherly love [and] outdo one another in showing honor.\u201d (Romans 12:10)<\/p>\n<p>I have learned that this is a tall order, even in the church. \u00a0We are, by nature, self-serving. \u00a0Even when we are giving ourselves selflessly in ministry, we can still hold onto the attitude that this ministry should be done <i>my way<\/i>. \u00a0I\u2019ve been accused of that many times over the last 10 years (mostly during the first 6 or so!). \u00a0Many of those times were nothing more than being clear on certain things that I knew Christ wanted done in His church and I couldn\u2019t compromise&#8230;but not all the time. \u00a0There have been times that I\u2019ve either been afraid, stubborn, or just short-sighted, and it\u2019s resulted in disunity, sometimes with people even leaving the church over it. \u00a0I regret those times. \u00a0Other times, the roles were reversed. \u00a0Either way, the hard lesson is that unity is a hard lesson. \u00a0It\u2019s extremely fragile and is always just one hurt feeling caused by one careless word taken the wrong way for everything to fall apart. \u00a0If we\u2019re going to thrive for the long haul, it\u2019s going to be because we are committed to each other in covenant membership, determined to weather the storms together, having the hard conversations when necessary, extending mutual grace and mercy, and giving each other the benefit of the doubt. \u00a0Christ is not honored when His body is splintered. \u00a0As we move forward, I am committing myself anew to the hard task of becoming thick-skinned and tender-hearted rather than thin-skinned and hard-hearted.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that if we are unified, ministry-oriented, self-sacrificing, and committed to the Word of Truth, Christ will build a church out of this little rag-tag bunch of disciples that can and <i>will<\/i> impact, not only Chattanooga, but indeed, the entire world.<\/p>\n<p>To God be the glory in our next ten years together!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>via http:\/\/ift.tt\/2h7EtT0<\/p>\n<div class=\"twttr_buttons\"><div class=\"twttr_twitter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=A+Decade+of+Lessons+Learned\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-via=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\"  data-size=\"default\" data-url=\"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-decade-of-lessons-learned\/\"  data-related=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the video of my message from Sunday, followed by the article I wrote for our newsletter, RoadSigns. December 4, 2016, I walked into The Gathering for the very first time, excited with anticipation and hopeful for the future, but having little idea of what I was really walking into. \u00a0Of course, then it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[638,6,637,542],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Proc_Lessons-e1541760115733.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-Wm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3682,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/welcoming-chris-petty-to-the-gathering\/","url_meta":{"origin":3618,"position":0},"title":"Welcoming Chris Petty to The Gathering","date":"December 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I have the privilege of welcoming a friend of mine, Chris Petty, to preach\u00a0at The Gathering this Sunday. \u00a0Chris is formerly the Pastor at Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Ringgold, GA, but has recently been called as a career missionary to Bolivia. \u00a0He and his family are planning on moving\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":696,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/2010-year-of-the-mission\/","url_meta":{"origin":3618,"position":1},"title":"2010: Year of the Mission","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I met with our Mission One:Eight Team this past Wednesday night and left so encouraged and excited about the coming year at The Gathering.\u00a0 God has moved in some pretty big ways over the last couple of months, removing the inward focus that largely characterized what this church has been,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Missions&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/missions1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3241,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/blessed-with-another-year-at-the-gathering\/","url_meta":{"origin":3618,"position":2},"title":"Blessed With Another Year at The Gathering","date":"December 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"December4, 2006 was a Monday. \u00a0On that day I was excited, uncertain, confident, humbled, overwhelmed and\u00a0a knotted bundle of a hundred other emotions. \u00a0I was beginning my first week as the Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, the foundation upon which The Gathering would be built and I had no idea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Church&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1111,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/first-baptist-church-of-the-republic\/","url_meta":{"origin":3618,"position":3},"title":"First Baptist Church of&#8230;the Republic?","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Over at the White Horse Inn, there is a good article on the Church and politics called, No Nation Under God, that I've included in my Google Shared Items Page and I encourage you to read it in its entirety. In this article, Pastor Jason Stellman discusses the way in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Church&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2524,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/at-year-seven-a-personal-message-to-the-gathering\/","url_meta":{"origin":3618,"position":4},"title":"At Year Seven, A Personal Message to The Gathering","date":"December 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Seven years ago today, I walked into this office for the first time.\u00a0 It didn't look anything like it does now (thankfully!), but I remember well how overwhelmed I felt.\u00a0 I had no idea what I was walking into and couldn't know just how difficult the road ahead would be.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Church&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"office","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/office-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4390,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/the-gathering-2019-theme-connections\/","url_meta":{"origin":3618,"position":5},"title":"The Gathering 2019 Theme: Connections","date":"April 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of weeks ago, I preached a message revealing and outlining our theme for the remainder of the year. If you weren\u2019t there (and especially if you are a covenant member of The Gathering), please take time to watch this message and begin to look for ways in which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Church&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/9036AAF4-8F43-403C-B058-18741393604E.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3618"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4117,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618\/revisions\/4117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}