Whether you’re a church pastor, a ministry leader, the spiritual leader in your home, or any other kind of believer, I’ve found that the post Easter haze leftover from amazing church services and running from one family celebration to the next can often leave us all with that “What’s next?” feeling. But, I think there are a few things we can do to stay focused on what God is doing as we capitalize on that awesome Easter weekend feeling in the months to come.

For the Lead Pastor:

Celebrate by thanking the Father. 
On the Monday after Easter, I was working in the yard at my house. I spent most of the day just worshiping and thanking the Father for what He had done over the weekend. I don’t know about you, but our church had a lot to celebrate! That’s not a brag on us, but it is a brag on the move of the Holy Spirit!
(Side note: if you feel like nothing happened in your church this weekend to celebrate, please reach out to me. I’d like to encourage you!)

I’ve learned not to jump into the next thing until you’ve celebrated the current thing. Jesus is still in the business of changing people…I saw it firsthand this weekend! That’s worth stopping and celebrating right now! 

Celebrate your team. 
Ministry is 100% a team sport. We can’t do this on our own. I’ve learned that taking the time to thank people, celebrate them, and remind them of what they just invested in goes a long way. When people feel appreciated and part of something bigger than themselves, they look forward to what’s next. I’ve found individual calls, texts, and even 30-second thank you videos from my wife and I mean more than you’d think. Also, taking the time to celebrate and talk about what just happened as a team is huge! I plan to do that at our staff meeting this week. Yes, there is more on the way and we’ve got plenty of ministry in front of us. But, it’s okay to slow down and celebrate before moving on! It keeps our energy up. 

Spend time with your family. 
Most pastors’ families miss out on a lot with the Lead Pastor on Easter weekend. Make sure you take extra time to spend with your wife and kids post Easter. They need it…but you need it as well! My kids refresh my soul (most of the time). I took mine to school late on Monday so we could just lay in bed together that morning. My seven, five, and two-year-old and I talked, laughed, and had a tickle war. We fed our goats together. I made sure I took the girls to school and my two-year-old jumped on the tractor with me to cut the yard. I don’t ever want my wife and kids to feel like they are second to the church. They definitely aren’t and they can’t be. Don’t forget to prioritize them coming out of Easter and they won’t resent the church as they grow. When you do this, your wife won’t feel like she’s the side chick instead of the main chick!

For the Church:

Remember the tomb is still empty.
We should remember daily what we focused on this Easter weekend! That tomb is still empty! Don’t just shout on Easter Sunday about that! Turn everyday into an empty tomb praise party. On your way to work, listen to praise and worship. Write a verse on your mirror in your bathroom that reminds you of the resurrection power you’ve been given access to. Set reminders on your phone that tell you to stop and pray for that same power to move and flow through your life. Take Easter and make it work everyday in your life.

Don’t stop inviting.
At Bold City, we encourage our people to invite like crazy on Easter weekend and they do! But, don’t wait for the “next big service” to invite again. Inviting people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus is what the invite is really about. That should be something we do often, not just occasionally! Don’t stop inviting because Easter is behind us on the calendar. The message of the Cross carries the same power 365 days a year, 24/7! Keep inviting people to step into something that will change them forever! 

Stay faithful.
There is a reason why the Bible tells us the first church met together weekly in Acts Chapter 2. It strengthened the believer and it also grew the Church. It says they added people (Church growth) daily because the Church was faithful. Keep the pedal to the metal when it comes to Sunday service, CityGroups throughout the week, and daily prayer, worship, and Bible reading. Don’t get lazy because Easter is gone and summer is on the way! Keep growing in every season. 

(Note: When I capitalize the “C” in Church, it’s because I am referring to THE worldwide Church, the bride of Christ whom He is coming back for!)

For the “FTG” (first time guest):

Come again! 
Seriously, go back and try it again! In most cases, someone is going to remember you by your second or third visit. (This is an especially good reason to read my second point here - go to the connections center at your church and let them know you are there. We call ours The Hub.) It’s huge when someone makes a personal connection within a church family. People actually want to go to church where they have friends. I promise you will find your people if you keep coming. When you find a friend that follows Jesus, you’ve most likely found someone that is going to encourage you, pray for you, hold you accountable, and help you grow closer to Jesus! So, come again...because you’ve got a friendship waiting on you! 

Make yourself available.
Fill out a connection card so the church leaders can connect with you. This is the best way to find out more about the vision of the church, how to get going on discipleship, and where you can begin to help! (Yep, I’m already inviting you into ownership! That’s how Jesus did it.) You need to know and understand the vision of your church if you are going to truly call it “home.” You need to be available for discipleship because that’s what the Church is called to make - disciples. You need to become the Church, not just go to one. Ownership keeps your passion up. It also requires you to keep two things a priority: the Father and people. When you begin to serve in your church, you must keep your relationship with the Father growing consistently. If not, your heart will grow hard and callous towards people. The Father and people are always a priority when it comes to ownership within the Church family. 

Find another church.
Really. If you didn’t like the one you visited, go try another one! Just because one church wasn’t “your type,” doesn’t mean another isn’t. Trust me, you need the Church and Church needs you! Don’t wait until Christmas service to try again. Go visit another one this week. If that’s one isn’t for you, try another one. Ask around. Eventually, you will find a place to call home. Just one thing, make sure you aren’t showing up looking for the “perfect church.” People are the Church, so you will always see imperfections in the church building in Sunday, at least until Jesus returns for His bride. Try not to be so critical. I say find something authentic that speaks to you and jump all in. Whatever you do, keep going to church until you find something real.

Here are three things I personally look for in a church:

1. Preaching from the Bible

2. Passionate worship together

3. Serving their city

Those three things that tell me the church is alive, advancing, and on mission. 

Don’t let your faith get into a slump after Easter! A wise man once told me what you feed grows and what you starve dies! Feed your faith and fuel the flame of what God wants to do through you in community.

Would you like to become brand new?

What exactly do I mean by “brand new?” No doubt you know this term in its worldly sense. We all long to drive off the lot in a brand new car (tell me you didn’t read that in the Price is Right voice.) We all dream about building that brand new home to raise a family in. Or, if you’re like me, you love that feeling of slipping on a brand new pair of shoes. 

One of the synonyms you’ll come across when searching this term and the one I think best describes how I’m going to use it is “pristine.” Merriam-Webster defines it as this: in its original condition; unspoiled; clean and fresh as if new; spotless. 

So when I speak of becoming brand new, think about becoming pristine. I’m talking about you, your spirit, the very essence of all that you are, the inner mash-up of soul, personality and all your life’s influence that combine to make up the person that is reading along here and now.

In life, we’re molded and shaped by our surrounding environment and that setting isn’t always life-giving. Maybe for you it was a chaotic home life with a void left by an absentee father. Or maybe you’ve found yourself like my daughter, just shy of seven years old and your mother was called home to heaven much earlier than expected. Many of us have something that has manifested inside our souls to create a hole we yearn to fill. Sex, drugs, pornography, alcohol, food, shopping, gossip and many other distractions are powerful tools that the enemy uses to get his hooks in you one way or another. In 1 Peter 5:8 it says, “...Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Perhaps you’ve felt that in some way. I know I have. 

When God is not the center of your life, the enemy will use any possible piece of your life to gain a foothold. 

Sometimes, this will happen in a way that might take years or even decades for you to fully realize. As I grew into adulthood, some footholds in my life turned into strongholds. They stirred up a chaotic emptiness in my soul and I would search for anything to quiet the storm. The beginning of 1 Peter 5:8 says “Be alert and of sober mind...” I went a long time failing to do just that.

Beginning in my early 20’s, I lost myself in an opiate addiction that lasted nearly 15 years. When a hook like that snags you, the enemy takes hold and it can pull you down to depths you never imagined could exist. It can imprison you in a dark pit of despair where there’s barely a light to be found. It will cloud your vision, harden your heart, and steal your hope. It’s a suffocation so evil it will tear away the very fabric of your existence and rot away the sanctity of your marriage while morphing you into a failing father. But, here’s the beauty of our merciful and graceful Heavenly Father: there is no soul beyond restoration. No brokenness He can not mend. Don’t believe me?

Let me take you back a little: it’s Christmas 2018 and there I find myself in a jail cell...yet again. I was beginning to lose count of the arrests at that point. The gut-wrenching sickness you feel when you wake up on Christmas morning and, instead of hearing the sweet sound of your precious daughter’s excited voice, you hear the clanging of the cold, metal doors to your 8x10 cell. That’s a darkness I wish on no one. Shameful. Worthless. Depressed. Just pick a negative feeling and I am sure I felt it at that moment. Can’t get worse than that. 

But, here’s the thing about rock bottom: if you continue to give the enemy control of your life, he’ll just keep digging the hole deeper. There is no real bottom. The next day, December 26th, 2018, I awoke to that now all too familiar sound. Although I didn’t know it when waking, for better or worse this day would come to set the tone for the rest of my life. At 9:00am I was led to a small room and through a plexiglass window, I was told that my wife had passed away. In the middle of the night while sleeping peacefully, she left this life. She was 33 years old and my very best friend.

In the middle of all those circumstances, how did I wrap my head around it all? Well, I don’t know that I did. The memory of that day is a blur. One clear view through the midst of the fog is the face of a man who means the world to me. If you call Bold City Church your home, he’s your Lead Pastor. The words of Jason Masters hit home that day and still echo in my thoughts often. He told me that what I chose to do moving forward could change the course of my future family’s history. Generations could be changed and saved by the actions I took from that moment on. 

That night, after I climbed up to my bed on the top bunk, staring at my cinder block surroundings, I tried to collect myself and conjure up some kind of plan moving forward. Obviously, I needed some supernatural assistance. Nothing in this world was going to deliver me out of the depths I was in and to the heights I hoped to reach. I had searched everywhere to find it and it didn’t exist. I needed something more. My daughter deserved something more. 

So, I did what I should’ve done many times before. I asked God to help me and prayed for Him to give me an encouraging word. Here’s what He told me in that moment, “My son, I love you and I’m so sorry you’re here. We have two options, two stories you can write. The first is you go on trying to lead yourself and control your everyday life. Do that and when Reese is your age she’ll tell of the loss of her mother and a failed father. A childhood filled with missed opportunities and sadness. Or you can give me the reins, have faith, and trust me with everything you’ve got. Do that and Reese will still tell of a lost mother, but she’ll also tell of a redeemed father. One who stepped up and led her to a life full of joy and peace. She’ll tell of an unbreakable bond with her Daddy that not only molded and shaped her, but countless others as well. Let me work through you and let’s see what we can do together.” 

In that moment, He also reminded me of a scripture I first read in jail a couple years before. It’s James 1:12 and it says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that The Lord has promised to those who love him.” So I made up my mind to battle. I made up my mind that no matter how rocky or stormy the seas became, when He calls me out of the boat I’ll reach for His hand and trust Him fully. 

In the time since, instead of cowering in the fetal position and feeling pity for my situation and what my life had become, with God as my strength, I picked myself up and vowed to fight with every fiber of my being. From the deepest depths of my soul I would rage against the very darkness that once filled it. 

What’s my ultimate goal in sharing this with you? I simply want you to feel the freedom I now feel, too. Perhaps your story is different from mine, but you find yourself also missing something. Maybe you can’t even put your finger on it, but you feel it’s emptiness nevertheless. Whether you realize it or not, we’re immersed in spiritual warfare everyday of our lives. Remember 1 Peter 5:8? If you’ve felt Satan’s grip on you in any way; I’m sorry. I empathize with you and I love you. But now, it’s time to join me in the fight! 

How do I fight something I can’t always see, touch, or hear? Fortunately, God tells us how. 

 ”Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6:10-17

After reading that, maybe you find yourself thinking like I once did: How do I apply this to my everyday life in a practical way? Well, it’s simple enough. Make your secret place your top priority. Begin everyday in silence then worship, just you and God. Talk to Him. Ask Him things. Pray for revelation in your life. Pray for blessings over your family. Open your Bible, read it, and actually do what it’s telling you to do. Begin to practice all of that and your life will look radically different in the best way you could possibly imagine. Trust me, I know. 

Now, it’s time for you to get in the game. As I’ve learned all too well, this life can end in an instant. You must make the most of it. God has promises on your life and wants to take you to new heights! You’ve got this. Keep in mind, if Satan ever tries to remind you of the past from which you came, just stop and pray a verse I’ve often prayed Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” 

Today I am 10 years sober! That's 3,650 days of walking in freedom! It's 87,600 hours of being able to choose life each and every single minute!

Can I be completely honest with y'all for a second? When I started this journey, I didn't think I could do it. In fact, back then I was so riddled with doubt that I relapsed three times before finally deciding that I had to do something different. At first, I looked at my recovery like it was a burden. Something that I had to do. Why was I so different? Why could other people seem to handle themselves and I couldn't? I could not see myself not ever being able to drink again.

At every turn, I was just waiting for the ball to drop, for the next time that I would fall flat on my face, yet again. Why? Because my identity had been stolen from me. I didn't know who I was. I didn't believe that I was capable of doing anything right. I built up so many walls because I felt like no one understood what I was going through or what I had already been through. I didn't feel worthy of grace or mercy or forgiveness. I blamed God for making me different. I couldn't see that He still loved me, even through the wreckage of my past.

What changed?

Jesus! The one thing I want people to know from my testimony is that there is absolutely no way I could have gotten this far without my faith. I had already proven to myself that I could not do it alone. I was full of self-doubt because I did not truly know who Jesus was.

He showed me that He died so I didn't have to. He showed me that He redeemed all the wrong I had done. He showed me that there are people who understand. And the best thing of all, he showed me that I am worthy of grace and my life does matter!

Has it been easy every step of the way? Absolutely not! Am I perfect now? Absolutely not! But Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Not some things y'all…all things. So when I face challenges or have a bad day or feel like I am not going to make it, Jesus is there to remind me that my strength does not come from others or the things that I do, it comes from Him.

Today, I don't have to look at my sobriety as an obligation, it's a right! A right that is restored to me every single day that I wake up and I am able to make my own decisions. I don't have to stay sober, I get to stay sober. I get to live, I get to have a choice, and I finally get to feel normal. Better than normal.

I am grateful for each and every person that God has put in my life to help me along the way.

If you want this kind of freedom, come visit me this Friday night at 6:00 PM at 13519 N Main Street for our very first Wayfinders meeting!