Here are a few thank you letters we received: (note “wasted” in first letter:-)

Some of the traps of the fear of man include:

*Constantly overcommitting (Hard to say no when wisdom says you should b/c want people to think you are responsible, etc…)

*You feel the need to promote yourself. You name drop, exaggerate accomplishments.

*Get upset when anyone dare criticizes you.

*Are chained to a sin habit, and the only reason you have not received deliverance is b/c you won’t get some accountability.

*Not being able to disagree with “important” people.

*Constantly criticizing others (b/c bringing them down makes you feel better about yourself)

*Keeps your mouth closed about your faith in Jesus Christ b/c you dont want to be thought of as a crazy zealot.

The God-given desire for approval is to drive us to Christ and our identity “in Christ”. Below is a prayer we prayed corporately at church last week:

“God, it is true. I am consumed with the fear of man. I fear man more than You.  I want to be set free from my pride that drives this.  Take the axe to the root of that tree in my life, Lord. Help me to care so much more about what You think about me than what others think about me. Cleanse me, unshackle me”.

I am grateful to God for:
• The 9,325 people who attended one of the five Easter weekend services at Biltmore (all time record). With spring break going on for schools, we were not quite sure what to expect. The cliché is true – Every number has a name; every name is a person; and every person has a story.
• The 1,500+ volunteers who served Easter weekend (and every weekend) – you guys have a love for God and a love for people that is awesome!! Thank you!
• A church staff that works hard, works smart, and works together. It is a privilege and joy to serve with you.
• For the guests that came back again this past weekend. Grateful, too, for the many new Christians that we have the joy to disciple.
• For the best worship team in the country! I greatly appreciate your giftedness and love your ‘verticality!’
• The culture God has created at Biltmore. The growing love for God’s Son, God’s Word and God’s glory – combined with a growing love for lost people – is a joy to be a part of.
• Awesome weekend for kids. I love the fact that kids love to come to church!

Biltmore, it is great to be your Pastor.

If you don’t know who you are, it’s hard to be a healthy person. Often the mirrors we look in trying to find who we are tend to be pretty fragile – like relationships, accomplishments, résumés, etc. Sadly, many believers in Jesus Christ frantically look horizontally for what they have already been given vertically in Jesus.

The truth is, you can’t have a right view of yourself without a right view of God. Until we can say, “I am who God says I am and that’s all that really matters,” our lives will be searching indeed.

Starting Easter weekend, we will look through the eyes of the Apostle Paul about who God says we are. Jesus didn’t just forgive your sin; He also gave you a brand new, life-changing identity.

Courageous Leadership – Bill Hybels
• Good, Biblical balance

Developing the Leader Within You – John Maxwell
• Primer #2 on leadership

Developing the Leaders Around You – John Maxwell
• Classic primer on leadership

Good to Great – Jim Collins
• Simple. Great. Simply great!

Leaders Who Last – Dave Kraft
• Lots of good nuggets. Title says it all.

Next Generation Leader – Andy Stanley
• Great section on listening and learning

The Book of Nehemiah – The Bible ☺
• Tackles everything from vision to criticism to courage

The Five Temptations of a CEO – Patrick Lencioni
• Don’t let the title fool you. This is a wise read for any leader.

The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham – Myra/Shelley
• Real life example of servant leadership

Who Moved My Cheese? – Spencer Johnson
• Parable that shows some truths about change

Believe it or not, Easter is less than four weeks away. Every year we see God change hundreds of lives at our Easter services. While we do have some guests that come because of media pushes we do, most come because of a personal invitation they received from one of you.

We will be kicking off a new teaching series on Easter called Mirror. The focus of my message on Easter is simple: the eternal longing that every single person aches to have filled is found in Jesus. Every person you know has a deep desiring that achievements and accolades can never fulfill. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Biltmore: Here are four things you can do to fulfill the mission of Easter:

1. Ask God to give you open doors to invite as many people as possible. Make a list of people you want to invite. Share them with a friend and pray together. Then take the risk and invite them. (Note: mini-invite cards with the Easter service times and the new teaching series will be distributed at services March 17 and 24.)

2. Commit to serve at one or more Easter weekend service. Both campuses are adding a service to make it easier to experience the gospel.

3. Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray Ephesians 3:20-21. Pray Hosea 6:3. Pray Exodus 33:18. Pray Isaiah 64:1.

4. Greet everyone around you. We will have a ton of guests. Most judge their church experience on the first 10 minutes they are on campus and if someone spoke to them.

I’m so excited about what God is doing at Biltmore, and my heart is full of anticipation of what He will do this Easter! Thank you for being ready to reach out to our city, our region and our world.

Pastor Bruce

Every Christ follower has heard the criticism “The church is full of hypocrites!”  I don’t really see that.  What I see mostly is sincere people trying and failing, and trying again.  That is not hypocrisy.  A hypocrite is a person who says, “I am this and I am that” but they are not and don’t really care they are not.  Jesus said, “They honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”

We all have some inconsistencies in our lives because none of us have arrived.  I know what it’s like to preach on forgiveness and struggle to forgive someone who hurt me.  Or to exhort people to put their family first, and yet say ‘yes’ to too many things that put them on the back burner.  I know what it’s like to neglect the spiritual disciplines and see my soul grow parched.

What we must never do is harden our hearts to God’s call for repentance, humility and reconciliation.  Nothing will shrivel your soul faster than the acceptance of hypocrisy in our lives.  We need to root it out and bring it to the cross in repentance, and get the message to get genuine.

Author/Pastor James MacDonald wrote an awesome prayer called ‘I Want to be Real.’  Good to pray this regularly.

I WANT TO BE REAL

I want to be real.  I don’t want to force it or fake it or fix it after the fact…I just want to be real.

I want to operate from truth, not from pressure to please or perform for people.  I don’t want to choose from fear of what others will think of me or of my motives.  I want to choose what I know is right because it’s good and because it pleases the Lord…Help me, God.  I want to be real.

I have the information mostly.  I know I’m supposed to read and pray, and I know about worship too.  I’m supposed to witness and work for the kingdom, and I know about loving others more than myself.  Oh, yeah, I know all the stuff.  I know nearly everything I’m supposed to know, and most of all, I know that knowing is not enough because it doesn’t displace the denial in my heart…Help me, God.  I want to be real.

By real, I mean ready, filled with anticipation when I arrive at Your house to worship You, heartfelt worship.  Yeah, that‘s real.

By real, I mean ready with thanks for the cascade of blessings raining down on my head in this and every moment, genuine gratitude.  Yeah, that’s real.

By real, I mean an easy choice of obedience to silence my demanding flesh that calls me to choose what you lovingly forbid, obedient holiness.  Yeah, that’s real.

By real, I mean ready to be generous to people in need, not hoarding or hiding or helping out of guilt.  Yeah, giving freely and continuously.  That’s real for sure…Help me, God.  I want to be real.

My choice is to be real, to be authentic down to the core of my soul, which will change me forever.  I don’t want to pose; I don’t want to posture.  I don’t need a pat on the head or a slap on the back.  I’m not looking for applause.  I want to be real.

(from pages 207-208 in 10 Choices by James MacDonald)

Three agendas to protect against are:

1.  Ministry agendas – As weird as this might sound, ministry agendas can be divisive.  Someone is so tunnel-visioned about ‘their’ ministry, they get all vocal and bent out of shape when the whole church and staff don’t drop everything and jump on their bandwagon.  It can be a very good ministry (a particular mission cause, benevolence to certain group, etc.), but trying to make their calling into the calling for the whole church is going to cause problems.  Just because God called them to a particular ministry does not mean He called the whole church to invest in it.  By all means encourage personal ministry, but not at the expense of what God wants to do in His church at large.  By the way, don’t be intimidated if this person gets “self-righteous” and pulls the “God told me” card or the “You don’t care about people” card.

2. Biblical preference agendas – People sometimes come to churches with a doctrinal agenda.  I’m not talking about the core doctrines of the Christian faith.  With the fundamentals of the faith there is no room for compromise.  Where agendas usually cause trouble in Bible-believing evangelical churches are areas of personal preferences, or insisting on theological systems overlaying the Word of God.

3. Business agendas – A business agenda is when someone is trying to leverage the church for the betterment of their business.  Instead of worshippers, they see potential customers.  I love what my friend Pastor James MacDonald says to say, “Not here!  Do not come to church to sell things.  We only have one product here and it’s a Person – and He’s free!”

God bless you as you lead!

More thoughts on multi-site strategy:

• 5 Things I like/learned about Multi-Site Strategy
• Biltmore Franklin Campus
• JD Greear on Multi-site Strategy

As a pastor, I frequently hear hopelessness coming from families: “My parents are horrible;” “I don’t think my marriage can ever be different;” “My son is so far from God, he’s never coming back;” and on and on.  I can’t wait to hear stories of the miracles God is going to perform in families in the weeks ahead.  Maybe yours!  2500 years ago God told a very discouraged people “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  (Jeremiah 29:11)  These people could have thought it was “too late” or “cost too much” or “I’ve gone too far” – and they would have been wrong.  And you are too if that’s what you are thinking.  God says over and over again “when it seems hopeless, when it seems impossible – call on Me; I will answer you.” (v. 12)

In the next six weeks we are going to be studying God’s Word about the family, believing that our family can actually change.  So whether it is a minor tune-up that’s needed, or a major overhaul, join us in the weeks ahead for My Crazy Family Life.