You (and your gifts) Matter

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Last night at St. Matthew’s we had the opening kickoff for our Wednesday Night Live programming! It was a great time, featuring the best food around Madison County, and our District Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Connie Shelton sharing with us. Last night Connie shared with us parts of these verses found in 1 Corinthians 12: 14-21. Listen to what they say:

14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

Two things stick out about the body to me.

First, you have a gift. You do. Everyone in the body has a gift. There is no ungifted person. Now, your gift will not be someone else’s gift. It will be unique to you. It will be something that you possess. It’s not better than someone else’s, it’s not worse that someone else’s. It yours. Be thankful for it. God has given it to you for a reason. Live into it.

You are special. You are unique. And you are gifted by God for something that only you can do.

And that leads us to the second thing, your gift matters to the church. You were created not to live alone, but to live in the body of Christ. You have a special place that God has created for you, and that the church needs for you to live into. Until you are doing that, you won’t be living into the total purpose of your gift.

You are gifted. You really are. And your gift is needed by the church, not just for the community that you will receive in it, but for the purpose that God for you.

You matter. Your gifts matter.

So, what are they?

One of the things that Connie shared with us was a really good, and really easy, spiritual gift assessments. Click here and take it for yourself. What are you gifts? What has God given you? And are you using it in the church?

Your church needs you. It needs your talents, your gifts, your passion, all that you, for the building of God’s kingdom. Plug in, serve, live!

Today, you are so gifted! May we use those gifts for God’s glory!

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Grace upon Grace

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Grace is not a one-time thing. It’s really not. God doesn’t just see our mistakes, forgive us one time, and then be done with us forever. No, God constantly gives us grace.

He gives us grace to forgive us, He gives us grace to empower us, He gives us grace to lead us. For us, and for the world, grace is not a one-time thing. It’s over and over and over again. I am thankful that God is always lavishing us with grace and mercy.

That’s how it works between us and God. But, how should it work between us. God always forgives us when we ask Him, but what about you and me? What are we to do when we keep messing up? I mean, really, can’t they get it right? How much grace do they get? Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 18: 21-22:

21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Now, notice what Peter asks. He says, what if another member of the church sins against me. Two things popped out. One is “sins against me.” That means does something to harm that relationship. Something that’s not good, something harmful and destructive.

Something that may leave a mark. Something that really may just hurt.

That’s tough to deal with. Tough to work through. Tough to process. It’s not easy.

What else jumped out at me? “another member of the church.” Someone that’s family. As Christians, we are called to love. That’s one of our main commands and duties as believers, to love. We are called to love, because God is love. That’s our purpose and our mission.

Love the world. Love each other.

But especially love each other. Because we are family.

Church, we’ve got to love each other. If we are always fussing and fighting among ourselves, then why would the world want o be part of us? Sometimes the fights are over theology, or worship, or leadership, or a million different things.

Jesus tells us what to do. Love. Forgive. Show mercy. Be graceful.

Even when “they” don’t deserve it. Because we don’t deserve it either. That’s why it’s grace. It’s never earned or deserved. It’s always, always, always given and received.

Today, you and I have received grace from our Loving God. Today, may we show that grace to the world, and especially to each other. Because loving each other may be one of our biggest witness to world.

In a world that is angry and bitter and hurting, folks want to know that they are loved. When we as the church live that out, I truly believe that we can change the world.

Today, may we show grace!

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

We are One

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

In Jesus, we all are equal. We are. There is such an equality with Jesus. An equality of need. An equality of grace. An equality of calling. We are all equal.

We all, me, you, all of us, we stand in equal need of salvation. None of us are perfect. None of us can earn it, none of us will get it right. We all need grace. We all need Jesus. We all need His mercy.

And what we find in Jesus, is we find that grace and mercy is there for all of us, no matter who we are, where we come from, any of that. We all find that His mercy is there, waiting for us, no matter what. No matter who we are, what we have done, any of us.

We find Jesus there.

So if we are equal in need and equal in grace, we are equal in worth. Listen to what Paul says today in Galatians 3: 27-28:

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

In Jesus, there is not male or female. There is not Greek or Jew. There is not slave or free. We are all one.

No matter what. No matter what barriers, differences, or distinctions the world tries to place on us, in Jesus, we are one.

No matter your race. Your views on things. Your wealth (or lack of). Your job. Any of these things. If you are in Jesus. If you are a believer. If you are saved through Jesus, then you are my brother or sister.

You are. In Jesus, we are one. Through Jesus, we are one. Because of Jesus, we are one.

Today, I love you like family. Because through Jesus, we are. Today, may we as the church, may we live as one. Because through Jesus, that’s just what we are.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!

52 Weeks, 52 Verses

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

I had a moment recently where I needed to know a Bible verse. I was in a moment where I really needed to be able to encourage someone, and I didn’t have my Bible with me. And I wasn’t, in that moment, able to pull up my cell phone.

I needed to be able to quote a verse. And I needed have hidden the Word in my heart so that at that moment, I could share it.

We each need that. Each of us, as believers, we need to be able to pull a verse from our heart, from our mind, at that moment.

As a pastor, that’s a gift that I want to be able to give to my church. I want them to be able to know the Bible so at the moment when they need it; they will have it.

So at Asbury, in 2015, we are doing 52 Weeks, 52 Verses. Each week of 2015, we will memorize a different Bible passage together.

Would you join us? Will you take that challenge? Will you take the time this year, to over the course of a week, memorize a different passage.

Think about all the song lyrics we know. Or sports statistics. Or movie quotes. I know a bunch of all those, cause I’m a geek. But how much more should we know and hid God’s Word in our hearts?

Will you join us? Each week this year, one of these days I’ll share our verse for the week. This week it’s Daniel 2: 20-21:

20 Daniel answered and said:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
to whom belong wisdom and might.
21 He changes times and seasons;
he removes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to those who have understanding;

Let’s learn this together. And let’s see what God will do with it in this year, and for all eternity!

If God So Loves Us . . .

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

My childhood pastor (Bill Poole) was one of the most gifted pastors and teachers I’ve ever had in my life. Even though I was young when he was my pastor, so many things he said have stuck with me through the years.

One of the things that he said that I always remember is that “if” is the biggest word in the Bible. Anything that comes after “if” is huge. Just huge. “If” is one of those words that holds the Bible. “If” determines so much about life, faith, everything.

Normally “if’ is the word that hold’s God’s truth together with our action.

Listen to what we read today in 1 John 4: 10-11:

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

In this passage, we are reminded that God loves us. And then we are told, if God has loved us, then we ought to love one another.

That’s it. That’s what we have to do. That’s what we are called to do.

The first question in this we must ask ourselves is this. Does God love us? The answer to that, without a doubt all throughout Scripture is yes. God loves us. He adores us. He sent His son to die for us and be raised for us.

He loves us. Really. He does. Do you believe that?

That’s the first question you’ve got to answer is do you believe that?

“If” so, then we must love each other. We must. We are not given an out. We are not given a choice. We are not given an excuse. We must love each other.

Love is the language of faith. Love is our hope, our peace, our joy, our purpose. God has loved us. He has. We have to love each other.

It’s hard. Very hard. We don’t want to sometimes. But we must. Because as believers, it’s who we are.

There’s that old hymn “They Will Know We are Christians by our Love” (Jars of Clay did a cool version of it a few years ago that I really like) that really sums this up – that always comes back to that statement – they will know we are Christians by our love.

Today, that’s our calling. Even when it’s hard. Even when you don’t want. Even when you don’t want to. It’s who we are.

It’s who we are.

If God has loved us, we must love each other. Today, may each of us do that, through the grace and love of our Father.

The Church is Bigger Than Me

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

The Church is bigger than me. It is bigger than my church. It is bigger than the denomination that I’m a part of. It’s bigger than the churches that I’m in partnership with here locally.

The Church is bigger than me.

It’s made of people (and churches) that are different than me. It’s made of up of people (and churches) that are like me. They may worship like we do; they may worship differently than we do. They may have disagreements on lots of things.

And that’s ok. Because the church is bigger than me. It’s bigger than my church. It’s made up of all of those that profess the name of Jesus Christ.

Listen to what happens today in Luke 9: 49-50:

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

Jesus said; it’s bigger than just us. While they may not be “part”
of us, they are part of us.

So, today, if we are working for the same God, have the same purpose, the same salvation, the same calling, the same reason, we are on the same team.

We are. In spite of differences, in spite of preferences, in spite of all these things we are part of the same team.

And we as Christians, we’ve got to live like that. Seriously. We’ve got to live with that truth in our lives. We’ve got to live with that purpose.

The church is bigger than me. It’s bigger than my church. It’s bigger than my style of worship. It’s bigger than my theology.

It’s bigger that all of these. It’s about Jesus. And His will and His purpose.

Let’s live like that today. Me and you. We can do it.

And I know if we all do, each of us together. We can change the world.

The Church and Domestic Abuse

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

I really love football. I really do. I’m more of a college guy than a pro guy. I joke that my three loves in life are my God, my family, and my Ole Miss Rebels, and sometimes Ole Miss climbs that list based off how they are doing,

I don’t have a pro team, I guess the Saints, but in truth I root for whoever has the most Ole Miss players on their team.

So, I’ve watched the whole Ray Rice saga more from the perspective of a passive football fan. I’ve not been impressed with the leadership of the NFL as it seems like it’s more about damage control than anything else.

And I have become discouraged about where we are on issues of domestic abuse. It’s easy to fixate on Ray Rice, but as mentioned above, I’m a fan of Ole Miss. And one of our former Rebels is in some very hot water over this very issue, as well.

My perspective on this issue comes, though, not from being a football fan, but from someone who has seen the effects of domestic abuse first-hand, and from being a pastor. This past Annual Conference, Bishop Swanson asked me and Ginger Stevens from the Wesley House in Meridian to help him lead a workshop on domestic violence and think about the ways that we as churches and pastors can respond.

I think that we, as the church, and as Christians, and really as humans, miss the point. For instance, I mentioned Ray Rice and Greg Hardy. What Hardy did to his girlfriend is appalling. Why is there not the same outrage? Simple. There is no film of it. When we see what happened, we instinctively pull back. The written word is not as offensive. A picture (or video) really is worth a thousand words.

There are so many others who have written more eloquently, and put into words what I’m thinking. But here, for me, is the bottom line.

Abuse is always wrong. Physical, emotional, verbal. Any abuse is wrong.

This has shaped me, and is one thing that I have no patience for as a man, a husband, a father (to a daughter – and a son), and as a pastor.

We as Christians, and as the church, have to speak out on these types of issues. We have to help the women (and, yes, sometimes men) and children that are in these cases find the help and safety they need.

But here’s the reality on these types of cases. They are messy. They are confusing. It’s often a “he said/she said” type of situation. There are conflicting stories. There are in cases like the in the Ray Rice situation where the victim reconciles and doesn’t want to press charges.

So it’s easier for us as the church and as Christians for us to look away and walk away.

But we can’t. We can’t look away. We can’t walk away. We can’t. Even when it’s messy or hard. We can’t look away. We can’t walk away. Because we serve a God that saw us in the midst of mess and didn’t look away or walk away. But instead, through Jesus Christ, entered into our mess to save us. How?

By being abused. Beaten. Mocked. Spit upon.

Jesus keenly understands that type of abuse. Because He (for the sake of our redemption) received the same type of abuse.

What do we do? I’m not 100% sure. But I know we can’t look away. And I know we can’t walk away.

Here at Asbury, we have a list on file of resources for individuals caught in this situation. We have friends that work in this area and we know where to refer people, if they are ready to receive help.

We will do all that we can to help get them there. We can’t make or force the decision. But we can help, when the decision has been made.

There is more, much more we can do. But I know this. I will not, and our church will not, look away or walk away.

As believers, that’s simply not an option.

The Wrong Questions

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

I’ve had some very interesting conversations recently about summertime and the church. People are busy, busy, busy. When the summer is upon folks, our schedules just really get out of control. We are going, going, going.

And so what happens from a ministry perspective is this. It’s tough to get things done, it’s tough get schedules planned, it’s tough to get events taken care of. People are just busy. And it’s not just a summer thing, it’s an entire year thing.

In Petal, there’s school and sports and hobbies and family and the beach and everything. This true for both children, youth, families, everyone.

And here’s the biggest change. In years past, church dominated folks schedule, especially here in the south. People placed church plans and church events over personal, family, and school events. And that’s not the case anymore. I put it like this to other pastors – if we make parents choose between t-ball and church, most folks are picking t-ball every time.

It is what it is. It’s the reality of where the world is and is headed. Complaining about it as churches and pastors does no good. What are we going to do about it?

What the church would like, to be honest, would be for you to be less busy with your stuff, so that you can be more busy with our stuff. Church stuff. Church events. I think that we in the church don’t want you less busy, we want you less busy with stuff that keeps you from being busy with our stuff.

And I don’t think that’s right either. You know what I want? I just want folks to be less busy. To have the chance to just breathe. Not less busy with their stuff and more busy with my stuff. Just less busy.

We’ve seen a shift in culture, from “modernity” to “post-modernity.” People aren’t focused on institutions and structure like they used to be, they have shifted towards experiences and their own freedom. Authorities don’t matter. The Encyclopedia Britannica was edited by experts, Wikipedia is edited by you and me. Everyone is an expert, everyone is free!

You can see (if you can read it) some of my explaination off to the side. The things that used to matter, don’t matter any more. What matters? Relationships.

And the church is isn’t set up from that. We are programmed and structured and scheduled. And people aren’t like that anymore. And with what little free time they have, they are going to cram as much life as possible into it.

So, the church’s schedule and events are good, only in that they fit into free time available or mean something to the individual.

The “church” is not set up for that. We operate, most of us, out of a programing mindset. We want you in worship. And education (small groups or Sunday school). We want you on Wednesdays. We want you on Sunday nights. We want you at meetings through the week. We want you at church events. We want you busy, busy, busy for church too.

And I honestly don’t think that’s what folks want. But that’s all that the church knows how to do. It’s how we are set up.

The culture is shifting under our feet. People don’t want businesses. They want community. They want support. They want relationships. And church is set up most time to make you busy.

Not to give you relationships.

We’ve got to shift. We’ve got to move from a program/event mindset to a relational mindset. We’ve got to be authentic Christians that understand that faith and discipleship are not bound to specific times and place. Yes, worship still matters, greatly. Yes, small groups still matter, greatly. But, the most “pastoral” thing I did today was run into an old friend today and drink coffee and chat about life for an hour.

Faith happens all over. This shift we have to make as the church is this. Relationships matter. Relationships are how we are changed, how creation is changed, how lives are change. We as the church have got to move beyond the 1950s method of locked in schedules.

We’ve got to live out the Gospel in coffee shops, and Walmart, and baseball games, and the beach, and everywhere.

We’ve got to be more simple. I ask people at Asbury to commit to 3 things. Weekly worship, weekly small group, and daily service. That’s it. You do those three, you are being very, very faithful.

I don’t want you at church every night. I want you living life, forming relationships, being Salt and Light.

I think we as the church have the answer, but we are asking the wrong question. Jesus is what matters, Jesus changes things. The question is not why aren’t you busy for church, but the question should be is this – how have you seen Him today and how have you shown Him to others.

We have the answer the world needs. We’ve just got to ask the right question.

We ARE One

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

We ARE one today. As Christians, as churches, we ARE one. We are part of the same body. We are brothers and sisters. We are family. We are. We aren’t given another choice or option today. We are one.

Even if we don’t like each other. Even if we don’t agree with each other. Even if we have different worship styles. Or views of communion or baptism or church structure or any of these things. We are one.

Listen to what it says today in 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

Paul writes – “and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” So is it with Christ. We are one.

Now, it’s ok to have different views. To say we are one isn’t to say that we always agree with each other. Or like the same thing. Or view it the same way. But it means this. We are family. We are on the same side. We are on the same team. We have the same goal. We have the same purpose.

We have the same Lord, and are made to drink of the same spirit.

As John Wesley said “If your heart beats with my heart in love and loyalty to Christ, give me your hand.”

We are family. So, let’s stop fussing with each other. Let’s support each other as churches and as individuals. Let’s show the world the love of Christ, by first loving each other.

We are one. Really. Lets love in that way.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

A Wasted Year?

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Andy Stoddard

I was having a conversation with one of my staff members last week, talking about how 2013 has been a tough year. This has been a busy year, a year where I felt like I haven’t stopped. Now, most of that has been my fault, preaching too many revivals and never taking much time off. But all around, it’s been a challenging year. It’s been a rough year in a lot of ways. And this was the phrase that I used. I said that this year feels like a wasted year.

And that’s a strong phrase. Why did I feel that way? It’s been an odd year for me, for our church. We’ve done so much. We’ve sent more folks out in mission than any year in the history of our church. We’ve got more ongoing small groups now than any time in the history of our church. We have problems, sure, but all in all, thing seem good.

Plus, this has been the best year of worship, I believe, that we’ve ever had. Our services have become so spirit driven and purposeful, I’ve never been around anything like it.

Yes, we’ve grown. But not as much as in the previous few years.

Yes, we’ve baptized a ton of folks. But not as much as in the past few years.

Yes, we’ve we are on pace to have our greatest year ever in giving. But, we aren’t just blowing out of the water, either.

After three straight years of exponential growth, we’ve simply grown this year. Now, I know in a church culture that can be full of decline, this sounds very whinny, but, I think this has been symptomatic of other things.

I put a lot pressure on myself. I always have, in everything that I do. I sometimes take the words of one of my mentors too seriously, “Prepare like it depends upon you, preach knowing it depends upon God.” I do the first part well, but not the second.

So, what happens to me in ministry is I start taking things too personally. This year, I took everything personally. I so want to see Asbury grow, so want to see people grow in their own faith, when it doesn’t happen like I want it to, then I get so frustrated.

Because of that, when others would leave Asbury to go to another church, I took it personally. When visitors did not return, I took it personally. What did I do wrong? What did we do wrong? Were my sermons not good enough? Were we not friendly enough? How have I failed? What could I have done better? It hurt and bothered me.

Then when I saw folks not growing like I though they should (wow, what an arrogant statement!) I got frustrated. When I saw inconsistent worship attendance. Or lack of volunteers for church efforts. Or just what I perceived to be apathy, I thought what more can I do? What can I start? How can I help? I had a combination of frustration/exhaustion going in a dangerous level.

And then, as every pastor (or most of us, I guess) deals with, I dealt with issues of jealously. Look what other churches are doing. Look how they are growing. The old green eyed evil of jealous crept slowly towards me. That’s one of the reasons that I so publicly support and pray for other churches, it is an act of the will for me. I know that as competitive as I am, I want to the best, and yes, be the biggest. That’s my pride, my arrogance, my ego talking. So, I make myself, publically and privately, pray for other churches.

Because of how driven I am, I wanted to see us do the very best we could do. So I pushed. And I pulled. And I fussed. And I did everything I could think I could do to help us grow. And I was growing more and more frustrated.

As well as missing the great things happening all around. I was actually missing the growth. The families healed. The moves of grace.

I saw only problems. And felt like most of the problems were because of me. What I’d done wrong. Or could do better. If I was a better preacher. Or pastor. Or leader. Or teacher, then people would grow. We would see more lives changed, more things happen, more move of the spirit.

If I was just better.

The best analogy I can make is in baseball, when a batter comes up to bat in a pressure situation, say for instance, there is a runner on second base, with two outs, and a hit ties the game; there is an old saying that the batter can squeeze the bat so tight, it will turn it into saw dust. They put so much pressure on themselves that they get so uptight, and they can’t do the job.

I think that happened to me this year. I think I squeezed the bat too tight. I think I put too much pressure on myself. I got inside my own head. And that’s a dangerous place to be. I got too busy, we go to busy.

I think I forgot.

And I think I missed the point of why it is that I do what I do, and what God has called me to do.

I forgot about grace. I so wanted to see our church be faithful and grow in this past year, that I forgot why we do what we do. Grace. God loves us, not because of what we do, but because of what He has done, because of who He is.

I so wanted to see people grow, that I would grow frustrated, and put aside the only thing that really matters: relationships. And because of that, I actually wasn’t able to help them do the one thing that I really wanted them to do, because I was so frustrated!

I wanted to preach the perfect message every Sunday, that I forgot the only message the really matters. Grace.

I found that I didn’t talk a lot about grace this year. I talked a lot about doing. And going. And serving. And all that. Which is good.

But, I didn’t talk a lot about what truly IS GOOD. Grace. God’s love for us.

That’s what matters.

And I kind of forgot it.

And because of that, I think I wasted 2013.

So, I’m ready for 2014. I’m ready to recapture grace. I’m ready to hit on all cylinders about God’s love for us. I’m ready to bask in the goodness of His amazing grace. I’m ready to stop grabbing the bat so tight, and just breathe.

How about you?

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