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This Is Not A Drill, Now Is The Time

February 29, 2012 in Church Growth, Missions, Vision with 0 Comments

In December, I asked the congregation of Hickory Grove Baptist Church to join me in imagining and embracing a sharpened vision for our church. This vision calls us to reach beyond our “brick and mortar” buildings and to carry the Gospel more deeply into the community around us and, indeed, to the nations.

I asked them to imagine with me the possibilities that could become reality if we would only commit ourselves firmly to this vision. They enthusiastically responded in agreement!

This Sunday, March 4, we will begin putting feet and legs under this vision so that we can “walk our talk” and turn imagined possibilities into solid mission action.

The +1 Missions Challenge – which we will introduce in our worship services on this Sunday – is designed to engage us more practically and more purposefully in the mission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every person who attends Hickory Grove has a place and a role in taking the Gospel to our neighbors, to our nation and into the world. It is time to move from an imagined outcome to a tangible response.

Now is the time. March 4 is the date. Just imagine what we can do!

#iamplusone

The Shock Gospel [Guest Post]

January 17, 2012 in Church Growth, Gospel, Guest Posts with 2 Comments

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” – John 6:54

I am not a fan of using shock value to get the attention of the people I shepherd. Over the past couple of weeks several evangelical leaders around the country have been using their platforms and publicity machines for the sole purpose of generating attention toward one issue in particular: sex. Recently, one mega-church pastor released a book on marriage that, despite a few positive elements, reads more like a tawdry sex novel than a gospel saturated exposition on Biblical marriage.

Last week a pastor at a large church in Texas spent the night on the roof of his church in a bed with his wife to draw attention to the fact that the “culture has kicked the bed out of the church and God out of the bed.” To the lost world, these stunts look like nothing more than a ploy to sell books and attract masses of people to their church. To me, this is nothing more than Howard Stern-style pastoral leadership.

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Vision Sunday Recap

December 14, 2011 in Church Growth, Gospel with 1 Comment

I do not consider myself to be the model of a 21st century, cutting-edge pastor. I like to shine my shoes, put on a suit and stand before God’s people to proclaim God’s word. I am a pastor by calling, a pastor by trade and a pastor by choice. My life is bent around the leading of God’s church, the shepherding of his flock and the preaching of his word.

This week, however, was a departure from the norm at Hickory Grove Baptist Church as we experienced the energy and vitality that comes with having a Gospel-centered, Christ-exalting vision for what God has for us in the future.

This past Sunday, I stood before the church I lead and set forth a vision of where Hickory Grove is headed in the coming days. We have always been a Gospel people. Our rich heritage of faithful leadership and fidelity to the word of God is evidenced in the abundance of changed lives that walk in and out of our doors every Sunday. The vision I shared with our people is based on three principles—that we exist to Exalt Christ, Make Disciples and Pass the Torch. Everything we do from this point forward will be based on these three things.

Every ministry and every program will be held up to the light of the Gospel and what is working will be expanded upon while the things that do not push to this end must be reconsidered in light of our mission.

I do not claim to have laid hold to some great new truth or innovative church growth strategy, no, what we are committing ourselves to is that we are a Gospel-centered church that is on mission for Jesus Christ until he calls us home. This is who we are, this is where we are headed and by God’s grace we will see it through.

For more about the vision God has given us, click here.

HGBC Mid-Summer Update

July 23, 2011 in Church Growth, Membership, Student Ministry with 1 Comment

Wednesday morning I stood and watched nearly 400 students and more than 120 adult leaders pile into chartered buses and head off to camp. It was like a staging area for the Allied invasion of Normandy — with slightly more Axe body spray and Doritos. This summer’s camp is the largest on record at Hickory Grove. Camp can be a great time of focused discipleship and worship. I drove down to Camp Paradise yesterday with a couple of other staff members, and I was encouraged to see the kids having fun while also worshipping the Lord together. Even with all the craziness of the camp experience, I’m praying that this will be a turning point in the lives of many of our students.

Where HGBC is GOing – part 2

July 15, 2011 in Church Growth, Ecclesiology, Gospel, Membership with 2 Comments

Continuing our list from the other day: Here are some more ways Hickory Grove will commit to our missions priorities.

Our missions efforts must be…

6. Driving us to plant churches.  The primary vehicle for disciplemaking in 2000 years of church history has been the local church.  We need to help believers in Charlotte (our Jerusalem), the Carolinas (Judea), North America (Samaria), and the ends of the earth — see Acts 1:8 – organize into Bible-teaching fellowships that sustain the cycle of exalting Christ, making disciples, and passing the torch. We need to get as many people into healthy churches as we can.

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Where HGBC is GOing – Part 1

July 11, 2011 in Church Growth, Ecclesiology, Gospel with 7 Comments

There are 6750 unreached or unengaged people groups in the world.  That’s roughly 60% of the world’s population with little or no access to the life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ, and many of these people (3684 groups, or 8% of the world) have never even heard the name of Jesus uttered.  (source: IMB Global Research)

It is our foremost priority as a church to spread the Gospel to people who have never heard it (Matthew 28:17-20; Acts 1:8), and we at Hickory Grove are stepping up our missions efforts to fulfill the Great Commission.  Here are a few of the guidelines we’re setting for our church.

Our missions efforts must be…

  1. Born out of our worship.  We will only be as effective in spreading the Gospel to the degree that the work of the Gospel has changed our hearts.  We will exalt Christ in our worship, take broken people – dead in their sins – and make regenerate disciples of Jesus out of them, then lead them to pass along the torch of faith.  Continue Reading…

Get Excited or Get Out!

July 6, 2011 in Christians, Church Growth, Gospel, Membership, Pastoral Help with 1 Comment

If you are a pastor and you can’t get excited about your church, then you need to leave it.  That’s a strong pill to swallow, but the Lord has given you the greatest responsibility (turning people back to Him) at the most crucial time in history (today).  Enjoy it!  Lead your church to be good at exalting Christ and making disciples.

You steward a living Gospel that makes dead men alive and foul men clean!  How can you not be excited?  The church – with all of its potential craziness – belongs to the Lord, and He has given us the chance to earn a living serving Him by leading the church to become His spotless bride.

If you can’t throw yourself into the life and ministry of your church, then find something else to do.  If you can’t love the church with a consuming, unbalanced affection, then you need to turn in your Bible.  The church of the Lord Jesus is what we do, what we live for, and how we glorify God in returning our lives in service to Him, thankful for His grace to us.

We feed sheep.  As undershepherds called of God to that task, we care for the sheep in our flock.  Shepherds also carry a staff, and sometimes it’s necessary to employ the staff to keep the flock together and moving in the same direction.  But we don’t neglect to feed them because we’ve tired of the task or become distracted by the promise of a greener pasture.

Pastor brothers, you have one life.  To the glory of God, fling that life into loving, serving, prodding, and leading the church of the Lord Jesus – looking forward to your reward in eternity to come.

Being the Church: John Stegemerten Guest Post

June 2, 2011 in Church Growth, Guest Posts, Membership with 0 Comments

Today I am traveling back from a mission trip, and the Lord blessed our efforts in so many ways.   My oft-bearded singer John Stegemerten, Pastor of Worship at HGBC’s Main Campus, is writing today on the unity of our fellowship. Follow his blog at johnstegemerten.wordpress.com.

When I came to Hickory Grove almost 4 years ago, it didn’t take me long to realize that this is a friendly church.  I had the pleasure of being introduced to “pounding:” a great southern tradition where church members take care of the new guy by loading him up with enough groceries to feed a small army for seven years.  My new Hickory Grove family made me feel like one of their own from the very beginning, and since that time, I’ve been constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of our people.

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HGBC Students Are Awesome

May 13, 2011 in Church Growth, Membership, Student Ministry with 2 Comments

These kids are crazy. In a time when the world says to teenagers that “Spring Break” should be a time to party and engage in all manner of Spirit-less living (you can figure out what I mean; you were young once), Hickory Grove students spent their spring break sharing the love of Jesus practically. Read about it in the North Carolina Biblical Recorder HERE.

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Being Baptist

May 10, 2011 in Church Growth, Gospel, Membership with 4 Comments

My name is Clint Pressley, and I am a Southern Baptist. That’s not my introduction at a recovery meeting; I choose to be – and serve a church that is – loyal to our denomination. I know it isn’t really “cool” these days among growing evangelical churches and pastors, but I am Baptist anyway.

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