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Sunday is Serious Business

July 28, 2011 in Discipline, Ecclesiology, Pastoral Help with 15 Comments

I like to wear a suit. I like to preach in a suit. In fact, I enjoy the act of putting on, tying, and wearing a tie. I don’t know why. I also don’t know when or why dressing in a suit became “old-fashioned.”

I enjoy the time and thought that goes into making sure my shoes are shined and my shirt is pressed. When I lace up my shoes, and I always preach in hard-bottom lace-up shoes unless I’m wearing boots, I double-knot them in preparation for a morning of intensity. When I head into church on Sunday mornings, I mean business. The Gospel is going to get preached.

I am not at church to lounge, impress, or be thought of as “cutting edge.” I’m there to work, and the prevailing theme of my occupation is to point people vigorously to the God of the Bible. I cannot do that in a pair of flip-flops while drinking a latte.

Some will say that I need to dress in a relevant way. I think that’s true. My problem is that the congregation I lead ranges in age from 10 to 100. Besides, I think fashion relevance is overrated. Don’t misunderstand me: Hickory Grove is not a stuffy or even traditional church. Most men will not have on a tie — much less, a suit. All walks of life in all manner of dress are represented on any Sunday at HGBC, and we’re all worshipping the same Lord together.

Style is not the issue nearly as much as modesty is — that’s a different blog post altogether. I’m not seeking to make the “Sunday best” argument or pleading for us to return to fashion of yester-year. I just like to preach in clothing that bespeaks the gravity of my task. I take that task seriously. When I crank down the Windsor knot and lace up my cap-toes, I know it is time to go to work.

So there’s a little insight into the mind of Clint Pressley, preacher.

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…

It’s Too… (insert complaint here)!

June 9, 2011 in Christians, Discipline, Ecclesiology, Grace, Membership with 3 Comments

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity…What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 1:2, 9 (ESV)

Padded pews and air conditioning have made us soft — as though “experiencing church” to match our individual preferences is our birthright. For more context on this post, read the entire book of Ecclesiastes. Then complain to me about something you don’t like at your church.

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A Presbyterian’s Dilemma

May 24, 2011 in Ecclesiology, Gospel, Grace, Inerrancy with 2 Comments

Last week, the Presbyterian Church (USA) crossed another line in the sand, further separating its ecclesiology from biblical truth. This leaves otherwise doctrinally-conservative Presbyterians with a choice to make: God’s Word or the church.  It’s a sad departure from centuries of church history. The strong words of the Apostle’s Creed I recited every Sunday until I was 16 years old clearly defined what we — and I still do — believe. As a Presbyterian I was grafted into the long line of Reform-minded biblically-driven Christians. Even then I was thankful for such a rich heritage of truth-based beliefs. I am sorry to say those days are now gone.

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