mattmehaffey

Sunday in the Bag

Yesterday, was a hard but very good day. Feeling like I was about to puke my guts out while unloading the trailer was my first sign. Luckily, I was able to hold it together.

Sunday's celebration service at The Pursuit we looked at the true marks of a godly leader. We looked at 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 and you can find the audio here. The Big Idea for yesterday was "We become good news to South Florida when we lead as we serve like Jesus."

This was a difficult message for me to preach because I talked about a couple of men who I considered godly leaders (I am where I am today because they pointed me to Jesus) but they hit the eject button on the church, one abandoned his wife and kids for another woman. Paul says, it's not enough to aspire to be a leader but to be a faithful leader.

I found a prayer journal I kept while I was at Cincinnati Christian University where I wrote the names of 20 of my peers who were studying to become leaders in the church. I committed to pray for these guys for a time. While many are still growing and persevering almost half have dropped off the map.

I think what consumed my thoughts yesterday was how fragile all leaders (and all churches) really are. There is something deep inside all of us that loves to put people up on pedestals and when that leader proves what we should have known all along ... they're human and scarred by sin ... we realize too much of our faith was anchored to them instead of Jesus.

Highlights of the day:

1. We saw a beautiful display of grace take place during communion. Good place for it!
2. Kids City is rocking and rolling. Recent first time guests are coming back because their kids had such a blast.
3. We looked briefly into the future to when The Pursuit will transition from the current management team to a local eldership. I said, "If there are men who aspire to this position you need to know and live 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9." While saying that, I saw a bunch of people writing down those verses to study later. Love that!
4. We now have three chefs at The Pursuit ... thank you Jesus!
5. A great summer crowd showed up.

Introducing Jeeves!

The tag line of The Pursuit Christian Church is Love. Live. Lead. "Lead" is actually short for servant leadership. Christ followers should be servant leaders because Jesus was the epitome of this.

Every month, we have a gathering of all the church leaders and those who are in training called Leadership Huddle. I wanted this to be an event where we could celebrate individuals who are displaying this characteristic in their lives.

Enter, Jeeves. When Janie and I walked into our new house for the first time we were greeted by the little butler as a gift from the previous owner. When Alex and Erin moved down, he was waiting for them. Same thing with Bob and Linda Smith. Day and night he stands ready to hold your keys, wallet and cell phone without even a single thought of himself.

Jeeves has become the official mascot of servant leadership at Huddle. Last month, he was presented to Mike Panek who has been an absolute Godsend to The Pursuit. Mike has gone above and beyond helping in the tech area, playing bass, loading and unloading equipment, and about a million other things. He's happy to do it.

Mike was the first person who signed his name to Jeeves and took him home where he welcomes guests when they come over. Mike will bring Jeeves back this Saturday to a brand new recipient! Stay tuned! I can't wait until 2 to 3 years down the road where there will be 24-36 signatures on Jeeves.