Bard Letsinger

Every Day is a Good Day When You Are Not in a Coma - Nate Lytle

A cool part of leading a great church is that you get to hang out with some great people, like my friend Nate Lytle. In a departure from our normal Sunday message…well not much at Renegade Church is normal…but in a departure from what we usually do on a Sunday morning we did an interview with Nate as a kick off to Renegade’s Extraordinary series.

Back in 2007 Nate fell of a ladder at work and was struck in the head by a hunk of pipe that crushed his skull and caused severe brain trauma. At first Nate was not expected to live, and then when he did survive doctors said that he would never walk and talk or have any type of normal life. The only thing anyone was right about is that Nate would not live a normal life because, from his speaking engagements, to leading surf camps for disabled kids, to ministering to others who have suffered traumatic head injuries, to being named TIRR Survivor of the Year for 2011, and now promoting a book about his life and experiences, Nate’s life is anything but “normal.”

When interviewing Nate one verse kept coming to mind, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

The NBV (New Bard Version) translation is “God never waste a hurt.” 

We all have physical, relational and emotional hurts in our lives. Scripture makes it clear that God allows life’s trials to not only to teach us something about ourselves and build our character but also to equip us so He can work through us help others when they go through the same thing. Something that seems like it is preventing us from doing ministry can actually be the launching pad for a new ministry to others.

My friend Nate is living this out today. Where others see failure God see opportunities for ministry greater than you could ever imagine on your own. My challenge to you is what area of your life have you experienced your greatest hurt and how are you using it to help others around you. Unless you are doing that then your hurt and pain really were all for naught.

 

Wasting Time Well

A movie debuted the summer before my senior year of high school that was destined become a classic, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. At the time I had all these decisions in front of me to make as well as the pressure I felt from  coaches, teachers, parents as well as myself to succeed and accomplish all the goals that were set before me. But then one line from the movie changed my whole perspective. 

This week at Renegade Church I did a message called “Time Well Wasted” in our series “Life Lessons from Brad Paisley”. The song and the clip go together well. Life does move pretty fast….and then unexpectedly, poof, it’s gone, and we look around wondering "What just happned?!?" Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 9:9 “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity;” The Hebrew word for  “vain/vanity” means breath or vapor. Simply, life is like the soap bubbles kids play with, existing for a brief moment... then gone, poof, with little evidence that it was ever there. So when we think about all the things we stress ourselves out trying to accomplish, what good are they if they cause us to speed through life and miss out on all the relationships and moments that truly make life rich?

Take a minute to listen to the advice of Brad Paisley, then figure out where you need to stop, look around and stop letting life pass you by.

 

Games People Play - Trivial Pursuits

Been too busy to write like I use to, but going to try to at least get into the habit of doing a M3D (Monday Morning Mind Dump) tossing out anything that was left in my head on Sunday morning but just did not make it into the message.

We wrapped up Renegade Churche's current "Games People Play" series Thanksgiving weekend with Trivial Pursuits. Here are the two main points I wanted everyone to walk away with.

First: Remember being “Thankful” and “Other-Centered” is a choice.

We can choose to be self-centered, spending our time looking at what other people have, wondering why other seem to work less and make more, have the house/car/clothes/spouse/kids we don’t, don’t have health problems we have, or just seem to be luckier. If we do that we wind up discouraged, resentful, negative and miserable. Not someone people want to be around.

OR…

We can choose to focus on those around us who are in need, those who have truly hit hard times, those who are really struggling in life and when we do we find ourselves counting our blessings and being thankful for what we do have.

Which one of these attitudes did you have over Thanksgiving?

The choice is yours. That’s right… you choose consciously or unconsciously which one of those attitudes you carry with you each day. Make a conscious choice to be other-centered.

Second: How do you know if something is a Trivial Pursuit?

A "Trivial Pursuit" is something that you feel once you have it/accomplish it you will be truly happy, everything will be great, that life will be complete, that all your problems will be solved.

Finding the right spouse, getting your degree, the right job, having kids, getting a promotion, getting a new car or your own home are all good things, but if we are not carful we can base our happiness on obtaining them. And when we do get them we are happy…for a short time, but then they let us down and we go after another one thinking that the “next thing” will make us happy.

The simple truth is that anything we chase after to fill that God shaped hole in our life with to make us happy and fulfilled is a Trivial Pursuit.

 

 

It’s the End of the World As We Know It…It’s the End…oh wait, it’s not. Or False Prophet 0-2 / Bard 4-0

We were having fun this past week with the Harold Camping prediction of the rapture on May 21st. People were talking about the rapture like there was no tomorrow.  However, I am not sure why anyone thought Mr. Camping’s prediction would come to pass. Come on, the man is the head of a Non-Prophet organization after all.

Best joke of the whole week was played on me. I changed that weekends message in my “Fearless” series so on Saturday, May 21st, I texted Skip, my worship guy, “I'm calling an audible changing tomorrow's message at Renegade Church to "Fear of the Rapture"...that is if we are still here tomorrow LOL.” A few minutes later I got a text back saying “This isnt Skip. I found this phone on a pile of his clothes.” I about died laughing

Now that May 21 has come and gone people want to know where all the money people gave to Mr. Camping went. He is not saying but one look at the guy and you know none of it was spent on plastic surgery, ant-ageing creams or new suits.

Monday evening I was sitting on my porch pondering what Harold Camping’s next move would be. Guys like this never just lick their wounds and fade away, they always spin what happened and come up with a new prediction. I thought about what Camping might say and I jokingly posted on my Facebook page:

“Waiting for Camping (the Rapture is May 21 guy) to come out and say something along the lines of "Oops, forgot to carry the 1, so May is 5th month, double number 5 you get 10 so the end of the world is actually happening October 21, my bad". Or "It was a silent/invisible coming only true believers could sense". These guys can't keep their heads buried long.”

Darn if I did not wake up Tuesday morning to friends sending me links to news stories saying that Camping said he was off by five months and that the new date of the end of the world is….wait for it…. October 21st!!! And that what happened “May 21 had instead been a "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ's judgment.”  You have to admit that I was more accurate in predicting what Camping was going to say than Camping was in his predictions of the rapture and the end of the world.

How did I know Camping was wrong? The Bible. Apparently he missed Matt 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” So if you want to follow a true prophet follow me. Based on that verse I have predicted that every end of the world prediction since 1988 was wrong and I am like 8-0. And right now I am going out on a limb and predicting that Mr. Camping’s October 21st date, as well as the Dec. 21 2012 Myan end of the world date will come and pass without incident and that I will be celebrating Christmas with my Renegade Church on December 25, 2012.

Looking forward to being 10-0.

Out of the Blog-o-spear for a while

Can't remember the last time I had a chance to blog. Way too busy working on planting Renegade Church and getting thigns off the ground. For awhile I did not think I could aford to blog but now I am thinking I can't aford not to. For so long it was a creative outlet and a way to keep my sanity. Now that I am teaching on a weekly basis and the lead guy at Renegade there are a lot of things that eat up my time, but it is time to start making time again...wait.... I guess we can't make time, we just rearange our time, or is it our scheadule, and did I even come close to spelling that corectly, well I know I spelled "that" corectly...choo choo this is how my train of thought goes off the tracks sometimes. O.K. back to blogging. Where has my time gone? A lot of it into our messages at Renegade, here is the latest, the start to our 3G series on the trinity.

The F-Word

I have been way too busy being the church planting pastor over the past few months to blog. But I am hoping to change that with our new series at Renegade Church called “The F-Word” starting March 20. Instead of writing about it let me tell you what “The F-Word” is all about.

This is going to be great series and I can’t wait until Sunday to teach. This is one of those series that people will discover why we say that “Renegade is the church for people who think they don’t like church.”

Importance of “Making the Ask” at Christmas

One of the pastors who’s blogs I follow is Perry Noble, pastor of New Spring Church  in Anderson, SC.  His church is dedicated to reaching the unchurched, dechurched and spiritual seekers. They have made it their mission  to constantly challenge their people to “Make the Ask” and invite their friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. Here are some facts Perry published on his blog this week that might surprise you about asking someone to church.

Top Five Times People Are Open To Considering Matters Of Faith…
• #5 – After the birth of a baby (28%)
• #4 – After a natural disaster (34%)
• #3 – After a major national crisis i.e. 9/11 (38%)
• #2 – During the Easter season (38%)
• #1 – During the Christmas season (47%)

Renegades…my prayer is that we will EMBRACE this opportunity (because found people find people) and do EVERYTHING we can to BRING people to a service during Christmas!!!  Research ALSO shows that the #1 way a person will receive information about a church is through the PERSONAL INVITE from a friend or family member.  Let’s pursue them like Jesus pursued us!!! Make the ask and invite someone to Renegade this weekend and to our special Renegade Christmas Event Wednesday, December 22 at 6:30 PM.

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People - Who Are the Good People?

One of the biggest problems people have with God is why he lets bad things happen to good people. It is a legitimate, if misguided, question. Recently I did a series at Renegade Church taking an in-depth look at the bible to see if there was a scriptural answer to the question. In this, the first of four posts on this subject, I take a look at “Who are the Good People?”

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People - Week 1 (Who Are the "Good" People) from Renegade Church on Vimeo.

One reason people give for not believing in God, or walking away from God, is that they don’t understand how a loving God can let things like cancer, accidents, birth defects, natural disasters, etc., happen to good or innocent people. In part one of a five week series Pastor Bard Letsinger brings a batch of his "special" brownies (if he offers you one DON'T EAT IT) and takes a look at the question from a biblical perspective by asking the question “Who are the ‘Good’ people?” and “are you one of them?”

Can I punch one of the “Worthwhile” in the throat…no?…o.k.

While doing research on the web this one church’s web page caught my eye. The site itself was nothing special, but it was the churches catch phrase that took me aback. It read, and I quote: “WHERE THE WORTHWHILE WORSHIP. “UNSAVED ARE NOT WELCOME (AS JESUS COMMANDED)” All I can say is “seriously?!?” Where the “WORTHWHILE WORSHIP”?!? As WHO commanded?!? What version of the bible are these people reading?  Just when I think “churchy” people can’t surprise me anymore, they do.

Think about it. Can you just see a doctor at the door of the hospital emergency room shouting “Hey, hey, HEY….YOU!!! Yeah, the guy in pain with the bone sticking out of his calf, when you stop bleeding all over the floor, get that leg fixed and can walk in here without us having to carry you, THEN come back and we will admit you…until then SCRAM!!!” Yet that is the exact attitude that goes on in many churches. However, making it your slogan takes it to a whole new level of spiritual arrogance…but hay, at least they are honest. If they act like jerks toward you, you can’t say they did not warn you. 

I know I should not say this, but it about takes everything in me to keep from punching “churchy” people like that in the throat. I heard a little kid say one time “Mean people suck”. They are right. As l like to say “Mean churches suck” too. But I guess the elite churchy people have a point.  As we clearly see in the bible Jesus drove away from Himself all the sinners who were far away from God and people that were looked down on by the religious elite…oh, wait a minute…NO, it was ACTUALY just the OPPOSITE!!! Jesus opened his arms, embraced, sought out and spent time with the people who were far away from God, the sinners (John 4:6-43, Luke 19:1-10), the ones who the spiritual elites thought were not “worthwhile” and Jesus railed against the Pharisees and other religious elites, even going so far as to call them a “brood of vipers” (Matt 3:7, 12:34, 23:33, Luke 3:7)  and “whitewashed tombs” (Matt 23:27).

People matter to God and there for matter to us, especially the ones that many churches don’t think are “worthwhile”. One of the reasons for God putting in on my heart to launch Renegade Church was to create a place where people who have a negative view of the church, or have been burned by churchy people in the past, can come and have a safe place to hear the dangerous message, without being judged or looked down upon because they do not look right, dress right, have the right color hair, listen to the right music, or have the right spiritual background. If you are one of those people who think church is boring, full of stuck up elite people, come check out Renegade Church where everyone one is worthwhile and the only people who are not tolerated are the churchy elites… with a name like Renegade Church they can't say they have not been warned...and no I won't really punch them in the throat, no matter how much they deserve it.

Easter: It is a Contest, and it is ALL About the Numbers (reboot)

The heart of this blog entry was originally posted Easter 2009. As we move forward with Renegade Church I find it truer now than ever. Easter, and church in general,  is a contest and it is all about the numbers. Now, PLEASE read the entire blog post; don’t look foolish by just going off and writing me a nasty-gram based on the title alone...thanks.

I follow a lot of fellow pastors on Twitter and on Easter Sunday 2009  I was pumped. Over and over tweets were coming in from churchs all over the country celebrating the numbers of people that were coming for Easter services and the number of people who were making decisions for Christ.  All I could think was  “Yeah God!!! This is awesome!!!"

One church I love is NewSpring in SC. They don't just think outside the box, they blew up the box for a sermon illustration years ago. I made a twitter comment (copied to Facebook) about how I thought it was awesome they played AC/DC’s Highway to Hell for their Easter service... and immediately started catching flak. Some people were well meaning but mostly it came from people at stagnant, dead and dying churches.

Now I have no problem with any “model” or "style" of church. Music, teaching style, etc. are all a matter of personal preference. When it comes to the "style" of church different is not wrong, just different, and it is time the church (and by church I mean believers who don't think outside the walls of their own building) realizes that. What reaches one person pushes away another, which is why we need different churches to reach different people. Every body (of believers)  has to choose their bent and go with their leading and their personality to do what it takes to reach their community for Christ.Traditional music..fine, expository teaching with indept Greek and Hebrew word studies…great. Suit and tie…ok, won't catch me wearing them but if that is how someone wants to dress then go for it. I know great, growing, thriving churches using those models, and the ones who are doing those things who are thriving and spiritually healthy don’t have an issue with other churches using contemporary methods, seeker sensitive ideas, modern music, life application teaching, themed series, and and led by a pastor who prefers beat up DocMartens, blue jeans and a Harley Davidson Garage Shirt to a suit and tie. Healthy churches (and believers for that matter) celebrate all other like minded (theologically speaking) churches successes regardless of their methodological bent. Can you count yourself and your church among the healthy?

One of the tweets I posted read “ @NewSpring& @PerryNoble had 100’s, yes 100's!!, of people make decisions of faith and accept Christ today. How many did your church have?” I was asking for a good report. I wanted to hear more good news and sucess stories from other churches, but apparently some took it as an attack. Talk about gas on the fire. Of the responses I received the theme seemed to be “God does not care about numbers”, Church is “not a contest”.
 
OH BUT IT IS...IT IS!!!! It is ALL about the NUMBERS because it IS A CONTEST!!!

Church Is All About Numbers.

It is about the numbers because each number represents a person. Each person represents a soul, a soul that will be lost and spend eternity in Hell apart from God…UNLESS!!!…unless someone gets out of their comfort zone and does everything in their power, with all the methods and tools at their disposal, to communicate the Good News of Christ to the lost in their neighborhood, their city, their county and so on. If you say that your church is big enough and if you are not focused on growth then you are ignoring half the Great Commission, literally telling the rest of your community to “go to hell”. You see, it is all about the numbers.

It Is A Contest

It is a contest, but not between churches. It is a contest with an enemy that scripture says comes “…like a roaring lion, seeking anyone he can to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Our team, the church, verses Satan’s team. So the question you have to ask yourself, “Is my local church pulling its weight on the team, or is it just sitting on the bench griping that it does not like the way others on the team are playing and putting them down whenever they score?”

Perry Noble is right, “When you move to a new community & are trying to find a church--go to the one that all of the "churched" people hate and speak out against, because it is in that place you are most likely to actually meet Jesus and have your life radically transformed by Him!” 

Easter weekend, 2009, was incredible for many churches all across the United States and around the world. I know that Easter 2010 will be as well. However, for many churches it is just another Sunday where all the believers heard a message surrounded by the same people they sit with every Sunday. I hope your church was the former, I hope your numbers blew away your expectations, and I hope you ran up the score!!!