pickin up what I’m layin down

Posted on June 6, 2013 by stacy

Today was a scrambly day. It’s the end of the school year, and a few days away from the start of summer, which coincides with a little vacation for Team Sublett. Yep, the big white van is headed to the beach, courtesy of a fabulous family who has decided to bless us by letting us invade their domicile while they are away. So in addition to last minute study sessions and projects (seriously?) an additional day of work for Kim and a full day of people and meetings and lifegroup and orthodontist…Kim decided that she’d take Josie and Annabelle for haircuts. Because we had extra time in the day…

The girls had been talking about getting their hair cut for a while. Annabelle heard about Locks of Love and was certain that she wanted to donate her hair. Josie was a little less sure, but when they got to the salon she decided that she’d be happy with shorter hair, especially if her hair could do something good for someone else.

I love the fact that the girls are embracing a lifestyle that leads them to look for ways to serve and bless others. I think that as parents we always wonder if what we’re trying to instill in our kids is actually taking root. I pray that the good stuff sticks…

Isaac wanted you to know that he got a haircut too, and that his locks were lovingly donated to the woodland creatures and needy birds who live in the bushes just off our driveway.

how come nobody told me

Posted on May 22, 2013 by stacy

The only thing that I really knew about Godspell was that Ben Stiller quoted from “Day By Day” in one of his goofy movies. Sadie had a role in Singing Onstage‘s production of Godspell Junior (modified for younger actors), which ran tonight at the fabulous State Theatre. So to get ready I did a little homework.

Turns out the whole shebang is based on the the life of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew, using parables as the pieces to move the show forward. There have been lots of adaptations, and tonight’s show was set in a classroom. The kids did a great job telling the story of Jesus, and Parker Kingshipp was fabulous in the role of Jesus. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a 5th grader look so natural and comfortable on stage. I was proud of all the kids, but especially so of our little Sadie, who is turning into a pretty good little singing actress herself!

As I listened to yet another evening of the gospel being presented through the arts (Lilly’s 9th grade concert was last night) I wondered how many of these students are being taught that this isn’t just music, art, and entertainment. I wanted to stand up at the end and tell all the proud parents that this is the real story–that Jesus did these things, taught these things, and literally lived and died, just like the kids sang, just like the choirs have sung, just like the masters have written. It might not have gone over really well, but that thought lingers…

survey says…

Posted on May 21, 2013 by stacy

A few weeks back Calvary dedicated some Sunday morning time to our yearly survey, asking questions about spiritual practice and health, spiritual disciplines and growth. We’re trying to track trends, to see if we’re growing as a church. Most of the time when churches want to see how they’re doing they (we?) count N’s: noses, nickels, and newbies. We’re looking at a lot of different pieces of info, checking it against last year’s answers, and plotting it out from gathering to gathering.

The data has been sliced and diced, sorted and collated, folded and spindled…Local data guru Jim Fong (Calvary attender and sports-card aficionado!) walked us through his team’s initial findings and helped us get a handle on some of the information that the survey delivers. Then our staff spent hours praying and thinking and talking and examining and asking what it all means.

To be honest, this isn’t my favorite way to spend a day. Too many numbers and details and theories about who answered this questions this way or that way…I had to keep pulling my mind back to focus on the task at hand, because it’s very important. While I’d rather be playing music or playing in a creek, I know how to put on my big boy pants and take care of business when I need to!

We wrapped up the day by starting to set some goals for us as a staff and as a church, followed by a pretty intense time of prayer around the table.

I may not dig the numbers and minutia of digging through the survey results, but if this produces a more clear picture of where we are as a body of believers and what God is doing in us, then I’m all in.

running in all directions

Posted on May 20, 2013 by stacy

It was a crazy busy weekend fro Team Sublett. Kim took off with Charlie Thursday night for the yearly “Bedford Yard Sale.” We try to get rid of all our good/useable/unwanted clutter once a year, selling it to the good people of Bedford at minimal prices. I don’t know the grand total, but Kim netted enough to cover a meal for the fam at Big Bowl Noodle House, so that’s something!

Josie turned 16 Saturday, and we celebrated by sending her to Wisconsin. Yep. That’s not how I would have drawn it up, but she plays rugby for the high school, and they got invited to the HS national tourney in WI. It was a good trip, even though they got smoked in their matches. Josie has had a blast with the girls, and they’ve been great to her. It’s been nice to see her make some friends.

Isaac and Sadie went to the middle school dance Saturday. I’m pretty sure that it was a dance for 7th graders. Sadie got to go because she’s on the student council, so she decorated and got to serve. The pictures make it look like They coordinated their outfits. They would have you know that it’s merely circumstantial. Check out the boy in the bowtie!

I preached at midtown Sunday. Sunday night we all traipsed back out to church for our monthly corporate prayer gathering, where all the Calvary folks come together to flood the valley with prayer. We call it Flood the Valley, cause we’re creative like that! We were praying especially for the high school students, and some of them helped lead worship. I started bawling just about the time we hit the door. Seriously. I didn’t stop crying until we were on the way home. I’m not sure what was up with that…

Here are some pics for your enjoyment…

if I had my druthers

Posted on May 16, 2013 by stacy

have you ever heard that saying? Maybe it’s a Georgia thang. It means that if I got to choose my preference, my way…if I could pick, this is what I’d do.

While I find my attention drawn to a pretty diverse and wide-flung set of attractions/passions, there’s a part of me that always comes back to leading people in worship. It’s been part of the way I lead and pastor people, part of the way I teach and shape their hearts for as long as I have been in ministry.

Lately God has been bringing some wild-eyed and wondrous worshipers into my life. There’s a buzz in the air, and a freshness to faith. I’m starting to hear these young men and women talking about Jesus in a way that’s captivating. They’re getting together to pray and seek God’s face, to sing unscripted, unbridled, uncharted songs. It’s not neat or clean or polished. But it’s good. It’s real. It’s authentic and inspiring and life-giving.

Worship flows from hearts touched by the love of God. Worship is the response of a heart that has been forgiven, redeemed, transformed.

I’m hopeful that new songs will come out of this–songs that express what God is doing here and now, songs that capture the essence of a movement of God, songs for us, by us.

I don’t know that anything we write or sing will have lasting power, but I believe that there are songs in my heart that need to be sung. They may not be the masterpieces of Lennon-McCartney (dadgum creative geniuses), but they’ll be real. They’ll be mine. And that’s something…

When Experiencing God isn’t comfy

Posted on April 17, 2013 by stacy

Our church has been working through Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God. Pastor Dan’s been preaching up a storm and our lifegroups have been using the workbook to dig deeper, to dive in, to apply it to our lives.

That sounds great on the surface, and usually works for me until Wednesday.

Wednesday is the 3rd day of each unit (as I do them) and that’s generally the day that Blackaby takes off the gloves and applies truth to my head with all the finesse of a 2×4. That’s the day that he drops things on me like this:

If you have an obedience problem, you have a love problem.

If you have difficulty hearing God speak then you are in danger at the root of your relationship with God.

And this week’s gem: What you do after God speaks tells more about what you believe about God than what you believe about yourself.

We got into some good discussion tonight around the fact that I see tons of good/God stuff happening at Calvary, yet there aren’t many people making initial decisions to follow Jesus. There could be a lot of reasons behind that:
*maybe most of the people in town are already believers, followers of Jesus who are looking to be discipled.
*perhaps we’re sharing the gospel with people and they aren’t responding in faith.
*it could be that we aren’t (read that I’m not) doing a good job of telling the best news in the world to people in my town who definitely need to know.

What I do after God speaks tells what I believe about God. If God has placed me in this town to be a leader, a spiritual influence, a bringer of good news, then why am I not more actively telling folks I meet about the God who loves them.

I can hear my friends back in GA…that ain’t right, y’all.

Something’s gotta change. I’m pretty sure it’s me.

sowing seeds of destiny

Posted on March 25, 2013 by stacy

I could tell by the look in his eyes as we took him from his “father’s” arms that he was a little scared. He didn’t know us. He was in a strange environment, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and sounds, and his “parents” were walking away. One day away from his first birthday, and his future is still up in the air.

Father and parents are in quotes above because although they have serving as his parents for the past year, they aren’t his birth parents, have had no official status as guardians, and aren’t sure what the future holds for this cobbled-together family.

Kim and I were at the county courthouse today to help with this beautiful toddler while our friends wade through the legal workings of the system. They would love to adopt him, to place their names on the line where their hearts have lived for almost a year now.

They are godly and wise, goofy and weird–the kind of parents that we want to be! Their family is a beautiful mix of colors and cultures. They are living out the biblical ideal of caring for the orphan, the marginalized. They truly want only what is best for this little boy, no matter what that means for themselves.

I held this happy, drooling boy for more than an hour. We sang and played peek-a-boo and walked the halls together. Kim read to him; I played trucks with him. As the time passed I could literally feel the tension leaving his body as he began to be more comfortable in my arms.

I prayed over him, silently, and the marble hallway became something of a makeshift sanctuary. As he warmed to me, he leaned in, tucking his head into my shoulder. I whispered ever so gently into his ear–into his heart–

You are loved.
You are precious.
You are wanted, and you are loved.

He may never remember this day or the guy with the goofy chin fuzz that he grabbed. But it’s my prayer that those words land like seeds in the soil of his heart, bearing fruit for the ages and becoming part of his story.

thank you Ann Voskamp

Posted on March 22, 2013 by stacy

Have you ever read something and wanted to share it with everyone you know?

I have.

So click here and read this article.

As the father, especially with a son soon headed off to face life outside the house, this hit home. I want to do everything that I can to prepare my children for life.

I’d heard of Ann Voskamp before. But having read this, I think I want to spend some time letting her words–and the Jesus who inspires them–shape my soul. If you haven’t discovered her yet, allow me to introduce you. Go ahead and click over. Spend some time reading, being refreshed, challenged, reminded, renewed…

how’s your service?

Posted on March 20, 2013 by stacy

What’s your favorite church holiday? Most of us land on Easter or Christmas, and that makes sense, you know, since Jesus is a pretty big deal to us. But are those actual holidays? When you have a holiday from school, that means that school is cancelled, right? But a church holiday generally involves not less church, but the exact opposite. Hmm…I’m not proposing a change for Easter or Christmas, but I do have an alternate for your new favorite church holiday, and it does indeed involve you not going to a church building on the holy day.

We value serving in our city to the point that we cancel our weekend worship gatherings and send folks out in teams to bless the people who live around us. The local paper ran a great article about CityServe this week. If you want more info, click here.

We’re going to be promoting CityServe this weekend at midtown and inviting people to sign up as individuals or groups. As a leader of a lifegroup, I can tell you that one of the best decisions our group ever made–one that actually shaped our group and helped us bond–was to dive into a pretty big CityServe project a few years ago.

At Calvary, we think everyone ought to be involved in a lifegroup, and everyone ought to be serving. When we serve, we partner with God where he is already at work, and that leads to all sorts of good/God things!

We’d love to have you join us! CityServe, April 13 & 14…

oh, and a big shout out to Greg Ford for his video magnificence, and Jeremiah Kingshipp & Curt Himmelburger for their awesomeness.

a marginal post

Posted on February 28, 2013 by stacy

Seems like everywhere I turn someone’s talking to me about margin. As in, “Hey, you got any margin? If you don’t, you better get you some, jack.” (For the record, most of the made-up voices in my head sound like they’re from Redneck, GA or Duck Dynasty. And I like that.)

Much like that white space at the edges of your paper where you doodle the name of the cute boy, draw cool cars, or practice your application sketch of that turtle for the Art Instruction Schools, margin is the space at the edge of your life, that free time at the end of the day, the random moment during the week that gives you the flexibility to say YES to an unexpected opportunity.

I’ve heard sermons and talks and presentations and devotionals and commercials and songs about the need for margin. I’ve read passages in the Bible about Sabbath and rest, about Jesus withdrawing to the wilderness or leaving the crowd just as the buzz was growing and he was starting to gain a following. Today I spent some time reading Mark 6.

The disciples come back from the first ministry assignment out among the people without Jesus. He takes them away to rest. The crowd follows, and Jesus ends up feeding 5000. After dinner he sends the disciples away in a boat and dismisses the crowd. Jesus goes off by himself to pray. Not exactly a great marketing strategy, but it seems to have worked for him. He created some margin for himself to spend time praying, talking with his Father.

Andy Stanley once told me (and 2500 other conference attendees) that if I don’t have margin, then all I’ll be able to give to my church is what’s on my job description, and I probably won’t be very good/passionate in that role. But margin opens the possibility for vitality, creativity, and ministry.

Message received. I’m starting to give some things away, stopping some things, creating some blank space in the calendar, and in my life.

Stac's Place

life, faith, hope and home in Happy Valley

Category Archives: Jesus