The Steps of a Good Man

Don’t get into the game until you’re ready or you will get hurt. Today we are talking about the four principles of a team. T.E.A.M. To be teachable. To be exclusive. To be ambitious. To move. To be a team, the members of the team have to be teachable. If not, you will never get any better. Do you really want who you are today to be your ‘best’? You cannot give what you have not been given. How can you lay hands if you have not learned, if you have not been taught. If you are unteachable how can YOU teach? Peter had to learn how to be a fisher of men before he could go out and be that. To be in a team you have to be exclusive. The disciples were exclusive to Jesus. The 5,000 were spectators, not part of the team. They were not those that Christ had chosen to come in closer. We did not choose Jesus, He chose us. A team member must be ambitious. Ambitious means ‘having or showing a strong determination to succeed’. Christ died so that we could win. We need to look at the world and wa...

The greatest preventative to teamwork is pride and ego. They make us think we are not worthy of a team or we're too good for a team. We, as a team and a single person, need to see the vision God has set for us. The vision that we need will not be through flesh and blood but it is through the revelation that He is God. Through this revelation, Hell will not prevail. We as the body of Christ must say that good is good and evil is evil. We must draw that line and show to the world that this is good and this is evil. If we do not, then who will? The church is God’s divine institution that is meant to show His love and grace. We must get rid of the concept that going to church on Sunday makes us the church. The church is not just the church on Sunday. It is church everyday. It doesn't change day to day. It is constant. Sunday church is meant to prepare us for the week, to teach us how to live throughout the week. We take what we learn on Sunday and apply it to our lives throug...

We’re starting out our new sermon series of Teamwork, WeR1 this week. The principles of teamwork that we will be touching on are trust, communication, conflict, commitment and accountability. We need to first talk about the new testament church vs. the modern church. The new testament church turned the secular, sinful world upside down while the modern church is being turned upside down by the sinful world. The modern church is letting the sinfulness of the world into its doors and allowing it to mold how the modern church operates. In many ways we are tied more to the world than the body. It is time for the Ekklesia, the team, to arise. We must form a team that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. There are promises that hell wants to keep you from. There are people that hell wants to keep you from. The new testament church turned the world around it upside down. It stood on the word of God. My goal over the next couple of months is to transform your family, your job and ...

In 1 Samuel 30, David and his men return to Ziklag only to find everything destroyed and their wives and families taken by the Amalekites. They were all devastated, but in the midst of this crisis, David’s men initiated plans to stone David. However, instead of giving up all hope, David found strength in the Lord. He asked the Lord if he should pursue their enemy, and the Lord instructed him to do so. Six-hundred men rallied around David at that point. They overcame their enemy and everything that had been taken was returned to them. As a gesture of of honor and unity, David shared his plunder with the elders, as well as the men who were unable to help fight. We will surely have hardship. The enemy will indeed strike, and there will be storms to face. But don’t be surprised when that happens. Don’t be surprised when your friends turn their backs on you. Don’t be surprised when you must be the one to strengthen yourself in the Lord. For if there was never a battle, there would also...

Let me start by saying that life is full of firsts. Our first love or our first kiss. The first time we rode a bike or went roller-skating. For the more daring ones of us, the first time we bungee-jumped or went skydiving from 12,500 feet. We will always remember the first time we went cliff-diving or jumped off the high-dive.   I remember my first great steak, and can almost still taste it. I remember the first time I surfed and the first time I went deep-sea fishing. My first time overseas. My first time in Haiti, the DR, China, Africa. Friend, I could go on all night like this. Everything we have done, or are currently doing, had its’ very first time.   When I was 10 years old, my family moved to Haiti (for the first time). Upon arriving in-country, I rode in the back of Terry Bennett’s truck from the Port-au-Prince airport to the port-city of St. Marc. A few years later we drove from Port-au-Prince, Haiti to Barahona, Dominican Republic. I can only describe it as...

The call rang out. “Sergeant Butscher!” Only silence.   “Sergeant Alex Butscher!” Still, only silence.   “Sergeant Alexander P. Butscher!” The only response— lonely silence. The air and each breath felt heavy as his name is stricken from the roll.   So many moments come and go, and are never remembered. But this moment will never be forgotten. This season inundated with grueling hardship as I have said, “See you later” to young and old alike. Some were sick, and others in perfect health— yet the final roll call has gone out, and has been met with only silence as a response.   To my dearest family, friends and tribe: I remind you of the words of James. “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth.” I encourage you to live with all you have, love with all your heart, breathe in the fresh air, don’t worry so much, laugh every opportunity you have and gi...

Newton’s Third Law states that for every action (force) in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every action, there is a reaction. On a small mount two-thousand years ago, Jesus gave the greatest sermon in history. In this sermon He said that he who hears His words and does them is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock — but he who hears His words and does  not  do them is a foolish man who builds his house on the sand. For both individuals, the wind blew, the rain fell and the waters rose. At the end of the day, only one house remained. The action is the storm. The reaction is either to stand or to fall — the difference is those who “do” and those who “don’t do”. Most lions live in a pride (tribe, pack). Each one fulfills certain tasks, whether hunting, guarding or raising the young. One or two from the pack will often roam the boundaries of the pride’s territory. Each lion has a roar that is specific to that beast, and can be heard by the h...

Ashes are what remain after a fire has consumed something. Several years ago I got a tattoo of a phoenix on my shoulder. Now– before you judge me and condemn my soul to eternal fire for having a tattoo of a mythological creature on my body, just keep reading. Also, don’t “major in the minors” — this blog is not meant to start a debate on tats and mythological creatures. It is written to bring hope… I hope. Several years ago I went through a time of self-inflicted tragedy.  I took a torch from the fire and set my life ablaze — and not in a good way. When the torrent of the consuming flame finally died out, all that remained was ashes. Where life had once flourished, now only ash. Like walking through a home that had just burned down, I walked through my life only finding bits of broken and burnt pieces. All around me were ashes… and more ash. But although beaten and bruised, I gritted my teeth and rose from the ash heap with the help of those around me. It was hard and the proces...

This past week my daughter, Taylor, and I were blessed and honored to be invited to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. by Congressman Richard Hudson. I must say, I did not realize that this breakfast is one of D.C.’s “hot-ticket” events. After doing some research, I became aware of what an honor we were being given.   I met Congressman Hudson a few months ago when he requested that someone open a local meeting in prayer. He asked our Mayor of Fayetteville at the time, Nat Robertson, to recommend someone, and I was honored to be the one invited. After meeting with the mayor and congressman, my eyes began to open to the realization that being a politician is a calling and we need more men and women of God in those positions. For those who know me, you know I absolutely do not preach politics or the news– not CNN, not FOX. Prior to this past week, I considered my close relationship with our former mayor to be an anomaly, and believed that having a good and godly man ...

At the end of last year, I was able to spend a couple of days in Myrtle Beach praying and seeking God’s desire and vision for Cliffdale in 2018. It proved to be the perfect place to hear God’s voice and write the strategy because it was cold and rainy, so I spent most of my time indoors. The strategy God gave me began with two months of preparation leading up to our REACT weekend. Our team came together to plan, prepare and ensure that everything was ready. The curriculum, po werpoints and time spent in prayer were all in place. So with over thirty people participating, we watched God work all weekend. Lives were changed and hearts were healed. Upon returning from the retreat this past Sunday, I listened to various testimonies in our 10:30am service of how so many people were touched. Then it dawned on me that not only had God healed and transformed people’s lives, but He had also brought us together. Cohesion with one another was formed, and a sense of “oneness” began to take place...