@ NewSpring

Here @ NewSpring in Anderson, SC for Unleash.  Perry is up right now speaking.  And since he reads my blog, I better not post a whole lot more right now.  :) 

More notes later...

Comments

[Paul W. Swansen]

Do you suppose he's reading your blog, while speaking from the stage?

[Jennifer Morchas]

What could be better? A Sausage Fest of white, European, right-wing megalomaniac preachers taking place in the buckle of the Bible Belt...stroking each other's egos as they sip on lattes and talk about how "My church is bigger than yours."

Have fun!

[flaviu]

Scott-
missed you man, today!
where were you???

fp

[Just Jason]

So wanted to be there. Keep hearing how great it was...it's making me feel bad. Can't wait to see what you took away from it.

[Anonymous]

Jennifer...That's Hilarious!

[Robert Pooley]

Scott,
Was great talking to you at the conference... I really appreciate your ministry... still chewing on something you said about missions... oh, and by the way, thanks for the latte. :-)

[tony morgan]

Jennifer, actually the event was just as you described it. We didn't let any Democrats in the door...because everyone knows they can't be Christians. And all we did all day long was talk about how big our churches were...because God hates small gatherings of believers. The only thing you got wrong was the fact that we drank sweet tea instead of lattes. You nailed it!

tony

[Jennifer Morchas]

To Tony "Noble Spear-Catcher" Morgan

I doubt you had tea-

That's a "Democrat" drink consumed by people with open minds in places other than the Bible Belt.

[Mike]

Tony – You do not need to be sarcastic. It is not a good sign of spiritual “leadership.” You can’t tell me that you are that self-focused and wrapped up in your own righteousness to find any truth in what she is saying? Come on!? You’re better than that – you really are!!

Anonymous – you have it wrong, it's not hilarious! If what Jennifer is saying is true – it’s SAD! From a distance (what you read on the internet) it appears to be true, but we don’t know the hearts of these men, so we cannot pull judgment on them, that is Jesus' job in the end, not ours. I would pray that these men are leading people to a love relationship with Jesus and not stopping short on the meaningless creative things they come up with.

[Jamie]

Dang. Tough Crowd.

[tony morgan]

Zowie! This is a tough crowd.

Mike, thanks for not passing judgment on me, man. You rock. You've also saved me a lot of time this week because I can stop doing all that "meaningless creative" stuff that I planned to do.

You've convinced me. Boring is better. In fact, I'm going to see what we can do about eliminating all the music and videos in our services. No more meaningless creativity at NewSpring.

The good thing about the new strategy is that it'll give me a lot more time to improve my golf game. Of course, how am I to know if Jesus is OK with golf? I guess I won't know until the end.

(btw... I happen to believe sarcasm is a spiritual gift.)

tony

[Misty & Cody]

Ouch! What a crowd!

Tony, you know the only reason it was sweet tea instead of Latte's is because Perry hasn't taken us up on training to put your very own "Starbucks" at NewSpring. Of course with the size croud NewSpring has I don't know how they'd be able to make that many drinks!! LOL

I'm hoping to make a trip to South Carolina maybe this summer or next and I'd love to stop by NewSpring !!!

[Andrew Stewart]

Why are people always hating on Newspring without checking it out? It's actually pretty simple to see what's going on. You just type in www.newspring.cc and then at the bottom of the screen where it says video you click on that, and then this video player pops up and shows you the last Sunday. Technology is a beautiful thing.

[Chad Wright]

When you get bigger, you become a target. It's that simple.

And I agree with Tony, sarcasm is a spiritual gift. It's the gift that allows us "right-wing megalomaniac preachers" to get through the day dealing with "church folk."

[Pudge]

Jennifer,
It is great to hear your opinion and feel your disposition here on jennifermorchas.com ...wait, no this isn't your blog...hmm.

Well, it is still so great to hear how amazingly God is working through you at the church you lead...wait a minute, what do you lead again?

It is very easy to be a critic from the stands. However, people like you do motivate us at NewSpring. You motivate us to keep following God with all our heart and disregard the fickle nature of human opinion (especially yours).

No, but seriously, thanks for attending NewSpring and seeing for yourself...wait a minute, you have never stepped foot in our doors have you?

Ok, I am done...we get it, you are bitter, you hate the world, or at least anything that you didn't come up with or create (basically anything that won't fit in your box)!

pudge

[Gizz]

from a bumper sticker:

Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic

[Chris]

Gizz thanks for that quote from that bumper sticker. I will use it often.

[Tom]

"(btw... I happen to believe sarcasm is a spiritual gift.)"

Was that sarcasm? Hard to know. It's such a gift. Like are you serious or not?

They shall know them by their sarcasm.

Too long for a bumper sticker.

[Mike]

To all: Just like e-mail, blog postings and comments are misinterpreted at least half the time. I felt that I was. I also read my comments and realize why. Anyone reading my comments would have no idea where I am in my spiritual journey and the heart that is behind the comments. I did not air my words in a constructive and appropriate way.

Late last night I read Tony’s retort back to me before I went to bed. I went to bed with a huge knot in my stomach and had trouble falling asleep, not because of what you wrote Tony, but b/c the H.S. convicted me of my words and engagement in the negative rhetoric with other believers. He convicted me with 2 Timothy 2:22-23, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.” Yeah!?! Try to sleep with that on your mind! Not easy!

So I woke this morning feeling compelled to respond in a loving way. I obviously hurt you Tony and others that attend New Spring; this was and is not my heart’s intention. It seems that you take a lot of shots from “critics” and I am not one! It makes me sad to see the negativity that seems to bounce off of you and others. That must be difficult to deal with. I trust and pray that you and your ministry are being used by God in a powerful way to further his kingdom, in heaven and on earth! I trust that your God gifted creativity spurs others to a deeper relationship with Jesus.

So to this end I want to apologize for my loosely used words, Please forgive me.

Scott – I want to apologize for participating in this dialogue on your blog. The comments have become nothing about your post! I hope that God used your time at Unleash to confirm his work that he continues to do in you and at The Orchard.

In His Grip,
Mike

P.S. I will not be checking this post anymore, so if anyone would like to respond to me you can do so at my site via my e-mail link.

[Andy Jones]

Yeah, it was easy for me to look at guys like Perry Noble and write them off as arogant. But the truth is they are simply very clear about what God has called them to do. They are "mean" about their vision. They have to be, people will try to steal the vision if you aren't. For all the haters complaining about how big New Springs thing is, you may want to watch out, Perry will punch you in the throat.

As for the sarcasm...
Jesus was brillantly sarcastic. Have you ever researched what he was saying when he told his followers to turn the other cheek and to carry someone's bag for two miles?

Brillant, non violent, sarcastic.

[Deanna]

How many times did Jesus say, "Haven't you read..."?? Of course they had read. Sounds like sarcasm to me! =)

[Darren Sullivan]

Boys & Girls--

Can't we all just get along and love the Lord our God with All of heart, soul, mind,& strength...oh yea, and love our neighbor as OURSELVES! Na, that would be to Christlike and we don't need any more of that in the Church.

[skeptic]

Does anyone think this conversation is really edifying? What picture does a seeker walk away from this one with?