Greg Surratt

The best sermon I've ever heard

I attended a funeral yesterday.

You don't usually enjoy funerals, at least I don't. They're about grief, heartbreak, sorrow, shock, loss, pain... not the types of things you anticipate and look forward too, much less get much joy out of. You don't know what to say to the family...you feel awkward even trying.  Funerals are endured not enjoyed.

Yesterday's funeral had all of that, but it also had a surprising element of joy.

It was the funeral for the wife of my friend Larry Burgbacher. By all accounts she was an amazing lady...pastors wife, mother, friend, leader of women...tragically taken in a car wreck two blocks from her home. Just 54 years old...the same age as my mother when she left us so soon.

Her 3 children, each involved in ministry...two in other countries, gave moving testimonies to the value that she brought to their home. Through their tears they opened a window for us into the woman they knew as mom. 

I scanned the program to see who would bring the message of comfort for the family and friends and was surprised to see that Larry would be the preacher at the funeral of his wife.  My mind was flooded with thoughts: How difficult would that be?  How will he hold up?  Could I do it?...I didn't even want to go there.

Can I tell you...it was the best message I've ever heard.

He began by establishing the obvious...there were many capable candidates to deliver the sermon that day. Friends in ministry, mentors, each who would have been honored to have been asked and would have no doubt done a good job. But, he said, he knew a secret that none of us were privy too. On more than one occasion she had let him know that he was her favorite preacher. Armed with that knowledge, how could he not be the one to speak at this, her final service in the church they had led together for the past 24 years.

It was in that moment that I abandoned every effort at dignity and wiped my eyes and rapidly running nose on the sleeve of the suit I was wearing, reserved mainly for occasions like this.

He said that for the first two days after her death he was in a fog, not knowing if he could bear the pain, and crying out to God with questions...Why? Why now?...knowing that the answers may be hidden until eternity. Then he thought about the roles she played for him, their family, and the church. She prayed for him, encouraged him, cheered them on, was a role model for the women in the community. Who would do that now?

On the third day he got his answer and the peace that comes with it.

She would. She would continue to fill the roles.

God showed him that she was now a part of the mighty cloud of witnesses referred to in Hebrews, and that her role in heaven was simply an expanded version of what she did on earth. She was now free to do more perfectly what she had attempted in this dimension. She would continue to be the intercessor for their family, the one cheering them on until the work is complete.

I guess I knew that...but I had forgotten. Its easy to forget when you get fuzzy about where your treasure is...where your final home is located. We miss them, but somehow they haven't missed a thing.

Larry kept his composure pretty well ...until close to the end. He told us about celebrating their wedding anniversary the previous weekend. He held her in his arms as they took a trip down memory lane, visiting the highlights of 34 years together...not knowing that that chapter of their lives was coming to an end. Then he quoted us Yankee great Lou Gehrig upon his announcement to his fans that he had ALS and would have to retire from baseball - "When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know. People say I've been given a bad break, but today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. I've got an awful lot to live for."

At that point we all lost it along with our heart broken friend...each of us quietly wondering if we would have had the strength to do what he had just done...hoping that we would never face a moment like this.

Yesterday I felt joy in a sad place as I was reminded of the foundations of my faith by a man who'd had his shaken. I think it is probably what the Apostle Paul meant when he said that we mourn, but not as those without a hope.

Thanks Larry...you're my hero.

One Prayer Notes

If you are a church that is using my One Prayer message I wanted to give you the fill in the blank notes that you can use in your service.

Also, remember my offer to record a personalized intro for your weekend.  Just e-mail me at PastorGreg  AT seacoast DOT org.

Here are the notes:
Download one_prayer_lord_make_us_obedient_luke_5_111_notes_answers.doc

One prayer

I'm getting excited thinking about the new series "One Prayer". If your church is using my message, "Lord make us obedient", I'd be happy to record a personalized lead in for you. Just shoot me an email at gregsurratt@seacoast.org.

Multi-site criticisms: #1 Multi-site churches don't value teaching gifts

I thought it might be of interest to address some frequent criticisms of multi-site churches.  Questions are good...they force us to examine what we do in light of scripture and culture.  Over the next few posts I'll try to address them with what we're learning from our six years in this crazy way of doing church.

Criticism #1:  Multi-site churches don't produce preachers and teachers.

The concern stems from the concept that many multi-site churches leverage the teaching gift of one gifted teacher across various geographic locations...thereby not providing opportunities for young or new emerging teachers and preachers to develop their gifts.

Here's how we handle that at Seacoast Church:

• We have a primary teaching team
  Several years ago I decided that the only way for me to keep my sanity (the small portion that remains), stay healthy, and keep the church from relying too heavily on one voice, was to create a weekend teaching team.  We currently have 5 active members of the team.  The way it works for us is this; one person does the teaching at all the services on any given weekend at our Long Point location.  That in turn is videoed and viewed at our off-site locations the next weekend.  For us, this is one of the primary things that ties us together as a church - we are all hearing the same message...discussing it in groups, responding to what God is saying to us as a church.  I do between 55-60% of the weekends.
• We have secondary teaching teams
  In addition to the weekends, we have secondary teaching opportunities that include: student ministries, young adult ministries, retreats, and special events.  Each of these have teaching teams that function similar to our weekend experience.  A newer teacher can cut their teach in an environment smaller than a weekend gathering.
• We do initial message planning together
  For our weekend experience we do initial message planning together every Monday at 10:00am.  Some pastors are scheduled by nature and plan their messages out months in advance (Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels, etc).  Others are normal like me and have little of the organizational gift, work better on a tight deadline (a procrastinators motivator), and can only see what is coming in the current week...so I show up Monday morning with a clean sheet of paper, a preachers hangover, and a hope that the Holy Spirit will breath on the assigned scriptures that week...and with a faint (actually a very real) fear that I have exhausted all ability to say anything helpful the previous weekend.  We invite our primary teaching team, some of our secondary teams, and selected others to the meeting to help whoever is on that weekend think through the passage.  Occasionally visiting pastors or interested church goers ask if they can be a part of the process...which ratchets up the pressure to produce...but we almost always open the meeting to people who ask...with the requirement that they contribute, not just watch.  Actually its a lot of fun and God usually gives us insite that we couldn't get on our own.  Just the process helps speakers in training get the hang of how you put a message together.
• We have our primary teachers do a practice run through on Thursday afternoon
  After the message planning session, who ever is up to bat that week locks away to prepare the message.  Our deadline is Thursday noon (so notes can be printed, bulletins stuffed, and there has to be a deadline...so it might as well be Thursday so we can at least a couple of days of sanity before the weekend).  On Thursday afternoon, the teacher of the week does a practice run through for the teaching team.  This is not fun...but does make the message better.  It's a tough crowd.  "What am I supposed to do as a result of that?"..."That wasn't funny"..."I don't have a clue what you were talking about"..."Does the Bible really say that?"  Definitely makes you sharpen your delivery before the weekend.
• We have Starbucks coaching sessions throughout the week
  Several times I have received calls on Saturday morning..."You got time for a coffee?  I need help with an idea or two."  I love it...I just wish we would have had this type of environment when I was learning to preach.  My first attempts to speak were in youth services and nursing homes.  The youth services didn't work out too well (I was fired from my first three youth pastor jobs).  Nursing homes were great because most of the people couldn't hear, but they were happy I was there.
• We have feedback sessions after our Saturday night service
  Sometimes the Saturday night message is really, really good.  Most of the time...not so much...so, we gather in the "bull pen" immediately after the service and see what we can salvage.  Usually it's just a touch up...sometimes a major overhaul...but it's great to know that the team is fully invested in making the message successful.
• We intentionally teach prospective teachers weekly
  Every week, Mac Lake, one of our guys that loves developing leaders, gathers some of the newer teachers and others that we think may have the gift in embryo form.  They listen too and learn from some of the better preachers in the world.  Recently they have listened too and watched Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels, Mark Driscoll and others...then Mac leads them through a discussion on techniques, structure, delivery, and what made it work.  I walked in recently and they grilled me on one of my recent messages.  They'll learn over time not to question the supreme leader so harshly...
• We give new, emerging teachers an occasional swing at the plate
  We have very few outside speakers at Seacoast.  I don't know if that is good or bad, but it does allow more opportunities for upcoming, in house speakers to learn their craft.  Our campus pastors have quarterly turns at the plate as well.

I'm not sure multi-site has anything to do with whether you do a good job of training teachers and preachers.  It all depends on the vision of the house. 

What do you think?

Name dropping

I'm sitting with Josh outside on the patio at Saddleback church listening to Rick Warren teach about 2000 pastors on 'preaching'.  Its about 72 degrees and no bugs or humidity. Carolina is fine but this ain't bad!  This afternoon I will be speaking on 'Worship'...pray for me if you get a chance.

The conference has been awesome but the best part has been hanging out with other guys behind the scenes and at Rick's house. Old friends like Stoval Weems and Curt Bradford, Dave Ferguson, Bobby Grunewald...getting better acquianted with Rick Warren, Mark Batterson, Steve Stroope, Perry Noble, Larry Stockstill...meeting great new guys like Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Jonathon Falwell, Jentzen Franklin, Dave Stone,Judd Wilhite, and others.

Some things I'm learning:
1. The church is well lead by passionate, humble (mostly...don't ask!) men who love Jesus.
2. God uses an incredible variety of styles to accomplish His will.
3. You can't wear jeans in a country club (what's up with that?)
4. The best ideas for ministry are still to be discovered.
5. There are some great young leaders out there.
6. I love being the pastor at Seacoast Church.

You can also watch an interview I did HERE a interview that talks about us HERE and catch all of the interview HERE.

Josh and I will be seeing my Dad tomorrow and then heading back to Charleston.

Staff Day at Habitat

Recently our staff team from the Long Point campus took an afternoon to volunteer putting in foundations for a Habitat house here in Mt. Pleasant.  If you look closely you can even see a Scottish worship leader leaning on a shovel.  After we helped with the foundation, four local builders had a contest to each build a house in a week.  There is a story here.  I hope we laid the foundation on a rock...storms do come you know.

One Prayer

I'm happy to announce that Seacoast will be participating in the "One Prayer" series this June.  Craig Groeschel from LifeChurch called and asked if we would be involved and if I would contribute a message.  The premise is to gather hundreds of churches (over 700 so far) from all over the world to do a series at the same time based on the statement - "If I could ask God to answer one prayer it would be..."  You can find out more about the series here.  There is an interview with me on the Swerve blog about why I think the series is important and a little bit about what I'm going to be teaching on.

Manning campus

We opened the Manning campus this past weekend.  This is a new experience for us in that it is in a smaller community.  We are using some video elements for worship as well as the teaching...if it goes well we think that it may be a model that will help us reach smaller communities throughout the state.  Way to go Manning team!

You can read about it on page 3 of the local Manning paper.  Download manning_startup.pdf

Two pretty girls

Our first time babysitting Addison Grace by ourselves turned into a photo shoot...

Dad is ok, a guy with big hair and another campus

FAMILY NEWS: A big thanks to all of you who prayed for my dad. The surgeons did a double bypass on Sunday morning and Dad came through fine. Please continue to pray for his recovery. God is good!

BIG HAIR NEWS: Do you remember our curly-headed friend from American Idol? Well, Chris Sligh is releasing a brand-new CD and has chosen Seacoast Church to be his release party. One of the songs, "Empty Me," has already cracked the top 20 on the national charts. On May 4th in the Warehouse of our Long Point campus, and May 6th in the auditorium of our Greenville campus, Chris will be performing songs from his new CD. For more info or to get tickets, go here.

CAMPUS NEWS: Our Manning campus is opening on May 4th. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in Manning! Please pray for their grand opening, and maybe consider a road trip on May 4th to join in the fun!