There is much to say and this should really be several blog posts, but it will just be one.

Grace Giving started when the Boudro’s, Segalla’s, and McConnell’s sat in an RV talking about what could be done on behalf of the orphan.  We dreamed and God helped us see His vision of what could be.  An organization seemed to form out of mist and vapor.  A board was established and I was hired as the Executive Director.  I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t do anything very well, but God blessed us in spite of us.  This August it will be 2 years since we sat in that RV at that campsite.  The economy has changed, but our passion for the orphan has not.  It was recently unanimously decided  to transition me out of a paid position in order to better leverage our funds to  help in Ethiopia and Uganda.  After my position came to an end I was voted onto the Board of Directors where I now serve.  I love GGI, our mission and the men and women I get to serve with.  I am thankful that God has seen fit to allow me to partner with them in this mission and continue to gratefully do so.

With that transition it would have left me with a part time position at New City.  I LOVE New City.  I wanted to find a part time position that would allow me to continue serving on paid staff at New City.  I get to be involved in so many areas at New City that I could not imagine working, at least partially, at New City.  I began looking at several different job opportunities and nothing seemed to click for me.  Too little pay, too many hours, etc.  We prayed.  God answered, but not in the way we thought He would.

I was recently approached by a company to consider a full time position as a project manager.  It would meet our needs financially and allow us to continue to live in Macon and be involved at New City.  Jennifer and I prayed and talked it over.  I met with my Pastor to get wisdom from him in this transition.  The last thing I wanted to do is hurt the church that I love.  Keith assured me that I would not.

I accepted the position and started my first day…today.

God is AMAZING!!  I will continue to serve Grace Giving as a Board Member and I will continue to serve at New City and all the while support my family.  These are the moments that I am reminded how little faith I have.

So, depending on who you are, you may hear that I am no longer working at Grace Giving or at New City.  Know that I love them both and continue to serve thankfully.  I think very highly of and love both men who lead them – Dale Boudro at GGI and Keith Watson at New City. God has simply answered a prayer in a way that no one saw coming.  Ain’t that just like God.

Kayla: Daddy, what do you do for the church? You sound pretty important…
Dad: I do a little of this and a little of that. I try to do whatever needs to be done.
Kayla: Well, what’s your title?
Dad: Titles don’t mean much sweety. I’m the Executive Director.
Kayla: That really sounds important.
Dad: (chuckling) Its not as glamorous as you think.

After service today Ill be able to show her one of the many things I enjoy doing.

We have launched a new class for our church called the New City Class.  It’s an introduction to who we are and what we believe.  Much of the material comes from a sermon series we previously did as well as other documents and sermons in the past.  The first time I sat through the class I was thinking ‘Man, I just heard this and now I have to hear it again’.  Just being honest.

We are offering the same class twice a week for those who have scheduling conflicts.  Tonight was our second class in the first lesson.  Afterwards, I was standing around chatting with people when I overheard a portion of an incredible conversation.  A guy was talking to our Pastor, Keith, and this is a close paraphrase of his words.

I came to New City over a year ago and had been off and on at the service.  During the spring of last year you guys preached on Expiation, Propitiation, Justification culminating into Resurrection.  That series opened my eyes to so many truths that I had never understood. I had no idea about the two lambs in the sacrifice and what they meant to me.

I had heard of the ‘Lamb of God’, but man when it was preached I really understood it.  Jesus was our lamb that was the expiation, propitiation and justification.  It’s incredible!!  I was so excited when I heard it that I even sent the mp3′s to a friend out of state.  He listened to it and said that he was blown away by the truth of the Word.

Tonight when you were talking about this stuff again I was so excited. Although I have heard this several times since being here,  you can never hear what Jesus did for us enough!

We have been working through the book of Ecclesiastes at New City.  It has been a great book to study through and I have been  challenged on many levels.  This past week Keith preached through Ecclesiastes 9 and really focused the message on living, dying, and not wasting it all.  This is a theme that I think on more often than not.  There is not a week that goes by that I do not consider my time and the spending of it.  I am constantly asking, ‘are you wasting it?’  I fall off the side that many probably don’t.  I have to fight to not dwell on wasting my life.  I have to fight to not picture myself as an old man looking back on my life and being overwhelmed with the sense that I wasted it.  It can quickly grab my heart, drive me to depression and leave me hopeless.  The thought of wasting my life can often drive me to work harder and longer than I should, to try to please people in ways that I shouldn’t.  I confess that there are times that I feel like I need to pay God back for all that He has done for me and continues to do.  I know that I don’t deserve grace and at times I hate that I receive it.  How can someone so good love someone so evil?

But God…

I turn 37 this year and I feel like I have only truly begun to understand, apply, live out the Gospel…to live out grace.  I credit this awakening to the preaching and ministry at New City.  I have sat under many good men and they have been exactly who I have needed at the time.  It seems that God has me now at a place where I need to go back to the center of it all…the Gospel.  I have paired the sermon series with  Driscoll’s book ‘Death by Love’ and I must admit that there has been new freedom found, a new thirst for God’s mission, and a movement away from guilt to forgiveness.  Tears usually burn.

If you live in Macon, come join us as we gather at the Cox Capitol Theater and hear the Gospel…maybe applied in ways that you have never dreamed of.  If you do not live here, then follow us live on Sunday mornings or watch the recordings later on.  If you are not hearing the Gospel every week then you are missing it.  If you are not living out the Mission, then make the changes necessary to live it out.  Don’t waste it.  Jesus has called you to trust Him and there is a fine line between foolishness and faith – are you walking it?

This past Sunday I was reminded that I am dying.  I have one life.  I should feel the freedom to enjoy the good gifts that God has so graciously given as I join God on His mission.  I should be about His Kingdom and not my own.  I should not fear.  I should be a faithful fool that spends his life well.

Thank you Jesus.

Missional Communities in the Suburbs & Cities

A friend of mine referred me to Jonathon Dodson’s message on Missional Communities.  I listened to it today and he had some great philosophical and practical insights into building thriving Gospel centered communities.  Not a small group, not a sunday school class…a whole different way of enjoying people with Jesus.  Check it out!

To Whom Do We Show Compassion?  Homelessness in the City (6) My Final Answer

Living in the thick of things offers no time for paper guesses, well wishes, or eloquent babble. In American Christianity most Pastors look for the most comfortable church and the most ‘prosperous or growing’ area. Come read a blog by a m an who has said to hell with all of that. He is a man who has chosen to go where Jesus has called him, not where a good paycheck has called him. Not a blog for the faint at heart – welcome to Keith Watson.

I sat outside of the 567 tonight watching street lights flicker on the backdrop of a Georgia rainstorm.  It was a nice night in GA with a slight breeze moving the humidity along.  Throughout my life I have often asked God – ‘Why have you brought me here?  What is it that you want me to learn?’  Over the years I have realized that I am in the place that I am in today because it prepares me for tomorrow.  I should enjoy the moment, but I should also remember that He is preparing me for what is to come. As I look back on my life I can see many times, people, and places that God has used to prepare me for today and I know today was used to prepare me for tomorrow.  It’s an incredible cycle really, and it has always pointed me to God’s sovereign plans and my daily dependence to walk in those plans.  Tonight I was able to enjoy God’s sovereign planning in Gospel conversations and I look forward to how He is using them.

Tonight I met a magazine reporter doing a write-up on local music venues and she wanted to ask me questions about the 567. ” How did it get started?  Why do you do it?”  I was completely unprepared and stumbled my way through an interview that I wasn’t planning on having all the while she is busily taking notes.  While I’m talking I keep thinking, “Uh, God, seriously?  Shouldn’t Keith or Cameron or Hannah or someone else be having this conversation? “WHY ME?”

And then I met a Rutland High School art teacher that wants to join forces with City Watch in creating a space for graffiti artists to display their works downtown – and she knows other art teachers that want to get involved.  She loves what we are doing and wants to offer her time and talent in renewing Macon through the arts, fighting crime and empowering kids.

And then I met the mother of one of the band members who must be in her 80′s and she wanted to thank ME for all the work I’M doing downtown.  I tried to tell her that I didn’t start any of this and tried to get out an explanation about who she should be thanking but she just ‘shooshed’ me and said ‘you are here now’.

And then I sat on one of the benches next to a couple of my homeless friends and listened to them swear that next month everything was going to change and they were going to get an apartment and I wasn’t going to see them on the streets anymore.  I listened to him pledging and committing to get an apartment all the while knowing that they have been in this same position many times before and it always fails.  Always.  The call back to the bottle or crack pipe is too much and even if they were able to get into a place for a short time…I’ll probably see them right back out here.  I didn’t know what to say.  I could hear the desperate genuineness coming through  his liquor slurred words and blood shot eyes, so I offered them encouragement and affirmed what a great place that would be.  The lady was even excited about watching cartoons and westerns again and it seemed like that was the thing that she was looking forward to.  All the while they are holding open containers of beer under their shirts.

Normally I see the 567 as a place where we ‘Showcase Macon’s Creativity’ through art and music.  But tonight was different.  Tonight I saw Macon’s Creativity in it’s people and I’m excited to see where God is taking us.

City Watch Coordinator

There’s a new sheriff in town. But this sheriff doesn’t have a badge, a squad car or a bulletproof vest. He’s not even armed.

Patrick McConnell patrols a 25-block area in downtown Macon by foot every day, keeping a watchful eye on the city’s homeless and ne’er-do-wells. If a problem arises, he solves it.

Patrick McConnell is the only full-time employee of the City Watch program in downtown Macon. City Watch seeks to clean up downtown to make a better business environment. McConnell, who also works with New City Church in Macon, came to town from Spokane, Wash., with his wife, Jennifer, and their seven children.

It’s his job as coordinator of NewTown Macon’s City Watch program.

McConnell, 36, has been helping keep the streets safe since he assumed the post in April. His clientele include drifters, panhandlers, delinquents and drug dealers.

“I’m sort of like a downtown problem-solver,” he said.

While on duty, McConnell carries only a cell phone and digital camera. He has a direct line to Sgt. Willie Brown with the Macon Police Department in the event he needs assistance from law enforcement.

If he sees someone breaking the law, McConnell will notify the authorities.

If someone needs shelter or food, he’ll point that individual in the direction of the appropriate aid agency. Usually, he sends people to the Salvation Army on Broadway or the Loaves and Fishes Ministry on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

“Most of the individuals I deal with already know where to receive aid, but I try to help them anyway,” he said.

Sgt. Brown said the work McConnell has done with City Watch has boosted the efficiency of police efforts in arresting panhandlers and people with open containers.

“McConnell has served as our eyes and ears for downtown,” Brown said. “Because of his work, there’s not as many rule-breakers in the immediate downtown area as there used to be.”

McConnell said he has befriended quite a few of downtown’s homeless in the past three months.

He’s met characters such as “Mr. Winters,” the cross-dresser who boasts about his singing abilities and marketing expertise, and the “Cherry Street Lady,” a petite elderly woman who is scared people will steal her medications.

“They all have stories to tell,” he said. “I try to wear street clothes so I’ll fit in and they’ll talk to me.”

McConnell said he’s made his share of enemies, too. Many of the city’s beggars think he’s with the police and will shout slurs such as “pig” and “5-0” as he walks past.

“A homeless lady walked up to me a while back when I was outside a friend’s house downtown and looked at me and said ‘I know who you are. People know you’re working to clean up the streets. You need to watch yourself,’ ” McConnell said. “I was shocked someone recognized me.”

But the husband and father of seven said he’s not worried about his safety, because he thinks most of Macon’s drifters are harmless.

“As I’ve talked to vagrants downtown, they’re not dangerous. They usually stay to themselves, besides the occasional panhandler who approaches you,” he said.

McConnell, who lives downtown on Maple Street, said the rewards that come from his job far outweigh the risks.

“Macon is a very unique and beautiful place. I want to see it become all it can be and for the populous to explode downtown,” he said.

In order for that to happen, McConnell said, perceptions about downtown security will have to change.

“People have this image in their head that downtown’s unsafe, that it’s full of crime and fighting,” he said.

“That couldn’t be more wrong. I live here. I work here. I attend church here. I raise my family here. I want to make the streets feel safer so other people will realize that it’s safe, too.”

As part of McConnell’s job with City Watch, he’s also started to tackle the town’s graffiti problem by photographing and documenting graffiti that needs to be removed. Pretty soon, he’ll have the equipment to start removing the graffiti himself.

Kris Hattaway with NewTown Macon said she’s already noticed a drop in the vagrancy downtown since McConnell started the job.

“Patrick’s done wonders in making the city feel cleaner and safer,” she said.

“If this is any indication, the City Watch program has already been very successful.”

To contact writer Carl Lewis, call 744-4347.

Article: Carl Lewis
Photograph: Grant Blankenship

Pastor Keith Watson

17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” 1 Timothy 5:17

This is the primary passage that we argue for paid pastoral positions.  If there are Elders among you who preach and teach then they should be considered to be paid.  It’s not a mandate, but it is an option, a very good option.  Logic follows that as you free up a man to preach and teach by paying him so that he doesn’t have to pursue outside employment he will be able to minister to more of the flock and deepen in his ability to preach.  But I want to take the verse one step further…I want to throw a party.

Actually, we did.  We invited all of the people in key leadership roles over for a Porch Party.  On the surface it was to give our team a time to talk, drink, eat, relax and have fun.  But there was something much more sinister going on under the surface.  I waited to strike until the time was just right.  The party played out and people had a great time.  Then there is always that moment that the first couple must take their leave – that was my moment of opportunity.  So I gathered all the team together, had them grab a glass and lift it in honor.  First, to our Lead Pastor – Jesus.  We were only able to meet together, and drink and eat and laugh and honor God by doing it, because Jesus died for every one of us.  And then to our Elder – Keith Watson.

I have probably known Keith for 15 years.  Jennifer has a cousin named Amy (she is the sister that Jennifer never had) and Amy married Keith.  He was in Bible College when I was being trained at Faith Bible Church.  That always made for great theological discussions.  Jennifer and I had actually talked about moving south 5 years ago in order to work with Keith at a new church he was at.  Instead, we adopted Bri and I was hired at Valley Bible Church. We kept talking over the years and Keith was one of the guys that walked me through some of the early difficult theological moments at Valley and then through some of the hairy decisions made at the previous non-profit that I worked for.   All along my respect and friendship only deepened for Keith.  Then the Lord began transitioning our hearts to return to GA and at the same time Keith was planting a church.  As I watched the church from a distance, I longed to be a part of it.  I didn’t necessarily need to be a Pastor – I just wanted to be there, where I felt like God was moving and drawing me.  The Lord opened one door after another and here we are.

So what have I learned about Keith and New City?  I know that I can barely keep up with him.  He runs hard, always.  Never taking a moment to breathe, he just pushes and pushes and pushes.  Don’t sign up with New City if you think this is your typical ‘sit in your pew and rot’ experience or ‘let’s get theologically accurate and stroke each other’ experience.  No, no.  If you join Keith and New City on mission, you better be wearing your shield, helmet, and cup – your sword better be drawn and bloodied.  Don’t worry, you won’t be pushed as hard as Keith pushes himself – but I can guarantee he will redefine what you may think about living the Christian life. He has this crazy vision of communities of people living out the Gospel, preaching the Gospel, sharing the Gospel, talking about the Gospel, and being transformed by the Gospel – and he calls it church.  He made it clear in his sermon series called ‘Stop Going to Church, Be the Church’ where he challenged people to realize that church is not an event that evolves around sunday morning or wednesday night.  The church is people and if the church is people then we better be doing what Jesus calls us to do.  All of this seems to be driven by his deep love for Jesus which creates a deep love for people and drives him to make every moment count for the Gospel.

Keith is a knuckle busting fighter, an attentive father, a faithful husband, a powerful preacher, and an out of the box thinker.  Keith loves Jesus, is a reformed thinker, and is a humble warrior.  Keith calls New City to be a force, to be a movement in Macon, GA and it’s because he himself is a force and a movement.  Don’t believe me – follow in his footsteps for a day.

Keith is a man worth following because he follows Jesus.  He is being transfomed by Jesus.  He’s living his life as a burning vapor and I count it as a joy to call him my pastor, my brother and my friend.

I can say this without issue because I have been an Elder and am currently not serving in that capacity.  I know the weight that a man must carry to properly shepherd the flock.  I know the pressure that a man feels inwardly because he wants to keep up with Jesus.  And like Keith, they are going to hate being made much of – just remind them that there are clear biblical principles that we should honor them and if they stop us from doing that they are hindering our sanctification.  They wouldn’t want that now would they

Today, honor your Elders.  Call them, email them, write them a note, pray for them (and let them know that you did), throw a party, invite them to dinner, give them a gift certificate, watch their kids so that he can have a night out with his wife – do something – honor them.  They are men who watch over your souls – make it a joy to do so and not a thankless pain in the butt.

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

~ Heb. 7-8, 17