The Scriptures are enough

“His word is the only light in the darkness of this life, a word of life, consolation, and supreme blessedness. Where this precious and saving word is absent, nothing remains but a fearsome and terrifying darkness…” -Martin Luther

As I’ve been preaching through the Gospel of Mark, I’ve just been reminded again of the power and sufficiency of the scripture. It contains a light and power just from being read. It leads us to exactly what we need to hear and shines a light exactly where we need to go.

Principle vs. Purpose

I sent this to my staff team last week:

Principle vs. Preference

As the Lead Pastor I have to be very careful about voicing my opinion. Too often our team, in an effort to please me, will make decisions based on a casual comment I made. Most of the time, I honestly don’t care. It’s just a PREFERENCE. Other times when I make a statement it’s an item I genuinely feel very strong about. It’s a PRINCIPLE, a conviction, a value, or area of organizational culture that I feel must be a certain way in order to maintain our vision and mission. It may even be just a style thing, but it’s the way I want it. It’s a hill to die on for me. And I will tell you.

So in an effort to not drive everyone on our team crazy I would like to build this language into our Leadership Team. Please feel free to ask me “Is this PRINCIPLE or PREFERENCE?”

When it’s just PREFERENCE it truly is your decision to make. When it’s PRINCIPLE that’s the way it will be. However, I’m always open to be challenged about my position or to clarify why I think it should be this way.

In addition we will be developing a Southlink Way document that will outline our PRINCIPLES as best we can identify today. It will be a living, continuously developing document being added to as we learn and grow.

I love you all and can’t imagine doing this without you.

Consumed by the Call,

Scotty