Sterling Griggs

I am serving as camp pastor at a placed called Laurel Ridge in the NC moutains this week, so today I decided to go hiking on some trails in an effort to keep from gaining 15 pounds from all the camp food I’m going to be consuming. These trails aren’t new to me - I’ve hiked them countless times over the years as I have been up here as a camper, counselor, and pastor, so when I approached the trail head I was more than ready to get my sweat on and burn some calories. There are four different trails and they are labeled according to color. Yellow is the longest, red is the steepest, green is not as challenging, and blue takes you to some scenic overlooks. I decided to start at the red/yellow point and then venture down the red trail. I thought about the yellow trail because it’s the one I remember the best from years past, but I wanted to give myself a bit of a challenge since I am such an outdoorsman (cue the sarcasm). The initial decent on the red trail was pretty steep and I new that w...

When I was a kid growing up, I used to hear adults complain all the time about how hard it was to keep their bodies in shape as they aged. Everyone once in awhile, one of them would look at me and my friends and say something like, "You kids have it made. While you keep growing up, all I seem to be able to do is grow out. It looks like I've got a spare tire around my waist!"  As cheesy as this statement is, it holds a lot of truth for today's churches. Ask any pastor or church leader if expanding the kingdom of God is priority, and he or she will unequivocally say, "Yes!" Ask those same leaders what strategy they have in place to make that happen, and the answers you get probably won't be so emphatic or unified. How do we expand the kingdom of God while we are here on earth? I realize that this is a theologically loaded question, so let me narrow the scope a bit. What can churches do today that will effectively increase their impact and influence fo...

Beaver Bottom Church had a problem. Actually, they had lots of problems but this one stood out more than any of the others. It seems that the new pastor, Rev. Donald Doorite, was wanting to nix the canine evangelism program that had been run out of their fellowship hall for the past 17 years. The distinguished Mr. Harold Winston Higgenbotham, lifelong member and self-proclaimed top tither at Beaver Bottom Church, started and initially funded the canine evangelism program after his daughter came home from a Disney movie convinced that dogs could - and should - go to heaven. Because Mr. Higgenbotham was such a faithful giver and dominant voice in the church, no one really opposed the idea. Besides, maybe dogs do go to heaven, they reasoned. Now almost two decades later, Mr. Higgenbotham and his immediate family was long gone, having left Beaver Bottom Church in a huff after a disagreement over the color of the new carpet in the sanctuary. Yet the canine evangelism program was still ...

What is going on with all this retro stuff that America is going crazy with? Everywhere you look, someone is trying to kick it old school and go back in time. There is the 1980's-ET-sythesizer-inspired Stranger Things show on Netflix (which is awesome, by the way) that pretty much everyone I know who graduated high school in the 1980's is gaga about. The newer Progressive insurance commercials are all now filmed as retro 1970's spots. Then there are movies - how many remakes of older movies are we gonna see? Hello Ghostbusters and Poltergeist , not to mention War Games , Commando , and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids which are just a few that are in the process of being remade. And oh my word, there are the clothing and music styles. The 1980's absolutely haunt me at times, not because it was such a bad decade but because my style was so pitiful. I had hair then, amazing blonde hair with a natural wave to it. But I parted that hair down the middle and heavily hair spray...

This past weekend I had two conversations regarding the state of public education in the state in which I live. Okay, they were more muted down diatribes delivered by yours truly than they were conversations, but I had a captive audience and I just couldn't help myself. If you are resident of the great state of North Carolina, then you know the rough state of affairs that our public schools and teachers are facing. With four children of my own in public schools, I share your concerns. And as one who tries so hard not to be overly political with issues - I call them as I see them and am a proud registered Independent - it's hard not to get frustrated with the perceived lack of concern for our public schools from those in Raleigh whom we all had a hand in electing. Besides, I've yet to see a legislator sitting in a classroom in my community striving to understand exactly what is going on before he or she casts their next vote. It gets frustrating to see a revolving door ...

As a leader, don't you wish that people liked you and respected your every move? I mean, how easy would it be for you if every decision that you made was greeted with applause and compliance? That would be awesome and spare you a few gray hairs and stomach ulcers! But if that were the case - if everyone that you led was okay with where you were leading them - then you would be called a tour guide or entertainment specialist, not leader. The very definition of being a leader implies that you have to navigate people over difficult terrain because, if left up to their own, those under your direction would wander aimlessly. And these people that you lead will sometimes push back against your vision and decisions, which makes it all the more challenging to lead them. Let's face it, being a leader is hard. You are never going to be the most popular person in the room and your every move will be second guessed by a number of people. As a result, it is up to you how you choose...

For obvious reasons I stay away from writing or sharing about politics as much as possible. Nobody every seems to agree on anything and I've yet to see a community become politically united over a few pithy social media posts. That being said, I'm gonna touch on politics a little bit today but hopefully not in the way that would label me as "that guy." It's hard to ignore the turmoil in our country right now. We seem to add a new issue everyday to a long list of concerns that has more than enough of us wringing our hands in doubt and confusion over the future. Whether it's the health care crisis, budget concerns, or the fact that in spite of all the talk of the importance of education it still gets underfunded, there are many things which seem to be spiraling out of control. In my teens and 20's, I considered myself a bit of a maverick concerning my political views, ready to debate with the best of them. Now, not so much. I no longer carry a party lab...

Over the years I've had the privilege of leading hundreds of middle school and high school-age students in the arena of youth ministry. Of those whose lives I have been a part of, there have been several who have sensed a unique call from God on their lives, one that has led them to church work, seminary, or missions. It's been awesome keeping up with them over the years as they experience the joys and frustrations of leading in church ministry. Yet out of all of those students who I've walked alongside of, hardly any have expressed the need to pursue ministry beyond the walls of the church or para church contexts. Is there such a thing as ministry beyond what has been organized by religious and faith-based institutions? In other words, can you really pursue ministry if it doesn't look like ministry? When I was younger, I knew that God was calling me into the ministry. You know, full-time vocational Christian ministry. I knew that I was called to serve and the opti...

I believe that when big things happen in your life then you need to share it with the world. This post is dedicated to just that. For those of you who know me and the journey my family has been on, then you know that we moved to the coast of North Carolina earlier this year in February. A new and challenging job had opened up for my wife and, while there was nothing on the radar for me, we sensed that this move was exactly what God wanted for us. So, we packed up our home and moved away from friends and family to a place we had grown to love through vacations but had never considered calling home. As we began to establish our lives here, we began to get to know our neighbors in the community and we made it our goal to become active in a local church. Little did I know that the church we became a part of, Generations Church , would in turn become such a big part of us. I got to know the pastor fairly well and he made an investment in me, allowing me the chance to preach and lead wi...

What makes you want to follow after the lead of someone else? Is it their charisma, past successes, or the fact that you trust them? All of these come into play, yet it's hard to deny that being a leader involves more than possessing just one special quality. Leadership is vision in action. It's a package deal, and wrapped up in it are several critical components that work together in such a way that others will be inspired and motivated by your vision in action: Vision -  This is the God-given picture of where you want to go. Vision can't be taught, it can only be steered and grown in a certain direction. Relationships - Leadership is first and foremost about people. People are not merely a means for you to use to accomplish your goal. Rather, people are the vehicle by which your vision is driven and accomplished. Cultivating real and personal relationships with the people around you will ensure that they are on your team because they believe in you, not just because t...

I want to confess that I am a bit of a skeptic these days. But I'm not alone. Anyone who has an opinion - which includes any person who is breathing right now - has an idea of the way things should be. When we see others living out their ideas in ways that run contrary to what we envision in our own minds, then we start to doubt the validity of the beliefs of others. Or we even doubt ourselves. A couple of years ago I stepped away from a staff position at a local church. I needed a break from church ministry, but it wasn't because of anything the people of the church had done. Those people are still my friends and I continue to love and pray for them as they do for me. What I was truly in need of was a break from myself. You see, I had gotten to a point where I was being so driven in a direction where I believed God was leading me that it wouldn't have been fair or right for myself or the church to stay where I was. There are many who become skeptical of church and ...