Overview of Vision

Thank You for your  prayers!

Here is a quick review of what I shared last night with the Church.  I have said nothing new but only really what Jesus has called us to do.

One Vision working on three areas at the same time:

•Reaching to Membership who do not attend (inside)

•Moving along in our personal growth in Christ (inside)

•Reaching to those who do not know Christ and do not attend church anywhere (out)

Here are the 4 basics that we are shooting for:

Reaching – We are a church that is reaching out in the name of Jesus. 

Moving – We are a church that is moving  forward in Christ.

Building – We are a church that is building relationships with Christ and each other.

Serving – We are a church that is gladly serving Christ, the community, and each other.

I will share more later – but again – Thanks for the prayers!

Need your prayers this weekend

I am needing your prayers this weekend as I unveil the vision that God has laid on my heart.  I will be sharing it on Sunday Evening.  It has me excited about what God will do here in the years to come.  It has me excited about seeing lives change and people being connected to Christ. 

Please offer a prayer for me and for the church.

Alittle more humor

Last post is about this past weekend and this is about something that happened in 1991.  I went home from college to do an internship at my home church.  One of my responsibilities was to run a phone system that called homes.  I would program the list of numbers it would call and the time it would call.  It would give the gospel and then record everything that would be said by the person.  It was quite amusing to listen too at times .  I did go to the home of a lady that it called and led her to Christ and there were others I get to go share with.  On one day off I went water skiing and we got a huge storm.  This storm knocked off the power, which meant I had to reprogram it, and I was in a hurry because I had somewhere to be.  It had to be programmed to run from 4pm till 8pm and so I did that and ran out.  The next morning I got there and listened and realized that something had gone terribly wrong.  I programmed it from 4am till 8am.  There were many angry people on the tape!  You do not even have to try to imagine.  A few weeks later I got the local paper to read an article written by the consumer editor.  It was titled “When God calls at 4 A.M.”.  It called the editor of the paper.  I was so embarrassed but it was funny to listen to the responses of people.  Just one of the many bone head things I done in my life. 

Hope it put a smile on your face.

A little humor for today

Halloween was a good day.  My son had his last fall baseball game and he played well.  We came home and hung out.  We then went to a community party and fund-raiser which was great. Then we went out in the neighborhood with friends and had a good time with the kids.  Once we got back home, everyone had fallen asleep, it was about 10 pm when I began to hear something strange.  I was not sure what it was and though it was on the World Series Game which I was watching.  About 10:20 I really hear it again and so I mute the T.V. but I do not hear anything.  Then about 5 minutes later I hear it again and it is the hymn “A Mighty Fortress”.   I got to the door and stand and listen and I hear it.  I then realize what it is it is chimes from a church.  I thought it must be the Methodist Church because there is no way it is ours.  Then I had the “AHhh Man” moment, it was ours.  I get my shoes on and start toward the church from the parsonage which is behind the church (about 200 yards away and back and to the left from the church).  The closer I got the louder it was and it war REALLY loud.  I felt bad for the poor neighbors who live across the street where the sound is blasting out toward.  I got it shut down.  Not too sure why it went off but maybe it was to thwart the evil spirits away on Halloween.  It was something that made me laugh and I apologized to the neighbors Sunday Morning – a couple are members.  I found out later that people were calling all kinds of people trying to get it shut down.  Well, that is my story and I am sticking to it .

Surprised by love and friendship

Yesterday I was walking around shaking hands and talking when I headed to the stage to take my seat before the service started.  I walked down the aisle and there sitting on the front row were friends from my previous church.  I was overwhelmed in seeing them.  They have been and are great friends, but there is something that makes this more special.  In June as I was preparing to leave the church I got a call telling me that my friend was in a motorcycle accident and that they we not sure if he would live.  I lived in a big city then and rushed to the shock trauma unit.  He was awake and I got to talk with briefly and pray with him and that was the last time I saw him but I kept in contact with family.  He was touch and go and in bad shape.  He had a number of broken bones.  His wife was told on several occasions that they were not sure how he was staying alive.  He slowly made progress and he was told if he was to ever walk again it would not be  for a long time and not even put weight on his legs until Thanksgiving.  He would not be discharged from the hospital until after Christmas.  My friend is an amazing man and took his first step on August 23rd and is living at home now.  He drove 4 hour see me and my family.  He walked down the aisle of the church and walked into my home.  He is going back to work (he is a Police Officer) next week.  Let me tell you how wonderful it was to see my friend.

He and his wife came to see me and my family and got to worship with us yesterday.  We went to lunch and talked.  I am inspired and encouraged by him and his family.  I was surprised by his and his families love and friendship.  I am always amazed by what God does in people’s lives and how he blesses us.

Have you been surprised by God?  His Love?  By friendship?

 

Good Video about 2nd Chances and Love

I got  this from the Deadly Viper Blog – it is a great picture of 2nd chances.  Enjoy.

Sowing the Seeds of Love

Back in 1989 Tears for Fears did a song called “Sowing the Seeds of Love”  and I am reminded of it as I read Matthew 13.  Jesus is telling us in the parable of the sower in this chapter.  When you read this parable it is very clear that we are not to be worrying about the soil but just about sowing the seeds.  The problem is that too many times we make the job about the soil and not about sowing the seeds.  We are to be throwing seeds liberally and not worrying about where it is landing.  The other part of the problem is that we are not sowing seeds like this – we are taking one seed out at a time and throwing to the exact point we think it will grow.

So how do we do it?  I think this is part of the problem, we have lost what it means to throw out seeds.  Is sowing seeds sharing the gospel?  Is it inviting people to church?  Is it being nice and doing nice things for people?  Is it all these and more?

What are your thoughts?  Do see the sowing of seed something that is not happen today?  Do you think people have no idea what it means or how to do it?

Paranormal Activity (What the Church can learn)

Let me make a disclaimer at the beginning – I have not seen the movie but it plays no part in what I am saying.

Paranormal activity is the number 1 movie in america.  It was made for around $15,000 and just made 21.1 million this past weekend and over 62 million total since opening.  It opened on a limited number of screens and with the power of word of mouth has gone from a cheap independent film to a blockbuster.  The company that released it basically said that if they had over a million hits on the website.

What can the church learn?  I see at least two thing ( there most likely many more).

1.  The power of word of mouth is a powerful thing.  The power of a changed life is more powerful than anything else so we need to be letting people know how our lives have change with Christ.  We need to be out telling our stories – we all have a story.

2.  If something is done well people will notice.  In relative terms this was a cheap movie but because it was done well people noticed and are watching.  The church needs to understand that we do not need bells and whistles to make a difference, we just need to do what we do well and that is preach Christ crucified and risen.

What are your thoughts?

Community Rocked

The community in which I live was rocked on Thursday with the news that the Plant that employs 1,100 people is closing.  The community has only about 8,800 people in it, many of the jobs that others have are in support of this plant.  This area is a close-knit one being so small but this is really going to test the strength of it and I really believe that we will come through it strong.

It is one of those times that I believe that will define the churches of this area also.  I believe this is our chance to live out the hope that is within us.  This is a time that we will need to be the beacon of Hope.  We will need to be living out our hope.  I was struck by this verse:  2 Corinthians 3:12 – Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech.  We need to go out and share about the hope in us boldly!

Please pray for our community and our church as we try to lead hopefully through this tough time.

What is happening where you live that is testing you as a leader or your church?

Check this out – power of prayer!

I wish I could have found a video of this you could watch here but you will have to click away and then come back and let me know what you think.  Watch the interview following the story – it is cool stuff.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=8888398