The Tuesday Jitters

When you run a conference from Sunday to Wednesday, Tuesday’s are usually the odd day.  If something is going to happen it usually happens on Tuesday.  I don’t know if it is because people are tired (I was) or if people get comfortable with their surroundings, or if the enemy starts to attack.  More than likely it is all of the above.  We had a great time again in the pastor’s school.  We laid out a seven stage plan on how to build discipleship in your Church from the ground up.  With lots of questions and discussion I believe, we accomplished the task at hand.

For the evening services, we kicked it off with the Jr. Praise band leading in worship.  They did a great job of leading us to the throne room to praise the Lord.  Pastor Don Evans from Village Community Church in Washington D.C. brought a message entitled “God Plan is Recession Proof.”  In these troubled times the children of God can rest assured that God has the means to get us through.  What grabbed my heart in the message was his point that if the King is coming there is no other way but in the center of God’s will.  We were challenged to take anything that was keeping us from living in the center of God’s will and let it go, for the King is coming.

Dan Weaver, Missionary to Belize, finished up the night preaching about the coming judgment when the King comes.  If we really believe that Judgment is coming and that Hell is the reality for those that don’t choose Jesus, do we believe enough to warn someone else, and save them from this coming judgment.  God so moved the hearts of the people that the alter was filled with people, not praying for themselves, but naming the name of people that they knew needed to be saved, while asking God at the same time to give them the courage to witness.  it was a beautiful sight. 

We had a few glitches, throughout the night, but all in all God spoke and the people responded.  God is Won.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Monday World Vision Recap

We got to Church in the morning at about 8:20 and people beginning to role into the Pastor’s School.  I never now who is going to show up and in all honest I am always a little never or maybe anxious to see who is going to turn out.  The church people had prepared breakfast for the pastors and we all enjoy each others company with food and fellowship (good Baptist).  The topic for the day was finding the essentials of discipleship.  What came out of the session was beautiful.  The first essential we discovered is the goal of discipleship can be nothing else but a heart to know God in a personal and intimate way.  The second essential we discovered demands that the Bible be the top authority in the life of the disciple.  There must be a faith placed in the words of God that goes without question.  Not that we can’t reason the scriptures, but when a conclusion is drawn we will obey.  The last essential we discovered with that of accountability.  Once a disciple has a greed that God’s Word is true, then it is our job to hold them accountable to follow that Word.  The sessions were awesome.  I had five pages of notes and we cover the first to points, but if you know me that is normal the rest of the time of was spent in real life and not the one I had created on the page.  That is always a better session.

The lunch from the Lunch crew was wonderful.  We feasted and then began to get serious with questions about life and ministry and our Lord Jesus Christ.  We ended by gathering together and praying for the strength of God to be active in our lives and ministries.  After the Q & A, we had one of the pipes in the kitchen stop up, and the rest of the afternoon was spent snaking the kitchen.  It happens.  God brought help and the pipes are free and clear.

They came in excited last night and I must admit I was pretty overwhelmed myself with the Lord. We sang at the top of our lungs the glory of the Lord and gave him all our praise.  It was beautiful to see God’s children love on him like that.  We had Chris Moore, Missionary to East Africa, come and present his heart and vision for this work and it was incredible.  Christ and his wife Lisa have started a not-for-prophet organization called Real 4 Christ Ministries, by which they plan on providing the necessities of life to the children of Africa while sharing the gospel with them.  Chris is no stranger to Africa.  He grew up in Africa with his family as missionaries.  Lisa is getting her medical degree so that she can provide the medical peace of the ministry in Africa.  I believe everyone in the room was challenged to serve the Lord from our hearts.

Dan Weaver, missionary to Belize, finished out the night with a message from Romans 10:14-16.  The message was simple but strong.  When we live by faith we remove the boxes we have built around God.  God spoke, the people were moved, the alter was filled and we left how we came.  Singing, excited, and ready for more.

World Vision Has Begun

As I sit here and reflect on what happened yesterday,  I’m taken back by the goodness of God.  As the old saying goes from the TV Show the “A Team,” “I love it when a plan comes together.”

it is so amazing to me that God speaks to us the way that he does.  I all honesty I go into these conferences wondering what God is going to say, and how he is going to direct for the coming year.  How are the people going to be moved.  I received a text message from one of the members last night that pretty much summed up the day for me, it simply said, “WOW!”  The bottom line is this God showed up.  I began the conference in the morning in Isaiah 6.  In verses 1-7 we see the forgiveness of Isaiah has he comes face to face with the King.  Then, in verse 8 we find the word “also.” Forgiveness is not the end of the plan it is just the beginning.  God had something for Isaiah to do.  Again in the evening service Dan Weaver, Missionary to Belize brought a message out of 2 Kings 13 about limiting God by limiting your faith.  The conclusion I brought from the day was that God is calling some of our people into the mission field, and that excites me.  Pray for the conference!  Pray that God would send for laborers into the harvest!

We also became the sending Church for the  Clarks in London.  This was an exciting time. It has been quite some time that we have been a sending Church, so this will be a great step in the spiritual growth of our people.  God has seen fit over the last 20 years to put Brian and Mindy in my life in a very real and personal way.  I believe Fellowship Baptist Church becoming his sending Church is a perfect fit.  I am in the process of talking to Brain about an upcoming missions trip to London so stay tuned.

Kiana Bullard, one of our college students, presented her short term missions endeavor to the Hope for Louisville this summer.  She is going to living in the homeless shelter there in Louisville for the purpose of building relationships with people and sharing the gospel with them.  I can’t wait to hear the miracles God does in her life over the summer.  Please pray for Kiana, that God was give her boldness to speak the truth.  If you would life to help by supporting Kiana on this short term mission endeavor you can contact the Church office at 806-273-7127.

All in all it was a great day in the Lord, and this is just the beginning.  Today we start our Pastor’s School. 

Get Ready, Set, Go!!!!

World Vision is upon us.  Ready or not the guest start arriving tomorrow and all the excitement begins.  I have been a student of discipleship for the past 16 years.  I have implemented discipleship in two Church from scratch, and after all this time I have seen some discipleship process that work and some that did not.   In preparation for this conference, Pastor Edgar and I have been talking about what the visiting pastors really need from this conference.  We feel like many pastors come to see a successful discipleship ministry that is in a Church that is more like theirs.  But, what we have found is that many are having a hard time getting discipleship off the ground.  So, Pastor Edgar and I began to really dig into the nuts and bolts of what has made this process of discipleship a successful one, and I believe we have some answers.  That is why I am so excited for the next week.  I finally have some answers down on paper that have literally been 16 years in the making.  We are hoping to make the pastor’s sessions available online for download after next week, so keep watch or better yet come and join us and get it first hand.  Hope to see you there!!

Writing Notes

I remember the days when all I had to do was take notes that someone else had created and thought that was quit a chore. But now, I am the one making the notes and it is not an easy task. I have been preparing for the Pastor's school coming up in our World Vision Conference. The hardest part is not what to say but what not to say. For example, right now I am finishing up a Mentor training class in which I use basically the same notes, and it has taken me 6 sessions to teach it. I have to condense that information down into a 2 hour single session. That is not easy to do. It will however make to get to the point in a hurry.

Get The Ball Rolling

As we were preparing for World Vision 2009, it was brought to my attention that many of the Pastor that have been coming to the discipleship conferences around the country are struggling to take the concepts that they are learning and actually implementing them in their ministries. It is one thing to understand and agree with a philosophy it is a whole different animal to implement it. I think the reason is there is no commitment level in the agreement with the concepts. You can make mental assent, know that it is good and right, and even be excited for those that are doing it, but struggle when it is time to do the work yourself. Let me see if I can bottom line this for you and make it easy to understand. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is hard work! Have a position at a Church where people call you Pastor is not that hard. Preaching on Sunday and Wednesday is not that hard. But doing the work of the ministry, now that will rival any CEO in America. The work of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, is changing peoples lives with the gospel, and teaching them to observe, not just believe, but observe all things that the Lord has commanded us to do. When you are changing anything there is always opposition and obstacles. Do you have what it takes to stand up to the opposition. Are you will to barrel through the obstacles that stand in the way of change. In all honesty many are not. They don't want to "rock the boat," or hurt someones feelings, and all those things are fine as long as you want everything to stay just the way it is.

Think about this with me for a moment. When Jesus came did call for change and growth or just try and maintain the normal way. Come on guys, he "rocked the boat" so hard that they killed him for it. This is the same story for the disciples. They "turned the world upside down." These guys are my heroes. If you are going to live a hero's life, you must be willing to die a hero's death. I want you to ask yourself this question today, as we all prepare for the conference, "Am I will to make the necessary changes that are going to bring about change in the lives of people?" Yes, there will be opposition. Yes, some will leave your church. Yes, some will start and not finish. And when all that happens I will give you a smile and say, "Welcome to the ministry of our Lord." There is no greater reward the changing a life for the kingdom of God. It is worth the struggle and the pain. The ministries waiting the laborers are few. Come and join the Lord in his work you won't be disappointed.

Choose Your King

The theme for Fellowship Baptist Church this year is "The King Is Coming." The Lord has just blown my mind, as I watch him communicate with his Church Body. Yesterday was one of those days when the Spirit just moves on me as a preacher and delivers just what the congregation needs to hear. We are working through the book of Isaiah. Our theme for the book is of course, "The King is Coming." We spent a lot of time talking about choosing your king. There is a course of this world that we are told in Ephesians 2:2-3 is the course of Satan. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Satan is call the god of this world. We learned that Satan is at work right now to prepare people for his coming king, the Wicked, the anti-Christ. Satan is subtle so he has not yet announced who his king will be for there will not be a vote when it happens. Instead, he spends his time setting up the world through his current world system getting people reading to receive him when he comes. Satan's goal right now it just to get people worshipping something, anything, other than God. It doesn't matter at this point what else you choose to worship, just that you are worshipping something else. This will set you up for the anti-Christ to come. In the midst of this world system Christ has placed his church here in the spirit of Elijah to proclaim the kingdom is at hand. The message of the Bible has always been about choosing your king. The Church is calling as many as will come into the kingdom of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Whose kingdom are you living in today?

As God spoke people were listening intently. A the close of the service I had asked if anyone wanted me to pray for them, that God would show them his kingdom, and one girl raise her hand. I pray for her and the rest of the congregation and we dismissed the service. As she was talking to one of the counsellors after the service, the young lady wanted to talk more about how to choose her king and the counsellor was able to lead her straight to the throne room of God and she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. God is Great, God is Good! I love the ministry. Have a blessed day.

If you would like to here the message from Sunday, follow this link, "The Blessing of the Lord" it will be posted sometime on Monday.

A Warm Winter's Day

I'm sitting here in the middle of winter with a t-shirt on because it's almost 80 degrees outside today. It's funny how we expect every season but we don't want them when they are here. I personally like all seasons. When it's winter I want winter and so on. When the seasons are off it messes with my head, needless to say, living in the panhandle my head gets messes with all the time. I think I am finally over the fact that we are in the year 2009 already. I feel like I'm settling in to what the Lord has for us this year. I am ready to win some souls!!! I can't wait for the activities that we have coming up this year, most of which are geared around winning souls to the Lord. Every month this summer we will be having a community cookout in the surrounding towns. Talking to people about Jesus, and inviting them to come and check out the Church. God always blesses the group when we go out and the whole church comes out to the park for games and snacks. It's a fun time.

We are midway through our Discipleship Two class. We are studing the rules of Bible study right now. It is exciting to see the class getting into the Bible more than they ever have. World Vision is just around the corner at the end of the month. If you still have not registered and you going to need housing, now is the time to do so. We are expecting a good number of Pastor's from all over the country as well as some from Mexico City. We are going to focus this year on how to impliment discipleship in your Church. There are many ways to disciple, but there are some major principles that should govern any type of discipleship process. Needless to say God is going to speak.

I had a great time with the Lord this morning as he was teaching me about the kingdom as a whole. I am using a great book on the kingdom that would be worth looking at, for you Bible students: "The Greatness of the Kingdom" by McClain. Most people take a self-centered approach as the look at the Bible and think that the purpose of the Bible is to tell them about a the cross of Christ that brings them salvation. The truth of the matter is the cross is a means to an end. God is seeking after true worshipers in his kingdom. Those that desire to worship God have been provided a means of salvation from their sin to restore the relationship with God and worship him. How your worship going? Are you spending time with God? Are you walking in the Lord and more importantly is the Lord walking in you (2 Corinthians 6:16-18).

Struggling with Faith

There are so many people today that struggle with faith toward God. In Ephesians 2:8 we are told that faith is the agent whereby the grace of God is dispensed to us. If we have anything to do with our salvation it is simply to believe, but we must have faith to receive the grace of God. This leads us back to the element of choice that everyone has to accept or reject salvation. Accepting salvation is not just believing the facts about God, but in fact, putting your trust in him. In Hebrews 6:3, Paul describes faith as one of the basic and essential elements and building blocks of our faith. Again in Hebrews 11:6 we are told that "without faith it is impossible to please God, for those that come to him must believe that he is and that he a rewarder of those that diligently seek him." So why do we struggle so much with putting our faith and trust in God. Do we not believe what he says? Do we not know what he says? Are we just weak?

I have come to understand that our faith is just about as good as the rest of our natural abilities. If we are going to live by faith it cannot be our faith. Again in the Hebrews 12 we are told that Jesus Christ is the "author and finisher of our faith." In Galatians 2:20, Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the live that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." We stand in awe of the ministry that Paul had for the Lord, and we should. But I believe every Christians has the ability to live in the same faith that Paul had/has. Try living in the faith of Jesus today. Don't live in the feeble faith that you can muster up. Let that pride in you die and live in the faith of the Son of God. What a ride. What a rush. What a life. Enjoy the day in the Lord.