I had a great experience today! For the first time since the team has been going there, I visited the Curtis Bay Feeding Ministry of LifeBridge Church.
It was a joy to watch our fellow LifeBridgers lovingly serve the under-resourced and homeless of Curtis Bay! They all worked together, running around like busy bees serving the queen bee.
They each had a task or tasks and went about them with diligence. Some served the food as the people came by in line. Others helped people carry food back to the tables when their hands were too full. Some served drinks and carried them to the tables.
Still others kept the tables full of deserts. Some walked around, interacting with those being fed.
When the time came to finish, leftovers and more were carried home by the crowd.
The words of Jesus kept going through my mind as I watched all the activity... "When you give a cold cup of water to one of these little ones, you give it to Me!"
Does anyone feel as blessed as I do to live in a place like the USA?!!! We have been spared the huge natural disasters like the two that have been in the news lately. The cyclone that hit Myanmar left major devastation and death. Estimates now range between 68, 000 to 127,000 dead. The earthquake in China has left at least 15,000 dead, with up to 25,000 buried under rubble. I cannot wrap my mind around numbers like that! I don't want the huge numbers to de-sensitize me to the reality of individual human suffering. I want to share in the emotional pain brought on by the plight of fellow human beings that God created. I am also very thankful for ministries that are already on the ground in China and trying to be in Myanmar to help relieve some suffering and to share the love of Christ.
I am very excited about a move afoot in our community to begin a ministry to the under-resourced and homeless! It will involve several area churches banding together in a cooperative effort to make it happen! LifeBridge Church will be one of them. We are still very much in the planning stage at this moment, but, by God's grace, it will be a reality in the next few months! Stay tuned for more details and pray for it!
My wife had flowers delivered to our house today from another man! You heard it right! It was actually from another pastor to boot! Can you believe that? What really happened was a very nice gesture... Robyn has been leading the childcare for the weekly Women In The Word at Grace Fellowship Church this year. She has also overseen childcare for another event there. The flowers came in the name of the Senior Pastor and another lady at the church. Although they paid her to do the job, they went over and beyond to say thanks with the flowers! Classy church!!!
The new sermon series that begins this Sunday has the potential to help lots of people. While working on it again today, I was very motivated to get it going! The title of the series... "Where's The Line?" Life is a collection of many decisions. Some of them are trivial, but most are not! How do we decide in the gray areas of life? Be there the next three Sundays to find out!
Had a great time with our grandson, Anthony, yesterday! He has to be one of the most handsome, intelligent, mannerly, nine year olds on this planet! That is an unbiased, objective observation!
Have I mentioned lately that I am blessed to serve with two of the best guys in the world?!!! Pastors Bobby and Jeff are true friends and men who have a real heart for LifeBridge Church! Express your encouragement and appreciation the next time you see them, please!
I have been thinking about the Summer of 2008 lately. Because I'm a pastor, I think in terms of the church. I love summertime, but as a pastor, I sometimes dread what can happen with church attendance during that time.
However, I am really looking forward to this summer! I can't wait for June! We are banding together with hundreds of churches worldwide to pray! One Prayer is a four week campaign during June. I am anticipating a renewal in our prayer lives as a result of what happens in that month! Anytime a church begins to pray consistently and passionately, good things happen! Lives are changed!!!
We are going from One Prayer in June to "One Life To Give" in July. That will be a four week series focusing on the central subject, the main topic, for all true Christ followers! What will I do with the One Life God has given me... the Life for which I will one day be accountable to Him???
June and July will be two of the most crucial and potentially powerful of our entire ministry history! I am excited about what God is going to do!
The first two weeks of August will bring a mini-series called "Eternity"... one week on Heaven, one week on Hell.
There's more but I will leave you wondering!
Are you ready to give your spiritual life a boost in the Summer of 2008?
I need that! My life is far from perfect. I am still very much in the process of growing, of being changed, and of serving!
Over 42 years ago I was brought into the forever family of God by His grace. Since then, I have lived, grown, and served by His grace!
I will need His grace for the rest of my life! So will you!
NOW... some grace that needs to be given in light of yesterday's sermon... (for info on yesterday's sermon, see yesterday's blog or log on to our church site and listen to the sermon!)
God's standard for moms... raise your own children in your own home, not passing it off to a daycare or others! Stay out of the workforce and in the home. Titus 2:3-5; I Timothy 5:14
HOWEVER... there are situations with extenuating circumstances! There are single moms who have no choice right now. There are couples who have obligated themselves up the river and have to pay their bills. In those cases, we need to extend grace and mercy! As I said, I need grace!
If you are a new couple or new parents, make the decision early on that, rather than trying to have it all right now, you are going to sacrifice in order to keep mom home with those young children!!! Make that decision before you are over obligated!
For single moms, I pray that God will place good people in your life to come along side of you and help! You need grace! We need to extend grace!
On this Mother's Day Sunday, some wrap up thoughts...
My alarm went off at 6:10 this morning so that I could be at the 7:00 AM weekly Pastors meeting. In addition to the three pastors, there were 4 other men meeting with us. (Two others were not able to attend today.) Every other Sunday, those 6 men join us. They are men who are being mentored for further leadership at LifeBridge. What a meeting this morning! We are getting ready for some exciting things this summer and beyond! Stay tuned...
More new people in service today... another banner attendance day... more new people telling me they are bringing new people! There is a buzz in the air... God is moving in lives!
Beyond the growing attendance, there really is life change happening! Only God...
My precious Mom was in attendance today. What a blessing! As a matter of fact, God is allowing us to reach and minister to the next generation in my family! Some nephews and nieces are beginning to attend and they are not transferring in from another church they have been attending! That fires me up!
My sermon today on "Godly Womanhood" could be controversial in today's culture! My heart's desire for today's message... to be Biblical, not bowing to current culture, and to raise the value of womanhood! Part of the problem in our society with the meltdown of the family and the crisis with our children, lies at the feet of parents who don't fill the roles that God intended and made very clear in Scripture.
Put simply... if you are a young couple with children or about to have children... find a way to keep mom at home with those children! Moms, don't let the world tell you that you are giving up anything when you do! You are not taking second best! Couples who choose to have children and to pursue having all the "stuff" at the expense of allowing daycares to raise those children, are settling for second best! ( I fully realize that there are cases where it seems to be unavoidable, such as with single parents.)
Bottom line... Let's find out what God's pattern is and begin moving in that direction rather than trying to explain away that pattern and justify our poor decisions!
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May, 2008
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