My two fellow pastors at LifeBridge and I met this morning at 7 as we do every week. I am thankful to have a friendship with these men and to work with them. We have been together for over 8 years. Great way to start a Sunday!!
The worship band did two hymns today! However, they were definitely not done in yesterday's style! The band rocked...
Speaking of the band... they helped me wrap up my series, "Where's The Line?", by doing a Johnny Cash song, "I Walk The Line"! Pastor Bobby is not Johnny Cash! :-) He did do an excellent version though, and it was not only good, it was funny! It certainly made the point! That song led into the message.
Christ followers should not be asking, "where's the line and how close can I get to it?". We should ask, "where's my heart... is it willing to do the right and very best thing?" Check out the website in a couple of days to hear the message.
We baptized twelve people today!!! YES!!!
This Wednesday is First Wednesday... plan to attend the service at 7 PM. Other area churches are joining us in a Prayer Rally. Don't let that scare you away... you won't be forced to pray out loud. You will be blessed!
Next Sunday begins One Prayer for us. I am so looking forward to this month and what God is going to do in response to the prayers of His people! We are going to do something this month that has never been done before at LifeBridge. We will be having three great pastors preaching via video the last three Sundays. Over 1200 other churches are doing the exact same thing! Can you imagine nearly 800,000 Christ followers praying in unity for the Church?!! That will be happening in June!!! We will be a part of it!
I am missing my sweet wife very much and anticipating her return! She has been in Missouri with her mom, who had a heart attack last Monday and had two stints put in on Thursday. Thanks for your prayers, she is out of the hospital and doing better. Robyn plans to be home Tuesday evening. Can't wait!!!
What would you like me to blog about? If you have a question, post it in the comment section below!!! I would love to interact this week!
My friend, Pastor Brian Atwood, has three very cool posts on his blog containing quotes. Brian and I were in the same church youth group back in the early 70's! Take a few moments to go there and read his last three posts!
Pastor Perry Noble, who will be preaching at LifeBridge on June 22 via video, has a great post today on his blog about praying for your pastors. It gives good insight into how to pray specifically for them and encourages people to do so all month long. We need your prayers!!!
Robyn is coming home this evening!!! She has been away for 7 days in Missouri with her mom and I am missing her! She is coming home to a clean house! Seriously... I think I will go buy a flower or two...
I spent two good hours with my Mom last night. She is a good, godly woman! I know, I'm prejudiced in that regard, but it is true! She is doing pretty well as a new widow, but she definitely misses my Dad. She has shown strength and the grace of God in her life in these difficult times. I love sitting and just talking with her, always have! She is just a "shy" and low key woman, but she has so much wisdom and a great love for Jesus!
I am anticipating a powerful evening tomorrow at First Wednesday service. Our Prayer Rally, with several other pastors and churches, will be a great way to kick off the month long, One Prayer series! Be sure to be there tomorrow at 7 PM. Come early at 5:30 for dinner!
I know what you probably expect me to say, but I am going to surprise you!
The hope for the world is... the Church!!!
Why didn't I say Jesus? It's simple...
That's the obvious answer and it is true that no one "comes to the Father", or can have a relationship with God, apart from Jesus and there is no hope for anyone apart from a relationship with God.
However, apart from the Church, Jesus' Body, His Good News won't be delivered to the needy world! Jesus has chosen to make us His Body in this world. We are His hands that work, His feet that walk, His mouth that speaks, His arms that hug and hold, etc.
He clearly stated it in II Corinthians 5:18-20, "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
Jesus said that He would build His Church. Jesus has chosen that Church to be His instrument to bring hope to this broken world. It is the last, best hope!
I am excited to be a part of that Church. I am thankful that God allows me to join Him in this great venture of His!
I am also thankful for this month's united prayer for that Church, joined by nearly 1300 local churches, involving about 750,000 people around the world. One Prayer can be used of God to renew our conscious dependence on Him, and when that happens, look out! God is up to something!
TO MY PASTOR FRIENDS: Whether your church is participating in this particular event or not, we will pray for you and your ministry! I thank God for you and am glad we are partners in Kingdom work!
"Did you know that during the devasting earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean area back in 2004, the entire population of Nallavadu, India was saved from destruction by a single phone call from a man named Vijayakumar in Singapore, Indonesia?
Vijayakumar saw a tsunami warning in Singapore and immediately phoned the village's research center, setting off an official alert.
A warning was repeatedly announced over the village's public address system and a siren sounded allowing people time to move away from the danger area before the waves hit.
As a result, not one of Nallavadu's 3,600 residents was killed while the surrounding area suffered massive loss of life."
The impact of that one phone call was enormous. It saved lives. What could be the eternal impact of one phone call or one personal invitation to attend church this weekend?
You may be thinking of a name right now... pray for them and give them a call!!!
I was struck with a familiar thought as I jogged this morning...
Together Everyone Accomplishes More!!!
There is a principle that is referred to in Scripture. It is the principle of synergy... "How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?" (Deuteronomy 32:30) It is defined beautifully in the following...
Synergy is... 1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.
(From the American Heritage Dictionary)
That's teamwork and teamwork assumes there's a team! Jesus died to turn His followers into a united team, called the Church. During His earthly ministry Jesus worked with a team... the twelve Apostles. The Apostle Paul constantly had a ministry team surrounding him.
The Scriptures talk about how the "team" works together in different roles, with different God given skills called gifts. (I Corinthians 14)
It is obvious that God is all into teamwork and that teamwork is synergetic! Together everyone accomplishes more!
QUESTION: How important is teamwork in your life and service to God?
I believe that one of my PRIMARY responsibilities as a Senior Pastor is to work in a team. I am constantly building or adding to a team, and working with that team.
I believe that the entire local church should consist of many teams. Every ministry in the church should be built around teamwork.
I also believe that, in a community, local churches should work together as a team to reach that community! Why do we tend to see each other as competition when, in reality, we are on the same "Team"?
Two suggestions...
As a member of a local church, find a team or start a team to do ministry together! Contribute your talents, skills, experience, energy, and time to a cause bigger than one person. 1 person chases 1000, but 2 persons chase 10, 000!!! That's synergy!
As a pastor, worry less about our differences and preferences and be more concerned about our commonality! Every church that accepts the Scriptures as God's inspired Word, believes we are all sinners in need of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus, our God and Savior, and is convinced that there is a real Heaven to gain and Hell to shun, should be able to cooperate in some way as a team to reach their community!!! All other differences should be overlooked for the good of the Kingdom. Some of us are going to be seriously surprised when we get to Heaven! (Maybe embarrassed!)
Subscribe to this Site
May, 2008
is not Johnny Cash! :-) He did do an excellent version though, and it was not only good, it was funny! It certainly made the point! That song led into the message.