Lead Well

Recently, I was given the opportunity to preach to the adult congregation.  I spoke on the five ways God helps your faith grow and how my church makes them happen. They are: Practical teaching - Hearing the Word and doing the Word are two very different things.  It is essential to our spiritual growth to learn how to apply what we learn about God and His ways to our lives. Private disciplines  - Prayer, studying the Bible, serving, sharing the Gospel.  These are all disciplines that every christian should have in their lives and the more they practice them, they stronger their faith grows. Personal ministry  - Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:2 that we are the Body of Christ.  Everyone has a place to serve in the gifts and abilities that God has given us.  Therefore a follower should be actively serving or looking for a place to serve. Providential relationships  - In each followers faith journey they can point to one person who set them on ...

www.gettyimages.com I'm just going to admit it. I'm a conservative Republican.  You can imagine my dismay with Tuesday's election results.  I was so upset, I had a hard time getting to sleep that night. All I could was pray.  As I was praying, I was reminded that God is in control of everything. The next morning, I read this tweet from Perry Noble , "Dear believers - the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses. (Daniel 4:25)." This verse is found right in the heart of the story where God was teaching the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, just who is responsible for the king's greatness.   You can read the full story here. It is a reminder to us all that God has chosen who will lead us.  We may have elected President Obama, but the reality is that God has ordained him to the leader of the free world for four more years. If we claim to be Christians, then we submit to God's authority and the authority o...

from gettyimages.com A few Sundays ago, we gave the Gospel message along with an opportunity to become a Christian.  We had 9 children raise their hands to signify they were ready to accept Christ.  I am so excited that God moved, and we had so many come to Christ.  Let me caution you, however.  All of these salvations were in second service.  I didn’t have a single one in first.  In fact, I didn’t even offer because I knew they weren’t paying attention.  I justified this misstep by saying that they were all saved anyway.  They already know the story of Jesus crucifixion.  They were bored.  All of these may be true, but may I offer another reason?  I wasn’t ready.  I spent my pre-service time socializing. I didn’t double check my tech.  I didn’t show my sound person what she needed to do.  I didn’t even go over what I was talking about that morning.  The last time I even looked at it was the Thurs...

Success is awesome.  Having a bunch of people telling you how great a job you're doing gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling and can cause you to ride high for days.  I love to hear it and love to give it. However, there is a downside.  It can all go to your head.  God can bring you to a place, give you opportunity, prepare you with the necessary skills and walk with you all the way, then when it all comes together, you drop God faster than flaming hot lump of coal from the furnace.  How do I know?  I've done it more times than I care to tell. Recently in my prayer time, God reminded me to not forget who I'm doing all this for.  Who am I working for really?  Who made all this possible?  Who put me in this place with these people with this skill set? God did. Facing the Giants had the same concept.  In everything they did they praised Him.  I know this is churchy and I cringe at the phrasing, but the truth remains. Let ...

Last weekend, the Royal Rangers went on a special campout hosted by the Frontiersman Camping Fellowship (FCF).  This is an elite group of Rangers and only sixth grade and up are allowed to join after they learn essential skills, such as starting fires with one match or flint and steel, tying several types of knots, and proper shelter building.  This is all fun for the boys, but the underlying reason for FCF is what makes it so great. FCF’s mission is to keep boys for Christ.  Unlike other Ranger outings, this group is focused on the discipleship of young men and provides a rite of passage that is so desperately needed in our culture.  We had 8 boys and 2 dads go through step one of their “initiation” last weekend.  It was fun and the boys had a great time, but I saw something special. On the first night, I saw one dad playing with his son.  Many times we get so caught up in life, work, family, church that we forget why we are doing all of thes...

courtesy getty images Fasting.  It's hard.  Let's face it, we know that it is something we should be doing.  We know that Jesus fasted. He did a marathon fast of 40 days and nights with no food or water! Nevertheless, I think most of us are scared. "What if I get hungry?  Will I be able to think straight? Will I be undernourished?  I have to fast for how long?  I can't eat what?" We come up with a million excuses. "I have too much to do today to fast. But I'm really hungry. I have no will power.  I can't lie to the people around me.  I don't have a place to do it.  I just don't see the need." How do I know all this?  I've said it all to myself.  It's a hard discipline, but a wise man once said, "if it's not hard, then is it worth doing?"  Or as it says in Hebrews 12:11 "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for th...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've had to deal with some pretty tough questions and attempt to be the spiritual guide in confusing and devastating times.  The first, my senior pastor died of brain cancer two weeks ago, and the second, a three year old girl was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. About 16 months ago my senior pastor was diagnosed with brain cancer and during a biopsy had a stroke which left him paralyzed on his left side for the rest of his life.  As a pastor on staff, I had to stand strong for the congregation and present a united front with the rest of the staff.  For over a year we desperately prayed for God to do a miracle, but unfortunately, God chose to heal him in the next life in heaven. Three days after his funeral, I received a text message that one of our church member's three year old granddaughter has brain cancer that cannot be taken out with surgery and most likely will not be able to receive radiation treatments because it could tur...

There have been many ideas and thoughts swirling around about the "new church."  Many have been wondering what this new generation, what this "new revolution" will look like.  If what I am reading and observing is correct, then where we are headed is vastly different from where we've been, bur remarkably similar to the days of old.  This week I hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at my church and gave over 80 children the opportunity to receive Christ.  Many responded, but now I am left with the question, "How can I disciple these children?"  It is possible that many of them I will never see again.  These kids could grow into adults and claim to be Christians because they said a prayer at a service one day, but have no idea what Christianity, what being a follower of Christ, is all about.  They will barely understand sin, heaven, hell, resurrection, new birth, Christian service.  I love the old style evangelistic tent meetings.  We see so many peop...

Recently, I watched a segment on CNN about how more and more couples are choosing to live together instead of getting married.  The segment included two radio host who frequently talk about modern day relationship issues as advice gurus.  The gist of the conversation ended that marriage is just a sheet of paper and many people in today's culture see no need to go through the legal and financial rigmarole of getting married. The glaring omission from the entire story is the lack of moral conviction.  Think about it.  If there is nothing wrong with having sex before, outside, or after marriage and if there is nothing wrong with having children outside of wedlock, then what is marriage?  A legal contract between 2 people who are dedicated to one another and have decided to make it known to everyone including the state.  It is basically a sheet of paper that gives you tax breaks.  If that is true, then why bother? Last night, I watched in horror and ...