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CORE VALUE #1: GATHERING
Belonging and bringing others to God and His community.
Acts 2:46-47, And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
CORE VALUE #2: GROWING
Building a loving, growing relationship with God and with others.
Eph. 4:11-13, And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
CORE VALUE #3: GIVING
Serving with your unique gifts and abilities.
1 Pet. 4:10, As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.
Good Quote: “You CAN NOT say you are a fully functioning disciple of Christ if your “spiritual gift” is sitting on your rear end. In order for people to develop…they must be involved in ministry. Look at the disciples in Scripture–they were all EMPOWERED and ENABLED NOT to sit in a room and discuss the tribulation, but to do ministry!”— Perry Noble
CORE VALUE #4: GOING
Sharing God’s transforming grace with others just as He shared it with us in His Son, Jesus Christ.
2 Cor. 5:17-19, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
A churches greatness is not seen by its seating capacity, but by its sending capacity. –Rick Warren
Sunday night my Senior pastor and I presented LifeBuilders, a new small group ministry for our church. Let me tell you, we are very excited about it!! People are catching on to our vision and they are excited as well. Let me give just a few reasons why I believe in small group ministry:
1. It’s rooted in the Bible and in our heritage.
Jesus was the very first small group leader. He invested His life into 12 men and they in turn turned the world-right-side-up!! Where would our churches be today if Wesley had not instituted the class meetings? Cottage prayer meetings are a big part of our heritage as well. That’s basically what this ministry is; it’s just retooled and structured differently.
2. Small groups provide another entry point into the church.
3. Small groups are an effective evangelism tool.
4. Small groups are an effective means to nurture people.
5. Small groups will accelerate spiritual growth within the people.
6. Small groups will shift the work of the church to the people.
Ephesians 4:12 talks about “equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry.”
7. Small groups will help people to connect one with another.
8. Small groups will help people to feel like they belong who are intimidated by a larger group.
9. Small groups will promote community and unity among us.
10. Small groups will foster a spirit of accountability.
11. Within a Small group spiritual gifts are more fully discovered.
Tomorrow I’ll post LifeBuilders Four Core Values. Can you add to this list of why we should have small groups?
Well today was our second day of school. Only 178 more days to go!!!
The last few days I have been reading the book of Ezra in my devotions. Ezra was a scribe who, along with the cupbearer-turned-building-supervisor Nehemiah, led the Jews from their captivity from Babylon back to Israel. Both books are excellent illustrations of leadership. It portrays some of the joys, challenges, headaches, & successes of leadership. It gives great examples of how to deal with problem people, discouragement, apathy, defeat, success, and so on.
In Ezra, his leadership skills can be best summed up four ways:
1. Pioneer. He blazed the trail and helped the Jewish people restart their temple worship.
2. Model. He committed himself to study God’s Word, then to practice it, then to communicate it to the Jewish people. That should be the model of every preacher. Study it! Practice it! Communicate it!
3. Catalyst. Ezra’s courage and decisiveness in the face of opposition prompted the Jews to finish the work they had started.
4. Teacher. He taught the people God’s Word.
What a great example of leadership!
“Nothing in Scripture indicates the church should lure people to Christ by presenting Christianity as an attractive option . . . The Church must realize that its mission has never been public relations or sales; we are called to live holy lives and declare God’s raw truth–lovingly but uncompromisingly–to an unbelieving world”( Ashamed of the Gospel, 72). JOHN MACARTHUR
I receive a weekly e-mail from H.B. London, Jr., Vice President Pastoral Ministries for Focus on the Family. This e-mail really encouraged me.
In our book, The Heart of a Great Pastor, Neil Wiseman and I called it the opportunity to “bloom where you are planted.” In other words, no one else can do what you do or serve where you serve. You are uniquely in the right spot to bring glory to God.
So, when your people comment on something one of the “big names” has said, or say to you “Why don’t you do it the way they do it?” don’t get upset. Just know in your heart that God has you where He wants you and, because of that, God expects a harvest of love and compassion for those you serve.
Oh, and by the way, the TV “guys and gals” — they do not make your hospital calls for you, do they? Or preach the funerals, or marry the young couples, or sit with lonely folks in the nursing homes, do they? Or get up at 4 a.m. to deal with a domestic situation? No, and do you know why? Because they do not pastor your people — you do. They may address your people, but they are not “on call.”
So, my colleagues, bloom where you are planted!! You and God can do great things right where you are without a television program. He is doing great things.
I don’t have to be the big fish in a little pond I just want to work and bloom where God has placed me!
Dr. Ray Pritchard has written a very good article So, You’re Preaching This Sunday… in which he challenges the preacher to “get the juices flowing early in the week”. This is something I’ve always tried to practice. I hate crashing all day on Saturday trying to develop a message. He gives 10 practical things to do early in week to get the creative juices flowing:
1. Read your text out loud.
2. Stand up and walk around while reading your text out loud.
3. Read your text in at least five different translations.
4. Take three minutes and jot down five questions about your text.
5. Pick a hymn or a chorus that reminds you of your text and sing it out loud.
6. Think of three preachers you admire and ask yourself, “How would they preach this text?”
7. Find a sermon on the Internet on your text and read it.
8. Give yourself ten minutes (but no more than that) to write a sermon skeleton.
9. Listen to the first five minutes of any sermon by a preacher you admire.
10. Pray that God would open the eyes of your heart (Ephesians 1:18).
Energizer Bunny arrested, charged with battery.
1. You’ve ever dreamed you were preaching only to awaken and discover you were.
2. You’ve wondered why people couldn’t die at more appropriate times.
3. You find yourself counting people at a sporting event.
4. You’re leading the church into the 21st century, but you don’t know what you are preaching on Sunday.
5. A church picnic is no picnic.
6. You’ve ever spoken for free and were worth every penny of it.
7. U-Haul sends you a gift card.
8. People sleep while you’re talking.
9. You ever wanted to give the sound-man a little feedback of your own.
10. Instead of being “ticked off,” you get “grieved in your spirit.”
11. You jiggle all the commode handles at the church before you leave.
12. You’d rather talk to people with their heads bowed and every eye closed.
13. You’ve ever wanted to ‘lay hands’ on a deacon’s neck.
