"If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:11
I cannot describe to you the awesome, riveting, running over, exciting presence of God and His Glory that is starting to fill our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits here at the Lebanon Church of God of Prophecy! As you may or may not know, I have accepted the full time pastorate position at this church. I'm just in awe of God and His divine appointments that He has brought my way. I'm very thankful to be where I am today and I know that it's only by the grace and mercy of God that He has given me this season to minister to a great church body that has an excitement about them to "go into the harvest" and reach the lost for Jesus!
This past Sunday morning I was lead to minister to the congregation about the urgency to have the Glory of God in our individual lives, homes, and churches. I was lead to the account of the daughter-in-law of Eli found in 1 Samuel chapter 4. His daughter-in-law had given birth to a son, Ichabod. The name Ichabod has a meaning of "The glory has departed, or left" and he was named this because the Ark of the Covenant of God had been taken from the people of Israel. So often in our lives, we put ourselves into situations to where we find ourselves not walking in the glory of God. Sometimes, we allow ourselves to be mislead by what we subject our thoughts and actions to, that we don't give room for the glory of God to be welcomed into our lives.
We don't have to walk in "yesterdays" achievements. We don't have to continue on the same beaten path because it's always been the thing to do. I believe God is calling us to a greater standard than what we have been living and it's time to pray for the replacement of the spirit of Ichabod and accept the spirit of Immanuel, "God with us!" We have, for so long, let men's opinions and sinful ways dictate our blessings and outcomes of our situations instead of desiring "more God" in our lives. I believe, in my own spiritual walk, that I need to pray for the spirit of Immanuel in my life, everyday! It's when we put our total trust in God for our lives, that He truly blesses us with His glory!
What an awesome "revival" the church of God will experience when we start letting God work in our services, our lives, our work, our homes, etc... I pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that we can experience the Glory of God in our churches like they did in the early church in the book of Acts. Why aren't we "adding to the church daily?" Maybe because we have been walking in the wrong spirit for too long. Let's expect the glory of God to be a refreshing breath of energy in our church services and subsequently revival will happen!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
New Season, Again!
I'm excited about what God is doing right now in our lives! In just a few short days I will explain what's going on. God is doing amazing things and answering prayers. He is opening doors that only He can open and I'm looking forward to walking through them! More to come later...
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Five Reasons Small Churches Don’t Grow
Came across this article on a blog that I follow and thought I would share it:
Five Reasons Small Churches Don’t Grow
1. Unresolved Conflict. Conflicted churches don’t grow. It’s never “fun” to deal with conflict, but in a smaller church there seems to be so much more at stake. The loss of a family or a whole family system in a medium sized church is unpleasant. In a small church, though, that same loss may mean half or more of the worshipping participants walking out. And so, rather than dealing with conflict effectively, the leaders and the congregation as a whole will choose to ignore the conflict. Of course, this can kill the church just as dead … it just takes longer.
2. Lack of Hospitality. First-time visitors decide whether or not they’ll return to your congregation within the first 10 minutes of their visit – and some experts suggest the decision is made within the first three minutes. Either way, you will never get another chance to make a first-impression, so make sure your guests are well received. Remember that Hospitality begins in the parking lot, not once a guest finds their way into your worship center. They generally come with pretty low expectations and an even lower opinion of churches and their members, so when they show up on your doorstep you’re already starting from a deficit. Thus, if there’s no safe, sanitary, and secure nursery for their little ones they are unlikely to be back. If they have to try and keep their older children and youth “entertained” during your worship service, they won’t be back … mostly because they were totally unable to worship or even hear the message, since they were continually distracted by their kids. And if you break any of the Platinum Rules of Guest Relations – Don’t Embarrass Me, Don’t Ignore Me, Don’t Overwhelm Me, and Don’t Confuse Me – they won’t be back. For the record, everything you do … from your choice of hymns to the content of your sermon … is related to hospitality. This is the number one reason first-time guests don’t return.
3. Inward Focused. Although it’s true of non-growing churches of every size, it’s especially hard to miss when a small church is more concerned with answering the question “What about us?” rather than “How can we be the tangible touch of Jesus for our neighbors?” When maintaining status quo outweighs faithful effectiveness, church growth is impossible. Please note this is not strictly a “style of worship” issue. Inward focus generally pervades every decision a non-growing small church makes from where the pastor spends her/his time to what events get on the calendar. Offer an early evening Family-Friendly Christmas Eve Service that will attract and reach the neighborhood? “We’ve always had a 7 PM service of Scripture and Carols with candlelight every year. What about us?” Indeed, even offering an alternative (two services!) will get shot down – “You expect us here two times on Christmas Eve?!?!”
4. Leaders Don’t Support the Growth. Someday we’ll write a book titled “Classic Textbook!” In it we’ll include those practices and results that are Classic Textbook. Like this one. Here’s the scenario that’s played out over and over and over and over in the small church. A new pastor arrives … or a long-time pastor gets busy … and suddenly there’s growth. There’s new people coming and the average attendance starts to swell. Everything seems fine. The new members seem to be well accepted by the current members who seem to be happy there’s new life. Within a couple of months attendance has almost doubled! The pastor starts writing articles for Net Results, the local denominational official is calling and congratulating the pastor, and dreams of becoming a keynote speaker on the Church Circuit seems almost with grasp. Then, out of nowhere, conflict breaks out over some seemingly trivial matter. In less than three weeks the congregation is pretty well back where it began, at least attendance-wise. This is Classic Textbook. It happens well over 80 percent of the time in small churches. What’s the root cause? The leadership wasn’t really onboard with the growth. Sure, they nodded at what seemed the appropriate moments, but when SUBCONSCIOUSLY realized they could be outvoted at an upcoming board meeting, that there really were new people who might actually become a committee chair, or worse the board chair, tensions naturally surface. Note, I’ve yet to work with a church where a church leader intentionally started a fight in order to sabotage growth … but it just happens … almost every time. Unless the church leadership is really on board, sustained growth isn’t going to happen.
5. The Church has Become the Walking Dead. If history has shown us anything, it’s that nothing we build lasts forever. The reality is, churches have a life cycle. Churches are birthed, they live, and they die. As wonderful as St. Paul was, not a single church he started exists today. Sure, some churches are born, get old, but find a way to be rebirthed. But in the end, even these churches will one day be history. In reality, there are many, many small churches that have died … they’ve reached the end of their productive life cycle and at best, they are on life support. But the few, the proud, the tenacious will continue to show up because it’s what they’ve always done and to do any differently is unthinkable. These churches need one of two things. In some cases, the remaining membership can be helped to see the congregation needs to be disbanded before they deplete whatever resources are left … and to leave those resources to support a new church start. This is the most faithful legacy a church can leave. On the other hand, some congregations are so steeped in denial and grief that the legacy option seems more like suicide than faithfulness. These churches need a pastor who can serve as their hospice chaplain – someone who’s greatest gift is simply to be there and prepare the dying for death.
On the other hand, if you want to know how to grow a small church – and it’s happening all across North America – we recommend a couple of resources. First, watch the Church-Talk episode on Smaller Church Leadership … and take a look at related episodes (there are a couple years of weekly Church Transformation episodes to keep you and your teams busy). Second, if you’re really serious about growing your small church, be sure to check out the Small Church Coaching network (www.SmallChurchCoaching.com) and the resources offered there to help you and your congregation go to the next level.
Five Reasons Small Churches Don’t Grow
1. Unresolved Conflict. Conflicted churches don’t grow. It’s never “fun” to deal with conflict, but in a smaller church there seems to be so much more at stake. The loss of a family or a whole family system in a medium sized church is unpleasant. In a small church, though, that same loss may mean half or more of the worshipping participants walking out. And so, rather than dealing with conflict effectively, the leaders and the congregation as a whole will choose to ignore the conflict. Of course, this can kill the church just as dead … it just takes longer.
2. Lack of Hospitality. First-time visitors decide whether or not they’ll return to your congregation within the first 10 minutes of their visit – and some experts suggest the decision is made within the first three minutes. Either way, you will never get another chance to make a first-impression, so make sure your guests are well received. Remember that Hospitality begins in the parking lot, not once a guest finds their way into your worship center. They generally come with pretty low expectations and an even lower opinion of churches and their members, so when they show up on your doorstep you’re already starting from a deficit. Thus, if there’s no safe, sanitary, and secure nursery for their little ones they are unlikely to be back. If they have to try and keep their older children and youth “entertained” during your worship service, they won’t be back … mostly because they were totally unable to worship or even hear the message, since they were continually distracted by their kids. And if you break any of the Platinum Rules of Guest Relations – Don’t Embarrass Me, Don’t Ignore Me, Don’t Overwhelm Me, and Don’t Confuse Me – they won’t be back. For the record, everything you do … from your choice of hymns to the content of your sermon … is related to hospitality. This is the number one reason first-time guests don’t return.
3. Inward Focused. Although it’s true of non-growing churches of every size, it’s especially hard to miss when a small church is more concerned with answering the question “What about us?” rather than “How can we be the tangible touch of Jesus for our neighbors?” When maintaining status quo outweighs faithful effectiveness, church growth is impossible. Please note this is not strictly a “style of worship” issue. Inward focus generally pervades every decision a non-growing small church makes from where the pastor spends her/his time to what events get on the calendar. Offer an early evening Family-Friendly Christmas Eve Service that will attract and reach the neighborhood? “We’ve always had a 7 PM service of Scripture and Carols with candlelight every year. What about us?” Indeed, even offering an alternative (two services!) will get shot down – “You expect us here two times on Christmas Eve?!?!”
4. Leaders Don’t Support the Growth. Someday we’ll write a book titled “Classic Textbook!” In it we’ll include those practices and results that are Classic Textbook. Like this one. Here’s the scenario that’s played out over and over and over and over in the small church. A new pastor arrives … or a long-time pastor gets busy … and suddenly there’s growth. There’s new people coming and the average attendance starts to swell. Everything seems fine. The new members seem to be well accepted by the current members who seem to be happy there’s new life. Within a couple of months attendance has almost doubled! The pastor starts writing articles for Net Results, the local denominational official is calling and congratulating the pastor, and dreams of becoming a keynote speaker on the Church Circuit seems almost with grasp. Then, out of nowhere, conflict breaks out over some seemingly trivial matter. In less than three weeks the congregation is pretty well back where it began, at least attendance-wise. This is Classic Textbook. It happens well over 80 percent of the time in small churches. What’s the root cause? The leadership wasn’t really onboard with the growth. Sure, they nodded at what seemed the appropriate moments, but when SUBCONSCIOUSLY realized they could be outvoted at an upcoming board meeting, that there really were new people who might actually become a committee chair, or worse the board chair, tensions naturally surface. Note, I’ve yet to work with a church where a church leader intentionally started a fight in order to sabotage growth … but it just happens … almost every time. Unless the church leadership is really on board, sustained growth isn’t going to happen.
5. The Church has Become the Walking Dead. If history has shown us anything, it’s that nothing we build lasts forever. The reality is, churches have a life cycle. Churches are birthed, they live, and they die. As wonderful as St. Paul was, not a single church he started exists today. Sure, some churches are born, get old, but find a way to be rebirthed. But in the end, even these churches will one day be history. In reality, there are many, many small churches that have died … they’ve reached the end of their productive life cycle and at best, they are on life support. But the few, the proud, the tenacious will continue to show up because it’s what they’ve always done and to do any differently is unthinkable. These churches need one of two things. In some cases, the remaining membership can be helped to see the congregation needs to be disbanded before they deplete whatever resources are left … and to leave those resources to support a new church start. This is the most faithful legacy a church can leave. On the other hand, some congregations are so steeped in denial and grief that the legacy option seems more like suicide than faithfulness. These churches need a pastor who can serve as their hospice chaplain – someone who’s greatest gift is simply to be there and prepare the dying for death.
On the other hand, if you want to know how to grow a small church – and it’s happening all across North America – we recommend a couple of resources. First, watch the Church-Talk episode on Smaller Church Leadership … and take a look at related episodes (there are a couple years of weekly Church Transformation episodes to keep you and your teams busy). Second, if you’re really serious about growing your small church, be sure to check out the Small Church Coaching network (www.SmallChurchCoaching.com) and the resources offered there to help you and your congregation go to the next level.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
He's in town
This past Sunday morning as I was praying for the service @ LifeHouse Harvest before anyone else arrived, I remember specifically asking for a "manifestation" of God's presence in the service. We definately had a great service on Sunday as the Spirit of the Lord moved in our worship time and it was as if we felt those "Angels wings" brushing up against us as we took-in the presence of God.
I have begun reading a book that has actually been sitting on my book shelf a long time and, being prompted by the Holy Spirit, I picked it up and began to scan through it. I have quit scanning through it and have begun to "read" it and I wanted to share with you today an excerpt from chapter 2. The book title is The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney. The chapter 2 title is No Bread in the "House of Bread" and there is a couple of paragraphs from this chapter that I would like to share with you:
Do we even know when He's in town? On the day Jesus made what we call His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the back of a little donkey, His path through the city probably led him right past the entrance to the temple of Herod. I believe the reason the Pharisees were upset at the parade in John 12 is because it disturbed their religious services inside the temple.
I can hear them complaining, "What is all this going on? You're disturbing the high priest! Don't you know what we are doing? We are having a very important prayer service inside. Do you know what we're praying for? We're praying for the Messiah to come! And you have the audacity to have this noisy parade and disturb us?! Who is in charge of this unruly mob anyway?" Uh, do you see the guy on the little donkey?
They missed the hour of their visitation. He was in town and they didn't know it. The Messiah passed right by their door while they were inside praying for Him to come. They didn't recognize Him. Had Jesus come on the back of a prancing white stallion, or in a royal chariot of gold with a phalanx of soldiers ahead of Him, the Pharisees and priests would have said, "That might be Him."
God is getting ready to break out in America, even if He has to bypass her stuffy churches to break out in the barrooms! We would be wise to remember that He has bypassed the religious elite before to dine with the poor, the profane, and the prostitutes. We need His presence. We need to decide that whatever it takes and wherever it comes from, we must have Him. And He wants to come - on His terms, not ours. We can be inside praying for Him to come while He passes by outside. Worse than that, the "insiders" miss Him while the "outsiders" march with Him!
As I read this chapter I was convicted about "not knowing Him as I prayed for Him to be manifest in my life!" I believe that a lot of times we pray for Him to show up in our services but on that note we don't allow Him to show up because of "religion", "schedules", "programs", etc... We, as a body of Christ, need to learn how to recognize Him when He is in our services. We must learn to listen to the Spirit and move with Him instead of asking Him to move with us. How awesome would our services be if we started recognizing the "Bread" instead of being selfish and wanting to have our way. It is my desire to know Him when He's in town! When He passes by in our services, no matter what is on the agenda, we must be able to "let Him pass by" for our nourishment and growth as Christians!
I have begun reading a book that has actually been sitting on my book shelf a long time and, being prompted by the Holy Spirit, I picked it up and began to scan through it. I have quit scanning through it and have begun to "read" it and I wanted to share with you today an excerpt from chapter 2. The book title is The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney. The chapter 2 title is No Bread in the "House of Bread" and there is a couple of paragraphs from this chapter that I would like to share with you:
Do we even know when He's in town? On the day Jesus made what we call His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the back of a little donkey, His path through the city probably led him right past the entrance to the temple of Herod. I believe the reason the Pharisees were upset at the parade in John 12 is because it disturbed their religious services inside the temple.
I can hear them complaining, "What is all this going on? You're disturbing the high priest! Don't you know what we are doing? We are having a very important prayer service inside. Do you know what we're praying for? We're praying for the Messiah to come! And you have the audacity to have this noisy parade and disturb us?! Who is in charge of this unruly mob anyway?" Uh, do you see the guy on the little donkey?
They missed the hour of their visitation. He was in town and they didn't know it. The Messiah passed right by their door while they were inside praying for Him to come. They didn't recognize Him. Had Jesus come on the back of a prancing white stallion, or in a royal chariot of gold with a phalanx of soldiers ahead of Him, the Pharisees and priests would have said, "That might be Him."
God is getting ready to break out in America, even if He has to bypass her stuffy churches to break out in the barrooms! We would be wise to remember that He has bypassed the religious elite before to dine with the poor, the profane, and the prostitutes. We need His presence. We need to decide that whatever it takes and wherever it comes from, we must have Him. And He wants to come - on His terms, not ours. We can be inside praying for Him to come while He passes by outside. Worse than that, the "insiders" miss Him while the "outsiders" march with Him!
As I read this chapter I was convicted about "not knowing Him as I prayed for Him to be manifest in my life!" I believe that a lot of times we pray for Him to show up in our services but on that note we don't allow Him to show up because of "religion", "schedules", "programs", etc... We, as a body of Christ, need to learn how to recognize Him when He is in our services. We must learn to listen to the Spirit and move with Him instead of asking Him to move with us. How awesome would our services be if we started recognizing the "Bread" instead of being selfish and wanting to have our way. It is my desire to know Him when He's in town! When He passes by in our services, no matter what is on the agenda, we must be able to "let Him pass by" for our nourishment and growth as Christians!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
21-day commitment
In just a few short days we will be in the last month of the year 2010. My, how this year has passed by in a hurry! In the month of December my focus, as leading LifeHouse Harvest, will be on getting ready for a commitment, individually and corporately, to fast the first 21 days of the new year. As I was browsing through the different web sites that I like to visit for direction, inspiration, and encouragement I came across an article, or a brief introduction of a call to a 21 day fast to the COGOP from General Overseer R.E. Howard. I would like to share this with you today and will be posting more about this fast in days to come.
21 DAYS OF PRAYER AND FASTING
January 1—21, 2011
“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity;” Jeremiah 29: 12-14a
"I invite every individual and local church to join me for 21 days of prayer and fasting, as we seek God’s direction and blessing in the New Year. I believe that a strength of the church is prayer, the ministry of intercession. What can defeat a church on its knees? All over the world God has rekindled the passion and call to prayer saying, 'My house shall be called of all nations a house of Prayer!' Join me and thousands of others from around the world as we unite our heart, minds, and prayers for our families, churches, and world." -RE Howard, General Overseer
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Don't give up on me
For those of you that may actually read this blog I'm very, very sorry that I have neglected to post anything in quite a while. I have no excuses for not posting anything but I could conjure up some if it would make us feel better! There has been a lot of things going on and it's taken me away from the computer which doesn't allow me time to post. I have also found that I have neglected other things in my Spiritual life due to moving, planting, etc... but I'm being reminded by the Lord that I need to change some things so that He gets the time with me that I need!! Notice how that last sentence was put - "I need to change some things so that He gets the time with me that I need." God wants to spend time with us for our nurturing, strength, etc... When we spend time with God through prayer, reading the Word, meditating on Him or whatever avenue that is used to get alone with Him, it is for receiving what we need that we can't get anywhere else!!!
"Lord, help me keep my eyes, hands, ears, thoughts, feelings, emotions, desire, etc... on you! Please don't give up on me!"
"Lord, help me keep my eyes, hands, ears, thoughts, feelings, emotions, desire, etc... on you! Please don't give up on me!"
Monday, November 1, 2010
Decreasing self image
As I write this morning I'm in awe of what God is doing! I've not really found ample time to sit and post anything until today for I've found myself pretty busy for the Kingdom lately and it's almost been overwhelming in a sense. I'm realizing that the more you do for God the more the enemy is against you and you find yourself having to overcome some obstacles that are in the way both physically and spiritually. I'm reminded of Paul when he wrote the words that we need to have etched inside our brains - "i die daily". Notice that I didn't capitalize the word i. This was intentional because I'm finding more and more everyday that i am nothing without God and that i can't make it everyday without His presence leading me and guiding me through every "moment" of my life. I believe it was John that said, "i must decrease so that He can increase." I want to be found guilty today of decreasing for Christ so that His image will be revealed through me.
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