Happy New Year! That's the greeting going around this weekend. It is a good time to examine who we are in Christ and what He would have us to do with out lives! It has been a LONG time since my last post (on any blog), so my first New Year's Resolution as it relates to "social media" is to post more often on the blogs and sites I maintain.
Not just posts, but posts "with purpose." Some of you understand that term. It is not my desire to fill up my time with useless info. Rather, I want my posts to have some value to the reader. So, whether it be an actual blog, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or TRBA's website, it is my prayer you will find information useful that I post in 2012.
As I have thought of what to post in 2012, I have prayed and then examined what I am "hearing" from various sources in denominational life. To that end, I have determined to focus on the purpose of the association, as well as issues related to overall church health. I will be looking a LOT to Transformational Church and Transitional Pastor as I am working with both LifeWay and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in those areas. Truthfully, I think there are things we can glean to strengthen the church and impact lostness (our purpose as an association of churches).
In a conversation with a Sunday School director today we began to discuss some information we had obtained during a Josh Hunt conference several years back. In fact, I bought a book by Hunt today that reiterated the idea of "how to double your Sunday School in two years or less."
The gist of the conversation centered on the fact that the classes seemed content with where they were and had not grown in several years. Basically, we talked about the lack of evidence in many area churches (from conversations the two of us have had with other church leaders in neighboring churches from three associations) that churches want to grow.
I think that is perhaps the first thing we need to honestly look at as we begin the new year. Do we have a genuine desire to grow closer to Christ personally and to grow both spiritually and numerically in our churches. Or are we content with where we are. I would invite you to pray and search with me this simple fact over the next couple of days. After the first of the year I will examine the idea of doubling Sunday School attendance in less than two years. I am pretty confident I will address it from the standpoint of IF we REALLY want to see growth.
I have become convinced that we have all the tools we need to advance the kingdom. We have attended conference after conference. In the YEARS we have attended, there has been little kingdom advance and virtually no SUSTAINED evidence of growth in many of our churches. Yet - we have the tools sitting idly beside us as we moan about our lack of advance.
What do we have:
1. The authority of Christ who commanded that we make disciples.
2. His Word.
3. His presence to instruct, lead, guide, empower.
4. Prayer.
5. His promise to hear, answer, empower as we walk in obedience to Him.
Then we have other tools to assist. Among the ones I have emphasized in TRBA are Link2Lead, The Mapping Center, continued training of church leadership, Transformational Church, Transitional Pastor, etc. etc. etc. Over the next few weeks, expect much info to be shared. As it is shared, pray about your participation individually and as a church.
Do you want to see kingdom advance in 2012? If you do, please join me and the other TRBA staff members as we answer the call to prayer by our denominational leaders. Pray with us daily for kingdom advance. Join us on Monday, January 23rd at 7 PM for a corporate time of prayer.
Again, I wish you the best for 2012. I look forward to walking alongside you as we set out together to strengthen His church and impact the lostness of THIS generation!
Showing posts with label New Year's Resolve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year's Resolve. Show all posts
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Developing a Spiritual Vision For 2011 - Part Three
I believe I have made my point with Reality # 1: Without Spiritual vision for your life, you will run wild. I keep thinking of Proverbs 14: 12 as I reflect upon this reality - "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." That running wild and trying to do what SEEMS right goes hand in hand. If we are to be productive for the cause of Christ, we must not cling to what seems right to us. Test and prove what seems right under the light of His Word and make the necessary adjustments so that you can become what God is calling you to be for Him.
I have been writing about the need for us to develop a spiritual vision for our lives in 2011. Today I want to deal with a fact we need to realize - With a spiritual vision for your life, you will discover the good life God intends for you. Perhaps we need to focus on that as "reality # 2." You and I can begin to live and discover the good life God intends for us! Now that we have dwelt with the scripture (Proverbs 29: 18) for two days, let's "launch" from the text and allow it to serve as the "legs" that carries us into developing a spiritual plan for our lives.
The key term for developing a spiritual vision for our lives in 2011 is the word DEVELOP. I want to dwell on that for the remainder of our time today! Using some points from Ronnie Floyd, I want to challenge you today to develop 7 elements of your life that will help you have a spiritual vision for your life. Taking today's date (January 10th) you need to give yourself until the middle off February or so as a target date, but the sooner in 2011 the better.
So what are these things? Can we do them? I'm trying to give you something that all of us ought to be doing. It's simply a part of disciple making. It's a part of, of just being what God wants us to be. So here they are:
(1) Ask God to give you a verse for 2011. I have already written to you about this but now I want to more fully explain what I mean by this. Go to God between now and mid-February and pray, "Lord! I want You to give me one verse in my life that will help me through 2011." It was long into my journey with Christ that I heard people talking about a "life verse." What is your life verse? I have discovered through my daily journey that my life verse, though it may never fully change, has others added on at different times. When my father died in 1981 the "life verse" that jumped from the preacher's lips at the funeral was Matthew 11:28 - "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That verse not only helped me to deal with the circumstances of my life at the time, it better equipped me to minister to others as I more fully realized what it meant to truly "come unto" Jesus! Through the years, other verses have been added to Matthew 11: 28.
The verse the Lord gave me for 2010 was 2 Corinthians 11: 28 "Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches." I even placed it as the footer on my personal stationary. As you know, I encountered a LOT in 2010 with my physical ailments. Yes, I still clung to Matthew 11:28, but I was reminded that it is not all about me. God had called me to a task and I firmly believe His calling for my life during this season is a calling to strengthen the local church. Therefore, God giving me this verse, served as a true help to me as I recovered from my infection and surgery. It enabled me to continually visualize the reason I needed to get healthier - my calling was to strengthen the church and my energy was necessary to be obedient to that call.
I believe 2 Corinthians 11: 28 also led me to call the TRBA staff to a time of prayer in September and now the member churches of Tar River Baptist Association to a season this season of prayer. For us to be effective in the responsibilities of the church (the five functions of the church are evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and worship), we must undergird those responsibilities with the firm foundation of prayer.
God has not yet given me my scripture for 2011. I am praying fervently for that word from the Lord!
(2) Establish a daily Bible reading plan. The busy-ness of our lives often interferes with the time we set aside to study God's Word. We need to develop the habit of studying God's Word daily. Perhaps you start with a chapter a day - that is fine if that's all the time you can give for the present. Maybe you can go 3 chapters a day; 5 Psalms and a chapter of Proverbs each day; the call in the book RADICAL to read 86 verses a day; read through the New Testament every month. WHATEVER plan you determine is fine - just do it. Failure to develop a plan/strategy lends itself towards failure to study the Word! Ronnie Floyd stated, "You can't go forward just hearing the world's opinion. You need God's opinion to bring balance."
In short, I am asking you to be very intentional about this than you have in past years. I believe God is calling us to become more fully grounded in His Word so that we can be used in mighty ways to accomplish His Will!
(3) Target a personal spiritual focus week for 2011. Set aside a week in 2011 to FOCUS on your personal walk with the Living Lord Jesus Christ! Choose a book you have been intending to read on the spiritual disciplines; a Bible-study you had some interest in but have never been able to get to; listen to those sermon series you've downloaded on your ipod and never listened to; go to a prayer conference, spiritual retreat. It really doesn't matter what you do - just FOCUS on your walk with the Lord and seek His Will for your life in 2011. Take time to CONCENTRAT on God.
As an association, that is what we are doing by calling us to both the time of fasting and prayer as well as the corporate time of prayer on January 24th. We recognize not all will participate, but the deliberate effort of more and more people to become involved in times of prayer daily is POWERFUL. Imagine what could happen if every member of every church were focused on prayer and seeking God's Will for 21 days the first of each year. We could not describe the movement of God we would begin to experience in the member churches of Tar River Baptist Association. Likewise in our personal lives!
(4) Formulate a daily prayer list. Some people might think this not important. I have discovered two things that God is using to teach me that I need to prepare a daily prayer list. First - I am a BUSY person. If I fail to write things down, in the busy-ness of my day I OFTEN simply forget and fail to pray specifically for God to show Himself to His people through answered prayer in their lives.
There is a second reason that I had never thought of before this writing - I can more quickly share my prayer concerns with others when it is written down. I guess that's the motivation of our putting a prayer list in our bulletins each week. I PRAY I will not deal with my daily prayer list the way I often deal with the prayer lists in my church bulletin - use it for a book mark as opposed to pulling it out daily and using it as a prayer guide,
Let me tell you one thing I have learned about prayer, if you don't organize prayer, it's not going to be done right. You're never going to do it - or , at best, be haphazard or aimless with it. You need to organize it. Formulate a daily prayer list. Start somewhere and be more intentional in your times of daily prayer!
(5) Write down your Goals for 2011. Ronnie Floyd referred to it as "BHAG - big, hairy, audacious goals" for your life in 2011 - a goal that only God can help you reach. If we get to live through all of 2011, don't you want to experience some things that can not be "explained away" in human terms? My prayer - to be a part of some things that can ONLY be described as being a "God-thing"in 2011!
(6) Initiate a more intentional and greater commitment to your church. What does that mean? It means that you go beyond where you are right now. One of the blessings of being sick in 2010 was the privilege of being able to attend my church on a regular basis. Generally, I am visiting one of our member churches or speaking in them - and I love that! That means I am able to attend my church on Sunday mornings and attend Sunday School about once a quarter at best, but during 2010 I feel that I had the blessing of spiritual growth because I could more regularly be a part of the Ephesus Church family! From February through October I was rarely out of Ephesus as I could not drive while on medications, etc. That was indeed an added blessing. Here in 2011 I am scheduled already to be out of Ephesus for the next 6 - 8 Sundays and I am already missing it!
You say well is that important? Absolutely that's important. Some of us need to be a little more intentional about being in church; some of us need a greater commitment of simply coming to church; some of us need a greater commitment towards ministry in the church and through the church; some of us need to get our theological understanding of the church right. The Bible says the church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the Head of the body.
I tell you it breaks my heart when I see people being so flippant about their responsibility to God's church. Make it a higher priority in 2011. And while I'm challenging you - PARENTS, make sure church is a higher priority to our kids than we seem to be teaching them right now!
(7) Answer this question: What am I trusting God to do in my life in 2011? When I read this question I hesitated. I am planning a lot for 2011. I have a strategy for 2011. I have goals for 2011. BUT-what am I TRUSTING GOD to do in my life in 2011?
Maybe you have an issue financially. Maybe you have an issue with your job. Maybe there are severed relationships with your spouse, children, friends, co-workers, etc. Maybe you have an attitude issue about your boss or your situation. Maybe God is calling you to missions or ministry - or simply to share Christ with a lost neighbor. I don't know what you're dealing with today. But I'm going to tell you something - discover what God wants you to trust Him for, and trust Him. Write it down and then pray it everyday.
I plan to "finish up" with this series in my next writing. I just challenge you - and myself - to develop a spiritual vision for 2011. I believe it will help us in our daily walk to accomplish more for the cause of Christ.
I have been writing about the need for us to develop a spiritual vision for our lives in 2011. Today I want to deal with a fact we need to realize - With a spiritual vision for your life, you will discover the good life God intends for you. Perhaps we need to focus on that as "reality # 2." You and I can begin to live and discover the good life God intends for us! Now that we have dwelt with the scripture (Proverbs 29: 18) for two days, let's "launch" from the text and allow it to serve as the "legs" that carries us into developing a spiritual plan for our lives.
The key term for developing a spiritual vision for our lives in 2011 is the word DEVELOP. I want to dwell on that for the remainder of our time today! Using some points from Ronnie Floyd, I want to challenge you today to develop 7 elements of your life that will help you have a spiritual vision for your life. Taking today's date (January 10th) you need to give yourself until the middle off February or so as a target date, but the sooner in 2011 the better.
So what are these things? Can we do them? I'm trying to give you something that all of us ought to be doing. It's simply a part of disciple making. It's a part of, of just being what God wants us to be. So here they are:
(1) Ask God to give you a verse for 2011. I have already written to you about this but now I want to more fully explain what I mean by this. Go to God between now and mid-February and pray, "Lord! I want You to give me one verse in my life that will help me through 2011." It was long into my journey with Christ that I heard people talking about a "life verse." What is your life verse? I have discovered through my daily journey that my life verse, though it may never fully change, has others added on at different times. When my father died in 1981 the "life verse" that jumped from the preacher's lips at the funeral was Matthew 11:28 - "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That verse not only helped me to deal with the circumstances of my life at the time, it better equipped me to minister to others as I more fully realized what it meant to truly "come unto" Jesus! Through the years, other verses have been added to Matthew 11: 28.
The verse the Lord gave me for 2010 was 2 Corinthians 11: 28 "Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches." I even placed it as the footer on my personal stationary. As you know, I encountered a LOT in 2010 with my physical ailments. Yes, I still clung to Matthew 11:28, but I was reminded that it is not all about me. God had called me to a task and I firmly believe His calling for my life during this season is a calling to strengthen the local church. Therefore, God giving me this verse, served as a true help to me as I recovered from my infection and surgery. It enabled me to continually visualize the reason I needed to get healthier - my calling was to strengthen the church and my energy was necessary to be obedient to that call.
I believe 2 Corinthians 11: 28 also led me to call the TRBA staff to a time of prayer in September and now the member churches of Tar River Baptist Association to a season this season of prayer. For us to be effective in the responsibilities of the church (the five functions of the church are evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and worship), we must undergird those responsibilities with the firm foundation of prayer.
God has not yet given me my scripture for 2011. I am praying fervently for that word from the Lord!
(2) Establish a daily Bible reading plan. The busy-ness of our lives often interferes with the time we set aside to study God's Word. We need to develop the habit of studying God's Word daily. Perhaps you start with a chapter a day - that is fine if that's all the time you can give for the present. Maybe you can go 3 chapters a day; 5 Psalms and a chapter of Proverbs each day; the call in the book RADICAL to read 86 verses a day; read through the New Testament every month. WHATEVER plan you determine is fine - just do it. Failure to develop a plan/strategy lends itself towards failure to study the Word! Ronnie Floyd stated, "You can't go forward just hearing the world's opinion. You need God's opinion to bring balance."
In short, I am asking you to be very intentional about this than you have in past years. I believe God is calling us to become more fully grounded in His Word so that we can be used in mighty ways to accomplish His Will!
(3) Target a personal spiritual focus week for 2011. Set aside a week in 2011 to FOCUS on your personal walk with the Living Lord Jesus Christ! Choose a book you have been intending to read on the spiritual disciplines; a Bible-study you had some interest in but have never been able to get to; listen to those sermon series you've downloaded on your ipod and never listened to; go to a prayer conference, spiritual retreat. It really doesn't matter what you do - just FOCUS on your walk with the Lord and seek His Will for your life in 2011. Take time to CONCENTRAT on God.
As an association, that is what we are doing by calling us to both the time of fasting and prayer as well as the corporate time of prayer on January 24th. We recognize not all will participate, but the deliberate effort of more and more people to become involved in times of prayer daily is POWERFUL. Imagine what could happen if every member of every church were focused on prayer and seeking God's Will for 21 days the first of each year. We could not describe the movement of God we would begin to experience in the member churches of Tar River Baptist Association. Likewise in our personal lives!
(4) Formulate a daily prayer list. Some people might think this not important. I have discovered two things that God is using to teach me that I need to prepare a daily prayer list. First - I am a BUSY person. If I fail to write things down, in the busy-ness of my day I OFTEN simply forget and fail to pray specifically for God to show Himself to His people through answered prayer in their lives.
There is a second reason that I had never thought of before this writing - I can more quickly share my prayer concerns with others when it is written down. I guess that's the motivation of our putting a prayer list in our bulletins each week. I PRAY I will not deal with my daily prayer list the way I often deal with the prayer lists in my church bulletin - use it for a book mark as opposed to pulling it out daily and using it as a prayer guide,
Let me tell you one thing I have learned about prayer, if you don't organize prayer, it's not going to be done right. You're never going to do it - or , at best, be haphazard or aimless with it. You need to organize it. Formulate a daily prayer list. Start somewhere and be more intentional in your times of daily prayer!
(5) Write down your Goals for 2011. Ronnie Floyd referred to it as "BHAG - big, hairy, audacious goals" for your life in 2011 - a goal that only God can help you reach. If we get to live through all of 2011, don't you want to experience some things that can not be "explained away" in human terms? My prayer - to be a part of some things that can ONLY be described as being a "God-thing"in 2011!
(6) Initiate a more intentional and greater commitment to your church. What does that mean? It means that you go beyond where you are right now. One of the blessings of being sick in 2010 was the privilege of being able to attend my church on a regular basis. Generally, I am visiting one of our member churches or speaking in them - and I love that! That means I am able to attend my church on Sunday mornings and attend Sunday School about once a quarter at best, but during 2010 I feel that I had the blessing of spiritual growth because I could more regularly be a part of the Ephesus Church family! From February through October I was rarely out of Ephesus as I could not drive while on medications, etc. That was indeed an added blessing. Here in 2011 I am scheduled already to be out of Ephesus for the next 6 - 8 Sundays and I am already missing it!
You say well is that important? Absolutely that's important. Some of us need to be a little more intentional about being in church; some of us need a greater commitment of simply coming to church; some of us need a greater commitment towards ministry in the church and through the church; some of us need to get our theological understanding of the church right. The Bible says the church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the Head of the body.
I tell you it breaks my heart when I see people being so flippant about their responsibility to God's church. Make it a higher priority in 2011. And while I'm challenging you - PARENTS, make sure church is a higher priority to our kids than we seem to be teaching them right now!
(7) Answer this question: What am I trusting God to do in my life in 2011? When I read this question I hesitated. I am planning a lot for 2011. I have a strategy for 2011. I have goals for 2011. BUT-what am I TRUSTING GOD to do in my life in 2011?
Maybe you have an issue financially. Maybe you have an issue with your job. Maybe there are severed relationships with your spouse, children, friends, co-workers, etc. Maybe you have an attitude issue about your boss or your situation. Maybe God is calling you to missions or ministry - or simply to share Christ with a lost neighbor. I don't know what you're dealing with today. But I'm going to tell you something - discover what God wants you to trust Him for, and trust Him. Write it down and then pray it everyday.
I plan to "finish up" with this series in my next writing. I just challenge you - and myself - to develop a spiritual vision for 2011. I believe it will help us in our daily walk to accomplish more for the cause of Christ.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year
We are entering a New Year--a time to reflect, examine who we are and where we are in our walk with the Lord, renew our commitments - personal, spiritual, family, professional, etc. As we reflect, I ask that we examine the need of those of us who serve as pastors to build up the fellowship between ourselves.
I am excited about the plans for our Pastors' Fellowship in Tar River Association. I hope that you will become more involved in the offerings by your officers that I believe can strengthen us in the work God has called us to do together.
I am excited about the trainings TRBA will offer to our member churches that will strengthen the life and work of our churches. Please help me get the word out to your church members so they will have the opportunity to participate.
By now you have noticed my use of blogging and constant contact. I hope we can use this technology (along with a regularly updated website) to better communicate with one another. It hinges on my being prompt in getting information out to you, and your willingness to share the information with your church members and participate as you have opportunity. I am attempting to communicate with you more, but not be intrusive in the way we communicate.
As always, please know that you are in my prayers regularly. As we begin the New Year, I renew my commitment to you personally and professionally. I am here for you if there is ever a need. Never hesitate to call on me.
I am excited about the plans for our Pastors' Fellowship in Tar River Association. I hope that you will become more involved in the offerings by your officers that I believe can strengthen us in the work God has called us to do together.
I am excited about the trainings TRBA will offer to our member churches that will strengthen the life and work of our churches. Please help me get the word out to your church members so they will have the opportunity to participate.
By now you have noticed my use of blogging and constant contact. I hope we can use this technology (along with a regularly updated website) to better communicate with one another. It hinges on my being prompt in getting information out to you, and your willingness to share the information with your church members and participate as you have opportunity. I am attempting to communicate with you more, but not be intrusive in the way we communicate.
As always, please know that you are in my prayers regularly. As we begin the New Year, I renew my commitment to you personally and professionally. I am here for you if there is ever a need. Never hesitate to call on me.
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