Leadership is an interesting thing. The fact is.... everyone is a volunteer. The help that we have at our church is a great group of people. From our pastors to our welcome, to Michael who has a great heart of compassion, so much so that he greets all who roll up in the parking lot before they even enter the door.
The truth is, leadership begins within. That is what brings me to.... myself. I have to examine me. How am I leading? Are others following?
You see, the predicament stands that our church has been hovering around the 50-65 range as far as attendance goes and we can not seem to get over that "hump." This has been going on for over a year. We have added at least 10-15 new members in that time, but we find that many people want to drop off of the map. Work, school, family, I understand that these are all great priorities in our lives. But I also know what happens when a believer is separated from a fellowship of believers for too long. They get cold and calloused. They stop reading the Word and their prayer life is non-existent. It's odd when you reach out because most of the time you get excuses. Sometimes you get the truth from people and you have to respect that. They could have lied, but they didn't.
Where does leadership stop there?
I think that you can point them in the right direction, but let's face it, people do what they want.
God wants the best for us, and yet we often want what we want for ourselves... no matter how much it disagrees with God.
We would rather disagree and be empty than agree and be satisfied.
The flesh is a disease. I believe that it is normal to want to kill it. Some might say that this is "suicidal" thinking, but let's be honest... where would you rather be? On earth or with Christ?
Like Paul said it is FAR better to be with Christ, but for the sake of other BELIEVERS, he stayed with them. Philippians 1:18-26 really deserves our attention.
Our spirits long to be with Papa God. It is when that longing wains that we have to examine our walks with Him. When we miss the fellowship of our brothers and sisters, we wain. It's that simple.
But then again, we want what we want...even if it disagrees with God.
Think and act.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
2009
There is no doubt that the world is changing. Many different and new things seem to be on the horizon. Everyone is talking. The economy looks bleak. We will have the first African-American President for the US. Also, there are many issues that have come to the forefront of the headlines. Right now, Israeli troops are moving into the Gaza Strip fighting against Hamas. HIV/AIDS has virtually disappeared from the headlines. Most have forgotten about September 11. People are loosing their homes because of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. STIMULUS is the buzzword of here and now. And America's taxpayers are going to be cleaning up the messes of Wall Street and Congress and Bush and Obama and Reid and McCain and Pelosi and everyone else that falls into the category of covering up for people's bad choices and removing responsibility. America has forgotten how to stand and learn. How can anyone take responsibility for their actions and learn from their mistakes if the actions and mistakes are constantly mulled over and swept under the rug? Bad decisions garner future wisdom.
So lets talk about the state of the church and its challenges. I had a local reporter ask me recently what the biggest challenge that the community of faith would be facing. I am sure that hunger, homelessness, and shameless acceptance of those who are in blatant sin rank within the top 5, but I chose a different answer. I told her that the greatest challenge facing the "faith community" (what does that phrase mean?) is the integrity of the Gospel. In fact, here is what I wrote to her:
"For our church, and because of our firm belief that the Bible is God's true, inerrant, infallible Word (and this will differ from other "religious" leaders, I am sure) the biggest issue is always the Gospel. What is the Gospel, what must someone believe in order to be saved, what is NOT the Gospel... statements and questions like these are constantly coming up and from what I am seeing, a good majority of people have it wrong, both "religious" and non-religious. I understand that this may seem like an arrogant statement, and by no means do I seek to be arrogant, but there is only 1 truth about eternal life and only 1 way and that is through trusting Christ. It would interesting to ask evangelicals (and others) how to have eternal life."
Does this seem strange to you? I mean let's be honest, the Gospel is the most important thing in the world because it brings the spiritually dead to eternal life! I would think that we had better have it right! In Galatians 1:8-9, Paul makes no bones about the purity of the Gospel. It is by the grace of God through our personal faith alone in the death of Christ alone in our place and His resurrection. Anyone who preaches anything else is wrong.
*GASP* "that's not politically correct!" Do statements like that want to make you throw up? The term "political correctness" is a diffusion device that covers up the truth. When directed at God it is verbal atheism. Maybe the reason why America has become so soft and effiminate is because of the constant cries of being offended and and screaming out that there is no tolerance. Sounds like garbage to me. The fact is that the integrity and purity of the Gospel is always under attack. It is important to understand it in the most clear and simple way possible. I encourage you to check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUe9ZgADBNQ
Simple and Clear. That's the way that they Gospel should be.
So lets talk about the state of the church and its challenges. I had a local reporter ask me recently what the biggest challenge that the community of faith would be facing. I am sure that hunger, homelessness, and shameless acceptance of those who are in blatant sin rank within the top 5, but I chose a different answer. I told her that the greatest challenge facing the "faith community" (what does that phrase mean?) is the integrity of the Gospel. In fact, here is what I wrote to her:
"For our church, and because of our firm belief that the Bible is God's true, inerrant, infallible Word (and this will differ from other "religious" leaders, I am sure) the biggest issue is always the Gospel. What is the Gospel, what must someone believe in order to be saved, what is NOT the Gospel... statements and questions like these are constantly coming up and from what I am seeing, a good majority of people have it wrong, both "religious" and non-religious. I understand that this may seem like an arrogant statement, and by no means do I seek to be arrogant, but there is only 1 truth about eternal life and only 1 way and that is through trusting Christ. It would interesting to ask evangelicals (and others) how to have eternal life."
Does this seem strange to you? I mean let's be honest, the Gospel is the most important thing in the world because it brings the spiritually dead to eternal life! I would think that we had better have it right! In Galatians 1:8-9, Paul makes no bones about the purity of the Gospel. It is by the grace of God through our personal faith alone in the death of Christ alone in our place and His resurrection. Anyone who preaches anything else is wrong.
*GASP* "that's not politically correct!" Do statements like that want to make you throw up? The term "political correctness" is a diffusion device that covers up the truth. When directed at God it is verbal atheism. Maybe the reason why America has become so soft and effiminate is because of the constant cries of being offended and and screaming out that there is no tolerance. Sounds like garbage to me. The fact is that the integrity and purity of the Gospel is always under attack. It is important to understand it in the most clear and simple way possible. I encourage you to check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUe9ZgADBNQ
Simple and Clear. That's the way that they Gospel should be.
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