Category: Ministry

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A Long Day, But Worth It…

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Yesterday about 10:00 a.m. I checked my email and saw that Shane’s granddad is sick in the hospital. If you are a prayer, please pray for him and Shane’s family…even though you may not know them. This is a difficult and trying time for them.

I had less than 8 hours to prepare a message for the teenagers, because Shane was scheduled to speak. I also had a full days worth of work at the office. I had nothing to speak on except what was on my heart and mind. As I have been posting on here, I have been reading “Chasing Daylight.” I am still in chapter 2 and did not get a chance to read any further yesterday, but I ran with a story from the Bible that Erwin referenced in the book. Rahab.

I called the message, Choose to Live, because that is what Rahab did. She chose to live. She had made many bad choices in her life, she was a practicing prostitute at the time God sent an opportunity for her to choose. She could have chosen to do nothing, because after all, what kind of life did she have to salvage? She could have chosen to live as she had always lived, but she didn’t…she chose to do good and to take a new path, a path pleasing to God. As a result…she chose life…she created a whole new future…things were different!

Well, things are different in 2 students lives today. I challenged all of the students to do 1 of 2 things:
#1 if they were a Christ Follower, but were living their life walking backwards into their future being paralyzed by the choices they have made in their past, to turn around walk head first into their future and choose the way of life when God brings them the next opportunity. (I revealed to them that they cannot see opportunities from God if they are walking backwards!)
#2 I challenged those who were not Christ Followers to choose life, the life of Christ. I told them just like Rahab, it did not matter where they were in their life or even what “wrong” choices they made that day, Jesus wanted to love them and to forgive them…Well 2 students made a choice for life, and they asked Jesus to be the Lord of their life.

Please pray for Shane and his family, as well as these 2 students who are starting a new journey to be a Christ follower.

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Francis Chan on the Bible Belt

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=kTjHx_oH_0s]

I know what your talking about…

I believe that is why God has kept me in the Bible belt area, because I see it everyday, and have grown passionate about seeing unbelievers as well as those who claim to be believers become passionate about Jesus.

I’ve grown up watching this very thing.
I am not methodist but I have been intrigued by these quotes from John Wesley:

  • “I shook off the dust of my feet, and left Georgia, after having preached the gospel there, not as I ought, but as I was able.” – To me it sounds as if some people were trying to hold John Wesley back from preaching the way he felt he ought to preach, therefore he left because people did not want to hear him.

  • “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.” – This, I believe is the danger and the state of many churches in the “Bible Belt” – Having a form of religion without the power.

  • “The Church recruited people who had been starched and ironed before they were washed.” – This reminds me of the assessment that Billy Graham made a few years back, that he believes anywhere from 80-85% of people in church are not saved. The church has gotten into the conforming business versus the transforming business. Instead of leading people to Jesus who can save and change people, we settle for changing people so they conform to us, a lot of churches could care less about their spiritual state, they are more concerned with their physical state.
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The Church Being the Church: A Sunday Review

Tornado Damage Bath, SC

We canceled services today at church (the church @ greenbrier). Last night several local cities and communities were devastated by tornadoes. As you can see in the picture provided some people lost everything, while others sustained major damage to their homes and property. Reports of businesses and churches being completely destroyed have been circulating, more pictures can be seen on WRDW 12’s site.

Instead of having church today, we lived it out. We became Jesus to the immediate community where our church body meets. We helped some of our immediate members who’s yards were destroyed by the tornados, and then we went door to door seeking people who needed assistance cutting trees off of roofs and fences. We were able to help out several people, but many wanted to wait for insurance to give further instructions before they attempted to clean up any damage.

Continue reading “The Church Being the Church: A Sunday Review”

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Life: Message Series

I came up with a 3 session/week series for the winter retreat that I just spoke for, here are the main points or thoughts for each of the sessions. I may put everything up on the resource sharing site for PDYM, but I am not good at providing outlines for other speakers…I have my own note style, but here is the main thoughts:Session/Week 1 – Life: Stories (** This was created around a situation where the students from this group live in a small community and just faced the murder of one of their school mates **)

I. Life Stories are not Perfect:
* Main thought focuses on life’s struggles…pain…hurt…wounds, etc.
(Psalm 31:9, 10, 12) David lays out his true feelings to God…he feels shattered, forgotten, left for dead, etc. (1 Corinthians 11:23-27) Paul points out his struggles in his life and ministry)

I created this picture as a Power Point Slide as I pointed out how the game of LIFE tries to simulate the real thing on a board and that it is the “perfect world” we all make plans in our lives,
a lot of times it looks like the picture: graduate, make a lot of money, become famous, find that hot babe or gorgeous dude, buy a hue fancy house, a sports car, and live happily ever after…but since Life is not perfect its not like the game.

II. Life Stories are not Predictable:
* Main Thought: We get caught off guard with Life’s struggles. At times we do not see them coming and they have an effect on our lives. (I.E. Death)

III. Life Stories Can Have Alternate Endings:
* Main Thought – We can allow the issues of life to control us or we can do like David did and put our full trust in God (Psalm 31:14)

Session/Week 2 – Life: Connections *Main Thought: We were created to Connect- Its a natural desire and instinct.

Connection Point 1: Connection to Christ
(James 1:18; Ephesians 1:5; Galatians 4:7)
* Main Thought: We are connected by love – Its what holds us.

Connection Point 2: Connection to Community
(Romans 12:5; 1 John 1:3; 1 John 3:18-19; Acts 2:44)
* Main Thought: We are connected to love – Its what reveals us.

** Video Suggestion: Together Team Hoyt or Other

Session/Week 3 – Life: Passions
I. Exchange Passions
*Main Thought: Christ exchanges our old passions for new passions
Psalm 37:4, Galatians 2:19-20, Ezekiel 36:26

II. Clarity in Passions
* Main Thought: God created us to be passionate, and he desires that we live a life of passion after him…this can be done in various different ways. Buddhism teaches to live a life absent of all passion, but Christ came to make us passionate.

I did a run through of Jeremiah and showed how God prepared Jeremiah for a mission, something he could be passionate about (Jeremiah 1:4-5), how Jeremiah doubted the gifts and talents God gave him (vs 6) and how God clarified to Jeremiah what he had prepared him for and that he was with him…and then he equipped him (vs. 7-9) I then showed how despite oppression and opposition (Jeremiah 20:1-2) Jeremiah had become so passionate and so on fire for the mission God had prepared him for, he could not help but to live out that passion (Jeremiah 20:8-9); (Hebrew 12:29 – God consumes our lives with his passion). The final thought was that it took Jeremiah obeying and trusting for him to fully live out his life of passion, once he did that God consumed him with the new passion he gave him.

** Video Suggestion: He Is – used this to set up the thought that we cannot be passionate for a God that we do not understand who he is in our lives.

**Note: Like I said I am not great at sharing my personal notes and thought on messages, I have no problem communicating them, but providing them for others is tough, I hope you are not confused! 🙂

My email is on the side bar if you would like any further information on the series or if you want the graphics, etc.

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West Virginia: Winter Retreat


I head out this afternoon for West Virginia. I’m speaking at a Winter Retreat for a friends church. They are actually in South Carolina, but I am riding with them on their chartered bus to West Virginia. After seeing about 4 or 5 charter bus crashed over the last 2 weeks throughout the US I am wondering if I Should have just driven myself.Just know this…if you hear of a charter bus crashing anywhere near West Virginia…I will be screaming like a little girl. I have no problems admitting that. Especially after last years incident with a charter bus on the ski trip our student ministry took…that was scary!