Just a note to let you know this Sunday we have three baptisms, and three families joining the church.
Many might think that this is the work of the last few weeks but its not.
One of those getting baptized received Christ a year ago after a service.
The other two trusted Christ after a service three months ago.
One of the families joining the church started coming a couple of months ago, and the other two about six months ago.
Why is this important to know?
Because your work of love kept them coming, and learning, and growing.
The Time spent on the music ministry made a difference in their hearts.
The Labor spent on Children's ministry kept their children excited.
The Love spent on unfamiliar people showed them who Christ really is and how Christians are supposed to be.
Good Job!
Galatians 6:6-10 (KJV) 6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
We are only reaping what we have sown.
Isn't God Good!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
A few things rolling around..............
I want to share a few things that are on my mind this morning to free me from having to think about them all day.
#1 I can't Wait for Sunday and we haven't even had Thursday nights service yet!
#2 Dale Loved the DVD! It really encouraged him and he even responded back to every one of you.
#3 We are having a Contest. Each home group will design/paint/create a picture of what Loving God and Loving others looks like. There are rules to this thing that we will present at our next home group meetings. Get your creative thoughts going!
#4 Big Question for the Week! How much more could God do if I............?
What's your answer?
#5 I believe that the church can make a positive difference in every life it touches.
#6 I am amazed that someone like Lindsey Perez could change our church with one act of honesty. Truly proves the power of one. Love it!
Have an awesome day!
#1 I can't Wait for Sunday and we haven't even had Thursday nights service yet!
#2 Dale Loved the DVD! It really encouraged him and he even responded back to every one of you.
#3 We are having a Contest. Each home group will design/paint/create a picture of what Loving God and Loving others looks like. There are rules to this thing that we will present at our next home group meetings. Get your creative thoughts going!
#4 Big Question for the Week! How much more could God do if I............?
What's your answer?
#5 I believe that the church can make a positive difference in every life it touches.
#6 I am amazed that someone like Lindsey Perez could change our church with one act of honesty. Truly proves the power of one. Love it!
Have an awesome day!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
# 1 Reason for Spiritual Growth in a Church............
Our church is experiencing something we have only seen one other time in its History. Numerical growth from new Christians.
How did it happen?
Well it wasn't because we had a bunch of Programs to engage people.
People are being engaged by Love.
and it isn't because we taught a bunch of lessons on things only Christians care about.
People are being educated where they live, by people who are living it.
We didn't have a revival meeting to revive us.
People are excited about Jesus because some have repented of sin while others have truly come to understand how amazing God is.
So what has brought so many amazing people to our church over the last several months?
One thing. Prayer.
2010 was a year of prayer for us as a church.
We were motivated by many difficult circumstances that put us to our knees.
We were moved by many unseen problems that caused us to seek Him.
We were mastered by many situations that MADE us seek Gods hand.
Its not surprising as whenever Gods people were moved to pray, it moved God which moved man.
The bible proves this over and over and over again.
But there is one danger the bible also teaches.
When men stop praying, God stops moving on their behalf.
It happened to us in 2002 when we saw amazing growth but it only lasting for a few months. Though our church lived on that growth for 7 years after that, it eventually died as people fell away.
We cannot stop praying as a people so I thought I would give you some things to pray for.
1. We are wanted to go to two services in the morning. One at 9:00 am and one at 11:00 am. To do that we are going to need to pray for people to fill those services.
2. We are wanting to double our home Groups on Sunday Nights. That would be three more at 20 people per group. For that we need people to fill those places as well as leaders to lead them. Pray that God would raise godly couples to lead these.
3. We want to add a staff member. We need another Pastor to share the load of ministry. For that we need a doubling of our offerings as well as for God to send us the right man for our needs.
4. We need teachers. We currently need three teachers to rotate with the other teachers as well as back ups for our teen leaders and 5-7th grade teachers. We don't want bodies, we want people who are passionate about helping parents lead their children on a faithful walk with God. This doesn't even count for the growth that we PRAY will happen.
5. We need general laborers. Men and women who are willing to serve faithfully in many of the little places. Sound and Video, Coffee Cart, Clean up, Ushers, Parking lot. The key is that we don't need selfish people who only want to serve when they want, where they want, and who they want, but who will serve wherever service is needed.
6. Each home group needs mentors. Spiritual leaders who can take a new Christian on for six months of one on one discipleship.
7. Each home group needs Prayer Leaders who not only pray for their group but bring those requests to the church body to pray about.
Prayer will be the only way God helps us with these needs.
It was Prayer that got us here, it will be Prayer that keeps us here.
Let's Keep Praying!!!!!
How did it happen?
Well it wasn't because we had a bunch of Programs to engage people.
People are being engaged by Love.
and it isn't because we taught a bunch of lessons on things only Christians care about.
People are being educated where they live, by people who are living it.
We didn't have a revival meeting to revive us.
People are excited about Jesus because some have repented of sin while others have truly come to understand how amazing God is.
So what has brought so many amazing people to our church over the last several months?
One thing. Prayer.
2010 was a year of prayer for us as a church.
We were motivated by many difficult circumstances that put us to our knees.
We were moved by many unseen problems that caused us to seek Him.
We were mastered by many situations that MADE us seek Gods hand.
Its not surprising as whenever Gods people were moved to pray, it moved God which moved man.
The bible proves this over and over and over again.
But there is one danger the bible also teaches.
When men stop praying, God stops moving on their behalf.
It happened to us in 2002 when we saw amazing growth but it only lasting for a few months. Though our church lived on that growth for 7 years after that, it eventually died as people fell away.
We cannot stop praying as a people so I thought I would give you some things to pray for.
1. We are wanted to go to two services in the morning. One at 9:00 am and one at 11:00 am. To do that we are going to need to pray for people to fill those services.
2. We are wanting to double our home Groups on Sunday Nights. That would be three more at 20 people per group. For that we need people to fill those places as well as leaders to lead them. Pray that God would raise godly couples to lead these.
3. We want to add a staff member. We need another Pastor to share the load of ministry. For that we need a doubling of our offerings as well as for God to send us the right man for our needs.
4. We need teachers. We currently need three teachers to rotate with the other teachers as well as back ups for our teen leaders and 5-7th grade teachers. We don't want bodies, we want people who are passionate about helping parents lead their children on a faithful walk with God. This doesn't even count for the growth that we PRAY will happen.
5. We need general laborers. Men and women who are willing to serve faithfully in many of the little places. Sound and Video, Coffee Cart, Clean up, Ushers, Parking lot. The key is that we don't need selfish people who only want to serve when they want, where they want, and who they want, but who will serve wherever service is needed.
6. Each home group needs mentors. Spiritual leaders who can take a new Christian on for six months of one on one discipleship.
7. Each home group needs Prayer Leaders who not only pray for their group but bring those requests to the church body to pray about.
Prayer will be the only way God helps us with these needs.
It was Prayer that got us here, it will be Prayer that keeps us here.
Let's Keep Praying!!!!!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A Letter from PRob (thanks Doney Family)
Hey newLife, there are several things that I want to share with you this morning.
#1 Sunday was Amazing. I would like to say there are only a few of them a year but we have got to make this a weekly thing. Five new members, Three Baptisms, and more coming next Sunday.
#2 The message was perfect for our church. I truly believe that people are seeing that being a Christian is the best decision they have ever made giving them the best life they could ever live.
#3 Its awesome to truly feel as if we are worshipping God through song from the depths of our souls. Love it.
#4 The people God has given us are amazing. Watching the children move during the song service, Singing Happy Birthday to Forrest and Brittney with Kai, Celebrating the Baptisms and just seeing people happy to be together. Priceless!
#5 And there is one reason all of this is happening and we will talk about it tomorrow so be ready.
Thank you for loving God and others, this is a good season for our church.
What did you think about Sunday? Leave a comment to encourage us.
#1 Sunday was Amazing. I would like to say there are only a few of them a year but we have got to make this a weekly thing. Five new members, Three Baptisms, and more coming next Sunday.
#2 The message was perfect for our church. I truly believe that people are seeing that being a Christian is the best decision they have ever made giving them the best life they could ever live.
#3 Its awesome to truly feel as if we are worshipping God through song from the depths of our souls. Love it.
#4 The people God has given us are amazing. Watching the children move during the song service, Singing Happy Birthday to Forrest and Brittney with Kai, Celebrating the Baptisms and just seeing people happy to be together. Priceless!
#5 And there is one reason all of this is happening and we will talk about it tomorrow so be ready.
Thank you for loving God and others, this is a good season for our church.
What did you think about Sunday? Leave a comment to encourage us.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Who is our competition?
One of the greatest dangers of any church trying to reach people far from God is believing that our competition is other churches.
We compare Pastors and Preaching
We compare music ministries
We compare Activities
and we compare numbers.
While there are dangers here of Jealousy, this is not the real danger.
The real danger is not realizing that people who do not know Christ do not care about those things.
These are thoughts Christians have, not the lost.
They never think about these things even after attending our services.
I realize that if we are trying to reach Christians, Churches then would be competing, but that's not our goal. And since we are seeking to find lost people, we must understand what we are competing against.
So here goes my thoughts...........
We are in competition for peoples Hearts.
Those things that make people happy, safe, loved.
No one does that better than Jesus and so our focus ought to be on letting them know the love of God through Christ.
We are in competition for peoples Interests.
No one wants to be bored and sometimes churches can put on a pretty uninteresting face.
Our world is active as well as interactive.
But again, real Christianity is the same.
I can use words like Exciting, Amazing, Spectacular to describe what the Christian life is like.
Do they see that in our Daily lives? In our Worship Services? In our Preaching? In our Home Groups?
We are in competition for peoples Souls.
The soul is where the real battle is.
Daily peoples souls are stained by short term gain (Sin), hidden by alcohol or drugs, made heavy by pain and loss.
They use Money to make themselves happy, things to feel better, music to satisfy a brokenness that can only truly be fixed by God through Jesus.
To compete for someones soul is to accept them where they are. No matter what they have done or are doing.
It is to allow them to be themselves, without hiding behind a mask.
Churches are not our competition, and so how are we doing in the race for life?
Are we Loving God and others in a way that draws men and women to Him?
Is our Ministry Interesting, causing men and women to want to participate?
Do people who enter our church feel valued, special, wanted, no matter what?
That's where the real competition is. Lets get in the game.
We compare Pastors and Preaching
We compare music ministries
We compare Activities
and we compare numbers.
While there are dangers here of Jealousy, this is not the real danger.
The real danger is not realizing that people who do not know Christ do not care about those things.
These are thoughts Christians have, not the lost.
They never think about these things even after attending our services.
I realize that if we are trying to reach Christians, Churches then would be competing, but that's not our goal. And since we are seeking to find lost people, we must understand what we are competing against.
So here goes my thoughts...........
We are in competition for peoples Hearts.
Those things that make people happy, safe, loved.
No one does that better than Jesus and so our focus ought to be on letting them know the love of God through Christ.
We are in competition for peoples Interests.
No one wants to be bored and sometimes churches can put on a pretty uninteresting face.
Our world is active as well as interactive.
But again, real Christianity is the same.
I can use words like Exciting, Amazing, Spectacular to describe what the Christian life is like.
Do they see that in our Daily lives? In our Worship Services? In our Preaching? In our Home Groups?
We are in competition for peoples Souls.
The soul is where the real battle is.
Daily peoples souls are stained by short term gain (Sin), hidden by alcohol or drugs, made heavy by pain and loss.
They use Money to make themselves happy, things to feel better, music to satisfy a brokenness that can only truly be fixed by God through Jesus.
To compete for someones soul is to accept them where they are. No matter what they have done or are doing.
It is to allow them to be themselves, without hiding behind a mask.
Churches are not our competition, and so how are we doing in the race for life?
Are we Loving God and others in a way that draws men and women to Him?
Is our Ministry Interesting, causing men and women to want to participate?
Do people who enter our church feel valued, special, wanted, no matter what?
That's where the real competition is. Lets get in the game.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Praising God and having favor with all the people, the Lord added
If this Sunday was any indication of what 2011 holds I am excited.
For the first time in my 27 years of attending church I felt that the music truly described how I feel about Jesus.
More than my own Baptism, Sundays held more meaning than anyone I have ever done.
The home group we held was amazing as we had several new families who felt awkward but also appreciated.
and More than ever the message of the Good Life is the most positive message I have ever been given.
That's the core of the Gospel!
Lets be thankful for where we are as a church and Who is in us, for us, and with us.
Emmanuel!
For the first time in my 27 years of attending church I felt that the music truly described how I feel about Jesus.
More than my own Baptism, Sundays held more meaning than anyone I have ever done.
The home group we held was amazing as we had several new families who felt awkward but also appreciated.
and More than ever the message of the Good Life is the most positive message I have ever been given.
That's the core of the Gospel!
Lets be thankful for where we are as a church and Who is in us, for us, and with us.
Emmanuel!
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