Each year, our church staff attends a conference together. For the past couple of years, we have gone to the "Refuel" conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church. This year due to a format change and date conflict, we chose to attend the SC State Evangelism Conference hosted by the SBC. The conference was definitely "old school" and I think our staff was the youngest group in attendance; but the messages hit the nail on the head and we considered it time well spent.
God used the messaages to challenge our hearts toward evangelism and the need to keep the main thing, the main thing! Conference speakers included: Jr. Hill, Jeff Laborg, Rick Corum, David Gallamore, Randall Jones, Earnie Perkins, Jim Austin, and Phil Hoskins.
A couple of great quotes from the conference:
1. If you determine to win your city for Christ, you will have critics. Sadly, most of them will be in other churches, and even some in your own.
2. The Church is supposed to be a body, but has become a business. When a body becomes a business, it is a prostitute. The Church is supposed to be a bride, not a prostitute! (That will make you think about the condition of today's church.)
3. Too many are doing church work, but not the work of the Church.
4. Three types of church members: a) Spectators - sit and watch what they consider an event, b) Scowlers - taken years to perfect their negativity and pessimism, and 3) Singers -true worshippers both in private and in public.
5. Preachers need to stop trying to be amateur psyhologists and get back to preaching the Word.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday Summary - 02/19.12
We started our services yesterday with Pearl being baptized! It's exciting to see people getting saved, baptized, and joining the church almost every Sunday! I'm not sure what was going on yesterday, but we had an incredible crowd of almost 600 in church!
I preached on Kingdom Considerations and how we must understand that the power to change lives comes from the Holy Spirit, that we must endure as we serve Christ, that our hopes and dreams may have to change in order to follow fully, and that it is all worth it in the end.
Sherman taught a financial seminar last night adapting many of the principles from Crown Financial for our church family. Financial common sense isn't so common these days. It was startling to hear that last year only 4% of Americans gave 10% to any charity. That means that 96% of Americans didn't tithe! Blame the government or anyone else you want to blame; but when you disobey God's plan for giving, you cannot expect God's blessings. The Bible tells us that when we don't tithe, it's as though we are stealing from God.
Sherman did a great job and we are sad that this will be his final week here at Emmanuel. He is leaving us to become the assistant director at Grace Bible Camp in Goshen, VA. This is a dream come true for Sherman, but he will leave a gaping hole in this ministry. Thank God that He takes care of His ministry. He has already provided someone to fill that gap.
I preached on Kingdom Considerations and how we must understand that the power to change lives comes from the Holy Spirit, that we must endure as we serve Christ, that our hopes and dreams may have to change in order to follow fully, and that it is all worth it in the end.
Sherman taught a financial seminar last night adapting many of the principles from Crown Financial for our church family. Financial common sense isn't so common these days. It was startling to hear that last year only 4% of Americans gave 10% to any charity. That means that 96% of Americans didn't tithe! Blame the government or anyone else you want to blame; but when you disobey God's plan for giving, you cannot expect God's blessings. The Bible tells us that when we don't tithe, it's as though we are stealing from God.
Sherman did a great job and we are sad that this will be his final week here at Emmanuel. He is leaving us to become the assistant director at Grace Bible Camp in Goshen, VA. This is a dream come true for Sherman, but he will leave a gaping hole in this ministry. Thank God that He takes care of His ministry. He has already provided someone to fill that gap.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sunday Summary - 02.13.12
Our attendance was off a little yesterday morning due to the 20 degree weather. Upon arriving at church, we discovered that 3 of our 4 heaters were not working properly and the inside of the building was 54 degrees. The A/C man was here working on it and the temperature was up to 60 degrees by the time we started the service. For that reason we cut the service a little shorter, and walked out 20 minutes earlier than normal. In spite of the temp's, God still worked. Yesterday, Jerome was baptized, and his family joined the church. PTL!
I preached on Understanding the Kingdom. So many people are focused on building their own personal kingdoms that they miss God's BIGGER plan for their lives. We are in a small town, but truly believing God can use us to reach the world! I tried to share with our church family that following Jesus will mean taking up our cross, running against the grain, and standing against the culture; but it appears they have accepted the challenge.
Finally, last night almost 80 of our men gathered to watch the movie "Courageous." What an awesome movie! The lights were out, but I heard sniffles across the room. Hearts of men were being touched by the Holy Spirit. Pray that God will do something special at EBC this year as we reach men for Christ. I closed by asking for men to volunteer to serve and help me develop tools for our men (sermon series, resources, training materials, etc.) If the men will get serious about serving Jesus, then their wives and children will follow.
I preached on Understanding the Kingdom. So many people are focused on building their own personal kingdoms that they miss God's BIGGER plan for their lives. We are in a small town, but truly believing God can use us to reach the world! I tried to share with our church family that following Jesus will mean taking up our cross, running against the grain, and standing against the culture; but it appears they have accepted the challenge.
Finally, last night almost 80 of our men gathered to watch the movie "Courageous." What an awesome movie! The lights were out, but I heard sniffles across the room. Hearts of men were being touched by the Holy Spirit. Pray that God will do something special at EBC this year as we reach men for Christ. I closed by asking for men to volunteer to serve and help me develop tools for our men (sermon series, resources, training materials, etc.) If the men will get serious about serving Jesus, then their wives and children will follow.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Sunday Summary - 02.05.12
What a great day at Emmanuel. We hosted a "Super Bowl of Caring" and collected several shopping carts full of canned foods for Hartsville Interfaith Ministries. This is a ministry supported by local churches that assists those who find themselves in a temporary crisis and need some assistance to get back on their feet. Our church family responded so generously! Thanks EBC for caring about the less fortunate in our community.
This morning's sermon focused on having Kingdom Vision. Too many individual believers and churches are plagued by tunnel vision. They can only see their immediate surroundings and have no concern about those who are still in need of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. I challenged our people to look for ministry opportunities to those who are not being reached by any church, to think outside the box, and to move toward the other's oriented philosophy that Jesus modeled for His disciples. This year EBC will focus on being the people God wants us to become, rather than doing all the programs that people want us to do.
At the close of today's service, God blessed us with a great altar response. Among those were 5 new members and 1 coming for baptism! PTL.
Tonight we will host the Super Bowl EHOPs (Emmanuel Houses of Prayer). The LIFE Groups will gather in a member's home, invite their friends, watch the Super Bowl, and pray. This will be a great time of fellowship and hopefully a time when others come to know Christ!
This morning's sermon focused on having Kingdom Vision. Too many individual believers and churches are plagued by tunnel vision. They can only see their immediate surroundings and have no concern about those who are still in need of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. I challenged our people to look for ministry opportunities to those who are not being reached by any church, to think outside the box, and to move toward the other's oriented philosophy that Jesus modeled for His disciples. This year EBC will focus on being the people God wants us to become, rather than doing all the programs that people want us to do.
At the close of today's service, God blessed us with a great altar response. Among those were 5 new members and 1 coming for baptism! PTL.
Tonight we will host the Super Bowl EHOPs (Emmanuel Houses of Prayer). The LIFE Groups will gather in a member's home, invite their friends, watch the Super Bowl, and pray. This will be a great time of fellowship and hopefully a time when others come to know Christ!
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Something's wrong with this picture!
Has anyone noticed how freely our culture throws around terms like intolerant, politically incorrect, and bigoted at those who express their thoughts and opinions on almost anything except Christianity? Don't dare crack a joke about Jews, Muslims, gays, or ethnicity. Sports casters, news anchors, and radio talk show hosts have been fired for such comments; but let a late night talk show host bash Christians and for some reason that is acceptable.
Consider all of the controversy around Tim Tebow. Tebow proved that he can play in the NFL, was kept while Kyle Orton was traded, and Denver's sorry start turned into a run for the playoffs. Rather than praising him, many keep bashing him for his faith. Terms such as "Tebowing" were introduced because of his prayer posture, SNL aired a blasphemous skit, and other professionals were very unprofessional.
Well... I'm tired of "Christian bashing" being acceptable. America was founded as a Christian nation, we have a rich Christian heritage, our judicial system is based on Judeo-Christian ethic, American schools taught children to read using the New England Primer (which contained Bible verses), and the list goes on! This nation is great, because "In God We Trust!" So, as a Christian and as an American, I want someone to explain the picture below:
Consider all of the controversy around Tim Tebow. Tebow proved that he can play in the NFL, was kept while Kyle Orton was traded, and Denver's sorry start turned into a run for the playoffs. Rather than praising him, many keep bashing him for his faith. Terms such as "Tebowing" were introduced because of his prayer posture, SNL aired a blasphemous skit, and other professionals were very unprofessional.
Well... I'm tired of "Christian bashing" being acceptable. America was founded as a Christian nation, we have a rich Christian heritage, our judicial system is based on Judeo-Christian ethic, American schools taught children to read using the New England Primer (which contained Bible verses), and the list goes on! This nation is great, because "In God We Trust!" So, as a Christian and as an American, I want someone to explain the picture below:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)