Did you ever get caught up with something that irritated you that it almost made you miss something else very important in your life? Sometimes we allow a thing to inconvenience us and become such a major source of annoyance that we lose focus on the bigger picture of life and what we are called to do.
It cannot be overstated how important it is that we see things accurately in order to function properly in this world. For example, we have to pass an eye exam before we receive a license to drive a motor vehicle to confirm we are good judges and can accurately distinguish the location of objects and read signs while driving at high speeds.
The older and more mature in the Lord I become, the more I have learned to simplify my life and personal goals. Years ago my personal mission statement, vision statement, and goals were about two pages long. Now they are all one short sentence: “Love God and love people.”
From the outset of this article I do not want to convey the thought that just because leaders have name recognition or become popular that they are not people of God. Many of my close friends in the ministry are also celebrities in their own right but do not exhibit the below traits. However, it would be less than honest for those of us in the church not to admit the aberrant behavior of some of our own.
Oftentimes believers have no clue how faith operates. Defining faith will be easier once we understand that the primary meaning of faith has to do with trust; you cannot trust someone unless you know them. Hence, faith develops based on relationally growing and knowing God.
In the typical journey of a local church there are usually crises that take place which can either cause a church to decline or rise to a higher level. With proper planning, churches can avoid each of these crises so that instead of these challenges hitting like tsunamis their impact is nothing more than like a ripple of water.
The following are some of the most common tsunamis local churches face:
In the New Testament, the word ” disciple” was used to describe Christ’s followers much more than the word “Christian.” Jesus commanded the church to make disciples, not just evangelize the lost (Matthew 28:19). In spite of this lopsided focus, discipleship is not always the norm in the contemporary church. The following eleven indispensable principles are things I have learned as a disciple maker for almost four decades.
As I move closer towards my latter years (I was born in 1958), I have often reflected on the implications of the need for older leaders in regards to living out my purpose. Instead of fearing old age, I actually welcome it because of my biblical view. In this day and age, many young people make the huge mistake of thinking they know better than their father’s generation simply because they are more versed in technology and social media.
When we look at the early church, we see that one of the great attributes that made it a model for church history was that they cared for one another, utilizing whatever gifts and abilities they had to be a blessing to one another, even to the point of releasing houses and property because they were so committed to the gospel of Christ going to every person in every nation!Read More
In this day and age of postmodernism, especially in academia, there is an emphasis on understanding the full context of a situation before rendering an accurate judgment.
