Five Dangerous Faults

Yesterday I started reading Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" which is from the 6th century BC.  I have wanted to read it for some time, but it is not my typical genre.  I am half way through and it has given me some insight as a leader of "spiritual warriors" but mostly caused me to look at how I am trying to go about starting a church.  I am aware that our enemy is not of this world, but have gained some personal insight that I am just going to share and hopefully it will cause you to think as well.  About half way through, he relates the 5 major dangerous faults of a General.  I have taken these each individually and applied them to the areas of ministry that I deal in.  I have not edited for spelling or content, so take these random thoughts as Joel's personal application and make your own.

There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general:

(1)   Recklessness, which leads to destruction;

Recklessness as a pastor would look like what?

      Preaching

                  Not preparing adequately

                  Not praying

                  Not planning a comprehensive preaching calendar

      Pastoral Care

                  Not watching what you say

                  Not saying thanks

                  Not keeping your word

                  Not feeling their hurts

      Leadership    

                  Over extending with time, ministry or money

                  Letting anybody start whatever ministry

                  Not screening leaders

                  Not sticking to procedure

      Personally

                  Not guarding your heart from sin

                  Being alone with a woman who is not your wife

                  Drifting from your time in Prayer and Bible Study

(2)   Cowardice, which leads to capture;

Cowardice as a pastor would look like what?

Preaching

Not standing up for truth, and solid doctrine, and against sin

Pastoral Care

Not telling someone what you know they need to hear, but don’t want to hear.

Leadership

Not stepping out in faith to obey God

Not leading your people to personally step out in faith

Personally

Not leading in your own home, with your wife and kids

(3)   A hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;

A hasty temper as a pastor would look like what?

Preaching

            It is easier to preach against sin than for holiness

            Don’t allow your pulpit to become a bully

            Never defend yourself when you should be preaching Christ

Pastoral Care

            Hurt people hurt people, don’t take insults personally

            Never add insult to injury

Leadership

Do not allow the insults of your enemies to cause you to come down from your wall to fight on their turf.

Never make rash vows

Be motivated by love, not hate

Personally

                        The king of the mountain makes for an easy target

                        Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath

(4)   A delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame;

(Those who seek after victory should be careless of public opinion.)

Preaching

            Tell it like it is, do not scratch ears

            Be Transparent, Nobody listens to an inexperienced expert

Pastoral Care

            Compliments, like perfume smells nice but don’t swallow it.

            Don’t drink from “The World’s Best Pastor” Coffee mug.

Pastoring is about the help of the sheep, not the honor of the shepherd

Leadership

            Don’t be tempted to put on Saul’s shiny new armor

            Pride is what caused Satan to fall and Eve to bite

Personally

            Remember you serve an Audience of one

At the judgment you will stand before God alone, not the board, or the crowd, or your peers.

(5)   Over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.

(The danger of sacrificing any important military advantage to the immediate comfort of his men.)

Preaching

            Do not be afraid of their faces

            Too much milk causes one to vomit.  They need meat too.

            Be careful preaching that causes people to think that they are holy.

            Be careful of setting goals that are too easily attained.

Pastoral Care

            Do not break up every fight and band-aid every scratch

            Do not pamper your people, provoke to love and good works

Leadership

            Someone has to be on the front lines

            Don’t care so much for your troops that you forget the war

We are not here to build shelters in which to hide from the world, but bases from which to go into all the world

Never let church become about the church

Personally

            Be careful of the undisciplined life.

            Never ask more from your staff or people than you ask of yourself.

                       

                        

Prime Timer's Pot Luck and Bean Bag Baseball

 

  

  

  

 

Small Groups Begin June 6

We are so excited to announce the new small group line up for our summer session.  For the first time there are multiple topics on multiple days.  Pastor Ward has been working for months training our small group leaders and we are taking the month of May to get everyone signed up for a group.  Our Summer Session goal is 200 sign-ups in 11 classes!  If you still like Sunday School, no problem, we have groups for you.  If you like home groups, no problem, half of our groups meet in homes.  If you want a ladies group, we got that.   Childcare? Many of our groups have kids and youth group times built-in.  Our goal is to help everyone related to our church know and follow the Word of God.  You can check out the online catalog here.

What's Your Big Problem?

Everyone has problems, in fact everyone has a list of problems, and the point of a job, the point of leadership is to solve problems.  In churches there are all kinds of problems, there is the problem of who gets first dibs on classroom A, and who will we get to work in the nursery during the concert etc.  There are all kinds of problems and the good news is that some of those problems are phantom problems, they don't really exist except in our paranoia, some of the problems are self correcting, and some are even insignificant.  So the question remains, what is your BIG Problem.  What is the problem, that is keeping you from moving forward as a leader, or as a church?  What is the problem, that if left undone will keep you from accomplishing the Great Commission.  If you are still saying, I have lots of problems, then your lack of ability to identify the one from the crowd may be your problem.  Identify the problem, the BIG problem.  Kill your Goliath first, then chase down the rest of your Philistines.

Rise - Easter Services

Thanks:
First, I want to thank God for His abundant grace as we made the move over to the middle school.  Of all the things that could have gone wrong, only minor hiccupps occured.  Thanks to all those who gave and worked, you are too numerous to list.

Stats:
Easter weekend began with 81 coming to the Saturday night service, and two people accepted Christ as their personal Savior.  Then at 9:00 on Sunday we had 133 in service and at 10:30 we had 286 with 4 more decisions for Christ.  27 others indicated a rededication to Christ and 7 signed up for baptism. In addition, over $7,000 was given in our Easter Offering towards the building of our next Hope Center in San Lorenzo.

Stories:

Story 1 begins a long time ago in a land far away.... well kind of.  Early on in the life of our church we had a couple nammed Jim and Celeste, they came to church, came to Christ and then moved away to Baharain.  Last year for a few months they returned to this area and thought they might settle back here.  Needless to say we were thrilled.  Their son now in Jr. High attends the youth group and on one occasion invites a friend to an activity at church.  Long story short, a few months pass and employment demands that they move back to Baharain.  The friend of their son forgets the name of the church but tells the parents that he wants to come, but because he cant remember, they do not.  Then, our Easter Ad shows up in the mailbox and he sees it and tells them that this is the church he was telling them about.  Yesterday morning, both parents accepted Christ as their Savior.

Story 2 also begins far away, with a familiy getting ready to go to FL on Holiday.  Being Easter, they decide to attend services at a local church, Cornerstone.  Coming in late the only seats left are on the front row, and if you are a baptist you know how bad that can be!  After church, while people are snapping up pictures and children are snatching up Easter Eggs the dad comes over to thank me for the service.  I apologize that he had to sit on the front row and he said it was the best thing that could have happened.  He goes on to tell me that his wife is the church goer, and that he was too embarrassed to raise his hand, but that today he prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.  He said, for the first time in my life, I actually understood it!

Story 3... got an Easter at Cornerstone story? Send it to me and I will post it here.

Prayer Walk Tonight

Tonight we will have a very special prayer walk at church as we prepare our hearts and minds for this coming Easter Sunday.  We will be praying at each location where our guests and those who come will be met and ministered to by our volunteers and staff.  It will be a special time of asking God for His grace and blessing on this weekend and I hope everyone can come and join in.  It will begin at 7:00 p.m. and the teens and children will have their regularly scheduled programs.  I hope to see you there! - Pastor Joel

Easter Offering for San Lorenzo

On February third I got in the back of an Isuzu pickup truck and drove from the Nicaraguan town of Tecolostote to the neighboring town of San Lorenzo.  The Hope Center in Teco was almost done and the next week the surgeons would arrive to perform operations for the people of this rural impoverished town.  The Mayor of San Lorenzo had just donated land on the town square for the construction of a second Hope Center that would bring not only medical, education, and feeding programs, but the good news of salvation through Jesus to this town.  In fact, the entire countryside is covered with small neglected towns in need of the gospel.  Driving through cobble stone narrow streets at speeds a little fast for comfort, dodging animals and oncoming traffic, we finally arrived in San Lorenzo.  The lot was directly across from the local school, and in between the library (which is never open) and the basketball court, a staple of each of these small towns, a courtesy of the communist party.  In reality, it could not be in a better location and as I stood there with pastor Ward and our missionary Paul Heier, I was convinced that we as a church could do something to get this project going.  That day we made the decision to raise $7,000 for the foundation to be built.  Upon returning we immediately announced that we wanted to raise this as an Easter offering.  Over the past few months, the people of Cornerstone gave sacrificially and on Sunday, we reached our goal of $7,000. This coming Sunday Paul will be here at Cornerstone to be presented a check during the Easter Worship Services.  I wanted to tell everyone who had a part in the offering how much I appreciate your giving and I thank God that we are able to do this together.  Keep praying for Paul and the team down in Nicaragua as they begin construction and begin reaching this town for Christ.

Methods of Personal Evangelism

I mentioned in the service that I would post some how to methods for leading a person to faith in Christ.

ABC’s / Romans Road

a.      Admit

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

b.      Believe

Romans 10:9 - 10 (ESV)

⁹because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

c.       Call

Romans 10:13 (ESV)

¹³For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Way of the Master

1.      Do you consider yourself to be a pretty good person?

2.      Do you mind if I ask you a few questions as a test?

3.      Do you think you have kept the ten commandments?

4.      Have you ever coveted or been jealous of something that did not belong to you? #10

5.      Have you ever told a lie? # 9

6.      Have you ever stolen anything? # 8

7.      Have you ever committed Adultery? #7

8.      Have you ever murdered anyone? #6

9.   If God judged you according to these laws, would you be guilty or innocent?

Four Spiritual Laws

* Just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so are there spiritual laws that govern your relationship with God.

1)      God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life

John 3:16 (ESV)

¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 10:10b (ESV)

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 

2)      Man is sinful and separated from God, therefore he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3)      Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin.  Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

John 14:6 (ESV)

⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

4)      We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

John 1:12 (ESV)

¹²But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 
Ephesians 2:8 - 9 (ESV)

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

Anticipating Easter

Okay here's the story....  We were supposed to move to the larger space on January 22nd, but due to some complications with getting the CO, Community of Faith is still in the middle school auditorium, and we are making two plans for Easter.  Plan A is that we will be in the middle school, and have three services, Saturday at 6:30 p.m, Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.  With the additional space we should be able to let everyone attend the service that best suits them and their schedules.  All services will be identical and include extended worship etc.  Plan B is that we will be in the elementary school and due to extra crowds we will add an additional service Sunday morning.  We will also need to have everyone request which service they will attend.  The last thing that we want to see happen is that our guests not have a seat! We are also exploring options to do an overflow room for those willing to make space.  Please keep this in your prayers that we will be able to cover every detail of every service so that we are ready either way.  I am so excited that God has allowed our church to grow to meet the needs of more people and these are definitely good problems.  I also want to thank everyone who has sacrificed and crammed in.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, I promise. God is in control and He knows our space needs.  Let's keep putting the needs of others before our own.

Discovery Launch 3,15,09

here is the launch via my cell phone. we had a great time playing catch with the football, and eating overpriced festival food. Unfortunately, I did not have a very good exit strategy and ended up on the same road as all the tourists going back to Orlando. I would have been wiser to drive south to Miami on I-95 and then take 27 north home :-). Great experience, everyone should do it at least once.