Renovate Church Conference and Church Revitalization

Several months ago I was asked to serve on a newly forming team in the Stanly Baptist Association, the Church Revitalization Team. Dr. Hal Bilbo was putting a team of pastors together who are working in some way in seeing the churches they serve experience revitalization. Along with myself there are four other pastors from SBA who agreed to serve on this team. In agreeing to serve we all committed to go to Orlando, FL November 2-6 and attend the Renovate Church Conference at Aloma Baptist Church, and so we did.

We had a great time getting to know one another during the drive down, eating meals together, worshiping together during the main sessions, and driving home. These are some great and godly men: Tommy Ross, Mark Little, Scott Williams, and Ron Loflin. They have a great heart to see God do a new thing in some "old" places in Stanly county. We want to be used of God to make it happen right here where we work, play, and raise our kids.

Let me share with you some of the titles of the breakout sessions (some listed I attended and some others attended): Becoming an Effective Change Agent in Revitalization-Dr. Will McRaney, How to Utilize Church Renewal Journey Weekends-Bob Foy, The Importance of Prayer in Church Revitalization-Vince Manna, Powerful Conversations that can Revitalize Your Church-Dr. Bob Bumgarner, Zombie Church Revitalization: How to Raise the "Dead Church" without Dying Yourself-Rob Myers, Church Revitalization: Every Believer a Witness-Dennis Nunn. There was a multitude of other choices, and listening to the guys on the SBA team they were all powerful. The five I chose to attend were ones I felt would help and challenge me personally and/or be helpful in leading Highland.

The main session speakers included: Dr. Ed Stetzer, Dr. Micah Fries, Dr. Lenny Luchetti, Dr. Bob Whitesel, Dr. K.P. Yohannan, Dr. Kevin Ezell, Dr. Larry Wynn, and Dr. Dennis Mitchell. Each of these men shared powerful messages of encouragement, vision, caution, and passion about revitalizing the local church in America and how desperately it's needed.

A powerful quote from Dr. Will McRaney was "A church will either choose to die to itself and live or it will just die."

"Ministry is the perfect avenue for the crucifixion of the ego." "God designed ministry for the spiritual formation of the minister." "We are called to lead out of bondage, through barrenness, and into blessing." Dr. Lenny Luchetti

"However beautiful the strategy it is occasionally helpful to look at the results." Winston Churchill quoted by Dr. Ed Stetzer

"When you know who you ARE in Christ you also know who you AREN'T." "Acceptance is a two way street. If I must accept you as you are you must also accept me as I am." "Faith has to override our thinking. You must stop thinking some of things you are thinking." "What you think about can deceive you." "God doesn't do a miracle and then make a mess." "You either have character or you will become one." "Never lose your integrity over someone who doesn't have it." Dr. Paul Smith

The conference and experience happened very quickly. But I have so much to think and pray through. There will be many conversations with our team about this time together, and I can't wait. I can't wait to see what God does in Stanly county as He begins to revitalize us as never before.

10-31-14 Weekly Update

God is so good to me. I’ve had the privilege of preaching the revival services at First Baptist Church Cuthbert, GA this past week, and we saw God do some wonderfully amazing things. The church is doing some great things, strategically, to reach out into their community, and the Lord Jesus is blessing.

Although not the same, I see great similarities between Highland and FBCC. The first thing I see is a common love for the Lord Jesus. Not that loving Jesus is common, but that our churches love Jesus. That common bond of love makes us family, children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. So, I felt at home among family as I preached each of the four services. I see a common desire to reach out and serve the community in the name of Jesus. We do those things through corporate worship, youth and children’s ministries, UPWARD, and other things like that. But we also uniquely serve our communities. It is inspiring to see and hear of the many ways we can be the hands and feet of Jesus. I encourage you to think of the reality that every step you take is a step Jesus should be taking through you. Live the Christ life passionately, graciously, mercifully, and constantly.

Sunday November 2 is being called #IStandSunday. It is time where Christians in Houston, Tx and around the country are uniting to defend our faith, our voice, and our religious liberty. There will be a simulcast starting at 7 PM EST. I encourage you to participate if you are able to do so. We must unite as Christians NOW or suffer the consequences of our continued silence, watching our beloved nation slide further down the slippery slope of sin and destruction. Please stand, and having done all, stand (Eph. 6). You can show your support for the pastors and Christians in Houston by using the hashtag #IStandSunday on your social media outlets.

I also want to remind and encourage you to vote. Election day is Tuesday. Let your voice be heard loudly and clearly in/from the voters booth. Vote your conscience. Vote your faith. Vote as an ambassador of Jesus.

I hope we will see you this Sunday at Highland as we gather together to worship King Jesus.

Cooperative Program of the SBC

Imagine with me what would happen if each of the 46,125 local churches that comprise the Southern Baptist Convention would give financial support to one cause wrapped around one purpose: presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ globally and making disciples of all the nations. I really want you to think with me for a moment about this. I want you to further imagine what happens when we give financially each month through our world missionary enterprise called the Cooperative Program.

When our 46,000+ churches cooperate to take the gospel to the world, let me tell you a few things we do together. We are:

• Mobilizing 4,810 missionaries internationally that are fully supported by these churches financially; in fact, through the ministries of these missionaries last year, thousands of churches were planted, 114,471 new believers in Christ were baptized, and we are continuing with the strong commitment to finish the task of engaging the final 3,052 people groups who are both unengaged and unreached.
• Planting gospel churches in 32 of the major cities in North America as well as in many underserved regions of North America; in fact, our churches together are committed to plant an average of 1,500 churches annually, believing God that over the next ten years we will see 15,000 new gospel churches planted in North America.
• Mobilizing thousands of volunteers to minister when national disasters come in America; in fact, we comprise the 3^rd largest national disaster relief organization in the United States. Additionally, we respond around the world when various crises and disasters occur.
• Equipping 16,000 seminary students through our six seminaries who will serve as local church pastors and staff members, missionaries around the world, and leaders in some realm of Christianity.
• Engaging the culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ and speaking to issues in the public square for the protection of religious liberty and human flourishing; in fact, we even have qualified leadership in Washington D.C. speaking for our churches about these issues.
• Ministering through our own states and even close to our own churches through the 42 state conventions of churches and 1,100 regional associations of churches.
• Partnering to make a major difference regionally, across each state, nationally, and internationally; believing that God has called us together to reach the world for Christ.

When our churches give through our Cooperative Program, these are just some of the things we do together.

Churches determine what they give through the Cooperative Program

Each of our churches should pray, seek the Lord, and determine voluntarily on our own how much we should give toward our grand gospel work together. No one forces us or tells us what to give; each church decides on our own. We should reassess what we are doing annually. We should always lead our church to be generous in regards to advancing the gospel globally.

What happens to the money we give through the Cooperative Program?

Each church gives to the Cooperative Program through their respective state conventions. Some of the monies stay in the state for ministries and partnerships they are committed to doing together, and they send the remaining monies to the Southern Baptist Convention’s work nationally and internationally. Each state convention determines the amount of monies they keep inside their state and the monies they give to the Southern Baptist Convention. Then, at the national level, a formula is used that distributes the monies for the work of Southern Baptists both nationally and internationally. Everything that I shared with you that these churches accomplish together is funded through our world missionary enterprise called the Cooperative Program.

You see, what began in 1925, God is still using today. These 46,000+ churches are working together by giving monies through the Cooperative Program, all given for the purpose of presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ globally and making disciples of all the nations.

Let me tell you our Cross Church story

Let me share a personal story. Through the course of my ministry life and leadership, I have been very committed to leading my church to reach the world for Christ. However, within the last several years as the Southern Baptist Convention and state conventions really began to increase their commitment toward reaching the world for Christ, my church has increased our financial support through the Cooperative Program. Over the past several years, we have increased our commitment substantially each year. Why?

You see, I determined that it was and is incumbent on me, as a stewardship of the gospel, to lead my church to do all we can to rally together with 46,000+ other churches to finish the task of presenting the gospel globally and making disciples of all the nations. After several years, I became absolutely convinced that we can do more together than we could ever do on our own.So our church’s giving through the Cooperative Program has increased greatly and will continue to do so. In fact, when our church adopts our 2014-2015 Ministry Budget in the next few days, we are making a strong commitment to increasing our gifts significantly again this next year.

Lead your church to give more

Listen friend, from the most rural church to the most influential metropolitan church, from the smallest membership church to the largest membership church, Jesus calls us to do everything we can with all we have to reach the world for Christ. The lostness of our own nation and the entire world continues to increase. People are dying without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Personally and as a local church pastor, we must do all we can with all God has entrusted to us to penetrate the lostness of the world.

This is why we must connect together and partner cooperatively. We can reach more people, send more missionaries, plant more churches, demonstrate more compassion to more people through hunger and relief ministries, and equip more ministers and missionaries when we give more together through the Cooperative Program.

There are churches, conventions, networks and denominations all over the world that stand in amazement at how the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention fund our Great Commission work nationally and globally. They are amazed at what we accomplish together in partnership for the gospel.

Challenge your church

Let me challenge you to lead your church toward a greater commitment to reaching the world for Christ by giving through the Cooperative Program. Additionally, extend another challenge to personally increase their financial support to your church so that your church can do more toward fulfilling the Great Commission by giving more dollars through the Cooperative Program.

Vision for all generations

I have been thinking about the vision God is now creating through the Southern Baptist Convention. I believe this vision is strong and becoming more clear all the time, that it appeals to all generations — from the youngest to the oldest. In other words, it is a cross-generational vision that is emerging through what we are doing. What is it?

We are:

• Theologically conservative, committed to biblical fidelity.
• Reaching the unreached peoples internationally.
• Strategically planting Gospel churches nationally.
• Extending compassion through hunger and disaster relief ministries dynamically.
• Engaging the culture, always lifting high the cause of religious liberty globally.
• Cooperatively working to reach the nations regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Pastor, church leaders, and laypeople: if you present these things to any age leader or church, telling them about what God is doing, I believe they will see this vision as being compelling, concise, and clear.

Never forget, this vision is only possible to continue to live and enlarge as the churches of our Southern Baptist Convention give monies generously through the Cooperative Program, all for one main purpose and vision: Reaching the World for Christ. Thank you for what your church is doing right now to God’s glory.

Stay tuned, because next week I will be writing more about this subject.

Yours for the Great Commission,

Ronnie W. Floyd

I like this...

Dr. Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC and pastor of Cross Church in Arkansas, is calling for Christians, but especially SBC Christians, to intentionally share the gospel with someone on Oct. 14, 2014. You can read his challenge on the link below. I'm going to do it. I double dawg dare you to do it to.

http://www.ronniefloyd.com/blog/7782/southern-baptist-convention/every-southern-baptist-sharing-the-gospel-on-tuesday-october-14-2014-2/

Dr. Ronnie Floyd and others lead us to pray.

No one in the church would argue that prayer is ineffective, and yet we struggle to pray. We know we should pray, but we often struggle to know what to pray for or how to pray for what we want. The #NAMB and Dr. Ronnie Floyd, the president of the SBC, are working to change that. On October 2, 2014 we will be praying very specifically, based on Luke 10:2 which says, "He told them, 'The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.'" I hope you will click on the link to the Baptist Press article below and check out www.namb.net/tentwo or www.imb.org/main/pray to find out more about this day of prayer and other ways you can engage our culture and the world through prayer. I also want to encourage you to send your students to your local See You at the Pole event next Friday, September 24, 2014. It's always a powerful time as students gather together and pray for each other and their school.

http://www.bpnews.net/43372/prayer-webcast-slates-ezell-platt-floyd

I LOVE TAKING THE OFFERING IN CHURCH!

• ©Monday, September 15, 2014
 
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• Written by Perry Noble
 
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• Church Issues, Finances

I’m sure you expected me to say that; after all, I am a “mega-church” pastor – and it’s really easy to take shots at guys like me when we talk about money. 

However, I wanted to introduce a thought today and see if it might resonate with anyone. 

Have you ever met someone who tries to throw in a super spiritual comment in the middle of a conversation in order to appear more “holy”? 

For example, you may say in a crowd, “I was on Facebook last night and connected with an old friend.”  And the other person says to you, “I had my face in THE BOOK last night and connected with God!” (This is also known as a “Jesus Juke!”) 

Or, you say, “I am on level 200 on Candy Crush and finally was able to win and move on to the next level,” and THEY say, “Every time I pick up my phone I open up my Bible app, and I always win and go to the next level in my walk with Jesus!” 

Let’s be honest right here...I mean, being totally honest—no one likes this person. 

I think we are all agreeing at this point…which brings me back to the offering.

One of the easiest ways to NOT deal with this (because it's most likely going on in our own hearts) is to be as condescending as we can as quickly as possible. 

So, for years people in church (and people outside the church) have taken shots at churches taking up an offering because, after all, we REALLY sound spiritual when we criticize something that we feel others might possibly agree with. 

But hold on…before we say the church is BAD for taking an offering, let’s think through a few other things as well. 

If you have ever been to a college or pro football game—they take “an offering!” In fact, you have to pay before THAT “church service” even begins. (Sometimes the “services" are good, sometimes not so good…but people still pay money to be there). 

If you have ever been to a concert, you “gave an offering.” Concert tickets and experiences are at an all time high, and no one is sitting in the concert angry and complaining out loud that “the only reason they are doing this is because they want my money!” 

Anytime we go to see a movie or watch a play at the theater they take “an offering.” 

In fact, if we want to get REALLY serious…

Starbucks just wants your money. 

Apple just wants your money. 

Target just wants your money.

The American Girl Doll store just wants your money. 

And yet very few people complain about those places because, well…we tend to not complain about giving money to things we truly value or worship. 

(Might want to go back and read that last sentence again!) 

So, when it comes to taking an offering at church I am genuinely excited for numerous reasons: 

1 – I realize that everything I have is a gift from God (Deuteronomy 8:18) and the offering is a time where I have the privilege of giving back to Him a portion of what He has already blessed me with. 

2 – I believe what Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 about money being the #1 competitor for my heart, and the offering is a time when I can tangibly say, “Jesus IS Lord!” 

3 – I believe there is not a better investment on the planet than the local church! 

4 – I realize that when I give money to something, my heart will always follow it (sort of like what Jesus said in Matthew 6:21). 

So, consider this – this next time a person complains about the church taking an offering or asking for money, it is most likely an indictment in regards to their own heart that they are trying to deflect on the church by appearing to sound spiritually superior by criticizing something that Scripture clearly instructs us to do. 

I love taking the offering! And…I love GIVING. For me, it’s not an OBLIGATION but rather an OPPORTUNITY!  

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Interesting Article concerning the organization who started the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS research.

My quest in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

 

September 8 2014 by Amber Lehman, Guest Column

It was the latter part of the week when I started seeing the Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Ice Bucket Challenge videos pop up in my Facebook newsfeed. Within 36 hours these posts were nearly all that I saw. It was a brilliant campaign that has raised more than $100 million!

As a ministry leader, I anticipated being challenged so I had some homework to know more about the ALS Association (ALSA). Years ago I figured out that nearly all national organizations that do medical research for cures and treatments of diseases supported embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). Later I learned that many organizations give raised funds to Planned Parenthood. Since then, I’ve made it a practice to research every organization I support to see if any of my money supports that which destroys human life.

When I researched ALSA, as I expected, they were in full support of ESCR. It was an easy decision to refrain from participating.

I was shocked as I saw supporters of First Choice and Christian leaders who are prolife taking the Ice Bucket Challenge. It was then that my quest began. I assumed that they could not possibly know they were supporting ESCR.

I immediately became the killjoy of Facebook as I began posting, private messaging, texting, and emailing friends, supporters, and pastors to inform people of the ESCR link as I saw them get challenged. I wrote my church leaders and said “You don’t want to do this, please don’t do this!”

From my vantage point, it was equally plausible for them to dump ice water on their head and then donate to a local abortion clinic. Intentionally ending a life anytime from day one of conception to a 100-year-old’s last breath is all equally wrong – it is all murder whether it happens in a lab, an abortion clinic, a person’s home or a hospital bed.

Human life matters. Period. I wasn’t willing to stand by quietly and watch the Bride of Christ whom I adore contribute to the culture of death.

Christians need to hear the truth of an undeniable reality of a disregard for life; there seems to be a knowledge gap of life issues of today and a plethora of terrible ethical philosophies that serve as slippery slopes to the church. Those whose responses affirmed life were at a loss of how to defend their stance or explain how ESCR worked. While many commended me for diligently defending life, not many of them seemed to take on the fight themselves.

How did the church get here on the critical issue of human life? I believe there are two main reasons:
First, the church rarely talks about life issues or even the basic doctrine of imago Dei. If you just asked yourself “what is imago Dei?” then you are case in point. Your church may be lacking substantial discussion on what it means to be made in the image of God. A person has value because he or she is fashioned in the image of God. The church should be the place where saints are equipped to engage the culture consistently with God’s truth and biblical values.

Engaging the culture well demands that we know what to believe and why, how to take action responsibly for the causes for which we care and how to engage people in productive discussions around sensitive cultural issues while sharing the message and the love of Christ.

Second, we have somehow adopted a philosophy of ministry and giving that believes that all causes are of the same value and urgency. We have fallen prey to being driven to engage a cause simply by how passionate we feel about it and how engaging the cause makes us feel. This is a dangerous way to steward the resources God has given us.

So how can we pick when there are so many causes and so many needs?

First, we pick by seeking God’s Word to see what God cares about and what He commands us to do.
Second, we look at what is going on in our age and determine (a) what is going on that only God’s people care about; and, (b) what is an urgent and present danger.

Once the causal criteria are figured out, then these causes become top priorities. Stewardship demands that we look beyond our emotions and the fun trends of the day.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge made me aware of a terrible disease and for that I am thankful.  My donation to help find a cure for ALS as well as other debilitating disease will go to the John Paul II Medical Research Institute (http://www.jp2mri.org/), where they are committed to ethical medical research for cures and treatments of multiple diseases. While I care about helping end the suffering of ALS, I also care about defending innocent LIFE even in its smallest form.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Amber Lehman holds a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies and will gain her master of arts in Christian ethics upon completion of her thesis from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She has been leading First Choice Pregnancy Solutions in Wake Forest since January 2006. To make a donation to First Choice please visit www.FirstChoiceNC.org. Also, be sure to sign up for First Choice’s charity golf tournament Sept. 15 at firstchoicenc.org/events/. Amber’s personal abortion story can be found atfirstchoicepregnancysolutions.blogspot.com/2013/08/forgiven-much.html.)