Living the Dream

posted at A Community Chaplain

On Thanksgiving day our daughter, Missy, and her children, Spencer, Dakota, Cierra and Kia and their dad, Brandon, came over for dinner. After we had eaten a nice meal we sat down and I presented an idea to them. I suggested that this year for Christmas that we not give gifts to each other but instead find a family to bless. Everyone was in a greement and the kids were excited for the opportunity. Cierra immediately said, "We get so many gifts at Christmas from other people I think it would be nice to give to someone in need." I must say I have the neatest grandkids.

Here are the gifts we are giving.

I have been blessed to be able to do the dream that God has placed in my heart. Making a child's dream come true is just a small way I am allowed to touch the lives of hurting people who God cares for.

Beginning in January I will be meeting with some men at the TimberCreek Bar and playing pool and sharing our hopes, our dreams and our life struggles. We will visit the bar and invite other guys to join us and as we build some relationships I will share the hope that Jesus brings.

I share these two things with you not to toot my horn but to encourage you to get in touch with your dream and then do it. Turn off the television, or the computer or the stereo and get off your rear and do something at least one day a week that will touch the life of someone less fortunate than you. Sharing what Jesus has done for you with someone else does not have to be threatening or boring. If you go where the missing are you might find that the excitement is already there but it is wrapped in a worldly package. Go ahead and take the risk to explore your dream and what God has waiting for you.

If you live in or close to Louisburg come join us at the TimberCreek Bar on Thursdays beginning in January.

Equip, Empower and Release the Body to Ministry

For many years my wife, Kat, and I were involved in a legalistic church. We kept the Sabbath, Saturday, and the Holy Days listed in the Old Testament. We did so legalistically. After 17 years of trying to keep the law I found that I had not changed except that people could see by my actions that I could do those things. Inside I was still the same.

When Kat and I left that church we began to go to a church where freedom was taught and practiced. Freedom to become what God wanted us to be not freedom to sin. We were encouraged and trained to use our Spiritual Gifts and without restraints except to do so in a Biblical way. We did not have to have the pastoral staff giving us the okay to minister to others nor did they have to be involved. The results was growth in our physical, emotional and spiritual lives.

During my pastoral training I was tuaght my job as a pastor is to help people discover their gift(s), equip them and then empower them to do ministry. Part of equipping was to work along side of them first teaching, then showing and then letting them do ministry. Once that cycle was complete and they exhibited sound Biblical approaches to ministry we were taught to get out of their way and let them minister.

Most church models is designed around the senior pastor either doing everything or controlling everything. From my experience this produces a climiate of people who will go around those who have been given the office of ministry and directly to the senior pastor. They will report to the senior pastor everything taking place and the result is a lack of ministry because people will become fearful that they are not performing according to church rules.

When Kat and I were in the Worldwide Church of God we were restricted by pastors in what we could do and with whom we could do it.  When we left the WCG and started attending the other church we were trained for ministry and then released to total freedom to minister.

 

The question is not organization but of restriction. Sometimes pastors do not trust their people to minister freely and some fear giving too much power away. Some pastors have been trained in a church model that has all ministry flowing from the pastors and then through a selected group of members. None of these are necessarily sinful models but each restricts what the body can do. I have experienced a model of total restriction and one that reflects a model similar to the beginning church. The apostles commissioned the body to ministry and allowed them to minister. If you read acts and the following letters it sometimes resulted in some abuses but more often than not it led to church growth.

My question for you is what type of church do you attend?  Pastors what type of leader are you?