Self Control and Ministry

I was listening to a sermon by Mark Warner, lead pastor of the Vineyard Church in Overland Park Kansas, and in his sermon he said two things that hit me.

1. Self control does not come from self but from the Holy Spirit working in you

In my experiences leading men I have found that those men who rely on their self control end up messed up again but those who rely on the Holy Spirit giving them self control mess up less and less.

2. You greatest ministry will come out of your greatest pain.

As Kat and I planned our farm I wanted to combine what I felt God was calling me to do with our farm. Thus the name Restoration Farm. One of my weaknesses is fighting with control by leaders. I am not sure where this wound came from but I often find myself confrontational when leaders rub me the wrong way. Over the past four years I have slowly let God's Spirit change that in me but every now and then I feel it pushing on me again.

Out of that pain is growing Restoration Farm and a healing ministry for leaders.

I want to encourage you to check out the most recent series that Mark Warner as been doing called "50 Days of Transformation". Below is the one I took the two quotes from.

Father give us self control that comes from the Holy Spirit and take our wounds and may we minister from our wounds because that is where we understand the most. In Jesus name amen

Restoration Farm

In 2012 my wife, Kat, began living a dream we were given b God. We sold our home in Louisburg, KS and cashed in every investment we had and purchased 12 acres in Morgan County Missouri and began to build a chemical free farm operation.

We have worked hard and made a lot of changes to the farm. We have built 3 hoop houses, a barn, and a chicken coop.

The first two photos were taken from the pond looking east to towards our house. The top one was taken in 2012 and the bottom one was taken just last month.

Over the past two years I have taken a good deal of photos of the farm and I want to share some with you here.

 

 I have many more that I could share but I think you get the picture of how much God has blessed us.

The last two photos are of our Restoration Farm Ministry Cabin. We hope that this cabin will be used by many pastors who need restoration or refreshing. We believe God intends to use this cabin in healing pastors who are hurting or who have made a major mistake. We believe that God wants Restoration nor Rejection.

May our Father in heaven bless you and may He change your life through your faith in Jesus and the movement of the Holy Spirit in and through you. In Jesus name amen