Something New

Tonight our church board, myself included, and spouses and our pastoral staff and spouses are getting together for a time of fellowship, prayer and, hopefully, dreaming. To my knowledge we've never done this, for the purposes of visioneering anyway.

For our church to move forward, I believe we not only have to know what God wants, but what we, as the church leadership want as well. If we don't know where we are going, how will we get there?

I'm excited, nervous and apprehensive, all at the same time. God's will!

Challenged

It is amazing to realize the importance of having friends means to our lives. I had a conversation, yes, it was over the internet, with a friend this morning. We chatted about some things and as we shared some of our concerns with each other, we began to move from the place we were, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually, toward a destination, that we have yet to discover. I say that meaning that while we didn't solve our dilemmas, we did move toward something that could develop into a solution(s).

It was interesting to watch, as the tonality of the words typed across the screen began to change as we discussed issues and bounced ideas off of each other. Without friends, we are left with carrying our own troubles and problems while we look to God for our deliverance. With friends, we can lighten the load on each other's shoulders by working together and allowing God to point towards the solutions needed for the problems in our life.

God Is Amazing

It has been an amazing couple of weeks. The Holy Spirit has been working in so many lives and connecting all the pieces to minister the Word as he wants it. God gave me messages for a specific church and confirmed it through the services. I've even experienced the powerful event in which God gave another minister and I , unknowingly, the same message and text which we preached within a few weeks of each other. God is speaking and moving.

WOW

I've spent a considerable amount of time during these past weeks in prayer, specifically in regard to the calling God has placed on my life and the ministry that the Holy Spirit is birthing in my heart. It is often so tempting, to look at things through our human eyes and say, "Nah, that could never happen, not here, not for me." I took a few minutes today and quickly scanned through yesterday's issue of the Today's Pentecostal Evangel. I was struck by a statement that Zollie Smith Jr. made after being elected as the director of US Missions.

He said something to the effect of, "Young people, your gift will make room for you, you must pray, you must be persistent, you must let everyone know that you have a mandate from God, and you must not shrink back."

Now, I know that I'm not as young as I used to be, but Brother Smith's words spoke to me. Particularly, "your gift will make room for you." Man, that encouraged me to dig in, to hold tight to that which God has called me and pray for it's fruition.

If you're discouraged, tired or have just received another letter telling you that you are not being considered for that ministry position that you applied for. Chin-up and know that God is working and will bring you into that calling, that vision and that destiny that he has ordained for you!