Egg Drop 2013

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Wow, what an awesome day for our church and the Glades community! Our first ever Easter Egg Drop was a HUGE success!

We had several hundred kids come through and EGGchange their plastic eggs for a big bag of candy at The Great EGGchange! (Get it, EGGchange?! Pretty pun-y, huh?) Our children’s pastor, Tim, says that by his best count, we gave out 1153 bags of candy! (That’s a LOT of candy!)

We think we had close to a thousand kiddos who attended the event for sure. (There may have been a few that made a couple of “EGGchanges,” if you know what I mean.)

A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped us pull off this massive event!

A HUGE thank you to Phil and Sugar Cane Golf Club hosting us.

A HUGE thank you to John Kandel and his piloting skills.

A HUGE thank you to our church staff who served for weeks in planning and implementing the vision for this community event.

A HUGE thank you to all of our volunteers who gave up their time and energy to show the love of God to our community!

YOU ALL are the BEST!!

Here are some pictures and a very short video taken by Chuck from the helicopter as they were dropping eggs.

[tentblogger-vimeo 63014700]

 

If I Were Satan – ThomRainer.com

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Great post! Starts with this quote:

If I were Satan . . .

I would focus on the churches. I would get members to demand their own preferences. I would urge them to complain about the length of the pastor’s sermons and the color of the carpet. I would set member against member to fight over the right worship style. And I would make the business meeting the time where the most carnal members spoke and fight and destroyed.

and gets better from there!!  Check it out!

If I Were Satan – ThomRainer.com.

Dr. Roy Fish Has Died: A Heart for Evangelism and a Life Dedicated to Sharing the Gospel

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One of my favorite professors at SWBTS passed away yesterday. Dr. Roy Fish was an amazing man who truly cared for each and every student in his classes. What I remember most about him is his evangelistic heart, yes; but it was a pastor’s heart with that evangelistic passion that every person would find a relationship with Christ. I was just looking through some old notebooks of when I was back in Missouri pastoring after seminary. I found a sermon outline that he preached at the Pastor’s Conference in St. Louis that was “great medicine” for my heart. I think what really spoke to my heart was his passion for the Church to become all she could become and specifically (preaching from Acts 17) bring the Gospel to the next generation. It did my heart good to hear from an old leader stressing to the next generation of leaders to focus on getting the Gospel to the future generations. May we all press on to share the Gospel to the future generations for God’s glory!

Here is a great post from Dr. Ed Stetzer on Dr. Fish’s life and ministry. Enjoy.

Ed Stetzer – Roy Fish Has Died: A Heart for Evangelism and a Life Dedicated to Sharing the Gospel.

Tim Keller on The Church’s Response to Homosexuality

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Came across this portion of a Q & A of Tim Keller at Columbia University. Very interesting in light of recent Chick-fil-A controversy.

[tentblogger-youtube LTwugmG4hoA]

What say you?

10 Ways to Ensure I’ll Never Revisit your Church

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Sarah Mielke (@sarahemielke), our new worship pastor’s wife tweeted me a link to this post today from Ben Reed on Thom Rainer’s blog….awesome!  There are definitely things we do to ensure that people will be extremely uncomfortable and risk the possibility of them ever coming back to our church again. Here is his list…funny and sad all at the same time.

1. Offer no easy way to plug in to community.

Don’t tell me about small groups. Make me wait forever to plug in…or make me do extensive work to even figure out what kind of groups you offer.

2. Don’t be welcoming in the parking lot.

Just do your job, don’t speak to me as I walk in, and offer a bit of a “it-is-early-on-a-Sunday-morning” scowl.

3. Don’t acknowledge I’m in the service.

Give no head nod to “first timers,” “visitors,” or “folks just checking us out.” In fact, just speak to the inner core, the “members.”

4. Acknowledge me too much.

Call me out and have me stand up. Ask me to publicly share my name and darkest secrets.

5. Don’t give much thought or care to your kids ministry.

People don’t care if their children are safe, watched after, and learn the Bible. Nope. Let them run amuck.

6. Pass the offering bucket twice.

Or thrice. And shame me into giving you money.

7. Don’t share the Gospel, or challenge me spiritually.

Because that’s not why people come to church is it…to be stretched to grow spiritually, is it? Oh, wait, maybe that’s one of the main reasons they show up…

8. Ask me to give me your email address, then spam me.

Overwhelm me, starting on Monday morning, with news from every single ministry your church has ever offered.

9. Visit me at home.

Show up during dinner time, if you can. Or while I’m trying to put my son to bed. That would be ideal, please. Our generation loves the random church-member pop-in when we aren’t even sure we like your church. Love. It.

10. Pastor: disappear as soon as you finish preaching.

Go back to the greenroom. Or Starbucks. But don’t position yourself in the hallway. You are a diva, after all.

We are in a season right now at our church of where we are trying to get better at all of this stuff…I like to say we are “getting ready for company.”

What are some ways that you are “getting ready for company” at your church or business?

Check out the full post here: 10 Ways to Ensure Ill Never Revisit your Church | Life and Theology.

Ed Stetzer – SBC 2011 Statistical Realities & “Encouraged and Hopeful”

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I really love what Ed Stetzer has to say about the realities of the Southern Baptist Convention–though they are not realities we like to look at for sure. I have never been to an Annual Convention on the national level (numerous state conventions), but his “encouraged” approach to them might bring me to attend an Annual Convention sometime soon.

Check out a couple of posts on both his personal blog and the “Between The Times” blog. The post on edstetzer.com is about facing the facts of the statistical realities of the SBC and another post on “Between The Times” talking about both those findings as well as 6 reasons why he is encouraged about the SBC as we meet in New Orleans next week for the annual convention.

The 6 reasons he is optimistic are:

1. The Election of Fred Luter as President of the SBC

2. The Growing Ethnic Diversity of the SBC

3. We’re Getting Honest About Calvinism

4. We Are Still a Convention of Churches That Love the Lord and Love the Lost

5. The Beginnings of a Renewed Focus on Church Planting and Evangelism

6. Young and Experienced Leaders Working Together

Another great synopsis quote from the post on the “statistical realities” (decline) of the SBC is . . .

We stand at a key moment and my sermon-in-a-sentence is this: A denomination perpetually at war with itself cannot survive, but a denomination focused on engaging new leaders, reaching out to other ethnicities, and reaching others through evangelism and church planting will thrive.

As a pastor of a church that might be living out the “realities” that the statistics show, I am encouraged too at what God might do through us as a people–all for His Glory. Let it be so!

via Ed Stetzer – SBC 2011 Statistical Realities– Facts Are Our Friends But These Are Not Very Friendly Facts and via Between The Times – Heading to the SBC, Encouraged and Hopeful.

Lakewood Worship Leader Born Without Ears Auditions On American Idol

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Really cool story and another picture of God allowing some people to have a platform to show the world His Glory.

[tentblogger-youtube zkjlobMWkKc]

Post found originally on Big Is The New Small here…

Lakewood Worship Leader Born Without Ears Auditions On American Idol | Big Is The New Small.

Be Rich Toward God–John Piper

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What an amazing message that John Piper preached to his congregation last week! Interesting that we preached on a similar topic (money). This subject has been right “up in my grill” lately (as it has been all my adult life, really). I think that money and the love of money has been an issue in my life is because it is a discipline…and in general…well, I’m not good with discipline.

I have been preaching over the last five weeks about “Recovery Road.” I have been using the art and outlines of Andy Stanley’s message series he preached last fall at Northpoint Community Church in Georgia. His series is online with several other resources on “The Great Recovery” website that is the brain trust of Dave Ramsey and his ministry. The hope is that God’s ways of money will be embraced by all believers and then start a movement in this nation that will spread all around the world.

In addition to those resources, this sermon here has really taught my heart this week. Enjoy!

 

I am a Church Member–Thom Rainer

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Great post from Thom Rainer…simple, and the truth.

I am a church member.

I will seek to be a source of unity in the church. I know there are no perfect pastors, staff, or other church members. But neither am I. I will not be a source of gossip or dissension. One of the greatest contributions I can make is to do all I can in God’s power to help keep the church in unity for the sake of the gospel.

I am a church member.

I will not let my church be about my preferences and desires. That is self-serving. I am in this church to serve others and to serve Christ. My Savior went to a cross for me. I can deal with any inconveniences and matters that are just not my preference or style.

I am a church member.

I will pray for my pastor every day. His work is never-ending. His days are filled with constant demands for his time; with the need to prepare sermons; with those who are rejoicing in births; with those who are traveling through the valley of the shadow of death; with critics; with the hurts and hopes of others; and with the need to be a husband and a father. My pastor cannot serve our church in his own power. I will pray for God’s strength for him and his family every day.

I am a church member.

I like the metaphor of membership. It’s not membership as in a civic organization or a country club. It’s the kind of membership given to us in 1 Corinthians 12: “Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it” (I Corinthians 12:27). Because I am a member of the body of Christ, I must be a functioning member, whether I am an “eye,” an “ear,” or a “hand.” As a functioning member, I will give. I will serve. I will minister. I will evangelize. I will study. I will seek to be a blessing to others. I will remember that “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

I am a church member.

I will lead my family to be good members of this church as well. We will pray together for our church. We will worship together in our church. We will serve together in our church. And we will ask Christ to help us fall deeper in love with this church, because He gave His life for her.

I am a church member.

This membership is a gift. When I received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, I became a part of the body of Christ. I soon thereafter identified with a local body and was baptized. And now I am humbled and honored to serve and to love others in our church. I pray that I will never take my membership for granted, but see it as a gift and an opportunity to serve others, and to be a part of something so much greater than any one person or member.

I am a church member.

And I thank God that I am.

What would it be like if ALL of us who were followers of Christ lived out these statements? Powerful. Revival. Movement.

Prayers for Revival in Belle Glade

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The Glades have been through a really difficult week or so with the murder of local business owner, Jimmy McMillan, followed by the armed robbery of a jewelry store the very next day. This is on the heels of an extremely bad 2011 with far too many violent crimes including a Saturday in December with two homicides in less than 12 hours. We are praying for a revival in this place and an end to the violence!

Here are some videos from just one of the news stations that were camped out in our church parking lot for the last few days at the visitation and funeral on Thursday and Friday as well as Monday night as we held a prayer walk for the Glades that went from our church to the Community United Methodist Church.

We are praying for an end to the senseless violence in our community. We are praying that there will be real revival here in the Glades that will be rooted in the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is beginning to happen here in the Church community is truly amazing! We are beginning to see true revival and repentance in the Christian community here in the Glades. The last three nights have seen three very powerful prayer events at three different churches in our community. What has been absolutely amazing is the start of an amazing unity that is being formed that goes far beyond race, economics and denominational affiliation.

We had a really good crowd on Monday night (which you could see on the video.) I was praying that we would not have a “let down” in attendance tonight as many of these things have a tendency to wain over time. I was absolutely amazed to see EVEN MORE people there tonight to go from Community United Methodist Church, past the Alabama Georgia Grocery (where the store owner was murdered), to St. John’s First Missionary Baptist Church. It was beautiful to see all races and ages gather together under the name of Jesus to beg God to touch our community. As pastor Robert Reese, pastor of St. John’s, said tonight, “this is a picture of what heaven might be like!”

Please be in prayer for Belle Glade and the communities of the Glades as we try to minister to this hurting community. We are having a prayer walk or prayer vigil each night through MLK celebration on Monday. I am feeling like we are going to have larger and larger crowds each night. I hope we can maintain this momentum and that the people will see a unified group of Christians here in the Church in the Glades.

Here are some pictures from the last several nights’ prayer meetings… (quality isn’t great…iPhone 3Gs…waiting for the iPhone 5 and Siri 🙂