What If……?
How many times have I started a statement like this? How many times have you? I have a ‘what if’ for you today.
What if we (who claim to be believers in Christ) truly believed that His Word was true? What if we believed every word that Christ spoke in the Bible? What would our communities look like? What would our world look like if we truly believed every word He spoke? What would we look like?
Imagine if we truly believed in heaven and hell. Imagine if we heeded Christ’s command to love our neighbor? Imagine (this one slams me) if we truly loved the Lord with ALL of our heart, mind, and strength? The truth is we have fallen short of the life we should be living, but what if?
What if we kept our word? What if we prayed for each other like our lives depended on it? What if we shared Christ like our salvation depended on it? What if we served like what we do will impact thousands of lives? How would that change the way you and I live? How would this change how we do church?
It’s time to start believing. It’s time to get a revelation of who He is. It is time to seek Him. It’s time to ask Him to change us. It’s time to live life intentionally and not just ”go with the flow”.
What if…….?
One of His (Kevin)
This Post Will Make You Think
If you are wrestling with something you think God might be telling you to do, you need to check out this blog.
One of His (Kevin)
Challenges of a Source Group Leader IV
Ok. In my last post I gave you reasons that you should not be a source group leader. You should check your reasons before you get involved in something that is going to affect the lives of others. I wanted to end this series on a positive note. I wanted to give you 5 reasons for becoming a source group leader.
1) Spiritual riches beyond measure. Ministry is giving and giving even when you don’t have anything left. God blesses those who faithfully serve Him. You may not get rich in ministry but the rewards for those who are faithful are incomprehensible ( 1Cor 2:9).
2) You have a personal stake in the church you are involved. Many people go from church to church cause they don’t have a personal stake in the future of the local church they go to. As a source group leader you are comitting to watch over, care for, and become responsible for the spiritual well-being and growth of a group of believers. As you make an impact in your group, they in turn, will make an impact in the church, their families, and communities.
3) It pushes you to grow. People are counting on you to be on your ‘A’ game. Your group looks to you as an example. Being a leader means you need to grow too. You can’t get lazy or apathetic. It makes you have to stay before God cause you never know what kind of situation that may present itself to you and you must be ready, in and out of season (2 Tim 4:2) preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction
4) It’s fun! I have had some great times with the folks from my source group. We have had cookouts and get-togethers and had a blast! Life isn’t all seriousness.
5) Changed lives. There is nothing better than seeing lives changed! To see people’s faith become strong! To see those who don’t know God begin to desire to know Him! To hear testimonies of answered prayers! To see the broken healed and the spiritually dead come back to life! This is the best part! (For me at least)
God has a plan for your life. He wants to use you. You don’t have to wait to be perfect or measure up in your own eyes.
I hope you have enjoyed this series. If it has struck a chord in you, leave a comment or shoot me an email at:oneofhis73@yahoo.com.
God Bless
One of His (Kevin)
Challenges of a Source Group Leader III
This series has been a bearing of my soul. I hope you have been getting some insights and maybe some understanding into my world. This one is probably one of the hardest for me to write. It’s not easy to communicate without possibly being misconstrued or misunderstood so bear with me.
Top 5 Reasons to not be a Source Group Leader:
1) So people will recognize and respect you. They may recognize you, but respect is earned. People, in most cases, are not going to tell you their deep dark secrets because you have a title or position.
2) So you can hang out with the pastor. If your pastor is as busy as ours, you won’t be hanging out with him unless you have an appointment. Volunteering to impress the pastor is stupid and you need to be punched in the throat if you do it. Being a source group leader is about others, not how you can get in with the pastor and leadership. If you are doing it for any other motive than to help others and serve God then you are going to have to answer to God and leadership cause a fraud can be a fraud for so long. Save your energy and the embarrassment. Don’t do it.
3) So you can make friends. Being in leadership can be a lonely place. There will be those that will get close to you so they can be seen with you and can tell others that you hung out with you for their own selfish purposes. It’s a shame. Also, there are times as a leader you may have to bring correction and tell folks the way it is. If you can’t do it, you shouldn’t be a source group leader. It’s not easy to do under any circumstance. My wife and I want friends. We love people, but we have to swallow our own insecurities and needs sometimes to do what will be best for others. It’s really hard and can be really lonely.
4) So you can have a closer walk with God. This may seem like a noble venture but if you don’t have a relationship with God already, you won’t make it. What is worse is that you can do more damage to other’s walk with God in the process. You don’t have to be a spiritual juggernaut, but you should be consistant in word and deed. If you are spiritually bi-polar (up one day and down the next all the time) you won’t be effective in your ministry and the people in your group (if they stay long) will think you are a flake.
5) You feel “called” to do it. I know some of you might say “What?!” The reason I say this is just because you are “called” doesn’t mean you are ready to do it. I feel called to be a pastor but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go start a church. There is training and preparation that should go into any office of ministry. You should show a certain level of faithfulness when given a responsibility. If you come to church late every Sunday if at all, and you feel called to lead a source group, forget it. Start coming to church on time every Sunday. Start showing your faithfulness in some area of ministry. God will promote you in due time, but you need to be doing the small things so He can bless you with more responsibility.
I will talk about why you should in my next post.
One of His (Kevin)
Challenges of a Source Group Leader II
Here is a continuation of my last post. I talked about what I feel God has called my wife and I to do. I shared my heart on why I love being a source group leader. I shared about the pitfall of frustration you can fall into if you don’t understand that folks are in different places in life. This post is about my thought processes and things I do to prepare for each gathering.
Well, I try ( I stress try) to have my topics picked out a couple weeks or more ahead of time. Depending on what I face during the week a lot of times determines how soon. I have had God change these last moment a couple times. When we first started this group, I had a pretty big lesson prepared. We usually had more material than what we actually went through. We have been trying to shift from Dawn and I doing a teaching to take what God is saying and discuss these things as a group. I believe that everyone has something they can share. It’s the getting everyone to share that’s difficult.
The challenge that we face is the fact we have our group on Friday night. Which means you got folks getting off work and stopping home for a little bit and heading out the door to come to group. This can make it difficult cause some folks are down-right exhausted. I know when I am tired, I don’t want to talk all that much. We are contemplating changing the night we meet, but I’m not quite sold on doing that. I believe consistancy is important so that is something I’m praying about. Which leads me to a very important aspect of being a source group leader, and that is prayer.
I believe that it is the most important part of being prepared. We need to be able to hear the voice of God. As a source group leader, you are a mini-pastor. You will have people come to you with questions, problems, and situations that are looking for answers. This is hard to do if you are not prayed up. You may have one train of thought for the night but you have to be ready to follow God’s leading when He wants to go in another direction. I also believe that as a leader, you should be praying for those that are in your group. You never know what crisis someone may have avoided because of your prayers for them.
If I told you that I prayed for my group every single day, I would be lying to you. I face everyday life and things that distract me. God holds me accountable for how I prepare and how I run things in my group. It’s not something I take lightly, so what I do to prepare is very important.
One of His (Kevin)
Challenges of a Source Group Leader I
I don’t know if most people who go to source (cell) groups understand what goes into being a source group leader. The struggles, the triumphs, the joy, the pain, that goes into being a source group leader. I thought I might take a few posts to give you a look into my thought processes.
When I was asked to be a source group leader, it was such a great honor to be given, and a great responsibility. I had a lot of ideas on how I wanted to structure it and the focus and mission. I think it’s important to know what your focus is going to be. Some may focus on fellowship, networking, or special interests. Some groups may focus on a specific area of study, prayer, or outreach. As many ideas as you can think of you could have a group for.
The area that Dawn and I feel called to focus on is helping Christ-Followers bring out the gifts and talents that God has placed inside them. I have been in church my whole life. For a long time, nothing was ever required of people in the pews except their tithe check. The church is waking up and realizing that it’s going to take you and me to make a difference in this world and our communities. Nothing is more exciting than seeing someone step out and try something for God they have never done before!
As much as we want to see this, people are all in different places with God. To expect to see everyone doing this would be a freefall into frustration. Would I love for people to be blowing up my cell and pounding down my door to start their own group or to share at group? I would love it! One day I believe that will be the case. There are things that we all have to overcome, and things we must do to get to the next level in our relationship with Him and what He wants to do with us. We also believe in giving folks a shove every once in a while! LOL! If you go to our group and you read this, we love you and we will do everything we possibly can to help bring those gifts out of you. If you don’t go to our group, we are still here, we will help you as much as we can. Whether you go to our group or not, the majority of the effort is on your part. You can do it! We wouldn’t do what we do if we didn’t believe you could.
One of His (Kevin)
Friday Night Source Group 7-25-08
This Friday, we are going to answer the age old question: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Be there. You won’t want to miss it!
One of His (Kevin)
Whats Going On
Few thoughts:
I’m so glad my daughter Jubilee is doing ok after getting her tonsils taken out!
I have decided to ditch Windows on my laptop and go with the Linux operating system. My computer is older than the newer systems out there and Linux runs like a champ and it uses the memory on my system a lot better. I could only have maybe 2 things running at the same time on Windows and it would take soooo long to load a web page or application. With Linux, I have a dozen applications open at the same time and no system lag. It’s great! It takes a bit more effort to install software but it’s worth it.
It’s funny, the month of July is supposed to be a break to rejuvinate. I have found myself more antsy than anything! God is calling His believers to new levels of relationship, commitment to His purpose and plan, and accountability. This has been burning in my gut for weeks. I don’t have much patience for wishy washy people. So many people are hearers of His words but not many are doers. Many who talk about vision but do not live vision. Many are called but few heed the call.
I’m really looking forward to August and September. They are going to be some powerful months at CFAN. Pastor will be laying down some foundation and vision for the future of CFAN. You will not want to miss a Sunday!
Letter
I just wanted to clarify that I wrote my last post. I didn’t take it from someone else. I really felt impressed by God to write it. I guess I should have said that in the post. God wants to use us. There are so many folks with such powerful potential to impact their communities and yet they are distracted and drawn away by every change in the wind that they are rendered useless.
I heard a quote by Kathryn Kuhlman, a small, thin frail, woman who impacted thousands for God. She used to say all the time “God is not looking for gold vessels. He isn’t looking for silver vessels. He is looking for yielded vessels!”. God is waiting on you. He isn’t waiting for you to be perfect. He has placed His Spirit within you. You have all you need. What are you waiting for?
One of His (Kevin)
Letter
Dear Apathetic One,
I have spent many years trying to coax, prod, excite, and reason with you about My purpose for your life. I sent messenger after messenger to plead for you to walk in the path I have called you to walk. To speak the Words I have for you to say, to love those I have called you to love, to heal the brokenhearted. Even with all of my pleadings, you remain content to let someone else do it. You hide behind fears, imperfections, and excuses, even though I suffered and died that you might be free! You imprison yourself in bars of your own making! I died that you might have an abundant life, but you choose to chase after the things that would hold you captive.
I ask you to acknowledge Me in all your ways, and yet you acknowledge Me in none. You want me when you need me and though I need you, you are too busy for Me. I stand at your heart’s door and knock, but you won’t let Me in.
I love you. My patience has no limits. My love has no conditions. I want so much for you but you have to choose. You have so much potential. I see the best in you. I know the life I have for you is greater than anything you can imagine! Come unto Me. I am still waiting.
Your Heavenly Father
Summertime!
Hi Everyone,
It’s that time of the year again. Lots of folks are going on vacation and taking some much needed time to rest and recharge their batteries. I just wanted to say while you do that, don’t let your relationship with God relax too. It’s hard once you have been taking that much needed “me” time to focus on something other than “me”. It’s so easy we can do it and not even realize it.
Remember Him, no matter what your plans are. He is worthy to be praised!
One of His (Kevin)
New Day
I think we really take for granted each day. If we truly believed that today was our last day or we knew when our last day was, would we really continue doing the things we do every day? What things would you change? What things would you stop worrying about? What things would you go out and accomplish?
We live under the assumption that tomorrow will automatically be given to us. We assume we will have another day to tell our spouse and children we love them. We assume that we have another day to get things right with God. Assuming anything is a recipe for destruction. The bible talks about assumption:
James 4:13) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14) yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15) Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
When it is my time, I want people to say that he loved his family and his God with all his heart. A passionate Christ-Follower and a faithful friend. Today is a new day to build a legacy that will last well beyond your years. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are. Today is a new day!
One of His (Kevin)
What’s on the Inside?
The other day, Dawn and I were at the church ripping out the drop down ceiling in the sanctuary. Hot and dusty work, but it looks great in there! I never realized how many wires and things were behind that drop down ceiling.
It’s like that with us too. Many times we don’t realize what’s really going on in our hearts until something happens or doesn’t happen that begins to tear at you into the depths of your soul. Life has a way of exposing those things we don’t want to deal with and it’s never at a time of our choosing. Somethings aren’t that pretty. You may look good on the outside but the pain of past hurts and regrets is rotting you from the inside out. You may appear confident on the outside but live in constant insecurity and anxiety on the inside.
God wants to heal you. God wants you to be whole, inside and out. He wants to bring peace to the regrets that you have beaten yourself up from for years. He wants you to be happy and whole. We have to let Him get into those places that we have covered up and guarded for a long time. We have to take off the masks that we have hid behind and let God do a work in our lives.
It’s not an easy thing. No one says it’s easy. God will truly not give you more than you can handle. You got this far, didn’t you?
One of His (Kevin)
