We Are Thriving!

 The experts keep saying that the American church is in decline. Falling attendance, loss of income, loss of relevance in society. Things are not looking good for the churches around us.

Then there is our Fellowship. We are not a denomination. We are a loosely knit fellowship of local churches. And unlike the other dead churches in town, we are thriving! We still see people saved, and healed, and filled with the Holy Spirit. We still openly worship and boldly preach. God is still moving by His Spirit among us. We are a part of the only segments of churches still growing which are non-denominational churches and charismatic churches. Where God is welcome and active there is life. It is only in old, dead, lifeless churches where God is a memory or only a doctrine.

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them." Mat.18:20

The Holy Spirit could be absent from some Sunday morning services and no one would know. But we would know!

We are a city on a hill, a light to the world. We are the pillar and ground of the truth. When the whole world lies in darkness, our light will shine brightly. Even if no one in the national news recognizes it.

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Jn.9:5

"If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness." Mat.6:23b

I may not be much, but I am still here. I shall not be moved.

An Interesting and Relevant Fact.

 Here is another interesting and relevant fact. By 2030 there is projected to be 1.4 billion people on earth between the ages of 15-24. Most of these young people will be from sub Saharan Africa. A full 90% of this age group will live in the developing world. This is a huge population shift. While the western world is not getting married and not having children, forgotten people around the world have not stopped having children.

As a Fellowship we need to ask the Lord to help us tap into this vast sea of humanity. It is time for young people to get serious in discipleship and make themselves available for ministry. We may not just send workers to Africa, they may need to learn how to pastor first. But we have to start sooner rather than later.

Pray for your pastor and for our leaders that they would find wisdom and direction for us. Pray that your pastor's heart would burn within him for the nations. Pray that our young people would stop fooling around and get married. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into this harvest.

A Time For Leaders To Lead

 Here are a couple of interesting facts. In the US ten thousand people turn 65 years old every day now. And world wide by 2030 one in six people will be over sixty years old. This is a trend that will continue for many years, until the baby boom generation passes from the scene.

The problem is that after the boomers, no generation following is as large as their predecessors. Gen Z and Gen X are much smaller. Like Japan, much of the developed world if reaching a point where we do not have enough marriage and babies to replace the population. This will not be fixed in a year or two. This will take a generation or two to turn around.

Some of our larger churches have reached a point where the explosive growth is over and they have leveled off in attendance. We still outreach and we still pray with a lot of people but we do not grow in numbers.

We have reached a point in time where we must come up with ways to reach the world as it is with the people we currently have. It is a time for innovation and new ideas. Grandma and grandpa do not go to music concerts or listen to rap. Middle aged couples who both work do not attend morning prayer or go to every service.

We have for all of our lives lived in an atmosphere of growth and our future has always been bigger and better. We had growing attendance, growing income, growing numbers of church plantings. Now those old pools seem to be shrinking and we are left with big budgets and few workers.

This is a time for leaders to lead forward into the future. It is not a time to reminisce about the past or to complain. It is time for leaders to find out what God is doing today and to lead us into that brave new world. 

"...the night is coming when no one can work." Jn.9:4b

Revival Time

We are in revival with pastor Scott Lamb this week. So far, so good. Great pastoral ministry. Pray for us to have a good week through Wednesday night. 

Rapture 1.0

I want to share my thoughts on a pre-tribulation rapture today.

First, it will be business as usual when the rapture happens. Matthew 24 tells us it will be like the time of Noah's flood. Eating and drinking, marrying, right up until it began to rain and Noah's family disappeared into the ark. They were taken by surprise, with little fore warning. The unbelieving world will be taken by surprise when the rapture happens. Noah was prepared, his neighbors were surprised.

"and did not know until the flood came and took them all away." Mat.24:39

Second, it will be an immediate transformation from natural to spiritual.  

"Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne." Rev.4:2

Third, it will sound to us like the blast of a trumpet.

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God." 1Thes.4:16

"After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Rev.4:1

God's plan has always been to rescue us from judgement and to take us out before judgement begins. Noah and his family were all in the Ark before the flood waters destroyed the face of the earth. They rode out the storm from above. 

"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Thes. 5:9

There is more, but this gives us an overview of the events around the rapture. Maranatha!

Blessed With Good Men

Here's a thought. Back in the day, pastor Mitchell did not build or enlarge a building to attract people. He saw that the church had outgrown it's current space and needed room to accommodate the growth. He used fiscal restraint to make room for what God had done. God did a lot in those modest beginnings.

Pastor Mitchell had great wisdom in using the tents for conference. They were relatively cheap to buy and cheap to own. And once conference was over they got put away. God did a lot in those big tents.

We do not own property for our boot camp. We rent the campground. We only need it once a year. This is a perfect arrangement. God does a lot at our boot camp.

We are blessed to have the pastors we have to guide our churches into the future.

When The Answer Is No

There came a time in king David's life when he had a dream of building a temple to God. It was a noble idea and it would have brought David great acclaim and status. But, God had other plans and through David's advisor Nathan God told king David no.

What do you do when you are told no. Do you get angry and pitch a fit? Do you get sullen and pout? Or do you do what David did which was to shift gears and to keep moving forward?

Telling someone no is a great test of friendship or discipleship. Telling a disciple no can reveal the kind of person he really is, not who he acts like.

Some people are so full of themselves. Everything is about them; what they feel, what they think, their opinions, their agenda. The Bible calls this pride. Pride is something that everyone around you knows you have but you do not see it in yourself. Pride tries to act super spiritual. Pride always plays the God card even when it is inappropriate. Pride thinks that everyone cares about them. Pride tells lies to make themselves look good. Pride wears out it's welcome and begins to look around for new people to engage with or for a new place to join. Pride will leave a church over imagined infractions and does not realize that a change of place does not change you. Pride always comes right before a fall.

Pride thinks that not only are they smarter than those around them, they think that they are smarter than God.

"These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him. A proud look, a lying tongue." Prov. 6 16-17

Pride can not be told no. It will fight back or pout. It will do anything but repent.