I do not do this blog to make money. I do not do this blog for views, or likes, or any other kind of responses. I do not do this blog to entertain anybody. I write on this blog to share my thoughts on my church, on my faith, on my ideas and things that I think are important. No politics', no porn.
If what I write seems important to you, so be it. I assure you that before I write anything here it has to rise to the level of being important to me!
There is an attractive lady at church who I enjoy talking to. She is pretty. She is single. She shows some interest in me. But she has a bad habit of criticizing me. Especially if I tell her something, and then change my mind. Women aren't the only ones who change their minds.
This is one reason why I will never marry again. I have worked hard to adjust to single living. I enjoy talking to sisters at church. But I do not enjoy being called on the carpet over unimportant things.
I am not one to speak out about things like this that bother me. I will not talk to her for a short time. Then we will talk again.
God is moving, by His Spirit, moving oer all the Earth. Signs and wonders, where God moveth, move oh Lord in me. Let Him breathe on me, let Him breathe on me. Let the breath of God now breathe on Me.
We don't sing songs like this anymore. We sing songs about how much we love the Lord and about how God makes me feel. Revival is not an emotional outburst. It is a move of the Holy Spirit that is visible and measurable. It is God at work in the church that filters out into society. It involves speaking in tongues, divine healing, and a significant number of people saved.
Our preacher keeps talking about a great end times revival. We will know it's happening when we see the tangible results. There is not a building built by men that can contain a move of God.
I believe it is time for God to act and it is time for people to expect.
I surrender all is my new song. We do not sing it here in church. But I often sing it at home.
Brother Ernie is a good man. Not my style of music or preaching. But still, a real man of God.
One more night of revival. At least revival gives me opportunity to pray and to serve.
I am grateful for those who shepherd our flock here.
I miss pastor Mitchell. How he would stand at the main entrance to greet everyone. How he made himself available. How he would go around the building greeting those who arrived while we were praying.
God is good, all the time.
Last month 3497 views on my blog. This month so far it's 4283 views. But, zero followers and zero comments, and only a few actual readers. So the numbers don't mean anything. If you look or do not look it won't change my focus. I use this blog as a journal. I have done this for years. So look or read if you want. I really do not care.
Someone has said that money is you in a spendable form. When we trade our lives for a salary or for wages we are changing ourselves into money. Thus, when we think about the things that we spend money on, it is easy to see why we become so attached to our stuff. We put value on material things far over what those same things are actually worth. We buy things with sentiment or memories attached to them. The problem arises when we can no longer take care of our own things whether through death or downsizing.
Once we can no longer take care of our own stuff it falls on someone else to take care of it for us. This is a heavy burden of responsibility. They have to balance their love for the person with the need to get rid of their stuff for them. Here are some thoughts on what happens to your stuff once you can no longer decide for yourself what happens to it all.
1. Our stuff does not hold it's value. You will never sell it now for what you paid for it then. In spite of what they tell you, your stuff is not worth as much as you think.
2. Your stuff is you. It's tells the story of your life. It commemorates your achievements. It means a lot to you, but it means nothing to others. No one wants your stuff.
3. Your stuff holds great sentimental value to you. It holds no sentimental value to others. Stuff that was important to you means nothing to your family. It's your stuff.
4. The accumulation of things throughout your entire lifetime becomes someone else's responsibility once you are no longer involved. It takes your loved ones a lot of mental and emotional strength to deal with the stuff you leave behind.
5. Decluttering is easiest when you decide what to do with it. You do not have to live in an empty, sterile box. But you can decide what to do with your stuff better than anyone. You can make your wishes known. You can give detailed guidelines on what to keep, what to donate, and what to throw away. This gives you another chance to walk down memory lane and remember the life you lived with joy.
This is a lesson most of us learn too late to do anything about it. A failure to plan is a plan to fail.
Sunday night was much better. Being there in person is so much better than watching on You Tube. Our preacher is not my style but he told the truth.
I watched the service this morning. Watching is not the same as being there in person. Tonight we will be back in church where we belong,
The preacher acted a bit lost preaching to an empty room. When you are an emotional preacher, you feed off of the enthusiasm of the crowd.
The preacher made a couple of theological mistakes this morning. First he said that God was going to move for 18 months. Where, when, and why only 18 months? That is making God too small.
He also said that this mysterious revival would trigger the second coming of Christ. In spite of the fact that no man knows the hour or the day according to Matthew 24:36.
Finally, if you are going to be a prophet, you need to get your facts straight and you need to get your illustrations up to date. The sermon this morning sounded like it was crafted for a time long ago and it was built on shaky theological ground.
Due to icy conditions across the city this morning our morning service will be live stream only. No adult Sunday School at all. A crazy way to start a revival meeting!
We begin revival with Ernie Toppin tonight with a concert and then with services in church Sunday through Wednesday. I know of him but I cannot remember ever hearing him sing or preach. We are asking God for a great revival with great grace every night.
We have home Bible study tonight. It's interesting to hear someone talk about outreaching to a group of senior citizens. We all reach a point in life when we no longer do what we did as new converts.
We seem as a Fellowship to be desperate for God to move again. What did pastor Wayman Mitchell do to see revival break out decades ago? He was struggling to be a pastor and had no vision to be the leader he ended up being.
Why do our pastors feel the need to be somewhere else most of the time? If I only came to church as often as my pastor does he might think ill of me.
When I was a new convert I witnessed to everyone. Family, friends, people I worked with. It was all so fresh and new back then. Now I fell like I'm lying if I tell someone my testimony about how the Lord changed my life.
Growing old in the faith is a challenge. What to do, how to do it.
It is strange how people out of fear go shopping before a change in the weather. If we do not have a blizzard this weekend I will not trust the local weather people anymore.
This poor man's wisdom if often despised.
When a pastor writes a book it reads more like a sermon than literature.
Enjoy your day. Rejoice in the Lord.
"Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Mat.26:41
I have reached a point in life where to will is present, but there is a breakdown in the doing or the going. There is a part of me that wants to keep going while another part of me says hold on now, don't get carried away. Things that seem reasonable to do seem to lose their appeal once it becomes time to do them.
I have settled into a routine and rhythm of life that works for me. I do things that work for me. I eat food that appeals to me. I have my daily devotions to spend time in the Word of God. I live a simple and quiet life that suits my age and my place in life.
It is when I try new things that the trouble starts. And is seems lately that trying to revisit old things throws me into a tizzy of regret and failure. I have my place of service in church. I take care of myself as best as I can. I am grateful for all that I have and for all that is yet to come. I look to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.
Growing older has it's own set of challenges. This past year of physical ailments reminded me of how short and fragile life is. Sickness has a way of focusing our eyes on what is really important.
The biggest challenge of my life today is finding the balance between what I want to do and what I can still do. I have all that I need to live a simple life where I am. I do not have to please anyone but God.
"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men." Psalm 11:3-4
When our bottom falls out, what do we do? Do we panic, do we fight, do we quit? In this text the writer tells us that when the outlook is bad, try looking up. The Lord reigns in Heaven. He rules from His holy throne. He causes angels to ascend and descend on His church and on His people.
Did it ever occur to us that life is a test? God send us out into life to see how we will respond and how we will react. He uses circumstances, or trials, or catastrophe, or illness to see if we will continue to believe.
"Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the Earth? Luke 18:8
It is time for God to act.
"But he who endures to the end shall be saved." Mat.24:13
"How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing." Luke 13:34
After pastor preached on this text I did a little bit of studying on hens and their brood. Here are some hen and chicks thoughts.
1.A hen only lives between 6-8 years.
2. A laying hen only actively lays eggs for 3-4 years.
3. Hens begin laying eggs at 18-22 weeks old.
4. To have a commercial egg laying flock the hens must be retired every 2-3 years and replaced by young hens.
5. Laying hens are only good for laying eggs. They are not good for meat to eat.
6. Chicks only huddle under the hens wings for a couple of weeks. Once they can roost, they no longer need the hens protection.
7. Chicks get a lot of benefit under the hens wings. More than just protection from hawks.
Now you, like me, know more about hens and chicks than you will ever need to know.
Jesus wants to gather the very young in the faith under his protective care. Once we have grown up, we do not need the intimate care we once needed. The hen cannot force her brood to remain once they have matured. It is nurture and protection for the very young and vulnerable.
"Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach." Mark 3:14
I wonder that, in our laser sharp focus on evangelism and our strong emphasis on church planting, if we have forgotten what discipleship is all about. With our big churches and big budgets and big buildings have we forgotten what the blueprint for discipleship used to be?
In summary, discipleship is the process of taking a faithful man and transforming him into a pastor. Spending time with men so that they can see who you are and observe what you do. They learn how to craft a sermon and they begin to learn how to preach. They learn how to follow a plan and how to budget their time. They learn how to be balanced spiritually and socially and emotionally. They begin to learn what works and what doesn't work. But the key to all of it is spending time with your pastor.
To disciple men you have to be home and you have to be around and you have to be available.
Jesus gave us the plan. Be with him. Send them out. These two things are linked together by God. This is the blueprint for discipleship.
Focusing on church planting doesn't produce that many more churches planted. Maybe we need to focus on better men who are faithful and who can learn to teach others.
I learned some things in church this morning.
1. Ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand out of fear. They use their heads to scoop out a place to lay their eggs. Burying your head in the sand to avoid trouble is an old wives fable.
2. A hen only gathers her chicks under her wings until those chicks are a few weeks old. Once they are old enough to fly and to perch she no longer gathers them under her wings. And a lot more happens in those newly hatched days than protecting the chicks from hawks.
3. I suspect that finding chicks alive under the hens wings even after the hen is dead is a myth too. The small vulnerable chicks will die long before the strong mature adult hen does. Her wings are not that strong.
4. Some preachers have a hard time with God's love for us. They imply that God only loves us when we are hard at work evangelizing. That God's love for us depends not on God, but on our behavior. God loved us when we were sinners. But now He only loves us when we are doing what pleases Him.
I learned all of this while pastor was preaching. It was not a part of his sermon.
An exciting night at the Prescott conference. Many new works sent out. Many of the assistant pastors who preached this week also prayed for the couples going. Pastor Greg preached a great message of encouragement. I feel the Holy Ghost even though I am not there in person.
Pray for me!
In all of the years that I had Wayman Mitchell as my pastor I do not remember him being critical of what we did and I never heard him preach that I felt that he was frustrated by what we did or did not do. I did hear him honor even the smallest contribution to the success of the Prescott church. He may have been an apostle or a leader to you, but he was just my pastor. I have been encouraged by him, corrected by him, and I never doubted for one second that he loved me. Wayman Mitchell had leadership thrust upon him in the Fellowship. But he did not preach to the Prescott church like we were a conference body. He preached to us like he wanted us to make it. He could lead, direct, and protect us. Following pastor Mitchell was one of the greatest blessing of my life.
"I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me." 1Cor.4:14-16
Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God!
I watched the Thursday night service from Prescott last night. All week they have been challenging couples to go overseas. They have been pulling hard to get people to respond. So I was expecting a stage full of workers being sent overseas last night. There were two couples announced.
Revival and movements follow patterns that will play out no matter how much we fast and pray and no matter how bad we want to see things happen.
If you want to be on the cutting edge of revival, you will have to leave your big, successful, powerful church and go be a missionary in a place where God is moving.
When we were sent out years ago pastor Mitchell's last words to us were, find out what God is doing, and do that. His words still carry weight today.
All three of our pastors are at conference this week. So I went to church tonight wondering who was going to preach for us at home. It turns out that they had asked one of the guys who had been a pastor before and who evidently was still saved enough as to be useful. And he was. He preached well. His sermon had three distinct but unified points. He had a well crafted message as good as any of our assistant pastors.
I have heard thousands of sermons over the years. But every service I go wanting the Lord to speak to me again. And He does!
Thank God for our pastors and the ministry that they provide for us.
"the joy of the Lord is my strength." Nehemiah 8:10
When Ezra the priest preached to the assembled people, the people all wept and were sorrowful.
"For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law." Neh. 8:9
So, when pastor Ezra preached, the people wept.
But, when pastor Nehemiah took over the service, he changed the tone and he got the people to laugh and to be happy and to give.
What kind of preacher are you my brother. Are people happy when you preach, or are they happy when you finally stop preaching?
The letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.
Pastor Warner just finished preaching on the pioneer pastors wife and how important she is. I am not a pioneer pastor. I am a widow. But I was moved by what pastor Warner said. I am the man that I am in part because of the woman who I was married to for 40 years.
We only send out couples because we understand how important it is for a pastor to have the love and faith and support of his wife. The wife of our youth, the mother of our children.
Some women have made fools out of men. Others have made men out of fools.
It was as hard for Sarah to have a son as it was for the virgin to have the son of God. With God all things are possible.
I try to watch the Prescott conference services from home. But is it out of a desire to grow and grow closer to God? Or is it just nostalgia for a world that no longer exists for me?
One thing about the Prescott conference is that it is not for people like me. It is for leaders and for disciples and for young pastors trying to figure it out. Maybe not so much even for leaders anymore.
Usually there are only a few of the conference message that apply even remotely to me. I usually wait until someone recommends someone to me.
I support our Fellowship vision of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. I just don't have what it takes to be involved in any of that anymore.
This old man still dreams dreams though.
We had a guest speaker from Russia preach for us on Sunday. He had one interesting story to tell. Once he told his unique story he didn't have much else to say. To be a successful preacher you need more than one story to tell.
All three of our pastors will be in Prescott for conference this week. I wonder who will preach for us on Wednesday night?
Pastor was a little hoarse on Sunday. It's hard to lose your voice when your whole ministry involves talking, teaching, preaching, and praying out loud.
We are considered the big church here. Not in a way that others aspire to be like us. But that we occupy a position of unquestioned leadership.
Yesterday I felt for the first time regret over moving here. I wished I had been content to stay where I was. But today, the reasons why I left are still there and nothing has changed. I am glad that I am here.
I am grateful to be in good health.
Pastor Rubi preached Sunday morning on preparing for blessing. I am ready for the Lord to bless me super abundantly.
God has promised to make all things new for us. I believe He will make all things new for me.
God bless you all very much.
Please pray for our senior pastor Richard Rubi. The last few times he has ministered in preaching he seems to be stressed out about something. He comes across like he is upset or angry about something. I know that he carries a heavy weight. I saw pastor Wayman Mitchell go through something similar before. But our pastors need our prayers and if you pray, remember Richard Rubi in your prayers.
A few years ago I did what turns out to have been my last three day fast. I remember how I had a short list of specific things that I needed God to intervene in. Nothing happened, nothing changed. And I decided that fasting did nothing to motivate the Lord to get involved in my circumstances. So I stopped fasting.
My life is peaceful and quiet and I am emerging from a year of health issues to feeling good again. I have enough money to live comfortably. I have friends, family, and a church. I have pastors who I can talk to when the need arises. I have a nice little house and I am fine.
So to try to stir up trouble or to create a crisis to get me to do something that I have proven doesn't work is not working with me.
I will go to pray tonight and tomorrow night and before service on Wednesday night. If that isn't good enough, then oh well.
I wonder how long the Fellowship fast will continue now that pastor Mitchell is dead and gone. I wonder how many Fellowship churches do not fast at all.
It is typical of big leaders to think that they know what we need and to think that they know what is best for us.
Have you ever heard of an S curve? It is a graph used in business to track a project or a product from start up through development often with a sharp acceleration of growth followed by the eventual maturity or plateau where growth slows. This graph is plotted over time and often resembles a stretched out letter S.
I wonder if we can apply this principal to revival over time. In Acts, we read of the small group of 11 apostles, followed by a still small group of 120 on Pentecost, followed by the explosive growth of 3000 saved in one day. I have written before how most of the exciting events in Acts happened over a relatively short time frame of only a few years. A slow start followed by rapid growth in numbers and in outreach followed by a leveling off of activity and a slowing of growth and a maturity plateau. From Pentecost to Paul on death row is only 33 years.
The S curve follows the natural process of human endeavor in any movement or project. By the S curve we can observe trends over time. We can measure the costs and the results over time. We can follow any effort over time to see how it went. We generally in revival do not do this while revival is happening.
The Prescott church started out small when the Mitchells arrived. There was a time of explosive and rapid growth. And it has plateaued at it's current size for several years now. Church planting started out slow, then it gained momentum, until there were fewer men to send out, and it has leveled off at its current level of involvement for several years now. Prescott alone did not plant over 4000 churches.
The exciting times in S curve tracking are the early times, when innovation is fresh and results are staggering. Some men only thrive when it is exciting. Fewer men can handle the plateau of maturity. Paul showed us what a man can do when he is forced to slow down.
What happens once the S curve reaches its natural end? For some, the project is over. For some, key people are no longer there. For some, they chafe at the slow rate of growth or lack of innovation.
The I Phone used to be exciting. New features, new style, cutting edge tech. Now, it's is as good as it can ever get.
Smaller churches reach the maturity point sooner than big churches. Their S curve does not reach the heights of their big brethren, but it follows the same trend. It is easier for a smaller church to be mature than for a big church to accept that plateau. The big question is, will we survive to another generation?
Sunday School is an important part of any local church's ministry. It is a time to come down off of the platform and talk to the people. It is a time to answer questions that people may have. I learned basic Bible doctrine in Sunday School under pastor Wayman Mitchell. Sunday School is a time to explain doctrine that cannot be easily preached on.
Sunday school is not just another sermon. It should not be delivered in the same way as another preaching sermon would be. It is not a sermon where other people read your verses for you. It ought to be more than people reading out loud what everyone can read off of the screen.
Pastor Mitchell grew up in a time where teachers taught and the used a black board to write out important ideas or where they taught you how to spell certain words. So when pastor taught he used techniques that any student would be familiar with. He used a black board and chalk. He opened it up for questions. He began by asking what people remembered from the previous lesson. He did not waste time in retelling what he already told us. We were smart enough to follow him. We learned a lot from him.
If I were a teacher today I would be considered old fashioned. But in my day people learned. Or they dropped out.
If I was beginning a new adult Sunday School in my church I would put in the work to learn how to teach so that people learn. I would not dumb down my lesson so that the simplest person there isn't offended. Even if you dropped out of school you can learn how to teach.
The bible is a book of words. It has ideas. It has context. But it is first and foremost a book of words. Define the words and you are on the right track to understanding the context. Get a King James Bible and, ignoring the thees and thys and thous, read it. Study it. Make your office a study, not an office.
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2Tim.2:15 NKJV
"Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2Tim.2:15 KJV
See, the KJV gives a better understanding of what God is saying. Paul was writing to pastor Timothy, not to everyone in the church. He was not catering to the feminist agenda.
One more thought. Maybe churches get too big to effectively teach adult Sunday School. Bigger is not better when it comes to teaching.
"Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, be strong, do not fear!" Isaiah 35:3-4
This was in my daily devotions today.
Last night was our regular midweek service. It just happened to be New Year's Eve. We were all tired from the big holiday rush. We had a smaller than normal attendance in church. People had things to do after church. But we came ready to hear from God.
Instead of being strengthened and encouraged, like my devotions verse said, we were told to to get involved, do more, and to work harder than ever. We were challenged to make every effort to win souls in 2026. It seemed like the preacher was not happy with who we are or with what we already do. Pray more, work more, give more, do more.
I left last night thinking that it would have been nice to be encouraged rather than challenged.
"Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old." Mat.13:52
"And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." 1Cor.14:32
I pray that we will all have a healthy and prosperous 2026.
"For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister." Hebrews 6:10
