I got thrown under the bus over @ Bethel's blog today... I filed that away and my wheels are spinning.
The New Guy
Leadership, at times, comes with moments of very hard decisions. 10:30pm last night was one of those moments. I sat in the church parking lot, it was pitch black, and I prayed that the electricity would be restored to the grid that Bethel is on (south end of Tyler). Well, the lights didn't come on, so I prayed for wisdom. I called my elders and laid out the scenario, and by the end of the 5th call, we were all in agreement that since there was no guarantee of electricity, canceling our Sunday morning services was what we needed to do.
Now, I know what you are thinking... I was thinking the same thing. "Electricity is a fairly new invention in the scheme of things and Christians have gathered for 2000 years - most of that time without electricity." That is a true statement. The problem for us is that we have a worship room that does not have much natural lighting and no air circulation. Most of our classrooms do not have much natural light and the bathrooms are pitch black. We have a ton of children on our campus on a Sunday morning and a campus full of people and no electricity is not something we have a contingency plan for... yet!
We got the word out last night, and it traveled fast (amazing how fast... ). I met some elders and staff up at the church about 8:00 am this morning and we sat at the entrance of the property with donuts to welcome and then turn away those that did not get the message. "Sorry... we have not had electricity since about 3pm yesterday, actually, it has just come back on, but we had to make a call. Wish we would have known..." I said that too many times this morning. Lots of visitors. Many people that are new and aren't yet on the weekly E-News list. And the few people that don't wake up and immediately check their email, facebook and twitter accounts while watching tv (who are these people?).
I hated how the morning felt. I hated not gathering with the church. I missed worship. I missed preaching. I missed being with my friends. I missed meeting new people (although, I did get to meet some new people) and getting to know some others even more. It felt weird this morning. And the great thing about the weird feeling was that it wasn't from guilt or some legalistic duty of "having to be at church." It felt weird because I genuinly missed it. I genuinly longed for it. There is something mysterious and soul nourishing about corporate worship that doesn't take place anywhere else. It is not the only place or time to worship. It is not the only place of mystery in the Christian life. And the church is by no means a building or an hour. But there is a reason that the writer of Hebrews says "do not neglect to meet together... but encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25). The writer knows that there is something we need that we only find in corporate gathering.
I say that carefully... I am the guy who preaches. I also think that the preaching/teaching ministry of the church is very important. But, it is not about me. It never is... God makes sure of that. But, there is something about faithfulness to God's Word. It transcends the preacher/teacher. It transcends the worship leader. I believe it transcends our understanding many times. It is not uncommon that someone will comment on a something in a sermon that I did not say. The Holy Spirit took His word and illuminated it in a way that transcended all the human effort of the morning. I love that. I am thankful for that. I pray for that every week.
So, if you are from Bethel and reading this - I missed you. If you are not from Bethel - don't neglect to meet together... with whoever you meet with. It is vitally important.
This week we are going to begin talking about our "contingency plan," in the case of power outage. We might call it, "Church in Box" (or something... help me with a name!) - It is a morning of corporate worship in its simpliest form and needs nothing other than people. I don't know what it will look like yet, but I am praying that God would make that clear to us. So, the next time we are without power or some other "obstacle"... we will be prepared.
Bethel Bible Church (Tyler, TX) has had the great privilege of hosting "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement". This study program is a ministry of the U.S. Center for World Mission - a non-denominational parachurch ministry that works with churches, mission agencies, and campus ministries around the world.
Perspectives is not so much a course, as it is a "movement" involving tens of thousands of God's people throughout the world finding their niche in God's overall purpose to bless the nations. Since its beginning in 1974, dozens of other seminars, courses, and materials have been developed after the pattern of the course, both in the United States and abroad.
The Messengers of the Kingdom
Psalm 145:11-13
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your2 xmighty deeds,
and ythe glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
When we hear "Kingdom" in the scripture we need to think God's Authority.
The Meaning of the Kingdom
God's Realm - Royal Territory
God's Reign - Royal AuthoritySo... we are not rosy optimists or distraught pessimists, but biblical realists.
- First Coming: Satan's power is BROKEN
- Intermediate period: Satan's power is RESTRICTED
- Second Coming: Satan's power is DEFEATED
The program: Pardon - Preach - Power - Peace
The Mandate of the Kingdom
The gospel of the Kingdom: "Good news of Christ's conquest."The Prayer of the Kingdom: Mt. 6:10 - Christ's Dominion and Christ's Invtervention
- Triumph over death (1 Cor. 15:20-26)
- Triumph over sin (Rom. 6:1-11, 23)
- Triumph over Satan (Heb. 2:14-15)
Intercessory prayer must be offered in rebellion against the status quo that...
- His name may be honored even where it is denied
- His message may be effective even where it is denied.
The Messiah and the Kingdom
The Day of the Lord (Mal. 1:1-10; Mt. 11:2-6; Mt. 12:17-21)
Suprise Messiah - not political conquest but spiriutal healing
God at War (Mt. 12:22-29)
Victorious Messiah: he came to conquer the power of the devil.
Strategic Prayer
Prayer is not magic, but through prayer we participate in God's work to...
- Redeem people from allegiance to false gods (idolatry)
- Relesae people from the strongholds of false ideas (fatalism)
The Mission of the Kingdom
Jesus came into a "diabolical war zone" to overcome Satan and his demonic forces. But instead of issuing judgment on the nations, He introduced salvation through grace. Our "spiritual warfare is not beligerent. We depend on God's supernatural power through...
Faithful evangelismGracious Service
- FORM - family, occupation, religion, message
Ron Blue tells a story about a church that had 5 services with well over 10k and the place kept growing. *Their strategy - every member agrees (when they become a member - maybe a covenant) that if a friend, family, co-worker ever has a problem - the church is informed and then some people will go with a gift (fruit or flowers) and then say, "we heard you had this ... (problem / circumstance) and we wanted to pray for you." Then they pray on the spot right there... follow up three days later with a visit. Pray again. The guy told Blue that they never have to ask people to come to church, they end up asking, "can we visit your church?" - The church keeps growing like crazy.
Persistent Prayer
Bethel Bible Church has launched phased one of "Operation Communication." It is a multi-phase strategy to improve the ability to communicate with a growing congregation.
Today, a few sites will launch with some footage from our baptism services from last weekend and some staff introductions over the next couple of days. Be sure to subscribe RSS where available and look for more to come...
Baptism at Bethel 9/7/08 from bethel bible on Vimeo.
Also look for Bethel on Facebook
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