The Greatest Compliment a Preacher Can Receive
Mar/092
I had the honor of speaking at an ordination service for my friend, Aron, a few weeks ago. The following week, Aron sent me a card. That card contained some words that every preacher should long to hear.
Aron told me that he was talking to one of the singers on the worship team that night. Speaking of me, she said, "The Spirit of God was with him."
That is the single greatest compliment any preacher could ever receive. The tough part is that, to truly accept this compliment, the preacher has to be a pretty humble dude.
This woman didn't say, "Wow! Mike was such an excellent communicator! His style, his content, his delivery…it was all awesome!"
She simply said, "The Spirit of God was with him."
This is somewhat paradoxical. In order to fully receive this encouragement, I have to fully empty myself of myself.
It's not about me. It's not about my delivery. It's not about my style. It's not about "wowing" the crowd. It's not about making people think that I'm hip, cool, and relevant.
It's about preaching Jesus. It's about getting myself out of the way. It's about letting God's Spirit and God's Word speak through me.
I don't want to be a great communicator. I want to be a great conduit. Instead of communicating my message, I want to be a conduit through which God can deliver His message.
He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30, NIV)
It's Not About What You Can Do For God
Mar/093
Mark Batterson hit it out of the park with the post on his blog today. So good that I need to share it with you.
You want to know what grace really is all about? Take two minutes and read this post.
It's Not About What You Can Do For God – Mark Batterson
Simple. Life-changing.
Sunday Night Reflections
Mar/091
Some random thoughts this evening…
Amazing Leaders
Mar/090
Our church is blessed with amazing leaders. I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago at the Unleash conference.
After the conference, our team met together in our hotel's tiny little dining room. As I looked around the circle, I saw leader after leader after leader who made a lot of sacrifices just to be at that conference.
Honestly, it wasn't all that tough for the church staff to attend. Yeah, we had to get some stuff squared away back home, but here's something we didn't have to do…sacrifice vacation time.
But all of our volunteer leaders used three days of very precious vacation time to be at the conference. That's no small sacrifice. I value my vacation days and I'm not about to spend any of them lightly. I'm sure you feel the same way.
Our leadership team thought it was worth the sacrifice of vacation time in order to learn how to lead God's church more effectively. This is just another reminder of how passionate and committed our leadership team is at ACC.
With the caliber of this team, no dream is too big. There is no mission that is out of our reach. With God's grace and our leader's passion, our church is going rip the gates of hell of their hinges!
Does Satan Exist?
Mar/090
Set your DVR (or, as in my case, your ancient VCR) tonight. You don't want to miss this.
Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, is going to be on Nightline tonight along with Deepak Chopra (a hard-core atheist) and some others. The panel has been assembled to discuss/debate this question…does Satan exist?
As my buddy Joel said, this is going to be a barn burner. It's happening on Nightline tonight at 11:30 pm on ABC.
You can check out a preview of the debate here.
Annual Spring Picnic/Easter Egg Hunt
Mar/090
Be sure this event is on your calendar. Our church's annual spring picnic/Easter egg hunt will be on Sunday, April 5 after the 11:00 am worship service. Hot dogs, chips, cookies, and macaroni and cheese are on the menu.
After lunch, we'll have an Easter egg hunt for the children through 6th grade.
Questions? Contact Jackie Jump.
Why I Blog
Mar/091
I spend a lot of time writing blog posts. Contrary to what some people believe, quality blogging takes time. This is why I was initially a little hesitant to add blogging to an already full ministry plate.
But now that I'm beginning to close in on three full years of blogging, I couldn't imagine being without it. Instead of trying to find time to blog, I intentionally block out time for it in my weekly schedule. It's that important. I've seen the benefits of this blog firsthand.
Abraham Piper wrote a great post on why pastors should blog. I found myself nodding my head in agreement to almost everything he wrote. So much so that I wanted to share it with you.
Why do I blog? Here's why.
Want God to Use You?
Mar/090
Heard this quote today. Dang.
God cannot use a person greatly until He has hurt that person deeply. (A.W. Tozer)
Offended
Mar/092
There is a growing trend in our culture toward offensiveness. By that, I mean that it seems that people are more easily offended now than at any point in my lifetime.
It's almost like we're walking around, looking for some opportunity to be offended. Being offended by something has seemingly become a badge of honor.
What a waste of time and energy. Especially for Christ-followers. And yet we can be the worst of "offenders" in this regard.
So many Christian people are so hyper-sensitive that they are offended by nearly everything and anything. Their "righteous radar" runs so hot that anything that might be even the slightest bit sinful or impure sends them into a "Holy Spirit hissyfit." (If the previous statement offends you, you might have just made my point for me.)
It looks like this…I am so offended by this person's behavior that I can't be around them. Never mind the fact that they're lost. Never mind they fact that they just need someone to tell them about Jesus. They offend my religious sensibilities, so I'm outta here.
Ummm…that doesn't sound like something Jesus would do, does it? I hate the term "religious," but I'll use it here just for the sake of my point. Jesus was the most religious guy to ever walk the earth…and he surrounded himself with the most irreligious people he could find.
Did he approve of their lifestyle? No. And he never left any ambiguity there. He called sin…sin.
But he didn't let their sinfulness drive him away. In fact, it seemed like the more messed up they were, the more he wanted to be around them. He had the hope that they needed. He had the peace that they sought. He had the love that they craved.
Sadly, Jesus' followers today seem a lot more content to condemn people to hell rather than point them to heaven. They are so easily offended by these "sinners" that they quickly retreat back to the safety of their holy huddle.
If we want to talk about the Great Commission , we can do it the safe confines of our church or our small group or our Christian circle of friends.
But if we actually want to do the Great Commission, we've got to be around sinners. We can't be afraid to get our hands dirty. We've got to allow ourselves to be offended…and still refuse to leave them.
If you really want to be offended, then you should be offended by this…people all around you will go to hell if nothing changes.
That is the truth…and it should offend you.
40 Days of Prayer
Mar/090
Today marks the beginning of our 40 days of prayer for our Mega Sports Camp this summer. We're praying everyday from now until the beginning of registration.
Check out Melanie's blog for the details on the 40 days of prayer.
