We now have a date! February 25th-26th! Mark your calendars! For more information about the In Search of the Great Pastor Conference click here.
In Search of the Great Pastor Conference Update.
March 9th, 2010God says stuff we wish we could ignore!
March 9th, 2010Exodus 23:15 ends the verse with this command: “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.” In 2 Corinthians 8:2-6 we see that the Macedonian church gave out of their “extreme poverty” They gave, “as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.” Then in verse 7, “But just as you excel in everything…see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” Yesterday, I wrote about how rich most of us are! With those riches come responsibility. Are we willing to truly surrender all that we are and all that we have to the LORD? Will we not just give out of our abundance, but also in sacrifice like the Macedonian church? I will end with a question our pastor asked, “Who or what does my wallet/purse say that I worship?”
Feeling Poor?
March 8th, 2010Do you ever feel poor? I do sometimes. I see a neighbor with a bigger house, newer truck, better gadget, and it is easy to wish I too had those things. Sometimes we have to stop and look at how richly God has blessed us! That is now quite easy to do!
This site made me feel quite rich! By American standards, I am not a rich person. My house is a 1,144 square foot farm house built in the 1930’s. I don’t have a garage, and my truck is 10 years old with about 125,000 miles on it. There is the really cool thing! I have a truck!! It runs!!! The heat and air even work! My house has heat and air!!! It is dry inside! I have a bed!!! Running water, even hot water to take a shower with! According to http://www.globalrichlist.com/ I am in the top 8% which makes me one of the richest people in the world!!! Check it out! If you have been feeling poor, check this site out, and it will make you feel quite rich! If you don’t have time, here are some quick facts:
$10,000 annual income = top 13%
$20,000 annual income = top 11%
$30,000 annual income = top 7%
$40,000 annual income = top 3%
$50,000 annual income = top 1%
So if you make over $25,000 a year…you can now proudly proclaim that you are uber stinkin rich!!! Because you are in the very elite top 10% of the richest people in the world! Enjoy it! Before those of you making less than $25,000 start pointing fingers, if you make over $1,841 a year, you are in the top 20% which is still pretty awesomely wealthy! Thank the Lord today for how richly he has blessed you!
Flipping on the Light.
March 6th, 2010While I realize that many who read this are not in the United States of America, for those of us who are, we live in a country that is blessed with all forms of Christian stuff. We have churches, Christian camps, Christian radio stations, Christian book stores, Christian coffee houses, Christian schools…yet it seems that in the midst of all this Christian stuff, we are losing the battle between light and darkness in our country. Light doesn’t really have to fight against darkness, light IS…and where it is, there cannot be darkness. There is no way to argue with darkness to convince it to be light. Sharing Jesus Christ with people and seeing HIM change lives is the way to spread the light in the dark world. None of those things I mentioned before are bad. I am not saying that because we have them, people are dying and going to hell. What I am saying is that with all those things around, it is easy to become complacent and live in our own little world full of other Christians and never feel that sense of urgency to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with just one more person.
Guest Blogging on Church Life
March 5th, 2010If you are a Church Life reader, and have an idea you think would be perfect for this audience, I can’t promise to post it, but if I do, you will get full credit for it. Keep posts under 500 words. Send them as a Microsoft Word Document or include the complete text in an email sent to burl@burlwalker.com
How To Jump Out Of The Boat!
March 4th, 2010We are all familiar with the story of Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on the water toward Jesus. I have heard many sermons on how he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. Remember that he tried something brand new! It wasn’t common practice in Peter’s day for disciples to hop out of boats and walk on water. He did it though! Some might say that he experienced failure, but he is one of a very small group of humans in history who can say they did indeed walk on water!
In our ministries, sometimes we have to risk failure and looking stupid to jump out of the boat and try something brand new! You may not succeed, or you might, or you might experience a little of both success and failure! You will never know if you can indeed do what God has called you to do unless you step out and try! Remember that even though Peter ended up taking a quick bath, he ended up being the apostle of whom Jesus said, “Upon this Rock I will build my church.”
The world here in the south…
March 2nd, 2010Here in the south, South Carolina to be exact, one flake of snow and everything shuts down. There is no actual accumulation on the ground, but school is canceled today. Are we as Christians that “flaky” when it comes to our commitments to the Lord? Do we cave in and cancel the vision God has given us at the first sign of opposition? It is great to know that our God specializes in the impossible! He isn’t daunted by opposition whether it be big or small…or even snow in the south.
Zac Smith’s Story
March 1st, 2010Zac Smith is a guy in my church. He isn’t a friend, the truth is, I don’t really know him. (Large church) His story is compelling as he shares his faith in the Lord in the middle of his fight with Cancer. Here is the link to the Video.
God is AWESOME!
March 1st, 2010Today is a great day! I love to read all kinds of literature. Books, magazines, newspapers, blogs etc. I just love to read. One of the great things about Mondays is that many pastor’s blogs include reports about how many people were saved by Jesus Christ during the Sunday services at their church. One really cool statistic from my church is that every service time every Sunday this year, at least one person has asked Jesus Christ to become their Lord and Savior. If God is working like that in one church congregation in SC, how much more is HE working throughout the world in ALL of the Church! Just in the USA alone there are over 300,000 church congregations. If each of those only have one service a week, and only one person comes to know the LORD in each service. It would take less than 20 years for America to be 100% followers of Jesus Christ. And that is with only one person a week per church. Beg God that he will use YOU to reach one person this week for HIM. If each person who attends church this week would do that, it would only take 2 weeks to see the country come to know Jesus. I know that this seems impossible, I am glad I serve a God who deals with the impossible without blinking an eye!
What is Success?
February 27th, 2010As pastors and church leaders, we hear about “successful ministries”. How do we define what is successful? In the corporate world, there are the number of products manufactured or shipped and of course the net and gross profit can be easily measured to see if a company is successful or not. In the church world, looking at a bank account is no sign of success. If we look at the vast sums of cash that Jesus had in order to quantify the success of His ministry, we would say that He wasn’t even a real pastor. He filled the pulpit occasionally at the local church/synagogue, and He had a ragtag bunch of men that followed him around. He never built a building or presided over a board meeting. We would be ludicrous to say that His ministry was unsuccessful though. HE changed the whole world! HE established a way for us to have communion with God! HE gave us forgiveness of sins! …so where does that leave us?
Traditionally, pastors and church leaders have looked at two numbers to establish if a church is successful. The first is: How many members/attenders/Sunday worshipers do you have in “your” church? The second is: How much did you take up in the offering? I would like to propose a new way to define success! Are you making a difference in someone’s life in regards to their coming to Jesus or growing in their relationship with Christ? Yes/No? If the answer is “No” then it doesn’t matter how many butts are planted in a pew on Sunday or how many millions are in the building fund, then that entity isn’t really a church at all and would be unsuccessful using this new definition. If the answer is “Yes” then it doesn’t matter if your ministry is to only that one person, if that is what God has called you to do, then you are successfully carrying out that ministry! Great work! I applaud you! If you can say “Yes, I/we are leading people to a relationship with Jesus Christ and we are helping them grow in that relationship AND we have lots of people attending AND there are big offerings being used to help more people come to know Christ, then fret not, you are still successful if that is the ministry God has given you. I don’t want anyone mistaking my words to say that big churches aren’t successful ministries. They may or may not be…just like small churches and medium size churches. Have an awesome day! I wish you great success in the ministry God has given you!
