We have arrived! Made it in to ATL about 2:30. We were able to pick up PC and Raburn at the airport so they didnt have to catch a train to North ATL. After checking in to our Hotel we all hung out at Jason’s Deli for about an hour. Looking forward to tomorrow! Registration for Catalyst 08 begins at 7:00 AM. Ugh… I thought this was a conference for young leaders!
Archive for the ‘ministry’ Category
Catalyst 08 Road Trip #4
Posted: October 8, 2008 in catalyst 08, church, conference, FCC Owasso, Leadership, ministry, road trip, staff1
Make A Difference Monday
Posted: September 22, 2008 in church, community, friends, Make A Difference Monday, ministry, small groupsHere at romanstwelveone we are always looking for ways to be “Living Sacrifices”. As a part of that effort Mondays are “Make a Difference Day”. This is an effort that goes beyond giving our used items to Goodwill or dropping money in the plate each week. While those things are important it is equally important that we allow God to use us to impact the lives of those around us in real and tangible ways. This is your day to share and brainstorm ideas on how we can live out our worship in a way that is “holy and pleasing to God”.
Sunday, my small group was informed of a woman who is going through an incredibly difficult divorce. Not only does she need your prayer and spiritual help she has now found herself in desperate need of physical help. While I cannot print her name here, I can tell you she has just a few days left to move out of her house and has literally no where to go. This week a few of the ladies in our group are helping find a place for her (and her kids) to live and this weekend several of us are getting together to help her pack and move her stuff into wherever that may be. All of us have been effected (either directly or indirectly) by broken marriages. We can all relate to the difficulties this woman and her family are facing at this very moment. The needs here are great and if you feel that God is leading you to help please let me know and I can fill you in. This is where the church shines and where lives are impacted. Please pray about how you can join us and help this family in their time of need.
Let us know how you are impacting your community, school or share an idea you may have that could make a real difference in somone’s life. Your turn…
Have you ever had a person in your life that supported you whether you deserved it or not? Donn Moore was that guy for me. He was an elder for a small church in Skiatook OK and was the one guy who was willing to go through the fire with me as I learned what it meant to lead in a church ministry. It was a really big task. Not only was I immature as a minister but I also thought I knew everything about leading a church… dangerous combination. I think Donn was able to see what no one else was willing to see and he was able to do what no one else was willing to to at that time in my life. He stood by me through every descision I made, big or small, right or wrong. I will always remember him for the long phone conversations and the after- elder- meeting counseling sessions that would last until all hours of the night. He invested in me and if it were not for him I would likely not be who I am today. It’s a shame that I lost touch with him after my wife and I left Skiatook. Every once in a while I would run into him and his wife (Darlene) at the store or at a restaurant but we never got around to that dinner we kept promising each other. Today I regret that more than ever. About 12:00 today I found out that Donn Moore lost his battle to cancer, won his war against Satan and is now cancer free at his new home with Jesus.
Donn Townsend Moore, 66, of Skiatook, Okla., died Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008, at Hospice of Wichita Falls.
Graveside services will be Saturday in Vanderpool, Texas. A celebration of life will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Skiatook, Okla., with the Rev. P. J. Stewart and the Rev. David Stephenson, presiding. A reception and visitation will be held immediately following the Skiatook service.
Mr. Moore was employed in the petroleum industry, where he worked until retiring in 1991.
Survivors include wife, Darlene Adair Moore; daughter, Amy Kingston of Mesquite, Texas; sons, David of Wichita, Kan., and Brandon; stepsons, Lee Maxwell of Los Angeles and John Maxwell of Tahlequah, Okla.; father, Oscar Moore of Vanderpool; brothers, Doug of Bedford, Texas, and Dennis of Utopia, Texas; and eight grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice of Wichita Falls, 4909 Johnson Rd., Wichita Falls, Texas, 76310; the American Cancer Society or the charity of the donor’s choice.
See you when I get home Donn… lets do dinner.
Make A Difference Monday
Posted: September 15, 2008 in community, Make A Difference Monday, ministry, serviceI have been thinking about doing something like this for a long time now. Im not sure how well this will work or if any of you would even consider participating. However, I want to use Mondays to challenge, discuss or create ways that we can help make a difference in people’s lives beyond our normal daily routines. So here is your assignment. Explain one tangible way you are helping make a difference in people’s lives and why. You may not be doing this on a weekly basis but your ideas may be helpful to someone who is looking for a way to show Christ’s love to others. If you are not involved in something but have an idea let us know what you are thinking. The idea here is that we can create somewhat of a “think-tank” that will help generate ideas about ways we can impact our community in a real and tangible way. Here is what one community from Atlanta is doing…
Your turn! Let the impact begin…
Tuesday Question Of the Week
Posted: September 2, 2008 in church, community, Leadership, ministry, small groupsOne of the big buzz words in many churches these days is “Community”. It’s always interesting to me that we find new and creative ways to package what God intended for the church to be. When I was growing up it was CARE groups then later it was LIFE groups. It wasn’t much longer we threw away the acronyms and called it Small Groups and of course now its just Groups with an emphasis on “community”. I guess the most surprising part of this is the concept of repackaging is that we have to do it at all. Its almost as if we have to “sell” God’s word to the believers to claim to follow His word.
You don’t have to look very hard to find God’s intention in establishing smaller communities in which to do ministry. When Moses was leading the Israelite people God recognized that it was next to impossible for any one man to lead such a massive amount of people. He had Moses divide his people into smaller groups down to ten per group just so he could lead them effectively. Jesus had a small group who later established small communities around the region and eventually started the greatest small group movement in the history of mankind.
Most of the New Testament was written to small groups of people.
I find it a bit ironic that the larger we get as a congregation the smaller we have to become to shepherd people and do ministry effectively. So here is my question of the week:
Tuesday Question of the Week
Are you in a small group? Why?/Why not?
Bonus Question of the Week!
Posted: August 21, 2008 in church, Leadership, ministry, mistakes, preaching, teaching, Tuesday's Question of the WeekWe all know they are out there. All of us have at least one that comes to mind almost immediately. Some of us can think of several right off the top of our heads. It’s the “celebrity” ministers that just go to far in order to be heard. Most of the criticism is justified. There are those guys out there who cause us to shake our heads and wince because we all know at the end of the day it will have a major impact on Christianity as a whole. They go way to far in their antics and justify it as “spreading the word.”
I’m not talking about leaders that have differing doctrinal beliefs. I think God can sort all that out when we get to heaven. Neither am I talking about pastors who are innovative and creative in the way they bring the message to non-believers. I think there is value in new methods of evangelism. I am referring specifically to people like Michael Guglielmucci.
A FORMER Adelaide pastor who inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians with his terminal cancer “battle” has been exposed as a fraud.
Read the full article here.
I know this isn’t Tuesday and maybe I should have saved this for next week but I have a question:
How do we as a church respond to people like this?
Tuesday Question Of the Week
Posted: August 19, 2008 in church, Leadership, ministry, preaching, teaching, Tuesday's Question of the Week, videoI came across this article today.
McChurch: I’m Lovin’ It
One pastor believes franchising congregations is the model of the future.
“Church plants,” “sister churches,” and “satellite congregations” may be a thing of the past. In 2008, the language of missiology is changing, so look for “church franchises” in your town.
click here to read the full article
So here’s the Q’
Tuesday Question of the Week #7
Would you attend a church where the teaching/preaching is done through video broadcast? Have you ever? Why/Why not?
Since I am feeling the “themes” this week we are going to call Friday Mad Prop’s Day. This will be the day I give my “Prop’s” to someone who has done something outstanding during the week. Feel free to leave your own “prop’s”, “atta boy’s”, or whatever it is you happen say to let someone know they are friggin awesome.
Mad Prop’s Friday #1
This week’s “Mad Prop” goes out to my boy Aaron. “Double A” (as I refer to him) is the Children’s Minister in our budding congregation. He was hired shortly after I came on board to be the assistant CM and a couple years ago took on the lead role for the Children’s Ministry. This year AA has stepped it up a notch and it is all going down this week.
For years our congregation has put a massive amount of effort and resources into a VBS program every summer. I know what you are thinking… “VBS? Is your church stuck in the 1980’s Tim?” but this was the VBS of all VBS’s. Every year we would see 500- 600 kids along with 200 volunteers come together to educate the children of our community on the value of God in their lives. With full production, music, story rooms (that literally made you feel like you were “there”) and hundreds of kids our VBS program set the standard. For a 100 year old church like the one we are a part of, VBS was a jewel in our crown. Surely God was going to give us a bigger mansion because our VBS program was “bigger” and “badder” than any other VBS out there.
Of course AA, in the back of his mind, wondered if we were actually meeting the spiritual needs of our community or simply meeting a cheep babysitting need for the white collar, suburban driving, stay at home mom, ecosystem that is Owasso. So Aaron took a risk. A BIG risk. Aaron decided to kill VBS and create a tool to help parents and kids learn and grow together.
On paper this looks like a great idea. More and more we are finding that parents don’t know how to teach their kids about God and the Bible. Part of that is due to our congregation making a concerted effort to reach more non-Christians (good job church) and part of it is due to our failure to educate parents how to teach their kids moral truths and Godly decision making (boooo church). So setting out to solve this dilemma sounds great… unless you work of a hundred year old church that has “always done VBS”.
So MAD PROPS to AARON! Come Wednesday night he will either be the guy who took our children’s ministry to the next level or the guy who sends you an e-mail to ask if your church has an open Children’s Minister position. Either way he is doing what he feels like God is leading him to do and is willing to risk it all to do it.
Living Sacrifices 