Check this Out

A spiritual mentor of mine, Gerry Stoltzfoos, pastor at Freedom Valley Worship Center (where Kaitlyn Brumbaugh goes and Anna Marie will soon go to Masters Commission), made the news when he was asked to pray but was not allowed to use the name of Jesus. He refused. Read the article here.

Sacred Cow

Well, about a week ago I posted on my twitter and Facebook that we were making a big decision at our recent board meeting. I've been wanting to share about that big decision and have not gotten around to it. We decided to cancel Sunday School. It was a big decision. But when you are only averaging 3 kids, we had to do something. After we made this decision, I felt like we had killed a sacred cow.
Now don't get me wrong, I believe that Sunday School is important and that it has served a great purpose in our history and the history of the church in general, but at the same time, I'm wondering if there are better options?
Sunday School requires willing parents. Parents who are willing will bring their child to Sunday School and attend themselves. But it's like that for anything the church does once you turn your life over to Christ. Our church asks you to give up one evening a week and one morning a week to gather together to worship and be discipled. To some, that is asking to much. But I have to wonder if that is asking to little? When I played basketball, I committed to practice six days a week for two hours. And that was only with the team. To get better and develop what I learned at practice, required time on top of that. That is a lot of time into becoming a better basketball player. Shouldn't we want the samething when we think of growing in our walk with the Lord?
Back to the subject, are there better ways than Sunday School? I feel like our Children's Church ministry has grown leaps and bounds in just a few short weeks. We are averaging more kids for Children's Church than for Sunday School and I believe that this is because Children's Church is the new Sunday School. When I was young, I went to Sunday School and then stayed with my parents and listened to the pastor preach. Now days, kids have their own church service that is geared towards them, teaching them the same stuff they would learn in Sunday School. I feel in the long run, our kids are going to grow just the same.
Numbers 21:4-9 talks about the bronze snake. It served its purpose in saving those who were bitten by poisonous snakes. However, it became sacred and the people began to look at it and worship it as a god. God gave it to them for such a time as this time and that was all. After it had done its thing it was useless. But instead of turning to God and seeking Him for continued direction, they held on to the snake and they even give it a name. (Check out 2 Kings 18:4.) And it was a stumbling block until king Hezekiah came along and destroyed it.
I feel like God is shifting our church and our focus so that we can better disciple children, youth, young adults, and adults. I believe we must fall in love with God and obey His command to make disciples and not fall in love with the methods that come along to do it. God will show us what must be done to disciple His children that are drawn to Him by His Spirit and that is awesome.
So let us all fall in love with God and whatever He has for us to disciple His children and not in the methods.

UNITY...

I just read a quote from Johannes Amritzer off of Pastor Jeff Leake's blog. He said that, "Focusing on the harvest will bring unity. Focusing on unity will bring division." After the Mark Cahill outreach I say, "Amen!" to this.
Sometimes I feel like we get so caught up in looking for unity that we fail to see what truly unifies us. And that is the desire to see souls saved. That is why this Charles Spurgeon quote carries a powerful message, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that."
If we are all desiring to see souls saved, it shouldn't matter others personalities, their quirks, how loud their voice is, how they laugh, etc. The only thing that should matter is the expansion of God's Kingdom. The disciples were unified in the upper room and the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. This was a supernatural unity that could only be brought on by the Holy Spirit since we all have opinions. But they knew their opinions didn't count. They needed to stay in that upper room till the Lord sent the Holy Spirit so that they could go to preach the gosepl and see souls saved. That was what it was all about.
So think about that as we think about unity. What unifies us? The desire to see souls saved here in Ford City, Kittanning, and all of Armstrong County.

It's a Conversation, Not a Presentation!

After a powerful challenge from Mark Cahill, I knew I had to change the way I walked through my day. If you missed it, Sunday morning he kept clicking his fingers representing seconds gone by. Every second two people die. And by the time you lay your head on the pillow at night, another 150,000 have gone into eternity. He then asked if we cared about those 150,000, and if we did were we willing to do something about it. That something was sharing the good news of Jesus!

He challenged us by saying we can worship God declaring how awesome He is and how wonderful He is, but we don't obey His command to go make disciples. Powerful stuff.

It challenged me because I need to share my faith more often. So today at the YMCA playing basketball, I began a conversation with a man. It was really hot in the gym, so I used that to start a conversation. I said it was hot but not as hot as they say hell is. It lead to a great conversation where he told me he was a born again Christian. Praise the Lord.

I want to grow bolder and bolder by the power of the Holy Spirit everyday. If I want to see great change in Ford City and Kittanning it isn't going to happen inside a building, namely the church. It's going to happen outside the 0hurch on the streets.

Let's all hit the streets. I look forward to hearing testimonies of what God does through us all as we share the love of Christ. Be ready to share this Sunday.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing...

Our new sanctuary!

I am excited to report that our chairs are in and in place. What do you think? There are still some changes to go to the back of the sanctuary and the foyer, but that will come in time. Praise the Lord for these wonderful changes.

Pentecost Sunday...

As Pentecost approaches us, I would like to hear from you on the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Recently, a friend of my wife's shared her frustration that the sermon she heard that Sunday was on the baptism in the Holy Spirit on Facebook. She shared that she had a bad experience with it and didn't like how some church's "push it on you" when there are a lot of gifts of the Spirit that could be talked about. Another person commented that her father wanted so badly to be filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues but hadn't been and felt like a failure.
As a Pentecostal pastor, I believe that everyone can be filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I want everyone to experience this gift of power that God has given to us. I want to preach about it and see people filled and speaking in tongues. (Note: I don't believe you need to speak in tongues to be saved.) But does this come across as being pushy?
I want the children to be taught, the youth to be taught, everyone to be taught about it. The key to overcoming could be to teach on the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit? I don't want anyone to have a bad experience nor to feel like a failure. That isn't what the Holy Spirit is all about.
What has been your experience with the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues? Do you have any thoughts in how to minister to the people mentioned above and for me in preaching about it? Your thoughts, comments, and questions are appreciated.

Love Never Fails...

I thought these two videos were powerful on how "Love never fails!" (1 Cor. 13:8).

This morning, with these videos in my thoughts, I read about Elisha in 2 Kings 6. He was giving away the Arameans position to the king of Israel, and the Arameans got mad at him. When they came to kill Elisha, he wasn't afraid. He prayed to God to blind them, lead them to Samaria and the king of Israel, and had a banquet prepared for them. Basically, he blind folded them and took them to a surprise party in their honor. He could have reacted in fear, prayed to God to kill them all, and went on with his life. But he didn't. I'm not saying he did this out of love for the Arameans, but I wonder how many Arameans turned to the Lord after this? Maybe none, but who knows. It's something to think about as we go about our daily routines. Love wins. But it has to be real love, the kind of love that comes only through knowing Jesus.