Changes: A potential sermon outline

This is the 200th post at the Open Mike. There is really no need to send cards of congratulations -- just post a comment! :) I trust that this short and sweet post will remind you to always be listening for great ideas and to always read for application (supported of course by good observation and interpretation).

I was listening as one of our leaders taught during the Sr Hi YG last Wednesday. It struck me that she had shared some pretty fascinating insights about the Holy Spirit and His involvement in us to bring about change. Here is the rough outline boullion for a sermon or at least a devotional:

Spiritual changes (individual or corporate) are...

a. part of God's training program --> Trust Him!

b. perfected by God's power and in His perfect timing --> Wait for it!

c. perfect God's people and "team" --> Embrace it!

These thoughts come rather roughly through the verses of Acts 1:1-8. They surround a much more major milestone than 200 blog posts; they are connected to the birth of the church. I hope that God is catching your attention through His Word, His Spirit, His people/church, and His world.

Changing, or rather being changed,

Mike

Community of Disciples

As I may have mentioned to some of you, I have been working through the book of Luke this summer. It has been very refreshing to wander slowly and thoughtfully through some of those familiar passages. The gospels are some of my favorite spots to think Biblically about ministry. I really do want to do ministry the way that Jesus did.

As I thought through Luke 11:1-4, I wondered if this passage that we have been so familiar with (the Lord's Prayer) held another message about discipleship. Here are some things that I have been thinking about in regard to the community of disciples called the church, specifically at Wyoming.

1. A community of disciples has a praying leader (11:1); Jesus was praying ( I assume that he prayed for the disciples and their ministry, for his own strength to lead and minister, the decisions involving the next steps for his ministry) and they notice the difference.
2. A community of disciples has a hungry spirit to learn (11:1); the disciples weren't content to have the leader minister or to hear about others growing around them, they wanted to know growth first hand
3. A community of disciples are kingdom thinkers (11:2); the prayer that Jesus suggested to the disciples was one that included a "seek ye first the kingdom" attitude. Disciples are people who pray for the kingdom to come, to build, to blossom in and around their corner.
4. A community of disciples are content to allow for God's daily sustaining blessing for their ministry (11:3); they do not try to work it out themselves, co-erce others to give, manipulate the circumstances for God.
5. A community of disciples practice forgiveness as a way of life (11:4); you will know when you walk in whether this is true or not! They practice the art of forgiving because they remember how great it is to be forgiven! They do not love forgiveness enough to keep on sinning that grace may abound.

What would happen if these were all true of our ministry at Wyoming? What if we could be known as a community of disciples like the first century church? What if we would set this prayer as more than a liturgical form at the front of our philosophy and praxis for church ministry? What if.... what if.

Mike

Church Growth The Way God Meant It To Be

There are many people who are selling the next best idea about how to raise up a church that excels in the areas of buildings, bodies and bucks. It has been called a "Glitz, Glamor, and Glee" gospel or the "health and wealth" gospel. But these things are no different than corporate America. So what does really make a great church?

Dr. Gary Candlish described a church that is growing God's way at a conference on prophecy that I attended a few months ago. Here are some of the points that he made from that session:

• A growing church is a congregation of people that are committed to pleasing God "no matter what". We must never allow the culture to dictate what we will or won't do in church.


• A growing church must focus on the stuff of the Scriptures, affirming that Biblical truth is not obsolete. We must think outside the box, but never outside the book.


• A growing church cannot be built on a diet of spiritual cake and ice cream. We must place a premium on doctrine and serve spiritual broccoli and spinach with great regularity.


• A growing church does not use pragmatism as the reason for doing anything in the church. We must never allow faith to be become less important than finances, family, friends, fun, freedom.


• A growing church takes the focus off of their own sufficiency and comes humbly to worship and wait before the Lord. We must not draw our approval from the world's criteria for success.

So are we really ready to redefine church growth in Biblical terms? Are we ready to do the stuff of ministry with a focus on discipleship? Are we ready to move beyond surface level results and get God's heartbeat on the matter?

If there's something sickly or dying in our churches, what better place to go for wisdom than to its founder, God. We, as leaders of WyBC, have arranged our focus around a Biblical model of discipleship. We desire to see people built up in Christ through a process of "Come In, Put Off, Put On and Go Out". This construction of God's church through intentional discipleship is our mission.

We, therefore, are committed to pleasing God in every aspect of this growth cycle. We will endeavor to use the Scriptures as our standard of faith and practice at every phase of this cycle. We desire church growth to occur at God's speed and according to God's parameters. We understand that God, and God alone, is able to convict the hearts of men and bring about true heart change and life results. We are building an environment that is designed to offer every person that enters it a chance to begin or build his/her personal relationship with God. With God's help, I look forward to seeing many lives changed into the image of Jesus -- beginning with me!

Changing and growing for the glory of God,

Mike

The Ripple Effect

This is not a post singing the merits of textured potato chips. This is about infectious discipleship. The kind that ripples through the church and spills out onto everyone who is ready for change and growth.

We have been reading books as a leadership team. I have watched some of the individuals on our team totally embrace the concepts that are contained therein. Those who get it have incorporated the language into our vocabulary and have talked about it with passion and enthusiasm such that others get excited about it and are driven to read more. Then, the fresh recruits, in turn, share it with their friends and family and then the next wave catches it and gets excited about the concepts and their implementation.

This is about multiplication. The Christian life is not meant to be lone rangerism. It is meant to be a place of accountability and ripples. As I understand God's wisdom better and make successful, albeit hard, decisions, I share it with those around me. Then, the whole thing goes into other circles and suddenly, I am affecting change and growth in circles that I do not even frequent! God is good! He has enlarged our borders even without daily prayers of Jabez!! :)

NOTE: This post is about celebrating the joy of discovery and watching the aha! moments spreading in the body of Christ. These comments are based on a real situation that was just reported to me! :) YES! Remember to share the good stuff withthose who teach you! Gal 6:6

Sharing with you,
Mike

Thanks for Holding

Thanks for holding. Your readership is important to us. We are all very busy here tryng to keep all of the balls in the air. The next available author will post as he is available. Please do not hang up or quit checking this blog. We appreciate your visit.
(musical interlude)
Thanks for holding. Your readership is important to us. We are all very busy here tryng to keep all of the balls in the air. The next available author will post as he is available. Please do not hang up or quit checking this blog. We appreciate your visit.
(musical interlude)
Thanks for holding. Your readership is important to us. We are all very busy here tryng to keep all of the balls in the air. The next available author .....

Hello there. This is Mike Paris, author of the Open Mike. As the prerecorded message mentioned above, I am extremly busy. But I appreciate those that have stopped here to check in on me and my thoughts about ministry.

Let me just say that in the past week and a half I have led an evangelism training seminar, attended a funeral of a young man (58) from our church, led three worship services and a hymn sing, taught two Sunday School lessons on evangelism, attended two board meetings, missed a board meeting, bought a new van, attended a Shop Talk pastors seminar on funerals/cremation, ate lunch with a WOL area missionary, led a ministry team training session on "teamwork", memorized the first five verses of John 15, painted the craft building and 8 cabins at Lamoka, had two very incredible warm-the-cockles-of -your-pastor's-heart conversations with two members of the church, took a two-hr nap on Sunday afternoon, prayed with a man who told me after I said amen, "You are a true friend", and mowed the grass.

Phweeeew! No wonder I feel rung out on Monday morning. But I am looking forward to another great week. I hope to be able to post a couple of the things that I am learning in the process too though. Including a good compassionate wounding given to me by my dear wife. But that is fodder for another post.

I want to leave you with a quote from a book that I am reading,

"There is a big difference between simple and easy. Simple is basic, uncomplicated and fundamental. Easy is effortless. Ministry will never be easy. It is messy and difficult because people are messy and
difficult.... Leadership in the local church is extremely challenging.
Leading a local church is neither easy nor simple, but the church strategy does not need to be complicated. The ministry design can and should be simple."

Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger, p. 16

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me, you can do nothing.

Jesus, John 15:4-5

Minstering passionately,
Yet striving for simplicity,
Mike

New Ideas As a Team Measuring Stick

We are reading a new book now with our ministry team (Simple Church). In this book, the authors suggest that in an organization of passion, new ideas will emerge.

Where there are passionate leaders and passionate volunteers, there is always an abundance of new ideas. Combine this passion with the many needs that are prevalent in the lives of church members and you have the equation for new programs and special events.

Simple Church, p. 48

If this is true, then we must do something about a staff meeting that concludes with little or no discussion of the next step/course of action (these have occurred a lot lately). No new ideas is a subpar measurement. We can make a couple of possible assessments:

• The leaders are not passionate
• The leaders are not creative
• The leaders are not observant
• The leaders are not leaders

Employing the observation, interpretation and clarification method (OIC), I must now move towards clarification. I must engage the other team members in a dialogue that will cause them to shed more light on this situation. I do not want to conclude that the team that we have aren't leaders or observant or creative or passionate. But if they are, what then? We must move them towards those goals. That is the responsibility of leadership! We must set the table to allow them to eat their fill and nourish their hearts on the healthy diet of biblical, simple leadership.

May the cry of our heart be passionate, creative, observant leadership of the sheep entrusted to us as shepherds. May God grow us first so that we in turn may lead others to the same end and that we may say, as Paul did, "follow me as I follow Christ".

For passionate leadership full of ideas,
Mike