Amazed…simply amazed!
Let me begin by saying that we saw over 100 people accept Christ today at NewSpring Church. It was one of the most powerful invitations I have ever seen…God was all over the place!
And let me follow up that statement by saying that I did not preach today...and Lee did not lead worship…and yet God moved in a way that was undeniable! (Props to Justin, Roseangela & Clayton for leading us today!)
Pastors, it is not about how things go when you are there…but rather how things function when you are not there. I have not spoke in two weeks and I will have to say that they have been two of the best weeks our church has ever had.
One of the things I have realized in ministry is this--I am not necessary for God to move. God reigns, He is Sovereign, Supreme…and He is not limited to a particular personality. He didn’t look down from heaven today and say, “Dang, Perry isn’t preaching—shucks, I can’t move now!” Nope—He took this opportunity to show our church that it isn’t about me…it’s about HIM…and HE can move whenever and however He chooses.
Pastors, one of the things we MUST get past is the idea that our church cannot function without us. If you are of that mindset then you NEED to be NEEDED…you probably have some sort of cell phone that allows you to check e-mail…and you sleep with it beside your bed just in case someone needs to send you a text message about their sick cat in the middle of that night…and if that is you then you need to cut that crap out!
God has called us to train and equip people to do the work of the ministry (see Ephesians 4:11-16), not TO DO all of the work of the ministry and watch the people do nothing except for show up to business meetings (never seen one of those in Scripture) and serve on committees that talk about ministry…but never actually do anything!
I literally had a pastor tell me once, “My church cannot survive without me preaching there every week.” The first thought in my mind was, “Those poor people,” and the second thought in my mind is, “God, please change his mind or he is going to burn out.” (I will hit more on this later this week!)
All I have done at NewSpring is tried to make JESUS the main focus…surround myself with godly leadership…continue to cast vision for volunteers to get involved and OWN ministry…and through this God keeps doing incredible and awesome things.
A church does not need a particular personality profiled…it needs to lift up Jesus…preach the Bible, make it to where people can understand…and in THAT type of situation God moves and does things that only He can get credit for.
I will be back next week…but not to “rescue a church that can’t make it without me,” but rather to resume what God has been doing for the past two weeks without me! We will wrap up the series this Sunday…and then next week—EASTER…WOW, hold on to your hats!!! It’s going to be off the charts!
I am STOKED…over 100 people accepted Christ! That’s awesome…and ONLY GOD can do that! I know I talk about people receiving Christ on this blog a lot…but people—THAT IS WHY THIS CHURCH EXISTS…to see more and more people meet Christ!!! WOW! DANG!!!