Hey Friends,

As you know, the Bible is called the “Sword.” Many times in my prayers I ask the Lord to help me swing His Sword. I pray that He will empower His Word as I share it. Two years ago my wife, Michele, began praying for me that God would anoint me to the level that the teaching and messages would demand a response! I was thrilled at her prayer for me. I believe God is answering that prayer in a big time way.

I have watched in the last year as the Sword is swung and the conviction has fallen. The conviction is the cutting edge of the Sword. Let me tell you what I saw a few weekends ago as we dealt with sex. I watched two lesbians on the front row struggling with the issues and what their responses would be. I praise the Lord as I, or we, leaders get to watch people struggle and be changed into the image of Christ. What a job!

As a leader it is our job to speak the “truth in love.” We do not help those we lead when we refuse to deal with issues we know must be dealt with. In the church world being “nice” seems to be the highest value. But is letting issues go really being nice? Is letting people walk in darkness or continue having issues that hurt the Kingdom or their ministry NICE? No Way!

As leaders in the Kingdom of God, it is our job to speak up whether it is to one person or a congregation of thousands. Are you speaking the truth? Are you saying the last 10%, or even more difficult, the last 2%? It is hard, but it is the job of the leaders to raise up other leaders and see the Kingdom of God expand one person at a time.

How do you see it? What a joy to see lives transformed by the power of God!

Yours to count on.

Pastor

Hey Friends,

Well, at Faith Promise Church we are in the middle of a very different series called, “You Asked For It.” As I said before, it is a very scary series because the messages are answers to questions people have e-mailed in. After the shorter message, those in the service can text questions to me and I answer them at the end of the service. This is very disconcerting as there is no telling what questions will be asked!

This last weekend we covered the topic of sex. You can hear the message at  http://faithpromise.org if you like. As leaders we are called to deal with hard issues. Sex just happens to be one of the hardest of the hard issues. The questions that came in before the weekend were challenging, to say the least. Some of them came from hearts that were lonely, others came from people that were struggling with difficult issues and strongholds.

Just because the topic is tough does not let leaders off the hook.  So we hit it head on. Some were not happy with the answers, others were angry, while some accepted the Word by faith.  Christ-followers in the 21st century must choose whether we will obey our lusts or the Lord.  As leaders in the Kingdom I hope and pray the decision has been made for you – you will follow the Word regardless of your surges of urges in the flesh.

No one wants to grow a church more than I do – that is the reason I have a Doctorate in Church Growth. But we can not leave hard topics and biblical conviction alone just to try to gain numbers.  If the Lord is the key to growing a church shouldn’t He be the One we are trying to please?  Just a thought.

Yours to count on.

Pastor