Leaving a Legacy with Leaders

Several years ago Stan, a long time friend & co-worker, gave me John Maxwell's book, " The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader’s Day” . It's a devotional designed to be read in 21 weeks. It is packed with helpful insights & challenges to be the leader God has made us to be. I decided to begin this year with the book again and am just finishing my last week. This time Week 21 on Leaving a legacy has got a hold of me. As I consider the association of churches I work for, I have to wonder where they will be 20 years from now. I've had a bad habit most of my life of doing my best by myself instead of bringing others along side & helping them to do their best without me. Year by year I'm learning. John explains that it's good to develop leaders but even better to develop leaders who develop leaders and so on. I look back on my 34 years in the ministry & I don't see many leaders who continued on devloping other leaders for the ministry of Christ Jesus. Dave Thom was one of the few young men I had the privilege to lead to faith in Christ back in the late 70's while serving on the High School Staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. I said for years that I could die & feel at peace knowing he has far exceeded me in ministry all these years.Contact Dave at The Leadership Connection 28 Valley View Circle, Amherst, MA 01002 office: 413-259-2923 cell: 413-259-1083 or email CLM@admin.umass.edu or visit www.umass.edu/christian . Dave has had a major impact on the professors of the Ivy League Universities for years through this ministry he started. Now I desire to be an encourager to pastors & church leaders to fulfill what God has called them to do. We all know God's desire is to redeem the world through His body we call the church. May God use you to see Matthew 28:18-20 come to pass!

Prepare for Rain by Michael Catts

This past March my wife & I had the chance to go to Michael Catt's Refresh Conference at Pigeon Forge, TN. He started this several years ago to encourage pastors & people in the church who want to see God do the impossible in their lives & in their church. We had 19 of our pastor, lay leaders & their wives attend from the Keystone Baptist Association of churches in PA. I would encourage you to attend next March 2-4, 2009.

PREPARE FOR RAIN is about the story of God's work in Michael's life & ministry. Of course most people know him & Sherwood Baptist Church for the movie "Facing the Giants". There's much more to God's work.

The theme of book comes from the story of 2 farmers who desperately needed rain. Both were praying for rain, but only one worked the land and planted the crop so when the rain came it would do its work and make the crop grow. The question presented to the reader is “How do you prepare for rain?”

Pastor Michael Catt shares how he came to Sherwood Baptist Church and changes he led them to make to improve the deacon ministry, organization & worship. The deacons began to focus on serving as Acts 6 disciples. Many committees were eliminated and replaced with ministry teams. Worship became more blended and focused on “the heart” more than “the style.”

Don Miller came to lead a prayer workshop. He lost 800 people over several years due to changes in the church and sin. At another conference Michael was moved to challenge his church to be the church God wants. He asked them to affirm this by a Sunday night vote. It was unanimous. That’s when things began to happen. The people moved from legalism to spirit filled living.

Michael explains that it's impossible to have vision without leadership and teamwork. “All of us need people who will stretch us.” He was told in his early days of pasturing that “95% of your problems will be staff related.” The church doesn’t need superstars; it needs team players with a servant’s heart. We all have strengths and weaknesses, so build a team that supports each other.
In “Facing the Giants” coach Grant Taylor told the team, “If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him. Either way, we give God our best.” This is the attitude the church needs. “When people are hard at work serving Jesus, they don’t have time to be critical, caustic or casual about their faith.”
I encourage you to read the entire book and let God encourage your heart! It's published by CLC Publications of Ft. Washington,PA 19034.

What are "Heart Thoughts"

I've chosen "Heart Thoughts" because my thinking process always involves my "heart feelings" about life. I don't think I'm alone in this way of thinking. Listen to people. As people talk, how many say, "I feel", "I think", "I believe", etc. as they begin their thoughts. Why about "LIfe with Jesus Christ"? In the middle of October 1972 ,as I began my last year at UGA, my life was turned around by Jesus Christ. Nancy, a young woman who truly loved the Lord Jesus & sought to please him in all that she did, loaned me a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I came back the next week with all kinds of questions about God, even though I thought myself to be very religious. I discovered I had put God in my little box and was unwilling to consider the Bible as it was written. Later that night in my bedroom I had a long talk with God about my sin, separation from Him, and who was going to control my life. Once I released it to him, a peace like no other I had ever experienced came over me. Desires Changed. Life truly began to be different. 2 Corintians 5:17,18 couldn't say it any better, " Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten and everything is new. God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself & us, and He has given us the work of making peace between Himself & others." CEV My driving passion in life is to share with people how to know His peace & forgiveness. I want to assist them in not only finding Peace & Forgiveness in Him but also passing it on to others. In the weeks ahead I will be talking about living life daily with Christ as Lord. I hope to hear from many thoughts about life from others & how they find peace & forgiveness that lasts.