1. See the new norms
2. Set new expectation
3. Set new measurable goals
4. Train the staff to the new norms
5. Open up with excitement toward the new challenges

William Thompson Ministries will be making a directional change.

For the past two years the ministry has been reaching out to churches and other groups. The new direction of this ministry will be reaching out to individuals to help them better their lives and their individual ministry.

Our goals will be to Equip believer on how to be effective with an active ministry, that is result driven with measurable results. A ministry that will Engage with people.

1 Samuel 2:35 (KJV)
³⁵  And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.

What is the new approach: William Thompson Ministries will now be a mentorship program. A person’s mentor is someone who gives them help and advice over a period of time, especially help and advice related to their calling to serve our God.

• Principle 1: Consultant. This is the most obvious role for a mentor to play.
• Principle 2: Counselor. Listen. …
• principle 3: Cheerleader. In addition to giving constructive feedback and advice that a mentor can give, I will also provide support and enthusiasm.

In other words I got your back if you need a mentor.

Hebrews 10:25 (KJV)
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The word of God gives us understanding to why social gathering is important.

First, it is important to God

Secondly, it is important to your wellbeing

Thirdly, it makes this world a better place

When it comes to the senior population church gathering meet an abundance of needs.

The Health Benefits of Older Adult Socialization

Older adults with a fulfilling social life tend to avoid many of the physical, cognitive and emotional difficulties that seniors who are isolated encounter. There are a number of important ways that socialization can improve senior health, as explained by LiveStrong: 

• Reduced stress. Older adults who are socially active handle stress better. This leads to important increases in cardiovascular health and an improved immune system. 
• Longer lifespan. High levels of socialization in seniors help increase longevity. 
• More fitness. Older adults with diverse social supports are more likely to exercise regularly, which leads to a host of physical, mental and cognitive benefits. 
• Reduced risk of depression. Consistent socialization reduces the likelihood that seniors will experience the depression caused by isolation and loneliness. 
• Less anxiety. Similarly, senior socialization reduces levels of anxiety as well. 
• Greater self-esteem. Socialization helps seniors maintain their self-esteem and sense of worth. 

The Cognitive Benefits of Senior Socialization

(such as thinking, reasoning, movement skills, and remembering)

Just as importantly, socialization can provide a tremendous boost to a senior’s cognitive health as well. Positive social interactions on a consistent basis help keep seniors stimulated, mentally sharp and intellectually engaged. 

Not surprisingly, the improvements in these cognitive areas can help prevent general cognitive decline, including memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Importantly, when these social interactions include exercise groups, the benefits of both are increased significantly. 

As you can see, the upshot of all this is that healthy socialization leads to an increase in the quality of life seniors experience on a daily basis. Now let’s have a look at some of the obstacles to socialization that seniors often face. 

6 Ways Seniors Can Cultivate a Healthy Social Life

For many older adults, continued socialization doesn’t happen on its own. Strategies, commitment and diligence are often required. Here are 6 ways that seniors and their loved ones can cultivate a healthy social life: 

• Build and maintain positive relationships with grandchildren. 
• Do volunteer work (this has the added benefit of keeping us busy and engaged during retirement). 
• Take advantage of community resources such as senior centers, religious organizations and the events at independent and assisted living facilities. 
• Organize social activities on your own and include seniors who might be experiencing isolation or loneliness. 
• Help maintain a sense of purpose by caring for a pet, church attendance or the pursuit of hobbies and interests. 
• Loves ones: Ensure that older adults have adequate transportation to and from social activities. 

Five Reasons Why Having a Social Life is Significant

Social distancing has become a new by-word in the past few days. The banning of large gatherings, including churches, and the closing of many establishments where people gather are common. Empty shelves at the grocery store are a normal sight. And there is the expectation that things will get worse before they begin to improve.

So I say to children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren do as much as you can to keep your older love ones active.

As a young adult there are reasons for socialization.

1. It provides a balance

Your future career will be your livelihood, so doing well in school will always be a priority. But it is also important to take a break from doing work and have a night fulfilled with fun and making memories. Having a social life does not mean that you have to neglect your academics. It is a matter of knowing how to balance both.

2. Forms good relationships

Meeting new people is a part of life. Every person that you encounter, serves a purpose in your life. Whether you know what that purpose is or not, it really does not matter. You meet them for a reason. Since being a pastor, I have formed life-long friendships and professional relationships with my other pastors. By forming this great bonds with people it is preparing for the work force of the “real world” where am going to serve.

3. Expands your brand

For the the field of communications specifically, your name is your brand and your brand is everything. It is what separates you from everyone else. When building your brand, remember to educate yourself on how you can be your most marketable self. By having a social life you are already prepared. Since your life has balance, and you have formed good relationships these social skills can bleed into the professional world. By this time you will be a pro, because of your experience.

4. Connects you to humanity (social awareness)

Serving God through others, you were a well-rounded individual.  One of the mistake that most individual make is spent too much time trying to reach a level of education at the cost of not having a social life.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

5. Broaden your horizons

Having a social life increase your knowledge and helps you become more worldly. Traveling, dining and exploring other cultures with family or friends helps you think and learn more about yourself and others. By seeing other cultures or religions that are not your norm it broaden your horizons.

Having a social life early broadens your horizons, connects you to humanity, helps expand your brand, aids you with forming good relationships and overall assists with placing balance in your life.

BIBLE READING: Hebrews 3:7-19

KEY BIBLE VERSE: That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God’s patience in the wilderness.” (Hebrews 3:7-8)

Hard-heartedness is the result of failing to obey God’s Word. In many places, the Bible warns us not to “harden” our hearts. This means stubbornly setting ourselves against God so that we are no longer able to turn to him for forgiveness.

The Israelites became hard-hearted when they disobeyed God’s command to conquer the Promised Land (“when they rebelled,” see Numbers 13; 14; 20; and Psalm 95). Be careful to obey God’s Word, and do not allow your heart to become hardened.

We must put forth a conscious effort to listen to what God is saying.

There is a difference between hearing and listening. The main difference is that hear is to receive or to become aware of a sound through your ears whereas listen means to make a conscious effort to perceive the sound. The difference between hear and listen is similar to that of see and watch.

Hear – Meaning and Usage

We use hear to say simply that a sound came to our ears. Here, we do not make an effort to receive or understand the sound; we are not paying attention or waiting for the sound. So hear means simply to become aware of a sound.  We always hear sounds, noises and voices around us, but we don’t actively pay attention to them.

Hebrews 3:15 (KJV)
¹⁵  While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

1 Samuel 3:10 (KJV)
¹⁰  And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

BIBLE READING: Mark 8:10-21

KEY BIBLE VERSE: Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said, “Why are you so worried about having no food? Won’t you ever learn or understand? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all?” (Mark 8:17-18)

Hard-heartedness is the result of persistent resistance to God. The Pharisees had tried to explain away Jesus’ previous miracles by claiming they were done by luck, coincidence, or evil power.

Here they demanded a sign from heaven—something only God could do. Jesus refused their demand because he knew that even this kind of miracle would not convince them.

They had already decided not to believe. Hearts can become so hard that even the most convincing facts and demonstrations will not change them.

Pastors, Prophets, Teachers, Bishops, and Elders need for God to open their eyes to what God is doing. I understand what a stimulus does but when it is a God thing the efforts of man become useless.

God has sent the signs already to us Hosea 4:6 spoke of.
⁶  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

His people need not fear. Just as the three Hebrew boys said:

Daniel 3:17-18 (KJV)
¹⁷  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
¹⁸  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

 Not my will but thy will be done!

BIBLE READING: Exodus 11:1-10

KEY BIBLE VERSE: Although Moses and Aaron did these miracles in Pharaoh’s presence, the Lord hardened his heart so he wouldn’t let the Israelites leave the country. (Exodus 11:10)

Hard-heartedness is the result of deliberate rejection of God. Did God really harden Pharaoh’s heart and force him to do wrong?

Before the ten plagues began, Moses and Aaron announced what God would do if Pharaoh didn’t let the people go.

But their message only made Pharaoh stubborn—he was hardening his own heart.

In so doing, he defied both God and his messengers. Through the first six plagues, Pharaoh’s heart grew even more stubborn. After the sixth plague, God passed judgment.

Sooner or later, evil people will be punished for their sins. When it became evident that Pharaoh wouldn’t change, God confirmed Pharaoh’s prideful decision and set the painful consequences of his actions in motion.

God didn’t force Pharaoh to reject him; rather, he gave him every opportunity to change his mind.

In Ezekiel 33:11, God says, “I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people.”

I believe that God is calling the nation to repentance starting with the leaders.

BIBLE READING: Exodus 11:1-10

KEY BIBLE VERSE: Although Moses and Aaron did these miracles in Pharaoh’s presence, the Lord hardened his heart so he wouldn’t let the Israelites leave the country. (Exodus 11:10)

Hard-heartedness is the result of stubborn unbelief. You may wonder how Pharaoh could be so foolish as to see God’s miraculous power and still not pay attention to Moses.

But Pharaoh had his mind made up long before the plagues began. He couldn’t believe that someone was had more authority than he.

This stubborn unbelief led to a heart so hard that even a major catastrophe couldn’t soften him.

Finally, it took the greatest of all calamities, the loss of his son, to force him to recognize God’s authority.

But even then he wanted God to leave, not to rule his country. We must not wait for great calamities to drive us to God, but must open our hearts and minds to his direction now.

My prayer today is God rule my life. Please don’t leave me to self destroy.

God called Pharaoh to humble himself and acknowledge that God along has supreme authority.

Philippians 2:10 (KJV)
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Pharaoh’s reply came from a harden heart

Exodus 5:1-2 (KJV)

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

Many today would rather make the crisis of the nation a political battle while others would just want to dismiss it as science. Then there are those who just don’t know the Lord.

Exodus 7:16 (NLT2)
Then announce to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you, “Let my people go, so they can worship me in the wilderness.” Until now, you have refused to listen to him.

It is my belief that God is calling us to repentance. I feel much like Isaiah.

Isaiah 53:1 (MSG)
Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought GOD’s saving power would look like this?

Jonah preached in Nineveh and the people repented starting with the King.

God has a stimulus package called repent and turn.

I come from a rural town in South Carolina named York just south of where I live now. We were sharecroppers and owned nothing. It was a time when you borrowed enough money to buy seed to plant and at the end of the year the owner of the farm would bring out the books and tally up how much you had borrowed for seed, fertilizer and grocery.

For the span of eighteen years of my life we broke even. We never made a profit. We never had an abundant nor did we have an increase.

What we had was a relationship with God the Father, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. We had his Word written in the bible filled with Hope!

We had a clear understanding of being thankful and the power of humility.

Through the years God has blessed and sent an increase and I have found these verses of scripture to be an anchor:

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (KJV)
¹⁰  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
¹¹  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
¹²  Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

One of Satan’s greatest tools to defeat God’s people is found in this passage.

Proverbs 16:18 (KJV)
¹⁸  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Pride is: An inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable feeling of superiority as to one’s talents, beauty, wealth, rank, and so forth; disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing. Pride can, more rarely, have the good connotation of a sense of delight or elation arising from some act or possession. Some synonyms of pride are egotism, arrogance, haughtiness. (Source: Insight into the scriptures)

Pride can be deceptive. The proud person takes the way most beneficial or profitable for him, but he does not consider things from God’s viewpoint. The bible encourages us to be humble and meek and not to be feeling that we are better than others. We need to realize that we are not the sharpest tool in the shed.

1 Peter 5:5 (KJV)
⁵  Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

How has the might fallen?

Daniel 4:28-30 (KJV)
²⁸  All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
²⁹  At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
³⁰  The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

The king had been warned of what was in his future but he refused to pay attention to the prophet and allowed pride to get the best of him.

Success and accomplishment are wonderful until you allow them to turn to pride and you forget the Lord who made it all possible.

Throughout my life I have learned that the battle belongs to the Lord and the victory is His also!

I am not by any means saying what is happen now is going to destroy the nation but I am saying it is a warning that we have forgotten the Lord. We are too boastful about how great we are and not how great our God is.

Once you finish reading this would you quote Psalm?

Psalm 103:1-18 (KJV)
¹  Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
²  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
³  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
⁴  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
⁵  Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
⁶  The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
⁷  He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
⁸  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
⁹  He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
¹⁰  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
¹¹  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
¹²  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
¹³  Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
¹⁴  For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
¹⁵  As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
¹⁶  For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
¹⁷  But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
¹⁸  To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

We should be reminding worshippers of 2 Chronicles 7:14.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

1. They belong to the Lord and the power of his name.
2. How to walk humbly before him.
3. How to pray according to his will.
4. How to seek his guidance and direction in this season.
5. How to repent for known and unknown sins.
6. How to turn away from temptation and sin.
7. Wait and listen for God’s forgiveness and healing for our land.
8. While spending time alone it is a good time to rekindle your relationship with the Father through his Son Jesus Christ.

I believe that these times require someone to be the watchmen for the people. Yes I can see with the natural eyes what is happen but we need the spiritual eyes open to what God is doing.

Our God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek after him. (Hebrews 11:6) Can we honestly say we have been seeking after God or has each man been seeking his own?

I would much rather be an encourager speaking positive good prophecy today but I must share what God has placed on my heart as a watchman!

Ezekiel 3:17-21 (KJV)
¹⁷  Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
¹⁸  When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
¹⁹  Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
²⁰  Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
²¹  Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

Ezekiel 33:1-9 (KJV)
¹  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
²  Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
³  If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
⁴  Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
⁵  He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
⁶  But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
⁷  So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.
⁸  When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
⁹  Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.