Category: Uncategorized

Luke 10:27 (KJV)
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Not having Core Values attached to our lives and ministries hinders progress because they serve as a control and a direction for our behavior.

The values system we keep will determines our direction – The importance that we attach to something that serves as a control and a direction in our lives and the life of our ministry will guide our Behavior.

The Soul of our lives/ministry is our VALUES.

The Head of our lives/ministry is our VISION.

The Heart of our lives/ministry is our MISSION.

Contact me for a time of discussion about these three.

A Church can find itself faced with Revitalizing means an existing congregation experiences health and turnaround. Replanting typically means another church acquires a declining or dying church and starts it anew. Relaunching could be considered a mixture approach.

The lost of a pastor, an aging congregation or a church split could call for a Relaunch. Please understand that it might be a little discomfort but it is truly necessary. You may like the way you are but the question has to be answered are we dying or we growing? Relaunch is not a bad word but a necessary word.

1. Relaunching must address the issues and people that are barriers to church health.Church health is a DNA issue. Without changes in the essential hearts and attitudes of the people, healthy change will not take place.
2. Relaunching if not done correctly can divide a church more.This divide can occur along many fault lines, especially worship styles and leadership role.
3. Relaunching will struggle if expectations and sacrifices are not explicit and clear.Otherwise, members will have varying expectations about the changes and results of a new launch. Clarity and transparency are essential.
4. Relaunching is often a compromise.It’s the “in-between” decision between revitalization and replan. There must be to total commitment to the process.
5. Relaunching is often decided without really knowing the change readiness of the church.This factor is essential. This a question that each of you must answer in your hear. Am I ready for a Relaunch?

Many of you who have followed me for years know how much I enjoy preaching but my real passion is helping churches and pastors become fruitful for the kingdom. I have a passion to serve and help.

In order to be successful leaders buy in to a new process is important. This is a hard assignment but not an impossible assignment with us working together as Nehemiah did when he lead the people to rebuild the wall.

Change is never easy. We must think WIN WIN.

When we have winners and losers as a means of doing business the church will suffer. When all win God will be glorified.

1. Ask yourself the Peter Drucker questions:
2. What is our mission?
3. Who is our customer?
4. What does our customer value?
5. What is our plan?
6. What are our results?
7. Examine and clarify what you offer. Your product is whatever you offer people, Thinking about this can change your perspective because what you offer changes over time. What I offered a few years ago – running a college – is different from what I offer today, which is life coaching and consultation.
8. Offer who you are. What’s better: A pastor who gives inspiring sermons or one who gives himself? Certainly, the greatest gift that one human being can give another is to offer themselves. It comes from focusing on who you are, not on what you do. Giving myself to my wife is very different from working harder at being a better husband. It’s all about emphasizing the inner realities over the external realities. In the end, who we are are spills over into what we do.
9. Recertify yourself each year. Change is always necessary. We cannot assume that just because something works today it will continue to work tomorrow. You must either evolve or stagnate. We must strive to stay ahead of the game. It is too late to recognize the need for a change afterward. After things are broken!
10. Commit to a personal development plan. We need to write down the future direction of the group or church.

Orientation_Booklet

Orientation_Booklet

RESPECT is built and earned by your behavior toward another individual. RESPECT transcends many different religions. Relationships and organizations are failing due to not understanding the simple principle of RESPECTING others.

Christianity: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

Judaism: What you hate, do not do to anyone.”

Islam: “No one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he would love for himself:”

Hinduism: “Do nothing to thy neighbor which thou wouldst not have him do to thee”.

Confucianism: “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”

Aristotle: “We should behave to our friends as we wish our friends to behave to us.”

Plato: “May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me.”

I would like to know if you agree with this statement about RESPECT.

Lambs among Wolves

Redemptive Suffering

Training the New Church

Romans 12:1 (KJV)
¹  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

I received the call from the Lord in 1972 to preach His Word. I began as a teacher in various homes in the Gaston and York area. A the the same time I was serving as a Sunday school teacher in the Gold Hill Baptist Church in York. While sharing the gospel through teaching I had opportunities to speak to different individuals about what God was saying to those who were lost and seeking Him.

After a brief time of teaching in York and Gaston I got the call to pastor. Twelve souls wanted to start a church and needed a leader. Christ Community in Gastonia was started in a living room near Highland High School. My first sermon was in a living room with dinning room chairs for pews.

I believed then and I believe now that God had a call on my life to share the good news! After nearly 5 years as leader of Christ Community that assignment ended and south I went to Lake Wylie to pastor 35 individual of which half were children. This time I shared the gospel for 9 years. During those 9 years God gave me a second gift and that was evangelist. Through out the North and South Carolina’s I shared with different church during their annual revivals, homecoming, ushers annuals, men’s day, laymen breakfasts and church workshops.

Next came the call to go to Grover for a 32 years span of sharing the gospel as pastor and evangelist to other churches. This time at the St. Peter Church.

Acts 16:6-10 (KJV)
⁶  Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
⁷  After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
⁸  And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
⁹  And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
¹⁰  And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

God made a call in 2018 for me to leave the role of pastor and share as an evangelist/ teacher to churches and places wherever the opportunity presents itself.

When Jesus began His three-year earthly ministry, He preached that “the kingdom of God is near” (Matthew 4:17; Luke 10:9). Mark 1:14–15 gives a concise description of Jesus’ primary focus during His time on earth: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” When asked to define His kingdom, Jesus explained it this way: “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed. . . . The kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20–21). Romans 14:17 says that the kingdom of God is a matter “of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

The gospel of the kingdom is the good-news message of repentance, redemption, and restoration offered by God to all who will receive Christ. Those who accept this offer become part of His eternal kingdom (John 1:12). Those who choose to remain in their sin cannot be a part of this kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; Galatians 5:19–21). Although grace makes this offer available to anyone who will receive it, Jesus warned that it would be very difficult to enter His kingdom and few would do so (Matthew 7:14).

The gospel of the kingdom is the news that there is freedom from our slavery to sin if we will repent and turn to God (Romans 6:18–19). Our Redeemer has come, but it is difficult to enter God’s kingdom, not because God requires impossible standards for us, but because we do not want to repent and change. We tend to love the darkness more than the Light (John 3:19). Many would rather cling to their old sinful identities than allow Jesus to create them anew (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Please pray for me that I don’t let the Lord down for He has been gracious to me.