The Post-Racial Church

A very interesting interview/conversation regarding the “Post-Racial Church”. This is a topic I have always had a passion for I believe is extremely important fo for North American Christianinty.

Check it out here.

Running On Empty?

Yesterday I was really impacted by an article  titled ‘Running on Empty’ by Kenneth Copeland.

Here is an exercpt that particularly stood out to me:

Right in the middle of that difficult time, God gave us a command. He said we were to go on television—daily. I felt overwhelmed. Surely this couldn’t be from God, I thought. Stock on television preachers was at an all-time low. I wanted to get off weekly television, not double and triple my TV budget.

But the more I prayed, the bigger that command from God grew. It was like chewing a piece of rawhide. I couldn’t get it chewed up. The more I said, “No,” the bigger His Yes became inside of me. Finally, I admitted that no matter how I felt about it that was what the Lord had instructed me to do.

Thankfully, I’d learned years ago not to depend on feelings or circumstances in my walk with God. So I said, “God, You’re calling me into something that’s impossible. I have sense enough to see the only way to do this is by faith. Now, I know I have faith. But if You don’t stir me up, Lord, I don’t know what I’m going to do because I don’t have enough spiritual energy to reach this goal. I feel as empty as a gourd.” I knew the Word says out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). But at that particular moment I couldn’t even find the creek bank, much less the river.

About that time my friend Jerry Savelle was preaching in Little Rock, Ark., on the evening he and Carolyn celebrated 20 years in ministry. That night Jerry began by reading Paul’s second letter to Timothy: “Being mindful of thy tears…. I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee” (2 Timothy 1:4, 6).

I was startled when I heard that. Apparently, Timothy had been discouraged, just like me, and had felt inadequate to the task God had given him. But Paul was addressing that problem with a clear command: “Stir up the gift inside you.” You stir yourself up! I saw it in a flash. The Spirit of God is in me already. Jesus is in me and I’m in Him and all I need is in Him. Every resource I’ll ever need to do what God has called me to do is inside me. All I need is to stir those resources up!

I said right out loud, “In the Name of Jesus, I stir myself up by faith! I stir up the gift that’s within me. In Jesus’ Name, I’m stirred up!” I didn’t feel a bit different. I didn’t suddenly want to run home and start taping television broadcasts. In fact, I felt as weary as I had before. If I had asked my body, “Are you stirred up?” it would have said, “Dear me, no. I need another 30 days of sleep.”

But I didn’t ask my body. I turned to Gloria and said, “Gloria, I’m stirred up!” She smiled and agreed with me. She knew exactly what I was doing. It didn’t matter if my eyes were bloodshot and my face was pale—she agreed with my confession of faith.

That night when I shook hands with everyone, I said, “Man, I’m stirred up.” I said it to everyone

I saw. I said it to my dad. I said it to God. I even sat down and wrote it in a letter to my Partners. You know what? It wasn’t but a few days until I suddenly noticed, I am stirred up! Something real has happened here. Now, that “something” was in me all along. But when I spoke, it started stirring until it began to affect my feelings.

That’s how spiritual things always work. Feelings follow faith. Feelings weren’t designed to lead. They were designed to follow. Let me put it like this: I’ve now made a firm, founded-on-the-rock, blood-washed decision that I’m finished asking Kenneth Copeland how he feels. From now on I tell Kenneth Copeland how he feels. I don’t ask my body what it thinks either. If I did, it might tell me it’s sick, tired or worn out. But I don’t ask my body. I ask the Word, and it always says the same thing. It says: By the stripes of Jesus, you’re healed. It never changes. It says: The joy of the Lord is our strength.

You see, our wounds and our pains are important to God. But they shouldn’t be very important to us.  Not compared to the job that’s before us and the power that’s inside us.

That’s why Paul said to Timothy, “I’m mindful of your tears…wherefore, stir up the gift that is in you.” He was saying, “Because I care about your tears, I’m reminding you to do something about them: Stir up the gift that is in you.”

You can read the rest of it in the most recent issue of The Believers Voice of Victory magazine.

M-Download: Sunday Service

Yesterday we kicked off our focus for the month of July @ CWL - “Real Life Stories” – we had some really good services! Highlights for me included:

• It was great to have Life Support with us once again – this band is top quality in both music and hearts for God. Any Sunday we have them with us is great!
• They not only led worship but also played two songs from their most recent album – Roar of Heaven. Like I said: top quality.
• I was particularly excited because we prayed over one of our core leaders who is now their full-time drummer. Congrats Andrew Asare!
• Alex being healed from a broken kneck? Wow – what a story of God’s work in his life!
• Germaine was excellent as he ministered in spoken word – I’ll never forget his McDonalds story either
• Roshana did a great job as well… if you love R&B make sure you check here out!
• Gotta give some love to K-Ruckus on the turn tables (I love using every art form possible)
• I was reminded yesterday of the amazing teams to help make service go – thanks so much!
• Last, but definitely not least, I’m extremely thankful that we had 9 people make commitments to repent and trust in Jesus.
• Next week I’m looking forward to Manafest being in the house as well as a panel of CWL members sharing their stories!
• Please join me in praying for even more people to come out and be impacted by the story of Jesus and what he has done!

Why Don’t We Pray?

I had an interesting experience yesterday. We were having our annual CWL BBQ on July 1st – it is one of our biggest events of the year – and all week the forecasts were calling for rain. The weather had been really poor from the weekend on and I was really concerned.

On Tuesday, our core team was discussing what to do – whether we should postpone it or still go ahead (context: in our church if it is raining people will definitely stay home!). It was during that conversation that Erin (our Administrator) reminded us about an outdoor concert we were doing several years ago where it was supposed to rain but we prayed – and it ended up raining all around the property where it was held but not on the property. She asked “why don’t we just do it again?”

I had to laugh at myself because I was getting so caught up in the natural details and weather reports that I hadn’t even thought of it (great man of faith and power that I am). I was reminded of how it can be so easy to be limited to the natural and not even think of praying. As Christians we need to have a simple child-like faith that prayer works! Mark 11:24 says “whatsoever you desire, when you pray believe that you receive and you shall have it”.

We prayed as a team, and asked our church leadership to join us – and we had a beautiful day.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

What have you been wrestling/working/worrying about that you should be praying about?

CWL Annual BBQ Today

We are having our annual CWL BBQ today… these are always a ton of fun. We get a bunch of people out, free food, lots of games (Steve Richards always talks mad trash regarding football) and just plain fun.

Stuff like this happens:

M-Download: Sunday

This past Sunday we had some really cool services at CWL… some of the hightlights for me:

• We are really blessed with the ‘lead worshippers’ we have at CWL – both services I thought the team did an excellent job.
• They brought back out – “Shout to the Lord”… I don’t remember that last time I sang that song. It was the right song for the day for sure.
• Testimonies… over the past several weeks I have been getting people to share about opportunities they have had to ’share the story’ of Jesus during the week. We have really been focusing on that this month and it is really cool to see the momentum build.
• Each one impacted me in a different way – I loved the diversity of how people were reaching out.
• Renaldo Wall…  socks and sandals… I still don’t know.
• Another really cool thing – we didn’t have anyone respond to receive Jesus at the end but several actually made commitments and prayed in coversation with members afterwards (I had to honor of praying with one guy).
• God really reminded me/impacted me regarding the harvest of people that is going to come into the Kingdom of God in the next season of time. I’m excited to see CWL right in the middle of that!
• Second service – Holy Spirit took me on a totally different path. I got part way through my introduction and then just went off regarding Godly relationships/purity. I love it when He does that.
• It was really cool to see so many people at the altar at the end of both services committing themselves in a fresh way to give their lives for the harvest/follow Holy Spirit/commit to purity (or whatever else they were there for).
• This coming weekend we are kicking off the ‘Real Life Stories’ service… we just confirmed today that we are going to have Life Support in for it and we almost have Roshana confirmed as well (working on it). I’m excited for the services!

General Booth’s Vision

We have been spending time this month at CWL focused on growing in our heart and skill in ’sharing the story’ about Jesus: who He is and what he has done for us. Part of that has been a daily devotional on our devo board.

Today I posted a vision that General William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army) had – it is so, so powerful. I’ve posted it before but as I said to our guys – it is worth going over, and over again.

Here it is (I do not have a source for it so if you do please pass it on so I can notate it):

In one of my recent journeys, as I gazed from the coach window, I was led into a train of thought concerning the condition of the multitudes around me. They were living carelessly in the most open and shameless rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare.

As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see them all… millions of people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant- willfully ignorant in many cases- and in other instances knowing all about the truth and not caring at all. But all of them, the whole mass of them, sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the Throne of God. While my mind was thus engaged, I had a vision.

I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung heavily; through them every now and then vivid lightening flashed and loud thunder rolled, while the winds moaned, and the waves rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and foam, tower and break again.

In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more.

And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with it’s summit towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock I saw a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the place of safety.

On looking more closely I found a number of those who had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders, ropes, boats and other means more effective, to deliver the poor strugglers out of the sea. Here and there were some who actually jumped into the water, regardless of the consequences in their passion to “rescue the perishing.” And I hardly know which gladdened me the most- the sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the rocks reaching a place of safety, or the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole being was wrapped up in the effort for their deliverance.

As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were divided into different “sets” or classes, and they occupied themselves with different pleasures and employments. But only a very few of them seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea.

But what puzzled me most was the fact that though all of them had been rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed to have forgotten all about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory of its darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all. And what seemed equally strange and perplexing to me was that these people did not even seem to have any care- that is any agonizing care- about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes… many of whom were their own husbands and wives, brothers and sisters and even their own children.

Now this astonishing unconcern could not have been the result of ignorance or lack of knowledge, because they lived right there in full sight of it all and even talked about it sometimes. Many even went regularly to hear lectures and sermons in which the awful state of these poor drowning creatures was described.

I have always said that the occupants of this platform were engaged in different pursuits and pastimes. Some of them were absorbed day and night in trading and business in order to make gain, storing up their savings in boxes, safes and the like.

Many spent their time in amusing themselves with growing flowers on the side of the rock, others in painting pieces of cloth or in playing music, or in dressing themselves up in different styles and walking about to be admired. Some occupied themselves chiefly in eating and drinking, others were taken up with arguing about the poor drowning creatures that had already been rescued.

But the thing to me that seemed the most amazing was that those on the platform to whom He called, who heard His voice and felt that they ought to obey it- at least they said they did- those who confessed to love Him much were in full sympathy with Him in the task He had undertaken- who worshipped Him or who professed to do so- were so taken up with their trades and professions, their money saving and pleasures, their families and circles, their religions and arguments about it, and their preparation for going to the mainland, that they did not listen to the cry that came to them from this Wonderful Being who had Himself gone down into the sea. Anyway, if they heard it they did not heed it. They did not care. And so the multitude went on right before them struggling and shrieking and drowning in the darkness.

And then I saw something that seemed to me even more strange than anything that had gone on before in this strange vision. I saw that some of these people on the platform whom this Wonderful Being had called to, wanting them to come and help Him in His difficult task of saving these perishing creatures, were always praying and crying out to Him to come to them!

Some wanted Him to come and stay with them, and spend His time and strength in making them happier. Others wanted Him to come and take away various doubts and misgivings they had concerning the truth of some letters He had written them. Some wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the rock- so secure that they would be quite sure that they should never slip off again into the ocean. Numbers of others wanted Him to make them feel quite certain that they would really get off the rock and onto the mainland someday: because as a matter of fact, it was well known that some had walked so carelessly as to loose their footing, and had fallen back again into the stormy waters.

So these people used to meet and get up as high on the rock as they could, and looking towards the mainland (where they thought the Great Being was) they would cry out, “Come to us! Come and help us!” And all the while He was down (by His Spirit) among the poor struggling, drowning creatures in the angry deep, with His arms around them trying to drag them out, and looking up- oh! so longingly but all in vain- to those on the rock, crying to them with His voice all hoarse from calling, “Come to Me! Come, and help Me!

And then I understood it all. It was plain enough. The sea was the ocean of life- the sea of real, actual human existence. That lightening was the gleaming of piercing truth coming from Jehovah’s Throne. That thunder was the distant echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people shrieking, struggling and agonizing in the stormy sea, was the thousands and thousands of poor harlots and harlot-makers, of drunkards and drunkard makers, of thieves, liars, blasphemers and ungodly people of every kindred, tongue and nation.

Oh what a black sea it was! And oh, what multitudes of rich and poor, ignorant and educated were there. They were all so unalike in their outward circumstances and conditions, yet all alike in one thing- all sinners before God- all held by, and holding onto, some iniquity, fascinated by some idol, the slaves of some devilish lust, and ruled by the foul fiend from the bottomless pit!

“All alike in one thing?” No, all alike in two things- not only the same in their wickedness but, unless rescued, the same in their sinking, sinking… down, down, down… to the same terrible doom. That great sheltering rock represented Calvary, the place where Jesus had died for them. And the people on it were those who had been rescued. The way they used their energies, gifts and time represented the occupations and amusements of those who professed to be saved from sin and hell- followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The handful of fierce, determined ones, who were risking their own lives in saving the perishing were true soldiers of the cross of Jesus. That Mighty Being who was calling to them from the midst of the angry waters was the Son of God, “the same yesterday, today and forever” who is still struggling and interceding to save the dying multitudes about us from this terrible doom of damnation, and whose voice can be heard above the music, machinery, and noise of life, calling on the rescued to come and help Him save the world.

My friends in Christ, you are rescued from the waters, you are on the rock, He is in the dark sea calling on you to come to Him and help Him. Will you go? Look for yourselves. The surging sea of life, crowded with perishing multitudes rolls up to the very spot on which you stand. Leaving the vision, I now come to speak of the fact- a fact that is as real as the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the cross, as real as the judgment day will be, and as real as the heaven and hell that will follow it.

Look! Don’t be deceived by appearances- men and things are not what they seem. All who are not on the rock are in the sea! Look at them from the standpoint of the great White Throne, and what a sight you have! Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them. And He is calling on you to jump into the sea- to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump? That is, will you go to His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?

A young Christian once came to me, and told me that for some time she had been giving the Lord her profession and prayers and money, but now she wanted to give Him her life. She wanted to go right into the fight. In other words, she wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. As when a man from the shore, seeing another struggling in the water, takes off those outer garments that would hinder his efforts and leaps to the rescue, so will you who still linger on the bank, thinking and singing and praying about the poor perishing souls, lay aside your shame, your pride, your cares about other people’s opinions, your love of ease and all the selfish loves that have kept you back for so long, and rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying men and women.

Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so. There is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it may mean more than this. It may mean death. He who beckons you from the sea however, knows what it will mean – and knowing, He still calls to you and bids to you to come.

You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises- very much of heaven on earth.

Now then, go to God and tell Him you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you.

You must do it. With the light that is now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears, and the beckoning hands that are now before your eyes, you have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue them.

Now what will you do?

M-Download: Re-Encounter

Ok, so I’m finally getting back on my feet after the Re-Encounter weekend… I caught up on my time sheet today and figured out why it took so long (approximately 75 hour week before it was all said and done!). We had such a blessed, blessed weekend – God came through (as He always does) in a massive way.

Some of my thoughts:

• We had an amazing group of people participate in the weekend – they were so hungry for God and open to what he is doing. I’m so encouraged regarding the next generation of leaders in CWL!
• Our team of guides who helped my wife and I lead were equally outstanding. They gave their all the entire weekend!
• I’m particuarly thankful for our “Saturday Guides” who drove 2 hours (one way!) to come and pray for/serve people on the Saturday!
• My wife: Pastor Sharon Joy is absolutely amazing!
• Justin Reventar played the keys for pretty much 4 hours straight on Saturday night! The man is a machine!
• One of my main prayers for the weekend was that people would make a transition from being ‘receiving-focused’ to ‘giving-focused’ – man it sure happened!
• My brother can dance! (freeze dance-off… long story… one of those things that happens at Encounter and stays at Encounter)
• I was so impacted by all the testimonies that came out of the weekend!
• My Father had an incredibly impacting session as usual (it is a real honor to serve with him… being your Dad’s pastor feels a little funny sometimes but I wouldn’t have it any other way) – it was great to serve with my Mom too.
• I really enjoyed the fact that we had guys and ladies on the weekend – it brought a really cool diversity (on our Encounters we have guys-only, ladies-only)
• Fire Tunnel!!! (that is all I have to say about that )
• It was great to connect with some of the newer CWL members a little more – we are blessed with quality people!
• Nachos, dip and ice cream for Saturday night snack – a great retreat snack!
• Erin Asare is the ‘woman’ when it comes to administration
• Thank God we were able to borrow some drums for Saturday night worship
• Above all else: thank you LORD for all that you did over the weekend!
• Family: let’s do this thing!

Been out of commission…

We had a great Re-Encounter…  it was powerful, impacting and intense.

I spent Monday and Tuesday recovering (six sessions + two services on Sunday) and today just got back in the swing of things… I will get back to posting tomorrow.

Lot’s to write about…

Signing Off For Re-Encounter

I’m writing this from our retreat centre for the Re-Encounter Retreat we are having this weekend. I’m so excited about what God is going to do! We have 43 participants – many of whom are going to be part of our next generation of servant-leaders at CWL.

Please keep us in prayer. I should be doing a follow up post next week.