Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Charging Our Batteries

Anyone who knows me, knows I enjoy my iPhone. Sadly, as it has gotten older the battery life has diminished. This inconvenience has led me to have chargers handy everywhere - at home, at work, in the car and an extra one just in case. Why is this relevant? Read on.

For over a year now our list of prayer partners has lifted up requests on behalf of our ministry. It is amazing how quickly the answers sometimes come. The most recent request was extraordinary, which is to say for God, it was par for the course.

I was discouraged by the drop in worship attendance - the last two Saturday evenings it was two families, ours and one other. I started thinking, "Maybe we aren't ready for weekly worship. Maybe we should focus our energies on other events." But that was not the Holy Spirit talking. The Holy Spirit did speak though. The many email responses I received reflected each author's own personality but the underlying message was identical. And it was a message I needed to hear. Just in case the emails weren't clear enough for me, God also sent it to my front door in person through a Christian census worker who reiterated the message. (She has now been added to the prayer partner list!)

Here is the answer to my prayer:

Worship is the center of Christian living. We are created to praise God. To do otherwise is to go against our very nature. Worship builds up the Christian community. It charges our batteries. We are like my poor phone - when we are weak we don't need to charge less...we need to charge more!

Come on Rivers of Life...Get Charged Up!!

Worship Saturdays, 6:30 - 8, Asbury Chapel
21 Craigtown Rd., Port Deposit, MD

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Prayer Retreat

A pastor friend invited me and seven other ministers
to an overnight retreat for prayer and fellowship.

What a great time!

Nine people who all have started new congregations
or trained new worship leaders just spending time alone.

We'd pray or read by ourselves for three hours,
then talk in groups of threes for an hour,
then eat for an hour, then just relax
together talking about whatever.

It was very peaceful.

And with the prayers of the sponsoring congregation,
it felt like spending time alone with God
was the most valuable time on earth.

We really do hear God differently when we stop
to actually try and hear Him speak.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Three Decisions, One Day

Rivers of Life had a big week! In one day, the
denominational leaders who first proposed this mission,
cancelled funding for the project...
just weeks after pledging they were in for the full 3 years.

They cited the economy, the unexpected lack of growth
in new home construction in the region, and the pressure
that two churches felt by having a 'new congregation' start
in between their two towns.

Now that may discourage some people, to be laid off,
but we believe that God works EVERY situation to good.

So we went to chocolate fair at a local church,
one of many, many, who have helped us start this year.
And they offered for us to worship at their building!

Then, our Rivers of Life family organized a huge dinner.
Just about everyone was there, because they wanted to
be together whatever the news from the officials was.

And it was a blast. Sure people feel hurt and angry.
No one says they shouldn't. But they felt an even stronger
sense of love for each other and thankfulness for God
giving us this group in the first place.

So, we invited a couple of the denominational leaders
and expressed our gratitude for them 'getting us this far.'

As we were planning to begin our weekly services in April,
those plans continue on track. And our hope is that even
without a full-time pastor, we will be able to work together
to launch this new church.

Isn't that how most Christian congregations have started?!

We had three big decisions... all out of my hands and
out of my control, but we placed them all in God's hands,
and God is doing something amazing with all three.

It's like Jesus feeding the 5,000+ with just a few fish and
loafs of bread. If he can do that with food... just imagine
what he can do with you and me!