Hey guys, I’m sorry that it has been so long since my last blog. Since everyone has left me in the office, I have been juggling around priorities. In fact one of my last blogs was asking the question what my priorities are.

For the past few weeks, here’s what I have found to be the best set of priorities.

1. Prayer - pretty self-explanatory
2. Music Ministering - Here at Faith I am able to and expected to put you guys first. I love to see you guys grow spiritually and see you succeed.
3. Music - No one else can do my job. I don’t always get to make it to the hospitals like everyone else would like, but when I drop the ball on the music program, everyone loses. This would include pulling music, preparing for choir and band practice, and getting everyone ready for Christmas.
4. Hospital Visitation - I say this, but I have not been able to do this as much as even I would like. Some others have volunteered to help me out in hospital visitations, but there is still that expectation that I need to be there as well. All this is fine. I wish I could be more involved in the hospitals.
5. Office Administration - You would be surprised how much stuff is involved in the office. This area usually takes up most of the “I have no idea where the time went today” stuff.

I would like to say that Milton is one of the best interim pastors there is. He has really helped carry some of the weight around the office.

But not just Milton, but many of you guys don’t know about Cindy Hinds. Every week for over the past year, she has come to the church faithfully to sort and put back last Sunday’s music. There has never been a week that she hasn’t made it. It takes her over an hour every week. And even though it may seem like an indifferent job or a job that doesn’t seem to make much difference in the kingdom, doing this actually ministers to me and helps me spend more time ministering to others.

Of course I am leaving a ton of others out who have been wanting to help but haven’t been plugged in anywhere. Your faithfulness is well noted.

I appreciate you guys.

I was watching TV and this commercial was advertising God’s Love. At the end it gave a link. No where in the commercial was there anything said about Interstate Batteries.

interstatebatteries.com/godslove

When I was attending LeTourneau, I do remember them sending down their NASCAR for us.

As many of you know, New Town Baptist Church was not able to have their choir program a few Sundays ago due to power outage. They have rescheduled for October 12 at 3p.m. For those in Awana. Also, we discussed making sure that we were close to the top of the program so that we can get back to Faith for our evening services. If you are not a part of the choir, come with us. It will be a great time. I was able to go last year. You will enjoy it.

“False teachers had entered their fellowship and taught that while it was right to accept Jesus as the Messiah, one must also live under the regulations of the Mosaic Law.

“The burden was too great for the young churhc; its people lost their joy and fell into various forms of bondage. People today fall into the same trap when they attempt to demonstrate their Christianity through submission to human rules rather than allegiance to God alone. This is not te way of freedom in Christ. We cannot attest to God’s work of grace while living under the bondage of the law. Completeness is found only in Jesus, not in abiding by prescribed rules or regulations” (excerpt from Living the Extraordinary Life).

Last Friday, John Cannady and I went to a Gateway Conference in Dallas. The two main topics were “How to improve the Guest Experiences” and “How to Avoid Burn Out”. Just to explain, burn out doesn’t happen over night. Burn out happens over a long course of time.But if I were to burn out, it would not be Faith Baptist Church’s fault. It would be my own. Here’s why. God had freed the Israelites from the bondage of work from the Egyptians. God has also freed us from work.Wait, you might be saying that He hasn’t freed you from work. But the purpose for work has totally changed. Work is how we fulfill our calling. Work is how we work out God’s will for our lives. Work is God’s plan for us to help move His will in other people’s lives. Work was given to us before the fall. God wants us to work and retirement is never found anywhere in the scriptures (not that we shouldn’t retire).But work is not the provider of our lives. You work-a-holic men out there don’t have to work more than 50 hours a week because God is not holding you captive to your work. God will provide. He is our provider. ”Lord, who is like You among the gods?Who is like You, glorious in holiness,revered with praises,Performing wonders?You stretched out Your right hand,and the earth swallowed them.You will lead the peopleYou have redeemedwith Your faithful love;You will guide themto Your holy dwellingWith Your strength” (Exodus 14:11-13, HCS). 

There is a lot of stuff going on this week at the church. It will be a very busy time.

In 2001, I was a youth/music minister in Longview, Texas. Everything was going fine, but the Lord told me to quit the position that I had and go to work at a secular job for a season. I waited for a few months for confirmation that this is what God wanted. Within the two years I learned a couple of lessons. One of which is how to lead a more contemporary worship services.

The second lesson that I learned was life is busy. It was challenging to do everything that I was “suppose to”, thus saith tradition, along with being faithful to church and family and ministry and church attendance, and, and, and… Soon I became so busy for God that I wasn’t busy with God.

My question is this: What can we do together as a church that would help others and our members focus more on God instead of our own busyness?

The choir has been invited to sing at the annual building fun program at New Town Baptist Church. We are to sing Sunday, September 14, at 3:00 p.m. We are to sing two numbers. You choose. What are your favorite?

It is always good to remember the past. It becomes so easy to get focused on the way we do church verses the mission that drives the church.

I do want to thank the choir members, as well as the band (including all the hidden ones in the sound room) that worked hard on “Jesus Saves” you guys did a great job.

No matter what we do whether it be congregational, choral, or just instrumental it is the message through a life of integrity that changes people. And after the few years that I have been here, I see lives that are being changed. I know that I have grown and I see those in the music ministry growing. (I am also growing horizontally as well but I get to blame that on my pregnant wife. I don’t know how she’s related to this growth problem but I’ll blame it anyway).

Great job everyone. Let’s keep changing and comforting. Can’t do it without you.

The Five Stages of Renewal in the Local Church - Click here for Original Article
By Rick Warren
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Wed, Jun. 25 2008 09:28 AM EDT

In the last three years, I’ve told you this several times: I believe God is preparing the church for another reformation. The first reformation focused on what the church believed; this one will focus on what it does.

For too long we’ve separated the Word of God from the work of God. As the church, we’re called to be the body of Christ – the whole body. We’re not just called to be the mouth of Christ, but the feet and hands as well.

Every time a new reformation has come, five renewals have preceded it. The awakening and reformation of the global church will begin with churches like yours. The same five renewals will precede this movement in your church.

1. Personal Renewal: It starts with the heart. If God is going to renew your church, he’ll begin it with you – and then it has to continue with the rest of your church. You might call it rededicating your life, being filled with the Spirit, or the “deeper life.” I don’t care what you call it. Just get it! Pastor, the bottom line is this – you need to fall in love with Jesus again. Do that and all of a sudden it’s not about religion and rituals; it’s about a relationship with Jesus. You realize that Jesus doesn’t just love you, but he likes you.

2. Relational Renewal: After you get right with God, you’ve got to get right with others. Jesus told us this. He told us to love God with all of our heart and then love others as ourselves. When you have relational renewal in your church, the gossip goes down and the joy goes up.

How do you know when a church has been through relational renewal? People hang around longer after the service. They want to spend time together. If people don’t want to hang around after your services, you have a performance not a church. The church is more than content; it’s a community.

3. Missional Renewal: This is when a church discovers what God wants it to do. We have a kingdom assignment. We’re not here just to bless one another. God wants to bless the world through us. Specifically, God has given the church five purposes – worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. Missional renewal happens when we focus our churches on these purposes. When your church gets personal, relational, and mission renewal, it can’t help but grow.

4. Cultural Renewal: In this stage, God renews the culture of the church. I’ve known pastors who have tried to change the culture of the church without going through the other three renewals. There’s a word for that – martyrdom. You cannot change the culture of the church. Only God can. But once the first three renewals have happened in the church, God will change the culture.

5. Structural Renewal: After your church has been through the first four renewals, it’s going to outgrow your current structure. No doubt about it. I’ve seen it happen at Saddleback. The structure that works for a church of 100 won’t work for a church of 250 and so on. There is no perfect structure in Scripture. Why? Every situation is different. We’ve got to structure our churches differently depending on our circumstances. We change structures just about every year at Saddleback. You can’t put new wine in old wineskins. As your church begins to get healthier and healthier, the structure has to change.

There’s a sixth renewal, but it doesn’t happen in the local church. Institutional renewal happens when Christianity’s institutions change. Institutions like seminaries and denominations are always the last ones to change; they never start the change process. Change always happens first in the local church. Institutions are there to preserve the change of the previous generation. Take a look at a tree. The growth of a tree is never on the trunk. It’s always on the new branches. Institutions are like trunks. They provide stability not innovation.

A great spiritual awakening is on the horizon. Will your church be a part of it? Be aware of these five stages of renewal. As a pastor, God has called you to be a catalyst in the renewal of your church. You can’t do that unless you know where your church is on its journey.

Exciting days are ahead of us!

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Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America’s largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. Copyright 2005 Pastors.com, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved

A few months ago I started talking about the general plan that God has for your life. It is spelled out in II Peter 1: 5-8. The first problem that I run into is that I believe that we have mis-defined what Faith is. I was having lunch with a few friends last week and they were discussing the dilemma between faith and dead faith. At that time I didn’t want to get into my dissertation on definitions.

But once we move Faith from some head-knowledge and actually start believing that He is everywhere and will hold us accountable for our actions, our moral excellence must improve. If it does not improve, I challenge whether the person has faith or just knows of faith.

Matthew 5:8 - “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.”

Psalm 24:3-6 - “Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hards and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have right standing with God their savior. They alone may enter God’s presence and worship the God of Israel.”