The Lord works in mysterious ways. I received an email last week from Amanda Vicars. Ms Vicars writes for the Sunday Stories section of the Kingsport Times-News. She stated that, “We would like to feature Trinity United Methodist Church in our next Faith and Action segment, which highlights outreach ministries and mission work of local churches.”

  I immediately gave her a call. After conversing for about 20 minutes, I agreed to send her pictures of events and activities in which the church had been involved. (Good thing I like to take pictures!) She sent me a copy of the article and I made some corrections and sent it back to her. On Sunday August 24th, we will be featured in a special southwest Virginia section of the paper. From the way she talked, it should be most of one page if not two pages. The text is substantial and she wanted lots of pictures.

   I asked her why our church was chosen. She said her editor told her to choose us. I don’t know the person that is her editor. I don’t know why the editor said to choose us. As a result, I think that there must be some God moment activity going on in this matter.

   I don’t want to read too much into it, but perhaps God is saying, “You’re on the right path. Keep walking it.” I don’t know how many people will see the article. I don’t know how many will respond to the article. I do know, however, that this is a gift to us. There is no way that we would be able to afford to purchase advertising that would get the same results as this newspaper article will get.

   What I need is a big AMEN. God has done this for us. I did not and as far as I know, no one in our church made any kind of advances to the editor to make this happen. So in addition to an AMEN, I am even willing to offer a HALLELUJAH!!! Thanks be to God!

   It's time to be honest. I am not a great intercessor when it comes to prayer. An intercessor is someone that is good at lifting up the concerns of others to God's throne of grace and asking God's mercy, love, grace, healing, guiding Spirit, etc. etc. to flow into another person's life. Sure, I say prayers for people, but ongoing prayer for a person or situation is hard for me. I have to continually remind myself to pray for this or that person or situation. A natural intercessor, or as they are sometimes called, a Prayer Warrior, is much better at this than I am.

   My prayer life is best illustrated by this example from the book entitled Prayer written by Ole Hallesby. In the book he relates the following interaction between him and his son:

  "My little boy came in one day and stuck his little head into the doorway of my study. Now he knew that he was not supposed to disturb me during working hours. And his conscience troubled him a little on account of this. But he looked at me nevertheless with his kind, round baby eyes and said, "Papa, dear, I will sit still all the time if you will only let me be here with you!"

  That he received permission when he approached my father-heart in that way, every father knows.


  That little experience gave me a great deal to think about.


   Is not that just the way we often feel with regard to our heavenly Father? We do so love to be with him, just to be in his presence! Moreover, we never disturb him, no matter when we come nor how often we come!


   We pray to God. We speak to him about everything we have on our minds both concerning others and ourselves. There come times, not so seldom with me at least, when I have nothing more to tell God. ...(We)...have nothing more to say to thee, but I do love to be in they presence."

   That sort of describes my relationship with God. Most of the time I have very little to say. I offer up my list of things that I need to pray about and then I simply just want to sit there and be in God's presence.

   What about you. What is your prayer relationship with God like? More talkative and active or more quiet and contemplative? Share you thoughts with a comment below.

  In part one, I talked about the Great Commision and our call to "make disciples" rather than make converts. In this post, I want to get more specific in trying to define the word disciple. Once again I am borrowing freely from the work of Jim Putman quoted in the previous blog.

  The foundation scripture that defines a disciple can be found in Matthew 4:19:

         "And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (KJ 2000 Bible)

  This passage can be divided into three sections and seen together, gives us a picture of what it means to be a disciple. Let's examine each section.

   Jesus begins with the words "Follow me." On their face, these words are quite clear.  If you want to be a disciple of Jesus you must follow him. You can't follow a church or a preacher. You can't follow some idea in your head that you dreamed up or read about to be a disciple. If you want to be a disciple, then you have to follow Jesus. To follow means first of all becoming a convert. You have to put your whole trust and faith in Jesus to save you and put you back into a right relationship with God. Then you need to give your life to him and seek, day by day, to take up your own cross, and follow after him. This means a death to self and a rebirth to new life in Christ. 

   The next step in discipleship is the step of transformation. Once we decide to wholeheartedly follow Jesus, he begins to transform our lives. The words "...and I will make..." indicate that Jesus is going to take us and mold us or shape us into something different than we were prior to knowing him and deciding to follow him. He will transform us from our old way of living and looking at the world and into this new creature that he died to create. He will begin to shape our desires. He will give us new reason for living. He will call us into ministry and mission on behalf of God's kingdom. We will no longer be like we once were, but will, day by day, become more and more like him.

   The final step in the discipleship process is found in the words "...fishers of men."  We give our life to him. He takes us and remakes us into a new creature and he then plants within us the focus of what this new creature is to do. We are to fish for men. We are to be proclaimers of God's Word and Kingdom and we are to begin the process of telling others about Jesus Christ so that they can be converted, transformed, and set free to tell others.

   In other words, disciples are people that make more disciples. If you are not making disciples, then I think you must seriously question if you are a disciple or simply a convert. It's great to be a convert and experience the salvation that God offers through Jesus Christ. However, unless you are in the process of making new disciples, then you cannot call yourself a disciple.

  What do you think about this? Are you a convert or a disciple of Jesus Christ? Share with me you thoughts in the comment section.

  As you might note, I haven't posted for over two months to the blog portion of the web site. I have been working on other areas of the site instead. The most effort has been given to the MEDIA section and the addition of Sunday Connections.

   Through the years, I have tended to pull everything into little separate compartments on a web site: sermons, publications, music etc. That way you could go to a specific place to find what you are looking for. Well, it dawned on me that there was another way to do it. I have called it Sunday Connections. Here's how it works.

   I have been creating a page for each Sunday. On that page I then include all the things relevant to that particular Sunday of worship. You will find: 

• the sermon, downloadable pdf's of the Pastor's Ponderings, the Order of Worship, and The Trinity Tribune.
•  In addition, you will find a section for audio files that give you a brief rundown of the month's activities, 
• You will also find a copy of the Sermon Guide a companion to the Sunday sermon that will help you better follow along or provide you key reference points when things are done. 
• I am also breaking out other parts of the worship service: Children's message, choral music, solos, etc. and giving video links to just that portion.
• I will also try to create some Teachable Moments from each of the sermons. These will be excerpts of the sermon that can stand on their own and teach some small truth.
  
• Every now and then I will include a link to  special video or web page that I think you might want to view.

  I know that on paper it sounds like a lot. It is. However, it is the place you need to start going to in order to know what is going on at church. If you miss a Sunday it only means you were not physically present, because now there is no need to not know what happened when you were away.

Click on this link to be taken to the SUNDAY CONNECTION section of the web site.

  The Disciple Team and I are studying a book written by Jim Putman entitled: Church is a Team Sport: A Championship Strategy for Doing Ministry Together. One of the major premises of the book is correctly defining what it means to be a disciple. Putnam contends that through the years, the church has veered from the definition of disciple. He believes that we have equated convert with disciple and that the church has gone off down the road of making converts rather than disciples.

   He uses as his text the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20:

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said,“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV)

   Note that this text does not say that we are to go and make converts. It specifically says that we are to go and make disciples. If you by into his premise, and I do, then the church has been putting the emphasis in the wrong place. We talk about how many professions of faith we have each year--not about how many disciples we have made. In his understanding you cannot equate disciple and convert. They are two different critters. Now, you can't make a disciple until someone is converted, but conversion is not the end of the process. It is merely the beginning step. The church celebrates conversions, though, as if that is the ultimate step in our relationship with God. Again, it is a crucial step, but only the first step.

Come back for the next post and see how I try to define the word disciple.

Share your thoughts in the comment section.

 Part of the Discipleship Process is learning how to lead. Not many of us are natural born leaders. At some point during our lives, we are often asked to take on a certain responsibility or task. If we are lucky, someone comes along side us and gives us guidance as to the best way to accomplish what we have been asked to do. If we are not so lucky, we are just given the task and told “Give it a go.” That is a formula for failure.

  The church is no different. We often just assign people to tasks and assume that from somewhere deep within them, they have the ability to succeed. What we end of doing is setting them up for failure and losing a potential leader for another ministry somewhere down the road.

   For 28 years of ministry, that was the way I was taught. Get somebody to say yes and then drop them in the middle of the fray and let them sink or swim. It’s only been the last two years that  I have taken seriously
 Ephesians 4:11-12
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

  I am seeking to equip leaders so that the body may, in turn be built up. As I come alongside you to minister with you, please understand that I am seeking to make you a better leader and ultimately put the ministry into your hands. I can’t do the ministry of the church. That is you role. My role is to help you do that ministry. That is what growth in discipleship is all about.

  We like to think that the struggle with sin and temptation is a modern phenomenon. After all, we are bombarded 24/7/365 with images and enticements that previous generations never had to face. Yet, as I was doing my devotions this morning, I came across the following passage written by John Wesley, the father of the Methodist movement. Wesley said,

"After my return home, I was much buffeted with temptations; but cried out, and they fled away. They returned again and again. I as often lifted up my eyes, and he 'sent me help from his holy place,' And herein I found the difference between this and my former state chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now I was always conqueror."


  I don't have a clue as to what the temptations were that Wesley was struggling with. Apparently, though, as much as he strived to rid himself of them, they kept coming back. Notice, though, what he then did. He says: "I as often lifted up my eyes"--I'd suggest that meant he was in prayer. As a result of his prayer, God "sent me help from his Holy place." Not sure what he means by those words, but they seem to some sort of answer to his prayer. He then notes that in the answer, he seems to get a revelation about the difference between his former state (sinner) and his current state (saved by Christ). In his former state he was continually striving against the temptations with which he struggled. He, apparently, often lost the battle and temptation won. He identified himself as "conquered". Yet, in his new state (In Christ) he found that he was able to overcome temptation and he identified himself as "conqueror."

  I think that his struggle speaks volumes to our own struggles with temptation and sin. If we try to do it on our own, we are bound to be conquered. Sin has such a hold on us that, by ourselves, we cannot overcome it. It is only when we add Christ to the equation, that we even have a fighting chance. At that point we can move from conquered to conqueror. I'd like to suggest, though, that this does not mean the move will be easy.

I was wondering, what are your thoughts on this matter? Please share them in the comments below.