Missing???
Yesterday, as a sat in Subway (the one in Wal-Mart), I chose the seat near the window. I love to sit and watch people as they come and go into the store. Some are busy, others have a list, and others are just there to kill some time. But I could not help but notice the Missing Children’s board that is in the lobby. I looked at each of the faces and prayed for them and their families but I noticed that almost everyone who entered into Wal-Mart walked right by them and paid them little or no attention. I immediately thought of the people I know who do not know Jesus. I began to think of the lostness in our country and in the world. Over 1 billion people have never heard the gospel, let alone had a chance to reject Christ.
Who would you put on your board of people missing the Kingdom of God? Would you be so busy that you would walk by them and never even look their way? I want to gaze into the faces of the lost and help them find their way home. The people in Hell have real names and faces, so will the people in Heaven.
Posted by Eric on 12/6/2007 at 2:56pm – Link to this post
Biscuits and Bible Study
Over the past three weeks we have had good sized group of students come to Jack’s on Tuesday morning at 6:45 am. That is right at 6:45 am. We have averaged 16 students a week and they are coming together not to just hang out but for Bible Study and Prayer. This group has guys and girls, middle school and high school students, but more importantly teenagers who are willing to give up an hour of sleep and about an hour of time to do the work each week. Right now we are studying 1 John and the discussion is getting better each week. I am very excited to see our students taking the next step in their journey of faith.
But the thing that excites me the most is their prayers. Each week we end our time with prayer, each student has written down three names of lost friends and they pray for them. I hear students lifting up their friends before God and asking God to move in the lives of their friends and do it through them. That is what Christianity is all about; being used to carry the gospel to the lost and dying world? So be encouraged Demopolis, Alabama, United States, and the World, you are being lifted up in prayer and you are being brought before the throne of God by a group of students in Jack’s each Tuesday morning. May God spark revival from Biscuits and Bible Study.
Posted by Eric on 12/4/2007 at 9:26am – Link to this post
Lessons from a mouse
While I lay on my couch last Friday, I was greeted by a shadow like creature that scampered across my living room floor. It was furry, about 6 inches long with the tail and squeaked. I immediately called by wife and let her know that “Mickey” had come to visit but I assured her that his stay would not be long. For a couple of days, we had seen the evidence that “Mickey” had come to visit; there were droppings and we had heard noises during the night coming from the cabinets, but we had not made visual contact. Yet, we knew that ‘Mickey’ was there and taking up residence in our kitchen.
So many times, we, Christians, are no different than “Mickey”. People know we are there because there is evidence but they have no true visual contact. They might see a tract let on a table or in a bathroom but they never see us and when they do it is a flash of protest, or shadowy visit, or they hear our religious speak yet never understand the Christianese that we use. I want people to know me, you, us and more importantly, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That cannot be done by living in secret; we must do that out in the open.
I have been told that one of the best ways to catch, “Mickey” will be to place traps along the edge of the inside of my cabinets so that while “Mickey” is sneaking around in the shadows during the night, he will be caught. The best way to catch a Christian in America is to go to church and introduce yourself to them. That should not be the case, because we are no different than “Mickey” when we hide in a church building instead of being the Church in the world. Christians should be caught in Wal-Mart, the gas station, in traffic, at school, at the game, at home when no one is watching. Christianity is only passed on by direct contact with people who do not know or do not believe, we must move out of the shadows and night in the Church and walk in the light.
True Christianity is an outward expression of an inward change. Our lives, our words, our actions, and our attitudes should help us to shine a light for the whole world to see. Matthew 5:16
So how do we do that? How can we move from the shadows and the confinement of the church building and live in front of others and leave more than scant evidence that we have been there? In what ways do you see your own life mimicking “Mickey’s”?
Posted by Eric on 12/2/2007 at 10:45am – Link to this post
Website Contest
I would like to stir up some interest in our website. So here is the contest, the person who has the most referrals to this blog post in the next week will be given a CD of their choice and a full scholarship for Disciple Now Weekend in February.
So send your friends to the site and tell them to put your name in their responses to this post. So have you friends post early and often. The contest will end at 10am on Thursday November 15th.
Join the conversation!!!
Posted by Eric on 11/8/2007 at 10:00am – Link to this post
Between the Alter and the Door?
Tonight our church took about 50 people to a Casting Crowns concert. It was great, I love their music not just because of the beat but because of the message in the lyrics. They are truthful and challenging. They hit me right where I am. I have spent many hours thinking and praying about discipleship and how to raise up a generation of Christ followers in Demopolis. I want to see the students and families in our ministry grow and walk closer to the Lord every day. But so many things crowd our view. We get distracted so easily with school, family problems, sports, friends, activities and we forget what it means to walk with God. We fill our lives with so many things that we cannot make it from the alter (our time of corporate worship with God) to the door (where our life meets the things we have experienced and learned spiritually). Sometimes we crowd out God because we don’t want to hear what He is saying and other times it is because we just want more things to do because we are supposed to be busy. But that is not true, we need to slow down and allow God to work in our lives.
So how does discipleship happen, I think it takes a desire and a willingness. It is my prayer that we will see students and parents begin to desire a closer walk with each other and with God and be willing to take the steps to make it happen. We need some small groups who can meet and pray together and look at God’s Word, and hold each other accountable. We need moms and dads who will be willing to read the Word with their families and pray with them. We need individuals who are willing to walk daily with God in prayer and reading the Word to lead these groups. We need revival.
How is God working in your life at this moment?
Are you walking with God?
Are you being discipled or discipling someone else?
How can you make keep what happened at the alter when you walk out the door?
Posted by Eric on 11/3/2007 at 1:06am – Link to this post
Ever made a mistake?
In my lifetime I have done a lot of not so smart things, some brilliant things ok maybe three and a bunch of things that went unnoticed by others. This past Wednesday night at the Light we talked about Moses and some of the things he did on his own. One of those things was murder.
When I was in middle school, I was riding my bike to a friend’s house to play basketball. I was flying down hill and my hat began to come off, so I ducked my head down and turned it around. Then just as I looked up, I went crashing down the side of a parked truck. I left my handlebar marks on the truck all the way down the side and flipped over the handle bars and crashed on to the ground. And to top it all off, I passed out at my friends house while they tried to patch me up. It was one of the dumbest things I have ever done. The only it would be more embarrassing would be if their had been a large group of people watching.
In life, we make a lot of mistakes. But God can use those mistakes to complete His plan. God holds all of our actions in his hand and can even use the bad for good. Check out Genesis 50:20; God used all of the bad that Joseph had to face to help a large number of people survive a great famine.
What is the dumbest thing you have ever done? Do you think God could use it for good?
Posted by Eric on 10/22/2007 at 11:22am – Link to this post
Dive Deep
Last weekend 21 people from Fairhaven Student Ministry gathered together to look at what it takes to Dive Deep. Our theme verse was Hebrews 6:1, which out of the Message, says,“So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercise on Christ and get on with the grand work of art.”
We learned that we need to move to deeper water in order to do greater things for God. A couple of Wednesday nights ago, I challenged us to move from the kiddie pool to the deep end, where we can jump off the high dive. There is freedom, fun, and excitement in the deep end. If we can learn to move past finger painting and move on to beautiful grand works of art we will be living in the freedom that Christ can bring to us.
How can we move to the grand work of art? How do we grow in walk with Christ?
Let’s Dive Deep!!!
