A Personal Philosophy of Life & Ministry

This was one of my 'outdoor' trips with and we stopped by the center of the US! Guess where?

I wanted to remind my spiritual sons of daughters that having a good philosophy of life keeps the ship going in the right direction. When people hurt you, when you preach a bad sermon or don’t do as good as you would like to—I hope this encourages you a bit along the way.

1. It is not yours by right. Everything is a gift and has to be appreciated. When we become complainers we die in the desert.
2. A correct MINDSET is more important than either Charisma or Gifting! I have always believed my attitude is my choice no matter what happens to me in life.
3. To make a difference in the lives of others you must have healthy attitude and wholesome relationships.
4. Risk-taking is not important—it is imperative!!!!!!!!! Counsel is always needed here—we cannot go off half-cocked.
5. Laughter is good medicine and it helps when life gets serious.
6. Work hard---play hard!
7. Aim for excellence—give everything your best shot—laziness never works and God cannot bless a mess—always try to be thoroughly prepared and do your best.
8. Business principles are often and usually Biblical principles.
9. Make every service count and never go through the motions.
10. If it can be delegated—delegate it.
11. Confrontation is needful but don’t try and be the Messiah. Its ok people are different.
12. Lack of creativity is a sin!!!!!!!!!!!! 11th Commandment.
13. Balance is THE key to long term health and effectiveness.
14. Come to a level of understanding ‘self-love’—we are complete in Christ! See Col. 2:9
15. Got to be a decision maker but include people in the process.
16. Faith without ‘works’ is dead.
17. Always lived with a deep sense of purpose.

Thanks for the comments and please stay faithful. Papa G.

Rest, Fun and Hard Work

I am basking in the goodness of God after another wonderful Sunday at Stone Creek Church. Lead Pastors know preaching on money is often a pressure thing but in our series entitled “Blueprint” we finished talking about “Giving” yesterday. I am so grateful for the way the people responded. By the 3rd service I was actually having fun preaching on a subject I would just as soon avoid!

Here’s a few thoughts in my heart right now:
● Truly taking a day off and time off to rest is so important to maintaining a good attitude about life and ministry. A weekly Sabbath is Biblical you know!

● Fun is a big part of my theology and in order to stay sane with all the difficulties we deal with in ministry we have to learn to not take ourselves so seriously! Got to keep the joy flowing! That’s why I’m posting the pix of Bonnie and I from Lynette’s (former PA) wedding this past summer! O the joy in my old age! 



● Without hard work none of this will work properly. Ricky Spindler, my youth pastor and I were visiting with another minister recently and he asked some great questions: “What is the minimum size a youth group should be that has a full-time employed youth pastor?” “A youth pastor asked me how many hours he should be expected to work per week!” (He thought he was over-worked but when we checked he was only working about 25 hours per week!)

What this shows me is that there are ministers who lack the passion that comes with a divine call! I have noticed two extremes we need to avoid: [1] Those who sacrifice their families & marriage on the altar of the ministry. [2] Those who have made an idol out of their family and marriage. Both extremes are wrong and must be avoided to be successful in life and ministry.

There is no substitute for hard work and passion. Selah. Enjoy the pix!
Love you,
Papa G.

BROKENNESS

We have just finished the best of Week of Prayer we have had in years and I am so massively encouraged! People literally came out by the hundreds in the evenings for prayer services and our morning and noon prayer meetings were just great. Our all-night prayer chain had right at 300 people participating! And, more people fasted for 3-days than I can remember in years.

All this has renewed my relationship with Jesus and given me a new sense of healthy brokenness in my heart. Here’s a classic verse on brokenness and some thoughts as we all try and drink some new wine in ’09 (let’s not whine!).

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Ps. 51:17

Humility, daily dying to self and the world, giving of ourselves--this is such an important word for today--greed is the god of this age; personal gain and security are most people’s goal and motivation.

Glorification of self is popular even in the church—self help and success has replaced humility--we have drifted so far from the cross! Please understand I am not talking about being broken-hearted—crushed by sorrow or grief. Some friends in Israel sent me this comparison between brokenness and being wounded that is very helpful. They say one of the biggest problems in the church today is that we are not so much broken, pliable people as we are wounded people.

So, how do we know when we are wounded instead of broken? Here are a few comparisons to consider:
+When wounded, I focus on myself and on my inner pain.
+When broken, I focus on the cross and on Jesus, and I am not so aware of my own pain.
+When wounded, I find it difficult to forgive others, God, and/or myself.
+When broken, I am aware of and accept God’s mercy toward me, and in gratitude, I extend it freely to others.
+When wounded, I am too preoccupied with inner turmoil to see the needs of others.
+When broken, I am free of self so that I am easily sensitive to the needs of others. [Phil 2:3-4]
+When wounded, I am self-protecting, usually unwilling to risk further pain.
+When broken, I want the best for others, and am willing to sacrificially love and serve them. [1 Thess. 2:8]
+When wounded, my goal is a painless life, free of suffering—‘I don’t want to hurt anymore!’
+When broken, my goal is Jesus at all costs [Phil 3:7-10]…even if further pain is involved.


Brokenness has to do with giving not getting--it has to do with embracing sacrifice--with emptying ourselves and being tender before God. I pray for you, my spiritual sons and daughters that the ministry will never become simply a profession or way of life. I pray it will be a reflection of your character and life with Jesus. Let’s keep it real.

Love you,
Papa G.

Drink New Wine in '09 (Cheezy, I know!)

We kicked off our annual Week of Prayer and I am massively encouraged! Terry Austria our college pastor did a super job with the message yesterday and we have Kristi Northup here who did worship yesterday morning in all the services, last night in our opening prayer rally and will tonight in our prayer service.

As our church has grown I have witnessed apathy in our people when it comes to corporate prayer. This has been a great concern to me. When we ran four to five hundred we used to get 120-150 to show up for prayer meetings. And back then we did them weekly! Then we would pray for 1 1/2 hours and the time would fly by!

Over the past couple of years our attendance has grown to about 1400 in weekend services but in our monthly prayer meetings we have only seen 60 to 70 attend. Sad and very disheartening for me. Once in the summer I pushed really hard and we had about 120 but that was mainly due our Francophone Pastor, Guy Lombella who motivated many of our Congolese members to attend.

But last night we had 206 in prayer and this morning early 41! I am so encouraged! I have often said it is easy for young ministers to learn how to conduct culturally relavent services, do baptisms, weddings, funerals and so on--the things we do as pastors. But very few pastors including those who have been around a long time (like me) know how to run a prayer meeting. There are usually two extremes to prayer meetings: [a] Too wild and crazy. [b] Too dull and boring. We have to somehow find balance.

Here is a practical outline with some thoughts for my sons and daughter that I hope is a real help to you as you lead God's people. We will be held accountable on how we lead the church. May God give you grace is my prayer:

Prayer Meeting Outline and Thoughts

-Open with scripture and prayer
-Worship
-Identificational repentance
-Missions offering
-Short devotional thought on prayer!
-Go to prayer
(Interrupt as the HS directs)
-Come together at the end
-Sing hymns/songs
-Communion
-Stand in circle (Those with needs step to middle, have people stand in for missionaries, etc., have others lay hands on them and pray, someone (you) lead out in prayer over mic.

(We use to go 1 ½ hours & time really flew! Now about an hour is what most people can handle.)

{Thoughts to share with your people}
1. We have come here to pray. Not just talk about prayer, although guidance is important. Not just worship, although worship is part of it.

2. We have come to intercede. Intercession is giving/a dying to ourselves. This means we have not come to receive although we will. But our motive is to give ourselves. We are not here to figure out prayer, we are here to be used by God.

3. We do have responsibility to requests. But we also need to be and want to be led by the HS. This means I may at times interrupt your praying.

4. Important, practical things:
*You are not here to have personal devotions. Personal devotions are usually meditative and quieter.

*We are not going to be overly emotional but you may find yourself getting distracted become someone is praying with more emotion than you. Important to remember this is a corporate praying meeting and not a private prayer time.

*We are engaging in spiritual warfare. When you are in battle things sometimes get noisy. You still have an individual job to do but you fight along side the rest of your troops. So don’t use someone else as an excuse for not ‘getting into prayer.’

*Focus; cry out to God with more intensity. He wants us all to grow and be stretched in the area of prayer. Folks who are always loud need to be quieter. And folks who are always quiet need to probably be louder.

*Move around. If you get bored or tired change your position for a few minutes! Do not be inhibited (fervent prayer). Take a break (lobby, water, etc.) then refocus and come right back.

*Perseverance – there is always a place in prayer whether it is private or corporate that you need to breakthrough. When you feel bored, or drained, or distracted that is the very place God wants to breakthrough – persevere right there – maybe change your body posture and go after God more.

This is God’s heart--Jesus said, “My house shall be called a House of Prayer for the Nations.” We are here to pray God’s interests and God’s heart. Let’s go for it.