An unforgiving spirit poisons the community in which it lives, and an unforgiving, forgiven person becomes an open scandal. Such people destroy the churches, the marriages, the families, and the friendships in which they live.

Jesus obviously believed that forgiveness, both from God and from other people, is one of them most significant issues in human life. He talked about it directly and often; gave His life to make it possible, and taught His people that they were not only forgiven, they were also to be forgiving.

Let’s join Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, as he takes us through another one of those life-stretching conversations about forgiveness with Peter and discover three challenges along the road to becoming a forgiving person.

As men and women filled the altar in response to Pastor Matt’s challenge at Pacific Baptist Church, we hope you, too, prayed that prayer to …

(1)  Confess your past reluctance / unwillingness to forgive specific people.

(2)  Confess the names of the people you have yet to forgive.

(3)  Confess the pain and the hurt they have put you through.

(4)  Forgive those people anyway, in obedience to the command of Jesus, trusting him that he is wiser and wants the best for your life.

It is our sincere hope and prayer that you will take the next steps in the faith by getting into a small group of believers and digging into the Bible through group study.

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional which targets the purpose of Magnification or Worship.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

The devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

Eagles In Leadership and Bible Believers Christian College and Seminary Are Announcing A Summer Term 2012 Course

God’s Church in Man’s City

Understanding and Deploying a Biblical Church in an Urban Community

Mondays, 6.30 – 9.30 pm

June 11 – August 13, 2012

Course Description: Practical Ecclesiology introduces you to the subjects of the Universal Church and the local church; examines the biblical texts forming the basis for the creation, purpose, functions and goals of the Church and local churches; analyzes and differentiates what is biblical and what is cultural in our understanding of the local church; identifies the basic ingredients of what makes a local church; examines what the Scriptures say regarding the qualifications, functions and structures of church leadership and applies these truths to the urban context of Los Angeles County.

Registration Is Now Open

For This Class to be Offered at:

Bible Believers Christian College and Seminary

4081 W. El Segundo Blvd.
Hawthorne, CA 90250

Contact: Dr. Steven Davis, Dean or Dr. Matthew Smith, Professor

Phone: 323.779-2222

Biblical Training for Today’s Urban Christian Leader

These courses are designed for the serious Bible student:

Pastors, Ministers, Evangelists, Teachers, Deacons, Deaconnesses, Chaplains, Missionaries, etc.

Professor: Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, Ph D, Professor

Bible Believers Christian College and Seminary

Schedule: June 11 – August 13 (10 weeks), Mondays, 6.30 – 9.30 pm

RSVP – ASAP! Space is limited!

Tuition: Full Credit Course (3 accredited, transferrable units)

At an affordable cost: $150. Includes registration fee and course.

A $20 materials fee will also be expected on the first night of class.

Take the course Urban Leadership also and

get both courses for $275 instead of $300 – a $25 discount!

For more information on: Bible Believers Christian College and Seminary

Among the many places we will see and the many things we will do, we will have an opportunity to pray at the Western Wall of the Temple site, known more popularly as “the Wailing Wall.”

On our last trip when I finished praying, an older gentleman, an Orthodox Jew, asked me if I was Jewish. When I responded, “No, I am a Gentile who believes King Solomon’s words in 2 Chronicles 6:32–33 (HCSB):

“Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your great name and Your mighty hand and outstretched arm: when he comes and prays toward this temple, may You hear in heaven in Your dwelling place, and do all the foreigner asks You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do and know that this temple I have built is called by Your name.”

The man began to weep! He thanked me for coming and asked God to grant my prayers as well!

Melodee and I want to invite you to join us on this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime trip. Don’t miss this opportunity! God wants to transform your life like He has done to us!

This is a 10-day trip leaving February 18th, 2013. We have made it easy for you to join us with a choice of departures cities across the country: You can choose to leave from Los Angeles, Chicago or New York.

Details and a brochure with all the details are located at this link. We encourage you to get your deposit in while space is still available!

Melodee and I are here to answer all of your questions! You can email us at: pastormatt [@] eaglesinleadership.org

We look forward to praying with you in Israel in February!

Welcome to the Transformed podcast.

We cannot accomplish God’s dream for our church until we learn to forgive and forget the offenses of others.

One of the closest men to Jesus tells us today there are 7 key understandings about forgiveness and it’s linkage to fellowship. Once we apply these understandings our fellowship circle will grow and we will enjoy a depth of friendship unheard of among our neighbors.

Let’s listen in as Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, teaches us about forgiveness and fellowship from 1 John 1.

We hope you prayed that prayer to receive the forgiveness of God. If you did, congratulations! It is our sincere hope and prayer that you will take the next steps in the faith by getting into a small group of believers and digging into the Bible through group study.

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional which targets the purpose of Magnification or Worship.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

The devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

We are praying that you would be filled with the love of God so that you can demonstrate His love to the lost and dying in your city! God bless!

We welcome

What is the philosophy of your small group ministry?  Do you have one?  I think that the most fundamental step for every small group ministry is to develop a personalized philosophy of ministry.

Developing a personalized philosophy of ministry is critical because you will be the one defining priorities, determining next steps and defending actions.  Without a personalized philosophy of ministry what you do will be far more driven by the urgent and not the truly important.

Here are some of the core elements of my philosophy of small group ministry:

• Life-on-life is the optimum environment for spiritual growth. I’ve often said that what happens in a worship service is closest in kind to a defibrillator.  A great message and inspiring worship can jump start your heart spiritually, but it’s not permanent change.  It’s temporary.  As soon as you’re in the traffic jam on the way out of the parking lot you’re heart is back to where it was.  What does bring change?  Life on life.  Surgery or therapy happens when the Holy Spirit uses relationships.
• The best delivery system for life-on-life is a small group. Will it work for everybody every time?  No.  But the easiest way to impact the most people is a small group system that is pervasive.
• Interaction is a key to life-change. A smaller version of the worship service (singing together followed by listening to a Bible teacher) is not the ticket.  Facilitated discussion leading to personal application combined with the support and nurture of shared lives leads to life-change.
• Every believer is the relative shepherd to someone (and in most circumstances a group of someones).  The Small Group Connection strategy works because there is a relative shepherd in every group gathered.  The HOST strategy works because when I gather a few of my friends, I tend to be a step or two ahead of the ones I gather.  As my friend Brett says, “I don’t have to be Jesus Junior.  Only a step ahead.”
• Whatever I want to happen at the member level in groups has to be happening in the life of the leader. This is the raison d’être for a coaching structure.  Coaching is only about technique and skill training in the very beginning.  It is almost entirely about life-on-life once a group is beyond 90 days.
• Groups have a life span.  The normal life span of a group is about 18 to 24 meetings.  Groups can meet much longer than that but barring the infusion of new blood and a very proactive leader, groups that continue to meet become more about fellowship and less about transformation.
• Providing life support for dying groups is counter-productive. When I proactively send new members to a dwindling group I am usually keeping alive something that needs something a few new members won’t provide.  Better to build leaders and groups that are intentionally building new relationships outside the group.
• The easiest way to impact a community is through an ever growing network of outward looking groups. With the right curriculum and the right strategy…a church can impact the neighbors and friends of every member.  This is the essence of crowd-to-core.

These are some of the essential pieces of my small group philosophy.  Every group life discussion I have is influenced by this philosophical stance.  As I’ve often said, there is no problem-free solution to anything.  This philosophy produces the set of problems I’d rather have.

What’s your philosophy of small group ministry?  How is it different?

Welcome to the Transformed podcast.

Gary Inrig has said, “Our response to Jesus is the infallible evidence of whether or not we have understood and received forgiveness.”

In our episode today, Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, explores forgiveness when it becomes the theme of a dinner that Jesus is invited to by a local Pharisee.

As we open our Bibles to Luke 7, we discover that attitudes are the fragrance of life and the difference between the religiously superior person and the forgiven spirit are the attitudes you can smell … as we see at the dinner situation Jesus was in. Let’s listen is now as Jesus tells us that how we respond to the forgiveness of Jesus reflects what’s really happened inside of us.

We hope you prayed that prayer to receive the forgiveness of God. If you did, congratulations! It is our sincere hope and prayer that you will take the next steps in the faith by getting into a small group of believers and digging into the Bible through group study.

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional which targets the purpose of Magnification or Worship.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

The devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

We welcome Brandon Cox back today with another insightful article that is sure to encourage and promote servant leadership around the globe! Thanks Brandon for sharing! You can learn more about Brandon at his website.

I just returned from a conference with close to 5,000 attendees, mostly pastors and church planters. The content was incredible and the people who lead it care deeply about the audience. The theme spoke to the soul and the workshops were spot on in terms of practical, helpful advice. In fact, Exponential is probably one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended and I hope to come back.

But like any good conference, there are side effects. Pastors are intriguing creatures who have a tendency to be some of the best at acting and projecting. I conclude this partly out of observation and experience and partly out of empirical data collected from DISC profiles that demonstrates that we have a tendency to adjust to the expectations around us to an extent that becomes difficult to sustain over time, often leading to burnout and emotional wreckage.

I also share it out of my own personal experience. I’m an introvert by nature and I find it easy to retreat into a shell, projecting confidence but feeling on the inside that I’m surrounded by people who couldn’t possibly find me valuable. I’ve learned to combat that lie with the truth of Scripture, basing my self-worth on the assessment Jesus made of me in the garden of Gethsemane. He purposefully went to the cross for me even knowing my faults and failures in advance. He did the same for you.

I want to speak a word of encouragement to Pastors about your value. Listen loudly to these two truths:

1. There are no LARGE churches. Some are smaller than others, but “large” is a relative word we should measure in terms of our actual cultural impact. Until we’ve saturated a community with the gospel and are seeing 90% or more of the population living life in a proper relationship with Jesus, we’ll just assume all churches are still small. I was on staff at Saddleback, a church that saw about 40,000 people this past Easter Sunday, but Orange County has a population of 3 million. Saddleback is small. There are too many people without Jesus and on their way to hell for any of us to boast in our numbers. We’re way behind.

2. There are no SMALL pastors. Stop sizing yourself up according to the relative size of your church. We tend to assume that large churches are led by large pastors, and small churches by small pastors. That’s a lie, from the devil, from the pit of hell. It smells like smoke. It takes a big leader to step before a congregation and shepherd them. A small church absolutely does not equal a small pastor!

I’m not concluding that all pastors are healthy. Yes, there are church leaders who are ego-driven, bigoted, dictatorial, and hypocritical. But assuming you’re in a right relationship with Jesus, you’re not small. Your impact is impossible to calculate and only eternity will show the full extent of the investment you’ve made into people.

You are valuable enough to God to move Him to send His Son Jesus to the cross for you. You are, as Paul put it in 1 Timothy 1:12, “counted worthy” being put into the ministry. You were chosen for the greatest task on the planet – telling others the good news, and your choosing is based entirely on grace so that neither you nor any other pastor on the face of the earth can ever boast in being bigger. In God’s eyes, there are just no small pastors!

As hard as it is to imagine at times, God wants to forgive you!

• I know, there are things you can’t imagine God forgiving in your life.
• I know, some of the things you have done are just too embarrassing to even consider asking for forgiveness about!
• I know, after reading what you have read in the Bible or hearing what you have heard from “Christians” you know God’s opinion of what you’ve done.

And, as a result, you know God wouldn’t want to forgive you.

I would agree with you – if I didn’t understand the road to forgiveness!

In our episode today, Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, explains the three phases on the road to forgiveness with God.

Let’s open our Bible now to Romans 3 and listen in as he teaches God’s Word …

At the end of the podcast Pastor Matt led you in a prayer to receive God’s forgiveness. We hope you prayed that prayer to receive His forgiveness. If you did, congratulations! It is our sincere hope and prayer that you will take the next steps in the faith by getting into a small group of believers and digging into the Bible through group study.

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional which targets the purpose of Magnification or Worship.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

The devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

And now, until next time, we are praying that you would be filled with the love of God so that you can demonstrate His love to the lost and dying in your city! God bless!

As you may know, Melodee and I are leading a tour of Israel in February of 2013. (That’s 10 months from now.) Here’s the link for details: http://eaglesinleadership.org/israel-trip-2013/

As I have been inviting people, a most curious pattern has occurred that recently I took notice of. Let me explain. My initiation goes like this:

“Would love to invite you to Israel with me in 2013! This will be an amazing trip! I know you would be SO transformed. There are hardly words to explain what happens inside when you go. You will NEVER be the same after you go to Israel. (And I am teaching all along the way!) I will be glad to answer ALL your questions.”

“Would you at least pray and ask God this question: ‘Why shouldn’t I go to Israel with Doc?’ and let him answer. I’ll be praying with you! I also have a sample fund raising letter if you would like help there too. Details here: http://eaglesinleadership.org/israel-trip-2013/. Message me with any questions.”

Reponses Reveal the Soul

As I post these via email or Facebook, one group of people, after a period of reflection and consideration reply, “Doc, I’ll pray about that.” The other group, almost immediately, reply, “Sorry Doc, I couldn’t afford that.”

At first I simply took no notice of it. And then, upon further reflection, I realized something: How many times do I simply discount a thing without ever consulting God? I mean, seriously, how did I know I should go on this trip at this time? I did it by faith. You see, I don’t have the money for this trip either yet!

But what if God wanted you to go and you never asked him? We tout pious platitudes like, “Where God guides, God provides!” However, what if God did allow you this [or some other] opportunity and you or I simply dismissed it because, we don’t have money.

A Changed Perspective

“Where God guides, God provides!” Do I believe it? Yes, I do! So, through this process I have come to a fresh approach. When God allows an opportunity to come my way, I say this to Him; Since you have allowed this to come my way, I believe you want me to consider and pray about it. I will plan to go until you say, “No.”

And so, now I take every opportunity as direction for prayer and for work. So, Israel is a go. And I am working to fund this trip because God has given me the opportunity to go. (I even wrote a fund raising letter and will mail those soon as well!) Why? Because I believe that, “Where God guides, God provides!”

What do your actions show you really believe?

Easter is all about forgiveness!

It’s about the proof that God forgives us …

• Despite what we have done
• Despite whom we’ve hurt
• Despite how we’ve treated others
• Despite … ourselves!

Our episode today is from the transcript of God’s own conversation about his “forgiveness plan,” Pastor Matt shares 5 facts about God’s forgiveness as seen from the eternal plan of God.

We hope you enjoy today’s episode as you listen as Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of the Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, lifts our hearts and spirits concerning the intentionality and compassion of God’s love for us.

As the episode concludes we hope you pray the prayer to receive the forgiveness of God and develop a deep and abiding relationship with God.

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional which targets the purpose of Magnification or Worship.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

The devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

And now, until next time, we are praying that you would be filled with the love of God so that you can demonstrate His love to the lost and dying in your city! God bless!

Welcome to a very special edition of the Transformed podcast.

Solomon tells us that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish!”

In our episode today, Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor in El Segundo, California, shares from his heart the vision he believes God is calling the people of Pacific Baptist Church to embrace.

In this emotional and powerful message, Pastor Matt shares how through months of prayer and fasting, God has been and continues to reveal his heart and soul for God’s people there in Pacific.

As we listen in to today’s message, we know you will find the Spirit of God tugging on these same three themes in your life, for they are birthed from the Word of God and the commands of Jesus. So, without further delay, let’s listen as Pastor Matt shares The Decade of Destiny vision with his flock …

Today’s question is, will you accept God’s challenge for your future as well? We hope so!

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, Growing Missional Leaders.

Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.

Growing Missional Leaders …

* Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement for personal and corporate outreach …

* It opens Bible passages – again and again – showing that God’s heart is to bring his lost children home …

* And it provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter -providing the stepping-stones to launching fresh ministry into your community …

Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.

You can order a copy of Growing Missional Leaders from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

Editor’s Note: We welcome our friend Alan Hirsch today. Writing on a most poignant issue today for the Christian leader, Alan has agreed to share this “gem” with us. It will included in his foreword to Lance Ford’s new book

I must admit to been increasingly concerned with the culture of celebrity that surrounds the adulation of many popular Christian leaders in the West.  Aside from the fake, contrived, “heroism” that is embodied in such forms of leadership, to my eyes it looks like it an illegitimate attempt to steal glory from Jesus Himself.  The celebrity is a mere slave to the crowd; he or she needs the crowd as much as they long for a celebrity.  But this is not Christian leadership; it is way too codependent, narcissistic, and emotionally parasitical to be viewed as an extension of genuine discipleship—adherence to Jesus.  Clearly Jesus himself, while willingly serving the people, was never subservient to the crass, consumeristic,  groupthink of the undiscipled crowd.  Neither were any of our great saints and heroes—Paul, Augustine, Patrick, Francis, Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King.  It marks them off as different from the false heroisms of our day.

The second phrase in the Lord’s prayer affirms that God’s name (representing all that He is and signifies) is to be made holy (hallowed) through the obedient actions as His people in every arena of their lives. In other words in biblical worldview, God’s name is hallowed when I do things that cause others to honor and respect God and all that He is to the world.  To hallow the Name is therefore the highest ethical act we can do as believers….it is to bring glory to the One we love through the things that we do.  Its not hard to see that it lies at the heart of worship itself. Our lives must point beyond ourselves to that of the One we serve.  This is the very meaning of Christ-like-ness.  It also lies at the heart to the whole Biblical notion of being a witness. The quality of our lives do matter. In other words people read the message of our lives and God’s reputation is somehow bound up with them.

But implied in this call to hallow the Name is also the possibility of its opposite, what the rabbis call “blaspheming the Name”.   To blaspheme the Name of God is to distort its meaning in the world so that the character and purposes of God are thereby obscured, His glory veiled, and His name cursed by others because of what we as his witnesses do. Blasphemy inverts holiness and makes it inaccessible to others.  Our lives can therefore either hallow or blaspheme the Name. In short, it means bearing fundamentally false witness.  This is a justifiably a horror to all that love God truly.  Leaders, those people whose actions are amplified because of their influence on others, more than anything else are required to live a consistent life worthy of the Name they represent.  If they are not doing this, their acts distort (also in an amplified way) the nature and meaning of the Gospel itself.  God gets the blame when we get it wrong!

Viewed as such, Christian celebrity, especially in that ideological, primadonna-ish, spin-loaded,  cult of self that it embodies, distorts what Jesus essentially stands for and therefore amounts to false witness.  As someone who is involved in many of the forums that could so easily lend themselves to the cultivation of such celebrity, along with it’s false representation of leadership, I have to admit that I can discern in myself a slow but inexorable slide towards pride and conceit. I need to be constantly addressed by the Gospel, called to account by Lord and community, to repent and constantly surrender myself to the call to be an adoring follower of the He who won my salvation through culturally ignominious means—a life of suffering love and a death on cross.

Editor’s Note: Our good friend, Brandon Cox, is planting Grace Hills Church in Northwest Arkansas. As he does, his passion flows into his people and reveals his desire to stay focused on the mission of Jesus. Enjoy this reprint of his recent post, used with Brandon’s permission. You can check out Brandon Cox and his ministry at his website.

Grace Hills Church is eleven Sundays old, officially, and about eight months old, unofficially. And we’re in trouble. If we don’t do something, all of our effort will be in vain and all hope of planting the kind of church Jesus had in mind will be lost.

No, we’re not out of money. God has provided every step of the way. No, we’re not losing people. In fact, we’re seeing new attenders every week. And no, we’re not losing our leaders. We’re seeing new leaders emerge as each week passes. But I still contend that we’re in jeopardy of losing everything important to us… if we don’t fight for it.

Churches do not automatically thrive. The American church, as a local institution, has proven that it can coast along in almost-dead mode for many years. But there are no churches that are effectively reaching and changing their surrounding culture by accident. Recently, Rick Warren wrote a brief piece on Pastors.com about breaking three common barriers to church growth. In the comments, a troubling attitude emerged that is probably not too uncommon among believers in American churches – that growth is up to God (which I wholeheartedly agree with) and so any intentional effort to cause growth is somehow wrong (which I couldn’t disagree with more).

We’ve been having “good Sundays” at Grace Hills, but I’m still very much on guard. In fact, I sometimes find myself troubled at the rising threats against our success, not from any force outside of our fellowship, but from within it. Let me elaborate on some ways I believe the mission is in jeopardy even now…

If we fail to intentionally be the church, we will unintentionally just do church. And that’s true, no matter how much we say we’re going to “be the church.” Doing the Sunday gathering thing is what we’re good at, and even though we spend a lot of time and money on it, it’s still easier than scattering to be the church in our community.

If we fail to intentionally make disciples, we will unintentionally just make fans. I believe in making Jesus famous and bringing people into the enjoyment of His glory, but our mission is more than increasing the popularity of the church. The mission is to help people become reproducing, sold out Jesus-followers.

If we fail to intentionally be authentic, we will unintentionally just perform. I’ve performed before. In fact, I’m a recovering performer and have struggled with an addiction to the approval of others, so admitting my weaknesses is tough, but essential. I no longer trust my autopilot to lead me into genuine authenticity. Being real takes effort, and if we aren’t real, nobody heals.

If we fail to intentionally embrace all people, we will unintentionally play favorites. And the apostle James warned us about the danger of insulting the cross by picking and choosing those with whom we want to do ministry. Rather than hanging out with only the “churchy” people, of our color, of our political persuasion, of our cultural background etc., the gospel itself demands that we purposely break free and seek out new friendships for the gospel’s sake.

If we fail to intentionally be generous, we will unintentionally consume everything. By default, we spend it all, and we tend to spend pretty much all of our resources on ourselves. Churches tend to fall into the trap of sustaining their institutional machinery, maintaining their buildings and budgets, and begging for more volunteers and bigger offerings to keep the snowball rolling. Generosity requires purposeful sacrifice (if we can even use that word in light of the cross).

Grace Hills is in jeopardy of existing for us rather than them. We’re in jeopardy of growing the institution of the church rather than the people of the church. And we’re always in jeopardy of becoming a well-liked brand rather than pointing the culture to the infinite goodness of God.

So what should we do? How do we stop our drift and shift out of autopilot? With focus, intention, and effort, we need to:

• Check our hearts and our motives.
• Remind ourselves of the mission often.
• Repeat the vision regularly.
• Keep Jesus at the center.
• Put people before the organization.
• Do it all with a sense of desperation.

After all, if we fail to take the reins, we’re already as good as dead no matter how long we keep the doors open. So… go.

“Nothing is impossible when we put our trust in God.”

Why? Because Jesus Christ leads us into victory every day – through His Word.

In today’s episode, we look at Jesus’ words to find out what makes a great church!

Every church is made up of individual followers of Jesus.

No church is ever greater than the sum of its parts.

A local body of believers is directly responsible for its own quality before God and the world.

In our episode today, Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of the Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, talks to us about our servant hood – service marked the early church as a compassionate and caring people who were different from the world.

In this practical message, Pastor Matt shows us 7 life-changing attitudes to live out the life of Jesus among the people in our world, everyday.

So let’s open our Bible to Luke 17 and listen in as Pastor Matt begins today’s lesson …

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional that focuses on the truth:

You cannot worship God greatly until He has rescued you mightily.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

This devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the calendar year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

So many times we fail to tell others about the amazing lovingkindness of the Lord for fear! This week, as we have been reading through the Bible, we came across Gideon in Judges 6. He was commissioned by the Lord to remove the oppression tyranny of the Midianites from Israel. But he was afraid. Their dialogue is instructive to us who are called to share Christ with our world …

“The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?”” (Judges 6:14, HCSB)

• God’s mission isn’t dependent upon our strength!

God knows what we can do the way we are. Our task is to move out by faith.

“He said to Him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”” (Judges 6:15, HCSB)

• God’s mission isn’t dependent upon our status!

You don’t need to be a Bible school graduate or a long-time Christ follower to share the benefits you have received from the Lord. All you need to do is tell your story!

““But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.”” (Judges 6:16, HCSB)

• God’s mission is empowered by His presence!

Ultimately, this is the bottom-line. You go, God gives the help and strength. All we have to do is tell people how God has changed our lives. He will convert hearts!

Share your faith this week by sharing your stories of God’s mercy, grace and compassion; not your church stories with church jargon. As the Psalmist says …

“Praise Him for His powerful acts; praise Him for His abundant greatness.” (Psalm 150:2, HCSB)

That’s my take on the mission. I would love to hear yours. Please take a moment and comment below. Thank you!

Pride is resistance to the will of God.

This is the cause of dissension and schism, and it is the reason for “a lack of unity and understanding.”

But in humility, Christ redeemed us and made us one in himself.

If we were made one by his humility, then it will take humility for Christians to develop that unity within the body.

Welcome to the Transformed podcast.

In our episode today, Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of the Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, focuses our attention of the 1^st coming of Jesus.

In this powerful message, Pastor Matt shows us how and why we should imitate his attitudes – thus having the mind of Christ.

So let’s open our Bible to Philippians 2 and listen in as Pastor Matt begins today’s lesson …

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional that focuses on the truth:

You cannot worship God greatly until He has rescued you mightily.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

This devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the calendar year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

Graceless moments.

They have a way of sucking the life right out of us.

They put the clamps on our spirits and keep us from breathing.

Welcome to the Transformed podcast.

In our episode today, Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor of the Pacific Baptist Church in El Segundo, California, reminds us that Christ wants to use my life and yours to bring some of Heaven to earth, into the lives of the people on this planet, in the real realms of our relationships, and in the form of a gift called grace.

So let’s open our Bible to 1 Peter 4 and listen in as Pastor Matt begins today’s lesson …

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional that focuses on the truth:

You cannot worship God greatly until He has rescued you mightily.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

This devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the calendar year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

Welcome to the Transformed podcast.

We pray when we are in trouble, when we are in need.

Like the disciples in the storm, we pray fervently when the storms of life happen in our lives.

Over the course of the past three months, men and women at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, California have found that God does the impossible in response to His people’s passionate prayers!

Lead pastor, Dr. Matthew Smith, reminds us in today’s episode,

“What we have learned is that when we work, we work, but when we pray, God works.”

So why not get your Bible out as we examine five themes from Scripture that confirm the key place of prayer in the body of Christ …

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, In His Presence.

In His Presence is a daily devotional that revolves around the reality:

You cannot worship God greatly until He has rescued you mightily.

It revolves around the Biblical truth, “God welcomes you into His presence with joy and pleasure.”

This devotional follows a reading schedule through the entire book of Psalms over the course of the calendar year.

You can order a copy of In His Presence from Amazon by clicking the book cover on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.

As I downloaded yet another app this week, I thought of the fun and convenience technology has brought to our lives. You know what I mean – apps for finding a great place to eat, mapping your route to your destination, saving at local businesses, reading books and magazines, watching TV shows … not to mention tweeting, posting to Facebook and checking email.

And while all of this makes like easier, I also noticed a trend in the lives of many busy urbanites: Segmenting life and using people like apps.

Think with me about how this works. We used to get together for some relational time over dinner just for a fun time. Now we are in constant contact, reading each other’s news stream as our lives pass by. We start to think, “I wonder how Jane could help me do this?” or “I’ll bet I could get Jim to do this for me.” We seem to be changing friendships into merchandizing opportunities, connections into selfish applications.

Nowhere does this seem to take on more of a dark side than in our relationship with the Lord of the Universe. Someone recently commented on this saying, “Jesus can fix that for you!” At that moment I thought, “Is Jesus our 24/7 concierge? Did Jesus become the new (or old) Siri?

While the Lord Jesus is a friend to sinners and has called us to “ask and you will receive” (John 16:24), the Bible clearly states that he is not an app –

“Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.” (1 John 5:14–15, HCSB)

The bottom line is this: Jesus calls us to promote His kingdom and His agenda. When we choose to do so, there are limitless resources than we can’t even imagine at our fingertips. This week, access the Lord of Grace and Mercy and advance His mission – but remember, He’s not an app; He is Lord.

Each of us longs to know what we can do to help those we love restore their relationships with God. Nehemiah – the Old Testament hero – offers us help and hope.

Dr. Matthew Smith, lead pastor at Pacific Baptist Church of El Segundo, California looks at the 5 actions we can do every day to help those who are giving up God find Him afresh again!

Let’s open our Bibles to Nehemiah 1 and seek to refresh our friend’s faith …

You can take the thought of this message one step further by ordering a copy of Pastor Matt’s book, Growing Missional Leaders.

Growing Missional Leaders is a practical, passionate, Biblical mentoring journey for individuals, small groups, leadership teams and congregations who desire to win their world for Christ.

Growing Missional Leaders …

* Tells stories – of lost opportunities and successes with friends – that give powerful, encouragement for personal and corporate outreach …

* It opens Bible passages – again and again – showing that God’s heart is to bring his lost children home …

* And it provides stimulating discussion questions – at the end of each chapter -providing the stepping-stones to launching fresh ministry into your community …

Believers hungering to reach their world for Christ will be energized by this passionate call to fulfill Christ’s Gospel and the invigorating manner in which their thought processes will be stretched to God-sized proportions.

You can order a copy of Growing Missional Leaders from Amazon by clicking the link on the side panel of the Eagles In Leadership website.