Reaching Owasso

Missionary Training Ministry - Day 2

2010-03-03T21:53:00.005-06:00

It was another great day of sessions and preaching. Here are a few quotes and highlights from the day...

How To Grow A Loving Church - Allen Hagood

The Associated Press came out with a study a few years ago that concluded the #1 characteristic of growing churches was love.
We need to be genuine.
Love has to be sincere.
Love does not wear a mask.
We've got to be real.
If we're going to grow a loving church we've got to take the mask off.
We get so used to wearing a mask we forget we have it on.
We need to care about other people.
When a group of people sincerely love each other lost people are attracted to that.
In Romans 12:10 "brotherly love" is the ability to live close together with mutual respect.
We should see each other (Hebrews 10:24).
We need to be contagious in our enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm means, "In God."
We should be on fire for the Lord.

How To Plant An Indigenous Church - Lynn Raburn

Christ commanded His churches to send missionaries from their midst into all the world.
The Biblical example of a church is one that is independent, autonomous, and indigenous.
Indigenous means native or belonging to host culture.
Our goal should be to plant a church that will be scriptural, culturally appropriate, independent, and reproductive.
We need to christianize not americanize.
Buildings should be culturally appropriate.
If you have "blood" and "sweat" equity in a building you will appreciate it.
Schedule of services should be culturally appropriate.
Worship should be culturally appropriate.
Personal lives must be lived for Christ.
We should not be guilty of "cultural imperialism." Don't thrust our culture on churches in other nations.
National pastors will know the language, identify with people, and be more likely to train a successor.
Teach people to give and tithe.
Teach people the result of giving.
Teach people to rely on God.
An indigenous church validates the independence of the local church.

Missionary Pre-Flight - Lynn & Brenda Raburn

Leave well by saying good-bye to people and places.
Arrive well by having someone pick you up at the airport.
God is to loving to be unkind and to wise to make a mistake.
Don't make a life changing decision while going through culture shock.
At 3 months and 1 year the grief process will spike while on the foreign mission field.
Serving God is so much more than stuff.
Be teachable.
Be flexible.
"Lord what did I do to deserve this" can be stated in a negative way on arrival and a positive way a few years later.

Significance - Robert Frances

God delights in diversity.
We have a passion to be significant.
I don't want to be alive. I want to live.
Don't you want to make a difference?
We want to go around the world to impact.
Henry David Thoreau said, "When it's time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived."
I don't want to leave this world without making an impact.
Some great bible characters that made an impact were Abraham, David, Luke, John and Paul yet one of the most significant was least important - Mary (Luke 1:26)
I'm concerned we don't know God hasn't called us to make a splash and be a celebrity.
Do what calls us to do . Sometimes at the forefront where everyone notices and sometimes behind the scenes where no one cares.
We've made the cause of Christ about meeting my individual needs instead of playing our roles.
There is no big ministry and no little ministry. It is simply playing the role God has for me.
No one praised Mary in her lifetime one little bit.
We have to be willing to obey in the midst of obstacles.
I don't think anyone who is being used significantly ever feels like they know what they are doing.
Our sufficiency is in Christ.
If you are not afraid please leave the ministry. You are about to hurt a lot of people.
2 dangers in the ministry I'm learning are: 1) I listen to the praise of men to much. 2) I listen to the criticism of men to much.
If we want to be used of God we have to be ready for him to color outside the lines.
You have your life designed for the easy. God has your life designed for his glory.
God can change everything tomorrow.
God can move in ways you never dreamed.
God can make you say, "Wow, how'd you do that!"

Missionary Training Ministry

2010-03-02T23:25:00.001-06:00

Here are a few quotes and thoughts from some of the sessions today at the World Missions Seminar.

Missed Messages Of The Great Commission - Lynn Raburn

We have power.
We don't recognize the power we've been given...don't miss it.
If we draw boundaries and don't reach certain people groups we will answer to the God of heaven for why we didn't follow our marching orders.
The commission would send the disciples a great distance and to a variety of people.
We have no excuse to not be doing what God has called us to do.
An intricate part of the great commission is church planting.
We must participate in evangelism.
If you go to a people group and evangelize and don't plant a church, you will have to come back and evangelize in a generation.
If we don't plant churches we have not fulfilled the great commission.
God told the disciples in the commission he would always be with them and then he left.
Jesus left so he could stay.
We're not alone.

Areas Of Consideration When Sending A Missionary To The Field - Jerry Chandler

Is there clear evidence of God's call?
Is there clear evidence of an intimate relationship with God?
Does he acknowledge God in all things?
A missionary should meet the qualifications laid out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6.
Missionaries can face change, danger, family concerns, financial concerns, language barriers, health concerns, and cultural restrictions.
The Missionary should be able rightly divide the Word (2 Timothy 2:15)
The Missionary should be able to bring others to spiritual maturity(2 Timothy 2:2)
The missionary needs sufficient physical health to satisfy the demands of the tasks of the mission field.
Health care on the foreign field is many times not as good as in the U.S.

3 Characteristics Of The Heart Of A Missionary - Joe Morrell

The missionary attitude (Acts 20:18)
The missionary approach (Acts 20:20)
The missionary appeal (Acts 20:21-22)

The Furtherance Of The Gospel - Randy Cloud

Take your eyes off circumstances and put them on Jesus.
There is no defeat in Jesus.
The adversities of this life were sent with a God inspired purpose.
The key to advancing the gospel is the right attitude.
The word gospel is used 6 times in Philippians chapter 1.
Without the blood of Christ there is no salvation, redemption, or forgiveness of sin.
It is the bad news that makes the good news, good news.
The 11th commandment is, "Thou shalt not belly ache."
Rather than hinder the gospel Paul's circumstances furthered the gospel.
Paul was consumed by the message of Christ.
Evangelism is the center and circumference of all we do.
There is alot of joking about hell but hell is no joke.

Sunday In Review

2010-02-21T16:17:00.005-06:00

Continued our series in Philippians - Experiencing Joy. Here are a few thoughts...

Preached Philippians 4:10-13
Loved seeing guest come back for the 2nd time.
We finish up "Experiencing Joy" next week.
We live in a culture that is obsessed with stuff.
We need to learn to be content.
Paul doesn't give the church at Philippi a bunch of churchy (I know that probably isn't a word) talk. He was teaching on what he had experienced!!
The strength of our contentment is Christ.
Is it possible we compare our marriages, families, cars, homes, vacations, and bank accounts with other people because Jesus isn't enough for us.
When we are content we are neither obsessed with the best possessions of life nor overwhelmed during the worst circumstances of life.
More people jumped in to help during tear down after the service....Thank you!!
Hopefully we will have a "Love Your Neighbor" Sunday March 14th.
Asked people to volunteer for the Egg Drop.

Experiencing Joy During Rescue

2010-01-27T23:15:00.004-06:00

In the sermon Sunday I referenced the joy on the face of a little boy rescued from the rubble in Haiti last week. Here is the video. You see him experience joy as he lifts his hands up like a champion.

Sunday In Review

2010-01-27T12:38:00.007-06:00

Had a great Sunday at Lifepoint. Here are a few thoughts...

Continued our teaching series called, Experience Joy. Talked about experiencing joy in decision.
There is safety to be found in our rejoicing.
False teaching and false teachers are dangerous.
We can't begin a relationship with God through our inheritance or accomplishments.
Even the best things I would do are like garbage when they are compared to Jesus.
When we trust Christ it changes our perspective on EVERYTHING!!
To have a relationship with God we need faith...in JESUS.
We sang the hymn "He set me free." I love songs that teach us about Jesus!!
If we get a few more families in the theater we might need to move to a bigger theater. That would be AWESOME!!

Sunday In Review

2010-01-18T17:21:00.005-06:00

Here are some thoughts from Sunday:

Jimmy Hammond preached about experiencing joy in sacrifice.
We looked at the example of Timothy and Epaphrodidus and the sacrifices they made as they served God.
Received an offering to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.
One of our new members brought her parents to church with Sunday.
I found out 19 teens came out for the "Youth Bowling Night" Saturday evening...WOW!!

Vision Dinner

2010-01-14T22:19:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday we had our 2nd Annual Vision Dinner. A special thank you goes out to everyone who helped prepare food, decorate, setup and everything else it took to pull it off. We have the greatest volunteers ever!! We looked back at what God did in 2009 and laid out some goals for 2010. If you missed the dinner you can still experience it through pictures below.

Sunday In Review

2010-01-13T20:43:00.006-06:00

Here are some thoughts from Sunday...

Talked about 3 distractions that keep us from accomplishing our mission.
We are sent on a mission.
70% of our city is unchurched. There is a critical need for the gospel to be shared.
We are here to help people move from where they are to where God wants them to be.
I Preached Nehemiah 6:1-14.
If we want to complete God's mission we can't come off the wall and go do something else.
We have to say NO to any distractions!!
We can't afford to be distracted. There is to much at stake.
A family was there that hadn't been to Lifepoint since our launch service a year ago. It was awesome to see them again.
Another family didn't know there was a church that was meeting in the theater. They came to see a movie in a different theater. Our greeters were on their toes and invited them to come on in before their movie started....they did!! I hope we'll see them again next Sunday.
Great attendance.
After the service someone told me the sermon was an answer to prayer. I love how God uses scripture to speak to the heart of people.
More people jumped in and helped with tear down after the service.
We sang God Of The City. I love that song.
Our second ever Vision Dinner was Sunday Night....more details and pics in a later post.

My Bible Journey

2010-01-11T13:28:00.004-06:00

Deuteronomy 13:4 We need to be Faithful.
Deuteronomy 14:29 We have to be generous and care about people.
Acts 3:3-4 Make sure and LOOK at people. Slow down, make eye contact, and talk to people.
Acts 3:12 Give God the credit!!
Acts 3:19-21 Change your mind about Jesus and be filled with new life in Christ. This message has been spoken since the world began.
Acts 4:2 There won't always be a positive response when we tell people how awesome Jesus is.
Acts 4:10 It's ALL about Jesus.
Acts 4:12 Salvation is available ONLY through Jesus.
Acts 4:29 We need to pray for boldness.
Acts 4:32 What a difference unity makes...People are cared for.

Sermon Preparation

2009-12-29T23:15:00.005-06:00

I'm always interested in how sermons are presented and thought out. Months ago, I heard a pastor talking about sermon structure. I don't remember who it was but I scribbled these questions/statements down on a piece of paper and just came across it again yesterday.

What does Scripture say?
What does it mean?
How or why do we resist it?
Predict in what ways we would resist and disarm them.
How does this apply to our mission?

If you are a preacher/pastor what does your sermon look like? What are some questions you answer?

Sunday In Review

2009-12-27T22:44:00.006-06:00

Despite the ice and snow we had our Sunday Service this morning. Here are some thoughts...

The morning started out with some challenges. I got a call that the back door to the theater was frozen and there person who went to pick up the trailer was stuck in the snow.
By 8:30 a.m. everyone had arrived...and the trailer. We were 45 minutes behind schedule but with some extra help everything was set up on time...barely.
We had someone with sound experience come help us run the sound board. It sounded great!! I hope this is a weekly occurrence.
The nursery and preschool environments were combined.
The parking lot wasn't graded so it was...shall we say VERY slippery. Lots of curbside drop-offs.
We had 9 first first-time guests. This was quite a surprise!!
Made an announcement for more Lifepoint Kids volunteers.
Set-up team did a great job pulling everything off.
I preached about experiencing joy in humility from Philippians 2:3-11.
Nothing should be done with a heart of rivalry or pride.
Jesus is our example of humility.
We will all experience humility. We confess Christ is Lord in this life and receive salvation or we will confess Jesus is Lord at judgment and receive condemnation. We have this life to trust Christ as Savior.

Christmas Parade

2009-12-12T20:05:00.009-06:00

Today was the Owasso Christmas Parade. A big thank you to all the Lifepoint volunteers. Whether you built the float, taped candy to cards, or walked in the cold. YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!! Around 1500 invite cards were handed out!

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Magnification

2009-12-10T00:37:00.005-06:00

I've been thinking about magnification. We understand magnification happens when we look through a microscope, telescope, or camera lens. We know what we are looking at becomes larger. Why do we need things magnified?

1. Something is to small.
2. We need to see the details about an object.

In Philippians 1:20 Paul makes a statement that he wants, "Jesus to be magnified in his body". How does that apply to us? Why would Jesus need to be magnified?

1. Our view of Jesus is to small.
2. We need to see the details about Jesus.

How can you magnify Jesus?

Big 12 Championship Game

2009-12-08T15:05:00.002-06:00

I didn't get to watch the whole game but I did see this play. I just love this tackle. If you can call it a tackle. Suh takes McCoy and just tosses him...impressive.

Sunday In Review

2009-12-07T23:00:00.005-06:00

Here are some thoughts from Sunday...

Continued our series - "Experiencing Joy" This week we talked about experiencing joy in death. I know it sounds discouraging but the Bible gives us great encouragement even when facing death.
In scripture we see the reason for death.
Did you know 150,000 die every day....most of them without faith in Christ?
Our attitude can be that if we live or die we want Jesus to be magnified.
What if we lived Philippians 1:21?
If we suffer it shouldn't surprise us.
I saw many people in conversation and connecting after the service.
Sunday night we had our first ever progressive dinner for FSN (First Sunday Night). Thank you to the three host families. It was a blast.
I love our church.

Bible Study

2009-12-03T00:34:00.003-06:00

Great Bible Study tonight. Here are some highlights:

Jimmy did a great job facilitating discussion and bringing out some great application of Philippians 1:3-8.
He did an activity where everyone listed things they were thankful for about every person in the room and then he read them out loud. It sounds corny but it worked great. It was one of the funniest and encouraging things we've done at a midweek Bible Study.
The word awesomeness is now an official Lifepoint word to me.
There was also surprise birthday cake provided by the Powell family. Chocolate cake really makes any Bible study better in my opinion.

Sunday In Review

2009-12-01T11:55:00.005-06:00

It was week #3 in our series - Experiencing Joy. Here are some thoughts.

We talked about experiencing joy in loneliness.
We are wired for relationship.We desire to communicate and relate to other people.
I shared some statistics about how we are spending less time with people than we were 25 years ago.
Paul while in prison was separated from friends and he lived a restricted life.
It's interesting how we see his joy towards the church at Philippi even in a situation that might seem like it is beyond hope.
When you consider the reason for Paul's joy we see his care for the church at Philippi... we also see he mentions Jesus no less than 6 times in verses 1-11.
Attendance was down a little because of families traveling over the holiday weekend.
The elementary students were in the service with us.
We met Sunday night to discuss buying some land. I love Lifepoint's commitment to our mission.

Baptisms

2009-11-30T13:43:00.001-06:00

Two weeks ago we had a baptism service. Since we meet at the Owasso 10 Theater we had to borrow a baptistry from another church. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church was kind enough to let us use theirs. It was an awesome night. Here are some pictures of the baptisms.

2009-11-20T10:53:00.008-06:00

We kicked off a new series in Philippians last week. We are going to learn and see examples of how we can experience joy regardless of our current circumstance.

Week 1: Joy In Uncertainty
Week 2: Joy In Suffering
Week 3: Joy In Loneliness
Week: 4: Joy In Death
Week 5: Joy In Humility
Week 6: Joy In Temptation
Week 7: Joy In Conflict
Week 8: Joy In Exhaustion
Week 9: Joy In Anxiety
Week 10: Joy In Poverty

Sunday In Review

2009-11-19T09:23:00.006-06:00

We had a great day Sunday. Here are some thoughts...

We kicked off a new teaching series - Experiencing Joy.
Looked at Paul's 2nd Missionary Journey - Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke.
Sometimes we forget that even an apostle, writer, church planter, etc... didn't know where to go.
We make plans. We may decide this is where we would like to go next but....God may change our plans. We need to be ready for God to move in our life and if necessary get uncomfortable.
God sends this mission team to Philippi and they end up getting thrown in prison. Living for God won't always be easy...at times it may be flat out difficult. Hang in there. God sees beyond our current circumstance.
The mission team has been beaten, their feet are in stocks. It's midnight....they pray and sing. They experience joy in the midst of uncertainty - what a response!!
We had a really good crowd Sunday.
I've never been in the Lifepoint Kids' environments during class but every week I hear kids talking about how great their class was.
I love watching more and more people jump in and help break everything down each week.

Sunday In Review

2009-11-02T16:02:00.004-06:00

Great Sunday @ Lifepoint. Here are a couple thoughts:

Jimmy preached about David from 1 Samuel before he confronts Goliath.
Dustin and Barry lead one of the best times of worship we've had since Lifepoint began. It may have made a difference that Jimmy Hammond was right behind me singing like each song was his last.
The Eby family came for church membership.
We tied our attendance record. It is the second time in 4 weeks we have had over 50 people in our Sunday Service...very exciting.
As Collin and I welcomed people at the front door at one point I looked across the crowd of people that was making their way to the "theatuary." I just thought, "Thank you God for these people and what you are doing in our church."
We had the 2nd annual hayride Sunday night. Around 40 people showed up and we had a blast together.

To Do List

2009-10-20T14:13:00.004-05:00

Last night around midnight I was writing a few things down that I needed to make sure and get done. I have several things that need my attention for an outreach coming up. I need to finish Sundays sermon, I need to check on my mom, etc. While I was thinking (I know working without tools) Collin woke up and walked into where I was working and asked if he could get a snack before he went back to bed. Wanting to be the cool dad I said, "you bet." Well he came back in where I was working with his pop tart (don't judge me) and asked what I was doing. I told him I was trying to think of some things I needed to get done tomorrow. Being the great kid he is he began to try and help me. He asked me if I had "eat ice cream" on my list? I told him I didn't but I would write it down. A few minutes later he told me not to forget to add "play football with Collin." I did.

I pray I never forget Collin is my greatest discipleship responsibility, and his love for God always stays at the very top of my to do list. (Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 6:5-7).

Sunday In Review

2009-09-15T16:08:00.007-05:00

Great day on Sunday. Here are some thoughts about the day:

We kicked off a new series - Questions.
We answered the question: Why did Jesus have to die?
Because we have a substitute we can have redemption. Because there is redemption we can be reconciled to God.
When Jesus died on the cross it didn't take God by surprise. The death of Christ has always been part of God's plan. (1 Corinthisans 5:3, Acts 2:23)
When Jesus died it wasn't that it was taken but he GAVE his life. Because He gave His life we can receive LIFE.
One family joined Lifepoint at the end of the service.
Some of the Lifepoint Kids sang a song during the service.You can check it out below. The performance track recorded a little loud but it is still awesome.
Lifepoint went to South Lakewood for their evening service. It was great to share a meal with our sending church.

Questions Starts Sunday

2009-09-09T11:54:00.005-05:00

Here is a snapshot of the the new series kicking off THIS Sunday. We are going to look at 3 QUESTIONS over the next 3 weeks. Here's the schedule:

September 13: Why Did Jesus Have To Die?
September 20: Is The Bible Reliable?
September 27: Does God Exists?

Invite someone to come with you as we spend some time answering these questions. Make a phone call, send an email, send an e-invite, and extend an invitation this week.

Sunday In Review

2009-09-08T16:56:00.013-05:00

It was a great day at Lifepoint. Here are some thoughts:

We are between sermon series. I preached on being being prepared for God to move in our life.
Looked at a portions of Saul's life and how Saul thought he was looking for donkeys when God was choosing a king.
Do we expect God to use us? Do we trust God to enable us? Do we lead as God instructs us? These are all questions that we find in Saul's life and we ALL need to answer.
We had 3 first-time guest with us.
One person was saved right after the service!!
Gene Davis shared his testimony with us. It was incredible. It is worth 15 minutes of your time. You can check it out below.
I'm amazed at how good the sound quality is in our sound system even though we are portable. Brian and David did a great job on Sunday.
Can't wait for next week.