A Song for Every Generation
by Lynn DeShazo
I had a good heart-to-heart talk recently with a seasoned pastor about contemporary worship songs. This man is actually “pastor emeritus” of my home church. Brother Bill, as we call him, went to seminary at a very conservative school, was ordained a Baptist pastor, was deeply impacted by the move of the Holy Spirit known as the Charismatic Movement, and ended up, among other things, on the faculty of Liberty Bible College in Pensacola, Florida. He eventually came to us and pastored seventeen years, then passed the baton of leadership onto our current pastor. He’s seen a lot of things over the years. So I was pleased to have him, as he put it, “bounce a few things off of you”. Here are a few of the issues we batted around a while; see if you can relate to any of them.
Roar of Zion's Lion
by John Betts
There are two lions that are revealed to us in scripture. Revelation 5:5 states, (behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book). I Peter declares that your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour). Joel 3:16 says that (the Lord also shall roar out of Zion).
What is the significance of the lion analogy? What do they represent?
Let’s take a look at what this teaches us. What of the roaring?
There are four reasons that lions roar. They are as follows:
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By: Danny R. Tice
What is the mission of our churches? While in Bible College many years ago, just after the earth’s crust cooled, I came upon a statement by the great English Missionary C.T. Studd. C.T. Studd said “some want to live within the sound of church and chapel bell but I will build a rescue shop just a yard from hell”. Reading that statement as young man deeply impacted my life. That statement became not just a great line to parrot in a sermon, but it became a way of life for me. Reaching the un-churched is my deepest ministerial passion. How can we as ministerial colleagues cast the net for a great harvest in our community?
Reaching the un-churched must be a core value and intrinsic part of our church mission. We reach goals on purpose not by accident. We hit targets by aiming at them. Everyone in our church needs to know why we exist. We exist to engage the lost and bring them to church for conversion and for spiritual development. This primary goal must be written on all the publication material of our churches and it must be articulated and modeled by the Senior Pastor on a consistent basis. You must, as the senior leader of you church, “keep the main thing the main thing”. You do this by keeping your church focused on its primary objective.
You must preach to the people you wish to reach. Have you ever climbed off an airplane in a foreign country and sense the initial shock of being in a place where everyone else spoke a language you didn’t understand? This is often the experience of un-churched Harry and Mary that visits our churches. Our messages must be relevant and understandable. They must pertain to real life issues that the average person faces. Our sermons must be constructed and delivered without being heavily laced with theological words and jargon. In short they must be life changing for people. Reid visited our church years ago and was struggling with his job. My message that Sunday was entitled “Take this job and love it”. The message was on vocational contentment and how to make the most of your current job, even if it isn’t your ultimate dream job. That message hit Reid right between the eyes. I preached that message over ten years ago and Reid has been a part of our church ever since. Julie visited our church as an agnostic. A friend invited her and she came several weeks before she was really hooked on what God was doing in our church. The message I preached that engaged her was entitled “How to be Positive in a Negative World.” Julie had always been a negative person with a deep melancholy personality. The message, on having a positive attitude, made sense to Julie and transformed her from a doubter to a believer. Julie recently told me “I have never left church without feeling uplifted”.
Make it your quest to reach your community with creative communication. It is an adventure that will forever put bounce in your step as you walk to the pulpit to preach each weekend.
Danny Tice - danny@bayshorecc.org
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