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Monthly Archives: May 2012

You and Your Whole Household

21 May

What an amazing day yesterday for VALLEY Christian Church. We’re in week six of our REAL Marriage campaign and God continues to shower blessings upon our church. Not only do we continue to hear incredible stories of God healing and restoring broken marriages, but we also baptized 36 followers of Jesus Christ last night! This is an astonishing number considering that only 2% of churches in the USA grew last year due to having even a single convert to Christ (Translation: 98% of churches in the USA did NOT see a single person accept Christ last year)! That being said, the most mind-blowing fact to me was seeing so many follow Christ’s example and commandment to be baptized (after repenting of sin and receiving forgiveness because of the cross), and so many whole families and generations baptized!

We saw husbands and wives, children, aunts and engaged couples all follow Christ’s commandment in baptism. As I stood and watched this remarkable display of families being transformed by their new found faith in Christ, the words of Scripture from Acts 16 echoed in my mind:

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. Acts 16:31-32

What an inspiring sight to see whole family trees transformed through the power of the Gospel! Two of the couples baptized are engaged to be married over the next few weeks. What a way to start a marriage! Every week just gets better and better with Jesus Christ and the VALLEY Family. I can’t wait to see all that God does this week.

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2012 in Church Growth, Family, Marriage, Parenting, Preaching, relationships

 

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Reflections On 22 Years Of Ministry

18 May

This Sunday, May 20th, marks the 22nd anniversary of the day I was ordained as a pastor at VALLEY Christian Church. It also represents another milestone in my life, I’ve now been a pastor for half of my life (ordained at age 22). The journey over the years has been a growth and learning experience to say the least. As the 22nd anniversary is approaching, here are a few reflection and thoughts:

  1. The person you marry will have more to do with ministry success or failure than any college/seminary professor will ever tell you. I LOVE MY WIFE!!!
  2. Spiritual Leadership is about personal growth as a Follower of Christ. If you’re not growing daily in your relationship with Him, you’ll never be able to lead anyone else.
  3. Ministry is all about Jesus, not about you. Lose sight of Him, and pride quickly fills in the vacuum.
  4. You can’t want it more for someone than they want it for themselves. Having experienced many “wins” over the years, it’s crazy how clearly every “lose” is vividly remembered.
  5. The greatest sin of pastors is maintaining and playing it safe.
  6. Pastors who are “people pleasers” should find a different line of work.
  7. Put your wife and children ahead of ministry, you’ll never regret it and your ministry will have a much greater impact.
  8. To be an effective pastor, you must be “thick skinned”.
  9. When we truly follow Jesus, we will experience much of the same experiences he did. He’s not just our example, he’s also our navigator, healer, counselor and friend.
  10. Perseverance is one of the most overlooked Christian virtues.
  11. There are very few people who start with you, who can accompany you all the way on the journey. When you find someone who can, you have found a true friend.
  12. Empowering someone else is more gratifying than receiving praise for personal accomplishments.
  13. A pastor’s children reflect more accurately who they are than their ministry or church does.
  14. Real leaders produce leaders, not followers.
  15. At the end of the day, every honest pastor knows deep down, that every success, accomplishment, achievement, was because of God’s grace and had very little to do with him personally. It’s just Jesus following through with his promise, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).

After 22 years, I can whole-heartedly say, there’s nothing else in this world I’d rather do than pastor! I can’t wait for the next 22 years! -GW

 
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Posted by on May 18, 2012 in Church Growth, Family, Leadership, Marriage, Parenting, Preaching

 

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Big Baptism!

14 May

Excited to hear the news yesterday that we have 34 now signed-up to be baptized at our special Water Baptism Gathering on May 20th at 6pm! In our 11am gathering yesterday, I took some extra time to explain the powerful picture of forgiveness found in baptism. If you’d like to hear the message click HERE.

If you haven’t been baptized since making the decision to become a follower of Christ, you can sign-up HERE. We have a required information class for all those being baptized on the 20th that will give each person added understanding and information about this important act of obedience in walking out their faith in Christ. In the meantime, here are a few points about Water Baptism that may prove helpful:

1. The Standard: The biblical pattern is to repent of one’s sin, receive Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross as payment for sin, and be water baptized as soon as possible afterwards.  (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16, Acts 10:47-48, Romans 6:4)

2. The Source: The practice of baptism by immersion is commanded by the Scriptures. All who repent and believe on Christ as Savior and Lord are to be baptized. They declared to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life.

3. The Symbolism: Water Baptism is an outward act that symbolizes an inner work of salvation.

4. The Significance: We are free from the power of sin. We now have the power to say “yes” to God and “no” to sin.  We are declaring that we are new creations in Christ.

 
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Posted by on May 14, 2012 in Church Growth

 

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Test Time

08 May

This past Saturday, I met with the Elders and Deacons of VALLEY Christian Church and gave them a simple five question test. It was not only to evaluate what they knew, but it was also an examine for me, as the Lead Pastor, to see if I was indeed fulfilling one of the main roles of  my job as a pastor.

Here are the five questions they were asked,

According to the Bible,

1. What is The Gospel?

2. What is Repentance?

3. What is Justification?

4. What is Regeneration?

5. What is Sanctification?

This was a great test for me and my leadership (and preaching) as well as those who took the test. Although these words are very theological, they are also Biblical and doctrinal. Teaching and preaching these truths are a major responsibility of every pastor (see 1 Tim. 1:2-4, 1 Tim. 1:9-11, 1 Tim. 4:6, 1 Tim. 6:2-4, Titus 1:8-10, Titus 2:1-3, Titus 2:9-11, Hebrews 6:1-3). How would you do on this test (Each answer is worth 20pts each)? If you’re a pastor, I encourage you to consider giving this exam to some of those placed in your care. You may be surprised to see the results. Either way, it’ll help to keep us focused on what the Scripture exhorts Christians to focus on.

If we don’t know what the Gospel is and what salvation really is, can we really be making disciples of Jesus Christ?

 
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Posted by on May 8, 2012 in Leadership, Preaching, Staff

 

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