Missionary Training Ministry - Day 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.