Category Archives: Family

Blogroll, Church, Creativity, Discipleship, Enlightenment, Evangelism, faith, Family, Fellowship, Friendship, God, grace, Gratitude, Growing, Healing, life, love, Ministry, self improvement, Worship

WHY CHURCH?

The CHURCH is not a building. To think of the church as a building is to limit it in so many different ways. The CHURCH is the physical gathering together of spiritual believers. We gather together, because we’ve been brought from death to life and our spirit is empowered to help us live life at a higher level. We gather together to worship the ONE , Who has made it all possible. We gather together to study, learn and grow as disciples set apart to something better than just getting by. We gather together to bless, encourage and serve others, because when we do this we are serving the ONE, Who makes everything possible. We gather together, because we are better, stronger and more powerful together than apart.

Coming together on Sunday is about accountability, community, connection, encouragement, growth, networking, relationship and so much more. This face to face, heart to heart and spirit to spirit interaction accomplishes things that nothing else can. It’s God’s designed way for us to become all that He has created and crafted us to be and then some.

“Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhort one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” -Hebrews 10:25

Why Church? Because Church Is Ministry We Are All In Need Of…

The Ministry OF Relationship! We are a part of something much bigger than ourselves. We belong to a spiritual family that loves us at our best and worst. We are united together as the family of God, a group of men, women, boys and girls who believe in the Gospel “good news” that God made a way where there was no way, so that we might have abundant and everlasting life.

The Ministry Of Example! We need one another to grow spiritually the way God designed us to grow! When we do life together we learn from each other’s failures and successes. We see how “not to do it” and how to “do it”. Learning from failure and success are both important and the good news is: It is not dependent upon you being perfect and never making a mistake. It is just simply dependent upon you living your life, learning along the way and sharing the journey with others.

The Ministry Of Presence! We grow one another! The best way to learn is from one another. When we come together in unity, in spite of all that tries to divide us, it is a brilliant testimony to the rest of the world that there is something (SOMEONE) greater that unites us and ties us together. Young, old and in-between, from every socio-economic background, all colors and creeds, from every walk of life – united in Christ, yielded to the Spirit and in love with God our Creator.

I want to encourage you to find a church that you can be a part of, because you have blessings that someone else needs and somewhere there is someone waiting on you with a blessing you’ve been looking for…

Blogroll, Church, Discipleship, faith, Family, Fellowship

Sunday Night Rewind – 10/10/21

The old joke is that pastors only work one day a week, but the truth is we work all week preparing for one day and that is why Sunday is such an important day for all of us, because your pastor has been praying, studying, ministering, writing, planning, organizing, scheduling and the list goes on and on and on, for this day. On this day, your pastor hopes to challenge you, encourage you, grow you, inspire you and motivate you to the higher life that you were created and gifted for.

I love everyday and all the different things that add up to make Sunday such a special day in the life of church and the ministry. Our Sundays at Eureka just seem to get sweeter and sweeter every week. I love getting to do life with the fine folks that God has given me to shepherd at Eureka and I count it an blessing, honor and privilege to be called “pastor” by each one of them.

I usually get to the church early on Sunday mornings way before anyone else. I like to spend a little time in prayer, asking for God’s blessing, direction and guidance upon all of our lives as we assemble together. I then do a last minute look over my notes and begin to greet folks and enjoy some sweet conversations.

This morning I got to spend a few moments with the kids from Kid’s Church and I always love spending time with them, probably because I am a big kid at heart. Last Sunday one of the little girls came up, tugged on my pants leg and when I looked down at her, she looked up at me and said: “I love you!” It was one of the sweetest and most pure gifts I’ve ever been given.

We had a very sweet time in worship. A young man that was in my very first youth group and his family were visiting with us this morning and it blessed my heart to ask him to open our time of worship up in prayer. So proud of the man of God that he has grown to be and blessed to see him and his family with us today.

Our morning service was built around the theme of WINNING WORSHIP and we focused on the truth that we need each other, that God created us to do life together and that when one of us is blessed, we are all blessed. We talked about how we like to think we are smart and some times get full of ourselves, but if we are honest our only real satisfaction comes in Jesus and a growing relationship with Him. We know we are on the right track when our life is a life of worship that worship God in Spirit, truth and Jesus.

We enjoyed a great time of fellowship at lunch with some friends and then I spent a little time in my Pastor’s Study just getting ready for the next week and resting a few before Sunday evening Bible Study.

At Bible Study we were challenged from the Word to “Watch Your Walk!” We talked about how our attitude is almost constantly needing an adjustment and that we desperately need the wisdom from God’s Word to help us use our time on this earth wisely and make our days count. We discovered that the best way to do this was to: 1.) Enjoy what ever time you’ve got. 2.) Learn from your mistakes. 3.) Remember there is more to this life than this life!

It was a great day and a great evening and I am home now and almost ready for bed. Thank you God for loving me so much that you bless me with the opportunity to do life with such amazing and sweet folks. I love what you let me do and consider it the greatest blessing of my life to get to serve You by serving others… I pray everyone has a great night and an extra blessed week!

appreciation, Blogroll, Evangelism, faith, Family, Fellowship, Friendship, God, grace, Gratitude

Sunday Evening Rewind!

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. -1 Peter 3:15

Today has been another wonderful Sunday in my life and in the life of the congregation that I am blessed with being a shepherd to. I really do love Sundays. I love getting up, getting ready, putting on my “Sunday Best”, going to church, singing the songs, praying the prayers, getting into the Scriptures and enjoying the smiles, hugs, loves and fellowship.

We began our service this morning with Baptism, which is always a very special time of remembering just what it means to be in relationship with God through Jesus. Our sins are forgiven, washed away and we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. What made it even more special this morning was that it was a Mom and her Son.

We then had a great time of worship and let me just say that I really enjoyed myself preaching this morning. I was so excited and fired up in a good way. I was a little discouraged at the end of the service to realize that we are still having sound issues with our videos, but I’m learning I’ve got to do what I can and then let that go.

One of the things that I have been missing on Sundays is getting to eat lunch and have some fellowship with our extended family. We have all gotten too busy, sick or just distracted from making that a priority. I like when our whole family is able to worship together, enjoy a meal together and just let Sunday be Sunday. The older I get, the more I appreciate the small things and realize they were big things.

This evening I had a great time at our Saluda Baptist Association Annual Meeting and got to spend some time before our worship time visiting with some of the ministry leaders from all across the upstate. It was great visiting with some ole friends and getting to make some new ones. The worship was inspirational and the message was challenging.

This morning we talked about BEING AN ON PURPOSE CHRISTIAN/CHURCH and how ENCOURAGING EVANGELISM is the first step in the right direction. To practice encouraging evangelism, we need to always be ready to give an answer to every person that might ask us about the hope that is in us. This week, I will try to bring us some challenge via video, blog and social media to help us to grow in this area of our life and living.

Thanks so much for being my family and my friends. I love you guys and pray that something I say or do is a blessing and encouragement to you! 👣