Ever thought that churches like LifeChurch.tv shied away from anything super spiritual? Get ready to be rocked. Generalizations about churches are rarely correct.
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I have been provoked by a friend to do my own list of highlights from 2008 for The Mission. I knew that Jesus wanted to do a work in Delray Beach and without any financial support we started a work with 11 people in my living room.
I have no training in church planting, am not in a denomination or church planting network, have not been to a conference or anything else. Fortunately the Holy Ghost was in our midst and we were smart enough to yield to Him. The above video is our year in review.
Since I am going to do this with absolutely no forethought this list is neither complete or in any order.
2. My family, marriage, and relationship with Jesus has flourished this year.
3. Worship. I talked to Sergio about a year and a half ago about a new sound of worship. It was just a vision. God was leading Sergio in the same direction. Check this out. This is live, not a studio, not mastered. We did not even have monitors. It is just raw worship. Who said you can’t lead worship with an MPC 1000? YouTube.com
4. People are joined to the vision God has given me.
8. The Hatian church we had our first preview service in . Wish it would have worked out there. We have never met anywhere more hood than that.
9. Found our permanent location in August. No longer nomads.
10. Announced we are moving to Sunday last week. Time for a new location.
In the end, this year was great because I saw Jesus do His thing in Delray Beach. I have gotten lots of testimonies this year. This is a sample of one.
Just wanted you to see how the Mission has changed lives… as if you didn’t already know.
The day after I met the living God, Jesus Christ, I went and wrote a 7 page journal entry about what I experienced that night. That was in June of 2oo8. With this new year just beginning, I went back and started to read that same journal, noticing the difference between the entries before I got saved and after. This is just a small part of that 7 page entry
“Even though I can try and fight it, for some reason, something changed last night. I felt something leave me… something lift off my skin, off my shoulders… off my heart and this tingling sensation came over my arms and my head, and my insides started to jump… then my hands and arms started shaking and the whole time, I was so confused as to what I was supposed to do. I wanted so badly to let go of myself, let go of my mind and be touched, but I was inhibited… by fear of what was happening and what I might see…
The power that God forced into me, it made me feel like I was going to fly. Like any second, I was going to rise up into the air and feel His grace upon my entire body… like nothing on this earth could hold me down and I was free to fly to Him and be in His arms…
From the moment we began worship, I felt my body tingling and I didn’t know what was going on with me. I didn’t know if it was my nerves. It felt like the blood in my body wasn’t reaching my brain and my arms were going numb… I remember stretching out my fingers, trying to regain feeling…
I want to go back, only this time, really let go and if my feet rise off the earth, I won’t care where I am going to land as long as I land with You and You are there to catch me… I started with you and I will end with you…
I went into that house expecting to cry and beg for forgiveness… expecting to ball and have the pastor put his hands on me and make me feel like I was forgiven. But I didn’t cry and he didn’t make me feel forgiven. Instead, I felt you. I felt you in my veins… I knew you were with me..
This is the reason why we do what we do. This is why Missionaries invite their friends and family. This is why we show up early to set up and stay late to tear down. Lives changed for the Glory of God.
2009 is going to be increadible. I just can’t wait! We are scheduling our first baptism now and we are just going to keep reaping the harvest Jesus paid for with His blood!
Got a call @ 8:30 this morning to help build PineGrove Elemtery’s Christmas Parade float
How did I become president of the PTA?
Just a great service last night
My favorite pic from the night –> full altar
Saw God calling people back to the Church
There is a lie out there that there is no such thing as the local church in the Bible
I declared some things God has been challenging me to walk in
There is nothing better than watching people converted.
That’s right, I said converted
Not everyone who followed Jesus was converted. We need less “Christ Followers” and more “Converts”
Had a minister talk to me with goose bumps up and down his arm thanking me for preaching the uncompromised Gospel
Some people are going to hell. Its important to let folks know that
Favorite Scripture from last night Heb 10:24-25And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The disciples lived their lives knowing there would be a reckoning
I love the people of The Mission
Had a testimony of some guys who went to the mall yesterday praying for the sick. They saw a bus driver healed of a back ailment.
Signs and wonders in the streets baby!
Who is going to start a church planters coaching group with signs and wonders as a part of the curriculum?
I know there are lots of scripts and methods to win the lost but there is nothing more effective then sharing your testimony with someone you have a relationship with. This requires three things:
You have a testimony. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian has been converted. ’nuff said
You care enough about a lost and dieing world to form relationships with people you might otherwise not spend time with.
You are able to effectively communicate what Jesus has done in your life.
The best way to get good at giving your testimony is to hear others give their testimonies and to give your testimony as often as possible. I tell the folks at The Mission that evangelism is the best way to work out your ministry gifting. Don’t tell me you have a call of God on your life if you don’t want to win the people He died for.
I am Second is a site I recently found that has some really remarkable testimonies. Not because of how dramatic they are, but because they are so effectively communicated. If I still had my discipleship class I would assign this site as homework.
