I am warning you now that I am linking you to a long article in World magazine. The article is a about believers in North Korea and their persecution and death in that closed country. I would urge you to read the article and pray that God would move in the country in a powerful way. I also ask you to pray that the United States government would resolve the nuclear situation with Kim Jong Il so the matters of persecution of believers can once again be addressed.
Over the last few weeks I have been doing a little research into the training we utilize as a church for team members who are leaving on mission trips. We are sending people all over the world on short term mission trips. In fact, we have a team in South Asia today and a team that has just returned from Mexico.
Some of the preliminary results of the surveys that were sent out reveal that over 65% of the people who go on a short term mission trips will go on another trip. This statistic is very interesting to me. Stats can be read in many different ways, but I think in our setting it reveals that the chances are high that if a person goes on a short term mission trip they will begin a lifetime of missions endeavors.
We also discovered that even though we offer training to our team members before they leave for the mission experience, they are returning wanting more training (over 80% desired more). Some of the areas that have been suggested are FBCSmyrna’s philosophy of missions, a biblical basis for missions, flexibility in a missions settings, more development of their personal testimony, and a few other categories.
Our team is beginning to formulate a few ideas about what we are learning. One thought we are working through is experience precedes education. If a person can experience a mission opportunity they will want to learn more about missions. We also are beginning to see people who have never been involved with serving in the church are more likely to begin serving after they return from a mission trip. These are just a couple of observations that have surfaced through the survey. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out, stay tuned for more info later.
Sunday was an incredible day of worship. Micah Hubener led the singing portion of our worship service yesterday. Ron, our worship pastor is in North India on a mission trip with several of our church members. I am excited that Ron get to see what the other side of the world does for worship experiences. Anyway, Micah did an incredible job of leading us to sing to the King.
Pat taught from 1 Cor. 15:35-58 what our resurrected bodies will be like in heaven. He did a good job of showing how Paul used the philosophy of the day, to refute and correctly teach the truth about the gospel.
Each week I am so glad to hear what the Lord has given Pat to teach. We need to pray for our pastor as he prepares each day for what God desires us to hear from His Word. What an awesome task Pat has each Sunday.
This past Wednesday there was a huge storm that passed through Smyrna. We really needed the rain, so I was glad to see it happen. It wasn’t until the storm was over and I attempted to get on-line for some work that I realized that our house had received some sort of electrical surge during the storm.
Our refrigerator was affected, as was several other seemingly essential appliances. Our microwave was fried as was our home computer. We didn’t realize our heating unit was affected until Saturday morning when the temps were in the 30′s. We have just about got everything back up and running, but I never realized how these appliances have affected my life. The adjustments over the years have gradually taken place, but now we are dependent on these electrical gadgets at some level.
Needless to say, the Internet is back up and running on an old laptop computer. So I am back to posting again and living with a new awareness of life with technology.
At FBCSmyrna we talk often about “Connecting people to God, Others and the World”. This has become our vision at FBCSmyrna over the last several years. I believe this weekend we took a giant step forward in seeing that happen over the weekend.
The worship services this weekend were incredibly Spirit filled. Ron and the musicians that lead out this weekend did an great job helping me to connect with God through the music portion of our worship time. There seemed to be a real, passionate expression of devotion and surrender to the singing all weekend.
Pat spoke a very clear and simple word on Jesus being resurrected from death from 1 Corinthians 15. We continued in the series, DV8 – Following Christ in a Fallen World, and the Word helped all of us see the importance of Christ being raised from the dead. I personally “connected with God” through worship this weekend and as a result realized how small I am and how wonderful and huge God is.
We also had an opportunity to help “connect people to others and the world” in relationships and service. We asked our adult small groups that meet on campus to take a week off and serve in some capacity around the campus in one of the hours of worship. Our off campus small groups were also part of the serving effort. We felt like we would potentially have thousands of people on campus and we knew we would need more people serving for us to adequately handle that amount of people. We are short handed some weekends. This weekend we would need everyone exercising their spiritual gift(s).
WOW! I have been blown away by the incredible response of people who stepped out to serve. We had people helping to park cars, hold babies (not at the same time), greet people, help people find seats in the auditorium, working in Soul Station and Creation Celebration, and a host of other ways. All of those who served were able to make new connections with people they didn’t know prior to them serving. Everything went so smoothly this weekend with the amount of people on campus and everyone serving is a major help in the process. I am praying that many will come back and join a service team and begin volunteering each week.
We were also able to help people learn how to “connect with others” through small groups. This coming Sunday evening (Ap. 15) and Monday evening (Ap. 16) we will have our second GroupLink of the year. I am looking forward to seeing how many people will take the next step in their faith journey by linking with a small group. For that to happen we will need new small group leaders and existing small groups to open up to new people. Long-term LifeChange happens best in the context of a small group, so we want people connected to a small group.
It has been a wonderful weekend at FBCSmyrna. Easter is a great time of the year and I really look with excitement to see how this weekend will play out in the coming months and years. I am glad to serve with people who care about “Connecting people to God, Others and the World.”
p.s.s. – oh, by the way, we had close to 4000 people in worship this weekend in 5 different services. – praise God.
Thank you Father for the sacrifice of your son, Jesus. Without his death I would have no hope for tomorrow, let alone today. I ask you to give me the ability to live for you each day in a way that will bring you glory. Today, I will remember your son’s death and the sacrifice you made in sending your One and Only to earth.
Sunday morning Pat taught from 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. He talked about the imperative to contextualize the gospel to the culture you are trying to reach and impact.
Contextualization is taking the message of Christ and putting it in the language of the culture so as to make it accessible to the people in that culture. This is part of being a missional community of believers. Learning the language, whether in Africa, Norway, New York, or Amarillo, is essential to reach the people who live in that place.
The Bible is full of examples of contextualization. Jesus “putting on flesh and blood”, the 4 Gospels written to 4 different cultures of people, Paul speaking to the Athenians on Mars Hill are all great illustrations of “becoming all things to all people so that I might win some.” The truth of scripture is relevant for all cultures of people and nations, but we must learn the language of the people so they can understand.
While Pat was preaching Sunday one of our leaders in the Worship area of the church told Jason (put a new post up), “That is why I am here. There was a church who spoke the truth of the gospel in a language that I understood.” This lady said her life has been completely changed since coming to FBCSmyrna. I know that her leadership and her service to the Lord in the media/stage crew has a tremendous impact on lives each week.
What a thrill to be in a church that takes the missionary calling of learning the language and the culture of the community serious. Thanks Beth for serving the Lord with your talents each week.
Yesterday, there were approximately 20 people in our membership class, Connecting with Membership. The class is required for membership purposes and it is offered the first Sunday of each month in the World Missions Room just off the World Cup Cafe. There are always some great folks there finding out about the mission and motivation of the church. If you haven’t been through this class make sure you stop by and see what is happening.
The small group I am a part of hosted a “neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.” It was located in the Adelaide Park subdivision across from the church. This neighborhood is very new to Smyrna, only two years old. There are around 10 -15 families from the church who live in the subdivision right now and there are under 100 homes. I think the developers are going to top it out around 120-130 homes, so there could be an even greater impact by our church in that community as more members move into the neighborhood. One our small group members has been trying to start a neighborhood small group there in his neighborhood, so he decide to offer the egg hunt as a way to get to know his neighbors.
He and his family planned and invited people from the neighborhood who are also members of the church to help organize and rally people from the neighborhood to be involved in the hosting, planning, and promo process. Our small group helped purchase eggs and do whatever was needed to help. At 3 pm there were probably 75-100 kids who lined up to go through 2 cul-de-sacs where 800 eggs had been hidden.
The hunt hours was scheduled 3-5 pm. In actuality the hunt lasted for about 8 minutes. But what happened in the next 1 hour and 45 minutes was worth all the preparation, as families gathered in the streets and neighbors spent time meeting neighbors. The hunt was over the connecting was just beginning. Following the hunt, there were bar-b-ques, kids playing, folks “investing” in their neighbors. It was an incredible time watching FBCSmyrna folks get involved in connecting with their neighbors.
I know that there will be people who eventually find their way over to FBCSmyrna because of the efforts of some sold out, dedicated people who want to reach their neighbors for the sake of the gospel. I am so glad to be in a church that is willing to do whatever it takes to reach “as many as possible.”
