Mom's Group

This summer some of the young moms at church decided to get together on Tuesday mornings. It turned out GREAT! The first morning there were something like 8 moms' and 15 kids! The kids have so much fun together. One of the ladies sent me an e-mail with pics from the last Mom's Group and said, "how about posting these?"

Thanks ladies for loving each other and taking care of each other. Let's see what might happen next summer!

Invite and e-vite!

Last night I put a sign in the lobby with our new invitation cards for the September Back to School Series. The sign read, "Don't be a chicken invite someone to church!" I felt a bit guilty about the harsh wording, but thought, Ah, what ever, give it a try!

Today I have been able to invite three people to church! In one day! Not every day is that good.

Don't forget, if you want an e-vite to send to your friends for the Back to School Series, sign up for the e-mail list in the space to the right, just below my picture.

Baseball!

My boys are 4.5 years old and have discovered the fun of baseball. Not wiffel (sp?) ball, I mean real baseball! They have a wooden bat and we have three baseballs and three softballs. So, I can throw about six pitches in a row, then go collect all the balls.

Tuesday night Ben and I played for about an hour. At the end of the hour he hit 8 of 12 pitches I threw to him. I have found that the boys hit fast flat pitches better than lofty arching slow pitches. What is extra fun is that when they connect with a fast pitch they hit it farther. The yard may be getting too small.

Ben is also a great pitcher. He has such a great arm! He is not only is good at throwing a softball, or baseball, he can put a great spiral on a full-size Nerf!

New Ways to Communicate

Here is a plug for the September sermon series, and a new way for you to invite people to church.

You will notice that I have added a new element to the blog today!

Just to your right you will see a new box where you can sign up for our churches e-mail list. We are going to begin moving away from so much regular mail and will be sending the monthly newsletter, e-vites and other reminders out by e-mail.

If you will sing up quickly you will likely receive an e-mail newsletter and an e-vite for our new September sermon series in the next few days.

Very Busy!

I wanted to post a quick note this morning. Here are a few unrelated thoughts.

1. I feel great about loosing weight. I have gone from 185 to 176.5 in about eight weeks. It is a simple no-soda, no-desert diet plan. I have not really been exercising regularly, but I have been eating much better. Lots of veggies and small amounts of meat and fat and very limited sugar has made the difference.

2. I am going to a Pastor's meeting today in Fenton. I believe it will be very inspiring and helpful.

3. I am tweaking the September, October and November calenders. I have added a membership class and a Financial Principles class on Wednesday nights. I am very excited about these opportunities for our church this fall!

4. I am finishing up the details for the Back to School Series I will start on Sunday, September 2nd. I will have invitation cards ready for you this Sunday! I am trying a new philosophy on Sunday morning messages. Tell everyone what I am preaching on well in advance so that they are more motivated to invite friends and use an invite card. I am also working on an e-vite that you can mail to friends you want to e-vite to church.

Let's Get Busy!

Serveing Jesus will never be easier!

Often you hear adds like this on T.V. and radio. Ads that tell you today is the easiest time to do something, buy something, borrow something or earn something. Thought it may sound weird, that is what Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 12:1, "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”

It will never be easier to say yes to God than it is today! Here are some reasons and some situations that prove this truth.
1. Statistics show that most people choose Christ at an early age. There are statistics for 8 and under, 18 and under and even 30 and under. Once a person is over 30 the likely hood that they will change the spiritual tone of their life is in the low single digit percentage range.
2. The older we get the more stuck in our habits we become. Repentance becomes difficult not only practically, but psychologically.
3. The older we get the more commitments we have made to people who depend on our lives remaining static. Even if you life is crummy, people around you expect you to be you. The pressure of social expectation, from family, work, neighbors and friends, makes life change difficult.
4. When it comes to obeying the Lord in giving and other financial matters the older you get the more locked into bad habits and bad debt you can become. There are ways out, but it is often very difficult. It is like waiting till your 55 to start saving for retirement, bad idea!
5. The older you get the harder it is to have faith that God can redirect your life toward the calling he has placed on your life. You are never too old to change. You are never too old to let God re-direct your life. However, it is a bit tougher generally the older you get.

These are the items I left out of the sermon yesterday. My challenge to you is this. Make the changes God is leading you to make sooner than latter. It will only get more difficult with time.

Perhaps you have waited a long time and are at the end of life, frustrated. Though the changes God desires may be difficult, ask for his strength to aid you in life transformation. Now that you are older, you should have more experiential reasons to listen to God. When we were young we ignorantly ignored God. Now we are no longer ignorant.

God loves you and has a great plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11) no matter what you have done. His perfect will for your future can start today! He will work out a plan for you to please him, even if you have procrastinated. Just trust him wit the changes.

Missions Mania!

One of our core values at First AG is that we believe in and support world missions. Click on the links to find our more about our core values and some of the missionaries we support. Lately this has been on my mind even more than usual for several reasons.

First, we recently picked up or 25th missionary! Our church was pledged to support 9 missionaries on a monthly basis in 2003 when Steph and I arrived, and we were behind! We caught up on our support and then began to add missionaries. Our goal is to support every Southern Missouri District Missionary (click on US Missionaries then on World Missionaries). Support starts at $50 per month.

I thought there were about 100 missionaries and that we were 25% of the way to our goal. I found out this week that there are actually just under 80. So, we are about 1/3 of the way to our goal. I think that we may be able to reach that goal in the next few years! Can we possibly support 75 missionaries by the end of 2010?

Second, I have been extra convicted about missions trips lately. My passport is too dusty! The stamps in it are dated too long ago! It is time to hit the missions trail my friends. I am looking this week for a project that we can all work on together for 2008. I am also considering joining a Health Care team that will travel to Africa next year. This is not a trip that I would take with a team. Ron Drye from A/G Health care ministries is leading teams into one of the sickest regions of the globe racked by civil war. I think I want to go on a trip like that.

Lastly, I want to remind our men that we need to raise about $5,000 for LFTL this year. WE need to get busy.

Please pray with me about what we should do for missions in 2008!

Sunday Breakdown

Yesterday was an excellent day. I was really touched during our worship times in both services. It is always good when the Pastor gets something extra good from God in church!

We tried to do communion differently. I wanted communion to be at the end and also have an altar call for people to respond to the sermon. It went very well in the first service. In the second service it was not as smooth, but I felt it was still a good spiritual exercise.

Also, I think there is something to be said for getting out of your seat for communion instead of communion coming to you. Some people are taking communion in our church when they should perhaps let it pass them by. Jesus said leave your gift at the altar and be reconciled to your brother, then you can approach the altar with clean hands and worship. Paul said we ought to examine ourselves and not take communion lightly, or in an unworthy manner.

I will not serve communion the same way every time. We need to break the ritual occasionally to keep our minds at the heart of the ceremony and remain attentive to God.

We had two people rededicate their hearts to the Lord in the second service. Keep praying for people to be saved in every service.

Lastly, one of our Small Groups met this week with one thought in mind. Invite new people into the group. I was proud of their idea and willingness to contact people to join their group. They had a bar-b-q and simply invited people to hang out and be friends. That is the way to start.

Removed Some Pictures

I have removed some pics from the blog. I want to be careful about posting pictures of kids on the blog. In the future, if you like the idea of Pastor updating you on camp and things like that let me know. It was very helpful this year. It was good to update you on camp, but I don't feel safe leaving pictures of kids on the blog indefinitely.

I have not had any complaints or problems, but I am learning form friends and other Pastor's about their blogging experience.

Mother's Monday

Today I want to hit you with a cool website www.IQuestion.com. It has all kinds of Christian video tutorials from experts. You can search through their menu or using a search bar on the page. Based on a general overview of the page, I would say they are not afraid to handle tough questions about abuse, divorce, marriage, being single, money, sexuality, and raising children.

I can not say that I would agree with every video tutorial, or the wording of particular questions, but as with any Christian help or ministry I encourage you to glean what is good.

I checked out two really good videos just now on parenting. First was, "How can I discipline my strong-willed firstborn without breaking his spirit." The second was, "I can't control my kids, what can I do?" Both were good video tutorials. When I have time I will check out some others. Let me have your feedback on this one. Let me know if it is helpful.

We are Tired

We are tired of business meetings. It is hot. Steph and I emplyed the new dress code at Council this year. The business sessions the last two days have been extra long. We did not skip out early like a lot of people. In the final voting our votes counted more and more because there were fewer and fewer people present.

The last amendment passed was a motion to appoint a study on the possibility of expanding voting in future General Councils to the Internet. If we can bank online and do our AG financial services investing online securely, why can't we vote and give the missionaries overseas the opportunity to vote too? Well, there are some questions that need to be answered, but the idea seems promising to me. I don't want to have General Council attendance drop off, but including those who can not attend is a good idea.

I think I am pretty accurate in this, but I think that by the time this amendment was made there were less than 500 voters in the meeting because it was really late in the day, after 5:30 p.m., almost 6:00 p.m. That is really late considering that the evening missions service started at 7:00 three blocks away. So, less than 500 of us passed the study to look into online voting. I am glad I was there to vote on that one. The other 3,500 voters missed that one!

News From General Council

There are about 26,000 people at the General council this year. About 12,000 are with the NYC and the Fine Arts Competition. There were about 4,000 ministers registered to vote in the meetings. The rest were visitors.

We elected George O. Wood to the office of General Superintendent, taking the place of Thomas Trask who resigned. My love and thanks go to Brother Trask for his work and kindness as Superintendent. Then we elected Alton Garrison as the new Assistant General Superintendent to take the place of Charles Crabtree who also chose to step down in mid term. Our love and thanks also go to Brother Crabtree for his service. John Bueno was elected for another term as director of World Missions. John Palmer, who will be speaking at our men's retreat in September was elected to the office of General Secretary, vacated by George Wood when elected as Superintendent. (Is everything clear to you now?)

Today we had some historic "firsts," in the Assemblies of God.
1. Beth Grant, the wife of missionary David Grant, received 266 votes for the office of Assistant General Superintendant which was vacated by Charles Crabtree. As the voting continued names were removed. She remained in the final top three candidates. We were historically, never closer to electing a woman to a national, executive leadership position.
2. Zollie Smith was elected a few years ago to represent the Assemblies of God Black Fellowship on the Executive Presbytery. We voted several years ago to create this position to give ethnic representation on the Executive Presbytery. Today for the first time, the General Council, that is the general voting body, and the largest voting body, of the AG voted in an African American to one of the top leadership positions of the fellowship! He was elected to the position of Director of United States Missions, known as Home Missions. This was held by Alton Garrison the last two years. Brother Garrison vacated this office when he was elected as the Assistant Superintendent earlier in the day.

Here is what brought tears to my eyes today! First, when the election of Zollie Smith was announced a roar of applause and shouts of excitement rose from the council floor! That is not the normal response. Second, when he approached the podium to accept the position, usually a stayed and very humble act, he shouted with excitement, "We are going to reach America for Jesus Christ!" Again, shouts of praise and applause filled the room in a roar.

It was so awesome to see young church planters and young pastors throwing their hands up in the air in praise, approval, and agreement like at a football game or baseball game, excited to follow their new leader in the battle for America. In that moment, I have never been more proud to be a part of a General Council. It was so cool, that though most of the crowd was and is white, they are ready to follow the lead of the new Home Missions Director who also oversees church planting.

Well, tomorrow it is back to Washington, for the purpose of turning our town and school district upside down for Jesus!

Ministry Fullfillmet!

Today, I was sooooooo blessed when a good looking young man came up to me and Stephanie and introduced himself. I had not seen him in 11 years. He was in our Jr. High youth group. He is married and works for AG World Missions helping to raise funds for special projects. As we talked I realized he is at the office that I have been trying to reach for several weeks about fund raising in a certain situation! It was this amazing God set-up. I also connected with two other great young people from our youth group. One works at Central Bible College and the other is an IT specialist at a Los Angeles accounting firm.

Hooked up with many good friends this week, and many friends I served with in ministry over the years. God's people are so amazing. There are a lot of bad things that people can say about AG ministers at times. However, on the whole, God has allowed me to befriend and minister with, some of the greatest people on the planet. That is not an exaggeration.

When I think about being surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, I not only think of the ancient heroes of the faith, but my contemporary Colleagues in Christ. I am challenged, pressed, loved, helped, motivated, and renewed by their encouragement.

Fine Arts

Fine Arts is an arm of the AG National Youth Ministries. It started years ago as a kind-of talent competition to help youth develop ministry skills. There are now over 100 categories from musical entries to web page design to short sermon.

Today I listened to an eight grader preach! She did very well preaching from 1 Peter and the book of Esther. Sh had a great point to her sermon. She must have been 88 pounds and about 4'11". She was small, but motivated!

We completely underestimate the power of our teens!

Business News

So far there is not a lot of business news. We have begun voting on a new General Superintendent. When we were dismissed from the business session today there had not been an election. If any announcement was made at the council service I did not hear it because I was at the youth conference.

Indy 07

Indy 07 is the name this year for the National Youth Conference. Click on the name to go to the site for new video from the last two days of the conference.

Sylvia Clark is working at Indy 07 NYC. She has some relatives that are in charge of some stuff. Sylvia, Pastor John, our wives, and I went to the youth conference tonight and did not attend the General Council Service. I missed out on Brother Crabtree, but this was the only night we could all go to the NYC together. Sylvia offered free tickets to us and we took her up on the offer!

The speaker was evangelist and Pastor, Rich Wilkerson, who founded Peacemakers. He was great. I was challenged to keep my dreams, and God's vision, before my eyes regularly and understand GPS (God's Positioning Strategy) for my life. The Holy Spirit will lead you, and me, in God's perfect plan, but you have to choose to get on board.

A worship team from Australia, Planet Shakers, led worship. They were unbelievable! They had all of us (including Sylvia) shouting, jumping, clapping, singing, and praising God till we were worn out!

I have posted some pics at the top and some rough video. It was so loud and the lighting so intense that my phone could not really keep up.

Leadership Conference

The last two days of leadership conference has been excellent. It cost $49.00 and it was worth every penny. It totally motivated my wife and she is excited about what we have been learning. We have gain some great creative ideas to make the things that we are doing already more effective. The good news is, we are going in a great direction.

A few things confirmed to me while listening to these speakers include:
1. The Pastor has to receive direction from God for the church an then never veer from it!
2. We have to love people the way they are right now if we want them to accept Jesus and start to be more like him.
3. We must continue to redeem technology that the world may be using for evil and use it for the glory of God.
4. No amount of prayer and feeling of depending on the Holy Spirit make up for laziness.

I had the chance to meet two key people. First, the man who had been, and still is, instrumental in helping us get a web site going for First AG. Second, a home missionary that will be essential in starting an after school student center in the future. he has helped several churches accomplish this program in their communities. Check his organization out, the Jr. and Sr. High element is called Thrive.

New Domain Problems

I have a new domain name but I can not get to the blog when I use it. You may have had difficulty the last two days with this. Sorry. I have gone back to the www.pastorwithcoffee.blogspot.com name for now. maybe there is a long turnover time for the domain name company or something?

New Domain Name

I have set up a new domain name for this blog that is a bit more simple than the old one.

You can now navigate to this blog using www.pastorwithcoffee.com. I don't think it is completely through all the administrative hoops yet, but I have done my part to buy the domain and set it up properly. In a day or so it should work, so you might want to hold off on trying the link.

Momther's Monday

Today my mother is going to pick up the kids and take them to the farm for the week while we go to our national meeting in Indianapolis. My kids are totally excited about going to the farm.

I will try to keep in touch via. the blog this week. I should have internet access everywhere I go.

Small Group Buzz

I want to challenge everyone with an idea.

When school starts start a new tradition for your family. Get into a Small Group. If you do you just might revolutionize your church experience! Each week we have Small Group information in the bulletin and we also list them in the monthly newsletter.

Here is what you can get.
1. Closer friendships at church.
2. Deeper Bible study discussion.
3. Extended prayer time for your needs.
4. Help from friends in reaching one person for Jesus every year of the rest of your life!

It takes a commitment from you, but it results in a benefit for you. if the first group you visit is not for you, don't feel bad, we wont. If you have visited several groups and there is not a group for you then let me know so we can help start a new group to meet a new need!

Cattle Crossing Series

I am having a great time working on the "Cattle Crossing" series. I am so glad Rich found the Green Acres theme song and video to go along with the series. It is fun to sing a crazy song together as a church once in a while. You know, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," could be considered a hymn.

For all of you that are following the series and want more insight, here are a few farm pictures. I will get more in the future and help tell the stories behind these sermons with pictures. The first is my kids in the woods, the second is the boys with the tractor and the last is my brother, his wife, and my father, with whom I did so much work.