Spiritual Leadership Links

If you sent me an email in the last ten days, you may want to send it again.  I am still catching up with the many emails I get due to all my blogs, and don't want to miss yours.  I was at the Spiritual Leadership Conference at Lancaster, CA.  The conference was a blessing, and I came away rejuvenated with a lot of ideas and motivated to serve in my ministries more.  One thing I really like about Lancaster Baptist Church, is that they share their resources so freely.  I have used some of the articles from Ministry127 here as well as Pastor Chappell's devotions on the Devos side of IFBKJV.com.

They are in the process of loading all the workshops, so you can download them for free online!  There are tracks for pastors, assistants, pastor wives, ladies, men, choir directors, educators, teens, etc.  I really think it is wonderful how they freely share these and many ministry helps at no cost.  They stay connected and properly use the internet as a tool.  Even on YouTube, I find that most of the songs I go looking for there are uploaded by someone at Lancaster Baptist Church.

Here is the link to download the workshops and sermons, and a list of all available workshops to date.  You can even download the notebook we used in class for all the workshops.  If you only have time to listen to one now, the one I most enjoyed from the ones I heard was Sam Davidson's sermon on Tuesday night - AMEN!  http://www.strivingtogether.com/pages/Spiritual-Leadership-Conference-Downloads.html

Sunday Morning—Sam Davison
Sunday Evening—Mike Norris
Monday Evening—Pastor Paul Chappell
Tuesday Morning—R.B. Ouellette
Tuesday Evening—Sam Davison
Wednesday Morning—Bobby Roberson
Wednesday Evening—Don Sisk

Pastors and Missionaries
Learning to Pray—Dan Reed
Instilling Biblical Principles in Your Local Church—John Goetsch
Will Ye Also Go Away?—John Goetsch
Finding God's Grace in Trials—Max Barton
Maintaining Joy through Seasons of Ministry—Jim Schettler
The Heart of God for Missions—Wayne Sehmish
Mentoring Young Men in Ministry—Dave Hardy
The Pastor's Family—John Wilkerson
Encouraging Fellow Pastors—Kevin Folger
Preparing for a Revival Meeting—Lou Rossi
Raising Your Family and Leading the Church—Dave Teis
Having a Resilient Spirit in Ministry—Frank Gagliano
Missionary and National Pastor Relationships—Sogoro Ogawa
Transferring God's Vision to Your Church Family—Alan Fong
How to Stay in Ministry All Your Life—Don Sisk

Four Weeks of Children's Church - ebook Giveaway

I am hosting a giveaway on my blog for two ebooks, Four Weeks of Children's Church. These books are written by a Fundamental Baptist and are an excellent resource for those serving in children's ministries. Please stop by my blog to check it out.

~Julia @ Teaching for Eternity

The Last Day: Make It Count

The Lord has been very good to us this week with lasting, eternal decisions being made for him. Please pray as we finish everything up tonight and make it count for the Lord.

While it was disappointing to not have the special music group that was lined up to be here this week, I believe the Lord has reminded us that while music is a great tool, He doesn't need it to speak to people. Evangelist Jayson Godsey - http://www.evangelistjaysongodsey.com/ - has been a tremendous help and blessing to our church. If you are a pastor who is reading this, let me recommend him to you. His expository-style preaching not only has the Bible content that many preachers lack these days, but it has the fire that sparks a spiritual decisions in the hearts of the hearers.

The VBS kids, and my wife, are looking forward to the special event of the evening. We have had a penny war all week at VBS between the boys (represented by me) and the girls (represented by my wife Darci). After all the pennies are turned in, we put both buckets on the balancing scale to see who is the heaviest. And by the end of the week, whichever group won the most days, their leader would get to "slime" the other one's leader.

Well, it hasn't been pretty this week - 4 days and 4 wins for the girls. So after church I will be getting "Slimed." No pictures, please?!

Please pray for our final night, and if you are in the Westland/Detroit area, come by and participate @7pm - 1033 S. Wildwood, Westland, MI 48186.

Can He Do That?!!?

2 Chronicles 34:7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

Last night the VBS lesson was on King Josiah. One of the aspects of his life we covered was the fact that he destroyed the idols that the people were worshiping instead of God. Well, I thought, "You know what would be awesome - I am going to smash some idols on stage for all the kids to see!" So then I go to the dollar store and buy two porcelain statues to bust up.

When I get to that part of the lesson, I take out my hammer and smash them right on the stage. Now, just before I do that, there is that still, small voice inside of me saying, "Maybe this is not such a good idea..." And so as I smash these figurines, porcelain pieces begin to fly everywhere, including my face. I quickly glance up and see two things:

• #1 - The kids are loving it, and none of them got hit!
• #2 - My workers are looking at me like I am crazy!

Not the first time they have looked at me like that, so I continue on. But I forgot to turn on the fan and it was hot and humid on the stage, so I am sweating pretty good by now. I go to wipe my forehead and I hear one of the kids on the front row say, "You're bleeding!"

Sure enough, one of those pieces did hit someone - me! It was just a small, surface cut - but blood none the less!

I thought a little more about it this morning and it occurred to me: I bet most of Israel looked at King Josiah the same way some of my workers were looking at me. While I am sure some of Israel was angry, I can imagine most just stunned. Often times, when you serve the Lord, there will be moments when you follow God and all you get is some stunned looks. Have faith in God and His plan, and just press forward.

Continue to pray for our meetings this week. Kids were down a little bit last night, but the reports I received back from the Tent Meeting were positive again. The people are really connecting and responding to Evangelist Jayson Godsey (http://www.evangelistjaysongodsey.com/) and are coming away encouraged and challenged to do more for Christ.

One down, 4 more to go!

Well, it was an "interesting" start to the week. Music group canceled on me on the day of the beginning of the meeting, had a little girl fall and bump her head on the concrete and blacked out (she checked out perfectly at the ER after precautionary CAT scan), and the normal "kar-razy-ness" that goes on at a VBS and Tent Meeting.

But the Lord was gracious to us and gave us a good number of folks in both meetings and great responses. It was only one night, but the children did a better job listening and behaving than they have ever done in the past.

And from the reports I received, the adults responded and connected well with Evangelist Jayson Godsey (http://www.evangelistjaysongodsey.com). Praying for more folks to come, and for the convicting power of the Holy Spirit it in the lives of those hearing the Gospel this week.

Will you pray with us - James 5:16 ...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.