What is Your Unique Giftedness?

This e-mail is "homework" for you to think about before our meeting on Sunday.  Take sometime to think about this verse and the descriptions listed below and see what best describes you.

Ephesions 4:11-16

 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.12 Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Apostles - extend the gospel

As the "sent ones," they ensure that the faith is transmitted from one context to another and from one generation the the next.  They are always thinking about the future, bridging barriers, establishing the church in new contexts, developing leader, networking trans-locally.  Yes, if you focus solely on initiating new ideas and rapid expansion, you can leave people and organizations wounded.  The shepherding and teaching functions are needed to ensure people are cared for rather than simply used.  

Prophets - know God's will.

They are particularly attuned to God and his truth for today.  They bring correction and challenge the dominant assumptions we inherit from the culture.  They insist that the community obey what God has commanded. They question the status quo.  Without the other types of leaders in place, prophets can become belligerent activists or, get frustrated with the imperfection of reality and disengage from the body.

Evangelists - recruit

These infectious communicators of the gospel message recruit others to the cause.  They call for a personal response to God's redemption in Christ, and also draw believers to engage the wider mission, growing the church.  Evangelists can be so focused on reaching those outside the church that maturing and strengthening those inside is neglected.

Shepherds - nurture and protect

Caregivers of the community, they focus on the protection and spiritual maturity of God's flock, cultivating a loving and spiritually mature network of relationships, making and developing disciples.  Shepherds can value stability to the detriment of the mission.  They may also foster an unhealthy dependence between the church and themselves.

Teachers - understand and explain

Communicators of God's truth and wisdom, they help others remain biblically grounded to better discern God's will, guiding others toward wisdom, helping the community remain faithful to Christ's word, and constructing a transferable doctrine. Without the input of the other functions, teachers can fall in to dogmatism or dry intellectualism.  They may fail to see the personal or missionary aspects of the church's ministry. 

Have and Abundant Day,

Pastor Brian

 

Seize the Mission

We had a wonderful time together last evening.  I believe God really met with us and I hope you were as encouraged as I was.  It is exciting to see God gathering the workers to reap the harvest.   If you weren't able to make it, I did video tape it and as soon as I can figure out some computer things to burn it to DVD I will get it sent out to you.

This week our verses will focus on Seizing the Mission of Jesus.  As we do this we need to remember that this is not our mission that He has given us, but His mission that He invites us to participate in.  

I Peter 2:9-10

  9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,s a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
10 "Once you had no identity as a people;
  now you are God's people.
Once you received no mercy;
  now you have received God's mercy."s

Thank you Lord for your great mercy and this great opportunity.

Have an Abundant Day,

Pastor Brian

Good Morning

Greetings to all,

We had wonderful cool temperatures last evening.  I love the morning after a cool night.  Here is the last verse for the week.  This one might give away the name for our congregation, but we will see.  I love this verse as it shows how the kingdom of God spreads when we gather for fellowship and prayer.  

Acts 16:13

13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.14 One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.15 She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. "If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my home." And she urged us until we agreed.

Have a Blessed day,

Pastor Brian

The River Bringing Life

Good morning,

It is a beautiful day.  As I write this I am encouraged by God's words to the prophet Ezekial of a river that gets deeper as it flows and brings life wherever it goes. Over the last year as we have made the move to answer God's call to Nelson Co. it has at times seemed like we were under constant attack and experiencing one loss after another.  The most significant of these was the closing of our business that stripped away the security of a regular income.  God has proven so faithful and I am believing that may family is in a time of the river of healing flowing into those dead places and bringing new life and blessing.  I know that God will provide for our needs, even if I have to walk each day without the guarantee of a paycheck.  I am slowly coming to peace with that.  May you be encouraged today that no matter what the struggle is that you face.  Our God is faithful!

  6 He asked me, "Have you been watching, son of man?" Then he led me back along theriverbank.7 When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river.8 Then he said to me, "This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea.s The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Seafresh and pure.9 There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows.Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows.10 Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean.s11 But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty.12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there willalways be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing."

Have an abundant day.

Pastor Brian

PS Victoria has a blog that I think you would be very interested in following  www.victoriamininger.blogspot.com

Blessings on the Children

Hope you are doing well today.  I am a little tired from working on some pressure washing over at Cornerstone of Augusta.

I love today's verse as it gives us a promise of blessing for our children... As a parent of four and Pastor of a church plant that seems to have a lot of children this is a great promise.

Isaiah 44:3-5

3 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst
  and to irrigate your parched fields.
And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,
  and my blessing on your children.4 They will thrive like watered grass,
  like willows on a riverbank.

Be Blessed,

Brian

PS I have attached the information flier for the class starting on Sunday in case you need the information.

Let the Rain Fall Down

Greetings,

Hope nobody washed away last night. I meant to send this e-mail this morning, but my internet has been down all day. I think that is the most rain we have received since we moved into the house. The grass was getting dry and I am very thankful that I am not going to have to water it for the next couple of days. Just like trees and plants need regular water we need regular Spiritual water. We can rely on others, conferences, going to church every once in awhile, an e-mail devotional or many other things to “rain on us” and bring us our much need water. But this is unreliable and sometimes we “dry out.” To really grow strong we need to take responsibility for our own spiritual walk and plant ourselves in places where there is a constant supply of water such as reading the word, personal prayer time, and regular fellowship with other believers. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you as you read todays verse.

Psalm 1

1 Oh, the joys of those who do not
  follow the advice of the wicked,
  or stand around with sinners,
  or join in with mockers.2 But they delight in the law of the Lord ,
  meditating on it day and night.3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
  bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
  and they prosper in all they do.

May you have a blessed and prosperous day rooted in an unending source of spiritual water.

Pastor Brian

PS We will be meeting at the Shipman Community Center on Suday 4-6 for “So we are going to plant a church now what?” This is for the whole family see you there.

PPS Remember that the name that God has given us for this new fellowship is in each of this weeks verses. :)

Let the Adventure Begin

Greetings Everybody,

I am so excited about the adventure we start together this weekend of exploring the vision, plans and purposes that God has for us here in Nelson County.  This week in preparation for our time together I am going to be sending you verses for you to meditate on and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you.  Also, all of these verses include the name that God has given us for this new fellowship.  (Kudos to you if you figure it out... if not I will tell you on Sunday :)

Jeremiah 17:5

Wisdom from the LORD

5 This is what the Lord says:
"Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
  who rely on human strength
  and turn their hearts away from the Lord .6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
  with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
  in an uninhabited salty land.
7 "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
  and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
  with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
  or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
  and they never stop producing fruit.

As we begin this journey I am encouraged by God's word to us that if we trust in Him we will never stop producing fruit.  May you and your family have a prosperous and fruitful week.

Brian

PS. If you would like to start designating your tithing to the Nelson Church you can do that by using the online giving on the Cornerstone of Augusta  website www.CornerstoneAugusta.org and then selecting Nelson Tithe as the account for your giving to go to.