We will soon be implementing evaluations for church leaders.
Our church is doing well. People are being saved; we are averaging between two and three baptisms every week. There have been many stories of lives being changed. The worship services have been meaningful to people. Even some who have never before visited a Christian church say this. The children's department is doing well also. Many nonbelievers come to our church because their children like Sunday School so much.
Our church is doing well, but I fear that this may make us complacent. So I have decided to ...
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Inspire! Women's vision is to create a united sisterhood across ethnicities and denominations, inspired, trained, and mobilized for maximum missions and service. I was drawn to Inspire! Women, because I experienced first hand how they were living out their vision. Last November, I went to a conference held by Inspire! Women, and I got inspired. At the conference, I signed up for a free five-week discipleship training class taught by Anita Carman, the president and founder of Inspire! Women, and through the class I applied for their Gideon's 300 Program, which mobilizes ...
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As I wrote in a previous Pastor's Corner, our church will be working more closely with the International Mission Board (IMB).
Some of our church members are considering serving as full time missionaries. Our church alone does not have the capability to train them adequately or support them fully, financially or otherwise. If they are accepted as IMB missionaries, the IMB has the resources to take care of them.
Another reason we decided to work with IMB is that we want to develop purpose oriented mission programs. There are still many people groups who have not heard the ...
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A child pushed another child in the church yard and made him fall, bleeding. His mother rushed to the scene. But she only picked up her child and hurried away, ignoring the hurt child.
A graduate student found a scratch on the side of his new car after Sunday service. There was no note, so the student posted a message on our web bulletin board asking the person who responsible for the scratch to contact him. No one did.
I think I understand why people flee when they cause an accident. I have to shamefully confess that I did the same thing when I was in graduate school. ...
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I remember a time, more than five years ago, several members of New Life, including myself, gathered together in the trailer house and began to pray for revival. Pastor Eric shared with us his vision of God pouring down an unimaginable amount of blessing onto New Life Fellowship, but those blessings were caught by a "sheet" held above our heads at its four corners. In the vision, as we prayed more and more, the blessings showered down more and more, and that sheet became heavier and heavier, ready to burst open. Now, five years later, that vision is coming to life, and I ...
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My sermon texts are posted on our church website. Many people seem to read them, as it gets a lot of hits. Many churches post sermon videos but not the sermon texts themselves because license issues may arise when preachers want to publish their sermons as a book. We do the opposite, and some people have asked me why.
One reason we do this is because I preach specifically for my congregation, not for a general audience. So I'm not sure whether my sermons really help outsiders. Another reason is that I am not a particularly good preacher. Videos of many excellent ...
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I wrote this issue of "From the Pastor's Desk" for several New Life single women who have come up to me and asked me, "Pastor Eric, how do I know that he is from God and is the right one for me?"
Ten questions to ask a man who approaches you and tells you, "You are the One!":
1. Are you willing to fast and pray for 40 days to seek God's will before you pursue this relationship?
Of course we are not talking about fasting three meals a day for 40 days but one consistent meal each day whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner. However, it will be important that this meal ...
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