From the Pastor’s Desk (191)
This year’s house church seminar for pastors was special and different for several reasons. First of all, there were a good number of seasoned pastors who are shepherding churches that have hundreds of members. Second, there were people literally from all over the world such as Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and the US. The pastors from the US were from California, Arizona, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts and Texas. And third, the response of the participants in regards to the seminar was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, almost everyone had some amazingly positive things to say about the seminar. I would like to share with you some of the comments that they wrote on their seminar survey/evaluation sheet.
“House church is working well in New Life because it is biblical!”
“I saw some tension among house church members during the house church meeting. They were being real. It encouraged me so much!”
“I think I felt like a VIP would feel! They are always nice to us, they gave us their best! It’s a blessing to see people like that!”
“I was convicted by the house church principles. Love it!”
“Living Life Bible Study was better than very good. I saw the Early Church in action. I walked in the 1st century.”
“The lectures and sharing of testimonies by Pastor Eric and the shepherds were amazing. Experiencing true sacrifice of the shepherds is truly inspirational!”
“We will be implementing house church completely in our church as we believe it to be God’s intent to restore the biblical New Testament church.”
“Friday house church was life changing. We were inspired by the level of sharing and the commitment of service.”
“Sunday sermon was very inspirational. We were able to see how it fits into the 3 Axis. Would have loved to spend time with the people serving in the background making it happen understanding what they do on a weekly/daily basis to make it happen.”
“I was moved by the commitment of the shepherds.”
“I was moved by the transparency of the house church members.”
“My hosts were amazing and we established a strong bond. Love them to bits. They are my family.”
“I was so humbled by the love and kindness received from NLF and experienced the power of service. God’s purpose in my life was accomplished.”
“My only wish is that our lay leaders an experience what we have experienced.”
“House church members are really Jesus’ disciples.”
“I saw the great relationship between the pastor and his members. Everyone in this church is real!”
“We pray that this vision of house church will spread to more countries around the world.”
One of the things that they are asked to do on their evaluation sheet is to grade the seminar in three categories: lectures on house church, lectures on Living Life Bible Study and the overall seminar based on the scale of 1 through 5, 5 being the best. These are the grades that they gave us respectively: 4.89, 4.75 and 4.96!
Furthermore, some of the things that most participants truly appreciated were spending time with the hosting shepherd couples, meeting house church members through Wednesday gathering and Friday house church, listening to the testimonies and surprisingly hearing answers from the shepherds during Saturday’s Q & A session. This tells me that they are very curious and interested in hearing what you have to share about your own house church ministry experiences!
So, thank you for hosting, driving, preparing, cooking, cleaning, sharing, organizing, answering, praying and just being there during the meetings. Without you and your sacrificial labor in the Lord, this year’s seminar would not have been possible.
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:58)
Your pastor,
Eric
No Comments to "Thank you, New Life!"
