What do we pray for?

Ephesians 1:3 states we are blessed with every spiritual blessing, "who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places," If we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing why do we pray for more love when we know, "The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5) or we pray for peace, while Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you (John 14:27) or we pray for happiness and joy when Christ promised us, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full." (John 15:11) We asked for strength when He promised that we "can do all things through Him who strengthens" (Phil 4:13)

Do we spend time praying for what we have already been given?

Sexual misconduct and restoration

Often times there are questions about what should happen when sexual abuse happens and how to restore.


Policies on sexual misconduct and restoration now online

Nils Friberg and Rob Boyd of the Minnesota Iowa Baptist Conference have worked diligently over the past several years to prepare written guides on:

Recommended Policy Statement on Sexual Misconduct for Local Churches of the Baptist General Conference
Operations Manual of the Restoration Committee of the Minnesota Iowa Baptist Conference
You can find these listed as Clergy Restoration and Policy on Sexual Misconduct in Churches on the Converge website: www.convergeworldwide.org/policies.

While these are not legal documents, they may be helpful resource tools for your church leaders.

Prayer Event well worth attending

20th Anniversary Prayer Gathering, March 7-11

The March Prayer Gathering is open to all Converge pastors, missionaries, church planters, chaplains and their spouses. President Jerry Sheveland and his wife Dee join Prayer First in cosponsoring the Gathering, hosted by Faith Baptist Fellowship, Sioux Falls, S.D. Host pastor Dana Olson will facilitate the Gathering, assisted by Prayer First chairman Bryan Moak. Carol Madison, Prayer First communications director, will lead women’s breakout prayer times. Contact info@faithbaptistfellowship.com for more details

2 Pillars Church Plant Lincoln, NE

2 Pillars, Lincoln NE

Four young men have acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of their life and want to follow Christ’s example and command by being baptized. Two of them came to know Christ through a para-church ministry and two have grasp the gospel for the first time over the last several months while connecting at 2 Pillars. Join in praying for their walk in Christ as well as two others young people who have expressed interest in being baptized. Praise God for His graciousness.

Opportunities for Pastors

Upcoming Network Gatherings

Mark your calendar for one or more of these upcoming Network Gatherings, designed to facilitate peer-to-peer sharing and learning in dealing with issues and challenges common among ministry peers. Pastors and spouses attending set the agenda. Prior participants have cited that ideas gained and relationships formed have transformed their ministries.

Detailed information and registration will be available on the Converge Worldwide Web site: www.convergeworldwide.org. For answers to questions, call or email Don Windmiller, director of Network Gatherings, 847.879.3241, or don.windmiller@convergeww.org.

Children’s Pastors and Directors
January 11-12, 2011, Orlando, Fla.
(prior to the International Network of Children’s Ministry Conference)

Pastors of African Descent & Spouses
January 12-14, 2011, Matthews, N.C.

Administrative Assistants
January 23-26, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Solo Pastors & Spouses
February 13-16, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Large Church Pastors & Spouses
(churches with attendance of 350+)
February 7-10, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Multisite/Multiplication Center
February 10-11, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

Breaking the 200/400 Barrier Pastors & Spouses
February 13-16, 2011, Orlando, Fla.

2nd 1⁄2 for Him leaders
April 7-9, 2011. Orlando, Fla.

The Winchester Mystery House

“Nestled in the suburbs of San Jose, California, is an interesting tourist attraction: an estate built by the heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. In 1884, a wealthy widow name Sarah L. Winchester began a thirty-eight-year construction project guided by a superstitious fear. Evidently, Mrs. Winchester was convinced by a medium that continuous building would appease the evil spirits of those killed by the famous ‘gun that won the West’ and help her attain eternal life. So Sarah kept carpenters’ hammers pounding twenty-hour a day. The Victorian mansion came to the filled with so many unexplained oddities that it is now know as the Winchester Mystery House

. Even thou it has 160 rooms, three elevators, forty staircases, and forty-seven fireplaces, its size alone does not account for the architectural marvel-what does so is the bizarre purposelessness of the design. Stairs lead into the ceiling; windows decorate the floor, and door open into blank walls! Random features reflect excessive creativity, energy, and expense, from exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors to Tiffany art glass windows. Busyness, not blueprints, defined success.

The Winchester Mystery House is an accurate picture of what a church looks like in the absence of vision; there is lots of activity with little progress or purpose. Interesting programs and exquisite sermons do not necessarily lead to a meaningful whole. Structure exists for structure itself and not for life. “ Mancini, Will, Church Unique

How easy to be consumed by other than the vision. Maybe doing good things, but is it what God called you to do?

Christian Accountability

Barna Group did an interesting study on accountability in the local church, where we are helping members be devoted followers of Christ. Take a moment to read the article.

First Nordic-Baltic Summit meets in Tallinn

Estonia missionary appointee Crick Porier was among a dozen Converge leaders who participated in the Nordic-Baltic Regional Summit October 12-14 in Tallinn, Estonia. Nordic-Baltic Region director Bill Ankerberg reports: "Our first Nordic-Baltic Summit was blessed by God. Thirty-four church leaders from Sweden, Finland, Estonia and America met for several days to explore greater connections and partnerships. Participants included Doug and Donna Fagerstrom, Steve and Debbie Doggett, Gene Selander, Hal and Marla Lentz and Bruce and Kym Sumner. The summit ended with a dedication and communion service for our new regional office in Tallinn."

Bill and Arlie Ankerberg also went to Stockholm with Gene Selander, Converge A2:5 international director (English-speaking church planting), to meet with Anders Blaberg (Evangeliska Frikyrkan) and Karen Wiborn (Baptist Union), leaders of the two largest Baptist groups in Sweden. Bill said: "Both groups have asked us for help in church planting. We are exploring increased levels of cooperation to help evangelize Scandinavia and the Baltics. Continue to support us with your gifts and prayers." taken from Converge Worldwide

Praying for the Persecuted Church

Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

November 14 is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Learn more at www.idop.org. IDOP is a time set apart to remember thousands of Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer persecution simply because they confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

copied from Converge Worldwide

The 6 Types of People You Meet in Church Planting

Great article by Todd Bumgarner a church planter in Lincoln, NE about the type of people a church plant attracts.

Asking

Last Saturday, as I was loading up the truck with our AV equipment after the Gathering, I was approached by a man in his mid to late 20s who said he lived in the neighborhood. He gave a story about his sister having a miscarriage and needing money for gas and he figured that he would come ask us for help since we were a church. I knew he was lying about needing the money for gas, but I was pretty pleased to hear that a guy from that neighborhood knew who were and what we were about. I told him to get his car and pick me up and I’d go with him to fill up his gas tank. He looked down, dejected, mumbled “Thanks”, and walked off. He never come to get his gas.
I was bummed that he didn’t come back. I was willing to help him, but not the way he wanted. It’s unfortunate, had he asked for money and been honest about what he wanted it for, I could have helped him. No, not with money. But with what he really needed. Since he asked dishonestly, and asked for the wrong thing, he didn’t get his need met. That’s too bad. I pray that I remember that lesson when I’m praying to God about stuff.

Curtis Young
SoulSearch
Kansas City, KS

Everything you need to know to plant a church in 3 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjHMZKNKbTk

News from Kearney NE

We're Going To Need More Bricks

Building a church from scratch is much like building a brick wall.  It takes the right tools, elements, more time than you think it will, and a lot of sweat equity.  The main elements required in building this wall are bricks and mortar.  In building a church plant you need two kinds of people; bricks and mortar.  

Bricks are people with a firm foundation in Christ.  They are the ones you can count on to lead and serve.  While not perfect, they are solid.  You can put things on top of them and trust that they can take a bit of the load.  For The Table, bricks are people who love the vision of the church and devoted to the community so much they are ready to work for it.

Mortar are the people who are seekers.  They play a viable part in holding the community together and building it, but they need bricks around them to solidify the building that is The Table.

We have seen God draw people who I would classify as "mortar" to The Table.  This is great!  It has always been our hope to start growing new disciples from the beginning.  However, as I (The Jobsite Foreman???) look at our project I see that we need more bricks.  We are working to attract a few more of these committed people to The Table, and I ask as this month's major prayer request you would join us in praying for this.


Tyler Wilterding
The Table
Kearney, NE

2 Pillars Youth Training Information

The 815 Youth Training and Information Meeting


The 815 Youth is our effort to start a drop-in shelter for at-risk teens here at The 815 on Tuesday nights from 4-7pm. We've been working diligently with both LPS and CEDARS and it has been great to see God bringing the pieces together for this. There will be an informational/training meeting this Sunday, October 17th following the worship gathering. We'll cover the mission and vision of The 815 Youth as well as talk through some goals and objectives and also let you know how you can get involved in this area of ministry. The meeting will be in the lower-level of The 815 and run from 12-1pm. If you are interested in getting involved in this mission in any way, or simply desiring to learn more about it, please plan to attend the meeting on the 17th. The 815 Youth will kick-off on Tuesday, October 26th from 4-7pm.

2 Pillars
Lincoln, NE
http://project2pillars.com/

Time Management

Here are some great question to consider about how you use your time. Taken from Matt Perman blog.

Questions on Time Management

Here are some good questions from Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed:

* Do you plan ahead to maximize your fruitfulness each day, or do you simply let life happen?
* Do you make choices based on Scripture or on what feels good at the moment?
* Do you strategize to use your talents to bless your family and church, or do you employ them primarily for your own personal fulfillment?
* Do you evaluate every opportunity in light of biblical priorities, or do you do whatever it takes to get ahead?
* Do you consider whom God would have you serve, or do you try to please everyone all the time?

Upward / Inward / Outward

“From the teaching of the New Testament it is easily perceived that the church operates in three relationships: upward to God in worship and glorification; inward to herself in edification, purification, education and discipline; outward to the world in evangelization and service ministries.” Charles Brock, Indigenous Church Planting

As churches we delight in the upward, can bask in the inward but at times the outward becomes a struggle. Christ ministry keep a great focus on all three.

Staff effectiveness

I like check list and Don Cousins has generate four different list for measuring the effectiveness of a church. Following is his listing for evaluating staff, individual or multiple

"When seeking to measure the effectiveness of the “staff” ask the following:

- Are those in leadership positions functioning as equippers?
- Are additional leaders being raised up and developed within ministry?
- Is the ministry expanding because newly developed leaders are being deployed in additional leadership roles?
- Are more and more servers (those meeting needs) being identified, developed, and engaged in ministry service?
- Is the ministry increasing in its impact because more servers are actively involved in serving?"

(Cousins, Don, Experiencing LeaderShift, David Cook, 2008, pg 140-141)

Measure the effectiveness of the elders.

Don Cousins in "Experiencing LeaderShift" gives four questions to be asked in regards to evaluating the effectiveness of the elders.

- "Throughout the ministries, services and programs of the church , is the teaching of the Word accurate, anointed, and applicable to life?

- Is the church covered and bathed in prayer?

- Can the Spirit move freely because we're untied and free from the consequences of sin?

- Is the church operating as a true body, fulfilling it biblically stated purpose to one another and the unsaved world?

An important note here: The board doesn't serve as representatives of the congregation. It is not their role or responsibility to represent the people's views or to guarantee that their desires are met. Elders are to serve as representatives of God to the people and to lead the people into obedience to what God says."

(Cousins, Don, Experiencing LeaderShift, David Cook, 2008, pg 136)

Twitter Bible

Yes, now you can have a "Twitter Bible". Todd Rhodades from MMI talks about this new Bible. It seems to change the mean of whole Bible.

new so-called “Twitter Bible,” which summarizes the over 31,000-verse Bible into nearly 4,000 short-form tweets, is being released at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week.

According to The Christian Post, this project was formerly named And God Decided to Chill. The German language book is the compilation of tweets by more than 3,000 German Christians who participated in the church project earlier this year.

In honor of the Pentecost holiday, German Christians used the micro-blogging service Twitter to summarize 3,906 Bible sections into 140 character messages, according to Berlin-based newspaper “The Local.” Though the project was scheduled for May 20-30, it was completed 37 hours ahead of schedule and achieved a world record.

Do Denomations Have a Future

Discussion abounds regard the need for or against denominations. Ed Stetzer piped in on the subjected and said,

Two Faulty Assumptions about Denominations

1. Denominations are a necessary or even integral part of the mission of God.
2. Attempting to interpret the role of denominations in the life of the local church apart from the Missio Dei (the mission of God)

Denominations might not be necessary, but they are valuable. They are good tools to be used in the mission of the church.

Why Denominations Do Have a Future

1. Denominations are inevitable. (Whether positively – for missional cooperation, or negatively – for tribal self-preservation)
2. Younger evangelicals are looking for a sense of rootedness in a fragmented society. (Young, Restless, Reformed / Emerging Church / Deep Church / Ancient-Future / Worship)
3. Churches that belong to denominations have confessional systems and accountability that ground them in orthodoxy.

What Kind of Denominationalism is Desirable?

1. We want to see denominations that are missional as opposed to tribal.
2. We want to see denominations based on confessional consensus.
3. We want to see denominations that value methodological diversity.
4. We want to see denominations that assist local churches, not vice versa.

Why I am staying in our denomination:

• I believe what we believe.
• Churches that belong to denominations are the primary agents of global evangelization.
• Diverse leadership environments stretch me.
• Because God led me to.
• Denominational affiliation is not just about me.

Read the complete blog here