21 Days of Prayer & Fasting: Week 2

The Church is relentless as God anoints and appoints pastoral leaders to lead the Church to fulfill His purposes.  Only God calls leaders over the Church, but they must first respond in obedience with a reckless faith in God. May God raise up an army of servant-leaders who are willing to lay down their lives in order to advance the Cause of Christ.

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.  Ephesians 4:11-12, NKJV

Pastors often get distracted with the details of administrating a “machine” rather than boldly pursuing the “mission” of God to seek and save, that which was lost.  May God strength and renew the leadership of our church and call new leaders, pastors, and missionaries, so God’s Kingdom is radically advanced.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Romans 10:14-15, NKJV

Week 2 Focus: Leadership of the Church

• Sunday, Jan. 13: Pray for unity and harmony of the church, for our church and area churches to be unified in our purpose to make disciples. Ephesians 4:1-3
• Monday, Jan. 14: Pray for purpose and vision of the church. Pray for both the church’s purpose and vision of making disciples and putting campuses and churches throughout the tri-state area. Pray for your role in fulfilling that vision. Ephesians 4:15-16
• Tuesday, Jan. 15: Pray for wisdom and direction for church leaders. Pray for our Pastors, Elders, Deacons, that they would be filled with God’s wisdom and direction for the church; that they would have bold vision and strategic planning for the Kingdom of God. Hebrews 13:7
• Wednesday, Jan. 16: Pray from division, strife, and false doctrine. The reality is, all eyes are on the church. The potential for division and disruption is high. Pray for protection for the church family. 1 Chronicles 4:10
• Thursday, Jan. 17: Pray for marriages and families in the body of Christ. The health of the church is defined by the health of the family. Marriage and family are under grave attack. Pray also for families and marriages in our area. Ephesians 6:18
• Friday, Jan. 18: Pray that there would be an increase of both un-churched and de-churched people (the lost) making decisions for Christ and serving the body of Christ. 1 Timothy 2:3-4
• Saturday, Jan. 19: Pray for missionaries around the world. Pray that the gospel would be spread around the world; pray for missionaries on the front lines of church-planting, Biblical training, and compassion ministries. Matthew 28:18-20

these videos are proof that EVERYONE is necessary at Lifehouse

In case you don't know where you belong or what talent you have to offer, I want to assure every person at Lifehouse is valuable and necessary.

As PROOF, we've discovered that one ministry partner's unique gift is making jibjab videos of the office staff. Who knew that this was a necessary role in the church, but hey, we want everyone to maximize their giftedness to impact God's Kingdom at Lifehouse.

I had to censor most, but here are a few jibjab videos of our team that may give you a laugh. OH, and be very afraid if you see someone at Lifehouse trying to get a close of picture of your face. You may find yourself in one of these.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Featuring: Lauren Layman, Melody Belotte, Corey Broadwater, Patrick, Brian Linn.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Featuring: Pastors Ron, Patrick and Laura, Corey Broadwater, and Dave Johnson

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Featuring: Pastor Joe and Lois, John and Jamie Aldridge, Lauren Broadwater.

What are we building in leadership and Church?

Thought this was a great blog post by Steve Furtick of Elevation Church:

The house you have to live in

Posted: 22 Jul 2010 03:01 AM PDT

I once asked a group of fifteen pastors if they would attend the churches they were leading if they were not on staff. In other words, if they were just random people in the community working in different fields and they didn’t have to be there, would they actually want to be a part of their church? Would the programs impress them? Would the culture entice them? Would the vision inspire them?

Only two raised their hands.

Only two wanted to be a part of the church and the culture they themselves were trying to build.

It reminds me of an old illustration about a contractor who had been building houses for a friend. Eventually the friend gave the contractor one last house to build. He provided him with all the dimensions and told him to use the best material. But since it was his last house, the contractor decided to cut some corners thinking he could cover it up and save money. After the house was built, to his surprise his friend tossed him the keys to the house and told him it was his reward for his hard work.

We’re all building something.

Everyone is building their reputation. Their legacy. Their character. Parents are building marriages and families. Business leaders are building corporations. Pastors are building churches.

Whatever you’re building, make sure that it’s something you would actually want to live in yourself. Because you’re going to have to.

The reputation you’re building is the reputation you have to live with. The family you’re building is the family you have to come home to every day. The organization you’re building, whether it’s a business or a church, is the organization you’re going to have to lead.

So build something you would live in, even if you didn’t have to.

pastors in prayer

Started today off by meeting with a group of pastors for our weekly prayer gathering. These are pastors from a variety of denominational and theological backgrounds but who share a few things in common:

• we believe in the Bible wholly and fundamentally,
• we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior,
• we believe that the Church has been commissioned with the Gospel and is the only hope of the world,
• we believe that we, as churches and leaders, are more powerful and effective together than we are apart,
• we believe in the power of prayer,
• we believe that we agree on more than we disagree,
• we believe that unless we unite and serve together the Church will fail and continue to slide towards irrelevance and stale religion,
• we believe that our prayers and unity of faith will matter for eternity so that the population of heaven will be different because we got out of bed and prayed.

What are we praying?

• renewal of our city- true transformation to sweep through this region that will lead to physical needs being met, less crime, more caring, communities serving one another, and a significant drop in corruption,
• The Church- that The Church would be unified, powerful, and effective in both showing and sharing the Gospel of Jesus with a city desperately in need,
• salvation of those who are far from God- that the many who don't know or follow Jesus would be reached and discipled into true Jesus-followers, not so we can have more converts or fill churches, but that their lives would be rescue from the grip of sin and their souls freed from the bondage of hell, and that each person in our city would discover the eternal life of Jesus Christ,
• holiness- that we, as pastors, would live God-honoring lives, and in turn, those who profess Jesus as their Lord, would begin to live more like Jesus- in word and deed.

Ok, we're praying tons more but those are just a few things that are weighing on my heart as we pray.

Thought I'd take a moment and share.