Resurrection Sunday

Today millions of Christians around the world celebrate the Resurrection of Christ from the grave 2000 years ago. The power of the Resurrection is still changing many lives today. 25 years ago it impacted my life that I decided to follow Christ at the age of 17. (its OK ..you can do the Math).

My desire is for others to experience the same power in their lives.

• Party in the House!! Its Resurrection Day! This is the Day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.!!!
• Young people!! You bring are lot of joy and freshness to Sunday Morning worship. Keep working on those moves!!!
• Great to meet so many new faces today at church. I love chatting with new people, especially those who have never been to church before. Love their perspective on church.
• Today at LifeChurch in both morning Services people made decisions to follow Christ. Excited to see first time guests receiving Christ.
• Tears: the language only God understands!!
• The Bread and Clothing ministry are tools to bring people to Christ.
• Prayed for new Christians, prayed for deliverance. Shutting the doors the enemy is using to bring people down!
• Spoke on The Difference Easter makes in our lives. Forgiveness, Power of Resurrection, Eternal Assurance.
• Pastor Julia Amosa spoke briefly. A great encourager who always has a word in season.
• Noticed so many kids today in church! They can’t keep still!!
• Quote of the Day: ‘This Church is not full of hypocrites! There is always room for more”. - Rom 3:10 ‘There is no one righteous’.  I want to do a sign for LifeChurch on the road.

This Coming Sunday: 3 Services. Communion 6:00pm – Servolution Special!!

Not a Good Friday!

It was AWESOME!!

• Walked into Church 3:00 this afternoon – Not your normal time for a church service. Felt like walking into a monastery. Crosses everywhere, and wooden doors to go thru, with Latin music in the background. The atmosphere was surreal.
• Reminded of the ‘Mercy of God’ when Steven sang ‘Your Mercy’ with such passion. So undeserved but THANK YOU GOD!
• I am sinner who is forever grateful for Gods forgiveness.
• Powerful testimonies of the Gods Grace in the lives of people. Totally blessed hearing Sisi, Fetu, & Retti’s stories! God is still in the business of changing lives!!
• The Children’s choir was just amazing! Innocent and Pure – very creative with beautiful voices. Haven’t heard a children’s choir in years! The start to greater things to come! I believe in these kids! Nothing excites me more then seeing children and young people using their gifts for God and are planted in the House.
• 8 people committed their lives to Christ! The Power of the Gospel!
• Laine – our own creative genius wrote, directed and even acted in ‘Because of Love’ Easter production. Powerful! lots of tears…..
• Introduced to someone who has never been to church before!  First time!. Her comment – ‘church is cool! I will come again!
• Saw so many new faces today! Even some of my facebook friends showed up. I sent over 1300 invitations. Two responded and came! Facebook is a vehicle.

As a sinner forgiven by the blood of Christ, I am truly grateful to God. I owe my life to him.

I had an Awesome Good Friday.

Servolution 2011 Celebration

Quick thoughts on Servolution Party Wednesday Night!

• A massive time of praise and worship!
• Church Packed with Red T shirts!! Kids on the floor, people standing!
• So much energy!! after 7 days of hard work………there was still plenty of energy to dance!
• Thank you Israel Houghton for writing those funky songs!!
• An unstoppable Revolution of Love!
• In my short message I challenged the next generation to live unselfish lives and to love people!
• My Servolution highlight was seeing over 50 young people gave their lives to Christ!
• Massive Feast! BBQ Steaks!! the best!
• Music was pumping! people jumping!
• How about that Choir from Fetuao Methodist! In my books – ‘the best ever’. Powerful stuff!!
• Chocolate Giveaways!
• Cops testify ‘all for the Man upstairs’.
• Love hanging out with pastors from other churches!!
• Promo for Servolution 2012!! ‘Coming to your Community’
• Next Years Dates – 24th – 30th March  - Mark your Calendar!!

Developing Emerging Leaders Pt2

I mentioned in my last post on Developing Emerging Leaders Pt 1, one of the best advice I received as a new pastor was to ‘Grow Your Own Leaders”.

In my first 3 years of ministry I was frustrated with the lack of leadership. I was always looking for people to do stuff, lead a ministry, start a project or teach a class but unable to. May be because I was too fussy.

I discovered two types of people in our church. First there were people with great potential / talent but their hearts were not with me and wanted to do things in their own way. And then there was another group of people who were with me but very raw, young and inexperience.

I am sure many pastors and leaders can identify with my frustration.

If you are a pastor and going through the same situation right now and your looking elsewhere to find good leaders, can I offer you the same piece of advice. “Grow your own”. Develop leaders that will have your heart. Aim for the long run, don’t just find someone to fulfil the immediate task.

I am always fascinated with Jesus’ method of developing emerging leaders.

He did not have application forms to fill, nor he asked for their CVs. He basically started with people who were probably the least qualified to be disciples.

Can you imagine a fisherman following a carpenter. A tax collector following a tax payer.

For over 3 years Christ raised, trained, empowered and released these leaders into the world.

He started off by Identifying them, he then invested time and energy in these men. He taught them the Gospel of the Kingdom and showed them how to do ministry. He nurtured them, even fed them.

There were times when the disciples played up, so Jesus had to confront some pride and attitude issues. He even rebuked some of the thoughts and behaviour. Poor Simon Peter was always on the receiving end.

Jesus delegated ministry work to them, they were given ‘work experience’ opportunities.

Jesus inspired them and empowered them by giving them authority to cast out demons and heal the sick.

The final task was to give them clear instructions and then released them to GO INTO THE WHOLE WORLD………..

Jesus didn’t just develop preachers but strong leaders who changed the world with the Good News.

What type of leaders are you growing?

ServolutionNZ

Yesterday I was able to get around Auckland and see what God is doing thorough his Body! Its amazing and I’m humbled by the servant heart of people, making a difference in people’s lives through simple acts of Kindness! Jesus gets the Glory Big Time!!!

I LOVE THE BODY OF CHRIST!!

Experience Easter!

Don’t Go to Church this Sunday!

Whether it’s been days or decades since you’ve been to church, you can still come BE the church with us this weekend.

LifeChurch Manurewa is cancelling our regular weekend services in order to go make a difference in our community. We invite you to come serve with us. It won’t be glamorous, in fact it’s probably going to be hard work, but we think this is what church ought to look like. Come be the difference.

We will be serving the Randwick Park Community Manurewa this weekend. Meet at Randwick Park Primary School 8:00am on Sunday. After work FREE lunch will be served. Servolution Concert Kicks off at 1:00pm. Bring the Children.

For more information contact our office:

Love to see you there!

Photo: paulwilkinson.wordpress.com

7 Days of Servolution 2011

I’m excited to be part of Servolution 2011. About 50 Churches across Auckland New Zealand from different denominations are coming together with one purpose “To share the love of God through simple acts of Kindness”.

Close to 2000 volunteers are expected to be part of Servolution this year. Its not too late to join the rest of volunteers who believe in giving back to the community. To be part of Servolution in your area click here.

Check here for regular updates over the next 7 days.

Developing Emerging Leaders Pt1

Over the last few weeks we have been talking about ‘Developing the Next Generation of Leaders’ at LifeChurch’s School of Leaders.

One of the main tasks of a Senior Leader is to develop new leaders. This is a process and it can not be limited a number of hours, tasks or courses.

If you are the Senior Leader, ask yourself these two simple questions

1. Do you have someone that is ready to take over from you when you leave?

2. How many people under your leadership have been properly equipped to lead?

Here is another question that is worth asking, “Are you frustrated with your current leaders?”

Your answers should motivate you to start the process of developing leaders.

Developing leaders is intentional and it is the Senior Leaders mandate to make sure that Godly men and women are raised and developed to lead and the take the church to where is has never been before.

Here are a few tips:

Leadership Development requires a Vision

Developing leaders never happens accidentally. Unless there is a vision to see new leaders raised, church will continue without investing in the next generation of leaders and the church will pay for it 10 -20 years down the line. One of the assignments we gave our students at who are doing the ‘School of Leaders’ course was to identify potential leaders under 10. Leadership development starts while they are at Sunday School. Don’t wait until they are adult. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Leadership development happens when the Senior Leader is passionate about training leaders, and if it is not in him, it is not in him. I personally think the church has focused a lot on training pastors and teachers and have failed to train leaders. As a result we have more pastors and more churches but very few strong leaders leading those churches. Speaking from experience I spent 3 years in Bible College and learnt very little on Leadership. In fact there were only two pastoral leadership papers offered.

As a leader, what is your vision on Raising, Training, Empowering, and Releasing the next generation of leaders.

One of the best advice I received from a pastor friend of mine when I became a pastor was “Grow your own Leaders”.

I have been buying vegetables all my life and there is really no excitement in that exercise. Four months ago we started planting vegetables in our back yard. They are yet to produce the goods but just watching them grow, as I water them each day is exciting!

If you want Great Leaders, have a Great Vision to Grow them. Its Exciting!

Next:  Developing Emerging Leaders Pt2

Proverbs 18

Hey this is good stuff! I Love Gods Word. Its powerful, refreshing, motivating, and definitely ‘lamp to my feet and light to my path’ Psalm 119. Read each verse slowly,meditate on it as you go…..Post a Comment on your favorite verse.

Proverbs 18

1 Unfriendly people care only about themselves;
they lash out at common sense.

2 Fools have no interest in understanding;
they only want to air their own opinions.

3 Doing wrong leads to disgrace,
and scandalous behavior brings contempt.

4 Wise words are like deep waters;
wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook.

5 It is not right to acquit the guilty
or deny justice to the innocent.

6 Fools’ words get them into constant quarrels;
they are asking for a beating.

7 The mouths of fools are their ruin;
they trap themselves with their lips.

8 Rumors are dainty morsels
that sink deep into one’s heart.

9 A lazy person is as bad as
someone who destroys things.

10 The name of the Lord is a strong fortress;
the godly run to him and are safe.

11 The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense;
they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.

12 Haughtiness goes before destruction;
humility precedes honor.

13 Spouting off before listening to the facts
is both shameful and foolish.

14 The human spirit can endure a sick body,
but who can bear a crushed spirit?

15 Intelligent people are always ready to learn.
Their ears are open for knowledge.

16 Giving a gift can open doors;
it gives access to important people!

17 The first to speak in court sounds right—
until the cross-examination begins.

18 Flipping a coin[a] can end arguments;
it settles disputes between powerful opponents.

19 An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city.
Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.

20 Wise words satisfy like a good meal;
the right words bring satisfaction.

21 The tongue can bring death or life;
those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

22 The man who finds a wife finds a treasure,
and he receives favor from the Lord.

23 The poor plead for mercy;
the rich answer with insults.

24 There are “friends” who destroy each other,
but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

New Living Translation