Find Your Fit – Tonight!

At LifeChurch we believe that every member is a minister. That  means everyone is wired and gifted by God in a special way to be able to minister to another persons need.

You have God given talents and abilities that God wants to use in order to help someone else. 

 Tonight we will help you discover your SHAPE and how you fit in the ministry of LifeChurch. We will look at discovering your Spiritual Gifts, your Heart, your Abilities, your Personality and your Experiences.

Class 301: SHAPE Wednesday Night  7:pm @ Alfriston

Passionate Volunteers

I am grateful to God for the army of volunteers I serve with. The people who are willing to give up something in order for someone else to be blessed. Rather than sitting in the service enjoying the worship and the sermon, they are out serving in the children’s ministry, looking after someone else’s child in the service, or in the car park directing traffic, or preparing morning tea. I am thinking of the people who sacrifice their beauty sleep on Sunday morning so that everything is set up and ready before the first service starts. I am thinking of the people who take time off work to serve at church or help someone.

Who are these people? They are men and women who love Jesus and are passionate about the House of God by serving without pay, vigilantly use their god given gifts, to make Sunday mornings the most inspiring and life changing experience for all who come to LifeChurch.

The church I lead would not exist without the hundreds of hours given each month by volunteers who are passionate about God and his church.

Volunteers Appreciation Night

 VOLUNTEERS: They are the greatest asset of any church. They are my heroes. These are the people who throw in their heart and soul to the mission and vision of the church. They sacrificially give their time, energy, money, and talents for the benefit of others. They serve with joy, faithfulness, and commitment. They have a team spirit with a ‘we can do it attitude’. Though having different gifts, our volunteers are of equal value, united around a common purpose. They have an “all for one, one for all” heart.

My wife and I have been so blessed to be part of a great team at LifeChurch. (I know I have said this before in many other posts. The truth is I am biased) We have achieved a lot this year because of their unwavering support and trust.

This coming weekend we are celebrating together. It is still a mystery to them what we are doing or where we are going (I think) but I am so looking forward to it.

If you’ve volunteered at LifeChurch in the past year, then you’re invited! (Seriously, you should receive an invitation in the mail / email by now. If you don’t, and you should, please give Jeanie a call at the Office (09 262 2754), because it probably means we have an old or incorrect address for you.)
We don’t want you miss out. I promise that you will enjoy the night. It is a 7 hour event so make sure the babysitter is organized.

Looking for the Perfect Leader Pt2

 Most Churches appoint new leaders around December / January.  Yesterday I started a 3 part series on appointing leaders:

3. Calling

Someone in your church may have all the necessary skills and experience you are looking for but his heart is not in the ministry or your church. (check his/her involvement as a volunteer). People who are called, go the extra mile over and over again because they believe that God has placed them in that ministry or in that role. Its important to ask the new leader whether he /she feels God calling him / her into the ministry as a whole not just that role.  Paul in Galatians 1:1 knew it without a shadow of doubt that he wa called by God in to the role and ministry of apostleship.

4. Chemistry

I learnt this from Bill Hybels. I don’t have any Bible verses on Chemistry but it is so crucial that the leaders have the heart of the Senior Pastor / Leader. Why is this important? Two hearts, two visions, two directions, two leaders, two agendas, eventually it will become two churches. Imagine having 2-3 people on your leadership team with their own agendas and ideas on how to run the church. Divisions are often caused by people who are in leadership, who are not called by God.  They are the ones who are always against what God has put in the heart of the Senior Leader/Pastor. To be honest if I don’t connect / click with someone, no matter how good they are in their skills and qualifications they should not be in my leadership team. I think this is common sense. Don’t get me wrong on this one. Remember ‘Birds of the same feather flock together’. You want to be leaders who are singing the same song, on the same page, going the same direction, rowing the same canoe, fighting the same battle, praying the same prayers…… These are some of my little phrases /axioms I have been saying to our church over the last 3 -4 years.

Day 3 – 40DOC

‘People who don’t love others whom they have seen can’t love God whom they have not seen’ (1 John 4:20)

The best way to love God is by loving people. Just love them. In spite of who they are and what they do. Jesus modelled this by loving the tax collectors, the prostitues, etc….. A Russian monk worte in his diary “I have learnt to accept people as they are. Whatever they are in the world, a prostitue, a prime minister, it is all the same to me. But sometimes I see a stranger coming up the road, and I say, “Oh, Jesus Christ is it you again?”

Manurewa Prayer Vigil Reflections

• God is up to something. I have no idea where God is leading us in this journey but I know the outcome is going to be fantastic. God is faithful and we will see a community turn to God

• I was so nervous about the whole thing. Never hosted a Prayer Vigil before, never worked with so many churches before.

• Great to see the church leaders come together. It was refreshing and encouraging to hear them

• It was just the beginning. The best is yet to come.

• Thank God for Intercessors, covering the event with prayers. A must have in every church – the ministry of intercession.

• ‘the crime rate will come down as a result of people praying and acknowledging God in the community”. I felt the Lord was saying that to me on the night.

• Thanks Lea for the chicken soup and for overdosing me with caffeine.

• How wonderful and how pleasant when the brethren come together in unity. Ps 133.

• I was blessed to see young people praying out loud particularly for their own generation.

• I believe in leadership. I believe in Vision and I believe in leaders with a vision. When the leaders of a city align themselves with God, I believe God will move in a powerful way.

• My heart was moved with the presence our senior citizens who knelt before God and pray for the young people!! What an awesome thing to see!

• The devil tried all his tricks to ruin the night but praise God we are more than conquerors and it was a success.

• To my great team at LifeChurch. To the traffic team, securities, hospitality, admin, intercessors, worship team and everyone. You are the bomb! Thank you for seeing the vision of a transformed community.

I’ve been thinking!

Last week I spent some time just thinking about ways we can do to bless the community. I was thinking of Manurewa and how we can turn Manurewa into a positive, and great place to live community. I came up with a few ideas.
• Write a letter to the Mayor to encourage him in his leadership
• Surprise the Police Dept with gifts and thank you cards for the work they do and the risk they take
• Clean Up Manurewa Day – Paint out Tagging
• Random Acts of Kindness Day
• Appreciate the Teachers – Write cards to all School Teachers in Manurewa. Thank them for their hard work in educating the next generation
• Give every female at Manurewa Shopping Centre a rose on Valentines Day.
• Free Lawn Mowing Day – Borrow 100 lawn mowers and mow 1000 properties in one day.
• Welcome every new family in the area with Pizza on their first night.
• Offer Prayers for Families
• Pay a Prostitute an hour of her time to have dinner with our family so we can share with her the love of God. (That’s gonna be an expensive dinner)
• Free minor house repairs for solo parents
• Free Hug Day.
Please feel free to share your ideas by adding a comment to this post.

Manurewa – Prayer Walk and Pick Up Rubbish

Awesome Work Team

What an opportunity to get to know the community by serving them. Great time to talk with them, share the love of God. Some people thought that we were serving PD because of our bright orange t shirts and they offered some of our boys money. Our youth invited them to come to church on Sunday.