Nominating Committee or Ministry Placement Team?

Next Sabbath, October 5, you will select a pre-Nominating Committee – 7 people who will then meet and recommend to you those willing to serve as the Nominating Committee.

Once a year our church goes through this process of evaluating what we are doing and making necessary changes, adjustments to be a functional and effective for the mission.  Those involved in the past know it is not an easy process.  It is not done by any individual, but listening to the voice of people, represented by those they elect.

We believe that the voice of God, the Holy Spirit works through the Body, through believers when they are in unity.  The TEAMWORK is modeled by the early apostolic church, and it remains a “litmus test” of Holy Spirit presence in the church.

I invite you to consider these questions:

HAVE YOU DISCOVERED THE GIFT YET?
WHAT IS YOUR CALLING?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH IT?
HOW ARE YOU USING GOD GIVEN GIFTS?
The Holy Spirit is in charge of distributing gifts, and He reveals gifts to people who receive them. Please read 1^st Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 to understand the concept of the church as a Body.  Spiritual gifts are given for edification of the Body, for building up the Church family, for benefit of other believers.(1st Corinthians 12:7)
To every servant of Lord Jesus some gift of the Spirit is promised. There is no one who has not received!!!

Consider this statement from the pen of inspiration: “At this very hour His Spirit and His grace are for all who need them and will take Him at His word. The gifts are already ours in Christ, but their actual possession depends upon our reception of the Spirit of God.  If they are connected with Christ, if the gifts of the Spirit are theirs, the poorest and most ignorant of His disciples will have a power that will tell upon hearts. God makes them the channel for the outworking of the highest influence in the universe.” (Ellen G. White, The Faith I Live By. 292)

From the same inspired pen came these words: “the greatest cause of our spiritual feebleness as a people, is the lack of real faith in Spiritual Gifts.” (Ellen G. White, an Appeal in Review & Herald, January 14, 1868)  The members have depended upon pulpit declamations instead of on the Holy Spirit. Uncalled for and unused, the spiritual gifts bestowed on them have dwindled into feebleness. (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages. Vol.1. 127)

When Christians serve in their area of giftedness, they function less in their own strength and more in the power of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts are not an option but a vital necessity in our Church. Your brothers and sisters need your giftedness!!! Your involvement in the process is essential.

Thinking of our Mission

Last Sabbath we celebrated Communion on the high day of Yom Kippur, the Judgment day, and this Sabbath we are in the Sukkot (Tabernacles) festival.  These two temple feasts remind us every year of prophetic events yet to be fulfilled – the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the post-Millennial New Earth and the New Jerusalem.  We are living before the plagues of Revelation are poured out, before the door of probation, the door of God’s Mercy closes.  The Temple in Heaven is still open and Christ continues His Intercessory ministry (Hebrews 8:6).  People still can repent, change their lives, accept salvation and receive the grace for life eternal.  Yet, a time is prophesied, that Grace period will be over.  We may not like to hear or think that, but there will be a time when no more repentance will be possible.  When you consider all the people you encounter daily, friends, family, co-workers, are they safe for eternity?  Do they know Christ?  Do you care?

This past week we had been hit with troubling news of flooding in Colorado; a mini-bus with Haitian Adventists overturning in Florida, killing some, and severely injuring others; a bus was hit by a train in Ottawa.  As I listened to one interview, a person said “People were just shocked because it happened so suddenly,” it reminded me of prophesies warning us that future developments will be sudden, surprising, unexpected.

This Fall we are planning a special 10 night session with 10 pastors speaking one after another each night on the topic of faith for today.  From October 19 to November 2 would be your opportunity to invite your friends who have not yet made commitments, who are searching for answers, who need to meet Jesus.  Be a disciple and lead them to Christ!

From October 6 to 12 we invite all to a week of fasting.   Chose your own fast – be though from media, from internet, from TV, from sweets, from food…your choice!  Meanwhile, pray and seek to invite and bring someone with you to the evangelistic meetings.  On October 18, Friday night, we will hold a special Rally for members, preparing for the series, and then on Sabbath night our doors open for the seekers.  Please bathe this in prayer daily.

How comfortable are you?

This past week we served community at our monthly Open House event on Wednesday, 11^th of September, THE 9 11...     and as people were signing and dating their receipts many were asking “what day is it?”   Only 12 years passed and folks have forgotten!!!  Of course there are official memorials held on site.  But world around so many more tragedies happen that the “day that changed the world” is kind of forgotten.

This week on 9 11 a poll was released in USA showing a total of 41 percent of all United States adults believe the world is now living in the "end times" described in the Bible.  Barna Research Group asked this question "Do you, personally, believe that the world is currently living in the ‘end times’ as described by prophecies in the Bible, or not?”  Groups of population differ widely:  YES was the answer of 54% of Protestants and 77% of Evangelicals.  NO said 73% among Catholics, although among Catholics who attend mass regularly 45 percent said yes.  There is also a split between ethnic groups on this question. A total of 54 % of Blacks said YES as did 48% of Hispanics, that’s half!  Whites were at 39 percent, below the national average.   The survey also shows that families which had children in the home were more likely to believe we are living in the end times.

The interest in prophecies is growing in these confusing times.  How do we respond?

A 2009 survey of members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America indicated that 23 percent had volunteered in some way to help conduct a Revelation Seminar in the last year.  That’s 1 out of 4.  What about other 75%?  Are we following the Catholic trend of complacency?

A veteran Seventh-day Adventist evangelist said “Historically, we have always seen an increase of interest in prophecies when there are economic problems or international tensions and the potential for war. But, an interest in this topic does not always translate into people getting serious about joining a church and making a contribution to the mission of the church. It does not necessarily make evangelism any easier."  I could attest to that.  Somehow, the word of Revelation ring true “rest of humankind...did not repent” (Revelation 9:20-21)

Our Adventist identity is linked with proclamation of the end-times call to repentance.  Are we doing it?  October 19, Saturday evening, we begin a proclamation event.  Prayerfully consider who you will be inviting to hear the message of faith.  Ten pastors will be speaking night after night on “Reasons to Believe.”  The month ahead is your time to pray and invite those you befriended.

Reminiscing on the Team Work

I start this blog with a prayer request – pray for your pastor!  On September 20^th, Friday, at 9 am I will be standing in front of panel for an assessment, “defending” my doctoral thesis.  I had waited for this moment over 6 years. 

Preparing for the project assessment I am reading through my work, and can’t help but feel nostalgic about the teamwork we had developing in 2005-2009.  From a personal ministries convention in Windsor led by Eustace Williams in 2005, focusing all churches on the need to evangelize unentered counties, and territories in Western Ontario, leading to district-wide campmeetings, to pastors coming together to offer training in different churches, so their talents would be shared by all.

I have not given up the dream for such a teamwork.  It is a biblical mandate – the doctrine of unity – the eschatological necessity for churches to work together!  So, I invite you to pray for unity, for cooperation, for teamwork, among pastors, ministries and church departments, and among churches.  Pray that our shared vision would be greater than a single church, greater than one individual ministry.  Our goal is the Kingdom of God for which all churches and ministries are to work together!

As we enter this new fiscal school year, we feel the need for alignment, teamwork and cooperation even more with the ACES church school moving into our facility.  Teamwork often goes against individualistic self-expression, because it is about common goal, and not self.  The invitation of Jesus to FOLLOW Him is based on self-denial (Mat.16:24)  and, as pastor Bob Winsor emphasized in his sermon last Sabbath, it has to happen daily (Luke 9:23) “deny yourself, pick up your cross daily!”  This week as I ordered the week of prayer reading I was blessed to see the general title “And they FOLLOWED Him!”   I just finished reading “I am a follower” by Leonard Sweet, and ordered the new Adventist book on leadership “As I follow Christ.”  This revival of emphasis on following Jesus is also a reminder of the teamwork, as we ALL follow the SAME Jesus!  We are going together toward the same destination, following the same leader – Jesus Christ, and that makes us a team!

This year’s evangelistic harvest series will be a team effort of 10 pastors working together in London, each presenting reasons to believe.  Pray for the planning and preparation.  Are you also a team-player?  How’s our teamwork?