LIVING ON THE EDGE

I have been silent for a few days on the super blog highway because I have been seeking God on what he wants me to say . I have tons of ideas and so many things I want to say but right now I have no liberty to say them.

Too many times I think we have a tendency to shoot off our mouth with no regard to whom it may hurt or whom it will offend. I think a lot of this attitude about saying whatever I want no matter who gets hurt or what others may think comes for a society that is very much self absorbed. “It is all about me and everybody else can go to HELL”.

You see this in politics, you see it business and now you even see it in the church. In the church we wrap the attitude in “God told me to tell you or I had a vision from God or a Word of knowledge”. When in all honesty we just want to slam somebody.

Proverbs 13:3 (NIV) tells us “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin”. This is very plain. Keep mouthin’ off and you’ll pay the price for being an idiot.

Sometimes saying nothing and holding you tongue is the best advice anyone could give.

Heed Proverbs 13 and wait before you say whatever is on your mind and will regret for a very long time.

So I choose to wait, listen and then hopefully what comes from this blog site will be words that speak life and hope into those who read it.

Our church did it again. We managed to pull something off that in the beginning looked like an idea that was way past it’s time. We had a VBS parade through our neighborhood. We had a blast.

Our cars and trucks, not sure how many we had but it was a lot, were all decorated and we had a bunch of kids riding in a jeep throwing out candy and waving at all the people who were staring at us with mostly positive gestures. The people would stop whatever they were doing and watch these crazy people driving and honking their horns. It was amazing and I was totally blown away by the response of our people for showing up and then the response of those who watched. It was a great day for our neighborhood.

Sadly to say however we did have one neighbor who was “annoyed” by the parade and even called our office to complain about the noise and the “litter” we left on her driveway. The litter was candy.  Our Associate pastor called her and apologized for the “litter” and told her we in no way meant to annoy or litter the neighborhood.

All in all it was a great day and I believe God will bless our efforts by giving us a ton of kids at our VBS this week.  Our goal in everything we do is to make God known and to let those outside of Christ know the Jesus is cool and fun. And we did that today in a very unique and fun way.

Thanks Westchester Church for making HIM known to our community and having fun while you did it.

I have had this list in my file for a while and thought I would share it with the world. There is nothing new or profound here but we sure need to be reminded from time to time exactly who and what we are as a church in America today. Are we healthy or are we dead and just don’t know it?

Read this and then evaluate where your church is today: HEALTHY OR DEAD. If you see your church as dead, then ask yourself what YOU can do to turn it around and make it healthy. It takes more than the pastor and staff to create a healthy environment. It takes YOU!

A healthy churches’ expenses are always more than their income; dead churches don’t need much money!
A healthy church has parking problems; a dead church doesn’t.
A healthy church has lots of “noisy” kids and students; a dead church is fairly quiet.
A healthy church often changes the way things are done; a dead church doesn’t.
A healthy church asks for more money for ministry and mission; a dead church tries to keep plenty of money in the bank.
A healthy church asks people to open up and take a risk; a dead church plays it safe and never risks.
A healthy church sees challenges and opportunities; a dead church sees problems and dangers.
A healthy church apologizes, forgives and seeks forgiveness; a dead church never makes mistakes.
A healthy church uses its traditions and facilities to serve people; a dead church uses people to preserve it’s facilities and traditions.
A healthy church believes in God’s future and “lets go” in faith; a dead church believes in the past and “holds on.”
A healthy church is filled with committed givers; a dead church is filled with tippers.
A healthy church dares to dream great dreams for God; a dead church has nightmares.

Check out Perry Nobles blog for further study on this subject-great stuff.