In the Meantime

Lottie Moon 2015

Traits of an Effective Leader

Traits of an Effective Leader.

A Call to Prayer

This is a call to prayer concerning America's response to Syria. If you are already on this page and have no time read all of these reflections, read no further and spend your time in prayer.

We are on the verge of something and we do not know exactly what. No one knows. No one can. We have finally crossed partisan isles and divided ourselves in several different groupings where normal adversaries become unlikely allies.

I do not know enough to take any side because "sides" are arbitrary. I have a bias for peace, caution, and diplomacy. Never mind my biases or opinions. When we pray, we are of one mind - seeking God. I align myself with people who seek the peace of God wherever they come from and whatever their persuasions.

These are critical times and we have people in place to make hard decisions and Christians have an obligation and opportunity to pray for them. I am doing so. These decisions are extremely important to say it tritely.

People will die or live.

There will be repercussions we cannot predict or control, obligations that we could not anticipate. Believers in Jesus and all other people, pray for peace, and pray for wisdom. Stop talking for a moment and be silent before God.

We have prayed for these nations at war within themselves, but this prayer is for our response. Let us empty ourselves of preconceived notions and political biases for one moment of prayer - Just prayer - not advice.

I pray that God will advise our leaders through wisdom, conscience, sound counsel, and the inner voice of truth. You may question the biases, motives, and perspectives of our leaders. It matters not; prayer can work.

God has often swayed and persuaded people in power when His people prayed.

If we seek God's influence on the hearts, minds, and hands of people in power, we have not crossed any lines of imposing our beliefs upon them. We have gone through a Third Party who is the First Party. Those who do not believe He exists or acts can ignore our efforts before God because they are of no affect in their view.

However, if we do believe, we come open-minded, not knowing the will of God, but seeking it and believing that when we pray, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done," that something actually happens that we did not manipulate or manufacture.

It is our humility, repentance, and seeking of His face that is called for ... OURS .... not unbelievers ... OURS ... all who consider ourselves His people. WE must humble OURSELVES and pray and turn from OUR wicked ways, seeking His face and praying ("If MY people ..." II Chron. 7:14).

Times of crisis remind us of what we ought to be doing daily, praying for our presidents, representatives, senators, governors, mayors, council members, county administrators, police officers, generals, lieutenants, sergeants, principals, teachers, and on and on.

What if, before we ever spoke or wrote a word of criticism or advice or opinion, we prayed for four things?

1. The decision maker to be wise and true and blessed and to do what is right even if it is not what we think is right.

2. Ourselves to have an open mind and heart before God and to understand issues more deeply and have our opinions formed and reformed by God and truth.

3. Ourselves to have graceful words with which to express ourselves truthfully and as forcefully and persuasively as necessary in love.

Today, would you pray specifically for the choices being made to lead to the shalom of God through His Kingdom and for our nation to do the right thing as part of His overall plan for the earth. God loves all nations and peoples. We are not His favorites. He has love and plans for all.

Pray for God's peace and justice on earth from the White House to Syria and everything and everywhere in between. God grant that Your will be done today. May it be so in Jesus' Name and God grant shalom.

Be blessed by this call to prayer:

 

 

Let us pray!

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What If?

Facebook is a mission field for me. I build relationships, bridges, and credibility so that I can share my  faith is an authentic and transparent way and demonstrate how an ordinary guy with the same problems as anyone else, and lots of the same flaws, can follow Jesus and apply His Word to daily life and even mundane matters.

We just had an election and it is now over. But the real work in the real Kingdom continues. I posted something on Facebook the other day that got a lot of response. It is a call for believers to make certain commitments that are not dependent upon the outcomes of any elections and need no one’s support but God’s. It all centers on a few words from the prayer our Lord taught us to pray. It follows:

"Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

Come tomorrow ...

Come tomorrow, what if Christians in our nation would make some resolutions like those I humbly and tentatively suggest below?

I can only speak to and for Christians on this matter. People of other faiths and ideologies often have similar ethics, but I am a follower of Jesus and these resolutions flow from my understanding of His directives to His followers.

We shall love, respect, and pray for our leaders whoever they are. We shall obey our laws.

If there is a law that we, in good conscience cannot obey (not just that we don't like it), we shall peacefully and respectfully resist and accept the consequences quietly and humbly.

We shall continue to love our neighbors and let our voices be heard for peace, justice, and a righteous, compassionate society beginning at the local level.

We shall work across the lines of ideology to support common causes and be willing to be distinct and different without disrespecting those with whom we differ.

We shall assume sincere motives in hearts of our opponents as a basis for reasoning with them and cooperating with them whenever possible.

We shall practice our freedom of speech, religion, and every other freedom with the assumption that those freedoms are protected, without fear, and without intimidation. We shall not expect the endorsement of civil authorities or special protections or considerations beyond that which is common to all -- even those who have other beliefs and practices.

If our freedoms of speech and religion are indeed threatened, we shall continue to exercise them no matter what the consequences.

We shall care for and advocate for those who have no voice, for the oppressed, the poor, the broken, and the outcasts.

We shall work for peace on earth and understanding among nations. We know that there shall continue to be wars and rumors of wars in the continuation of human history, but we shall do what we have been commanded to do and work for peace in our time.

We shall be friendly and winsome.

We shall guard our own personal morality and be honest in business, politics, and human relations. We shall seek to set an example of sexual purity, integrity, and fidelity. We shall conduct ourselves in our families and churches in such a way as not to discredit the Kingdom of God.

We will guard our words, temper our speech, practice the Sermon on the Mount, love God, love our neighbor, and pray for people in power as a witness to the words we speak.

We shall continue to confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior and the guide of our lives.

We shall believe in God and in the words of Jesus that He would be with us always as we follow Him and call others to follow and ...

We shall follow, making disciples as we go, teaching them to do what He taught us to do remembering that the essence of what He taught us to do was to love.

We shall continue to pray, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven," believing that if the King has invited us to pray that way, He has a plan to answer our prayer.

That is where I stopped. I would add that these resolutions enable us to bear a consistent and authentic witness to Jesus Christ, to speak to issues that matter, and keep our focus on discipleship. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”

The world needs Jesus. We have Jesus. Let's share Jesus!

Interim Goals

These are great days! What a wonderful annual meeting we had. The seminar leaders came with great information and all the people came in a spirit of cooperation and vision.

Receiving the excellent report of the Strategy Planning Committee and hearing our moderator’s admonition to read it, digest it, ask questions about it, and return on January 10 to vote on it highlighted the meeting. Enter into prayer and discussion. These are important decisions that we must make.

You can read that report at http://pastortomsims.typepad.com/files/report-and-recommedations-draft-final-1.doc

In the meantime, we have much work to do.

In the months ahead, as we prepare to call a new Director of Missions, I am setting some personal goals, many of which coincide with my former (and current) role as Fellowship/Networking Priority Team Leader.  I have elaborated on these on my “In the Meantime” blog. See http://pastortomsims.typepad.com/in_the_meantime/2012/10/interim-goals.html.  

 The big categories are (Leadership Development, (2) Clusters (3) Theological Training, (4) Church Planting, (5) Pastoring and Coaching, (6) Strategic Planning (7) Mission-Vision-Nurture, and (8) Equipping.

Number 1.Leadership Development - Enlist, train, and coach leaders for all the priority areas of our association. It would be a great gift to the next D.O.M. to have some leaders in place who are competent and passionate about the areas of ministry that the Association has already identified as priorities. We multiply our effectiveness by multiplying and empowering leaders.

Number 2.Clusters - Develop local, affinity, and ministry focus clusters of pastors and enlist/train/coach their leaders. The Strategy planning committee is recommending this as a core value of our Association, but we are already structured to make it happen. So let us move ahead. The more we can strengthen associational fellowship, our pastors, and our churches, the healthier we will be to pass the torch of leadership to the next leader.

Number 3.Theological Training Work with our ministry/leadership training faculty to take our center to the next level in two areas:

• “Boot Camp/Basic Training” for new pastors, staff, and church planters with a 3-4 day time of concentrated introduction to the basic areas of ministry, bible survey, pastoral ministry, preaching, evangelism, mission, theology, and strategic planning.
• On-going theological education for those who wish to pursue it at a higher academic level with the potential of credit transfer to an accredited theological school.

Number 4.Church Planting - Work with our existing new work initiatives and encourage new initiatives to plant churches in areas of need and among under-reached people groups in our association. Help to dream dreams and set goals, coach church planters, and coordinate cooperative efforts between sponsoring churches in cooperation with the CSBC and other entities including Habitat for Humanity.

• The Habitat initiative involves bringing together volunteers from 5-6 or more churches to build a Habitat house together while doing evangelism and church planting. We already have a team working on this.
• Punjabi, Spanish, Lao, and Hmong works are in the pipeline with sponsoring churches and cannot wait a year to start.
• The Training for Trainers (T4T) model that I presented at the association meeting in a breakout session is a powerful tool that we can use to start churches even with low budgets. While we (our churches) will be starting more resourced new works with a “gathered church” model and church planters on the field, this is also an option. I will be gathering a class to teach this model on Tuesday nights. You are welcome to be a part of that study group that will start November  13, 7:00 P.M. at the Association office. See this LINK for more information.

Number 5. Pastoring and Coaching - Be available to coach, pastor, and encourage our pastors and leaders and work with our churches in transition. I hope to so structure our ministry at 4141 Ministries and the Fellowship of Joy so that I can be available at least 1 or more Sunday mornings a month as most Sunday evenings to visit you, preach for you, or just bring a word of Associational greeting.

Number 6. Strategic Planning  - Work with our leaders and study committees to continue the process begun by the Strategy Planning Committee. Depending upon how we vote on January 10, we will be rewriting our Constitution and Bylaws, developing a governing board, rebranding ourselves for the future, embracing the future of local missions with conviction and Spirit-filled optimism. We will be doing all of those things in the context of our ultimate search for a new D.O.M.

• The recommendations of the committee and the realities of our times dictate that this will not be a rapid process, but a methodical and prayerful one.
• Also, we have been approached by a sister Association nearby to consider a joining of forces. There is no hurry about this, but the process needs to begin even now and will inform how we proceed in our search.

Number 7. Mission-Vision- and Nurture- Ask and answer the serious questions about how existing ministries and relationships will go-forward, be supported, be defined, and, in some case, reinvented. 

• The work of the Climers in our Association has been extremely significant. It is broad and reaching and extends, in significance, beyond our Association. Ron and Carol have been a blessing to many and continue to be so. Many people have come to know Jesus through their witness. Lives and families have been saved. Pastoral ministries have been rescued from the brink of destruction. Volunteers and leaders have been trained. Relationships and linkages in the community have been created and nurtured. Influence has been used well. But Ron’s position with the North American Mission Board has an expiration date and that reality requires Ron and Carol do some planning and our Association to plan how we can best support what they do.  We have planning to do together and I will be prayerfully a part of that and prayerfully supportive of God’s leadership in their lives and in the Association’s association with them. God is not finished with the Climers!!!  Theirs is really two ministries and we need to figure out how we relate to each:  (a) counseling and (b) juvenile justice ministry. Pray for this process and for God to provide the leadership as well as the financial support for the Climers as well as the Association.
• We have money matters to figure out – salaries, systems, and structures. We do not need to drop all of these in the lap of our next leader if we can work them out ahead of time.
• We have a strong and viable camp ministry that offers an alternative to churches who need a low-cost, high-impact, high-quality camp experience for their children and the children who live in their communities. It is a mission outreach. Tania Weinbrenner brought a compelling report about camp to our annual meeting. If you missed it, we can get it to you.
• We have some very strong leadership training programs in the areas of bible teaching, Vacation Bible School, and women’s ministries. These must be nurtured.
• We have strong relationships with our Baptist entities, our convention, local missional groups, and organizations like Christian Women’s Job Corp. Relating to these takes some time and is worth the effort.

Number 8. Equipping Churches to Equip Make and Equip Disciples - Everything else … because as soon as you stop writing something like this, you remember something else or something else emerges that you wish you had thought of. We need to remain open to the Holy Spirit. It is mostly about our churches. If you have a vision and need a sounding board, the Association is for you. There are people with talents and skills in our churches that may help other churches fulfill their mission. We can make the introductions, set the tables, and facilitate the discussions where energy becomes holy synergy. Ultimately, we are about equipping churches to fulfill the GREAT COMMISSION!

Interim times are “In-the-Mean-Times” and MEAN time means something. I am treating this like a mission opportunity. My church is making some sacrifices, but I believe they will be blessed by the opportunity to extend their mission and ministry beyond the 4141 area. It is, in many ways, an extension of what God has already called us to do and be as a mission/ministry center. I am blessed to be able to step in and fill this temporary role knowing that all of our roles in this life and world are temporary because all of us are temporarily here with eternal significance.

Whatever we do, we are to be on mission in the context of the Great Commission – Make Disciples and teach them to Live and Do the Commands of Christ (including making other disciples). The Association exists to be a facilitator of the churches to that end.

Join our Facebook page  and let us continue the dialogue!

 Our best years are ahead of us!

Report from Strategy Planning Committee

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 13, is our annual meeting of the Mid Valley Southern Baptist Association. The Strategy Planning Committee will be bringing their final report.

This report will simply be presented in the meeting and a January 10 meeting will be scheduled, at the discretion of the body, to vote on the report.

If you have a chance, read it over. It will be presented in printed form tomorrow.

I hope to see many of you there.

Here is the attached report: Download Report and Recommedations Draft Final

How Good and Pleasant

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" -  Psalm 133:1

Much is happening in Mid Valley and our churches are gearing up for some dynamic outreach opportunities, but there is a poignant moment I'd like to share. It illustrates how we are all together in the work to which God has called us and how we support and influence one another.

Florante Torres came to our city some years ago with a desire to get serious about following Jesus. He opened his home to Bible study and gathered a community of Filipino people. He began to grow and get training in mission and ministry. Many people in Fresno churches spoke into Florante's life and added value to his ministry.

Gradually, God placed a vision on his heart to use his family's property in the Philippines as a church. It had once been such. He moved to Clovis Hills Community Church and they adopted the project. Mission trips followed. Pastoral leadership was trained. A building was built and a school was started. But there was more that God had in mind. God had His hand upon Florante to become a pastor.

God was calling Flortante and Myrna Torres to go. They surrendered to do so and Myrna gave up a very secure position as a nursing supervisor to do so. They recently returned from about 6 months on the field and began planning their return for another extended period. The problem was, and I mean the ONLY problem was -- No Money.

So, Florante did what a man of faith does.  He made the reservations with no money and God provided the money. He told us that story this past Tuesday at our Pastor's Breakfast and allowed us the privilege of uniting with him in prayer for God to work powerfully through him as he soon returns to the Philippines to proclaim the gospel.

What a time of unity. Unity comes as we share in God's purpose and come together seeking Him to accomplish what he desires. It is very good and it is very pleasant.

Partnership

I like to watch a television show called, "The Shark Tank" sometimes.  A panel of multi-millionaire investors sits to hear entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas and ask for specific dollar amount investments to fund their dreams. In return, they offer various percentages of ownership in their companies.

Then, the negotiations begin.

Sometimes the "sharks" opt out entirely believing that they either will not get an adequate return on their investment or that they have no expertise or interest to bring to the table. Sometimes they make counter offers. Usually they do. Sometimes they outbid each others. Sometimes they form coalitions amongst themselves to offer competitive bids.

When an offer is made, it is up to the entrepreneur to accept or reject the offer from the potential partners.

Usually, part of the bottom line is something more than how much the "shark" is willing to invest and for how much interest in the company. It is the underlying question, "Do I want to be in partnership with this investor?"

It is a good question for churches and associations. We are in partnership together on a common mission. There is give and take and give and give and give. Money is only a small part of the investment. When we enter an associational partnership, we are giving of ourselves, our energies, and our reputations to associate together on a mission that is larger than our own special interests. We are partnering together on God's mission in the world.

In Philippians 1:5, Paul expressed joy in his prayers for the Philippian believers "because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now."

In Philemon 1:6, he prayed, "... that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ."

In verse 24, he referred to "Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers."

Then in I Corinthians, we get the big picture that, "... we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building."

We indeed have a partnership with each other, but our real partnership is the one we share together with God. The mission and the work is His and He believes there is enough of a potential return on His investment in us to invest everything to save us call us into His service.

How can we do less than invest our all in Him and invest ourselves in each other?

Christian Women's and Men's Job Corp - Event and New Class

Call 647-2203 for more information. Tickets are $10. Tabkes of 8 are $75.
Facebook Event Page

Church Planting Movements

At our October 13 annual meeting of the Mid Valley Southern Baptist Association, we will have 4-5 break-out groups on a variety of topics. One of those topics will be "Church Planting Movements." The specific focus will be on how God is expanding His work around the world through the rapid mutiplication of churches. One of the tools for this multiplication is a simple process call "T4T" or "Training for Trainers," developed by Ying Kai in China.

1. T4T Introduction from T4T Online on Vimeo.

 

The process is so basic and duplicatable that anyone can use it ... and that is the point. Through a simple bible study, people are brought to Christ, discipled, and equipped to plant new churches in a very short time.

Some time back, Rick Warren interviewed Ying Kai:

This is very exciting material and we are testing it with a new church plant right now in Fresno/Clovis. I look forward to sharing more about this movement of God as time goes on.

 Thirteen video TRAINING HERE

 More information HERE