Leighton Ford, one of Billy Graham’s associates, said one time, “I was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was to speak the next night and had arrived a day early. He came incognito and sat on the grass at the rear of the crowd. Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses, no one recognized him.

“Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to my presentation. When I invited people to come forward as an open sign of commitment, Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man on the shoulder and asked, ‘Would you like to accept Christ? I’ll be glad to walk down with you if you want to.’ The old man looked him up and down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, ‘Naw, I think I’ll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night.’

“Billy and I have had several good chuckles over that incident. Unfortunately, it underlines how, in the minds of many people, evangelism is the task of the ‘Big Guns,’ not the ‘little shots.’”

It matters not if you are a “big gun,” little gun, or even a sling shot, if you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, part of Gods purpose for you is to share with others – share of your belief in Christ and what He has done in your life.

Each one of us, God’s believers, has a story to tell. It is the story of God in our daily lives. And God desires, even compels us to share that story with others. I believe one of the reasons God does not take us to heaven as soon as we accept His plan of redemption for us, is that He desires for us to share with others the joy and excitement of a changed life – a life changed because of God’s outpouring of love to us.

If you are a believer in Christ there are people in your life, your circle of influence that God desires you to reach with your story. It is your story that is needed in their lives, not one from your pastor or Sunday School teacher. My story will not accomplish the task. God wants you to experience the joy of sharing, the satisfaction of blessings from obedience to Him for sharing.

When you purchase a car and you enjoy and appreciate it you do not return to the dealership to learn how to tell others why you like it so much. You share from your own experience how it handles, the comfort of the ride, and the gas mileage. It is your experience that you share with others. You are the eyewitness and the person who has experienced the ride.

As a believer you have a story to share. You are an eyewitness to God’s unfolding love in your life. No one can dispute what you have personally experienced in Christ. Share your story. Share with others what God has done and is doing in your life. You have a story to tell and God gives you each day an audience waiting to hear. Share your story with the passion God has imparted on you. A person’s eternity may depend on it.

While having lunch with a group of ministers recently I was asked, “What are you seeing around the country – trending in the churches?” My first response was, “Well, there are still a lot of churches in decline.” Immediately, one of the other lunch attendees replied, “But you are seeing a lot of positive results, right?”

“Absolutely,…” I replied. God is alive and well and we are seeing many great and positive events and transformations happening in His churches. Personally, I have just finished walking for one year with six churches who have gone through the Reaching the Summit process. Each one of these churches has recognized areas of needed adjustment and implementation. Two more churches will be completing the process within the next two months. Every one of these churches is better equipped for effective ministry in God’s kingdom.

In the Reaching the Summit process we take a serious look at the reality of how the church is functioning. After this we begin to look at biblical principles and the adjustments needed in the current church practices to align with those principles. Each church undertakes what we call a Vigorous Face to Face Summit with Reality.

As a church walks through the process, of which prayer is a number one factor, practices, issues, and factors surface that have been holding the church back from being the greatest church God created them to be. Often times these factors or issues are underlying and have not been noticeable or uncovered for decades as the church has slipped through the phases of decline.

The Reaching the Summit (RTS) process is carried out in such a way that the Holy Spirit reveals these factors, issues, and practices to the church pastor and the RTS team members and not from the coach (consultant). Through healthy debate, prayer, and research the team and other church members procure a viable solution or adjustment of practices within the church ministries. The solution is always based on biblical principles, not on other church models. We use the mantra, “Do not copy models, Capture principles!”

Each church is unique. Therefore outcomes from the RTS process is differing for each church. Churches can experience an increase in baptisms, conversions, attendance, and membership, organization and structure change, outward focused ministries geared specifically for their community, using unearthed gifts, talents and abilities from within the church. For some churches the greatest outcome is to get all the ministries on the same track: all the wheels on the train of ministry turning in the same direction for the first time in decades. Each church identifies their true core values and a vision that some say is the game changer for their church. The vision retreat we send pastors on has been highly touted as one of the key elements of turning around these RTS churches. (We take a different approach to identifying core values and vision for the church)

A team member from one of the churches who recently completed the RTS process said, “It is truly a transforming experience!”

For more information on how your church can have a Reaching the Summit experience contact George Yates and visit the Reaching the Summit web pages of SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

There was a doctor who told the little boy that he could save his sister’s life by giving her some of his blood. “Johnny, are you sure you want to give your blood for Mary?” the doctor asked. The boy hesitated for several moments; his lips trembled as tears filled his eyes. His parents and the doctor assured Johnny that the procedure would not be very painful and would be over with quickly. Finally, he smiled bravely and said, “Sure Doc. I’ll give my blood for my sister.” As the transfusion took place, the little girl began to respond immediately. Parents, doctors and nurses erupted into cheers and applause. When the ordeal was almost over, Johnny’s brave little voice was heard, “Hey, Doc, when do I die?” A stunned silence fell across the room. The doctor and parents suddenly realized what Johnny was thinking. Johnny thought when he gave his blood to his sister, he would die – a very high price that he was willing to pay.

If you found out that you had the only bone marrow transplant to save the life of a loved one, what would you do? Would you keep it to yourself? Would you hesitate before deciding? Likely, in this scenario you would not hesitate, you would gladly give of your bone marrow to save the life of your loved one.

Giving bone marrow is like giving blood. Your body will reproduce the marrow you need to sustain your life within a couple of days. Therefore, by giving of your bone marrow, you lose nothing. Quite the contrary, you gain. By giving of yourself – your bone marrow – you gain the extended life of your loved one.

You may never be asked to give some of your blood or bone marrow to save your sister’s life (or any other loved one). But my guess is just as little Johnny willingly stepped up to donate his blood to save the life of his sister you would likely do the same.

If you have the joy of Christ living inside you, you too are like little Johnny. Whatever gifts, talents, and abilities God has bestowed on you is to be shared with others. These are not given to you for your own glorification or gratification, but to glorify God by sharing them with others, to build others up. And the great ideal here is that whatever you give away of your gifts, talents, and abilities, you lose nothing. In fact you gain. The more you use what God has blessed you with, the more He will bless you in return. The more you use these abilities and talents for the glory of God the more Joy of Christ will be imparted to you.

Love that never fails is willing to pay a great price and make a great sacrifice. Love that never fails is yours to receive and yours to give.

For more information on knowing the true Love of Christ contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

Each day you awake to a plethora of choices. What to wear, what to eat for breakfast, whether or not to wash your hair, so many choices. Perhaps the most important choice each morning is your choice of attitude. You may not consider it each morning the same as you do your wardrobe, but you willingly make a choice of attitude every day. That choice you make each day before you leave your bed room sets the pace for how you act and react to each situation throughout the day.

You give particular attention to what you will wear each day before you leave the house selecting items that will coordinate with one another. Why would you not give the same particular attention to the attitude you will wear for the day? While considering this recently I was reminded that I am made in the image of God (our creator). If I am made in His image and in His likeness and His greatest attribute is Love, should my attitude not reflect that same Love?

Have you considered what affects your choice of attitude on any given day? Certainly, your past will have a bearing on how you choose to embrace the day; the way people treated you yesterday. Your life circumstances will certainly modify how you redirect your outlook. For each of these consider asking yourself why. Why? For what reason should I let yesterday challenge the way I choose to embrace today? How much thought do you give today to the clothing you wore yesterday? Odds are, you do not give one thought to what you wore yesterday. Why? Because that was yesterday. At the end of the day you tossed those soiled clothing items into the hamper.

Today is a new day with fresh clean clothes. The same is true with my attitude. What happened to me yesterday is history. I cannot change the past. I learn from it. Use what will profit me to be a better, stronger person today. But all in all the past goes into the hamper. Today is a fresh start with a fresh clean attitude.

I begin today washing the impurities of yesterday away and down the shower drain. I should also do the same with the impurities of the mind. In fact, I do just that. Many mornings I pray those last two statements while in the shower. “Lord, God Almighty, just as the water and soap is washing the impurities off my body and down the drain, so wash the impurities of my mind, the things that I let bog me down. Wash them away O Lord. Wash them down the drain and forever away from me.”

I choose to have a positive attitude each day. Not only a positive attitude, but also an attitude of gratitude. I am blessed and I know God has a plan for me. His word says His plan is for me to prosper (Jeremiah 29:11). Therefore I know God’s plan and desire for me is good and for good things. Anything that happens otherwise is not from God, but of the world, from my adversary – God’s adversary.

Simply because I choose to have a positive attitude does not mean I do not face negative people and situations. I face them just like everyone. However, with a positive attitude, I know God is with me and will see me through those situations and tough conversations. After all, His plan is to see me prosper – to grow in His likeness. I like that. It gives me reason to smile and have a Great attitude.

Your attitude is much more than how you view the world around you. The truth is the people around you are defining you according to your attitude. Your attitude is how the world sees you.

The choice is yours. The attitude you choose to wear each morning will guide your actions and interactions throughout the day and you will be defined by the attitude you have chosen for yourself.

At times I sit in wonder and amazement at the fact that God would use me. I know who I was as a young man, who as a skinny teenager did only what I had to do to get through high school, barely getting by.

I think on the things God has done in and through my life. Not only the material blessings and a wonderful wife and other friendships; but all that He has given me in wisdom and knowledge. It may not be much in the world’s eyes, but I am so grateful because I know from whence I came. On top of all these God has poured out on me spiritual blessings beyond my imaginings. Look at what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1:3-4.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings which are to be found in heaven, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and blameless before Him.

Paul refers to Christians as the chosen people of God. We see three chains of thought here. I use the term chains because they are three ideas (blessings) connected by God’s grace to us. I want to look at the first link in that chain.

Paul’s first thoughts are on the Fact of God’s choice. Paul never thought of himself as having chosen to do God’s work. He always thought of God as having chosen him. It would not be so wonderful or miraculous that man chose God; the wonder is that God chose man. God chose me! This is why I sit in amazement and wonder.

God chose us, His children, believers, to bless us. He chose us to bless us with the blessings, which are to be found in heaven. This passage tells us that God has poured out His blessings on us, delivering them by His Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ daily as we live for Him. We can experience spiritual blessings in this life, and according to our obedience even greater spiritual blessings await us in heaven. This passage uses the past tense saying God has already poured out all these blessings.

Please understand Paul is not speaking of financial or material blessings in this passage. God bestows material blessings on everyone, causing the sun to shine and rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous alike. We see these blessings and rejoice in them easily. They are physical, touchable. However, Paul is speaking here of something much greater than material blessings.

 The Spiritual blessings the Apostle Paul is referring to do not belong to everyone. They are reserved as the limited possession of the Christian, God’s chosen people. Spiritual blessings will enhance your life far greater than material blessings. 

Who are these chosen people of God? According to scripture, (Romans 10:13) everyone who will call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:9 says, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God has poured out these heavenly blessings for all who have and will call on the name of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the one who channels these blessings to us from the Father through the Son. Not to know and depend on the Holy Spirit’s provision is to live a life of spiritual poverty. You must first know the Holy Spirit. The only way to do this is through salvation in Christ Jesus. Unless you have the witness of the Spirit you cannot draw on the wealth of the Spirit. It’s like having the nicest, newest TV and never plugging it into the wall. Without the power source you will never receive the benefits that TV can give.

The same is true with God’s Spiritual blessings. Are you plugged into the Power source of the Holy Spirit? 

This week’s post is a story by Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards that has a great principle for us all to live by.

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. “I will come next Tuesday, “I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.

 Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!”

 My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

 “I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.” “How far will we have to drive?” “Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”

 After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!” “We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.”

 “Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.” “It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

 After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, “Daffodil Garden.” We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

 It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns — great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.

 There were five acres of flowers. “But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn. “It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory.

 We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster:

There it was….”The Daffodil Principle.” For me, that moment was a life-changing experience.

 I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun — one bulb at a time — to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

  The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time — often just one baby-step at a time –and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.

 When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world!

 “It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!

 “My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said. It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask….How can I put this to use today?

Thanks Mrs. Edwards.

In a recent conversation a pastor confided that he did not believe in the old school ways of reaching people. His thoughts were, “if we’re going to reach people we need to use the internet, social media, and other technology.” I could not agree more. I personally use three social media interfaces daily, post to this blog site weekly, have a ministry website and am open to other technological communication advances as well. It was the pastor’s next statement that troubled me. He began explaining what he meant by “old school.” The implication was that face to face personal interaction was no longer relevant. “People don’t want that anymore,” he stated.

While I absolutely agree that we must use the technological advances God has blessed us with to reach out to and connect with society today, I also know that nothing will ever replace the impact and dynamics of personal face to face interaction. I did not say “I believe…” my statement is that “I know...” Studies have shown for years the level of emotional, perceptive, and cerebral impact on individuals. In person, face to face interaction has always placed strides above and beyond even a personal phone call. Written notifications are even less impactful.

God placed within each of us a desire to have relationships with others as well as Himself. Relationships require interaction. The innate desire God placed within you to interact with others is fueled by emotional response. While a card, letter, phone call, text, or social media post can elicit a degree of emotional connection, none can compare to the emotional connection as delivering the same message face to face in person.

Just this morning in our staff meeting, without prompting, two staff members shared of the joy they each experienced in making an unplanned visit to church member families. I loved sitting in that meeting and listening to these two as they shared their stories with joy and excitement. One even stated that he felt a little embarrassed being so blessed when he made his visit to encourage the family.

Only a few (4-6) short miles from the church of the pastor mentioned above, is a church who had not reached out to their community in twenty years. Two years ago they decided to change that and began doing what this other pastor (and others) say people do not want today. This church is reaching people for Christ and have been welcomed by the community. There are at least six souls, that I know of, who are now eternally grateful for the church who once again decided they needed to personally interact with the surrounding community.

Yes, we should use social media, texting, e-mail, video chats, and other means of technology to reach out and connect with the world. No other generation has ever had such availability to mass communication and if we, as individuals and organizations, do not take advantage of it we will die on the vine and become extinct as the dinosaurs and many cultures who have gone before us. However, we cannot depend on these to the exclusion of God’s greatest gift to us in communing with others – the personal face to face interaction with others.

Please church, be the church. Use all the resources God has placed at your disposal, and most of all do not forget the one He gave us to make the greatest impact on those around us. Let us encourage one another to be intentional about sharing of Christ with others in the most personal of ways.

The following is based on a story I shared in my message at church on Sunday. It has perhaps several learning points for each of us. But the one that stands out to me is that people get excited about using their gifts and talents for God.

People get excited about using what God has given them for ministry.

A couple of churches I’ve served in engaged in a move to lay ministry mobilization – helping our members to realize their potential for ministry. At one church we mailed ministry opportunity packets to every member household. Included in the packet was a ministry opportunity booklet, a Ministry Opportunities card (for each adult) and a letter from me describing the packet and the reason behind it.

On the Ministry Opportunity card was printed every ministry opportunity available in and through the church for our members. We listed everything from Sunday School teachers in every age group, to set up, clean up for special events, even cleaning restrooms and emptying trash. In all there were listed 212 opportunities for our members to be involved in serving others in and through the ministries of our church. Yes, several of these included local community ministry opportunities outside the church. Each ministry opportunity on the card had a number (1-212) beside it and a check box.

The accompanying booklet had all Ministry opportunities listed in the same order with a two sentence description listed beside the corresponding number and title. We mailed the packet out so everyone would receive it ten days in advance of our “ingathering service.”

Then we held a service one Sunday and invited all members to bring their cards filled out and to lay them on the altar during the invitation. The Sunday after the packets were mailed (one week prior to the ingathering service) one lady came running across the parking lot in a dress and heels calling my name excitedly. When she got to where my wife and I were standing, she grabbed my wrists with her hands excited and said, Bro. George, You mean I can serve God by cleaning bath rooms?”

This lady had recently entered into a personal relationship with God. Without a formal degree or high school diploma and little knowledge of serving, she was excited that she could use her talents to serve God by cleaning the church bathrooms and also cleaning the bathrooms on her job in the public school system. People get excited about using their abilities and talents for Jesus. What about you? What gifts, talents, abilities, and resources has God given you? God has given you a mix that only you can give back to Him. You give it back by serving others. And each one of us has a special calling to serve God through serving others.

For more on this topic contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.

As we have just experienced another Independence Day perhaps you, like I, remembered the life threatening decision the signers of the Declaration of Independence accepted by signing that most important document of our American history. Though they could’ve been arrested and killed for treason, God was with them and not one of them lost his life for that reason.

The following is another documented true story of our first President and appeared in American history textbooks in our nation’s schools for almost 150 years, yet disappeared from those text books 50+ years ago along with other stories of Divine protection.

Years before he was our first President, George Washington, was a colonel of the Virginia militia and fought alongside the British troops against the French and American Indians in the French & Indian war.

On July 9, 1755 while marching through a wooded ravine the British and VA militia walked right into an ambush. The French and Indians began firing on them from both sides. In two hours of battle 714 of the 1300 British and American troops had been shot down. Only thirty of the French and Indians had been wounded.

Of the 86 British and American officers in this battle George Washington was the only officer who had not been shot off of his horse, though two horses had been shot from under him. He gathered the remaining troops and led them back to Ft. Cumberland, Maryland.

Upon returning to safety Washington penned a letter to his family. In this letter he stated that after the battle he had taken off his jacket and found four bullet holes through the jacket, however, not one bullet had even grazed him. He openly gave God the credit for sparing his life and protecting him through the battle.

Fifteen years later (1770 a time of peace) George Washington and a close personal friend Dr. James Craig returned to those same woods. An old Indian chief heard that George Washington, the mighty battle leader, was returning to those woods. So the Indian chief traveled a long way to meet him. In a face to face meeting the chief told Washington that he had been a leader of the Indians in that battle.

The Indian chief stated that he had instructed his braves to single out all of the officers and shoot them down, especially the ones on horseback. The chief said that he personally had shot at Washington 17 times without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief told his braves to cease firing at him.

He went on to say, “I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of heaven, and who can never die in battle.”

You might say the moral of this story is God protects those who trust in Him. In fact God not only protects, but also demonstrates to our enemies His protection. No matter what you face today or this week, trust God. He has everything you need to bring you through all that awaits you.

Seven Questions to Assist Your Church & Personal Life

Our last post pertained to church health and asked the question Is your church a healthy church? Today’s post lists seven questions that church members can answer individually or work together in a corporate setting. These seven questions are not designed to give a complete review or summation of the church’s health or the needs of the church. They are designed to assist church leaders in understanding the spiritual and physical commitment level of church members. The design is also to assist church members individually in assessing their own strengths and commitment level to the church.

The first question is a fairly broad based question. However, each answer given by church members should, and in most cases will, lead to the Great Commission. If you are part of a New Testament, Bible believing church the God-given purpose for your church is to fulfill The Great Commission. How that is accomplished varies according to the strengths and context of each individual church. You should not try to copy what someone else is doing. Instead, capture the principles behind their ministry endeavors. Then you can look to apply your church strengths along with that principle to come up with the ministry endeavor God desires for you. Again, it all leads back to The Great Commission. If any item, event, or article of ministry is not leading us to fulfill The Great Commission, then, in my opinion, we need to seriously look again at why we are undertaking this ministry endeavor.

The second question is a subjective one. It calls on the individual to answer from his or her perspective. A person who has had the church rally around her during a troubling time with a teenage son will likely praise the church and give a high score for question two. On the other hand, a person in the same church who felt abandoned and alone going through a divorce may give the same church a low score. This is the nature of subjective questions. They are based on each respondent’s personal perspective.

The third question is subjective as well. However, this question should be used to spark an objective discussion. When a list is compiled of perceived strengths a discussion can ensue as to whether each of these strengths is being used to fulfill The Great Commission – our purpose. If it is not being used to truly fulfill the Great Commission, can it be used in a way to fulfill The Great Commission?

Question four is both subjective and objective. Each respondent will render an answer based on his or her perspective making it subjective. Each answer must be considered by the body of believers as an opportunity for spiritual growth of the church, making it objective.

The final three questions turn the assessment to a personal level for each person participating. Using the responses of these three questions church leaders can learn the level of commitment, the perceived hurdles of individuals, and areas of needed equipping. Then leaders can begin developing strategies to both strengthen the body and to more effectively fulfill The Great Commission.

Use these questions to facilitate a church strengthening assessment in your congregation. Pray leading up to the assessment, pray as you enter the assessment meeting time and following the session as well. For more on this assessment and to have George Yates administer this for your congregation email me at George Yates and see more resources at SonC.A.R.E. Ministries website.

Your perspective is needed to understand the needs of our church. In all honesty and sincerity answer questions 1-7.

1. In your opinion, what is the purpose of the church? _______________________________________________________________

2. How is our church doing at fulfilling this purpose?

1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9—10

3. What are our strengths in fulfilling this purpose?

___________________________________________________________________

4. Where do we need strengthening?

___________________________________________________________________

5. My greatest hurdle in helping the church is…?

_____________________________________________________________

6. To assist me in becoming a fully mature disciple of Christ the church could ________________________________________________________

7. On a scale of 1-10, I am open to growing as a Christian and serving in and through this church?             1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9—10