Yesterday, we celebrated our 46th year anniversary & the Lord blessed it tremendously. What a day at Mars Hill Baptist Church…here are some of the highlights…
During our 8AM Worship Experience, we were blessed to have a long-time friend of my father & our church preach the Word.
Dr. W.H. Foster, Sr., preached with passion and power as he encourage our members to continue to build on the legacy and expand for the Glory of God. He blessed us by singing “Father, I Stretch My Hand To Thee.” And yes, he ripped it & shouted EVERYTHING in our church. What a mighty man of God!
During our 10:30AM Worship Experience, personally, I thought the music was UNBELIEVABLE!!! WOW!
The Praise & Worship period blended contemporary praise peppered with traditional hymns. From the response of the audience, I knew we were in for another awe-inspiring worship experience.
I sensed many in our congregation were carrying heavy burdens and needed a breakthrough. Therefore, I preached “A Second Wind” from Isaiah 40:29-31 and saw how the words bypassed their intellect and pierced the very core of their souls!
To catch a Second Wind is to have increased energy or strength after feeling tired or weak.
A Second wind is a phenomenon in distance running, such as marathons (as well as other sports), whereby an athlete who is too out of breath and tired to continue suddenly finds the strength to press on at top performance with less exertion. I FEEL A SHOUT COMING ON!!!
The phenomenon has come to be used as a metaphor for continuing on with renewed energy past the point thought to be one’s prime, whether in other sports, careers, or life in general.
A Few in Need of a Second Wind:
WIDOWS
SINGLE PARENTS
THOSE FACING HEALTH CHALLENGES
THOSE FACING LAYOFFS/DOWNSIZED
COLLEGE GRADS FACING A DIFFICULT JOB MARKET
As we wait on the Lord, we’ll find more strength (2ND WIND) to REST (while God prepares us for our next assignment), REFLECT (look around and see God’s faithfulness), and WORSHIP (to make Him the center of our affection). Worship ended with a POWERFUL altar call for those who were ready to give up. God interceded and gave them a “SECOND WIND” to go on! As I prayed & laid hands, I felt the power of God breaking yokes & strongholds and people walked away with renewed strength.
Mars Hill…I love you guys…I am so blessed to be here and serving as your pastor. I am BLOWN away by all that God is doing…and I can’t wait to see what happens next around here. Ephesians 3:20 is becoming more and more real to all of us…we serve an amazing God!
Next week I begin a new series
“Can You See Him”
Here’s An Overview:
Daily life usually sets us on a path that’s almost robotic and we forget to see God in all things – the good, the tragic, or even the mundane. Think of your day today. Did you see Him in your kids’ laughter, the homeless person on the corner, or even the papers you stapled? He was there. Join me as we discover how to see God in everything.
The North American Church is in decline and there are plenty of conferences offering their latest & greatest pitch to stop the church’s decline.
Each year we’re invited to hear “celebrity” pastors share God’s plan for the church and how we ought to adopt it and be large and successful like them. Frankly, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been a venue to really address how and why churches grow. Many pastors & church leaders make their annual pilgrimage to Saddleback, Willowcreek, North Point, Fellowship, New Birth, Greater St. Steven FGBC, The Potter’s House, etc. and come away excited and delusional with unrealistic expectations. Ed Stetzer of Lifeway calls it ministry pornography. According to Ed Stetzer:
“Ministry pornography is an unrealistic expectation of an experience you’re never going to have which distracts you from the real thing.”
God used these churches and their pastors for a specific time and in a specific place. Unfortunately, that experience is rarely duplicated. If you were to take the aforementioned churches and transplant them in other areas, the results would be drastically different. Can you imagine Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, or Andy Stanley leading an inner-city urban church? Or, can you see Bishop T.D. Jakes screaming “Get Ready…Get Ready…Get, Get, Ready” at Saddleback or North Point Church? Simply put, God rarely does the same thing twice.
May I Offer You A Few Suggestions to break your addiction to ministry porn:
Confess your addiction to ministry pornography & repent!
Do not attend any conferences for one year
Get alone with your Bible, pen, & paper and discover God’s purpose for the church (read Matt. 22-37-40; 28:19-20, The Book of Acts)
Get a demographic breakdown of your community (US Census Bureau or your local Chamber of Commerce).
After discovering the purpose of the church, write down how your church plans to reach that community (this is the hard part). Make sure it’s less than a paragraph because people don’t like to read long statements.
Preach/teach a series on God’s vision for the church and how you plan to fulfill it.
Reorganize your church’s leaders, staff, volunteers, and structure (in that order)
A few weeks ago I invited Trevor, my atheist friend to attend our worship services and share his experiences. What he shared was mind-blowing, eye opening, & enlightening. His words rocked the very core of my essence and caused me many sleepless nights.
Here’s what Trevor shared:
“Clarence, many Christians (including many of your members) are my first cousins. I’m currently an Atheist and most Christians are Practical Atheists (1st Cousin).” Trevor had my undivided attention and I ask him to explain his statement. He went on to elaborate and share how most Christians he knows, know enough about God to keep them out of hell and enough to get them into heaven. However, many are unwilling to change the way they live. “Clarence, where I come from, that’s called practical atheism.
At this point, I’m dazed, intrigued, and curious.
So, I ask Trevor, “do you mind sharing your definition of a practical atheist?” “Of course, a practical atheist is someone who believes in God but lives as if He does not exist.”
So, do you know any practical atheists?
FYI: At the Atheist Alliance International Convention, members we were asked to pick an atheist symbol from a select list. They chose this symbol – the new symbol of Atheism.
I’m all about plugging individuals and helping people reach their destiny! Travis Edwards serves as our Worship Leader and he’s an anointed Psalmist who I absolutely love working with! I would like for you to tell everyone you know about this even, show up & support him!
Sunday services are over, but, my mind is STILL spinning…
I honestly feel that this weekends services were the most amazing services we’ve ever had since I became pastor in 1999.
Our total church attendance was over 2,500 for the first time in the history of our church!
I preached about God’s historical bailouts & (The Full Coverage Plan, The “I AM” Plan, The Provision Plan) & closed with The Greatest Bailout that ever happened – The Resurrection Plan!
Our NEW & IMPROVED Video Venue Service had over 220 for the first time today! I want to thank all the ushers, greeters, deacons, ministers, and security who served in our Video Venue – YOU ARE SIMPLY THE BEST!
Our 100-voice choir was OFF THE CHAIN as they slammed Donald Lawrence’s “Matthew 28.”
Honestly, I believe Mars Hill has the best Worship & Fine Arts Ministry – PERIOD! There are churches with larger ministries & celebrity musicians & personalities. However, I’ll take our anointing over any celebrity!
Folks…what happened yesterday at our church IS NOT NORMAL…it wasn’t a “nice service”…it was a move of God! I’ve honestly never been a part of something like what happened today…and it’s only the beginning.
Religion is all about what we do to get to God…Christianity is all about what God did to get to us!
THAT is one of the problems with church today…we’ve became “normal” when the call of Christ on our lives is to change the world-“normal” people can’t do that!
We will continue this series on Sunday…expecting/praying for God to do amazing things AGAIN!
AND…to My Mars Hill Family…a personal note…
Reality is this…satan got his butt kicked this weekend! Hell is going to be less crowded! People crossed over from death to life. The way a community is changed is by the church preaching AND living the Gospel…and I believe we are going to continue to see Jesus do the unexplainable and undeniable…and we, His church, will continue to become unstoppable!
He’s alive-we win…now all we need to do is continually run up the score!!!
I LOVE you guys…I LOVE our church…I LOVE serving here…there is NOTHING ELSE on the planet I would rather do! I’m bought in!!!
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Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.
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