by Clarence E. Stowers | Jul 13, 2009 | Church Issues, Humor, Other Stuff, Sunday Worship Experience
Have you ever been distracted at church even when you came wanting to worship God? Distractions during worship can minimize the powerful impact worship can have. We are easily distracted people. Upon further reflection, I’ve come to believe we have a very low tolerance for distractions (including pastors). Additionally, I’ve discovered that pastoring a large church presents its fair amount of distractions and challenges. It has been said that “confession is good for the soul.” Therefore, it’s confession time for me.
One of the greatest distractions for me: CELL PHONES.
Each week during the sermon I hear cell phones ringing. I wonder how many of these calls have been emergencies?
Let me guess – PROBABLY ZERO!
Cell phones are a great tool for communication but please consider how important it is to get that “important” phone call during church, a movie or anything else where the phone can be a horrible distraction to others. God may speak to you during worship; however, he won’t call you on your cell phone. Here are some alternatives; silent/vibrate mode, off button or leave the darn thing in your car.
While you’re at it go ahead and take the Bluetooth earpiece out of your ear…
it looks ridiculous during worship.
by Clarence E. Stowers | Jun 3, 2009 | Christian, Christianity, Church Issues, Communication, Politics, Prayer, Vision
The longer I serve as pastor of a thriving church, the more I realize how VITAL prayer is! Prayer is the link to a vibrant and fruitful ministry.
What if God granted you an opportunity to go back in time and speak to the wisest people who ever lived (people such as Moses, Apostle Paul, Solomon, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Fredrick Douglass)? However, once you reached your destination, you sat at their feet and proceeded to do all the talking? Would it be a worthwhile endeavor? Did the aforementioned people need to know all you had to say? Upon leaving would you wish you had talked less and listened more? Incredibly, many people enter God’s holy presence in prayer and then do all the talking!
What God has to say to us is infinitely more important that what we have to say to Him, yet we generally monopolize the conversation. God already knows everything we plan to tell Him, yet we continue talking rather than allowing Him to tell us things we don’t know. Why? Our American individualist mindset tricks us to believe that we can dominate our conversation with God. Prayer is two-way communication, but it is not communication between two equal parties.
Tonight (7PM) we’ll gather @ the Mars Hill Baptist Church for our 1st Wednesday Worship. This worship experience allows us to spend more time worshipping God and listening to the Word. During tonight’s service, I will pose 5 Questions that will revolutionize the prayer lives of those in attendance. The questions are as follows:
- What is Prayer (the definition may surprise you)?
- Why Pray (it’s not what you think)?
- To Whom Do We Pray (is it God, Jesus, or The Holy Spirit)?
- What Do God’s Answers Look Like (it’s more than, “God give me a sign”)?
- What If There Is Silence?
Please come and join us!
by Clarence E. Stowers | Jun 1, 2009 | Christian, Christianity, Church Issues, Leadership, Preaching, Vision, Worship
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.
by Clarence E. Stowers | May 26, 2009 | Christian, Christianity, Church Issues, Communication, Conference/Workshops, Current Affairs, Decisions, Empowerment, Leadership, Other Stuff, Politics, Vision
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)
- Evaluate & tweak your plan/strategy
So, what’s your next step? I’d love to hear it!
by Clarence E. Stowers | Apr 28, 2009 | Apple/Mac, Books, Church Issues, Communication, Computers
Microsoft recently released a jaw-dropping video based on some of the their current research projects. All I can say is OH MY GOODNESS! These technologies will dramatically change your world and mine. The video is less than two minutes long and will give you a clear vision for what awaits us within the next ten years!
As Jonathan Crossfield explains, “These ideas are not science fiction but are just around the corner. It shows how far things will change in just a few short years and the ramifications for consumer behaviour are massive.” As an urban pastor who’s technically saavy, I openly ponder if pastors/church leaders will be able to lead this technically saavy generation.
How will the church (and it’s leaders) will need to change in order to be successful? I would love to hear what you or your church is currently doing to prepare for tomorrow.
This post was inspired by Michael Hyatt © 2009, Michael S. Hyatt.
All rights reserved. Originally published at www.michaelhyatt.com.
by Clarence E. Stowers | Apr 15, 2009 | Church Issues, Communication, Decisions, Empowerment, Money and Finance, Politics, Success, Vision
“It was the best of times, the worst of times…”
The opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, referring to the time of the French Revolution describes the economic reality of today. The question that’s on everyone’s mind, but, seldom asked is: How are you doing? The answer depends on your individual circumstances, of course – but also on your perspective. The glass is either half full or half empty for many of us today. This morning when I woke up, my first emotion was profound gratitude. Even though my financial worth had been decimated by the events of the last three months, I realized that nothing could touch the things that are most valuable to me.
I also realized that I have a choice: I can focus on what I have lost or I can focus on what I have. I started making a mental list:
- I have my health.
- I have a loving wife, who is also my best friend
- I have three wonderful children. “I am particularly fond of each of them,” as Papa says in The Shack.
- I have several profound friendships that encourage and challenge me.
- I have meaningful work that I would do even if I wasn’t getting paid.
- I have incredibly competent co-workers whom I truly love and respect.
- I have a church that grows dearer to me with each passing year.
- I have a relationship with God that is endlessly fascinating and fulfilling.
And the list goes on. I could name a hundred more things, but you get the idea.
My guess is that the Economic Downturn is going to get worse (I pray I’m wrong) before it gets better. You and I have very little control over what happens in the external environment. But we do have control over what happens inside our hearts. It all depends on our mental focus.
Question:
What do you have that the Economic Downturn can’t touch?
FYI – I want to thank my friends from Facebook for sharing their tips. If you would like to read more, please click here.
