Word Archives - Page 7 of 10

May 3, 2018

Word of Encouragement

On June 22 and 23, 20 leaders from Wesley will be attending leadership training in Fort Meyers to encourage us and help us learn about Real Life Discipleship. Be in prayer for the leaders: Brad and Ali Hubbard, Steve and Lesley Holroyd, Leslie Berlin, James Pearson, Amy Dissler, Marilyn Preston, Rene and Pete Kincaid, Lester Pineda, Larry and Nadia (soon to be Wood), Bob and Jean Rowe, Iraeda Malpica, Jennifer Foster, Connie Pruitt, Brenda and Ernie Post. When we return, we will be having a commissioning service for the leadership and be launching our 20/20 vision, sharing the exciting work of God with the congregation. I am sensing a strong movement of God here at Wesley and a time of renewal and refreshment. As your pastor I want you to know how encouraging it is to me to be a part of such a fresh movement of God in the church. Each step along the way, God has affirmed our desire to make a difference and walk into the future with this new mission.

“Disciples who make disciples” will help us keep our focus on making a difference for others and push us to always be preparing someone else for tomorrow in their walk with Jesus. I am excited to see where God takes this leadership team. As always, I love being your pastor.

~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie

April 26, 2018

Word of Encouragement

In his letter to the Romans, Paul encourages Christians to “rejoice in their sufferings” because in our troubles and trials of life we know that hope and character are born. I have had tremendous difficulty with this thought ever since I first came to read it 40 years ago. Only recently has a new realization helped me know how to move forward and it came through the trials Brenda experiences on a daily basis. This incredibly difficult truth takes on a whole new face when we realize that real hope has greater power and finds its fulfillment in the we not the me. As Brenda struggles, I have an overwhelming drive to have my children know what a man of faith does when up against something difficult. The we drives me. Paul has Timothy by his side. The last thing he wants is to lose his authority with TImothy by bemoaning his circumstances. Because of Timothy, Paul must rise above his trouble. In an increasingly isolated world, the idea that hope is connected to the we takes us on a serious turn. Few of us ever feel like a spiritual parent to someone, likely because we have never been intentional about influencing someone for God. So perhaps Christians in the church today should take seriously Paul’s challenge to grow up. Who has God placed in your life to influence? Be encouraged, you are not meant to be alone but connected to one another. We are in this together. Pray for more than 20 leaders traveling to Fort Meyers in June to learn how to become intentional about spiritual parenting.

~Grace & Peace~

Pastor Ernie

April 19, 2018

Word of Encouragement

From The Mentor Leader, by Tony Dungy: Chapter 8: The seven E’s of enhancing potential.
Engage: be with those you lead. Spend time
Educate: Teach others how to achieve new levels of leadership
Equip: set goals and parameters and offer necessary resources for success
Encourage: Everyone needs a pat on the back and a celebration for success
Empower: turn people loose, not reliant on you
Energize: Inspire those you lead. Go farther than you thought you could
Elevate: Help make people better than you

April 12, 2018

Word of Encouragement

From The Mentor Leader, by Tony Dungy: Chapter 7: Maximizing team performance. “The culture you create permeates everything you touch.” We do not often think of our family or our church as a team, but it might be healthy for us to do so. What would happen in our family of the same child always got to decide where we were going to eat? Or if the same child always won the battle? Never got blamed? In a very short time, the rest of the family would rebel, probably outwardly and often. Yet many churches suffer the same disease, the same people always lead and seem to have their way. Churches, families, teams need to create a culture where every person realizes their importance and value. We do that by empowering and listening and being deliberate about sharing the load.

April 5, 2018

Word of Encouragement

The Mentor Leader, by Tony Dungy, chapter 6, Living the Message. “what we do is even more important than what we say.” And what is true of me as a leader or you as a spouse or parent is also true of the entire church, and this is magnified during tough times. If we say we love people but are not present for them in a tough time, they cannot help but wonder if we meant it. If we desire to teach our children about Godly living and fail to set the example by our behavior, then we fail our children. To tell someone it is important to be humble but always insist on your own way will result is selfish children and eventually a selfish society. If we want our children or our spouses or our church to be generous, then we ourselves need to be generous. Words are actually the least effective way to influence someone unless the words are attached to a life of integrity and humility. Almost everyone wants to know the same thing, “Are you interested in me?” And yet nearly every conversation we have we are thinking of something to say about ourselves while someone else is talking. We need to practice the art of valuing others. Practice listening, practice humility, practice honesty, practice helping others succeed, practice generosity, practice serving the less fortunate. When all we do is talk about these things, it leads to others thinking we are a fraud. Be genuine with people. Follow thru. Love them as you want to be loved.

March 29, 2018

Word of Encouragement

Last week I shared from Tony Dungey’s book THE MENTOR LEADER the idea that leaders make an investment in other people. When we choose to get connected, to get involved, we always run the risk of getting in the mud with people. Our lives are so complicated and sometimes messed up. Most of the time people just keep their messes to themselves, at first out of shame and later just because they have no idea how someone else could possibly help them. Sunday is Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. The ultimate message of hope for lives wandering aimlessly. There will be three services on Easter at Wesley: 7 am on the front lawn, 9 and 11:15 in the sanctuary. At all three services, we will look at a tremendous promise God gives a desperate world, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” Jeremiah 29:11 Everyone needs hope. Every person you know. Every single person you meet. Easter we will all share a word of hope and prayerfully we will all make the word a little more beautiful.

March 22, 2018

Word of Encouragement

From Tony Dungi’s THE MENTOR LEADER, chapter 5, Influence and Impact

As Christians, we should look for opportunities in life to make an impact on someone. For too long the church has counted success as the number of people in the pew or in the small group. Leaders can have a great following while they are present. The real measure of success is what happens when the leader is gone. My life is about more than my salvation; it is about how many people I influenced to walk with Christ, and how many they influenced. We may think these principles are reserved for those who are leaders in the church. They are not. The real measure of parenting is what do your children do when you are not around. Have you taught them how to be a good husband or a good wife or a good parent? Will they be influential in someone else’s life? The same is true in the church. The real measure God uses is not how good a Christian you have been but have you helped make other Christians. We are all measured by the harvest, not the seed. This was a major change in thinking for me and now I am seeing it everywhere. God is raising up people changers. And they are saying yes! Thanks be to God!

~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie

March 14, 2018

Word of Encouragement

I recently read a testimony of a person who walked into church for the first time and heard the gospel. She was a young mom struggling with being a single mom with absolutely not time to even come to grips with what giving her life to Jesus meant. Another young mom in the church watched her go to the prayer rail and felt God tug her to connect. They met after church, exchanged contact info and began a friendship neither knew would be so important. Over the next year they shared life together laughing and crying at all that life threw at them. No dramatic events, no cancer, no children being terminally ill, just life, jobs, kids, movies, tea, lunch, and most of all, faith. They read together, prayed together, talked about what they were learning, held each other accountable and worked through successes and failures. Before long, the young single mom began to see how God could use her to influence other people, so she modeled what she had learned. She began to spend time with another young mom, and then another. In the beginning she could not find time to begin to be with God and now she came to the place there was not enough time to accomplish everything for God.

In his book MENTOR LEADER, Tony Dungey says the time mature Christians spend with new christians is FAR more important than the amount of time they spend in personal study for personal improvement. So the question for mature Christians becomes not “Are you going to church?” or “What small group are you in?” or even “What did you read and learn today?” The critical question is, “Are you discipling someone in faith?” WOW, now there is a wake up call for most of us. Wesley leadership is birthing a new standard for discipleship here at Wesley and it is EXCITING. You will be hearing much more about this in the weeks to come.

~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie

March 8, 2018

Word of Encouragement

Word of Encouragement, from Tony Dungey’s THE MENTOR LEADER, Chapter 3

“Self-examination should be more intentional and regular, not just dictated by the demands of a particular moment.” In my own life, I have learned that I live in a spiritual pattern of growth, settle, struggle, examine and then grow again. That has been consistent since I first came to the Lord in college at Virginia Tech. It took many years to realize there was a pattern like this and once I did, I learned that my struggle became more a struggle with peace rather than turmoil, I knew God would see me through and even make me stronger. That was the pattern, and it was simply going to repeat. The circumstances were just the circumstances. I am so thankful I learned this and can see it way earlier than I used to see it.

I would guess that all of us have lived through such a pattern. If we do not recognize it as God being faithful to us, we can really get in the doldrums. Godly perspective transforms the way we live through difficult circumstances. There is great value in self examination. Know yourself. I want to encourage you to take a look at you.

~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie

March 1, 2018

Word of Encouragement

From Tony Dungi’s The Mentor Leader Week 3

A critical decision for a leader to make answers the question, “Do I want to get involved and make an investment in this person?” Here at Wesley we will soon be launching a new discipleship path based on biblical shepherding and the leadership model given us by Jesus. As I write this, leaders are at a conference learning how to create a discipleship path tailored to who we are as a people at Wesley. I am excited to receive what the leadership brings home. Making a real investment in other people takes time and heart. You have to really want to do it. Most mature christians can mention two or three believers who took an interest in them to help them mature in faith. Jesus chose twelve and concentrated on three: Peter, James, and John. Our Lords command in Matthew 28 is to GO and MAKE DISCIPLES. And the command is not a suggestion for a few but a command for all of us.

We will soon have messages that focus on the power and process of shepherding and I am excited to help us move forward through this critical phase. Begin to be in prayer about your role in discipling others into a mature Christian faith.

~Grace & Peace~
Pastor Ernie