Tragedy...

Sometimes in ministry we get the call about a tragedy. This is a call we don't ever want, we sometimes even dread. I have found out that through tragedy, God uses these hard times to show who He is very clearly. People are looking for answers, looking for comfort, anything to hang onto. All we have to give is Him, and His love.

God wants us to do this, we need to truly stop what we have and love on those in the midst of the tragedy. These are the moments that they will never forget. These are the moments when Christ can shine through your life in amazing ways!

When I have gone through hard times, I will never forget the people that God put in my life that just sat and listened, prayed, and truly loved. As I write this I am still so thankful and blown away for all of them. It would've been a harder journey without them. I wanted to give up and there they were, saying I love you and I am here for you. It was God and God alone in their life that was at work. Praise God for those people. I urge you to be that to others! People need you, to be Christ to them in their time of pain.

Be encouraged! You are called to a higher calling, you are to go to those that are in need. God will give you the words to say, the actions to perform, or even the words not to say and just sit and listen. As you grow in your walk with God, you will be blown away by Him and what you are able to do through Him. Others will fall more in love with Him, because they saw Him through you.

Busy?

In ministry we can become so consumed with our "ministries." We become busy, very busy! Then the month passes by and we are like wow, I just did a lot of "stuff." The deal is this, if you become to busy then you become burned out. (Someone just read that and said, no not me.. You will probably be first!)
You need time for yourself, you need time for you family. Don't I REPEAT DON'T sacrifice your family on the alter of your job/ministry!
Please slow down, stop running 8 billion programs and running you and your staff crazy with it. Simplify! Stop! Chill! Go on a vacation, turn your phone off, do something different that will cause you to rest...
I went to get a massage a few months ago, and the lady said. Mr. Michael you need to learn to relax, you need to learn to calm down. She said I was one of the hardest people she had ever worked on. She was very series when she said, you have to learn to relax all day long.
This really challenged me that I need to take a deep breath and chill.
Stop trying to do it all, cancel some programs (Simplify)

I could go on and on...
Just remember: If Satan can't make you bad he will make you BUSY!

Be You..

In ministry, we try to be like so many other people. We hear a great sermon and want to go and do that sermon (that is not a way to show what God is doing in your heart) or we want to go and be that person somehow. Why?
Ministry is about you being you! God made you to do ministry the way He made you. In ministry people always try to Look, talk, act, dress, speak, sound, study, read, listen, yell, live, move, sing, design, like the people who are "doing it." WHY?
Who said your not getting it done? In your area that you are serving now. You may be reading this and in the back of your mind you are thinking, "well only if I had this or that."
Why are you "not getting it done?" probably because you are looking in the backyard of another church or ministry and you are jealous because they have "cooler lights." Lets look that up in the Bible...WAIT, IT'S NOT! no where does it say, the "cooler" buildings, lights, screens, stage designs, sermon titles, get people to come to your junk. NO, it is relationships, that is it! People knowing that you truly care about them, and want to see them grow in their walk with God.
BE you BE who God made YOU, Don't be someone else or try to be another person. You will be more successful if you are you! The people that you try to be like, are not like anyone else. They were not scared to just be them, so do ministry the way God designed you to be not how He designed everyone else.

Billy Carey On Fox News

This is a great video of Billy Carey, we are continuing to pray for Billy.

Worship - as a Minister/Pastor

"Worship is our response both personal and corporate to God—for who he is and what he has done." - Louie Giglio

At times in ministry, we can fall into the trap of worshiping only when we are at a worship service. Only when the lights are out, the music is loud, the haze is heavy and emotions are flowing. If this is the moment each week where you take time and worship, then you are confused and need to re-focus your "worship." God calls us to worship all the time, 24 hours a day. If you see the quote above from Louie, it says "our response both corporate and personal." Now worship is not just singing songs, it is a life style, it is what you do all the time. It is never ending. We can not get into the habit of only allowing worship to happen on Sundays or Wednesdays, those need to be bonus times to your already continuous worship. Look what the Bible says about worship, Paul says,

Romans 12:1 - So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (The Message)

My Challenge to you as a minister (not just a paid person in a church, but a CHRISTIAN), is to worship all day long, not just singing songs but RESPONDING TO GOD, for who He is and what He has done in your life

I Heart Revolution Movie...

This Wednesday at 6:30 at theaters all across the world there is a one time event movie showing. It is called The I-Heart Revolution. Hillsong United was able to travel around the world and lead worship for thousands of people. What they saw, they decided to document. They saw that people were hurting and that people were not changing because of what happens at a concert. "What happens in these 4 walls is not changing what is happening out there." They are trying to teach love, they have made a documentary of what they want to do, and are causing a huge movement. They want to be more than a band that leads incredible worship! They want to change the world, and a part of it starts this Wednesday night! Click Here for tickets.

I encourage you to go!
I encourage you to send your leaders, students, friends, whatever you can do to go.
I want you to GO!
Yes, if this means don't go to church that night then don't go.
I think everyone will be ok. Get creative find a way to go.
Be apart of this movement.

Hillsong United :: We're All In This Together [Nov.4th] from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Ministry = Serving.

It cracks me up when people say "HEY I WANT TO GO DEEPER WITH MY WALK WITH GOD." It really does! Well if you want to go deeper, then start serving! That's right serving... Check out what ministry really means.

• Ministry is from the Greek word diakoneo, meaning "to serve" or douleuo, meaning "to serve as a slave."

If you want to "Go Deeper." start serving, stop worrying about yourself and get up and go! Go serve!!! People get confused with church, they show up and want to be taught, or poured into. They sit in a Bible study then go to worship, leave and go to lunch. That is a typical week of some people that go to church, you can now cross that off your list.Then they say, Hey I want to go deeper in my walk! Well stop soaking and start serving. Get up, from the pew/chair/floor/rug circle, and start serving. I am sure that your church has a place for you. Then you can have a huge impact on the lives of so many people. If you have been going to church for a long time and you have just been going through the motions each and every week, and aren't serving. You are missing the point. I hope that you are challenged, and stop complaining about things not being deep enough and start serving Him. This will grow you and those around you in an unbelievable way.

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4

Pic from this morning.

Ministry and YOU!

Doing "Ministry," starts with you. If you are not daily in the Word and trying to grow as much as you can, then how do you think you can pour into others. You can't you are living off of fumes. So many people in ministry or even volunteering are living off of fumes from an event. If you want to truly do ministry, then everything you do is going to come from your heart.

Luke 6:45

45. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

I think that people get so excited about "Doing Ministry" but the actions and things they say do not match up. I really get tired of people "in ministry" just "doing ministry" on Wednesday's and Sundays and the rest of the week it is not a part of their life. STOP!! Please...

Ministry happens all the time 24hours a day 365 days a year. It is not an option, it is a lifestyle, if you get paid to do it or not. The Bible was written for everyone, not just paid staff of churches. Even some of them need to stop "doing ministry" on Sundays and Wednesdays or when you "get paid" to do it. If that is the case then you really need to STOP...

Our hearts should be so full of Christ that we can pour into empty peoples lives. We need to be constantly pouring. But you can not pour if you have nothing to pour out.