Conferences

W

e are having a Mission Conference here at Arrow Heights this weekend called Global Impact Celebration. I have been so encouraged by listening to these guys and girls talking about their work. I am currently listening to a foreign missionary talk about his work in Wales where Christianity is in major decline and Islam is booming. He said that in the local grade school where where he calls home there are 47 languages spoken as a first language. Truly the nations have gathered in his city. He relates that the Baptists in his country have become very liberal and he expects the Baptist Union of Wales to be completely dead within 6 years. Wales is 92% unchurched.

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He just gave an amazing stat he got from Avery Willis about how much of the total amount of money the SBC raises never leaves the country. Avery said that only about 2.5% of our money gets put into reaching the rest of the world and, "we will be held accountable for this." Wow. I am feeling very blessed after hearing from these missionaries.

As I write this and the missionary continues speaking he continues to throw some amazing things out about his work in Wales and what Oklahoma students did there this past summer.

Great stuff. Wish you could hear it.

&

What Not to Wear with the sin in our lives. We have all of this stuff in the closet that we just can’t bring ourselves to get rid of. We need someone to come alongside us and help us get these things out of our life. Amazing stuff. I forgot to start the recorder for this session. Dang it. Read Chapter 3 of the book of Colossians and set your minds on heavenly things.  Ask yourself what you need to clean out of the closet and think about how you need to "clothe yourself." What do you need to put on? Great message people. I wonder if anyone has done a Girls Retreat around this theme before?

Just wanted to pass this along.

& “Three Questions That Need To Be Asked” from the Unleash08 Conference. This message is blowing me away. Every time I watch Perry speak it is hard for me not to load Sydnie and the dogs up in Uhaul and move out to NewSpring Church in Anderson. That is how powerfully he speaks into my life. They just announced next year’s Unleash conference and have priced it at $39, which makes it one of the cheapest church conferences you could attend. March 12th of next year is when it happens. Watch the message above and tell me if you are interested in going out to the conference. I want to take a bus load of people to experience this conference. So far I am the only one on the bus and have several seats open. Get on the bus.

E Luke 10 in his session this morning about church planting.

• It is the assumed undercurrent of the New Testament that they were always planting churches.
• What was normal in the New Testament has become abnormal today.
• If you are not planting churches then your church has become a cul-de-sac in the growth of the Kingdom.  Wow.
• Begin church planting with a call from God and prayer.
• God is at work in the world.  The harvest is there, so pray.
• Most church planters are doers instead of reflective.
• The call of God is not based upon demographics of a city.
• Stetzer planted one of his first churches in one of the fastest declining areas of the country.
• Radical Reliance upon God to lead you.  The Luke passage tells us to take nothing, but to rely upon God is provide everything.  That is Radical Reliance upon God.
• Church Hierarchy (This is an unhealthy part of the church when lay people are thought of lesser importance.  We are all called.)
  • Lay People
  • Called to the Ministry
  • Called to Missions
• We are all called to the ministry and to missions, the only question is where and among whom. Find out more about this here.
• It is not a separate call.
• The Gospel is not a promise to comfort it is a call to mission.
• In 1988 Ed Stetzer was rejected by the NAMB to be a church planter and now he is at the head of the group, BUT he went anyway. He was 21 years old and had just graduated from college with a degree in Biology. After 6 months in his work the NAMB approached him about counting his numbers in their count.  Awkward.
• If a new church doesn’t plant another within 3 years of it’s start it statistically never will.
• Your church is never going to have enough money to plant churches.  This is where the provision of God comes in. Jesus tells them not to take a money bag. This is Radical Reliance upon God
• It is going to be lay people who change the church and plant churches.
• Church planting blesses the community.
• The Gospel is offensive to people.  The Gospel is a stumbling block, but are people stumbling over the Gospel or are the stumbling over the CHURCH. 
• Seek the welfare of the city that you deported to. -Jeremiah
  • how is your church blessing the community
• Build relationships and settle in. Don’t move from house to house. Eat the things that are set before you means that you engage the context to which you have come by taking the culture in.
• IF you are going to plant a church then you must become a part of the community in which you are in.
• If we are going to plant churches then we are going to have to leave part of our culture behind. This includes your sports team people
• John Knox said, "Give me Scotland or I die." That is a commitment to the place to which you are called.
• When you think God has called you to preach you will seek greater opportunities to preach, when you think God has God you to a people you will seek greater opportunities with those people.
• Meet needs and serve people. "Heal the sick who are there." -Luke
• Move from meeting felt needs to REAL needs.
• Luke 4 (Jesus came to bring justice) and Luke 19 (Jesus came to bring salvation)
• We are not know for sharing Christ.  We are not know for showing the love of Christ.
• Being like Christ, Doing what Christ did, and Telling others about Christ
• 72% of unchurched Americans believe the church is full of hypocrites according to Lifeway research. 
• Evangelicalism is adrift.
• When you plant a church you are announcing the Kingdom of God. This is an inaugurated eschatology. "The Kingdom of God has come near you." -Luke
• Russ Moore’s book The Kingdom of Christ
• Church planting belongs to local churches.
• Less than 5% of SBC churches are engaged in church planting.
• The meat of the church is in being, doing and telling. We have people in our churches that know all about the 12 tribes of Israel, but cannot have a conversation with their neighbor without looking down on them.

SUMMARY:

      God wants more churches to be planted it is part of how He planned for the church to spread the Gospel. We must get involved in church planting. How radically do we rely upon God?  Are we relying more upon our back account than upon the the provision of God.  This part strikes me so much because it informs others about how big our view of God is. This message got me fired up about church planting and reaching others in relevant ways.

-Jeremy Davidson