What I'm still learning...

Probably one of the most valuable pieces of advice I received early in ministry was "Be a life long learner and don't act or think as though you have arrived". That is what keeps me grounded. Today I am choosing to be a learner....again.

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

It is what our generation is crying for and it is what more and more are giving.

What I've learned after 6 weeks of church planting...

I want to keep track of what I've learned from the past 6 weeks but honestly it's more like 5 months. While the church is going on week 7 this Sunday there has been a lot of work up to this point to get those doors open. So here is what I'm learning.

1. Details are important but people are more important. It seems as if this should be an easy principle in ministry but I have seen the best of ministry people get caught up in the details and forget there are people who need empowering and training to become ministers in their own worlds. Remember we do all of this to advance His Kingdom which people play a pretty significant role in. Nuff said.

2.Don't forget the details. Okay, I know I sound like I'm contradicting myself because I am not really doing that. Confused yet? Honestly it can be confusing keeping a balance between the details and people. People is why I do what I do, but the details is what I do for the people. In my previous ministry position for a large mega church I learned how valuable the details were. In a start up church church I learned all over again how valuable details are because if you don't do them no one else will! I'm not saying no one will help or you should do all of the work yourself but the details are easily overlooked when working in an already established ministry where processes and procedures have been outlined.

3. It can be stressful if you let it but it doesn't have to be.. Starting a church is much like starting a business. A lot of heart, passion, resources $$$$, and hours get invested to pull it off and all of that can spell trouble but it doesn't have to. I have learned to not take myself so seriously and to laugh a lot! Be serious about God's work and who He is, be light-hearted about everything else.

4. Empower people, don't enable them. Here goes my rant on the local church for a second, but honestly I feel right in saying it because I love the local church so much and believe it can be and should be the hope of the world. For too long the church has enabled believers by catering to what they want rather than empowering them to be change agents in their communities. Here is what I mean. If enabling people is catering to what they want, then empowering them teaches them to be leaders and start their own ministry on this earth. The church's job is to equip saints to do the work of the ministry. We have to fight the temptation to give into a few people who are screaming for what they want and teach them to go after it for themselves. Enabling will limit the amount of ministry and kingdom advancement that is done from your local church where empowering will bust wide open the limitless potential of your people creating more ministry and more lives changed than ever thought possible.

These are just some of the things I am learning.

Once Save Always Saved????

Do you believe it? Once save always saved, is that really what the scriptures say? Thoughts?