12-Year-Old Stuns Pro-Choice Teacher and School with Pro-Life Presentation

12-Year-Old Stuns Pro-Choice Teacher and School with Pro-Life Presentation 10:35am

Source: www.lifesitenews.com

TORONTO, February 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – 12-year-old “Lia” of Toronto has become a star at her school and on Youtube with her five-minute pro-life speech, crafted for a school competition. …

I’m stunned by this clear and passionate speech by a 12 year old girl about the truth on abortion. May we all consider the moral, spiritual, physical, and emotional impact of abortion on our society.

rev.org: The Biggest Sin in Your Church

Rev Magazine’s Brian Proffit recently interviewed Ed Stetzer about the age old issue of a handful in the church doing the bulk of the work.  I have been very convicted that I’ve fallen into the same trap.  This is a great introduction for the need to build an equipping culture in the church.  Read more here:

rev.org: The Biggest Sin in Your Church.

If this is something that grabs your attention, I’d also suggest reading Alan Nelson’s great book on moving from a pastor-centered model in church to an equipping culture that empowers everyone to become involved:

Me to We: A Pastor’s Discovery of the Power of Partnership

270+ Tools for Running a Business Online

The folks over at Mashable have created an incredible list of online tools for running a business.  These same tools can be used for administrating a church.  Be sure to bookmark this page.

Last August we featured a post with more than 230 online apps for running your business. Since there are hundreds of new apps coming on the market every year, we figured it was time for an update. This year we came up with more than 270 additional apps. Some are completely new since last year, others might have been overlooked, and still others made significant improvements that gained them a spot on the list.

via 270+ Tools for Running a Business Online.

Starting a Church Without Losing Your Soul

It’s been a while since I last posted. It seems that life has been in hyperdrive. I read a post by Ed Stetzer that convicted me greatly. He said that church planters are drawn away from God because of busyness and the desire to succeed. I’ve experienced this in my own life. God called our church to 21 days of fasting and prayer and during that time I realized how far I had drifted from an intimate relationship with Him. Please pray that I won’t be drawn away from the only One who can make this whole thing work.

You can read the entire post here: Starting a Church without Losing Your Soul.

Sunday Highlights

We had an awesome day to Mountain Valley!  It started with our faithful crew getting everything up and running.  I thank God for people who love Him so much that they’re willing to get up in the cold to set up church.  MVBC wouldn’t exist without their faithfulness.

I wrapped up my sermon series called “Free to Give” today.  We’ve been talking about God’s desire for us to be generous.  I have been convicted by the example of the believers at Macedonia found in 2 Corinthians 8:1-7.  They gave above and beyond what anyone would expect from people who were living in true poverty.  I want to be generous like that!  We learned from Proverbs 3:5-12 that we need to make investing in God’s kingdom our first priority.

We also focused on the Lottie Moon Foreign Missions offering today.  We got to hear from Emily Stansell who shared about her summer mission experience in Peru.  I was so impressed with her willingness to live in very challenging circumstances in order to share the Gospel.  Praise God for those who placed their lives in His hands!  We must not forget the important work that’s being done around the world to share the Gospel with people who are hungry to know God.

We started a new tradition at MVBC today.  We asked our congregation to make a financial commitment to the ministry and mission of our church for the next year.  We all prayerfully considered what we could give and turned in a Financial Commitment Card.  I believe that this will have a two-fold benefit for our church.  Our people are seriously considering how they can contribute to the kingdom work we are called to do as a church and our church leadership will be able to make better financial decisions about our budget for next year.  I still want us to dream big and pray that God will bring in an abundance of resources, but believe that this tool will help us be better stewards with the resources we have.

The icing on the cake was standing up to preach and seeing the crowd that showed up a cold and blustery morning!  We have been growing at a quicker pace of the last several weeks and I’ve been blessed to see the fruit of our various outreach efforts.  We’ve had numerous families visit because of Angelfood and some that attended our Block Party.  Our congregation is also bringing friends and family.  I’m so proud of the warm and inviting atmosphere our folks have created for our guests!

I’m also beginning to see our prayers answered for a multi-cultural congregation.  It has always grieved my heart that Sunday mornings are the most segregated time of the week.  It’s been wonderful to see people of different cultures and backgrounds worshipping together!  I pray that we can be a part of healing the hurt and animosity among the races.  I pray that our church will be a little glimpse of what heaven will be like – people of all nations praising God together as the unified body of Christ.  Lord, let it begin with us!!

Our Lifegroup was awesome tonight.  We have such a great bunch of folks who are willing to be authentic with each other and who earnestly desire to learn more about God’s Word.  I look forward to a great time of fellowship, encouragement, accountability, and learning every week.  We had a sweet time of prayer that moved my heart and lifted my soul.   Can’t wait for next week!

It’s back to the work routine tomorrow, but for now I’m on cloud nine!  Praise God for the opportunity to serve at Mountain Valley!!!

Block Party

Hi everyone (if anyone’s really out there)!!  It’s been ages since I posted.  I have all the typical excuses…  I have a few minutes and want to really brag on God.  We hosted a Block Party on November 1st in Montevallo to try and reach our neighbors for Christ.  We were very blessed by First Baptist Church Pelham who actually set up the block party and provided the program.  I was blown away by this church’s kingdom focus.  They were willing to put on an evangelistic event for another church without any recognition.

FBCP rolled in like an army!  They had trailers galore and volunteers that converged on the field behind the library where we meet for church.  Everyone had a job and they did it well.  They had a stage, sound system, food, and welcome desk set up in the blink of any eye!

Donnie Sisk and FBCP’s Creative Ministries team did a wonderful job of grabbing the crowd’s attention and then driving home the Gospel.  The Holy Spirit was there and we had 8 people make a decision to follow Jesus Christ and 2 others who took a step closer to Him!  Praise God!!  We also had the opportunity to connect with some students who don’t have a church family.

I was so humbled by the experience and have a renewed passion to reach the lost in Montevallo.  We’re following up with those who made decisions.  Most of them were children whose parents don’t attend church.  Please join us in praying that these families will be drawn closer to God.  Also, pray that God will break down any barriers (social, racial, economic, spiritual) that would hinder us from ministering to this community.  Lord, let revival begin with me!!

We Shall Overcome….

We had an interesting morning yesterday at Mountain Valley Church.  I didn’t set our alarm clock right and we got up late.  I had the trailer so I made everyone else late setting up.  The laptop was cranky and our projection software crashed while we were getting ready.  Our worship leader was out and Hannah and Jeremy (awesome folks in our praise team) were leading the music.  We were singing a new song and the lyrics I had entered the night before mysteriously disappeared.  The sound wouldn’t play for the video illustration I wanted to use.  Jeremy broke a guitar string and didn’t have a replacement.  Oliver’s guitar wouldn’t tune correctly.  I got up to welcome everyone and my microphone caused feedback that nearly made our ears bleed.

I was so blessed when Hannah stopped before one of the songs to give a heartfelt testimony about what they had experienced that morning.  It was rough for them, but she reminded us that we should remember how great God really is.  She said that it reminded her that we can’t do anything on our own.  She challenged us to sing out in praise to our Lord.  It was a tender moment that was met with many tears and amens.  We sang Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) next and the Holy Spirit really moved.  I prayed and asked God’s glory to come down.  I was reminded that we don’t need microphones, projection software, or even instruments to worship.  It was a powerful, moving time.

I firmly believe that Satan wanted to crush us Sunday morning.  Spiritual warfare is real and we must be prepared to fight it.  We serve a God that is greater than anything Satan can throw our way.  We can overcome anything Satan throws our way.  I’m blessed to be able to serve Him.  Praise the Lord!!

I John 4:4

AngelFood November Menu

The November AngelFood menus is now online. This is a great way to save money on groceries. If you eat you qualify! Read more about AngelFood at http://mountainvalleychurch.net/pwsite/ourMinistries.php?ministryID=39561

AngelFood Order Form.pdf

HaHa

These little babies are just what I needed to cheer up on a dreary Monday…

Stitches

Emily had a crash on her bicycle this afternoon that resulted in a couple of large gashes in her knee.  I wrapped it the best I could and headed to the after hours clinic where April works.  She was working tonight and got us right in.  Emily ended up getting about four stitches in one gash and they glued the other together.  I don’t remember that being an option when I was a kid!  They also used some “magic princess jelly” to numb the wounds before doing anything to them.  What happened to the gouging needle to numb the cut?  I’m actually very glad that Emily didn’t have to go through all that.

It was really neat to see April in action at work.  I’m so proud of her not only as a mother and wife, but as a nurse.  She is really good at what she does and works very hard.  I couldn’t ask for a better woman to be my wife and the mother of my children.

Well, another day and another adventure.  I guess it’s par for the course when you have kids!!