Life Springs Church’s Post

Confessions of this Pastor:(part 1) When I started pastoring in late 2007, I had lofty and noble dreams! My dreams were to build the church, including reaching scores of people, then hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands. Also, to sponsor programs that reach the whole person – mind, body, and spirit. For the first 10 years, people, programs, personnel, and profits all grew, BUT with some peril…I was building the church (promotion after promotion, program after program, performance after performance, production after production). What I was doing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t God’s best. Over time, as I was building the church, I realized my goals were not completely Jesus’s. His instructions were to go and make disciples. I was not making disciples who made other disciples. I was building fans, but not true followers of Jesus. The way we were “doing church” vs. “being the church” was burning others out and myself. In addition, I was enabling rather than equipping the saints. I enabled the saints by keeping them dependent on the institution and me as the pastor. Unwittingly and subconsciously, I was also feeding a desire to be needed. The saints were growing –in their dependency on me but not in their dependency on Christ. And fast forward —there was growth outwardly but little depth inwardly. There was some personal and individual growth but little if any spiritual reproduction and multiplication. This growth method does not reach the masses and certainly does little to fulfill the Great Commission. 

When I originally pitched this article to my Editor, I worried that it might ruffle some feathers. To be honest, however, I believe it needs to be said. Christians bring many gifts and talents into the industries they go into. They work hard in college, pay their dues, and master their skills to impact the world for Christ. So why, then, do we lower ourselves when we say we’re “mere vessels,” as if we’re just replaceable cogs in a machine? We are more than that, much more than that. If we continue to see ourselves as mere vessels, we’ll miss out on how God truly sees us: beloved children and heirs of God. “…imagine if a ministry surpasses its fundraising or evangelism goal and the CEO says, ‘It was all God, we were just mere vessels,’ only for someone to respond, ‘Wow, I guess it must have been easy, then.’ People may be offended, but why? If they were merely vessels, they had no part in the process. If we are ‘merely vessels,’ we will struggle to admit mistakes and grow from them. To do that, we need an awareness of our strengths and weaknesses, how much we have grown and how much we must keep growing. This is fundamentally different from seeing ourselves as ‘mere vessels,’ mindless robots carrying out God’s will. We only find this self-awareness from humility.” https://lnkd.in/gmivw8tQ

This May our intercessors are praying for emerging and affiliating congregations and their leaders in the Christian Church Disciples of Christ of Greater Kansas City, Kansas region, and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Mid-America. Learn how to join them, submit a prayer request and more below! #ccdoc

For centuries church planters, church revitalization experts, and especially missions leaders have zealously discussed who to target with the outreach and resources we have. Some choose the poor, some choose the rich and influential. Others choose the poor and unknown. Based on Jesus work, revealed in the Gospel reading today, there is a third option... An option to those ideas, based in our understanding of God's plan for our lives - a plan to gather us and bring us home!

Explore the depths of faith with our recent blog, “What is Salvation?” This comprehensive piece provides a detailed understanding of the concept of salvation and its significance in the Christian journey. https://hubs.li/Q02HNvz_0

Strengthen your faith with daily devotions from Pastor Chris Byars of St. John's Lutheran Church. Dive into today's message and find peace in His Word. Let His guidance help you navigate life's challenges. Watch now and be inspired! 🙏 #FaithJourney #DailyDevotion #SpiritualGrowth

What does the Bible say about our "neighbor" and our responsibility to help others? Each of us is called to obedience to God above all else (Matthew 6:33, 22:37-39), and Jesus says that, when you show kindness to outsiders and strangers, you’re actually showing kindness to him. This article shares more about this topic with scriptures and can be a great place to start when deciding where you give.

🌅 Children of the Day: Awake, Alert, and Armored in Christ 🛡️ 'But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.' - 1 Thessalonians 5:8 Paul's call to vigilance is as relevant today as ever: 1. Stay Awake Spiritually: Be alert to God's work in and around you 2. Be Sober-Minded: Clear-headed in a world of distractions 3. Armor Up: • Breastplate of Faith and Love • Helmet of the Hope of Salvation Remember: 'God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ' (v.9) As John Piper puts it: 'The Christian life is not a cruise ship, but a battleship.' Our Mission: • Encourage one another • Build each other up • Live for Christ, whether awake or asleep 🤔 Reflect: How can you be more 'awake' to God's presence in your daily life? 📣 Challenge: This week, intentionally encourage and build up three people in your faith community. Share the impact below! #SpiritualVigilance #FaithArmor #ChristianEncouragement #HopeInChrist #SalvationAssurance 💡 Let's inspire each other: How do you stay spiritually 'awake' in today's world?

Navigating the 7 Seas (C's) of Christian Fatherhood. Captain your ship... BUT HOW? Do you feel like a rudderless ship at sea? A ship without direction, guidance, or hope? Get direction and hope in this 🧵 1. Compass The RISEN Jesus Christ is our North Star. Every captain needs a north star to navigate the seas of life. Make Jesus your NORTH STAR and safely bring your family to the port of salvation! Let Him lead the vision for a multigenerational family legacy! 2. Commission Fathers, you have a purpose. To multiply worshipers of Jesus in your home. This is your mission! Given to you by the Captain of your salvation! He promises to be with you as you sail with purpose! 3. Climate In this world, you will have trouble. The sea will pull you down to Davy Jones Locker if you let it. Know the dangers, and follow your Compass not just to survive--but to thrive! Sin --> Kill it World --> Run from it Devil --> Stand in God's Word 4. Craft Be a skilled captain! Grow in the trade of FATHERHOOD! Learn from: - God's Word - Other faithful fathers - Your Mistakes Determine to be the best captain you can be. Teach the trade to your sons! 5. Creativity The best captains are the most creative captains! Problems require creative solutions. Don't just do what everyone else is doing. Only dead fish swim downstream. Sail against the tide of culture, and get creative in your fathering. 6. Credibility Your crew needs to believe and trust in you. Belief and trust = FOLLOWERS! Captains need to lead well. Leading their family to worship God! Vision Spoken + Values Lived = CREDIBILITY Captains gain credibility with your family as you walk the talk! 7. Cultivate Cultivate the heart of your family. Win it! The heart is the lifebeat of the individual, the driving force of action! Cultivate and keep the heart, and you command the crew! The one that has the heart --> controls the actions. That's it, captains! The 7 C's to help you navigate the seas of fatherhood! Put them into practice, and you will have purpose and direction to lead your family well! To Learn to LEAD YOUR LEGACY: Join our community group waitlist. 1st month free: https://lnkd.in/eTVX3468

Matthew 11:11//Luke 7:24: "Among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist." There have been a lot of attempts to avoid the implications of these words of Jesus. Here's a quote from Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist on the topic. "It is an axiom of Christian faith that Jesus was humble. Yet somehow when Christians find Jesus actually being humble and holding his mentor in higher esteem than himself, it seems unacceptable. If one denies that Jesus ever expressed such sentiments, one ends up emptying the claim of his humility of all meaning. John was so humble that he could envisage that one of his disciples would be so strong and so amazing that he would scarcely consider himself fit to untie his shoelaces as a slave might. Jesus, following his mentor’s example, was able to esteem John above all other people that had ever lived, even while believing that it was his destiny to be that stronger disciple of whom John spoke. While some interpreters have tried to play John and Jesus off against one another, here perhaps more than anywhere else we see just how much they had in common." - James McGrath, Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 2024), p.113. Don't forget that the book's official release date is TOMORROW. If you haven't bought a copy yet, please do so then and help make it a release day best seller. If you pre-ordered and have read it because you couldn't put it down, please post a review tomorrow on Amazon and other online places. Thank you!