Contributed by Tim Smith on Dec 10, 2008
So what is a vision? George Barna defines it as, "Vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is based upon an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances." Vision is more than simply what could be. It’s something that must
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Methodist
Contributed by Steve Smith on Jan 25, 2009
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READ THE INSTRUCTIONS
Debbie's laptop broke several months ago, causing some frustration. We couldn't afford right now to put it in the shop, so we decided to attempt repair. We found a hard drive for really a great price, so we purchased and installed it into the drive bay.
Suppose I failed to
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Baptist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 9, 2009
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists, realized that if he went longer than 3 hours without praying to God and reading his word, then he began to think and act like the world rather than think and act like Jesus. So every three hours, he stopped what he was doing to be with God. This helped
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 9, 2009
GOD DOESN'T GIVE TRIP-TIKS
You remember the AAA Trip-Tiks? You flip page by page and it showed every mile, every hotel you were going to stay at, and every sight you would see. I remember sitting in the back of my parents' car just watching mile after mile go by. And even though I knew what was
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 9, 2009
OLD WIVES' TALES: THE TRUTH
Have you ever believed something, only to find out that it wasn’t true? Consider these old wives tales:
"If you go outside with wet hair, you’ll catch a cold." Cold weather, wet hair, and chills don’t cause colds; viruses do.
"Reading in dim light will damage your
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 9, 2009
REDEMPTIVE LOVE CHANGES PEOPLE
John Ed Mathison, former pastor of Frazier Memorial UMC, tells the story of Tommy Waite, an African-American man serving time in jail and converted through Frazier’s Prison Ministry. They didn’t stop there though. They discipled him and even helped him to get his
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 9, 2009
You remember the Gatorade commercial with Michael Jordan and the tagline, "Be like Mike." Well, our goal as Christians should be to "be like Jesus." 1 John 2:5-6 puts it this way, "This is how we know
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 9, 2009
"FOLLOW ME."
To understand that calling and Jesus’ invitation, we need to understand the context. In Jesus’ day, childhood education started at age five as young boys went to the synagogue school to learn Hebrew and memorize the Torah. By the time of his bar mitzvah at age 13, a typical Jewish
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 9, 2009
"The United Methodist Church has helped over 59,000 people who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Over 45,692 volunteers (3320 teams) volunteers from around the world have served in our disaster recovery ministry. That’s a donation value of $40,468,015. What we have found is that we are not just
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 10, 2009
Keith Getty, who wrote the hymn "In Christ Alone" says there are three signs of the church on decline:
1. The church becomes decreasingly knowledgeable of God.
2. The church becomes increasing obsessed with itself.
3. The
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on May 28, 2009
Robert Lewis writes, “In 1851, many of the most accomplished engineers in the country thought James Roebling was out of his mind. That year, he began to work on the unthinkable: building a bridge over the Niagara River Gorge. Disaster was nearly universally predicted. There was the sheer
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009
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PLANET OF THE YEAR
Time Magazine in 1989 celebrated not the Person of the Year but the Planet of Year. It was a wakeup call for me and convicted me and my faith.
"Through most of his 2 million years or so of existence, man has thrived in earth's environment -- perhaps too well.... The reason is
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Methodist
Contributed by Steve Smith on Jan 23, 2010
A good example to this though is our sign project. We know that based on our regular offerings that we could not afford the gorgeous sign out front. But we also know that in order for God to be able to change the hearts of others, we must 1st get them into church. The sign gives us a means to
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Baptist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010
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Mark is a young businessman who does business in China. Each time he has gone to China, he has asked God to reveal to him whom he might speak to on behalf of Jesus. What might happen if every one of you went to work praying for God to reveal to him whom he might speak to on behalf of Jesus. You’re
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010
THE GOSPEL TRACT DISPENSER
Mike Slaughter tells the story of rushing through the airport to catch his connecting flight. He ran into the bathroom and went into a stall. And when he began to pull on the toilet paper, and a Gospel tract fell out onto the floor. He picked it up and began to read
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010
It wasn’t long after arriving at this church that I discovered unbeknownst to the leadership that the church had been running a $12,000 a month deficit the two years after Katrina which was supplemented by donations received from across the country which were not dedicated to relief. Then we
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010
DISCIPLESHIP AND PIONEERING
George Washington Bush was born in Pennsylvania in 1778 and was a veteran of the War of 1812 fighting in the battle of New Orleans. In 1830, he moved to Missouri where he met and married Isabella, a young German American. One of the first African Americans to head out
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010
George Washington Bush was born in Pennsylvania in 1778 and was a veteran of the War of 1812 fighting in the battle of New Orleans. In 1830, he moved to Missouri where he met and married Isabella, a young German American. One of the first African Americans to head out West, Bush purchased six
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 20, 2010
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DANNY WUERFFEL
Danny Wuerffel attended high school in Ft. Walton Beach, FL and played at the University of Florida, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1996. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints and then played for several NFL teams. He was offered to rejoin to the Washington Redskins and his former
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Methodist
Contributed by Tim Smith on Mar 17, 2011
FAN OR FOLLOWER?
Kyle Idelman writes:
It was a Thursday afternoon, and I was sitting in our sanctuary where 30,000 people would soon be coming to one of our Easter services. I had no idea what I was going to say to them. I could feel the pressure mounting. I sat there hoping that a sermon would
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