Home! Yeah!

Well, I'm home from the Soul-Winning Workshop in Tulsa and it felt so good to sleep in my own bed once again. I love traveling and the guys I traveled with were great, we had a fantastic time and the Lord really poured on the blessing. Thanks also to A-Mac for the van!

This years workshop theme was "prayer" and here are some of my thoughts on one of the most famous prayers in the Bible:

" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
(lifting up the name of God as high, holy, and worthy of all our praise. He's the creator that made the ultimate sacrifice for our --- I want to say "transgressions" - Isn't that a sweet way to color over our STUPIDITY! REJECTION OF GOD! WILLFUL DISOBEDIENCE! DENIAL of who HE is and what HE has done for us to save our embarrassment of JESUS FREAK GEEK! )

your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
(these simple few words of Jesus draws from the very meat of the gospel. For the kingdom to come Jesus must give his life! It is the Father's will that he do this - FOR OUR SAKE!!! One of the most powerful thoughts that I heard this past weekend was: "You have been died for!!" That's personal, it's moving. it's REAL!)

Give us today our daily bread.
(When I plan ahead, look to the future for things I want to accomplish- my turn next month to lead worship, next year's mission trip, VBS this summer, camp in July, retirement, etc - I tend to loose sight of the things right in front of me TODAY! I think Jesus is saying here- take one day at a time. God is putting things right in front of you. He has a little something for you every day! LOOK!)

Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
(It's easy for me to carry a chip around on my shoulder. This is hard to admit, but deep inside I think I like the feeling that I have been wronged. It makes me kind of a martyr! What a putz I am! This does me no good and gets me into trouble quite often! Jesus says - GET RID OF IT!)

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
(Continuing on with the afore mentioned character flaw because Jesus continues on with the same line of thought about forgiveness I believe this statement must be related also. It's so very tempting to keep this thought going in my mind and attitude: "Look at all I've done and they treat me like this!" Puke! I've done nothing! Pride and arrogance are traits I've learned from dealing with the evil one! I NEED to ask God to deliver me from this daily! I say I need to but I fail at this also)

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
(An unchecked attitude is a KILLER in the body of Christ. I don't want to be a killer, I want to be a GIVER! A real giver of forgiveness not just saying the words "I forgive you" but meaning it and letting that shine in my attitude toward others!)

I've got a lot of growing yet to do! I can see that in this simple prayer! But there is so much hope packed into this prayer also. One day at a time God will answer this pray for me. I want to be an effective part of the kingdom! I pray He continues to change me into that person that can be more effective.

Tulsa Workshop

Well, I'm writing this post from then International Soul Winning Workshop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've really been fed these last few days and am thinking that when we get back home, we need to work on a workshop of our own for Sunshine. I'm brainstorming a little bit here and could use as many ideas as I can get. I would like to work on increasing the PASSION of reaching out to people in our community with the love of Christ. Ways to establish relationships with lost people who need to know the Lord. Feel free to post any ideas you might have in this area.
We seem to rely on inviting people into the church assembly as the main way of teaching the Word, when actually the Word says we are to GO into the world with the word. GO does not mean we have to go to the other side of the world to reach people, it could be GO down the street. The story of the good Samaritan is a good example of how to be a good neighbor. I always thought of this story as applying to me as an individual, but what could we accomplish if we took this view of our neighbor as a group and apply the lesson to areas where the need is in our community now!