Catching Up

It has been almost a month since my last post and a lot has been going on. God is doing a new work in our church and although I am not sure what it is fully I am excited for what it will be. With the addition of the midweek study my study time has doubled.
I am really enjoying both studies right now. 1st Samuel has been such a timely study for our people. Last week we looked at dealing with failure. It really hit a cord. I recommend you listen to the podcast. On Wednesdays we are going through a study on the Holy Spirit and it has been powerful! Last week we looked at the fruit of the Spirit and really focused on Love. My voice recorder on my iPhone hasn’t been working so it is not on our podcast.
Today we had Jay Leach at the church. He did an amazing job and our people really responded. His music brought a real calm to a lot of people who have been pretty harried lately. The break was nice also.
Speaking of a break I will be going on a two week study break starting on Monday. With the baby being born and the addition of the midweek pretty much everything that has been going in me has been poured out. I really need a time of being filled up. So with much of the staff gone this week and next at camps it is a good time for me to hole up do some indepth study, reading, and prayer. If you remember I ask that you pray for me that I will be the sponge I need to be during this time. I want to be filled and I want to hear from God.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Mid Week Bible Study

Our mid week Bible study on the Holy Spirit has been going on for three weeks and it is going great! We have been having large crowds each Wednesday. We are looking at the Holy Spirit and how He desires that we become Overflowing Cups. We have been recording each message on my iPhones new voice recording feature and honestly the quality is better than those on Sunday mornings. If you are in the Lompoc area join us on Wednesday nights. We are meeting at the United Church of Christ on the corner of Constellation and Jupiter. If you want to listen to the first three messages you can click on the links below.

The Overflowing Cup

Who Is the Holy Spirit?

What Does the Holy Spirit Do?

Myths About the Unchurched

Thom Rainer has a great blog post today that I wanted to share with you:

Myths About the Unchurched – thomrainer.com

Myths Uncovered

Some of our research dispelled conventional wisdom about the unchurched. Let me share just four of those “myths.”

Myth #1: The church is a strange and mysterious place to the unchurched. To the contrary, the formerly unchurched told us that neither the church experience nor the church language confused or intimidated them when they were unchurched. In fact, most of the unchurched actually attend church at least once a year, so they had some level of familiarity with local congregations.

Myth #2: The unchurched are intimidated or turned off by deep expositional preaching and teaching. Perhaps one of the most surprising findings in our studies is that deep biblical teaching and preaching actually attracts the unchurched. Perhaps even more surprising is that nine out of ten formerly unchurched affirmed this truth.

Myth #3: The unchurched are not interested in Sunday School and similar small groups. Just the opposite is true. Surprisingly, an unchurched person who ultimately connects with a church is more likely to be involved in a Sunday School class or a small group than a long-term Christian. For example, seven out of ten formerly unchurched were in Sunday School classes, compared to six out of ten long-term Christians.

Myth #4: The unchurched cannot be reached by personal and direct evangelism. Again, the evidence dispels this myth. Nearly two-thirds of the formerly unchurched told us their primary exposure to the gospel came from another Christian sharing with them one-on-one. And they expressed dismay that most Christians are unwilling to share their beliefs with non-Christians.

I am finding all four of these to be exactly spot on. The deeper I teach God’s Word the more people eat it up.