Monday, June 2, 2008

TownHall- 6-1-08

Well we just attended our first Town hall meeting for our church to help our congregation better understand some of the changes that are taking place here. Pastor Ron and Pastor B shared their heart and vision for the future. To me it wasn't a whole lot of new material that was shared, because to Helen and I had already made up our minds where we stood. Some things that stood out to me about this meeting:

Pastor Ron talked about the importance of the prophetic and that how it was needed less inside the church and needed more out in the world where the lost and hurting reside. To me at first I didn't get it but the more I thought about it the more I found myself nodding in agreement.

If nothing else, that statement challenged me to walk by Holy Spirit direction. How many people have I passed by that God could have used me to speak a word of encouragement to them.

Pastor Ron is moving to a role in which he will be able to pour into the leaders of our church. This really excites me because it will be a chance to learn from a great leader of men.

Pastor B doesn't have it all figured out.... And that is OK. Because it is about the pursuit of the Father.

I believe we are getting ready to enter the most challenging and purpose fulfilling time in the life of our church. 2008 is supposed to be the year of acceleration and elevation. Are you ready?

Musa Out!

9 comments:

Kim's Hotrod said...

Hey John. It's been awhile since I've floated around blogland, but here I am. I miss hanging out with you guys, playing cards and eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Maybe one day...

In reading your post, I had a couple of reservations that I would like to share with you. Please forgive me if I'm wrong, especially considering I'm responding to your summation of what Pastor Ron said. Also, I'm painfully aware of the planks in my own eyes. ;-)

"Pastor Ron talked about the importance of the prophetic and that how it was needed less inside the church and needed more out in the world where the lost and hurting reside."

1 Cor. 14 gives us one of the most definitive pictures of the use of the gift of prophecy. v.4 tells us "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the CHURCH." (emphasis mine) Later on in v.22 it says that "...prophecy is (a sign) for believers, not for unbelievers." It appears, this passage, that prophecy is needed more IN the church than elsewhere.

"If nothing else, that statement challenged me to walk by Holy Spirit direction. How many people have I passed by that God could have used me to speak a word of encouragement to them."

As well it should. We all need to be living our lives directed by the Holy Spirit. To be Spirit-filled at all times. However you mentioned Pastor Ron's call for prophecy outside the church and you personalized that with desiring more "words of encouragement" for people you pass daily, which are two different gifts. The Greek word for prophecy in 1 Cor. 14 actually means "foretelling of events". Don't be confused. Prophecy should be used in the church, for the edification of believers.

Let's all desire a more excellent way: Love (1 Cor. 13). If we really desire to reach lost people for Christ (outside the church) it should be done primarily through loving and serving them. The lost need love more than they need to know what's going to happen next week.

I'm not trying to undermine the position of Pastor Ron. Not in the least. I'm sure that God has gifted him to be a great pastor. But pastor or not, I want to balance what people say against the truth of Scripture. God gave us Scripture so that we may plainly understand His way. I would rather rely on the Word, than on what someone felt "inspired" to share with me, no matter how sincere they may be.

Love you, man. Honestly.

Hbomb said...

Thinking on what you said,Rodney, and I will need to think on it some more, but let me just put this out there to ponder on...what about Jonah's prophetic word to Ninevah, or the prophetic interpretation of the dream God gave Joseph for Pharaoh...those prophesies were not given to Godly people but were used to warn and ultimately draw people back to God.
I think the truth is we do need to examine what is said by scripture, but ultimately we can knit pick doctrine all day long, but the important thing is seeing the lost won to the Lord.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I feel like people needed to have heard in the context of actually hearing him explain it in his own words to totally be able to give what he said a fair judgment. I too had to chew on it for a few minutes before I got it. And I totally felt that he was right in what he was saying and my spirit was in agreement.

I say this because I have been witnessed it with my own eyes, and been involved in a church where what he was talking about as far as constantly prophesying to each other in church was constantly going on. But when you looked around, year after year, the church wasn't fulfilling the Great Comission and the ones that were there, despite the amazing prophesies that had all been given about what wonderful things God was going to do with their lives, were nothing more than stagnant Christians living with little or no power.

It was becoming nothing more than a super-spiritualzed "experience" for the so called spiritually mature week after week, producing no fruit.

I'm definitely not saying that prophesy in the church doesn't have it's place. But I feel that he was simply saying that it should be more balanced. As should everything if you ask me. Too much or too little of anything, even things that are good, can be "not so good" anymore.

Anyway, that's just my two cents worth for the day. In the words of Johnny Fuller: I'm just sayin'. :)

Hbomb said...

Oh Yeah, I probably should have said what Rachel said too.

Kim's Hotrod said...

Hmmm, methinks I've opened a can of worms.

I really should be working on something else right now. Kim's going to kill me if I don't get some work done around the house.

Helen said "I think the truth is we do need to examine what is said by scripture, but ultimately we can knit pick doctrine all day long, but the important thing is seeing the lost won to the Lord."

I agree, but I'm not knitpicking doctrine, per se. The word of any prophet or pastor should be weighed against the words of Scripture. If the words of the prophet or pastor disagree with what we know to be true from Scripture, then such a person is a false teacher or false prophet. So it's imperative that we examine the Scriptures so that we aren't lead astray. We should never let our acceptance of a prophesy or "word" be based solely on whether or not our spirit is in agreement. Our emotions can too easily influence what we perceive to be our spirit.

Now I'm not accusing Pastor Ron of being a false prophet or false teacher. Please don't misunderstand me. Again, I'm at a great disadvantage because I'm responding to John's summary of what P.R. said, which is out of context. But what John said about P.R. pronouncement seems (at least on the surface) to be in disagreement with what I read in 1 Cor. 14. Perhaps, I'm misinterpretting this passage - Paul IS giving instructions on how a church service should be orderly. That's part of what he's speaking of here - in fact that's the basis for proper understanding of this passage. But Paul does give us a good picture of who prophecy is for - the church, for their edification.

There's more I want to say and respond to but I really need to work on Kasey's room. We are redoing their bedrooms and I have alot of sanding and repairing of the walls to do. I'll try to post more later.

I hope you guys don't feel like this is an attack. It's an exhortation from one brother to a group of brothers and sisters to always be on our guard and to ALWAYS make the Word of God the standard by which we base our decisions. I think Pastor Ron would have no problem with that.

Love you all.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Johnny - way too go getting people fired up!

I think it's important to mention here that Pastor Ron DID say in the same part of the meeting that he would NEVER be in agreement for prophesy and the gifts of the spirit to not be a part of our church services. It is our desire as a staff and a church family that the gifts of the spirit be a big part of our ministry, but how do we have balance in our pursuit of the supernatural? I Cor. says that prophecy is for believers, not unbelievers...exactly - and if the focus of our weekend services is the unbeliever - the unsaved - then we have to be very careful with our use of prophecy and gifts of the spirit in that setting...

Our desire to use these gifts more outside the walls of the church than inside is merely an attempt to let the gifts of the spirit manifest themselves in our everyday lives and not just relegate them to a Sunday morning service where they are likely to be forgotten about by the time Monday morning rolls around.

I'm just sayin' too.... :)

bryan mcgee said...

I was going to comment last night. But, as you can see, I didn't. I have a really good reason why. I just can't remember what it was.

Anywhosin...

Abs said what I would have said. Dad was not saying we did not want prophecy within the church. His words and motive are not to do away with prophecy in the church. Rather, we want balance in our services and we want our church family to learn more how to speak prophetically into their world and culture.

Many churches need to have less talk about what will happen and more action. We want to be a church that fulfills the Great Commission instead of just prophesying that it’s about to happen.

Great post. I love when you stir stuff up like this. Keep it up. So, I’m gonna stop typing now and go do.

John F said...

The best part of this whole discussion.... I just put it out there for public consumption. I am learning more and more each day about context and being able to accurately convey my thoughts and intensions. Maybe I did with this post and maybe I didn't. I do know that this is the most discussion I have had on here in a long time.

bryan mcgee said...

Wow, are my words so powerful that it shuts down a comment string? Even I don't take myself that seriously. I thought it was just getting good. :)