Made Stronger In Their Presence

I have gone to Spring Arbor, Michigan this week to participate in "Equipping for Excellence" and conference for the leadership of the Free Methodist Church. Sharing in fellowship and friendship with the various pastors and leaders at this conference has been wonderful, the leadership development instruction has been great, and the breakout group that I participated in this afternoon was been insightful. However, the portion of the conference that I have enjoyed the most so far has been the worship services.

It has been nice to listen to our Bishops bring teaching and insight from the Scripture. Likewise, the musical worship team has been inspirational and has led our group into the presence of the Almighty God in a new and powerful way during each service. The Spirit of God has been moving through this group of Pastors and leaders in a way that is transnational and life-changing. 

I am not a great singer, music has never been a gift of mine. I am unable to play any musical instrument and I often struggle to carry a tune. However this does not keep me from worshiping. This afternoon - as we praised God in song - I found myself positioned between two of my close friends and fellow pastors - Adam Strauser and Matt Schutter - both are excellent singers - I could listen to either one of them sing for hours. And, as I stood between these two friends , a thought occurred to me; "I am made stronger, I am made better because I am with them". Their presence, their support, and their voices, enabled me to stay on key and to sing in a more powerful way.

And, just as their presence made me stronger in song, the presence of Godly men and women - Godly friends and Godly influences in our lives - make us stronger and make us better because we are with them. As Proverbs 13:20 states "Walk with the wise and become wise".

I should add that both of these friends mentioned above are also very Godly men who support me in my spiritual walk and hold me accountable in various ways. I am thankful for close friends that help to support and guide me through their love, actions, presence, and even their voice.  

Lessons from Candy Crush Saga

Like thousands of other people, I have recently become addicted to Candy Crush Saga. The premise of Candy Crush Saga is simple, you match pieces of candy on a grid to score points. As the levels increase, the difficulty increases. Most recently I have struggled to get past one level, failing time after time. This all got me thinking of how we can learn many lessons from this simple game in relation to our life and days on earth.

1. You only have so much life - use it wisely
In Candy Crush a person has a limited number of lives and each life must be used wisely. If these lives are wasted, a person must wait a given amount of time before receiving another life. This applies to our earthly life as well. We each only have one life to live and thus we should use our life wisely - to accomplish the purpose that we have been created for and to spend our time on the priorities that matter. 

2. Don't take the move that seems obvious and "feels right"
In Candy Crush there are a wide variety of moves that are available at any given time. Making the wrong move is irreversible and could cost you the entire game (a life). Therefore, it is often required to look over the entire board to look for available moves, to consider how a particular move might affect the future of your game. This is true in life as well. We are often faced with situations and decisions that need to be made. We should not take the first and most immediate choice available, instead we should stop and consider how this decision will affect our life and our future. 

3. Friends and family are necessary to our success
In Candy Crush you can ask friends and family members for additional lives, additional moves, and additional tickets to help you proceed throughout he various levels of the game. What is more, you can ask friends and family members for tips and tricks to help with particular levels that you find yourself stuck on. The same is true in life. A solid and dependable foundation of friends and family members - people that we know love us and will support us - are required. Friends and family members bring us inspiration and encouragement at our times of deepest need and desperation. Friends and family members can speak truth and life into us when we think we can't go any farther. 

4. A faithful "higher power" is a necessity
In Candy Crush pieces are dropped from the top of the game board, with little to no knowledge of what pieces might be coming next. (I often complain to my wife that the "man upstairs" is failing to drop the pieces I need). In each one of our lives we need help from The Almighty God, who cares for us, sustains us, and gives us everything that we need to carry on and to find victory in this life. 

Report on Growth Groups

In an effort to promote more options for Christian education and/or discipleship within our church, we introduced Growth Groups this past spring.

As this was a new idea within our church, we were aware that it would begin slow and that it would be a process of introducing people to the idea and to promoting with various individuals. Likewise, we wanted to fit the ultra-demanding schedules of our church family, and of their friends and families. It was for these reasons that we began with only three Growth Groups on three different nights of the week.

All three of these groups began with different leadership personalities as the facilitators, at different locations in and around our community and they all three began with the same discussion questions and discussion format. After only a few weeks it was apparent that the format needed to change and that several of the more mature individuals desired more of a Bible study format rather than a discussion. Likewise, it was apparent that many of the questions and discussion topics were unnecessary and that a beneficial discussion could blossom from four simple questions. These questions are an adaption of the four questions that John Wesley used to use when he first began his small groups prior to the Methodist movement. Likewise, these questions align with our church's ministry process.

1. How is your connection with Jesus this week?
2. What are you doing to foster your own spiritual growth?
3. What opportunities have you had to serve and witness this week and how did you act upon them?
4. What temptations have you faced and how did you overcome them?

Several weeks ago I was becoming a bit discouraged when the participation in the Growth Groups in our church of over 100 had stalled at 18. Of course, I tried not to take it personally but it was, all the same, discouraging. Then, in the midst of these feelings, we hosted our weekly group at our home and it was then that God revealed to me, exactly what we were accomplishing.

We only made it to one of the questions that evening but we had wonderful fellowship, excellent discussions, and several prayers together. My eyes were opened to see that it was not about the number of people that were participating every week, those things are minute and will turn around. No, rather, it was about the accountability, it was about the support, it was about the friendships, it was about living our lives, as Christians, together. You may struggle while I am soaring, I may struggle just as you are achieving a new level of spiritual high. And that is what it is about.

As I wrote about the conclusion of our spring Growth Groups in our church newsletter this month; "we met together to simply live life together. We grew in relationships as we met casually and we grew in our walk with Jesus as we talked about struggles, concerns, and joys. What a great Spring!"

We will be kicking off Growth Groups again this fall, if you are in the area, I invite you to join in.