“The 3 Most Important Things the Church Can Do in 2013”

“The 3 Most Important Things the Church Can Do in 2013”


Focus: Create more programs that meet the everyday needs of people

When I evaluate what three things that the church needs to do in 2013 I would argue that we need to go back to the fundamentals of our divine example and take the prescriptions of ministry that Jesus left behind for us to follow and apply them to our current flow of ministry in the 21st century. Jesus basic argument and the example that he used was demonstrated in three specific areas of ministry: meeting the spiritual needs of people, meeting the physical needs of people and meeting the fellowship or intimate needs of people. What I will do in this article is to translate what Jesus did in his time into what our modern church can look at and repeat them today.

The Church Meeting The Spiritual Needs of People:

Psalms 51:5 it says “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me”; I would argue from this verse that every persons soul is totally depraved and with that in mind we all need spiritual regeneration and for those who are in the church or those who are seeking God the desire for that need to be meet is intense and it is the responsibility for the church to create and cultivate an atmosphere where people can worship God, know God and have their ultimate spiritual desire which is to be and feel forgiven of their sins meet.

Throughout scripture Jesus gives us this example in his ministry countless times and he shows us as his church how to do it. In Matthew 19: 16-30, Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18:18-30 we read the accounts of the story of the ‘Rich Young Ruler’ who was a God- seeker and had a spiritual need that he wanted and desired to be meet. What we learn from this young man is several lessons that our modern day culture and modern day people can relate too. It didn’t matter how much money he had or his success he wanted what we all want and was asking the question that we all ask and that is ‘what does it take to be saved?’. Today we see that question asked is various forms ‘what is my life’s calling’ or ‘how do I reach my highest potential’; regardless of how we phrase the question the underline motive is the same: it’s what must I do to have my spiritual thirst quenched. A vital lesson we as the church learn from this parable is what we can take away from Jesus; Jesus made people of all backgrounds feel safe and comfortable to come to him. History tells us and many theologians would argue that this man came to Jesus in the quiet of the night indicating the possibility that maybe he didn’t want others to know who he was going to see or where he was going; or maybe it was shame that made him come at night, whatever the Rich Young Rulers reasons were at least he came and knew where to go. Many modern day people can relate to this as well, going to church and sitting in the back row, or coming late and leaving early, or to ashamed to go to church so they decide to watch it on television; Just like the rich young ruler modern people at least know to come to Jesus because he can answer their questions.

Mark 10: 21 “ Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” What Jesus gives the Rich Young Ruler and what we need to give todays church goers and seekers is the biblical truth in love to the questions that they ask. In order to fulfill your spiritual needs you must be sacrificial with your entire life, from your possession to your daily walk. What Jesus is teaching us to do in our ministries and what the church needs to do in 2013 is teach people there are no short cuts to spiritual satisfaction. Even though the rich young ruler had “followed the rules” he hadn’t “given a sacrificial heart” to Christ and others and without the death of self and following Christ a person soul cannot be regenerated. Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” the first step the church must take is giving people biblical truth to their spiritual answers.

The Church Meeting The Physical Needs Of People:

In Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17and John 6:5-15 we see Jesus display of meeting the physical needs of his people which is known as the miracle of the five loaves of bread and two fish. As Jesus is ministering to these people he does not neglect to remember that their physical need of simply being hungry; what we fail to do in today’s church is remember that our people need to be fed, clothed and taken care; especially when they have a need that has to be meet that is out of their control. We have military service men and women in our churches that go overseas while their families are here in the states suffering and in those moments the church must step up and provide for those families. We have widows and widowers and senior adults that have physical needs as they age that the church must address because we see too many people as they grow older become lonely and depressed; most of the time the physical need to them is simple company and someone to talk to.

No matter how the church goes about addressing the issues of the physical needs of its people the issues must be addressed and handled in a bold and specific way because we are losing our people in a rapid way because they feel neglected by the church and their experience and opinions of the church are turning negative because they see glamor and not the needs of the hopeless being meet. And what we must remember is this people don’t care how much we know until they see how much we care; they’re not going to be interested in hearing about our Jesus until they see us acting like him.

The Church Meeting The Fellowship/ Intimate Needs Of The People:

An untreated wound has no chance of getting better until the proper steps are taken to fix it. Most of the sins and problems we see in our culture in and out of the church at one point started off small but because of neglect many of them have grown and become out of control and unmanageable. What the church must take action in doing is that when we see the beginnings of sin forming then we must address the issues then and we must address it in a loving and kind way and not in a judgmental and self-serving way. I believe the best way to accomplish this is to love people when we see them stepping off their designed plan’ “Love Me When I Least Deserve It Because That’s When I Need It The Most”.

In Luke 19:1-10 we find the story of Zacchaeus who was a superintendent of customs also known as the chief tax collector. He was a hated man in his small community of Jericho and everyone knew him personally or by name because he was wealthy and he would cheat people on their taxes and over charge them and pocket the money for himself. As deceptive as he was and as sneaky as he was there was something about the rabbi Jesus that pierced his heart and made him intrigued to find out more about him so when Jesus came into his down he climbed up in a fig tree just to get a glimpse of who he was.

The church must become like Jesus was to sinners and that is attractive to the point that people are desperate to come to us; Zacchaeus the cheating tax collector was willing to climb up in a tree and risk breaking his neck just to take a glimpse at seeing Jesus. When sinners demonstrate a passion for truth the church must be willing to provide a space for them to be fulfilled.

Luke 19: 5-10When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly .All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. “Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

What we see in these verses Jesus ministry displayed by several actions that the church needs to take note and account of: First he calls him by name; most people in our churches today think that they are only a number or a member and the personal satisfaction of knowing you are known has been lost. Second he fellowships with him at his home showing us that sometimes we must meet people on their terms or in their comfort zone whatever that looks like to them; we must decrease so Christ can increase so the lost can be saved. And last Jesus took the man as he was in his sin and that reaction caused the man to change his life. The action of Christ love caused the reaction of repentance; Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

When we meet peoples spiritual needs and questions we give them tangible hope that helps them to hold onto their faith in times of trials and difficulty. People want to be heard, known and accepted not just tolerated and when we apply the examples of Jesus Christ in our churches we will adapt an inviting spirit for more people to come.

Conclusion: My Thoughts

Every person knows indescribable pain and hurt that breaks the heart and weakens the knees of the souls of our spirits and that is why every person needs to know and experience God in a divine way, but we as the church are called to be his ambassadors; and just like ushers in our local churches we must usher people into their seat in the presence of the king but we must first connect with him and his teachings in order to do so. Its not up to us to judge or to try and figure out all the specifics we simply must be willing to do what he says and that is to ‘follow’.

Matthew 28:16-20 “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Good Life

In any relationship that you are in there must be a dedication to the commitment that you have made. Relationships with spouses, family members and friends often die because one of the persons forgets the importance of forgiving the other “regardless” of their sins or how they view that they have been offended; and it often dies because one or both persons forgets that it was God that put them together they didn’t just meet by chance or happenstance. Remember your vow to be dedicated in the good and the troublesome areas of the journey that you take in any relationship because there are either spoken or unspoken covenants that when endured are honored. All of us have responsibilities to each other in all of our relationships; the responsibility is to believe in one another that the other person has the best intentions in helping you to become your full self and the conviction that you are placed in this relationship for a duty and the purpose can only be purely fulfilled by a co- existing relationship that is smothered in humility.


The most important thing to remember about any relationship that you are involved in is that you must stay mature and above reproach in order to move through the seasons of the relationship because that will help you not to focus on the immature things that the devil would put in your spirit to try and distract you. If you focus on the big picture and not try and play a role in your relationship with people you will have a greater avenue for the chance of success because you will limit your distractions. The key is not to focus on the “me” but rather the “we”. Relationships are like building and maintaining a house. Once the house is built you still have to keep up with the maintenance, so as your home continuously changes, so your relationship continues to change and it’s not going to always be perfect but as long as you keep your focus and outlook on it as “progress” then all will be well with your soul. Remember the good times and what sustained you in those moments and remind yourself and the other person of that moment to encourage them as well when things aren’t going well because the goal is not competition against the other person, the goal is team work because you want to be successful. It’s going be hard but go with the flow and you will get to where you’re going. God Bless

I Am Finally Able To Speak

On March 16, 2012 was the last time I was able to blog because the next day at 11:40am my earthly father’s soul took its step into everlasting. As I held his hand reassuring him I would be “OK” I begin to feel the walls of my heart blowing up piece by piece because the possibility of him never experiencing the pure unconditional “NEED” of love from his child was ending and for myself still on the bridge of brokenness and doubt vividly as on a movie screen I was being wrapped in the noise of heartache, pain and misery feeling like I was being aborted like an unborn child.


March 17,2012 11:40am my father died. The hope of the happy ending had dried up in a bitter stream of emptiness. My words became numb, my actions became guarded, my song lost its tune and my body just wanted to die. Deep down inside of the layers of my being and even unseen to the closest person in my life but fresh as the morning sunrise daily I had hoped that the thief would not steal him away from me too soon. The thief had already stolen the promises and the potential of the dreams in the pictures. The thief had already suffocated my hope, depleted my energy and grayed my prayers.

You would assume for someone who has studied the ends and outs of theology that in this moment I would be more than “OK”. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, you would think that promise would be like a seat belt to my soul and have me strapped in the seat of security and faith. But in my reality and in the pit of my feelings the only anthem I could hear blazing from the choir of assurance was “Death is final and my father is dead”.

He will never meet my children, he will never know my wife. I ache for my grandparents who put their child in the ground. I ache daily that he will never get a chance to be who I needed him to be on this side of heaven.

Nothing makes sense, no words can comfort. Honestly I feel like telling everyone to shut up and leave me alone. The pain of tragically losing a parent is so piercing in sting and force to the child that it should be written in the laws that everyone should sit in silence and hear the screaming breaking sound of that child’s soul. My father is dead and he is not coming back, that is not a thought that can be rationalized or explained to my soul; I just need to sit here and so I continue to sit.

I have no intelligent, intellectual, or brave words to reassure you today that over this hill of agony my heart will be made full. But what I can reassure you is that when I choose to move forward this pain will not be in vain.

3/17/12 11:40am - The day My Life Changed

At The Feet

Since I have been in social work and ministry people ask me all the time how do I deal with the anger expressed by broken people who have no hope and who have limited themselves through self destruction and show it through abusive behavior in language and actions. My answer to them is that I look in the mirror and come to grips with my own personal depraved soul. I counsel them like Jesus counsels me. I use compassion dictated by tough love, guided by extra grace and covered with mercy. I meet them at the cross because that is where I am still at. I may have been at the cross a little longer but I still need to see his broken body and see the blood gushing from his side and look at his body in agony because then it will remind me too not to complain. I still need to see the people laughing at him and feel the weight of sadness and distress he is in so it can remind me that he did it all for me and that he would do it all for me again if needed. The fact is this when we minister to people all we are doing is putting our arms around them and reassuring them that his grace is really sufficient and his mercies are new everyday because we have been at the cross and needed to stay just as they will because only when we return to him in heaven will we be made whole so until then we must stay put at the feet of Jesus.

God Runs Toward You

Brighten your day by envisioning God running toward you.
When his patriarchs trusted, God blessed. When Peter preached or Paul wrote or Thomas believed, God smiled. But he never ran.
That verb was reserved for the story of the prodigal son. “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20 NKJV)

God runs when he sees the son coming home from the pig trough. When the addict steps out of the alley. When the teen walks away from the party. When the ladder-climbing executive pushes back from the desk, the spiritist turns from idols, the materialist from stuff, the atheist from disbelief, and the elitist from self-promotion…

When prodigals trudge up the path, God can’t sit still. Heaven’s throne room echoes with the sound of slapping sandals and pounding feet, and angels watch in silence as God embraces his child.
You turn toward God, and he runs toward you.

"HaveHope"

Stop worrying about what you have THINK you have lost and focus on the promises that the tomorrows hold for your future. So many times in our own lives we tend to over analyze the past: Our failures, our “what ifs”, our un-forgiveness, lost relationships, bitterness and what others have done to us. What we need to do is embrace today and all the promises that today has and that each moment has. There is a saying live day by day but many times that can be just to much to ask for some of us so we must learn to live moment by moment. We can’t rely on others to help us achieve these goals but rather we have to look at ourselves and God and ask him to bless our steps. We want to be in the perfect will of God and not in the permissible will of God and he is trying to get each of his children to that perfect place and many times that requires him stepping into your life and removing things and people that don’t help lift you to a better place. It doesn’t mean that those people are bad people it just means that they aren’t meant for the long journey with you. I am the first to admit I hate change and I like to be in charge and I am sure probably everyone else does as well but here is the deal we all must recognize that were not in control of anything in the first place so we must be willing to surrender for the sake of our healthiness when it comes to our souls, minds, and physical state. We have to surrender and let go. We have to hold on to hope, prayer and Gods hand and in the end hope that he will deliver us to perfection. So today grab on to hope, stop over analyzing the past, the people in your past, the things and places in your past and embrace the promises of tomorrow. Remember there is a reason why you are at this place so learn the lesson so you don’t have to repeat it.

CHRIST DIED FOR US

Romans 3

The Message (MSG)

9-20So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:

There's nobody living right, not even one,

nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.

They've all taken the wrong turn;

they've all wandered down blind alleys.

No one's living right;

I can't find a single one.

Their throats are gaping graves,

their tongues slick as mudslides.

Every word they speak is tinged with poison.

They open their mouths and pollute the air.

They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,

litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,

Don't know the first thing about living with others.

They never give God the time of day.

This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin.







I have been reading this excellent and challenging book called “Revolution of Character: Discovering Christ Patterns for Spiritual Transformation”- By Dallas Willard and I must confess to you that this is a hard read for anyone who truly wants a radical change in their life. It literally confronts you on every level: The heart, your mind, soul, spirit, will, and the physical. It takes you to places that you have forgotten about and throws your sin right in your face and says DEAL WITH IT! The main focus of the book is to address the human heart and how we are dangerously sinful and how we as people live self destructing spiritual lives that are in totally opposite of what Christ wants for us. Even when we think that there are areas of our lives that are “good” this book makes the argument that there are not and the only good in your life is that you have been covered by God’s grace and that you are experiencing and walking daily in the Grace of God through Jesus Christ.



The book talks about the term “Gehenna” often used in the New Testament for the place of the lost which may be thought of as a cosmic dump for irretrievably lost and useless souls. When we think about our sin and how we have offended God with out hearts, souls, wills, minds and bodies we must recognize that but for the grace of God and the new mercies of God on a daily experience we all would be in this place. This book takes your sin dumps it in your lap and leaves you there with it to examine, repent and think about the wickedness of your heart, but the good news that while you are feeling the weight of your sin, you can also feel the covering of the grace of God that clothes you and gives you hope during your period of repentance.



One of the most profound things about this book so far that I want to expand on is this quote “the surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves”. When I think about my own life and the path that I have tried to carve out for myself and the failures personally, and in every area of my life my soul laments in agony over the fact that I have obeyed myself in so many ways. I have obeyed myself in my desires, my will, my heart and even with the people that I have chosen to accompany this path of life with me. I have taken Jesus as my Savior and forgot about him as my Lord. I have taken the benefits and walked in denial of my own pain, problems and purpose. I must confess that I have been hostile towards God.



Sin is something that we all try to deny. We call it a mistake and tell ourselves we will do better next time. We don’t take sin seriously because we don’t take our lives seriously and we don’t take our spiritual destination seriously. We have gotten caught up in a half hearted delusional form of Christianity that doesn’t call us to sacrifice anything. We try to gain but end up loosing in the end. When we look at what God has done for us and his love for us that “while we were yet sinners CHRIST DIED FOR US”, it should make us all grateful. Not the worldly grateful where I am grateful for a gift or grateful someone thought to call me today to see how I was doing; but the grateful where it calls you to abandon ALL of your plans, desires, and wants and do whatever Jesus tells you to do. I repent in dust and ashes and I ask that you all would pray for me as I continue reading this book. I don’t know what I am going to get out of this book. I confess that I started reading it in order to hope I would change externally some of my actions but now I realize it’s not the things I do on the outside that’s the problem but its my wicked, deceitful, hostile, in denial, egotistical heart. Lord Help Me.



Read This Book If Your Looking For More Than What You Have On The Inside...

Be Blessed