Mission Trip 2011: Kansas City

In case you haven't already heard me say it...our mission trip this year was to Kansas City, MO.

**UPDATE: I am coming back to add this link as promised. Here is a link to Christiana's Mission Trip Blog Post**

We are now about half way through the week, and things have been a little bit crazy as mision trips can tend to be. We are doing a lot of great work and lives are getting touched--both in the community and in our groups. As I was thinking about it I realized that this year our group is different than any other group we have taken from Villebrook in the last four years. Not only is the group smaller it is also closer knit, has a lot less drama, and a lot more new believers. It has been an interesting experience to watch how they have responded.

Phil and Kody with the 2lb Rice Krispie Treat that Kody
bought for himself during our drive to Kansas City, MO.

So if you read my last post you probably remember me mentioning a guy named Kody. Well not only is Kody a young believer and an amazing young man...today is also Kody's birthday. Yeah, we sang to him and people wished him happy birthday but I am sure that it was nothing like he would have had at home, but he came on mission trip anyway. Then the "icing on the cake" (ha ha) was that Kody and Phil were working at their service projects today shoveling out a basement where a sewage pipe had burst and left a royal mess. The amazing thing is that I didn't hear him complain once!

I know that too many times in my life I have been focused on my "sacrifices" or the circumstances that I am in and I miss what God is trying to get me to do. I think that I can say with very little doubt that Kody didn't miss it. Kody was right in the middle of it, serving and showing others the love of Christ today.

I know that God is going to use Kody's testimony to touch peoples' hearts and I personally can't wait to see what the other half of the week has yet to bring to us.

13 Characteristics of a Growing Church: Love

This week I have been prepping to preach the Sunday morning and Sunday night services at Villebrook Baptist Church while my pastor recovers from surgery. While I was studying and praying, God laid it on my heart that I should talk about characteristics of a growing church as laid out in Romans. I don't want to give everything away before I preach but I will give you the first point in my 13 point sermon and then for the sake of attention spans, I will break the other 12 points out over the next few weeks. Hope that sounds good to you because that's the plan...so here you go...the sneak preview of my GIANT HUGE 13 Point Sermon...

The 1st Characteristic of a Growing Church is Love.
"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good." Romans 12:9

In the English language, the word love is tossed about WAY to easily! We love pizza. We love going to the movies. We love our favorite sports team--Go Cards! But what does it mean to have a genuine love?

I don't want to go into a ton of detail here about all the different words for love in the Greek language (For more about the 4 Greek Words for Love, Click here to visit my wife's blog). Basically, unlike English the Greek language has several different words for love and each of these words have a unique meaning and usage. The word translated here as "love" is the Greek word "agape". Agape is an unconditionally, Christ-like love.

According to Romans 12:9 a growing church should have a genuine Christ-like, unconditional love. That means that we really have to love people where they are. We can't say "I love and accept you" with out mouths and let our actions show them differently. If you do you can gaurantee that those people will not bother coming to your church again. We are to hate the sin and love the sinner (Jude 1:22-24). When Christ was reaching out to people around Him, He didn't tell them how awful they were or how bad their lifestyle was. First, He met their need and showed them love. Then He told them to turn from their sins and from their ungodly lifestyle and they did.

That's what it means to have a Christ-like love!

A growing church meets sinners (every single one of us) where they are, shows them the unconditional love of Christ, and then through that love and relationship points them to Christ!

More Resources:

Xtreme Makeover

This week is our annual Vacation Bible School at Villebrook Baptist Church. For the last two years, we have been coming up with our own themes and writing our own curriculm. This year we are doing Xtreme Makeover.

In the Bible, there are many stories of people who God took ahold of their lives and flipped them a complete 180. Just think about it...



Abram

• childless man
• No hope for an heir from his wife Sarai
• Doesn't know God

 becomes...

Abraham

• Follower of God
• Given the son God promised him thru Sarai/Sarah(Isaac)
• Becomes the Father of all Jewish people

Esther

• Poor Jewish girl
• Living in captivity

 becomes...

Queen Esther

• Queen of all Persia
• Used by God to save the Jewish people

Saul

• Kills Christians for a living
• Does everything he can to stop the spread of the Story of Jesus

 becomes...

Paul

• One of the greatest missionaries of all time
• Spreads the gospel of Jesus and strengthens the church
• Ultimately gives his own life for serving Christ

I look at these people and it gives me hope. If God can defy nature and give Abraham a son and he can use a murdered like Saul who persecuted the church to reach people for Himself, then surely he can use me too. We all have areas in our lives where God is calling us to do a 180. He wants us to allow Him to give us an Xtreme Makeover. He wants to be the builder and perfector of our faith.

Think About It:

• What areas in your life does God need to change?
• Are you willing to let God come in and tear those areas apart so that He can make them beautiful and useful?
• Are you ready to let God give you an Xtreme Makeover?

DNOW 2011 at Villebrook Baptist Church

I can't believe that DNOW (Disciple Now) is here again! I have just over a week to finish all my preparations for one of the biggest events of the school year. However, I am not too worried because I have one of the best teams in the whole world when it comes to the DNOW leaders who have agreed to come to teach, preach, serve, and lead music. For that I am blessed and grateful!

This will be my fourth DNOW at Villebrook Baptist Church in Hazelwood, Missouri. Each year the theme has been different but the goal has been the same--bring students closer to God. Just to take a moment and fondly look back I will remind you of all three past VBC DNOW themes:

2008	Back to the Basics
2009	You are What You Eat
2010	EPIC

And the 2011 theme is...drum roll please...Where's the Beef?

I will write more about DNOW 2011 after it is over. I wouldn't want to give anything away. It's going to be a great time. We are going to have a lot of fun, and most importantly you will be challenged to draw closer to God!

DNOW 2011: Where's the Beef?
Starts Friday, March 18th at 7:00pm
Ends Sunday, March 20th at Noon
Cost: $20 per student plus a bag of chips and a bottle of soda to share

Just a reminder, if you come for DNOW you need to stay the whole weekend. We will not be allowing drop by visits or come and go participation (unless pre-approved by me--Jimmy Mustion).

Meet at Villebrook Baptist Church and DON'T be late!


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