Handle with Care

This morning I was reading in my devotional time and saw a note that I had written above another scripture on the same page. It was written above Hebrews 13:7-8 which states, "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." As I read those verses I remembered God speaking to me concerning the way that I treat those in leadership over me. I had written, "What He did for them, He'll do for me!"

This statement caused me to pause for a moment and think about the way I handle the gifts that God has given to me, those people that speak consistently into my life and care for my soul. Do I treat them as the gifts that they are or do I take for granted that they should be doing that because that is their job? Do I pray for them daily because I recognize my need for them to be spiritually and physically healthy or do I just look for ways that they can meet my needs? Do I work as diligently trying to make their dream and vision come to pass as I do my own?

If I truly believe that whatever God does for those in leadership above me He will do for me then I will be careful how I treat them. I will watch how I speak of them to others. I will never disrespect or dishonor them. I will rally around and cheer them on because their success will determine my own.

So today I pray for my leaders. I pray that if I have ever hurt or mistreated you that would be able to forgive me. I repent for any time I have participated in dishonoring your name, position or vision.  I petition heaven to bless you, to help you succeed in the calling that God has on their lives. I pray for your health and healing. I pray that God would strengthen your marriage and protect your families. I pray that every God-given dream of yours would come to pass. I pray for the Holy Spirit to keep me constantly in check so that I would treat my leaders like I would want my followers to treat me. Remember, what He does for them, He'll do for you!

Monday Mind Dump

And again we land on another Monday! We are one week closer to Easter (or Resurrection Sunday if the whole "Easter" thing offends you) and we are still in the middle of our series called #Bringer. We are preparing for many guests and believing that God is going to work in the hearts of everyone who attends.

Yesterday was our quarterly Pastor flip here at #HarvestChurchOK. Pastor Joshua came to the Sand Springs campus and I had to privilege of going to the West Tulsa Campus. I absolutely love what God is doing at that campus! I believe that we are watching God unfold something really special in that community. Miranda and her team do such an incredible job with worship and help create an atmosphere where it is just plain easy to preach. I want to give a shout out to the ushers there at West Campus because I threw them a curve ball a few minutes before service and they handled it with grace! Thank you guys for what you do!

Then last night was our quarterly Southern Nights at our traditional service. I guess that's just another name for "a singing." It was a great time as nearly twenty different people took the stage to lift their worship through song. It was truly a great night! I want to give a great big shout out to my hero, Kevin Clark! Kevin is an all around model team player who serves in Harvest Kids on Wednesday nights, is Head Usher at the Sand Springs Campus and organizes all of the music for our traditional service and Southern Nights! He is an absolute rock star! I really don't think he knows how much this pastor appreciates him! For all my pastor friends, I hope that you one day have a Kevin Clark in your ministry!

As I end this Monday's mind dump, let me remind you to INVITE, INVITE, INVITE to #EasterAtHarvest! We love and appreciate you all!

Monday Mind Dump

So here we are again... at Monday. We start another week, get into the grind and make things happen. But before we do, let's pause and contemplate with wonder what God has done for us. Let's talk for a while about the marvelous mystery that is His Church. Let's take a moment to have a Monday Mind Dump.

Yesterday was a wonderful day at Harvest church. Many of us were tired from the weekend. A few of our men were sore from our dodgeball tournament. We were able to push past the wear of the week and press into God's presence for some time of refreshing.

God moved in a powerful way in our worship experience yesterday. I feel like He is using our times of worship to really start to speak to us corporately and individually. These times aren't just stoic, produced concerts. They are precious times of intimate fellowship between us and God. We were challenged to not just worship from our experiences but from the perspective of the Lord. We aren't going to worship from our fear, our struggle, our sickness. We will worship God because He is holy, He is all powerful, He is victorious! Our focus must be on Him not on ourselves.

Then we were challenged by God's word to be a people FOR people, not against everything that's wrong with society. God doesn't need us to fight His battles. He wants us to LOVE His people. We decided that we wouldn't serve the gospel on a trash can lid but we would do our best to speak the language of our culture to reach those far from Christ. We will be full of grace and truth and people will experience our grace before we present them with truth. We will be a people of love, a people of grace. We will be a church for people who need another chance.

Then last night a bunch of people gathered to eat together, play some game and just hang out. It was wonderful. No agendas, no plans, just each other. I truly believe that we are better together.

I want to say a huge thank you to JW Cook for organizing our dodgeball tournament! It was amazing! We all had such a great time. Thank you to the staff at Harvest for getting everything together for the game night! I've heard it said that you are only as good as the team that surrounds you. If that's the case, we have great things ahead of us because we are surrounded with a wonderful group of people!