World Missions Day is near!

Special Offering—Dec. 6^th

A special thank you for giving in Sept/Oct to the Ingathering Offering. We received almost $50,000 in gifts to Ingathering Offering, all of which helps us toward the goal of paying off our building mortgage.

One member recently told me, “my favorite offering of the year is the World Missions Offering (aka Lottie Moon Offering). I have always loved giving to missions.” I agree. Though the majority of ministry needs are met through the faithful monthly contributions of tithes, our Special Offering Sundays are also very important, and especially the WMO Sunday. Every penny given to the WMO offering goes directly to the mission field and helps our missionaries around the world to share the gospel. Churches that give well to the WMO are unselfish and Kingdom focused, so I challenge you to prepare to give well on Dec. 6^th for missions.

Today I also wish to focus on saying thank you for giving well. Keep it up! Yes, it is so important, and it pleases the Lord when we give generously from a heart of thanks and praise!

“Be generous,” the wise author of Ecclesiastes declares (Ecc. 11:1-2).  “God loves it when the giver delights in the giving. God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done” (2 Cor. 9:7-8, The Message). 

Mission—How Important is it?

Our Mission: to glorify God by sharing the gospel and serving others.

Our mission is clear and simple, yet we can easily be distracted from it. We live in a “consumer driven culture” that corrupts us to “want, want, want,” things our way. We must hold fast to the same attitude that is in Christ to overcome the consumerism of our day so we stay on mission. Christ did not consider His will or desires to take first place, instead He considered first the will of His Father in heaven (Philippians 2:6-11). In fact the bible says “he made himself nothing,” meaning he humbled himself as if His will meant absolutely nothing compared to the will of the Father. To overcome the “selfish culture” of our day and to stay on mission for God, we must do likewise.

Question: Do we exist to preserve our present brand, structure, and systems, or do we exist to advance the gospel together in our community, regionally, and around the world?

If we drift continually into a focus on structures, budgets and competing projects, rather than keeping our focus on our mission to reach the world, we will lose our identity and our reason for existing altogether. This will lead to discouragement, fall out, and lack of fruit bearing. Thus, for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God we must not drift and we must focus on that which is imperative—gospel sharing and serving others.

Our mission is too important! Our mandate is too precious! “strive together, side by side, for the faith of the gospel…” (Phil. 1:27). Truly, nothing else matters if we don’t do this first. 

Pray for Compassion / Missions

For the past 40 Days we have been praying for Ingathering. Today is the day. We will give well. We will give sacrificially. Then what?

Our mission is to glorify God by sharing the gospel and serving others. So, that is what we must continually refocus toward, and missional opportunities lie before us we must all get behind. Join us in praying for and serving in the success of these opportunities:

The Compassion Experience—2-weeks from now the Compassion Experience will be here for a 4-Day event. Presently we have over 1,800 registered attenders (Fri – 428, Sat – 745, Sun – 488, Mon – 152). We expect 50% of people to RSVP and 50% of people to simply walk up. Therefore, our estimate of seeing 4,000+ people on our campus for the event is certainly realistic. You can sign up today to help at our Hospitality Center or to work in the Compassion Experience on any of the days they are here, Oct 9-12. Our goal is 100 prospect families and 200+ children sponsored. My prayer is that 20 of those children are sponsored by Shadycrest families. Pray & Serve with us! 

Kids Hope Mentors—we will have 10 trained mentors this year. Pray for them and pray they are matched up with the kids God wants us to help!

Operation Christmas Child—our world missions ministry to care for needy kids at Christmas. Pray for success. Begins in October.

Angel Tree—our local missions ministry to care for needy kids at Christmas. Pray for success. Begins right before Thanksgiving (Nov.).

The Compassion Experience

The Compassion Experience is coming to the Pearland area October 9 – 12, hosted by Shadycrest Baptist Church and Lifepointe Fellowship (our neighbor church). This free event will bring visitors on an interactive journey through the lives of children living in countries such as Uganda, Bolivia, and El Salvador.

Through over 2,000 square feet of interactive exhibit space, visitors will step inside daily life in a developing country—visiting homes, markets and schools—without getting on a plane. Through the use of an iPod and headset, each tour is guided by a child whose story starts in poverty but ends in hope.

The event is an excellent opportunity to experience another culture and better understand the realities of global poverty. Don’t miss this life-changing event.

We are expecting over 4,000 visitors to our campus over the 4 day event! Some of these will become prospects for Shadycrest. We are also expecting to see over 200 children sponsored because of our willingness to host this event for our community. That is exciting!

So, circle October 9-12 on your calendar and make sure you visit the experience yourself. Call your family and friends too. It is going to be awesome and God glorifying!

Exciting Weeks Ahead…Can You See It?

Sometimes we get shortsighted. Sometimes, as the saying goes, “we can’t see the forest for the trees.” I pray you join me in “seeing” the blessing of the Lord that is here and that is coming! Exciting weeks are ahead of us…do you see?

“…a man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7).

I have the honor of working with our baptism candidates and I’m presently working with 7 of them. What a joy! Celebrate each week of baptism with us! Sing praise! Clap!

Aug. 9^th – Stephen Atkinson rejoins us for a day of outstanding preaching from an Irishman who is passionate about reaching the Jews for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Aug. 16^th – Southern Gospel Day; a new favorite Sunday of ours where we celebrate our Lord through the performing of our favorite gospel tunes; our members are talented!

Aug. 19^th – 40 Days of Devotion starts. Pray for Ingathering!

Aug. 23^rd – Youth Led Revival Sunday. Our outstanding youth leaders will inspire us. Pray!

Aug. 30^th – Back to Church Sunday. I’m excited to invite people back to church. Together, and through the blessing of invitation, we will see faces we haven’t seen in a while and rejoice together as we all get back in the swing of serving the Lord together in preparation for a strong end to our 2015 year!

Youth Ministry in 2015 and Beyond

Evangelist Rick Gage said this past year in an interview, "It breaks my heart that fewer than 10 percent of American young people are involved in a Bible-believing church." He continued saying, "So many churches have lost their passion for souls. The need to reach the lost has never been greater."

I wholeheartedly agree with Rick and I will, as long as I have breath in my body, continue to proclaim the foundational importance of staying focused on missions and outreach as individuals and as a church family. We can do that by:

1. Continually reminding ourselves of our mission to “make disciples”

2. Continually refine/reform our evangelism practices/processes

3. Continually be champions for personal evangelism, outreach events, mission trips, and the starting of new churches

4. Pray for opportunities to personally witness to the lost in our community

5. Passionately celebrate each conversion and each baptism

Now, not only do we want to see as many young people saved as we can, we also want to see them discipled. God has given us, the church, a job (the Great Commission), and that job is winning people to Jesus. As many evangelists of old have fervently repeated, “God has no hands but our hands; God has no feet but our feet; God has no tongue but our tongue to share the good news.”

Youth Ministry has always been a challenge, and it will continue to be challenging. 85% of conversions to the Christian faith occur before the age of 18. Let’s reach them together! Pray for our youth! Pray for our youth leaders!