First off I’d have to say that the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2011 have been busy but good, restless, but rewarding.
1st thing I learned.
Family is important.
Over the Christmas break, we as many of you took the time to spend the Christmas holidays with family.
Living away from family and having Christmas day fall on Sunday made it a little difficult, but as parents we made sure our children were able to enjoy their Christmas as well as spend time with family. One would be suprised to realize the amount of restaurants that were closed on Christmas day.
In all reality, family is important and towards the end of the 2 weeks I found that to be even more true in my life.

The 2nd thing I learned is
You can’t count out this generation of young people. (18-25)
We were afforded the opportunity to take a group of college students to the Passion Conference in Atlanta Ga this past week. All I can say is , WOW! This was our first time experiencing this conference and from the first drum beat to the last word spoken at the conference, I was blown away. I am still trying to process all of the experiences I’ve experienced. During worship sometimes I would find myself just standing in awe of listening to the 45,000 college students raise their voice to One God and Savior. To hear Chris Tomlin’s new world version of How Great is our God, to me seemed what Heaven will sound like one day. I also could sit and soak everything Francis Chan had to say. I overloaded twitter that night just to share with who follows me what he was saying. The thing that stuck in my head and really still processing it through my brain is he asked, how do you know I’m telling you the truth? We take what other people say is truth and never really take the time to realize the truth in the bible for ourselves. We cannot just depend on what People say, if we do, we are more likely to fall for anything.
Then the next things I learned was on the way home. Number 1 always go with your heart and #2 family no matter what is important. I received some saddening news that my grandmother passed away. She was sick and we knew this day would come, just didn’t know when. She was a great woman of God, my prayer warrior! Though I didn’t get to see her as much as I would have liked, she was always in my heart. One memory that has stuck out in my mind is the times I would be playing in my home as a young boy and in my moms beauty shop that was attached to our house, would be my mom, my grandmother and some of their close friends. One might think a bunch of women in a beauty shop would equal gossip, not this one. There are countless times I remember hearing the intercessory prayer that was going on. It still sticks with me today.
I just have to think the moment she passed from this life to the one she dreamed about going, two people were standing at the gates waiting on her to come on in. One would be her daughter, my mom, the other would be her husband, my pawpaw. I’m sure it was a great reunion and one day they’ll be waiting for when we arrive.
Its been an emotional week, tired but pressing on. I’m just reminded that sometimes we go through the fire, God is right there with us.
I’m reminded of the song:

So many times i’ve questioned certain circumstances
Or things I could not understand
Many times in trials, weakness blurs my vision
And my frustration gets so out of hand
Its then I am reminded I’ve never been forsaken
I’ve never had to stand the test alone
As I look at all the victories
The spirit rises up in me
And its through the fire my weakness is made strong

He never promised that the cross would not get heavy
And the hill would not be hard to climb
He never offered our victories without fighting
But He said help would always come in time
Just remember when your standing in the valley of decision
And the adversary says give in
Just hold on, our Lord will show up
And He will take you through the fire again

I know within myself that I would surely perish
But if I trust the hand of God, He’ll shield the flames again, again. (Crabb Family)

Take a look at this picture. Is God not amazing? To be able to paint the skies with these colors shows the creativeness of our creator! If He takes the time to paint such wonderful sunsets, do you think understands where you are at? He loves His creation. He loves you!

What’s Christmas mean to you?

Leadership in the church is not gained by experience or knowledge alone. True leadership comes as a gift from God. Jesus Christ is the truest form of leadership anyone can learn from. If we study the Word of God thorough the New Testament we can gain information on how we can become true leaders in the 21st century.
In today’s world we all are followers, only a certain few are leaders. I believe true leadership is a gift. Romans 12:8 states that If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. We can go to seminar after seminar and learn the latest tools to be effective leaders, but the gift of leadership is found only in a few. A true definition of a leader is a servant. Jesus modeled it perfectly. Jesus did not want leadership to be about power or about an authority figure. He wanted it to be about serving others. Matthew 20:28 it states For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. You can clearly see the difference between the world’s view of leadership and Jesus’.
What makes a good leader is the attitude in which they serve. Philippians 2:3-4 says Do not be selfish; do not try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Do not look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
Leadership should be defined by humility. Paul states that we should put the needs of others before our own; putting our personal needs aside for the greater good. Sometimes that means our needs do not line up with their needs, what we like might not be what they like. A humble servant leader does not care if his or her needs are met first.
Good leadership in the church will sustain a church. Paul described leadership responsibilities in Ephesians 4:12-13: Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Tony Morgan states in his book “Developing a Theology of Leadership,” “The leader doesn’t do the work—God’s people do His work. God’s people don’t do the leader’s work—they do God’s work.” Leaders are to guide God’s people, God’s people are to do the work. Scripture states that leaders are to “equip God’s people to do his work”. Nowhere does it say that leaders are to do the work or God’s people are to do the leaders work. A good leader will embrace all of God’s people’s gifts and use each one according to their gift. Believers are given gifts, some have more than others and in scripture Paul uses the metaphor of the body to show the importance of all of God’s people working together. Good leadership drives God’s people in the right direction.
The problem with church leadership today is there is good leadership and there is bad leadership. One of the first acts Jesus did when His ministry started was to identify future leaders of the church. Is the church identifying leaders early enough? Sometimes the reasons for bad leadership is being the wrong fit, sometimes they are not called to be leaders, but even true leaders can become bad leaders. Reasons good leaders go bad: Burnout, stress, time management and critics.
Young Adults new in ministry sometimes have a problem with saying no. The feeling that everything has to be done, and they are the only ones that can do it will result in burn out and stress. Trying to do everything yourself will cause you to have a heavy load and will result in burn out. Pacing yourself in the race is a good way not to burn out. Not taking time out of your schedule for important things like family time, personal time can cause good leaders to go bad. Listening to critics and trying to please everyone will get you nowhere. It will only cause you to go in circles.
Leadership is not something that is learned it is a gift given only by God. There are natural born leaders in the church today. We need to model after the greatest leader of all. Jesus Christ is the truest form of a leader we can learn from. He knew when to draw away to a mountainside by himself. He knew when to take time for himself. He knew what it meant to be a servant. To put other needs before his. Anyone with the gifting of leadership will model themselves after Jesus Christ, we can’t go wrong.

http://tiny.cc/blj77

Meals b4 Ministry
Join us 6PM on Wednesday’s for a meal fundraiser. All proceeds go towards Winterfest.

Sunday Feb 6- SUPER BOWL PARTY
Pastor Andrew & Danielle’s
$5 includes all the FOOD you need!!!

TOWERS Outreach
Sat Feb 19
We need entertainers and servers!
See Danielle for more info

Monday Feb 21 (President’s Day)
Join 1000 other teenagers from south georgia as we P.R.A.Y.
Def don’t want to miss this!
We will depart at 9:30AM
and return approx. 8PM
Bring money for Lunch and Dinner.

Fri Feb 25 LOW Country Boil Fundraiser
(more info to come)