Month: March 2011

Session 1 – Sam Storms – The Character of a church planter”

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Sam-Storms-741193

His text:  I Peter 2

11Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Below are some paraphrased quotes (i cant type fast enough to be verbatim)

 "Why does character matter?  

The biggest threat is not Islamic terrorism, the economic downturn, or whatever is on the news etc. It is the war waged against our souls.

Character is not essential for building a big church, so people will like you, but because the glory of God is at stake.

Are you aware, have you thought about, taken steps to fight this battle?

We don't have to slavishly yield to the passions of our flesh.  If the passions of our flesh is waging war against our soul, then we best wage war against those passions.

Searching God's word for the truth counter to what our passions demand. With the Spirit's help we can refuse to engage in the desires of our flesh.

Some of us are hyper-conscientious. We are aware of the war raging against our souls but are discouraged and doubting our salvation.  While waging battle, we shouldnt be paralyzed.

It would be hard to identify 1 sin that came out of your heart that didn't first enter your eyes.

The barometer we should acknowledge is the question, has Jesus become just average. Has the lustre been lost?

Quotes Piper "cultivate the mindset of exiles."

Peter is not advocating "cultural isolation". We are not told to hunker down, separate ourselves, and wait for the rapture."  Peter was not an American fundamentalist.

God not only drives those passions from us, He replaces them with Himself.

Inner character always has a missional orientation.

"the day of visitation" normally thought of that last day.  Storms sees the day of visitation as that time when the Spirit enables your character to glorify God to others here and now.

When I preach, are eyes riveted to how I do it, my gestures, how I present it, or to the beauty of Christ?

Character may cost you having "numbers" (big church) and as Peter said, you will still be spoken of as an evildoer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost time

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I ran into a staffer who I met recently. He's a regional home group pastor over our area. We've been talking with him about starting a group. He's thinking it could launch in the fall. He asked me to lunch, so we went to Chilis. I had the Buffalo Chicken salad. We talked about ministry, Sudan (where he just came back from), and life in general. He's a cool dude.
Well, about 12 minutes from the start. Bleeck's warming up the band and then Sam Storms is up. Can't wait!

Pre-conference observations

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  ActsSitting in the lobby (i was here 3 hours early, and not sure why). Here's a report on what I've seen and heard so far.  Sitting next to a guy who was studying for an Acts 29 assessment that he is going to administer to some prospective planters this weekend.  This caused me to google the Acts 29 assessment to see what all that is about. Here's what I found out http://www.acts29network.org/plant-a-church/assessment-process/
A little later, Sam Storms, one of the conference speakers arrived and was whisked up to the shurch offices. I've heard him speak at some of the Desiring God conferences via podcast but never in person.  Here's a bio on him http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/about-sam-storms/

I remember him from a QA panel at one of the recent DG conferences talking about the varying views of eschatology. His position was pre-mil if I recall which makes since considering he's a Dallas Theological grad.  I find the different views fascinating and still don't know where I land there. 

Finally a few minutes ago, Michael Bleecker zoomed past toward the sanctuary and was very kind to call out to me as he ran by.  Makes me feel good, not that he said hello, but that I was not the only worship leader that ran around prior to a worship event.

That's all for now as I am still an hour and a half from check in time.  Almost time for lunch. Oh yeah, saw some McCallisters on wheels go by a while ago.  Might do that for lunch!

One more..I decided to introduce myself to the guy sitting next to me. His name is Dave Curry and he is a planter in OK City.  It's cool to meet guys who are brothers in Christ. How awesome is it that this can happen anywhere in the world.