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Mar
16
E Leader , F Leader , Uncategorized

How One LIFE Group Is Engaging Middle Tennessee

By Michele Dyer, LIFE Group Leader

We had such a great time at Set Free Church on Saturday! 
It was incredible to see God orchestrate the whole project and to get to be part of what He so obviously wanted to accomplish for this amazing ministry.  Here’s how it all came together….
Since engaging in the world is part of the function of a LIFE Group, we knew we wanted to be involved in serving others together. Our group recently went through PLACE together and we learned about one another’s gifts, talents and passions for serving others. It was a great way to get to know one another and to discover some of the collective desires and talents we have as a group for serving others.  After we finished PLACE, we went through the study Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby.  When you do this study, you become keenly aware that God is at work all around you, and it’s key to pay attention to where you see Him working so that you can join in the work He is already doing.  So, with all the pieces of this puzzle coming together, I think we were all on high alert about how God might be leading us to do that.
One Saturday, one of our members, Kilynn, was at Set Free Church helping with the MDU (Medical/Dental Unit) and had a conversation with the pastor about repair work that needed to be done at the church.  That same week, I had a conversation with a friend who works at Home Depot who told me that they often donate materials to help with service projects that involve repairs.  Set Free also came up in conversations that others in our group were having.  Needless to say, God had our attention!  Realizing that we had an architect and three others in our group who were skilled in construction, we knew we were poised to be able to help, so each of us went to work using our own gifts and abilities to help them accomplish the work they needed done.
Everyone chipped in….some doing planning and preparation, others doing the heavy lifting and hard work when it came time to do the repairs.  Home Depot (and some friendly neighbors) did, in fact, donate all the materials to get the job done.  Our families were all able to serve together and the men of Set Free worked alongside us. It was very special to witness everyone coming together, each contributing in his/her own way, to serve and encourage each other.   
We will be going back over the course of the next few weeks and for Engage Middle Tennessee on April 23 to finish up several projects but, when all is said and done, two bathrooms will be newly outfitted with new vanities, toilets and fixtures; masonry repair will have been done to stop leaks in the front entry; brand new tile will replace broken flooring in the main foyer; a new bar will be built for serving meals; and the stairwell will be re-plastered and brought up to code. I may even get to teach PLACE for the guys in April!   Most importantly, we’ll have a lasting partnership and friendship with the men of Set Free.  We’re all very excited about the great Kingdom work God has ahead for us through this partnership.
 
 
 

Mar
4
F Leader

We Are Called to Shepherd

By Paul Wilkinson

A subset of last week’s post about modeling Christlikeness has been convicting me this week. My Pastoral Ministry professor from seminary made the statement in class that he feared that we would love books more than people. At the time, I couldn’t imagine such a reality. How could I ever come to love a book or philosophy more than the people I engaged with the truths derived therefrom? Yet, it happened. I was able to rationalize that by loving the books and philosophy, I was loving people. By preparing myself to the maximum level, I could love them best. While some of that thinking is surely noble, I repeatedly neglected being a shepherd to those I was teaching.
The New Testament calls us to a different reality. Consider these verses about Jesus:
So as He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then He began to teach them many things (Mark 6.34) and Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” (John 11.35-6).
Paul echoed Jesus’ sentiment saying My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4.19) and For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel (1 Corinthians 4.15). And John echoed them both, calling his people My little children (1 John 2.1) and Dear friends (1 John 4.7).
The New Testament promoted the idea that those called to shepherd others are spiritual fathers (and mothers). And the love we have for our biological children (2 dogs in my case) is the same love that we ought to have for those whom God called us to shepherd. In my zeal for knowledge, I forgot that I was appointed to be spiritual father over many. On numerous days, I was perhaps the only Jesus they saw and I was not a very good one. And if I was their model for Christlikeness, then were they capable of being Jesus to those they met who were in need?
I did not long with birth pains for my people and I did not have compassion for my people. I pray that we remain sensitive to our role as shepherd. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them (Jeremiah 23.4). Remember in the midst of your study and preparation, that you are the spiritual father or spiritual mother to those given to you. Such a role is of exceeding importance and I thank God that you have been called to it because God has given you the heart for it.
We may not greet each other with a holy kiss any more (Romans 16.16; 2 Corinthians 13.12), but be sure to express to your people how much you love them and how much you long to see Jesus Christ formed in them. And never forget that we love you and long to see Jesus Christ fully formed in you.