Leadership Love Feast

It was an easy way to see where you needed to go and to talk. We're going to be doing that on Wednesday nights. What we need now, listen carefully, we need you to help us, number one, put together the proper resources for each of these ministries, people-wise and statement-wise. And if you're involved in one of these ministries and we don't have a statement from you, then we need to have it. We need to hear from you, we need to have you write that out for us and give it to us. For example, I'll just pick one randomly, the card care ministry. We want to have a written statement about that ministry, we'll just give it to you, we'll reproduce that, make it available at that table. So let's just say, in three Wednesday nights from now, somebody comes in and says, wow, what is that ministry? They can come over, they can talk to Melinda and anyone else that's with her, get a copy, hopefully she'll say, you know, I can really do that. I can make a difference in that. And that's what we want to try to do, all around the room. Now, one of the great challenges of this is going to be keeping it visible. And so, more and more on Wednesday nights, we're going to give opportunity for people to share how God's using them. You know, I don't know, random testimonies can be very interesting. Sometimes they can be just incredibly bizarre. I mean, there are some people who just wait for a chance to get a hold of a microphone. And away they go. But we think we can use Wednesday nights as a time of really giving expression to the exciting things we're going to see happening through these ministries. And my heart is, Lord, multiply. Let so much happen in them that people can't wait to share the blessing that's been on them as a result of that. All right. Let me stop right here and give you an opportunity to feedback and give some questions and then I'm going to share one other part of this vision and then we'll be done. We'll have some time to pray together in groups before we go. Any questions or feedback that you'd like to throw out at this point and discuss as we share? Okay, Dan? Yeah, if you know of that situation, they can probably call Pastor Scott about it initially and then we'll work it through the staff together and just find out how it's going to work. Some ministries aren't viable. Some people say, I have a ministry to the beach people in Maui. Yeah, I know. Well, I've got four coordinators over in a minute. One thing that wasn't on there, by the way, under outreach teams, it's not real specific, but we really believe there's a ministry to North Park that we haven't tapped. There are thousands of people just waiting around. Right. Well, we need someone to say, I want to help put that together. We need that. Listen, folks, it doesn't happen just because we wish it would. We've got to mobilize for it and make it happen. Okay. Other questions or responses? Paul? On what subject, Paul? Like a tape lending library? Or just you could give to them? Okay. Why wouldn't you? Right. I'll give you some of mine. No, really. I don't know. You mean you have a supply of tapes to hand out? All right. So it's like a tracks ministry, but with tapes. All right. That's a good idea. Yes. All right. If you have a tape that you really like, and it's good, I don't know which ones you mean. That's all I'm saying. If you've got a tape, you say, this is really an effective one, Walt will duplicate it for you, and he'll fill up your trunk. He will. Then you can come and get them out of my trunk. All right. Okay. What else? Anyone else? Any other questions or thoughts about this? Help us. All right. Go ahead. She said, why don't we have a testimony board so that when the Lord does use you, even if you can't stand up and share it, you can write it down and have it out there someplace where people will go and buy. It's kind of like the current event. This is what's happening. Would that be a good idea? Great. Well, we can probably get a bulletin board in in two or three years for you out there. It's just about the speed of things. We'll try to do that. I think we can do that right out in the foyer because we just cleared that area out. We took out all that ugly stuff. All right. Yeah. All right. That'd be great because I'll tell you what, it does a great, it just blesses me when I get a letter from someone saying here's what the Lord did through my life. I mean, that is so encouraging to know that the Lord is using me. Stand up and yell it out, please. Right. Yes, he does. Yes. Thanks, Joyce. By the way, in the top left-hand corner in the back page, it says connections. That's a ministry. We need someone to lead that ministry. It doesn't mean you have to do the work. It just means you'll be a clearinghouse. You'll be the person that we'll know to call in order to get a resource and a need put together. That'd be a great ministry. I mean, there's some of you who are very administrative. You could do that and enjoy it. That would be a big help to us right now. All right. Anybody else? All right. Well, there's a lot more that we could say here on this, but I want to get around to finishing up on one other thing and then it ties into this. You see, the ministry that comes through this of relationship building and testifying. You know, if I go in to sit down and talk to you about your fixing your leaking plumbing or your financial need or whatever it might be, and I begin to build a relationship with you, and you know, there's so many ways. You all know this. One thing that's not on here, at least if we did, I went over it, about North Way Sports. Is that on here? I don't know how that was left off inadvertently, but that ministry is going, and Doug Boyd and I have talked, and that's going to be a vital thing. Jim Winger's got a golf league going. I delivered on that promise. Okay, man? Starting, when is that? Yeah, it won't start until May. Tuesday evenings at 630 at North Pittsburgh. And we've made a rule, didn't we, Phil, that there was only a certain number of people that were from the church, and each foursome was going to have someone that wasn't from the church. Same with the softball. We had to cut off some of our star players in order to allow room for some of the un-churched players. I didn't get to play this year, but I'll get on next year. All right, Bill, go ahead. I'm sorry? Uh-huh. Yeah. Now, there are some folks here who have done that kind of personal discipling, and on a small group basis, maybe that's another idea. Put that in on your sheet, and we'll see if anyone is interested in following through with that. Now, any of these connections can build relationships, and then the testimony comes in, and dear one, please stay with me the last few minutes here. The other thing that's just an important part of this that I feel we're going to see even now as we begin, and by the way, when you leave today, each of you are going to get a gift of ten of these. Okay? Leaders need a lead. And if you left yours on your chair today because you thought you'd get away with it, we're giving you ten of them. And you're going to see, and I think, I really believe this, North Way needs to be a place where people can discover the Lord. And I don't, I never would have thought I'd stand up here and tell you this five years ago, but I'm increasingly convinced that as part of the strategy of Luke 15, of going out and seeking and saving and touching those out there, part of that strategy has to be a place where you can say to a person that you're building a relationship with, come and see and be part. Come and experience love. Come and hear the message of truth. Come and see people who love God. And here in our culture, we've discovered pretty, I think pretty dramatically, that there are lots of levels upon which people deal. And one thing that I'm really confident of now is that people are very suspicious of anything that reminds them of the fallen leaders. And when you see somebody in a showy fashion flipping their Bible along and walking up and down, what's that remind you of, you know? That's alright. What's that remind you of? Well, you know, when you see people up in some kind of a showy, demonstrative way, people, again, unchurched people now. Most of you who came to North Way, the facts are, here's the facts, 80% of you who came to North Way were already Christians when you came. We know that from studying the last seven or eight months of people discovering the way. Almost everyone who comes here are Christians coming from other churches. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but that isn't the fulfillment of the Great Commission. And these are words that are hard to take, dear ones, because we're afraid of losing what's dear to us. But I want you to know, and you can receive this any way you need to receive it, what we cherish so much will dry up in our mouth if we don't learn to give it away. And it will become lifeless to us because God is calling us to give this life away. And the ministries that I've shared with you are bridges to build relationships and to involve people so that they might come to the place of being able to say, I want to know this God you're talking about. I want to discover this Jesus. And I'm trusting that in the coming weeks and months at least one of our Sunday morning worship services, at least one of them, will reflect a sensitivity to that person who's seeking and searching that really says to them it's okay to be a seeker and a searcher. And we understand you. More than just me standing up here and saying it, but it says it in lots of different sensitivities, lots of different ways. And I know that this could be something we could talk about for two hours tonight and I don't think it would really be that productive. I'm willing to stay around and talk with people who want to talk about it. But my own spirit is confident that we need to do some strategizing in how we're going to relate the power of the gospel to the people who don't know the Lord. This family series, if you'll invite people, particularly the second service, you'll see that we just put the one service on here for the purpose of encouraging you to bring these visitors at the second service. We're going to be particularly sensitive to them. These messages will be very relevant to anybody, Christian or not, in terms of how they're raising their kids. Sure, the gospel's going to be in there. Sure, they're going to hear how the word of God applies. But the Lord is going to give an opportunity to meet them where they are. We're going to have lots of different little creative ways of helping them to see themselves. And encounter the Lord and then to go on. I have to say to you, it's a risk. But it's a risk, I believe, that if we don't take, that we simply will be a revolving door church. I was here last night. Let me just conclude with this and then we can dialogue a little bit. I was here last night and most of you know that I am pretty fussy about one rule and that is that Saturday night, I want to be alone with Jesus. I come over here and I know the custodians work extra hard to be out of here in the evenings and on Saturday night especially. So I can just come here and walk in this room and pray and say, Lord, what is it that you want to do tomorrow? Do you have something unique for tomorrow? Sometimes, you know, my message is just a foggy, hazy little thing that I've got to get back and work on. And other days, like last night, I didn't have anything to worry about because Dick Eastman was here. So I have time just to sit in here and pray and sense the presence of God. And you see, the Lord put in my spirit that this place was going to be filled, overflowing with people. Just filled, overflowing with people. We haven't even begun to see it. But it's going to come because we're willing to lay down narrow definitions of ministry, limited ways of seeing how God would work and say, God, do something creative and fresh. Lord, we just lay it before you. We're going to pray like we've never prayed. We're going to be seeking the Lord. And our morning prayer times must become vital. And more of us need to participate in those. We're going to do all the things behind the scenes. But just like Jesus, you see, we're going to go out and seek that one sheep. Just like Jesus, we're going to be with them and make His love incarnate to them. And then bring them into an atmosphere where they can say, okay, I want to hear this message. What's the difference between your church and that church I used to belong to 20 years ago that I thought was dead? Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? But you know what I found out when I talked to a number of people, many of you here tonight? Many of you won't bring people to your church. Because you know up here, anyhow, that your associates in business and your professional friends and your people that you work with and neighbors, they've already categorized you as a group of people that they... you're off the wall. And you know that's not true. But they won't even come to hear. They won't even give it a chance. And you don't want to risk being rejected, so you won't do it. And I say it's time to say, okay, wait a minute. What God's put in us is so precious that we've got to share it. And we've got to do, we've got to pay the price and we've got to do whatever we need to do to build relationships and say, come and see. Come and share with us. Because you'll find genuine love, the real article, right here in this place. So that's my heart and that's really my burden. Carol would tell you it's just kind of been with me for the last three months, off and on, four months. But it's really been on the last six weeks or so. I ask you to pray and to share with me in it. I want to ask you to pray before we go tonight that somehow over the next weeks and months the Lord fine tunes it. I don't know what it's going to look like, folks. I don't have the preconceived formula. But I know that God's going to do some new things. And one thing I've discovered, it's the people who remain flexible. The ones who are willing to change a little bit, they're the ones that God continues to use. I don't want to be the same as I was two years ago or five years ago. I want to be different. And I believe with all my heart, this is where God's taking us. And I just ask for you to hold me in prayer, the staff and the elders, and all the ones responsible before the Lord to do that. Would you do that? Would you be willing to do that? Okay. Alright, are there any other comments before we pray? And then we're going to go. Jean? You'll need to stand up. You know, just even in having the Basic Believers class, it's a class just for the basic believers, you know, just to lay the groundwork. One woman was in the class this morning and I was teaching on repentance. And I thought everyone there must, you know, well anyhow, to make a long story short, after the class was over, she came up and she said, you know, I have been going to church for 11 years. She said, but you know, I have never repented. And that woman broke down. She said, will you pray for me? I said, no, I'll pray with you. And I said, you repent and I'll agree with you. That woman broke down and repented and wept and cried. And if it hadn't been for that class, you know, now I'm sure God would, but there was an opportunity for her to really know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's on her way. So I was really happy for that. And when you were singing about the angels rejoicing, we knew it was this morning. Hallelujah. Very non-threatening for her. Very just in a teaching atmosphere. She was able to open up and be received. You see, acceptance. Let's just say that word, acceptance. You know, it's in Romans 15. And Paul says so clearly there, I think it's verse 7. Powerful Scripture. Let me read it to you. Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. And I want to leave you with just these last thoughts and we'll pray together. Did you want to make a comment, Virginia? I saw your hand. Right. The urgency, I feel, is that we'll all trust God enough to move in unity together. We're not making any radical shifts here. We're just talking about tuning ourselves in with the Spirit of God and moving in directions that will let us grow into what the Lord wants us to be. I'm convinced that the one reason why we have elders is so that we can hear God and move together in these things. And we're working these things out as well. But I want you to turn. We'll end with this. 1 Corinthians 9. This is the heart of the greatest apostle in the history of the church. This is the one who started more churches than any other apostle in history. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19. Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jews I've become like a Jew to win the Jews and to those under the law I've become like one under the law. Though I myself am not under the law so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I've become like one not having the law. Though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I've become weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. How many want to share in the blessings of the gospel? Oh Lord, in the name of Jesus. Praise the name of the Lord. I'm going to ask you to do this. Heck, we made a mess of the room anyhow tonight. I want you to turn in a circle of four or five. You pray right now for just God's role in your life and bringing us around in this vision to win some. Go ahead and share your heart in prayer together for five minutes. As you do that we're going to give you some of these handouts. You go ahead and pray for five minutes together in your group and then we're going to be dismissed. Go ahead. Turn together please. Don't leave unless you really must because I want to close together tonight. This is great. Do you feel close? No, this is close fellowship. As usual the cheap seats here in the front. Paula, thank you for all that. Folks, if you didn't notice you may have had the shock of your life when you went out this way to turn left and the light was gone. Alright, now here's what we're going to ask you to do and we'll start tonight and I would have done it today but we were so pressed for time. We're going to encourage you to exit the building. Now, there's two, actually three right hand turns. If you live south of here, you're cruising. You can go out of the building and go back out this way and turn right. You should not turn left on Route 19 up at David Weiss, the north entrance anymore. That's really a no-no. You can go out this way and do sort of a hitch. Turn right and left and there's a little back street. I forget what this is called. Does anyone remember? It's like a hundred feet. You go down a hundred feet and turn left and it goes to a tiny little residential area and then you can go south that way too or you can go up to the light. All traffic northbound should go to the light and turn left. That's the only really safe way. It'll take maybe a little bit longer but it will be safe and I think in the end we'll all be happier. Now, some of you have discovered if you need to go north, another way you could go is down Richard Road and wind on back up to 19, catch it up a little. But please don't try to turn left up here at David Weiss anymore and if you are going south, I encourage you to do this hitch because you'll keep traffic from getting all bottlenecked up here. All right? Yes, David? David Weiss does not give us too much of a hard time about parking up there. The second service, they'd like us to be out of there by 12. Well, obviously we're shooting for 12.30 as an ending time and that doesn't coincide with that but if you possibly can park elsewhere at the late service, do that. I did find out something though, Dave. We own the driveway. So, you know, praise the Lord. I don't know. Okay, well. The Lord reigneth. Didn't we say that today? Okay, it's time for a spirituality check here. Okay. By the way, too, just so you know, I think it's worth knowing and praying about, we're talking to those people about what in the world are they going to do with an ugly cement block building up there. Really, it may be a fascinating thing for you to learn that they don't know either and they're open to selling it and we don't know whether or not we're interested even but we're praying about that right now and a couple of folks are talking to those owners about that and that's a possibility and there's another piece of ground that we're talking to the owners about along with Eden down off of Route 910 and that's really at the very initial stages of negotiating and it's not really even been offered yet. So when it becomes a live possibility, we'll certainly communicate with you about it but please do be praying. Even if we're talking two years down the road, how many of us have to know? You just don't start and build a building like we're going to need and a facility like Eden and so on. You don't do that in six months. It takes two years and so that's why we're negotiating now and trying. It's a great time to say, Lord, surprise us with something. Don't let it be a hassle. We don't need it. Yes, Bill? Alright. Just a little, tiny little thing. People are very funny about being seated. You know that? You're not anymore. But many people don't like to be told by a deacon, would you please sit here? They say, no, I want to sit here and don't bother me. And that happens, doesn't it, Fred? But it would help if you can, as much as you are able, kind of move in and fill in the seats in the center. If we could think in an orderly fashion, start in the center and fill outward, that's what we'd like to do. We try to rope off the corners and so on and people come and they'll lift the ropes off. You know, that's just what they want to do. And you have to know that that's... I looked over here and there was one person sitting in that section. If they're trying to be inconspicuous or whatever, that's just not the way to do it. And you know they're not going to sing because who's going to sing real loud by themselves? So anyhow, that's just a little thing. Well, it is really a privilege to have all of you come out tonight. My heart's touched and I appreciate your expression of... maybe it's just desperation, I don't know. You're here tonight because you care and that's what I feel from your being here. And thank you for that. And a beautiful day. It would have been easy just to forget about it and sit out on your patio or ride around in the car like Myers did all day. Back and forth to home. But it is... Oh, okay. Thank you. Before I forget, someone reminded me that I sort of passingly mentioned Janet Schell and didn't really introduce her today, this morning. First of all, people like Janet with all that talent, you just feel like they ought to... Don't you get like, Wow, God, what happened to me? But I sure... The more you get to know Janet, she is a great gal in the Lord, loves the Lord, and this is her ministry. This is what she does, is to come to churches and encourage churches to grow in their skill in worshiping the Lord in music. So she's going to be here for about three weeks. We're going to have two long weeks, three weekends, and just to share with our people and encourage them to go on. And I know my daughter was here in the service today and heard that and we talked about it in the car a little bit. There's a vision that gets imparted, see? And for some of us, it's too late. Way too late. Why am I looking down here? I don't know. Some of us... The kazoo ministry could be resurrected. That's right. But again, let's all just welcome Janet. Thanks for being with us. Praise the Lord. Her being here is one of the direct results of hosting this symposium last fall and through a series of miracles and some strong-arming. Where's Bill James? Is he... The strong-arming in the spirit, of course. We're going to have another symposium this year and I believe it's really of God in order to encourage growth in worship. A lot of these are just byproducts. But for tonight... We come tonight and I want to have time for us to share together a little bit and talk and dialogue. I don't want you just to listen the whole time because I feel the real... The need of the hour is to be confirmed in what we're called of God to do. You know, I was sitting at my table at dinner and just hearing one couple share their struggle to be... not just survivors, but overcomers in their ministry. And, you know, it isn't easy, is it? I mean, we all have a whole raft of obstacles and things that stand in the way of fulfillment and we all struggle with people who let us down. I don't know that it's ever going to change, you know? I don't know that we're ever going to say, Oh, everything is just sailing here. It's all glorious. But I do think we can move through these seasons of shifting around and get to an area where we know the Lord. And once you know you're moving in God, then it's okay. Then you can put up with it. Once you know... I know when I stepped out initially to begin this church, there was no guarantees. I looked in the face of eight couples that said, We'll support you. And they were a shabby bunch. I want you to know that. But the Lord used their shabbiness and many of your prayers and here we are. That's right. We can all do it. And I told Carol on the way over, I said, You know, honey, I'm not going to come tonight and try to sell you on something that I feel is right because I'm supposed to do this. I'm here tonight to say to you, I have such a positive expectation about you. I believe God wants to bless you so much. When we say use you, that can sound awfully impersonal and uncaring. And I believe God wants to delight you in being used. He wants you to be a channel. If you're a channel of something, it coaxes you. When you pour the milk out of the pitcher, it leaves a... That's what God wants to do with His glory. Turning your Bibles to Luke, I want to show you... There's two Scriptures that are burning in my heart and have been now for several months. I want you to turn with me here and see these. There's lots and lots of people these days whom you and I may think could care less about God, are very caught up in their own worlds or perhaps who are so insulated to the real God because of the false God of religion that they're serving that we may think that God is kind of... Well, let's put it this way. If you were God, you would have kind of said, well, that's what you want. Go ahead and take it. You ever feel that about people? I mean, if that's the way you want to be, go ahead and take it. I've got other people. But you know, God never says that to people. Our God never says, well, I don't care about you anymore. In fact, Jesus, over and over again, made the point, and look at Luke 15 with me. Verse 1, Now the tax collectors and sinners, and my Bible, it's interesting, it has that in quotes, sinners, were all gathering around to hear Him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. And then Jesus told them this parable, Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. And then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me. I found my lost coin. And in the same way, I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner. Who repents. And I won't take time to read the whole story of the parable of the prodigal son, but dear ones, it's the same message. And do you know this is the only time that I found in the New Testament where Jesus seemed to answer to those who thought he was wasting his time by giving three positive stories bang, bang, bang, repetitively, one right after the other, making the same point. And the point is this, that he loves the lost. He loves the lost. And I'm just like you. I get fed up with the lost many times. I get tired of seeing their attitudes. It's so easy to sit back in judgment. But Jesus loved them. And the other thing that I see here is that Jesus, in each story, there's another thread, in each story, what happened after he realized they were lost? What did he initiate? What took place? A search. He went out to find them. He went out to make contact. To bring them in. To rescue them. To find them. It says the prodigal's father was standing there watching, looking. And then thirdly, what is a common thread in every story? And this isn't talking about just saying, hey, this is, not just a little happy, how are you doing? But what? More rejoicing in heaven, the angels are rejoicing. And the father threw a party. That's how much rejoicing there was. And I have to say tonight that it's as though we as a church, for seven years, have been getting established and finding our identity and developing wonderful relationships. These are wonderful people, aren't they? I love this group of people. Just tap that shoulder. This is a real person that you love. I love these people. I believe I could count on you if I was really in trouble. Isn't that right? That's right. By the way, those of you who love turning to someone and saying you're a real battle axe, especially your spouse, I want you to repent of that. I heard too much rejoicing when that came up. But I'm convinced about two things, and let me just kind of get down to where we need to share tonight. I'm convinced, number one, that God has invested much of His grace in this body. I rarely have seen... North Way is one of those places where the more you peel back, the richer it seems to get, and I really mean that. It is not credit to me or any of us individually. It's the Lord has brought many of you here in the condition of wealth in the Spirit. He brought some of you here in terrible impoverishment and has brought you along. It's the same result. We are wonderfully gifted and giving people, and there's a breadth here that's unusual. There's a depth here that's unusual. And I hear the Lord saying that He didn't just do that so we could all feel good about ourselves and have these dinners and sing Hallelujah to the Lord in the morning. But He did that. He's poured it in here because He wants much to flow out of this place. And He wants to have lots of parties over the lost. He wants there to be much rejoicing because of what's happening through this church. And I basically see two things that have to happen. And I've been four months now, four months, it began in December, four months in hearing God. So I'm not sharing with you some program that we sat down with the elders two weeks ago and said, we've got to have a program for the leadership dinner. There's been four months of hearing the Lord in this. And I think, so that you might track with me, I'm not going to go over this completely but I'm going to touch on it. It's good to have something to write on. So brethren, if you would please just take one of these. Give me one just so I can have a reference point here. Thanks. I won't review our first seven years but I want to share with you number one which is actually Roman numeral two. That the ministry gives the power of God that's resident in our body is really astounding to me. I was, and have had reason over the last weeks to talk to people who the Lord is using out in the marketplace. Just tonight, as I was kind of floating around and someone told me how for the first time in their experience and they've walked with the Lord a lot of years, they had the experience of giving a word of knowledge to someone in their home group. Now, I see the hand brother. God bless you. Okay. There's two hands back there and t