Thursday, August 21, 2014

Thanks, SDMI, for a Great Day!


I preached and conducted a Church/Pastor Review in Cleveland last Sunday. It was a great day with a very positive review. Interestingly, several people came up to me while I was there to tell me how wonderful the Leadership Training Day was on Saturday. They commented on the speakers and how they had been challenged and helped. How thankful I am for SDMI leadership that takes seriously resourcing and developing our pastors and lay leaders. 




Join God in What He is Doing!

In the final minutes of Kim Smith’s last presentation on Saturday at the Leadership Training, He reminded us that God wants to do a new thing and challenged us to join Him in what He is doing. How can that happen? Kim said:

1. You must be willing to become a servant.
2. You must be willing to stop making it difficult for people to sit around the table.
3. You must be willing to find a way to help broken people win.
4. You must be flexible and willing to put people before preferences.

God is beginning to do a new thing in NEO! Let’s join in!





Transformational
NEO NYI Mission Trip 




August 4-12, 41 people from 4 different churches across NEO went to the Bronx, NY on a mission trip.  The trip was transformational for those who went as they engaged relational ministry, evangelism, compassion, work and witness, and partnered with ministries outside the normal comfort zone.  Some of the details include:

 - Two of the 41 have suggested they were called to ministry during the trip.

 - Faith was emboldened.

 - People were invited to share the gospel, pray with and for strangers, create relationships with others in urban ministry context, be challenged multi-cultrally and more.

 - Students had outdoor worship and faith sharing via the human microphone in the subway and even in Times Square.  

 - They ran a festival and ministry fair that saw over 6,000 people attend and were relationally engaged in praying over attendees.

 - Helped facilitate a 'rap fest' for Christian hip hop artist.

 - Gave away over 2,000 books and Bibles to families, 
and much more.

God is using our students to impact places they go - and God is impacting and transforming our students as they answer the call.









Frontline Ministries Approved as Ten Percent Missions Special

God gave Andre Harris the vision for Frontline Ministries when he was in prison. It started as a street ministry, providing food, bibles, etc. that Regency Park CON embraced. The ministry is now ready to establish office headquarters to help with classes and training, helping those on the street integrate back into society and walk with Christ. The District Advisory Board enthusiastically approved Frontline as an urban/compassionate ministry.

Andre & Sheila Harris
Frontline Ministries



















Monday, August 11, 2014

Re-tooling, Revival, Reviews and Recreation!



Re-tooling.
Leadership Training Day this Saturday
9am – 3pm!
I have attached the brochure for our Training Day to this email. I hope to see all of you this Saturday! Pastor Steven Lester writes, “This is an important time to develop leadership in the local church.  We have a fantastic lineup of speakers.  Nazarene Publishing House will have a display of their current materials.  It would be a wise investment to get your Sunday School Teachers and your Board Members to this gathering.  We are addressing every facet of ministry from children, youth, and adult and our growing Hispanic ministries.  If you have any questions, please contact me at pastorsteven@centralchurch.tv or call my cell at 918-581-4998.  We really are better together.  Let’s get serious about expanding the Kingdom in NEO!”  Due to the fact that we are providing lunch free, we need a head count today, Monday, August 11th
Revival.
This weekend I attended revival services at Collinsville and Bristow. Both services were outstanding. Several things excited me:

1. These churches made revival a priority in their budget and calendar.
2. These churches prepared with prayer.
3. These churches called great evangelists that God is blessing and using – Susie Shellenberger and Scott Ferguson.
4. Effort was made by Bristow to involve the Zone churches. The night I was there a good group from Cushing joined in. What a great way to come together and share in the time of refreshing.

Reviews.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the church/pastor reviews I have done this summer at Collinsville,  Owasso Silver Creek, Tulsa Hills and Country Faith. It is fun when lay leaders and pastors can have open, healthy interaction about the health and mission of the church.  It seems there is a fresh wind of anticipation blowing across Northeast Oklahoma. An important part of our open and clear communication is completing the Annual Goals and Expectations together. These are due from each church this week. Please contact me if your church board needs another month or two to complete this exercise.

Recreation.
Our Ministers and Mates Retreat is August 22 – 24 in Branson, MO. I thank our churches for allowing your pastors to attend this time of renewal and recreation for our pastors and spouses.

Naz Nite @ Six Flags is an opportunity for recreation for all ages.



Prayer Requests


Kay Hilton (Pastor’s wife, Tulsa Living Hope) is hospitalized and having some tests done on 8/11.

Nick Vernier is having knee replacement surgery on 8/12 in OKC.

Pastoral search at Sand SpringsCoweta and Tahlequah.



August 16
9am - 3pm
Tulsa Central Church












NEO July Statistics


Attendance Averages

                                          2013-14                  2014-15
       SDMI                             2,362                              2,306
       AM Worship                   3,379                       3,599






I Want to Celebrate. . . 

Nick & Kay Vernier, The Tribe. . . A family that has struggled with conflict and turmoil for the past seven years has found reconciliation and restored relationships.

Steve Davis, Sapulpa. . . The addition of our new Children’s Pastor, Michelle Madden.

David Stevens, Vinita. . . We are ministering to children more and more. Everyone is commenting about that. What an amazing coincidence that God called Carol Stevens to serve as Children’s Pastor. She has already made a difference in our ministry to children. Attendance average is up. God’s presence is felt in our services. Our love is increasing.

Georgina Lopez, Tulsa Cielos Abiertos. . . Our attendance was increased and we began the School of Leaders. Praise the Lord the commitment of our people is growing and they are loving our vision and our dream to connect the church with others.

Saul Ramirez, Tulsa Fe y Esperanza. . . While ministering to some of our members in the hospital, we made contacts with other Hispanic people there.

Otoniel Dannemann, Tulsa Fuente de Vida. . . We raised our attendance to two hundred in three of our Sunday services.  We received three new families, and 12 people received Jesus like a personal savior.

Yalmi & Norma Izaguirrre, Tulsa Regency Iglesia. . . We made a campaign to reach new people, and we did Friday to Sunday evening; praise the Lord, some were reconciled and others received Jesus in their hearts!

Mark Hiehle, Claremore. . . We are so thankful for the prayers extended on behalf of our daughter, Kaylin, during her open heart surgery.  The Lord answered mightily and she is recovering extremely fast.  God’s hand was seen in so many ways!

Scottie Behm, Chelsea. . . (1) We are really enjoying our Wednesday night Bible study on Romans. (2) Answered prayer for new jobs for Dennis and Sarah. (3) We love our worship team, Linda and Janna. They were greatly missed during recent illnesses and are both feeling better now.

Carl Brown, Hominy. . . (1) The love of God that is alive in our Church and we have come together to help others with hope, finances, and support in difficult times. We are making plans to do more community outreach. (2) We are starting a Children’s Shoe Tree for children that need shoes for back to school, and planning to have a Blanket for Warmth for families that are in need. (3) We have joined with Christ’s Cupboard to help provide needed food and Hominy Ministerial Alliance for financial help for families. (4) The Barnsdall Church of the Nazarene came together with us this last Sunday and baptized 11 wonderful Christians and had a wonderful time of Fellowship.

Curtis Martin, Mannford Grace Family Worship Center. . . The water lines are being completed this week.  The cabinets (paid for by the Sapulpa Church) have been selected and ordered.  They were on sale!  Yeah! Floors have been stained.  We are optimistic that a completion date is coming for early fall.  God is good!






Thursday, August 7, 2014

One reason why I have struggled  in “Making Christlike Disciples”


This week I have been thinking a lot about discipleship. I have been meeting in 2014 with a life coach. He has worked with hundreds of churches and thousands of pastors over the years. He told me this week, “Not many churches are doing well in discipleship.”

Why is that so? I am sure it is partly a matter of focus and priority. When I was a child, churches in America often put the focus on discipleship, usually through the Sunday School.  Today churches are usually centered on the worship experience.

But the problem runs deeper than that for me. I was reading an article today by Ross Parsley. He said, “It takes a long time to make disciples. It takes a long time and a lot of consistency to help people in their journey of discovering who Jesus is and how He wants to work in their lives.” My biggest challenge has been exposed! I want to see people saved and changed, but I want it all instantly instead of the long journey that marks discipleship.

I marvel that our Lord came and devoted so much time to 12 men. He only had three years of active ministry on this earth. How could he commit so much time to such a small group? Could it be that Parsley is right – “it takes a long time to make disciples.” Jesus invested in a few...and they invested in others... and they were dispersed by persecution....and they invested in others... and the world was turned right side up!

Is it too late to sign up for Jesus strategy? I want to recommit to the method of our master in making disciples. How about you? 





August 16
9 am - 3 pm

I want to encourage you to join us on Saturday, August 16, for the Leadership Training Event. It is our goal to have 200 persons on that day.

THERE IS NO COST AND LUNCH IS PROVIDED!!

I want to update you on the adult track. We will have David Nash from Sunday School and Nazarene Publishing House. He will be leading the adult morning session on “Everything you want to know about Small Groups”. For the past three years, NPH has produced a tremendous amount of material that you may not be aware of. For this reason, David will be setting up a bookstore of Nazarene Publishing House materials for you to review.

In the afternoon session we are blessed to have Jon Comstock of the Discipleship Place. There are multiple resources available online that are free and that we need to be taking advantage of.

There will be a children's track led by District Children’s Director, Beckie Richburg, and our NYI president, Ryan Amey, will be leading sessions for our youth workers.

We do need a count from every church who will be attending. I am asking that you contact my administrative assistant, Mandee Stevens (mandees@centralchurch.tv) with the number that will be attending no later than Monday, August 11. We want to make sure we will have enough food for everyone attending.

It is my prayer that every church will be represented. We really are better when we are untied as one. We are the NEO district and we will expand the Kingdom in our cities.

Blessed to be Family,
Steven R. Lester,
NEO SDMI Chairman









The Discipleship Place has partnered with Dr. Doug Hardy, Professor of Spiritual Formation at Nazarene Theological Seminary, to offer two free learning opportunities for laity and pastors. The first is a webinar series and the second is an 8-week online course. Each of these learning opportunities will discuss Christian spiritual formation disciplines and are free to all participants. If you would be interested in participating this instructor-led courses, email us at DiscipleshipPlace@nazarene.org. We will send the details on how to register.

If you are a pastor please note that both opportunities are eligible for Lifelong Learning credits. The webinar series is worth 3 hours of learning while the online course is worth 20 hours of Lifelong Learning credits for a total of 23 hours.

Be sure to register for each of the three webinars below that you would like to attend.

Why Disciplines?, Monday, August 11th at 7:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time. “Discipline” is a word that sometimes brings up negative memories and associations. Are disciplined practices really necessary for living the Christian life? This session explains our need for disciplines and their purpose for Christian spiritual formation. Click here to register for this webinar.

What Disciplines?, Monday, August 18th at 7:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Over the centuries and across many different cultures, Christians have engaged in a variety of disciplined practices for the sake of growth in Christ-likeness. This session provides an overview of the historic, classic Christian disciplines with suggestions for engaging them today. Click here to register for this webinar.

How Disciplines?, Monday, August 25th at 7:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time. How do I transfer my knowledge about various Christian disciplines into meaningful, personalized practice? This session provides guidance for discernment and decision-making about personal and communal spiritual practices. Click here to register for this webinar.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at DiscipleshipPlace@nazarene.org.