SHARING FROM YOUR “SWEET SPOT!”

Several days before the recent C2C Evangelism Conference in Odessa, Missouri we were privileged to host Glenn Middleton and Doug Kreighbaum at The Family Room in Omaha, Nebraska. Glenn challenged us with many wonderful stories, imparting a grace to share Jesus with our “FRAN’S” – Friends, Relatives, Associates and Neighbors.

He exhorted us to apply the Biblical mandate to share the Gospel, and reminded us what a privilege it is to share with those around us. He gave many practical examples we could use to invite people into our lives and into the life of the local church. It was a very powerful and practical evening. Glenn’s teaching was very gracious, and the impartation our church received was – “we can do this” or “evangelism for dummies!”

At the Evangelism Conference, Jim Morgan from our Raleigh (church) family, continued with this very practical and doable theme. God used Glenn to challenge us with a call to renew our passion for Jesus’ call to “win the lost!” Doug’s concluding message on Sunday morning was a call to fulfill the Biblical mandate of being fruitful, multiplying and filling the earth. It was interspersed with stories and Doug’s vulnerability in trying to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in sharing Jesus and praying with people in various public settings.

 FINDING YOUR “SWEET SPOT”

Jim taught about sharing Jesus from or in your “sweet spot.” This is in reference to the people, places or circumstances where you tend to have the most grace or unction in telling others about Jesus. All of these teachings, examples and impartations challenged me to share in my “sweet spot!” One geographical location for me is my neighborhood. However, the “sweet spot” is not a specific place, but for me, it is with people in general, and quite often it is with strangers. By God’s grace, I like people and have an amazing comfort level in talking with strangers. God used my brothers’ teachings to release me to function in my God-given gifts and personality.

As a local church, we have begun to invite people again and have seen guests coming our last three Sundays. It is exciting thing to see some of them returning for their second and third visits. Last Sunday Geoff and Amber Bogatz presented their beautiful baby daughter, Sienna, to the Lord in dedication. Several of their friends and family members attended and all were touched by the Lord and enjoyed our time of worship and study of Jesus. One relative spoke to me following the meeting, and mentioned it had been many years since he had attended a church, and he had never enjoyed it as much as he did this past Sunday.

Something has shifted in the Spirit, and we believe it has been the impartation from God, through a five-fold evangelist, who released “an every man and woman evangelism grace!”

Thank you Father for those you send to labor among us and the deposit of life you have given us through them!

WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THE HOUSE?

Jerry Engelbrecht...has a lot of oil in his jar!
Jerry Engelbrecht…has a lot of oil in his jar!

 

This past weekend Cheri’ and I had the privilege of speaking at Victory Christian Fellowship in Waverly, MO., where Pastor Jerry and Brenda Curry and their wonderful congregation have become dear friends. We believed God had a message of encouragement for them and we were excited to deliver it.

“You can’t see the forest for the trees” is frequently true for many of us. We are so focused on what we are called to do that we fail to recognize how God is using us in our daily routines. VCF is a great church in a rural community bearing so much more fruit than they realize. God simply wanted us to remind them of this truth; and their open hearts made this easy to do.

Years ago I heard Tommy Barnett preach a message that has continued to impact me. He spoke from 2 Kings 4:1-7 regarding the widow who was in great financial distress to the point of losing her children to slavery. Elisha asked her this very significant question, “What do you have in the house?”

She replied, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” When we compare ourselves or our churches to others we never come away looking or feeling very good about ourselves. We tend to believe we have “nothing in the house!” Believe me, I have lots of personal experience with this.

As we spent the weekend with them, we found they didn’t have much in their house either, except a jar of oil and…

*An amazing Food Pantry that weekly serves many people in their region.

*A weekly outreach to a home for troubled youth.

*A monthly meal for the community that serves 100 people.

*The church home for a couple that leads a major missions outreach to India and other nations.

*A lot of oil (the Holy Spirit) in that jar.

*Lots of love and compassion for the people of their region.

*They also have Terry & Jerry and a lot of other people just like them. Terry leads the weekly outreach to the boys at the detention center and Jerry just comes along and hangs out even though he doesn’t think there is much of anything in his house to offer these kids. However, he is a faithful man who goes to support and encourage where he can. He is not an upfront guy like Terry who combines the best of both worlds. Terry leads, but also stays late on visitation days to be a dad to the guys who haven’t had any family members come for the open visitations.

Recently, while Terry was speaking, a young man whom Jerry had befriended, turned to him and hugged him. He asked Jerry how he could be saved and while giving him a big bear hug he led this young man to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Jerry has a lot more oil in his jar than he realized. His “oil” is big ole long arms, a big ole chest, an even bigger heart, and a willingness to be available to hug some tough, broken kids. One planted (Terry), another watered (Jerry), and God gave the increase!!!

This church and these guys so moved my heart to search again and see what” I have in the house” and to celebrate it and encourage others to do the same. Soft hearts impact communities and change the lives of kids!

Not only is it vital to know what is in the house, but someone has to pour the oil into something. The widow had to find empty vessels and she had to also do all the pouring. So, my dear friends, “WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR HOUSE?” Who needs the oil of the Spirit through your life poured into them? And, when are you going to pour out to others what you have in your house?

 

 

MUSINGS OF A (RECOVERING) PERFECTIONIST

Starting today I am trying a little experiment of journaling on my computer. Not sure if it will work but here goes. This is not my normal font or size, but I have to learn to cut to the chase and let the silly non-essentials that hinder me go by the way side. Just added bold font to the date. That helped a little and now the computer says I need to revise that last sentence. Maybe I will and maybe I won’t. I think the “I” is implied, but this speaks to another hindrance – indecisiveness. Why don’t I just make a decision and stick with it? Because I want it to be perfect and that leads to the bondage of perfectionism. This fuels procrastination which brings me full circle to indecision ad infinitum. Another sentence is now begging for revision. By the way, I have transformed the double space after the end of sentences to the more modern one space. However, as I look at this document I am not satisfied with how the one space looks. It seems very crowded and begs for a return to “Times New Roman” font. I changed the font to see if it was any better and it wasn’t much so you will be glad to know I’ve reverted back to the original look which saves significant time by not having to change the font every time I compose.

Now I am confronted with how to store this document. Should I save it as a Word Document and just keep adding to the page or should I make a folder and make each journal entry new. Looking to Cheri’ for advice has helped my indecisiveness immensely. She favors a new page for each entry. Now I think I will go back and give a title to each day’s journal along with the bold date. It feels like I am making progress which brings up another issue. Can I be making progress even when I don’t feel like I am? Of course, but it sure helps to think that you are rather than having to take it by faith. Since without faith it is impossible to please God then definitely more progress will be made by faith than by feelings and it will please the Lord which is ultimately the cry of my heart!

My lovely wife says these are the ramblings of a perfectionist and though I agree with her I’d like to think this is catharsis for my deliverance. So, rather than just liking to think like this I have made a decision (how significant is that). I am going to think like that and even more specific, I am thinking like that! (This reasoning comes from people saying I’d like to thank so and so for such and such. Why don’t they just thank them rather than saying I’d like to thank them?) However, my judgment brings self-condemnation. Rather than saying I’d like to do such and such I just need to get it on “the list” and start doing it. My bucket list needs to have a “start a bucket list” entry and another which says “do your bucket list entries.” Now it needs to move from “needs to have” to “has.” Wow! Am I ever beginning to make progress, er, I mean, I am making progress!

Bucket List

*Start a bucket list.

*Do my bucket list.

*Don’t sweat the small stuff – let the non-essentials go.

*Make decisions – NOW.

*Do it now – imperfectly. Just do it (Thanks Nike).

*Do it afraid. (Thanks Joyce Meyers).

*Do it by faith. (Thanks God).

*Do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Thanks Jesus).

*Do what the Holy Spirit tells me to do. (Thanks Holy Spirit).

*Save this composition to Word Documents – Journal 6-23-12 – Musings Of A (Recovering) Perfectionist and find a way to put it into a “Journal” folder.

THREE HUNDRED FIFTY!

The special couple I’ve adopted as my parents at Christ’s Family Church, Rich and Betty Day, are very wonderful people. They have a heart to pray for people and do so every morning during their devotions. Quite a few years ago I had them model what they do as our sermon for that particular Sunday. It was powerful as they just sat in two big stuffed chairs, oblivious to the rest of us and had devotions. We were all deeply touched as we began to realize how regularly they prayed for each of us.

Several Sundays ago, someone encouraged them by saying they could see many of their family member coming to know the Lord much more intimately. It inspired Rich and he came forward at the close of the message to share this insight.

“Last night I couldn’t get to sleep,” he said, “so I began to count all the people Betty and I pray for regularly.” You guessed it! Three hundred and fifty people. I asked him later if he went down a written prayer list and counted them. That was not the case. This 82 year old kind and joyful man noted them all from memory.

If you have ever asked them for prayer most likely you are still on the list in their hearts. Missionaries who have handed out prayer cards are still receiving divine intervention every morning from the prayers around their breakfast table.

They are retired, but even more so, re-fired by their faithfulness to pray. Do these prayers make a difference? You should ask the 350 people on their list. Even better would be experiencing it personally by seeing if you can get on that list!

Talkin’ Up Jesus!

This past week I had the privilege of spending some significant time with three friends, Glenn Middleton, Rob Hambright, and Doug Kreighbaum. The purpose and focus of our time together was evangelism. Glenn is possibly the first evangelist from the five-fold vein (Ephesians 4:11-16) that I have ever met. The equipping dimension of his gift was clearly evident. Here are a few things I am learning:

Talkin’ Up Jesus! Your interaction with others should ultimately lead to talking about Jesus.

Divine Appointments exist all the time, everywhere. My tendency was to pray for them and then be frustrated at the end of the day from not having any or else missing the ones I had. I have been missing them. Every person, every situation has the potential to be a divine appointment. If a person sits beside me it is an opportunity from God. If I meet anyone wearing any clothing item with a sports team on it, that is a sure sign for me that I have an impending appointment.

You must sow seeds before you can pray for them to be harvested. Prayer and sharing are both necessary, but how often I have prayed without having shared Jesus.

Leave the results to God! Our job is to sow the seeds and/or water them, but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

Success is our faithfulness to share, leaving the results to God.

This has motivated me to be alert and open to those God has placed around me. There has been a wonderful download that has broken barriers to sharing and mobilized me to actively “talk up Jesus” and share His great love with those I meet.

Wisdom Beyond My Years

Beautiful wife, Cheri' & Granddaughter, Ada

While composing my loving thoughts on the Valentine’s Day card for my wife today I was inspired by the prose on the card. The stimulant was “beautiful.” And that reminded me of a prayer I prayed over 38 years ago.

As I pondered the beauty of my wife I realized again she was the answer to one of the most profound prayers I’ve ever uttered. It was also a very simple prayer, yet filled with wisdom beyond my years. It was not initiated through my own insight, but from an impression that influenced me to pray for a wife that loved God more than she loved me. Furthermore, I regained some sense of ownership in the prayer because I asked for a woman that I would find physically attractive.

My wife, Cheri’, is God’s answer to that prayer. She is the reflection of inner beauty that comes from loving God more than anything else. Her awesome physical elegance is further enhanced by her inner attractiveness.

His wisdom beyond my years led me to pray and believe for what only He could provide. Today and everyday, I celebrate His beautiful gift to my life.

Happy Valentine’s Day Cheri’! I love you with all my heart! And, thank You God! “For, we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us…” Romans 8:26b. He gives us wisdom beyond our years!

Don

Empty Nest – Full Heart!

Don & Cheri White @ CFC Carols & Cocoa, 2010

Welcome to my first-ever blog post coming on the heels of our family Christmas celebration and the prelude to a New Year (1/1/11).  I have often said when the kids move out it will be the greatest day of our life (I am still passionately in love with their beautiful mother) and the worst day of my life (I am still passionately in love with them too).

They moved out several years ago, and it was not the greatest day of my life.  It was not the worst day of my life either.  However, when we all gather together with four adult children, two daughter’s-in-law, and six grandchildren (with one more expected to arrive any day now) and they all leave again; now that comes close to one of those worst days.

When I take time to reflect over the previous days of joy, friendship, love, and celebration, I am reminded of the incredible blessings on our family.  It reminds me of counsel I have given to others, but need to swallow a dose for myself.  Better to have these great reasons (people) who leave a little ache, than to have a detached self-protective response at their departure.

As I contemplate further, I thank God for all His blessings through our relationships.  Joy and nostalgia flood my empty heart with sincere appreciation for our love for Him and each other.  His love has been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit and my heart is saturated again.  However, my heart leaks more than it used to.  My family thinks the frequency with which my eyes water and my emotions are expressed is symptomatic of male menopause.  I know it is indicative of an “empty nest with a full heart!”