Fellowship Church, on Monday night your core leadership (Pastoral Staff, Active Deacons, and Administrative Team) and Rick Lawrence will meet at 6:30 for a very important meeting. Please join us in prayer for unity to occur and God’s wisdom to prevail in our church. Below is an e-mail that I sent to our core leadership and Rick Lawrence this past week concerning this meeting. Please pray...
Team,
I would like to suggest a few things for Monday nights meeting:
1. Prayer AND Fasting. The flesh hates it, but God loves it!
2. Be Biblical - we should not care what we think, nor what anyone else thinks - let us care about what God thinks - if we can't stand on the Word, then we are standing on sinking sand.
3. Repentance over any sin behavior or sin attitude that may exist in any of us. Have we been faithful in our giving of our tithes to the Lord? Have we harbored bitterness or unforgiveness toward anyone? Are we submitted to authority (governmental, pastoral, family)? Is our home life in order? Do we have malice toward anyone? Remember, we are leaders and are to be held to a higher standard.
4. Check any personal agenda's at the door - this is the Lord's church and we need to be clear on that. No single member or group of members has any more rights or privileges than another - if we can't acknowledge that, then that is an unhealthy agenda in and of itself and needs to be repented of (remember the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16) . It has been blatantly said by some that we must fight for Fellowship - let me be clear - if that has come from any of us, we need to repent big time because the last time I checked, Jesus fights for His church and has already won! We are to fight for souls and against the enemy of our souls!
5. Facts over feelings. Yes we are emotional beings, however thank God our salvation is not based on how we feel, but based on the eternal fact of redemption! Let us all check our emotions at the door and be factual in what we speak and decide.
6. Recognition of the real enemy - satan and selfishness. If anyone thinks anyone is the enemy, we have a big problem and need to repent. Now, are there attitudes of selfishness and the influence of satan among us? You bet, but let's recognize it for what it is, repent and renounce it. We are each other's brothers and sisters in Christ. If we can't recognize this, then we need to repent big time.
7. Did I say pray, fast, be biblical, and repent yet? Please understand that if any of us thinks there are not areas that we need to repent of concerning the conflict in Fellowship, we are deceived and greatly blinded by pride and the enemy himself (1 John 1:8-10). Please allow the Holy Spirit to do His cleansing work!
I love each of you and am looking forward to leading this meeting on Monday night as the pastor of Fellowship Church. If I have offended any of you by this e-mail, then that is a very good indication that there is probably some area mentioned above that the Lord is wanting to deal with you on before Monday night (Acts 2:37, 38). We will begin Monday night at 6:30PM in the Worship Center at the altar on our faces in prayer together for an extended period of time. Let us get our eyes off of self, onto Jesus, and under His protective cover - we are children of order and light, not disorder and darkness (See Ephesians 4 & 5)!
God is good all the time - Let us give Him praise! I love each and every one of you and pray God's richest blessings on each of us.
Loving and Leading,
Jeff Powell
Senior Pastor
Fellowship Church
