The Unique Challenges of Revitalization in the Bible Belt

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The Bible Belt isn’t as unique as it once was in American culture. But revitalizing churches in the area often still requires some unique considerations.

This Week’s Question:

FROM AARON — I am finishing my seminary degree this semester and feel called to pastor in the Bible Belt. Since a lot of church revitalization is needed in the Bible Belt, what are some unique challenges of pastoring in the Bible belt?

Episode Highlights:

  • There’s not as much of a cultural divide in the Bible Belt as there used to be.
  • When we truly start to love Jesus more, we will start to love our neighbors more.
  • Just because someone may have joined a church earlier in life doesn’t make them truly a Christian.
  • Anyone who believes they are entitled to something from God, know the adversary has put that thought in you, not the Holy Spirit.

The seven reminders we cover are:

  1. Understand what is not unique about the Bible Belt.
  2. Clarify the “why” behind your sense of calling.
  3. Understand the plague of cultural Christianity
  4. Tactical patience is always important, no less so in the Bible belt
  5. Deal with the issue of unregenerate membership
  6. Be prepared to deal with an entitlement mentality
  7. Remember, a Great Commission outward focus is key wherever you serve

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.

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A Glorious Beginning (Part 3) By Pastor Faith Oyedepo

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A Glorious Beginning (Part 3) By Pastor Faith Oyedepo

A Glorious Beginning (Part 3) By Pastor Faith Oyedepo

Topic: A Glorious Beginning (Part 3)

Dear Reader,

I count it a great privilege to bring God’s Word your way again. Today, I shall be talking on budgeting. Do you have a financial budget?

It is a fact that those who fail in life do so because they failed to plan. As you begin a new year, planning is a vital requirement if you desire financial stability. Plan your expenditure pattern. If you don’t, impulsive spending can rob you of a glorious financial future.

Many families do not see the need for a budget. If you take time to survey how many families have financial budgets, you will discover that only two, out of 10 families sampled, have for their families. A family that desires to prosper financially should have a laid down rule for spending money. So, plan out your family’s weekly and monthly expenditures especially in this new year. The Bible says: For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?… Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? (Luke 14:28-31).

Also Read: Thanksgiving & Praise Secure God’s Presence in Your Home (Part 4) By Pastor Faith Oyedepo

‘Sitteth down first’ means to map out a plan. One man of God said, any army general that wants to go to war must win the battle on paper first, before he takes his men to the battle-field or else they will be slaughtered. He must first sit down and draw a strategy of attack on paper. He should also have alternatives in case of a surprise attack. The same thing applies if you desire to have a financial future. You need to plan how you are going to spend your money on paper first.

What is planning? Someone said, “Planning is thinking plus writing. Think about the things you need to spend money on during the month, list them out and calculate so when the money comes you know where to put it. This also involves projecting into the future because as you think, “What do I need money for this month?” you are thinking ahead. For the believer in Christ Jesus, this is the essence of “the gift of a sound mind.” But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Planning and budgeting are necessary for proper financial management. How will you know how much you need per month if you have not sat down to write out what your expenditures for the month are. Also, if you find out that what you earn is not enough, sitting down to plan will help you tailor your expenditure. As a child of God, you ought to cut your coat according to your cloth. You must therefore:

Beware of waste

A waster is a person who uses resources wrongly. To waste what you have is an offence to the Lord. The Lord Jesus gave us this example when He said, “gather the fragments that nothing be wasted” (John 6:12). The scripture says: I created the waster to destroy (Isaiah 54:16). This means a waster is also a destroyer. He destroys good things without knowing.

Spend wisely

In spending money, DISCIPLINE is a major requirement. Engage in priority spending. It is being able to ascertain the things needed and buying them first before other items. Not all spending is right. If you’re indebted, understand that debt is not the will of God for you, whether you entered into it as a result of pressure from legitimate needs or lack of contentment with your present position or possession. So, stay clear of indebtedness for God hates it. The scripture says: Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8). You can be free from debt. Mix prudence with contentment and enjoy great gain. Learn to order your priorities right. There are certain things you collect on credit that could wait till later. Please live your size per time. Cut off from friends who drive you to live above your means. The Word of God says: All things are lawful but not all are expedient (1 Corinthians 6:12). Expedient means suitable and necessary. Engage in buying things that are necessary and vital per time; if not, you may end up selling the things that you need, that will not be your portion in Jesus name! Remember God hates waste (John6:12).

You need the grace of God to do what is required to enjoy a glorious financial future. If you are not yet born again and you desire to do so right now, please pray this prayer with faith in your heart: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins and cleanse me with Your Blood. I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Make me a child of God today. Thank You for delivering me from sin and satan to serve the living God and thank You for accepting me into Your Kingdom.

Congratulations! If you prayed this simple prayer of faith with me, you are born again and now a child of God. He loves you and will never leave you. Read your Bible daily, obey God’s Word and seek Christian fellowship (John 14:21).

With this, you are guaranteed all-round rest and peace in Jesus’ Name! Call or write to share your testimonies with me through [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work, Building a Successful Home and Success in Marriage (Co-Authored)

“Please click HERE to read other inspiring articles by Pastor Faith Oyedepo”

Pastor Faith Oyedepo is the wife of Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide a.k.a. Winners’ Chapel, and Senior Pastor of Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, Ota, Nigeria.

The post A Glorious Beginning (Part 3) By Pastor Faith Oyedepo appeared first on Flatimes.

‘God wanted Donald Trump to become President’, his press secretary claims

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‘God wanted Donald Trump to become President’, his press secretary claims

 

Sarah Sanders also told Virginia-based Christian Broadcasting Network that he had done a “tremendous job” in advocating for American believers.

The 36-year-old said: “I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that He wanted Donald Trump to become president.

“That’s why he’s there and I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.”

Her comments echo similar remarks made by the evangelist Franklin Graham, that Trump’s appointment was ordained by God.

Sanders also said evangelical believers were “sticking” with Mr Trump because “he’s delivered on all the things he said he would do”.

She went on to say: “I would argue he’s the most conservative president that we’ve ever had.

“You look at the judicial nominations alone I think that will be one of the greatest legacies that the president has after his eight years in office is how he has completely remade the judiciary and started to stop this activist court that we’ve started to see over the last eight years.”

The wide-ranging interview also touched up Mr Trump’s…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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Bread & Stew Recipe

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Bread & Stew Recipe

Bread & Stew Recipe

My father owned a bakery so I grew up eating the freshest, hottest bread you can imagine. I had bread every other day and I had it with virtually everything, eggs, sardines, fried fish, beans, chicken (all manner of chicken; boiled, fried, grilled, roasted, etc.), suya, akara, moin-moin, even with locust beans; and of course I also had lots of bread and stew. Again I tried bread with all sorts of stews and soups especially fish stew, beef stew, efo riro, and egusi soup.

Bread is such a universal food, it’s eaten in one form or the other across the whole world. The sheer varieties of bread available is breath taking.

Across West Africa, hard dough and sweetened bread is the most common and it is most often eaten for breakfast and seldom for lunch or dinner.

Now a days, I have bread and stew as a complete meal as it could be really satisfying and filling. Serving the stew into a hollow piece of bread as shown is a tidy way to serve this epic dish which shows similarities to some bread dishes eaten in the West Indies and South Africa.

You’ve got to try it, especially if you have some left over fish or meat stew in your fridge.

What you need:
For the stew: 

  • 700g Beef (cut into small bite size chunks)
  • 1 large red bell pepper (the more peppers used the thicker the stew)
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 tin of plum tomatoes
  • 1 small scotch bonnet chilli (optional)
  • Some cooking oil
  • Salt

What to do:

  1. Season beef pieces with some thyme and salt. Place meat pieces in a pot, add some water and boil until meat becomes soft. Set aside.
  2. Blend tomatoes, peppers (the scotch bonnet chilli, if using) and onion into a smooth paste. Add water to enable easy blending.
  3. In a separate sauce pan, heat some oil, then transfer blend. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes, then add the meat including the stock from step 1. Continue to cook under medium to low heat to reduce the stew down. This will also allow the meat to cook to tender perfection. The resultant stew should be of a reasonably thick consistency.
  4. Cut a piece of bread and create a hollow in it. Toast all sides of the bread to make it more rigid. Spoon the stew into the bread and serve hot.
Bread and Stew
Nigerian Bread & Stew

Variations: Try serving your bread with other stews or bean dishes. Also try serving the beef stew with other types of bread like naan, pitta etc.

The Encounter – Full Christian Movie

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The Encounter – Full Christian Movie

The Encounter – Stranded in the middle of nowhere, five strangers find themselves marooned in a small deserted roadside diner. An arrogant businessman, (Steve “Sting” Borden), a lonely single woman, (Jaci Velasquez), a couple on the verge of divorce, and a youthful runaway, all come face to face with the diner owner who serves them more than temporal nourishment.

This very nice host called Nazarene, (Bruce Marchiano) who knows all of their secrets and possesses the answers to all of their problems, if only they would trust him. It is this miraculous Encounter that will leave them all changed.

The Encounter is an inspirational and intriguing faith-filled family drama about five people who are brought faced to face with Jesus and encouraged to examine the true condition of their lives.

“I am the light of the world. He who believes in me shall not perish.”

It follows 5 strangers living in California: Nick, a former NFL player and owner of a chain of burger restaurants; Hank and Catherine, a married couple whose marriage is falling apart; Melissa, a Christian on the way to visit her boyfriend (who is an atheist) and Kayla, a hitchhiker escaping her horrible living conditions in Los Angeles. When a detour road is closed off, the 5 are stranded in a diner with its omnipresent owner, who discreetly reveals himself to be Jesus, and attempts to help each of the patrons to face the truth in their life, particularly its dark side, to seek repentance and go for reconciliation.

Along with serving them Jesus helps Hank and Catherine re-establish dialogue as a couple, helps Melissa think of the long term difficulties she will face in a relationship, and marriage, with her boyfriend who is a non-believer, and helps Kayla find it in her heart the strength to forgive her abusive stepfather, despite everything he has done.

Each patron at the diner ends up being either born-again or is brought to a life changing decision by Jesus except for Nick, whose pride and selfishness block him and causes him to reject all questioning on his life style and purpose, in spite of acknowledging having been deeply loved by his grandmother. Officer Deville (the police officer who first informed the patrons of the road being closed off) returns and tells everyone that the road has been re-opened. Nick happily leaves with Deville, who gloats that he has taken one with Jesus saying he has saved four in rebuttal.

As the other patrons leave the diner, they learn from an officer on the road that the road is closed again, because of a most serious car accident. They come to know that Nick was involved in the crash, which killed him instantly. He also reveals that he has never heard of a Police Officer called ‘Deville’. Then Kayla realizes that Deville was actually the Devil in disguise based on the pronunciation of his surname.

The next day, Hank and Catherine find that the diner has mysteriously vanished, possibly because Jesus has managed to accomplish his mission of turning their lives around. In Thailand, Jesus shows up as a waiter, alluding to the 2012 sequel film, The Encounter: Paradise Lost.

New Movie: “Gone Girl”

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New Movie: “Gone Girl”

Gone Girl could be the biggest surprise of the early fall season. It collected $12-$13 million, which could put it on course for $35-$38 million, well above Fox’s conservative estimate of $22-$24 million.

The polar vortex, seven-foot pythons, and divine sovereignty

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The polar vortex, seven-foot pythons, and divine sovereignty

Last week, a snake catcher in Australia removed a seven-foot python that had slithered through an open door and climbed into the shower. In another Australian home, a woman found a python in her toilet bowl.

The reason for such serpentine domestication: It’s hot in Australia. Record-setting hot. Temperatures hit 117 in Sydney recently, the hottest it has been since 1939. Reptiles are looking for shade and water like everyone else.

Meanwhile, it’s record-setting cold in the northern US. Chicago had a wind chill of negative fifty-two degrees yesterday morning. Nearly ninety million people are likely to experience temperatures at zero or below.

People in Minnesota could get frostbite after five minutes outside. Beer can’t be delivered in some parts of the Midwest because it would freeze before arriving. As I write this Daily Article, the temperature in Madison, Wisconsin, is minus twenty-six degrees.

We can’t have it both ways

Much about today’s news leaves us feeling powerless.

The death toll from the Brazilian dam collapse has risen to ninety-nine, with another 259 missing and feared dead. A gardener in Toronto has pled guilty to killing eight men, some of whom he buried in planters. Floods in Saudi Arabia have killed at least twelve people.

If we believe in an all-powerful God–or even if we don’t–we wonder why he allows so much suffering in his creation. If a car had as many problems as our planet, we’d hold the manufacturer responsible.

Of course, this analogy breaks down when we discover that the Fall, not divine mismanagement, led to the brokenness of our planet (Romans 8:22). Dostoevsky notes in The Brothers Karamazov that, after centuries of living under Christendom’s authority, humans have finally declared ourselves free from God’s sovereignty. We’re convinced that we can do what we wish, when we wish, with no divine consequences.

But we can’t have it both ways. We cannot refuse to live by God’s word and then fault…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

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Bishop supports Great British Spring Clean

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Bishop supports Great British Spring Clean

The Great British Spring Clean on the 22nd March – 23rd April has already got backing by The Daily Mail and Chris Evans.

Run by Keep Britain Tidy, it aims for 500,000 people to all join in with a street-cleaning initiative for the sake of environment and wildlife.

Bishop Graham told Premier he picks up litter as he walks his dog but that it was also something churches could easily adopt: “I’m also encouraging, during this period of time, that churches might encourage their communties to take part in a litter pick,

“During Lent this year the Church of England is particularly focusing on the theme of pilgrim journeys…so what about a parish doing a litter pilgrimage, collecting litter as they pray their way round their community?”

When asked why he thought this was something the church should get on board with, he replied: “Because it links very much to the sum of the hearts of our belief in terms of God who, in Jesus, has entered into the world and delights in the richness of creation and in Genesis we’re demanded to care for God’s world, to look after it, to take a great sense of awe and wonder about creation – and any obstruction of that, any adding to the messiness of it through litter, has an impact on the whole sense of creation”.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. 

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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The Ancient of Days

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The Ancient of Days

The Ancient of Days began as a worship video. It turned into a testimony. This dream, almost twenty years in the making was buffeted by injuries, damaged equipment – even death. But because it’s the story of what happens in our lives when Jesus shows up, God prevailed, as He is – THE ANCIENT OF DAYS.

This began as a music video. There was so much spiritual warfare that came against it, they were led to produce a “making of” prequel and put the two together, now on DVD.

Source and Original Content by CFDB

RUN THE RACE Movie

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RUN THE RACE Movie

NASHVILLE, TENN.  – Heisman Trophy winner, national champion and NFL veteran,
and professional baseball player Tim Tebow can now add “filmmaker” to his impressive list of accomplishments. Tebow and his brother Robby are executive producers of the new film RUN THE RACE , telling the inspiring, fictional story of two high school athlete brothers who see their relationship tested as they seek different paths out of their troubled lives.

” RUN THE RACE is about so much more than football. This is a story about overcoming the hard issues of life, about the power of sacrifice, the power of family, and the power of forgiveness,” Tim Tebow said. “ I love being a part of a project like this because it will impact lives, inspire hope, and even prompt action. When I read the script, I knew this was an important project to get behind.”

“ The script pulled me in right away, and I wanted to bring it to life cinematically,” Robby Tebow said. “ As somebody with brothers in a big, super-close family that has gone through a lot together, it resonated with me on a deep level.”

Run The Race movie - the Christian mail

 

RUN THE RACE marks the Tebow brothers’ first foray into feature films.  RUN THE RACE stars Mykelti Williamson (FENCES, FORREST GUMP) as the boys’ coach, Frances
Fisher (TITANIC, UNFORGIVEN) as their surrogate mother, Tanner Stine ( NCIS , HBO’s Here & Now ) as Zach and Evan Hofer ( Kickin’ It ) as David. Supporting cast includes Kristoffer Polaha, Mario Van Peebles and Heisman-winner Eddie George, along with many others. From Reserve Entertainment and 10th Leper Productions, the film is produced by Darren Moorman, Jake McEntire and Ken Carpenter; directed by Chris Dowling (WHERE HOPE GROWS); and co-written by McEntire, Dowling, and Jason Baumgardner.

“ RUN THE RACE is about two young brothers facing unbelievable odds with an unbreakable bond,” said creator Jake McEntire, who co-wrote the script,. “I believe audiences will resonate with this uplifting story of faith, sacrifice and hope.”

Synopsis
In RUN THE RACE, two desperate brothers sacrifice today for a better tomorrow.
Reeling from his mother’s death and his father’s abandonment, Zach, an All-State athlete, finds glory on the football field, working to earn a college scholarship and the brothers’ ticket out of town. When a devastating injury puts Zach—and his dreams—on the sidelines, David laces up his track cleats to salvage their future and points Zach toward hope.
RUN THE RACE shows what’s possible when you run to—instead of from—the love of God.
NFL legend Eddie George (THE BEST MAN) appears as a college recruiter. He found that the movie’s background of athletics created the perfect context for a story about the brothers’ struggles and relationship.

“Sports really is a microcosm of how life is,” George said. “Somebody’s going to deal with
adversity. Somebody’s going to deal with loss. Somebody’s going to deal with pain. Somebody’s going deal with victory and success. I think this film reflects that.”
“We set out to make a film that engages the YA crowd while retaining a universal, timeless appeal,”. said director Chris Dowling (WHERE HOPE GROWS). “ Young adults crave stories built on authenticity and we deliver with real characters having real conversations about love, family and trying to find his or her place in this sometimes crazy world. .”
“Everyone involved with RUN THE RACE can’t wait to get this feature film in theaters,” said Producer Darren Moorman. “I want everyone to experience this authentic movie that tackles relevant themes in an entertaining way, where the romance is whimsical, the struggles are real, but the story-telling is fresh and poignant.”

Principal filming on RUN THE RACE was in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to Robby and Tim Tebow, executive producers include Bill Reeves, Erik Weir, Trey Brunson, Joe Kosakowski and Erik Dellenback.

“ RUN THE RACE is now ready for release,” Reeves said, “Theatrical distribution and release date will be February 22, 2019.”

 

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