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Mar/Apr 2013 | Volume 4 Issue 6
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calendar March
Interstate Fellowship Meeting March 13, 2013 Liberty Church Weatherford, OK Rev. Scott Page (580) 772-8007 ROAR Youth Conference March 21-22, 2013 Evangelistic Center Church Shawnee, OK Rev. Thomas Buckley (405) 637-7817
April
Interstate Fellowship Meeting April 8, 2013 Life Changer Church Claremore, OK Rev. Ted Estes (918) 341-8344
did you move? If you are planning on moving or just recently moved, please contact the offices of the Independent Assemblies so that we may update your contact information. Also, keep us up to date with your current email and phone number.
PO Box 1546 • Ada, OK 74821 • (580) 310-0222 2 • connection
connection march | april 2013
let’s connect.
Contents
10 2 Calendar 4 Leadership 6 The Changing Faith of America 10 Consumers to Disciples 11 Board Members
Independent Assemblies PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 www.independentassemblies.org
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Leadership by: Mickey Keith
In any given setting, one person is attempting to influence another. Some think they will lead when they get the corner office, or the title, salary or recognition of others, but those are myths. The truth is- You can lead right now, no matter where you are on the organization chart. You can influence those around you for good, for God, in positive ways! Help them get ahead. Get under them, and help make them successful! Who are you leading? Who is following your leadership? Where are you taking them? Leadership can be learned. The skills necessary for great leadership can be acquired by anyone with a desire to learn and change. Consider the areas of our society where the need for strong leadership exists: family, government, business, and church. These are all four of the areas of authority God has structured to guide, govern and guard our lives. Society is crying for strong leadership. People buy into the leader FIRST, then into his vision! Ronald Reagan became known as the “Great Communicator” because he spoke of victory over an `evil empire’, a strong military and financial prosperity to all. People want to follow a leader who has the following characteristics 1. Character-Speaks of integrity 2. Competence- Speaks of ability 3. Charisma-Speaks of attitude 4. Call- Speaks of Anointing 5. Connected to God & PeopleSpeaks of accessibility 4 • connection
The greatest thing a leader can do for his followers is to cast vision- the greatest thing followers can do for the leader is to help bring the vision to fulfillment. Leaders will bond with people who desire to help them fulfill their vision, but are turned away from people who only criticize and complain. Our vision must be built out of motivation to help, build and love people. It cannot be built purely on tradition; never on ego, or greed. Let God paint a picture on the canvas of your heart today! Lee Roberts wrote- “If I’m on fire, my church will be on fire.” Your dream must be bigger than you; otherwise, you wouldn’t need God or others. Learn to ponder the dream He places in your heart, like Mary. Don’t squander the dream like Joseph did before his brothers. (Learn who you can share your heart with.) Your dream may be contrary to natural thinkingJosh 6:1-5 NIV. Often God will give you a vision-then a word- then provision, but YOU WILL face opposition to your vision! Nehemiah 2:17 NIV “We cannot come off the wall; we are doing a good work!” And as Joseph discovered, not everyone will love or follow your vision. As Nehemiah discovered, opposition to vision is almost inevitable. Hang on to the vision the Lord has given you. King David did. He lost everything at Ziklag, but he encouraged himself in the Lord. He was only 6 days from destruction to the throne. How do you get a vision? Here are some steps to discover God’s plan and vision 1. Let God redefine who you are. 2. Realize NOW is the time. 3. Don’t turn back or be afraid. 4. Clear Your Mind & Write down your heart’s desire. There’s no such thing as a leader without a vision. Find out what vision God has cast for you and those whom you will lead. Develop leadership skills and entrust God with the fulfillment of His plans.
an • tic •i • pa • tion [an-tis-uh-pey-shuh n]
an emotion involving pleasure, excitement, and sometimes anxiety in considering some expected or longed-for event.
july 15.16.17 Independent Assemblies National Minister’s Conference Embassy Suites Norman, OK
The changing faith of america by: Mindy Wood
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Is America still a Christian nation? According to FactCheck.org, in President Barack Obama’s 2006 keynote address during the “Call to Renewal” conference, he said: “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.” The Barna Group,an American research firm continually cited by national and international news media, sheds light on the changing faith of America. Their research shows that pastors today aren’t just facing an exodus from the faith, but a growing group of self professing Christians who inventtheir own doctrines and choose their own preferred worldview, regardless of what the Bible teaches. According to a thirteen year study, Barna Group reports only 9% of American adults over age 18 possess a biblical worldview. Less than half of one percent of adults between 18 to 23 hold a biblical worldview and only one in nine older adults. The firm defines abiblical worldview as a set of beliefs evangelicals hold dear: moral truth is absolute, Scripture is entirely accurate, God is the creator and ruler of the universe, Satan is real or a real force, Christians should share their faith with non-believers, eternal salvation is in grace alone, and Christ lived a sinless life. If that news isn’t bad enough, less than one in five (19%) of those who claim to be “born again Christians”hold this worldview. According to BarnaGroup, 61% of born again adults are more likely “to develop their own set of religious beliefs than accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a particular church” (Christianity Is No Longer America’s Default Faith, January 12, 2009). This is especially true of those under age 25, of whom 82% reported to develop their own “combination” of beliefs rather than those taught by a church.
What these professing born again adults do believe can be best answered in what they don’t believe. George Barnaoffered some insight. “Millions of people who consider themselves Christians now believe the Bible is totally accurate in all of the lessons it teaches at the same time that they believe Jesus Christ sinned. Millions also contend that they will experience eternal salvation because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior, but also believe that a person can do enough good works to earn eternal salvation.” George Barna also suggested that they combine theologies from eastern religions with Christian doctrine as well. How did America get here? Why is this happening? It seems to be a departure from personal Bible study. Barna reports more professing Christians are basing their theology on what they feel, observe, or reason rather than on “information-based exercises such as listening to preaching and participating in Bible study.” Without a doubt, Americans are busier and more distracted than ever but they’re apparently using time they could spend studying the Bible on media. American adults admitted (44%) that they spend too much time on media and 60% admit to procrastination. While that’s probably just one of many answers to questions about the latest trends in American faith, it does give some insight regarding the culture in which Christians find themselves. As the rate of Christianity has exponentially grown in places like China and Africa, it leaves evangelicals scratching their heads for answers. One thing is certain:with only 9% of Americans professing a biblical worldviewit seems America has become her own missionfield. For more information see “Christianity is No Longer America’s Default Faith,” and “Changes in Worldview Among Christians over the Past 13 Years” at barnagroup. com. Their newest research on the faith of young people is also available in “You Lost Me.” connection • 7
2013 youth conference
march 21 22
Evangelistic Center Church • Shawnee, OK Thomas Buckley for details - 405.637.7817 8 Call • connection
Border Wars Spirit and Truth Ministries
Randy and Donna Denton have been missionaries to Mexico since 1988. When God called them to the mission field they quit their jobs, sold their possessions and headed for the border where they took a nine month missions course at King’s Way Missionary Institute. They started Spirit and Truth Ministries, based in Mission, Texas. They started working with a pastor in central Mexico and today their vision has emerged, mobilizing construction crews to build churches, parsonages, and feeding centers while providing training for native workers to spread the gospel. Local churches use feeding centers and medical missions to reach into the community. Every year the Dentons would take teams down at Christmas to give away toys to needy children. For years they roamed all over Mexico safely and freely as they worked to establish solid churches and outreach programs in the most impoverished neighborhoods. In December 2006 it all changed. President Felipe Calderon began trying to extinguish the drug cartels. The battle for drug smuggling trade routes into the U.S. heated up and so did the fighting between cartels. Although significant arrests have been made, including many high profile drug lords, the battle continues. Some estimate that at least 70,000 people have been killed since 2006. Even with Mexico’s new President Enrique Pena Nieto, no one can predict when or if things will get better. That leaves missionaries like the Dentons and those native workers who live in the battle zone of northeast Mexico in limbo. With less access to U.S. drug routes, they’re stealing from the people and dampening tourism. “We’re praying for peace in Mexico,” said Randy Denton. “It’s created economic upheaval because of extortion attempts on businesses and kidnapping. It’s put a lot of people out of work so the needs are greater. People are scared and nervous because of the drug war and it’s taken a toll on everyone.” Vicious and bloodthirsty, it seems churches are not off limits when it comes to their extortion. After
the Dentons helped a pastor raise five thousand dollars to build a church, word reached a cartel member. “It didn’t take long until he got a call. He told him to give him the money or he would kill him if he built the church. He immediately took my name out of his phone so they couldn’t come and find me for ransom. We have to be very careful there with our movements because now we’ve been targeted.” Thankfully, Denton said God worked things out when the pastor talked to his nephew, also a cartel member. “After that he never got another threatening phone call. We later learned that the cartel member was killed, we’re not sure why, but we ended up ministering to his widow and their child.” The Dentons have also created an umbrella organization, Spirit and Truth Bible Churches of Mexico, that ordains and trains pastors so they’re legitimized in the eyes of the Mexican government. They trained a superintendent who, also a pastor, trains other pastors for ministry. Their training style is one-on-one in localized areas. “We take our time to confirm that a particular pastor is legitimate, that he’s not going to turn on us or take advantage of us or the people. It’s a gleaning effect to make sure we have good people in place to do the work.” Randy is amazed that all their work in the last twenty five years has actually been “for such a time as this.” If they had not been training leaders, building churches, parsonages and feeding centers for needy children, the work would be devastated. “A lot of missionaries have left Mexico and we never saw this coming. We used to travel all over Mexico without any fear but it’s not that way now. We wanted to build a work that would sustain itself even if we weren’t able to be there all the time. More than ever, during this drug war, we have to put tools in the hands of these nationals to do the work with or without us.” For more information you can email the Dentons at stmmexico@aol.com or call 956-802-7160 connection • 9
consumers to disciples by: Bill Couchenour
M
any argue that the greatest threat facing Christianity in the U.S. is not atheism or liberalism or Islam or even complacency, but ratherconsumerism. Our bent toward selfservice, self-interest and self-fulfillment seems to fly in the face of the Gospel principles of self-sacrifice, self-denial and selflessness. Too often, we have allowed people to settle for giving 2 percent of their income, attending 4 out of 5 Sundays and participating in 1 or 2 mission projects a year to be the standard for a disciple. In fact, in many places that makes you “elder” material. The gap between the biblical expectation and cultural experience of the life of a Christ-follower is due to lack of discipleship. Here are 4 steps you can take to move from consumers to disciples:
1. Remove the Barriers a. Clergy/Laity Divide – Fully embracing the priesthood of believers would create a seismic shift in the church. Huge potential has been rendered impotent through the idea of “professional clergy.” Please hear me: I believe in professional clergy, seminaries, etc. However, we do a great disservice when we allow people to believe that’s the only way to serve God fulltime. The truth is, as Christ-followers, we are all full-time pastors — we just all don’t draw a paycheck from the church. b. Sunday-Focused Christianity – If your church is focused primarily on weekend services (check where the majority of your resources go), it’s a little like telling people you can be healthy by visiting the gym and having a really good meal once a week. That one day is really good, but we need to help people see that a robust relationship with Jesus flows in and through every area of their lives — 7 days a week. 10 • connection
c. Sacred/Secular Divide – It’s good to have places committed solely to the use of the Gospel. Allow people to see their homes, their schools, their places of work, their coffee shops and the arenas of life as sacred. Jesus is there.
2. Change the Scorecard What gets spontaneous applause in your church? What you celebrate, you perpetuate. Celebrate what you want to see happen in your church, even if that means celebrating things outside your church until you begin to see it happen in your church.
3. Support it with Community We were not meant to journey alone. The challenge is that we’ve learned to journey in parallel tracks, but we’ve not learned to actually journey together. Design community environments where the applications of the Gospel can be applied to the big questions in life as they occur.
4. Model it with Leadership Followership As the leader, you must become the first follower. Follow hard after Jesus! “You must surrender all. Everything.” The paradigms that have shaped the way we do church are so pervasive that we tend to reach to ecclesiology without understanding our unique mission. Know Jesus. Know what He’s called you to. Then shape your ecclesiology to accomplish that mission, and bring facilities, systems and staff in line with that vision. I heard a surfing analogy recently. We don’t cause the wind and the waves — we can only learn to ride the surfboard.
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ExecutiveBoard
Regional Representatives
Mickey Keith
President PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 mickey.keith@gmail.com www.life623.com
Dr. Ted Estes
Vice President PO Box 2248 Claremore, OK 74018 (918) 341-8344 pastorted@lifechangerchurch.com www.lifechangerchurch.com
Ken Anderson
Secretary/Treasurer PO Box 1120 Lexington, OK 73051 (405) 527-6030 kda@valornet.com www.libertygospelok.org
Robert Johnson
Director of World Missions PO Box 978 Blackwell, OK 74631 (580) 363-2734 roj@clarionmissions.org www.clarionmissions.org
Jerry Edmon
Board Member PO Box 862 Elgin, TX 78621 (512) 281-5316 Jedmon1234@aol.com www.fwcelgin.com
Southeast Oklahoma District Rev. Billy Hunter Antlers, OK (580) 298-2740 Southwest Oklahoma District Rev. Donnie Miller Cyril, OK (580) 464-2224 (580) 512-3657 Northeast Oklahoma District Rev. Mac Blackwell Locust Grove, OK (918) 479-6057 North Texas District Rev. Marc Jones Denton, TX 75751 (903) 675-6011 Southeast Texas District Rev. Herb Hawthorne Baytown, TX (281) 723-2278 South Central Texas District Rev. Jerry Edmon Elgin, TX (512) 281-5316 Midwest Regional District Rev. Mark Maynard Granite City, IL (618) 931-4106 Arkansas District Rev. Charles Kendrick Alexander, AR (501) 303-0831
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Independent Assemblies P.O. Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821