connection Independent Assemblies
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#NowTrending Nov/Dec 2012 | Volume 4 Issue 4
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calendar November
Interstate Fellowship Meeting November 12, 2012 Cyril Full Gospel Church Cyril, OK Rev. Donnie Miller (580) 464-2224
December
Interstate Fellowship Meeting December 3, 2012 Mending Hearts Stella, OK Rev. David Tompkins (405) 386-4351
3. Fill out your information and VOILÀ, you’re finished!
January
Interstate Fellowship Meeting January 14, 2013 Faith Fellowship Cyril, OK Rev. Kelvin Limbocker (918) 371-2996
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PO Box 1546 • Ada, OK 74821 • (580) 310-0222 2 • connection
connection NOv/Dec 2012
let’s connect.
Contents
9 2 Calendar 4 Camo Community 5 Leaders Who Cross Over 6 The Foundation Dynamic 8 Awakening the Church 9 #NowTrending
10 Clear Communication 11 Board Members
Independent Assemblies PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 www.independentassemblies.org Produced by Layers Media, Inc. www.layersmedia.com
facebook.com/IAFellowship
connection • 3
Living Word Tabernacle
camo by: Mindy Wood
community
Some of the most successful outreaches churches do today involve relating to the community. In the small town of Ratliff City, surrounded by rural communities and national parks in south central Oklahoma, Living Word Tabernacle knows their community very well. Eugene and Tammy Christian took the helm as pastors in 1991 after being mentored and trained by pastors in both the Assembly of God and Pentecostal Holiness denominations. God gave them very clear direction for the work. “We felt like God told us that if we would minister to those that no one wanted, He would send us those that everyone wanted,” said Christian. “The mission statement of the church is to reach this congregation, this community, this county, this state, this nation, this world for Jesus Christ. Our heart is outreach and we focus on that as much as we can.” Fulfilling the Great Commission meant they would need to relate to the people they were trying to reach. The area is full of outdoorsmen, “the weekend warrior” including hunting and fishing enthusiasts. The laid back Oklahoma rural culture would be a reflection of everything from the outreach to informal services. “Every fall for the last five years we do ‘Camo Weekend,’ an outreach to outdoors men. On Saturday we do sporting activities and then on Sunday we give away a two day guided hunting trip for two and other prizes. This last spring we gave away a guided fishing trip for two. We feel the need to reach the community and it’s something they’re open to.” They also participate with the community in raising funds for their parks. In concert with a Baptist church, businesses and civic members, they’re encouraging their city to work together. “We feed the community and we do games and activity booths for the kids. We have a parade and we get
vendors and businesses involved. Funds from the outreach go to the parks for things like playground equipment and now for a pavilion. We’re trying to build the community and interaction of the different churches with the community.” Although there’s a fair amount of division among the churches, Christian said that IA’s nondenominational status has helped open the door a little. “We’re always trying to find ways to bridge that gap but it hasn’t been easy.” Other bridges find no trouble crossing barriers. “The drug scenes aren’t isolated like they used to be,” he said. “We’re seeing preachers kids, wealthy kids; it’s across the board and I believe that sin doesn’t care what your background is. Satan doesn’t and he’s going to attack on every hand. That deliverance comes through Jesus Christ who came to destroy the works of the devil and set the captives free.” In addition to outdoorsmen and community events they also bus in people transitioning from the corrections system to independent living on Sundays and Wednesdays; operate a food pantry and a small Christian school for parents who don’t want their kids in public education. They also support missions. True to God’s promise, in their efforts to win the lost, they have a strong backbone. “Five fold ministry is part of the vision God’s given us. We have six strong ministries as a team established in our church and we’re really thankful for them.”
Eugene Christian and Terry Anderson
Leaders Who Cross Over by: Mickey Keith
The book of Joshua records the consummation of the redemption of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, where they had labored for over 400 years. Their redemption had two parts- OUT and IN. God brought them out of Egyptian bondage and into their land of promise. Sometimes, God has to take us out of something, before He can bring us in to something else He has planned for our lives.
Deut. 6:23 “… He brought us out, that He might bring us in, to give us the land He swore unto our fathers.” In a spiritual sense, the book of Joshua is the Ephesians of the Old Testament. Eph. 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” The word `places’ is misleading, and the rendering should be `heavenlies’, which may be defined as the `sphere of the believer’s spiritual experience as identified with Christ in nature, life, relationships service and suffering.’ The `heavenlies’ is to the Christian what `Canaan Land’ was to the Jews. The Promised Land was a place of conflict, and often failure, therefore it is not a type of Heaven as some might teach. Yet it was also a place of victory, rest, possession and blessing through Divine Power. Today, the Lord is revealing leaders who are able to go forward and lead His people into new dimensions of His Glory and Grace. The following are a few commands God gave His people as they were to cross over into their `Promise Land.’ These can be applied to our leadership today. 1. “Follow the ark, for you have not passed this way before.” Always stay in the presence of God. Pursue His presence, because He will lead in new and different ways. Be willing to
stretch your ministry and believe God for the fulfillment of your dreams. 2. Get your feet wet. The Levites carried the ark on their shoulders, stepping into the flooded Jordan River. When their feet touched the water, the river rolled back, allowing them to stand on dry ground. But first, they had to get their feet wet. So, if you get cold feet when you are planning to lead, you’re not alone. 3. These leaders also had to walk out front. The command was at least 1,000 feet ahead of everyone else, so that the people could see the ark. Leaders always face opposition that no one else faces. They are at the `point of the spear’, establishing a `beachhead’ for those who follow. 4. They built a memorial. In Joshua chapter 4, God commanded them to take 12 `memorial stones’ from the dry river bed, one for each of the tribes of Israel and build an altar at Gilgal. Also in verse 9 Joshua was commanded to place 12 stones in the riverbed where the feet of the priest stood. These were to remind the people for generations to come of God’s faithfulness and provision. When God answers prayer, we should always respond with thanksgiving and praise. Be willing to make the effort to `cross over‘ into your land of abundant living! connection • 5
the|foundation|dynamic by: Mindy Wood
Dr. Richard Hayes and his wife Fonda have spent the last 35 years on the mission field of Monterrey Mexico but their reach into other nations through dynamic training stretches to nearly every continent. With a passion for building strong foundations in those who will carry the Gospel and multiply the church, the results have been rewarding: a network of 100 churches. Three primary bi-lingual ministry training courses are: Foundations for Leadership, Master Builder, and Theology Leadership & Christian Life; dynamic teaching meant to lay a solid foundation for strong churches 6 • connection
and reformed cities. The courses have drawn students from Africa, South America, Asia, Eastern Europe, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. It started small but affected great significance. “Several years ago God began to show me some key things that are overlooked in the Word of God. At that same time I’d started a discipleship ministry in my home. I did that a couple years and decided to rest a year but I began to realize people who were really being effective had been through this discipleship course. Then I decided I needed to give it a lot more serious consideration,”
said Dr. Hayes. Foundations for Leadership is a three month on-the-ground course in Monterrey. “The size of the impact of anyone’s life depends on the foundation of that person’s life. We get a lot of high school graduates, college students take a semester off and come for the course or when they graduate; but we’ve also had a lot of seminary graduates who tell us they learned more here than they did in seminary.” The course finishes with a two week mission trip among indigenous people groups in Mexico where they see miracles and signs performed according to
what the course teaches. Master Builders follows that course and is “a game changer” for businessmen, senior church leaders and church planters. It’s consummated in a three day prophetic conference called “Prophets Arise.” Theology Leadership & Christian Life is about theology and leadership concepts. “The ability of any society to prosper and develop depends on it’s concepts. That’s why theology is the first thing and leadership is secondary.” With the Biblical mandates to operate in the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit, the ministry is also seeing the fruit of an intercessory prayer movement called Pray for Mexico. “We have about 2,500 people across the cities praying. In Guadeloupe and a lot of other places the police municipalities were corrupt. After security checks they were down to forty officers and started rehiring. During that time a guy had a vision of police officers in full battle armor worshiping and interceding. One day in church he prophesied to a man that God had protected him and had a purpose for him. It was the new police chief. He shared the vision with him and now the police force meets every morning for prayer and worship before going out and on Saturday mornings they have a time of preaching.” Dr. Hayes said about 80 percent attend and made the national news wires earlier this year. Dr. Hayes is also an instructor for Phoenix University of Theology where students can earn a bachelors, masters, and some doctorates. They still welcome youth and church groups for missions as well.
Dr. Richard Hayes
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awakening the church by: Mindy Wood
Terry Holiday
Evangelists Terry and Sheri Holiday’s ministry is all about revealing Christ whether they’re preaching the Gospel to America’s slumbering churches or bringing the power of the Holy Spirit to leaders and pastors overseas. One thing is for sure: there’s no ear tickling sermons, pep talks, or kooky messages. It’s straight talk from the Word of God. Terry Holiday’s conversion was radical. It was the 80’s and at fifteen he was a drug dealer and hard core addict in southeast Oklahoma; by age eighteen he’d run from the law and people who wanted him dead as far as Tennessee, New York, and Connecticut. He came back to Oklahoma City and while living with his mother and stepfather, God gripped his heart with a single question. “I was working in a Kentucky Fried Chicken and selling pot to my manager and coworkers. On the way home, I’d tried to get high and couldn’t get high. I believe the Lord said to me, ‘Is this all you’re going to be, because this isn’t My plan for you.’” He came home to find his mother on the floor weeping before God with TBN on in the living room. That night he lay on his bed singing “Amazing Grace” and wept himself to sleep. The following day he said, “the world was cut off from me” and that night at church, after hearing IA member Ray Jordan preaching, he was born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. “My mom bought me a cheap KJV bible I read through it in six months. A year later I was the youth pastor and then an associate pastor before I started doing full time evangelism, preaching 300 days a year.” The Holidays just exited a season as pastors in Marlow, Oklahoma and are now back to full time evangelism. Common themes in his American preaching include the importance of balance, the gift of the prophet, the balance of five-fold ministry and gifts and Biblical preaching on sin, righteousness Overseas he’s gathering pastors and 8and • judgment. connection
leaders in conferences to take a non-westernized revelation of Christ and the power of His Spirit back to their people for revival. Evangelists are known to bring renewal to churches and bring a prophetic gift as well. “In my prayer time when I go to a church, the one thing I deal with a lot is just religiosity: having the appearance of godliness but denying the power thereof. We bring that ‘dunamus’ power that generates the image of Christ. I hear more about trying to get people’s ego boosted than the development of the characteristic and attributes of Christ,” said Holiday. “Another thing we address a lot is really getting people born again, truly converted. What I’m seeing more than anything is a response to intellectualism more than a response to conviction. We’re almost thinking ourselves saved today instead of a true conversion of the heart in true repentance.” Although Holiday admits that great thinkers form a need for intellectual insight to the Gospel he is concerned about a lack in discernment and the need for balance. “God is using people through intellectualism but because of the lack of faith, disciplinary life and crucifying the flesh, the enemy slips in unaware. The Bible says in the last days we would heap up teachers for ourselves who would tickle our ears. It’s a seduction and there’s more of it today than ever before.” Pentecostal in doctrine and experience, the Holidays keep one guiding focus in their ministry no matter where the Lord opens doors to preach: “We are to manifest the image of the Son of God in our lives. That’s what preaching to me is all about, revealing Christ. It is hiding me behind the cross that Christ may be seen.” Recent travels have taken them to India and Kenya but their ministry reaches all over Africa and Central and South America as well. For more information, visit terryholiday.com
Status’, updates, 140 characters, tweets, trending, and more bombard our technological world. According to the Facebook statistics page, there are over 750 million active users. 70% of all Facebook users are outside the United States. For Twitter, there are approximately 175 million users. It is clear that the technology buzz will continue to dry our eyes and keep our fingers quickly typing. But what does this mass communication mean for the Christian church at large? With trends changing by the hours and even minutes, how can the church keep up? How does the church plan to keep up with the everchanging momentum that technology swings? How do we (the church) not only keep up with the current trends, but also set the trends? With trends flying at us from every direction, the church has largely been caught staring in a daze, hopelessly grabbing at what appears to be hallucinations as they pop in front of our faces, just in time to move away again. Ever trying to keep up, the mass of churches continue to flounder their way through converting secular ideas to fit the Christian character that is nearly impossible to manage. You see the problem, right? Technology and trends have little to do with church effectiveness. The problem is trying to grab onto the trend in the first place. The wonderment of churches that tirelessly work to convert secular ideas into Christian character does not work. Christian character is at odds with every secular idea. It does not mean that we do not utilize technology; it means that the church identifies itself in the realm of Christian character within secular trends. Trends are the new equivalent of not being grounded. Trends move and change so quickly because there is no lasting value; the stories always change. However, for the church the story remains the same; the core values have longevity. How then does the church set the trends that will last in culture? Core Values. Many, if not most churches have lost their identity. Churches have taken the anthem of Paul in I Corinthians 9:22 (NIV) “I have become all things to all men…” and taken it to mean that the church must “do”
everything. Churches have tried to have every ministry possible for the sake of this verse, but have failed to realize that in attempting to do this have lost the value of actually ministering to people. Core values are what you and your church members live out, not what you hope to become. Core values are grounded deep into the soul of each person. Core values ooze out of the very pour of the church. The churches that grow, trend their core values constantly. A perfect example of this happened to me the other day when speaking to a pastor that I meet with every other week for personal growth. While introducing my wife to him, I asked him to explain what he did for his church. He stated, “I am the volunteer coordinator for our church. Getting people serving is just such a core value for us…” It was not just what he said, but rather how he said it. It was so natural. It was not forced, awkward, or prideful in any way. It is the verbiage of their staff and church. When you have a core value it comes naturally. When do you know that you have a core value? You ask your church members what they think the core values of the church are. If they have to think about it for long, then it is not a core value. Your core values should not be a plethora of lists that you hope to attain. Core values are those few things that make you, the leader tic. The leader gives the vision. The leader promotes core values and culture of the church. You have to decide: Do I want to be a church that tries for every trend or do I want to focus on just a few values and be truly passionate and effective? It’s been said before that saying “No” is a word that needs to come out of a pastor’s mouth far more often than “Yes”. In Next Generation Leader, pastor and author, Andy Stanley states, “Refusing to say no eventually robs a leader of his ultimate opportunity—the opportunity to play to his strengths.” Your strengths are your core values. The values that you want to see passed on to the next generation and the next generation and so on. Churches and church leaders have an enormous opportunity to now trend their core values like never before. With the use of technology and other avenues of communication, churches must start trending their core values. They are values like #love, #forgiveness, #generosity, #patience, #grace; we need only look to Galatians 5 to see where to start living the trends that will last a lifetime. Become grounded in the values and strengths that God has established for your life and the life of your church. We each are a part of the whole body of Christ. If your core values are that of the hand; the workers, servers, and community builders then make that be a value that you do not let go. Live out your values. When you do, the entire body of Christ trends up.
clear communication Imagine staring at 200 TV sets at one time. You see dozens of glowing screens stacked one on top of another like bricks. Each screen flashing different images. The sound from all the TVs mixing into a tornado of noise. After gazing at the screens for an hour, someone asks you, “What did you watch?” You’re stumped. The answer is both “everything” and “nothing.” When you receive too many messages, you receive no messages. The same holds true for your church marketing and communications. When you bombard church members with messages, you overwhelm them. It’s a mistake a lot of churches make. They send out so many messages and force members to digest so much information that, as a result, people take away no information. Nothing sticks. Remember: Less is the new more. How do you prioritize your messaging? Here are four steps your church can take to prioritize your church communications and messaging and focus on what’s most important. Following these steps will enable you to whittle down the number of messages you pass along to your church members, and deliver the messages you prioritize more effectively. 1. Clearly articulate the mission and vision of your church. For every message you are considering passing along to church members, ask the question: Does this message reinforce and support the mission and vision of the church? If a message does not advance the overall goal of the church, then you should leave it in the dust. Every message you deliver should reflect your mission. 2. Gain a crystal-clear picture of your audience and community. Determine who your church audience is and
what matters most to them. This will enable you to focus on messages that better speak to church members. Evaluate and understand the perceptions people have of your church (both internally and externally). Research how your audience(s) receives non-church messages and what messages are received most effectively. 3. Create a year long communications calendar. A great way to make sure you are not overloading people with messages is to create a communications calendar. This will give you a convenient way to visualize all the messages you are passing along to church members in a given week, month or year. It will also lead you to ask: What message do we want every member to know, understand and remember this week or month? 4. Limit the ways you communicate key messages. Train your church members on how you want them to receive messages. Drive people to your communication hub: your website. Use your website as the central place for people to find information. Let your audience know your website is a reliable area they can go to discover important messages. Always keep your website maintained and up to date. Make sure you communicate your messages clearly and effectively on your website. Take the steps above to help minimize the number of messages you communicate to your church members. Prioritizing and streamlining your messaging will give the information you do pass along greater weight and impact. When you communicate fewer messages more effectively, you increase the likelihood people will actually hear what you have to say. In today’s information-overloaded world, less definitely is more. How does your church prioritize messaging?
Executive Board 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
Regional Representatives 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