IA Sept/Oct13

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Sept/Oct 2013

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ten ways to plan an

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Interstate Fellowship Meeting September 9, 2013 Capitol Hill Full Gospel Church Moore, OK Rev. Jim Robertson (405) 793-7727

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October

World Missions Conference October 14-16, 2013 Blackwell Tabernacle Blackwell, OK Guest Speaker: Dr. Kemp Holden North Texas Fellowship Meeting October 18, 2013 TBA - independentassemblies.org

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PO Box 1546 • Ada, OK 74821 • (580) 310-0222 2 • connection

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Sept | Oct 2013

Contents

8 2 Calendar

2013

70% 2011

57%

4 Revival Preacher: Kory Kinslow 6 Salvation Oklahoma 8 10 Ways to Plan an Amazing Series

2013

21%

2011

14%

9 Working Body 11 Board Members

Independent Assemblies PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 www.independentassemblies.org

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Revival Preacher

Kory Kinslow by: Mindy Wood

Seven years ago, Kory Kinslow was driving down an Arkansas farm road to pick up his sister. His life was a mess of depression and substance abuse but he was about to have a “Damascus Road” experience. A nurse practitioner had prescribed an ill-fated mixture of medications that resulted in a seizure and, having veered into oncoming traffic, Kinslow crashed into a steel gate. His car was totaled and he woke up in the hospital.

That’s when he said his grandfather began taking him to church. “After I started going, I realized I didn’t know if I was saved or not. So I got saved in that little church and then a week later I felt the call to ministry. I’ve said before it was my Damascus Road experience and even though it seemed bad at the time, I’m seeing fruit from it now. My grandfather saw it as an opportunity and I’m glad I took it seriously,” said Kinslow.

The church, IA member Lighthouse Family Worship Center, paid for his two year Bible school education. He started preaching in churches, eventually ending up as the associate pastor for Mountain View Community Church in Midland, Arkansas.

Today Kinslow preaches revival meetings anywhere he gets the chance. He obtained a master’s degree in Christian counseling because, as someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder and chronic depression, he knew the value of it. “It’s something that’s really helped me and I knew it could help other people.”

He also hosts a fifteen minute radio program every Sunday morning at 8:30. “I originally thought the radio program would funnel into the counseling but I found out listeners weren’t going to church. In fifteen minutes on the air, I figured I could give them an introduction and possibly lead them to salvation but they need to be in a church community as well. Hopefully it gets them going somewhere.”

His counseling ministry is an informal approach

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that reflects discipleship. Often clients come to him after hearing him preach at a park or public venue. “I counsel a lot of people with depression and alcoholism and mostly because I felt a lot of it in my own life. I was in and out of mental hospitals and I drank and overdosed on pills a couple of times. I know where they’re coming from and it’s really cool to see them develop.”

Now his trips to mental institutions are to bring the hope of the Gospel. He also visits jails and isn’t afraid to reach out to the homeless or homosexual community.

Open air meetings usually draw a crowd of about sixty.

The meetings feature musical guests in a wide variety of music and styles followed by a devotional and time of preaching.

They don’t ask for money and Kinslow said God has provided everything they need. “I get a free ad in the paper every other week. I paid $100 for about $1,500 worth of sound equipment. I have a lady who brings chairs and sets them up for us. The radio air time is free. It seems like the bigger it’s gotten, the more people want to give me something.”

As evangelists, Kinslow said he and his wife Kim don’t always get to the see long term effects of the ministry in people’s lives but often they hear about someone who is established and active in a local church. “There have just been so many blessings and so many people who have been saved or just revived a little bit and get back on fire.”

For more information visit kinslowministries.org or email korykinslow2@gmail.com •

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sal vat ion

by: Mindy Wood

oklahoma

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May 19th and 20th Oklahoma was blighted by the most powerful tornadoes in the state’s recorded history. Exceeding even the famous monster known as “the May 3rd tornado,” these storms claimed even more territory as it tore Moore and the Steelman Estates community in Shawnee near Bethel Acres.

Approximately seventy-five percent of all the homes destroyed in Pottawatomie County were in Steelman Estates, a quiet trailer and mobile park just south of I-40.

It was a place where struggling families and those on fixed incomes could find a lower cost of living; but in a moment, everything for which they had worked so hard was gone with the wind.

Almost immediately first responders and human service agencies arrived to assist injured residents and recover the dead. IA member, Bob Williams of Kingdom Advancers Ministry was at both Moore and Steelman Estates. IA donated money for supplies and gift cards for survivors.

“There was already so much help in Moore, there wasn’t a lot I could do there. I went to Shawnee and stayed there for several days. I got to work with Samaritan’s Purse and we had a team of about twenty people from Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas,” said Williams.

Williams operates a ministry that serves disaster victims for immediate needs such as food, water, medical supplies, excavation supplies and construction services. His background in construction allows him to do anything from a patch on a roof to rebuilding a home. In the midst of ministering to their most urgent needs at disaster sites, Williams also manages to see to their utmost need: salvation.

With the boldness of an evangelist and the faith of a mustard seed, he takes any opportunity he can get to share the

Gospel. In the days after the storm, a woman complained of a headache that persisted ever since the tornado. “I said, ‘well you don’t have to have it. We can pray for you and get rid of it.’ She said, ‘well I don’t really know your Jesus,’ and I said, ‘we can take care of that too.’”

Williams said she was healed and came back wanting to know more about “this Jesus.” She brought a few friends too. “She ended up getting saved and over the course of the next several days she was going around the trailer park telling people about Jesus and saying, ‘hey you need to have this guy pray for you.’ She came dragging them from all over the trailer park and there ended up several people getting saved and there were some healings. It was awesome to see that transformation in her.”

Another couple, who professed to be Christians, was looking for their Bible which they said was important because they had marked out the things they didn’t believe in it. “I said, ‘well which part do you not believe?’ She said, ‘well a friend of mine died so we don’t believe in the healing part and everyone we know is relatively poor so we don’t believe in prosperity.’ I said, ‘ma’am just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. With the Bible you have to believe what you read not read what you believe.’ It changed her life and made her look at things differently.

If you can get them to look at Jesus then you’ve got it made. All you got to do is tell them what Jesus has done for you.

He’ll do all the work.”

Williams continues to restock for the next disaster while he travels from church to church and city to city helping any way he can. For more information, visit www. kingdomadvancers.org or call 918-639-8275. • connection • 7

ten ways to plan an

amazing series by: Herbert Cooper

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1. Leverage the seasons when folks are most likely to attend church.

I like to launch new series that have a more outreach focus when people are more likely to attend services and invite their friends. Those seasons are cyclical. They depend on where you are located. Obviously, Christmas and Easter are two common times when people are likely to attend church.

2. Find the right balance between “reach people” series and “grow people” series.

There will always be tension here, but the objective is to try to balance out using services to attract a crowd and help people take their next steps in their spiritual journey. At West Ridge, we’ve actually color-coded our teaching calendar to make sure we maintain a healthy balance.

3. Use a variety of approaches to begin your series development.

Teach on a topic one series. Teach through a book of the Bible in another series. Teach a series of messages on a specific biblical character. Use a series to teach through a specific doctrine. Mix up your approach.

4. Address questions that people are asking.

Our tendency is to deliver only the information we want people to hear. People will not engage our teaching unless we are addressing the issues they are facing in their daily lives. A friend of mine routinely reviews the headlines of women’s magazines to get a sense of the topics that people are discussing in today’s culture.

5. Deliver biblical truth and life application.

Your teaching will not produce life change unless you also provide life application. Without application, people may experience conviction or inspiration, but they won’t know what to do with that. Make it a goal in every message to clearly identify one next step for people to take to apply what they’ve learned.

6. Shoot for eight to ten series throughout the year.

Your average series should be four to six

weeks. If you’re teaching through a book and it needs to go longer than that, try to break it up into multiple series. Every time you start a series, it creates an opportunity for people to invite their friends. You want more opportunities for people to invite their friends.

7. Plan ahead.

You can wait until Saturday to finish your message, but try to at least outline your topics a couple of months in advance. When you do that, you free up creative people to plan series packaging, service elements, and creative communications to enhance your teaching. You also provide time for appropriate promotions to occur.

8. Plan with a team.

One team may drive the topics that are addressed throughout the year. Another team may drive the series packaging, including identifying titles and visual images. Another team may develop the services elements and execution. Whatever the case, the end result will always be better when you have the right people engaged in a team approach.

9. Remember the people who already attend your church are your best promotions vehicle.

You can spend a lot of money on advertising or direct mail, but the number one way new people will attend your services is through an invitation from someone who already attends your church. Want more people to show up? Make it easier for people to invite their friends.

10. Pastors should teach, and artists should be creative.

The series I’ve experienced with the biggest impact both numerically and in life change have occurred when artists let the pastor drive the teaching and pastors let the artists drive the creative elements. The pastors control this. If they’re willing to empower artists, God can use this creativity to prepare people’s hearts for the message. •

sermoncentral.com

working Harvest Fellowship Church by: Mindy Wood

Pastors Terry and Pam Fletcher have watched their ministry steadily grow over the last twenty years and they said secret has been equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. Their dedication to delegation and evangelism has been the heartbeat of Harvest Church in Aurora, Missouri since 1997.

Before pastoring in Columbus, Nebraska in 1991, Fletcher said he was in churches where he and other members couldn’t even share a testimony, let alone stand in the pulpit or start a Bible study out of their home. “I’m glad I was in those churches because I learned what not to do. It’s important for pastors to take their hands off of things and let people work in the ministry. If the pastor doesn’t want to release them, trust them, give them any credit, the people die because they can’t do anything and he’s going to be stuck with a little group of people who are dependent on him.”

Their commitment to training the Body of Christ has resulted in several ministries at Harvest Fellowship Church and abroad. They have a Bible college, jail and street ministries, a twelve step program for addicts, a new gym that is open for community use, and a K-12 grade Christian school.

“There’s a lot going on, too many ministries for me to handle and so I’m very Body-oriented. I want the Body to work because I can’t do it all. I just offer the ideas, organize it a little bit and then put someone to work.”

Last month they commissioned IA member, Donny Briscoe to the mission field in Guyana and he said there are about fourteen preachers in their church now. Some of them preach at other churches, at Harvest, or are involved in other ministries until God calls them elsewhere.

Also important to the Fletchers is their relationship with other local churches. They’ve even gone so far as to start a ministry and then pass it off to another fellowship. Their ministry “Commitment Keepers,” a spin-off of Promise Keepers, was handed off to pastors and teachers from six different

body churches in an inner city where they can meet for fellowship outside their churches. After their church food pantry burned down, they decided not to reopen but support another one in town.

“We’re trying to get the churches to work together on a lot of things and help them with some of their ministries in town. If we can give into that instead of starting a lot of extra ministries that the community already has and promote them, then we do that. You just have to reach out to them and let them know you really care about what they’re doing. We’re very much a kingdom minded church.”

Fletcher said they’re dedicated to being a “Word” church, basing their teachings entirely on Scripture and the simplicity of the Gospel. “People get into a lot of these deep teachings but there’s nothing new under the sun, so I’m going to stay with the Scriptures. I’m a Spirit-filled believer and I believe in the power of God but if it’s not in the Word, I’m not going there.”

They also believe in taking God at His word, those leaps of faith that test a saint’s trust in God. “I felt like God told me if we’d build a church in India that He would build us a gym debt free. I got up and while I was saying it I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this’ but I believed I heard it. We built a 250,000 gym here debt free and we built the church in India at the same time. It’s just amazing what He does when you step out in faith.”

Fletcher hopes to see a great awakening as he continues to oversee a working, evangelismminded church. “I think God is getting the church ready for an end-time harvest and I want to be ready for it.”

For more info, visit harvestchurchhca.org or call 417-678-2310. •

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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