A fear of mine over the years has been that familiarity with Scripture will lead me to a place where I am ambivalent…routine…robotic. Let me explain: “Familiar” Scripture are those places we know and know well. We’ve heard it, read it, preached it, memorized it. Yet, because we (I) know it so well, we (I) skim through the greatness of the passage missing what “freshness” God may have in store for me.
Today that reality hit me hard.
I have the opportunity of being a part time hospital chaplain for a local health system in the Birmingham area. Throughout my day I encounter a number of people with various needs. Some of my patients are recovering from simple procedures. Some of my patients are under medical observation to determine their sickness. And some of them are there because they are dying.
As I made my rounds today, I met an elderly lady. She was very sick. Her time on this earth is not long. I entered her room and sat down beside her bed. We spoke for awhile about our families. Her eyes, though dimmed with age, seemed to beam as she recalled memories with her children and grandchildren. Through her pain, she expressed her love for her Lord. As I listened to her speak about her confidence in Him, tears slowly made their way down her cheek.
I asked her why she way she crying. Was her pain too intense? Could I go get the nurse to give her something to give comfort? There were a few seconds of silence after I asked why she was crying. Then she grabbed my hand and placed her small Bible in my palms.
“What passage do you like most?” was my question to her. Without hesitation, she smiled and whispered, “Psalm 91”. I too smiled. I know that passage. I love that passage. I have preached that passage countless times at funeral services. I am familiar with that passage.
As I read the Psalm, she began to quietly speak the words of the Psalm. She too was familiar with the passage but her familiarity was much different than mine. She lives it…I’ve simply preached it. By the time I finished reading verse two, she and I were both emotional. Her tears were from her strong confidence in who God says He is. My tears were from not completely believing who He says He is. My familiarity with the passage exposed my contentment with my view of God. Let these two verses overwhelm and overtake you.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Take some time and become familiar once again with Psalm 91.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Big Changes in the Willis House...Part 2
Nearly 10 years ago Michele and I had a number of meetings with the Alabama State Board of Missions discussing, seeking, and praying to see whether or not God might be calling us to plant a church. As you might imagine, these were anxious yet exciting times for us praying over this new venture. However, at the end of the day, we felt it best to continue in the ministry where we were serving at the time. I was on staff at an awesome fellowship that was allowing me to finish seminary and frankly, neither Michele nor I felt a complete “release” from God to pursue new ministry options.
Since those meetings a decade ago, there have been times God has rekindled within us that vision of church planning. I have had the privilege to pastor 2 congregations since that time yet deep within my soul there has been a yearning…a stirring of what if. What if my family took this leap of faith? What if God all along has been orchestrating all things in my life to accomplish something AMAZING for His glory (by the way, He has a habit of doing that you know)? What if I literally took God at His Word and BELIEVED HIM that He IS Who He says He is and WILL DO what He says He will do?
I’m tired of what ifs. I shudder to think what my life will be one day, sitting on the front porch of my life, reflecting on the “what ifs”. Today is the day. No more what ifs.
After months (yea, even years) of prayer with my wife and a number of our close friends, Michele and I are sensing God calling us to plant a congregation.
This decision was difficult to make- difficult in the sense that we wrestled with our own lack of faith, our own confidence, and our own deficiencies. Yet we are drawn to the Scriptures and are clearly reminded that our confidence is in Christ, our abilities rest in His power, and our faith arises out of His promises.
So you may be asking what are the details about this new congregation? Here is what we feel like we know at this time.
• OUR PRAYER - We have assembled an intercessory prayer team that is committed to pray for us through this journey. In fact, we would love to add you on our email prayer team. If you can commit to pray for us on a regular basis, let me know and we’ll place you on our PT. Shoot me an email at ernwillis@yahoo.com and we’ll take care of the rest!
• OUR PROCESS – So how will all this go down? I am currently working through the steps of this congregation becoming a 501C-3. Please pray for this as it is a lengthy and time consuming venture! I have also gone through a number of training sessions with Association of Related Churches. These sessions have proven to be vitally helpful in equipping us for the journey ahead. Additionally, we will be finalizing our Board of Directors over the next 2 months so we covet your prayers for wisdom and discernment. Starting in January of 2011, we will be hosting monthly “gathering” times of worship and vision casting. Then, in April of 2011, our monthly gatherings will culminate with a public Good Friday service with our first launch service being Easter Sunday of 2011!
• OUR PURPOSE – So what will this congregation be about? I strongly believe that church should be simple and not complex; life giving and not life constricting; relevant, and relational. It will be a congregation that is driven for God’s glory, enabled by God’s Spirit, centered on God’s word, and sent by God’s Son to accomplish the greatest mission ever committed to mankind- fulfilling the great commission. With that said, our church will focus on three areas:
Worship & Celebration - The local body comes together in a public setting and celebrates the greatness of God. We will participate together in worship by remembering and rejoicing what God is doing in their private lives. People express their value of God in spirit and truth. Christ is exalted where He draws all men unto Himself.
But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
Connect & Grow- For the church to get bigger it most become smaller. People are driven by relationships. Small groups are vital to the lifeblood of any church. These groups are not exclusive; meaning that the groups are designed for both believers and non-believers. In fact, these groups serve as a key component in bringing lost people to Christ.
Additionally, these groups provide opportunities for people to mature in their journey with one another and with God. In these groups they discover their giftedness. This results in people “plugging into” the ministry where they are equipped to go serve people with the gospel.
“I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14
Go & Serve- The goal in mind is for every person, after they have been won to Christ, discipled in their faith, and discover their place in ministry, are challenged to serve people locally and globally with the life giving message of Jesus.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
• OUR PROMISE – I am compelled by Scripture that the New Testament church’s most significant calling is taking the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. This will be the centrifuge of this church-people being brought to Christ by us intentionally focusing our efforts and resources on the world. To assist in accomplishing this, 20% of the income that is given to this congregation will be given away to help directly support local, national, and international life giving missions. In other words, this congregation will budget itself based on 80% operations/ministry and 20% intentional missions.
Additionally, I am committed to not receive any income from this congregation for at least the first 24-36 months. To help meet the needs in my home, God has graciously opened the door for me to work at a local hospital system as one of their PRN Chaplains.
• OUR PLACE – The area which we feel God leading us to plant a church is the Springville, Al area. Why Springville? This community has seen unprecedented growth over the last 5 -10 years. Couple that with the fact that the state of Alabama has over 2 million lost people (according to ASBOM) we sense this is a large mission field.
• OUR PETITIONS – As stated before, if you would like to commit to being a part of a team of people that will pray for us, let me know. In the meantime, here are some of the requests that we ask you even now to pray for:
-Transition for our family as we are going through the adoption of our daughter from China.
-Approval for the 5013-C status to go smoothly and even granted by the end of the year.
-Launch Team to be assembled. We can’t do this alone so we are asking, seeking, and begging God to bring people and families into our lives that share this vision and will commit to joining our team in launching this ministry.
-Location-Though the church is not a place but rather a people, we still would like a physical place for our people to gather!
-We will need a Worship Leader! A major component of what we will do is corporate worship. Please pray God raises someone up to join us in this vision.
We love you all deeply and desire your prayers in the months to come! Keep watching our blogs for updates! Michele's blog is http://southerncheesehead.blogspot.com
Ernie and Michele
Since those meetings a decade ago, there have been times God has rekindled within us that vision of church planning. I have had the privilege to pastor 2 congregations since that time yet deep within my soul there has been a yearning…a stirring of what if. What if my family took this leap of faith? What if God all along has been orchestrating all things in my life to accomplish something AMAZING for His glory (by the way, He has a habit of doing that you know)? What if I literally took God at His Word and BELIEVED HIM that He IS Who He says He is and WILL DO what He says He will do?
I’m tired of what ifs. I shudder to think what my life will be one day, sitting on the front porch of my life, reflecting on the “what ifs”. Today is the day. No more what ifs.
After months (yea, even years) of prayer with my wife and a number of our close friends, Michele and I are sensing God calling us to plant a congregation.
This decision was difficult to make- difficult in the sense that we wrestled with our own lack of faith, our own confidence, and our own deficiencies. Yet we are drawn to the Scriptures and are clearly reminded that our confidence is in Christ, our abilities rest in His power, and our faith arises out of His promises.
So you may be asking what are the details about this new congregation? Here is what we feel like we know at this time.
• OUR PRAYER - We have assembled an intercessory prayer team that is committed to pray for us through this journey. In fact, we would love to add you on our email prayer team. If you can commit to pray for us on a regular basis, let me know and we’ll place you on our PT. Shoot me an email at ernwillis@yahoo.com and we’ll take care of the rest!
• OUR PROCESS – So how will all this go down? I am currently working through the steps of this congregation becoming a 501C-3. Please pray for this as it is a lengthy and time consuming venture! I have also gone through a number of training sessions with Association of Related Churches. These sessions have proven to be vitally helpful in equipping us for the journey ahead. Additionally, we will be finalizing our Board of Directors over the next 2 months so we covet your prayers for wisdom and discernment. Starting in January of 2011, we will be hosting monthly “gathering” times of worship and vision casting. Then, in April of 2011, our monthly gatherings will culminate with a public Good Friday service with our first launch service being Easter Sunday of 2011!
• OUR PURPOSE – So what will this congregation be about? I strongly believe that church should be simple and not complex; life giving and not life constricting; relevant, and relational. It will be a congregation that is driven for God’s glory, enabled by God’s Spirit, centered on God’s word, and sent by God’s Son to accomplish the greatest mission ever committed to mankind- fulfilling the great commission. With that said, our church will focus on three areas:
Worship & Celebration - The local body comes together in a public setting and celebrates the greatness of God. We will participate together in worship by remembering and rejoicing what God is doing in their private lives. People express their value of God in spirit and truth. Christ is exalted where He draws all men unto Himself.
But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
Connect & Grow- For the church to get bigger it most become smaller. People are driven by relationships. Small groups are vital to the lifeblood of any church. These groups are not exclusive; meaning that the groups are designed for both believers and non-believers. In fact, these groups serve as a key component in bringing lost people to Christ.
Additionally, these groups provide opportunities for people to mature in their journey with one another and with God. In these groups they discover their giftedness. This results in people “plugging into” the ministry where they are equipped to go serve people with the gospel.
“I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14
Go & Serve- The goal in mind is for every person, after they have been won to Christ, discipled in their faith, and discover their place in ministry, are challenged to serve people locally and globally with the life giving message of Jesus.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
• OUR PROMISE – I am compelled by Scripture that the New Testament church’s most significant calling is taking the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. This will be the centrifuge of this church-people being brought to Christ by us intentionally focusing our efforts and resources on the world. To assist in accomplishing this, 20% of the income that is given to this congregation will be given away to help directly support local, national, and international life giving missions. In other words, this congregation will budget itself based on 80% operations/ministry and 20% intentional missions.
Additionally, I am committed to not receive any income from this congregation for at least the first 24-36 months. To help meet the needs in my home, God has graciously opened the door for me to work at a local hospital system as one of their PRN Chaplains.
• OUR PLACE – The area which we feel God leading us to plant a church is the Springville, Al area. Why Springville? This community has seen unprecedented growth over the last 5 -10 years. Couple that with the fact that the state of Alabama has over 2 million lost people (according to ASBOM) we sense this is a large mission field.
• OUR PETITIONS – As stated before, if you would like to commit to being a part of a team of people that will pray for us, let me know. In the meantime, here are some of the requests that we ask you even now to pray for:
-Transition for our family as we are going through the adoption of our daughter from China.
-Approval for the 5013-C status to go smoothly and even granted by the end of the year.
-Launch Team to be assembled. We can’t do this alone so we are asking, seeking, and begging God to bring people and families into our lives that share this vision and will commit to joining our team in launching this ministry.
-Location-Though the church is not a place but rather a people, we still would like a physical place for our people to gather!
-We will need a Worship Leader! A major component of what we will do is corporate worship. Please pray God raises someone up to join us in this vision.
We love you all deeply and desire your prayers in the months to come! Keep watching our blogs for updates! Michele's blog is http://southerncheesehead.blogspot.com
Ernie and Michele
Monday, October 4, 2010
BIG Changes in The Willis house...Part One
Over the last decade my wife and I have been a part of numerous missions into the county of Mexico. We have seen our Lord there in many ways; especially in the children. Our hearts have been moved by the plight of the orphans. To the point when we came back from our most recent mission from LaQupia, Mexico, we felt called to adopt.
At the beginning of the year, Michele and I began the process of bringing our daughter from Mexico. We have been diligently praying, working hard to raise funds, and managing our expectations.
We have discovered over the last several months that it is virtually impossible at this time to adopt from Mexico. Our agency who we chose to help us adopt from Mexico did a wonderful job fighting for us but ultimately it was to no avail. The central authority of Mexico has refused to allow people outside the country to be connected to the orphans within their country.
It has been a difficult few weeks for our family trying to cope as we grieve this decision.
However, God's ways are not ours. My wife and I have to believe His word that He is who He says He is-Sovereign, Just, Merciful. As much as our hearts are for adoption, our Heavenly Father loves adoption much more-we have been brought near to Him by His choosing of us. His kindness and pity rescued us out of the death rooms of sin and given us a forever home with Him.
I believe He guides our steps and redirect our desires. Our desire to bring our daughter home hasn't changed. Knowing God has called us to this, we have prayed.
Now, His path for us is becoming more clear; His voice is becoming more pronounced; "Go, rescue my orphans." So, in a spirit of obedience and new direction we go.
We now are going to China to bring home our daughter. Our "Operation La Chica" has now become "Operation 女儿 'Nuer' ".
That is one of the BIG changes headed our way! Yahoo!
However, the changes are still coming. I'll let you know about "BIG Changes Part Two" at the end of the week!
Keep Praying...
At the beginning of the year, Michele and I began the process of bringing our daughter from Mexico. We have been diligently praying, working hard to raise funds, and managing our expectations.
We have discovered over the last several months that it is virtually impossible at this time to adopt from Mexico. Our agency who we chose to help us adopt from Mexico did a wonderful job fighting for us but ultimately it was to no avail. The central authority of Mexico has refused to allow people outside the country to be connected to the orphans within their country.
It has been a difficult few weeks for our family trying to cope as we grieve this decision.
However, God's ways are not ours. My wife and I have to believe His word that He is who He says He is-Sovereign, Just, Merciful. As much as our hearts are for adoption, our Heavenly Father loves adoption much more-we have been brought near to Him by His choosing of us. His kindness and pity rescued us out of the death rooms of sin and given us a forever home with Him.
I believe He guides our steps and redirect our desires. Our desire to bring our daughter home hasn't changed. Knowing God has called us to this, we have prayed.
Now, His path for us is becoming more clear; His voice is becoming more pronounced; "Go, rescue my orphans." So, in a spirit of obedience and new direction we go.
We now are going to China to bring home our daughter. Our "Operation La Chica" has now become "Operation 女儿 'Nuer' ".
That is one of the BIG changes headed our way! Yahoo!
However, the changes are still coming. I'll let you know about "BIG Changes Part Two" at the end of the week!
Keep Praying...
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