This week I asked Pastor Kerry Shook (Fellowship of the Woodlands - Houston, Texas) and Pastor Lee McFarland (Radiant Church – Surprise, Arizona) to call into the Podcast and talk about purity, maturity and unity. Click to listen and then post a comment here on the blog…
Rick
13 responses so far ↓
Ps Rocco Scarcella // April 14, 2007 at 3:56 am
Hey Rick! I’m an Assistant Pastor with Wesley International Congregation - a multicultural church of about 800 in Sydney, Australia. I had the privilege of attending your Purpose Driven Conference here in Oz about 10 years ago which had a majot impact on my ministry - as well as hearing you at a recent Hillsong Conference. And just now on podcast!
Firstly, thanks for praying for all us pastors over Easter. It was a real lift to get your email the other day. For just over 12 months now, I’ve been serving in this purposeful & united team of (5) full-time pastors plus elders. I certainly don’t take these wonderful colleagues for granted!
Secondly, we have been blessed this last year in our church as we embraced the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign! Our small groups have since increased and last February we have just added another service at 12 noon.
Thirdly, thanks for the challenging podcast - particularly speaking so frankly with Kerry & Lee about spiritual leadership issues and its connection to blessing. Yes, good food for thought and action: “Purity, Maturity and Unity” -the various kinds of “pruning” that we need to do and the dangers of negativity and gossip to unity! Wise words indeed! No church or pastor is perfect (No, not even ours! Our church too had some struggles in the past along the lines you’ve discussed!)
Thanks for all you do for the wider church! I look forward to future podcasts like this one.
A grateful brother in Christ!
Rocco.
nathe // April 14, 2007 at 9:07 am
HA,RICK THAT WAS A GREAT PROGRAM. IT ENCOUARGES ME TO HERE I,M NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH CHURCH ISSUES. I,VE WONDERED HOE YOU FOLKS HANDLED CHURCH PROBLEMS, I WISH YOU WOULD DO MORE TEACHING ON DEALING WITH THOSE ISSUES. WE HAVE A SMALL STAFF, THE REST ARE VOL. THAT CAN MAKE IT HARD TO DEAL WITH ISSUES SOMETIME. MOST OF THE TIME IT’S NOT MORAL ISSUES, BUT EFFECTIVENESS. GOT ANY ADVICE IN THIS AREA. THANKS NATHE
Abram Kielsmeier-Jones // April 15, 2007 at 8:42 pm
How can one “maintain” God’s blessing if the blessing is God’s to begin with? I understand the goal and desire of this podcast, but I think the phrasing of this (and I’m listening to the podcast itself) could mislead someone to thinking that something WE do controls or has an affect on how God in his great mercy chooses to bless us or not. The Scripture says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” So, yes there are things we are called to do, and we need to be obedient, but whether or not God chooses to bless us in return is entirely up to him. Not us.
rob lovell // April 17, 2007 at 5:18 am
This is a great idea! Sometimes as a pastor I just need some encouraging words from fellow men of God. Thanks, Rick, for another great resource. God bless.
JH // April 18, 2007 at 6:37 am
Gentlemen, thanks for sharing your experiences and insight. I must say that I wept as Rick led the prayer at the end of the podcast. God truly spoke to me as I listened. Thanks for this podcast ministry.
Jim // April 18, 2007 at 9:53 am
Pastor Rick.
Thank you for caring enough that you are reaching out to even the little ones. I shepherd a church plant that is two years old and we have our share of struggels. In your podcast today I didn’t even get past the fist section on purity before I had to pause and repent. Listening to you and the other leaders was a wonder time because I know I was surrounded by mighty men of faith.
Once again. God bless you because you are a blessing to people like me.
Jim
Robin Slay // April 18, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Rick,
I was overwhelmed when I received your email that you were praying for me and Lord’s church I pastor. I pastor a small rural church in LIndrith NM with around 50 attending each Sunday.
I listened to the podcast and received great encouragment from it. I especially appreciated your comments about being more concerned by God’s approval than others and that you are jealous for the reputation and unity of the body of Christ.
Thank you for spurring me on and encouraging pastors of small churches as well as mega churched. I have always felt you never have forgotten us.
May God bless you and your wife specifically with joy, health, and growth iin your personal lives and ministry.
Robin
Robin
Martin // April 19, 2007 at 4:46 am
Hi Gentlemen,
I’m very thankfull for those three points. I’m a student at age 23 and I’m about to earn my Masters degree of Business Administration.
We are a churchplant in Frankfurt Oder Germany.
I only had Ps 51 for tonight, but than came your words and out of a sudden all this makes perfectly sense to minister about tonight in prayer and worship. Please pray for our church as we are miniscule and have a great vision.
We want to grow and to be a blessing. That’s for sure now I have some points to guide me in a direction and to work on tonight and furhter on.
Martin
Nico // April 19, 2007 at 6:54 am
Rick, I am pastoring a small church who adopted the 5 purposes of God for the church and try very hard with the implementing of the vision that’s based on the 5 purposes BUT running into constant gossip, purity and compromising issues and there was no blessing at all from God till now just a lot of heartache and drama.
Listening to the podcast I could hear God talk to me, saying you are the leader I will hold you accountable, you have to address this immediately.
Rick, thank you for being obedient to the Holy Spirit.
Rick Clevenger // April 20, 2007 at 6:09 am
Thank you for these amazing podcast! We are a two-year old Purpose Driven Church Plant that meets in a movie theatre. We dream big because we serve a big God. Thanks for the motivation, the lessons you guys have learned, and thanks for passing them on to us.
Rick~
Rusty Williams // April 26, 2007 at 11:49 am
Rick,
I can’t tell you how encouraged I was listening to you, Lee, and Kerry. What Lee said is so true. I certainly don’t rejoice that you had such a tough year in 06′, but hearing you talk about the staff issues really affirmed some things that we have had to do this year. I have been mentioning the word pruning so much and I just about jumped out of my chair when I heard this conversation. I had to dismiss a staff member for immorality and a whole youth leadership team for all kinds of sin. It has been a great source of grief for me personally and has stretched the church in many ways. I can see the pruning process taking place and I am so excited to see the blessings to come. I can’t tell you how much your transparency about this issue encouraged me. I changed my whole day.
Rusty Williams
Life Christian Center
Rev. Lilian L. Cotto // April 27, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Pastor Rick it has been a blessing to study the Purpose Driven Life in our congregation, it is a multicultural congregation in Camden, New Jersey, one of the poorest cities in the country and one of the ones that has more crime and in need of a lot of prayer. We have been studying it in English and Spanish and people are really enjoying it.
May our God continue to bless your ministry so you can continue to bless all of us. Please keep the city of Camden in your prayers and of course Asbury United Methodist Church also. We need a lot of prayer specially now. Thanks a God bless you. It was really wonderful to learned that you were praying for us for Easter, it was a glorious day for all! as I mentioned before.
Chad Payne // May 5, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Wow! Rick, my thanks to you and the guys for this amazing discussion. You have no idea how much it was a timely word for me and for the precious church that I pastor near Birmingham, Alabama. This podcast is a very valuable resource for encouragement and strategy. Keep up the great work!
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