Leadership Principles I Learned in Las Vegas

Hello everyone, I just got back from a leadership conference in Las Vegas. Yes, you heard me right. LAS VEGAS! I was at the Word of Life Church and had the privilege of hearing Pastor Mack Hammond from Minnesota. He taught a powerful message of living a simple life. That the only way to run a complex ministry or get through a complicated problem is to simplify it. We mistakenly think that anything that is complex is somehow better or more authentic. But the truth of the matter is that human pride loves complexity yet the Kingdom of God operates more smoothly in simplicity. Wh yo we as leaders get stressed out...our lives are to complex. We fail to enjoy any sort of simplicity in our lives. For years I have had a great habit of listening to soft music, lighting candles and reading. It literally slows down time when you do this. It allows us to take the time to ponder life, consider God and enjoy the things that we Would normally rush right by.

Leadership ideas for today:
1. How can you slow down time?
2. How can I learn to slow down my life and simplify
3. Create habits of simplicity like....taking a walk everyday at lunch. Or reading every morning.
4. Buy a devotional book like "Streams in the Desert" and use it every day.

Thanks for checking in today and keep going on the pathway to leadership

Blessings
Pastor Terry Bonner

‎'I have learned'-Contentment in every condition is a great art, a spiritual mystery. It is to be learned, and to be learned as a mystery. - Jeremiah Burroughs (Puritan Preacher of the 1600's). What a great thought....Contentment is an art form yet it is learned. It is a spiritual mystery,and at the same time it is developed. Jeremiah Burroughs lived in a time that was very difficult and people need needed to learn contentment in order to survive. Unfortunately, people who live in times where everything is good fail to develop the art of contentment. It is even more important for us to develop the idea of contentment when things are going good so that when something difficult are we are already prepared and ready to be content.

As a leader, it is very important that we learn to be content in every situation. I am not talking about complacency. I am talking about developing the ability to find happiness in Christ in every phase of life and every situation that arises. 1 Timothy 6:6 in the Amplified Version says "[And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of [a]inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain."

Commissioning New Leaders November 20th

We are so excited to be Commissioning our new group of Leaders at Jake's House. These people have been on a journey towards leadership which includes attending the "Enrichment" Class, serving in a ministry and developing their character and leadership abilities. One of my jobs (more of a calling) is to help people on their journey from "Potential Leader" to "Leader."

One of my friends sent an email out today that had the following words.."Go back to Your Dream and Stir it Up." That is a good word for today.. What are those dreams that God has given you? Have you let them die? Stir them back up and watch them live again.

Blessings
Pastor Terry

Starting a New Small Group. Fridays at 12:00pm

We are starting a new small group at my house on Fridays at noon. The small group is focusing on "Empowering your Preaching." basses on the workbook by Frank Damazio. This group will focus on every aspect of preaching. I consider this workbook to be the single greatest resource that I have ever seen for preachers. RSVP if you would like to attend or would like more info

Matthew 5:5-6

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Amplified Version: Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!  

Another one of God's opposite statements.  By that i mean that...Jesus uses the phrase "Inherit the earth" which naturally would cause people to think of success and power and conquest.  But Jesus teaches that the way to inherit the earth is to be meek.  The followers of Christ did not expect him to come in a humble manner and they really didn't anticipate that He would call them to live and serve in a humble way.  D Martin Loyd Jones (one of the great preachers) states that it is strange that we imagine that we can fight the enemy with organization and strategy.  It takes meekness...which is really trusting in God

In Love

Pastor Terry Bonner

God is Always there at the end of the Rope!

Matthew 5:3-4

³"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
 ⁴"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

God is always reaching us when we fell most unreachable.  In the times that we feel like all is lost and nothing can be done to change the situation....In those times when we are at the end of our Rope...God arrives and interacts with our lives.  That is why He declares in scripture that He loves it when we are at the end of ourselves cause that is when we will see Him.  That is why the Bible declares, "I must decrease so Christ can increase."  Verse 4 is even better. It deals with those situations where we have actually lost what is most important to us...It is in those times that we realize that God is the most important thing in our lives.    Take time today to pray and make God the center of your life.....
Pastor Terry PT

New Teaching Series: Teachings on the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:1-2 "When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:"


It is interesting that it says that Jesus saw the crowds, yet he taught the disciples.  We read over this and assume that Jesus saw the crowds and then taught the crowds.  The message version says that the ministry of Jesus was drawing huge crowds yet it was to the smaller committed group that He actually taught.  Here is what I see in this passage....

• You have to be willing to climb the mountain in order to hear the deep teaching of the King
• The mountain always represents the glory of God
• The journey up the mountain represents you and i actively pursing 
• Jesus pulled away from the masses to show the disciples that the heart of the Kingdom is not success but life-change
• Not that success s bad or won't come but that success can never be a replacement for true authentic Christianity
• "Those committed to Him climbed the mountain with Him."
• Am I committed to God? To hearing His voice?
• Am I committed to climbing the mountain with God?  To move at His pace and His timing?
• "Arriving at a Quiet Place."
• Jesus is always drawing us out of chaos, confusion, and noise.  
• He calls us into quietness and peace where the still small voice of God is clearly heard