Lost Sheep Ministries News The Great Commission: all make Disciples teach OBEY II Timothy 2:2. Notes from Pastor Bob: January

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1 Lost Sheep Ministries News December Christmas Review The Great Commission: Matthew 28: is a commission for all Christians to GO, make Disciples, and teach them to OBEY all that Jesus has commanded us. LSM is dedicated to evangelizing the lost and making Disciples of Christ that make Disciples of Christ according to II Timothy 2:2. Notes from Pastor Bob: We are splitting our December Newsletter with two issues to review our work during Christmas represents the most epic milestone in human history. As a gift to humanity, God gave His son in exchange for our sins! When we exchange gifts this Christmas, tell about the Greatest exchange. The most difficult part of generating these two issues will be the elemination of so many important accomplishments during the year to reduce our Newsletters down to a few pages. Some months we covered new Discipleship presentations we developed rather than countries we visited. -- Pastor Bob January Autopsy of a Deceased Church in the USA: This is a summary of a book by Dr. Thom S. Rainer. No one wants to see a church die. Yet, far too many churches are dying. For more than twenty-five years, Dr. Thom Rainer has helped churches grow, reverse the trends of decline, and has autopsied those that have died. Dr. Rainer is currently President and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. He has written several books based upon statistical research of churches in the USA across denominational lines. For a more complete assessment of the state of churches, it is recommended that his book "Autopsy of a Deceased Church; 12 Ways to keep yours alive." be read in its entirety. Healthy churches have a prominent presence in their community. Attendance is constant, or growing. Outreach is a big part of the service the church provides to the community. Churches that show symptoms of sickness are prone to low attendance. The focus of the sick church ministries tends to lean more in favor of existing members instead of potential members. Page 1 of 7

2 Churches that are very sick become so through a gradual passing of time. These churches show a decline in attendance over time, while also suffering inner conflicts and quarrels. New members are rare. The church is just seen as a building instead of an influential part of the community. Another noticeable problem is a constant switch of pastors over a relatively short amount of time. Dying churches have very few prospects of ever recovering. Often, the grounds and building are turned over to the surrounding neighborhood, or the local government to maintain. In the best cases, a new church receives the dying church's building as an offering. The symptoms of an ailing church are reflected in ministries and programs that she emphasizes which are designed for comfort, safety, and protection of her members. The cleanliness and appearance of her facilities and furnishings are more important than using her resources to sending her members out into the community to evangelize and make disciples. Life support measures such as reducing staff, discontinued use of certain facilities, sale of no longer used equipment and furniture, rental of space to secular community organizations, etc. are sure indicators of a dying church. Only a sincere willingness of all leadership and members to forsake man-made traditions and make individual, radical changes by returning to the basics of true church life as illustrated in the Book of Acts will start a healing process. February -The Calvary Road: Roy Hession wrote the initial release of The Calvary Road in It has become a Christian classic and revised editions have since been released in several languages. With the passage of time, Hession is more sure now that the truths expressed in the pages of this book lie at the heart of all those movements of revival by which God has restored His Church to new life. Our only hope for the revival of His Church is not going to happen until His people who are called by His name humble themselves and pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, then He will hear us in heaven, forgive us of our sin, and heal our sick land (2 Chronicles 7:14) Jesus took upon Himself our sins so that we might be free: We, however, must have faith to believe that Jesus' sacrifice has been accepted by our Heavenly Father for our sins. That is Radical! An overall picture of the life of victory is that of the Highway in Isaiah 35: "An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The Way of Holiness". The Highway is narrow and uphill, it is not beyond any of us. Though there are many danger if we get off the road, while keeping on the Highway there is safety. Only one kind of person is barred from walking there and that is the unclean one. This includes not only the sinner who does not know Christ as his Saviour, but also the Christian who keeps walking in unconfessed sin. The only way onto the Highway is up a small dark, forbidding hill; the Hill of Calvary, it is the sort of hill we have to climb on our hands and knees. Page 2 of 7

3 At the top of the hill, guarding the way to the Highway, stands so gaunt and grim -- the cross. At the foot of the cross is a low door, so low that to get through it one has to stoop and crawl through. It is the only entrance to the Highway. In order to break our wills to His, God brings us to the foot of the cross and there shows us what real brokenness is. We see those wounded hands and feet, that face of love crowned with thorns, and we see the complete brokenness of the One who said, "Not my will, but Thine be done" as He drank the bitter cup of our sins to its dregs. Therefore, to be broken is to look on Him and to realize it was our sin nailed Him there! Sprinkled over the Door is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. As we bend to crawl through, the blood cleanses from all sin. The embankment on either side slopes away into thick darkness. The darkness creeps right to the very edges of the Highway, but on the Highway itself, all is light. We will never experience revival in our churches until we first experience revival in the homes that make up our churches. Revived church with unrevived homes is sheer hypocrisy! March - Bluefields, Nicaragua: Joe Harper and Pastor Bob flew to Managua and then to Bluefields, Nicaragua. It was Joe's first International mission trip. We are looking forward to working with Joe to teach some students our Training Student Trainers (TST) course. This course is designed to equip students to make disciples that make disciples and take the Gospel of Christ into their schools. Pastor Bob continued to teach TST while Joe and a young man he is training worked on a pipeline. He had three students in the morning and seven in the afternoon. Joe s joy as he shared his experience about leading his first soul to Christ is beyond description. There is a big difference between a disciple and a trainer; A disciple is a student or a learner, A trainer is a disciple that MAKES disciples. We are encouraged by the response of these young people; they are on time for the class, attentive, homework completed, etc. We completed the classes and commissioned them to go out and make disciples. Clayton Moody and his wife Jerlyn will follow up with the five from Zion Baptist church and Pastor Harland and his wife Deena will lead the six from Hopewell church. Our prayers will continue with these students as they sustain the Christian commission given to them. They are our future. Managua, Nicaragua: We flew back to Managua, went to the Hodera (Alcohol and drug addiction recovery center), and met with Miguel Lopez, Director, and then we met with the men at the Hodera and showed the Jesus Film. When I shared with them after the movie 20 men came forward and dropped to their knees praying to receive Christ. We also met a man at the Hodera that Pastor Bob led to Christ last year. He showed us the Bible given him and his Spiritual Birth Certificate as well. We shared the importance of baptism with the men and then enjoyed cake, ice cream, and drinks while we waited for the pool to fill. We baptized 13 men. Great joy was on all their faces. Page 3 of 7

4 April - Five Star Church: Five Star usually bring to mind a top quality hotel or restaurant. We have used a book entitled The Five Star Church by Stan Toler and Alan Nelson to develop this presentation. Most of the traditional denominational churches in the United States are showing symptoms of sickness, are very sick, or are dying! Unfortunately, apathy and acceptance of mediocrity has contributed to this demise. Too often, these churches have fallen for the misconception that a better building, a seminary educated leader, and lots of free pizza, etc. will provide new life for their church while community relevance deteriorates. It is like the crew frantically rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic after striking the iceberg! The principles in this presentation will not likely help those churches that have passed the point of plateauing and are now living on life support because they will not have the work force and financial resources to apply them. If, however, several such churches will be willing to merge and combine their resources, they probably could start a new church that can become a Five Star church in their community. Sustain is a key word that must be emphasized. Our God lives in a Five Star heaven and His embassies on earth, churches, should be Five Star embassies. We must strive for excellence by putting God first, loving and serving others by meeting their needs, and by being leaders in excellence and customer service because we have the highest stakes -- Eternity. Long-standing traditional churches must be willing to alter or drop their traditions if they fail to reinforce the mission of the church. Our culture has gone through radical changes over the past few decades. People's preferences have changed with the culture. They no longer shop at old department stores, and small businesses. Choices for restaurants, service stations, drug stores, and churches have changed. The products of department stores, restaurants, and churches have not changed, just the curb appeal and the manner that service is being rendered has adjusted. New converts should enter into a Spiritual Nursery where they will be taught the mission and vision of the church before being accepted as members. They should then be advanced to a class which emphasizes the basics of Christianity (i.e. The Bible is the inspired word of God, Some things we know about God, What it means to be Born- Again, Kingdom life, etc.) Candidates from other churches will likely bring religious baggage with them so they should go through the Basics class before being accepted as members. The next step is to teach them that the church is a living organism with Christ being the Head of the Church and they being a member of His Body. They are equipped with spiritual gifts for their function in the church (i.e. service, teaching, administration, etc.) The final class should be to learn how to make disciples that will make disciples (T4T for adults and TST for students). Ultimately, they should be shown how to apply what they have learned in the community outside of the church buildings. May - Mexico -Our faithful servants, Lazarus and Dalia Vargas provide our International story for the month of May. They have returned to a prison on the Mexico side of our southern border to bring hope to inmates in Piedras Negras, Mexico. Delia writes, "I am deeply humbled when I am in the presence of the mighty hand of GOD working in the midst of all the chaos that is in various parts of the world - especially in Mexico". Page 4 of 7

5 In the prison, we saw men shouting for joy, singing, dancing, and offering praises to the LORD. The prisoners provided music for all of our services. They played guitars, drums, and a keyboard for us. Several pastors baptized 24 new converts. After being baptized, our new brothers in Christ were given a Bible! Thanks to our dear brother, Pastor Bob Gibson, for supplying us with Bibles. The baptism water symbolizes a change from a carnal life to new life in Christ. Following the message, an altar call was made and about 30 more men prayed the sinner's prayer and asked Jesus to be LORD of their lives. It was such a wonderful, amazing time to take part in what GOD is doing behind prison walls. May - Nigeria/Uganda/Ethiopia/Rwanda Jimmy Stanfield and Pastor Bob flew to Lagos, Nigeria where they had a great service at "Save the Lost Mission" church. Uganda - we travelled to Enugu, Nigeria by car (about 2 hours) to the airport to travel to Uganda via Ethiopia. Why are these people so hungry for the word of God? They travelled many miles to be here. They are sleeping on the floor in the church at night. The services go from morning until about 8:00 or 9:00 pm. Yesterday was a highlight for me. We gave away choir robes, Jimmy is Jimmy the consistent servant. He has delivered powerful insightful messages each time. I thank God for how he watches over me. Today we concluded our pastor s conference in Uganda. We had about a five-hour service with great preaching, praise and prayer. I forgot to mention that the road to the church is slightly larger than a oneway dirt road with bumps all along the way. It takes about 45 minutes of bouncing up and down as we wave to folks as we drive by. Wow, God, thank you for choosing Jimmie and me to serve here. We had about a five-hour service with great preaching, praise and prayer. I forgot to mention that the road to the church is slightly larger than a one-way dirt road with bumps all along the way. It takes about 45 minutes of bouncing up and down as we wave to folks as we drive by. Page 5 of 7

6 After church, we went to the pastor s home. Pastor Milly is a woman with 12 children. Six are natural born and six are adopted. This woman is a WOMAN OF GOD! She loves God and demonstrates this in her life. Tomorrow we will travel to the airport and return to Nigeria via Rwanda and Ethiopia: God continues to expand our borders. We depart Tuesday morning and arrive in Enugu at noon on Wednesday. We will travel to Abakaliki with Pastor Patrick, minister there for three days, and then travel to Ikom for Sunday services. I really cannot describe the joy in my heart over being used by God to minister here in Uganda to his saints. Thank you Father God for calling me, choosing me, and sending me! While waiting at Entebbe, Uganda I met a young woman named Sarah who was flying to Dubai. She took some Bible tracts with her to Dubai. I wanted to distribute some tracts in Rwanda also but was not getting off the plane. When we landed I grabbed some tracts and asked one of the men if he would consider planting some gospel seeds in Rwanda. "Yes sir, I will", he said and before he got off the plane, he was already passing them out to others. I am a tract nut. So on our trip we were able to distribute tracts in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, & Dubai. June - Good to Great: The information in this presentation are taken from Jim Collins book, Good to Great. Collins used a team of students to study good businesses that moved from Good to Great businesses and sustained their state of greatness for at least 15 years. Collins noted that these principles also apply to government agencies, military units, social clubs, schools, and churches. Their research discovered that great organization's executive team adamantly focused on what they coined as their Hedgehog concept. "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." Whereas the fox chases around trying many ways to catch the hedgehog, the hedgehog knows one way to always win their contest. Good to Great is a presentation about the necessity of focusing rather than letting many good things distract from the best. There are several stages of church health in the USA; Dying, Very Sick, Sick, Good, and Great. Approximately 90% of these churches are sick, very sick, and dying! Most would agree that attainment of a state of Good would be very gratifying even though a better state is attainable. A Good church exerts positive influence in the community in which she lives and is growing at the rate of the surrounding population. She has qualified members in roles of leadership and they cooperate as team members. She disciples some of her new members and has a vision that is supported by her members. A Great church, on the other hand, is a leader in her community and is growing faster than the local population increase. A Great church disciples all of her new members; determines their spiritual gifts and identifies opportunities to use their gifts in ministry. Page 6 of 7

7 A Great church has a focused leader with quality Christians in the correct position of leadership. Collins compares a Great church to a bus: The Executive Team determines who gets on the bus, who are removed from the bus, where the members sit, and the direction to drive the bus. Collins and his research team coined the CEOs that effectively lead Great businesses as Level 5 Leaders. A surprising finding was that the Level 5 leaders were always humble men. They never wanted credit for the success of the company. They were tenacious in focusing their Executive Team on the primary goals of the business. They disciple fellow executives to a level that they can carry on the work without them. Thus, the Level 5 Leader paves the way for sustaining great businesses. Level 5 leadership is the primary path to Great ministry. Personal charisma will work against a Level 5 leader's attainment of greatness since such a personality will inhibit candid and sometimes challenging inputs from Executive Team and church members. Organizations led by charismatic personalities falter if the leader leaves. THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT: The leadership team must be made up of Hedgehogs rather than Foxes. In his famous essay "The Hedgehog and the Fox," Isaiah Berlin divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes, based upon an ancient Greek parable. The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. "Aha, I've got you now!" thinks the fox. He leaps out, bounding across the ground, lightning fast. The little hedgehog, sensing danger, looks up and thinks, "Here we go again. Will he ever learn?" Rolling up into a perfect little ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes pointing outward in all directions. Bounding toward his prey, the fox sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack. Retreating to the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day, some version of this battle between the fox and the hedgehog takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins. The Hedgehog Council: The church executive council must be made up of hedgehogs rather than foxes. The Hedgehog Council is made up of from five to eight members that meets to understand important issues facing the church. Each council member must freely argue and debate issues, problems, and accomplishments of the church. Each council member should represent a key element of church organization, function, and ministry. With the assistance of the council, the Executive Leader will be the final decision maker for the church. A Great church is not operated as a democracy; rather they are operated under Christ by a group of Elders. The Executive Leader will not necessarily be the Senior Pastor but the Senior Pastor should be on the Hedgehog Council. The path from a Good to Great church will take time, and much patience and prayer. A start could be the merge of several mediocre and dying churches into a single church with a hedgehog resolve. By pooling manpower and financial resources, a new start can be made and the foundation for moving to a great church established. The second part of our December issue will be forthcoming. Page 7 of 7