Rooted. Everyday. & Simply. Trusting. God

Transcription

1 Rooted. Everyday. & Simply. Trusting. God

2 Greetings Partners, 2014 proved to be a year of difficulty and transition for many of us. Why was it so? The bible declares in expressing the meaning of numbers that the 14 th year is always a season of deliverance. Any believer knows that just before daybreak arrives, Satan has to give us his greatest test, weeping! But the good news is that God has declared REST in the 15 th year. Praise the name of God! Have you ever wondered why in 2 Kings 20:1-6, when He was sentenced to die by the Prophet Isaiah immediately after He was challenged in his body, mind, and spirit. Then, God granted him 15 More Years to Live! Why 15? God was declaring to him that the next season of his life would be a season of rest! My brothers and sisters, I declare that God has ordained that He is getting ready to cause you to walk into rest. Rest is not signifying that you will sleep, slumber, nor snore this year. What it simply means is that everything you have sown, struggled for, suffered and lost in the last 6 years, is getting ready to be returned to you! The blessing is that you are not asked to lift a hand to get it! God s getting ready to send it to you and all He asks you to do is rest in His will. I want you to declare that you will enter into the rest of the Lord this year! Guess what? It s already happening for you! These are the things I want you to focus on: R ROOTED St. Mark 4:17 When you are rooted in God, the bible declares that a good root system promises to yield large and consistent fruit. This is the year that anything that is around your roots (heart), must be rooted up, out, and away from you. Hebrews 12:15 declares that we must avoid anything that will cause trouble to spring up and make us bitter. Do what the psalmist in Psalm 1 which says, Stay planted by the rivers of God s refreshing waters. E EVERYDAY Psalm 68:19 It takes discipline to do something every day. Every day it is done it becomes habit. The same way we bathe every day and eat is the same way we must revere the Lord s wisdom. The quest of life is not to pursue things, but to pursue God s wisdom. Everything you need is in his daily wisdom. Try talking to God every day. S SIMPLY (Make it Simple ) Psalm 116:6 Doing things simply is not as easy as it may seem. I remember being at a small church during a funeral. I had just finished playing a very challenging piece with lots of chords for the choir. Afterwards, an old man began singing an old song that required little musical ability. I could not play it. It was too simple, two minor chords that he kept singing over and over again. Well, this is true about life. We can become so accustomed to doing things the hard and heroic way that we forget what simple is. This year, I want you to purpose to make life simple. T TRUSTING in God Psalm 9:10 The last principle in experiencing REST is a prayerful relationship with our maker. I believe that we all would agree that you don t trust people easily that are unknown to you. You must know that He has your best interest at heart. You must know that He has got you covered. You must know that despite your current situation God has purposed to prosper you in the days to come. Spend more time with the Lord in secret prayer and He will bless you openly. St. Matthew 6:6. In His Service, Michael E. Clayton Michael E. Clayton, Senior Pastor

3 WHO LEFT THE DOORs OPEN? Keeping New Converts? In 2014 we took in over 140 new converts & members. Through the message of the cross, we have seen God save, deliver, and set many free. We are also aware that we are a new breed of ministry. In other words, Solomon declared in Ecclesiastes 9:11, the race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, but to him that must endure We have not been established long enough to gauge this scripture according to the membership of our church. Our church is less than 5yrs old so we must understand that we will encounter members that may have a heart to be a fan, but not a follower of Jesus Christ. St. John 6 tells us that this happened to Jesus. Many were joining his ministry but over a period of time, fell away. Well, if it happened to Jesus it can happen to any church. There are many critics of the church today that make this statement, Well they can get them in, but can they close the back door Meaning, can they keep the converts that join? This answer is not simple for any of the churches in the body of Christ. I have learned that in spite of the many systems that you put in place to account for your membership; monthly communion, visits, members care team who reaches out when you have missed more than 2-Sundays, s, texting members, assigned deacons who have to give an account for each of their members, still Keeping them all is impossible! Why? Various reasons that are beyond the church s control, however, no man can judge the intent and heart of the person that joined. That is left up to God. With a growing church, we must continually pray the Lord s Prayer that the Lord of the harvest will send his laborers into the vineyard. Even with this prayer the bible says the laborers will still be few compared to the millions of people on planet Earth. Some may say Pastor Clayton, this is good that you have taken in so many. The truth of the matter is that we are grateful for what the LORD has done but yet in still it has been reported that in Arkansas; only 1 out of 4 individuals attend a Christian church. Wow Let s continue to evangelize! Remember, to continue to encourage our new converts and continue to echo our plan of ministry for their Christian growth: *Prayer *Discipleship *Stewardship *Fellowship *Servitude. On January 4 th at 6pm, we had our first baptism service at Greater Works Church. It was a grand time, and how our hearts were filled with joy! Many members helped us celebrate this historical event! This year it is our endeavor to Burst a Hole in the Pool! In other words, we look to bring as many souls into the Kingdom as the Lord will permit! For it is his will that none should perish! His will is ours.

4 We Did It Together Cerfication of Occupancy: What a Christmas Present This has been a tedious journey for us but we made it! On Christmas morning of 2014, we announced to the church that we received the papers! This is such an awesome feat for us to see this portion of the vision come to pass! In the service of the Lord, we all long to hear our Father say well done! Well, this is a glimpse of what will be on that day! After all the hard work, the projects, the labor, the struggles, the faith that it took to press our way through, we now have our certificate of occupancy! SWEET JESUS! I want to personally thank each of you for your financial sacrifices and integrity in completing your pledges and being faithful partners of the ministry. Our prayer is that we have been transparent and trustworthy of this ministry that the Lord has given to us. This is a great day for the Church of Greater Works and we believe this is only the beginning of what we are destined to do for the Lord! Again, we love you and thank you. Now Celebrate! The leadership theme for 2015 is Beyond Elementary! Hebrews 5:12 gives a sad indictment on the leadership of the church. It says that at a time when you should be teaching others, you are still need to be taught elementary things over and over. We are a New Work, however, I believe the word has been strong for us to produce strong members and I believe the administration has been conducted in a way that has positioned our leadership to be cutting edge. Would you agree? This year, Pastor is going to step-back after the 1 st quarter and observe the drive that has been placed in his leadership to move beyond the Elementary Phase. God told Gideon to take his leadership team through a test and to observe of the 22,000 plus who is fit for the upcoming journey. He was left with 300. I do not say this to strike fear. However, it is an urgent call for us to mature in this season. It is my understanding that front line leaders are front line servants, front line supporters, and front line seekers for the things of God. I challenge our leadership to maximize their God given potential and encourage them to make things a top priority on the bucket list of their lives! When I was coming up the old folks had a saying, only what you do for Christ will last! I still believe that this is true while we await the coming of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ! This year I want to see our leadership in prayer campaigns more often. I desire to see them take greater initiative to accomplish the demands of the ministry. I purpose to encourage, teach, echo and train them in the areas where they have weakness. I am convinced that we have an awesome ministry team that has the capability of winning the entire city for His cause. The key is that we cannot afford to fail in maximizing this opportunity to become better stewards in the work of the ministry. The Time Is Now! Beyond Elementary Next Level Ministry

5 There are many things that go on behind the scene in ministry that are so important to the ministry presentation and process. As our church grows, so do the demands of ministry. It was necessary to add a Logistics Coordinator to the church staff to help alleviate some the demands and add another level of excellence to what we do each week. What is Logistics? It is the management of the flow of services from the point of origin to its logical end. To meet the requirements of the members or church administration the logistics coordinator s position was created. With over 22 ministry leaders and dual services during the week that must be planned and executed, the logistics coordinator will enhance the doings of ministry as well as being an extension to the daily operations of our administrative assistant and pastor. What are some things are done weekly? Produce all media material and then reproduce. Coordinate and confirm the personnel, placement, and position of all involved for every event. Assist in the financial input process of the church. Serve in various capacities in the absence of other ministry servants at any time. Assist with producing commercials and perform website maintenance. Assure set up for events is in good order and the team of helps is doing what has been purposed by the ministry. This addition will decrease pastor s week to week demands. It is his request to have more time for prayer and meditation in It is recognized that our pastor has led us in many areas of ministry from initial construction to financial administration and it is our quest to take a few duties away from him! Especially with the addition of the first family s baby girl, Jasmine Michelle! Efficiency in Finances It is our quest as a church to have cutting edge administration. We have added a merchant s service that will allow the saints to make their tithes & offering payments electronically. This has proven to open up many avenues for us in other areas of ministry as well. We are able to offer this service through the bookstore, registration for events, purchases in the food court, and much, much, more! Our financial operations are now within Greater Works, no more outsourcing! We are now printing checks electronically and our finance team is using Quick-books to do all of our contribution recording as well. We are thankful to God for our friends, W.C. Mitchell and Associates for their labor of love and friendship in the financial services they have provided. May God continue to bless them! We have the tax & IRS compliance services of a new company that has saved us over 70% in our annual budget. It is our quest to meet the weekly budget and find ways to do things more cost effectively, maximizing the use of every dollar in the work of ministry. The saints will be able to pay their tithes and offerings immediately after Sunday School at the Welcome Center. This will lessen the time spent during regular services and allow us to continue without too much time spent during the offering time. We thank you for making this adjustment for all of you who use these services.

6 What an exciting time for the first family! Lady Jasmine was born on December 5 th, 2014 around 6:30am. She is such an adorable and beautiful child. The name has great meaning to the Clayton Family. Pastor Clayton s mother was once pregnant with a little girl and had a miscarriage. Well, the hope was to name the little girl Michelle. This is a demonstration, on how God can still fulfill his purpose through generational sovereignty. The church family is so excited and ready to love on our first lady and Baby Jazz upon their return. Please keep the first family in your prayers, we love them greatly. As you know the institution of marriage is a very important and sacred expression of God. At Greater Works, our pastor and first lady are geared up to lead another marriage seminar campaign for those who are married and those that desire to be. Pastor Clayton is encouraging all the married partners, engaged, or dating with intent, to come to the Valentine s Day Weekend Scholarships and Sweetheart Ball The event takes place Friday, February 13, We will have an element of romance on this night and pray that you will purchase the $3 ticket and bring the one you love. On Feb.14th Pastor will be hosting his first marriage seminar and encourages all married & engaged couples to be in attendance. It starts at 12:00N. Pastor will teach on topics such as: The importance of communication The marriage tune-up package When finances interrupt intimacy Physically at home, mind somewhere else Come and let your marriage receive an injection of supernatural power through the teaching ministry of our beloved pastor! Editor, Sister Sarita Rector