Moving to my own domain

Thanks to blogger.com, I have been blogging for over a year now. I finally decided to get my own domain and make a few changes. To continue following my blog, you will need to go to http://blog.burlwalker.com You will also be able to link to it from my website http://www.burlwalker.com

Doing something different

This morning, I went to a yard sale. It was put on by a group from my church going through financial classes at our church. The cool thing is, they aren't just learning about personal finance and thinking it would be nice to be debt free. They were doing something about it! Selling off a lot of their stuff to go toward paying off their debts that they accumulated buying that stuff. These people got up on a Saturday morning and were out making a difference in their lives and in the process, they were able to talk to other people about what they were doing. Was it a super spiritual thing? Maybe not, but they were making connections with others and talking about something they believe in.
Shouldn't we as Christians be doing something different to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our communities? Just being there at the yard sale gave me a chance to talk to someone about my church. Is that the same as sharing the Romans road with them and bowing our heads for the sinners prayer. No it isn't, but it was establishing a positive relationship with this particular man toward a church that is letting people have a yard sale in the parking lot. Many people who first make friends with people in a church later become believers in Jesus Christ through seeing God work through those they meet. My hat is off to those trying to get out of debt and achieve financial freedom! I myself am on that journey...and 20K less in debt this year than I was two years ago! Let us all go out and do something different for Jesus Christ. Like in the movie "Pay if Forward", just come up with something that will change the world.

My Website

I started my own website. You can click here to go there. While there, if you like my blog, download a free copy of the rough draft of my book. It is only the first four chapters, but hey, its free! If the click through link isn't working for some reason, the URL is: www.burlwalker.com

What are you doing?

OK, so you have a church. What is its purpose? Who is it trying to reach? I know that all churches have some things in common. They at least should have in common that they are trying to reach people for Jesus Christ and disciple those people and most likely be a place of fellowship for believers. Beyond that, there are differences. Example: if you are trying to reach out to young urban professionals, would you really want to start your church in a barn or a rodeo arena? However, if your target is to reach cowboys, that might be the perfect place. Some things to keep in mind as you plant a church or redefine the church you have just started pastoring...or even just realized something needs to change because you have been in a downhill rut for years in the church you are a leader at.
1. Know what you are about. If you don't have a passionate call from God to reach the people you are trying to reach, then why should they come to a laissez faire church? Like writing a blog, if the church doesn't offer quality content, then there is to much competition for their time. They won't waste it on a church just because it has a building and a sign out front.
2. Be proactive in evangelism. You can't expect people to come through the doors of your church on their own. They need a reason to come. Some will occasionally come because they are family of the people already there, but to reach the rest of the community, it is important to go to them. There are thousands of ways to do that, but the important thing is that you are reaching out beyond the walls of the church.
3. Don't rely on tradition to bring them in. This may just be a continuation of point 2, but just because peoples parents are from the Church of God of Methodibapticostal Episconazaratholic doesn't mean that they will follow in those footsteps unless they have a reason to. This is also a point to look at what you are currently doing. Is your church doing X program because it is effectively helping you reach one of the goals of the church like reaching out to the community or discipling believers, or is X program in place just because as long as grandma has been there in that church that is the way it has been done?
4. Help your congregation find their passions. Most people have them they just need help focusing their passion. They need leadership, and that is where you as a pastor or church leader come in.

I hope this gave you a few ideas for kick starting your church if you were in a slump and if you are a church planter, my hat is off to you! Hope this helped you too.

Christians are WHAT?

I am sitting here at my desk thinking about how some sales people will tell you anything to make the sale whether it is true or not. "Yep, This here 1984 Ford Pinto can do an 8 second quarter mile...no problem." Do we ever do that when trying to lead someone to the Lord? Just like the guy who drives the Pinto off the lot and finds it really needs a quart of oil each tank of gas to keep running and the quarter mile is more like 8 minutes than 8 seconds, he won't be coming back to that car dealer for another car in the same way, people who "make a confession of faith" due to a high pressure "sales pitch" or misinformation are likely to just as quickly turn their back on God and "religion" when they realize that being a Christian doesn't mean that you will get rich or suddenly everyone will like you... Here in America, people aren't often killed for their faith in Jesus, but shouldn't those people who decide to follow Jesus do so knowing that they could be killed for their new found belief?

The Excitement of New Believers!

This weekend at 5 Point Fellowship we had 7 people that I counted, and our pastor said 8 people in staff meeting that gave their hearts to Jesus Christ on Sunday morning! Either way there is a party going on in heaven! Sunday night, I taught the New Believers Class. It is incredible to hear their testimonies of HOW God reached down into their lives and caused their hearts to turn to HIM! New life is contagious! New believers are incredible witnesses! Like the blind man who Jesus healed in John chapter 9, they don't have to know all the right theology, but tell everyone, "One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see!"(John 9:25). In our congregation we have so many people that can say, "I was a druggie, but now I am clean!" or "I was a sex addict, and now God has made me whole!" or "I really screwed up my life in this or that way, but now God has cleaned me up!" It is great to see God working in people's lives and then seeing them get so excited about it that they want to tell everyone they know! Sometimes, those of us who have been Christians for years have to so intentionally go out to find people to witness to because all our friends are Christians. New believers don't have that problem. They still know lots and lots of sinners! And they are thrilled to attack hell with a water pistol and go tell those friends all about the brand new relationship with Jesus Christ that they have discovered! This isn't much of a teaching blog, but I wanted to share the excitement of this week with you. Thanks for reading.

Scripture memorization

This week, our senior pastor asked the staff of 5 Point Fellowship to memorize Colossians 4:5,6 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." As I have worked on getting this verse not only into my head, but also into my heart, God has been using it to speak to me. The horrid thing for me to admit is that I haven't consciously tried to memorize scripture since the summer of 2007! There is a difference between just reading and studying God's word, and memorizing it so that it is a part of you. I know that isn't new to anyone reading this blog, and it isn't "new" to me either, but it seems that I had forgotten this truth somewhere along the road. Now that I have written about it, hopefully this will help me be accountable to the people who read this and I will stay on track putting Gods word in my heart so that I won't sin against HIM.

God working though 4th of July Events

The following has nothing to do with my church. Another church that I have visited from time to time puts on a great 4th of July event out in Missouri. The following is a letter sent to them after this years "I Love America" Festival. To see the original blog post by Pastor John Lindell, click here.

The following is a testimony we received on Sunday morning. This woman writes:

I started praying for my dad’s salvation when I was about 8 years old. He was abusive in every way. He became a full-time drug lord when I was about 11 or 12 and eventually went to prison when I was 15. I didn’t have much contact with him during the next 15 years of my life, but I continued praying for him over the years whenever I could get out of the flesh long enough to quit hating him.

A few years ago, he reinitiated contact with me and my family. It’s been awkward and difficult to say the least. We’ve invited him to church on different occasions, but he would never darken the door of a church.

He just “happened” to be passing through on July 3rd and said he’d stop for a visit if we were going to be around. I told him, “Sure, we are going to a fireworks event and he could come along.” I couldn’t quite get the “it will be put on by my church” part out of my mouth so I was a bit nervous, wondering how long it would take him to realize we brought him to a “church” event. However, the setting was comfortable enough and everyone was so down-to-earth-JRA-friendly that nothing was said.

Money is a big deal to an old drug lord and about halfway through the day my dad, in rather deep thought, leaned over and said, “You know most places would’ve charged you to do all this stuff. When we pulled in and saw all the [inflatables], I was wondering if I brought enough money.” And then he said in total shock, “And anywhere else like this would try to get five dollars out of you for a bottle of water, but here someone just gave me one.”

I don’t know who the volunteer is that God prompted to bring water to the people standing in line at the helicopter ride, but your thoughtful generosity in that one small act of service was the straw that broke a 50-something-year-old ex-con and opened his heart to hear the message.

Some of you planned and prepared, others waved and smiled, but all of you made it happen and on Friday night I got the privilege of walking my father through the crowd and “into heaven.” I also got to lay down my own baggage of abuse by finally confronting him and forgiving him. Thank you church for being the church and for bringing the church to someone who wouldn’t have ever come to it.

That testimony is an example of the amazing things that can happen when a church works together to love people in the community!

July 4th Freedom Fest

Yesterday at 5 Point Fellowship, we celebrated the 4th of July by having sort of a community party/festival that we give to the community for free. There were inflatable rides, bungee slingshots, a rock wall, music, popcorn, cotton candy, sno cones, face painting, hotdogs and most of all, lots of smiles for free! I, along with many other volunteers, was able to share the love of Jesus Christ with people in word, but also through what we were doing. I was really proud off all the people from the church that started setting up about 1:00 and didn't leave until the parking lot and church were cleaned up at almost 11:00 at night! It was great to have so many hands pitching in, and when asked to do anything, no one said, "That's not my job." Every single volunteer pitched in where they saw a need! I love working with this bunch! For those who may read this who have never even heard of 5 Point Fellowship or even Easley, SC...Sorry the blog is a little off my normal fare...I just had to brag on my people!

Getting Attention...

Tim and I went to Walmart today to pick up some drinks for the 5 Point Fellowship Freedom Fest coming up on the 4th of July. We bought about a thousand cans of Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet and regular of both. That makes two grocery carts very full of nothing but 24packs of canned soda. The cool thing is that people came up and asked us what we were doing just because we were buying a ton of one product. We were able to tell them about the church and the event. Not that everyone is going to start a church marketing campaign build around buying cartloads of Mountain Dew, but it was interesting to see how it worked!

Freedom Fest 4th of July!

This Saturday, our church, like many churches around our great country, is throwing a great big party for the 4th of July. Part of my job at the church is coordinating events like this. Today, I was getting the last of things together and two volunteers came in and offered to help me set up the "staging area" (A nice word for putting all the stuff that goes to one area on Saturday, in one pile in the church lobby). With their help, what would have taken me hours to do only took about 45 minutes! Earlier in the day, I was unloading a truck full of water, and a friend stopped by and helped carry cases of water. Others helped unload some stage platforms. God is great at sending help when we need it! There are so many incredible volunteers that make events like this possible! If you are one of them and reading this, whether you are volunteering for my church or another one, I want to tell you Thank You! Without all you guys pitching in, things like this would never happen! Oh, and if you are looking for something to do on Saturday, July 4th in Easley, SC, just swing by 5 Point Fellowship anytime after 3:30 and enjoy the fun! Everything is free! Inflatable rides, Thomas the Train, Rock Climbing, Bungee Swings, Hotdogs, Snowcones, Cotton Candy, Popcorn, Drinks, lots of smiles... Hope to see you there!