Distractions in Worship . . .
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Sunday, 08 March 09 - 03:39 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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I must admit I'm often easily distracted. One of my sisters says I have ADD. I took a test one time and scored really high (not a good thing), but I promise I've never taken Ritalin (maybe I need it now and then). I confess I find myself easily distracted in worship. Call it ADD or blame it on the Devil, but it was really bad today. Here are a couple things I noticed this morning . . .
Someone spilled their coffee on the second row. It was not a small spill by any means. It was more like 12 oz.'s of a 14 oz. mug! I noticed a lady on the second row and other lady and her husband on the third row cleaning it up. It took a couple trips to the restroom to get enough paper towels to get it clean. Near the end of the service I noticed a guy on the front row reach under his chair and take a drink from the cup. I don't think he ever realized that he had knocked his own cup over and that three people behind him cleaned it up! It was an act of selfless service by those who cleaned it up. It also made me wonder if he thought someone behind him had drank his coffee during worship!
I also noticed a "worship invasion" on the front row. It happened during the singing of How Great is Our God. There was an elderly man on the front row who was "caught up into another realm" (I thought of Paul being taken up into the 3rd heaven as this guy worshipped). He was lifting both hands and swaying side to side, but the thing that struck me most was that his "neighbor in worship" was leaning on his wife or girlfriend. Why was he leaning, because his "worshipping neighbor" was all over him! At one point the elderly man lost his balance and bumped into his "neighbor". I'm assuming they knew each other, but it made me think about personal and corporate natures of worship and if there is anything like "worship etiquite".
The other thing that caught my eye and my thinking this morning was that two of the moving stage lights were pointing straight down making a spotlight over a couple worshippers. I'm not sure it was intentional, but it was kind of like God shining a celestial spotlight down on two individuals. One was standing there with there motionless singing and the other was raising her hands as she sang praises to God. Now I was not judging their worship by their outward actions, but it just triggered my ADD.
All in all it was a great day of worship at Bethlehem Church. The music was awesome and Pastor Dickie preached a great Gospel, salvation message and people responded outwardly to both aspects of worship. Why did I write all of this? I just needed to get it off my chest. I guess it's like going into the public confession booth! Or maybe it's like updating our facebook status with what we ate last night and how we are listening to the new U2 CD.
Who really cares that my ADD kicks in during worship and that I drank Honduran coffee this morning before church. Someone must care because we keep blogging and updating our Facebook status. Ok, I've got to stop blogging and get ready for church. My small group is meeting to discuss Tom Davis' book Fields of the Fatherless . . . why did I just tell you that?
My New Car . . .
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Tuesday, 03 February 09 - 10:25 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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. . . well, it's new to me! Some of you may know that I had a tragic month of December. My computer died, my passport died, and my car died. I had to travel to DC to get a new passport and found out when I landed in DC that my car was not worth repairing. That was good and bad news. Good in that fact that it was a V-8 Suburban and was addicted to Gasoline! I called a friend from the Baltimore airport on my way back from DC and was telling him of all my tragedies and reminding myself that my faith in God was being stretched. It was a few more faith lessons that I needed to learn. 
We hung up the phone and about 30 minutes later he called me back and delivered some great news. He said that his 92 year old uncle could not drive anymore and that they were just going to donate his car. WOW!! I couldn't believe it. God had just given me a car. How does that happen? It happens when you are trusting God to provide. I tell people it's my "Jesus car". Last week one of my friends said, "It's a Holy Roller!" Why am I sharing this? One to give glory to God for his awesome provision of a 1996 Buick Century (that gets a lot better gas mileage than that 1999 Suburban)! Yea God! Two, I posted it for one of my friends in Honduras (Daniel G.). I wanted him to see pictures of my new race car. That's why I drove two miles from my house to take pictures of it at the Carolina Speedway! If you look closely you can see the "welcome race fans" banner on the fence. Three to say Thank You to my friend who was a channel of God's provision! To God be the glory!!
I'm feeling old . . .
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Monday, 15 December 08 - 04:28 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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I'm getting so old I forgot I had a blog. I just realized I haven't posted in two weeks! No, just kidding. I knew I hadn't posted, but I've kind of had bloggers block. Amy was gone for 9 days, my computer died and I'm feeling a bit old.
Why am I feeling old? Because I'm seeing a rush of my old teenagers (of whom I was their youth pastor) getting married. Yesterday I took some shots of Andrea and Stephen for their wedding invitations. I thought you might like to see a picture (especially for those who check every couple days to see if I'm alive).
Enjoy. I'll try to update more frequently this week.
Are you Making A Difference?
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Thursday, 30 October 08 - 02:51 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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Sometimes we all go M.A.D. What is go M.A.D.? It's "Go Make A Difference". We all want to feel like were making a difference with the things in which we invest our time and money.
I'm reading a book that was recommended by a friend of mine in San Antonio, Texas. He directs a similar type ministry as Louder Than Words. We've been talking about ministry boards and excited stuff like that lately. The book sounds very exciting, Boardroom Verities by Jerold Panas. Until I looked it up today I didn't even know what the word Verities meant. For those who are like me, it means "truths or an enduring truth."
Let me get to my point. I was reading one of the chapters this week where the author talked about a man who served on an advisory board for the Salvation Army. He talked about the time he gave them each year that the SA could never repay him for and the $5000+ he gave them each year. Along with the tickets and tables he bought for fundraisers each year. When asked why he served on this board he replied, "Because I feel like I'm making a difference in my little corner of the world." To which he followed that statement by saying, "I don't to that in my corporate life, I don't do that IN MY CHURCH" (emphasis mine).
What! He doesn't feel like he's making a difference in the world through giving to his church? In the margin I wrote the word WOW!
I'm convinced people don't get involved in church with their time and money is that they don't feel like they are "making a difference in their world". I'm convinced that people don't get involved in nonprofit parachurch ministries with their time and money because they don't feel like they are making a difference. I'm convinced that if they felt like they were "making a difference" they would give their time and their money to the church or nonprofit parachurch ministries.
Those of us who are leaders in the church and parachurch ministries have got to do a better job at giving people opportunities to GO M.A.D. Any thoughts on this topic?
A few pictures from Honduras
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Tuesday, 01 July 08 - 01:15 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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It seems like I’m either too tired or too busy to write much this week. Instead of writing, I’ll just post a few pictures from today (06/30). We did ministry in a local public school and an orphanage today. As you can tell from the photos, we had a lot of fun and shared the Good News of Jesus in the process.
More on Holiness . . .
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Wednesday, 28 May 08 - 01:10 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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Ok, you didn't ask for it, but I promised it. If you read yesterday's post I mentioned a book I read several years ago - The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. I still haven't found my copy (I'm sure it's in a box in the garage from our recent move), but I've been able to find the things I wanted from it off the internet.
Some issues we deal with in life are not specifically addressed in Scripture. We can however determine God's will by asking application questions of Scripture. The following are a few questions from The Pursuit of Holiness that can help us develop convictions.
Question 1: Is it helpful - physically, mentally, and spiritually? 'Everything is permissible for me,' but not everything is beneficial (1 Cor. 6:12).
Question 2: Does it bring me under its power? 'Everything is permissible for me' - but I will not be mastered by anything (1 Cor. 6:12).
Question 3: Does it hurt others? Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall (1 Cor. 8:13).
Question 4: Does it glorify God? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31)
These are good questions to ask when we are faced with unclear decisions about our behavior. I trust these questions will help you as much as they've helped me.
Holiness vs. Happiness
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Tuesday, 27 May 08 - 09:31 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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It may not mean much to you, but it was very interesting to me. I did a Google search this morning for Jerry Bridge's "The Pursuit of Holiness". What was interesting to me was the question Google asked, "Did you mean: jerry bridges, the pursuit of happiness."
That's interesting to me because Amy and I have been having this conversation for about 3 months now. We've dealt with a couple ministry issues lately where it felt like the advice people gave was "whatever makes you happy" vs. "Whatever makes you holy".
"Whatever makes you happy" seems to be the mantra of the masses today. It has even carried over into evangelical Christianity. We no longer value holiness. Why is that? I think there are a couple reasons, but one is that holiness takes work. It's not easy. It takes intentionality and effort. We live in a culture that wants quick fixes and the pursuit of holiness is not a quick fix.
I think another reason is that many people today have a belief that God wants us to be happy. A quick read through Scripture will show us that a life in pursuit of God is not about happiness. A God-filled life is often filled with multiple disappointments and challenges. Those who God has used in big ways in Scripture and throughout church history have faced difficult life circumstances. It's a blessed life, but not always a "happy" life.
I must admit, there are times that I don't want God to use me because life is going to be hard. I know that doesn't sound very spiritual, but it's sometimes true for me. I don't like pain! I don't like disappointment! I don't like difficulty! Yet, it's a fact of life and moreover a fact of the Christian life.
Happiness vs. Holiness: Which one is your highest value in my life? Which one is God's highest value for my life? Happiness say's it's all about me. Holiness say's it's all about God. Who's it about for me? Who's it about for you?
What does all that have to do with Jerry Bridges' book? I couldn't find my copy so I was searching for a "right vs. wrong" test he had in the book. Stay tuned for that in another post this week.
Just a thought . . .
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Thursday, 20 March 08 - 10:27 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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There is a law of love that says: we tend to become like that which we love. This explains why God became human. It also explains how we can become like Christ.
I don't know who said it (must be anonymous), but I first heard about 8 years ago when I was a guest speaker for a youth ministry class at Mars Hill College. The professor started off each class with a quote and this one stuck with me all these years. I was driving to the YMCA tonight (yes, you read that correctly) and I was thinking about the truth of this quote.
Maybe I was thinking about it because of a podcast I listened to last night that identified the two most important things to being a Christ-centered person 1. Bible reading. 2. Prayer. Most of us, including the researchers, already knew that, but now it's backed up by some of the most advanced research. Maybe you're interested in stuff like that. If so, both of you can read more here.
You'll be glad you took the TIME to read this . . .
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Thursday, 13 March 08 - 03:23 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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I got this from the blogosphere (Swerve). . . I thought it was worth the one minute it will take you to read it.
Time Management
Many people say, “I don’t have time for ______________.”
This statement isn’t true. The truth is, we have time for what we choose to have time for.
Too many people today allow the expectations of society to consume most of our time margin.
When God sends us an opportunity to make a difference, we often think we don’t have time.
This is a huge problem for churches. In my opinion, most churches do WAY TOO MUCH! We get busy managing ministries of the past and miss divine opportunities in the present.
The way we create margin in our schedules is simply by doing less.
What do you need to stop doing to create margin for God to use?
And you thought your church was contemporary?
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Friday, 25 January 08 - 11:10 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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Ministry is changing . . . as it should be. The message of Jesus should never change, but the methods of communicating Jesus' story must change if we are going to reach each new generation.
You may be like a friend of mine who thinks that King James only and Saturday night gospel singings are what we need more of to reach people with the good news of the Gospel. That's OK if you're trying to reach a specific target market. It's not OK if you're trying to reach 20 somethings. Anyway, you know all of that.
If your church is growing, most likely it's experiencing change (maybe your changing and declining . . . that happens too). You might think your church is "going contemporary", but your story might be different after viewing the video below from Buckhead Church in Atlanta (a church plant from North Point Church - Andy Stanley).
WOW! What can you say?
Problems with sending and receiving . . . email and God.
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Thursday, 24 January 08 - 02:32 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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Yesterday I experienced a nightmare. No, it wasn’t in the middle of the night, but it was with Microsoft Outlook . . . email for short. Much of my ministry dealings are done through email. When my email isn’t working it can cause problems with the ministry and with my sanity.
For some unknown reason I was able to send emails, but not receive them. I worked, and worked and worked to try to get the problem fixed. I talked with my website tech and googled everything I knew possible, but couldn’t get it fixed. I would make changes that should have caused everything to work and it would only switch the problem – receiving without sending. Aaargh!!
Finally, after hours of working on the problem I got both sides of the email to work correctly . . . I could send and receive. Praise the LORD!!
Now what does the LORD have to do with it? Well, nothing with email in particular, but it got me thinking about our communication with God. We call it prayer. When prayer is functioning properly it’s supposed to work like email – you send and receive. Yet, many times our prayers look more like the sending part of email. We continually bombard God with our requests, but don’t receive very well.
I’m guilty. Guilty of sending more than receiving. Guilty of not trying to get my “God mail” receiver working properly. Why? Because effective prayer it takes time and intentionality. If I’m going to receive messages from God I’ve got to intentionally spend time with him.
My email is working properly today. I don’t know about you, but I need to stop typing and spend some time working on my “God mail” receiver rather than just sending messages to him.
One of the highlights of my recent trip to Honduras
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Tuesday, 11 December 07 - 10:16 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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For those who frequent my blog . . . this post is not for you . . . it's for me! Well, I guess I'm like Ricky Bobby in that most of the time I'm writing for ME anyway. If you clicked on the video above you may not have recognized a word of the song and may have thought who are these two guys anyway.
I know you don't know Jesús Adrián Romero, but I went to his concert in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He's a Hispanic Christian artist from Mexico (he's the one on the right in the video - the other guy is Alex Campos). The kids and I have been listening to one of his CD's for a couple months now. When I found out he was going to be in concert in Honduras I made sure I got tickets (BTW the tickets were $5.00 or $8.00). There was one word for it . . . AWESOME!!
I had never seen that many people in one place in Tegucigalpa before. I would say there were close to 10,000 people there. The concert was about an hour and a half late getting started because Jesús Adrián was stuck in traffic trying to get to the concert. It was well worth the wait!
For once I wish I lived near LA. He's going to be in concert in LA on February 2, 2008.
This photo was as the concert was over and the people on the field were beginning to scatter.
A view of about 1/4 of the people who were in the stands.
Christmas Trees
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Monday, 10 December 07 - 10:55 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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My girls have a Christmas tree. Before I left for Honduras a couple weeks ago, Amy asked me if I thought our friends in Honduras would have Christmas trees. My answer was, "No, they won't have a tree!"
As you can see from the picture, I was wrong. I saw several Christmas trees while I was in Honduras. This one is at Faith, Hope and Love Orphanage. I was so excited to see that "my girls" had a Christmas tree with lots of presents underneath it. I wish my family and I could be there with them during the Christmas holiday season. Not that presents and stuff mean anything, but you just want to be with friends and family for the Holidays.
We have a tree this year too. It's the BIGGEST tree we've ever had. For the past 3 years John Sessions, one of our LTW board members, has given us a Christmas tree. Several years ago he planted a few thousand trees on his land in Mars Hill, NC. This year his perennial buyer didn't buy his trees. So, "because he had to make room for next year's growth" we got a 10 foot tree.
Yes, our tree WAS 10 feet tall! We do have 9 foot ceilings in our new home so after cutting about 1.5 feet off of it and moving most of the furniture out of the front room we have what Amy alls our most beautiful tree ever! I couldn't even get all of it in the photo. I did, however, put a few more ornaments on it since I took this picture, but you judge for yourself . . .
Elevation Church . . . WOW look what God's doing!
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Saturday, 10 November 07 - 10:29 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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THEY STARTED THEIR CAPITAL FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN BY GIVING AWAY $40,000! Read on if you are interested to know more . . . .
It all started with a providential encounter in the Mars Hill, NC Post Office. What started in the post office? My connection with Elevation Church in Charlotte.
Now back to the post office encounter. We were preparing to move back to Gastonia and I had been selling some of our junk on Ebay. This day I just happened to be in line behind Kevin Boone, Pastor of Enon Baptist in Marshall. We talked about Honduras for a minute and I told him I was moving. To which he replied, "A friend of mine from Seminary started a church in Charlotte. He gave me Pastor Steven's name and the name of the church and I left the post office.
We looked up the church online before we moved from Mars Hill, but it looked a little too far from where we wer going to live (I'm not too sure about that now). So, why am I writing about a church in Charlotte when I'm looking for one in Gastonia? Because their story is amazing!!!
Now I know not many people read my blog, but if like cool God stories you need to check out Elevation Church. I've been attending weekly via iTunes. The messages are biblical, challenging and encouraging. I've been incredibly encouraged and challenged by their story and Pastor Steven's sermons.
Elevation is about 2 years old and already running over 2000 in two high schools each Sunday. They are trying to raise money to buy some land, buy a warehouse, build a building or something. The crazy thing is that they don't really know what they are going to do yet, but they were trying to raise 3 million dollars. The crazier thing is that they started the campaign by GIVING AWAY $40,000! . . . unheard of in capital Fundraising campaigns. They passed the offering plates and instructed their people to take an offering envelope out of the plate. They were stuffed with cash ranging from $5 to $1,000. The instructions were to give the money away to bless someone else. You can read more about that at www.blessbackproject.com.
Tomorrow (11/11) is their commitment Sunday (Dominate Sunday) and with just their leadership pledging last week they currently have 3.2 million dollars pledged!! I would love to be there! I can't wait to hear what God does. I've found myself praying for them all week. I don't recall ever praying for another church's capital fund raising campaign. It must be God.
Anyway, I just couldn't resist writing my story of Elevation Church. I'm probably the only one who will read it, but that's OK too!
... More items are available in my News Archive
