Clever Free Methodist

As a member of a group, when faced with a task or project at work, a volunteer organization and even Church, we undoubtedly have formulated in our minds a way in which to go about accomplishing the mission. Whether it is due to experience, or just a thought or two we’ve established, we all can derive a plan on how we think the steps should progress towards accomplishment. This is fine when it only involves us as an individual. However, this is not always the case when it comes to working as a team, group or organization. Every team, group or organization will most assuredly have a leader or co-leaders which leave everyone else as “followers” or subordinates. They are in charge and, like you, have a picture in their mind of how to accomplish the mission. Much to our chagrin, chances are, these ideas will be much different than our own. Tensions can rise and discontent amongst colleagues can become cancerous when thoughts, feelings, and ideas differ greatly from the leader. Her...

I find it fascinating when parts of Scripture “jump out” at me and hit me in a new way. It is particularly encouraging to me when it is one of those passages that, due to the story being told, it is somewhat “hidden” or “buried” along the way and can be easily missed or glanced over. One such passage is in Acts, Chapter one and revolves around the encounter with the Disciples. They had an important decision to make. They needed to determine who they were going to choose to replace Judas (Judas had killed himself after betraying Jesus).   As the story unfolds, it isn’t too hard to figure out that there are only two men up for the election. As the event unfolds, we see in Acts 1:26 , "They then drew lots between the two men." And the one chosen was Matthias. The one who “didn’t get the job” was a man name Joseph Barsabbas . This is where it hit me….not that Matthias was chosen, but with a 50-50 chance, Joseph Barsabbas was not chosen; he was passed over. He was ...

Many Churches around the world have sung, in worship, the song “As the Deer.” This song reflects the words of Psalm 42:1-2 , that reads, “ As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God."   In the song, we sing the words, “I love you more than any other, so much more than anything.” So, with those thoughts combined, I must take an honest assessment and ask “do I really thirst for the living God?” “Do I really want him more than anything in this world or love him more than anybody I love?” We must take “spiritual inventory” and be candid and honest to see if our level of intimacy with Jesus and our depth of relationship with God is at the proper level of “thirsting” and “longing.” That is, do we really crave and yearn for our time with God? Do we want to love him, seek him, serve him, obey him and worship him? I am not talking about just “a devotional time” with God where I read a short Scripture passage and then ...

My entire life, I have pretty much grown up in the Church. I have heard many messages, techniques, programs and ways to grow in my faith, to serve in the Church, and to find my calling in life and in ministry. Usually, it wouldn’t be uncommon that the information I received along the way about these things have varied or differed according to what Church I was attending at the time. However, there is one thing that hasn’t changed…or hasn’t seemed to have been offered in a different context or become varied throughout the years. That “one thing” was about “going to Heaven.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I DO “want to go to Heaven” upon my death. However, my reasoning for “going there” and sharing about salvation and eternity has had to change in the recent years. For years, I have heard it said (evangelically) time and time again, “accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior, so that you can go to Heaven.” Alright. That’s a positive question and something good to a...