Encouraged by God's Word

Posts Tagged ‘First Baptist Church of Glenarden’

Hello Family,

On Saturday, August 28, 2010 my church, The First Baptist Church of Glenarden, received The Hoodie Award. Now I have to admit that when I heard we were nominated for it a few months ago I was a little skeptical. I had never heard of The Hoodie Award but it sounded stupid. It sounded like it was something that was ghetto (from the hood) and I wasn’t feeling it.

After I checked it out I discovered that it wasn’t quite what I thought it was. And when I found out why we were nominated I was proud of my church.

The Hoodie Award is an award that is given by entertainer Steve Harvey and it honors schools, local leaders and businesses from all over the nation in a variety of categories to include Best High School Teacher, Best High School, Best Soul Food, Best Community Leader, Best Church and many more.

My church won the category of Best Church because of the work we do in our community and world wide.

This award definitely fits with our mission statement of Developing Dynamic Disciples. We don’t want to be a church where folks come in on Sunday mornings, get their weekly fix and then go about their business and not God’s business. We want to be a church that is living out the great commission to teach people to be great disciples (Matthew 28:16-20).

What about you? Are you doing what God has called you to do? Does the work you do make your community better or are you one who is bitter and complains all the time about what is going on?

If you’re not using your gifts and resources and working to improve someone else’s life, then what is your purpose?

1 John 3:17-19 says But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.

Our church is blessed and if we don’t use what we have to bless others, we are not living according to the word. We are in direct violation of the scripture by not showing love for our fellow man.

I tell my kids all the time that I’m not too concerned about what you say you’re going to do. I’m more concerned about what you’re going to do. Your Actions Speak Louder Than Words.

Our members are charged to have a ‘vineyard’ mentality. We are called to work and give back and not sit back and be leeches and take, take, take.

Now our pastor has said on a number of occasions of how proud he is of our members and I’m sure he enjoyed the fact that our church has received this national recognition but if no one ever patted us on the back as a church and told us we were doing a great job, it wouldn’t matter. You know why? Because we don’t do what we do to get approval from man. We do what we do to minister to a hurting people. We do what we do to help the lost. We’re not in this thing to get all puffed up and boast of our good works. NO! We’re commissioned by God to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

What are you doing to make this world a better place? How are you impacting your hood?

If God was giving out awards, would your name be engraved on one for the work you’re doing? It should be. If not then maybe you need to do something about it.

Be Encouraged and Have an Award Winning Day!

Hello Family,

Lately my mind has been preoccupied with a lot of things. I have one child who just graduated from high school and will be attending college in the fall. My other two children are running track and that keeps me busy with practice and track meets that last all day long on Saturdays and some on Sundays. And I have other things that I’m involved with and MANY things that I need to catch up on. The “to do” list is out of control.

In the midst of everything, I’ve gotten out of my routine. The things that I do that bring balance to my life and keep me grounded have been disturbed.

And it’s no one’s fault but my own.

Because I’m not in my flow, I find myself being worried about things more than I normally would be. I feel as though my faith is wavering. Sometimes I just can’t see how God is going to work it out.

I had a conversation with a fellow Hamptonian Horace Christian and we were talking business but in reality it was ministry because he said some things that reminded me about what I needed to do and what I needed to be about. I don’t think it was his intention but he was right on point.

Afterwards I started to think how lately I’ve been limiting the power of God in my life. I didn’t have big expectations of Him. My limited mind got in the way of my limitless God.

Psalm 27: 14 (Amplified Bible) says Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.

We limit our blessings because we look at life from our perspective. We think that if we can think it, it can happen. Conversely, we think that if we CAN’T think it, it CAN’T happen.

Stinkin’ thinkin’ like this puts handcuffs on God and He can’t and won’t move in our lives until we adjust the barometer of our faith that we have.

There’s nothing too hard for Him to handle.

There’s a song called the “The Harvest Song” written by Anthony Brown who is a member of my home church, The First Baptist Church of Glenarden. The best part of the song for me is the vamp.

Solo: I don’t know just how He’s gonna do it but
Choir: But I know that He’s gonna do somethin’
Solo: I don’t know how He’ll meet the need but
Choir: All I know is He’s gonna do somethin’
Solo: I don’t know how He’ll save the day but
Choir: But I know that He’s gonna do somethin’
Solo: All I know is somehow, someway
Choir: All I know is He’s gonna do somethin’

Plain and simple, I don’t know how, when and where God is going to do it, but He’s gonna do something unexpected. It’s up to me to keep the faith and walk with the blessed assurance that God knows exactly what I need and when I need it.

Be brave and of good courage, have a strong and enduring heart and expect God to do some awesome things in your life.

Be Encouraged and Have a Faith Filled Weekend!

P.S. Go check out “The Harvest Song” on YouTube.