More for Your Life

10 Questions Unchurched Are Not Asking About Your Church

iluv2prshim — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:12:09 +0000

This caught my attention this morning so I wanted to share it with you. I just reprinted it exactly as it was written. Please don’t be offended at me if there is something on this list that you dislike. I think we should be “seeker friendly” and all, however, how about let’s just “Give them Jesus”! He’s the one that is going to make all the difference in the world anyhow. Jesus! In our services, outreach programs, youth programs, Sunday School, on the bus routes, music department, in the warm handshake of welcome, etc., “I Give You Jesus”! In all of His power & glory! That is what will change a visitor’s heart and make them want to come back to our churches.

Editor’s Note: Sometimes we spend too much time asking—and answering—the wrong questions. In this post Perry Noble helps us get back into the shoes of the unchurched. Here are ten things unchurched people are probably not asking about your church:

1. “What do you do to disciple people?” (This question is usually asked by people who want to “microwave” spiritually, not understand that they themselves actually became mature in the “crock pot.”)

2. “Who is speaking this weekend?” (They usually don’t care about the WHO…it’s the WHAT that matters to them.)

3. “Are you reformed in your theology?” (Most of them have no idea what in the heck this means!)

4. “Is your church spirit-filled?”

5. “What version of the Bible do you use?” (Many unchurched people don’t even really know there are different versions!)

6. “What denomination are you affiliated with?”

7. “How many different activities can I sign my family up for in order to add to the insane schedule that we already have?”

8. “Does your pastor teach exegetically through the Scriptures?”

9. “Are there lots of crosses and pictures of Jesus in your church?”

10. “Are you guys pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, or partial trib?”

Author: Perry Noble

Enjoying Winter :-)

iluv2prshim — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:57:20 +0000

I shot this picture when I was just about to get on 101 N from Highway 25. January 26, 2011. The hills turn a beautiful emerald during the winter. It is beautiful. The temp yesterday was 70. Yes! I’m enjoying winter.

How Great is Our God!

iluv2prshim — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 06:47:00 +0000

The following thread is what has been happening on my facebook page the past few hours. Someone suggested I copy and paste it here on my blog. I thought it a great idea so here it is. I hope everyone receives a blessing by reading the great testimonies posted here.

Ronda C Hurst

You just never know. One of the men we baptized on Sunday is a result of the very first park service we had where we baptized his children. He came in contact with some of our people this past week and he remembered them from the park a few years back. He was ready for salvation and came Sunday, was baptized and received the Holy Ghost. You just never know what your efforts will produce.

6 hours ago · Friends Only · · Comment

Tena Clark Valenti, Shelley Moore, Liz Corbin and 27 others like this.
- Jason West Amen. My mom came to God by entering her name into a drawing for a Free Bible a the First Church’s Peanut Brittle Booth at the County Fair.
  
  6 hours ago · · 2 peopleTena Clark Valenti and Dayna Jones like this.
- Jason West ‎2 weeks later, a Family came knocking on her door downtown San Jose, and said she won the Free Bible, but she has to have the Free Bible Study that goes with it. 31 years later…here we are. I thank God for people that put time and effort of putting together that booth and sat that booth for hours, for a single mother to eventually push a 2 year old in stroller past it, and be drawn to it.
  
  6 hours ago · · 4 peopleLoading…
- Ronda C Hurst Bro. Jason, That is incredible! Those folks’ crown will be full of stars. Heaven will be such an awesome place, just to see and hear the testimonies of how many people are saved because someone set up a peanut brittle booth at the fair and offered a free Bible Study.
  
  6 hours ago · · 2 peopleLoading…
- Jason West You just never know who will be impacted.
  
  6 hours ago ·
- Tanya Hale Treasure Wow that was an awesome testimony!!!
  
  6 hours ago ·
- Elaine Long Totally awesome. Thank you Jesus.
  
  6 hours ago ·
- Ronda C Hurst
  
  Okay, Jason got me to thinking……..When my grandmother (Layne) received the Holy Ghost way out in West Texas (Mountain Top), she was the only one to receive it in that revival. The Lord spoke to an old time preacher man (Wilkins) to go …out there and have a revival. There was no church. He just went out and started preaching. My grandmother was touched and repented. She was so desperate to receive the Holy Ghost that she began to fast because she said that food didn’t taste good. My grandfather was an incredible cook and a Southern Baptist. He was so angry that she was under so much conviction and not eating that he fixed a meal of Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Biscuits, Cream Gravy, etc and set it on the table and called for the children (Dean, Scoper, Murray[my dad], Doug and I can’t remember if Don was born yet) to come to the table and eat. He called for Grandma too. They all came, ready to eat. Grandma approached the table but when she stood there and looked at the food she began to cry and said she couldn’t eat. “What do you mean you can’t eat”, Grandpa said. She replied, “I want the Holy Ghost”. At that moment, she fell to the floor under the power of the Holy Ghost, speaking in another language as the Spirit gave the utterance. She was ecstatic! Grandpa was furious! Eventually, he received the Holy Ghost too. My dad (Murray L. Layne) received the Holy Ghost in a hog pen that they had cleaned out and scrubbed to make a prayer room.
  Even though some may say that was not a successful revival, I must differ. If Bro. Wilkins had not obeyed the call of God to go then my Grandmother may never have heard the gospel truth. And, consequently my dad would not have heard the call of God on his life. Not to mention the countless thousands that his ministry has touched through saints and ministries that were under his. Including: Keith (his son), Linda (daughter) married to Wendell Elms (both sons are preachers of the gospel). Myself (daughter) married to Nathan Hurst (our son is a preacher of the gospel and our daughter is married to a preacher of the gospel). Karla (daughter) married to Gene Holley (both sons have a call of God on their lives). Like I said, Heaven will be an incredible place to see the many souls whose lives were changed simply because ONE man answered the call to go to West Texas and hold a revival and ONE lady received the Holy Ghost and this precious truth.
  Do you think I’m going to give up?! Well, think again. This Truth and my heritage is way too precious to me to allow anything in this world to stop me from entering Heaven’s gate!See More
  
  5 hours ago · · 3 peopleTena Clark Valenti, Betty Cowen and Jason West like this.
- Jacque Howell Oh Ronda. I am so thrilled to hear this story. I had never heard it before. I just read it to my parents and they didn’t know it either. Thanks for sharing it.
  
  5 hours ago · · 1 personYou like this.
- Don Doran
  
  Sister thank you for sharing with us this great testiimony…I am a product of your father’s ministry, received the Holy Ghost in his church 1965 and have been preaching the gospel for 40yrs.
  
  Your grandparents were very good friends with my …parents when we lived in Fresno and I remember many an evening visiting with them. What wonderful people they were. I remember Pop Layne testifying of how God had saved him and delivered him from coca-cola, among other things. Precious memories and their finger prints are on my life. I too have a precious heritage…again, thanks! God Bless…See More
  
  5 hours ago · · 1 personLoading…
- Felissa N Jeff Woods THAT IS WONDERFUL!
  
  4 hours ago ·
- Karla Layne Holley Wow!! Awesome stories all around. So thankful for my heritage and for what God is still doing today!!!
  
  4 hours ago · · 1 personLoading…
- Scott Sarria Incredible! GOD is awesome…
  
  4 hours ago ·
- Rene Brewster Oh how awesome!!! I love hearing stories like this. You are so right, you just never know what a word or act of kindness will mean to someone down the line.
  
  3 hours ago ·
- Rene Brewster
  
  Ok so after reading the testimonies here goes. Thirty years ago the church I was saved into used to go out every Saturday and knock on doors and offer free bible studies. They each took maps of part of the city with their route in yellow …high light. The men who had our area felt as if God told him to go off his highlighted route and to knock on our door. That day he spent 3 hours with us, my husband and I, telling us of the one God message. We did take the bible study, got baptized and received the Holy Ghost and I will never turn back!!! The wonderful thing is I found out later that my grandpa was a oneness preacher in the UPC and that my mom was raised UPC but because she was backslid and estranged from her heritage she raised us Catholic. Still God remembered the prayers of my grandparents, that I’m sure they prayed and brought, eventually, all of the grandchildren to baptism and allowed each of them to receive the Holy Ghost.See More
  
  3 hours ago · · 5 peopleLoading…
- Kelly N Debbie Howard That is awesome!!!!
  
  2 hours ago ·
- Ronda C Hurst ‎@Rene, That is so awesome! Holy Ghost Inspired witnessing is the best! What was your grandfather’s name? The Lord stored your grandparents tears/prayers in a bottle and when it was time He poured them out on you. Your testimony brought tears of thankfulness to my eyes.

“A Word”

iluv2prshim — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:45:38 +0000

How many times have you wanted/needed a word from the Lord and opened your bible and received just that. A word from the Lord that carried you through another day, another hour, another minute! Those times are too many for me to even tell. However, not too long ago I was having a very restless night (thank you Grandma for this “disease”). I tossed and turned. I had gotten up several times. I wandered around the house for a while. I went back to bed, only to toss and turn and get up again. This time I went and tried to sleep in the guest bedroom so as not to disturb Nathan, who was sleeping so soundly. UGH! I slept soundly for hours only to wake up, look at the clock and realize it had been about 25 minutes. So, up again! Downstairs again. I had already prayed, so if you’re wondering if the Lord was trying to get me to pray, I had already prayed. Believe you, me! So, now I reached for the Bible to see if He wanted to speak to me through the word. I opened it up to begin looking for scripture that would possibly be that “special” word, straight from God and read; “And to you who are troubled, REST with us,” Well, I sure did like that part. But then it went on to say, “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.” Okay! I immediately began praying, Lord Jesus come quickly! If You are trying to tell me that I’m not going to receive any rest until you come, the please come NOW!

I know many of you have had something like this happen. It is just comical to me. I believe the Lord must have a sense of humor and probably had me open my Bible right to that verse for me to read that night. I got really tickled and I just imagine HE was laughing at me too.

The Lord didn’t come back that night to give me rest, so now I just pray for a few hours of sleep each night when I go to bed. Lord help! Do I dare ask for “A WORD”?

“That Wouldn’t Hurt on My Eyeball”

iluv2prshim — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:39:11 +0000

I know my title sounds a little odd. Let me explain.

When I was a little girl, growing up, Mother would load us up in the car every once in awhile and take us down to Bloomington (California) from Fresno to see Grandma and Grandpa Pound and all the uncles, aunts and cousins. I loved to play around their house, in the yard and if we could get by with it in the sand pile and on the pipes of Grandpa’s business. However, if we ever got caught (which we did often) we got in big trouble either from Grandpa or Uncle James, Uncle C.W., or one of the crew that worked for Grandpa. Inevitably, one of us kids would get “hurt”. You know, scrape a knee or get a small cut on a finger or arm. That was one of the reasons Grandpa didn’t want us playing on or around his equipment. We loved to climb on the big trucks, etc. Back to my story….When one of us got hurt and we would run to the house, crying and asking for help, after Grandma saw that we wasn’t hurt that bad she would always say, “Well, that wouldn’t hurt on my eyeball”. She would always make us laugh and forget about our little scrape.

A few days ago, I spilled a cup of HOT coffee on my arm and my poor husband thought I had been shot or something really horrible had happened, by the way I screamed and bounced around saying, “Oh! OW! JEEEE—SUS!” and on and on. He tried to help me by saying, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Run it under cold water, etc”. Poor guy didn’t know what to do. We both thought for sure it would blister and be red and burnt for days. However, the next day, I looked at it and it looked just like a little scrape. Nathan looked at it and tried to remain sympathetic but I could tell by the look on his face (he’s not good at hiding his feelings) that he couldn’t understand what all the screaming had been about the previous day. That’s when I just started laughing, almost uncontrollably, all the while trying to tell him what I was laughing at. That look on his face took me back to much younger days, when I would see that same look on Grandma Pound’s face and she would say, “Well, that wouldn’t hurt on my eyeball”.

I know I could take this post and make something much more philosophical and maybe even spiritual (grow up already, in the Kingdom of God). But, I just wanted to share a little Ruby Pound-ism with you and hopefully make you smile. There was only one Ruby Pound and every once in awhile I feel her “spirit” get on me. She was quite a character and I’m glad I had her as a grandmother. She made me laugh more times than I could ever count.

All I Want for Christmas…

iluv2prshim — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:48:04 +0000

This is a picture of Nathan, Danelle and I singing, “Your Presence” at our Christmas Concert. The words caught my attention as soon as I heard the song.

“In the busy Christmas noise, All the light, the bells, the toys, I have found You are the only source of comfort and joy.

Lord, I want Your presence for Christmas. I want Your presence for Christmas. I long to hear Your spirit speaking peace to my heart. Of all the gifts I may receive, there’s only one I really need. And it’s Your presence, Your presence for Christmas.

When this Holiday is through and the year is fresh and new, what will linger are the moments spent, my Lord just worshiping You.

Breathe on me. Breathe on me. I want Your presence, Your presence for Christmas. “

I was thinking about this and how true it is. In all the hustle and bustle of the season if the Lord is not present for our Christmas, it is not at all important. This train of thought brought me to this, wouldn’t it be awesome if Jesus decided to return for us on Christmas 2010? How awesome would that Christmas gift be? Wow! However, He decides to wait, I still want His presence to be present at my Christmas.

Have a very Merry Christmas everybody! Be blessed in the New Year!

You can hear the song, sung by Sisters here: http://youtu.be/E2dK_adVYzQ

Count Your Blessings

iluv2prshim — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:13:37 +0000

As we enter the Thanksgiving Holiday, let’s count our BLESSINGS!

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself.

Happy Birthday, Nathaniel

iluv2prshim — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:12:22 +0000

Happy Birthday, Nathaniel. You are a joy and blessing to Dad and I and a host of other people. We love you and we are proud to call you our son! Have a wonderful day. I pray that God will shower you with His best in the coming year.

Too Funny!

iluv2prshim — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 05:20:23 +0000

Nathan and I are in Eminence, Kentucky preaching a 10 year Pastoral Anniversary for Robert and Sherri Eades. Rob was in our church in Texarkana. He was 12 years old when we went there and grew up, became a great musician/singer/songwriter and then the Lord called him to preach. He met Sherri at a General Conference and the rest is history. They have done a great work here in Eminence and the Lord will continue to bless them.

Here’s the funny part. As I mentioned before, Rob is a great musician and songwriter. I have always loved to sing one of his songs, “I Put my Trust in The Lord”. So…I had already planned on singing that song tonight. Well…..Bro. Sean Griffis (MC for tonight’s service) had Rob and Sherri sing too and when they started singing I recognized the song and began to sing along, back in my pew. Something kept niggling at the back of my mind about the song they were singing…”I just feel it won’t be long now, ’til we see the King of kings….” I finally leaned over to Sis. Terri Griffis and said, “I think I wrote this song”. About that time, my husband looks at me from the platform and mouthed, “Didn’t you write this song”? They kept singing,”……and I will Praise Him through eternity”. Song over. People were praising the Lord and Rob looks at me from the keyboard and said, “That’s YOUR song”. LOL I got so tickled thinking, it’s pretty bad when you write a song and can’t even remember. Well, I finally remembered that I did write that song and was blessed by the way Rob and Sherri sang it. Put a couple of new twists (jazz moves) in it too. Made me smile. Then, I get up and ask Rob to play for me and he said, “Do I know the song”? I said, “I think you might” and began to sing his song and he and Nathan joined in with me, “I put my trust in the Lord to see me through. He’s never let me down, even though I thought He would. And no matter how dark the night, I knew the Son would bring the light. I put my trust in the Lord to see me through”.

I guess we had a mutual admiration party going on. It just struck me funny. If you don’t think so, that’s okay. Just let me smile.

Just Thankful

iluv2prshim — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 07:24:07 +0000

Thankful for the man I married 33 years ago.
Thankful for the children God blessed us with.
Thankful for our son-in-law.
Thankful for my church!
Thankful for our Sons and Daughters-in-the-Gospel!
Thankful for friends!
Thankful that I live in America!
Thankful I have a warm place to sleep tonight.
Thankful there’s food in my cupboard!
Thankful I have served the Lord for 45 years! I don’t regret one day I have loved Him.
Thankful for The Truth!

I am just….THANKFUL!