TNP - A CHANGE IN DIRECTION - Pastoral Care?

TNP – APRIL 26, 2012

During the soaking time, we used Don’s new CD  ‘Sessions from The Loft” music from Bethel Church

1.       Andy G – the families built the wall around Jerusalem section by section until it was halfway up. 

2.       Noble H  - mentioned that Ian & Crystal want to get together with them and hear Nobles' dream.

3.       Phil H – Prefaced his remarks with he had a word that he had been sitting on for some time.  His word was about Immediate obedience, “when we hear God we need to be ready to say what God says right then .”  I encouraged him that that was a word for him personally, and it may be a word for others as well but to walk that out personally now. It has been a word for his life since I started talking with him in early 2000.  To walk in it, however, he will need to know who he is in Christ.

4.       Don M – read my e-mail of 3-16-2012 to the group gathered.

      Originally intended to be sent to Jeremiah Luntsford, because he wanted the worship team to attend a Thursday night prayer one week per month.  The e-mail was intended to describe what format Thursday night was taking so that Jeremiah and Keira could know what to expect ahead of time.  I decided to send it to Don first to confirm the details before sending it on to others.  Don’s response was Wow!  

5.       David S – My prompting lately has been a press to spend more time behind the veil so to speak, face-to-face time with God and his word, beyond just daily reading and casual prayer.  I mentioned Ministry either as a canal or as a reservoir. The canal is filled in a short time but gives everything away immediately every time the gates of the lock are opened. In contrast, the reservoir takes much longer to fill but then is able to supply a steady stream of water, out of its overflow, even during a sustained drought. The five foolish virgins did not have their reservoir full, only their lamps (canal) and so about midnight they ran out of oil and missed the bridegroom.  

I read excerpts from My Utmost for His Highest on April 16 & April 25 the last paragraph both spoke about going up the mountain and being inspired, but not staying there, coming down, and living in the real world without losing the inspiration that came on the mountain.  Discipline ourselves to remember the message given on the mountain but not require constant inspiration in order to keep going forward based on that message. This was definitely a message I needed to hear, it describes the process I have been walking through at work and at CFC.

We all have moments where we feel better than ever before, and we say “I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this.  We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight that we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop.  Yet we must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us up on the mountaintop when we were there.

Never allow a feeling that was awakened in you on the mountaintop to evaporate. Don’t place yourself on the shelf by thinking, “How great to be in such a wonderful state of mind!” Act immediately—do something even if your only reason to act is that you would rather not (act). If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “ I will do it”—just do it! Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain. We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain.  -- From April 16, My Utmost for His Highest

One of the worst traps a Christian worker can fall into is to become obsessed with his own exceptional moments of inspiration. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you tend to say, “Now that I have experienced this moment, I will always be like this for God.” No, you will not, and God will make sure of that.  Those times are entirely the gift of God. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be the best for God as, during those exceptional times, you actually become an intolerable burden on Him. You will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously aware of His inspiration to you at all times.

If you make a god out of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life, never to return until you are obedient in the work He has placed closest to you, and until you have learned not to be obsessed with those exceptional moments He has given you. --From April 25 My Utmost For His Highest

I hit a new progression of chords last night and it felt powerful, it was then that Don launched off into his declarations.

The chord progression was

D, A, G, D,    D, A, G, D,     D, A, G, D,   G, A, D   G, A, D,

Added an element of Dsus4 /// D / Dsus2 /// D / reverse strumming (pulling up) picking the notes on the sixth string G, G, G, F#, F, F, F, F# (style  like in the song honky tonk woman)

Quarter notes 123 and then half note 4 sustained.

           Moved to chords but the same rhythm G /// D / A /// D

           And then onto G, D, A, D,  G, D, A,  G, D, A, G,   G, A, D,  G, A, D,   

           repeat from the top.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF DAVID GIBSON & the emergency room.

Around 6:40 pm Diane got a call from Theresa about David Gibson going into the Emergency room at the hospital, she literally banged on the rear of the van, as I was letting off the brakes to enter Main Street on my way to the Gap.  I hit the brakes and heard only that David had gone back to the hospital emergency room. 

I arrived at the church at 6:50 pm, Don arrived a few minutes later, I mentioned it to Don with the question, “Should we go now and leave a note on the door, so people know where we are?  or Do we wait until people get here and then explain where we are going after everyone arrives?” We decided to wait until people showed up and got started.

By 7:21 pm David had already left the emergency room and had gone home.

Don recovered the text message on his phone at about 8:15 pm, Looking at the phone’s information we discovered that the text message was actually sent at 7:21 pm stating “that David had returned home,” 

This seemed to confirm the feeling we had of waiting and going later. 

So at 8:15 pm, We had a brief discussion with the group about going up to see David at his home shortly. 

Tim West arrived around 8:45 pm he seemed to know about Casey being out of town but did not know about David is back in the hospital.  

Shortly after that, we wrapped up, shut off the audio system, etc. 

Several of us went to David’s home we arrived at about 9:10 pm, but all the lights were out. We knocked on the door and it looked like only the light over the stove was lit.

There was no answer, so we stayed outside and prayed for 5-10 minutes over their home, family, and individual lives and for his healing.

There are a couple of observations to be made here.  

Information was sketchy (second-hand, third-hand) and changes were happening quickly. Locations changed within 30 minutes. 

Communication is key to working as a team, clear concise information helps us all be on the same page.  Having a clear concise plan in place ahead of time is even better.

Strategic Planning for the future…

·         How can we remove the ‘pastoral care’ burden from Theresa Forbes.

·         What is the plan for ‘pastoring’ the local church?

·         Who are the pastoral leaders of the local church?

·         Does anything change when Pat is away?  

o   Nationally?

o   Internationally?

·         What does it mean to be an elder?

o   What are their responsibilities?

·         Do we need deacons?

o   What are their responsibilities?

·         Do we recognize prayer & worship leaders?

o   What are their responsibilities?