We’ve been going strong since September 2007 and it seems like a good idea to have a site where we can talk about who we are, what we are doing and what is important to our group. We also have pictures from time to time and this will be a good place to post some of them. If you have pictures that you would like posted on our blog site, just send them to me and I’ll insert them into our blog conversation.
Ainsley Pardon
Feedback! Feedback! Feedback!
Over the centuries of time preachers and prophets have had the job of telling people what they think God wants them to hear. Sometimes that was good news, like when Moses told the Israelites that God was sick of seeing them in slavery. Other times preachers and prophets relayed messages from the Lord that didn’t go over well at all. It’s actually not too difficult to find these guys throughout history getting stoned or hung or finished off in some other fashion. For a lot of these guys death wasn’t the worst of it. They were smeared and ruined and run out of town. (And you thought preacher-types were in it for the money!)
Darlene Teague
All of that noise and fury as well as cheers leveled at the preachers is just old fashioned feedback. People told these guys their opinions about what they were preaching. In one town, the people drug Paul outside of the city limits and stoned him. They thought he was dead, so they left his body out in the open to be disposed of by the wild animals.
Trina Pardon
But Paul fooled them. He wasn’t quite dead and his traveling companion and doctor, Luke, got him back on his feet and on his way to the next town, where they hated him just as much. Paul always traveled with a doctor for a reason. He needed a doctor and he and Luke were great friends. Paul was an older guy and Luke a younger doctor. They were closer than brothers.
Phil Appling, Les Holmes, Kip Pardon
Matt and I need your feedback. We need to know when our words make you think, cause you to get closer to God and when what we say just falls flat. Both of us work hard to say something that is meaningful and helpful on Sundays and we need to know if we are hitting the mark or just putting you to sleep. If you want to bring a rotten tomato to church, just in case our words warrant it, then at least we’d know that we haven’t put you to sleep. But we would really appreciate it if we could have a heart to heart conversation before you chose to throw rocks.
Susan Brandom, Linda Appling
A Purpose Driven Church
I don’t know if we ever really put it down in black and white what our purpose was. But as I have thought about what our purpose should be and what we have been doing, I have to say that we’ve been doing really well.
Matt and Cheri Appling
I have never been in a church that wasn’t scratching for money. As the former pastor of some institutional and denominational churches, I can tell you that my stomach was usually in knots starting in July and running through the rest of the year. That’s because attendance drives contributions and institutional churches usually have a big overhead. They have buildings and utilities and full-time salaries. Summer attendance in an institutional church is always lower and so the contributions is always behind.
Jake and Nicki Pullen
Close behind the summer worries would be the end of the year denominational obligations that would be due by January 1st. Talk about pressure! The bishop or the superintendent or the conference or the presbytery or the general assembly or the area-wide commission, all would expect the local church to pony up their fair share of the expenses of the larger organization. At one point, those obligations were as much as 25% of the local church’s total contributions!!!
Darlene Teague, Jake Pullen, Carsen Teague
It was always a strain and I had to try to keep a positive face on all of it. And because the larger organization’s expectations were largely tied to their budgets to pay for their light bills and mortgages and salaries, few, and sometimes none, of those dollars were spent on feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, lifting up the down-hearted or even preaching the Gospel.
But we don’t belong to that club. We don’t have a mortgage or rent to pay. We don’t have utilities. We have a little bit of overhead. Along with those factors, it seems clear that all of you are doing a great job of making generous contributions. Because of your generousity and our particular situation, we were able to do some really significant things for the sake of the Kingdom of God which spread the Gospel and helped other people who needed the help.
Phil and Linda Appling
If one of the purposes of a church is to reach out to other people, then Levi’s House has truly done that this past year. I’m telling you this because you have reason to be happy about what you as a group have done and so that you’ll know that this is a worthy place to give your time and money in the future. Just look at the Missions Report for 2010 and thank God that he gave us the ability and the motivation to do these things.
Austin and Christi visit with Susan Brandom
Heaven Can’t Wait
I’ve written a few lines on what it means to invite Christ into your life. It’s not meant to be a “Four Spiritual Laws” formula of salvation. It’s merely a conversation in print about developing a relationship with God that will last for all eternity.
Linda and Ansley coloring
Maybe you aren’t sure about where you stand with the Lord. Or, you know someone who could use a little bit of encouragement to start that conversation and that friendship with Christ. I’m putting these things in print and on paper so you can give them to people who might be interested. And it’s online now with this blog so you can send this link to friends who might be interested in this subject.
Carson Teague
It would be really helpful if you would tell him or write about the when and where and why and how of your relationship with the Lord. Some people know exactly when they started following the Lord. Others aren’t really sure, but they know that he is an important part of their lives right now. Whatever you want to share about how this came about would be welcome.
I hope you have a blessed Christmas and a happy new year …
And I hope to see you in the coming year as we continue our journey down this road together.
Phil
Give me some feedback!
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