Church in Motion

I must tell you that I’m honored to be a shepherd of God’s flock at Maywood.  There is no other job that I would rather do besides shepherd!  Please pray for this transition into lead pastor and as I pass along other responsibilities and give myself to sermon preparation, leadership development, and to creative ways of developing the vision of Maywood.  In no way could I do the work of this ministry without other shepherds and great leaders that I labor with.  God has equipped Maywood with a wonderful team of men who are committed to having their Lord glorified through the advancement of the Gospel.  Each week I’ll strive to have a challenge for Maywood in the Newsletter and my blog site called The Shepherd’s Corner.  This can be found on the front page of our church web site.

For the next six weeks we will be examining The Church in Motion as seen in the book of Acts.  As a young boy, God instilled a love for His church within me through parents who made it a priority to be at church several times a week.  Although there were times that I thought there were better things that I could be doing I found the church to be my real passion.  Our family knew where we belonged on Sundays and Wednesdays and we were often the last ones out of the church building.  The fellowship was so sweet and I longed to grow in God’s Word. 

I believe God’s church is the agency that He works through today and it is the pillar and ground of truth (1 Timothy 3:15).  He makes His glory known through the church that Christ died for and allows believers to play a significant part in it (Ephesians 1:12).  The church is both an organization and an organism.  It was designed to thrive as we function according to God’s Word.  God’s church is intended to be an exciting place of lively worship—certainly not dead.  I believe that it is the Gospel that propels the church to be the church in the community.  Praying, planning, teaching, and intentionally sharing the Gospel must be a top priority to us individually and as a church.  Christianity in North America is growing at one of the lowest rates in the world.  Our own Jerusalem (Rockford) must be evangelized by us individually!  My heart rejoices to know that God promised and delivered the power necessary for us to be that witness (Acts 1:8) in our community!  Please, let’s commit to doing it together!