Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

Just about all people follow some one's leadership. They have heroes, bosses, managers, parents, pastors and teachers. And yet most of us also lead. We can lead ourselves, a family, or a country; someone is in always in charge. I believe leadership is partly talent, partly learned and always entrusted to us by God. All of our choices have consequences, and therefore are leading somewhere. Every entity has some sort of leadership; the church is not exempt from that. It seems I have come across more then few uniformed church people in the area of leadership. They don't seem to understand the fundamentals of leading, but have no problem taking control. They don't seem to get that leadership is not about them, but about those they lead. Simply stated in the Bible, "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." Leadership in the church is about getting at the end of the "blessing" line and encouraging others to join you. Church le...

Not a day goes by when we hear some saying that pertains to so-called wisdom. "Seat Belts Save Lives", "Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right", "Low Fat", "Low Carb", "Easy Does It", "Jesus Saves"... the list goes on an on; while the more popular ones are bumper stickers. If you have ever been in a church, you've heard a lot more of them. Here is one, "It Take Two to Tango"; meaning that both partners are responsible for negative outcome in a relationship. Another version is "relationships are 50/50%" when they are really 100%/100%. And my favorite, "good intentions paved the road to Hell." Oh yes, and let's not forget the "money is the root of all evil." I think in an effort to make things more understandable, some actual scriptures get changed while the original meaning stays intact. Other times well meaning folks try to make these sayings more palatable while they entire truth is ...

Today is the day after Father's Day. Yesterday I thought about my dad on the way home from visiting two of my daughters. I have thought many hours how prayer might have changed things in his life. Fortunately he received Jesus 7 or 8 months before he passed away... June 23 I think it was. He lay there sick in the hospital with brain cancer trying to answer the eternal question "is there really a life after death?" For him, by faith, there was. Amen. I thought to about the events leading up to his acceptance of the Lord. When we first heard the word "cancer" I decided to take my family and go visit him. A few nights before I was praying on the phone with one of my close friends. I felt the Lord say that my youngest daughter (at the time) would be the one to minister to my dad. As we prepared to go see grandpa, she busied herself with finding a suitable gift. She chose a plaque that had been on the wall in her old room at our previous home. She picked it because o...

Yesterday morning I awoke to news about a local teachers strike that has gone into it's fourth day. The teachers were ordered back to work but they have refused to go. Now the union has a $150,000 fine to pay. What is going on in America? First, let me say that it is sad that teachers make so little for the amount of education they have. Most people with a masters degree in greater Boston would make 100K or more... they are not even close. I know I taught school and when offered $16K a year I chose something else. I am sure you're wondering what is so important to me regarding this situation. Here it is, we have people breaking the law and public support is subsiding quickly as parents scramble to find suitable care for their kids. The law and the court order is being enforced. I remember my mother getting a ride to local pokey after six or seven days after her teacher's union decided to strike. She had a court appearance and a fine. Justice was swift. The details of this s...

I remember it like it was yesterday-- my first mission trip to Brazil. My friend Carlos was there with a couple of his friends waiting to meet me in Curitiba airport. His amazing smile and that box of Brazilian chocolate he brought as a welcome gift; it is a picture that is stuck in my mind and event that will always be in my heart. We all stood there in the modern concourse greeting each other. It was really quite a moment for me. It is a bit of an amazing story how I actually met Carlos in the first place. He had come here legally to bring a message of salvation and love to the US; as a missionary to this country. There we were in the midst of something that God was doing, in back hallway of the in Salvation Army, in downtown Hyannis. That was nearly 10 years ago. The rest is history, good history. He has been a friend, a best man and the iron that sharpens iron in my life. We are as close as Johnathan and David were. We often talk about that. We love to travel, eat sushi, enjoy cars...

Today while I was waiting to hear news about my father-in-law's kidney surgery(which at the time of this writing seems to have gone well), I received news of another co-laborer in the Kingdom who died in an auto accident. He was known to me as Theodore, but those who were really close to him, called him Grandpa Theodore. He was well into his 80's, a missionary in Mexico... well for the last few years anyway. His legacy was missions in Asia including Vietnam, China and the Philippines. He was the mentor of a friend of mine who I know, and finally met, from a prayer chain on the Internet. We had many e-mails over the last decade... Time flies no matter what you are doing. I am sad today. As I sit here and think about Theodore's impact on my life, I remember when we first met. He was part of a team in doing a mission in Vietnam. He was located in California arranging things for Bobby and the gang over there. In 2000 the team finally got kicked out of Hanoi for their work. (Whi...