Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

Here is another little story from my book which is out for editing later today! Zechariah 1:13 So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words. (NIV) One of the reasons that my position at the photography studio didn't work out for me was this: after three years, I was feeling creatively stifled. My primary job was photographing children at schools, and doing weddings. The rest of the time I spent in the darkroom. Depending on the season, I would sometimes be there weeks on end. The owner had hired a team-building consultant, and after a battery of personality and interest tests, along with a few hours of interviews, they found out who I really was deep down. Some of the information even surprised me – but it was true. I really enjoyed the consultant, and we became friends. I thought to myself, if I don’t fit in here, where do I fit? Being unemployed gave me time to pray, and research various career choices. I had always picked jobs that seemed interesting before. After...

I think we'd all agree, that the continuum of supernatural entities ranges from the hell of Satan's fiery inferno, to the city of Light and precious stones called Heaven. As Christians we can confidently say anything that God instructs us to do is not sin. We can also confidently say that anything that He instructs us not to do, is sin. We also know from reading Paul's epistles, that not everything in itself is evil. Between sin and not sin is realm I like to call "not sin, not God." Certain things are sin for sure, we're not going there. What about stuff that just is? Like playing guitar, golf, hiking, board games, and other types of hobbies or pass times? I haven't even added TV or mindlessly surfing the Internet. Paul said this:  Romans 14:20 NAS Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. This is really the verse that allows us to have the freedom to...

I love to tell stories about my supernatural God. In fact I am writing a book about it. There are about 100 stories in all and each one I find  exciting. Here is a vignette from the chapter on Walking in Faith. After my divorce, the pastor thought it would be a good idea if I went to another church. It was like having two divorces as I said goodbye to friends and my church family. I skipped a week of church, and woke up the following Sunday. I didn't have any idea where to go. I got dressed, and was listening to worship music – in fact I listened to worship music every waking hour and left it playing all night long. I got dressed and decide to get in the car and go for a drive. I was trying to think of churches where I night know someone from a conference. I had already attended most of the churches within 45 minutes of my home. I let out a sigh, “Lord where should I go?” I knew I would have to get on the highway to go anywhere, so I did. Exit 6, Exit 5, Exi...

Well it's Monday, and I had a pretty amazing weekend. I went out to a very nice breakfast with my wife and little one on Saturday. I had a chance to hang out with a friend while we worked on my PC later in the day. It is all set up for recording now. And I recorded a new song! Sunday I went to church and enjoyed the message and the ministry. Each week we seem to make some real progress in terms of using our gifts. We had a few folks really turn their lives around in the past few weeks! My biggest concern is about those that are just getting their life in order and need spiritual parents. Friday was the last class at the 5-Fold School of Ministry and we had almost 30 plus those watching online. I really enjoyed teaching about the apostle, because it is such an important function in the church. I had a lot of challenging questions, yet I felt comfortable with my answers. Here is one of them: What would you call a person that only designs ministries based...

I have resurrected a book that I started writing a couple of years ago. It is sort f a spiritual autobiography. It's no A Million Little Pieces , and it won't get me on Oprah, but it is all true. Two things happened that made me stop writing the book. The first was that it didn't have an ending. in fact it didn't even have a climax. The second thing - well third was that it didn't flow. It was a choppy bunch of stories that, except for their chronological order, did not work together. Those are good reasons to stop writing - well that, and I don't know what the heck I am doing. The good news is that God knows what He is doing. It doesn't matter if I finish it, or if it even sells. What matters is that he is in control of the process. Next week I am putting together a pre-publish copy for some friends. Some are Christians, and some are not (I am so sneaky). What I know is this, it is collection of testimonies; a bunch of vignettes from my life in Christ, ...

Last time we talked about love, maturity and hearing the Holy Spirit. I have a couple more thoughts. Participation: It is interesting that much of the church have become spectators on Sunday mornings. It's too bad, because it opposes Paul's command to participate: 1 Corinthians 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. Have you been to a service where you can get up front and and speak what God has put on your heart? I find it really exciting that God wants us to participate. Some churches have small-groups where you can participate in such a manner, but not many. How do you join in from the pew? First talk to the pastor. This type of service is hard to control - and most would rather go without it. Some, do work towards releasing folks like you bring something from God. Relationsh...

Today is the celebration of St. Valentine. Legend/history has it that he was martyred February 14, 270. He was beaten and then beheaded. I don't know how that translates into hearts and slinky lingerie - but I'll take it. February is the love month, so I am going to talk about the love of my life: Mary Anne. Here is how she has changed me, and why I say wives can be a great thing if you get the right one! Food: She is a great cook, and I am never nervous about anything that she puts on the table. She knows the 2 or 3 things I don't like a lot, and the one thing I won't eat. Hanging Out: Whenever we get to be alone, whether it's a walk on the beach, a few hours out for Chinese, or our after dinner coffee, it's what I like the best. Team: In finances, most of the time in parenting and life goals, I know I can count on her. We don't agree on everything, and don't always work well in the kitchen together, but for the important stuff, she is right t...

What if the church was like Toys-R-Us? Really. This what happened to me at Toys-R-Us the past few days. I bought three toys for my 7-year-old. It was a total purchase of less than $30. She had saved her money from helping my wife pet sit. We've been trying to find  these particular items in the store, or online since Christmas day. They have been out of stock both at the local store, and online. Last night she whined so much, I went online and they were in stock at a local store. So I bought them. She gave me her carefully counted dollars and quarters; I stopped when she got to the nickels and dimes. She was happy, I was happy, life is good. Then I got an email stating that two of the three items on the order were cancelled. Not happy child = not happy dad. They shipped one toy from out of state - $7.99 toy, $5.34 shipping! Very not happy dad - and it wasn't even my money! When I got home today, I was thinking about the order and how disappointed...

I decided that I am going to write a series on what the average Christian can do to make church better, and more godly. The is the intro, and I don't know how many posts it will take, but I am not worried about it. I do know that if we love others with our gifts, the job will get done. Working backwards from the goal, we can maybe see what steps we can take to turn the church around. So here are the first few thoughts. - Love: We need to better understand love, we often identify it with some mushy feeling that we felt while watching a romantic comedy. Think about it, how much love do you think Jesus felt the day he was crucified? If he always loved, and he does, do you think he was having mushy feelings for the Romans? Was he all choked up over the kindness they were showing him? - Holy Spirit: If we can't sense God's presence, or hear his voice, how would we ever know what to do? There are more than 31,000 verses in the Bible. Let say only a third of them are act...

After working our way through the Pastor, the Teacher and the Evangelist in the 5-Fold School of Ministry , I have been challenged to document what I believe. I don't mind, but I settled so many issues years ago, that I had forgotten each verse that proved my point. Truthfully, after all this time, it is just a part of life; a part of the way I commune with Jesus. I don't need to know where the verses is that says "pray without ceasing," "whatever you ask in my name;" I am good. My Jesus experiences that are very common, are foreign to some in my class, and even those in my church. There is a list of them, from healing to falling under the power, tongues to prophecy, I have seen it all. It doesn't make me special, just experienced at the very least, and bit more intimate with God too. I have even been called a heretic - LOL! I take teaching very seriously, but some days I just want all of God, and I'm going there. I met a guy in the class that ha...

Have you thought about why you go to to church, why we have services on Sunday morning and stuff like that? I don't know about you, but when I go to church, I just want the good stuff. I want worship that is so good, you don't even need to know the words. I want preaching that not only sounds good, or sounds like my Jesus, but it changes me. I want fellowship where I feel close enough to my brothers and sisters to confess my sins, and be myself. I want to see God heal the sick, give encouraging prophesies to his people, and enjoy His presence. Friday night I have been teaching a class - maybe you have caught it online . For the first few weeks, as exciting as it was, it was mostly the transfer of godly information. That is not entirely the case, but it certainly wasn't all the "good stuff." I don't really know why, but I keep praying, keep caring, keep studying, and keep showing up - hoping for the good stuff. It is starting to ha...

I just read an article about the ousted Ted Haggard . He's the guy that was caught with meth while hanging around with a male prostitute. It is a lengthy article, but well worth the read. One of things that is important to me as a Christian is knowing that God doesn't give up on us.  am not saying that Ted is all better - but I think he is a lot farther down the road then he was and he got a new church: St. James. There is a quote from the article: Do unto others as they didn't do unto you. (More about this on Monday) Ted explained how the other leaders treated him during that time, and his separation agreement. I wasn't aware of exactly what he admitted to until today, and what he agreed to when he left: leaving the state, getting out of ministry, and not talking to the media. Hmmm... I wonder what all the motivations were for those conditions? I am wondering what Bible verse running someone out of the state is in? I understa...

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