Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

Religion is a tough task master. I have been participating on LinkedIn discussion group. I posted two discussions, one about what the church needs to do to turn around is declining membership in the US. The other was specifically on WHAT YOU WOULD do to engage your local culture or community. The first discussion was a lot of back and forth on what's wrong with the church, and what's wrong with society. Some thought we should move forward and other back. Some blamed education, others government and liberalism. There were some edgy remarks regarding woman in the church, Pentecostals, that role of politics and some other subjects such as edification and authority. It was almost out of control, and certainly needed some moderation. I tried to press for solutions, and I got some pretty standard answers. - Prayer - Returning to our first love - Repentance - Humility - Ridding ourselves of worldly influences - Just do God's will - Read the Bible Nothing surprising...

Like many, I skipped the New Year's stuff. I still have a couple of days off before I go back to work which I plan on using to try to get some momentum towards a couple of personal goals. As a guy, I live my life in compartments which are not always related. I have work, family, church, music and writing - well those are the things that take up most of my time. Christians often talk about balance in life. You know, getting our priorities in order: God, spouse, kids, work, church and free time. I know that as our little one has grown older, and we actually found a babysitter that wants to make money, my wife and I get more date nights and time together. My new job, for which I am grateful to have, costs me 2 to 3 hours more of my time each day. There are those compartments again. Something had to give, so I pretty much have given up playing guitar; although this vacation I have played a lot. I don't think there is a formula for balancing your life. Whatever you schedule seems t...

This morning I woke up preaching in a dream-- it used to happen more often. I was at a church praying for sick people to be healed, for those without jobs to find them, and for those there with addictions for them to be broken. I read from 1 Corinthians and invited those with a word to come and share it, for those with a song to sing it, and for those with wisdom to give it. The Lord was so very alive and at work in His people-- it was extremely vivid. I remember asking people to stand up and to look around and see if the Lord impressed upon them any particular person in the sanctuary to remember it. Then I began to ask those that were moving to a new home or apartment soon to stand up. I solicited volunteers to help them. I asked those that needed babysitters to stand up, and asked this congregation to volunteer to do it. I asked those that were lonely to stand up, asking the brethren, "is there anyone here that can be a friend to these people?"-- and then I woke up. Hmmmm...