Church Leadership

i would like to encourage you, if you walk in obedience, you will face evil. evil is not like most think as the faceless dark hooded and mysterious. the fruit of the spirit- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. one might think that evil then would be the opposite, but it is not. Its an imitation of the above. its a non organic substitute that masks itself. Its a facade. Those of a discerning spirit who walk with the lord see it. the carnal mind simply does not, but over time intelligence alone will eventually reveal truth. evil hates the truth, becausethe truth exposes evil. evil does not want you to know the truth, because if you know the truth then you see evil for the ugly that it is. therefore, evil must be flexible and ever changing because the truth stands alone and can not change. evil will skirt, evil will lie, evil is cunning and sneaky, but when exposed will become hostile with malice. After that all of the sudden a calm. behind the calm is a storm…the calm is the facade of the fruit, and the storm is that which rages closely behind the mask.

the trials that the book of james speaks of are just that. evil is nothing more than man being man. the godless being normal. selfish arrogant money power- being liked -where every smile is self serving, every handshake a simple act of self indulgence and every act of giving has the expectation of a receiving.

agape love is impossible, therefore evil can not forgive. it can not forgive because evil is so bloated that the smallest offense is also the greatest offense for evil declares self all above all, therefore any offense can only be an accolade or trophy displayed as a reward for not forgiving. for evil, forgiveness = humility and humility to evil is weakness. so to hang on to even the most minor of an offense, is a show of strenth like the free climber using three fingers to pull himself to safety.

evil will have joy in the trial but only because they are the trial to someone else. its a loathsome self defeating act, yet the need for power and the win supersede even the notion of common sense and basic dignity. joy comes in a grimmise of pinning the aponent down for the count. its the epitome of narcisim for less of anyone else means more of self. its the flesh in a vaccum.

the peace evil portrays is that of the sin of man, its not a peace like that of the holy spirit that illuminates the truth of God’s sovereignty, but rather the peace the flesh has in complete apathy. indifference to pain and suffering caused to others or the potential there of. evil thinks about the now, and is spiritually obtuse. evil makes the mind secondary to the heart. for evil can not accept its own fate. for evil sees nothing wrong with itself, other than the truth seems to cause some serious hurdles.

kindness is out of the story that can be told later, or the expectation of a return. its a word that expects a word, its giving for the purpose of owing, its masked even to self as an investment, of self preservation, simply its the pride of life. the life that that believes its deserving of good and what is fair. when really its the self concern like a child crying over not getting candy.

patience is hard for evil pretend, because evil gets in a hurry. if evil does not expedite the truth will win. and losing for evil is personal and represents lack of power. therefore evil will always advance past patience. for evil only trusts self and due to evils preoccupation with “me” is so bold that evil can’t realize that evil can not even trust itself.

like the psychopath or sociopath, goodness and kindness observed and mimiced traits that evil will demonstrate as a defense and a place to hide. evil will use these external behaviors like a soldier uses camouflage in hopes that the truth will pass by and evil be noticed. evil is a coward to the truth. thats why it rants, hates, is angry, is lieing, and desires for others the same. the serpant was the most cunning of all creatures convincing man to have he deserved. the heart is the most deceptive thing, and evil relies on the heart. goodness and kindness make a temporary shadow for evil, until the truth shines like the sun.

evil wants what it wants. evil can not be faithful to God, a spouse, a friend, even a foe. evil justifies the opposite of each relatioship in a selve serving pattern that is never black and white but a constant gray, smoke screen, and an inflated ego that justifies all acts of infidelity on self and more often than not displace the same shortcoming towords the truth. lack of faithfulness is that which most turn a head or keep opinions to self. the reason being the descent man, not necesarily even godly man, relaizes the potential damage unfaithfulness exposed to the truth has a sequential devestating effect. evil will wish, insinuate, lie, and accuse its enemy of the most repulsed of sins, because evil is guily even more but feels no guilt nor remorse. evil is so unfaithful that it does not even for a second consider the irreputable damage to the innoncent, for they know not innocence. evil will blame what it knows it is guilty of. yet with out feelings of guilt. evil is unfaithful on purpose, because being unfaithful is the pinnacle of power. evil can not even be faithful to a foe, for if the foe can be of benefit to evil for a time, evil will carefully slide the mask of companionship for the time it takes to receive and have a need met.

like the hunter that has killed thousands , the mortician who has painted a thousand faces, evil can sing a sweet lullaby like a munchausen syndrome by proxy mother rocks her poisened baby to eternal sleep. gentleness is evil’s calm in the comfort in the place its most comfortable, the power over a life. its a satisfaction over the conquered which needed no conquering. where the innocent perish evil will thrive. that which would cause the Godly to fall prostrate before a holy God is the same that gives evil a quiet calm, because evil is the winner.

evil wants to isolate. evil must be in the dark. evil can only have self control in its victims isolation. for only in isolation can evil form what seems to be special friendship when in reality its yet another human shield when the bullets of truth fire across the battlefield as the light of truth exposes evil, evil will cast blame beyond itself to those it has pre-isolated in order to cast the blame to another or others. evil is a coward. evil will demand itself as the only voice. evil demands allegience to no other. evil has the expecation of complete loyalty to the grave, and if not ….evil will turn on that person like a fastball coming in contact with the precision swing of a professional batter.

have you stared evil in the face? have you sat across the table? if you have and have flet intimidated or scared….ask yourself….are you on the side of truth? not if truth is on your side, for truth takes no side nor is it a side. evil will attack the truth from every angle…and refer to different sides, when in reality evil is the only side, the truth does not have a side, it simply exists and can not be moved. evil is loud, the truth is quiet, evil will find strength in numbers, the truth only needs its self, evil will change the story from this to that, truth needs no extra words, evil will pound its fists, quiver its chin, redden its face and hurl sharpened daggers of insult and lies……………and the truth….well …….the truth…..just laughs and laughs and laughs…..what else is there at that point? EVIL? WHATEVER.

Let me begin by saying I take 0% credit for anything I am about to write. These were not my ideas. I am writing them down for two reasons. The first is so that I can remember them and use them at my church. The second is so other pastors or church leaders can use them as well.

Context: I was leading a youth retreat in N.Myrtle Beach S.C. We always take the group to Barefoot Church on Sunday Morning. It is a modern church with cool music, sound biblical preaching, and on the cutting edge in the use of technology. The morning we went we were invited to their Vision Night. They were serving a meal. Now from my experience if you want people to come to a church business meeting you call it something cool and serve food. So that is what I was thinking, so i did not take the youth back that evening for Vision Night, but myself and another leader from our group went. These are the things they did to turn a business meeting into something great.

Invite Everyone: Church members of course. People from the community. Anyone you have info on. Why? Create excitement. Some people are looking for something to get involved with. Yes visitors and kids at a business meeting imaging that!
Free Gift: Everyone who came was promised a free gift. You had to be at Vision Night to receive the free gift.
Greeting: We arrived at 5:30pm. The first greeter we met outside in the parking lot was the pastor of Barefoot Church. He was excited to see us. He was a parking lot greeter, outside, talking to people. (assume sarcastic tone) What a novel idea, the pastor greeting people. Now there were others as well but you could tell the greeters instructions were for the pastor to greet every person first.
Good Food: Under a large tent serving what looked like 400 plus we had our choice of 2 of 3 items. Hot dogs, hamburgers and a boneless chicken breast. All the fixen’s of course with coolers and tubs of iced down sodas and bottled water. It was good and we were full.
The Kids: The doors opened at 6:30 as promised as we walked in I received a card with church info on it and a red ticket which i could exchange for my gift at the end of the meeting. I noticed the kids were were getting a bag as they walked in. Coloring sheets and crayons! So cool. Now you and I both know that compared to an iPad coloring pages will not hold their attention for more than a few minutes, but that showed
they were thinking about the kids coming. It was cool.
Worship: Time to start lights went down, band started and we had worship for 30 minutes. This was the best business meeting i had ever been to. The band and singers lead us in a celebratory time of praise and worship. They took up an offering as well. The pastor explained they they had spent a lot of money on the gifts we were receiving. In no way was he asking people to pay for them. He said,”What better investment than to invest in our own people.” ….yes i gave…i figured being a visitor I had eaten their food and was going to get a gift from them..I did not want my being there to be an expense to their church.
The Message: The vision for the church was cast in the form of a message. Pastor Clay gave a challenge to everyone there. His sub points were
1. Everyone Matters
2. Each Person has a Purpose
3. Systematic training kids and youth into leaders
4. Barefoot Church is a church that changes
The Reveal: There were three things the pastor revealed
1. Theme: “Live You!” Previous to that night they had already painted the theme on two outdoor walls and it was already being used on a lot of their literature and web site
2. Symbol: Again already in use. The pastor explained the meaning of the symbol and then showed a video clip of a young girl drawing the symbol with sidewalk chalk during a children’s event. They use the symbol to share Christ and their church.
3. Shareable Video:
  
  Everyone was encouraged to share it on all social media.
The Gift: Outside lines formed. When you turned in your ticket you received a NICE t-shirt with the symbol, theme and church name. The shirt felt “Under Amor-ish.” In a bag we received nice window stickers, card explaining the symbol and theme. business cards with church info on it.

Every person left excited and EQUIPPED to tell others about Jesus and their church. Everyone was on the same page in understanding the Theme for the Year “LIVE YOU.”

Planning planning planning had gone into this night. As a pastor, I know how important good planning with good people is. This was done right. It was great and I was privileged to be a part of it.

pastor glen moore

truth and evil

Church Vision Casting