faithrunner

As a LifeGroup leader at Legacy Church , you are a shepherd or pastor for those in your group . You embody our core value that "authentic community fosters spiritual growth and transforms lives." Your role is not just an administrative position to see that everyone attends or that there are enough snacks . Your primary role is not even to make sure you cover the curriculum for the meeting. Your role as a shepherd or pastor is to nurture and care for the spiritual well-being of those in your group . This is an awesome responsibility, but can be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. To care spiritually for someone you must first to know his or her needs . Pause now and look through your roster . Do you know everyone in the group? Do you know where they are on their spiritual journey? Have you taken time to ask what they are expecting by being in your group? As you go through the roster, say the name of each person and pray the prayer Paul prayed for his friends in Ephesu...

Today we have asked the Legacy Church LifeGroup leaders to make time in their day to pray and fast for those they will lead this semester in their groups. Join us if you like as we fast and pray. Fasting is to spiritual health what eating is to physical health. You fast in order to feed your soul. You eat to feed your body. Today, prepare a spiritual meal for your soul as you pray for those whom you will serve through spiritual leadership. Just as you replace french fries and milk shakes with vegetables and fruit to improve your physical health, you replace full meals and caffeine, for example, with prayer and Bible reading to make room in your life for the Holy Spirit to transform you. Substitute a meal or cup of coffee and read Psalm 103 this morning. Use the time you would use to prepare and eat your meal to read and digest the message of this song of praise to the God of grace and mercy. Let the words of the psalm guide your heart to God and join the writer in praise to our grea...

What do a Vietnamese Baptist Theological School, Legacy Church, and a triathlon have in common? Not much except they are the markers for my Labor Day weekend journey. I was privileged to be part of the graduation of over a dozen students from VBTS on Friday night in Houston . One of the men was 70 years old and had completed his Advanced Diploma in Christian Ministries from the school. He inspired me to never give up learning. Saturday morning I led a seminar for 122 pastors and church leaders through the principles of servant leadership. I am blessed to be part of what this group is doing to equip its leaders and mobilize them to change the world. Sunday, I worshiped with Legacy Church as we shared communion, sang, and saw how painfully we are too much like Jonah in our whining about how God treats others. We are grateful for His grace toward us and those like us. The rub is in His unmerited favor on our enemies and those we are convinced do not deserve His pardon . You can hear th...

Life is not fair. Neither is grace! We muse that if anyone would play by the "it's got to be fair" rule, it would be God, but that's not the case. God is as unfair as it comes when dispensing grace . As I finish reading and reflecting on the story of Jonah , I discover my disobedient look alike didn't like the fact that God does not play fair. After the people responded rightly to God's one-sentence message delivered by a reluctant missionary, Jonah sat down on the side of a hill and watched to see if God had really shown compassion rather than wrath on the people of Nineveh, his country's archenemy . Read Jonah 4:1-9 . Note when God asks Jonah, " Do you have a right to be angry? " [for God's compassion on Nineveh] Jonah answers, " Yes, I do ." (v. 9) So, where does Jonah get off on thinking it's not fair that God showed compassion on the Assyrians ? Did he not remember God didn't leave him to drown in the sea or leave him ...

Most people miss the prayer Jonah prayed in the belly of the sea creature because their worldview won't let them get past the "whale." I, on the other hand, find the God of Creation (an a priori belief) can intervene in anyway God chooses . So, I'm not hung up on the impossibility of the event and can move to the record of what happened while t he running saint was in the sea creature. I invite you to join me there. Phillip Yancey, in his book Prayer , talks about "prayer grammar." Like learning to speak, we can learn to pray by mimicking those who are more well-versed in the practice than we are. Jonah's prayer in a tight spot can give us some words to pray when we find ourselves in such a place . You can read his prayer in Jonah 2:1-9 . Let's learn to pray like Jonah by following this simple process: Take a minute or two and read the prayer . Read it a second time and find words and pictures you can relate to his prayer. Read the prayer a thi...

This past Sunday morning, instead of our typical worship experience, we gathered at Legacy Church to be reminded of what the church is and pray before we went to serve in our community . Before we left, I told them we did this for four reasons : Our presence in public places during the time when most people are either in church buildings or with no thought of being in one was a picture of the church scattered. Our presence alone was a witness to God and His people. Our partnership with the City of Plano and the Gulledge Elementary PTA said we are sent servants to our community to meet needs bigger than anyone alone can meet. I reminded everyone we partner with many other ministries and organizations to carry out our mission. Our actions on Sunday were the outward practice of our core values of Worship and Service . If "worship is a lifestyle," we will risk one Sunday worship experience to practice what it looks like to serve as an act of worship. Picking up trash in a park...

We are not the first to do this , but I am pleased we will join others who have discovered the impact of being the church in its community on the day most people see us huddling inside our buildings doing things they don't understand . People don't get "church," but they do understand people serving in ways to help others. This Sunday, we will gather at our facilities at the corner of Legacy and Preston Meadow at our usual time for worship , spend 30 minutes in instruction, encouragement and prayer, and then head out to serve our community . We will partner with the PTA of Gulledge Elementary to revitalize a courtyard at the school. Beauty and education are values we share with our schools, and we are happy to provide the effort to improve both of them. Others of us will partner with the City of Plano to pick up trash in the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve . This is in no way a glamorous job, but "sent servants" don't always get to pick the work they d...