Saved In Sin City

The guys at You Version really are amazing. I have their bible on my Blackberry and it is a Godsend, I have access to many versions of the bible, a daily reading plan the ability to email scriptures, and I can search the bible by keyword which eliminates my need to lug around a heavy concordance. Now they've introduced a beta for their live version which so far is looking like this will really be a boom to many churches and ministries. The potential is amazing to get real time interaction with a sermon, a pastor could poll the audience, share video and audio notes, receive prayer requests. I can't wait to play around with this application.

What’s an administrative assistant doing on a leadership blog?

Being the Church Clerk and working as an administrative assistant has been a rewarding task for me. Whether its blowing up copies of books to a larger size so my pastor can read it, or creating bulletins and proclamations for funerals,or filling in to help count offering. I find that supporting leaders makes it easier for them to lead. Also if the day comes where I ended up marrying a Minister or Pastor I'd be able to offer the support that he would need or when my own ministry comes into its fullness I can appreciate all of their hard work.

As we strive to obtain our best within him, we sometimes get so caught up in being perfect that we often dismiss our imperfections. On Facebook, Pastor West mentioned that he was glad that he could overcome his past to keep others from making the same mistakes and I feel that he had such a good point. There’s a new range of people seeking to know God and often there are some people who have encountered such things as: prostitution, incest, abuse, neglect, and other serious issues that make them seem less desirable. Growing up I was a real loner, I didn’t have a best friend until the 11th Grade when in my honor’s Spanish class when I befriended a 10th grader who sat a few seats near me. And being a loner has given me a perspective of what it means to be on the outside, and how lonely it can feel at times when everyone else seems to be ignoring you. There have been times when I’ve been in the midst of a crowd and can yet feel so alone, so imperfect and yearn for someone to just say hello or feel as if I could be a part of something. This perspective has made me see the beauty of imperfection.

When you are always trying to cover up your imperfections, you start to live an un-genuine life at times. It’s like a person who cleans house by sweeping all the dirt under the rug rather than putting it in the trash where it belongs, in time you’ll have a dust free house but the rug will be piled high with dirt underneath it. One day when you try to stand on it, you will fall down somewhere. Every saint is simply a sinner with a past that has been fortunate enough to been forgiven by God and redeemed by his mercy and grace. We all have issues and sometimes God may use us and our issues to minister to a person who currently struggles with a situation that we have been set free from. I met a girl once who struggled with an addiction to sex, and was a 14 year-old prostitute dressed in barely anything. I admit at first I was acting a bit hesitant to be near her, and as she was trying to pay for her food she didn’t have enough money. I paid for her meal and ate with her at a table and ended up talking with her for over an hour about her situation and I ministered to her told her of my issues and prayed with her. I never saw her again but through our conversation I was blessed because I was able to realize just how far he had brought me.

Our mistakes can be encouragement to another person but only if we don’t keep them hidden. I have known of only one person who can say that they never had sin, and that’s Jesus, if you aren’t him then guess what, you aren’t perfect. Sometimes we can lose a soul that sincerely wanted to get to know the Lord but because that person’s skirt was too short or they looked funny or smelled funny we ignored them for various reasons, and we may have lost out on a blessing. Not being perfect is what makes us human, it makes us real. I admit I struggle with many things in my walk with God and there are days that I feel for each step of progress that I make, I’m falling down a few flights. But I know that my failure is for a reason because my success will be the benchmark.

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Rev. Weems has some very interesting points:

1. Marriage is a vanishing institution in the black community.
2. Divorce and unmarried childbearing increase the chances of poverty for both children and mothers.
3. Children raised in single parent households are more to have problems in school, to get involved in drugs, to enter the juvenile system, and to live without medical insurance. Not only are our children at risk, but adult single men are more likely to engage in risk behavior than men who are married (e..g, take drugs, drink too much alcohol, unprotected sex with multiple partners, reckless driving).
4. When it comes to attitudes about marriage, one of the biggest difference sbetween those under 35 and those over 35 is that younger people think you should postpone marriage until your career or finances are stable enough to bring a spouse into the equation. Their parents grew up thinking that it’s easier to build and accumulate wealth in marriage than it is as a single and that marriage gives one the stability and inner fortitude needed to endure the vicissitudes that come with building a career.
5. Children want their parents to stay together –even if for their sake.
6. Men who are religious tend to make better father and husbands than those whowant nothing to do with religion.
7. Young black people use finances, career, and emotional readiness a lot as excuses for postponing marriage. but they don’t seem equally vigilant about postponing having babies out of wedlock, cohabitating, and entering into joint economic ventures with lovers (things normally associated with marriage).
8. It is important for the church to affirm the ideal of married couples rearing their children, while at the same time affirming the possibilities for self-actualization and purposeful, emotional healthy live for those not married.

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For the outstanding seminary student in the second year of a Master of Divinity program, FTE's Ministry Fellowship provides significant financial and mentoring support to enhance the student's preparation for ministerial leadership. The program encourages initiative, creativity and independent learning opportunities not routinely included in the seminary curriculum. It provides a network of mentors and guides to help recipients use the award in ways that will contribute significantly to the vitality and longevity of their service to the larger church, including the reduction of the financial burden of a seminary education and the implementation of a self-designed ministry project.

Apply Here

I'm pondering between Beulah Heights University & Regent University for my bachelors in Biblical Studies, I'm excited about where I'm going to go. Also, they both offer online courses which make it much easier to get it done. On Saturday I have a meeting for a new exciting church youth program that ties in with my ministry.

Congratulations to Dr. Hemphill, I've known him since I was in high school as a youth advisor for the Phi Beta Sigma Youth group and it is so great to see such great things happening!

October 18, 2009

Dr. Charles Hemphill Jr. and The Gethsemane Baptist Church Family, 2525 N Decatur Blvd. Suite #8, Las Vegas, will celebrate its third Year Anniversary at the 8:00am, 11:00am, and 3:00pm services. The theme for this year’s celebration is "Yes We Can." Mark 11:22-24. In commemoration of the third Church Anniversary, Gethsemane Baptist Church will launch their Radio Outreach Broadcast, "The Final Word", which will air every Sunday at 6:45pm on KCEP/Power 88.1.

October 15-17, 2009

Living Word Ministry Women’s Department invites you to attend the 9th Annual Women’s Conference at 976 Hassell Avenue, Las Vegas. The theme for the event is “God’s Purpose for Our Pain” and speakers will include Pastor Sonya Cheltenham on Thursday at 7:00pm and Evangelist Margaret Murray on Friday at 7:00pm. The workshop will occur on Saturday from 9:00am to 12:00pm and a continental breakfast will be provided. For more information, please call (702) 647-3858.

Yesterday someone posed the question "Does God use many circumstances to guide us to a certain job or mate or city?” And many agreed that yes he does. Currently, I’m reading Searching to Fill the Void by Sonia Adams and in it she tells of her search to find love, happiness and a mate. It’s a very powerful book that will open your eyes about how important it is to first find God and then he will lead you to a mate. Sister Sonia tells about her taking a big risk to leave a comfortable job as a teacher to attend the calling of Seminary. After leaving it all behind she met her husband there and has been granted many opportunities and blessings in her life. Also she shares the stories of many inspiring First Ladies and their journey to finding their husbands.

This book has been out there for a few years, and I just discovered it and it came to me at a crucial time in my life. My first marriage wasn’t a pleasant experience, I married a man who was emotionally cold and abusive and in a short time, I found myself walking away from that. But even though things turned out so badly, I wanted to still not give up on love. After my divorce, I tried dating again and ended up in a tragic situation after going out on a date with a guy I met online. I thought he was perfect for me, he was tall and very charming, and he claimed to be a regular church-going man. We went out a few times and on our 3rd date I was falling for the whole thing. That night I was so caught up in emotions that I didn’t notice how he downed a whole bottle of wine in a short period. In a few moments his demeanor had changed and he became very strange and started calling me by his ex-wife’s name and just went crazy.

I tried to get out of the situation by just going along with it and managed to get out of the restaurant and got him to take me home. I was hoping that I would just get dropped off at home but he pulled a gun out on me and held me hostage in my apartment and throughout the ordeal I feared for my life. The only saving grace came in a parking lot when I persuaded him to take me there to go get food, he left me in the car and I called the police. After that situation I became bitter, cold, and angry. My house was no longer a home, and I no longer felt safe. I slept every night with the lights on and a baseball bat under my pillow till my lease expired. I moved and although I had changed residences, I still lived in fear. One day I went to church and saw him in the pews, and I experienced panic to the point where my new apartment became my prison; I started hoarding things like crazy and looking to see if he might have found my new place. In hindsight, I regret trying to take things into my own hand; I wanted to have a mate so badly that I went looking instead of waiting and put myself into circumstances that God didn’t have for me.

Right now at this point, I’m learning to bounce back, I prayed for God to cut the soul ties between me and my attacker and some other unholy individuals. I’ve been praying for forgiveness for the incident and asked God to take the bitter roots out of my heart and spirit towards him and what he did to me. And as I’ve been working on that, I have been reading and working on the exercises presented in the book and they have helped me to foster an open dialogue with God as to what I need to do and where I need to go. Recently, I was blessed to be reacquainted with someone who has been really sweet and kind to me and for the first time in a long time, I’ve felt safe for a change. I’m fond of him, and even though he’s a really busy guy at times, I do still appreciate his friendship, and respect, and companionship. Even if he isn’t the one, he has been a breath of fresh air and an inspiration to me and such a blessing because he’s taught me through this friendship that I don’t have to stay hurt anymore and that it is possible to love again.

Deuteronomy 1:18 (NIV version)
And at that time I told you everything you were to do.

There is a saying that time is money; for years I always viewed that saying as a mere cliché, but as I grow older I realize that there’s much truth in that statement. When we choose to make time for something, we are showing that we support that cause. Time is like money because our efforts bring value in our lives due to our focus on that subject.

Time has a value, and if we aren’t careful it can slip away never to be regained once more. I’ve learned this as a parent, when I see my daughter grow and change into a pre-teenager. I often wonder where the time has gone and now my once little baby is now looking me in the in the eye and in time I’ll have to look up at her once she grows to her predicted height of 6 feet & 2 inches. Time is a powerful factor, it can change things in a positive or a negative way, it all depends on what we devote our time to. My Mom used to say, that if you really want to do something, you’ll find the time for it or rather you’ll make the time for it.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Yes, He has plans for us but if we don’t make the time to get to know him or about him, then we rob ourselves of this future because we miss out on the potential of this powerful connection with him. Time is of an essence when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, and it’s something that is definitely worth making the sacrifice. When we make the effort to spend time in prayer, bible study, or communion with him we are saying that “I choose to get to know you better because I value you and I want you in my life.”

Lately, I’ve made the decision to humble myself and let God help me manage my time because I waste it so much. So many of my activities were about quantity rather than quality and I was keeping busy just for the sake of being a busy person because I wanted to look busy and feel as if I was doing something. I’ve been blessed because in my idle time I now see that some of the things I was filling my time with weren’t bearing the fruit that I needed for my growth, so I’ve asked Him to give me a spirit of discernment so I can find the people, places and things in my life that nurture me and to help me take control of my time so that I can enjoy these blessings.

For the past few months I’ve been making more of an effort to show God that I want to make time for him and the results have been immensely satisfying for me. I’ve been doing more writing and studying. I had a conversation with my Cousin which revealed some things to me. I participated in a Woman’s Conference where the speaker’s message resonated with me to the point that I swore that God definitely was telling me what he needed me to hear and I was lead to a book that is helping me overcome some issues in my past. I also have been starting to get out of my loner mode and am starting to take more time to talk to the people that I love more often, especially God. Our conversations are starting to be much more meaningful and many more things are starting to fall into place; projects that I had procrastinated on started to come together and many more wonderful things are starting to bear results for me. We live in a world where everything is at a rapid pace, and we tend to take that approach sometimes with God as we say a quick prayer or dash out; however, taking the time to be with him as sincerely as we can does make a difference not only in our lives but in others as well.

I'm looking forward to attending this one!

Yesterday I had the joy of getting to see a friend of mine preach at his church for the first time and it was very inspiring to see this side of him. His church is much larger than the one I attend and the different atmosphere was quite refreshing and uplifting to my soul. My regular norm for worship is on a small intimate basis because I worship at home and other places where I'm by myself frequently. I had gotten accustomed to a quiet private thing being the basis of my worship so being surrounded by what had to be hundreds of people in a packed church offered a new experience for me. There was this amazing energy and vibration surrounding me and it touched me in a beautiful way and changed my shift point to a level that I had been unconnected with for quite some time.

Strangely, I almost didn't attend it because I was trying to talk myself out of going to the service for various reasons such as: my hair wasn't done, I had to preach a sermon the next morning at 11 and I hadn't finished it yet, I had a disagreement a few weeks earlier him and I was still salty and was convincing myself that looking at him was not going to be a good idea. In a short amount of time, I had made all of these various excuses as to why I wasn't going and at the last minute when my sister called me at 6:55 a.m. I decided to go. In hindsight I'm glad I went because it made me enjoy my own service with a new vigor. Sometimes we resist change, because we get so comfortable with things as they are that we don't make the time to do something new or make the time to do something fun. What I learned from this experience is that I need to fellowship more often and look for new things in the Lord through these various opportunities. Often in Las Vegas, the perception of this city is that it's full of many ways to satisfy many carnal desires and lusts, but one of its secrets is that there are many wonderful places of worship that can fulfill your spiritual desires as well and that is the focus of my new ministry, I'm excited to create a medium that will inform, educate and inspire those who live in this area with tools to help them flourish in their lives with God.

Psalm 63
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah
1: O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2: I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
3: Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
4: I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5: My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6: On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
7: Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8: My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

In The Midst Of A Dry Season

No matter where you are or what you do, there is one thing that every believer will encounter during their relationship with God, and that is experiencing the changing of seasons. Just as Winter turns into Spring, Spring becomes Summer, Summer goes into Autumn, and Autumn transitions into winter; we as Christians will find ourselves in flux between a season of overflow where we are experiencing abundance beyond our wildest dreams, but on the flipside we will sometimes find ourselves in the midst of a dry season. A dry season is just that, straight dry; there is no latter rain falling in our lives our worship and prayers have hit a glass ceiling and God seems to be nowhere to be found.

There are many examples of a dry season in the Scripture, and in the lives of others; one such example falls in the 63rd division of Psalms. In this passage, David is out on the lamb like a criminal running from the PO-PO; he’s out there because he’s trying to get away from a bunch of mess. He’s got Saul after him like he owes him a 20. He’s got a whole crew of haters because of he let his son Absalom run things in his kingdom and his son ruined his name with all of his foolishness so he had to run for his life to Edom. So on the way there, he finds himself in Judah and all this running reminds me of my adventures in Atlanta when I wanted to pretend I was smarter than the GPS and ended up in no man’s land a.k.a. the shady part of the city. David’s adventure took him to a place that was in a dry, much like the areas of Vegas where nothing is growing not even some weeds because there is no water, not even enough for a roach to get a drink let alone a grown man.

While in the wilderness, he started to grow thirsty in two ways. First of all in the physical sense his body was becoming dehydrated and secondly, in the spiritual sense his soul had grown thirsty. David was a man who desired to be within his God’s heart just like you and I; all we want to do is get some love and affection from him. The worst part is that we can end up in a desert on accident because we’ve neglected our relationship or duties, or we got off the narrow path like David did. Or we can end up in on purpose and catch a case of the “itus” that Job faced because God is trying to tell us something by testing us. Psalms 43:2 “ For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

We have to ask God, just why are you hating on me? Why can’t I have my new car, where’s my house like the one Sis Jones’ just got, where’s my degree, God where’s my husband or better yet in the words of my wonderful co-pastor, “Where’s my stuff at?” When you don’t have what you feel that you deserve from God or that you are getting his best what other folk’s have becomes much more noticeable to you because you ain’t got anything and that opens the door to temptation? When you are in the midst of a dry season, you feel unsure about the status of where you are in his heart, it’s like when you fall in love with someone and you write that little note with “do you like me” and the two check boxes yes/no; and when you get it back its blank, or they’ve gone ahead and wrote maybe. That’s how it feels to be unsure about someone’s love and it is no joke, your soul is hurt, your mind is confused and you feel as if there is no favor falling upon you because God didn’t answer. But that’s how a dry season goes sometimes, they creep up on us, it starts off a day or two where we don’t have any rain and next thing you look up and it’s been months which turn into days when turn into years and sometimes we end up with decades of a dry season where there’s no rain and what was once a lush fruitful oasis is now a dry patch of land with trash, tumbleweeds, and tires. When we are in a state of being dry like old bones, we start to get like David in Judah and just long for is some rain. You ask can I get a sprinkle or something Lord, I’m all out here, it’s hot, its dry, and I’m tired sweaty and funky. What’s really going on out here? For David asked the Lord in Psalms 51:12 to “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” as a way to cope with his experience.

To all spiritual lives there come seasons of dryness, when we find our self in a dry season, it’s at time where we become very vulnerable to temptation, discouragement, grief, and just become plain tired and worn out. Dry seasons are no joke because we are seriously tested as to what our limits and endurances are within our relationship with God but the silver lining is that we learn to trust in him as to what he can do for us.

AW Tozer writes about this experience in “The Ministry of the Night”

Now under the careful treatment of the Holy Spirit your life may become dry, tasteless and to some degree a burden to you. While in this state, you will find none of the inward sweetness you had enjoyed before. But there is a limit to man's ability to live without joy. Even Christ could endure the cross only because of the joy in September before Him. The strongest steel breaks if kept too long under unrelieved tension. God knows exactly how much pressure each one of us can take. He knows how long we can endure the night, so he gives the soul relief, first by welcome glimpses of the morning star and then by the light that brings the morning. Then you will learn what true faith is, that it lies in his will, and may come and go. How long you continue in this night of the soul will depend upon a number of factors, some of which you may be able later to identify; while others will remain with God, completely hidden from you. The words "Theday is thine, the night also is thine" will now be interpreted for you by the best of all teachers, the Holy Spirit; and you will know by personal experience what a blessed thingis the ministry of the night.

When you are out there in the desert and it’s dry, we need to be like David. First of all we need to keep praying even when we hit that glass ceiling. Because if you keep on hitting it, eventually the time will come when the glass has gotta break and then once it shatters; all that other mess won’t even matter. Secondly, you have to keep yourself in relationship, read your bible and study your word because Romans 10:17 says “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Realize that dry seasons are not punishment but rather they are the blessing in the storm, it’s a chance to make a shift in our faith, a chance to take a risk and do something new in him because you don’t have a thing to lose. There’s a saying that if you can make it in New York, you can live any where else. So if you can make it through a dry season, you can make it any where in God’s kingdom . As long as you can hang with him, and if you have faith the size of a seed in all that he can do, and all that he can provide; a dry season won’t have to break you it’ll make you instead. A dry season won’t be a burden but a blessing. David was out there in a dry season in Judah, but he had enough sense to realize that he was going to keep praising him, and keep seeking him until he got out of it. Can you be a bold as David? Can you trust God enough to carry an umbrella even though there’s not a cloud in the sky? Can you ask him to help you to hold out though the dry season, until you get that latter rain. Can you see the silver lining in the clouds? Can you understand that seasons change, just as you fell into this dry season, you can fall out of it. Dry seasons are for a reason, its to challenge us, to let us know that he can handle this in the midst of a famine, that he can be your Jehovah Jirah and provide, your Jehovah Rohpe and heal, your Jehovah Nissi to be the banner that protects, Jehovah Rohi as your shepherd so you shall not want, your Jehovah Shalom so that you can endure with peace. And most of all even in a dry season he can be your Jehovah Shammah and show out in a full manifestation of his glory. If your in a dry season, stop letting your self be lead by fear, and go forth in faith, step up your game and watch him make it rain on you to the point where you’ll have to get your umbrella and your rain coat, and put on your galoshes cause your dry season has shifted to one of overflow.