All Work and All Play!

As most in our Church are already aware, we are going to be presenting a Passion Play this Easter season on Good Friday evening. What many may not realize are the reasons why we are doing this.

Janet Forshey felt the Holy Spirit compelling her to bring this idea to Pastor Rob and myself and many others, and we all felt that it would be a great way to bring the message of Easter to our community in a way we have not ever presented it. We are not attaching any cost to the community for this Passion Play; we are just offering it as a very real and moving way to see the story of Jesus, and a real opportunity to reach out with the message of salvation through His sacrifice.

If we can even bring one person to know Christ as their Savior through this play, then we have done a great work for the glory of God. And this is our motive, to make Christ known, and to make Him real and tangible in the lives of those that maybe know of Him, but have yet to truly know Him.

It is going to take a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice to make this happen, even on a less than Hollywood scale and budget. None of us is in this for fame or recognition…we want to make Jesus famous and known, not ourselves.

Along the way, we will walk a few miles in the shoes of Jesus and the disciples and we will learn the story in a hands-on way.  I thank in advance all those that are giving up much free time to be a part of this worship event, and there is always room for more help. If you are not able to be a part of this labor of love, then we ask that you will remember us in prayer, and let your friends and neighbors and even complete strangers know that they are welcome to witness the story of Christ as we humbly present it on Good Friday.

It is no coincidence that Jesus used unlikely, ordinary people as His disciples, and now we are doing the same as we put together our collective knowledge, talents and abilities to use them for the glory of God, and to spread the message of the truth that has persisted for over two thousand years- Jesus died for our sins, and then rose from the dead, and now offers forgiveness and eternal life through Him for all that believe. This Play will be all work, but it will deepen our faith and the faith of all those who come and witness it. We give all honor and Glory to God, and we ask for your prayers that He will bless our humble efforts to tell the story of Jesus.

Faithfully,

Rick Phillips, Lay Leader

8002 U. S. Highway 301 South, Riverview, FL  33578  813-677-5995

Are You a Volunteer or a Minister?

Dr. Melvin Steinbron, author of Can the Pastor Do It Alone? and The Lay Driven Ministry, has been helping the church to rediscover its nature and mission. In his books he calls for the church to recognize that there is one ministry, which requires both laity and clergy, which he re-designates as vocational ministry (clergy and professional staff) and volunteer ministry (laity), although he doesn’t like the term "volunteer”.

We live in a society that has become increasingly “consumer oriented and driven”. Corporations and institutions increasingly try to give the consumer what the consumer demands. This may work for entities seeking to make a profit. But, the church of Jesus Christ is about the calling and making of disciples, not meeting consumer demands.  Dr. Steinbron urges that the church must give responsibility and authority for “ministry” back to the laity, where it belongs.

While leading a seminar in Pennsylvania, a man stood to his feet and exclaimed, “Sir, in the Church of Jesus Christ there are no volunteers!  We are either obedient to God or disobedient!”

He is right!  We are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ and ministers of the gospel.  There are some very real differences between volunteers and ministers.  Those differences greatly affect a person’s understanding of the church and discipleship.

Remembering that every Christian is a minister, let’s look at the difference between a volunteer and a minister.

• A volunteer offers himself or herself for service; a minister responds to a call from God for service.
  

• A volunteer’s service is an option at his or her convenience; a minister’s service is not an option, but is a matter of obedience to God.
  

• A volunteer is master of his or her own life and time and a volunteer is accountable to the organization and its leaders; a minister is accountable first to God, then to the organization and its leaders.
  

• A volunteer is motivated by need and recognition; a minister is motivated by the Spirit, the Christian community and need.
  

• A volunteer reserves the right to choose what he or she will do; A minister relinquishes the choice of what he or she will do to the higher principle of spiritual gifts and divine call.
  

Consider the difference between a church made of volunteers and a church made up of servant ministers. Also, consider how we might move ourselves from an understanding that the church is here to serve and provide for us, to an understanding that we are a community of ministers called to serve Christ.

Rob Atchley, Pastor

(Comparisons are from The Lay Driven Ministry: How to Empower the People in Your Church to Share the Tasks of Ministry by Melvin J. Steinbron)

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

IN VERSE

Above all else love God alone;

Bow down to neither wood nor stone.

God’s name refuse to take in vain;

The Sabbath rest with care maintain.

Respect your parents all your days;

Hold sacred human life always.

Be loyal to your chosen mate;

Steal nothing, neither small nor great.

Report, with truth, your neighbor’s deed;

And rid your mind of selfish greed.

Source Unknown; submitted by Ida O’Neal