Clif McKinley Dot Com

• Another great attendance day, thank you to everyone that has been inviting folk!
• Great job by Ed and the worship team today, even with a  broken string God was there in a powerful way.
• Week two of Supernatural is in the can, I hope everyone enjoyed the video intro, Johnny shot all the footage and we put it together with iMovie & Sony Vegas, it was a lot of fun.  I may post the gag reel from all my blown takes just for ha ha’s, I am going to upload the intro from last week and this week to YouTube as well.
• We had an amazing Class 401it is so exciting to see how God is working in the lives of our people
• Keep praying for our church and community
• Love God, Love Each, Other and Love The World!

Today is a very important day, it is the day that one of the coolest people I know was born.

He is a true Peter Pan, childlike in all the right ways!  Killer taste in movies, music, and TV.  He is the real deal, smart, fun, laid back, and the guy can grill like there is no tomorrow.  He has been my friend, my partner, and even my roadie.  This guy rocks!!!  And if you didn’t know he was 51 today you would never believe it.  So here is to you Herb, Happy Birthday to one of the coolest guys I know!  Love you buddy.

• I just want to start by saying WOW!
• Incredible attendance,175, that is a record.  Thank you for investing and inviting!
• Supernatural kicked off in a big way, lots of positive feedback already, next week DEMONS
• Youth had a crazy number of teens on Friday, God is really moving @ Lighthouse
• Thanks to everyone that helped out with the Picnic today, by far the best one yet.  It was awesome and very well attended.  Great to see so many of our first time guests sticking around.
• You guys are awesome!

• Another great Sunday
• We baptized 7 people today, VERY, VERY COOL!
• We concluded the Experiencing God Series, I have heard tons of great feedback about this series, yes it was longer than usual, but it seems to have really made a difference in people’s lives
• WE got our approval and orientation for the NH Food Bank, which means we will be able to serve even more families.
• The roof offering was on the light side, that just means we will put it off until Spring and continue to trust God for the funds.  Where God guides He provides, so we will continue to wait on Him and His timing.
• Next week we kick off Supernatural and we will be starting with Angels
• Invest & Invite

Ok here is the final installment of this set of posts.  As a member/partner we agree to

1-Protect the Unity of Lihthouse

2-Share the Responsibility of Lighthouse

3-Serve the Ministry of Lighthouse

and 4th and finally I will Support the Testimony of Lighthouse Assembly this is done by:

• attending faithfully
• living a Godly life
• by giving regularly

Supporting the church is more than lip service.

You cannot protect the unity, share the responsiblity, or serve the ministry if you do not attend regularly!  You have to be here to be a part of what is going on!

If you fail to live a Godly life you undermine your credibility to protect unity, share the responsibility, & serve the ministry!  If you fail to live right it does not  matter what you do!

By giving regularly you are saving I am part of this family and I help to pay the bills.  We do our very best to keep our monthly expenses down and direct as much money toward ministry as possible.  If our partners fail to give we are limited in what we are able to do.  God provides for Lighthouse by providing for you.  Every member/partner must Support the Testimony by supporting the church financially.

Being a member/partner of Lighthouse is not a causal thing, it is not spectator sport, it is a team effort, and as “each part does its own special work, the body become healthy, growing and full of love” (Eph 4:16)

God has been doing great things in our church because of members/partners like you.  Remain faithful and let’s take more ground for the Kingdom of God!

So we are continuing the theme of the week, “What it means to be a member/partner” of Lighthouse Assembly.  Today we are onto the 3rd commitment of the membership agreement:

3.  I will share the MINSTRY of my Church

• By discovering my gifts and talents
• By being equipped to serve
• By developing a servant’s heart

I love the use of the word “SHARE” here.  I will share the ministry of my church.  In some churches there is the expectation that the ministry is to be done by the hired “Holy Men” and in other is dictated from an all powerful board, in others insecure pastors feel the need to do everything.  At Lighthouse we believe that EVERY MEMBER is a MINISTER.  We share the ministry responsibliities.   We are big proponents of gift based ministry, let those who are gifted to serve in an area, SERVE IN THAT AREA!

AS members/partners it is our RESPONSIBLITITY to:

-Discover our gifts and talents.  “Discover” that implies a search, an intentional quest to uncover them.  We need to invest time and effort into discovering our “gifts” (God given special abilities) and “Talents” (Natural ablilties).  CLASS 301 is all about this process.

-Being equipped to serve.  This again where the responsibility falls on each member/partner.  You have to let us know how & where you want to serve so we can train you to do!  We can only equip/train you if we know that you want to serve.  If you don’t know where you want to serve or aren’t sure how you gifts & talents fit, TAKE CLASS 301!!!

-Develop a Servant’s Heart.  What this means is having they attitude of Jesus.  Jesus is the ultimate example, He was willing to wash His disciples feet, Jesus, God in the flesh, was willing to do the task of the lowest servant.  Jesus was basically saying “If I am willing to serve you in this way you need to have the same attitude and be willing to do whatever task no matter how lowely it may seem.”  We all need to have the attitude that no task is beneath us.  We may be gifted to do different things but we must be WILLING to do anything.

Are you sharing in the ministry of our church?

Yesterday we talked about the first part of what it means to be a member/partner of Lighthouse Assembly and today we are looking at part 2:

2.  I will share the RESPONSIBILITYof my church

• By praying for its growth
• By inviting the unchurched to attend
• By warmly welcoming those who visit

In every healthy family each member has a role and responsibility, the church is no different.  As members of this family we all share in the responisiblity of church.

So what are we as members responsible to do?

-Each member should pray daily for the church that it will be “healthy and growing and full of love” (Ephesians 4:16)

-Each member should be investing their lives in  their friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc and when the Lord open the door INVITE them to attend Lighthouse.

***Side note:  IF you are a member/partner of Lighthouse that means the church has made a difference in your life and you agree with what we are trying to accomplish for the glory of God.  If that is the case you should want others to experience the life change that you have expereinced in Jesus Christ.  So if Lighthouse is where you are growing and being feed you should want others to expereince it as well.  IF not why are you a member of Lighthouse?  Fare question!

-Each member should warm and welcoming to ALL who visit!!!  You never know will walk through the door on any given Sunday, this may be their first time in church EVER or it may be the LAST TIME they will ever come back to any church.  How we treat people really matters!  We need to be warm and welcoming of everyone who walks through our doors.  See them as Jesus sees them.

The responsibility of every member is to pray for health and growth, invite people, and be warm & welcoming to all who attend.

Are you doing your part?

I will be spending this week talking about what it means to be a “member” or better said a “partner” of Lighthouse Assembly.

To become a member/partner at Lighthouse you must complete Class 101 Discovering Church Membership as well as agree to and sign the Membership Agreement.

The Membership Agreement spells out what it means to partner with us and it is broken down into 4 parts and we will be dealing with those parts this week.

1.  I will protect the UNITY of my church

• By acting in love toward others
• By refusing to gossip
• By following the leadership

So let’s define to important terms

Protect is “to defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, or insult; to cover or shield from injury or danger”

Unity is “oneness, a state of being one; being united; oneness of mind; harmony; agreement”

So this first point of the partnership agreement is to PROTECT (defend or guard against attack to shield or cover from injury) the UNITY (the harmony, the oneness of mind) of our church by:

-Acting in love toward others

• this is a central part of our vision “love each other”
• this tells the world we really are Christ disciples
• this creates an environment that people want to be a part of
• this means we “love our neighbor as ourselves”
• this means we treat everyone the way we want to be treated

-Refusing to Gossip

• gossip is “idle talk or rumors about the personal or private affairs of others”
• ACT IN LOVE TOWARD OTHERS, you don’t want people bad mouthing you, don’t do it to them
• we all have junk in our lives, if you are really concerned for someone take them aside and SPEAK TO THEM DIRECTLY!!!
• if someone comes to you with a concern about someone else, ask them “have you discussed this with the person you are talking about?”  If the answer is NO, DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM!!!
• If we refuse to listen to gossip, gossip will stop, gossip is like a flame and listening ears are like fuel for that fire.  Smokey the Bears says “Only you can prevent forest fires”   Pastor Clif says, “Only you can prevent the destructive fires of gossip”
• Don’t start gossip, to listen to gossip, don’t spread gossip
• GOSSIP KILLS UNITY
• When you gossip you become Satan’s hand extended instead of God’s

-Following the Leadership

• Get behind the mission of the church, “To lead people to become fully formed followers of Jesus Christ who passionately Love God, Love Others, & Love The World”
• Trust that the leadership is prayerfully following Jesus’ leadership and direction
• By becoming a member/partner you have said “I agree with Lighthouse, it Leadership, & its’ vision;” if you can’t say that you should not be a member/partner
• WE are all rowing the boat in the same direction, we can have discussions about the best way to get from point A to point B, but we are UNITED on WHERE WE ARE GOING, and if you don’t want to go THERE then change ships don’t try to bring this one down.

***I know some of that sounds hars but please note this dose not mean we are the BORG and as a collective their is room for disagreement or discussion.  What it does mean is we are UNITED around a singular VISION for Lighthouse and we follow the leadership as they follow Christ as they try to bring it about the fulfillment of that vision.

As a member/partner you  agree to Protect the UNITY of Lighthouse.  We have a lot of people to reach for Jesus Christ.

I have found it is hard to rock the boat when you are helping to row it.

Protect the unity!

• Well we are into September and I am excited to see what God is going to do!
• It is awesome to see so many new faces every week, a couple who used to attend Lighthouse and had moved away was back for a visit and comment on how much we had grown and how many new faces they saw.  I won’t lie, I was so stoked to hear them say that.  Momentum really starting to build.  Thank you all for your faithfulness and believe in our mission “To lead people to be fully developed disciples of Jesus, those who Love God, Love Each Other, and Love the World.”
• We are almost done with Experiencing God ; it is hard to believe that we have been in this series since the end of June.  I have heard a lot of positive feedback, I hope it has been a huge blessing to all of you.  I know God  has been stretching me and growing me as I have preached it.
• I must confess music was very cool today, it was awesome to have 10 musicians and singers on the platform giving their all in worship to God.  I count it a privilege to get to lead them every once and a while.
• It was very cool to have Debbie Habrial up there singing away, the team is thrilled to have her on board!
• I can’t wait to see what God will do next, keep on praying everyone!