|
| |
Leadership Banquet Sermon
Leadership Banquet
Toby
In every church, God places a key component that’s critical to its success. The
success of Glenville New Life Community PCUSA is found gathered in this room.
Our key component is the willingness of the leadership of this church to submit
itself first to Jesus Christ, and then to one another in that same spirit.
Where ever we go and people ask about our church, we always find a way to bring
the conversation around to how the Lord has used you to make a difference in
this part of the body of Christ.
Rick
When we think of the honor of serving at Glenville New Life Community Church,
the words which come to mind is Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks
to the Holy one, Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ His Son.
We are all what we are because of Jesus Christ, who has come into our lives and
made a change. Each one of us here has a testimony of how our presence at
Glenville New Life Community Church has in some way changed the course and
direction of our lives. Some of us shudder to think where we might be today if
the Lord had not met us at this church
Toby
We appreciate that this is a church where Jesus Christ is proclaimed as Lord and
Jesus Christ is actively changing the lives of people.. We are unashamed in
saying that Jesus is the only Way to God, He is the Truth, and He is the Life.
Jesus is the one who makes us all equal at the foot of the cross. He didn’t die
more for some of us and less for others. He said all of us were in need of His
salvation. Our goal at Glenville goal is to lift up the name of Jesus Christ and
become witnesses for Him , because if we have Jesus we have everything, if we
don’t have Jesus, we have nothing.
Rick
We as pastors appreciate the call of God on your lives. Some of you were in
Christ long before we came . Others of us have come to know Jesus as your Lord
and Savior since. This church could not be what it is today without the prior
faithfulness of those of you who were here before we came and with the continual
faithfulness of those who have since joined in. God did not send us here to
start a work in ministry, but rather to build up on a ministry which He had
already put in place.
Toby
The other pastors before us did the digging, the planting, some did the weeding,
and we did the watering, but it was God all along who was making the church
grow. God had a plan for the church then, God has a plan for the church now, and
God has a plan for the church in the future.
God didn’t call you just to come to the church. God called you because there was
something He wanted to do in you. You didn’t get saved just to go to heaven. The
word of God says, Eph 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Say it with me.
God has prepared a work for me to do for Him today.
Rick
In the past few weeks in Life-Sharing in our series “Does God Know You,” you’ve
seen how God has been more than gracious to us in saving us while we were yet
sinners. God began the love relationship that we find ourselves involved in.
Because of the sacrifices God made through His son Jesus Christ, making
sacrifices for the cause of Christ should be an everyday part of our lives.
Each Sunday our benediction reminds us of the reasonable sacrifices we are to be
making on behalf of the kingdom. In the next few weeks, you as leaders will be
in a time of prayer seeking to understand what sacrifice God is calling you to
make in our Excellling in Giving Campaign. Our goal is to properly equip our
church to be in the position to continue to make a difference in people’s lives.
TOBY
We appreciate the openness to the move of the Spirit in the lives of many of you
as individuals. At Glenville, we recognize that not every opportunity to serve
God is going to be something great, but it will be something needed. We as
pastor the pastoral staff need your willingness to be servants for the Lord. We
don’t do the ushering, the counting, the nursery, the singing, but you do. You
collate, you clean, you cook, your encourage, you direct, you type, you pray,
you visit, and you mail.
RICK
You dance, you serve, you vote, you plan, you teach, you guide, you crochet,
you play instruments, you lead, you help, you give, you come, you send, you
build, you paint, you mop, you sweep, you witness, you invite, you bring, you
take home, you call and you seek to live your lives for God.
Praise God for all of you who are saying to God again and again, "Here am I Lord
send me.’" A great church is great not because of great leaders, but because of
great partnerships. God intended for leaders and people to be in partnership
with each other in building the kingdom of God. One of the things we have at
Glenville is partnership.
Toby
We appreciate your love for Jesus Christ. Although many think, we come to Jesus
to get happy and an easy life, many of you understand the call to follow Christ
is a call to come and die to your own way of doing things. In so doing you find
out, God has a better way. Jesus gave the call , "If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Every time what we
feel like doing is not what God wants us to do, we are asked to take up our
cross.
RICK
Each of us has to pay a price to follow Jesus Christ at Glenville . It takes
energy and effort to come to church. But when you love Jesus, it doesn’t cost as
much. It takes energy and time to volunteer to serve when needed. But when you
love Jesus, it doesn’t seem to cost as much. It takes a sacrifice of money to
tithe. But when you love Jesus though, it doesn’t seem to cost as much. You
might not always feel like singing praises in church. But when you love Jesus,
you do it because He deserves it not because you feel it.
TOBY
There’s something about a love relationship which makes you willing to go that
extra mile or two. Instead of seeing obstacles, you see opportunities to impress
the person with just how much you truly love them. When you’re love with a
person, you’re eager to offer the very best for them.
Rick
When we think of the Striving For Excellence, Excelling in Giving Campaign and
the transformed facility we will have , we know that you want to offer the Lord
your best. We all know the transformation is going to impact literally thousands
of people’s lives when you factor in our expanded tv and website upgrades. .
Many of the lives will be the lives, families, and friends of people in this
room. Many of them are people who are on their way to knowing Jesus. The
exciting thing about the Excelling in Giving Campaign is knowing that people are
willing to stretch themselves to come up with the extra money to invest in this
vision and plan of God.
TOBY
We all know that the Excelling in Giving Campaign is far bigger than all of us.
Like David, we do not just want a building to be put repaired, we want something
which by itself in appearance will bring honor and glory to God. We want it to
look inspiring so that when we people come in, the very walls will reverberate
the love, the sacrifice and the commitment that went into the place. It will be
our holy ground.
RICK
We appreciate your love for each other which continues to grow and abound. Some
of you literally opened your homes to people who were in need, and now the
individuals are actively serving Christ in the life of the church. Some of you
have opened your wallets on several occasions to help others in their time of
need. Some of you always made sure there was a food box for some needy family in
our Great Food For all Program. When we did our first Men of Arms Summer Camp,
some of you eagerly donated funds to invest in the young boys lives. It’s been
amazing how the Women’s Association have sought ways to impact our youth in the
Young Ladies of Faith from the La Tea Da, to the monthly classes.
Some of you have opened your lives to others to keep them from being discouraged
when they faced children on drugs, or divorce, or the death of a loved one. How
many of you here have turned to a lay pastor, a lifesharing member, an elder, or
a sister in the Lord for counsel of for encouragement in the midst of a storm
in your life.
TOBY
Just look at how many of you are impacting the lives of people. Look at the
youth who grew up in our church who are now serving faithfully in the life of
our church and in other churches. That would not have happened without the love
they found in some of you from your work in the nursery, in youth worship, in
Pioneers, or in just taking an interest in them. Those of you in Youth Worship,
you may not know who is going to be in heaven because of a lesson you taught.
RICK
Think of how God has used some of you to develop some of the richest praise
and worship music in the city. Your work with our choirs and dancers have
produced great fruit. They are are all inspiring each other in their own way in
leading us in praising the Lord. Some of you have poured many hours into getting
ready for worship week after week through some kind of a rehearsal. We love you
for it and want to say thank you as well.
TOBY
Our ushers, our counters, our greeters, our coffee hour staff, our media
people, our deacons, our elders, our lay pastors, our organizations, our office
and building staff and our volunteers are an absolute blessing to the life of
our church. We have a lot to be thankful for and to be proud of.
You see our church is about people impacting people for the cause of Christ.
When we started organizing the directors for the campaign, we knew we were
choosing some good leaders. Some of you though, have gone above and beyond what
we expected of you in your role as different co-directors in a very short time.
We thank God that Gail and Shannon agreed to take the lead role once again. .
It’s as though God Himself raised you up for such a time as this. Some of you
have just so blossomed in the Lord that your works are simply beautiful. Your
spirit of enthusiasm simply overflowed into the congregation at large. We had a
great kickoff Sunday.
RICK
Thanks to the Prayer Committee, The Personal Contact Committee, The Leadership
Committee, Administration Committee The Communication Committee, The Celebration
& Hostess, &, The Followup Team, almost everybody in our church will be
touched by the Excelling In Giving Campaign either in person or by phone. To
God by the glory for it all.
You see God has been at work in us to bring us to this point for quite some
time. We did not get to where we are today without the valuable contributions
that you have made in the past. We needed you to help move our church to
another level.
TOBY
We are now on another challenge point in our church’s history. God has used us
in some wonderful ways in the past. But the Lord is about to take us to whole
new level. Our faith is going to grow and our sense of reliance upon Him will be
strengthened as never before. It’s Moving Time!
We have need your presence in our lives in the past, but saints we are going to
need you to stand with us as in a strong way as we prepare for our 50th
anniversary, If we on the pastoral staff team had the money, we’d remodel our
church ourselves as a gift to the Lord for the blessings He has given to us. But
God has not placed us in that position yet.
RICK
By us all being willing to make real sacrifices, and they will be different for
us all, God will make a way for us somehow. We want everybody to stretch their
faith, without being foolish in making a pledge to the Excelling in Giving
Campaign. We’re talking about a 2 year period of commitment.
It’s not simply a matter of are we satisfied with what we’re doing for God, the
real issue is, is God satisfied with what we are doing. Because We Love And We
Care, we’re going to make our best investment. No one needs to feel they gave
too much or too little, because it’s not equal giving, but equal willingness to
sacrifice.
PToby
We challenge you to be prepared the week before Celebration Sunday to let us
know what your commitment and sacrifice is going to be. We will let you know
what ours will be, the week before we ask you for your commitment. Amen, It’s
Moving Time!
|
