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Leadership & Staff Blogs

Welcome to our leadership blog page. Our leaders and Staff use this page to write to you about important events happening in their lives and the spiritual insights God is showing them. We encourage you to check back often!

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Every Breath Is A Choice
by Chris Cummings on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 08:37 am

In today's world it is so easy to get caught up in life's struggles, to walk around with the arrows of the enemy sticking out of us; to feel hurt, abused, dejected, alone, angry, put upon, or just tired of the rat race.

But what if we got some perspective?  What if we took the time to say "I don't care what happens to me as long as I'm standing up for the Truth that is found in Christ."

In the book of acts we find:

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.”- Acts 20:24

What an amazing perspective on life!  For any of us to say, you can throw me to the lions, you can imprison me, you can throw me in the fire, you can crucify me, but my goal is still to preach the Gospel!  In light of the Gospel of God, those arrows of the enemy seem so insigifigant.

For all of us, this is the ever-present struggle we wrestle with; to die to ourselves and count our very lives as worth nothing if it should hender the cause of Christ.  It's a day by day, moment by moment decision to either take on pain or take on Christ and let the pain go.  There is no room to effectively hold on to both.  In every breath we make the choice to stand first for ourselves or to stand first for God.

My choice in this moment is to stand for God.  Dear God may every moment be that choice in our lives!

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To Love Is To Serve
by Chris Cummings on Thursday, Apr 10th, 2008 at 10:48 am

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. -1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We live in a world that becomes more self-centered with each passing day.  We expect and demand that our food be served to us just how we want it and quickly.  We demand that our planes board and depart on time.  We demand that there be no traffic on our way home.  We demand that our jobs owe us more money.  We demand that an offense against us be taken care of immediately.  We demand.  We expect.

The self-centered, ego-centric world we live in demands that every relationship we are in give us something.  We MUST get our good feelings.  We MUST get our needs met.  But I don’t think this kind of expectation is of God…and I don’t think it has anything to do with Love.

We all know 1 Corinthians 13 and what it says about love.  But if we read that carefully and thoughtfully, does our own personal definition of Love fit these verses?  I do not think so. 

I think if we read these verses carefully, we start to see that love has very little, if anything, to do with what WE can get out of a relationship.  Love has to do with serving and expecting NOTHING in return.

Imagine if we started looking at every relationship we have in the light of what we can GIVE to the other person, instead of what we expect to TAKE from the person.  Imagine if we always protected, always trusted, always hoped for the best for the other person.  Imagine if we were never self-seeking.  Imagine if we really did forgive and forget.

When Christ went to the cross, He went out of love.  Stop for a moment and ask yourself, really ask, what reason Christ had to die for you.  Did you give Christ a reason to die for you?  Did you serve Christ in any way that he should die for you?  No!  While we were sinners, while we were giving Christ NOTHING, while we didn’t even acknowledge him, while we mocked him, Christ died for us.  He died in love!  He died in service to those that had given him nothing.

I intend to use these thoughts to constantly remind myself that my life is for giving.  I am confident that if I give of myself without seeking anything, I will be filled and satisfied.  In pouring myself out I will be made full.

Let us all serve in love!

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Giving the First Fruits...Even in Fasting
by Chris Cummings on Tuesday, Feb 5th, 2008 at 01:46 pm
The video series we’ve been doing, The Blessed Life, has been amazing.  It really draws out the importance of giving BACK to God our first fruits, not just in our finances but everywhere in our lives.  It is exciting to see the changes God will bring in our church as we open up ourselves, start faithfully giving back to God what is his, and start giving to others simply because of our love for Christ!
 
As we were watching the final video on Sunday, the thought occurred to me that our first of the month fast is jus as much giving of our first fruits as anything else.  In fact some of us are literally giving back our first fruits…or at least our first steaks and chocolate sundaes!
 
It dawned on me the importance of this process of starting a month off with fasting so that God can bless the rest of the month.  It’s a nice touch that the three days we fast are roughtly 10% of the month! 
 
By giving this tithe of fasting we can see great things happen in our lives.  God will open up the windows of heaven and pour into us so that we may continue to pour ourselves into the lives of those around us.  It’s a wonderful way to be reminded that we were first born takes but now, through the love of Christ, we’ve been reborn as givers!
 
Let’s give to the fullest during this time of fasting!
 
Chris Cummings

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Praise is a weapon
by Chris Cummings on Friday, Nov 30th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV)17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,

18 YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Does it seem like life comes at you with one foot on the gas pedal, one hand on the gear shifter and an evil grin on its face?  Does it seem like life is ready to run you down in the street and then turn around and come back and do it again, before you get a chance to get up? I feel like that sometimes. Life can easily rob you of joy and strength in a thousand different ways, if you let it.

Recently, Pastor Larry taught about different kinds of worship.  God brought to mind that we have a vast array of weaponry at our disposal.  We have an entire arsenal of praise that not only shows our love of God, it completely defeats our enemy!  To worship God despite my circumstance, to honor Him even when my world seems to be crashing down, that is my strength.  That is my weapon against the enemy that he has no defense over.  God desires my worship because he knows if I have nothing else, I have that.

The enemy has no defense against worship...but he does have a plan.  A weapon is of no use if you can be convinced not to use it. And that's what the enemy tries to do.  He tells us lies.  He amplifies our perceptions and makes are small problems seem insurmountable.

It looks the person who wrote in Habakkuk had some problems to face, doesn't it?  No food, no crops, no cattle...basically everything he needed to survive was gone.  That's a pretty harsh situation.  I'm sure the enemy was whispering to him "It's all gone.  Your God has failed.  Find a new God to serve...or better yet...serve yourself."

But this person had a choice to make.  I have a choice to make.  You have a choice to make.  Do you load your weapon of praise or do you stand by do nothing.  God has given you the ability to praise.  The devil knows he cannot stand against something so wonderful as praise.  Do you make the choice to use it?  Some guy once wrote a song that said "if we fight we win".  The choice is yours.  Victory is certain.  Load your weapon.  Fire away!

2 Corinthians 10:4 (NLT)

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

Chris

 

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Pastor's Blog

God Will Never Give Up On You
Posted 8/31 by Larry Cockerham...
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