Michael Harrison's e-devotion

After writing and sending this morning's devotion, I got an e-mail from a friend back in Oklahoma who shared an awesome story.  Just had to pass this one on to you with her permission.  Enjoy and be hugely encouraged....I was! E-MAIL FROM BEVERLY (an E-Devotion subscriber in Oklahoma)   Just have to share a similar story with you regarding today's devotion.  Last Friday our granddaughter, Kayla, was in the finals of her grade school's Spelling Bee.  She was runner-up.  After the competition, her daddy and I went up to her, gave her a big hug and told her how proud we were of her.  That afternoon Kayla and I had a special "girl time".  What I told her then again was how proud we were BUT even more important was how proud we were for her actions.  She did her personal best, with a smile on her face and in her heart...went over and hugged her friend who had won.  Thought this was a great example of Grace from the big heart of a little 7 year old girl.  She sho

43 drivers started the race, but only one of them was the winner.  Does that mean that 42 of them lost?  You have to answer that for yourself.  Yet I have some thoughts for you as the race traffic is still clearing here in beautiful and rainy Martinsville, Virginia.   Hebrews 12:1  (nlt) ---  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.   90,000 people are said to show up in Martinsville on race weekend.  Not sure about the numbers, but I am sure that each one wants their driver to win.  It is sweet competition.  Fans wear their driver's number with pride, put it on their car or tent, on their clothes or even spelled out in tattoos and the like.  This can be a strange world.  The fans are committed and watching on.  Kind of like that great cloud of witnesses.  What

I was challenged this morning by a new blog series that Craig Groeschel from lifechurch.tv is beginning this week.  Take a look:   Ten Questions Every Leader Should Ask During this series, we'll look at ten questions each leader should ask in several different areas of life. Today we'll examine some questions that surround our Relationship with Christ. What did I learn in God's word this week? Is my burden for prayer growing or diminishing? Does my heart break for the things that break the heart of God? Have I grown accustomed to or accepted sin in my life? Am I doing ministry out of an overflow of God's work in my heart or out of my own strength? Has my teaching and ministry deepened, changed, or evolved in a positive way in the last year? Do I have a sincere peace that I'm living an authentic life of spiritual integrity? Is my heart growing larger for people and God or is it shrinking? Am I closer to God today than I was a year ago? Do others

Ministry at the speedway has begun.  Raceway Ministries Martinsville is at work and having a ball touching lives for Jesus.... Martinsville Speedway and the Goody's Cool Orange 500 is going to be awesome.  More details to come ....

Pray for....   Raceway Ministries work at Martinsville Speedway this weekend (reason for no devotion today).   Bobby Hodges whose cancer surgery went well but DR's found more cancer around the arteries going to his heart.  This is a bad situation.  Please pray for Bobby, Judy and their family especially as they make critical decisions.   Little Matthew Gray has a virus.   Becky Smith is continuing to get better but needs her strength renewed.   Lost people you know and those who heard about Jesus at our Easter services last Sunday.   Pray for The Community Band who will be leading worship at Wilson Street Pentecostal Holiness Church this Sunday night in Martinsville.  Listen for the time at Community Worship on Sunday morning.  This includes our band but not the bach up singers.   My Uncle Frank and his family, Kathy and Justin.   Unspoken prayer request for members who are in need of jobs (3 of them).   Continued vision for our leadership team as w

This is one of my favorite days of the month.  Why?  Thanks for asking.  For almost 13 years I have tried to read one chapter of Proverbs every day, and this is the day that has some of my favorite verses.  While reading this morning, I saw and heard God talking to me about relationships and my heart (keeping in line with yesterday's devotion).  Here are a few of those verses from Proverbs 27 :     2 Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth—a stranger, not your own lips.     5 An open rebuke is better than hidden love!     17 As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.     19 As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.   Just a few reasons why God uses His book, the Bible, to stretch us and guide us.  I love it!   Then I get to the office and begins to read my favorite blogs (I now use bloglines to keep up with them which saves lots of time).  God teaches us by allowing others to sharpen us.  Here are a cou

This is good.... 15 Signs That You (Or Your Church) Lacks Vision   Leaders, we have to read what Perry says, ask the questions and praise GOD for the answers.  Be blessed!   MICHAEL

Proverbs 18:22  (nasb) --- He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the LORD.   Proverbs 22:6  (nasb) --- Train up a child in the way he should go,Even when he is old he will not depart from it.   BIG STATEMENT: without my family, I die.  Think about it.   Got blessed me with a great wife.  Honestly, sometimes I don't give that fact enough weight.  Another huge deal are these 3 little people God placed in our home.  Honestly, sometimes I don't put enough into them.  Think about it.   When it comes time in my life for Easter and the events at church, the race and all it takes to make Raceway Ministry do an awesome job, I have to reflect on what it does to my family.  For way to long pastors and ministers have said that we would sacrifice everything for God and the church.  That even meant family.  Boys and girls, that is wrong.  Just plain wrong.  Without my family, I die.   Yep.  Sometimes they make me want to scream or get angry.

My brother and his family attend the Tulsa campus of Lifechurch.tv , and he posted these two picture on his blog .  Lifechurch is cool, y'all.  Making a big impact for Jesus is what IT IS ALL ABOUT.  They just began " The Warrior " Series on Easter.  The painting is outside of the Tulsa Campus and the other picture is inside...both Easter weekend.  Thanks, Steve, for the pics!

Just a little look at my present facebook friends....74 so far.  I like this stuff.....

There is the picture from Carlos' blog post, and here is some of the text ( go here to read it):   Then it hit me like it does every week that these people at the 6 pm service are coming to church for the first time today. Gut check. Time to sing. Walked out. Salvation Is Here…LALALALALA. I'm in verse 2 and I look to my left and am hit like a blind side pick and roll. Swaying on the front row was a guy I later learned was named Matt. Standing in front of him was another guy named Jefferson. It was a moment that stands out above all else in my 11 years of leading worship. You see Matt and Jefferson were worshipping God, together. Literally. Jefferson has severe cerebral palsy. He has little, if any control over his body. Matt was standing behind Jefferson. Holding Jefferson. 20 minutes. Dancing with Jefferson and singing at the top of his lungs. Jefferson was singing too. I think could hear him. And it was the most beautiful song I have ever heard.

Matthew 17:2  (nasb) --- And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.   OK, Easter @ The Community Fellowship was not the transfiguration like Matthew 17 talks about, but it was awesome.  Have you ever seen someone that glowed?  I am talking about the person who had experienced something that was awesome, and there seemed to be something glowing about them.  You have met that person or someone like that before.  It is awesome.   When God shows up, He changes lives.  Always has and always will.  Trust Him.  Let Him work.  I love the stories of how Jesus moved from place to place changing lives.  Some people were lowly or not liked by society, and others were cool people that people liked.  Jesus changed lives, all lives.  Every person was left different, and people knew that they had experienced something incredible and new, something only God could do.  That is the glow.  And we need it.   You co

Honestly, I think we were shocked when our counters when way over 100 when seeing how many people showed up for our Egg Hunt.  1,000 plus eggs.  Nintendo DS and lots of give aways.  From little kids (2 months old) to some old guys acting like kids and ages all between, we had an awesome time!  The future of God's church and our world ran around our building, hyped up on candy and best yet hearing about Jesus.  This was off the hook!

EASTER 2008 is marked by The Invitation as lots of visitors showed up along with youth from The Community Fellowship, the House of Prayer and the drama team from CrossPoint Church.  It was awesome and made some good connections!

Romans 5:6  (nlt) --- When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.   One of the toughest things that we have to deal with is death.  But Easter reminds us of death!   One of the sweetest things that we even get to enjoy is the birth of new life.  But Easter reminds us of new life!   How can both of those things be true?  Is not about eggs and candy but rather a Savior who suffered to give us new life.  To have those two things, death and life, tied together means that someone did something for me and for you.  They went the extra mile.  That is Jesus.  Much like a parent who suffers through the pains of birth (like my wife...I just watched and listened), who gives up things so a child can have things and cries often because parenting isn't for cowards...Jesus' life, death and resurrection is the Hype of Easter.   Was His death horrible and painful?  Yes.  Did it happen with purpose?  Yes.   A simple time lin

So, we've gone from chasing the lion (" In the Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day ") to chasing a goose ?  Yep, Mark Batterson's new book is out and is called " Wild Goose Chase " ....cannot wait.  Take a look!

 

 

I said it yesterday, and I repeat it again today.  (like it or not....think about it)  82% of people you invite to Easter worship will attend.  Those are not people off the street.  They are friends and family, co-workers and peers.  The number is huge.  Know what you call that?  Influence.  And we have it.   Jeremiah 15:19  (nlt) --- This is how the Lord responds:"If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me.  If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,you will be my spokesman. You must influence them;do not let them influence you!   Like it or not, you are a person of influence.  Far too often we let others influence us.  It may pushing us toward anger or resentment or even apathy.  Yet God is ALWAYS pushing us to use our influence for Him.  Think about it.   How many people do you go to church with who are there because of your influence?  Good question.  Some of us would rather think we have little or no influence when in f

Here is a look at Tim Stevens new book, POP GOES THE CHURCH .  Ask for it at your local bookstore.  Tim Stevens will challenge your leadership and thinking about the church!  Tim is executive pastor at Granger Community Church in Indiana.

Stop and think is a video that talks about life and puts God in our view, and it invites people to get to know Jesus.  (Pastor Frances Chan in the video is a great dude.)   Joshua 24:15  (nlt) --- But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."   Easter bunnies and candy eggs.  The cross and the death of Jesus.  Seems like we have a choice.  We can either have fun or be somber.  We can eat candy or crawl in some Christian hole.  That couldn't be further from the truth.  No, I am not telling you to leave the Easter bunny out of your weekend.  I want to remind us that Easter is about Jesus.  Choose who you are gonna serve.   My thinking along those lines, I have asked The Community Fellowship church family to think of ways, creative way to

My mind was rivoted to the TV late last night for two things (my wife would say that I watch every night).  The first was this cool show John & Kate Plus 8 .  We watch it quite often and are spellbound by how this family thrives and the normal life they lead with 8 young kids.  The second was the speach of the new govenor of New York, David Paterson .  This dude is a great speaker with a load of credits to his name, and he is legally blind.   What do you do when you have lemons?  You can leave them alone and let them spoil.  You can let the kids play with them, throw them, roll them down the stairs and the like as well as throw them at each other (I don't suggest that).  You can cut 'em open and suck on the sour things until you have that sour look all over your face.  Or best yet, you can make lemonade.  The choice is yours.   What am I talking about?  Thanks for asking.  Life deals us some tough things.  Some are horrible and no one should have to deal.  S

Kick me in the seat of the pants, please.  I am still coming down from the high of being at Unleash 08 and hearing Perry Noble .  Here is a post from Perry this morning.  You gotta read this ... What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me (Part Ten) .  He is also one of the speakers at Whiteboard Sessions in May.

This blog post by Tim Stevens makes church leaders, us, step back and maybe re-think some of the things we are doing and even more press on to be more creative as we create culture in the name of Jesus....the only name.  Read this post .   Tim has a new book out soon that we need to go get.  Title is Pop Goes the Church .   This dude is real, relavent and clear in his message to today's ministry leaders.  I am set to hear Tim, for the first time in person, at Whiteboard Sessions in May.   Lead on....

Easter is gonna be OFF THE HOOK at The Community Fellowship.  Found this cool picture of a series that another church is doing.  Love the graphic....enjoy Jesus this Easter!

FYI ... I am helping my buddy John with a couple of blogs in his world.   The first is John's business of Roof Master's Plus and can be found at http://roofmastersplus.blogspot.com/   The second is Tim Klienschmidt's political blog.  John is Tim's campaign manager.  The site can be found at http://timkforstaterep.blogspot.com/ Take a look!

No, you won't hear that from me.  I am not talking about the environment or taking care of the planet (which are good and noble things), but I will remind you that today is St. Patrick's Day .  You better be wearing green or you're gonna get pinched.  Be careful...   My mind is so full, and God has been so good.  Our leadership team shared yesterday at church from their experience at the Unleash 08 conference.  It was sweet, but what I am most excited about is that our church family wrote on the walls of our church yesterday.  Yep, you heard me right.   I had seen this before, and we joined in.  We wrote names of people that we want Jesus to save.  It is behind the big round counter at our front door.  The names will be seen when you go to leave the church as a living reminder that God desires and calls us to demonstrate the love of God to our community in living a loud pictures presented through our lives.  It is real.  Jesus is real, and His life is stil

Ed Young is in the blogging world!!!  This dude is one of the most creative leaders on the planet and loves Jesus.  Check it out ... http://www.edyoungblog.com/

Much of our leadership returned late last night (really early this morning) from an awesome leadership conference, UNLEASH .  Today I will share you some blips from the two main sessions Perry taught.  (By the way, I think PERRY NOBLE is one of the best communicators I have ever heard.  For the record...)   SESSION # 1 ---- talking about the older son from the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:25-32 . the older son was so busy doing the father's work that he didn't know the father's heart...it is completely possible for God to be working all around us and we are clueless and have to ask what is going on. question 1. What is it that God wants to do in your church?  2 key thoughts are time and effort.  You will only know what comes from God through passionate time with God. Inspiration doesn't cover for a lack of revelation! when God tells you what to do, stop saying you can't! question 2. What are the barriers that are in your way?  3 thought

Perry Noble, Nancy Wright, Ken WIlson, April Haynes, Chris Eldrod, Eric Brown, Gary Lamb, UNLEASH, Lee McDerment, Susi Fulcher, Steven Furtick, Kasim and Cindy Adams, Joe Sangle, Cindy Hall and some guy named Tony (MORGAN, that is).  Just a few of the faces I encountered.   UNLEASH '08 was awesome.  Perry and his team from NewSpring helped our team prepare to push on to the next level.  Worth the time, effort, lack of sleep and money because we had some sweet GOD moments.  More to come!

UNLEASH 08

Some of our team is gearing up to go to a leadership conference, and I am excited about it.  Last year I went by myself.  This year there are 9 of us.  Traveling 4 and 1/2 hours one way to spend the day listening and soaking up God stuff.  This is a GOD thang, to say the least.   What is it?  It is UNLEASH 08 hosted by Perry Noble in Anderson, South Carolina.  NewSpring Church has been around about 10 years and has seen God do some incredible things.  We will learn from the team NewSpring along with 1,700 people that will be at the conference.  By the way, I think that Perry is one of the most gifted communicators and leaders of our day.  But he doesn't have a seminary degree, and sometimes looks a little like he is stuck in the 80's (who am I to talk).  But this guy gets my Jesus lovin', God servin', leadership desire going.  Check out his blog some time: www.perrynoble.com   How do I know this is a God thang?  Satan is on our heals.  He is trying to

These are just a few of the people who have impacted my life.  See the devotion below...

One of my core beliefs is that I have to learn from others.  Since I was pretty young, there has been part of me that desired to sit at the feet of people who love God and love doing what I do.  Through the years I have sat at the feet of some big dudes (I mean people who have experienced God through their lives).  Some of those people are pastors, some are missionaries, some are business leaders, some are family and others are friends, some are house wives and some are in heaven already.  Do you get it?    We do not have the corner on the "God market", and it is time that we begin learning from others in bigger ways!   1 Thessalonians 5:11  (nlt) --- So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.   Listening to a podcast last night, I heard this: There is a deep desire in all if us to enjoy life. (from a podcast @ www.catalystspace.com )   Got an e-mail and made a phone call to a dude who is planting a church in Tennes

Did Bill Gates or Howard Schultz dream that their dreams would succeed as they have?  Think about it!

2 of our college students from church are visiting family in Seattle on their spring break.  When I think of Seattle, 2 other things come to mind: Starbucks and Microsoft.  Two companies that have taken our nation and the world by storm and grown in ways few people thought possible.   1977 did Bill Gates know that Microsoft would reach the heights it has hit as of today?  I am not sure, but I would think to answer no.  He had big dreams, big desire and headed long and fast toward those dreams.   How about in 1987 when Howard Schultz bought Starbucks?  His goal at that time was to just open a new store in Portland, far from Seattle.  Yet his coming, now known world wide, is the leader of the coffee shop world opening thousands of new stores annually.  Schultz had big dreams, huge drive and desire to match, and he headed toward the dream.   Do you think that Mordecai Ham knew that in one of his preaching meetings that a kid named Billy Graham would be there and get

MICHAEL JORDAN

I read from a lot of angles and from various leaders and theologians.  Didn't quite expect it from the person you about to hear from.  The following blog post is from Kent Shaffer , a marketing guru and a Christian leader:   " From Good to Great According to Michael Jordan " Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time. But his road to success has come a long way since he was cut from his high school basketball team. He once shared his secret to greatness: "Heart is what separates the good from the great ." Natural ability will make you good. Big budgets will make you good. Fantastic marketing will make you good. But it takes heart to be great. Greatness lies in diligence, perseverance, and drive. Greatness lies in the intangibles. Heart is never content but always pushes you to a greater level. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great , explains: "Few people attain great lives, in large pa

Does your life NOT seem like an adventure?  Then maybe you are missing something.  Living for God and with Him brings stuff our way and situations into our lives that ought to be in the category of awesome adventure, if you have that category in your life.   One of my favorite magazines is Discipleship Journal (by Navpress ) which I have been reading for over 6 years.  Great stuff about ministry and Christianity and life.  The most recent has several talking about god calling us to live the adventure (especially the article "Let the Adventure Begin" by David W. Henderson , issue 164).  The insight is sweet.  Take a look.   "With God present something is always 'about to happen'.  Things unusual, daring, exciting - things disturbing and glorious - begin to unfold...God is always up to something: carrying out His will, transforming His people, advancing the kingdom, revealing His glory.  And He is always looking for someone to share an adven