Story behind the song: Home In This Heart
Leaders- Are you excited?
Dear Peter and Josie,
Are you excited?
“One challenge I was given during my long service leave was: be excited again about the work God has given you to do.”
2 Timothy 1v6: “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
As a servant-leader following Jesus, it is my responsibility to stay “fired up” in Christ and in His vision- to make disciples of all the nations.
One of the best things I can do for the people God has given me to serve, is to continue to live a filled up Holy Spirit life, full of conviction and prayers, ideas and missions, grace and mercy.
And like anyone I can become faithless, bored, uninspired and dry.
So.. just like Timothy needed to hear.. I need to hear “stir up” the gift God has given me.
How do you allow God to stir up the gift?
* Receive Prayer ministry regularly – we meet monthly to receive and give ministry
* Worship the Lord with freedom and no watch
* Meet with a mentor and ask for help
* Write
* Music- certain songs stir you up
* Stories- read new books, autobiographies
* Maps- get a map of the area God has called you to serve
* New Ideas- maybe your ideas have run dry.. get around some people in prayer and whiteboards
* New people- maybe you need to meet new people to challenge your visiting skills again
* Talks- listening to podcasts and even better- going to a live event
* Headlands and Panoramic views- expand your vision
* Walking or hobbies
I am not asking you to be a hyped up talker.. I am asking you to be a walker who is stirred up with God and His agenda for Australia.
The people you are serving need you to be ALIVE.
Join me and others in getting stirred up with the gifts God has given you to serve others with a ‘fire in your belly.’
Blessings
Matt
PS- if you want me or us to run a seminar with your team- email me – [email protected]
MC Hammer
Hosting ( MC Hammer)
A. What do we need to think about:
1. WHO is this all about?
- “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus” - WHO we are representing?
- think about WHO we are promoting, whose platform are we building up?
Eg: social media and me – am I trying to become great?
So let’s make this about Jesus and helping His people follow Him
2. Our hearts- WHY am I doing this?
- the best option is a servant hearted one and an interest in leading meetings well
- a bad option is the desire to be a stand up comedian or a mini preacher
- do be honest about the WHY
- if we have started out with a ‘not so great’ WHY.. welcome to the club, but admit it and move on towards a better motivation so that you can grow and have a servant attitude
3. WHAT does an MC need to know?
A clear purpose of this meeting:
- its values – what is important to this meeting? ( fun, deep, newcomers )If you don’t know- ASK your leader
- its timing- how long should the different parts have? What is the start and end time.
- its age range- WHO are we pitching at ( this affects how we host- EXCITED or chiiled )
- how this meeting fits into the overall picture of the ministry
- whose in charge? Who makes the call about HOW to finish the meeting or changing up the run sheet?- if you don’t know – ASK.
4. What SKILLS should an MC have?
- character is not a skill BUT you will need the character you want to exemplify to your group
- intuitive- able to read the group dynamic ( if its getting boring- they step in and change it )
- brave, risk-taker
- humorous
- theology ( it comes through when you pray and talk )
- time keeper skills – keeping things moving- might have to cut stuff out
- self awareness – you know when you have spoken too long or short
- relational skills – you love people!
5. Working with the ‘overall’ leader
- a good working relationship with the Leader of this group
- inviting a de-brief and growing attitude to this role - ( its time to get the QUALITY up )
6. Temperature of warm community
- you set HOW warm (friendly) this meeting will be and a lot of this has to do with WHO you are ( are you a warm person? Could you become warmer? )
- are you chatting with the community before and after OR are you hard to find or sitting in the corner on your phone?
Get the community warm by warming them up- with ice breakers or food
B. Growing in discerning the lead of the Spirit
Preface: It’s all about relationship . When we say we want to be Spirit led- we are we are talking about living and leading in conversation with the Lord. So…
1. Lets talk about preparation in the Spirit
- prayer : listening and talking to God
- reading the Bible and asking for revelation – Eph 1 v 18
- conversation with our leader, teams and community- asking them what they are discerning with God and seeing if we are on the same page
- drawing up the plan for the gathering and getting into peoples hands
2. Lets talk about leading in the moment with the Spirit
- follow the plan (preparation)
- ask the Lord during the meeting- how we travelling- is this current moment working?
* remember some meetings need time to heat up so chopping back too early can be a disaster
- be pastoral – help people be on same page – don’t over explain , just be clear
- when the plan isn’t working- change it – as much in consultation as you can
- stick to time or at least allow people to leave on time
3. Lets talk about leading prayer ministry
- how have you as a group decided is the ‘normal’ way you will lead this
* eg: people come to front, people stand up where they are sitting, to the side.. etc..
- how you communicate what prayer ministry is each time is crucial to making it a value
- introduce this part of the service with confidence and be normal ( ie: don’t get all super spiro now)
- lead it confidently and encourage people as they respond
- lead the people praying and give everyone else something to do
- wrap up strong
4. Lets talk about de briefing- we are looking for the saying- it seemed right unto the Spirit and to us. “Acts 15:28
- when we say we thought God wanted to do that and our leader disagrees.. we must be open to being wrong at the time and that’s ok- we are ALL learning
- be simple about the de-brief- 3 things went well and just 1 or 2 things to grow in
C. What do we want to improve on? Some examples..
- leading a group towards God’s agenda
- being in sync with the dynamic- can the group meetings ALWAYS be on a HIGH?
- becoming more at ease, concise, warm/ friendly, punctual, prayerful, brave
- practicing prophesy and words of knowledge
- working as a team- knowing our collective journey ahead and GOING for it
An interview about Worship & Justice
Here's an interview Deb Stanley did with Amor Ministries recently about how she got involved with Soul Survivor and some thoughts on worship and justice. You can read the whole interview here.
In & out // an introduction
Some homegrown songs for you from soul.conference
You might be asking yourself 'What were those new songs we sang during soul.conference? How can I listen to those new tracks?' So.... we wanted to share with you a list of some of the newer songs we did so you could use them in your own groups. Also, we'd love to share with you two homegrown songs that you can download demo audio and chord charts.
FOR THE ONE // Post 5 // Saturday
FOR THE ONE // Post 4 // Fri - Sat
FOR THE ONE // Post 3 // Thurs-Fri
Thursday afternoon soccer comp started. The Padstowdians are ahead for the moment – will they be toppled?
Thursday night we heard about the impact that we can have on people’s lives by sponsoring a child through World Vision. Suzie King taught us one of the names of God: El Olam – the everlasting God. Then we heard from Cam Bennett from Youth Alive Queensland...
FOR THE ONE // Post 2// Wed - Thurs
Wednesday after the Main Meeting we hopped on the buses and head to Chifley College in Sydney’s western suburbs. Our friends Jon and Lisa Owen and their Urban Neighbours of Hope team live and work in the area blessing the locals through friendship, practical support and the good news of Jesus. They’d arranged for us to do landscaping and other jobs at the school, so we got stuck in and wheeled the wheelbarrows and spread the mulch and scrubbed and scraped and dug and cleaned. Some of the teachers from the school even came in on their holidays to cook us a sausage sizzle – sweet!
FOR THE ONE // POST 1 // Tues-Wed
We arrived on Tuesday and pitched our tents, our eyes darting around sussing out the new faces that will be our temporary community for the week. We rolled out our sleeping bags, collected our passes and programs and pitched our expectations high for what God will do over the coming days. What will happen this week as we seek to live #fortheone?
soul.team - Ruach
This Sunday's soul.team went to Allambie Heights to serve Ruach.
Ruach is a church passionate about finding the lost and are hungry to serve Jesus. We had a great time in Worship and The Lord spoke into peoples lives about being hungry for The Lord and receiving gifts.
“In looking at my life I felt challenged to be active for God even in ‘my time’ and my ‘down time’.”
We can be praying for Ruach that they are encouraged and refreshed in their passion for speeding The message of Jesus and reaching the lost.
soul.team - "The Hope Project" Bondi Junction
Who Loves Bondi?
"The Hope Project" Bondi Junction does!
They have a real heart for Bondi and it is great to get alongside them, encourage that vision and see how God is using this vibrant bunch!
The night was filled with enthusiasm and hunger for God and the Holy Spirit. They are such a genuine bunch of people.
“I was encouraged to believe in the power of the love of God and its overcoming qualities in any situation. We can pray that this church is able to reach out to the Bondi community and be bold in evangelising even when that might mean having to seriously persevere. ”
We look forward to seeing you guys in Bondi again soon!
soul.team - Northridge Vineyard
Northridge Vineyard Youth- 14/02/14
For the first soul.team for the 2014 interns the team headed to Northridge Vineyard to hang out with their youth. The team ran the games and shared what we're looking forward to in April - FOR THE ONE soul.conference.
“I loved how energetic and switched on the kids were, and how willing they were to talk to complete strangers! I am pray that the new kids that are going along there would really get a grasp of God’s love and feel welcomed into the Christian environment.”
“I really feel like after going there, I want to try and actively engage with people who I dont know as far as trying to show Gods love. I liked the energy and enthusiasm of all the people who came and just the way they were so happy on the night. We can pray for the kids and their commitment to youth group but also for the leaders with supporting the kids on a deeper level.”
We look forward to catching up with you at FOR THE ONE Northridge!
