Spiritual Leadership

Leadership in a community of faith is a HUGE deal! Throughout the whole bible, we see God's design for leadership and how that effects the impact on God's people. Paul writes to Timothy the qualifications for spiritual leadership. He writes what the qualifications for an elder and also a deacon. These qualifications are presented so that the community of faith, or church, will maintain integrity, keep people focus on Jesus Christ, and to give maturity in the spiritual oversight of a local church. The Deacons responsibility is to serve the church in areas of stewardship, mercy, and outreach. The Elders responsibility lead the church as they oversee all matters regarding discipline, vision, and theology. These two sermons give a brief overview of Elders and Deacons within the Reformed Church of America and Grace Church specifically.

Deacons:

Notes / Acts 6: 1-7 / 1 Timothy 3: 8-13 / RCA: The Ministry of the Deacon

Elders:

Notes / 1 Peter 5: 1-5 / 1 Timothy 3: 1-7 / RCA: The Ministry of the Elder 

The Harvest is Ready

Distractions

Inspiring Leadership

Fresh Journey

I cannot explain it, but I feel like a new chapter in my walk with Jesus is opening. One that is going to be filled with growth, discovery, fruit, and focus. I kinda feel like I am rediscovering new avenues to following Jesus. Now, some of you are thinking, "what is he talking about? Is Bruce into something off the wall and not Orthodox?" I will answer your questions and concerns with a resounding - NO!

Recently in my life, I have come to the conclusion that I really do not know that much. You are probably thinking, "It is about time Bruce, I could have told you that years ago." As funny as that may sound and how much we can joke about that - and it is funny. What I mean is this. I have served several churches in my career and have been on numerous interviews for various positions within the church. At some of these interviews, I was not true to who I was and what I believed. I tried to say what the church wanted to hear when it came to my own personal Theology. Of course I did not receive an offer to partner with those churches - a good thing! There were times, however, that I was true to my personal Theology and it did not line up with the perspective church. I did not receive and invitation to these church either - also a good thing.

I have always leaned into a Reformed or Covenant Theology personally. I have a great education path that I would not change for the world. But here is my recent personal revelation - I do not know as much as I should regarding a Reformed / Covenant Theology. I know the basics, but I am being challenged to go deeper by the Lord. So, in a way I am at a cliff ready to immerse myself in such a rich and biblical Theology.

My journey now has a new freshness about it and it is exciting. Along the path already are great organizations that have shaped me and will continue to shape me. I think of ministries such as PRMI / Ligonier / Monergism / The Gospel Coalition / RCA to name only a few. These are linked to the right. Check them out

Exciting days are ahead of me and also for Grace Church. The amazing thing is that I have been praying for this to happen. Who says that God does not answer prayers - only in His timing! So, here we go. Let the journey continue...

Kingdom Contributer

Pastor: Theologian

PDC Theology: Discipleship

PDC Theology: Evangelism

PDC Theology: Ministry

PDC Theology: Fellowship / Community

Some Links:
www.truefaced.com/blog/
www.billtell.blogspot.com
www.boscafe.com

Easy Theology

I love reformed theology. It is a theology that keeps me thinking and growing. It was RC Sproul who just quoted Spurgeon on his radio broadcast this past week that reformed theology is biblical theology. I believe this. I do not have it all figured out nor will I ever. You can tell I believe in this theology by just looking at me links to the right – most of them are from a reformed perspective. I also serve in a reformed church and am loving it. Now, I am still learning and there are things with this theology that I have a hard time believing – and that OK. I will continue to search the scriptures and grow. What I will not do is combine different theological perspectives to create my own theology that fits my needs and fancy.

I am starting to see this more and more with church leaders and pastors today. They are copying programs and calling it a philosophy of ministry, they are committing pulpit plagiarism and feeding their flock from somebody else’s table (more about this in a future post), and they are wishy-washy when it comes to theology. I do not think the Lord wants us to have everything figured out – but He does desire us to grow, learn, lead, and become the theologians in our respected ministry contexts.

To illustrate this I want to share a story. I was traveling with some pastors a few years ago when the topic of Dispensationalism and Covenant theology came up. The Senior Pastor of a church said that neither was right and neither was wrong, but proper theology is a combination of the two. Specifically he believed in a covenant theology right up to the point about various spiritual gifts being available in the 21^st Century. Then he switched to a dispensationalist theology saying that only a select few are available.  I sat there thinking that you cannot cherry pick from different theological camps and create your own theological melting pot. At that moment I really felt sad for the congregation he leads because he really does not know what he believes theologically and all of spiritual leadership is born out of this. The by-product of this or what this leads to is cheap grace and easy believism, something that is plaguing the American Church.

This happening more and more in the North American Church and you see it with all theological views and standpoints. I am not sitting here telling you that I have it all figured out, because I don’t! In fact I am the least to tell someone that they are wrong because I have such long way to go. I am just writing down some thoughts and observations I have seen in the North American Church, and putting out this challenge – know what you believe, why you believe it, and lead out of the Lord teaching you and shaping you.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28: 18-20

PDC Theology: Worship

Theology: Purpose Driven Church

More about the Purpose Drive Church 

Tim Keller: Preaching the Gospel

This is good stuff


Tim Keller Feb'09: Preaching the Gospel from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Bringing People to the Cross

Leadership Community

The Baldhead Blog Future

As I look at my blog, I realized that I have not posted regular thoughts and ponderings. There is a lot of my sermons and I am excited to post these and will continue to do so. I had a thought yesterday as I was driving to a meeting with other pastors that are in the process of making "adjustments" in their communities of Faith to become more effective with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The thought was this - I will be posting more thoughts about a wide variety of things, but will do so via video. So The Baldhead Blog will have video's of random thoughts, my sermons, and written thoughts as well. Of course all these will be linked to facebook and twitter (you can check them out on the links below). I am extremely excited and have already started a log of idea's to video and write. My prayer is that these will make us think, seek the Lord more, become better leaders, and become more committed and passionate followers of Jesus Christ. Look out future - here we come.

www.twitter.com/baldheadbruce
www.facebook.com/baldheadbruce
www.youtube.com/user/baldheadbruce

Vision 2010

Without a vision, people cast of restraint Proverbs tells us. Vision gives us a laser focus on what the Lord wants us to do and become. After months and even years of prayer and seeking the Lord, this talk is the unveiling of the vision the Lord has placed before Grace Church for 2010 and beyond. 

"Reproducing passionate followers of Jesus throughout the Downriver Community and beyond!" 

As passionate followers of Jesus we will GATHER to:

        ...GLORIFY God 

        ...GROW into His image 

        ...GIVE of our talents as we 

        ...GO with His power into the world.

January 17, 2010 "State of the Church: Vision 2010" (notes) 

New Year Bible Reading Plans

Many people have New Years resolutions - a chance to change something for the New Year that they did not like about themselves in the previous year. The most common resolutions are; lose weight / get into better shape, quite smoking, save more money, and get out of debt. These are really great things to strive for. I am not a person who make "resolutions" for the New Year, but I do want to challenge you to do something better. To allow the Lord to change you from the inside out. The best way to do this is to get into the Bible each and every day. It is only when we strive toward knowing His Love Letter to us more each and every day - He will transform your life! To kick start this for you, here are some bible reading plans you can start any time. The main thing is that you should not get discouraged, just keep plugging away at this. I am convinced that at the end of 2010, your life will be more like Jesus' than it is right now. You cannot go wring with that!

5x5x5 reading plan (I strongly recommend this plan)

Every Word of the Bible 3 Year reading plan (I strongly recommend this plan)

Book at a time reading plan 

Discipleship Journal reading plan  

Zondervan reading plans (there is quite a few here to choose from - all really good) 

Other sites that have great reading plans:

Blue Letter Bible (this is a great study site - I use it all the time)

Purpose Driven Life (this site also has other great tools you can use)

You Version (this is a very interactive site that has a lot of great devotional tools and reading plans all can be downloaded to your phone or email)

There is a lot here! They main thing is not to get overwhelmed! Just pick a plan that works best for you. Pray about what you want to read and allow the Lord to lead you there. On these sites, there is something for everybody. My prayer is that you learn more about the Character and Goodness of the Lord through His Word in 2010.