WOW

Gifts that make you go WOW! That is what I am calling the series of sermons that I will be preaching during the Christmas holidays. I am so fired up about the future of our church it just makes me want to SHOUT. God is moving in the lives of many and I am one of them. Today I talked with a friend about some possible leadership changes that I can make in my life that will be huge for the growth of our church. We have to want to grow to grow, that goes for all of us as individuals not just the church as a whole.

Do you want to grow? Then evaluate your own life and see what could change. Is it your work habits or maybe your effort in doing the work. Are you giving God your best? These are questions that I am answering and evaluating what I find out. If you don't like criticism this may not be something on your to do list, because I assure you that all of us have our areas of weakness.

One of the gifts that can make you go WOW is that fact that God has chosen you to do a special work through. Mary had no idea she would be used the way she was but in the end it was an awesome gift God gave her in the fact that she was the mother of Jesus. God used Mary and He wants to use you, what a gift from God to know that He wants to use me to change the world, WOW! Let's work together as a TEAM and make a difference!!

I can explain.

I'm sorry to all of you faithful followers about not posting yesterday. I had some very important things that took most of my day and night and I was unable to keep my word. Please pray for the Walker family from Piggott, unfortunately their new born son (only 6days old) passed away and the funeral was yesterday. I had the opportunity to minister to this family by saying a few words at the funeral and taking some food over to the house. I want to say thanks to Bill Veal for going with me and ministering to this family. I could have gone alone but one of the things I am trying to learn about leadership is don't do things alone, take someone with you when you do ministry so the load is lighter and the joy is greater.

We have such a great opportunity all around us to make a difference. I find something new everyday that needs to be done for the Lord. God has chosen us to be in Piggott at this time to be his hands and feet. What a privilege! The happiest days of my life are when I am able to extend the love of Christ to those in need. If you want to join in on the blessings let me know that you are ready to go and serve and let's see what we can do. The holiday season is full of these kind of opportunities. Let's make sure we give the gift of God's Love to those all around us.
One of my favorite websites is Christianitytoday.com check it out and see what you think. I would love to hear some of your favorite sites, leave me a comment.

Follow me for 2 weeks

That's right for the next 2 weeks I am going to blog daily. The reason is I am trying to discipline myself in some other areas of my life and you can kind of be my accountability partners. I hope to share with you some interesting things over the next few weeks. I hope to introduce you to some of my mentors in the faith and give you something to think about.

One of the things I have been reading and studying about is how I can be a better leader at Emmanuel. I know that there is more in me that God is not getting I want to see what God can do through me. I have been doing much more reading and listening to other pastors and teachers that I respect so that I might learn something from them. I am beginning to understand that I don't have to know everything and it's o.k. to say I need help. Did I say that? HELP! My ultimate teacher is still the word of God and the Holy Spirit. I hope that over the next 2 weeks you will follow along with me and share with me what God does in your life and maybe share with me what God speaks to you.

Today I want to encourage you to check out flamingoroadchurch.com and go to the potentialblog. there you will find some good stuff to start with. I look forward to sharing and hearing.

Have a Great Day

Hi everyone today started out cloudy and rainy but that's just the weather on the outside that doesn't mean that today is a drury day. Make the most of opportunities today to turn someones cloudy day into a rainbow kind of day. You have the potential to change the course of someones day, look for that person and be a blessing to them today. It is so much fun to bring joy to a life, it makes you like Jesus because that's exactly what He does. He brings Joy when there is no Joy.

What I've learned while away

I know it's been awhile since you last heard from me but I have really been trying to read and seek the Lord for direction in my life and the life of the church. I must say that this is an exciting time for me because I have a hunger to excel in the work that God has for me. I don't know about you but medocricy is such a downer, you don't even realize it and before long a year has gone by and you have done nothing and you don't even really care. The thing about being mediocre is that you are always better than someone else and you just don't hang around or listen to those who are doing better than you. You are just satisfied to exist. ENOUGH!!! I praise the Lord for those who are visionaries, those people like Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham, Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Troy Gramling and my list could go on and on. What I appreciate is the fact that these men would not settle for mediocrity in the ministry. They have and are striving for excellence for the cause of Christ.

I am finding myself daily wanting more and more to be apart of something far more than just a good church. What I really desire is to be apart of a God size vision and work. Thanks to my dear friend Troy I am learning that I can't expect to be a part of this Great work tomorrow if I don't first execute and put out the effort for it to happen today. To summarize, I can no longer just show up on Sunday and expect results without preparing and executing all week. It still takes dedication to achieve excellence. It is dedication to our Lord and execution of daily chores that will move the hand of God to bless His church.

Piggott Arkansas needs a church that will attempt Great things, and show a lost world that their is a God who can still do the impossible. I pray that whoever reads this blog will pass it on to others and you will beging praying about joining the team of workers who will work together today so we can see the miracles of God tomorrow!

I love you Emmanuel!! Let's dream again, Let's fish again, Let's trade good for Great.

In Revival

Well if anybody is still checking this blog I want to let you know what's going on. I am in Salem, AR. I am leading worship at the First Baptist Church. Sunday was an Awesome service as a husband and wife both gave thier lives to Christ and was baptized that evening. I am really excited to be hear and have God speak to me personally. I am spending a lot of time seeking and listening. I just want to be used by God don't you. The great thing is God wants to use us. Keep me in your prayers as I seek to lead the worship this week. I love to worship so it's going to be a lot of fun. I am praying for Emmanuel all the time because I know He has a wonderful future for us in Piggott. I love you.

Kevin

Road Trip.

Hey everyone, I am in Orlando, Florida with my good friend Troy. We have had a very interesting day. I arrived Sunday night in Ft. Lauderdale and our journey began. We spent the night down on the beach at a motel. It was really a nice plTTace, almost 20 years ago 2 of my friends and myself went to the same beach. I'm sure the people didn't recognize me because I have gained a little weight. The trip has been a lot of fun from the airplane ride to the 9 hour car ride today. One fun thing was that the lady I sat beside on the plane was married to a man who played football for the real coach of the Titans (Remember the Titans) She said the movie was pretty close to the real thing.

The reason we had to drive so long today was the fact that they shut down the main road because of a gunman on the loose. The detour took us another 5 hours due to the fact that we went about 4 miles in 4 hours. I don't guess we are in any hurry so no big deal. It is nice to be with an old friend but I wouldn't trade lives with him at all. They celebrated having over 8000 people at church over the weekend today. Big weekend.

Troy is an awesome leader and I am trying to just watch how he leads the church and try and learn what I can do to be a better leader and Pastor. You can follow me on the journey by going to www.mynakedpastor.com it is a lot of fun. I miss all of you especially everyone in the Murray house and yard. I just want everyone of you to know how much I love you and enjoy being the pastor of Emmanuel. See ya tomorrow.

Teenager gives his life to Christ!

I don't know all the details but I just got an email this morning saying that one of our youth invited a friend to church yesterday and after the servie he gave his life to Christ. That is so Great News for me. I have to tell you that I left church a little disappointed in my presentation of God's word. So to hear that some one still got saved lets me know that it was definitely God who done the harvesting. God can do so much more than we can. I love what one of my prayer partners said, "God doesn't need us but He chooses to use us". I hope you want to be used by God this week. Way to go to Adam for inviting his friend to church, you never know what might happen. Hey it's Monday and we have got all week to serve Jesus, do it!
I am on my way to Mr. Rudy's to trim his hedges, pray that I don't mess them up. I'll let you know how it goes.

Live the Abundant Life!

Great Night for AWANA!

Thank you to all the adults who helped make our AWANA kickoff a huge success. We had almost 100 kids sign up for AWANA. Isn't that GREAT that so many kids want to come to church and learn scriptures. I am excited and overwhelmed I am trying to lead this program and I must say I don't know a lot about AWANA. What I do know is that if we don't teach these kids the word of God now it may be to late by the time we get around to it. Would you please consider joining our team of workers that will be leading in our AWANA program.

Our Neighbor went to be with Jesus.

Well for those who may not know, our neighbor and friend Ms. Penny Bradshaw ended her long battle with cancer on Monday night and went to Heaven. Penny touched so many lives over the past few years with her never give up attitude and sweet spirit and desire to live. In the last days of her life all she did was praise the Lord for being so good to her. I am going to miss her attitude and zeal for life. She leaves behind big shoes to fill in the neighborhood. One of the sweetest notes I ever got was from Penny, she thanked us for never giving up on her and her husband. Praise the Lord that some day I'll see her again, but until then I'm gonna try to step into those shoes and make sure our neighborhood still has a zeal for life.

Visitation for Penny will be Thursday night at Hoggard and Sons Funeral home starting at 6p.m. and the funeral will be Friday at 11a.m..

Prayer Request.

Please pray for some friends of mine, (Darrell and Nancy) who live in Harrison, AR.
This wonderful family let me stay with them while I preached Revival at their church. They have a 7 year old grandaughter who was injured when an ATV fell over on her and fractured her skull. Please pray for God to heal this little girl who is in the hospital in Springfield, MO.

Focus!

I am understanding more and more how important it is to focus on what we are doing. Have you ever been distracted? I am sure all of us have, it could be a cell phone to our ear that distracts us while driving or maybe a daydream about some tropical vacation while working. Whatever it is when we are distracted from what we are suppose to be doing accidents often happen. Car wrecks, poor workmanship, fail a test, etc. you get the point.

Starting this Sunday morning I will begin preaching for a few weeks on the theme "FOCUS". How long has it been since you really focused on your relationship with God. Isn't it easy to be distracted by the things of this world. No person ever sets out to get away from God after having been saved. Then why does happen so often? I honestly believe it's because we loose focus. Come this Sunday and focus on the cross wih me. Everything looks different when you view from the cross.