2010 Senior Pastors’ Conference – Session 2 – Tom Stipe

·         During the planning sessions for the conference, Chuck had asked a pointed question: “Can we continue in the Spirit.”

·         We are not going to find a model for the church from the ‘70’s – because this is 2010.

o   However, the Spirit is still the same.

o   Calvary Chapel began in the Spirit – and He does not change.

o   “Dude, age happens. But not for the Holy Spirit.”

·         Tom’s text – Acts 1.

·         Luke was witnessing to Theophilus – he was witnessing to a friend.

o   How would you like to get Luke & Acts as personal letters?

o   The story of the Christian church.

·         The two (the Gospel and Acts) are closely tied together, because if you have an experience with Jesus, you will have an experience with the Church – the two go hand-in-hand.

o   There are those who say that it’s not necessary – Luke would disagree.

o   Acts is a story that has no end – until the Rapture.

o   The Acts carry on the life of Christ.

·         The Holy Spirit gave commandments – and the Church’s job was to fulfill them.

o   “I hope God commanded you to go where you are as a pastor.”

o   “If the Holy Spirit has not made a command to you, please don’t go out – do anything else.”

o   If you have not heard from God Almighty, don’t go into this line of work.

·         Imagine spending 40 days with the resurrected Jesus – “Unlearned men?” I don’t think so!

·         The many infallible proofs have to do with the Resurrection.

o   Whatever proofs He gave were convincing!

o   Easter wasn’t once a year for these people – it was all the time.

o   The message of the Gospel always involves the truth of the Resurrection

§  Because if Jesus wasn’t alive – what would they say?

§  I mean, really?

o   The church is empowered when it is saturated with the truth of the Resurrection.

·         Easter is a sad time for church plants –w here all the people take their families to legitimate churches {{OUCH!!!}}

·         The Resurrection was something they talked about all the time.

o   Everybody knew that Jesus was crucified – it was done in public

o   They needed to keep talking about & focusing on the Resurrection.

o   Everybody knew He was crucified – they needed to know He didn’t stay that way!

·         Tom likes to do a “Thomas Sunday” a week after Easter – to talk about questions & objections.

·         By the deeds of the church & a profound part of their witness, they told the world of the reality of the Resurrection.

·         The church didn’t know when He would appear during those 40 days – it was good practice!

o   Expectation is a good thing

o   They were prepared for the presence of Jesus & the Holy Spirit

·         Evidently the Baptism of the Spirit was kind of a big deal.

o   The Gospel is about the reign of God over the hearts and lives of those who trust in Him, not about kicking out Rome.

o   “BUT you shall receive power…”

o   The power of the church comes from the Holy Spirit and not from man.

·         Tom was asked at his ordination, “Are you an Acts 1:8 Christian?”  ;D

o   That’s a great question to ask ourselves.

o   Are we?

o   Christians were filled fresh & new with the Spirit when new challenges & new opportunities present themselves.

·         We are just pennies in God’s pocket that He can spend wherever He wants to.

o   “It’s called surrender.”

o   Ordinary Christians could do extraordinary things because it wasn’t them but the power of the Spirit in their lives.

o   The Spirit is an absolute necessity – because this work will wear you out.

·         When He ascened, did they miss Him terribly immediately?

o   They had to be staring up in heaven for a while, since angels had to come and tell them to stop staring up in heaven.

·         Have you ever wondered about the other guy (not Matthias)?

·         Did Jesus allow them to be without Him long enough to long for His presence – and that’s when the Spirit came?

·         Sometimes, Tom misses the drama of beginning in the Spirit.

o   The early days were crazy.

o   As part of the drama, Chuck allowed anybody in – and that got exciting at times.

o   “…he let in carnal, and backslidden, and drunkards, and druggies, and even Baptists!!!” 

§  (Tom was a Methodist youth director when he started coming to Costa Mesa.)

o   Sinners come with baggage – and lots of it.

·         Tom got fired from his first ministry job (at the Methodist church) for two things: falling in love, and getting baptized in the Holy Spirit.

·         While some people have a calling to evangelism, we are all called to share our faith – to put Jesus in our lives on display.

·         “They were all with one accord in one place.”

o   I hope we find that reality, too.

o   “with one accord…in one place”

§  Perhaps in this place {{AMEN!!!}}

§  At this point there were three things that were true of the disciples:

·         One, they were humble, broken

·         Two, they were obedient – when they were told to stay, they stayed, when they were told to go, they went.

·         Three, they were expectant – perhaps the biggest thing of all.

§  Jesus told them to wait – so they were expectant.

o   At Costa Mesa, they knew something was going to happen, that God would show up in power.

§  Every single night.

·         Continuing in the Spirit requires beginning in the Spirit.

o   Finishing in the Spirit requires beginning and continuing in the Spirit.

·         The rest of this week, the rest of our lives, can be filled with stories of men changed by God the Holy Spirit!

·         The people at Fuller asked Lonnie Frisbee, “what do you read?”

o   His response: “The Bible and Foxes’ Booke of Martyrs”

o   They got into such trouble – many students got saved & filled with the Spirit.

·         The Bible equates the filling of the Spirit with boldness

o   i.e., the supernatural ability to serve the Lord.

o   BTW – refills are free!

·         This is what we are going to attempt to do this week {{EXCITED!!! SO EXCITED!!I}}

·         Francis Chan wrote The Forgotten God

o   The equality of the Persons

o   The Spirit is not the church janitor

o   He is the driving force that changed the way they thought, talked, acted, worshipped

o   He applies the truth & reality of the Gospel to our lives

·         Tom calls the “discernment” types “The court of the women.”  LOL!

·         They built into the schedule for this conference more time for fellowship, for seeking, for worshipping.

2010 Senior Pastors’ Conference – Session 1 – Chuck Smith

·         We are living in extremely exciting days – we wonder just how long the Lord can tarry before He calls His church home.

o   Israel seems to be God’s time piece – you want to know what time it is on God’s clock, look at Israel.

o   Turkey has turned from its alliance with Israel – another piece of the puzzle falling into place.

o   Turkish president has threatened to come himself in the next flotilla to try to break the blockade

§  Also threatened to bring the Turkish navy

·         We really feel that things are starting to wrap up quickly – take the fire home to your congregations, to see people built up & grow in the Lord!

{{Pastor Chuck asks Amir to come up and share}}

·         What we are seeing today is part of the deception that the Enemy is only beginning to unfold on the earth, but which will escalate as we get closer to the eschaton

·         BTW – he (Amir) just came from Jerusalem, and he assures us the tomb is still empty.

·         There is a dual target right now with the enemies of Israel:

o   First, to turn world opinion against Israel

o   Second, to divert the attention of the world so as to allow an easier attack.

·         In fact, the IDF just recently turned back a terrorist thrust, hoping that Israel was so embarrassed by what happened this last week that they’d have lost the will to respond.

o   They didn’t.

·         When the flotilla launched, three different groups merged in an alliance to hit & hurt Israel

o   Obviously, the first is a group of terrorists

o   Leftist activists

o   Journalists {{but I repeat myself – Ed. Note}}

·         The moment the flotilla approached Israeli waters, they realized that they had to make their move before dark so as to  embarrass Israel.

o   First Israeli soldiers who landed on the boat were armed with paintball guns – it was for riot control, not for a firefight.

o   When it became apparent that the terrorists were trying to kill people, the soldiers were given permission to use deadly force to defend themselves.

o   Each of the terrorists who died was holding a weapon – not sticks.

o   {{Amir calls the journalists the “media-ites.”  Hilarious.}}

o   The journalists called it a “slaughter of innocents” – no bias there.

·         Interestingly enough, help came from an unexpected direction:

o   A Lebanese cameraman working for al-Jazeera acutally recorded the truth – that the Israelis were acting in self-defense, and the terrorists were the real provocateurs.

·         “The fact that the Enemy is called the ‘Liar’ and the ‘Deceiver’ means that he knows the truth.”

·         There are more flotillas on the way.

o   Interestingly enough, the excitement of the world is causing people to send ships to the region to help keep things under control – thus making it so that Israel has an easier time to defend herself. {{awesome!!!}}

·         Why the blockade?

o   Last time Israel checked an incoming ship, it was carrying rockets & other weapons

§  Not very helpful for feeding the hungry.

§  Great, however, for killing the Jews.

o   NOBODY is going hungry in Gaza – true humanitarian aid is flowing in from around the world – and from Israel.

o   Israel however will make sure that her citizens are protected from terrorist attack.

·         Israel just found a huge reservoir of natural gas – bigger than the one was found earlier.

o   Also, signs of oil are being uncovered in central Israel.

o   The alliance of Ezekiel 38-39 might not be formed just to kill Jews, but to plunder Israel.

o   Right now, Russia is largest exporter of natural gas in the world – would be threatened with Israel’s latest find.

o   The situation in the Middle East has never been so close to Eze. 38 than it is today.

o   There is no other person in the world – aside from Ezekiel – who could have predicted the situation in the M.E. to such incredible detail.

·         The good news is – GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.

o   As the urgency of the times and the seasons is birthed in our hearts, remember to provoke the people of Israel to jealousy – pray to & love the Lord with all your heart!

·         Formally, America is no longer with Israel.

o   The latest UN resolutions show that America is no longer on Israel’s side automatically as things sit.

o   Frankly, he says that we are in a better position than they are {{true!!!}} , so he makes a deal with us – we pray for Israel’s salvation, and he’ll pray for ours.  {{DEAL!!!}}

Obligatory Mention

In a friendly conversation we’re having in the Overflowing Cup (the coffee shop on the grounds of the Murrieta conference center) it was mentioned in passing that there should be the obligatory mention of The Blog Of Which We Do Not Speak.

So, please allow me to be the first to mention the peeps at Phoenix Preacher.

Yo.

2010 Senior Pastors’ Conference – T Minus 1 Day and counting

After a great hot breakfast at the Residence Inn near CC Costa Mesa, we caught the second service – Pastor Brian Brodersen teaching from Judges.

Lunch at In-N-Out, then to Dodgers Stadium to catch a Dodgers-Braves game.  We left after the  9th inning to get to Murrieta at a reasonable time (the Dodgers had tied the game by that time, so it went to extra innings). If it was a hockey game going into OT, we’d have stayed.  But it was only baseball.  Come on – priorities, people.

At the stadium, I tried the Dodgerdog.

It was adequate.

Having had the stadium dogs at Cleveland (they use Hebrew National), all else just seems…adequate.

Next, the drive to Murrieta. It’s a real blast hanging with Roger, Ed, and Jim.

Dinner at a dive off of the campus, called Tacos Tijuana.

Now typing this out at the coffee shop on campus, after having just had a Skype video call with my wife and son whom I miss terribly.

Tomorrow, the actual conference begins.  I am stoked.

2010 Senior Pastors’ Conference – T Minus 2 Days and Counting

After a brief 3.5 hour nap after working all day Friday, I woke up & drove into Grand Rapids to catch the early morning flight to California by way of Atlanta.

My travelling companions were pastors Ed Yearack of CC Grand Rapids, and Roger Ulman of CC Kalamazoo – two of my best friends and fellow brothers-in-arms in ministry.

The flights were both very laid back and quiet; we were all quite exhausted.

Also, they were thankfully uneventful.

After landing in Los Angeles and hooking up with pastor Jim Dunn of CC Lansing, we grabbed our rental, and took off.

Heading south on the Pacific Coast Highway, we pulled in to Huntington Beach and ate at Fred’s Mexican Restaurant, across the road from the pier. Excellent, excellent food.

We walked around Huntington Beach for a while, watching a surfing competition and a volleyball competition which were both being held on the same day, as well as a huge outreach by CC Huntington Beach, complete with bands and a few speakers. Afterwards, to Ruby’s at the end of the pier, then to the Residence Inn near CC Costa Mesa.

Exhausted. Will wake up early in the morning to hit CCCM’s morning service, then to do some more tooling around Southern California.

I hope to have a more meaningful update tomorrow, complete with pictures. My trusty Palm Pre failed me somewhat today, as its battery died early on in the day after the long flights – and like a dummy, I forgot to pack my car charger. However, it’s redeeming itself somewhat right now, since I’m using it as a wifi router to connect myself and pastor Jim’s laptops to the interwebs.

G’night…

Calvary Chapel Senior Pastors’ Conference 2010

…is coming up in less than a week.

I fly out early Saturday morning with the other guys from Michigan, to spend an extra day and a half in Southern California, sampling the epicurean delights of In’N’Out Burger and tacos de pescado (yes, I wait all year for this).  And to hit a couple of weekend services in different Calvary Chapels, including (and especially) the Sunday Morning service at Costa Mesa.

I am giddy with anticipation.

While there, I and other guys will be quasi-live-blogging and pretty-much-live-tweeting the conference.  If following on Twitter, look for the #CCSP hashtag.

Finally…

http://tominthebox.blogspot.com/2010/02/independent-kjv-only-fundamentalists.html

Chris Elrod – A Must Read

AMEN.  http://pastorelrod.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/culture-of-diversity/

Your Inner Pentecostal

I ran across a very insightful article on the Grateful To The Dead church history blog, titled Embrace Your Inner Pentecostal.  In it, he examines Pentecostalism’s abiding fruit and contributions to the larger Body of Christ.  I think it’s an article very much worth reading.

Two highlights for me:

A typical Pentecostal service follows no printed order; bulletins, if present, contain only announcements. After all, why should an order be needed? “All the members expect anyone of the local assembly to follow the Spirit’s leading,” Pentecostal scholar Russell Spittler has written, “and to do so at once.”

This sort of congregational freedom has marked Pentecostalism from its beginning, along with a unique emphasis on the “priesthood of all believers.” Azusa Street pastor William J. Seymour, the driving force behind the earliest Pentecostal revival, typified a new breed of church leader. He allowed and encouraged worshipers to exercise their gifts during services, providing what Fuller professor Cecil M. Robeck has called “a forum for various members of his congregation to make their case or to demonstrate their charism in the context of the worshiping community, without fear of recrimination.” When someone moved beyond the bounds of accepted order, Seymour corrected him or her in a manner that, while firm, was also “gracious and soft-spoken.”

Seymour also worked with a diverse team of volunteers and gave them a great deal of autonomy within certain boundaries. His leadership model was decentralized and open to genuine moving of the Spirit in his co-workers and in the entire congregation. Lay ministers were encouraged and empowered, because the Holy Spirit blew wherever he wanted to—and God forbid anyone stand in the way.

This style of ministry is seen today in many churches. A professor of religion at the University of Southern California, Donald E. Miller, noted in Reinventing American Protestantism (University of California, 1999) that Pentecostalism’s transparent personal style and non-hierarchical corporate structure had migrated to three prominent California churches: Calvary Chapel, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, and Hope Chapel. These neo-Pentecostals “truly did believe in the priesthood of all believers,” Miller reported. “People were not only having their needs met, but they were finding an avenue for service. That created a lively sense of community—something that many people yearned for.

 

Until that moment, I had been dutifully following scholarly debates about whether baptism in the Holy Spirit was primarily about holiness or power. But these testifying scholars described Spirit baptism in terms of something deeper than either one. Indeed, they all put their finger on one main effect: a new, joyous sense of communion with a loving God who counted every hair on their heads and watched over them every minute. The central moment of their Pentecostal experience had opened them to a deep well of living water from which everything else flowed; it had opened them to the personal, relational presence of the Living God.

A quick check of history books confirms the centrality of divine encounter for Pentecostals. William Seymour and his co-leaders repeatedly told the Azusa Street faithful that their experience with the Spirit was not about speaking in tongues. It was about God’s presence through the crucified and risen Christ.