You Don't Want To Drink From This Cup....

So often people come up and say, " Hi , I want to be like you!" or "I wish I had your life?" My reply is quite serious and stern as I say, "You don't want to drink from this cup!" Why in the world would anyone want my life? Jesus said to His father, "If this cup may pass", in other words I really don't want to drink this but if I have to! On the outside it must look pretty good though I would love to lose 100 pounds, yes, 100! I make no excuses but the stress and the tests caused me and note I said caused me to binge eat and put on a couple extra pounds. My faith makes my life look easy, very easy! Last week a member called after we had a great bible study and said, Pastor I want your anointing!" I looked at the phone and said, "Are you crazy? You don't want this!" My anointing comes from the process of making oil. The olive is crushed and the precious oil comes oozing out! The anointing comes only after great trials and tribulations have occurred. Many want the anointing but few wants to pay the cost for it.

This blog is a tribute to a person I will call a friend though we have never sat down and talked face to face. Two years ago I stumbled upon this fascinating young pastor by the name of Shaun King. He was planting a church in downtown Atlanta and he was certainly on the cutting edge so much so that I sowed an offering into his launch. I began to follow Shaun on Facebook and twitter and was just in awe of what God was doing in and through him. Shaun was on fire when the record breaking floods hit Atlanta, Shaun and Courageous church was there leading the way. At Hebron, we even contributed clothes and toiletries to the recovery efforts and bought them downtown to the Courageous office. It appeared that everything Shaun touched was simply gold! The earthquake hit Haiti and Shaun and Courageous was there. We purchased 2 tents through his organization. He always speaks of his family and his wife, Rai and it appeared that his life was perfect and God was positioning him to explode and certainly be noted in the 100 fastest growing congregations in the country. Shaun was and is a major speaker at all the major church planter and church growth conferences. He appeared to have arrived as we would say. I was so proud of Shaun for the barriers he was breaking and occasionally, I would send him a note to say just that!

Several months ago Shaun announced that he had preached his last series at Courageous and announced a new format for doing church that he felt God so ordained. This was Shaun King and if Shaun said it would work...hell, I believed and trusted him. He had a track record of making it happen. He has the Midas touch! It was a bold and way out of the box initiative. As the weeks went by I noticed his tweets weren't as jolly and chipper and then it happened! He tweeted he was going through the worse time in his life. Trusted members of his congregation and board decided to resign and leave the church. My church will be five years old in December so people resigning and leaving was nothing new but I could tell this really hit my friend hard. What most lay members don't understand is when you leave, a real shepherd or pastor, it hurts! He may never say anything to you but if he has ministered and poured into you, he has invested into you and it hurts to see you go! I could tell he was devastated by his tweets. I reached out to him via texting and he said he was having a rough go at it! I told I was too and we somehow made it through that day. I remember texting him the next day asking, "You yet holding on?" he said he was good and life went on.

August was a challenging month for me and from what I am hearing for a lot of other people too particularly clergy! We lost Pastor Zachery Tims who I had some acquaintance with. Honestly, I prayed God give me an out because this just seems not to be working. Everything that could go wrong or break, did! But God! My faith withheld the test and the trials and people are still being saved and lives changed regardless of how I felt! So needless to say when I read Shaun's post about stepping down as pastor, I was shocked, hurt and mad! I text him and asked him was he serious and he said, "Yes!" I did not need to go into details, he did a great job telling us in his own words at www.shauninthecity.com! Man, Shaun's out! Wow! On the outside Shaun you looked and performed like Superman. You took on gaints and won...now you out? Hummmmm! You know it doesn't have to make sense to me as long as you have peace and know this is what God has told you to do. God has amazing things in store for you brother! He must have really spoke to you on Mt. Rainier! Keep pressing and living for God! Your anointing is not gone! I know we haven't heard the last of you yet! Godspeed and favor! Your brother and admirer! And to my readers, Shaun and I share the exact same birthday and yes, I am the oldest yet Shaun doesn't recognize it! Lol...

Who is the church anyway?

Go ye into the world and make disciples...I think some churches have a challenge with understanding GO! Go means more than fish frys and Christmas baskets. it more that Easter Egg festivals and any program you can think of to reach your neighborhood. Go is an action verb and it means you move to a differnet locale than where you were. Make means to build, transform and create something you have not seen or had before. Wow! going and making can be a challenge and a test! Today we witnessed a dying world, crying out for some help, some comfort, some assurance and some hope. Reminds me of what I am told 2,000 years ago when Jesus entered into Jerusalem and the crowd was yelling out, "Hosanna, on the Highest, Hosanna...that translated means Lord do save me now. Not another moment, another minute, another hour or another day as Smokie Norful song..Lord, we need you now! 18 adults, teens and evens some under 5 took a step to make a difference in someone's life today but praying for them and asking them would they like Jesus in their life. One person said to me," We need shirts pastor that say...we are not Jehovah Witness!" Has the church fallen that bad...that each time someone comes to a door to pray or encourage you that you say or think that its Jehovah's witnesses? People needed prayer today, people needed hope today. One lady said she woke up a 3:00am this morning with a desire to pray, at the same time Reablli cliff was lead to pray for the community we walked today! God is amazing and Jesus is coming soon! I have one question to the church...What are you doing?Thanks to the Hebronites that stepped up their game today! God will bless you for your obedience! I am beleiving for triple harvest in this time! Go God! Hosanna!!!!

The Purpose of Preparation

The most interesting season we can have as humans is the season of transition. Within that season, I always question my purpose. In my message today, I explored the purpose of Esther and I was amazed a the revelation that God revealed as it relates to preparing for where He is taking you. Here's a few points: Esther's life of obedience was the key that brought her into the place of preparation. Perhaps the length of preparation depends upon how well we hear God's commands and obey His decrees... The Church cannot know the visitation of God without submitting to the dealings of God that result in brokenness. When you decide to be real and go to God broken, he will release upon you his grace to cover you. The path God chooses for us will be deteremined accordning to oursubmission to the breaking experiences that haev come into our lives by His divine appointment!

WE ARE HEBRON...

Wow! What a week! The scripture tells us that to whom much is given much is required. When I accepted my calling to become a pastor no one would have been able to convince me that the road would be this challenging yet rewarding. A couple of years ago there was a movie honoring The Marshall University football team that was tragically killed in an airplane crash. The title of the movie was simply "We are Marshall". The movie captured what it took to build a football program from the bottom up. It was challenging but it had to be done. After a lot of sweat and tears, the team had been rebuilt and they proudly proclaimed, "We are Marshall!"

This year we will celebrate our 5th birthday as Hebron World Church. When we began the church 4 years ago, God gave me a clear vision of revive, restore and redeem. A church in the spirit of Caleb, who even at an old age, possessed what God had promised him. We have been a very visible, giving and loving partner in our community. We believe in being the church outside of the walls of the church. Last year, we documented over 170 people dedicating their lives to Christ, we fed over 1,000 meals to community children, over 500 food boxes to those who needed assistance, a summer camp, numerous counseling sessions, community outreachs and much much more.

This past summer God sent to our ministry, Jae Soto to become our Teen and Young Adult pastor and Yvonne Hill as our children's pastor. As soon as they were in place, children started coming to our ministry through our van ministry and they are still coming. Our children and teen department has been overflowing and we are humbled that God trust us enough to minister His word and exemplify Him to the masses.

This weekend we launched our teen and young adult ministry, Revolve Church! That was after an awesome Friday night of couple's fellowshipping at our Couple's Dance! Wow! What an amazing night! Revolve Church launch was next dimension! It was church at an entirely different level. DJ, Ben Wood, BAND, GSLM, lights, TRINI, red carpet treatment, spoken word, leneil 4 Real and Minister of Mercy, holy hip hop,Milliyon Musiq, the works, nothing was spared. Children gave their lives on Saturday night to Jesus and the atmosphere was electric. Sunday we were blessed by Ric Flo and John Gray and again many people gave their lves to Jesus. No one could deny the Presence of God! People committed their lives to Christ, yolks and generational curses were broken and lives were changed! People were blessed and by the leading of the Spirit some even were given seed money for businesses as a Spirit mandate by Minister John Gray. Pretty gratifying to see God touch HIS people like that. It had been an exhilirating weekend! God used us to make an impact in earth!

Monday morning while in a Churchplanting conference session in Cumming, Ga., I received a call from the Covington City police informing me that Hebron had been broken into and the glass front door was shattered. The officer stated that some items looked to be missing so I drove an hour and half back from the conference to assess what was taken. At first, I was a little taken aback that the enemy would have the audacity to attack us but then I realized that he was simply mad because some people decided to follow Jesus and they decided at HEBRON! The thief stole our video camera that we use for stream to the world, computer monitors and units, a piano keyboard and of all things,our fundraiser Skittles. Doors and glass were shattered but not our Spirit. We will never, never give up on the vision God has given us..and that was to revive, restore and redeem a city, a region and the world unto HIM! We may be down but we are not destroyed and we will keep on making a difference and an impact in our community! WE ARE HEBRON...

Sunday Reflections

Wow! I have the honor and priviledge to pastor some amazing people. Our message this past Sunday was What to do when the church does not work? It came from Mark 9: 14 thru the 27th verse. So many people have given up on the church because, unfortunately, the church cannot answer or fulfill their cry for help! Jesus paints a wonderful picture of how to address the conflict in your life. Even when people or the world think you are dead, He will lift you up!

Our ministry is one of lifting up the one who has been disappointed by life and all people! Our motto of Revive,Restore, Redeem is alive and well!



Be encouraged!



I invite you to join us this coming Sunday for "Back to Church Sunday"! If you have been out for awhile I encourage you to connect to a local church and let the Lord speak to you!

In the Meanwhile

First, I know, I know absence make the heart grow fonder right? Well, my life has been an absolute whirlwind as God has whispered direction to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I ministered a message titled, The in the meanwhile anointing. There is an anointing to hold on and persevere. After Jesus was crucified his followers and disciples were terrified. He told them to tarry in Jerusalem until the comforter came. They did not know what was going to happen exactly but they did know that something good was going to happen.

I just want to encourage all of you today...know that somethin good is going to happen.

God's best to you...

Charles

The Real Church

What is the purpose of having a blog if you are not going to blog? My goodness...why do you
even have it? I know many of you have asked that question but honestly...I have been busy and fighting for my life. Family, life, business, life and oh yeah, a young church. Whew! What a summer.

Life will hand you a puzzle and gives you absolutely no clues on how to figure it out! Can I get an amen? Right there?

I know I owe you all something really good and profound and that will come soon.

I wanted to take this opportunity to give a BIG SHOUT out to http://www.12stone.com/ an amazing ministry located in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Since July 12th, God has graced our ministry with His hand of salvation and people are getting saved and lives are changing. During a recent visit and tour of 12stone, my gracious host showed me their baptismal pools which lead to a great conversation. As we were standing there I was able to qoute the price because I wanted one so we would not have to go back to the local swimming pool to commence this most important sacrament. My host tells me they were actually ordering some new pools that very day. I said, "Wow! great. Would you be so kind to forward me the information of the vendor so I can eventually order one for us." The young man in charge said sure but one of the church leaders said, "You know what? Order them one and call me to get the account to charge it to!" That was God in action! I was so elated at seeing God move straightway.

Yesterday, I baptized 4 people. What a public declaration and next week there will be some more! I am deeply grateful to 12stone for their heart to serve and assist. What an awesome ministry! I was even more impressed with the empowerment to make it happen for Jesus without having a vote by a board.

Again thanks 12stone! May God richly bless you beyond measure!

It's dippin time...

Be blessed,

PC