I love what I do!

Stephen Racite, pastor of Cornwall Baptist Church, Cornwall NY, gave me an article about a lady who opened a store in his town selling items related to witchcraft and magic. As I read the article, I was amazed at her openness to admit that she is a practising witch, or as she calls it, ” a Third degree priestess.” This title is compared to being the “pope.” What really got me was the fact that in order to open up shop, she had to sell her sports car to have enough money. The reason she said that she was so willing to do this was, ” I love what I do.” How many of us as Christians who have the truth would be willing to do the same because we ” love what we do, ” or do we gripe when the simplest of things are asks of us?

Wayne

www.hope.fm

hell!

“Some wish to live within  the sound of a church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard from hell!”             —C.T. Studd

In February of 1885, one unique young man boarded a vessel bound for the mission field of China. He left his family, friends, and a life of comfort and wealth; all so that he could tell Chinese people of Jesus Christ.

Charles Thomas Studd’s father was a rich business man; therefore, Charles grew up with many luxuries, but he counted it all for loss. He believed that the millions of people that would go to hell during his lifetime were worth more than the wealth he could enjoy in this world.

It was his love for the people that drove him on. By the time of his death, he had begun ministries in China, India, and and in the heart of Africa. This man forsook his wealth to seek out lost souls for Jesus Christ.

Are you willing to forsake all to win lost souls for Christ? C.T. Studd did just that. He gave up more financially than most of us have ever acquired. Have you given Christ control of your finances, of your life? The world needs more Christians who are willing to share the Gospel with the untold.—–Article from B.C.W.E.

We need to pray that God will give us boldness to rescue those who are closest to hell. 

Wayne

www.hope.fm

Away

It feels like forever since I have written. We have been moving and have not been around a computer. I want to say thank you to Austin Gardner and everyone at the Our Generation Summit, who so generously gave us a $2000 offering for the church plant. We had a wonder time and were challenged greatly. I will try and keep up on my writing which might be difficult over the next few days.

Wayne

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Dealing With Conflict

Anyone who is a leader will at one time or another have to deal with conflict. As pastors, I think we deal with it probably more than others. We are leading hundreds of different people with different personalities, and different views. Like it or not, there will be conflict.

You can’t avoid conflict, but conflict can define your time as a leader. At Revolution, I have dealt with conflict numerous times and I live by some principles that I have discovered that have helped me deal with these issues, so I thought I would pass them on there since this is one of the questions I get a lot from other pastors.

• Realize Conflict Isn’t A Bad Thing – When we hear the word conflict, we automatically think negative. Conflict can be a good thing.  It resolves issues and gets issues taken care of.
• Run to confrontation – We RUN to conflict.  Guys are so afraid to confront people that they will let problem people hang around causing trouble for too long.  When we hear of an issue we waste no time confronting and dealing with the situation.  By confronting quickly you get the issue taken care of and you are able to move on in whatever way you decide.  When you confront slowly, you spend more time stressing over the issue and allow more time for that person to bring others into the issue.
• Deal with conflict face to face – 90% of people with a problem will never tell you about the problem.  No one goes to Tim about our music, no one comes to me about the teaching, etc.  When the do confront the person they are upset about, 99% of the time they do it through e-mail.  I think this is the most spineless thing in the world.  The biggest wuss in the world is a bad dude behind email.  We do NOT get into email exchanges with people.  We set up meetings and handle the situation.
• Don’t take it personal – This one is HARD.  I have learned to learn when confronting people about their problems with me that their problem is normally something different and instead of dealing with that issue that truly is bugging them.  People don’t know how to discuss so they attack.  I don’t take it personally.
• Don’t confront while still angry – I normally try to give 24 hours to allow myself to calm down.  I am very passionate and can break “redneck” real quick.  So what I do my best to go into meetings while not being angry.
• Have another person in the room – I do NOT deal with conflict without either Malcolm or Taylor in the room with me.  Too many people will take what you say and twist it and then it is my word against theirs.  I always have others in the room to see how things unfold.
• Say what you have to say – I do NOT hold back my thoughts.  I say what needs to be said and I am very clear on how we are going to proceed.  Too many guys don’t say what truly needs to be said and that is why they are in conflict with that person again in the future.
• When it is over, it is over – When I leave a meeting with someone, I am done.  I don’t stay angry, I don’t hold grudges, and I don’t keep dealing with the situation.  When we are done with a meeting, I make sure everything has been laid on the table and held nothing back.
• Take the high road – After meetings where I have had to confront someone, I have learned that 75% of the time they will start to bad mouth me.  I will NOT get into a he said/she said with someone.  I will not go around telling what happened to everyone who asks.  I will not defend myself to those who weren’t in the meeting and I will not run down the person who is running me down.

I found this today on another blog, thought it might be a help.

Wayne

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Stop dating around!

Today the Lord made something very clear to me, I was dating around. Now before you start calling my wife and asking her a lot of questions, I am referring to my ministry. As many of you know we are on our way to Middletown NY, but just the other day I was searching for churches in N.Y.C that were looking for a pastor. That might seem like a harmless thing for a guy who is moving up that way anyway , but let me explain. I Wayne Cooke am going to start Hope Baptist Church, Middletown NY, and for me to be looking at other churches/options, would be like me being engaged to Lina, but still playing the field. Church planter, pastor , it is time that we make a commitment and stick with it. I hope that you would not think about keeping your options open when it comes to your marriage. It might be good if when we took a church we would say,” until death do us part.” Just a thought.

Wayne

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I think so, maybe, I don’t know

James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

The other day the Lord kicked my backside with these verses. We often wonder why God is not blessing us, or why our ministry doesn’t seem to be going like we think it should. I believe that one main reason is because too many church planters and pastors bail out way to soon. The Bible says that if I doubt while I am asking,  I will be tossed about. Maybe one of the reasons that the average tenure of a pastor is between 2-4 years, is they are doubting God too much and thinking that the next church will be better. Which leads us to the last verse: ” a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Men, we need to decide if God has called us, then we need to ask in faith believing God that it will happen, and stop being tossed around in the waves of ministry. You know that church hoppers are often criticized, I wonder if there are a lot of pastors that would fit into that crowd?

Wayne

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God’s Financial Plan

An excerpt out of the book “Criswell’s Guidebook For Pastors” W. A. Criswell states, ” The pastor-preacher should follow a program of unapologetic exposition of the biblical basis for tithing-stewardship. Timidity here is like weakness in any other department of Christian life: it leads to compromise and eventual failure. If God says it, we believe it and that settles it. One pastor said: ” In my early ministry I made the mistake of emphasizing tithing- stewardship only at budget time. Now I see the development of church members as Christian stewards is a year-round task, not just a seasonal emphasis tied to budget time.” Stewardship- tithing comes from preaching the Bible. The Holy Spirit drives the message home to the heart when the Word of God is faithfully delivered.

Pastor, church planter, and missionary alike we must all preach what God’s financial plan is for His church.

Wayne

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Be Who You Are

Some simple, but powerful leadership tips.

1. Be secure in who you are
2. Be happy with the talents that God has given you. Whether it be 1 or 10 be happy.
3. Multiply your talents by having people around you who are better than you in your weak areas.
4. Always be a student of others and their ministries
5. Read, read, read!

Wayne

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Lift Him Up

John 12 : 32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Jesus tells us who we need to be lifting up. Preacher, pastor, church planter, stop trying to build a church around you. Your not as great of a person as you think you are. Oh! churches can be built on personalities, but what happens when they die, quit, or fall into sin?  The work crumbles and the testimony of Christ is damaged. I know what is coming next, people come to hear the pastor. I do agree with this, but all of our preaching should be pointing them to Christ, and how to be grounded in their faith. That way if, and when something does happen to you they will still follow Christ.

Wayne

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Mistakes Part 2

Another mistake that I made when we first started the church in Guatemala was actually made prior to the first service. When looking for a place to meet always remember , especially in the U.S, that when you are 70-80% full, you are full. Americans like choice and options, so when a new person walks into our churches and struggles to find a place to sit, there might be a good possibility that they will not come back. In Guatemala people are a little more used to being cramped, nonetheless, we started off with too  small of a building. Parking also is an issue many pastors over look. It is estimated that you will need at least half as many parking spaces as you have people. In some areas, depending on the number of singles, this number will be higher. One last thing about starting too small, it might mean that our vision is too small. I have been quilty of the latter. Guys, we must dream big because we have a big God.

Wayne

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