Showing posts with label Pastors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pastors. Show all posts

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Evangelism - Encouraging The Local Pastor

I wrote a post last week called My View of Evangelism. I appreciate all of the response. It lets me know that folks really are reading. I ended with talking about how much we really love what God has called us to do and that "I say, IF you love what you do then you never really work a day in your life."

We really do love it. I honestly want to be faithful in evangelism. There is no sense giving our lives to something and then NOT being effective now and in the long term. That brings me back to sharing my vision and approach to evangelism that I promised to elaborate on last week.

Our family has operated with three deliberate objectives. There are three things that we purpose to do in every revival, every camp meeting and every church where we minister in any capacity. These three things do not always happen in a particular order but when we leave a revival we sincerely want to see them accomplished. For the sake of time and brevity I will only mention one today and discuss the rest in later posts

1. In every revival we purpose to encourage the local Pastor.

Pastoring a church is hard work. It is a difficult and often thankless task. Even though the Pastor is often surrounded by people, his job can be very lonely. We see it as part of our duties as an evangelist to come along beside him and be an encouragement.

We need Pastors. I know some folks that do not believe they need a Pastor but they are wrong about that. God gave Pastors the responsibility to teach us His Word and to shepherd our souls. God gave some Pastors! If God gave them then I need them.

I would not be in the ministry and probably would not be saved if it were not for my faithful Pastor, Bro. Bennie Sutherland. Thank God that he preached the Word of God without fear or favor and poured in the right amount of law and grace when I needed it.

Also there would not be local churches for me to preach in and for us to sing in if it were not for God called Pastors that give their lives to reach souls and keep churches afloat. So it is fair and just to say that I would not have an a ministry as an evangelist if it were not for local Pastors all over the USA. Thank God for the local Pastors.

We have some hard and fast rules when it comes to conducting ourselves properly when it concerns Pastors of churches where we are preaching. You might say it is our ethical frame work.

The Pastor is the Pastor. I am not the Pastor. I follow the Pastor's lead. Although I have a great working relationship with Pastors and I am free to "obey God" in their churches, I purpose to work within the bounds of his authority and not mine own.

We do not usurp the Pastor's authority in the services or out of church. We are under his authority and I often communicate that to the church from the pulpit. I do not only say it, we model our genuine submission to his authority in front of his folks.

We do not disrespect the local Pastor. In fact we do our best to elevate him in the eyes of his people. We constantly affirm him and his leadership in the local church.

We do not slam the local Pastor while we are there or after we leave. There may be things that I think I would do differently if I were the Pastor but I am not the Pastor and my duty is to keep my big mouth shut.

Many Pastors are bi-vocational and are not available during the day but we spend time with the local Pastor when possible and befriend him and his family. Many of them desire and even need the friendship of an evangelist and we are determined to show ourselves friendly.

Encouraging the Pastor extends to being an encouragement to his wife and his children. People have been so kind to Odie and we intend to pay that kindness forward to the kids of Pastors in every church where we minister.

This is only one facet of my vision and approach to evangelism but it is a very important part of it. Pastors are not perfect and we all know that. But God gave them to us for our own good and encouraging them on purpose is a large part of what evangelists or at least this evangelist is called to do.

Thanks for reading.

Davy

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

A Wonderful Night In Wichita!

Tuesday night was a wonderful night in Wichita, Kansas! We were invited to First Church of God in Christ by Pastor Don Crowley to share our burden for City Reach Tent Revivals. We are planning to join with Pastor Crowley and Pastor John DiZazzo along with their churches to bring City Reach to Wichita in September of 2015. It will be our kickoff of City Reach that will run all the way through 2016.

New Horizon church was represented in the service too. We hope they and other churches will be able and willing to join with us to reach out to the people of Wichita that need to be saved, healed and delivered. If last night's service is any indication, and I believe it is, we are going to have a great City Reach meeting here.

It was Pastor Crowley's idea for me to preach my vision to his people. He has caught the vision and Pastor DiZazzo has caught the vision but they wanted their people to catch it as well. I thought it was a wonderful idea and I believe that God helped me communicate my heart to the saints that were there in the service last night. God moved among us in a wonderful way.

I like the idea so much that we may spend next December visiting at least some of the cities on the schedule for City Reach 2016 and do the same thing we did here last night. If the saints catch on fire then we will all burn that much brighter for Christ and have more affect on lost souls.

I really appreciate Bro. Crowley and Bro. DiZazzo joining with us for City Reach Wichita. I think God has big plans for Wichita.

We have a few pictures from last night. We arrived at First Church of God in Christ in the afternoon but I forgot to take a picture of the church in the daylight. I did get a picture of the BoggsMobile before church but there was not enough light to do much more. Maybe I can get a picture this morning before we leave and add it in.

Thanks for reading.

Davy



Pastor DiZazzo, Pastor Crowley and Davy



Davy and Pastor Don Crowley



Pastor John DiZazzo and Davy







































Monday, October 7, 2013

Pastor Appreciation - Pastor Darius Templeton

When we were finished with Homecoming Sunday evening at Tanner Williams we loaded up in the Green Machine and drove about an hour to Cedar Creek Church near Citronelle, Alabama. Pastor Darius Templeton had invited me to preach and we were glad to be able to do it.

The folks from Cedar Creek had called several days ago and asked us to take part in a surprise Pastor Appreciation service. They had quite a few things planned to show their appreciation to Bro. Darius and his family and they wanted us to sing and bring the sermon. It was an honor to do it.

Bro. Darius and his family served as youth pastor in our home church for several years. We have witnessed first hand his dedication to the ministry and have been personally blessed by his devotion and compassion. It was a great privilege to stand before the church Bro. Darius pastors and publicly honor him for the fine job he is doing.

I think you will love the song the children sang in honor of Bro. Darius. It was a riot! "Yankee, Southern, Short or Tall.."



They had some food prepared in honor of Pastor Appreciation and we HAD to stay and take part in the meal as well. It was a really great evening. Here are a few pictures from the service and the folks.
























We traveled quite a ways Monday and we are spending the night on the property of some new friends just east of Houston, Texas. We had some work on the bus in the afternoon and have another appointment Tuesday morning on the west side of Houston. I will try to tell you all about it Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Davy