quote
Posted by wagardner - 21/01/08 at 02:01:00 pm“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.”
- Vernon Law
Hang in there
Posted by wagardner - 20/01/08 at 02:01:00 amI find nothing so singular in life as this, that everything opposing appears to lose its substance the moment one actually grapples with it. Hawthorne.
When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you, till it seems as if you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that’s just the place and time that the tide will turn. Harriet Beecher Stowe.
From Martin Luther King
Posted by wagardner - 19/01/08 at 09:01:00 pmThe following comes from “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” (April 16, 1963) by Martin Luther King! I pray to God that we will have the right attitude about all men and women of all races, nations, and social levels.
I pray that God will help us as a church to reach out to all people of all parts of the world with the gospel message. It is my heart’s desire that God give us staff members of different races and nationalities. I pray for the day He will give us an African American on our pastoral staff.
Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.
New blog
Posted by wagardner - 16/01/08 at 07:01:00 pmI have just subscribed to a new blog that I think that I am going to enjoy and thought that you might like to check it out. I often find myself busy but doing things that are not important and that do not really meet my needs or plans.
I end up busy but wasting time. I end up busy and tired but not really accomplishing anything or leaving anything.
So check out this new blog Putting Things Off
quote
Posted by wagardner - 14/01/08 at 08:01:00 pmIf everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough
- Mario Andretti
Sometimes I want to slow things down so that I can keep them under control but I think this race car driver might have it right! I am never going to be in charge! God is in charge and I need to hang on for the ride!
Visit us at Vision Baptist just off Highway 400 at exit 12 and keep up with what God is doing via the Vision News!
Astounding
Posted by wagardner - 14/01/08 at 02:01:00 pmI have seen this on several blog recently and I hope you will consider what it says! Let’s be sure we are in the ministry for the right reason!
- 1500 Pastors a month leave the ministry due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in the church.
- 4000 new churches start each year while 7,000 close.
- 50% of pastors marriages will end in divorce.
- Almost 40% of pastors have had an extra-marital affair.
- 70% of pastors continually fight depression.
- 80% of pastors feel unqualified and discouraged in their role and would leave the ministry if they had some other way of making a living.
- 95% of pastors do not pray regularly with their spouse.
- 80% of pastors kids have to seek profession help for depression.
- 70% say the only time they spend studying God’s word is when they are prepping for a sermon.
- 80% of pastors spouses wish their husbands would find another profession.
- After 3 years in ministry only 50% of pastors still felt “called.”
- The majority of pastors wives said that the most destructive even that occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered ministry.
I don’t want any of this to be true of Vision Baptist Church and neither do you!
Check out Vision News to see the latest that is happening at Vision Baptist Church
quote
Posted by wagardner - 14/01/08 at 01:01:00 pm“Making people mad was part of being a leader. As I had learned long ago…an individual’s hurt feelings run a distant second to the good of the service.” Colin Powell
Come to Vision Baptist Church this week for our revival with Lou Rossi! Check out Vision News to see what is coming up on Vision Night! God is working and you do not want to miss it!
What freedom!
Posted by wagardner - 05/01/08 at 08:01:00 pmThis is a quote from Charles Spurgeon that I really enjoyed reading. It is not unusual for a man in the ministry to be mistreated and spoken ill of but oh to have this attitude. God can use this man because he knows that he stands or falls before God and not men.
I have often admired Martin Luther, and wondered at his composure. When all men spoke so ill of him, what did he say? Turn to that Psalm”God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble; therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”
In a far inferior manner, I have been called to stand up in the position of Martin Luther, and have been made the butt of slander, a mark for laughter and scorn; but it has not broken my spirit yet, nor will it, while I am enabled to enjoy that quiescent state of ”So he giveth his beloved sleep.”
But thus far I beg to inform all those who choose to slander or speak ill of me, that they are very welcome to do so till they are tired of it. My motto is cedo nulliI yield to none.
I have not courted any man’s love; I asked no man to attend my ministry; I preach what I like, and when I like, and as I like. Oh! happy state to be bold, though downcast and distressed to go and bend my knee and tell my Father all, and then to come down from my chamber, and say
“If on my face, for thy dear name,
Shame and reproach shall be;
I’ll hail reproach, and welcome shame,
For thou’lt remember me.”
I want Vision Baptist Church to be a God pleasing church and Christ centered in all that she does. We are not here to fight other brethren in Christ but to preach the Word of God.
Don’t Quit
Posted by wagardner - 05/01/08 at 03:01:00 pmWhen things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the bills are high,
When you want to smile, but have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out.
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
—Author Unknown
Will you please be praying for our revival at Vision Baptist Church on January 13-17. Evangelist Lou Rossi will be with us. It is our prayer to truly affect our community with the gospel message. We want to reach souls in all of Forsyth County, North Fulton County, Alpharetta, Cumming, Roswell, Milton, John’s Creek, Duluth, Suwanee, and every where else also. Our church is located in southern Forsyth county. It is in an excellent location to reach out to people of all walks of life.
We meet in a business park and that makes it a little hard to find our church but it is worth the search and you will Discover the Difference! We have beautiful facilities–15,000 square feet that we are able to use 24/7! Our rented space has been a blessing and will be until God gives us a permanent place to serve Him. Keep up with all that is happening by going regularly to Vision News or even subscribing to the feed.
un Christian
Posted by wagardner - 05/01/08 at 01:01:00 pmWell check out this video. There is some truth here but actually the world should never set the agenda for God’s people. The Church belongs to Jesus. He purchased it with His blood. Though I want to be as kind as I can and I am glad that people are telling me things that I might do to better reach people–I refuse to over react. I am to win souls, tell the gospel, preach the truth and stand against sin.
I hear so much from the popular young pastors about what lost people want but I am afraid that we miss the point when we forget that those that do not know Jesus have never wanted the Bible and the truth. Paul faced the same problem.
Don’t forget where your marching orders are coming from:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMflS_pRnVo&rel=1&border=1]
Visit Vision Baptist Church on the north side of Atlanta. Vision reaches out to all of Forsyth County, northern Fulton county, Cumming, Roswell, Alpharetta, John’s Creek, Milton, Dunwoody, Duluth, Suwanee and much more. Read Vision News to keep up with what God is doing at Vision.
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