John Lindell My blogs on life, family and ministry.

Sunday was another awesome day at JRA – in fact sometimes it’s hard to wrap your mind around all God is doing. So if you have a minute here is a summary of some of the incredible things that are happening!

• So far in July we have had 81 people come forward to receive Christ on Sundays @ JRA.
• At the first of 4 Jamesriverkids camps we had: 163 campers, 76 staff, 56 decisions for Christ, and 19 baptized in the Spirit.
• Sunday, nearly 300 people signed up to participate in Project Partnership. On August 8, hundreds of JRA volunteers will be working on two elementary schools (Sherwood Elementary in west Springfield and Republic 3 Elementary in Republic). Each year for the past 11 years, JRA volunteers have made a huge impact on the community by painting, landscaping, building cabinets and doing general maintenance on area schools.
• Cherish Kids is a ministry that was launched this year to raise awareness of the need for Christian families to consider adoption or foster care. In response to Sunday’s message from James 1:27, 70 families filled out cards expressing interest in participating foster care and adoption with an additional 33 families indicating interest in offering support to those families. Here are a few excerpts from some of the emails we have received:

“May God bless the efforts!  Ron and I have seen miracles from our adoption of Annya 6 years ago.  It was like he drew us together and paved the way through the whole adoption process.  It is not easy but it is a reward like no other.  Annya is going to church camp next week, she loves the Lord and 6 years ago she had never had a visitor or been considered for adoption by anyone but us.”

“I was so touched by the sermon. We already have filled out our paperwork for foster care and are scheduled to start the classes soon. We are very excited by what God is going to do through us and the church. I am praying that adoption is in our near future!”

“Thanks for a wonderful message today! This week is our last foster care class and we will soon have 3 little kiddos, hopefully a sibling group, in our family! We have 2 boys ages 6 and 8 of our own, so this is an exciting and scary adventure for all of us.  I didn’t know why my 8 year old wanted to come with me to service today, but now I understand! What a God thing!! It was just what he needed to hear. “

“Loved the message. So life changing for my family and I. Kids have always been in my heart but I thought our own 2 were it for my husband but not after today. I have never seen him like this before.  We are going to start out as foster parents and see where the Lord leads us from there.”

It’s pretty amazing – the church is being the church – engaging society – encouraging people – changing history. We’re excited about all of it and we know the best is yet to come!

What a great day the Lord gave us at ILA! The weather was beautiful: sunny, 82 degrees and a nice breeze. We had a record attendance with over 120,000 people in attendance! Our goal was to share the Gospel and, to that end, we had 121 people come forward and make decisions for Christ! In addition, we had a large influx of first-time guests at JRA on Sunday, Scotty preached a great message and 40 people made decisions for Christ.

Think of it…over the weekend 161 people came to know Christ! Imagine the difference the power of Jesus will make in their lives. One couple that came forward at ILA had been living together for 18 years. Having watched the Wicks’ testimony, when the invitation was given they came forward, gave their lives to Christ and now have plans to get married! The following is a testimony we received on Sunday morning. This woman writes:

I started praying for my dad’s salvation when I was about 8 years old. He was abusive in every way. He became a full-time drug lord when I was about 11 or 12 and eventually went to prison when I was 15. I didn’t have much contact with him during the next 15 years of my life, but I continued praying for him over the years whenever I could get out of the flesh long enough to quit hating him.

A few years ago, he reinitiated contact with me and my family. It’s been awkward and difficult to say the least. We’ve invited him to church on different occasions, but he would never darken the door of a church.

He just “happened” to be passing through on July 3rd and said he’d stop for a visit if we were going to be around. I told him, “Sure, we are going to a fireworks event and he could come along.” I couldn’t quite get the “it will be put on by my church” part out of my mouth so I was a bit nervous, wondering how long it would take him to realize we brought him to a “church” event. However, the setting was comfortable enough and everyone was so down-to-earth-JRA-friendly that nothing was said.

Money is a big deal to an old drug lord and about halfway through the day my dad, in rather deep thought, leaned over and said, “You know most places would’ve charged you to do all this stuff. When we pulled in and saw all the [inflatables], I was wondering if I brought enough money.” And then he said in total shock, “And anywhere else like this would try to get five dollars out of you for a bottle of water, but here someone just gave me one.”

I don’t know who the volunteer is that God prompted to bring water to the people standing in line at the helicopter ride, but your thoughtful generosity in that one small act of service was the straw that broke a 50-something-year-old ex-con and opened his heart to hear the message.

Some of you planned and prepared, others waved and smiled, but all of you made it happen and on Friday night I got the privilege of walking my father through the crowd and “into heaven.” I also got to lay down my own baggage of abuse by finally confronting him and forgiving him. Thank you church for being the church and for bringing the church to someone who wouldn’t have ever come to it. (emphasis added)

That testimony is an example of the amazing things that can happen when a church works together to love people in the community!

We want to thank each and everyone one of you who prayed, served and gave of your time, talents and resource to make the I Love America Celebration a reality. Words fail to adequately express our gratitude or to describe how truly blessed we feel to be leading such a vibrant, talented and dedicated family of believers. We love you much, thank God for you every day, and pray God will wonderfully bless you in return for your giving yourselves to Him, this church and to us. You’re AMAZING and we are so excited to be serving the Lord with you!

And to think, after all we have just experienced, “The best is yet to come!”

ILA late afternoon-60,000 people

Walking along in my sandals, I almost stepped on a copperhead. This morning, as I was having my prayer time, I was walking down the driveway, reading and thinking about Romans 2…the snake coiled and our dog barked just as I was about take the next step on the snake.

As I continued my devotions, I couldn’t help but think of the words Paul wrote, “Be watchful…” (1 Corinthians 16:13). That same word is used 22 times in the New Testament and is translated: keep watch, alert, wake up, stay awake, be on your guard. The reason the word is used so much is that, in order to be effective, the Christian can’t be asleep spiritually.

Over and over the Bible urges us to be watchful. We are instructed to watch out because the Devil like a roaring lion is looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8), to watch so we don’t fall into temptation (Mark 14:38), to watch out for apathy in our lives (Revelation 3:1-2), to watch out for false teachers (Matthew 7:15), to watch in prayer (Ephesians 6:18; 1 Peter 4:7), and to watch for Jesus’ return (Matthew 24:42).

This morning wasn’t the first time I almost stepped on a snake and, given the fact that our home is surrounded by woods, it won’t be the last. But it was a good reminder to be watchful, both for snakes on the ground and those other spiritual snakes in the grass.

As the World Health Organization raised the pandemic level to 5 on a 6 step scale governments worldwide are being encouraged to take steps that could diminish the spread of the 2009 H1N1 virus or as its better known the “Swine Flu.”

If you’ve never been a thorough “hand-washer” now would be the time to acquire that discipline! But of greater concern to me is the response of Christians during a time of crisis–how should Christians respond?

1. There is no substitute for prayer. We can pray God’s mercy and protection over the lives of people. A pandemic is not inevitable…prayer changes things…and our prayers can make a huge difference!

2. Walk in love and faith as opposed to selfishness and fear. Because we have a God who loves and cares for us. Because we have a God who watches over us and is a healer; during this time of potential crisis we are set free from fear and the need to save ourselves which should allow us to be a people of compassion.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness…” (Colossians 3:12).  One of the hallmarks of the Early Church and one of the reasons that it made such an impact on a totally pagan culture that hated Christians was the fact that Christians were compassionate and kind. They understood the power of compassion when it comes to touching people’s lives. They lived in a society that devalued life-deformed boys were thrown in the city dump. Unwanted girls were thrown on trash heaps and it was the Christians who came along and rescued those little babies by feeding them and providing for them.

Often you read that the churches’ passion for the poor and the needy was so great that they had seasons of fasting–not just fasting and prayers for the poor but they saved their money from missing those meals and collected it to give to the poor and the needy! In a culture that cared nothing for the poor; it was the Christians who walked the streets and reached out to care for them.

Early church historians tell us that when two devastating disease epidemics swept through the Roman Empire (165 A.D. & 251 A.D.) one third of the people across the Roman Empire died. En masse, people fled the cities for fear the plague might overtake them. In the mist of those epidemics it was the Christians who stayed in the towns and cities to minister to those who were dying and it made a huge impact on the culture. Over time an entire culture was changed because of the Christians’ compassionate and kind response to those around them.

No one wants a crisis but the darkness of the hour creates an opportunity for the Gospel light to shine even brighter if the followers of Jesus will walk in faith and love.

Just got back from the ordination service for one of our staff members. A couple of weeks ago a pastor mentioned he wasn’t planning on being ordained. His reason, “With my license to preach I can do everything an ordained minister can do. I can marry, bury, and pastor a church…plus it doesn’t cost me as much in denominational dues.”

At the risk of sounding like one of those rhyming preachers, ordination isn’t about permission it’s about commission. Paul instructed Timothy, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands…” (1 Timothy 5:22). Ordination is a recognition by church leadership concerning the validity of the candidate’s purity of life, doctrine, knowledge, and fruitfulness. It’s the church in accordance with the Scriptures laying on hands to set an individual apart to the work of the ministry. It’s a sacred moment, a solemn moment, a spiritually significant moment, and a moment every person who is called to vocational ministry should seek.