Craig T. Owens

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A Warning To Shepherds

May 12, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

If you are a pastor, God sees you as a shepherd (see John 21:15-17; 1 Peter 5:1-4).

If you are a shepherd, there is a heavy responsibility on you to lovingly, attentively care for God’s precious sheep. We cannot shirk this responsibility for even a moment.

God loves His sheep so much that He gave His sheep YOU!

God loves His sheep so much that He will remove you, if He has to.

Consider this:

“What sorrow awaits the leaders of My people—the shepherds of My sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for My flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. …Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the Lord have spoken!” (Jeremiah 23:1, 2, 4)

This is a HEAVY word, and should not be taken lightly.

Pastor, never assume you are leading God’s sheep in the right paths. Ask the Holy Spirit to tell you if you are leading God’s sheep in the right paths!

UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: 1 Peter, Gospel of John, Holy Spirit, Jeremiah, Pastor, pastoring, shepherd leadership, shepherds. Leave a Comment »

What Is “Success” For A Church?

May 11, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

“How’s it going,” a fellow pastor asked me. “How’s your church doing?”

If you’re a pastor, you probably get asked this often. How do you answer this question? Do you tell them what your attendance was on Sunday morning? Or about the newest program you’ve started?

When you look in the mirror and ask yourself, “How’s it going,” is your answer related to nickels and noses (offerings and attendance)? Is it how many people complimented your last sermon?

Listen to these sobering words:

Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live.

…We have a commercialized view—we count how many souls have been saved and sanctified, we thank God, and then we think everything is all right. (Oswald Chambers)

We need to be very careful about how we define “success” in a church setting. Let’s use Jesus as our example:

How big was His congregation? Twelve men. One betrayed Him, nine ran away when the going got tough, and one denied he even knew Him. Even after being raised from the dead (!) there were only 120 people in the upper room.
How much money did His church have? Not even enough to buy a gravesite for the Messiah.
What did people think of His sermons? Some of His sermons made people so mad they wanted to stone Him. And after one sermon the Bible says: From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him (John 6:66).

Maybe “success” in the church is more like…

…people being reconciled to God. Remembering that “our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them” (Chambers).
…seeing disengaged people becoming actively involved in engaging others with the Gospel.
…“Never seek[ing] after anything other than the approval of God” (Chambers).
…to say with Jesus, “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

These are just some of my thoughts. What else should be on this list? How would you define “success” in the church?

I have also shared some questions that can help pastors and ministry leaders better gauge the level of effectiveness in their ministry.

UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: church, church growth, discipleship, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, pastoring, quote, shepherd leadership, success, video, worldliness. 1 Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Me, Me, Me

May 10, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Me, Me, Me

The greatest peril is the peril within, which men never think of as a peril. My right to myself, self-pity, self-conceit, consideration for my progress, my ways of looking at things, those things are the satanic perils which will keep us in perfect sympathy with satan….

In all probability satan is as much upset as the Holy Spirit is when men fall in external sin, but for a different reason. When men go into external sin and upset their lives, satan knows perfectly well that they will want another Ruler, a Savior and Deliverer; as long as satan can keep men in peace and unity and harmony apart from God, he will do so (see Luke 11:21-22). Remember, then, satan’s sin is dethroning God.

From Biblical Psychology

My natural bent is to internalize. In other words, I want to ponder my circumstances, think about solutions myself, and reach my own conclusion. This, Oswald Chambers says, is dangerous.

When I’m thinking subjectively, everything runs through the filter of me, me, me. But when I verbalize—when I get my thoughts out in the open—the Holy Spirit can use God’s Word to help me think objectively.

I need an objective, external standard to keep me on the right path. If I keep it all inside, my natural subjective bent (that all of us humans have) will lead me down the path of quietly dethroning God and enthroning myself.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Gospel of Luke, Holy Spirit, objective, Oswald Chambers, satan, sin, subjective, truth. Leave a Comment »

Mother’s Day 2012

May 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Where would we be without our mothers? I know that seems like an obvious question, but it’s one that is worth pondering again and again.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and we want to celebrate our moms the right way.

All of the songs our worship team will be leading have been selected by moms in our church
We’ll have a special message about the value of mothers
And there is a special gift for every mom in attendance on Sunday morning

“I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.” —John Wesley

How true this is! So it’s time to celebrate our moms. Join us this Sunday at 10:30am.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Calvary Assembly of God, Happy Mother's Day, John Wesley, Mother's Day, quote. Leave a Comment »

God Is For You!

May 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I cross paths with far too many people who think God is unapproachable, distant, or—perhaps worst of all—angry with them.

But listen to this good news: God is for you!

God created you to be in relationship with Him.

When Paul writes in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us,” it’s not a wondering, uncertain “if” (as in, “I wonder if this is true?”). No! What Paul is saying is, “If you already know that God is for you, why are you wondering about who or what is against you?”

Here are the facts (all from Romans 8):

The Holy Spirit is interceding for you (vv. 26, 27)
God is working out all things for your good (v. 28)
God justifies you (vv. 30, 33)
God will give you everything He gave Jesus (v. 32)
Jesus is interceding for you (v. 34)
Nothing and no one can ever separate you from God’s love (vv. 35-39)

Let me state it again—

God is for you!

Nothing can stand between you and God!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: fellowship, God's favor, God's love, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, relationship, Romans. 2 Comments »

Strings Attached

May 8, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Often when someone does something nice for us, we feel a certain obligation to return the favor. What about when God blesses us? Are we obligated to do something back? Are there strings attached to His blessings?

The Israelites left Egypt and were now in a desert, on the way to the Promised Land. Although they were free from slavery, they were also without the daily provision of food that their slave owners had provided them.

And did I mention they were in a desert?!

At this desperate point, the people were seriously thinking about returning to their slave owners.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or not. (Exodus 16:4 AMP)

God blessed the Israelites with food, but He wanted something in return: their faithful obedience to Him.

If God has blessed me—and, indeed, He has—He requires me to honor Him with that blessing. Too many people pray and seek God fervently in the ‘lean times,’ and when the answer comes they are thankful only at the moment of blessing. This should not be! God has blessed me so that I will continue to seek Him, and so that I will be a blessing to others.

(Check out what Jesus taught about using the blessings we have been given in Matthew 25:31-46 and Luke 19:12-16.)

So, yes, there are strings attached to God’s blessings. And I want those strings! Without the strings, I am trying to do things my own way; I am severing myself from God, and from His greater future blessings.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: blessing, Exodus, faithfulness, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, manna, responsibility. Leave a Comment »

Forgotten God (book review)

May 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I grew up in a Pentecostal family (in fact, I’m a third-generation Pentecostal), so talk about the Holy Spirit was almost second nature to me. But even with my background, sometimes it’s easier to have discussions about God the Father or God the Son, than it is God the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has, in many circles, become the “forgotten God.” That’s why Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan is such a timely book.

“If I were satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit.” (Francis Chan)

I think part of our forgetfulness is that it’s hard to know where to put the Holy Spirit cognitively. We can understand the concepts of the Father and the Son, but it’s hard to have a mental “place” for the Spirit. And since we can find places for the Father and the Son, we can keep them in their places. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t have a “box,” and so we cannot contain Him.

Nor should we try. But, sadly, far too many people do. Again, Francis Chan writes:

“The reality is that the early church knew less about the Holy Spirit than most of us in the church today, at least in the intellectual sense. But they came to know the Spirit intimately and powerfully as He worked in and through their lives. All throughout the New Testament, we read of the apostles whose lives were led by the Spirit and lived out by His power.”

When I read what happened in the Book of Acts, my cry is always, “Do it again! Do it today!” I believe the Holy Spirit is also desirous of operating in us and through us, just as He did in the First Century Church. The question is: Will we let Him?

Forgotten God is a great introduction course for those curious about Who the Holy Spirit is, or what His role is in our lives today. This book is also a great reminder course for those of us who have grown up with the theology, but perhaps are lacking the full operational force of the Spirit in our lives. In either case, Forgotten God is an eye-opening book.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, Francis Chan, Holy Spirit, Pentecostal. Leave a Comment »

Service Sunday

May 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Usually when we go to church on Sundays, we think of going to be served (“I’m going to a church service”). But a group of churches in Cedar Springs are flipping that around: We’re going to go away from church to serve our community.

On May 20, Calvary Assembly of God is joining with other churches in Cedar Springs to leave our churches in order to serve our community. Basically we’re showing up at our individual churches just long enough to pray together and get our work assignments for the day. Then we’re heading out to do things like:

Visit the residents of the Metron nursing home and pray with them
Clean up our parks and city streets
Top off the washer fluid, check the oil, and pump gas for people at Wesco
Wash the windows of the businesses along Main Street
Deliver cookies to people who have to work on Sundays and cannot attend a church

“We’re not saved by good works; but we’re not saved without them” —T.M. Moore

Let me give credit where credit is due on this. The Service Sunday concept was already being done by Solon Center Weslyan Church and The Springs Church. But I liked the idea so much, that I asked these guys if they would consider doing this on the same Sunday and allowing other churches in Cedar Springs to join with them.

As of now, there are at least five churches participating in Service Sunday on May 20. If your church is in Cedar Springs, ask your pastor if you can join with us as well. If you live in a different community, perhaps this is an idea you can implement in your city. Let’s show people our good works so they can glorify God!