I was not surprised by the outpour of support and love for Pastor Bob, Rebecca, and Rob and their family as hundreds of people attended the wake and funeral service. Clearly well over 500 people attended each day to show their last respects and love for Donna. Excuse my theology but I felt that on Thursday when it rained, Jesus wept with us (Jo 11:35). Then on Friday, God smiled on us as we celebrated Donna’s life with memories and stories of what she meant to us.
How do you process grief, sadness, and despair? I asked that question to my family the other night as we sat around the table. My 13-year old said through playing his guitar and listening to music. My wife stated she does so by spending time with God and talking to a few people really close to her. I personally do so by spending time with God in His Word and listening to His whispers to my heart and playing “throne-room” worship music that speaks to my soul. I also have a couple of intercessors I call. (more…)
Yesterday I went to the church to pray and be with the family of God at Cornerstone Chapel. I felt great and was sharing Christ and my excitement about my time in His presence with some young women and a couple of pastors. I then began walking around the church praying and a brother from our daughter church in West Milford stopped me to ask how could their church help? (more…)
Today is another day of grieving, last night I did not sleep well, Kathie (my wife) was drained from attending the bereavement and prayer meeting at Cornerstone Chapel. We all have our moments and the pain runs deep for all. My heart exudes with the love of the Father for Bob, Rebecca, and Rob. We thank you All for praying for Bob, his family and church family. We feel it! What else can I do to help? What can you do to help Pastor Bob Tilli and his family? and the Cornerstone Chapel family? (more…)
My heart is heavy, my soul pains, “Lord I am lost for words in the passing of my sister Donna Tilli.” We as a church family are hurting deeply and my head hurts from the tears I have shed. There are moments of uncontrollable sobbing and wailing. (more…)
Strategic Gatherings are designed to be a catalyst for cooperation in making sure every man, woman, and child in our region has an opportunity to hear, see, touch the truth of Jesus Christ. (more…)
That verse talks about reading the Bible AND preaching, implying they’re two separate things we should work on. We’ve all heard people do a terrible job of reading the Bible aloud. It’s boring, ill-prepared and worse. It misses a huge opportunity to see God’s Word come alive. (more…)
We talk alot about leadership development in the local church. As I think back on my seminary education, it was discussed often there as well. Yet, when I look through my notes and the seminars that I have attended I noticed that almost all the training that I recieved was on teaching theology and developing leadership skills. For many years, this is what I implemented in my ministry. Certainly knowing God’s Word is important and how can we diminish the importance of leadership skills? However, there was an important piece that was being missed in the process. It is obvious to me now, but I was blind to it in the past. I wish someone would have helped me earlier in my ministry to understand what I was missing. (more…)
Follow my thought for a few moments as I share with you what I am discovering about coaching. First of all, Jesus did not call us to coach. He called us to make disciples. We are to make a particular type of disciple – one that reproduces himself. Matthew 28:19-20 makes it clear that the key quality of a disciple is obedience to Christ. This is our goal in the discipleship process. It has become more transparent that the goal of obedience has not been achieved as illustrated by the statistics reported in the book Unchristian. (more…)
I have been writing exclusively on the topic of coaching and what I am learning about this process of building leadership excellence, but I want to take a short break and discuss the opportunity we have as leaders in the area of stewardship. Natural Church Development teaches us that every situation we confront in ministry can be an opportunity. Our country and the world is in economic fear and collapse. The topic of conversation at the gym every morning is about job loss or financial pain. Several of our churches are facing difficult decisions as a result of the downturn in the economy and the downturn of giving. At the same time that we are experiencing these negative forces, we have an opportunity. (more…)
