Church planting is to sexy.

Over the past few months of my life I have been fighting the coolness of Church planting. I am very sick of seeing churches plant and start a church and it looks, smells and acts cool. Mean while people right outside its door are going to hell. Planting a church to me is not about starting a sunday morning look how cool we are service. It is about the Gospel effecting a community with a gospel community. This film has touched my heart today and I pray it will yours as well.

Don't Use E-mail to Correct Others

This is so true. At my last church there was a lot of slander and rumors going around and it was all done through email. When it comes to dealing with major issues do not use email. Be very careful in your words and what you say. If you think that it will go bad for you in an email then don't send it. Give that person a call or even as James Macdonald says just breathe before writing an email and have a right heart.

WOW.

So this morning I was writing and I started to think about the year I have had. Talk about a roller coaster.

I was at a church for only three months when the pastor told me about a few families that wanted him out. My first church meeting in January I saw how ugly people and sin can really be. After the meeting that lasted about four hours they kicked the pastor out. I was only the youth pastor now without a senior pastor. In just 6 months I saw and heard things from people in a church that would make some people wanna throw up. It was sick but yet God kept helping me to fall in love with The Church , His bride. During everything that was going on with people cursing other people out right before and during the service God was growing the youth ministry. I can remember times that we did not have enough room because of the kids that showed up. Students where getting saved and being baptized and it was sweet. In October Kim and I left there and are now at a church named Mosaic in Highland ILL. God is doing so many things in and around our ministry it is really cool.

Kim and I over the past year have grown so much and I am so thankful that God has done the things in my life and marriage that he has done. This year I have learned a little more of what it means to be a pastor after being a husband. God has also blessed Kim and I with a child that will be born in June 2011.

As you can see God has been up to a lot just in my life and it is so cool. I am really looking forward to seeing what God does in 2011. I pray that I will stay close to him and never stray from hearing His voice. May God bless you in 2011.

Church Planter By Darrin Patrick.

Church Planter by Darrin Patrick is a great book and I believe a must read for any pastor and/or Church planter. Most people think that when you pick up a book by this title that it is going to give yet another method on how to plant churches. Let me tell you that you are far from the truth here. Darrin does ,through out the book, give you ideas for the how's and whens of church planting but this book goes right at the type of man called to plant a church. Darrin Patrick does not waste anytime getting at you about your calling,doctrine and comes right out and asks you the question are you called to plant a church.

At first I started to run through this book but after the first few pages it caused me to sit back and do some thinking and talking with my wife and fellow pastors. If the idea of planting a church is in your head at all then I must say go now and pick this book up. But let me give you a heads up that while you are reading it you are going to be forced to ask some hard questions of your self. This book is not for people wanting to "play pastor'. This book is for men who are called by God and are ready to get there hands dirty and do the work. I highly recommend this book to any man wanting to plant a church and to pastors to challenge yourself while ready it.

The Well. A New Church coming to Lebanon

Some may already know this but I wanted to let you all know what is going on.

In October of 2006 God laid on my heart a church called The Well. After much prayer and seeking Him and listening to Him He has called Kim and I to plant a church called The Well in Lebanon IL.

The Well is a church where people are restored by the cross and serve there city.

We will be starting this March meeting in Lebanon and I can not wait. God is doing so much right now that I do not have time to write it all out and tell you. If you would like to know more information please feel free to shoot me an email mhampel82@gmail.com.

There will be much more information on this coming very soon. Right now this is what I am going to ask you. PRAY for us. Please pray that God's will will be done in this new church. Also please pray about maybe seeing if God would have you be a part of this new church. Starting in January we will be sending out invites to people for some informational meeting and calling people to join us on this journey.

The Weight we carry .

Over the past two years I have been able to feel the full weight of what a pastor carries on a regular basis. We are called to carry this weight but we are called to rely on Christ on a daily basis. Praise God that he is our strength.

Why the ESV Bible?

I was reading a blog called why the ESV Bible and I really wanted to pass it to you. One of the main reasons that I trust the esv in my preaching and own studying is that I have found that I can trust the way it is written more then any other translation. It does not change the wording to make people happy. It does not change the wording to fit our lifes. But it helps us to understand the the bible is speaking to us. Check the blog and this video below.

ESV Trusted By Leaders from Crossway on Vimeo.

Respect For Leadership

So I was talking with a friend today and we started to chat about the church in China and what God is doing there. One of the things that we talked about was how they have great respect for there leaders in the church. Here in the west I am starting to see that the respect level is so low that it is hard to see. Over the past few months I have seen and heard things that clearly says that there is no respect at all.

In Proverbs 6: 16-19 there are six things that God hates and one is an abomination to him. I have heard and seen people in churches lye and bear false witness about leaders in the church. God hates murdering, haughty eyes, lying tongue but to devise wicked plans is an abomination. The church should trust the men that God places in the position as pastor/elder. So ask your self a question, if you are not in leadership at your church do you respect the man and women that God has placed there or are you wanting to lead the church your way? This is a pride issue so you may have to check your heart.

Social Media Revolution

This is a great video about social networking. I do not know about you but I do not think that this will go away. For some reason I am finding my self using facebook and twitter and google much more then I have before. My inbox in empty and the reason is I do a lot of tweeting, facebooking, and now google talk and I do not have to wait. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks Jeff Allen for posting.

Reflect

So I woke up today feeling very sleepy and ready to go back to bed and I think it is so easy for pastors to say let's take a day off and rest. But then I started to think about some of the things that are happening in my ministry and I ,even though still sleepy, get pumped.

Last night two students came up to me and they both want to get baptized in the next two weeks. Also after talking with a bunch of the students I could tell that there is about to be a mini revival at the two schools that I serve. There are these two students that are ready to see everyone at there school to get saved. They are so focused on this that you can tell that it is driving them.

Also this Sunday I will be meeting with some people that are ready to see the future and pray for God to use us in a way that will give Him glory and that will change us and others. Even now as I sit in my office and think about this my legs are shacking because I get pumped when I think about what God is up to.

As a pastor I think it is easy for us to sit back and say this is all because of me and what I am doing. I was fighting that a little last night. It's called pride and for pastors it is a fight every day. But then I remember that I am only doing what I am because God has called me and so then all the glory goes back to him. So I just thought that I would let you know.

It is not about the Pastor.

Perry Noble is all about making sure that his church knows it is not about him. Pastors or even just leaders in the church, ask yourself the question if you died would the ministry still be like it is? This is one thing that I try to keep in mind. Ministry is not about me or ,by God's grace, will never be about me. It will always be about Jesus Christ because He is the head of the church not me.

The Truth hurts.

1 Timothy 1:15

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Over the last few days I have been thinking about something that I have been told this week. Is there any truth behind me being Ungodly? The answer is YES. I am ,as Paul says, Chief. You who are reading this are ungodly as well. We are all ungodly and worth nothing less then being sent to hell for ever. But I am so thankful that God looked at us sinners and said I love you to much to let that happen. So I will send my right hand, Jesus Christ, to save you from the life that you deserve. So yes the truth hurts that we are all ungodly people but the best part of the truth is that we are made pure in the site of Jesus Christ who took our ungodliness and bored it on the cross.

Did that really happen?

This morning at around 5:00 am I felt God calling me to get up and get something done. Over the last the few weeks I have been going through a lot as a young pastor. I have ,at times, thanked God and other times questioned God about what has gone on. This morning I stood before the church and started with my heart being placed before the church. As a young pastor I have had to do somethings today that I never thought that I would have to. For it I am thankful for God calling me and molding me the way He is. I am also very thankful for Grace Community Baptist Church and being patience with a 28 year old young pastor. I am thankful for the men in my life and most important I am thankful to my wife who has stood by me every step of the way and I could not ask for a better women to call my wife.

Kick in the face I think.

I am going to let Spurgeon speak for himself and you will know that I agree with him.


I. First, then, WHAT ARE THE POINTS WHICH CONSTITUTE THE HEALTHINESS OF THE CHURCH AT HOME?
To begin with the most important—the true piety of an her members. A Church can never be in a sound and satisfactory state for labor, she never can be in such a. condition that God can smile upon her complacently, if she be mixed up with the world, if her sons and daughters be not sufficiently distinguished from the world to be manifestly God's people. if we take into our churches those who are not converted, we swell our numbers, but we diminish our real strength. We might need to purchase a larger church-book, we might, perhaps, be able to parade our numbers before the world, and we might even flatter ourselves with our apparent prosperity till we intoxicated our own brain, but we should be going backward when we think we are going forward. We have not conquered the world; we have only yielded to it. We have not brought the world up to us, we have only brought ourselves down to it. We have not Christianized an ungodly generation, but we have adulterated Christianity. We have brought the chaste spouse of Christ to commit fornication among the people. We cannot possibly be too strict in the examination of those who are proposed for church fellowship. I will grant you, there are methods by which bigotry may exclude a large proportion of those whom God has called, putting such an extent of knowledge as the test of Christian experience, that many of the lambs of the flock stand bleating without the fold, and are never enabled to come and partake of its pasturage. This evil, doubtless, is to be avoided. But on the other hand, it is quite possible that the fullest charity with which the mildness of our Savior's mind and the love of the Spirit can imbue us, may be blended with the sternest firmness in executing a sacred trust, and with the most prudent discretion in maintaining the purity of discipleship, when we are engaged in the acceptance or rejection of candidates for the fellowship of the visible Church. If we could to-morrow bring into the Church a sufficient number of ungodly but moral men to double our numbers, to double our subscriptions, to double our places of worship, to enable us to double the number of our missionaries, we should by succumbing to the temptation procure a curse instead of a blessing. In our purity, and in our purity alone we stand. Let us once lose our distinctive principles, let us once come back and attempt to nationalize the Church, and bring ourselves from the distinction we have sought to maintain between the Church and the world, and God's blessing will be withdrawn from us; we shall cease to be strong within, and mighty without. Oh I that God might grant to each of us, who are the pastors of the Church, that unceasing vigilance and constant watchfulness whereby we shall be able to detect the wolves in sheep's clothing, and whereby we shall be able to say calmly, sternly, yet lovingly, to those who come before us seeking communion, without satisfactory evident that they belong to the living family of God, "You must go your way until the Spirit of God hath touched your heart, for until you have received the living faith in Jesus, we cannot receive you into the number of his faithful ones."

So far all of those mega churches that just because they have a football field for a church. Numbers do not mean you have it right. I'm just saying.

God has Spoken to me.

Some of you might know by now that John Piper has ,as of may 1, stepped away from the pulpit and Desiring God ministry for 8 months to put his family first. As I watch and listen to him talk about it my heart is calling for a check. I have not always been who God has made me to be. I have had a lot of struggles in my life and I am not perfect. God has always been there for me and will always be here for me. I love Him for the grace of the Cross which I have so many times shamingly taken for granted and I am blessed with a great and wonderful Wife who with out I could not do what God has called me to do.
Friends and everyone reading this I want you all to know that even though I am not perfect I am going to try to be the man that God has called me to b,. by the strength that is in the cross for my weakness I will only boast. The calling that God has placed on my life is to be a pastor and plant a church in the near future. But my life focuses are set in this order my relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ, then my relationship with my wife and then my calling. That is the way things go for me from this day forth.
I want you all to know that I love you and am always here for you as for some of you a Pastor and or a Friend. If you have any questions about this please do not be afraid to ask.

Pick a church Any Church.

So the other day I was driving in a town and saw a sign that said "pick a church any church".

What ever happened to pick a church because of there theology or doctrine? It seems that the church is far worst then I thought. I have heard over the last few days because of other peoples sin in a church that they feel like they might loose there salvation. People are wanting just fluff in there sermons from a pastor rather then theology or doctrine. I have been praying today and I get the feeling that the church of Christ is more religious then I thought.

My Heart is broken and then I read 2 Corinthians 12:19-21. This is nothing new. Paul was having the same problems but I think that the difference in his day is that Paul and timothy did something about it. They did not just sit back and take it because they want to please the people. Church leaders you are not here to please the people but God Himself. Get that through your thick heads. We don't need a bunch of Barney like church leaders. We need MEN who will be men and do what they are called to.

Just my thoughts.

This is great.

So as I have reading blogs tonight I come across Perry Nobles leadership blog. I have been reading his blog for a few months now and watching his ministry. I think that the three postings that I have linked will be great for you pastor and leaders in church ministry. Please take time and read these and I know that you will be blessed as I was by his words.

Three questions for Pastor/Church leaders

Part one

Part two

Part Three

May you be blessed by this.