Vetrean Pastor, Life time Learner, Problem Solver, Servant-Leader and Motivational Speaker.

Elma Update Pictures and video: Prayers needed this Easter Sunday......at First Baptist Church Elma, WA. Check out this video.

1. This morning I read Isaiah 38, and wow!!!....God is super amazing  AND SO......really Gracious. He sees our tears, He knows our pain and He can change our destiny...God is so gracious and kind....check this out.

Isaiah 38 ---In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”( God sees us when we hurt)

 ² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³ “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ( God knows when and where it hurts)

 ⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city ( God can change your destiny). AWESOMENESS!!!!!!! Our God is greater......

 

1. Hey Church!!!!!Thank you all for your praying and investing in our community and church!!!.
2. Continue to pray for Easter Sunday 2012 at First Baptist Church Elma. ( I love this Church)!!!!!

 

 

 

 

1. Pray that God will move in power and save lives through the preaching of His word.
2. Pray for those getting baptised this Easter Sunday.
3. Pray for those who have been invited!!!!!!
4. Our average attendance for the month of March is over 65.
5. Attendance my third Sunday in December of 2011 Sunday was 39 people.
6. Keep praying....the negative forces in my life  say: "it just the honey moon"....My spirit says " Celebrate what God is doing".. Guess what!!! I will celebrate what God is doing......
7. We are praying for over 80 people for Easter. I am planning on showing this movie this Sunday as a teaser for Easter.
8. Pray for God to use this service  this Sunday to hook people to Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives...
9. Pray that God will use these service to assist us in embracing the greatness of the cross and reality that the tomb is empty.....
10. Take some 20 minutes to watch this video and pray that as I show it this Sunday as part of my 40 minute sermon God will use it to ignite in people a passion for God.

 

 

 

Grace and Peace 
Pastor James Owolabi  3-19-2012.

Really cool slide show...kinda 2012 Middle School Ministry North Mason Bible Church 2012........

 

I love Pastor Gene Appel Powerful Christian Message Service........I love this Church......Wowww.http://media.aspireone.com/mediaplayer/eastside/

THANK YOU NORTH MASON BIBLE CHURCH!!!!

 

Some wise but simple thoughts for Pastors ( Parents of Teenagers) or Leaders......Welcome to the Wall | The Resurgence

This I do believe by James Owolabi.............

1. I believe in getting 6 - 8 hours of sleep everyday.
2. I believe in getting a 40 minute "handsome nap" everyday.
3. I believe in excercising one hour six days a week when I am not traveling. 
4. I believe in connecting with a friend in ministry once a week.
5. I believe in having lunch with a vetrean in ministry once a month.
6. I love food so watching my diet is hard but thank you Pastor Mark.......

Thank you for these wise words......from Pastor Mark Driscoll.........

Get your sleep. If you don’t, you will get sick and it only gets worse. 

 

Watch your diet. You will be tempted to self-medicate with junk food, caffeine, and energy drinks. Don’t. 

 

Watch your alcohol, if you drink at all. Since it is a depressant, increasing your alcohol intake when you are slouching toward depression and exhaustion is a big mistake.

 

Watch your temptation. The more fatigued you get, the more easily tempted you become. Take more precautionary measures during this season of the year to safeguard your holiness.

 

Watch your anger. Whereas women internalize their depression and manifest it with emotion, men externalize their depression as anger and manifest it with explosion. 

 

Get some exercise. It helps you work out your frustration, aids sleep, and is good for your health.

 

You really need your day off, especially during trying seasons. Guard it. If you don’t take a voluntary Sabbath you will take an involuntary one for counseling and/or hospitalization. 

 

Keep going by the grace of God,

Pastor Mark

 

via theresurgence.com

I rewrote part of this article for Youth Pastors: Favorite Article of the Month: Who is the most dangerous guy at your church? | Ordinary Pastor

This is the guy who seems to have a lot of biblical knowledge. He can drop the 30 lb. words and effectively argue his point. Very often he is quite involved and appears to have things together. However, he is dangerous because of the reason you would not think, he is unteachable.

Let me give you some reasons why and how he is dangerous:

(1) He is Gospel-Eclipsing: The great commission has learning embedded in it (Matthew 28.18-20). This means that being a disciple is one who is always learning. Therefore, to have it all figured out is to deny who you are. As Christians we have to be people who are learning, this includes everyone from pastors to children.

(2) He is Critical: If this guy is not being moved by the ministry of the word he is likely gathering bullets to shoot at leaders. He sits quietly during the sermons and teachings only to pick apart everything like a Monday morning quarterback. His unteachability looks the exact opposite of what James 1 teaches:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1.20-21)

(Please note this is not a repudiation of constructive criticism. This is desperately needed. There is a difference between constructive and destructive criticism however.)

(3) He is Divisive: This is dangerous for the church in that it invariably brings division (Titus 3.10). This type of boiling pot eventually spills over and when he does he hurts unity and people.

In my experience, division in the church usually is a result of somebody being unteachable. This type of thing has a long legacy. Consider how Diotrephes liked to put himself first and stir up division. How did he do this? He did not submit to the teaching of the apostles (3 John vv. 9-10).  He was unteachable.

This is obviously dangerous for his own soul but also the church. Just like Diotrephes had influence in that congregation so too the unteachable guy no doubt has influence in your local assembly. The influence of an unteachable guy is a vehicle for division.

(4) He is Joy-Robbing: A church that is teachable brings its leaders joy. A church or church member who is not robs them of joy. It’s that simple (Hebrews 13.7, 10). I can attest to the fact that this is very true.

(5) He is a Time-Waster: Let me be careful how I say this. I don’t mean that labor in the ministry is a waste of time. But what I do mean is that unteachable guy is one who continues to take up pastoral leadership’s time with arguments. He just keeps resetting the same issue over and over again. He can find anything to nitpick and be critical about. So in this sense he is a waste of time. Or, as Paul might say, the labor is in vain (Philippians 2.16; 2 Thessalonians 3.5).

So, what do you do with him?

Pray for him: Forbid it that pastors become callous and unmoved themselves! The desire is for growth in the gospel. Therefore, pray (Colossians 1.9-14; 2 Peter 3.18).

Minimize his influence: Pastors should always be careful about who is appointed unto leadership. In this case it would obviously make sense not to just put the Bible trivia champ in charge of teaching and leadership items. This is because the Bible trivia champ could also be a spiritual MMA champ on the side.

Watch him and the sheep: If this guy is a Christian then he must be cared for too. The pastor must do this while guarding and caring for the flock. This is the type of thing that keeps pastors up at night (s

via www.ordinarypastor.com

10 Reasons I Survived a Church Split | nakedpastor

But I would not have survived without the following:

1. SUPPORTIVE LEADERSHIP: Even though we lost one of our leaders in the split, the leadership team was strong and extremely supportive. We could rely on one another without question. Because of the leadership, I look back on those years as the golden years of my ministry even though they were also the worst.
2. FREQUENT AND OPEN COMMUNICATION: The leadership did its best to pass on all and every piece of information to each other. Nothing was unimportant. We also shared as much as we possibly could with the congregation as a whole without jeopardizing the health of the church. We met as often as twice a week and communicated at least once a day. Looking back, perhaps we could have shared more with the congregation, but under such a volatile state it felt too risky.
3. WITHHELD CRITICISM: We refused to publicly criticize those we believed were instrumental in the split. In fact, we felt a personal spiritual mandate to be as sheep to the shearers: silent. This infuriated those who would base their decision of who to support on fact, which I believed was impossible to untangle. One of our leaders insisted that the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh were the only criteria by which to discern under these conditions.
4. SOUGHT HELP: We shared our struggles with those leaders outside of our congregation we felt could be trusted and who sympathized with us. We even brought in a professional counselor to provide several sessions of group counseling to the leadership team. We did not share information with the simply curious.
5. PARTIED: We would get together as a leadership team as well as with other sympathizers to party. We ate lots of food and drank some good wine. The lighthearted nature of these meetings was intentional. We knew these were gossiped about but they were essential moments of reparation. We were sometimes able to laugh at ourselves and our circumstances.
6. READ INTELLECTUAL WORKS: I made a point of reading over my head, of reading important books of depth in order to provide me with a larger perspective, the big picture. Thinkers like Luther, Barth, Stringfellow, Foucault, etc., gave me enormous comfort and perspective during those years.
7. HELD ON TO HOPE: Even though almost everyone around us, they later admitted, believed we were “dead in the water”, we almost always refused to believe we were going down. We constantly held on to the hope that one day the struggle would be over and we would enjoy respite. There were black days, but the next day hope would shine again.
8. DON’T DENY: One of the things we allowed to happen at leadership meetings as well as regular church meetings was the expression of sadness. What we were experiencing was like nothing we’d ever experienced before, and the pain was excruciating. I believed this had to be freely expressed in order to move closer to healing.
9. DON’T COMPROMISE: Most splits are caused by a political decision, and because we were certain our decision was a wise and necessary one, we felt it would go against conscience and truth to compromise it, even if it meant an alleviation of pain. We were constantly advised to compromise our beliefs or our position. We paid for our steadfastness or stubbornness… however you look at it… but my conscience is clear.
10. ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE: What perplexed me and the leadership from the beginning was that not only did we believe we were right, but those who were giving us difficulty also believed they were right. I believe this idea injected patience and wisdom into the leadership team’s attitude rather than an arrogant and autocratic one. Thi

via www.nakedpastor.com

Two Lessons from Vacation Bible School 2011 at North Mason Bible Church....

 

            One of the highlights of my summer was allowing the Spirit of God to use me as I directed Vacation Bible School at North Mason Bible Church during the last week of July. Our team was a multigenerational group of gifted believers who decided to serve Christ with humble hearts and minds filled with grace and truth. Watching our teenagers cultivate relationships as they served with adults the age of their parents and grandparents was exceedingly delightful and encouraging. The whole team engaged the children in enjoyable activities with the end goal of teaching them more about Jesus Christ. Here are two lessons I learned while serving on our VBS team this year:

• God is not walking around in heaven and analyzing our strengths and weaknesses to see how we can best serve Him. He is not interested in our skills, but rather our availability. A couple weeks before VBS I picked up a charming and delightful couple who were hitchhiking along Highway 101. We exchanged pleasantries, but soon it was clear to me what their names truly were: Miss “Fear of Failure” and Mr. “Doubt.” With the tenderness of a mother, Miss “Fear of Failure” provided me with insights on my character and reputation. She intelligently assessed my struggle to pay attention to details and my tendencies to overcommit and under-deliver. She reminded me of my unfinished projects and unfulfilled dreams, and capitalized on my failures.  Mr. Doubt interrupted his gorgeous loudmouthed wife by passionately reminding me of moments in my life when my good intentions ended in bad decisions. He established a series of reasons why VBS 2011 was not a practical ministry for the twenty-first century church and why VBS could not be executed in three months effectively.  After a couple days in my house I finally kicked these two servants of Satan out of my house. I could not allow them to  dominate my thinking; I simply reminded myself of the message that God gave to Mary: “With God all things.......I mean all things .......all things.......are possible.” Nothing is impossible with God. God is not looking for our ability but our  availability.  Our effectiveness in not only dependent on ability but most mportantly on our ability to listen to God. Listen to God, not your emotion, and  not to people who undermine your work.

• The second lesson I learned is that leaders who listen to godly people around them will see God use them in ways better than they ever expected.  Good leaders who refuse to listen to godly people will be surrounded by morally good people who may not have anything godly and wise to say. The book of Proverbs warns “the simple” against being “wise in their own eyes.” God labels a person “a fool” as someone who listens to one’s heart over the advice of godly people in their lives.  At a couple of the VBS 2011 preplanning and training meetings, I enjoyed listening to God-loving teenagers, Christ-serving adults, and Scripture-loving grandparents as they deliberated on ways to make to make VBS 2011 a blessing to families in our community.  Groundbreaking ideas flowed from their minds and lips like water from an Alaskan Glacier. I drank those ideas like a thirsty Nigerian con-man looking for new words to develop his next email Internet scam. I implemented four out of every six ideas I received and it was such a blessing to see how God used those ideas to make our VBS 2011 the most attended VBS in the past four years.

            When it comes to administration and people management, my skills are greatly lacking. However, my willingness to listen to the group of people serving Christ with me allowed over 80 children in our community to enjoy themselves and learn about Jesus Christ in a safe environment. I am truly blessed at North Mason Bible Church to be surrounded by gifted and dynamic people who are learning to love God with their heart, soul and mind. Thank you to those who gave and prayed. Thank you for those who encouraged me to allow God to show Belfair how much He loves them.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor James Owolabi

PS. Thanks to Kate for a great job editing this article. You did awesome

 

Reflections on being " Stunned by God's Grace" and ("forgiveness is not a feeling but a decision") and other insights from Gary Chapman

 I am literally stunned by God’s goodness to me. His mercy and grace keeps slamming into me like a ton of bricks. I find myself aching with speechlessness because I am overwhelmed by his extravagant love for me by his provision for me financially. The fact that I am still in this country still amazes me. Less than a week ago a gentleman in my church approached me and asked if I was struggling financially. I reluctantly answered "Yes" and  was  politely yet honest that I received a bill in the mail that was causing me some concern. The next day he dropped almost a dozen hundred dollars bills in form of a check to assist me with my current difficulties. God has taken care of me without me having to beg. I am amazed that you love me. Thank you Jesus Christ.

          I am still reading the book titled “Things I wish I ‘d Known Before We got Married” by Gary Chapman. Here are five nuggets from this book:

• After spending a lifetime counseling other couples, I am convinced that there are no healthy marriages without apology and forgiveness. I draw this conclusion from the reality that all of us are human and humans sometimes do and say things that are demeaning to other people. These unloving words and actions create emotional barriers between the people involved. Those barriers do not go away without the passing of time. They are removed only when we apologize and the offended party chooses to forgive.
• Looking back on my marriage I wish I had know not only the importance of apology, but how to apologize effectively. It would have saved me many days of silent suffering, hoping in vain that Karolyn would forget my harsh words.
• We are instructed to forgive each other in the same way God forgives us. Thus, forgiveness is not a feeling but a decision. It is the decision to offer grace instead of demanding justice. Forgiveness removes the barrier and opens the possibility for the relationship to grow.
• Forgiveness does not destroy our memory.
• Forgiveness does not remove all the consequences of wrongdoing.
• Forgiveness does not rebuild trust.
• Forgiveness does not always result in reconciliation.
• Forgiveness is the only healthy response to an apology.

G.K.C. said, “Christians don’t need to instructed as much as they need to be reminded. This book has reminded me of many flaws in my basic understanding of how marriage works. I hope I finish this book this week.

Grace and Peace

Pastor James Owolabi

 

“Letters from my parishioners”

Every day I wake up, I thank God I am not a senior pastor or a church planter. This is one of the reasons………….

----- Original Message -----

From: ( I will leave her nameless………)

To: bishopowolabi@msn.com

Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 8:28 AM

Subject: ****Looking for a wife?

"Pastor James - Alistair Begg is teaching a series on being single. Since this is a topic that you will be addressing for many years to come -- besides your own personal application. Funny! But very relevant. Will be on again tonight at 11:30. Undoubtedly there is a email address. Something to do with Truth for Life. Topic as to how to choose a wife, what are the qualities of a husband (that you need to acquire/develop.)" -A married "octogenarian"( I think she is) in my church.

My reply: "Thanks"