Love Granbury Announces KE2010 Speaker!

Love Granbury is excited to announce that we will have Dr. Al
Tizon, Assistant Professor of Holistic Ministry at Palmer Theological Seminary of
Eastern University and Director of Word & Deed Network (www.worddeednetwork.org)
as our guest speaker for Kindness Explosion 2010! Dr. Tizon is a nationally
acclaimed speaker and we are thankful that God has opened the door for us to bring
him to Granbury! You will not want to miss hearing Dr. Al Tizon!

KE2010 Meeting Recap

We really had a great meeting on Wednesday for Kindness Explosion 2010! My thanks to Jason Turbeville and Acton Baptist Church for hosting our meeting and for providing our lunch. If you were not able to make it, we really missed you! We are so excited about what God has in store for Kindness Explosion this year as the Body of Christ in the greater Granbury area comes together to love God with all we have (worship) and to love others as we love ourselves (community service).

Here's a recap of what we talked about at the meeting on Wednesday:

Each person needs to go back to their respective congregation and:
Begin talking up Kindness Explosion
Start getting people in your congregation signed up for Kindness Explosion (don't forget T-shirt sizes!)
Start brainstorming about possible service projects for your congregations and then let me know what projects you've decided on
Begin showing the Kindness Explosion information video in your worships service, to your Bible study classes, etc...
Utilize the Kindness Explosion flyers and bulletin inserts to spread the word in your congregations
For those of you who were not able to make it to the meeting, all of the resources (flyers, bulletin inserts, etc) are available on DVD. If you will call me at 817-408-5273 or email me at micky@lovegranbury.org, I will send you the Resource DVD.

As for the Kindness Explosion info video, you can download it by clicking any one of the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/user/lovegranbury
http://vimeo.com/groups/34998/videos
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Granbury-TX/Love-Granbury/76575694388?ref=ts

Please download the video and ask if it can be shown to your congregation at least twice between now and the end of March. When it's shown, be sure to have plenty of informational flyers to hand out as well as sign-up sheets.

In the meantime, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. God bless!! 1 John 4:12

KE2010 Planning Meeting

If you're in or around the local Granbury/Hood County area, please join us tomorrow, Wednesday, February 17th at 11:30 at Acton Baptist Church for our Kindness Explosion 2010 planning meeting. A complimentary lunch will be served. So come get your congregation signed up for Kindness Explosion or just come get the information to take back to your congregation!

Servant Series: Servants Do Every Task with Equal Dedication

"Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities." Luke 16:10 (NLT)

Servants do every task with equal dedication. Whatever they do, servants "do it with all their heart" (Colossians 3:23 NIV).

The size of the task is irrelevant. The only issue is, does it need to be done?

You will never arrive at the state in life where you're too important to help with menial tasks. God will never exempt you from the mundane. It's a vital part of your character curriculum. The Bible says, "If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody" (Galatians 6:3 NLT).

It is in these small services that we grow like Christ.

Jesus specialized in menial tasks that everyone else tried to avoid: washing feet, helping children, fixing breakfast, and serving lepers. Nothing was beneath him, because he came to serve. It wasn't in spite of his greatness that he did these things, but because of it, and he expects us to follow his example (John 13:15).

Small tasks often show a big heart. Your servant's heart is revealed in little acts that others don't think of doing, as when Paul gathered brushwood for a fire to warm everyone after a shipwreck (Acts 28:3).

He was just as exhausted as everyone else, but he did what everyone needed. No task is beneath you when you have a servant's heart.

Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks. The little things in life determine the big things. Don't look for great tasks to do for God. Just do the not-so-great stuff, and God will assign you whatever he wants you to do.

There will always be more people willing to do "great" things for God than there are people willing to do the little things. The race to be a leader is crowded, but the field is wide open for those willing to be servants.

Sometimes you serve upward to those in authority, and sometimes you serve downward to those in need. Either way, you develop a servant's heart when you're willing to do anything needed. Remember, "small things done with great love, will change the world."

Servant Series: Servants Serve With What They Have

"If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done." Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)

Real servants do their best with what they have. Servants don't make excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better circumstances. Servants never say, "One of these days" or "When the time is right." They just do what needs to be done.

The Bible says, "If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done" (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT).

God expects us to do what we can, with what we have, wherever we are. Less-than-perfect service is always better than the best intentions.

One reason many people never serve is that they fear they are not good enough to serve. They have believed the lie that serving God is only for superstars. Sadly, some churches have actually fostered this myth by making "excellence" an idol, which makes people of average talent hesitant to get involved.

You may have heard it said, "If it can't be done with excellence, don't do it." Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it...that's how we learn.

We need to practice the "good enough" principle: It doesn't have to be perfect for God to use and bless it. Remember, small things done with great love will change the world!

Servant Series: Servants Pay Attention

"Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now." (Proverbs 3:28 TEV).

Real servants pay attention to needs. Servants are always on the lookout for ways to help others. When they see a need, they seize the moment to meet it, just as the Bible commands us: "Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10 GWT).

When God puts someone in need right in front of you, he is giving you the opportunity to grow in servanthood. Notice that God says the needs of your church family are to be given preference, not put at the bottom of your "things to do" list.

We miss many occasions for serving because we lack sensitivity and spontaneity. Great opportunities to serve never last long. They pass quickly, sometimes never to return again. You may only get one chance to serve that person, so take advantage of the moment.

"Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now" (Proverbs 3:28 TEV).

John Wesley was an incredible servant of God. His motto was:

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."

That is greatness. You can begin by looking for small tasks that no one else wants to do. Do these little things as if they were great things, because little things done with great love will change the world.

Servant Series: Serving God by Serving Others

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Mark 10:43 (MSG)

The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others, you've arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept.

Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you.

This is so contrary to the world's idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding it, much less practicing it. The disciples argued about who deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later, Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in churches, denominations, and parachurch ministries.

Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few on servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even Christians want to be "servant-leaders," not just plain servants. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. That's what he called himself.

God created us for service, not for self-centeredness. Without a servant's heart, you will be tempted to misuse your gift for personal gain or even tempted to use it as an excuse to exempt yourself from meeting some needs.

God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we're not gifted. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to help him out, not say, "I don't have the gift of mercy or service."

While you may not be gifted for a particular task, you may be called to do it if no one who is gifted at it is around. Your primary ministry should be in the area of your giftedness, but your secondary service is wherever you're needed at the moment.

Your gift reveals your ministry, but your servant's heart will reveal your maturity. No special talent or gift is required to stay after a meeting to pick up trash or stack chairs. Anyone can be a servant. All it requires is character...the character that comes from maturing walk with Christ...the suffering servant.

It is possible to serve in church for a lifetime without ever being a servant. You must have a servant's heart.

How can you know if you have the heart of a servant?

Jesus said, "You can tell what they are by what they do" (Matthew 7:16 CEV).