Excerpt from “The Power Of Unity” Empowered Believers Empower the Church.  Jesus lived on earth for thirty years and began His ministry with a rag tag group of men that became His first twelve disciples.  For three years He walked with them, He talked with them, He broke bread with them, and He showed them the Father.  He planted the seed of the word in their hearts and demonstrated the manifestation of God’s love through the many signs, wonders, and the miracles He performed.  Jesus envisioned the church, His body, as whole. He envisioned His body as unified, and so He prayed. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;  I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. John 17:22-23 Jesus prayed that we would all be one.  But how?  How can people from so many different cultures, social backgrounds, walks of life, even different skin colors become one? It all begins with a relationship with Jesus. We know that the first twelve disciples were a very unlikely group […]

In nearly thirty years of ministry, I have been honored to travel internationally to several different countries.  Each time, I found myself touched by the outpouring of love by the people I was sent to serve.  My most recent trip to Brazil was all that and more; to borrow a favorite phrase of a close friend, it was all that AND a bag of chips! The hunger of the Brazilian people for God’s word, and their reaction to the message, was like nothing I have ever witnessed before. Even in advance of my arrival the expectation of the people was high.  They prayed and prepared trusting God would move mightily; such expectation does not go unnoticed with God.  I am reminded of the woman with the issue of blood, she expected and so she received.  God honors faith and our heartfelt sense of expectation. In the US, we are blessed with abundance.  This includes an abundance of opportunities to hear and be taught the Word.  It is however, a double-edged sword. We have access to a wealth of knowledge via online learning, books, and television.  There are numerous church services, workshops and conferences where Christian gather to hear godly leaders preach, teach, […]