Welcome to the Victory Blog

This past weekend, Pastor Dennis invited all the leaders in the church to come together for Insight Leadership Meeting. At the meeting, he had an open discussion with the leaders in which he shared his vision and goals for the near future, some of the key features of which were:

• Developing a roadmap to guide new believers and new members in their walk with the Lord
• Developing and hosting Encounter Weekends, which will include times of worship and prayer, an opportunity to receive healing for demonic oppression, water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit
• Partnering with other churches in the areas of serving the community and being unified in Christ
• Expanding beyond our current four services by opening satellite locations throughout the city
• Providing discipleship courses to equip believers in interacting with the world around them, covering topics like how to heal the sick, minister to the lost, cast out demons, etc.
• Arranging a series of classes building upon one another to help in spiritual growth; i.e. ministry 101, ministry 102, etc.

In order to implement these new programs and make new changes as we move forward, it essential to have leaders who are committed and passionate about what they do. “At the very core of any church that is taking territory for God is a heart of passion that burns in its leaders.” (source unknown) As leaders, we are called to lead a generation of people with fervency, compassion and love.

There are four things for which God wants our hearts to stay passionate:

• Passion for the Lost – Acts 1:8, “…you shall be witnesses….“One of the signs that you’re full of the Holy Spirit is that you’re interacting, interceding and being mindful of the lost. That is, you will have an evangelistic viewpoint concerning the world around you.
• Passion for Discipleship – Jesus charges His disciples in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
• Passion for Serving- When God calls us, He provides an anointing for us to do what He has called us to do. The key is being obedient to what He has called us to do. We all have moments where we desire to be served instead of serving others. In those moments, we should ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do? What does Jesus say about this?” (see Matthew 20:25-28)
• Passion for Loving- Realize that even in the midst of our busy and hectic lives, God has placed people all around us with problems, hurts, concerns and burdens every day. Look up. Look around you at the people in the line at the store or people at your job. What are they going through? What is their story? Do they know the hope that is found in Jesus? We all need to keep expanding our hearts to love more people. God put us on this earth for a purpose – that is to love people. There are a lot of people that are hurting, in distress and at a loss. We need to take our focus off of ourselves and be available for those who need our assistance. Consider Jesus’ example in Matthew 9:35-38.

Currently, about 6,300 to 6,500 people in our weekend services. Think how many more people can we reach if we will live our lives fueled with passion for those things that God is passionate about: the lost, discipleship, service and love. May we take up our cross each day and follow the way of our Lord and Savior.