Welcome to the Victory Blog

The frigid temperatures of a recent cold front could not contain the men of Victory World Church. Friday, October 21st made way for what the men of Victory know as M90. Generations came together to take part in the final M90 event of the year that carried the theme of sports and tailgating. A chili cook-off, flavorful barbecue and a host of games including a slam dunk contest, flag football and a cheerful team atmosphere set the tempo for a festive evening of Christ-centered fun.

The highlight of the evening came from keynote speaker Bishop Wellington Boone. Bishop Boone’s charismatic message was one that focused on the importance of men leading a Christ-driven life. His delivery gained a roar from the men of M90 as he encouraged them about right priorities. Boone put one in the mindset of a coach giving a winning strategy to his team. The men seemed charged up and ready to tackle the remaining months of 2011 with victory.

There are some things that aren’t optional if you’re serious about being a disciple, and embracing cultural reconciliation is one of them. Offenses between the cultures run deep and are often difficult to let go, but as our guest Bishop Wellington Boone spoke this weekend, we need to get over everything – except being like Christ.

I know most people think, well life isn’t that simple. But really, it is. Accepting others basically comes down to deciding if you are of God or not. You’re either with Him or you’re against Him. There are no exceptions to Jesus’ command: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35 NIV)

When the love of God is in you, you can love people you don’t even know. How will you take a step in that direction today? Ask God to convince you of His love for you so it can spill out onto others. Ask Him to make you comfortable in getting to know someone who is not like you – a co-worker, a parent at your child’s school, or someone at your church…and then be intentional about doing it. Small groups are a great place to connect with people of other cultures.

We may have differences on many levels, but in reality, we’re all relatives. “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). Don’t limit yourself on where you can go with this. If reconciliation is God’s priority, it’s yours too.

Listen to Bishop Boone’s message here.

Brandon and I started our journey to financial freedom 3 1/2 years ago when we began our courtship.  We desired to have a prosperous marriage – spiritually, relationally and financially – and we were willing to change our bad habits to do so.  Financially, we had a pretty steep mountain to climb, as we realized that together we had accumulated $86,000 in consumer debt! Already fed up with living paycheck to paycheck, I had coincidentally enrolled in Financial Peace University at the beginning of our courtship; we decided as a couple, however, that we were both going to apply its principles to our lives. That meant no more charging up credit cards or engaging in “smart” financing deals.

To start, we both created monthly budgets to guide our spending.  We even included a dating budget, which eliminated the pressure of overspending to impress each other. Our discipline paid off.  One and a half years later, Brandon and I were able to pay cash for our wedding and honeymoon! It was (and still is) a wonderful feeling to only have pictures and memories – not bills – to remind us of those precious events.

Unlike a number of our peers, we started our marriage out reducing expenses instead of adding more. We were able to function off one income and intensely pay down debt with the other. Couponing became my new hobby instead of shopping for clothes, and “it’s not in the budget” became a common answer when friends would make impromptu plans for us to go out.

On September 16th 2011, we were able to scream at the top of our lungs about our debt freedom!! This was by no means an easy feat. Our efforts were questioned and/or mocked by our friends, co-workers and even family. There were times when we’d even question if our desire to become debt free was too intense. Should we relax a bit? Be normal and splurge a little here and there? We would always go back to why we started this journey in the first place – to have a prosperous marriage and to change our family tree, so our kids will not have to experience being slave to the lender.

We are so glad that we stood our ground and eliminated our debt. December 2011, we will bring our first child into this world. She will truly be a fiery dart and will be able to soar high, as nothing will be holding her down; she will never be burdened with the bondage of debt!

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

I believe many followers of Christ are not experiencing one of the most gratifying benefits of the Christian walk, and that is Biblical Community. Friends are a blessing. But friends who are serious about living life from God’s perspective, and are willing to help you be committed as well, are invaluable. That’s real Biblical Community.

With Jesus, it was all about relationship, not religion. He was passionate about people. Any disciple of Christ – one who is disciplined in striving to be more like Him—is engaged with people in Biblical Community. There’s safety and support in it and it’s a remarkable display of the power of God in your life.

But what would it look like if you became part of a real Biblical Community? What should you expect and how would you even begin to do life with other people when everything you’ve known has encouraged you to act, think and be independent?

I answer these questions and more in this week’s message about the value and characteristics of a real Biblical Community. Click here to listen.

It is wonderful to know how well the Freedom Campaign is doing and that the church is heading in a successful direction. I came to this country at the end of September 2010. My wife and I started coming to Victory World Church regularly from December onwards. The fellowship has been wonderful and spiritually fulfilling.

When I started looking for a job, it was difficult as the economy was so bad. In November I finally was offered a job in
Greenville, South Carolina and thought it was God’s doing, so we packed up and moved there. As soon as we arrived in South Carolina and I was ready to start my job, they contacted me saying they couldn’t verify my work experience because it was in another country. Turns out we moved for nothing.

We moved back to Atlanta that same week. We lost so much money after breaking the apartment lease and just other expenses. We started coming to Victory after all of this happened. Months went by and still no job. We were getting frustrated and depressed. Only my wife was working and she only worked a few hours a week.

Then Pastor Dennis talked about the Freedom Campaign. We wanted to participate but weren’t sure because of our financial situation. But we decided to at least do $5.00, which in our eyes wasn’t much but at that time was all we could afford. The first week we gave our contribution toward the Freedom Campaign, I got a call for a job interview a few days later. Within days, I got the job and started working.

How wonderful God is. We took the initial step as a family, but God did the rest.

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

If God’s Spirit lives in you, you can meet His standards. That’s why He’s on your case — because He loves you and not only has He appointed you to change, but He has empowered you to turn things around in your life. Your struggle may consume you, seeming impossible to beat or just bigger than anything else you’ve ever had to face, but there’s nothing stronger than the pull of the Heavenly Father who wants you.

The key to living morally pure is directly connected to how you handle conviction. God reminding you over and over about your flaws and your struggles is not an imposition. It’s a sign of His devotion to you. Another sign of His love is the Holy Spirit who will help you overcome those struggles, if you’ll just surrender.

Pastor Colleen asked a very important question this weekend:  Do you really want to get good at drowning out the voice of the Holy Spirit? I know that’s not what you want.

Listen to her entire message on living morally pure. It’s attainable. It doesn’t mean you’re perfect. It means you’re looking your corrupt nature square in the eye and taking it on, with the Holy Spirit’s leading. “Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can’t please God. But if God’s Spirit lives in you, you are under the control of your spiritual nature, not your corrupt nature.” (Romans 8:8-9 GWT)

You can live morally pure.

Don’t blow Your Budget…

Your emotional budget that is…. Even before I made it out of the building on Friday night I had begun using my “emotional currency.” As I awkwardly held a piece of Tiramisu in my hand and stood in line for a napkin, the woman in front of me backed up, putting her elbow into my dessert, and then looked at me and moved away without so much as an ‘excuse me.’ I could have easily adopted the “Oh, no you didn’t” attitude, but that would have been wasted “emotional currency.” Instead, I just smiled as I thought about the message we’d just heard. Then I caught up with her and used my napkin to wipe her elbow clean; an emotional investment I was glad to make.

Hello ladies. Did you attend the last ChickChat? No? Well, you missed a treat. And I’m not just talking about the Tiramisu. The night was hosted by Pastor Colleen and she ministered to us as only a true girlfriend could. The topic for the night explored why we, as women, are exhausted emotionally. Many times we blame our situation or make excuses that a certain person caused us to react a certain way. By reacting in “that way,” we cause ourselves to become drained emotionally.

Pastor Colleen equated it in terms of money, which made the audience sit up and take notice. She explained that the same way money can be spent, lost, stolen, wasted or invested, so can your emotions. She gave us various examples of situations and different ways of dealing with them. Pastor Colleen explained that we are given so much emotional currency on a daily basis, and we must learn to build it and budget it. If we don’t, we run the risk of an emotional NSF and over time, becoming emotionally bankrupt.

Examples were used that described different interactions with the people we deal with every day—your employer, your spouse, your toddler, your teenager, a friend, and a stranger. By showing us everyday interactions with the people in our lives, Pastor Colleen pointed out the “emotional energy” spent, lost, wasted or invested in the ways that we deal with each situation. That Friday night, so many women saw themselves wasting “emotional energy” in the neck rolls and finger wagging that comes with the attitude of not being stepped on… or stepped over. It took Pastor Colleen’s ChickChat to point out that we are not “pushovers, but overcomers.”

Doing a quick examination of situations as they develop and dealing with them in a positive manner at that time, we are investing our “emotional currency” and putting an end to some of the stress that we’ve dealt with when we otherwise cop an attitude and waste our energy or spend from our emotional budget unwisely. Another lesson taught that night is that as women, we feel we have to deal with situations when they are really not situations at all. So we are creating situations which are also wastes of our emotional energy.

Don’t waste your “emotional currency.” Once you blow the budget, you’ll have nothing left to give. Remember that it is yours to invest or spend wisely.

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We want to hear about what God has done in and through you at Victory. Whether long or short, complex or simple, your story is worth hearing, and there are others who need to hear it. Won’t you please consider sharing your story with us? If you’re willing to do so, please click the Share Your Story quicklink above, write your story, upload a nice photo (if you can) and click submit. It’s that simple. Now, don’t be shy. God’s given you a story for a reason! Share it today!

Is the Bible absolute truth for you? Are you one of the many Christ followers who says it is, yet lives differently? There are so many areas that trip us up when it comes to doing life God’s way instead of our own. For example, do you place more emphasis on agendas, things and feelings rather than people? Do you really treat your body like it’s the temple of the Holy Spirit? If you tithe 10 percent of your earnings, how do you manage the other 90 percent? Do you serve others in need when you’re short on time or resources?

God has a say on everything, and evaluating our lives according to His biblical standards means we ask ourselves, “Am I going to keep doing the wrong thing, or am I going to let the Word correct me?” It means our opinions and feelings are brought down under the Word of God.

A disciple believes that the Bible is the final authority and puts God’s Word at the head of everything he or she does. But to become like a disciple and begin living your life by the Word, you have to actually read the Word.

This weekend I issued a challenge to read the entire New Testament now through the end of the year, starting with the Book of John. Begin today and discover God’s true perspective on many things. When you know it, will you live it? Click here to listen to the message.