Tag: Blog

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 19TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

Ever since that first Sunday that I walked in to a church building for the first time in my adult life – I haven’t missed too many Sundays of church service.

I probably average about 4 or 5 missed Sundays per year – mostly due to vacations but a few due to sickness. 10 Sundays in a row were missed in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic during the initial lockdown. That was by far the longest stretch of missed Sundays since the beginning.

I’ve been part of church leadership for the past 12 years now, so my attendance, participation, and assimilation on Sunday mornings must be high. You don’t become a church leader by attending whenever you feel like it. The church body relies on you to be there for them, and to lead them closer to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

When I’m not with my church body on a Sunday morning I feel somewhat out-of-place. When I’m on vacation and 11 AM U.S. East Coast Time strikes I think about what I would be doing back at home with my church body – whether it be singing, praying, listening, learning, or preaching. And then there’s the post-service fellowship Lunch.

I will actually miss 3 Sundays in a row this November, as I’ll be on a long 18-day road-trip vacation. On 2 of those 3 Sundays I hope to check out 2 local area church services to experience how it’s done there (at my destination). I encourage current and future Pastors to visit other church bodies to see how it’s done differently. I used to do this more often than I have recently – including a Saturday night or Sunday morning church service as part of my vacation experience. I need to get back to doing that. Sometimes the Pastor or someone on his leadership team will introduce themself to me and welcome me to their church. That’s always a wonderful feeling. If the conversation continues on then I’ll introduce myself as a Pastor visiting to experience worship and to also gather new ideas and concepts. Sometimes I’ll even get a mention from the Pastor as part of his sermon. A few times I’ve been invited up on stage to lead the church body in prayer and to say a few words. It’s always an honor to do that.

So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock – His church – purchased with His own blood – over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. (Acts 20:28 NLT)

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 12TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

A few hours before going to bed last Saturday night I was asked by my Pastor’s wife if I could bring the Word the next morning. Of course I said that “YES – I can preach tomorrow.” There’s really no chance that I would say “NO” to a request like that. At this stage of my fantastic journey I accept all invitations to preach God’s Word.

I immediately reviewed several sermons that I had recently written. One even had a built-in Communion. I prayed about it. I asked God for guidance and direction. I selected my sermon for the next morning – all about “Salvation & Hope” – from First Peter. I updated it for about an hour, and it was ready to be delivered in the morning. (It was not the one with the built-in Communion. I had already written a new Communion unique for last Sunday, so I married it to my selected sermon.)

I sang 3 songs as part of our 4-person Praise & Worship team (we’re a band), I preached the sermon, and I led our monthly Communion. God gave me the energy and the wisdom needed to lead our church body last Sunday morning. My voice was hoarse afterwards.

It hasn’t happened yet in my 5 years of preaching, but eventually it will when I least expect it. I’ll walk in to our sanctuary on a Sunday morning, and my Pastor (or his wife if he’s not there) will ask me to preach. I won’t have anything practiced and prepared. But God’s Word says:

Preach the Word of God. Be prepared – whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT)

I’ve often thought about what I would preach about if I were asked to do so at a moment’s notice. I really need to think about it more often. As I evolve as a Preacher and a Pastor I’ll be slowly moving away from prewritten sermons to spontaneous sermons. I need to figure out how to do that effectively. I can be dangerous without a script. I can see myself wandering around our stage while speaking in to the wireless mic and not making much sense at times and going way off-topic. I have to train myself on how to not be that way. I’m thinking about working with a loose outline of 5 or so relevant topics where I could speak on each one in sequence for about 7 or 8 minutes apiece to reach my target of a full 35 to 40 minute sermon. Timing is everything. Less than 30 minutes and you’re ill-prepared. More than 45 minutes and you’re rambling on.

I need to ensure that my sermons are based entirely on God’s Word and not on Pastor Chris’s opinions. I’ve seen preachers preach so far away from God’s Word (even while including verses of Scripture) that it resembled more of a stand-up comedy performance at the Improv or a motivational speech at the Arena rather than a Gospel at the House of the Lord. Need to keep the main thing the main thing.

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries