Marks Quotes and Poems

Here are some of the poems and quotes that I have written over the past months. I hope they may be of use. If one is a blessing to you, let me know

 

Click on the link below and then click on it the second time it comes up.

 

Marks Quotes

Different Type of Church People

I have found a number of different people in the church:

There are some that do nothing and just Spectate.

Some stir up trouble and Provocate.

Some are nosey and just like to Investigate.

Some are growing and continue to Germinate.

Some take the Word of God and Accentuate.

Some enjoy fellowship and always seem to Congregate.

Some peoples life seems to always Illuminate.

Some live a life that others should not Imitate.

Some not only do wrong, but Instigate

Some are go-getters and Motivate.

Some are church-hoppers and Relocate.

Some lack faith and seem to Hesitate.

Some grumble and just seem to Irritate.

Some are dead and just need to Resuscitate.

Some everyone loves and wants to Gravitate.

Laying a Good Foundation | Taking a Youth Group From Chaotic to Christ-Honoring

I have always enjoyed working with and preaching to teens. They are exciting, unpredictable, curious, energetic, needy, moody, loving, unloving, kind, mean, etc. When I finished Bible college, my first ministry was being a youth pastor for a good church. It was so rewarding and it gave me so many early gray hairs. It seemed at times that you were playing a chess match with these young people. You were constantly analyzing them and trying to stay one move ahead of the game. At times the ministry seemed to take two steps forward and three steps backward. Sometimes you could see great potential and sometimes you could see no light at the end of the tunnel.

I began to see that I was ministering to a broad spectrum of teens. I had preachers’ kids, deacons’ children, bus kids and kids from broken homes. I had mexican immigrants that had walked across the Rio Grand to escape Mexico. They lost one of their siblings as they were crossing the river. I had a young girl that had been raped by her own family members. I had kids that loved church and some that were made to come to church. I found out one thing in ministering to this diverse group of teens. In spite of some that clothed themselves in a rough exterior, down deep inside, they all wanted to be loved.

Over the years as a pastor, I have continued to have a heart to see God work among my teens. There may not be any other group in my church that I have put the time, money, and effort into seeing God transform lives. I know that some of the greatest times of spiritual growth for me was in my teen years. My youth pastors put great time and effort into seeing us daily grow in the Word. We had a lot of fun, but there was always a spiritual purpose in everything that we did.

As a pastor I have seen teens that I have loved and cared for break my heart. I have gone to the house of two dope-taking parents to tell them that there fifteen year old daughter was pregnant. I have gone with parents to visit their son in juvenile jail. I have listened as a teeange girl told my wife and me that she could not be saved. She showed us her wrist that were slit from trying to take her life. She proceeded to tell us how that her uncle, who was a preacher, had raped her dozens of times. I have conducted the funeral services of young people whose lives ended at an early age. I stood in dismay as I watched a teen boy punch his dad in the face and screamed “I hate you” over and over. I remember us talking to two beautiful teen girls. Both had so much going for them. They really began struggling spiritually, but both told us that everything was okay. “Don’t worry about me”, they said. We wept over them and prayed for them. One ran off and moved in with a boyfriend as a teen. The other is raising a baby as a teen. 

While ministering in Europe, we hosted a Euro-wide youth conference every summer. It was amazing to see teens from a number of countries come to hear the preaching and fellowship with other teens. We watched some come back year after year. We saw some growing spiritually each time they came back. We saw some come back and they were still struggling greatly from the year before. We had the joy of seeing dozens saved and many called into the Lord’s service. These young people truly stirred my heart. As I look back on some of those young people, it is interesting to see where some of them are now. One young man met with us and told us the struggles he was having with his father. He told us that he was even struggling with the fact that he had the desire to live the life of a homosexual. I saw little hope for this young man. I’m thankful though that I can report that he got his heart right and has attended Bible college. You never know what is going on in the life of these precious teens. I received word one day that a good young man who had come to our youth conference had taken his own life. I began to realize something. I realized that often times, the ones that I thought would go on to do great things for God, ended up doing nothing and the ones that I thought had no chance, ended up doing good things for the Lord. I recognized that so many of them were privately struggling with things and they desperately needed some people to love them and point them towards the One that truly could help them.

Sometimes a youth pastor may look out at a handful of teens and wonder if it will ever be possible of having a good youth group. Their ministry seems to be so chaotic. They struggle just to get their teens to come to church. Every once in a while they will have a spark of hope that things are looking up. I know in the back of their mind, they look at other growing youth groups and say to themselves, “Will I ever be able to have a Christ-honoring youth group with the teens that God has given me?” We will sometimes look at ourselves and see someone who is not able to help change these lives. I say to you….don’t ever give up. You never know what potential is locked up inside of the hardest of teens. I’m thankful that God “looks upon the heart.” and I’m also thankful that little is much when God is in it. So, how do we pull this potential out of what seems to be a rubble of ashes? How can we take a group of teens from chaos to Christ-honoring. Let me give just a few things to consider.

1. Map out where you are going.  I believe that many youth pastors fall short because they never really visualize where the Lord wants to take His young people. Not what He wants to see happen in their lives, but where he believes God is directing him to take his youth group. You only have these teens for a short period of time, but there should be a goal of what the greatest purpose of the youth ministry will be. We must remember that they will come from varied backgrounds. They will come in at varied levels of spiritual depth. I do believe that there are some places that you want to take each of your teens.

A.  You want to encourage each to acquire a love for God and the Word of God.

B.  You want to instill a respect for authority.

C.  You want to nurture them to the place that they are willing to fully surrender their life to God.

These are some simple steps to take that can build each teen, no matter what spiritual level that they come from. Set some practical goals to take your teens to where they are growing in each of these three areas. If they make progress in these arenas then you most likely have their heart and they will be teachable.

2. Plan opportunities for your teens to serve.   I have always said that “Serving teens are generally sensitive teens”. Any opportunity that you can take to let your teens serve others and even each other will help to keep their hearts’ soft. Sometimes one of the hardest thing to accomplish is to get your young people to the place that they are willing to serve each other. There are many opportunities for them to serve: Bus ministry, nursing home ministry, parents dinner, working around the church, soul-winning, helping widows and widowers, visit hurting teens. You should be weaving some of these into your goals to build your youth group.

3. Keep your teens around young people who are dedicated and surrendered.   This is a wonderful way to wet their appetite for the things of God. You can take them to youth rallies, youth conferences, and youth camps. You can have teens that are being used of God to come and share their testimony with your youth. Bring in young people from different backgrounds. You need to bring in teens that have come from a difficult background and struggled with sin. You also need to let them see the lives of teens that have not given their life to the world and show them that it is better to give their life to God when they are young. Take your young people to visit Bible colleges. Not every teen is going to Bible college, but you can almost guarantee yourself that you will not have any teens go if you do not allow them to become acquainted with it.

4. Take the high road in every avenue of your youth ministry.  So many youth pastors make a mistake in thinking that they have to blend in a little of the world to reach some teens. They often think that they have to be the “cool” buddy to the teens instead of a spiritual mentor. Many teens will have no spiritual influence outside of what they receive at church. Let them be able to have a feel of godliness when they are a part of the youth group. Make your music God-honoring. Make your standards glorifying to God. Make your speech God-honoring and not what they are used to hearing on the playground at the public school.  That does not mean that everything that is done has to be  spiritual and no fun, but weave spiritual teaching into every activity you have. Set the high road as your standard-bearer so that you can bring godliness out of them and not just the status quo. Decide whether you want to help build good teens or godly teens. There is certainly a different road that you have to take to go from chaos to Christ-honoring.

5. Take time to mentor teens who are growing and learn to love those who are not.  Again, many youth pastors make the mistake of not seeing the potential in a young person that is learning and growing. Often times we consume our thoughts with those who seem to have no desire to grow that we cannot see the small seedling that is springing up in some young person that has an open heart. It is important to take time to encourage them and mentor them. Give testimony of their growth in class to encourage others. Certainly you are going to have to take time to love those that are hardened and not interested, but much more quality time should be spent growing those that are willing to grow. You will then find something happening. You will find that one person’s life will spark another, and those will spark others, and you will see before long that there is a glimmer of hope that things can go from chaos to Christ-honoring. Make all of your programs, classes and activities encouraging to your good teens and allow those that are not yet growing to see that teens can have fun doing godly things. It becomes contagious.

6. Teach your teens to reach other teens.  This is very important in building a youth department. Teens need to see the blessings of it enough that they want to invite others. That is how you will grow your youth group. Your teens can get other teens in a lot easier than a youth pastor can. This is why part of your mentoring must be to teach them how to lead someone else to the Lord. If we have a teenager for four or five years and we have not taught them to read God’s Word, memorize God’s Word and share the gospel with someone else, we have failed them. There is not greater joy for a teen that is growing, than for them to be able to take the Bible and show another teen how they can be saved. This ought to be foundational teaching in our youth groups. Many would say, “Well, most of my teens would not care anything about that.” Just take the one or two that are interested and train them. Then testify as you see them make progress. Let your whole youth group know that God is pleased when teens are growing in their Christian life. It will make those that are on the sideline think and consider what it would be like to see God working in their own heart.

These are six simple steps that I believe can help any youth group go from a state of chaos to a life of being Christ-honoring. I hope this may encourage some pastors, youth pastors, and parents in the training of their teenagers.

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Growing up PK | Eight Pearls Discovered from Ministry

You find so many mixed reviews when you start asking kids what it is like to grow up in a preacher’s home. For many, they will immediately whine about the pressure of growing up in the ministry “bubble”. “I can’t be myself”, they will often exclaim, “because everyone is watching me.” Some will complain about being made to look and dress a certain way. I have to do all these things just because my dad is the pastor. I could list dozens of preachers’ kids who are grown now and have no desire to be a part of church or ministry. They will say that they got burned out, mistreated, forced into, missed out, pin-pointed, and many other phrases that can present their cause on how bad life was for them. I also know of countless young people who have a grateful heart that they grew up around the ministry, governed by guidelines, encouraged to serve, committed to set a testimony for other young people. The “bubble” for them is a privilege that they do not take lightly. They count it reasonable to be different for the sake of the Savior as well as their parents.

I do believe that parents can have a great deal to do with the attitude their children have toward being a preacher’s kid. Some parents will push the guidelines without preparing the hearts. If the children have learned how to love the Lord and love their parents, then it can be a reasonable service not to conform to the world. If our homes can be a haven of love and happiness, then walking out into the “bubble” for a while does not seem to be a great sacrifice. I’m thinking of a large family that was in the ministry for several years. Two of the children came to hear me preach at a church and I saw them weeping through the whole service. They came to the altar and said that their hearts had been refreshed through the service. Afterwards, they asked if they could speak to me for a few minutes. They said they could not go into a lot of detail, but they felt like they could never be under their dad’s ministry again. They talked about some of the ways that they had been put through “prison-camp” when it came to the ministry. They said that Dad is someone completely different when he is away from other preachers. I’ve tried to keep up with those young people as much as I can and as far as I know, none of them are in the ministry and most of them do not go to church at all. Some of the kids are living a gothic life. I wonder if growing up in a home void of real love and happiness sent them down that trail. A preacher’s home, of all homes, should be a testimony of love, forgiveness, sincerity, servitude, joyfulness and grace. Maybe we should spend more time building our children than using them to build our ministries.

I was thankful to grow up as a PK. My parents are my heroes. The ministry was my life. From the time I was ten I was actively involved in serving in the church. My parents were not perfect, but they were perfect to me. Their love made the ministry easy for me to commit to. I saw people hurt them, but they did not become bitter. I saw them give without being giving to, without any complaint. What people saw of them at church was what they were at home. I have always happily and thankfully worn the “PK” banner.

I want to share with you ten pearls of truth that I learned from growing up “PK”

1.  I was able to see the faith of preachers.   I had the joy of spending time with numerous preachers growing up. I was privileged to fellowship with Lee Roberson, Tom Williams, John R. Rice, Bill Rice, Jack Hyles, Bob Kelly, Jack Hudson, Paul Levin, and so many other missionaries and pastors. Two things that stuck out in my mind from these great men of God were their faith and their grace. Each were an example to me to step out by faith and to treat people with grace. I was humbled that some of these great men of God would eat and fellowship with a young boy like me and spend time telling me how God had worked in their life. It made me respect the men of God and care for the men of God. I had a more gracious view of my father after spending time with these saints of God.

2. I acquired a taste for preaching.   We have all heard that the more you are around something, you acquire a taste for it. That was the way preaching was for me. From an early age, I could not get enough of it. My dad preached many revival meetings when I was growing up and I loved going with him. We would often travel a couple of hours away to go to a meeting and Dad and I would get to talk about the ministry. On the way home, we would often turn on the radio and I remember listening to Maze Jackson, J. Harold Smith, and others preaching on the radio. I couldn’t get enough of it. I learned to love loud preaching, soft preaching, long preaching, short preaching, topical, textual, expository, and on down the line. As much as I loved sports, recreation, hunting and fishing, I loved preaching. Growing up “PK” did not push me away from preaching, it gave me a deeper love.

3. I developed a love for people.  I saw my parents give themselves unconditionally to the people God have given to them, often times it was with no thankfulness in return. Sometimes it was met with resistance and disdain, but I saw them give, not for what they would get in return, but for God’s blessing. What a great lesson for me to learn as a young man. I was able to learn early that people who are hurting need love no matter how hard their exterior may seem to be. God  gave himself for people. The ministry is for people. The pastor’s life is people. I learned to love people while growing up “PK”.

4. I learned to love the church.  I feel sorry for preachers’ kids that leave the home and never darken the door of the church again. Many of them, sadly, never saw God in the church or in the home. They were made to put on their church look when they walked into the church building. They were made to appreciate church without being encouraged to have a relationship with the God of the church. Early in my years church became my life, my heartbeat, my encouragement, my pleasure, my strength. Much of my love for church came because my parents encouraged me to love God. Some of the greatest memories of my youth were at the church altar, the bus route, the Sunday School class. I looked forward to revival time as much as youth activity time. I can honestly say that my parents helped to instill in me a lasting love for the house of God.

5. I was taught to make priorities in life.  I found out early that one of the keys of life was putting things in priority. God was always first in our home. It was never sports or any other form of recreation. When I was in high school I was addicted to basketball. Every moment possible, I was at the YMCA playing basketball. My junior year, I was given all-american honors. My high school team was doing good that year. I would like to think that I had a big part in their success (I’m not sure that is true). We had come to the week of a major tournament that our team was involved in. The same week was the week of our revival at church. I felt like my team really needed me, but my dad felt like I really needed the revival. I missed the tournament that week and came to the revival. You know what, I never have regretted that my dad taught me some priorities. I still love sports, but God’s work is far more important in my eyes. Other priorities have made a difference in my life. I have come to understand through the life of a “PK”, that the ministry is not near as important as is my family. Many pastors lose their families because they nourish the ministry more than the home. I realized a long time ago that I do not have a ministry if my family is not in order. I’m grateful that I was able to gain priorities growing up “PK”.

6. I learned I had to be myself.  Growing up, I was identified often times as Tom Lancaster’s son. I did not mind that at all. I was thankful for what a wonderful preacher Dad was. Some people said we looked alike. As I got older, some said that we talked alike. As I was growing up, I found that I quickly adopted the beliefs of parents. Their doctrine was mine. Their convictions were mine. Their love for the ministry was mine. As I grew older, Dad began to direct me that the way they believed could direct me, but I would have to form my own beliefs and carry them as my own convictions. I’m thankful that at a young age I learned my convictions and beliefs for myself from the Word of God. I see too many young people who carry their parents’ beliefs until they get out of the house. Because they were not personally grounded with their beliefs, they changed completely from how they were raised. Growing up “PK” taught me that I could not stand on who my parents were, I had to be myself.

7. I learned to take hurt.  I found out early in the life of being a “PK” that people are going to hurt you in the ministry. It seemed that the people who my parents invested the most in would sometimes be the ones who hurt them the most. I saw my dad do good things for people who had just hurt him deeply. As a young man, I could not understand that. I always wanted to go and take care of the issue for my parents. I felt like a good chewing out would always solve the problem. I found out early that you must try not to take hurt personally. People often do things before they think and it was really not to hurt you personally. I heard my dad say, more than once, “that God would fight our battles for us”. From growing up “PK”, I have learned that you will get hurt in the ministry, but learn to have the grace of God not to fight back at those who hurt you.

8. I learned to enjoy the ministry.   Over the years I have had the opportunity to mop floors, clean toilets, work on buses, drive buses, clean buses, visit people, stack chairs, work sound systems, set up sound systems, teach Sunday School, teach children church, preach, do youth activities, go to camp, go to youth conferences, swallow goldfish, swallow worms, took pies in the face, drown in dunking booths, build walls, put on roofs, put down carpet, go on mission trips, cut grass, paint walls, take up offering, usher, count money, clean up flooded church floors, put in lights, perform weddings, perform funerals, watch people step over into Glory, visit people in prison, and on the list goes. I’m thankful that growing up “PK” did not make me disdain all these things, but it just caused me to enjoy it more.

If you are the child of a missionary or pastor, learn to love the opportunity that God has placed you in.

Where there is no Vision

It has been said that, “people only see what they are prepared to see.”  Many times we fail to adequately portray the vision that God has placed on our hearts. Others cannot catch the vision until the vision has been properly communicated,

A vision takes Pondering, Preparation, Passion, Perseverance, and Power.

Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference.

Vision looks inward and becomes duty. Vision looks outward and becomes aspiration. Vision looks upward and becomes faith.

“Momentum by itself is useless to truly bless the church, but, when it is caught up on the wings of the Spirit of God, it can lift the church to greater heights.”

Overwhelmed by the goodness of God

I wonder if a church full of Christians, overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord, could have an affect on a world, full of sinners, overwhelmed by the hopelessness of life without the Lord.

The Great Need in Revival

“A revived heart resonates with the presence of holiness, the peace of heaven, and the praise of the Holy One.”

“A revived church loathes worldliness, longs for worship, and laments a lost world.”

Taking the Church to New Heights

“Momentum by itself is useless to truly bless the church, but, when it is caught up on the wings of the Spirit of God, it can lift the church to greater heights.”

Church?, What is that all about?

          We are living in a generation that, for a lot of people, church is just another weekly social event that gives our families something to do. There seems to be no understanding of its necessity and ultimate potential to revolutionize our lives. Church is not a place to seek out a Holy God or find help for a hurting soul. Someone uniquely said that “Some Christians spend the first six days of the week sowing their wild oats, then they go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure”. It is sad that there is such a “cheap” commitment to something that used to be part of the foundation and bedrock of this Christian nation. Some may say that I don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian but I am more of the belief that “Professing a love for Christ without a committed love for the church is a biblical impossibility.” The scripture still exhorts us ” not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together”. As I have been a part of the ministry for the last thirty years, I see five different ways that people generally view the church.

1. Church is a RITUAL     We have at times been hard on churches that are characterized by formalistic worship, but often our church worship has taken on the same characteristics. Certainly there is something to say about getting into good habits and certainly church would be a good habit to be involved in, but ritualism can sometimes take the place of heart-felt worship. Children go to church because dad made them and then when dad is not around to make them, the ritual ends. Ritualism can cause us to sit in a service and never be stirred by the Spirit’s moving. We can sing and not know what we are singing about. We can pray, but it is only the prayer of a Pharisee. Ritualism can soon lead to manufactured worship that will soon die because it does not resonate from a heart of love.

2. Church is an Emergency Room     I remember a family that I had the privilege to pastor. They would come to church periodically, and when they walked in the door of the church I knew that there was some tragedy that had come into their lives. This was the only time that they came, and their commitment to come would last till the end of their trial. It continued on the same humorous circle for several years. God becomes their “spiritual bell-hop. When tragedy strikes, they know where to find God. The fellowship becomes important. The Word of God becomes necessary, but, when the need is taken care of, the need of God diminishes. We found this out as a nation during the dark season of September 11, 2001. The following Sunday our churches were overflowing with people who generally showed up for Easter and Christmas. There was a hunger for God and a realization that we had left Him out of our midst…. but, soon the threat to our nation subsided, and soon our churches were occupied by the faithful few. What a sad way to look at God and His church to only feel the need be a part when I’m experiencing tragedy.

3. Church is a Recreation Center    We seem to be so fascinated with recreation today. The driving force of the average home is how many activities that we can be involved in. Church has been added to a lengthy list of necessary activities for our homes, but, the sad thing is that church has been placed far down on the priority list. Although we should  enjoy the fellowship of our church family in times of activity, families must recognize that the purpose of the church is not to entertain us.

4.  Church is a Religious Act   America is quickly becoming a, self-professed, religious nation and not a Christian nation. In the south, it is a known fact that every “good-ole boy” believes that it is right to attend a church service each week. If you were to ask them, why, they would quickly tell you that we are “religious” people. Religion has replaced revival, and repentance, and righteousness and we have become satisfied with surface religious acts. Christ had much to say to the religious crowd that only had a surface representation of what should be a personal walk with Christ. This brings us to the last point which should be the desire of our hearts when it comes to church.

5.  Church is a Responsible Relationship   Church should be a personal relationship that we strengthen, build up, nurture, protect, and encourage others to be a part of. If we see the need of this relationship, how can we not be committed and faithful to something that Christ loves so much. It is impossible to have the right love for Christ if we do not have a love for His church. We go faithfully to church because we love it, we love Him, and we see the necessity of being faithful. We realize that we need the church and that the church needs us. Is not that the way we should look at all relationships. May we nurture and build and protect this wonderful relationship.

Related articles

• What should I be looking for in a church? (altruistico.wordpress.com)

Momentum in Ministry

     Someone once said that it is easier to steer a car that is already in motion. If you are not hearing anything from God regarding what direction He wants you to go, start doing something and let Him steer you.  Many churches and ministries seem to have a hard time “going and growing” because there is no momentum to cause the steering to be easier. A lifeless church will always find it hard to grow until people get a vision of a spirit-led direction and they began to move the car in that direction. At that point they find that the steering automatically becomes easier,

    Unity becomes such a key in getting this momentum started. A.W. Tozer said, “One hundred pianos tuned to the same tuning fork will automatically be in tuned with each other. A church must seek the direction of God, and then as a unified body, begin working in that direction. “Momentum by itself is useless to truly bless the church, but when it is caught up on the wings of the Spirit of God, it can lift a church to greater heights.” (S.Mark Lancaster) If we are coasting along in the ministry, we are either loosing momentum or else we are headed downhill.

     The  leader is the one that must first catch this vision and begin this momentum. John Kotter said, “Effective leaders help others to understand the necessity of change and to accept a common vision of the desired outcome.” People see what they are prepared to see. This means that a leader must have the ability to transfer his vision to others.

I would like to give just a few thoughts on “Developing and Guarding Momentum”

1. Make your direction known.

2. Organize your ministries to take you in that direction.

3. Mentor men to bear the burden of the ministry.

4. Expect the moving of God

5. Nurture through caring ministries.

6. Teach your people the joy and blessing of giving.

7. Unleash an environment for commitment and faithfulness.

8. Make prayer a necessity to find God’s will and power.