On Tuesday evening, our class welcomed Tim Halbfoerster. Growing up, Tim dabbled in drugs and alcohol. He spent much of his young life high on drugs. a friend invited him to church and he took her up on the invitation. The first time he went to church, he was high. Despite what was going on in his life, he continued to attend church. One night, he knew he had to give his life to God. When he came to church that night, the minister came to him and said, "Are you done playing games with God?" That night, he gave his heart to the Lord.
Since then, he has pastored different churches and has gained much experience in dealing with people and church issues. One of the churches he pastored was a church that was just coming out of a split. Though this was a hard time for him, he learned much. The church he is pastoring now, River of God, is a thriving church. They are a huge part of what happens in their community. The church does many outreaches and events to reach the people in their area.
Some things I noted:
- Relationships are huge. From Tim's experience, he explained that we must work to build bridges between people of different generations. In some of his churches, he had to deal with "old people" who's views and approaches were different from his own. Something very interesting that he said was if we can win the older folks over, they will be our greatest supporters. This makes complete sense! If they feel that they matter, then they will get active. I think it is very important to involve all the different parts of the body in what is taking place in the church. He went on to say that we must give people time to get to know us and trust us. Once people can trust us, they can then trust our ideas.
- I really appreciated the way their church does outreaches. Instead of a one day event, they will make it into a weekend long thing. This gives the church the chance to make the community aware of the presence of the church. On Friday, the church does a concert. On Saturday, they'll have an outreach with all kinds of attractions and events. Lastly, Sunday is "bring a friend to church" day, and the church serves lunch to all those in attendance. I really appreciate this method because three days is a good amount of time to establish a relationship. As we know, a relationship with someone is a great way for them to see Christ through us.
- Another big focus of discussion was the power of the Holy Spirit. I firmly believe that the Spirit changes the face of any ministry. Once we give Him the freedom to move, awesome things start happening! I have witnessed it previously and I love watching God work. Though I am certain about the power of the Holy Spirit, I am not certain about speaking in tongues. All my life, I have been aware of it and I speak in tongues regularly. My uncertainty about the matter comes when we say that speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of being baptized in the Spirit. I know this is an issue of debate among many people, and I too am uncertain about it. I know many people who love God and serve Him, but do not speak in tongues. I do not think it is fair to say that no, this person is NOT baptized in the Spirit. When I speak it tongues, it encourages ME because I am praying straight to God from my Spirit. Me praying in tongues is not really ministering to anyone else. Therefore, I think we need to be careful in how we talk about Him. From Tuesday's discussion, I felt as though we have made "speaking in tongues" synonymous with being "baptized in the Spirit." I do not agree with this because the power of the Spirit is soooo much more than me speaking to God through my Spirit.
All in all, it was a good discussion that took place and much learning was achieved. I think it is important for all of us to work out our own salvation, as the Bible says. We should learn and seek knowledge about what the Bible says and means about these issues in our lives.
