Quad Cities – Page 2

Welcome back to a regular work week! I hope you all had an AMAZING Thanksgiving day with friends and family. Last week for me, our family, and church broke down like this:

Spent the first part of the week recovering from my trip to Indiana where I got to speak to 80 teens at an All-Nighter.
Shopped, prepped, and cooked Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Pics and recipes coming soon, I swear!
Ate food, played with kids, and spent time with my wife. So grateful for all the good things God has blessed us with!
Stayed up way too late playing video games as my coupon clipping, sale-hunting, savings queen-of-the-universe wife (official title) left at 11:30 Thanksgiving night to spend the next 8 hours systematically hitting the best black-Friday sales available. She spent far less than most. God loves me…
Took wife and kids to the Festival of Trees Saturday morning. Ran into a friend from church who gave us a $10 punch card to play the games. I love our church family! We all had a great time together.
Got our worship on Saturday night with a good crowd. Saw more visitors, some from out of town visiting family. We worshiped like we loved Jesus, preached God’s Word, and people gave their lives to Christ. Jesus is awesome!
Came back Sunday morning to see more of our out-of-town college students. I love their generation! They are world-changers… you watch and see!
Came home, cleaned the house from a crazy week and watched Iron Chef America with the newest Iron Chef winning his first battle. I’m a food nerd… I can’t help it.

I hope you have a great week getting back into your routines. May you experience God’s blessings and power in your life. I look forward to seeing many of you back this Saturday for our new series “Shine.” More on that later this week!

Blessings,

John

This past week, we wrapped up series “REAL: life meets church” with a message called Speak Life, (Proverbs 18:21, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue…”) in which I shared the story of my teenage friend, Bryce, who literally spoke life into me when I was on the verge of suicide. You can read all about that under my post here. We looked in James 3:1-12 which deals with the potential power that our tongues possess to do good or destruction. We also looked at a few other passages and took some principles away from how we talk to people:

Your sin is my business. And my sin is your business. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to call one another into our potential to be Christ-like. Hebrews 3:12-13
Build up, don’t tear down. Whenever we speak to others, even when correcting, we use words of life to build them up not tear them down. Jesus did this even when confronting an adulterous women. He did not condone her sin, but called her out of that lifestyle and into her potential.
Don’t be a fool. Proverbs 12:15, “A fool is wise in his own eyes; but the wise receive counsel.” Assume that you can learn something from anyone.
Deal with the person. Matthew 18, Christ tells us how to handle conflict with people which begins with “go to them…” Don’t try to deal with a tense situation over facebook! Go to them, or at least call them.
Stay out of it. Refuse to listen to someone else tearing another person down. It’s gossip, and you should refuse to receive it or spread it. Period. Don’t give-in to your curiosity at the expense of someone else’s reputation.

You can watch the message here if you want to more. God bless!

John

Leadership Podcast

6 Decisions BEFORE becoming a Lead Pastor

00:00 / 27:10

6 Decisions BEFORE becoming a Lead Pastor

Jan 13, 2017 • 27:10

Most of being a first-time lead pastor is learning as you go. While this was (and is) definitely true of me, there were six decisions I had made prior to stepping into this role, that I think other pastors and leaders could benefit from.
Creating Church Culture

Jan 19, 2017 • 25:36

In this podcast, John talks about branding, values, language, and celebrating as pieces to creating a healthy church culture.
Separation of Church and State

Feb 10, 2017 • 29:52

In this podcast, I talk about the Immigration Ban, and how the church should be approaching such issues regarding our response to government, and proclamation of the gospel.
Advice to those in Bible College

Feb 24, 2017 • 22:45

Here I give advice on what students preparing for vocational ministry should be doing now to get the most of what is waiting for them after graduation.
Live the Word

Mar 8, 2017 • 15:48

Not going to lie. I smell fake from a mile away. My guess is, you probably do to. And people who know the Bible, but don’t actually want to live it cuts me the deepest. In this podcast, I talk about the difference between knowing God’s Word and actually living…
Preaching, episode 1: What is Preaching

Aug 28, 2017 • 31:33

In this podcast, Pastor John unpacks the first of a handful of episodes intended to coach you in your growth as a preacher. Download the Handout for this episode.
Preaching, episode 2: Writing a sermon

Sep 2, 2017 • 17:50

How does one go about writing a sermon? In this podcast episode, Pastor John gets into the cadence of a good sermon, and how to lead people toward a compelling application. Click here for the outline
Preaching, episode 3: Sermon Delivery

Nov 29, 2017 • 41:45

In episode three, we look at HOW we preach and deliver our sermons. A “must listen” for the new preacher, and a great fresh perspective for the seasoned preaching veterans.
Bivocational Ministry

Jun 3, 2019 • 26:49

Bivocational Ministry is becoming more valuable than ever. Enjoy this episode as we been to discuss the needs, challenges, and advantages of being in bivocational ministry. To support this podcast and other resources from Pastor John, visit www.patreon.com/johnmarkum – thank you for your support.