Author Archives: Alvin Reid

A lot is going on just now with Young Pros!

First, some bittersweet news, as Currie and Suzanne Tilley, who have invested so much in so many young pros, have been led by our great God to Pennsylvania, where Currie will be Associate Dean and Professor at Lancaster Bible College. We will miss the Tilleys greatly, but we rejoice in their obedience to follow God for this new chapter of ministry. Currie and Suzanne, you will always be a part of us!

We have great news, because Zane and Joy Styers will be leading the small group led by the Tilleys in the days to come. Already a staple in that small group, I am sure we will see this group continue to group and flourish.

Speaking of small groups, we are so blessed to have the Meachums and the Bunches leading as well. I am so grateful for the ministry of these great leaders. In August we will be starting a new small group led by our deacon Allen Smith and his wife Teresa. They will meet on Tuesday nights. More about that to come. Some of you will be a blessing by moving from your current group to the Smith group. We always want to make room for more to join! We are the church not a club.

So many more exciting things are happening. God is good, we must pray! Live.love.serve starts this coming weekend. Before that, Team Capetown leaves thus Thursday! We had a great time washing cars and sharing Christ yesterday.

Mark your calendar for these dates:
August 7 lunch after class, mission trip testimonies
September 10 Covey Time Management seminar

God is good!

Young pros are ON MISSION this summer! Some just returned from Uganda. Shelly Jeffcoat gave me a report and it sounds like the team had some amazing ministry.

Others are off to Brazil, and about a dozen of us are going with a team to South Africa on July 21.

Missions means the nations. It also means our neighbors. So if you are in town the last week of July be sure to join in Live.Love.Serve as we reach our own community.

We will officially relaunch this website in August. More to come!

Here are a few more pics from our January Getaway. Next up: pics from the Bulls game April 15!

hey All!

Baseball games are a great time to enjoy the beauty of creation and great fellowship. I love LOVE love going to baseball games with a group. So, note these dates:

1. April 15–Durham Bulls. We will be meeting at the church and car pooling together. The Bulls have a great minor league team and ball park. Tickets are 7 bucks (or less). Hotdogs there are awesome!

2. May 28–this is the Saturday before Memorial Day. The Washington Nationals have a game at 1:05. We can literally do there and back in a day, leaving around 8, returning by 9 or 10 that night.  We can get outfield tickets for 18.00 each or less perhaps.

We will need to get a number of who can go the 28th of May, but April is for anyone who shows up.

We will also plan some golf outings whenever the weather decides to cooperate. Maybe by July haha.

 

Today in our Bible study we see how Paul actually saw suffering he faced for his faith as a great opportunity for the advance of the gospel. Pretty amazing perspectiv I would say.

As part of our time I shared a poem I have mentioned previously of a soldier’s prayer. I wanted to post it here so you could have it:

I asked God for strength that I might achieve, I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey.

I asked God for health, that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy, I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life, I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for – but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among men, most richly blessed.

 

 

The person you become involves many factors, but these three have a dramatic impact on your life: the books you read, the people you meet, and the places you go. We start by going to the cross for redemption, to Jesus as Lord, and to the Bible as our guide.

This spring we will be looking at some key New Testament books: Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.  Here is the tentative schedule so you can read ahead each week:

Philippians: ADVANCE THE GOSPEL

Mar. 6 Phil 1:1-11

Mar. 13 Phil 1:12-26

Mar. 20 Phil 1:27-2:11

Mar. 27 Phil 2:12-30

Apr. 3 Special Day

Apr. 10 Phil 3:1-21

April 17 Phil 4:1-23

Colossians/Philemon ADVANCE IN TRUTH

April 24 Col. 1:1-20

May 1 Col. 1:21–2:7

May 8 Col. 2:8-23

May 15 Col. 3:1-17

May 22 Col 3:18-4:18

May 29 Philemon 1:1-25

Looking forward to learning with you!

 

Beginning Sunday we will embark on a study of my favorite book in the Bible, Philippians.  Last year a group of us from the Creek visited the ruins of Philippi while on a mission trip to Greece. Here are some pictures from that trip.  To prepare for our study, read Acts 16 to overview Paul’s original journey to the city which saw remarkable gospel progress and not a little adversity.  Read through Philippians if you can before Sunday!

NOTE: the following is a follow-up from our class 2-27. It offers guidelines for taking a personal retreat of 3 or more hours.

•  Charles Spurgeon: “Of course the preacher is above all distinguished as a man of prayer. He prays as an ordinary Christian, else he were a hypocrite. He prays more than ordinary Christians, else he were disqualified for the office he has undertaken.”

•  William Carey: “Prayer—secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness.”

•  Martin Luther: “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” “He that has prayed well has studied well.”[i]

•  William Penn, describing George Fox: “Above all he excelled in prayer. . . . The most awful, living, reverent frame I ever felt or beheld, I must say was in his prayer.”

 

 

A personal retreat means just what it says: a personal, alone time to get away with your Creator, Redeemer, and Lord. We live in a hectic world that sometimes makes us think being busy is a mark of being godly. But Jesus often went away to spend time alone (Mark 1:35). We too need times to get off the Ferris wheel of life and have a season with our Lord. Think about where you like to go when you simply want to have a refreshing time with God: most envision either the mountains or the beach or some form of outdoor location, away from civilization.  Sometimes we just need to get away. In fact, I once had a class of church planters take a retreat like this. One wrote me later to tell me that day saved his ministry as he had become so discouraged he wanted to walk away. Regardless of where you are, we all need a time to get away.

 

Read the following before you go on your retreat. You may want to use all this material. Or none of it. Or some. It is YOUR time with God, but I have learned many need to have some sort of guideline for a time like this. The following is an attempt to help you, but it is not a formula to follow slavishly.

 

Before you embark on your retreat, establish the time and place you want to be. Make sure it is a secure place, but also a place where you can have solitude.

 

Determine how long you want to be on this retreat. I suggest a minimum of three hours. Take a bottle of water, a notebook (if you keep a personal, spiritual journal take that), your Bible (on this one, not an electronic version, but a paper copy), and a couple of pens. Unless you have health issues (diabetes, etc) and/or you are going on a much longer time, don’t bring anything else. You can have your cell for emergencies but please for the 3 hours at least, turn the thing off.

 

This is not a time to prepare a lesson on the Bible, though some ideas may pop into your head and you may certainly jot those down. This is a time to draw close to God.

But if you have never done this, three hours can seem like an eternity, and you may find yourself praying for everything you can imagine and discovering only 30 minutes has passed! We hurry through so much of life. This is not a time to do that. This is a time to rest, to reflect, to give thanks to God.

 

I. Beginning: A time of spiritual preparation and cleansing. Begin your time by considering the following questions. But first, a few points:

 

1. Rest in the gospel. Your time with God today does not earn favor with God. Rejoice in the fact that you have already been accepted by God through Christ’s work on your behalf. Spend this day reflecting on the great love of God, and in response to His great love seek to know Him more intimately, serve Him more faithfully, and hate sin more completely.
2. Pray the prayer of the psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23,24).
3. Be totally honest as you answer each question.
4. Agree with God about each need He reveals in your life. Confess each sin, with the willingness to make it right.
5. Repent from sin! Turn from every sin the Lord reveals in your heart and forsake it.
6. Praise God for His cleansing and forgiveness.

Now, as you begin your time formally of “retreating,” ask yourself these questions:

 

1. Genuine Salvation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
   1. Was there ever a time in my life that I placed all my trust in Jesus Christ alone to save me?
   2. Do I thank God regularly for His great salvation?
2. God’s Word (Psalm 119:97; 119:140)
   1. Do I live to read and meditate on the Word of God?
   2. Are my personal devotions consistent and meaningful?
   3. Do I practically apply God’s Word to my everyday life?

3.     Humility (Isaiah 57:15)

1. 1. Am I quick to recognize and agree with God in confession when I have sinned?
   2. Am I quick to admit to others when I am wrong?
   3. Do I rejoice when others are praised and recognized, and my accomplishments go unnoticed by men? (Romans 12:15)
   4. Do I esteem all others better than myself? (Phil. 2:3-4)

1. Obedience (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Samuel 15:22)
   1. Do I consistently obey what I know God wants me to do? (James 1:21-25)
   2. Do I consistently obey the human authorities God has placed over my life?
2. Pure Heart (1 John 1:9)
   1. Do I confess my sins by name?
   2. Do I keep “short sin accounts” with God (confess and forsake as He convicts)?
   3. Am I willing to give up all sin for God?
3. Clear Conscience (Acts 24:16)
   1. Do I consistently seek forgiveness from those I wrong or offend?
   2. Is my conscience clear with every man? (Can I honestly say, “There is no one I have wronged or offended in any way and not gone back to them and sought their forgiveness and made it right”)
4. Priorities (Matthew 6:33)
   1. Does my schedule reveal that God is first in my life?
   2. Does my checkbook reveal that God is first in my life?
   3. Next to my relationship with God, is my relationship with my family my highest priority?
5. Values (Colossians 3:12)
   1. Do I love what God loves and hate what God hates?
   2. Do I value highly the things that please God (e.g., giving, witnessing to lost souls, studying his Word and prayer)?
   3. Are my affections and goals fixed on eternal values?
6. Sacrifice (Philippians 3:7,8)
   1. Am I willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary to see God move in my life and church (time, convenience, comfort, reputation, pleasure, ect.)?
   2. Is my life characterized by genuine sacrifice for the cause of Christ?
7. Spirit Control (Galatians 5:22-25; Ephesians 5:18-21)
   1. Am I allowing Jesus to be Lord of every area of my life?
   2. Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to fill (control) my life each day?
   3. Is there consistent evidence of the “fruit of the Sprit” being produced in my life?
8. “First Love”  (Philippians 1:21,23)
   1. Am I as much in love with Jesus as I have ever been?
   2. Am I thrilled with Jesus, filled with His joy and peace, and making Him the continual object of my love?
9. Motives (Acts 5:29; Matthew 10:28)
   1. Am I more concerned about what God thinks about my life than about what others think?
   2. Would I pray, read my Bible, give, and serve as much if nobody but God ever noticed?
   3. Am I more concerned about pleasing God than I am about being accepted and appreciated by men?
10. Moral Purity (Ephesians 5:3,4)
    1. Do I keep my mind free from books, magazines, movies or other entertainment that could stimulate fantasizing or thoughts that are not morally pure?
    2. Are my conversation and behavior pure and above reproach?
11. Forgiveness (Colossians 3:12,13)
    1. Do I seek to resolve conflicts in relationships as soon as possible?
    2. Am I quick to forgive those who wrong me or hurt me?
12. Sensitivity (Matthew 5:23,24)
    1. Am I sensitive to the conviction and promptings of God’s Spirit?
    2. Am I quick to respond in humility and obedience to the conviction and promptings of God’s Spirit?
13. Evangelism (Romans 9:3; Luke 24:46,48)
    1. Do I have a burden for lost souls?
    2. Do I consistently witness for Christ?
14. Prayer (1Timothy 2:1)
    1. Am I faithful in praying for the needs of others?
    2. Do I pray specifically, fervently, and faithfully for revival in my life, my church, our nation, and the world.

 

II. Scripture:

Spend some extended time reading Scripture. Suggestions: Read Psalm 119. Read the entire books of Ephesians, Philippians, or I Thessalonians. Or read them all. Spend lengths of time in the Word. Write down what you see: insights, reminders, promises, questions. It may be that the bulk of your time is spend here.

 

You may want to take time to write out Scripture—a chapter like Romans 8 for instance, written out word for word to focus on the truths you read.  Or, you may set aside time for Scripture memory. We Evangelicals are better at being activists than at being contemplative, but here is a great time to sit back and reflect on the passages you read.

 

III. Season of Prayer:

Here is a suggestion for a lengthy season of prayer. Take time to go through each of the following:

 

1. Praise–This is our response to the person of God. We praise him for who he is. Take time to rehearse the greatness of God, His character, His sttributes.

 

2. Thanksgiving–This is our response to the goodness of God. Thank him for what he has done. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving” (Ps 100:4). “In everything give thanks” (1 Thess 5:18). An attitude of gratitude should permeate our lives.

 

3. Confession–Confession is our response to the holiness of God. Our sins will hinder our praying (see Ps 66:18). As we pray, we can ask the Holy Spirit to reveal each sin in our lives. Then we can confess the sin (see 1 John 1:9). When broken relationships are involved, we should seek to make them right as well.  Ask this question: what is the ONE THING that keeps me from following Christ with everything in my being?

 

4. Intercession–This is our response to the love of God. When we ask of God, Foster reminds us, we are not “trying to manipulate God and tell Him what to do. Quite the opposite. We are asking God to tell us what to do. God is the ground of our beseeching . . . Our prayer is to be like a reflex action to God’s prior initiative on the heart.”

Take time to pray for family, friends, coworkers, your church’s leaders, political leaders, the lost for whom you are burdened. Pray for the spiritual, emotional, physical, and relational aspects of their lives.

 

5. Petition–Petition is our response to the love of God for us. It is appropriate and necessary for us to ask God to meet our needs. However, in our consumer-driven culture, we can learn from this prayer of petition from an anonymous soldier:

I asked God for strength that I might achieve;

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked God for health that I might do greater things;

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy;

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for—

but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among all men most richly blessed.

 

6. Listening–There is another aspect about prayer that must not be missed: listening to God. You may not be aware of it, but wherever you are as you take time for this retreat, noises are all around you. Rock-and-roll music is all around you. Rap tunes are playing. People are discussing various topics from sports to finance. The only thing you need to hear these voices is the proper receiver. A radio will suddenly usher into your presence a bevy of sounds.

Prayer operates the same way. God is constantly speaking to us, teaching us, leading us. The question is not whether God is speaking but if we are listening. God consistently speaks to us through his Word, but do we hear him? He occasionally speaks to us through circumstances and other people. He also speaks at times through the still, small voice of his Spirit. Are we listening?

 

7. Consecration–Consecration is a prayer of commitment to God. Often in Scripture believers made specific, fresh acts of consecration: Jonah in the whale’s stomach (Jonah 2:1–10); David, following his sin with Bathsheba (Ps 51); Paul, our Lord, and others. In our times of prayer, we are often confronted with the need to make a fresh, new commitment to God.

(NOTE: The section on prayer is adapted from Alvin Reid, Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional, B&H, 2009)

 

IV. Journal:

Take time to write in your notebook/journal. Write at any time along the way, but especially near the end write: lessons from Scripture, prayer requests, things you should do you believe the Lord is telling you, hopes and dreams, people to talk with, etc.

 

CONCLUSION: Regardless of how much or how little of the above information you use, do this simple exercise at the end of your time to make this more than a one time event, but part of your ongoing sanctification:  ask God to show you ONE THING you should do differently because of your time. Remember: salvation costs you nothing, but discipleship costs you everything.

 

“What a man is on his knees, that he is, and nothing more.” John Owen

 

“Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

 

This earnest prayer, uttered by Jeremiah Lanphier out of his passion for the salvation of the residents of New York City in 1857, led to what historians call the Layman’s Prayer Revival or the Revival of 1858-59.  On September 23 of that year he knelt in prayer alone, shortly after the noon hour.

 

Lanphier’s intercession ascended from the upper lecture room of the Old North Dutch Reformed Church, his heart broken for the purposeless, despondent masses of New York.  A single man, he was wed to his ministry of personal evangelism, street preaching, and door to door witnessing.  His burden for the throngs of people forced him to his knees.  Could he have ever imagined what would soon come about?  That within a matter of months, over 50,000 people would gather daily for prayer in the city he loved?

 

New York City then as now sat in dire need of spiritual life.  The old North Dutch Reformed Church in downtown employed Jeremiah as a lay missionary to influence their area for the gospel. Converted in the year 1842, Lanphier was a forty-year old businessman filled with enthusiasm.

 

Lanphier began his assignment on July 1, 1857.  He put together a folder describing the church which he gave to everyone he met.  He passed out Bibles and tracts.  While he found some success, he was overwhelmed at the enormity of the task.  His prayer, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” led him to a novel approach.

 

Jeremiah had found prayer to be a great source of comfort.  He noticed how the businessmen were “hurrying along their way, often with care worn faces, and anxious, restless gaze.” He presented the idea of a prayer meeting for businessmen to the church board.  Their response was less than enthusiastic, but they agreed to allow Lanphier to proceed.  Determining that the noon hour was the most feasible time for a prayer meeting, he printed and distributed a handbill publicizing the meeting.  He promoted the meeting with great zeal.

 

HANDBILL LANPHIER GAVE OUT:

HOW OFTEN SHALL I PRAY? (FRONT)

As often as the language of prayer is on my heart; as often as I see my need of help; as often as I feel the power of temptation; as often as I am made sensible of my spiritual declension or feel the aggression of a worldly spirit.  In prayer we leave the business of time for that of eternity and intercourse with men for intercourse with God.

(BACK) A day-prayer meeting is held every Wednesday from 12 to 1 o’clock in the Consistory building in the rear of the North Dutch Church, corner of Fulton and Williams streets.  This meeting is intended to give merchants, mechanics, clerks, strangers and businessmen generally an opportunity to stop and call on God amid the perplexities incident to their respective avocations.  It will continue for one hour; but it is also designed for those who find it inconvenient to remain more than 5 or 10 minutes, as well as for those who can spare a whole hour.  Necessary interruption will be slight, because anticipated.  Those in haste often expedite their business engagements by halting to lift their voices to the throne of grace in humble, grateful prayer.

 

Pretty simple, right? But God has a way of honoring the simplicity of His children when coupled with faith. Lanphier’s own description of the birth of the noonday meetings beginning on September 23, 1857 is moving:

Going my rounds in the performance of my duty one day, as I was walking along the streets, the idea was suggested to my mind that an hour of prayer, from twelve to one o’clock, would be beneficial to businessmen, who usually in great numbers take that hour for rest and refreshment.  The idea was to have singing, prayer, exhortation, relation of religious experience, as the case might be; that none should be required to stay the whole hour; that all should come and go as their engagements should allow or require, or their inclinations dictate.  Arrangements were made, and at twelve o’clock noon, on the 23rd day of September, 1857, the door of the third story lecture-room was thrown open.

At first, Lanphier prayed alone.  Then, one joined him, and by the end of the hour there were six.  Prayer meetings had been held before, but this was different.  Former meetings tended toward formalism and routine.  These were free and spontaneous.

 

The following Wednesday there were twenty in attendance, and on the third thirty to forty.  Those present determined to meet daily rather than weekly.  On October 14 over one hundred came.  At this point many in attendance were not Christ followers, many of whom were under great conviction of sin.  By the end of the second month three large rooms were filled.  Almost simultaneously prayer meetings began across the city.  Many churches sponsored such meetings without knowledge of other activity similar to their own.  Within six months fifty thousand were meeting daily in New York, while thousands more prayed in other cities.  On March 17, 1858, Burton’s Theater near the North Dutch Church opened for noon prayer.  The theater was filled by 11:30 A.M.  Henry Ward Beecher spoke to three thousand gathered there on the third day.  Evening preaching services soon companioned the daily prayer meetings.  Lanphier and the church set up seven rules for the meetings: 1) Open with a brief hymn; 2) Opening prayer; 3) Read a passage of Scripture; 4) A time for requests, exhortations, and prayers; 5) Prayer would follow each request or at most two requests, while individuals were limited to five minutes of prayer/comments; 6) no controversial subjects were to be mentioned; 7) At five minutes before 1:00 a hymn was sung so the meeting could end at 1:00 promptly.

 

Amazing answers to prayer were recorded across the nation.  One man spoke of his burden for an unconverted son.  This son, who had travelled across the world, was converted soon after the request was made at Fulton Street.  One young man came to the meeting seeking salvation.  He was converted after hearing a request by a mother for her son.  “It struck me that that was from my mother,” the youth reported.  “After meeting I got sight of that request.  And sure enough, it was from my mother, in her own handwriting.”

 

The prayer movement spread nationally.   One of the most moving accounts out of the Prayer Revival came in the town of Kalamazoo, Michigan.  At a prayer meeting there a man in attendance related the following account:

 

At our very first meeting someone put in such a request as this: “A praying wife requests the prayers of this meeting for her unconverted husband, that he may be converted and made a humble disciple of the Lord Jesus.”  All at once a stout burly man arose and said, “I am that man, I have a pious praying wife, and this request must be for me.  I want you to pray for me.”  As soon as he sat down, in the midst of sobs and tears, another man arose and said, “I am that man, I have a praying wife.  She prays for me.  And now she asked you to pray for me.  I am sure I am that man, and I want you to pray for me.”

Five other men made similar statements.  The power of God fell upon that meeting.  In a brief period almost five hundred conversions came to the town.

 

The Prayer Revival made perhaps its most notable impact on an individual in Chicago.  As early as January 1857 revival fires burned in parts of the Windy City.  The YMCA held prayer meetings like those in New York.  A 20 year-old  named Dwight Lyman Moody attended the meetings. During the Prayer Revival Moody’s heart was stirred.  Biographer John Pollock said: “The revival of early 1857 tossed Moody out of his complacent view of religion as primarily an aid to fortune.”  He wrote to his mother about his attendance at the prayer meetings: “I go every night to meeting — Oh, how I do enjoy it!  It seems as if God were here Himself.”

 

For what do you pray today that would take God Himself to answer? What do you seek Him for in the name of the gospel? I have been praying much in recent days about these things, and it has led to a total rearrangement of my schedule and a refocusing of ministry. And God is beginning to honor this with lives being changed by the beautiful gospel. I want to spend my life trusting Him, not seeking comfort.

 

Let us pray for a movement today, shall we?

 

NOTE: the above is excerpted from my book co-authored with Malcolm McDow entitled Firefall.

 

One of the things I love about the Young Pros at the Creek is the growing focus on community–in home groups, in casual get togethers, at the Getaway, on upcoming mission trips (at our house for the Super Bowl!), etc.

As we grow in our community I am praying as you are to find the lonely young adults around us and to invite them to be a part of us. So many caught up in the rat race of life wait for a kind word, a friendly deed, a moment of genuine concern. Let’s be about a growing community that changes the community around us!