Open Door Ministries Blog

"The Church"

"The greatest event in history was the coming of Jesus Christ into the world to live and to die for mankind. The next greatest event was the going forth of the Church to embody the life of Christ and to spread the knowledge of His salvation throughout the earth.

It was not an easy task which the Church faced when she came down from the upper room.... Left to herself the Church must have perished as a thousand abortive sects had done before her, and have left nothing for a future generation to remember.

That the Church did not so perish was due entirely to the miraculous element within her. That element was supplied by the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost to empower her for her task. For the Church was not an organization merely, not a movement, but a walking incarnation of spiritual energy. And she accomplished within a few brief years such prodigies of moral conquest as to leave us wholly without explanation - apart from God."

- Exert from A.W. Tozer

Some have said the Church is failing, or the Church has become irrelevant. They say that we should stop what we are doing. They say that we are cursed, looked down upon and yet, we stand. 

This isn't about Open Door, or any other church that anyone reading this blog attends. This is about being what God created us to be; a reflection of Him. Let us not forget that we hold the answer. It isn't in our gimmicks, the way we do church, or the things that define us. It is simply in His power. We can't do it separated and we definitely can't do it majoring on things that Christ himself didn't major on. 

How do we do it you ask? By simply doing what He created "The Church" to do; LOVE. You are part of something bigger than yourself. We are part of "The Church'. The bride of Christ.   The potential still faces us and her glory is still yet to be totally seen. Yet we press on to what Christ sees in us and what He has promised.

Prayer - May God help us to be all He created us to be. Allowing Christ to define us, instead of men's opinion to shaping us. Amen

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Aaron

Keeping Quiet Time Fresh

 Wanted to share a resource with you guys as you start the New Year. One of the most common statements I hear every January is "I want to read the Bible this year." As a Pastor that makes me happy but many times the best laid thoughts are just that, thoughts, until we put action behind them. So with that being said I wanted share a resource I use to keep me on track and make it interesting.

It's a simple web site called www.youversion.com.

This is a resource developed by Life Church TV which is one of the fastest growing churches in America and they really have a heart to see people connect with God in a way they never have before! You Version is awesome! It has every reading plan from easy to complex that you can imagine. Every version of the Bible is there so you can compare. They even have a way you can chat with people all over the world while you do your devotion on the things God is showing you. Last but not least, is the fact you can take notes, journal and send it to your email so that you have it!

The other cool feature that makes it work really well is that it's not just a web site, it's a mobile application also. You can get it on your iPad, iPhone, Blackberry and other mobile devices so that no matter where you are, you always have the Bible with you.

This is a New Year, and if we want it to be the best we've ever had than let's do some things we never have done and find out what God has to say on the subject of life!

What do you do to keep your quiet time active? Ideas welcome..... this is something we could all use help on!

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Aaron

 

Worship Songs...

So this past Sunday was an awesome day of worship at ODM! God was so present in every way especially during worship. Miriam and the team rocked as usual and the house blew the roof off!  It was so much fun to be a part of what happened!

We the Redeemed 

I really love this song. The lyrics are really well written and the chord progression allows for the sing-ability of a song with many lyrics.  Although you probably couldn't dance to it this praise song really allows us to enter a place of true praise of our heavenly Father.

The Wonder of Your Love 

This song is very similar to We The Redeemed in many ways. I love how the house engages when we do this song. The powerful lyrics are another home run!  I especially loved how we worshipped in the middle of the song, allowing the house to enter deeper into worship building up to the declaration at the end, "Sing out to God!" 

A Mighty Fortress

This is a new song by Passion that blows the doors off.  I love the line in the song, "a mighty fortress is our God".  This statement always makes faith rise up in me.  I'm so proud of the team that pulled this off on Sunday and allowed the church to enter into an understanding of this reality instead of just singing words on a screen.

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Aaron

Worship Songs...

I LOVED the song list yesterday! It was a Faith+Hope+Love type Sunday, packed full of powerful songs that proclaim truth about this God we serve!  All the songs are very singable for the congregation and there are a lot of dynamic parts that help create awesome an awesome worship experience! 

Here is where we found them, where you can get them, and lastly why we love them. See you next week! 

The first three are from Hillsong's Faith + Hope + Love CD.  You can download it here.

 

 Glow 

This is a really cool song with a different beat than what you normally hear in worship. Timmy rocked it yesterday and I love hearing him sing this song. The words are so as powerful. "Let the earth come to life in the light of heaven's glow" is an awesome lyric that brings about newness of perspective as we worship. I've never heard the word "GLOW" in a worship song before but I must say I like it! Love it!! 

It's Your Love 

The title describes the song really well. It's a seven minute song about Christ's love! You can never go wrong with that. We based our Easter service, "All For Love" on this song.  Click here to see the entire "All For Love" service.  I loved the song the first time I heard it and knew the message was one that our church needed to sing and remember--that "it's His love that has saved us" and continues to hold us together. On a side note, we are seeing more people come to Christ than ever before at Open Door and the numbers of new believers continue to grow week after week! Just continue to pray with us that people would continue to experience Christ love at Open Door! 

I Will Exalt You 

This is a faith building song! From the "go" it makes me believe that with God, I can do anything. That was important as we looked at what was being taught that day on the topic of The F Word (forgiveness).  Click here to see Sunday's message. Sometimes people hurt us to a place that we can't imagine being able to forgive. When the team looked at that, we felt this song fit perfect with the mood we wanted to set in the house Sunday, a mood that said "because you are with me, I will not fear." What an awesome statement as we deal with the place of hurt and pain! 

The Closing song was from the Passion: Awakening CD and was sung by The David Crowder*Band.  You can download it here.

 

How He Loves

From the beginning of The F Word series we felt that this song was the way we wanted to end the series.  Knowing the story that Roger Gosnell was sharing was key as we prayed about what we wanted people to feel and experience at that moment.  If you don't know the back-story of this song check it out here.  It is an incredible testimony of a song that is being sung throughout the world.  The staff has been talking about the ending to yesterday's services all day.  Yesterday can be summed in simply this, "oh how He loves us so, oh how He loves us, how He loves us all!"

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Have a great week! 

Aaron

Worship Songs...

I have been so blessed by the response in worship over the past couple of months at Open Door. I have really felt the presence of God in a way that I'm not sure if I have ever felt. 

God has drawn our hearts together to worship as one voice and make Jesus famous in Greenville. We have begun to step into what part of our calling is, to be "unashamed and uninhibited worshipers of this God we serve". 

With all that being said, I cannot count the amount of people that have come up to me and said, "Where are you getting the songs we are doing on Sunday?" To answer the questions, I have listed what my team and I are listening to as we pray about what we sing on Sundays. 

I will be back to give you some more next week. Hope you enjoy! 

Hillsong United:  Across//the Earth:Tear Down the Walls 

Great album that really speaks to this generation's need and desire for deeper expressions of worship. Musically speaking, it's one of the best worship albums I have heard in long time. One of the harder aspects of the album is that the songs are wordy which is not all bad but does require longer for people to learn the songs so that they can sing with us. The songs we have done off this album are: "Tear Down the Walls", "Soon", "King of All Days" and a few others. 

Passion: Awakening 

Passion comes out with a live album almost every year from their conferences. The team that sings with Passion are some of the most influential worship leaders in the world at this time. Names include Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, and David Crowder. They continue to set the standard of worship for most churches in America. This cd is another great one from the team that knows congregational worship. We have not done many off this album yet, but we will in the upcoming weeks. 

Hillsong: Faith + Hope + Love 

This another great cd from the guys out of Australia that seem to be able to write 10 new cd's a year! lol!! We used a lot of this during our Christmas program this year including the opener "His Glory Appears". Most of the stuff that Hillsong Church comes out with is good.  They have a real anointing for writing songs that speak to where the church is at right now. This cd is a great add as we have and will continue to do songs off of this album. 

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Blessings, Aaron

Help Haiti

 

We are so blown away by how you guys have responded to our call to action for the country of Haiti these past two weekends! 

Thanks to you, we have been able to donate over $3,400 to Compassion International! Not only that but, we have received tons of ideas from our congregation on what phase-two should be in our effort to help Haiti recover in the months and years to come. 

I am so humbled to be apart of a church as giving as ours.  Nothing is impossible when we come together in unity for the cause of Christ. 

Below you will find a link to Compassion International so that you can get more information about what they are doing and how you can help. 

We also have a young man in our church who is from the Dominican Republic.  The church he attended in the Dominican Republic is on the ground in Haiti, at this very moment, reaching out. He has sent us some of the photo's they took on the ground. 

 

 

Check out more pictures on our Facebook Page and visit Compassion International to see what they're doing to partner with local churches in Haiti.

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Be blessed,

Aaron

Grouplink and Life

People have been asking a lot of questions about the upcoming Grouplink this Sunday from 6pm - 8pm. Most deal with what it's like, what happens, how does work? These are great questions that are totally cool to ask and we love them! 

Basically, Grouplink is the environment in which we connect people into Life Groups. It's a 2-hour event that enables you to meet people who you have things in common with and get into a small group. 

We go to crazy lengths to make it as easy as possible for you to do this. We clean out the sanctuary and set up living rooms all over the place. We have some food because in the South, you can't have a party without food! 

We know that it can be scary going to a new church and not knowing anybody, so we have people who are there to help you meet people and take away as much of the uneasiness as possible. 

Lastly, you get the opportunity to join a group but, there is no pressure to join. If it's not for you than that's ok too. We just feel like this is something that everybody needs and can benefit from. 

So, whether you're a couple or single or anything that these do not include then we have groups that are specifically for you! 

Come out this Sunday night and find out what ODM is all about!! Click here to comment.

Aaron

Help for Haiti

Like me, when I first heard of the news of what happened in Haiti I wanted to help but, I was unsure how to. 

How could I make sure that the little I was able to give would get into the hands of those that need it? 

Last Sunday, we received an offering, our congregation was awesome in how they responded in that moment for the need. 

This Sunday we will be telling you how you personally, and we corporately, can help with the relief in Haiti not only financially, but also through prayer. 

When things like this happen it's easy to question how God could allow something as horrific as this to happen.

I submit to you that it is not time to question but to act. My cry is that whatever our part is we take it, be faithful to it and be the church in this day that we are called to be. A church of actions not questions.

Can a nation be won to Christ in a moment of catastrophe? I believe it can. 

See you this Sunday! 

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Aaron

All Things are Possible.

Came across this and thought is was so powerful that I wanted to share with you guys. Check it out and may it encourage you as it did me. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (New International Version) 

9) But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10) That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

The following is a quote from A.W Tozer...

"Ten thousand enemies cannot stop a Christian, cannot even slow him down, if he meets them in a complete attitude of trust in God. They will become to him like the atmosphere that resist the airplane, but which because the plane's designer knew how to take advantage of that resistance, actually lifts the plane aloft and holds it there for a journey of 2,000 miles. What would have been an enemy to the plane becomes a helpful servant to aid it on it's way" 

What an awesome thought. May we always remember that "All things are possible"!!

Aaron

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From Rain to Shine

So, this past week like many of you guys, I was seriously wondering if the sun would ever shine again! Lol!! I can't remember to many times in my life that it rained as much as it did for that many days in row! It was crazy! 

During that time it was funny to watch all the Facebook status updates change day-to-day from enjoying the cold rainy weather, to getting restless, to finally being seriously depressed! 

As I look back at last week and how crazy it really was, there was never a doubt in my mind (well maybe a little!) that the sun would shine again. No matter how many days it had been since I had seen the sun it didn't keep me from knowing that it would eventually shine again. 

Funny how I know that when it comes to the natural but totally forget it when it comes to things of a spiritual nature. 

No matter what dark season you are in, no matter how long you have been there, know that the sun might not shine tomorrow, but the sun will shine again! 

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Aaron