If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
—1 John 1:9

Are you allowing Satan to magnify the memories of your spiritual failures? He will always keep them before you unless you take your stand and move up in faith.

The devil will whisper, “You didn’t get very far along toward the deeper life, did you?”
He will say, “You made a big ‘to-do’ about wanting to be filled with the Spirit and you really flopped, didn’t you?”

He will taunt you with the fact that you may have stumbled in the faith—and perhaps more than once! The devil wants you to live in a state of discouraged chagrin and remorse.
Remember, the Bible does not teach that if a man falls down, he can never rise again. The fact that he falls is not the most important thing—but rather that he is forgiven and allows God to lift him up!

Father, I worship You this morning and thank You for the wonderful truth of First John 1:9. Amen.

Tozer, A. W. (2001). Tozer on Christian leadership : A 366-day devotional. Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread.

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Today Vision Baptist celebrated our five year anniversary! God gave us 158 in Sunday School and 195 in the morning service! It has been a wonderful 5 years!

After the service we launched about 500 balloons with gospel tracts and then took the above picture. Everyone is moving around, not all are there, but it is good for a memory of a very special day!

Thank you Lord Jesus for all that you are doing in our lives!

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Vision Baptist Church is about to celebrate its fifth birthday! That is so hard to believe. In ways it seems like we just got started and in other ways it seems like the church has been going for a very long time.

In 2005 we began to dream about much of what we have seen God do. He has given us 5 missionary families out of our church. He has allowed us to give over $500,000 to missions. He has allowed us to see souls saved, baptized and faithfully serving Him. Lord willing, we will baptize two more this morning.

God has given us a Sunday morning attendance of about 175 now. He has brought wonderful families with a heart to reach the world.

I wanted to take this opportunity to ask you to think of all that God has done and to thank Him. You have worked hard to get to where we are. You have prayed, attended, served, given, witnessed, taught, discipled, and many other things to have a church like we have.

It is good ever so often to just stop, think, and say thank you. It is good just to review what God has done. We will do that on March 20, 2011. So get ready. Begin thinking now and thanking now!

My heart is excited as I think of what we will see God do in the next five years if Jesus doesn’t come back. I want to see us reach Arabic speakers and families with the gospel. I want to see us start a ministry in Clarkston. I want to see us start churches outside the city of Atlanta.

I am begging God to give us a man to take over some projects for Africa that we have. It means a man that will help us get materials and media to a needy continent. I see this need in India, Indonesia, Thailand, and many other places. We are asking God to allow us to be used in that!

So much to do and so exciting! If you do not have a church home that is aggressively trying to get the gospel to the world then consider Vision Baptist Church!

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The following is a list of books that I would recommend for church planters to read, whether in the USA or overseas. These books have been a blessing to me. You will not agree with everything but you will be able to get some ideas. I am always happy if I get one good idea from a book. One idea makes the book worth reading for me.

The books are not in order especially but I am placing them in some what of an order. That means that they will end up more or less in how much they influenced me.

Lectures to My Students

On Being a Servant of God

Master Plan of Evangelism

Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer

Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?

The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church: And the Causes That Hinder It

Indigenous Church

Indigenous Church Planting, a Practical Journey

Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North America and Beyond

Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by Church Starts

Starting a New Church: The Church Planter’s Guide to Success

Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch

This all I have time for right now. I will get more out later and try to get them in a better order.

Leaders are readers so I hope you are reading!