WOW

It is amazing to see God at work any time any place.  It is more amazing to see our Heavenly Father at work where we are.  It is even more amazing to see the Lord at work our personal lives.  Each setting is more intimate than the other, but He is the same amazing Savior in each and every situation.

The Lord Jesus is at work through the Holy Spirit in the life of HGBC.  I had the privilege of baptizing those four young people I mentioned in my last post.  I am so thankful that our Heavenly Father is entrusting us with these new believers, allowing us to be the ones who helps mold them into what He wants them to be, doing what He wants them to do. 

I am so very excited about the possibilities of ministry and kingdom advancement that will come out of our Strategic Leadership Team.  We had our first meeting last night.  Sixteen leaders were there; thank you for demonstrating your heart for our church and the ministry Jesus Christ has given us as His church by coming.  We had some great conversation and teaching.  My prayer is that what we did last night lays the foundation for explosive power and momentum as we seek to do a better job of Loving God, Loving Each Other, and Serving the World.

Serving Him,
Pastor Mike

One Glorious Sunday

We had one glorious Sunday at HGBC this past Sunday. It was our privilege to "go to the birthin room." You might be wondering what that expression means, so let me explain. It means that we were able to see Two precious young ladies saved during the invitation Sunday morning; we saw them birthed into the family of God. I'm as proud today as I was when I saw my own two daughters born into this world. I just want to Say thank you to our Heavenly Father for giving us this privilege. We will not take it for granted.

Newsletter Article January 2011

To the Church at HGBC,

It’s 2011. I just celebrated my 38th birthday and my 10th wedding anniversary. I look back on my life and know that I’m a blessed man. I am blessed because of Christ and what he has done and is doing for me. I’m blessed because of the gifts of God in my wife and children. I’m blessed to be your pastor. We’ve come through a lot in the last 5 years; our Heavenly Father has taught us some valuable lessons. He taught us those things because he wants to use us more mightily for his honor and glory.

With that in mind along with what I preached this past Sunday, January 2, 2011, from Acts 14:1-7, I want us to take a step together in 2011. That step is in the direction of the way we dream and plan what we do or don’t do at HGBC. I know we have had a church council since before I came in 2005. We have made changes to the church council several times to try to make it more convenient for members to attend; some have worked and some haven’t. What I would like to do is make one more change. I want to turn the church council into the Strategic Leadership Team for HGBC. We will be meeting on a monthly basis, probably on a Monday or Thursday night each month. Any member of the church is welcome to attend the meetings of the Strategic Leadership Team, but I would like to request that all members who are serving on committees or other leadership positions, like Sunday School teachers, children and youth workers, etc… make every attempt to attend the monthly meetings.

We will be addressing calendar issues each month, but it will be so much more. One of the top priorities of the Strategic Leadership Team will be praying together each month for our church. We will do some bible studies together to help us gain a better understanding of the mission of God and HGBC and the vision and plans we need in place to help us accomplish our mission. We will also use the Strategic Leadership Team to evaluate what we are already doing, why we are doing it, do we need to continue doing it at all, and do we need to change or adapt what we are doing to better serve our Heavenly Father, the community, and the church.

We will have our first meeting in February. I’ll make sure to give you plenty of notice. I want to encourage you to be praying; make prayer the top priority in your life for 2011. Pray that we will be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we seek to live our lives according to his purpose. I love you, and look forward to a great year of ministry and impact. God bless you.

Serving Him,

Pastor Mike

Num. 6:24-26

Christmas Time

I am just sitting here at my house listening to Christmas music.  I like the sounds and smells of Christmas.  Melissa has been baking some stuff and it's hard to stay out of the kitchen.  I just thought, "What should I say about Christmas?"  That's an interesting question.  How would you answer it?

I would say some general things about Christmas and would say some specific things about Christmas.  The general things would include: its a special time of year (duh), it's a time of family and friends, it's a time of spending (sometimes more than we should to give people things they don't need or want), it's a time of receiving (see previous thought), it's a time of traveling and hurry (I'm listening to Silent Night), it's a time for parties and services.  I wonder how many people see only this part of Christmas or this type of Christmas?

The specific things I would say about Christmas are: it is the time when Christians celebrate the birth of the Messiah, the Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  I would it is the time when Christians have the perfect opportunity to share what Christmas is really all about to a lot of people who would be willing to listen because it's Christmas and they like Christmas too.  (But how many Christians get so caught up in the general things of Christmas that we forget the specific things of Christmas?)  It is a time of celebrating and rejoicing and joy.  It is a time to remember the whole story of Christmas; Jesus wasn't born to be born, he was born to die on the cross for the sin of the world and rise again from the dead providing salvation for all who believe.  It is a time to give gifts to those we love.  If you love Jesus, what will you give him this year?

Enjoy the holiday season and Merry Christmas.
Serving Him,
Mike

Advent Conspiracy Promo Video

Sunday/Monday in Vietnam

I spent Sunday worshiping with my family and doing some final shopping.  Today we went to tour one of several Buddhist temples in Siagon.  I have some fascinating pictures and stories.  I'll share a quick one. 

One of the things they sell in the temple is little birds.  I took a picture of one of the cages as a reminder.  The purpose of the birds is to be bought and set free by the worshiper.  In buying the bird and setting it free you earn favor with the gods and spirit world, basically it is to "ensure" good luck.  I was reminded over and over on this trip that people are people no matter where they live.  Every person has a "God shaped" hole inside, and we instinctively know its there.  We all try to fill it so we will be complete.  We try to fill it with good deeds, like the bird, we try to fill it with relationships, money, you name it has been used, but it all fails to satisfy.  There is only one thing/person who can do the job, and his name is Jesus the Christ.

This is my last post from Vietnam.  We leave the hotel at 3:30 AM Vietnam time and we are headed home.  I'm suppose to be in Jacksonville by 5 PM Tuesday afternoon EST.  I can't wait to see my girls, the big one too.  I love you Melissa, Morgan and Mya.

Serving Him,
Mike

Friday/Saturday in Vietnam

Friday was a good day for us.  We finished our assignment and the test was taken.  I was encouraged because I gave all the students a questionnaire to take home.  Every one of them handed it in, and as they are translated into English I will have some excellent material to work with for my project.  Now all I have to do, is finish everything else so I will be ready to use it when the time comes.  You can pray with me about that.  I would appreciate it.

We had a great meeting Friday afternoon with three experts in the field.  I was able to ask them some questions, but to honest I am dealing with an overload of information and I don't think I took advantage of them the way I should have.  I do have their contact information and will be able to continue the conversation over the next year.  I know that after being here these days, I have a lot more to pray about.  I know have names and faces to remember of our brothers and sisters in Christ who face great difficulties and uncertainties as they stand for King Jesus.  I encourage you to pray for your spiritual family; lift them up to the Father.  He is all they have and He is all they need.

Today Dr. Ewart is doing a training session with the local leadership.  I'm sitting here typing this while he is teaching.  This afternoon I will be able to complete my second book review for the week.  I will then settle down for some reading until about 4 PM, and then we will go do some shopping and eat supper. 

We will be home Tuesday and I can't wait to hold my girls. I love you Melissa, Morgan and Mya.  I can't wait to see you.

Serving Him,
Mike

Thursday in Vietnam

Yesterday I had a very unexpected experience.  Dr. Ewart got sick, and at the last minute I had to teach the class all day.  I feel like the Lord really did an amazing work, even if it was only in me, but I am sure that I was not the only recipient of the His grace. 

I took some things from Dr. Ewarts powerpoint and jumped in.  The subject was "the Biblical Perspective of Leadership."  We looked at and gleaned leadership principles and characteristics by looking at OT and NT leaders.  We studied Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David.  In the NT we studied the lives of Jesus, Peter in Acts 10 and the relationship between Paul and Timothy.  I had a blast.  I am looking forward to having an opportunity to teach again in the future. 

We had a great meal last night with some great leaders here, and then we walked down to see the Siagon River.  This is an amazing city, over 10 million people.  I want to give you two amazing statistics: 1) 75% of the population of the country is under 35 years old, 2) over 60% of the population is under 25.  These number represent a multitude of lost young people.  I pray that God will use us to help lead/train in the reaching of them.  Will you pray with me for the lostness of these people? 

The weekend is here and we fly home Tuesday.  I can't wait to see my girls.

One of the best experiences of the week was this morning.  Through Skype technology I was able to have our family prayer time with my girls before they went to bed.  That was awesome!

Serving Him,
Mike

Tuesday/Wednesday in Vietnam

Today (Tuesday) the assignment began for us.  It is a great learning experience all the way around.  I am learning as much, hopefully, as the students.  I watch them and see a determination to learn and grow spiritually.  Leadership in the focus.  It was a long first day, but a great foundation is being laid.

We looked at Isaiah 62:10 as we began Wednesday morning.  This verse is a great foundation for leaders.  It says, "Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples."

In this verse, Isaiah is looking into the future prophecying of what will happen at the end of the Babylonian captivity.  He forsees the work of Ezra and Nehemiah.  He sees that the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple have been torn down and destoyed.  The work will be to rebuild, clear the way, and let the people know where the clear paths into the city are.  These things had to be done duirng that time and they still need to be done today.

Three quick ideas for the leader in you: 1) a leader builds or rebuilds what has been torn down, 2) a leader clears the path or highway for the people to be able to travel easily, and 3) a leader raises a banner or flag over the cleared pathway to let the people know the path has been cleared.  Are there new things in your life and ministry that need to be built or made stronger?  Are there things that have been torn down which need to be rebuilt?  Are there things in your life and ministry that need to be cleared away so that traveling into the city of God is made easy?  How are you signaling to the people around you that there is a clear pathway into the city of God?

You may here a sermon on this before too long.

Serving Him,
Mike

Monday in Vietnam

Today has been an interesting day. It started for me at 2:45 AM, not out of necessity but because I just woke up. I tried to go back to sleep, but by 3:30 I was just tired of laying in the bed.  I had fallen asleep at 6 PM. Woke up at 9 PM when my Melissa and the girls called me on Skype.  Went back to bed until 2:45.  I plan on staying up a little later tonight so that wake up call won't be so early in the morning.  But I did have a great time with the Father in his Word.  (Started reading Lamentations, about to finish Psalms, and am reading Proverbs through for the 3rd time this year.)  When I finished that time, I began writing a book review.  Maybe I will finish it tonight after supper.  I need to finish it and write another review while I'm here.

I have been apart of two very important conversations today.  One was with some organizational leaders, and another was with a company man.  My eyes are being opened and my mind is racing with thoughts and ideas.  The problem is that all of them are too broad for the scope of my project.  I guess I will have to make many more trips to this amazing place to complete all that is welling up in my heart. (I will have to wait until I'm home to be able to more easily express these things.)  I appreciate the people I am with who continue to bring me back into focus. 

On a different note, we went out this afternoon and did a little site seeing.  One of the most interesting things we saw was the building that housed the government of South Vietnam before it was "liberated."  It housed the President's office and living quarters, the government offices, and the military operations center during the war.  There is some fascinating history in Vietnam. There are two sides to the story, and they are very different perspectives.  I was able to take some pictures that I will post when I return to the States.  We also took an unfinished tour of a Buddist temple.  Hopefully we will finish touring it at weeks end. 

Pray for us as we begin the deal in the morning.  Pray especially for Dr. Ewart. 

Serving Him,
Mike

Sunday in Vietnam

I was truly blessed to worship with my Vietnamese brothers and sisters. There was no translating the service into English, but it was good none-the-less.  They were celebrating 48 years of ministry.  The church was founded in 1962 and never closed its doors.  I won't go into the history during that time, but most know what happened.

It is obvious that our Heavenly Father has blessed these believers.  They have planted other churches.  They are a mother church.  They must have planted healthy churches because those churches have planted other churches. It is a grandmother.  But it doesn't stop there; it's like the energizer bunny, they just keep going and going and going.  I pray that HGBC will take on the challenge to be a healthy producer of reproducing churches.  Reproduction is an indication that a body is healthy; sickness leads to infertility.  Heavenly Father make us fruitful; help us to reproduce.

They have many of the same struggles the American church has, but they have a hunger to learn and obey that is uncommon back in the States.  As I am hear I pray that I can learn some things that will help our church to grow more spiritually mature through obedience, as I am here for my other assignments.  I greatly appreciate your prayers over the next 8 days. 

Serving Him,
Mike

I lost it somewhere

I did, really.  I lost it somewhere.  I lost Saturday somewhere on a United Airline flight from Chicago to Hong Kong.  I bet I find it on the way home, but it will be Tuesday then.  Since I left Jacksonville Friday morning at 6 I have been in a plane seat for over 20 hours between three flights.  We just landed in Vietnam, got checked into the hotel and now I am trying to wait patiently on my wife to get on Skype so I can talk to my girls before trying to get some sleep. I haven't had much of that.  I may have slept 4 hours between all my flights. 

Siagon is a city alive.  I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for Dr. Ewart and I over the next week. We are going to a church in the morning that is celebrating 48+ years of ministry.  We were told that in last weeks service it was standing room only.  They have SS at 7AM and worship at 8.  I am excited about being able to worship the one true God with my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I'll try to keep the posts coming.  Pray for us.

It All Started...

Well, It all started back in October of 2004.  You may ask, "what started in 2004?"  The answer is the journey of the Madaris family moving to HGBC in GCS.  It was during the Fall of 04 that I was asked to submit my resume to the pastor search committee.  It took a while for the Lord to get everything just the way he wanted it, but Melissa and I moved here with our baby daughter Morgan on October 31, 2005.  We began our ministry here the first Sunday in November of 2005.  This past Sunday I began my sixth year as lead pastor of the church. We have seen our Heavenly Father do some amazing things and be so faithful to his children and his church.  I am so grateful to God for allowing me to pastor his church in this place.  I am so thankful for the things he has taught me since I came.  I am also looking forward to what our Heavenly Father has in store for us in the future.  The sky's the limit.

I just returned from the Florida Baptist Convention in Brandon, Florida.  While I was there, the messengers of the convention voted overwhelmingly to adopt the six recommendations of the Imagine If Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.  I'm pumped to know that as Southern Baptists, we are refocusing on our Lord's command to make disciples to the ends of earth til the end of time.  These recommendations came on the heels of the SBC doing the same thing in Orlando back in June during the annual meeting.  I pray that Florida Baptists everywhere will allow the Holy Spirit to teach them and guide them into a proper understanding of what the Great Commission is all about.  I pray that Florida Baptists will faithfully lead their churches to increase CP giving so that we might send more missionaries into the field considering there are over 1.6 BILLION people who have never heard the name of Jesus redemptively.  It is a sad but motivating fact that there are over 6,400 people groups with no gospel witness.  We Florida Baptists and children of the most high God must take his message and his son to the nations.

With that in mind, I ask you to pray for me as I leave for Vietnam Friday.  I will be gone until the 23rd.  Pray for my family as we are apart.  Pray that our Heavenly Father will give me an effective time of study and ministry while I am there.  And pray that the Lord Jesus will give me an opportunity to begin the disciple making process with my brothers and sisters in Christ in Vietnam.  Thank you for your support and prayers.

Serving Him,
Mike 

Sweetly Broken - The Passion of the Christ

Devotional Reading Today

I am currently reading through the OT this year as part of my devotional life, and I read some amazing passages this morning of which I would like to share some with you.

Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!   Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!   Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!  (ESV)

Thanks Otter Box

I have a blackberry phone and I purchased an otterbox defender case for it. I am very pleased with the case and with the company. I have had two problems with the case in the last month or so and they have helped me very quickly and without difficulty. I just wanted to say thanks Otterbox. I highly recommend them to you.

I'm leavin on a jet plane...

Well it's official. I have my visa for Vietnam. We just returned from our family vacation and it was waiting for me in the mail. I am pumped! Scared to death but pumped about this opportunity. Pray with me.

Good morning Vietnam!

I just did something very exciting and scary all at the same time; I just sent my passport to the Embassy of Vietnam in Washington DC in application for a visa to Vietnam. I will be flying out on November 12, 2010 and will be back on the 22nd or 23rd depending on flights. I am so excited to have this opportunity. I don't want to say to much about our trip, but I can't wait to see what comes out of it. More than anything I would appreciate your prayers leading up to and during the trip and throughout the remainder of my schooling. I will be going back to Vietnam in the Fall of 2011 to do some teaching in a school there. If anyone would like to help with the financial expenses of the trip I would appreciate it. All of the expenses are out of pocket for me so if you felt led it would be a great help to me and my family. I can say that the total cost of the two trips will be about $5000.00. I believe that this will be a life changing trip for me and those I will be there with, so pray at every opportunity. God bless.

In Christ Alone

Newsletter Article

Summer time is here. There is no doubt about it. One of the things I love about summer is VBS. VBS is still one of the greatest outreach and evangelistic ministries in the Southern Baptist Convention. It has been amazing to look at our campus these last few days and see the kids running around here. It’s a great week to be involved in. Each child present represents a home, they represent a family who may or may not know of the salvation Christ offers through his blood. Tonight (Wednesday night) the gospel will be shared with 100+ kids, and I’m praying that many of them will open their hearts and lives to Christ and be eternally changed. I am praying that we will take advantage of the opportunities Christ Jesus is giving us, HIS church, to Be the Church to our neighbors. I am praying that many of these homes will be answers to our prayer of seeing 50 new families come into our family this year. I pray that we have to keep our baptistery full because we begin to see a great harvest from the seeds being sown in VBS and as you take the opportunity to Be the Church to your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. I pray that God gives you an overwhelming passion for those around you who are lost without Christ. May you be the vehicle by which they hear, believe and accept the good news (the gospel) of Jesus Christ. A friend of mine, David Burton, says, “Remember, It’s only good news if they hear it in time.”

I find myself praying more for you and your families these days. I was overwhelmed by your response a few Sundays ago during my message. I believe every person in the auditorium raised your hand that you have family members and friends who are lost or don’t attend church. I find myself praying that you will have the courage to do whatever it takes to make sure that they hear how Christ has changed you. They need to hear how Christ has given you life, and that you now are able to truly live. They need to hear your story. Don’t assume they know, make sure they know. Leave no doubt. My desire is that HGBC becomes a place they want to be. But it is very obvious that they will not want to be here unless their lives are changed through a personal relationship with Christ. If this is true, I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt it is, then it is your responsibility to take the gospel to them (Mark 16:15, John 20:21). I pray you experience the joy of seeing those you love turn to Christ and experience the salvation he has extended to us through his finished work on Calvary. I love you and am praying for you as you determine to Be the Church for the glory of God.

Serving Him,

Pastor Mike

John 8:36