KenPetrus.com

Executive Pastor @ North Side Baptist Church

Archive for October, 2009

Going Forward, Not Looking Back…

Oct 29

Posted by ken in Career Care Ministry, Celebrate Recovery, General, Leadership, Personal, Uncategorized

Going Forward, Not Looking Back…I made a huge step in the last 24 hours…I switched from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail! To some of you this may not seem like a big deal, but to a 58 year old male that has been using Outlook since Al Gore invented the internet, it was a HUGE deal. Yes, I meant to scream the word huge…some of the blogging lingo that I am learning as well. The migration from Outlook to Gmail took roughly 8 hours. Why, you say? Because I am a “pack rat”. You see, I save everything…even emails. After all, you never know when you might need to refer to the old stuff. I had emails arranged in my nice neat Outlook folder system dating back to 2001, when I first started at the church. After all, I could not delete emails just in case someone had a question on the 2001 church budget!! So, after 8 hours… the migration was complete…14,280 emails were migrated into Gmail. Hooray, man was I happy…now all I had to do was go through and “clean things” up a bit.

Well, last night, after suffering through most of game 1 of the World series (yes, I am a Yankees fan)…I deleted about 600 emails, one by one. Then I decided that this was crazy! I was saving stuff hat I would never ever use again. The migration included my contacts and and my calendar…which are really important to me…more so than the old emails. So, I did the only logical thing that any normal 58 year old man in my situation would do…I deleted all of the remaining migration files. Yes, I wiped the slate clean. I am starting over. I realized that the baggage of my past was holding me back from moving forward! So, now I am looking forward. I have made myself a resolution to keep my inbox clean, not save old emails and use the archive system provided in Gmail. I am not looking back. I am going forward.

A great spiritual application…how many times in our lives do we dwell in the past? We beat ourselves up by drudging up our past behavior. God is not interested in the past. If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, He has forgiven us of our sins. He is more interested what we will do from this day forward. If you haven’t accepted Christ as your personal Saviour, now is the time. God knows that we are sinners and cannot live without sin…that is why He sent His Son to die for us.  He wants us to repent and turn away from sin, not dwell on it. Although, we must understand that there are consequences of our past sin. We cannot escape those. He wants us to move forward through His leadership…that requires the surrender of our past and the surrender of our present lives to Him. Join me…wipe the slate clean and move forward.

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Humble Yourselves…

Oct 26

Posted by ken in Career Care Ministry, Celebrate Recovery, General, Leadership, Personal, Stewardship

Humble Yourselves…

Last night a group of leaders met at North Side and discussed what we have been studying about Biblical Eldership. The attribute that we studied was humility…sounds pretty contrary to the popular opinion that is out there today. Popular opinion has it that as a leader, we should have all the answers. Not so…in the church, Christ is the true leader…we are stewards of His church and are allowed to lead the church as the Holy Spirit leads us.  The church belongs to Christ, not us. It is not about our leadership as much as it is about our “followship”. In order to follow Christ and His leadership, we must truly humble ourselves before Him.  There is clear Biblical instruction for church leaders, that elders are to be humble servants. We are to lead with humility demonstrating the example to our congregation that Christ set for us during his life here on earth. Here are Peter’s instructions to the elders in the early churches…

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,  casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:5-7 (NASB)

We lead others by influence…and our influence is clearly spoken through our actions more so than our words. Therefore, humble yourselves…

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35,370…

Oct 22

Posted by ken in General, Leadership, Personal

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35,370…that is how many visits there has been to our son Eric’s Caring Bridge site. I thought that I was really blow away when I looked at the counter this evening. But then I started reading some of the notes from friends and family over the past many months…wow, words cannot describe the emotion. Eric and Cheyanne are truly blessed to have such support. Thank you for your support, your encouragement and your prayers for Eric and Cheyanne.

Check it out http:www.caringbridge.org/visit/ericpetrus

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Hear My Cry, O Lord…

Oct 16

Posted by ken in Career Care Ministry, Celebrate Recovery, General, Leadership, Personal, Transitions

Hear My Cry, O Lord…it is the opening verse of Psalm 61. A time when Davis went to the Lord in tears because of his distress. However, as he prays to the Lord through this Psalm, he ends it with praise. As David put his focus on the Lord, his personal distress grew strangely dim. God renewed his distressed spirit as David prayed and focused on the Lord. Read this Psalm as a prayer to the Lord and receive His comfort.

Hear my cry, O God;
Give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a refuge for me,
A tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in Your tent forever;
Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.
For You have heard my vows, O God;
You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name. You will prolong the king’s life;
His years will be as many generations. He will abide before God forever;
Appoint lovingkindness and truth that they may preserve him. So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
That I may pay my vows day by dayPsalms 61:1-8 (NASB)

The Lord is our Refuge, our Rock, our Provider, our Healer, our Salvation…our Saviour. Praise Him!

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Safe Ministry Boundaries…

Oct 14

Posted by ken in Celebrate Recovery, General, Leadership, Personal, Staffing, Transitions

After Jeff’s message this past Sunday, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you the Safe Ministry Boundaries adopted by the Pastoral staff of North Side Baptist Church. I believe that you will find it self explanatory.

Safe Ministry Boundaries

The following boundaries have been established for the Pastoral staff of North Side Baptist Church when ministering to members of the opposite sex. The purpose of these boundaries is to allow the pastoral staff in effective ministry while protecting the integrity and reputation of ourselves, North Side Baptist Church, and the person that we are ministering to.

  • Limit number of counseling sessions to 3 times, after which the person needing additional counseling should be referred to a professional Christian counselor.
  • Avoid going out for a meal with an individual of the opposite sex, unless another staff member or spouse is present.
  • Avoid ministering after office hours with an individual of the opposite sex, unless another staff member or spouse is present.
  • Avoid ministering off campus, with an individual of the opposite sex, unless another staff member or spouse is present.
  • Avoid travel with an individual of the opposite sex, unless another staff member or spouse is present.
  • Avoid verbal or nonverbal sexual behavior.
  • Avoid intimate communication, i.e. phone, letters, email, text messages, etc. with an individual of the opposite sex.
  • Avoid developing inappropriate, intimate relationships with an individual of the opposite sex.
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Are You Headed for a Fall?

Oct 12

Posted by ken in General, Leadership, Personal, Uncategorized

Are You Headed for a Fall? A pretty simple question. Falls generally speaking, come with out notice…no warning…no signs…at least to those who who fall.

Several weeks ago…I had one such fall. It came out of nowhere…suddenly and without warning. I was headed to a meeting at church one evening. I was running a little late and I stopped to talk with some people in the Green Room. Then, I looked at my watch and realized I was going to be late for my meeting in the auditorium. So I excused myself and rushed off. What I did not realize was that the carpet that I was standing on was just shampoo-ed. My shoes were slippery and when I stepped off the carpet and onto the vinyl floor, my feet went out from under me. It was a real strange feeling…it all happened in a matter of seconds, but I actually remember saying to myself…oh boy, this is going to hurt. One point six seconds later, as I went from vertical to completely horizontal, my head hit the floor. Although I tried to cushion the fall with my hands, nothing helped…I came crashing down. Aside from a couple of  small cuts, sprains and a number of bruises…I came through it ok. Probably the heaviest damage was a bruised ego. Since that day, I have been dealing with a variety of aches and pains…consequences of the fall.

Since my physical fall, I have had some time to reflect on my spiritual life…am I headed for a fall? The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth…Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 1 Cor 10:12 (NASB). Am I running so fast in my spiritual life that I am headed for a fall? Wow! that really makes me hit the pause button. It makes me really think…am I really spending time with God?…am I spending time in his Word seeking direction and application?…am I protecting myself against a fall by setting boundaries for myself?…do I need to make any adjustments? I know that all of us are vulnerable to a spiritual fall, however, I want to protect myself as much as possible.

How about you? Are you headed for a fall? What are you doing to protect yourself?

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Hurts, Hang ups and Habits…

Oct 8

Posted by ken in Celebrate Recovery, General, Leadership

crHurts, Hang ups and Habits…are you trying to deal with one or more of these on your own? Are you feeling defeated, at times, because it is not working on your own? If you are struggling with a hurt, hang up, or a habit, let me encourage you to come to North Side’s Celebrate Recovery program this Friday evening at 7:00PM in the Family Life Center.

Celebrate Recovery is a Christ centered recovery program that can help you. Check out http://www.celebraterecovery.com.au/

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Why Me?

Oct 7

Posted by ken in Uncategorized

Why Me? A question that I have heard a lot lately. It comes when there is a diagnosis of a sudden illness, loss of job, financial problems, loss of a loved one. The second question becomes “What have I done to cause this? Then…”Was it my sin?”

Consider this passage from John’s Gospel…As He (Jesus) passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3 (NASB)  Then, Jesus healed the man! God received the glory, not the blind man.

John is telling us that there are times that  we go through what we go through in this life, so in the end, God get’s the glory. Certainly there are those circumstances that we suffer or endure consequesnces of our actions. But what about those times when sickness, illness, disease, sudden death, comes upon someone with no apparanrant reason? As we go through these circumstances, we then rely on our faith in Christ. We trust…we endure..we pray…we submit..we obey…we walk by faith…then, He gets the glory, not us.

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Mondays…

Oct 5

Posted by ken in Career Care Ministry, General, Leadership, Personal, Uncategorized

Mondays…it’s raining, is chilly and its Monday! Ugh! I am a spring and summer guy, not a fall and winter guy. Early this morning, I received a devotional thought that hit me between the eyes. I wanted to pass this on to you. It is from the group…Lead Like Jesus…http://www.leadlike jesus.com

For anyone in a leadership role, it can be easy to start the day off on the wrong foot.  Lack of sleep, worry over decisions to be made, relationship issues, and economic concerns often greet us with the sunrise.  However, beginning the day with praise to the Lord sets the stage for a positive perspective all day long.

But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.  Psalm 59:16

Prayer:  Lord, right now I praise You for Your unconditional love towards me.  I thank You that You are strong even when I feel weak or overwhelmed.  I am grateful that You surround me with Your protection as I walk through this day.  Help me keep a song of praise in my heart and on my lips today as I lead others.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
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