Whenever you get a group of people together you are going to have different opinions. That was evident today. I spent this afternoon in a pastor’s meeting that had many opinions. Yet, at the end of our time, we agreed to leave united. That’s what makes the Baptist Bible Fellowship International unique. We are a group of pastors who fellowship together.

Pastor Eddie Lyons opened up the 2017 Winter meeting at Central Baptist in Tyler, Texas with these words: “We are stronger together than we are alone. We are a fellowship where no one stands alone.”

Bruce O’Neil, Manna Worldwide, share personal experiences of how fear can keep us from moving forward. But rather than run from fear, we should embrace our fear. Allow God to help you overcome your fear and receive His power.

When beginning MANNA as a missionary in Philippines, he feared what others would think. Would he fail? But Jesus’ words in Matthew 25;30 kept gnawing at him, “I was hungry and you gave me no meat, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink…”

What began as a ministry to about 10 children grew to a ministry that feeds 20,000 people per day. Each feeding center is connected with a local church in various parts of the world.

God has a greater purpose for us than we could ever dream of.

Phil Hopper led us to Matthew 16:13-18 and Jesus’ words about the beginning of the church. This is where the movement of the church began.

Man is always looking for a better method but God is looking for better men. The church began with a man, a God-man, Jesus. God is now looking for men who will lead His church to change our world.

The early church moved to change the world. Today’s church has the same power to change the world. When Jesus launched the church it was more than a Sunday event, it was a movement. Are we moving or just having events?

Think about it… a band of Jewish dissidents follow a Jewish carpenter. After 3 1/2 years the leader dies and His few followers go in hiding. But within a few weeks there are thousands who end up following Him and are willing to die for Him. This movement still continues. Movements stay long when followers are willing to die for the cause.

Why was the early church so successful? The early church was a movement born out of desperation and consecration. We often lean on production, planning, and programs. But these can never take the place of God’s power.

God doesn’t care about our methods as much as He does our mission. But we often hold tighter to our methods than we do our mission.

We are not just to be committed to the cause, we are to be consecrated to Jesus. God calls us to chose to die for Him.

We need a vision that demands divine intervention and that keeps us in a state of desperation. We need a vision that demands divine intervention and that commands our total consecration.

You can be moving on past momentum and don’t realize it. It’s called the law of inertia – objects in motion tend to stay in motion until an outside force moves against it. Many people continue moving, though they have long ceased to be productive.

If you don’t have a dream worth dying for, you don’t have a dream worth living for. When we move for God, God moves for us.

Organizations often start out with a man, then a movement, than a machine, and end up a monument. You can tell you are a monument if you are always looking back at the good old days. We need to move forward and seek God’s vision for our lives.

As Phil preached his message, the entire sound went out at Central Baptist. He had to preach ‘old school’ without a microphone. (So this blog may be the only way you can read/hear his message) Kind of crazy but it was a great object lesson. The early church had nothing of our modern technology and methods to have church. But they had the power of God. May Christians seek first the power of God in their lives.

Phil Hopper is pastor of Abundant Life Church in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Phil was a trained Kansas City police officer and member of the S.W.A.T. team. He is also a very vocal Kansas Jayhawks fan and alumni.

You can read more about the 2017 BBFI meeting at BBFI in Tyler, TX 2017.