#3 Sharing Our Testimonies

Rev. 12:11, “And they have defeated him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.”

Since we find such power in a testimony, let us always be willing, to not only share our testimony with our home group, but with any group that asks us to share at theirs. Sending your CR members to share their testimony with other groups can benefit both groups! You may be thinking, “How so?” Well, glad you asked! Mary and I have developed good friendships with leaders from different groups within a 150 mile radius of us. This has happened all from sharing our story, as well as sending others from our group to share their story. And they have in turn done the same for us.

I received an email the other day from a pastor in our area who had just heard about Celebrate Recovery and wanted to know what it would take to get CR started. I immediately knew what to do. I told him, “I know where there is a meeting in your town tonight!” This happened because we had been busy building relationships with other CRs from sharing our stories between groups.

For the next several months this pastor will be able to plug his leaders into a growing, excited group. Then after they launch their own group, they will have already developed a good relationship without a need for competition. CR groups should never be in competition. There is enough people with hurts, hang-ups, and habits for all of us. Our dream is to have a CR meeting in a different church every night of the week in our town!

Our practice, as well as other CRs, is if someone travels here to give their testimony at our group, we buy their gas. And if they have traveled to where they can’t make it back to their home that night, we pay for a hotel room or have them stay in one of our homes. A blessing we receive from them staying in our homes is we get to know them better and we get to practice hospitality.

For instance, last Friday night, the ministry leader from Forney Fellowship, in TX shared his testimony at our group. It's amazing how by just sharing his testimony he became family! Then Sat. morning we sat on the back porch of our home drinking coffee and had a wonderful time of fellowship.

Never underestimate the power of a testimony and how it gives hope to others! Paul gave his testimony three different times in the New Testament on how God delivered him from being a Christian killer to one who showed new Christians the way to live.

And then in 1John 5: 9-12, we see that God Himself gives His testimony which is JESUS and that in Him we have eternal life!

Let others hear God’s story in your life and rejoice that you are a part of it!

Mac
mowen@wfrchurch.org

Somebody Is Always Looking

It’s great how God uses your own words to drive home a point to you that you’ve been trying to get across to others! Last week we talked about the impact that doing something as simple as wearing a CR shirt could be very effective in getting the word out.

Mary & I were on our way to the One Day seminar in Nashville. And without thinking that morning, it has just become a habit to slip on a shirt with our CR logo on it for traveling. Little did I realize that this shirt would come into play later on during the day.

We boarded the plane heading to Houston to go to Nashville (I know that doesn’t seem right) going southwest to end up northeast! But that’s where we were headed. Everything was normal as we took our seats and buckled up ready for a great CR adventure.

After we took off, the stewardess was coming down the aisle taking drink orders. She took ours and then as she passed on by I saw her do a double take and then she starting singing “I’m on the Road to Re—co—ve—ry”. All because she noticed the CR logo on my shirt!

We looked back at her in surprise and she said, “I’ll be back to talk to you later!”

There was a empty seat across from us, so after she served passengers, she came back and sat down next to us. She started telling us about her lifetime of hurts and how excited she was to find a ministry like Celebrate Recovery. She said, “I love CR but we have one problem. We just don’t know how to get the word out. How do we promote CR?” Mary said, “Well it just so happens that you are talking to just the right people! My husband is the National Assimilation Coach for CR!” The stewardess exclaimed, “No way, get outta here!”

She spent the rest of the flight leaving the rest of the passengers to fend for themselves so she could hear more about CR and how to get the word out! This happened all from wearing a CR shirt.

So the phrase that came back to me was, “You got to be ready to practice what you preach.” So, as leaders, making sure we’re doing what we ask our CR members to do is very important.

And by the way, when you create a new tshirt design…send it in so we can share it with others!

I sign off today with this verse:
"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." I Pet. 3:15

Mac
mowen@wfrchurch.org

# 7 Ongoing Spot in Church Bulletin

Keeping Celebrate Recovery in front of your church family is essential for growth! But you may be thinking, “We’ve been up and running for several years. Surely everyone here knows about what we're doing."

A quote I read from an unknown author stated, “If you tell the average man there are 278,805,732,168 stars in the universe, he will believe you. But if a sign says Wet Paint he has to make a personnel investigation.”

Today may be the day someone is visiting your church for the first time. Or it may be the day someone says “Hey, I wonder if that paint is wet!” Either way, you never know who’s looking, so be ready.

Here’s a copy of one of our weekly bulletin spots:

Is Celebrate Recovery for me?
Are there things in my life
that I do that hurt others?

Is there something I wish
I could live without?

We would love to see you at CR
where you will find fellowship
with other believers who are
working through their hurts, habits and hang ups.

Every Fri. night 7:00pm

Praise & Worship,
Teaching or Testimony

For more information:
www.wfrchurch.org/celebraterecovery
http://www.celebraterecovery.com/

Notice we ask a couple of questions. Be creative and try not to ask recovery questions in the regular way like,"Do you have a problem with drugs or alcohol?" Instead, come up with questions that will apply to a greater spectrum of folks. Also make sure you give some kind of contact information. Web sites are particularly helpful as people can check things out before actually talking to someone.

You know, I think next week we may actually start our bulletin spot off with the heading, "Wet Paint". You never know someone may reach out to investigate!

I would love to hear from you about your creative bulletin spots. You can e-mail me at mowen@wfrchurch.org or comment on this blog. I look forward to hearing from you.

Now in the words of Paul I will leave you with this, "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:4-6

Mac

#9 Fellowship/Outreach Events

Trunk Or Treak 2007

My Top Ten list is in no particular order and they’re kinda like the Fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5 ---the fruit is not plural. It’s a packaged deal. God expects us to have all these in our lives to some degree. The same with this Top Ten list, you may be stronger in some areas than others. But all these ideas will be ways to help your Celebrate Recovery produce fruit.

We were part of two impacting events this past weekend. Our church hosts Trunk or Treat annually and invites the community to join us. Our CR really gets involved. Everyone parks their vehicles in the parking lot to form a huge circle. We bring our grills and of course bring candy for the kids. Last year CR members dressed up as The Recovery Tribe. We all made up names associated with recovery and wore our badges with our recovery tribe names. I was “Chief Intervention”and Mary was “Walk On Eggshells No More”. This year our CR family was a band of pirates with “Walk The Plank” aka dunkin booth as a highlight hosted by Celebrate Recovery. The goal is for visitors to come back on Fri. night which they do after seeing CR represented as a part of our church---not just something for “those people”.

The second event was in Harrisburg, Illinois. Williams Hill Pass OHV Park hosted a Christian ATV rally with the help of CR from First Baptist Church in Harrisburg to introduce CR to people who love 4 wheeling and the outdoors. Creative! They invited people from all over the state as well as the Christian Motorcycles Association. Harrisburg CR is a group of people who are really excited about sharing Jesus through CR.

Trail Ride

Jimi Williams, the “A” coach for Harrisonburg CR organized this event. Mary & I, as well as Scott Kemp, Illinois CR State Rep., who was there with his wife, Veronica, shared our testimonies overlooking majestic mountains with an array of Fall foliage. And yes, there are mountains in Illinois! It was a great blessing to be outside enjoying God’s creation while sharing how the Creator has made us anew. Scott made some good contacts with people who are interested in starting CR at their churches. All because Jimi had the vision, of not only helping their CR grow in Harrisburg, but expand all over Illinois.

Harrisburg, IL CR Leaders

So work on being creative in your fellowship/outreach events. You never know who may show up. It may be the next “Paul” who overcame many hurts, hang-ups, and habits. And in doing so he brought many to a relationship with Jesus Christ!

We would love to hear your ideas!