Vision Archives - Redeemed Online

5 ways to fight for the Church

October 15, 2019 by Andy Lesnefsky 2 Comments

Last week’s article set off a flurry of passionate responses and I loved hearing from you!

I think I have always feared being in a fight and not knowing what to do or how to react. In my last blog, my thesis, if you will, was that Christ is calling us to fight for his church because that is exactly what he did.

The article last week wasn’t meant to be a deep expose on the problems in the church. It was meant to be a personal rallying cry.

The looming question is, how do we fight?

All of my top five tips can be boiled down to one concept:

Holiness.

This might seem like the churchy answer and maybe you want something more. There was a time when I wanted some new initiative, a book to read, or a quick solution, but I’m more convinced every day that fighting starts with holiness. To be holy means to be who God created us to be, set apart for a specific reason or purpose.

The spiritual battle is about claiming Christ’s victory in the world today. My friend who helps with exorcism ministry always says the worst exorcists are those relying on their own power. We need to stop trying to fix the church with a novel idea before praying (please note I am speaking to myself first and foremost.)

I think the concept of holiness and conversion tells us we are made for this fight and in Christ we have everything we need in him.

With holiness as the overall concept here are my top 5 tips for fighting:

Daily surrender. If you want to be a good fighter, recommit to the love of Jesus Christ in your life. Give him your whole self each and every day. Pray in front of a crucifix each morning.
Daily prayer. Without time in prayer, we can’t enter into the battle. It would be like being a starving baker. How is your prayer life? Is it alive? Is it growing in time and intensity?
Monthly confession. Most people don’t wake up and decide to do terrible things. They let sin creep in slowly over time. They cross boundaries. They let their guard down. They justify things that they used to detest. Christ calls us deeper, invites us to turn away from sin, and offers us a chance to start again. Monthly confession is a beautiful opportunity to start over on a regular basis.
Consider and pray about your gifting. How God has made you unique. You are unrepeatable and in a particular way you were created to unique reflect who God is to the world and for the church. Too often people aren’t given the opportunity to use their gifts in the Church. Find a way to use what God has put inside of you for the betterment of the Church.
Discern your calling. What is God calling you to do with the gifts he has given you? Start small, but ask big things of God.

These five things are a start. I know we also need fighting that includes repentance, accountability, transparency, and faithfulness to the gospel. I am convinced though on a personal level that God wants each of us fighting for personal holiness and our individual vocation.

What would you like to add to this list? Please comment below or shoot me an email.

But does it make a difference?

I don’t know if you have ever asked the question, does it make a difference?

Everywhere we look there is a need, new project, a gofundme, a neighbor knocking on our door.

To me the question of do I give or do I get involved comes down to three questions:

Is this going to make a difference?
Does it matter if I give or not? In other words, can I make a difference?
Lastly, is the Lord calling me to get involved?

I wanted to hopefully help you answer these questions with our KICKSTARTER. Our Advent and Lent programs have touched numerous lives and anticipate reaching millions more in the coming seasons. Secondly, the heart of what we do in our funding comes from a broad base of people. It typically takes us about 300-400 people in our crowdfunding campaign to hit our goal. Will you be one of those today? Lastly I’d ask you to ask the Lord if this is something you should be financially committed to. We’re excited about all that God is going to do and invite you to be a part of it.

Donate today at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redeemedonline/faith-made-simple

4 Things Holding You Back

July 13, 2016 by Andy Lesnefsky 30 Comments

What’s one thing that saints, successful entrepreneurs, and great church leaders share in common? Vision. People often mistake vision for dreaming. Dreaming is believing or hoping that some fairytale outcome is going to come your way. True vision is seeing where you need or want to go and having the determination to do the work to get there.

4 Things Holding You Back Andy Lesnefsky

What’s stopping you? I think there are many things we accept for reality that are far from the truth. Here are 4 things that hold us back in our vision:

1. It’s about luck or circumstance.

No one gets rich or becomes holy by chance. People who are thriving aren’t doing so because they accidentally wandered into it. Don’t get me wrong, there are people who win the lottery or those whom it seems everything goes well for in life, but without this vision those things fade away.

When you have vision, you are unwilling to let your circumstances define you.

Take for instance Mother Teresa. You would think a woman who saw Jesus in the poorest of the poor, who reportedly spent hours in prayer daily would have unbelievable closeness to Jesus. In her diary that was discovered after her death, we found out she experienced severe dryness in prayer. She didn’t feel God’s consolation or even his presence for long periods of time. Did she give up? No, she remained focused on Jesus and seeing him in the poor.

Seek the Lord in your circumstances today. He’s not far from you.

2. We act out of scarcity rather than abundance.

When you don’t have a lot of resources, it’s easy to get stuck in that position. If you want to achieve big things you must be willing to sometimes spend money or energy that you don’t have.

Scarcity says run from risk. Abundance sees the reward of risk. Vision is abundant.

Here’s something I’ve learned from doing all sorts of fundraising over the past 15 years in the church world. It can be easier to raise $100,000 than it can be to raise $500. I realize that sounds crazy, but let me explain. When we nickel and dime people to raise $500 it can be exhausting. Usually when we do that we seem to express to people that what we are fundraising for is somehow of a small consequence. They may be buying a donut from you after church for a dollar to support your mission trip, but they don’t feel any true sense of buy-in to what you are doing. They haven’t necessarily made a meaningful contribution not necessarily because they don’t care but because you haven’t asked them to.

If you want to fundraise successfully, ask with a big vision. Layout what the money is going to and why there is a sense of both urgency and need. Invite people to be a part of that vision. Don’t ask simply for money. Ask with abundant vision.

3. We replace the work with dreaming.

In over 15 years of working in the church I have yet to find the ministry or event that runs itself. This used to be my dream:

People just showed up! There were great people who volunteered without even being asked to be leaders. Everyone loved the event and I didn’t have to do anything!

If it’s something you believe in, it’s going to require investment of your time and energy. Stop dreaming and start doing. You can’t dream your way to leadership or holiness. We have to stop wishing we went to the perfect church and start putting in the work to make our local church better. This requires work, hard work.

4. We meet resistance and go backwards.

There’s a natural tendency to do what is comfortable. When we make a decision to rock the boat and do things differently, it’s easy to face resistance and go backwards.

Vision usually means hard change. Hard change doesn’t usually produce immediate fruit. In fact when you literally prune a fruit tree, you might be getting rid of some small fruit. The tree might look dead for a little, but the reality is you need to clear out some things to make room for better and larger fruit. You have to allow yourself to go through the pain of change.

If you are moving forward with a new vision, don’t give up when things don’t go your way right away. This isn’t to say that vision means not evaluating and recalculating. In fact, it’s imperative that if you want to be a person of vision that you are able to identify and set tangible, measurable goals.

Then the LORD answered me and said:Write down the vision;Make it plain upon tablets,so that the one who reads it may run.For the vision is a witness for the appointed time,a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint.If it delays, wait for it,it will surely come, it will not be late.” Habakuk 2:2-3

What’s stopping you? What holds you back? I would love to hear from you below!

I would love to connect with you.