How to be a Soul Winner for Christ

Hey everyone!  I know it has been forever and a day since I last posted something but since I'm once again an intern, it seemed fitting to resume sharing some of the things that I am studying!  Hopefully you all will find them both encouraging and useful (with some humor sprinkled in every now and then :)

One of the first books I'm studying as a pastoral intern here in Missouri is a little work by Charles Spurgeon.

  It is a compilation of sermons he gave on evangelism, lectures to his pastoral students, and other writings.  Currently, I am on Chapter 2 which is entitled, "Qualifications for Winning Souls Godward"  I found it to be fantastic with many nuggets directed at future ministers in the church of Jesus Christ.


Here are some of the highlights from the chapter:






In order to be at tool in God’s hands for winning souls, you must possess certain qualities.  This is not to say that only perfect men can win souls but there must be some evidence of these qualities in your life.  Why?  "Because God will not go to work with instruments which would compromise His own character." (The Soul Winner, Chapter 2, page 30)

                              7 Characteristics of a Soul Winner

1)      A man who has holiness of character
2)      A man who has spiritual life to a high degree
3)      A man who possesses a humble spirit
4)      A man who has a living faith
5)      A man who is characterized by thorough earnestness
6)      A man who has a great simplicity of heart
7)      A man who completely surrenders himself to God

"[This] is the essential point: you must believe in God and in His Gospel if you are to be a winner of souls; some other things may be omitted, but this matter of faith must never be." (The Soul Winner, Chapter 2, page 41)

May God help each and every one of us to pursue holiness, humility, simple child-like faith, thorough earnestness, and spiritual life and vigor so that we too can be "fishers of men"!

Formal Pictures of the 2011 NCFIC Interns

Here is the best picture of the 2011 NCFIC Intern class. The sun went down so fast and the camera was being difficult but we managed to get a couple good ones...



This is another of my favorites...epic pose by the famous Intern-mobile!

Thank God for His many blessings throughout that six month time with the NCFIC. It was such an amazing and beneficial experience. Now it is my duty to make the most of what I was given for the glory of God and the advancing of His glorious Kingdom.

Luke 12:48 says "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more."

Time to roll up my sleeves and begin working with my family once again!

Interns at the GCM Conference!

This is a picture taken at the Gospel-Centered Marriages for a Glorious Church Conference in October.

It also happened to be Tim's 21st birthday and so his family and church friends from back home made him a cake that defied the limits of artistic creativity (as you will see) :)

10 Reasons to study about the Trinity

The last book that the NCFIC interns read was "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" written by Bruce Ware. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in reading an engaging and incredibly helpful book on the Trinity. Below (in italics) are ten reasons Ware gave as to why Christians must study the Trinity with my comments in normal font.

Enjoy!

1) “It is one of the most important distinguishing doctrines”. No other religion has a God that is one God and yet has three distinct Persons. We are the anomaly of the world from the very foundations of our beliefs.

2) “It is central and necessary for the Christian faith”. Without the Trinity, we could not be Christians.

3) “Worship of the true and living God must acknowledge the Trinity”. This is sobering to consider. If we do not understand the basics of the Trinity, we end up worshipping a God who is of our own imaginations, not the God who created us and deserves all our worship.

4) “Christian prayer must rightly acknowledge the Trinitarian God”. There is a reason why we pray to the Father in the Son’s name. Simply by following Jesus’ instructions concerning prayer, we testify to the Trinitarian God we serve.

5) “Christian growth and sanctification is understood through our Trinitarian God”. Each Person of the Trinity plays a distinct role in our sanctification and we would do well to learn what each part the three Persons played.

6) “The triune relationship causes us to marvel at God’s unity”. The three Persons of the Godhead are perfectly united and in harmony. There never was, is, or ever will be any disagreement or friction in the Trinity and this should boggle our minds considering how often we experience both of those things in our relationships.

7) “The triune relationship causes us to marvel at the diversity within the Trinity”. In the Trinity we have the amazing balance of unity and diversity.

8) “The triune relationship causes us to marvel at the social relationality of our God”. We were made in the image of our Creator, thus it’s no surprise that we were created to be relational since our God is Himself relational. By studying how God operates within the relationships between the Persons of the Trinity, we can learn how God desires us to copy Him in our relationships with one another.

9) “The triune relationship causes us to marvel at the authority-submission that exists in the Godhead”. Given the exaltation of rebellion and anarchy in our culture, it is refreshing and inspiring to see that in the very Godhead there are Persons in authority and Persons in submission. If it’s good enough for God, it had better be good enough for us.

10) "The doctrine of the Trinity provides vital patterns for our living"

Interns, Sand, & Florida!

This is a picture taken on a gorgeous Florida beach. The interns traveled with Pastor Brown down to Pensacola, FL to attend the Family Conference put on by Mt. Zion Bible Church. We had a fantastic time and got to meet Pastor Jeff Pollard, one of the great voices in advancing God-honoring culture and the sufficiency of Scripture. I highly recommend Chapel Library to you. Chapel Library is a ministry of Mt. Zion Bible Church and it primarily publishes small pamphlets on issues and doctrines in the Christian faith with the thoughts of the Puritans, C.H. Spurgeon, A.W. Pink, J.C Ryle, Horatius Bonar, and many others.

Here is their website....

The Rise of the Confederacy History Tour with the Horns

It's been a month since my last post and since August 22nd, one of the biggest things that has happened has been the history tour that the Horn Family put on called, "The Rise of the Confederacy".

The tour was five days of awesomeness :) and I learned so much. Thanks to Pastor Brown, who assigned the interns the task of writing daily reports on principles and men we learned about, I have in writing some of the biggest things I want to remember about this once-in-a-lifetime history trip.

Here is a link to some pictures from the tour...

This is a short poem memorializing all the men who died at the Battle of Fredricksburg that I thought was both sobering and also awe-inspiring...

"On Fame's eternal camping-ground,

Their silent tents are spread.

And glory guards with solemn round

The bivouac of the dead."

Hopefully, I will be able to create my own Picasa album from the pictures we interns took. No promises though! The sooner we get to the Gospel Centered Marriages for a Glorious Church conference in October, the busier I get :)


Enjoy!

How many interns does it take to change a lightbulb?

One intern working, one intern watching...













Now two interns lend moral support...

And its up! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you three interns and a successfully installed light bulb :)

A Challenge from Mr. Doug Phillips

The Gauntlet is Thrown

“The way I see it, the doctrine that men are to defend women and children is one of the last great bulwarks of Christendom.

When it falls, so too falls our civilization.

Behind and interwoven into this doctrine are ten thousand principles of law and life crucial for the health of the family, the church, and the state. And all of these doctrines flow from the very Creation order itself and the person of Jesus Christ who modeled for men everywhere in all times that the groom, not the bride, is called to sacrificially die for his loved one…

Together, we stand on the rock Christ Jesus and His Holy Scripture. We formally challenge church leaders to pick up this gauntlet by opposing those politicians who will perpetuate the feminization of the military, and by governing their own churches with clear opposition to the idea that any woman “bought with a price” would exchange her femininity for an M-16.”

-Doug Phillips, “The Gauntlet is Thrown”,

http://www.ncfic.org/articlemodule/view_article/id/34/src/@random49598ead4a15d/

A North Carolina Sunset

This (the one above) is one of the better pictures (in my own humble opinion :)

This was taken last week as Ben Sheats and I were driving to get Little Caesar's Pizza for dinner :)

New Pictures!!!!

Me (in case you weren't sure ;)




















Me again :)
















Serious me...






















And this is....well....ME sitting in front of the NCFIC office.














Hope you all enjoy these! Yours truly,
Joel Stanton

A Call To Anguish!

Hey Everyone!

So I want to share with you all a clip that Pastor Brown put on his blog on April 29th, on the NCFIC website. This short clip is so powerful! I watch it almost every day and I highly recommend it to any Christian man, woman, or young person who wants to be used by God as salt and light in this dark world. The words in this clip are extremely convicting and motivating. I believe that the message presented here is something that every pastor needs to work towards in his own life and ministry as well. Hope you all are blessed by this!

Joel Stanton, NCFIC Intern

P.S. The awesome music (it causes chills to go up and down my spine every time) is from "The Second Chance" with Michael W. Smith. Now In want to see that movie again! :)