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November 2006
The Arrow
Volume I, Issue 2
Well, we made it to the second issue! Thanks to all of you who sent kind and encouraging remarks. Also thanks to Bro. Thad Jones, General Secretary of the National Baptist Laymen's Movement, for mentioning The Arrow in the E-Quarterly. As this is the November issue, allow me to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Of course, we all know that we do not need to wait for November to give thanks for our blessings.
Shoutout To Sis. Tandala Kidd and TLK Design Concepts, for theirwork on our website and on this newsletter. If you haven't been there in a while, please visit www.bullseyeministries.com and view our added pages and upgrades, including audio excerpts from three of our most popular men's day messages.
THE SHOT
The Call to Follow - Part II
Last month we explored The Call to Follow, found in John 4:19, and discovered that this call is a call to action, to obedience, and to sacrifice. This month, as we dig deeper into the subject, we will discover three additional aspects of this important and imperative call.
The call to follow is a call to training. "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Those who decide to follow Jesus sign up for in-depth teaching and training. Initially, a new believer is ill-equipped to participate in the ministry of the church. Yet, it is the God-ordained destiny of every believer to take part in the work of the ministry. This gap between initial capability and eventual expectation is bridged by consistent and constant teaching and training. Thus, those who follow are duty-bound to seek out bible-based teaching in their church andin other available forums. Are you hitting the mark in this area?
The call to follow is also a call to fruitfulness. Jesus promises to develop His followers into fruitful participants in ministry. It is impossible to truly follow Jesus and remain barren. As we follow, we develop a vine-branch relationship that invariably bears fruit. In mathematical terms, followship = fruitfulness. That equation yields a foolproof corollary: an absence of fruitfulness equals a lack of followship. What results do you get when you take the fruitfulness test?
Finally, the call is not to a relationship. Don’t get me wrong; Jesus desires to have a relationship with each of His followers, but relationship is not the culmination of His desire for us. Ultimately, His desire is for us to follow and become fruitful. At every crucial step of His ministry, He stressed fruitfulness, not relationship. His initial call is to fruitfulness (John 4:19). His last words address work and fruitfulness (Mathew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). And in His most significant discussion of relationship (John 15) He ties His relationship with His followers directly to their potential for fruitfulness. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that once you have achieved a relationship with the Lord, you have reached the end of your journey. A relationship with Jesus, while extremely important, is only a stop along the road that leads to fruitful participation in Kingdom building.
WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON?
October was a busy month. Interestingly, the month included three return trips: to Beth Eden Baptist Church in Oakland, Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, and Third New Hope Baptist Church in Detroit. At the end of the month, we were privileged to be a guest teacher at the Midwest Regional Laymen’s Workshop in Ft. Wayne, IN, where almost 700 delegates from seven states gathered for a weekend of praise, worship, evangelism, teaching, and fellowship.
WHAT'S COMING UP?
On November 4, 2006 we will have the opportunity for the first time to facilitate a church leadership conference. We have been invited to present Bullseye Ministries’ leadership workshops at the Annual Church Leader’s Conference of the New Hope Baptist Church in San Bernardino, CA where Dr. Robert Fairley is the pastor. We are looking forward to this further expansion of how the Lord is using this ministry. Later in the month we will be traveling to Tennessee to participate in a National Laymen’s Weekend Workshop. Please continue to pray for our strength and traveling grace.
Aiming at the Mark,
Ernest Tinsley
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