Church of God LifeBuilders

To the right is a video of Leonard Albert’s recent spreach on “Our Legacy” which he gave at the North Cleveland Church of God in Cleveland, TN.  This is a challenging message for churches and laity to reach out to the world around them with acts of kindness as a centerpiece of their legacy.

The video is also being podcast, and can be downloaded in that format here.

For the last few months Clifford Hare and Ed Jost have been leading the LifeBuilders men’s group at the 103^rd Street Church of God in Jacksonville, Florida.  These two guys are cutting edge and are really at the forefront of the men’s movement.  Their senior pastor, Rev. Cliff Gobble backs them every step of the way and attends the men’s events as well.

The other night I had the privilege of speaking in their monthly meeting.  I got to meet each of the 16 men in attendance, spoke with the pastor and then gave a 25 minute challenge to reach and disciple men for Christ.  I told them about our Ten for 10,000 plan to win 10,000 new men in the Church of God in the next five years, I mentioned how they were a vital part of this great challenge.  I told them about the new men’s ministry “adventure” that we have created called Matthew 25 Men.  This is an opportunity to spend a weekend away from home and go to hurting people and do deeds of kindness.  In Atlanta, Georgia they can do street ministry; in Logan, West Virginia they can visit the hungry and homeless and help feed them; and in Gallup, New Mexico they can reach the Navajo “first Americans.”  At the end, I gave them the same challenge that I do every local group: I asked them to commit to reaching, discipling and equipping 20 new men in their group in the coming months.

Here’s the wonderful thing about the evening I spent with these men: I never had to leave my house here in Cleveland, Tennessee! We did it for free over the Internet with OOVOO (www.oovoo.com) a “video-over-internet-protocol” software that is available free for any computer with a web-cam and a decent broadband connection.  Cliff Hare went out and bought a $70 web camera and hooked it up to a microphone stand; and then  from my study I could see and speak to every man.  It was amazing!  It was so easy for me to have a chance to meet and minister to new men.  We’re going to do these all over the country and around the world, because we don’t have much time left!  I truly believe that Jesus is coming soon, and I also believe that what we want to be found doing when He comes we had better begin doing now!

Blessings on you!

Leonard C. Albert

This week’s podcast is Leonard Albert’s message on Christ’s Call to Lay Ministry, which he delivered in 2007.

Each and every member of the Body of Christ is a minister.  In this message, Bro. Albert inspires us to become that minister whom God has called.

By Leonard C. Albert

God has always had “a man for the times.” In Genesis 6:9 the Word of God says, “This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.”

Someone said “that was then and this is now.” Consider where we are today and you will know that the times we are living in now also demand that God’s men become “men for the times.” 2 Timothy 3:1 says to “…know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.” We are living in the last days and these are perilous times.

Strong’s Concordance tells us that the word “perilous” means “difficult, dangerous or furious.” Thayer’s Lexicon says it means “hard to bear, troublesome and savage.” When they fly airplanes into buildings and blow up innocent women and children it shows we are in “perilous times.” When you can be shot just for changing lanes on the freeway, we are in “perilous” times.

I was thinking about these perilous times and I have come to believe that despite all the avenues available to spread the gospel of Christ, the world is in disarray. It is a crisis of both magnificent opportunities and infinite responsibility. It is sad to me that many men are content to be “men of the times” rather than “men for the times.”

God is calling His people to be spiritual and powerful as we live with evil all around us-evil that is now more brash than ever. We’re re-defining marriage. We’ve killed 50 million babies in this country through abortion. Tonight 33 million children will go to bed without a biological father in the home. We don’t need “culturally relevant” men. So many today are just men of the times. We need men who will step to the plate and declare “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

Where are those men?

Noah was a man like this-he was a man for the times. Like us, he lived in tough times. In Genesis 6:11, just two verses down from our opening reading it says, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Noah was faithful for about 120 years while he was building the ark. He didn’t fully understand what God was doing in his life and in the world, but he knew something was about to happen. We need that patience! We need to stop and take the time to really look at where we are in our relationship with God. In the midst of this the Bible says that Noah was a:

Just man
Perfect man in his generation
A man who walked with God

This is a record of a powerful, Godly man. Will you answer His call to be one also?