RKS Upclose

[rkentsmith]

I have been preaching about tares of late. I offer this simply as a blessing....rks

http://rkentsmith.blogspot.com/

[rkentsmith]

Tracie has assumed the burden of the worst crime infested apartments in our city. The community is locked behind twelve foot iron gates but the trouble is both inside and out. I am amazed at her fearless assault for a few young children in this hopeless neighborhood. Tonight I watched one of her little friends outside the church doors as she waited for her ride home and purposed that maybe we can keep this child from an early teen pregnancy, abuse and drug use. Tracie is my hero. I love her too......rks

Click for more ....... www.rkentsmith.blogspot.com

[rkentsmith]

Check out my latest blog.... www.rkentsmith.blogspot.com

[Sweet Pea]

Very thought-provoking blog. Thank you for sharing!

[BrotherEastman]

Originally Posted by rkentsmith

Check out my latest blog.... www.rkentsmith.blogspot.com

Thanks for sharing Bro. Smith.

[tv1a]

Would it be too much to ask to post the content on this thread? It is a gem.

I don't know of many upc churches who are ready to reach the lost. They may talk it but when the rubber meets the road, they slam on the brakes.

Real harvest means gathering in the snotty nosed, little kids. Lining them up on the front pew. Real revival is to embrace the teenage single mom, the gothic inspired teenager. The punks with spike hairdos and more metal in their bodies than I have in my vehicle.

Real harvest is going into the highways and byways where the druggies, the poor, the prostitutes, the addicts are and showing love.

Those bottles of water will not got to waste. There is something powerful when one gives a drink of water to someone in Jesus name. While someone thinks that bottle of water is to quench a natural thirst, something is stirred in their spirit to find the river of living water.

Good post rev.

[rgcraig]

Sunday, February 10, 2008
Posted by Pastor R Kent Smith at 5:22 PM

Yesterday I Wept

The Saturdays of my first ten years in Conroe were spent in the harvest…

God blessed and I have not done much of that the last seven…

Pastoral duty called and I did not have time for such things…

Oh, we would have campaigns and blitz and I would lead the charge…

I have bought thousands of info tapes and given them away...

I have printed hundreds of thousands of pieces of literature...

Websites, yellow page ads, news paper ads, etc

Bicycles, mp3 players, backpacks, candy and who knows what else have been given away by this ministry...

In a container on our parking lot is nearly 10,000 bottles of water we are giving away....

I am certain without research, but I have signed checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars we have sent out for the souls....

But yesterday I wept…

For Tracie and I spent the afternoon in the harvest…

And I felt for the first time in years the actual weight of burden for people I did not know…

Oh, preacher man I know we all have burdens for our cities, communities and churches…

But I felt the emotion of the impossibility of the depravity of those addicted and helpless….

I felt the helplessness of the children of those same addicts…

My years in jail ministry taught me to be hard and the ones there had done the crime so they had to serve the time…

But little children locked behind flimsy doors protected by fearful parents or guardians who are afraid for the kids to sit on the front porch…

And then there were the street smart ones…

The urchins for lack of a better word…

I wept over a group of twelve and thirteen year old little girls who are already living the promiscuous life their mommas taught them…

I wept as I watched the police cruiser stop and the officers begin beating on a door…

I wept over Tracie’s little friend Destiny who was so sad this week…

We took her to lunch and she was so sad and refused to talk….

Yeah…

Kent and Tracie took the little urchin named Destiny to lunch…

The successful pastor and his trophy wife were sitting at a picnic table with a little girl who had not eaten in a day or so…

Or had a bath…

And I wept…

My heart literally rose in my throat as I considered the hopeless future these young ones have …

Without a savior…

I wept…

Is my current emotion somewhat similar to what Jesus felt that day he looked over Jerusalem?

My emotion was for a neighborhood….

His, a world…

Yesterday I wept…

Oh, I always cry at the Home Missions service at General Conference…

I am ashamed that it has been years since I wept for souls…

This morning, is was Prime Time Pastor Hour…

Music was good…

Church nicely full…

Several visiting families…

All teams hitting on all cylinders….

Pastor was feeling and looking good…

But then…

Tracie comes through the front door with a little string of urchins who only have one hope…

And I wept….

Preachers….

We have our fine suits…

Fine houses…

Fine automobiles…

Fine churches…

Magazine offices…

Designer services…

Hobbies, friends and portfolios

All so nice…

We have all wept for the success of our ministries…

We have wept for the success of our careers…

How long since we truly wept over those that we really are their only hope…

Yesterday I wept…

Today it continues…

I hope it never stops…

[Cindy]

Very powerful Bro. Smith.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by tv1a

Would it be too much to ask to post the content on this thread? It is a gem.

I don't know of many upc churches who are ready to reach the lost. They may talk it but when the rubber meets the road, they slam on the brakes.

Real harvest means gathering in the snotty nosed, little kids. Lining them up on the front pew. Real revival is to embrace the teenage single mom, the gothic inspired teenager. The punks with spike hairdos and more metal in their bodies than I have in my vehicle.

Real harvest is going into the highways and byways where the druggies, the poor, the prostitutes, the addicts are and showing love.

Those bottles of water will not got to waste. There is something powerful when one gives a drink of water to someone in Jesus name. While someone thinks that bottle of water is to quench a natural thirst, something is stirred in their spirit to find the river of living water.

Good post rev.

Yes it is a gem. But then you posted negatively of the UPC churches. So is it your opinion that every other church doesn't slam on the brakes?

[tv1a]

The upci is a point of common reference between the blog's author and myself. The fact there was huge blow up about tv advertising is one piece of solid evidence that there was a faction in the organization which did not believe the mantra the whole gospel to the whole world.

There's God's way, then there's the upci's way. Those who don't do it the upci way are usually on the receiving of the criticism from the self righteous know it alls. Look how much criticism the Manguns have taken about the revival God has poured out in Alexandria. I can't believe someone would take issue with Micky Mangun singing the National Anthem at an event.

I know a district official who couldn't keep a new convert in his church even if he tried. Yet he is more than willing to criticize the church 20 miles down the road for being charismatic. He should than his lucky stars he got our sickly sheep. About the only thing they are good for is a good offering. They don't do much soul-winning. They are too busy tearing down the preacher to do so.

While there are exceptions to the rule, the upci is still largely made up of all talk and no action type of people who easily criticized the successful. Thank God there is a generation rising to the occassion which understands the mandate GOD has given them. They are not afraid to take the church to the next level. I'm glad I'm in a upci church that moving forward.

Originally Posted by cneasttx

Yes it is a gem. But then you posted negatively of the UPC churches. So is it your opinion that every other church doesn't slam on the brakes?