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 Encourage One Anotherby Jeremy Houck Hebrews 10:19-10:24 Recently, a young man in another state graduated from high school. 13 years of school was coming to an end and they could see the end of the path that they had taken from Kindergarten to 12th grade. The more… 
Building Community - Encourage One Anotherby Alan Perkins 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Lately, we’ve been discussing what it means for the church to be a community, and how we can build and maintain a sense of community in the church. Why is this topic important? In our country, social more…
Community Among Believersby Dean O'Bryan Hebrews 10:24-10:25 Some of you have heard an illustration which pictures two ways Christians can relate to each other. One ways is we can be like a bag of marbles. You throw a bunch of marbles into a bag -- they impact more…
Encourage One Another by Rick Stacy 1 Thessalonians 5:11 People are less connected, less involved, less active in their communities today. People participate less in organizations and groups of every kind than they did a generation ago. What we are seeing is that the more...
 Healthy Attitudes for a Spiritual Community by Richard Tow1 Thessalonians 5:11-5:28 If you had only one minute to tell someone how to help their church be healthy and spiritually vibrant, what would you say? What issues would you address? What would you tell them to do—with only one more...
Lessons From GeeseFact 1: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an "uplift" for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Lesson 1: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another. Fact 2: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front of it. Lesson 2: If we have as much common sense as a goose, we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others. Fact 3: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position. Lesson 3: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each others’ skills, capabilities, and unique arrangements of gifts, talents, or resources. Fact 4: Geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. Lesson 4: We need to make sure our honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement, the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one’s heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek. Fact 5: When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock. Lesson 5: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong. Contributed by: Al Schifano
Daily EncouragementLisa Marino has a personal fitness coach who gives her advice and encouragement. But she’s never seen him. As a participant in a program called, “Life Practice,” Lisa begins each day by sending a report of her diet, exercise, sleep, and stress to an Internet web site. Later she receives an e-mail response from her coach. She says that the daily reporting helps keep her honest and focused on her fitness goals. Daily, the Holy Spirit is giving advice and encouragement to help us maintain our spiritual fitness. SOURCE: (David Mc Casland. Our Daily Bread, Radio Bible Class, Volume 48, Numbers 3-5, June 8.) Contributed by: Kenneth Squires Reciprocal EncouragementIn his autobiography, Breaking Barriers, syndicated columnist Carl Rowan tells about a teacher who greatly influenced his life. Rowan relates: Miss Thompson reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper containing a quote attributed to Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. I listened intently as she read: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.” More than 30 years later, I gave a speech in which I said that Frances Thompson had given me a desperately needed belief in myself. A newspaper printed the story, and someone mailed the clipping to my beloved teacher. She wrote me: "You have no idea what that newspaper story meant to me. For years, I endured my brother’s arguments that I had wasted my life. That I should have married and had a family. When I read that you gave me credit for helping to launch a marvelous career, I put the clipping in front of my brother. After he’d read it, I said, ‘You see, I didn’t really waste my life, did I?’” Encouragement and praise is like a boomerang; the more you give it, the more it wants to return. It’s really just a matter of knowing this that can make all the difference not only in your life but in the lives of those around you. Not that we live for praise ourselves. Rather, the more satisfaction we have in giving merely serves to fuel our desire to keep it coming. Find someone today who needs your encouragement, a little appreciation. Let your praise fly and then step back. You’ll want to be ready to catch it on the rebound. SOURCE: (Carl Rowan, Breaking Barriers, Little, Brown, Quoted in Reader’s Digest, January 1992.) Contributed by: Mark Brunner The Energy of Praise A study was done by psychologist Dr. Henry H. Goddard, on energy levels in children. He used an instrument he called the "ergograph." How he ever got some children to stand still long enough to connect them to the machine is a mystery. But he did, and his findings are fascinating. He found that when tired children are given a word of praise or encouragement, the ergograph shows an immediate upward surge of new energy. When the children are criticized and discouraged, the ergograph shows their physical energy take a sudden nose-dive. Those results could be probably be duplicated in adults. When we are praised our energy levels go up. When we are criticized our energy levels go down. SOURCE: Holwick’s Illustrations. http://ledgewood.1stbaptist.org/ill-link.html#HolwickWin95. Contributed by: Roy Fowler Encouragement From the Vicar A young couple, very much in love, were getting married in church. However, Sue the wife was very nervous about the big occasion and so the vicar chose one verse that he felt would be a great encouragement to them. The verse was 1 John 4:18 which says: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” Rather unwisely, the vicar asked the best man to read it out and to say that the vicar had felt that this was a very apt verse for Sue and that he would be preaching on it later in the service. However the best man was not a regular churchgoer. And so he did not know the difference between John’s Gospel and the First Letter of John. So he introduced his reading by saying that the vicar felt was a very apt verse for Sue. But he read John 4:18, which says, “You have five husbands and the one that you now have is not your husband.” Contributed by: Martin Dale 
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