I know the Lord is calling me to focus upon the biblical counseling ministry He has begun called Truth in Love Ministries (www.histruthinlove.org). This ministry was launched out of this local church in Clay, AL, and has flourished in less than 2 years of full-time operation.

TIL now has almost 50 volunteers and we are training over 100 more this semester. The Lord also continues to bless the writing, teaching, and speaking ministry He has given me as I am being asked to teach frequently on addictions, biblical counseling, and the like.

Therefore, I decided that it would be best for the church and best for TIL if I step down from the pastorate and focus full-time on continuing TIL.

It is sad because I will miss serving the people of Clay and preaching, but it is necessary for both organizations.

Again, it has been a GREAT PRIVILEGE for me to serve the Lord and His people at Clay. Please pray for the leadership to follow His leading in continuing the work He has been doing at Clay for over 50 years as they seek to call a new pastor. The church is in no debt and continues to seek to please the Lord by serving Him alone.

-Mark (thankful to the Lord for the MANY blessings received from Clay Christian Fellowship)

There is something YOU can do so act now!

-Pastor Mark

In 2009, we counseled 267 people in 206 sessions and saw many marriages reconcile as well as 4 people come to know Christ. Praise the Lord!

We uphold the sufficiency of Scripture to answer all of life’s problems!

-Pastor Mark (thankful for CCF allowing me to do biblical counseling)

How about the love of Christ? So how do we accomplish that?

One way is to speak the truth to lost souls who need to hear about the grace, goodness, mercy, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ for our sins!

In fact, let’s spread this message worldwide through missions opportunities! Let’s pray, give, send, and go to support missionary work all over the world!

I would encourage you that the heart of God is GIVING and we start by giving to our families, churches, local communities, and then the world! Do local missions right across the street and sometimes in your own home.

I love sharing and giving the message of the Gospel for the holidays! There is no better gift to give than eternal life and only the Holy Spirit can give that gift and He does so when we share the Gospel message!

-Pastor Mark (grateful of God’s gift to me that keeps on giving in this life and the life to come!)

http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_ProgramDetail.aspx?id=45477

-Mark (it’s the message of TRANSFORMATION)

You hear a lot about hypocrisy. People act like Jesus talked about hypocrisy all of the time, but He didn’t except when He dealt with religious Pharisees. Today, Christians are afraid to be bold and to biblically counsel or tell others about Jesus because of the “hypocrisy” or “sin” in their own lives, but we don’t preach ourselves!

Can a divorced person counsel someone about marriage? Think about that for a second before you answer and read this verse from 2 Cor. 4:5: “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”**

Let’s look at an illustration. Pretend there’s a hole in the ground that you stepped in and fell. Would you be “qualified” to warn someone walking near that hole not to step there since you just fell in?

What about the person who was standing nearby and saw you fall down after stepping in the hole? Would they be “qualified” to tell others about the hole?

What about a person who heard about the hole in the ground from others and then warned others about stepping in it? Would that person be “qualified” to warn others about the hole?

Who’s “qualified” to tell others about the hole in the ground? Does it matter? Not really because the PERSON is inconsequential. It’s the message that is vital. It’s the message that one must avoid the hole because they could fall, break an ankle, or whatever – that’s what is important.

Now, look at 2 Cor. 4:5 again:  “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”**

So can a divorced person counsel others? Are they “disqualified” from helping others since they’ve been divorced? It depends upon their message. If they are preaching themselves, then “yes” they are disqualified. However, if they are preaching Christ, then the message is right and they can “preach” it. They can warn others not to fall into the pit of divorce and to look to the forgiveness and power of Christ to bring change into their marriage.

Change gears now and reverse it. It’s ironic to me that people say all of the time that “it takes an addict to help another addict” but is that true? If the message is Christ, then anyone can preach it because it’s not the vessel that is important but the message and the Person of Christ. So anyone can help an “addict” if and when they get the message right!

I hate hypocrisy as much as anyone. I hate it in me first. But I can’t let my sin stop me or “disqualify” me from public speaking, preaching, teaching, or biblical counseling because the message is not MARK SHAW but knowing the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:3).

I hope this encourages you to place your faith in the message of Christ and to fulfill the ministry that He has called you to do!

Are you inadequate? Yes, but He is not! If He’s called you, He’ll be faithful to work through you by His Spirit to share His message of hope with others.

-Mark (proclaiming Christ alone)

** – The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Co 4:5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. ]]> http://ccfcma.org/?feed=rss2&p=125 2 http://ccfcma.org/?p=123 http://ccfcma.org/?p=123#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:39:58 +0000 Pastor http://ccfcma.org/?p=123 For over two decades, my wife and I have joked about my initials: M.E.S. I’ve embraced it now, but when you are a little kid, M.E.S. is not what you want your friends calling you!

In the distant past, I have said things like, are you sure you want to marry a “M.E.S. like me” and other corny phrases.

I honestly know what a M.E.S. I’ve made of my life and how Jesus has re-organized my life. Really, Jesus has transformed my life (Rom. 12:2).

Well, recently one of my favorite Christian groups, if not my favorite, wrote a song called “Mess of Me!” Some of the lyrics say: “I’ve made a mess of me! I want to get back the rest of me. I’ve made a mess of me. I want to spend the rest of my life ALIVE! The rest of my life alive.”

In the song, the lead singer realizes that only Christ can change a human heart and that there is NO quick fix that human beings can do themselves. He sings, “There ain’t no drug! It’s not enough. The sickness is myself.”

So here I am, listening to my favorite group sing about making a M.E.S. of me and how no drug can fix it and I’ve joked about that phrase for decades and have written a book about addictions with no quick fix other than Jesus!

How sovereign is God and how cool is His timing?

Share your sovereignty of God stories with me! I don’t believe in coincidences. Do you?

-Mark (serving a BIG God Who gives me daily “wows”!)

Let’s share in His suffering (Phil. 3:10) by sacrificing our things and surrendering our wills to His will and plan for our lives. Let’s reach the world for Christ!

Choose to suffer today for the glory of God!

-Pastor Mark (learning to embrace in the sharing of the sufferings of Christ)

We just returned from a good time of teaching, fellowship, and serving Christ in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Several of us attended from TIL and I hope more will attend with us next year.

For me, this conference was full of new experiences. First, this was my first time to teach a workshop at NANC’s annual, national conference. I taught on the TEAM approach (co-counseling) to biblical counseling. I prayed that the Lord would be glorified in the sight of the attendees and I believe He was. If you’d like to purchase a copy of my teaching, you can go to www.soundword.com and order the 1 hour CD (wait a few days for them to get it on their site).

Second, radio host, Pastor Kevin Boling, was at the conference and I was asked to speak on my Strength in Numbers book with 2 other authors (Dr. Stuart Scott and Pastor Mark Mann) on October 6th. If you’d like to hear the broadcast for free, click on this site and go to Oct. 6th’s broadcast: http://knowingthetruth.org/content/view/749/26/ . If you don’t want to hear the entire broadcast, I am on the end of the show in the final 15 minute segment (start at the 43 minute mark).

Third, I was asked to do a 5 minute “Moment of Truth” segment critically evaluating a secular article about TV, Internet, and Videogame “Addiction.” I did that radio segment yesterday and I’m not sure when it’ll be up on the same website, www.knowingthetruth.org . That was a chance to demonstrate the difference between worldly thinking and biblical thinking on that topic.

Finally, the most important experience for me was getting to spend time with Jason, Shirley, Sonya, Richard, Ronny, and my family. We had a fun time together with a busy schedule. Most amazingly, we are all still friends after spending so much time “cooped up” together!

For me, all of this is new. I am learning a lot and thankful that the Lord has given me opportunities to glorify Him on a national level. It is truly scary and humbling when I look at my own lack of abilities, but it is wonderful when I look at how God can use a foolish, regular guy like me to do His work.

-Pastor Mark (thankful for your prayers – please keep praying for me to keep my eyes on Jesus!)