My View of the Bay
“Seven Habits of the Burning Heart”
John Calvin, father of Reformed Protestantism, is acknowledged as having a heart devoted to his God. On the seal used to commemorate Calvin’s life and contributions to the church is a hand holding up a heart on fire. It symbolizes Calvin’s offer of himself to God’s kingdom – “My heart I give to you, O God, eagerly and sincerely.” Members of our Vital Church Ministry Team, a group of church members who give me counsel and suggest ministry ideas for our church to consider, asked that I consider preaching a series of sermons entitled “The Seven Habits of the Burning Heart.”
The group had been reviewing the Vital Church concepts of Dr. Stan Ott, Presbyterian Pastor and founder of the Vital Church Institute. In his book, Twelve Dynamic Shifts for Transforming Your Church, Dr. Ott identifies seven habits that will help develop passionate disciples in the church.
On Sunday, May 3, I introduced the first of those habits, The Habit of Devotion, and we distributed red, stress reliever, squeeze hearts imprinted with the words, “Seven Habits of the Burning Heart,” to members of the congregation. It is our hope that these hearts will serve to remind us that we are, like Calvin, to offer our hearts to our Lord, eagerly and sincerely. As we consider the various habits, listed below, I encourage your thoughts and questions in preparation to sharing those messages with the people. I plan to share my thoughts from the scriptures before and after the sermons are preached, so please watch this blog space for my comments and feel free share yours with me.
The Seven Habits of the Burning Heart
May 3, 2009 – The Habit of Devotion
May 10, 2009 – The Habit of Building Relationships
May 24, 2009 – The Habit of Ministry and Mission
May 31, 2009 – The Habit of Work
June 7, 2009 – The Habit of Stewardship
June 14, 2009 – The Habit of Well-Being* (physical, emotional, spiritual) – Rev. David van Dam preaching
June 21, 2009 – The Habit of Fellowship*
*These topics may be reversed
Peace and Grace – you go nowhere by accident.
Dr. Bob
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