Disicipleship Ministries Blog

Prayer

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:39:20 GMT

The author of 1 Timothy 2:8 writes that the Lord wants “men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer”. What do you think the writer is pointing out to us? How many people really pray like this? Another thought that comes to mind is why pray at all if not like Paul mentions above?

We can conclude that a lot of people make silent prayers because religious tradition teaches us to do so, or we learned it from our parents, Sunday school teachers or our religious friends but are we truly connecting with God on a personal level when we pray? E.M. Bounds in his book “Prayer” writes that God does not hear our prayers if they are lukewarm or mechanical. He explains that God wants us to seek him out passionately, constantly.

How many of us really do this? When was the last time you lifted up your hands to the heavens above or knelt before God as you talked intimately, reverently with holy passion in your heart knowing that the Creator of the world desires this from us and answers our prayers when we seek Him with our whole heart.

My hope and prayer is that you become closer to the Lord as you reflect on the way you pray. We are taught In the 1st Epistle of Thessalonians Chapter 5: 16-18 to “be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus“.

Allow me to suggest a good starting point for this kind of passionate prayer.
Kneel down before God at bedtime, extend your hands out with your palms up and reflect on your day. Start your prayer by thanking God for His love, blessings and mercy that He placed upon you for the day. Do this every night before you go to bed. Who knows you just might find yourself lifting up your hands to the Lord in love, joy and thanksgiving as you continue to pray this way.

Have a great Christmas!
Pastor Terry

Jesus Christ is still performing miracles today

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:07:45 GMT

I love to share stories that will encourage and give people hope. Several weeks ago a young high school student by the name of Malorie was playing soccer for Uniontown High School when she got kicked and lost her sight in one eye. After seeking medical help and working with five doctors their diagnosis was traumatic for Malorie. She had permanent damage and loss of sight in the eye that was kicked with no hope of ever recovering.

Malorie shared with her parents and doctors that she would not give up hope. Her friends invited her to a Christian healing service at Chalk Hill UMC that took place on November 3rd, 2008 and she accepted. The congregation prayed for a miracle to take place for her and many others that Sunday morning.

When she left the church, she still did not have her sight restored but did not give up hope feeling certain God heard the prayers and would give her sight back.

On Saturday afternoon November 22nd, 2008 she was waiting to line up with her high school band to perform in a local Thanksgiving parade when she suddenly felt lightheaded. Malorie said she thought she was going to pass out. To her dismay she lost total sight in both eyes and became very frightened as her friends and family prepared to take her to the emergency room. While all of this chaos was going on she started to cry with joy telling everyone that her eyesight came back perfect. That is right, total eyesight in both eyes.

After testing, all the doctor could say is that there is no medical explanation that she should be able to see out of that eye. He was baffled.

Malorie is still praising God knowing that nothing is impossible for our Lord Jesus Christ, and He hears and answers our prayers. We had a great celebration at Chalk Hill UMC this past Sunday (Nov.23rd, 2008) and share this story with you to give you hope and encourage you to place your burdens upon the Master Physician, Jesus the Messiah of world.

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday and we encourage you to share your comments with us concerning this miracle.

May God bless you,

Pastor Terry

Relieve Stress

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:53:57 GMT

Here is something to reflect on today. Are you a complainer? Do you find yourself depressed most of the day because nothing seems to be right including your job, your spouse or your friends? Do you find fault with everything? I hope not but if this strikes a cord lets look to the Scriptures for some help.

In Philippians Chapter 4 reading verse 14-16 we learn that we are to do all things without complaining and disputing so that we may become blameless and harmless in this perverted generation.

If we really think about it, complaining or fighting all the time to get our way will just suck the life out of a person. A suggestion would be to consider optimism in this imperfect world striving to make a difference. I believe that this outlook will relieve a lot of stress upon a person and place a smile back on our faces and hearts opening us up to God’s peace and joy.

I would love to hear any comments on this reflection.

Pastor Terry

Kenyan Creusade 2008

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:35:44 GMT

A Kenyan Story

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:09:01 GMT

    For the last two years Pastor Terry Collins has taken two delegations to the Country of Kenya to preach, teach, and feed the poor as they witness the Word of God. He just returned from one of the hardest physical traveling trips that he and a team have ever made and one of the most rewarding outreaches that he has ever been apart of.   Pastor Collins traveled with his wife Susan, Dane and Cynthia Cramer from Somerset and Randy Byers from Masontown.
    We all witnessed the aftermath of the horrendous skirmishes that took place throughout this country as a result of the presidential elections that took place in December of 2007. Tribe struck out against tribe killing, maiming, raping, and terrorizing each other until the world leaders stepped in to restore some sort of peace. Multitudes of Kenyan people were displaced as a result of these skirmishes.
    Our outreach took place in the heart of cities where victims are trying to heal from the devastating effects of the carnage that was placed upon them. We found the victimizers left with a terrible guilt they find themselves living with as a result of the atrocities they became apart of. Now that the dust has settled, they can’t believe they did the things they did.
    Our host Pastor Matthew Ongere, told us that one tribe beheaded hundreds of people and lined these heads up on the roadway to strike terror in the hearts of their enemy tribe in the middle of this civil unrest. The survivors find themselves unable to heal from the grief they suffered. Many of them lost their entire families as well as the homes they lived in.
    During our crusades we offered them the forgiving and healing grace of Jesus Christ and witnessed hundreds of men and women receive peace and comfort from God as they turned their burdens over to the Lord. On one evening, the guilt was so heavy on a group of men that when we offered them Jesus Christ forgiveness they knelt down in the mud streets and repented. Pastor Collins stated that he has never witnessed repentance like this before. We also fed over one hundred families before we left this city.
    While in the District of Homa Bay, which is a six hour trip from Eldoret (including four hours of traveling on dirt roads) we held a two night Crusade in Kagan West. The crowd surrounded us and pressed in to hear the Word of God preached. The younger men were actually climbing trees to be able to see us and to hear us. Once again hundreds gave their lives over to the Lord and I just received an e-mail from Pastor Matthew that seventy six people would like to start a church in this village.
    My wife and Cynthia Cramer spoke to a hundred village widows who find themselves considered worthless and unimportant in their community. We learned that this attitude is widespread across the Nation. As we left this community our ladies have a desire to re-establish self worth in these women. They offered them hope by preaching the love and peace that comes from being believers of Jesus and then stated that we desire to help them become a community of widows in their village who are productive and self-sufficient. We suggested bringing widows together with their children distributing the every day work among themselves. We stated that a few of them would be responsible for cooking and preparing the food while a few of them planted and took care of a home garden. A few other widows would sew clothes then sell or trade any extra they make for other provisions they will need. Finally a few of the widows would take care of the livestock. The woman took to this overwhelmingly. We have joined with a local church in this community to see if we can get a parcel of land for them. The community will build the mud huts they need to live in. Our hope is to be able to purchase a few manual sewing machines and several native milking cows, utensils to cook on and eat with.
    Our team is now reaching out to see if we can help make this widows community work. It will be the first of its kind in this nation and hopefully be able to give them back their dignity and self worth. The village pastors believe that this will spread all over their district.
    If you would like to learn more about this outreach, Pastor Collins would love to come to your church, Bible study, or organization to share this remarkable outreach with you. Pastor Collins states that he is still in awe at the way God used this delegation to bring healing to multitudes of victims peace and forgiveness to the victimizers of this Nation. His prayer is that this testimony will bring renewal to all that love our Lord here in the States that hear this story.

Renewal Services

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:47:57 GMT

October 17th - October 19th renewal Services held at Wesley UMC in New Castle Pa. The theme of the services are "Lets Get Spiritual"

Revival Services

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:47:57 GMT

October 25th - Revival being held at Luzerne park, Brownsville Pa. Pastor Terry is one of the keynote speakers. Come and join us. Time 1PM - 8PM

Its a Wedding

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:47:57 GMT

On Dec. 13th Pastor Terry will be officiating a wedding in Mercer

Crisis in the Church

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:29:14 GMT

Recently I received an e-mail from a seminary student by the name of Arnold that lives outside of Nairobi Kenya. He asked me if I have the courage to address the problems of Christ’s Church in their Nation, which he feels starts with leadership the next time I visit.
He is convicted that the Kenyan Christian Church can not be strong again until the
leadership address their part in the prevailing open sin that has been witnessed by the world. This new e-mail acquaintance spoke of the disaster that engulfed the Country as a result of the elections that took place in Dec., 2007. He wrote that the church was at the center of the skirmishes. He went on to say that some of the church members and leaders actually instigated the carnage. He explained that they were, and are, divided because of ethnic differences that brought out their buried hatred for one another as they struck out with vengeful hearts, maiming, raping, killing, and robbing their rival
tribal neighbors.

As a result of this sin , it is his opinion that the church now pretends that all is well but it is not. They have not healed and some of their remarks betray their continued bitterness, anger and their continued desire for revenge.

After reading his remarks, I couldn’t help reflecting on the Christian Church in our own nation wondering when our leadership will search our hearts and repent of our open sin and get back to placing Christ first so that we too can be a vital witness to our Nation and the world.

You might wonder what our Christian Nation’s sin is? I believe that it is not being willing to stand on the sacred Holy Bible as our guide and path to holy living. Many of our main line church leaders continue to be split on issues like sexuality, abortion, and who should serve in our pulpits today. It’s as though the church does not know what sin is.
My answer to Arnold’s question is simple, it’s yes. I have the courage to address sin in his nation as well as the sin in our nation. It is prevalent, it is open and many of the leaders and members of Christ’s great church do not want to accept Jesus holy ways. They want to continue to entertain their sin as though God understands and tolerates it. This is not the case and the church continues to divide as it smothers Christ’ witness. Remember sin is anything that opposes the way of God. This includes immorality, homosexuality, murder, hatred and whatever takes the honor and glory away from Jesus Christ.

We are all guilty of sin, but the good news is the knowledge that Christ will forgive us and bless us when we repent. Today, seek Jesus’ wonderful grace once again by truly repenting of our wrongdoing, let God renew our hearts and the hearts of His church throughout this world, AMEN!
Would you pray this day that a renewal will take place within God’s family so that true revival can sweep our great Nation.

Pastor Terry

5K Benefit Run

Wed, 21 May 2008 08:00:48 GMT

Lets have some fun together and feed the needy in Africa. We are sponsoring a 5K benefit trail run at "Char Rose Retreat Farm" July 26th, 2008. The proceeds from this run will be used to feed as many of the desperately poor in Eldoret and Homa Bay, Kenya. If you are interested or know anyone that might be interested please have them contact us for a registration form.

If you are not a runner but want to walk the course come on out, and join us. Bring your hiking shoes and fishing rods. We will have picnic food, a Chinese auction with some great gifts to be had and hay rides.

Looking forward to meet you at the 5K.

Pastor Terry Collins

President