Live Life Like You Mean It

Life goes fast these days. Most people are just sleeping through it.  We want to stop and pause for you who want to come alive.  We are making sure that we take the time to pause for you to jump on board. If you haven’t experienced the stunning and shocking power of Christ we are making room for you to do just that.

Our Pastor Bishop Aubrey Shines will be covering the next six weeks how you enter in to a vibrant life. Any why there is no need to end up twenty years from now and say “how did I miss that one.” So jump off the sleep train with many this month and experience what many say can’t be but 800 men and women at G2G say it so real we want to share it with you.

From MinistryTodayMag.com

How can your church intentionally reach and lead men?

God has a high opinion of men. That may sound presumptuous, but Scripture backs me up. He created man, so He obviously had in mind a purpose for men. And it’s difficult to overlook the fact that Jesus founded the New Testament church on the hearts and minds of a handful of male apostles.
Yet according to polls conducted by Hartford’s Institute of Religious Research and the Gallup Pollsters, the average church in America is comprised of only 7 to 11 percent men. What has robbed the church of its male leadership and effectual ministry?

When we attempt to answer this question, we find dozens of dynamics that researchers use to extrapolate explanations as to the various reasons why men don’t see the need to be a part of a local church. One of the reasons they cite is that men feel pastors do not address “relevant” issues.
Prior to becoming the founder and senior pastor of an independent church in Tampa, Fla., I was an ordained evangelist in the oldest Pentecostal reformation in America, the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). For more than 20 years, I have preached both in the COGIC as well as every other mainline and interdependent denomination in this nation, and my informal research juxtaposes with studies conducted by sanctioning research bodies.

For example, several months ago one of my parishioners informed me that her father would be attending Sunday’s service. She showed such exuberance I was compelled to ask her why was she was so elated. “Well,” she said, “my father was raised as a child in church, but as he aged he almost completely stopped attending.”

She continued to share with me how her dad’s views on interracial relationships had been polluted by the bigotry he had been taught in church as well as by society. She shared how she had given her father CDs from several of my teaching series, including ones on historical Christianity, God’s view on relationships and how voting for a president sets the agenda for the moral direction of our nation. Her father described my messages as “relevant” and thus decided he had to see for himself who and what we were.

I’ve heard similar stories throughout my ministry. Relevance is of utmost importance to men. Most don’t have the time or energy for periphery discussion. Yet relevance is only one of a cauldron of ingredients as to what draws men to church.

In contrast to the normal percentages, our congregation is comprised of 43 percent men. I believe this is a direct result of several concrete strategies we’ve implemented:

• We intentionally create an environment where men are the first people you see when you pull up to the front of the building.
• We encourage men to participate in the lives of the sons from single-mom families. These men are visible at academic or ath-letic functions.
• We provide a monthly men’s meeting to allow a time of fellowship and talk about subjects they favor; nothing is off limits.
• We mobilize men to help single mothers with important tasks, such as moving or car repair.
• We encourage open displays of affection from men toward their family members. I personally embrace and kiss my two sons in front of our entire congregation.
• We counsel men who have fathered children outside of matrimony to become active fathers in their children’s lives.

Unless we transform and help our men, the words of Malachi will undoubtedly never be fulfilled in this generation: “And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse” (4:6).
Pastors, men need you! Invite them to become the leaders God has created them to be.

From Watchdogwire.com

Bishop Aubrey Shines exposes the Southern Poverty Law Center and how they label Christian organizations as hate groups because of their beliefs.

Pastor Aubrey Shines, a Chicago native, began ministering in the Cook County Correctional System in Chicago, IL as an evangelical minister licensed by the late Bishop D. Husband (Churches of God in Christ). He has earned a degree in Computer Science, a Bachelors Degree in Theology, and a Masters Degree in Divinity.

In 1987 God moved greatly upon Pastor Shines’ heart and he became founder of Glory To Glory Ministries. The ministry has since transcended denominational, cultural, and ethnic boundaries. Throughout the country, Pastor Shines has been featured in various leading newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio broadcasts as a leading prophetic voice. This call upon his life has positioned him to be called upon to minister prophetic insight into the lives of key spiritual leaders, top athletes, entertainers, and governmental officials.

Pastor Shines had a zeal for God’s people to know Him in a greater and more personal way, rather than solely through human emotions. In May 2002, he began teaching a basic theology course to train leaders in the Tampa/St.Petersburg, Florida area. The curriculum focused on the Patristic Period and the impact that the First through Fifth Century Fathers of the Church had on our global society. As a result of the consistent weekly Bible teachings, the attendance to these classes grew steadily in number during the first year. Saturating his desire with prayer, God began to clearly speak to him and it became apparent that God was leading him to shepherd this newly assembled flock of believers as their Senior Pastor.

Glory To Glory Ministries is now located in the inner city of Tampa, Florida. Over the past eight years, this congregation has grown tremendously because of the anointing that God has placed on Pastor Shine’s life. Pursuing God’s vision, Glory To Glory Ministries currently has filed the formal papers for the establishment of a charter school which will have an emphasis in both law and finances.

Pastor Shines most recent accomplishment is being one of the seven founders of  the International Communion of Evangelical Churches organization under the dynamic leadership of Presiding Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr.  ICEC is A Communion of God’s Design in which he serves in the Communion of the Prophetic Voice and Public Affairs.

Source Info: www.frc.org; www.splcenter.com; and www.fbi.gov

TAMPA, FL. June 26, 2013 – Today the Supreme Court of United States rendered two decisions that homosexual activists will no doubt see as the final word on the definition of marriage. They however are sadly mistaken.  Americans across this nation understand the great value that both mothers and fathers offer in raising children.

Today’s Defense of Marriage Act ruling flies in the face of common sense, tradition, reason and morality.  The justices that rendered today’s decisions may be supreme, but their error prone decisions make it clear that they are human.  The Defense of Marriage Act is the result of an overwhelming majority of republican and democratic legislators with the support of a Democratic President defining marriage for the purpose of federal law.  Their constitutional authority should be recognized.

In the case of Proposition 8, when residents of liberal California determined in overwhelming numbers that marriage should be defined as a union between a man and a woman, no activist judge should have the right to overturn the will of the people.

In spite of today’s decisions, the vast majority of Americans do no support the homosexual agenda.  Many Americans have been intimidated and have retreated from public discourse on this issue because of Hollywood and Madison Avenue bullying. The aggressive, multi-billion dollar media campaigns promoting homosexuality have not worked and will not work because in the end the truth always wins out.  And in the matter of marriage and family, the truth is never complicated.  The healthy union between one man and one woman is unique and special and the best environment to raise a child.

By Pastor Aubrey Shines

What is an Inclusionist? In a nutshell, this warped theory has its contemarary origins in the New Age Movement. An Inclusionist does not believe in moral absolutes. As a result, they are tolerant of all “truth systems.” There is an obvious problem here. To say that there are no moral absolutes is an absolute in itself, which is self-contradictory.

When asked to comment on the words of our Christ, as found recorded in the Gospel according to St. John the 10th chapter and the sixteenth verse, one should always begin with the laws of theological interpretation. These principals of interpretation are taught throughout Bible schools in and out of this country. Keep in mind if one were to write a full dissertation on the pribncipals of election, covenantal, ethnic, and chronometrical principles the next several pages would cause a sudden desire upon you the reader to take a brief siesta. So let’s just remember the Word of God, which admonishes us never to adhere to any doctrine that cannot be confirmed except from the mouth of two to three witnesses.  Let’s quickly view the book, chapter, and verse that are so often misused to justify a doctrine that has been called “INCLUSION.”

When Jesus said, “and other sheep I have which are not of this fold” Jesus was speaking to the Jews who had been frequently spoken of in scripture as God’s flock. When Jesus referenced, “other sheep I have that are not of this fold” the other sheep were gentiles. They are spoken of throughout the Old Testament as scattered sheep, and not as flocks.

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, he gave witness to what Christ had said by stating in

Eph 2:16:

“And He designed to reconcile to God both Jew and Gentile united in a single body by the means of His cross, thereby killing the mutual enmity and bringing the feud to an end” [Amp]

One would find it absolutely impossible for any past or present theologian to not confirm this broad held position of Scripture. Allow me to quote from the great theologian and commentator Johnson who writes “not Jews of whom all His followers then were, but Gentiles who would soon be called to him. These would hear His voice, enter through the door into the same fold as the Jewish Christians, so that there would be one fold and one Shepherd.”There is only one church and one door into it, and one Shepard over it.

Time nor space would allow me to continue quoting from the sacred Bible nor take you on a journey through the Patristic period of our heritage, nor would it allow me to stop and rest in the reformation dispensation; no place other than the new age movement can one find the inclusion doctrine.

If our Savior is to be included with other religious belief systems, then He has either personally lied or was an absolute lunatic. After all, He is the one that stated to His creation, St. John 14:6 “I am the Way the Truth, and the Life. No man can come unto the Father, but by me.” Note, Jesus did not say as Oprah Winfrey and Carlton Pearson and other inclusionists that believe he was “A” way. He clearly states that He is “THE” way.  The irony for anyone that adheres to the Holy Scripture as sacred would actually violate the very text itself if they selectively pick and choose the parts of scripture they deem as comfortable. The moment we drive the vehicle of our mind on that slippery pavement of ideology, we could be forced to discount the Bible in its entirety. After all, if there are no specifics as to in what manner a person must live, then why can’t we all live a life that we deem as good? If one holds to this bankrupt thought process, then all roads would lead to Heaven.

In conclusion, Jesus stated often that anyone that did not come through HIS door would be counted as a thief and a robber. He also said that these characters along with Satan would be thrown in a lake that would burn with fire eternally. If your leader does not have the backbone to proclaim Jesus as Lord of all, I beg you to adhere to the words of the Apostle Paul when writing to his spiritual son Timothy, “run away from these cantankerous men that are causing the faith of so many to shipwreck.” Paul said that he would apostolically deliver these teachers over to Satan. If Paul, being an apostle, moved with such swift judgment upon the men of his day, what do we think as New Testament believers Christ would do to those who are leading numerically even greater multitudes to a doctrine of despair.