This was my planned show and tell, and the last part of my trip to my sister's.

I have never been a fan of BIG churches. My thougths are 150 people are as many as one should have. If you have 200 I think that is two churches and the assoc. Pastor should be leading another church. It is just my opinion. God's is different and Saddleback is Amazing. It probably does have a Pastor for every thousand, and its small groups seem limited in size to eight to twelve people. Which brings me to my favorite class 401-Missions!

This class had three speaker/teachers and each one taught for an hour. This class did something my sister and I realized we had never REALLY done before, and share our testimonies with one another. This class taught you to make it relevant to the audience and keep it to about five minutes. The Long form in the picture is my testimony. The form itself is in triplicate! One for you, one for your small group leader and one for the Missions office. How great is that to have the ability to call te right person for the right incident at your fingertips!

Hearing my sister's testimony was very enlightening to me. She is eight years older than me and even though we became Christians within a year of each other, we did it on separate continents. I had to leave the Country to get saved. Well actually to be isolated enough to hear Jesus calling me. There was a major tug of war going on for my soul.

I do not have a one testimony fits all kind of testimony. Their are few people I cannot relate to by having "been there". A book was given to me as a young believer about 15 women who had used their past to form their ministry. My sister had given me the book because I had said I didn't know what God wanted me to do. After I read it I called her back in tears. I had experienced to some degree thirteen of the fifteen examples! Her response...pray about it! As I wailed out to the Lord, He replied with 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, this became my life verse and at one time or another I will type it out on your blogs! It is the answer the Lord has given me to "WHY"! Did it satisfy me? No! because it was followed with I have called you to be a Pastor's wife, everyone that walks into his office will be comforted by your understanding. Did this comfort me???? No! More wailing...why? My beloved was not Saved! SO how do I respond to this Word from the Lord??? No God Please! Please don't KILL Mike! I love him, I know he doesn't believe, but please don't kill him just so I can be married to a pastor!

Why this extreme reaction???? I knew I would never divorce him (although the next year we came very, very close) so the only way I could find myself married to a pastor was for God to Kill Mike!!!!! Yes you can Laugh here! Really, the thought never occurred to me that God would SAVE my beloved and call HIM to be a Pastor!

Back to the class..... Sharing our testimonies was a blast, and having the PEACE Passport made me focus on my Mission field. Oh I loved this quote... Mission is what the church (individually) does; Missions is where the Church is not. Which brings me to the P.E.A.C.E plan. Rick Warren loves acronyms and ststistics! P = Plant Churches E = Equip Servant Leaders A = Assist the poor C = Care fore the sick and E = Educate the Next generation. This class had a plan to do that personally, locally and Globally.

Mostly I loved how these classes taught the body to own their part in it. Everyone has responsibility. No one is given a free ride. just because they are Gigantic! His sermon that week was a challenge to the congregation; the first 15 years had them with 10,000 members ( not attenders, members) the next seven years, another 10,000 members, the challenge???? 10,000 more in the next 3 1/2 years or 40 months! Members have to attend classes to be members 101, 201. 301, and 401. This also meant 10,000 more small groups. And 10 more affiliate churches. What a vision!

So that was my vacation....what a trip! It was the best retreat I have been to in years!

As for my testimony... the audience, the circumstance, the Lord, piece by piece. after all I already have a PG-13 rating for my blog, too much and it will become R- rated.