Feb 6 2013

Mercy Seat Evangelists

I am so proud to be a Mercy Seat Evangelist and honored that Pastor Pat and Karen Schatzline would allow me to be a part of this history changing ministry. This strategic group of evangelists has come together to bring revival to a generation.

Mercy Seat Evangelists or MSE is a new organization under the covering of Pastors Pat and Karen Schatzline, founders of Mercy Seat Ministries, www.mercyseatministries.com and author of the best selling book, “Why is God So Mad at Me?” www.whyisgodsomadatme.com

MSE is an elite team of evangelists hand picked by Pastors Pat and Karen Schatzline. If you are a pastor, camp director, or conference promoter you can be confident that a Mercy Seat Evangelist will be one you can count on.

Pastors Pat and Karen Schatzline founded MSE in 2012 with the help of Pastor Jeremy Donovan (Author, Evangelist and Youth Pastor). They came together with Pastor Donald Gibson (Senior Pastor of Mercy Gate Church) and Pastor Paul Owens (Senior Pastor of Fresh Start Church) as the leaders that oversee MSE. After the plan was laid out, Pastors Pat and Karen Schatzline went on a mission to find the top up and coming evangelists in the country.

In December of 2012, the team came together in Birmingham Alabama at Mercy Seat Ministries Headquarters and we launched Mercy Seat Evangelists together.

As a team of evangelists we are working together to reach this generation for Christ. We are one team, under the covering of Pastors Pat and Karen Schatzline, who are internationally known communicators and have over twenty-five years of ministry experience. All of us have our own individual ministries that you can see atwww.mercyseatevangelists.com. Whichever Mercy Seat Evangelist you feel best fits your event, you can be confident that they are MSE, they have been hand picked and are being raised up by the leadership team of MSE. You cannot apply to be on the MSE team, this is a strategic group of evangelists put together to bring revival to a generation. The MSE team is not only in constant training and support; but as MSE we stand together in accountability, integrity, and spiritual growth.

You can be assured that if you choose MSE as a team or one of the individual evangelists for your event that we have been preparing together to see the presence of God move in every event and for lives to be changed.

Check out MSE at www.mercyseatevangelists.com. We are excited to partner with you in reaching this generation for God.

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Jan 28 2013

Your Dreams Can Come True Like Da Vinci

Sometimes with the dreams I have, they seem so big and unreachable. I have told many dreams to many people and many times they have looked at me like I am crazy.  I have even had people literally tell me, “You are Crazy.”  I am actually okay with that if you know much about me I enjoy people thinking I am a little crazy.  Through my life I have many people even try to come against dreams I’ve had, but they don’t know my God. That is what I wanted to encourage you with today. If you have a dream it can come true, even if it comes in your legacy and not your life.

Leonardo Da Vinci is a good example of a dream being his legacy instead of his life. He had many dreams that many people thought could never happen. The biggest one that stands out to me is what he called the “Aerial Screw” In the fifteenth century he began to draw this amazing dream and even how it would work. I am guessing he had many people who saw it and said, “That’s just Crazy”

But his dream wasn’t crazy it came true. Many years later inventors used his drawings to create what we now know as the helicopter. It’s amazing for me to think that a dream written down came true so many years later. Da Vinci put his dream on paper in the fifteenth century and that dream written down didn’t come true came until 1940.

He never saw his dream come true and may have died with people thinking he was crazy. Well he was just crazy enough to be known as the man who put on paper a dream that became his legacy. He saw something no one else could for hundreds of years. It was the Aerial Screw designed hundreds of years before we ever saw the Helicopter that came from his idea. It was the dream of one man.

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I want to encourage you today to DREAM and DREAM BIG! Dont let them call you crazy. Be sure to write your dreams down because you never know if your dream will become your legacy. You never know when a door you and others couldn’t see will open. Whether you see it in your life or in your legacy its worth dreaming. Let them call you crazy, it’s better than being mundane.

When Da Vinci made this drawing there was no way it would work but the door opened in 1940 and his dream went from crazy to one of the most important inventions of flight.

BE A DREAMER TODAY and change the world.

John 14:12-14

New International Version (NIV)

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jan 23 2013

My meeting with David Green owner of Hobby Lobby

urlThe other day I had one of those days that will stand out to me for eternity. It was truly a life changing and inspiring moment that still has me in prayer.

My good friend Stacey Hillis (Side note: Yes that he is a guy with a girl’s name) and I were in Oklahoma City spending time with one of my mentors Pat Schatzline (Side Note: His new best-selling book Why is God so Mad at Me is a must have in your library.) Sunday Night Pastor Pat spoke at Crossroads AG an awesome church pastored by Pastor Ted Miller.

I love hanging out with Stacey because he is a go getter and dreamer. He is not afraid of failing or hearing no. This is the type of guy I want to hang with. When I woke up Monday morning I was looking for him in the hotel and couldn’t find him. My phone had just broke so I had no way to call him. He shows up about an hour later and says, “Just went over to Hobby Lobby headquarters and asked for an appointment with David Green at 1:30″

David Green is an amazing man of God. He has built a hobby that started in his Garage into a 3 billion dollar company. He has done a so much for the kingdom of God. Things that I didn’t even realize until I had the amazing honor of sitting in his conference room with him. For a few moments we sat and talked about his book and other things but then God came into the room. David began to tear up as he talked about how badly he wanted to reach the world for Jesus. This is a man who as personally put Bibles into over 400,000 homes in China.

I was totally blown away as we looked at pictures of all the amazing things that he has been able to do for Jesus around the world. Mr. Green is so humble and not one to brag. But people estimate he gives over $300 million a year to the cause of Christ. But it’s not a give where you can just email him and get money. Mr. Green is so strategic in his giving and so wise, it just blows me away.

One of the biggest things he said to me while touring the over 5 million sq ft of Hobby Lobby headquarters. We where walking along and I said “this place is the cleanest and biggest building I’ve ever seen in my life” (I literally would have eaten mashed potatoes off the floors)  A few moments later he looked at Pastor Pat, Stacey and I and said, “I’ve given this all to God, there are only two things that are eternal on this earth 1) Gods Word and 2) Peoples Souls this is what is important to me and those two things are what is eternal in this earth.”

But then the moment came where David told me the story of his mother and this my friends impacted me so much. His mother Mrs. Green was an evangelist who traveled all over spreading the Gospel. One day she was praying for God to do a miracle, she was completely out of money. She had one dime left in her pocket. While praying for God to do a miracle in her finances she ran into someone who had less than her, they had no dime in their pocket. Mrs. Green in that moment took her dime and gave it away. She gave all she had in the world to the Lord.

When Mr. David Green told this story he teared up and said, “I’ve given a lot for the cause of Christ.” and it is evident he has but then he said, “I’ve never given more than my mother, she gave a dime but it was all she had.”  WOW I was so inspired and blown away. Mr. Green gives away millions to ministries. But you my friend can give just as much or more. Jesus doesn’t see the dollar value he see’s the  sacrifice. Mr. Green has a true heart to give for a purpose to reach and help the lost. He cares about people who is why is minimum wage at his companies is $13.o0 an hour rather than what the government requires.

I felt so inspired to give as much as I can. I want to encourage you from this story it’s not about how much you give its about the heart and sacrifice behind it. This is what changes the atmosphere, inspires others and most importantly pleases God.

David Green gave us his time on Monday and it was a life changing inspiration moment. Be a giver and lover of people.

One of the last things he said to me was, “I used to say you can’t out give God. Then God said to me one time, David you havent even tried yet.”

One man has done so much for the kingdom of God. But if we all get this fever of giving our dimes together would be so much more. Thank you Mr. Green for being an inspiration and example for all of us and thank you Mrs. Green for being an example to the generations to come.

Nov 5 2012

Bi-Vocational Youth Ministry

After I was done with a year of Masters Commission I had a goal to become a youth pastor. I probably sent fifty resumes to different churches. I didn’t care who hired me I just wanted to be in youth ministry. The problem was most Mega-Churches where not looking for a kid just clean from drugs for a year to be their Youth Pastor.

In the summer of 2003 I decided to go visit my parents who moved to Alaska my senior year in High School. When I was there I visited the area my Dad was pastoring a small church in called Mt View. This area broke my heart, gang infested, drug infested and run down. It was ranked top in the nation for suicides. I always knew I was called to the places a lot of people would not go. When I told people I was going to drive through Mt View they would say things like, “Don’t go alone.” or  ”I stay far away from that area” Mt View actually has two ways to get into that part of the city. They blocked off most entrances, that way if there was a crime the police could shut it down until they found who ever was wanted.

I knew this is where I would have my first Youth Pastor Job. There was no pay check no getting hired, they where happy for anyone that would help. I started a few Wednesdays later in the Basement of the small church with five kids.

Since I had no way to get paid I had to find a full-time job that worked with my calling. I started at Lowe’s on the night shift. I would go into work at 10:00pm and get off work at 6:00am. I would go home sleep for a few hours and then go be a youth pastor. At this time I wasn’t married so time management with the family was not an issue.

I never knew what I had at that church, the amazing opportunity that I still look back on and miss. I would go to Youth Pastors Conferences and see all the “Paid Guys” in a circle that I felt I was not usually accepted. I would try to make friends with the “popular youth pastors” but in the church world I felt looked down upon for being bi-vocational. It was like I was only half a youth pastor. I had one full-time Pastor named Kent Elder at Muldoon Assembly who really believed in me and helped me.

I remember being at those conferences and hearing from these guys with multiple staff members trying to tell me how to improve my ministry. But to no fault to them they couldn’t relate. I remember one time Pastor Kent Elder leaning over to me and saying, “I guess this doesn’t help a guy with no budget, who pays to be in Youth Ministry.” That made me laugh.

You see I had a mission in Mt. View. I will never forget the first time I got the kids Pizza and at the end of the night a kid named Nick, who smelled like urine and wore the same clothes for at least two weeks in a row came to me and asked if he could take the rest of the Pizza home. I laughed and said, “Bro, you ate a whole pie by yourself, I can’t afford you.” With a scared look on his face he said, “I’m sorry for asking its just my little brother hasn’t eaten this week either and I wanted to bring him some.”

I broke in tears, I had to get a better job! I needed to get these kids food. I got innovative and started to hit up every pizza shop in town. I finally found a Papa Murphy’s who was willing to give me half off on all the Pizza I needed.

For two years I walked those streets coming up with ideas and ways to help Mt. View all while working a full-time job. God opened so many doors. One day while working at Lowe’s I was in the lumber section and this dude in a brand new Mercedes parked right in front of the door and walked in. I was helping him find what he needed. He turned to me and said, “Have you ever considered sales for a career.” I said, “No” and started to tell him about my mission in Mt View. Turns out he was the Vice President of the Cable company in town and hired me on the spot. I went from $10.00 an hour at Lowes  to sometimes 3 to 4 thousand a week in commissions in sales at the cable company. That opened the door to a lot more pizza.

One day when I was walking the streets and walked into the leader of the SOS. A Samoan gang that kinda ran Mt. View. He looked at me and said, “You’re the crazy white preacher everyone talks about.” I said “Yep that’s me.” He said, “Thanks for feeding some of the kids around here.” I began to tell him my heart to reach Mt. View for Jesus. He laughed and said, “I get the crazy part now! I don’t need Jesus I need a job. I’ve got 5 kids.” I quickly replied, “I’ll get you a job.”  Funny thing is when those words came out. I got scared, I had no idea where to get this guy a job. But God opened doors and I did find him a job. The next week my Youth ministry went from about 15 to close to 200. He made the whole SOS gang go to my youth group.

All of the sudden people started to notice. People would ask me what I was doing to grow such a large youth ministry, I had to tell them I reached one guy. Not exactly the growth plan they where looking for. I got some full-time youth pastor jobs offered to me. I thought I had finally made it. It wasn’t to long before I was leaving what I put my heart and soul into building for a paycheck. My need for acceptance and approval from the church world was overwhelming and I thought the full-time status would bring that.

Funny thing was when I got the full-time job, the circle of “Popular Pastors” still felt unwelcoming. Turns out I needed more healing than those guys that I felt did not want me around because I was Bi-Vocational.

What is my point in this story? When I got a paycheck from a church, my anointing didn’t change and I think I got lazy with innovation.

I want to encourage you today if you are a volunteer youth pastor. You are the ones who should be celebrated and probably should be teaching the ones with paychecks how to get things done.  There is no level system to God. I have come to learn I am not a pastor because of the company name on my Paycheck. I am a pastor because of the calling God has placed on my life.

Paul the Apostle was Bi-Vocatioal and this is a man who the entire church looks too for ministry advice. He is known as one of the greats. In heaven and maybe even on earth you will be known as that too.

Be encouraged, build, don’t miss the amazing gift you have. I really did miss what I had in my thoughts of needing a paycheck from a church. The true warriors are the ones who pay to do what they do and I honor you today.

No conference or camp I have ever spoke at, no circle I have ever been accepted in has been as fulfilling in my life as showing a kid named Nick who smelled like pee, bruised from the beatings of his dad the love of Jesus. No paycheck was ever worth the stories of miracles and breakthroughs God brought to help us to feed a town of kids pizza on a Weds night so they could get at least one meal.

Don’t find your identity in where you are paid. I call on all Pastors, find your identity in him. Stand up Pastor and know you are a giant in the Kingdom. The warrior who needs nothing and yet lays down his life for the mission of the King.

Oct 20 2012

Awesome Testimony

I have received some pretty cool e-mails about The Hard Way. I wanted to share this email that I received the other day with you because it was just such an awesome testimony. Thank you Joshua for contacting me, I was touched by your story as I am sure people who read this will be as well.

Jeremy,

I feel compelled to write you tonight to say “thank you” for your book, The Hard Way. 

I am 27 years old, and I was raised in the church for the first 18 years of my life. I also went to a private, church-run school until the age of 16. Suffice to say, I was very familiar with God and Christianity. At 18, I graduated and started working full-time, and allowed myself to drift away from church. As the years passed, I found myself pulling further and further away, until it reached the point where I was openly hostile towards any suggestion that I should get back into a church. There were brief periods of time where I would find myself thinking about going back, and I even attended a service one or twice, but just as quickly, it seemed like a door would slam shut and I would go back to my own devices. I struggled with alcohol, among other things.

The past couple of years have been tough. I have bounced from job to job, never really being successful at what I tried to do. Any attempt at a relationship failed miserably, and I found myself alienating my friends and family with my actions and attitude. I found myself saying “My life sucks!” on several occassions. Then, just this past Tuesday night, things changed. I was driving home from getting dinner, and I felt what I can only describe as a sudden emptiness inside. I really don’t know what made me do it, but I found myself talking to God for the first time in years. I told Him I was tired of fighting him, and that I was willing to give my soul and my life back to Him.

That night, I was browsing my Kindle for a daily devotional book that I could use to work my way back into things, when I came across your book. I felt compelled to purchase it on the spot, without even really knowing what it was. I did, and then I started reading. Having grown up in the church, I had heard many times over people saying that they felt a particular sermon or message was directed right at them, but I had never experienced it. Until I started reading your book. Much of what you wrote, especially the parts about believing you had to be saved again each time you messed up, reflected my state of mind exactly; I had struggled with the exact same thoughts and fears. Your section on God loving you right where you are hit me in a way that I have never experienced before. 

So I wanted to say thank you, for sharing your experiences through that book. I feel now that I was led to that book, because it was exactly what I needed to hear at this point in my life. I have a ways to go to get out of the rut that I’ve been in for the past 9 years, but for the first time in my adult life, I feel hope that there is something better in store for me. I will be finding a church home now, and I have looked into local young adult bible study groups that I can attend. 

God bless you, your family, and your ministry. If I ever make it out to the Tulsa area, I will drop in to visit Destiny Life Church, and hopefully shake your hand.

All the best,

Joshua Anderson
Florida 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE HARD WAY ON KINDLE

Oct 7 2012

I want to preach to Thousands

“I want to preach to Thousands” IS A RECENT POST THAT I WROTE FOR www.emergingevangelists.com 

I find it interesting that when Jesus is praying to his father and reflecting over his mission. He doesn’t say, “Father, I did big things, I spoke to thousands, healed people and became well-known.”  No, this was not what he was praying about. This isn’t the mission he is saying he felt he needed to accomplish in his life. It isn’t what he said as he came to the end of his ministry and looked towards the cross. What was important to his ministry is found in John 17.

JOHN 17:25-26

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[a] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

He is saying I completed my work “even though the world does not know you, they (the disciples) know you”

Wow Jesus did all of these amazing things. But looking back on his life the most important thing, the thing that he prayed before it was over was that those he discipled the few; he was glad he raised them up so that they know God and can make him known.

The truth is that we look at the programs and the big events, the thousands and that’s what we want to accomplish most of the time. I have more young ministers tell me they are “Called to Preach to Thousands” Yes those are all good goals that there is nothing wrong with. Jesus spoke to thousands as well.  But Jesus’ main goal was not programs and was not the thousands. He was okay that he wasn’t yet world-famous, that wasnt the main purpose. The main purpose was that his legacy be poured out though the twelve.

I’ll never forget the story of my father who always went for people over fame. He is a true trailblazer in the kingdom of God. The greatest title I’ve ever been given is “Bill Donovan’s Son.” When I was a kid he was offered a few large churches to go pastor, but he didn’t feel called to those. He felt called to a church of 5 in one of the worst parts of the city. We moved and lived in the Sunday School rooms of the church. While ministering there he was at a Pastors conference and was in a circle of guys all wanting to be on “the circuit of speakers” they where all talking numbers. “My church has had this event and grown here” and “Ive been invited to speak here.”  Again all that is okay Jesus spoke in large places and I enjoy getting those opportunities as well.  But my dad who was there said, “We had over 2,000 decisions for Christ last year” The pastors where all in shock. WOW 2000 decisions is insane. They knew where he was at and a that is amazing growth. My dad finished by saying, “Yeah all the decisions where no.” with that everyone got a good laugh.

The truth is that little church in the inner city grew to about 150 people in the 5 years we where there. Not enough to get on the “Top 10 Evangelical Church List”  or “Top 25 Most Influential Pastors” list. It wasn’t a “Nationally Known Ministry” all though we where “Known Nationally” (had some friends in Ohio, California and Pennsylvania)

But something way bigger happened there at Glad Tidings AG in Louisville, KY.  Still to this day I get messages from people telling me how my dad’s ministry changed their life forever. Recently I went back to the West End of Louisville and ran into people who where still living for the Lord and even doing ministry all because my Dad went after 5 people in a little church instead of what some of us see as a promotion, program or mega something that we feel we want. Again, I am not against any of that but can I encourage you to make people what counts. Oh to be called to the people who do not know but we can show them. Who will go to the 5 and at the end of their ministry as Jesus did not worry about the big crowds, but rather say, “I accomplished what I came for, the world may not know you but they do!”

Building people is harder and more time consuming than a program of event. But people are the heart of God. Oh that they may know him and make him known. Its okay if you want to preach to thousands, but who is in your heart? Who when its time to leave this world can you say, “I’ve done it. They know you Jesus and are prepared to carry out the call on their life.”