Another Lesson in Servant - Leadership

As many of you have heard by now, Mahnomen County (MN) Deputy Chris Dewey is very close to "end of watch" (being called Home with our Lord.) Several of us regularly visited and prayed with Chris and his bride Emily during their lengthy stay at Craig Hospital in Englewood and they became “family” in a very literal sense. Emily’s inspirational and powerful love and devotion to her warrior-husband is very much a picture of God’s love for us. Please keep them both in prayer and know that I will keep everyone posted as I receive status updates.

As we did with Chris, some of us have been visiting Michigan officer Max Faistenhammer and now three (3) other officers who sustained serious spinal injuries for which they are all undergoing rehab at Craig. Please refer to the latest prayer request posts on our website (see PREVIOUS and following posts) for more on our wounded brothers and, if you are local, please take the time to visit.

Speaking of locals, we’ll meet as usual this Thursday (7/22) at Calvary South Denver in Littleton starting at 1900 hours (7 PM for everyone else) for a great time of worship music, profession-relevant Bible study, prayer and fellowship (essentially, “cop church”) -- read-on for details. In addition, the upcoming schedule along with the latest prayer requests have already been posted below -- please review and check back frequently!

For everyone else, here’s the RECAP from last week’s meeting:

Our primary focus at last week’s profession-relevant Bible study came from Luke 15:11-31 (parable of the prodigal son) and paints a picture of our heavenly Father’s love for us. The issue here is that, all-too-often, we launch out on our own without God’s full blessing (and therefore outside His perfect will and plan for our lives) only to fall flat our faces. When pride and a lack of humility enter our lives, it takes our dependence away from God and back on ourselves – and almost always with disastrous results (aka “FAIL!”). God repeatedly tells us in His word (the Bible) that we are to depend on Him and Him alone. The prodigal son, in his utter failure, learned a great lesson of grace with a true humility of the heart that would be with him for the rest of his life. In short, when we repent (turn) and place our trust totally in God, He will turn our failures into spiritual successes.

David's story is but one of many examples of a “prodigal.” At an early age, David came to know the meaning of the true “CALL” in his life and he knew the day the Holy Spirit began a special work in him (1 Samuel 16:13). In response, David sought to continually seek God’s wisdom, guidance and will in the decisions he made as a leader as opposed to relying on his own abilities. In turn, God saw to it that David never lost a battle despite facing serious consequences for the sin in his life.

God wants to do the same thing in each of us but only if we live His way instead of “my way.” True servant-leaders understand that we are only tools in the Master’s hand. The point is this: when we draw closer and closer to Christ, our will and God’s will for our lives will line up and become one in the same. David’s heart belonged to God. Is YOUR heart fully the Lord’s to do with what He wills?

I left time for Erv Meyer and recently retired DPD officer Mark Roggeman to share portions of their inspirational testimonies. Erv shared from Psalm 37:4 (spiritual brokenness) and John 12:26 (running to the battle). Both Erv and Mark will be speaking and teaching a profession-relevant Bible study in the near future – stay tuned!

Learning from David’s example, this week we will once again tackle another lesson in servant-leadership. Please join us if you can and don’t forget to “pass-on” this email to your colleagues.


ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

-- Captain Travis Yates of Tulsa PD and Ten-Four Ministries is now on the radio! Dubbed Centurion Radio (no direct relation to us), this profession-relevant radio outreach can be accessed by going to http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=tenfour or via their main website, http://www.tenfourministries.org/. Travis has asked me to be a guest for an upcoming program -- stay tuned for details (and I’m very humbled and honored)!

-- Announcing our “First Annual Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry BBQ” to be held at our home in Highlands Ranch! We’re tentatively scheduled the event for Saturday, August 14th, starting at 4:00 PM. Please email me and/or attend an upcoming meeting for more details -- and remember to bring your spouse!

-- Don’t forget that there is NO MEETING next week (July 29th) as several of us will be doing event security for world-renowned author and speaker Joel Rosenberg (http://www.joelrosenberg.com/) who will be speaking on behalf of his parents’ outreach, Ministry Architecture. Please come and support this worthy ministry if you can. Go to http://www.ministryarchitecture.com/ for more details and to so see how to support this cause even if you can’t attend this event.

Finally, be sure to check back frequently for the latest announcements, prayer requests, meeting updates, and more. I’ve also added a number of new links – check ‘em out!

It’s a hot summer but let’s stay “frosty” in Christ!