Summer 2012 at The Citadel

Citadel cordially invites you to join us at any of our events and special services this summer.

JUNE

Saturday, June 9 | 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM  Community Fish Fry

Sunday, June 10 | 5:00 PM  Impact Missions Sunday – A special service of commissioning and financial support for short-term missions trip to Guyana South America. Pastor Emmanuel John, a missions organizer and humanitarian, will be our guest speaker.

 

Friday, June 15 | 7:00 PM  LPC Choir Reunion Concert – A memorial concert of the Let Praise Continue community choir founded by Citadel’s former Minister of Music of 20 years, the late Elder William E. Rimson. He passed away in March 2012.

Monday-Wednesday, June 18-20 | 7:30 PM 

Rehoboth District Annual Conference – 3 nights of uplifting worship and inspiring Word.

Dr. Elijah Hankerson (Senior Pastor, Life Center Int’l COGIC - St. Louis, MO) will be guest speaker Monday night.

Dr. Elijah H. Hankerson ministers at West Angeles COGIC,

 Los Angeles, CA - COGIC Presiding Bishop Charles Blake, Pastor.

 Dr. Hankerson preaching during the 104th COGIC Int'l. Holy Convocation, St. Louis, MO

November 2011

Tuesday is Women's Night. Wednesday is Official Night. Bishop Donald L. Alford, Sr., Prelate of the Indiana North Central Jurisdiction COGIC, will be a special guest on Wednesday.

Friday-Saturday, June 29-30 | Summer Youth Summit – An empowerment and educational conference for Generation Z (youth ages 12-19). Elder Eric Taylor, Youth Pastor at Greater Emmanuel Institutional COGIC (Detroit, MI - Bishop J. Drew Sheard, Pastor) will be our special guest.

Year End at the Citadel

A winter chill has hit Indianapolis at the end of November. As a matter of fact, an early snowfall graced us today (and it's not officially winter). Yet the chill hasn't quenched the fire that's been falling at the Citadel of Faith Church of God in Christ. I just want to share what's happening in the last month of 2011 at the Citadel.

It's hard to believe, but this year marked my 27th year in pastoral ministry. Citadel will celebrate this milestone December 3 - 6, 2011.


The people that make up Citadel are the most generous and encouraging you'll find anywhere. It's been a distinct honor and godly pleasure to serve this congregation. Thanks Citadel for being a great church!

If you happen to be in the Indianapolis area this weekend, please be my special guest and enjoy the celebration with Pastor John C. Robinson, Sr. and Bible Way COGIC (Louisville, KY), Dr. William Adams of Greater Emmanuel Institutional COGIC (Detroit, MI), and Bishop Alan Gregory Porter of Greater Salem Church (Charlotte, NC).

Not a Good Sermon Sunday

There are diferent kinds of Top 10 lists, some worth heeding, others not. I came across this one from Nelson Searcy's Church Leader Insights Blog that made my day and I had to share. It's a list he saw from Preaching Magazine (http://www.preaching.com/):


The Top 10 Signs Your Sermon Isn’t Going Well
13. Your associate pastor is warming up in the bullpen.
12. The praise band begins playing you off the stage.
11. The congregation is filling in the blanks of your outline before you get there.
10. You think the lyrics to a bluegrass song are really connecting with your audience.
9. When you pause for dramatic effect, several people giggle.
8. Your cell phone starts ringing, and you answer it.
7. The person signing for the deaf just pulled on mittens.
6. When the children are dismissed to junior church, most of their parents go, too.
5. Your sermon took shape over a glass of wine and volume three of Left Behind.
4. Your interpreter just rolled his eyes and put your last statement in quotation marks.
3. Desperate mothers are pinching their babies.
2. The ushers are handing out refunds.
1. You began your sermon with “Top 10 signs your sermon isn’t going well.”

If you are a preacher, I hope none of these happened while you were preaching this past Sunday. If it did, go ahead and laugh, then try it again this coming Sunday.

Copyright © 2010 Johnson Beaven III. All Rights Reserved.

Johnson Beaven is pastor of Citadel of Faith Church of God in Christ (COGIC). He serves as a district superintendent and Episcopal assistant in the COGIC Indiana North Central Jurisdiction; human resources director for the COGIC International Department of Evangelism. He is the Indianapolis site coordinator and an instructor for the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) Certificate in Theology Program, and a religion columnist for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. His Twitter account is @jbeaven.

"Listen Up Preacher!" -- My Best Advice to Preachers

Use me, O God, not because it's the hour for the message, but because you've given me a message for the hour. -Ed Towne

This past Saturday I spent most of the day doing what I truly love—teaching. I enjoy every opportunity to teach and engage with persons in learning, preparing, and improving themselves to better serve the Lord and His Church in ministry. This was the final session of a homiletics course at a C. H. Mason Jurisdictional Institute of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) denomination with persons preparing for the ordination process. The emphasis of this course was in expository preaching, which is becoming a preferred method among Pentecostal preachers.

One typical method of classroom learning is reading textbooks written by experts and professionals, in this case professors of preaching and famous preachers because we suppose those in the halls of academia and mega-church pulpits can offer the best advice for preaching. One such book, Best Advice for Preaching (1998) edited by John S. McClure, offers as the title presumes some great wisdom on the greatest endeavor persons like me have ever been allowed to engage for the eternal benefit of others.

It is not necessary for a preacher to express all his thoughts in one sermon. -Martin Luther

I thought for this course to include an added perspective. So I posted on Twitter and Facebook, “What would be your best advice to preachers?” I just want to share some of the replies with you.