Dayton Area Pastors Prayer Meeting

Posted on by josiahkagin

Dayton-Area-Pastors-Prayer-Meeting-Blog

I am very excited and anticipate God doing a work in the days ahead in the Dayton area. However, I firmly believe that prayer is what will make the difference. In a conversation with several independent, Baptist pastors at a recent preachers fellowship, the idea was put forward to start a pastors prayer meeting. We have named it the Dayton Area Pastors Prayer Meeting. On January 5th about thirteen pastors and full-time Christian workers gathered together to start this meeting. The focus of the time was to fellowship and then pray together for the furtherance of the Gospel in our area. We plan to continue these prayer meetings on the first Tuesday of each month at various churches around our city. I want to thank Pastor Jerry Siler of Cornerstone Baptist Church for his support and also hosting the first meeting as his church in January. I look forward to hosting our second meeting at Grace Baptist Church on February 2 at 11:00am. I hope to see you there!

 

 

Seeing Clearly

Posted on by josiahkagin

Untitled design

I mentioned a verse in the message on Sunday that I believe is very powerful and would be helpful for us to meditate on as we continue for Jesus this week. Proverbs 28:5 Evil men understand not judgment: But they that seek the Lord understand all things. We are surrounded by a world full of evildoers. In reality, there is nothing new about that. As we watch what happens in the news on political and cultural front, we can clearly see that evil men do not know how to make that righteous decisions. As Jesus followers we can get very discouraged if we focus on that.

Notice how the second part of this proverb gives us good direction for life and the key to seeing all things clearly—seek the Lord. Choose to seek Him in all that you do. David was troubled by evil men until he sought the Lord by going to the house of the Lord (Psalm 73:17). Do you want to understand all things? Do you want to have the right perspective of what is going on in the world around you? Do you desire to make righteous decisions in your daily life? The answer to all these questions is to fervently seek the Lord. Our theme this year is Continue. Let’s continue to seek the Lord in 2016. It is then that we will be able to see things clearly.

Continue in the Word

Posted on by josiahkagin

Vision Sunday Recap

I am extremely grateful for a wonderful response to Vision Sunday! The spirit in the church was tremendous. I am praying that together we will continue and take our relationships with Jesus to the next level. A major part of accomplishing that is our relationship with His Word. As I mentioned during the Vision Night service, there are several great options for Bible reading available on device apps. Here they are again with the links so that you can easily access them. (If you did not get the printed Bible Schedule, you can pick it up at our Welcome Center the on Wednesday night.)

  1. YouVersion
    This is the one that I am personally using this year. My wife and I are reading the Solid Life Reading Plan that will bring us through the whole Bible in a year. I would love to have you join us in this one. A nice feature found in YouVersion is the audio. You can listen to your Bible reading. Check it out!
  2. Logos
    I use this one in my sermon study. It is a comprehensive program and has been a tremendous help to me. Logos does have a free app with basic capabilities for Bible reading and searches. You can follow a limited amount of reading plans in it.
  3. Olive Tree
    I have not used this one in several years, but it is a very well designed app. Though much of it is free to use you can build a study library in it.

I hope these will be a help to you as you continue for Jesus this year. Let’s be in His Word together!

How to Prepare for Vision Sunday

Posted on by josiahkagin

Rock Climb

If you have not yet noticed, I feel that Vision Sunday is an extremely important Sunday for us in which to participate fully. In order to get the most out of the day, we must prepare ourselves and our families. So here are several suggestions.

  1. Pray—Take time today personally and with your family to pray for the Vision Sunday. I ask that you would pray for me as I present the burden God has given to me. Ask God to open your heart and prepare you. Ask God to help you be ready to receive His Word and His will for the coming year. Ask God to work in each member of our church so that together we will all take our relationships with Jesus to the next level.
  2. Rest—God says that He gives His beloved rest (Psalm 127:2). Rest is a gift from God. Plan to have your family and yourself in bed by a decent time on tonight so that you can be refreshed and ready to receive all that God has planned for you.
  3. Encourage—Encourage each other to participate in the day for every service. Make phone calls, send texts and share it on Facebook and Twitter to all of your friends in the church. Let me borrow and adapt the old statement, Friends don’t let friends miss Vision Sunday.

I cannot wait to share our new theme and envision together all that God can do in 2016. I ask you to prepare yourself for Vision Sunday.

Why I am Thrilled to Pastor Grace Baptist Church

Posted on by josiahkagin

Grace Baptist Church

At the age of seventeen I told Jesus that my life was His to use, and I am so glad I did! I am continually amazed and humbled that God would call me to serve Him. My ministry verse is 1 Timothy 1:12“And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” I praise the Lord that when He does the calling, He also does the enabling! When I finished college, my desire was receive further training and mentoring as an assistant before I took a senior pastorate, but God had other plans. In 2007, my wife and I got married and God closed the doors on two assistant pastorate positions and led me to minister at Grace Baptist Church in Kettering, OH while I worked a secular full-time job. Over the years, I wanted to seek a pastorate position, but God kept closing other doors and opening them at Grace. In 2009 I was hired as a part-time assistant, then a full-time assistant in 2012. After our pastor retired in September of this year, I was both humbled and thrilled when the church voted me in as their senior pastor. As I think about the future and the new ministry that God has given me, I want to share some reasons that I am excited to pastor Grace Baptist Church.

  1. A Dream Come True—When I yielded to Jesus as a teenager, He began to change my desires. I used to want to be in law enforcement. God began to change my desires as I followed His leading. As I entered Bible college, the greatest desire of my heart was to be a pastor. I realized that God had a lot of work to do in me before He could work through me as a pastor, but the desire was still there and growing. I like how Paul said it in 1 Timothy 3:1 “This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”  God has granted me that desire and I praise Him for it.
  2. A Great Church—Grace Baptist Church has been a part of the Kettering, Ohio community since 1983. It is an established church with a heart for missions and it’s community. I am constantly blessed as I watch members following God’s direction in their lives and seeking to serve Him faithfully. I truly believe that the brightest days of Grace Baptist Church are still ahead.
  3. Pastoral Longevity—Many pastors come into situations where there has been multiple short-term pastorates. The people are unsettled because they don’t know if the next pastor will stay long enough to get to know him. I am so thankful that this is not the case here. I will only be the third pastor at Grace in thirty-two years. Pastor James Baker pastored Grace for about 21 years, and Pastor Robert Shaw pastored for 1o years. God used both to establish good direction for this ministry, and I look forward to following their legacy of longevity.
  4. Unity of Heart—I hear of many churches that have no harmony. Petty matters are disputed between members and a general tension is felt in the body. I could not be more grateful of the unity that is present at Grace. I fully realize that this is a work of the Holy Spirit as the members yield to Him. To the members of Grace Baptist Church, thank you for allowing this to be true of you.
  5. Established Direction—The desire of Grace Baptist Church as a whole is to lovingly stand for Jesus in the midst of a crumbling world. I am grateful that our direction in doctrine and purpose remains firmly set. The Bible is not viewed as a book we judge, but rather the book that judges us.
  6. Courageous Men—There is an epidemic in society today of men who will not lead. I praise the Lord for the men of Grace Baptist Church, ones who are striving to live an holy life before God, to lead their families toward God and to serve in ministry for God. I look forward to partnering in the ministry with men such as these.
  7. Spirit of Excellence—If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Praise God that is the heart of this church. Lets not go half-way for Jesus, lets give Him 110%.
  8. A Heart to Follow—Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” Over and over I have seen the people of Grace Baptist Church live this verse out in there lives. What a privilege to pastor a group of believers with this heart!
  9. Attentiveness to Preaching—God promises to bless the preached Word of God. I believe that preaching must have the priority in every service. I am thankful that Grace realizes the importance of preaching, and week after week people gather opening their hearts and Bibles to hear God’s Word preached.
  10. Clear Purpose—I tend to be a focused individual. Give me a goal and motivate me towards that goal, and it is hard to stop. When I look at the city of Kettering and the many spiritual needs represented, I see much work to do. More people need to be introduced to Jesus. I do not believe that God placed Grace Baptist Church or me in this city by accident. I do not believe that 5 years from now we or our community should still be the same. I firmly believe that we must team together to impact every person for Jesus Christ. This will only happen as we impact the person that God brings into our life today. With Jesus coming any day now, there is much to do, and I desire to be found faithful at His coming.
Grace Baptist Church, I am thrilled to have been called to be your pastor and look forward to many more years of serving Jesus together. I ask for your prayers, specifically for God’s wisdom and strength. Thank you for allowing me the greatest privilege of my life!