For Your Consideration: "A Shifting Of Gears" by Garry Lovette

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
“A Shifting of Gears”
by Garry Lovette, Editor & Publisher

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After nine and a half years, we have once again reached another level with the ministry of Common Ground Christian News. When it looked like that we had finally reached our limit as to what we could do, God sent others into our ministry that will enable us to reach thousands and thousands more in an area that we couldn’t reach before.

Starting in June, Common Ground Christian News will launch it’s first franchise paper in the city of Brunswick, Georgia! To God be All the Glory! This all came about by much prayer and by the obedience of the staff of Cornerstone Ministries of Townsend, Georgia, and by the obedience of the staff of Common Ground Christian News. We are excited to know that God will soon enable us to reach tens of thousands of new readers with our message of unity and hope!

We also want to welcome our thousands of new readers in the cities of Fulton, Tupelo, New Albany and Pontotoc, Mississippi. We have launched a brand new edition of Common Ground in those cities and counties, and the response has been wonderful so far. We are expecting mighty things in the great state of Mississippi!

We want to be quick to point out that none of this would have been possible if we had not waited on the timing of the Lord. He works all things out in His time and in His season, and we must always be open and sensitive to that. It is what has kept us all these years, and it will be the way that we take the nation. Just wait and see.

God continues to show us cities and counties and regions to move into with the good news and salvation through Jesus Christ, and the promotion of unity in His church. We will take this “clarion call” to the millions who have never heard this word and sow it as far as we can go, with God’s help.

Will you commit as regular readers of this paper to pray for us daily? We must have it if we are to continue to be obedient and sensitive. We must hear from God on a daily basis, and your prayers and support will make that happen.

I believe with all my heart that there are millions who would love to have an issue of Common Ground Christian News delivered to there church or home every month. With God’s help, everyone in the nation who wants a copy of this publication will eventually have access to one. That is coming in the very near future.

What a Great and Mighty God we serve! He is truly awesome and He never ceases to amaze me. To God be the Glory! CG

January 2005 For Your Consideration
2005:
“The Year of Great Provision”
by Garry Lovette, Editor and Publisher

As we were preparing to put this edition of the paper together, The Holy Spirit began to ignite me with the reoccurring thought: The year 2005 will be “The Year of Great Provision!”

At first I was excited, almost exuberant about the thought of great provision from God, and then all the doubt and confusion began to set in. Was this something that I had really heard from God, or is this something that I want to happen so badly that I conjured the whole thing up in my head?

While I pondered all of this and prayed that God would give me a final answer about it all, I was privileged to hear a dynamic sermon from Evangelist Mitchell Reed. I dropped my jaw in utter amazement as he preached about how God’s provision would be great and increased in the next year! He had also heard from God and used his gift of exhortation to encourage the congregation to follow the teachings of God in the Bible about tithing and giving so that God could then, “pour us out such a blessing that we wouldn’t be able to receive it!”

If that wasn’t enough to build my faith, I was channel surfing the other night and ran across a segment with Evangelist Oral Roberts. He too said that he saw in the spirit that God was going to transfer tremendous wealth and blessing to the Kingdom of God in this next year so that the work could progress at a much faster rate. And then, as God is so good at doing, he increased my faith even another time as I watched Pastor Rod Parsley from Columbus, Ohio proclaim that the year 2005 would be “A Year of Great Provision” from God! With that in mind, I am proclaiming the year 2005 as “The Year of Great Provision”!

I know that many of you who read this paper on a regular basis are thinking, yeah, right, I can’t even pay my monthly bills…I can’t even get a raise at work…I can’t seem to make any headway to get out of debt…How can I possibly believe that this year is going to be any different? And my answer to you is, “Trust in The Lord with all of your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.” I truly believe that if we resolve in our minds this year to totally put God first and foremost in our lives (including our finances), that he will bless us so much that we won’t be able to do anything but spill out onto others.

That is my heart’s desire…to be able to fill up and spill out. This is the year that will happen…just wait and see…Because the promises of God are “yes” and “amen”! CG

November 2004 For Your Consideration
"Consider the Lillies..."

It was a Saturday not too many days ago when I decided to take my family to a rather large shopping mall. Now mind you, I really don’t like to shop, and I especially despise malls, but this one had a couple of really good places to eat. (Not to mention a Bass Pro Shop - one of my favorite stores).

As I approached one particular area, I noticed a stage area in the center, and around 1000 people gathered for some event. Upon investigation, I was excited to learn that the performer was one of my favorite Christian artists, Nichole C. Mullen.

We quickly found our favorite restaurant so that we could eat and get back to the concert. My wife and our two little boys ended up going one way, my teenage son went another, and I ended up standing by myself to enjoy the concert.

Since there were no more seats in the crowded area, I decided that I would stand just outside the perimeter of the bulk of the crowd, so that I could get a good view of the stage, but still be able to hear the music well. Nichole C. Mullen didn’t disappoint me or anyone else. She took the stage that day with her heart fixed on Jesus, and she didn’t miss this golden opportunity to share her faith in Christ. The Presence of The Holy Spirit of God fell in a wonderful way, right in the middle of the mall!

It was then that I saw Lilly. In the middle of all of the commotion associated with malls and concerts and the crowds of people trying to get by this area was Lilly. She was oblivious to anyone else in the whole mall except Jesus. She was totally unashamed to worship, falling to her knees numerous times during the concert, and never ceasing to Praise God during the entire performance.

It was then I felt a tug in my spirit. It was like God was saying,

“That is how I want you to be…I want your mind to be stayed on me…. I want you to get your eyes off the world and on me…I want you to worship me even if nobody else will.”

Right there in that huge mall in front of all those people, I began to weep, with my hands in the air praising and worshipping God. What a release! What a joy! What an unexpected “bonus” for going to the mall!

At the end of the concert, I was able to go over to the little lady. I began to talk with her, but since she spoke very little English, her daughter had to interpret for her. She said her name was Lilly and that she loved Jesus with all her heart, and she couldn’t help but worship Him.

“Lord, help me to be more like Lilly. Help me to never miss an opportunity to praise You, even in an unexpected place, and even if I’m the only one”. CG