Kill the wolves?

Found this quote:
"Every church has three kinds of animals: sheep, goats, and wolves. Biblical leadership is simple: love the sheep, convert the goats and kill the wolves." - Anonymous

True words, no matter how intense they are. I want to know where you stand on this? How do we "kill the wolves"? Every church has wolves in sheep's clothing, just as Jesus warned. I believe these are the folks who, whether consciously or subconsciously, attempt to subvert the work of the church through opposition or apathy.

How do we rectify the situation and enable our churches to love the sheep and convert the goats?

Thoughts?

Accomplishing the Mission

I began a short preaching series this morning outlining spiritual gifts. In my intro, I emphasized "the mission." Not to be confused with the Blues Brothers, Christ-followers really are, "...on a mission from God." Jesus introduced this mission to us, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." - Matthew 4:17. He preached to the world that the kingdom of heaven was here, with us, in our midst. We have the responsibility to continue the mission. God has gifted us to play a part in accomplishing the mission.

So what is the mission - I believe it's 3-fold,
-Reach those who do not profess Christ as Savior - do whatever it takes
-Preach the Gospel - the message of salvation, forgiveness and redemption
-Promote unity - if the church can't get along, no one will want to be a part of it

God has given us spiritual gifts - teaching, serving, giving, mercy, exhortation, hospitality, gifts of healing, prophecy - in order to accomplish this mission. This elicits a few questions -

Do you know your gift?
If so, are you playing your role in accomplishing the mission?
How does your church community enable/empower you to play your part?

Thoughts?

So Thankful

I spent tonight with my 3-year-old son, Noah, at the Texas Rangers' game. I cannot even describe to you how thankful I am for those 5 hours. We had a great time. Baseball is my favorite sport. Love to watch it, terrible playing it. The Rangers annoy the crud out of me because they're the only team in baseball never to have won a playoff series. It's nerve-wracking. However, they're playing great right now and I got a free voucher for tickets tonight. Noah and I had a great time. He loved watching the "blue team" (Rangers) against the "grey team" (Mariners). "The blue team sets off fireworks, Daddy" mentioned every time the Rangers hit a homerun (3 times tonight). Noah got a "King Lizard" (Ian Kinsler) baseball and a Rangers' Mr. Potato Head. He was ecstatic...and so was I for totally different reasons. I had a blast taking my little guy to enjoy America's Favorite Pastime. Hope we can do it again really soon!