John Ashcroft, The Statesman Heads To Church - We Are The Watchmen Weekly - June 10, 2023
We Interview Former Attorney General John Ashcroft About His Music Ministry, Leadership, & The Church, & Lake Church Pastor Cam McGill - Read, Share, & Subscribe - WeAretheWatchmen.org
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. - Ezekiel 33:6
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Church Leaders, It's Your Time of Action, Volume 5 - We Are The Watchmen Weekly Live From Lake Church With AG John Ashcroft
In this week’s edition, we’re blessed to explore the music ministry of former Missouri Governor, US Senator, and Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft.
In our exclusive interview, Mr. Ashcroft reminds us of the importance of praise and worship, and the power of blending scripture with music to help people learn within the church body, and beyond the church walls.
We’ll wrap up this week’s edition with a sit down interview featuring Pastor Cameron McGill of White Lake Church, talking about leadership, public service, and what the church body is called to do in such a time as this.
The Statesman Heads To Church
For most people, professional accomplishments would represent the crowing achievements of their life.
Both John Ashcroft and wife, Janet, are highly accomplished professionals, with Janet being an author and law professor at Howard University, and John being a former Governor and Senator from Missouri, in addition to US Attorney General of the United States, and a leader in business.
They also understand that the crowning that matters the most happens in a completely different place.
And they use a unique music ministry to help to get people there.
This past weekend, we had the opportunity to spend time with the John and Janet Ashcroft and were treated to a special sermon, “It Is Well.”
“It Is Well” is focused on helping churches to commit Psalms 103:1-5 to memory:
1. Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2. Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3. who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4. who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5. who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
"Sometimes, our churches become places where people go to witness what happens, but it doesn't happen with them... it's not participation, it's performance," Ashcroft told We Are The Watchmen Weekly.
Ashcroft makes a very important point here - we have to be active as the church body, not passive.
As we are taught in 1 Peter 4:10-11:
10. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
11. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Mr. Ashcroft also gave us the backstory on this sermon series, which includes over ten different versions, and how the ministry came about.
"I kind of had an idea 12 or 15 years ago, that one way to handle faith would be for us to recite scripture, and to do it on a repeated basis basically, so we would learn it during the service, and then elaborate the scripture with hymns that would tell us what the scripture was saying, and reinforce what the scripture was saying."
As you’ll see in our interview, praise and worship have a profound impact on Ashcroft… including bringing him to tears during the invitation song.
There’s a reason: we see praise and worship referenced in scripture as a joyful noise.
As we are taught in Psalms 95:1-2:
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
And in Psalms 150:3-6:
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Please enjoy this special interview with John Ashcroft:
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The Pastor That Leads From The Front: Setting The Tone For The Culture
In a prior edition of We Are The Watchmen Weekly, we shared the story of Lake Church and “Pastor Cam” McGill:
Pastor Cameron McGill (“Pastor Cam”) and his congregation are fighting mightily in the spirit to make people aware of what’s happening, and the fact that it’s “all in the book.”
Pastor Cam also serves as a Bladen County Commissioner, providing something needed now more than ever in our governance: The Church.
During our trip, we had the chance to sit down with Pastor Cam to discuss the blessing of having John Ashcroft in for his sermon, and what the church needs to be doing to lead from the front to set the tone for the culture.
Verses on leadership to keep handy while watching this interview:
26. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
27. and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
28. just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
7. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
8. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Enjoy this 15 minutes of power with Pastor Cameron McGill:
Commentary: It’s more important than ever before that we remain vigilant in the word of God. We’re seeing a “full scatter attack” from Satan, where thing, after thing, after thing, is being thrown at us in an effort to demoralize and confuse us.
DON’T LET HIM DO IT. This means we’re closer than ever before to God’s glory and Satan knows this is his last chance.
Those who are lost or seeking need us to be able to talk about things like this and connect the dots to our, their current reality.
A special thanks to Pastor Cameron & Tiffany McGill for their hospitality, and the opportunity to spend time on their beautiful campus.
To learn more about their ministry, visit www.lakechurchnc.com or www.whitelakechristiancamp.com.
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