Rev. Sandra Macht

10/01/2026

No mansion…even better. In Jesus.

09/27/2026

Preach the Gospel. Give them Jesus!

When he entered the pulpit, he heard the door close behind him and a key turning. He was locked in.

So goes the story related by the theologian Stanley Hauerwas.

Some years ago, while lecturing in Scotland, he was asked to preach at the Cathedral of Edinburgh. The sexton had a surprise for him. As Hauerwas entered the pulpit and closed the door, he heard a key turn behind him. The sexton explained that it was the church’s tradition, dating back to the Reformation, to lock the preacher in the pulpit and keep him there until he had preached the Gospel.

Now there’s an idea I can get behind.

Preachers who don’t preach the Gospel are a strange breed. Imagine a chef who won’t cook. A doctor who won’t doctor. A teacher who refuses to teach.

Yet preachers who don’t preach the Gospel are frighteningly common. Much might be said about the Bible, discipleship, stewardship, praying, avoiding evil, and other “spiritual issues,” but somehow Jesus and his work for us get lost in the shuffle.

The Spirit did not put preachers in pulpits to be pontificating moralists, political hacks, spiritualizing psychologists, wannabe Moseses, or motivational speakers.

Life is too short to be in a church with a preacher that doesn't preach the Gospel.

If you are in such a congregation, walk away and never look back.

Preachers are, like John the Baptist, “a voice.” A voice to proclaim Christ crucified and risen for us. Yes, they expose evil, call to repentance, instruct, admonish, and warn. But most vitally, they preach the Gospel.

They use their tongues as keys to liberate those sitting before them.

They preach to people whose marriages are collapsing, whose children are addicted, whose families are estranged, whose bodies are sick, who have sinned.

We need the good news of Jesus in all its unabashed and unlimited grace. It won’t untangle every knot in their lives, but it will provide an anchor in the storm.

We need to be lifted out of our spoiled, selfish, stained stories and planted firmly in the grand story of how “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.”

Once that Gospel has been proclaimed, swing wide the pulpit door. The preacher has done his job.

09/20/2026

Amen! God is faithful and He never leaves us to go through the dark valley alone.

🥹🥹🥹

09/14/2026

The evidence is in the fruit of a transformed life.

09/13/2026

Be the church!

09/12/2026

Hello Paul Lawler!

09/08/2026

Welcome Bishop-Elect Paul Lawler!

The Northern Nigeria Annual Conference celebrates the election and welcome Rev. Paul Lawler as the bishop for Episcopal Area 7 of the Global Methodist Church. Area 7 is a global family, bringing together Seven Annual conference from different countries as one Episcopal Area. This has defined the Global connection within the Global Methodist Church. The Annual conferences that were entrusted to Bishop-Elect are:

1. Alabama Emerald Coast,
2. South Georgia,
3. North Georgia,
4. Central Europe,
5. Zambia,
6. Northern Nigeria,
7. Venezuela Annual Conferences.

Bishop-elect Lawler brings more than four decades of ministry experience shaped by evangelism, discipleship, church planting, renewal, and a deep commitment to the Great Commission. He serves as Senior Pastor of Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Before coming to Memphis, he served fifteen years as Senior Pastor of Christ Church Birmingham and sixteen years as the founding pastor of Chase Valley Church in Huntsville.

His ministry has looked beyond the walls of the local church. Lawler has helped lead church-planting efforts resulting in hundreds of new congregations among unreached people groups in Asia, and thousands of first-generation believers. He also co-founded the Patricia B. Hammonds Homes of Hope, serving children who have been trafficked or are vulnerable to trafficking in Thailand.

A graduate of Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary, Lawler has also served the Global Methodist Church through the Connectional Council, Kingdom Advancement, and strategic planning.

At the heart of his ministry is a conviction that Methodism is not meant merely to be an institution, but a Spirit-filled movement—making disciples, multiplying churches, spreading scriptural holiness, and carrying the Gospel to the nations.

We believe God will continually use him for his glory.

Northern Nigeria Annual conference welcomed the Bishop-elect Paul Lawler and his wife Missy.
We look forward with great expectation to this next season of ministry ahead! Awaiting your visit to our annual conference as soon as possible.

We pray God will direct you and guide you and fill you with wisdom and spirit to shepherd over the flocks you're entrusted with.

THE GLOBAL METHODIST CHURCH IN NIGERIA, GMCN AREA1 ABUJA

(C) Media Team
Global Methodist Church
Area 1 Garki Abuja.

09/05/2026

There is a vast difference between explaining the gospel and persuading men to respond to the gospel.

08/26/2026

“But forgiveness is not based upon having enough repentance or having sufficiently sincere repentance.

Forgiveness is based 100% upon the atoning work of Jesus Christ.”
Amen!

God’s forgiveness is never a layaway plan, where you finally get to take it home once you’ve satisfied the payment plan with enough acts of repentance. That’s because forgiveness does not originate from repentance; it originates solely from Christ.

The father did not forgive the prodigal son because he returned home, said he was sorry for his sins, and was unworthy to be called a son anymore. The father had forgiven his son even while that son was feeding swine in a faraway country. The father had forgiven his son before he saw him a long way off and began running toward him. The father had forgiven his son because he was his son, because he loved him as only a father can.

So it is with us. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Or, as we read today in Bible in One Year, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The world was absolved on Good Friday. And that forgiveness, given to you in the here and now, is not earned, allowed, sweetened, strengthened, or made more real by your repentance.

Should you repent of the wrong you’ve done? Of course. You must.

Should you continue to repent as you struggle to un-love that ex-sin? Of course. You must.

You will never repent enough. You will never repent sincerely enough.

But forgiveness is not based upon having enough repentance or having sufficiently sincere repentance.

Forgiveness is based 100% upon the atoning work of Jesus Christ. His atonement is enough. His sacrifice was perfectly sincere. His blood covers not only the sin of which you repent but also your imperfect repentance for that sin.

The entire life of believers is one of repentance, but more importantly, the entire life of believers is the life of Jesus Christ, whose love for us is always more than enough.