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The Current American Tension and 4 Opportunities for the Church

By
Carey Nieuwhof
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communicating with the unchurched

You don’t need to be anything more than a casual observer of American (and Western) culture to know that something significant is happening.

Charlottesville, Ferguson, Baltimore and a host of other cities that have seen events that symbolize the problems this generation is struggling with will, sadly, likely give way to a list of more cities and events yet to come. Terror attacks in North America and a host of global cities seem to happen weekly. In addition, the current political division is as bad as it’s been in a long time.

The violence, destruction and tension have become so normal that we no longer even post the “Pray For [Insert City Here]” graphics that used to earnestly spring up on social media whenever a new crisis emerged. There are just too many, and we’ve become too numb.

Add some unbelievable political tension into the mix, and most of us don’t know how to respond. Even as someone who lives north of the U.S. border, has a great affection for the U.S. and has many friends in America, we all feel the tension to one extent or another and are living through it.

No church in Canada or anywhere in the West can pretend we’re not living in an age of heightened tension.

So how do we respond to the situation we’re in? While some in our culture believe the church is part of the problem, I believe it’s key to the solution.

Jesus is the love we keep missing as human beings. He is who we all really long for, and in Christ, we find our unity.

So how does the church better function as part of the solution rather than as part of the problem?

Here are four ways Christians and the church can bring hope to the increasingly fragile culture around us.

1. Be a Confessor in a Culture of Blame

It’s so easy to point the finger at someone else. This is true in human relationships (think about your marriage), but it’s also true culturally.

So when any kind of tension arises, ask yourself what you own before asking anyone else what they own.

Violence begins in our hearts before it ever hits the street. A nation and the world become divided because our hearts are divided.

Too often Christians focus on what we can’t change and ignore what we can.

All of this is what confession is designed to root out.

Imagine what would happen if Christians owned the racism, sexism and other isms that live in our hearts. Imagine what might happen if we confessed that we have not adequately loved people who are different than us.

Maybe true prayers of confession are rare in church  (they are usually either rote or non-existent) because they’re rare in leaders.

It’s so easy to believe you’re right and everyone else is wrong. There’s a sense in which that’s normal. I hope you believe you’re right about what matters most, otherwise, why do you hold your conviction?

But…you are not always right. And you don’t hold a monopoly on truth. Your perspective and mine are flawed. None of us loves perfectly or deeply enough.

When you confess that you’re part of the problem, the solution becomes clearer. You will never address the wrong you don’t confess.

2. Foster Conversation in a Culture That Shouts

Thanks to social media, everybody has a platform. A ridiculous amount of people use theirs to shout rather than to listen.

Just check your feed at any given moment, and it’s likely crammed with everything from people WHO SPEAK IN ALL CAPS to links denouncing the other side (whoever that other side is) to proclaiming how they’ve figured out what all the dumb people haven’t.

This translates into real life too. Conversations seem to be devolving into an exchange of monologues between two people who don’t seem terribly interested in each other.

People appear to be talking at each other as much as they’re talking with each other. I’ll share my opinions and then you can share your opinions. That’s not conversation.

You know what’s missing in the current culture?

Well, a bunch of things.

Listening

Thoughtfulness

Humility

Kindness

Openness

Genuine, authentic conversation features all of those elements and more.

When was the last time you had a genuine conversation with someone who doesn’t share your values? By that, I mean an exchange where you listened as much as you spoke? Tried to understand more than you tried to be understood? Cared about them as much as you ever cared about your point of view?

That’s what conversation is. And conversation is an endangered species in our current culture.

Love listens. So should Christians.

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Following Jesus Is a Different Kind of Safe

By
Melissa Edgington
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communicating with the unchurched

Dear Adelade, Sawyer and Emerald,

The other day I received an email from some company or other, asking me to help promote a new children’s book. The book is about Jesus, whom I love. It is meant to teach children that Jesus is their friend and that He will always watch over them and keep them safe.

But, I couldn’t do it.

I couldn’t help spread a message to kids and their parents that as long as we follow Jesus we will not be put in dangerous situations. That bad things won’t happen to us. I can’t even pretend at bedtime, when you get philosophical in your pjs and your fresh-from-the-bath wet hair, that I am certain we will all live to be ripe old ages. Or that nothing like sickness or poverty or mental illness or emotional pain will ever touch us. I can’t lie to you with any kind of believe-ability about the kinds of horrors that are in our world, even about what you could see on the Internet in five minutes that could change the whole trajectory of your life. There are life-altering moments going on all over this world as I write this. Devastation is real and it’s powerful and it’s prevalent in this dark place.

Christians are not immune to the horrors, kids. We are not always safe in a world of natural disasters and man-crafted disasters and the heartache that comes from them. Jesus never promised us that He would make sure that physical pain and suffering and death wouldn’t plague us while we are on this earth. In fact, He promised the exact opposite. “In this world you will have trouble,” He said plainly to His disciples. And, scripture and tradition tell us that eventually all but John would go on to die for their belief in Him, one by one—stoned, beheaded, speared, crucified.

You have been in the hospitals. In the funeral homes. You have watched grieving families wail together. You have seen the nursing homes, filled with the sick and the frail, those bent by old age, those who don’t ever seem to smile anymore, staring blankly at some invisible mark on the floor. You have seen Christian people suffer. And, you know that heartbreak comes to each of us in different ways at different times. There is no guarantee against pain and catastrophe.

But, you don’t have to despair, little ones. When Jesus told His followers that they would have trouble in this world, He also told them this: “But, take heart. For I have overcome the world.”

Following Jesus is a different kind of safe.

It is knowing that we don’t have to fear people or illnesses or death. It is knowing that even when we are suffering, when we are dying, when we’re in unreal pain, when we’re struggling just to get up in the morning and put one foot in front of the other, we are still in His hand. It is realizing that nothing in this wide world can separate us from the love of Christ. It is seeing first-hand that His way is the way that protects our hearts the best. And, it is knowing that even when our hearts get shattered into a million pieces, when all is lost and there is no hope in anything that any human being can offer us, Christ is enough. And, He is forever. And He is in control.

When it hurts, we can trust Him. When a dark cloud seems to be settling over us, we can believe in His goodness. When we are standing next to a precious one’s grave, we can take comfort in His purposes. When we are facing certain death, we can know a deep peace that is a mystery to those who don’t know Him.

You may one day be staring down some terrifying circumstance. You will face trouble in this life. Your bodies are frail, and life is short. But, you are not bound by these bodies.

There are plenty of ways to die. But, there is only one way to live.

You see, kids, knowing Jesus is the only safety there is. He is the only way. The only truth. The only life. He will never leave you or forget you or decide He doesn’t want you. And, your precious, unique, fearfully and wonderfully made selves—your souls—can never be harmed while you are in His care. And, you are always, always in His care.

So, I guess the writer of the children’s book wasn’t completely wrong when she said that Jesus will always watch over you and keep you safe. But, it’s a different kind of safe. And, it’s the only kind that really matters to eternity.

I pray you live long and joyful lives on this earth and that you love Jesus more and know Him more with every passing year. But, when you face trouble, when you are standing at the foot of a mountain that makes you weak in the knees, when you are trembling from the inside out, remember that no matter what happens in this life, you are completely safe in the hand of Jesus Christ. Live with peace and joy. Take heart. He has overcome the world.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:39

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27-28

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

This article originally appeared here.

24 Preaching Secrets from 5 of the Best Preachers in North America

By
Christine Yount Jones
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communicating with the unchurched

If you’re a church pastor, you want the preaching secrets from experts because the art of preaching is something you work to perfect each week. And as with any art, you can always learn from master artists—those who’ve worked for years to preach life-changing and God-honoring sermons.

In this article, churchleaders.com pulled together some of the best preaching secrets from Bill Hybels, Derwin Gray, Carey Neiuwhof, Andy Stanley and Wayne Cordeiro.

Preaching Secrets from Bill Hybels

Bill Hybels is founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church with more than 25,000 in attendance. In his article “6 Surefire Ways to Improve Your Preaching,” Hybels gives these six tips for preaching.

Listen to great preaching and teaching.

Most of us have two or three communicators who really inspire us…instead of listening to them casually, listen to them with your work gloves on.

Understand the dynamic of urgency.

If preaching is done right, you live with a text or topic for a week and it builds steam in your spirit. You’re thinking about it, talking to people about it and asking that God will anoint it. So by the time you’re ready to preach, this subject is the most urgent item in your spirit. If you’ve prepared properly, there is an urgency coming out of you that’s not manufactured. That becomes compelling communication.

Strive for clarity.

When I coach our teachers around here, I always ask them two questions. “What do you want them to know? What do you want them to do?” If they can’t answer those two questions immediately, I say, “You’re ill prepared. Don’t inflict that message on our people.”

Perspire during sermon preparation.

Most of our preaching would improve greatly if we would discipline ourselves to put one more hour into it. Many preachers don’t believe work enters into the equation of great preaching. But you don’t become good at anything unless you’ve paid the perspiration price. You’ve just got to pay it. And when you discover how much you have to pay for the acceptable quality level, then that price must become the “given” in your schedule.

Evaluate your preaching.

If I have developed at all as a communicator in the last 25 years, much of it comes from request evaluations after every single talk I give. Every time I give a message at Willow, I have half a dozen people who will evaluate it… What worked well? What needed to be improved?

Live in union with Jesus.

Live in such vital union with Jesus Christ that his power and his might flow through your preaching.

Preaching Secrets From Derwin L. Gray

Derwin L. Gray is a former professional football player in the NFL and the founding and lead Pastor of Transformation Church in South Carolina. In the article “I Prepare My Sermons by Dancing,” Gray reveals his six secrets to a perfectly choreographed sermon.

Pray before preaching.

When we pray before preaching we’re saying to Jesus, “I need a revelation of You and I need Your power for my life and the lives of the people I’m preaching to.”

Make your preaching Christo-centric.

If we don’t preach Christo-centrically, the hearer of the sermon might conclude that Jesus exists to help them fulfill their dreams, instead of being agents that co-labor with Him so His dream—the Kingdom of God—can become a life-giving reality here on earth. Or we become moralistic preachers.

Know the content of Scripture and the context of the culture.

It’s not enough to know the content of Scripture, we also need to know the people we’re preaching to and the culture they’re situated in. The gospel never, ever, ever changes, but the culture does. Therefore, we must be like an artist and paint a picture of Jesus and His redemptive work that hearers can see, feel and respond to.

Answer these three questions.

After I’ve done my exegetical, Christo-centric work, I ask myself three questions. Click here for Gray’s three questions.

Keep it simple.

Preachers, remember that less is more. Focus your sermons on one big idea or theme. At the end my sermons, I have what I call a “Soul-tattoo.” This is the one big idea that I want people to take home and do something with.

Let your sermon be an act of worship.

Finally, I pray that my preaching flows of out Jesus’ transformative work in my own life. I pray my preaching is an act of worship in response to His wonder-inspiring grace.

Ten Myths Pastors Believe About Prayer (Part 1)

By
Daniel Henderson
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communicating with the unchurched

In essence, myths are false beliefs. Myths range from a belief in the flatness of the earth to one’s insistence that he is a worthless human being. Over the centuries, various people have believed such lies, or myths, to their own embarrassment or even their own destruction.

The apostle Paul predicted that in the latter days people would turn aside from truth and believe in myths. This is why he urges in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

All pastors need to make this the purpose of their minds, because they are not immune to myths, either. Unfortunately, in prayer ministry over the years I have found some false beliefs that exist among pastors about prayer and about prayer ministry. However, it is my hope that, in discussing these myths, we together can dispel some of them. If they can be dispelled, I believe significant progress can be made in the arena of prayer.

Myth #1: The people in my church know how to pray.

This is a particularly dangerous myth. This myth says that a pastor does not need to teach his people how to pray because the Holy Spirit does that. Some may even say prayer comes intuitively and does not really need to be learned or taught. The foundational thought is that a pastor’s time and resources would ultimately be better spent elsewhere, like in the teaching the Word.

But let us take this same line of thought with the ministry of the Word. A pastor can say that he does not need to teach his people the Word because the Holy Spirit teaches them. It is true that the Holy Spirit teaches the Word, but he uses the context of the church and pastoral leadership to do that. It is much the same with prayer. We learn to pray by praying with others together.

It is interesting to note that the only recorded instance in the Gospels of the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to do something was their request, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1, NKJV).

It is my opinion that most of the people in our churches really don’t know how to pray. They have not taken Jesus’ example seriously, and they have misinterpreted Scripture. Instead, many have turned prayer into an emotional vent, or a gossip session, or simply just telling God our laundry list of wants.

I also think that there are people sitting in our pews that are dying to know how to pray but with no one to show them how to pray by praying with them. I am fully convinced that the only way you learn to pray is by praying. The best way you learn to pray is by praying with others who have maybe prayed a little more than you have. Clearly there is a lot of learning that is to take place if effective prayer is to be the norm in our churches again. Fortunately, we can help each other in this goal because we’re always being mentored when we pray together.

Even if it were true that a pastor and his people already know how to pray, loads of statistics suggest that they simply don’t pray much at all. Research by Peter Wagner indicates that the average pastor in America spends less than thirty minutes a day in prayer. Other recent research from Denver Seminary professor Bruce Demarest puts this estimate at approximately seven minutes per day, with the average Christian spending five minutes per day in prayer. In addition, Jonathan Graff, editor of Pray Magazine, notes that, at best, 5 percent of churches have a significant mobilized prayer ministry. When was the last time you got together spontaneously with your Christian friends and just prayed?

Again, I think many pastors assume that their people already know how to pray and that teaching them to pray is superfluous. Prayer is just instinctive because everybody prays, they may say. Yes, everyone like a child to its parent knows how to cry out to God, but if you look at a biblical definition of what prayer is (fundamentally depending on God) and the way it ought to be impacting our lives, the fact of the matter is that the people of the church largely don’t know how to pray.

Paul himself said in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” This doesn’t mean the believer passively lets the Holy Spirit do everything for him. He must learn to pray himself, and the way to do that is from other believers. Of course, this verse uses all plural pronouns, which means this concept was conveyed to the Roman church en masse. Clearly, Jesus and Paul refute the notion that Christians know how to pray on their own.

Here’s an instance of how true prayer can change a church and community.  

Continue

No Revival Without Evangelism

By
Bob Bakke
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communicating with the unchurched

The preaching of the gospel was at the heart of the Great Awakenings. There can be evangelism without revival, but there is no true revival that does not result in evangelism. The reason for this is that revival results in both the reawakening of Christians who have grown cold and the awakening of dead souls (evangelism).

The Second Great Awakening in the United States is a prime example of how evangelism and revival happen simultaneously. It began among the Presbyterians in the eastern states, in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The traditions of the time included making a big deal about the taking of communion, which was typically celebrated once a year. But their special communion gatherings lasted three to five days!

Multiple churches would come together on a Friday to hear preparatory sermons that would last all day. Then on Saturday, there would be an examination of each congregant by the pastors. Every person would be asked, “What is your relationship with God like? Where are you going in your relationship with God? Tell me about the spiritual disciplines in your home. What Scriptures are you reading?” There would also be retesting of their knowledge of the catechism. Then, in the evening, there would be more preaching of the gospel, and strong appeals for people to be reconciled to God.

Assuming they passed these examinations, people were allowed to take communion on Sunday. So there were preparatory hurdles to cross to even get to the table of the Lord. After receiving communion on Sunday, Monday would be a day of thanking God for His great mercies, thanking Him for those who had communed at the table, and thanking Him for the beauty of the church.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, would participate in these sacrament occasions. And this model became the ignition point of the Second Great Awakening, because it was here that the first revival fires broke out. The power of these revivals further encouraged the pattern of prolonged gathering for prayer, examining the soul, preaching the gospel, taking communion, great celebrations of grace, and seeking after God for a greater work of His Spirit.

During this period, another phenomenon was happening in America. People were leaving the East Coast in a great southern and westward expansion. For example, in the 10 years between 1790 and 1800, the state of Kentucky grew from 70,000 people to 220,000. But there were no churches or organized religion, and a state of chaos and lawlessness characterized the region.

But a minister named David Caldwell, a protégé of Jonathan Edwards and one who had been part of the Presbyterian sacraments in the east during the great moves of the Spirit there, set up a training center for preachers in the Carolinas called the Log College. He began mentoring 50 or 60 men a year, and he taught them about the outpourings of God’s Spirit.

These “Log College men” placed a great emphasis on the enthusiastic preaching of the gospel, and as they spread out to preach and plant churches, pockets of revival began breaking out throughout the greater Greensboro area. And then five men trained by David Caldwell, called the “Five Wild Men of the Cumberland,” began to exercise a powerful ministry in Tennessee, Kentucky and out on the western frontier. They planted churches and focused on evangelizing these areas.

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5 Best TED Talks for Your Marriage

By
Corey Allan
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communicating with the unchurched

These are the best Ted Talks for your marriage.

In today’s world there are many resources that will help your marriage. I’m biased, but Simple Marriage and Sexy Marriage Radio are among the best. But there are also so many of the best TED talks worth your time.

In no particular order here are the five best Ted Talks for marriage:

Best Ted Talks #1: Yann Dall’Aglio’s “Love—you’re doing it wrong.”

Dall’Aglio, a French philosopher and author, says love is the desire of being desired. But in a world that often favors the self over others, how can people find the tenderness and connection they crave?

It may be easier than you think: “For a couple who is no longer sustained, supported by the constraints of tradition, I believe that self-mockery is one of the best means for the relationship to endure,” he says.

In this surprisingly convincing talk, Dall’Aglio explains how acknowledging our uselessness could be the key to sustaining healthy relationships. This TED Talk is in French, with English subtitles.

Best Ted Talks #2: Esther Perel’s “The secret to desire in a long-term relationship.”

Perel also conducts research around the world on how couples can cultivate long-term sexual relationships. She says in her TED Talk that sustaining desire in a committed relationship comes down to reconciling our need for security and our need for adventure into one relationship.

How do we do this? You have to watch to find out.

Best Ted Talks #3: Brené Brown’s “The power of vulnerability.”

Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, studies how humans empathize, belong and love, and her approach to embracing vulnerability and loving whole-heartedly could fundamentally change the way you live, love, work and parent.

“When we work from a place, I believe, that says, ‘I’m enough,’ then we stop screaming and start listening, we’re kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we’re kinder and gentler to ourselves,” she says.

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29 Mistakes Churches Make With Money

By
Tony Morgan
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communicating with the unchurched

To wrap up this series on churches and money, I recently connected with my team at The Unstuck Group to find out what they’ve observed with money mistakes. My plan was to write a “Top 10” list, but the hits kept coming.

Here are 29 mistakes we’ve found churches make with money:

  1. Budgeting on faith rather than past performance. Faith budgets usually lead to frustration when the giving doesn’t come in and budget cuts are the last resort. We’d much rather see a church budget based on previous giving trends.
  2. Taking on too much debt. We’ve seen churches take on debt as much as six times their annual giving. The mortgage payments left very little room for paying staff and expanding ministry. Any level of debt below two times annual giving is usually manageable. Any debt over three times annual giving raises a red flag.
  3. Teaching on money in single messages rather than in a series. We find that churches experience a sustained increase in giving when they teach a series of combined messages rather than teaching the same number of messages individually throughout the year.
  4. Not knowing the names of your top contributors. I’ll never understand why pastors are willing to acknowledge the people who contribute their time and talents, but they’re not willing to acknowledge those who contribute their treasure. You need to know and cultivate those relationships, too.
  5. Paying too many people too little money. We’ve seen time and time again that the churches that get this right are the ones who hire higher-capacity leaders who get more ministry done by building teams and raising up new leaders. With higher-capacity leaders, the church needs fewer staff. With fewer staff, those who are hired can be paid more.
  6. Living “paycheck to paycheck” without cash reserves. We encourage churches to have six to eight weeks in cash reserves. This helps during the ups and downs of a typical ministry cycle, especially during the common drop in summer attendance and giving. It also buys the church time if there’s a crisis, economic or otherwise, to make adjustments.
  7. Saving too much money. On the other hand, we’ve also seen churches hoard their money. We’ve seen churches with more than a year of cash sitting in the bank with no plans to invest it for Kingdom impact. What may feel like wise financial planning could actually be poor Kingdom stewardship of God’s resources.
  8. Never talking about money. You have to talk about money if you’re going to teach the truth of Scripture. Jesus taught about money. The Gospels are filled with references to topics related to money. If you avoid talking about money, then you’re avoiding a critical piece of what it means to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus.
  9. Not providing a next step beyond the weekend service. It’s a fallacy to think that everyone’s spiritual and life questions will be addressed in a Sunday sermon. In every area of spiritual growth, there needs to be a next step beyond the weekend for discipleship. In the area of finances, that next step may mean financial coaching, small groups dedicated to this topic or online resources to help people experience financial freedom.
  10. Making desperate pleas for money. Though never talking about money is a big mistake, only talking about money when you’re desperate is a bigger mistake. This is why it’s smarter to have an intentional, regular plan to teach on this topic and then to provide ongoing transparency to your leaders and your church.
  11. Not establishing healthy financial controls. Without controls, you might as well just hand the money that faithful people have contributed to the evil people who exist in this world. I’ve heard too many stories of churches that didn’t have appropriate internal controls in place, and then people inside the church ended up stealing from the ministry. Ask an accountant who audits churches to help you put some basic protections in place.
  12. Letting the budget drive the ministry strategy. The ministry strategy should, instead, drive the budget. This can’t happen unless the church has clarified its vision for the future and its strategy for seeing that vision accomplished. We recommend an annual planning retreat prior to the budget process to prioritize initiatives that will drive financial objectives.
  13. Not conducting background checks on people who handle money. We would never allow anyone who ministers to kids or students to serve without a background check, and we should never allow anyone to handle money without one either. (Remember, it’s listed here because we’ve seen it happen…on multiple occasions.)
  14. Abdicating responsibility for monitoring financial health. Senior pastors, we’re talking to you. You can’t delegate financial management to a person or a committee and think you’re off the hook. You are still the chief financial officer of the ministry. Ultimately, you are the person who needs to champion financial health if your church is going to experience ministry health.
  15. Allowing multiple options for designated giving. When this happens, people give to their favorite little pet projects, which opens up the possibility that core ministry areas of the church could end up underfunded. No one wants to give to the electric bill, but it’s pretty important that the lights come on Sunday morning in the sanctuary. Ideally, you’ll have one fund that will support all ministries of the church.
  16. Not making it easy to give electronically. Come on! It’s 2017! Most people don’t pay for anything with cash or checks today. You need to make it easy and convenient for people to contribute with credit cards using their mobile phones and through your website.
  17. Lack of a strategy to cultivate high-capacity contributors. You need to be intentional in these relationships so that your first conversation isn’t the one when you are asking for a significant contribution to a critical ministry initiative. I can assure you that your “competitors” for charitable donations have the strategy and the people specifically employed to develop relationships with the people who have the potential to give the most to your church.
  18. Not paying bills on time. You would think that a church would have integrity when it comes to paying bills on time. In our experience, though, it’s not uncommon for one in 10 churches we serve to be behind in their payments. Let’s pray it’s just a systems issue rather than a lack of follow through to a commitment made.
  19. Sharing the numbers without sharing the stories. I’m a numbers junkie, but I know most people are not. For normal people, numbers do not communicate vision. Stories, though, can be very powerful. They help people see how their financial contributions are directly impacting people’s lives. You can never tell too many stories.
  20. Not saying “thank you.” Again, this is typically a reflection of a broken system. I refuse to believe churches are ungrateful for the financial sacrifices that people are making. This is just a reminder that we need to make sure a “thank you” goes out, at a minimum, after the first time someone gives to the church or after someone makes a significant financial contribution.
  21. Monitoring giving by the week rather than monthly trends. People don’t generally get paid every week, so there’s always going to be ups and downs from week to week. Attendance patterns typically shift with the seasons, so there will be ups and downs from month to month. Instead, monitor giving in this period to the same period last year and the years before. Is it increasing, decreasing or plateaued? Monitor those trends.
  22. Failing to include generosity principles in the discipleship path. “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:21, NLT). If you want people to experience a heart change, you have to help them grow in their understanding of stewardship generosity. If they’re still wanting to control their money, God is not in control of their heart.
  23. Avoiding transparency. Celebrate with your church when God provides financial resources to accomplish the mission and vision. Inform your church when the financial resources aren’t keeping pace. It’s not necessary for the congregation to know how every nickel and dime is spent. That’s the job of an accountant or auditor. The church should have a general understanding, though, of how their financial contributions are being used.
  24. Letting the treasurer or finance committee control where money is spent. The treasurer or finance committee should only be responsible for systems and controls for managing money that facilitates ministry. They should not be the ultimate decision-makers on how money gets spent. That’s the responsibility of the senior pastor and the leadership team.
  25. Not establishing purchasing guidelines. Without purchasing guidelines, every purchasing decision has to rise to the top of the organization for final approval. Instead, establish guidelines so that purchases under a predetermined amount that are within the previously approved budget can be made as needed. The Texas Baptist General Convention has provided sample purchasing guidelines within this financial policies and procedures document.
  26. Not creating financial margin in the budget. If you only budget 90 percent of what you anticipate receiving, as an example, you will lack financial margin for unanticipated opportunities or emergencies that present themselves during the year. By the way, there will always be unanticipated expenditures. This is particularly important for the church that hasn’t been diligent in maintaining a healthy level of cash reserves.
  27. Allowing individual ministry areas to do fundraising. We once worked with a church that required every ministry area to raise funds for their entire annual budget. Every ministry team was competing to raise money from people inside and outside the church. As a result, very little ministry was actually happening. The better strategy is to encourage your church to give to one ministry fund and then develop one budget to support every ministry team.
  28. Letting big givers dictate vision and ministry strategy. I’ve lived this. It’s not easy. The biggest donor (by far) in the church left the church because he didn’t agree with the ministry philosophy of the church. In the end, you need to stay focused on the mission, vision and strategy God has called you to pursue. He builds the church, and he will provide the financial resources needed to see his church thrive.
  29. Failing to pursue a big vision. People don’t invest in small visions. And they certainly don’t invest in organizations that don’t have any vision. People won’t give to a budget either. They will invest in a big vision especially when that vision is focused on helping people experience a transformed life in Jesus Christ. Find that big vision. Cast it often. Then invite people to join you in seeing that vision become reality.

I covered a lot of ground in that list. For those of you who made it to the end, I hope this is an encouragement for you to continue to be wise stewards of the financial resources God provides to our churches. I’m grateful for God’s provision and I’m praying you continue to be blessed with the resources needed to accomplish his vision.

This article originally appeared here.

Brooklyn Tabernacle: The Church That Prayer Built

By
Kie Bowman
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communicating with the unchurched

When Jim and Carol Cymbala went to Brooklyn Tabernacle in the early 1970s, according to Jim Cymbala, “More people were turning to Crack than to Christ.” He described the dismal early days in his book Fresh Wind Fresh Fire. They had no training for ministry, no money, and only a handful of members.

Before long, seeing few victories and feeling personally defeated, the discouraged pastor decided he needed to quit. It was during that dark period he received a distinct and unexpected call from God to lead the people to pray. The next time he was before the church, he told them about his strange call from the Lord to focus on prayer.

The following Tuesday night, about a dozen members joined the pastor for prayer. They joined hands, stood in a circle and prayed. Five minutes later, they were finished. They obviously weren’t sure yet how to conduct a prayer meeting but they had taken the first steps. Over the next few years, Brooklyn Tabernacle would become known around the country and around the world as a praying church.

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Today, about 10,000 people every Sunday wait in line to attend Brooklyn Tabernacle. The attendance is a miracle, but it doesn’t end there.

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Carol Cymbala has led the Choir since soon after arriving at Brooklyn Tabernacle. Her original choir consisted of nine people. In spite of not reading music, Pastor Cymbala’s wife Carol has received five Dove Awards, six Grammy Awards and has written hundreds of songs for the now 270-voice choir and for their 28 albums.

How has all of this occurred? Jim Cymbala traces it all to that call from the Lord so long ago to build a praying church, and to make the weekly prayer meeting the most important service of the week. He calls the prayer meeting  “the barometer of the church.”

It didn’t start big but it grew. The first Tuesday night prayer meeting of a few members gathered in a circle is now 3,000 people a week crowding into the church to call upon the Lord. The prayer meeting officially begins at 7 p.m. but people start pouring in at 5 p.m. to pray for the prayer meeting!

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In my life, the most spiritual experiences I’ve ever had in church have been at Brooklyn Tabernacle—both at the Sunday Church services and at the Tuesday night prayer meetings. The book Fresh Wind Fresh Fire, written the same year I came to Hyde Park Baptist Church as senior pastor, is the most influential book I’ve ever read.

Not everyone has had the privilege yet of attending the Tuesday night prayer meeting in Brooklyn, so we are bringing it to Austin. On Thursday, September 14, Jim Cymbala is coming to lead a City Wide Prayer Meeting at Hyde Park Baptist Church. This gift to the city is a ministry of the Unceasing Prayer Movement of Austin. Everyone is invited to attend. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for prayer before the service begins at 7:00 p.m.

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God is moving in Austin, and around the country, through a prayer movement. Brooklyn Tabernacle is nothing short of a miracle but God can do anywhere what He has done there. We are praying now that the prayer movement in Austin will be energized and pastors and churches will be encouraged to pray as never before. God still hears and answers prayer!

This article originally appeared here.

Where Small Group Leaders Draw Their Strength

By
Steve Cordle
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communicating with the unchurched

Ministry is impossible. I can’t do it, but sometimes I forget that. I can’t change a heart. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. I can’t even make someone want to come to group, let alone choose to deny themselves and follow Jesus. But the Holy Spirit can. That’s why I need his power.

Ministry is draining. Leading others over a long period of time can leave me empty. But hearing from Jesus and sensing his love for me refreshes me like nothing else. That’s why I need to be in his presence.

Before we are servants of God we are children of our Heavenly Father. That is why we need time with our Father. Spending time to cultivate our relationship with God is essential for our work in ministry. Oddly enough, if I neglect time with him it will not be because I don’t want to take it. It will be because I enjoy it but see it as a personal luxury I cannot afford. But that is exactly wrong. Jesus said, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

One of the ways I remain with Jesus is to spend time alone with him worshiping, reading scripture, listening in prayer and journaling what I hear. I make it a point never to make my scripture reading double as sermon preparation. I don’t read the weekend’s text in my devotional time. This is time for God to speak to my soul as his child, not as his servant/worker. Even so, every once in a while I will get an insight or have an idea for ministry that comes out of my time with God. That’s fine, but it is not the point.

Jesus offers us his power, wisdom, strength, love and guidance. Let’s make sure we stay connected to him so that our souls will overflow with His presence.

This article originally appeared here.

This FCC Update Could Change How You Use Wireless Microphones

By
Chris Huff
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communicating with the unchurched

If you think you have more time to replace those 600 MHz-band wireless microphones in the sanctuary, think again. Your wireless microphones might stop working as soon as tomorrow. In some cases, it’s already a problem.

Backstory

Originally, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), auctioned airspace in the 600 MHz band. Users of wireless systems like microphones, in-ear monitors and intercom systems were to have until the year 2020 to vacate that space.

The auction resulted in frequencies from 614 to 698 MHz being auctioned to companies, including cell phone companies like T-Mobile.

What’s really happening

Dan Daley posted up this article that highlights how the auction winners are already using this space despite the notice sent by the FCC that we’d have a few years to comply. Check out the below highlights from the article.

Joe Ciaudelli, director of spectrum affairs at Sennheiser, said, “The year 2020 might seem far off, but because spectrum buyers can begin using their new bandwidth as soon as it’s paid for, wireless microphone users…are going to feel the impact sooner than others.”

And it’s proving true!

According to the article, just before a live event at a theater in Manhattan was to start, all the wireless microphones were disrupted by a 600-MHz cellular-phone signal that turned on in the building. Fortunately, the “on-site RF coordinator identified the source and the operator of the 600-MHz transmission node cooperated and turned off.”

What companies are quick to use their newly purchased airspace? Cell phone providers. Before we start throwing stones, we must recognize the growth of wireless technology and our love of checking email, Facebook, Instagram and even remote mixing comes at a price.

Stop Working?

So will your microphones really stop working if someone starts using the 600-band in your area? You’ll be subject to either non-stop interference or you’ll be open to the possibility of interference during usage. In my book, that renders the microphones useless. If there’s a possibility of interference then I’m replacing the microphone. Are you willing to risk interference during your church service? During the sermon?

A Little Relief

As an update from a reader who discovered this on the FCC’s web site:

“Many frequencies in the TV bands that had been available for wireless microphone use prior to the auction will continue to be available after the transition period. These include:

  • VHF and UHF frequencies on TV channels 2-36, which fall below 608 MHz.
  • Certain frequencies in the 600 MHz guard band: 614-616 MHz.
  • Certain frequencies in the 600 MHz duplex gap: 653-657 MHz for licensed use or 657-663 MHz for unlicensed use.“

If your wireless microphones can be set to use frequencies in these small areas, you can get a little relief. And please note the difference between licensed and unlicensed. Unless you have a license specific for your location, you’re unlicensed.

Canada and Mexico

While the ruling is specific for the USA, people within 50 miles of the border might want to prepare as well because cell tower coverage can overlap in some areas.

The Good News

A few companies are providing rebates on wireless microphones. If you have microphones that use the 600 band, the below companies are willing to cut you a break. Links are to their rebate pages.

This article originally appeared here.

10 Phrases That Describe the Most Effective Children’s Ministry Leaders

By
Greg Baird
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communicating with the unchurched

Children’s Ministry Leaders are some of the best leaders I know. They can also be some of the worst (although these you probably couldn’t really call “leaders”).

Leading perhaps the most challenging and complex ministry in the church, true success in Children’s Ministry requires effective leadership.

But what does that look like? What are the things that make up a truly effective leader of Children’s Ministry?

As I’ve worked with, taught and interacted with thousands of leaders of Children’s Ministry, here is how I would describe those who are most effective:

10 Phrases That Describe the Most Effective Children’s Ministry Leaders

God Follower

Deuteronomy 6:5–9 is often used as key passage that encourages us to pass on our faith to our children. We tend to focus on the last part (Deuteronomy 6:7–9), but what is the first part of the instruction, in verse 5? It says before we pass on our faith to our children, we need to love God heart, soul and might. In other words, before we pass on faith to kids (as a parent or church leader), we are to be a God follower ourselves.

Relationship Builder

I’ve said it many times on this blog:

“Ministry always happens best in the context of relationship.” 

As the Children’s Ministry Leader, we must model relationship, talk about the value of relationship, equip our volunteers to build relationships, develop program which facilitates relationship…you get the idea.

Vision Definer

“Vision is a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be.”

As the leader of Children’s Ministry, we are to see “what could be” and define that vision in alignment with the overall vision of the church (as set by church leadership). This is one of the characteristics that sets us apart as ministry leaders vs. being just ministry managers.

Vision Caster

The defined vision for our ministry should be part of virtually every conversation we have. It should be basis for every ministry decision we make. And it should flow through everything that happens in our ministry.

In order for all of this to happen, understanding the vision must take place. That begins with you, the Children’s Ministry Leader, being the Chief Vision Caster!

Check out 6 Ways to Share The Vision for Your Children’s Ministry for more some vision casting tips.

Culture Creator

Sam Chand says:

“The strongest force in an organization is not vision or strategy—it is the culture which holds all the other components” (see his terrific book Cracking Your Churches Culture Code as a great resource to help you create culture in your ministry).

We, as the leader of our ministry, play a key role in creating culture in the ministry we lead. The question is, are we being intentional about the culture we create by having a plan and modeling the culture we desire?

See these two articles for further help on being a Culture Creator:

People Equipper

Have you read Ephesians 4:12 lately? If not, you should…it gives you The One Sentence Children’s Ministry Leader Job Description.

Leader Developer

If you want to grow your ministry, develop leaders, not followers. Here are 5 Ways to Develop Leaders in Children’s Ministry. The reality is, if you don’t develop leaders, you will severely limit the potential of your ministry.

Avid Learner

Learners are leaders and leaders are learners.

Are you an Avid Learner? If not, you need to become one if you hope to lead your ministry effectively for the long-term. Every leader needs to have a personal growth plan (click here for tips on how to develop your own) and a large part of that must be about learning.

A good starting point: simply commit to reading. There are so many books out there to help you learn and grow as a leader. If you’re not much of a reader, just commit to reading a single chapter every day (if you can’t do that, maybe you need to rethink your ability to lead!). Reading one chapter a day will get you through about 25 books per year. That’s a great start to becoming an Avid Learner!

Creative Thinker

I used to say all the time, “I’m not creative.” But I discovered over time that this simply isn’t true. Every one of us is creative to some degree or another. Tap into that creative side and think about your ministry in a creative way. Try something new…and don’t be afraid to fail.

Additionally, for those of us who struggle to believe that we really are creative (and, let’s face it, some people just ooze creativity, but most of us don’t), learn to lean on those who are creative. Ask questions about how they would approach this problem, or how they would design this program, or how they would connect better with the people in your ministry.

Problem Solver

One of the quickest paths to influence is solving problems. A leader doesn’t put off problems. They don’t blame others for problems. And they don’t avoid problems.

A leaders is a Problem Solver.

Are you?

What other phrases describe the Most Effective Children’s Ministry Leaders?

This article originally appeared here.

America Needs Worldchangers

By
Greg Laurie
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communicating with the unchurched

Have you ever been misled by a GPS? A lot of people have, including me. I remember one instance when my GPS told me to take a certain freeway. Then it said to turn right at the next off ramp. I obeyed. I turned right. Then it told me to turn left. Then it said to turn right. And then it directed me back to the freeway. I thought, “What was that?” There was no reason to do that. I think the GPS was trying to mess with my mind.

Then there was a woman from Boston who made a right turn onto railroad tracks at the direction of her GPS. Her minivan got stuck on the tracks, but she and her children managed to get out before a commuter rail trained slammed into their vehicle.

We shouldn’t always do what a GPS tells us to do.

God has created certain animals with homing instincts, with built-in GPS units if you will. One of the most amazing examples is the Golden Plover, a bird native to Hawaii. During the summer, the Plovers migrate north to the Aleutian Islands. They lay their eggs, and when the eggs are hatched, the adult Plovers leave. They don’t provide their fledglings with little GPS units or smartphones. They don’t even send them a tweet. Yet somehow these little birds find their way to Hawaii. They make the journey to a place where they’ve never been.

God has placed a homing instinct inside human beings, who are uniquely made in his image. We don’t know what it is at first, but we know this much: From the moment we are born, we’re on a quest. It starts with toys. Then it is something else. It is this relationship or that possession. It is this position or that accomplishment. We have a homesickness for a place we’ve never been before, a place called Heaven. God wired us that way. The Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has also set eternity in the human heart” (NIV).

Once we figure this out, we develop an eternal perspective. We see things in light of eternity. We realize that things on earth, though pleasurable and fun at times, are temporal. There are eternal things, things that matter even more. It changes the way we think and the way we live.

Abraham was a man who had an eternal perspective. He was called by God to leave his homeland, to leave his family, and go to an unknown destination. He packed up and went, leaving no forwarding address. And he changed his world.

There are only 11 chapters in the book of Genesis devoted to the first 2,000 years of human history. But then there are 14 chapters dedicated to the life of one man: Abraham. In the New Testament, he is named 74 times, and Hebrews, chapter 11, devotes one-third of its verses to Abraham and his wife Sarah. That’s a lot of ink. God must have wanted us to know about this great patriarch of the faith.

Abraham lived in a pagan culture. His family all worshiped false gods. He probably had been an idol worshiper himself. Despite this, God handpicked Abraham (Abram at the time) and came to him and said, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (NIV). God didn’t tell him what that land was. He didn’t tell him where that land was. Nor did he tell him where he would live.

Abraham didn’t have a road map. But what he had was a directive from God. To his credit, without argument, Abraham obeyed God. God said to go, and he went. This was faith in action.

World changers obey God. There are certain things God tells us not to do, and the reason he says that is to protect us. If God says not to do something, that is because it’s a bad thing. If God says to do something, that is because it’s a good thing. If God says to stay away from something, that is for our own benefit.

God told Abraham to make a clean break with his past and his family. Why? Because they were detrimental to his spiritual growth.

What kind of influence is your family having on you? What kind of influence are your friends having on you? Let’s turn it around. What kind of influence are you having on them? World changers influence their surroundings.

Sometimes our circumstances change, but if we are men or women of God, circumstances won’t change us. The Bible tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, three teenage boys who were plucked from their homeland and sent to a pagan country known as Babylon. Everyone was worshiping false gods and ultimately would bow down before the image of the king—all except Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They had faith in God and stood their ground, reminding us that world changers are almost always a minority and rarely, if ever, a majority.

It is often the one man or one woman who will stand up for what is true, the one who is far more concerned about God’s opinion, who stands up and says what is right.

We can’t control our entire environment. We may be in a workplace with people who don’t believe. We may be in a classroom around people who don’t share our faith. We may be in a family with unbelievers. I’m not saying we can change that. But there is a difference between those we’re around and those we choose to spend time with. Find friends who will build you up in your faith and increase your appetite for spiritual things, not people who drag you down and decrease your appetite for spiritual things.

We need people who will change their world today. America so desperately needs God. America so desperately needs to hear the Gospel. America needs world changers. America needs you. It needs you to do your part. I know that is a big order. But let’s localize it and talk about your world, your sphere of influence where you can make an impact like Abraham did. Do you want to change the world? Start by changing your world.

Taken from my weekly column at World Net Daily.

This article originally appeared here.

When Pastors Misplace Their Identity: 10 Probing Questions

By
Charles Stone
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communicating with the unchurched

“No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you do.” When I heard this quote by Paul Tripp while I listened to his book Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry, it caused me to pause and reflect. He’s right. No one talks to me more than I talk to myself. A corollary to his quote might be this: “We become more like who we listen to. If what we tell ourselves about our identity is false, then we develop a false identity.” In this post I suggest 10 question that might reveal when pastors misplace their identity.

How do you know if you’ve wrapped your identity around your church, ministry or preaching rather than around Christ? Consider these 10 questions.

  • Would I feel aimless if I faced a period of time when I wasn’t vocationally working in a church?
  • Do I see the need for grace in the lives of others more than I see the need of that same grace in my life?
  • Have I subtly allowed pride to infiltrate my soul because I know a lot about the Bible, have a theological degree or pastor a growing church?
  • Do I equate ministry success with God’s endorsement of my lifestyle (a thought from Paul Tripp)?
  • When I meet someone, do I find my unspoken self-talk focused on what he or she thinks of me?
  • Have I based my identity more on the horizontal (ministry success) than the vertical (my personal relationship with Jesus)?
  • Is my heart stirred more by compliments from others about my preaching, increasing attendance or recognition from others more than the greatness, grandeur and glory of Christ?
  • If attendance is low on Sunday, is it hard to shake a sense the following week that I’ve failed or that I’ve let God down?
  • Do I struggle with jealous feelings when I hear about the success of another pastor or church?
  • Do I find myself “burning the candle at both ends” to keep the ministry going?

What do you think about pastoral identity? Do you think misplaced identity is a problem among pastors? What questions would you add to this list that might be telling of misplaced identity?

If these questions have stirred you to think more deeply about your identity, consider reading Paul Tripp’s blog post about this subject here. And, I highly recommend reading his book as well.

This article originally appeared here.

Before You Fire Your Pastor

By
Thom Rainer
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communicating with the unchurched

It happened again this week.

A pastor contacted me to let me know his deacons asked for his resignation. The reason? No one was really clear about it. The best I can discern the issue was change, or the pace of change.

The church is known in the area unflatteringly as a “preacher-eater church.” They figuratively eat pastors and spit them out. And it is happening again.

I understand. The fault does not always reside with the church. Pastors aren’t perfect, and many of them have done some things that may deserve firing. But that is not the case with the vast majority of churches where I have details and good familiarity.

Stated simply, too many pastors are getting fired. It feels like an epidemic.

So, please church leader, consider these words before you fire your pastor. Please take a breath and see if any of my admonitions hit home.

  1. Pray more fervently. You are about to make a decision that will shape your church, the pastor and the pastor’s family for years to come. Make certain you have prayed and prayed and prayed about this decision.
  2. Understand fully the consequence to your congregation. A church is marked once it fires a pastor. Members leave. Potential guests stay away. Morale is decimated. The church has to go through a prolonged period of healing where it cannot have much of an outward focus.
  3. Listen to other voices. Many times personnel committees, deacons or elders decide to fire a pastor because they listen to a few malcontents. I know one church with a weak personnel committee that fired a pastor after listening to an executive pastor and a bully deacon. And they never asked to hear the pastor’s side of the story.
  4. Consider the church’s reputation in the community. You are about to receive the label: “The church that fired their pastor.” That will be your identity for some time.
  5. Seek mediation. There are some very good mediation sources available. Why not at least give it a shot before you make a rash and often uninformed decision?
  6. Let your pastor know why. Look at number three again. That church never told the pastor why he was being fired. Seriously. I guess it’s hard to explain that the deacon and the executive pastor have orchestrated a successful coup. I am amazed how many pastors have no idea why they are being let go. That is cowardly. That is not Christ-like.
  7. Consider a transition plan. Another church approached their situation with greater wisdom and Christian action. They shared sadly with the pastor that the chemistry was just not working between him and many parts of the congregation. But, instead of firing him, they let him stay on for up to one year to find another church. It’s always easier to find a church if you have a church.
  8. Be generous. If your church does make the decision to fire your pastor, please be generous with severance and benefits. Don’t treat your pastor like a secular organization might treat an employee. Show the world Christian compassion and generosity.

Forced terminations of pastors are sadly common. Please consider these eight thoughts before your church makes such a serious and long-lasting decision.

This article originally appeared here.

Keeping Things Focused

By
Gina McClain
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communicating with the unchurched

I have a love-hate relationship with productivity tools.

There was a time in my life that you could accuse me of ‘dating’ to-do list management systems. Things, Toodledo, Wunderlist and good old-fashioned pen and paper… I’ve used all of these.

You know what I’ve discovered? There is no magic-bullet. There is no perfect system that eliminates my need to stop, identify what’s most important and create space to work on what’s most important.

Now, there are certainly tools I use to help me manage the big & little ‘rocks’. But…at the end of the day…it all boils down to actually using them.

There are seasons I use my tools well.

There are seasons I don’t.

When I don’t use my tools well, I ‘feel’ frantic. Like everything is spinning around me. I just can’t seem to grasp anything. The vortex of the latest and loudest is too great to overcome and I feel trapped and unable to focus on anything else.

When I do use my tools well, I end my day with a sense of satisfaction knowing that my time and energy were well invested. I can’t say that I feel ‘in control’ of what’s happening in my world. I think control is an illusion. But I am satisfied with where my time and focus are applied.

Here are list of tools I love to use to help me manage my day-to-day, week-to-week expectations. I’ve quit ‘dating’ these tools. I’m committed because they’ve made a huge difference in my ability to produce quality work.

Evernote
I’m another Evernote fan. I keep everything possible in Evernote. From the kids’ school syllabi to team meeting notes. I love that I can access my Evernote files from my phone or any computer connected to the interwebs.

Evernote is a great bucket for research, documents, meeting notes and other things I need to hang on to for a while. Using the tag feature, notes and documents are easily searchable and categorized.

Wunderlist
I used to use a paid subscription of Toodledo. I liked it. Used it for three years. But recently shifted to Wunderlist. I prefer the user experience of Wunderlist of Toodledo, yet both are great tools to help me manage and prioritize tasks.

GTD
This past year I participated in a GTD workshop. I’d read the book several years ago and loosely applied the principles. But they didn’t stick. The workshop was a huge benefit to me. I’ve incorporated about 60 percent of the system. And as I gain competency, I’ll incorporate more.

The aspects of the GTD system that I love are:

  • Email Inbox processing
    Action Folder: for emails that require an action for me.
    Read Now Folder: for emails I need to read for information and have a time frame attached.
    Read Later Folder: for emails I want to read but the clock isn’t ticking.
  • Physical Inbox processing – I’ve always had a physical inbox. And it was really just a place where papers piled up that I didn’t know what to do with OR simply didn’t want to deal with it! Now I have time scheduled each week where I clear out that inbox. I do something with the document. Either I turn it into an Action, add it to a Project, Trash it or it goes into the Someday/Maybe file.
  • Someday/Maybe – This is a notebook in Evernote. It’s my home for all those things I’d love to do… but just don’t have the time, budget or margin to do right now. At least I have a home for it until margin is available.
  • Brain Dump – I think GTD has a different name for this. But I’ve dubbed the process ‘Brain Dump.’ It’s intentional time carved out once a week where I just write out all the things that are on my mind. It’s crazy how freeing the exercise can be.
    This is one activity I don’t do consistently enough. I see a big difference in my creativity on the weeks that I’m faithful to Brain Dump. Creativity suffers the weeks I opt out of the Brain Dump.

Pomodoro Timer
I really love this tool. You can read about the technique here. But for someone like me who is EASILY distracted, this tool is pretty invaluable. It helps me to focus in concentrated bursts of time. When I know I need to get a project moved forward, using my Pomodoro Timer helps me to focus, produce, then intentionally take a break.

There are a variety of Pomodoro Timers available. I use the PomodoroPro app on my iPhone or Tomato Timer on my web browser.

From a productivity standpoint, these are the tools that I’ve found help me to manage the day-to-day crazy. But…at the end of the day…if I don’t use the tools, they don’t do me a bit of good. A tool is only helpful when you actually take it out of the toolbox and use it.

As we enter a new year, now is a great time to decide which tools you will use to help you focus on what’s most important in 2016.

What do you use to help you focus on the Big Rocks first?

This article originally appeared here.

How Do Older Leaders Follow Young Leaders?

By
Dan Reiland
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communicating with the unchurched

Do you follow a leader who is younger than you are?

This reality is becoming more and more common and will continue as the Xers and Millennials rise into positions of leadership.

Perhaps you are a volunteer leader, and your pastor is young. As an older and more experienced leader, you have a powerful opportunity to impact that young leader, your church and the Kingdom of God in a big way.

On Monday I wrote on this topic from the opposite perspective. You can check out that article here.

For this post, let’s tackle nine practical thoughts that will help your Kingdom impact increase, and help you enjoy your ministry even more.

I’d like to give a special shout out here to Ken Shaffer, who serves at our Bethlehem Campus as the Audio Director on the Production Team. Ken shared some great ideas with me for this post. What an awesome guy, talented leader and faithful servant of God. Ken, you model this so well! 

1) Trust that God has His hand on your situation.

It’s important to trust that this unique leadership relationship did not catch God by surprise. He knows who your leader is and wants you to follow. These “older/younger” partnerships are great. The young leader brings things like fresh ideas, youthful energy and a cultural connection. You bring experience, wisdom and a larger view. What a great team!

2) Settle the deeper reason for why you serve.

Strive for a heart level and steadfast resolve about why you serve as a leader. That resolve will settle your soul and remove the vast majority of potential challenges and conflict. If you serve first for the sake of the mission, your joy and productivity will increase.

3) Take the initiative to put out fires.

It doesn’t help when an older and wiser leader lets a young leader crash and burn. If you see a major issue brewing or consequence to a particular decision, say something. Take action yourself if you can. Don’t sit back and say “I told you so” afterward. Or “I knew that would happen.” The church needs you and needs you at your best. Meaning, with a positive and proactive disposition.

4) Share your wisdom and experience.

Mistakes will happen. That’s how young leaders learn. I’ll bet you have made a few mistakes along the way. I know I sure have, and I deeply appreciated when older and wiser leaders extended me grace rather than criticism. It’s true that the young leader needs to be teachable and also possess a positive attitude, but when you are both aligned, it’s a powerful partnership.

5) Don’t undermine authority and confidence.

It’s so easy to make a quick off-handed negative remark around other volunteers that really hurts the team and the mission. And it’s nearly impossible to take it back. It’s too late; you just added a little poison into the culture. If you have a legitimate complaint, talk to your leader directly. Repeatedly asking things like “Are you sure?” Or saying, “If that’s what you really want, well…OK, but…” is not helpful.

6) Avoid passive-aggressive behavior.

I loved the illustration Ken shared with me. The pastor says to the audio engineer, “Hey it sounds a bit loud, can you bring it down?” The audio tech says, “Sure! No problem!” Then shortly after the pastor walks away, the audio tech slowly brings the fader back up! That made me laugh. We all know that has happened!! (But never at Bethlehem Campus of course!) Keep it real, be honest and speak the truth in love.

7) Embrace change.

Give change a chance. Remember, you probably changed things when you were the younger leader. Change is not only good, but it’s also necessary. Without change, the church can’t grow. It might not be exactly how you would do it, but go with it. Rather than resist, offer your opinion about how to make a new idea better.

8) Keep learning.

If you keep learning, you’ll keep growing. And if you keep growing, you can teach your younger leader things he or she doesn’t know. You can show them how. It’s funny how that works. You already have more experience, so you have valuable wisdom to share. But if you appear to have stopped growing and are locked in on your current answers, people are less likely to want to know what you know. Nothing stays the same. Keep learning and your influence increases.

9) Pray that God will grant legacy to your leadership.

You may have 10, 20 or 30 more years of leadership still to give. Great, that just means more legacy developing time! Legacy is about what lives on after you. That requires pouring into and lifting up younger leaders. Your investment in younger leaders as you empower them to lead exponentially multiplies your leadership. Pray and ask God to use you for His glory and to advance His Kingdom!

This article originally appeared here.

It’s Called SELF-Control

By
Ethan Renoe
-
communicating with the unchurched

Things won’t go your way.

This is one of those rare phrases which applies to literally every human on the face of the planet. And for many of us, this is good reason to worry.

To stress out.

To become anxious.

For many of us, myself included, situations arise in our lives which are out of our control and these breed a myriad of responses. Some of us respond to the unmanageability of our lives in healthy ways, while others respond in unhealthy ways.

Galatians 5 lists a description of the Fruit of the Spirit, one of which is Self-Control. After years of having this list memorized and held in a rote category in my brain, something about it finally clicked. God instructs us to have self-control.

Not world-control.

Not others-control.

Not friend-control.

Not situation-control.

Not boss-control.

Self-control.

Because the painfully obvious fact is, we cannot control those other things. We cannot control diseases or jobs or world events, or family drama. But there is one area which we do have control over: Our own responses to all of these things.

My dad always tells me that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond.

To me, this maxim always seemed rather passive; that if I wanted things to go as I wanted, I had to get out and make them happen. But in reality, there is often (always?) a massive disconnect between what I want to happen, or how I want things to go…and the actual outcome.

This longing to control the world, others or anything else that is inherently out of our control results in a lot of angst and fear. There are a lot of what-ifs that can plague our minds if we let them, rather than concerning ourselves with our own personal reactions to people and events.

I recently began reading the acclaimed book by Townsend and Cloud Boundaries, which has helped straighten out what things are within and outside of our responsibility. For instance, the fact that your boss parties, sleeps around and wastes money on fruitless things is completely our of your control and out of your realm of responsibility. But what IS in your control is how you respond, how you love him, and whether or not you run your lips gossiping about him behind his back.

Think of it like a yard of a house. You are responsible for the lawn, flowers and weeds inside the bounds of your fence, and your neighbor is responsible for those in hers. It is not your duty to try to mow her lawn for her or plant flowers in her soil. Nor is it acceptable for her weeds to spill over into your yard. You are responsible only for what is in your own yard, and this is truly the only thing you can really control anyway.

Essentially, the only thing you can really control in this world is what goes on within the boundaries of your own person. You can control your thoughts, the things you fill your mind with, the things you eat and what you do with your body. These things are within your control and within your boundaries of control.

With this in mind, it therefore becomes wrong to try to control things which are outside of your boundaries, i.e., the actions or responses of others. Not only is it wrong, but it is the root of much of our angst, worry and stress. That’s why the Bible describes self-control as virtuous. It’s much easier said than done, but you can control your response to the world and your own actions.

One of the creeds in the first step of Alcoholics Anonymous states, “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable.” When we see our lives as unmanageable and out of our control, this often leads to a panic of sorts, often dealt with through addictions like drinking, drugs, eating disorders pornography, or anything else that makes us feel like we have some sort of control.

AA helps people understand that the future is opaque for everyone: It is unknown and mysterious. We cannot plan for it per se, but we can plan to control our own reactions to whatever happens. And this helps ease the angst of the unknown.

Leonardo da Vinci said, “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself,” yet this is all we really do have control over.

You can choose to respond to your children with anger or grace, but you cannot control their actions.

You can respond to your unjust boss with love or malice and gossip, but you cannot control her management style.

Want to let go of anxiety, stress and fear? Stop trying to control the world and start trying to control yourself. It’s not easy, but coming to understand the virtue of self-control as more than simply not reaching for that last slice of pizza has helped me understand my own limitations and remove some of the stress of life.

May we be people who know our own boundaries. May we come to have control over that for which we are responsible, and let go of the things which are out of our control. May we abide by the Spirit, who enables us to open up our palms which often hold too tightly the actions of others and the events of the world.

This article originally appeared here.

What to Do When You Hear: “I’m So Disappointed in You”

By
Kurt Bubna
-
communicating with the unchurched

Perfectly Imperfect – A Travel Guide for Life, Faith and Relationships!

Some of the most painful words a human can hear are, “You let me down,” and “I’m disappointed in you.”

If you care at all about someone, then the last thing you want to do is disappoint that person. At our core, many of us wrestle with the tendency to be people-pleasers, and letting someone down ranks right up there with getting a root canal.

We hate disappointing. We avoid it. We have nightmares about it.

Whether it’s a friend, a spouse, a parent or even a boss, we do our best to avoid failing someone we love (or someone who signs our checks).

My first boss, Ron, was a tyrant. I was a 16-year-old scrawny kid who did his best to do his best. Sadly, I was driven by an unhealthy need to please, coupled with a ridiculous bent toward perfectionism. So you can imagine how devastated I was when Ron said to me at the end of my first week as a box boy, “I thought I had made a good choice when I hired you. Apparently not.”

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

A couple of years later, I discovered that Ron-the-Hun said that to everyone after their first week. He thought motivation by shame worked. Unfortunately, it does sometimes, and I did try harder, but that didn’t make what he did right, then or now.

Here’s a well-known but seldom acknowledged fact: We all fail. We all fall short. No one is perfect. No one.

Of course, we should want to do our best. It is a noble goal to want to flourish and do well. But you will disappoint people because you’re human and prone to wandering off course. If you’re absolutely successful at anything, it is at being absolutely unsuccessful at times.

If that’s true, and it is, then how can we live with such a reality without being in a constant funk? What should we do when we hear those painful words, “You could have done better” (a backhanded way of saying, “You blew it and let me down”).

First, get real. Stop holding yourself to a standard that is impossible to attain. I’m not suggesting you wallow in the mud of mediocrity or sluff off sin. Of course, not. Grow. Change. Get better. But don’t beat yourself up for being imperfect. Only One person walked this earth without failure or sin, and it wasn’t you (or me).

Second, own it and grow. Meaning, when you hear those painful words of disappointment from someone, ask yourself, Did I blow it and, if so, what can I learn from this experience? The best pathway to personal growth is not denial, but deciding how you will handle personal failure. As I’ve written before, you can go through it or grow through it. You decide. A wise person will learn from his or her mistakes.

Finally, don’t fixate on the problem or your past. You become what you focus on. In other words, if you fix your attention on the mistake or the problem, you tend to get sucked into a vortex of despair and further failure. The more you tell yourself, I will never do that again…I will never do that again…I will never do that again, the more likely you are to do that very thing—again. Instead, look to the One who is both the Author and Perfecter of our faith; keep your eyes on Him. What Jesus started, He will finish.

At some level, I fail every day. The voice of the enemy, the voice of others and even my own voice (i.e self-talk) try to discourage me by saying, “You are such a disappointment.”

But the One voice that matters above all—the One voice that pierces through the negative noise—always whispers to my heart, “You are loved. You are Mine. You are far from perfect, which is precisely why I came. Trust Me to complete My work in you.”

Whose voice are you listening to?

The Eternal sustains all who stumble on their way.
For those who are broken down, God is near. He raises them up in hope.

Psalm 145:14 (VOICE)

This article originally appeared here.

18 Hilarious Church Life Memes for Pastors

By
Brian Orme
-
communicating with the unchurched

We gathered 18 of our favorite “Hilarious Church Memes for Pastors” because, let’s be honest, we know you’ve seen things—oh, you’ve seen things! And, we know, you’ve thought things—who wouldn’t? No one sees or hears the things that a senior pastor, youth pastor, or children’s pastor sees or hears around the church. Church leaders have a unique view of the hilarious things that happen and the attitudes that come across with church folks. Which of these church life memes strikes a chord with you?

Church Memes for Pastors

church life memes 1

Ummhmmm….put in all that work and he doesn’t even know it was all for him!

church life memes 2

That’s right! You are a devil-stomping ninja straight from the army of God!

church life memes 3

Now…don’t say you’ve never thought of it.

church life memes 4

Don’t you love it when you can see the sermon landing?

church life memes 5

Truth is: Very few of us keep our eyes closed!

church life memes 6

“It’s the circle of life….”

church life memes 7

“Oh no he didn’t!”

church life memes 8

“Say it isn’t so!”

church life memes 9

“Daddy! Pleeeease!

Evangelicals to Trump: Don’t Punish the Children for Sins of the Fathers (DACA)

By
Megan Briggs
-
communicating with the unchurched

Dear President Trump:
We are writing to support your efforts to find a workable solution for Dreamers, those young undocumented immigrants in our country who were brought here by their parents and who contribute great things to our society.

So begins the letter to President Trump written and signed by a handful of evangelical leaders on August 30, 2017.

The President faces an uncomfortable decision of what to do with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)—the Obama administration’s executive order protecting the children of undocumented immigrants. DACA allows these people—also known as Dreamers—to live and work in the United States with government licenses.

The reason the pressure is on President Trump, who promised to put an “immediate” end to the “illegal” DACA executive order during his campaign, to end the program now is several attorneys general from various states have given him until September 5 before they will proceed with legal action. While there are legitimate questions about the efficacy of this ultimatum, it has an approximate 800,000 Dreamers concerned for their future and has prompted this letter from evangelicals and another one from immigrant members of congress.

President Trump’s position is certainly not enviable at this moment. As someone known for speaking his mind readily—and some would say almost callously—this decision seems to have the president ruminating. In a February press briefing, he admitted “the DACA situation is a very, very…difficult thing for me.”

The Evangelical Argument

Dreamers Help America

In their letter, leaders such as Russell Moore and Samuel Rodriguez argue that the Dreamers have a lot to offer America. “We have seen immigrants strengthen our great nation throughout its history, including their positive impact on our churches, our communities and our economy.”

Additionally, the letter argues those who have signed up for DACA have voluntarily undergone “screening for criminal activity and potential threats to national security.” They are also “leading in our churches and our communities,” studying, creating jobs and paying taxes.

It’s Not Their Fault

Essentially, the evangelical writers argue that the children should not be punished for the decisions of their parents. “They were brought here without their consent, and in most cases the United States is the only home they have known.” The immigration system is also culpable and the onus is on us as a country to “focus on real solutions for our broken immigration system.”

Eugene Cho of Quest Church in Seattle, Washington, says preventing Dreamers from reaching their full potential in the U.S. would be akin to placing a stumbling block in front of them. “To prevent individuals who were brought to this country as kids, through no decision of their own, from working, pursuing education and contributing to the full extent of their God-given potential is not only short-sighted, it’s also unjust,” Cho says.

Allowing Dreamers to Stay Is the Biblical Thing to Do

The letter also cites biblical heroes “from Abraham to Paul” who were immigrants. Even Jesus was an immigrant when he parents took him to Egypt to escape persecution. “As Americans, we are proud that our country has affirmed this biblical principle of valuing and protecting immigrants while also protecting national security,” the letter states.

Dave Gibbons, founder of Newsong Church in California, says throughout Scripture God “lovingly focuses on those who are vulnerable, the hurting and the immigrants. Symbiotic with our love for God is our love for the outsider.”

While it is direct, the letter is gracious and sympathetic to the difficult decision ahead of Trump. More than anything, it is calling on him to encourage Congress and other policy-makers in Washington to craft a long-term, workable solution for the Dreamers.

The long story short is that there is a reason God instructed us to welcome the foreigner and sojourner. We want what is best for them and our country. Now the question is: How, practically, do we make this work in our society?

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