10 Times When You Can Make an Impact in the Lives of Parents

January 29, 2023

Parents: we know they are the biggest influence in their children’s lives. They have the most time with their child. They are called to be the primary spiritual leader of their child. They have the strongest relationship with their child.

If you want to influence children for Christ, then you must start by influencing their parents. Your goal should be to influence the greatest influencers in a child’s life…their parents.

Let’s look at 10 key times when you can impact the lives of parents who will in return influence their children.

Key Time #1 – A Child Enters the World

In the race to a child’s heart, the first one there wins. (George Barna)

Be there for young couples during the nine months they are preparing to be parents. Get them connected to a small group for new parents. Encourage them. Pray for them. Offer preparation for parenting resources that will help equip them for this most important task.

Key #2 – Dedication of Parents and Children

Notice that it is called PARENT and child dedication. I would encourage you to include parents in the preparation for their child being dedicated. Parents should play a major role in this event.

Include a parent and child dedication class that couples must attend before they can dedicate their child. In this class, emphasize what the dedication means, why children should be dedicated and the crucial role that parents play in raising kids that follow Jesus for a lifetime. Here are a couple of resources you can use for this.

Give each parent a copy of the book “Fertile Soil…See Kids’ Faith Grow and Flourish for a Lifetime.”

Have each parent go through the Parent and Child Dedication Class. At this link, there are great resources for the class and dedication.

Key #3 – Bible Presentation

When a child is entering their kindergarten and lower elementary years, you can influence parents to make the Bible a key part of their life and their child’s life.

Host a class / workshop about the Bible. They will learn how we got the Bible and how to make it an important part of their life. They will also be able to see and understand God’s Big Story found in the Bible and how they are part of it.

This class / workshop will make a big impact in the lives of children and their parents. I have a curriculum for this class at this link. It can be a life-changing class. You can get the Bible presentation at this link.

Key #4 – Salvation Class

When their child begins to ask questions about following Jesus, parents will normally come looking for help. You can impact parents during this time as they prepare to lead their child to Jesus. If you really want to impact parents during this time, you will offer a salvation class. In this class, you can clearly share what it means to follow Jesus.

Often you will impact parents during this time and see them make a decision to follow Jesus as well. You can get more information about this class at this link. It is one of the most important times you can impact parents.

Key #5 – Baptism

Parents will also come to you when their child starts talking about being baptized. This is another time when you can impact their life and the life of their child. Once again, you can provide a class for parents and their children about what baptism means, who should be baptized, when you should be baptized, etc. The class is available at this link.

If you really want to impact parents during this time, offer parents the opportunity to help with their child’s baptism. When you do this, you will also have the opportunity to see parents come to Christ and get baptized with their child. I have seen this happen time and time again.

What Is Prayer? All the Ways We Misunderstand Prayer

John Onwuchekwa

January 29, 2023

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

What is prayer? It’s been said that “definitions must always be the starting point for…two people entering into meaningful discussion.”^[1] We know that prayer is necessary; we know it doesn’t come naturally to us. Like the disciples, we need to be taught how to pray. But it does us no good to talk about prayer and how it shapes the church if we can’t first agree on what prayer is.

You may be saying, “This seems like a waste of time. Everybody knows what prayer is. You don’t even have to be Christian to know what prayer is.” Not so fast. Sometimes the most common words are the hardest to define.

How often have you used the word so? No one ever stops you midsentence to ask you to clarify your use of so. It seems like a word that doesn’t need to be defined. But go ahead, define it (without a dictionary or Google).

You see what I mean? It’s a word that’s easier to use than to define. Sometimes, the most common words cause the most confusion, and prayer isn’t exempt.

LAYING A FOUNDATION: WHAT IS PRAYER?

Definitions for prayer abound. Here are a few:

What is prayer? Prayer is talking to God. Just talk to God like you would talk to your best friend. You don’t need to learn to talk to God. Just do it.

What is prayer? Prayer is demanding something from God. Prayer is our decreeing and demanding that God would do what we want him to do. It’s wrestling with him until he gives us what we want. God plays hard to get in order to see just how much we want what we pray for. We have to demand what we want from him. We need to name it and claim it.

What is prayer? Prayer is aligning our will with God’s. Prayer isn’t about getting anything from God or causing him to act. He knows what you need and has already determined if he’s going to give it to you. Prayer is really all about aligning your will to his. Prayer is more for you than it is for God.

What is prayer? Prayer is wishful thinking aimed in God’s direction. Prayer is nothing more than well wishes when you hear about a tragedy, or wishful thinking when you hear someone is hopeful about an outcome.

Prayer is some combination of all of these things.

Who’s right? We can’t just settle for any definition. We need the right one. Why? Because misinterpretation leads to misapplication.

Did you ever hear the story about the guy who got his mom an expensive parrot for Mother’s Day? He paid $10,000 for a parrot that could speak 40 languages and sing a few hymns. He sent the bird to his mom and didn’t hear back for a few days. Nervous that she didn’t like the bird, he called his mom and asked her, “How’d you like the bird?” to which she replied, “It was great!” Filled with pride, the son asked, “What was your favorite part?” She answered, “The thighs. They were delicious.” Wrong interpretation, wrong application.

3 Ways to Protect Your Child From Their Own Heart

Andrew Linder

January 29, 2023

We’ve all seen children who were raised right still go wrong, following their hearts all the way to their own destruction.

One of the most crucial aspects of parenting yet the easiest to overlook is the shaping of our children’s hearts. It’s so easy to focus on the outside stuff that we see (behaviors, attitudes, etc) without giving proper attention to the inside stuff that truly matters.

Whether we like it or not, what’s in a child’s heart will guide them for the rest of their lives.

Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, seemed to have an obsession with the direction of his child’s heart. In the book of Proverbs, a book of wisdom written to his son, he mentions the heart repeatedly throughout almost every chapter.

Solomon’s Passion…

He regularly pointed his son to the need of protecting his heart and its direction. He captures this passion in a nutshell in the following verse…

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

Why would Solomon be so adamantly concerned with his child’s heart? Could it be that he personally knew all too well where one’s heart could lead a person if left unchecked? (Read Ecclesiastes if you’re not sure.)

Is it possible that among all of the moments, days, and years of a child’s life, a parent could actually overlook the one most important thing? … Yes, very possible.

Solomon’s Best Advice…

Solomon gives his best ‘heart’ advice to his son in Proverbs 3:5-7:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding,

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

In these few short verses, he gives the roadmap for every person, including us as parents, to help our children protect themselves from the danger of their own hearts.

Solomon knew all too well the principle of Jeremiah 17:9, that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Solomon understood that the greatest threat to his child’s future was not the influences outside of him, but the heart within him.

He wanted his son to know how to direct his heart rather than be destroyed by it. So he gave these three reminders to his son that will help protect your child from their own heart:

1. Trust God with All Your Heart

The answer to all of life — trust God. Easier said than done, right?! Not partially, or mostly, but with “all your heart.”

Former Charlotte Pastor Frank Reich Named Carolina Panthers Head Coach

Jesse T. Jackson

January 28, 2023

NFL head coach Frank Reich is returning to Charlotte, North Carolina, to coach the Carolina Panthers, a city where he pastored until 2007 when he left to coach in the NFL.

Last year, Reich was let go the head coach from the Indianapolis Colts (2018-22) after a week 9 loss to the New England Patriots. The loss brought the Colts to a 3-5-1 record for the year and Reich’s overall career record as the team’s head coach to 40-33-1.

Before becoming becoming the Colt’s head coach, Reich helped lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a 2017 Super Bowl win as offensive coordinator against the Tom Brady led New England Patriots.

The 61-year-old Reich is heading back to the team he where started as quarterback in 1995, which was the Panther’s inaugural season. Reich was the quarterback to throw the franchise’s first ever touchdown, which took place against the Atlanta Flacons. Reich threw for 329 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 17-20 loss and was replaced at the quarterback position by Kerry Collins in week 3 after failing to register a win.

After retiring following the 1998 NFL season, Reich attended Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) and received his Master of Divinity degree.

Reich served as the president of RTS Charlotte until from 2003 to 2006 and became the pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian (now Ballantyne Presbyterian) before starting his NFL coaching career in 2007.

“I came to recognize more and more this false dichotomy between sacred and secular work,” Reich told The Gospel Coalition (TGC), sharing what he learned about “the priesthood of all believers—that every Christian is called to live out their faith in their sphere of influence.”

During an interview with his alma mater, Reich explained why he left RTS Charlotte and later his pastorate after only serving at Cornerstone Presbyterian a short time.

“At the end of three years, I thought I needed to be out in the field. And that’s when I stepped into the pastorate,” Reich said. “I need to be out in the field with people, teaching, and walking through the Scriptures, and being involved in people’s lives, and counseling people through life’s issues. And after about a year, there were a variety of reasons, but I came to the conclusion that I didn’t believe the pastorate was my calling.”

Reich said he didn’t believe that he was the right person for the job and said the decision was “very difficult and that he “struggled” with it.

7 Guideposts To Lead Yourself Well

Dan Reiland

January 28, 2023

Why is it that leading ourselves can be more difficult than leading others?

It doesn’t make sense, but we know it’s true.

The idea is not unlike a doctor who doesn’t take care of herself or himself physically. Or a landscaper with a rundown yard, or an auto mechanic that doesn’t change the oil in his car.

They know the right thing to do, but don’t do it.

Peter Drucker said: “Being a self-leader is to serve as chief, captain, president or CEO of one’s own life.”

That speaks directly to personal responsibility, and taking responsibility for yourself is at the core of self-leadership. Andy Stanley adds further insight with this quote.

A person’s irresponsibility will always become someone else’s responsibility. (Andy Stanley)

It is clear that the surest way to lead others better is to lead yourself better first.

Self-awareness is the beginning of self-leadership.
(You’ll see that thread throughout this post.)

7 Guideposts

1. Pursue Character Over Success.

The pursuit of success in your ministry is a normal and healthy desire as long as it never compromises your character. And always remember that the pressures of ministry can tempt you to behave in ways you wouldn’t otherwise behave.

The imperfection of our humanity is not an excuse to dabble in sin.

There are no perfect leaders, and thankfully God’s grace is abundant. Yet, the little missteps and seemingly small character slip-ups can open the door to leadership damaging behavior.

We should live in freedom, not paranoid of making a mistake, but the point is that self-leadership of your character is of utmost importance in the life of a spiritual leader.

The reason self-leadership of your character is so important, is that no one else can do that but you.

2. Establish Life Boundaries by Your Personal Values.

Your personal values, the things you hold most dear and important, form something like the banks of a river that guide the flow of your life. They inform your decisions and subsequent actions.

When a river overflows its banks it can do considerable damage. In the same way, the lack of boundaries in our daily lives is a recipe for disaster. For example, in current culture one of the most prevalent concerns is—how much is enough? Boundaries help you answer that question.

Your values might be things such as faith, health, family, growth etc. The list should be a short collection of the non-negotiables that constitute the framework of how you think and behave.

What are the values that guide your life?
Do they ring true with Scripture?
Has God affirmed them in your life?

3. Cultivate Humble Confidence in Your Leadership.

Humble confidence reduced to the most basic elements is the combination of belief that God is with you and belief in yourself.

Humility comes from knowing how desperately you need God and belief in yourself is required to lead with confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will either.

The World Isn’t Looking for a Bigger Church, They Want a Better Church

Karl Vaters

January 28, 2023

Pastors want bigger churches.

Church members? Not so much.

Sure, a lot of people go to big churches. That’s what makes them big, after all. And the majority of them are strong, healthy churches doing great ministry. But if you ask the average member why they attend, “because it’s big” won’t even crack the top 10.

And non-attenders? Quite frankly, the default is to distrust any church they deem as “too big.”

Is that too simplistic a way of viewing the church? Of course. Every one of us can point to many exceptions to each of those rules. But those exceptions are…exceptional.

What Does a Better Church Experience Look Like?

It’s only pastors who say, “You know what the problem is with that church? It’s not big enough.”

When people go to a church, or when unchurched people think about going to church (if they ever do), they’re not looking for a bigger experience, they’re looking for a better experience.

That better experience can happen in a church of any size or style. Small, big or mega. Traditional, contemporary or hipster. Denominational or nondenominational.

The categories church people use—even fight about—are not just a non-issue to the world around us, but the fact that they matter at all to us is increasingly seen as one of the reasons we’ve become irrelevant in most of their lives.

What people really need, and increasingly say they want from their church experience, isn’t any of the things we’ve added to it—whether long-held traditions or new fads.

What people really want from the church are the characteristics the New Testament has always told us the church is supposed to be about.

The Evangelistic Attraction of a Better Church

People want to attend and serve at a church where they can experience being loved by the God who made them. They want to know why they exist. They want to be called to something greater than themselves.

Sermons Don’t Make Disciples

Allen White

January 28, 2023

Sermons do a lot of things, but sermons don’t make disciples.

Here’s the dilemma: The church’s mission is to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:18-20). If sermons don’t make disciples, then how does the church fulfill its mission? If sermons don’t directly fulfill the church’s mission, then why is so much emphasis placed on the weekend worship service and the sermon?

What Do Sermons Do?

I’m a preacher. I have nothing against preaching. I take exception, however, in depending on preaching to accomplish what it cannot accomplish.

Sermons serve to inspire, inform and motivate. People can come to Christ as a result of responding to a pastor proclaiming the Word of Truth. Preachers are brokers in hope. They can help people reframe their lives from a context of frustration and despair to embrace hope and God’s love. Sermons anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit are dynamic things that can make an impact. Yet, sermons don’t make disciples.

If discipleship was a uniform process or the mastery of a body of knowledge, then the information delivered in a sermon would certainly add to knowledge acquisition. But, that’s not what discipleship is. Disciples aren’t processed. They’re crafted.

How Do You Make Disciples?

Disciples make disciples. While much of Western Christianity has depended on the definition of a disciple as a student, then placed the student in a class and delivered thorough teaching, it has ended up with very educated, yet disobedient students. Here’s the proof: What they know is not adequately reflected in their attitudes and actions. I’m not building a case for perfectionism. But, I am a believer in the principle that what people truly believe is reflected in what they do. Or, put another way, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17).

Now, I realize that some at this point will wonder if I am advocating some works-based approach to Christianity. This is where I’m going: If church-goers have no desire for the things of God, then I would question whether they truly belong to God. As Paul writes to the Philippians, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13). We don’t work for our salvation, but we work out our salvation because God is working in us.

If disciples aren’t merely students, then what are they? The word “disciple” is derived from several different words including follow and “to rub off on.” The model Jesus gave us was to spend 75 percent of His time with His disciples and 25 percent with the crowd. How much time is spent on the sermon? How much time is spent making disciples?

Why did Jesus spend such a disproportionate amount of time with a small group of people? Jesus knew how we learn. People learn by imitation, not instruction.

Who has been the most powerful influence in your life? For most people, they would say their parents. You act more like your parents than anyone else. After all, you could read a dozen books written by experts in marriage, yet your default is a marriage that more closely resembles your parents’ marriage than anything presented by the experts. (Depressing thought, huh?) Change requires intentional effort, committed support and better models to imitate.

Paul challenged his followers to imitate him (1 Corinthians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 3:9). Imitation requires transparency. Imitation requires time and attention. Disciples make disciples.

Why Is the Sermon So Important Then?

Sermons can start something. A presentation of the Gospel can help someone start their relationship with Christ and their journey of discipleship. The sermon can lead a congregation to love their neighbors, to focus on the majesty of God, and to hold on to hope. But, the result of a sermon is not another sermon. The result of a sermon is a next step—make a decision, join a group, lead a mission, serve your neighbor, pray…you get it.

This is why I’m a big believer in alignment series and groups that help church-goers take their weekends into their weeks. The sermon can deliver a challenge, and the group can provide the support and accountability necessary to meet the challenge. The sermon by itself, however, is forgotten usually within 48 hours. If they can’t remember it, how are they supposed to do it? Groups help with this.

On any given weekend, pastors have the opportunity to lead a large portion of their congregations to take a step. The weekend service is the largest thing a church does in any given week, but it’s not the most important thing they do. After all, sermons don’t make disciples. Disciples make disciples.

Most pastors, whether their churches are 100 people, 1,000 people or 10,000+ people, would view the sheer scale of disciples making disciples as completely daunting. The key is to start small and multiply. Jesus invested in 12 disciples, which multiplied over 2,000 years into some 2 billion people. If pastors invested in just eight people, and then those disciples made disciples, within four years the church would have 4,096 disciples making disciples (8x8x8x8). Without disciples making disciples, pastors have audiences for their sermons.

Concluding Thoughts

Back in college a speaker challenged us to think about five sermons that influenced our lives for Christ. To be honest, most of us couldn’t come up with one—not even the sermon from last Sunday. Then, the speaker asked us to name five people who had influenced us for Christ. Those names immediately came to mind.

The key to discipleship is not a process or a proclamation. The key to discipleship is a disciple.

This article originally appeared here.

Dan Cathy Shares Leadership Advice From His Years at Chick-fil-A: ‘Never Dumb Down the Music to Fit the Orchestra’

Jesse T. Jackson

January 27, 2023

Chick-fil-A board chairman Dan Cathy recently shared with Corporate Competitor Podcast’s Don Yaeger that the purpose of America’s #1 favorite restaurant’s is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that’s entrusted” to them.

Cathy spoke to that purpose throughout the interview, detailing how his father, S. Truett Cathy, set out to create a company that cares for people by providing exceptional service.

The 76-year-old restaurant opened its first location in 1946, then called the Dwarf Grill, later changing its name to Chick-fil-A in 1967. Today, the chicken sandwich king has over 2,900 stores in the United States—a number that continues to increase year after year.

In 2021, Dan Cathy passed his CEO duties onto his son, Andrew Truett Cathy, but still remains the Chairman of the Board, where he helps the company strive to be the “Ritz-Carlton” of the fast food restaurant business—not just in the quality of food and the appearance of restaurants, but in the service people receive when they come to a Chick-fil-A.

“We had to pay more, we had to train better, we had to reinstall a better language system about the expression ‘my pleasure’ versus ‘yeah, uh-huh, no problem,’ those sorts of things,” Cathy said. “Doing so, though, pays huge dividends. People are hungry to be treated with honor, dignity and respect. As delicious as our chicken bite sandwiches are, our fresh-squeezed lemonade and those hot waffle fries, people are in greater need of being restored and encouraged from an emotional standpoint.”

“My whole view of our business, our industry, really our ministry to society, was dramatically elevated just in that one definition, that we’re here to help restore people’s lives. They’re in difficult circumstances. They’ve got challenges going on at home, challenges going on at school, challenges going on at work,” Cathy said. “But when they come through that Chick-fil-A drive-through or walk in our restaurant, we have an opportunity to give them a word of encouragement and positive affirmation.”

Most people know that Chick-fil-A isn’t open on Sundays, something that has been part of the Cathy family’s leadership since the first restaurant opened. It was back then that Truett decided that honoring God was more important than financial success.

“At Chick-fil-A, we are very grounded on our corporate purpose, to be a purpose-driven organization,” Cathy explained. “That purpose is defined in the statement that we’re here to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that’s entrusted to us and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A. We want to impact people’s lives. We want to be a good steward of what we’ve been entrusted with.”

Cathey stated, “We’re not going to take any of this with us. We only have it for just a moment in time, so let’s be a good steward of it. And then, ultimately, let’s acknowledge our Creator. Let’s have a sense of humility, let’s have a teachable spirit, let’s be willing to be submissive, all of which we learn in our faith experience to honor the Lord and seek to honor him in all that we do.”

Pastor Greg Laurie Warns Against 2 Unbiblical Ideas That People Believe

Jessica Lea

January 27, 2023

“There are many sentiments people carry in life that are simply not biblical,” says Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California. In a video posted to his YouTube channel, the pastor expounded on two ideas some people believe that are actually not true.

Greg Laurie: Don’t Fall for These Beliefs

The first unbiblical idea that Pastor Greg Laurie mentioned is, “God is angry at me, and he wants to ruin my life.” This belief, said Laurie, is “so wrong.”

“God is not mad at you,” said the pastor. “God is mad about you.” He quoted Jeremiah 31:3, which says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Laurie also referenced 1 John 3:1, which says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

“God loves you,” said Laurie. “God wants to bless you. God wants to give you a life that is worth living.”

Laurie’s next point, however, was a warning not to take his first point too far. The second unbiblical belief he mentioned was, “God loves me and accepts me as I am.”

“This is usually said by someone that is probably doing something they should not do,” he observed. As examples, the pastor mentioned getting drunk or getting divorced for the wrong reasons. Sometimes, he said, the way people phrase this unbiblical belief is, “No one is perfect,” or, “Don’t judge my journey.” But it’s possible for someone’s journey to be going in the wrong direction.

What’s more, Christians are responsible for using wisdom and making judgments about certain matters. Laurie acknowledged that Jesus did say, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” but he said that a better translation would be, “Condemn not, lest you be condemned.”

If someone were to ask, “Is it true that God loves me and accepts me as I am,” Laurie said that “the answer technically is yes.” But he added, “God loves you and accepts you as you are, but he doesn’t want to leave you that way.” So God does not love us based on what we do—we do not have to earn his love. Yet he does not leave us as we are.

Christian Baker Jack Phillips Continues Fight After Latest Court Loss

Stephanie Martin

January 27, 2023

Jack Phillips, the Christian baker who won a Supreme Court case in 2018, lost an appeal Thursday (Jan. 26) in a Colorado civil lawsuit regarding a transgender-themed cake. A Colorado Court of Appeals panel ruled that Phillips denied service based on a customer’s identity, thus violating a state anti-discrimination law.

According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Phillips, he will appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court. On its website, ADF describes the baker’s 10-year ordeal of legal battles, writing “Enough is enough.”

Court: Pink & Blue Cake ‘Is Not Inherently Expressive’

When Jack Phillips was victorious at the U.S. Supreme Court—in a case regarding a cake for a same-sex marriage—justices didn’t address free speech or discrimination issues. Instead, they ruled 7-2 that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission displayed “impermissible hostility” toward Phillips’ religious beliefs.

In 2017, on the same day the high court announced it would hear that case, Colorado attorney Autumn Scardina asked Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop to bake a pink and blue cake. (Scardina also requested a Satan-themed cake.) Although Debra Phillips, Jack’s wife, initially agreed to make the pink and blue cake, the shop declined the order after learning the design’s meaning.

Scardina filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, but when Phillips countersued, Scardina turned to a civil lawsuit against the baker. In June 2021, a Denver District Court judge ruled for Scardina, saying Phillips and his bakery “failed to carry their burden to show that providing the requested cake constituted any type of symbolic or expressive speech protected by the First Amendment.” Phillips then appealed.

In this week’s decision, Appeals Court Judge Thomas Schutz writes that the requested cake had “no message or other design elements,” meaning that no speech was compelled. The panel concluded that “creating a pink cake with blue frosting is not inherently expressive and any message or symbolism it provides to an observer would not be attributed to the baker.”

Schutz continues: “It was only after Scardina disclosed she was transgender and intended to use the cake to celebrate both her birthday and her transition that Masterpiece and Phillips refused to provide the cake. Thus, it was Scardina’s transgender status, and her desire to use the cake in celebration of that status, that caused Masterpiece and Phillips to refuse to provide the cake.”

ADF: Jack Phillips Is Being Targeted for His Faith

ADF attorneys say Jack Phillips continues to be targeted and harassed because of his Christian beliefs. “This cruelty must stop,” says senior counsel Jack Warner. “One need not agree with [Phillips’] views to agree that all Americans should be free to say what they believe, even if the government disagrees with those beliefs.”

Christians in Science Perceived As Less Competent By Non-Religious People: Study

Dale Chamberlain

January 27, 2023

christians in science — Picture by Julia Koblitz (via Unsplash)

A recent study has revealed that nonreligious people are likely to be biased against Christians who work in scientific fields, believing them to be less competent in those fields due to perceived incompatibility between scientific theory and the Christian faith.

Published in “Public Understanding of Science,” the research study involved 365 participants, 151 of whom identified as Christian and 214 who identified as nonreligious.

The study indicated that bias against scientists who hold to Christian convictions seems to center on the assumption that science and Christian beliefs are fundamentally incompatible. Such a bias has been anecdotally illustrated on numerous occasions throughout the years, with suspicion of nonreligious scientists being a constant presence in evangelical circles and vice versa.

Study author Cameron Mackey, a doctoral candidate at Ohio University, noted one high profile example of such suspicion, saying, “There’s a belief in many Western societies that science and religion are in conflict. For example, many prominent atheists such as Steven Pinker and Sam Harris opposed Francis Collins as the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) because he was an Evangelical Christian.”

Indeed, acrimony has often been mutually expressed between the scientific and evangelical communities, iconically illustrated a 2014 public debate about evolution between Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham and Bill Nye of the children’s program “Bill Nye the Science Guy.”

The debate over evolution and the mechanism by which life sprang forth on earth has been a splinter point between Christians and the scientific world since the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” in 1859.

This schism over evolution has pushed certain segments of the evangelical movement toward anti-intellectualism, which in many cases has become part and parcel of the tradition itself.

“The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind,” Christian historian Mark Noll famously wrote in 1994.

It seems that nonreligious individuals tend to agree with Noll’s indictment, though in a decidedly more totalizing fashion, even expressing doubt that evangelicals could prove themselves competent in scientific areas of research.

Among other things, participants were asked to rate different faith groups, such as atheists, agnostics, Christians, Jews, and Muslims, on different attributes such as intelligence, interest in science, general competence, competence in science, and scientific ability.

Nonreligious participants were far more likely to see science and Christian faith as incompatible and thus rated Christians as less intelligent and competent.

‘He Gets Us’ Organizers Hope to Spend $1 Billion To Promote Jesus. Will Anyone Care?

Bob Smietana

January 27, 2023

(RNS) — The first time she saw an ad for “He Gets Us,” a national campaign devoted to redeeming the brand of Christianity’s savior, Jennifer Quattlebaum had one thought on her mind.

Show me the money.

A self-described “love more” Christian and ordinary mom who works in marketing, Quattlebaum loved the message of the ad, which promoted the idea that Jesus understands contemporary issues from a grassroots perspective. But she wondered who was paying for the ads and what their agenda was.

“I mean, Jesus gets us,” she said. “But what group is behind them?”

For the past 10 months, the “He Gets Us” ads have shown up on billboards, YouTube channels and television screens — most recently during NFL playoff games — across the country, all spreading the message that Jesus understands the human condition.

The campaign is a project of the Servant Foundation, an Overland Park, Kansas, nonprofit that does business as The Signatry, but the donors backing the campaign have until recently remained anonymous — in early 2022, organizers only told Religion News Service that funding came from “like-minded families who desire to see the Jesus of the Bible represented in today’s culture with the same relevance and impact He had 2000 years ago.”

But in November, David Green, the billionaire co-founder of Hobby Lobby, told talk show host Glenn Beck that his family was helping fund the ads. Green, who was on the program to discuss his new book on leadership, told Beck that his family and other families would be helping fund an effort to spread the word about Jesus.

“You’re going to see it at the Super Bowl — ‘He gets Us,’” said Green. “We are wanting to say — we being a lot of people — that he gets us. He understands us. He loves who we hate. I think we have to let the public know and create a movement.”

Jason Vanderground, president of Haven, a branding firm based in Grand Haven, Michigan, that is working on the “He Gets Us” campaign, confirmed that the Greens are one of the major funders, among a variety of donors and families who have gotten behind it.

Donors to the project are all Christians but come from a range of denominational backgrounds, said Vanderground.

Organizers have also signed up 20,000 churches to provide volunteers to follow up with anyone who sees the ads and asks for more information. Those churches are not, however, he said, funding the campaign.

A Vegas-themed He Gets Us campaign advertisement at Harmon Corner in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy of He Gets Us

A Vegas-themed “He Gets Us” campaign advertisement at Harmon Corner in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy of “He Gets Us”

The Super Bowl ads alone will cost about $20 million, according to organizers, who originally described “He Gets Us” as a $100 million effort.

New Technology Allows Holocaust Survivors To Tell Their Stories for All Time

Yonat Shimron

January 27, 2023

New-Technology-Allows-Holocaust-Survivors — Holocaust survivor David Schaecter, right, sits for a Dimensions in Testimonies recording of his life story in January 2023. Photo courtesy of Jody Kipnis

(RNS) — David Schaecter is 93 and he is running out of time.

He has dedicated the past 60 years to recounting his struggle for survival in Auschwitz, his escape and how he pieced his life together in the United States after losing his entire family in the Holocaust.

As he marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday (Jan. 27), Schaecter knows his days of travel and in-person testimony-giving will soon end.

So this week he agreed to a weeklong recording of his life story using a new technology that will allow future generations to interact with a hologram-style likeness of him.

That story will form the base of an exhibit at Boston’s future Holocaust museum, which is scheduled to open in 2025.

“All children, but especially Jewish children, need to know who they are, what they are and what happened,” said Schaecter on a lunch break during the filming in a Miami studio. “I’m the guy who would like to tell them what happened.”

The technology, produced by the USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimonies project, records Holocaust survivors’ answers to about 1,000 questions on individual video clips. Later, using natural-language technology, programmers transform each answer into a search term. In a museum or classroom setting, people can pose a question to a two-dimensional life-size image of the survivor and see and hear the survivor’s answer in real time.

Schaecter is the 62nd Holocaust survivor to undergo the marathon taping for the interactive display. As the number of survivors who can share their stories dwindles, the technology is providing a way for museums and schools to keep the memory of the murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis and their allies from being forgotten.

Jody Kipnis, the co-founder of a Boston Holocaust museum, said she and her partner Todd Ruderman first experienced the hologram-style technology at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie.

“We knew we wanted that exhibit and we knew we wanted David,” she said. “This is as close to speaking to a Holocaust survivor as (one) can get after the survivors are gone.”

Since the technology first became available 10 years ago, 14 Holocaust museums (including 11 in the United States) have featured exhibits with survivors using the interactive technology.

Schaecter is an old pro at telling his story. He was among the founders of the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach and has devoted countless hours meeting with grade school, high school and university students to tell them about his life.

Jody Kipnis, left, with Holocaust survivor David Schaecter. Photo courtesy of Jody Kipnis

When Schaecter was 11, he was taken with his mother, two younger sisters and an older brother from his home in what was Czechoslovakia to the Auschwitz camp in Poland. Upon arrival, he was separated from his mother and sisters and never saw them again. He and his brother spent 18 months in Auschwitz and were transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, where he spent another two years and where his brother was killed. Schaecter escaped from a train as the Germans were clearing out the camps. He arrived in the United States in 1950 and earned a degree in industrial engineering from the University of California Los Angeles.

In 2018, Kipnis and Ruderman accompanied Schaecter on a trip back to Auschwitz. When they returned, the couple started the Holocaust Legacy Foundation. Last year, they purchased a building along Boston’s historic freedom trail where they plan to create a 30,000-square-foot museum.

Schaecter’s testimony will be the centerpiece but it will include other interactive experiences.

“David inspired us to build this museum,” Kipnis said. “We stood in front of his bunker no. 8, and he said to us: ‘Hear me, listen to me, be my voicepiece and tell my story.’”

For Schaecter, who lost so much, the new technology is a chance to give testimony on behalf of the estimated 1.5 million children under 12 who lost their lives in the Holocaust and will never have a chance to speak.

“Those 1.5 million neshamot,” he said, using the Hebrew plural for “souls,” “need to be remembered.”

This article originally appeared here.

In South Dakota, a Good Road Leads Others to Taste and See

Scott Barkley

January 27, 2023

PORCUPINE, S.D. (BP) – Psalm 34:8 urges the reader to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” That bit of Scripture becomes personal for Matt Hadden and others operating Čhankú Wašté Ranch, located on one of the larger Indian reservations in the country.

Pronounced CHON-koo WASH-tay, it means “The Good Road” in Lakota. For many residents on the Pine Ridge Reservation, it is also the resource for better eyesight, dental care and camp activities for children where they learn about Jesus.

Hadden’s road to get here began in August 2011 when, as a youth pastor at Harvest Park Baptist Church in Newnan, Ga., he led a mission trip to the area.

“The Lord used that week to call us,” he said. “Six months later, we were up here.”

That began with Hadden serving as an associate pastor/children’s camp director, then pastor/children’s camp director, then church planter/pastor/children’s camp director. That included preaching in two locations – Creek’s Fellowship in Porcupine as well as a church plant 25 miles away.

Early 2020 brought a lot of changes to his growing ministry. In January, Hadden met with Send Relief representatives to sign a contract for the 150-acre ranch to become a Send Relief center. Those additional funds boosted the ministry possibilities and contributed to the arrival of roofing and other materials March 18.

“We had mission teams signed up and ready to help us [build it out],” he said.

But things officially shut down March 20 with the COVID-19 pandemic. Hadden couldn’t even leave the reservation without a pass.

But he had time, and he had a hammer.

“I was walking around the property one morning, leaned against a block wall, and started praying,” he said. “My dad used to sing that song, ‘If I had a hammer.’

The lyrics met the situation.

If I had a hammer
I’d hammer in the morning
I’d hammer in the evening
All over this land…

“I thought to myself, ‘I have a hammer,’” he told Baptist Press.

Hadden’s father, David, had passed his construction know-how to his son. The following morning brought Matt, alone, to begin the framing for a new building.

Friends joined in, contributing while respecting laws and COVID recommendations.

Buildings began to take shape, but so did a desire for the church to resume in-person meetings after three months of canceled services due to government mandates. When a local casino opened up, Creek’s Fellowship spoke up on regathering. They ended up doing just that in August 2020.

While tension existed with local government and COVID policies, that was not the case with the church’s respect toward the general population.

“The Lakota people are some of the most resilient you’ll ever witness,” Hadden said. “There are many phenomenal qualities in this culture.”

Culturally, however, tribal history and its connections with churches across the prairie remain complicated and impact outreach today.

Oklahoma Southern Baptist pastor Mike Keahbone, whose ancestry includes heritage from the Comanche, Kiowa and Cherokee tribes, stood at the SBC annual meeting last summer to present a resolution titled “On Religious Liberty, Forced Conversion, and the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report.”

The resolution came a month after the release of a federal report that presented instances of forced conversions and assimilation among Native Americans in the form of mandatory boarding schools. Southern Baptists were not specifically named in the report, but it did state that churches of many denominations participated.

Hadden has observed those lingering effects.

“Less than 5 percent on the reservation claim to know Jesus,” he said. “We’re trying to overcome those hurdles.”

The wellness center is helping do that through addressing two specific needs – dental care and optometry. Teeth are pulled, but also saved. Dentures are crafted; glasses given.

It’s a matter of meeting needs that may be traumatic for people, Hadden said, and answering that through action as well as the Gospel.

Pastors Enter Public Service to ‘Be a Light in Our Community’

Diana Chandler

January 27, 2023

pastors_public_office — (L) Michael Evans was elected to a second term as mayor Mansfield, Texas, in November. (R) Paducah, Ky., City Commissioner Raynarldo Henderson (left) was sworn in by Judge Christopher Shea Nickell.

MANSFIELD, Texas (BP) – Mayor and pastor Michael Evans developed a heart for public service when he was 8 years old.

Early each morning, after his mother and great-grandmother boarded the bus to work, he had to prepare breakfast, get his 3-year-old sister Michelle on the bus to preschool and walk himself the two miles to class without getting in trouble along the way, as he told it to Baptist Press.

“My mother depended on me. I saw her cry too many times because of what we didn’t have,” said Evans, mayor of Mansfield, Texas, and senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church there.

Paducah, Ky., City Commissioner Raynarldo Henderson, who has pastored Washington Street Missionary Baptist Church in Paducah for more than 30 years, was inspired for public service during his early adulthood in Chicago when the late Harold Washington was mayor.

“There were fights on the (City Council) floor. I remember one alderman … standing up on the table,” Henderson told Baptist Press. “Those first four years for Harold Washington were rough. They gave him a hard time. And it was watching those city council meetings that it was like, ‘Wow. I can be a solution. I can make a difference.’

“I was taught that if you see a problem, you be the solution.”

Both Evans and Henderson are fulltime pastors who concurrently serve in elected office in the public square. Both see their pastorates and their elected governmental posts as godly callings. Both express the ability to uphold the laws of the land while also exhibiting godly behavior as the Lord’s ambassadors.

“There are some people who think pastors shouldn’t be in politics,” Henderson said, “but obviously I think the exact opposite, because we do get an opportunity to impact” communities.

Evans, a Houston native elected to his second mayoral term in November 2022, came to the office after holding various public posts as early as 2007, including terms on the Mansfield Independent School District Board and the Tarrant County College District. He was a commissioned officer and reserve chaplain in the U.S. Navy from 1990-1998.

Evans, who eventually became the oldest of six children when his mother remarried, experienced both provision and lack during his childhood, he said. His birth parents divorced after his father returned from the Vietnam War.

“When you see people hurting and you encounter people who are hurting – and I was blessed to have grandparents on the maternal and paternal side that held us up while our parents were going through,” Evans said, “so when you have those experiences, you say Lord help me to pay back, because I know that it’s been given to me, so help me to give it back.”

Bethlehem Baptist Church elected him pastor when he was 24 years old, when Mansfield was a rural community of just 15,000 residents.

“They helped me grow up here as a young man,” he said of the congregation that averaged 1,200 in worship before the COVID-19 pandemic and draws 600 in worship today.

Want Youth Group Transformation? Start Here.

Greg Stier

January 27, 2023

Of the 20-plus books I’ve written over the past 20-plus years, Gospelize Your Youth Ministry is the most important. My friend Doug Fields, of downloadyouthministry.com, wrote these humbling words in the foreword of the first edition:

Gospelize is Greg’s magnum opus. This book is the culmination of a life lived in pursuit of helping youth leaders mobilize teenagers to care for those who don’t know Jesus. If you study it, think deeply about, translate it with your current church culture in mind, it has the potential to change you and your youth ministry.

In the pages of Gospelize are the “secrets” of building an effective Gospel Advancing youth ministry that actually makes and multiplies young disciples. As you’ll read in the book, these “secrets” are not new. They’re 2,000 years old and rooted in the book of Acts.

When I wrote the first edition seven years ago or so, I had no idea the impact it would make and continue to make. I can’t put into words how grateful I am for all the positive response to this book.

But we’ve learned a lot over the past seven years, and these lessons are infused into the updated version of Gospelize Your Youth Ministry, which you can download for free here.

Here are five reasons every youth leader should read the new edition of Gospelize:

1. It Will Inspire You.

This book is packed with new stories from youth leaders across the United States and around the world who have applied its values and seen amazing spiritual impact in and through their youth groups. You’ll hear from David Banda in Zambia, who is spreading the Gospel through young people across Africa. You’ll read about how God is using these principles to mobilize 1,600 missionaries to youth in 81 countries through Word of Life, to reach every teen, everywhere, with the hope of Jesus. You’ll discover what God is doing all around the world through these youth ministry secrets.

2. It Will Provoke You.

The youth ministry paradigm we received from our youth ministry forefathers—though well-meaning and containing some good—is fundamentally flawed. This book “pokes the bear” of the current youth ministry philosophy and has led to a few “roars” by some youth ministry experts. And that’s a good thing. With the trajectory of Christianity plunging, especially in the United States and Europe, something must change. This book will provoke you to be that change.

3. It Will Guide You.

This book is full of not just inspiration and provocation, but also with hope and practical ideas. You’ll come away with a whole list of tangible, effective changes you can make right away to start “Gospelizing” your youth ministry. You’ll also have access to an amazing website, free curriculum, podcasts, and a Facebook community of 2,000+ fellow youth ministry Gospelizers to guide you.

4. It Will Focus You.

After reading Gospelize, you’ll have clear direction regarding what your youth ministry should be all about. Not only that, you’ll have practical ideas of how to re-engineer your current approach to achieve your new goals. Like a magnifying glass that takes the diffused rays of the sun and focuses them onto one small spot on dried leaves until they catch fire, you’ll focus all of the insights from the Son (see what I did there)—as revealed in God’s Word and highlighted in Gospelize—until your youth ministry catches fire and starts to burn with holy urgency.

5. It Will Unleash You.

Ultimately, Gospelize is not about inspiration or information or even stories of implementation. It’s about transformation. This book will unleash you as part of a growing tribe of youth leaders from across the nation and around the world who are saying, “enough is enough!” They’re rising up to take responsibility to reach the teens in their own cities and their own communities. And they’re doing this not by having the coolest youth ministry in town, but by mobilizing their teenagers to become missionaries everywhere they go.

Download Gospelize now, and let the transformation begin!

This article originally appeared here.

4 Limitations Pastors Unknowingly Set

Ron Edmondson

January 27, 2023

I often say, “You limit what you control.” There are limitations pastors unknowingly set for their church. It’s often a matter of control, yet I believe most of the time we do it without realizing they are. Many of these are natural occurrences from doing things a certain way over time. Yet, when these are in place the church will often fail to reach its full potential.

4 Limitations Pastors Unknowingly Set for Their Church:

1. Defining success in making disciples.

Whatever you script will be limited to the script. The discipleship process looks different for different people. Set the goal of making disciples and allow other people to weigh in on how this is accomplished.

2. Limiting the numbers of leaders.

When all your leaders fit in the current structure you are leaving out some leaders who simply need permission to step outside the norm.

Empower people to lead in their passions not only in your current and structured programs.

3. Determining where evangelism takes place.

If evangelism is a Tuesday night outreach event then it will be very limited in scope.

Train people and release them to live out their faith in the workplace, schools, grocery stores or wherever they happen to be.

4. Confining people to established programs.

After the last three, this one probably speaks for itself. Programs are fine. They have worked and will continue to work. But no church has every program for every person. Effective church leaders think bigger than a program/process based approach.

I have been accused of approaching ministry from an organizational or business mindset. That could be the curse of most of my career being in the marketplace. However, I do believe strategy works in ministry settings as well.

Let me know if I can help you or your church think more strategically, especial with respect to limitations pastors unknowingly set. Check out my new website design and my 5T Leadership offerings.

This article on limitations pastors unknowingly set originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

3 Reasons Preachers (and Christians) Should Say ‘I Don’t Know’ More Frequently

Eric Geiger

January 27, 2023

I am teaching a theology course to some amazing people at our church on Wednesday nights. We offer four different “Deep Dive” courses and the one I am currently teaching is Deep Dive: The Story of God which walks through the Bible as one overarching Story. At the end of each session, I do a time of Q&A with the people.

And I have heard from many that one of the most impactful answers I have given has been “I don’t know.” I hear that every time I teach the course. “I don’t know” seems to help people more than any other answer I give.

1. Saying “I Don’t Know” Gives Greater Weight to What We Do Know.

I don’t say “I don’t know” to every question. There are many things I know with clarity and conviction. I am not saying “I don’t know” to questions about the trustworthiness of the Scripture or the exclusivity of Jesus. I am teaching that one can trust the Scripture and Jesus is the only way to eternal life. But when I say “I don’t know” to questions where the answer is unclear, it helps people understand that other things are certain and clear. It helps people separate what we can know from what we do not yet know. Why God heals sometimes and does not heal other times (I don’t know) is different than the truth that He is both powerful and good at the same time (I know this to be true).

2. Saying “I Don’t Know” Encourages People to Share Their Faith.

One of the reasons people do not tell their friends and neighbors about their faith is that they are worried they won’t be able to answer every question they are asked. But we do not need to know everything before we share the most important thing. Seeing a spiritual leader stumble over words and then shrug and say “I don’t know” shows people it is OK to not know everything. I can almost hear the collective sigh in the room when I say “I don’t know.” I have heard people say they can lead a small group now because they have seen that is Ok to not know everything. They learned that the course does not fall apart when I admit not knowing something.

3. Saying I Don’t Know Acknowledges That God’s Ways Cannot Be Traced.

God’s ways are higher than ours. He has never asked us for advice, directions, our insight. Saying “I don’t know” reminds people that we cannot jam God into a system or formula. There are some things that we will not know this side of eternity because our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite nature of our amazing God. In many Bibles the title the translators put above the apostle Paul’s closing words in Romans 11 is “Doxology.” Doxology means “the statement of glory,” and this is certainly a glory statement:

Oh, the depth of the riches
and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments
and untraceable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
And who has ever given to God,
that he should be repaid?
For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen.

(Romans 11:33-36)

This article about saying “I don’t know” more originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

Was Jesus Poor? Was Jesus Rich?

Scott Morton

January 27, 2023

The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. – Luke 9:58 In the fundraising seminars I have taught in many countries, this question generates the most enthusiasm and even arguments. We want to know how Jesus lived and what that means for us today. But let’s examine the evidence. Was Jesus rich? If so, how rich? Or how poor? Here are some clues on both sides.

Wanting to be like Jesus, some early church fathers became desert hermits. They owned nothing, had no employment, and spent their days in meditation and sometimes preaching. By contrast, throughout church history, many non-hermits considered wealth as a sign of God’s blessing.

Was Jesus Poor? Was Jesus Rich?

1. Jesus’ Parents

Joseph and Mary presented their baby, Jesus, at the temple with two turtledoves (Luke 2:24). Because they couldn’t afford a lamb, doves or pigeons were acceptable (Leviticus 12:8).
When the Magi visited Joseph and Mary two years later, they came to a “house” in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:11)—not a barn. Had their economic situation improved?
In Nazareth, Joseph was a carpenter or stone mason (Matthew 13:55). Since Nazareth was only an hour’s walk from the Roman resort town of Sepphoris, Joseph likely kept employment in that ever-under-construction city.

Countdown: 12 Keys to Being a Successful Worship Pastor

Mark Cole

January 27, 2023

I love to help worship leaders and worship pastors grow and become all that God has called them to be. I hope these 12 keys challenge you like they challenge me. I have been leading worship and pastoring for over 30 years, but I still go back to this list to see what I need to work on in order to stay a successful worship pastor!

Countdown: 12 Keys to Being a Successful Worship Pastor

12. Develop your administrative skills

Are you creating timely schedules for your musicians and planning ahead on the church calendar?
Are your worship sets and services well-organized?
Do your worship teams get their music well in advance so they can be excellent?

11. Learn to run highly effective rehearsals

Are you spending enough time with the music to get past it and worship?
Are you giving your team all the tools they need to be successful?
Are you and your team memorizing the songs?

10. Learn to pick great worship songs

Are you teaching your congregation the great songs from around the world?
Do you ever go outside your preferences in musical styles?
Are you developing a balanced repertoire of fast, medium and slow songs?

9. Develop a strong team

Do you have a system for bringing along new musicians?
Are you developing multiple musicians for each position?
Are you helping your team grow spiritually?

8. Be a great worshipper

Are you keeping it real? Are you the same on and off the stage?
Are there areas in your life that are holding you back from God’s richest blessings?
Do you love the Lord with all your heart and are you a passionate worshipper?

7. Never stop growing

Are you practicing your singing and playing on a daily basis?
Are you taking lessons and improving your craft and leadership?
Are you changing and growing with the new trends, styles and songs?

Key Time #1 – A Child Enters the World

Key #2 – Dedication of Parents and Children

Key #3 – Bible Presentation

Key #4 – Salvation Class

Key #5 – Baptism

LAYING A FOUNDATION: WHAT IS PRAYER?

Solomon’s Passion…

Solomon’s Best Advice…

1. Trust God with All Your Heart

7 Guideposts

1. Pursue Character Over Success.

2. Establish Life Boundaries by Your Personal Values.

3. Cultivate Humble Confidence in Your Leadership.

What Does a Better Church Experience Look Like?

The Evangelistic Attraction of a Better Church

What Do Sermons Do?

How Do You Make Disciples?

Why Is the Sermon So Important Then?

Concluding Thoughts

Greg Laurie: Don’t Fall for These Beliefs

Court: Pink & Blue Cake ‘Is Not Inherently Expressive’

ADF: Jack Phillips Is Being Targeted for His Faith

1. It Will Inspire You.

2. It Will Provoke You.

3. It Will Guide You.

4. It Will Focus You.

5. It Will Unleash You.

4 Limitations Pastors Unknowingly Set for Their Church:

1. Defining success in making disciples.

2. Limiting the numbers of leaders.

3. Determining where evangelism takes place.

4. Confining people to established programs.

1. Saying “I Don’t Know” Gives Greater Weight to What We Do Know.

2. Saying “I Don’t Know” Encourages People to Share Their Faith.

3. Saying I Don’t Know Acknowledges That God’s Ways Cannot Be Traced.

Was Jesus Poor? Was Jesus Rich?

1. Jesus’ Parents

Countdown: 12 Keys to Being a Successful Worship Pastor

12. Develop your administrative skills

11. Learn to run highly effective rehearsals

10. Learn to pick great worship songs

9. Develop a strong team

8. Be a great worshipper

7. Never stop growing

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