Former Youth Pastor Admits To Blackmailing Boys for Sexually Explicit Images, Faces 27-Year Prison Sentence

January 6, 2023

Former New Jersey youth pastor Sean Higgins has pleaded guilty to four counts of endangering the welfare of children. Higgins was charged after it was alleged that he blackmailed underaged boys to send him sexually explicit images of themselves after posing as a teenage girl online.

Higgins’ guilty plea came as part of a deal with prosecutors, wherein Higgins has agreed to a 27-year prison term, according to Courier Post.

Prior to being arrested and charged in 2020, Higgins, who is currently 32 years old, was the youth pastor and music leader at Harbor Baptist Church in Hainesport, New Jersey. He was also an instructor at Harbor Baptist Academy, the church’s private school with children ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade.

The four counts levied against Higgins represent four different victims. At the time of his arrest, Higgins was charged with 28 offenses, and police believed he had as many as six victims ranging from ages 12 to 15 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Alabama.

In the online scheme, Higgins posed as a teenage girl, going by the persona “Julie Miller,” to gain the trust of teenage boys on Snapchat and Instagram. As part of the ruse, Higgins apparently sent the boys an image of an unidentified teenage girl and elicited nude photos of them.

Once the victims sent Higgins a nude image, he would go to their profile and take a screenshot of their publicly viewable friends lists. Sending the screenshot back to the victim, he would threaten to forward the nude image of the victim to their friends unless the victim did exactly what he said.

Higgins would then instruct the boys to perform sexual acts on themselves for his enjoyment. According to prosecutors, Higgins forced the victims to continue even after they begged to stop.

“Higgins would demand that they complete his instructions, or face the consequences of having the recordings he was making of the incident be sent to their list of friends,” said Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw.

Higgins never made physical contact with the victims, who were geographically scattered. The crimes to which Higgins has admitted do not involve anyone at his former church or its affiliated private school, prosecutors say.

The investigation into Higgins’ crimes began when a victim in Berks County, Pennsylvania, contacted Snapchat. Another victim in Alabama contacted law enforcement directly.

“Multiple state and local agencies assisted in confirming the identities of additional victims once investigators became aware of their existence,” prosecutors said.

Higgins’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 3.

ChurchLeaders has reached out to Harbor Baptist Church for comment and will update this article in the event of their reply.

Faith Leaders Call for Putin To Extend Christmas Truce Into a Permanent Cease-Fire

Kathryn Post

January 6, 2023

ukraine truce — A woman sits in a boat crossing the Siverskyi-Donets River near Staryi-Saltiv, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Jan. 4, 2023, transporting the coffin containing her dead son, a Ukrainian soldier who was killed in fighting with Russians. (AP Photo/Erik Marmor)

(RNS) — Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops Thursday (Jan. 5) to recognize a 36-hour truce throughout Ukraine during the Orthodox Christmas holiday weekend. The announcement came in response to an appeal by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who called for a cease-fire lasting from noon Friday through Saturday.

Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, following the Julian calendar that preceded the Gregorian calendar introduced in Europe in the 1580s, though some in the western part of Ukraine celebrate on Dec. 25.

Russia’s gesture, which comes almost 11 months into the invasion that has cost more than 6,000 civilian lives, was dismissed on Twitter by Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told Russia to “keep hypocrisy to yourself.”

A spokesperson for Zelenskyy also told The Washington Post that Moscow has ignored previous truces proposed by Ukraine at this year’s Orthodox Easter in late April and Christmas in the Roman Catholic Church, stating that Russian strikes killed more than 10 civilians on Dec. 25. “It is absolutely clear that this is definitely not about caring for believers or human lives,” the spokesman said.

Putin’s instructions for the cease-fire, posted on the Kremlin’s website, frame the truce as an opportunity for believers to observe religious traditions. “As a large number of Orthodox Christians reside in the area of hostilities, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire to allow them to attend church services on Christmas Eve as well as on Christmas Day,” the website says.

In December, more than 1,000 U.S. faith leaders called for a Christmas cease-fire from Dec. 24-Jan. 19, the 12th day of Christmas in the Orthodox calendar. One of the signers of that statement, Bishop William J. Barber II, told Religion News Service on Thursday that while he doesn’t know the mind of Putin, halting death and destruction is always the right thing to do.

“I hope that the troops on both sides will do what the troops did in 1914. They had a cease-fire on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day. The troops decided that they weren’t going to fight, even though the generals and others, according to history, demanded that they keep fighting. … They tried to show the world a different way,” said Barber.

Barber added that Putin should move beyond a temporary cease-fire and stop the war that he started in the first place. “War and destruction and death, it … hurts the poorest in the world the most. All the resources put into war could be used in so many ways to bring life.”

The peace groups who issued the December statement calling for a Christmas cease-fire, including Fellowship of Reconciliation, CodePink and the National Council of Elders and the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, issued a statement Thursday calling Ukraine to join the truce. The statement asks people of faith and conscience to call the White House and their congressional representatives, urging their political leaders to “convince the Ukraine leadership that this is a small window of opportunity that they must take.”

The Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, senior adviser at the Fellowship of Reconciliation who also signed the December call to cease-fire, told RNS that “Anytime there’s a cessation of violence, there’s an opportunity for light to come in.”

Afghan Refugees Thankful for Sleep Without Fear

Scott Barkley

January 6, 2023

Afghan refugees — M and his family travel through Mexico on their way to the U.S. border. Submitted photo via Baptist Press.

TAYLORSVILLE, Ga. (BP) — Like others in Kabul, M grew concerned about rumbles of the Taliban’s return in the summer of 2021. The married father spoke with others and monitored reports while committing to his work for an international business.

His concern reached a different level the day he heard U.S. troops were leaving. The existing Afghan government and encroaching Taliban said they had agreed upon mutually beneficial ways of leadership.

M knew it was a lie.

“My family took nothing, just the clothes we wore,” he said of their decision to leave.

Their journey began that day with an anxious eight-hour wait aboard a Pakistan Air jet at the Kabul airport before departure. It ended more than 14 months later in northwest Georgia through the work of several Christians, including Southern Baptists.

In between were stays in Pakistan and Brazil, then a two-month journey to the U.S.-Mexico border that included dangers from weather, animals and people. During that time, they clung to each other and their Christian faith.

“We loved our lives in Kabul,” M said. “Our family went out to eat. We went to the park. Our children loved their school.”

Those were left behind one day before Taliban forces began spreading through the city. The family made it to the airport and saw firsthand as panic began to set in. Their plane was supposed to take off at 11 a.m., but the chaos delayed the fueling process and they didn’t take off until 7 p.m.

They consider themselves blessed, as one of the first groups to have made it out. The following weeks in Pakistan were tough, though. Many in Islamabad didn’t want the refugees there.

M’s company helped with logistics and finding them a place to stay. They flew across the world to Colombo, a city near the southern coast of Brazil.

While their experience in Brazil was difficult, M said it did not reflect on the country itself. Instead, a language barrier isolated the family. M is fluent in English, with his wife and oldest child familiar with it, but not at his level. Finding other English-speakers in their city proved challenging.

He watched his children struggle with school and making friends. His wife became ill and started to slip into depression. It became apparent that if you couldn’t understand Portuguese, people would take advantage of you.

That brought a decision to leave for America. The family traveled by bus, boat and up to four hours of walking at a time. They slept in two tents and stayed alert to dangers such as thieves and animals. Big cats and poisonous snakes remained a threat. They witnessed monkeys steal items from other refugees.

The two-month journey ended at the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana on Oct. 29. M had stayed in contact with his work colleagues along the way. They, in turn, reached Holly Holder of Adairsville, Ga.

Holder, a member of the nondenominational NorthPointe Church, previously worked in Afghanistan. She had been active in the refugee response and reached out to Mandi Cullifer, a member of Cartersville (Ga.) First Baptist Church. Cullifer became aware of the family’s situation as they traveled through Mexico.

Holder and her husband, Scott, spoke at CFBC in the spring of 2022 about the refugee ministry just after Cullifer had stepped away from a 19-year teaching career.

“I casually told Holly that I’d left my job and if she needed any help, I was happy to do so,” Cullifer said. “Two days later she called me and said the first Afghan couple was arriving in Atlanta that evening.”

M’s family would be the sixth of seven that Cullifer helped resettle in Georgia last year. Before arriving in Atlanta, though, the family had to experience the hardest part of the journey.

“After getting picked up by border patrol, I gave them the documents I’d protected the entire time,” he said. “We were placed in – I guess you would call them cells – for 24 hours while they processed us. I was by myself and the others scattered in different ones. We couldn’t see each other from where we were.”

More Americans Stay Away From Church as Pandemic Nears Year Three

Bob Smietana

January 6, 2023

pandemic church attendance — Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino (via Unsplash)

(RNS) — At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every congregation in the United States shut down, at least for a while.

For some Americans, that was the push they needed to never come back to church.

A new report, which looked at in-person worship attendance patterns before the beginning of the pandemic and in 2022, found that a third of those surveyed never attend worship services. That’s up from 25% before the start of the pandemic.

The pandemic has likely led people who already had loose ties to congregations to leave, said Dan Cox, one of the authors of the new study and a senior fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute.

"Fewer Amricans Attend Religious Services Following Pandemic" Graphic courtesy of American Enterprise Institute

“Fewer Amricans Attend Religious Services Following Pandemic” Graphic courtesy of American Enterprise Institute

“These were the folks that were more on the fringes to begin with,” said Cox. “They didn’t need much of a push or a nudge, to just be done completely.”

As part of the 2022 American Religious Benchmark Survey, researchers from the American Enterprise Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago asked 9,425 Americans about their religious identity and worship attendance. Those surveyed had answered the same questions between 2018 and early 2020.

Researchers then compared answers from between 2018 and 2020 to answers from 2022 to understand how attendance patterns changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are looking at the attendance patterns and religious identity of the exact same people at two different time periods,” said Cox.

The new study focused on attendance at in-person services versus online services. While some people — including the immunocompromised and their families — may still be attending digital services, measuring online engagement is “messier,” said Cox, and very different from in-person involvement. For example, he said, tuning in to a service for a few minutes is much different than going to a service in person.

The report also noted the decline in attendance most affected groups that had already started to show a decline before the pandemic — particularly among younger adults, who were already lagging before the pandemic and showed the steepest drop-off since.

"Liberals, Young Americans Saw Greates Declines in Worship Attendance" Graphic courtesy of American Enterprise Institute

“Liberals, Young Americans Saw Greates Declines in Worship Attendance” Graphic courtesy of American Enterprise Institute

Liberal Americans (46%), those who have never married (44%) and those under 30 (43%) are most likely to skip worship service altogether and saw the largest declines in attendance rates. By contrast, conservatives (20%), those over 65 (23%) or those who are married (28%) are less likely to say they never attend services and saw less drop-off.

One in 4 Americans (24% ) said in 2022 that they attend regularly — which includes those who attend nearly every week or more often. Another 8% attend at least once a month — for a total of 32% who attend regularly or occasionally. That was down slightly from a total of 36% in 2020.

Atlanta-Area Church Plans Pregnancy Home for Unwed Teens

Diana Chandler

January 6, 2023

pregnancy — Photo via Unsplash.com @Anna Hecker

DACULA, Ga. (BP) – Not every church is debt free with nearly 100 acres of unutilized land, but glorifying God with the land was an early priority of lead pastor Landon Dowden at Hebron Baptist Church.

“My question was how can we use this property for the glory of God and for the good of our community,” Dowden told Baptist Press. “After all the research, there’s not a single maternity home (for mothers under age 18) in the metro Atlanta area. The closest one is in Savannah, which is about four hours away.”

Other homes exist, such as Sheltering Grace Ministry in Marietta for woman at least 21 years old, and House of Dawn in Jonesboro for women as young as 18. But the nearest home for unwed pregnant women regardless of age is The Living Vine in Savannah.

Since beginning at Hebron in November 2018, the pastor has led the church in planning The Haven, envisioned as a residential pregnancy home for women under the age of 21, with admission allowed at any stage of their pregnancy until eight weeks post-partum. Under Georgia law, the women cannot stay at the home past eight weeks after giving birth.

“If you have a young lady who’s 21 and pregnant and has no place to go, we want them to know we’re building a place for you,” Dowden said. “Which means stricter requirements from the state of Georgia, but we’ve all just had a burden this is the best route to go, to provide a safe place that would be for the most vulnerable, the youngest ones who may get kicked out of their home, or these sorts of things.

“The Lord has blessed us with property and we are in a highly populated area, and there’s a need for a ministry like this. Our folks couldn’t be more excited. … We want to be a blessing.”

Hebron Baptist member Leah Manning, The Haven’s executive director, joined the work in its investigative phase as an answer to prayer, she said.

“I felt like I needed to be involved more in a ministry. I wanted to serve more. I was serving in the preschool, but I just felt like God was calling me to do something more, and I didn’t know what that was,” she said. “I just made it my personal prayer request. I basically said, ‘Put a door in front of me, if you open it, I’ll walk through it.’ I just made that commitment.”

She had worked for the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services immediately after college, and was still drawn to social work.

“I’ve always felt my heart was back in social work, and I didn’t know how I was going to get back there. That’s when Pastor Landon started at Hebron, but he had mentioned something about a maternity home, just on a Sunday morning during church,” Manning said. “He mentioned, maybe that’s something we should start. I touched my husband’s shoulder. Hey, I think that’s what I’m supposed to do.

“God opened the door and I walked through it.”

Hebron Baptist, which averaged 2,000 in Sunday attendance before the COVID-19 pandemic, ended 2022 within striking distance of its $3 million fundraising goal for the home to be built on a 20-acre site with room for expansion adjacent to the church. The congregation owns an additional 80 acres across the street from its campus, Dowden said.

“We have just seen the Lord provide. We’ve been blessed,” he said. “Within two days the Lord brought in $300,000, and so we are within about $200,000 of that $3 million goal. It’s just been really incredible to see.”

The original home, with groundbreaking anticipated this winter, will house up to eight pregnant mothers. The church will be heavily involved in the home’s being built as a separate non-profit, Dowden said, with plans to help the young mothers thrive either in parenting or through placing their children for adoption.

“We won’t pressure them either way,” he said. “We want to meet them where they are, and then figure out what are the next steps we need to do to help them for what’s coming. That’s our goal. It’s not an easy ministry.”

5 Extraordinary Gifts From God (and How They Impact Your Leadership)

Dan Reiland

January 6, 2023

What are some of the first thoughts that come to mind when you reflect on the nature of God?

For me, it’s:

Kind
Just
Loving
Merciful
Present
Faithful
Sovereign
Holy

What else comes to your mind?

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of this season, it’s especially good to reflect on the extraordinary nature of God. Who He is and our relationship with Him is at the very core of why we do what we do.

As church leaders, it’s incredibly easy to get so involved in the work of God that we can miss the wonder of God.

So often, it seems, that we focus on what God expects of us because of His holy nature, but what jumps out at me is how much God is a giving God. In the long run, his expectations reflect all that he wants us to have, experience, and enjoy.

(Candidly, I think we sometimes confuse or transpose all that people expect of us with what God expects of us. This is because the emotions connected to expectations are difficult to sort out linearly. You can’t put emotions on a chart. So instead, we feel what we feel. The result is things like feeling overloaded, overwhelmed, and under-resourced. And then one more thing, a little thing, a good thing seems like the final straw.)

God certainly does have expectations of us, but He gives so much more to us than He expects of us. As a leader, that fills us up and helps us keep going!

So, let’s focus for a few minutes on God as a giving God.

5 Extraordinary Gifts From God

1. The Kind of Character We Can Be Proud Of

It’s good that we strive to lead without negative character traits, including ethical or moral shortcomings, but avoiding the negative alone isn’t enough. How can we lead with the kind of character traits we can be proud of?

You are very familiar with this extraordinary gift we call the “fruit of the spirit,” but don’t rush by this list of nine traits too quickly.

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-Control

Can you live all nine of these traits on your own? I can’t!! They’re a gift of God that, if we embrace them, our leadership is profoundly changed. (See Galatians 5:22)

Practical Insight to Navigate Leadership Pain

Dan Reiland

January 6, 2023

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

When you are uncertain if the pain of leadership is worth the outcomes of leadership, you are likely to experience frustration, doubt, and lack of joy.

We all love the promise of leadership. Changed lives, a better future, and the advancement of God’s Kingdom. It’s when the promise of leadership hits the pain of leadership that we can begin to doubt and ask, “Is it really worth it?”

The pain of leadership shows up in several different ways. Here are just a few.

The pain of being misunderstood
Communication is complicated. Social media interprets your words, and they travel at light speed. It’s difficult to recapture truth when perception wins the moment.

The pain of rejection
It’s more challenging to lead today than ever before. If you say the wrong thing (anything can be wrong to somebody), you can be canceled.

The pain of a personal attack
Those you have loved, served and developed for years can take you by complete surprise with a personal attack.

The pain of deep discouragement
Discouragement is highly prevalent among church leaders. It’s perhaps the leading cause of throwing in the towel. Unfortunately, Covid has elevated that reality.

When you read a list like this, it’s a sobering reality.

The first step in navigating leadership pain is to decide if it’s worth it.

You have a sense that the right answer is “Yes, it’s worth it.”

But it so often doesn’t feel that way.

You can’t talk yourself into true belief. The “dutiful solider” thing will help you get through a tough season, but it doesn’t work for a lifetime.

You need to authentically believe that the pain of leadership is worth the promise of leadership at a heart level to stay in the game for the long road.

Practical Insight to Help You Keep Going

3 Truths About Leadership Pain

1) There Is No Progress Without Pain.

NFL players know they’ll never gain ten yards, let alone score a touchdown without some pain while moving the ball down the field. But, it comes with the territory, and they’ll tell you it’s worth it!

How much more for us who get to serve the church?!

There is no progress without pain; therefore, leadership comes with a cost. That is why you must first decide that the pain is worth the promise.

We would all love it if leadership consisted of blissful lunch meetings with wonderful volunteer leaders, good coffee while studying the Bible, and people lining up to serve in the nursery. But we all know that’s not the reality of leadership.

Former Super Bowl Champion Benjamin Watson Shares the Gospel on ‘Anderson Cooper 360’ Following Damar Hamlin’s Injury

Jesse T. Jackson

January 5, 2023

Damar Hamlin Anderson Cooper Benjamin Watson — Screengrab via Twitter @BenjaminSWatson

Benjamin Watson, former NFL tight end, Super Bowl champion, and outspoken pro-lifer, shared the gospel during a guest appearance on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 in an interview that took place day after Buffalo Bills defensive safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the field, an event that shook the football world and the country at large.

At the time of this article, Hamlin remains in the Intensive Care Unit at Cincinnati University Hospital.

Watson shared his conversation with Cooper on Twitter with the caption: “Life can change in the blink of an eye. Damar’s injury has made us all wrestle with this truth. It has served as a reminder of own mortality. While we pray for him as he fights for his life, we must ask ourselves where will we spend eternity? Thanks for this convo.”

The former first round draft pick shared that he and his family were in shock after witnessing Hamlin’s injury Monday night, realizing how serious it was as commercial breaks started to mount.

Cooper pointed out that football is “one of the few professions where a team of people pray before they go out on the field, because part of it is they know the danger that they are facing when they go out on that field.” He then asked Watson whether he thought about the possibility of getting injured when he went would go out onto the field.

“It’s the scary part of the game,” Watson said. “And I think what you saw was just the reaction of players when their brother went down.”

“Part of the reason that we pray before we go out is, number one, for unity,” Watson explained, “but also we understand that we aren’t in control of everything.”

Cooper brought up how Hamlin’s sudden injury is a reminder of how frail human life is and that, in a blink of an eye, life can change for anyone.

“You’re exactly right,” Watson replied. “These times bring us face to face with our own mortality, and we all have a day to be born and we all have a day to die. So often, in between those two points, we feel invincible, whether you’re a professional athlete or whether you’re at the top of your profession, whether you’re feeling healthy, you understand that sometimes there’s a reminder that hey, all of us have an appointment with death.”

Watson explained that this should also make someone ask, “Where are we? Where do our hearts stand? If that were to be us laying on the field over that or to be us laying in the hospital, what what our next steps be?”

Despite Candace Cameron Bure’s ‘Traditional Marriage’ Comment, Great American Family Ends 2022 As Fastest-Growing Cable Network

Jessica Lea

January 5, 2023

Great American Family (GAF), the new cable channel for which Candace Cameron Bure left Hallmark, finished 2022 as the fastest growing cable network. The channel was apparently not harmed by criticism Bure received for saying GAF would “keep traditional marriage at the core.”

“Great news for Great American Media’s #GreatAmericanFamily to end 2022 and an even better way to start 2023,” said GAF in a Facebook post with a press release about the news.

“Thank you for finding us and watching Great American Family Channel,” said Bure in an Instagram story with the GAF’s press release.

Candace Cameron Bure Has Success With GAF

Candace Cameron Bure, an outspoken Christian who recently launched her own podcast, became famous from starring in the sitcom “Full House” in the 1990s. She went on to star in the reboot “Fuller House,” as well as a variety of Hallmark movies. After spending over 10 years with the Hallmark Channel, Bure announced in April of 2022 that she was leaving Hallmark to join Great American Family, a new cable channel launched in 2021 by Bill Abbott.

Abbott, who has worked with Bure professionally for 15 years, founded Great American Family after leaving his position as the president and CEO of Crown Media, Hallmark’s parent company. He is now chief executive of Great American Media, which oversees his new channel. Bure is chief creative officer with Great American Family.

“Great American Family closed out Fourth Quarter 2022 as the fastest-growing network in all of cable television,” said GAF in its press release. “In only its second year, the emerging leader in original Christmas movies ranked #1 in Total Day ratings growth in Households (+113%), People 18-49 (+100%) and Total Viewers (+116%), and #1 in Primetime ratings growth in Households (+128%) among all cable networks.”

GAF says it owes its strong fourth quarter to the 18 movies that are part of its Great American Christmas franchise. Bure stars in the franchise, as does her friend Danica McKellar, who also left Hallmark for GAF. “The expanded slate of 18 films marked a 50% increase in the network’s holiday movie offering in year two and further established Great American Family as a destination for original Christmas movies,” says GAF.

Controversies at Hallmark and GAF

Abbott left Hallmark in January 2020 shortly after the network drew criticism for pulling an ad featuring a same-sex wedding. Hallmark has had a change in philosophy since then and in December released its first movie featuring a gay couple.

Billboards Tout Mark Driscoll’s ‘Real Romance’ Sermon Series—And Book

Stephanie Martin

January 5, 2023

Ahead of the Valentine’s Day release of his new book, “Real Romance: Sex and the Song of Songs,” controversial Arizona pastor Mark Driscoll is presenting an eight-week sermon series about marriage. To publicize the sermons and book, co-written by Driscoll’s wife, Grace, his church is posting messages on billboards throughout Scottsdale.

The Twitter account Stuff Christian Culture Likes recently shared images of The Trinity Church billboards. “Thanks to informants in Scottsdale we have evidence of Mark Driscoll’s new sex sermon,” reads the caption. “I can’t help but remember all of the women I knew who went to Mars Hill who told me that Mars Hill dictated that women weren’t allowed to tell their husbands no.” It also cites a midwife who surmised that “most” babies born to Mars Hill couples “weren’t conceived consensually.”

In 2014, Driscoll resigned from Mars Hill, the church he had founded in Seattle. Allegations of bullying, controlling, and even “cult-like” behavior followed Driscoll to Trinity, which he launched in 2016.

Stuff Christian Culture Likes was founded by Stephanie Drury, who advocates for “women harmed by evangelical culture” and once ran a @FakeDriscoll Twitter account.

Billboards: God ‘Wants To Heat Up Your Marriage’

Messages on the electronic billboards include “Married Couples: Has your bedroom become your bored room? We’re here to help” and “The same God who heats up the valley wants to heat up your marriage!”

The person who sent Drury images of the billboards writes, “Sorry for the shakiness, I started laughing as I took the photo.” Another text-message screenshot calls the signs “weird,” noting they “make it seem like his [Driscoll’s] church is handing out [V]iagra.”

Each billboard includes the URL TrinityChurch.com/RealRomance, which provides details about the sermon series beginning Jan. 7. On its website, the church invites people to come hear about the “Bible’s most overt book on marriage, the Song of Songs.” It promises, “By attending this sermon series and applying the principles to your relationship, you will have a stronger, more intimate, more enjoyable marriage!”

Attendees are told they’ll receive a free early-release copy of “Real Romance” and be entered in a drawing to win a staycation. Near the end of the series, attendees can take advantage of a “FREE extended date night with childcare.”

‘This All Looks Eerily Similar’

Among the Driscoll-related controversies at Mars Hill was one involving the promotion of his 2011 book “Real Marriage.” A report indicated that a marketing company was paid $200,000 to push that title onto the New York Times bestseller list.

‘You Have To Grow’—Matt Maher on Why So Many Christians Are Walking Away From the Faith

Dale Chamberlain

January 5, 2023

Songwriter and worship leader Matt Maher recently gave his thoughts on the trend of faith deconstruction that has been occurring in the American church for the last several years.

The recipient of six GMA Dove Awards and nine Grammy nominations, Maher is known in evangelical churches for popular worship songs such as “Your Grace Is Enough,” “I Will Rise,” “Because He Lives (Amen),” “Christ Is Risen,” and “Lord I Need You,” all of which are frequently used in worship services around the nation.

Maher’s latest album, “The Stories I Tell Myself,” includes songs “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” and “Leaning,” which features fellow worship leader Lizzie Morgan.

Maher also recently released a single titled “The In Between,” which draws inspiration from “The Chosen,” the hit drama depicting the life and ministry of Jesus. Specifically, the song was inspired by an episode of the show featuring a dramatized exchange between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

“I was one way, but now I am different; there was a clear change in a holy collision,” the lyrics of the song read. “Who I was, and who I’ll forever be, and he was the in between.”

In a recent interview with Christian Headlines, Maher speculated that younger evangelicals departing from the faith tradition en masse may not have been growing in spiritual maturity prior to their crisis of faith.

The topic of deconstruction has been an object of debate for some time now, as a not inconsiderable number of people who grew up in evangelical churches and homes have been re-examining their beliefs.

This has spawned the “exvangelical” movement, a theologically eclectic community that has thrived online. Though they have a wide array of beliefs on the existence of God and the virtues of the Christian tradition, many of them are bound together in relationship through the common, and often difficult, experiences of growing up in evangelical spaces.

Maher believes that this trend of deconstruction, at least in part, can be attributed to a lack of discipleship among Christians as they grow into adulthood.

“A lot of people are walking away from their faith,” Maher told Christian Headlines. “If you’re looking at God in your 40s the same way you did when you were 10, you have to walk away from that. Because that’s not an adequate faith for a 40-year-old, or a 30-year-old or a 20-year-old.”

Potential Hotspots for Christian Persecution on the Horizon in 2023

International Christian Concern

January 5, 2023

cross_hill — Photo via Unsplash.com @thanti_riess

Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – We recently sat down with Darius, who is involved with ICC’s international relief efforts and projects and asked him to assess trouble spots as we look ahead to 2023. Where are Christians in peril? Where can they find hope? And what is ICC doing to relieve the suffering of those who put their faith in Jesus?

What were some of the overarching contributors to global persecution in 2022?

In 2022, two significant events affected persecution: the Ukraine War and the sour global economy. Radically empowered dictators, regimes, and terrorist groups took advantage of the situation. With the world’s attention distracted by this new war and the financial crisis, villainous leaders saw an opportunity to accelerate their actions and pursue their agenda—to the detriment of Christians. The U.S. government doesn’t have a lot of leverage right now, displaying the limited impact a leading world power can have. As a result, the regimes and the groups do more of what they want to do without the world’s big reaction to them.

These situations will worsen for Christians without a doubt. To some, the U.S. influence has diminished, though it continues to pursue diplomatic efforts, freeze accounts, support embargoes, and more. North Korea is a good example, emboldened to expand its nuclear program. You can imagine what’s happening for Christians and others living there.

The same thing applies to radical groups. So, you see terrorists like Boko Haram, the Allied Democratic Forces, and Fulani militants in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo getting a free ride to spread terror.

Also, socioeconomic factors significantly contribute to Christian persecution. With increased poverty, desperate people take desperate measures. If the only way to get food is to attack a Christian village and take what they have, they just don’t care.

The way we struggle now—a deficiency of resources, currency, and inflation—creates more desperation. Minority groups and Christians in many areas are being taken advantage of.

How is this playing out in some of the trouble spots?

China

In China, we see more acceleration in the crackdown on house churches and religious leaders than ever before. Our comprehensive reports on China show this concerning rise. We have been tracking persecution incidents for several years and concluded that persecution in China was worse in 2022 than in any other year.

Myanmar

The political coup in Myanmar in 2021 led to a crackdown on all minorities, including Christians. As a result, we see a lot of attacks on churches and bombings of churches. The internally displaced often use churches as shelters.

Iran

Iran is another example of how a regime took advantage of the world being distracted by the war in Ukraine and the poor global economy. The government did the biggest crackdown on churches, Christians, and Muslim-background believers this year, with more arrests and torture of Christians.

India

More states enforce anti-conversion laws, which many Indian scholars agree are unconstitutional. More states try to stop any evangelism or outreach to Hindu communities by adopting anti-conversion laws.

Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)

About 100,000 Christians remain stuck in Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh) and don’t have access to the world. The government took more land and closed the only road that gave Christians access to Armenia, essentially putting them in a big, geographical prison. The Russian peacekeepers are not doing anything, which has made this so much worse for Christians.

What To Expect at the Funeral Mass for Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI

Claire Giangrave

January 5, 2023

Pope Benedict XVI — People queue to see the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lying in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where thousands went to pay their homage, Jan. 3, 2023. Pope Benedict was a German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Over 200,000 Catholic faithful lined up in the past three days to bid their last farewell to the remains of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. The funeral Mass on Thursday (Jan. 5) for the first pope to retire in over 600 years is bound to be a historic event.

Even in the centuries-old tradition of the Catholic Church, there is no clear etiquette for how to celebrate the funeral of a retired pope. Usually, when a pope dies, the next pope has to be elected during a conclave, a gathering of cardinals behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.

Since Benedict XVI stepped down as pope in 2013, there has already been a conclave and Pope Francis has reigned as pontiff for almost 10 years. This means Francis will be celebrating the Mass for Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday.

The rare occasion of a pope attending the funeral of his predecessor last occurred in 1802, when Pope Pius VII asked that the body of his predecessor, Pope Pius VI, be brought to Rome for a solemn funeral Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. Pius VI spent the last years of his life as a hostage to the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and died in France.

The last pope to have resigned, Pope Celestine V in 1294, died in a castle not far from Rome under the suspicion that he was murdered by his successor, Pope Boniface VIII.

While the Mass for Benedict, who took the title of emeritus pope after stepping down, will echo the funerals of other deceased pontiffs, it will also have some omissions and a few novelties due to the extraordinary circumstances. “The baseline is the same” as the funeral for a pope, said Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni, answering questions by journalists on Tuesday. But the service, put together by liturgy experts, is a result of their studies and “not a text that was decided at a specific moment.”

Major differences will be the omission of liturgical aspects specific to funerals for reigning popes. The final prayers by the Diocese of Rome and the Eastern churches will not be included in the liturgy and the readings will be different. The Mass will be celebrated in Latin, but the readings will be in English and Spanish. Other prayers will be recited in a selection of languages, including Benedict’s native German.

Pope Francis will celebrate the Mass and preach the homily. He will be assisted by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, and other bishops and cardinals. Benedict XVI celebrated the Mass for his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in 2005 as dean of the college of cardinals.

Some aspects of a papal funeral Mass will remain. Benedict will be buried with the coins and medals minted during his pontificate along with his palliums, the liturgical vestment reserved for the pope and a few high-ranking clergy. A cylinder containing a short description in Latin of Benedict’s papacy, called rogito, will also be placed within the coffin.

The staff usually carried by the reigning pope, called ferula, will not be interred with Benedict’s remains. The retired pontiff’s fisherman’s ring, a symbol of papal authority, has already been destroyed and will also not be placed in the coffin.

His cypress casket will be carried outside of the basilica at 8:45 a.m., when clergy and faithful will recite the rosary for the deceased pope emeritus. According to the Vatican, Benedict asked that his funeral Mass be “simple, solemn, but sober.” Roughly 60,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony, which will begin at 9:30 a.m.

Only Germany and Italy will send official delegations, led by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and President Sergio Mattarella respectively. The Italian government announced it will be flying flags at half-staff to honor Benedict’s death. Representatives from other countries all over the world, including Belgium, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Hungary, will be attending.

U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly will represent the United States at the funeral and all seven U.S. cardinals will be present.

After the Mass, the coffin will be brought to the Vatican grottoes where popes are usually buried and there will be a final private ceremony for close relatives and friends. Following tradition for papal burials, the coffin will be placed within a zinc casket and then within a wooden one.

This article originally appeared here.

R.C. Sproul: What Is the Covenant of Redemption?

R.C. Sproul

January 5, 2023

covenant of redemption — Lightstock #87009

A persistent tradition claims that upon being mocked by a skeptic with regard to his doctrine of creation, Saint Augustine was cynically asked, “What was God doing before He created the world?” Augustine’s alleged reply was: “Creating hell for curious souls.”

The reply was, of course, tongue-in-cheek. The Bible doesn’t speak of such a special work of divine creation before creation itself. But Augustine’s bon mot had a serious point that warned against idle speculation of God’s activity in eternity.

However, quite apart from speculation, the Bible has much to say about God’s activity “before” the world was made. The Bible speaks often of God’s eternal counsel, of His plan of salvation and the like. It is a matter of theological urgency that Christians not think of God as a ruler who ad libs His dominion of the universe. God does not “make it up as He goes along.” Nor must He be viewed as a bumbling administrator who is so inept in His planning that His blueprint for redemption must be endlessly subject to revision according to the actions of men. The God of Scripture has no “plan b” or “plan c.” His “plan a” is from everlasting to everlasting. It is both perfect and unchangeable as it rests on God’s eternal character, which is among other things, holy, omniscient, and immutable. God’s eternal plan is not revised because of moral imperfections within it that must be purified. His plan was not corrected or amended because He gained new knowledge that He lacked at the beginning. God’s plan never changes because He never changes and because perfection admits to no degrees and cannot be improved upon.

The covenant of redemption is intimately concerned with God’s eternal plan. It is called a “covenant” inasmuch as the plan involves two or more parties. This is not a covenant between God and humans. It is a covenant among the persons of the Godhead, specifically between the Father and the Son. God did not become triune at creation or at the Incarnation. His triunity is as eternal as His being. He is one in essence and three in person from all eternity.

The covenant of redemption is a corollary to the doctrine of the Trinity. Like the word trinity, the Bible nowhere explicitly mentions it. The word trinity does not appear in the Bible, but the concept of the Trinity is affirmed throughout Scripture. Likewise, the phrase “covenant of redemption” does not occur explicitly in Scripture but the concept is heralded throughout.

Central to the message of Jesus is the declaration that He was sent into the world by the Father. His mission was not given to Him at His baptism or in the manger. He had it before His incarnation.

Central to the message of Jesus is the declaration that He was sent into the world by the Father.In the great “Kenotic Hymn” of Philippians 2, we get a glimpse of this:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:5–11, NKJV)

This passage reveals many things. It speaks of the willingness of the Son to undertake a mission of redemption at the behest of the Father. That Jesus was about doing the will of the Father is testified throughout His life. As a young boy in the temple He reminded His earthly parents that He must be about His Father’s business. His meat and drink was to do the will of His Father. It was zeal for His Father’s house that consumed Him. Repeatedly He declared that He spoke not on His own authority but on the authority of the One who sent Him.

Pastoring a Small Church Is Not a Penalty, It’s a Specialty

Karl Vaters

January 5, 2023

pastoring a small church — Lightstock #91706

For years I bucked against the idea that I am a small church pastor.

Instead of seeing it as my calling, my heart and my passion, I treated it like it was my penalty for not having the skills to be a big church pastor.

So I consumed every church growth book and devoured all the “10 Reasons Your Church Isn’t Getting Bigger” lists like they were a prescription for a disease. And if the prescription was to grow your church, the disease must be that the church was small. Or so I thought.

But the antidotes didn’t cure anything, because small churches are not a sickness to overcome, a problem to fix, or a theological error to correct.

Being a small church pastor isn’t my penalty for something I’ve done, or am doing wrong.

It’s my specialty. My niche.

And, since embracing it, it’s becoming an area of great joy and passion – even expertise.

Pastoring a Small Church

Lean In to Your Ministry Calling

Imagine if you went to medical school with the idea of being the world’s greatest surgeon but, instead of having the manual dexterity for surgery, you had a surprisingly ability to diagnose diseases others missed.

But you still wanted to be a surgeon. So, instead of going into residency to become a great diagnostician, you went back to whatever school would have you, as you tried in vain to become a better surgeon.

Determined not to give up, you became stubborn. Instead of helping to spare people from years of pain and sickness by correctly identifying diseases other doctors misdiagnosed, you kept fighting a losing battle to become a surgeon.

You didn’t want to “settle” for becoming a great diagnostician, so you “overcame” your weaknesses and became a mediocre surgeon.

Mediocre At Big, Or Great At Small?

We don’t need more pastors trying to become something they’re not.

We need dedicated, passionate ministers who are using the gifts they’ve been given. Even if those gifts lead them to different places than they expected to go.

It’s not giving up or settling for less to recognize that you’re called to be a small church pastor. As long as you do it with all the skill and passion you have.

We need to see small church pastoring as a specialty to embrace, not a penalty to endure. When we do, everything changes.

When we stop wasting so much time and energy trying to be something we’re not, we can discover what it means to be great at what we are called to do.

You’re not a small church pastor because you’re a lousy big church pastor. You’re a small church pastor because, if you embrace it, you can be great at it.

It’s all about attitude.

Don’t see it as a penalty, make it your specialty.

This article originally appeared here.

How Pastors Can Discern Their True Friends

Sam Rainer

January 5, 2023

Since I transitioned from the corporate world over a decade ago, I’ve been asked several times, “What’s the biggest surprise about being in ministry?” And surprisingly it has to do with true friends.

They are many, like having to lead worship from a karaoke machine at my first church (I’m not musically gifted, at all). Or dealing with insurance claims after our church was struck by lightening…twice in a month (I double-checked my theology after the second strike). Ministry is synonymous with surprises.

Among the biggest surprises is how hard it can be to discern true friends. Don’t get me wrong; most people in the church are friendly. Most people treat pastors with respect. But it can be hard to find friends among those you’re charged to shepherd. Sharing personal concerns, venting frustration or confessing sin can be hazardous for pastors if done with the wrong person.

Pastors often have friends outside the church, but here are some ways I’ve discerned my true friends in the church.

True friends remain loyal while knowing my ugliness.

I’ve got more than a few foibles. My weaknesses are many. True friends don’t change their friendship when you have bad moments. They may—and should—challenge your poor choices, but my true friends have stuck with me even when I’m ugly and mean.

True friends take the heat with me.

Pastors receive barbs. It’s part of being a leader. If you can’t take the heat, then don’t be pastor. But on occasion, pastors receive a bombardment of unwarranted condemnations from people in the church. True friends stand with you. In one of my most difficult moments in ministry, I had a good friend move out of his seat in a worship service, stand with me and put his arm around me. The whole church knew where he stood. I’ll never doubt his friendship.

True friends take the initiative to encourage me.

They take the time to check in without wanting anything in return. They send a quick text of encouragement, or leave a voice mail. I’m blessed to have friends in my church that take the initiative to encourage without any expectation of reciprocation.

True friends pray often for me.

Prayer is the unseen foundation of friendship, but you know it’s there because you feel the support. My true friends pray for me. They pray for my success. They pray that I’ll be protected from sin. They pray for my family. They pray I’ll be obedient.

I believe pastors can and should have friends within their congregations. Learning to discern and trust these friends is a process, but they exist. These friends will remain loyal to you, take the heat with you, encourage you and pray for you.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Set Your Small Group Launch Up for Success

Allen White

January 5, 2023

An ill-timed small group launch is nearly as bad as no small group launch at all. You probably launch groups along with everything else in the fall and in the New Year. Those are great windows to launch groups, so what’s the problem?

In most churches, the senior pastor wants to kick off a big fall series as soon as everyone has settled back into church. The pastor will give a “State of the Church” message right after New Year’s Day, then launches into a major sermon series. If these sermon series are aligned with a small group launch, then when do you recruit group leaders? And, when do you form groups? Before everybody gets back?

How Does a Small Group Launch Work?

Let’s say that everyone is back onsite in the fall around mid-August. This will vary from church to church by a few weeks either way. If your pastor plans a big fall kick off with a sermon series starting in mid-August, you have to recruit leaders and attempt to form groups in July and early August. For most churches that means you are trying to recruit leaders when many of your people are on vacation.

The same goes for the New Year. If your small group launch begins in early to mid-January, then you are recruiting group leaders and forming groups in December. But just in case you haven’t discovered this: nothing happens in December expect for Christmas.

Attempting to recruit leaders in the middle of summer or in December is completely futile. (Okay, maybe you recruited a couple of leaders once, but for the most part it’s futile.) You have to recruit leaders and form groups when your people are actually back. What does this mean?

Bible Reading Plan for Keeping Families in God’s Word

ChildrensMinistry.com

January 4, 2023

Are you looking for a family-friendly Bible reading plan? Get parents and children reading (and talking about) the Bible! This one-year Scripture-reading plan offers an overview of key events and people in God’s great story. Click here to submit your email address and then access the free download.

Children’s ministry workers, pastors and parents all want kids to develop a lifelong love for reading the Bible. And what better way than to make it a wonderful opportunity for families to spend time reading, talking, and bonding?

Share this easy Bible reading plan with parents and kids. When families commit to the plan, they’ll discover an overview of key biblical people and events. Together they’ll build good devotional habits and learn to think more deeply about God’s Word.

The Friends With God resources are a great supplement for kids to use during this Bible reading plan. The Friends With God Story Bible allows kids to see how God has always loved and worked through everyday people just like them. And the Friends With God Devotions for Kids gives kids a fresh look at God—who knows them, loves them, and is eager to draw close to them.

Bible Reading Plan: One Year in the Bible

Here’s how this plan works for families:

1. Post this Bible reading plan.

Place it somewhere the entire family will see it, like on your refrigerator.

2. Find the week’s passage in the Bible.

Read it together or on your own. (We suggest reading longer passages together over a few days.)

3. After each family member has read the passage, discuss the following questions:

What surprised you about this passage?
What do you think this passage shows us about God?
How do you think this passage relates to your life today?
What did you learn about the people in this passage?

Grow Your Children’s Ministry in the New Year With 10 Key Steps

Dale Hudson

January 4, 2023

Want to grow and strength your children’s ministry in the new year? The next 12 months will bring challenges plus great opportunities to impact kids and families for Christ. Many children’s ministries will plateau or even decline. But some programs will reach even more kids and families.

How does a children’s ministry grow? What sets thriving ministries apart from stagnant ones? Here are 10 important considerations for growth.

10 Ways to Grow a Children’s Ministry Program

**1. A children’s ministry that grows wants to grow. (I mean, really want to grow.)**

Everyone says they want to grow. But kidmin programs that actually do are willing to change what’s not working. They also venture into new territory and take risks. Ministries that are stagnant continue to rest in complacency. Meanwhile, ministries that grow passionately strive to spread the Gospel.

2. A children’s ministry that grows makes sure it has room to grow.

If your space is 85% full, then your growth will be capped. This includes adult worship space, parking lot, hallways and classrooms. You can create more space by obviously building more space. But you can also start additional services, ask key families to move to a different service hour, or launch an additional campus.

Here’s an easy way to check if you have room to grow. Take your total room capacity and multiply it x .85. For example, If your children’s ministry rooms have a total room capacity of 100, then multiply that x .85. The answer is 85. If more than 85 kids attend at once in that space, then your growth is capped. If you want to grow, you need to adjust.

3. A children’s ministry that grows offers guests a great experience.

Following up with guests certainly helps. But the main factor in seeing guests return is giving them a great first experience. This includes convenient parking, quick check-in, and great signage. Also provide welcoming greeters and someone to walk families to classrooms.

Stats show that church visitors decide in the first eight minutes if they’ll return. Ministries must work hard to ensure those eight minutes are great for families

4. A children’s ministry that grows gets kids and families excited about bringing guests to church.

Without new people coming into the church, no growth occurs. Which ministries will have guests come? Those that create a culture of investment and invitation among attendees. They provide invite tools and tell the stories of people who bring friends to church.

5. A children’s ministry that grows has safe and secure environments.

In today’s world, safety is a big deal for parents. If parents don’t feel their kids are safe at church, they simply won’t return.

Ministries that grow will have a check-in/check-out process that’s followed. They’ll have volunteer or even uniformed officers in hallways. Plus, they need a clear process for on-boarding new volunteers. Guidelines must be in place; for example, volunteers can’t be alone with a child, classroom doors must be secured once the service starts, etc.

Find great advice for keeping your ministry safe at the Safety and Security in Children’s Ministry webinar. Hear from top experts, including a former Secret Service agent who guarded the president. Find more info at this link.

6. A children’s ministry that grows has good volunteer-to-child ratios.

Having a solid team of kidmin volunteers is essential. Growing ministries know this and focus on building a healthy, solid, growing team. The right volunteer ratios not only make it safer for the children. It also helps them be personally known and receive care and prayer. When this happens, kids return and attend more frequently.

Tod Bolsinger: The 1 Key to Adapting and Leading in a Changing World

Jason Daye

January 4, 2023

How can we lead effectively in ministry when we are faced with the onslaught of an ever-increasing frequency of changes in the world around us? In this conversation on FrontStage BackStage, host Jason Daye is joined by Tod Bolsinger, executive director of the Church Leadership Institute at Fuller, founder of AE Sloan Leadership, and the best-selling author of Canoeing the Mountains and his latest, Tempered Resilience. Together, Tod and Jason look at the personal transformation that must take place in a ministry leader’s life to help them create adaptive capacity, so they can lead most effectively in our changing world.

FrontStage BackStage Guest Tod Bolsinger

Watch the entire podcast here.

Keep Learning

Looking to dig more deeply into this topic and conversation? Every episode we go the extra mile and create a free toolkit so you and your ministry team can dive deeper into the topic that is discussed. Find your Weekly Toolkit here… Love well, Live well, Lead well!

Video links to this week’s episode – easily share with the ministry leaders in your church
Audio links to this week’s episode – easily share with the ministry leaders in your church
Additional resource links from this week’s conversation – so you and your team can easily find what is mentioned or referenced
Ministry Leaders Growth Guide – key insights and concepts from this week’s conversation as well as engaging questions for you and your team to consider and process
Full-text transcript of this week’s episode – review something you heard, pass along snippets, post tweets, create presentations to share, or use in whatever way you find most helpful in developing your ministry leaders
Shareable Social Graphics – Feel free to post them on your church social accounts, your personal accounts, or use them as graphics in your communications

Podcast Links

YouTube https://youtu.be/NgynAmBFWPs

Apple https://apple.co/3Xmtmue

Spotify https://spoti.fi/3TWpltC

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Pastoring a Small Church

Lean In to Your Ministry Calling

Mediocre At Big, Or Great At Small?

Pastors often have friends outside the church, but here are some ways I’ve discerned my true friends in the church.

True friends remain loyal while knowing my ugliness.

True friends take the heat with me.

True friends take the initiative to encourage me.

True friends pray often for me.

How Does a Small Group Launch Work?

Bible Reading Plan: One Year in the Bible

1. Post this Bible reading plan.

2. Find the week’s passage in the Bible.

3. After each family member has read the passage, discuss the following questions:

10 Ways to Grow a Children’s Ministry Program

1. A children’s ministry that grows wants to grow. (I mean, really want to grow.)

2. A children’s ministry that grows makes sure it has room to grow.

3. A children’s ministry that grows offers guests a great experience.

4. A children’s ministry that grows gets kids and families excited about bringing guests to church.

5. A children’s ministry that grows has safe and secure environments.

6. A children’s ministry that grows has good volunteer-to-child ratios.

FrontStage BackStage Guest Tod Bolsinger

Keep Learning

Podcast Links

New Articles

New Podcasts

**1. A children’s ministry that grows wants to grow. (I mean, really want to grow.)**