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Church Flipping Pastor Rescues Buildings on Life Support

By
Stephanie Martin
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

In addition to being a senior pastor, the Rev. Paul Marzahn has a second calling: rescuing struggling churches before developers can swoop in and buy the buildings.

Marzahn, 55, leads Crossroads Church in Lakeville, Minnesota, but he’s receiving national attention for his groundbreaking work as a “faith community developer,” or church flipper. He may even be featured on a pilot for a new TV show.

‘There is a business side to every ministry’

Marzahn formed a nonprofit and consults with churches nationwide about how to rehab buildings and use spaces wisely. “I have an eye for properties that have value,” he says. “I fix them up and bring the partners together and make the finances work.”

With church attendance on the decline, up to 10,000 U.S. churches shut their doors every year. That’s led to a growing market for religious buildings among profit-hungry investors, but Marzahn sees “a different potential.” He obtained a commercial real estate license, has become an expert in building maintenance, and works with his family members who have expertise in everything from historic preservation to accounting.

“I still pastor,” Marzahn says. “I understand that my primary role is preaching the Gospel of Jesus. But there is a business side to every ministry that sometimes pastors neglect and parishioners neglect.”

Marzahn Finds New Life for Old Buildings

With all his connections, Marzahn has become a property matchmaker around Minneapolis. While driving by church buildings that are for sale, he thinks, “Who do I know who would be a good fit?” His calling, he says, is “to see churches or nonprofits save some of these great buildings.”

Strategic planning is key, he says, which is why he helps churches with options such as sharing or renting out space. “Just like a marriage, when it’s going on the rocks, go get a counselor, right? Same thing if your church is dying,” Marzahn says. “Get some help and you can come up with a strategy or plan to keep the church or partner with some other nonprofits, some way to keep the financial model going.”

Last year Marzahn’s nonprofit purchased Wesley United Methodist Church, built in 1891, and sold it to Substance Church, preventing the building from becoming a nightclub. “Its purpose was to be a church in the community, and now it is,” he says.

Thanks to Marzahn’s help, a former Catholic Charities building in Minneapolis is being transformed for use by Breakthrough Ministries, which serves poor and homeless people. The Rev. Dave Engman, Breakthrough’s CEO, says he “probably wouldn’t have taken on this project” without Marzahn. “Paul brings peace and comfort in a stressful situation.”

Not every church building can be saved, unfortunately. “There are times when they are not structurally sound,” Marzahn says. “They have deferred maintenance for too long, and in those cases you can’t keep them up.”

But most buildings have great potential. Ben Ingebretson, a regional director of new church development for the United Methodist Church, says churches need more people like Marzahn. Many startup churches would love to have a building to call home, Ingebretson says. “The opportunity in North America is huge.”

Dr. Tony Evans on Social Media: ‘Please Pray for My Wife’

By
Jessica Lea
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Pastor and author Dr. Tony Evans shared on social media this week that his wife’s cancer has returned. He posted the news on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, asking people to join him and his family in prayer for Lois’ healing.

Friends, Please pray for my wife, Lois. Lois has been a cancer-free patient under care for a while. However, her last routine scan revealed that her rare gallbladder cancer has returned. We need God to intervene as we continue our search for an effective treatment. We are going to trust God in the dark for a solution, and we are asking you to fervently pray to that end.

Choosing to Believe

The Evans family has suffered several significant losses over the past year or so. Dr. Evans’ niece, Wynter Evans Pitts, died suddenly in her sleep in the summer of 2018 at age 38. Pitts was the founder of the ministry For Girls Like You and mother of actress Alena Pitts, who played Danielle Jordan in the movie War Room. And only six months before Wynter’s death, Dr. Evans lost his brother. In his post, Dr. Evans said that the return of his wife’s cancer is a new level of testing for him:

I’m sure this news about Lois is shocking. It is shocking to us too. In recent days, we have had quite a bit on us as a family as you know. My faith is being tested in a way I’ve never experienced…but I trust God. I choose to believe—our whole family is choosing to believe that, even now, He knows what He is doing.

Dr. Evans said he doesn’t have much information to offer apart from the fact that the cancer has returned. He wrote, “This news is fresh and we don’t have many answers to give,” adding that the family will provide updates as they are able. But in the meantime, “as you wait—while we wait—we are asking for your prayers.”

Lois Evans has put up some posts pertaining to her cancer’s return, including a recent tweet with an image that says, “I am fighting for you.-God.” She offered it as an encouragement to her followers, saying that it was a reminder she needed herself.

People’s Reactions

Many people have responded to the news with encouraging comments, saying they are praying for Lois and for the Evans family. One Instagram user said, “God please give the Evans family strength right now to endure the test that you have set before them. I ask that you comfort them as they encounter the unknown.”

On Facebook, one person commented, “Praying for you Mrs. Evans & thank you for your wonderful godly example of being a daughter of God,” while another wrote, “We are standing with you.” One woman posted, “Watching your family go thou [sic] life struggles has given me so much hope. Thank each of you.”

In his post, Dr. Evans expressed hope in God’s faithfulness and mercy: “Even during these uncertain times, we are strengthened by the joy of the Lord. We know that we will be strengthened also by the prayers of the saints in the days to come.”

Craig Springer: What You Need to Know About Millennials and Evangelism

By
Jason Daye
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Craig Springer is the executive director of Alpha USA, an organization which helps churches invite non-Christians to explore questions of faith in a welcoming environment. Craig has a broad personal church background including non-denominational megachurches, Vineyard churches, evangelical Presbyterian churches, and international church planting. He currently serves at Cherry Hills Community Church in Denver. Craig and his wife, Sarah, have a son and a daughter.

Key Questions for Craig Springer

– What did you learn from the Reviving Evangelism study, specifically about the future of evangelism?

– What does Scripture tell us about how Jesus approached evangelism?

Key Quotes from Craig Springer

“47 percent of Millennial Christians believe it is wrong to share their faith.”

“94 percent of Millennial Christians believe that the best thing that could happen to anyone is that they would come to know Jesus…There’s not a decline in passion among Millennial Christians for their friends and family to know Jesus. ”

“Millennial Christians have more non-Christian friends than any other preceding generation.”

“Millennial Christians and Gen Z Christians are dealing with this far-more inflamed polarized tone in our culture. We have to do much more to disarm and to build trust and create spaces of belonging before we can even have a conversation.”

“The top priority that a non-Christian believes would help them consider faith with a conversation partner is someone who listens without judgment and the second top priority is someone who doesn’t force them to draw a conclusion.”

“Jesus asked 307 questions and he only directly answered eight questions…That’s his approach to bringing the Kingdom to bear in people’s lives, is listening, storytelling, creating space for conversation.”

“When we’re focused on helping people understand us or our doctrine, not giving them space to process out what they’re thinking, we’re not creating that sense of home, that sense of belonging before they believe.”

“We need to rethink our evangelism training. How much training are we giving Christians in the art of listening? If we were following Jesus’s methods of evangelism, we would be the best listeners on the planet.”

“82 percent of people who complete an Alpha Course from start to finish end up developing a relationship with Jesus somewhere along the way.”

“Nothing lights up your prayer life more than praying for someone to meet Jesus and then they do before your eyes.”

“With churches that are really thriving evangelistically, you’ll see that there’s a white-hot fire of prayer and worship beneath that.” If you want your evangelistic temperature to rise as a church, you won’t be able to carry the burden and opportunity of that if your prayer and worship temperature don’t rise with it.”

Mentioned in the Show:

AlphaUSA.org
Reviving Evangelism Study
Jesus Is the Question

Other Ways to Listen to this Podcast:

► Listen on Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-churchleaders-podcast/id988990685?mt=2

► Listen on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/churchleaders/the-churchleaders-podcast

► Listen on GooglePlay: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/churchleaders/the-churchleaders-podcast

► Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3NOo1CepdPQog17rmL7DuT

12 Choices That Got Staff Members or Pastors in Trouble

By
Chuck Lawless
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

If you do ministry long enough, you can learn from others what NOT to do—particularly when those choices led to trouble. Here are some of the problematic choices I’ve seen pastors and church staff members make:

  1. Refusing to admit growing feelings for another man’s wife. He was confronted long before the affair began, but he denied where his heart was headed.
  2. Sending an email or text before dealing with anger or frustration. His concern was legitimate, but his unhealthy response required an apology later.
  3. Using the pulpit to bully the congregation. He wasn’t preaching the Word; he was betraying his heart.
  4. Wrongly revealing somebody’s struggles. Maybe it was only an intentional slip for this counselor, but it cost her years of earned trust.
  5. Lying on his resume. He got away with it for a while, but his choice eventually caught up with him.
  6. Failing to produce records of expenditures. He could provide no receipts, which made other church leaders question his integrity.
  7. Preaching somebody else’s material without attribution. It was not a smart move, especially when the sermon could be found online.
  8. Choosing not to refer when a counseling need was beyond her training. She loved the women she was mentoring, and she wanted to help solve everything for everybody—only to learn the hard way that we sometimes need the help of others.
  9. Paying little attention to tax laws. This pastor never intended to ignore tax laws for ministers—he simply didn’t ask enough questions or do enough homework to know what he needed to do.
  10. Assuming no one would see his computer’s search history. You probably know where this choice led…he’s no longer in ministry.
  11. Denying an anger problem. Instead, he always “bowed up” to defend himself—which only reinforced the problem.
  12. Ignoring his personal spiritual disciplines because of ministry responsibilities. He burned out—which happens when you give yourself so fully to others that you don’t have energy or time to take care of your own walk with God.

If you see yourself in any of these descriptions, make a plan to address it/them. Let us know how we might pray for you.

This article originally appeared here.

3 Things You Can Do to Connect More People After Easter

By
Mark Howell
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Easter is coming! And we know you want to connect more people after Easter–not just have a big attendance day.

There are three ideal times to connect unconnected people every year. In most churches, late September/early October has the most potential followed by late January/early February.

A couple weeks after Easter presents a third very promising option to connect unconnected people. It’s not problem-free, but the reality is every season comes with its own set of problems. Even with the problems that come with launching new groups in late April/early May, it is still a very promising window of opportunity.

All that to say, here are three things you can do right now to connect more unconnected people after Easter.

Schedule a Small Group Connection Four Weeks After Easter

Schedule a small group connection four weeks after Easter. If you begin promoting the small group connection on Palm Sunday, you can collect sign-ups every Sunday between.

Holding the small group connection allows your new groups to begin meeting and finish a six-week study in mid-June (a couple weeks later than ideal, but it is what it is).

Choose a starter study on a topic that matters to unconnected people (and ideally goes along with your message series, which has also been selected to draw back infrequent attenders).

Plan to help your new groups continue by pre-selecting a follow-up study and providing them a strategy for surviving the summer.

Need help putting on a small group connection? See also, How to Launch New Groups with a Small Group Connection—2016 and Here’s How I Lead a Small Group Connection.

Plan a set of short-term on-campus studies (that lead to off-campus studies). Facilitated around tables, this strategy allows attendees to experience the benefits of a group with the safety of an on-campus first step. Providing them a natural follow-up study to be done off-campus will encourage many groups to continue.

One key is to choose study topics that appeal to unconnected people. Another key is to choose studies that are DVD-driven and naturally prompt (or provoke) a good discussion. DVD-driven (as opposed to something that involves live teaching) allows participants to easier imagine continuing to meet without the live teacher.

A final key to leveraging this strategy for all it’s worth is to be sure to segregate those already in a group from those who are not yet in a group. When you come to the end of the six weeks you don’t want anyone at any table offering the excuse, “I’d like to continue with you, but I’m already in a group.”

A good facilitator/emcee can get each session off to a good start, set up the DVD segment and then help discussion begin around the tables. Typically, de facto table leaders will emerge by the second session.

Plan to begin mentioning the possibility of continuing to meet after the six-week study concludes in about week four. A table displaying a well-chosen follow-up study with the DVD playing and sample study guides set out for examination before and after week five will further encourage many table groups to consider continuing to meet.

See also, Breaking: North Point Increases GroupLife Participation by Adding an Easier Next Step and Take Advantage of This Short-Term On-Campus Strategy.

Plan a church-wide campaign that begins the week after Easter.

Plan a church-wide campaign that begins the week after Easter. The right series will provide an excellent comeback incentive for unconnected people. Making it easy for unconnected people to join a new group or even invite a couple friends to join them in doing the study will give many the first step into community they need.

Again, it is critical to choose a series that will actually appeal to unconnected people, but there are a number of very good options.

If you pull the trigger quickly, you can begin recruiting HOSTs before Easter and then recruit unconnected people to sign up for and attend a small group connection the Sunday after Easter.

This article originally appeared here.

Preaching for a Decision This Easter

By
Rick Warren
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Your Easter sermon this year will come down to two words: Will you?

You’ll likely have more unchurched guests at Easter than at any worship service all year long. They’ll come because their mother invited them to dinner, and church is a prerequisite. They’ll come because it’s a cultural tradition. Or they’ll come because you sent them an invitation.

Regardless of why guests show up for Easter, it’s a great opportunity to share the Gospel with them.

That’s why those two words matter.

Will you? Will you make the decision to follow Jesus?

Frankly, every sermon comes down to the words “Will you?” Preaching that leads to life change enlightens the mind, engages the emotions and challenges the will.

Many pastors embrace the need to enlighten the mind and engage the emotions, but they avoid challenging the will. You can’t preach for a decision unless you’re willing to stand on the Word of God and humbly yet forcibly challenge people.

You need to ask people to make a decision. How do you do that? Let me give you six ways I ask for a specific decision, particularly the decision to follow Jesus:

  1. Use arguments. In other words, anticipate people’s objections as to why they won’t come to faith, and then logically refute them.
  2. Use a warning. Warn your guests of the consequences of disobedience.
  3. Use indirect conviction. Arouse moral indignation like Nathan did in the Bible after David’s adultery. Remember when Nathan told the story about the guy who had all those sheep but still stole sheep from a poor guy? David’s indignation got aroused. That’s indirect conviction.
  4. Use pleading. Express God’s love and concern for your audience and others.
  5. Use vision. Paint a picture of what’s possible when people follow Jesus.
  6. Use encouragement. Let them know that they can come to faith in Christ. No person is too far away from God. Many people you’re trying to reach this Easter don’t believe this. Encourage them to believe this important truth.

By the way, here’s a bonus point: Find someone to give a testimony during your Easter service. I love using testimonies in my sermons for many reasons. Testimonies are like “satisfied customers.” They show the people you want to reach what it looks like when others come to faith in Christ. People can argue with just about everything else you say, but they can’t argue with a testimony.

Testimonies are especially important when you’re urging people to make a decision. When you give a message like the one you’ll do at Easter, it takes a lot out of you. Sometimes you’ll put so much energy in the first part of your sermon that you’re particularly worn out when you get to the point at the end where you really press for a decision. You’re exhausted before the most important part of the sermon.

That’s where testimonies can help. Sometimes I’ll preach a couple of points and then bring up someone to share a testimony. Not only does this introduce the audience to someone who has decided to follow Christ, but it also gives me a much-needed breather to refocus and restore my energy as I get a drink of water and rest for a couple of minutes. Your conclusion is such an important part of an evangelistic sermon. You need all the energy you can muster for it.

Through all of this, remember that eternity hangs in the balance for many in your audience. I’ve preached multiple Easter services for years. By the time I finish my last one, I’m worn out. But I keep going because I know how high the stakes are. I know I’m preaching to people every Easter who are hearing the Gospel for the first and maybe the last time. I never know what will happen to the people I’m preaching to each week. It’s a huge responsibility.

So I keep eternity in my mind every Sunday, and particularly every Easter—it’s great motivation!

This article originally appeared here.

Expand Your Worship Themes the Ancient Way

By
Bobby Gilles
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Worship Themes
Adobestock #80344994

Any worship pastor who has been crafting worship service liturgies for awhile knows the dilemma of worship themes. So does any worship songwriter: How do I present new songs to the church that don’t just say the same thing? How do I make sure I’m providing a full gospel diet for worshipers?

Did you know our ancient church forebears also provided a powerful tool for ordering the very days of our lives after gospel rhythms, year after year? From the first day of Advent to Christ The King Sunday one year later, each season of the Christian Year focuses on a different worship themes and aspect of Christ’s life and mission.

Whether your church follows the Christian liturgical year calendar or not, a brief overview of these seasons and feast days will help you write and select songs for worship that teach and exult in every movement of the gospel. And once you know this framework, you can mix and match songs from each period as needed for your individual context. For instance there is no reason Christians can’t sing “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” year round, or “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” on any given Sunday.

Expand Your Worship Themes the Ancient Way

Let’s walk through each cycle of the Christian Calendar, looking for inspiration and ideas for songwriting and worship service planning. As you read about each season and study songs that fit each season, let your own creative juices flow:

Advent

As Kristen wrote in her article “What Is Advent? Why & How Should You Observe It,” “This season of Advent is a re-enactment of Israel’s wait for the birth of their Messiah, and a symbol of our longing for Christ’s return.” Advent is loaded with eschatological meaning. This is a chance to explore themes of the Second Coming and “Your Kingdom come.”

Charles Wesley’s hymn “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” is a classic example. You can read my full analysis of “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” and hear Bill Mallonee’s version of it here. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is another solid Advent hymn. And here is a contemporary one, written by our worship pastor Mike Cosper. His “Glory Be” paints a picture of a world “waiting for the light” prior to Christ’s first Advent, then compares it to our own longing for a savior prior to our conversion, and our waiting for Christ to return to earth.

Christmas

We all know many popular Christmas hymns and carols. You can read my analysis of “Go, Tell It on the Mountain” and hear Sojourn’s version of that Christmas spiritual here. And you can hear many songs for Christmas and Advent on our Advent-Christmas worship songs playlist on Spotify. One of our favorite modern examples comes from Kristen’s fellow worship leader at Sojourn New Albany, Jeremy Quillo. His “Hosanna in the Highest” is a tour de force in Christmas storytelling.

Epiphany

Epiphany means “appearance.” It’s designed to celebrate the Wise Men’s revelation that Jesus was the Messiah. Churches that celebrate Epiphany as a season use it as a chance to highlight the parables, miracles and other events of Jesus’ earthly ministry. As I wrote in “Epiphany Planning for Worship Leaders, Songwriters, Communicators,” “compose songs that celebrate or reveal Jesus as Messiah. You can do so by using Old Testament prophecies in your songs or by writing ballads on the life and earthly ministry of Christ.”

“Hail, Thou Source of Every Blessing” by Basil Woodd is an example of a traditional Epiphany hymn.

How (Not) to Engage Unreached People and Places

By
Matthew Bennett
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Whenever missionaries make disciples among unreached people, the missionary task includes starting a new church. That’s the implicit logic of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20) with its call to baptize new believers. (Baptize them into what? A church!)

Furthermore, planting churches is commonly cited as being the most effective way to advance the gospel in the unreached world. Simply put: Church planting and engaging the unreached go hand in hand.

But who are the unreached, exactly?

Reaching for a Better Definition

The “unreached” have traditionally been defined as “a people group…[with] no indigenous community of believing Christians able to engage this people group with church planting. Technically speaking, the percentage of evangelical Christians in this people group is less than 2 percent.”

However, one missiologist recently argued that we should consider a more biblically faithful and strategically helpful definition. The alternative definition states, “Unreached peoples and places are those among whom Christ is largely unknown and the church is relatively insufficient to make Christ known in its broader population without outside help.”

This definition removes the rather arbitrary 2 percent threshold often used to determine whether a people group is reached or not. Yet the real strength of the proposal is not in what it removes; it’s what he adds that can positively influence our approach to missions.

Unreached Peoples…and Places

The refined definition joins the IMB in adding two vitally important words: and places.

Since Ralph Winter’s landmark speech at Lausanne 1974, missions strategies have sought to identify and target socioculturally distinct peoples around the world in an attempt to highlight those who have not heard the gospel. This very good impulse has had both positive and negative effects.

On one hand, Winter’s challenge awakened the world of missiology to the multitude of barriers to evangelism that exist between peoples who share the same nation-states. On the other hand, this focus on peoples has sometimes produced such a myopic approach to missions. In such cases, missionaries have ignored Bible-believing national churches in search of unreached peoples who live in the shadow of their steeples.

The Shape of Outside Help

In view of all this, the new definition of “unreached people group” highlights the role of outside help. Specifically, the inclusion of outside help implies that in places where a national church exists, a foreign missionary team may be given the task of assisting the national church as they evangelize the unreached in their midst.

“Missionaries don’t always have to be the tip of the spear, blazing trails into the heart of lostness.”

Though partnering with national churches might appear to be an obvious strategy, in practice this is not always the case. As a carryover from the colonialist tendencies of some missionaries of the 19th and 20th centuries, national churches that begin through missionary efforts have sometimes remained in the shadow of missionary control.

These churches have responded in a number of ways. Some rebelled against the paternalism of certain missionary organizations that maintained control. Others allowed external influences to shape much of the ministry in the church. Neither response is amenable to fruitful kingdom partnership.

As a result, contemporary missions strategies that focus too heavily on individual unreached people tend to bypass partnership with local churches. This especially happens whenever such a partnership would require months or even years of addressing the damage done by the previously mentioned historical missteps.

Swapping Paul for Barnabas

This new vision for “unreached people and places” has the potential to encourage a helpful reevaluation of missions around the world. It frees us from assuming that outside missionaries can only play the role of Paul. That is, missionaries don’t always have to be the tip of the spear, blazing trails into the heart of lostness. Of course, there is certainly a need to engage in such ventures in cases where people are totally isolated from any Bible-believing communities. We must send pioneer missionaries to places that are truly pioneer fields.

“Whenever missionaries make disciples among unreached peoples, the missionary task includes starting a new church.”

But what about places where national, Bible-believing churches exist in the midst of various unreached peoples? There we are wise to consider what it might look like to play the role of Barnabas. We must learn to come alongside the Pauls of the national churches, encouraging, partnering, sending and allowing them to lead in mission aimed at the unreached near them.

The Global ‘We’ of Church Planting

Practically, our national brothers and sisters are far better equipped to engage with the unreached people groups in their midst. From a theological angle, however, partnership with national churches acknowledges a central fact that some of our methods have denied in practice, if not in principle. These partners are real churches. And together with us, they comprise the bride of Christ, the temple of the Spirit, and the people of God.

As missionaries partnering with churches in such places, then, our job might be to follow the national believers’ lead. Much of our role might be behind the scenes as we work to train, equip, cast vision and encourage these churches to undertake their part in the Great Commission.

We must retain the priority of engaging the unreached as we make disciples of every tribe, tongue and people. However, we also must remember the global ‘we’ to whom the disciple-making task is entrusted.

This article originally appeared here.

Kids: The Overlooked Victims of the Opioid Crisis

By
Dale Vernor
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Regardless of denomination, the majority of Christian children and teens attend some type of youth-specific programming, whether in the form of a youth group, youth ministry or religious education program. Therefore, youth leaders are in a prime position to influence young people on many issues that affect society. Unfortunately, in the United States, one of the most pressing issues is opioid abuse.

Despite their influential position, relatively few youth leaders appear to address opioid addiction, or even substance abuse in general, on a substantive basis. When opioid use is discussed, it is often in the form of a brief program framing addiction as a sin. However, as recent research indicates, many children in youth or teen Church-based programs are affected by the opioid epidemic in one way or another.

A Growing Crisis, a Devastating Toll

Current statistics estimate that every day, over 130 people in the United States die from an opioid overdose. In 2017 alone, the CDC estimates that almost 48,000 people died from any opioid-related cause, including deaths from overdosing on other substances while opioids were being used.

American’s youth are caught in the crossroads of this growing crisis. Nationwide, there are 8.7 million children who suffer from drug addiction or substance abuse disorders. Approximately 90,000 children were placed in foster care because of parental substance abuse. In addition, every 25 minutes in the United States, a baby is born with symptoms of opioid withdrawal.

The trauma caused by early-childhood neglect due to parental substance abuse can also lead to significant issues in youth, including school failure, increased risk of health conditions, and ultimately, a higher likelihood that the child will turn to drug and alcohol use themselves.

Perhaps the most striking statistic of all is that in 2017, 4,173 Americans under the age of 24 died from an opioid-related cause. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Adolescent Health estimates that in 2016, 3.6 percent of adolescents 12-17 reported misusing opioids during the year.

These startling statistics make one thing quite clear: The chances that every youth leader has at least one child or teen in their program that has been touched by the opioid crisis is high.

What Can We Do? A Faith-Based Response

It is abundantly clear that youth leaders are in a position to help combat the opioid crisis. Youth leaders are trusted role models that most Christian children and teens can turn to, not only for support with difficult situations, but as a moral compass for making difficult decisions, including decisions about drug use.

Youth programs already have a head-start in helping young people to make healthy choices. Programs that give youth recreational options that allow for supervision and access to positive role models have been shown to reduce delinquency, crime and risky behaviors. Youth groups have long been the community leaders at providing adolescents with options for socialization, recreation and faith formation.

To combat the opioid crisis, however, it’s time for youth leaders to go beyond just recreation programs. The likelihood that some of the youth in our programs have already suffered the effects of having a parent or other loved one with a substance abuse disorder means that we need to be prepared to work from a trauma-informed basis.

Children in your youth ministry that have grown up with trauma and neglect need safe people and good role models to help them learn healthy behaviors and to support them in their emotional and spiritual needs. Youth ministry can give these children a sense of security and belonging where they can explore their emotions in a safe and supportive environment. Youth leaders can especially focus on teaching resiliency skills, such as identifying their strengths, finding safety, problem solving and seeking support. Teaching these skills as part of your programming can help these students overcome the effects of their home environment.

Giving Youth Leadership Roles

Youth leaders can also help all students resist the temptation to turn to opioids by holding frequent and honest educational opportunities to learn about the effects of addiction. Chances are high that they know someone who is misusing prescription medications or experimenting with opioids. Encourage them to be leaders in fighting the epidemic by giving them the tools necessary to educate their friends and family about removing pain medications from the house once the issue they were prescribed to treat is resolved, to resist using medications not prescribed to them, and to say something if they see peers sharing medication.

Mark Driscoll: 6 Tips for a Powerful Easter Sermon

By
Mark Driscoll
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

For most churches, Easter is the biggest Sunday of the year. It is an occasion to celebrate the resurrection victory of Jesus Christ over Satan, sin, death, hell, and the wrath of God while also seeing lost sheep return home and lost people become Christians. For some preachers, though, it is a difficult time because they struggle with the weight and pressure of preaching an Easter sermon in fresh ways year after year. Having now preached on every Easter at Mars Hill Church since 1996, I relate, and I would like to offer the following six preaching tips for Easter in hopes of serving those who serve others by preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

6 Tips for a Powerful Easter Sermon

1. Keep your Easter message short.

It is very difficult to get children’s workers on Easter because so many of your key people want to bring family, friends, and coworkers to church and then go enjoy brunch or some special time together. So it is wise to do the Easter service “family style” with no childcare. This gives your kids’ workers a day off, allows you to turn services around more quickly (as Easter requires multiple services for many churches), and also allows the service to be uniquely fun.

For little kids, perhaps some crayons and coloring sheets as gifts would be helpful. Let the parents know in advance that the service will be short, that some noise from the kids is welcome—indeed, the sound of children is a good sign of God’s grace and the church’s future—and that there will be lots of singing and celebration that the kids will enjoy. So keep your Easter sermon short.

2. Keep your Easter message simple.

Easter is not a time to get fancy. The goal of the Easter sermon is not to impress your people with your oratory skills, your Greek syntax expertise, or your clever cultural insight. Easter is a time to boldly, loudly, passionately, gladly, and publicly proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ! So keep your Easter sermon simple. Hearing the good news of Jesus is something your people will delight in if the Holy Spirit resides in them, so make it plain. They know you will tell them Jesus is alive, they are coming to hear it, and it sounds good every time, much like a wife whose husband often tells her he loves her and is devoted to her—she never tires of hearing it and rejoices every time.

Pastor Is Abusive and Running a ‘Cult,’ Report Charges

By
Jessica Lea
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JMMI
Screen grab from Facebook: @Apostle David Taylor

The News-Herald of Southgate, Michigan, has published an exposé on David E. Taylor, who heads Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI) in Taylor, Michigan. Former members have accused Taylor and church leaders of manipulation, abuse, sexual misconduct and of running the ministry as a “cult.”

“You pretty much work every single day. You might have had one day off a month,” says Chris Sorensen, who worked for JMMI for six months in 2017. “I remember I would want so, so much for a day off, and just week after week would pass and I just never got the day off. So you’re always sleep deprived; you never can catch up on sleep.”

Sorensen says that when he joined the church in early 2017, he was on fire for God: “I wanted to be in ministry. That’s what I wanted to do in life. I thought this was my calling.” He had heard about Taylor after reading his book Face-to-Face Appearances from Jesus: The Ultimate Intimacy. After finishing the book, Sorensen says he received what seemed to be a personal Facebook message from Taylor saying that Jesus had told Taylor in a dream to reach out to him. After joining JMMI, however, Sorensen discovered that church staff sent messages like that to thousands of people as part of a strategy to raise as much money as possible. While working for JMMI, Sorensen was expected to send 1,000 Facebook messages daily and meet a $500 daily donation quota. Sorensen and two other former JMMI members, Bill and Lisa Hodi, say that JMMI leaders even told members to claim homelessness so that they could obtain electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards (i.e., food stamp cards). If people did not obtain EBT cards, they would not be able to eat.

More Troubling Reports

Eyewitness testimony and police reports indicate that JMMI manipulates and mistreats its members. While working for JMMI, Sorensen says he was encouraged to leave his wife, who “was skeptical” of the ministry. He also claims he saw Taylor verbally and physically assault JMMI members. Sorensen and the Hodis say that church members regularly sleep in tents in the JMMI building, which is not zoned as a residence and does not have showers.

The News-Herald reports that since 2016 the police have been called to JMMI 30 times for various reasons. One woman was reportedly assaulted and forced to leave the building when she tried to visit her father and sister, members of JMMI. One father requested the police’s assistance in removing his son from the JMMI building. Another woman filed a missing person’s report out of concern that parents of a friend of hers hadn’t seen him in the 18 months since he joined JMMI.  

David Taylor, Pastor: Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Gospel singer Vicki Yohe, who was previously in a relationship with Taylor, has been outspoken against him, claiming that he spiritually manipulates women in order to have sex with them. Yohe says that during their relationship, Taylor bought her extravagant gifts, such as a Jaguar and $900 shoes. Yohe describes Taylor’s behavior as controlling and says that he cheated on her, also buying expensive gifts for other women. When she threatened to expose him, he threatened her, telling her that she would get cancer if she attacked his ministry. Yohe says, “When you first get with him, he asks you for naked pictures, inappropriate pictures… If you even think about getting mad or you want to break up, (or) if you expose him, he’s going to send those pictures out.”

The Christian Post did a story on Taylor’s ex-wife, Tabitha Taylor, who says she got involved with Taylor after becoming a new Christian. When she became pregnant, even though Tabitha saw signs that he “used women in the church,” she married him anyway, not wanting to have another child out of wedlock. After their marriage, she describes behavior similar to that reported by Vicki Yohe, namely that Taylor was manipulative and controlling and that he conducted multiple affairs with other women.

JMMI at a Glance

A cursory glance through JMMI’s website and Facebook page reveals that the majority of the images feature Taylor and promote his products. The website welcomes people to “experience the dynamic ministry of David E. Taylor,” which includes dream interpretation, prayer and a miracle ministry with testimonies described as “Supernatural Weight Loss,” “The Lame Walk” and “Raising the Dead.”

The JMMI Facebook page features various events Taylor is holding, such as a miracle crusades, and also promotes his books. Some of the posts make interesting claims, such as the following:

God showed David E. Taylor the attack on the World Trade Center before thousands died ahead of 9/11… He tried to save and warn America but was unsuccessful… Now, he’s seen another war coming, a disaster against the whole country of America, and God has given him the answer to avert it!!

‘God Is Not Pleased’

Tabitha Taylor says she went public with her story because of the harm leaders like her ex-husband cause the church:

We’re teaching people that it’s OK to sin. We’re teaching people that it’s OK to live unrighteously, but God is gonna bring judgment to the household of God… We’re preaching in the pulpit and we’re not doing right by the people of God. We’re not walking in love. We’re destroying people’s marriages, we’re destroying people’s homes and God is not pleased.

‘Exciting’ Artifacts Found in Jerusalem Point to the Truth of the Bible

By
Stephanie Martin
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

On Sunday, two archaeologists announced the discovery of “very exciting” ancient artifacts in Jerusalem’s City of David National Park. Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Professor Yuval Gadot from Tel Aviv University (TAU) say excavations in what’s now a parking lot unearthed a 2,600-year-old seal, known as a bulla. The one-centimeter piece of clay, which served as a stamp for signing documents, bears the name Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King. A similar seal has the name Ikar, meaning farmer.

The artifacts, which will be described in the Israel Exploration Journal, date back to Jerusalem’s First Temple Period. They were found in a large public building destroyed in the sixth century BCE, likely by fire. The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

2 Kings Mentions Nathan-Melech

In 2 Kings 23:11, Nathan-Melech is mentioned as a chamberlain, or court official: “And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire” (ESV).

This seal is the first archaeological evidence containing Nathan-Melech’s name. Dr. Anat Mendel-Geberovich, who deciphered and dated the artifact, says the official was likely well-known because there’s no last name to indicate lineage. “Although it is not possible to determine with complete certainty that the Nathan-Melech who is mentioned in the Bible was in fact the owner of the stamp,” she says, “it is impossible to ignore some of the details that link them together.”

The second stamp reads “Ikar son of Matanyahu.” Although Matanyahu appears in the Bible and on previously unearthed stamps, Mendel-Geberovich says this is the first reference to Ikar. The person’s identity is unclear.

The Significance of This Find

Archaeologists Shalev and Godot say this discovery is important because the seals were found “inside their true archaeological context,” while other well-known seals have come from the antiquities market. The find offers insights about Jerusalem’s structure, administration and destruction, they add.

These artifacts attest to the highly developed system of administration in the Kingdom of Judah and add considerable information to our understanding of the economic status of Jerusalem and its administrative system during the First Temple period, as well as personal information about the king’s closest officials and administrators who lived and worked in the city.

The public building where the seals were found contain fine stonework as well as burned wooden beams and pottery shards. Fire would have destroyed the parchments on which the seals were used. “The destruction of this building in the fire, apparently during the Babylonian conquest of the city in 586 BCE, strengthens our understanding of the intensity of the destruction in the city,” Shalev and Godot note.

“This is an extremely exciting find for billions of people worldwide,” says Doron Spielman of the City of David Foundation. “The ongoing archaeological excavations at the City of David continue to prove that ancient Jerusalem is no longer just a matter of faith but also a matter of fact. It is truly fascinating to watch how archaeologists have uncovered more than 12 layers of Jerusalem history in what used to be a parking lot until just few years ago.”

April 2019 Issue

By
Henny Vallee
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

 

You face daunting technological challenges to equip and resource your church with the best and most affordable media solutions in this digital age. MinistryTech Magazine provides you with insights into the best church software, social media tools, giving management tools, and worship resources to enable your church to advance the gospel of Jesus in these techy times.

 

Or scroll down to read it here, click  to read full screen

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MinistryTech Magazine is dedicated to providing resources and information for those who are responsible for keeping their churches updated with the best technology. If you serve as an Administrative / Executive Pastor, Business Administrator, Communications Director, or in any other church media or technology job, you’ll find must-have ministry technology resources and connections to a community of church leaders for greater Kingdom impact worldwide.

Church leaders from every denomination find ideas, encouragement, inspiration, technological resources, and support they are looking for in MinistryTech Magazine and at MinistryTech.com. Join thousands of church leaders who look to us for resources and encouragement for church tech

Boycott Hollywood: That Time We Boycotted E.T.

By
Mike Leake
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Did you know that in 1988 evangelicals, and especially Southern Baptists (*hangs head in shame*), encouraged folks to stop buying VHS tapes of the lovable E.T.? If you’re racking your brain, as I was, trying to figure out what was so offensive about E.T., you can stop now. The problem wasn’t with the little alien, the problem was with the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ.

The National Association of Evangelicals joined together to campaign and encourage Christians to not buy the beloved family film as a show of displeasure over the other MCA/Universal film. Their goal was to significantly impact the profits of E.T., the film which MCA would expect Christians to watch, so that it would garner their attention and voice their displeasure in The Last Temptation of Christ.

Living and Dying by the Boycott

It didn’t work. And I hadn’t even heard of this boycott until a couple weeks ago when I found a gem of a book (Power Religion) tucked away in my library. It’s a compilation of articles written in the late ’80s and early ’90s by prominent Christian leaders. The book is unified around the theme of evangelicals selling out for the sake of power. I find it incredibly intriguing because of its date of composition. Reading it 30 years later is eye-opening. And I wish we would have listened. Consider this from Kenneth A. Myers:

If you live by the boycott, you may die by the boycott. If you present yourself merely as one of many patches in the pluralist American crazy quilt, you must behave with the same decorum you require of others. If you try to use coercive economic means to prevent a false Messiah from being presented in 70 millimeter Dolby stereo, then you should not expect the economic freedom to present the true Messiah in cinematic glory, if that presentation is as offensive to some fellow citizens as Scorsese’s presentation is to you. (46)

The Movement Mentality

Thankfully we’ve moved on a bit from boycotting things. But I’m not convinced that we’ve learned our lesson about power politics. If my social media feed is any indication we’re still in the midst of a culture war. And the fear-mongering is perhaps even more pronounced than it was when Myers originally wrote this article. We don’t boycott E.T. anymore. We shame, dismiss and ultimately destroy the enemy—all in the name of Jesus, of course. I think we evangelicals have wised up a bit and changed our strategy. But we haven’t yet abandoned our hope in a movement in favor of a King and His Kingdom. We still have plenty of chips in on the evangelical counter-culture movement. Again I turn to Myers, and tell me this doesn’t sound just like your social media feed:

Movements succeed by maintaining solidarity and are not friendly to reflective attention to nuance, to the statement of exceptions to generalities, or to criticism within the ranks. Instead of judging one’s orthodoxy by his or her understanding of the Person and work of Christ (theology), the movement mentality judges orthodoxy by one’s position on a particular policy or ideological principle. (47)

God help us. This is far too true. And I see this deeply within the movement that I find myself within. We’ve splintered over social justice issues. And we now measure our brothers and sisters based upon which particular camp they fall into. “Are you part of my movement?” we ask. Please, tell me this hasn’t all just been about power!

Myers continues in the chapter to show how a move away from theology to morality and then to mere ideology leads to an emptiness. He asks a probing question, “What is to prevent the evangelical movement from becoming as theologically vacant as the liberalism it once denounced?” Given the recent State of Theology, perhaps we should listen to what Myers warned against so many years ago. Yes, we evangelicals are theologically vacant.

A Path Forward?

Does this mean we’ve lost the cultural war? If we’ve lost the gospel while trying to prevent Christendom does it mean that we lost the battle decades ago? Did we fight for the wrong thing and in doing so let the main thing slip through our fingers? Perhaps. But Jesus doesn’t let his sheep go so easily. We’re broken. We have egg on our face. Maybe evangelicalism is meant to burn to the ground. But the evangel isn’t. The good news will always have a seat at the table, even if it isn’t invited. Because the gospel is always true and it doesn’t bow to any king. It’ll remain.

So what’s the path forward? It certainly isn’t boycotting E.T. nor in changing our strategies. We won’t gain much by taking white-out over our placards and replacing them with more modern quips and zingers. The path forward is likely the slow-plodding path of faithful discipleship. Bold proclamation that isn’t beholden to a party or an ideology, but simply captivated by the never-changing truth of King Jesus.

Maybe our answer should be to drop the petitions and put up Bible study sign-up sheets.

This article originally appeared here.

The Perfect Leader Doesn’t Exist

By
Joel Comiskey
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

When you look out at your current cell group and wonder, “Which of these people could lead the next group?” the correct answer is, “All of them!” Sure, some people are more ready now. Some people need to get equipped or trained. But there is no key characteristic you should look for. Quiet people can lead just as effectively as exuberant outgoing people. People with the gift of service can lead a growing group just like people with the gift of teaching or evangelism.

Jim Egli and I have been studying this question for many years. We have both discovered in separate statistical studies that particular characteristics don’t matter. In fact, every time we create a new research questionnaire we ask the small group leaders to answer basic questions about themselves. How old are they? How long have they been following Jesus? Are they married or single? Do they have a quiet or an outgoing personality? What is their primary spiritual gift? We compared leaders of different ages, varying educational levels, men and women, marrieds and singles.

We found that none of those things make a significant difference. We discovered that effective small group leaders don’t have a certain personality type, a specific gift or a specific position in life. Anyone has the potential to become a great small group leader. To be honest,  we should probably quit asking these questions because every time we look at people’s answers and compare them to the growth of their groups, we get the same results from our statistical studies.

There is no perfect leader. The perfect leader is the person who depends on Jesus and others to do the work. What matters are several key behaviors that relate to loving God and loving others. Which people in your current group can obey the two greatest commandments, to love God with all they are and to love others like they love themselves (Mark 12:28-31)? All of them can! And this means that all of them have the potential to lead a thriving small group.

Participation is the key to growth. As members participate they become ministers of Jesus Christ. They learn how to love one another, use their gifts and evangelize. They realize that it’s OK to fail—as long as they learn from their mistakes and keep trying. Jesus molds them as they minister, and they become disciple-makers in the process.

Thoughts?

This article originally appeared here.

Trust in the Providence of God: God Is Faithful

By
Ronnie Floyd
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Pastor and church leader, are you trusting that God is faithful in your life and ministry? 

Providence is God’s guidance and protection in our lives and ministries. Providence shows that God is faithful.

Pastors and church leaders teach about God’s providence to their people regularly. With a deep belief and conviction, we even counsel people about God’s guidance and protection throughout life. Yet, when it comes to our own lives and ministries, do we believe it with the same level of conviction and operate our lives and ministries accordingly? Do we make our decisions about the future God has for us based upon His providence? I promise you: God will guide and protect you in your life and ministry. 

I Have Struggled With Whether God Is Faithful. Have You?

There have been seasons in life where I struggled with understanding God’s work in my own life and ministry. I have even wondered why certain doors have closed when I thought they would be open. Providence is the friend that always reminds you that God is always working.

Conversely, I have often been overwhelmed with God’s gracious blessing, opening doors for me that I know I do not deserve. Here is what I know: God always knows what is best for me. Therefore, He protects me from things I may think are best, but in reality, God knows they are not best for me. He releases me to do things I would have never dreamed I would do in my life and ministry. Again, God is always at work in our lives. Thank you, Lord, for loving me and protecting me when I do not know how to protect myself.

Are You Trusting in God’s Sovereign Will?

In addition, God desires to work through us. People, places, provisions and experiences are all under His guidance and care. When He desires to intersect them into your life, you will see His sovereign will fulfilled.

By faith we trust in God’s sovereign will! We join Him in all He is doing.

As He invites us to join Him, trust Him. He is worthy to be trusted.

How Do We Trust That God Is Faithful in Ministry?

1. Trust in God’s providence even when things are not going well.

There is nothing easy about ministry. It is not an easy calling in life. Most pastors I know are continually under scrutiny. Pastors and church leaders are weary from constant criticism and cutting cynicism. Many have questions about their future, and at times, sense their ministry is in jeopardy. They are hoping and praying for revival in the church or deliverance from the church.

Pastor and church leader, God has not forgotten you. He is with you. He wants to teach you. I will never forget one of the most challenging times I ever faced in ministry. Through that experience, God showed me that He had me in that particular place in life to teach me. God had me there for me—more than for the church! This overwhelmed me with conviction from the Spirit of God. I learned through that experience, and many times since, that He guides, protects and provides even when things are not going well. Trust in God’s sovereign will for your life and ministry.

2. Trust in God’s providence even when you may not want to.

Oftentimes, we want to take our life and ministry into our own hands. We want to manipulate the circumstances or spin our own reality. If we are honest with one another, there are times when we struggle with anger about what we are experiencing and even with where we may be serving. How does God bless a friend’s life and ministry when my own seems to be barren? Be cautious. In ministry, jealousy and comparisons can even override our judgment.

Yet, we must trust in God’s sovereign will. At times, trusting Him and His will may be far more difficult than trying to take matters into our own hands. Trusting God in ministry involves surrendering our entire life and future to Him. We have to take our hands off of our future, leaving it all in His hands.

3. Trust in God’s providence for your future.

Trust in God’s providence for your future in life and ministry. He knows what is best for you even when you do not. He is more involved with you personally than you may even realize. He is moving in the world of today in order to prepare you for the world of tomorrow.

Pastor and church leader, I believe God has big plans for your life and future. You may not see it right now, but He is preparing you. He sees the end from the beginning. At the right time, He will raise you up and entrust you with your future. Trust God’s providential guidance and care for your life and ministry. He cares more for you than you can even imagine.

This article about God is faithful originally appeared here.

The Shortsightedness of Shortcuts—And Why It Pays to Dig Deep

By
Dan Reiland
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

With more than three decades in ministry now, I’m convinced there are no shortcuts in ministry that will help you in the long run.

Perhaps the temptation to cut corners comes from our time pressures, cool technology hacks and our drive to accomplish more. Fair enough.

I’ve even heard some leaders slide “cutting corners” into the category of working smarter not harder. Don’t believe it. We need to work smart and hard.

You might be tempted to cut corners just because you can. You are faster, smarter and more experienced than most others in the room—big mistake.

I was coaching a young student pastor who was a naturally gifted communicator, but he never prepared. He was that good. He taught from a few thoughts scratched on a 3×5 card. He winged-it every week, and in time it began to show. His wit and charisma would only carry his ministry so far, and in time it started to suffer. It was time to dig in, or his ministry would get stuck. (When the leader is stuck the ministry gets stuck.)

My challenge to him was about stewardship. God gave him talent, gifts and responsibility, but he was stewarding none of them very well. The issue wasn’t limited to just one talk or even to several years of student ministry. Shortcuts impact a whole life.

A friend of mine once said about the employees in his company, “There are two groups on our staff. In one group there are people that when faced with a technical problem they don’t know the answer to, they’ll stay up all night reading complex and detailed manuals until they figure it out. In the other group, they just come and ask for an answer. You can guess which group rises.“

The deeper you dig, learn, change and grow over many years, the greater the results.

Let’s take something more basic, but still very important. If you exercise once a week for 20 minutes is that good? Yes! 52 workouts a year is good. If you exercise three to four times a week for 30 minutes, is that better? You know the answer.

Now consider the benefit of exercising three to four times a week for a lifetime. Shortcuts never help you.

My friend and mentor John Maxwell has spent a lifetime in personal development, intentional study, working hard and paying the price. Today the results are extraordinary. His greatest joy is helping others succeed and he generously shares his wisdom with leaders who want to grow and make a difference.

The promise of compounding return is true. The more you invest, the greater the cumulative effect.

Sometimes a few more minutes in a conversation, or taking some time to figure something out yourself rather than Google it, or praying till you get an answer on a big decision will make a much bigger difference than you imagine in the moment.

When you refuse to take shortcuts, the reservoir of what you will have to offer others becomes deep and rich. It’s like a deep well of wisdom.

Sometimes more than a few extra minutes are required. There are things you’re working on that need many more hours. You can’t escape that if you want results you’ll be proud of.

What’s the secret? It’s about paying the price, but it’s so worth it. It’s the key to living without regret.

A practical help is to be laser focused. Do only the things you are required to do, and responsible for, then invest your time in what you do best. Figure out your lane and stay there for a long time.

My list is perhaps intuitive, but the brief content includes helpful practices and ideas.

5 paths where shortcuts don’t work, and practical insights that do work:

1) There are no shortcuts to meaningful relationships.

There is no substitute for time with relationships, but there is a path to increased depth and significance. When it comes to relationships, it’s not just about minutes; it’s about meaning.

Being present and engaged in the moment is a game changer. Connecting at a heart level in honest and meaningful conversation is essential. That mixed with joy, laughter and experiences together will deliver what your heart longs for.

2) There are no shortcuts to spiritual growth that transforms your relationship with God.

No preaching needed here, and no judgment either. Grace abounds. Again, don’t think in minutes, think lifestyle. Consider your lifetime and how you would approach things like prayer, scripture study and worship to be as close to God as you desire.

3) There are no shortcuts to investing in people with life-changing results.

When it comes to investing in people, love everyone, equip many and deeply develop a few. Choose wisely.

You cannot microwave the development of people, especially leaders. It requires intentionality and the long view.

The good news is that leadership development is not like a weekly program. It’s much more organic in approach. My mentors coach me a couple of times a year each. I spend the rest of the time practicing their wisdom.

I understand that developing leaders in your church requires some system and structure; however, I urge you to keep it simple.

4) There are no shortcuts to a career that makes a difference.

Let’s look at one example of dozens we could pick from.

Most of us in leadership give talks regularly. Perhaps you deliver a Sunday message nearly every week, I teach some form of a leadership lesson most weeks. We get busy, juggle many demands and get tempted to cut corners. Candidly, it’s better to say no to the opportunity or invite someone else to teach that week than to take a short cut and deliver poorly.

The important discipline on the weeks you don’t teach is to invest deeply somewhere else. Don’t use it to “catch-up” on little things that don’t matter. Make that time count. One of the best ways to invest that time is to work on your craft of communication that week, even if for just a couple of hours. Over a lifetime, the reward is huge.

5) There are no shortcuts to character that people respect.

Your integrity is a lifetime work. You can damage your character in one careless decision, but it takes a lifetime to build so that others respect it.

Traits within your character that enhance your influence such as generosity, humility and courage are the result of intentional deep development over the years. None come by accident. The good news is that they are not difficult if you set your mind to it.

So how does all this work? Do less. Go deeper, not wider. Going deep will lead to wide.

It’s not easy, I’m still working on it and will never get it all right, but I’ve done it long enough to know it works.

This article originally appeared here.

Why ‘Count It All Joy’ Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Grieve

By
Hannah Norton
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (James 1:2–3).

Growing up in the church, I heard this passage oft quoted when someone was grieved or struggling. Unfortunately, it’s a common theme among believers that grief over heartache or suffering must be short-lived if we are to prove our trust in God. Many times, it’s assumed that if we don’t quickly get past our sorrow and “find joy” (aka: appear to be happy), we’re not trusting God. I believe James had much more in mind when he wrote this, and it’s easily missed when we don’t look deeper into the original context and instead throw this piece of Bible passage out as a trite “fix-all.”

Within church culture, it’s easy to adopt the mentality that when we encounter trials, it may be acceptable to shed a few tears. Then (if we are really mature), we pull up our “big girl pants” and push the feelings away under the titles of “trusting that God has a plan” and “He will work all things out for good.” Attempting to walk in obedience to this command, we make ourselves strong, push away our hurts, and ultimately deny God the glory He deserves for working His healing in our hearts.

I have been exposed to this process so repetitively that it has become ingrained in my mind and heart as a pattern to follow. Deep emotions are uncomfortable. They are uncomfortable to me and uncomfortable for others. If I’m really trusting God, then I can be happy. I won’t continue to grieve, right?

Ironically, I don’t believe James intended for us to get the idea that we have to be strong in ourselves and ignore the difficulty and pain. He goes on to say that we should allow steadfastness (or perseverance) have its full effect so we may be mature and complete and lacking nothing. This perseverance doesn’t mean (as many of us often think) pushing forward in our faith and pushing our emotions away.

In the Greek, “perseverance” is the word hupomone, meaning “to remain or endure under.” HELPS Word-studies goes on to explain that this is a God-empowered ability given to those who believe in Him to “‘remain (endure) under’ the challenges He allots in life.” Obviously, we are not being instructed to remove ourselves from the trial by our own efforts of trusting in God. Rather it is His strength working in us that gives us the perseverance and endurance to trust Him and to allow Him to strengthen us through the struggle.

Why Grief Exists

In 1 Peter 1, Peter echoes James’ sentiments. Peter begins by laying a foundational vision of the hope we have in Christ, the power and grace of His glory, and the promises in which we can rest assured. Then, he continues, comparable to James’ admonition to “count it all joy”: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6).

Hold on a second. Peter brings up the reality of the process, of the emotion in the midst of the trials. We have been grieved! This word “grieved” in the Greek is lupeo, which means to experience deep emotional pain, sorrow or intense sadness. (Ladies, it’s the same word that’s used to describe the pain of childbirth. How is that for a visual?)

But Peter doesn’t stop there. He continues that this grief (not our own efforts to count it all joy) exists so that the tested genuineness of our faith may bring Christ all the praise and the glory. And that’s our ultimate aim, right? As believers, we’re called to image and glorify Christ on this earth—not ourselves. I’ve found that if I put forth my own effort to trust God, apart from relying on Him, I deny the power of God in my life. In my pride, I believe I have what it takes to live the life of faith.

However, if I’m willing to patiently endure the process of sorrow (by the grace God supplies), walking through each phase with Him, I experience His comfort, His peace and His presence in ways that are never possible when I choose to “count it all joy” in my own strength and remove myself from feeling those deep emotions. Ultimately, He—not I—will get the glory when He brings me to the other side, full of inexpressible and glorious joy!

This concept goes against everything that has been ingrained in me for so long. Grief typically equals tears. And I don’t like tears so much—at least not my own. Tears are often translated as weakness in our Christian culture. I’m a strong person if I can hold myself together. Now, tears are OK for babies, for kids, but I am a grown-up. I shouldn’t cry, should I?

Tears Are Good

As I was processing through this concept, I came across the video “The Healing Power of Tears,” and it opened my eyes to why crying may be a positive and not a negative.

Why We Envy Bi-Vocational Pastors

By
Joe McKeever
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

“Because (Paul) was of the same trade, he stayed with (Aquila and Priscilla) and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers” (Acts 18:3).

“I had a right to be supported by the churches,” said the Apostle Paul. “But I did not exercise that right, but supported myself” (I Corinthians 9).

Some churches pay their ministers enough to allow them to quit their “day jobs,” as we call them, and devote their full time to the service of the church and the work of the Kingdom.

Other churches cannot afford that privilege. And some churches and pastors choose the dual arrangement for reasons of their own.

I remember the day when my church began paying me full-time. It was like dying and going to Heaven, I thought. For the first three years of our marriage, while pastoring a small church and then attending seminary, I worked in the production office of a cast iron pipe factory, worked in the office of a trucking line, and worked in the office of a soft-drink bottling company. Suddenly, all that went away when a church called me as pastor and paid enough to live one.

I loved the idea of being able to serve the Lord and His church 24/7.

All around us, however, are ministers—pastors and other positions of leadership—who, for one reason or the other, hold down outside jobs and serve the church at night and on weekends. We call them bi-vocational. What we do not call them is”part-time.” Ask their families. They’ll often tell you the parent works two full-time jobs, with the income from the church being partial.

Here are some reasons many of us admire and perhaps envy (just a tad) the bi-vocational pastor…

One. They are practically immune to the tactics of church bosses who would strong-arm them with, “Do this or we’ll fire you!” I say “practically,” because a) no minister likes to be put in that position and b) not every bi-vocational minister can live on the income from the outside job.

Two. They have a certain freedom in not being dependent on the church paycheck. My first pastorate—I was fresh out of college, clueless about pastoring, and eager for some experience before heading to seminary—paid me $10 a week. But my tithe to the church was $12. The numbers seem ridiculous now, but that was 1961-62 when a person could live on $100 a week.

Three. Ministers who work in the secular world have opportunities for evangelism they would not have if they were confined to the church office for many hours a day.

Four. When the bi-vo pastor enters the pulpit, he brings a certain credibility to his preaching as a result of having to earn his living the same way everyone else does. (Granted, this is not an issue for most people. But it matters to some.)

Five. They may have better financial resources to fund their retirement.

Six. They may also have health insurance which a small church would be unable to fund. These days, the cost of health care for a church staff can be a massive burden on the church budget.

Seven. They are motivated to disciple people and train volunteers since the pastor will not always be available to the congregation.

Eight. The pastor is automatically forced/driven out of his office and into the community.

More reasons to come—in just a second. But we interrupt this flow of “reasons we envy bi-vo pastors” to make two important statements…

  1. There are serious negatives to being a bi-vocational pastor, among them these: The minister may not be available when a church family needs him; often he does not get the seminary training he wishes he had and feels he needs; he thinks of a hundred things he’d love to do in the church but does not have the time, energy or means. So, there are serious limitations.
  2. Also! In no way are we saying that a pastor holding down an outside job is superior to the church paying him full-time. Even though some denominations make a huge issue of their not paying their ministers, Scripture says they should. (See I Corinthians 9, Galatians 6:6 and I Timothy 5:17-18.)

Nine. One bi-vo pastor pointed out that “the opportunity to model Christlikeness to everyone, to disciple a few, and to witness to many” was a constant plus for him.

Ten. A pastor who is no longer bi-vo says he misses the daily inspiration for sermons that used to come at him fast and furiously in the “working world.”

Eleven. Another formerly bi-vo man said, “I got to see first-hand who what I preached on Sunday applied and worked out on Monday.”

Twelve. The bi-vo pastor finds that he is being watched every day by co-workers and others. “I was held to a higher standard as a result of being bi-vocational,” one pastor said.

When my teenage granddaughter told me she was preparing for a career as an artist with the Walt Disney people, I told her about a man I had met who worked for Disney/Pixar. He told me, “It sounds like more than it is. The work is often seasonal, depending on whether there’s a movie in the works. So, we have to have other ways to supplement our income.” So I wrote to Darilyn to say, “Plan on having a day job!”

Ministers are not the only ones who have to juggle jobs and assignments.

(One more thing: Pardon the pronouns please. In my part of the world, all our ministers are male. But I am aware many churches have women in leadership, so please use any of this you can with our blessing. Thank you.) 

This article originally appeared here.

‘Unplanned’ Overcomes Obstacles to Have Surprising Success at the Box Office

By
Jessica Lea
-
thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Unplanned, the new movie from faith-based production company Pure Flix, surprised many by opening in fifth place at the box office this past weekend and earning over $6 million dollars. The film tells the story of Abby Johnson, who worked for Planned Parenthood for eight years until seeing an abortion ultimately led her to become a pro-life advocate.

“It’s a little surreal, if I’m honest, to watch someone play out the worst version of yourself in a film,” Johnson told CBN News. “But it’s also just a good reminder that God can literally use anything from our past and use it for his glory and use it for his kingdom.”

Unplanned raked in twice the amount of money box office trackers expected it to gross in its opening weekend. It played in 1,059 theaters throughout the U.S. and did best in the southern and midwestern parts of the country. At this time, Unplanned has earned the second highest opening of any Pure Flix film, with God Is Not Dead 2 holding the top position. Although critics have given the film a splat on Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a 94 percent audience approval rating.

Challenges Along the Way

One reason why some have not expected the film to be successful is the marketing difficulties it has faced. The MPAA gave the film an R-rating, which is the first R-rating Pure Flix has ever received and which led to speculation that the company’s conservative audience would be reluctant to see the movie. Another roadblock the company faced was the fact that every major television network except for Fox News refused to air a commercial promoting the film. The networks that commented on their reasoning said their decisions were due to its “sensitive nature.”

Even Christian radio network K-Love would not promote Unplanned, stating on its Facebook page, “We focus on positive and encouraging content that is safe for the whole family. We avoid promoting R-rated movies… We have been and continue to be pro-life and believe in the sanctity of life.” Johnson criticized the decision, saying that K-Love is being inconsistent because in the past it promoted The Passion of the Christ, an R-rated film. Something else of note that occurred over the weekend is that Twitter suspended the movie’s account. While some have accused Twitter of doing so out of bias, it is not clear whether that is the case or whether there was another reason, such as an algorithm glitch.

The Importance of Truth and Compassion

In a statement to ABC News, Planned Parenthood said that Unplanned portrays “falsehoods…distortions and incorrect depictions about healthcare.” Johnson counters that the movie is portraying the truth of what happens at Planned Parenthood. The point of the film is not to “demonize” the clinics or the people who work in them, but to show the reality of what abortion is.

She also acknowledges that the pro-life movement itself isn’t perfect: “There is right and wrong on both sides of this debate and that’s really a story that I wanted to tell.” Part of telling that story is also being willing to acknowledge her own flaws. Johnson says, “I’m being honest because if we aren’t honest about who we are and the flaws that we have, then there is really no credibility to the story that we are sharing… In the end, dialogue, conversation, compassion—that’s truly what wins people over.”

This review of the film from a pro-choice writer for the Central Florida Post illustrates the importance of empathy and constructive dialogue. Bridgette Bayley describes the movie as “a bloody, emotional spiritual roller coaster” and says she only went to see it because of her friend, who asked Bayley to be willing to challenge herself. Bayley says she agreed to go in light of the fact that she would want someone to do the same for her. She appreciated that the movie was empathetic in its portrayal of Planned Parenthood workers, and while she has not changed her pro-choice position after seeing Unplanned, Bayley does say the movie left her “completely distraught, questioning everything I had ever believed about what abortion really was.”

Johnson told ABC that this type of awareness is essentially what she hopes the film will accomplish: “If you’re going to support something, know what it is that you support… I think it’s time though for even people who are pro-choice to have honest conversations. Is there a problem inside of the abortion clinics that they claim to support? That’s a real conversation that needs to be taking place within the pro-choice community.”

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