Empty or Full?

There are times in church leadership when we feel like we are trying to pour out of an empty glass. It is in those times that we most need to spend less time doing and more time with God! Only HE can give us the spiritual fill up that we need to be able to pour our lives into other people without ending up with an empty tank. If you are anything like me, as life gets busy, it becomes harder and harder to spend time praying and in God's Word that isn't related to the job part of the ministry. (Yes, I am speaking to myself.) Do whatever it takes to carve time in the schedule to spend quality time with God every day so that we are pouring out from a glass that is overflowing rather than almost empty. Have a great day with God!

Praise in Sorrow

If you read my last post about the accident, it turned out that the fatality was a student from our school. A young lady named Tiffany lost her life which causes many of her friends and her family to be in mourning. There is a silver lining. I looked up her facebook picture just to see if she was who I thought she was. (Not someone I knew well, she was a name and face I recognized on campus.) Her "Status" was that she was praising God that her father had finally accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart as his Savior. For those unfamiliar with facebook, "Status" is a one line post about you that comes up on your profile page. It is updated often by users. This particular status post was from the night before her accident. The great news here is that she will see her father again in eternity now!

This Morning

This morning on my way to work, I heard the news pop in at the top of the hour on my favorite radio station. One ten second news blurb suddenly caught my attention. It was a fatal car wreck, but the part that grabbed my attention was that it is the street corner by the school where I teach. I still don't know who died, but it made me think. People die every minute in this world, but it often isn't until we are or, like in the case of the wreck this morning, could be affected by an event that we really take notice. That hit me like a ton of bricks! How often do we overlook people who represent souls going to hell just because they don't directly affect our lives? Those people are somebody to someone, and God's will is that none should perish! Let us get the blinders off and reach out to people beyond our circle of friends and family. (In this blog, I am mostly preaching to myself...if you are along for the ride, bless you!)

Stepping out of the box

If you keep up with my blog, you know that I work with small group ministries at my church. Recently, in recruiting new leaders, I talked with a couple who I thought would make a great pair to host a new Home TEAM(our name for small groups). They were interested, and then pitched an idea to me. "What about a group for blended families?" I was pleased with their initiative and so we began working out the details. During those weeks, I did some checking because honestly, I know nothing about blended families beyond watching the Brady Bunch when I was a kid. There are no step or half anybodies in my family. I came across some interesting statistics. 30% of marriages in the United States create a blended family situation. As we know, the divorce rate in the church sadly is no different than outside the church, so chances are that there are blended families in any congregation. As I began reading about some of the issues they face, I realized that what started out as an idea from one couple who want to be Home TEAM leaders could end up being an incredible ministry! As I look around my own church, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that at least 20% of our congregation are in some kind of blended family situation, and the reality is that I am probably very low on that statistic. I am writing as someone who knows nothing of the struggles these families face except from what I have read. Many pastors and church leaders are like me in this respect, so maybe this blog entry will trigger a new idea for your congregation. Have a great day!

Small Group/Home Group Ideas...

How many of you have started some sort of small group ministry, but then wonder how to get people involved. Invitations and group Link type meeting aren't working, so now what? Here is a simple idea that we have used that seems to work very well. Even a personal invitation to a home group can sometimes be threatening to a new person. The idea is to invite them out for lunch. Maybe even invite another person or couple from your group as well. They get to know you and someone else from the group prior to coming to the Home Group. That way, they aren't stepping into a new house not knowing anyone in the group. You are probably saying "That's it?". Sorry, no great program or DVD series, just making connections with people live and in person. Have an awesome day!

MLK Day!

This year, Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday has a very special ring to it. This week, our nation will inaugurate the first black president in the history of the United States of America. Even for those of us who did not vote for him due to political differences still acknowledge the great historical event that is occurring. We also must pray for Barrack Obama. When we agree with him, we must pray for him and work to support him. When we don't agree with him, we must pray that his mind will be opened to see the truth. (Assuming we are right on that particular issue.) God tells us to pray for our leaders in 1 Timothy 2: 1-2 and He also reminds us that "The kings heart is in the hand of the Lord" Proverbs 21:1. I realize that Obama will be president, not king, but he is still the ruler of the country. His heart is in God's hands. Celebrate this week of success! Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, and that dream is one step closer to being a reality! And enjoy the day off if you got it!

Feeling very blessed!

Do you ever feel sorry for yourself. You start thinking, if I didn't work for a church or not-for-profit I could earn a descent salary and buy a big house, new car, cool shiny stuff? OK, maybe you don't, but I admit that I occasionally have those thoughts. This morning, I was reading a magazine article about a guy who pastors a homeless church. I don't mean that his church has a ministry to the homeless, or that they run a soup kitchen. His entire church is homeless people. Then the next article I read was about a guy ministering to AIDS patients in Uganda. Suddenly, I felt very convicted for ever having the aforementioned thoughts. God is so very good to me! Just the fact that I haven't had to miss a meal for financial reasons and that I have a roof over my head and a car that runs make me part of the richest group of people in the world. Sure, I am not rich by American standards, but compared to the whole planet, I am filthy rich! I pray that God will help me to be more generous with what He has blessed me with. Have a great day!

Why use small groups?

For those who follow my blog, you know that I work with the small group ministry at my church. We call them Home TEAMs, but the name doesn't matter much. What is important is that people's lives are being changed. People are getting involved with other people in meaningful relationships and growing in their relationships with God as they work together. If your church is growing beyond the 60-100 size, you are probably starting to see that you no longer know everyone. There are two solutions. One is to not invite any more people to your church and thus keep it small so that you can continue to have great relationships with all the members. The other option is to be excited about the growth of the church and all the people's lives that are being changed by the Lord and at the same time create environments in which people can connect on a more personal level. There isn't one perfect model. In my own church, we have multiple types of small groups. Some are ladies only, some are men only, some are couples, some meet every week, some twice a month, some once a quarter, some are related to a theme like "the band" which plays music every Sunday for our worship service, some are classes like the one we currently have going which is a Marriage Enrichment class based on the movie and curriculum from Fireproof. All of these groups have different purposes, but all meet the need of helping people connect in a smaller group setting where they can build friendships and relationships with others. There are many other options, in a traditional church, there are Sunday school classes, or the choir. These can be excellent if opportunity is given for those relationships to be built. There is no need to suddenly stop what you are doing now, but you might look and see if there are opportunities to help people build meaningful relationships in your church to help combat the busy American lifestyle that doesn't lend itself well to having close friends.

Obama and the Church.

This really isn't a political blog despite the title. I was just reading an article about Obama's plans for after he takes office next week. It struck me that whether you agree with him or not politically or economically, his plans are ambitious! We as church leaders can learn from that. When people look back on us in history, will they say, "That generation played it safe and accomplished nothing for the Lord." or will they say, "That generation took amazingly ambitious risks, dreamed big, and with God's help made incredible gains for God's kingdom." I trust it will be the latter. Sometimes we will make mistakes, but it is better to try and fail than to never accomplish anything. Even things as simple as sharing your faith with a coworker involve a certain amount of risk. We must try! Even if we "fail" they have at least been given the oportunity to know that Jesus loves them. Have a wonderful day, and learn something from Obama...take a risk!

Lessons fom David

This morning I was reading a story we all know well about David going to fight Goliath. The part that struck me today is that though David walked in the confidence of God Almighty, he went against all contemporary wisdom of his day. Notice though that once he defeated Goliath, all the men of Israel gave chase to the Philistines. In today's wold, sometimes God will call us to do things that may fly in the face of contemporary wisdom of our day. Yet, when it works, there will be many who flock to follow and cash in on the victory. David wasn't without a plan, but he did do something that everyone else thought he was crazy to undertake! Have fun facing your giants...though like David, you must make sure the Lord is on your side first.

Lost People...

My church is in the Bible belt, and so it might seem to outsiders that everyone down here in South Carolina are already Christians. Here is the truth; There are enough lost people to fill the churches in our town many times over! For to long churches have been about seeing themselves grow and so they start a new neat program that gets a few people to transfer membership from the church down the road and they at the same time fight to stay ahead of the other churches so that their own members don't transfer away. That is a horrible way to grow a church! When our churches remember that the number one goal of God's people is to reach out to lost sinners, then the church will grow! Like D.L. Moody said, "It is the greatest pleasure of living to win souls to Christ." That zeal to win souls on his part helped lead thousands if not millions of people to the Lord! That was a huge revival! If you want to see growth in your church, reach the lost in your community and your church will explode. (Warning: Baby Christians are messy and will screw up your perfect programs!)

Connections!

We all know by now that people come to church not just because the preacher does an incredible job of applying God's word to our lives or because the choir sings so well the angels are jealous or because the sanctuary is wonderful and pristine in its decorations or that it is a perfect doctrinal match for them. People come join with a church often because of the connections they make there. One of the reasons the landscape is dotted with small churches is because half the people in the church are related and the other half are their friends. The connections are there! In a church that is growing, you soon run into the obstacle of people coming in, loving the service yet still not coming back after a few weeks. They didn't get connected to those around them. So what is the quick fix? Get friendlier greeters and ushers? No, your greeters and ushers are most likely friendly enough. (If they aren't then you have other issues to deal with.) There isn't a quick fix. The long hard fix is to find ways to connect people with new believers who come into your church. There isn't one perfect way to do that. Some churches have great Sunday School programs! My church doesn't even have Sunday School, but our Home TEAM's are exploding! Please don't take that to mean that we have it all figured out...we still have a long way to go! I have a friend whose wife absolutely despises small groups/home groups...but they love singing in the choir at their church and have established life long friendships with those in the choir. We as humans have to fight against our habit forming nature to reach out to the new people who come through the doors of our churches to help them connect to others. If you are a pastor, mentor your church leaders to reach out rather than standing in a circle talking to each other on Sunday Mornings. Invite people over to your house for lunch or to go out to eat with you after church. Only by getting involved in people's lives outside of Sunday mornings will we be able to effectively reach them with the gospel and then keep them in a relationship that will help them connect to God and to each other. Have an awesome day!

Connections!

This is an incredibly busy week! And that is AWESOME! The part of my job that I absolutely love is helping people connect to God and to each other. The busy part of this week is that tonight, the men of the church are getting together to meet with a missionary and investigate helping out with his mission next summer. So Connection will happen there! Then tomorrow night is a Home TEAM meeting which is temporarily at my house. Connections again! Thursday night is nothing, and my wife works, so the dog and I can just veg out! Friday night is the start of a brand new Home TEAM for young couples! Connections will be started there! Saturday night is date night with my wife! Definite connection possibility there! Sunday night, I am teaching the New Believer's class. Connections again! Monday night, we are having a leadership/vision casting meeting with the church staff and some of the lay leaders in the church. Connections will be made there! As you can see, it is a busy week, but I am jacked up! People will be connecting with God and with each other at each of these events! God is awesome! When we seek Him, He gives us the desires of our hearts! As I see people draw closer to God and grow in their relationship with Him, the desire of my heart is fulfilled! When I see people loving each other in community and not just "doing church", it thrills me! In your church, are you helping people to connect to God and to each other?

Reflections on Sunday.

This week, we had a wonderful Sunday! The morning services went well with a decent attendance. Then Sunday evening, we were offering a free showing of the movie Fireproof. It is a great movie and I was excited to see a packed house! Our church is an old movie theater, so it makes sense for us to use movies to reach out to our community. The great thing was that as I welcomed people in, only about 1/2 of them were people who go to our church. The rest were a mix of church people who just wanted to go out to a good clean movie, and unsaved people who were just there for something free to do and had heard it was a good movie. We used it as a kick off for a new Sunday evening series on marriage improvement using the curriculum designed to go with the Fireproof movie. The point of this blog is to share with you some success, but more importantly, to challenge your church to use its facilities in a way that makes sense in your community. Not everyone is meeting in an old theater...(Which is a good thing.) Take a new look at what your church has to offer the community. Take a bold step and see if the "if you build it they will come" principle will work. Also, if you haven't seen the movie Fireproof, it has a great salvation message and a wonderful message of redeeming a seemingly hopeless marriage. I highly recommend it. If you have a young couples group in your church, it could be a great activity to get together at someone's house and show it. Have an awesome day! I hope you have some new thoughts for your ministry.