My Website

I started my own website. You can click here to go there. While there, if you like my blog, download a free copy of the rough draft of my book. It is only the first four chapters, but hey, its free! If the click through link isn't working for some reason, the URL is: www.burlwalker.com

What are you doing?

OK, so you have a church. What is its purpose? Who is it trying to reach? I know that all churches have some things in common. They at least should have in common that they are trying to reach people for Jesus Christ and disciple those people and most likely be a place of fellowship for believers. Beyond that, there are differences. Example: if you are trying to reach out to young urban professionals, would you really want to start your church in a barn or a rodeo arena? However, if your target is to reach cowboys, that might be the perfect place. Some things to keep in mind as you plant a church or redefine the church you have just started pastoring...or even just realized something needs to change because you have been in a downhill rut for years in the church you are a leader at.
1. Know what you are about. If you don't have a passionate call from God to reach the people you are trying to reach, then why should they come to a laissez faire church? Like writing a blog, if the church doesn't offer quality content, then there is to much competition for their time. They won't waste it on a church just because it has a building and a sign out front.
2. Be proactive in evangelism. You can't expect people to come through the doors of your church on their own. They need a reason to come. Some will occasionally come because they are family of the people already there, but to reach the rest of the community, it is important to go to them. There are thousands of ways to do that, but the important thing is that you are reaching out beyond the walls of the church.
3. Don't rely on tradition to bring them in. This may just be a continuation of point 2, but just because peoples parents are from the Church of God of Methodibapticostal Episconazaratholic doesn't mean that they will follow in those footsteps unless they have a reason to. This is also a point to look at what you are currently doing. Is your church doing X program because it is effectively helping you reach one of the goals of the church like reaching out to the community or discipling believers, or is X program in place just because as long as grandma has been there in that church that is the way it has been done?
4. Help your congregation find their passions. Most people have them they just need help focusing their passion. They need leadership, and that is where you as a pastor or church leader come in.

I hope this gave you a few ideas for kick starting your church if you were in a slump and if you are a church planter, my hat is off to you! Hope this helped you too.

Starbucks and Churches...

Ok, so what can we learn as church leaders from a place like Starbucks? They have a site called, My Starbucks Idea On this site you can submit ideas for ways Starbucks could improve their service, or a new product they could offer, or another way to improve their company. You can vote on other people's ideas, discuss those ideas with other customers. So Starbucks, through this site now knows, what their customers like, what they don't like and what they want that Starbucks doesn't currently offer! Now, as a church, we aren't going to change the Gospel of Jesus Christ to fit people's taste. But, what if the suggestions are simple? It broadens the idea of a creativity team to the entire church, entire community... People might tell you that the very creative (so you thought) spotlight that you just installed for the choir is really blinding the first three rows to the left of the platform. (Pulled that example out of thin air, my church doesn't even have a choir, but you get the point.) People often see things in a church that the Senior pastor and the pastoral staff of a church don't see. Sometimes we become so comfortable in "the way things are" that we forget what it is like to be a new person trying to find the nursery, or trying to find offering envelopes, or how communion cups are to be handled after communion... Having a forum on your church's website, or an old fashioned comment box, might be a way to help out the pastoral staff without adding cost to your staff budget. One other lesson to learn from the Starbucks site is the "see" part of the site where you can look at the most popular ideas and what is being done about implementing them. People want to see that comments are taken seriously. Does that mean that every suggestion is immediately or ever put into practice? Of course not, but it does mean that people will see that suggestions are not just thrown away. The good ones are looked at seriously and the great ones are put into practice. Anyway, just my thoughts...I think I need a Chai Tea.

Policies and Procedures

It seems in most churches that there are countless policies and procedures. Some of those are written, some are not. The question I want us to consider today is: Why is it so easy to write a policy, but seemingly difficult to change one once it is in place? In your church, is there a way to change or challenge existing policies without causing a church split? I am not talking about challenging the deity of Jesus Christ. I am more referring to things that the senior pastor may not realize. Example, a couple weeks ago, we had a guest speaker. Our pastor sat in the congregation and took notes along with the rest of us. At staff meeting the next day he remarked that the pens that we give out with the bulletins don't write well. We decided then as a staff that new pens were not an out of the question change and set about ordering some new ones. Now, if our senior pastor hadn't had occasion to sit in the congregation and use one of our pens; How long would it have been before a change would have been made? (I am looking at and thinking about our own church's policy/procedure as I write this.) The funny or not so funny thing is that each of us in the room knew that the pens weren't that great, but hadn't rocked the boat to look for new ones anytime recently. (We still have a case of the old ones that haven't been used up yet.) Pens are just an example, but it makes a few points come to life.
1. If you are a senior pastor. Take a Sunday to sit in the congregation and watch how your church operates from a different point of view. Let an associate speak or bring in someone from the outside, but other than the speaker, let things go on as normal. (Other than that, you will get a twisted view of the service if everything is done up specially for the guest speaker.)
2. If you are not the senior pastor. Remember that your senior pastor isn't in every ministry area of the church. There may be a glaring or not so glaring problem that needs to be changed that he quite simply is not aware even exists. Let him know. It helps if instead of just pointing out the problem, you also have a solution in hand.

Have an awesome day!

Preaching Questions

Here is a questions for pastors who preach. For those who don't know, I am the Connections Pastor at my church; which means I never preach from our platform. I have only spoken from it once, and that wasn't preaching a sermon. I love when I do get the chance, but that isn't what God has called me to do in this chapter of my life. Here are some questions for pastors who do preach. When you put a sermon together, what are you trying to accomplish? Are you just telling people something that is true? (If you are taking your sermons from the Bible like many pastors in the country, the sermon should be something that is true.) Do you present helpful information? While it may be true that Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim were the sons of Javan, most people do not find that information relevant helpful information to their getting through life in this century. Sermons need to address subjects that will help people in their lives. Thirdly, are they engaging? A sermon can be true and present helpful information but in a manner that quite helpfully cures insomnia. If people are going to see God changing lives, they need to want to hear about God's love for them. They won't do that if they feel like church is just a place for a nice hour nap on a Sunday morning. Look over your sermons, are they True, Helpful and Engaging? If not, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.

Rethinking Church...

Before I write anything on this topic, I must first confess that I am church cultured all the way through. I have been in church since the first Sunday after my mother and father created me. Nine months or so later, I became a regular in the church nursery. You get the picture. In the world of business, a lot is changing, old business models aren't necessarily working as well as they once did. Technology and the internet have made it possible for people to make business connections that were nearly impossible 5o years ago. So, my question is, how is that affecting the church? Should it? While the message we have to give away must remain constant through time, the way in which that message is given must be ever evolving and changing if we are to reach this generation for Christ! Pastors, we are awful about finding something that works and sticking with it long after it has ceased to work. Flannel board was all the rage and the newest and coolest way to reach people with the love of Jesus about 40 years ago. Fanny Crosby wrote incredible hymns that were put to the popular music of her day in the later half of the 1800's. Overhead projectors shining the lyrics to "Majesty" up on the front wall of the church were great in the 1980's! None of those things are bad. None of them will send anyone to hell. So why wouldn't we keep using them in church? (Some churches still do.)The sinner on the street wouldn't connect with the method in which the message was portrayed. Fanny Crosby herself said that her songs were written to speak to the man on the street, not to the highbrow church person. I am not just writing about music. Fellowship is meant to be relational. We can worship together in a large church, but fellowship only happens in small groups. How do we as a church, unless your church is only 10-15 people, continue to reach out to people while also creating environments in which small groups can assemble and spend time getting to know each other in very real relationships? At our church, we use a small group model that we call "Home TEAMs". They are great! The problem is that less than 25% of our congregation are actively involved in one. That means that 75% basically show up on Sunday for a worship service and never experience the meaningful relationships that Christ meant for His Body - The church, to share.
Going back to the idea of rethinking business. Often 80% of your customers only account for 20% of your profit/income. In the church, we often say that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Nice to see that isn't only a church problem, but is it possible to get the other 80% actively involved in the work of the Lord? Yes it is! Here is my "Rethinking church" idea. We often refer to certain organizations as "para-church organizations" or "faith based organizations" I would propose that maybe some of these are really undercover churches. An example: I used to work as a volunteer with a group of theaters in the Midwest called Stained Glass Theatre. They put on plays using volunteer actors. All the shows contained a strong salvation message, but were not "Bible stories". (Except for very few.) This group of stage hands/script writers/actors/editors/...were a fellowship of people who loved the Lord and loved theatre. Through that ministry and its offshoots, thousands of people have come to know Jesus as their Savior. Thousands more have had their walk with the Lord strengthened, and I am only referring to the spectators! The people who were in the theatre, were all working toward a common goal. Some had big jobs, others little ones, but all were involved with a purpose. When one is sick or hurting all are their to comfort and help. When one rejoices, all rejoice. Is SGT perfect? No! But were real meaningful relationships build every day? Yes! People found fellowship with other Christians and with God there. So is it a church? You can decide that one...maybe we should look at that model though, and see how it can affect our church. Having a common goal and purpose, and each person having his or her role in carrying out that goal can cause a revolution in Christendom. Sorry this one is so long. Have an awesome day! Hopefully you are thinking a bit.

Snowballs

Yesterday, there actually was a short snow fall here in South Carolina in April,but that isn't what I am talking about today. If you have followed this blog or my Home TEAM blog, you know that our church just put together an Egg Drop event in Easley, SC. It was a great success...which means we are already working on the next events. Yes Plural. Next year, we will be doing a bigger, better Egg Drop on March 27th! Mark your calendar! Currently, though other than having reserved the field for next March, I am working on some smaller events. May 17th is Tennis Shoe Sunday! May 24th is our Outdoor Baptism! We are planning for a big day there! July 4th is a big block party event in the parking lot at 5 Point Fellowship! It takes time to put together a great event! If you are a leader in your church, you will quickly find out that those events that you just "throw together" look like exactly that. Spend the time and money to do everything your church does with excellence! Oh, and if you are wondering why a church is involved in city event planning...Sunday morning about 10 people gave their hearts to the Lord! Many new visitors have come because they attended one of our community events. Have fun in your community showing people the love of Jesus Christ and then see what happens!

A picture from the Egg drop.

Here is a picture of one of the 5 fields during the egg drop. As you can see...a lot of people were having a great time. This field had about 30-50,000 eggs on it...and was picked clean in about 3 minutes. The kids are ages 4 and under on this field, so the parents were allowed to go with them.

Friday Morning

It is the day before the big event! The egg drop you have been reading about for the last month or so. All has come together wonderfully! Of course the next 36 hours or so will be very busy, but it is great to see it all working! Hundreds of awesome volunteers have come together to accomplish vast quantities of work that I could never have gotten done alone! This morning, a man who used to go to our church delivered over 2000 hotdog buns! It is great to see even people who aren't going to 5 Point Fellowship getting involved in reaching out to the community! Do something different to reach your city or community for Christ this year! Love on people outside the walls of your church and see how God will work!

Easter Egg Drop

As April 4th comes closer and closer, it is amazing to me to see how many people are stepping up to volunteer time, money and possessions to help make the event happen! One of the things that really is amazing is that people who just got saved and/or just started attending our church are jumping in with two feet and signing up to help out! This morning, I got an e-mail from a man who saw the ad in the paper and wanted more information. He is new to the area and is just looking for something for his 5 year old daughter. I look forward to meeting him. And even if I don't get to, it is great to know that he will get to meet many of the wonderful people from our church and I pray that he will feel the love of the Lord as he has a great free day with his daughter. For all of you who are volunteering, I can't thank you enough!

Reflections on Sunday

This last week we had over 600 again! It is great being a part of a church that is growing by leaps and bounds! People are giving of their time and money which is allowing this church to do some crazy things for God! As we gear up for the Egg Drop on April 4th, it is great to see how the church pulls together for an event. Everything from stuffing eggs with candy to picking up supplies to doing advertising campaigns. At last count, we have between 150 and 200 volunteers signed up to help with the event!If you think of an old saying that 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work, it is great to see about 40 percent doing the work. (If you remember that 200 of the 600 people in our church are in our children's ministry.)Wherever you are reading this from, if you aren't involved in your local church ministry, I encourage you to do so! It is amazing, even in a small church how much it will encourage your pastor to find he has someone volunteering to help out before he even has to ask!

Desert Times/Transition Times

I was just thinking about Moses wandering in the desert. I have heard pastors say they feel like such and such a time was their time in the desert. So lets look at the bright side of desert wandering. Look at the desert as the transition time between where they were, Egypt, and where they would end up, Israel/The Promised Land. It took some work to get the people out of Egypt! Remember the plagues?! Then, as Moses and the people of Israel are out in the desert, there are those church members (Oops, I mean Israelite people) who want to go back to the way things used to be. However, even in the desert, some of the greatest experiences took place! God gave Moses the 10 Commandments in the desert, not in Egypt or the Promised Land! Please, as a pastor don't take this example to far and think (((Great, so my job is to lead through the desert, and then God is going to need someone else to take my congregation to their promised land.))) However, It probably does mean that you will need to make changes in your leadership style! Doing things they way they have always been done tends to give you the same results you have been getting...or worse, not better. Just remember in any change out of Egypt, there is some transitioning desert time of struggle and complaining before you get to the Promised Land. Where ever you are in this journey, praise the Lord that He is allowing you to lead a group of people there!

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!

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.

Lone Ranger or A-Team?

This post is more for pastors, but Lay leaders still might want to read it. Pastor, are you a Lone Ranger or part of an A-Team is the question we are looking at. If you aren’t in the right age bracket for those references to make sense, The Lone Ranger fought crime by himself (though he did have a sidekick) and the A-Team was a group of guys who fought as a team, each one adding his level of expertise. I am not talking about how many people you have on staff. Some of you have a small church, and you are the staff. What I am talking about is running your church and sermon preparation. Are you trying to do it all by yourself? I want to suggest, if you aren’t already doing it that you try having a creativity team/big picture team/ideas team or whatever you want to call it. That doesn’t mean that God isn’t still your source of inspiration for your sermons. But it does mean that once you have the direction for your sermon that there will be people to help you in the planning. If you use video clips, they can help you get or create good ones to go with your sermon. They can help you pick out music for the song service that ties into the sermon topic. If you decorate your platform for a sermon or series, they can help you come up with ways to do it, and help carry out that decoration. These people don’t have to be paid staff, just find creative people in your church that love the Lord and would be willing to meet with you at some time during the week. As people see how things come together in your church they will be more supportive of you as a pastor as well. This works in a church of 20 or a church of 20,000. Granted in the church of 20, if your creativity team is very large, there won’t be very many people who haven’t already hashed out your sermon with you before Sunday morning comes, but so what? They are involved, and they will remember the sermon better than if they just came Sunday morning and listened to it. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” This doesn’t have to only apply to the Sunday morning worship service.
If you disagree with me on this, please comment! If you are using a creativity team in your church, please comment too! And if you aren’t, but want to start one, try it out, then come back and comment later once you have! I would love to hear feedback on this one….I don’t want to be a Lone Ranger blogger!