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.

Freedom Fest 4th of July!

This Saturday, our church, like many churches around our great country, is throwing a great big party for the 4th of July. Part of my job at the church is coordinating events like this. Today, I was getting the last of things together and two volunteers came in and offered to help me set up the "staging area" (A nice word for putting all the stuff that goes to one area on Saturday, in one pile in the church lobby). With their help, what would have taken me hours to do only took about 45 minutes! Earlier in the day, I was unloading a truck full of water, and a friend stopped by and helped carry cases of water. Others helped unload some stage platforms. God is great at sending help when we need it! There are so many incredible volunteers that make events like this possible! If you are one of them and reading this, whether you are volunteering for my church or another one, I want to tell you Thank You! Without all you guys pitching in, things like this would never happen! Oh, and if you are looking for something to do on Saturday, July 4th in Easley, SC, just swing by 5 Point Fellowship anytime after 3:30 and enjoy the fun! Everything is free! Inflatable rides, Thomas the Train, Rock Climbing, Bungee Swings, Hotdogs, Snowcones, Cotton Candy, Popcorn, Drinks, lots of smiles... Hope to see you there!

Some thoughts on Acts Chapter 5

Acts 5: Verses 12-16 seem almost impossible, and if we separate it from the rest of the chapter, it most likely would be. After verse 16, we see how the early church leaders were persecuted. Even though they were spared death by Rabbi Gamaliel’s speech, they were still beaten. (vs. 40) Notice that in verse 41, the apostles who had been beaten with whips were rejoicing “because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. “ So how does that affect the miracles going on in verses 12-16? The early church lived dangerously and at the same time powerfully! Not in their own power but in the power of the Holy Spirit! They didn’t just pray about the sick in their congregation, they healed them! Many of these healings throughout the book of Acts are sudden and dramatic. They aren’t just someone feeling a little better after a prayer is said, they are crippled people getting up and walking, paralyzed people not just twitching a toe, but getting up and leaping and jumping in the air! People are raised from the dead! Before you start thinking, “that was then, we live in the 21st century now and those things don’t happen”, remember, our Lord Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever! (Hebrews 13:8) Pray believing that the Lord will do miraculous things!

Dealing with Attendance Slumps...

Ok, so your church has been thriving and growing, and it seems like God is blessing you immensely! And then, something happens. Is it sin in the camp? Is it the music? Are the greeters to friendly? You experience a drop in attendance. It may, or may not be accompanied by a drop in offering, but you notice that there aren't as many people coming. How do you as a leader approach this new dynamic. You can put your head in a hole and not admit that anything is going on. You can make excuses, "Its summer." "Holiday weekend" "Raining" "Beautiful weather for a day at the lake" "Game day" "Race day"... You can blame people in the church for not being holy enough to make God a priority. (And there may be some truth in that one.) Or you can get away with God and find the passion for Him that helped you through when your church was just a church plant. Find the excitement that you had when you first took over the church and you saw all the potential that this congregation had for reaching out to the community. As a leader, are you casting a vision that people want to follow? Will they really miss anything if they skip a week? When someone asks, "So what's new at your church?" Do they respond with enthusiasm about all the great things God is doing and the ways the church is reaching out to the community and changing lives? Or do they say, "You know how it is..., same old, same old." If the leadership of the church doesn't know where it is going, then those on the outer circle won't make it a priority to be there because they won't know either. Have an awesome day! Let God inspire you to greatness in your ministry whatever that may be!

Out of Africa

The senior pastor from my church just got back from Tanzania. Watching some of the videos and listening to his stories reminds me of each time I have left the country and come back. There is something about getting out of your comfort zone and having your beliefs, morals, morays etc...challenged by another culture. We so often take for granted simple things like running water, air conditioning, electricity, windows, cars, a change of clothing, carpet or at least a floor in the church. Have you attended a church with no roof? Worked with people who don't know what a shower is? or deodorant? Preached to people sitting on a dirt floor? You might feel like you are suffering for Jesus as you sleep on a mat on the ground until you realize that the people you are ministering to do the same every day of their lives. If you haven't had the chance to get out of your comfort zone, you can go to Africa or Latin America, or maybe you just need to go across town to help out a church that is ministering in the part of town you don't want your kids going to. Challenge your faith! It will open your eyes in new ways you never expected.

An idea...feel free to use it.

I have this crazy idea...it isn't really new to me, but don't know how to get it going...so here it is. If you get around to organizing it before I do...Great! In the Education world, there are a series of conferences called "In Search of the Great Teacher", in which teachers from multiple disciplines get together and help each other out in an iron sharpens iron type environment. In the business world, Seth Godin has his MBA program that only allows the best and brightest marketers to attend. Great things happen when you get a bunch of like minded people together intent on helping each other reach their maximum potential. In both cases, there isn't necessarily one guru who knows it all and teaches all the others. It is a collaborative effort on the part of all involved.
My idea is to do the same thing with pastors. Get a group of 10-15 pastors together in a room for a couple days. Preferably from different denominations,different size churches, and different age ranges. Each one bring two ideas from their ministry that just really seem to work well to share with the other pastors. They will also bring one thing that just seems to stand in their way. They feel like they beat their head against the wall with this issue. Of course there is no guarantee that anyone will have a solution, but with 10-15 other pastors in the room, someone might have faced that same problem before. There, that is the whole idea. Putting minds together who want to grow in their ability to minister to the people God has called them to minister to. It isn't a competition, and no perfect pastor is going to come explain to the peons how ministry should be done. If you are interested and live in the upstate of SC send me a message and if I have much response, I can put it together. If you are from another part of the country and you like the idea...Have at it! No charge, I am giving it away for free!

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.

Home TEAMs

About a year ago, I started working with the small group ministry at our church. We call them Home TEAMs, you may call them small groups, cell groups, Sunday school... As it continues to grow, I am amazed at how each group has its own dynamic. While all are accomplishing the two primary goals of Home TEAMs which are to help people build relationships with God and with each other, I find that each group interacts in different ways. It is, on a microcosm level, a great example of how churches are all different, but should be all working together toward the same goal of reaching people for Jesus Christ and then discipling them to help them grow in their walk with the Lord. Some of our Home TEAMs seem to grow by leaps and bounds, so I am constantly working to find new leaders and hosts so that we can divide the group up into smaller Home TEAMs. Other groups seem to go for months and months without gaining or losing members. That second group isn't a failure! Those people are growing in the Lord, they are serving God in many ways both inside and outside the church! Just the Home TEAM itself doesn't see its primary mission as evangelistic. The people in the group are, but they invite new believers or non believers to our church, not to their Home TEAM. Other Home TEAMs invite people off the street who aren't a part of our church at all. Each is serving as a different part of the body of Christ, just as each church and each member is serving doing their part of the work of the Body. Keep doing what God has called YOU to do!

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!

Communication to Lead

I want to start with this quote from Saul Alinsky’s book “Rules for Radicals”:

“One can lack any of the qualities of an organizer – with one exception – and still be effective and successful. That exception is the art of communication. It does not matter what you know about anything if you cannot communicate to your people. In that event you are not even a failure. You’re just not there. Communication with others takes place when they understand what you’re trying to get across to them. If they don’t understand, then you are not communicating regardless of your words, pictures or anything else. People only understand things in terms of their experience, which means that you must get within their experience.”

This is from a secular book that has nothing to do with churches, but the truth of his arguement rings true. We have the greatest story ever told! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a life changing ideal that we need to communicate to everyone! Doing so effectively is a challenge that we as "The Church" seem to struggle with. We as Christians are always communicating something to the world. The question is: What are we communicating? How effective is our communication? Is it relevant to the hearer? Have a great day, and communicate the Gospel effectively to someone today while you are at it!

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.

Losing People

Inevitably, any church plant will at some point experience the loss of a family that has been working hard along side the church planter. For whatever reason, the vision that the congregant didn't quite mix with the vision that God had lain on the Pastor's heart for the church. Often, the church member doesn't see the "big picture", sometimes, the pastor is casting his own vision instead of God's. If both are truly seeking the Lord, I have to believe that God doesn't send mixed signals. One verse helps me out when I struggle with people leaving the church. John 6:66 says: "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." Not just one, but many, and Jesus was the pastor of that church! I guess if He lost some, then how can any pastor expect not to have people leave? Simple point today, but if you are a pastor struggling with people who have left your church, wish them well, pray for them that they will find a church where they can get involved and use their gifts for God's kingdom. Just remember that Jesus lost some too.

Swine Flu - Christian Response

I don't often do this, but the following post by John Lindell was excellent. I didn't want to just rewrite it in my own words, since there wasn't much I would change..so I cut and pasted his entire blog entry here. Click Here to see original blog.

As the World Health Organization raised the pandemic level to 5 on a 6 step scale governments worldwide are being encouraged to take steps that could diminish the spread of the 2009 H1N1 virus or as its better known the “Swine Flu.”

If you’ve never been a thorough “hand-washer” now would be the time to acquire that discipline! But of greater concern to me is the response of Christians during a time of crisis–how should Christians respond?

1. There is no substitute for prayer. We can pray God’s mercy and protection over the lives of people. A pandemic is not inevitable…prayer changes things…and our prayers can make a huge difference!

2. Walk in love and faith as opposed to selfishness and fear. Because we have a God who loves and cares for us. Because we have a God who watches over us and is a healer; during this time of potential crisis we are set free from fear and the need to save ourselves which should allow us to be a people of compassion.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness…” (Colossians 3:12). One of the hallmarks of the Early Church and one of the reasons that it made such an impact on a totally pagan culture that hated Christians was the fact that Christians were compassionate and kind. They understood the power of compassion when it comes to touching people’s lives. They lived in a society that devalued life-deformed boys were thrown in the city dump. Unwanted girls were thrown on trash heaps and it was the Christians who came along and rescued those little babies by feeding them and providing for them.

Often you read that the churches’ passion for the poor and the needy was so great that they had seasons of fasting–not just fasting and prayers for the poor but they saved their money from missing those meals and collected it to give to the poor and the needy! In a culture that cared nothing for the poor; it was the Christians who walked the streets and reached out to care for them.

Early church historians tell us that when two devastating disease epidemics swept through the Roman Empire (165 A.D. & 251 A.D.) one third of the people across the Roman Empire died. En masse, people fled the cities for fear the plague might overtake them. In the mist of those epidemics it was the Christians who stayed in the towns and cities to minister to those who were dying and it made a huge impact on the culture. Over time an entire culture was changed because of the Christians’ compassionate and kind response to those around them.

No one wants a crisis but the darkness of the hour creates an opportunity for the Gospel light to shine even brighter if the followers of Jesus will walk in faith and love.

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.

Where did 440 people go?

I usually don't give lots of attendance numbers, but this one is sadly humorous. On Easter weekend, 970 people came to church at 5 Point Fellowship! It was an incredible day that by far exceeded our good ol attendance record. Now, fast forward seven whole days! We had 530 people yesterday which is about 70 or so under our average! So I wonder (((What happened to the 440?))) I am reminded of the parable of the 99 sheep in the fold, but the shepherd went to look for the one missing one. What did the shepherd do when 44 of the hundred where missing? I really don't have any answers here, it was just an observation that saddens me, yet at the same time I find laughable on some level.
On a much happier note, three people gave their hearts to Jesus yesterday! One was a woman who had been in church most of her life, but realized she had been doing it to please people instead of because she had given her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now she has!!! Praise the Lord! Have an awesome day!
Upcoming happy news, on May 24th, we will be having an outdoor baptism! Plan to come early and stay late for tailgating! Bring lawn chairs!

Church Planting and staffing

Have you ever thought about planting a church? What does it take...other than everything you have and a bit more? God has allowed me to be part of a church that was a couple years old when I first attended. It is now a 4 1/2 year old church plant. The senior pastor is a visionary who is also quite ADD, I am much more conservative, structured...the rest of the staff is as different from each other as they are from us. We ALL have two common goals - to reach people with the love of Jesus Christ and to teach them to love others with the Love of Christ! Many would consider our church a "successful" church plant. It wasn't accomplished by finding a bunch of people who were exactly like the church planter. (If it were, I would not have been allowed to even attend, much less end up on staff.)If you are considering planting a church, this is one small point among many to keep in mind. As you start staffing even if that is unpaid lay staff, find someone who has strengths in your weaknesses. My wife often laughs that 1/2 the staff here are ADD or ADHD and the other half are uber-organized number-crunching nerds....you can guess which category I fall into. That is a good thing! Guess what, if I were the "front man" for the church...it wouldn't look anything like it does, and I must admit, it would probably be much more boring to many. I am not the super get excited kind of person. Those people are needed! Calm, cool and collected doesn't inspire people unless there are guns involved. Passion does! I thank the Lord that he let me be a part of such a diverse bunch every day! Have fun with your church plant! We need more of them! Until everyone on the planet can claim to have been presented with the gospel and have made a choice to accept Jesus or reject Him, we still have a lot of work to do!

Saturday Night Service

Last night was the Saturday night before Easter, so we had an extra service. Our Sunday morning services have been fairly full, so to be ready for the extra Easter crowd, we announced that we would have a 6:30 service on Saturday. The really cool part is that over 250 people came! That is a lot of seats freed up for today's service! I can't wait to see what God is going to do this morning! As we remember Christ rising from the dead, remember that He is Alive and Well and working in our communities today! Have an awesome Easter!

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!