Regardless of the size of your church one of the more helpful things a pastor can do is to put together a research team to help him in sermon preparation. Though I don't get the opportunity to preach often, I've tried this a time or two and have really enjoyed the result. One time I was doing a message on families and brought together a small team of creative people to help me think through some ideas. Someone suggested we do a "man on the street interview" about families. We did it, and it was one of our more successful videos we used that year. You can check it out for yourself here, under "Families".
Rick Rusaw, senior pastor of LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, CO offers some practical help for putting together your own research team.
Christianity & Alcohol
When I was a kid I was a part of a denominational church (nothing wrong w/ that btw), that was against alcohol consumption on all fronts. I never remember hearing a sermon against alcohol, but it was one of those things that you just knew Christians weren't supposed to do. After becoming a part of an international family of churches (Newfrontiers) years ago, I'm glad to say my stance on the whole alcohol thing has changed. I'm of the opinion that this issue is not nearly the hot potato it was years ago. Nonetheless, I thought I'd pass along Mars Hill's recent statement on alcohol. Happy reading once again!
The Holy Spirit and Church Planting Movements
In a recent post of Steve Addison's blog, World Changers, he quotes some correspondence he's had with a friend of his who serves church planting movements (CPM's) in Asia. The guy makes some pretty compelling statements about the role of the Holy Spirit in CPM's. Why is it we in the west are either so reluctant or slow to admit our need to be baptized in the Spirit? It's worth your time to check it out!
Beware of Lists
It seems like everywhere you turn there is a list of something pertaining to churches. I've seen lists of "The 25 Most Innovative Churches in America", "The 100 Fastest Growing Churches", "The 100 Largest Churches", etc, etc. Bobby Gruenwald, a leader at LifeChurch.tv in Edmond, OK gives the following practical advice for how to view such lists.
- ALL of these lists are simply trying to recognize something that happened last year or in some cases even later than last year (as in THE PAST)
- As fast as this world is changing churches should NOT be looking to last year’s methods/ideas to reach today’s culture. 2006 is not 2007 (February is not March)
- Though some leaders will study what these churches do and use it as a springboard for new ideas for the future…most will attempt to do exactly the same thing except this time a year or two later…what I call “lemming leadership”
- I still see thousands of churches trying their hardest to become like the #1 church of 1995 only to find out that the world has changed by the time they get there.
- I hear from several church leaders that it takes their church a long time to embrace new changes (sometimes as long as 5 years). If that is true for you…I suggest you point your churches’ trajectory at what the church of 2012 looks like.
The Externally Focused Church Conference
Gayle and I will be attending the Externally Focused Church Conference in Longmont, CO May 21-22. I am looking forward to taking in as much as we can for the purpose of learning what it means to be an externally focused church. I've always been a little perplexed that most of the leadership training that goes on in churches is internally directed. I.e. Sunday morning and small group responsibilities. Why is it that so much of our ministry (service) revolves around church meetings and gatherings? Don't get me wrong, Sunday morning and small group meetings are vital to what we do as a church, but these meetings alone are not going to significantly impact our communities. I was impressed with a question Bob Roberts' posed in his book Transformation; If your church were to move away, would the community be impacted? Now that's something to think about!
Helpful Church Planting Resources
Leadership Network is a website that is full of resources for church planters. Click on the "Resources" link at the top of the page and you'll find a number of downloadable articles that pertain to church planting. They also have podcasts you can subscribe to. Check it out!
Helpful Resources from Andy Stanley
North Point Community Church has made the main sessions from their 2006 Drive Conference available via streaming video. I highly recommend sessions 1-3 and #5. Andy Stanley has to be one of the most effective communicators out there. You will be helped and encouraged through what he has to say. (Session #3 is a panel discussion with his staff on the topic of volunteers. Must hear stuff for church leaders!) If you don't like the idea of being tethered to your computer to watch each message you can purchase them via mp3 downloads through their online store.
Messages From Satan?
I have seen a number of creative adds, but these billboards from LifeChurchtv are the most attention grabbing of all. When you throw in the website, it makes for some pretty compelling church marketing.
Creative Sermon Series
Devin Hudson, pastor of Grace Point Church, Las Vegas, NV writes in his blog about a sermon series he just completed, called Tattoo. It's a series about what it means to be "marked" by God. For those churches who find themselves in an area saturated with young people on the edge, Tattoo may be worth considering.
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