The Church Revitalizer Magazine December 2016 / January 2017

THE

CHURCH

Nov/Dec 2016 Vol 2 Issue 6

Revitalizer

“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue”

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.” ~ Tom Cheyney

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OPENING YOUR CHURCH’S DOORS TO THE COMMUNITY

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Revitalizer FEATURES

November / December | Vol 2, No 6

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Intentional Prayer for Intentional Boldness

By Chris Irving

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Twitter

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The Power of S.I.M.P.L.E.R. Preaching to Affect More Lives

By Joel R. Breidenbaugh

THINGS EVERY CHURCH REVITALIZER SHOULD DO IN THE NEW YEAR!

By Tom Cheyney

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Catalyst Leader 32 The

By Lee Kricher

PREPERATION FOR REVITALIZATION

By John Kimball

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Why Believers Resist Change

By Rob Arnold

Buy A House!

By Ron Smith

THE LEADERSHIP LINK…

By Michael Atherton

Repurposed The Nehemiah Model: Nine Strategic Steps for Renewal

By Darwin Meighan

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

12 28 30 48

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Understanding Scaffolding Members

By Rodney Harrison

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Formula for Developing Critical Mass

By Tom Cheyney

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4 Things That Actually Matter in Student Ministry

By Drew Cheyney

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Elements Most Critical for a Church to Turn Around! By Dr. Tom Cheyney

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When Fraud Comes Knocking

By Rodney Harrison

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Preach the Big MAC?

By Rob Myers

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How to Get Off Stuck if you are Facing Change! By Dr. Tom Cheyney

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Conflict Avoidance & Resolution Basics for theb Church Revitalizer

By Bob Whitesel

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Revitalization is a Character Issue

By Terry Rials

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Is Ministry Getting You Down?

By Estelle Myers

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The Six Phases of Church Revitalization By Kenneth Priest

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Relevant Preaching and the Revitalization of the Church

By Paul E. Smith

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What is the Answer?

By Jim Grant

revitalizer

LIBRARY BOOK REVIEWS

The Church Revitalizer Book Reviewer: Rob Hurtgen 57 Can These Bones Live By Bill Henard 57 Advanced Strategic Planning

By Aubrey Malphurs

Rob Hurtgen is the Pastor of First Baptist Church Chillicothe, Missouri. He holds an M.Div from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Revitalization from MidWestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has been married to Shawn since 1995, and they have five children.

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THE

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Revitalizer Volume 2, No. 6

The Church Revitalizer is published bi-monthly by Renovate Publishing Group 1906 West Lee Road Orlando, FL 32810 Email: ChurchRevitalizer.guru

PUBLISHER Dr. Tom Cheyney Associate Publisher Mark Weible Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Linda Goans Executive Editor & Brand Manager Tom Cheyney Magazine Designer & Format Editor Gerald Brown Executive Director of Advertizing Linda Goans Web Ad Traffic Director Mark Weible

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by Tom Cheyney

Welcome to the the Church Revitalizer Magazine: A Church Revitaliztion Retreat in Every Issue!

It is hard to beleive that the Renovate Group and Renovate Resources are celebrating the second year of the Church Revitalizer Magazine! After a year of having church members and revitalization pastors asking would the Renovate Publishing Group consider publishing a magazine exclusively on the subject of Church Revitalization and Renewal, we launched a bi-monthly subscriber donation based magazine for the purpose of raising up the conversation regarding this critical need in the local church in November of 2014 at the Renovate National Church Revitalization Cnference. As is our practice as we close each year we focus this issue around the Best Church Revitalization Articles of 2016. We have been so blessed by the response to this magazine’s focus on church revitalization and renewal. Pastor’s and laymen alike have resp[onded positively to the many and various articles contributed by some of the countries most gifted church revitalization prationers. Please continue to let us know areas which need to be addressed and specific topics you and your church leaders would benefit.

May I say a BIG thank you to our twenty-eight contributors to this magazine! Each one brings such tremendous experience and practial suggestions for the local church working in the field of revitaliztion. They have represented the vital work that is going on within so many different denominational tribes and ministry settings. These writers have Blessed us by their consistent quality of authorship. They have Informed and Inspired us to work that much harder towards the goal of revitalizing our churches. Lastly, they have Given us a tool which is very much a “Church Revitalization Retreart in Every Issue.”

But we are committed to even more. The caue of church revitalization is so vital that we must stay at the task. Stay connected, more is coming 2017 is going to be a great year.

Stock images from ISTOCK Photo or where otherwise noted. © Copyright 2016 Renovate Publishing Group

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Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Directional Leader of Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.

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Understanding Scaffolding Members Revitalization is filled with burdens and blessings, happiness and hurts. One of the most painful hurts revitalization pastors will experience is the pain of faithful members and close friends who jump ship. Ironically, these are often the individuals or couples who made a significant contribution to the church and ministry during the early season of your ministry. During your onboarding as a leader, these members provided their encouragement, talents, abundant generosity, support and encouragement.

Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin address this reality in their book, Community of Kindness: … there are two kinds of people--many are there for just a season, and a few are there to stay long-term. This is a vital lesson to learn, because as a leader it is easy to become caught up in the nurturing of what we lovingly call the “scaffolding people.” Builders of physical structures use a set of scaffolding to erect a building.

The scaffolding is not the building, but it is necessary for the construction of the building that will eventually emerge. As the building nears completion, the scaffolding falls away, leaving the permanent building standing.

Although Sjogren and Lewin address this phenomenon primarily as it relates to church planters, I have observed scaffolding members are attracted to new pastors and churches that are in transition. Scaffolding members are best understood as home 10

missionaries. Their contributions to you and the church are often just what the doctor ordered. This often involves significant financial resources, time or talents. As a pastor, these members seem invaluable, so when they call to you announce they are leaving for another church or ministry, the unsuspecting pastor is caught off-guard. A common response is to convince them to stay. This is where a word to the wise is merited, as emotions are running high at this juncture. Any attempt to preserve a scaffolding member is ill advised.

Scaffolding members can often be best identified in hindsight.

However, here are some characteristics observed over the years: • They show up already saved, and eager to serve • They bring a long resume of former church affiliations • They show loose denominational fidelity. It is not uncommon for a scaffolding member to work with a liturgical church, then go to a charismatic church, then a Baptist Church and so on

by Rodney Harrison belong.” Instead of letting scaffolding members send you to the funny farm, consider the following response when they announce they are leaving: 1. Thank them for their friendship and service to Christ and the church.

2. If possible, and appropriate, publically acknowledge their contribution and future plans to the congregation. Once I understood the scaffolding principle, I was able to minimize the impact of their departure by publically recognizing their contributions and commending them to their next assignment.

3. Do not try to hold on to them.

The danger is that you may be successful, for a season. Imagine leaving the scaffolding up after the building is completed. Scaffolding members who stay will become antagonists and vision hijackers. Let them go gracefully and allow God to accomplish His work through them in another church, trusting him to faithful provide for you and your church.

• They show above average hospitality or generosity • They frequently speak of the need and importance of belonging The last characteristics is interesting, because when they leave, scaffolding members will often say, “I do not feel important” or “I need to find a church where I

Rodney Harrison is the Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Harrison is the author of two books on church planting and has written material for LifeWay Christian Resources.

RENOVATE RESOURCES ALL YEAR LONG

If your church has plateaued, is in decline, or is not moving forward as quickly as you wish, the RENOVATE Church Revitalization Coaching Network is just what you are looking for. This Revitalization Coaching Network is designed to help you and your revitalization team develop a successful 18 month plan to increase church attendance, develop new people for ministry, impact community, solidify finances, become more missional, develop new ministries and deepen the making of disciples within your church renewal effort.

RenovateConference.org/coaching-network

Each and every week, the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Podcast publishes a free audio training covering various aspects of church revitalization and renewal. Hosted by Tom Cheyney, each podcast features content for this week’s edition of his Church Revitalization and Renewal training.

Included in this series of equipping tools are interviews with key Church Revitalizers and in-depth commentary and analysis from pastors, revitalization coaches, laity, and practitioners in the field of church revitalization and renewal.

RenovateConference.org/podcast

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“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue” RenovateConference.org/magazine 11

Why Believers Resist Change Change is difficult for everyone, including Christians, but effective leaders can bring about positive changes. A leader’s ability to facilitate change depends on his or her ability to manage the natural resistance to change. This resistance can range from simple avoidance, passive-aggressive behavior, to sabotage and open deviance. A productive leader learns to anticipate people’s objections and respond to their concerns in a constructive manner. Seven common causes for resistance exist, and if the church leader successfully addresses these causes, he will lay the groundwork for successful revitalization.

Ignorance

Ignorance is the first cause for resistance to change. Newton’s law of inertia teaches us that a body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion will continue to stay in motion in the same direction. This hold true for churches and people as well as physical objects. People grow complacent. Churches will run on autopilot and plan the same activities month after month and year after year because that is what they are comfortable doing, so often they do not realize the seriousness of the situation until it is too late. When a church has fallen into a rut, they resist change with comments like, “We’ve never done it this way before,” or “This has worked well for us so far.”

The bold change agent, therefore, must dispel people’s ignorance by convincing them of the urgency of the situation. When people understand the need for change and corresponding benefits, they become willing to step outside their comfort zone and try new things.

Fear

Fear is the second cause for resistance to change. After the Exodus,

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some of Moses’ followers wanted to return to Egypt (despite the hardship) because they feared dying for lack of food and water in the wilderness. Their fear of the unknown outweighed their fear of the known.

Ambiguity about the future generates anxiety towards change. By nature, it is easier to complain about the problems and punch holes in suggestions, than to try new things if they believe their attempts may make the situation worse. Consequently, a good leader will help the people see that the risk of maintaining the status quo is greater than the risk of moving forward. A good leader wins the people over to his view by highlighting the personal benefits while minimizing the risks.

When people grasp the full benefits of change, stagnation and decline cease to be acceptable options. Then they will no longer view change as either too painful or too costly.

Lack of Trust

Lack of trust is the third cause of resistance. A successful leader earns the people’s trust before attempting any major changes. Too many church leaders assume that their position or title merits immediate authority trust, but trust must be earned by the individual leader, not by the office they fill. Inadequate skill sets, indecisiveness, defensiveness, paranoia, and petty excuses are recipes for disaster that paralyze a congregation.

If the leader is perceived as unethical, selfish, duplicitous, or condescending, the people will not trust his leadership. The church may even possess a sense of urgency and see the need for change, but it they have lost faith in their leader, they will resist change, or even abandon ship. Furthermore, the leader may be very capable, have years of experience, and possess the purest of motives, but if the people have been misled by previous lead-

by Rob Arnold ers, the new leader will have to work twice as hard to warrant the people’s trust. In such cases, biblical ethics and a strong sense of integrity will play critical roles in overcoming the obstacles to trust, but trust must be established before successful change can be undertaken, and it is important to begin with little steps.

Miscommunication

Poor communication is the fourth cause for resistance. Every leader is communicating something; the question is, “Are you communicating the right message?” When people are left out of the loop, and decision are forced upon them without any discussion, then people will resist change because they have no skin in the game. No one likes being blindsided, even leaders, and poor communication undermines the best laid plans. In contrast, when leaders clearly communicates the visions, goals, and strategies, while including people in the decision-making process, then resistance to change diminishes proportionally. Furthermore, effective communication involves listening as well and speaking.

The art of listening well is one of the greatest tools for defusing resistance.

A well informed congregation with shared leadership and a high level of personal input maintains a higher level of cooperation and satisfaction within the change process.

Lack of Participation

A lack of participation is the fifth cause of resistance. This is directly related to the fourth cause, miscommunication. Leaders who attempt to implement change without help are setting themselves up for failure.

Moses was guilty of this fault. Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, came for a visit and found Moses attempting to do it all. The Bible says, “‘This is not good!’

Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed.

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‘You’re going to wear yourself out-and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself’” (Exodus 18:17-18 NLT).

A leader must work hard to secure the help and cooperation of people throughout the congregation that have a wide variety of spiritual gifts and talents. The effectiveness of the church is always greater than the sum of its parts when people work to together and there is a high level of participation.

Exhaustion

Exhaustion is the sixth cause for resistance to change. A church may have experienced a long history of growth and successful changes, but if change is coming to quickly or too often, the result is corporate burnout.

It is not an accident that Paul warns, “let us no grow weary in well-doing, for we will reap in due season if we do not faint.” The potential for exhaustion is especially high if the leaders are constantly chasing after every new fad. When enthusiasm fades, the people’s willingness to try new things may fade as well. Church members may not want to rock the boat or be perceived as trouble-makers, so they will offer no objections, but will slowly withdraw their participation. Exhausted workers will participate less and the volunteer base will continue to shrink, until the leader does not have enough workers to support future changes.

Selfishness

Finally, selfishness arising from a perception of loss is the seventh cause for resistance, and this is the most difficult to overcome because it usually involves conflict and biblical church discipline. Selfishness is very difficult to see in oneself, and can be cloaked behind a façade of good intentions. If a selfish person, however, believes that the necessary changes will erode his or her power-base, influence, privileges, or

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personal benefits, he or she will resist change to their dying breath. A leader will deal patiently with a person struggling with selfishness. He must maintain a high level of personal integrity, a close walk with God, and an active prayer life. In the end, if the selfish person is unrepentant and become openly antagonistic, then the leader will have to address the problem and handle the situation with biblical discipline. It is unwise for a leader to ignore this cause of resistance, and even among godly Christians, when change brings a loss of benefits and status, resistance is the natural response and come be overcome only through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

help me earn the people’s trust, 3) How can we best educate the people about the need for change, 4) Who is going to be affected most by the changes, 5) How fast should we implement the changes, and 6) How much change and turmoil have the people endured in the past? Answers to these questions will point you in the right direction. Be proactive, listen carefully, anticipate objections, involve the people, and addressing concerns before they arise. By doing so, you can minimize the amount of resistance by allaying people’s fears and giving them hope for the future.

Your ability to do so will determine your level of success and ability to implement change.

Conclusion A leader is a successful change agent when he addresses these seven causes for resistance. They can begin addressing these causes by answering several questions: 1) Have I earned the people’s confidence, 2) Who can

Rob Arnold is the lead pastor of Lockhart Church and is a frequent breakout leader for the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference in Orlando. Rob has a heart for bringing the young back to the Son and seeing a renewed relevent church.

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Formula for Developing Critical Mass

By Tom Cheyney Everyone wants to see some sort of growth come back to their dying church. Many a church revitalization effort has been hurt due to the leadership within the church, both lay and clergy, waiting too long before they addressed the issue of critical mass.

Critical Mass is that size of any church where it has enough members actively working and participating in the weekly work of ministry growth. When a church has waited too long to address the issue of critical mass, it is almost sure the church will die even if for a moment it keeps it head above the water of closure. Here is a quick formula for developing and keeping critical mass in ones church:

1% of the church membership is in pastoral leadership

+ (PLUS)

6% of the church membership is passionate about the future of the church

+ (PLUS)

14% of the church’s leaders are in positions willingly and are advocating for the future renewal of the church

+ (PLUS)

42% of the church are actively participating and willingly following future directions of the church This simple formula equals a growing critical mass for growth and the eventual revitalization of the congregation.

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4 Things That Actually Matter in Student Ministry Having a successful student ministry is something ALL Student Pastors want, not just in a selfish way, but in an unselfish way as well. We desperately want hearts to be transformed and lives to be changed for God’s Kingdom. We want people to walk into our ministry and be wowed by what they experience. We would like our service experience to be the ‘hot spot’ for students. The complication for a lot of us though is we do not always have the facilities we need to wow people, or the budget desired to accomplish the dreams in our heads, or the team we are striving for to build deep sustainable student ministries. And it is because of this fact that we as Student Pastors need to make sure that at the least, there are 4 essentials happening in our ministries every week.

The first essential ingredient you MUST HAVE is an intentional and diligent effort to connect students with other students and leaders. Con-

necting people is one of the primary responsibilities we have as leaders and it is something that healthy student ministries fight for both inside and outside of your weekly services.

Yes it is helpful to have hype teams, choreographers, creative teams, top of the line worship experiences, $3,000 events, and etcetera, but at the route of every student’s deepest desires stands the wish to be noticed by people and to be shown that they matter. What separates healthy student ministries from dying or stagnant student ministries is a team’s ability to connect with students immediately. So how do you change your climate if this is not the case in your student ministry?

Well it is probably going to take a lot of conversations and probably some uncomfortable meetings along the way. You may have to ask your leadership to stop holding up walls or talking amongst themselves

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in the back of the room and start engaging with the ministry they are helping to lead. Maybe you will have to have a conversation, or six, with key students in your ministry and personally challenge and encourage them to start caring about the climate in their ministry. You might also need to recruit leaders who are amazing at engaging with a brick wall yet students for that matter. You could also have a couple series in a row that address and focus in on this elephant in the room. Whatever methods you choose to implement, just make sure of one thing: THAT PEOPLE ARE CONNECTED ON BOTH THE FRONT & BACK END OF YOUR SERVICE EXPERIENCES!

Second, it is always helpful to have a student ministry that is not stuffy, plain, or outdated. I know a lot of us

have to work with what we have, but you can always make a service experience more fun by thinking intelligently and creatively. Have events that focus in on the culture of the students we lead. Give away huge prize packs that draw student’s interest without breaking the bank by thinking resourcefully.

Play a popular cover song from time to time that is relevant, and even better get a good dance crew who would be willing to be a part of your experiences from time to time. For that matter borrow ideas from The Tonight Shows creative team who, by the way, have some pretty intelligent and audience involving ideas that are very engaging. Just to be clear though, it is okay to have fun in your student ministry; if you were a student again is not that what you would desire in the church you attended?

Now it is about this point I may be pushing in on something that may be a little uncomfortable for you to think about. You might also not even have the experience in your

by Drew Cheyney

current opportunity to do what I am suggesting, but if you want to focus in on what is really important in student ministry, then you also

need to be willing to focus in on talking about the things that really matter in the lives of your students and presenting them in a manner that engages their hearts and minds. Andy Stanley, Lead

Pastor of North Point Church & Author, says this about communicating, “To present the Scripture to a child or a teenager in an unengaging manner is to teach the very opposite of what is intended: Lesson #1: The Bible is Boring, Lesson #2: The Bible is Irrelevant, Lesson #3: Church is irrelevant… No wonder kids graduate from high school and disappear from church life for years. Or for Good!”1 Now this may be a little countercultural for you to admit, but we as pastors were called not only to teach and communicate, but to do so in a way that engages people.

Meaning, it is important for us to not only share the gospel, but to talk about the gospel in a way that allows God’s word to be engaging week in and week out. Yes topics like homosexuality, addictions, & drama will make people curious to hear what you have to say, but long term impact will only be seen if you create ways to actively involve, engage, and challenge your students.

Lastly, it is super important to have this final piece of the puzzle in your ministry. Understand pastors, you are going to fail in your ministry. You are going to calculate wrong, strike out from time to time, and miss the mark; but you are also going to succeed and have a lot of life change and wins as well. Whichever comes 1 Stanley, Andy. Deep & Wide. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012. Print.

Continued on page 36

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Intentional Prayer for Intentional Boldness

Last month, I went to a Lifeway Christian Bookstore because I needed to pick up a few things that you can’t find at your local Wal-Mart. I enjoy walking through the bookstore, looking for the next gospel gimmick for the church I pastor, or picking up a book on the latest trend in preaching. But the one thing I needed most, I couldn’t find at the local Lifeway or Family Christian Store or on amazon. com. They simply do not carry what I needed that day.

BOLDNESS. I needed to open up a can of BOLDNESS.

can be like real life...messy. But wading through the muck and mire of revitalization takes boldness and courage to keep moving forward as the Lord guides and directs.

Remember that bold leader in the Old Testament who embodied every part of boldness, but not before he made a bold-mess? His name was Joshua. The first glimpse of boldness in Joshua’s life was crossing the Jordan River. It was the high water time for the river when God would call the people to cross over into the Promised Land. It would make much more sense to wait for the water level to drop, but they crossed because God and Joshua were close.

Joshua met with God and listened to Him on a regular basis. God said it was time to go and Joshua knew that when God calls you to lead, then you must lead. Joshua led the people through the River Jordan and on to Jericho. Any military strategist would not have liked the plan the Lord gave to Joshua, yet Joshua had a certain faith in his God. The people marched and marched and gave their mighty shout and the walls came down just as God said.

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

The next foe to fall was Ai. This is where Joshua stepped out and really took the lead. He heard the report from his men on the status of Ai. Joshua must have assumed that God would act just the same way He did at Jericho. The boldness of Joshua in this moment led to the bold-mess I referred to above. You know the story. Joshua sent 3,000 soldiers that day and they were completely embarrassed by an opponent that did not require the full army (at least according to reports made to Joshua). What were they lacking? God’s plan. Why were they lacking His plan?

Because Joshua failed to seek God through prayer prior to the attack on Ai. It was Joshua’s own boldness, not boldness from the Lord, that filled his heart and mind with assumptions without direction from God. Remember, Joshua met the Lord on a regular basis. Prayer is such a vital link in revitalization and without it, you will find yourself in a bold-mess because of your self-generated boldness. Boldness, courage and strength does not come from our own planning, devising, or scheming. Rather boldness, courage, and strength comes from the Lord. If you do not pray and seek the Lord then you will find yourself in a bold-mess. Revitalization

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by Chris Irving

Pastor, as you pray, God places in your heart that thing which fills you with boldness, courage, and a quiet yet calm assurance that He is leading the revitalization effort. Listen to Ephesians 3:7-11 and pick up on Paul’s boldness and confidence...

The Call of God is the Anchor of Boldness

The anchor of boldness gives the ship a point at which it is secure and steady in stormy waters. Paul knew he was called to reach the Gentiles for God’s glory. In fact, his life motto was, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Pastor, you need some of what Paul had! Paul always referred back to his call. Read any of the greetings in Paul’s letters and you will always find a reference to his call. Romans 1:1, says “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God...” Do you see the anchor of Paul’s courage? Paul’s life and ministry revolved around this call to live as one sent and set apart for the Gospel.

Could boldness in revitalization first come by the assurance and trust that God is in fact in the business of revitalizing churches? Yes, we gather assurance from God’s work of revitalization. But the real question you must wrestle with is, “Has God called you to lead revitalization?” Pray on this because like Joshua, you don’t want to go into battle before the Lord calls you. Your calling is the anchor you need to see revitalization through to completion, and without the anchor, you will surely be tossed to and fro like a ship lost in the storm. You’ll be headed for a bold-mess, just like Joshua at Ai.

The Gospel is the Catalyst for Boldness

The catalyst for Paul’s ministry was his Damascus road conversion. He began a ministry not only preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also preaching against false teaching and pollution of the gospel. Even in Paul’s day he had to write letters to churches, particularly the churches of Galatia, regarding Gospel pollution. He proclaimed the true Gospel. He was passionate about the Gospel because the Jesus of the Gospel changed his life. Gospel pollution is just as rampant in our churches today. The catalyst for you is the very Gospel which Paul so fiercely defended. The Gospel ought to drive you to pray for your people and grant you confidence to face each day as a day for revitalization.

Look again at Ephesians 3 above...It is God’s power, not Paul’s that served as the catalyst for life-change. The Gospel is the source for life-change in people and the gospel is the catalyst for revitalization and life-change for a declining church. Through his access to the throne, Paul was able to write the Ephesians and claim to be the “very least of all the saints” while at the same time urging them to have “boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” Pastor, as you pray for your church and her revitalization with confident access through Jesus Christ, you are drawing on the “the unsearchable riches of Christ”. There is no greater source than Him. If you want to be a bold and courageous revitalizer, then you must be bold and courageous as you approach the throne of grace. We pray not with pride, but as the very least of all the saints.

The Community Needs Boldness as Well

It is not just the revitalizer that needs a fresh source of boldness, but your church needs to be reminded of her need for boldness in the face of revitalization. It is not only the pastor’s calling to make disciples, but the entire church is set apart for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote many of his letters to churches in a particular city or region, but one thing he frequently referenced in these letters was his habit of praying for each church. Pastor, you must pray for your church to find boldness in the same Gospel you are called to proclaim.

Listen to Paul again in Ephesians 3:13-14, 16. “So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father...that He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being...” Pastor, you must bow your knees before the Father and pray for your church to have the same boldness and confidence so they can walk the road of revitalization with you. Bold and courageous churches exists and turn around from decline because they first had a pastor who boldly prayed for the sheep they led.

Let me tell you of another bold servant of Christ. He was just a shoemaker. But he used his spare time to study Greek and Hebrew as well as other foreign languages. His world was small and somewhat insignificant in his little English village.

Many in his life argued that he would be better off working a second job to provide for a family. But he could not shake the burden of knowing that millions of people outside of Europe would never hear the gospel. By seeking God’s direction and help, he figured out a way to serve. He boldly traveled to India to serve as the first Protestant missionary in the modern era. Because of his boldness, others like Adoniram Judson, and Hudson Taylor took up the cause of missions. Because this one man, William Carey, sought God’s direction, he boldly followed his God-given passion to a part of the world and reached an unreached people.

What drove Paul, William and Adoniram? What will drive you? Prayer. Keep in mind that you cannot out- revitalize the Revitalizer which often happens when assuming too much without seeking Him first. You are called through Jesus Christ to approach the throne of grace with confidence, that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I’m reminded after the Israelite loss at Ai, Joshua and the leadership fell before God in mourning because of the loss.

They complained and questioned God about the defeat.

God spoke and they received the truth that Israel had sinned. They had to repent, and destroy the false gods in their camp along with the people who took the devoted things from Ai. Have you tried or are you trying revitalization in your power? Does that power source grant you boldness? How is it working out for you? Have you found yourself in a bold-mess? You might need to repent of getting ahead of God. Pastor, intentionally seek the Lord on your knees and pray for intentional boldness. Be reminded of your calling, the Gospel, and the church you serve. Friend, do not lose heart over suffering, but remember in Christ you have boldness and access with confidence through your faith in Him. Pray! Pray! Pray!

Chris Irving is the Lead Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gonzales, TX. Chris has served in ministry for 15 years in Texas. He led a small rural church to revitalization and is currently involved in the revitalization process of First Baptist Gonzales. Dr. Irving aims to help pastors equip the lay leadership of the church to serve in ministry. He and his wife, Amber have been married for 14 years and have six children.

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Elements Most Critical for a Church to Turn Around!

By Tom Cheyney

There are elements and ingredients, which are essential to the turning around of any church. This list can appear to be endless, since each situation is to some degree unique and unlike even a neighbor’s church.

What bind these elements all together is the presence of the Holy Spirit and an openness of the people to the working of God’s Spirit.

Equip the Congregation.

Intentional outreach will fail to renew a congregation if done only by the only the pastor and staff. Therefore, the laity must be trained for effective, targeted ministry.

If the laity will not embrace their part of outreach the church is in danger of closure even before the revitalization efforts get launched.

Select a Strong Leader.

Here are some common elements most critical for church renewal:

Declining congregations that hired chaplains, caretakers, healers, managers, administrators, or consensus builders fail to gain ground. The most critical skill of the revitalization leader is to help the congregation establish a new vision to which all can commit.

A Pastoral Love for His People.

Hard Work.

The role of the turnaround pastor is to be so committed to the people that they recognize his unconventional determination to be one of them, not simply a rescue expert. For a church to turn around the must not be allowed to develop a pastor-of-the-week syndrome. The pastor must be able to make an honest and convincing commitment to see the congregation through to the end, whether in success or failure.

The pastor and everyone else in the congregation must commit to working hard. This is not to say that Spirit has no role, but that much effort is required to overcome the downward inertia.

Select a New Pastor.

You Must Preach Quality Sermons, Not Bible Studies.

In the vast majority of cases, the former pastor is too associated with and injured by the decline to be able to reverse it. A new pastor is usually necessary to create the climate and the plans for a successful resurrection of the congregation.

Release the Past.

It almost goes without saying that to survive and thrive, a congregation must focus on the future rather than relive the past. But this is easier said than done. It requires a new or renewed vision. This is another reason why a new pastor is often necessary. You must honor the past but not live in the past and new pastors can make an easier transition towards that outcome then those who have been there for a long time.

Define Outreach.

To reverse a decline caused in part by an inward focus of ministry, congregations must intentionally define what outreach the church will emphasize.

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There Must Be a Prayer Covering.

If people don’t commit themselves to prayer, they will not catch the vision.

Sermons need not be excellent, but they need to be more relevant and inspired than what they are likely to have been hearing during the later part of their decline.

Seek An Outside Perspective.

Access to objective, outside opinion is critical.

A Committed Core Group.

As well as a pastor willing to stay no matter what, there must be a core group of lay people with the same commitment.

These are elements and ingredients, which are essential to the turning around of any church. While you might be able to eliminate one or two of them, usually the ones most often sought to be eliminated are those, which take the most work out of the laity. When those are eliminated there is little chance for a church to grow when the laity abandons the work of the ministry.

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The Power of S.I.M.P.L.E.R. Preaching to Affect More Lives Imagine sitting in a congregation and listening to a preacher who has done his best to understand the passage of Scripture he is unpacking for the audience. He uses everyday language in his explanation of Ephesians 2:1-10, but the depth of theology is more than most congregants have learned to grasp. As a preacher visiting this church on vacation, you sympathize with the pastor, because you, too, have struggled in helping people see what you have discovered in a biblical text.

One of the most difficult parts of planning a sermon is finding and using powerful illustrations. While you probably need to illustrate each main point, the most important places for sermon illustrations are in the introduction and conclusion. If you can tie the two parts of the sermon together through the same illustration, like Paul Harvey’s “Rest of the Story,” it often is more memorable.

I would like to suggest to you a S.I.M.P.L.E.R. method for sermon illustrations so your messages may better connect with your people. An illustration is a window to the truth of the text. A good illustration is like a big window, letting lots of light shine on the biblical truth.

Using a poor illustration or no illustration at all keeps average Christians from seeing the truth clearly.

When you think of biblical preachers like Jesus, the prophets and the apostles, you often find them using illustrations to help their audience understand an important aspect about God or the Christian life. The most effective preachers the last 2,000 years have done the same. Hopefully, you will see the value of S.I.M.P.L.E.R. preaching.

Stories

Virtually every age group in every culture around the world enjoys a good story. Illiterate cultures and preschoolers receive much of their education through stories. Consider the truth of the biblical text you want your audience to know and connect them to it with a story.

While some help may come from websites like sermonillustrations.com, keep your own files on various topics in life. When you read a biography or history book, take some notes and save them. Regularly read

24

by Joel R. Breidenbaugh

newspapers or online news sources to keep up with current events. Think about your own personal experiences and people you have helped. Be sure to protect confidentiality of people within your church.

As powerful as the Bible is, merely quoting a few verses about salvation doesn’t usually have the same impact of referencing those verses and telling someone how you got saved. The same could be said for biblical advice on finances—a testimony of God’s faithfulness through one’s stewardship underscores the biblical command to give back to the Lord more than reading a few verses.

Imagination

When considering illustrations don’t forget to use your imagination and creativity. God has instilled a bit of creativity in every person, because He created everyone in His own image and He is the Author of creation! Now, creativity may not come easy for you, but don’t neglect it. Even if creativity and imagination are not your strong suits, you may be like me and form a small Creative Team for Preaching to help you think of ways to communicate the message more effectively (more on this in the next issue).

A little creativity can go a long way in making an impact with God’s Word. For example, I imagine the prophets as angry men, because they were continually confronting a rebellious people. I once preached a summer series through the Minor Prophets entitled “12 Angry Men” and that creative connection really helped my audience see the judgment, and then grace, of God.

Media

Quite possibly the greatest source of illustrative material today, media venues like songs, shows, movies and social media must not be overlooked. Quoting lines from a well-known song or popular movie allows your audience to see you as a real person, instead of some high-clergy member set apart from society.

Memorable quotes can also connect a biblical truth in a lasting way.

You especially want to utilize social media, whether Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or the like. When something has thousands of “likes” or several hundred

thousand “views,” it is likely people from your congregation have noticed. Relating it to a positive or negative example in preaching will challenge your members either to employ their influence over their “friends” and “followers” or to think twice before haphazardly liking a post.

Pictures

With all the technological advances today, if you are not using pictures and visuals as illustrations to convey your message, you are not connecting with your people as well as you could. I know the “Regulative Principle” mindset exists among some—if it isn’t in Scripture, we shouldn’t use it, for preaching is only the spoken Word. What these guys fail to consider, however, is the visual impact of certain messages in biblical times. Do you believe for one minute that part of Jonah’s impact on Ninevah didn’t also have something to do with his odor and looks from being in the digestive system of a great fish for 3 days? Or what about Jesus’ death—did it not make a visual impact on the centurion who proclaimed Him as “the Son of God” (Mark 15:39)?

Of course, it did!

Whether you use maps, photos, videos, stage props or drama, visual elements can help you illustrate the message God has given you. And those pictures can help the viewer capture biblical truths for their life. A good picture can be worth 1,000 words.

Laughter

Every preacher and person needs to have a sense of humor and it’s perfectly okay if that sense of humor comes out in one’s preaching from time to time. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not arguing for stand-up comics in the pulpit nor am I a fan of telling jokes. Humor, however, used well and done naturally can engage an audience at a deeper level.

Studies show that in order to reach a person’s will so they are ready to act on something, influencers must first get past the gatekeeper, the primitive brain. One element of this first brain is the emotions, including happiness and sadness.

A word of caution here: be careful not to make fun of people in the pew or the laughter may quickly turn to anger. On a related note, people often appreciate self-deprecating humor. I’ve told many people, “When I was a boy, I remember telling my older brother that the one job I would never want was that of a preacher, because all they do is work one-hour a week.” Boy, have I eaten those words many times over!

Engagers

This issue isn’t a type of illustration as much as a piece of advice—use illustrations which fit the occasion. You want to be relevant, but you also want to be personal and clear. If you read or hear a great illustration, jot down a few notes and file it away. Don’t fall into the temptation to force it into your next message, because it probably won’t fit. You must avoid any illustration which is untimely, irrelevant or unclear. Remember, illustrations are a window through which the light of the Scriptural truth shines. If it muddies the truth, it isn’t a good illustration!

References

Whether you quote commonly-held views or simple analogies, references can help your listeners connect the dots to doctrinal truth. You can use analogies of what the kingdom of heaven is like, referencing any number of parables or using your imagination for some modern-day examples. References to biblical stories and examples will help people see how God worked through His people in times past. Moreover, poems, proverbs and anecdotes can relate key ideas from the text.

Conclusion Let’s return to our struggling preacher. What if he relayed the following illustration on regeneration from Ephesians 2? What kind of picture is Paul trying to paint here about spiritual death and God’s grace making us alive? I imagine my life as a corpse rotting away at the bottom of the lake—it’s dead. God sends Christ to the bottom of the lake and He pulls me to the shore out of mercy. Then, He breathes into me the Spirit of life according to His grace. My eyes open and I see my disgusting body and think, “Ew, I don’t want to live like this!”— that’s repentance. Then I see the One who gave me life and He lovingly reaches His nail-scarred hand to me and I grasp it to follow Him—that’s faith. I then spend the rest of my life serving Him—that’s good works.

Such an illustration pushes back the curtains and let’s God’s Word shine into the lives of the listeners. You, too, can use the power of S.I.M.P.L.E.R. preaching to affect more lives for the glory of God and the good of His people.

Joel Breidenbaugh is the lead pas-

tor of FBC Sweetwater where he has led the church in revitalization and renewal. He is a contributing author to a new Christian Theology book due out early next year.

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When Fraud Comes Knocking It is often the little things that derail revitalization. At Friendship Baptist Church in Holden, Missouri, the revitalization process was being hindered by weekly panhandlers. It will be only a matter of time before someone comes asking for assistance with gas, food, utilities or cash. Often, the person dealing with this request is the least equipped to respond to such situations, such as receptionists, secretaries or volunteers. A typical outcome is to fork over $20 in the hope that the “visitor” leaves.

As Christians, we want to do the right thing at all times. Ironically, panhandlers and scammers know that, and prey upon churches that are unprepared when fraud comes knocking.

Almost every time I teach about this fraud in the form of con artists and scammers, someone brings up Matthew 25:35-40. Let’s look at this passage together: For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me. “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’ “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me. Notice that the King indicates, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” It can be argued that Jesus is speaking of “the brotherhood of man” and the passage applies to anyone who is hungry, thirsty, in need of lodging or cloth. Ironically, most members who accept this interpretation expect the church to respond with appropriate benevolence, while they personally never would invite these folks into their homes.

The King in this text is the One who separates the sheep from the goats (v. 32). The best understanding of the phrase translated “brothers of Mine” are the followers of Jesus. As believers, we are responsible to demonstrate brotherly love. This is consistent with Paul’s words in Galatians 6:10, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Earlier in Galatians 6, we are reminded, “Do not be deceived.” With that exhortation, consider ways of responding to those who come knocking.

- By Rodney Harrison

This article is adapted from the new book, “Confessions of a Church Felon: Protecting Your Church from the Flames of Fraud” by Glenn Miller, Jeff Kick and Rodney Harrison.

26

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27

Buy A House!

Feature Writer “Ron, the best thing you can do for your church is to go out and buy a house.” This was the most important advice that I had ever received and it still proves true 22 years later. My first church right out of seminary was in Greensboro, North Carolina. I was newly married and had just moved from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. The former pastor of the church was a good family friend. Actually, my parents helped start this church when I was around four years old; it was very surreal to become the second pastor of this church. When I met with Pastor Otis Davis he advised me to buy a house. In doing so, this would communicate to the church that I was both committed to living in the area and committed to the church.

At 25 years of age I understood this at face value, but it wasn’t until years into the pastorate that I realized how powerful it was to communicate to the church that they were not just a stop along the way to something bigger. If I have learned one thing over the years it’s this: the church I pastor is always wondering, “How long will he stay.” As I evaluate them, they are evaluating me. Commitment goes both ways. Before committing time, energy, resources and money the people want to know if this will last.

Now, I am not here to write about longevity. This article will discuss how to communicate to the church that I am ALL IN. After all, when I preach about commitment, call for commitment, and plan events that require commitment the church needs to see my commitment.

(Confession: As I am writing this I am aware that there are many pastors who are bi-vocational and give way more than I do. I also realize that there are many pastors of smaller congregations that wear so many hats – way more hats than I. I met with Adrian Rogers in 2003. The church I pastored just eclipsed the 2,000-attendance mark. In our meeting, Adrian said, “Ron, you work harder than I do because of your church size.” This amazed me, but he was right. Adrian was able to focus on just a few things and not help with all things. So, to my bi-vo28

by Ron Smith cational pastors and small church pastors that have been there for over 10 years please see this as a help to growing you past this stage – so you can work “less” and still be ALL IN.)

10 Personal Attributes that Will Change Your Church #1 – Purity

Purity in this sense is having the right motives for the right outcomes.

Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Our “vision” for God cannot be blinded by sin, pride, personal agenda, ego, past hurts, or unresolved issues.

Remember, in order for you to see the vision, you must have clear eyesight.

#2 – Cultivate a Teachable Spirit

Admit that you are learning and waiting on God. People respect transparency. One of the best things you can do as a pastor is to keep learning. This keeps you “teachable.” Attend conferences; study others; read a lot; establish trusted mentors and friends.

No one likes a Know It All – KIA. At a recent funeral I performed the family shared some special memories and one of them was a family joke that, “Know It All’s are KIA.” KIA’s (know it all) are KIA (killed in action). It was a family joke, but a very powerful way to communicate don’t be a Know It All.

#3 – Have a Clear Direction

In other words, know where you are going and why.

Remember, serving as a pastor is like being a contractor. Some build with tools; we build with words.

John Maxwell says, “People are down about what they are not up on.” As the church sees what you see, in terms of direction, they are more willing to serve, give and invite. A “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” approach to ministry is not healthy. 5-day vision, as I call it, will not move the church forward.

#4 – Communicate a Clear Set of Biblical Convictions

Convictions are the foundation of our words. What is in our heart comes out of our mouth. Speak on, print and constantly remind the church what the convictions are. Defining for your church a set of Biblical convictions is critical. Biblical Convictions are the foundation for every step we make in our Christian walk.

#5 – Create a Relevant Environment

Relevance is not compromise. Relevance communicates that you understand where people struggle, live, and pray. Relevance communicates that you know how to help change that. This requires that you keep your pulse on culture. Know what your people read so you can understand their struggles.

Be informed on the growth and concerns of your community.

#6 – Design a Commitment to Quality

Quality and quantity can co-exist. Some would say, “Let’s choose quality over quantity.” While others would say, “We cannot have quality until the quantity changes.” Both are wrong. Quality is doing the very best with what you have. Mediocrity breeds indifference; quality attracts. We cannot for a second relax on the quality of our ministry. Everything, in time, goes stale. Stay fresh.

#7 – Build an Equipping Mindset

In every area, work on reminding the church what they do pays the bills, but who they are is a minister in Christ. If there is one thing that keeps us committed it is our calling to equip the saints. This is the one tell-tell of how committed we are. It will be obvious if we are equipping or enabling. Equipping says, “We are sending you out and placing you in ministry.” Enabling says, “It’s ok, I understand your concerns; don’t worry we’ll find someone else.”

#8 – Develop a Problem Solving Approach The two greatest challenges of any leader are structuring a ministry and confronting problems. Guess what, the two feed each other. In Titus 1:5 we learn that part of our calling is to “put things in order.”

This implies that things are out of order or need an order.

#9 – Demonstrate Focus, Courage and Faith

Church growth has tremendous blessings and tremendous burdens. Be prepared to lose friends, go out of your comfort zone, take risks, be criticized, falsely accused and be challenged. Be prepared to be molded, stretched and experience personal growth.

Knowing this, we must have courage, conviction, faith and focus, fixing our eyes on Christ.

#10 – Remind Yourself of Your Calling

This should be a mouthful and need no explanation.

When I was called into ministry I “bought into” the calling. I devoted myself to becoming what I was called into. In the same manner the church I serve is the place I “buy into” my local calling. Looking back to the year 1994 when my wife and I purchased our first house at our first church right out of seminary I have so many memories. That house is still very special to us and so is that church. Buying a house was the right decision. Even though I have since left that church, it still feels like home. When you and I as pastors buy into the calling of our location, the people we lead and serve will also buy into the work of the ministry.

Ron Smith is the lead pastor

of Waterstone a church working towards revitaliztion and renewal. Ron is a husband to Rana, father to three girls.

Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild. You can follow Ron and receive free resources at RonBSmithJr.com. Ron serves as CO-Leader of Renovate Podcasts as well as serving on staff of the Renovate Coaching Network.

29

Leading Change: A Six-Step Process Almost every leader who has ever written on the topic of change has developed a change theory to help practitioners think about change in 4, 6, 8, or 10 steps. Though it would be disingenuous to suggest that every change you lead will be successful by using our six steps, I do want to offer you six steps to help you think about leading change. Equally true, not every proposed change you lead will need all six of these steps in order to be successful. You cannot forget that the church is dynamic and always changing. So, do not run the risk of getting caught in a rut that suggests there is only one way to do something. This taxonomy is just a way, not necessarily the only way. In order to lead change, you must first:

Step 1: Identify the challenge

When you are in a ministry context that needs revitalization, you must give careful thought to challenges at hand. Likely you will not be able to address everything in one fail swoop. You need to pray, talk, think, consider, pray, discuss, and pray some more. Do not rush this process. Sometimes you are in a position that do not afford you mulligans. So, when you are ready to act, you want to know that you have spent the necessary time needed to correctly diagnose the challenges and prioritize them thereof.

Step 2: Create urgency around the course correction

After you identify the challenge and the appropriate response, you need to begin the laboring work of creating urgency around the course correction.

This takes time, so do not be in a hurry. In earnest, what you are doing is helping to move people from a state of complacency to a position of action. In order for you to be successful at this task, the leader is going to have to begin removing the reasons for complacency. Though these factors can vary from church to church, consider some of the most common factors that lead congregants to complacency: 1. Low Expectations: There is nothing that breeds complacency faster than setting low expecta30

by Michael Atherton

tions that challenge nobody.

2. Unreasonably High Expectations: Have you ever had expectations leveled upon you and are so lofty nobody would be able to achieve them? When a church is constantly facing expectations that are unreasonably high, they may eventually throw their hands up in exhaustion.

3. Dishonest Evaluations: More than one pastor has used a time of revitalization as a tool for manipulation. They offer dishonest evaluations of the church in the attempt to coerce the church to do what they desire.

4. Crises Ministry vs. a Ministry of Crises: One could argue that one of the highest callings in church ministry is to serve those who encounter a crises in life; a death of a child, marital divorce, major health issue, etc. For anyone who has had an opportunity to serve in those arenas, you know how rewarding crises ministry can be. However, many churches do not find their joy serving in crises ministry environment, rather they are defined as a ministry of crises. They must jump from one crises to the next crises, to the next crises. Constantly having to deal with self-induced crises after crises will rob a church of their joy creating complacency.

5. High Pastoral Turnover: Though we have alluded to this reality in other portions of this book, let us once again come out and say very clearly: churches become despondent and complacent when they have a new leader at the helm every 18 to 40 months. They would just assume out live your tenure than to have to pay the emotional price of enduring another round of changes that do not fix the problems.

There may be other factors that contribute to the complacency within your ministry context. At this juncture, you need to begin to think through

how you eliminate those factors contributing to the complacency of the congregation so that you can create a sense of urgency around the course corrections needed to adequately address the challenges preventing the church from experiencing revitalization.

Step 3: Build consensus

You never want to walk into a business session or leadership meeting unknowledgeable of where people are standing on the issues. Who are the stakeholders and what are their positions as it relates to the matters at hand? You will be unsuccessful at leading in substantial and sustainable revitalization, if you are fighting the battle on your own. You must build consensus and allow some of your other leaders to help carry the weight of revitalization. Consensus makes vision contagious.

Step 4: Implement the change

As you build consensus, you are working to implement your changes. There are a few of things that you will want to keep in mind during this phase.

1. Stay in communication with the church: You have invested so much in communication up to this point. You do not want to sacrifice all of your hard work up to this point, by going silent.

2. Celebrate the wins, with grace: You want to communicate to the congregation those wins that the church experiences as a result of the change. But, do not communicate with arrogance or a haughty spirit. This is not time for an “I told you so” attitude. Win with grace!

3. Keep your ears to the ground: Sometimes you can be so involved in the work of leading change that you forget to listen to the people.

The people will help you understand what is working and what is not working. You may need to make some course corrections; do not be so proud that you are unwilling to accept what you hear the people saying.

Step 5: Evaluate the consequences

This is really where you as a leader must exhibit humility. There are times that unintended or unforeseen consequences emerge from change, that one must be willing to acknowledge is not for the good of the church. In those moments, what are you going to do? Will you develop a stubbornness that does not allow you to evaluate the situation objectively? Will you press on despite the unnecessary costs that will be required? Will you dig your heels in and be unwilling to course correct? A humble leader will acknowledge that an additional change is required to either harness the power of the original plan or minimize the collateral damage of the changes already enacted.

Step 6: Make any additional course corrections that are necessary

After you evaluate the consequences of the changes, when necessary, make course corrections. Nobody has ever expected you to make perfect choices.

Predicting every potential hurdle or pitfall is nearly impossible. You will be surprised at how many people will learn to respect their leader when their leader is willing to acknowledge a plan’s shortcomings and make the necessary course corrections.

A Concluding Thought…

Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states: Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it. Churches just seem to naturally gravitate to a state of rest, if they are not inspired to change. Even when confronted with change, some will resist it, others will tolerate it, while seemingly only a few will embrace it. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of a church revitalizer to seek God’s direction for the church body and to impress change upon the people in a way that brings honor to God and expands the Kingdom of God.

Michael Atherton Senior Pastor Cornerstone Church, CO. Leading a church in a church merger, he has learned firsthand the challenges of a revitalizer. Miachel is also the President of Colorado Baptist Convention.

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The Catalyst Leader

by Lee Kricher Amplify Church, located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, embarked on a revitalization journey in late 2003. After years of declining attendance, we were on the verge of closing our doors. Over the coming months and years, we prayerfully put into place a number of change strategies with the hope of turning things around. Thankfully, the church became healthy again. Not only did attendance increase, the average age of those attending Amplify Church decreased from 50 to 35 years old. Every generation was and is well represented for the first time in many, many years.

In my observation, it is unlikely that a church will experience genuine revitalization if the pastor does not embrace the role of change leader. I know that many pastors are more excited about embracing the role of a shepherd who provides pastoral care than they are about leading organizational change. However, people need their pastor to lead them through the challenges involved with church revitalization.

In their book Your First Leadership Job, Tacy Byham and Rich Wellins of Development Dimen-

sions International use the word catalyst when defining effective leadership, Much like an ingredient that induces a chemical reaction, a catalyst leader is someone who ignites action in others. The common characteristic in great catalysts is their passion to become better leaders. They’re constantly building their leadership skills. They’re also introspective – looking in the mirror every day and asking what they could do to become better leaders.

The pastor is the primary earthly catalyst when it comes to church revitalization. If you are a pastor, do not shy away from leading change even if you feel, “That is just not who I am.” Your love for the people and your passion for the future of your church will provide all of the necessary motivation for you to step out of your comfort zone and become a catalyst leader. Ask God to provide the wisdom, favor and courage that you need.

Consider this. If the role of change leader is delegated to someone else, the congregation will naturally wonder about the pastor’s commitment

Stop Making Excuses It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” We are skillful at the art of making excuses, aren’t we? “I don’t know how.” “I didn’t understand.” “I couldn’t find the right tools.” “The voices told me to clean all the guns today.” “I threw out my back bowling.” “I have a Doctor’s appointment.” Do you ever catch yourself making excuses when things don’t turn out as you had expected in your church?

Have you ever tried to explain away why you didn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t or simply wouldn’t do something? If so as a church revitalizer, these are subtle signs that indicate you are living a life of excuses, which prevent you from reaching your full potential for revitalization and renewal.

~ Tom Cheyney

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to change. In addition, whoever is appointed to lead the change may steer the process in unwanted directions. I have seen such scenarios undermine the pastor, derail the change process and even split the church. If you are the pastor of a church in need of revitalization, you must step up.

Leadership Style

I am a big believer in high-involvement leadership. High-involvement leadership is about directly involving those you are leading in making the decisions about the organization’s future.

Since involvement builds commitment, the more you can involve people in deciding what changes will be made or how the changes will be implemented, the more they will be committed to make the changes work.

That said, a high-involvement leadership style is not the right approach in every situation. Aaron’s high-involvement leadership approach with the people of Israel while Moses was on Mount Sinai was disastrously foolish. Each leader and pastor needs to adopt a style of leadership that best matches the situation.

In the first two years after accepting the call to pastor Amplify Church, I adopted a more “leader-driven” approach to change as opposed to a high-involvement approach. I actively championed the principles and strategies that I was convinced were necessary to turn things around.

I did not passively stand by hoping that people would naturally come to consensus about changes that needed to be made. I led.

I knew that, in time, I would adopt a more high-involvement leadership approach for the long-term health of the church. That is exactly what I have done. I have seen first hand that pastors (and corporate executives) who maintain a strong and ongoing leader-driven approach eventually wear out the people who look to them for leadership. But you cannot be afraid to take a leader-driven approach for a season if that is what it will take for your church to become healthy again.

Decades ago I was told by a seasoned pastor, “Someone is going to lead your church. If you

abdicate that role, there will always be someone who is happy to take your place.” When you look at Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Nehemiah, Peter, Paul and other leaders who are profiled in the scriptures, you don’t see people who led with timidity. They may have been initially hesitant to take on the role of leader, but they ended up leading with God-inspired boldness. Bold changes seldom occur without bold leadership.

As the pastor, you are the change leader and you need to be willing to embrace whatever leadership style is necessary to lead your church to become the church God for intends it to be.

Church Members as Change Catalysts

If you are a committed church member, you already realize that your pastor cannot bring revitalization to your church without a lot of help. As a lay leader, you also play a vital role in the revitalization of your church. You can decide to become a change catalyst and do everything possible to help make change work, even supporting decisions you may not agree with. After all, church revitalization is not about changing core beliefs or values. It is about changing programs, ministries and practices.

Paul encouraged the Ephesians to humbly “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3) Those words may seem to be impossible to live when you are trying to agree about significant changes in your church! Know that your prayers, your attitude, and your words will have more impact than you might imagine.

Unfortunately, some church members take on the role of change blocker instead of change catalyst and even try to take control in order to keep things the way they are. In their book Replant: How a Dying Church Can Grow Again, Mark Devine and Darrin Patrick write about a common predicament that paralyzes churches.

Well-meaning members lose sight of their role as servants and become increasingly focused on controlling the very church they are called to serve. When a serving heart is replaced by a controlling heart, division is bound to ensue.

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If you are a church member and you are in opposition to the changes that your pastor is proposing to more effectively reach the next generation, your best contribution to the church may be to leave in order to find a church that fits your preferences and is not interested in changing. I was shocked and saddened when a long-standing member of our church stated that she didn’t care what happened after she died as long as the church stayed the way it was until the day her funeral was held. I was sad that she left the church and that her funeral was conducted elsewhere. Still, I was glad that the church did not put its mission on hold to wait for her to depart for heaven. The church is bigger than the wants, needs, and preferences of any single individual. It is hard to imagine that change blockers will hear the words, “Well done – you successfully blocked all of the changes that would have kept your church from dying.”

The bottom line is that church leaders and members cannot afford to become change blockers or to adopt a neutral “wait and see” attitude. Step out in faith and become a change catalyst! Trust that God is at work. Don’t give in to your fears or put your own preferences before the larger mission of the church. The role of change catalyst is an extremely rewarding role as you see your church turn around and begin to reach people in your community, including the next generation, more and more effectively.

Prayerfully consider these questions: 1. What are the thoughts, words and actions of a leader who takes on the role of change agent? Does this describe you?

2. Are you willing to move out of your comfort zone to adopt the leadership style and approach needed for genuine church revitalization?

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Lee Kricher is the Senior Pastor of Amplify Church, Pittsburgh, PA - amplifychurch. com and author of For a New Generation – foranewgeneration.com

Preach The Big Mac?

By Rob Myers

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. Acts 8:4-6.

One of the greatest difficulties to overcome in the revitalization of the church is the concept that: “somebody else is going to do it for us.” Somebody else is going to tithe, so I don’t have to; somebody else is going to teach Sunday School, so I’m not needed; somebody else is going to work the nursery and finally somebody else will do the Great Commission. If the prime objective of our remaining in this world after our salvation is to do the great commission, why have our churches, produced so few people who have had a first hand experience in leading someone to Christ, baptizing them and then teaching them to do the same?

Sometimes amid the circumstances of life, we tend to vegetate and sit in one place. God did not give us a command to sit, but to go. If we come to the place where we belong to God and we refuse to do what he says to do, he can very well create circumstances that will cause us to move. I say this, because I have to say to you: the great commission is not an option, and God was not joking when he spoke it. It is God’s only plan; there is no plan B, C, or anything else. Verse one of this passage teaches us that persecution broke out and the church was pushed out and scattered out of Jerusalem.

It is obvious; that they had done a great job of phase 1 of Acts 1:8. Jerusalem was turned upside down with the gospel of Christ! Do you think that, maybe God needed to give them a little nudge?

Needless to say, Philip the young Greek deacon, preached the Word of God wherever he went. It is interesting that God used the multicultural “Greek Jew” to go into an area that the “Hebrew Jew” would have abhorred, because of the prejudice that they had toward the Samaritan people. This bates the question: “What do I say to a people that I have a “history” with? …I’m saved and changed, but they have years of backlash prejudice built up

against “my kind.” Notice here that Phillip did not negotiate his terms with God… He just went!

What does this have to do with the “Big Mac?” I find one of the most interesting things about McDonald’s, and the Big Mac, is that wherever you go in the world the Big Mac remains constant. It always has: two all beef patties, pickles, lettuce, special sauce and a sesame seed bun. I make it a point to buy one wherever I go in the world, because I see the Gospel of Christ and the Word of God like the Big Mac: it is always culturally relevant and never has to be adapted. It is interesting to me that McDonald’s has learned to culturally adapt the rest of its menu, while leaving the Big Mac alone. When I was a kid in the Bahamas, McDonald’s served conch salad as a side item, as well as peas and rice. In Guatemala, you can get with black beans with your eggs for breakfast. I even got a Big Mac beside the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias and they had adapted some Jewish food to it as well, but the Big Mac, as in all cases, remains the same: two all beef patties, pickles, lettuce and special sauce on a sesame seed bun. The lesson learned, is that the Word of God never changes, yet the cultural adaptation is necessary. This is why Philip did not hesitate to go and preach the Good news of Jesus Christ even to the Samaritans.

How then do we get our people to share their faith?

My method is simple, review your potential leaders and find the ones who are willing to drop their nets and follow Christ. Jesus did not recruit men whom he had to drag into service, or who were filled with the strongholds of excuses, but he recruited men who knew how to achieve goals - men with aspirations to move beyond the mundane of the everyday business of fishing (insert any job type here) to become fishers of men. Ask a man to merely follow you and to serve you, and you will have a co- dependent. Ask a man to come with you and become a leader and you will have a world changer. Peter did not sign up to stand by and watch, he signed up to lead! Don’t invite an exciting man to a boring agenda, rather invite him to explore the power of the Good News of Christ! The Big Mac in our illustration is the Word of God, which is eternally relevant and unchanging. Teach men the stories of the Word of God, pour your life into them and in three years you can re-make or revitalize any church.

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4 Things That Actually Matter in Student Ministry

by Drew Cheyney

- Continued first, remember this, it is just as important for you to trust in your leadership and the direction they are leading your church as it is for them to trust you and the heart God has given you to lead students.

So the final thing that truly is important in your ministry, is to have the kind of leadership that will trust you through your wins, and your failures. It is only then

tried to plan enough in advance you could be creative?

And lastly, if you feel God’s calling you to teach and communicate clearly to students, don’t you think you should figure out a way to engage them? Sometimes leaders, in order to have the ministry we were called to have, you have to be willing to stop focusing on everything going on and start focusing in on the top things that truly make the most impact.

that you will be able to be the leader you need to be to accomplish connecting students, creating an environment that is fun, and talking about the things that not only catch people’s attention, but engage their hearts and minds.

It is at this time you may be saying, “well that sounds great, but I don’t exactly have the leadership I need to connect everyone, the creativity to pull engaging fun elements off, or the experience to speak that candidly.” Well, you may be correct, but I would ask you, when is the last time you tried to recruit or invest into potential leaders? When was the last time you

Drew Cheyney is the Student Pastor at Neighborhood Church in Valsilia, CA and frequest writer on Revitalization of Churches through student ministry.

Why I Am Not Revitalizing My Church!

Declining or dying churches and church leaders often makes various excuses for why they are not revitalizing their church. Some fear the failure around them and they make an excuse. Others are embarrassed because of what they thought would happen in there church have not. Some fear the things they must do to bring about the change needed for renewal so they make excuses.

Still others lack confidence in their ability to revitalize the church. To eliminate excuses from our lives we must first look at eliminating all traces of fear. Fear traps and locks us away within our comfort zone. Living a life of excuses can have very serious and lasting consequences. Not only will excuses prevent you from reaching your full potential, 36

but they will also hold you back from recognizing opportunities, talents and skills you might have, to help you overcome your problems. If you don’t challenge yourself to reach new heights, you will never really know what you’re capable of. New opportunities lie hidden around every corner, however you will never find them if you riddle your mind with constantly finding reasons to make excuses.

Here are some of the most used excuses for why one has not revitalized ones church: The task is demanding My talent is inadequate The time is not right The teaching is dangerous I cannot change.

- Tom Cheyney

RenovateConference.org/church-partners

Would you consider partnering with Renovate to help us revitalize churches across North America? You can do so by including us into your church’s Annual Church Budget. Your Monthly or Annual Support will help us continue to scholarship pastors and leaders of declining churches to the annual Church Revitalization Conference. Here are three ways you can become a Church Alliance Partner with Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference, in return for your partnership we will give you: RESTORER RE-INVENTOR LEVEL LEVEL Monthly or Annual Support

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Personal Coaching From Tom Cheyney & Renovate Staff $500 Value

How to Become A Church Alliance Partner Please register online to begin your alliance partnership with Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference at RenovateConference.org/church-partners 37

Things Every Church Revitalizer Should Do in the New Year!

The beginning of a new year allows individual churches and individual Church Revitalizers the opportunity to rethink the previous years work and begin on a new note with renewed vigor and ample time of reflection.

New Year’s day has always served me as a day of reflection and anticipation. One of the things I do each new years day is look over my very first sermon I ever preached and sense the humbling and appreciation that I did not stay at that level. A moment of humbly thanking God for His blessings is a great way to begin the New Year. A day of anticipation for the upcoming year of ministry opportunity is also a good way to spend the day. In a few days, right after an early morning work out, I will begin my new year and I am so excited about the opportunities it brings for ministry and my individual growth. I could go on, but the emphasis of this blog series is to share some specific things everyone working within the area of church revitalization and renewal should do early in the New Year.

New years are a time for newness and the passage in Revelation 21:5, which says: “Behold, I make all things new,” is a strong reminder of whom we serve and follow.

Yet, beginning early tomorrow I will start seeing lots of people wearing the new clothes they have received as Christmas gifts. Some will have a new coat; others will have ipads or laptops.

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Things are new in the New Year.

Perhaps the greatest opportunity for you is that the New Year offers a chance for a new you as a Church Revitalizer. So here are some things every Church Revitalizer should do in the New Year:

An Opportunity for a New Beginning

New things give us an occasion to start over. Wise revitalizers challenge their churches early in the New Year to see a compelling vision of what the church could become if everyone decided and committed to work together for the cause of revitalization and renewal. Could there be some things you as the minister could do better than last year? The New Year provides all of us second chances to do something better.

Starting anew with a hope of a new beginning. Clean the slates, start over a few things, and learn from previous mistakes.

I heard about a son who called his parents to wish them a happy New Year. The dad answered the phone was asked, “Well dad, what’s your New Year’s resolution?” He answered proudly, “To make your mother as happy as I can all year”. Then his mom got on the phone and he asked her the same question, “What’s you resolution, Mom?” She replied, “To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution.

Our Lord gives all of us when we enter into a personal relationship with Him a new beginning.

by Tom Cheyney Though the passage speaks of the great gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Even those outside of Christ are offered new beginnings and at one time in our lives as believers we were given the greatest gift of salvation through Christ Jesus.

But I believe this verse to be an encouragement to all of us as Church Revitalizers of the special blessings we are given through new beginnings.

Create a Sense of Urgency

Our communities all around us are changing and as the Church Revitalizer you can ill afford to grow complacent. We are living in a time of rapid change and only the church, which keeps pace with, its ever-changing cultural environment will advance. As a church revitalizer you must have a sense of urgency to assure that your God given vision stays ahead of the demands of community. Far too many pastors working in churches that need to be revitalized believe that business is equivalent to urgency.

Creating a sense of urgency is more about activating volunteers and lay leadership into the cause of revitalization and its tasks.

Strategies must move forward.

Objectives must be advanced.

Methodologies must be always evolving and executed in a timely manner. Simply, Church Revital-

izers must begin the New Year keeping themselves and their followers on their toes by training the church to look for God’s unexpected and then act upon His opportunities. You as the leader will have much to learn in the New Year and your people will need to embrace the attitude of daring so your renewal efforts might be accomplished.

Take the Occasion to Set New Goals

Healthy churches and healthy pastors set goals, which will provide barometers for how the church is doing in the new year.

Church Revitalizers understand that individual drive and a list of goals are key to the renewal innovation. It was the late great Zig Ziglar that said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” At the beginning of my first calendar year here in Central Florida, I asked my staff to turn in individual goals for the upcoming year for their area of ministry.

You would have thought I had tortured them. It was like pulling teeth. I scratched my head in disbelief. Have they never been held accountable for their area of work? Had a laze fare been allowed with no accountability? We work for our network of churches and don’t they deserve goals set and worked towards reaching.

Every one working in areas of ministry should set goals for his or her ministry area and then be willing to share them with the rest of the team. I have learned a wonderful lesson, which is that I am (and you are) more likely to accomplish my goals, if I can see other people also working on their individual goals. As a Church Revitalizer, if you have 10

volunteers working in ministry areas, make a goal to get to 20 volunteers. If you are poor with communication, make it a goal to communicate better this New Year. Remember what people are not up on they are usually down on. If you are bad with member follow up and prospect assimilation, make it a goal to make a certain number of visits, send out letters, send emails, and make phone calls this new year each and every week. Set new goals to grow spiritually and professionally.

Carry a Journal Everywhere You Go

I usually have a journal with me where ever I go and if not I have one in my ipad. The reason I journal and write things down is because I am often bombarded with not one good idea but many and if you do not write them down they will be lost. Great ideas often are pushed to the surface by a series of really good ideas but not great ones. Ideas are fragile, and our memory does not always work. So I write them down. Poor writers are seldom journal writers. Jess Moody, former pastor of First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach gave me the best advice when I was a young freshman in college at Palm Beach Atlantic University. His advice to an 18-year-old ministerial student was to put aside two hours every week, even while in college, and write. He said, “Write good sermons and bad ones. Write articles and ideas because if you begin to do this while you are young, it will pay off in great dividends as you mature in the work of the ministry!” He was so right. I have discovered in my journaling

journey that great ideas come in the strangest places, and if you do not write them down, you will lose the idea that could transform your church or ministry. Learn to write down your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and beliefs. Failure to do so just might cause you to regret it later.

This was made so clear to me when the space shuttle exploded on re-entry that horrible Saturday morning. I had just left my house after having breakfast with my wife and children before driving 310 miles to preach in Savannah, Georgia the next day. My Bible was in the front set along with my sermon notes and my journal, as I was prepared for what I thought was a typical Sunday of preaching. Not ten minutes out of my garage as I was listening to the shuttles landing on the radio, I heard from the reporter of the horrible crash. Journaling my thoughts, over the past year had many things useable to allow the Lord to change my message and provide incredible insight and comfort to those church members I would preach to the next day. For the next five plus hours of driving while listening to the tragic event I was able to add to my journal thoughts from the various reporters and when I arrived at my hotel later that day in a few short hours I was able to develop two timely messages for morning and evening of the following day.

Had I not carried a journal with me everywhere I go I would not have had the tools and ideas God had given me over the past months to fashion such timely messages.

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Get Your Hands Dirty by Touching the Ministry

Every Church Revitalizer must see the importance of getting ones hands dirty by touching the ministry. Pastors must touch the work of the Lord in a local church as much as they are to lead it.

Many declining church pastors admit that they are uncomfortable with getting their hands dirty in the work of ministry. It is sad because this allows them to appear to be unfamiliar about the changing demands and requirements for their local church to be locally relevant as well as globally relevant. Some pastors of declining or plateaued churches enjoy roaming the sidelines and observing the performance of others, rather than getting in the game and taking a more active role. As a church revitalizer do you immerse yourself in the things, which keep you in the office over the things that get you out with your people and prospects? Church Revitalizers much like church planters must be more entrepreneurial than ever before. As the leader of the flock one must touch the ministry enough so they are better able to anticipate crisis and manage change before circumstances force their hand. Leadership is all about people and if leaders begin to lose touch with those they lead, they will become detached and disengaged with the requirements of the community and church in which they serve.

Avoid the Tyranny of the Urgent at the Cost of the Vital.

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There are always things, which can pull you away from the important work of the Lord. Some it is actually very good but not the best. Are you known as one who can count noses, nickel, and numbers yet lacks the time required to connect with those who long for your presence?

Would you rather go to a committee meeting and enlist others

The beginning of a new year allows individual churches and individual Church Revitalizers the opportunity to rethink the previous years work and begin on a new note with renewed vigor and ample time of reflection.

New Year’s day has always served me as a day of reflection and anticipation.

One of the things I do each new years day is look over my very first sermon I ever preached and sense the humbling and appreciation that I did not stay at that level. A moment of humbly thanking God for His blessings is a great way to begin the New Year. A day of anticipation for the upcoming year of ministry opportunity is also a good way to spend the day. or do the work yourself? Every church revitalizer worth his or her salt knows how to eliminate the distractions so they can concentrate on the true priorities of ministry. I like the little ditty I heard some time ago: “Whoever

invented the open door policy for leaders never accomplished much.” There are times you must speak to the urgent, yet far too many pastors allow the seemingly urgent to push away the actually urgent and vital to the cause of Christ.

Know and Understand Who your Church is Called to Reach.

International missionaries learned long ago that to reach a people group for Christ, they would need to understand their culture. By understanding the group’s beliefs, traditions, and values, they could eat, drink, and talk like them. Then missionaries could more effectively share the love of Christ within the context of the group’s culture. So whom are you called to reach? Is it a specific people group, cultural pocket, or geographic area? First, define the target group that God has placed on your heart for your church to love and reach. Once you have defined the target group, create a profile describing them. Gather all the information available through community demographic studies, community history, and people group statistics. Evaluate the community to determine the flow of people’s lives, what they do on a week-toweek basis, what activities they are involved in, their priorities, musical preferences, values, and beliefs. Learn to understand how the average family thinks, their life issues, challenges, and goals.

Then determine what questions people are asking that the gospel can answer. There are many resources and activities you can utilize to help you understand

your community. As you understand your churches surrounding culture and become experts on your community, then you can develop a ministry plan that fits within the context of your target group’s culture. By doing so, you can increase the effectiveness of your ministry.

Become Impassioned Pioneers of New Possibilities

Church Revitalizers must become impassioned pioneers of new possibilities. One needs to release their passionate quest of excellence in order to challenge the status quo and seize previously unseen ministry opportunities to build sustainable momentum within the ministry area. Impassioned revitalizers are the real explorers of new potentials and possibilities. The impassioned pioneer of new possibilities is more often able to outperform those who are just trying to get it done but lack the zeal of the other leader. Your leadership as a Church Revitalizer is more about standing for something and transitioning your beliefs into action, and then taking it all the way through to the completed and envisioned end. When pastors are not exploring and pressing forward, they are playing it safe and can over time become complacent in their role as the shepherd. I have discovered that you will learn more from a pastor that explores than from one who merely floats along.

When a renewal pastor explores they challenge everyone on the churches leadership team to get out of their comfort zones and step up their games.

Create a Moment-in-Time with as Many Church Members as Possible

Your presence with your flock is so vitally important and wise Church Revitalizers develop the ability to create individual moments with church members that express your interest in them.

The more your church grows the better you will need to be at this ability. Your interest in them even for the moment in time often will ignite their interest in your and your cause of revitalization. Moments-in-time are mastered over time. This ability and presence requires self-trust, confidence, self-awareness and the ability to navigate the needs of other people. When you are with others your time is focused on them and not on the next thing. Creating a moment-in-time with as many church members as possible requires becoming a good listener and the ability to quickly connect the individuals patterns of conversation in order to detect one’s personal interests, leadership style and personal needs. Moments-in-time is not about you but all about others. These Moments-in-time are about having impactful, long-lasting moments with members and prospects that inspires others to want to know more.

Create a “User-Friendly” Ministry Environment.

There are many barriers that obstruct an unchurched person from hearing and receiving the gospel message. Many of these are due to negative perceptions; others are spiritual issues of the heart. Here are four barriers that

an unchurched person must cross to become a Christian: The Image Barrier—Many perceive church as being irrelevant, boring, judgmental, and disingenuous.

The Cultural Barrier—For the unchurched, church culture can sometimes be as scary as it would be for some of us if we walked into a biker bar at 1 a.m. on Saturday night. Culture affects terminology/language, musical preferences, dress code, social traditions, and so forth. Some who are unchurched may not relate to church culture and may quickly decide that church is not for them.

The Gospel Barrier—The Holy Spirit must convict them of their sin, so that they repent and confess faith in the resurrected Christ.

The Total Commitment Barrier— Accepting that a commitment to Christ is a lordship decision involving total commitment and surrender to God. Although many churches say that they care about reaching the unchurched or lost in their communities, they are hindered by inwardly focused ministry practices, which serve as barriers to reaching the unchurched.

Everything from signage, service flow, dress code, and musical style is determined based on the needs of those who are already members.

Continued on page 54

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The Preperation for Revitalization We recently bought a new house.

It’s a “fixer-upper” – we knew that when we bought it but are only now realizing how much fixing it needs. The house was first a foreclosure, then an abused rental property and finally was purchased at an auction and flipped. Thankfully, by the time it came to us, we were able to get it at a price that allows us to make the needed improvements while living in it.

One of the biggest issues with the exterior of the house is the lawn – or the lack thereof. We live in a Home Owners’ Association (HOA) that has been very gracious, but the weeds and invasive grasses are not only ugly on our lawn, they are a creeping problem for our neighbors’ lawns as well. Back in Minnesota, I fixed a similar situation with overseeding and lawn treatment for a couple of seasons; however, that won’t work here in Central Florida. When a lawn is as bad as ours, the bad stuff has to be eradicated down to the root first.

We’ve been told by several folks that the only fix we face is to kill everything that is there – making sure the roots are dead – and then re-sod the lawn. And the prep work of herbicides and fungicides is critical or the new sod will be invaded by the same weeds within a summer or so.

Crabgrass, Dollarweed, Chickweed, Corn Speedwell...you name it, it’s in our lawn.

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Anyone who is master of a trade will tell you that there are no short cuts when it comes to prep work. Painters know that the enormous amount of time it takes to paper, tape and “cut in” is essential for the actual painting to go quickly and to cover well for a pleasing result. Carpenters know that measuring well and keeping blades sharp are non-negotiable for a good product.

Farmers spend a lot of time preparing the soil so that their crop’s yield is at its maximum months later. The same principle applies to church revitalization.

Having worked in revitalization for over 20 years, I can tell you that there is a lot of prep work involved to turn a church around. Much of it is tactical in nature (e.g., vision, values and strategy work), but to my continued amazement the one critical component that most folks overlook is prayer. Every movement in Church history – every revival and awakening – is preceded by a season of fervent and focused intercession. Every one. We can track this historically, and yet it seems to be the one thing Christians and church leaders today forget to employ! If a church family will not humble themselves and pray, they will not experience revitalization. If a congregation will not spend meaningful and ample time interceding for their neighborhood, they will not be able to effectively reach their neighbors with the grace and truth of Christ’s gospel.

If church leaders will not gather

by John Kimball specifically to intercede for their church family and her mission, they will not see the needed breakthroughs to overcome barriers (personalities, dysfunction, cultural issues…) to the church’s ministry.

My experience has shown that churches who take this call to prayer preparation seriously are churches that rediscover their mission, reconnecting with their communities with great gospel fruit. Experience also tells me that church families who do not do this prep work (for whatever reason), remain stagnant at best.

In my opinion, there is nothing else in church revitalization that is as clear and simple as this point. And yet, only about half of the congregations with which I have worked over the years have followed through with respect to intercession.

Pastors, you have to take the lead in this. It starts in your heart before it can spread to the congregation. Your own personal prayer relationship with the Lord is the foundation for your church’s revitalization. If this is an area that needs work, start there.

Pray on your own. Pray with your family. Schedule regular time for intercession with your leaders – weekly if possible (this is not time for “business” – your only business is praying for your church’s fruitful life, ministry and witness).

Preach regularly on prayer and intercession. Provide training on prayer and intercession (most congregants need this because

they no longer have a frame of reference for effective, answered prayer). Build a cottage prayer movement within your church family, allowing folks to gather in informal clusters around the community to stand in the gap for their neighbors.

Program times of congregational prayer into your church’s weekly schedule and then actually use it for praying. But know this: your congregation will not rise above the level of her pastor in any area of ministry – including prayer. If it’s not an acted upon priority for you, it will not be for your church.

And if your church does not practice prayer and intercession, revitalization is unlikely.

My lawn is going to look horrible for about 10 days before the new sod can be planted. You might find that you also have a challenging season as you begin the prep work of prayer in your church. But the result will be worth it. It’s not easy, but it is necessary. Don’t rush this. Pray and watch the Holy Spirit show up in your church’s ministry.

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Times are Changing, So Change With the Times

- Tom Cheyney

People are afraid of change. Times are changing so change with the times. Our God however, is a God of change. We can learn at least two things from scripture about change: initially, we can learn that Christians should not be afraid of change. In Revelation 21:5 He declares “Behold, I make all things new” God does all kinds of “new things” in our lives every day. When we first become Christians, we die to our past, are buried in the water’s of Christian baptism and rise up a “changed” person, a new changed creature in Christ.

Our God is a God of change, and God can do great things when His people and His churches allow Him the freedom to change their lives. Someone once observed that the only persons who like change are wet babies and even they are not too excited about it either. Churches are notorious for that kind of attitude as well.

True spiritual maturity is approached when people turn their attention to those outside the church and seek ways to spread the good news rather than exercise their entitlements as members.

Dr. John Kimball is Director of Church Development for the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. He has nearly 30 years of pastoral experience, most of it in revitalization ministry, and coaches pastors and churches through development in his denomination and in partnership with the Praxis Center for Church Development. John serves as the Lead Pastor/Planter of Palmwood Church in Metropolitan Orlando.

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Conflict Avoidance & Resolution Basics for the Church Revitalizer: How to Enjoy Change!

By Bob Whitesel

For 20+ years, I’ve coached church revitalization. And, this usually means bringing about change in a church. So, when I earned my PhD from Fuller Seminary, I decided to study change and how to bring it about in an effective way.

One of the most astounding things I found was that in church leadership literature “conflict resolution” was one of the most underrepresented topics. That’s right, conflict is probably understudied, under discussed and misunderstood by our church leadership.

We all know that turning around a church will almost always lead to some conflict. Therefore let me suggest what church leaders can do to overcome conflict when it inevitably arises during church change.

Conflict Avoidance: It May be Why There Are So Many Planted Churches and Fewer Turnaround Churches

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see shortly that because conflict avoidance is the rationale, these plants aren’t often given a healthy start). The senior leader avoids conflict for so long, that staff who are in conflict with him/her wind up leaving the church to plant another church. The planting of the church is actually a conflict avoidance behavior by the senior leader and planter, because in the name of multiplication this tactic distances discordant and innovative ideas from the mother church.

The result is that mother churches become mono-cultural congregations, while at the same time feeling self-satisfied that they are planting churches. But, often the plant becomes mono-cultural too because the avoidance of conflict is a behavior the planted pastor has seen modeled for her/him and often adopts as a coping mechanism as well.

1.) Conflict avoidance often leads to burnout in the turnaround leader. This is because the repression of stress creates internal turmoil in the leader which does not get resolved. It usually simmers under the surface until an alarm event pushes it to the front.

The leader has repressed it so long the leader will often overact and congregants will wonder why the leader is so upset. The level of irritation is often so great that sides will be formed.

3) Conflict avoidance often creates an uncomfortable staff relationship with the senior shepherd, because they don’t know how to address conflict.

Often the senior leader will cancel or postpone meetings with staff, if the leader perceives it might involve conflict. Inside, the leader may be thinking, “If I cancel this meeting the conflict will get resolved after the person has had time to think about it.” As a result, the staff will feel at the best disregarded and as the worst detached.

The result is turnover among staff who the church needs for revitalization.

2.) Conflict avoidance often leads to a great deal of external church planting (you will

In most of the circumstances the conflict-avoiding senior leader is well liked. In my case study re-

search, the more a leader is liked, the more apt that leader is to be a conflict-avoider. Subsequently, they may be popular among other leaders and asked to share their insights into church growth.

Most of that insight will have to do with planting churches. But, if you talk to the pastors of many of those plants, as I have, you will find that they feel leaving the mother church was the best way to avoid an awkward situation where conflict was avoided.

Thus, > The turnaround leader’s avoidance of conflict creates an “uncomfortable” and “awkward” feeling among the staff when they are in conflict with the leader’s ideas. Staff may eventually leave the church instead of helping with church revitalization. > Because the senior shepherd is well liked, the innovators that are needed for church revitalization will usually distance themselves from the conflict avoiding leader by going elsewhere. > Often a new planted church is the result of conflict avoidance, because the leaders don’t know how to resolve their differences. Rather than revitalizing a church, the innovators leave with not only wrong motivation but also the wrong coping-mechanisms for handing conflict in their next church.

Conflict avoidance thus often leads to a proliferation of small/weak daughter churches, less diverse mother churches and a halting of church revitalization efforts.

What Can Be Done? Learn Conflict Resolution Basics

To resolve conflict you need to undertake three simple steps of conflict resolution:

1). Attack a problem, not people. We often demonize the message-carriers rather than looking at the problem. A problem can be shared with such emotion by a message-carrier that the mental image of the message bearer can cloud our judgment and lead us to superimpose the problem on the person. While the person may have a role in the problem, it is critical that you separate the problem from the person. Do these three steps. a) Write down the problem. Keep out anything that has to do with people or their attitudes. b) Rewrite this problem statement until you have separated personalities and people from the problem c) Now you have a description of the problem, devoid of the people involved.

2) Concentrate on needs, not outcomes. Everyone sees a different outcome. But, understanding what motivates people (i.e. their needs) is the way you solve conflict. You begin by figuring out what people want. a) Ask yourself, “What does each person involved in the conflict want?”

b) Write down what each person wants.

3) Find a “Win-Win” solution, which is one that meets most peoples needs. Take your “description of the problem” (from Step 1) and your “list of people needs” (from Step 2) and write down solutions that could meet both. Then get together both sides and discuss the solutions (do not share what you wrote in Step 1 with them). Because these solutions will meet the needs of what both sides want, we call these “Win-Win” solutions.

Most people are conflicted not because they differ on outcomes, but because they are afraid their personal needs will be ignored.

Let me end with an example.

Tower Park Church (a pseudonym) had two worship services, a traditional service at 9:30 AM in their sanctuary and a contemporary service at 10:30 AM in their fellowship hall. To revitalize the church, the new pastor knew he needed to move the 10:30 service into the larger sanctuary. The pastor announced to the board that he was exploring a move of service times and locations. Immediately a flurry of parking-lot and hallway conversations started to polarize the church into factions: those for moving the contemporary service into the sanctuary and those against it.

The pastor of Tower Park Church knew he had to resolve this conflict. So he followed the three steps above.

1) He wrote down the problem: “The problem is that additional space is needed for the growing contemporary service.”

2) He concentrated on interests, not the outcome. Talking to the traditional service attendees he found they didn’t want to change their service time or to have the altar area filled with contemporary musical instruments and their cords. He also found out that the contemporary service attendees wanted the larger space and the more accommodating sanctuary to the crowded fellowship hall.

3) The pastor suggested a win-win outcome, that met the interests of both sides. He suggested they move the contemporary service back to 10:45 and leave the early service at 9:30. The altar area would retain its traditional looks (as the traditional attendees requested) and so the contemporary band would hide their equipment behind curtaining to retain the formal appearance for the earlier traditional service.

Once the pastor of Tower Park Church refused to avoid the conflict and instead find out what everyone “wanted,” he was able to lead them to a revitalization plan that met everyone’s needs. And, so can you.

Bob Whitesel (D.Min. and Ph.D., Fuller Seminary) is a sought-after speaker and award-winning writer on organic outreach, church leadership and church health; who has been called by a national magazine, “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today.” Author of 11 books in 12 years, he serves as the founding professor of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University and holds two doctorates from Fuller Theological Seminary. The recipient of two national McGavran awards, he is a nationally respected consultant helping churches grow and regain health.

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1 800 991-6011 OUTREACH.com 46

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Repurposed The Nehemiah Model: (Nine Strategic Steps for Renewal) Repurpose means to use or convert for use in another format or product. Repurposing happens when something has very little or no value, or is only worth throwing away, is suddenly restored and used for significant purposes. Repurpose is exactly what Nehemiah did in the city of Jerusalem. He repurposed broken-down gates and walls. He repurposed a community of faith that was far from God. Repurposing is a powerful word of hope for churches which have either plateaued, are in decline or might even be on the brink of death. Some people today would consider many of these churches to be of not much value, perhaps only to be thrown away. Instead, it is the passionate desire of Jesus to do a life-transforming work that only he can do - returning his people once again to a right relationship himself and to the mission to which he has called his church.

In the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, under God’s leadership, Nehemiah himself leads the people in a timely, miraculous strategic effort to rebuild the gates and walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days. Shortly after this project reached its completion, an even greater miracle occurred as God brought renewal to their lives spiritually.

According to Aubrey Malphurs, “Strategic planning is the process that a point leader uses with a team of leaders on a regular basis to think and act as to design and redesign a specific ministry model that accomplishes the Great Commission in their unique ministry context.”

In addition to the Scriptures, there are also many practical reasons for utilizing strategic planning in church revitalization: 1) To discover the church’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats 2) To

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develop an intentional process for “making disciples” in the church, 3) To align the church’s ministries— getting people and ministries focused and on the same page 4) To create an environment for revival and spiritual awakening 5) To develop and implement spiritually healthy change which glorifies Jesus Christ 6) To craft a compelling vision that is simple to grasp and yet has powerful clarity 7) To empower the pastor, church staff, leadership, and people to serve with excellence 8) To be a greater impact and influence in reaching the community for Christ 9) To develop a strategy that regularly evaluates and improves the ministries of the church 10) To be fully used by God as a church locally, regionally, nationally, and globally to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Nehemiah provides nine transferrable and timeless principles for today’s revitalizers as they lead strategic planning and much needed spiritual renewal in their churches.

Step 1: Relentless Prayer

(Nehemiah 1:4-11) Drawing from Nehemiah’s four months of relentless prayer, there are four prayer principles which stand out - all of which prepare the revitalizer for leading strategic planning and renewal in the church. The four principles are: 1) Recognize who God is – God is high and exalted. 2) Repent of all sin (brokenness). 3) Recall the amazing promises of God. 4) Request help from God for success.

Step 2: Recognize God’s Window of Opportunity

(Nehemiah 2:1-10) The second step for the revitalizer is to discern God’s window of opportunity and timing for moving

By Darwin Meighan forward with the process. A window of opportunity is a relatively brief period of time during which an opportunity must be seized or it may be lost. In Nehemiah 2:110, as he stood before the King, Nehemiah seizes his God-given opportunity, moving forward toward the project which awaited him in Jerusalem.

Following the example of Nehemiah, through much prayer, the church strategic planner and revitalizer first discerns God’s will and his timing in the process.

Second, he understands God has positioned him for such a time as this. Third, while praying, he is also planning for the Godsized project at hand. Prayer and planning go together. Fourth, the leader acknowledges God’s providential hand of favor and provision, which ultimately leads to success in renewal.

Step 3: Recovery: Getting Beyond Life’s Ruins

(Nehemiah 2:11-20) In this third step, the leader is tasked with the responsibility of inspecting and examining the unique ministry context to which God has called him to revitalize.

Questions to consider at this step of the strategic process include, “What really is going on in our church?” “How did we arrive here?” “What would God have us to do?” “What do we really know about the community God has called us to reach?” A thorough examination at this stage uncovers the honest, brutal facts – creating urgency for God’s people to change, therefore, propelling the church forward in the journey

Be Stong and Courageous!

Church revitalizers need to be willing to take risks for the good of the local church they serve.

They need to be strong and of courage. In Joshua chapter one, God instructs Joshua 3 times to “be strong, and be courageous”. Such easy instructions, but how is he to be strong, and courageous? It’s easy sometimes to be cocky, and pretend to be brave but what Joshua needed was true bravery, and courage. God not only directs Joshua to be “strong, and courageous,” but he dictates to him how to be so. To live the kind of Life that God wants us to in the society that we live in we too need courage the way that Joshua did. Sometimes it’s hard to be strong, and courageous. God says we are to stand on his promises. If we are to accomplish what God calls us, and instructs us to do, we as well must stand on the promises. The problem is many churches in need of revitalization are sitting on the premises instead of standing on the promises. Like Joshua, we must not turn, not compromise, not become distracted, must not become detoured from what the will of God is. Faithfulness is the key. Lastly, we must start the process of revitalization and renewal. Many in our declining churches have heard the word of God, sensed his presence, and his leading, but are we still just sitting. What are you waiting for? Now is the time to get going. There is ground to cover, battles to be won, jobs that are unfinished so let’s “be strong and courageous” and do it! Let’s get going.

- Tom Cheyney

toward the next step of strategic planning and renewal.

Step 4 - Releasing the Power of God’s Team

(Nehemiah 3) Fourth, the revitalizer prayerfully pours his efforts into forming a strategic planning team. In chapter 3, Nehemiah provides an example of the synergy, teamwork and collaborative environment God uses, to bring about renewal in the church. Several team principles must be considered: 1) Every team member does play a significant role in God’s game plan. 2) God’s team best accomplishes his work shoulder to shoulder. 3) God strategically positions every team member for maximum impact. 4) Together make the commitment to finish the God-given task.

Step 5—Refocus: What to Do when Attacked by Spiritual Opposition

(Nehemiah 4:1-23) Throughout the Jerusalem project, Nehemiah and God’s people were met with external and internal opposition. Likewise, the strategic planning team, in their efforts to revitalize the church, they will be met with strong opposition from the enemy. When opposition does come, Nehemiah offers several key weapons for overcoming it. First, is the spiritual weapon of prayer. Prayer must be the forefront of every church’s renewal and strategic planning efforts. Second, keep doing the work. Stay focused on the task of revitalizing the church. Satan will do everything possible to distract and discourage God’s leader and God’s people from experiencing

renewal. Third, assign watchmen to pray, while the strategic planning team continues the work.

Finally, in the midst of opposition, practice unity, for the purpose of seeing renewal become a reality.

Step 6—Resolving Relational Conflict God’s Way

(Nehemiah 5:1-13) Churches who find themselves in need of renewal, over the years have developed unhealthy and unacceptable patterns of behavior for resolving relational conflict. During Nehemiah’s project, major conflict broke out. When this occurred, Nehemiah chose to deal with relational conflict in a scriptural manner.

Church revitalizers must sharpen their skills for leading change, Continued on Page 56 49

Revitalization is a Character Issue Of all the necessary components of revitalization leadership, I believe that character is the most important. For the past several years, I have worked on church revitalization with pastoral leaders in all sizes of churches and in various stages of their church life-cycles. One important observation I can share is that character, or the lack of it, is one of the prime causes of churches being in their condition. Character is also a prime indicator of whether a church can climb out the hole that it has dug for itself as well.

Think of character, the representation of one’s integrity and passion, as the broad base at the bottom of a pyramid. It comes first; without it, nothing else really matters. Character is the foundation that that supports everything else in revitalization ministry. Upon that foundation of character rests personality, which includes disposition (one’s usual attitude), professionalism, and approachability. Above that level rests one’s education, knowledge, and experience.

Finally at the top, representing the smallest component of them all – is one’s skills and abilities.

I am frequently asked what skills are required, or what do revitalizers need to know as they lead their churches. More and more, my answer is less about their skills or knowledge, and more about the character that is required to lead such a venture. So, let’s talk about character from 50

the biblical perspective, the work ethic perspective, and then the personal diligence perspective (assiduity).

Ezekiel’s oracle to the wicked shepherds ought to be considered in our understanding of the character of leaders. God declared His dissatisfaction with the shepherds of Israel. The shepherds were guilty of three grievous crimes that I see duplicated in modern ministry. First, the shepherds were providing for themselves and ignoring their flock (Ezekiel 34:1-3, 1819). In essence, the sheep were getting what was left over after the shepherds had provided first for themselves. The shepherd exists for the flock; the flocks do not exist for the shepherd! Second, the shepherds neglected the pastoral care of their flocks (Ezekiel 34:4). They did not care for the sick, treat the sheep with broken bones, or even pursue the scattered. They had adopted the philosophy that so many pastoral leaders have adopted – it is easier to get new sheep then fix or go after old ones!

The third crime was that they did not protect their sheep. The sheep were easy prey because they were scattered. Pastoral leaders rationalize it this way – some sheep fall prey because there are predators. In reality the sheep were prey because the shepherds were too busy feeding themselves to notice those preying on the sheep. Shepherds exist to deal with the predators;

by Terry Rials

sheep should never have this concern.

As you know, a good work ethic is essential to a successful anything! If you do not like to work, then do not plan to go into church revitalization. It is grunt work, non-glamorous, tedious, and wonderful! Borrowing from my Oklahoma roots, revitalizers are plow horses, not show ponies. If you go into revitalization work, forget short work days, frequent golf outings, long vacations, and taking off when you want. Revitalizers need work gloves, not golf gloves. Troubled churches are in need of one thing, and a lot of it – your time. It takes time to process and cultivate the vision that God gives you. It takes time to build the necessary relationships. It takes time to develop the leaders that you will need in the future. It takes time to cast your vision and allow it to take root in the people. It takes time for God to transform your people into usable vessels. It takes time to address the problems, conflicts, and opposition that will present themselves as you begin working on your project.

We mistakenly assume that because Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in only fifty-two days that we can hurry into (and through) the revitalization process. The reality is that the whole work, of which the walls were only a tiny part, lasted thirteen years. Nehemiah heard the news from his brother in 445 BC and

the book ends as he institutes the religious reforms in 432 BC. Most of those thirteen years cannot even be accounted for in the pages of scripture. What was Nehemiah doing? Working.

In the same manner, we can only account for a few days in Jesus’ life. What was the Lord doing the other unaccounted days? He was working (see John 4:34; 17:4).

The third requirement for revitalization character is personal diligence. Diligence describes the attention and care required to accomplish something. A synonym for diligence is assiduity, which may be an even better way to describe what is required. Assiduity is persistent personal attention. Pastoral leaders often lack this quality.

We attribute our lack of diligence to medical conditions, such as A.D.H.D., or to personality types.

Some things may simply bore us. However, the fact remains that some things have to be done; as tedious as they are, they have to be done. Though well-intentioned, we tend to hop from one great idea to another, just as a frog hops from one lily pad to another. Or we are like the little kid we take fishing that cannot even sit still long enough to keep his line in the water. I was recently helping a pastor in a revitalization project with his

church. He asked for some help with the first few steps, so I prescribed four simple activities that would get the project off to a great start. Each of the assigned projects would require less than one hour to complete. We spoke again two weeks later, and he informed me that he decided that he was only going to do one of the projects. As of last report, he still has not completed that one either. I believe his church is failing in part because he is not even able to do what is expected. Jesus had the same problem with His disciples when He returned and found them sleeping.

“Could you not keep watch one hour?”

Leader, sit down, slow down, and hunker down. This is going to take a while. Take a deep breath and firm up your personal resolve. Develop this character quality in yourself. Make yourself start revitalization and then make yourself stick to it.

Church Revitalization will reveal your character and build your character as well. Look again at the pyramid example.

Of the four categories in the pyramid, the only one that is a good predictor of effective results is CHARACTER. Your “gift of gab” will only take you so far. Your charismatic personality will wear

Renovate Church Revitalization

BOOT CAMP

Think of character, the representation of one’s integrity and passion, as the broad base at the bottom of a pyramid. It comes first; without it, nothing else really matters. Character is the foundation that that supports everything else in revitalization ministry. -Terry Rials

thin in your second decade of leading the same group (believe me). Your years of experience, your numerous degrees, and your highly developed skills mean nothing if there is not passionate, persistent character to go with them.

Terry Rials serves as the Senior Pastor of the Crestview Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and he serves as the Church Revitalization Team Leader for Capital Baptist Association in Oklahoma. He is a frequent conference speaker and teacher, leading church revitalization efforts in his state and nationally. You can contact Terry at terry@cbcokc.org.

Coming in 2017

Washington, DC - March Branson, MO - May Orlando, FL - December For More Information EMAIL BootCamp@RenovateConference.org

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Is Ministry Getting You Down?

Ministry is tough and not for the faint of heart. Many people view ministry from the outside looking in. They see the pastor speak on Sundays, and think that is all he does. I remember one man asking me what my husband does with the rest of his week. There were so many thoughts that raced through my mind of what I could tell this guy, but instead I just said, “Not much, he just relaxes and plays golf all week.” Of course the tone of my voice was extremely sarcastic as I smiled and walked away. People see what they want to see, and most think that the life of the pastor’s family is quiet, peaceful, and uneventful except on Sunday mornings. Of course pastors’ wives know this is not the case.

The truth of the matter is that a pastor’s schedule looks very much like a doctor who has to be on call for his patients 24/7. Most pastors have more families in their congregations than doctors do patients in their practice. The constant day-to-day grind of a pastor’s schedule wears on his entire family, especially in situations where funds are low and peoples’ needs are high. Church plants and churches in need of revitalization typically fit that model.

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Consequently, the pastor and his family members are expected to fill the shoes of missing staff members due to a shortage of funds. Churches that are not able to adequately staff for the needs and programs that the church offers within community can create quite a strain on the wife and children of the pastor. Most men are single minded and are totally committed to the spiritual growth and development of their congregations, often forgetting that their wives are also committed to the growth and development of their children. And then there is the need for time for personal growth and rest that is often sacrificed for the needs of the parishners and family members.

Pastor’s and their wives are human beings who have needs of their own. They are not super human. If the pastor’s wife is feeling neglected or overworked by her church and husband, she can quickly become resentful, not only toward her husband, but also toward her church and eventually the Lord. Ultimately, this can become disastrous to the ministry of the church and to the health of the pastor’s family. There is an old adage, “When mama’s not happy, no one is happy!”

Mon’s and dads lead by example, and pastors and their wives are no exceptions. So before we get too caught up in revitalizing the church, let’s make sure our homes are revitalized as well. Having been the wife of a pastor for the last 34 years, and a Church and School Administrator for over 25

By Estelle Myers years, I have a few suggestions on how a woman can keep her balance walking the tightrope of ministry in her church while at the same time caring for her family.

1)We all need mothering.

“As a mother comforts her child so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 66:13, NIV) “I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (II Corinthians 6:18, NIV)

Don’t forget whom you are serving and that your God is mindful of your needs too. You are the daughter of the King, and as such you can ask what you will and He will meet your needs as no one else can, not even your husband.

So do not neglect your time alone each day with your heavenly Father, for He cares for you dearly and wants to nurture you as you nurture others.

2)Your love is supernatural.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3, NIV) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

(Mark 12:30, NIV)

God gives us the example of what it is to love and then asks us to do the same through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. Natural human love will wane and eventually burn out. But the love of God is everlasting and supernatural; for He empowers us to love as He loves. This is an amazing truth and must be realized in our

relationships within our home and church. This love touches our mind (commitments), our heart (emotion & passions), our strength (commitments) and our very soul (ultimate intimacy). Learn to live in God’s will and love as He loves, then you will never be put to shame.

3)You are a woman of influence.

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” (Proverbs 14:1, NIV)

Women have the ability to build others up or tear them down, both in their homes and in the church. Your children and church members will follow your example. You are extremely influential and have the ability to make or break your husband, your family, and the overall ministry of the church. That is a lot of influence!

Don’t blow it! Don’t let your legacy be one of negativity, complaining, gossiping, and conflict. Remember your calling and your position in Christ. You are royalty and need to act accordingly. Your family name, Christian, has great meaning and you have the privilege to carry on the family legacy. Do it well and with honor. Be a woman of “noble” character for then your husband will sing your praises and your children will call you blessed!

4) No one is perfect!

“We love because He first loved us.”

(John 4:19, NIV)

Reality check- there is no such thing as a “Superwoman”- so quit applying for the job. We all make mistakes each and every day. Get rid of your own expectations to be something that you are not.

As you learn to take responsibility for your own mistakes and ask for forgiveness you are modeling to your children and congregation what they need most- to do the same. We are only able to love and forgive others because Christ first loved and forgave us despite our shortcomings. The least we can do is follow His example and seek to love and forgive our spouse, our children, and fellow church members who may hurt us along the way. This is the golden ticket that wins the lottery for a lifetime of peace and true happiness.

5) Live each day with hope.

“Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” (Luke 1:45, NIV)

Remember, in the end, God does not call us to be successful in the eyes of the world, nor does He expect us to save the world (that’s His job), He only expects us to be faithful to Him. Therein lies our hope- in Christ. If we will simply believe and trust God daily that He will do that which He has called us to do, we will be blessed.

So as you travel through this journey called ministry, know that Jesus has your back. This is why Paul could say with confidence that we are not to “worry about anything, but with prayer and supplications make your request known to God” (Philippians 4:7, KJV). Stay connected to God, your family and your friends and learn to live life in light of your ministry, not in spite of it. If you are able to stay balanced in your relationships, you will discover that you truly will be able to “do all things through Christ Jesus” and that you will accomplish more than

If church is to be relevant than we must be willing to do our part to make it relevant.

One of the problems we have as Christians is that we expect the church to awaken us, to get us excited about Jesus, and to motivate us to a new way of life.

-Tom Cheyney

you could have ever thought or imagined.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!

Amen!” Ephesians 3:17-21

Estelle Myers is the wife of Rob Myers, Pastor of Miami Baptist Church.

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Things Every Church Revitalizer Should Do in the New Year!

Members normally are familiar with the church facilities and ministries (so they don’t need greeters or good signage), have established strong relationships with other members, and are comfortable with the current culture of the church. New families often find the church experience to be uncomfortable, awkward, and confusing. They ask themselves, “Where do I go? Where do I take my kids? What do I wear?

Will they ask me to pray?” They enter the church doors with hearts racing and sweaty palms hoping to find someone, anyone with whom they can identify.

When creating a “user-friendly” environment, remember to remove the barriers that may hinder a person from hearing and responding to the gospel.

Many times, people are not willing to give church a try. The barriers, for them, are too large to maneuver, people within a church have hurt them, or they do not see the relevance in attending a church service. So why not go to them? Jesus did it—and so should we. Try volunteering for community events, coaching Little League, or taking a part-time job at Starbucks. Invest in relationships with people in the community, and show them that your love is genuine and unconditional.

Become Less Isolated and Be More Integrated with Your Volunteers

Church Revitalizers work towards 54

increasing collaboration with volunteers. Successful revitalizers know that their success is highly dependent upon collaboration with others. They know they must always improve their ability to mentor, inspire and motivate others. Church renewal and teamwork is recognizing that leadership success comes most to those who are surrounded by people who want their success to continue. Strive to create an environment where everyone has each other’s back. Lack of this ingredient makes the chance for successful revitalization very low.

If you as a pastor are a leader who has made the decision to go at it alone, this is often a no-win situation for everyone involved.

It is through increased collaboration that church revitalizers get the opportunity to know and engage with their volunteers well enough to detect and enable their talent potential.

Investigate the Internet and Social Media.

The latest study indicates the average American family watches TV and surfs the Internet an average of 10 hours each day. Compared to your time in the pulpit of a couple of hours each week, who has the most influence? Unless pastors and ministry leaders learn the power of the Internet and social media and how to use it effectively, we will continue our Churches not so slow slide into extinction. Discuss movies and TV programs with your congregation, and teach them how to

Continued...

properly prioritize the Internet and social media. And think more about your Internet social media outreach where even the smallest church can create an effective Web site. The battle for influence in your congregation’s life has begun, and you had better get into the fight.

Begin Something Highly Significant for Your Personal Ministry

I talk to ministers and pastors all the time. Many share with me of something big they want to do and achieve. I am often compelled to ask of their dream its status only to find that nothing besides a thought has been accomplished. Stop dreaming and start producing. Begin right now the endeavor you have always dreamed of beginning. Tic Tock stop watching the clock because the clock is ticking, and you are not getting any younger. Some preachers have a book they want to write but lack the commitment and discipline (yes writing is a discipline) to get moving. How about that ministry you have wanted to create? What is keeping you from accomplishing that dream? Stop dreaming and start doing. There is no better time than now.

Read More Books, Blogs, and Magazines

It is interesting that many younger ministers no longer like to read. Yet for all of us who proclaim the Word of God each week lack of reading often eliminates

our ability to see the power of drama. When we become avid readers and life long learners we experience the power of drama in our reading, which often is carried over, into our preaching.

Read blogs (you can go to our web site and see ones we think are important) books, and other publications. Novels provide you the ability to utilize narrative in ones preaching. Storytelling is an art which when well learned will compel others to listen closely.

Remember Your Calling

Do you remember why you were called into the ministry? It is so easy to get caught up in advancing technology, paying the bills, preparing sermons, and the daily grind, we often forget the reason we were called into the ministry in the first place. Chances are you had a dream and calling back then. Was that vision ever accomplished? Cut through the clutter, and get back to the heart and soul of why you do this for a living. The most precious asset you have right now is not money or even knowledge it is time.

Time is the currency of the most successful people in the world, and you can always identify influential leaders by how they value their time. As a church revitalizer use this coming year to reconsider your priorities, cut away the litter, and get back to the heart of your ministry.

Wrapping It Up!

Our communities are filled with people who have a need in their lives that only Jesus can fill.

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Directional Leader of Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.

Deep down, most people want to connect with their heavenly Father, be forgiven for their sins, and they desire the same for their children. The stakes are high, and the need is urgent. As you plan for 2014, prayerfully consider how you can reposition your church for greater impact for loving and reaching your community for Christ. As you head into the New Year, you should have great anticipations for your fellow ministry leaders and play a more

active role in holding them accountable to step-up their game. As a church revitalizer do not wait for your ministry leaders influence your future more than you may know and you do not want to be the one that regrets not doing anything about it in the long run. You will never have another chance to relive this year, so let us invest this year in what could potentially change the world for the cause of Christ Jesus.Churches j

Did You Know That You Can Personally Support RenovateConference.org?

Help support Church Revitalization by giving to the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference.

There are 4 Convenient Ways to GIVE: 1. Give online at: RenovateConference.org 2. Call the GOBA Office at 407.293.0450 3. Mail to: Donation RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference 1906 Lee Road - Orlando, FL 32810 4. Renovate App (Use the Renovate Conference App)

Your Gift Can Help Not only Change A Life, but a Church!

A Special Thanks to the RenovateConference.org 2016 RENOVATE

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Repurposed the Nehemiah Model while also navigating and managing conflict God’s way. Managing conflict God’s way includes: 1) Yielding to Christ’s leadership and control. 2) Praying and working with the goal of restoration in mind. 3) Resolving conflict privately. 4) If necessary, resolve conflict publicly. Resolving relational conflict scripturally is a necessary component for church renewal and revitalization.

Step 7—Reaching Life’s Goals: Enduring Principles for Finishing Well

(Nehemiah 6:15-16) In just 52 days, miraculously, with the help of his God, Nehemiah led God’s people to rebuild the gates and walls of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah chapter 6, verses 1516, says, “So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.” This historical, climactic moment provides several insights for revitalizers who desire to finish well their God-given tasks: 1) Pray continually 2) Commit to God’s purposes 3) Live passionately 4) Plan thoroughly 5) Include people 6) Be willing to persevere, many times even at great cost.

Step 8—Revival: Can It Still Happen Today?

(Nehemiah 8-10)

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(continued)...

Although God had already performed the mighty work of rebuilding the city’s gates and walls, he had an even more significant work to do, that of, repurposing and bringing renewal to his people spiritually. In Nehemiah, chapters 8-10, genuine revival breaks out. These same components of revival are also essential for renewal to transform the hearts of God’s people today: First, is a renewed hunger and thirst for God’s Word. Second, is the spiritual cleansing that occurs as God’s people cry out with prayers of genuine repentance.

Third, the behavior and actions of the people begins to consistently match their beliefs. Out of genuine renewal, God next calls his church to covenant together, an outward expression of once again allowing God to have first place their lives and in his church.

These three signs of revival become evident in those churches in genuine and purposeful pursuit of God’s path of renewal.

Step 9—Repurposed: God’s People Celebrate!

(Nehemiah 12:27-47) When God does choose to repurpose, revitalize and to bring about renewal, this is great cause for celebration in the church.

Revitalization leaders today must lead their churches to celebrate wins together, no matter how small or large those wins might be. From the 12th chapter of Nehemiah, six celebration principles arise from a renewed people of God: 1) Purpose - Celebrate who

By Darwin Meighan God is and what he has done. 2) Preparation - Get ready to meet God in worship. 3) Praise - Fill God’s house with the praises of his people. 4) Power - The far reaching impact of joy and praise. 5) Provision - Responding with gratitude and thanksgiving to our God who gives to us in abundance. 6) Person - Worship and celebrate the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Regardless of your church’s current spiritual condition, no situation is not hopeless. There is amazing hope in Christ Jesus for every church today. Repurposed, The Nehemiah Model for strategic planning and renewal is worthy of every church’s prayers, consideration, and pursuit. The passionate desire of Jesus is that his people would return to right relationship with himself, to right relationships with one another within the Body of Christ - while at the same time also demonstrating in their daily lives faith and obedience, toward fulfilling God’s great strategic plan and mission of “making disciples.” Prayerfully seek God’s plan for renewal. Do it – act now!

A downloadable manual,“Repurposed” The Nehemiah Model: Developing a Strategic Plan to Revitalize Your Church, is available via email: dmeighan@nevadabaptistconvention.org

revitalizer

LIBRARY

CAN THESE BONES LIVE BY BILL HENARD

Occasionally there are a few books that immediately become recommended books: Can These Bones Live? : A Practical Guide to Church Revitalization by Bill Henard is one of those books. Henard, professor of Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes as a pastor for the pastor who is either considering accepting a call to a church that is in need of revitalization or has determined that the church they are serving is in need of revitalization. Can These Bones Live? is a must add to the revitalizer’s library.

Henard covers wide variety of introductory material towards revitalization and church health. The foundation of the work is the notion that church health is the thrust that leads to revitalization. What distinguishes church health from church revitalization perhaps should be left to be debated by the academics; Henard’s focus

ADVANCED STRATEGIC PLANNING

BY AUBREY MALPHURS One of the greatest challenges revitalizers face is not the passion or seeing the need for revitalization but knowing how to create an indigenous plan for revitalization that is clear, concise and easy to communicate.

This is where Advanced Strategic Planning (3rd edition) became an incredibly helpful tool for the revitalizers library.

The practical illustrations that arrive from Dr. Malphurs church consulting experiences matched with the wisdom a seasoned professor and practitioner reflect a greater sense of practicality

is on practical strategies and information that both develop the revitalizer and move a church towards revitalization.

Drawing from personal experiences and an extensive variety of church and business leadership Henard presents a wide swath of issues related to revitalization. He touches on everything from the church facilities to the church’s organizational structure, to why it is important to update the churches nursery, keep spelling typos out of the church bulletin and to streamline the organization in order to engage millenials in leadership positions. The chapter entitled “Physical Barriers” – the longest chapter in the book – details not only how the churches facilities prevent growth but also how the administrative structure in place either hinders or enhances growth and everything in between. There does not seem to be one topic between the covers that is not touched; which may in fact be a weakness of the material.

As for the revitalizer himself, throughout the work there are nuggets of information to process through that will aid in both leading a revitalization effort and developing as a revitalizer. Henard stresses Church Revitalization greatly depends upon the continually revitalized leader.

Perhaps one reason revitalization efforts fail is due the lack of awareness and understanding on behalf of the revitalizer. Henard’s work combats revitalizer

in the strategic planning process that in the previous volumes. Malphurs demonstrates that he, like the men of Issachar, understands the times and he has learned not only how to navigate them but to instruct others as well.

A warning needs to be included with this work; this is not a book on leadership this is a book for leadership.

Meaning that book focuses its attention on how to lead the church and become a more effective leader. The process outlined here can, if applied, develop and refine the unique mission and vision the Lord has granted to each local church. This volume takes the reader beyond the simple notion of calendaring, budget creation and ritualistic planning. Driving past managerial understandings to leadership that presses towards health and revitalization by taking the reader through the process

ignorance. His seven to ten year strategy (pages 89 – 90) outlines what to expect as a revitalizer. The categories of church membership – The Older Thirties (31), The Younger Thirties (35), The Tens (38) and the Newbies (39) – give a framework for the revitalizer to think through in their leadership strategies and techniques. A call for personal spiritual revitalization and dependence upon the Holy Spirit is refreshing. The catchable moments between the covers are tremendous.

Critically, more time could have been spent on developing a Biblical and Theological rationale for revitalization; though this is not his emphasis. Henard makes a strong case for revitalization citing stagnating numbers, devastating church closures, the number of new church plants matching church deaths only then to be add to the death tolls a few years after launch. There is a subtle call to consider revitalization over church planting along with the exposure, which will be shocking to some, that even church plants after five to seven years will find themselves in need of revitalization.

Overall, this is an excellent resource; one the revitalizer should read and then work through with their team. While shallow on a Biblical and Theological rationale for revitalization it is in depth in presenting a ministry philosophy for Church Revitalization. Henard’s work is a must for the revitalizer’s library.

of thinking and acting that is necessary to navigate the continual nature of change..

Describing the life cycle of every organization Dr. Malphurs employs the use of The Sigmoid Curve. This visual maps the birth, growth, peak, plateau, decline and eventually death of every organization. Every organization unless intentionally acted upon will progress towards death. Every church, every organization, every leader must continually keep an eye on their location on the Sigmoid Curve in order to know where they are and to gain the insight of when to act.

The chapters on the Theology of Change are refreshing. Revitalizers are change agents. Yet many have not built a theological framework for ...

Continued on Page 58

Book Reviews by Rob Hurtgen

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BOOK REVIEWS CONTINUED... change. In our age we are exposed to extreme rates of change. The technology that we enjoy on a daily basis has only been with us a few short years yet many cannot imagine life without. The church must navigate its way through the sea of change in order to share the unchangeable gospel. This work can offer the revitalizer a theological framework for change that can aid in leading change necessary for revitalization.

Personally, this book reminds me that

there are days when I don’t want to be a leader. Days when I do not want to take on the hard extremely hard and emotionally draining work of being a revitalizer. There are days when I just want to show up, do my job and go home. I don’t want to be responsible for what could be and must be. I don’t want to evaluate and implement systems to accomplish our mission. I don’t want to receive the criticism from leading. I just want to show up.

But God will not allow me, or you, to just show up. As a revitalizer you have

The Six Phases of Church Revitalization In working with churches in revitalization, I have observed some attitudes which are outlined below as six phases of revitalization or six stages a church and pastor may go through on the path to revitalization. Not every church will go through all six phases and some will spend longer in one phase than others. ;However, a church in decline does experience several of these phases on their path to recovery. As you read this article, I pray you will consider if your church is in one of these phases, and if so, determine what it will take to move your church through revitalization?

Phase 1: Disbelief

“We are not in decline; God is simply pruning us for future growth.” This is one of my favorites, not that I do not believe in pruning. The Gospel of John is clear on this. The follow-up question I have is, “How long do you think God needs to prune?” I’m no horticulturist by any means, however, I understand pruning 58

happens one time, during a particular time of the season. Once pruning has occurred, then progress happens during that plants growing season.

Yet, many pastors and churches continue to call themselves in a pruning season for many years.

In Southern Baptist Convention life, the denomination I am most familiar with, we simply look at the Annual Church Profile of the congregation to see the “years of pruning.” At some point, the pastor and church need to acknowledge, there is probably more here than a season of pruning; especially when the “pruning” has lasted for five, ten, or more years.

This produces a declining church.

Phase 2: Anger

Anger is also known as the blame game. Pastors may blame the congregation for not being missional and open to the community. The congregation may blame the pastor for “not doing his job and witnessing to the commu-

been called to be a servant-leader. That calling means never just showing up. It means stepping in the gap of criticism because the right thing is being done.

It means always asking not only what can be done but defining what must be done. Revitalizers never have a day that is “business as usual”. They must always do more than show up. Advanced Strategic Planning is a must addition to the revitalizers library. Through it a plan can be developed to where no one ever just shows up.

by Kenneth Priest nity.” I am reminded of a great line in the John Wayne movie “Big Jake”; Wayne’s character, Jake says to the bad guy, “your fault, my fault, no bodies fault.”

Thus giving way to the issue; it does not matter who is at fault here, action is needed. Anger and blaming one another accomplish very little. Pastors and congregations need to focus on the unity of the church and come together to address the issues present.

Phase 3: Depression

Merriam Webster defines depression as: “a state of feeling sad;” or “a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way.” This begins the “emotional slump” that is experienced. The “depression” sets in over the pastor and members not being able to see any light at the end of the tunnel and uncertain with this few people left, “how will anything ever get accomplished?”

This emotive slump leaves many

in the church feeling a since of hopelessness and sometimes a desire just to limp along for as long as they can, until they need to close the doors.

Phase 4: Acceptance

This phase truly begins the revitalization mindset. Starting with the pastor acknowledging there is a problem and beginning to analyze options for recovery.

The pastor will begin researching what has attributed to the decline. Without placing blame, he can now seriously determine a path to overcome the obstacles.

The pastor may call other pastors that have led a church through renewal or seek outside consultations. He then begins discussions with key leaders to acknowledge, “something must be done,� in order to turn things around and develop executable steps for change and growth.

Phase 5: Resolve

In this phase, the pastor and church decide they will do whatever it takes to see the church turn around. This is the most difficult phase of revitalization. When it comes to doing whatever it takes, some are simply not willing. Sometimes they have tried things in the past or they feel they are too old and too tired to continue. There could be any variety of factors. However, if a pastor

does not lead his church to adopt the mindset of doing whatever it takes, then the church will not revitalize. Moving forward will not happen without the desire to do all the church can for the cause of Christ.

Phase 6: Revitalization

In this phase, the church is moving forward on a strategic process to see new life. Determining if a church is revitalized is subjective at best. I have worked with churches that did not see numerical shift, but have seen culture shift – which is most important; i.e. having a desire to be missional and open. I believe longevity is the key to determining a revitalized situation. Even if there is not any present numerical shift, if the culture shift is becoming more missional, it will ultimately result in a numerical increase.

Some churches do experience

A strong leader can step in and grow a church, but church growth and church revitalization are different. This culture shift is the key. If the church only grows, and the culture does not change, then when the strong leader is called to another church, the present church will likely experience decline again.

-Kenneth Priest

numerical growth, but if the culture shift does not coincide with it, the future of the church may have a shortened life expectancy. A strong leader can step in and grow a church, but church growth and church revitalization are different. This culture shift is the key. If the church only grows, and the culture does not change, then when the strong leader is called to another church, the present church will likely experience decline again. We must strive for culture shift within the congregations to consider revitalization as being effective.

So What?!

Where does this leave you and your church? As a pastor, are you experiencing and in one of the stages above? Can you lead your church through the phases in order to bring about revitalization? Do you need help? Let me encourage you to do a couple of things: 1. Ask someone who has been there for advice.

2. Go to a conference such as Renovate (renovateconference.org) or a local church revitalization conference for encouragement and training.

3. Contact someone in your region, or the Renovate network; Tom@renovateconference.org for assistance.

Churches that succeed actually follow through! Let me encourage you to do so today.

Kenneth Priest serves as the Director of Convention Strategies for the Southern Baptists of

Texas Convention in Grapevine, TX. Kenneth has been leading revitalization endeavors since 2008 with the SBTC. He holds a Doctor of Educational Ministry degree with an emphasis in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO. Please contact Kenneth at kpriest@sbtexas.com.

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Relevant Preaching and the Revitalization of the Church Some years past I was leading a conference with Aubrey Malphurs on Church Planting. He spent two days talking to everyone about their, structure, style, systems, statements, strategies, and staff of a Church Planting. The last day, I was to address preaching. Make no mistake about this, “THEY CAME TO HEAR AUBREY”. Yet, as I stood on that day to begin I said something like this, “If your structure, style, systems, statements, strategies, and staff are in place, perfect and pleasing, yet you have “NOTHING TO SAY” how long will they stay”? At least for the moment I had their attention. Perhaps as I have yours now. I want to address some of the things about preaching in this day and time as we trying to revitalize the Church that may be a bit controversial, and anti-cultural, but extremely necessary as you fight the good fight of faith in leading your church to be what God intends for her to be; The Bride.

I want to address some of the relevant issues in Preaching as well the relevancy of Preaching in our efforts to Revitalize the Church.

The question I want to begin with is this one, “Can Preaching be a Defining Moment in the lives of People Today”? We know from a historical perspective that preaching was a defining moment. From the prophets of the Old Testament giving a “thus says the Lord” word to the evangelist and pastors of the New Testament providing a current event “thus says the Lord” word, Preaching has provided many defining moments for individuals, communities, cultures, and countries (those no longer in existence as well as those still in existence today). I know you believe Preaching to be a Defining Moment. I know you pray, plan, practice and prepare to be

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used by God in your preaching so that it will be a Defining Moment.

So, let’s delve into this deeper. Is preaching an event or is it an experience for you and your people?

I’m not trying to provide semantics, I am trying to get us to think through the potential difference.

I have been to events and I have experienced events. I have been to numerous graduation ceremonies in my tenure as a Pastor.

I have preached them, hosted them, sat through them, endured them, and enjoyed some as an event. Yet, this past May, I sat in a graduation ceremony in Iowa that brought me to tears as I watched the processional, presentations of degrees, and even the speakers address. Lara and I watched our 23 year old, NCAA Wrestling Athlete, walk across the stage to receive the business degree he earned in FOUR YEARS. Still not sure if I was crying because of his accomplishment or the cost. But, I was sure crying! What made this event different from other events of similar nature that caused it to be an experience that brought out emotion for me to cry? Simply Put, IT WAS PERSONAL! I am concerned today that preaching has become less personal. In revitalizing a Church there are numerous issues that “the People” have in the change that is occurring in “THEIR” Church. Preaching is one of the best and most effective ways to ease those changes in the church when Preaching is Personal. I, of course, am in no way speaking about attacking personal issues in the church. I call that “Pot Shot” preaching. A person stand behind the anointed shining Silver lecture these days, rather than the Holy Wood of the olden days, and feels completely comfortable taking “Pot Shots” at politics locally,

by Paul E. Smith

people’s habits, or even problems with people the pastor may have. Making Preaching Personal is letting the Bible address the issues, events, changes needed, relationship issues, and even structural issues with BIBLICAL RELEVANCY. The pathos and ethos of the early presenters of the Scriptures was evident because of the way they received it and were required to live it. I suggest that we need to find away to receive the word with freshness today as if it is not “old news” it is still “GOOD NEWS”. A quick look back into the scriptures as well as history indicates that those who Preached the Word did so with liveliness, emotion, personality, authority, freedom, sensitivity, seriousness, zeal, warmth, urgency, persuasion, and power. The business model presented to a different generation informs us and instructs us as to “what people will listen to and what they won’t listen to”, and many today or preaching designer sermons based on their audience rather than dynamic sermons based on the audible hearing of God (yes, it should be so loud you can’t miss it) as to what they should say. For preaching today to be Relevant it must be Personal.

Relevant Preaching today must not only be personal, IT MUST BE PRACTICAL. An irrelevant word is a waste of everyone’s time. I have told my people numerous times if they ever want to drive me to my prayer room and fasting, as they have to do is say, “Pastor, that word wasn’t very relevant (practical) today. Making your messages practical is not putting them in the form of How to’s or What for’s.

To revitalize the Church we have to revitalize our preaching to make it practical. I know many will argue that the Bible is irrelevant

Are You and Your Church Evolving? for today. I think those who do argue such are being irreverent to their Calling and Commission. I could spend time, although 1200 words won’t allow me, giving you scripture references where the Bible in it’s own time period was culturally, politically, socially, emotionally, and financially perceived to be irrelevant. But, remember, it establishes, promotes, and teaches about how to live LIFE in a NEW KINGDOM… God’s Kingdom. And it’s practical, relevant, ways are only such in God’s Kingdom. Our task, calling and commitment in revitalization is to Preach and passionately believe that Living according to God’s Kingdom principles will result in Kingdom Come reality. Aren’t you amazed as how many people believe reality t.v compared to the Kingdom Reality of the Scriptures? I even see and hear more sermon titles from reality T. V. Imagine, and perhaps do it, preaching a reality sermon on John the Baptist. The eating of wild locust, honey, and the dressing in camel hair could make even an episode of Survivor look lame.

Pray, Fast, and Meditate to make your preaching practical to the people from a Kingdoms Perspective not a cultural perspective.

The last issue I have space to address in this article is Relevant Preaching today must not only be personal and practical, IT MUST BE POWERFUL. Powerful preaching is not determined by emotions, tenor, and volume. Yes, those do play a role at times. Powerful Preaching is taking the Word of God and presenting it to the People so they can encounter and experience God. We have judged far to long the effectiveness of our preaching by those who “accept” God’s word. I encourage you to look at the times the Bible mentions about those who “didn’t

accept” the word and the consequences that ensue.

It seems THE CHURCH is always trying to hone, re-create, change, struggle, and adapt with the demands placed upon her by society and culture. Through the years many changes have occurred from times of services, length of service, days of the week, places where the church meets, songs (remember the worship wars), decor, stain-glass vs no glass, Starbucks vs Folgers (read the book), and many more.

I remember a reference in a movie years ago that made a powerful point as to the medias involvement in our country and simply said of Ronald Reagan, “No wander they elected an actor as the President”. If we are not careful, perhaps the same could, should, and will be said about the pulpits of our churches. To avoid such a charge from the world may not be avoided. However, for us to avoid such a charge from God, we must, as his original presenters of the Word did, make the Scriptures Relevant so we can Revitalize HIS Church.

Paul Smith is Pastor of Life Church in Mandeville, Louisiana, a church that has reproduced over 60 new congregations, and is a sought-after speaker on church revival and revitalization. #paulesmith01

Relevant ministry is the buzzword among many church revitalizers as we work to help church evolve and stay relevant.

Some churches are open to such conversation while others are afraid to think about what their church has become and the steps one must take to allow it to evolve into something much healthier. The world is changing faster than it ever has before, and without sacrificing the Truth of the Gospel, the church needs to change with it. Evolving ones church towards a future which impacts culture and community is important. There are some things pastors and churches can do to make sure they do not miss opportunities to minister to people in the midst of a changing culture. Networking ones struggling church with a healthy one willing to come along side of you and assist is a tremendous way to begin the journey back towards health. These churches can bring value and support to the membership of a declining church and offer encouragement while giving direction. These networking of churches working to revitalize dying churches help bring fresh vision and ideas back to ones community. Keep in mind is that change is not new to the church.

Churches have been evolving in different ways, and for different reasons, since the beginning of time. Stop resisting the necessary changes which just might save your church.

-Tom Cheyney

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What is the Answer?

What is the answer to decline and death of a continuing multitude of churches across all denominations in America?

Recently I have been fixated on what could possibly be done to turn the tide for Churches.

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by Jim Grant Church is on the cusp of a Reformation like in the days of Martin Luther.

It can be argued that the Church has lost its relevance and identity and that a full blown Reformation is the answer.

in their community. There is a problem with this solution; with such a high number of churches needing immediate revitalization; where do we get the people for the work? If there is only a select few for church planting and revitalization, it seems like a losing battle. Revitalization I have heard that churches are closing Another possibly answer is Replant- is what I believe was the work of Jesus their doors at a rate of 4000-6000 annu- ing. Replanting is basically placing in His writings to the Seven Churches ally. I have heard that upwards to 91% another congregation in a failed of Revelation. Once thriving ministries, of all churches are plateaued, declining church. This answer could also be these churches were warned to “repent or dying. I read that the halo effect coupled together with the emphasis and remember,” and to “to wake up and when conducting surveys has distorted that continues to grow of planting strengthen that which remains.” The the true numbers of committed Christ as many new churches as possible. If church then and now were experiencfollowers. There is debate even among the hope is plant more churches than ing gross immorality and heresy. The researchers as to whether the church is the number that is closing; this would churches appeared to relax their faith really dying. not be an answer but a soothing of and befriend the World around them. the conscience. There is an attrition This is not new, for Israel did the same in Reports outside of “Western” Christianity rate even within new church starts; the Promised Land. do not indicate Christianity as dying. estimates indicates that in five years While there is great conflict in other after a church start, a little over half Lastly, there is the option of Revival. regions of the world, with many becom- will still be open. Replanting a church Revival is for the Church, not the Lost. ing martyrs; faith in Christ is anything in a failed area is usually done with a One familiar with Church history in the but dead. The Church is the Bride of different ethnicity. While this might Western world will recall the 1st and 2nd Christ; He said “He would build the sound good, to put a beginning work Great Awakenings, along with the Welsh Church and the gates of Hell would not in a failed area, to include giving it Revival of 1904-5. The condition of the prevail against it” [Matthew 16:18]. I do an old building doesn’t address the churches and the community were agree that the Church will not be gone problem. deplorable. It took men like Jonathan from the pages of history. However I do Edwards, Charles Finney, The Wesley believe that there is a cleansing of the A third possibility is Return. Many brothers, Evan Roberts and JeremiChurch; a winnowing of the wheat and books and articles have promoted ah Lanphier, to bring such a spiritual chaff. the soon Return of Christ as the renewal. Western Christianity is a mirror problem. This view holds that all the of the conditions then. It is obvious that I put forth a number of suggested problems in the world [America] that America needs a revival. I have a saying; answers based on the theory that the this indicates Christ’s soon return. This revive the people revitalize the church.

Churches are the problem. Please note has taken a stronghold on many in I said churches are the problem. It is the Churches; especially the elderly.

Western Christianity needs both Revival no secret that the church has gone I am saddened that more people in in the Pews/Pulpits and People. But it through many changes recently, not all American churches are looking for the also needs Revitalization in the Church! for the good. The desire for “entertainsecond coming of Christ, while others There must be clear preaching of the ment” seems to be the order of the day. outside Western Christianity are wait- Gospel, there must be brokenness in Evangelism efforts are minimal, with ing to hear of Christ’s first coming. It is the people. But there also needs to be a upwards to 70% of all churches adding easy to think of the church at Thessa- return to being the Church of God, not no one to the Kingdom of God. I often lonica, and how many had quit their culture. tell my church “there is too much world jobs just to wait for the soon return of in the church and not enough church in Jesus. It cannot be denied that Jesus’ The Churches are dying because they the world.” are filled with dead, carnal Christians. return in eminent, but still that is no Judgment must begin at the house of reason to quit working.

I have agonized over the condition God. The world is the way it is because of evangelical churches. Many in the A fourth work called Revitalization Churches/Christians are the way they mainline denominations have waned is put forth as a viable solution. are! When we quit crying out about for years, but now that the problem Revitalization is the work of the Holy everything else being the problem and [closing churches] has moved into all Spirit to renew the Churches who admit our own sin, repentance and resour ranks, many are seeking answers. have languished in the more recent toration become real. A restored, revived past.

It requires that there was a and revitalized church will change the One answer could be Reformation. time when the church was alive and world we live in.

There are some that think that the accomplishing the Kingdom of God

FEELING STUC

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54 % O F P A S TORS

find their rol e f r e q u e nt ly

overwhelming

(L if eWa y R e se a r c h S tu d y, 9 /1 /1 5 )

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