The Best of 2021

THE

CHURCH

Revitalizer Ae R vitalization e R e tr at in e vE ry Issue

Jan/Feb 2022 Vol 9, Issue 1

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

ChurchRevitalizer.Guru

From The Editor Welcome to the Church Revitalizer Magazine: The revitalization of the local church has never been more important than it is right now. Every struggling Church wants to start out well in their revitalization effort.

Since revitalization is a minimum investment of a thousand days it is critical that your church begin it journey well. Here is a lesson for the declining church: Before Your Church Begins the Revitalization Effort, First Assess the Potential of the Church Revitalizer.

An in-depth assessment of a church revitalizer will establish whether they not only have the skills to do the work of revitalization, but also have the critical core values necessary for being the leader of revitalization.

The primary contribution the revitalizer makes to a church is to lead the plateaued, declining, or dying church to be revitalized into a healthy regrowing, self-sustaining, self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating, and self-identifying church. Here is a short description of each: A self-sustaining church is able to keep its doors open by gathering long-time members and reclaiming inactive members as well as other forms of willing participants through the developing of prospects into the faithful members committed to the church and its ongoing mission.

A self-governing church makes its own decisions. Though seeking the wisdom of others is helpful, there is no need to consult an outside body in all matters of church life.

A self-supporting church supports itself financially. A self-supporting church is not dependent on outside funds to meet the day-to-day financial requirements for ministry.

A self-propagating church is able to spread the gospel across its own local geographic area and throughout the world. Everything the local church needs in order to share the good news with others is already present among the members.

A self-identifying church has its own identity as a local church in its area. To be considered a church, those who gather as a group must identify themselves as a local expression of the body of Christ. It’s the concept that the membership of a congregation has come together to clearly identify itself as a local church in its area.

The goal of a church revitalizer is to see the church turn around its declining status and begin to be regenerated into a lively church with a new vision and mission for reaching a target area with the Gospel. The goal is for the Church to be able to regrow to significant strength allowing it to survive and flourish. Within this edition we want to look at the Best Church Revitalization articles of 2021 in review.

-Tom Cheyney, Founder & Directional Leader The Renovate Group

Contents

Blowing the Whistle on Spiritual Wolves!

Tom Cheyney

Courage from Start through Finish

Roadblocks to Revitalization

Ken Priddy

p. 16

p. 10

Bill Tenny-Brittian

p. 18

Pivot from Being Friendly to Befriending Bob Whitesel

p. 24

Why Don’t We Grow?

Getting Unstuck in Your Thinking

George Thomasson

p. 32

Gary Moritz

p. 28

Also in this issue:

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It Can Be Done! p. 60 Ron Smith

Drive Your Church into the Future p. 72 David Jackson

Go and Grow p. 62 Fred Boone

How are You? p. 74 Rob Hurtgen

Aristotle is the Problem p. 66 Pete Tackett

Fresh Start Needed; How Nostalgia Holds Us Back p. 76 Brian Thorstad

The Heart of the Problem p. 68 Jim Grant

Wrestling and Winning p. 78 Chris Irving

Jan/Feb | Vol 9, No 1

It Can Be Done!

Richard Harvey

Revitalizing the House of God and His People Pressing On...

Michael Atherton

p. 36

Steve Sells

p. 40

Stuck on a Plateau?

The Emotional Cost of Revitalization Steve Smith

p. 46

Tracy Jaggers

p. 48

p. 56 From the Parking Lot to the Pulpit Desmond Barrett

p. 50

Sabotage p. 80 Rob Myers

We’re Burying the Wrong People p. 94 Matt Henslee

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Churches in Revitalization p. 82 Scott Brown

Why Church Turnaround Leads to Conflict and Sabotage p. 98 Gary Westra

Evangelize Without Talking to Strangers p. 86 Bud Brown

St. Patrick, St. Paul, and the Church p. 100 Kenneth Priest

Do Not Be the Church of Irony p. 88 Joel Breidenbaugh

When the Picture of the Future is Different p. 104 Jim Harrell

King of Fence Sitters p. 72 Mark Weible 5

THE

CHURCH

Revitalizer Volume 9, No. 1

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

PUBLISHER Executive Editor Dr. Tom Cheyney Associate Publisher Ashleigh Barclay Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Ashleigh Barclay

The Church Revitalizer Q&A: What is The Church Revitalizers purpose?

To help churches that need to be reinvigorated and renewed effectively receive help in issues that revitalizers face everyday. Articles, resources, and information are gathered from authors all over the country who have been through, or may currently be in, the revitalization process and we want to share their knowledge.

How can I write for The Church Revitalizer?

Contact us at goba@goba.org How do I get help with subscription issues?

Go to churchrevitalizer.guru to renew, order a gift, or resolve any issues.

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Yes, if it’s for church education, for small group purposes, is less than 1,000 copies and is not offered for resale. Please contact us for more information.

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Blowing the Whistle on Spiritual Wolves!

By Tom Cheyney It has always amazed me that so many churches today in the Western Hemisphere are full of saboteurs. They are no longer seeking the Lord’s direction and have given up on serving the Lord and the community through the local church. What often happens is a tiny venomous group desires the maintaining of the status quo and will fight the church revitalizer and spiritual lay leaders in the effort to save the church from rapid decline. In rapidly declining or dying churches there appears to be a larger than usual number of these types. Often, they will fight those very ones who were called by the declining church to save it. They are not only adept at sabotage but they function more as a group of church bullies which not only seek to intimidate the pastoral leadership, but the laity as well, when they don’t agree with their practices or beliefs.

Outsiders view these churches as mean and often after just a few weeks of attendance will quietly remove themselves from attendance because they see the church bullies and decline to be part of such a church. We need to be bold enough, strong enough, and courageous enough as Church Revitalizers to begin blowing the whistle on these spiritual wolves.

the whistle on these types and get the church back to doing the things of God. Listen what the Apostle Paul had to say about those who were destroying the church.

I heard someone say one time that there are two kinds of people: saints and aints. We are all supposed to be saints in the church but sometimes we act more like aints. In Matthew 10: 16 & 40 we read:

These individuals were daily being found linked hand in hand with the great Apostle Paul doing the work of ministry. In Romans 16:17-20, Paul reminded the believers in Rome concerning their awaited and glorious victory over Satan. He also gave important instructions on how to avoid spiritual wolves who are not really serving God but who have some other interests in life. He warned them about the deceitful words and impressive speeches of crafty men. Paul takes his last written opportunity to encourage and elevate those who have been faithful in service, and then to blow the whistle on spiritual wolves. Paul writes to his Roman brethren to warn them against people that cause division and offenses. In Romans 16:17-20 we see:

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore, be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves…

Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

There are churches which are being destroyed everywhere by what I call a group of church tramps which only desire to watch their church drift along in mediocrity. We need to blow

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The last chapter, the conclusion to Paul’s letter to the Romans, gives us insight into Paul’s heart and how much he cared for the many saints who had assisted him in his gospel ministry. He paints a picture of what a supportive believer looks like when it comes to being part of the church and the great mission causes into the communities we are called to serve.

What a remarkable chapter. In it, Paul greeted at least twenty-six people by name, as well as two unnamed saints; and he also greeted several churches that were meeting in homes.

He closed with greetings from nine believers who were with him in Corinth when he wrote the letter we now know as the Epistle of Romans. Paul mentioned a total of thirty-five fellow laborers within this chapter. Most of them are unknown to us.

They are not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament.

This reminds us that many unknown Christians contributed their share to the spreading of Christianity in the first century.

Paul’s Warning to dividers of the Church (Vs. 17-20).

“One final word of counsel, friends. Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Master Christ. They’re only in this for what they can get out of it, and aren’t above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting innocents. And so, while there has never been any question about your honesty in these matters—I couldn’t be more proud of you! — I want you also to be smart, making sure every “good” thing is the real thing.

Don’t be gullible in regard to smooth-talking evil. Stay alert like this, and before you know it the God of peace will come down on Satan with both feet, stomping him into the dirt. Enjoy the best of Jesus” Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Romans 16:17–20.

We see here that there are two commands that he gives. He says: #1 MARK THEM In 2 Thessalonians 3:14 Paul further declares: 14 And if any man obeys not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish (Warn) him as a brother. #2 AVOID THEM In 1 Corinthians 5: 9-11 he writes: Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

We are to take note church revitalizers of trouble–makers in the church. We should not adopt a casual attitude to these spiritual wolves which seek to hurt the local church. We are living in a day where satanic forces are everywhere. Even the local church can become a place where evil individuals are allowed to run rampant. In every group, there seems to be those intent on bringing the church down. It astonishes me that some pastors are unable to say goodbye and farewell to the dead baggage which is hurting their churches. I have never been that way as you can see. I will not break a sweat over this because the Lord’s church is more important than all of us. Paul urged his Christian friends at Rome to be on the watch for those who stirred up dissensions.

Among the “seven [things] that are detestable to [the Lord,” the writer of Proverbs listed in the most emphatic position “a man who stirs up dissension among brothers” (Prov. 6:16, 19). This kind of person creates obstacles that cause others to stumble. Jesus warned of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ferocious wolves (Matt 7:15), and elsewhere Paul instructed a young preacher to have nothing to do with a divisive person after he had been warned twice (Titus 3:10). “Disassociate yourselves” is the translation in verse 17 and it can be translated “keep turning away [from them].”

Just like your church and mine, not everyone was working with Paul for the spreading of the Gospel. There were some who, for selfish reasons, were dividing the churches by teaching false doctrine. Instead of preaching the truth, these men spread their own religious propaganda, using deceit and clever speeches. Did you know that over 19,000 pastors leave the ministry every year and when this Sunday’s sermon is finished, over 350 pastors will be gone before the next Sunday service begins? Paul could not resist giving a final word of warning that they watch out for spiritual enemies: those who are divisive and seek to hinder the Lord’s work (who put obstacles, “traps, snares”; cf. 14:13 in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned). Hear me please church revitalizers, we must deal with those wolves in the church that run from one church to another seeking to destroy the next one because they are no longer welcomed at a church which upholds the things of God and respects the one who is called pastor. They are spiritual wolves and they are hurting the local church.

It is a strong term, here which means “to look out for so as to avoid.” Apparently, the kinds of divisions threatening the unity of believers were widespread and well known. Do you realize that most churches know who the trouble makers in the church are and yet they refuse to do anything about it?

I believe there will be a line in heaven for those weak-kneed saints to stand and give an account to the Lord about why they let the spiritual wolves destroy their church (His really).

Not only are we to keep out of their way, but remove from them so that we are not in danger of becoming one of them.

How Do you Begin Blowing the Whistle on Spiritual Wolves Which Cause the Church to Drift?

Initially, The Church Revitalizer Should Observe the Church Tramps Tepid Temperature (v. 17).

“Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Master Christ.”

The Church Revitalizer should not empower disruptive people. God hates division. The presence of questionable people in every Christian congregation creates disorderliness among

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the members. It is wise then to mark and avoid them before it is too late to handle them. Church revitalizer to whom do you listen? Do you listen to the Lord your God on high, or do you listen to the one with the biggest mouth in your church?

There is within some churches an air of toxic DNA that surfaces when those wolves, who have been part of killing the church, are not happy with the pastor who the Lord is using to revitalize the church. Disruptive pastor abusers seldom repent of their sins and will seek to remain in power until someone with a stronger backbone removes them. As shepherds continue to be battered, they ask themselves, “When will the silent majority of godly church members join together and excommunicate these bullies?” My acrostic for a church bully is: Big Ugly Loner Losers Yearning Attention. These spiritual wolves create chaos and wreak havoc wherever they go. They are not only disruptive, they create and cause great division, strife, and rivalry within the fellowship (v. 17).

In Philippians 3:2-3 Paul admonishes: 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Not everyone was working with Paul for the spreading of the Gospel. There were some who, for selfish reasons, were dividing the churches. The mature Christian is to keep his “eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances.” Paul is not talking about hair splitting over minor interpretations, or about immature believers who are divisive because of personal preferences, as disruptive and damaging as those things can be. We are to “shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless” (Titus 3:9). We are to “refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels” (2 Tim. 2:23). Paul is talking about something immeasurably more serious. He is warning about those who challenge and undermine the teaching, preaching, and leading that is part of your calling as a church revitalizer. It is astonishing just how many churches are run by a male lay leader which is controlled by a stronger spouse with a vicious tongue. Often, they will become the church receptionist so they can have immediate information to what is going on at church and what the staff are doing.

“Keep your eye on such men,” Paul says. “Mark them out as false teachers” who are to be opposed and avoided. It carries the idea of looking at or observing with intensity. It is from the noun form of that word that we get the scope in telescope and microscope. It means more than simply to look at, but to examine and scrutinize carefully. We are to see the danger of spiritual wolves in the church. Mark those who cause such divisions and create ongoing offences. Jesus told us there would be divisions and offences, but had entailed

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a warning on those by whom they come (Mt. 18:7). Pastor, whatever varies from the form of sound doctrine, which we have in the scriptures, opens a door to divisions and offenses.

If you allow the truth to be deserted even once because you are afraid of that mean-spirited person in your church, unity and peace will not last long. Now, mark those that thus cause divisions. Observe them. There is need of a piercing watchful eye in the local church today in order to discern the danger we are in from such people. Remember, a danger discovered is half prevented.

What are we to do with them in addition to watch out for those who cause dissensions and obstacles? Paul says two words relating to keeping away clearly: These two words are: “to shun” and “off.” It is a pretty powerful statement relating to pushing them off, or shoving them away. Please hear me, division has ripped apart so many churches and ruined so many relationships and it is so unnecessary! Many times, someone becomes this way because they do not get their way, their pride is hurt, so they attack. Anything which speaks of advancement is a challenge to these individuals. The larger you grow the less control they will have and these spiritual wolves will be scared of losing their strangulation hold on the church.

Interestingly, these people have not been pleased with or supportive of any of their previous pastors, and they are not happy with you. They have in fact sought to undermine God’s leader at every turn. This happens when people stop focusing on their relationship with the Lord and start focusing on all the imperfect humans in the church. Each and every one of us must tend to our walk with the Lord. We ought to be focused on how He can use you and me to build up others.

What Does Shunning Mean?

To shun it means to “Avoid them.” Shun all necessary communion and communication with them, lest you be leavened and infected by them. Do not align oneself with any dividing interests, or embrace any of those principles or practices which are destructive to Christian love and charity, or to the truth which is according to godliness. The Bible declares that: “Their word will eat as doth a canker.” Canker is the same Greek word in which we get the English word gangrene.

Let me tell you how you can spot these spiritual wolves. When these predators are on a rigorous oppositional crusade, they will devote whole entire Sunday mornings hovering in the foyer, backyard, or parking lot; dispersing dissatisfaction and venom without so much as even joining the worship service!

Also, whenever there is a difficulty, a setback, or a hindrance surfacing within the church, they are not far away. These spiritual wolves thrive on creating conflict and trouble. They are unrepentant and unconfessed of their individual sins. That is why people who blow apart churches do not become people who edify and build up people. These types just go on to other churches to blow up even more churches. These

church tramps go from church to church to church seeking who they can destroy. We need to watch out for the snipers in any church. Be on guard – for yourself – and for others. I don’t mean you can never question anything – but ask yourself what is the motivation behind it – the good of the body or the good for you? This may seem a bit harsh, but there are some people the church does not need. You may say, “We need every member we have. We need the help of everyone.”

That is very true. But we need the help of everyone whose heart is right with God and wants to help the church, not hurt it. Let’s face it there are some people that the church would be better off without.

process. We must: Recognize the Methods of Trouble–Makers (Romans 16:18b) as we learn their behavior. We must: Discern the Spirit of the Trouble–Makers (Romans 16:19) as we try the spirit by the Spirit.

Lead your church members to avoid such toxic people within the church. They teach false doctrine. Those who cause divisions are not serving the Lord but are “slaves of their own base desires” (v. 18). Instead of sharing the truth, these men spread their own religious propaganda, using deceit and clever speeches. As church revitalizers, we should beware of the glib tongue and the deceptive argument. Though they call themselves Christians, they do not serve Christ; do not aim Secondly, The Church Revitalizer Should Recognize the at His glory, they do not promote His interest, nor do they Church Tramps Nauseating Notification (v. 18). follow His will, no matter what they pretend. Because of the malicious policy of these wolves, the worse they are, the more “They’re only in this for what they can get out of it, and need we have to watch against them. They have corrupted aren’t above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting heads, deceiving hearts, and perverted judgments and we innocents. And while there has never been any question must protect the flock. Paul tells Titus as a Pastor to “warn a about your honesty in these matters—I couldn’t be more divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. Afproud of you! — I want you also to be smart, making sure ter that, have nothing to do with him” Titus 3:10. He seems to every “good” thing is the real thing.” recognize that a single attempt to deal with a divisive person may not always be adequate. This is the malicious nature of These spiritual wolves cause great offenses and snares which a troublemaker. For some it has become a way of life, and it become stumbling blocks for those in the church. Understand, not only makes their life miserable but everyone else around truth without unity leads to pride; unity without truth leads them. Paul explains the nature of a divisive person: Titus 3:11 to a departure from the true gospel itself. Part of the job of “You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he the shepherd is to protect the sheep from “ferocious wolves” is self-condemned.” This was a constant problem in the early (Matt. 7:15) and thieves who come to “steal and kill and de- church and it has been a problem throughout the ages withstroy” (John 10:10). We have, just like the Apostle Paul, two in the church. Most churches are not destroyed from outside great weapons at our disposal in our role as the under-shep- forces, but usually they succumb to forces that happen within herd: declaring the truth and warning against intruders. Paul the body of Christ itself. did not and neither should you, provide a platform for those who professed Christ but taught a false and perverted gospel. The answer to dealing with these Church Tramps and SpirListen, such people are not to be debated but denounced. itual Wolves is to Wait Upon the Lord and Use the Power of God (Romans 16:20).

Paul’s words “be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil” parallels Jesus’ words to his disciples when he Paul compliments his readers for their faithfulness to the Lord. sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God (Matt. 10:16): But, at the same time, he warns them to be discerning about “Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” what is good teaching and what is not and to remain separatThe harshness of Paul’s words—will soon crush—is cast in ed from evil. Trust in the Lord. Wait for His wonderful working stark contrast to the backdrop of his earlier declaration—”I through our lives. Live by the grace of God. I know the threatam full of joy.” Both are true in the Christian life—joy in the ening forces of evil sometimes seem too strong for us to face, midst of war. The joy comes from knowing that the war has but cheer up for He who is within us is surely stronger than been and will be won. Our part is to be alert and vigilant un- all the enemies of Truth. There are some sinners to avoid in til the final victory has been won. It is the grace of God that the church. Verse 20says: It is “the God of peace” who will put empowers us to understand, and stand boldly in the conflict. down Satan. In the meantime, we are to resist him, always being sober and vigilant (cf. Eph 6:11ff ). Paul hastened to assure Thirdly, the Church Revitalizer Should Denounce the Church the Romans that he did not consider them naive. Their obediTramps Poisoned Perception (vs 19-20). ence to Christ was well known and Paul was glad for them. But he was concerned that they be wise about what is good, and These Spiritual Wolves take what they have been taught from innocent about what is evil. Christians should be innocent holy scripture and make it look as if it is not affective or valid about evil, not following the ways of the world (Rom. 12:2). To for the day in which we live. We must: Identify the Motives of conclude this warning Paul added the promise, “The God of Trouble–Makers (Romans 16:18a) as we learn their thought peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

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In Proverbs 26:20 “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.” As Church leaders and members, we must never put more wood on fires in the church.

Instead, we must try to put them out and often, the best way is not talking about them. Stay away from troublemakers and keep from causing more trouble. Be a problem-solver, not a troublemaker. Focus on those who are actively walking with the Lord through the local church.

One day Clyde Roark Hoey, the fifty-ninth governor of North Carolina (1947-51), was visiting the western part of his state and met a country pastor. The usual question about how many members there were in the church brought the response from the pastor “Fifty.” When the Governor asked, “How many of them are active?” He said, “They’re all active.” “My,” governor Hoey remarked, “you must be an unusual preacher to have a 100 percent active membership.” “Well,” the preacher admitted, “Twenty-five are active for me and twenty-five are active against me.”

If you have a congregation split over anything or anyone, you will have division and trouble. Psalm 133:1 declares: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” Do you know that there are some people for the sake of their point of view would destroy the unity of your church? How do we deal with them? “Avoid them.” We must keep our eye on them and turn away from them. We do not listen to them. We are never obligated to hear a person out when what they are saying is not consistent with Christian speech. If they are tearing down the church, tearing down the pastor, tearing down the leaders or Sunday School teachers or any believer, we should not listen. Because even out of a misguided sense of courtesy, our listening to them would make it seem that we agree, while what we are doing is giving them another chance to vent their verbal poison.

It is right for the church to keep an eye on “spiritual wolves” that run from one church to another, causing trouble and division. We serve in our communities to conquer Satan, so do not let him conquer you. Because of the promise of God, we shall have victory at last. It is a very sweet promise (v.

20): “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet.”

When we come to God for spiritual victories, we must not only eye Him as the Lord of hosts, but as the God of peace.

Our God at peace with us, speaking peace to us, working peace in us, and creating peace for us. There is perfect unity in God. The Lord detests division and is against those who stir up disunity, because it is contrary to His nature and His

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plan for the church. The body of Christ is called to be one and to love each other genuinely. Division hurts everyone.

It even hurts the name of Christ. Ask yourself this question: Are you a uniter or a divider? God, as the God of peace, will restrain and vanquish all those that cause divisions and offenses, and so break and disturb the peace of the church.

Church Revitalizer know that, Christ has overcome for us.

Christ has disarmed the strong man for us. Christ has broken his power for us. He has done all of this for us and we have nothing to do but to pursue the victory. Let us fight the good fight of faith. The victory shall be speedy. He shall do it shortly. He has said it, “Behold, I come quickly.”

Hold on church revitalizer. Have faith and patience just a little while longer. One day we too will walk in ways we never have before. We will walk through our own seas of red and we will see our spiritual enemies lying dead on the shore as we join the one sitting on the throne in heaven and unite with Him triumphantly singing the song of the Lamb. Oh, Dear Church Revitalizer: Conquer Satan—don’t let him conquer you. Mark them that hurt the church. Avoid them that seek to destroy God’s under-shepherds. Watch them and don’t become one of them. Stamp out evil. Do not listen to it. Reassure the weak, each and every day. Hold on a little while longer. Hold on.

Tom Cheyney is the Founder & Directional Leader of the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference (RenovateConference.org). Some of Tom’s books include: The Church Revitalizer as Change Agent, Slaying the Dragons of Church Revitalization: Dealing with the Critical Issues that are Hurting Your Church; and Church Revitalization in Rural America: Restoring Churches in America’s Heartland. Tom lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife Cheryl and travels all over North America assisting declining churches by bringing revitalization and renewal to the congregations.

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Centrifugal Buzz:

Courage from Start Through Finish

By Ken Priddy It takes courage for church leaders to begin the arduous task of leading their congregation through credible revitalization, and, I would suggest, it takes even more courage to stay the course and finish what was started. In making such a statement, I realize that, perhaps, the first matter to address is the matter of credible revitalization. What is it?

The key, of course, like ordering coffee at Starbucks, is the adjective; in this case, credible. Meaning what? When something is credible it’s believable, it’s authentic, it’s real, it’s trustworthy, it’s reliable; it’s capable of accomplishing what is intended. So, credible revitalization is a revitalization initiative that is real, authentic, wholehearted, thoroughly committed, and capable of being successful. It’s the real thing. This stands in opposition to incredible revitalization that, by definition, is unbelievable, inauthentic, unreal, untrustworthy, unreliable and incapable of accomplishing what is intended. Unfortunately, incredible is an apt description of many, perhaps most, revitalization initiatives. Why is that?

There are many potential reasons for a revitalization effort to fail and it’s not possible to address all of those reasons here.

The focus, rather, is on one of those reasons. When revitalization fails, it’s often because church leadership failed to stay the course, failed to follow through; failed to persevere. Why, then, does church leadership fail to persevere, not giving a revitalization effort the time, energy and resources needed to take root firmly and move a congregation onto a healthy revitalization trajectory?

Failure to persevere can be driven by a number of reasons, sometimes alone and sometimes in combination. I’ll cite six of the most common: 1. Lack of Unity Among Leaders: It’s vitally important for the top-level leadership of a church to show a united front to the congregation in regard to support for revitalization. When key leaders break out into factions regarding the commitment to revitalization, the congregation will follow suit. Factions become adversarial, lobbying for conflicting interests, and the unity needed to face the challenges of revitalization dissolves into disunity and the revitalization effort collapses.

2. Lack of Immediate Results: Despite the fact that most churches have been in ministry for many years or even decades, arriving at their current state of health over a long and winding road, once the decision to revitalize is made, leaders often expect to see instant results. A few changes are made

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and new ministry elements attempted, and the expectation is that this initial effort should create visible results almost overnight. This is an absurd expectation and is simply not going to happen. It’s going to take many weeks, perhaps many months and, most likely, several years, for revitalization to take root and gain the momentum necessary for significant results to be achieved. Often, impatient leaders read the lack of immediate results as a sign that revitalization is not going to work, so they abandon the effort.

This perspective is further amplified by the fact that many churches have made attempts at revitalization before and seen them come up short. When the current revitalization effort fails to render instant results, some leaders interpret that as a sign that the effort is going to fail just as previous revitalization efforts have. Ironically, it’s likely that previous efforts that failed did so because of a failure to persevere. Therefore, history repeats itself and the revitalization effort gets the blame.

3. Focus on Improvement Over Transformation: The root of this issue is the program-driven nature of most churches. Programming is seen as the core element of ministry and, therefore, revitalization is viewed as an attempt to improve certain programs. Certain perceived key programs are selected and leaders go about the task of improving these selected programs. The reasoning is that programming is the key so better

tain changes, when those changes actually arrive, they find they cannot handle real change. It’s not exactly what they thought it would be. It feels different than they imagined. So, they backtrack, sometimes feeling that they have been hoodwinked, and begin to push back against the very changes they might have previously supported. It turns out that many might appear to be willing to change only to find themselves unable to change when the change actually occurs.

5. Degree of Difficulty: There’s no mystery here. When folks are endeavoring to revitalize, they often underestimate the degree of difficulty that revitalization presents. They naively conclude that revitalization is simply a matter of making a few decisions and popping improved or newly created ministries in place. They wrongly assume that the congregation will get on board because it’s populated with followers, and they wrongly assume that the community will respond in significant ways because the revitalization plans look good on paper. Neither assumption proves true.

or improved programming should bring about revitalization.

The problem is that most programming is targeted toward the insiders within a congregation, so, in improving programming, all that’s done is that the people who are already with the church benefit from improved programming. This, however, does not address the real cause of most long-term plateau and decline which is an inward ministry focus that rarely connects with the community outside.

Credible revitalization involves turning a church’s focus outward toward reaching a lost community with the Gospel. This requires much more than improved programming for church insiders. It requires a systemic transformation to a new church culture, one that features sacrificial commitment to outreach and evangelism.

4. Push-back when Theory becomes Reality: Revitalization requires change from the status quo. In order to acquire different results, some degree of change must be introduced.

Change is difficult for most people, particularly if that change requires their giving up something that’s important to them.

Even so, congregations can be inspired by the cause of reaching people with the Gospel and can, despite its difficulties, embrace change – at least in theory. As the idea of change is introduced, folks can genuinely be convinced that they are ready for change and can commit to supporting that change.

However, though some genuinely buy into the theory of cer-

6. Unwelcomed Success: This final reason might seem counterintuitive, but is nonetheless true. Intuitively, we reason that revitalization efforts fail because they’re unsuccessful, but, sometimes, their failing is driven by success. File this under unexpected consequences. There are times when revitalization efforts do, in fact, produce results in the form of new folks from the community coming into the church. However, there are occasions when church folks discover they don’t really want these people in their church, so they pull back on revitalization.

Here’s a quick example: One aging inner city church decided to try to reach children in the surrounding community. They initiated a Wednesday evening ministry designed to reach such kids. It was a resounding success, with upwards of one hundred kids showing up each week. However, they used foul language and trashed restrooms and other property. The custodial staff complained and, after a short run, the ministry was canceled.

These six catalysts for revitalization failure highlight the complex and difficult nature of revitalization. It requires great courage to get started, but even greater courage to finish.

Ken Priddy (D.Min., Ph.D.) is Founder and Executive Director of the GO Center, a training and consulting ministry committed to church vitalization and revitalization. Ken also directs LEADERTOWN: A Laboratory for Organization & Leadership Development.

His thirty-plus year journey in church planting and revitalization has grown into a national presence among evangelical leaders. He’s an effective trainer and consultant, but perhaps his most significant contribution is his extensive development of training curricula.

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Roadblocks to Revitalization: Four Things that Will Neutralize Your Revitalization Road Trip

By Bill Tenny-Brittian Lau Tzu gets the credit for the quote “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” for most of us our journeys begin when we grab our keys and head to the car. For most of you reading this, when it comes to the revitalization of your church, you’ve already found your keys, packed your lunch, grabbed your travel mug, and have merged onto the transformation highway. I’d like to tell you that the road to church transformation is only a thousand miles, but you can actually walk that distance in about forty days (and drive it in about two) if you walked eight hours every day. The road from Home to Revitalized typically takes three to five years just to get moving and upwards of twelve years to so routinize the transformation that it will continue after you’ve taken the exit ramp.

Misunderstanding Your Role I’m writing this article with the premise that most who read this are serving as the lead pastor. To be honest, there is no more difficult task in the church than to be in the driver’s seat of a church’s transformation journey. Revitalizations are fraught with difficulties from beginning to end. However, in my over thirty years as a church leader, coach, and consultant, the biggest issue I’ve had to deal with is helping lead pastors to understand what their job is.

With a journey like that, there are bound to be some potholes, detours, and maybe even an accident or two. You can, and should, expect those. In fact, if you’ve left the driveway on your transformation journey, I suspect you’ve already experienced some of them along the way. However, there are some formidable roadblocks out there that are so problematic they’ll either neutralize your journey, or worse, force you to put your car in Park, give up, and walk away.

Later, if we got involved in church politics, we learned about the “traditional” roles of the pastor. By tradition, I mean that whatever church you were a part of had defined what their pastor did in the church. Visit the sick. Be at all the meetings.

Lead weddings and funerals. Do pastoral counseling. And so on. That helped expand your understanding of the pastor’s job.

Although any obstacle can undermine or scuttle the journey to revitalization, I want to share three that have probably caused more crash-and-burn efforts than any others.

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Most of us learned what it meant to be a pastor by observation. When we were young, we watched what the pastor did.

Unless there was a crisis in our life, that meant mostly we saw the pastor preach and teach.

Once you were called into ministry, you probably got some formal education about what it takes to be clergy. Bible college or seminary is the most common path. There, even today, you were mostly taught how to lead a church that no longer

exists. Truth is, 1954 isn’t coming back, the unchurched aren’t dazzled by your Greek and Hebrew or even your theological prowess, and Y’all Come evangelism and marketing hasn’t worked for at least a decade.

Finally, when you got your first call or appointment, you learned about what a pastor’s job is when your board handed you a bullet-point job description of all those things you’re expected to do. And, of course, you learned even more over the next few months as your members made it clear what they expected.

Four sources that taught you about being a pastor – and all of them based in tradition and experience. Did you ever wonder if there was another source for what a pastor is to do?

Of course, there is one. The founder of the faith apparently gave some instructions (Ephesians 4:11a) and the apostles apparently put those instructions into practice, at least we presume so since they were personally trained by the founder and managed to be wildly successful at it.

I dig deeper into this with my Next Level Coaching Network clients, but here’s a brief overview of what the New Testament says about what your job is.

metaphor for the local congregation. He’s not talking about individuals, so to suggest that our primary job is to make our members more spiritual is a swing-and-a-miss, especially because of that second phrase: “built up.” The root word there is a construction word – a build it, grow it, construct it kind of word. One might even draw the conclusion that the work of the members is to grow the church.

Don’t get me wrong, ultimately that’s your responsibility. In fact, when it comes to your role as lead pastor, you are responsible for literally everything that goes on in the church.

BUT … and that’s a huge BUT … being responsible doesn’t mean you are expected to DO it. In fact, the second New Testament passage I want to call your attention to demonstrates this fact through the actual practice of the early church.

“…the explicit job of the clergy isn’t to do ministry, but to equip the membership to do the ministry. ”

Ephesians 4:11–13. There we read that Jesus himself laid out the work of professional church leaders.

Paul lists five positions, though it’s clearly not an exhaustive list. What’s important to note is what the “mission” of church staff is.

Ephesians 4:12 To equip his people [the members] for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Two comments here. First, the explicit job of the clergy isn’t to do ministry, but to equip the membership to do the ministry.

I’m sure you’ve heard this ad nauseum – and have probably preached it at least a couple times.

Second, though, let me draw your attention to the phrases “body of Christ” and “built up.” The body of Christ is Paul’s

Hit pause and read Acts 6:1–7.

There was a food bank problem. The distribution wasn’t fair for whatever reason. And the affected members showed up in the Church Office to lodge their complaint. That’s totally a fair response. If there’s a problem in your church, no matter what it is, the problem belongs to you. Initially. Remember, you are responsible for everything that happens in your church.

Everything. But notice what the church leaders did. They put the responsibility for the ministry exactly where it belonged – with the membership. “Not our job,” Peter says with exactly no ambiguity.

Let’s cut to the chase. What exactly IS your job? (1) Conspicuously model and mentor spiritual practices; (2) Mission Alignment and fulfillment; (3) Vision creation, casting, and alignment – both inside and outside of the church; (4) Build an effective ministry team; (5) Ensure there are funds for ministry.

Notice what’s not on there. Pastoral care. Visiting the sick. Pastoral counseling. Creating the bulletin. Editing the newsletter.

Being available during “office hours.” Let me repeat, though, all of that is your responsibility and much, much more. But if you do those things, then what you can’t do it finish the church transformation journey. It’s just not possible (and I’ve

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never seen it happen – not once. You will not be the exception.) However, all those responsibilities are critically important, but you will need to do much of that by equipping the members take care of the members and do all those mission-critical things that will grow the church.

When a lead pastor gets caught up in Pastor Fetch, that is, doing all those jobs that don’t belong to him/her, then it’s clear that they don’t have a biblical grasp of what belongs to them and what belongs to the rest of the body of Christ.

And that’s one roadblock that you can’t get around.

Unresolved Conflict If you’re in the driver’s seat on the church transformation journey, you’re going to experience conflict.

(I see by the expression on your face that that’s not news to you! Good.)

Every single change you propose or unilaterally make is going to cause some level of conflict from someone, somewhere. It’s been said that everyone likes the idea of change, but no one likes the reality of change.

And so, whenever there’s a change, there’s conflict in its shadow.

“Conflict’s not the problem – it’s how people behave when there’s conflict that’s the issue. ”

But as you know, conflict isn’t a bad thing. In fact, conflict can be a good thing because I promise you, not all your great ideas are all that great – and someone will feel the need to tell you so, at least I hope so. Conflict’s not the problem – it’s how people behave when there’s conflict that’s the issue. A bully will through their weight around to try and derail the change. A terrorist will make a threat, “If you ___, then I’ll ___.” A guerrilla will wait until you’re not looking and then pounce on you, almost always at the precise moment when you’re most vulnerable. And a controller will work behind the scenes to undermine the decision. Ultimately, it’s how you handle the conflict that will determine whether or not you’ve come to permanent roadblock or just a Caution, Curves Ahead kind of obstacle.

Notice I used the word handle. That’s intentional. I don’t believe in managing conflict, at least not in the way it tends to be practiced by most conflict experts. Finding a Win–Win situation does two things: (1) It compromises the ministry;

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and (2) It empowers the antagonist. Compromise is always somewhere between Best and Worst. It’s where we can both “agree,” but that agreement is always the lowest common denominator, it’s never the highest good. And just like we learned what a pastor’s job is, we’ve mostly learned about conflict management by means outside of scripture.

Moses didn’t give ten suggestions that were negotiable.

It’s nevertheless true that the Israelites regularly chose to ignore or violate those commandments, but I’m at a loss to remember any time when God allowed a compromise of his law. Genesis through Malachi it’s pretty much “My way or the highway.” And the New Testament gives us specific guidelines on how to deal with our bullies, terrorists, guerrillas, controllers, and any other antagonists to the work of the church. Here’s a real quick guide.

Matthew 18:15–17. Three strikes and you’re out.

Titus 3:10. Three strikes and you’re out.

Hmm. There’s a theme here.

Now, I don’t want you to get the idea that when it comes to conflict, you’re always right. Of course you’re not.

However, it’s beyond the scope of this article to walk you through the steps to resolving the conflict you’re going to face, but let me be clear: if your Revitalization Roadster has unresolved conflict in its baggage compartment, then you’ll find yourself permanently parked behind an unsurmountable roadblock. In a word, handle your conflict. (BTW, if you’re dealing the conflict, you might want to grab the Conflict CPR Video Training Course at https://effectivechurch.net/store/ conflict-cpr/ – and you might want to read On Not Being Nice for the Sake of the Gospel at https://effectivechurch. com/on-not-being-nice-for-the-sake-of-the-gospel/).

Distractions from Your Mission This is third on the list, not because it’s least important, but because I want to make sure you take this away with you more than anything else.

The number one roadblock that will scuttle any church’s revitalization efforts is allowing yourself or the church to get distracted from the church’s mission. In fact, in our experience, those few churches that are rabidly and ruthlessly committed to their mission are the few churches in the US that are growing. And almost all the churches in decline have surrendered to one distraction after another and are suffering from mission-drift.

Let’s be honest, there’s a lot going on that demands your attention – and a lot of ministries that demand your church’s attention. The Christmas bazaar. The senior’s Valentine’s banquet. The community’s Interdenominational Thanksgiving Worship Service. The current denominational disturbance. Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. The minister’s alliance meetings. The church’s bulletin and newsletter.

The food bank’s golf tournament fundraiser. The deacon’s meeting. The newest streaming technology and security app. Mrs. Brachman’s surgery and prolonged recovery. The list could go on, but all of these are almost certainly distractions from your church’s mission.

If your church’s mission is the make disciples of your community, then the focus of everything the church does should – must – be around disciple making.

The Christmas bazaar is probably about making money. Yes, the church needs money, but if all your members tithed money couldn’t be an issue. Besides, the bazaar is a poor venue for disciple making (and no, validating the public’s perception that all the church is worried about is money is not a good marketing message).

The senior’s Valentine banquet is a nice thing to do. But making disciples? Not. The community Interdenominational Thanksgiving Worship Service will fill the auditorium with almost exclusively already-Christians from community churches. Those who attend that are not affiliated with a church won’t become affiliated with a church that night either. (And there’s unlikely any sort of altar call or salvation-inducing message there anyway.)

I could go on, but you get the gist. Very few churches are so focused on their mission that they’re willing to stop doing all the extraneous activities. Every one of those activities

that might consider putting an end to is “owned” by someone who will be offended or hurt or angry if you pull the plug – and few pastors have the chutzpah to risk that sort of ire.

Consider, what would worship look like if the number one consideration was evangelism/disciple making? What music would you sing? What technology would you use? What sermon topics would you preach? What kind of an altar call would you make? What would you demand of those in the pews? How would you get contact information from visitors? What would you do to follow-up? What kind of small groups would get started? – and which existing small groups would you cancel?

Conclusion So, let’s go back to the top. If you’re going to travel the church transformation highway you’ve got to get your role right. If you don’t, you’ll make virtually no lasting impact on the congregation. In fact, if you don’t embrace your roll then the second point – dealing with all those bullies, terrorists, guerrillas, and controllers is moot. You’ll have no power and no authority. And finally, if you don’t get your role right, you might as well change the name of your church to Distractions R Us because you’ll be creating as many distractions as you put an end to.

All that’s to say that any of these three roadblocks are enough to permanently detour your revitalization journey.

Get these three right and your journey will still be arduous, but the likelihood of a permanent roadblock is minimized.

Bill Tenny-Brittian is the managing partner of The Effective Church Group. For over thirty years, The Effective Church Group has been equipping churches and church leaders so they can be successful in reaching their mission. He is the co-author of The Role of the Senior Pastor and also teaches Pastoral Leadership for Phillips Seminary with an emphasis on leadership.

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Pivot from Being Friendly to Befriending

By Bob Whitesel Churches hire me to advise them on healthy growth. And one of the things I do with every church is to visit incognito, as a secret shopper so to speak. I come unannounced and analyze how they connect newcomers to their faith community. I do this before I have conducted any workshops, so almost everyone does not know who I am.

After interviewing hundreds of non-churchgoers and newcomers, I’ve been told that most aren’t interested in being greeted in a friendly manner … instead they are interested in making friends. I would describe this as a desire “to be befriended.”

Over 30 years ago when I began doing this most churches had very minimal guest services. Ushers handing out bulletins at the back the sanctuary was about all most churches provided. Even in large churches, guest services had not yet developed.

Greeters began in the business world. And now, whether at Walmart, Target or some other large box store, you will find people positioned at the front doors to greet you and say “Welcome.” Over time the church adopted this policy, without thinking through the different goals of a big box retailer and a community of faith. A big box store has greeters to put the guest at ease and help them make a purchase.

Now some 30 years later I’ve seen remarkable progress. Most churches have greeters, guest server tables/kiosks and newcomer classes. But is this enough? I don’t think so. Here’s why.

In Most Churches Guest Services Have the Wrong Goal Today most churches have some degree of guest services ministry. In smaller churches it is usually a table in the back staffed by one or two people. In mid-size and larger churches it often begins with a greeter in the parking lot. Then a volunteer opens the door and greets you with a broad smile. Inside the foyer or narthex there is usually a booth that says “guest services.” And at the door to the auditorium another greeter welcomes people as they enter.

I would describe this as a “friendly” attitude, in which greeters smile, shake a hand and say “Welcome,” “We are glad you are here” or some other salutation. But newcomers have told me this is all too customary and all too insufficient.

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From Where Did Our Goal of Friendliness Emerge?

But the church is different. When people visit a church they are often seeking spiritual solace and/or answers to spiritual questions. At big box stores guests are not there to make friends with the employees or the owners. And so greeting goals are different.

When people visit a church they are seeking spiritual solace and spiritual answers. Everyone knows that best way to talk through your questions and quandaries is with someone you consider a friend. Therefore, befriending guests becomes the goal of guest ministries (a very different goal than greeters at a big box store).

And so greeting guests, even multiple times from the parking lot to the pew, is an insufficient goal for a church where newcomers are trying to make friends and to become part of a family. Friendliness is insufficient for making a friend. It must be followed by something more. And that is befriending.

Pivoting Your Guest Services from Being Friendly to Befriending In guest services you have the ultimate goal to befriend, not just be friendly. Let’s define the difference between friendliness and befriending. Friendliness is where people greet others in an approachable manner and demeanor. Such greeting requires the guest to reach back out to the greeter. And, it also requires the guest to take the initiative to share their needs.

But should the responsibility of sharing needs be put upon the shoulders of the guest? After all, the guest has already reached out to us by entering our unfamiliar church environment. Therefore, our response to a visitor must go beyond greeting and initiate the befriending process. This includes tactfully getting to know the newcomer so we can help them with their needs.

Because the church is a place of spiritual healing and growth, hospitality ministries must ask themselves, “How can I help this person with their spiritual needs?” And to help a person begins with becoming a friend. The scriptures remind us…

A family is how the Bible describes the church: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Gal. 6:10 NIV A family is comprised of true friends, who do more than greet you, they befriend you: “Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.” Proverbs 18:24 MSG A family member will generously meet your needs: “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Rom. 12:13 NIV. Defining friendliness and befriending with these verses in mind: • Friendliness is being approachable, but expecting a guest to reach back out to you.

• Befriending is • Tactfully taking the initiative to connect with guests, • Beginning to make a friend (or helping them find some people who will befriend them) • And getting to know their needs as your friendship develops.

Friendliness alone is inefficient in guest services.

In my incognito church visits for clients I’ve experienced this many times. At one church a tall gregarious gentleman greeted me on multiple occasions, mostly at church but once at a fast-food restaurant. At the latter he handed me a small wooden cross with the service times imprinted. When I saw him the next time at the church I reminded him about the small cross and shared my appreciation. But he didn’t remember. He had handed out so many small crosses and greeted so many people every Sunday, that despite multiple visits I was no closer to making a new friend.

He was the very outgoing, gregarious person we typically choose to be greeters. But his job was friendliness. And he did it well. But as for remembering guest, getting to know some of their needs, etc. that wasn’t in his character. Too often gregarious, friendly people become the lion’s share of our guest services’ volunteers.

But the befrienders, those people who naturally make the time and take the effort to get to know a guest are usually not yet involved. But I believe they should be the majority of guest services people. Here are two negatives and four pluses to filling your guest services ministry with befrienders.

Without Befrienders - Greeters often enjoy saying hello more than they enjoy finding out how you’re doing.

People who like to greet and offer a heartfelt welcome are important volunteers. But they tend to be focused on the immediate experience rather than the underlying need. Yes, we need gregarious people. They are outgoing and enthusiastic.

But we need befrienders too. Compare Moses and Paul’s leadership abilities. When God appoints Moses to deliver his people, Moses’ shows his unwillingness and insecurity of being God’s spokesman (Exodus 3:11-12). Paul on the other hand is enthusiastically outgoing and willing to stand before tribunals or mobs (2 Corinthians 11:16-33). Perhaps greeters are best comprised of extroverts, while befrienders are more circumspect and possibly even introverted. We need both introverted volunteers and extroverted volunteers. But the latter may be more adept at greeting than taking the time to befriend and ascertain needs.

Without Befrienders - Guest services comprised of mostly friendly people can inadvertently give the impression a church is not interested in learning about deeper needs.

If your guest ministry is based mostly upon friendliness, people who visit your church may get the feeling of a superficial experience. Like my experience with the man who greeted me every Sunday, but couldn’t remember who I was; greeting is necessary, but it is only the first step in the befriending process.

Populating your guest services with mostly friendly people often creates a superficial spirit to the congregation too. Attendees get the feeling that you’re only interested in their presence rather than their needs. Even the way we greet people can contribute to this. Remember, guests are coming to an unfamiliar environment to connect with people and make a friend. When you customarily say, “We are glad you’re here,” or “I’m glad to see you,” your greeting is focused on you and what makes you happy. Instead, we want to find out how guests are doing, how we can help them make new friends and then let a friend help them.

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With Befrienders - You get those with the biblical “gift of hospitality” more involved.

The Bible describes a “gift of hospitality” in various scriptures such as Rom. 12:9-13, 16:23, Heb. 13:1-2. Fuller Theological Seminary professor C. Peter Wagner describes the gift of hospitality as “creating comfort and assistance for those in need.” Still the Greek word philo-xenia in Rom. 12:13 and Heb. 13:2 goes deeper.

Philo means “brotherly or family love” and xenia means “love of strangers.” Therefore I would suggest that, “those with the gift of hospitality befriend strangers like family by creating comfort and assistance.”

For example, consider how the root word in hospitality is also found in the word “hospital.” Let’s say you went to an emergency room. And, there was a gregarious person who greeted you, smiled, helped you find a parking space, opened the door for you. Then you went in. But no one to asked how you were doing or tried to ascertain why you were there. You would feel like the hospitality had been insincere. In a similar fashion, populating your guest services with people who have the “gift of hospitality” is critical for reaching out to those needy souls whom the Holy Spirit is drawing to your congregation.

With Befrienders - Guest services will focus more around community and befriending, rather than herding people in/ out of the facility.

When hospitality gifted people are involved, they will create opportunities to get to know the newcomers. One article I read described how hospitality volunteers set up tables in the foyer after the service with a sign above each describing different hobbies such as fishing, running, art, hiking, pickle ball, etc. After church people would gather at these tables and begin to make friends with people like themselves.

With Befrienders - Guest services volunteers with the gift of hospitality will stick with it until a newcomer makes friends.

Characteristics of befrienders include: • People who have been at the church for many years and know many people in the church.

• People who are good at connecting people.

• People who are known in the business world as “connectors” or “networkers.”

• People, who when they meet newcomers, find out about their interests, their stage in life and their hobbies.

• Those people who look for similar people with which to connect neophytes.

• And, volunteers who just don’t hand newcomers off by introducing them to someone else. They write down their name and contact information to follow up with them and ensure they make new friends among the church attendees.

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With Befrienders - Hospitality people in your guest services ministry create a balance that you can reduplicate in other ministries in the church.

Consider your small groups. Usually there is a leader/teacher, a hospitality person that sets up the room and arranges refreshments. But that’s it. What if you added a befriender, someone that actually had the “gift of hospitality (to) befriend strangers like family by creating comfort and assistance.” Image someone who reaches out to new people either in your small group, Sunday school class, Bible study, activity group, sport team, etc. and then connects them with like-minded people within the group.

This would eventually pivot your entire faith community into a refreshing balance of greeters and befrienders.

Summary A list of needs that church visitors most often cite when visiting a church are described in more detail in my other book (Spiritual Waypoints: Helping Other Navigate the Journey, Abingdon Press).

But regardless of the need, we can see in this article that needs are best addressed by friends.

And, too often guests will seek to make the pastor or staff member their friend, because he or she is perceived as one that can help them with their needs. But the staff will soon be overwhelmed.

But in healthy churches the pastor and ministry staff find and recruit volunteers with the “gift of hospitality” to connect guests to friends who will befriend and meet the needs of others.

This is the most overlooked, yet crucial element, of every guest services ministry. Leader it’s time to pivot!

Bob Whitesel is an award-winning author/consultant on church health and growth. He has been called “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today” by a national magazine, co-founded an accredited seminary (Wesley Seminary at IWU) and created one of the nation’s most respected church health and growth consulting firms: ChurchHealth.net

Getting Unstuck in Your Thinking

By Gary Moritz Ministry has shown me that I don’t know what I think I know.

What do I mean by that? We may think we have all the answers and know exactly what to do, and then we get into a situation and what we think we should do doesn’t work. Ministry has a way of keeping us humble but if we are not careful, ministry has a way of getting us stuck in our thinking.

There are too many pastors in America who are stuck. The church needs more pastors and people of God who desire to lift God up and not themselves. We need less image and fame and more humility and hustle. We need people who are willing to admit that they don’t have all the answers, but God does. We need pastors that keep dreaming, think big, and are willing to take risks again. A revitalization pastor must think differently if they are going to get unstuck. They can’t get stuck in the rut of small thinking.

There is a lot you and I can learn from this story. Here are three lessons you can learn in your practice of getting unstuck in your thinking as you take the land God has given you.

Small thinkers underestimate what they can do.

While a church in decline usually sees a decline in attendance, some people stick around. These people generally have two things in common. First, they are faithful. They’re willing to hang in there even while the ship is sinking. Second, they desire to be lead. They may not know how to lead or what to do, but they don’t want to quit. They just know they need something different. They underestimate what God can do in and through them. God has called you to partner with them for kingdom impact. It is your job to help them see what they can do for God. The apostle Paul reminds us that “You are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). God uses His people as His instruments to bring Him glory. He desires to work in your people to accomplish His work for eternal impact. You must teach your people that God will not act without their willingness, and without God’s hand, there is no victory.

Small thinkers underestimate what God can do.

There will be people in the church that do not believe what you believe about God. They may attend church and have been Christians for a long time, but that does not mean they rely on or believe in the power of God. They lead a prayerless

Small thinkers underestimate what their decisions can do.

In Numbers 14:1–5, ten leaders return to Moses and give an unfavorable report, and this negative report was contagious and infectious. Moses had to fight against this negativity and instead focus on the report of the two faithful leaders,

God shares with us an interesting story and lesson on small thinking in Numbers chapters 13 and 14. In this passage, we see the responses of twelve leaders that Moses enlisted to spy out the land God had given them. Only two of the twelve saw a big God in the equation. The rest failed to acknowledge God first and foremost. They were small thinkers who only saw big problems.

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life lacking true faith. This is nothing new. Revitalization takes getting unstuck in your thinking. How you think is how you lead and live. All twelve spies in the story saw the same land.

However, ten spies did not include God in the picture. You are going to have people just like this in your church. Yes, there are probably a lot of people in your community that don’t attend church, but sadly there may be people attending your church who don’t include God in their life. They show up to impress each week, experiencing little eternal impact. They are spiritually stuck.

Caleb, and Joshua. You are always going to have people who will bring negativity into the church, and you must acknowledge this can affect the culture of your church. You must fight against the negativity. The Bible warns us in Proverbs 23:7 that what we think about is what we become. Small thinking and negativity result in three destructive behaviors.

1. Discouragement (v.1) 2. Discontentment (v.2) 3. Defeat (vv. 3–5).

You do not want these destructive behaviors at work in your church. Faith counteracts discouragement, discontentment, and defeat and is the cure for small thinking, and we build our faith through a powerful prayer life. Emphasize to your people that the Lord will act on your behalf, but you must stay faithful and keep communicating with Him. The apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:16 that, “In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Caleb and Joshua were courageous warriors. They believed in God for who He was and what they had seen Him do. Both men stood up and revitalized the people. They turned the focus away from the negativity and put the victory on God. These two men changed the people’s thinking, and eventually, they took the Promised Land.

Faith gave Caleb confidence. He told the people to quiet down and take the hill. When the majority voice was loud, his war cry became louder. He was a warrior of faith who trusted in what God said. He knew that the land was theirs to take regardless of the situations and circumstances that were up ahead. God wants us to be like Caleb. He tells us not to fear and that He will be the one that sustains us.

Faith gave Joshua courage. Joshua was the understudy of Moses that was always in the shadows until this day. The faith that was swelling up inside of him burst out, and he reminded the people of their past victories and the power of God. He knew the Lord was his helper and that God would never abandon him or his people. A promise is a promise to those that follow God. Joshua was not afraid, nor did he fear man.

These men’s bold faith stood out among the rest of their people. Your faith and trust are going to stand out among your people. Remember, you have God, and God has you. Both Caleb and Joshua captured God’s and the people’s hearts because of their tactical thinking through prayer and faith, and the result was powerful. Their confidence gave them the Promise Land. God reminds us that faith is the foundation of belief and behavior. He says in Hebrews 11:6 that, “…without faith. It is impossible to please God since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Small thinking has consequences.

The lesson that Caleb and Joshua showed us that day is the same lesson that God shows us when facing a revitalization. If you are going to be victorious in battle, you must watch your thinking and remain faithful. If you neglect this responsibility, you will slip into small thinking and so will your people. God desires you to be an influential leader that thinks big for kingdom impact. As you lead your church, remember these three consequences of small thinking.

1. Small thinking limits your potential. Jesus told us that, “Everything is possible for the one who believes” (Mark 9:23b).

This verse bases your potential and how God can use you upon your prayer life. There is a direct correlation between one’s prayer life and obedience to God. God listens for those who want to walk closely with Him and do the hard things in the hard places so that He gets the glory.

2. Small thinking ruins your relationships. As God’s leader, you must be careful who you hang out with. Stuck people hang out with stuck people. If you hang out with negative people, you will think negatively, but if you hang out with faithful people who trust and obey the Lord, you will see bigger things ahead. The apostle Paul tells us, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

3. Small thinking hurts the church and sabotages God’s success. Success in the world’s eyes is based on outward impressions. But success to God focuses on the impact of the heart.

God is looking for those who are all-in and entirely focused on Him. God wants to work in you and through you and your church, but it is up to you how you think. You must guard your heart with all diligence and stay on the correct path of faith, walking in obedience to Him. Your thinking is crucial to getting unstuck. The land that God has placed in front of you may seem daunting and full of challenges. But do you see the potential? If you can’t see it, your people won’t be able to see it. Pray for enough faith and courage in your life so that you can share it with the ones who are going to help you accomplish it. Yes, negativity is contagious, but so is big thinking. Don’t be afraid to share the vision that God has given you for your church and community. Think big, pray big, and fight to take the land. Stay unstuck!

Gary Moritz is the lead pastor of City United Church, located in Lunenburg, MA. With a church planter mindset, the Lord called him and his family to New England in 2013 to take over a church in need of revitalization through a pastoral succession. He also works for Liberty University as a subject matter expert on church revitalization and as a assistant professor in the School of Divinity, and he serves as the Director of Church Revitalization for the Baptist Convention of New England.

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TACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR CHURCH REVITALIZATION AND RENEWAL “Gary Moritz has lived the life of leading revitalization as well as anyone I know, especially in a New England context. In Carry On, you do not merely have someone reporting to you the theories of church revitalization, you have someone who has led it and lived it, tactic by tactic. What an incredible gift this book is to church leaders around the world.”

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THIS BOOK WILL OFFER YOU STEPS, RESOURCES, AND DIRECTION ON HOW TO BECOME TACTICAL IN THE FIGHT. USE IT AS A FIELD MANUAL TO HELP YOU AND THOSE AROUND YOU UNDERSTAND REVITALIZATION AND THE STEPS NEEDED TO BRING YOUR CHURCH BACK TO HEALTH.

IT WILL TAKE ...

TACTICAL ENGAGEMENT

TACTICAL ENVISIONING

TACTICAL ENLARGEMENT

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Determine to be “All In” and refuse to quit the fight for church revitalization and renewal.

Learn to trust in, dream about, and envision what God wants to do in you and your community.

Stay true to your call and learn to say “Yes” to whatever zip code God calls you to.

Identify and execute your tactical next steps towards revitalization and renewal.

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON Gary Moritz is married to the co-author Jana Moritz and is the lead pastor of City United Church located in Lunenburg, MA. Together, the Lord called them and their family to New England in 2013 to take over a church in need of revitalization through a pastoral succession. Gary works for Liberty University as a Subject Matter Expert in Church Revitalization and as an assistant professor in the School of Divinity. He also serves as the Director of Church Revitalization for the Baptist Convention of New England and is the co-host of Revitalizationtoday.com with Dr. Tom Cheyney.

Available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com

Why Don’t We Grow?

By George Thomasson 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Christ’s sake. I want to always be growing in my faith and A tourist visiting a quaint town in the northeast asked an walk. I hope you will love me enough to help me keep movolder gentleman, “Have any great men been born here?” The ing forward.” wise man said, “No. Only babies!”

Depending on what research you read, anywhere from 60% I heard about a man who had just attended his 40th high to 80% of our Evangelical churches in America are plateaued school reunion and was sitting in the airport awaiting his or declining. They have stopped growing and most are in flight home. As luck would have it, he saw a classmate wait- rapid decline. The explanation for this decline is not simple. ing for the same flight. He asked his old friend what he There are, however, some biblical insights relating to indithought about the reunion. His friend appeared dejected vidual believers and their lack of spiritual growth that may and even depressed. He said, “I’m not sad over what hap- inform and inspire our churches to address the critical need pened at the reunion, but what didn’t happen. Almost ev- for revitalization. eryone I talked with had not really changed. Oh, they had gained weight, looked a lot older and had various jobs. But This is the first in a four-part sermon series entitled, “Growing they still had their same old attitudes and childish habits Together.” The messages are: “Why Don’t We Grow?” “What from high school. It was tragic to me. It was as if they chose Does it Mean to Grow?” “How Can We Grow?” and “Will We to resist change!”

Commit to Keep on Growing?”

He looked his friend in the eye and said, “I never want it said of me that I have stopped growing and developing. Life is too precious to waste. If you ever see that I am becoming stagnant, I give you permission to give me a ‘swift kick’ for

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At this point, a warning may be in order. For some who read this message, “Why Don’t We Grow,” you may receive a “swift kick”! Why? Because pastors love you enough to challenge you to keep on growing.

In 1 Corinthians 2:14, 15 Paul references two kinds of people, the “natural man” and the “spiritual man.” The non-Christian and the Christian. Now, in chapter 3 he goes further contrasting two kinds of Christians-the mature and the immature. You expect a new Christian to be immature, but you should expect maturity to take place in a Christian’s life as he or she grows. This was not the case for the Corinthian Church.

Paul had devoted approximately 18 months teaching and discipling them. He was their spiritual father. He said in 1 Corinthians 4:14, 15, “I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Paul answers the question of our message, “Why Don’t We Grow?” He gives at least 3 reasons: 1. We are not growing because we only comprehend baby talk. V. 1 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.”

All of us start out as babies spiritually. We should develop through a natural process of growth. Here Paul contrasts those who are spiritual with those who are still carnal.

The word translated “carnal” is the Greek word sarkinois meaning consisting of the flesh. The NIV translates the word as “worldly.”

He was telling them that they were saved because they had received Christ as their personal Savior, but they were not making spiritual progress. As a result, he could not speak to them as maturing Christians, but still as spiritual babies.

They could only comprehend baby talk.

Our two children began talking very differently. Our 11-month-old daughter, Angie, was in my arms at the state fair, when out of nowhere she shouted out… “HOT DOG.” We were assuming that her first words would be “da da” or “mommy.” But no…she perfectly articulated what she had just heard from the lips of a vendor- “HOT DOG!” That unplugged a flood of communication that never seemed to stop. In fact, her 2nd grade teacher had to tape her mouth closed on one occasion! On the other hand, our son Greg, didn’t manage a full sentence until he was almost 3 years old. The only word he spoke was “nummy.” Strangely, only

Angie could understand what he was saying. She may say, “Mommy, he wants a drink of water.” We concluded that Greg may not have felt the need to talk for himself. Angie said enough for both of them! So, he took the easy route and just settled for baby talk.

Paul wanted to share the deeper things of the Lord with his Corinthian brothers and sisters, but they could only comprehend baby talk. How about you? Do you need a loving “swift kick” to keep on growing? Does your Christian experience still consist of baby talk? Are you serious about making progress in your spiritual development or are you satisfied to just say “nummy, nummy” and let others go deeper with God? There may be a second reason you are not growing.

2. We are not growing because we only consume baby food. V. 2 “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.”

You can identify a mature Christian by his or her diet.

The immature Christian is on “milk,” the easy things of the Bible. They read the stories of what Jesus did on earth.

The maturing Christian eats “solid food”, what the Bible teaches concerning the more difficult doctrines and how they apply to our lives now.

Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says regarding this issue.

“Called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age (mature), that is, those who by reason of use (practice) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:10-14 The writer of Hebrews had the same dilemma as Paul. He wanted to teach them deeper truths about Jesus Christ and His great high priesthood, but he could not because of their spiritual immaturity.

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The Bible is a spiritual book and it offers a balanced diet!

Just as a person needs a balanced diet to experience healthy growth and development physically, so the inner person, the spiritual man, needs a balanced diet of spiritual food. A baby is nourished in the beginning with milk. But soon they develop teeth and move on to solid food.

Listen to what Paul says in the previous chapter to the Corinthian believers.

“That our faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

Let me mention our daughter, Angie, again to illustrate. She But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidobviously began with milk, but before long (much sooner den wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our than the doctor advised) it became obvious to us that she glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had was so hungry that just milk would no longer satisfy her. We they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of began mixing cereal with her milk, glory. But as it is written: ‘Eye has then strained veggies. She still not seen nor ear heard, nor have cried between bites! She was proentered into the heart of man the gressing so rapidly that we had to things which God has prepared feed her solid food. for those who love Him. But God “Just as a person has revealed them to us through needs a balanced diet That was the case spiritually for His Spirit. For the Spirit searches me. I received Christ at age 20 havall things, yes, the deep things of to experience healthy ing not been exposed to the gosGod.” 1 Corinthians 2:5-10 growth and development pel until then. The men in my Bible You may be living on Bible stories class gave me a modern translation not the deep doctrines of the Word. physically, so the inner of the Bible. I couldn’t get enough. I If you are not careful, you will want person, the spiritual man, was like Angie, crying for more beto be entertained not enlightened. tween bites! I started writing down It is time to graduate from baby needs a balanced diet Bible references with short phrases food, from milk to solid food, to the of spiritual food.” in the blank pages at the back of my meat of the Word.

Bible. One evening in frustration, I said to my wife, Sandra, “What am There may also be a third reason to I going to do now?” “What do you consider. mean, George?” she asked. “I have filled up all the pages in the back of my Bible with verses I 3. We are not growing because we conform to baby acwant to remember. I’ve run out of room to add more.” “Why tions. V. 3 are you doing that?” she asked. “When a verse speaks something special to me, I write it down so I can find it again.” She “For you are still carnal, for where there are envy, strife, asked, “Why don’t you just use your concordance?” I then and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behavasked, “What’s a concordance?” That may be funny to you. ing like mere men?”

But I had never seen a concordance and didn’t even know what one was! However, as a new follower of Christ I had A careful examination of the text reveals that Paul moves an insatiable appetite for God’s Word and I was growing by from sarkinois to sarkikoi. He stated that the Corinthian beleaps and bounds. lievers were not growing because their diet was worldly instead of biblical…BABY FOOD. Now he blatantly proves Get ready. Here comes the “swift kick” again! If you are still they are not progressing spiritually because they are conconsuming spiritual baby food and know very little about trolled by their human nature not the Holy Spirit. the present transformational ministry of Jesus in your life; if you know some of the facts of the Bible but you aren’t expeHis proof is clear. Look at verse 3 again. “For you are still carriencing the fullness of the Holy Spirit as you walk by faith in nal (sarkikoi), for where there are envy, strife, and divisions the facts of the Word of God, you are still consuming baby food. among you, are you not carnal and BEHAVING LIKE MERE

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MEN?” BABY ACTIONS. Early in their Christian lives they were largely worldly in their behavior. That was understandable.

They were still in the infant stage spiritually speaking. In some ways they couldn’t help it. They were BABY CHRISTIANS! But look back at the last phrase in verse 2: “…and even now you are still not able (to consume adult food).” It was high time that they were maturing in their faith.

If you are uncomfortable or even offended by this message, I want to say two things. First, when you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, it’s always the one who gets hit that yelps! It just may be that the Spirit of God is convicting your heart and you need to make some serious adjustments in your spiritual life. Second, it is the caring pastor-shepherd who loves his flock enough to speak the truth in love to them.

They should have been growing in their interactions with one another as spiritual adults; but their baby actions were a dead giveaway that they were still spiritual infants. Paul delivered another “swift kick” to the Corinthians. He asked two questions.

When addressing the church in Rome, Paul boldly said, “And do not be conformed to this world (behaving as mere men) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (growing spiritually), that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom. 12:2)

(1) Are you not carnal (sarkikoi)? They were operating in the flesh and it was obvious--envy, strife, divisions. Envy and strife always result in divisions because these baby actions come from baby intentions--they are designed to lower others to exalt oneself. They had their own agenda and like spiritual babies they cried till they got what they wanted.

An old farmer, Mr. Jones, once described his Christian life to his neighbor this way--“I’m not progressing but I’m content to be well established.” On a spring day the same farmer was hauling a load of logs in his wagon and got stuck in the mud up to the axles. His neighbor happened to come by and observe the farmer’s dilemma. He said, “Well, Brother Jones, I see that you are not progressing. You must be content though, because you seem to be well established!”

(2) Behaving like mere men? Mere men are controlled by their own human nature or self. I like to quote Bill Bright and say that self is on the throne. When followers of Christ are not growing spiritually and they only comprehend baby talk, consume baby food and conform to baby actions, there is no apparent difference in their lives than others who do not know Christ. They just have a different habit on Sunday.

Their non-Christian neighbor plays golf on Sunday and they go to church! They behave like MERE MEN. I have found that the length of time a person is a Christian is not always synonymous with spiritual maturity. When trying to lead a declining church toward revitalization, I have often experienced the greatest resistance from older church members. In reality, they should be leading the charge for church revitalization. They should be willing to do whatever it takes to bring the church back to health and vitality. They should have a burning passion to see their church significantly impacting their community and the world with the life-transforming gospel. Instead, they so often become part of the problem and not the solution.

Why? It seems that the church and how it functions is all about them and their preferences, not what it will take to become relevant to the lost community around them. How do we know this is often true? They are sadly characterized

by BABY TALK, BABY FOOD and BABY ACTIONS!

Please don’t fall into the muddy rut of the farmer. Don’t be content to be established but be committed to grow. Ask the question, “Why don’t I grow?” and do something about it. Accept this “swift kick” in the spirit it is given and become a part of the solution not the problem.

The desperate, depraved community around you is in dire need of a revitalized, relevant church that will love them and lead them to Jesus.

George Thomasson is a native of Arkansas but spent most of his ministry in Florida and Texas. He holds degrees from Palm Beach Atlantic University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He presently serves as Mobilization Pastor for Christ Place Church in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

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The Leadership Link:

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Pressing On...

By Michael Atherton Revitalization is not for the faint of heart, as leaders and laity alike must heed a similar call to perseverance. As everyone is working to help provide health and stability to the church, inevitably, there will be good experiences and bad experiences. As such, each person must remain committed to the ultimate calling. Dr. Tom Cheyney will argue that, for a church to experience revitalization, everyone involved is committing to a 1000-day minimum investment. Perseverance mandates commitment when things are tough, fortitude when things are unfair, and persistence when one would otherwise want to quit.

There may be no better story of perseverance in Scripture than the story of Joseph, whom we read about in the latter chapters of Genesis.

Soon after, the brothers were eating and saw a group of Ishmaelite businessmen traveling from Gilead to Egypt.

Judah, one of Joseph’s older brothers, suggested selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites so that technically they were not guilty of murder. Plus, they could make some money while they’re at it. And that’s just what they did. The brothers sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They then took Joseph’s robe, killed a goat, dipped the robe in the blood, and brought it to their father as if Joseph were dead. Jacob was upset, to say the least. Meanwhile, the businessmen who bought Joseph took him to Egypt and sold him to one of the higher-ups in the Pharaoh’s court, “the captain of the bodyguard” (37:36 NRSV).

Let me provide a word of background. Joseph was Jacob’s favored son, and therefore he gave him a fancy coat, even a famous coat, a coat of many colors. Scripture says that Joseph had a dream that essentially amounts to his brothers bowing down in submission. I am not sure about you, but Joseph’s brothers responded the same way that my brothers would have reacted had I told them they were going to worship me. First a coat, then a prediction…

Among the many lessons provided in this account, people will often align themselves against one who receives a Word from the Lord. This passage reminds us that not everyone in the world is interested in hearing from the Lord. Right upfront, we must recognize the similar plight in the life and leadership of a revitalizer. Not everyone wants to hear, experience, or accept what the Lord has to say through that individual. In Joseph’s case, we can very clearly see three responses offered by his brothers.

Joseph’s brothers were furious at him. Joseph was the second youngest brother, and there was really no logical explanation for why he should have received such an abundance of attention. While Joseph’s brothers are pasturing their father’s sheep at Shechem, Jacob sent Joseph out to meet with his brothers and report back to him. As Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they conspired to kill him. The only question was how they should do it. Plan A: They kill Joseph, then throw him into a pit and say some wild animals killed him. Plan B: They throw Joseph into a pit but don’t kill him. When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped off his fancy coat and threw him into a pit.

1. Joseph experienced hearts of hatred.

I suppose when you live in a home of one father, four different mothers, and twelve sons, you will likely have all the makings of potential problems. Yet, this is an understatement of Joseph’s situation. As a father of six, I have seen my children display a foul heart towards one another far too many times to count. But the hatred that Joseph’s brothers showed took this concept to a whole new level.

One could argue that Joseph’s problems really stemmed from his father’s view of him. In Jacob’s mind, Rachel was his first wife and was the love of his life. As a result, Jacob

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treated him as the first-born child and his heir, hence the beautiful coat. Jacob’s favoritism led Joseph’s brothers to have a disdain for him.

One cannot excuse Joseph’s brothers, whose disdain for Joseph was off the charts. They had decided that their best play was to rid themselves of their brother. We read of their hatred in the account of them plotting his death. You don’t go from everything being fine to threats of murder without many steps in between. While we don’t know what all those steps might have looked like, we must imagine that Joseph had often been a victim of the actions that erupt from foul hearts.

2. Joseph experienced spirits of jealousy.

Should Joseph have shared his dream with his brothers?

Could we not rationalize that he should have just remained silent? Was he egging his brothers and parents on? The immediate, and might we add the predictable response, of such preferential treatment was that Joseph’s brothers allowed jealousy and envy to take over their hearts.

You cannot find a time in Scripture where jealousy or envy was practiced, yet God’s blessing flowed. In fact, maybe some of the most devastating character flaws in Scripture reside under the umbrella of pride, jealousy, and envy. Jealousy has a sister named Malice, and the two usually work together. Jealousy works on one’s heart, while Malice takes that inward dissatisfaction and manifests it outwardly in expressions of anger, rage, and hatred.

3. Joseph experienced acts of maliciousness.

Matthew 5 teaches us that hatred in the heart is the moral equivalent of murder! Though Joseph’s brothers did not actually kill him with their hands, some had done so many times over, in their hearts. This entire story shows hearts marked with hatred and jealousy that gave way to malice.

The brothers decided it would be best to kill Joseph. Yet, in a “weak” moment of moral ambiguity, they had a moment of grace (if we can say that) and decided instead to simply sell their brother into slavery. This single act launched a journey in Joseph’s life that would be a phenomenal storyline for any Hollywood movie. God used all these negatives to bring about His positive in a way that only He could do. So, notice…

Despite the hatred, jealousy, and malice, Joseph didn’t lose heart!

So much of your life really comes down to your perspective. Far too often, we mistake our circumstances for God’s

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blessing. Yet, notice here, God also uses the terrible circumstances of life to bring about His tremendous blessings. In fact, some of the most magnificent movements of God in Scripture happened when people must have thought their world was falling apart: • Abraham on Mount Moriah • Moses’ mom, who had to give up her son • Jonah’s flailing in the water before the fish swallowed him • Lazarus’ family before Christ arrived • Paul and Silas in jail You see, God knows exactly the right timing in which to make His presence known by all those around. God had providentially brought Joseph safely to Egypt, knowing all along that all the bad things that happened would be used for man’s good and God’s glory. Though Joseph may not have realized it at the time, years later, a much more mature Joseph was able to say: “What you meant for evil against me; God meant for good (Genesis 50:20)”.

I really want you to think about this for a moment. What would have changed in Israel had Joseph lost heart and surrendered in death? We can (maybe we should) ask this same question related to Abraham, Moses, Paul, even Jesus. Their steadfastness changed the world! Likewise, your steadfastness, in the wake of all that the world means for evil, will change your world as well. Don’t lose heart, but press on!

Michael Atherton has served as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, O’Fallon, MO for 15 years. Leading a church in a church merger, he has learned firsthand the challenges of a revitalizer. Mike is the author of The Revitalized Church. Mike leads a Mentored Master of Divinity program at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and is past President of the Colorado Baptist Convention.

The local church is the only organization that can facilitate eternal hope, lasting change, and total transformation in the lives of people and communities everywhere. Even so, today’s local churches are often in desperate need of renewal and revitalization themselves. In The Revitalized Church, Pastor Michael Atherton uses his firsthand experiences to show how a local church community can once again become vibrant. The Revitalized Church shares Atherton’s eighteen-month journey merging two church communities with a common vision and discusses the challenges and the victories he encountered. In addition, he examines the key biblical leadership principles that were used to help sustain the church community.

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Revitalizing the House of God and His People

By Steve Sells Text: Nehemiah 1-13 (Selected Passages) Thesis Statement: “God is able to do enormous things through us if we will present ourselves to the Lord and His work.”

Nehemiah was a Jew during the Jewish Exile (587-538 BC).

Nehemiah had a life-changing conversation with Hanani, and some other men who came from Jerusalem. Nehemiah asked about the condition of the city and its inhabitants. Their answer is found in chapter 1:3 “And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

The Jewish Exile was a horrific time for the Jews.

During the Exile there was severe hardship, humiliation and mockery directed at the Jewish people. Their possessions were homes were looted and they were taken captive and carried away by the Babylonians. As a result of their disobedience to God they were scattered and homeless.

In the process Nehemiah gains favor with King Artaxerxes of Persia and becomes his cup bearer. Many theologians and historians believe he was the administrator who ran the king’s palace. Nehemiah was a prominent, professional, and honorable servant to the king and the king loved him.

However, the greatest thing that can be said of Nehemiah was that he was a godly man who feared God. Nehemiah supervised the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and established widespread moral and worship in the lives of the Jews. How did he accomplish this?

What is necessary for this type of revitalization to take place in the local church? Here are eight necessities to bring new life to a plateaued and/or declining church.

I. The Necessity of Understanding “Present Reality.”

Nehemiah 1:1-3 In chapter 1:2 Nehemiah had visitors to come to him at the king’s palace. He asked about the situation of the Jews in Jerusalem and the city. The visitors replied in chapter 1:34, “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.”

This was heart breaking news to Nehemiah. He realized the plight of the people and the city and was moved to tears and brokenness. Even though he lived in

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the comfort of the palace he was broken under the burden for the people of Jerusalem. The Bible says he wept, fasted and prayed. He presented his burden to the Lord and God began a great work in Nehemiah’s life. This is where the “vision” was born in Nehemiah’s heart.

Is your leadership and church in general willing to face the “present reality” of the condition of the church?

You cannot fix what you don’t accept is broken.

worked hard, prayed, encountered criticism and made difficult leadership decisions. Nehemiah was a regular guy who caught a divine glimpse of what could and should be. Then, he went after it with all his heart. His story is not much different than ours.”

To lead a church through renewal and revitalization requires a “transformational leadership.” Is your leadership “transformational?”

II. The Necessity of God-given Vision – Nehemiah 1:3 Nehemiah was a leader who understood the will and workings of God and he knew where God was leading him. He was a great man who knew where he was going. He saw and understood the vision of God that he was called to accomplish. He followed the leadership of the Holy Spirit and God’s will for his life.

It must be understood that the vision for your church can only come from God. It is not some concocted idea by the pastor, staff or congregation. It is explicitly what God wants for the church. It should have no human element.

The big question here is…”What is God’s vision for your church? Is your pastor a visionary leader? Is the congregation willing to follow a God-given vision?

IV. The Necessity of Prayer - Nehemiah 1:4-11, 2:4, 4:4-5, 5:19, 6:9, 6:14, 9:5-38, 13:14, 13:22, 13:29 Nehemiah new the importance of prayer. J. Oswald Sanders said, “Great leaders of the Bible were great at prayer.

They were not leaders because of brilliancy of thought; because they were exhaustless in resources; because of their magnificent culture or native endowment, but because of the power of prayer, they could command the power of God.” Nehemiah believed in working and praying. In the book of Nehemiah we have 14 of his prayers. In order to get a vision from God he prayed. Before he committed to do the project, he prayed. Before, during and after approaching the king, he prayed. When opposition and threats came, he prayed. Nehemiah saturated his life and work with prayer. He fasted and prayed for 4 months as he wrestled with the vision. Prayer was at the heart of everything Nehemiah attempted. Often, leaders will attempt to do a work for God without looking to God for guidance.

Sometimes we tend to rely on our own plans. At the same time, we must plan, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, knowing that God will give us direction. As leaders we must learn to rely on God and also use the abilities God has given us. Nehemiah made prayer the center of all he worked to accomplish.

Nehemiah knew what it meant to be a servant and have a servant’s heart. He was a servant leader. Nehemiah took the challenge to rebuild the wall and lead as a servant. Under the servant leadership of Nehemiah, the walls of the city that had been destroyed for 140 years, were rebuilt in 52 days. This was a result of Nehemiah praying, planning and trusting in God for the results. Often we think that God could not use us in such a powerful way. We must remember that Nehemiah was just a cupbearer but God used him to do unbelievable things because he was willing to lead with wisdom, integrity and with a servant’s heart.

The need of the hour is leaders like Nehemiah.

Leaders who have power with God in prayer. Leaders who possess moral integrity and honesty. Leaders who fear God

III. The Necessity of “Transformational Leadership” Nehemiah 2:1-8 Nehemiah was a man of great wisdom. He appealed to the King of Persia to allow him to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall and city. But it wasn’t done haphazardly. He planned his approach and proved himself to be a wise leader.

Nehemiah provides for us a clear picture of a “transformational leader.” He returned to Jerusalem after learning about the condition of the city and its inhabitants.

The text clearly reveals that as a leader he was very precise in his actions and successful in his undertakings because the wall was built in record time utilizing resources and people that God provided. There is one thing clear about this book and this man…he believed his calling was not only to rebuild the structure of the wall but he saw the need to impact the lives of the people by calling them to repentance and worship. Through this he helped the people regain their dignity, their calling and their standing with God. Paul Phillips said, “Nehemiah is an exceptional leader. One reason Nehemiah is accessible as a leader is because there are no overt miracles; no parting of the Red Sea, no visit by an angel, Nehemiah never walks on water.

Instead, Nehemiah was a man who had a passion, who

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and love Gods people enough to be broken by the burden of hurting people. Leaders who will seek a vision from God and seek to accomplish the vision as they lead the people of God. Leaders who stand fearlessly for what is right and holy. That’s the kind of leadership that moves a church from mediocrity to greatness in the Kingdom.

Is your church a praying church? Do you saturate every decision with prayer? Prayer will insure victory but prayerlessness will certainly invite defeat.

V. The Necessity of “extreme” faith in God Nehemiah 1:11-2:8 Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” It is clear that as you obey the word of God as Nehemiah did, God does greater things with your life that you could ever imagine.

Nehemiah’s faith was fixed in God. He knew what God could do. He knew that God is in control of everything and all circumstances. He knew that God could do anything. His faith was not in people or his own ability, but was rooted in God. Nothing could harm him because of his absolute trust and extreme faith in God. Isaiah 54:17 says “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”

Nehemiah refused to stray from what God’s calling. He stayed true to the God-given vision. He was completely focused on bringing new life to Jerusalem and its people. Because of his extreme faith he finished the work of rebuilding the wall of the city and calling the people back to a right relationship with God. How much faith does your leadership and congregation have? Is it mediocre faith or extreme faith? You must learn to trust God when he leads. If the congregation refuses to have faith in God your church will surely die.

VI. The Necessity of a Willingness to Work Together Nehemiah 3:1-32 In any project like building the wall there will always be opinions about how it ought to be done. Some will opt out of the process because they don’t get their way about some specifics while others will choose to accept God’s plan and seek to accomplish it. In Nehemiah’s case I’m sure there were many opinions given. Obviously Nehemiah ignored those who tried to interject their opinions and he began to divide the labor into segments to rebuild sections of the wall. This is one of the most extraordinary accounts of delegating work that is found in the Bible. Paul taught the same

concepts in the New Testament when he spoke of the body of Christ having many parts but all working together.

During the process of building the wall Nehemiah experienced many enemies and opponents. Some of the enemies were from without the city but there were also a few inside the ranks of the people. He appointed watchmen day and night to ward off any enemy. The leader must be careful and watchful at all times. Listen to Nehemiah 4:9…“Nevertheless, we made our prayers unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them.” Later when his own life was threatened he replied in 6:11, “Should, such a man as I flee, and who is there and being as I am will go into the temple to save his life.” Nehemiah was never afraid of threats or enemies because he knew who had called him and who was in absolute control of the project. He knew that nothing could touch him as long as he was being obedient to God’s will. God will always protect his leader when he is doing the right thing with the right motive.

Does your congregation have a problem following God appointed leadership and are they willing to work together to accomplish a God-given vision?

Will you accept the call to renew and revitalize your church with Nehemiah’s principles? Will you seek to restore life (new life) to your congregation? It is costly. It is difficult. It is even scary at times but God will see you through if you make the commitment…if you will heed the call. In Nehemiah, God used a faithful leader and faithful lay persons to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and give the hope of a new future.

Chuck Swindoll said, “God uses all manner of people in all manner of places doing all manner of work. God has placed you where you are for a purpose. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father Colossians 3:17).” Pray about everything, care about the things of God and remember God sees your faithfulness.

Steve Sells is the president and CEO of Operation Transformation church revitalization ministry in Salisbury, North Carolina. Steve has served in ministry for 43 years in North Carolina and Georgia. Dr. Sells is the co-author of the book With Greater Power. He seeks to help churches of all sizes experience new health and growth.

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Does God really set people free?

Or are we just talking?

Transformational Discipleship was developed to train leaders how to guide both brand-new and longtime believers towards deep spiritual change.

This training is foundational for every believer. It guides people who are stuck on their faith journey due to unresolved, often hidden issues in their lives towards true spiritual, emotional and mental freedom through intimacy with God.

“It’s not like anything I have been through before.”

Pastor John Wright, Titusville, FL “This is life transforming. I’m going to teach the socks off this thing.”

Dr. Phil Phillips, Ft. Myers, FL

The Emotional Cost of Revitalization

By Steve Smith I grew up with Colonial Williamsburg virtually in my backyard. Its attention to historical detail and just the atmosphere created by the period interpreters made it a must-see on any history buff’s list. Its appeal peaked during the country’s bi-centennial, but it continued to be a strong magnet for tourists—until it wasn’t. Attendance went into serious decline in the late 1990s. But they were able to mask this by its multi-million foundation paying for the everyday costs formerly covered by the ticket sales, restaurant income and rentals.

In time, they saw the writing on the wall, which was a death sentence for this 80-year-old living museum. Could it be saved or was death inevitable?

Enter Dr. Mitchell Reiss. In 2014, this entrepreneur organizer with experience leading large institutions was brought in to revitalize the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He restored its financial health, recruited and retained the most diverse leadership team ever, and wowed the public with tough decisions he made to advance the vision of Williamsburg.

Then he burned out and left at the zenith of his achievements, much to the consternation of those who admired him.

Although the Foundation quickly found his replacement, Dr. Reiss’ story is a cautionary tale for all who engage in any kind of revitalization work, especially pastors in a ‘post’ Covid19 world.

Reiss burned out because there is an emotional cost to revitalization, some of it hidden, some of it not. There are the long hours put in when all others are relaxing, the frustration of plans not working out, the clamor from unhappy people, the unfair blame that lands on one’s desk. In terms of your church, the cost can include dealing with congregational prayerlessness, their apathy in following Jesus, vocal resistance to change, a lack of financial investment in Jesus’ kingdom, and attenders having other priorities as believer.

Add to that the normal pastoral demands on you. All of these can and do contribute to the stuckness the congregation may experience as you urge them to embrace the power of the Spirit given to them and participate in being witnesses in their Jerusalem, Judah and Samaria—and not just to the ends of the earth through their mission giving!

You have to prepare yourself early for this so you can break past it instead of being broken by it. You cannot wait until your tongue is hanging out and you are mentally writing your resignation to give attention to the emotional costs of revitalization. Neglecting this could not only leave your

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church stuck in its pursuit of renewal, it could destroy all the work God has done through you altogether.

Preparing for the emotional costs involves six action steps any pastor can take. Check off the ones you already have in your life and decide now how you are going to implement the rest. All of them will make a difference for your longevity in revitalization.

Pursue intimacy with God. God is your only savior. He is with you and in you to give you the wisdom and peace you need to do His will. While many pastors assent to these truths, they find that, in the heat of a difficult assignment, God seems so far away—at least, their emotions are telling them that.

Pursuing intimacy with God is a heart-opening choice. It is more than a daily devotion, more than a prayer list. It is a walk that includes listening to what God is saying to you through His Spirit, time well spent alone with Him apart from your daily ministry and surrendering hurts into His healing hands.

Three practices will help you increase intimacy with God. Briefly, they are: 1) Rest—being with God without an agenda to just be with Him and hear His voice.

2) Appropriation—taking and using what God has already given you: hope, riches and power (Ephesians 1:18-19).

3) Meditating on Christ’s love so that you will see how wide, long, high and deep this love is in order to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Maintain important relationships. I cannot emphasize this too strongly: DO NOT GIVE SO MUCH OF YOUR TIME TO YOUR CHURCH THAT YOU NEGLECT YOUR FAMILY! You need them more than you know, and they can add to your emotional burden by you robbing them of you. Calendar family times regularly and guard them.

Secondly, maintain friends outside the congregation—other pastors or just people you like to be with. The emotional toll of only spending time with people in your congregation can be high. Doing this will give you an escape valve from the emotional pressure that comes with the revitalization process.

Recognize spiritual warfare. Your people are not the enemy!

Satan is the enemy and will hurt you and lie to you any way he can. He will seek to persuade you to harbor resentment inside you towards God’s people. And it will mount up until you break if you walk unmindful of this battle.

This is a good time to revisit the full armor of God so you can learn to stand. All parts are relevant to your work, but the first is of special importance to your emotional balance. It is the belt of truth. You need this to recognize the lies of the enemy, whether they are uttered by people or whispered in your mind in the dead of night. Realize the truth about God and about yourself as revealed in Scripture and by the Spirit. In warfare, when you get these two issues twisted inside your mind, the impact on your emotional health is enormous. So buckle up!

Develop allies within the congregation. So what if not everyone is as excited about what God is going to do in and through your congregation? Dwelling on who is at this moment opposing God’s work will have a deadening effect on you. Instead, draw close to the people who are either all in or persuadable. Spend time with them praying, laughing and dreaming dreams that God has given to you.

Make sure not to lead them to become an ‘Us versus Them’ clique. Remember that the people not with you at this moment are not the enemy! Familiarize yourself with the Rogers Innovation Curve. Why? Because it will help you to see how long different segments of your congregation take to come on board with change. And the Late Majority (about 34% of your attenders) will join with you due to the trust they have in the Early Majority’s testimony instead of yours.

Be wise in this so you will not lose hope.

Engage in self-care. Exercise. Eat right. And it you are not motivated to do this, get help! The longer you neglect your body’s self-care, the more likely your emotions will be affected as well. Enough said.

Find a mentor/coach. The problem all revitalization pastors face is not knowing what they don’t know, especially if this is their first experience in it. And pride can get in the way of seeking help. You don’t just need to read more books on the subject. You need to find someone to guide you who knows what to do because he has done it himself.

Why does this matter emotionally? I can give multiple illustrations of pastors who, out of their lack of knowledge, blew up a church they were leading in revitalization. Their mistakes were avoidable, but they did not know how to avoid them. The emotional costs were overwhelming for them personally. This is why you need to take this step.

As you can see, taking care of your emotional health is an intentional pursuit. I encourage you to choose this pursuit over the pain of recovery.

Dr. Steve Smith is the Founder of Church Equippers Ministries, equipping churches to make and retain more disciples. He trains pastors by coaching them in Church GameChangers, which includes training in transformational discipleship and the step-by-step building of church ministry systems. For more information, go to: www.churchequippers.com.

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Stuck on a Plateau?

By Tracy Jaggers In an effort to be repetitive and obvious; yes, you heard me right! We have been inundated with the statistics of the present church in America. We have heard and viewed the downward slide of many congregations. The church is declining or stagnant (plateaued) and we cannot seem to overcome what appears to be its ultimate demise. A declining church has some telltale signs - the parking lot is empty, the pews or chairs are vacant, and the core of the church are nearing burnout. But how can we recognize a plateaued church? How do we define plateaued, and how can we blow the church off this unwanted position?

Plateaued is defined as: reaching a level, period, or condition of stability or maximum attainment. Should the body of Christ ever allow this definition to be used of the local church? Of course not! The church should never be known as “plateaued!” My second query is, “Is this truly a real position?” If we are not moving forward, then are we not actually sliding backward? The church should always be growing, moving forward and upward for the Kingdom of Christ. But the numbers are true - about 29.9% of evangelical churches affirm that they are declining and another 44.3% say they are plateaued or stagnant. This is alarming!

How can we change this present dilemma? First, we need to look at some of the reasons for being stuck in the quagmire of unproductiveness.

1) A high turnover in church leadership stifles effectiveness and continuity. A pastor with a healthy tenure has learned the demographics and experienced the culture that surrounds

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the church. He has seen the needs and the expectations of their neighbors and can often come up with some creative methods to meet those needs. BUT will the congregation open their heart and house to meet these needs? Will they learn to love and accept people who do not look, act, dress and talk like them? Remember, we were all once sinners with a deep, dark past!

2) Plateaued churches have normalized fellowship over evangelism. People are doomed without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We dare not hide the Good News under a basket or blow an uncertain alarm to those who are bound for an eternity separated from God Almighty. We MUST share the same news that transformed our lives with those who are seeking hope, peace, love, and mercy. Where would we be today, if someone had not shown us the way to the foot of the Cross?

3) Plateaued churches tend to cling to outdated programs and events and lack creativity. I am not saying that we should be about “entertainment,” but I am saying that neither should we bore people. I have walked out of movies that I paid good money to see, because they were boring and a waste of my limited time on planet earth. Why would I keep coming back to hear and experience information that I find uninteresting and worthless to my present and future existence? Give them the BEST NEWS ever (assuming that you have received it).

Then, present it in a manner that helps them to be a better husband, wife, man, woman, dad, mom, student, or child.

And, for heaven’s sake - practice the 11th commandment – “Thou Shalt Not Bore!”

4) The majority of plateaued and declining churches are committee or congregation-driven rather than leadership-driven.

There was a time when committees functioned fast and effective. In this day and culture, the committee-driven church normally takes entirely too much time and effort to accomplish some of the most mundane of tasks. It may be a slight exaggeration, but to change a light bulb in some local congregations, takes three weeks and two committee meetings to determine the wattage, cost, and person to change the lamp! Pastors should be the initiator and promoter of the vision, and those with the vision should be allowed to lead.

How then can we help a church change their trajectory and blow them off their plateau? Here are some ideas or principles that can help get a church back on track and effectively functioning for the glory of God and the health of the Bride of Christ?

1) Unpack the biblical teachings concerning “change.” Change is good when the motives and goals are to help the church thrive again. God needs us to be receptive to change. The Sermon on the Mount unpacks Jesus’ viewpoint on change.

Repeatedly, Jesus says, “You have heard it said…. But I say to you.” He was changing their legalistic statements into matters of the heart. We cannot continue to do church like it has been done for decades and think that we will somehow gain different results. God stated it this way, “Do not say, “Why were the good old days so much better than today?” You are unwise to even think this way. The church must adapt to the needs of this culture. We cannot turn back the hands of time, so we must be as effective as possible in this day in which we are called! Be creative, innovative, and productive so people will listen and have the best opportunity to respond to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

2) Churches that trust and follow health-minded leadership tend to be healthy. The church needs to appropriate faith in the power of God and the person God has placed behind the pulpit. Leaders who equip the saints to do the work of the ministry replicate themselves in others and expand a growing army to defeat the onslaught of the world, the flesh, and the devil. God-powered pastors lead empowered people to do monumental ministry for the Kingdom of God. 3) Be positive. Practice forward thinking. Look upward, not inward. Act in confidence. React with grace and kindness. Expect God to do great and mighty wonders in our midst. The future existence of the church depends on God’s might and our obedience! Jesus has no plan B. Either we function as His hands, feet, heart, mind, and mouth or many will never hear the Gospel and miss the chance to say, “yes” to the wooing of the Holy Spirit.

4) Start or do something new; think outside the box! There may be a reason “it has never been done before.” It may be your job, your ministry, your calling to do what no man has

done before. It is our time to step up to the plate and give it all we’ve got! If God revealed the need to you, He has gifted and called you to lead the way.

5) Use social media, even if you cannot figure it out on your own. Watch a YouTube video or get a teenager to show you how. Publicize what your church is doing to help make the neighborhood and the world a better place. Find out what questions your neighbors are needing answers to and work to answer those questions. Inform them of your plans to help them live a more productive and successful life. Use as many methods as you can (i.e. - websites, blogs, Facebook, twitter, email…)

6) Train your flock to be externally focused. We ARE sheep, and sheep do not abide indoors. Focus on those outside the church (on the lost); 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 - “for such were some of you.” We all have a sorted past, but as new creations in Christ Jesus, we now have a sure foundation and glorious inheritance. Help others get out of their pit and remember the pit from which you were dug (Psalm 103:4).

7) Get every member involved somewhere. No excuses! Do not overload them, but every member should have one ministry to do and one team on which to serve. We are far more effective and productive when we serve together.

8) Expand, remodel, put out more chairs – Does your worship center scream, “We are expecting God to show up and show off?” Plan, prepare for, and expect God to save people every Sunday. Be ready to baptize them and welcome into the family of God every week. If you expect God to move every time you meet, He will be honored by your faith and display His power.

9) Be a Great Commandment and a Great Commission church.

Go, make disciples, baptize new followers, teach them to live for Him and obey His Word, and be a witness of His transforming power. Teach believers to use their home, their job, their hobbies, etc. as their ministry.

10) Finally, be the spark to the fuse of God’s dynamite and run with the explosion as God blows your congregation off its plateau!

Tracy Jaggers is the Director of the Gateway Baptist Association, Edwardsville, Illinois. Tracy’s doctorate is in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He writes for state and national revitalization websites and speaks for revitalization conferences and webinars. He is a contributing author for the book entitled, Practical Tools for Reinventing the Dying Church. His website is: www. churchrecharge.com.

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From the Parking Lot

to the Pulpit

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By Desmond Barrett As I pull into the parking lot, I view the space as if I was a guest.

Statistics have shown that within the first six to eleven minutes of a guest arriving at a church, the guest has decided if they are coming back. Let me say that again, in the first fifteen minutes of a visit, the guest chooses to attend again. Can we all agree how unfair that is! However, the truth is that before a guest hears you preaching before they listen to one song sung, your church may have blown the guest’s experience. While you cannot control the outcome, you can provide a guest with an experience that honors God and opens their heart for more Christian fellowship from your members.

Parking Lot Have you ever driven by a church, and there is either a gate or chain across the driveway entrance on a non-service day? I am not sure anyone at the church has stopped to think about what that says to a potential guest? For some of you, I have just stepped on your toes. For others, I can already hear you grumble that it’s for the protection of the church property. But, in all reality, it sends a not-so-subtle message that the church only wants ‘club members’ to attend and not the community. Think about it this way: a chain, gate, or fencing in society is seen as a barrier, not a welcome mat for the neighborhood to join your fellowship. While this opening view of your facility can seem petty, for non-church members you are sending the wrong message.

Scanning the parking lot, I am looking for several things. The first is what does the parking lot say about the church? Will guests find a sign that says no skateboarding, no overnight parking, not a turnaround zone? In succession, you have told me before I exit my car that the church does not like teenagers, the church does not trust you, and stop using the church property. Maybe your church has had a bad experience, and thus came the signs, but ask yourself, do signs deter people or do relationships help people? Signage should be welcoming and informational, not confrontational.

Several years ago, when I arrived at my current assignment, I noticed that the parking lot was gravel, there were ruts in some places, and towards the back of the lot was more grass than rocks, and it was overgrown. For churchgoers, we get accustomed to the ripped carpet with duct tape placed over the spot, no signage to provide directions, and in this case, a parking lot that was not well maintained. With that outlook in mind ensure the lawn and bushes are trimmed, the building does not have peeling paint, and the directional signs are unmistakable.

As guests exit the car, they are already unsure of what to do and where to go, so help make it easy for them. In well-established churches, there are multiple entryways, but first-time guests only see doors as barriers to where they want to go. Make sure the main door is marked either with a sandwich sign or a large letter sign that can be seen long before a guest arrives at the door.

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Greet and Direct Be ready to open the church’s doors with a warm smile and helping hand if they have children. You probably have heard it said, a first impression is a lasting impression. Make the first impression of your people and the inside of your building welcoming. Put friendly people at the front door and hide the ones who might be a little sour. Come on; you know who I am talking about in your church, do not think of me cross for speaking truth.

When guests enter your foyer, lobby, or narthex, is there someone to guide them to the sanctuary, show them how to checkin their child and where the restrooms are located? Remember they are visitors and need extra help on their first visit. As I step into your lobby, I am looking around and wondering what decade I have walked into. Sadly, too many entries are stuck in a time warp, or worst they are decked out as a memorial chapel to the dead. Awards, plaques, memorial rolls, and extensive ornamental flowers need to be removed or scaled back. You need to ask; do I want to serve coffee and breakfast items in this area or offer a clean space for people to gather? Either way, people want a place where they can talk and interact. By removing the nonessential items to a dedicated space like outside the church office, you can create a seating area where people can gather.

Before we move on from this area, let us examine signs again.

Are there clear directional signs for me to follow? In my local church, we have put up plexiglass in strategic locations the size of a large sheet of paper (8 X 11) and slide printed signs into them that we make on our desktop. Every six months, we change these signs with fresh colors, themes, etc., which creates a considerable cost saving and provides an extra freshness to the facility. So, what about your signage? Make sure that signage is clear, concise, and readable from a distance. As I examine things around your lobby, let me encourage you to remove any unwanted signs that distract from your mission of friendliness. Let me give you two examples. I recently was in a church, and as I came to a side door, it had, not one, not two, but three signs taped to the double doors that said, ‘make sure the door is closed by pushing on the door.’ These signs made me smile because it was clear someone had left the doors open before. I went back downstairs to the fellowship and recounted my story and one lovely lady said, ‘we had four signs, so I guess one fell off.’ It took all I had not to laugh. Hear my heart, signs will not deter someone from doing what they want, but they will send a message that you might not intend.

The second sign concern is signage that tells me something negative. ‘Do not bring food or drink in the sanctuary.’ ‘Do not open this door.’ ‘Water fountain broken, do not use.’ ‘Bathroom out of order.’ These unfavorable signs send a subtle message of negativity when all the church is trying to provide direction.

Pay attention to the subtle negative messages sent through signage. Better yet, take down these types of signs.

Care About Children In many established churches, they desperately want and desire children with families to attend the church. Children bring

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renewal, hope, and excitement to the facility. As a dad of a sixyear-old, I am looking to see if he would be happy in your facility. In my first church, they had to clean out a classroom for my daughters when they were growing up, and if I were not the pastor, I would not have returned. If you want children prepare now. You might not have a lot of money, but do you have some elbow grease? Clean the toys, throw away broken ones, paint the walls, hang happy pictures, and clean out the classroom.

Remember, less is more. You would be surprised at how many churches I have walked into and saw stained ceiling tiles with mold, sheets on the cribs that looked stained, outdated doors that were hazards, and stained carpets.

Once you clean up, be prepared with a teacher and curriculum each week, even if you have not had a child for years. Because one day a child will come, and the parents do not want to see you running around trying to get things together. That certainly will not be a vote of confidence. Part of being prepared is not using outdated material. When a church is struggling, the last thing they can afford is to waste funds, but you need to spend money in this area to keep families with children. Be prepared to have projects and resources that connect with children today.

Retro Restrooms A pastor was touring me around his church and took me under the main stairwell to the restrooms. The building was over 100 years old, and the bathroom looked like it had been remodeled in the 1950s. Many of the men’s restroom urinals were blocked off by tape, and the remaining ones had no divider between them. I explained to the pastor as a guest; they want their personal space. A simple fix is to put up a partition. The pastor laughed, but I was being serious. We took the plexiglass sign concept in my local church and placed them at eye level in the men’s restrooms. Each week we slide the Sunday front page, sports section, and comics in them, so a person has something to review so they do not feel awkward. It is a small gesture to make a guest comfortable.

In the women’s restroom, do they have a private area to breastfeed a child, a diaper changing area that is clean and fully supplied? By the way, a changing station should also be in the men’s restroom, and the changing cover could even be camouflage or sports decorated to make it more manly if you want. How about ladies’ toiletries? Is there a trash can with a lid so things can be more discreet? I know it may seem silly to go into detail on your bathroom, but childcare areas and bathrooms are the two most repeated negative comments by guests, according to research.

Worship Center I made it to your worship center. I scan the space for a safe space to sit. I navigate the seats in the back. I am trying not to sit where a bible, pillow, or blanket has been left from the week before. Why? Because clearly, someone has marked their territory, and I do not want to be fussed at my very first Sunday with you. Finally, I found a place to sit and begin scanning the room, the seat pouch in front of me, and the bulletin. These three areas will tell me a lot about you. I watch the room to see who is talking or not. Who is interested in what, and if anyone will be

welcoming to a first-time guest. I look at the pouch in front of me; usually, I find offering envelopes, connection cards, and, a lot of times old bulletins, and candy wrappers. Instantly it tells me two things; a lack of attention to detail, and the church is struggling to find volunteers to clean up in between services.

Petty, you might say, but I say prepare for guests as if Jesus is coming this Sunday.

times guests slip out when the pastor is praying, but make sure you love them out the door if they remain. Ask yourself, have we gotten their information? Were they given an informational card as they came in to fill out? Do they get a gift if they turn it back in? While I could go into great detail on these points, I will save that for another visit; I want to make sure you provide a lasting positive impression for this first-time guest.

The ‘Special’ Music Whatever the style of music in your church, make sure it is quality. I cannot count how many services I had sat in when a ‘special’ was announced, and the person said, ‘pray for me. I have not been able to practice this week.’ I wanted to yell, SIT DOWN! COME BACK WHEN YOU ARE PREPARED! I feel God deserves our best, not second, third, or fourth best. Be prepared to shine for God. I did not say, you must sing on key, that would be nice by the way, but you do have to be prepared. Honor God by putting in the time to use your talent for him.

As the guest walks back to their car, reflect on what you did right and what you might want to change. For me, as your first-time guest, you did great. While some areas need to be improved or enhanced, your church is on the right track.

Short and Sweet Announcements My wife was watching a service online recently and said this person spoke for nearly twelve minutes. I said, well, that was a short sermon. She replied that it was just announcements.

Lord Jesus, take the wheel, or in this case, take away the microphone. Revitalizer keep it short and to the point. If a guest is given a bulletin, they can review the announcements on a screen and see them posted on the church’s social media page, does someone have to read all the announcements? I think not. Announcements should be secondary, not the main event.

However, announcements have become a production instead of a precursor of what is to come. Lessen your announcements to a minimum, or you are wasting your guest’s valuable time.

Sermon Preparation God has called you to bring a message sometimes several times a week to your people, so do not steal someone else’s sermons.

This should be obvious, but a prominent denomination just had a scandal over pastors liberally borrowing significant passages of text or the whole text. I get it your busy. You might be bi-vocational or co-vocational, but if God has called you, let him speak through you when sharing his Word, or at least cite that its someone else’s sermon.

As you preach the Word of God, make sure it is relevant to your context. Share stories and points that draw your people back to God’s Word and the direction for their life. Using stories or facts about city life when you live in rural America as an example will only cause disconnection rather than a deep connection you are targeting. Your style may be different than mine or the pastor down the street, and that is okay. Give yourself permission to preach and teach your way through God’s divine calling. But do it relationally. Make the Bible come alive for your guests, so they want to know and learn more from God’s Word.

Assessments are NOT End-All-Be-Alls Assessments are snapshots on a particular day in a specific year. I understand it was just one service, and you probably do all things I question better, but people were out, or someone forgot to clean. I know that because I am in the same life-saving business you are in as a pastor. But, your guests either may not know or frankly, they might not care. But God does. God cares about your church. God cares about the people currently a part of the church or those who might visit her. Be prepared for guests by doing your best. You may not have the workforce or financial resources to solve all the church’s problems, but you can do something. Use this simple consultation for the first time in examining what your church can do better. While you most likely will need a more detailed and specialized assessment, use this as your first step to begin the conversation with your church board and lay members on how to be better prepared for the guests who will come in the future.

Let me close by saying you are doing a lot of things right. You have a remarkable church, and it clearly shows you love the Lord. However, little things add up. Addition through subtraction is all about taking away the things that no longer fully honor God or the local church in the season your church is in today.

Do your church a favor; give a little to gain a lot.

Dr. Desmond Barrett is the Lead Pastor at Summit Church of the Nazarene in Ashland, Kentucky and is the cofounder of the Rural Revitalization Network. He is a graduate of Nazarene Bible College (BA) and Trevecca Nazarene University (MOL) and (EdD) in leadership and professional practice. He is the author of Revitalizing the Declining Church: From Death’s Door to Community Growth and has done extensive research in church revitalization and serves as church revitalizer, consultant, coach, podcast host, author, and mentor to revitalizing pastors and churches.

Thanks for the Memories As I leave your service, I am waiting to see if anyone comes over to me to thank me for coming. Think about it this way; this is the last time your church gets to connect with a guest. Some-

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Now available on Amazon.com The New Testament does not present a “cookie-cutter” approach for the local church.

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Dr. Richard D. Harvey is the pastor of Cross Baptist Church in Eufaula, Alabama. He is a

2020 D.Min graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with specialization in Church Revitalization. He has served churches in Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida.

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Weak Links 2 Peter 1:5-9

By Richard Harvey Intro: Diagnostic Tools This morning we are going to talk about diagnostics. Diagnostics are part of our everyday lives whether we realize it or not. The purpose of diagnostic tools is to reveal evidence of sickness, malfunction, or weakness of some kind. A doctor uses the information from the measurements taken by a blood pressure cuff or a thermometer to help identify potential health issues. A mechanic runs computer software hooked up to your car’s engine to identify the codes that are causing that “check engine” light to come on.

Just after graduating from college, I took a temporary summer job with a local engineering company before I moved away to attend seminary. The cool thing about my job was that I got to break things. That sounds a little more fun and exciting than it actually was. My job was to break concrete cylinders on a big machine that measured the PSI pressure at which the concrete would crack. Why was that important? Who really cares about the PSI pressure that causes a concrete cylinder to break? You might care if you knew that the concrete sample was taken on the day the foundation to this building was laid. You may want to know that you can trust the foundation and that this building—or your house, or your apartment—is not going to come crashing down under the pressure of what has been built upon it.

Those diagnostics matter. They matter when it comes to the strength of the foundation. They matter when it comes to the ability of your car to function as it should. They matter when your health is at risk. And they matter when the health and function and the foundation of the body of Christ is at risk.

Illustration: Children’s game—Red Rover When we were kids, we used to play a game called “Red Rover.” I have no idea where the game got its name, but you may remember how it is played. Two teams would line up facing each other with hands held tight like little vise-grips.

You always wanted the biggest and strongest kid on your team, you just didn’t necessarily want to be the one to hold his hand. Once everyone was positioned in this hand-holding chain, each team would challenge the other team to see if one of their players could break the chain. All togeth-

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er the team would yell out, “Red Rover, Red Rover, sent Billy right over.” If he could break through the hand-held chain, he could take one of your players back over to his team. If he could not break the chain, he would have to join your team. The point was to keep the chain from breaking until all the players from the other team were now part of your team. Now, if your name was called and you had to run and hopefully break through the other team’s chain, you had to exercise one all-important strategic principle for winning the game. You would want to quickly identify the one spot in the other team’s hand-held chain that was the weakest link. Because we all know, “A chain is only as strong as (let the congregation finish the phrase) the weakest link.” Does it surprise you that the Enemy is always looking for a weak link to break through in the church? Jesus said in John 10:10 (NLT) “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.” How much damage has he done? Is there a way to assess the destruction? How are we really doing as a church?

Did you know that the Bible is filled with diagnostics? The Law of Moses, in and of itself, was God’s diagnostic tool for the people of Israel. It was God’s standard through which they could know if they were living in a way that was pleasing and obedient to Him. It was never intended to be a basis for salvation. No one could earn salvation through the Law because no one was perfect enough to live in absolute obedience until Jesus. He alone was the perfect and spotless Lamb of God. But for the rest of us, the Law—God’s commandments—simply reveal our weakness and our desperate need for Him—our need for God’s forgiveness and our absolute dependence upon His strength to help us live to please Him. The Law reveals our brokenness. It reveals the sin-sick cancer of our souls.

Romans 3:19 (ESV) says, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” The New Living Translation states it this way: “Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.”

In other words, God’s Word is not only designed to point us in the right direction, but also to help us understand why we are broken and headed in the wrong direction in the first place.

With the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, we live under God’s grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus in His death on the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. We are free from the penalty of the Law. Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus said in John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” By believing in Him—in His vicarious and atoning death and resurrection—we are born again into His kingdom. We are made children of God. John 1:12 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” By faith in Jesus Christ, we are brought into the family of God. And as such, Scripture says we are His church—the Body of Christ—in the world for the sole purpose of charging the gates of hell to win the lost and to disciple the saved, continuing to repeat that pattern, growing the kingdom of God until Jesus returns.

Sometimes, though, we forget that’s what we are here for. We are not storming the gates of hell. We have forgotten that it is all about His kingdom and we make it more about building ours. We forget about winning the lost and discipling the saved. We have exchanged the battleship for a comfortable cruise liner. We have exchanged the armored tank for a luxury SUV. But cruise liners and SUV’s are not equipped to win the war for the human soul. And the church begins to suffer defeat after defeat. Fewer baptisms, shrinking Bible study and worship attendance becomes the trend.

We have forgotten what a healthy church looks like.

We have forgotten how it is supposed to function. The check engine light has been flashing for years and we decided to put a piece of tape over it. Out of sight, out of mind, and sooner or later out of commission.

Thankfully, God has provided diagnostic tools for the believer and for the church. I am convinced that 2 Peter 1 is written as much to the Body of Christ as a whole as it is to the individual believer. In 2 Peter 1:3 we are promised that God has provided everything necessary to live a healthy and productive Christian life. He has already provided everything we need for life and godliness. Through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, God has given us all the tools we will ever need. Our job is simply to learn how to use the tools and to become more and more skilled, more and more effective, at using the tools He has provided.

In verses 5-7, Peter lists eight virtues of the Christian life. There is an incredible promise from God in verse 10 that if we learn to implement these virtues we will never stumble and fall. The end of verse 10 reads, “for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” In verse 8 the promise is that “if these qualities are yours and are increasing,“ then you can avoid five very unhealthy symptoms. And even though these instructions may apply to the individual, I believe the

application here is actually corporate because the pronouns in the original language are plural. In other words, if you— church—will do these things, you—church—will never fall.

Peter is clearly not talking about falling from grace.

He is not suggesting the potential of losing your salvation.

God is simply telling us that if we as a church become weak and unhealthy in any one of these virtues, it will be evident in our lives and evident in the life and ministry of the church.

These virtues listed in verses 5-7 begin with the foundational element of faith and end with the climactic virtue of agape love. Each virtue produces the next in the same way that links are added to a chain. We are not simply called by God to have faith, but to exercise that faith in real living. Faith should produce the virtue of moral excellence, or goodness. The desire for moral excellence produces a need for knowledge of the Word of God. Knowledge of God’s moral standard leads to a decision of obedience that requires self-control. Self-control exercised day after day, month after month, in obedience to the knowledge of God’s Word produces perseverance. Perseverance ultimately produces a life of godliness in Christian maturity. These internal virtues are ultimately manifested externally in how we treat one another. First, we must love those in the Body of Christ— brotherly affection. But the chief goal must be our desire to win the lost to saving faith in Christ. It is an indication of our unconditional, agape love for the world around us—a love for everyone, everywhere, regardless of race, color, or creed.

These eight virtues are eight links in a chain that makes up the DNA of the local church. If one link becomes weak or neglected, the whole chain is affected. After all, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And God has provided a diagnostic for measuring the strength of these virtues. In our text, God provides five key indicators for church health. The call to church revitalization is a call to strengthen the weak links before engine failure takes place—before the heart monitor flatlines. An unhealthy church is a dying church that needs an appointment with the Great Physician.

If we went to Him for a check-up, what would He say? Is our church healthy? Is our church sick? Is there a minor illness or a major disease? What does God’s “church health” diagnostic from 2 Peter 1:8-9 reveal about the condition of our church?

What does it reveal about your heart and my heart?

The 5 diagnostic indicators of weak links in church health are actually the 5 negative consequences we find in verses 8 and 9. There are consequences for our failure to fully utilize the virtues God has provided for us. They are symptoms, or evidence, of sickness, of malfunction, or of weakness in the Body of Christ. So, what are the five symptoms that may indicate we have one or more weak links? What are these five key indicators that call us to revitalize, renew, and recommit to the cause of Christ? As diagnostic tools, let’s look at these in the form of 5 questions we need to ask ourselves, because these are the questions our Great Physician is asking right now. 2 Peter 1:8 (ESV) says, “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Diagnostic question #1 . . .

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1. Is the church ineffective in reaching the community around us? (verse 8) In verse 8, the first negative consequence is found in the word “ineffective,” a translation of the New Testament Greek word argos which means: “free from labour, at leisure . . . lazy, shunning the labour which one ought to perform.” 1 You see, actively pursuing the eight virtues assures God’s present and ongoing work of effectively building His Kingdom through the local church. Believers are invited to join God in His work of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-19) not to sit idly by while the lost continue to walk the broad path that leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13). Believers are called to aid those in need, not to look the other way (Matt. 25:35-40, Heb. 13:16, 1 John 3:17-19). Faith that is not put into action through acts of benevolent love and care for others is a dead, ineffective faith (James 2:17).

The Christian life is designed to be a labor of love (Col. 3:23, Eph. 6:6-7, 1 Thess. 1:3). As the Body of Christ, the church is to model the character and compassion of its Great Shepherd by meeting the physical, mental, emotional, social, and especially the spiritual needs of the “harassed and helpless . . . sheep without a shepherd” (Mat. 9:36). Churches that are effective in ministry to the surrounding community generally begin to see the results in the form of more frequent guests in worship gatherings. In their book, Comeback Churches, Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson put it this way, “If evangelism best takes place in Christian community, we have to find a way for people to find their way to that community.

Effective evangelistic churches find diverse ways to encourage people to visit and then stay.”2 Did you get that? Effective churches find ways to minister in the community around them and that generally translates into church growth. Ineffective churches don’t. Are we really effective at reaching our community or are we rather anemic, weak, barren, and woefully ineffective? Diagnostic #1: Is our church ineffective in reaching the community around us?

2. Is the church unfruitful in leading the lost to Christ? (verse 8) The second negative consequence is found in the word “unfruitful,” a translation of akarpos meaning “without fruit, barren, not yielding what it ought to yield.”3 God’s first command in scripture directed to humanity was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). In the New Testament, we find these words related to the early church. In his insightful book, There’s Hope for Your Church, Gary McIntosh suggests, “When Luke used the words fruitful and multiply in Acts 12:24, the early disciples understood the implication: churches are to 1 Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, with Hebrew, Chaldee and Greek Dictionaries, entry 692 avrgo,j, argos.

2 Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2007), 102.

3 Strong’s 175 a;karpoj, akarpos.

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grow and multiply across the world as new believers accept the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.”4 In the same way that individual believers are to abide in Christ as a branch abides in the Vine, the church must collectively abide in His love in order to bear much fruit for His Kingdom (John 15:8-10). Out of pure love for Christ, the church has an enduring obligation to bear Kingdom fruit by winning the lost and discipling the saved in order to continually reproduce new believers fulfilling God’s command to be fruitful and multiply. Diagnostic #2: Is our church genuinely fruitful or are we closer to unfruitful—almost barren—in leading the lost to Christ?

The next two negative consequences of failing to practice and promote the eight Christian virtues seem to be paired together. They both have to do with sight. 2 Peter 1:9 (ESV) says, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” Diagnostic question #3…

3. Has the church become narcissistically nearsighted with a preoccupation for personal preferences? (verse 9) 4. Has the church become spiritually blind to the reality of spiritual brokenness in the world around us? (verse 9) Under the heading of “diseases and conditions” on the Mayo Clinic website you will find a condition named Narcissistic personality disorder. The website describes this as “one of several types of personality disorders . . . a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others.”5 Narcissism describes the kind of nearsightedness, or shortsightedness, Peter is speaking of in our text. And it describes the condition of many churches, maybe even our own.

“Nearsighted” is from the Greek word muopazo, from which we get the English word myopic. It means “to see dimly, see only what is near.”6 “Blind” is from tuphlos meaning “blind” or “mentally blind.”7 The obvious implication is spiritual rather than physical blindness. The believer who fails to live out these virtues is no longer able to see clearly or see at all. Spiritual myopia occurs when believers become so self-centered, self-focused, and self-sufficient that they fail to see even the obvious needs around them. Fruitlessness and ineffectiveness are the natural results of spiritual myopia. In Revelation 3, Jesus described the Church at Laodicea as having become self-sufficient and completely self-absorbed.

Though they maintained a high view of themselves, Jesus declared in Rev. 3:17, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, piti4 Gary L. McIntosh, There’s hope for Your Church: First Steps to Restoring Health and Growth, (Grand Rapids: Baker books, 2012), 22.

5 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions.

6 Strong’s 3467 muwpa,zw, muopazo.

7 Strong’s 5185 tuflo,j, tuphlos.

able, poor, blind, and naked.” Notice Jesus’ use of the word blind.

Bill Henard writes about the obstacles many church revitalization leaders face, especially when a stagnant, declining, or dying church simply refuses to face the reality of its dire situation. In his excellent book, Can These Bones Live, Henard describes the often-entrenched church lay leadership as those who “[do] not believe that change or revitalization is needed. The same people remain in charge and are myopic to their own demise.” 8 Spiritual myopia is as dangerous to the local church as it is to the individual believer.

Spiritual myopia is evidence of a church’s heavy emphasis on members’ preferences and nostalgia to the exclusion of any significant focus on the lostness in the community around them. It is a lethal aversion to any change that might be necessary in order to reach the community for Christ. As the ESV translators render the text, the problem escalates to the point that one is “so nearsighted that he is blind” (2 Peter 1:9).

Spiritual blindness in Scripture is generally relegated to unbelievers. Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees as “blind guides,” “blind fools,” and “blind men” in Matt. 23:1626. Scripture teaches in 2 Cor. 4:4 that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” For the church to become nearsighted and blind is a serious spiritual health issue. It is essentially equivalent to unbelief. No wonder Jesus rebukes the Laodiceans in Rev. 3 saying he is ready to “vomit” them out of his mouth.

Yet His rebuke is in love. In Rev. 3:19, Jesus says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” He is ready to renew their spirits and restore their sight if they would simply repent of their sinful pride and return to Him. In verse 18, Jesus declared that He stands ready with “salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.” Diagnostic #3: Has our church become narcissistically nearsighted with a preoccupation for personal preferences? Diagnostic #4: Has our church become spiritually blind to the reality of spiritual brokenness in the world around us? And finally, Diagnostic #5…

5. Is the church in danger of a forgetfulness that literally threatens the future of the church. (verse 9) The final negative consequence is like having spiritual Alzheimer’s. Spiritual sight is gone and now the mind is going too. Scripture says to the one who does not practice these spiritual disciplines, or virtues, that he exists as someone who has “forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:9b). One of the great tragedies of contemporary Christianity is the great number of people who have no assurance of their salvation. They live in fear that somehow this promise from God might, at any time, be taken away, 8 Bill Henard, Can These Bones Live? A Practical Guide to Church Revitalization (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2015), 51.

even though Scripture gives every indication that God always keeps His promises. Or, believers live with the stigma of some past sin rather than trusting in God’s promises of forgiveness and restoration. They allow the stigma to dominate their self-perception and that self-perception only reinforces a public perception. What they have forgotten is the gospel—”that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” as The Apostle Paul states in 1 Timothy 1:15 (NKJ). Never forget what Christ has done for you! If we forget the gospel there will be no future for this church. We may hang on for a few years as a glorified country club, but we will not be the church of the living Christ. Hold on to the gospel with everything you have. Remember what Christ has done for you and go tell that story. It’s hard to tell a story you don’t have. Do you know for certain that you are a born-again child of God? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Have you come to Him asking for the forgiveness of your sins and trusting in what He has done for you through his death and resurrection? Now is the time. “Come unto me,” Jesus said, “and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Again, Jesus said in John 6:37, “and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” Come to Him today. Trust Him today!

Church, Diagnostic #5: Are we in danger of a forgetfulness that threatens the future of this church? He is ready to renew our spirits and restore our sight if we will simply repent of our sinful pride and return to Him. Will you join me today in a prayer of repentance and of recommitment to Him to be His fruitful, effective, wide-eyed, and open-hearted church reaching out to the hurting, helpless, and the broken all around us with an effective and fruitful laser focus on winning the lost and discipling the saved? Would you pray with me?

God, help us! Forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We confess our ineffectiveness and our fruitlessness as a body of Christ. We confess our narcissistic tendencies to be nearsighted as we have so often been more concerned with our own personal preferences that about the lostness and brokenness right here in our own community. We have allowed our eyes to become blind to the needs of our community. We have forgotten our own lostness and your gracious gift of forgiveness.

Forgive us and help us take this good news of Jesus Christ to our community and bless that effort with new growth—with new life—with a revitalization and renewal of your church to the glory of God now and forever. Amen.

Richard D. Harvey is the pastor of Eastwood Baptist Church in Bay Minette, Alabama. He is a 2020 D.Min graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with specialization in Church Revitalization. He has served churches in Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida and is also author of the forthcoming book Fail Proof: Eight Biblical Principles That Will Keep You from Falling.

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It Can Be Done!

By Ron Smith Gideon Judges 6 We all have Midianites in our lives. Each of us have those things that spoil the harvest of life. Gideon was a man marked by insecurity and timidity. We, like Gideon, long for the help and hope of God, but wonder why God is allowing this time in our lives.

Judges 6:13 “Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?”

Midianites come from the most unexpected places and often in the middle of a harvest.

Here are a few powerful takeaways from the life of Gideon: #1. Midianites are not powerful enough to place you out of God’s reach.

Gideon was hiding from God – he was in the winepress doing the work of grinding wheat. Gideon was hiding, but God found Him. This to me explains the daily life of a Pastor – working hard in your calling, grinding away at the tasks – praying for a breakthrough! #2. Where God has you is a place for Him to work through you.

In Judges 6:12-13 we read of an encounter with Gideon and an angel.

Angel: “The Lord is with you” Gideon: “Oh yea” (paraphrase) The Midianites of your life are either God arranged or God allowed. Either way God will use them! As a pastor, I feel this same way. I often feel as though the task is too big and that God could have possibly forgotten about me. I have questioned God many times when in the process of leading a church; “God, why are you using ungodly people?” “God, why are you allowing such things to happen?” These are common questions in leading a church.

Here’s the lesson; Your winepress, your place of timidity and insecurity, is a place where God desires to make you stronger so He can do the greater work.

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#3. Midianites do not dictate your capabilities, destroy your ability or even detract God’s Sovereignty Midianites create an opportunity for you to be in the presence of God. We must have our spiritual radar up in anticipation of His presence in our lives. If there is one thing I keep learning over and over – Look for God! When I see God then I receive the energy needed to go on. And when I see God, the church sees what I am looking at and then they receive what is needed.

Know this; there is never a time or place where you are that He is not! There is never a time or place where you are that God cannot speak, call, direct, provide, and move! God is daily preparing us to serve Him. We are not a valiant warrior before He call us – we are valiant warrior when He calls us. We do not become valiant in a grand battle – we become valiant in moments of living in His presence!

Let me show you how this looks. In Judges 7 we can glean some very practical lessons that will keep encouraged, focused and prepared for the battles and blessings that are to come.

Lesson #1, Lead out with worship Judges 7:7 “I will save you” Judges 7:11 “You shall hear what they say and your hands will be strengthened…”

Judges 7:21, “Every man stood in his place…”

Here’s the deal Pastor, know your place and the Pastor, put the people in their place and let God work through us right where we are.

Lesson #4, Use the right weapons Judges 7:20-22, “Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the LORD set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah,[a] as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.”

Note they yell, “a sword” but they don’t have swords.

What are our Weapons? - Prayer - Belief (Faith in Christ) – Obedience – Worship and God’s Word. These are the weapons we use daily.

Pastor learn this - What we see during the week is what we present on the weekend!

Judges 7:15 “he worshipped” Psalm 22:3, “God inhabits the praise of His people.”

How is your prayer life? Your worship life? What are you reading to fill YOU for the work? Can you name some promises that God is using for you and for the church?

Pastor, How is your worship life? Often in the Old Testament we see worship leading the charge into battle. We do more than deliver messages from the pulpit. We do more than lead from our position. As Pastors we lead from a place of worship. Know this, what we worship is what our church will worship.

How we prepare during the week empowers to fight the battle on the weekend. The victory that is experienced on the weekend carries the church through the week – helping them see the God you declare on Sunday (and the cycle continues).

Lesson #2, Walk In His victory steps

The vision, remember is not a statement, it’s not a strategy. Vision is seeing God! The Victory is God breaking through us and moving around us.

Look at Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk with Him.” I love these words; “Arise… HAS Given.” (Judges 7:15). From this we learn that God HAS already given the victory. Much of we fear, the obstacles to church growth are already taken care of.

Ours is the job of proclaiming victory. Proclaiming victory is huge in church life. Standing firm on the provisions and promises of God is half the battle.

Ron Smith is the Senior Pastor of WaterStone Church in Longwood and Lake Mary, Florida. Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild. Ron serves as the National Coach for Renovate and the Co-Leader of Renovate One Day with Tom Cheyney.

Lesson #3, Advance into the battle from your place Listen to Judges 7:16, “And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.”

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Dynamic Small Groups:

Go and Grow

By Fred Boone A denomination became the largest in the world when it embraced a strategy of using small groups to reach people for Christ and develop them into on mission disciples.

For many years this denomination did this better than any other group of churches in the world. They became the most evangelistic churches in modern history, the facts were clear they were reaching more people for Christ than any other denomination. Southern Baptists became the largest denomination in the world while others were declining. Southern Baptists became known as the “Evangelistic Denomination”. How did they do this? By developing a strategy that created small groups that had as their aim the goal of reaching people for Christ. Southern Baptists Sunday Schools became known as the “Outreach Arm” of the church.

In the late 1800’s Southern Baptists had already discovered the value of developing small groups to plant churches and then use those groups to build churches. As the Sunday School movement grew the need for literature grew.

A pastor named J. M. Frost led a movement to establish an organization within Southern Baptists to create and print Sunday School literature. In 1891 the Baptist Sunday School Board was created. As this new organization continued to grow, they were receiving more requests from churches asking for help in organizing their Sunday Schools. In the early 1900’s the Baptist Sunday School Board hired a layman from Mississippi who had led his church to incredible growth using their Sunday School. Arthur Flake be-

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came the first Director of the Sunday School Department.

Through Arthur’s leadership the Sunday Schools of SBC churches developed a greater focus on reaching people for Christ.

Arthur Flake developed a simple philosophy that he began to teach to Baptist churches across the south. Years later it became known as “Flakes Formula.” Mr. Flake said it is a simple five step process. One, you need to “Know the Possibilities.” By this he meant, what is the demographic of your church? How many adults and what is the age range and how many youth, children and preschoolers are in your church. You would include the prospects that you had information about. Also, what is the demographic of your community. Once you have a handle on this information you would use it for the next step. Two, “Enlarge the Organization.” This the way he expressed it in 1922: It will be necessary to enlarge the organization in order to take care of all the people on the church roll and those discovered in the census. There will be no use to go on with the same old organization hoping to increase the size of the Sunday School permanently. Unless the present Sunday School organization is enlarged, practically all of the work done in taking the census will come to naught.

To be sure, a few people will join the Sunday School as a result of being visited during the census, but there can be no large permanent growth unless there is an organization

strong enough to reach, hold, and teach the people who should be in the Sunday School. The size of the organization needed is dictated by the number of pupils available, as revealed by the information secured (Building a Standard Sunday School, pp. 27-28).

Step Three, “Enlist and Train the Workers.” Now that you know how many classes you need for each age group you begin the prayerful process of recruiting and training the teachers and other leaders you will need to operate this new organization. Each age group needs a different ratio of leaders to learners. Praying for workers is the great work of the ministry and it is the only prayer that Jesus ordered us to pray. Luke 10:2 – “Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Step Four, “Provide the Space.” Next you will need a place for all these groups to meet. Proper space is just as important as any other element in developing a growing Sunday School.

Step Five, “Go after the People.” Arthur Flake was passionate about reaching people. His strategy for developing the Sunday School structure was for the goal of reaching people for Christ. Flakes first book “Building a Standard Sunday School” became the handbook for Southern Baptists churches to use as their guide to build growing Sunday Schools.

J.N. Barnette a layman from North Carolina came to work along side Arthur Flake. By the 1950’s Barnette followed Flake as the Director of the Sunday School Department.

J.N. Barnette was a great evangelist and like Flake had a passion to see people come to know Christ. In 1954 he challenged Southern Baptists to enroll in one year a million people in Sunday School. The campaign became know as “A Million More in 54”. This effort led to Southern Baptists reaching and baptizing a record number of people which led to Southern Baptists becoming the largest denomination in the world. J.N. Barnette took Flakes Formula from a philosophy to a workable strategy as he developed the 7 Laws of Sunday School which he outlined in his book “The Pull of the People”. As he studied the growing churches, he discovered 7 key principles that each church was following as they fleshed out “Flakes Formula.”

Here are the laws that J.N. Barnette discovered. 1) The Law Relating to the Number of Workers, the lower the ratio of workers to learners always resulted in greater growth. In other words, the church that had a ratio of 1 worker to 10 members was more effective than the church that had a ratio of 1 to 15. 2) The Law Relating to Size of Classes – Small classes reached more people for Christ than large class-

es, also a class usually reached its maximum size in 18-24 months. 3) The Law Relating to New Units – the churches that were adding new classes on a regular basis were growing. That had a vision for reaching new people. 4) The Law Relating to Grading – The churches that had a clear systematic method of how to organize all ages groups including adults discovered that they involved more people in their weekly Bible studies. 5) The Law Relating to Promotion – Promotion was an annual event where they moved up all children and youth based on their age and celebrated the creation of new classes for adults. 6) The Law Relating to Visitation – Growing churches practically practiced Flakes directive to “Go After the People”, by mobilizing and training all classes to go and visit members and prospects. 7) The Law Relating to the Building – The space the Sunday School met in was just as important as any other aspect of the strategy. They knew if you were going to be adding new classes you had to have a plan for adding or discovering places for these classes.

These two men, Arthur Flake and J.N. Barnette instilled in Southern Baptists the vision and determination to use Sunday School as a strategy to reach people for Christ. It was a strategy that produced unprecedented results for over a half century. But as time marched on Southern Baptists lost that vision. Sunday School fell on hard times as pastors didn’t understand how to organize and operate a proper Sunday School. Then when some new and inventive pastors came along and understood the value of small groups, the “Small Group” movement was born. The goal was to create something to replace Sunday School and it would meet anytime and anyplace. However, in this new effort a key element fell out, the idea of being a tool to reach people and evangelize the lost was missing. As more and more churches have abandoned Sunday School and many have not replaced it with Small Groups, we are seeing a decline in evangelism and few baptisms. For the last few years and for the first time in history Southern Baptists have seen record declines.

The message is clear, the churches that have a clear vision to organize their Sunday School or Small Groups to “Go after the People” are still growing. When Jesus gave us the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, the command was GO! We must organize our Sunday Schools and Small Groups with a vision to “Go and Grow.”

Fred Boone is the Executive Pastor and LIFE Groups Pastor of First Baptist Church of Mount Dora, Florida.

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Read From It. Learn From It. Lead With It.

Aristotle is the Problem

By Pete Tackett Every church committee or board that that has ever interviewed me said some variation of the same thing. They offer such statements as, “We are poised and ready to go and just need the right leader to come in and lead the way.”

“Things have been difficult lately, but we are ready to do whatever it takes to move ahead and we need a leader like you to get us there.” My favorite is “We are just a bunch of hungry sheep in need of a shepherd to get us to greener pastures.”

For the record, I don’t believe those boards/committees are knowingly lying about the willingness of the church to do what it takes to revitalize. However, we all know that rarely is a church as ready to follow a revitalizer as they say they are. In fact, a church has to be almost dead and unable to move in any direction to just follow the revitalizer in faith. Otherwise, there will be opposition.

Others will address many of the reasons why, but I want to focus on just one reason why lay leaders who love the church and have served it for decades are often the most vocal saboteurs of the revitalization process. In fact, right now, I am regularly praying for a young revitalizer that I helped connect with the church he is serving. I know many of the “old guard” at the church from my time in the area many years ago and they want the church to be healthy. The pastor knows how to get it there, but the old guard continues to make life difficult for him.

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In another situation, I presided over the death of a congregation and the hand off of their assets to a sister organization and a young church planter. I spent years praying for and with those older people and know they loved their church. Yet, each time a pastor tried to lead them, he was blocked.

These are just two examples of a story that is told a thousand times in revitalization. If both the revitalizer and the old guard yearn for church health and vitality, where is the road block?

I don’t know if any empirical evidence exists in the form of a study anywhere, but I have come to believe Aristotle is the problem.

It was Aristotle who coined the phrase, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” In organizations of any kind, I have seen that to be true, especially in church world. If a pastor does not possess leadership gifts and fails to give a clear call directionally, that vacuum will suck in a lay person or group who may or may not have the gifts, information, and insight to lead well.

Sometimes, those people who rise up to fill the vacuum are naturally gifted leaders who are not spiritually mature enough to lead God’s church. After all, God gives us pretty clear standards for those elders who would presume to lead. Other times, the problem is gifted servants see no one else is doing it so they step into a role they are not prepared to fill. In my denomination, many churches are dea-

con-led, but elect men based on their service gifting and then demand they exercise leadership when something goes wrong. There are also times when plainly wicked, unbalanced people step up just because no one else will and they like being in charge. Regardless, when that happens, God’s plan of church leadership is thwarted and it almost never goes well.

Surprisingly, that is not the problem when a church starts toward a path of revitalization and then turns back. After all, if the church elders won’t put Biblical leadership in place and teach the church to follow it, what would you expect to happen? No, the problem is simple.

Once you have filled either an official or unofficial position of leadership in a church, it is hard to give it up, even if you want to be free of it. Many times a church revitalizer is surprised to find the very person he had counted on to help him lead the process is privately undercutting him because of either old friendships with people who are unhappy with the change or because in their pride, they are feeling left out of major decisions for which they would formerly have been asked for input.

The other issue is that the church has been looking to those people for leadership either officially or unofficially for years and when things get tense they turn to them rather than to the pastor for direction and reassurance. Early in my current pastorate, I was asked at every major turn if I had talked this over with James and Peggy (the names have been changed to protect ME). I had to explain that I usually consulted the Holy Spirit before checking with James and Peggy. To their credit, they filled no official role and did not want to influence the process, but people kept coming to them and they did not know how to deal with them.

Another church pastored by a friend of mine is still stuck because the founding pastor in nearly 90 and is still in the church. He is gracious, kind to the pastor, and never speaks publicly, but the people know they can bend his ear if they don’t like what is going on.

There is an old adage in financial world that says, “The best day to start planning for retirement was yesterday and the second best day is today.” Likewise, dealing with both official and unofficial leaders who sabotage revitalization

needs to be done at the earliest possible time. If you are considering a church revitalization role, you need to make clear up front that those who have been making the decisions need to step back and make room for new leadership.

After all, if what they have been doing worked, they would not need you.

If you are already in the middle of a revitalization project and you are running into the “shadow government” problem, I suggest two things. First, go to the person or persons everyone else is looking toward and lay the cards on the table. If it’s early enough in the process that it has not grown confrontational, you can ask them to either get on board or step aside. A second option is before it turns into such an entrenched, personality driven chasm, have an honest conversation with the church, letting them know that the inevitable outcome of division will be failure and nobody wants that.

In my first months where I serve now, we had to have that conversation in a church listening session. I simply said there are going to be rumors and fears but if and when we make a decision of any kind, we will bring it to you for discussion and input. In the meantime, if you hear someone talking, ask them if they heard that from Pastor Pete or the chairman of the revitalization team. If the answer is no, rebuke them for gossip and tell them to come talk to us.

Three months later, I was making a prospect visit to neighbor of James and Peggy. He told me he had to informed James he would not come because he heard I was leading them away from our denomination. James had rebuked him and said if he didn’t hear it from Pastor Pete or the chair of the team, it was sinful gossip. That was the day I knew revitalization was going to work.

Pete Tackett is Lead Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, and a Pastor Connector for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. He regularly partners with churches and pastors engaging in revitalization. He is the author of re.Vital.ize: Lessons Learned in a Recovering Church.

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The Heart of the Problem

By Jim Grant When looking at the various reasons of why a church has declined to an anemic state requiring drastic measures to survive, there must be the first investigation of the people in the situation. In other words, I believe that the heart of the problem in revitalization is the problem with the heart.

The preaching of revitalization can take many different courses. Often, we look at books of the bible such as Ezra, Nehemiah, Ezekiel or even the Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation. However, I want to look at the individual believer in regard to revitalization. I have found after 25 years of ministry, that the Church [people] are the most critical variable in revitalizing a church. Now, there are many aspects of the church that could be investigated, but my thought is the spiritual dynamic of the church [believers].

Reorganization and refocusing the church on the mission is important. Strategic planning has its place. But if the Heart of the people are not affected, then we could wind up just rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic! Revitalization takes into consideration both the strategic initiatives necessary, as well as the spiritual dynamics. Jerry Bridges has written two books that I believe identify the work of God in the person of God for revival and revitalization; “The Pursuit of Holiness and the Practice of Godliness.” I will use what Bridges has written about practicing godliness in this article.

There are three specific areas I want to highlight: Godliness Towards God; the disciplines of godliness, and finally our godliness in how we treat others.

To begin we first must establish a working definition of Godliness. Bridges expresses Godliness at “Devotion to God which results in a life that is pleasing to Him.”3 The focus or aim of godliness is none other than to be pleasing to God. As we discovered in earlier messages as children of God, we are to be holy, like He is holy. This holiness encompasses our relationship to God, our battle with the flesh and the strength of the Holy Spirit which enables us to be holy. But to say that you are holy without some outward expressions that such is true, holiness then just becomes a mystical religious concept. The proof of our holiness is the life we live out before others. If we put to practice the Word of God in our lives, then we will develop the character of God, and take on His attributes. A believer that is growing in holiness will develop the Fruit of the Spirit. It is important to say that godliness is not something we do, but something that we become. If we are “walking in the Spirit” the fruit of the Spirit will be manifested.4 This first part of this message looked at Godliness Towards God. The first relationship which should express our godly growth is the personal relationship with the Godhead. Godliness towards God is expressed as our devotion to God. Matthew 22:37 and Deuteronomy 6:5, which tells believers that we are to love the Lord God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Bridges indicates that devotion to God is Godliness, which results in Godlikeness.5 In order to be godly, we first must be rightly related to God. Bridges explains that devotion to God will be evident in our:6

Matthew 22:37; And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

1. Fear of God 2. Our Love for God 3. Desire for God

Deut. 6:5; You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.1

To be devoted to God means that we want to please Him in all things. Jesus the Son of God had such a focus. All He did was pleasing to the father. (John 8:29) Since Jesus is our example, we should strive to be pleasing in all things to the Father as well. 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Colossians 3:17 tell the believer to whatever we do in word or deed, to do it to the glory of the Father.

This challenges our very motive for service. The motive for living godly is to be pleasing to God in all things.

Devotion requires being sold out, total surrender and focusing only on the audience of one – God. Believers are to seek to please the Father. This requires awe, respect, love, and passion.

It needs to be said of every believer that which was said of David, “he was a man after God’s own heart.” 7

Now that the foundation has been laid for living holy lives; we need to understand what a holy life looks like and how this holiness translates to godly living. For this, I will be using Jerry Bridges’ book Practice of Godliness, the sequel book to the Pursuit of Holy as a guide and resources.2 Over the next three weeks I will be preaching about how our holiness translates to godly living with God, with ourselves and with others.

As we begin looking at how to live the holy life it makes sense that there should be some visible evidence that holiness is lived out. This is where the practice of godliness comes in. Specifically, I will be investigating godliness as it relates to God, as it relates to me and how godliness relates to others.

1 Matt. 22:37; Deut. 6:5. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is taken from New American Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation, (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.,1996.)

2 Jerry Bridges, Practice of Godliness, NavPress: Colorado Springs, 1983.

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3 Jerry Bridges, Practice of Godliness, NavPress: Colorado Springs, 1983.

4 Gal. 5:16-17.

5 Jerry Bridges, Practice of Godliness, NavPress: Colorado Springs, 1983, 13.

6 Jerry Bridges, Practice of Godliness, NavPress: Colorado Springs, 1983, 14.

7 1 Sam. 13:14.

The love of God constrains or compels us to serve Him.8 Out of Christ’s love for us and our love for Him; we are compelled to live for Him who died for us.

The first step towards devotion to God begins with a Fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.9 The Israelites were commanded to have no other gods but Yahweh. They were to have a fear for God that kept them from sinning. A fear that was based on the judgment of God. Many years ago, most of the preaching from the pulpit was Hell Fire and Brimstone. Sadly, today very little is mentioned about the wrath of God. But the fear of the Lord goes beyond scare tactics. Our fear should also have at its heart the majesty and power of God. We should hold an awe and honor towards God that we want to obey out of love and admiration. I remember that I use to obey my dad out of fear.

I was afraid of the punishment I would receive if I did not obey.

This made me behave. As I grew older, I obeyed my dad not out of fear only, but out of love for him. I wanted to please him. This same should be said of believers in obeying the lord. The closer we get to Jesus the more we see His holiness and our sinfulness.

This should cause us to fall on our face before God like it did Isaiah.10 Secondly, devotion to God requires that we Love God. Our focal passage in Matthew 22:37 and Deut. 6:5 explain that while this is a command, it is also a responsibility. We do not love God just with our emotions. Our love for God must encompass our entire being our heart, will, emotions, desires, and strength.

This love for God does not originate with us. We love God because He first loved us.11 God loved us while we were yet unlovable, and He sent Jesus to die for us.12 We are to love God for what He has done for us (Calvary); and what He wants to do in us (Godlikeness). As believers we need to come to grips that there is nothing we can do (good or bad) that will change the love of God for us. He loves us because He is Love. I must respond to His love, not out of obligation, but out of desire for more of Him in more of me!

Thirdly, devotion to God also includes our Desire for God.13 As the Psalmist says it, we should desire God the way a deer pants after water. The more we desire God, the more we want of Him. The more we want to be around Him and fellowship with Him. Like a young man in love with a girl; our desire for God should saturate our thinking and actions. The believer must have a thirst and hunger for God. God should be the desire of our heart. God knows our heart just as He knew David’s. Our prayer should be that our heart would be pure in motive and love for God. We should desire intimacy and fellowship with the Father.

Godliness comes from a foundation of growing devotion for God. As believers we will not automatically be completely devoted to God. Nor will we at once be totally surrendered to Him. We must grow in grace and knowledge of God and our new life in Christ. To be godly the believer must grow. Growth is a natural activity for the human body; it should be for the spiritual body as well. Godliness like sanctification is an on-going process. The believer must do his part to grow. Growing in Christ requires certain disciplines in the life of the believer. We must come up with

8 2 Cor. 5:14.

9 Ps. 111:10.

10 Is. 6:1-8.

11 1 John 4:9-10.

12 Rom. 5:8.

13 Ps 42:1-2.

new practices or habits that will produce in us godlikeness. These are: prayer, fellowship, worship, obedience, and mediation on God’s Word. These disciplines are not for super saints but should be part of the normal Christian life. Sometimes we must make ourselves do what we know is right. These disciplines are for our own benefit. The practice of these disciplines will enable us to grow in our devotion towards God, in fear, love and desire. Next week we will look at what the believer must do to be godly in the inner man.

Next, we find that Godliness is reflected in my relationship with God. It is not so much my godliness, but God’s character at work in me.

In 1 Cor 9:24-27; Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we for an incorruptible crown. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so, I fight, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I should be a castaway.

The subject of Godliness is directed towards the life of the believer. Specifically, I want to address the Fruit of the Spirit called Self-Control. There are other Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 and 2 Peter 1:4-9 that I could have used, but I have the belief that if I am to be godly, the greatest impact on my godliness is my own self-control.

Self-control is defined by Bridges in Practice of Godliness as the exercise of inner strength under the direction of sound judgment that enables us to do, think and say the things that are pleasing to God.14 As we continue our quest for the Sanctification of Our Souls, we continue the journey towards godliness. The focus of this part of the message is for the believers to see the need to be godly internally. If a person is going to be godly in his actions, attitudes, and thoughts; there must be a change on the inside. As we learned in our pursuit of holiness, believers are still sinners. We still battle and struggle with the Old Nature within us. If we are to be godly, we need to have our bodies under control. Self-control is the theme of this message. Many of us spent years being under the control of our sinful nature. The believer has been set free from the reign of sin in their life, but we must constantly suppress the old man within us. Otherwise, we may be like Paul suggested, preaching the Gospel, yet being disqualified because of our own failure to keep our bodies under subjection.

This message is for me and what I need to do grow in godlikeness. This desire to bring my body under control stems from my desire to be pleasing to the Father in all things. Again, if we are walking in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It can be concluded that if we are under the influence of the Spirit and growing in godliness, then the Fruit of the Spirit will be evident. The fruit is developed out of a heart devoted to God. Out of the heart come the issues of life.15 This part of the message will identify those disciplines necessary to train us and grow us in godlikeness, while bringing our bodies under the authority of the Holy Spirit. This ser-

14 Jerry Bridges, Practice of Godliness, NavPress: Colorado Springs, 1983, 134.

15 Matt 15:19. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is taken from New American Standard Bible, The Lockman Foundation, (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.,1996

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mon takes a hard look at who I am and why I do what I do. Part of being godly is being disciplined. Paul uses the illustration of someone training for an athletic event. He describes the training that must go on for one to compete. The goal of competing is to win the crown. Paul explains that the believer is also competing for a prize, but an incorruptible prize. I have watched the Olympics and watched the world athletes strive to win the gold medal.

The victory too many times was short lived because the athlete tested positive for some illegal drug. They were disqualified from further competition. The same holds true for the believer. We all strive to be like our God in holiness and godliness. We incorporate all the necessary Christian disciplines in our lives to train us to be God like, or so we think. Often the nominal believer adds only a “church life” not a disciple life to his salvation. Without the godly disciplines in place to combat the evil within us, many we know have been disqualified for ministry because they did not compete according to the standard of holiness. Paul warns us to bring our bodies under control. We cannot afford to have the old man rear his ugly head and eliminate us for our pursuit of holiness and godlikeness.

As has been mentioned, the disciplines needed for godliness towards God, they are the same disciplines needed for our inner being. We must be in the Word of God; we must be praying, fellowshipping, and worshiping God. If we are not, we will be weak when the temptation comes, and we will fail. It is only as we continue be devoted to God, that we will escape coming under control of the old man again.

The believer is in control of whether the goal of godliness is achieved. It is our choice as to whether we serve the flesh or the Spirit. The believer is to be in control over his human desires and appetites.

Self-control often means denial. Jesus said that if any man wants to follow Him, they will have to deny himself, and die daily.16 The war that rages in us between the Flesh and Spirit is on-going.17 It will not stop as long as we have breath. We choose who wins the war. A word of caution, a win today does not mean a win tomorrow.

In order to be godly, our heart must be right. I mentioned Matthew 15:19 earlier, and how out of our heart comes the issues of life. In other words, the real me, is revealed by what I do and say. All of us have a sin that we struggle with; it is only as we exercise self-control can we live free of sin. We must control our passion, sensual and physical appetites or they will control us.

As children of God, we must seek to please God in our bodies and not gratify the lusts of the flesh.18 We must be temperate, sober and constantly on alert to the sinful nature within us.

As our definition of self-control stated, we need to have the inner strength to say no to sin and yes to godliness.

This takes wisdom of what to do and how to do it.

Knowledge is not enough. We must properly apply the Word of God to our lives. Self-control requires that there are limits to what I can do and cannot do, based on biblical convictions. While Paul said that he had all freedom in Christ, he still understood that not all things were beneficial to him.19

16 Luke 9:23.

17 Gal 5:16-17.

18 Rom. 6:12.

19 1 Cor. 6:12.

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Self-control is carried out by honoring God with our bodies by what we eat and drink; not being lazy and refraining from sexual immorality. Our bodies are the Temple of God. We should treat them like the vessels of God.20 Part of our bodies is our minds. Too many believers do not control what they feed their minds. We feed on the things of the world; then we cannot figure out why we are tempted so much by the junk of the world. Philippians 4:8, reveals the things we should be thinking on. We also should not put our bodies into position where they can be tempted. If you know of a certain passion or desire that causes you to sin, stay away!21 Again, I remind you that our focus should be on pleasing God, and not ourselves. I have found that there are times I want to sin. This occurs when I am thinking about how I can be pleased. It is all about me and my needs. I must have the inner strength of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in me to combat the sinful nature that wants to come back alive in me.

We have a choice on what we let hold mastery over us.

Our inner attitudes and thoughts directly affect our walk with the Lord. A defeated believer is one who replaced devotion for God with devotion to self.

The truth of the matter we fight the battle for control in our minds.22 This is the same place Eve fought the battle in the Garden of Eden. All of us have outside stimulus entering into our mind through our senses. The question is what will we do with them? We must understand that our passions and desires are not evil in themselves, but out of control they will destroy us and lead to death. We all know our weaknesses, and they are different for each person. We need to quit feeding the monkey! You and I are not strong enough to defeat the old sinful nature. We must be in the Word of God, relying on the Spirit of God to defeat sin in our lives. Recognize that evil is in you, and do not play around with it.

It is your choice of which person you allow to have mastery over you. If you feed the flesh, the old man will rule you. If you stay devoted to God, the Spirit will control you and produce its Fruit in you. Which do you choose?

Next, we will look at the final aspect of godliness, when we look at how we are to treat others.

Colossians 3:12-13; Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

The proof of our godliness and holiness is found in the relationship we have with others. If our personal godliness is only known to us, then we have become nothing more than a religious person striving to gain mastery over human nature. We must remember the aim of our holiness and godliness is to be pleasing to God in all that we do, while becoming Christ like. The test of whether we are growing in godliness is not our opinion, but the opinion of others. The Fruit of the Spirit that most directly relates to our godliness towards other is the fruit Patience or Longsuffering as it is sometimes referred to. Our passage in Colossian 3 reveal that as believers there are somethings that we should be “putting on” in our character. Previously, Paul discussed the taking “off of the old nature” and habits that no longer are commensurate for a believer.

20 1 Cor. 6:19.

21 Bridges, 135 22 Bridges, 143

Paul uses a series of words to convey our godliness towards others. He uses words such as mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, and longsuffering. These are also Fruit of the Spirit which should be growing in the inner man. These words describe an ethos towards those that are outside the faith, but also inside the faith.

The use of the word patience in this passage does not necessarily refer to having the ability to wait. However, if patience and longsuffering have been perfected, the believer will exhibit a calmness and ability to be still before God. Patience as a Fruit of the Spirit and Christian virtue describes a person who reacts in a godly manner in a variety of difficult situations.23 But how do we get patience so that we can respond in a godly way in difficult situations? James is clear how we gain patience; it is through trials. (James 1:2-4). Many people ask for patience, not knowing that trials and tribulations are coming their way. As someone once said, to find out what a person is made of, just squeeze them. I have to admit there are times I do not like what comes out of me when I am tested. If our Christianity is to be of any merit or have the ability to witness to the Lost; we must live out our faith in front of them. Just so there are not any misconceptions, the lost world is not the only source of mistreatment and frustration to us; other believers can also be a great source of irritation.

Now no one wants to be mistreated, abused, ridiculed, or even persecuted. But this does happen to all of us from time to time; especially if we are seeking to live holy lives before the Father. We must admit as believers, when difficulties come our way, we struggle. Often the struggle we have with the trials and testing is that we take it so personal. We are surprised that bad things happen to us. We should not be surprised, Jesus told us that if they persecuted Him, that they (unbelievers) would persecute us.

(John 15:20) We think that people are attacking us, when in fact they are still attacking Jesus. They just happen to be attacking the Jesus that is becoming more visible in your humanity. Actually, this is a compliment that your growth in godliness is real.

How we react when difficulties come our way is what Paul is addressing. Our response will glorify God or makes us out to look like hypocrites. We need to trust in God; He knows how to take care of any situation. He just wants to find out if you will let Him, or will you take matters into your own hands? When we are mistreated, Romans 12:19 tells us to let God take revenge. Besides most of us will do more harm to the situation by letting our emotions and thoughts cause us to sin. This really reminds us of how that we are to have our inner man under control.

When we are directly confronted by an adversary, we have a choice to make; we can stoop down to their level or take the high road. We need to remember it take two people to quarrel and fight; choose not to be the second person.

Yes, we will have to humble, and most likely must turn the other cheek? So, turn the other cheek. Matthew 5:39 clearly says that we are not to fight; obviously this will destroy our potential witness before the world. James tells us that we need to be “slow to anger.” (James 1:19) If we are becoming more like Christ, then it should be evident in the way we respond to people. As a Pastor, I have come to realize that ministry would be easy if it were not for the people. Now that may sound bad, but the truth is people cause us

conflict. Often, we react to conflict rather than respond. As the “elect of God” we are to do all things from a heart of love. If we are truly devoted to pleasing God, then it will not matter what others do to us. How many Christians have lost their testimony by overreacting and becoming emotional about something that was inconsequential? Too many of us!

As believers we need to see that God allows trails to come into our life to test us and grow us deeper in our devotion to Him. Patience is the Fruit of the Spirit that is most intimately connected to our devotion to God.24 Colossians 3:12-13 goes further in admonishing us to be forgiving, just as Christ has forgiven us. We need to forgive others. If we do not forgive others, then it is reasonable that we will not be forgiven. (Matthew 6:12) This means to be longsuffering towards others. Just as Christ is patient with our inability to measure up to His standards, we also must be tolerant towards other misgivings.

Often, I am exasperated over people who I think should be better than they are. Rather than busting on them, we should show humility towards them. Too often we run people down for their faults and shortcomings. We often get put out with people because they do not meet our expectations. That attitude is nothing more than pride. We think that we are better than them.

The proper attitude is to love people the way that Jesus loves us.

Finally, patience causes us to wait on the Lord. Believers are in way too much of a hurry. We live in a microwave era where we want everything done now. God is not in a hurry. God’s timing is not our timing, neither are His ways our ways. But His ways are right all the time. The cure for our impatience is to believe in His promise, obey His will and leave the results to Him.25 As we display the Fruit of the Spirit towards others God will be made known and the Lost will come to salvation. Our godliness before men will open the pathway for us to tell them the life changing Gospel of Jesus.

In this message, we found that there are three significant areas of our redeemed lives that must reflect the holiness of God in us. We must Know GOD, we must have the character of God and we must act like God in our actions towards others.

Godliness is not about being good but being God-like.

While is it effective to hear a sermon, often for the world we live in, it is better to see a sermon. Be the sermon that draws the world to the Father!

24 Bridges, 179.

25 Bridges, 179.

Jim Grant is the Executive Director of the Galveston Baptist Association. He is an Air Force veteran, retiring with twenty-five years of service. His extensive travels allowed him the unique opportunity to serve in a full spectrum of churches with various styles and ranges of spiritual health. He has a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological seminary with a concentration on Church Revitalization.

23 Bridges,168

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Driving Your Church into the Future

By David Jackson During my adolescent years, I was eager to embrace the freedom and status of driving my own car. I dreamt of the time when I would be able to cruise the downtown area of my city, pick up my girlfriend in my own car to take her out on the town, and show off my “wheels” as a symbol of my newfound maturity. My parents weren’t opposed to the idea, either. While there were anxious nights in the early days of my driving, they knew it would provide me, and them, a freedom, yet undiscovered. They recognized what I had not yet grasped: perseverance in the process earned me their trust. Showing myself responsible helped me establish the credibility I needed as a driver.

In church revitalization situations, tactical patience is one of the most important characteristics a pastor brings to the experience.

He must wait for the pregnant moments of opportunity, move tactically and strategically as he can, and endure through difficult times and circumstances to affect change. This, to be sure, is more art than science. However, there are some key insights I’ve learned over the years that will help you navigate and anticipate the perseverance needed to see the church you serve revitalized for our Lord.

The most important demonstration of your commitment to perseverance is seen in prayer. When the early church was commanded to wait for God’s Spirit to fall on them, they made it a matter of prayer. They seized the opportunity to commune with God (Acts 1:14). This accomplished at least a couple of things. First, it brought unity of purpose to the people. As they

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prayed together, they were knit together by God’s Spirit, as one people, one family, one body. Second, it aligned their heart with the heart of God. They submitted their agenda to His agenda.

This calmed their spirits and, as they rested in Him, the Spirit readied their hearts for the opportunities that would come.

Pastor, if you have a restlessness in your spirit, spend more time in prayer. Attune your heart and your interests with those of God. Get others to join you in prayer, and it will bind your hearts and your priorities together with those of the Father. This is the most basic need in revitalization, and certainly the greatest key I’ve learned to perseverance.

Focus on the relationships, not the tasks. Impatience and hurriedness come to me, because I have my eyes on accomplishing a goal or objective, rather than the people involved. But Jesus always concentrated on the people at hand. He valued them, nurtured them, and treasured them. He knew they were God’s creation, not to be manipulated or “run over” in route to an accomplishment. They were the prize, in whom the Father had given worth, dignity, and insight. Building relationships for the sake of what they are—not for what you can get out of them—earns trust and gains credibility. Both of these ingredients are essential in leading a church revitalization effort.

Pastor, this means carving out time in your busy schedule to be with your people. When you are with them, it involves active listening and asking open-ended questions (not ones simply

answered with a “yes” or a “no”). These conversations will reveal the heart of your people to you, and will engender the trust you need over time. Find ways to make this happen, and your perseverance will become easier and more enjoyable.

Be consistent and methodical as you make forward progress. Think the tortoise, not the hare, in the old proverbial story.

Quick bursts of effort—regardless of whether they produce success or failure--may excite you and even some of your leaders, but it will emotionally drain many of your people. Rather, find ways to steadily and systematically move forward with incremental changes that produce lasting gains. Such success is typically more permanent and more stable, which makes it more palatable for those who worry change will rock their world. Your consistency is comforting and speaks volumes to your personal maturity, your care for those in the congregation, and the long-lasting effect of the changes that must take place.

To do this well, understand a wide majority of people in the typical congregation are seeking stability. It provides them with a sense of safety and security, a kind of “spiritual equilibrium,” if you will. They expect you to model this, as well, as they will take their cues toward peace or anxiety, faith or fear, from you. Remember: one step at a time moves us forward. Not everybody is able to run, even if you desire it to be that way.

Concern yourself with the journey, not just the destination.

This is a mental part of the perseverance process. You must learn to relish the experiences of every day life and ministry, not just the end game of seeing the church revitalized. This means each day offers you the opportunity to learn something new about God, about self, and about the people you are called to serve. In my opinion, this makes every day one filled with excitement and anticipation. It means every day can be a “win” on the journey to God’s desired future.

Part of the discipline of perseverance is realizing that God is using the experiences to better shape you and the church for the future He has in mind. This is a plus, for it reminds us God is actively invested in our lives, in order to prepare and position us for what He has ahead. As a result, learning mode should be a daily reality, for it may bring a new nugget of insight or truth that will assist the church in the revitalization process.

Be strategic in prioritizing your ministry efforts. Realize that not all efforts and priorities are the most strategic or beneficial for the church at any given time. In other words, don’t simply busy yourself with ministry activity without thinking through its ripple effect on the rest of what still needs to happen for the church to be revitalized. Focus on the most strategic priorities first, the ones that can help you make either the greatest impact for the Kingdom or the ones that can help you leverage other

efforts effectively in the future. Use these gains to produce momentum, create a positive church culture, and enhance credibility.

Pastor, this starts with shepherding the people well. Know them, love them, feed them, serve them. Don’t get caught up in the numbers game! Serve the people God has given you well, as they need, and as God expects. Let Him take care of the numbers, as He sees fit. Instead, be diligent with the people and then, take initiative in reaching out in the community to show the love of Christ well. Determine to get your people out of the building into the community, not simply get your community into the building.

Finally, plan to stay. Perseverance demands it. Nothing undermines the work of ministry like short tenures and leaders who abandon the flock quickly, simply because things are developing at a much slower pace than they personally prefer. For me, the pace rarely moves as quickly as I’d like! Yet, I know there is value in patience and endurance. Much can be learned from this. And in fact, much can be gained by it for the future of the church. Imitation takes time to see, study, and emulate. Habits are ingrained slowly. Change that lasts needs time to take root.

Some writers suggest it takes at least six to seven years for a pastor’s tenure to begin to bring this kind of change, and to make lasting church revitalization possible. Other researchers suggest church revitalization needs a minimum of 1000 days for it to have impact. Both fall short of statistics suggesting the average pastor doesn’t tend to even stay this long at his post. What these researchers do agree on is this: pastoral longevity is critical to any legitimate effort for a church to experience revitalization and renewal. So, stay. The grass is not greener somewhere else; it’s just different.

And drive your church into the future safely, confidently, and patiently, knowing all the while God is opening up the highway to revitalization before you, as you head His way.

J. David Jackson serves with the North American Mission Board, as a Replant Specialist for the northeastern region of the United States, and is author of the book “ReNEW: Traveling the Forgotten Path,” which forges a path of revitalization for local churches. The book can be found at amazon. com. Jackson can be reached at drjdavidjackson@gmail.com.

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How Are You? Acts 15:36

By Rob Hurtgen Introduction To get better, you have to get stronger. If you have ever undergone rehabilitation for a broken leg, hip, or knee, you have been told, “To get better, you have to get stronger.” If you have ever played sports, your coach has barked something like, “To get better, you have to get stronger.” We know that in many areas of life, to get better, you have to get stronger.

The same is true for the church. To get better, churches must get stronger.

In Acts 15:36, Paul comes to Barnabas with the idea to go and revisit the churches that they had recently planted. Acts 15:36 reveals seven priorities for strengthening churches.

“And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

Churches must ask themselves how they are to be stronger.

History After some days following the Jerusalem council, a letter was sent addressing the issue of God’s expectations and salvation by grace. Paul and Barnabas are in the city of Antioch. After a few days, how many we do not know, Paul comes to Barnabas with the idea of going back and visiting the churches where they proclaimed the gospel.

These were fledgling churches. These were new churches. Even if the history is short, every church has a history.

Everything in revitalization builds on what was previously done.

When the church was blowing and going, the history of when the church was going can be a hindrance or a help to the revitalization efforts.

History of an act of sin in the church. A wrongful dismissal of a pastor. Known and tolerated sin in the church. These will impact the church.

One of the first acts in revitalization is to know the history of the church. The good, the bad, what is worth celebrating, and what everyone would like to forget. The history must be known.

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History impacts the present day.

“The first step to a Re-Claimed Church is to examine the history of the church and to ask how those beginnings affect the attitude, behavior, and response of the church leadership, in particular, and the church at large in general. Attitude is one of the keys to church revitalization. If the church has a bad attitude or a defeatist attitude, it may never see the potential it actually has.” 1 Paul asked Barnabas to “return” to go back and see how the churches are. They have a history, they have a present, and they have a future—history matters.

Team Ministry The normal pattern for effective ministry is as a team. Jesus sent out the workers in teams of two. Paul and Barnabas were set apart as a team. Even though Paul and Barnabas divided their ministry work, they went out in a new team of two.

The typical pattern for effective ministry is to serve as a team.

Not only does this pattern help us thinking about how to do ministry, but it reminds us that when it comes to revitalization, there is not a single issue, single person, or single strategy that will restore the health of a church.

The right pastor cannot bring renewal to a church that is not serving alongside them. The right décor will not bring renewal.

Singing from a screen will not bring renewal. We cannot look for a single issue solution to a multifaceted problem.

Action – go “Let us return,” Paul says. Let us go.

Renewal in your life, renewal in your church will not happen on its own. Actions must be taken to see renewal in your life. You cannot get healthy without a change to diet and activity. A business cannot produce a profit waiting for clients to come to them.

A team will not win the championship without showing up to practice. A church must also act to see health.

1 Bill Henard, ReClaimed Church: How Churches Grow, Decline, and Experience Revitalization, (B&H; Nashville, 2018), 9.

Reaching out to the neighborhood to bless them. Inviting the guy you work with to attend church with you. Having your neighbors over to dinner to build a relationship so you might be able to share the gospel with them. You cannot see health, cannot see growth without action.

Interested They were going to “visit the brothers.”

This is more than a social call. Visiting the brothers was more than having coffee and catching up. To see the brothers was to investigate how they were doing. How the ministry was advancing. How disciples were being made.

The phrase “visit the brothers” comes from a word with the idea of overseeing and inspecting. As a general inspects the troops, so Paul wanted to inspect the churches.2 Paul’s inspection reminds us of the priority to investigate how we are doing. To be a healthy church, we need to honestly ask hard questions.

Are we regularly planting the gospel seeds?

Are we sharing the gospel with others?

Are disciples begin made? How are we contributing and involved in missions work at home and around the world?

Are marriages being restored because of our ministry work?

Healthy churches and healthy Christians define what matters.

Evaluate Paul not only wanted to visit the brothers but to see how they are. His first desire to visit investigates how the church is doing.

The second see how they are presses to evaluate how the ministry is. The question “how they are” is asking how they are doing.3 How they are is a question of evaluation.

Healthy churches, healthy Christians regularly visit what they are doing and evaluate how they are getting along. The pattern of the New Testament is to investigate and evaluate the impact that ministries are making.

“What matters gets measured.” 4 Strengthen Paul and Barnabas have a disagreement over the role that John Mark is to play on the second trip. Barbabas sides with John Mark. Paul separates from them, choosing to take Silas on his second missionary journey. More ministry is birthed out of this disagreement.

Acts 15:41 records that Paul and Silas go “through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

2 Luke Timothy Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992), 282.

3 R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1961), 632.

4 Attributed to Peter Drucker, source unknown.

The second missionary journey inspects and evaluates the churches and keeps the larger goal of strengthening the churches. The word “strengthening” comes from a term that means to establish or to render more firm. In other words, the trip’s initial aim was to return to newly formed churches and strengthen them.

The initial goal is not to make churches larger. Paul did not lay out the vision of seeing how they were so they could add more buildings and parking spaces. The vision is to investigate, evaluate, and strengthen.

An ongoing purpose of the Great Commission’s call to make disciples is laboring to cause churches to be stronger. Stronger disciples make stronger churches which, by God’s grace, win more to the Kingdom.

Healthier churches can become larger churches. Healthier churches cause believers and help other churches to thrive. The heart of every revitalization effort is how do we become healthier than we are today.

Tension Lastly, you cannot examine Acts 15:36 without examining the tension between Barnabas and Saul. They divided over John Mark, who abandoned them during the first missionary journey.

Their division was over an issue of practice. Who should go and how should the work be done. A result of the tension was two teams versus one. More ministry was done because of the tension. As a church, as a Christian, you often need to embrace the tension.

Bodybuilders and athletes recognize that when they strength train, they are often sore the next day. They are sore because they have torn the muscle fibers.

God has created the muscles with the ability to repair themselves. The tiny tears occur, and then the muscle is rebuilt. As a result, the muscle is stronger, firmer, and sometimes larger because of the tension. In church revitalization work, we must embrace the tension. The tension will make us stronger.

Conclusion Jesus wants His church to be healthy. His church to be strong. His church to make disciples of all nations. We can do that when we investigate our health, evaluate what we need to do differently, act, and trust in His grace to cause the growth.

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.

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Fresh Starts Needed; How Nostalgia Holds Us Back

By Brian Thorstad Many church leaders are telling us that there isn’t going to be a return to “normal” any time soon, or ever. Even if your “good old days” were in 2019 (instead of 1955), the 2019 version of “church as usual” isn’t coming back.

Even churches which weren’t even slightly interested in experiencing revitalization are facing the prospect of needing just that. It’s like being tossed into a leadership role when it was the last thing that you wanted.

But here’s something that could jettison the fresh start your church needs: Nostalgia.

I had always thought of nostalgia as something warm and fuzzy and harmless, like the feelings I experienced watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” or driving past the homes I grew up in.

But Robert Dale’s wonderful little book, “To Dream Again” changed my mind. Nostalgia is derived from two Greek words, nostos (to return home) and algia (a painful condition). You could say that “good nostalgia” is the warm and fuzzy feeling you experience when remembering a good past which you don’t want to return to, while “bad nostalgia” is the painful feeling experienced when remembering an idealized past that you want to – but can’t – return to.

So it’s no wonder that the word sounds like a disease: Nostalgia can be a painful condition which causes people to fail to face the real world and take needed action.

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Here are four ways nostalgia holds us back in churches which need fresh starts: 1. Nostalgia remembers our church family as complete and whole.

I’ve been laughing at myself over this one. Lately I’ve been thinking about the hundreds of wonderful people who attended the church which my wife and I were part of for 17 years. Looking back, our perspective is skewed. In my rearview mirror, I see all those people worshipping, loving and laughing together.

But that’s not the way it was. Most of those dear folk “passed through” the congregation over 17 years. In truth, we never had more than a couple hundred of them in the church at any given time. My memory is sweet, but it’s a fantasy.

Here’s how this can be a problem in your congregation. People looking back remember the church as larger than it ever was. Current reality is no match for our delusions. As Elwood P. Dowd said, in the play (or movie) Harvey: “I struggled with reality for 30 years and finally won out over it.”

More problematic still is the notion that our church will be what we think it used to be when we get all those people back. Sometimes the new pastor is saddled with the impossible task of regathering scattered sheep, or – worse yet – regathering angry sheep who are never going to be cheerful members of the church in its present or future form.

I had an unforgettable job interview with a church board which wanted me to come as their interim pastor and win back the 350 people who had left their church and gone elsewhere. It seems that their super-star pastor had been followed by a much less gifted man who allowed half the flock to slip away. Somehow, I was supposed to lure them back.

I told them that I’d love to help their church move forward into the future and learn how to win lost people, but I had no magical ability to woo back their 350. I didn’t hear from them again.

The Chinese proverb says that “you can’t step into the same river twice” and the saying holds true for congregations as well. There simply was no ideal time when “all the members of the church family” were there.

2. Nostalgia idealizes a perfect past.

If we really could go back, what year or month would we go back to? Would two people be able to agree on this?

If I try to go back to a near perfect time in my childhood, I’m hard pressed to say which year that should be. If I go back to, let’s say, my eighth birthday, all my grandparents were alive and my family had not yet experienced the turbulence of the 1960s.

But in reality, I was sick a lot, my sister and I fought like cats and dogs and I was bullied in my neighborhood. Fast forward a year and my first grandparent was gone as well as my first girlfriend (yes, I started early).

Everybody’s smiling in those family photos of course, but that doesn’t mean that we were having a great time. Even on a bad day we all smile for the cameras.

In our old church photos we’re all smiling too, but that doesn’t mean that we had a perfect congregation.

3. Nostalgia promises a world without change.

Back to the photographs: No matter how long we keep them they don’t change. The freezing of the action accomplished by the camera makes us think that things weren’t changing, but we’re mistaken.

In truth, our lives were changing constantly, even back when those photos were taken. Within two years of that eighth birthday I mentioned above – pizza and Coke bottles on the table as usual – we had moved to a new town, my dog had died, my cat had abandoned the family, my siblings and I had hit adolescence with a bang, we were all having a terrible time with the move and my father had a miserable new job.

Things changed more slowly back then, but they did change, and the changes were as unstoppable and unsolicited as they are today.

4. Nostalgia precludes adventure with inertia.

It’s easy to see this fault in others. The Jewish people wanted to return to the security of slavery in Egypt. The first believers didn’t go into “all the world” until they were scattered by persecution. First century Jewish Christians wanted to return to the certainty of the Law of Moses and most of them weren’t interested in reaching Gentiles. My mother wanted to replace her old broken radio with an identical new one. My wife still likes clunky old land-line telephones. Most of us would rather be safe with the familiar than sorry with the unfamiliar. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

But God is always calling us to embrace change, risk and adventure, and sometimes He rocks our world with plagues, persecution, grace, transistors, smart phones, pandemics and much, much more. ……………………………….

Thousands of brave leaders – who will call God’s people to leave their nostalgia and embrace fresh starts – are needed now.

This is a tall order. God’s people must face the reality that their boats have been burned on the beaches of the post-COVID world. There’s no going back to the early Spring of 2020. The leaders who help God’s people to face this will need courage, conviction and patience.

Will you rise to the occasion?

Can you help pastors and lay leaders to rise to the occasion?

After thirty-five years of pastoral ministry, Brian A Thorstad is now serving as a Church Health Consultant with Church Assistance Ministry. He lives with his wife Donna in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. He is the author of three books: Heaven Help Our Church!, Redevelopment: Transitional Pastoring That Transforms Churches, and the newly released A Really Great Church!

Find him at www.helpingchurchesthrive.com

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Wrestling and Winning

By Chris Irving Pro wrestling is staged. No big surprise there but I remember as a kid not knowing that it was staged. My brother and I got wrapped up in each match especially when it involved our favorite wrestlers, the Von Erik brothers. No one could withstand the “Iron Claw.” Only as I grew older did I learn that it was all staged and scripted ahead of time.

The combatants go into the ring with the winner and loser pre-determined. The perceived struggle is all for show and entertainment. But think about the perspective of winner.

He is fighting from a place of knowing that he has already won the match.

I submit to you that the church is in this same kind of struggle. The battle is scripted, to a certain extent, and victory is certain. Now we know that our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), but the struggle in church revitalization is real and we wage war in real time. The victory being certain in Christ implores the church to live in faith, trusting Jesus for the victory in the daily grind of revitalization ministry. Wins, even small wins, bring a great opportunity to learn, grow, and create momentum that leads us to the Heavy Weight Championship of the World for God’s glory and our good.

Small Wins Celebrate God’s Faithfulness Let us acknowledge that we cannot build on wins in the church without first acknowledging the reality of God’s faithfulness. There are no wins in the church without the faithfulness of God. Anything that occurs without Him are the simple accomplishments of man that will eventually

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crumble under pressure because the foundation is based on the thoughts and actions of man and not God’s enduring faithfulness.

Building momentum in church revitalization can be a struggle, but as small victories occur, you must celebrate the truth that God is faithful. A win is like the call to worship of Psalm 145:1-2, “I exalt you, my God the King, and bless your name forever and ever. I will bless you every day; I will praise your name forever ever.” The Church can look back and see God’s faithfulness while looking forward with confidence that He will do it again.

Small Wins Strengthens Community Along the California coastline, there are some of the largest trees in the world, the famous redwood trees. These massive trees share a unique root system where the roots are intertwined underneath the ground. If they are not intertwined, then there is no growth. This connection strengthens not only the individual trees but the whole forest of trees. There is a connectedness in the first church in Acts 2 that creates momentum as the story of the church moves along. The word Luke uses in Acts 2 is “koinonia.” It is a very special word as it simply means that we hold certain things in common.

The one thing that holds the church together is our common belief in Christ Jesus. Without Him we are not the church, and we are not living in biblical community. Fellowship and community lead us to share in the life of Christ

and in life together. It is also true that we share the in the victories of revitalization together. The church shares in the victory because the church goes to battle as a united force.

In wrestling terminology, the church is a tag team. That which unites is the glory of Christ. As the church marks out the course to church health, each step along the way is a victory worth celebrating. Each one of these small victories is another step to building healthy church community.

I can remember my first pastorate in a small community where the cows outnumbered the humans. It was a quiet slice of the rolling hills of Texas. The church leadership created a system of goals and prayed through how God might want us to reach them for His glory. Each time we reached a step, like the purchase of a new piano to aid our worship services, we celebrated that win for God’s glory. Let me make clear that we celebrated God’s faithfulness. Each time we won, it created momentum for the next goal. Momentum has a communal effect. It is like a tidal wave that will sweep across the church and then those on the outside of the community begin to buy in to what God is doing. Building momentum helps strengthen to community.

Small Wins Reinforce the Vision and Values of the Church Wrestlers win because its determined ahead of time how the match will go. Wins in church revitalization are determined also by the vision and values laid out by the church.

Early in the process as you build the guiding coalition, you will have to chart the course before you. This is similar to how the writers will determine who wins the wrestling match. Of course, the guiding coalition will need to chart the course according to the vision and values of the church.

Vision is defined by Gary MacIntosh as “not what you want but rather what God wants for your church.” He goes on to define the vision as God bringing together three things: leadership passion, community needs, and gifts of the church.1 I would define these three aspects of vision with the word values. The vision God has for your church is going to be based on the values He has put into you and the church. The values of the church are birthed out of God’s gifting, God’s passion, and most importantly His Word. If you do not have a clear vision for your church, start with reading the Bible and ask the Lord to show you what His vision is for you.

Let me share with you an example of how the Bible helped me understand God’s vision for the church I was pastoring at the time. I had been on the field going into my 7th year.

We were approaching 2017 and I asked the Lord a simple question, “what do you want for FBC in 2017.” In His Word,

He took me to Luke 20:17 which reads, “But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” That year we began to pray about our foundations in Christ. What were the foundations of the church and her ministries? In 2018, the Lord took me to John 20:18 which says, “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” The vision for 2018 shifted from “Foundations” to “Show them Jesus.” We concentrated on evangelism and mission in 2018 and 2019. Wins were celebrated when someone came to Jesus and followed through with baptism. This is how wins help build momentum and reinforce the vision and values of the church.

Small wins help to reinforce that the vision based on values are on track with what God is leading the church to do and be for His glory and the church’s good. Celebrating the win helps create that momentum and for us to know that God’s vision has captured the hearts and minds of the church.

Small Wins Renew Commitment to the Cause Revitalization is a long process. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Renovate’s Founding Father Tom Cheyney tell us in class that church revitalization takes a minimum of 1,000 days. Friend, that is a long time. Some churches may not have that long to live, and others may take longer. But the reality is we must remain committed to the cause of church revitalization. It’s what we do as revitalizers. I enjoy running a good 5k. Prior to an ankle injury, my time was improving. But one thing I always enjoy is around the halfway point of the race, there is usually a table set up with cups of water. I drink about half the cup and pour the rest on my head. It is refreshing, and in a way, that water renews my commitment to finish the race. One thing is certain that we have a race marked out before us and we must run this race to completion.

Friend, press on to the end because the script is already written. Jesus wins. He is the champion, and no one can change the script. Because Jesus wins…the church wins.

Celebrate it!

Dr. Chris Irving serves as Senior Pastor of Coastal Oaks Church in Rockport, TX. He led two rural churches to health through revitalization and is currently involved in a revitalization work at Coastal Oaks. He is the husband of Amber, and father to Matt, Jake, Karalyn, Katie, Kylie, Marley, Ben, Max, and Nova.

1 McIntosh, Gary L. There’s Hope for Your Church: First Steps to Restoring Health and Growth. (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, MI) 74.

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Sabotage “Do You Smell What The Rock Is Cooking?”

By Rob Myers Did you know that most pastors cut and run under the negative influence, or threats, of merely 7% of their congregation?

Let’s lay that issue to rest and determine to be the leader who has been assigned by God to lead his flock. Most of those people who are vocal and rebellious (note this), usually don’t have many friends! I want to focus on a more insidious problem, the issue of sabotage that is “S.B.D.” Silent, But Deadly!

Like the double entendre that I am using here, you can usually smell it before you figure out where it is coming from!

So let us assume that you have done everything right in your preparation to lead the church to greener pastures and, for some reason, when you give the signal or sound charge on the bugle, everyone seems to run for the cracks in the floor like roaches when the lights come on. When I smell this cooking, I return to an evaluation that is healthy. The book, Natural Church Development by Christian Scwarz, gives great analytic tools for assessing the health of an organization, but it does not fix the issues of the S.B.D. So, I want to lead you through a simple process that I have developed which is: Relational Mapping of your Church. The idea is to learn your church’s relational culture so you can sniff out where your problems are originating from. In this case let’s do this order: Who, What, Where, When and How. Who is throwing out the anchor, paddling, or steering a different direction, influencing the negative Nancys? Here is a checklist that you can print out and make your own notes on:

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Staff Staff should never be a source because that is clear insubordination. If a staff person is holding back the situation, it must be fixed quickly. A write-up and/or dismissal are the minimum; that is if you have been absolutely clear about your direction. (Your notes on this area) Deacons Deacons are to serve at the will of the pastor, making his load lighter so he can focus on more spiritual things. They are not to give orders to the pastor or the church, but they can be affected by other models of churches where the deacons are a board of directors and run the church. In our church we had to flush out the non-Biblical “boss model” and wait six years to implement a new model of Deacons who serve. The former were a source of holding the church back and the new are marvelous and are at our side in vision and service. This was one of the main “fixes,” we accomplished that has made us a very health church. (Your notes on this area) Small Group Leaders Small group leaders can be a marvelous group of influencers in the body of Christ. When properly trained and resourced they can become the front door keepers of your church in community. However, when selected quickly with little to no screening, they can become a disaster. When you hear possessive phrases like “my small group,” or comments that they don’t like the curriculum, don’t try to reform the leader…

move the leader out of leadership and relocate the attenders in that group. Our small group lessons are generated by our small group’s pastor based on the sermon from the previous Sunday. That keeps everyone focused and on the same page.

We spend a lot of time on leadership development and discipleship with these folks. It’s the personal touch that is important! (Your notes on this area) Choirs Choirs can be glorious, but they can also steer the church by starving the resources of time and steering the direction of the calendar. Many churches are eliminating this ministry rather than let it be an all-consuming church program. People can only do so much. Many choirs operate as a church within a church. They can become myopic and focused on only one thing. How many of you have seen choirs begin prep for Easter right after Christmas and visa-versa? If you are going to have a choir, your director has to really guide them to other ministries and work with everyone on timing. (Your notes on this area) Praise Team The people on the praise and worship team are seen as de-facto leaders in your church. If they are carnal or egotistical, they can make everything about them, and send glaring double standard messages to the congregation. We don’t pay standard musicians, nor do we have a “green room” for them to retire to during and between services. Does the 1st impressions team get a green room, or the children’s workers? We require them to all attend one service fully; to go through our class structures (i.e. class 101). They must be in a small group. They must act like a team and be flexible. Because of their perceived leadership in the church, they need to attend church counsels so they can get on the same page as the rest of the church. They are the cheer leaders for the vision of the church! (Your notes on this area) Senior Adults Ralph Neighbour wrote a book entitled The Seven Last Words of the Church. The key phrase of his book was: “We’ve never done it that way before.” This is the mantra of seniors who are mainly dead now (Ralph R.I.P. May 19, 2019). On the other hand, Paul McCartney is now 79 and kicking out music still.

Seniors have come a long way, but if they are disgruntled they need to be visited and brought into the planning of the hip new thing you are trying to pull off. They usually don’t drag their feet if not ignored but can give you pleasant support if they are asked for it. (Your notes on this area)

the organization? Here are some, but definitely not all, of the issues that sabotage the goals of the church that you can look for in the groups or individuals that we have already mentioned.

What: • Fear of unknown • Uncertainty • Change • Laziness • Time issues • Program fatigue • Prayer ministry during first impressions time The next step is to find out Where the sabotage is occurring.

Where is the source getting traction to be heard? Where is the seed being planted? The goal here is to intercept the saboteur and implement damage control. A lot of pastors fail at this point. The saboteur has sown what the Bible describes as seeds of division. Part of the job of the pastor is to foster unity. This must not be done brutally to those who have been infected, but with surgical precision and loads of love.

When goes hand in glove with location and can be dealt with. The only real caution is to not wait, deal with this quickly as soon as you have all the facts.

How is the after-the-fact analysis. When all is done, learn this problem, so that it does not repeat. If it is a problem related to your flaws or the flaws of the organization, learn from them and fix them.

Rob Myers is the Pastor of Miami Baptist Church a turn around church located in the multi-lingual community in South Florida. Rob has been in ministry for more than 39 years. He has been in church planting and pastoral leadership for 36 of those years, which includes 15 years as the Senior Pastor of Miami Baptist Church. His is Adjunct Professor of Indiana Wesleyan University and President of Baptist World Charities. Rob has an earned Doctorate in Ministry Leadership from John Wesley University, a M.Div. from Southwestern Seminary and a B.A. From Palm Beach Atlantic University.

After the analysis of Who, move to the What. What is the cause of this person or group’s overt, or covert, sabotage of

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Churches in Revitalization

By Scott Brown Years ago, I heard a very simple sermon that has always stuck with me. The preacher made the point that every believer likely found themselves in one of three places in their walk with Christ: Rut, Rot, or Revival. One might not realize they are in a rut. They aren’t making any real forward motion in their walk with Christ but they are also not going backward. It gets easier just to stay where they are in that rut rather than do the work of digging out and moving forward. As they stay in that rut they slowly begin to rot. This, too, may be subtle and the person may not see it at first but the rot slowly creeps in as they stay in that rut. Or, as the preacher described, the believer can dig out of the rut and shake off the rot through recognition of their situation and repentance changing from what they’ve been doing to what they need to be doing. This leads to revival, a work of God in and through their life that would not have been possible otherwise.

I consider this goes for churches as well. It is a subtle thing when a church falls into a rut. We may be busy with a full calendar and lots of activity but we are just stuck in a rut. We keep busy spinning our tires seeming to only dig that rut deeper. For too many churches, they begin to slowly rot by settling into that rut and continuing the same plans and practices that may have once worked but now leave them lifeless and limp. The same answer can bring a church and a Christian into revival. There must be an honest recognition of the situation and a conscious decision that something can be and must be done about it.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a therapy tool that helps to retrain the way a person thinks and speaks about themselves and their world around them, leading to a change in the way they interpret their experiences and act toward them. Cognitive Behav-

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ioral Therapy is a tool that effective revitalizers learn to use in their churches to dig them out of ruts and shake off former rot. Revitalizers learn to dig out the rut by helping the church to see its situation clearly yet hopefully. Many churches may be stuck without realizing it while others are deeply entrenched in what keeps them stuck. Some resign themselves to being a “small church” or a type of museum that preserves the past with no vision for the future. The revitalizer must change the way the church views itself and its mission and one of the best ways is to change the narrative the church tells itself.

I never allow pastors to describe their church as a “small church.” There are churches with all kinds of numbers on Sunday but there are no small churches in God’s eyes. Throughout Scripture, God does the greatest things through the least of people. Being small in number has never been an excuse to expect small things from God or not attempt great things for Him. The congregation that chooses to view itself as “just a small church” is teaching itself and its community a weak view of God. God chose Gideon those he was the least of his family who were the least in Israel. God

chose David who wasn’t even considered by his own father before Samuel. He chooses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. He chose me and he chose you. “Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6).

A key aspect to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is goal setting. If we are ever going to win, we have to know how to keep score. It is key to set clear, achievable, and measurable goals. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. For a church that hasn’t baptized anyone in a few years, it might be to baptize two people this year.

Make a goal that is clear and measurable, then keep it in the forefront. Remind people about it, write about it, talk about it, work toward it. When you achieve it, celebrate and set a bigger goal.

In trying to retrain the way a church thinks about itself, revitalizers change the things they celebrate.

What we celebrate reveals what matters most to us.

Drawing attention to what God is doing, making a big deal out of salvations and baptisms, highlighting any positive change in attendance or attitudes can go

a long way. I try to find one thing to highlight every time I communicate with the church. Every article, every service, every church wide email I find something positive to draw attention toward. Sometimes it’s easy, “It was awesome to have baptism Sunday!”

Sometimes it’s harder, “What a great deacon meeting we had last week!” Whatever we celebrate we imitate so we will see more of the behavior that we praise the most. I share every week about a gospel conversation I had. I get excited, I thank God for the opportunity, I talk about how I found the opportunity. Over time I’ve been able to share others’ stories as well. I make an enormous deal about seeing other people talk about Jesus. I just can’t praise that enough. I talk about how great it is to serve a soul winning church. I do this because that’s how I want them to see themselves and what I want them to become.

Finally, I allow people to speak honestly about the pains they’ve felt through church or about the missteps of our church in the past but I never tolerate slander about my faith family, especially from my faith family. For better or worse, these are my people.

I want them to be the faith family there is. The words we repeat about ourselves we begin to believe. “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21). I want my people to dig out of their rut, shake off the rot, and have revival. This means we have to change the way we think about our church, talk about our God, and live our lives.

Dr. Scott Brown is the pastor of First Baptist Waverly, Tn. He is a church revitalizer and a revitalization coach with Renovate. He is passionate about equipping and encouraging leaders toward the great and godly work of church revitalization.

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Evangelize Without Talking to Strangers Acts 2:41-47

By Bud Brown MAIN IDEA Evangelism is simply talking with friends and other interested people about Jesus.

INTRODUCTION If surveyed the social, religious, and political landscape in 50 AD, you’d conclude, “Christianity is going nowhere.” It was one of many cults in the Roman Empire, led by misfits who argued about what to serve dinner guests. Judaism, from which it arose, persecuted the Christians. Even the Romans noticed and persecuted Christians who refused emperor worship. But Christianity not only survived, it also triumphed. But you know the story.

Within a few generations—an instant in time from the historical perspective—the gospel penetrated the world.

So, how did a hapless, persecuted cult become world’s preeminent religion? Perhaps what worked then-and-there will work here-and-now to spread the gospel here at home Keep that question in mind while we revisit life in ancient Ephesus.

I. ANCIENT EPHESUS WAS LIKE 21ST CENTURY AMERICA.

By New Testament times Ephesus was one of the most important of cities in early Christianity. Built on a natural harbor on the west coast of modern-day Turkey, Ephesus became the largest commercial center west of the Taurus mountains. It sat in a rich, fertile valley protected by mountain ranges. This made the area easy to defend.

When caravans approached through mountain passes, they followed a marble paved road, lined with masonry, and decorated with lavish carved stone statues that led to the Agora, the public market. Wealth was seen everywhere in this vibrant center of culture, learning, and the arts. It was a boisterous center of trade and commerce. It had shopping plazas, a theatre, sports venues, parks and green spaces, grand public buildings, and plenty of entertainment to keep everyone busy.

It was an important seat of government for the Roman empire.

Homes had tile floors, frescoed walls, polished marble panels, running water, and—in some cases—heated bathrooms. In many ways life in Ephesus was similar to life in any modern city of 250,000 minus cellphones, internet, computers, radio, and television. People worked, raised families, enjoyed recreation, buried their loved ones, and hoped for life after death.

We pick up the story of Paul’s work in Acts 19.

And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and did not 8

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believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

II. EVANGELISM IS TELLING RECEPTIVE PEOPLE AND FRIENDS ABOUT JESUS. Let’s rest on that last clause for a moment. “All who dwelt in Asia head the word of the Lord Jesus…” This refers to the gospel promise that God gives eternal life to all who believe in Jesus.

When he wrote to the church, he emphasized the gracious nature of God’s promise.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) …. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

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God’s scandalous grace is offensive to the world. The world’s religions assert that we must earn the right to enter heaven.

They imagine God maintains a scrupulous ledger that totals up our good and bad deeds. But that’s not God, that’s Santa Claus.

Quite the opposite; he gives eternal life to all who believe in Jesus. All God asks is that you believe this promise. If you haven’t believed in Jesus for eternal life, perhaps today is your day!

Let’s return to Acts 19 and notice verse 9. Here we find the first timeless principle that explains how the early church took the world by storm.

A. #1: EVANGELISM IS TELLING RECEPTIVE PEOPLE ABOUT JESUS. When Paul entered a new city he always began teaching where Jewish worshipers gathered. He taught as long as they would listen. When they refused to listen any further, he’d turn to willing Gentiles who eagerly listened to the message of Jesus.

This is how Jesus wants it done. The first time he sent disciples out to proclaim the gospel he told them, “whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.” In other words, don’t try persuading people who don’t want to hear it. You’ll only create resentment and harden them against the faith.

To me, that comes as a great relief. Evangelism isn’t about talking to strangers or people hardened against the gospel. As Jesus taught, and as Paul demonstrated, the first principle is that evangelism is telling receptive people about Jesus.

B. #2: EVANGELISM IS TELLING PEOPLE YOU KNOW ABOUT JESUS. Let’s return to Acts 19 and see what else we can use in our situation. So, we know that Paul taught publicly about Jesus for two years. So many believed in Jesus, and began living for him, that others took notice. The tsunami wave of new believers hit the business community where it hurts—in the pocketbook. Let’s pick up the narrative at verse 23.

And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. 25 He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. 26 Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.”

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Verse 26 repeats verse 10. “All who dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus.” When the Bible repeats something we should pay attention. The significance of this repetition is easier to grasp if we look at a map. If you locate Ephesus on a Bible map, you’ll find it on the West coast of Asia Minor. The gospel spread from there over the course of two years to the cities of Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Colossae. The combined population of those cities was probably over one million people. In every city of Asia people believed in Jesus, spread the message to others, and gathered together to form indigenous churches. And it all happened while the apostle Paul stayed put in Ephesus.

How? How did the gospel spread so, far so rapidly?

What does this teach us about reaching our community?

Remember, Ephesus was a great seaport. This and the highways into and out of the city made it a centre of travel and commerce that linked markets in Europe and Asia. People traveled from those aforementioned cities in the interior to conduct business in Ephesus. Many of these business travelers heard Paul talk about Jesus as they strolled through the Agora to shop, to barter, and to trade. People in the ancient world loved news and gossip as much as anybody, so there’s no doubt that all who heard this new teaching told family and friends when they returned home. And that is the 2nd principle that will help us crack this town wide open for the gospel. Evangelism is talking about Jesus with people you already know.

So, let’s pull all of this together and see what wisdom there may be in it for us. Paul’s ministry and the gospel’s spread from Ephesus illustrates two timeless truths, two unchanging principles that work any time, any place.

1. Evangelism is telling receptive people about Jesus.

2. Evangelism is telling people you know about Jesus.

Bottom line is this: Evangelism is simply talking with friends and other interested people about Jesus.

III. APPLICATION The Church is a living organism and a missional organization made of believers who adapt their evangelism to fit the mission

field. New outreach methods grow from the desire to reach as many as possible. This happens when changes in the mission field necessitates new ways to effectively proclaim the unchanging message. But, like the methods that preceded them, these new methods will eventually fail to produce results as the mission field continues to change and evolve.

But because we’re creatures of habit, we ignore the fact that once useful methods need to be changed. Instead, we treat our methods as if holding on to them was the mission. We ignore the contradiction until the pain of decline forces us to seek church revitalization. That’s where we find ourselves today.

Before the tsunami known as 2020 swept over us, 75% or more of American churches were in serious decline. As 2021 unravels before us, the churches will continue to deteriorate at an accelerated rate.

It’s time for this church to evaluate one of our primary mission tools—how we do evangelism. If we are to revitalize this congregation, we must seek new methods to proclaim the gospel to a nation descending into the chaos of paganism and rebellion against God. A. TWO PRINCIPLES TO OBSERVE. Paul’s ministry in Ephesus demonstrated two unchanging principles of evangelism. These are our way off the plateau on which this church is stuck.

1. Evangelism is telling receptive people about Jesus.

2. Evangelism is telling people you know about Jesus.

B. THREE ACTIONS Finally, there are three things each of should do.

1. Vow you will not be defeated or discouraged by people who don’t want to hear the gospel. God intends for us to speak with receptive people.

2. Come up with three short conversation starters that invite others into a spiritual discussion.

3. Compile a list of people you know; they may not be close friends, just acquaintances you know or see regularly during your typical week. Pray over that list at least weekly. Ask God to create interest and a chance for a gospel conversation.

Now, pay attention to people. Listen for clues that reveal their degree of receptivity. Be ready to step in with one of your preplanned conversation starters. If they agree, begin what may be a protracted discussion over many months in which you explain the gospel, answer their questions, and invite them to believe.

I’m asking you to do this as your pastor because evangelism and conversion growth are the quickest and simplest way to revitalize this church and restore its former glory.

Bud Brown has ministered in a wide variety of settings, from small rural to mid-sized suburban to rapidly growing megachurches. He has trained and mentored international students, intentional interim pastors, doctoral students, and now serves as president of Turnaround Pastors (www.turnaroundpastor.com).

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Do Not Be the Church of Irony

By Joel Breidenbaugh When we encounter something which is the last thing we would ever expect, it can be ironic, like the Associated Press’s report in 1984 of 300 mailmen receiving their paychecks 3 days late because they were lost in the mail! Or how about when a Universal executive dismissed both Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds at a meeting in 1959. To Burt Reynolds, he said: “You have no talent.” He told Clint Eastwood: “You have a chip on your tooth, your Adam’s apple sticks out too far, and you talk too slow.” Or how about when a United artists executive, dismissing the suggestion that Ronald Reagan should be offered the starring role in the movie, “The Best Man” in 1964: “Reagan doesn’t have the Presidential look.”1 Those are ironies. But churches can experience ironies, too. The church that criticizes every growing church for its outreach but doesn’t use any form of outreach itself is a bit of an irony. Or the church that says it wants to reach its community only to have people say, “We don’t want those people here” is ironic. Or the church that wanted to reach young people “but not with their music!” Churches can miss out on health and growth because As we come to the final letter of the seven church of Revelation 1-3,” we look at Laodicea as “The Church of Irony.”

Revelation 3:14-22 14 ”And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. 15I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!

16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17For you say, I am rich, I have 1 Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky, The Experts Speak, 1984.

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prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Setting While John the Apostle was exiled on the island of Patmos for his faith in Jesus, he received this revelation concerning the 7 churches of Asia Minor toward the end of the 1st century, around AD 95.

Laodicea was 11 miles west of Colossae and 6 miles south of Hierapolis (cf. Colossians 4:13). Laodicea was situated along 3 major imperial roads, sort of like Interstates today— think of Atlanta with I-75, I-85, and I-20 running through it. Laodicea quickly advanced as a leading commercial center—its wool industry flourished through the production and export of black wool (and the associated costly garments). Laodicea also had a world-famous medical school specializing in ear and eye care, including an ointment or salve for inflamed eyes.

The city was so productive that when an earthquake devastated the city in AD 60, the city declined Rome’s offer of financial assistance to rebuild and rebuilt on its own power.

How many cities could rebuild themselves if they were decimated today without the help of the federal government?

With so much prosperity, it’s a wonder Laodicea had any needs. But it lacked in one major area—drinkable water. The city relied on aqueducts to pipe in the hot water springs from Hierapolis (with its calcium carbonate) or the cold mountain waters of Colossae. By the time either type of water reached Laodicea, it was lukewarm. Understanding this issue helps interpret and apply what Jesus said to this church.

In light of this passage and the background, I want to give you 4 areas to incorporate in your life and the life of your church to avoid becoming “The Church of Irony.” By avoiding the likes of the church of Laodicea, you can progress in the Christian faith.

Lean on Christ for His Work in Creation as the Agent in Creation (3:14) Each of the 7 letters in Revelation 2-3 begins with a reminder of Jesus’ description from chapter 1. Here, Jesus is called the “Amen,” which means He is true or faithful. Just to make sure no one misses it, Jesus adds He is “the faithful and true witness.” He tells us these things about Himself as a reminder so we can trust Him and what He says.

When people are called on a witness stand in America, you have to swear “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God.” But few people do that, because they tell the truth of a particular question, but they don’t provide the whole truth on a related issue, because too much information may tip the scales in favor of the prosecution. While some people may hide information, Jesus is completely open and honest with this church because He speaks faithfully and truthfully.

Jesus also describes Himself as “the beginning of God’s creation.” Some translations say “the firstborn of God’s creation,” but it could also be translated as “the ruler of God’s creation.” Jesus is not claiming to be created but He’s claiming to be the “Head of all creation.” When you read Genesis 1:1-2 and John 1:1-3 together, you see all 3 members of the Trinity actively involved in creation. Jesus is claiming to be the agent in creation. We can lean on Him or trust Him because He is the Creator.

Learn from Christ for His Work in Redemption Instead of Your Cultural Conditioning (3:15-18) After Jesus identifies Himself, He cuts straight to the heart of the matter with the church. He says to them, “I know your works” (3:15). Apparently, the works were so incomplete, they weren’t even worth mentioning!

The Lord adds, “you are neither cold nor hot” (3:1516). Note how the notion of “neither cold nor hot” occurs three times in some form in these two verses. Many preachers fail to do a proper background study on Laodicea and claim Jesus either wants you on fire for Him or cold (lost with the

willingness to listen) rather than lukewarm. One of the questions I have about this interpretation is where is spiritual coldness ever defined as a willingness to listen to the gospel?

As I stated before, the hot, medicinal springs of Hierapolis were only 6 miles away and many used it to treat their ailments. Furthermore, the cold mountain water of Colossae was only 11 miles away and many used it for the refreshment of thirst. By the time either type of water was carried to Laodicea, it was lukewarm and revolting. What Jesus is saying here is that He wants you to provide spiritual refreshment to the tired and weary or spiritual comfort and healing to the sick and hurting. But the Lord does not want you to offer a lukewarm ministry which is completely ineffective.

In the wintertime or early of a morning, you may want a hot drink of coffee or hot chocolate to warm you and get you going. Or in the middle of a hot day, you may want cold water or Gatorade to cool you off. But who in the world ever wants lukewarm water or lukewarm coffee? No one, but you want to spew it out.

The church had evidently been conditioned by her culture because she relied on her own strength for riches and prosperity, needing nothing. She prided herself on independence and self-sufficiency, like so many in our community today, when in fact the people of the church were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind & naked! The fable The Emperor Has No Clothes was a reality for these people—so much for their eye salve and expensive clothing!

Just as Jesus called them, He also calls us to learn from Him and rely on Him for real riches and white garments of a right standing by faith in Him. He also provides spiritual anointing to see things the way He wants us to see them.

We are a culturally-conditioned people—we want a parking spot so we don’t have too far to walk, the padded seats we are used to sitting in, the right temperature, and the right length of service or we complain. Furthermore, most Christians in America rely on their own financial strength and don’t tithe but focus on how nice a vacation they can have or additional houses or vehicles or boats or the nicest things in their home. Please understand me, those things in and of themselves are not necessarily evil, but when our standards and cost of living is so great we say we cannot tithe, we are practicing evil and relying on our finances to take care of us rather than give to the Lord and adjust our lifestyles. Just a few years ago, my family was living on less than $40,000 a year in Panama City Beach with 4 kids and we didn’t take nice vacations or have fancy vehicles, and we owned just a simple house but we never considered not tithing as an option.

Sure, we could have had nicer things and not tithed but what would that have taught our kids?

On this issue, some people try to be spiritual and claim they don’t give to the church because they don’t agree with everything the church does or they want more information before they provide their investment. But I don’t know

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half of what the government does and much of what it does I disagree with, like abortion on demand, homosexual marriages, etc. But I still pay my taxes because Jesus said to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).

One area to incorporate in your life and in your church to avoid becoming the church of irony is to lean on Christ for His work of creation. Another area is to learn from Christ for His work in redemption. A third area is for us to…

Listen to Christ for His Work in Correction and Seek a Social Connection with Him (3:19-20) Once the Lord tells the church what is wrong, He instructs them on what to do to fix their problem. Fixing it includes discipline and that’s a word many like to avoid today. But Jesus loves His people enough to reprove and discipline them, just like we love our children enough to do the same (cf. Hebrews 12:5-6).

Jesus adds, “so be zealous and repent.” To be “zealous” is the same as being “hot” or “fervent” for the Lord (cf.

Romans 12:11) and “repentance” means to change your ways. The Lord told them and He tells us to be fervent for Him and turn away from our sin and self-sufficiencies.

Jesus then provides this image of standing on the outside of the church and knocking on the door, desiring to enter and fellowship with His people. Note that this is a text of fellowship for those that are outside of fellowship, not a text on relationship via salvation.

With desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones at our disposal today and wifi connections everywhere, most Americans are concerned about staying connected so they can interact socially via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the like. Again, those things are not evil in and of themselves, but Christians get conditioned to these things and we are so busy trying to interact socially with our “friends” that we fail to fellowship and socially connect with our Lord through prayer and time in His Word.

The Lord has addressed our need to lean on Him, learn from Him, and listen to Him. But He also wants us to…

Look to Christ for His Work in Glorification & Your Future Reign with Him (3:21-22) For the seventh and final time, Jesus gives a promise to the “one who conquers” and you only conquer through “the blood of the Lamb and the word of [your] testimony” (12:11). You must trust in Christ and His sacrifice for you and let that be part of your life story Jesus will grant His people the right to sit with Him on His throne, just as He has done with His Father. Je-

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sus will give His followers the right to rule with Him, under His authority, not over it or beside it, just as He rules under the authority of the Father (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:24-28). We will be as “co-heirs” with Christ (Romans 8:17).

When our kids were babies and toddlers, I’d often let them sit on my lap while we ate at home or in a restaurant (that’s one reason why I quit wearing white shirts).

Even today, when they finish eating, it isn’t uncommon for my youngest children to come to me and sit on my lap at the table. It is a special place they have access to because of their relationship with me and we will have access to the throne of Christ because of a personal relationship with Him. Conclusion Each part of this letter to the church of Laodicea offers significant areas for improvement. Churches who take this letter to heart should not continue to decline but should become healthy and primed for growth. I believe that’s what you want or you wouldn’t be reading this message.

You know, in many ways, American churches often have more in common with the church of Laodicea than with any of the other churches in this list. We usually don’t have to deal with a lot of idolatry and heresy, as might be common in other countries, though we do encounter some issues of immorality. But what I mean is in the area of independence and self-sufficiency. Many American churches have members who tend to live in well-todo neighborhoods with better jobs and a higher social standing than many poorer Americans. And even the poor among us in America have much more than the poor in the vast majority of countries. We best take these words of Christ to heart and avoid lukewarm Christianity and a lack of fellowship with Christ or He will spit us out. But why would the Lord spit out American churches if we carry the hope for America and the hope for the world? Ironic isn’t it?

Joel Breidenbaugh PhD, is the Lead Pastor of Gospel Centered Church in Apopka, Florida and is an Assistant Professor of Homiletics for Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity.

King of the Fence Sitters

By Mark Weible INTRODUCTION When I pastored a church in Texas, we kept the kids in the worship service during the music and then we would invite them to come and sit on the floor at the front of the auditorium. I would sit on the steps and share a simple “children’s sermon” usually with an object lesson before the main sermon. This was done strategically because I wanted the adults to see and hear the object lesson, which always directly related to the “rest of the sermon” (pronounced with Paul Harvey-like emphasis). I did this because Jesus often used object to teach a lesson and I discovered that, for many of the adults, this was the most memorable part of the sermon.

One Sunday, I brought a pot of dirt with me with no flowers, no plant – just dirt. I explained to the children (and the adults) that we had several of these around our house and I never knew if a new plant was going to sprout in that pot or if one had just died. Then, I glanced at my wife who gave me an unapproving look but I managed to get a chuckle out of the crowd. I told the children that I found some seeds in a drawer in an un-marked package. The seeds had been in that drawer for so long that the ink had faded, and no one knew what kind of seeds they were. So, I decided to plant them in this pot.

Since I did not know what kind of seeds they were and I did not know what kind of plants they would produce, I

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had not committed to watering the seeds. I told the children that I was just going to wait for the seeds to sprout before I decided to water the plants or to pull them up and throw them away. The children responded spontaneously by saying, “No, if you don’t water them, they will not grow!”

Well, just as I had hoped, the kids made the main point of my sermon – You can’t wait to see the results before you commit to the project.

BACKGROUND In Acts Chapter 5, we read the story of the apostles of Jesus in their early days of post-resurrection ministry. Verses 12-15 tell us that the apostles gathered in the temple area known as Solomon’s Portico. We know that the apostles were held in high esteem by the people, miracles were being performed there and that large numbers of men and women were believing in Jesus. The high priest and the Sadducees did not approve of what was going on, in fact, verse 17 says that they were jealous. So, they had the apostles arrested. But an angel of God let them out of prison and gave them instructions to go back to the temple and continue to proclaim the good news of Jesus.

The apostles obliged and at daybreak, they were back in the temple teaching again. Now, the high priest and the Sadducees had intended to put these men on trial and when they sent the officers to retrieve them from the prison, they weren’t there! Look at verse 22, ““We found the prison se-

curely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Then in verse 25, someone came in and said, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Now, the captain of the guard and the officers were afraid. Not, because God had let the men that they wanted to prosecute out of prison. No, they were afraid of the people. So, instead of arresting the apostles again, they persuaded them to come before the Sanhedrin.

In verse 28, the high priest began to question them by saying, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Look how Peter and the apostles responded in verse 29.

“We must obey God rather than men.” When the apostles continued by proclaiming the gospel to the Sanhedrin, the council became angry and wanted to kill the apostles. Just then, a Pharisee named Gamaliel stepped in to save the day with a compromise. Now Gamaliel was highly thought of as a Pharisee.

OUTLINE: I. GAMALIEL’S PLAN a. Lessons from history (35-37) b. Leave them alone (38a) II. GAMALIEL’S RATIONALLE a. If it is a man’s plan, it will fail (38b) b. If it is God’s plan, it cannot fail (39a) c. You don’t want to oppose God (39b) III. GAMALIEL’S MISTAKE a. It was God’s plan b. Gamaliel did not support it c. People got hurt (v. 40) CONCLUSION: Gamaliel is often viewed as the hero of this story, but I don’t see it that way at all. Gamaliel is not the hero; he is the villain. Gamaliel’s inaction resulted in the Apostle’s being physically beaten and commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus again – a direct contradiction to the commands of Christ in Matthew 28. Gamaliel’s response to the gospel was not to act in faith, but to respond in fear. He feared the people and he feared his fellow Phrases. Gamaliel, at this point in his life, missed out on the blessings of God and possibly eternal life through Christ.

APPLICATION We are facing many challenges in our church today and we have a bold opportunity before us to step out in faith. Now, some of you have embraced that opportunity while some of you have indicated that you are not yet ready to accept the challenge. You have asked for time to pray and to process the information that has been presented to you and, as you agree, you have been given plenty of time. Now is the time to make a choice. You can’t just sit on the fence like Gamaliel and say, “If it is of God, it will succeed and if it is not of God, it will fail.” That is a cowardly statement.

Gamaliel had a chance to become a follower of Jesus and to join the movement that he started. However, he chose to sit on the fence and watch what happens. Just like my pot of dirt here. I have to make a commit to water the seeds and norther the plant. An if I don’t, I’ll miss out on a blessing and end up with what I have now – a dead pot of dirt.

Jesus said in Luke 9:50, that is someone is not for you, they are against you. Well Gamaliel was certainly not for the Apostles – he did nothing to keep them from being beaten and He did nothing to advance the cause of the Gospel.

Gamaliel did not even have faith the size of a mustard seed.

How about you? Where do you stand? All of the information has been presented to you, you’ve weighed the pros and the cons. What have you decided? Are you going to stay on the fence or step out in faith? There is no honor in the middle. It is either yes or no, up or down, hot or cold.

Jesus said in Revelation 3:16, that if you want to be a fence sitter, He wants nothing to do with you: “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Now is your chance to do the right thing.

Mark Weible serves as the Church Planting Director of the Greater Orlando Baptist Association and the strategic Director of the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference. Mark has a wealth of experience as a church planter and local church coach. Mark is passionate about church multiplication, renewal, planting, and coaching.

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We’re Burying the Wrong People

By Matt Henslee Change is hard. As church revitalizers or replanters, we know this to be true. Whether it is overhauling systems and structures or changing something innocuous like carpet, if you want to test the thickness of your skin, just change something—even if it is the bulletin layout! You might see more pitchforks and torches than water stains on the ceiling tiles.

And if you want to change those, they might decide to bury you with them!

As I said, change is hard, but it is also necessary. Maybe the logo is 90s-era clipart, or perhaps you discover Bro. So and So uses his Sunday School class as a weekly political rant-fest or rally. Maybe the letters on your sign have seen better days, or perhaps their idea of a projector involves transparencies. The list of changes you might need to make over time is limitless, but one thing is as certain as death and taxes: opposition.

A few months ago, I got to hang out with a few pastors. We talked about our families, our spiritual walks, and our churches. In this tiny sample size of pastors, all of us, by God’s grace, shared encouraging things happening in our lives. All of our families seemed to be thriving, as were our walks with the Lord. By all accounts, everything was going well––until we got to the topic of our churches.

Some were growing and facing spiritual warfare. Some were declining and battling discouragement. One was open and honest about struggling with complacency. We talked through our varied experiences, but one went silent. No one noticed at first as we went back and forth in our discussion, but then one member of the group asked, “What about you, Bartholomew (name has been changed)?”

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“Can I be real for a moment? We are burying the wrong people.”

An awkward, uncomfortable silence ensued, and he added, “I’d heard some churches are a few moves or funerals away from health, but the wrong people are moving or dying, y’all.

I’m just struggling.”

After the immediate feelings of ‘what did you just say’ ran their course, each of us empathized with the struggle and began to offer much-needed encouragement to this dear brother at the end of his rope. He had been implementing changes in his church, and some of his biggest supporters passed away in only a few months. Unfortunately, the deaths only served to embolden his opposition.

Therefore, with fewer people in his corner as he navigated necessary changes, the naysayers seemed magnified in his mind. As we pursue change amid our revitalization efforts, it can be tempting to merely want the right people to get out of the way so our efforts are more effortless. Maybe you have been there, too, and you might have even prayed as I have, “Lord, just get Mrs. So and So out of the way.”

Addition by subtraction.

In one of my church revitalization seminars at The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Kenneth Priest pushed back on the adage of “addition by subtraction.” During the discussion, I pushed back against his argument, although he made an excellent case for it that began to change my outlook. His convicting counsel had more to do with humility.

Yes, sometimes it might seem like a good thing when someone, especially someone who appears to be in the way, moves on. But pastor, tread carefully here. After all, we have one enemy, the evil one, and rarely (if ever) a church member.

In fact, our biggest struggle will almost always be our pride and the temptation to celebrate the departure of someone we’ve chalked up to as the enemy. When a member seems to oppose us at every turn, it is easy to move them into the same category as the devil himself.

And I get it.

If you are leading change, there will be opposition. And that opposition may be influenced by our true enemy, but brothers, be careful. We do not know their hearts; we do not know their motivations. It could just be an adverse reaction to change.

Our church has grown as high as 325% in my time here.

Many changes had to be made for this to happen, of course.

Most celebrated and embraced the changes in a reinvigorated church. Most, but not all. Some changes saw opposition, and others led to departures. To be honest, it was tempting to be disheartened by the opposition and celebrate the departures. Honestly, it was also tempting to scrap it all and go elsewhere.

As you aim to see God revitalize the church you are pastoring, stay focused on preaching, praying, loving (yes, even the hard to love), and staying. It is easy to let a few naysayers take your focus off the main thing or throw in the towel too soon.

Don’t. Stay focused.

2. Do not give up on anyone.

In a given church, you will have your fans, your foes, and those on the fence. Your fans will love you even if you preach in a hideous Christmas suit (trust me, I have tried this). Your foes only celebrate if you leave. Those on the fence are still undecided, but a few things...

• Don’t let your fans give you a big head.

• Don’t let your foes make you wish you were dead.

Whether a fan, foe, or fence-sitter––all are made in God’s image, loved by Him, and placed by Him in your church. Accordingly, if we genuinely believe passages like Philippians 1:6, knowing God will not quit on ‘em––will you?

3. Do not give up on yourself.

Just get out of the way.

You’re putting in the hard work of sermon prep, training your folks well to share their faith, and seeing (or not seeing) growth. As you are leading and face opposition, it will feel like you’re not enough.

When I speak with pastors, especially pastors doing the hard work of revitalization or replanting, I sense a similar struggle.

Most do not come out with it as blunt as “we are burying the wrong people,” but we do tend to share a hope that some people would just get out of the way.

Mrs. So and So sends that negative email on a Monday, and you are just done. Well, let Spurgeon cheer you up: “If anyone thinks ill of you, don’t be angry with them, for you are far worse than they think you to be.” Encouraging, huh? But it is a good reminder.

What if, and hear me out here, the biggest win isn’t them getting out of the way? What if the biggest win isn’t them moving on but getting on board? What if the biggest win is to lay down your pride, humble yourself, and pursue these socalled enemies we’ve created?

Stay lashed to the cross and remember your identity and worth is in Christ, not someone’s opinion of you. Stay in the fight, and you might just see that foe become a friend. Or, God might use them to keep you humble and reliant on Him. Change is necessary, and pushback is inevitable, so lead on with grace, patience, and thick skin.

Keep at it.

I realize there is tension here; I realize it may seem wholly impossible. And do you know what? It might never work, but I did not learn to ride my bike without a few scraped knees.

With that in mind, allow me to make a few suggestions as you aim to follow through with necessary changes in your church...

1. Stay focused.

God has placed you at ________ Church as their pastor. Accordingly, you are called to “preach, pray, love, and stay,” as some replanting leaders like to say.

Matt Henslee is the pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church. He earned his BA in Christian Ministry from Dallas Baptist University, his M.Div. in Theology and D.Min. in Church Revitalization from The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is a consultant with SWBTS’ Center for Church Revitalization. He hosts Not Another Baptist Podcast, The Potluck Podcast, and is the author of seven books, including Replanting Rural Churches.

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Why Church Turnaround Leads to Conflict and Sabotage

By Gary Westra Most churches tend toward the conventional and value tradition. By virtue of the fact that a church is a system composed of human relationships, its default setting is “preserve the status quo.” But the static or declining church’s best chance for renewal is to follow the pastor’s lead when that pastor upsets the status quo. Church turnaround demands that the pastor be given the freedom to run in the open field.

But most churches will resist or openly oppose the pastor who operates in this fashion. This is why conflict is usually inevitable.

Not always, of course, but usually.

Pastor Phil from Spring Valley Church (a real pastor and church with the name changed) fits the Turnaround Pastor profile, according to our research at Turnaround Pastor. He is verbally assertive and values freedom and change.

Spring Valley was on life support when he accepted their call.

They were landlocked in a decaying neighborhood with no room for expansion and working out of an inadequate facility. This moribund church had dwindled to a small handful of people. It was in great need of help.

Spring Valley had been struggling so badly that they actually were reincorporated under Phil’s leadership. Then, within just a few months, this Turnaround Pastor had led them from 40 to 70 in worship. After almost doubling the Sunday attendance with Phil’s leadership, you would assume that Spring Valley Church was thrilled!

They were not.

When the church was being reincorporated, Pastor Phil appointed five trusted leaders in the church as an advisory council. Being new to the church, he trusted the insights of others in the choice of council members.

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Conflict erupted almost immediately. Things were working, but people weren’t happy. Two of five council members soon began to oppose Phil. “I constantly was accused of ‘trying to take over.’”

The church had a history of making but not acting on decisions.

Pastor Phil did what turnaround leaders do – he acted on and implemented things the council affirmed. Even though the council had affirmed them, he reports, “This raised some people’s blood pressure.”

Over the next several years, Spring Valley grew to 200 in worship, baptizing over 50 new believers in that time. In the midst of seeing the church reach people for Christ and seeing life transformation, one of the antagonists said (without realizing the irony), “I’m waiting to see if God is in this.” Phil responded to that by saying, “If people are coming to Christ and being baptized and being transformed by Christ, how could God not be in it?” The antagonist said nothing.

But open conflict broke out once again, and the church fell back to about 100. Do you see that irony? After that latest brouhaha the church still hovered at the century mark, more than double the size it was when Pastor Phil arrived!

Turnaround and conflict go together. Change, a prerequisite for turnaround, usually results in conflict. Turnaround Pastors like Pastor Phil are not conflict adverse (unlike their maintenance-oriented colleagues). As hard as Pastor Phil’s journey and the journey of Spring Valley Church has been, today they believe they are in a better position to be in mission to the community and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Today, Spring Valley hovers around 100, but they finally have a unified leadership, a shared vision, and they have sold their landlocked and inadequate facility.

Now worshipping in a beautiful school auditorium, the church is looking for a full-time children’s pastor. Those that remained and have followed this Turnaround Pastor are part of a church that is now poised to move forward.

NAVIGATING THE WHITE WATER Spring Valley illustrates an important challenge that turnaround leaders have to face. Even when things are going well, the Gospel is advanced, and people are growing in Christ, there’s a good chance the church will explode in conflict. This happens when the church reaches the critical inflection point – that moment when newcomers become a majority. “The white-water stage of church growth is when the newcomers outnumber the existing members.” (Carl George and Bob Logan) Pastors desiring turnaround and revitalization must learn how to pilot the church through the turbulence.

If you’ve been white-water river rafting, you know the cause of the turbulence is below the surface – a hidden sandbar, unseen boulders, or a pinched channel. A contest for power lurks, hidden just beneath the surface of the turnaround church. Gene Wood has asserted, “...95 percent of all serious problems in the church stem from a power struggle.” When new members assume leadership positions or begin to influence policies, programs, and procedures, a wild ride is close at hand.

Carl George and Bob Logan give timeless counsel on this issue, timeless because the sociology of groups does not change.

Their “Berry Bucket Theory.”

• The Older Former Berries (those who are older than the pastor and were there when he arrived).

• The Younger Former Berries (those who are younger than the pastor and were there when he arrived).

• The Older New Berries (those older than the pastor but came after the pastor).

• The Younger New Berries (those younger than the pastor but come after the pastor).

One way a pastor survives the “white-water” stage of a growing church is to know how to interact with each of these four groups. With the Older Former Berries, the pastor serves as a chaplain. To lead these people who are older than the pastor and were there before he or she arrived, ask them questions.

“Where do you think God is leading us? What direction are we heading?” Then, you help them reach their objectives.

With the Jr. Former Berries, the pastor provides vision. Yet, these Jr. Former Berries are hard to predict, because they sometimes side with the Older Former Berries (who are often their relatives) and sometimes they follow the lead of the new pastor. A wise approach is to seek to assimilate them with Jr. New Berries – their contemporaries – so that they build relationships with them.

The Jr. New Berries follow the pastor as a default setting. He or she is older and wiser than they are and was already in the church when they came. They joined the church in part because of the pastor. So too the Sr. New Berries. Yet the Sr. New Berries have a great deal of life experience. While they are inclined to trust their pastor, they need to see credibility and that the pastor has done his or her homework. They will follow, but only when they see the wisdom of a decision.

I still recalls the tension of the days when I pastored Princetown Church. The church had added about 100 members over the first several years. I sensed the Elder and Jr. Former Berries being guarded and reticent. The church was thriving, but I didn’t sense enthusiasm and “buy in” from them. In the providence of God, this coincided with my being in a Doctor of Ministry class where Carl George presented the Berry Bucket Theory. That moment, and the results that followed, are still clear in my memory.

“What are some things I can do about this?” I asked. “Go back and share this material with your church board,” Carl responded.

“Yikes,” I thought, “that sounds risky!” But I did it. I still remember standing at the white board in the boardroom drawing the buckets. For one thing, I can’t draw! And I was really nervous how people would react to this material. Contrary to my concern, it was an “Aha!” moment for the board. It was like letting air out of a balloon. Tension was released.

It was clear that the Berry Bucket expressed their feelings. Most were Former berries. I’m certain they knew many friends and family who shared their feelings. The ensuing dialog gave everyone a voice and helped us understand one another. As a result, Princetown avoided some conflicts during this “white-water” growth period.

The critical issue here is pastoral differentiation. Is the pastor differentiating himself from the different groups? It is imperative that the pastor not “join” one of the groups, but stay connected to all the groups. To survive the white-water phase of church turnaround and growth, hang on and stay connected!

This article is excerpted and adapted from the book “Pastor Unique: Becoming a Turnaround Leader” Gary Westra has served churches of under 100 to over 1000, primarily serving as Senior Pastor in multi-staff churches. Gary now serves as Vice President and Director of Coaching at Turnaround Pastor Inc, training church revitalization leaders. He led a study of the statistically significant characteristics of turnaround pastors. He is co-author of Pastor Unique: Becoming a Turnaround Leader.

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St. Patrick, St. Paul, and the Church

By Kenneth Priest The following is taken from George G. Hunter III’s “The Celtic Way of Evangelism” with some additional commentary from me.

In the late fourth century (or early fifth century) A. D., Patrick was growing up in (what is now) Northeast England. His people were “Britons,” one of the “Celtic” peoples then populating the British Isles, though Patrick’s aristocratic family had gone “Roman” during the Roman occupation of England. So Patrick was more Roman than Celtic; his first language was Latin, though he understood some of the “Welsh” spoken by the lower classes. His family was Christian; his grandfather was a priest. Patrick had acquired some Christian teaching, and he undoubtedly knew the catechism, but he became only a nominal Christian; he ridiculed the clergy and, in the company of other “alienated” and “ungoverned” youth, he lived toward the wild side.

When Patrick was sixteen, a band of Celtic pirates from Ireland invaded the region; they captured Patrick and many other young men, forced them onto a ship, sailed to Ireland, and sold them into slavery. (Interesting note, Debbi and I did the 23andme DNA testing during Christmas. When the results returned, my lineage ties back through the haplogroup connecting me to Niall of the Nine Hostages. He apparently was King of Tara in Northern Ireland in the late 4th Century. And apparently, whether the lore is true or not we do not know, but Debbi in her brief research found it is believed Niall might have been the one who captured Patrick and sold him into slavery. Maybe this is why I have an affinity to this story, some sort of penance for needing to right the wrong).

Anyway the pirates sold Patrick to a prosperous tribal chief and druid named Miliuc moccu Boin, who put Patrick to work herding cattle.

During his years of enslavement, Patrick experienced three profound changes. First, the periods when Patrick was isolated in the wilderness herding cattle connected him with what theologians call the “natural revelation” of God. He sensed with the winds, the seasons, the creatures, and the nights under the stars the presence of God; he identified this presence with the Triune God he had learned about in the catechism. Patrick says this:

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After I had arrived in Ireland, I found myself pasturing flocks daily, and I prayed a number of times each day. More and more the love and fear of God came to me, and faith grew and my spirit was exercised, until I was praying up to a hundred times every day and in the night nearly as often.

Patrick became a devout Christian, and the change was obvious to his captors.

Second, Patrick changed in another way during the periods he spent with his captors in their settlement. He came to understand the Irish Celtic people, and their language and culture, with the kind of intuitive profundity that is usually possible only, as in Patrick’s case, from the “underside.”

Third, Patrick came to love his captors, to identify with them, and to hope for their reconciliation to God. One day, he would feel they were his people.

One night, after six years of captivity, a voice spoke to Patrick in a dream, saying, “You are going home. Look! Your ship is ready!” The voice directed him to flee for his freedom the next morning. He awakened before daybreak, walked to a seacoast, saw the ship, and negotiated his way on board.

When he returned to his people in England, he trained for the priesthood. His training immersed his mind in the scriptures, and grounded him in the basic orthodox theology. He then served for years as a faithful parish priest in England.

One night, at the age of forty-eight, Patrick experienced another dream that was to change his life again. An angel approached him with letters, he “imagined in that moment that he heard the voice of those very people who held him in slavery in his past; and the cried out, as with one voice ‘We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us’.”

When Patrick awakened the next morning, he interpreted the dream as his “Macedonian Call” to take Christianity’s gospel to the Celtic peoples of Ireland. He proposed, to his ecclesiastical superiors, that he be sent on this mission.

The bishops of the British Church, probably with the strong encouragement of Pope Celestine, affirmed Patrick’s vision.

Patrick was ordained a bishop, and appointed to Ireland, as

history’s first missionary bishop. He arrived in Ireland, with a moderate entourage of priests, seminarians, and others, in A.D. 432.

It is this Macedonian Call we want to focus on today. If you have your Bibles, let’s turn to Acts 16, beginning in verse 6.

Read Acts 16.6-10.

You remember the story here. Paul and Silas are on the second missionary journey. They arrive in Lystra and come across Timothy, apparently converted during Paul and Barnabas’ first journey. Now you remember the story of Lystra right, this is where during Paul’s first journey he was stoned and left for dead. So we see here Paul’s boldness, going back to a place that had once tried to kill him. Patrick’s journey could be compared to this, as he goes back to a place that had enslaved him; and technically, due to his sneaking away, they might would have attempted to re-enslave him. Nevertheless, back to our story – here, Paul and his team pick up Timothy. Luke tells us that Timothy is well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wants Timothy to continue the journey with he and Silas; so the three of them complete the journey.

So we are in verse 6, the team has finished visiting the churches from the first missionary journey and are heading North to Asia. Along the journey, Paul is stopped by the Spirit from going to Asia. So their journey takes a detour. We see in verse 7, Paul intended to go to Bithynia but yet again was stopped by the Spirit. So they change directions again.

This time, Paul sees a vision in the night, a Macedonian, calling out for him to come. Confirmation from the other two, sets them on a journey to minister in Macedonia. At this point in the text, we see by the inclusion of the word “we” that Luke joins up with them for the trip to Macedonia, therefore the team is now four.

The remainder of Chapter Sixteen deals with the ministry in Philippi. The importance of the text for our purposes today, is three-fold. First, magnify the Holy Spirit. Next be sensitive to God’s leading. Last, we must be faithful to follow when and where he leads.

MAGNIFY THE HOLY SPIRIT Often times in Southern Baptist life we shy away from the work of the Spirit for fear of being called charismatics or something. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Triune God. He is not merely a vague, impersonal, ambiguous force.

He is alive. The Holy Spirit is God and thus when we magnify the Spirit we are magnifying Jesus.

The term Holy Spirit occurs only twice in the Old Testament, Ps. 51.11 and Isa. 63.10-11. But the references to His work are plentiful, from the point of creation in Gen. 1.2 forward. Now in the post Resurrection age, we know Christ sent the Spirit to indwell believers, give life to our physical bodies, give us an inner assurance that we are heirs of the kingdom of God. The book of Acts begins with the promise of the Spirit and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. 1 Cor. 12.13 says “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” We are the body of Christ. So we begin by magnifying the Spirit.

Our next step is: SENSITIVE TO GOD’S LEADING The church must come back to an understanding of what God would have her to do. Since Christ established the church, His calling for her has been that of being faithful to the Great Commission. This means a local congregation, must have a plan for how she intends to make disciples in its unique context as it shares the Good News of Christ. The question for the church today, specifically for your church is, who are you reaching?

Eighty percent of Southern Baptist churches are in a state of decline? I believe this is in part to the not knowing what we need to do as a church to be faithful to our calling.

Every church must determine this for themselves. When you discover your Great Commission Strategy, you must then seek God’s leading. This is done through personal spiritual practices. The people of God, returning to the practices of God. In a very simplistic way, we can find these practices throughout Scripture; spending time alone with God, Ps. 46.10; praying and seeking God’s direction. Reading and studying God’s Word; Dr. George Guthrie released some material in the past few years entitled, “Read the Bible for Life”. The course of study is on how to effectively read the Bible. We are not talking the literal, I read the Bible; we are talking about the effective spiritual transformation of reading the Bible. The ability to read God’s Word and know that you are being transformed by it.

This may not happen overnight, or over the course of several weeks or months, but if you commit to the process, be faithful to seeking out God through His Word, this transformation occurs. He is faithful to reveal to you His specific plans for this particular time in history.

Additionally – spend time with the people of God; Hebrews tells us to not neglect the gathering together of the saints. Spending time in community – Acts 2 demonstrates the early church model for this.

We must return individually to God, so we can see Him work corporately through our church. Paul teaches this in the unity of the body passages in Corinthians.

Our text here tells us in verses six through nine, that the missionary team was moving about the countryside. Trying to go to places they thought were good places to go. But God had a plan of the better place to go. I believe the example for this is our churches, your church, might be doing some good things. But are these the best things for you to be doing.

In our illustration at the beginning. Patrick was doing good things. He had escaped slavery. He had committed his life to the priesthood. He was serving God faithfully. These are all good things. But God had another plan. God had the best thing in mind.

Now think about this for a moment. God calls Patrick BACK to the people who had literally kidnapped and enslaved him. God gives him a vision of these people, having a foreknowledge that he was a servant of God, crying out to him for salvation that he could show them through the work of Christ. Remember the story at the beginning. They had seen a change in him. Knew he was different because of his follow-ship with Christ. And in this vision, they wanted and desired that difference for themselves.

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How hard would this be for you?

Has someone wronged you in the past?

Do you have a story of betrayal?

Has God called you to be the one to go back to a person or group of people and walk with them across the line of faith?

I think this would be hard. I know it would. Paul and Patrick’s story differ here; Paul was being sent to a people who needed Christ, but where Paul had never been. Patrick on the other hand was being called to a people where he had been. The interesting point is, remember the story, he had come to understand these people while he lived there, and came to love them and desire for their reconciliation to God. God burdened Patrick, while still in captivity, to have a desire to see these people come to a saving relationship with Christ. He wanted them to have what he had. And in the fulfillment of God’s time, God called Patrick back to these people. To be one of the instruments of reconciliation for God’s glory.

Now, we do not know exactly what prevented Paul and the team from going to these other places, we just know the text tells us they were prevented. What we can say is it was an issue of timing. God’s timing will not be delayed, so whatever prevented the expansion of the gospel at this time for Asia and Bithynia, God’s timing was set for Macedonia.

Now the final point: FAITHFULNESS TO FOLLOW In our text, verse ten tells us that Paul and the others, now joined by Luke, were faithful to go to Macedonia. They began a ministry of witness to the people of that region. We see later in the text how entire families receive Christ and are baptized demonstrating an obedience to a changed life. Once the team determined where God was leading, they followed.

Without reservation or hesitation. It was time to move.

Patrick has the same story. While in captivity he had a vision to leave, get up and go; and he did. Now that he was free, God gave him another vision; one to go back. Not immediately, notice some time has passed in the story; time for him to prepare for the work which was to come.

The question we each should be preparing to answer now, in the life of the church, at this particular time in history is: what is God uniquely calling me to do? Right now!

What would God have this local body of believers involved in that is reaching out with His Good News?

Patrick returned to the people of Ireland. They became his people. He lived and ministered in a new way for their era. He changed the mind-set of those on his team; they shifted from a come and see, to a go and get. They were active among the people of Ireland. This is what needs to happen in your community as well. This is your community. These are your people. Within 3 miles of this church is over ###### people. We believe that 68% of them are lost; so ##### people within a three-mile radius need Jesus. The populous is ##% Anglo, ##% Hispanic, ##% Black and ##% Asian and other.

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Are you prepared to reflect your community?

Do you have a heart for them?

Do you have a burden that they should not perish, but have the chance at eternal life?!

Has God given you a heart for your people?

If not, you might stop and ask yourself why not?

Have you come to a point in your life where you have accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?

Have you come to a point where you are being faithful to God’s leading in your life?

Are you ready to be faithful to follow?

We move to a time of invitation. There may be some here who do not understand what it means for God to call them out and be faithful to follow. That’s because you haven’t responded in the past to God’s calling. He desires for you to walk in a right relationship with Him. This can only be done through the accepting of Christ as your personal Lord and Savior; just as Patrick came to the realization in the field, you must come to a point of knowing you need a Savior. Then you must act upon it. We are at the alter today to talk with you about this opportunity to understand God’s call. Others here may have received Christ, but you have not followed after Him. Taking that first step of obedience and being baptized. Now is the time to get obedient. Still others are in need of a church home. This may be your first time in this church, you may be a regular attender and simply have never committed to partner with this church to be faithful to the Great Commission. What better church to join, than one that is moving forward with finding what God would have her to do? A church seeking to be faithful.

Now’s the time. Now’s your time. As we sing, come.

Kenneth Priest serves as the Director of the Center for Church Revitalization with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX. Kenneth has been leading revitalization/turn around endeavors since 1997 in various consulting roles. 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@swbts.edu.

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When the Picture of the Future is Different

By Jim Harrell Why do church members appear to change their minds and begin to sabotage change efforts - the very change they appeared to agree with. Why the sudden change of heart?

One reason for this seemingly odd behavior is because they are not actually changing their minds. Rather, it took them time to realize the change advocated is not a change they want. They were never actually on board to begin with. They were not lying or purposely being deceitful, they simply misunderstood. It takes people time to grasp the change they are picturing is actually quite different from the change leadership is proposing.

Theoretical change is easy to agree with, because one rarely pictures it affecting what one truly values. Values are assumed to be, well, valued. In fact, it doesn’t even occur to the one agreeing to the change that leadership is actually talking about changing something they value. This is because values are part of the culture of the church. Culture is in the background, not something front and visible. Especially in established older churches, the values are assumed, like the air we breathe. The air is there, but no one is thinking about air until it’s not there.

The other problem with accurately picturing a theoretical change is including the emotional impact a change can bring. Most folks are not very aware of their own emotions as they happen in real time, let alone when thinking about the future impact of something. As a result, it is easy for someone to underestimate how a proposed change will impact them personally and emotionally.

Expectations are another area of potential misunderstanding. Such as who will do the work and when. Nehemiah

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faced this several times over the course of rebuilding the wall.

In Nehemiah 3:5, the nobles from a nearby town refused to join in the work. From their point of view, they should not be expected to do manual labor. That was beneath them. Their picture of how the work would get done was very different from Nehemiah’s.

Often how people are picturing is not even close to what the leadership is picturing. This is true even though they are using the same words to describe this future reality. For example, older long-term members will often talk about the need for growth, which is music to a young pastor’s ears. The pastor is typically picturing a full sanctuary and potentially multiple services. He envisions a church being on mission reaching the community for Christ. Yet, often the older members are envisioning only slight growth. A few additional people to meet the small budget of the church, but not so many more people that it changes the look and feel of the Sunday service. Both are picturing something they call growth, but they are radically different pictures.

The challenge for a pastor leading change is to paint the same picture of where the church is heading in each person’s mind. This cannot be a stick figure picture. Rather, the pastor must take the time to paint the picture with many brush strokes, laying out the new future in full color detail. What this proposed change is really going to look like. What and what not is going to change. What it will feel like. How this change is going to affect church size dynamics.1 What are the intended benefits and the required costs.

1 See https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/leadership-and-church-size-dynamics/

It will take repeated interactions with people to help them accurately picture the intended change. Leadership will need to keep envisioning the change until people can actually see themselves in the new icture and embrace what the required changes will mean to them personally. They need to be able to articulate for themselves what the actual costs and the actual benefits are going to be.

will look like. It will take repeatedly painting the new picture leadership is advocating. People need help internalizing why God is asking the church to make this sacrifice? To move from asking “what is in it for me?” to “what it in it for the Kingdom of God?” We must take the time required to help members walk into this new picture and feel what the change will be like, both positive and negative.

Unfortunately, what is obvious to the pastor can at the same time be completely inconceivable for older members. I know of a church in New England that had once been the flagship church in the state. However, it had steadily declined over the past 50 years to the point of being unsustainable. The elders and denominational leader approached another denominational church in the next town over about helping this church. The healthy church agreed to adopt this struggling church and make it a second campus.

It takes much prayer, both for the church and with the church.

Hearing people pray about a proposed change gives leaders additional insight into what people are picturing the new change will look like. Praying for this new picture will engage the hearts of members to want to see this new picture become a reality for the sake of God’s kingdom.

There were numerous meetings about the upcoming adoption, becoming a campus and so forth. I knew one of the members of the struggling church. She was confused. I also explained how her church was going to become a second campus of this healthy church. The struggling church was closed for a few months. Building upgrades were made and paid for by the adopting church, A new campus pastor was hired, and the service changed to match the parent church.

Six months after reopening, I received a call from this older member. I asked her how the church was doing.

She replied, “It’s like the other church took us over.

You would think we were now part of them.”

I replied, “You are part of them. You are now one of their campuses.”

To which she replied, “What’s a campus?”

What was supposedly an obvious future for this struggling church, was not only not obvious but almost impossible for the struggling church members to picture what was being proposed. After many meetings between both churches and changing the church name to include “campus,” this new picture that was unfolding was completely missed. Because leadership assumed the people in the pew had the same picture of the future as they did, all the time, energy, and money the parent church invested was both misunderstand and unappreciated.

Simply presenting information and even answering questions does not mean that leadership has communicated.

Communication requires an ongoing dialogue. It means asking members to describe what they are picturing the change

I know of another situation where a struggling historic church was enfolded into a church plant. The church plant was given the building and the members of the struggling church joined the church plant. The process took place over the course a year. Lots of listening by the church plant leadership to these older saints, vision casting, and praying for the future of the church. There were many honest conversations about what was going to change. They had these older saints visit the church plant so they could experience what the service was going to look, sound and feel like.

After the enfolding was complete, the pastor asked one of these older saints how they liked the new service, the new lobby area with a coffee bar, and so forth. The saint’s reply was, “I hate the music, its too loud and I miss the hymns. I liked the way the lobby used to look. However, I am ok with all of it. This church is once again reaching people for Christ and my grandkids are coming.”

Change is hard, but if everyone is picturing the same change, God’s kingdom moves forward with less conflict and difficulty.

Jim Harrell is the Founder and President of Overseed, an organization that coaches pastors and church leaders in New England through the difficult process of revitalization, so they can successfully lead their church to health and reach their community for Christ.

Jim’s latest book, Praying for Church Revitalization is being released in May. He is also the author of Church Replanter: Learning from Nehemiah’s example of leading change when things are really broken. You can contact him at jim@overseed.org.

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