June/July Church Revitalizer 2018

June July 2018 Vol 5 Issue 4

CHURCH CHURCH

THE THE

Revitalizer

“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue”

LESSONS LEARNED from

Church Revitalization & Renewal

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

ENOVATE R National Church Revitalization Conference

Speakers Include: Tom Cheyney Ron Smith Jason Britt Dennis Mitchell Lee Kricher Terry Rials Jim Grant Paul Smith Walter Jackson Jason Cooper Michael Atherton Bill Hegedus Drew Cheyney Chris Irving Amber Irving Steve Smith Jason Cooper Rob Myers Estelle Myers David Lema & Others

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By Terry Rials

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What I Learned the Hard Way About Revitalization

Lessons Learned from a Decade of Doing Church Revitalization

Planned Absences—the Sheep May Wander but They Will Grow Fonder— and You Can Avoid Burnout

By Joel R. Breidenbaugh

38 44 The

From Sorrow to Joy in Church Revitalization and Renewal

By Chad McCarthy

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CONTENTS 12

Things I’ve Learned in Church Revitalization

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

28

It Can Be Done!

By Ron Smith

30

THE LEADERSHIP LINK…

Learning the Lessons of Revitalization

By Michael Atherton

Don’t Let Social Media Derail Revitalization

By Rodney Harrison

50

40

Revitalization Lessons: Negative and Positive

By Bud Brown

Lessons Learned from Church Revitalization and Renewal

76

By Lee Kricher

61

Revitalizer

LIBRARY

16

Top 3 Children’s Ministry Revitalization Lessons Learned

By Bill Hegedus

18

Universal Lessons Learned While Bringing Youth Ministries Back from the Dead

By Drew Cheyney

32

Little Wins Grow Big Vision

By Pete Tackett

35

Lessons Learned in Revitalization: De-Clutter Your Life!

By David Jackson

46

7 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Revitalized a Church

52

What Lessons Can We Learn from the Giant Redwoods?

By Darwin Meighan

56

New Research: What We’ve Learned About Church Health and Growth

By Mark Weible

58

It’s About People Not Processes

By Jim Grant

62

The Great Commission Code

By Kenneth Priest

64

The Church Revitalizer Book Reviewer: Rob Hurtgen 74 The focus of this edition the Revitalizers Library focuses on de veloping you. The Leader’s Bookshelf by Admiral James Stavridis,

United States Navy (Retired) and R. Manning Ancell and When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink. Both books are excellent in their aim of developing leaders.

June/July | Vol 5, No 4

By Bob Whitesel

Revitalization Is like Baseball Not Golf

By Rob Myers Lessons Learned from Church Revitalization and Renewal

By Steve Sells

5

7

THE

CHURCH

Revitalizer Volume 5, No. 4

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 Mark Weible Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Tom King Brand Manager Tom Cheyney Magazine Designer & Format Editor Gerald Brown Director of Advertising Renovate Staff Web Ad Traffic Director Mark Weible Digital Media Associate Ashleigh Cheyney For subscription information contact this office at: www.churchrevitalizer.guru/subscriptions.

Subscriptions donations are $30.00 per year for six issues, $52.00 for two years (12 issues).

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Stock images from ISTOCK Photo or where otherwise noted. Š Copyright 2018 Renovate Publishing Group

8

ChurchRevitalizer.Guru

By Tom Cheyney

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

Each and every one of us as a church revitalizer have been learning multiple lessons relating to our work of renewal.

We are the sum total of all of our lessons. A portion of our lessons have been learned through natural transitions we make in doing the work of ministry. Another portion comes from the giftedness we have been given by the Lord for the work of the ministry. A third portion of the lessons we have learned comes from others who have shared valuable lessons they have encountered in revitalization and are offered up to you so that you can gain a degree of learning from their work and ministry. There is a final portion which most of us have encountered throughout our work in the renewing of churches and these are the lessons learned the hard way in church revitalization and renewal.

In this edition I want to look at the Lessons Learned from Church Revitalization and Renewal. Church Revitalization presents us with daily lessons to be learned. It is our choice as to whether or not we will make the effort to embrace these lessons.

Here are a few ideas to get us started thinking about the lessons we have learned in Church Revitalization. Not everyone who works in church renewal and revitalization is wired the exact same way! Few will be able to make everyone happy.

Moving forward and making key decisions is risky. Both Pastor and laity will make mistakes! Take the time and make the time to get the proper training before you move forward in church revitalization. Prepare yourself spiritually and then prepare your leaders spiritually. Then begin preparing your church spiritually.

Stay connected, more is coming!

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

Lessons Learned from a Decade of Doing Church Revitalization n the ten years that I have worked feverishly in the field of church revitalization, I have learned so much and I am learning more every day. I have to say that I have learned more working in the field in church revitalization than I ever did in the doctoral seminars or from reading books on the subject. Just about the time that I think I have seen and heard it all, I hear a new story that blows my mind. That said, there have been some incredible lessons learned in this experience of working with hundreds of churches, pastors, and denominational leaders. I would like to share just a few of those lessons with you.

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Lesson One: Everybody is looking for a quick fix, which hardly ever happens.

As we have said many times, revitalization takes a considerable amount of time to accomplish, at minimum it takes 1,000 days.

Please don’t let that scare you off!

There are some quick gains that will happen as soon as you begin to implement your strategy.

These are very exciting and are a quick lift to the life and ministry of your church. They feel like the refreshment that comes to your church from a good revival.

Please don’t stop there because there is much more to do and much more to come. Seeing a bump in attendance, involvement, giving, decisions, and

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member excitement will only be a temporary phenomenon if you stop there. It takes time to unravel the problems in the church and to address them biblically.

You will attempt new ministry approaches, some of which will fail and cause you to go a different route. This just takes time.

The Lord is patient, we should be patient too.

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Lesson Two: Staying power is key to a successful revitalization.

There will come a day in your revitalization project where you will want to abandon the whole thing

The Lord is patient, we should be patient too.The Lord is

“

patient, we should be patient too.

“

I

By Terry Rials

and do something else. I think the desire to jump onto something new and refreshing is hardwired into the hearts of pastors.

Like a frog jumping from one lily pad to another, we jump on one interesting project after another.

At first, this seems normal and comfortable, but if you were to look at the pattern of pastor leadership, it would meander more than anything else. Charting the path of most pastors in their leadership would look like Stevie Wonder’s driving. My advice get on this church revitalization

project and stay on it. I know you don’t want to do that sometimes, but stay on it. It may not make sense to you at the time, but stay on it. I love the old Karate Kid movie, especially the part where Mr. Miyagi has Daniel-san wax on, wax off, sand the floor, paint the house, paint the fence. It made no sense to Daniel at all until one day, when Daniel was ready, Mr. Miyagi brought it all together for him! The Lord will bring all this together for you too.

3

Lesson Three: Pastors are not soothsayers.

They do not understand the mind of God nor can they predict the future. I wish I had recorded in a journal the number of times that a pastor has told me that he doesn’t know if he will be at his church for the next three years, so starting revitalization should wait until the next pastor arrives. I don’t have any way of proving this, but my guess is that a substantial number of those pastors are in their same positions three years later. This is especially true of pastors who are close to retiring. Many times we are convinced that we are about to be called to the next church which seldom happens. Since when do we as pastors have the ability to predict the future? Only a very few prophets had the ability to predict the future, like Elijah in the Old Testament and Agabus in the New. Careful here, the demonic slave girl in Philippi also had the

ability to predict the future! The point is that they could, you can’t.

God has you where you are, and as far as you know, you’ll be there for the rest of your ministry. Stop trying to predict the future. Only the Lord knows what tomorrow holds.

We must only hold his hand.

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Lesson Four: Doing a little every day is better than a whole lot at one time.

It is very possible to wear yourself out doing revitalization stuff. As you are working in it, you just see so much more that there is to do.

Like working on the farm, there is always more to do, more work than daylight will allow. My great farmer/rancher friend has taught me, “It will be here tomorrow.”

Some things you can’t get in when you want to. There are so many interruptions and unplanned events that enter the life of pastors, we can get over-worked and discouraged from the sheer quantity of responsibilities that come our way. Recently, I had four deaths in my church in the same week. Needless to say, precious little else got done that week. The important thing is this, get back on track as soon as you can and do something, even if it is seemingly insignificant. Let me illustrate it this way. When I built my house,

we put in our well and septic systems. The man who put in the lateral lines was not careful about where he dumped the gravel. I got so sick of picking up gravel.

Then I decided that every time I went outside I would pick up one or two chunks and not try to do it all at once. Now, you cannot find any gravel in my yard, all because I picked up one or two each time.

You can knock your revitalization project out-of-the-park if you will just stay on it and do a little every day.

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Lesson Five: Be sure that there is sin in the camp.

I am sad to say that virtually every plateaued and declining church has at its heart a sin problem. I visited with a church in need of revitalization recently and when I asked what the sin problem was in their church, the phone line went very quiet. They obviously didn’t want to talk about that. They probably didn’t want to deal with it either. One church I worked with had the Chairman of Deacons and the Church Clerk living together across the street from the church, and they had been living together there for ten years and no one in the church said a thing to them.

Shades of 1 Corinthians 5! If you are wired like I am, you would

rather not have to deal with confrontation and remediation of sin.

That ministry task is not the most pleasant of pastoral tasks. However, we bring shame and reproach to the name of Jesus when we tolerate sin in the church. We might be able to talk about the sin as long as no one uses the people’s names or looks in their direction when it is discussed. The fact is, these are evil people. Ephesus tolerated evil men (Rev 2:2), and Thyatira tolerated the evil Jezebel (Rev 2:20). Sometimes the sin is in the life of the pastor. We can become angry, bitter, hateful, and hurtful. We can be good a blaming others and deflecting responsibility. We can become slothful, unaccountable and selfish. We must remember that we exist for the church; the church does not exist for us. Find the sin in the camp and confront it.

I hope the lessons I have learned will help you as you progress in church revitalization. My hope is hat you will learn from my mistakes and learn from victories.

I would love to spare you the heartaches that I have experienced and would love to see you have an outstanding example of a revitalized church. Blessings!

Dr. Terry Rials is the founder of ChurchRevitalizer.com, serves as the Senior Pastor of the Crestview Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and leads the Church Revitalization Team Leader for Capital Baptist Association. He earned his doctorate in Church Revitalization at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a frequent conference He is co-author NutsIssue” & “A speaker.

Revitalization RetreatofinThe Every Bolts of Church Revitalization!

RenovateConference.org/magazine 11

Things I’ve Learned in Church Revitalization

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

I

n my thirty-five years of professional ministry life, I’ve specialized in two main areas. I’ve been a church planter (and later, a church planter coach) and I’ve been a church revitalizer (and later, a church-growth coach and turnaround consultant). And though I’ve been a part of several church planting projects, most of my professional life has been working with turning around existing churches.

Of the two ministries, church turnarounds are by far the most challenging and difficult and thankless jobs in the church world. And as far as I can tell, there isn’t a single ministry that fails more often than church turnarounds.

Why do so many church turnaround attempts fail? In my experience, the number one reason is because the leadership isn’t prepared for the time it takes to effectively turn a church around. We live in a Pop Tart, instant gratification world and unfortunately that world has embedded itself into our church culture. But to turn a church around takes a significant investment of resources – time, talent, treasure, and testimony. In many ways, it’s not unlike the arduous journey the Israelites embarked on when they made their exodus from Egypt. With that in mind, here are some things I’ve learned about church turnarounds.

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Most Never Leave Egypt

Nearly every church says it wants to grow. Of course, what that means is most churches would like to have more people who love the way they do church as much as they love the way they do church. Whether it’s an Old Rugged Cross kind of church or a Come, Now is the Time to Worship kind

12

of church, the members wish there’d be an influx of visitors who appreciate the church and who appreciate it enough to write big enough checks to keep it going.

The truth is, few churches see the need for transformation just because their worship numbers are dwindling. Most church leaders are content enough with a fewer butts in seats so long as there’s enough bucks in plates to pay all the bills … or nearly all the bills. Church growth doesn’t become a hot topic of conversation in most churches until the annual budget is so deep in the red they can see the bottom of the church endowment or investment barrel. Then, all of a sudden, there’s an interest in church turnaround.

When a congregation realizes it’s now-or-never time for revitalization, that’s the time church leaders start to study up about what it takes to turn decades of decline into growth and sustainability. Indeed, this is the time when my firm (and I suspect most church consulting and coaching firms) gets a call with questions about how to grow a church. And that’s when most churches begin to lose interest.

Although there are many reasons why churches slip into decline, in well over 90 percent of the cases the primary reason is because the church wasn’t willing to make the changes necessary to move from stagnation or decline to growth.

Yes, on rare occasions a church is in decline because of the community circumstances around them; but if one church in the community has experienced significant growth, then

the problem isn’t the community…

When most churches discover the significant changes that are necessary to grow, they do one of two things. Most churches disbelieve the prescription and spend their resources on marketing or remodeling or constructing a new wing on their building. They’ll try packaged programs that promise to double their attendance with Friend Sundays or Text to Grow gimmicks.

And some of these will even work … for a few weeks. But a year or two later when the sustainable growth doesn’t come, and when the financial fears become critical, we either get another call or, more often, they choose the second option because they can no longer have the funds necessary for a successful turnaround venture.

As I said above, most churches that never leave Egypt disbelieve the prescription. But there are other churches that do believe the prescription – and they decide they’d rather close than make changes. Of these, most will spend nearly every penny of their savings to stay open as long as they can.

But a few will be more faithful in their decision to close and will take action to intentionally shutter their doors, dispose of their resources, and invest the funds in the future by funding the launch of a new church that has the potential to reach those they church could not.

Lessons Learned: (1) When worship numbers trend downward, the time for evaluation is as soon as possible. Don’t wait until church finances take a hit.

(2) It takes more than programming or gimmicks to turn a church from de-

cline to growth and sustainability. Get a comprehensive evaluation and plan to invest in a comprehensive solution.

(3) Don’t wait too long.

(4) If your congregation is not capable of growing, then develop a “death with dignity” plan so that the church’s resources can be reinvested in new church planting.

2

Some Surrender Before Crossing the Red Sea

A few churches will take the prescription for church turnaround seriously enough to begin making plans to engage a revitalization process. Often, this process begins by hiring a church consultant to make a church evaluation and to offer recommendations.

Other churches have a go-getter pastor who will invest him/herself in reading, researching, and coaching in order to develop a turnaround plan. Either way, ultimately the church’s leadership and the congregation are apprised about what it will take to turn their church around … and they approve the plan.

Then one of two things happen and the church turns its back on the turnaround plan.

One thing that may happen is that we’ve found some church leaders are really good at planning and really bad at execution. These leaders tend to create a great turnaround plan, but when it’s approved they either aren’t sure what to do next or else they can’t get the support of key congregational leaders, let alone the congregation.

When a leader comes up against the obstacle with their inability to move the congregation forward, they generally surrender because they don’t see a way forward. In these cases, the recommendation report of the church turnaround plan gets put into a manila envelope and is filed away, never to be heard of again.

The second thing that may happen is that the church leadership rallies the congregation and they take the first tentative steps to turnaround. It’s as if the banners are unfurled and a parade to a cheery future is launched. All goes well until a change actually gets made. A worship service is rescheduled. The nursery is relocated. The children’s wing is “locked down” for security’s

“

ning to implementing.

(2) Count the cost. To date, we have never seen a declining church turn around without significant push back and loss of membership. Never. Not once. Your church will not be the exception, because there are no exceptions. If your congregation cannot endure the pain of change and loss, do not try and lead a turnaround.

It takes more than programming or gimmicks to turn a church from decline to growth and sustainability. Get a comprehensive evaluation and plan to invest in a comprehensive solution.

sake. Greeters are asked to stand outside rather than inside. A new brand of coffee is purchased. Polystyrene cups are replaced with reusable mugs that have to be washed. The issue isn’t the change, of course. The issue is the reaction to the change. Someone objects.

Loudly. And one voice turns into two voices that turns into a tsunami of complaints. “Who’s idea was all this turnaround anyway?” Then the coup de grace comes when a church member leaves the church because they can’t support all those changes.

Of course, the truth is, only four or five people were making noise, the church leaders are afraid of open rebellion and a mass exodus. And the decision to abandon the plan is either formally or informally made … and the congregation returns en masse to Egypt.

Lessons Learned: (1) Know what kind of leader you are. If you’re a planner, not an implementor, then either don’t try a turnaround, or else staff around your weaknesses. Hire the vision person or the detail person or whoever it is you need to move you from plan-

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Many Reach the Wilderness, But Ultimately Return to Egypt

There are a surprising number of churches that are willing and able to launch a turnaround effort. They have the resources and the leadership to move forward. They have the will and the enthusiasm to move forward.

They even have a pain management plan in place so they can endure the pain of losing members, possibly many members, in order to effect the needed changes for reaching the unconnected in the community.

However, like the Wizard of Oz said in the movie, “But there’s one thing they didn’t have …” The vast majority of those churches who launch into a church turnaround don’t have a realistic understanding of time.

Although a successful turnaround won’t take forty years of wilderness wandering, it takes a lot longer than most church leaders realize … years longer. Every situation is different, but it typically takes a year or two to transition problem people out of leadership – and little can be done when obstructors are in leadership.

During that time, you should be able

Continued on Page 60

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Top 3 Children’s Ministry

Revitalization Lessons Learned

C

hildren are the future, treat them well and let them lead the way. What a true statement.

Whitney Houston may have sang those lyrics, but they date back all the way to the old testament.

The teaching and instructing of kids is a theme that occurs all throughout the bible. That is why I believe in the importance of children’s ministry in the church. One that is theologically solid but is relevant to them as children. Growing up in church, I have seen children’s ministry done multiple ways.

There were times when I couldn’t wait to go to church to see what amazing things were happening that week. Then there were times where I had no desire to go. I remember one church we attended, I hated going so much that my parents threatened to send me there if I didn’t behave when I was in church with them. That should tell you all you need to know about that ministry.

Children’s ministry can be a huge catalyst for growth. That is actually one of the top three things I have learned when it comes to church revitalization. Growing your church by focusing on young families is something I have seen work time and time again. Now, this has to go beyond words and having an environment for kids. Don’t get me wrong having an age-appropriate environment is very important, but the value of the next generation needs to be part of the church’s DNA. How can you tell? Easy, how much money is budgeted for the children of your church? Are you strategic about events that are family oriented. These are just a few things that communicate the value you place on children and their families. There is a second part to this and that is being flexible in how you minister to kids and families. In more churches than I care to say, the way they have done children’s ministry has not changed in 20 years. I had the honor and privilege to serve at a church who had that issue and recognized it. Not only did they recognize it they wanted something done about it. The pastor who hired me said, “We have a state of the art children’s

16

By Bill Hegedus

ministry for 1985” and it was 2007. Now, at one time the children’s ministry was thriving and growing. But over time it slipped into obscurity. The once vibrant way of connecting with kids had become stale and disinteresting. As with any area of ministry, you have to constantly make every effort to be relevant. Since kids have a short attention span, staying relevant is even more critical. Be intentional about always becoming better at communicating the thing that is always relevant, the truth of God’s word. This just communicates further the intentional seriousness your church has for the next generation. You also need to have the right people to execute the ministry. Not just anyone but people who understand the importance kids play in the church.

People that carry the vision of the children’s ministry to the church.

Speaking about people. The second thing I have learned is the importance of team ministry. Sometimes out of necessity or even design the person in charge of children’s ministry feels like they have to do everything on there own. A scary statistic is that over 80 percent of children’s ministry leaders and pastors don’t attend a church service on a regular basis. They often feel alone and isolated. That’s why the team approach is so important. No one should feel abandoned. Now, this is not done intentionally by any means. But if we are honest, most of us don’t notice until it is too late. Not until that one Monday you are called by your children’s director who is burned out and is calling it quits. This is usually the first you are hearing of it, but the warning signs were there all along. With a team ministry approach you can avoid that dreaded conversation. What does a good team ministry model look like? The way we use the team ministry model is that anyone who is in charge of a ministry area, like children’s, nursery or preschool, they need to have someone who is their back up. If something were to happen to them, this person could step in and the ministry wouldn’t skip a beat. This gives the flexibility for the overall leader to attend service on a regular basis. It also creates a pipeline of future leaders. It fosters ownership at multiple layers of the ministry. It is an example of the church functioning as Continued on Page 26

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Universal Lessons Learned While Bringing Youth Ministries Back from the Dead

By Drew Cheyney “Ministry is pain!” This is a familiar quote that has a certain sting of truth for everyone leading people in a local church setting. And yet, that truth hopefully does not paralyze most of us from taking steps in the direction God has called us to go, but instead gives us perspective in the race we are running. I once asked this question, “How do you know if ministry is for you?” And the response I received was this: “if you can do anything else and be happy then you should do that. But if you realize your life won’t feel fulfilled without following your calling, whatever that may be, then you know the answer.”

Nine years ago this month, I felt God calling me into ministry to pastor people and it has had its blessings and hardships, but there is just something about following Gods plan that balances it all out in time. Maybe it is the lessons learned or the sharpening that the Bible talks about that changes us, but I can’t imagine my life being different.

Over the past 9 years with various ministries, failures, and successes these are 4 Key Principles that I have learned:

1

Church Family is Free, But You’re Paid to Produce The church you serve at should be a welcoming, loving, caring place that makes you feel like family from the first time you walk through the doors to the last. You should feel appreciated,

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encouraged, and wanted as a brother/ sister in Christ and all of those things should be FREELY GIVEN (and I understand that sometimes they are not; I dealt with that at a previous church).

And even though that should be an expectation in the local church you serve at, please keep in mind you are getting paid for

“

your corner by the way they fight for and with you when there is trouble. Tension. Conflict. Trials They are all a part of leading and collaborating with people. In fact, they are not bad things at times.

But what I have come to see in so many local churches is that it is easier to put on a smile and pretend then to be honest and

The church you serve at should be a welcoming, loving, caring place that makes you feel like family from the first time you walk through the doors to the last.

a reason. The church should be a family, but it’s still a work place where the expectation is that you produce. Now maybe producing for you is going from 30 volunteers to 50, having one first time guest all year transform into 10% of your attendance being first time guests every week, or it could be developing a student serving culture where 50% of your students or more serve weekly. Whatever it is, just keep in mind that you are not given a salary because you are called, you are given a salary because you can do things through your gift set that allows the church you serve to reach more people in God’s Kingdom.

2

You’ll Know Who is on Your Team by the Way They Handle Conflict with You Building relationships/ friendships in ministry are important, but you will know who really is in

transparent with those you have issues with. I remember countless staff putting on a smile in front of someone just to gossip about them behind their back at a later date. I know we all teach others that biblical conflict is how we should handle things, but I’ve noticed more often than not a lot of staff have compromised that leadership model for a simpler version of sin instead.

I get it 100%. We all want to be liked and to have healthy staff members, but at the same time, there is something to say when your direct report goes to bat for you, a teammate comes to you with their hurts instead of gossiping, or a volunteer comes to you with better ideas than your own. Whatever it is, you know who is for you by the way they care for you when you are around and when you are not.

Continued on page 66

Does God really set people free?

Or are we just talking?

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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

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Kick Me... Lessons Learned

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ave you ever had a “kick me” sign taped to your back and wondered why you continued getting kicked only to discover the sign that someone put on you? It isn’t fun getting kicked, and it is especially not fun getting kicked while you are down. I recently read a quote by Theodore Roosevelt saying, “If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” This edition of The Church Revitalizer focuses on the lessons learned from the adventure of church revitalization. I want you to avoid tagging yourself with your own “kick me” sign.

So here are five truths I’ve learned from my 10 years plus of revitalization work.

When considering patience or endurance, we must look to God as our example, because it is first and foremost His quality. He shows patience in that He wishes everyone to repent and be saved and so He delays His punishment. Think of it in terms of farming. If the farmer planted a crop and then left after a week because he saw no response, what kind of farmer would he be? Farmers have patience to prepare the fields, plant the seeds, cultivate and nurse the crop while it grows and eventually the harvest comes. I’ve learned the movement of God is never on my time line, nor is it conjured up like some magic potion. So, pray for patience, and remember it is a work and product of the Holy Spirit in your life.

You Are Called to Endure the Race – 2 Timothy 4:2

Let me encourage you to read the letters to the seven churches of the Revelation. Each church receives a reminder to endure and a promise for the one who overcomes. We will overcome by God’s grace and will endure with great patience!

In Paul’s second letter to Pastor Timothy, he exhorts Timothy to “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.” As a young pastor fresh out of seminary, I was ready to hit the ground running in the first church I was called to serve. How quickly I learned this pastoring thing was no sprint but rather a marathon. No matter how fast I wanted to go, I was in a very rural church that moved about as fast as molasses in winter time. Whether Timothy was impatient or really excited to see lives continued to be changed we do not exactly know, but he needed these words…great patience. Paul knew that difficult times would come, when the people in the church would turn away from sound teaching and follow their own selfish desires. Brothers and sisters, this is the beginning step of a church moving from health into plateau and then into decline.

This is also the point at which many pastors get frustrated and leave to what they think are greener pastures. In his book, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” Thom Rainer pointed to a critical issue in churches that died, the lack of pastoral tenure. Now to be fair, this is not all the responsibility of the pastor as some pastors are asked to leave. But what if pastors took this exhortation from Paul to endure this calling with patience.

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By Chris Irving

You are Called to Lead with Humility – Philippians 2:5-11 No doubt about it, if you are a church revitalizer you will face hardship and strong opposition in the church no matter the size. Paul wrote the letter to the Philippian church in such a time of inner turmoil. We do not have all the insider information of the goings on at Philippi, but we have enough to know there is a potential disruption large enough to skew the focus of the local church off of the Gospel which then shifts the focus inwardly and also leads to decline. Paul writes chapter 2 of Philippians with the truth of humility. I learned this lesson again as a young pastor in my second church. A dispute arose amongst our staff and I did not handle it well and I was wrapped up in a situation where all I could do was relocate.

With this came the important lesson of Philippians 2:5-11. Looking to Christ Jesus as the supreme example of humility who didn’t consider His position as something to exploit for His personal gain, but rather lowered Himself for our gain. Jesus set this exam-

ple as recorded in John 13 when He takes the role of a slave and washes the feet of the disciples, even the feet of the one who would betray Him. Friend, that is humility. What if you treated that antagonist with a dose of humility, returned their harsh word with a word of kindness. Our goal in revitalization is unity, not uniformity and that requires humility.

You are Equipped for Servant Leadership – John 13 The story mentioned above in John 13 of Jesus washing the disciples feet, is a great example of servant leadership. At its heart, servant leadership is the setting of an example for others to follow. Whatever your churches vision, mission statement or purpose

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the local church. How can any movement of God happen without first seeking the One who controls the movement? Matthew 7:7-12 contains one of the more well-known teachings of Jesus on the topic of prayer. Asking, seeking, knocking. Three different imperatives offered by Jesus to get the point across that as revitalizers we must: keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. With these three commands Jesus provides three responses from God. The church receives, finds, and the door is opened to them. It is also important to see that verse 12 is also connected to this teaching. There Jesus says, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” It is easy for Christians to say we love each other, but do we pray for them like we love them? Pastor, you must

When considering patience or endurance, we must look to God as our example, because it is first and foremost His quality. He shows patience in that He wishes everyone to repent and be saved and so He delays His punishment.

might be, the revitalizer must lead others to serve that mission. In the case of Jesus as captured in John 13, His mission was the cross but on the way to the cross He left this example for us to follow. Jesus turns this moment to give the disciples the example, or pattern, they would act upon.

It was not the act of foot washing, but rather the heart of the act He exemplified for them as this is one of the best pictures of servant leadership. Servant leadership in regards to church revitalization necessarily means you take on the role of pastor with the towel and basin in hand. In doing so, you are taking the challenge to endure, and to endure with great patience and humility. This moment of teaching by Jesus for the disciples pointed them to the future call to continue displaying the love for one another and the church for they would never exceed the greatness of their Teacher and Lord. If Jesus lowered Himself, then they would also, and so we to must follow His example to serve to lead and lead to serve.

You Called to Prayer – Matthew 7:7-12

pray for the Spirit of God to move in your church, through your worship, through your preaching, and out into the community. Pastor you must pray for your people because you are called to love them and lead them. Pastor you must keep on asking, seeking, and knocking for their benefit and God’s glory!

I learned that as a young pastor that if I was not praying for my people then I was could not really be their pastor.

You are Called to Text-Driven Preaching – 2 Timothy 4:2 Time and time again throughout the Bible the evidence is clear that text-driven preaching draws the people of God back to Him. In Nehemiah in particular, Ezra the scribe opens the scroll on the platform built for such an occasion and begins to read from the scrolls. The people of God are impacted in such a way by the reading of the Word of God that they recapture what was lost in the exile. A sense of the holiness of God is very present, the reality of their great sin, and truth of a greater and more merciful God.

It goes without saying that prayer must happen in

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Kick Me...Lessons Learned continued In 2 Timothy 4:2, as referenced earlier, the first exhortation Paul offers to Timothy is the preaching of the Word. In order for Timothy to shepherd well, he had to continue the practice of text-driven preaching and to be ready to do so in all seasons. Think of the seasons of life and the natural life-cycle of church life. Pastor, your people need to hear the Word, not your psycho-babel for their best life now. I once asked a more seasoned pastor who has now pastored his church for over 30 plus years and seen growth over that time into the thousands, what one key was to central to revitalization.

His simple response has stayed with me since then. He said, “you must preach the Word.” He went on to describe how other churches in the city had declined and pastoral turnover had increased but the consistency of text-driven preaching over a long period of time made for a healthier church and ministries. Pastor, preach the Word!

These are the lessons I’ve learned, and I know there will be more in my future. But I want to hear from you, so shoot me an email at chris-irving@hotmail.com and let me hear some of your lessons. Perhaps together we can learn from each other and avoid putting our own “kick me” signs on our backs.

Chris Irving is the Lead

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

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Planned Absences—the Sheep May Wander But They Will Grow Fonder—and You Can Avoid Burnout

By Joel R. Breidenbaugh, PhD

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few months ago, I watched what may become my all-time favorite musical, The Greatest Showman. I have long enjoyed such classics as The Sound of Music, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and more. But there’s something about The Greatest Showman which resonates with me as a preacher. Though it’s an unfair comparison, some people attend church for the “show” and to see how good the preacher is going to be. Taking center stage to declare the marvelous truths of God’s Word can be alluring to some, so much so they never want to take a week off. Moreover, we pastors know all-too-well, when the pastor is away, church members go play. We learn quickly if our people know we will be out on a Sunday, some of them will skip out on the assembly. They may even go listen to another preacher in town.

You may resolve this issue by only taking a week off periodically, not announcing it so people won’t know. In a world of social media where we need to post things to stay relevant and influence others, people can easily pick up on our time away. Plus, there is great value to taking more than one week off in a row. Whether you take it off as an extended vacation or a mini-sabbatical, I will argue planned absences may cause the sheep to wander (momentarily) but they will also grow fonder of their pastor, and the pastor can avoid burnout.

Most Sheep Love Their Shepherd Although they don’t always show it, most sheep love their shepherd. They prefer to listen to someone they love and trust than someone they don’t know or don’t know very well. If they learn their pastor is going to be out on a Sunday, they will often either skip out on gathering with the church or they might attend a friend’s church.

Many pastors fear they could lose members over this scenario, but it isn’t likely. Remember, they love 24

you and trust you. They may listen to someone else to learn something, but they are not likely to stop attending your church just because you missed a couple of weeks. Even if someone does, as long as they are going to another Bible-teaching church, the kingdom of Christ isn’t negatively affected (I realize many pastors and churches become so focused on their own ministries they fail to see the much larger kingdom of Christ around them, but that’s another topic for another time). When you take time away and return, your sheep are will return to hear you, because they love you.

Most Sheep Will Miss Their Shepherd Whenever the pastor is gone, most church members will miss him, because they love him. So whenever you go away for a few weeks, they might miss attending church, but they will look forward to your return. Even though they may hear other preachers during that time, they will miss you, because you connect with them in ways other people do not.

You have visited them in their homes or at work or while they were hospitalized. You have rejoiced with them at the birth of a child or grandchild and you have cried with them at the loss of a loved one.

When you are gone, they will miss you and they will look forward to your return.

Shepherds Can Avoid Burnout Not only do the sheep love their shepherd and miss him when he’s gone, allowing for a nice reunion upon his return, but shepherds also need a break from the sheep or they can get burned out and quit.

The most common statistic I hear is “there are 1,500 pastors who leave the ministry every month due to burnout, moral failure or retirement.” While that statistic never cites a reputable study, because it is far too high, there are still significant numbers of ministers leaving the ministry each year, often due to burnout. LifeWay Research says there are about “250 ministers leaving the ministry each month.”

That is not good news, but it is better than we are led to believe. Still, a few thousand ministers will call it quits in ministry each year due to burnout.

Some of that burnout could have been avoided with some planned time off, either by way of an extended vacation or a sabbatical. Such planned absences help the pastor in several ways:

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-It Helps the Pastor Get Fed by Someone Else When the pastor takes time away with his family, one of the benefits is they get to attend another church to worship. The pastor can be open to the Lord while listening to another preacher deliver God’s Word. He can also get an idea or two for ministry and worship to incorporate in his own church.

Most pastors have less time at home than average occupations, because pastors are often on-call 24/7 Most pastors have less time at home than average occupations, because pastors are often on-call 24/7

Most pastors have less time at home than average occupations, because pastors are often on-call 24/7...

-It Helps the Pastor and His Family Most pastors have less time at home than average occupations, because pastors are often on-call 24/7 and have to make home visits when people are actually at home. When a planned absence is taken, the pastor gets to spend some quality time with his spouse and children. Having a few days of un-interrupted time with family can help rejuvenate a minister to keep going. It can also remind the family that they, too, are important to him.

-It Helps the Pastor Share the Load Let’s face it: the work of the ministry is a heavy burden. That’s why it isn’t for the weak of heart or thin-skinned. When the pastor takes time off, he is able to depend on others to shoulder some of the load. He may depend on other staff members, lay preachers in the congregation or itinerant preachers in the community. They can deliver a timely message from the Lord to encourage the congregation and keep the pastor from having to be back for Sunday.

-It Helps the Church Know the Pastor Isn’t Superman As wrong as it is, pastors get placed on pedestals. Some church members look at the pastor as Superman, always ready to fly in at a moment’s notice to save the day. Pastors are not Jesus. Nor are they Superman. Churches and pastors need to be reminded of this truth.

Conclusion At the end of The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum realizes how coveting the lights and trying to follow his dreams (calling) led him further from his family and made him want to give up. When he listened to some sound advice, he started fresh and focused on more time with his family. His name has lived on with the circus for 150 years.

As a follower of Jesus, incorporating planned absences from time to time can help you and your own family. Though they may not realize it right away, your church will benefit from you taking time off and giving them your best when you return. Your faithfulness to the Lord will probably not result in any longterm remembrances of you, but the lives you influence won’t simply live on for 150 years. As followers of Jesus, they will live on for eternity. May God grant it for His glory and for the good of His people!

Joel Breidenbaugh, PhD, is the lead pastor of a new church plant, Gospel Centered Church, on the north side of Apopka. He has also taught homiletics and evangelism for Liberty University School of Divinity since 2007.

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Top 3 Children’s Ministry Revitalization Lessons Learned Continued from pg 16

The third most important lesson I have learned when it comes to revitalization of children’s ministry is prayer. This one may seem like a no-brainer, and it is. Some of you may say it is the first thing you should do in any situation. I would halfway agree. Yes, you should pray to ask for God’s guidance and direction, but I think you should also end

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things about God is how He gets our attention and knows just how to instruct us in the way we learn best.

Through many failed attempts God showed me the importance of prayerfully submitting my plans to him.

Through this time of prayer, God has taught me that the best thing I can do is be available and teachable.

That I don’t need to start a new move of God, but to simply join Him in what He is already doing.

Having done ministry in both a church plant setting and a church revitalization setting, I can say that

One of the amazing things about God is how He gets our attention and knows just how to instruct us in the way we learn best.

in prayer. Asking for Gods blessing and favor. I think prayer is often underused or over spiritualized in the church today. Whenever I embark on a task or whether I am doing strategic planning I pray twice. Once at the beginning and once at the end. It is a simple reminder that it is what God does through me that matters. To be totally honest, this was not often the case. Early on in ministry, I would often sit and think up great ideas and things we could do to reach the children of our community and their families. I would rarely if ever pray about it. I viewed the children’s ministry as my ministry.

It was all about what I could do for God. Talk about getting things backwards. One of the amazing

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the church. A living, breathing example of a community of believers coming together for a common purpose.

revitalization has been the most rewarding. I also believe it is the most needed today.

Our pastor says this statement all the time “Just because a church is older, doesn’t mean it’s best days are behind them!” I completely agree. We believe our best days are ahead of us. Yours are too. You have a great opportunity to serve your community in a way no one else can. In a way that will matter for generations to come. By simply making the choice to be a place where children matter and families belong. Children are our future, so let us prepare them to face that future and help them become a stronger church of tomorrow.

Bill Hegedus is the Family Pastor at Bethlehem Church in Atlanta. Bill has over 15 years experience ministering to kids and families and currently serves as the Family Pastor of Bethlehem Church. His heart and passion is to help kids understand and live out a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Often described as a big kid himself, Bill uses laughter and innovation to do ministry in an exciting and memorable way kids enjoy.

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It Can Be Done!

Gideon Judges 6

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e all have Midianites in our lives. We all 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 we 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 take-a-ways from the life of Gideon: 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!

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 to 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

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By Ron Smith

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.

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 (God) and then they receive what is needed.

Know this; you are never in a time or place where He is not! You are never in a time or place where God cannot speak, call, direct, provide and move!

God is daily preparing us to serve Him. We are not valiant warriors before He calls us – we are valiant warriors 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 us encouraged, focused and prepared for the battles and blessings that are to come.

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Lesson One, Get in Your Worship Stance

Judges 7:7 “I will save you” Judges 7:11 “You shall hear what they say and your hands will be strengthened…”

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

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.

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Lesson Two, Walk In His Victory Steps

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.”

trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon! Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 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.”

I love these words; “Arise… HAS Given.” (Judges 7:15). From this we learn that God HAS already given the victory. Much of what 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.

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.

Lesson Three, Advance into the battle from Your Place

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?

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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.”

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

Heres the deal, know your place as a Pastor and be able to put the people in their place. And let God work through each individual where he or she is at.

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Lesson Four, 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

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

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).

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.

Ron Smith is the Senior Pastor of WaterStone Church, a church

working towards revitalization and renewal. He leads the National Coaching Network for the Renovate Group. Ron is a husband to Rana, father to three girls. Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild. You can follow Ron and receive free resources at RonBSmithJr.com. Ron serves as Co-leader of Renovate Podcasts.

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The Leadership Link:

Learning the Lessons of Revitalization

By Michael Atherton

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earning is a part of life and life is one big classroom. Each and every day we are presented opportunities to learn lessons, that if we will pay close attention, help to propel us to new heights in our leadership abilities. One thing is for sure, if you are unwilling to be a learner, you will surely struggle as a revitalization leader. You must constantly be willing to evaluate yourself and learn from what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. The strongest, most effective revitalization leaders are those who are willing to maintain a position of humility, learning from both the good and the bad. Let’s face it; you will not do everything right as a leader. You are going to have some bad days. You are going to make some bad decisions. You, like anyone, will want some mulligans throughout your leadership life. What are some helpful tips for ensuring that we maintain a posture of a learner as a leader? Let me offer four…

1. Maintain Humility It is ironic how pride can be so subtle that we can be proud of our own humility. If we are not careful, pride can deceive us by giving us an unhealthy self-reliance while minimizing our need to trust God and His provision and sovereignty.

This should go without saying, but must be said; God is the author of your every success in ministry! Pride attempts to make you believe you are the one who has achieved your various victories.

Pride wants you to believe you can lead without God’s input. Pride desires to convince you that you are able to accomplish great things apart from God. All of these notions represent deceptions and lies that, if believed, will cause you to lead in a manner which will result in the subtle maligning of God’s character and nature, while feeding your self-exaltation.

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Regardless of your accomplishments, your education, your victories, or your honors, we must always remember that we are nothing without the Lord.

Christ’s teaching on humility is a constant and recurring theme in the New Testament, in large part because it is the foundation of the doctrine of salvation by grace. We are broken people, not because of what we can do, but because of what we have done. We are made whole in Christ, not

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You must constantly be willing to evaluate yourself and learn from what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.

because of what we can do, but because of what Christ has done. We must be careful to never succumb to the deception that we can be effective leaders apart from the mighty power and working of God in us and through us.

2. Listen Carefully There are so many lessons that we need to learn that are right before us if we would but listen. God speaks in a still, small, voice and yet we live in a world that is screaming at us from all directions. We must develop the discipline of listening.

There is no doubt: communication is a key characteristic in any leader’s effectiveness. Effective leaders are effective communicators. We are helping people, whether corporately or individually, make the necessary changes that lead them from the status quo to reaching their full potential in Christ.

But let’s remember, one element of communication that must not be overlooked is your responsibility to listen.

We need to be a leader that hears people and the things they have to say to you. Accept their praise and criticism. Listen to their ideas, understand their perspectives, and genuinely consider their feelings.

You do not always have to agree, but if they know that they have been heard, they will likely hear you better when it is your time to talk.

3. Develop Relationships Ministry is relational! It always amazes me how we have tried to come up with shortcuts or explain away the need to build relationships within ministry.

How can a church have an effective ministry without being relational? How can a minister have an effective ministry without investing in relationship?

Society is facing challenges when it pertains to relationship building. These problems are incredibly ironic in this social media age. Husbands communicate with hundreds of friends on Facebook but cannot speak to their wives with kindness. Daughters bare their souls in chat rooms full of strangers, while their mothers are unavailable physically and mentally.

We make ourselves isolated and insulated. We go to work (although the Internet allows an awful lot of people to work from home) and we come home. We pull into our garages, enter our houses, and hope we don’t have to go outside and actually converse with people. If we do go outside, we go onto our back porch, where we are protected by our privacy fences.

Activities that once pulled us out into the masses can now be done from our computer desks. We grocery shop from home, Christmas shop on the web, and singles even meet their soul mates on dating websites. All of these are great resources, but we need to proceed with caution.

4. Practice Prayer I am sure many of us acknowledge this reality, but maybe we fail to appreciate it: good intentions are not always God’s intentions. This may surprise you, but church revitalization is really not about your ideas, plans, and vision. The church belongs to God and was purchased with the blood of Christ. God has called us to serve His church, but our responsibility is to carry out His ideas, His plans, and His vision. There is no way to understand His plan and His vision if you do not meet with Him regularly and consistently in prayer.

As a revitalizer you must, let me say it again, you must hear from the Lord. Would Joshua have ever thought to walk around the walls of Jericho for seven days if the Lord would not have spoken to him? Would Jonah have ever gone to Nineveh had God not spoken to him? Would Nehemiah have ever gone back to rebuild the walls had God not spoken to him? I could go on and on….

As one who has been a part of multiple revitalization efforts, I can assure you, your revitalization efforts will surely fall short if you are unwilling to daily and diligently practice prayer. Revitalization is way too tough to do it on your own!

A concluding thought…

Is this an exhaustive list? Certainly not. However, committing yourself to be a lifelong learner will inevitably help you from having to learn the same difficult lesson over and over again. If we are honest about it, so many of the hurts that we carry in our life represent lessons that we did not learn the first (second, or third) time they came around. Having a teachable spirit enables us to not only become a better, more effective leader, but it also eliminates a lot of pain along the journey.

Ultimately, the best leaders are often the best learners…so commit yourself to the discipline of learning.

Dr. Michael Atherton

Senior Pastor First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, O’Fallon, MO. Mike has served as a Senior Pastor 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.

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Little Wins Grow Big Vision

By Pete Tackett

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ntioch Church was a church with a long history of specific coordinated outreach events designed to make the community aware of their presence and meet needs. A few of the creative ministries and events they had done through the years include a community wide Judgment House, maintaining a thriving student ministry, building and operating a recreation center, hosting a basketball league for hundreds of people, taking family mission trips, hosting an exciting VBS, and having an organized outreach ministry.

Somewhere along the way, something happened.

One by one, each of those vibrant ministries simply went away as one after another, key leaders left or died. There was never a day when the church voted to quit doing them. They just simply died. Not just these, but there were dozens more I did not mention over the past 40 years. What had once been a purposeful, community-engaging church simply vanished.

To see how much they had disconnected from the community around them, you need to know about a trip I took down Antioch Road shortly after returning as transitional pastor. I knocked on every door on Antioch Road in one day and did a front porch interview without telling those who responded who I was.

I told them I had moved into the neighborhood and wanted to ask a few questions. Most were about where they shopped, where they would recommend to do business, what radio station they listened to, etc. At the end, I would point to Antioch and the other two churches on our street and ask what they could tell me about each. 31 people answered the door that day and 19 of them said in one way or another, they thought Antioch no longer met on Sundays. Now, to be a little defensive, it is only fair to note that they had a recent pastor that did not keep office hours, and when they met on Sunday, there were so few of them that they all parked in the lower

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lot invisible to the road. Regardless of the reason, if 19 of 31 people on your street think you are out of business, you are in trouble.

It was early in the process but I knew we somehow had to re-engage the community if we were to stop the bleeding. Finding out they were planning a “trunk or treat” for the small AWANA ministry that was still functioning, I suggested they beef it up, do away with their Sunday night worship service that week so everyone could decorate a car, and have a community-wide trunk or treat event. As you might imagine, there was some push-back, but not what you would imagine. No one complained about the “Devil’s holiday” or giving up Sunday night worship. The universal response from what was predominately an older crowd was fear. Could they do it? Would anyone come? Would they be able to interact with people they had never met?

Though they were fearful, they were willing to be led.

They brought candy for several weeks and decorated their cars and filled the parking lot that Sunday night and 120 people from the community and our AWANA program showed up. It was what we began to refer to as one of many “little wins” along the way that God used to show them He was not finished with them yet. Every year since, the number of community participants has increased.

Later I discovered that somewhere along the way, mission giving had been pared back due to decreasing offerings and the need to pay existing staff and local expenses. In 2008, they had promoted and received the annual Christmas mission offering with a goal of $2,800 and took in $1,700. In 2009, it was not mentioned. In essence, without taking a formal vote, Antioch had simply quit being a mission-giving church.

We needed to be reminded we were part of a bigger picture of God’s redemptive mission.

Our re-energized mission team took up the challenge of promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. They set a goal of $2,800, which was the last goal they had two years earlier even though they did not meet it. They called the church to prayer; asked every family to participate in some way; rallied the small children and youth groups to participate; and listened to weekly preaching on missions. When the money was counted, the church had given over $5,000. It became another “little win.” Each year since, that offering has increased, with this year’s giving topping $35,000. Along the way, building on that little win, the church has gradually grown its budgeted mission giving to 14% of our undesignated receipts.

Not all dead ministries can be resurrected. In fact, I am convinced that most should not. However, one ministry that became an important comeback story at Antioch was a ministry to homeless families called Family Promise. While the church had already begun to stabilize and move forward again, we were not finished with our vision team process when a volunteer stepped forward to lead that ministry. Trusting this was God’s will, we signed up to host homeless families with children in our building quarterly. Four years later, we are still involved and there are 25 people attending that we first met when they were homeless and sleeping in our building for a week. It is messy work, but most of us would point back to that decision as one of the “little wins” along the road to spiritual health.

One more example would be the Love Loud event we tackled the following July. By then, we were convinced God had a future filled with hope

planned for Antioch and we wanted to let the community know we were serious about meeting needs. By then, people were beginning to believe again that Antioch could be used to do great things so it was no real surprise that people of every age group helped us to minister to over 400 people from our community with groceries, clothes, haircuts, and school supplies as their kids returned to school at the end of summer. When it was over, I made a comment about another “little win” and some of my exhausted folks quickly let me know they considered this a big win. Either way, it illustrates the point.

At each step of the journey, we worked hard to celebrate these little wins. We live in the communication age that makes it easy to tell the story of the victories God gives you. We made sure to have a photographer at each event or activity or someone with a small movie camera to chronicle the ministry and results. Almost every church has a screen and projector and a member that likes putting together slide shows. We did not have money but we had volunteers and we used them to tell the story of each win, which was a win in itself. Be sure to make time in worship events to celebrate the wins so that those who worked can feel affirmed and those who did not will be caught up in the excitement next time.

If you allow the paralysis of analysis to keep you from doing anything until you are ready to do everything, the church will remain inert and ineffective. One of the most important lessons I learned is get them moving and get some little wins under your belt!

Pete Tackett is a self-confessed broken man who has been the recip-

ient of amazing grace, healing, and restoration. Pastoring a 2,000 member church, he crashed and burned in a spectacular way in 2009. His wife, Lori, and his church family stood by him, even though he resigned as pastor. After a year in which in his own words, he “did not preach, teach a class, or pray a public prayer after a lifetime of full-throttle ministry,” Pete was restored physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In the fall of 2010, he returned to vocational ministry, becoming pastor at Antioch Church in Johnson City, Tennessee.

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Lessons Learned in Revitalization:

De-Clutter Your Life

By J. David Jackson

M

y wife has recently been working her way through the accumulated possessions of her parents, who are attempting to move to a smaller home for their latter years of life. On many occasions, she has felt the need to tell me how much stuff they own that is of little or no (current) value.

Going through it has been overwhelming for her, but more significantly, it has been paralyzing for them. My in-laws can’t even start dealing with the collection of things themselves; whether it’s sentimental value or not knowing where to start, they just ignore it and hope it goes away.

But it doesn’t go away. And if they don’t control the stuff, it will control them.

Churches are hoarders too. They collect and accumulate things over the years. Possessions are treated as relics. Experiences are sacrosanct. Traditions are treated as though they were written in God’s Word.

And programs have been given reverential status simply because grandparents used them.

Churches collect these things and cling to them tightly. They add them to their calendar and their budget. Over time, the clutter becomes like sacred cows that complicate, confuse, and even paralyze the church into dormant living. And dormant living inevitably leads to atrophy and decline.

It complicates church life by providing too many choices for the mind and too many allegiances for the heart.

It confuses the church about its mission and reason for existence, distracting the people and causing them to lose focus on what’s most important.

It paralyzes the church into inactivity at it’s worst, or wrong activity at best. It saps the church of its strength, since its energy is spent on just holding on to these relics.

When individuals do this, we say they have a disorder, they are unhealthy, and need help. Something has gone wrong, and it’s now out of control. Without addressing the problem, they will spiral into deeper difficulties that signal trouble.

Revitalized churches acknowledge that along the way someone had to make some hard, courageous decisions about all this stuff in the church’s life. They had to confront the dragon that had enslaved them, and kept them from living out their purpose for God. Leaders, who likely sacrificed a lot and endured many scars, had to fight to free them from the shackles of clutter that had subjugated them for too long.

In 2004, I confronted a church in the maniacal grips of clutter. They found themselves half the size they were previously, due to many things (including the clutter, in my opinion), and programs gone wild. The years had birthed a Christian school through their efforts that now dominated their schedule and their hearts. Their budget was locked up in facilities management and the aforementioned programs that left them 0.4% for reaching out and serving their community! They did almost nothing, apart from Sunday worship and the school.

Jesus made comments about churches like this when he spoke to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. A significant church with a storied history and pristine reputation, it had become dulled and distant with their God. “But I have this against you: you have abandoned the love you had at first,” our Lord said to them (2:4, CSB). Had clutter and routine cooled their hearts and made it harder to see and hear God? I’m inclined to think so.

What are the steps to getting a church like this back on track? Jesus continues, “Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” (2:5) All three of these statements are of great import to us here.

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First, Jesus says the church must remember how far they have fallen. This command is to help the church recognize how far the clutter of their existence had distanced their hearts from God. The distance they felt was the antithesis of what Christ wanted them to experience. The idolatry of things and experiences had stolen their hearts.

First, acknowledge as Jesus indicates that this is a spiritual problem that can’t be resolved apart from repentance.

Though we live in a material world, it is ultimately spiritual in nature. It is idolatry when we replace God with anything else, including “creature comforts” and “sacred cows.” This is the most important “change” that must take place (Matt.

6:33).

Second, they are told to repent. The word metanoia, of course, means to “change your mind” (literally). But in reality, it reflects so much more. It indicates that the entity has already changed from where it was previously, and thus, needs to return. It is a lifestyle word. In other words, Jesus is rebuking the church for their love wandering away in the first place, even as he calls them to return. Change is required to get back to where Jesus calls the church to be.

Second, get back to the basics. Build Christlike relationships with disenfranchised (lost, unchurched, marginalized) people. Create opportunities as a church for relationship building to take place among your people. Some readers will immediately trivialize this step and say this is not spiritual enough. Let me respond by saying most evangelism writers today encourage us to count spiritual conversations, rather than conversions. But conversations can’t take place unless church attendees are encouraged to build relationships and maximize the strength or trust, respect, and credibility that follow when a relationship is genuine. After all, the longer one is a Christian the fewer non-Christian friends he or she typically has. So, relationship building is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.

Finally, Christ commands them to do the things they did at first. As a former church planter, I know all about what churches do at the beginning. The work is all about relationships with people and evangelism that leads to disciple-making. When new churches try to do more or become what I call a “full service” church with something for everyone, they dilute their impact and minimize their strengths.

Also, focus your church back on evangelism that leads to disciple-making. Most church plants spend fifty percent of their budget in the first year on evangelism. Most older established churches don’t even spend five percent on it.

No wonder there is a difference in impact! Churches that are Couple these three things together and the resulting serious about revitalization will have to take the necessary conclusion is that churches can lose their first love by steps to move the church back toward an outward-focused adding things they didn’t do at first, or in the early days. ministry of the Gospel. For 99% of established churches, it is Complexity breeds apathy. Love is lost to Christ because not realistic to aim for a fifty percent threshold in evangelism it has been re-appropriated to something else: our dollars. So, start by moving the needle toward ten percent. traditions, our routines, our experiences, our places, our Watch the difference it makes! programs.

If you are a pastor or a church leader and you are seeking to lead your church in revitalization, then let me recommend the following to move the church back toward vitality:

Churches that take control of the clutter of their lives will find a new lease on life. They will find a forgotten freedom in serving God that will bring new energy and excitement to their existence. And most important of all, they will rediscover their first love, Jesus Christ, in a way that will bring joy and meaning to all they do.

J. David Jackson serves to encourage, equip, and empower church planters, pastors, and churches to partner with the Lord Jesus Christ in planting churches and extending His kingdom throughout the six state region of New England.

He is author of the book “ReNEW: Traveling the Forgotten Path,” which can be found at amazon.com. Jackson can be reached at drjdavidjackson@gmail.com.

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What I Learned the

Hard Way About RevitalizationAlly

I

did revitalization the hard way at my first church. Fresh from seminary, I had no idea that the church I was going to was in such bad shape as it was. I accepted the call with an I-don’t-know-what-I-don’t-know stance. Desperation awakened me later to my need to know, but on arrival, I had no idea how to guide a church to health.

Don’t get me wrong. This was a loving congregation. But they were focused on something other than the gospel. As for me, I did not know how much my ignorance would hold up the church’s renewal process.

Looking back now thirty-some years later, I recognize that revitalization took twice as long as it should have had I understood the lessons which I now share with you.

Here are 5 of the key lessons I learned.

#1

Your church can’t be revitalized until the people embrace their role as Kingdom agents. Believers should know this, but many do not. Lots of people see church as just one facet of their lives, vying for attention with work, play, sports, family activities and ‘me’ time.

They generally do their faith thing on Sundays, adding other church activities if those seem helpful for them. However, being people who are personally used 38

By Steve Smith

to bringing spiritual vitality to their church and sowing the gospel into their community— not so much.

I heard this lament from a church leader who, with her pastor, is putting together the right ministry systems—evangelizing, discipling, follow-up, children’s ministry—and recruiting new leaders to revitalize their church.

She keeps getting push-back from them about the extra time they are giving and questioning why they need to do all this work!

You won’t see your church revitalized until your congregation wants to do Jesus’ bidding. When they realize they are his and at his command to go into the world to make disciples, only then they will be ready for revitalization. Dedicate yourself to teach them how to deeply embrace the gospel of Jesus’ kingdom. Teach them why Jesus is building his church— how he has gifted each one of them by the Spirit to serve his eternal purpose. Only when they awake to the reality of being his servants will they be willing to sacrifice what is necessary to be the church instead of going to church.

#2

Pride can really mess you up. Even fresh out of seminary, I had leadership ability. I found that people older than myself would listen to me and do the

things I suggested. The church grew steadily in these years, and I was able to lead in constructing a much needed new building to give room for more growth.

But a little bit of personal ability can persuade you to think you know God’s plan. I felt I had a handle on most things and could figure out the rest on my own.

Instead of cultivating a humble learning spirit, I set myself up for mistakes and misdirection in ministry that took years to recognize and correct. Because I did not have a godly mentor, I developed some bad habits that I could have avoided. But as I was enamored with my own beliefs, the church suffered until God opened my eyes to the pride that was killing me. Wake up or it will kill you too.

#3

You need a coach. This follows lesson number two .

Because of pride, I did not seek out leaders to invest in my development. I attended many seminars and conferences on being a healthy church and best practices for evangelizing, discipling, etc., but I had no one to coach me how to do it practically—to challenge me to get better at being a pastor.

I found that I was a ready learner, but I was slow on implementing what I learned. This was due, in part, to feeling overwhelmed with caring for the people I shepherded.

I often lagged behind in putting important systems into place either because I felt uncertain or because I lacked a sense of urgency. A coach would have helped me move forward faster. I felt the need, but never took the responsibility to reach out and ask for help. One

of the compelling reasons I started coaching other pastors while in my mid-thirties was because of this great void I had experienced when I started in ministry.

A coach is not like a consultant who comes and goes out of your life. A coach is someone who walks along side of you as long as you need him. He will teach you not only how to do the things you need to do, but push you to actually do them.

“

to lead them towards change.

What I learned, and now teach others, is to do a comprehensive evaluation with objective counselors experienced in revitalization. It will save you time and win the trust of your congregation as you address the right things.

#5

Revitalization doesn’t happen unless you return to the basics. Vince Lombardi said this

I find that many churches are declining not because they’re failing to preach biblical truths, but because they’re not practicing them.

#4

Don’t start until you know what the real problem is. I confess that it took me some time to discover why the church was stuck.

Having no idea of what I did not know, I resorted to trying to fix the symptoms of the problem. For example, the church’s finances were strained due to people not giving. I thought that was a problem because it affected their ability to pay me! So I addressed it over and over again. But as I matured, I came to see the real problem for my congregation was trusting God, not a refusal to give.

Too many wrong guesses causes your leadership to lose credibility long before you stumble on the real problem. After a while, people stop being willing to be your guinea pigs and give less and less attention to your attempts

about winning at football. The same is true for a church. I find that many churches are declining not because they’re failing to preach biblical truths, but because they’re not practicing them. If you want your church revitalized, disciple your people so they will build relationships with the lost, evangelize them and disciple them. And teach your congregation how to pursue intimacy with God so He can change them from the inside out.

People are always coming up with new ideas on how to fix a church. I got caught up in some of these innovative fads early in ministry. I tried new approaches to worship, novel outreach tactics to woo people through the doors and indulged in the if-you-buildit-they-will-come mentality.

None of them renovated my congregation.

What I did find is that the church began to come alive when I began personally discipling the men in the congregation.

This led to women wanting to be discipled. And then people began inviting people to attend.

People crossed the line of faith and were baptized. Broken people who showed up were treated with compassion and given hope that God would heal and deliver them. This drew them to become part of the church family. The church grew.

Revitalization is the outcome in a church that returns to its biblical roots, doing the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. Figure out what your congregation is not doing and begin to teach them how and when and where and why.

Then find another struggling pastor who needs to know and teach him the lessons you learned.

Steve Smith

is the founder of ChurchEquippers Ministries. He is the author of several books including The Key to Deep Change and the Increasing Capacity Guidebook. He is a strategic thinker, a relational networker, a mentor and coach to pastors and young leaders. For more information,

go to: www.ChurchEquippers.com

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Don’t Let Social Media Derail Revitalization

L

evi Charles Reardon, wanted for theft and forgery, was so taken by his wanted poster on the Great Falls/Cascade County Crimestoppers Facebook page that he “liked” it. He was arrested a few weeks later.

We chuckle at the thought of a criminal being caught by an imprudent act on Facebook, but the potential risks of social media for the church are no laughing matter. Imagine several years of revitalization efforts coming undone over one ill-advised post or blog? Sadly, such occurrences are becoming more common as social media usage in the church advances faster than social media policies.

Technology has changed almost every aspect of ministry. Smart phones and watches are common place in the church and home. Even our car is equipped to read emails and text messages as they arrive. While these can be wonderful tools to communicate our message with speed and power to our congregation, there is a dark side to social media. Pastors may struggle to complete sermons while spending hours composing a blog or post for Facebook. Staff find themselves bringing home work at night after spending several hours putting out fires caused by a comment posted by a youth group member or disgruntled parent on Twitter or Instagram.

Studies are pointing to the negative impact of social media on marriages, families and addictions. I have observed more than one pastor who believed his phone was buzzing (but was not), as they live in anticipation of the next call. I have

40 40

By Rodney Harrison

experienced family time interrupted by a text alert. It is no wonder that “Smart phone fatigue” is at an all time high and even the secular media is advocating a social media fast. Extensive social media use has even been linked to an increase in divorce rates. Sadly, this does not surprise me as I know of two church couples whose marriages collapsed due to social media. That is why divorce attorney Ken Peck provides five strategies to reduce the chance that social media will ruin a marriage: -Set up one social media account that you use jointly with your spouse. Combining your accounts could prevent a lot of conflict and jealousy.

-Share passwords with your spouse for every social media site you use.

If you have nothing to hide, don’t hide it. If there is trust established between you and your partner, it’s likely that the passwords will never be used.

-Avoid lengthy communications with others on social media sites.

Social media is great for keeping in touch and quick communication — it’s the more intimate conversations that are detrimental to marriages.

-Refrain from complaining about your spouse or ex-spouse on social media. This can lead to a lot of trouble, especially if you and your spouse have already decided on a divorce. Any evidence that is found on a public social media profile can be used against you [in] divorce court.

-Use social media less. If you’re

more inclined to talk to your Facebook friends than your spouse, who might be sitting in the room with you, it may be time for both of you to sit down and talk about your marriage and how you can improve it.

The drawbacks of social media do not end with marriage issues. Nor do these risks mean new technologies should be shunned. In fact, many of the great revitalizers used new technology to grow their ministry. Charles H. Spurgeon embraced the new technology of the modern post with an associated addresses for every household by writing nearly 50 letters each day throughout his ministry. A hundred years later, John Snyder grew Sun Valley Community Church by nearly 300 people in one year through the emerging technology of telemarketing using Norm Whan’s “The Phone’s For You!” In the early 2000s, Steve Sjogren pioneered the use of email and text messaging to connect with leaders and attendees alike. At one point, Sjogren and every member of his staff were expected to engage in 30 contacts per day as a means of connecting with attenders, leaders and prospects. This use of technology allowed Sjogran to successfully establish congregations in historically resilient areas including Baltimore, Maryland and Oslo, Norway. In ways similar to these earlier technologies, social media has unlocked evangelism and discipleship possibilities that previous generations could not comprehend. Pastor and author Jeff Klick notes that through media networks, Christians from all over the globe can connect in an instant. Isolated pastors can find many support groups and shut-ins have access to unlimited teaching and worship events. I have experienced the benefits of social media first hand, communicating

in real-time with a congregation in rural Missouri from halfway around the world.

The way to keep your ministry and leaders out of trouble is to address the social media issue sooner than later. Questions that should drive the conversation include those relating to how much time staff should invest in social media while at work, how personal accounts can impact church and home, and how to reduce the liability risks, be they relational or legal. The list of questions to be asked is growing and seemingly endless.

Some churches should explore adding Cyber Liability Insurance to their church policy. This is a wise investment if the church or pastor maintains a blog, website, or makes their worship services available on the Internet. In addition, discussing expectations with staff and volunteers is becoming an important aspect of onboarding as our churches reach out beyond the brick and mortar into cyberspace. Social Media is a great tool if used properly, however, like any other tool, if wielded improperly, pain, damage, and lawsuits can follow. With the advent of the Internet, social media has become a normal part of our lives. FaceBook, Twitter, Tumblr and more are visited by pastors, staff and members multiple times a day. To be sure, there are still a few holdouts, but in most churches the majority of members use social media. Those who speak for the church, including pastors,

staff, and ministry leaders, need to consider what they post in social media. The illusion that electronic communications are private and no one would ever read or take offense at a personal post should have been dispelled by now. Although it can be argued that a distinction between personal and professional social media exists, those lines are blurred. A pastor who writes a blog or makes a Facebook post that reveals something discovered during an informal counseling session could be sued. Reputations can be destroyed in a moment, and pictures, prayer requests and video, can go viral instantly.

Therefore, we must be wise. This is where a well thought out social media policy will help. If your church has a website, the pastor has a blog or you broadcast sermons, you need a media policy. There are multiple sites that will let you see what other have put together regarding social media guidelines. Here are some links that Jeff Klick put together and are worth exploring as you develop a policy that meets the needs of your church and staff: http://socialmediagovernance.com/ policies/ - A listing of policies by well known organizations. http://justinwise.net/social-media-policies-churches-ministries Another large listing of social media policies broken down by denominations. Provides a template for

developing a social media policy. http://pastors.com/the-ultimate-list-of-social-media-policies-for-churches-ministries/ - Similar to the above.

Spending a little time on these sites should trigger ideas regarding what should be included in church and personal media policy. I would add the following insights: 1. Never post anything online when you are upset. Don’t be like Ahasuerus and Haman who made knee-jerk decisions in moments of anger (see Esther 1:12; 3:5) 2. Be selective on which “push notifications” you use…or use none at all.

3. Get alerts over email rather than through your phone. This means you are already sitting down when reading posts.

4. Use a social media timer, such as LeechBlock, StayFocused or TomatoTimer. Your family and ministry will benefit!

5. Delete accounts that raise your blood pressure.

Just as Charles Spurgeon used the latest technology to rebuild New Park Street Chapel into the internationally renowned Metropolitan Tabernacle, pastors today can, and should, use technology to help the church fulfill its mission. Nevertheless, social media should never be the tail that wags the dog.

Dr. Rodney Harrison provides oversight to Midwestern’s doctoral

programs, extensions, online programs and accreditation. He came to Midwestern following a fruitful ministry in church planting and missions in California, the Dakotas, and Minnesota. Prior to coming to Midwestern, he was New Church Extension Associate for the California Southern Baptist Convention. Rodney is the author of four books and has written material for LifeWay Christian Resources, The Revitalizer, and several academic journals.

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From Sorrow to Joy in Church Revitalization

and Renewal

By Chad McCarthy

It’s Not for the Faint of Heart In John 13:34-35 Jesus instructs his disciples that a primary means by which the world will be able to identify Christians is their love for one another. Think about it. Few unbelievers routinely perform a drive by of their local church parking lot trying to figure out whose cars are in the parking lot. We should not be surprised by this. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:11-12 that ever since the Fall, in the garden of Eden, sin so affects all humanity that no person in his or her natural state desires or seeks after God. God expects believers to live such radically different lives that unbelievers see how Christians live and think to themselves, “Wow, I don’t have friends like this.” They should be so wowed by the depth of relationship they see in Christians that it exposes a lack in their own lives. Believer’s love for one another should plant a seed in unbeliever’s hearts showing how the gospel changes people.

Yet, the reality is, few churches needing revitalization live like this. Most churches needing revitalization live with an inward focus. This is a nice way of saying me-centered. Trouble brews below the surface in all me-centered churches.

Expect Relational Heartache Despite a veneer of spirituality, me-centered churches have taken their eyes off the true gospel. Having done so, me-centered churches are nearly always marked by the wants and preferences of that local assembly. Me-centered churches happily include newcomers that share their preferences in music, clothing styles, forms of entertainment, and culture. Sadly, these kinds of churches are often filled with people that know a lot about the Bible, yet, despite this 44

knowledge they fail to do that one important thing Jesus commanded in the Great Commission, “Go into all the world and make disciples” (Mathew 28:1620). Expect to face relational heartache in helping a church experience a “values” reset. Joseph Jones, pastor and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary doctoral candidate paints a realistic picture of what to expect, writing, “Church revitalization is rough and sometimes downright ugly. Unless you are willing to get down and get dirty, have a backbone, are willing to walk away with your share of battle scars, and love the church enough to see what it becomes, what God has called it to be, not matter what it costs you, you should not talk about [or pursue] church revitalization.” Jones is right. Church revitalization will be messy. It will be dirty. You will acquire scars. Walking with the church through a “values” reset from inward focused to outward focused almost always costs a person relationally. Jones is right; if you are not willing to pay the relational toll required in revitalization, do not start the journey. If you start this journey, there will be heartache.

Great Commission Opposition Will Be Real Why would a believer that has received the Holy Spirit oppose teaching advocating Great Commission activity? This seemingly makes no sense! Bill Hull gets at the heart of the problem in Conversion and Discipleship: You Can’t Have One Without the Other.

In this recent publication, Hull questions whether salvation is primarily about where one spends eternity? Hull argues not. While the gospel offers hope for eternity, it changes people in the here and now.

He convincingly argues that true conversion rightly applied results in every believer becoming a disciple that makes disciples. According to Hull, there is no conversion without discipleship. He goes so far as to write, “Let me be up front: I am convinced that not making disciples is sin.” Discipleship is not a take it or leave it “extra” that a Christian may or may not act upon. Jesus makes this clear in the Great Commission where he commands the eleven, and by implication all future Christ followers, to make disciples (Mathew 28:16-20). Me-centered churches tend to be filled with people not living out a Great Commission mindset. Some are like the Pharisees in Jesus day, they

know a lot about God’s word, but have never truly been converted. Others have heard the gospel and are genuinely converted, but the gospel they received was lacking, it was insufficient.

These believers have received Jesus as Savior, but have not yet fully grasped what it means to follow Jesus as a reproducing disciple-maker.

responds to the gospel, trusting with saving faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is one more person whose tears Jesus will wipe away.

Every person that responds to the gospel is one more person that will not be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). As we preach the gospel and see people come to a saving faith in the death, burial,

expects believers to live such radically different lives that “ God unbelievers see how Christians live and think to themselves, “Wow, I don’t have friends like this.”

And, in many churches, there will be a few that have heard the gospel call to follow Jesus as both Savior and Lord. They understand what it means to live as a disciple practicing the Great Commission, yet, for a variety of reasons, they have grown complacent. Expect opposition to Great Commission preaching because some are not truly born again. Expect opposition to Great Commission preaching because some will be hearing Jesus call to discipleship for the first time. Expect opposition to Great Commission preaching because for some, this preaching will feel like a bucket of cold water reminding them of their sin in living me-centered lives.

Be Encouraged: It’s Worth It The apostle John reminds believers of a future where Jesus wipes away every tear (Revelation 21:4). Yet, in the end, the gospel will not be good news for all people. The gospel reminds us that only those who are born again will be spared eternal judgment. Church revitalization at its core is Great Commission living. Church revitalization is worth it because every person who

and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we get to be a part of that process! The relational heart ache, the stress, the sleepless nights, the loss of income— it’s worth it to see unbelievers come to Jesus. Jesus reminds us in Mathew 6:19-20 that treasure in heaven is of far greater value than treasure on earth. Church revitalization is worth it because as we call people to follow Jesus as his disciples we are storing up treasure in heaven. It’s worth it because as you labor in the revitalization process your labors remind other believers to live with eternity in mind. Church revitalization is worth it because as you co-labor with other believers you are helping others store up treasure in heaven. Church revitalization is worth it because Great Commission living prioritizes every decision in light of eternity. It lives in the remembrance that the hurts and heartaches of today are temporary. In the words of Phillip Shuford, church revitalization is worth it because “resurrections glorify God. New life glorifies God. Transformed hearts and attitudes glorify God” and church revitalization sees all these things come to pass. Church revitalization is not for the faint of heart. It can get dirty, at times ugly. But, it’s worth it! Church revitalization is worth it because it brings glory to God.

Chad McCarthy has spent a decade and a half working in church planting in

Iowa and Arkansas, followed by time in Wisconsin serving as a preaching pastor.

He works as a church revitalizer consultant at large, while finishing up a Ph.D. through Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is particularly interested in the question of how equipping the church to better fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission command to make disciples impacts biblical church revitalization.

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7

Things I Wish I Knew Before I Revitalized a Church

By Bob Whitesel

T

hough the church began to grow again on my first turnaround effort, knowing the following would have made the journey more pleasurable for both myself and the congregation!

I wish I had known...

1. Church revitalization will take two to three times longer than you expect.

As my first church revitalization effort, I asked and received a one year contract. The church and I felt this would be sufficient time to turn the church into a new direction. But, at the end of one year I had only gained enough social capital for the congregation to start trusting me. It took another year, which the church graciously offered to finance, before the first signs of change emerged.

However, when small fruit emerged at the end of the second year it provided a foundation for revitalization to actually emerge in the third year.

Here is a time line that works in many congregations, yet it’s slower than the church or the shepherd usually desires.

Year 1: Fact gathering and building up the social capital needed for the congregants to trust you.

Year 2: Implementing small change in the organization. Small victories can begin to convince reticent members of the church the validity of the new direction. More on this in # 2.

Year 3: Church systems begin to change. Often times church leaders

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think if they change the system, then the congregants will change.

But because the church is an organic institution (1 Cor. 12:12-27) changes in the system must bubble up from changes in people, not from top-down changes dictated from the top. A three year process gave this time to happen.

2. The power of small victories.

In year two, initial but small goals were attained. One of our small goals was to see in both the spring and fall a “Newcomers Sunday School class” emerge. We publicized the date for the beginning of the class even when we didn’t yet have any visitors. But once we published the date, suddenly members in the congregation started inviting their friends to church. The newcomers’ class provided a tangible target.

Thus, small victories in the second year convinced the congregants we were headed in the right direction.

3. Don’t speed up too fast just because you have some small victories.

The small victories got the church excited and soon they were ready to launch a worship service oriented towards younger people. At this time I came under a lot of pressure to begin the service immediately before it was thoroughly mapped out, staffed and prepared. Many of the leaders had read books that discussed how a church can grow up to 15% by adding a new service.

And because the church had limped along not meeting it’s monthly bud-

get for about 18 months, the pressure of an added revenue stream push the leaders to decide a new service was necessary sooner rather than later.

I advised and eventually convinced the leaders a slowed down approach was warranted, so that the new service could be better planned and developed. I fact, this new service did not begin until almost 11 months after we began planning it. The slower paced allowed new and younger leaders to be recruited and prepared. The extra planning time seemed excessive to me at first, but in hindsight it was just about right. It allowed the turnaround church to develop indigenous leaders who reached out in a well prepared worship expression.

4. Don’t expect new people to support the church financially or physically for some time.

The newcomers kept our church at arms length for almost a year or more before they decided to become part of our membership. They seem to thoroughly enjoy the newcomers class, but when membership was mentioned they often stiffened.

In response I used the metaphor of dating.

The first date: I said when new people visit a church, it’s like being on a date: you aren’t ready to commit to a long relationship but rather want to get to know the other.

The second date: Going to the newcomers class was like a second date: it was a time to get to know about the hopes, aspirations and purposes of

one another.

Engagement: After completing the newcomers class I said they may want to pray and consider becoming a member. I encouraged them to consider more carefully their level of involvement, their spiritual gifts and how they would fit in. I also stressed that the engagement could be as long as they needed.

Marriage: Finally I explained that when they agreed to be part of a membership class, this was like marriage. They were not marrying to just a local congregation church but also to the body of Christ as present in His people.

5. You must spend more time in leadership development than you think.

As the church began to turnaround, there was an influx of people excited about the church’s direction. But this sometimes draws people who did not fit well in their previous church, because they were not mature enough to take on leadership responsibilities. I learned the hard way that sometimes people who come to a revitalized church are often people who need revitalization themselves - because their involvement in another church has not been a healthy one. Therefore I developed leadership courses and a mentor/mentee system so that new leaders could be vetted and trained before they were put into volunteer roles.

6. There’s more power in spiritual transformation than most people realize.

People began to share testimonies about how their lives were being changed by the Holy Spirit. An emphasis upon salvation began to refocus the church. Older members recalled how in the early days the church, they had also emphasized conversion accompanied by powerful testimonies of change. Older members began to see that a turnaround in spiritual climate mirrored those times in the past when the church had been happy and healthy.

As a result I train turnaround pastors in the importance of understanding a church’s history and to pinpoint when they had been alive in the past. Usually a church had been alive in the past when the church

was involved in evangelism and conversion.

Reminding a church about this part of their history, made it more palatable for their present… the salvation of individuals.

7. Last, but not least, is the power of a praying congregation.

I set a goal for the prayer ministries to grow at the same rate as the church. If the church grew 10% in six months, we then expected 10% more people involved in prayer ministries. It has always seemed to me a spiritual principle that vibrant prayer life in a church would lead to a vibrant church.

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

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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.

Revitalization Lessons: Negative and Positive

By Bud Brown I’ve heard it said, “learning from your mistakes makes you smart, but learning from other people’s mistakes makes you a genius.”

Mistakes have taught my colleagues and I a few lessons about church revitalization.

al by once loyal supporters, an exodus of people they’ve served sacrificially, murmuring and complaining, feelings of inadequacy, learning unfamiliar leadership behaviors, and periods of uncertainty.

Lesson: Some Pastors Won’t Try

2. Fear Pain often leads to that dreadful foreboding that something terrible will happen if you continue down the revitalization path.

Brad had been the pastor of a congregation of 40 adults for seven years. Fear overtook him when he finally saw how his educated, upper middle class, mostly white congregation had become stranded and isolated from a community that had transitioned and was now blue collar and multi-ethnic. He feared the wrenching changes revitalization would require. He feared the church would reject the mission field. He feared losing his job (he has a wife and two children to support), but he also feared selling out to become a “paycheck pastor.”

One hard lesson we’ve learned is that many pastors won’t even try to lead revitalization. We don’t have research data, so I can only offer my guesstimate: 35% of the pastors of plateaued churches settle for the status quo. I see four reasons.

1. Pain Tim (not his real name) pastored a church of 70 older adults for almost a decade. He and a church member attended our Boot Camp training. They went home filled with hope of a bright future. It faded when Tim faced the pain involved in leading revitalization.

In Leadership Pain: The Classroom for Growth Sam Chand lays it out succinctly: Growth = Change Change = Loss Loss = Pain Therefore, Growth = Pain Since revitalization is a preface to growth in the plateaued church, pain is inescapable. Revitalization pastors experience pain: betray50

3. Circumstance Don weeps over the unsaved living near his church. He prays with passion. He is a loving pastor with an evangelist’s heart. He longs to see his church revitalized as a center of life-giving gospel ministry.

But Don is prone to depression. It sucks joy from his life and energy from his soul.

For five months Don and I collaborated on his plan to master the seven best leadership practices and seven best ministry practices that lead to church revitalization.

I sensed Don would struggle at the outset. Despite good medical care, depression took him out of the game; he gave up. All he could manage was preaching and pastoral care. This was enough to keep his 85 members happy.

The need to care for elderly parents sidelines older pastors.

Maintaining a plateaued church and caring for a special needs child may compel middle-aged pastors to split their energy.

Some pastors have marital problems that divert their focus away from ministry.

Life sidelines many pastors, robbing them of time and energy to lead revitalization.

4. Hirelings My colleague Gordon Penfold recalls a disheartening chat with a pastor. “They don’t pay me much,” he told Gordon. “But then, I don’t do much.” He speaks for the “one talent” servants who waste what Christ has entrusted to them (Matthew 25:24-28) because they’re paycheck pastors.

We all know the high-profile cases. They’re looking for the huge paychecks to cover the cost of luxurious living. More numerous are pastors who toil in quiet futility, content with beans and tortillas on the table and gas in

Jessie was badly beat up after 30 years in small, rural churches. He had no hope of growing his current church. “All I want to do is study and preach,” he candidly admitted. As long as the little church of 30 souls paid his weekly stipend, he was content.

His only interest in outreach and evangelism was to pay lip-service. He recoiled from the ordeal of revitalization.

At age 63, Roger was nearing retirement. His church of 230 had dwindled over the last two decades from a high of 1,350. He is exhausted, cynical, and detached.

After having poured himself into planting and growing the church, he was done. But he needed the money, so he stayed on the job.

Since he was the founding pastor, no one confronted him. They hope the church survives until he’s gone.

In the weekly staff meeting, run by the Executive Pastor, everyone sees that Roger is more interested in surfing the web than leading the church. He is candid about his disinterest. He won’t even show professional courtesy to the staff.

Yes, many hard-working pastors nearing retirement age work just as hard as they did when they began ministry. They’re working toward the future and leading with vigor. But some in this age category give their cohort a bad rap.

We’ve learned negative lessons about church revitalization.

Thankfully, they are in the minori-

ty. The far larger body of lessons we’ve learned are cause for hope.

We’ve learned that with a good team and a coach, pastors of plateaued churches can lead church revitalization.

Lesson: Revitalization Is a Team Effort Church revitalization requires three things: a skilled pastor, a willing congregation, and the blessings of Jesus. We’re probably safe if we rely on Jesus’ stated intent to build his Church. He probably wants to build at your place!

“

and motivation to effect change.

Pastors must include a few, carefully selected members in the revitalization effort. Choose allies wisely and make significant investment in them. Without them, revitalization will probably fail.

Lesson: Revitalization Requires a Coach It is theoretically possible that a “maintenance ministry” pastor can transition to effective revitalization leadership without outside help. I have yet to see it.

A pastor who pulls this off is among the 10% (or less) who

Church revitalization requires three things: a skilled pastor, a willing congregation, and the blessings of Jesus.

But pastors can’t do it alone.

Our ministry focuses on developing skilled pastors who know how to lead revitalization. Our research has identified the critical skills, which our training helps them master. When our clients follow the protocol, they usually become revitalization leaders.

But it is a team effort. The support of a few key people is often the difference between success and failure. Success requires people to act in new ways, learn unfamiliar leadership styles, and - in time - to think differently. Failure is easier; it requires nothing.

The right people will bring power

“

the pickup.

already possesses the natural skills of turnaround leadership and for whatever reason, suddenly exercises those skills. Also, that pastor either gleaned the handful of principles by which churches experience conversion growth out of the avalanche of church growth literature (a monumental undertaking) or stumbled into them by accident.

A pastor like that is rare.

In fact, I’ve never met one.

Yes, I know natural revitalization leaders who move to a plateaued church and turn it around. But I’ve yet to meet a pastor who, after many years on plateau, moves Continued on Pg 68 51

What Lessons Can We Learn from the Giant Redwoods?

By Darwin Meighan

A

couple of summers ago, Linda and I spent a few days along the northern coast of California. While in the area, we visited the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt National State Park. As we walked several trails amongst the Redwoods, there were some things I noticed about these trees, from which we can glean many insightful and valuable lessons when it comes to leading revitalization and renewal in the church:

Stand - This is what Redwoods

do. They stand. As pastors and church revitalizers, in our culture and among Christendom today, it is essential as men of God for us to stand and boldly preach the truth of God’s Word, while also applying it in our own lives and families. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Consistent, biblical expository preaching and teaching, where the Word of God is being proclaimed cannot be underestimated when it comes to seeing God’s hand at work, changing and transforming lives, bringing about revitalization and renewal in your church.

Be Strongly Rooted – For trees, healthy roots matter. Roots are foundational. The redwoods roots

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are interconnected in community.

Colossians 2:7 says of Christ followers, we’re to be “rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” One of the primary reasons many churches are either plateauing, declining or dying has been the result of weak and shallow discipleship efforts for too many years. God’s plan to turn around our churches must include an intentional plan of discipleship, building up a healthy, connected root system, for the purpose of strengthening the community of God’s people.

We Are Overcomers (though scarred and wounded) - Goose

Pens are found in the base of some redwoods. It is an area of the tree which has been hollowed out by fire. The amazing thing is the top of the tree is still thriving. These openings (goose pens) are so large that, in earlier days, settlers in the West could corral their livestock in them, thus giving the goose pens their name. Many of you already know this. When you sign up for ministry and follow God’s call, there are out of this world blessings which come your way as you serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

However, the truth is, you will also experience your share of scars and wounds. I once heard another pastor say, “Hurt people - hurt people.”

Boy, was he ever right! Scars and wounds will happen as God uses your life to lead the much-needed

revitalization process in the church you are serving.

Don’t be surprised when everything but the kitchen sink is thrown at you by church bullies as you faithfully strive to lead the turn around efforts in your church. Jesus said we would have difficulties in life, but he also has given us this promise, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Longevity is Huge - The giant

redwoods are a powerful symbol of longevity. They are trees which have stood the test of time, having persevered for hundreds and thousands of years. As a revitalizer for the Lord, as you lead the process of biblical revitalization and renewal, you must commit to it for the long haul. Personally, next month I am completing my 34th year of ministry. For the most part, God has given me solid, long tenures during many of those years serving the local church. I have discovered, as many other pastors have as well, longevity and perseverance matters in the process of building up and growing a healthy church.

Resist the Enemy - Redwoods

have few natural enemies. Tannic acid makes them resistant to disease and insect infestation, and their thick, fibrous bark effectively resists fire.

Like the Redwoods, we too have a great enemy who is looking to steal, kill and destroy. One of Satan’s favorite targets are God’s servant leaders,

like yourself. But please remember: We serve the One who is greater than the one who is in this world.

Perhaps the greatest opposition you will experience in your ministry is when you fully commit before God to following his call to lead the journey of revitalization in your church. The Bible says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Different Stages of Growth and Maturity is Normal - One

of the things I also noticed, walking among the Redwoods, were trees of various sizes. Some were small and very young. Others were gigantic and were much older. And then there were others at various stages of growth in between. Healthy churches are made up of people of all life stages and ages. Our weekend services and Sunday morning gatherings in many of our churches are comprised only of senior saints. One of the signs of a revitalized church is that people of every generation, every age group and people of varying levels of spiritual maturity are present when the church gathers. If the demographics of your church and community support it, do everything you can under God’s leadership to build a multi-generational and multi-ethnic church in your approach to doing ministry and mission unto the Lord.

Become a Place of Shade and Rest – While in the Redwoods, I kept thinking how awesome it would be to put up a hammock in the middle of the great forest of trees. Or to break

out a picnic lunch? Or, wow, what a quiet place to read? Or just to get away from it all? The Redwoods are a place of shade and rest. Question: What is your church doing to make sure your gatherings and ministries are creating environments of shade and rest for people who live every day in a chaotic and stressed out culture, workplace and world? The truth is, a revitalized church becomes a spiritual oasis for people who need much needed encouragement, shade and rest.

Reproduce through Multiplication – Year after year the forest

lives on. Why? The secret is: redwoods reproduce. A valuable metric of a revitalized church is its transformation from being inward-focused, to becoming a body of believers who are continually reproducing and multiplying their efforts in the work of God’s Kingdom. For example, when God revitalizes a church, new small groups will be added regularly, a pipeline of leaders is developed, more campuses and new churches are started, revitalizing partnerships happen with other Bible-believing, evangelical churches, along with many other reproducing and multiplying efforts becoming a reality as God leads. Here’s the secret: Healthy churches reproduce and multiply.

Legacy Matters - The Redwood

trees leave behind an amazing legacy. If these trees could talk, what stories they could tell. When all is said and done, what will be the God

stories told of your life and ministry? God desires to use your life to influence and impact the generations of others who will come after you. The legacy of the Redwoods inspires in such a way, drawing people from all over the world who come to visit. Since her childhood, it had been a dream of my wife Linda’s, to see the Redwoods. A dream which now has become a reality.

Pastor, there is nothing more inspiring and which will leave a greater legacy than to be used of God to lead your church in a turn around.

God has placed this dream in your heart. Prayerfully, ask him to work through you and stay the course until revitalization, renewal and spiritual health becomes a reality.

The psalmist wrote, “Oh, the joys of those who delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” (Psalm 1:2-3) God’s desire for your church in your unique ministry context, is to thrive.

The word, thrive means to grow or develop successfully; to prosper and flourish; to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances. May these lessons from the Redwoods be of help and encouragement, as you lead your church to become a more thriving body of believers as you carry out the Great Commission in your city, culture and world.

For 34 years, Darwin has served the Lord as a local church pastor. He is currently serving as the Senior Pastor at First Southern Baptist Church of Buckeye, Arizona.

The past five years, he has also been serving in the role of revitalization specialist and speaker at the local, state and national level. As a coach and practitioner, he encourages pastors and churches toward a biblical process of renewal and hope.

Darwin has a received a Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Leadership. You may reach him by email: darwin@fsbbuckeye.com or darwinmeighan@gmail.com 53

New Research What We’ve Learned About Church Health and Growth

H

ave you noticed that while most churches in America are in state of plateau or decline, a few churches continue to grow and even seem to thrive in even a post-Christian environment? We know that over the past twenty years, Western culture and values have changed.

Those changes have been even more dramatic in the past ten years. During these years of cultural change, more churches in various parts around the world have stopped growing and more churches are experiencing dramatic decline, thus increasing the need for church revitalization and renewal.

The following chart from Natural Church Development International highlights dramatic changes related to local church health and growth over the past 10 years compared to the previous 10 years. The vertical axis of the chart represents the average annual growth rate of churches that took the NCD Church Health Survey, while the horizontal axis represents the NCD health score of these churches. The top line represents the numerical growth of these churches pre-2008 and the bottom line represents post 2008 growth.

What does this data mean?

This comparative analysis shows churches that scored above 56

the 50 on the health measurement standard established by NCD have continued to grow in the midst of increasing cultural change and churches that scored below the healthy benchmark have experienced even greater decline than before. The research seems to confirm what many church revitalizers have known intuitively to be true for some time: Healthy churches are better prepared to adapt to changing environments than unhealthy churches and cultural adaptivity is highly correlated with church growth. Likewise, unhealthy churches tend to be less open to change and not as prepared to respond to cultural changes in the world around them.

Often, I’m asked to try to explain why such a high percentage of churches in America are plateaued and declining. While the individual circumstances of local churches vary, I have a simple answer to the above question, “The world has changed and the church has not.” Some church leaders believe that the church is above cultural change. I often hear statements in response such as, “God doesn’t change and the gospel hasn’t changed, so the church shouldn’t change to accommodate culture.” Two things are wrong with that kind of response. First, it is not Biblically true. Second, it doesn’t

By Mark Weible work. Yes, God does not change, but He changes everyone that He touches. To be unchanged is to be unresponsive to the movement of God. It is easy to claim that there is a dichotomy between pragmatic principles and Biblical truth and to use this claim as an excuse for not adopting principles that are both biblical and practical that result in church health and growth. Unhealthy churches continue to make excuses for their lack of growth instead of taking an honest assessment of their own obedience to Christ and the practical application of Scripture. There are plenty of Biblical examples of cultural and even individual adaptivity for church leaders to follow. For example, Paul declared: To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in blessings. (Act 9: 20-23)

What do we do now?

It is missiology 101 to be adaptive to cultural changes.

Anyone preparing to take the gospel into another country or culture knows that at the least they need to learn the language and try to understand the customs of the people that they are trying to reach.

In America, we now live in a post-Christian era. American culture is no longer pro Christian or pro church. In fact, there is plenty of anti-church sentiment out there.

In 2015, Christian researcher, Ed Stetzer unpacked some disturbing Pew Research data that suggested a decline in Christianity in America. Stetzer stated that what has been happening

in our culture is the result, in part, of there no longer being a social benefit to a person self-identifying as a Christian. In fact, Stetzer stated that there is now an implied social stigma to being identified as a Christian in American. Stetzer called this cultural change shift from nominal Christianity to no longer affiliated as the Noms to Nones: American Christianity is becoming less nominal, more defined, and more outside of the mainstream of American culture. For example, the cultural cost of calling yourself “Christian” is starting to outweigh the cultural benefit, so those who do not identify as a “Christian” according to their convictions are starting to

identify as “nones” because it’s more culturally savvy. Because of this, the statistics show (on the surface) that Christianity in America is experiencing a sharp decline. However, that’s the path of those who don’t read beyond the surface. If there remains a relatively stable church-engaged, convictional minority, and there is a big movement on self-identification, that means that the middle is going away. (Christianity Today, “Nominals to Nones: 3 Key Takeaways from Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey.” May 2015).

Both the Natural Church Development research and the Pew research show that, while some churches are experiencing decline due to cultural changes, other churches are doing quite well and some are thriving. The churches that are healthy and growing are placing a greater emphasis on what it truly means to be a Christian. Churches that focus on Christ-likeness vs being Christian in name only also are more outwardly focused and are doing a better job of contextualizing the un-changing gospel message for an every changing world.

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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Its About People

Not Processes I have pastored four churches of varying size and cultural setting.

The lessons learned in each of the revitalization situations were unique to each, yet common to all.

First, Revitalization takes time – this fact has been stated and restated time and time again; however, the mistake of moving too fast seems to be a constant “failing” in foiled revitalization attempts. The Revitalizer as a pastor must grasp the fact that the Church is slow in moving to embrace change. As a pastor I was told that as a rule when beginning a new pastorate don’t do anything for the first year.

This is wise counsel; enjoy the honeymoon phase, it will be over soon enough. In reviving a dying or declining church, the church must be brought along until they capture the “New Reality” about themselves. Preachers who are keenly aware of what needs to happen often forget that they are dealing with people who have history and opinions about what should and should not be done. Having said that, I have also experienced a swift moving of God, opening doors for restoration and renewal outside of my own time table. I had to learn, this is the work of God in His Church – Revitalization is God’s work. Just as Jesus said that He did only what the Father 58

told Him; even so must we. If we get ahead of God, failure. If we lag behind God, failure again.

Revitalization is not a cut and dried time line of implementation of processes. Each situation has its own set of dynamics that will dictate how fast or slow the process happens. I know people who prayed for years for someone to get saved. When the new life happened, they forgot about all the labor and time. This is true with bringing new life to a church that was dead. Bottom line – God sends the Spirit to do His work, we must be ready when the Spirit moves.

A second lesson learned is that plans not executed are only Ideas. At some point all the research, planning and strategizing must stop, and the work of implementation happens.

Talk is just talk. Many pastors and churches know what must be done but will not commit to DOING the hard work. The hard work is not limited to strategies, but MUST include the spiritual dynamic as well, which leads me to the third lesson learned.

Third, revitalization is not a scripted work. In other words, if a revitalizer or pastor has all the leadership principles, demographical analysis, exegesis of both the church and community, a step by step plan of what and

By Jim Grant how to bring life to the declining church and has not bathed in prayer and labored in the throne room with the Father – forget about successful man-made principles! If the Lord does not build the house, the laborers work in vain. Revitalization is both a spiritual work and a strategic work.

Both are needed; you can’t do one without the other. As someone once told me, if all I have is a strategic process without the spiritual renewal; its like rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. It will fail. Revitalization like salvation is a work of God. Men cooperating and being used

by God to do in HIS CHURCH the work of revival and revitalization.

If we only address the spiritual issues without a strategy to move forward, the revival fires will die from having no fuel to keep it lit.

Fourth lesson learned; You can’t over communicate. As a Pastor on countless occasions I have presumed that something was well communicated when it fact most were oblivious to anything being said. Pastors/revitalizers are living and breathing the work of revitalization and pastoring.

It’s on our minds and we think about it all the time. When we begin talking, we assume everyone is right there with us – when it fact they have their own lives and issues they have been consumed with and are not even on the same page. Communicate, tell the people, preach about it, talk about it at every opportunity. Tell the people, tell them again and

again – tell them until you think you are sounding like a broken record. Then maybe you have begun to get the Churches attention. How many times did Jesus tell the disciples that He was going to go to the Cross – countless. How many times did He say My kingdom isn’t of this world – countless. What was the question they asked in Acts 1 – “is it now that you are going to restore the glory to Israel?”

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approached in its own community setting. In urban and suburban areas, revitalization may have a shorter timetable. In Rural areas, be prepared to invest several years. In rural areas, it takes years for a pastor to become the pastor. Too often pastors use rural churches are stepping stones to something bigger or better. The rural communities are slow to move to the cultural changes. If you think the Church is slow to

Revitalization is God’s work. Just as Jesus said that He did only what the Father told Him; even so must we. If we get ahead of God, failure. If we lag behind God, failure again.

They heard but didn’t listen. The Church often falls into the same trap – looking at things through their own eyes. You can’t over communicate!

Fifth, context changes course of action. Revitalization needs to happen in urban, rural and suburban communities. While there are some foundational concepts and principles, each cultural environment and church must be

embrace progress/change; the rural setting is slower. Each community context has its own set of priorities and nuances of life.

To treat all churches and communities the same is a recipe for disaster.

Lastly, pastoring and revitalization is about shepherding and walking with people. Too many times revitalizers can see the problems, have the cure ready to

put in place and don’t understand why people aren’t following. We must WALK with people not DRIVE them. The harder a pastor or revitalizer pushes to get things done and to get the people moving, the more the sheep will dig in their heels. It is essential to remember that we are dealing with people, God’s people. They have minds, hearts and desires for the work of God. We cannot have the attitude or approach towards people that they are just objects to be bullied or pushed to do what we think is right. A church didn’t decline or die overnight. One observation I learned about Moses and Israel. Even though they all knew they were to go to the Promised Land; Moses loved them and WALKED with them even though they rejected God’s Plan. He shepherded them as they died. I’m not saying that you must stay and die with a church that has determined to die, I am saying that we must WALK with them as a new generation is born in the work of revitalization.

Jim Grant is the Senior Pastor of Heartland Baptist Church in Alton, Illinois. He is a veteran with 25 years of service in the Air Force. His extensive travels, while in the military, allowed him the unique ability to have served in the full spectrum of churches, styles, and health. Jim is also the Gateway Baptist Association Revitalization Team Leader. Visit PreachBetweenTheLines.com for more information!

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Things I’ve Learned in Church Revitalization Continued from pg 13

to develop your mission, discern your values, create your vision, and design your strategic plan. It will take another year or two to implement the significant changes that are necessary for a church to grow, such as reconfiguring worship to match your target audience, effect any remodeling necessary to match the expectations of your target, and create a truly guest welcoming culture. During all this transitioning time, the church will bleed members and income will dwindle.

In the best case scenarios, it takes three to five years before a church will see a turn from decline to slight growth. And those are in the best cases. In many churches, it takes five to seven years to change the culture enough so that most of your first-time visitors turn into returning guests … and your returning guests are so personally transformed that they invite all of their friends (who invite their friends, etc.). If everything goes well, somewhere between years seven and twelve the church reaches a tipping point and sustainable growth become the norm.

But many churches, in fact the vast majority of churches, don’t have that kind of patience. Some of your members won’t understand why the church isn’t growing by the end of the first year. Others will be more patient and will put up with two years of escalating decline. But there are

few congregations that are content to watch their numbers and finances dwindle for three, four, or five years based on the promise that it’s all going to be alright … that the church is actually right on course.

When the chronic pain of enduring changes and suffering losses reaches a critical point, few church leaders have enough allies or momentum to weather the storm and the congregation gives up and turns back (typically by firing the lead pastor).

Lessons Learned: (1) The longer a church has been in decline, the longer it will take to turn it around. Plan accordingly.

(2) Be up front. As you develop the strategic plan, be sure to build in a generous timeline. This is not the time for optimism – give the plan enough time to be fully implemented.

(3) Alliances are critical. Choose and develop your allies carefully and continually. You are going to lose some as time goes by, so keep your scouting hat on to find the next ally.

(4) The lead pastor must be in this for the long haul. If you can’t give at least five years to the turnaround, don’t start. You’ll do more harm than good. The best you can do is to begin to build a foundation for the next pastor to build on – but the transformation plan will need to be theirs. It’s

beyond rare for one pastor to begin a turnaround and another to step into the plan to complete it.

(5) Church turnaround is a loooong process. You’ll need a coach to keep you focused and encouraged. Be sure to build that into your long range budget.

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Very Few Reach the Promised Land

With the above staring you in the face, you should not be surprised that a very small number of churches actually succeed in turning around. The risk factor for leading a turnaround is tremendous and it will take a toll on you. If you choose to lead a church transformation you can count on being vilified and bullied. You will need more than just a measure of self-esteem, you will come to doubt yourself and second guessing your decisions will become second nature. Which is why you will need to build a powerful prayer and devotional life. Why you’ll need regular spiritual retreats. And why you will need an encouraging coach.

Yes, the risk is high and the chance of success low. But with over 80 percent of US churches in some state of decline, someone has to do it. If you’ve got the stamina and the resources, and if you understand the risk, then you just might be one of the few who actually pulls it off.

We’re all pulling for you …

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. We provide consulting and coaching using the time-tested Complete Ministry Audit to help churches reach maximum effectiveness.

Learn more at EffectiveChurch.com.

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Revitalizer LIBRARY LIBRARY revitalizer

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dmiral Stavridis is both a leader and developer of leaders. Stavridis holds a PhD in international relations and serves as the Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He has authored or coauthored six books and more than two hundred articles in magazines, newspapers, and journals. The Leader’s Bookshelf accomplished three purposes. First, building from the philosophical and observed principle that leaders are readers the work sets out to present a list of the most influential books from military leaders, past and present. The Preface reads, “Leadership is certainly not learned solely from reading books, but a personal bookshelf – or even a library of thousands of volumes – can be critical to developing the ability to inspire others in the pursuit of worthy goals, which lies at the heart of what all leaders seek to accomplish in the challenging but rewarding tasks they take up.”

Stavridis’ thesis is that reading is critical for leaders at every level.

The list is a compilation of works of fiction, biography, autobiography, memoir, and history gathered from formal and informal interviews. The books are ranked by their frequency of citation but ultimately the order of the books listed are the authors’ decision. The reader will not be disappointed by this list.

Second, Stavridis builds a case for making time to read.

While this reviewer does not read as much as he would like, nor does he read as wide as the Admiral, he is surprised at how many leaders of churches, businesses, and other non-profits do not read. Anything. At all.

Stavridis both from his experiences and the influence of others officers upon him is certain that great leaders read. In the second chapter of his book he presents his reading strategy appropriately titled, “Making Time

for Reading.” Initially published in a 2013 edition of The Atlantic the chapter provides appropriate updates of the Admiral’s daily reading strategy. In addition to the daily list in chapter two he delivers specific practices as to how the reader can receive the most benefit from their reading. The strategies listed are both extremely impressive and practical.

Third, Stravridis wants to develop leaders. Chapter eight, “Reading and Leading: The Big Lessons,” is one of the best, straightforward pieces on developing personal leadership this reviewer has ever read. The leadership “tricks of the trade” address the vital areas of a leader’s life including reading, personal fitness, decision making, the priority of rest, and others.

This chapter should be required reading for any person who assumes any leadership mantle. The Admiral argues that leaders have two primary tasks. First, to bring order out of chaos. Second, to be a dealer in hope. Those two tasks emerge in military operations, corporate strategy sessions and especially in church revitalization.

The axiom that “leaders are readers” has been demonstrated by great leaders. The Leader’s Bookshelf is an excellent resource for your library.

The second book featured in this edition is a new work

by Daniel Pink entitled When: The Scientific Secrets to Perfect Timing (New York: Riverhead Books, 2018). Pink argues that there is a science to timing. His research demonstrates that natural rhythms are evidenced across the globe. He gives case studies illustrating what time of day is the worst to make decisions. How recognizing the research from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and economics can enable the reader to build the ideal

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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schedule. We all have much to get done. Much we want to get done. When reveals the times that can to enable us to be most effective.

Divided into three sections, Pink first builds a case for a global rhythm of timing. Noting a study in the journal Science Pink presents the observation on Twitter that across the globe more positive, engaged and hopeful statements were made in the mornings. But the tone of comments plummeted throughout the day beginning to demonstrate positive tones early in the evening. The Twitter study is one of several examples Pink gives that describe how we, often unaware, across societies, function every day. Knowing there is a natural rhythm then enables us to build, as much as possible, a routine that maximizes this rhythm.

Secondly, Pink makes a case for habits for the best personal leadership. Practices such as journaling, lunch breaks, naps and walking breaks. How starting over has a more significant psychological effect than

“grinning and bearing it.” How recognizing mid-points and creating endpoints are more critical than we realize. And, oddly enough, how synchronizing with others by singing in a choir has tremendous benefits for one’s social and cardiovascular health.

One criticism of the work are the “Time Hacker’s Handbook” sections at the end of each chapter. While each part is rich with information, some of the additions seem superfluous. Additionally, the short sections break up the flow and pace of reading. The content could have either been merged into the chapters or added as appendixes.

We do have rhythms. Ebbs and flows throughout out days that can help us make the mostBy ofKenneth our days.Priest To the people of God this is not new knowledge. Solomon captured it best in saying, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Eccl 3:1, ESV). Pink’s research and prose is a valuable resource for leading yourself and a great addition to your library.

The Great Commission Code

By Kenneth Priest

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n recent years, I developed an illustrative imagery to assist pastors in understanding how the Great Commission connects both evangelism and discipleship. It is that of a DNA double helix. Think about it for a moment, picture the double helix. The Collins English Dictionary (2012) defines it this way: “the form of the molecular structure of DNA, consisting of two helical polynucleotide chains linked by hydrogen bonds and coiled around the same axis.”

Coiled around the same axis is our point. The axis is the Great Commission. The two helical polynucleotide chains are: 1) evangelism and 2) discipleship. The links of hydrogen bonds, are the key functions of what we do as the local body of believers.

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Remember in 1993 when Jurassic Park was released. They recreated dinosaurs by breaking down the DNA code from amber encased mosquitos which had the blood of dinosaurs. Then using present day reptiles, they attempted to repair the missing code. Of course pushing the evolutionary agenda, the movie goes on to show how evolution would not allow that decision to constrain dinosaurs being birthed naturally in the wild, but the point of the illustration is focused on the DNA code. When pieces of the DNA were missing, they tried to use man-made methods to “fix” the problem.

So our question, how often are we doing this in the church? If the Great Commission is the image of

a double helix, when portions of our code do not exist, we try and force our methods to complete the code…this is not biblical. We have the code! The Great Commission Code is locked in our mandate from Christ himself. “Go and make disciples…teaching them….” We must have a model and process for effective discipleship if this issue is to be addressed for the church.

Unlocking the Great Commission DNA begins with insuring a healthy church. Therefore, we ask what does a healthy church look like? There are a lot of options for this; one can use Dever’s “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church,” Whitesel’s “The Healthy Church,” Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Church,” or some other method of healthy

church determination. Once you know which camp you are in, you can focus on how the Great Commission connects with your healthy church model.

Let’s illustrate this with the Purpose Driven model, in a very simplistic form. The five purposes of the church are: fellowship, worship, discipleship, evangelism, and ministry. Two of these key functions are the primary chains which are mentioned above. Obviously these two are on which everything else hinges in my argument. Take the other three purposes and make the connection, just as the hydrogen bonds connect the two helical polynucleotides. Our first hydrogen bond is that of worship.

Our evaluative question asks, “How is worship evangelistic?” Or rather, make it personal for the church and ask, “Is our worship evangelistic and does it disciple people?”

What does it mean for worship to be evangelistic and disciple people? I believe there are several ways of determination. Are the songs God-honoring? Theologically correct? Culturally relevant?

Do they teach people theology and the truths of scripture? Are the sermons preached expositional in nature? Do the sermons present the gospel? Do the sermons teach people the Word of God? Does worship cause people to respond?

Is it designed to emote a movement from God based on truth

and scripture and not emotional sensationalism?

These questions are just the beginning. What about the prayers which are prayed? If the Lord’s Supper is observed, do you use it to disciple your people and call for an evangelistic response? During the ordinance of baptism in your service, how does it reflect evangelism and discipling people for the gospel? Every element of the worship service must focus on these connection points…if they do not, you must ask why you are even doing them in the service?

This same thought process must be used for the other functions as well. Therefore the ministry of the church must address evangelism and discipleship. Key strategies from every ministry must connect both of the strands of the Great Commission DNA together. If it does not, then we must question why we are doing those items. If you are going to have a Vacation Bible School (VBS) event, you must know how it bridges evangelism and discipleship. Most churches would state VBS as a key evangelistic event for their church, however, many churches host VBS for the purpose of their church only. If this is to be an evangelistic endeavor of the church, then the community must be invited to attend. On the issue of discipleship in VBS, the material is designed to teach God’s Word. Therefore it naturally has the foundations of a teaching ministry

to disciple children on the truths of Christ. These same connections must be made for each ministry of the church. Now this is where church ministry gets a bit complex.

If we cannot connect evangelism and discipleship to each ministry of the church, we must ask the question, “why are we doing this ministry?” For what kingdom purpose should a church every do a ministry which does not have a Great Commission Code? I am certain someone can identify one, however, I cannot justify, in revitalization work nor overall church health, anything which only fulfills one element of the Great Commission.

My argument here, this is what has caused a decline in the church today. A failure on our part as ministers to insure everything we do must include the Great Commission.

We are to lead the church through the process of connecting evangelism and discipleship to all that we do. Neglecting to do this provides ministries and missions which are out of balance and in need of righting on the organizational front. Once we effectively connect evangelism and discipleship to each ministry and mission of the church, we are on a path to unlocking the Great Commission Code in our church. We will not have to force connections between the two with man-made attempts, forcing a faulty Great Commission Code.

Kenneth Priest serves the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention as the Di-

rector of Convention Strategies. He joined the staff of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in 2008.

Kenneth serves as an adjunct professor in church revitalization at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and adjunct professor of evangelism and church growth at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Revitalization Is like Baseball Not Golf!

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or years, there have been arguments as to whether hitting a baseball is harder than hitting a golf ball. The golfers would posit that their ball is smaller and their golf club longer, hence making their sport call for greater skills of precision. The golfers would point out that the larger size of the baseball and the larger bat make it more probable to hit a ball. The baseball buffs would argue to the contrary. They would say that it is much more difficult to hit a moving ball at speeds up to 105 mph, being thrown into a fairly large moving target area with different spins and movements on the ball.

They would say the golfers have it easy… they just have a ball tee’d up that is stationary, while they have all the variables offered up by the pitcher: sinkers, fast balls, curve balls, change ups, sliders and on top of that placement around a strike zone. If you think that golf is harder then let me ask you a question, how many 62 year old men are actively playing in the MLB? That answer would be zero, and I did not have to Google that. Whereas, the arguments as to which is more difficult will probably go on till the Lord returns, in this article I want to draw a revitalization insight that I have noticed through helping churches over the years.

The aforementioned argument that baseball is more difficult is based on dealing with variables. The point

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of the illustration is to show that golf allows you to deal with one variable (in terms of hitting the ball) at a time. Many pastors look to a revitalization conference to be a panacea to fix that one missing area of ministry that will get the church back to healthy. The pastor is basically saying: “Give me a single principle that can fix my problem and I’ll tee that up and drive it down the fairway…yea!” In my experience with revitalization… usually, nine times out of ten, there are multiple issues needing to be addressed in bringing a church back to health and many of those issues are coming at the pastor from people who are moving the target.

Each church is different; each pastor has a different need and rarely are the situations static; tee’d up ready to hit. The greatest thing that seminary does not prepare the young men to do is to deal with what is coming at you from a myriad of directions. The men basically graduate with the ability to play t-ball. The regular church is looking to the pastor to hit home runs and never strike out.

So let’s break down your “at bat.” I want to divide this into two categories. In the first category let’s deal with things only you as a pastor can control. These are the easiest to fix, and are beyond the control of your church. The pastor’s

By Rob Myers

health: physical, mental, moral and spiritual are usually single variable issues. For my personal example, no one but me, can make me go on a diet, lose weight, or take daily time to exercise. No one can govern how much I rest I get, whether or not I watch too much TV or how much time I spend with my family, except me. No one can limit my morals and keep me accountable before God morally, if I don’t embrace a system of accountability. No one can have my quiet time for me. These are t-ball issues that we have to master by the sheer discipline of taking up the Cross of Christ and dying to self-daily.

At the Renovate Conference we have breakout sessions that can encourage you to get these areas of your life under control. I frankly, have rarely met men who have these areas of life down pat, so I would recommend that as you put your conference schedule together to take care of this part of your life. In our Renovate Resources I have written a book on Discipleship called the Xristos Factor; The Discipleship Revolution (check it out on Amazon) that will help you as a pastor be the disciple you need to be and to create an accountable environment in which you and your men can thrive.

The second area of your “at bat,” if fully addressed at the National Renovate Conference. In baseball there are coaches for each area of the game.

There are batting coaches, strength

coaches, base running coaches and stat coaches.

Let’s look at these areas. There are coaches that will help you deal with the curve ball of deacons. There are coaches that will help you with the change up of Sunday school to small groups. There are coaches that will help you with strategy against your opposing teams in the future who will help you negotiate where the church is trending. There are coaches in marketing. There are coaches with expertise in staff recruiting and team building. There are coaches in base running who can get you from base to base through the growth principles of Revitalization.

There are coaches who can work on the family life of the team, including wives. There are coaches in pitching and hitting stats and analytics which can help you measure where you have been and predict where you can go. There are even equipment

How is my walk with God?

coaches who can help you negotiate your facilities and appeal. The general sessions are led by some of the greatest coaches in the country. These courses are designed to deal with all the variables that are pitched at the pastor.

I would recommend that, before you come to The National Renovate Conference that you do some evaluation of what you are doing and what is going on in your organization. Determine in your heart if you are the person who can lead your church to the next level.

If you want to deal with one stable issue at a time, you are playing golf and need to retire to The Villages.

On the other hand, if you want to play in God’s Major League, determine in your heart what areas of your pastorate you need coaching in. Don’t waste an “at bat.”

Listed below are some areas for your own evaluation.

Do I have polity (deacon/elder) problems?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Am I burned out?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Do I have a working operational strategy for 5 years?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 How is my family doing?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Do I have an up to date web presence?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Am I accountable to my men?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Do I have a social media strategy?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 How am I physically?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Do I have a missions plan?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Am I on fire spiritually?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Do I have a plan to make disciples?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Is my church growing?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Do I need and want help?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Do I have leadership problems?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 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.

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Universal Lessons Learned While Bringing Continued from pg 18 Youth Ministries Back From the Dead Continued from pg 18

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If You Need People, You’ll Never Lead People A pastor friend in my life reminds me of this thought daily because having enough volunteers at any church will always be a tension to manage. As we grow, we always NEED more people to serve in some capacities. Early on in ministry, I remember putting pressure on leaders to stay the long term because the ministry needed them.

The reality was that I needed them, but I did not realize that at the time. Looking back on this side of things as I am wrapping up the back half of my time in Youth Ministry, I have realized that if you see people as pawns to accomplish tasks, your using them more than you are pastoring them.

OUCH! Yes, it took me a little to come to terms with that one too. The tension to accomplish ministry does not ever go away, but your view on how you get there changes over time.

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Some Things Will Never Change Until You Pray It is amazing how often we take the simple thing of being on staff at a local church for granted.

It’s interesting how devotional lives can slip, marriages can be sacrificed for the job, or even the basic spiritual discipline like prayer neglected until a problem or trial emerges. I am amazed how often as pastors we encourage everyone else to do something and neglect those very things in our own lives. I did this early on in ministry.

I thought I could will everything to happen by how hard I worked because that is what I was taught, but there is a very specific place prayer should be in your life before the work starts. Getting in a room by yourself and spending time talking, yelling and celebrating with our heavenly father is crucial to who we are. I remember one year I was wanting a shift to take place in Youth Ministry and I was working so hard for things to change and realign to the way I wanted. I came to the end of my work and when we got ready to launch this new initiative something felt off. I was telling my wife about it and the question she asked me was this, “Did you pray about this at all?” Prayer. Oh yeah! No matter what you accomplish or what you do, do not forget that you did nothing to get where you are.

You were given everything you have by a heavenly father who called you. Prayer is a great opportunity to ask for something of course, but it’s a better place to celebrate, worship and honor our heavenly father who gives freely that which we could never earn.

There has been a lot that I have learned through various ways my 9 years in ministry and as I write my last article on this platform I am so appreciative of what you the reader does to care for people. The hours you serve, sweat, dream, cry and seek God’s counsel is amazing. Keep pushing closer to God’s will in your life, find people to pour into your life who model leadership well at home just as much as in the office, and no matter what you do, remember that the best of you comes out of healthy relationships at home with your families. Never sacrifice that so you can be a rock star for a season at wherever you serve, because you never know how long that season will last. Family lasts forever!

Drew Cheyney is the Associate Youth Pastor at

Element Church in Wentzville, MO. Drew has been developing and leading student movements for over eight years. He is a National Conference Speaker and Student Ministry Strategist. Drew is a frequent writer on revitalizing a church through youth ministry.

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Revitalization Lessons: Negative and Positive Continued from page 51 into growth without external resources. I have seen one “natural� move off plateau when his coach gave him permission to lead!

Plateaued pastors need a coach to help revitalize those churches. We are so committed to this that we offer significant incentives to help clients join our mentorship program. Without a coach these pastors will fail to revitalize those churches.

Conclusion Every pastor can learn to revitalize a church - if they are willing, if the church is willing, and if they gather a good team around them.

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Bud Brown has served in a wide variety of settings,

from small rural to mid-sized suburban to rapidly growing megachurches. He has trained and mentored intentional interim pastors, taught doctoral students as adjunct faculty at Phoenix Seminary, and now serves as president of Turnaround Pastors Inc. (www.turnaroundpastor.com). His work has been published in theological journals, popular Christian magazines, and a number of online websites devoted to issues of pastoral ministry and Christian leadership.Â

Church Music Renewal By: Tim Kauffman

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Lessons Learned from Church Revitalization and Renewal

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he Diagnosis is obvious and real. 90% of the Churches in North America are either plateaued or declining. Southern Baptist Churches are not untouched by this sad phenomenon. This has been confirmed by such leaders as Mark Clifton of the North American Mission Board who said, “Ten to fifteen percent of Southern Baptist Churches are at risk of dying.

Every year, about 900 churches close and lock their doors for the last time with 70% of them in growing neighborhoods.”

Some churches recognize, sooner than others, that if something is not done to stop the decline they will soon die. To stop the decline, a church must realize its present reality and its need for professional help if it is to become healthy again. It also needs pastoral leadership with a longterm commitment to the church.

Positive changes do not happen suddenly and once the church has a Restoration Plan in place, it needs a determined Pastor or Coach to help the church in executing the plan.

Even though most pastors are “all in” for the plan, there are times when a pastor will engage a Revitalizer while knowing that he is not going to stay around for the long haul. He is already looking around for greener pastures. I encountered this scenario several years ago when I agreed to help a church with less than 125 mem74

bers. The pastor had a reputation for short term pastorates. He was always looking for those greener pastures. I was reluctant to commit because the first module of Operation New Life, required intense preparation and a series of meetings before the program began and a long commitment after the program. Even though the pastor would not verbally commit, I agreed to the program and to coaching them, knowing their future was bleak if they didn’t get help. It was because I so wanted this church to succeed and become a vital and “Great Commission” Church again.

The first indication I had that I was facing a problem was the pastor’s reluctance to do the preparation that is required in advance of the program. He was constantly wanting to make changes in the preparatory steps in the process. He wanted to leave out such important steps as the Diagnostic Survey, perhaps fearing that it would shed light on him and his leadership. He further wanted to omit other steps. He finally consented to the program as planned because I told him that I could not agree to the changes.

The second red flag was his lack of trust in his congregation. He talked constantly about resigning because he didn’t believe that the effort would work. It was obvious that he had no real commitment to or connection with

By Steve Sells

the congregation or the church community. He had no real desire to see the church succeed in reaching its community. It seemed that he had engaged my services simply to buy time until he could find another church.

When I arrived, it quickly became obvious that he had been promoting to the congregation those changes that I had rejected.

What he had promoted to the congregation bore little resemblance to what we had planned.

He changed the title of the program and had posted a banner with a title of his choosing on it.

He seemed unfazed when I confronted him about the damaging changes that he had made. Why? Because I knew that once I began to teach, that the congregation would realize that his plans and mine were different. So, I shared with them the correct title of the program and the emphasis that I would present.

The good news, however, is that the congregation became engaged. There was much dialogue and interest among the people and they asked many pertinent questions. Several people in the congregation mentioned to me the possibility of my returning for another program but the pastor did not seem excited at all about another. After the last session, when I had said my good-byes and thanked the people, I was driving out of the parking lot when the pastor flagged me

down. After I stopped he handed me a manila envelope containing his resume and asked me to put his name before other churches.

I was dumbfounded. I told him that I would not share his resume with other churches because his congregation had responded so well to the sessions and he should stay, love his people, and build on the foundation that had been laid.

He didn’t make any comment and I was told that he moved on to another church four months later.

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sessed with making everyone in the congregation happy, it can become a draining process.

It is sad to say but many pastors spend too much time with critics, opposition, and conflict.

All of this causes the pastor to spend and inordinate amount of time in fear about the future of his ministry and the church.

Sadly, some pastors are simply lazy. Church Revitalization is hard work. It takes commitment.

The pastor must determine

Without the leadership and longterm commitment of the pastor, the church will not, most likely, move forward.

I was saddened by the situation, but I learned an invaluable lesson.

Without the leadership and longterm commitment of the pastor, the church will not, most likely, move forward. The reality of it is that, some pastors, will never commit to a revitalization process.

There are 3 reasons why I have discovered this as a Church Revitalizer.

Many pastors are afraid of Church Revitalization because they do not understand what it is all about.

Some are afraid of the demands that will be made on them if they commit to the process. Some are afraid that they do not have the ability to carry out the process. Some are afraid of failure and yet others are afraid of their congregation. They fear that if they upset their congregation by leading them into change they may run into conflict and perhaps be terminated. If a pastor is ob-

whether or not he is ready and committed to Church Revitalization. The pastor I used as an example in the beginning of this article is a real pastor. He is a perfect example of a pastor who is unwilling to pay the price to initiate a vital change in a needful congregation.

Tragically enough, some pastors just do not care. If the pastor has settled in. If the pastor is uncaring about the future of the Church …. One’s efforts will be futile. Many pastors lack real vision for the work. I heard an

older pastor say, “Some pastors don’t care, and they don’t care that they don’t care.” That is a sad situation.

Conclusion: Any Church Revitalization process will require strong pastoral leadership and if the pastor is not committed to the revitalization of his church – it probably will not happen. Church Revitalization is time consuming. If the pastor is uncommitted to the Church’s future, he should not take the leadership role of the revitalization process. The pastor is the key to the church’s success and he is the most visible leader of the church.

Some mistakes bring hard lessons. However, this is one lesson that I, as a Church Revitalizer will never forget. It is a lesson that will help me never to make the same mistake again. As a result of this lesson, I go to great lengths to interview the pastor about his intentions and desires before I make any commitment.

The lesson learned is simply this … the pastor is a major player in the revitalization of any local church. It is essential that the pastor be the predominate player in the process. If he is not committed, it will not happen.

Steve Sells is the president and CEO of Op-

eration Transformation church revitalization ministry in Salisbury, North Carolina. Steve has served in ministry for 43 years in North Carolina and Georgia. He has led numerous revitalization conferences and projects. 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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Future Forward Churches y definition of a Future Forward Church is a church that is deeply committed to fully engage the next generation. If any of these statements apply to your church, there is a good chance that your church is not a Future Forward Church.

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by our church. The next generation was letting us know that we had lost touch with them. They stopped coming. Even though we had a handful of young families and children in regular attendance, we were still one of the fastest dying churches in the city.

changing world.”

...If the average age of your church exceeds the average age of the people living in the community you serve ...If you had more funerals in your church last year than baptisms ...If it has been a long time since a teenager broke anything in your church building - because there aren’t many teenagers around ...If the young adults and young couples who do visit your church seldom come back ...If your current attendees ache inside because their children and grandchildren don’t want to come to your church

We decided to put our hearts into fully engaging the next generation.

This was not an easy decision. We knew that our approach to church had to change in many ways if we were going to lower the average age of our members and attendees by 15 years. Though our core beliefs and values would remain unchanged, everything else had to be “on the table” for possible change – every current program, ministry and practice.

The mindset of “That would never work for us” had to change to “God, give us open hearts and minds to embrace the changes we need to make.”

A Commitment to Revitalization In the fall of 2003, the leaders at Amplify Church needed to make some tough decisions. Weekend attendance had been in steady decline for several years. We were on an interest-only plan with our bank because we could not afford the monthly mortgage payments on our church building, which was deteriorating after years of neglect. Most alarming was that the average age of those attending the church was approximately 50 years old – 15 years older than the average age of the community served

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By Lee Kricher

Adopting a New Mindset One key to turning our church around was adopting a new mindset. Paul wrote, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2) We often apply this only to individuals but it is also applicable to our churches. I was convinced that major change would not occur without a change of mindset of the people of our church. Here are a few examples: The mindset of “We will just fervently pray for young people to come back to church” had to change to “We will fervently pray AND make the changes needed to reach young people in this rapidly

The mindset of “If it was good enough for me, it is good enough for our children” had to change to a question “What will it take to more effectively reach the next generation?”

Raising Up Young Leaders In addition to adopting a new mindset, another key to turning our church around was giving young leaders an opportunity to lead. In my experience, people in their 50s, 60s and older tend to be open to attending a church where the majority of people in visible leadership are significantly younger than they are.

On the other hand, I have found that it is less likely that young adults and young parents will be drawn to a weekend service where the vast majority of people in visible leadership are significantly older than they are.

Think about your church services over the past few weeks and months. If a high percentage of the people who were upfront – those who spoke, did readings, shared announcements, led singing, played instruments, etc. were older than the average age of the community you serve, chances are your services are less appealing to young people than you may realize.

We set an initial goal that 50% of all visible leaders during a typical weekend service would be the average age our community or younger. Over the years, that goal has grown to 75%. As you can imagine, we have had to focus a lot of time and energy to recruit young people and get them ready to serve. I have become convinced that giving young leaders an opportunity to lead is not only critical for churches in decline, but also for churches determined to avoid decline.

Transformational Change I was hoping that our multi-year journey would go smoothly, but change seldom does. The concept of re-connecting with the next generation was well received, but when things started to change in order to actually reach young people, about a third of our current attendees left.

One of our top givers said to me, “The kids you are trying to reach don’t have checkbooks.” Then, to my dismay, he added, “If you go through with these changes, I’m leaving the church and my checkbook is going with me.”

Fortunately, most people did not respond in this manner. They began to embrace the hope that our church could fully engage the next generation. Their hope was realized as new people started to attend our church.

Within two years the average weekend attendance more than doubled to 400 people. Within five years, our average weekend attendance

exceeded 600 people. And 15 years after embarking on our journey, the average weekend attendance at Amplify Church now exceeds 2,000 people. Even more significantly, the average age of those attending is just under 35 years old. Every generation is well represented for the first time in many, many years. We have been transformed into a Future Forward Church.

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Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference where they can learn about engaging the next generation from leaders who are further along in the journey -Regularly weave into weekend messages the importance of effectively reaching the next generation.

-Proactively engage church members in one-on-one discussions and conversations in small groups about the

I have found that it is less likely that young adults and young parents will be drawn to a weekend service where the vast majority of people in visible leadership are significantly older than they are.

First Steps What are the best first steps to take when a church wants become a Future Forward Church that fully engages the next generation? Here are a few suggestions: -Identify the average age of your neighborhood/community and compare it with the average age of those attending the church. Determine to do whatever it takes to close the gap.

-Take key staff or lay leaders on “field trips” to healthy churches that have every generation well represented. Be open to learn about new approaches to church.

-Take as many key staff or lay leaders as possible to conferences like the

importance of becoming agents of change instead of blockers of change.

When all is said and done, leaders in Future Forward Churches are proactive about the words of the Psalmist - “We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.”

(Psalm 78:4)

Lee Kricher is the Senior Pastor of Amplify Church in Pittsburgh, PA,

author of For a New Generation: A Practical Guide For Revitalizing Your Church and founder of Future Forward Churches (futureforwardchurches.com.) You can contact Lee at lee.kricher@amplifychurch.com 77

What Does Church Revitalization Mean?

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very place I go people ask me for a definition of church revitalization.

Church Revitalization is a movement within protestant evangelicalism, which emphasizes the missional work of turning a plateaud or rapidly declining church around and moving it back towards growth. It is lead through a Church Revitalization initiative, which is when a local church begins to work on the renewal of the church with a concerted effort to see the ministry revitalized and the church become healthy.

Church Revitalization means that the local church knew how, at one time previously, to renew, revitalize, and reestablish the health and vitality of the ministry. One of the challenges for the laity in the day in which we live is that they have lost the knowledge of church renewal and no longer want to cultivate the skill sets necessary to see their church experience revitalization. Even sadder is when a congregation does not have the corporate memory that there was a day when the local church was reaching people for Christ Jesus and active as evangelistic witnesses into their community.

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ENOVATE R National Church Revitalization Conference

Speakers Include: Tom Cheyney Ron Smith Jason Britt Dennis Mitchell Lee Kricher Terry Rials Jim Grant Paul Smith Walter Jackson Jason Cooper Michael Atherton Bill Hegedus Drew Cheyney Chris Irving Amber Irving Steve Smith Jason Cooper Rob Myers Estelle Myers David Lema & Others

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