The Church Revitalizer Magazine Jan-Feb 2017

THE

CHURCH

Jan/Feb 2017 Vol 3 Issue 1

Revitalizer

“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue”

Preaching for Church Revitalization and Renewal

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

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January/Febuary | Vol 3, No 1

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By Joel R. Breidenbaugh

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When a Pastor Claims Entitlement Dr. Greg Kappas

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Five Myths of Effective Preaching

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

12

WordSmith: The prayerful art of preaching God-inspired sermons

28

10

When Should the Church Postpone or Cancel Church Events?

By Rodney Harrison

16

When We Are Doing Everything!

By Bill Hegedus

18

Student Ministry: Put Your Heart Into It

By Drew Cheyney

35

Has God Called You To Lead In Revitalization?

By Tracy W. Jaggers

41

The Pastoral Twilight Zone

By Rob Myers

44

Turning Back a Conflicted Church

By Bob Whitesel

50

Preaching Toward Church Revitalization

By Terry Rials

52

We Have a Problem: Why Aren’t We Telling Them What They Need to Hear?

By Mark Weible

54

Revivalization Preaching

By Jim Grant

58

Crucial Preaching for Revitalization

By Kenneth Priest

60

The Dangerous “Peanuts” Mentality of Valuing People

By Glenn Stewart

62

Put Some Cranberries and Nuts in the Bread

By Tom Cheyney

By Ron Smith

THE LEADERSHIP LINK…

By Michael Atherton

8 KEY ESSENTIALS FOR PREACHING REVITALIZATION IN YOUR CHURCH

By Darwin Meighan

30 48

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

revitalizer

LIBRARY BOOK REVIEWS

The Church Revitalizer Book Reviewer: Rob Hurtgen 57 Preaching Towards Church Revitalization and Renewal. By Tom Cheyney & Larry Wynn 57 Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. By Tod Bolsinger

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

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THE

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Revitalizer Volume 3, No. 1

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

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

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by Tom Cheyney

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

It is hard to beleive that the Renovate Group and Renovate Resources are beginning the third year of the Church Revitalizer Magazine! Please continue to let us know areas which need to be addressed and specific topics you and your church leaders would benefit.

Within this edition we focue on Preaching Towards Revitalization and Renewal. Often while churches rush around and race around trying to renovate the church today, it is easy to miss the things necessary to revitalize the church. *There are some things within the church that are broken and need to be repaired. *There are some things within the church that are missing that need to be replaced. *There are some things within the church that simply do not belong in a church that need to be removed. *There are some things within the church that have been neglected. *There are some things within the church that need to be recognized as hurting the church’s chances for growth and health.

We need to look at the need for God’s restoration of the church today. The Church in the Western Hemisphere and particularly in North America is in critical need of renovation and revitalization. The church of the past full of health and vigor is no longer that same church and it is a mere shell of itself. Churches today all across the west are in need of church revitalization and renewal. We seek to address in this issue the importance of preaching in the effort to revitalize ones church. The caue of church revitalization is so vital that we must stay at the task.

Stay connected, more is coming in 2017 and it is going to be a great year.

Stock images from ISTOCK Photo or where otherwise noted. © Copyright 2017 Renovate Publishing Group

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

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When Should the Church Postpone or Cancel Church Events?

Over the years, I have made an observation. Growing churches seldom, if ever, cancel services for weather related events. However, plateaued and declining churches seem to be in a race to see who can be the first to post their weather related cancelation on the television news channel.

I know this article will have regional relevance. As a pastor in California, weather cancelations were rare. In my ten years of service in the Golden State, the only two cancelations among local churches in Southern California were for services following the Northridge earthquake and 9-11. As a pastor in Minnesota and Missouri, snow events, blizzards, ice storms and tornado warning are annual events. Although some weather events result in power outages and weather emergency declarations, the challenge for church leaders is the hype preceding the storm. As media outlets seek to gain audiences, the desire to turn weather into a news event results in many “misses” when it comes to the actual outcome. At the same time, pastors have a responsibility to mitigate risk to members.

Recently, the transitional church I pastored in Southwest Missouri hosted a Saturday night event advertised as “rain or shine.” That afternoon, a snowstorm dropped enough snow to cause every church in town, except ours, to post cancellation notices by 4:00 pm Saturday. Despite the weather, the special event that Saturday drew a record crowd (resulting in the headlines “Miracle at Main Street”).

The next day, the church saw many visitors, some who worshipped with us because their church was closed.

This “win” was wrought as a result of having implemented a clear policy on weather cancellations. If your church does not have a policy, consider adopting one using the following foundations.

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1. Cancelling Sunday morning services on Saturday night based on “what may happen,” is a bad idea.

2. Don’t cancel or postpone an event if your only worry is the chance of bad weather. Recently, a major snow event for the upcoming weekend was hyped in the local media for nearly a week. By Saturday night, the list of metro area church cancellations was well into the hundreds. However, on Sunday morning the storm moved south of the city, resulting in nary a flurry. The churches that were not “quick to cancel” experienced normal attendance and little or no disruption of their programs.

3. Follow the local and state government recommendations. If local officials have declared a state of emergency and told people to stay home, then your church should cancel. Just remember, local schools generally cancel services based on different data, so don’t consider school cancellations as the same as official state or local “stay home, don’t travel” warnings. ‘

4. Utility Outages. If the power or water is out, services should be cancelled. Not having a safe environment with working restroom facilities is almost always cause for cancelling services and church events.

5. Have a widely understood communication method. Using a combination of email blasts, website postings and social media is a good starting point. In most metro areas, local radio and television outlets will post church cancellations. For those who may not use technology, strategic phone calls are a good solution.

Many churches use the same communication process for cancellations as they use for a “prayer chain” updates.

Remember to “share the policy until it

by Rodney Harrison

is shared policy.”

6. Consider an alternative service in lieu of the canceled one. Matthew Mead notes that with good communication, you can cancel one service and replace it with an alternate one. This is essentially what our church did after 9-11. Instead of the usual Wednesday and Sunday services, we held a pray meeting on Wednesday night, and a joint service with four other congregations on Sunday. When the weather is bad, consider holding a service for those who can attend in a smaller, more intimate room. Instead of a praise team, sing a cappella. Being open to alternative ways to worship is wise.

This can become a meaningful worship opportunity for those who love to brave the elements.

7. Put your policy in writing.

Once you develop a policy, put it into writing. The policy should demonstrate not only the process by which services will be cancelled; it should also provide instructions for communicating the change. Ideally, the key points of the policy will be shared with all members, and incorporated into the new member class.

Make sure the information is readily available. Having an “email with the contact information” is of no help if the Internet is down!

Storms happen. Having a weather cancellation policy will keep the decision to stay open or close due to weather from becoming a storm.

Rodney Harrison is the Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Harrison is the author of two books on church planting and has written material for LifeWay Christian Resources.

RENOVATE RESOURCES ALL YEAR LONG

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

RenovateConference.org/coaching-network

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

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

RenovateConference.org/podcast

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

Five Myths of Effective Preaching It was Christmas Eve and the last worship service was done. Most folks blew out their candles and made for the parking lot post haste.

But there were a number of people hanging around the lobby, sipping coffee and hot chocolate and munching on Christmas cookies. But mostly they were sharing season’s greeting and holiday niceties with each other. I moved my way through one cluster of well-wishers to another when one of our many visitors caught my arm and made a random comment.

“I guess you just proved the point ‘There’s no such thing as a bad short sermon.’” I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be flattered or offended, but he went on to say he appreciated the way I wove the prologue of John into the Christmas birth narrative, so I guess it was meant as a compliment.

But the comment lodged in my brain and stuck there. “There’s no such thing as a bad short sermon.” I’d heard those same words from two of my many homiletics professor and from countless church leaders, both clergy and lay. And I knew those words were bogus. I’ve heard bad short sermons … I’ve even preached a couple of them over the past thirty-five years.

Those words triggered the curiosity bug in me and I wondered what other preaching myths were out there, and though there are probably a lot more than I was willing to entertain, I came up with five myths that get in the way of effective preaching (and if you know of others, I’d be excited to hear about them!).

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Myth 1: People Don’t Want to be Told What to Do

She was one of the most powerful preachers I’d ever heard. She took a current event and wove it into the scripture with such mastery that I was literally leaning forward clinging to her every word. The whole congregation was mesmerized by her words and her preaching style. I was having trouble figuring out why the church she led wasn’t growing by leaps and bounds. Until she got to her summation … the application of her great oratory? “So, this week, be more forgiving. Let us pray.”

Be more forgiving?!? She had a congregation ready to march into hell for a heavenly cause and her call to action was to be more forgiving? She’d clearly succumbed to the myth that people don’t want to be told what to do.

To be fair, she learned that myth from well-meaning homiletics professors I was taught in seminary that sermons were meant to be inspiring and that the point of a sermon was to raise consciousness and curiosity so that the hearers would return home to ponder the points and find ways to apply them to their lives.

And virtually every homiletics professor then said the following almost word-for-word: “People don’t want to be told what to do.” In other words, don’t tell the congregation what to do. And so … they do nothing.

The reality is this: people desperately want to be told what to do.

That’s why one of the largest sections of books at Barnes and Nobles is the Self-Help section. It’s why consumers spend millions of dollars each year on podcasts, videos,

by Bill Tenny-Brittian workbooks, retreats, and seminars in order to get thin, get wealthy, look younger, be better bosses, better spouses, and better parents.

People do want to be told what to do. What they don’t want is to be coerced or berated or guilted into doing “it.” They want to be allowed to make up their own minds about whether or not to do what Jesus or you are asking them to do without the tag line “... or else.”

An effective sermon always has a specific “so what” that asks the congregation to do something … and being “more forgiving” isn’t a specific anything. Over the past year I’ve heard effective preachers ask their listeners to sign up for classes, to tithe, to confront a bully, to take a spiritual inventory, to take their spouse on a monthly date, to share a prayer with an unbeliever, and more. Most asked the hearers to do “it” that week or by a certain date.

Most pastor’s gave a SMART challenge (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-sensitive).

Some asked the listeners to make their commitment public, others to check a box on a commitment card, and others invited them to share via Social Media. But to a one, they all ask the hearers to do a specific something.

If you want to see results from your preaching, make sure you have a specific “so what” in the form of a “do this.”

Myth 2: Shorter is Better

First let me note that a bad sermon is a bad sermon if it’s five minutes long or twenty-five minutes long.

The difference is found only in the length of torment you put the congregation through.

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When I speak to most seasoned pastors, I still hear the twenty-minute rule. And every so often, I’ll hear a ten-minute rule for younger adults because they have “a shorter attention span.” But then I tune in to watch or listen to pastors of churches that are reaching thousands of younger adults and note that the average sermon length is between thirty and forty minutes. That’s when I have to wonder about the ten or twenty minute rule. (And the fact that movies developed for young adults seem to be getting longer appears to belie the “short attention span” accusations.)

The twenty-minute sermon appears to have found its stride in an era when most of the US was enculturated in the Judeo-Christian meta story. When pretty much everyone knows that Jesus is the reason for the season and that Easter is about a resurrection, not a man who comes out of a hole, sees his shadow, and predicts six more weeks of spring, then there’s not much set-up time needed for a sermon.

But today’s growing church counts on the unchurched to show up, so the sermon is non-presumptive.

There’s no expectation that those in the worship center know the difference between Noah or Paul, a KJV from an RSVP, or even a New Testament from an Old. When you presume your audience is completely ignorant of what you’re going to speak about, it means you’re going to have to do a lot of explaining and defining in order to preach a life-changing message. In the end, what that means is that a sermon that’s effectively reaching younger adults who have little or no church experience is going to be a tad longer … and it turns out that the length of a “tad” is an extra ten to twenty minutes.

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In today’s biblically ignorant climate, longer may not necessarily be better, but effective sermons are rarely “short” any more.

Myth 3: The Lectionary Keeps Us Honest

I know … I’ve just moved from preachin’ to meddling. But after fifteen years of consulting and listening to many hundreds of preachers across the US, I’ve learned a little something about lectionary preaching. Just because a preacher preaches different texts doesn’t mean they’re not preaching their favorite topics anyway. It turns out if you want to preach on anger, jealousy, guilt, shame, love, joy, or forgiveness you can pretty much choose any passage in the Bible and spin it however you need to. And apparently you can do it with solid exegetical practices as well, since I’ve been listening to preachers wrap their favorite topics into almost any passage on almost any week.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. The fact is, a pastor who is bound to the lectionary has to do some mighty

fine twisting to make a sermon relevant to people in a global cultural climate where current events span nations and updates fly at us in an unfettered 140 characters at a time.

Today’s effective sermons are almost always developed as a part of a series, and the lectionary is both inflexible and uncooperative in the creation of topical series that are either meaningful or relevant. Yes, it can be done, but the question is why put yourself through all that extra effort? Take the extra hours and spend them at a bar or at a coffee shop or at the community college’s student center and strike up conversations with those people your church is ostensibly trying to reach. If you do, you’ll discover quite a variety of relevant sermon topics that desperately need to be touched on … lectionary or not!

Myth 4: Exegesis Good, Eisegesis Bad

I’m about to move into “ruffle perfectly good feathers” kind of territory. When I went to seminary, the homiletics’ training of the day was

Continued on Page 22 13

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When We Are Doing Everything!

By Bill Hegedus

Often times in ministry we get caught up in the mindset that we need to do everything. We can blame it on being a perfectionist, or even under the guise of thinking, “well, it is my job”. We get so focused on Sunday to Sunday, and the tasks we need to accomplish throughout the week to pull each Sunday off. But if we truly dissect our calendars down from week to week, day to day, hour to hour, we can most likely uncover a treasure trove on our weekly to-do lists that can be handed over to more than capable volunteers.

Let’s face it, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. We all have tasks that bring us joy; give fulfillment. On the other hand, we have tasks that we absolutely dread. We’d rather sit through a lecture about government taxation than have to deal with tackling that horrific obstacle that so plainly stands barricaded in our path. But that horrific obstacle to us is most certainly a task that would bring someone else great joy & fulfillment.

Have you ever sat in your office and thought, “if I just had more admin support I could…”, or “if I didn’t have to make all of these follow-up calls I would be able to…”? There’s a simple solution steps away from where you are probably reading this article--your church attendees!

Weekday volunteers can alter your entire daily schedule and your ministry. That’s a pretty lofty statement, I know! There are dozens of parents, retirees & single folks in your church who have the time and/or flexibility within their own schedules throughout the week that may not be able to serve during a weekend service. What I have found is that these folks are so happy to volunteer time during the week, or even take home printed materials to cut out or organize & return before the weekend. They are thrilled to be able to use the extra time that they have to serve the Kingdom in such a tangible way! We are blessed to have a solid base of weekday volunteers in the Family Ministry that come in and cheerfully clean/ sanitize the infant & preschool areas, make copies, provision for crafts, make phone calls, send out follow up emails, run errands, etc. If you cast

the net with specific requests for weekday volunteers, you will be amazed at the response. And you will be amazed at the time that you’ll be able to free up in your schedule to do what it is that God has called you to do--minister to your community!

I can attest to many late nights & “off-days” spent at the church or out running errands because I didn’t manage my time well during the week, or delegate certain tasks to volunteers as well as I could have. It’s my own fault. Time management is a tension that I constantly have to manage and evaluate. A wise mentor to my wife and I once said in regards to ministry, “you do what ONLY you can do; everything else can be handed off for others to do.” It took me a while to digest & fully comprehend that statement. Thoughts ran through my mind such as, “but if God called me to this ministry, doesn’t he know this is a part of it? I don’t want anyone to think I’m lazy or don’t think this is important enough to do myself!” The thing is that sweet, 80 year old Ms. Betsy who runs copies for you during the week for preschool isn’t the one who is called upon to counsel a young family through the sudden loss of a pregnancy. If our time is filled up with tasks that anyone can do, at some point we have to ask yourselves, “why am I not handing this off to a capable volunteer? Someone who will find new friendships, a sense of community and feelings of fulfillment in volunteering if I only gave them the opportunity”?

I know this may require a chunk of time out of your day, but I promise you’ll get that time back tenfold if you evaluate your schedule in the way I’m about to suggest. However you absorb information best, look at your schedule (whether on a computer, print out or handwritten desk calendar--does anyone still use those??) Highlight items that can easily be given to a volunteer to do. Once you have your highlighted items, figure out how many volunteers you’ll need each week to accomplish those tasks. Here comes the kicker. Make a specific ask for weekday admin help, cleaning teams, etc. on specific days. Be clear and upfront about what your specific needs are. Once you have a base of weekday volunteers & a solid rhythm Continued on Page 26

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Student Ministry: Put Your Heart Into It Almost eight years ago I told the following story for the first time about a bitter, frustrated, and hurting college Graduate who walked into a church less than 5 miles from his house for the first time ever.

“The Graduate,” as we will call this person, went to church just hoping to cross another box of the list of things people said to try when all else fails and you feel bitter, frustrated, and hurt. So, The Graduate did what many people do when all else fails and we do not have the answers to our questions…. we go to church!

On this specific Sunday, The Graduate came to church on a day many of us would categorize as “different.”

On this Sunday, Middle School & High School Students were serving on what the church had called a “Student Takeover” Sunday. These students had just gotten back from a retreat experience of some kind and were serving as part of the Guest Services Team, Café Team, Production Team, Next Steps Team, Baptism Team, and many other teams. The Student Pastor was even preaching that day as well so it all tied into the theme of its Student Ministry taking over the campus.

The graduate walked into the odd setting and was greeted by Students who asked fairly normal questions such as: • What is your name?

• How long have you been coming to this church?

• How was your week?

• Can I get you a free cup of coffee?

• Can we help you find a seat?

Nothing too uncommon when it comes to making First Impressions!

After the conversations, The Graduate attended the Church’s service, and then went home. When the

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following Sunday rolled around The Graduate thought about those very people who, the week before, helped take the awkward out of as much of the church experience as they possibly could for The Graduate. The Graduate decided to go again, thinking there was no possible way people would care if The Graduate attended a second time.

Upon arrival the graduate knew no one, as is to be predicted for a lot of second time guests, but then something unique happened. The very students who had greeted the graduate at the door the week before remembered the guest, so they approached with a smile. They greeted the stranger by name with questions about the week, remembering various details from their past conversation. Pleasantries were exchanged, another “free” cup of coffee was given to The Graduate, and another service was experienced at the church for a second week in a row. From this experience on the graduate continued to attend the church, meeting and getting to know various people all because of the actions of a handful of teenagers who took the time to pay attention to a stranger.

Eventually Life Groups (or Small Groups as others may call them) were introduced a handful of weeks into The Graduate’s experience and The Graduate signed up for a College Group. In the group the graduate met other College Students & Graduates who were in the same life stage. They hung out together, experienced life together, and eventually even served together in various ministries such as Kids Ministry, Student Ministry, & Life Groups.

Eight years ago this graduate entered a church looking for just one reason not to ever come back; looking for Christians to do what a lot of Christians in our churches

by Drew Cheyney do really well… pretend. Instead, The Graduate found something quite different. The Graduate found people who noticed each other, cared for each other, served with and for each other, and that meant the world to this person. The whole time the graduate was just looking for people who said they were Christians to care more about noticing people than just living up to a bunch of religious rules.

Now why would telling you the story of just one first time guest burnt on church matter to you? Because, the experience of The Graduate was impacted by so many experiences we either have, should have, or have failed to continue developing in our church’s. For example, if it was not for this specific church in this story having a Student Ministry that challenged it’s students to pay attention and notice people, the Student Takeover on that Sunday never would have happened, and because that never would have happened, just maybe The Graduate never would have been noticed in the first place. And if that Graduate was not noticed by people, what are the chances that Graduate comes back a second time? Or attends Life Groups? Or starts to serve in the local church? See The Graduate gave the Church a shot, because the people attending gave The Graduate a shot, and for so many of our church’s people are looking to be noticed by anyone who will take the time to care. You never know whether it’s the actions of a child, a teenager, a young adult, a volunteer, or even a pastor that finally plucks the heartstrings of a heart that has been dormant for so long.

So, with that being said, here is my burden! Why are churches that have the ability to inspire people to take this kind of action putting less

Continued on page 36

Does God really set people free?

Or are we just talking?

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

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

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

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

Dr. Phil Phillips, Ft. Myers, FL

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The Cornerstone of Revitalization The foundation of any building is essential. This fact is certainly not surprising; however, it serves as a simple reminder that in the same way that a building needs a strong foundation, the church must have a strong foundation to flourish and for the hearts of the people to grow. It is general knowledge that the taller the building, the deeper the foundation must go. How many Christians today have a foundation a mile wide and a half inch deep? The heart of revitalization begins and ends in the heart of the local church.

In Luke 20:9-19, Jesus tells The Parable of the Wicked Tenants, a story that shook Team Sanhedrin to their core and drove them to a point of wanting to kill Jesus on the spot. Team Sanhedrin had a real problem with authority, specifically the authority of Jesus. The problem of authority became an issue because Jesus is the “stone the builders rejected, which became the cornerstone.” So, to have an issue with the Cornerstone of all that is happening and ever will happen presents a HUGE problem.

At the end of the parable, Jesus says the Owner of the vineyard (God) will come and take the vineyard away from the wicked tenants and give it to others. Guess what? We, the Church, are the “others.” Not only that, this Cornerstone is going to cause some to stumble and will crush others. This Cornerstone is the divine divider who separates the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, the blessed from the damned. There is an old proverb from an outside source that says, “If a stone falls on a pot, woe to the pot! If a pot falls on a stone, woe to the pot! In either case, woe to the pot!”

This Cornerstone would become and IS the Cornerstone of His new building, the Church. This simple reminder plays such an important factor in revitalization. Let me show you what I mean…

Acts 4:11-12 – No Other Name

In Acts 4, Team Sanhedrin is back in action, this time dealing with Peter and John. As Peter and John preached the good news of Jesus Christ, the religious leaders questioned them saying, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, began a mini-sermon and boldly proclaimed, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” Structurally speaking, the cornerstone bears the weight of two walls and without the cornerstone, the wall is unstable and likely to fall. Do you see what is happening here? The Cornerstone is the foundation of gospel preaching, the foundation of gos-

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by Chris Irving

pel ministry, the foundation of the church bringing glory to God! This Cornerstone, Jesus Christ, was rejected by men, when all the while He has been, still is, and forever will be the starting point! All the weight of the Church rests on Him. It is all about Jesus. He is the Cornerstone!

Peter finishes with the simple truth that salvation can be found in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other name for salvation and there is no other starting point for the heart of church revitalization that that of Jesus Christ, the cross, and the power of His resurrection.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 – Build with Heart

Now, when you are preparing your own heart for revitalization, you must be prepared for the hurt and divisions that will inevitably come as you lead. Paul addresses these sorts of divisions in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. Paul reminds the early church in Corinth of deep truths of who they were, truths that we can apply to our existence as The Church in 2017.

1) Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church.

2) God does the building through us.

3) We are the laborers.

4) There is no other foundation than that of Jesus Christ.

Now Paul speaks directly to those of us who serve as lead pastors, worship pastors, youth pastors, family pastors, or lay leaders.

“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

Revitalizers, you have the absolute responsibility to prepare and develop your heart to build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ with gold, silver, and precious stones.

These things will survive the test of fire. Everything else will burn up.

Remember it’s not you, what you know or how much you know that is the Cornerstone of revitalization. Christ alone is the Cornerstone. You are a church revitalizer and such work is not for the faint of heart. Your foundation is in Christ Jesus and nothing else. He gave everything, so you go and do likewise. Commit your 2017 to build

on the foundation of Christ, the Cornerstone, with gold, silver and precious stones.

1 Peter 2:4-7 – Build Living Stones

The Cornerstone has established the church to serve as “living stones”, which are to be built up into a spiritual house. This spiritual building, the Church, has become a holy priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus.

So the Living Stones, built upon the Cornerstone, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people for God’s possession. The living stones then proclaim the excellencies of God, who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. These living stones need to be reminded that they were once nothing, but now are a part of the spiritual house being built by God! Once they had no clue about God’s mercy, but now it is known personally.

Haggai – The Heart of Revitalization

of God’s work in the restoration of His power to the Church, the reigning of His peace in the Church, and the revelation of His presence in the church. That restoration work begins with evaluating the foundations of your own heart.

Remember, in this tough work of revitalization: • • • • • • • •

The Old Testament book of Haggai introduces us to a prophet who was also a revitalizer. A contemporary of Ezra, he served in a very important role in the restoration of Israel after the exile. For sixteen years the people who returned from exile had lived for their own interests. They went about their own business while the temple laid in ruins.

•

Their hearts were focused on themselves rather than focused on the temple, which was the dwelling place of God. Haggai says,

•

“Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes…Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD.” Haggai 1:5-8 The people worked hard but saw little reward in return for their labors. God withheld His blessing because the people withheld the glory that should’ve been given to God. God, through Haggai, is calling His people to repent. Repentance, of course, is first and foremost a matter of the heart. Nothing on the outside matters until what is on the inside is first cleansed. God calls the people to be strong in the face of opposition, be courageous in the face of trials and get to work in the fields that are white for harvest.

But the important truth here is the work could not start until the people repented of their sin. This is true for you too, Mr. Church Revitalizer.

How is your foundation? How is the Temple? The beauty of church revitalization is that at its heart is the story

• •

• •

You are a part of the community of the Unashamed.

You have Holy Spirit power and in Christ you’ve crossed the point of no return.

You are a disciple of the one and only Son of God. You decided to follow Jesus so don’t look back, let up, or slow down.

Your past is redeemed, your present matters, and your future is secure.

You must live by faith, trust in His presence, walk in patience and labor by love.

In power you are lifted in prayer. The way is set, and the goal is God’s glory.

The road is narrow, the way will be rough, but the mission is clear.

You might get lonely as companions on the road are few, but your God is faithful!

Do not back down in loving sacrificially. Don’t hesitate from your adversaries, nor negotiate with your enemies, and don’t work for popularity.

Don’t give up, let up or shut up until you’ve stayed up, prayed up and preached up the cause of Jesus Christ.

You’ve been bought with a price, and made new through the blood of the Lamb.

You’ve been given great purpose.

You are called the Chosen, The Few, Kings and Priests among men, set apart, in but not of this world, a light in the darkness, a voice calling out in the wilderness.

Jesus is the Cornerstone.

You are the Church.

That is the heart of the matter.

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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Five Myths of Effective Preaching Continued....

designed to hone our exegetical skills, because exegesis was the only legitimate form of legitimate application of ancient text to modern hearer. Blarney.

I’ve searched the scriptures and have yet to find a single example of an exegetical sermon. Peter, Paul, Stephen, John, and even Jesus all seem to use a slightly different form of interpreting and preaching the text. A critical homiletics’ professor might call what they did … eisegesis.

Now, maybe I don’t understand eisegesis very well, but when my profs defined it, eisegesis was taking scriptures and using them to make a point not necessarily found or made in the original text. With that definition, many of Matthew’s citations of Old Testament passages fail the legitimate exegetical test. And Paul wasn’t much better.

I’m not saying exegesis is bad. But what I am saying is that there’s a fine line between twisting scripture to justify a point and applying scripture to make a point.

Sure, unscrupulous preachers can (and do) take the Bible and make it say pretty much anything they want it to say. Preachers can find and use scripture to justify war, murder, theft, lying, slavery, and ethnic cleansing – and they have done so regularly over the centuries. But to be fair, you can do that with exegesis too, if you’re careful which passages you choose to abuse.

All that’s to say that it’s time to apply scripture in the most effective way possible … and that may mean getting creative in how a spiritual truth is made.

by Bill Tenny-Brittian

very little. If you can listen well, you will be well served and well educated/trained.

However, those raised after 1960 have different experiences. Listening is no longer the predominant skill needed to learn. Today’s pedagogies lean much more heavily on image, video, and personal participation. In fact, over the past decade multiple studies by ivy league schools have conclusively demonstrated that interactive, online training is significantly more effective than traditional lecture styles of teaching in terms of retention and application.

What that means for the church is the sermon, at least as most of us know it, is one of the least effective ways to reach people under the age of sixty, let alone under thirty. And adding bullet-point lists to your PowerPoint presentation is equally ineffective today. Instead, interactivity during the sermon is necessary. Imagery and video aren’t options anymore. Text is deprecated. And though preaching will remain primary and listening will continue to be necessary, today’s sermons must infuse the verbiage with image, motion, props, conversation, and feedback. It’ll still be a sermon, but it won’t be like the one your grandparents listened to. It won’t be a lecture … it’ll be an experience.

So, there you have it. Five myths that are getting in the way of effective preaching today.

What other myths have you experienced? I’d love to hear from you at billtb@effectivechurch.com

Myth 5: Listening is an Intergenerational Skill

The US church is largely filled with people old enough to remember listening to Little Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, and The Shadow on the radio. Those raised on the radio, and those raised before the radio (nearly all of whom have passed on), tended to have great listening skills. The pedagogical paradigms of radio and pre-radio included a reliance on listening over any other method. Listening skills weren’t just taught, they were necessary for nearly every educational endeavor.

Those pedagogies have been so prominent in the church that in many, if not most, classic/traditional worship services a blind person attending would miss

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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.

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23

The Mandate of Mentoring for Church Revitalization I was raised in Indiana. We didn’t fry that many foods. When I moved to college in the Florida panhandle, it wasn’t long before I tried fried okra and fried green tomatoes—and I love them!

Have you ever had one of those “where has this been my whole life” moments? Whether trying a new sport, reading a classic, eating a particular treat or getting sound investment advice, we all run across things we wish we would have encountered sooner. When it so happens to be a model for ministry, we can either lament over not having it a few decades ago or we can put it into practice with whatever time we have left. Not long ago, I read Robby Gallaty’s book, Growing Up. He outlines a model of mentoring that I had wanted to use for years, but I never had someone show me how it could be done.

I had mentored a few guys in the past, but I didn’t use a set plan. Now I have one and it is one of the most rewarding areas of ministry I’ve ever known.

Others in my church are saying the same thing.

I define mentoring as spending time each week with someone with the sole purpose of teaching him the Christian faith and life so that he, in turn, teaches someone else. To flesh this out, I want to provide you a model for ministry where mentoring takes center stage. I believe it revolutionizes lives and churches.

A Biblical Mandate

24

by Joel R. Breidenbaugh

Paul talks about mentoring when he instructs Timothy: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Mentoring has a multiplying effect as more people are trained through each group of apprentices-turned-mentors.

A Few Good Men

So how do you start? While you can begin with one person (one is better than none), taking on two to four at a time actually has several benefits.

One, mentoring a single apprentice may look like a weekly counseling session. Moreover, when only one gets mentored, he feels intimidated at trying to reproduce what he’s just learned (he doesn’t believe he can replicate what he’s been taught). Three, both Jesus and Paul used and instructed teaching in small groups (Paul told Timothy to “entrust to faithful men”). Finally, a small group can learn more and grow from each other as opposed to a simple one-on-one kind of mentoring.

To find these men (or women, but keep the groups gender-exclusive), ask the Lord to lay a few people on your heart. After praying, ask them through a phone call or face-to-face conversation if they would be interested in meeting each week for about an hour and go through a few different studies together.

If you are like me, you can be a little skeptical about a ministry philosophy unless you find its roots in Scripture. I believe mentoring is foundational to the Great Commission. As I noted above, I have mentored others in the past, because I believed it was biblical. Now, however, I have an effective model for mentoring.

For those who agree, Gallaty suggests having each apprentice sign a brief commitment sheet, promising to carry out the expectations (Bible memorization, reading, praying, meeting, reproducing).

This signature provides a level of accountability up front. The regular meetings with the group will ensure another level of accountability.

When Jesus gave us the Great Commission, He said, “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Mentoring is a way to make disciples, teaching them what God’s Word says. I believe it is the best way to make disciples.

Resources

So once the guys agree to meet, what do we talk about? I use the first meeting as a meet-and-greet and have the men share about themselves, their families, their work, hobbies, etc. I also give them the commitment sheet to sign and the first book to start reading. I want the first book to be a com-

prehensive approach to the Christian life, but the other books could be specific to an area of life.

The first book I recommend is Don Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Whitney helps Christians think about various habits they should incorporate in their lives as ways to live out the Christian faith (a similar book is by Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline). I suggest reading 2 chapters each week and discuss them, asking “What did you get out of this chapter?” “What does the author teach that you plan to incorporate in your life?”

Depending on the spiritual maturity and life stage of your apprentices, I ask what subject they want to tackle next. What follows are my recommendations on various subjects: • Finances—Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle; Eric Reinhold, The One Thing • Parenting—Paul David Tripp, Parenting; Adrian Rogers, 10 Secrets for a Successful Family •Marriage—Daniel Akin, God on Sex; Emerson Eggerichs, Love & Respect •Christian Doctrine—Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (hefty reading) or Christian Beliefs •Christian/Missional Living—John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life; David Platt, Radical •Bible Overview—Max Anders, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible •Biblical Interpretation—Howard & William Hendricks, Living by the Book •Leadership—Albert Mohler, The Conviction to Lead; Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Lead Like Jesus •Evangelism—Will Metzger, Tell the Truth; J.I. Packer, Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God •Men’s Issues—Patrick Morley, The Man in the Mirror •Women’s Issues—Martha Peace, Becoming a Titus 2 Woman (I asked my wife about this one!)

•Public Speaking—Bert Decker and Hershael York, Speaking with Bold Assurance You will want to consider the length of the chapters, but I typically recommend discussing two chapters per week, but some may allow for three or more and others may be limited to one. The goal is to go through a few helpful books in 1218 months.

Bible Memorization

Part of the Christian life is taking in God’s Word through memorization. I challenge my apprentices to memorize one verse per week. I pick verses which will help them on the key doctrines of the faith—2 Timothy 3:14-17 (Scripture); Philippians 2:5-11 (the deity & humanity of Jesus Christ); the Roman Road (for witnessing), etc. These passages equip believers in the faith.

A Few Final Matters

I suggest meeting for 60-90 minutes each week with your mentoring group. I meet with 4 young men on Tuesday mornings for breakfast before we head to work. We cover immediate prayer requests, a Bible memory verse and discuss the last couple of chapters we’ve read.

I keep the questions simple, but open-ended. I want them to be able to mimic me in their own settings next year when they take on their own apprentices.

Because of this matter, I don’t give them an in-depth Bible study, because unless they are seminary trained, they will never be able to reproduce it with others.

Going through helpful books on key subjects is something anyone can do.

Conclusion

If I would have never eaten fried green tomatoes or fried pickles or fried okra, I wouldn’t have known what delicious foods I was missing out on. But I would have survived. After all, I survived 18+ years without them.

So can you survive without mentoring in your ministry by multiplying others? Yes, you can survive. The vast majority of churches survive without it. But I’m convinced you won’t thrive without it. Incorporate mentoring and watch God multiply your work over a few years and see how it brings revitalization to your church. May God do it for His glory and the good of His people!

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

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When We Are Doing Everything! Continued...

By Bill Hegedus

down, make sure to send them thank you cards or other tokens of appreciation. One time there were a group of ladies who would come in and input information into our database every Monday morning. About once every six weeks or so I would either provide breakfast or lunch for them as a way to show my appreciation. It wasn’t just something brought in or thrown together. We’d set up a room with tablecloths, centerpieces and go all out! Often times my wife or I would make the food and cater around their specific tastes or dietary requirements. If other pastors or staff members were available, I’d ask them to join in and encourage the ladies with words of appreciation. You have no idea how thankful the ladies were that we did that every so often. John Maxwell once said, “people don’t care how much know until they know how much you care.” Friends, once you have a weekday team in place, make sure to care for them along the way! Remind them of why their time is so important to the church and what an impact they’re making behind-the-scenes.

These teams will give your schedule life and availability to do what only you can do!

Bill Hegedus is the Family Pastor at Bethlehem Church in nAtlanta. 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.

Because of discouragement the people of God often become down hearted, hopeless, burdened and weary in well doing and become a valley of dry bones. As preachers we must seek to lift up the heart of these believers. The potential for a church to get bone dry should always concern us as the preacher. Bone yards are graveyards. In some respects church yards would make great cemeteries. We might be organized, uniform, perfect in appearance, yet when there is no transformation, no willingness to change for the good of the community, and no courage to stop listening to the complainer and start running with the runners! Can you revitalize your church and bring back life into your church if you are spiritually dry, emotionally discouraged and physically dead?

Simply NO! - Tom Cheyney

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WordSmith: The prayerful art of preaching God-inspired sermons Feature Writer Some people build with their hands; as minister’s we build with our words.

If there is one thing we know well it is that church is about God and what He wants to accomplish. We find Proverbs 29:18 embedded within our memories as we vision-cast, study, plan and preach: “Where there is no vision of God, the people run wild.” We understand that this verse is not talking about images of God miraculously appearing in toast or the face of Mary in a tree. Revelation here is referring to the spoken Word of God verbalized

by God’s mouthpieces – the prophets.

Yet, if there is one thing lacking in today’s modern church it is ministers who preach an inspired message from God, all the while “knowing” that the one thing that will reach people is indeed the Word of God. Don’t ever be fooled into thinking that anything else can replace the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Romans 10:14 has not been re-written or revised when it says, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”

As ministers we cannot preach anything apart from the Word of God. Jeremiah 23:29 declares with great authority the power that God’s Word possesses: “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”

The words of God to the minister are very critical.

They act as the basis of what is spoken on the platform and off the platform. What God speaks to us is what we speak to others, regardless of the occasion. We can contextualize the words of God in all

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by Ron Smith

meetings, to all our leaders, to the church, to the lost and the saved. We are God’s mouthpieces.

I can say with certainty that at every church where I have served as Pastor, God made it very clear what needed to be done. At each place the Holy Spirit of God revealed to me through various ways the diagnosis of the body, the direction to take and the systems to build. I know that sounds sort of mystical, even charismatic. But it’s not. If you have ever experienced this you know what I mean. God reveals His desires through songs, verses, books, conversations, etc. For me, the preaching of the Word of God has always been the greatest agent of change in the work of revitalization. As he speaks his words of revitalization to me, I use these words as elements to form the basis of my preaching.

So, how does this work exactly? For me, I surround and immerse myself with the Word of God, the worship of God and the work of God. Meaning, daily I pray: “Okay God, show me.”

Then I begin to read, worship and review where I see the activity and where current staff and church members see the hand of God and where they can recall the hand of God. As far as God’s part, it seems that when I open myself to God, God opens himself to me. It’s still a mystery and it’s still a pleasant surprise when it happens.

I am very much addicted to hearing from God. The one thing I love the most about what I do as a Pastor is hearing him speak. It is when he speaks that all things I immersed myself in seem to make sense.

Then, I know what to preach, plan, pray and promote.

To be clear, preaching is so much more than one message each Sunday. The sermon on Sunday is the driver for every thing we do as a church. The sermon on Sunday is discipleship for the body, evangelism for the lost, vision for the church and direction for each ministry.

The sermon is the root of all our conversations for all things church development.

Planning, Preparing, Delivering, Developing

My mentor Adrian Rogers said one of the best things I have ever heard on the subject of preaching. While serving on the Executive Committee of the SBC, I attended a Pastor’s Panel with Adrian Rogers. He was asked a question about preaching expository versus topical. His answer: “My dog is the only one in my household who eats the same meal every day.”

He then went on to explain the statement. He stated that we must have variety in order to develop a well-balanced body.

Here are some tips I have personally learned from five turnarounds in every possible culture and context. These tips are transferable and usable for any size and situation.

First, plan out your sermons. Sporadic, last

minute, detached sermons with no forethought toward the future are not your best friend.

Plan at least six months out, in terms of overall thought regarding what the body needs. Be at least three weeks out with full sermons. As the church grows and the use of media increases, you will need to be weeks out in order to give your media time to create. In most growing churches, media buffer for production is at least three months.

Second, theme out your year or at least each quarter. Themes help develop your sermons. The theme is based upon the needs of the body. Maybe your church needs to step out in faith.

The theme: Step Out. Maybe they need to go beyond their current means and culture. The theme: Bold.

Maybe the church is weak in missions or serving. The theme: Stronger.

Give your growth a theme. Let the sermons drive the theme. This in turn will keep you very laser-focused as you vision-cast and plan in all other areas of the church, as they are designed to align with the overall theme.

Third, offer variety. Cultivate a variety of mes-

sages, from expository, to topical, to needs based, to

seasons and so on. God doesn’t speak in simply one style. And you shouldn’t either. Use variety to ensure you are developing a well-balanced body.

Fourth, get to the place where you sort of abandon yourself to all of that and let God take over the process. A good way to get started is to follow these great words from Spurgeon.

“My good ministering brother, have you got an empty church? Do you want to fill it? I will give you a good recipe, and if you will follow it, you will, in all probability, have your chapel full to the doors.Burn all your manuscripts, that is No. 1. Give up your notes, that is No. 2. Read your Bible and preach it as you find it in the simplicity of its language. And give up all your Latinized English. Begin to tell the people what you have felt in your own heart, and beseech the Holy Spirit to make your heart as hot as a furnace for zeal.

Then go out and talk to the people. Speak to them like their brother. Be a man amongst men. Tell them what you have felt and what you know, and tell it heartily with a good, bold face; and, my dear friend, I do not care who you are, you will get a congregation.” - CH Spurgeon If we believe that church is about God and what he wants to accomplish, we must be willing to fully step into the role of his mouthpieces – speaking what he has spoken, how he has spoken it, to who he desires us to speak it, regardless of our personal pressures and pursuits. If we are his mouthpieces, let us continue to construct the great, inspired narrative that the Word of God desires us to speak.

Ron Smith is the lead pastor

of Waterstone a church working towards revitaliztion and renewal. He leads the Natonal Coaching Network for the Renovate Group as its lead coach.

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

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The Pulpit is the Greatest tool in Revitalization

The Leadership Link…

It has been suggested that the pulpit in the local church is like the rudder that guides a ship. In principle, how could anyone disagree? Unfortunately, the present-day church has allowed our quest to reach people at all costs to cloud our view of the biblical mandate to “preach the word in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Somewhere along the way, we have become more concerned with creating conversions over making disciples. That is not to say that the former is not important. Christ has clearly commanded that we should be about this work. However, to defile the proclamation of God’s Word by replacing it with a message void of anything offensive to the mass sensibilities is wrong. The hope of possibly convincing people to make church attendance a part of their weekly practice at the expense of teaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) is sinful. Such an approach will only prove to rise up a religiously pagan society.

A church will only be revitalized and stay vital to the degree that they hold unswervingly to a very high view of Scripture. God’s Word is what has the ability to touch lives and change hearts. Though a program might be the conduit to reach people, it is not a program that brings life to a spiritually dead individual. If programs were the chief end, then Paul’s theology and application thereof leaves a lot to be desired. Yet we know that is not the case. So the problem resides somewhere else. I submit that the church has a weapon in our arsenal that has the ability to radically transform our society, yet we largely leave it in our holster.

The writer of Hebrews says, “The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

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by Michael Atherton

Thousands of years and many, many generations ago, Amos prophesied of a scenario that may have never been as dire as it is today.

He said, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11–12) People are looking for truth today, so much so that when they searched and could not find truth, they decided the only alternative was to define their own standard of truth. Hence, today, the church is fighting a battle with society about some of the most elementary truths of Scripture.

We indulge in debates that for any born-again believer should be closed: sanctity of life, sexual morality, genetic engineering, to name just a few.

As people turn away from the church and turn to society, they are accused of having no convictions, no beliefs. But nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, what is happening is that they are willing to believe anything and everything. Through Scripture, we are called to a plumb line that is undeniable and unchanging while it is also totally authoritative, totally sufficient, and totally inerrant because it has been totally inspired by Almighty God. People come to the church, and instead of getting the Word from God, they get a cute video, a latte, or a tremendous concert; however, when they leave, their family is still broken, their finances are still broken, their value system is still broken, their lives are still broken. The preacher in the pulpit has decided that personal accolades are more important than proper exegesis. This must change. If the pulpit will be a tool for revitalization, what must the pulpit embody?

1. The pulpit must be a place of

PROCLAMATION

So, at its most foundational level, what is the responsibility of the preacher as he stands before his congregation? To proclaim God’s Word publicly!

There absolutely should be considerations made concerning the preacher’s personality or the audience’s makeup, but not at the expense of altering God’s message. We are not the originator of the message. In the same spirit as the prophets of old, our marching orders are clear. We are to deliver a message from God while we say, “Thus saith the Lord.”

2. The pulpit must be a place of

POWER

Why preach? Is it not enough to simply saturate our communities with copies of God’s Word and trust people to read God’s revelation for themselves. In this world preoccupied with self-sufficiency, can’t we believe that people will get to God’s intended message on their own? Sunday after Sunday, churches are filled with people who come with the intention of hearing a word from the Lord, yet leave disappointed. In his book, Disciple-Making Teachers, Josh Hunt writes, “The Bible must connect to people’s lives, their Monday mornings. It must connect with what they do every day of the week.” While the American church seems satisfied to allow their preachers to prepare a sermon that will deal with an audience’s perceived needs, revitalizing preachers/pastors must change the narrative. The pulpit that is powerful, the pulpit that is impacting people is the pulpit that is committed to preaching God’s Word with conviction and power.

3. The pulpit must be a place of

PROMISE

For a church to be revitalized, there must be a preacher that is committed to preaching the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. The challenge is

to make sure that the preacher is not just delivering a message about God, but also a message from God. It is a message that is from God that has divine authority and thus possesses life transformation agents.

A divine word that comes from a divine source with divine authority has the capability of producing a radical transformation. That is the promise of the pulpit that is grounded in God’s Word; lives will be changed.

Far too many sermons are delivered weekly by preachers relying on their own strength. Human nature tends to leave the Holy Spirit and the power of God out of the equation. John Piper, in his book The Supremacy of God in Preaching, points out that “the Cross of Christ is not only a past place of substitution for sin but a present place of execution of self-reliance and our love affair with the praise of man.”

Preaching must have its genesis in the power of God and direction of the Holy Spirit and everything else must be dealt with subsequent to this truth.

When the pulpit is a place of proclamation, power, and promise, then we understand the reality of Isaiah 55:11 all the better, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

Dr. Michael Atherton, Senior Pastor Cornerstone Church, Lone Tree, Colorado.

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 the President of the Colorado Baptist Convention.

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My weekend messages were the single most powerful vehicle for changing the mindset of our church.

From the moment I was voted in as pastor, I spoke regularly during weekend services about God’s heart for the next generation and our responsibility to build a bridge. I challenged church members to start thinking in terms of doing whatever it would take to reach the young people of our community. - Lee Kricher

Preaching For Church Transformation

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

Yet the biggest problem, in my estimation, was that the average age of the church attendees was about the same age that I was at the time—fifty years old. The most recent census data indicated that the average age of those living in the area around us in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh was thirty-five years old. We had a handful of young families and a few children attending, but we had to be honest: we were not reaching our community – just a few older members of our community.

We had lost touch with the next generation.

Preaching For Church Transformation

I knew that effective change in our church had to start with the congregation adopting a new mindset. Paul wrote, “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Personal transformation always begins with a change in mindset. The same is true of organizational transformation. There are other factors involved with organizational change, of course, but little can be accomplished without a change in mindset.

As with many churches in need of revitalization, Amplify Church had a number of things that caused me great concern as the pastor. Our attendance and giving had been in decline for many years. Our church building was in dire need of major repairs that we could not afford. We had a reputation in our community as a dying church. The handful of members who remained would occasionally be asked by their friends and neighbors, “Why would you still go to that church?”

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A Change in Mindset

The most important change of mindset that was needed at Amplify Church was apparent. We had been building our church around this unspoken assumption: “If it was good enough for me, it is good enough for our children.” Now we had to stop assuming. We needed to start building our church around one key question: “What will it take to reach the next generation?”

We also had to stop quoting popular statements like “God doesn’t care about numbers,” and “God cares more about quantity than quality.” Statements like these tend to bring some comfort for those in dying churches but they also tend to result in apathy instead of a sense of urgency about the need for change.

The Impact of Weekend Messages

My weekend messages were the single most powerful vehicle for changing the mindset of our church. From the moment I was voted in as pastor, I spoke regularly during weekend services about God’s heart for the next generation and our responsibility to build a bridge. I challenged church members to start thinking in terms of doing whatever it would take to reach the young people of our community.

I also spoke regularly about the fact that God DOES care about numbers since every empty chair in our church represented someone in our community for whom Christ died. I pointed out that the people who remained in our church were not “higher quality” people than those who left our church or those who were not yet attending.

The value of a person is determined by the value God places on them – the blood of His Son. I considered every message to be a critical opportunity to help our church adopt a new mindset. I did not use that time to criticize the past or to criticize those who disagreed with change. Instead, I cast a positive vision about what the future could hold. When combined with field trips to healthy churches, small group Bible studies, and face-toface conversations, my messages were a catalyst in shifting the mindset of our congregation.

Elevating Your Messages

Given the power of weekend messages, I began to focus more and more time in message preparation. I knew that if I did not present a clear, compelling, and relevant message on a regular basis, our church would never become what God intended for it to be.

As a pastor, I didn’t compare my speaking ability to the speaking ability of the great communicators I had heard in my life. I knew that God did not expect me to try to be someone else. However, I also knew that there was a sizable gap between who I was as a communicator and who I could be as a communicator. I knew that I had to do whatever it would take to close that gap.

When I was a young pastor, I did not take my weekend messages seriously enough. If I had a busy week, I just did what I thought I could do, even if that meant pulling out a message that I had done before and updating it a bit. I used three-point or four-point or five-point messages, hoping that at least one of the points would be helpful to someone listening.

My thoughts about weekend messages changed during the years I was not in pastoral ministry. I traveled extensively and often worked more than sixty hours a week. Every minute of every weekend at home was precious. If I was going to spend time sitting in a church service, I wanted the message to make a tangible difference in my life.

When I returned to full-time ministry, considering the twenty-five to thirty minutes each weekend that I would be speaking was sobering. Dozens and eventually hundreds of people were spending their weekend hours at church. When I multiplied those twenty-five to thirty minutes by the number of people in attendance, I felt a tremendous responsibility to elevate my messages.

I knew that would not happen without a lot of work.

In his book Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism, Tim Keller notes that the work of the Holy Spirit is the main difference be33

tween good and great preaching. Yet he is also clear about the hard work that such preaching requires: “Understanding the biblical text, distilling a clear outline and theme, developing a persuasive argument, enriching it with poignant illustrations, metaphors, and practical examples, incisively analyzing heart motives and cultural assumptions, making specific application to real life—all of this takes extensive labor.”

Elevating my weekend messages became my highest priority. I began to spend at least half of my work week in preparation for the weekend message—often twenty or twenty-five hours. This was made possible by raising up others to help with hospital visits, counseling, weddings, and funerals. I identified others who could share the load and coached them so they would be successful. Another thing that helped was minimizing the number of meetings that took place in our church.

Within a few months, a tangible shift started to take place in the mindset of the people of our church, laying the groundwork for genuine revitalization.

There were other factors involved in our church transformation, but one of them was definitely my increasingly effective preaching. It was worth investing the time and energy needed to make every weekend message clear and compelling enough to result in genuine life transformation - and genuine church transformation.

For prayerful consideration:

Do you think that modest changes to your approach to your weekend messages will be sufficient to lead significant change in your church?

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

HAS GOD CALLED YOU TO LEAD IN REVITALIZATION?

By Tracy W. Jaggers

I love pastors! I work with them every day. Even though I do not pastor a local congregation today, I still have co-laborers that the Lord has called me to oversee and serve. I exist as a Director of Missions to serve them and their congregants. Being the outsider gives me a unique perspective and an unbiased viewpoint.

That being said, “I am one!” There are a few things I would like to disclose to my co-workers about Revitalization and the process you may be considering (these are from my heart to yours. Please, accept them as such.): 1. Keep your focus on the health of your family first!

Yes, calling if from God and should be first, but who are your first parishioners? Yep! Your family How can we rightly lead the church unless we first rightly care for and relate to our own family. I promise you one thing – if your family is suffering, so are you and so is the ministry to which God has called you.

2. Pray with your spouse every day and pray for your family without ceasing. The thing that helped me have the strength and courage to repent of my sin, and beg God to do a reviving work in me and my congregation, was birthed in my daily time with my best friend – my beautiful companion! She encouraged me when I was down on myself and stood with me and behind me through the entire ordeal. Bless God for a supportive spouse! And, my kids, they never let me give in, get down or give up.

3. Remember, we are not God. Stop trying to take His place! The ministry is filled with crises, barriers, distractions, lack of resources and time and even enemies at times. God is the one who has ALL the resources and ALL the workers. We should never allow ourselves to have an Elijah-pity-party. He can give us the procedure, the plans, the tools, the partners, the courage and the power to do what no man can do alone. We need to be the motivator and persuader of our people. Revealing His passion in us is often the rally point for those who want to make an eternal difference. Then you can move forward.

4. Seek out a revitalizing mentor. Somethings your spouse can help you walk through a problem, but in revitalization we often need someone to dig up the dirt and tell us the hard things; to point out the flaws in our thinking. We need someone to uncover the problems

rather than helping us “save face.” And that person must also be someone who can bring out the best in you.

5. The Lone Ranger was never alone. The Body of Christ has many parts with varied functions. Utilizing a Church Revitalization Team with a myriad of spiritual giftedness will allow a broad, well-prepared group to help the leader present the process and see it through to victory. Tonto helped the Lone Ranger out of many a mess! Learn to accept the help of others. We must never be guilty of doing the leg’s job, if we are an eye! We were never meant to work that way. Success has no “I” in it!

6. God CAN do it without us. He created the universe without my help. He created birds and trees and humans without my input. He can fix my church and your church without our help. We must join Him in His process so we can benefit from His power and His wisdom. I would venture to say that His knowledge of the future gives Him a “one up” on my vision and plans. Trust Him; trust others who have gone down the same road you are facing and trust the outcome to He who has the broadest shoulders of all!

7. The Lord loves you and wants to use you. Don’t compare yourself to others. There is always someone better at most everything in life. We can’t run as fast as Usain Bolt, or catch like Antonio Brown, but they can’t love your church folks like you. You are the one called to serve where He has planted you. And even though it can be depressing and distressing at times, no one can be victorious like he who is called to His task. Gideon didn’t feel like a mighty man of valor but God made him one.

He can do the same with and through you! He has a plan for you and His plan is not for anyone else. It is for you! Be faithful to what He has called you to do. Just keep saying, “Do whatever you want to do, in and through me.”

8. Persevere…Persevere…Persevere! “Slow and steady wins the race!” Sprinting all the time will burn you out.

We need a steady pace to get us to the end of a long journey, AND we need the power only the Holy Spirit can offer. I have seen too many leaders attempt to “go it alone” and they end up alone. We were made to “remain in Him and He in us.” Revitalization will only succeed and only endure if it is initiated and performed in His eternal power.

Be the leader God has called and gifted you to be, and lead your church to something new, innovative and amazing! That’s who He’s called you to be!

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Student Ministry: Put Your Heart Into It

by Drew Cheyney

Continued

and less time, attention, and resources into their Kids Ministries, Student Ministries, & Small Group Cultures; and maybe even in some situations, killing them off completely? If your laughing at that question, trust me I wish I was joking about that happening, but I’m not! Now, I am not saying most churches are doing this, or even a high percentage, but I am noticing a trend that so many churches which need to be revitalized are doing. Somewhere along the way they thought that reaching young people and creating experiences for them was not important in the life of the church. So my question would be who are we creating our experiences for?

These things should be important enough to us to make consistent, fun, and relationally energizing experiences. You see you have the opportunity as leaders to create environments for people that allow them to experience what Jesus’ heart was all about. Not with religion, or a check list of righteous things to do that get you to heaven one day, but instead a relationship with God and other people who are hell bent on inspiring others to join and invest into God’s Kingdom (I’m meddling now, I know).

Now for those of you who are wondering what happened to The Graduate you may be asking? Six months after he was given a chance to Intern at

the very church that he was attending out of begrudging hopelessness he asked to intern in Student Ministry. After a hesitant yes to a few month internship, his heart was overjoyed when asked to be on Staff full time in this very same Student Ministry. Currently, The Graduate, has had the opportunity to lead Student Ministries of hundreds, see countless teenagers accept Christ into their lives, develop All-Star leadership teams that are still serving people today, and challenge many to serve the local church in a very similar way he was challenged to do so by others. Today, he is hitting his stride in his 8th year in Student Ministry and is writing this very article talking about his story! All because a local church cared enough about developing ministries for its Children, Students, and Small Group Culture that were specifically created to inspire people in any and all walks of life. So, I encourage you to celebrate the stories of those you are inspiring, create first impressions that hit the heart, and invest into the ministries that many churches in revitalization are giving up on all too often.

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

Will My Church Preach to Reach the Young?

We are living in some of the best of days and some of the most challenging of days when it comes to American Christianity and the local church. The church life which existed thirty years ago will no longer suffice as a vibrant healthy church today. What drew the masses in the 1970’s will no longer compel potential church members to your church and ministries. I was in the midwest a few days ago speaking at a conference on church revitalization and renewal and as the final speaker of the closing evening, I asked those in attendance which made up over 180 indi36

vidual churches represented, if they “loved their grandchildren and children enough to make the necessary changes within their church to bring them back to the Lord?”

There was a moment of silence and eventually a long drawn out moan by some of the participants because the question actually hit too close to those in attendance and their local expression of church. Your preaching must be lazer targeted towards those who are still searching, seeking, and longing for transformation.

- Tom Cheyney

RenovateConference.org/church-partners

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

RENOVATOR LEVEL

$25 / $250

$50 / $500

$100 / $1,000

FREE Passes to Renovate

5

10

15

Digital Access to Downloadable Resources

-

Unlimited

Unlimited

Virtual Coaching Network Membership

-

-

√

-

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$1,100 Value

$4,900 Value

Personal Coaching From Tom Cheyney & Renovate Staff $500 Value

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

Preaching for Renewal As a teacher of transformational discipleship, I get approached by people after seminars who are intrigue with the scriptural truths about how God is in the process of conforming them into the likeness of Jesus through the work of the Spirit. Some admit that they grew up Catholic and much of what they heard in church was about guilt and shame for not living better for God. I laugh and share that I grew up Southern Baptist and much of what I heard in church was about guilt and shame too.

Why do we who preach fall into this trap of trying to get people to become holy by reminding them of their failure to do their Christian duty—of the oughts, shoulds and musts of the Christian life?

Mainly because we worry.

It is a heavy burden to be a shepherd over God’s flock.

People stray. They balk. They show such ignorance and take such unthinkable risks with their souls. Their behavior could—and maybe will—drag their kids into the same hopeless tangle they are in themselves. Collectively they often fall into indifference.

Preaching a little guilt and shame sure comes in handy to soothe our concerns over their spiritual drifting.

But to guide a congregation to renewal, you need to stop preaching this way—if for no 38

other reason, because such preaching fails to renew anyone.

Accept that you will always pastor people who are like yourself—prone to wander. Stop trying to fix people by telling them to reform their behavior to look like Christians. Instead, focus your preaching on how they will be transformed to look like Jesus by the Spirit.

Face it. If you do not believe the Father can transform His people through His own power—that He is not actively seeking to do so—what hope do you have to see them live righteous lives through your puny preaching?

Or their even punier efforts to try to be good for God? As pastors who are responsible to Jesus for every word you teach, realign the

Why do we who preach fall into this trap of trying to get people to become holy by reminding them of their failure to do their Christian duty—of the oughts, shoulds and musts of the Christian life?

by Steve Smith

contents of the message you put out there to your congregation with the transformational message of the gospel. Here are two practical guidelines you will want to follow.

Use your greatest message: The Hope of the Glory of God. Everyone

who has been exposed to the Romans Road version of sharing the gospel knows: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). I find that the best news part was left out of this presentation, the truth that Paul wanted his readers to see.

For we who have been justified by faith, have gained access to this faith by grace, “we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2) For Paul, the reward of the gospel is about our hope in God’s glory.

Because of the prominence of the doctrine of justification in the first part of Romans, the glory of God can seem merely like an important subtext. But it is much more than that. It is the theory of everything. It explains to us humans why God embarked on the whole incarnation-tothe-cross journey. Why we exist.

Why God seeks to redeem us.

Why there is hope. It is all about God who cares about His glory.

A glory we, the creation, were missing out on because our willful rebellion robbed us of being full of awe and wonder of the glorious God who made us.

Everything God does is for His glory, yet is so much about His glory we will never be able to comprehend—it is beyond us.

But this is what all believers need to know. When Jesus sacrifices himself by being nailed to the cross, he does it to uphold the Father’s glory. Before Adam and Eve took that first wrong bite, God knew He would take their death upon Himself. Not for the sake of humans, mind you, but for the sake of His glory.

Jesus ultimately answers Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” with his passion. This is how Jesus glorifies the Father (John 17:1-4).

He paid the death price for all humanity. This clears the backlog of judgment God withheld over those who deserved it, in spite of what Satan might have thought of His delay. And that is a truth we would never have known if God had not revealed it to us.

Up to that point in our history, no one—not Abraham, not Moses, not David, not Jeremiah nor even John the Baptizer—had any tangible hope in the glory of God. They had amazing faith as described in Hebrews 11. But they all died not having seen the full righteousness of God revealed in rescuing people from sin and hell. And righteousness is an essential aspect of God’s glory. When God acted to redeem people according to His glory, what He is doing is righteousness is an unexpected way. He is, as John boldly says, faithful and just (righteous) to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There it is. God is not only righteous, but also by His power and will He is making

us righteous in ways we are not able to achieve in our own strength.

Before we came to put our faith in Jesus and receive the Spirit, we had no hope that we would ever live out our lives in the righteousness of God’s glory—it was beyond us. Now that we belong to the new covenant, now that we have been given the Spirit, now that we know God as our Abba, we have hope like never before. This is GOOD news.

This is the righteousness through faith that Paul sings about in Romans and the whole gospel that we need to preach.

To whom? To every believer who sits under your preaching. Not just the committed ones. This includes the careless, the casual and the confounded nuisances.

They need to be beckoned on to this hope as people who have the Spirit, instead of driven towards it like cattle. They need to hear that God knows them and they have a new name given to them by the Father.

Preaching the whole gospel means that every attender will regularly hear that they have hope no matter how badly they have messed up. They will hear that there is mercy and grace to be found in God’s presence for their time of need. They will hear that restoration in the face of their rebellion and sin choices is God’s preferred way of dealing with them, even if they do not at this moment desire restoration.

They will hear that the Spirit is in them to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. And that salvation from the power of

sin is not up to their best efforts, but comes to those who humble themselves instead. And they will definitely become like Jesus before they reach the judgment throne.

When you focus on preaching these truths regularly, its renewal power exceeds anything preaching reform-your-life sermons will ever do. You make it possible through the Word for the Spirit to open hearts of the resistant and humble them.

Use your greatest tool: Personal Transparency.

Your best tool to cultivate church renewal is your own journey.

Speaking spiritual truth with skin on offers your congregation more hope in the empowering work of the Spirit than ten sermons you might preach that exegetes and parses the text with precision.

Transparency is not about telling stories of your childhood. Or cute snapshots of what your kids said this week. Or about your personal heroics. I know too many plastic pastors whose outer shell is all people ever see. The sticky insides are off limits.

Transparency is about what God is teaching you, how God is changing you, about the time when you fell down and God restored you. The hard conversations you have with Him when you are discouraged, tempted, confused, faithless.

The more you are willing to be vulnerable about your nakedness, the more people who listen to you speak understand this faith journey they are on with God. This kind of talk resonates with 39

them because often people are struggling with the same secrets.

They want to know if anyone has ever been set free from the same addictions that trap them. They wonder if any other believer ever thought the thoughts that haunt them. Communicating your own fallenness and transformational journey becomes a message of hope and invitation to confession and trust to those you want to spiritually influence.

Most pastors struggle with the idea of being transparent for one of three reasons. First, they have not figured out the difference between being transparent and sharing dirty laundry. There is a clear difference. Transparency is not telling people where you are being rebellious and defiant about it! It is telling them where you are learning to surrender, even if God is dragging you kicking and screaming into the process. Share lessons learned, both painful and freeing ones.

Let them see your growth rings of receiving mercy and obtaining grace.

Second, pastors avoid transparency is they say they do not want to make their preaching all about themselves. In a perverse way, they see sharing personal journey stories as pride.

Perhaps they are thinking about speakers who really do have a pride problem, whose life seems to be one tall tale of personal victory and incredible blessing, who never would confess a need for God’s work in their lives unless it was to help them be even more successful. While there are people who talk like this, you do not 40

need to be one of them. A rule of thumb is never share something that would deflate believers, but share what would encourage another believer to trust God with their unfinished business.

The final reason pastors struggle over transparency because they fear judgment from their hearers.

When you focus on preaching these truths regularly, its renewal power exceeds anything preaching reformyour-life sermons will ever do. You make it possible through the Word for the Spirit to open hearts of the resistant and humble them.

“If they knew the truth about me . . .” What? That they wouldn’t listen to you anymore? That people would leave the church looking for a pastor they could respect?

That you would give power to people over you, who would remind you constantly of your brokenness? While I have run into people like this who have come to hear me preach, what that tells me about them is that they are desperately hiding their own unfinished business. And

that they have never lived in real biblical community before.

One of the amazing things about Jesus is he knows the truth about you, but does not condemn you.

Knowing how secure you are with him, risk being transparent.

Your listeners will grow and be drawn towards the Father because you shared your journey with them.

Conclusion. No one can make renewal happen apart from the Spirit’s work, but you can open the door for his work in your congregation through your preaching. Build your sermons in light of your greatest message and your greatest tool. Use them so that the Spirit can open the hearts of your hearers. In doing so, you are giving your congregation the greatest gift you can—knowledge of the glory of a Holy God who loves them and is able to transform them just like He is transforming you.

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.

The Pastoral Twilight Zone One of the greatest tests of your faith as a pastor comes not from the miraculous moments, when God breaks through and a giant ministry “battle” is won or accomplished, but sneaks up on you amidst the mundane efforts of trudging forward in the mire of the everyday ministry.

In the mire, we “make” things work by our sweat and determination. We string together the achievement of goals on the backs of a small budget; a small- to volunteer staff and on the sheer mental and physical determination of our own grit.

Most pastors (myself included), like to get away at least once a year and fellowship with other pastors. In my denomination there are two annual meetings: One is of our National Convention and the other is of our State Convention. There we look forward to seeing our friends in ministry of old; we meet authors and teachers of renown, but there we also run into a great and dangerous test of our faith.

In these dangerous places we are exposed to Super-Star, Mega-Church pastors and their entourages of minions who pander to their every word. These lauded successful pastors, with giant budgets, staffs and not to mention 6 figure salaries rivaling the budgets of some 3rd world countries, get the key speaking slots, they get recognition and they walk around like sponges absorbing all the affirmation out of the air leaving the little “us’s” - breathless… Many of these men have arrived to where they are on the backs of some past pastor or pastors who carried the church through the muck and the mire of the mundane, grew great organizations, made real disciples and are now faded memories. It’s as if they were born as pastors with “silver spoons” in their mouths…rich boys, with toys.

Our minds quickly jump into gear: “How many churches could we plant with that man’s million dollar plus salary…? If I had only a few full time staff workers compared to their hundreds…I could do soooo much more… Yeah, they give millions to missions, while we are struggling to make every dime work… That pastor never feels the pain or the pinch. That pastor has changed churches for better salaries so much so that he should receive an honorary Doctorate in Stair Stepping! Give me $25,000 dollars for free bar-b-Q on the beach (Did I Say FREE?) for family and friends and a mass beach baptism for all who haven’t yet been baptized and I’ll post up some large Baptismal numbers too.”

SCEEERRRRRREEECH…. Stop the TRAIN. We have entered the Convention Twilight Zone! Now step out of your body and realize that you have taken with me a headlong dive into several of the deadly sins of a Pastor.

1. Avarice.

It should be clear to us all by now, that avarice is the number one sin issue of the Mega-Church pastor, right? Have we not made that clear?

You know the first step in recovery is to get out of denial and admit the other person’s sin areas. Hmmm?

Like, for reals, how much does one person need?

2. Pride

That’s when “they” walk around all banty in their outfits attempting to look like teenagers, thinking they are so hip. Just like the Pharisees, always wanting to be religious leaders in front of everybody. They never had to learn anything the hard way like we did… They have their reward, We little guys will get ours in heaven… oh… opps.

by Rob Myers

3. Envy

Have you noticed that we have just indulged in a major case of Pastoral Envy?

4. Covetousness

Every step of the way we have panged our little hearts into desiring their much.

Just then Jesus (you know King of Kings & Lord of Lords), steps into our Twilight Zone and says to us: “What is that to you all, that these have what they have and you have little? Do you think you have less than my servants in Syria or Haiti, and yet they lay down their lives for their flocks. What if they saw what you have, would they see your pride, your avarice your envy and your covetousness.”

The Apostle John teaches us in his first pastoral letter: 15 Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world.

17 And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever.

Rob Myers is the

Lead pastor of Miami Baptist Church, a vibrant multi-cultural church of over 700 in attendance located on the main East - West corridor of South Miami. Rob has been pastoring for over twenty eight years and before that was in music and youth ministry for ten years. Rob was a church planter for seventeen years and has now been the Senior Pastor of Miami Baptist Church for eleven years.

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When a Pastor Claims Entitlement I sat with the Lead Pastor and it was obvious that something was drastically off balance. Though only God knows the heart, what was leaking out from what had been pouring within was simply a distorted heart.

Frankly, I was appalled at his arrogance. After a litany of statements of what he deserved in his pastorate, and how he had literally learned it all from various mentors, I was ready to leave the meeting with my fellow colleague and coach of pastors who was with me.

We were repulsed and decided this pastor, through a series of appointments was simply not teachable and certainly not coachable. He was married to a godly wife and had wonderful children; unfortunately he was a kid in reality. A kid in the pastorate with a messed up heart and mind. A tragic story that did not get better and had him leaving this pastorate in less than a year from arrival.

A Pastor who leads for Jesus Christ does not claim entitlement for anything. He is not an adolescent pastor, he is a Biblical servant leader (Mark 10:35-45). He puts the needs of his walk with the Lord and his family first, and then his church family next. He grasps boundaries for mental, emotional, spiritual, physical and other forms of health. A healthy Pastor is not a kid…he is a man of God. He may be young in age like a Timothy, but he is not stunted in his spiritual journey. He is a man of God. A man…whom God uses. A man. Of course, part of the issues we face today in ministry is that grown men in age who are pastors still do not understand what it means to be a

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man of God or even a man. Our pulpits today are filled with men who do not live in the kettle of manhood.

They do not have a clue on what it means to be a man…

What are the Conditions of the Heart for Church Revitalization and Renewal?

1. Be God’s Man 2. Be A Man In an era of people pretending to play God both in church leadership and in the corporate realm, our hearts must be bent on worshipping Yahweh and Yahweh only. We do not worship ourselves…the real version of a SELFIE. We do not worship our spouse or our children.

We do not worship our positions or roles. We do not worship anyone or anything but Yahweh, and Yahweh alone. Our Great and Awesome Father, Our Beloved Son and Savior, Our Comforting Holy Spirit…the Godhead is our sole pursuit in being God’s man in the Pastorate. Not a false reality. Not virtual reality. Yahweh…Yahweh alone…Yahweh must be our full pursuit and love.

Scripture points to many things regarding a man and his heart for God. 3 critical steps and questions are: What is his motivation in the Lord as he leads the church revitalization and renewal?

What is his preparation in the Lord as He leads the church revitalization and renewal?

What are the actions that are taken in the Lord as he leads the church revitalization and renewal?

by Greg Kappas

MOTIVATION PREPARATION ACTIONS God’s man has a clear path of internal and external directions. He has external and internal conditions.

Let’s call them conditions of the heart.

When the God of the Kingdom and the Kingdom of God are secondary to a man building his own kingdom in his pastorate, the heart of the man is off balance and deranged. That is why Paul writes to Timothy and to us in 2 Timothy 1:3, “I thank God Whom I worship with a pure conscience, (in the spirit of ) my fathers, even without ceasing I remember you night and day in my prayers…”

No entitlement, but a life focused on the Lord in true worship and a life focused caring for others throughout the day in prayer.

Be God’s man and then there is Be a Man. Our cultures and societies do not have a clue what it means to Be a Man. Some pastors try to live up to a worked up image of what it means to be a man, when they fail to be rooted in being an image bearer, carrying the very image of God. A man, a man that is pastoring pursues what it means to be masculine.

We do not live in gender confusion.

We celebrate what being masculine means. We appreciate women and their femininity, especially when this is our wife and daughters, but we are called to BE A MAN. That means Biblical strength, that means leadership with focus, that means genuineness and full honesty, that means caring for others and not being afraid to love people.

That means owning up to mistakes and not claiming Entitlement. That means learning to build up people and things. A man learns how to work with Builders, Merchants, Innovators and Bankers and certainly leans to one or two of these in his own skin.

A man uses tools such as the CVI Assessment and becomes a learner of himself and others. A man does not live in distortion but learns to create an accurate picture of each person’s core values on his team. I have learned that I am a Merchant/ Innovator who Loves to build people and things. My primary core value is Love. I love to nurture the core values in one’s self and in others.

I have seen that I am an Innovator and I deeply value Wisdom. Wisdom includes the ability to see the way things work and to know what to do about them. I have watched over the years, how God has worked in my own internal and external motivations, preparations and actions. I love caring for people, being innovative and building up people and things. I enjoy being who God has made me and I want to excel in Him and in being whom He made me. I am a man…not a woman.

You as a pastor, or at least most of you, are men. Yes, we each have our strengths and weaknesses as pastors, but focus on how God made you and be the best you. Be a man.

Be the man and be the pastor that God created you to be. Be comfortable in your own skin…your own unique skin. You are an image bear of Yahweh and He delights in you being you, not spiritually fleshly you, but you as He created you, spiritually empowered you, controlled by the Holy Spirit.

The most frustrated pastors that I have ever met are the ones that are

convinced that they are the next Andy Stanley, they are the next Mark Driscoll, they are the next Craig Groeschel, they are the next Steven Furtick, they are the next Bill Hybels, they are the next Rick Warren, and they are the next ???

Instead of learning from these pastors and men, individuals take their identity from them. Exactly like the Pastor I mentioned earlier that lived by Entitlements. Not comfortable in their own skin, a loss of identity in who they really are in Jesus Christ, I see pastors derailed, deranged and out of alignment all over the globe.

Therefore, our pure conscience is gone, our worship of God has moved to idolatry of other pastors, and our prayer life becomes Narcissistic and does not bleed for others. That is not what A Man is, and certainly is not a Godly Pastor. Be God’s Man, don’t be a woman, celebrate women, but friend, Be A Man. Don’t confuse gender identity in your own life.

BE A MAN!

If we do not grasp being in our own skin, being a man for God and not just a man of God, we are genuinely off course in the pulpit, in leadership and in our own personhood. We become simply a shell, hallow with no depth of manhood or what it means to be a man and a pastor.

Greg Kappas is the Founder/President of Grace Global Network. You can follow Greg via these social media channels: GGNKAP – Twitter; Greg.

Kappas – FB; & greg@graceglobalnetwork.org

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

By Bob Whitesel

Turning Back a Conflicted Church: 7Marks© of a Growing Church – Unity in Diversity (4th in the Series) This fourth installment of how to turn around a church, like the previous installments, is based upon the most comprehensive study of churches ever conducted in North America: The American Congregations Study (Hartford Seminary, copies available at www.FaithCommunitiesToday. org). It indicates that healthy churches have 7Marks© or characteristics. The first is “visibility,” the second is “reaching out to a new culture” and the third is “supernatural worship.” Here is the fourth.

A church that has “dissonant harmony” can be turned around, but not usually one with “severe conflict.”

Every church has some degree of conflict. But “severe conflict” is defined as when opinions are so opposed that even in times of emergency the groups will not work together. A different type of tension is “dissonant harmony,” a term coined by Starke and Dyck in their groundbreaking research on church splits.1 They found 1 Frederick A. Starke and Bruno Dyck, “Upheavals in Congregations: The Causes and Outcomes of Splits,” in Review of

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that while all churches have a degree of disagreement, if people overlook disagreements to work together for the common good when necessary, there is harmony with some dissonance.

To find out if you have “severe conflict” or just “dissonant harmony” ask yourself the following four questions.

1. Does your church have a guiding vision or mission which most of the people work toward?

2. Do committees, choirs, Sunday School classes and teams focus mostly upon finding the good in others (inside and outside the church)?

3. When unexpected challenges occur, do the people pull together for church survival?

4. Does the congregation view itself as a faith community that at times “agrees to disagree?”

If you said yes to three out the four, then you probably have “dissonant harmony.” If so, you can unite the congregation around a turnaround mission/vision.

The secret cure for turning around a church that has “severe conflict.”

Religious Research (1996) 38:159-174.

If you could not answer yes to three or more the questions, you are probably bordering on, or already in, “severe conflict.”

Most church leaders will tell you conflict is poorly addressed in the church. Having perused libraries/ bookstores for decades on leadership, my hunch is that conflict resolution is the category with the fewest books published. Yet every church leader knows that conflict resolution is a key part of that leader’s job.

But in conflict resolution literature you find that there are two simple and basic principles in almost all conflict resolution strategies. Here they are.

First, don’t get in the middle as a go-between or so-called peacemaker between the factions. Church

leaders are often inspired by Jesus’ lauding of the peacemakers in Matt. 5:9. Leaders interpret this as a “go-between” or “diplomat” between warring factions.

But the Greek does not carry an idea of “go-between” but rather, “keeping aloof from sectional strifes and the passions which beget them, and living tranquilly for and in the whole.”2 Starke and Bruno found that go-be2 “The Gospel of Matthew,” in The Expositor’s Greek Testament, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967).

tweens are also usually blamed for resolution failures, because they are not perceived as correctly communicating each party’s perspective.3 Both sides take aim at the so-called peacemaker who is then often pushed out of the organization.

Second, get the disagreeing parties talking directly to each other. Surprisingly,

this is the central component of almost all conflict resolution programs. Only when warring parties meet face-to-face to hammer out a compromise, does resolution result.4 It means getting people with differences to sit down together and tasking them to come up with an amicable solution.

The leader makes it the duty of people with differences to come up with a plan that meets both factions needs.

What if conflict can’t be overcome?

severe it may be better to part ways. We see this in Paul and Barnabas’ disagreement about taking John Mark with them on their second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-39). John Mark had accompanied them on the first journey, yet left midway and Paul seemed to feel it was because of his lack of commitment and perseverance. Barnabas, whose very name means son-of-encouragement, undoubtedly saw the potential in John Mark (after all John Mark would later pen the Gospel of Mark) and urged Paul to let him come along. The scriptures indicate that between Paul and Barnabas a “sharp disagreement” arose, which in the Greek literally means “incited … to anger.”5 The end result was that Paul and Barnabas agreed to go on two separate missionary journeys where twice as much ministry took place.

In some churches conflict has been so severe, for so long that compromise may be impossible.

But we have a scriptural example to follow when conflict is so

It may be that conflict in your church is so severe and so historic, that only by parting ways can both organizations be revitalized.

Even after a church split, I have found those who remain are usually more open to change. With-

3 Frederick A. Starke and Bruno Dyck, op. cit.

4 ibid.

5 James Strong, Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009), “paroxysmó.”

out the emotional disagreements and historical baggage of the factions in their midst, churches that go their separate ways can often subsequently be revitalized.

Utilizing the tools above.

If you are in dissonant harmony, continue to take the focus off of differences and get the focus back upon overarching goals. But, if you are in severe disunity then agree to disagree, parting ways if necessary. Use the questions and tools in this article to help.

The upcoming 5th article in this series will demonstrate “how to get more volunteers involved” in turning-around a church.

Bob Whitesel is the founding professor of Wesley Seminary at IWU, he holds his “Annual 1-Day Church Consultant Training” as a Pre-Conference to Renovate in Orlando including: • Credit available for Society of Church Consulting Training Levels 1 & 2 • Credit available for continuing education or 3-graduate credits through Wesley Seminary.

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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8 KEY ESSENTIALS For Preaching Revitalization In Your Church Well, another action-packed college football bowl season is now behind us. As I watched mindlessly, game after game, during “the most wonderful week of the year”, one thing I noticed was at the start of each game the commentators would point out several key essentials necessary for each team to win the game.

So, if each team would basically stick to these key essentials, the so-called experts felt like they had a pretty good shot at winning the game.

that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service.”

One of the things pastors “must” do as they lead their church in the process of revitalization and renewal is to understand and apply the key essentials necessary for putting together a winning game plan. As you prayerfully plan and prepare, I greatly encourage you to consider these 8 key essentials as you share God’s message of revitalization, hope and renewal with your church.

During the recent college bowl season, there were situations where head coaches made bold, courageous decisions at critical times in the game which resulted in their team’s success and ultimate victory. As the pastor of a revitalizing church, you will need boldness and courage from God, many times to make the tough call during those “crunch times” of much needed renewal in your church. If you’re going to see God turn your church around, one of the requirements is that men of God (who have been given spiritual authority by him) must put their big boy pants on. In a quote from Bill Hybels in his book Courageous Leadership, he says, “Can I come right out and say it?

It’s time for church leaders to really lead.” Our churches today are desperately crying out for pastors called by God to lead boldly and courageously.

1. Call and Conviction First, you must be absolutely certain that God has called you to lead the revitalization process in your church. In addition, you must personally answer this question, “Has the Holy Spirit placed within you a passion, burden and deep, intense conviction for leading the revitalization process in your church?” Are you 100 percent convinced of that?

Os Guinness in his book The Call says, “Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively 48

Preaching and teaching for revitalization flows out of God’s dynamic call on your life along with the strong conviction that you “must” do what God is calling you to do.

2. Courageous Leadership

By Darwin Meighan

3. Character of God (Christ-Centered Teaching) For the declining or dying church, it is essential for its pastor to guide them through the Scriptures enabling them once again to focus on who God is, that is: his character, his attributes, his promises, centering their lives on the victorious hope we have in his Son, Jesus Christ.

As Nehemiah was preparing to lead God’s people in Jerusalem’s revitalization efforts, he put into practice some key essentials for turning things around. Nehemiah focused on the awesomeness and greatness of God. He also recalled God’s promises. And he trusted God completely for success. True revitalization only happens through a supernatural, mighty movement of God. Pastors, as you preach messages, every week you must lead your people to look to him alone for hope and healing in your church.

Teach your church complete dependence on the God of the Bible who is faithful.

4. Count the Cost To win a college football championship requires tremendous sacrifice. There is definitely a price to be paid. You have to count the cost. It’s not an easy road at all.

However, for the team who wins the championship trophy, every player would agree, “it is worth every bit of sacrifice.”

Pastor, as God leads you to

When It Is Time to Renovate Your Church!

All across North America there are fractured churches. You can drive on almost any church street today and see examples of those fractures. Many a church today has fallen in love with the world at the expense of leaving the Lord. If we are going to repair today’s churches, we must go back to the scriptures for the drafts and designs. I think today any church could discover what God intends for it from the Book of Acts. If you want to see your church revitalized and renewed, the Lord’s house must return to a place of worship focused on God and not on those who believe the church should be focused on them. The Lord Jesus is not pleased today when His people gather together and His Father is not glorified! There are some churches today that are nothing more than big businesses and their goal is profit. There are some churches today and they are nothing more than the local civic center. These churches are always busy, but they are busy doing the wrong things and the problem is in the fact that you cannot find discipleship, evangelism or the Gospel!

- Tom Cheyney

revitalize your church, you must count the cost. Turning a church around is no easy task. The hard work and sacrifice will take its toll on you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It will not only take its toll on you personally, but it will also be a significant drain and challenge on your family. The long journey’s impact toward renewal will be a taxing season for the entire church as well. And for whatever reason, some people will not want to be part of the process. Some people will leave the church. Therefore commitment, dedication, perseverance and sacrifice are essential. If God is calling you and your church to the journey of revitalization you “must” remember: (1) There will be conflict, (2) You will make mistakes, (3) God’s grace will be sufficient for you, and (4) When revitalization happens, it

will be more than worth the price you paid.

5. Cultivate a Culture of Change Every college football season new coaches are hired to take over programs, many of which have struggled for years. One of the key essentials for turning the program around requires the head coach to cultivate a culture of change. Perhaps it has been a culture where bad habits have formed. Sometimes the program has had extremely low expectations. Or apathy has been the accepted norm. To return the school back to its winning ways, the coach is tasked with bringing about change.

Such is the task of the revitalizing

pastor. The church for various reasons over a period of time has developed some bad habits, ineffective practices, along with antiquated systems and structures, all of which have contributed toward the church’s downward spiral. Through the systematic, prayerful, intentional teaching and preaching from God’s Word, a pastor under the Holy Spirit’s leadership can begin to cultivate a culture for change.

As you might imagine, this will not happen overnight; therefore patience is essential. In his book Who Moved My Pulpit? Thom Rainer tells us why change in our churches is so critical: “Change is urgent because the Gospel is urgent.” Well said. Pastor, you play a significant role in cultivating this much needed culture of change in the church.

Continued on Page 56

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Preaching Toward Church Revitalization

Preaching to the whole congregation about all the issues affecting the life and fruitfulness of the church is essential in the modern age. As a pastor who preaches multiple times per week, I strongly believe in the power of public proclamation.

It is, after all, the manner in which the gospel was originally delivered.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God! Big things, godly things happen as a result of the preaching of God’s word. To be clear, the act of preaching is not the most important component of the worship service. The most important component of preaching is not the act of preaching (kerusso), but the thing preached (kerygma)! There is something incredibly powerful about a man of God delivering the Word of God under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The dynamic of public proclamation is difficult to reproduce in other settings, so why should one be opposed to speaking about the life and health of the church in preaching? The right messenger delivering the right message at the right time produces righteous results. With this in mind, please consider these words of encouragement as you preach to your church about the issues of church revitalization.

Preach to the whole congregation about the issues that affect the whole congregation. For most churches the Sunday morning worship experience is the largest audience the pastor speaks to weekly. It may be difficult to express the church’s struggles in the service where the most visitors are present. Pastors may have a sense that they are

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airing the church’s dirty laundry in front of people they are trying to impress. Perhaps we have forgotten that the audience for the church worship service is not the guests in attendance, but the Lord Himself.

It has been my experience that a pastor is the most effective in his communication when he proclaims the message in truth and without filter! Guests understand that the church is not perfect. Besides the guests in attendance, what about the church members who cannot or do not attend the other services?

For example, if a church member does not attend the Sunday evening or mid-week service, how do they hear about the problems facing the church? The Sunday morning worship experience may be the only time such members hear from their pastor directly.

Preach passionate messages calling people to return to the Lord. If the congregation does not hear of the need for revitalization from the pulpit, where will they hear it? Some issues of the church are not communicated effectively in print or electronic publications. Members need to hear the message of God directly from the Word of God, but they also need to hear that message from the passion in their pastor’s heart. They need to hear his passion to see the perfect will of God carried out in the church and in the Kingdom. When the prophets of the Old Testament delivered their messages, they were in the form of oracles (massa). Frequently, the Lord gave the message to the prophet and the prophet delivered the message to the people. But massa means more than

by Terry Rials

the content of the message, it also communicates the manner in which the message would be delivered because massa also means “burden.”

It is the overwhelming content of the message that must be laid down because the messenger can carry it no longer. The nature of the message demands a response from his hearers. The call of God to His people is that they repent of their sins and return to Him.

Preach biblically-based messages. That sounds simple

enough, but pastors today tend to preach messages that are more church-centric than Bible-centric.

Preaching sometimes reflects the culture; we are living in post-modernity, pastoring a church of older people, but preaching to millennials who have totally embraced consumerism. In an effort to make the message attractive and relevant to people, the temptation is to preach what people want to hear, a temptation that must be avoided at all costs! Pastors know to preach the word, but too often our messages have a very casual relationship to the text. Or is our reluctance to preach about revitalization due to the fact that we do not know what the scriptures say about revitalization? When I started working toward revitalization in my church, I only knew the Letters to the Churches in Revelation. I did not realize the plethora of scriptures that address this issue in both Testaments.1 I did 1Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones is a perfect text to preach for revitalization. Haggai contains a message of returning to the work God calls us to do. In the New Testament, the admonition of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane speaks to the prayerlessness of our generation. The

not realize that the Book of Nehemiah is a handbook to leading a revitalization project, speaking to every revitalization issue including prayer, vision, brokenness, confession of sin, organizational leadership, spiritual leadership, communication, opposition, obstacles, and renewal. I did not realize that the basic issue in revitalization is rebuilding a relationship with God through revival, that it was far more than rebuilding the structures and growing the organization. Nothing revitalizers do produces revival; we can only prepare the people for the work only God can do to revitalize His people once again.

Preach interactively to engage your audience. The

brilliance of Jesus’ communication skills was that He used dramatics, parables, and hyperbole to communicate to His audience. The greatest sermons are the ones that are illustrated well. The most effective ones include the unexpected activity and even audience participation. Isaiah walked around naked to convey impending doom and Ezekiel was commanded to cook food over excrement (please do not try these in your setting!). Jeremiah uses no less Second and Third Missionary journeys of Paul illustrate the need to strengthen existing churches. Ephesians calls us to love, just as Jesus taught. Galatians addresses errant theology that leads to church problems. The Corinthian Correspondence answers specific instances in the fellowship of the church, including theological issues, ecclesiological issues, and moral issues. Jude urges believers to contend for the faith, to reject immorality, and to submit to spiritual authorities, all huge issues for the church today.

Hebrews offers encouragement for those who are about to give up. There are many, many other scriptures that address revitalization.

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

-TerryRials

than eleven symbolic acts that the Lord commanded. He performed the acts and then explained the meaning. The broken clay jar illustration was very effective. Communicate your message using all the tools at your disposal! How often in scripture do you find those in the crowd shouting out a question to the speaker? The disciples needed to ask follow-up questions of Jesus and sought clarification. I think it is both prudent and biblical to allow your audience to engage you as you engage them.

Get yourself out of the way so your audience can focus on the message. The most important task is to communicate the message of God. If we become the focus, then we have failed miserably.

Our job is not to gain a following, but to get God a following. Put another way, sheep were not created for shepherds; shepherds were created for the sheep. Get out of the way so God can speak. Use silence in your sermon to allow God to speak

to hearts. Promote the program of God and avoid promoting ourselves.

“Allow another to praise you and not your own mouth” (Proverbs 27:2). It is always best to redirect all praises back to God, who is the only one worthy of praise. The need for our world and for our churches is Jesus.

When I came to this church, there was plaque on the pulpit, an inscription quoting John 12:21. Each time I preached from that pulpit I was confronted by the message of that verse. I developed the habit of reading it each time I got up to preach. If you are not familiar with that passage, it tells of a group of Gentiles who approach Phillip and say, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The task of preaching toward revitalization is allowing your church to see Jesus in the words of your message.

The hope for the church you serve is getting Jesus back on the throne of your people’s hearts. We can bring our sins to Jesus and find forgiveness. We can bring our wounds to Jesus and find His healing. We can bring our brokenness to Jesus and discover His joy! Preach about the work of Christ in establishing, healing, and preserving His church.

Preach so your people may know the incredible power of God in restoring life to the church you serve.

Terry Rials serves

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

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We Have a Problem:

Why Aren’t We Telling Them What They Need to Hear?

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (II Timothy 4:3) My favorite movie of all time is Apollo 13. One of my favorite quotes from the movie stems from a conversation between Mission Control flight director, Gene Kranz, and flight controller, Sy Liebergot: Gene, the Odyssey is dying.

From my chair here, this is the last option.

The Odyssey was the Apollo 13 spacecraft carrying three American Astronauts to the moon. They were 200,000 miles from the earth when an explosion on board disrupted their mission. The highly trained astronauts found themselves in a change or die situation. If the Odyssey died, then the mission died as well as the three men on board the spacecraft. The three men: Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert were dependent upon Mission Control to get them home. But first, someone had to state the obvious – the vehicle is dying and its time to choose the last option.

I’ve been known to say harsh things and I’ve been criticized for saying them. Just read some of my previous articles in this publication and you

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will see: “One of the benefits of not dying is that you don’t have to stink.” Yes, that was me stating the obvious, but it seems no one wants to hear things like that. “It’s not attractive,” “it doesn’t sell,” “it’s too negative.” At least, that’s what people say. Church leaders are often reluctant to tell members what they need to hear. After all, these people make up the church and they pay the bills. We want to keep them coming and keep them happy, but the church continues to decline. Ignoring our problems won’t make them go away and they will only get worse. Like the Apollo 13 mission control specialists, we are facing dire circumstances, lives are at stake and the vehicle is dying.

Someone Has to State the Obvious

I was asked to attend an emergency meeting of the key leaders of a dying church.

The church had been riddled with conflict and was bleeding to death. Attendance was in sharp decline and so was giving. At the meeting the discussion centered around reducing staff and looking for other ways to cut expenses since they were spending thousands of dollars more each month than they were taking in through offerings.

The chairman of the finance committee pointed out that, at the current rate of income and expenses, they would ex-

By Mark Weible haust their financial reserves in just over 24 months. I asked if the church body was aware of this fact and the answer was, “no.” It was obvious that the church was dying and no one wanted to admit it. They decided that it was time for the church at large to know what was going on.

A few weeks later, the pastor called a special meeting of the church membership where various leaders explained to the congregation that the status quo was no longer an option. These church leaders were effective at using line graphs to show the projected attendance and financial trajectories of the church for the next two years if there were no changes. The congregation was shocked, but supportive of the leadership’s conclusion that hard changes needed to be made. In the case of this particular church, they eventually decided that a restart was needed and that they would need all existing resources to make it happen.

The decision was not immediate or easy. It took some time for the church body to come to grips with reality, but they did it. They shut down the old church and started over with a clear and compelling vision, unity of purpose and a more effective organizational structure. That church is thriving today, but it would not have happened unless they had come to grips with reality.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

Feelings Will Get Hurt

It seems that the greatest offense in our culture today is that of offending someone.

This is where we have to avoid falling into the trap of being culturally correct, but Biblically disobedient. Obviously, Jesus offended a lot of people and the gospel itself is offensive to many. Therefore, we cannot expect to stand on the side of truth without anyone becoming offended. However, offense for offense sake is‌ well, offensive. The Bible is very clear that the motivation behind everything that we say is love for the purpose of building up people and the body of Christ.

The church leaders in the previous example had to deal with people who did not favor change. They held to the status quo so firmly that they were killing the church that they loved. The church became more about preserving the past than obeying the Great Commission. It came down to personal preferences verses Biblical mission. The senior pastor dealt effectively with mission resistance from the pulpit and teams of leaders worked with pockets of resistance to help them to understand that the proposed changes were necessary. Nev-

ertheless, some of the church members insisted that their personal desires be met even when they were in conflict with Biblical unity and purpose. At this juncture, church leaders had to decide whether to fulfill their Biblical mandate or to satisfy the selfish demands of a small group of people with growing discontent. The truth had to be told, no matter who or how much it hurt.

After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

(Acts 16:10)

When Waiting is Wrong

When we decide to wait to confront critical issues in the church, we can actually lead the church into disobedience to the will of God and His mission. Often this is seen as a loving, caring response to those who just need more time to get on board with the changes that are coming their way. However, the failure to move can result in the departure of willing members who want to do God’s will and see the church thrive. Often these members will leave out of a sense of frustration with the lack of movement towards the mission of God, while it is perceived that disobedient members are being coddled by church leadership. Fear of offending some is the number one reason that church

leaders fail to address issues that are holding the church back. The result is that the ones who are most likely to be supportive of church revitalization efforts may end up feeling offended themselves.

Therefore, it is not always a choice between offending and not offending someone.

Rather, we sometimes must choose to whom we will be perceived as offensive.

Don’t be afraid to say it like it is. Some people may think that you are being mean or insensitive, but those who are seeking to do the will of God will usually be supportive of your solid leadership.

Who knows what would have happened to Apollo 13 if Sy Liebergot had not proclaimed that the ship was dying?

Mark Weible serves as the

Church Planting Director f the Greater Orlando Baptist Association and the stretegic Director of the Renvate 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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Revivalization Preaching Preaching for Revitalization takes two paths. Both paths are necessary and vital for success. The first emphasis must be placed on preaching for renewal; and the second is to challenge the congregation to new vision and ministry. In most if not all revitalization situations, there is an apathy or lethargy prevalent in the congregation. I like to use the word Revivalization to explain what needs to happen in declining and plateaued churches.

I guess you could explain my thoughts about the preaching necessary for revitalization and some old fashioned “Hell fire and brimstone” preaching. The kind of preaching that brings strong conviction about the way people are or are not living. Revivalization is a combination of revival and re-visioning. It isn’t a far cry to say that every church needs revival; even the healthy growing churches. Revival is the renewal of our commitment to the Lord as sovereign over our lives.

Usually there has been a lapse of hunger for spiritual things in the life of the church. Now revival is a much debated topic even among evangelicals. How does revival happen? Can revival be orchestrated and planned or is it just something that happens without any kind of preparation on the part of the people.

Many books have been written on the topic but two that stand for me are Eight Keys to Biblical 54

Revival by Lewis Drummond and Quest for Personal Renewal by Walter Kaiser. These two authors dig deep into the dynamics of revival. G. K. Chesterton has been quoted many times about revival “Put up the Sail and Wait for the Wind to Blow.” This thought puts the work on both mankind and God. We must do what we need to do for revival, but revival is what the Holy Spirit brings. As a sail boat needs winds to move, even so the sail must be up to catch the winds when it does blow. But the preaching that will prepare for revival is strong, powerful sin exposing and condemning preaching.

The whole premise with revivalization is that the Church is unhealthy and dying; Holy Ghost preaching is necessary to bring the life back into the congregation. Now you must understand that that kind of preaching is not readily accepted today by most; and you may lose some folks when you quit being politically correct in your sermons. In order for a congregation to begin to seek the Lord and spiritual healing they have to know that something is wrong.

If the church is satisfied and feels no threat of decline and death, they will not be inclined to seek the Lord for restoration. In this revival preaching there must be bold pronouncement against the “sins of the church.” This will require much prayer and study

By Jim Grant

by the pastor. The pastor must know what the problem is even if he is the problem; the barriers and roadblocks must be exposed and dealt with. I call this my “killing the elephant in the room” preaching. The length of time spent on reviving the congregation can vary with each church.

It is most important to convey to the church that something is wrong, and they are the key to making it right again.

In the second emphasis of preaching the focus is on “what to do” in restoring the church to healthy. The church will be hungry for direction if they are truly revived. Their spirit will thirst for the things of God again. If all that happens is the church is awoke from a slumbering sleep without something constructive and important to do, they will nod off again at best, or seek elsewhere to find the “winds of God blowing.”

This part of the revivalization is most important for if the leadership does not have a plan or vision of where and what he expected the church to do, then no matter what kind of revival preaching occurred, they people will just be worked up into a frenzy and left to flounder. Just as the pastor/leadership conveys what is wrong with the church, there must be Challenging preaching to mobilize the now spirit revived congregation. Some may look at this part of revitalization preach-

ing as vision casting or ministry focus. Either way the leadership would have to work through a strategic plan process to establish goals and benchmarks of where the church is supposed to be going.

I have heard that vision leaks, this is true, so the congregation will need to have the vision constantly communicated to them.

This where break down usually occurs. Pastors preach for change in people, but give very little application of what that looks like in personal lives and the church.

Application preaching enables the church to take the Gospel with them into the community.

The goals and vision forming must be done before the revival/ renewal preaching begins. The whole dual emphasis preaching will take time. Revival and revivalization does not happen overnight. There may even be a need for preparatory preaching before leading into a revival phase. Now all of this preaching does not need to happen during a Sunday morning context.

There are a number of ways to bring the sense of urgency to the church. Some of those could be through an in-depth walk

through “Fresh Encounter” by Henry Blackaby and Claude King; or Solemn Assemble and Lay Renewal weekends. The point is something has to change in the way the church does “Church” and ministry. Something that has been overlooked to this point in the article is Prayer. None of what I have presented or suggested will work if there is a lack of prayer. The prayer of the people the pastor and leadership is absolutely essential. One day prayer vigils will not be enough, there must be persistent prayer.

[Luke 18:1-5] The bible says that somethings will only come by prayer and fasting. [Matt 17:21] Here is the power of revival and revitalization – prayer. But if the people won’t pray, no “blowing of the Holy Spirit” should be expected. I love the Old Testament verse – 2 Chronicles 7:14, if My people which are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land. God is willing, the question is are we? I know that verse sounds so cliché but God has honored His word in the past and is willing to do so again, If Only!

I have heard that vision leaks, this is true, so the congregation will need to have the vision constantly communicated to them. This where break down usually occurs. Pastors preach for change in people, but give very little application of what that looks like in personal lives and the church. Application preaching enables the church to take the Gospel with them into the community.

Jim Grant is the Lead 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.

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8 KEY ESSENTIALS For Preaching Revitalization In Your Church 6. Confession of Sin and Repentance Another essential to true spiritual renewal among God’s people is the corporate brokenness and confession of sin which results in genuine repentance along with a change of behavior. Unless this happens, God’s people are merely playing lip service to revitalization and the church will never see a turn around. Pastor, it is essential for you to periodically lead the church in seasons of public, corporate confession of sin and repentance – where God’s people publicly acknowledge those things which have dishonored him, ultimately leading to their disobedience and ineffectiveness in fulfilling the Great Commission.

7. Compelling Vision Preaching weekly messages are a powerful platform for a pastor to share God’s vision. The vision God has for your unique ministry context is birthed out of the time you spend with God in prayer and in his Word. Pastor, no one else can do this for you. Whatever you believe to be God’s vision for your church, I encourage you to flesh that out as you collaborate with your leadership team. Consistently communicate this compelling vision with your people as a messenger of God’s truth.

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8. Celebrate Wins It’s always amazes me to watch schools, cities and entire states celebrate when their team wins the college football championship. The point is: Wins are to be celebrated!

Prior to my current ministry position as State Director of Church Revitalization/Evangelism, I served as the Lead Pastor of several local churches in various parts of our country for 31 years.

In every church God called me to serve, the church needed to be revitalized. These were churches which had gone years without ever celebrating anything – that’s right, very depressing! One of the things I found essential in the process of moving these churches toward greater spiritual health was taking the time to celebrate the forward movement of God as he changed and transformed lives. And sure enough, as we did this more and more together, over the course of time we became a more celebrative and hope-filled church. This will also happen in your church. Remember, wins are to be celebrated!

Celebrate the goodness of God as you see his hand at work bringing about greater hope and renewal in your church.

The college football bowl season has come and gone. Accomplishing certain key essentials once

By Darwin Meighan

again proved critical toward crowning the National Champions. Pastor, keep these 8 key essentials in mind as you preach God’s Word in the days ahead.

Personally, I am looking forward to seeing more and more of our churches in championship form as he continues to bring about revitalization and renewal across this great nation. All for his glory!

Darwin Meighan serves as State

Director of Church Revitalization/Evangelism for the Nevada Baptist Convention. As a coach and practitioner, he encourages pastors and churches toward the process of renewal and hope – guiding them in the journey of rediscovering their God-given purpose and mission of making disciples which embraces an outward focus of engaging their community, culture and world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you would like a copy of a 12-week revitalization message series or if you need other revitalization tools or resources, feel free to reach out to Darwin at dmeighan@nevadabaptistconvention. org

revitalizer

LIBRARY

Cheyney, Tom and Larry Wynn.

Preaching Towards Church Revitalization and Renewal.

Xulan Elite, 2015.

In Preaching Towards Church Revitalization and Renewal, Tom Cheyney and Larry Wynn desire is to see revitalization in the church through a revitalized pulpit ministry. Preaching Towards Church Revitalization and Renewal accomplishes this aim by not only making a case for a revitalization focused preaching ministry but by also offering a collection of sermons focused on revitalization. This book is an excellent resource for preaching towards revitalization.

Bolsinger, Tod. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. Downers Grove; IVP, 2015.

There are few books that when once started are hard to put down. Particularly when reading books on leadership. Tod Bolsinger’s Canoeing the Mountains: Leadership in Uncharted Territory is an exception to that experience. Drawing comparisons from the epic Louis and Clark Expedition, Bolsinger desires to prepare church leaders to navigate the uncharted

Church Revitalization is an intentional strategy addressing that must address the church as a whole. Not only should church leadership examines biblical revitalization principles and practices, the congregation, as a whole, must be addressed. An intentional pulpit ministry is the strongest venue to speak to the majority of the church body. Cheyney and Wynn write, “Preachers revitalize churches. Declining churches need preachers to strongly proclaim the need for renewal. With a biblical challenge towards renewal, there is no revitalization” (xxixx). True revitalization can only be by the work of God through the work of God. The introductory material in Preaching Towards Church Revitalization and Renewal establishes two principles the remainder of the material builds on.

First, the importance of turning ears into eyes. That is a proclamation that enables the listeners to see, not just hear, both the need and the possibility of renewal. Second, the revitalizers efforts must accompany an intentional one-thousand-day commitment to renewal. A nearly three-year intentional pulpit ministry is critical.

These two principles then are flushed out in the sample sermons offered.

The main content of the book is a collection of revitalization sermons once delivered to all the saints. The texts examined and the principles withdrawn from them serve not only a resource for the preacher but as an example of a three-year revitalization preaching strategy. These sermons could be delivered verbatim or better offer a starting block by which the preacher runs his own race in conviction and understanding of the word and its delivery.

The word of God read clearly, proclaimed and understanding given is critical to bringing about revitalization. Cheyney and Wynn seek to offer in this resource both principle and practice to the preacher in their intentional pulpit ministry.

The preacher must be concerned with the clear proclamation of the word of God clearly. The people of God can only be renewed by the word of God. Preaching Towards Church Revitalization and Renewal is an excellent resource for the revitalizers library.

territory of the post-Christian age.

Churches of all shapes, sizes, and conditions of health must learn to navigate in a cultural landscape of which it is unfamiliar. Canoeing the Mountains builds an excellent case for and presents critical principles to lead in the unknown.

writes, “We are in uncharted terrain trying to lead dying churches into a post-Christian culture that now considers the church as optional, out of touch and irrelevant relic of the past” (31). This is a harsh reality that all who is called to build the church are working in.

Bolsinger, Vice President for Vocation and Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary, lays the foundation of his book on the premise that leaders of modern Christendom are ill prepared to lead in the current realities of the twenty-first century.

Specifically that those who have been trained to be Christian leaders are attempting to lead in an era for which they are untrained for. He

Bolsinger pulls from the experience of the Lewis and Clark expedition of May 1804 through September 1806. He makes a convincing parallel case of the decisions making process Lewis and Clark embraced with the church. Lewis and Clark left the familiar world of St. Louis in 1804 possessing a clear mission with continually changing paramContinued on Page 58 Book Reviews by Rob Hurtgen

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BOOK REVIEWS CONTINUED... eters, unknown and often-unseen dangers, even facing a threat of mutiny within the corps. “The story of the Corps of Discovery is the driving metaphor for our present moment in history. In every field, in every business, every organization, leaders are rapidly coming to the awareness that the world in front of us is

radically different from everything behind us” (27).

There are, as with every author, a few areas to push back against. Yet the overall impact on the personhood of the leader and then upon the organization is tremendous. If you are leading your church to do

Crucial Preaching for Revitalization Why is preaching for revitalization crucial? The short answer is due to the present decline of majority of evangelical churches.

Numbers vary from denominational leaders and statisticians. Is the rate of decline 65 percent, 70 percent, 80 percent, or higher?

No matter which number you choose, all concede, the number is far greater than half. Therefore, revitalization is needed and necessary for the future of the church. Do not get me wrong, I am certain that the bride of Christ will remain until His return. This is a fact. The issue for me is whether or not churches in North America, the United States specifically, will be able to have a cultural influence and bring about needed life change for the advancement of Kingdom causes in the present.

This is the key to revitalization… and this occurs through preaching for revitalization. How do I differentiate preaching for revitalization from other preaching?

The difference is intentionality.

All preaching should serve a purpose and thereby be intentional 58

toward a given objective. This is also the word I use to differentiate between churches that are growing and those that are not.

In my context of Southern Baptist Convention churches, and specifically those churches affiliated with my state Convention, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the growing churches have leaders who preach with intentionality. The pastor leads with intentionality. The mission of fulfilling the Great Commission is of utmost priority and the pastor continues to communicate this message. He is a pastor who is not satisfied with the status quo, wants to see people in a relationship with Jesus, and desires for his entire community to come to know the salvific power of Jesus.

The outcome of preaching with intentionality is life change.

Preaching for change requires to those communicating the message to expect change from what is being preached. God’s Word is transformational and does not return void. Therefore we

something they have never done before then Canoeing the Mountains; Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory is an essential read for your ongoing training. A must addition for the Church Revitalizers library.

by Kenneth Priest should expect its proclamation to change lives.

Preaching should drive spiritual growth. Ideally, preaching should be the launching point of biblical exposition for a week focused on a thematic emphasis in the life of a believer. The pastor’s sermon sets the stage for this to occur and should encourage the believer’s study for that week. This is why I encourage a sermon-based small group approach as well.

You cannot hear a message one time, and fully hold onto it.

Other messages you hear in the week can cause you to lose sight of what was taught in another sermon. Therefore, a pastor who preaches with intentionality, will continue the theme for the entire week of his teaching opportunities AND organize his church in such a way as to reinforce through other church leaders’ teaching. My friend Nathan Lino discusses the concept of expositional preaching in this way, here I will use percentages, but he demonstrates using hand motions:

Take 100 percent of what you prepare for in a week in order to deliver your sermon. You effectively only get to use about one-third of the material on Sunday morning.

But what are you to do with the other two-thirds, throw it out? By all means, no. You should use it in the week during other preaching/ teaching opportunities. God has given you this material to use, so use it.

Preaching should also strengthen the local body of believers. Therefore the sermon must be contextualized. The pastor should be the cultural, exegetical expert in his context. Meaning, as a pastor, you should know how to apply God’s Word to your local body of believers better than anyone. You are the servant God has chosen to under-shepherd this flock. In other words, “you are the man.”

The proclamation of God’s Word should establish the expectation of God’s will for God’s people.

Discipleship is an imperative in this matter. Intentionality of preaching means you are taking into consideration where your congregation as a whole is, but also where individuals are on their spiritual journey.

Preaching should bring about growth in the life of the church, yes spiritual growth, but also numerical growth. We all know Paul says, some plant…others water…only God brings the har-

vest. However, God has chosen to use the church to advance His Kingdom. This means reaching new people for Jesus. Preaching should then be evangelistic in nature. This is a major part of the Great Commission. And since preaching is evangelistic in nature, an invitation must be given.

Do not get me wrong; I am not saying you have to do the traditional altar call. But, I am not saying you should not. In either case, an invitation must be given. Jesus invited people to believe, so why not us? The invitation must be clearly communicated. The reason some do not respond to altar calls is that we are vague in our invitation. Be specific. When I preach as a guest in churches, I offer an invitation, no matter which method the church uses – altar call, meet at the end of the service, fill out a connection card – use all means necessary.

After presenting the Gospel, I say something like this; “Have you come to a point in your life where you have accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? We are now moving to a time of invitation. There may be some here who do not understand what it means for God to call them out

Ideally, preaching should be the launching point of biblical exposition for a week focused on a thematic emphasis in the life of a believer.

-Kenneth Priest

and be faithful to follow. That’s because you haven’t responded in the past to God’s calling. He desires for you to walk in a right relationship with Him. This can only be done through the accepting of Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Then you must act upon it. We are at the altar today (or whichever method is used) to talk with you about this opportunity to understand God’s call. Others here may have received Christ, but you have not followed after Him. Taking that first step of obedience and being baptized. Now is the time to get obedient. Still others are in need of a church home. This may be your first time in this church, you may be a regular attender and simply have never committed to partner with this church to be faithful to the Great Commission.

What better church to join, than one that is moving forward with finding what God would have her to do, a church seeking to be faithful? Others may be experiencing a call to vocational ministry, and you do not know what this means. Come forward and let us help you get started right on your calling to serve in a vocational way. Now’s the time. Now’s your time.” And then we pray and sing or whatever we do to conclude the service.

The need is great and crucial preaching is required at such a time as this. Will you preach with intentionality?

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

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

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The Dangerous “Peanuts” Mentality of Valuing People

“I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand!!”

Charles M. Schulz

I recalled the above quote from the old comic strip “Peanuts” as I was thinking about the pastoral leader’s role in valuing the people he is called to serve. Have you had one of those days? Pastoral life would be great if it weren’t for the people who don’t get it, who complain, who criticize, or who undermine your leadership. We’ve all been there and will no doubt be there again. So how do you value people and keep your cool communicating, when some days you’d just like to walk away?

We need to return to basic relationship skills, because pastoral leadership is about relationships. These essential people skills are ingrained in us, but we’re under the pressure of preparing sermons, providing pastoral care, leading meetings, overseeing finances and facility, counseling individuals and couples, developing strategic initiatives and plans, and much more. So we become frustrated when one more person has a problem. It’s even tougher when they feel they need to share their disappointment and criticism of the church and you as the pastor. The soul deflation felt in a moment like that may have us reacting defensively and harshly instead of responding with patience and kindness. So let’s review three basic, but easily forgotten, people valuing skills.

3 People Valuing Skills:

1.Understand your people

People are different and don’t always make it easy to get along. That may be a blinding glimpse of the obvious but let’s stop and think more deeply. Everyone has core “drivers” that are important to them as they

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approach life. They may be driven to get immediate results and challenge others, or take action and enjoy bringing people together, or give support and work to maintain stability, or ensure accuracy and question assumptions. We are all energized by what’s important to us and what we naturally gravitate toward. It’s easier for us to get along with those that are like us. We share the same behavioral style, the same drive, and wonder why others just don’t get it; how they can be so different.

For more than 20 years I have used various DISC assessments to better understand myself and others. The latest generation is the EverythingDiSC® assessment which is done online and uses adaptive testing that increases accuracy, reliability, and validity. We provide these to all who go through our Discovering Ministry Workshop to find out where they best fit in serving God with their passion, gifts, and personality. We use these assessments with our Elders and leadership teams to understand that different priorities drive us and how we can appreciate and capitalize on these differences instead of becoming frustrated. This helps avoid the thinking that everyone else needs to change.

Are you taking the time to really understand your people? Are you discovering what drives them, what makes them tick, and what is important to them? It requires work on your part, but it is worth the effort.

You will spare yourself some hair pulling moments wondering why they just don’t get it when you see it so clearly.

“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion,” (Proverbs 18:2, ESV).

by Glenn Stewart

2. Listen to your people

Good leadership begins with listening. Sounds simple but the reality is that people screen out or misunderstand the meaning of a message in over 70 percent of communications.

Listening is the biggest contributing factor to miscommunication.

We tend to hear our preconceived notions, what we want to hear, and what our assumptions verify going into the conversation. This is especially true when the communication deals with complaints, criticism, or attacks.

As pastoral leaders we present our ideas and plans after careful thought, prayer, research, and maybe the latest ideas from our last church conference. We are committed that this will be good for the church. And sometimes we don’t listen. It takes too much time to rethink the purpose and strategy, so we push forward without really hearing the input, concerns, and viewpoints of others. But we honor people and respect them when we take time to actively listen to what they have to say. Maybe it won’t change anything. Still, the fact that they were heard, we acknowledged them, and we focused on understanding their point of view shows that we value them.

A Brief Listening Awareness Inventory: Score yourself on the following 8 questions using the scale below: 4 Almost Always 3 Usually 2 Seldom 1 Never

1. Do you let people finish what they’re trying to say before you speak?

2. Do you withhold judgment about the person’s idea until he or she has finished?

3. Can you listen fully even though you think you know what he or she is about to say?

4. Can you listen non-judgmentally even if you do not like the person who’s talking?

5. Do you stop what you are doing (texting, email, answering phone, etc) and give attention when listening?

6. Do you give the person appropriate body language to indicate that you are listening?

7. Do you ask questions to clarify his or her ideas?

8. Do you listen fully regardless of the speaker’s manner of speaking (i.e. grammar, choice of words, and emotional temperature)?

How did you do? Can you identify some areas to work on? Remember, most people do not listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply. Listen for understanding and you will value your people.

“If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame,” (Proverbs 18:13, ESV).

3. Affirm your people “Our words powerfully impact others. Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”

(Proverbs 18:21, ESV).

personal and relational death.

Our words can be life-giving to others or they can deal death blows in terms of the emotional and psychological impact. Do you remember what your mother taught you about sticks and stones? “Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you.” Well, your mother was wrong! Words cut deep to the core of who we are and deliver wounds we may carry with us for years.

What we say, the words we choose to use, and the motive and attitude with which we speak them can breathe life into relationships with others. Or those words can destroy relationships. Words can heal or hurt, lift a person up, or crush them with a load too heavy to carry.

All of us need affirmation. Affirmation is praise, encouragement, belief, and confidence in another person. It is not positive pep-talk or hype, but it points to the image of God in a person. It testifies to the God-designed goodness that is in them. Our words can

Our people are in need of CARE! C - Communication A - Appreciation R - Recognition E - Encouragement People put forth greater effort in an atmosphere of affirmation and approval. They rise to become what we believe about them. We demonstrate our best leadership when we bring out the best in people.

Valuing people builds trust and trust is the currency of healthy leadership. Trust doesn’t come with a position, can’t be demanded, and isn’t guaranteed forever. We must consistently add credits to the “trust account” with those we lead. Understand them, listen receptively, and affirm intentionally.

breathe unbelievable amounts of life, confidence, and joy into others.

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body,” (Proverbs 16:24, ESV).

Life-giving, life-affirming words can heal damaged and broken spirits. Mark Twain once said, “I can live two months on one good compliment.”

Glenn Stewart is a forty-year pastor, an author, and a leadership development speaker; he is also the founder of LifeEquip, Inc., a pastoral support team ministry (www.lifeequip.com). You can reach him at glenn@lifeequip.com.

It’s not physical or clinical death that are caused by our words, but

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Put Some Cranberries and Nuts in the Bread What does the of putting cranberries and nuts into your bread have to do with the subject of preaching towards church revitalization and renewal? It is fascinating that churches that are being revitalized are often wonderful examples of adding cranberries or nuts to the mixture. Preaching is all about grabbing the hearts of those recipients of the gospel message in a way to provide the best opportunity to lead the church towards revitalization. Adding a little spice and a little protein is always helpful to any mixture.

My wife, Cheryl makes wonderful Cranberry Nut Bread each Thanksgiving and Christmas for our family and friends to enjoy. The bread mix is pretty basic, but once she adds the cranberries, orange juice, and the walnuts, a plain recipe becomes something incredible.

Pastors which are stuck in the decline of their church, are often preaching just to get another week out of the way. There is lit-

tle expectation from their preaching both from themselves as the preacher and from the remaining participants attending the local church. Visitors come and go quickly, because they find nothing fresh or full of flavor for them to remain. While in college, I heard a professor share an Arab proverb, which has stuck with me. Although I cannot recall the author or even which class I was taking at the time, the proverb has remained with me for more than forty plus years. The proverb is simple: The best speaker is one who turns ears into eyes.

Proclamation of the revitalization message must take the listeners from habitual listeners to responsive visualizers of the message and need for renewal.

Preaching with the goal of helping a church begin the journey of revitalization and renewal is different than

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standing up each Lord’s Day and simply preaching a gospel centered message. First, if you are going to lead your church into a church revitalization effort you must be willing to invest a minimum of one thousand days into the effort. Most pastors practice in preaching one series after another with perhaps only a week or two in between where a great theme of the Bible might be preached. But preaching towards church revitalization and renewal is different. There are certainly many passages throughout both the Old and New Testaments, which speak to revitalization and restoration.

But if you are going to preach in an attempt to prepare your people for the next three-year effort, then having the ability to layer your preaching towards the end goals will be necessary. God restores His churches through the bringing of the participants to individual repentance, communal faith, and corporate obedience. If the Lord has called you to preach towards church revitalization and renewal, then you will need to reflect upon everything you are, what you are, and how God might use you in His plan for renewal of the church your serve.

If you are to enjoy the next three years of leading your people towards a church turnaround, you must become busy in the work of revitalization and leave out the many things which are probably distracting you from the goal. If you believe

that your weekly preaching is the primary thing you are called to do, it is then vital that you make every effort towards focusing that effort toward the renewal of you, your people and your congregation.

Great preaching is relevant to the listeners and those listeners of a declining church need for you to focus on re-strengthening the work of the local church.

by Tom Cheyney

While all of us would profit from this edition of the magazine on preaching towards church revitalization and renewal, there are two types of revitalization preachers that most need this work. The first one is the brand new unproven Church Revitalizer just called to a church in need of revitalization. Learn as much as you can about church revitalization as you seek to learn yourself into the future. Become a student of church revitalization and attend the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference annually to grow and to rub shoulders with the leaders and national voices of this movement.

The second type of pastor which really needs this work is the experienced pastor of three to five churches which has never been able to turn one around and has gone from one church to another hoping to be a success in the next placement. These are the ones which are perhaps the most in need of a little encouragement through this work.

Preaching is a critical key to every church’s revitalization efforts. Proclamation from the pulpit by God’s pulpiteer is fundamental to every renewal effort. Preaching towards revitalization is the initial step for a church desiring to turnaround. Preaching focused on revitalization can become the beginning phase of eliminating the continual drift that is taking place in so many churches. Preachers revitalize churches. Declining churches need preachers to strongly proclaim the need for renewal. Without a biblical challenge towards renewal there is no revitalization. What I have seen over and over again in working with churches, which are being revitalized through the blessings of God, is that as the preacher becomes renewed, the pulpit becomes renewed and it is the beginning of the journey towards revitalization.

BAPTIST WORLD CHARITIES.COM 786-255-3054 / 305-388-8059

Estelle Myers, C.E.O. & Women’s Revitalizer

“Baptist World Charities is happy to participate in Revitalization Magazine! Our team is ready to help you REVITALIZE your church through Missions and Evangelism!”

Rob Myers, Pastor, President, Revitalizer & Men’s Mentoring Leader http://pastorrobmyers.wordpress.com V.P. Dr. Franco (M.D.), Medical Missions

Our Motto is: If I can go, I will go…

If I cannot go, I will send…

But I refuse to sit and watch!

Thomas Myers is an amazing 24 year old Evangelist who will travel to your church and help bring Real Revival to your congregation! His relevant and inspirational messages from God’s Word will help to “Re-set” your church.The alters are full when he gives an invitation. He can be booked for weekend Revitalizations through our website.

Join Dr. Bob & Estelle as we Launch: Teachers On Mission with the Haiti Initiative. Join us as we Teach God’s Word in the University of Haiti’s Education System in North Haiti!

Take your Church on a medical missions trip or help serve in Orphanages around the World!

Thomas Myers, Evangelist

Dr.Bob Brumley, PHD Educational Missions

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