Matt Henslee's Blog, page 8

Peter writes to a homeless, stateless, and struggling group of largely Jewish believers of Christ….

Peter writes to a homeless, stateless, and struggling group of largely Jewish believers of Christ. Pressure was mounting, but their salvation while secure forever, was foreseen for centuries upon centuries. What the prophets foresaw and the angels long to see, salvation had come…and it was doing something.

Help us advance the Kingdom: https://plymouthpark.churchcenter.com/giving

5 Practices to Help Prevent Sex Abuse in Your Church

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard, “But that won’t happen here,” I could’ve retired yesterday. There are times I think we pastors have the not-so-spiritual gift of turning into ostriches when something bad happens in the news.

Church shooting? Not in my town! Treasurer caught stealing? Not here! Youth pastor having sex with a student? That would never happen here!

Since the Columbine massacre in 1999, there’ve been numerous deadly church shootings. Many of us are well aware of the deadliest church shooting since it’s the most recent—the 26 people killed at First Baptist Sutherland Springs in Texas in 2017.

But that won’t happen here.

In my list of friends on Facebook, I know of four pastors whose treasurers were padding their wallets from the church’s bank account. SBC Voices even shared news of a treasurer allegedly embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But that won’t happen here.

However, this post isn’t about church shootings or embezzlement; it’s about sex abuse. It should’ve been on our radar before the Houston Chronicle’s article, “Abuse of Faith,” published, but you know …

That won’t happen here.

Well, it can. This article offers five ways to help your church avoid being added to a growing list of churches that had their heads in the sand, thinking such a thing would never happen to them.

1. Background Checks

Do them. Did you know the Lifeway OneSource program provides discounted prices on background checks for churches and religious organizations looking to protect their ministries?

For as little as $10, you can screen your staff, volunteers, treasurers, teachers, bus drivers, camp counselors, and more.

For me, the non-negotiable here is that every pastor or staff member and every person who’ll have access to babies, children, preteens, and teens must have a background check. But I also encourage you to consider running a background check on anyone who’ll serve as a leader in the church.

2. Due Diligence

Let’s start with staff members. If you’re about to hire your next minister, by all means, check their references. Don’t be fooled by an advanced degree and vast experience. Take the time to walk that experience back.

Contact a potential hire’s previous churches and the schools they graduated from and you’ll learn if their resume is legit. But more importantly, you may save your church from a disaster you could’ve avoided.

3. Never Alone

As a pastor of a normative-sized church, I completely understand how hard it is to get one volunteer for a class, let alone two. However, it’s worth the work.

I don’t counsel alone, nor do I think it’s wise for someone to be left alone with children.

This lessens the chance of something inappropriate happening. It also provides an added set of eyes on active children who require supervision.

4. Six Months

I had a man show up at a previous church. Do you know what his first words were to me? “I’d like to teach the junior high boys.”

Every hair on my body stood at attention.

While I was thrilled to have someone eager to serve, I had enough sense to lead our church to adopt a six-month policy. Before volunteers can serve children and youth at our church, they must first be members of the church and active in worship and Sunday School for at least six months.

This gives you time to get to know the person, allows them time to plug into small groups, and provides you time to build trust and accountability.

5. Ministry Safe

Ministry Safe serves as a great resource for keeping the vulnerable safe in your church. From sexual abuse awareness training to helping you develop the best possible policies and procedures, I highly recommend your church consider Ministry Safe.

We can’t afford to be reactive anymore; we need to be proactive. Ministry Safe offers a wealth of resources to help you and your church keep children safe.

Be On Guard

I don’t want this article to sound like I want you to be suspicious of everyone. That’s certainly not what I’m suggesting. But I do want you to be on guard.

Pastors are shepherds; we’re entrusted by God to protect His sheep. Part of that means getting your head out of the sand if you don’t think something bad can happen at your church.

But it also means leading your church members to get their heads out of the sand, too. Again, the goal isn’t to make your congregation suspicious of everyone; it’s to help them realize the weight of being entrusted with a flock.

Final Thought

One of the things I learned from the Houston Chronicle articles was the imperative need for us to respond the right way. Church leader, if the unthinkable happens in your church, know this:

The reputation of the church is the least of your worries.

Your very first step is to call 911 (or your local jurisdiction’s avenue for reporting). Let the authorities do their job. Then, put on your shepherd hat and begin the process of caring for the abused, enacting church discipline on the abuser, and leading your church through adversity.

What If Evangelism Came As Natural As Breathing?

Some say you never forget how to ride a bike. I proved this cliché true a few years ago when I bought a new bike after having not ridden one since my childhood.

A few months after my bike purchase, I completed 70.3 grueling miles in a Half Ironman triathlon in the heat of a Florida summer. (Side-note, before the competition, I thought Florida was flat. After a 56-mile bike ride, I realize I was wrong.)

While completing the triathlon wasn’t easy, riding a bike proved to be a skill I hadn’t forgotten. It felt natural.

Breathing and Blinking

Two other things that come natural to me are breathing and blinking.

Most of us breathe without giving it a second thought. Even in the Sacramento Mountains, where my runs find me breathing a bit harder and oxygen seems to be at a premium, I usually don’t think twice about the act of breathing.

Likewise, scientists say we blink an average of 15-20 times a minute or 1,200 times an hour. Yet, we hardly even notice we’re blinking unless a speck of dust or an eyelash makes it onto our eyes.

Blinking comes naturally even when we’re squinting into the noonday sun.

Could Evangelism Come This Naturally?

What if evangelism came as natural as breathing or blinking does? What if we spoke about the good news of Jesus Christ as effortlessly as we take a breath or blink our eyes?

Some Christians think declaring the gospel is the job of missionaries or evangelists, not the task of every follower of Christ. Why is that?

Maybe it’s like the fear my daughter had of falling off her bike—a fear that led her to want to wear enough pads to survive an atomic bomb. When it comes to evangelism, some of us are so afraid of messing up or saying the wrong thing that we simply choose to not tell people about Jesus.

We also claim the lack time as an excuse—cramming our days so full of activities that we believe there’s no time left to learn how to share the good news, let alone actually do it.

We can look at our calendars to get a good idea of what we consider important. Is evangelism on that list or are activities getting in the way of our call to share the gospel?

It Takes a Choice

When my daughters wanted to learn to ride their bikes, they had to choose to put excuses aside. They had to let go of their fear, buckle the straps on their helmets, kneepads, and elbow guards, and take the time to get bike-riding right.

As they learned how to ride, the minutes bled into hours and the hours turned into days. As they fell off and learned to get back up again, little scratches multiplied like the fish and the loaves.

But guess what? Today, all of our girls now ride their bikes as effortlessly as they breathe and blink.

Put Away the Excuses

It’s easy to let excuses like fear or full schedules keep us from following our Lord’s command to, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28:19).

The issue of time, however, should be the easiest nut to crack. Jesus commands evangelism, and the lost are all around us, walking right toward hell. Do we love them enough to warn them? Do we love the Lord enough to follow His command?

As for fear, I believe if we make time to evangelize and believe our Lord’s promise to be with us as we declare His victory over sin and shame, then our fear will wash away.

Further, if we’ll strap on our helmets to learn and practice an effective evangelism strategy—whether it’s the Roman Road, the ABCs of Becoming a Christian, 3 Circles, or whatever other method you prefer—our confidence will build every time we jump on the ‘bike’ that is evangelism.

Just Do It

My friends, Jesus is with us as we share His good news with the world around us. As ambassadors for Christ, we have but one thing to declare: “Be reconciled to God.”

We call out to the lost around us, “Repent and believe!” We can walk them down the Roman Road or we can tell them about the Four Spiritual Laws. But the key is to just do it!

So, I encourage you to take the time to learn and get comfortable with an evangelism strategy. Practice it, and then step out into the world declaring the good news!

The more you share the gospel, the more evangelism will become as natural as breathing and blinking—just as it was when you learned how to ride a bike, which only happened because you took the time to learn, practice, and to toss your fear away along with your training wheels.

In 1st Peter 1:6-9, Peter gives us the promise and products of our problems…if we’re saved, that…

In 1st Peter 1:6-9, Peter gives us the promise and products of our problems…if we’re saved, that is. We can have joy under pressure if we’ve come to a saving knowledge and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Help us advance the Kingdom: https://plymouthpark.churchcenter.com/giving

What to Remember When Your Sermon Gets No Response

If I’d titled this article, “Left at the Altar,” you’d probably think you were about to read a sob story about some poor fellow twiddling his thumbs as his bride-to-be jumps in a cab and makes a run for it.

While this isn’t that kind of post, it does involve a sob story of sorts—one that involves being lonely at the altar, when you finish up a sermon and see no response.

I’ve had the joy of serving in vocational ministry for over 18 years now. Some of those years have been filled with incalculable fruit. But other years have left me feeling ineffective and isolated in ministry.

I’m sure you’ve been there too. You preach your heart out faithfully and call for a response, but only hear crickets.

Well, I’ve got some encouragement for you. You’re not alone. Remember these two stories of faithful men who experienced long seasons of ineffectiveness by worldly standards

1. Remember Jeremiah

Before you sob too much, brothers, don’t forget the prophet Jeremiah. God told him in Jeremiah 7:2, “ Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.”

Then we read in Jeremiah 7:27, “When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.”

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. Why? Because although he knew what was coming, no one would listen to him for 40 years. That’s four decades of not seeing any fruit from his labor!

We’ve had Sundays at my church where I’m scrambling to find enough folks to help people fill out membership cards and to counsel those who are making decisions to follow Christ or are praying on the steps of the stage. But we’ve also had Sundays where I felt like I was preaching to a brick wall.

Jeremiah was obedient for 40 years despite no earthly success, yet to me, this prophet was extremely successful. Yes, he doubted God, but he ultimately stood firm and took an unpopular message to a people under judgment.

2. Remember Carey

Then there’s William Carey, a man many consider to be the father of modern missions. After seven years of what probably felt to him like preaching to brick walls across India, he baptized his first convert in December, 1800. Note this gospel fruit took seven years to appear!

By the time Carey passed away, he’d served as a missionary in India for over 40 years without a furlough. What did he have to show for it? In a nation with a population of millions, he had 700 converts.

One of the things I remember most about Carey is a quote from a sermon he preached in 1792: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God!”

And Carey’s walk matched that talk. He was faithful throughout four decades of ministry that involved combatting infanticide, battling malaria, translating the Bible into the major languages of India, losing his son to a terrible disease, fighting widow-burning, and even having his wife accuse him of awful things.

His life was a roller coaster for sure, yet he remained faithful. And because of his faithfulness, history witnessed the birth of the modern missions movement that produced missionaries like Hudson Taylor, David Livingstone, and Adoniram Judson.

Keep Your Hand to the Plow

I doubt you’re reading this as a pastor who’s spent 40 years spinning your wheels without any fruit. But if you’re currently feeling lonely at the altar, I have one word for you:

Good.

Assuming you’re preaching the Word faithfully and that your loneliness stems from a burden for lost souls in need of salvation:

Good.

Keep it up. Don’t quit. Stay faithful. Keep preaching, keep plowing, and trust the Lord with the results. Continue to evangelize throughout the week, invite folks to church, and preach your heart out week-in and week-out.

I leave you with the words of Revelation 3:10:

“Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”

If you’ve been a little lonely at the altar, keep on praying, keep on preaching, and keep on pleading for a response. May the Spirit bring forth fruit in and through our faithfulness to preach the Word.

Want some encouragement? https://amzn.to/4b9rASR

10 Ridiculous Things Said to Pastors

Recently, a post on a Facebook group asked pastors, “What’s the most unbiblical thing someone has said to you?” Sadly, within 24 hours, the post had accumulated well over 100 comments.

We love the work faithful pastors do “in the trenches” of gospel ministry, even if it’s ignored or maligned by a knucklehead or two.

Here are ten ridiculous statements people have said to pastors:

1. “Your church family comes before your personal family.” Friends, while you shouldn’t sacrifice your ministry on the altar of family, don’t you dare sacrifice your family on the altar of ministry.

2. “Just don’t forget; you’re only the preacher. You’re here to marry, bury, and preach, but not lead or make decisions.” Do you even Hebrews 13:17?

3. “Without committees, we’re not a biblical church.” Hey, committees are great, but a biblical church they don’t necessarily make.

4. “I’m not talking about the Bible; I’m talking about the bylaws.” As it’s written, “For the bylaws are living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword.” CSB, updated.

5. “Quit quoting Scripture; the Bible has no place in a business meeting.” I got nothing.

6. “We’re NOT going to go door-to-door and evangelize; that’s what we pay you to do.” Somehow, I missed that part of the Great Commission.

7. “I want you to close your Bible and open your heart.” No, no, no. Don’t do this. Jeremiah 17:9.

8. “I know what the Bible says, but we have to do what’s right.” Translation: “We’re wrong.”

9. “The church shouldn’t need to change its traditions, style, or music. If the lost world doesn’t want to come to the church as it is, they can stay lost and go to hell.” Sigh. I got nothing. That’s just bad.

10. “We’re already saved. We don’t need to hear the gospel every time someone gets up in the pulpit.” As John Piper wrote in When I Don’t Desire God, “Hearing the word of the cross … is the central strategy for sinners in the fight for joy. Nothing works without this. Here is where we start. And here is where we stay. We never outgrow the gospel.”

Oh, and here’s a bonus story:

I had a pastor want to bring me on staff with a part-time salary to work with the church’s students. He asked me what the minimum salary was my wife and I could live on (at the time, she was staying home with our six-month-old child). I said we’d need about $500 a week to pay the bills and that I’d also need to seek another part time job.
He asked why my wife couldn’t work, and I explained the cost of daycare would negate her pay and that she felt led to stay home. His reply? “Your wife is sinning if she doesn’t get out and help pay the bills.” It might go without saying, but we passed on the job.

Stories like these help us know we’re not alone. I encourage you to take a moment today and call a pastor friend or two, pray for them, and build them up. If you’re reading this and aren’t a pastor, well, please don’t say any of these things. Instead, take a moment to send a note of encouragement to your pastor.

Want some encouragement? Jonah Over Coffee: A Runaway Prophet and God’s Extraordinary Grace: https://amzn.to/4eqNLXU

In 1 Peter 1:3-5, Peter aims to lift our eyes from our struggles and circumstances and onto the One…

In 1 Peter 1:3-5, Peter aims to lift our eyes from our struggles and circumstances and onto the One who has given us new birth into a living hope, an inheritance that won’t fade away or ever be lost, the One who is guarding our inheritance by His power right this very moment.

Help us advance the Kingdom: https://plymouthpark.churchcenter.com/giving

We’re going UP, IN, and OUT!

What a Parable Teaches Us About Evangelism

I read where the late D.L. Moody had made a covenant with the Lord to witness for Christ to at least one person every day. One night, sometime around ten o’clock, he realized he’d failed to witness that day. Moody rushed out of the house, resolved to declare the good news to the first person he saw.

As the story goes, he met a man leaning against a lamppost and asked him, “Are you a Christian?” The man flew into a violent rage and threatened to knock Moody into the gutter. Further, he complained to one of Moody’s elders that the evangelist was “doing more harm in Chicago than ten men were doing good.”

Three months later, Moody was awakened by a knock on the door. It was the man who had threatened him. I don’t know what went through Moody’s mind as he opened the door, but I suspect the words, “I want to talk to you about my soul,” were not what he anticipated.

Moody led that man to Christ, and he began serving the Lord.

That man went from threatening to knock Moody into the gutter and complaining about his zealous witnessing efforts to becoming a Christian. What a change wrought by the grace of God! It’s a change that gives me an extra pep in my step on my witnessing endeavors.

Recently, I preached on the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-20. As I was studying, I was convicted at how often I view my witnessing endeavors through the lens of good or bad soils and assume those soils are static. If the people I’m witnessing to reject the Word, they’re bad soil. If they accept the Word, they’re good soil.

Perhaps. But it isn’t my call to judge soils. The Lord calls us to spread the seed of His Word as we go, trusting Him with the growth. Only God knows the conditions of the soils and the souls we meet. We’re simply called to sow.

We might attempt to sow a seed in someone’s heart only to be rejected or even threatened with violence. Maybe we’ll get a seemingly sincere response only to discover later that the person immediately walked away from what he or she professed. And of course, we might not witness any apparent fruit at all from our sowing.

We’ll encounter a lot of reactions as we share the gospel. Perhaps more often than not, a large percentage of our efforts will feel as if we’re sowing among “bad soil.” So are we wasting our time?

Absolutely not. Evangelism isn’t necessarily a one-and-done effort.

Not only do we know the Lord promises His Word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11), we also know He’s sovereign. He chooses to send us as messengers to carry His Word into the world. God isn’t sending us on a fool’s errand; He’s calling us to be faithful and to place our earnest, prayer-drenched efforts into His saving hands.

Who knows? Maybe that person who flat-out rejected you will give their life to the Lord three years later. Perhaps that seemingly sincere responder will wake up to the real state of their soul three months later. Maybe that initially dismissive hearer of our proclamation will turn from his or her sins and follow Christ in faith three days later. Who knows? God knows!

Maybe we’ll see it; maybe we won’t. We must remember, however, that God uses His Word as the means to save His people. We need only to be faithful to declare it as we go and to trust the results to His sovereign hands.

Paul asks in Romans 10:14, “How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?”

Well? Let us commit today and every day to sow a little seed and trust Him with the growth.

Wanna learn more? Evangelize to Revitalize: The Pastor’s Role in Evangelism for Rural Church Revitalization: https://amzn.to/3yXvmRY

Beginning with the End in Mind

I was taught by some of the best preaching professors in the world. This allowed me to jump into the pulpit, guns blazing with passion and fire. I just knew it would last until the ripe old age of 80 years old—at least if raising four daughters did not put me in an early grave!

I had been a student pastor or worship pastor for nearly 14 or 15 years. Then I had the opportunity to step into the pulpit full-time. While student and music ministry brought me great joy and preaching brings me great joy, the absolute favorite part of ministry for over 18 years has been in the preparation.

Each week seemed like I was opening a gift on Christmas morning. A new week, a different passage, and a fresh chance to dig in for my folks. It was a thrill!

However, as time went on, I began to notice a pattern develop in my sermon prep: I fizzled. I would start strong! Exegeting the passage faithfully, handling each pericope with care, but then I got to the end. I faded. 

I noticed myself begin to “mail it in,” especially as I made my way to the conclusion. At the very point I should be adding a large bow to the sermon with an exclamation mark the size of Texas, I am running out of steam.

So I made a change.

While I am a novice, I hope the change I made is of benefit to you. This change is simple, but it has revolutionized my sermon prep. It is an approach able to cross into business, sports, and life in general:

Begin with the end in mind.

See? I told you it was simple, but it works.

KNOW THE TEXT

Now, when I open up a brand new passage, my first few steps remain the same. Read the passage over and over, translate the passage, write the passage in my own words a few times, and then write it out from the Bible multiple times. This helps me to internalize the text and makes my next step—most times—a piece of cake.

SUMMARIZE THE TEXT

When you know the text deeply, it makes summarizing it a breeze. This is what many of my professors called the “sermon in a sentence” stage. This is the point where the main idea is discovered. The main point you will draw out from the moment you utter it to the time you conclude. (At 12:00 sharp, of course—since my mother might read this.)

While you will have other points, this is one point you want to stick. It will be the idea from which all your other points will flow.

MAP THE TEXT

Once I know my text, I mean really know my text and my main idea, I begin to map out my points. More often than not, it’s three points. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but I take the time to map it out in my notes to expand upon later.

This is also where my change took place. Usually, I would jump right into my explanations, illustrations, and applications of my points. Now I scroll down Microsoft Word a little bit and hit my conclusion out of the park.

CONCLUDE THE TEXT

Why do this? You certainly do not have to, but I do. When I was going through my explanations, illustrations, and applications at this point, I began to take the easy way out at the conclusion—sometimes even copy and pasting past conclusions so I could just be done. Lazy, I know.

Doing this pretty well at the beginning of my study time gives me fresher legs, so to speak. I am not tired, I am not ready to be done, and I am not (typically) out of coffee.

Instead, I am fresh. I’m as excited as I was when I began, and I’m writing with the passion and fire the text deserves. Since I know the text well and have my “sermon in a sentence,” I go ahead and write my conclusion during the early stages of my sermon prep.

This pays off in my studying. More importantly, it reflects in my preaching!

At this point, I am ready to return to the points I map out and explain, illustrate, and apply to my heart’s content. Since this is my favorite part of sermon prep, whether or not I have coffee left over is irrelevant.

In other words, I am right back to being a kid on Christmas morning. Opening a gift—often with internal (and sometimes audible) shrieks of joy from beginning to end.

This may not help you, but it continues to serve my people well. As you prepare, if you find yourself dragging in any point along the process, consider moving that part of your preparation up a little bit.

Do not make the same mistake I was making by “mailing in” any part of your preparation! From start to finish, let us leave our studies with zeal and enter our pulpits joyously prepared to proclaim the Word of God.

Want a lil’ help doing this? Text-Driven Invitation: Landing the Plane Without Leaving the Text: https://amzn.to/4eqNunQ