Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 178
October 31, 2017
Seven Ways Busyness Can Harm a Church – Rainer on Leadership #376
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Churches like to be busy. Unfortunately busyness can hurt a church’s effectiveness. Today we discuss this problem and how to deal with it.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
A busy church is not always an effective church.
Churches should be culturally contextual in their area, not cultural transplanted from another area.
Your church should have a clearly defined process of discipleship.
Your church’s vision statement should also be its process of discipleship.
Vision statements should be short, memorable, and communicated frequently.
It takes courage to eliminate ineffective and unneeded church programs.
A church’s ministry should not be confined to its address.
The seven problems we discuss on this episode are:
Our churches equate activity with value.
Programs and ministries became ends instead of means.
Failure of churches to have a clear purpose.
Church leaders have failed to say “no.”
Fear of eliminating.
Church is often defined as an address.
Churches often try to compete with culture rather than reach culture.
Episode Sponsors
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. Their Fall Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor Coaching Networks are now open for registration, and our very own Dr. Rainer will be speaking at the Fall Lead Pastor Coaching Network.
So if you’re a Lead Pastor or an Executive Pastor looking for peer roundtable coaching, check it out at vanderbloemen.com/coaching. It’s limited to 16 folks, so apply today before it fills up.
Midwestern Seminary is interested in helping you get to the field faster. And they’re serious about training leaders for the church. That’s why they’ve created the all-new Accelerate Program. In Midwestern’s Accelerate Program, students earn both Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Divinity degree in just 5 years of intensive study. That’s a B.A. and an M.Div. at the same time. This innovative residential program combines rigorous academic training with practical ministry preparation, resulting in one of the most effective programs around, so that you can pursue your ministry calling as soon as possible.
Two degrees in five years – all in one program: Accelerate at Midwestern Seminary. Take the next step by visiting mbts.edu/accelerate.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast
Simple Church
Revitalize & Replant with Thom Rainer
City Church, Tallahassee
October 30, 2017
Fifteen Unusual Hospital Visits Experienced by Pastors
Pastors visit church members and others in the hospital. It is what pastors do. And most patients appreciate the ministry and efforts of these pastors.
But that does not mean the pastors’ visits are uneventful. I went to social media to learn about some of the unusual visits pastors experienced. Here are my top fifteen submissions.
Amen and die. One pastor prayed and the church member died when he said, “Amen.” That’s not all. It happened with three different members on three different occasions. Right at “Amen.” I’m glad I got his name on social media. He is not to get near me. Do I hear an “Amen”?
Flying bedpans. There was no further explanation, but it’s worthy of a high ranking.
Nude runner. I got many submissions regarding indecent exposure. My favorite was the elderly woman chasing the pastor down the hallway. The woman was nude. Completely nude.
Quiet conversations. The family was present when the pastor came in the room. They introduced the pastor to the patient. The pastor had a nice conversation with the patient until one of the family members finally told him the patient was deceased.
Jailbreak. The elderly patient asked the pastor to lean over so she could speak to him. He complied. She grabbed his shirt and yelled, “Get me out of here. They are trying to kill me!”
Bad timing. One pastor learned it’s not wise to walk in the patient’s room with the doctor. It really scares the patient.
Bad timing 2. Another pastor learned it’s not wise to walk in the patient’s room with the local funeral home director.
Bad word choice. Yet another pastor learned it’s not wise to tell a patient, “See you on the other side,” right before surgery, even if you meant after surgery.
Bad word choice 2. One pastor walked in while the patient’s daughter and wife told the doctor to unplug the patient. “He wouldn’t want to live like this.” The doctor responded, “He will recover just fine, and he can hear you.”
Too much company. A pastor was joined in the room by the patient’s current girlfriends. Yes, that’s plural. Two of them. Then an ex-girlfriend showed up. Then an ex-wife.
Missing Starbucks. A heavily sedated patient insisted that the pastor was her barista and was really agitated he did not have her latte.
Know when to fold them. A pastor closed his eyes to pray for an accident victim. He did not realize he was grabbing the rail and pushing the button that folded the patient in half.
Emergency call. The patient/church member in the hospital called the church office to ask someone to visit her immediately. A staff member complied. The patient needed help cutting her hamburger steak.
Only one-half? The student pastor was sent to visit the church member in the hospital, and the family introduced him as a “half pastor”.
Wrong. The pastor walked in the room and began speaking to another guest of the patient. When the pastor asked her where she attended church, she gave the name of the pastor’s church. Of course, he had never seen her before.
So many great stories. I probably need to do a part two at some point.
In the meantime, let me hear your hospital visit stories.
October 29, 2017
Pray for Pearl Baptist Church
Location: New Albany, Indiana
Pastor: Bruce C. Farnsley
Weekly Worship: 11:00 AM, Eastern
Fast Facts: Pearl Baptist Church is located in a 97% poverty area in the inter city. They host a free meal (soup kitchen) every Wednesday evening at 5:30. There is a sermon and gospel presentation before each meal. Please pray that the soup kitchen will continue to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those who come. Also, please pray that more workers from the church will participate to reach even more people in New Albany with the gospel.
“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well.
If you would like to have your church featured in the “Pray for…” series, fill out this information form..
October 28, 2017
Notable Voices and the Week in Review: October 28, 2017
Ten Really Strange Things That Happened at Church Business Meetings
The Importance of Guest Connections – Rainer on Leadership #374
How Much Time Do Pastors Take for Vacations?
Autopsy of a Deceased Church – Revitalize & Replant #007
Why Church Replanting Is Gaining Momentum – Revitalize & Replant #008
Four Stupid Things Pastors Do That Ruin Their Ministry – Rainer on Leadership #375
Why Church Staff Should Read Books Together — Sam Rainer
Church staff should read books together. The benefits are numerous, and it’s an easy exercise. Take the pace slow to reduce the stress of adding one more item to the task list. Then enjoy the discussions together.
The Unique Challenges of Being a Church Planting Wife — Christine Hoover
Church planting wife, whatever challenge you face today, let your griefs and your disenchantment with this world turn your face to the One who sees, the One who promises you will reap from what you’ve sown if you don’t give up (Galatians 6:9), the One who is preparing you a true home. Turn your face to the One who is worthy of all your labor costs you. He is pleased by your faith.
8 Reasons Why Your Church Needs to Connect with the Nearest College or University — Chuck Lawless
I don’t know your church’s location, but I suspect that it may be within driving distance of a college or university campus. If so, your congregation needs to connect with that campus. Here’s why:
3 Lessons Learned Managing Social Media for Tim Tebow’s Baseball Team — Kyle Martin
I just finished my second year working in Minor League Baseball for the Columbia Fireflies. In these first two years, I have already crossed my two main goals off the list: 1) Open a brand-new ballpark (which happened in 2016) and 2) Host the All-Star Game (which happened in 2017). Those two are great, but this year, I was also given an unexpected bonus opportunity: to document the most famous Minor League Baseball player since Michael Jordan—Tim Tebow.
A Confrontation Checklist — Chris Hefner
From the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12) to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5) to Jesus (Matthew 18) and Paul (1 Corinthians 5) examples of confrontation permeate the Bible. The following is a checklist (drawn primarily from Nehemiah 5:1-13) that I hope will help the next time you have to confront someone living in sin.
4 Thoughts On Finding a Mentor — Ron Edmondson
One of my more recent mentors was a godly businessman who agreed to meet with me periodically. He didn’t even think he had anything to offer me, but as I observed his life and ways I knew he did. He was twenty plus years older than me, had been extremely successful, and his leadership skills were off the charts. So, of course, I could learn from him. And, I did. One of the more frequent questions I receive is how do I find this kind of mentor? Well, I think they are all around, but if you want to find a mentor, you’ll have to be intentional.
October 27, 2017
Four Stupid Things Pastors Do That Ruin Their Ministry – Rainer on Leadership #375
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play • iHeart Radio
Pastors and church staff do a lot of great things. Unfortunately, they sometimes do some stupid things too.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
The internet has made both sermon plagiarism and detecting sermon plagiarism easier.
Pastor, if you’re plagiarizing sermons, I guarantee you that people know it.
Church credit cards can be very helpful. They can also be very harmful when abused.
If you’re currently involved in one of these four danger areas, the first thing to do is to stop.
Don’t. Do. Stupid.
The four dangers we discuss are:
Flirting dangerously with sexual boundaries.
Plagiarism.
Financial stupidity.
Social media madness.
Episode Sponsors
Midwestern Seminary is interested in helping you get to the field faster. And they’re serious about training leaders for the church. That’s why they’ve created the all-new Accelerate Program. In Midwestern’s Accelerate Program, students earn both Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Divinity degree in just 5 years of intensive study. That’s a B.A. and an M.Div. at the same time. This innovative residential program combines rigorous academic training with practical ministry preparation, resulting in one of the most effective programs around, so that you can pursue your ministry calling as soon as possible.
Two degrees in five years – all in one program: Accelerate at Midwestern Seminary. Take the next step by visiting mbts.edu/accelerate.
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. They’ve helped hundreds of churches just like yours find their church staff and are uniquely geared to help you discern who God is calling to lead your church.
Find out more about Vanderbloemen Search Group by visiting WeStaffTheChurch.com.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast
InviteYourOne.com
October 26, 2017
Why Church Replanting Is Gaining Momentum – Revitalize & Replant #008
Church replanting is becoming more frequent in churches and denominations. Today, Mark Clifton explains five reasons why.
Today’s Listener Question:
FROM ALYSSA
My husband listens to Rainer on Leadership all the time when we’re in the car. He absolutely loved the episode with Mark Clifton about replanting as well as this podcast. He explained that the concept of replanting is a newer one. Why is that?
Episode Highlights:
In North America, we’ve lost the “local” in our local churches.”
Our communities should be noticeably better because of their local church.
Your church should be an integral part of its community and neighborhood.
We live in a DIY world. Remodelling and reclaiming old church buildings fits in that.
The 5 reasons we cover in this episode are:
The rise of home grown and local
The rise of thrift and vintage
Commuter fatigue
The DIY trend
Closing churches give new people new opportunities
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
The Bridges of God
The Need for Church Replanting featuring Mark Clifton – Rainer on Leadership #320
ChurchReplanters.com
Replanter Assessment
Find more resources at the Revitalize & Replant page at ThomRainer.com
Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit ChurchReplanters.com.Submit Your Question:
Do you have a question about church revitalization or replanting for us to use on the podcast? Visit the podcast page to submit your question. If we use it on the show, you’ll get a copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Reclaiming Glory.
October 25, 2017
How Much Time Do Pastors Take for Vacations?
This topic was hotter than I expected.
I asked pastors and other church staff about the amount of time taken for vacations each year. Most of the responses came from pastors, and many of those pastors were pretty intense about it.
They spoke of their dire need for vacation time; of the constant interruptions during vacations; of learning the hard way about forfeiting vacation time; and about some church members who don’t believe pastors should take any vacation time.
After I put the survey out on social media, I received many responses. Here are the reported annual vacation times, mostly from pastors:
None to 1 week 21%
2 weeks 28%
3 weeks 14%
4 weeks 25%
5 or more weeks 12%
The results were fascinating, almost forming a perfect bell curve. But note that nearly half of the pastors take only 0 to 2 weeks of vacation.
We also heard several other issues related to vacations:
Very few pastors take all of their allocated vacation at one time.
Many of the pastors were very sensitive about how many Sundays they missed. Some of them were in churches that would not let vacation time be inclusive of Sundays.
Two factors typically contributed to more vacation time: size of the church and length of pastoral tenure.
One-third of the pastors volunteered that they always take fewer vacation days than the church permits.
Some of the pastors are challenged to take vacation time if their spouse works. Coordination of schedules is not always easy.
Bi-vocational pastors, as a rule, have much greater difficulty taking vacations than other pastors.
What is your vacation schedule? What are some of your thoughts about vacations?
Let me hear from you.
Autopsy of a Deceased Church – Revitalize & Replant #007
What does it look like inside a dying church? Today we cover 11 characteristics of dying churches and how those have changed over the past few years.
Today’s Listener Question:
FROM ADRION
In the three years since you wrote and released Autopsy of a Deceased Church, what have you learned from church leaders as it relates to your 11 points in the book?
Episode Highlights:
Dying churches are doing so now at a quicker rate than ever before.
Urban and suburban churches die at a quicker pace than rural churches.
If you want your church to look like its community, the leadership must reflect the community.
So much of what churches do is done just to maintain the organization.
You cannot pay your way out of the Great Commission. You have to actually do it.
The 11 characteristics of deceased churches that we cover in this episode are:
Slow erosion
The past is the hero
The church refuses to look like the community
The budget moves inwardly
The Great Commission becomes the Great Omission
The preference-driven church
Pastoral tenure decreases
No praying together
No clear purpose
Obsession over facilities
Neglect of facilities
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
ChurchReplanters.com
Replanter Assessment
Find more resources at the Revitalize & Replant page at ThomRainer.com
Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit ChurchReplanters.com.Submit Your Question:
Do you have a question about church revitalization or replanting for us to use on the podcast? Visit the podcast page to submit your question. If we use it on the show, you’ll get a copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Reclaiming Glory.
October 24, 2017
The Importance of Guest Connections – Rainer on Leadership #374
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play • iHeart Radio
Will Mancini joins us to discuss how churches can better connect with guests and mistakes they make that hurt those connections.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
A church’s first impressions can make an eternal impact on guests.
It’s not uncommon for guests to make up 5-8% of a church’s weekly attendance.
Guests are starting to decide whether or not to return to your church within the first 11 minutes on your campus.
Guests typically talk about their initial experience with a church 8-15 times.
Churches should use language for guests, not visitors.
About Will Mancini
Will Mancini is the founder of Auxano, a non-profit church consulting group, and Younique, a training and certification company for personal calling and life planning through the church. As a recognized thought leader, he leads a team of “navigators” who work with more than 400 church teams a year to create break-thru clarity and execute their vision.
Episode Sponsors
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. Their Fall Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor Coaching Networks are now open for registration, and our very own Dr. Rainer will be speaking at the Fall Lead Pastor Coaching Network.
So if you’re a Lead Pastor or an Executive Pastor looking for peer roundtable coaching, check it out at vanderbloemen.com/coaching. It’s limited to 16 folks, so apply today before it fills up.
Midwestern Seminary is interested in helping you get to the field faster. And they’re serious about training leaders for the church. That’s why they’ve created the all-new Accelerate Program. In Midwestern’s Accelerate Program, students earn both Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Divinity degree in just 5 years of intensive study. That’s a B.A. and an M.Div. at the same time. This innovative residential program combines rigorous academic training with practical ministry preparation, resulting in one of the most effective programs around, so that you can pursue your ministry calling as soon as possible.
Two degrees in five years – all in one program: Accelerate at Midwestern Seminary. Take the next step by visiting mbts.edu/accelerate.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Who Moved My Pulpit?
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Podcast
Auxano
Auxano Boot Camp
Seven Checkpoints That Make for a Great Guest Experience
October 23, 2017
Ten Really Strange Things That Happened at Church Business Meetings
Dead bodies and donuts.
Those are two of the themes of church business meetings.
Recently, I sent an inquiry on social media asking about memorable church business meetings. I was encouraged that some of the responses were positive. Some congregations really do make the meetings a time to make a positive difference.
But most of the responses were, well, strange. For now, I am sharing my top ten choices from those responses.
Dead body in dumpster. Church had a prolonged business meeting on whether or not to put a lock on their dumpster. There was no resolution. Within the week someone put a dead body in the dumpster. The church voted overwhelmingly and immediately to put the lock on. I wonder if a pro-lock church member placed the body there.
Church name change. I am not surprised this meeting was contentious. This type of change is emotional and far-reaching. But this argument against changing the name was classic: “How will Jesus know who we are when He returns if we change our name?”
Donuts. The church had a two-hour meeting discussing donuts. I get it. Donuts are important.
Absentee member. Those at the church meeting voted a person to serve in three different positions. But she was not present. That will teach her to miss business meetings.
Lawnmower blades. The church had a multi-hour business meeting on what type of lawnmower blades to purchase. Now that’s silly. You should fight over lawnmower purchases, but not the blades.
The pastor’s son. The church had three hours of contentious discussion, mostly against the pastor. Toward the end of the meeting, the pastor looked up to the balcony to see that his teenage son had sneaked up there to listen. Ugh. Just ugh.
Donuts . . . reprise. This meeting was another contentious discussion about donuts. The issue this time was whether or not people can eat them in the worship center. I’m sure there was a bylaw change as a result.
Record time for a business meeting. This church business meeting began at 7 pm and took a break at midnight to resume the next evening. The point of contention was the type of wheels to put on a people mover, standard or chrome. We all fully understand why you need over six hours to fight over this vital issue.
The lady gets no respect. The church voted against giving a woman a volunteer ministry position in the church. But they subsequently voted a man to that position on the condition that the defeated woman would do all the work. I wonder if she accepted.
Vote to close closes. The congregation had a called business meeting for the singular purpose of voting to close the church. Due to lack of interest, not enough members showed up to have a quorum. I have no words.
There were so many more good submissions. I bet you have some good stories as well.
Let us hear them.
