Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 211
December 11, 2016
Pray for New Life Fellowship
Location: Glassboro, New Jersey
Pastor: Tedd Jordan
Weekly Worship: 10:00 AM, Eastern
Fast Facts: New Life Fellowship is a gospel centered church located in a growing university town, home to Rowan University. They give careful attention to knowing, teaching, and living out the gospel as well as focusing on the centrality of the cross. They communicate and express God’s Word through the teaching, worship, and ministry in a way that connects the hearts and lives in the culture and world with the gospel. Pray for New Life as they seek to establish a food pantry for the university to specifically reach out and minister to international students. Also pray for their newly formed elder team.
Website: NLFNJ.org
“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..
December 10, 2016
Notable Voices and the Week in Review: December 10, 2016
Five Reasons a Christmas Eve Service Reaches the Unchurched
Worship and the Next Generation featuring Mark Hall
Five Keys to Renewing Evangelistic Growth in Your Church
Five Keys to Better Blogging in 2017
Invite Your One featuring Jeremy Roberts
4 Ways to Work for a Boss You Don’t Like — Eric Geiger
Work is so much more fun when you enjoy both what you are doing and whom you are serving alongside. Here are four thoughts I share when people ask me about working for a boss they don’t like:
How to Stop Being a People Pleasing Pastor or Leader — Ron Edmondson
We tend to do what we value most. You must begin to value the vision more than making people happy. Make sure your vision is God-honoring and God-ordained – which I’m confident it is. When you are leading a church, obviously you want to do the will of God. He gives us latitude I believe, but we want to make sure whatever we do honors Him and gives Him glory. Be confident of this.
5 Christian Clichés That Need to Die — Matt Smethurst
A good sentence is a gift. We love finding complex truth shrink-wrapped in clear, simple, memorable form. It’s why Charles Spurgeon, C. S. Lewis, and Tim Keller are dominating a newsfeed near you. Even God likes pithy statements — at least enough to breathe out a whole book of them. But one-liners aren’t always helpful. Sometimes, in our desire to simplify truth, we can trivialize and even obscure it. And to obscure the truth is to tell a lie. Here are five popular Christian clichés that aren’t biblical and therefore need a memorial service.
How Does a Pastor Fight Through the Preaching Hangover? — Brian Croft
You may call it something different, but every pastor knows about it. It is the mental, emotional, and spiritual crash that takes place the next day (Monday) as a result of pouring your heart and soul out in the proclamation of God’s word to God’s people the day before. There is no easy remedy, medication, or quick fix that can prevent it. There are, however, several practical efforts I make every Monday that are tremendously helpful to fight through the fog. Here are 5 suggestions for your consideration:
14 Words of Advice for Guest Preachers — Sam Bierig
My role at Midwestern has allowed me to see many young seminarians receive invitations to preach as pulpit supply for pastors and local congregations in our region. It can be quite a rewarding assignment if handled well, but it can also be nerve-wracking if you don’t follow proper decorum. Through many trials and travails of my own, I have gathered for you 14 tried-and-true rules of thumb to which I try to adhere when I am called upon to be a guest preacher. What an immense stewardship you have been given! Take it seriously young proto-pastor.
5 Tips for Christmas Sermons That Bring Guests Back — Brandon Hilgemann
Are you ready for your Christmas sermon? As you are well aware, Christmas Eve services are one of the highest attendance days of the year for most churches. It’s the big event, the big night. Hundreds—maybe even thousands—of people will trust their valuable time to your church. But the week after, will your guests come back? This could be the only chance you get to make a good impression. The stakes are high. So here are five tips that will help you preach a sermon that brings guests back for more.
December 9, 2016
Invite Your One featuring Jeremy Roberts – Rainer on Leadership #284
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
Jeremy Roberts joins us to discuss the results of his church’s Invite Your One day. Invite Your One is an intentional high-attendance Sunday in which your church members are encouraged to invite others to church. Jeremy and his church saw remarkable results and today, he shares his story on the podcast.
Through the end of the year, the Invite Your One program is on sale for 50% off the regular price. For more information, visit InviteYour One.com.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
“When church members see others inviting friends to church, they will follow suit.”
“The day you choose to have a high-attendance event is extremely important.”
“Social media and word of mouth combined worked better than any other advertising we’ve ever done.”
You can’t have too many volunteers or too much parking on a high attendance day.
Test different types of connection/guest cards so you know what works best in your context.
About Dr. Jeremy Roberts:
Jeremy is married with two children and serves as the Lead Pastor of Church of the Highlands, Chattanooga, TN. He is an Adjunct Professor at Liberty University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, an author, blogger and podcaster.
Episode Sponsors
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.
Midwestern Seminary, one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America, exists to train leaders For The Church. The local church is God’s “Plan A” for the proclamation of the gospel, and there is no Plan B. And this is Midwestern’s vision and heartbeat—equipping pastors and other ministry leaders who are called to expand God’s mission in the world through the local church. At Midwestern Seminary: they train leaders ‘For The Church.’
Visit them online at MBTS.edu and start your ministry training today.
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
Invite Your One
December 8, 2016
Five Keys to Better Blogging in 2017
By Jonathan Howe
In last week’s post, I shared five reasons you really should consider blogging in 2017. I received several responses from readers who felt inspired to either start or renew a commitment to blogging next year.
I was excited to hear from so many pastors and church leaders who were looking to use their personal blogs to better shepherd their church congregations. But there seemed to be a theme to the responses—many of them wanted to know not just how to blog, but how to blog well. If you’re considering blogging again in 2017 or are just looking to improve your current blogging, here are five tips to help you blog better in the new year.
Be consistent. Whether you choose to blog one day a week, three days a week, or seven, be consistent. This might be the most difficult part of blogging. But if you set a schedule that allows for some flexibility in what you post and when it’s posted, your likelihood of staying consistent will increase. I would suggest you begin posting three days per week with two of those being original posts. The third post can be either a links post, a video, or a book excerpt that relates to your blog topics. The consistency helps your audience know what to expect and when to expect it.
Content matters most. Once you decide on a schedule, start formulating ideas for content. The more enthusiastic you are about your content, the easier blogging will be for you. So when you are brainstorming for content, start with things you are passionate about, have a respectable amount of knowledge about, and can be seen as an expert on. If you try to write on topics about which you have little interest or little knowledge, blogging will be much more difficult.
Consider the medium and the audience. Writing for the web is much different than writing sermons or print articles. Keep that in mind when you blog. Not every sentence has to be pithy, but succinctness is often rewarded. Don’t waste words or try to use so much imagery that you find yourself chasing rabbits in your writing. We use short posts with numbered lists at ThomRainer.com for a reason. They fit the medium and serve the audience better than any other style of content.
Be professional. Remember when you write that you represent your employer online whether you would like to think so or not. More importantly if you’re a pastor, you’re representing your church—and your Savior. Tone, word choice, and accuracy matter. Also related to professionalism is the use of correct grammar and spelling in your posts. I’ve seen articles that I’ve wanted to share on other sites but the grammar or spelling were so poor that I chose not to. A lack of professionalism in your blogging will cost you readers, and could cost you your current job—or even a possible next one.
Be patient. Blogging is rarely an overnight success story. I know bloggers who toiled for years before “catching a break” with a viral post. With blogging, as it is in ministry, fruitfulness is often the result of faithfulness. Don’t buy into the lie that your toil is in vain. Be faithful in your blogging and be confident that your efforts are ministering to those who choose to read and share your insights.
What other advice would you have for bloggers? Have you seen any of these factor into your own blogging?
Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources, the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week. Jonathan writes weekly at ThomRainer.com on topics ranging from social media to websites and church communications. Connect with Jonathan on Twitter at @Jonathan_Howe.
December 7, 2016
Five Keys to Renewing Evangelistic Growth in Your Church
“What can we do to help the churches in our state become more evangelistic?”
“We need more good evangelism programs. Why aren’t you providing them?”
“Why are we reaching fewer unchurched people than we used to?”
Those three questions were asked of me in the span of a just a few days. Each of them came with hints of frustration, confusion, and anger.
It is true. Most churches reach fewer lost and unchurched people than they did in the past. It is no longer necessary to be a part of a church to be culturally accepted. That pool of immediate evangelistic opportunities has been reduced dramatically.
Is there hope? Absolutely!
I am observing carefully churches in North America that are truly making an evangelistic impact. Most of them transitioned from evangelistic apathy to growth. Though there is no formulaic approach or magic-bullet program, here are five common themes I see repeatedly:
A small group of church members dedicated themselves to pray for an evangelistic harvest. Evangelism is not a human-devised program. It is a Spirit-led endeavor. I am saddened when I see churches with no intentionality about praying for evangelism and the lost in the community. It is absurd to think we can separate prayer from evangelism. “And they devoted themselves to . . . prayer . . . And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42, 47).
Pastors make evangelism a personal priority. I have yet to find evangelistic churches where the pastors have not committed themselves personally to evangelism. It’s not easy. Pastors are pulled in a multiplicity of directions. It is easy to respond to the tyranny of the urgent. Pastors must make time to make personal evangelism a priority. Church members must give them time to do so.
Leaders in the church teach church members to invite people to church. Most church members do not realize what happens more than half the time when they invite an unchurched member to church. They show up at church! Such is the reason I encourage leaders to have a singular day focused on inviting people to church (We created a resource to help in that process called Invite Your One). Though a single day of inviting people is not another magic-bullet solution, it does typically create a positive ethos toward inviting people.
These churches love the communities in which they are located. I love the focus on the nations evident in many of our churches. I love the national church planting emphasis we see in many places. But churches that are evangelistic do not forget that the commission of Acts 1:8 begins with Jerusalem, the local community. What percent of your church’s budget goes to direct ministry and evangelism in the community?
These churches have consistent, usually weekly, efforts to connect with unchurched people in the community. The efforts may be as simple as Facebook ads or communications with new residents. It may be a basic email campaign to reach out to those who have visited the church. These efforts are not solutions in themselves, but they do help create an outwardly-focused ethos in your church.
What is your church doing to reach people evangelistically in your community? I bet you can share some great insights with our readers.
December 6, 2016
Worship and the Next Generation featuring Mark Hall – Rainer on Leadership #283
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
Mark Hall, founder of Casting Crowns, joins us to discuss worship, student ministry, and how he and Casting Crowns are rooted in their local church.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
“Student ministry is all about discipleship.”
“My goal for a student when they graduate is that they have their own walk of faith, not their grandmother’s.”
“Worship can very easily swing towards more of an experience instead of being focused on who we are singing to.”
“You can’t ditch Scripture just to make a line rhyme in a worship song.”
“Ministry isn’t just talking and singing on stage.”
“People can’t be the well you draw from in ministry.”
About Mark Hall & Casting Crowns
Mark Hall is the lead vocalist for the Georgia-based contemporary Christian music group Casting Crowns. Four members of Casting Crowns currently minister at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia, where they play during the Contemporary Worship service on Sunday mornings. They do the band part-time around their full-time work of discipling students at the church. They often tour from Thursday to Saturday so that they can be home for church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night.
Episode Sponsors
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Find out more at mbts.edu/mdiv.
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
The Very Next Thing
Facing the Giants
Courageous
CastingCrowns.com
@MarkHallCC
December 5, 2016
Five Reasons a Christmas Eve Service Reaches the Unchurched
It is likely the single day of the year more unchurched decide to visit a church.
It is an incredible opportunity for most congregations.
While Easter is the day most churchgoers decide to show up at the same time, Christmas Eve is indeed prime time for the unchurched. Why is that? Here are five key reasons:
The Christmas seasons brings family members together from disparate locations. In many homes, there is likely to be a mix of churched and unchurched family members on Christmas Eve. The unchurched are often encouraged to go to a Christmas Eve service with their Christian family members.
Most unchurched have some sentimental attachment to Christmas. They may not be overtly religious, but they have some warm memories of Christmas Eve and the entire Christmas season.
Most unchurched know and like the songs of Christmas. They are confident they can go to a church service on Christmas Eve and hear those songs.
The unchurched are looking for hope in the Christmas season. Many of them come on Christmas Eve expecting to hear a message of hope or to sing the songs of the hope-filled message of Christ’s birth.
Christmas is one of the few times tradition is embraced by most people, especially the unchurched. Thus the unchurched fully expect to walk into a Christmas Eve service and to sense, hear, and embrace those traditions.
Our research points toward this singular day as an opportunity to reach people churches may never reach otherwise. Here are some concluding points to consider.
Don’t count on Christmas day to be a good day to reach the unchurched. They are busy with family opening gifts and enjoying meals.
Keep Christmas Eve services brief. Most are around 30 minutes, rarely more than 45 minutes.
Most churches do not have childcare for the service. They promote it as a family service. That’s another reason to keep it brief.
Any message or preaching should be brief as well, around 10 minutes.
Sing the well-known songs of Christ’s birth; keep it traditional and simple.
Many churches end the Christmas Eve service with a candlelight song, typically “Silent Night.”
Make certain you have a way to capture the guest information.
Make certain you have a plan in place to follow up, even if it’s just a brief email.
Christmas Eve is a critically important day to reach the unchurched. Share with me your thoughts and what your church does.
December 4, 2016
Pray for Glade Run Church
Location: Valencia, Pennsylvania
Pastor: Gregory Wiest
Weekly Worship: 8:45 & 11:00 AM, Eastern
Fast Facts: Glade Run is a church in transition. However, through the changes, they are growing and are reaching young families in the Valencia, PA, area. Last week, they hosted their annual women’s lunch to benefit the local Meals on Wheels program. Please pray for this ministry as well as their continued community outreach this Christmas season.
Website: GladeRunChurch.org
“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..
December 3, 2016
Notable Voices and the Week in Review: December 3, 2016
Five Personal Leadership Lessons I’ve Learned the Hard Way
The Intersection of Theology and Worship featuring Louie Giglio
Five Dangers of the Church Cartel
Five Reasons You Should Start (or Continue) Blogging in 2017
The Relationship Between a Pastor and Worship Leader featuring Jim Shaddix
Why Pastors Are Committing Suicide — Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra
Pastors aren’t immune to the rising suicide rates. More than half of pastors have counseled people who were later diagnosed with a mental illness (59 percent), and about a quarter say they’ve experienced some type of mental illness themselves (23 percent). According to LifeWay, 12 percent have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.
Why Big Church Solutions Can’t Fix Small Church Problems — Karl Vaters
You’re looking for help to make your church better, healthier, stronger and more kingdom-minded, but almost everything you find comes from a big church perspective. That’s not bad. But it often means there’s very little, if anything in it to help you in a small church context.
How Your Control Freak Tendencies Stunt Your Church’s Growth — Carey Nieuwhof
There’s a lid that comes with your control freak tendencies. You will eventually hit a wall in which the size of your church shrinks back to the size of your personal span of care. Until you let go. In other words, if you want to limit your church’s growth, attempt to control everything.
One Big Way to Reduce Ministry Stress — Sam Rainer
The way you counter rising stress levels is to correspondingly raise your level of compassion for others. Obviously, this mentality is not natural. When I’m stressed, I have about as much compassion as a boxing champ stepping into the ring to defend his title. Or worse, I want to go full Bob Newhart on people in my counseling sessions. Since the point of ministry is not to beat people up, something has to give. Here are some practical steps in order to raise your level of compassion during a season of rising stress.
7 Tips to Make Your Sermons Shorter — Jeremy Roberts
In a previous post, I established the WHY behind preaching shorter sermons, and in this post I want to explain the HOW behind decreasing your sermon length.
3 Common Ways Churches Overcomplicate Their Calendars — Eric Geiger
A busy church calendar can keep people at church and away from the broader culture. Not only is mission thwarted but people also have a difficult time navigating what their next step at the church is. When there is a plethora of programs/events on the calendar, it is hard to know which ones are really important. How do churches get to an overcomplicated church schedule? How does busyness creep in? Here are three common ways:
December 2, 2016
The Relationship Between a Pastor and Worship Leader featuring Jim Shaddix – Rainer on Leadership #282
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play
Jim Shaddix joins us to discuss what a healthy relationship between the pastor and worship leader looks like in the local church.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
“One of the hardest things to do as a worship leader is to worship personally.”
“The tough part of a pastor working with a worship pastor is when they don’t see eye to eye on worship practice.”
“Worship leading should be a disciple-making event.”
“If you are going to teach theology through music, the worship pastor needs a good theological lens.”
“The personal discipleship of a worship leader will show up in the public worship leading.”
“Humility and genuineness are needed in a worship pastor.”
It is difficult for a worship leader to plan a service effectively when no input is provided by the pastor.
“Mentoring should be a part of all church ministry staff relationships.”
About Dr. Jim Shaddix:
Dr. Jim Shaddix serves as Professor of Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina He has pastored churches in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Colorado, and also served as Dean of the Chapel and professor of preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans. Jim earned a B.S. in Education from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Preaching from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Episode Sponsors
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.
Midwestern Seminary, one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America, exists to train leaders For The Church. The local church is God’s “Plan A” for the proclamation of the gospel, and there is no Plan B. And this is Midwestern’s vision and heartbeat—equipping pastors and other ministry leaders who are called to expand God’s mission in the world through the local church. At Midwestern Seminary: they train leaders ‘For The Church.’
Visit them online at MBTS.edu and start your ministry training today.
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
@JimShaddix
