Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 244
January 19, 2016
How Churches Can Pray More Effectively – Rainer on Leadership #191
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On today’s episode, we cover seven points regarding prayer in the local church including how best to incorporate prayer into worship services, how to pray, and the use of catalytic prayer events.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
Somewhere in the midst of all of the activities of the Western Church, we have lost sight of prayer and its place in the church.
Simply put, the state of prayer in the local church is not good.
Prayer has to be modeled by leadership. If the leadership doesn’t emphasize prayer, the church will not be a praying church.
A theology of prayer that becomes a “here are my needs” checklist leads to a weak prayer life.
Special prayer services can sometimes scare off introverts.
The seven points we consider regarding prayer are:
The state of prayer in local congregations.
The “why” of weak praying churches
The wrong assumption about having large crowds to pray
Integrating prayer effectively in worship services
Consider a catalytic prayer event
Evangelistic churches are praying churches
Try the “PIPPs”
Episode Sponsor
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 I Will.
Resources
Evangelism in the Early Church
War Room Church DVD License
“And the Pips” from the Richard Pryor Show
The post How Churches Can Pray More Effectively – Rainer on Leadership #191 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
January 18, 2016
Eight Characteristics of the New Bivocational Pastor
They are appearing on the scene quietly.
Not many pundits are noticing the emerging trend. They are a different kind of bivocational pastor.
The traditional bivocational pastor, by common definition, serves churches that are unable to compensate a pastor with fulltime pay. These pastors are incredible servants who fill a huge need among American congregations.
The new bivocational pastor is similar to the traditional bivocational pastor with some key differences. To avoid confusion, I refer to this new role as the marketplace pastor. Here, then, are eight characteristics of marketplace pastors:
The marketplace pastor serves in churches that could offer fulltime compensation to the pastor, but they choose not to do so. This difference is key. Both the pastor and the church have decided that the pastor will be bivocational, even though the church could pay full compensation.
Marketplace pastors get their name by their desire to stay in the marketplace with one of their vocations. One pastor noted he gets over 20 opportunities each month to share the gospel because he kept his marketplace vocation.
Marketplace pastors tend to have extraordinary leadership skills. They utilize those skills effectively in both of their vocations.
These pastors have a high work capacity. This position is not for everyone. These leaders must take on a huge volume of responsibilities.
These pastors will have long tenures. They are not financially dependent on the church; they are thus able to lead change and deal with the consequences, resulting in longer tenure.
Marketplace pastors will be able to deal with critics more freely. Because these pastors are not financially dependent on the church, marketplace pastors have a great deal more freedom dealing with critics and problem church members.
Marketplace pastors will be serving in a wide range of churches of varying sizes. By definition, the churches will be large enough to compensate a pastor fulltime, even though they choose not to do so. The range of church size by worship attendance will be 300 to 3,000. The greatest concentration of these pastors will be in churches with worship attendance ranging from 1,000 to 1,999.
Marketplace pastors will get their ministry and theological training online. Bible colleges and seminaries will do well to begin to prepare for this new and growing vocation.
I see the marketplace pastor trend as a very healthy movement in American congregations. We will soon see many attorneys, physicians, and key businesspersons who will continue in their marketplace jobs while serving a church as well.
Let me hear your perspective. Do you see this future in marketplace pastors too?
The post Eight Characteristics of the New Bivocational Pastor appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
January 17, 2016
Pray for Southside Baptist Church
Location: Ozark, Alabama
Pastor: Rev. Danny L. Bynum
Weekly Worship: 10:30 AM, Central
Fast Facts: Southside Baptist has had her difficult days, however, through it all God has pulled them through the storms and the heartaches. There is a small foundation who has truly been faithful and praying God will do a mighty work in them and through them to reach their community with the love of Christ. Please pray for them and with them as they strive to honor Christ by their actions.
On Sunday, February 21, they have scheduled a revival. Their prayer is not to have a series of meetings, but a life changing experience from the power of God working in each of them. The revival is scheduled to run from Sunday, February 21 through Wednesday, February 24. They are excited to see what God will do in the lives of their members and those in the community who attend. Finally, please pray for the many church members facing sickness and physical issues and for the leadership to receive God’s plans and directions for the church.
Website: SBCOzark.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..
The post Pray for Southside Baptist Church appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
January 16, 2016
Notable Voices: January 16, 2016
Three Common Idols in Churches — Eric Geiger
Some might call them sacred cows, but Eric calls them what they actually are: idols. And too many churches place the importance of these three things high above everything else in a church.
When Sexual Integrity Crashes at Your Church — Michael Todd Wilson
In this series posted at the LifeWay Pastors, Michael Todd discussed four important aspects of sexual integrity as they relate to the pastor. This article, as well as the other three, are extremely helpful for pastors in our sexually-charged culture.
5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Copy a Mega-Church — Carey Nieuwhof
Churches come in every shape and size. And just because something works in one church, doesn’t mean it will work in another. It also doesn’t mean that a mega-church is any better or wore than a non-mega church. Carey is careful to remind us of these points.
The Long and Short of Sermons — Hershael York
Hershael shares some wisdom on the length of sermons. And what to ensure your sermon includes regardless of its length.
3 Reasons Millennials Are Getting Fired — J.T. O’Donnell
There are likely as many employers fed up with Millennials as there are ones who enjoy having them in the workforce. This article represents the views of the former; LifeWay would be in the latter. Our Millennial workforce has been great for the company in many ways, but I understand how the issues mentioned in this article could be problematic for employers.
Should Churches Perform Altar Calls? — Jonathan Leeman
Jonathan offers a perspective that is finding increased favor among pastors and church leaders. After a more than a century as a common practice, the altar call has definitely become an topic of discussion in today’s churches.
The post Notable Voices: January 16, 2016 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
January 15, 2016
How to Grow Discipleship in Your Church, featuring Robby Gallaty – Rainer on Leadership #190
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On today’s episode, pastor and author Robby Gallaty joins us to talk discipleship in the local church. Robby has several resources available to believers and churches to help with making disciples who make disciples. He also tells us a story about John Wesley that neither Jonathan nor I had ever heard. It’s quite fascinating.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
How different would other people’s lives be if we really got serious about making disciples who make disciples?
For years we have taught people how to share their faith, but have neglected to teach them how to share their life with others.
A return to discipleship is what is going to catapult ahead in the future.
Most Christians in churches don’t know what to do to disciple others so they don’t do anything at all.
People grow better in smaller environments.
If you break discipleship down to the bare minimum, people can follow the process.
About Robby Gallaty
Bio: Robby Gallaty is the Senior Pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, TN. He was radically saved out of a life of drug addiction on November 12, 2002. In 2008, he began Replicate Ministries to equip and train men and women to be disciples who make disciples. He is also the author of Creating An Atmosphere to Hear God Speak (2009), Unashamed: Taking a Radical Stand for Christ (2010), Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples (2013), Firmly Planted: How to Cultivate a Faith Rooted in Christ (2015), and Rediscovering Discipleship: Making Jesus’ Final Words Our First Work (2015).
Twitter: @rgallaty
Episode Sponsor
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 I Will.
Resources
Replicate Ministries
Foundations
Long Hollow Baptist Church
Pastoral Leadership and Missions with David Platt
Replicate iPhone App
The post How to Grow Discipleship in Your Church, featuring Robby Gallaty – Rainer on Leadership #190 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
January 14, 2016
Seven Social Media Tips to Begin the Year
By Jonathan Howe
The beginning of a year is an ideal time to refresh and update your personal and church social media accounts. Sometimes it’s necessary to make either important updates or subtle adjustments. In any event, your online presence will benefit from an annual inventory of your accounts. Think of it as giving your Twitter account a tune-up or getting a facelift for your Facebook profile.
These seven tips can be used on either your personal accounts or your church’s accounts to get 2016 started on the right foot online.
Consider Changing Your Passwords — This can be tedious, but is often helpful in the long run. Think about the number of computers or mobile devices you’ve logged into your social media accounts over the past year. It might not be a bad idea to reset passwords on all your accounts if for no other reason than peace of mind. I would also recommend using a password program to keep track of your accounts and to generate stronger passwords moving forward.
Update Your Avatar — This update might be the most noticeable change you can make, but it is also one of the most simple. Churches should always use their standard logo unless they are promoting an upcoming sermon series or church-wide event. For personal accounts, use a current picture or personal logo. Few things are as awkward as meeting someone for the first time and not being able to recognize them because they look nothing like their online picture. One other note: just say no to using selfies taken in the bathroom mirror—you aren’t in middle school.
Make Your Avatar Consistent — When someone sees your account on Facebook and then on Twitter or Instagram, it is helpful to model avatar consistency across platforms. Consistency sometimes gets lost throughout a year due to social media activism or the launch of new initiatives and products. So it helps to take a moment at the beginning of the year to ensure every platform is visually aligned.
Close or Deactivate Any Accounts You Aren’t Using — Go ahead and close that MySpace account. On a serious note, though, sometimes accounts are started and later abandoned. If there is a possibility it may be useful in the future, you can typically deactivate the account instead of deleting it completely. If there’s no need for the account, go ahead and delete it.
Update Your Bio — Like your avatar, it’s good to have an updated bio—especially if it includes a job, spouse, or location. We rarely read our own bio online, so it’s good to be intentional to take time to update it on occasion. Any major life events (e.g. getting a new job, moving cities, having kids, etc.) are good reasons to update your bio, but it’s so easy to get busy and forget to update things online.
Review App and Privacy Settings — This is the most overlooked update and can be the most important one you can make. Because of the rise in social logins, there are likely several websites or apps that have access to your accounts. If an app or website you don’t recognize or use is listed as having access to your account, revoke that access. Also check your security settings. Terms of service and privacy policies are often updated several times throughout a year, and many of us never give a second thought about them until there is a security breach on our account. So take the time to double check your accounts’ security settings.
Eliminate Clutter on Your Devices — Do you have 18 screens of apps and can never find the one you need? Consider consolidating them into folders or, better yet, delete the ones you do not use or need. It will free up space on your device and likely help speed up or improve performance. I would estimate we have more than twice as many apps on our devices than we even use. If you haven’t used an app in six to eight months, you can probably delete it and never miss it.
Those are my seven social media tips for the start of the year. What would you add to the list?
Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources, the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week, and the managing editor of LifeWayPastors.com. 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.
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January 13, 2016
Six Things You Need to Know about Pastors Who Leave Their Ministry
I had no idea he was a former pastor.
He emailed me on a business matter. I noticed his email said nothing about his ministry, so I asked about his ministry in my response.
“I am out of the pastorate,” he responded. “And I have no plans to ever go back.”
From my perspective, this man would have been one of the least likely to leave the pastorate. Not only did he leave, he is adamant he will not return.
LifeWay Research recently released a study about pastors who left the pastorate before they were retirement age. You can read more about the study here, but I want us to look at six key issues from the study that are vitally important.
Nearly half (48%) of those who left the pastorate said the search committee did not accurately represent the church. I have heard this information anecdotally, but I did not expect the response to be this high.
More than half (54%) of the respondents said a church member had attacked them personally. Consequently, one of four said they left the church because of conflict.
Nearly half (48%) of the former pastors said they had not been trained for relational and leadership issues. We hear this from current pastors and staff as well.
Four in ten of those who left the pastorate said they had a change in calling. We hope to delve into this issue later.
One in eight of the former pastors left for financial reasons. Many pastors are underpaid. Many pastors leave the pastorate as a consequence.
One in eight of the respondents left because of family issues. Again, we have covered this issue several times at the blog and on the podcast.
How do we respond to these issues? How can we be greater supporters of our pastors and staff so they don’t feel like they have to leave the church? Let me hear your thoughts.
Methodology:
The online survey of former senior pastors was conducted Aug. 11-Oct. 2, 2015. The sample lists were provided by four Protestant denominations: Assemblies of God, Church of the Nazarene, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and Southern Baptist Convention. Each survey was completed by an individual who has served as a senior (or sole) pastor but stopped serving as senior pastor prior to age 65. The completed sample is 734 former pastors. The study was sponsored by the North American Mission Board and Richard Dockins, M.D.
The post Six Things You Need to Know about Pastors Who Leave Their Ministry appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
January 12, 2016
Seven Worship Trends to Watch – Rainer on Leadership #189
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On today’s episode, we cover seven worship service trends to watch for in the future. These are taken from the recent megachurch report from Leadership Network; you can find the entire megachurch report at LeadNet.org/megachurch.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
One major positive of multi-site churches is that these churches can have a presence in multiple communities.
Churches are looking to remodel and update existing worship centers instead of building new ones.
Some church leaders are deciding not to have choirs to free people up to do other ministry.
Missions giving does not distract from regular giving, it typically enhances it.
The seven worship trends we cover today are:
The average number of locations a multisite church has increased from 2.5 to 3.5 per church.
The median seating size for main sanctuaries has fallen from 1,500 seats to of 1,200.
The use of organ used often or always in worship services fell from 28% to just 18% of all megachurches.
Having choirs perform in services often or always declined from 43% to 35% of congregations.
An increasing percentage of churches say that Communion is always or often a part of worship, rising from 51% in 2010 to 57% presently.
Median % of weekly worship attendees to total participants fell from 96% in 2005 to 82% in 2015.
Churches with greater emphasis on missions see higher financial giving.
Episode Sponsor
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 I Will.
Resources
12 Megachurch Trends to Watch
The post Seven Worship Trends to Watch – Rainer on Leadership #189 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
January 11, 2016
Five Favorite and Five Least Favorite Instruments Used in Worship Services
Jonathan Howe told me I was opening a can of worms by conducting this Twitter poll.
He was right.
Still, I wanted to hear from churchgoers what their favorite and least favorite instruments are. Some of the responses were anticipated. Many were not.
Favorite
Piano — Piano is not only a favorite; it is one of the few instruments that did not also get mentioned as a least favorite.
Acoustic Guitar — This instrument was a clear second preference.
Organ — This instrument was also the number one least favorite. There seemed to be a clear generational divide here.
Violin — The violin and the organ were only one vote apart.
Cello — This choice surprised me. Maybe it should not have surprised me.
Least Favorite
Organ — Wow. There were very strong negative sentiments here. One person wrote, “I will ask God for permission to haunt my wife if she allows an organ at my funeral.”
Tambourine — I was surprised at the negative sentiment here. Apparently, many churchgoers believe this instrument to be the choice of those not musically inclined.
Drums — Again, there was mostly negative sentiment here, but the reasons for the negativity varied.
Handbells — Handbells did not get one positive vote.
Banjo — I can’t remember the last time I heard a banjo in a worship service. Maybe there’s a reason for that.
I was also fascinated to see the “one-vote wonders,” those instruments noted by only one person.
One vote wonders, favorite: Hammer dulcimer; mandolin; and ukulele.
One vote wonders, least favorite: Oboe; jazz flute; whistle; kazoo; harmonica; recorder; tuba; shofar; cowbell; accordion; chimes; and saxophone.
I bet this discussion will be fun. Let me hear from you.
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January 10, 2016
Pray for The Church at Spring Hill
Location: Spring Hill, Tennessee
Pastor: Jess Rainer
Weekly Worship: 6:00 PM, Central
Fast Facts: Today is launch day for The Church at Spring Hill. It’s a special day for me and my family because my youngest son, Jess, is the lead pastor and planter of this church. Spring Hill is a vibrant suburban community located a little more than 30-minutes south of Nashville, and Jess has been preparing for this day for a little more than a year. Several churches, pastors, and volunteers in the area have helped make today possible. Please pray for The Church at Spring Hill to make Christ known in Middle Tennessee, the US, and throughout the world.
Website: ChurchAtSpringHill.com
“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..
The post Pray for The Church at Spring Hill appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
