Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 254
October 11, 2015
Pray for Grace Baptist at Four Corners
Location: Clermont, Florida
Pastor: Tony Hevener
Weekly Worship: 10:00 AM Eastern
Fast Facts: Grace Baptist at Four Corners is a new church plant and has only met for a month in homes so far. They are praying to move into a storefront in the coming months to allow for growth. Grace Baptist is located in an area of 30,000 people with only four churches. More church plants have died there than have succeeded, but they believe this is God’s timing now. Pray that God would open the doors for Grace Baptist to move into a more permanent space, and that God would raise up more leaders and families to join this journey. Please pray for them to stay focused on the what is possible, knowing God is the source of every resource they need.
Website: GBat4C.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 Grace Baptist at Four Corners appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 10, 2015
Notable Voices: October 10, 2015
Have Churches Been Doing Youth Ministry Wrong Forever? — Chris Martin
Chris challenges us to rethink the breakdown in our next generation ministries in this post. His idea will be a bit radical for some—and possibly a bit crazy for others. But he makes a good point: if we are upset with the attrition rate from high school to college in the church, why are we not doing anything to fix it?
Five Surprising Characteristics of Churches That Are Actually Reaching the Next Generation — Carey Nieuwhof
And for those churches who ARE reaching the next generation well, Carey points out five simple characteristics.
7 Ways to Maintain Respect as a Leader — Ron Edmondson
People will rarely follow someone they do not respect. If they do, it won’t be for long. Ron shares seven ways you can keep that respect as your lead.
Six Things To Look For In A Ministry Resume — Nicole Cochran
Want to get a job in ministry? Keep these tips in mind when building your resume. You would not believe the number of awful resumes churches get when they are looking to fill open positions.
Social Media and the Fruit of the Spirit — Aaron Earls
This is just a short reminder on how the fruit of the spirit should show through us in everything we do.
Church Answers Live: Crossland Community Church Facility Visit — Church Answers Live
This week we visited Crossland Community Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Pastor Gregg Farrell gave us a tour of the facility and it was jaw dropping.
The post Notable Voices: October 10, 2015 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 9, 2015
Pastoral Leadership and Missions with David Platt – Rainer on Leadership #166
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On today’s episode, we talk church pastoral leadership and missions with David Platt. David was in town a few weeks back for LifeWay Chapel and a few other events and was kind enough to join us to discuss the IMB, how pastors can lead their churches on mission, and the struggles he faced as a pastor.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
There is a very real sense in which the Word does the work.
The beauty of pastoring is that you don’t have to be ultimately innovative or creative—you’ve gotta be faithful.
Part of the role of a pastor is to develop leaders.
Global missions is the purpose for which we have breath on the planet.
No matter what size church you’re in, seek for the Spirit to call out missionaries from the church.
There are great ways for us to do short-term missions trips that have long-term effects.
Short-term missions ends up fueling long-term missionaries.
People won’t be what they can’t see.
About David Platt:
Dr. David Platt, President of the IMB and founder of Radical, is deeply devoted to Christ and His Word. David’s first love in ministry is making disciples, sharing, showing, and teaching God’s Word in everyday life. He has traveled extensively to serve alongside church leaders throughout the United States and around the world. David and his wife Heather have four children, Caleb, Joshua, Mara Ruth, and Isaiah.
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.
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is a dynamic community of learners who are serious about ministry preparation biblical studies theological reflection and cultural engagement. Their faculty are gifted men and women who minister as much through research and writing as through local church involvement but their primary ministry is teaching and caring for students. Find out more about TEDS at Divinity.TIU.edu.
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.
The post Pastoral Leadership and Missions with David Platt – Rainer on Leadership #166 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 8, 2015
10 Ways to Improve Announcements in Your Church
As a pastor, I always struggled with the best way to do announcements. Whatever we did, it never felt right. Over the years, I’ve noted what other churches have done – and I’d do announcements differently than I ever did back then. Here are some suggestions for doing announcements well:
Send weekly emails – Either in place of, or in addition to, making announcements during the service, send 1-2 emails each week that give the details. Encourage those folks who do not use email to note announcements in the church bulletin.
Capitalize on social media – Use Twitter, Facebook, etc. to remind members of events during the week. Not only can these announcements be much needed reminders, but they can also be calls to prayer for the particular events.
Organize announcements well in the bulletin – One of the problems with announcements in print is that a bulletin is sometimes so cluttered it’s hard to figure out what’s happening. Prioritize clarity and conciseness by using a bullet point for each announcement.
Promote prayer through announcements – If the church’s bulletin or website includes a calendar of events for the upcoming week, train your church to view that calendar as a prayer list. Get them to pray for each event on the day it occurs, and you might lead some members to pray more than they’ve ever prayed for some events.
Use video announcements – A single brief video that covers all the announcements helps in several ways: (a) it gives folks an opportunity to correct any mistakes before releasing the announcement; (b) it limits the time folks use for announcements; (c) it provides a resource for the website so others who miss the service can still hear the announcements.
Don’t disrupt the service – No matter how you do it, announcements in the middle of a service almost always seem to be disruptive. There are so many other options available that I see no reason to do announcements this way.
Don’t do the announcements at the end of the service – My reasoning here relates to my understanding of spiritual warfare. Jesus told us that Satan always seeks to snatch the seed after it’s sown so those who hear won’t believe (Mark 4:14). If that’s the case, the enemy is at work while the Word is taught and immediately after it’s taught. My fear is that if we turn quickly from preaching to announcements, we unintentionally introduce distractions the enemy might use.
Choose the right person to make announcements – I prefer only one person making the announcements – someone who is concise, clear, creative, whimsical, passionate, and time sensitive. Even if you use video announcements, I would look for the same type of person.
Do announcements just as the service begins – Obviously, then, this approach is my preferred one. Whether via video or a live speaker, use announcements to call the church to order just prior to opening the worship service. Do them well, but get them out of the way before worship begins.
When appropriate, refer to events as sermon application – If the sermon is about meeting needs of the community and the church is scheduled to do a food drive in the next two weeks, refer to that event as application. It’s always good when the church’s events are appropriately connected to the Word.
What are your thoughts about the best way to do announcements?
Be sure to check out Dr. Lawless’ daily blog posts at www.chucklawless.com. Chuck Lawless currently serves as Professor of Evangelism and Missions and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Seminary. You can connect with Dr. Lawless on both Twitter and Facebook.
The post 10 Ways to Improve Announcements in Your Church appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 7, 2015
What Does Your Church’s Group Name Communicate?
Assimilation is five times more effective if a person is involved in a group versus attending worship only.
Read that first statement carefully. It is huge! Church leaders should be spending significant amounts of time focusing on groups. They are too important to ignore.
But there are so many different names for groups in churches. I am not smart enough to know what the best label is for a church. So I asked many different people, both in church and out of church, what came to mind when I mentioned a group name. Here are the results of my informal survey:
Small groups. This name had the most ambiguous perceptions of those I surveyed. That most common response they had to this label was, “What kind of small group?”
Sunday school. This label is one of the longest standing names of church groups. All respondents had their own clear perceptions about this name. For the majority, the name connotes a traditional on-campus, content-driven group for all ages. For a minority of the respondents, it referred to classes for children only.
Life groups. There was hardly any mention of content connected to life groups. The general perception was these groups are more about developing relationships, sharing feelings, and dealing with life issues. Some of the respondents were surprised when I told them many life groups study the Bible as well.
Community groups. This name evoked two distinct and different responses. One group immediately connected community groups as an outwardly-focused group. In other words, the groups’ purpose was to connect with the community around them. But another group saw community groups as inwardly-focused. Their primary purpose for existence was to build community within the group.
Home groups. I confess that these responses surprised me. Home groups were perceived to be loosely connected to the church, if connected at all. There was a sense that these groups had the lowest level of accountability to the church of which it was a part.
Bible study groups. There were no surprises here. This name meant content-driven groups. Some of the respondents even thought there was no intentionality of community in these groups. Even other respondents perceived these groups to be large, much like a master class.
Fellowship groups. If Bible study groups communicated content, fellowship groups communicated little to no content. This group was perceived to be about bringing people together for conversation and relationship building.
Again, let me remind you that these seven categories represent perceptions of group names, even though the perceptions might not align with reality. The takeaway I got from this exercise is that churches should both name and describe their groups in all of their promotional resources. The danger of misperception is present and real.
What is the name or names of groups in your church? What do you think of these perceptions? Let me hear from you.
The post appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 6, 2015
Overcoming Guest Barriers in the Church – Rainer on Leadership #165
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On today’s episode, we discuss a recent post on 10 more barriers to church guests. As we mention in the podcast, the first barrier is not an easy one to overcome, but the other nine are low-hanging fruit for churches.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
Some guest barriers are so natural to a church’s environment that they go unnoticed.
For parents of children, checking the kids in at a new church is often a time of anxiety.
An abundance of memorial plaques in a church tells guests your church is living in the past.
Unnecessarily taking up seats at church tells guests that they are not welcome to sit near you.
There are certain barriers to church guests that members cause but are blind to.
Simple barriers to church guests can become barriers to them hearing the gospel.
The ten barriers to church guests we discuss today are:
The congregation was old.
There was clutter everywhere.
People were gathered in cliques talking to each other.
People got the aisle seats first.
There was inadequate signage for people with small children.
There was no worship guide or bulletin.
The check in process for children was slow and disorganized.
There were memorial plaques everywhere.
The service did not start on time.
People were saving seats.
Episode Sponsors
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is a dynamic community of learners who are serious about ministry preparation biblical studies theological reflection and cultural engagement. Their faculty are gifted men and women who minister as much through research and writing as through local church involvement but their primary ministry is teaching and caring for students. Find out more about TEDS at Divinity.TIU.edu.
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
Church Answers Live
jonathan.howe@lifeway.com
Five Reasons Your Church Might Consider Using eBay to Increase Giving
The Sermon Starts in the Parking Lot – Danny Franks
Nine Things a Church Bulletin Must Have
How to Make Announcements in Worship Services
The post Overcoming Guest Barriers in the Church – Rainer on Leadership #165 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 5, 2015
Eight Reasons Many Churches Are Living in the 1980s
Nine out of ten churches in America are either declining, or they are growing so slowly they are not keeping up with the growth rate of the community in which they are located.
It’s a long sentence. Read it again carefully. Soak it in. Across America 90 percent of the churches are losing ground in their respective communities. Most of them are declining. Many of them will close.
As I have worked with thousands of churches over the past three decades, I have noticed something fascinating, yet disturbing, about many of these churches. They are still acting like it’s the 1980s. The world has passed them by. They are deemed irrelevant by members of their communities. They are frozen in a time warp.
Why has this tragedy fallen on so many churches? Though I don’t want to oversimplify the issue, I see at least eight reasons for this crisis.
They are trying to shelter themselves from culture. In the 1980s, congregations were typically part of the mainstream culture. They were accepted in most places, and embraced in some. That is not the culture of today. Many church members use their churches as a getaway from the realities they don’t want to face.
Programs were easy answers. The vast majority of churches in the 1980s were program-driven. If there was a perceived need, they would order a resource that best solved that need. Many churches today still think they can get quick fixes from programs.
Churches largely catered to the needs of church members in the 1980s. We thus created a culture of membership that is me-driven. Many church members do not want to make the sacrifices necessary to reach our communities and culture today. They are demanding their own needs and preferences to be the priority of their churches.
Change was more incremental. If your church is stuck in the 1980s, it does not have to worry about the rapid pace of change today. Members can pretend like their church does not need to change despite the massive upheavals of change in the world.
Church growth was easier. In the 1980s, a number of people would visit our churches without much effort on the members’ part. One church member told me recently, “If lost people want to come to our church, they know where we are.” Sigh.
Denominations provided solutions. Not all churches in the 1980s belonged to a denomination, but many did. And many members expected the denominational organizations to guide them and resource them. Denominations work best today in partnership with churches, but too many church members want to return to the paradigm of the 1980s.
Others did evangelism for the members in the 1980s. Evangelism was the responsibility of the pastor or the denomination or a few people in a program. Church members paid others to do the work they were supposed to do. Some church members today are more concerned about their worship style preference than lost people who need to hear the gospel.
Some churches would rather die than to get out of the comfort of their 1980’s paradigm. I feel certain they will do just that.
What do you think of these issues of time-warp churches? Let me hear from you.
P. S.—Today is the last day to register for Church Answers Monthly subscription. I am so excited to hear from leaders who are telling me this ministry is having such an incredible impact on their churches. One leader told me he wasn’t sure his church could afford the subscription. Now he tells me his church can’t afford not to have this resource. His church is moving from the 1980s to 2015!
The post Eight Reasons Many Churches Are Living in the 1980s appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 4, 2015
Pray for Friendship Baptist Church
Location: Litchfield, Connecticut
Pastor: Todd Goulet
Weekly Worship: 10:00 AM Eastern
Fast Facts: Sitting in the gateway to New England, Friendship Baptist Church is unique as it is one of only a few Bible-teaching churches in Litchfield County, CT. New England is hard ground, and FBC is placed in a strategic position to make a deep impact on southern New England.
Friendship Baptist Church began as a chapel in 1977 with a meeting at the Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington. Five families attended the initial meeting, and regular meetings took place on Friday evenings in a home. Sunday evening services began in 1978 using another church building. Bible studies in various homes of members began later that year. In July of 1982, the chapel voted to constitute as an official church. The constitutional service was held on September 26, 1982, and the membership of the newly formed Friendship Baptist Church was 42 persons.
With a constant focus on outreach and evangelism, Friendship has worked with many local groups and been instrumental in numerous ministries in the local community and, through mission trips, throughout the country and the world.
Friendship is currently transitioning to an elder form of governance. Pastor Goulet and Pastor Morzella have worked with three men over the past several months to prepare them for this role. There will be a vote on elders and the expanded budget for 2016 in November at their “2016 Vision Banquet.” FBC is also currently studying through I Am a Church Member on Sunday nights. Please pray for a long season of victory, expansion, impact on the community as well as for disciple making. Also pray for more opportunities to minister in New England.
Website: FriendshipBC.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 Friendship Baptist Church appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 3, 2015
Notable Voices: October 3, 2015
What Pastors Wish Their Worship Leaders Knew — Bob Kauflin
Bob article is helpful in that it focuses on unity and cohesion of direction for the pastor and worship leader. Few things are more awkward and obvious than when a pastor and worship leader are not on the same page in a worship service.
Four Indications You Have an Untrustworthy Team Member — Eric Geiger
Church staff teams and other leadership teams are generally no larger than 8-10 people. So when one is untrustworthy, it can really harm the direction and effectiveness of the team.
Improve Your Writing Now: 5 Tips from C.S. Lewis — Aaron Earls
The difference between good writing and poor writing is typically both noticeable and correctable. The five tips Aaron lists can help any writer instantly.
What to Look for in a New Church — Aaron Armstrong
Whether you are looking to become a member or going on staff, these five characteristics are important to look for in a new church.
Is This Missing from Your Sermon Prep? — Erik Raymond
The sermon is not only about the hearers. The preacher should also be affected by the text. As Erik states, let the text wreck you and rebuild you, preacher.
The Truth about Church Websites — Austin Brown
Just another reminder about why church websites should be done with excellence and done for guests. This is your church’s one opportunity to make a great first impression. Don’t drop the ball with your website.
The post Notable Voices: October 3, 2015 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
October 2, 2015
Nine Things a Church Bulletin Must Have – Rainer on Leadership #164
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio
On today’s episode, we talk church bulletin requirements. Not only should you have a bulletin, but it should have these nine things as well.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
At sporting events or concerts, you typically have an informative program available to you. Why should churches be any different?
Church bulletins should be geared more toward guests than members.
I know of too many churches who people have emailed about the church and have gotten no response.
Even the smallest church can have a dedicated prayer request line via email or phone.
When everything is in the bulletin, people remember nothing.
Perforated cards for guests have a much lower response rate than loose cards.
The nine things a church bulletin must have are:
Worship times
Physical address of church
Website and social media links
Email, and telephone contact
Prayer request contact
Sermon notes
Major events
Vision or mission statement
Order of service
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.
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is a dynamic community of learners who are serious about ministry preparation biblical studies theological reflection and cultural engagement. Their faculty are gifted men and women who minister as much through research and writing as through local church involvement but their primary ministry is teaching and caring for students. Find out more about TEDS at Divinity.TIU.edu.
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
Nine Essentials for Guest-friendly Church Bulletins
How to Make Announcements in Worship Services
Church Answers Live
The post Nine Things a Church Bulletin Must Have – Rainer on Leadership #164 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
