Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 356

Pray for First Baptist Sweetwater

Location: Longwood, Florida

Pastor: Dr. Joel Breidenbaugh

Worship Times: 10:30 AM EST

Fast Facts: First Baptist Church in Sweetwater is engaged in mission trips to Bolivia, Cuba and a partnership church in Indianapolis, Indiana. They also host college students who come from around the nation to Sweetwater to do home repairs for needy community members. Please pray that God will help Pastor Breidenbaugh lead this congregation to share the gospel with their unchurched friends. Pray also for their success in mentoring younger believers in the Christian faith.

Website: www.fbsweetwater.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 your church to be featured in “Pray for . . .” contact Steve Drake, director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com.

Ten Things Pastors Wish They Knew Before They Became Pastors

In an informal survey of pastors, I asked a simple question:

What do you wish you had been told before you became a pastor?

Some of the responses were obvious. For me, a few were surprises.

I note them in order of frequency of response, not necessarily in order of importance. After each item, I offer a representative quote from a pastor.

I wish someone had taught me basic leadership skills. “I was well grounded in theology and Bible exegesis, but seminary did not prepare me for the real world of real people. It would have been great to have someone walk alongside me before my first church.”
I needed to know a lot more about personal financial issues. “No one ever told me about minister’s housing, social security, automobile reimbursement, and the difference between a package and a salary. I got burned in my first church.”
I wish I had been given advice on how to deal with power groups and power people in the church. “I got it all wrong in my first two churches. I was fired outright from the first one and pressured out in the second one. Someone finally and courageously pointed out how I was messing things up almost from the moment I began in a new church. I am so thankful that I am in the ninth year of a happy pastorate in my third church.”
Don’t give up your time in prayer and the Word. “I really don’t ever remember anyone pointing me in that direction. The busier I became at the church, the more I neglected my primary calling. It was a subtle process; I wish I had been forewarned.”
I wish someone had told me I needed some business training. “I felt inadequate and embarrassed in the first budget meetings. And it really hit home when we looked at a building program that involved fund raising and debt. I had no clue what the bankers were saying.”
Someone should have told me that there are mean people in the church. “Look, I was prepared to deal with critics. That’s the reality of any leadership position. But I never expected a few of the members to be so mean and cruel. One church member wrote something really cruel on my Facebook wall. Both my wife and children cried when they read it.”
Show me how to help my kids grow up like normal kids. “I really worry about the glass house syndrome with my wife and kids. I’m particularly worried that my children will see so much of the negative that they will grow up hating the church. I’ve seen it happen too many times.”
I wish I had been told to continue to date my wife. “I was diligent in dating my wife before I became a pastor. I then got so busy helping others with their needs that I neglected her. I almost lost my marriage. She felt so alone as I tried to meet everyone’s needs but hers.”
Someone needed to tell me about the expectation of being omnipresent. “I had no idea that people would expect me to be at so many meetings, so many church socials, and so many sports and civic functions. It is impossible to meet all those expectations, so I left some folks disappointed or mad.”
I really needed help knowing how to minister to dying people. “Some of those who have terminal illnesses have such a strong faith that they minister to me. But many of them are scared and have questions I never anticipated. I was totally unprepared for these pastoral care issues when I first became a pastor.”

How do you respond to this list? What would you add?

Pastor to Pastor is the Saturday blog series at ThomRainer.com. Pastors and staff, if we can help in any way, contact Steve Drake, our director of pastoral relations, at  Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com . We also welcome contacts from laypersons in churches asking questions about pastors, churches, or the pastor search process.

Friday Is for Freebies: God Anthology and the HCSB Study Bible

This week’s giveaway  includes The God Anthology, a new DVD study from Mark Batterson. The God Anthology guides groups on an exploration into six of the critical aspects of God’s character and personhood. In some respects, this study captures the essence of A.W. Tozer’s classic The Knowledge of the Holy for a new generation. But what makes The God Anthology original is the way music and media are incorporated into the experience. National Community Church worship staff has written, composed, and arranged original music for each of the critical aspects of who God is. This experience will not only utilize these songs worshipfully, but will also integrate the use of QR codes, video, and other forms of media as well.

Also included is the black, genuine leather version of the HCSB Study Bible. This Bible has a retail price of $79.99 and features 15,000 study notes, 290 Hebrew and Greek word studies, 66 highly detailed book introductions, 62 maps, 27 topical articles, 20 charts, and 18 illustrations, all focusing on the most important topics and questions in Bible study.

To be eligible to win, answer the following question:

What is your favorite song used in corporate worship?

The deadline to enter is midnight this Saturday.  We will draw the winner from the entries on Monday morning.

 

Notable Voices – March 7, 2013

Social Media Users: Women Rule – Art Rainer

Art shares the results of a recent Pew Research report demonstrating the proliferation of social media among internet users. Not surprisingly, the results reveal that women are more likely to use social media than men.

 

How to Welcome a New Pastor: 10 Suggestions – Ron Edmondson

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote on the five love languages of pastors. Ron continues that theme with ten ways to welcome a new pastor.

 

Your Brain Is Hooked on Being Right – Judith E. Glaser

No one likes to be wrong all the time. We want to be right. So much so that we have become addicted to being right. This article provides a few exercises for you to do at work work on correcting the addiction to being right

 

12 Questions Every New Leader Should Ask – Bill Blankschaen

Last Saturday I wrote on seven questions a prospective pastor should ask. Here are 12 more questions for leaders to ask when they arrive at a new job.

 

A DoM Is Not “a Pastor to Pastors” – Brent Hobbs

Brent has started a new blog series on the role of the Director of Missions. Even for non-SBC readers, this is an interesting perspective on the function of denominational leaders.

 

Top 200 Ministry Blogs – Kent Shaffer

Kent Shaffer and the team at Church Relevance has released their latest ranking of the Top 200 Ministry Blogs. I’m grateful to them (and to you, the readers of this blog) for being included.

Six Thoughts on How Great Leaders Will Retire

On January 1, 2011 roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers retired. From that point for the next nineteen years, approximately 10,000 persons of that large generation will retire every day. That massive shift from employment to post-employment is a sociological phenomenon that our nation has never known.

The Nature of the Retirement Preparation

For the past few years there has been an inundation of publications preparing Boomers for their inevitable retirement date. Most of the literature has focused on financial preparation: getting your 401(k) ready; saving at a sufficient pace; paying down debt; and working with retirement calculators. Some of the other publications tell Boomers how they might have a second career in retirement, and what opportunities are available.

In other words, most of the available material focuses on the Boomers themselves. The literature plays to the self-focused nature of this large generation. For certain, there’s nothing wrong with adequate financial and vocational preparation toward retirement.

How Great Leaders View Retirement

There is a small slice of the Boomer generation that will view retirement from a totally different perspective. They will not focus their preparation energies as much on themselves as the organizations they serve.

Jim Collins, in his classic treatise Good to Great, called these leaders “Level 5 Leaders.” These leaders have many admirable qualities such as intense drive and humility. But perhaps the true distinguishing characteristic of Level 5 Leaders is that they focus energies on the organization they lead and serve. While they do not necessarily neglect their own financial and vocational goals, their primary focus is on leaving the organization robust and healthy.

Six Ways Great Leaders Approach Retirement

These great leaders are truly other-centered. It is the nature of their humility. And that focus on someone or something other than themselves causes them to approach retirement asking six unique questions.

What is the best timing for my retirement for the good of the organization? Their first question does not focus on their own financial needs. These leaders don’t look in the mirror to see if it’s time. They ask others if it is time. They do not want to stay one day past their maximum benefit to the organizations they lead and serve.
Are there any difficult decisions that should be made before I retire? Level 5 Leaders do not want to leave the most difficult issues for their successors. They desire to pay the price now instead of doing those things that lead to the easiest path to retirement. They are courageous. They are sacrificial.
Am I coasting? Great leaders abhor the thought of just getting by until they retire. They eschew short-term decisions that may benefit them but harm the organization in the long term. They are constantly asking others to evaluate their decisions to make certain they are not taking the easiest and most convenient path.
Am I doing everything I can to leave the organization stronger than when I arrived? Obviously this question intersects with the previous two, but it is much broader. A person who is likely to retire in five years may make most of his decisions with a five-year horizon. A great leader makes decisions that are best for the organization regardless of the timetable.
Do I need to build bridges? In the course of a career, people often burn bridges one or more times. Most of them move on, seeing such difficult moments as part of the natural course of a few decades of work. But great leaders seek to build bridges before they retire. They understand that one of the most valuable things they can do is to demonstrate forgiveness, humility, and remorse in relationships with others.
Am I mentoring others for a better future? Mentoring can be time consuming and inconvenient. Great leaders understand that one of the greatest contributions they can make is to invest in the lives of others. The “payoff” typically does not happen during the career of the Level 5 leader, but years beyond it.

Admittedly, most people are not Level 5 Leaders. Most Boomers who are approaching retirement do not ask themselves these six questions. But admittedly, this world would be a much better place if more leaders looked after the interests of others before themselves.

Seven Warning Signs of a Leader’s Fall

by Chuck Lawless

Simon Peter is one of my favorite Bible characters. He is so real . . . so human. He was the leader of the apostles, named first in the lists of the disciples in the New Testament. Still, though, he fell in a dramatic way (Luke 22:31-62).

The story of Peter’s fall is filled with warning signs for today’s leaders. Though these signs don’t always happen in a linear fashion, each one should cause us to slow down and evaluate our lives.

Being overconfident – Jesus told Peter the Enemy would sift him, but Peter strongly affirmed his commitment to go to prison or to death for Jesus. Surely Peter meant those words, as evidenced by his later willingness to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Within hours, though, he would deny knowing Jesus. Peter was overconfident and didn’t know it – and that’s the danger of overconfidence. Believing “it won’t happen to me” is a huge warning sign.
Suffering emotional and physical fatigue – The disciples were to watch and pray in the garden, but instead they slept. The emotional fatigue of mounting opposition to Jesus had taken a toll. Exhaustion increased their vulnerability to the Enemy’s arrows. Under the wearying strain of a leader’s responsibilities, we, too, sometimes let our guard down.  Carrying too many burdens and getting too little rest can lead to serious consequences.
Failing to pray – “Pray,” Jesus commanded the disciples in the garden. Even if they wanted to, still sleep came easier than prayer. The problem here is simple: prayerlessness reflects self-dependence rather than dependence on God. Anytime we’re not praying, we are susceptible to a fall. In fact, prayerlessness usually correlates to acting first and following God second – as Peter did when he first defended Jesus with a sword.
Growing distanced from Jesus – Peter followed Jesus after His arrest from a distance. That distance was obviously geographical, but his heart would quickly grow distant from Jesus, too. His actions soon to come would make that point. He who had stood with Jesus and said he would die for Him wouldn’t stand for Him when challenged. Our distance from Jesus may be marked more by less Bible reading and fewer prayers than public denials, but any distance can set us up for a fall.
Trying to hide in public – Peter did not hide well, of course, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. He warmed himself at the same fire that warmed the enemies of Jesus. Surely he hoped no one would see anything unusual in his presence. Good leaders don’t ignore this warning sign: if you’re tempted to hide something (even while still serving publicly), you are moving in the wrong direction.
Lying – A servant girl looked intently at Peter and accused him of being a follower of Jesus; in fact, the wording suggests she stared hard at the disciple. Face to face. Eyeball to eyeball. Accountability in action. Still, Peter lied to her. She challenged him with the truth of who he was, and he denied it. You know a fall is at full throttle if you lie when confronted with the truth of what you’re doing.
Escalating denials –Three times, others initiated a conversation about Peter’s relationship with Jesus; three times the disciple denied it. To admit he was a follower of Christ would have been to risk his own life, and Peter would not go there. In fact, his denials escalated to the point that he was angry, swearing he had no relationship with Jesus. “May curses fall on me if it’s otherwise,” he said. Leaders in the midst of a fall often convince themselves that loud continual denials somehow change reality.

Here’s the danger for leaders today. For Peter, the process of falling occurred rapidly. It was as if he ran and leapt into disobedience. Most leaders don’t leap into trouble, though; they slide there. Sometimes the process happens so imperceptibly that leaders are in a disaster before they know it.

That’s why good leaders know these warning signals and guard their heart.

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.

Ten Rules of Thumb for Healthy Churches in America

Using rules of thumb to gauge church health is problematic because they are, well, rules of thumb. There will always be exceptions, extenuating circumstances, and even disagreements on the right metrics.

I thus realize I am taking a risk when I publish these broad guidelines. There is the greater risk that someone will take these numbers as infallible and perfectly suited for his or her congregation. Please let wisdom prevail. So many factors, such as demographics, multiple sites, and history will always provide better insights than mere numbers.

Nevertheless, I provide you these ten rules of thumb as a starting point. You can then wisely discern how well and specifically they apply to your situation.

Number of acres needed for church site: one acre for every 125 in attendance. This ratio is based on useable acres. That number is affected by zoning requirements, water retention requirements, and property shape, to name a few.
Parking Spaces: one space for every 2 people in attendance.
Parking Area: 100 spaces for every acre used for parking.
Evangelistic effectiveness: 12 conversions per year for every 100 in average attendance. Different congregations used different terminology: conversions, baptisms, professions of faith, salvations, etc. In this metric, the number refers to those in the past year who became Christians and became active in that specific congregation.
Seating space per attendee: 27 inches. That number was 20 inches at one time. It has changed due to larger posteriors and greater cultural space desires.
Maximum capacity of a facility: 80% full. This old tried and true ratio is still good. When a facility is 80% full architecturally, it feels 100% full.
Retention effectiveness: For every 10 new members added per year, average worship attendance should increase by 7.
Effective giving; For every person in average attendance, including children and preschool, $26.00 in budget receipts. For example, a church with an average worship attendance of 100 should average at least $2,600 in weekly budget giving. This ratio is obviously greatly impacted by demographics.
Maximum debt payment budgeted: 33 percent of annual income for most churches. Up to 40 percent for fast-growing churches.
Maximum debt owed: 2.5 times the annual income of the church for the previous year.

So how do you evaluate these rules of thumb? How is your church doing? What would you recommend I change or add?

Pray for City Mission

Location:​ Kaiserslautern, Germany

Pastor: ​Rev. Phil Burton

Worship times:​ 11:00 AM (GMT+1) 6 hours ahead of EST

Fast Facts:​ The vision of City Mission in Kaiserslautern is to live as the culture of Christ by communicating and demonstrating His ways. Please pray for continued unity with other churches in their community and pray also for God to send more laborers for the harvest as the church membership seeks to be more Great Commission oriented.

Website:​ www.citymissionktown.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 your church to be featured in “Pray for . . .” contact Steve Drake, director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com.

Seven Questions a Pastor Should Ask a Church Before He Says “Yes”

You have been selected to be one of the finalists to be considered as the pastor of a church. Perhaps you are the lone finalist. You have answered a plethora of questions. The church has done a legal background check on you, a credit check, and a social media check. They have listened to your podcast sermons. A few members attended your current church and listened to you preach in person. They have checked numerous references on you.

Now it’s your turn.

While it’s common for candidates for a pastorate to ask questions, the nature of the questions often does not lend itself to a complete answer. For example, if you ask some of the church members if they are ready and willing to reach their community with the gospel, they will likely respond with a resounding “yes.” But after you become their pastor, your realize they meant that they are willing for you to do the work, and they aren’t really comfortable reaching beyond their own groups. They didn’t lie. They just didn’t tell you the whole story.

So I have devised seven questions that are more likely to get to the heart of the matter. I encourage you to ask these questions and listen carefully to their responses. It could save you a lot of heartache in the future.

If a big decision needs to be made in the church, to whom do the members look for the blessing or approval? This question is a more subtle approach than asking who the power group is. They may respond with one name or they may point to a group of people. You may hear stories how the power brokers operate. And if you decide to accept the call to the church, you have good insights on how to lead and move forward. Or there could be sufficient horror stories to keep you away.
What is your dream for how the church might look ten years from now? Once you hear the responses to this question, you will likely have a good idea of what the change tolerance is in the church. Any organization should look significantly different in a decade. If their decadal view involves only cosmetic changes, you may have a leadership challenge.
What was the topic of your last contentious business meeting? You will learn a lot by hearing when that meeting took place. If it was just a few weeks ago, the church may be a fighting lot. If it was several years ago, it is likely that the church is a relatively civil group. You will also be able to hear the issue and find out if that issue is still a point of contention today.
What is your fondest memory of the church? It’s always good to find out when the “good old days” were, and if they are still the focus of longing today. On the other hand, the good old days may be a point where the church experienced a period of great spiritual and numerical growth. Their desire to return to those days could be healthy.
What is the number one recommendation you have received in your search for a pastor? Often the congregation will have been surveyed on this issue, and you can hear the direct results of that survey. At the very least, they have had informal conversations on the topic. They should be able to share many insights with you. In some ways, they will be giving you the church’s expectations of you.
What is something I might say from the pulpit that would cause a number of members to cringe? This question gets to heart of “hot button” issues. Some of those issues may be theological. Some of them may be something foolish one or more former pastors said from the pulpit. At the very least you have been forewarned before you accept the call to the church.
What is the biggest mistake made by any of your previous pastors? Because you open up the discussion to the entire history of the church, you don’t have to pick on any one previous pastor. But you can learn a lot by hearing the not-so-positive tales of those who came before you.

What do you think of these seven questions? What would you add to the list?

Pastor to Pastor is the Saturday blog series at ThomRainer.com. Pastors and staff, if we can help in any way, contact Steve Drake, our director of pastoral relations, at  Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com . We also welcome contacts from laypersons in churches asking questions about pastors, churches, or the pastor search process.

Friday Is for Freebies: Follow Me

This week’s giveaway is a big one. I’m giving away a complete churchwide campaign package for David Platt’s new study Follow Me. It includes the church campaign kit, the adult kit, and the student kit and has a retail value of $130.

In Follow Me, David Platt takes you on a journey to see that the invitation to follow Him is an invitation to a relationship. It’s a relationship marked by self-denial, personal intimacy, single-minded ambition, and ultimate joy. In following Him, you will find the purpose you were created for which is to bring glory to God by sharing the gospel and to make disciples who make disciples.

Many of you also know David because of Secret Church. And I want to remind you that on Good Friday, March 29th, from 6 p.m. until midnight (CDT), he will be leading another Secret Church. For six solid hours Christians will gather together—all around the planet—to focus intensely on “Heaven, Hell, and the End of the World” and to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters. Can you imagine what a revolutionary evening this will be? You can bring this Secret Church to your church, small group, home, college, or university via a LifeWay simulcast. This phenomenal event is easy to produce (all you need is the Internet) and affordable. But more importantly, I really believe it will be a Good Friday worship event unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Visit lifeway.com/secretchurch to learn how your can host this Secret Church simulcast.

To enter this week’s giveaway, simply list the name and city of your church in the comments section below. 

The deadline to enter is midnight Central Time this Saturday.  We will draw one winner from the entries on Monday morning.

By entering, you acknowledge and accept the terms of the promotion.