Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 385

24 Years in One Place...and Counting

Dennis D Price is the pastor of Troy United Methodist Church in Troy, Illinois

I have served as pastor of the Troy United Methodist Church in Troy, IL since October 1, 1988—a long time in our system. I am grateful to have been able to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful to God for the experience of being a pastor. As I look back on these years, I think about a few things (besides the obvious disciplines of prayer and study of the scriptures) that have been helpful to me as I have led this congregation.

Calling. I was convinced and continue to be convinced that I was called to be a pastor. I said yes to that call just before I graduated from high school. A few decades have passed since then. God’s call on my life has been and continues to be an anchor.
Work Ethic. I grew up on a farm in Illinois. From an early age I did my share of work. I’m grateful for the heritage of hard work. I have tried to carry that over in my role as a pastor. Part of that heritage from the farm included never working on Sundays. Even if Sunday might have been the only day in a given week the fields were dry, the tractors were silent on Sunday! While the demands of the pastorate are many and there’s always been a challenge for balance and Sabbath keeping, I still have felt that the church I serve deserves to get a day’s work for what has almost always been a generous day’s pay!
Support of Family. I know I have been blessed with a spouse and family that have been very supportive of my ministry and the churches we have served. I’m grateful. My wife, with wisdom and grace, has been involved in the church’s various ministries but also she has (with wisdom and grace) maintained enough distance to be helpful to both me and the church!
Small Group. I have been part of a clergy small group or covenant group since the early days of my ministry. I was going through a particularly rough time in my first appointment out of seminary. (I only lasted there 1 year— Iwas actually appointed somewhere else the next year by request of the personnel committee—our version of getting fired!) It was a weekly clergy covenant group that helped me get through that year. They supported me and listened as I was sorting through this learning experience. After living through that, I made it a priority to be in one or start one which I have done on a couple of occasions. The clergy covenant group I’m in now (for the last 24 years!) meets at our church on Thursdays.
Best Place to Serve: Wherever I have served, I have always felt it was the best place to be. Best community, best region, best leaders, best people! I have spent very little time wondering if there was a better place to serve. It might be an overused phrase, but I have tried to practice it: “bloom where you are planted.”
Keep Superiors Informed. A piece of advice that my home church pastor gave me when I was starting out was this: “always let your District Superintendent (the supervisor in our system) know what’s going on.” I have taken his advice and have always let the DS know what’s happening in my church – both the good and the not so good. I have also invited each new DS to spend a day with me touring the community and talking through the ministry plans sothey will have a better understanding of this context. That little piece of advice has paid big dividends.
Consultants/Coaches. I have used coaches/consultants to help me and the leadership of the church discover God’s direction for the church. These consultations were often around the issues of ministries, staffing, and facilities..Objective opinions and new eyes have helped us chart a way forward. While I have depended on a couple of different coaches, I do want to thank Dr. Ken Callahan, for the onsite consultations he has led for me as well as periodic telephone coaching sessions.
Starting Something New: One of my personality traits is to be more excited about starting something than maintaining something. This may seem strange having been in one place for quite a while. However, as I look back on it, much of the time I have been involved in actions that would fall in the “starting” column verses the “maintaining” column: meeting and welcoming new people, starting new worship services, new building projects, new staffingpositions and/or configurations (very little paid staff when I came here), and starting new ministries. All of these things are energizing for me.
Remembering Names: I know there might be a limit to this, but so far I have been able to remember people’s names. I don’t want to boast about this, but it has been a characteristic of mine that is often mentioned. I work at it. I listen carefully to names. I’m not afraid to ask if I don’t know their names. People love it when someone remembers them. I know I do.
No Coasting: I read somewhere one time that pastors get to a certain point and because they feel they can’t do anything else, they just coast to retirement. After reading that and observing it occasionally, I have been determined, with God’s help, not to be one of those pastors. So I’m still at it. While I’m convinced of my calling, I feel I have some options of doing something different if I ever find myself coasting.

I’m grateful for the years in ministry – elsewhere and here. I’m grateful for the past years in ministry and God willing, grateful for future years as well.

I would love to hear from you. How important is pastoral tenure to the health of the church? What are your observations? What does it take to have a longer tenure?

Pastor to Pastor is the Saturday blog of 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 Goes to the Movies

My giveaway this week is a group of books related to recent films from Sherwood Pictures.

Sherwood and LifeWay have partnered many times over the past few years. Earlier this week on the blog, I featured the upcoming Men of Honor Simulcast.

The books I'm giving away this week are The Love Dare, The Resolution for Men, The Resolution for Women, and Courageous Living.

Featured in the popular movie Fireproof, The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick is a 40-day guided devotional experience that will lead your heart back to truly loving your spouse while learning more about the design, nature, and source of truth.

The Resolution for Men challenges men of all ages to become bold and intentional about embracing their responsibilities as leaders of their homes, marriages, and children. Priscilla Shirer's The Resolution for Women\ challenges all women to be intentional about embracing and thriving in God's beautiful and eternal calling.

Finally, in Courageous Living author Michael Catt brings fresh insight to "stories of people in the Bible who displayed great courage when it would have been easier to play it safe ... (who) challenge me to keep moving forward. They demand that I examine my priorities and deal with anything that brings fear to my heart."

To enter today's giveaway, tell us your favorite movie.

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

Notable Voices (May 17, 2012)

A Family Update -- Ed Stetzer

As many of you might know, Ed's daughter, Kaitlyn, has been in the hospital this week with a yet-to-be confirmed illness. Ed has been providing what updates he can from the hospital. The LifeWay family has been praying for Ed, Kaitlyn, and the family, and we ask that you join us.

Leadership Training That Works -- Geoff Surratt

Geoff provides nine quick examples of leadership training from the life of Jesus. May we be this intentional and precise in our leadership on a daily basis.

11 Pieces of Advice for Assistants -- Rick Hawkins

In my post earlier this week on email management, I mentioned how my assistant helps manage my speaking requests. A good assistant makes a boss more efficient and more productive, and mine does that for me. These 11 pieces of practical advice will help any assistant better serve their boss and, in turn, their organization.

5 Ways I Break Out of My Introversion -- Ron Edmondson

I've written extensively here at the blog about my introversion. Ron and I share this characteristic. In this post, he gives his five techniques of forcing himself to perform as an extrovert.

8 Tips for the Free Agents and Consultants -- Brad Lomenick

As the leader of a large organization, I am constantly approached by outside consultants looking to o business with LifeWay. We have had some great experiences with outside consultants, and some not-so-great ones as well. Brad provides some advice and perspective for those in the industry.

Facebook Infographic

Facebook is set to launch a historic IPO this week. Below is an infographic detailing the staggering size of the world's largest social network.

A Day in the Life of a Pastor

It’s Thursday morning. Pastor Doug has a clear calendar, an aberration in his busy schedule. Actually, the calendar is not really clear; he has set aside time to finish his sermon for Sunday. His Bible is open; study aids are nearby. He begins to study.

Then the phone rings.

His assistant tells him about a car accident involving a family in the church. The ambulances are already on the way to the hospital. Doug leaves all of his study material on his desk and jumps into the car.

On the way to the hospital, his assistant calls him again. The entire Godsey family of five was in the car. None are seriously hurry except Gary, the father and husband of the family. His condition is grave.

Pastor Doug walks into the emergency waiting room. The family has just been told that their husband and father did not make it. They see their pastor and run to him sobbing, in total shock. Doug is there for them. He stays with the entire family for three hours until he is certain that enough people are around to care for them.

The Afternoon

He stops by his home to see his wife and grab a quick sandwich. It is now afternoon. He’s not sure if he can return to his sermon preparation, but he knows he must. He must fight the emotional exhaustion of the morning, and finish the message. But as he walks back to the church, his assistant apologetically tells him that two people need to speak with him. They consider it urgent.

Doug meets with the two men. One of them is the worship leader of the church. He is struggling with his ministry and is considering giving up. For two hours, Doug listens, consoles, and attempts to encourage the staff member.

The next visitor then catches Doug off guard. George is one of the key lay leaders in the church. Doug considers him a friend and an incredibly vital person in the overall leadership of the congregation. George struggles to speak: “My wife is having an affair . . . “ There are no more words for 15 minutes. Just tears and sobs.

Doug stays with George for over two hours. They pray together and talk about next steps.

It’s nearly five o’clock in the afternoon. Doug is too drained to attempt to get back to his sermon. Instead he begins to look at his crowded email inbox. He cringes when he sees one of the senders of an email. But he cannot stop himself from opening the message. It’s from one of Doug most frequent critics in the church. She has two complaints. The first irritation was something he said in last Sunday’s sermon. The second complaint addressed Doug’s failure to visit her sister-in-law who had minor outpatient surgery yesterday. The sister-in-law is not a member of the church. And Doug knew nothing about the surgery.

And Now Evening

Pastor Doug shuts the laptop cover and moves to his car slowly. He’ll stop by the house to grab a quick bite to eat. He needs to check on the Godsey family. He will stay with them for a while, but he must leave prior to 7:30, when he is to give the invocation for a local high school basketball game.

Several people get his attention at the game, so he doesn’t get home until after nine o’clock. He goes to his small study in his home, shuts the door, and begins to cry.

Gary Godsey, the father and husband who was killed in the car accident, was Doug’s best friend.

This was the first chance Doug had to grieve.

A Call to Pray for Pastors

The story is true. Only the names have been changed.

In a few weeks, I will be initiating a call for church members to pray five minutes a day for their pastors. Will you make a commitment today, even before the initiative? Will you commit just five minutes a day to pray for your pastor? Will you ask others in your church to do so? Will you pray for their strength, protection, wisdom, and families?

Will you pray for just five minutes?

Men of Honor Simulcast - June 15

As president of LifeWay, I am so proud of the partnership we have with Sherwood Pictures. Many of you know Sherwood as the creative force behind the movies Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and Courageous.

I'm excited to announce the Men of Honor Simulcast. This event is specifically designed to equip men to take courageous living to a new level in their walk with the Lord.

More about the event:

This two-hour simulcast will be filled with solid teaching, inspiring worship, and powerful stories to challenge the men of your church and community to become strong men of honor for Christ and for your families. Hosted live at Sherwood Church in Albany, Georgia, and broadcast to churches around the world, Alex and Stephen Kendrick, the writers of Courageous, Pastor Michael Catt, the author of Courageous Living, and Ed Litton, who played Pastor Hunt in Courageous, will be teaching on God's design for fathers, winning your children's hearts, and how men can make a stronger commitment to Christ. Then, the actors who played Javier, Nathan, Adam, Shane, and William Barrett in Courageous will be doing an inspiring roundtable session where they share personal stories of how God is working in their lives and in men across the nation.

Join the movement as churches across the country seek to honor their men and fathers!! This is a great opportunity to encourage men to live courageously as men of honor. Pray, prepare, and expect great things!

Here's a short video from the Kendricks about the event. I pray you and your church can join us.

Eight Ways Leaders Can Avoid Email Overload

Email is the bane and blessing of modern communications. It is an extremely efficient form of communication. Each additional email has no incremental cost. You do not have to wait a few days to send or receive emails. Indeed, most leaders would rather have email than not.

But email can also be a time-consuming burden for leaders. I have seen the inbox of some leaders with hundreds of emails. I know those particular leaders are unlikely to get most of those emails handled, some of which could be very important.

One of my research projects this week was on email efficiency for leaders. I read a few dozen articles that offered sagacious insights into effective use of this communications tool.

I also offer my own personal experiences. I receive a voluminous number of emails every day. On most days, I get my inbox to zero. Many of the ideas I gleaned from the research were ideas I was already implementing.

There, of course, is no magic formula for dealing with emails. But I hope these eight summary insights can prove useful to many of you.

Clean your email inbox every day. If an email is worthy of a response, it is worthy of a same-day response. Several email efficiency experts noted that next day email, and those older, rarely get an adequate response, if one at all. Some experts recommend setting aside two to three 30-minute increments to deal with email. I personally look at my inbox as I have time during the day. Delete emails quickly. Some of them, like unsolicited marketing emails need not be opened. All of us receive those forwarded emails with a long string of recipients on it (Have you noticed that a number of them begin with “I don’t usually send emails like this”?). So there are many emails you can delete quickly. That makes your inbox look more manageable. Get an email provider that has a good filter. I am grateful to be in a company that has email filtering that gets rid of 99 percent of the “bad guys” in email. A good email provider, at the very least, will provide some filtering, and it will allow you to mark any email in your inbox as spam. If you have an assistant, use that person wisely with emails. When I first came to my organization six years ago, I had three assistants. Today I have one, and she is the best. She is constantly monitoring my inbox to see what she can handle herself. She has developed her own filtering system for me where key words in an email automatically send that email elsewhere. For example, any email that has the words “invite” or “invitation” goes to my assistant who will check my calendar, get facts on the person requesting, and make recommendations to me. Get emails out of your inbox quickly. If you don’t delete them, forward them to someone else to handle, respond quickly, or place them in a file or folder. Most people will read an email in an inbox repeatedly, a true waste of precious leadership time. Avoid sending negative information by email if possible. Because you can’t read non-verbal clues in an email, they can be misunderstood. If you have negative information to convey, call or tell the recipient in person. Negative emails tend to create a life of their own. I know. I have stupidly sent them on more than one occasion. Avoid email loops. Many leaders will respond well to an email, and the recipient will then respond again with another question. Like some over-talkative people, there are some email writers with just too much time on their hands. It’s okay to bring an email loop to a close after you have responded well the first time. Understand that many emails represent a person who really seeks and deserves a response. It is poor leadership to ignore those types of persons. Those who ignore well-intended senders of emails do so at the risk of hurting themselves and their organizations.

Do you struggle with email? What problems and challenges do you encounter? What email efficiencies have you developed?

Mother's Day Notes and Memories

I am blessed, simply blessed.

For Nellie Jo Rainer, my wife and mother of our three sons. I can not imagine a more selfless and loving mother than she.

For Erin Rainer, Sarah Rainer, and Rachel Rainer, my three daughters-in-law. Nellie Jo and I prayed for them from the moments each of our sons were born. Our prayers for godly wives and mothers were answered beyond our greatest hopes in each of them. I watch as each of these young ladies parents their children, our grandchildren. I stand amazed, simply amazed.

For my late mother, Nan Rainer. She always beileved in me. If I have accomplished anything of note in this life, she is one the key reasons. She always told me that, in God's strength, all thngs were truly possible.

And I remember so many people for whom Mother's Day brings bittersweet and even painful memories. So many have suffered losses, and so many have been unable to conceive children. The pain is real and often intense.

May this Mother's Day, for all of you, be a blessing well beyond your expectations.

I know that I have been blessed by the mothers in my life, and I love them so very much.

Eight Warning Signs for Forced Terminations of Pastors

Christianity Today (May 2012) summarized some fascinating information about forced pastor terminations. Using the combined research of the National Congregations Study and the Review of Religious Research, the magazine noted eight warning signs or predictors for forced terminations.

Keep in mind that this research does not tell the why of terminations; rather it deals with certain categories where pastors are more likely to lose their jobs.

If the church had a recent church fight. This makes sense. A fighting church is a mad church. A mad church is more likely to take it out their anger on their pastors. If the church is declining in attendance. Obviously the decline is often blamed on the pastor. If the pastor’s sermon lasts between 11 and 20 minutes. I never thought about this one. Pastors with shorter sermons are twice as likely to lose their jobs as longer-winded pastors. I’ll yield to the readers to figure this one out. If your church has almost no men. Seven percent of churches report that 90 percent or more of their attendees are females. When that is the case, there is a one in five chance the pastor will be asked to leave. If the pastor is a woman. My denomination of 45,000 churches has almost no women pastors, so I’m certainly no expert here. But these churches are nearly twice as likely to fire their pastors. If the pastor is young. If the pastor is under 30 years old, the church is three and half times more likely to let the pastor go. By the way, “three and half times” is a huge statistical variance. If the congregation is old. If 75 to 89 percent of your church is over 60, you are three times more likely to fire the pastor. If you have virtually no adults under 35, the church is even more likely to force terminate the pastor If a slight majority of the congregation is poor. If 56 to 74 percent of your congregation earns less than $25,000, you could be in trouble. Half of these churches have fired pastors. But if the percentage of the poor goes to 75 percent and above, you can rest easy. Very few pastors are asked to leave the very poorest churches.

Again, let me remind you that these eight warning signs are correlative factors, and are not necessarily causative. Still, if you are a young pastor under 30 years old in a declining congregation that is comprised primarily of poor old women, and if the church has a history of fights, please be very careful.

I know that being forced out of a church is a very painful situation. I have heard the story so many times. The experience leaves a scar with the pastor and with the church.

Have you been in churches that match one or more of the profiles above? What was your experience? Have you been forced terminated from a church? What can you teach us from your experience?

At the very least, we would welcome the opportunity to pray for you if you have experienced this pain, or if you are in a difficult situation in your church. We welcome your comments, with your name or in anonymity.

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: Mother's Day Gift Pack

In honor of Mother's Day this Sunday, my giveaway this week is a gift pack that includes Treasured Moments with Mother Graham and the purple duotone HCSB Study Bible.

Treasured Moments with Mother Graham is the sparkling result, four months worth of daily devotions built from the diary of Rose Adams. Each entry includes a word of Truth from Mother Graham, a related Scripture and application, a recollection from Rose Adams to Billy Graham on the context and meaning of this teaching from his mother, and finally is complemented by reflections on this thought from Billy Graham. These are indeed treasured moments that span every book of the Bible and every facet of the Christian life.

Earlier this week, I provided some Mother's Day stats and verses in my Teaching Tools post. So to enter today's giveaway, tell us either something about your mother or your favorite thing about being a mother.

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

Notable Voices (May 10, 2012)

Leo Tolstoy: Youth Group President? -- Eric Geiger

Churches have a tendency to teach kids how to behave until they hit puberty and then teach them how not to behave until they graduate Eric draws on this and the moralistic focus of Leo Tolstoy's faith and counters with the good news of the gospel.

Steve Jobs Wanted To Pull A Willy Wonka, Golden Ticket And All -- Huffington Post

In a new book detailing Apple's success, author Ken Segall recounts a story in which Steve Jobs wanted to put a golden certificate representing the millionth iMac inside the box of one iMac, and publicize that fact. Whoever opened the lucky iMac box would be refunded the purchase price and be flown to Cupertino, where he or she (and, presumably, the accompanying family) would be taken on a tour of the Apple campus.

15 Tips on Blogging from John Newton -- Tony Reinke

Obviously John Newton wasn't a blogger. But he wrote a lot. His letters were also written in a style akin to today's blog posts. Tony Reinke provides 15 modifications of lessons from John Newton on letter-writing that will serve bloggers well.

Four Things I Need from a Mentor -- Ron Edmondson

Mentoring is an oft overlooked responsibility of leaders. Ron Edmondson shares four things to look for to benefit the most from a mentor relationship.

Four Reasons to Preach Through Whole Books of the Bible -- Aaron Armstrong

Preaching styles have been highly debated over the past two decades. Some pastors hold to topical series, some to expositional preaching, some to a mixture of each. Aaron gives four reasons he feels expository preaching benefit pastors and congregations alike.

Then vs. Now Infographic -- Ragan's Daily