Dealing with Stuckness in Church Revitalization

THE

CHURCH

Nov/Dec 2021 Vol 8, Issue 6

Revitalizer Ae R vitalizaton e R e tr at in vE ery Issue

Dealing with Stuckness in Church Revitalization

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

ChurchRevitalizer.Guru

From The Editor Welcome to the Church Revitalizer Magazine!

We want to consider the subject of dealing with stuckness in church revitalization in this edition. Incredible changes have taken place in the past hundred years. Here are seven things you must consider initially: 1. Realize you are trapped as a church, and as its leader, in a routine which is causing decline and not advancement.

2. Begin embracing other leader’s point of view in your church while discovering common ground.

3. Take the time each day to stop and consider whether your thinking is helping you grow your church or hurting your renewal efforts. Taking the time to ponder how your thinking has or has not served you is a time of necessary reflection.

4. After a time of reflection begin assessing your next steps for change as the church revitalizer and as a church needing revitalization.

5. You might make a mistake so get over it. We all make mistakes. Understand that if you make a blunder, recognize it is all part of the journey. Acknowledge it and press onward.

6. Assess your plans for renewal in light of whether they fit your beliefs and core values.

7. Get up, look up, round up others, and start moving out of your stuckness. Never give up because that is precisely what the devil desires of a defeated pastor.

The rate of change is so great that we barely catch our breath before another blast of change slams into us. The starting point of unfreezing a stuck church is the development of a solid community of faith that includes spiritual leaders, the absence of major conflict, trust, and a desire to connect with the unchurched world. Everything we are acquainted with is changing.

Are you tired of feeling stuck as a Church Revitalizer? Do you feel like you have to do something different? You might be approaching a breakthrough.

Here are five marks that a breakthrough for you as a revitalization leader is imminent: 1. Satiation — You have had enough. Enough of your stuckness, enough of church members unwilling to do the work of ministry, enough of seeing your baptismal pool sit idle week after week.

2. Dissatisfaction — Whatever you are doing does not work for you anymore. Maybe it’s not profitable, and maybe it’s not fun. Maybe you are tired of not having the energy you know you need to accomplish your desired result of renewal. Your current approach might have been successful in the past for others, but it has not adapted to your current conditions as a church revitalizer.

3. Threshold — Change becomes a “must.” If you are facing decline. The sooner you embrace change the greater the chance you will have to turn around your church.

4. Insight — You get an insight, or deep understanding of something, and that creates an opportunity for new light and new life. You have a new outlook on your church and know you need to make a major change if it is going to have a change to survive.

5. Opening — A door opens for renewal…and you step through it. That is often the way revitalization works. You must pull the trigger when the opportunity presents itself because it seldom comes back to a church for another try.

Within this edition we want to look at Dealing with Stuckness in Church Revitalization.

These articles will help you begin to reflect on the need to get out of your rut and what to do when the opportunities present themselves.

Stay connected, more is coming!

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Directional Leader of Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.

Contents

What Guests Want to Know

Boomer Surprise!

When a Church is Stuck on Dead Center with No Place to Grow

Ken Priddy

p. 14

Roadblocks to Revitalization Bill Tenny-Brittian

Bob Whitesel

p. 24

p. 18

Tom Cheyney

p. 10

Getting Unstuck in Your Thinking Gary Moritz

p. 30

Also in this issue: Go and Grow p. 54 Fred Boone Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Churches in Revitalization p. 56 Scott Brown Stuck in a Truck p. 58 Jim Grant 4

Nov/Dec | Vol 8, No 6

From the Parking Lot to the Pulpit

Stuck on a Plateau?

Stuck in a “Death Spiral” The Emotional Cost of Revitalization

Steve Sells

Steve Smith

p. 38

Tracy Jaggers

p. 42

In the Mud, but Not Stuch in the Mud Richard Harvey

Desmond Barrett

p. 50

p. 46

p. 34

The Revitalizer

Book Review

Pathways to Partnership; how you and your church can join the replanting movement

by Bob Bickford and Mark Hallock

with Rob Hurtgen

p. 29

City of Prayer; Transforming Your Community through Praying Churches

by Trey Kent and Kie Bowman

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THE

CHURCH

Revitalizer Volume 8, No. 6

The Church Revitalizer Is published bi-monthly by Renovate Publishing Group 1906 West Lee Road Orlando, FL 32810 Email: ChurchRevitalizer.guru

PUBLISHER Executive Editor Dr. Tom Cheyney Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Ashleigh Barclay

The Church Revitalizer Q&A: What is The Church Revitalizers purpose?

To help churches that need to be reinvigorated and renewed effectively receive help in issues that revitalizers face everyday. Articles, resources, and information are gathered from authors all over the country who have been through, or may currently be in, the revitalization process and we want to share their knowledge.

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Contact us at goba@goba.org How do I get help with subscription issues?

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Yes, if it’s for church education, for small group purposes, is less than 1,000 copies and is not offered for resale. Please contact us for more information.

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When a Church is Stuck on Dead Center with No Place to Grow

By Tom Cheyney

In the frenzied era from 1965-1975 we saw the nine mainline denominations within North America decline in many ways!

For the first time in American history these major assemblies stopped growing and began to be reduced in size. In 1967 Southern Baptists overtook the Methodists, becoming the nation’s largest evangelical protestant body. Yet some 54 years later even Southern Baptists are faced with continual decline and plateauing of churches membership and attendance. I am a Southern Baptist and have been one since the day I was saved and invited Jesus Christ into my heart and life. I came to know Christ during the evangelistic efforts of Southern Baptist known as Bold Missions Thrust. Ever since that time we have been a growing evangelistic denomination. Until recently that is. Many proponents have declared that my denomination is one that is dying. While many groups play with the concept of church renewal, few within my tribe are trying to fix it. Church revitalization, just like Church Planting, has fallen into a politically correct thing to say we want to fix. Yet if we continue to resist change within the local church such resistance to change could even kill fifty percent or more of our churches by 2030. We must address the stuckness of our churches if we are to see a reversal in this trend.

If you take the time to consider his conclusion it is alarming to say the least to consider such an evangelical group decline from 48,000+ churches to less than 20,000 churches in just over a twenty-two-year interlude. The growth from the 1950’s has progressively slowed. Ed Stetzer has declared that “Church membership is clearly moving to a plateau. Many have predicted that membership would soon began to decline, but the statement, Southern Baptists are a declining denomination was

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not “officially” accurate. Until today.1 From 1999 to 2005, 70,000 protestant churches were evaluated and it was discovered that those churches which declined by more than 10 percent in attendance over that six year period included 52 percent of the sample. Only 31 percent of the samples were found to be growing over 10 percent in that same six-year time period.2 The other 17 percent would be those churches that are either stalled or plateaued.

Stuck Churches Must Move Away from the Attractional to Outwardly Focused Part of the solution rests in moving from attractional models and methodologies to becoming more and more outwardly focused. Many of the stuck churches find themselves ministering more and more only within the walls of the church and the idea of community transformation has become foreign. Since 2000 there has been a decline in every state except Hawaii in Christian church attendance.3 In churches categorized by size, only new churches with 0-49 attendants and larger churches with 1000 or more attendants, is there any display of growth today.4 Sandwiched in between these two polar opposites are the stuck churches within Western Christianity. There is a revitalization of Spirituality everywhere, except within the neighborhood house of worship. The Western Church is in decline and a growing pro1 Ed Stetzer.com Blog, April 20, 2008 posting. Ed is Missiologist in Residence for LifeWay Christian Resources.

2 David T. Olson, The American Church in Crisis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), Pgs. 131-132.

3 For further research go to www.TheAmericanChurch.org and open The American Church Research Project by David T. Olson.

4 Ibid.

portion of these churches are stuck on dead center with little or no growth or even decline. Perhaps it is as simple as being stuck on old models but while I think though that is part of it, it is not all of it. While the attractional model appears to be failing some churches it is vibrant in others.

For some churches they are stuck still in the 1970’s and have no hope of growth in the near future. There are issues that cause a church to become stuck. Sometimes it is the dumb things or the wrong things we do as leaders that kill a churches growth.

Other times it is something within the membership in regard to holding on to a church in yester years that can cause a church to be stuck. I know one church (and many others for that matter) that as the membership is advancing in years and going on to glory, there is a feeling, if not an actual commandment, to take their church on to glory with them.

The Beginning of Stuckness It Is easy for a shoot from the hip type leader to lead a new church or even go to another church and pull out his bag of tricks all over again! We have seen within almost any denomination ministers who can pull off a three-to-five-year ministry over and over again for their entire ministry career. It is entirely something new for a leader to stay with a ministry and mission that are hard and see it through to the best days of the church’s life! Instead of people looking back and remembering when the good ole days were here, you can look forward and see the hand of God revitalizing a declining church and moving it off of that dead center or stuck feeling.

The Unrelenting Leader It is worth noting that it is not the aggressive, shoot from the hip type of leader that makes a strong leader for church revitalization! Rather, the best way to confront momentous troubles within a congregation may be faced and overcome by a single solitary confident unrelenting leader. The best solution either to a predicament or a long-term issue which threatens the well-being of any church is understanding this issue. Think about some examples from life: Most military conflicts are resolved upon the emergence of a key leader. Most businesses which flourish and endure are led by a single individual. Most glory days of almost anything is initiated during the tenure of one leader who has vision and tenacity. Now reflect upon how God dealt with crisis and stagnation in biblical times. When the Children of Israel were languishing in Egypt; When the remnant of Israel returned from Babylon and found Jerusalem in ruins; When Christ ascended and the early church had no human guide; When God wanted to spread the Gospel throughout Asia Minor and Europe; how did God respond? A thought worth taking into consideration, in each and every case God summoned, God empowered, God trained, and God encouraged a single leader. Biblical leaders like Moses, Nehemiah, Peter, and Paul are good examples of the single solitary leader God will raise up. Churches will prosper and grow in vitality when the right individual leader emerges. God will assist church leaders who are willing to step forward, accept authority, learn, persist, and be responsible. A key leader emerging is the beginning solution to any church revitalization effort.

Stuck Churches Look for a New Leader to Pull Them Through the Decline Regardless of the new leader either a pastor or member of the laity who assumes the role, while temporary zest might appear for a time, this new leader will eventually be ground down and grind up leaving nothing more than little or no actual change. If we ask a new leader to assume the role of leadership in order to inspire, motivate, and encourage a church, we will grow. I refer to this as the tractor pull myth. Have you ever been to a tractor pull?

It is noisy and centers around these big machines with huge engines that pull a tractor while this heave load moves forward on a trailer causing the weight on the tractors back axel to become impacted and the tractor is unable to move forward. The Tractor Pull Phenomenon eventually, due to the great weight, prevents any real forward progress and leads to the tractor getting stuck.

This is what happens when a stuck church seeks to pull the tractor up the road. The pull looks good for a little while. Once the greater load begins to impact the movement the church and the new leader cannot handle the increased load and the axel becomes locked because of the increased pressure.

Stuck Churches Seek to Relight the Fire Through Burst of Unsustainable Energy Even though we may all realize where we need to go and have a little burst of energy, we will see the initial enthusiastic spurt rapidly diminish and result in no real change. If you as a church decide to aggressively attack numerical drop off, you will be able to relight the flame and get growing again.

Stuck Churches Desire a Specialist to Fix Them Over Fixing Themselves If we hire a church specialist, our problems are over and the good ole days are right around the corner, right? Actually, no.

Even though some degree of expertise is advisable, merely hiring an expert will not fix a flat church just like a nail will not fix a flat tire. My convention has been covered for years with quick fix consultants with very little success. Ideals that were tried in the late 1960’s and early 1970’ are raising their head again in some organizations. What was less than successful in that era just will not produce new results in ours. It takes time to become healthy again. In fact, if a stuck church is not willing to invest at least 1,000 days into this process (three years minimum), health might be a fleeting ideal gabbed for but fumbled in the end.

Breaking the Cycle of Discontent and Stagnation While many a church who is mired in conflict has tried one or more of these solutions, they do not provide a lasting long-term remedy. Change must take place from within, and the church must work at it with everything it has. Less than total effort will lead to little or no success and wear you and your members out.

Recapturing the former luster may not be the end result that is needed so walk carefully and do not place preconceive expectations on what God has planned. What needs to be broken is the cycle of discontent and stagnation! The tractor pull model, the relight the fire model and the specialist model usually just does not work. Status quo usually wins out over enthusiastic quick

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strikes that fizzle in the end! Stirring up a congregation without any real long-term effect only wears them out. You must get at the true underlying symptoms and diseases for change to happen.

What you need to have to change your stuck church: 1. You must keep the subject current.

2. You must begin a long-term crusade that will take around three years.

3. You must be happy with small victories that will lead to bigger victories later.

4. You must be willing to assist the pastor if you are not the preaching pastor.

5. You must be persistent.

6. Develop historical knowledge about your church.

7. You must be assessable to everyone and stay connected to everyone.

8. You need to have sufficient time to devote to the cause.

9. First-hand knowledge of the church and how it got stuck is necessary (a discovered skill set).

10. Possesses a willingness to become a change agent (no ego involved).

11. Have a strong constitution and willingness to let people get upset at you and yet remain calm.

12. Displays the ability to stay focused and avoid getting angry.

13. The ability to keep the goal the goal and not be deterred. Church health is the desired end goal!

Questions Related to Your Churches Stuckness Are there factors which cause stuckness in one church necessarily going to result in stuckness in another church? There are some dormancy indicators within most churches that can be key indicators of weather you are stuck or not. Here are some dormancy indicators: • Does the church not have at least additions equaling 10% of its participating membership?5 (if not you might be in decline.)

• Does the church have at least 20% of its active membership exiting through the back door annually? (If so, you are probably in decline.)

• Have you shut down any ministries such as the youth program, nursery, or some adult Bible classes? (Guess what?)

• Sometimes you manufacture the “alive” feeling when it is not there. An example is the first year of a new minister has 30 additional people in attendance. Then the next year attendance drops off significantly. (If so, you are probably in decline.)

5 Unless you are a Quaker church where this would not be the case.

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• You begin to compare your church with other churches to determine if you are stuck or not. Gloating over another church’s worst-case scenario is a sure sign of stuckness.

• We all must realize that to some measure every church is stuck and to some extent nearly every church is alive.

Wrapping it Up The challenge of a church revitalization leader is not to impart renewal ability into your people, but to extract it, for the capacity is already there. Pastor, if your church is in downward spiral of plateau and decline check some of these indicators out. In western Christianity there is a new factor that is alarming to say the least if not unscriptural. Some congregations have decided or are deciding right now that it is easier to die rather than live. Too many churches are attended and led mostly by people who are quite happy for their church to plateau and decline. They recognize that they are personally getting older and will eventually die, and their expectation is that their church will decline with them and eventually die.

They are stuck. They have no vision for the church being revitalized and no will to make any of the changes that might be necessary for this to happen. Indeed they resist change of any kind. There is an ever-growing problem with declining attendance and membership in the church today! Once a church begins to become stuck it must work hard at overcoming such a crippling obstacle. No church is beyond the power of God to transform it. Remember it is God’s timetable and not yours, it will take some time so be patient. Display a courageous faith daily in the midst of the transformation. Get up and go to work each day allowing the Lord to guide your hands. Though it is daunting and often risky, the uncharted paths move all of us out of those comfortable places into the unsure places where God can stretch us, expand us, grow us and in the end revitalize us once again into a healthy revitalized church. Pray. Pray some more. Now pray even a little more. Lastly, be reassured that the Lord on high will use your church to His glory once again. Remember to give God the praise when He does.

Tom Cheyney is the Founder & Directional Leader of the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conference (RenovateConference.org).

Some of Tom’s books include: The Church Revitalizer as Change Agent, Slaying the Dragons of Church Revitalization: Dealing with the Critical Issues that are Hurting Your Church; and Church Revitalization in Rural America: Restoring Churches in America’s Heartland. Tom lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife Cheryl and travels all over North America assisting declining churches by bringing revitalization and renewal to the congregations.

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Centrifugal Buzz:

Boomer Surprise!

By Ken Priddy Thousands upon thousands of American evangelical churches are in plateau or decline and this downward trend shows no signs of turning around any time soon. Church leaders long, hope and pray for more young families to come inside while lamenting the so-called graying of their congregations. Wait a minute! Aren’t we missing something, here? This graying references the aging of the typical congregation, a poetic acknowledgement that the younger congregants of the past are the older congregants of today, populating congregations that are statistically older and statistically shrinking because fewer and fewer younger people are coming into the church to balance the averaging of the ages. As the church, we are getting older and older as we grow smaller and smaller. So, we cry, “Where are the young families?” We plead, “Young families, save us from going under.” We reason that, without younger people and their families, our churches will ultimately die.

Okay – I get it. Logic tells us that younger people are the future of the church. They are the future staff, the future leaders, the future volunteers, the future teachers, the future caregivers, the future financial supporters. True enough, but it has occurred to me that in order to have a future we must have a present. If the present collapses, there can be no future. Right?

So, who might we call on in the present, in the RIGHT NOW? We might call on that graying congregation that is still right here in the church. The vast majority of them are Baby Boomers, that massive generation that was born on the heels of World War II. There were, and still are, millions of them and many of them are in the church. They are not the problem but could be a significant element in finding a viable, sustainable solution. It just might be that these Boomers (+/- 5 years) might be the best thing going in the typical church of today.

Scripture speaks often of the value of the eldest among us and how they are to be honored and respected. Their lives, lived in godly fashion, provide a repository of wisdom. The Book of Proverbs, a collection of wisdom sayings, spotlights the importance of public life at the city gates where elders provided wise counsel and judgment over community affairs. In Proverbs 31, it is said of the godly wife, “Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land,” (Proverbs 31:23). His godly leadership in the home is evident in her character and

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productivity, such that her godliness and wisdom bear testimony to his. His integrity in private life qualifies him to lead in public life at the gates, and, these days, she just might join him at the gates. In Proverbs 1, we find, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks,” (Proverbs 1:20-21). Wisdom personified speaks this wisdom at the city gates. How? She speaks through godly elders whose input into community life is greatly pursued.

Question: Is this the manner in which the aging in our churches are being perceived in our day? Sometimes, surely, but I don’t think that’s the norm. More often I hear frustration on the part of pastors or leaders about the oldness of their congregations, even complaints about these “old people.” My intent here is not to point fingers at pastors or leaders who seem to marginalize their Boomers. Rather, I’m attempting to sound a clarion call to snap out of it and realize that a valuable resource for the revitalization of your churches might be right in front of you.

Maybe it’s time to leverage what you have and not waste time and energy wishing you had something, or someone, else.

For full disclosure, I should mention that I’m a Boomer, born in 1950, but I don’t think I’m on a rant, here, about folks my

who are lost in the harvest. Jesus calls His disciples to pray for laborers to go into that harvest (Matthew 9:38) and, Boomers, Laborers ‘R Us! Consider the account of Judge Deborah from Judges 4-5. The people of God were unfaithful and in disarray, once again being dominated by a foreign power. Deborah, along with Barak, her military commander, by the hand of God, successfully led Israel in battle, overthrowing the enemy. The blessing of God returned to Israel. As was the custom, a song was written to commemorate the victory and the restored relationship with God. We find this song in Judges 5. In the ESV, the opening lyric reads, “That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord,” (Judges 5:2).

This is as close to a biblical formula for revitalization as I have ever come across. There are three elements: 1. Leaders take a proactive lead (that’s you, pastors and leaders), 2. the people sacrificed (that’s you, Boomers) and, 3. God blessed and God was blessed.

age being marginalized in the church. Rather, I’ve been engaged in the ministry of revitalization for almost thirty years and I’m sharing what I’ve come to understand through study, observation and practice. So, let me provide something of a bottom line: if God has blessed you with an aging congregation weighted toward Boomers, His expectation is that you will spiritually develop and strategically mobilize those Boomers for laboring in the harvest. Once they are developed and mobilized, your church will begin to grow spiritually and numerically and, eventually, you will begin to reach the young.

A dynamic present will feed a growing future, all to the glory of God. Let’s shift gears. Boomers, if you’ve read this far, I’m sure that you’ve identified with at least some of what’s been said and, hopefully, that you’re interested in engaging more strongly with a Great Commission vision and strategy emanating from your church that includes you. Here’s the challenge, though.

It’s unlikely that this can happen strictly on your terms. In order for you to be developed and mobilized fully, you are going to be called upon to sacrifice. My objective is not to have pastors and leaders cater to their older folks but to deploy their older folks into meaningful ministry. Ultimately, church ministry is about glorifying God by reaching His missing children

Jesus prayed that the cup of death by crucifixion might pass from Him, but submitted, “not my will, but yours, be done,” (Luke 22:42). Boomers, are we willing to be “not my will” disciples? If our pastors and leaders are going to invest themselves in us, spiritually developing us in our faith and strategically mobilizing us for laboring in the harvest, are we going to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, sacrifice personal preferences and answer the call?

Graying congregations have been a source of disappointment, frustration and, even, irritation for pastors and leaders in recent years. It’s time for that to change. Boomers might well be a primary catalyst for gathering the harvest and revitalizing the American evangelical church. God is a sending God. Let’s send our Boomers. Surprise!

Ken Priddy (D.Min., Ph.D.) is Founder and Executive Director of the GO Center, a training and consulting ministry committed to church vitalization and revitalization. Ken also directs LEADERTOWN: A Laboratory for Organization & Leadership Development.

His thirty-plus year journey in church planting and revitalization has grown into a national presence among evangelical leaders. He’s an effective trainer and consultant, but perhaps his most significant contribution is his extensive development of training curricula.

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Roadblocks to Revitalization: Four Things that Will Neutralize Your Revitalization Road Trip

By Bill Tenny-Brittian Lau Tzu gets the credit for the quote “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” for most of us our journeys begin when we grab our keys and head to the car. For most of you reading this, when it comes to the revitalization of your church, you’ve already found your keys, packed your lunch, grabbed your travel mug, and have merged onto the transformation highway. I’d like to tell you that the road to church transformation is only a thousand miles, but you can actually walk that distance in about forty days (and drive it in about two) if you walked eight hours every day. The road from Home to Revitalized typically takes three to five years just to get moving and upwards of twelve years to so routinize the transformation that it will continue after you’ve taken the exit ramp.

Misunderstanding Your Role I’m writing this article with the premise that most who read this are serving as the lead pastor. To be honest, there is no more difficult task in the church than to be in the driver’s seat of a church’s transformation journey. Revitalizations are fraught with difficulties from beginning to end. However, in my over thirty years as a church leader, coach, and consultant, the biggest issue I’ve had to deal with is helping lead pastors to understand what their job is.

With a journey like that, there are bound to be some potholes, detours, and maybe even an accident or two. You can, and should, expect those. In fact, if you’ve left the driveway on your transformation journey, I suspect you’ve already experienced some of them along the way. However, there are some formidable roadblocks out there that are so problematic they’ll either neutralize your journey, or worse, force you to put your car in Park, give up, and walk away.

Later, if we got involved in church politics, we learned about the “traditional” roles of the pastor. By tradition, I mean that whatever church you were a part of had defined what their pastor did in the church. Visit the sick. Be at all the meetings.

Lead weddings and funerals. Do pastoral counseling. And so on. That helped expand your understanding of the pastor’s job.

Although any obstacle can undermine or scuttle the journey to revitalization, I want to share three that have probably caused more crash-and-burn efforts than any others.

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Most of us learned what it meant to be a pastor by observation. When we were young, we watched what the pastor did.

Unless there was a crisis in our life, that meant mostly we saw the pastor preach and teach.

Once you were called into ministry, you probably got some formal education about what it takes to be clergy. Bible college or seminary is the most common path. There, even today, you were mostly taught how to lead a church that no longer

exists. Truth is, 1954 isn’t coming back, the unchurched aren’t dazzled by your Greek and Hebrew or even your theological prowess, and Y’all Come evangelism and marketing hasn’t worked for at least a decade.

Finally, when you got your first call or appointment, you learned about what a pastor’s job is when your board handed you a bullet-point job description of all those things you’re expected to do. And, of course, you learned even more over the next few months as your members made it clear what they expected.

Four sources that taught you about being a pastor – and all of them based in tradition and experience. Did you ever wonder if there was another source for what a pastor is to do?

Of course, there is one. The founder of the faith apparently gave some instructions (Ephesians 4:11a) and the apostles apparently put those instructions into practice, at least we presume so since they were personally trained by the founder and managed to be wildly successful at it.

I dig deeper into this with my Next Level Coaching Network clients, but here’s a brief overview of what the New Testament says about what your job is.

metaphor for the local congregation. He’s not talking about individuals, so to suggest that our primary job is to make our members more spiritual is a swing-and-a-miss, especially because of that second phrase: “built up.” The root word there is a construction word – a build it, grow it, construct it kind of word. One might even draw the conclusion that the work of the members is to grow the church.

Don’t get me wrong, ultimately that’s your responsibility. In fact, when it comes to your role as lead pastor, you are responsible for literally everything that goes on in the church.

BUT … and that’s a huge BUT … being responsible doesn’t mean you are expected to DO it. In fact, the second New Testament passage I want to call your attention to demonstrates this fact through the actual practice of the early church.

“…the explicit job of the clergy isn’t to do ministry, but to equip the membership to do the ministry. ”

Ephesians 4:11–13. There we read that Jesus himself laid out the work of professional church leaders.

Paul lists five positions, though it’s clearly not an exhaustive list. What’s important to note is what the “mission” of church staff is.

Ephesians 4:12 To equip his people [the members] for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Two comments here. First, the explicit job of the clergy isn’t to do ministry, but to equip the membership to do the ministry.

I’m sure you’ve heard this ad nauseum – and have probably preached it at least a couple times.

Second, though, let me draw your attention to the phrases “body of Christ” and “built up.” The body of Christ is Paul’s

Hit pause and read Acts 6:1–7.

There was a food bank problem. The distribution wasn’t fair for whatever reason. And the affected members showed up in the Church Office to lodge their complaint. That’s totally a fair response. If there’s a problem in your church, no matter what it is, the problem belongs to you. Initially. Remember, you are responsible for everything that happens in your church.

Everything. But notice what the church leaders did. They put the responsibility for the ministry exactly where it belonged – with the membership. “Not our job,” Peter says with exactly no ambiguity.

Let’s cut to the chase. What exactly IS your job? (1) Conspicuously model and mentor spiritual practices; (2) Mission Alignment and fulfilment; (3) Vision creation, casting, and alignment – both inside and outside of the church; (4) Build an effective ministry team; (5) Ensure there are funds for ministry.

Notice what’s not on there. Pastoral care. Visiting the sick. Pastoral counseling. Creating the bulletin. Editing the newsletter.

Being available during “office hours.” Let me repeat, though, all of that is your responsibility and much, much more. But if you do those things, then what you can’t do it finish the church transformation journey. It’s just not possible (and I’ve

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never seen it happen – not once. You will not be the exception.) However, all those responsibilities are critically important, but you will need to do much of that by equipping the members take care of the members and do all those mission-critical things that will grow the church.

When a lead pastor gets caught up in Pastor Fetch, that is, doing all those jobs that don’t belong to him/her, then it’s clear that they don’t have a biblical grasp of what belongs to them and what belongs to the rest of the body of Christ.

And that’s one roadblock that you can’t get around.

Unresolved Conflict If you’re in the driver’s seat on the church transformation journey, you’re going to experience conflict.

(I see by the expression on your face that that’s not news to you! Good.)

Every single change you propose or unilaterally make is going to cause some level of conflict from someone, somewhere. It’s been said that everyone likes the idea of change, but no one likes the reality of change.

And so, whenever there’s a change, there’s conflict in its shadow.

“Conflict’s not the problem – it’s how people behave when there’s conflict that’s the issue. ”

But as you know, conflict isn’t a bad thing. In fact, conflict can be a good thing because I promise you, not all your great ideas are all that great – and someone will feel the need to tell you so, at least I hope so. Conflict’s not the problem – it’s how people behave when there’s conflict that’s the issue. A bully will through their weight around to try and derail the change. A terrorist will make a threat, “If you ___, then I’ll ___.” A guerilla will wait until you’re not looking and then pounce on you, almost always at the precise moment when you’re most vulnerable. And a controller will work behind the scenes to undermine the decision. Ultimately, it’s how you handle the conflict that will determine whether or not you’ve come to permanent roadblock or just a Caution, Curves Ahead kind of obstacle.

Notice I used the word handle. That’s intentional. I don’t believe in managing conflict, at least not in the way it tends to be practiced by most conflict experts. Finding a Win–Win situation does two things: (1) It compromises the ministry;

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and (2) It empowers the antagonist. Compromise is always somewhere between Best and Worst. It’s where we can both “agree,” but that agreement is always the lowest common denominator, it’s never the highest good. And just like we learned what a pastor’s job is, we’ve mostly learned about conflict management by means outside of scripture.

Moses didn’t give ten suggestions that were negotiable.

It’s nevertheless true that the Israelites regularly chose to ignore or violate those commandments, but I’m at a loss to remember any time when God allowed a compromise of his law. Genesis through Malachi it’s pretty much “My way or the highway.” And the New Testament gives us specific guidelines on how to deal with our bullies, terrorists, guerillas, controllers, and any other antagonists to the work of the church. Here’s a real quick guide.

Matthew 18:15–17. Three strikes and you’re out.

Titus 3:10. Three strikes and you’re out.

Hmm. There’s a theme here.

Now, I don’t want you to get the idea that when it comes to conflict, you’re always right. Of course you’re not.

However, it’s beyond the scope of this article to walk you through the steps to resolving the conflict you’re going to face, but let me be clear: if your Revitalization Roadster has unresolved conflict in its baggage compartment, then you’ll find yourself permanently parked behind an unsurmountable roadblock. In a word, handle your conflict. (BTW, if you’re dealing the conflict, you might want to grab the Conflict CPR Video Training Course at https://effectivechurch.net/store/ conflict-cpr/ – and you might want to read On Not Being Nice for the Sake of the Gospel at https://effectivechurch. com/on-not-being-nice-for-the-sake-of-the-gospel/).

Distractions from Your Mission This is third on the list, not because it’s least important, but because I want to make sure you take this away with you more than anything else.

The number one roadblock that will scuttle any church’s revitalization efforts is allowing yourself or the church to get distracted from the church’s mission. In fact, in our experience, those few churches that are rabidly and ruthlessly committed to their mission are the few churches in the US that are growing. And almost all the churches in decline have surrendered to one distraction after another and are suffering from mission-drift.

Let’s be honest, there’s a lot going on that demands your attention – and a lot of ministries that demand your church’s attention. The Christmas bazaar. The senior’s Valentine’s banquet. The community’s Interdenominational Thanksgiving Worship Service. The current denominational disturbance. Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. The minister’s alliance meetings. The church’s bulletin and newsletter.

The food bank’s golf tournament fundraiser. The deacon’s meeting. The newest streaming technology and security app. Mrs. Brachman’s surgery and prolonged recovery. The list could go on, but all of these are almost certainly distractions from your church’s mission.

If your church’s mission is the make disciples of your community, then the focus of everything the church does should – must – be around disciple making.

The Christmas bazaar is probably about making money. Yes, the church needs money, but if all your members tithed money couldn’t be an issue. Besides, the bazaar is a poor venue for disciple making (and no, validating the public’s perception that all the church is worried about is money is not a good marketing message).

The senior’s Valentine banquet is a nice thing to do. But making disciples? Not. The community Interdenominational Thanksgiving Worship Service will fill the auditorium with almost exclusively already-Christians from community churches. Those who attend that are not affiliated with a church won’t become affiliated with a church that night either. (And there’s unlikely any sort of altar call or salvation-inducing message there anyway.)

I could go on, but you get the gist. Very few churches are so focused on their mission that they’re willing to stop doing all the extraneous activities. Every one of those activities

that might consider putting an end to is “owned” by someone who will be offended or hurt or angry if you pull the plug – and few pastors have the hutzpah to risk that sort of ire.

Consider, what would worship look like if the number one consideration was evangelism/disciple making? What music would you sing? What technology would you use? What sermon topics would you preach? What kind of an altar call would you make? What would you demand of those in the pews? How would you get contact information from visitors? What would you do to follow-up? What kind of small groups would get started? – and which existing small groups would you cancel?

Conclusion So, let’s go back to the top. If you’re going to travel the church transformation highway you’ve got to get your role right. If you don’t, you’ll make virtually no lasting impact on the congregation. In fact, if you don’t embrace your roll then the second point – dealing with all those bullies, terrorists, guerillas, and controllers is moot. You’ll have no power and no authority. And finally, if you don’t get your role right, you might as well change the name of your church to Distractions R Us because you’ll be creating as many distractions as you put an end to.

All that’s to say that any of these three roadblocks are enough to permanently detour your revitalization journey.

Get these three right and your journey will still be arduous, but the likelihood of a permanent roadblock is minimized.

Bill Tenny-Brittian is the managing partner of The Effective Church Group. For over thirty years, The Effective Church Group has been equipping churches and church leaders so they can be successful in reaching their mission. He is the co-author of The Role of the Senior Pastor and also teaches Pastoral Leadership for Phillips Seminary with an emphasis on leadership.

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Let’s Cover the Land in

Thank You Jesus Signs!

How it all started...

In 2016, a young teenager named Lucas Hunt prayed for help to display Easter signs in his hometown of Asheboro, NC. Also, he prayed that these efforts would have a giant impact on the Kingdom. A few weeks later a board member at his church, Connie Frazier, sought the Lord’s direction concerning an Easter project for their congregation.

Lucas and Connie were unaware of each other’s prayers and desires. Then, God spoke very clearly to Connie instructing her to design a Thank You Jesus yard sign that would be distributed nationwide.

Thank You Jesus signs were embraced and the wave of gratitude took hold.

Lucas’ prayers and vision, support from Lucas’ parents and Connie’s design and business background led to the creation of the Thank You Jesus signs. This project, with its roots in a small rural church, has turned into a 501(C)3 that receives royalties from the artwork to invest in sharing the Gospel. The investments include grants to spiritual non-profit organizations that seek to share God’s love and the many reasons why we Thank Jesus.

Over 250,000 signs have been sold along with car magnets, gar den flags and bracelets. Hundreds of people have been led by the Lord to purchase and display the signs as a ministry of sharing God’s goodness through Jesus Christ. Become part of the Thank You Jesus movement as it spreads throughout the country!

t r a p e Becofmthe o !

T N E M MOVE

www.thankyoujesussigns.com

What Guests Want to Know (Part 1)

Top 6 Questions (& How to Answer Each)

By Bob Whitesel Guests’ 6 Recurring Questions I have interviewed hundreds of church newcomers over the past 30 years, as part of coaching church leaders. And, I’ve found six recurring questions that guests are asking. And, they are different than you might think. Guests’ questions fall into six categories (Encounter, Community, Opportunity, Transparency, Orthodoxy and Unity in Diversity).

1. ENCOUNTER: something supernatural. Question guests are asking: “How do you experience the supernatural?”

2. COMMUNITY: something smaller. Question guests are asking: “How do I connect with a smaller group within the larger group?”

3. OPPORTUNITY: something significant to do. Question guests are asking: “How do I share my talents?”

4. TRANSPARENCY: nothing to hide. Question guests are asking: “Does this faith community operate ethically and transparently?”

5. ORTHODOXY: something to believe. Question guests are asking: “Does this faith community hold divisive beliefs?”

6. UNITY IN DIVERSITY: something to share. Question guests are asking: “Does this faith community represent the diversity of my community and region?”

A Place to Answer Guest Questions Warren Buffett famously intoned, “Predicting rain doesn’t count.

Building arks does.” Therefore, we won’t only discuss guests’ questions, but we will also look at strategies that address each.

The first strategy is to decide the best place to answer such questions. Often it will be done privately. At other times the environment of a small group of 4 -12 people allows quieter attendees to speak up. And, though it can be done online, the online discussion will need to be carefully facilitated and include, if possible, face-to-face fellowship too.

When I planted a church I utilized a newcomer “get-acquainted coffee.” It took place on Sunday mornings after the church ser-

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vice. At the end of the service I invited guests to join my wife Rebecca and I in a coffee and bagel gathering in a room adjacent to the foyer.

I explained to the newcomers that this would be a 30-minute coffee and get acquainted time. Each week the discussion topic rotated among the six questions. A 15-minute answer to each question was given by a lay person who gave oversight to that area. The guest was encouraged to come back anytime and as their schedule allowed to hear answers to all six of the most common questions.

Guests developed a regular habit of staying around after church and meeting others. This ongoing social gathering allowed guests to have their most pressing questions answered, one question each week. And, it gave me and key lay persons an opportunity to connect with guests.

How to Answer Each of the 6 Questions Regardless of where you intend to answer guests’ most pressing questions, here are the questions guests “want to know” with field-tested solutions.

1. ENCOUNTER. Something supernatural. Question guests are asking: “How do you experience the supernatural?”

People know the church is a place of supernatural connection.

But they also want to know how you experience this. Varieties in worship (even in Biblical times) can range from solemn, planned experiences (Matt. 6:9-13, 26:26-28) to a more freewheeling encounter (1 Corinthians 14:26-40). Though guests may have just visited your worship service, they want to know what is normal and why do you do it this way.

Explain some of your more uncommon characteristics. If you have an altar rail and a prayer time, explain that. If you have a time where the more phenomenal gifts of the Holy Spirit occur, explain that. If you expect people to bring a Bible or have one on their phone, explain what version and why. Clarify the spiritual experience and explain the biblical basis for it. This way people aren’t distracted by the form but are focused on the content.

2. COMMUNITY. Something smaller. Question guests are asking: “How do I connect with a smaller group within the larger group?”

The second thing people often ask is about developing intimacy, such as: “How do I get involved with a smaller group of people where I can build friendships?” The powerful fellowship connections that arise out of small groups have been understood and studied for decades. The Sunday School Movement, Bible studies, prayer groups, home groups, so-called Sticky Groups, Alpha groups, etc. are mainstays in healthy churches.

There is a reason for this. People love worshipping as a larger group, but they seek smaller environments in which to make new friends and have their questions answered.

Thom Rainer found that if people become part of a smaller group, they are five times more likely to stay connected to a church (LifeWay Research, 6/17/14). And pastor/author Larry Osborne described smaller groups as “sticky groups” because they help people stick to the faith community (Sticky Church, Zondervan).

From Jesus’ examples with his discipleship of the 12 apostles (Luke 6:13, Mark 6:30) to John Wesley’s use of smaller groups to create a worldwide movement of this method (“The Power of a Group of Friends” in Enthusiast: Finding a Faith That Fills, B. Whitesel, Wesleyan Publishing House); we know that people best receive spiritual accountability, correction, and growth in a smaller environment.

So share with guests about your small group opportunities including a short description and contact information for its leader. If you utilize a “get-acquainted coffee,” have some small group leaders there. They can connect with people and help them see if their group is right for them. If not, they can steer them to a group that is right for the guest.

3. OPPORTUNITY. Something significant to do. Question guests are asking: “How do I share my talents?”

People want to be involved in something for which they have a talent. It may not be right away, but they want to know that they are welcome to not just observe, but to contribute in a way they enjoy doing.

Unfortunately, church leaders often look at guests through the lens of a church’s burgeoning volunteer needs. This will turn

guests off. We can put them off by simply saying: “We need help with … starting a new ministry, Vacation Bible School, youth ministry, etc.” before we learn about the guest’s talents. To the guest this seems to emphasize that it’s about the church’s organizational needs, not the guests’ aptitudes.

Rather say, “Is there any experience, training or talents that you’d like to explore applying here?” Make it about them, not about the church as organization. Start by giving them the opportunity to tell you what they are good at doing. Never tell them, what they can do. Your ministry to guests begins by listening to the guest to find out about their talents and expertise.

Therefore, provide a list of people giving oversight to various volunteers and provide job descriptions. Suggest that guests: a.) explore/discuss with various ministry leaders various volunteer openings, b.) try out different opportunities, and c.) expect confirmation from others and within the guest which volunteer opportunities are a good fit.

In the conclusion of this article we will discuss the final three of the six recurring questions of guests: 4. TRANSPARENCY: nothing to hide. Question guests are asking: “Does this faith community operate ethically and transparently?”

5. ORTHODOXY: something to believe. Question guests are asking: “Does this faith community hold divisive beliefs?”

6. UNITY IN DIVERSITY: something to share. Question guests are asking: “Does this faith community represent the diversity of my community and region?”

Bob Whitesel is an award-winning author/consultant on church health and growth. He has been called “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today” by a national magazine, co-founded an accredited seminary (Wesley Seminary at IWU) and created one of the nation’s most respected church health and growth consulting firms: ChurchHealth.net

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The

Revitalizer LIBRARY

I have two mercifully short recommendations for this edition of the Revitalizers Library. The first, Pathways to Partnership; how you and your church can join the replanting movement, by Bob Bickford and Mark Hallock. The second is City of Prayer; Transforming Your Community through Praying Churches by Trey Kent and Kie Bowman. Neither of these works is new. The former is a 2018 publication, the latter 2019. However, these two works have recently crossed my way and are good resources to both seek the heart of the Lord and process ways by which to replant dying churches.

The first by Bickford and Hallock serves as a tutorial to replant dying churches. Bickford and Hallock walk through specific actions to build partnerships between churches to replant dying churches. The work identifies particular actions and scenarios to form kingdom partnerships resulting in healthy churches.

The second by Kent and Bowman is tells of the power of partnership prayer in the city of Austin, Texas. Kent and Bowman want their readers to elevate the priority of prayer in the local church and within partnership churches in their mission field. The work, like the former, identifies specific actions and scenarios to form kingdom partnerships that build healthy churches.

There are four shared reasons to read these works—first, the emphasis upon partnerships. Churches can do more together. Every church should be an autonomous local body of believers who strategically partner with other like-minded churches to do together what they might not be able to accomplish alone. One work focuses on gathering churches to pray for their city. The second em-

phasizes partnerships to replant churches. Strategic partnerships matter for the kingdom.

Second, both works dream about what might be possible. What if healthy churches across the nation partnered together to replant dying churches? What if churches across a city gathered together to ask God to move in a mighty way? Both works spark within the question of what might be possible.

Third, both works are purposeful. The one raises the priority of prayer. The second focuses on replanting. The four authors are very clear in the purpose and response to draw out of their readers.

Lastly, both works are practical. Steps to raise city-wide prayer and to replant churches are identified. The conversations necessary to reach these goals are outlined. Suggestions for agreements and documents are presented. There are simple and practical steps to be taken from each book and funneled into your ministry.

Both books are good additions to your library. The clarity of purpose and processes arriving from both works causes both to be compelling in their unique message. Churches really can do more strategically together than alone.

Rob Hurtgen is the Pastor of First Baptist Church Chillicothe, Missouri. He holds an M.Div from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Getting Unstuck in Your Thinking

By Gary Moritz Ministry has shown me that I don’t know what I think I know.

What do I mean by that? We may think we have all the answers and know exactly what to do, and then we get into a situation and what we think we should do doesn’t work. Ministry has a way of keeping us humble but if we are not careful, ministry has a way of getting us stuck in our thinking.

There are too many pastors in America who are stuck. The church needs more pastors and people of God who desire to lift God up and not themselves. We need less image and fame and more humility and hustle. We need people who are willing to admit that they don’t have all the answers, but God does. We need pastors that keep dreaming, think big, and are willing to take risks again. A revitalization pastor must think differently if they are going to get unstuck. They can’t get stuck in the rut of small thinking.

God shares with us an interesting story and lesson on small thinking in Numbers chapters 13 and 14. In this passage, we see the responses of twelve leaders that Moses enlisted to spy out the land God had given them. Only two of the twelve saw a big God in the equation. The rest failed to acknowledge God first and foremost. They were small thinkers who only saw big problems.

There is a lot you and I can learn from this story. Here are three lessons you can learn in your practice of getting unstuck in your thinking as you take the land God has given you.

Small thinkers underestimate what God can do.

There will be people in the church that do not believe what you believe about God. They may attend church and have been Christians for a long time, but that does not mean they rely on or believe in the power of God. They lead a prayerless

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life lacking true faith. This is nothing new. Revitalization takes getting unstuck in your thinking. How you think is how you lead and live. All twelve spies in the story saw the same land.

However, ten spies did not include God in the picture. You are going to have people just like this in your church. Yes, there are probably a lot of people in your community that don’t attend church, but sadly there may be people attending your church who don’t include God in their life. They show up to impress each week, experiencing little eternal impact. They are spiritually stuck.

Small thinkers underestimate what they can do.

While a church in decline usually sees a decline in attendance, some people stick around. These people generally have two things in common. First, they are faithful. They’re willing to hang in there even while the ship is sinking. Second, they desire to be lead. They may not know how to lead or what to do, but they don’t want to quit. They just know they need something different. They underestimate what God can do in and through them. God has called you to partner with them for kingdom impact. It is your job to help them see what they can do for God. The apostle Paul reminds us that “You are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9).

God uses His people as His instruments to bring Him glory.

He desires to work in your people to accomplish His work for eternal impact. You must teach your people that God will not act without their willingness, and without God’s hand, there is no victory.

Small thinkers underestimate what their decisions can do.

In Numbers 14:1–5, ten leaders return to Moses and give an unfavorable report, and this negative report was contagious

and infectious. Moses had to fight against this negativity and instead focus on the report of the two faithful leaders, Caleb, and Joshua. You are always going to have people who will bring negativity into the church, and you must acknowledge this can affect the culture of your church. You must fight against the negativity. The Bible warns us in Proverbs 23:7 that what we think about is what we become. Small thinking and negativity result in three destructive behaviors.

1. Discouragement (v.1) 2. Discontentment (v.2) 3. Defeat (vv. 3–5).

You do not want these destructive behaviors at work in your church. Faith counteracts discouragement, discontentment, and defeat and is the cure for small thinking, and we build our faith through a powerful prayer life. Emphasize to your people that the Lord will act on your behalf, but you must stay faithful and keep communicating with Him. The apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:16 that, “In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Caleb and Joshua were courageous warriors. They believed in God for who He was and what they had seen Him do. Both men stood up and revitalized the people. They turned the focus away from the negativity and put the victory on God. These two men changed the people’s thinking, and eventually, they took the Promised Land.

Faith gave Caleb confidence. He told the people to quiet down and take the hill. When the majority voice was loud, his war cry became louder. He was a warrior of faith who trusted in what God said. He knew that the land was theirs to take regardless of the situations and circumstances that were up ahead. God wants us to be like Caleb. He tells us not to fear and that He will be the one that sustains us.

Faith gave Joshua courage. Joshua was the understudy of Moses that was always in the shadows until this day. The faith that was swelling up inside of him burst out, and he reminded the people of their past victories and the power of God. He knew the Lord was his helper and that God would never abandon him or his people. A promise is a promise to those that follow God. Joshua was not afraid, nor did he fear man.

These men’s bold faith stood out among the rest of their people. Your faith and trust are going to stand out among your people. Remember, you have God, and God has you. Both Caleb and Joshua captured God’s and the people’s hearts because of their tactical thinking through prayer and faith, and the result was powerful. Their confidence gave them the Promise Land. God reminds us that faith is the foundation of belief and behavior. He says in Hebrews 11:6 that, “…without faith. It is impossible to please God since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Small thinking has consequences.

The lesson that Caleb and Joshua showed us that day is the same lesson that God shows us when facing a revitalization. If you are going to be victorious in battle, you must watch your thinking and remain faithful. If you neglect this responsibility, you will slip into small thinking and so will your people. God desires you to be an influential leader that thinks big for kingdom impact. As you lead your church, remember these three consequences of small thinking.

1. Small thinking limits your potential. Jesus told us that, “Everything is possible for the one who believes” (Mark 9:23b).

This verse bases your potential and how God can use you upon your prayer life. There is a direct correlation between one’s prayer life and obedience to God. God listens for those who want to walk closely with Him and do the hard things in the hard places so that He gets the glory.

2. Small thinking ruins your relationships. As God’s leader, you must be careful who you hang out with. Stuck people hang out with stuck people. If you hang out with negative people, you will think negatively, but if you hang out with faithful people who trust and obey the Lord, you will see bigger things ahead. The apostle Paul tells us, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

3. Small thinking hurts the church and sabotages God’s success. Success in the world’s eyes is based on outward impressions. But success to God focuses on the impact of the heart.

God is looking for those who are all-in and entirely focused on Him. God wants to work in you and through you and your church, but it is up to you how you think. You must guard your heart with all diligence and stay on the correct path of faith, walking in obedience to Him. Your thinking is crucial to getting unstuck. The land that God has placed in front of you may seem daunting and full of challenges. But do you see the potential? If you can’t see it, your people won’t be able to see it. Pray for enough faith and courage in your life so that you can share it with the ones who are going to help you accomplish it. Yes, negativity is contagious, but so is big thinking. Don’t be afraid to share the vision that God has given you for your church and community. Think big, pray big, and fight to take the land. Stay unstuck!

Gary Moritz is the lead pastor of City United Church, located in Lunenburg, MA. With a church planter mindset, the Lord called him and his family to New England in 2013 to take over a church in need of revitalization through a pastoral succession. He also works for Liberty University as a subject matter expert on church revitalization and as a assistant professor in the School of Divinity, and he serves as the Director of Church Revitalization for the Baptist Convention of New England.

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Available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com

The Emotional Cost of Revitalization

By Steve Smith I grew up with Colonial Williamsburg virtually in my backyard. Its attention to historical detail and just the atmosphere created by the period interpreters made it a must-see on any history buff’s list. Its appeal peaked during the country’s bi-centennial, but it continued to be a strong magnet for tourists—until it wasn’t. Attendance went into serious decline in the late 1990s. But they were able to mask this by its multi-million foundation paying for the everyday costs formerly covered by the ticket sales, restaurant income and rentals.

In time, they saw the writing on the wall, which was a death sentence for this 80-year-old living museum. Could it be saved or was death inevitable?

Enter Dr. Mitchell Reiss. In 2014, this entrepreneur organizer with experience leading large institutions was brought in to revitalize the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He restored its financial health, recruited and retained the most diverse leadership team ever, and wowed the public with tough decisions he made to advance the vision of Williamsburg.

Then he burned out and left at the zenith of his achievements, much to the consternation of those who admired him.

Although the Foundation quickly found his replacement, Dr. Reiss’ story is a cautionary tale for all who engage in any kind of revitalization work, especially pastors in a ‘post’ Covid19 world.

Reiss burned out because there is an emotional cost to revitalization, some of it hidden, some of it not. There are the long hours put in when all others are relaxing, the frustration of plans not working out, the clamor from unhappy people, the unfair blame that lands on one’s desk. In terms of your church, the cost can include dealing with congregational prayerlessness, their apathy in following Jesus, vocal resistance to change, a lack of financial investment in Jesus’ kingdom, and attenders having other priorities as believer.

Add to that the normal pastoral demands on you. All of these can and do contribute to the stuckness the congregation may experience as you urge them to embrace the power of the Spirit given to them and participate in being witnesses in their Jerusalem, Judah and Samaria—and not just to the ends of the earth through their mission giving!

You have to prepare yourself early for this so you can break past it instead of being broken by it. You cannot wait until your tongue is hanging out and you are mentally writing your resignation to give attention to the emotional costs of revitalization. Neglecting this could not only leave your

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church stuck in its pursuit of renewal, it could destroy all the work God has done through you altogether.

Preparing for the emotional costs involves six action steps any pastor can take. Check off the ones you already have in your life and decide now how you are going to implement the rest. All of them will make a difference for your longevity in revitalization.

Pursue intimacy with God. God is your only savior. He is with you and in you to give you the wisdom and peace you need to do His will. While many pastors assent to these truths, they find that, in the heat of a difficult assignment, God seems so far away—at least, their emotions are telling them that.

Pursuing intimacy with God is a heart-opening choice. It is more than a daily devotion, more than a prayer list. It is a walk that includes listening to what God is saying to you through His Spirit, time well spent alone with Him apart from your daily ministry and surrendering hurts into His healing hands.

Three practices will help you increase intimacy with God. Briefly, they are: 1) Rest—being with God without an agenda to just be with Him and hear His voice.

2) Appropriation—taking and using what God has already given you: hope, riches and power (Ephesians 1:18-19).

3) Meditating on Christ’s love so that you will see how wide, long, high and deep this love is in order to be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.

Maintain important relationships. I cannot emphasize this too strongly: DO NOT GIVE SO MUCH OF YOUR TIME TO YOUR CHURCH THAT YOU NEGLECT YOUR FAMILY! You need them more than you know, and they can add to your emotional burden by you robbing them of you. Calendar family times regularly and guard them.

Secondly, maintain friends outside the congregation—other pastors or just people you like to be with. The emotional toll of only spending time with people in your congregation can be high. Doing this will give you an escape valve from the emotional pressure that comes with the revitalization process.

Recognize spiritual warfare. Your people are not the enemy!

Satan is the enemy and will hurt you and lie to you any way he can. He will seek to persuade you to harbor resentment inside you towards God’s people. And it will mount up until you break if you walk unmindful of this battle.

This is a good time to revisit the full armor of God so you can learn to stand. All parts are relevant to your work, but the first is of special importance to your emotional balance. It is the belt of truth. You need this to recognize the lies of the enemy, whether they are uttered by people or whispered in your mind in the dead of night. Realize the truth about God and about yourself as revealed in Scripture and by the Spirit. In warfare, when you get these two issues twisted inside your mind, the impact on your emotional health is enormous. So buckle up!

Develop allies within the congregation. So what if not everyone is as excited about what God is going to do in and through your congregation? Dwelling on who is at this moment opposing God’s work will have a deadening effect on you. Instead, draw close to the people who are either all in or persuadable. Spend time with them praying, laughing and dreaming dreams that God has given to you.

Make sure not to lead them to become an ‘Us versus Them’ clique. Remember that the people not with you at this moment are not the enemy! Familiarize yourself with the Rogers Innovation Curve. Why? Because it will help you to see how long different segments of your congregation take to come onboard with change. And the Late Majority (about 34% of your attenders) will join with you due to the trust they have in the Early Majority’s testimony instead of yours.

Be wise in this so you will not lose hope.

Engage in self-care. Exercise. Eat right. And it you are not motivated to do this, get help! The longer you neglect your body’s self-care, the more likely your emotions will be affected as well. Enough said.

Find a mentor/coach. The problem all revitalization pastors face is not knowing what they don’t know, especially if this is their first experience in it. And pride can get in the way of seeking help. You don’t just need to read more books on the subject. You need to find someone to guide you who knows what to do because he has done it himself.

Why does this matter emotionally? I can give multiple illustrations of pastors who, out of their lack of knowledge, blew up a church they were leading in revitalization. Their mistakes were avoidable, but they did not know how to avoid them. The emotional costs were overwhelming for them personally. This is why you need to take this step.

As you can see, taking care of your emotional health is an intentional pursuit. I encourage you to choose this pursuit over the pain of recovery.

Dr. Steve Smith is the Founder of Church Equippers Ministries, equipping churches to make and retain more disciples. He trains pastors by coaching them in Church GameChangers, which includes training in transformational discipleship and the step-by-step building of church ministry systems. For more information, go to: www.churchequippers.com.

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Now available on Amazon.com The New Testament does not present a “cookie-cutter” approach for the local church.

Each local congregation has its own unique qualities and personality. However, there are some very specific foundational elements that should shape the DNA of every Christ-following local church. In his forthcoming book, Dr. Richard D. Harvey uncovers eight biblical principles for church revitalization.

Fail Proof is designed to help revitalization leaders and struggling churches rediscover their biblical DNA and to begin a revitalizing process that will help them rise up from the downward spiral of unhealthy habits. The ultimate purpose of Fail Proof is to keep the church upright and standing strong in the battle to win the lost and disciple the saved for the glory of God. “For if you do these things, you will never fall” – 2 Peter 1:10b.

——— Endorsements ——— Dr. Tom Cheyney, Founder & Directional Leader of the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Conferences and Executive Director for the Greater Orlando Baptist Association, Orlando, Florida – “Fail Proof… is very well formed and will be a great asset to the local church.”

Rick Ellison, Director of Missions, Baldwin Baptist Association, Baldwin County, Alabama – “In this resource Richard Harvey explores deeply the biblical teachings for church hhealth. That part of his presentation is the best I have ever read. It … challenges leaders to examine themselves and look toward what God would have them and the church do in the future.”

Dr. Alan Flooyd, Lead Pastor, Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama – “In your teaching, you make the statement, ‘Church revitalization is hard work.’ So very true! But you present a material that walks a church through the essentials of that hard work. The church leadership is led/equipped to identify the core values, mission, and ultimately, the development of a strategy of church health and revitalization. …I definitely see your curriculum utilized by local associations and churches. A great resource for revitalization!”

Dr. Richard D. Harvey is the pastor of Cross Baptist Church in Eufaula, Alabama. He is a

2020 D.Min graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with specialization in Church Revitalization. He has served churches in Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida.

Stuck in a “Death Spiral”

By Steve Sells On Sunday, July 25, 1999, the Guardian, a British media company, reported on the plane crash that took the life of John Kennedy, Jr, his wife, and her sister. The cause of the crash was reported to be pilot error. It seems that he was not proficient in instrument flying at the time of the crash.

Aviation experts suggest that he lost visual contact with the horizon because of haze and clouds and experienced “spatial disorientation” that eventually led to the plane going into a “graveyard spiral”, or as some aviators call it, the “death spiral.” The tragic end was the death of Kennedy, his wife, and her sister.

Some church researchers have now borrowed the phrase “death spiral” to refer to the disastrous decline many churches are experiencing. Statistics tell us approximately 90% of all evangelical churches are in plateau or decline or as researches put it…in a “death spiral.” These churches will not survive unless immediate action is taken to get them out of the spiral or in other words get them “unstuck.”

When a church enters this downward direction, it is very difficult to get it “unstuck” and headed back in the right direction. There are some signs that a church is stuck in that “death spiral” and how the church responds to these signs will determine whether the church will live or die. The hardest obstacle to overcome when trying to help a church is to convince the pastor and the church to face the “present

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reality” about themselves because they just don’t want to face the truth. They love to keep their heads buried in the sand and hope the problems will go away.

It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive list. However, it does set forth the three most important signs of “stuckness.” They are all spiritual in nature. These signs are the most important because they usually determine the spiritual walk of the church and reveals a lack of real spiritual maturity and commitment. What are they?

The first sign of being stuck is the minimization of the importance of missions and evangelism. I intentionally use the word “missions” and not “missional.” The concept of being “missional” does not place importance on global mission work that focusses on reaching the lost masses in the world through evangelism. Instead it dilutes the concept of missions down to meeting physical needs much more that meeting spiritual needs. The Great Commission is “soul-centered.” When the church makes little of missions it makes little of its calling from God. Missions is the Great Commission’s command which feeds life into the local church and without it the church will die. Missions shows the churches real concern for reaching a lost world. Furthermore, the church that does not have a mission mindset has disregarded the Great Commandment to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” This is a real sign of being stuck in a “death spiral.”

The second sign of being stuck is a lack of desire to do the will of God. A pastor in his first few weeks of his first pastorate shared this story. He shared that while in the first church council planning meeting, preparing for the next years ministry, each head of each ministry in the church gave a long list of what “they” wanted to do and accomplish in the next calendar year of the church. As they went around the room the young pastor became more and more concerned because he never heard anyone say that the Lord had revealed to them His plan for the coming year. At the close of the meeting one of the leaders looked at the young pastor and said, “Pastor will you pray and ask God to join us and help us accomplish all of what we have discussed?” The young pastor thought for a moment and responded…” No, I can’t do that!” The leader said, “What do you mean you can’t do that?” The pastor asked, “Are these things (as he pointed at the list) what God wants for this church or is it what you want?” Of course, that did not go over very well with the leaders in the room, but he made his point. It is of utmost importance that we find and do the will of God in the church. The sad fact is that most churches don’t even ask and the ones who do sometimes refuse to be obedient to God’s plan. I like what Henry Blackaby said in Experiencing God, “Find out where God is working and join him.” Most churches that are stuck in a “death spiral” have stopped obeying God to do their own selfish will.

A third sign of being stuck is found in Revelation 2:4 where Jesus tells the church at Ephesus “You have left your first love.” The church that is teetering on deaths door has most likely left its first love. It is stuck in a selfish cycle that is difficult to escape from. Christ knows His church inside and out. Everything that happens in it He sees and knows.

The church cannot fool Him. A close examination of the church at Ephesus will reveal that they were existing amid a pagan society. However, that was no excuse for their problem. The church was being persecuted by the culture it was ministering to because of the existence of the temple of Diana, a fertility goddess, paganism was dominant in the area. For their existence in this pagan setting, Jesus commends them for not tolerating wickedness within the church and their removal of false teachers from their work. A closer look at the church reveals that their doctrine was right. The church was ministering in the community and seeking to meet needs. Jesus was describing

a church that, from the outside looking in, looked like a model church. But then Jesus turns the conversation toward the problem.

Jesus said in verse 4 there is one thing wrong… “You have forsaken your first love.” What is “first love?” What does this statement mean to the church today? First love in this context means a deep burning desire to please God was not present in the church any longer. Let’s be clear.

The condemnation was not that they had forsaken the “who” of that love (Jesus), but they had lost a real desire to please Him and serve Him as they had once served in the past. Their love had grown cold and indifferent. They no longer served out of that dynamic love but out of habit and obligation. It seems that the generation of younger members had lost the fervency of serving Jesus that their parents once had. They were simply going through the motions of service, not out of love but obligation. That simply means that the devotion they once had was gone.

The joy of serving Jesus was no longer real in their life.

There was no real fire in their hearts which resulted from a close walk with the “King of King’s.” Simply put, Jesus was no longer the priority in the church. Ironic isn’t it? The one who died for the church is no longer very important to the church. What a chilling thought but oh so true! As a result, churches die a slow agonizing death because of their desertion of the faith.

The process of giving new life to a “stuck” church means the church must return to a deep desire to win the lost to Jesus Christ. It must begin to seek after and do the will of God by putting selfish desires and motives aside. It must return to its “first love.” Then and only then will the church be on the road to spiritual health and being “unstuck.”

Steve Sells is the president and CEO of Operation Transformation church revitalization ministry in Salisbury, North Carolina. Steve has served in ministry for 43 years in North Carolina and Georgia. Dr. Sells is the co-author of the book With Greater Power. He seeks to help churches of all sizes experience new health and growth.

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TACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR CHURCH REVITALIZATION AND RENEWAL “Gary Moritz has lived the life of leading revitalization as well as anyone I know, especially in a New England context. In Carry On, you do not merely have someone reporting to you the theories of church revitalization, you have someone who has led it and lived it, tactic by tactic. What an incredible gift this book is to church leaders around the world.”

Thom S. Rainer, Founder and CEO, Church Answers; Bestselling Author of The Post Quarantine Church

THIS BOOK WILL OFFER YOU STEPS, RESOURCES, AND DIRECTION ON HOW TO BECOME TACTICAL IN THE FIGHT. USE IT AS A FIELD MANUAL TO HELP YOU AND THOSE AROUND YOU UNDERSTAND REVITALIZATION AND THE STEPS NEEDED TO BRING YOUR CHURCH BACK TO HEALTH.

IT WILL TAKE ...

TACTICAL ENGAGEMENT

TACTICAL ENVISIONING

TACTICAL ENLARGEMENT

TACTICAL EXECUTION

Determine to be “All In” and refuse to quit the fight for church revitalization and renewal.

Learn to trust in, dream about, and envision what God wants to do in you and your community.

Stay true to your call and learn to say “Yes” to whatever zip code God calls you to.

Identify and execute your tactical next steps towards revitalization and renewal.

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON Gary Moritz is married to the co-author Jana Moritz and is the lead pastor of City United Church located in Lunenburg, MA. Together, the Lord called them and their family to New England in 2013 to take over a church in need of revitalization through a pastoral succession. Gary works for Liberty University as a Subject Matter Expert in Church Revitalization and as an assistant professor in the School of Divinity. He also serves as the Director of Church Revitalization for the Baptist Convention of New England and is the co-host of Revitalizationtoday.com with Dr. Tom Cheyney.

Stuck on a Plateau?

By Tracy Jaggers In an effort to be repetitive and obvious; yes, you heard me right! We have been inundated with the statistics of the present church in America. We have heard and viewed the downward slide of many congregations. The church is declining or stagnant (plateaued) and we cannot seem to overcome what appears to be its ultimate demise. A declining church has some telltale signs - the parking lot is empty, the pews or chairs are vacant, and the core of the church are nearing burnout. But how can we recognize a plateaued church? How do we define plateaued, and how can we blow the church off this unwanted position?

Plateaued is defined as: reaching a level, period, or condition of stability or maximum attainment. Should the body of Christ ever allow this definition to be used of the local church? Of course not! The church should never be known as “plateaued!” My second query is, “Is this truly a real position?” If we are not moving forward, then are we not actually sliding backward? The church should always be growing, moving forward and upward for the Kingdom of Christ. But the numbers are true - about 29.9% of evangelical churches affirm that they are declining and another 44.3% say they are plateaued or stagnant. This is alarming!

How can we change this present dilemma? First, we need to look at some of the reasons for being stuck in the quagmire of unproductiveness.

1) A high turnover in church leadership stifles effectiveness and continuity. A pastor with a healthy tenure has learned the demographics and experienced the culture that surrounds

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the church. He has seen the needs and the expectations of their neighbors and can often come up with some creative methods to meet those needs. BUT will the congregation open their heart and house to meet these needs? Will they learn to love and accept people who do not look, act, dress and talk like them? Remember, we were all once sinners with a deep, dark past!

2) Plateaued churches have normalized fellowship over evangelism. People are doomed without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We dare not hide the Good News under a basket or blow an uncertain alarm to those who are bound for an eternity separated from God Almighty. We MUST share the same news that transformed our lives with those who are seeking hope, peace, love, and mercy. Where would we be today, if someone had not shown us the way to the foot of the Cross?

3) Plateaued churches tend to cling to outdated programs and events and lack creativity. I am not saying that we should be about “entertainment,” but I am saying that neither should we bore people. I have walked out of movies that I paid good money to see, because they were boring and a waste of my limited time on planet earth. Why would I keep coming back to hear and experience information that I find uninteresting and worthless to my present and future existence? Give them the BEST NEWS ever (assuming that you have received it).

Then, present it in a manner that helps them to be a better husband, wife, man, woman, dad, mom, student, or child.

And, for heaven’s sake - practice the 11th commandment – “Thou Shalt Not Bore!”

4) The majority of plateaued and declining churches are committee or congregation-driven rather than leadership-driven.

There was a time when committees functioned fast and effective. In this day and culture, the committee-driven church normally takes entirely too much time and effort to accomplish some of the most mundane of tasks. It may be a slight exaggeration, but to change a light bulb in some local congregations, takes three weeks and two committee meetings to determine the wattage, cost, and person to change the lamp! Pastors should be the initiator and promoter of the vision, and those with the vision should be allowed to lead.

How then can we help a church change their trajectory and blow them off their plateau? Here are some ideas or principles that can help get a church back on track and effectively functioning for the glory of God and the health of the Bride of Christ?

1) Unpack the biblical teachings concerning “change.” Change is good when the motives and goals are to help the church thrive again. God needs us to be receptive to change. The Sermon on the Mount unpacks Jesus’ viewpoint on change.

Repeatedly, Jesus says, “You have heard it said…. But I say to you.” He was changing their legalistic statements into matters of the heart. We cannot continue to do church like it has been done for decades and think that we will somehow gain different results. God stated it this way, “Do not say, “Why were the good old days so much better than today?” You are unwise to even think this way. The church must adapt to the needs of this culture. We cannot turn back the hands of time, so we must be as effective as possible in this day in which we are called! Be creative, innovative, and productive so people will listen and have the best opportunity to respond to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

2) Churches that trust and follow health-minded leadership tend to be healthy. The church needs to appropriate faith in the power of God and the person God has placed behind the pulpit. Leaders who equip the saints to do the work of the ministry replicate themselves in others and expand a growing army to defeat the onslaught of the world, the flesh, and the devil. God-powered pastors lead empowered people to do monumental ministry for the Kingdom of God.

3) Be positive. Practice forward thinking. Look upward, not inward. Act in confidence. React with grace and kindness. Expect God to do great and mighty wonders in our midst. The future existence of the church depends on God’s might and our obedience! Jesus has no plan B. Either we function as His hands, feet, heart, mind, and mouth or many will never hear the Gospel and miss the chance to say, “yes” to the wooing of the Holy Spirit.

4) Start or do something new; think outside the box! There may be a reason “it has never been done before.” It may be your job, your ministry, your calling to do what no man has

done before. It is our time to step up to the plate and give it all we’ve got! If God revealed the need to you, He has gifted and called you to lead the way.

5) Use social media, even if you cannot figure it out on your own. Watch a YouTube video or get a teenager to show you how. Publicize what your church is doing to help make the neighborhood and the world a better place. Find out what questions your neighbors are needing answers to and work to answer those questions. Inform them of your plans to help them live a more productive and successful life. Use as many methods as you can (i.e. - websites, blogs, Facebook, twitter, email…)

6) Train your flock to be externally focused. We ARE sheep, and sheep do not abide indoors. Focus on those outside the church (on the lost); 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 - “for such were some of you.” We all have a sorted past, but as new creations in Christ Jesus, we now have a sure foundation and glorious inheritance. Help others get out of their pit and remember the pit from which you were dug (Psalm 103:4).

7) Get every member involved somewhere. No excuses! Do not overload them, but every member should have one ministry to do and one team on which to serve. We are far more effective and productive when we serve together.

8) Expand, remodel, put out more chairs – Does your worship center scream, “We are expecting God to show up and show off?” Plan, prepare for, and expect God to save people every Sunday. Be ready to baptize them and welcome into the family of God every week. If you expect God to move every time you meet, He will be honored by your faith and display His power.

9) Be a Great Commandment and a Great Commission church.

Go, make disciples, baptize new followers, teach them to live for Him and obey His Word, and be a witness of His transforming power. Teach believers to use their home, their job, their hobbies, etc. as their ministry.

10) Finally, be the spark to the fuse of God’s dynamite and run with the explosion as God blows your congregation off its plateau!

Tracy Jaggers is the Director of the Gateway Baptist Association, Edwardsville, Illinois. Tracy’s doctorate is in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He writes for state and national revitalization websites and speaks for revitalization conferences and webinars. He is a contributing author for the book entitled, Practical Tools for Reinventing the Dying Church. His website is: www. churchrecharge.com.

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Many coaches have the gift of providing pastors in church revitalization the listening ear they need, but what they lack is the wealth of resources needed to provide the church revitalizer with the tools to keep them succeeding. At the heart of every successful church revitalization coach is a strong belief that every pastor is a uniquely valuable servant of the Lord with distinct giftedness and potential for greatness in the realm of revitalization! The Renovate Group will help you uncover the ongoing tools you will need to begin your journey into the coaching of pastors who desire to see their churches revitalized.

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In the Mud, but Not Stuck in the Mud

By Richard Harvey When I was a kid, I loved rainy weather. I didn’t care for severe thunderstorms, but my brothers and I had a lot of fun after a drenching rain. There are puddles and mud and all the things my mother wished we would avoid. But avoiding a good ole’ mudpuddle was just too much to ask from three rowdy boys. There’s still something gravitational about mud.

Now we have bigger toys to play with, only it’s a lot harder to get these ATVs and 4-wheel-drive trucks out of the muck and the mire than when they were Tonka sized.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who actually seem to like being stuck in the mud—spiritual mud that is—not black gold, not Texas tea—just “bogged down to the frame” kind of mud! We all knew that ministry requires “getting our hands dirty,” but when the real storms begin to wreak havoc in revitalization work, it is easy to get stuck, or to waste valuable time attempting to haul others out of the muck. So, what’s a revitalization leader to do?

1. Pray against the storm.

Ron Hutchcraft has been in ministry as long as I can remember. He started out in the 1960’s as part of the Youth for Christ organization reaching out to teenagers and college students with the Gospel. Much of his ministry has been centered around taking Christ to Native Americans in the Southwest U.S. He also has a long-standing radio ministry. You can hear his broadcasts called A Word with You on many Christian stations. Recently, I was really encouraged by the short message

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he called “Standing Against the Storm.” I’d like to share it with you.

Hutchcraft began…

Each summer it’s been our privilege to travel with a team of young Native Americans to take the hope of Jesus to America’s reservation young people, and God has really shown up powerfully for these young spiritual warriors.

Like the night one summer in a very remote corner of New Mexico when our last outreach was about to be rained out. The previous night the thunderstorms had hit the basketball court just as we were about to present the Gospel. So, this was now our last opportunity to invite young people to come to Christ in an area where the spiritual darkness was very deeply entrenched.

Well, once again, just before invitation time, wouldn’t you know it; a wall of ominous storm clouds was moving toward the school. I asked six of our team members to pray in the face of that approaching storm, and as I said, “Stand against that storm in Jesus’ name.” They got in a huddle and they prayed really fervently and minutes later they came running to tell me what had happened. They said, “Ron, the storm suddenly divided in two and went around the school!” That night one out of five people in that village made a public commitment to Jesus Christ!1 1 https://hutchcraft.com/a-word-with-you/your-hindrances/ standing-against-the-storm-8815

God calls us to pray for one another. He calls us to pray against the storms the enemy thrusts our way in order to stop the efforts or to get us stuck in the mud and unable to move forward. Paul encouraged the believers in Ephesus to put on the armor of God, to stand their ground, and to pray! In fact, the emphasis is on continuous prayer, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18, ESV).

When we see the storms coming—when we notice dark clouds gathering—get ready. Get suited up and get prayed up! The enemy is a vicious foe, but we serve a conquering King. Don’t get lost in the battle. Pray for Godly vision and heavenly wisdom to weather the storm or to see it dissipate before your eyes. You may be surprised at what he’ll do.

2. Stand in the gap—or in this case, on the board laid across the mud pit.

Sometimes the enemy is behind the storms that come our way and his intent is to make us and keep us bogged down in revitalization efforts. At other times, God may be sending a storm as a warning to get our attention and call us back toward his direction. The sad truth is that, in the days of Elijah, God suggested that there had been no one who would stand in the gap and lead the nation back to God. The Lord declared, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezekiel 22:30, NKJV).

Be that man. His eyes are still searching “to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chron. 16:9). Peter reminded believers and church leaders that “the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers” (1 Peter 3:12). Pray for those stuck in their spiritual journey. Pray for those in your church that are stuck in old habits. Pray for those who are “ineffective,” “unfruitful,” “nearsighted,” and “blind” because they have “forgotten” what God did for them (2 Peter 1:8-9). Remind them exactly what God did for them and that he expects them to go into all the world (including their own backyard) and declare this same offer of forgiveness and grace. Don’t be

afraid to stand in the gap! Don’t be afraid to tell them that you “think it right …to stir [them] up by way of reminder” ( 2 Peter 1:13). Be that leader. Stand in the gap.

3. Get in the mud, but not stuck in the mud.

Again, we knew it would get messy (at least I hope you were warned before diving into ministry). We knew the waters would get murky. Afterall, Jesus said we were not above our Master. He got in the mud. He smelled like fish.

He searched the ravines for the lost sheep. He bled and died. When the mud doesn’t look inviting (and it never does), remember to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Heb. 12:1-3).

Running in the mud is difficult, but don’t give up. Jesus is right there pushing through the muck and the mire to bring you and your church to the other side. Yes, it’s nice when he chooses to part the waters, or in this case the mudpuddles. But when he doesn’t, he always has a better plan of renewal and restoration. So don’t be afraid to get in the mud. Just don’t get stuck there! Stand in the gap for your people. Pray against the storms that the evil one would use to hinder the revitalization work. Take the Lord by the hand and march on toward the Promised Land even if the trail gets a little mucky along the way.

Richard D. Harvey is the pastor of Cross Baptist Church in Eufaula, Alabama. He is a 2020 D.Min graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with specialization in Church Revitalization. He has served churches in Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida. He is also author of the forthcoming book Fail Proof: Eight Biblical Principles That Will Keep You from Falling.

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Does God really set people free?

Or are we just talking?

Transformational Discipleship was developed to train leaders how to guide both brand-new and longtime believers towards deep spiritual change.

This training is foundational for every believer. It guides people who are stuck on their faith journey due to unresolved, often hidden issues in their lives towards true spiritual, emotional and mental freedom through intimacy with God.

“It’s not like anything I have been through before.”

Pastor John Wright, Titusville, FL “This is life transforming. I’m going to teach the socks off this thing.”

Dr. Phil Phillips, Ft. Myers, FL

From the Parking Lot

to the Pulpit

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By Desmond Barrett As I pull into the parking lot, I view the space as if I was a guest.

Statistics have shown that within the first six to eleven minutes of a guest arriving at a church, the guest has decided if they are coming back. Let me say that again, in the first fifteen minutes of a visit, the guest chooses to attend again. Can we all agree how unfair that is! However, the truth is that before a guest hears you preaching before they listen to one song sung, your church may have blown the guest’s experience. While you cannot control the outcome, you can provide a guest with an experience that honors God and opens their heart for more Christian fellowship from your members.

Parking Lot Have you ever driven by a church, and there is either a gate or chain across the driveway entrance on a non-service day? I am not sure anyone at the church has stopped to think about what that says to a potential guest? For some of you, I have just stepped on your toes. For others, I can already hear you grumble that it’s for the protection of the church property. But, in all reality, it sends a not-so-subtle message that the church only wants ‘club members’ to attend and not the community. Think about it this way: a chain, gate, or fencing in society is seen as a barrier, not a welcome mat for the neighborhood to join your fellowship. While this opening view of your facility can seem petty, for non-church members you are sending the wrong message.

Scanning the parking lot, I am looking for several things. The first is what does the parking lot say about the church? Will guests find a sign that says no skateboarding, no overnight parking, not a turnaround zone? In succession, you have told me before I exit my car that the church does not like teenagers, the church does not trust you, and stop using the church property. Maybe your church has had a bad experience, and thus came the signs, but ask yourself, do signs deter people or do relationships help people? Signage should be welcoming and informational, not confrontational.

Several years ago, when I arrived at my current assignment, I noticed that the parking lot was gravel, there were ruts in some places, and towards the back of the lot was more grass than rocks, and it was overgrown. For churchgoers, we get accustomed to the ripped carpet with duct tape placed over the spot, no signage to provide directions, and in this case, a parking lot that was not well maintained. With that outlook in mind ensure the lawn and bushes are trimmed, the building does not have peeling paint, and the directional signs are unmistakable.

As guests exit the car, they are already unsure of what to do and where to go, so help make it easy for them. In well-established churches, there are multiple entryways, but first-time guests only see doors as barriers to where they want to go. Make sure the main door is marked either with a sandwich sign or a large letter sign that can be seen long before a guest arrives at the door.

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Greet and Direct Be ready to open the church’s doors with a warm smile and helping hand if they have children. You probably have heard it said, a first impression is a lasting impression. Make the first impression of your people and the inside of your building welcoming. Put friendly people at the front door and hide the ones who might be a little sour. Come on; you know who I am talking about in your church, do not think of me cross for speaking truth.

When guests enter your foyer, lobby, or narthex, is there someone to guide them to the sanctuary, show them how to checkin their child and where the restrooms are located? Remember they are visitors and need extra help on their first visit. As I step into your lobby, I am looking around and wondering what decade I have walked into. Sadly, too many entries are stuck in a time warp, or worst they are decked out as a memorial chapel to the dead. Awards, plaques, memorial rolls, and extensive ornamental flowers need to be removed or scaled back. You need to ask; do I want to serve coffee and breakfast items in this area or offer a clean space for people to gather? Either way, people want a place where they can talk and interact. By removing the nonessential items to a dedicated space like outside the church office, you can create a seating area where people can gather.

Before we move on from this area, let us examine signs again.

Are there clear directional signs for me to follow? In my local church, we have put up plexiglass in strategic locations the size of a large sheet of paper (8 X 11) and slide printed signs into them that we make on our desktop. Every six months, we change these signs with fresh colors, themes, etc., which creates a considerable cost saving and provides an extra freshness to the facility. So, what about your signage? Make sure that signage is clear, concise, and readable from a distance. As I examine things around your lobby, let me encourage you to remove any unwanted signs that distract from your mission of friendliness. Let me give you two examples. I recently was in a church, and as I came to a side door, it had, not one, not two, but three signs taped to the double doors that said, ‘make sure the door is closed by pushing on the door.’ These signs made me smile because it was clear someone had left the doors open before. I went back downstairs to the fellowship and recounted my story and one lovely lady said, ‘we had four signs, so I guess one fell off.’ It took all I had not to laugh. Hear my heart, signs will not deter someone from doing what they want, but they will send a message that you might not intend.

The second sign concern is signage that tells me something negative. ‘Do not bring food or drink in the sanctuary.’ ‘Do not open this door.’ ‘Water fountain broken, do not use.’ ‘Bathroom out of order.’ These unfavorable signs send a subtle message of negativity when all the church is trying to provide direction.

Pay attention to the subtle negative messages sent through signage. Better yet, take down these types of signs.

Care About Children In many established churches, they desperately want and desire children with families to attend the church. Children bring

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renewal, hope, and excitement to the facility. As a dad of a sixyear-old, I am looking to see if he would be happy in your facility. In my first church, they had to clean out a classroom for my daughters when they were growing up, and if I were not the pastor, I would not have returned. If you want children prepare now. You might not have a lot of money, but do you have some elbow grease? Clean the toys, throw away broken ones, paint the walls, hang happy pictures, and clean out the classroom.

Remember, less is more. You would be surprised at how many churches I have walked into and saw stained ceiling tiles with mold, sheets on the cribs that looked stained, outdated doors that were hazards, and stained carpets.

Once you clean up, be prepared with a teacher and curriculum each week, even if you have not had a child for years. Because one day a child will come, and the parents do not want to see you running around trying to get things together. That certainly will not be a vote of confidence. Part of being prepared is not using outdated material. When a church is struggling, the last thing they can afford is to waste funds, but you need to spend money in this area to keep families with children. Be prepared to have projects and resources that connect with children today.

Retro Restrooms A pastor was touring me around his church and took me under the main stairwell to the restrooms. The building was over 100 years old, and the bathroom looked like it had been remodeled in the 1950s. Many of the men’s restroom urinals were blocked off by tape, and the remaining ones had no divider between them. I explained to the pastor as a guest; they want their personal space. A simple fix is to put up a partition. The pastor laughed, but I was being serious. We took the plexiglass sign concept in my local church and placed them at eye level in the men’s restrooms. Each week we slide the Sunday front page, sports section, and comics in them, so a person has something to review so they do not feel awkward. It is a small gesture to make a guest comfortable.

In the women’s restroom, do they have a private area to breastfeed a child, a diaper changing area that is clean and fully supplied? By the way, a changing station should also be in the men’s restroom, and the changing cover could even be camouflage or sports decorated to make it more manly if you want. How about ladies’ toiletries? Is there a trash can with a lid so things can be more discreet? I know it may seem silly to go into detail on your bathroom, but childcare areas and bathrooms are the two most repeated negative comments by guests, according to research.

Worship Center I made it to your worship center. I scan the space for a safe space to sit. I navigate the seats in the back. I am trying not to sit where a bible, pillow, or blanket has been left from the week before. Why? Because clearly, someone has marked their territory, and I do not want to be fussed at my very first Sunday with you. Finally, I found a place to sit and begin scanning the room, the seat pouch in front of me, and the bulletin. These three areas will tell me a lot about you. I watch the room to see who is talking or not. Who is interested in what, and if anyone will be

welcoming to a first-time guest. I look at the pouch in front of me; usually, I find offering envelopes, connection cards, and, a lot of times old bulletins, and candy wrappers. Instantly it tells me two things; a lack of attention to detail, and the church is struggling to find volunteers to clean up in between services.

Petty, you might say, but I say prepare for guests as if Jesus is coming this Sunday.

times guests slip out when the pastor is praying, but make sure you love them out the door if they remain. Ask yourself, have we gotten their information? Were they given an informational card as they came in to fill out? Do they get a gift if they turn it back in? While I could go into great detail on these points, I will save that for another visit; I want to make sure you provide a lasting positive impression for this first-time guest.

The ‘Special’ Music Whatever the style of music in your church, make sure it is quality. I cannot count how many services I had sat in when a ‘special’ was announced, and the person said, ‘pray for me. I have not been able to practice this week.’ I wanted to yell, SIT DOWN! COME BACK WHEN YOU ARE PREPARED! I feel God deserves our best, not second, third, or fourth best. Be prepared to shine for God. I did not say, you must sing on key, that would be nice by the way, but you do have to be prepared. Honor God by putting in the time to use your talent for him.

As the guest walks back to their car, reflect on what you did right and what you might want to change. For me, as your first-time guest, you did great. While some areas need to be improved or enhanced, your church is on the right track.

Short and Sweet Announcements My wife was watching a service online recently and said this person spoke for nearly twelve minutes. I said, well, that was a short sermon. She replied that it was just announcements.

Lord Jesus, take the wheel, or in this case, take away the microphone. Revitalizer keep it short and to the point. If a guest is given a bulletin, they can review the announcements on a screen and see them posted on the church’s social media page, does someone have to read all the announcements? I think not. Announcements should be secondary, not the main event.

However, announcements have become a production instead of a precursor of what is to come. Lessen your announcements to a minimum, or you are wasting your guest’s valuable time.

Sermon Preparation God has called you to bring a message sometimes several times a week to your people, so do not steal someone else’s sermons.

This should be obvious, but a prominent denomination just had a scandal over pastors liberally borrowing significant passages of text or the whole text. I get it your busy. You might be bi-vocational or co-vocational, but if God has called you, let him speak through you when sharing his Word, or at least cite that its someone else’s sermon.

As you preach the Word of God, make sure it is relevant to your context. Share stories and points that draw your people back to God’s Word and the direction for their life. Using stories or facts about city life when you live in rural America as an example will only cause disconnection rather than a deep connection you are targeting. Your style may be different than mine or the pastor down the street, and that is okay. Give yourself permission to preach and teach your way through God’s divine calling. But do it relationally. Make the Bible come alive for your guests, so they want to know and learn more from God’s Word.

Assessments are NOT End-All-Be-Alls Assessments are snapshots on a particular day in a specific year. I understand it was just one service, and you probably do all things I question better, but people were out, or someone forgot to clean. I know that because I am in the same life-saving business you are in as a pastor. But, your guests either may not know or frankly, they might not care. But God does. God cares about your church. God cares about the people currently a part of the church or those who might visit her. Be prepared for guests by doing your best. You may not have the workforce or financial resources to solve all the church’s problems, but you can do something. Use this simple consultation for the first time in examining what your church can do better. While you most likely will need a more detailed and specialized assessment, use this as your first step to begin the conversation with your church board and lay members on how to be better prepared for the guests who will come in the future.

Let me close by saying you are doing a lot of things right. You have a remarkable church, and it clearly shows you love the Lord. However, little things add up. Addition through subtraction is all about taking away the things that no longer fully honor God or the local church in the season your church is in today.

Do your church a favor; give a little to gain a lot.

Dr. Desmond Barrett is the Lead Pastor at Summit Church of the Nazarene in Ashland, Kentucky and is the cofounder of the Rural Revitalization Network. He is a graduate of Nazarene Bible College (BA) and Trevecca Nazarene University (MOL) and (EdD) in leadership and professional practice. He is the author of Revitalizing the Declining Church: From Death’s Door to Community Growth and has done extensive research in church revitalization and serves as church revitalizer, consultant, coach, podcast host, author, and mentor to revitalizing pastors and churches.

Thanks for the Memories As I leave your service, I am waiting to see if anyone comes over to me to thank me for coming. Think about it this way; this is the last time your church gets to connect with a guest. Some-

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Dynamic Small Groups:

Go and Grow

By Fred Boone A denomination became the largest in the world when it embraced a strategy of using small groups to reach people for Christ and develop them into on mission disciples.

For many years this denomination did this better than any other group of churches in the world. They became the most evangelistic churches in modern history, the facts were clear they were reaching more people for Christ than any other denomination. Southern Baptists became the largest denomination in the world while others were declining. Southern Baptists became known as the “Evangelistic Denomination”. How did they do this? By developing a strategy that created small groups that had as their aim the goal of reaching people for Christ. Southern Baptists Sunday Schools became known as the “Outreach Arm” of the church.

In the late 1800’s Southern Baptists had already discovered the value of developing small groups to plant churches and then use those groups to build churches. As the Sunday School movement grew the need for literature grew.

A pastor named J. M. Frost led a movement to establish an organization within Southern Baptists to create and print Sunday School literature. In 1891 the Baptist Sunday School Board was created. As this new organization continued to grow, they were receiving more requests from churches asking for help in organizing their Sunday Schools. In the early 1900’s the Baptist Sunday School Board hired a layman from Mississippi who had led his church to incredible growth using their Sunday School. Arthur Flake be-

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came the first Director of the Sunday School Department.

Through Arthur’s leadership the Sunday Schools of SBC churches developed a greater focus on reaching people for Christ.

Arthur Flake developed a simple philosophy that he began to teach to Baptist churches across the south. Years later it became known as “Flakes Formula.” Mr. Flake said it is a simple five step process. One, you need to “Know the Possibilities.” By this he meant, what is the demographic of your church? How many adults and what is the age range and how many youth, children and preschoolers are in your church. You would include the prospects that you had information about. Also, what is the demographic of your community. Once you have a handle on this information you would use it for the next step. Two, “Enlarge the Organization.” This the way he expressed it in 1922: It will be necessary to enlarge the organization in order to take care of all the people on the church roll and those discovered in the census. There will be no use to go on with the same old organization hoping to increase the size of the Sunday School permanently. Unless the present Sunday School organization is enlarged, practically all of the work done in taking the census will come to naught.

To be sure, a few people will join the Sunday School as a result of being visited during the census, but there can be no large permanent growth unless there is an organization

strong enough to reach, hold, and teach the people who should be in the Sunday School. The size of the organization needed is dictated by the number of pupils available, as revealed by the information secured (Building a Standard Sunday School, pp. 27-28).

Step Three, “Enlist and Train the Workers.” Now that you know how many classes you need for each age group you begin the prayerful process of recruiting and training the teachers and other leaders you will need to operate this new organization. Each age group needs a different ratio of leaders to learners. Praying for workers is the great work of the ministry and it is the only prayer that Jesus ordered us to pray. Luke 10:2 – “Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Step Four, “Provide the Space.” Next you will need a place for all these groups to meet. Proper space is just as important as any other element in developing a growing Sunday School.

Step Five, “Go after the People.” Arthur Flake was passionate about reaching people. His strategy for developing the Sunday School structure was for the goal of reaching people for Christ. Flakes first book “Building a Standard Sunday School” became the handbook for Southern Baptists churches to use as their guide to build growing Sunday Schools.

J.N. Barnette a layman from North Carolina came to work along side Arthur Flake. By the 1950’s Barnette followed Flake as the Director of the Sunday School Department.

J.N. Barnette was a great evangelist and like Flake had a passion to see people come to know Christ. In 1954 he challenged Southern Baptists to enroll in one year a million people in Sunday School. The campaign became know as “A Million More in 54”. This effort led to Southern Baptists reaching and baptizing a record number of people which led to Southern Baptists becoming the largest denomination in the world. J.N. Barnette took Flakes Formula from a philosophy to a workable strategy as he developed the 7 Laws of Sunday School which he outlined in his book “The Pull of the People”. As he studied the growing churches, he discovered 7 key principles that each church was following as they fleshed out “Flakes Formula.”

Here are the laws that J.N. Barnette discovered. 1) The Law Relating to the Number of Workers, the lower the ratio of workers to learners always resulted in greater growth. In other words, the church that had a ratio of 1 worker to 10 members was more effective than the church that had a ratio of 1 to 15. 2) The Law Relating to Size of Classes – Small classes reached more people for Christ than large class-

es, also a class usually reached its maximum size in 18-24 months. 3) The Law Relating to New Units – the churches that were adding new classes on a regular basis were growing. That had a vision for reaching new people. 4) The Law Relating to Grading – The churches that had a clear systematic method of how to organize all ages groups including adults discovered that they involved more people in their weekly Bible studies. 5) The Law Relating to Promotion – Promotion was an annual event where they moved up all children and youth based on their age and celebrated the creation of new classes for adults. 6) The Law Relating to Visitation – Growing churches practically practiced Flakes directive to “Go After the People”, by mobilizing and training all classes to go and visit members and prospects. 7) The Law Relating to the Building – The space the Sunday School met in was just as important as any other aspect of the strategy. They knew if you were going to be adding new classes you had to have a plan for adding or discovering places for these classes.

These two men, Arthur Flake and J.N. Barnette instilled in Southern Baptists the vision and determination to use Sunday School as a strategy to reach people for Christ. It was a strategy that produced unprecedented results for over a half century. But as time marched on Southern Baptists lost that vision. Sunday School fell on hard times as pastors didn’t understand how to organize and operate a proper Sunday School. Then when some new and inventive pastors came along and understood the value of small groups, the “Small Group” movement was born. The goal was to create something to replace Sunday School and it would meet anytime and anyplace. However, in this new effort a key element fell out, the idea of being a tool to reach people and evangelize the lost was missing. As more and more churches have abandoned Sunday School and many have not replaced it with Small Groups, we are seeing a decline in evangelism and few baptisms. For the last few years and for the first time in history Southern Baptists have seen record declines.

The message is clear, the churches that have a clear vision to organize their Sunday School or Small Groups to “Go after the People” are still growing. When Jesus gave us the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, the command was GO! We must organize our Sunday Schools and Small Groups with a vision to “Go and Grow.”

Fred Boone is the Executive Pastor and LIFE Groups Pastor of First Baptist Church of Mount Dora, Florida.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Churches in Revitalization

By Scott Brown Years ago, I heard a very simple sermon that has always stuck with me. The preacher made the point that every believer likely found themselves in one of three places in their walk with Christ: Rut, Rot, or Revival. One might not realize they are in a rut. They aren’t making any real forward motion in their walk with Christ but they are also not going backward. It gets easier just to stay where they are in that rut rather than do the work of digging out and moving forward. As they stay in that rut they slowly begin to rot. This, too, may be subtle and the person may not see it at first but the rot slowly creeps in as they stay in that rut. Or, as the preacher described, the believer can dig out of the rut and shake off the rot through recognition of their situation and repentance changing from what they’ve been doing to what they need to be doing. This leads to revival, a work of God in and through their life that would not have been possible otherwise.

I consider this goes for churches as well. It is a subtle thing when a church falls into a rut. We may be busy with a full calendar and lots of activity but we are just stuck in a rut. We keep busy spinning our tires seeming to only dig that rut deeper. For too many churches, they begin to slowly rot by settling into that rut and continuing the same plans and practices that may have once worked but now leave them lifeless and limp. The same answer can bring a church and a Christian into revival. There must be an honest recognition of the situation and a conscious decision that something can be and must be done about it.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a therapy tool that helps to retrain the way a person thinks and speaks about themselves and their world around them, leading to a change in the way they interpret their experiences and act toward them. Cognitive Behav-

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ioral Therapy is a tool that effective revitalizers learn to use in their churches to dig them out of ruts and shake off former rot. Revitalizers learn to dig out the rut by helping the church to see its situation clearly yet hopefully. Many churches may be stuck without realizing it while others are deeply entrenched in what keeps them stuck. Some resign themselves to being a “small church” or a type of museum that preserves the past with no vision for the future. The revitalizer must change the way the church views itself and its mission and one of the best ways is to change the narrative the church tells itself.

I never allow pastors to describe their church as a “small church.” There are churches with all kinds of numbers on Sunday but there are no small churches in God’s eyes. Throughout Scripture, God does the greatest things through the least of people. Being small in number has never been an excuse to expect small things from God or not attempt great things for Him. The congregation that chooses to view itself as “just a small church” is teaching itself and its community a weak view of God. God chose Gideon those he was the least of his family who were the least in Israel. God

chose David who wasn’t even considered by his own father before Samuel. He chooses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. He chose me and he chose you. “Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6).

A key aspect to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is goal setting. If we are ever going to win, we have to know how to keep score. It is key to set clear, achievable, and measurable goals. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. For a church that hasn’t baptized anyone in a few years, it might be to baptize two people this year.

Make a goal that is clear and measurable, then keep it in the forefront. Remind people about it, write about it, talk about it, work toward it. When you achieve it, celebrate and set a bigger goal.

In trying to retrain the way a church thinks about itself, revitalizers change the things they celebrate.

What we celebrate reveals what matters most to us.

Drawing attention to what God is doing, making a big deal out of salvations and baptisms, highlighting any positive change in attendance or attitudes can go

a long way. I try to find one thing to highlight every time I communicate with the church. Every article, every service, every church wide email I find something positive to draw attention toward. Sometimes it’s easy, “It was awesome to have baptism Sunday!”

Sometimes it’s harder, “What a great deacon meeting we had last week!” Whatever we celebrate we imitate so we will see more of the behavior that we praise the most. I share every week about a gospel conversation I had. I get excited, I thank God for the opportunity, I talk about how I found the opportunity. Over time I’ve been able to share others’ stories as well. I make an enormous deal about seeing other people talk about Jesus. I just can’t praise that enough. I talk about how great it is to serve a soul winning church. I do this because that’s how I want them to see themselves and what I want them to become.

Finally, I allow people to speak honestly about the pains they’ve felt through church or about the missteps of our church in the past but I never tolerate slander about my faith family, especially from my faith family. For better or worse, these are my people.

I want them to be the faith family there is. The words we repeat about ourselves we begin to believe. “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21). I want my people to dig out of their rut, shake off the rot, and have revival. This means we have to change the way we think about our church, talk about our God, and live our lives.

Dr. Scott Brown is the pastor of First Baptist Waverly, Tn. He is a church revitalizer and a revitalization coach with Renovate. He is passionate about equipping and encouraging leaders toward the great and godly work of church revitalization.

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Stuck in a Truck

By Jim Grant Last year I went deer hunting with a friend of mine up in east Texas. I really enjoy hunting and being outdoors. Hunting was going pretty slow, then it came a gully washer of a storm. We must have gotten close to two inches of rain an hour. Needless to say, the ground was saturated with moisture. Finally, after a couple of hours the rain stopped, and the sun came out. So much for hunting that evening. I thought we would just hang out at the cabin until morning and hunt then. Nope! My friend wanted to go throw corn and deer supplement on the ground for the next morning’s hunt. I said man, it is too wet, we’ll get stuck! We were in his truck, and he was going to do it whether I wanted to or not. Oh, I forgot to tell you that my friend had a stroke years ago and is very unstable on his feet. So, guess who had to go along to dump the corn and all on the ground? Yes, it would be me. Again, I tried to tell my friend let’s not do this – it is just too wet, and we will get stuck. He would have nothing to do with it. We loaded up his dodge 4x4 truck with the corn and proceeded out to the deer blinds.

All was going well until he decided to try and do a 3-point turn in the wettest part of the trail. I tried to tell him just go straight, do not try to turn around here. Nope! He was going to turn around right there. Well, you guessed it, we got stuck.

Not just a little stuck, he buried the truck up to its rear axile!

Of course, he tried to use four-wheel drive to get out. Nope, he just got deeper. So, then he says, hey someone must

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dig us out; uh huh and who would that be? You guessed it again, it was my responsibility to dig us out. I got out, and quickly saw we would need a backhoe to dig this truck out.

Anyway, I tried to put branches and wood under the tires, nope – way too stuck.

We spent the next three hours trying to get the truck out of a place it should have never been in the first place. Finally, we got someone close by to get us out, not without spraying mud everywhere and putting a dent in the front bumper where the guy ran into a tree when the truck did come out.

Then my friend tells me we must pay the guy for getting us out. What? I did not get us stuck you did! We are hunting together, that mean you must help pay this guy for getting us out. Now not only am I caked with mud, I also am out $100 to pay for getting a truck unstuck, that I did not have anything to do with in getting it stuck!

I say all this because when I think of how comical the situation was, it is much like a church that is stuck. They really have no one to blame except themselves. Bad decisions, regardless of when they are made, they are still bad decisions. Just like my friend who thought he could turn around in an impossible place, so churches will think the same way.

Churches will try every available scheme to get unstuck by themselves, but to no avail. I could not tell my friend anything while we were getting stuck – ditto for a church. You

cannot tell a church anything until they are exhausted and way in over their heads. Here are some similarities in both situations: Churches will get stuck going places they should never have tried to go.

Churches will get stuck deeper than they ever dreamed was possible.

Churches will get into a deeper mess thinking they can get themselves out. Finding themselves in a tough situation or faulty decision, churches will continue to “drive forward” thinking they can get out if they just keep going in the same direction.

Churches like 4-wheel drives, think because they have power/resources they can get themselves out of the mess they got themselves into. Just because a church has resources does not mean a thing. Improper use of resources is as bad as not having any to begin with.

Churches will get stuck going off the beaten path.

Churches that hesitate before assessing the gravity of the situation causes them to get sucked into the surrounding environment.

Churches will eventually have to call someone else for help; but only until they have put themselves into an unmanageable situation.

Churches will have to accept unorthodox means to get unstuck.

Churches will blame someone else for why they are stuck.

Churches will have to pay for their bad judgments and mistakes.

Churches will expect everyone to pay for their mistakes. This includes those that tried to counsel them in the process.

There is a moral to this story. Churches must know what they are up against. It is essential to know what needs to be done, but also when can it be done without jeopardizing the whole mission. Doing the right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing. While there needs to be a sense of urgency, there must be clarity and ability to accomplish the task. My friend could have waited until later for the ground to dry up, but he placed a false urgency in getting the corn out on the ground that caused him to ruin that evening hunt and cost both of us money we did not have to spare.

One of the most significant points to this story that I have not mentioned it this: the truck and the church must be aware that they are stuck. My friend refused to believe he was stuck; also, churches will be in denial of their condition.

Now when it was finally acknowledged that the truck was stuck; there became a sense of urgency because if we did not get that truck out of the quagmire, it would have been sucked into the mud and we really would have needed a back-hoe to dig it out. A church that hesitates to get unstuck will make it just that much harder to dig out of the hole they put themselves into.

Finally, what did I learn? Not to go hunting with my friend anymore because he put us in situations that kept us from being able to accomplish our task – hunting. I also learned that you cannot put all your trust in someone who has no idea what he is doing. I also learned that someone else’s bad judgements will cost me in the long run.

I hope you got a good laugh and valuable insights at my expense!

Jim Grant is the Executive Director of the Galveston Baptist Association.

He is an Air Force veteran, retiring with twenty-five years of service. He has a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological seminary with a concentration on Church Revitalization.

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