Sept/Oct 2019 Vol 6 Issue 5
THE
CHURCH
Revitalizer A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue
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From The Editor Welcome to the Church Revitalizer Magazine! I absolutely loved my experiences at seminary. My Masters of Divinity and two doctoral degrees were all wonderful journey’s in my maturation process as a minister. A I look back on all the things I learned in seminary, there are a few things about church revitalization I wished I had learned. First it must be said that when I graduated no one was thinking about church revitalization and renewal. There were many schools that were only interested in church growth and spent most of their time teaching about that discipline. Back then church planting was not even on the radar of most seminaries. Thankfully that has also changed. In revitalization, knowing how to create things such as websites, brochures, bulletins, and flyers so that cost could be kept low, would have been a great class for preachers to take. These skills go a long way toward presenting the church in a professional light. Attractive stewardship brochures and new member pamphlets help people take the information inside seriously. A clean and easy-to-navigate website raises the expectations of potential members for the spiritual guidance and opportunities available inside the church. Today so many declining churches are led by pastors that have little or no technological experience. Since most revitalization projects have little or no resources, having a leader who can navigate this arena is a plus. Spiritual formation and discipleship are two other things that I wish I had learned how to pass on to others. I took a few classes on discipleship but was not equipped sufficiently in the fundamentals of actually being a better equipper and spiritual formation teacher. While all of us know what discipleship is, we are seldom fully invested in giving that part of our lives away in significant ways. I wish I had left seminary armed with a more robust definition and understanding of discipleship. It is not about programs and booklets offered to talk around it. We need to learn how to disciple people.
Connecting to the community you serve is not an option but a mandate. Far too many declining churches are led by leaders who are invisible to the community they are called to serve. Attending community meetings, participating in festival planning, and supporting large community functions, displays to your church, and to your community, that you care about the place you live. It is not only about what you are doing within the walls of your church. Another thing that would have been great to learn during seminary is that ministry is not accomplished in a bubble. Except for one evangelism class where we weekly went out and witnessed in the community, the rest of my seminary experience was spent inside the protective bubble of the seminary campus. Classes created to get a student out into the community might have been the prescription for a generation of ministers who want to hunker down in their offices. You must work hard and not coast as a minister. Internal motivation is a key to success in most pastorates. Often the pastor of a declining church is one who has taken their hand off of the throttle and begins to coast. Doing ministry on auto pilot is dangerous and a class on creating traction, recruiting, training, investing, and stretching individually, would have been helpful. Within this edition we want to look at:
Things I wish I learned in Seminary About Church Revitalization. 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
Things You Must Know Woring in Church Revitalization Tom Cheyney
p. 10
Centrifugal Buzz: Seminary – Then What?
The Church Revitalizer and Pastoral Succession–Part 2
Ken Priddy
Lee Kricher
p. 17
p. 20
Murphy’s Law for Churches: Lessons That Every Minister Needs
Expository Preaching Through Books Can Bring Revitalization
Ron Smith
Joel Breidenbaugh
Diagnosing Your Current Reality
George Thomasson
p. 26
p. 28
p. 32
Also in this issue: The Revitalizer
Book Review Rob Hurtgen
p. 76 4
Henslee and Bueermann’s Replanting Rural Churches: God’s Plan and Call for the Middle of Nowhere, published by Acoma Press in 2019 Life After Death: A Strategy to Bring New Life to a Dead Church (Orlando: Renovate Publishing Group, 2019)
Sept/Oct | Vol 6, No 5
The Church Needs a Pastor Not a Preacher
What Did I Get Into? Steve Smith
p. 36
The School of Hard Knocks
Tracy Jaggers
Bud Brown
p. 52
THE LEADERSHIP LINK: The Value of Focus Michael Atherton
p. 61
Fred Boone
Evangelism in the Real World p. 44 Mark Weible
Steve Sells
p. 66
Seminary Perspectives From a Professor Steve Sells
p. 72
p. 42
Sunday School: Dead or Alive? p. 38
Dealing WIth Difficult Church Members
8 Things I’ve Learned Since Seminary About Church Revitalization p. 56 William Chaney Jr.
Lessons I wish I had Learned p. 78 Chris Irving
Excavating and Exegesis in Church Revitalization p. 50 Jim Grant
5
THE
CHURCH
Revitalizer Volume 6, No. 5
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 Mark Weible Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Ashleigh Cheyney
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. How can I write for The Church Revitalizer? Contact us at Goba@goba.org How do I get help with subscription issues? Go to churchrevitalizer.guru to renew, order a gift, or resolve any issues. May I reprint articles? 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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Brand Manager Tom Cheyney Magazine Designer & Format Editor Ashleigh Cheyney Director of Advertising Renovate Staff Web Ad Traffic Director Mark Weible For subscription information contact this office at: www.churchrevitalizer.guru/subscriptions. Subscriptions are $19 per year for six issues. Outside the U.S. add $10.00 per year prepaid.
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Things You Must Know Working in Church Revitalization By Tom Cheyney Have you ever wished someone or some group would have taken the time to equip you in the tools you need for the ministry of revitalization? As a church revitalizer your journey into the field of church revitalization and renewal begins by the acquiring of strategic skill sets necessary for working in revitalization and renewal. The goal within the Renovate Conference equipping, is to provide pastors and church leaders with not less than 50 newly acquired skill sets each year for a total of more than 150 necessary tools in three years, which can be utilized as a pastor, leader, facilitator, and or consultant in revitalization. Coupled with the books, digital resources, audio/ video resources, websites, and the Church Revitalizer magazine this is without a doubt the most comprehensive training in church revitalization available to the serious practioner and pastor. Rub shoulders with the leading voices for revitalization throughout your revitalization journey, walk with those who are helping revitalize churches throughout the world, and realize that you yourself are growing into a key leader of church revitalization and renewal. Find your voice, follow your spiritual yearning to assist churches, and become a force for church revitalization and renewal. Here are some of the most important things an apprentice should learn while stretching themselves in the revitalization arena: 1. America and the Need for Church Revitalization 2. The Biblical Basics for Church Revitalization 3. The Ministry of Prayer in Church Revitalization! 4. Why Prayerlessness is Hurting the American Church 5. Understanding Your Churches -Ground Zero! 6. The Emergence of a Single Solitary Leader for Revitalization 7. Lessons Learned the Hard Way in Church Renewal 8. The Seven Pillars of Church Revitalization and Renewal 9. The Nudge List in Church Revitalization 10. How to Find Prayer Intercessors for Renewal 11. The Emergence of a Solitary Key Leader for Revitalization 12. The Glass Ceiling in Revitalization 13. Leadership Characteristics that Bring Stagnation and Decline to the Local Church 14. Myths that are Just that in Church Revitalization! 15. Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader! 16. Stuck in the 70’s with No Place to Grow! 17. Factors that Bring Stagnation and Decline to the Local Church 18. The Leadership Role of a Revitalization Pastor 19. Skill Sets Needed for Pastors in Church Revitalization Efforts 20. Evangelism Approaches in Church Revitalization 21. Twelve Initial Church Revitalization Strategies
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22. The Biblical and Theological) Foundation for Church Revitalization. 23. Practical Steps for Leading a Church Off the Plateau 24. Determine the Composition of the Church Revitalization Assistance Team 25. Igniting the Process of Change and Church Renewal! 26. Ten Revitalization Strategies for the Local Church: A Basic Model 27. Outreach Strategies Used in Church Renewal 28. Factors that Impede Church Revitalization 29. The Fly and the Fly Paper: How a Church Gets Unstuck 30. Breaking the 75 Barrier in Church Revitalization 31. Breaking the 125 Barrier in Church Revitalization 32. Stretching Over 200 in Church Revitalization 33. Climbing Past 400 in Church Revitalization 34. Breaking the 800 Barrier in Church Revitalization 35. Ten Biblical Keys to Church Revitalization 36. Eight Refocusing Question That Must Be Considered 37. Core Commitments of a Refocusing Leader 38. To Dream a Realistic Dream Again! 39. Get Your “Vital-mins”: A Sick Church Just Will Not Grow 40. The Ten Stages of a Churches Life! 41. A Congregations Change Quotient 42. The Church Health Profile (Pre-Assessment Tool) 43. Skills Needed to Cross Revitalization Growth Barriers 44. Developing a Church Revitalization Ministry Plan 45. Steps to Developing a Prayer Ministry for Your Church
46. Four Barriers that Hinder Revitalization 47. Vision Casting in a Restart or Refocusing Launch 48. When a Restart Strategy is Your Only HOPE in Church Revitalization! 49. The Desired Outcomes of Church Re- Focusing 50. What it Takes to Get Unstuck! 51. Hope: A Church Revitalizer’s Best Friend! 52. Assessing Your Own Leadership Skills 53. The Velcro Church: How to Help New Adherents Adhere Here! 54. The Teflon Church: Why Do Members Slide Right Out of Some Churches? 55. The Cost of Church Revitalization! 56. Building Relationships in Church Revitalization 57. Slaying the Dragons of Church Revitalization: Dealing with the Critical Issues that are Hurting Your Church! 58. Meaner than a Junk Yard Dog: Why it is Better to Enjoy Life and Your Family Rather than Be Held Hostage by a “Mean” Church! 59. Developing the Commitment of the Laity to Stay in Renewal: How to Become Part of Saving Your Church! 60. Low Morale the Single Greatest Challenge Which Can Hobble Any Church: Raising the Morale of the People of God 61. Reclaiming Inactive Church Members Utilizing the R.E.C.L.A.I.M. Strategy: The One Task to Not Be Eluded! 62. Shaking Up the Status Quo: Why the Younger Generation Will Not Stand for the Tame and Traditional Church!
63. Rebuilding a Great Team for Church Renewal 64. Steps to Turn Around the Plateaued Church 65. Survival Approaches in a Diminishing Community 66. Profile of a Church Revitalization Leader 67. Turnaround Efforts Work Best When... 68. Kicking It Up a Notch! Why Boldness is Necessary in Revitalization 69. Building Castles, Museums or Mission Frontiers! Learning to Think Frontier Over Fortress 70. Debunking the Excuses for Procrastinating in Revitalization 71. Timely Decisions in Church Revitalization 72. The Top 15 Mistakes of Church Revitalization Pastors 73. The Need for Personal Renewal in Church Revitalization 74. Formula for Developing Critical Mass in Church Revitalization 75. Stumbling Blocks to Revitalization 76. Should I Stay or Should I Go? 77. What Will Church Revitalization Look Like? 78. Funding Your Revitalization Vision 79. The Church Revitalizer’s Plan for Personal Growth 80. Avoiding the “Zero – Sum” Game as a Revitalization Leader 81. Closing the Back Door to Assimilation 82. Churches that Can Not Keep Prospects & Members 83. How to Avoid Becoming a Church that Cannot Keep Prospects & Members 84. Understanding the Assimilation Zones for Renewal 85. Ten Critical Mistakes Ineffective Leadership Teams Make 86. Reasons Staff Are Hired in Smaller Churches 87. Dealing with Criticism as a Leader 88. Generating Buy-In as A Revitalization Pastor 89. Going to Additional Services in Your Church Renewal Effort: Doubling, Tripling or Quadrupling Your Churches Potential 90. Structuring Your Church to Grow and Not Plateau 91. Handling Stress in Your Ministry: That which you created and that which you did not! 92. Trusting Your Intuitive Instincts as the Revitalization Leader 93. Planning the First 120 Days as the New Revitalization Pastor 94. A Profile of a Church Pastor in Trouble 95. Six Tactical Mistakes Declining Churches Make 96. Little Things Mean a Lot in Church Revitalization 97. Remaining the Spiritual Leader of the Flock You Shepherd 98. Stop Coasting and Start Challenging Your Church! 99. Dealing with Depression in Your Ministry 100. Eliminate the Distance Between You and Those Who Disagree with You 101. Leading During Hard Times Without Fallout 102. Seven Types of Influencers Within Your Church! 103. Ten Characteristics of an Effective Revitalization Team 104. How to Manage the Conflict that Will Surface During Church Revitalization 105. Four Steps to Problem Solving in Church Renewal 106. Seven Tips in Working with Church Powerbrokers 107. Five Fears Church Revitalization Pastors Must Overcome
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108. Why Vision Fatigue Can Stall Your Church! 109. The Foundations for Decline in Urban Churches 110. The Differences Between Growing Verses Dying Churches! 111. The Role of the Evangelist in Church Revitalization 112. Five Fatal Flaws of Feeble Leaders 113. Cashing in on Your KASH: How to Recognize When It’s Time to GO! 114. Slip Sliding Away: Closing the Back Door to Assimilation 115. The Super Glue Church: How to Help New Believer’s Stick Here! 116. The Greasy Church: Why Do Members Slide Right Out of Some Churches? 117. Significant Signs of a Healthy Revitalization Pastor 118. Are You Building Scaffolding or Foundations in Church Revitalization? 119. Three Things That Will Not Revitalize a Church! 120. Bonding to the Churches Past Glories in Revitalization! 121. Why Call the Church to Repentance and Set a Moving Forward from Here Date? 122. The Ministry of the Word in Church Revitalization! 123. Components that Encumber Church Revitalization 124. Three Types of Pastors in Church Revitalization 125. Equipping in the Smaller Church Revitalization Plan 126. Nine Survival Skills for Church Revitalization Leaders 127. Self-Destructive Leaders Will Hurt Your Church! 128. Nine Ways to Create Momentum for Church Revitalization 129. Why Some Larger Churches Don’t Grow? 130. Why Some Smaller Churches Don’t Grow? 131. The Church Revitalization Church Satisfaction Curve 132. Twenty-Five Ways the Laity Can Develop Any Church 133. The Church Revitalizer as Change Agent 134. The Nuts and Bolts of Church Revitalization 135. Preaching Towards Church Revitalization & Renewal 136. Why Today Really Matters as a Church Revitalizer? 137. Elements Most Critical for a Church to Turn Around! 138. Fast Facts for Busy Pastors: Why do we need revitalization? 139. Statistical Realities Concerning Church Revitalization! 140. Overcoming Obstacles in Church Revitalization 141. Renewing Vintage Churches Older than 40, They Need a Plan to Stay Fit! 142. Practical Tools for Re-Inventing the Dying Church 143. Battling Leadership Blind Spots 144. Change Happens! We Cannot Escape It! 145. Dealing with Abusive Laity in the Church 146. Dealing with Generational Separation in Church 147. Developing a Male Friendly Church: time to Man Up! 148. Revitalization Growth in a No Growth Town 149. How God Prepares a Church Revitalizer to Become a Change Agent
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150. How to Have Revival in a Declining Church: Overcoming Decay in Our Churches 151. The Real Numbers that Matter in Church Renewal 152. The Dangers of Steeple Jacking in Church Revitalization 153. The Passive Aggressive Declining Church 154. Why a Good Ole Church Fight Breaks the Heart of God! 155. Some Habits That You Need to Ditch as a Church Revitalizer 156. Igniting the Process of Change and Church Renewal! 157. The Congregation Lifestyle Cycle 158. Surviving Clergy Burnout! 159. The Lessons to be Learned from a Lousy Church Revitalization Leader 160. Assessing the Church for Revitalization Potential 161. Assessing the Pastor Leaders for Revitalization Success 162. Why Churches Ought to Have Potential Revitalizers take the CR Assessment Our goal through the Renovate Group is to develop your capacity to work productively in the field as one assists churches for the task. Assessment, analysis, advancement, and application of strategic plans which can bring about both short-term and long-term renewal for individual churches, is the end for which we are training you. Renovate seeks to come along side of you and provide you with a series of tools, assessments and methodologies which will serve you as a leader of revitalization in the local church. We also have trained hundreds of individuals who work in the field of revitalization through our assessors training, boot camps, and Renovate One Day events. Many of our clients have become strategic voices and practioners in the church revitalization field. Email tcheyney@goba.org for more information on any of the topics listed. Helping Churches Today to Succeed Tomorrow!
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
Seminary – Then What? By Ken Priddy My mid-life crisis led me to seminary. At forty years old, married and with four children, this is not the recommended path for seminary education, yet it was my path. My first career was music, starting with garage bands in my teens, moving to an undergraduate music degree and then on to nightclubs, concerts and studios, ultimately recording an original album of the newly coined Contemporary Christian Music in the late 70s. It’s odd to me that Contemporary Christian Music is now half a century old. By my mid-twenties I had sensed God’s calling into ministry, and I read that as concert ministry as it didn’t occur to me that the style of music that was my style would have a place in the local church, but, SURPRISE, as baby boomers ascended into leadership in the church in the 80s, they brought their pop music with them. Seemingly, out of nowhere, which is often the case with God’s providence, I was recruited to join with a church planter to launch a new church across the country that would feature my style of music and a strong commitment to the arts in general. Five years later, our church was exploding with growth, much by conversion, and I was hooked on serving in the local church. However, I had no formal training in Bible or theology and sensed that it was time to flip the script. So, we packed up the family, moved cross-country a second time, and I enrolled in a Master of Divinity degree program. Seminary was wonderful in my experience. If I could have found a way to make a living as a seminary student, I would have stayed but, of course, that was not the case. Credible seminaries do what they do very well. They teach Bible, theology, biblical languages, church history, philosophy, Christian world view, preaching and other important subjects. To state it simply, seminary’s job is to teach and teach they do. My job, as a student and as a lifelong minister, is to learn and to keep learning until the Lord calls me home. Again, seminaries do what they do very well, but they don’t do everything. It’s our job to augment the basic ministry education that our seminaries provide as we grow in ministry over time. We must be Lifelong Learners, taking responsibility for our own advanced and advancing education and skill development over the course of a lifetime of ministry. We are challenged by a changing culture that is growing increasing unfriendly to the things of God and to the church. Skills that weren’t necessarily needed in a pastor in the 50s or the 70s are in urgent demand today. As pastors, as leaders, it’s up to us to identify and hone skills that are necessary in our rapidly changing times for reaching the lost whom God would call into His family. Technology and pluralistic, relativistic beliefs in our day have created a constantly changing ministry landscape in our communities, and changes in the mission field necessitate changes in approaches to ministry.
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Our dilemma is that rapid and sweeping changes in the harvest require changes in pastors, leaders and congregations, but, in the church, we tend to be change-resistant and riskaverse. Nothing I encountered in seminary prepared me for this, but I can proactively pursue greater understanding in the practical ministry disciplines that are needed today. Let’s be clear: we don’t change our doctrine or theology to match the cultural thinking of the times. Truth is truth and always will be, truth that was studied in our Bible colleges and seminaries. Changes come in how we understand the people who live in our communities and in the methodologies that are employed to reach them. More than ever before, leaders in the American evangelical church must develop skills in such fields as change management and innovation, must prudently master the craft of wisely engaging with risk, and must adopt a missionary mindset when going out from the church into the domestic mission field that is the community. Consider the following triangle:
At the top there are the Contents of our ministry, the non-negotiables. These are fixed, unmoving and uncompromising, including such elements as our doctrine and theology. At the lower left is the Context of our ministry, referring to the people who live in our communities. These are semi-negotiable, meaning that we must use discretion in determining our primary focus. Communities are populated by many and diverse demographic groups. It’s unrealistic to think that our single church can be all things to all people and reach all of them with the Gospel. God has more churches than ours in the ministry mix. So, we must narrow the focus to specific demographic slices that we can connect with culturally and that we have the best opportunity, by the grace of God, to reach. Finally, at the lower right, there are the Containers, the methodologies, approaches and styles that we employ in our efforts to reach our Context with the Contents. These Containers are completely negotiable, carrying no Content weight whatsoever. They are simply strategic and tactical
choices. The challenge, though, is that church folks tend to give their favorite Containers the status of Contents, making them non-negotiable. Keeping Contents, Context, and Containers in proper balance and tension is a key to centrifugal ministry that goes out from the church into the community. I didn’t learn this in seminary. I learned this in the field, in further formal study, in seminars, in conferences, in webinars, in books, in strategic conversations, etc. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t make it my business to seek out new information or new perspectives or new skills. To show the reader that I practice what I preach, here are some of the things that I have done over the years to expand my ministry understanding, particularly in the field of Church Revitalization. After completing the Master of Divinity, I accepted the call to pastor a church that had declined to thirteen members, leading that church through a solid revitalization. I completed Doctor of Ministry studies, submitting a dissertation on Church Revitalization titled, ReStarting the Dying Church. Nineteen years ago, I left the pastorate and have served as a revitalization trainer, consultant and coach ever since, developing an expansive body of training curricula. I completed a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies, submitting a dissertation titled, A Theology of Multiplication, that has been adapted into a book titled, VACANCY: Finding the Lost & Bringing Them Home. Beyond formal studies, I have been certified as a Corporate Trainer though the University of Richmond’s Train the Trainer Program and I have been certified in Change Management through Prosci. I completed a year-long study in Leadership Development with GiANT Worldwide and recently earned a certificate in Innovation Management through IBMI. I frequently attend webinars, seminars and conferences and I read and read and read and read. All to say that there is a great need for ongoing learning as a leader in today’s evangelical church and there are hundreds, thousands, of avenues for a lifelong learner to engage. 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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The Church Revitalizer and Pastoral Succession–Part 2 By Lee Kricher At some point in my pastoral ministry, I became convinced that it was not just my responsibility to oversee the revitalization of our church. I was also responsible to pass the leadership of the church on to someone who would continue that work. That is what I had in mind on April 19, 2019, when I commissioned my successor as Senior Pastor of Amplify Church. The handoff took place at our Good Friday service, one of our best attended services of the year. While I will always hold the title of Founding Pastor, the role of Senior Pastor is now held by my successor. Every church that is serious about long-term health must also be serious about pastoral succession. In their book Next: Pastoral Succession That Works, William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird write, “Every pastor is an interim pastor. Few ministers consider that truth. Few are eager to admit their time with their present church will one day end. But ultimately, all pastors are “interim” because the day when a successor takes over will come for everyone in min-
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istry. Planning for that day of succession may be the biggest leadership task a leader and church will ever face. It may also be the most important.” Succession planning is the process of intentionally transferring the leadership of an organization from one person to another. My contention is that lead pastors, especially in our rapidly changing world, should proactively lead the way in succession planning. While there are many reasons that pastors do not take a role in succession planning, it is often because they assume it is not their job. This is not a wise assumption. We read in 1 Peter 5:2, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be.” Certainly, shepherding a congregation includes deeply caring about what will happen to your church after pastoral transition. Whether or not your church belongs to a denomination or tradition that has a formal process for replacing the senior pastor in the event of a vacancy, it is
wise to make effective pastoral succession a priority. Everything possible should be done to influence the process so that the next Senior Pastor is a good fit for the congregation. A pastor – or even an interim pastor - who is not a good fit can stall the church’s momentum or worse.
Principles for Pastoral Transition
I never learned about succession management or pastoral transitions at seminary. Chances are, you haven’t, either. But, for what it’s worth, here are three principles that I recommend for your consideration, given my study of the topic and my personal experience. Principle #1 – Don’t overlook an inside candidate. This goes along with a commitment to mentor young leaders in your church. Our goal at Amplify Church over the years has been to create an ongoing “pipeline” of leaders so that the vision of the church will never be compromised due to a lack of ready leaders. We start with the premise that everyone we need to be a leader is currently a part of our church. Sometimes hiring from outside of the church is the right thing to do, and there are some great search firms and denominational leaders who can help connect you with the right person. But I would suggest that you begin by looking within and resist the natural tendency to overlook an internal candidate who has high potential in order to bring in the “perfect” candidate from outside of your church. Someone from the outside may seem to be an excellent fit because of their resume and skill set, but you have not lived with their inevitable quirks and weaknesses as you have with those inside your church. Most important, it is very difficult to know how they will resonate in the long run with the people of the church.
role. There are reasons for such policies, including averting a situation in which an associate pastor undermines the Senior Pastor with an eye on the Senior Pastor’s position. I just think it is unwise to make policies based on fear. After all, you may be overlooking the “David” in your midst. When Samuel went to David’s home to appoint him as successor to King Saul, David’s own father did not consider him a viable candidate – despite the fact that David was God’s perfect choice. Principle #2 – Create and follow a formal transition plan. In order to develop the kind of pastoral transition plan that we thought would be most effective, we modified the by-laws of the church. In the event of a vacancy in the role of senior pastor, our original church bylaws called for the organization of a search committee, followed by several candidates speaking at the church, and culminating in a congregational vote. This occurred three times in our church history, and every time the process resulted in major destabilization in the church. In every transition, a large percentage of the people who voted no for the incoming senior pastor left the church. To improve the pastoral transition process, we revised the church bylaws to make it the responsibility of the senior pastor to nominate a successor to the board of directors. Assuming the person nominated is approved, it becomes the responsibility of the senior pastor to mentor that person to be ready to step in when needed. Whether the senior pastor is suddenly gone for unexpected reasons or a transition is several years away, the successor has been identified and an immediate and orderly transition can take place.
The benefits of hiring from within can be significant. You need not question the individual’s passion for the vision of the church. You know if they have already bought into the vision. You need not question the individual’s respect for the leaders in the church with whom they will be working. You know if they already have such respect. You need not question the individual’s sincerity and faithfulness. You have experienced it firsthand. That is why I started with the premise that the person I would mentor to be my successor as Senior Pastor was already a part of our church.
Two years before our pastoral transition, we created a detailed plan. The plan included when and what we should communicate to the staff and congregation. It included the number of times the successor would speak during weekend services. It included the successor’s involvement in choosing the topics covered during weekend messages. It included the successor’s involvement in leading staff and board meetings. It included the target date for the formal transfer of the Senior Pastor role. It is wise to take the time to create a formal plan - as long as you stick with it! If you don’t stick with it, it is like backing your rental car up over the spikes after you enter the return lot. Severe damage will occur.
I know that some denominations have rules that forbid churches from considering an associate pastor or other internal candidate to fill an open senior pastor
Principle #3 – Pave the Way. When King David realized that the temple would not be built during his lifetime, he set up his son Solomon
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for success. He made the key arrangements for the construction project, including securing an extensive list of materials he knew Solomon would need. You can pave the way for a pastoral successor’s success by frequently communicating with the congregation with transparency. My successor and I held a “town hall” several months before the formal transition to answer questions and concerns. During my final year as Senior Pastor, my successor spoke half of the time. In my final few months as Senior Pastor, he regularly led staff meetings and board meetings while I was present. Also, I discussed with him the changes he had in his heart to make at the church, and I made many of those changes before the transition. That way, the changes were made leveraging the trust and credibility I had with the congregation. It also eliminated the need for my successor to fall prey to the biggest failure of new leaders – seeming to disrespect the past by saying “We are doing things differently around here now because I am in charge!” Since the transition, I no longer attend staff meetings and board meetings. When I am in town, I am in the congregation in visible support but I am not speaking on a regular basis. It’s his turn. In short, the pastor and successor must be deeply committed to show one another honor and respect. The pastor must be steadfast to not undermine the successor in any way and the successor must be steadfast to not undermine the pastor and/or the pastor’s legacy. Over the years, I have poured into my successor what I know about church leadership. He has grown into the leader he is today – not a clone of me, fortunately, but rather the leader that God created him to be. It is way too early to tell how my successor will do in his new role, but we already know that the first “peaceful” transition in the 43-year history of our church has taken place.
Conclusion I reflect with gratitude on my most recent season of ministry (2003-2019) during which I led the revitalization of Amplify Church and then handed the leadership on to the next generation. I now look forward to helping other churches through a new not-forprofit 501(c)(3) organization called Future Forward Churches with a mission “to inspire and equip the Church to fully engage the next generation.” My new vocational focus is to help church leaders and members to build multi-generational churches that last. Interesting enough, one of the primary requests for
advice is “How can current lead pastors best pave the way for their successors?” During the time I was planning for my transition, I happened to visit the Space Center in Houston, Texas. I stood in the control room where five famous words were spoken during the Apollo 13 crisis in 1970 regarding the need to get Commander Jim Lovell and his crew back to earth safely after their moon landing had to be aborted. Flight Director, Gene Kranz, made it clear - “Failure is not an option.” I bought a coffee mug on which those exact words were printed as a reminder of my need to apply those words to our upcoming pastoral transition. After a couple of times through the dishwasher, the words on the mug disappeared. Apparently, failure is an option. Failure is definitely an option when it comes to leadership transitions. We cannot guarantee what will happen to our churches under new leadership. We can pray. We can mentor and pave the way for a successor. We can live with “Failure is not an option” urgency. We can live with “Failure is not an option” passion. I believe that such actions are pleasing to God. And I somehow think that when pastors do everything we can do to pave the way for the future of our church, we have a better chance of one day hearing the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Questions for your consideration: What do you think your responsibility is when it comes to paving the way for the next generation? Considering the best interests of your church, should you have a pastoral succession plan?
Lee Kricher is the Founding Pastor of Amplify Church in Pittsburgh, PA, a church that experienced a dramatic turnaround from an aging, dying church of under 200 people to a church of over 2,000 people with every generation well represented. Lee is the author of For a New Generation: A Practical Guide For Revitalizing Your Church and founder of Future Forward Churches. You can contact him at lee@futureforwardchurches.com
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Murphy’s Law for Churches: Lessons That Every Minister Needs By Ron Smith • Church members living 15 miles away will be 15 minutes early and members living within two blocks will be 15 minutes late. • As soon as you pray, babies cry. • Church air conditioners and technology seem to rest on Sundays. • When the pastor misspeaks during a sermon, people will write it down and remember it more than the best biblical point in the message. Do any of these situations sound familiar? I am sure you have more than just these because weird stuff happens on Sundays. No matter how much we try to be prepared “things” still happen on Sunday more than any other day of the week. It seems that no amount of formal schooling can prepare us for the many encounters we experience in ministry. On any given week I am wearing multiple hats. The various roles we play are astounding. As pastors we wear the hats of: preacher, teacher, evangelist, counselor, psychologist, banker, plumber, janitor, manager, CEO, EMT, emcee, and host. As I look back on my education and the process of preparing me for ministry, I am amazed that I was able to learn all I did in 11 years of formal education post high school. I absolutely loved my education days. I loved college, seminary and even the doctoral days. However, like
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many other ministers, I still felt ill-prepared for the calling I was given. Here is what I have learned outside of the education process. These are the things that every minster needs to know. 1. How to plan for the annual life of the church. (Ministry Action Plan) I am forever grateful to W.A. Criswell and Adrian Rogers for teaching me how to plan out the life of the church on an annual basis. These men called it Biblical Intentional Planning. I called it a Ministry Action Plan. From these men I learned that a church has four things and four things only: People, time, buildings, and money. I learned how to build an annual plan of ministry that started with people that was supported by funding. So many churches take what they have (money) and let that amount determine who they think they can reach. I learned that you start with people and let God provide (Mark 6:30-4). This has been the greatest tool I have learned. Over the last 25 years I have taught this to thousands of churches. My eyes were opened to the daily operations of church that move the church forward annually with great intent and biblical content.
2. Every minister needs to know how to manage expectations. I’ll admit that on many things I am a slow learner and this is the big one. I am also very grateful and thankful to God for my wife. It was often her insight and discernment that gave me pause to make sure that what I said was the same as what the church heard.
Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.” The smallest of the tribes but without these thinkers, students of the times, many a battle would have been lost. Pastor, it’s part of your calling to understand the times.
It took me a while to learn that when I said church growth, I expected new people, new ministries, new horizons, and new days of ministry. When the church heard church growth they heard, “enough money in the bank to pay bills.” So, you can imagine my shock when they were against new. New meant shaky ground of uncertainty. Certainty meant security and security was comforting.
Ministry, culture and the culture of ministry changes rapidly. In the 40s, 50s, and even 60s, ministry changed every eight to ten years. As we entered the 80s and 90s, the church growth movement ushered in a climate of change every five years. Now it appears like we are changing every two years. With the introduction of technology and the loss of biblical, cultural convictions the response time for ministry seems as quick as a social media post goes viral.
Before Renovate was a term we called it “pastoring an unhealthy church.” We all knew that leaving Seminary brought the challenge of taking an existent church and developing new life and new days of hope.
Thousands of churches are falling behind in the social media and digital ministries. Our digital world makes dinosaurs of systems and establishments that are not part of and engaged in the digital world.
Knowing how to manage people’s expectations is huge. Clear communication and stated expectations clear the path for healthy ministry. When I learned how to manage people’s expectations, I could anticipate areas of potential conflict and resolve it before it was ever a question.
You might think that sounds hopeless, it’s not. Here’s the good news. Our culture has always been changing and always will be. Ministry will always face the challenge of meeting people where they are with the unchanging message of the gospel.
I have learned this lesson and how true it is;
The issue is not models of ministry. The issue is, and always will be, leadership. Think about it. Joshua crossed the Jordan. Moses parted the waters. Leadership was the common denominator.
“People are always down about what they are not up on.” -John Maxwell. This does not mean that you have to explain everything to everybody before you can act but you need to know how to manage expectations. Here is a quick look at how to do this: Anticipate fears, understand concerns, see it before you state it, provide a clear path of progress, establish biblical convictions and speak with the authority of the Holy Spirit. This by the way is what is meant by “casting vision.” Vision isn’t numbers and events. Vision is communicating how people encounter God in the process of doing ministry (Proverbs 29:11). Vision according to Proverbs 29:11 is seeing God. We can never answer all the questions, but we can manage expectations. Let them see God not just an agenda. A leader must think like the one in the pew. 3. Ministry, Culture, and the Culture of Ministry changes rapidly. One of my favorite verses in the Bible as it relates to thinking strategically is I Chronicles 12:32, “Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what
Your education wasn’t meant to give you all of the answers for all your encounters in ministry. Your education was meant to prepare you to be a self-guided learner and a constant student. If there is one lesson we should have learned in seminary it was this; I am always a student and I should never stop learning the different ways to cross water. So, when I get the call to cross, I am ready.
Ron Smith is the Lead Pastor of WaterStone Church in Longwood and serves as Co-Leader of Renovate One Day Training as well as serving on staff of the Renovate Coaching Network. Follow Ron at RonBSmithJr.com for leadership material and sporadic blogs.
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Expository Preaching Through Books Can Bring Revitalization By Joel Breidenbaugh Imagine yourself sitting in your office or in your dining room on a Saturday evening, wondering what you are going to preach the next morning. Charles Spurgeon regularly wrote his Sunday morning sermons on Saturday evenings, but we are not Charles Spurgeon. For some of you, such a scenario on Saturday evenings isn’t too difficult to imagine because it is part of your normal routine. My very first ministry setting was as an associate pastor/ youth minister in a small-town church in the deep south. On multiple occasions, I made the 42-mile one-way trip on a Friday night and stayed the weekend with a couple of different church families. Several of those stay-overs were at my pastor’s home. I witnessed his enormous heart for people: carrying the needy a meal, making hospital visits and phone calls, even on a Saturday, which was supposed to be his day off. But the most important thing he did was write his Sunday morning message on Saturday afternoon. In his recliner. In front of the television. With a football game on. Needless to say his sermons were not very deep and often lacking in helpful application. People loved the pastor for his care but they were bored to tears during his messages. From my ministry at that church, I learned one way not to prepare a sermon!
Handling Criticism to Expository Preaching
Now that I’ve been a preaching pastor for
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nearly twenty years, I have made it a practice to preach sermons which both explained the text well and applied the text to my hearers. I have found comfort in preaching through books of the Bible, not having to worry about what to preach each week. Even while doing this, however, I have listened to critics wonder why I preached through Joshua or Revelation or the Song of Solomon. They never said the following words vocally, but they were really complaining about why God included certain books in the Bible. One lady told me, “We don’t need to hear sermons on sex!” An elderly man complained, “Why are you preaching on the end times when we aren’t even sure what will happen?” How do you respond to such questions and grumblings? Do you give in to their demands and preach only what they want to hear? Do you give them input on your future sermon series? Do you resort to topical preaching so you can hit a different issue each week?
Read Between the Lines
Let me encourage you to make a twofold response. First, read between the lines of their murmuring. You may be spending too much time in the details of the passage and failing to apply it helpfully. I really believe the best expository preaching is that which explains and applies a biblical text to an audience under the
power of the Holy Spirit. Some of us preachers get so caught up in what the text is saying, we fail to make some suggestions in the application. Other times we offer application which speaks to our stage of life but not the various stages of life in our congregation. I have been guilty of that and have had to stop and listen to an age group and some of their life challenges. Your preaching improves when you can reach different generations and ethnic groups.
Reasons to Practice Expository Preaching
Second, though you may need to “read between the lines” to consider what they are really getting at, do not fall to the temptation to stop preaching expositionally through books of the Bible. The reasons expository preaching is so foundational are numerous, including the following: The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy and future preachers to preach expositionally when he said, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13, ESV). When you read a book, you don’t start in the middle and jump around several other places, unless you are reading an encyclopedia or dictionary! The natural way to read a book is to start at the beginning. That is how Scripture was read in the Early Church. Moreover, exhortation refers to encouragement and is one of the chief ways to apply the Scripture. Finally, teaching is the word for doctrine. It refers to explaining what the Scriptures mean. Thus, Paul advocates what we call expository preaching—explaining and applying a biblical text to an audience (it also should come under the power of the Spirit, cf. 4:14, but that is an article for another time). Another reason for expository preaching through books of the Bible is because God gave us His Word in smaller, individual books for the purpose of understanding and applying them. Paul wrote, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). The same word for “teaching” or “doctrine” from 1 Timothy 4:13 occurs here. The other three expressions—reproof, correction, training—are ways we apply a biblical text. Therefore, God has given us the Scriptures as books to be explained and applied. While other reasons could be given for expository preaching,1 for the sake of space, let me offer one more reason: expository preaching allows God to speak 1 For additional reasons why expository preaching is of such value, see Joel Breidenbaugh, Preaching for Bodybuilding: Integrating Doctrine and Expository Preaching for the 21st Century (Orlando: Renovate Publishing, 2016), 176-179.
through the preaching event. Whereas topical, thematic and textual preaching all depend a good deal on the preacher’s own creativity and hermeneutical gymnastics, expository preaching puts the Lord at front and center, because it forces the preacher to preach the biblical text in context. The greatest need people have outside of salvation is to hear from God and expository preaching allows His supernatural voice to be heard most clearly. Now, I am not suggesting God is in every illustration and statement of application we use. But He does speak through His Word and He speaks clearest when it is read in context, the way He gave it to us. Expository preaching, more than any other form of preaching, puts God’s message above the messenger.
Expository Preaching Can Bring Life to the Dead
I list these reasons to persuade you about the value of expository preaching through books of the Bible. When you allow God to speak through the Scriptures, He has a way of bringing life to that which is dead from His spoken Word. He did it in the Valley of the Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37) and He can do it in a dead or dying church. Expository preaching, more than any other form of preaching, permits God to speak His Word to His people so that they truly come alive!
Conclusion
As I close, I have a confession to make: I have found myself typing part of my sermon from my recliner in front of the television. But before you cast me into the pit of hypocrisy, let me explain. I do that when I see something which can make a good illustration for my sermon. I have discovered if I don’t write it down when I think of it, I will almost always forget it. The rest of my sermon preparation is done at a desk or a table, where I can write down thoughts, make notes on outlines and the like. May your preparation dig deep into the Word of God as you focus on explaining and applying the text for the sole purpose of letting God speak through His Word to His people. That kind of preaching can bring new life to your preaching and your church.
Joel Breidenbaugh PhD, is the Lead Pastor of Gospel Centered Church in Apopka, Florida, and is an Assistant Professor of Homiletics for Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity.
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Diagnosing Your Current Reality By George A. Thomasson One of the spiritual giants in my life is Dr. Henry Blackaby. He became a dear friend who spoke into my life on several pivotal occasions. The Lord used him to help me discern His will in ministry decisions. I was first introduced to him when I discovered his book, Experiencing God. He gave me spiritual glasses to clearly see how God had been at work in my life through the years. I discovered the reality that “It’s not about a plan for my life. It’s all about Him and His plan. He wants me to join Him in His plan.” You may call that semantics, but it is vital that we see things from God’s perspective. When it comes to attempting to properly diagnose a church’s condition, it is also vital that we look at it from God’s perspective. I have always been intrigued with churches and what makes them tick. Why do some flourish and grow? Why do others struggle and decline? Why do some have a spiritual “buzz” and the moment you walk in you sense an infectious spirit of joy among the people? Why do others seem to simply be going through the motions, “doing church” in the absence of joy? I had gone through my undergraduate work and my Master of Divinity in seminary. But it wasn’t until I was heavily immersed in my doctoral seminars at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary that I learned how to diagnose the current reality of a church. My professor, Dr. Ebbie Smith, shared a template for diagnosing a church’s condition and projecting a process for revitalization. I was captured by the process and began to employ it in consultation with struggling churches while serving the Florida Baptist Convention. The template or model for revitalization is simple yet to some it may seem counterintuitive. For example, most would say that you determine where the church is now and then plan toward God’s vision for the church. This process starts with God’s vision and plans backwards toward the current reality of the church identifying limiting factors. Church leaders try to answer the question, “What’s holding us back from accomplishing God’s vision for our church?” Then the group prayerfully plans forward addressing each limiting factor with a possible solution. In this way the church moves from its current reality toward God’s vision as it employs an intentional process.
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This process of revitalization works best with the help of a consultant. This takes pressure off the pastor and allows him to be a participant along with his staff and key leaders. The consultant, with the help of the pastor and/or assigned staff will need to do advance preparation for an extended session with the leaders. The consultant will want to guide the leaders through a meaningful time of prayer at the very outset. Following the prayer time, he should draw a graphic on a white board entitled “Looking Through Kingdom Eyes.” (See my book on Amazon entitled Resuscitate: How to Breathe New Life into a Gasping Church published by the Renovate Group.) He will share that this is the process they will follow. He should also prime the group members stating that their active participation in this process is vital. To arrive at an accurate picture of a church’s current reality, the pastor, staff and key leaders must be prepared to be brutally honest. If you try to spin the picture of the church’s current reality to appear better than it really is, the results will be skewed, and the process will not lead to revitalization. In fact, it will be an exercise in futility and it may prove to add to the problem rather than provide a solution. Some of the components in realizing your current reality are:
1. A 10-year profile of the church.
If your church is affiliated with a denomination, your state or local office should be able to provide this 10-year profile. It should include yearly: average attendance in worship and small groups (Sunday School, Bible Fellowship Groups, LIFE Groups, etc.); number of baptisms by age groups (helps to differentiate biological growth from penetrating the lost
marriage seminars and the like. Some will also include the percentages of the population that are “churched and unchurched” as well as the type of church they would be most likely to attend. This information is obviously helpful in addressing the community as a mission field.
4. An in-depth evaluation of every existing ministry in the church.
community); budget contributions; mission contributions; total contributions. If the stats are not provided in graphic formats, you may want to convert the data into bar, pie, and/ or line graphs for maximum visual impact.
2. A demographic study comparing the community to the church’s make-up. Again, your denomination should be able to provide a demographic study of whatever area you desire. You can request a 1-mile, 3-mile, 5-mile or larger coverage area. It will show the latest data from the most current census and it will also project the data forward several years. Examine the community findings in areas such as percentage of age groups to the total population, median age, make-up of households (single parent, two-parent, widows, widowers, etc.), household size, marital status, education levels, housing types–single family, multi-housing, renters vs owners; housing costs; occupations; ethnicities; income levels, etc. Now, as well as you can, compare the church membership to each of these community distinctives. This will help determine how well your church “mirrors” the community around you. More than likely you will uncover several glaring differences that should be addressed.
3. Psychographics or community preferences and interests.
Most professional demographic studies also include this type of data. It will likely include a list of community concerns like safety; educational opportunities; food and/or clothing needs; types of music, recreation, worship styles, architecture preferred; youth programs; financial seminars;
This will be painstaking, and it will probably create some unrest. The leaders of these ministries and those who are highly invested in them will inevitably be viewing their “pet” ministry through protective lenses. But I stress again, for this process to be effective in moving the church toward God’s vision, this evaluation must be honest and impartial. Some ongoing ministries in churches have taken on a life of their own and may fall under the commonly known category of “sacred cows.” They may in fact be utilizing valuable attention and resources that should be redirected toward accomplishing God’s vision. Some ministries don’t need to be discontinued or replaced but they may need to be adjusted or radically changed to become effective. The conclusions reached by the leaders will be very important as the process proceeds, so someone should be responsible for documenting everything. The primary purpose of properly diagnosing your church’s current reality is to help your leaders come to grips with the need to take action. If the trends discovered in the diagnosis reveal that the church is in decline and in ultimate danger of demise, it should birth a spirit of urgency. The leaders will begin to realize that if radical adjustments are not made soon, the church’s future is in grave danger. What’s even more sobering is that the community in which the church has existed will be without a gospel witness. At this point it is imperative that the pastor points the leaders to the throne of grace in desperate prayer. The group needs to cry out to God confessing their declining condition and asking for His wisdom and supernatural help forward.
George Thomasson is a native of Arkansas but spent most of his ministry in Florida and Texas. He holds degrees from Palm Beach Atlantic University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Sandra. They have two grown children, Angie Gould and Greg Thomasson, who blessed them with two grandchildren each. He presently serves as Mobilization Pastor for Christ Place Church in Flowery Branch, Georgia.
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Available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com
What Did I Get Into? By Steve Smith I didn’t know that I was heading to a sick church. None of my professors informed me about life after seminary. We never discussed the state of spiritual health of our denomination’s churches. Their job was to stuff my head full of Hebrew, Hermeneutics and Homiletics. I parsed my Greek verbs and learned how to organize leadership. The Old and New Testaments were surveyed. I gained a mastery of Systematic Theology and dipped into biblical counseling. But no one let me in on a reality that mattered not only to me, but to the majority of my fellow students. Many of us would go on to pastor either stuck or sick churches. Most would go to churches under 100 in attendance, even in cities teeming with people. We would likely find that our congregation was unfocused on sowing the gospel, or ineffective at it. Perhaps they would follow our leadership, but there would likely be a joker in the pack— perhaps a gang of them—ready to point out our failings and deride us for our inadequacies. The help that we needed most was not in the seminary curriculum. The professors thought they covered it—they came close. But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
in how to pursue a deeper relationship with God. But that is just one side of the spiritual equation. The other side is the question, ‘Why?’ Why pursue intimacy with God? The answer is because we are deeply broken. This question was skated over in the formation class I took.
I have written in a previous article about my time at ‘Amway Baptist Church.’ I spent ten years seeing God revitalize this sick church into a congregation that spiritually impacted the community. God used many things to bring this about. But it was what I had to learn after seminary that mattered most in this journey. I can sum it up in one word—transformation.
Transformation starts with acknowledging this brokenness in ourselves. Brokenness is a result of the Fall. The transformational journey starts when a believer honestly accepts that, “I am a mess.” And that, “I have nothing in myself to fix the mess.”
Transformation is not the same thing as spiritual formation. The spiritual formation training that seminary offers fails to address the unfinished business that every believer has. This includes their inability to understand why they struggle to obey God despite their dedication to spiritual practices. Todd Wilson, President of the Center for Pastor Theologians, spoke of awakening to his personal spiritual dysfunction in the article, “How Can So Many Pastors Be Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time?” in Christianity Today: “And that began a conversation and a relationship that helped me see that 25 years of Christian spiritual formation had added layer upon layer of moral formation on top of deeply seated compulsions that still controlled me.” How do they differ? Spiritual formation focuses on the broad spectrum of disciplines that helps develop one’s internal spiritual life. Rightly, the disciplines guide believers
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Before spiritual formation matters, we have to be awakened by the Spirit. Confessing that “I am a mess and need God to change me!” is the beginning of all transformational work in believers. This kind of humility allows a person to receive God’s grace and to be deeply changed. But catching the difference between transformation and spiritual formation training is hard because of another gospel misunderstanding many fellow pastors share. Seminary did not teach me to distinguish between biblical reforming and gospel transforming. In many, many churches, people are expected to reform their lives into being like Jesus. Pastors preach God’s truth and exhort people to obey. This isn’t the gospel, as biblical as it sounds. The transformational gospel is preaching God’s truth to believers, knowing they have no power in themselves
goes into the heart of our victims and lives on. On top of that, people live with the ongoing deep pain of separation from God. The second thing in our hearts is sin in me, as described by Paul in Romans 7. People cannot live with pain, so we turn to sin inside us for comfort. The bonding that takes place between our hurt and sin choice keeps us trapped in our brokenness. What is in our hearts wells up and produces outward symptoms which others notice and maybe judge. Transformation begins when we recognize how we have been hurt and what sin choice we are using to comfort our hurt. We can then turn to the Father and surrender both simultaneously. Jesus alone has the power to heal hurt and to free us from sin. Because so many pastors with whom I have worked come from a reformational church culture, they have a hard time trusting God to heal and free them. Many are afraid of Him because they feel they haven’t measured up to His ‘exacting standards’ of righteousness. Here is where spiritual formation comes in. The better they know Him, the more they will trust Him. They are a mess, but the real God—not some puny substitute they conjured up in their minds—will make them whole in Christ. to obey. Pastors then point to the presence of the Spirit in them to empower their obedience. Being transformed into Jesus’s image is something God does to us, not something we accomplish—or fail to accomplish—by our own striving to obey. Reforming produces guilt, judgment and hierarchy. It uses words like must, ought, and should. Transforming fosters compassion and humility. Its language is surrender.
This is the practical meaning of Jesus’ gospel—that God has already determined to conform us to the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29). Somehow, although I did not learn this in seminary, God hammered home its reality into my life. I was, and continue to be, changed. Then I started discipling my congregation in this freeing, healing gospel. They started to be changed, thereby setting the course for the church to be revitalized.
What I had to learn—first for myself, so I could teach others—was how transformation happens. I had already served two years as a senior pastor when I intentionally entered into my transformational journey. But it took me a number of years and many bumps in the road before I fully came to understand gospel transforming itself. It was out of this journey and the truths of Scripture that I developed a discipling course called The Key to Deep Change.
Today, my passion is to teach pastors how to disciple believers so they can address the unfinished spiritual business of their lives. When pastors grasp these truths for themselves, it first transforms their own lives. Then it changes how they preach, disciple others, and how they give spiritual counsel. To lead your church towards revitalization, you need God to first transform your congregation’s hearts.
I discovered that what we wrestle with is our hearts. The ‘heart’ in a biblical sense is the place where people make life decisions. We weigh out what we know with what we feel and determine what we will do. Unfortunately, two things reside in our hearts that do not belong there as a result of the Fall. The first is hurt in our heart. Everyone is wounded by living in a world filled with people practicing their own godhood, each believing they know what is good or evil. Thoughtlessly, carelessly, sometimes wickedly, we make decisions based on this false knowledge that inflict pain on others. This pain
Dr. Steve Smith is the Founder of Church Equippers Ministries, equipping churches to make and retain more disciples. He trains pastors how to disciple transformationally through the course, The Key to Deep Change. His book, Build Deep, shows churches how to develop a true transformational culture. For more information, go to: www.churchequippers.com. For more information, go to: www.ChurchEquippers.com
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DYNAMIC Small Groups
Sunday School: Dead or Alive? By Fred Boone The 21st Century came in with great uncertainty and fear. The Year 2000 problem, also known as the Y2K problem, the Millennium bug, the Y2K bug, the Y2K glitch, or Y2K, was a class of computer bugs related to the formatting and storage of calendar data for dates beginning in the year 2000.1 Many were certain that the world would come to an end. Others thought the Y2K bug would shut down computers and everything related to computers i.e. the electrical grid, communications, satellites in space, even microwave ovens would shut down. The fear was wide spread and there were even people building Y2K resistant shelters. As we now know, none of the fears came true. But it is amazing to think that in a time when so many advances had taken place the world could be frozen in place fearing something that no one knew for certain would take place. It is true that each century brings new challenges and opportunities and many things change in society but the truth is the needs of man have not changed. Since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden man has been in a fallen state and needed a savior. This need has never changed over the centuries. But today God has commissioned the church to be the bearer of the good news, the Gospel. The question is: How shall 1 Wikipedia, Year 2000 problem
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the church carry out this mandate? In the early 1800’s the church discovered a strategy called Sunday School. In the 20th century Southern Baptist developed Sunday School into an evangelistic Bible teaching force that led Southern Baptist into being the largest protestant denomination in the world. But many Sunday Schools lost their vision and tradition overtook purpose. Today in the 21st century there are churches seeing great success in their Sunday School. What makes the difference? Clarity of purpose and vision of the pastor have led to effective Sunday Schools that are once again evangelistic in mission and driven to teaching the Bible with the goal of making multiplying disciples. The key difference in growing, alive Sunday Schools and dying, declining Sunday Schools is simple - “Clarity of Purpose”.
Five Best Practices
The growing Sunday School has settled the question of why do they exist and how will they carry out their mission. Most growing Sunday Schools have discovered five best practices. These are the things they focus on and set goals to achieve. These practices are measurable and attainable. What’s so interesting about these practices is that any church can do them. It has nothing to do with
location or size. Churches in large metropolitan areas are seeing success and smaller churches in rural settings have seen success. The practices are not dependent on many factors only the clear vision of the leadership and their commitment to execute the practices.
their permission. These churches have enrollment goals that they keep before their church and talk about often. Enrollment after all is “people” and when a church sets reaching people for Christ as the goal the Lord seems to bless that church.
Practice One, Workers: “A worker is any individual that is prayerfully recruited and trained to staff the Sunday School.” Carefully recruited and trained leaders will make an effective organization with a stellar team that is equipped to carry out the assigned task. The most effective leaders are those that understand their calling and see themselves as servants of the Lord. Most churches never give enough attention to the worker - member ratio. In other words, most don’t understand how many workers you need in relation to the number of members that are enrolled in a class. Examples of the ratios needed would be one worker to four enrolled in the preschool, one to six in the children’s classes and one to twelve in the youth. The Sunday School that makes recruiting workers a priority and makes sure every department and class is staffed as necessary to accomplish their goals will see more success.
Practice Four, New Units (Classes): “A Unit is a Teaching Unit – in the youth and adult areas, the teaching unit is usually called a class, but in the children and preschool areas, the teaching unit is sometimes termed a department. A teaching unit is a group of pupils and a teacher.” The church with a growing Sunday School understands that new classes grow faster, win more people to Christ, provide more workers and encourage constant growth. The new classes often produce spiritual growth. They certainly create a sense of excitement and accomplishment. Practice Five, Outreach: “An organized effort to go outside the walls of the church to share the gospel and enroll people in Sunday School. It is the Great Commission in action.” Outreach is the intentional strategy to follow-up on prospects and new visitors to the church. The Sunday School that ignores outreach is not only unhealthy, it is at best on life support. There is no way that a church can fulfill the Great Commission while ignoring outreach. Health Sunday Schools are focused on reaching the unreached. They are looking at maintaining a balance between outreach and ministry.
Practice Two, Prospects: “A Prospect is anyone that you know general information about and your Sunday School could minister to.” The Sunday School that values prospects and understands that this represents future growth will be far ahead of every other Sunday School. Summary of Several Surveys: 1. When prospects equal one-half of enrollment, a church can grow about 25%. 2. When prospects equal the enrollment a church can grow about 50%. 3. When prospects equal two times the enrollment a church can grow about 100%. As you can see from these surveys the growing Sunday School values and makes building a prospect list a priority. Practice Three, Enrollment: “Enrollment is the process of registering a prospect as a member of a Sunday School class. Sunday School Enrollment is the ‘welcome mat’ for an outsider to become an insider in a class.” The Sunday School Enrollment is the most important number a Sunday School keeps. Sunday School enrollment is their best Evangelistic indicator. Consider these incredible facts about enrollment: For every two enrolled, one will attend. One out of three lost people enrolled will be saved. One out of 250 will be saved outside the Sunday School. This makes enrollment the most powerful evangelistic tool we have ever seen, yet most churches have ignored this strategy. The growing Sunday School has a policy to Practice Open Enrollment: Enroll Anyone, Anyplace, Anytime who is not enrolled in another Sunday School with
Three Benefits
The church that will prioritize the work of the Sunday School will experience three key benefits to the overall work of the church. First, they will see continuity in mission and function. The church will be on the same page because the vast majority of the church will be exercising their gifts through the Sunday School. This will result in a new excitement about the singular mission of the church and how everyone plays a part in its accomplishment. Second, the Sunday School provides for real community within the church. Community is a group of people with common characteristics and interest within a larger group (the total church). Third, connection - every class provides a place for people to make personal connections and to develop truly personal fellowship opportunities. Yes, the Focused Sunday School is Alive and Well!
Fred Boone is the Executive Pastor and LIFE Groups Pastor of First Baptist Church of Mount Dora, Florida.
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The School of Hard Knocks By Bud Brown Seminary didn’t teach me all of the important things that I needed to learn to be a pastor. I didn’t find them in the books. In fact, I didn’t learn the important stuff in seminary at all. The “school of hard knocks” taught me important ministry lessons while I attended seminary. Looking back now I see that those lessons were as important as anything learned in a classroom. They’ve helped me thrive for more than thirty years as a pastor, intentional interim, and church revitalizer. 1. Ministry is hard work This is the #1 lesson I didn’t learn from but mastered while I was in seminary. When I matriculated, my wife and I decided we would not borrow money, and we would have a family. So, I worked my way through school to support the family, which eventually included four children. In God’s providence I was able to drive a delivery truck, wait on tables, and do construction work. Gracious professors let me wear work clothes to class so I could rush back to the job. Homework consumed my nights and weekends. I managed to cram a four-year Th.M. into seven on the “pay as you go,” decelerated degree program. When I graduated, I thought those would end up being the eight hardest years of my life. Then I got into intentional
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interim and church revitalization ministry. Those take years of long hours and hard work. Remember, it typically takes five to seven years before revitalization produces lasting results. This is hard work. 2. When God provides, he leads Before I applied, my wife and I went over the budget. No matter how we looked at it, going to seminary seemed to be a stupid financial decision. We could see no way to afford it, and yet we did. God provided, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. At crucial times money showed up in my student mailbox in unmarked envelopes. A former employer sent an unexpected bonus check; they discovered they’d neglected to pay it when they closed their books for the previous fiscal year. One year I got sick and couldn’t work for six weeks. The cupboards were bare, our mortgage was past due, and we were desperate. The Lord sent an angel to the grocery store in our behalf, and the seminary financial aid office blessed us with a desperately needed gift. I wouldn’t want to go through that again, but I would if God called because, having been down the long, scary road of financial travail, I know that God provides for us when we follow his lead. Church revitalization requires resources
troubled churches typically lack: money, volunteers, leaders, unity of purpose, and passion. He often supplies these ahead of time; the people just need to give them back. The Lord is also the master of “just in time” delivery. At times revitalization pastors must call people to give generously. At other times we must lead them into the wilderness without their lunchboxes. You must master the lesson that God always provides when we follow his lead. 3. Ministry is a team sport Have I mentioned my wife? She is the unheralded saint who made my ministry possible. Without her support, sacrifice, and encouragement I’d still be in the family business from which the Lord called me into ministry. For fifteen years (one college and two seminary degrees) she was rock solid. She worked outside the home until we started adding to our brood. She raised four children on meager finances and even babysat for other working moms. I can’t recall a single complaint during those years of hand-tomouth. She never begrudged when I was in class at night. She did her best to provide a quiet corner in the dining room where I could study. She receives a large share of the credit for any success I may have had. Church revitalization is a team sport. Pastors may design the game plan and call the plays. But they’re not going to revitalize that church without dedicated players on their team. In fact, recruiting and training your team is often the first step in church revitalization. You’ll need innovators and early adopters who share your hope and vision for the future. They will help you train the others to follow the new play book. You’ll need people protecting your back, so you don’t get blindsided. It may take many months, perhaps years, to assemble your team. Don’t take shortcuts here because you will seriously weaken your revitalization strategy. 4. Study doesn’t produce godliness My most dramatic spiritual growth happened the year I had no money for seminary tuition. I framed houses full time that year and wondered what the future held. During that year a question came to mind. “Why are you so driven?” The Holy Spirit must have posed it because time I was not the least bit introspective. I spent months puzzling it out. A bit of light began to shine in on the answer. It took me to the depths of my insecurities, my lack of self-worth, and the dreadful need to prove myself. Insights from God’s Word comforted those painful and startling self-realizations. Confidence in my identity in Christ soared. Great relief flooded my heart when I was relieved of the need to prove anything to anyone.
My spiritual life grew deeper and richer even though I wasn’t studying in seminary, I wasn’t preparing sermons, and I wasn’t reading theology. I discovered a basic principle: information does not produce godly living. It is the result of experience guided by the Spirit and illuminated by the Word. There’s a “gotcha” built into the church revitalization process. It is my opinion that revitalization pastors must spend more time in the study than do pastors of growing or declining churches. You must read a lot of books, conduct a lot of assessments, and chat up a boatload of people. Don’t give in to the temptation to shortchange your spiritual life. Hard work in the office won’t move you one degree closer to conformity to Christ. 5. Hard work earns street cred The years I spent in the family business and the years working my way through school make it easy for me to relate to working men and women. I know when a busy church calendar feels demanding to them. When that happens, they’ll see me pitching in to help because I learned early on that ministry is hard, tiring work. I surprised the men of the church by showing up for a Saturday workday. I’d only been serving as the turnaround interim pastor for two weeks. They saw their new pastor working and sweating in the hot sun. Months later one of them said, “When I first met you, I was ready to dislike you. I thought you were too educated to be of much use. But when you worked your tail off on that workday, you won me over.” My days of being able to sustain hard physical labor have retreated as the years have passed. But that is a lesson I’ll never forget. Revitalizers shouldn’t chastise those who work hard to support their families. Work alongside them whenever you can. They’ll love you for it and follow you anywhere. I am grateful for my seminary education. It prepared me for a lifetime of ministry of the Word. But I didn’t find the important life and leadership lessons I needed to become a revitalization pastor in the classroom. No one ever does. Bud Brown has ministered in a wide variety of settings, from small rural to mid-sized suburban to rapidly growing megachurches. He has trained and mentored international students, intentional interim pastors, doctoral students, and now serves as president of Turnaround Pastors (www.turnaroundpastor.com).
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Evangelism in the Real World By Mark Weible While speaking to a group of pastors in Jacksonville, I asked this question, “What is the Golden Rule of evangelism?” No one in the room answered. Perhaps, they had never been asked that question before and were expecting some clever answer from me. I simply shared Matthew 7:12 with them: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. I reminded the group that there is only one Golden Rule (the one that Jesus gave us) that we apply in any situation; including evangelism. So, we could say that the Golden Rule of evangelism is this: Evangelize others in the way that you would want to be evangelized. If you were spiritually lost, hurting, afraid and alone, how would you want someone to share the life transforming message of the gospel with you? Would you prefer to hear it from a complete stranger while you are walking to your car with coffee, keys, and briefcase
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in hand? Would you want to hear it from someone randomly knocking at your door while you are watching a nail-biting game on TV? Or, would you prefer to hear the gospel from someone who has been spending time with you, listening to you, empathizing with you, and showing kindness toward you? Would you be more responsive to a loving friend or relative who knows you well and who’s advice you trust because they have lived the kind of life that you wish you had? I know that I would rather hear the gospel, and would be more likely to respond positively to the message, if it can from someone like that. In fact, I did hear it that way. I first heard the gospel from my Dad. For me to follow the Golden Rule of evangelism is to develop loving, serving relationships with people so that as they are hearing the gospel and they are seeing it lived out in front of them. I like to describe it in reverse like this: • Evangelize those that you love • Love those that you serve • Serve those that you know • Get to know those that you don’t
The Golden Rule of evangelism is the Golden Rule. Should there be any other? There are thousands of people who live near you and the place where your church gathers for worship who want to be reached with the gospel. However, not everyone knows that they want to be reached and not everyone wants to be reached. A pastor once described it this way: • There are some who want to be reached, • Some who don’t know they want to be reached, • And still others, because of their hardness of heart, who don’t want to be reached at all. In my book, Fishing On The Other Side, I deal with the first-two categories. I am not interested in trying to reach people who don’t want to be reached. Yes, God can change their hardened hearts and if you have a relationship with someone who does not want to be reached; my advice is to continue to be Jesus to them and pray earnestly for them. However, I want to encourage you to find and reach out to people who know that they want to be reached and people who don’t know that they want to be reached.
conversation (45%) than those who don’t have such questions (20%). www.Barna.com Those who don’t know that they want to be reached are not hostile to the gospel, they just don’t know that they need the gospel. They may pay attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but they have not yet connected their inner longing for Jesus. These are the ones that I refer to in the book as people who are not searching for a church, but are looking for something that they didn’t know a church had to offer. In other words, they may be looking to fill a non-spiritual need in their lives such as day care for their children or simply the need to connect with other people. They may do internet searches for childcare centers or things to do near them. A church with a properly optimized website may show up in such search results if they offer what these people are looking for. However, even those who don’t know that they want to be reached are more likely to come to faith in Christ through observation and conversation. Observation of the lives of friends and relatives who have been living out their faith and conversations with people who are, “... prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (I Peter 3:15). When we engage people through conversation and observation, we are meeting them where they are instead of expecting them to come to us. This is how we “fish on the other side of the boat” resulting in more effective evangelism in the real world.
“People who know that they want to be reached are open to the gospel and are waiting for someone to introduce them to Christ”
People who know that they want to be reached are open to the gospel and are waiting for someone to introduce them to Christ. They are more likely to seek out a church to visit than the people in the other two categories. That is why it is important that Christian churches maintain a visible presence in their communities, both online and offline. However, they are most likely to respond to the gospel in the context of a relationship with someone who is already a follower of Jesus. George Barna, who has done a significant amount of research in this area breaks it down like this:
Looking at the data, among all non-Christians and lapsed Christians, three in ten (30%) say they prefer a “casual, one-on-one conversation.” But the percentage is higher among those for whom spirituality is significant (40%) than among those for whom it is not (27%). Similarly, non-Christians and lapsed Christians who agree strongly that they have unanswered spiritual questions are more likely to say they prefer one-on-one
Mark Weible serves as the Church Planting Director of the Greater Orlando Baptist Association and the strategic Director of the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference. Mark has a wealth of experience as a church planter and local church coach. Mark is passionate about church multiplication, renewal, planting, and coaching.
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Excavating and Exegesis in Church Revitalization By Jim Grant God called me to the Gospel ministry late in life. I spent 25 years serving in the Air Force. During those years I was privileged to travel to five of the seven continents of the world. In my travels, as a believer in Christ, I was able to see the various places where the Gospel was preached and the effects on the community and the people. When I started seminary at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in August 1997, I came with a varied experience of the Global Church. As a Master of Divinity Student, I learned all about the history of scripture; its inspiration and inerrancy. The normal course of instruction for a soon to be pastor of a church was effective in preparing me for sermon preparation and biblical studies. I learned about evangelism and pastoral ministry to the church and the lost. Looking back, two areas where I could have used much more mentoring and teaching were Church and local Community dynamics. I learned that the real name for those areas were Church and Community Exegesis. As a student of scripture, I was taught repeatedly about how one should not look at scripture and read into it with our gregation. This exegeting requires a lot of work and reown thoughts, but to let the Holy Spirit reveal out of scrip- search. As a congregation must do the same thing when ture the timeless message of redemption and salvation. seeking a pastor, so should prospective pastors do for a congregation. As a Director of Missions, I am asked by I guess I was a bit naive about the Church. I was under the pastors to tell them about a particular church. By the limperception that everyone who came to church was an au- ited questions that they ask, I find that they don’t know thentic believer in Jesus Christ and desired to see the lost the right questions or that they haven’t really dug into saved. I soon learned what Jesus meant by the sheep and the past, and present, of a church. I know that in churches goats and the Parable of the Wheat and Tares. Nothing and pastoring, often there are glowing recommendations prepared me for the stark reality that not all people who from references, but the truth was avoided to enable a went to church were saved. How this relates to Church bad pastor or mean congregation to get the job or pasRevitalization is huge. I say huge because most of the torate filled. Usually this will wind up in a bad marriage problems I believe that the church is experiencing today and further make casualties on both sides. is a result of the “come one come all” mentality; without ever confronting people about a gospel encounter. The When doing homework on prospective churches it is esChurch today is in the condition it is because everyone is sential to investigate their past as well as their current “a Christian.” The problem is that no one can define what a status. I have found that churches that I looked at as posChristian is. Please don’t misunderstand me – I know that sible ministry opportunities were not looking for a pasthere are thousands of churches that are filled with won- tor, they already had one. Then there are churches that derful God-fearing people. But I also know that there are list their vacant position who are looking for a pastor, but churches being run by unbelievers. Are they moral and after further research – most pastors wouldn’t go there. ethical people? Yes, but still unbelievers. In revitalization it [This does not include open pulpits where the pastor reis imperative to diagnose the problem properly. Too many tired or made an upward ministry move]. My seminary times the excavating isn’t thorough enough. I have talked didn’t teach me how to really look at a church in-depth. I and counseled with many pastors about exegeting a con- didn’t know about power-brokers and gatekeepers. I had
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mographics to see possible movements of people groups or fringe group dynamics, but it didn’t help me figure out how to minister to that particular area and its people. Small towns are notorious for quirks that no outsider would understand. When it comes to revitalization, one has to deal with who the whole community is, not just the church. I guess you could call it knowing the lay of the land. In communities there must be an understanding of why they are the way they are. In other words, like a church in decline or dying status; the town or community didn’t become that way overnight. I have learned that churches and communities don’t necessarily want to change and that there are power-brokers and gatekeepers at both levels, sometimes they are the same people.
to learn the hard way. I thought that if a church called a pastor, they really did want the pastor to lead them in the ways of the Lord. I told you I was naive! Churches have a history and an identity that is gained over a period of years. The church gets a reputation within church circles but also in the community.
My seminary days taught me how to exegete the scriptures and to do sermon preparation; but it didn’t teach me how to address the church in its contextual environment. Coming out of seminary I was ready to save the world and usher in the return of Jesus. I wasn’t prepared for the obstacle of this vision to be the church. Ministry is not just Sunday. Ministry is every day. It is living and moving in and among people. It is dealing with difficult situations that are visible by you as a problem but accepted by the church and community. Church revitalization taught in seminary classes must properly train the pastors for excavating and exegesis of scripture in the Church and the Community.
Community is the other place that the seminary training didn’t help me get a good grasp on. I can do demographics and population analysis as well as the next guy. But really understanding community dynamics and culture? Nope, not even addressed; all that was for people who were going to the mission field who needed to under- Jim Grant is the Executive Direcstand their particular people group. Little did I know that tor of the Galveston Baptist Association. He is an Air Force veteran, church and communities are their own people groups! retiring with twenty-five years of Communities are more than locations where people live. service. His extensive travels alAnd communities are more than the people who live lowed him the unique opportuthere. While in a pastorate in the South, I felt I knew how nity to serve in a full spectrum of the community would respond to a particular ministry – churches with various styles and especially since we were in the bible-belt. They had no ranges of spiritual health. He has interest in the ministry at all. I had to learn again the hard a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist way about civic leaders and small-town politics. People Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry delived in the particular area because there was some nu- gree from Midwestern Baptist Theological seminary with ance that made them different. I looked at snap-shot de- a concentration on Church Revitalization.
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The Church Needs a Pastor not a Preacher By Tracy Jaggers I have been blessed to have gained four degrees, none of which were accomplished at the same educational institution. During those days, I received mentoring from many great professors. I was blessed to gain preparation for ministry by a retired MD and psychiatrist, and by the head of the CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) department at the largest seminary in the world. I have been honored to be a Police Chaplain, Sheriff’s Chaplain and Victim’s Advocate for over 26 years, but there were few courses available to educate students to be ready for ministry in the trenches. Yes, preaching lab and hermeneutics were valuable but it was Pastoral Counseling and Pastoral Care for Grieving Persons that stand out as the processes that best prepared me for the onslaught of hurting people that would dot my days in pastoral ministry and the associational roles I have served. Few churches I engage during the transitional phase between pastors really know what to do or for whom they should search. I regularly hear, “We really want someone who can preach the Word,” or “We need a young pastor who will reach the youth of our community.” This type of thinking may be why seminary curriculum is primarily geared toward teaching “preacher boys.” This is like the point on the tip of the church iceberg! Below the surface is the mass of ministry that is required to equip the saints for the work of the ministry and the toolbox needed to help repair lives and mend relationships.
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Pastors are people with a special calling. All believers are to be proclaimers, and we are all consistently being bombarded by Jesus’ arch-enemy and our accuser – the devil. He is not alone. He and his hellish imps want nothing more than to see us depressed, downtrodden and silenced. I believe they are aware of their future demise and the truth that children of God cannot ultimately be defeated. So how have our biblical, educational institutions prepared us for these spiritual battles? How have they equipped us for the war that is daily at our doorsteps? As a revitalizer, I have been appalled to find that 100% of the churches with which I have worked all have two common deficiencies – evangelism and discipleship. Jesus’ final commands to us before departing planet earth (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8) were to “disciple” and “witness” (evangelize). Why have these two missions become our greatest failings? Are seminaries catering only to the perceived desires of the “frozen chosen?” Only one of the four Christian institutions from which I graduated required that personal evangelism be a part of my daily educational regimen. That same school mandated the memorization of eight scriptures a day, four days a week for sixteen weeks. I can recall most all the verses event to this day.
Discipleship was offered in most of the schools, but not required of divinity students. And no clear process or plan was communicated. Curriculum trumped a healthy, reproducible process for turning converts into to disciplers. Preaching and studying (both are absolutely invaluable) comprised the mass of the learning schedule. Dealing with hurting people, tackling conflict resolution and having leadership skills that translate into a caring and equipping shepherd were few and far between. I was taught to study and speak but I somehow missed the courses that aided me in being a shepherd and leader. The church could benefit mightily from a modern Moses or a present-day Nehemiah. With this void of pastoral prep, how and what has been the avenue for being productive in the ministry? I hope to give a few nuggets of gold from my experience and the experience of other wise equippers. 1) Internships are an avenue to see the pastoral role displayed in real life. Being able to walk with an experienced pastor; hearing how he has weathered the storms of ministry and being able to receive evaluations and accountability can be the foundation for a healthy beginning to the shepherd’s position. 2) Mentoring is less time-intensive but equally valuable. Having someone who speaks into our life and ministry is precious; allowing a mentor the freedom of encouraging us and correcting us is a huge step toward vulnerability and humility. These attributes are sorely missing in our society of humanism and secularism. 3) Coaching – asking strong questions can make you look wiser and help you receive a much greater mass of input than attempting to TELL everybody what to do. Helping others discover answers to their questions will stick with them much longer than a quick, terse response. 4) Walking with prison and hospital chaplains – capture what experts have experienced. Learn from those who are daily faced with trauma, death, pain, and loss. Sounds sadly morbid, but their daily battles can offer great insights to a minister who will be serving those who are suffering. Remember too, the ministry of just being present says how much you really care! 5) Joining the board of a counseling center – do you understand the signs of Post-traumatic stress disorder? Can you talk someone down from a pinnacle of depression and suicidal thoughts? Being on the board of a Christian Counseling center offered great insight into the numerous ways people respond to inner and external stressors. A caring pastor should be able to recognize some of the signs of mental and physical disorders.
You can never replace doctors, but neither can they replace your spiritual comfort and scriptural strength. Do what you do best. Love and protect your flock and pray for them always. 6) Training as an Advocate with victims of abuse and violence – another tool for your pastoral toolbox is the training available to prison volunteers and Victim’s Advocates. Those who are abused need a voice of deliverance, victory, hope, love and peace. I believe seminary classrooms would be filled to overflowing if they would offer courses on “How to bring Healing to a Suffering Soul.” Job displays an abundance of responses to suffering and testing. 7) Developing a process for teaching the major biblical doctrines – knowing who God is, who we are, and how we can live a transformed life, provides confidence, enhances courage and incites risk-taking. A reproducible discipleship process gives every new believer the courage and tools to spread what they have just accepted. Every victory multiplies the vision of a world-wide win and discipleship processes are too rarely acquired in the seminary laboratory. 8) Take church members and leaders along when you perform your ministry. Jesus is our example; are you an example to your members? Paul said something like this, “If you want what I have, then do what I do.” That is not arrogance; it’s confidence. Just because I preach a message that requires a positive reaction, does not necessarily mean it will gain the right action. Preaching never replaces modeling. Visibly show your people how a surrendered life results in peace and hope and others will likely follow. If I could impart one great word of wisdom to our institutions of higher learning, it would be this: Training for the head is essential but teaching students how to touch and transform hearts is a matter of life and death. Let’s teach and practice what counts for eternity!
Tracy Jaggers is the Associational Director of Missions of Gateway Baptist Association, Edwardsville, Illinois. He has held the Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor, Minister of Music, Youth Pastor and Minister of Education roles. He is a contributing author for the book entitled, Practical Tools for Reinventing the Dying Church. His website is: www.churchoverhauler.com
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8 Things I’ve Learned Since Seminary About Church Revitalization By William Chaney Jr. Over these last 32 years, I have learned several things about revitalization, including the truth about church revitalization. When I was a student at Candler School of Theology, we talked about pastoral care, church administration, starting new churches, church history, and preaching, but not this topic. Yet, except for both of the new churches that I was privileged to start, my entire pastoral history has centered on church revitalization. What I have learned that they don’t teach in seminary. 8. There is no such thing as revitalization. Many things that initially contributed to growth, including cultural norms, socio-economic conditions, and the population in the neighborhood, no longer exist. The new focus should be on churches rediscovering their mission, reengaging their mission field, and refocusing their resources to support the mission. This kind of shift is real “church revitalization” because it is about God’s mission and not a revival of the past. 7. Intercultural competence isessential. The people groups in our neighborhoods have significantly changed since I began in ministry. There is no longer one dominant culture that pervades over all people groups. To reach people who are far from God and who now live in our neighborhoods will require pastors and leaders to have a missionary mindset. 6. When a church has been in decline for several years, they first must complete all stages of grief before beginning a plan to engage the future. The emotional toll on a congregation to experience the church being vibrant and healthy to each week wondering
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who will show up is significant. Allowing the church to grieve before moving forward will save pastors lots of frustration. 5. Rediscovering, reengaging and refocusing a congregation is equivalent to rewriting the DNA of the congregation. The expectation that a new pastor with new ideas for church revitalization is the solution for a congregation is unrealistic. As leaders, pastors will need to have measurable goals that can be tracked to show the congregation the progress that is taking place over time. 4. Leading a congregation through the process of rediscovering, reengaging, and refocusing should not be influenced by the pastor alone. Pastors need a team of five to seven influential and confident men and women who look at the ministry context, ministry action plan and implement the changes strategically as a team. 3. Not every church can remission, reengage, or refocus. For these congregations, they may need to consider three Kingdom-minded strategies that are difficult to entertain. • Elijah/ Elisha Transfer – This is when an existing church realizes that on their own, they can’t return to health. They choose to give their assets, building, and control over to a new church who is on a mission and can benefit from the church’s assets for evangelistic work. The existing church closes, and the new church emerges after several months. • Adoption - This is when the existing church and a new church partner to take on the identity of the new church over time. There is a time of shared leadership and a predetermined time
to hand over the leadership and branding to the new congregation. • Vital Merger – This is when two church agree that their missions align with each other and that both will eventually close without significant change. Both churches sell their properties, release their pastors, and agree on a new pastor to lead them into a new ministry context. 2. Having the right coach is critical - A Ministry Leadership Coach is better than a consultant for many reasons. With years of successful experience, a coach can guide pastors and church leaders to unlock valuable insight. This process and the coach will help churches develop long-term and short-term goals, balance relationships, and reflect theologically. As a result, congregations will be equipped to develop a strategy that fits the ministry context and mission field where they are serving. 1. Prayer is the most critical component of a church rediscovering, reengaging, and refocusing on their mission. Do not trust that a golden nugget such as a great book on strategy, church consultant, ministry coach, webinar, podcast,
or conference will get the church unstuck, renewed, revitalized, and healthy. I respect all of the different approaches, but unless there is prayer movement within the church, no strategy, consultant, coach, book, or podcast will do much good. William T. Chaney Jr. has been coaching senior pastors, pastoral staff, new church pastors, and lay leaders since 2005. William is an International Coach Federation Associate Certified Coach, a CliftonStrengths Certified Coach, CliftonStrengths Discovery Course Trainer, Employee Engagement Consultant and a DISC facilitator. Before serving in ministry William served as an Account Executive in an information systems company, area director for a national youth development organization and grant writer for health education nonprofit. William started an organizational development consulting firm, was co-founder of the Atlanta Divinity Center and founding pastor of two new churches. William has served in full time ministry for 25 years.
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The Value of Focus By Michael Atherton Sometimes life feels like an exercise in avoiding distractions. While striving to stay focused on the ministry that God has called us to, all kinds of distractions can arise; financial distractions, philosophical distractions, theological distractions, calendaring distractions, and communication distractions. We need focus in ministry. Nehemiah was a man who understood focus. He was called to go to Jerusalem because their walls had been broken down and the people were in great trouble and disgrace. Now keep in mind, Nehemiah would need to rally the people and move them from a place of trouble to security, from disgrace to stability; no small task. But, to be successful, among the many necessary leadership qualities, his ability to maintain focus became crucial and that focused mindset represented itself in a number of ways. Nehemiah focused his prayer on the situation
Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” The laser focus that Nehemiah displays here for God to grant him success is incredibly important because in chapter 2, Nehemiah asks the King for permission to go back to Jerusalem, safe passage back to Jerusalem, and access to the King’s forest for timber. Not only does the King grant all of that, but he also gives to Nehemiah a number of officers from his army along with some of his horseman. Nehemiah focused his resources on the objective
“Are you willing to stay focused long enough to see that compelling vision become a reality?”
After receiving news of the broken down walls, notice Nehemiah’s response was simply to pray and fast for many days. In fact, he likely spent as many as three months in intense prayer over this matter (read his prayer in Nehemiah 1:4-11). Within his prayer, Nehemiah focused on God’s greatness, God’s faithfulness, man’s brokenness, and God’s steadfastness. Nehemiah focused his request on the need
After Nehemiah gets right with the Lord, he makes a very focused appeal before God; “Lord, I beseech You, may
In Nehemiah, chapter three, we see what amounts to be the work diary for the builders. Every person who worked on the wall was placed strategically. Some, if not most, worked on the part of the wall next to their home. Clearly, this would save time getting to and from the work site. But, more than that, people would have a vested interest in building the portion of wall that would ultimately be protecting their home.
From there, Nehemiah used men from Jericho, Tekoa, Gibeon, and Mizpah. We see that he used men, women, sons, and daughters. He used various officials to oversee the work. He used various vocations in strategic spots. Consider the priests who repaired the sheep gate, the place where the animals would come for sacrifice. Nehemiah used the gifts, talents, interests, and abilities of every person to maximum capacity.
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Nehemiah focused his attention on the job
Nehemiah’s focus increased the people’s morale
Multiple times throughout this process, what seemed like an impossibility gave way to hopelessness. Whether the people were facing an emotional distraction or the threat of physical attack, it seemed that fear and anxiety lurked around every corner. There were even times in which Nehemiah was tempted to take his focus off the job to go and meet with those who had less than his best interest in mind. Yet, at every turn, Nehemiah encouraged the people to keep their eye focused on the finish line.
In chapter one we see a people who lived in a state of disgrace. Everything they had seemed to be fading away. They had no security, no leadership, no protection, no vision and no future. As a result, they had no morale. Yet, Nehemiah’s efforts changed that storyline. A vastly different picture is painted in chapter 8, where we read, “Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground” (Nehemiah 8:5-6).
The Value of Focus The discipline of focus is likely underestimated as it relates to ministry revitalization. Consider the light that illuminates the dining room where your family will enjoy dinner this evening. That light receives very little praise for simply doing its job. There is really nothing special about it, nothing that grabs your attention. But, light, when highly focused and intensified, can become powerful. In a laser form, it will have the ability to cut metals or assist in surgical procedures. What is the difference? Focus! So it is true in revitalization. A church will receive anything but pedestrian results when the leader has the ability to help the congregation harness the value of focus. Nehemiah’s focus helped to get the job completed in a timely manner Despite the opposition, despite the challenges, and despite the set-backs, Nehemiah was able to lead the people to finish the fortification of the wall around Jerusalem in a remarkable fifty-two days. Can you imagine this type of undertaking, with all of the obstacles and opposition? Nehemiah made the concerted effort to acknowledge that he was going to focus on God and the job he had been commissioned to do instead of the noises of all the distractions that surround him. Nehemiah’s focus helped the people to gain strength and the city’s protection was restored Listen to the community’s response to the amazing feat of the wall’s rebuilding. “When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.” (Nehemiah 6:16). With every ounce of confidence that the enemies had lost, Israel gained confidence. But notice, how all this came about; God had shown up. A city that was susceptible to attack was now fortified. God’s people were protected and the world was amazed.
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The people of Jerusalem go from a state of trouble to triumph; a place of disgrace to declaring glory to God. Now the people had protection, leadership, security, vision and a future, all of which provided the morale necessary to press forward into the uncertain tomorrows.
Can You Stay Focused? Contrary to what you may believe, not everyone in the life of a local church wants to settle for mediocrity. Not everyone you serve is okay with the status quo. However, they do question if you are able to cast a vision and stay focused long enough to see it through. They have had pastor after pastor share compelling vision after compelling vision. Their mission statements have been changed every three years. Staff has come and gone. Their new and improved websites and social media presence have been touted as being their missing piece over and over again. Programs have been buried, started, rehabilitated and strengthened. We certainly don’t want to suggest that any of these mechanisms don’t have their place, but at some point we have to ask the million dollar question: Are you willing to stay focused long enough to see that compelling vision become a reality? Michael Atherton has served as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, O’Fallon, MO for 15 years. Leading a church in a church merger, he has learned firsthand the challenges of a revitalizer. Mike is the author of The Revitalized Church. Mike leads a Mentored Master of Divinity program at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and is past President of the Colorado Baptist Convention.
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Dealing With Difficult Church Members By Steve Sells Churches are, by no means, exempted from the devastation that can be caused in the fellowship by difficult people. No matter where or how the problem begins, it finally lands on the Pastor’s desk. It would be a mistake to believe that seminary training will offer skills development in this area. It does not. It would not be easy to offer this training, but perhaps, the seminaries should try to offer a course as part of pastoral ministry studies to help prepare pastors when they are faced with this problem. The problem of difficult people in the church is observed when people cease to seek the glory of God and begin to look for, and depend on, recognition and self-aggrandizement. This causes people to seek positions and titles that will give them a sense of power. This is a grave danger in the local church. Every pastor can tell horror stories about their encounter with this element in the church. The problem is so massive that some churches are literally destroyed by the never-ending carping of such people. Thom Rainer says this about difficult people, “These church members often are the informal but true decision makers of the church. Some of them have great influence. Some of them are big financial givers to the church. Some of them are both.”
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whom they tend to disagree. The dictionary says that criticism is “an act of criticizing; to judge as a critic; to find fault; to blame or condemn.” Romans 14:10 says “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Then, verse 13 says “Let us not therefore judge one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” Then Matthew 18:6 gives one of the most serious warnings about criticism and the critic becoming a stumbling block to other followers of Jesus. It says, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
I have learned in my years as a pastor that there are at least three categories of difficult people in the church. They are: The Critic (Heckler), The Complainer (Protestor), and The Conspirator (Plotter). Let’s examine them.
Such people are not to be taken lightly because it only takes a few persistent people to cause a real problem that could kill a church. A church member who is a critic is a danger to the well-being of any church. The person that is constantly finding fault always tears down rather than build up. This type of difficult person always sees the glass as half empty rather than half full. They see everything from a negative viewpoint, and they can always seek out and find the faults of everyone other than themselves. They find it difficult to control their actions, attitudes and words. This type of church member has built life around negativity. They don’t just hurt themselves; they hurt others around them and destroy lives.
The first type of difficult person in the church is the critic. These are the people who constantly criticize and heckle others with
The second type of difficult person in the church is the complainer. These are the difficult people who protest almost ev-
erything that is going on in the church. Nothing is ever good enough. Nothing ever suits them. Nothing is ever to their liking. The complainer never sees the “big picture” because they are focused on every small situation in the church. This category of difficult people is always involved in divisive issues and they usually have a difference of opinion that is likely to have serious consequences on the fellowship of the church. Such people usually criticize the actions of others while they view themselves as proper and right. They cannot ever bring themselves to seek a solution to a problem because they only see the problem itself and enjoy it. A complainer will always stop progress in the fellowship of believers because they are usually resistant to any attempt to change in the church. Galatians 5:15 warns “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Third is the conspirator. This difficult person is always divisively plotting to get their way or do harm to a program or a person or persons in the fellowship. Most often their target is the pastor or another staff member. The dictionary says that a conspirator is “a person who takes part in a conspiracy… plotter.” They always have a better idea and everyone else is expected to accept their idea and be happy with it. They project the idea that everyone else is incapable of knowing the will of God and understanding what God is seeking to do in the church. Sometimes they have a very deceived following of people in the church because of their ability to influence others. They are much like E. F. Hutton, “when they speak everyone listens.” Often, it is this member who possesses a position of power. If anyone disagrees with them, that person will become their “enemy” and they will seek to discredit and/or dismiss them. These people are very difficult to deal with. The conspirator is usually a person that is dogmatic about everything in their life, especially church programs and changes that affect the future for growth in the church. This type of church member is usually very good at building a following of naïve people who agree with their point of view. In their dealings with others they usually love to instigate arguments and they usually see others around them as the problem that they are trying to fix. They usually build a following of people that agree with their views, ideas and tactics because they will not listen to any opposing view that does not give credence to their way of thinking. This type of church member has sights set on diverting the mission of the church and they do so by keeping division stirred in the fellowship. James 4:1-2 says it well, “From whence come wars and fighting’s among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” How do you deal with these difficult people in the church? There is more in the Bible about unity in the church than there is about heaven. Churches are made up of imperfect people
and conflict is inevitable. As pastor, I had to learn how to deal with difficult people of all types in the church. I had to learn how to deal with the difficult situations these people caused as well. Specifically, I learned on my own, what to do when disunity threatened the church. First, I learned that as the shepherd I could not allow disunity in the church. Difficult divisive church members look for opportunities to cause division and drive wedges in the fellowship. Those who cause disunity in the church seek to destroy the fellowship. Do not tolerate destructive people in the membership. The pastor, as the under shepherd, must deal with destructive members quickly in order to protect the rest of the flock. Second, I learned that divisive and difficult people had to be approached from a Biblical perspective. I learned to practice Matthew 18:15-20. This is the clear Biblical process, and when followed, may end with people leaving the church. I also learned that difficult and divisive people are those who do not serve the Lord Jesus; rather they serve their own appetites and desires. Third, I learned quickly not to worry when the church loses a troublemaker. No pastor wants to lose members, especially because of conflict but sometimes they become “blessed subtractions.” The longer difficult and divisive people stay in the fellowship of the church the more division they can and. most likely, will cause. An older pastor whom I considered to be one of my mentors used to say, “don’t shut the back door of the church, if you do you will regret it.” Finally, and fourth, I learned to take preventive action by checking out those who desire to transfer their membership to the church. Many times, they are leaving a bad situation that they caused, and you can be sure they will cause your church trouble as well. If they left their previous church under less than good circumstances, they were confronted and encouraged to go back and mend the fences and then come to join the church by transfer. I suppose none of this is rocket science, but it sure was difficult to learn on my own. It would have been so much better if I had been taught these, and other concepts, in Seminary prior to my having to deal with the difficult people in the churches I led.
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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Seminary Perspectives By Rodney Harrison Each December and May, theological schools send forth thousands of newly minted graduates to churches throughout North America. After a short honeymoon period, these graduates and their churches tend to realize that seminary did not teach them everything needed to effectively shepherd Christ’s church. But should this surprise us? Let me start by noting that seminary should be considered a privilege, not a prerequisite. Seminary will not make someone a pastor or revitalizer any more than walking into a McDonald’s makes one a Big Mac. The call to ministry must come from God. Those who are called by God do well to build upon His call by attending a good seminary. A good seminary is one that will take a full heart and empty head and fill both to overflowing with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A poor seminary may result in a graduate with a head full of knowledge, but a heart that is bankrupt and empty. Churches and students will do well to know which schools prepare graduates to excel in faith, knowledge and practice. Churches need to also know which seminaries may have a reputation for excellence that is no longer realized.
What seminaries do well.
Most seminaries teach the foundations of how to study the bible, Old and New Testament surveys, Church History, Theology and Ethics. These courses are often captured through a Master of Arts or Master of Theological Studies degree. Master of Divinity (MDiv) programs generally include all of the courses required for the MA or MTS, adding to that list studies in Greek, Hebrew, Preaching, Practical Theology, Church Planting, Revitalization and other specialized courses. The MDiv is designed to provide foundations for those called
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to pastoral and missionary roles that involve preaching, missions, ministry and leadership.
What seminaries don’t do well.
According to a recent study by the Association of Theological Schools, theological schools fall short in teaching the administrative skills required for ministry. Many pastors do not feel comfortable dealing with financial issues. Most pastors dread meetings. However, the greatest challenge facing churches in need of revitalization are finances and leadership. One shocking reality of ministry is that 20-30% of a pastor’s time will be spent in meetings and meeting preparation. Seminaries do not prepare pastors to hone their pulpit presence and interpersonal skills. I cringe when attending churches only to observe pas-
from a Professor akin to assuming that someone going fishing will catch fish. I have a colleague who asks every graduate, “have you read the bible in its entirety?” Every year, two or three will honestly answer, “no.” This is a sad reality. I have also observed seminarians “skip church” in order to cram for an exam or write a paper. Although seminary can help shape one’s character, a diploma is no guarantee of godly discipline.
tors stumbling through announcements or failing to employ basic interpersonal communication skills. Students can observe these skills in chapel, and in some cases, such as through the Timothy Track at the school I serve, these skills are incorporated into a year-long internship. However, most graduates are more likely to be able to diagram a passage from a Hebrew text than demonstrate interpersonal skills. Seminaries don’t teach pastors to pray. The curriculum at most seminaries is devoid of prayer. Prayer, along with the other spiritual disciplines required of those who serve the church, is not measured by a diploma, transcript or GPA. When interviewing a perspective pastor, churches need to ask the right questions. Making an assumption that a seminary graduate is a “man of prayer” is
I am thankful for the privilege and opportunity to attend seminary. I fully appreciate the fact that the churches God has used me to plant, the revitalization efforts He has led me to undertake, and the role I currently enjoy as a professor, are clear outcomes of my seminary training. My mentor in ministry was a man who never went to college and had the most basic of theological training. And yet, he was the one who exhorted me to go to seminary. I am thankful for his encouragement, and I hope this edition of the Church Revitalizer is an encouragement to each reader of the role, and privilege, of a seminary education.
Dr. Rodney Harrison is the Dean of Postgraduate
Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He came to Midwestern following a fruitful ministry in church planting and missions in California, the Dakotas, and Minnesota. Prior to coming to Midwestern, he was the New Church Extension Associate for the California Southern Baptist Convention. Rodney is the author of four books and has written material for LifeWay Christian Resources, The Revitalizer, and several academic journals.
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The
Revitalizer LIBRARY
The book reviews for this edition of the Revitalizers Library are Replanting Rural Churches: God’s Plan and Call for the Middle of Nowhere by Matt Henslee and Kyle Bueermann and Life After Death: A Strategy to Bring New Life to a Dead Church! by Tom Cheyney and Steve Sells. Both works focus on replanting as the revitalization strategy. The first by Henslee and Bueermann focuses on replanting in rural communities. Those places that most people drive through and find idyllic or with dread wonder, “who lives here?” The second by Cheyney and Sells proposes a comprehensive replanting resource. Whether your replant work is in a rural, urban, or suburban context, each of these works contains principles and practices vital for the ministry the Lord has called you to. Henslee and Bueermann’s Replanting Rural Churches: God’s Plan and Call for the Middle of Nowhere, published by Acoma Press in 2019, is one of eight books from the replant series from The Calvary Family of Churches in Littleton, Colorado. Replanting Rural Churches turns vital attention to what is often the forgotten America. Perhaps one of the best lines in the work speaks to the diligence and patience necessary for the unique work of rural renewal; “Do not go in [to a rural replant] with guns a’blazing because rural folks typically have guns, too” (53). This sentence captures Henslee and Bueermann’s humor, humility, and hunger for rural replanting. The book uses an alliteration structure based on four principles: preaching, praying, passion, and persevering (27). This review follows a similar pattern. First, the work is purposeful. The authors are clear on their objective and their outline focuses on it. Second, the duo is
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practical. The conclusion of each chapter provides practical tips for applying the previous counsel. Third, the authors get personal by sharing both of their hesitancies and unexpected blessings in serving in a rural town. Frequently they reference a standard question of measurement for those in the rural community; “How far are we from Walmart?” The department store chain from Arkansas serves as both an indicator of convenience and the degree of isolation a family may experience. Finally, the twosome is passionate in writing, “…God cares deeply for churches in communities that the rest of the world couldn’t even find on a map” (67). A love for the rural church bleeds from these pages. Critique of the work is that the two write out of their New Mexico rural context. While their principles are transferable, their rural context should not be imposed on every rural context. Secondly, change the context, and the principles of preaching, prayer, passion, and perseverance can be applied to any ministry setting. The principles, while spot on and vital, are not exclusively rural. This writer is also engaged in rural revitalization and he felt a comradery in this work. Though, his rural is not as rural as Henslee and Bueermann. Walmart is a fifteen-minute drive from home. Twenty if stopping at all the red lights. But it is the only Walmart in the seven adjacent counties. Despite having a local hospital, frequent hour to two-hour drives to the city to see church members at the hospital are normal. There is a kindred spirit in describing rural ministry as long, slow, deeply driven by relationships in and outside of the church, and rewarding. Replanting Rural Churches is an essential read for anyone called to replant a rural church. Replanting Rural Churches is an excellent addition for the Revitalizers Library.
The second book, Life After Death: A Strategy to Bring New Life to a Dead Church (Orlando: Renovate Publishing Group, 2019) expounds on replanting the seventh pillar of church revitalization. While the previous book is narrow in focus, Cheyney and Sells present a comprehensive replanting manual. Cheyney urgently writes, “Rapidly declining churches need to be rescued” (114). Life After Death flushes out that imperative by identifying how a church arrived at their state of decline in the first place and then what steps can be taken to move towards revitalization through a process of replanting. The most significant advantage of Life After Death is its all-inclusive nature. Cheyney and Sells do an excellent job of detailing the traits of a replant strategy. The material not only proposes how to determine if a church is a replant candidate but also if the individual has the qualities necessary to be a restart revitalizer. Additionally, they identify potential challenges that a replant revitalizer must work through. Two principles reign through this work. First, the success of a replant revitalizer is not dependent upon them but upon the people of God in the church will to be obedient to the Lord no matter the costs. Second, revitalization is hard work. “It calls for the best you have to give. It demands an unwavering commitment to the plan of
God at the cost of relinquishing your own plans” (404). Revitalization and replanting are not for the faint of heart. Some pushbacks on the work are the definition of a “small church.”The introduction defines a small church as being unable to budget for the needs and expenses (xv). There are churches however that are few in number but have no issue paying their obligations. Additionally, there are churches large in number who do. A church that cannot care for the staff they want, pay its obligations, and give to missions is not a small church but a struggling one. Additionally, while the material is comprehensive, the writing style is not. This reader thought it odd that the scripture references shifted from King James Translation in one chapter to another translation in the next. Neither is right or wrong, but it affected the flow of the read. Life After Death: A Strategy to Bring New Life to a Dead Church is a great read. If you are in a church thinking of being replanted, then this book will clarify your expectations. If you think God may be calling you to replant a church, the insight gained from this volume is priceless. Life After Death is an excellent addition to the revitalizers library.
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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Lessons I Wish I had Learned By: Chris Irving Looking back on my three years of study at two different seminaries, there are several lessons I could have learned, but in reality, church revitalization was not a thing yet in academia from 2002 – 2005. All I heard about was how bad the local church was and that I needed to go plant a new church. Everything was about church planting. That is not a bad thing at all…I almost did go into church planting. But something told my heart to not give up on the local established churches in our communities. Now I am only fourteen years removed from my seminary days, with nineteen years of ministry under my belt and it is only since 2010 that I began to hear about church revitalization. I will give my seminaries credit because they were doing their jobs. One professor at Southwestern, Dr. Dan Crawford, is the one who focused his students intently on prayer and revival for the local church. He instilled the truths of prayer and revival in me through the Spring Evangelism Practicum. God used him to put a longing inside me to see the fires of revival in the local church. Thank you Dr. Crawford! At Midwestern, I met Dr. Tom Cheyney, who introduced me to church revitalization, and instilled in my heart the desire to see the local church restored to vibrant health. Thank you Dr. Cheyney! But if I could travel back in time and talk to the younger me, here are the suggestions I would offer to my seminary…
Do I feed the Sacred Cow?
Do I feed the sacred cow or let it starve? Please teach me how to slay the sacred cow. The first sacred cow I encountered in ministry was the sacred cow of the former minister. Granted this was in youth ministry, and the kids loved the guy. I couldn’t be that guy though. Actually, he was still in town and his daughter attended our youth group! But I had a different philosophy of ministry than he did. I wish I could have handled that change in a better way. I knew nothing of slaying sacred cows and creating an atmosphere of change. The second sacred cow was the old church organ. No one could play it, and when it was played, it sounded like a dying sacred cow mooing on its last gasp of air. But there it sat, Sunday after Sunday collecting dust and taking up valuable space. Other sacred cows are people related, actual people who hold a great importance in the history of the church. The seminary would have done well to teach me how to create or lead change in a church. Bring in a CEO, or a pastor who not only talked of change and killing sacred cows but walked the arduous journey of slaying sacred cows and creating change.
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Loyalty is Not Automatic
Seminaries need to teach how to earn the respect of the people God has called pastors to shepherd. They are sheep, they smell like sheep, and they act like sheep. One book I’ve enjoyed reading is entitled, “They Smell Like Sheep.” I learned early on that loyalty is not an automatic given in any situation. This is especially true in small town rural America where family ties run deep and you are an outsider no matter how long you might pastor the church. How do I earn leadership credibility?
Handling the Burdens of Your People
Over time, I’ve grown to love the people I have pastored. The shift happens when you help shoulder the burdens of your people. The truth I needed was not because I was ignorant of the fact that I would have burdens to bare, but rather a lack of understanding on how to handle the immense spiritual and emotional battle of these burdens. There is a reason that Paul called upon the church to carry one another’s burdens. There is a reason Peter calls on the church cast all our cares upon Christ. There is a spiritual battle that wages for the hearts and minds of the church. It often occurs with our people in crisis mode and the pastor is on the front lines of this battle. I need to know if it is possible to step away and find a burden pressure release valve. Too many of our pastors turn to the internet, the bottle, or
western. That needs to change. I didn’t know how to lead, much less lead change in the local church. How could I lead a church to revitalization if I didn’t know how to lead? Leadership courses are necessary now days, and another missing element is leadership development within the local church. It is vital the local church is able to develop servant-leadership from within. We can take secular leadership philosophy and apply it to our local church, but there is also some danger in doing so. Jesus cautioned the disciples about “lording” authority over the church and called them to serve the church. Leadership development was a key missing element in seminary. Especially revitalization leadership.
How do I Create a Social Media Presence?
Now, to my seminary’s credit, social media was not the craze that it is now back in 2005. It was in its infancy and no one could have predicted the huge explosion of social media platforms. Mark Weible just released a new book entitled, “Fishing On the Other Side: A Guide to Being the Church in the Digital Age” which is about the use of social media in the church, and I cannot wait to read it. I believe it is a game changer for many churches. It would be nice to make sure that seminaries are teaching the proper use of the different social media platforms available to the church. If only I had learned to lead through a consistent social media presence. Thank you Mark for tackling this area of ministry. I think it is vital for the 21st Century church. another other than his wife to find release. There must be a better way. The seminary did not teach us how to handle the pressure of the pastoral office.
Does My Preaching Really Matter?
I learned how to break down the Greek, and I learned my Hebrew alphabet. What I needed to know was just how important the pulpit is in bringing change. I learned how to exposit scripture, present the main idea, outline, illustrate, and explain. But what I really needed to know was the why of preaching life-change to the glory of God. Preaching matters, and I really wish I could have learned more about the effects of preaching text-driven sermons upon the local church. I’ve witnessed first-hand how consistent text-driven preaching can birth a love and passion for the Word of God. But what I got in seminary was explain, illustrate, and apply. I missed the why for the how. I needed more why, so that I too would grow in my passion for preaching. Teaching the “how” of preaching and not the “why” of preaching misses much of the heart of the proclamation. We preach Christ Jesus to see lives changed to the glory of God.
How Do I Develop as a Leader, and How Do I Develop Leaders?
I do not remember any leadership courses in seminary. My first leadership seminar was in my doctoral studies at Mid-
These are some lessons that I am still learning after 20 years in ministry. No doubt that more will continue to pop up as time moves forward and ministry changes. Perhaps the most important lesson I wish I had learned in seminary was that I needed to commit to being a lifetime learner. Learning never stops, even when you graduate at the highest level possible. God bless you on your journey of church revitalization! May you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Dr. Chris Irving is blessed to serve as the Senior Pastor of University Avenue Baptist Church in Honolulu, HI. He is the father of six children, and husband to his first wife, Amber who is a seminary student and women’s conference speaker. Dr. Irving attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for his MDiv, and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for his DMin in leadership studies. He can be reached at chris-irving@hotmail.com.
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