The Church Revitalizer Magazine

THE

CHURCH

Sept/Oct 2017 Vol 3 Issue 5

Revitalizer

“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue”

The Type of Friends Every Church Revitalizer Needs!

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.” - Tom Cheyney

ENOVATE R National Church Revitalization Conference

November 7-9, 2017

Speakers Include:

Orlando, FL

Karl Vaters Micah Fries Gary McIntosh Jennifer Bennett David Murrow Tom Cheyney Paul Smith Terry Rials Ron Smith Steve Smith Jason Cooper

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Sept/Oct | Vol 3, No 5

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The Gift of Friendship

By Chris Irving

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Church Revitalization Takes T.I.M.E.

By Joel R. Breidenbaugh

Your Vision 32 Leveraging Statement to Achieve Focus

By Lee Kricher

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Finding Your Most Important Ministry Partner

By Steve Smith

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Revitalization: Investing in the Right Kind of Relationships

By Chad McCarthy

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Dealing with These Kinds of Friends

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

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Eleven Steps to a Newly Revitalized Church

By Ron Smith

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Overcoming the Sting of Rejection

By Glenn C. Steward

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Setting the Stage in Children’s Ministry

By Bill Hegedus

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The Types of “Friendships” Every Youth Pastor Needs

By Drew Cheyney The Three Pastoral Types that Help or Hinder a Revitalizer

By Tracy W. Jaggers

The Leadership Link: Relationships within Leadership

By Michael Atherton

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The Imploding Church: What to Do When It’s All Falling Apart

By Terry Rials

Align Yourself with These Seven Key Allies: Winning the Battle to Revitalize Your Church

By Darwin Meighan

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44

Every Church Turnaround Needs More Friends & Volunteers

By Bob Whitesel

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Centripetal vs. Centrifugal Churches

By John Kimball

Peak Performance Principles for Church Revitalizers: Enjoying the Ride Principle

By Tom Cheyney

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King of the Fence Sitters (This Guy Is Not Your Friend)

By Mark Weible

54

A Thrice-bound Cord

By Jim Grant

58

Relationships in Revitalization

By Kenneth Priest

60

Senior Adults Are Your Friends

By Pete Tackett

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

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revitalizer

LIBRARY

The Church Revitalizer’s Prayer Partner

By Steve Sells

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. He has been married to Shawn since 1995, and they have five children.

BOOK REVIEWS

The Church Revitalizer Book Reviewer: Rob Hurtgen 57 Robby Gallaty, along with Randal Collins, Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes a Disciples (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2013) 57 Aubrey Malphurs, Before You Lead; How to Discern & Shape

Your Church Culture (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2013).

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THE

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Revitalizer Volume 3, No. 5

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

PUBLISHER Dr. Tom Cheyney Associate Publisher Mark Weible Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Tom King Executive Editor & Brand Manager Tom Cheyney Magazine Designer & Format Editor Gerald Brown Director of Advertising Renovate Staff Web Ad Traffic Director Mark Weible Digital Media Associate Rob Caraballo

ChurchRevitalizer.Guru

By Tom Cheyney

Welcome to the Church Revitalizer Magazine: A Church Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue!

As most of you know, we have just experienced a major hurricane here in Florida. Our area around central Florida, while not the most devastated area, has taken considerable damage and we have been working to help churches and individuals put their lives back together. Please forgive our tardiness as we were all caught unprepared for the loss of work days as the result of Irma impacting the Orlando area.

Right now we have called all of our churches and have begun helping pastors and church staff with monetary assistance. I am so thankful for churches and association which have given gift cards to us to use with these pastors and church revitalizers. We strongly believe that if we can support and encourage the pastor as he gets back on his feet, he will have the necessary strength to lead his church back to health and vitality.

Please be praying for the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference November 7-9! It is going to be incredible and if you have not registered yet, I encourage you to do so right away you can do so at: renovateconference.org/ register. This year’s main session is focusing on developing sustainability in your church revitalization efforts. I am thankful to those who have partnered with the Renovate Group to bring you this conference for the last five years and look forward to seeing how the Lord continues to bless these pastors and church revitalizers as they continue to renew their churches.

This edition of The Church Revitalizer focuses on The Type of Friends Every Church Revitalizer Needs!

Stay connected, more is coming and it is continuing to be a great year.

For subscription information contact this office at: www.ChurchRevitalizer.guru/subscriptions.

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Stock images from ISTOCK Photo or where otherwise noted. Š Copyright 2017 Renovate Publishing Group

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

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Overcoming the Sting of Rejection I was 26 years old and the first full-time pastor of a young church with a senior adult congregation. Three men served as the primary leadership team and they scheduled a meeting for Tuesday of my first week. When I walked into the room one of the men asked, “What are you doing here?”

Stumbling for a response, I finally managed to weakly say, “I’m here to get to know you men and see what we can do to reach this community.”

“We don’t need you here,” he replied. “You do the preaching and we’ll handle the rest.”

Welcome to the ministry! Rejection hurts! But what does it hurt?

“It hurts my feelings,” you say. “It causes emotional and psychological pain.”

Yes, but there’s more.

An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science reported that social rejection activates the same part of the brain that registers physical pain.

Spilling hot coffee on yourself and experiencing a person’s rejection can elicit the same type of “hurt” response in the brain.

So that brings new meaning to “rejection hurts.”

Perhaps nothing is as difficult to deal with as the sting of rejection.

Feeling that we don’t measure up, that we are unqualified, or worse that we are unwanted, may 10

result in agony of the soul from which we can hardly recover.

Rejection colors our approach to people, tasks, and opportunities. It leaves us hesitant to step forward and give ourselves to a person or a cause. We risked once and had it thrown back in our faces. We are not sure we want to risk that again.

In Exodus, chapters three and four ,we meet Moses, a man marked by the sting of rejection.

It left him hesitant, sensitive, and beset by deep feelings of inadequacy. We tend to approach this passage with our eyes firmly fixed on Moses. But, if we do, we miss the main purpose of these verses.

The narrative is not designed to teach us something about Moses the man; rather to teach us something about God. Through Moses we get a clear picture of our human inadequacy. But, we must not stop there. We are to go further and see that God reveals Himself as the one who is totally adequate for all He asks and all He assigns. He is sufficient for any contingency of life.

We know that Moses’ people turned against him because he came to the rescue of a fellow Hebrew and in the process killed an Egyptian. He later attempted to intervene in a dispute between two Hebrews, but instead of being accepted, he was rejected with this question, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?”

The biblical commentary on this event is found in Acts 7, where

By Glenn C. Stewart we learn that, “He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.”

Moses ran to the wilderness of Midian where he spent 40 years in the desert taking care of sheep.

He lost his leadership edge. He no longer saw himself as capable. He lived with pain of being rejected.

When God confronted him at the burning bush (Exodus 3-4) Moses gave four reasons for his disqualification.

Four Reasons Moses Felt Underqualified: 1. Personal inadequacy Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11).

“Who am I?” Moses objected.

God’s answer was not to pump up Moses’ self-esteem. He didn’t assure Moses that he could do whatever he set his mind to do.

Instead, God directed Moses to move from a personal recognition of his inadequacy to a focus on God’s incredible sufficiency.

The issue is not, “Who is Moses?” but, “Who is God?” When we look at ourselves, we can easily sense our inadequacy for God’s assignments, but our Continued on page 64

RENOVATE RESOURCES ALL YEAR LONG

If your church has plateaued, is in decline, or is not moving forward as quickly as you wish, the RENOVATE Church Revitalization Coaching Network is just what you are looking for. This Revitalization Coaching Network is designed to help you and your revitalization team develop a successful 18 month plan to increase church attendance, develop new people for ministry, impact community, solidify finances, become more missional, develop new ministries and deepen the making of disciples within your church renewal effort.

RenovateConference.org/coaching-network

Each and every week, the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Podcast publishes a free audio training covering various aspects of church revitalization and renewal. Hosted by Tom Cheyney, each podcast features content for this week’s edition of his Church Revitalization and Renewal training.

Included in this series of equipping tools are interviews with key Church Revitalizers and in-depth commentary and analysis from pastors, revitalization coaches, laity, and practitioners in the field of church revitalization and renewal.

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A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue RenovateConference.org/magazine 11

Dealing with These Kinds of Friends

By Bill Tenny-Brittian You Need a CPR Team!

You just never know what kind of a team you might need in a church. Over the years, I’ve had two pastor friends share horror stories of when one of their members had a heart attack during their church’s worship services. I’m sure they both wished they had an active, well-trained CardioPulmonary Resuscitation Team in their congregation. It might have saved a life.

On the other hand, I’ve had hundreds of pastor friends and acquaintances who have shared horror stories of when one or more of their members created so much conflict that their churches nearly died (and in some cases, actually did close their doors forever). These churches needed a different kind of CPR Team – the Conflict Prevention and Reconciliation kind. Having that kind of a CPR team might save a church.

Way back in the January–February issue of Net Results, I wrote an article entitled “Conflict: Deal with It!” In that article I suggested that every congregation needs to be proactive when it comes to dealing with conflict. Now, I’m not talking about the “I like chocolate ice cream” versus “I like Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey” kinds of conflict.

Those kinds of conflicts are natural, normal, and rarely degenerate into bad behavior. No, I’m talking about the “Over my dead body” kinds of conflict that bring out the worst possible behaviors in people. If you’ve been in the church long, you’ve probably experienced what I’m talking about... the kinds

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of conflict that are perpetrated or fueled by bullies, terrorists, guerillas, or controllers.

To summarize the “Deal With It” article, I recommended churches develop a membership covenant of expected behaviors based on the one-anothers in the New Testament. The key to a working membership covenant is to include Jesus’ Reconciliation Plan that’s found in Matthew 18:15–17.

Once the covenant has been adopted by the congregation, then it’s expected that the members will treat each other in a manner befitting kingdom living, including dealing with disagreements between each other as outlined in scripture. However, if a congregational conflict arises that’s accompanied by bad behavior, then the church has a proactive plan to deal with those who “misbehave.”

In a nutshell, when someone plays the bully, terrorist, guerilla, or controller card then the church steps in using the mandates provided

by Jesus. (1) Go one-on-one and gently confront the behavior. If that doesn’t elicit both repentance and restitution (an apology at least), then Jesus’ Reconciliation Plan calls for (2) Two or three on one. This is the step when a CPR Team gets involved (more later).

If this visit doesn’t give rise to an appropriate response then Step 3 of Jesus’ Reconciliation Plan is called for. (3) The offender is called to appear before the CPR Team who takes appropriate action as demanded by Jesus.

Over the years, many churches I’ve worked with have created and

adopted a membership covenant based on the one-anothers that includes expected membership behaviors. However, far too often churches underestimate the debilitating effects of unbridled conflict and so don’t take the next step of establishing a CPR Team. I suspect that even though Jesus decreed it, the thought of inviting someone to leave the church’s fellowship is just too radical for some – better to alienate other members and guests alike or even to close the church than to hold someone responsible for bad behavior.

However, a number of churches have been proactive, taking serious the old saw that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They’ve not only created and adopted a membership covenant, but have put into place a team of mature, trusted leaders to serve “as needed” if debilitating conflict arises.

The Role of the CPR Team Whenever a relationship is broken and conflict arises in the church there can be but one faithful outcome: reconciliation. Reconciliation is all about the restoration of relationships and both the Old Testament and the New Testament reflect that ideal. Unfortunately, the church has largely conflated the reconciliation process to one action: apologize. However, the scriptures are quite clear that it takes more than a heartfelt “I’m sorry” to bring about reconciliation.

Although a full excursus of the topic is beyond the scope of

this article, there are at least five components necessary to achieve biblical reconciliation.

1. Recognition of doing something wrong.

2. Admission of doing something wrong.

3. Repentance from doing something wrong – with the understanding/admission that the act will not be repeated.

4. Going to the wronged party and making confession, admission, apology, and commitment to not repeat the offence.

5. Making full restitution (whenever possible) in order to restore the relationship.

Whenever there is relationship-damaging conflict, the ultimate goal for faithful disciples of Jesus Christ must always be

full reconciliation. However, even Jesus recognized that reconciliation wasn’t always going to be an option. He clearly knew there would be times when human nature would win over the spiritual and the restoration of relationships just wouldn’t happen.

In those cases, Jesus knew we would have to settle for conflict resolution, a solution that is never the ideal. When a relationship has been so damaged that one or the other cannot reconcile, then for the sake of peace there must be a parting of the ways. We see this repeatedly in scripture: Jacob and Esau, and Jesus and the rich, young ruler both come to mind.

Hence the necessity for the “third step” in Matthew 18:15–17 where the offender is set aside from the local church fellowship. I tend to use the phrase, “Invited to leave.”

Although an invitation to leave the church’s fellowship seems harsh and even “unchristian” to

many in the church today, let’s not forget who made this decree. If you have a red-letter Bible you’ll find the whole of Matthew 18:15– 17 in red letters. This is Jesus’ plan for dealing with conflict. It may not seem very “nice,” but it is absolutely Christian.

Inviting someone to leave the church is never the goal. It’s not the ideal. Indeed, the CPR Team has but one primary mission: to facilitate reconciliation whenever possible. And so we come to the first role and responsibility of the CPR Team. Rather than writing a pedantic set of instructions, let’s walk through a real-world example of the process. The names, places, etc. have been changed to protect everybody.

It happened at the monthly council meeting. The issue on the table

Continued on Page 22

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Setting the Stage in Children’s Ministry

By Bill Hegedus

Creating a great experience for children is one the best ways to communicate the value you place on families as a church. I think we can all agree that children are important to God. As such, they should be equally important to us. After all, they are the future of the church.

for the kids and the parents. The anticipation of what was to come began as soon as they walked through the doors.

The goal was to create a lasting impression and build excitement for the weeks to come. So many parents expressed their gratitude that we would go to these lengths to engage their kids.

The kids of today are different than any other generation before. They have access to entertainment and information at the touch of a screen. The attention span of a 7-year-old is growing shorter. It takes more effort and imagination to “wow” them than ever before. That’s why I believe “setting the stage” is more important in today’s church than in any other time in history.

You see, “setting the stage” is just another way to show parents and kids they matter to the church, and they matter to God. Now, I have had some church leaders tell me that this is all about entertaining the kids and feeding the consumer mindset the world is already putting out there for kids. I completely agree with them. Only, with a few exceptions. I think it is about entertainment. What is entertainment? It’s a creative way to engage kids. If it is not entertaining, it is dubbed as boring. The last thing I would want to do is bore kids. The bible is entertaining and ex-citing, filled with stories that would make some current hit shows appear as though their story-lines are boring! I believe the bible should be taught with the same excitement; especially when it comes to kids.

“Setting the stage” is a term we use referring to the aesthetics in our space. When done right, and with intentionality, it pays huge dividends. It helps to communicate value and thoughtfulness. Think of it this way, if a special guest were coming to visit you at your home, you would make sure your house was clean and tidy. You would do this to make a good first impression. The same should be said for your church.

Especially when it comes to your children’s area. It should be clean and organized, but also fun and engaging. It should be very welcoming to first time and returning guests.

Setting the stage also includes being intentional about theming your environments. One great way to do this is to have decorations on stage, or even before kids get in the room, that goes along with your theme.

If you were going to have a birthday party for your own child, and it was a superhero themed party, wouldn’t you decorate it to go along with that theme? Of course, you would! Think along those lines when it comes to your children’s area. For example, we did a 5-week series on the Voyages of the Apostle Paul. We called it ‘Pirates of the Mediterranean’. We decorated the stage like a pirate ship and had some of our leaders even dress up as pirates. We had pirate music playing in our check in area. There was a lifesized pirate hanging from a rope in our lobby area.

We did all these things just to set the stage before they stepped foot into their class room. It made the theme and the whole Sunday experience stand out

All of this only helps if there are some tangible ways of putting this into practice. Here are a few important steps and keys to help you “set the stage” at your church.

First, plan ahead. Planning ahead will allow you to be more intentional with what you use to decorate, and gives you time to get others involved. A great way to do this is to theme your teaching area to go along with the lessons for the month. Maybe you have a curriculum that changes weekly. If this the case, I would recommend coming up with a theme you could use for a 4 to 5-week series.

Changing out your set every week would be extremely costly and very time consuming. A monthly theme approach is best for budgets. At the very least, you could change it out quarterly. By planning ahead, it will make these decisions easier!

Second, build a team of volunteers to come in and change out the set monthly. We have a team of volunteers that come every Tuesday for about 3 hours and work on the thematic elements for the stage and hall areas.

Even though the stage only changes monthly, they use the other weeks to build, paint and create elements for the next month’s design. They love being with each other, and have a real sense of ownership in this area. They are extremely resourceful and detailed! Our sets always look professional and attention-grabbing.

Continued on Page 26 16

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The Types of “Friendships” Every Youth Pastor Needs “Friends are like elevators, they will either take you up, or they will take you down.” “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” “The friendships we make today, determine the stories we tell tomorrow.”

No matter how cliché these one-liners are, the truth is that we all need specific influences in our lives. The people we open up our lives to and the people who speak into our lives matter for everyone in ministry. There are, however, specific relationships that we need the most. This isn’t an article telling you what to do. These are the three relational suggestions I have that will save you pain and sanity in the future.

1. PASTOR

First, let me be clear about something, every single one of us needs a pastor in our lives. The harsh truth is that I do not need my pastor to be my friend. In fact I will take it further and say friendship is not even the goal for the relationship with the person I choose for fill this role. I need a Pastor in my life, not another friend. You see if I want to see God do amazing things through my interaction in the local church, then I need my hearth to be pastored by someone with the pedigree to do so. I, like so many of you, need someone in my life to direct my heart. Being in ministry does not make you holy. There will be moments when you need spiritual guidance, or life guidance in general, and this is when you need a pastor. My pastor does the following four things in my life, family, and ministry: Leads Me: Personally, I need someone to help me wrap my head around the messy and

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complicated. There might come a time when I need help walking through my finances, my marriage, my frustrations, and maybe even my doubts. You see this is where my pastor is a part of my life. To help guide me through Satan’s landmines. He has said to me several times, “I’ll be anything you want me to be: Your Boss, Your Friend, Your Shrink, Your Counselor, Your Spiritual Father, Your Pastor.” I choose the last two.

Feeds Me: My pastor also gives me spiritual nourishment. I do not need another friend, I need someone who will help me learn.

Your pastor (whomever that may be) should care and help you out with this in your life.

Protects Me: A pastor should also protect you. My pastor not only takes bullets for me, he also pays attention to the things in my life and actions that could cause me stumble in the future. Friends care about your safety, but someone protecting you from you, has a different level of influence.

Corrects Me: We all hate this one, but a person that you allow to pastor your heart, will also correct you in your “rough around the edges” places. Proverbs talks about how “iron sharpens iron,” and if someone is going to speak into your life on this level, you have to keep in mind their relationship with you and the heart it comes from.

2. MENTOR

Another kind of relationship you need in your life is a mentor, someone who can take you under his or her wing and help you understand the head portions of life. There are a lot of things I think about and wonder; a mentor is someone you respect, who

By Drew Cheyney

is smarter and more experienced than you are. The are someone who you can bounce ideas off of in all aspects of life. This person is less worried about your heart and more concerned with what is going on between your ears. John F. Kennedy once said, “a rising tide raises all ships.” Mentorship is just one of those tides that can help you raise your levels of leadership.

An important note about mentors is that they come in all shapes and sizes. I have been mentored through the podcasts of a leader who does not even know me. Every month I listen to his podcast and am amazed at how much I learn. I also have a couple of mentors who are only a part of my development for a season.

Every once in a while some of us luck out and find people who will take the time to invest into us for months and years into the future. No matter which kind you choose, just realize that the more counsel and Godly character that is invested into your life now, the better you will be at handling and understanding the chaos that life and Satan will throw at you along the way.

3. FRIENDS

The last kind of relationship you need in your life is actual FRIENDSHIP. These relationships come a variety of shapes. There are three types of friendships I have in my life that not only make me better, but help me stay sane throughout the seasons of life: •

Hobby Friends: these friends are the people you hang out with for all the things you love to go do. You need these people because ministry cannot be the

Continued on page 36

Does God really set people free?

Or are we just talking?

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

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

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

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

Dr. Phil Phillips, Ft. Myers, FL

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The Gift of Friendship This story is told by the Persians of the great Shah Abbas, who reigned in Persia, but loved to mingle with the people in disguise. Once, dressed as a poor man, he descended the long flight of stairs, dark and damp, to the tiny cellar where the fireman, seated on ashes, was tending the furnace.

The king sat down beside him and began to talk. At mealtime the fireman produced some coarse, black bread and a jug of water and they ate and drank. The Shah went away, but returned again and again, for his heart was filled with sympathy for the lonely man. He gave his sweet counsel, and the poor man opened his whole heart and loved this friend, so kind, so wise, and yet poor like himself.

At last the emperor thought, “I will tell him who I am, and see what gift he will ask.” So he said, “You think me poor, but I am Shah Abbas your emperor.” He expected a petition for some great thing, but the man sat silent. Gazing, he said, “Haven’t you understood? I can make you rich and noble, can give you a city, can appoint you as a great ruler.

Have you nothing to ask?”

The man replied gently, “Yes, my lord, I understood. But what is this you have done, to leave your palace and glory, to sit with me in this dark place, to partake of my coarse fare, to care whether my heart is glad or sorry? Even you can give nothing more precious. On others, you may bestow rich presents but to me you have given yourself; it only remains to ask that you never withdraw this gift of your friendship.”

Friends truly are a grace gift from the God. Every revitalizer needs friends. It is difficult at best to make it through life without friendship. In the 2016 edition of the CBS hit show, “Big Brother” one of the cast members made his theme for the summer “friendship”. Every time he was close to being voted off the show, he returned to his theme of “friendship.” The rest of the cast bought in hook, line, and sinker.

Paul eventually landed in second place because he had a hand in voting everyone out of the game show and many of them retaliated against his “friendship” mantra.

For TV show Paul, friendship was really defined by what he personally received from each person rather than what he gave. Is that what true friendship is all about? Perhaps the greatest friends you need will be the men who meet your needs for strength, prayer, direction, and sacrifice. And in return, you offer these same characteristics to them so that you are not like TV show Paul who was only out to win money with little concern for who was hurt along the way.

Let’s take a look at these four friends that you need in your life…

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By Chris Irving Strength-Finders This friend is the one in whom you find encouragement and strength. Their ministry to you is a simple reminder of the calling to revitalize the local church. You will need endurance, perseverance, and patience as you serve the church. Listen to this story from the friendship of Jonathan and David. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in Horesh hiding from King Saul because Saul was trying to kill David. But Jonathan found David in the wilderness and reminded him of this simple truth, “Don’t be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. You yourself will be king over Israel.” This reminder from Saul helped David in this moment of high stress. The scripture says Jonathan came and “encouraged him in his faith in God.” You need this “strength-finder” to listen to your fears and anxious thoughts so that he can counter with the truth. The truth is what you need to hear.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.” If you are doing the lifting, or you need lifting, then surround yourself with someone who can encourage your heart and help you find strength in the Lord. The Apostle Paul longed to see the Roman believers so that he could strengthen and encouragement their hearts. He wrote in Romans 1:1112, “For I want very much to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Paul had a genuine concern for fellow believers and desired to care for them on many levels, including their giftedness to serve and build up the church. Look for these friends who will encourage and strengthen your resolve and more importantly your faith in troubled times. Notice though for Paul, this relationship was mutual. You too can be a “strength-finder” and a source of encouragement Prayer Warriors Who turns down prayer? You would be crazy to turn down a friend who will pray with you. In his book entitled “Zeal without Burnout,” Christopher Ash writes about his prayer triplet. He states, “We began to meet most weeks. We were honest with one another about our struggles, our perplexities, and our joys: we tried to stir one another up to fight the good fight of faith and persevere in love and good works; and we prayed for one another, both whom we met and in between times.” I am reminded of the four friends who carried their sick friend to Jesus. Mark captures the event in the second chapter

of his gospel. These four bring their paralytic friend to Jesus expecting to be able to get close to Him so that Jesus would heal him. Upon their arrival, they realize there is no way they can possibly get close to Jesus because of the amount of the crowd gathered around Him. So they take him to the roof, tear open a hole, and lower their friend to Jesus. You know the rest of the story. Here is the connection to friendship…you must surround yourself with men who will take you to Jesus. You need men who have a strong faith in what the Lord can do and what the Lord will do for you in revitalization. When you are under attack, when you are on the verge of quitting, or when your faith is small, surround yourself with men who will stand strong for you and carry you to the Master.

Pathfinders The path-finding friend is the one who will help you steer clear of wrong decisions. He will also help you get back on path when you’ve transgressed the path of purity. I think of the prophet Nathan when he confronted King David over his sin with Bathsheba. David was lost and didn’t know how to rebound from this devastating spiral of sin in which he was captured. Nathan comes to David and tells him this parable and catches David when he says, “David, you are the man.” Conviction falls hard on David’s soul and you can read his reaction in Psalm 51.

Another example of the path-finding friend is Proverbs 27:17 which states, “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” In the same chapter, verses 6 & 9 say, “The wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive,” and “Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is better than self-counsel.” Pastor, you need these pathfinders who have experience, who have walked where you are currently walking, and you must heed their wise counsel.

Paul calls us to “speak the truth in love” to one another so that we grow in Christ. I am also reminded of Job’s friends who were trying to fill this role for him, but all they wanted him to do was curse God and die. That wrong advice would have been devastating to Job. So, make your choice wisely and be slow to speak and quick to listen and seek those who will help you walk the narrow road.

The Greatest Friend of All Of all the types of men you need in your life, the greatest reminder of friendship is the friendship you have with God. Jesus Christ has brought from being an enemy of God to a deep and abiding friendship with God. Jesus said in John 15:12-13, “Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” The greatest friend of all is Jesus as He is the one who laid down His life so that you could find yours. What was seen and heard has been proclaimed to you so that you too could have fellowship with the

Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Keep this relationship.

Whatever you do, don’t neglect this relationship. Keep this relationship elevated above all the others. For at the Cross, you find strength, prayer support, and direction from the greatest friend of all, Jesus Christ.

God bless you pastor as you are reading this. If you need a friend down in Texas, or someone to talk to, I’m listening at chris-irving@hotmail.com .

Chris Irving is the Lead Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gonzales, TX. Chris has served in ministry for 15 years in Texas. He led a small rural church to revitalization and is currently involved in the revitalization process of First Baptist Gonzales. Dr. Irving aims to help pastors equip the lay leadership of the church to serve in ministry. He and his wife, Amber have been married for 14 years and have six children.

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Dealing With These Kinds of Friends Continued from page 12 was the Christmas Eve schedule. The pastor and worship team had added a 6:00PM Christmas Eve service that was adult and child friendly. That meant the traditional Scriptures service, Carol’s service, was moved to 7:30PM. The majority of the council members were fine with the change and the chair was ready to move onto the next agenda item when Carol spoke up loudly.

“My family has always held our dinner until after the Christmas Eve service, but if you change the schedule it will be too late for us to eat.” She looked at the worship chair and pointed, “You know that, Frank.

You and Betty have been to our family Christmas Eve dinner – we treated you like family and this is how you repay us? You’ve always had it in for us.

You purposely changed the schedule just to ruin my Christmas Eve.” She turned to the pastor and her face turned from scarlet to blue. “And YOU! Since when did children dictate what worship looked like and how we schedule adult events? My grandparents helped start this church and I was the first one baptized in the new sanctuary. There is no way you’re going to singlehandedly change our church’s longstanding traditions. Not over my dead body!”

She stood up, slammed her council packet down onto the conference table, kicked her chair back, and stormed out of the room. The only sound in the building was the slam of the fellowship hall doors as Continued on page 66

Bill Tenny-Brittian is the managing partner of The Effective Church Group. For over thirty years, The Effective Church Group has been equipping churches and church leaders so they can be successful in reaching their mission. We provide consulting and coaching using the time-tested Complete Ministry Audit to help churches reach maximum effectiveness. Learn more at EffectiveChurch.com.

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Church Revitalization Takes T.I.M.E.

By Joel R. Breidenbaugh, PhD Once upon a time a young man went to school to prepare for his career. While going to school, he met a beautiful young lady and the two were married in sweet bliss. They began to have children as the husband looked for the big job to launch his career. Such a key job would help him provide for his family. It could also help him achieve recognition among his peers, so that he could get a promotion one day. He would have his Camelot and his family would enjoy their lives together…

Every young man called into the pastorate has similar aspirations. He plans to get a good education. He expects to start a nice family. He anticipates working at a church to get some experience so he can go to a bigger church.

But somewhere early into the journey, he wakes up from his dream and realizes the real world is nothing like Camelot at all. Schooling can be difficult. Having a family, while a tremendous blessing, offers a unique set of challenges. Add to these areas a church pastorate and suddenly what seemed to be a fairy tale can quickly become a nightmare, if you serve a tough church and aren’t prepared for it (and which pastor is ever really prepared for a tough church). Maybe that’s why Jesus talked about counting the cost in following Him.

As optimistic as I am in life, I also try to be realistic.

If you are reading this article, you know you don’t live in a fairy tale. You know church work is hard work, not just because of the challenging people you shepherd but also because real-life spiritual warfare is happening. You are in the midst of a church which needs revitalization badly (like a decade or two ago).

So what advice can I give you? I want to give you hope (optimism) and warning (realism) together. Church revitalization is necessary, but it takes T.I.M.E. Let me spell it out for you, one letter at a time.

Temperature 24

One of the necessary ingredients you will need

in church revitalization is to take the temperature of the church and your own life. At best, some churches which need revitalization are lukewarm.

Mostly are spiritually cold. They are not nearly as sensitive to the work of God as they need to be.

They don’t love their neighbors like they should.

They care far more for their own desires than the desires of those who need the Lord. It isn’t hard to find these kinds of churches, for they dot the landscape of America.

But we pastors must be careful not to point all our fingers at the church. If we aren’t cautious, we, too, can lose our zeal for the lost. We can carry out ministry as usual and get in a rut. We must ask the Lord to revive our souls, if we ever expect Him to revive our churches. And if it won’t begin with us, with whom will it begin?

Involvement As you seek to assess the temperature of your church and your own life, you will need to be involved in your church and community. Your involvement in your church takes on showing your face in several places.

First, don’t just think of yourself as the preacher in the pulpit, even though that is your primary task as pastor. You need to be seen in a variety of settings to attain the level of involvement you will need to be effective.

Second, show up to various church ministries.

Pop into the children’s rooms from time to time to say “hello” and express your appreciation to the teachers. Let the kids know how excited you are that they are there. Do the same thing with youth ministry and music ministry. You don’t have to be present every time they meet, but touching base on a monthly basis communicates you care about them and are available when needed.

In addition to your involvement at church, be involved in your community. You may be a volunteer coach or attend the Friday night football games.

You may eat once a week with the town gurus for

breakfast or lunch. To reach your community, you need to be involved in your community. It also sets a good example for your church members to be involved.

Ministry

Beyond mere involvement where you make your presence known, make sure there are times you are offering ministry to your people and your community. Everyone expects the pastor to stop by the hospital and pray for Brother Jones. But what about scheduling a visit with the Smith family just to see how they are doing? You can read Scripture and pray, letting them know you care about their spiritual growth. Such opportunities can open the door for future ministry options with that family or their friends, especially when they spread the word about how you cared for them.

While your ministry will look different in your community, you can still minister. You can stop and ask your waitress how you can pray for her as you are about to pray over your meal. You can pray for the Lord’s protection as a volunteer coach. God has allowed me to offer this general ministry in my own setting, and even unbelievers have told me how much they appreciated my care and concern for their children or their family.

Endurance

The last quality I want to mention in revitalizing a church over a period of time is the need for endurance. Do you believe the Lord has called you to your church? Are you willing to put in the hard work to see if the Lord will turn things around? I believe in divine sovereignty—God can and will do whatever He wants in accordance with His character and will—but I also believe in human responsibility—we must repent, when needed, and depend on the Lord and prepare for Him to work through us or we will keep getting the same results.

But human responsibility takes time. We must endure through the tough times of ministry.

You cannot run at the first sign of trouble. For that matter, if God has called you there, you cannot run at the fifth or sixth sign of trouble either. You must endure. Think of the prophets and apostles and what they endured for our Lord. Think of the Church Fathers and Reformers and how they persevered in the faith. Remember our Lord Jesus Christ who endured the cross. By the grace of God, you can endure.

Conclusion

You will not experience Camelot this side of heaven.

You may think you are there for a brief season of ministry, but reality will set in. You and your church need the Lord in a desperate kind of way. But for the Lord to have a lasting effect on you and your church and bring the revitalization your church needs, it’s going to take some T.I.M.E. But with the Lord on your side, He can help you assess the temperature, be involved, offer ministry and endure to the end.

May the Lord do so for His glory and the good of His people.

But we pastors must be careful not to point all our fingers at the church. If we aren’t cautious, we, too, can lose our zeal for the lost.

We can carry out ministry as usual and get in a rut. We must ask the Lord to revive our souls, if we ever expect Him to revive our churches.

And if it won’t begin with us, with whom will it begin?

Joel Breidenbaugh is the Pastor of Preaching and Vision, at the Gospel Centered Church, in Apopka, FL. He is a contributing author to a new Christian Theology book due out early next year.

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Setting the Stage in Children’s Ministry

By Bill Hegedus

Continued from page 16

Third, when “setting the stage”, go the extra mile. Make it stand out to the kids and the families. Don’t just throw some hand-written signs, or poor looking decorations on a wall and call it a day. Go that extra mile to make it memorable.

Poor decorations will have the opposite effect you want. Use your creativity and resourcefulness! Remember this is to get them engaged and excited to see what is in store for them.

Lastly, start “setting the stage” even before they enter the class room. Add elements of your theme to your kids check in area. Have volunteers dress up from time to time. Decorate the hallways leading to their class. Be creative in making it really stand out.

Every Sunday matters! Each week you make an impression with your kid’s environment. Why not do everything you can to make it a great and lasting impression. One that says that the church cares and is relevant to every age. One that captures and engages the heart and mind of future generations. One that lets them know they not only matter to the church, but more importantly they matter to God. Make every Sunday special.

Make it the highlight of their week. A place they can’t wait to come back to. You never know how “setting the stage” can change a kid’s life and help them discover the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ. For many kids, Sunday is all they have to look forward to. The only time they feel special or that they matter. That feeling begins when they first walk through your church doors. What will they experience when they walk through your doors this week?

Setting the stage builds excitement for kids and parents, but also it builds it for your volunteers.

It says that the children’s ministry is a great place to serve. People want to serve in a ministry that is fun and exciting. This is great, because you always need volunteers in kid’s ministry!

I hope these few suggestions will help you “set the stage” in your children’s area. Just remember, it can look different for each church or situation.

For example, you may be a church plant that sets up and tears down each week. “Setting the stage” can be done even in a portable environment. I would even argue that it is even more important in a temporary space. My very first position as a children’s pastor was for a church plant. Every week we had to set up and tear down. Everything was loaded and stored in trailers every Sunday. It was often tempting for me to take the easy way and just set up the basics each week, but that wouldn’t be communicating the value we as a church had for kids and families. We had decorations and sets that changed out regularly. Sure, it took extra time, but kids are worth it.

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Bill Hegedus is the Family Pastor at Bethlehem Church in Atlanta. Bill has over 15 years experience ministering to kids and families and currently serves as the Family Pastor of Bethlehem Church. His heart and passion is to help kids understand and live out a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Often described as a big kid himself, Bill uses laughter and innovation to do ministry in an exciting and memorable way kids enjoy.

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Eleven Steps to a Newly Revitalized Church There are common denominators in every renovate scenario. I have found these 11 Practical steps to be proven elements that will change your church now for the future.

1. Have the Ability to Say No. Clarity not only attracts, it divides. Vision or direction is important because it provides clarity.

Clarity helps determine what we say yes and no to.

With clarity you will have to say no.

Ever been to the eye doctor? He presents images for each eye and asks; “Yes or no?” “Better or worse?” Asking the right questions and having the right perspective helps in saying no. Leaders must have the ability to say no. It’s tough to say no, nonetheless, at times we must.

2. Get outside the box.

Houdini was a master at demonstrating the power of getting outside the box. It may sound counter intuitive but in order for us to get out of the box we must think inside the box first. Before Houdini ever stepped in the box he knew how to get out of the box. Death would come if he stayed in the box. Know how to get out of the box and then do it!

3. Quick decision-making Establish a culture of decision-making. There are four types of decision-making styles. All four need to be a part of your culture.

• • • •

Command Decisions- When decisions need to be on the spot.

Collaborative-Team feedback decisions.

Consensus- Body decisions.

Convenience- When someone else needs to make the decision.

4. Flexibility We can overcome and adapt. “Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape.”

Culture moves fast. Life is predictably unpredictable. There needs to be an awareness of the

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By Ron Smith

need for flexibility. If we are not careful we can fossilize in our systems and ways of operation.

5. Make This Day That Day Of all the advantages a leader has it is the ability to see where you are going. Seeing what needs to happen in order to move forward is a great thing and will help lay the groundwork.

Start leading, planning, and equipping like you are more than what you are. That way when you get “there” you can handle the increase.

Lay the groundwork and the need for staff, rooms, ministries, events, and budgets. Plan today like your tomorrow is here! Frequently ask “what if” questions: - What if we see 20 new families?

- What if 100 visitors came on a Sunday?

- What if we start turning families away because of our nursery, children’s area, and student ministry?

6. Become Contagious Not Religious Faith, excitement and joy are contagious. Smile and be happy. Be genuine, celebrate, and don’t complain. Love instead of condemn, lift up instead of load down and offer grace instead of grumble. Then you will attract people. Be a church where people want to invite people to attend.

7. Embrace Social Media The first automobile instructors had a hard time getting people to press the brake. Every new driver yelled “Whoa!” It has always been difficult learning to ride a new horse. It may be hard to imagine and you may be tempted to say “Whoa”, but social media is here to stay. Find someone who understands it.

Post something once a day on FaceBook: Scripture, pictures, etc. Have someone take the pictures and post them. Social media is a free public relations campaign in your hands. It’s free and fast fellowship and yet its effects last much longer than the moment.

8. Value Experimentation If the horse is dead dismount. Remind the church

that failure is more common than success.

Did Noah have any experience building a boat?

Did Abraham have any experience navigating to the Promise Land?

Did Peter know how to walk on water?

We must continually tweak current ministries and try new ones.

9. Move from Membership to Ownership If you have not studied Arthur Flake then you need to. Arthur Flake was a master of his time. He did more to grow Sunday School than any other man I am aware of. In one of his books I discovered six points of Sunday School from Arthur Flake.

week, so put your best forward. Train your church in this philosophy: If we get God right we get everything else right.

If we get Sunday right we get the week right.

Sunday needs to be a win for everybody. Define the win for your leaders, for your members, for your visitors and for your mission.

Ask: What will make an impact on the lives of those who attend?

Do not ask: What will they like – what will make them happy?

Follow these eleven principles right now and see immediate results.

1) Attendance 2) Be On Time 3) Bring Your Bible 4) Tithing 5) Prepared Lessons 6) Preaching Attendance What Pastor would not be pleased if their church members came to church with these six points in mind? Church members at that time had an ownership in the ministry (not just the carpet of a classroom). Teach ownership – get church members involved in the work of ministry.

10. Adjust People’s Priorities Not Just Their Schedules The early church did more than add a time of worship and house meetings to the schedule. The early church changed people’s priorities about God, life, and mission. Teach the value of living life on mission.

Schedule times of living life on mission. Get them serving often, with impact. Show them a preferred future.

11. Practice 52 Quality Sundays Act as if this Sunday is someone’s first. Emphasize quality over quantity. Sunday is the first day of the

Ron Smith is the lead pastor of WaterStone, a church working towards revitalization and renewal. He leads the National Coaching Network for the Renovate Group as its lead coach. Ron is a husband to Rana, father to three girls. Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild. You can follow Ron and receive free resources at RonBSmithJr. com. Ron serves as CO-Leader of Renovate Podcasts as well as serving on staff of the Renovate Coaching Network. As Co-Leader of Renovate One Day Ron produces monthly coaching material for the local church. Contact Ron at, coaching@renovateconference.org for resources and scheduling.

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Relationships within Leadership It has been suggested that leadership is lonely and I suppose the sentiment can be true. However, it doesn’t have to be true. In fact, maybe we should suggest today that this sentiment should not be true. God has made us relational. He expects us to live within the confines of good and Godly relationships. We are better, as leaders, when we live within the context of meaningful relationships.

That is not to suggest that we have not all been hurt by a friend who has made a poor choice.

Indeed, we have been hurt and we will likely be hurt again. However, to stop investing in strong and meaningful relationships simply because we have been hurt, will only prove to hurt us over the long haul.

You cannot lead from an island. Which means that, though people may hurt you and be difficult at times, you must stay amongst the people. You should not lose sight of the fact that even though there are people in the church who have less than the best of intentions, it is still through the people of the Church that God wants to minister to you.

So, as you consider who within your ministry revitalization context you should befriend, let me offer you a few characteristics worth looking to find.

1. Church Revitalizers need friends who will listen As a Church Revitalizer, I am constantly looking at the church and having to evaluate a variety of realities in real time. As a result, there are times that I am called upon to make decisions and do not have a lot of time to weigh my options.

Sometimes I am called upon to make decisions for which I know I am not going to make all the people (or even the majority of people) happy.

Sometimes I am called upon to make decisions upon which the outcome is not abundantly obvious. When I find myself in circumstances like these, I have found it to be very helpful to have friends that I can talk to and know that my words are not being written down in stone. Sometimes I

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By Michael Atherton need the opportunity to say something out loud to realize how good or foolish it sounds.

The people I tend to turn to in situations like these are people who can listen to me with empathy. Empathy is the ability of someone to identify or understand another’s feelings or situation. I know that someone who is really working hard to understand my feelings and my situation is likely going to be a person who gives me good advice. For you see, the reality is that no two churches and church situations are the same. Every issue the church faces involves a unique context, culture, people, history, resource pool, etc… There are very rarely any “one size, fits all” approaches to church revitalization. A friend who is diligently seeking to understand my situation is one who is willing to listen well.

Have you ever talked with someone who thinks they know what you are going to say before you say it? As a result, often times they try and finish your sentences before you finish them. Those folks are often the people who prove themselves to be very poor communicators. Why? Because instead of listening to you in order to gain understanding, they are listening to prove their perception of what they think you are going to say. That is not helpful when I am confronting a big decision in my life. Why? 2. Church Revitalizers need friends who give wise counsel.

The one tool that the church revitalizer must have, if he has nothing else, is wisdom. The church revitalizer must act with wisdom, think with wisdom, speak with wisdom, and must surround themselves with wisdom. I am reminded of Solomon as he was preparing to take his father’s throne, was asked by God what he wanted. Young Solomon could have asked for wealth, military might, lands, or the like. What did he ask for? Wisdom.

1 Kings 3:5-9 (NASB) 5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” 6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great loving-kindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great loving-kindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

We know from our vantage point, God answered that prayer in Solomon’s life. As a church revitalizer, we should follow in Solomon’s footsteps and regularly be seeking wisdom that comes only from God. That said, I am just silly enough to believe that, at times, the wisdom I need is going to come to me through someone close to me. I need to surround myself with people who are like minded in the fact that they desire to walk in light of the wisdom of God. When I find those people in my life, I want them to be some of my closest friends!

3. Church Revitalizers need friends who will give wise counsel with love.

There is no quality that I can think of that I value more than a friend who is willing to come up to me, put their arm around my shoulder and say: “Pastor, I love you and I am with you. Now that said, what are you thinking about?” You see the reality is clear: I am a flawed and fallible person. I am not always going to make the right decisions.

If I was a perfect person, I would have lived in a different generation and would have gone by a different name. If I am going to acknowledge my

shortcomings then why wouldn’t I want people who are willing to have hard conversations with me, in love?

Someone who gives me wise and loving counsel is going to be honest with me. They will not tell me what they think I want to hear, they will tell me what I need to hear. It is my responsibility to be humble enough to give my friend margin to speak into my life. I would rather hear from someone who loves me that I am about to make a grave mistake, than to make the mistake and have a rash of people pointing at me.

A Concluding thought…

Though we have been led to believe that as church leaders we are not supposed to have close friends within the church, I suggest just the opposite. I believe a tremendous tool for church revitalizers are friends from within the church who will listen to you, speak truth into you, and love you, mistakes and all.

Indeed, we have all been burned by people who posed as friends, later to reveal their wayward ways.

Don’t allow a bad experience (or two, or three), to rob you of the joy that God wants to bless you with through meaningful friendships.

Dr. Michael Atherton, Senior Pastor First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, O’Fallon, Missouri. Mike has served as a Senior Pastor 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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As we think about sustaining church revitalization in the local church, consider that in these declining churches most members have not been members there fr fifteen years. A pastor of a dying church recently said, “If you can keep them for 15 years, you must be doing something right.” Did you know that the average membership length of time for an evangelical church is only nine years and charismatic churches burn people out in a little less than six years. To revitalize a church one must be focused on doing real disciple-making. So if we drop a person’s tenure to something like ten years, then we would need to incorporate 30 new people each year. A church with an average Sunday attendance (ASA) of 100 would need to incorporate 20 people. Sustainability can be achieved but it does not happen without a plan to connect and reach with ones community.

- Tom Cheyney

Strategic Mentoring Relationships

Amplify Church, located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, embarked on a revitalization journey in late 2003. After years of declining attendance, the church was on the verge of closing its doors.

Over the coming months and years we prayerfully put into place a number of change strategies with the hope of turning things around. Thankfully, the church became healthy again. Not only has attendance increased from under 200 people to over 2000 people, the average age of those attending Amplify Church has decreased from 50 to 35 years old. Every generation is well represented for the first time in many years.

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By Lee Kricher

church leadership and will become personal friends who you can call at any time.

OCCASIONAL MENTORS

By Lee Kricher

If you are leading a church that is in need of revitalization, there are certain people with whom you need to develop strategic mentoring relationships.

In Connecting: Finding the Mentors You Need to be Successful in Life, Robert Clinton and Paul Stanley refer to three types of mentoring relationships – Intensive, Occasional and Passive.

Occasional mentoring, though less intense in time and commitment, still plays a vital role in the life of a Church Revitalizer. Occasional Mentors are often external coaches or consultants who are in high demand because they have proven expertise in helping churches to reverse or avoid decline. If possible, you will spend personal time with them so they can get to know your specific situation in order to help you to build a strategic plan. Don’t be afraid to invest in hiring such a person who can bring much needed perspective and insight and help the change process in your church to go more quickly and smoothly. If hiring an external coach is not possible, you can get tremendous insights from Occasional Mentors by hearing them speak and interacting with them at conferences like the Renovate Conference.

INTENSIVE MENTORS

PASSIVE MENTORING

Intensive mentoring involves a high sense of responsibility on the part of the mentor that requires extensive time and commitment – at least for a season. It is wise to identify one or two people who can serve as Intensive Mentors to you and provide regular advice, support and encouragement. Ideally, your Intensive Mentors will have first hand experience in

Passive Mentors are individuals who serve as examples even with no personal interaction. One Passive Mentor who has profoundly influenced my leadership is Dr. John Kotter from Harvard University. Perhaps the biggest challenge that I faced as a Church Revitalizer was resistance to change exhibited by

members of the church. John Kotter studied organizational change extensively and he writes about things that successful change leaders consistently do in his widely read book, Leading Change. Especially during the first two years of the turnaround of Amplify Church, his Passive Mentoring made a big difference as I focused on establishing a sense of urgency, forming a guiding coalition of formal and informal leaders, and clarifying and communicating a new vision.

BECOMING A MENTOR

fy Church commits to mentor at least two people who can effectively carry out each of their key roles.

That allows us to be “three-deep” (the leader plus the two people being mentored) at every key role in the church. Leaders are told constantly that their leadership effectiveness is best demonstrated when they are not present. Being told, “I am so glad you are back from vacation; it went badly without you here,” is not seen by a leader as a compliment. Rather, it is an indictment of their poor leadership skills.

Our full-time staff members are required to identify those they are mentoring for each area they lead as part of their written performance plan.

Forming strategic mentoring relationships is not just about who will mentor you but also about who “Three-deep mentoring” starts with the primary you will mentor. I have been an Intense Mentor for communicators who do weekend messages. We do several years to Jason Howard, who is my named our messages in series so that whoever is speaking successor as Senior Pastor of Amplify Church. In adtakes the topic that fits into the series at that time. dition to regular feedback, I have opened the door When I am not speaking I typically assign the weekfor him to experience a number of significant minisend message to one of the young communicators I try opportunities, including the role of Lead Pastor am mentoring. I spend time coaching that person of one of our church campuses. That kind of Intense for success and making sure they are given both Mentoring, especially for millennials like Jason, repositive feedback and feedback for improvement. quires more than just conveying information and Our church has become accustomed to young leadexpectations, but also spending enough time iners in the church speaking during weekend services teracting to provide an authentic, living example of even when I am not away. effective leadership. I have actually been pleasantly surprised by how much “reverse mentoring” takes The three-deep principle applies to other areas in place as Jason helps me to see a perspective that I the church as well, including worship leaders, our would not otherwise see! tech team, children and youth ministry leaders, small group leaders, and so on. All leaders are comI have also served as an Intense Mentor to other peomonly asked, “Who are the people you are mentorple inside of Amplify Church during certain seasons, ing who can step in when you are not here?” Instead such as members of the church staff and board of of waiting for an opportunity to serve until the mendirectors. At the beginning of our revitalization jourtor is sick or on vacation, those being mentored are ney, I identified the group of people whose support regularly rotated into the schedule. Those who are and involvement would be most crucial in making being mentored are usually younger than the mensignificant change happen. I spent a lot of time intors, which reinforces our commitment to prepare teracting with them and casting the vision of why the next generation. we needed significant change in our church. I also took them on “field trips” to visit healthy, growing In addition to serving as a mentor inside of Amplichurches that were reaching the next generation. fy Church, I have been pleased to serve an OccaGetting outside of our own building and experiencsional Mentor for people outside of Amplify Church ing God’s work in another church inspired new through guest speaking and executive coaching.

And I have been pleased to serve as a Passive Menideas and broke old mindsets in ways that discustor for church leaders and members who have read sions never could. the book I wrote about the revitalization journey at Amplify Church – For a New Generation: A Practical One of my goals has been to build a Mentoring Guide for Revitalizing Your Church.

Culture at Amplify Church. Every leader at Ampli-

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When all is said and done, identifying the right mentors will more than likely make the difference regarding your success in ministry. Serving as a mentor to young leaders will more than likely determine if your church will be a vital force in your community for many generations to come.

As you reflect on the power of Biblical mentoring relationships like Elijah and Elisha, Moses and Joshua, and Paul and Timothy, make this your prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to connect with the right mentors who you want to use to shape my life. And please use me as a mentor to make a difference in the lives of others.

When I became the Senior Pastor of Amplify Church in 2003, it was clear that we had somehow lost sight of why we existed as a church. We had become a church that was primarily trying to keep the dwindling number of people who were still attending rather than trying to reach people in our community who were not attending our church or any other church.

Lee Kricher, Senior Pastor of Amplify Church Author of For a New Generation: A Practical Guide for Revitalizing Your Church

foranewgeneration.com 34

The Three Pastoral Types that Help or Hinder a Revitalizer Years ago, my mother-in-law gave me a poster. It was a poem entitled, “Don’t You Quit.” It has become a favorite mantra of mine. It keeps my feet to the fire and my nose to the grindstone. She knew I was overworked and my focus had grown dim. I knew she was right, but I surely didn’t want to admit that to my mother-in-law! I had become a discouraged “sitter” and because of a family crisis, I was contemplating the role of the “quitter.” But, God reminded me of this poem. I reached into a file drawer, pulled out the poster, unrolled it and found renewal through its invitation. I offer it here as a motivation to you when you feel like throwing in the towel: Don’t You Quit When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bitRest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a fellow turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than It seems to a faint and faltering man; Often the struggler has given up When he might have captured the victor’s cup; And he learned too late when the night came down, How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out The silver tint in the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It might be near when it seems afar; So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Since helping facilitate the revitalization process with several churches and walking alongside of pas-

By Tracy W. Jaggers

tors who were dejected, discouraged and defeated, I am aware that there are leaders who can help the revitalizer, while others hinder him from being effective, blocking the church from being renewed and stifling the entire process. I pray that this treatise will be received a positive lift and not a negative thrashing.

Here are three Leadership Attitudes/Actions for our consideration: 1) The “Reluctant Admitter” (previously called by the negative title of “The Quitter”) – This leader allows the revitalizer to move forward and the church to move on without him. He has come to grips with the fact that he is the barricade. He has either accomplished the thing for which God called him to that church, or it is just time for new vision and new leadership. There is a big difference between giving up and knowing when you’ve had enough!

The reluctant admitter may not always be that “reluctant” either! There are times and settings where dissatisfaction and distraction keep us from moving forward and upward. It could be a physical health issue or the distance from ailing parents or precious children and grandchildren that bring us to a driving desire for relocation or reuniting. I do not believe the Lord is resistant to healthy, happy, loving families! Yes, I am fully aware of Luke 14:25-26 (NKJV) - Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Just remember, this is a Semitic hyperbole. He wants our love for others to be exceeded only by our love for the Father.

If you KNOW you are not the one to lead the revitalization process, then be gutsy enough to admit it and allow someone else to step in and lead the flock to new vistas and new aspirations.

2) The “Satisfied Sitter” – this “leader” holds back the process and the church. He pulls everyone into Continued on page 62

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The Types of “Friendships” Every Youth Pastor Needs

By Drew Cheyney

thing that you do 24/7. While it is a full-time callThese people are another kind of friend that makes

ing, the phone can be left ringing, every once in a while, as you enjoy life. It is amazing how many youth pastors are so busy that besides a wife/ girlfriend, hobbies are almost missing in their lives. These specific friends are crucial. In order for you to keep leading and investing your time into others, you have to continually be filling up your cup (your life) with the things that energize you.

Family Friends: We all have friends that our families hangout with all the time. You know the ones married around the same time as you, with the same amount of kids as you, who are struggling with the same things as you. These friendships are important. This one is not just about you, but about your significant other being a part of same cup filling relationships you have. When your marriage gets tough, or your family life is complicated, these are great people to have in your life because they will be right there with you and will understand exactly what you are going through.

the puzzle work; each of us needs to be part of a group that talks about God. A group where we can talk about biblical disciplines that are always being tested. These friends are vital for biblical accountability.

Every single one of us needs to have great relationships, and if all of those were not good options, then do not forget about this last one…. God. It is our charisma and skills that bend the yoke, but it is the anointing that God gives each of us who is faithful, that breaks it! Yes, we all need relationships, and while we all need friends in our lives, it is more important to have the right friends!

Church Friends: I feel like this is a given, but we all need some church friends! The kind of friends that form relationships with God at the center.

Drew Cheyney is the Associate Youth Pastor at Element Church in Wentzville, MO and is a frequent writer on Revitalization of Churches through student ministry.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves…Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” Matthew 10:16 & 40 36

RenovateConference.org/church-partners

Would you consider partnering with Renovate to help us revitalize churches across North America? You can do so by including us into your church’s Annual Church Budget. Your Monthly or Annual Support will help us continue to scholarship pastors and leaders of declining churches to the annual Church Revitalization Conference. Here are three ways you can become a Church Alliance Partner with Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference, in return for your partnership we will give you: RESTORER RE-INVENTOR LEVEL LEVEL Monthly or Annual Support

RENOVATOR LEVEL

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How to Become A Church Alliance Partner Please register online to begin your alliance partnership with Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference at RenovateConference.org/church-partners 37

Finding Your Most Important Ministry Partner You probably have had that look on your face sometime in your ministry life. It appeared after someone—a leader, an attender, or mentor—told you that you need to add one more thing to your growing list of one more things to do if your church is going to flourish. You had that dead-eyed stare, thinking, “How will I ever?”

I learned years ago that I couldn’t do it all—and no pastor I knew could do it all either. As a church systems coach, I watched quality pastors taking copious notes in my training seminars only to find that most of them never built a single system in their church. It was one more thing for them to do that they could not do. This made me realize that I was not training them properly.

Today I help pastors find the most important partners they will ever need in ministry. These people have different skill sets from senior pastors. And they already can be found in most congregations, sitting week after week under the pastor’s preaching. Incredibly, they are rarely prized for the gifts they possess which could help their church grow in making and retaining more disciples.

Instead, they are using their best gifts in the business world or the educational system or the sporting arena. They may be project managers, school administrators or team 38

builders. They’re experienced in developing systems, but not for the church.

Your church may have recruited them as teachers or to help in some ministry. They may even sit on your top leadership team. What you probably aren’t utilizing is their ability to help you build church systems and train the teams to run them. This person is an implementer, and you need one or more of them to be your very best friend if you are going to accomplish the vision God has given you for the church you lead.

An implementer is the practical organizer who understands the inner details of church systems.

They tend to be disciplined, orderly and task-oriented, more concerned with what is workable than what is cool. They depend on the pastor and other leaders to paint the big picture of what the church’s mission is to be. But once they see the big canvas, their minds start seeing what processes need to be developed to make this picture become a working reality. They do not just start the task of development.

Their make-up is to launch fully functional systems.

I found that even describing this leader to a pastor who is considering being coached in church revitalization relieves his mind. And each pastor I have worked with has ended

By Steve Smith this session with the name of a potential implementer who has been part of their congregation for some time.

One pastor recruited a retired project manager who oversaw NASA shuttle loads. Several enlisted successful business owners who had the skills needed for this ministry. After hearing me speak on the need for an implementer in one church, a business woman who had built a hugely profitable company made an offer to her pastor that day. She cut back on her responsibilities at her business in order to partner with him, giving her church family multiple hours of her time because she was convinced that God wanted their church to reach the community around them in a fresh way.

Recruiting an implementer does not mean that you do not have a role in developing your church’s systems. Your leadership is of the utmost importance. You have to own what is to be built.

The systems have to be suitable for the vision God has put inside you. That is the plumb line for the future of your church, so you cannot be ‘hand’s off’ in this process.

Another reason an implementer needs your input is that most of them never went to Bible college or seminary. They have never thought about how their theology integrates with the

practical mission of the church.

They will need your theological framework to build the right kind of systems for your congregation.

For example, I always jokingly say that an evangelizing system is not the same as building a sales force! But it is not always a joke.

Sometimes you have to help implementers understand that the church is not a business, to help them see that the systems they are building are rooted in biblical truth instead of industrial acumen.

So how do you spot implementers? What are you looking for? A primary trait is that the person will be a selfstarter who does not need to be asked twice and micro-managed to get a project done. This trait distinguishes the implementer from someone who is a good idea person. I work with idea people all the time. They can come up with amazing concepts—creative outreaches, new worship approaches or ways to increase your church’s visibility.

But they lack the inner drive to actually develop their ideas into reality.

Implementers drive the development. They are at their best when they see the goals of the church’s vision. What I have experienced with knowledgeable implementers is their ability to assess and realign the church’s resources towards what is needed. This means you will need to give your implementer freedom to make changes in the way you are currently doing things. While making changes can be uncomfortable at times for the congregation—and for

you!—Your partnership with a leader like this will move your church forward in revitalization.

So where do you begin to find such a leader in your congregation? Start with prayer.

Ask God to show you who would team well with you. How well you both get along and are able to appreciate the different strengths that each of you possess is a spiritual issue and not just a personality one.

pastor and those who implement is built over time together, laughing, praying, thinking and discovering how you together are called by God for a common purpose to guide your local church to fulfill its purpose at this time in your community.

Secondly, educate yourself about the gifts and characteristics of implementers so you will spot the right person. Otherwise, you might make a common mistake— hiring someone like yourself!

Many pastors find people like themselves to build systems and are deeply disappointed at the results—or lack of them. Since this outcome will not show up for months and months, it will take you some time to realize you recruited the wrong person, and perhaps miss the opportunity God is giving your church to increase its capacity.

Finally, keep in mind that you will need to find at least one part-time implementer to bring on staff or a team of five or more lay people who can give the church a collective total of 15-20 hours a week. Building systems and the teams to run them takes more time than most people have to give. So if you are not in a position to hire a staff person, do not stop recruiting until you have all the implementers you need.

Then put it on your calendar to spend as much time with them as you can. The best working relationship between you as the

Dr. Steve Smith is the founder of ChurchEquippers Ministries, serving churches by training them in transformational discipleship and church systems.

He is the author of several books including The Key to Deep Change and the Increasing Capacity Guidebook. He is a strategic thinker, a relational networker, and a mentor and coach to pastors and young leaders.

For more information about discovering implementers and/ or church systems, go to: www.churchequippers.com.

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The Types of Friends Every Church Revitalizer Needs!

Perhaps the theme this month is the most pertinent topic of all we have addressed in the Church Revitalizer Magazine. When I started my first church revitalization project, it was glaringly obvious to me that I did not have the kind of people around me that I needed for such an important undertaking. I knew I needed help in several critical areas. Thankfully, I chose wisely. Permit me to pass on a few insights that may benefit you in your revitalization project. There are five types of friends that you need in your life as you lead your church into revitalization: Encouragers, catalysts, equippers, prayer warriors, and ministry coaches.

Without these, your chances of leading a successful project will be in serious jeopardy.

Encouragers Think of encouragers as friends on a teeter totter. They keep you balanced and keep you from listening only to the critics and detractors on the other side.

Additionally, encouragers keep you motivated to do the task God called you to do. An encourager is not a person who showers you with flattery, nor did God place encouragers into the church to cheer you up or assure you that everything will turn out okay.

To be honest, people who agree with you on everything are not encouragers. Encouragers challenge your assumptions, give you direction, and expect you to heed their advice. Please do not underestimate the tremendous role these people will play in your 40

ministry. Sometimes, the only difference between continuing on or giving up, succeeding or failing, is the right people encouraging you. These are the people who are called alongside to help.

Their ministry is active, not passive, and without them we would soon run out of strength and motivation.

Catalysts Whereas an encourager is like a teeter totter, a catalytic leader is like a person with a lever. Their leadership is invaluable, especially when the church is stuck on high-center. When catalytic leaders join your team, things will begin to move (sometimes quickly). Their lever is their influence, which they use to help things get moving. Every church has within it at least one lay person who is a catalytic leader. The scriptures speak of those in the church with the gift of leadership. Catalysts have several identifiable qualities that can be put to good use in church revitalization. First, good catalytic leaders have a genuine interest in the well-being of the church; they truly want the church to succeed in its mission.

They are not out for personal gain. Second, they know the people and know how to get things done. Catalysts tend to be well-networked and often have vast resources available to them.

Third, they are experienced in life and have emotional intelligence, the ability to manage their own emotions and to moderate the emotional highs and lows of others. Fourth, catalysts have earned

the respect and trust of others in the church. Like the old E. F. Hutton commercials on television, when this person talks, everyone listens.

Equippers Think of an equipper as a prosthetist, the person who designs, fabricates, and fits prosthetic limbs. You see, there are parts missing on you – not body parts, but pieces that will make you a complete revitalizer. Like the Six Million Dollar Man, you will be better and stronger.

After you evaluate what you are not able to do, you will need to find people who can equip you in those areas. Let me give you a few examples. I needed to know more about revival, so I found an expert on revival and I sat at his feet. I felt very inept at leading my church to engage the immediate community, so I found a pastor who excelled in that area and learned from him.

I knew very little about coaching until God put a very gifted ministry coach directly into my path. Discover and address the missing parts of your ministry!

Prayer Warriors These people go into the battlefield in prayer on behalf of you and your church. Think of these people as holding one end of a rope with Almighty God attached to the other end – through their prayers!

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in prayer for those who truly

By Terry Rials believe. Prayer warriors know this and have made it their business to be people of fervent prayer.

You will not have to talk these people into praying for you and for the project because praying is what they do best. They will gladly volunteer! They do it because it works; actually they do it because they believe that God works! Jesus knew power in His earthly ministry and fought His battles in prayer. He went into the wilderness to pray, even battling with the enemy for forty days. He retreated from His disciples in order to commune with the Father in prayer. The High Priestly Prayer is chalked full of intercession for his disciples and the dilemma they would face. As a revitalizer, find people in your church who have walked with the Lord for a long time, who believe in the power of God, who trust in Him by faith. Find people who will fight this fight with you on their knees while you fight on yours.

Ministry Coaches Coaches are like voice recorders, reminding us of what we said we were going to do. We need constant reminding because pastoral leaders have short attention spans and we bore easily. Rather than camp in one place too long, we switch to something new and different. In the case of revitalization, abandoning the task will have disastrous results. A ministry coach reminds us to stay on the task of revitalization in a very non-threatening, non-offensive way using nothing but questions.

They never dictate, lecture, or advise; they just ask really great questions. Coaches often begin coaching sessions with a general question. For example, a ministry coach would ask something like this, “What has the Lord been saying to you about your life and ministry recently?” Coaching then shifts to questions like, “Last week, Pastor, you said that you were going to work on three things to improve your church’s greeting ministry. How did that go?” Having a ministry coach is invaluable because there will be a day when you will not want to do revitalization anymore, but you know that Monday morning your coach will be calling to follow up with you, just like he has every week for the past six weeks. This well-trained, accountability partner who helps keep you on-track will become a great blessing as you lead revitalization!

You will definitely need friends as you lead revitalization in your church. You need the encouragers to make sure you do not get discouraged and give up. You need catalysts to help you get things moving. You need equippers to complete your skill set, prayer warriors to keep the enemy at bay, and ministry coaches to keep you on task. As in life, having the right friends leads to success. Having the right people around you as you prepare for and lead your church into revitalization may be the difference between glowing success and dismal failure.

Coaches are like voice recorders, reminding us of what we said we were going to do. We need constant reminding because pastoral leaders have short attention spans and we bore easily.

Rather than camp in one place too long, we switch to something new and different. In the case of revitalization, abandoning the task will have disastrous results.

A ministry coach reminds us to stay on the task of revitalization in a very non-threatening, non-offensive way using nothing but questions.

They never dictate, lecture, or advise; they just ask really great questions. Coaches often begin coaching sessions with a general question.

Dr. Terry Rials is the founder of ChurchRevitalizer.com, serves as the Senior Pastor of the Crestview Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and leads the Church Revitalization Team Leader for Capital Baptist Association. He earned his doctorate in Church Revitalization at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a frequent conference speaker. He is co author of The Nuts & Bolts of Church Revitalization!

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Revitalization: Investing in the Right Kind of Relationships The Right Kind of Focus Christian Schwarz provocatively argues the fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, but rather another apple tree. He explains that when he asks, “’What is the fruit of an apple tree?’ Many people look at me as if to say, “What a dumb question- apple trees produce apples.” But this is an incomplete answer. The apple is a package of seeds. Within each apple are seeds designed to produce more apple trees. The body of Christ is like the apple tree- producing individual disciples and more congregations.”

Schwarz’s response makes a lot of sense. A sheep reproduces when a baby sheep is born. An apple tree reproduces when another apple tree begins to grow. In like manner, biblical disciples reproduce more disciples. Healthy church revitalization takes place as revitalizers invest in building relationships within the local church similar to how Jesus relationally invested in his disciples.

The Right Kind of Men and Women When the apostle Paul instructs Timothy to reproduce himself, Paul instructs Timothy to prioritize character. Competence can be gained more easily than character. Notice the order of Paul’s language, “What you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). Notice that Paul does not instruct Timothy to go out and find high capacity leaders, and then teach them to be

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faithful; quite the opposite, Paul instructs Timothy to entrust the gospel to faithful men. Faithful men and women will joyfully pursue the gospel with the same level of determination a good soldier prioritizes war efforts over personal comfort. Fruitful church revitalization must include church revitalizers reproducing themselves in the next generation- faithful men and women of character.

The Right Kind of Example In today’s world of programs and process, Robert Coleman’s iconic The Master Plan of Evangelism reminds Church leaders that people, not programs, share the gospel.

Coleman wrote that the gospel properly proclaimed resulted in disciples of Jesus“ so constrained by the commission of Christ that they not only followed his way, but led others to as well.” He understood the example of Jesus being the example for all Christians.

Every believer has been called to follow Jesus as his disciple, every true believer has been called to make disciples who make disciples. As a church revitalizer, are you investing in faithful men and woman of character, reproducing mature disciples of Jesus who are then carrying on this same task to the third and fourth generation?

The Right Kind of Success How should church revitalizers define success? How did Jesus define success? Despite preaching to thousands (John 6:1-15) and performing miracles (John 2:1-11; John 4:46-54; John 5:1-15; John 6:5-14; John 6:16-24; John 9:1-7;

By Chad McCarthy and John 11:1-45), Jesus spent most of his time investing in the lives of twelve disciples- one of whom turned out to be a dud.

That stagnation or decline of the majority of American churches should remind twenty-first century church revitalizers to set their eyes on the right kind of success.

By modern standards of success, Jesus’ ministry largely failed. Of the thousands that followed Jesus during his earthly ministry, only about one hundred and twenty followed his instructions to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus were ministering today, would his ministry be considered a failure by modern standards of success? Sadly, many church revitalizers’ ministry will die with them because they have focused on building a ministry rather than following Jesus example of investing in disciples who make disciples.

The Right Kind of Paradigm Bill Beckham quotes Bob Roberts as asking church planters, “Do you want to begin a church or a worship service.” He goes on to note, “If we are honest, most leaders have a worship service in mind when they talk about starting a church. Biblical Church revitalization focuses revitalizing the local church by starting with the right paradigms. These paradigms begin with a biblical ecclesiology. Schwarz rightly notes a key nuance to biblical ecclesiology includes an understanding that every object eventually reaches natural limitations in size. Trees don’t just keeping getting bigger ad infinitum. Eventually they reach

their natural size limitations and stop growing. Churches tend to do the same thing. Biblical church revitalization focuses on the right kind of relationships, making disciples who make disciples- a paradigm that ties church health to church multiplication rooted in discipleship. Like Jesus, healthy church revitalization focuses the majority of its time and effort on making disciples. Reproducing disciples naturally results in church multiplication.

The Right Kind of Love Jesus tells his disciples the world will be able to identify his followers by their love for one another (John 13:34-35). Few unbelievers show up en masse Sunday morning. When Jesus tells his disciples the world “will know” Christians by their love for one another, Jesus anticipates friendship between believers will be so authentic and tangible this “authentic bond of friendship” becomes the primary means by which the world identifies Christians. Jesus declares the world will identify Christians not by where their car is parked Sunday morning, but by their intense love for one another. Biblical church revitalization begins with Christians in the local church learning to love one another in intensely practical ways. One might be tempted to consider this observation overly elementary; yet, this author would challenge readers to consider whether most believers

are living out this kind of radical love? How often is church primarily a place Christians visit on Sunday rather than a body of believers radically committed to loving one another? Biblical church revitalization prioritizes people by committing to loving Christian brothers and sisters the way Jesus loves.

The Right Kind of Gospel Church leaders often lament how consumerism has crept into the church. Rather than believers gathering for the purpose of provoking one another unto love, good works, and exhorting one another (Hebrews 10:24-25), far to many attend for what they “get,” rather than “to give.” Is it possible that few give themselves to the work

of the ministry, not despite the gospel preached, but rather BECAUSE of the gospel preached? As church revitalizers, have we preached a deficient gospel that primarily focuses on getting people in the doors of church and heaven? Have we failed to preach the whole counsel of God where following Jesus in the here and now is just as important as “getting there” in the hereafter? Jesus final words in the Great Commission instruct His disciples to “go and make disciples”. As church revitalizers we must commit to preaching the whole gospel, a gospel that multiplies churches through producing disciples of Jesus who make more disciples.

Chad McCarthy is the lead pastor at Faith Baptist in Chetek, Wisconsin. Prior to pastoring in Wisconsin, Chad served in church planting for about fifteen years. He has also spent time on the mission field teaching English as a second language. He earned his Master of Divinity at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is working on his Ph.D. in Missiology through Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Chad is passionate about how discipleship fuels biblical church revitalization. Chad is married to Heather. They have six children.

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Every Church Turnaround Needs More Friends & Volunteers (And How to Recruit Them)

7Marks© of a Growing Church – Involved Friends & Volunteers (the 7th Mark)

has been that this rarely leads to long-term satisfaction or effectiveness.

The “7Marks© of a Growing Church” are seven recurring characteristics of healthy churches. The 7th in a series, these insights are based on the largest ever analysis of American churches (Hartford Seminary, free copy at www.FaithCommunitiesToday.org).

Instead, start with finding out what the potential volunteer enjoys and could see oneself doing.

The 7th (and final) mark of a revitalized church is: “involved church attendees and involved non-churchgoing friends.” Let me explain how a turnaround church will embrace each.

HOW TO GET MORE VOLUNTEERS INVOLVED 1) Determine volunteer suitability with two questions.

Question one: “What kind of tasks do you enjoy?”

Question two: “What type of volunteer opportunities have you observed in our organization that you would like to try?” When most people come to a church, they are looking where they can “fit in.” And because they observe a church runs through volunteerism, they begin to think about areas where they could help.

Church leaders are often pressured to find volunteers to plug holes in existing ministries. As a result, leaders may shoehorn people into a task that needs to be filled, but with little regard to suitability. My experience

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By Bob Whitesel

Let me give an example. Michael was in his late 30s when he became the president of a small local bank.

Over seven years Mike had led a turn around into new markets with new branches. At the same time he became a regular church attendee of a small church that was also struggling to turn around. Seeing his way free to offer some volunteer hours, he met with the pastor. Because of his youthful appearance (and because he had teens), the pastor asked him to give oversight to the youth program, a program that had been struggling for many years. “I can’t believe it,” Mike told me. “I can help them on the finance committee or in strategically planning their future… but because I’m new he felt I should begin with an entry-level position.” Needless to say, that church today has only marginally survived.

But Mike went on to advise a nearby growing church, which completed a turnaround and just finished a large building project.

The two volunteer suitability questions should also be applied to existing volunteers. This regularly gives volunteers the opportunity to adjust their time commitment, their position and their direct reports.

More on this shortly.

2) Employ job descriptions describing “acceptable” and “non-ac-

ceptable performance.”

This entails describing what good and poor performance look like. In the business world these are called “job descriptions.” In the church world, these are called nonexistent.

All kidding aside, a good job description includes four essential elements (points 3 and 4 are the most critical, yet most overlooked): 1. Who the volunteer reports to and is trained by.

2. An average of hours required each week.

3. What good performance (acceptable) and bad performance (not acceptable) looks like.

4. When the volunteer and supervisor will review the position and make adjustments. There is also a length of time specified for the volunteer position.

Point 3 reminds us that every job description should have a paragraph citing what poor performance looks like and another regarding how good performance appears. This gives the volunteer a mental picture of what is expected.

Point 4 reminds us that a review date affords volunteers an opportunity to gracefully step down if it is not a good position for them.

This also gives the supervisor an opportunity to graciously steer an ill-suited volunteer toward a better volunteer opportunity.

3) Train volunteers through mentoring, rather than through just more teaching.

Christian leaders share a propensity to use “more training” as a fallback for lack of performance. But this may rob the volunteer of available volunteer hours, while making the person an expert in an area for which he or she does not have a passion. Instead, a deepening mentor–mentee relationship can be the answer. Such a relationship fosters a prolonged friendship between volunteer and supervisor. Plus, it creates an enhanced communication stream so that adjustments can be made both in the volunteer and in the position.

HOW TO RECRUIT MORE NON-CHURCHGOING FRIENDS In Acts 2:42-47 the Apostle Luke describes church growth after the day of Pentecost. It’s interesting that Luke chose to say this included them “… enjoying the favor of all the people” (v. 47, NIV). I’ve observed that healthy churches have a healthy and good reputation in the community. Here are two ways to foster this.

1) Ask non-churchgoers about community needs.

One of the best ways to create ministries that will help non-churchgoers is to ask what a church like yours could do to better serve them. This

simple question can be asked: Hello. My name is _____ (name)_____ and I am from _____ (name of church)_____. I am asking people to help us understand what are the greatest needs of this community that a church like ours could address?

This can be accomplished by causally canvasing a community on a Saturday morning with this question, compiling the results and then brainstorming small-wins that the church can undertake to meet these needs. Greater need meeting creates better friendships.

2) Vet with non-churchgoers your wordings and your methodologies.

You certainly don’t want to vet your theology with non-churchgoers. But we should ask them to evaluate our language for clarity and our methodology for need-meeting effectiveness. For example, if you’re creating a new mission or vision statement, then run your draft version by community leaders, including non-churchgoers. They can help you draft language to better communicate what you are attempting to say.

Vet in the same way your methodologies. In the process they will feel that you have welcomed their input, and you have. Greater communication builds friendships.

For further reading, I’ve created over a dozen different methodologies in these areas in several books, including “ORGANIX: Signs of Leadership in a Changing Church” (Abingdon Press), “Cure for the Common Church: God’s Plan for Church Health” (Wesleyan Publishing House) and “Enthusiast. life – Finding a Faith That Fills (Wesleyan Publishing House). You can also download excerpts with new methodologies here: www.ChurchHealth. wiki

Dr. Bob Whitesel holds his “Annual 1-Day Church Consultant Training” as a Pre-Conference at Renovate in Orlando, including credit available for continuing education (CEUs) or 3-graduate credits through Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Bob Whitesel (D.Min. and Ph.D., Fuller Seminary) is a sought-after speak-

er and award-winning writer on organic outreach, church leadership and church health; who has been called by a national magazine, “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today.” Author of 11 books in 12 years, he serves as the founding professor of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University and holds two doctorates from Fuller Theological Seminary. The recipient of two national McGavran awards, he is a nationally respected consultant helping churches grow and regain health.

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SOUTHERN

BAPTISTS

February 8

Criswell College, Dallas The focus for 2018 is reaching the generations in revitalization. Our focal theme is on assisting the local church address specific generational needs in its context without neglecting those who are still present. Speakers will address engaging the various generations in a reaching and discipling ministry.

COST

$15

OF

TEXAS

David Fedele

Reaching Gen Z

Johnny Derouen

Reaching Youth

Pastor of Adult Mobilization, FBC Colleyville

Senior Pastor, FBC Mustang, OK

Mitch Tidwell

Collegiate Evangelism Associate, SBTC

Grant Skeldon

Initiative Network Founder

Kenneth Priest

Convention Strategies Director, SBTC

8:30am - 4:30pm Keynote Speaker

Jonathan Falwell

Senior Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA

Speaking on

Ministry in a MultiGenerational Church

REGISTER AT

CONVENTION

Reaching Collegians Reaching Millennials Reaching Gen X

Chris Shirley

Reaching Boomers/Builders

Chris Enright

Technology for the Generations

Professor of Discipleship Dallas Baptist University

Information Technology Associate, SBTC

Lance Crowell Church Ministries Associate, SBTC

Disciplemaking Among the Generations

sbtexas.com/revitalization 47

Align Yourself with These Seven Key Allies: Winning the Battle to Revitalize Your Church When it comes to war, it is never wise to go it alone. Throughout America’s history, when impending war has loomed, thankfully we’ve employed wisdom, aligning ourselves with ally nations.

Ally comes from the Latin word alligare, meaning “to bind to,” or “to join forces with,” like nations who are allies in wartime – they will act together and protect one another, winning hard fought battle after battle, until together as allies the ultimate goal is reached and the war is won.

Pastor, never do ministry alone. It is especially unwise to go it alone when it comes to revitalizing your church. In fact, as a pastor, if you are serious about winning the battle to revitalize your church, let me strongly suggest that you align yourself with these seven key allies: Jesus Christ as Commander-in-Chief As you seek to lead your church to regain what has been lost in the battle spiritually, you must first and foremost answer these questions, Who is in charge? Who has the greatest influence in the church? Who do church members look to when decisions need to be made? Who do people listen to the most? Unfortunately, a sign of spiritual unhealthiness in many churches is the result of the wrong person or the wrong group of people, hungry for power and control, who have been 48

allowed to be in charge, and have unfortunately called the wrong shots for many, many years, therefore, leading the church to its desperate and dilapidated condition.

The Bible is clear about who has been given authority and who is in charge over the church.

It is Jesus Christ. No pastor, church leader or member could ever revitalize a church. This is something only God can do through Christ by the power of the Spirit as he transforms human hearts for his glory. So pastor, make sure Jesus Christ is Commander-in-Chief over your life personally. And then as you lead the church, make sure the supremacy of Christ in all things is proclaimed; that he is the head of the church, and this truth from God’s Word is clearly emphasized in every aspect of your teaching and in every ministry endeavor of the church.

A Band of Prayer Warriors In Isaiah chapter 62, verse 6 the prophet recorded these words from the Lord, “I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest,” In Old Testament times, watchmen were positioned on the walls at the city’s gates for two primary reasons. One reason is, watchmen were there on the

By Darwin Meighan

wall to pray, crying out to God on behalf of the people of the city, praying his blessing and his protection over the city. The second reason is, the watchmen while on the wall were watching for approaching enemy armies or anything that would threaten the safety and security of the city and its people.

In your church, revitalization and renewal is a supernatural work only God can do. And it requires you as a pastor, along with a band of prayer warriors, to be in prayer continually, asking God to move and work in people’s hearts as only he can do. One of the strongest and fiercest weapons you have in the battle to revitalize your church is prayer. Paul wrote to the church in Colossae, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2). Who are the men and women God has chosen to be the prayer warriors in your church?

A Battle Tested and Proven Leader A third ally to align with is a fellow soldier in God’s army, preferably one who has already experienced the trenches of church revitalization and has come through it victorious in the battle.

The ally I am suggesting here is a much like a coach who will come alongside you in the journey and battles you will engage.

Pray about whom the Lord would want you to ask and invite to

The Imploding Church: What to Do When It’s All Falling Apart First, ask for some time. We may feel that the church,

and our ministry, is in so much trouble that the church will not be able to pay its bills and may have to dismiss staff in order to survive, but that is not really the case. In all my years of working with churches in revitalization, I can tell you this. Churches live longer than people think. They may be hanging on by a thread, but they hang on for a long time. Ask the church and key leaders for time to address these issues. Ask people to bear with you six months because in six months, things can be vastly different.

Second, you need to know that good people do not fight. It would be nice if some of your supporters

would just stand up to the bullies in the church, but they do not. It does not mean that they do not love and support you; good people just do not fight. You probably have the support of the majority of your members, even if they are silent. Do this exercise - take a moment and look up at the ceiling tiles. How many bad ones do you see? Count them…Now count the good ones. You are where you are because God put you there. Stay put and stay faithful.

join you in the process. Perhaps one of the Renovate Speakers or Breakout Renovators listed on the Renovate Conference website (www.renovateconference.org) would be a good place for you to find someone who will join you in the upcoming journey God has planned to revitalize your church.

A Spiritually Healthy and Supportive Homefront A successful revitalizing pastor is one who ensures his priorities and responsibilities as spiritual leader of his home are aligned with the Word of God. So pastors, remember in your life, God is first.

Spouse and family are second.

And the church comes third. Pastors who are seeking to lead their churches toward greater impact and effectiveness in fulfilling the

Third, talk it out. Find someone you trust and talk about these

things. Do not keep them bottled up inside you. Remember, Jesus split His own church! In the synagogue in Capernaum many of His disciples decided that following Jesus was just too hard for them. The Apostle Paul admitted that he had enemies. How many New Testament writers addressed conflict in the church?

You are not the whole problem; you may be part of it, but you are not all of it. You can be the pastor, but you are not the church.

Fourth, take responsibility for your mistakes. You have

to own them because they are of your doing. You must ask for forgiveness if you have hurt people and change your attitude and behavior to prove your remorse. This does not necessarily mean that you will be forgiven. It is my experience that the church is not very good at forgiving, but you will go nowhere without addressing your failures.

Dr. Terry Rials is the founder of ChurchRevitalizer.com, serves

as the Senior Pastor of the Crestview Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and leads the Church Revitalization Team Leader for Capital Baptist Association. He earned his doctorate in Church Revitalization at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a frequent conference speaker.

Great Commission have a bullseye on their backs. These men are Satan’s favorite targets as he tries his devilish best to steal, kill and destroy ministry families. One of the key allies for the pastor who desires to be successful knows his spouse and his family are “all in,” one hundred percent behind him in every battle that needs to be waged and won on behalf of the church.

A Tactical Strategic Team Yes, I’ll say it again. Never do ministry alone. Never try to revitalize a church on your own.

In the process of God bringing spiritual health and renewal to your church, he will lead you to prayerfully choose members from your church to serve on a tactical strategic team. I encour-

age you to formulate this team, usually 5-7 members, depending on the size of your church. This team is led by the pastor for the purpose of discovering together the process of spiritual renewal and strategic initiative God has planned for your church’s unique ministry context.

Spiritual renewal is a supernatural work and movement of God where he restores, revives and refocuses his people toward Great Commission health and impact. While strategic initiative is the means through which a God-given vision is translated and implemented into practical action steps for the purpose of effectively fulfilling his mission.

Continued on Page 56 49

Centripetal vs. Centrifugal Churches

By John Kimball I went to seminary in the 1980s at the height of the Church Growth Movement. So when I took my first church, I was “loaded for bear.” It didn’t take long to realize that the people in the rural congregation I was pastoring had a completely different understanding of church growth. My first years in that pastorate were more difficult than they needed to be. Thankfully, I had some great friends and mentors who helped me learn as much from their experience as my own mistakes.

The greatest lesson I learned is one that I still teach pastors to this day.

It’s the difference between what has been called centripetal mission and centrifugal mission. The first was God’s design for Israel, as he drew the whole world through the Fertile Crescent to the witness of His holy people nestled between the Mediterranean and the desert (Isaiah 2:1-5; 55:1-5). The second is the design of His Church, going out from the “center” of Jerusalem into all the world (Acts 1:8).

The mistake I made in the 1980s is the same mistake many still make today: they put so much emphasis on the attraction of a centripetal mission – working hard to draw people to the church – that they nearly forsake the outward momentum of a centrifugal mission – taking the church out into the world. What’s more, keeping that Christ-commissioned centrifugal focus is an every-day, lifelong task.

It’s insidiously easy to fall back into a more attractional mindset.

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Being attractive in and of itself is not wrong; however, the lasting impact of people putting down deep roots within a church family can only happen when the mission of the church is focused outward not inward. Everything about the church’s ministry must be primarily designed with an outward motivation.

When it comes to church revitalization, this is usually the first ministry aspect I assess. The longer and more invested a congregation is in centripetal, attractional, inwardly-focused ministry, the harder it is and the longer it takes to return that church to fruitful evangelism and outreach. There are at least two issues with which such a church must ultimately deal. First a church that has been overly centripetal for a number of years has assuredly filled itself with people who were “attracted” to the church through its “attractional” ministries and programs. In most cases, such people are resistant to doing centrifugal mission themselves and will often oppose any migration by the church to a more “missional” ministry design. The more the pastor and leaders push centrifugal mission, the noisier these folks will become – and ultimately they may even leave because they were never committed to such outward ministry in the first place. It’s sad, but many of these people have learned to be consumers rather than producers – and they may have a history of “church shopping” as a result.

The second issue such a church must address in any revitalization effort is what I have called the “Law of Progressive Increase.” The Law of Progressive Increase is the idea that whatever the church did to attract these people in the first place can not only never be deleted from the ministry menu, but it must also be done consistently better and bigger to keep them. In many cases, attractional Christians (and especially those who truly have a consumer mentality) will eventually become dissatisfied with the church’s ministry because its impossible to keep improving and expanding it to meet their expectations. Such is the plight of an overly centripetal local church emphasis.

Centrifugal (outward) people, whether drawn in through witness and disciple making or transformed through a church revitalization process, are not only satisfied but will flourish in local church environments rooted in mission. Even though such ministry is more labor-intensive and grows far more slowly, the fruit of their direct participation in the mission of Christ’s Church ignites them. Their engagement outside of the church walls is often profound (I have found this to be particularly true among GenXers and Millennials). What’s more, centrifugal churches often see an incredible increase in spiritual growth and maturity among their members as a result of such participation.

This blessing also comes with an important warning: Centrifugal

people will quickly become dissatisfied and will leave a church as it becomes more centripetal (inward).

Those who are drawn to Christ’s mission tend to be intolerant of any non-mission focus that overtakes a church’s time, attention and resources. When local church leaders see a steady increase in “attractional” Christians, they will also see a steady decrease in “missional” believers. The key is to maintain a more centrifugal mindset and design.

When it comes to revitalization, it’s imperative to keep the focus on the mission and not just the mechanics of change and growth. It’s way too easy to make church systems run like a well-oiled machine and woo people into keeping that machine running smoothly instead of doing what Jesus commissioned us to do.

In most cases, churches in need of revitalization will inherently be in need of a well-planned migration to a more centrifugal approach to ministry – and that centrifugal approach must influence everything the church does. The Sunday morning experience must focus on Christ’s mission. All Sunday School, small groups and other disciple-making work must be outwardly focused. Children’s, Youth and Student Ministries must lead the church out into the community to engage the harvest field. And all the while, pastors and church leaders must keep in mind that a centrifugal transition is costly – centripetal (inward) people will complain, and some will leave. What they are resisting is personal revitalization – the mission may be in their vocabulary, but it is likely not in their experience. Some will resist because of anxiety of the unknown,

but most will resist because they simply are not interested. This was not the church they thought they were joining.

I struggled with that last truth for many years. But then I had a personal watershed moment in my pastoral career. I was attending a John Maxwell event in Richmond, Virginia. I came to that event praying about resigning from the church.

I was broken, burned, and burned out. In that auditorium of about 1000 people, I really don’t think Maxwell was actually looking at me, but the fact is that he looked my direction and pointed at me from the stage as he made this point: “If you follow Jesus and do what he told you to do, people are going to leave. If you don’t follow Jesus, and you don’t do what he told you to do, people are going to leave. People are going to leave no matter which you do – it’s your job to decide which group needs to go.” I leave you pondering the truth of Maxwell’s wisdom.

Revitalization is costly. It requires change. And it can only happen when the church takes Christ’s mission (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8) seriously. Become a Centrifugal Church.

Dr. John Kimball is the Founder/CEO of The Beaumeadow Group, a company specializing in helping Churches and Nonprofits better utilize today’s electronic media for communication both to their constituents and the mission field. He also serves as the Lead Pastor of Palmwood Church in Oviedo FL, as the national Director of Church Development for his denomination, the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, and as a consultant, coach and trainer for The Praxis Center of Church Development in Manchester NH. Dr. Kimball has over 30 years of ministry experience on both the local and national levels.

Are You Abusing Your Pastor?

We are living in a day where satanic forces are everywhere. Even the local church can become a place where evil individuals are allowed to run rampant. This chapter deals with the hardest issue pastors face when trying to begin the work of revitalization. It is when abusive lay people seek to hurt their under-shepherd. There is within some churches an air of toxic DNA that surfaces when those who have been part of killing the church are not happy with the pastor who the Lord is using to revitalize the church. Pastor abusers seldom repent of their sins and seek to remain in power until someone with a stronger backbone removes them. As shepherds continue to be battered, they ask themselves, “When will the silent majority of godly church members join together and excommunicate these bullies?” Satan loves that the membership within the local church have not risen to expose and remove such individuals from destroying the church.

God’s shepherds are being destroyed by these abuses while the rest of the membership avoids dealing with these unhealthy situations in the church.

-Tom Cheyney

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King of the Fence Sitters (This Guy Is Not Your Friend) Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” (Acts 5:38-39) I held a pot of dirt in my

hand and told a group of children that something was planted in it, but I did not know if the seeds would grow flowers or weeds. Since I didn’t know what the results would be, I decided not to do anything.

I would not water the pot.

But, if flowers happened to grow, then I would water and take care of them. The children, almost in unison, said, “No! You can’t do that.

If you don’t water it, nothing will grow!”

I see this happening in many churches going through revitalization.

There are those who do not want to commit to the revitalization effort until they know what the results will be. Their attitude is much like that of Rabbi Gamaliel, whose words are often portrayed as wise. He basically advocated for a non-faith wait and see approach.

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By Mark Weible Gamaliel was not a wise man, he was a fence sitter!

In fact, I like to call him the King of the Fence Sitters.

Gamaliel did not have the discernment of a gnat. He wanted it both ways. If the Jesus movement was of God, he wanted to support it. If it was not of God, he wanted to oppose it. The problem for Gamaliel was that he was unwilling or unable to see the hand of God at work right in front of him. He didn’t know whether to deny the resurrection of Christ or to join the movement.

I was leading a church in revitalization at the time that I was speaking to those children using a pot of dirt as an object lesson. The children of that church got it. They knew that a commitment had to be made one way or the other. However some of the adults didn’t get it. Some of them even told me, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Well, by then it is too late. It takes no faith to believe in something that you can see with your eyes. It takes an incredible amount of faith to believe in something that does not yet exist. By not committing on the frontend, you miss the blessing of being on the side of God

while he is doing his work.

Contrast Gamaliel with the apostles who risked everything to follow Jesus. They constantly faced imprisonment, beatings and even death. They knew that the movement that they had committed their lives to was indeed of God and that no man could effectively oppose it. Is your church on a mission from God? If so, it cannot fail. Jesus told his disciples that, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18b). They knew that they would face temporary set backs, but that the kingdom of God would ultimately prevail.

Unlike Gamaliel, the apostles had real faith.

It takes real faith in order for church revitalization to work. A wait and see attitude won’t cut it. Church leaders must set the example of stepping out in faith and committing to the revitalization process. I remember hearing one pastor say, “I have bad news, good news and more bad news. The bad news is that if we continue on the same trajectory, our church will die. The good news is that there is a process of revitalization that may help our church survive and thrive.

The more bad news is that the process itself might kill us.” There are no guarantees in church revitalization and that fact causes a lot of fear and fear can stifle commitment. However, real faith requires commitment even when outcomes are uncertain.

When church leaders step out in faith and boldly demonstrate that they are committed to the process of church revitalization, more people are likely to follow. However, if the church sees her leaders waffling back and forth while lacking commitment to the cause they are more likely to fall away. Commitment begins with the leaders and spreads to the rest of the congregation.

As a church revitalizer, I was committed to the process and I had faith that God would get us to the other side in much better condition than when we started. However, I could not tolerate “believe it when I see it” attitudes. So, I set out to prove the doubters wrong. We advanced while the fence sitters sat.

We challenged the Gamaliels in our church to have faith and to commit to the

process. Some never fully committed to the process and it was obvious who they were. They ended up being embarrassed by their faithless Gamelial-like statements when they saw what happened with their own eyes what they refused to believe with their hearts. God was glorified and the faithful ones were blessed. But some of the fence sitters sat and sulked.

My point is this. People like Gamaliel are not your friends. They may look like they are protecting you.

Their words may sound wise, but they demonstrate a lack of faith. Don’t let them influence you or the people that you are leading. You know what the work of God is. You recognize it and you can lead other people to see what God is doing. You won’t be able to bring everyone along on the journey, so don’t let them stop you. Do you remember what Nehemiah said when Sanballet wanted to meet him on the plane of Ono? I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you? (Nehemiah 6:3)

Nehemiah did not listen to the fence sitters. In fact, he said “NO” to going down to Ono. Don’t let your enemies distract you from the great project of church revitalization. Listen to those who catch the vision and who make the sacrifices to make it happen, but don’t be friends with the fence sitters.

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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A Thrice-bound Cord Can two walk together, except they be agreed? [Amos 3:3]– And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken. [Ecclesiastes 4:12].

When we look at Revitalization and the necessary elements for success; it comes quickly to our attention that revitalization cannot be done alone.

Revitalization work by itself is tedious and strenuous; couple revitalization with ministry and revitalization becomes almost insurmountable. The problems and conflict connected with revitalization efforts could be partly to explain why so few revitalization attempts are successful and even more not even attempted. If revitalization is going to have an opportunity to be successful there must be a cadre of people for support and encouragement along the way.

I have heard many times that every successful person has to have at least three people in his life: a Paul as mentor, a Barnabas as encourager and Timothy as a protégé. In this article, I will discuss these three necessities, plus add two of my own to the “friends” list – A Cohort and a Critic.

While there are different models/methods of accomplishing revitalization, it will come down 54

By Jim Grant

to a catalyst in place trying to implement a strategy that will bring life back to the Bride of Christ. Some may call this “an organic” method of revitalization. I point this out because while other methods may focus on a Revitalization Team or Covenant Board; the leadership at the church will have to implement the strategy. Conflict in ministry is a norm; adding change to the mix makes it volatile.

Beginning with the Paul friend – he is the mentor; the one who will be instructing the leadership. Just as we find that Paul became the Team leader with Barnabas and Silas, there must be someone who is ultimately guiding the process. This person has to be versed in the work of revitalization; this will keep the leadership and church on course to the intended goal.

You could call him the expert; one who has done the work, a practitioner, not a theorist.

The next person is the much-needed Barnabas friend who is the encourager. This is a vital person in all of our lives, and even more so in a Revitalization scenario. Acts 8 tells of Paul’s conversion which was a great miracle. But Paul was a persecutor of the Church, and

he testifies in Galatians that he did not affiliate with the Apostles. The people looked upon Paul as an outsider even after his salvation. Entering into Paul’s life was Barnabas, who took a chance and embraced this one who breathed threats and persecution on believers [Acts 9]. Barnabas was more than a friend; he became THE advocate for Paul in ministry.

When we look at Acts 11:19-26, the Church is being persecuted, yet growing at a phenomenal rate. Barnabas seeks out Paul and brings him to Antioch, and Paul becomes a leader in discipling believers. We all need a Barnabas in our lives to be our advocate and encourager for us to keep believing and trusting in the work the Lord has for us.

It is through the influence of Barnabas that Paul becomes the accepted leader for establishing churches within the gentile community. Barnabas believed in Paul; but more so believed in the God in Paul. Every Revitalizationist needs this person.

Then there is the Timothy or protégé person. Revitalization must be taught and lived out before others; especially the next generation of ministers and believers. Paul is the father figure”for Timothy who had a Greek father that appears to be missing in his life. Paul calls

Timothy his “son” in the ministry.

As we experience revitalization events, success and failures, the revitalizer needs to teach the stumbling blocks and success on. Paul was an example to young Timothy. It is interesting that Timothy is left at Ephesus; this well-established church that was in need of revitalization, for it had lost its first love.

Through the Pastoral Epistles written to Timothy, Paul admonishes and teaches Timothy about the truths of ministry. As ministers and pastors, we have an obligation to pass on to others the lessons we have learned.

A person on my list is the Cohort – this is someone who is also going through the revitalization process. I know misery loves company, but in our world, walking with someone who is walking in the same situation as us is encouraging and helpful. We are able to talk and philosophize about how to accomplish our work. In this relationship – the verse “Iron sharpens Iron like one brother

does to another” is so applicable. [Proverbs 27:17] During my seminary days I was encouraged by others who were going through the same regiment that i was going through as we attempted to masster the classes. Often, we can attempt to do something we think is right, only to find out that we didn’t even get the assignment right.

So, a person who can bounce different ideas and techniques off of is a great someone to have. This actually works both ways. While we need a Cohort, we need to BE a cohort as well; a much-needed voice into other’s thinking and ministry.

The last person is the Critic – I know you are already saying I have enough of those in my life already, why do I need another one? The word critic doesn’t carry a negative connotation.

A critic is someone who acts like a critique of what is being done. I like to call this person an Overseer. They will be a clear voice of analysis and an evaluator of whether the revitalizer is

accomplishing what he thinks he is doing. A set of eyes removed from the intimate details which can objectively look at the work, and give a true assessment.

If a revitalizer has these five friends in his corner, he is well on his way to staying the course, finishing his race and making the right decisions about strategies and their implementation which will accomplish the goals he initially set out to achieve. Hanks Williams, Jr. sang a song, “Getting a little help from my friends!”

We all need our friends because revitalization work is hard, lonely and discouraging; but well worth the time and energy to achieve new life for the Bride.

Heartland Baptist Church Blog: PreachBetweenTheLines.com

Jim Grant is the Lead Pastor of Heartland Baptist Church in Alton, Illinois.

He is a veteran with 25 years of service in the Air Force. His extensive travels, while in the military, allowed him the unique ability to have served in the full spectrum of churches, styles, and health. Jim is the Gateway Baptist Association Revitalization Team Leader.

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Align Yourself with These Seven Key Allies Continued from page 49

By Darwin Meighan So clearly church revitalization is a process where God uses both the scriptural principles of spiritual renewal and strategic initiative to return his people back to him and to obedience to his Word.

Blood Brothers – Comrades in Arms Still another key ally for a church revitalizer is to join together with a network of other colleagues in ministry, those whom God has already used or is using to revitalize their churches, along with others who are also just getting ready to embark on the journey.

Perhaps you serve in an area where you can network with other pastors, by meeting together once or twice a month over coffee or lunch. Others of you may live far apart geographically and it is best for you to connect on a regular basis via Skype or some other method of video conferencing.

A great place for you to begin this networking with others is to get registered for the Renovate Conference which will be held this upcoming November 7-9 in Orlando. You can register now at www.renovateconference.org.

Get registered today. You are not alone. God is with you and he has surrounded you with a band of

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blood brothers in Christ – a group of godly comrades in arms.

Movers and Shakers in the Community Finally, but very importantly another key ally every revitalizing pastor must consider joining forces with are the movers and shakers in your community. Who are the people you need to be advocates and supporters of your church? Who are the people you and your church need to partner with, working together to make your community a better place to live, work and play? Or another way of saying it…What are some things your church and the community can do as you join forces together to win the battle over darkness?

One of the characteristics of a spiritually unhealthy church is one that has turned inward, and as a result has for many, many years become self-focusedself-centered and out of touch with the needs of a changing community. On the other hand, a church that is being truly revitalized once again sees their community, not as the enemy; but as a mission field, made up of people who every day need to be rescued from the clutches of Satan and enlisted to serve in God’s mighty, victorious, eternal army.

Remember…

Never do ministry alone. You don’t have to revitalize the church God has called you to serve on your own. Be wise. Align yourself and join forces with the seven key allies described in this article and you will be well on your way toward winning the battle as God revitalizes your church. Because we have a victorious Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ, God promises one day, the ultimate goal will be reached and the war will be won. We win!

Until that day, let’s press on.

Darwin Meighan after 31 years, he served the Lord as a local church pastor. The past two years, he has served in the role of revitalization specialist and speaker at the local, state and national level. As a coach and practitioner, he encourages pastors and churches toward the process of renewal and hope – guiding them in the journey of rediscovering their God-given purpose and mission of making disciples. This embraces an outward focus of engaging their community, culture and world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You may reach Darwin at: DarwinMeighan@gmail.com

revitalizer

LIBRARY

Robby Gallaty is on a mission to make disciples who make disciples. Gallaty, along with Randal Collins, in Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes a Disciples (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2013) retraces his story of salvation, the men who discipled him, and how the reader can disciple others.

Growing Up is the first of three books in a series on discipleship that serve as a blueprint for revitalizers who make it their aim to build disciples.

Three emphases emerge from Growing Up. First, Gallaty issues a call to rediscover discipleship. He presents a biblical case for disciple making drawing attention to the high priority that Jesus held in making disciples. Of the thousands who were referred to as disciples, Jesus invested himself in the twelve. Of the twelve Jesus was especially close to three; Peter, James, and John. The relationship structure that Jesus modeled is more than trivia.

One of the early challenges a pastor and revitalizer undertakes is to know and navigate the unique culture of the congregation they have just adopted. Two churches with the same name, the same programming, and similar demographics located in separate communities are going to possess very distinct cultures. In Look Before You Lead; How to Discern & Shape Your Church Culture (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2013) Aubrey Malphurs offer pastors and revitalizers both principles and resources to not only know the church culture they have inherited but to shape the culture of the future.

He writes, “The primary purpose of this book is to help current and emerging leaders explore how to form spiritually healthy organizational culture in the context of

It is a model for making disciples and multiplying the kingdom of God. Gallaty’s second emphasis is on a process of making disciples. Using what he identifies “D-Groups” as the method.

A “D-Group” is an assembly of two to three, men to men, women to women, who regularly meet for bible study, prayer and mutual accountability. The appendixes house forms and outlines to be used in beginning the disciplemaking journey. Gallaty’s work provides resources that are lacking from many works on discipleship.

The third focus is an introduction to hermeneutics. The church appears to be excelling in biblical illiteracy with many not knowing how to open let alone study the Bible. Outside the church, the Bible is at best a reference on the placard at a ball game and at worse, misquoted and twisted. The church is sick and some of the cause is ignorance.

An emphasis on training individual believers to be healthy must be ignited once more.

Gallaty’s work is incredibly helpful for those who have not been discipled. This reviewer has been to many workshops for Pastors who when asked, “How many of you can identify one person who invested their life in you, who discipled you?” only to see a few hands raised. The absence of current evangelical leaders who have been intentionally discipled church planting, church revitalization, and church adoptions” (8). Malphurs’ work is specifically helpful to revitalizers in many ways.

First, understanding the unique culture is paramount to the effectiveness of every revitalizer. Malphurs defines culture as, “… [a] unique expression of its [the church’s] shared values and beliefs” (20). In other words, culture is not what a congregation says they value but what they demonstrate through their actions.

For example, a church who say’s they value missions but does not regularly pray for missionaries, does not sponsor missions trips nor do they collect a missions offering is a church that does not really value missions. Actions relay what is culturally important regardless of what is articulated.

Second, revitalizers need to understand that to see lasting renewal in a church the congregational culture must be changed. Updating the programs,

is shameful. It is, however, the reality. It does not have to be the future. Works like Gallaty’s serve as a tremendous resource for the pastor/revitalizer to become a disciple maker.

The audience for Growing Up appears to shift from addressing church leaders and a call to prioritize disciple-making to address those who have little knowledge of the basics of hermeneutics. The audience shift does not, however, confuse the work.

Perhaps the shift in audience reveals an unspoken conviction that a new frontier of disciple making will come from the men and women who occupy the pews rather than the pulpit.

Of the materials written on discipleship Gallaty’s work is not the best. His work is however very effective. In matters of disciple making it is better to be effective than eloquent. The manner in which Gallaty writes lifts some fog of confusion around the issue of discipleship.

One critical key for revitalization work to stick beyond the current revitalizer is to intentionally make disciples who will make disciples. It will do little good to revitalize a church on the personality, charisma, and skill of a revitalizer. A personality driven strategy for revitalization will only last as long at that personality can be sustained.

Growing Up: How to be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples is a good addition to the Revitalizer’s Library.

implementing casual attire and using a pallet background in the sanctuary is a change of style not of culture. Culture will overpower any strategy put into place.

From decades of studying churches, Malphurs writes, “…we’ve discovered it’s a waste of time and money to attempt to lead a culturally toxic church that clings to the traditions of men rather than the clear teaching of Scriptures through the strategic-envisioning process” (17). A revitalizer’s idealism and hope are appetizers for a toxic church. If he sticks around long enough he will be the entrée. A culturally toxic church will not renew unless God revitalizes the church thereby birthing a new culture. Pastors and revitalizers need to know the culture they are inheriting so they can strategically pray, plan and act in congruence with God the Holy Spirit to bring about renewal.

Book Reviews by Rob Hurtgen

Continued on Page 58

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BOOK REVIEWS CONTINUED...

Third, just as every church has a cultural worldview; so does every pastor. A pastor/ revitalizer who knows his cultural bents is at a great advantage when a cultural collision occurs. This reviewer disagrees with the implied notion from Malphurs that for a prospective minister to be effective he must have complete cultural alignment with a church prior to becoming its pastor.

Just as no marriage is 100% compatible

100% of the time, so too no pastor or congregation will see eye to eye on every matter. Waiting for the perfectly matched church will leave many revitalizers doing just that; waiting.

However, the reader is in agreement with the principle that possessing some insight in how both your personal culture and the congregational culture align and collide is helpful to know what biblically driven hills to die on and what to chalk up to culture. Malphurs work

Relationships in Revitalization When a pastor begins a revitalization process, this can be a lonely time in his ministry. Many aspects might be contributing to this.

First, the church could be in conflict.

During times of conflict often times the pastor feels isolated and attacked. Even with supporters, many pastors struggle naturally with the constant negativity of those against him. Face it, no one enjoys having persons oppose and criticize, especially when you believe you are following God’s will for your life.

Second, because the church is in decline, some pastors retreat inward, not wanting to meet with other pastors as they are embarrassed by the decline, and the conversation will ultimately come up at lunch with the question of “how many were there on Sunday?”.

Third is the tendency to overwork.

Some pastors find themselves working extra hours to make up for the leadership vacuum that exists due to leaders not being present. A pastor has to spend time developing leaders, handle pastoral care, prepare for preaching, and spend time with his family. Having time for relationships with others is far down on the agenda and yet, one of the greatest needs.

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There are a litany of other reasons which might cause a pastor to disconnect from building and establishing healthy relationships during a revitalization time, however these are what I have seen as the most prevalent. What’s a pastor to do?

Here is an interesting passage to consider in this, “And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!

For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.’”

(Mark 3.34-35, ESV).

Pastors need to engage with other pastors as we are doing the will of God and therefore are family. Remember the context of the passage.

Jesus’ family was outside a home waiting for him, and others informed Him that His family was there. He looked at His disciples and made that statement. He looked at those who were co-laboring with him to accomplish His earthly ministry.

Other pastors in the community are these co-laborers. We need to engage with others who are doing the work of the ministry. This engagement in relationship will provide a pastor with needed encouragement, needed relationship, and accountability for the work to be done.

Let’s explore the three reasons I have outlined as the primary considerations, and how being in relationship helps.

delivers principles and tools for a pastoral candidate to not only come to understand their worldview but also the culture of the church they are considering serving.

In typical Malphurs style, the work is extremely analytical. Those who relish in his thorough nature will not be disappointed. There is some information in the work that may not yield immediate benefits but should be viewed as an investment for future withdrawal.

By Kenneth Priest During Times of Conflict If your church is going through conflict, having an outsider to discuss some of the issues with is strategic.

He can assist you with what you are not seeing, and affirm what you are doing. My reminder for this is, do not simply look for someone who will agree with you no matter what.

You need someone who can critically discuss this with you. Who is willing to push back and hold you accountable if you make a misstep.

Developing a relationship with a pastor in your area also assists as he knows your community, therefore he understands your context. Sometimes we put great weight on an outside consultant with these issues, however, when I am working with a church in conflict, even as an outsider, I contact others in the region who understand the community context to assist me with providing the best advice I can. Pastors are supposed to be the cultural exegetical experts for their community. As such, trusting other pastors to help you see what is happening can be of great benefit.

It might also be, if you are new to the community, that you will gain insight on how people in this new community think.

Retreating Inward This move by some to not engage with others due to embarrassment, or some other emotion, is outlined

in Ken Blanchard’s writings on “Lead Like Jesus”. I highly recommend reading this book. Blanchard addresses the issue of the ego, and he defines it as “edging God out.” This can occur in several ways. First, the normal area we think about ego, that being of pride. The other, which I believe connects to the issue for those who retreat inward, is that of fear. The fear that comes with others learning of your church being in decline and the outcome of that.

The encouragement is for you to do two things; first be transparent.

Be open and honest. Let the area pastors know what is happening in your church and let them know you would like to discuss the ministry you are engaging in with them and are seeking and valuing their input.

The second thing (which if you are not in decline, you can do this now to develop these types of relationships), shift the conversations in your pastoral network from worrying with numbers in attendance, to community impact. In revitalization the conversation should not be about getting more people in the door. It should be about what the church is doing to impact the community for the cause of Christ. Ultimately, this can lead to more people in the church, but first you have to impact the community. Discuss with your area pastors how you all can work together to accomplish the Great Commission in your unique community context.

Overworking In a revitalization setting, this can be the greatest cause to not engage in relationships with those who are on the journey of ministry with you.

One must prioritize how to do this

best. This article is too short to go into great detail, so let me start with the biblical standard. Remember the teachings of Paul in 1 Cor. 7; it is best to remain single if you fully want to focus on ministry. If you marry, you must first focus on your wife. Then you can focus on ministry. So here is my personal time chart for a pastor.

I am not putting how much time, as that is up to you and your spiritual practices.

1. Personal growth plan. To include Bible study and pray (which is not sermon prep time) 2. Relationship with your wife.

3. Relationship with your children if God has chosen to bless you with them.

These three items are of utmost importance and should receive priority in your life.

4. Ministry of the pastor. a. Sermon prep b. Discipling leaders c.Pastoral care This one category consumes much of a pastors week; or it should. The preaching of God’s Word is the most important thing you do in the ministry. In Acts 6 the disciples chastised the church for thinking the disciples were the ones who should be handling the pastoral care; they outline their role, and thereby the role of the spiritual undershepherd, Acts 6:2. In order to handle the pastoral care, a pastor must develop leaders to do this, that is the point of discipling leaders. Therefore, set up your calendar to spend time with God, spend time with family, prepare your sermons, disciple others, and then pastor care.

Formula for Developing Critical Mass

By Tom Cheyney Everyone wants to see some sort of growth come back to their dying church. Many a church revitalization effort has been hurt due to the leadership within the church, both lay and clergy, waiting too long before they addressed the issue of critical mass. Critical Mass is that size of any church where it has enough members actively working and participating in the weekly work of ministry growth. When a church has waited too long to address the issue of critical mass, it is almost sure the church will die even if for a moment it keeps it head above the water of closure. Here is a quick formula for developing and keeping critical mass in ones church: 1 % of the church membership is in pastoral leadership Plus 6% of the church membership is passionate about the future of the church Plus 14% of the churches leaders are in positions willingly and are advocating for the future renewal of the church Plus 42% of the church are actively participating and willingly following future directions of the church This simple formula equals a growing critical mass for growth and the eventual revitalization of the congregation.

Kenneth Priest serves as the Director of Convention Strategies for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in Grapevine, TX. Kenneth has been leading revitalization endeavors since 2008 with the SBTC. He holds a Doctor of Educational Ministry degree with an emphasis in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO. Please contact Kenneth at kpriest@sbtexas.com.

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Senior Adults Are Your Friends It is almost axiomatic that older members are your latest adopters and sometimes non-adopters, resisting change to the end. It is the senior adults who remember the glory days and feel like if we just did it now like we did then, we would be growing. They have greater representation on key decision-making groups and are the hardest working group in most congregations. However, it is also the senior adults who the revitalizer often casts as his enemy when they can be his friend and ally for change.

Senior adults are late adopters for a number of reasons but typically, it is not out of selfishness but fear; not out of anger but misunderstanding. While this is not always true, they often just feel left out.

I have laughingly said, even in their presence, that the average age of my church when I arrived was comatose. The year after I arrived, I preached the funeral of 18 of the regular attenders who were part of that group of 100 the Sunday I first preached to them. We were a senior adult church, out of touch with our community, out of touch with the digital age, and out of touch with the next generation.

As pastor of a predominately senior adult church, had I attempted to discard the seniors and their opinions, I would have

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By Pete Tackett

not only had no foundation, but also no building blocks. If change were going to happen, I had to understand how these senior adults thought and what would move them to make changes.

life for themselves, serving at church and having a large group of friends. Jewell has for years taught Bible at several levels to ladies. For the most part, Antioch Church has been their family.

Perhaps a real-life case study will draw a picture of why older members think and act as they do. Fred and Jewell are among my and Lori’s dearest friend, but it was not always that way.

During those early transition team discussions, members would often sheepishly ask me if I had talked to Fred and Jewell about something we were discussing. Jewell was the unofficial keeper of the church tradition. I doubt it is a role she aspired to hold, and probably did not think of herself that way.

Fred probably could not even turn on the lights at the bakery now, since it is most likely computerized. If Jewell goes to the grocery store, not only does no one sack her groceries and offer to take them to the car as before, but they want you to scan and bag your own and pay electronically. In their early years, if their phone quit working, the phone company sent someone to your house to fix it. Now, even the phone company doesn’t want to talk to you on the phone, but want you to go online and chat.

How ironic is that?

Fred and Jewell have been married for 63 years by now and have no children. Having no children and no grandchildren, they have no motivation to keep up with the changes going on around them. They have survived without ever owning a computer or smart phone. Honestly, I am envious.

Fred worked all his life for a national baker, first driving a route truck, and then in sales and management, setting up stores over several states and even managing the bakery itself.

Jewell worked for many years as well and they made a great

Your senior adults will never again have their work like it used to be, the phone company like it used to be, or their grocery store like it used to be. Now, the church is changing and they can never have the church like it used to be. What they can have though is a pastor that loves and cares for them and stays close to them.

You are going to need your senior adults to be on your side at a crucial moment. For me, it came when I was leading us to do away with a traditional Sunday night worship event and go all in on the AWANA ministry. Five of

my older friends and members pushed back.

After much discussion, a senior adult man from one of the two patriarchal families stood, with tears, turned to the congregation and said “In ten years, we will be either dead or in a nursing home.

We need to let this generation do what it takes to reach this community.” It was a turning point and would not have been possible had I considered our older members my enemy.

Let me say it again. Your senior adults are not the enemy and they deserve to have a pastor that loves them and cares for them and stays close to them.

They have given a lifetime of service to your church and you have been there a few years at best.

Don’t dismiss them so easily.

How that will look in your setting may be different, but here are a few things I have done to stay close to my seniors, who call themselves the Young at Heart group.

I visit them in the hospital more than I do any other age group. As our staff and deacon group has grown, I do less and less of the hospital ministry, majoring on the seriously ill and the lost, but I rarely miss an opportunity to visit a senior when they are hospitalized. I don’t do it to schmooze, but because they lived in a generation where that was the norm

and it doesn’t cost much to do that.

I go to most of their luncheons and functions. It is the one time each month I can give them my undivided attention. I rarely have a place on the program but if they have questions about what is happening at the church, they can ask them face to face and not feel disenfranchised. By doing it on their turf, it doesn’t feel adversarial like it might in a leadership or congregational meeting.

Because I am an old youth pastor, I am good at planning events and trips. It is almost second nature to me. When I was co-pastor of a church twenty years ago, I sat down at a senior lunch with a group of widows and one of them said to me, “Brother Pete, why don’t you take us on one of those fun trips like you do the kids?” After a laugh about sleeping on the floor, she got more serious and said that she had not been on a vacation since her husband

died. All the other ladies were nodding their heads. That was the beginning of an annual 4-5 day trip I plan and lead for our senior adults. Those are days when Lori and I dote on them and have fun with them. That laughter has proven to make the bitter pill of change go down easier.

Whatever you do to stay close to them, ask God to give you a love for them and a willingness to care for them. Senior adults can not only be your friends, but a few of them can be great companions on the revitalization journey. It only takes one to turn the tide.

Pete Tackett is the pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, in Johnson, Tennessee. He is the author of the book re.VITAL.ize: Lessons Learned in a Recovering Church. Pete Tackett studied communications at East Tennessee State University and Bible at Holston Baptist Bible Institute and has spent the rest of his life leading churches and parachurch organizations through change. He and his wife, Lori, have spent the last 7 years leading Antioch Baptist Church in Johnson City from the brink of closure back to vitality and community involvement.

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The Three Pastoral Types that Help or Hinder a Revitalizer Continued from page 35

walking in unity.

his rut of worthless activity. This is the pastor who views the church as his place to preach and be part of a group. The flock allows him the resources and the location to practice his “gift.” He’s not leading, he’s just absorbing and diffusing.

He is often viewed as a workaholic! He is never comfortable with where the church is or the speed at which it moves. He is always looking for a new approach, a new idea, or a more productive resource. I love the “Go-Gitter!”

He may seem like he has ADHD, but he is probably so passionate about his love for the Lord and his calling to serve Jesus Christ that he can’t imagine stopping or even slowing down.

The congregation is often the first to recognize the “sitter.” They wonder why the church is not growing and healthy. People are dissatisfied and there are as many, or more, exiting as there are joining. Some refer to this as the back door being too broad for the continued success of the church. People are often discouraged from beginning new ministries and programs. The prospects of change and extra effort are squelched, and the desire for maintaining outweighs the possibility of creative, innovative service within the church or outside in the community.

This pastor has become satisfied with his comfort zone and disregarded the commands to go, to disciple and to be witnesses (Matt.

28:18-20; Acts 1:8).

3) The Gritty Go-Gitter (yes, I know there is no such spelling, but in the south where I was brought up, we pronounce it gitter instead of getter). This leader lights the way for the followers and drives the process. This leader lets nothing slow his momentum, lets nothing distract him from the goals he has perceived as from the Lord and perseveres until the mission is accomplished. His focus is on God getting the glory and the church

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By Tracy W. Jaggers and renewal, then take the time in another setting or job that will clarify God’s leading. Ask Him to re-energize you and expand His Kingdom in and through you!

If you are a “Go-Gitter,” put the pedal to the metal and speed on.

Just remember to slow down and take the congregation with you!

Keep your eye on the goal, equip the saints to do the work and run alongside of them as all of you seek to glorify the Father!

This leader may get frustrated by the process of revitalization.

It can be slow and meticulous.

But once he receives the strategy, realizes there are clear markers to verify productive movement, and comprehends the goals to be achieved, he will get behind it and gladly push toward the finish line.

If you are the “Reluctant Admitter,” ask the Lord whether He expects you to lead the charge to change and revival. If not, get your resume updated and search for the ministry setting where you can have that confidence.

If you are a “Satisfied-Sitter,” rent a moving truck and relocate.

Evaluate God’s calling. If you have no clear response, or you just need some time to find healing

Tracy W. Jaggers

Associational Director of Missions Gateway Baptist Association, Edwardsville, Illinois. Tracy is an adjunct professor with Gateway Seminary in CA. He earned his Doctor of Ministry degree in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He is a frequent blogger and writer for state and national revitalization websites and magazines, and is an active speaker in state and national revitalization conferences and webinars.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19

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Overcoming the Sting of Rejection Continued from page 10

view is on the wrong person.

Our vision must focus on the full adequacy of God to carry out whatever He wills through us.

2. Lack of authority Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13).

Moses was asking, “By whose authority?” He didn’t see himself as having any power to confront Pharaoh and lead the nation out of bondage. God answered with the revelation of Himself as the “I AM” – the eternally existent, self-sufficient, unchangeable God who relates to and redeems his people.

Moses told God, “My authority is inadequate,” God responded, “My authority is enough.”

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This is an interesting concern when considering Stephen who referenced Moses as a man, “mighty in words and in deeds,” (Acts 7:22).

beyond his comfort zone, but the bottom line was he struggled with God’s sufficiency because he was so focused on his personal inadequacy.

But 40 years had passed and sheep were not the best audience for keeping up public communication skills. Moses lost confidence in his ability as a communicator. God responded with a strong reminder that He had designed Moses’ abilities. He equipped Moses to do what He assigned him to do.

The ultimate issue is not who we are, what we can do, or how much self-confidence we can muster. The real issue is whether we can trust the Lord who is totally adequate for any situation and for any assignment He gives us.

God determines our abilities and disabilities. They are not accidental or without purpose. God can use us as His instrument just as He made us. The issue is not, “What can we do?” but rather, “What can God do through me?”

4. Personal reluctance But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else,” (Exodus 4:13).

3. Lack of ability -

Moses could not get beyond his past failure and rejection to see that God was fully able to do all the He was commissioning Moses to do. God had met every concern with the encouragement of His authority and ability, but still, Moses balked.

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue,” (Exodus 4:10).

We can see clearly the issue for Moses was a lack of faith in God’s adequacy. Yes, he had a reason for feeling the way he did. He had experienced personal pain.

The assignment stretched him

You will get in trouble as a Christian if you think it’s about your power and don’t recognize that God’s authority is the sufficiency you need.

By Glenn C. Stewart

What past rejection makes you hesitant to take the risk and do what you know God wants through your life and ministry?

Who are you focusing on, yourself or Him? Step out, step up, and step forward. God is able and sufficient for what He’s asking you to do.

Notes: 1. Ethan Kross, Marc G. Berman, Walter Mischel, Edward E. Smith, Tor D. Wager. Social rejection shares somatosensory representations with physical pain.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1102693108

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Dealing With These Kinds of Friends Continued from page 22 she thundered to her car. The council looked at each other and just sat in uncomfortable silence.

“Wow,” whispered Susan, the council chair. Then she cleared her throat. “I think Carol set a new record. She managed to break four of the membership covenants and at least two of the leadership covenants in less than a minute.” No one was smiling. She turned to the pastor, “Well, what do we do?”

The pastor was perhaps still in a bit of shock, but after an involuntary shake of his head he spoke up. “Our membership and leadership covenants are pretty clear.

If this was only a personal issue between Carol and Frank then it would be appropriate for Frank to go see Carol and have a reconciliation conversation. But her outburst went well beyond their relationship and affects each of us here, the council as a group, and her relationship with the congregation as well. In this case, Susan, you and I need to go see her and try and restore these relationships.

Matthew 18 calls for a one-on-one visit, but we’ll go together since the issue is bigger than just you or me.”

The CPR Team: Facilitating Reconciliation The “one-on-one” between Carol, the pastor, and the chair didn’t go well. Although there had been no need for the council to vote on the changed Christmas Eve schedule, they went ahead and made a motion of support for the worship team’s changes so

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that it would appear in the minutes. When Susan and the pastor visited with Carol, it was clear she was well aware of the council’s action. During the one-on-one conversation, Carol went on a rant about how no one ever asked for her input and as a member of the council the worship chair should have asked for their input before changes were made. In the end, Carol made it clear that she would be leading a campaign among her church friends to force the council to “fix it” or else!

After the visit, the pastor contacted the CPR Team leader and let her know he and the council chair needed to meet with the team.

The next evening, the CPR Team convened and heard the accounts of what had transpired at the council meeting and at the “oneon-one.” The four members of the CPR Team asked questions about how the change was presented and how the council responded during and following Carol’s outburst. Finally, they discussed implementing “Step 2” of the reconciliation plan. After some conversation, it was decided that Steve, a member of the CPR Team, would be the best choice to lead the conversation. Steve’s grandparents had been one of the church’s founding families and Steve had been attending the church since birth. In addition, Steve had once been Carol’s Sunday school teacher and they’d had a good relationship through the years. The CPR Team invited the pastor to accompany Steve on the visit, but asked that he serve primarily as a witness. “Let Steve do the talking.”

By Bill Tenny-Brittian When Steve and the pastor met with Carol, Steve recounted the events that led up to the visit.

“Carol, a couple years ago the congregation voted to adopt and implement our membership covenant. And when you were asked to serve in leadership, you signed the congregation’s leadership covenant. Because the church’s mission is to reach our neighbors and our community for Jesus Christ, the worship team planned a Christmas Eve service designed to reach the young families who live in the area. The worship team has full authority over both the content and the schedule of our worship services, so when Frank made the report at the council meeting he was doing so as a courtesy to let you know. The team didn’t need the council’s permission. And though I’m sure not everyone was happy with the new schedule, the leadership covenant calls for us to support the decisions made by our leadership.

“But you took exception to the changes and leveled a personal attack on both Frank and the pastor.

That broke several of the covenants including a commitment to respect one another even in our differences as well as the covenant to support our leaders.

“Susan and the pastor visited with you, as both our covenants and the Bible call for when there is conflict. But you threatened to escalate the conflict by trying to undermine the worship team’s decision. And so we’re here to ask you to live up to the covenants you made, to reconsider your responses, and to make amends to

those you’ve hurt.”

Carol listened to Steve, but her demeanor didn’t change. When he was finished, she simply said that her mind was made up and she’d do everything in her power to get the schedule “put back like it should be.”

Facilitating Resolution Steve made his report to the CPR Team. Together they decided not to escalate the issue in order to allow Carol to reconsider. But even though the Christmas Eve services were fast approaching, she didn’t relent. As a member of the choir, she shared her anger with them and solicited their help in changing the schedule. She did the same with those in the women’s group. Of course, word got back to the pastor who once again sought the help of the CPR Team.

After significant discussion about the situation, the CPR Team reluctantly decided they needed to implement the third step of Jesus’ plan. Once again, the team decided that Steve should be the primary spokesperson and they sent Carol an invitation by certified mail asking her to meet with them the following Sunday evening.

The pastor and the CPR Team gathered a half hour before the meeting time in order to spend time in prayer. Carol arrived a few minutes late. Steve invited her to sit down and then he offered a brief overview of the events that led up to the meeting and then he continued.

“Carol, you’ve chosen to break covenant with both the council and the congregation. We’ve tried multiple times to bring reconciliation to this conflict, but we’ve not been successful.

Therefore, we have no choice but to relieve you of all your leadership roles, including your position on the council. In addition, you’ll need to take a sabbatical from the congregation and from all church activities until you’re ready to engage repentance and make amends with Frank, the pastor, and with the council. The church’s door is always open to you whenever you choose to pursue full reconciliation.”

Carol opted to leave the church and has never returned. Although she contacted her friends at the church and asked them to support her, only one other person left the church with Carol – and the friend returned to the church after a couple of weeks.

Conclusion Before your congregation launches a CPR Team, there are some points that must be considered.

1. The best size for an effective CPR Team seems to be four or five. Since nothing should ever have to come to a vote, it’s irrelevant whether or not there is an odd number of members in order to ensure there are no “ties.”

2. Members of the CPR Team should be selected based first on their spiritual maturity and practices. In addition, they must

be fully committed to the wellbeing of the larger congregation and understand that their job is put its welfare above the needs, wants, or desires of any individual or group.

3. Members of the CPR Team should be well-respected members of the church with a significant history within the congregation.

4. The council/board/session/ vestry must give the CPR Team the authority to make Matthew 18 decisions. The team must be confident of the ruling body’s support so that they can make difficult decisions without feeling the need to “second guess” any other outcome.

5. Don’t put anyone on the CPR Team that the pastor, the council, or the congregation doesn’t trust.

6. The responsibilities of the CPR Team should not be delegated to a pastor-parish relations committee, to HR, or to any other group.

In a perfect world, there would be no need for a CPR Team. But even Jesus knew the church would be in need of tools to deal with conflict. Without those tools, the church is left to its own devices whenever someone acts out. Unfortunately, the church’s proclivities have largely been to err on the side being “nice” at the expense of the church’s wellbeing. By implementing Jesus’ reconciliation plan and deploying a CPR Team, the church is equipped to deal with conflict before it becomes debilitating.

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Making “IT” worth It! Here is a quick lesson for any Church Revitalizer about making it all worth it for you, your church, and your community as you build value.

Your Vision Must Be Compelling You cannot build value for church members, prospects, volunteers, lay leadership, or the community without a compelling vision and values for your new church.

Become a Significant Leader in Your Community You build value by becoming the leader in your community, the church that everybody wants to attend, work for, grow from, or support. It takes tremendous confidence to stake out the territory and to lead others toward it.

Withstand the Loneliness of Leading Lay People You have to withstand the doubts and loneliness of pastoral leadership. At the same time you have to acknowledge to yourself and others that you don’t always know how you will reach your destination.

Trust Your Laity First, In Time They Will Trust You For others to follow you through times of uncertainty requires mutual trust and faith.

That is what clarity of vision and commitment to values can bring. I once thought that the test of personal leadership was the number of people that follow a leader. But what is more rewarding is to look across a church and see the number of leaders in place, people who share a common aspiration and have the tools and wisdom—the vision and values—to achieve something great. That is any church revitalizer’s greatest legacy, to make “IT” all worth it for everyone. Then you know your vision is on right track.

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The Church Revitalizer’s Prayer Partner The work of church revitalization is difficult and demanding and because it is, I can say, unequivocally, prayer partners are the greatest human asset in the ministry of church revitalization because prayer changes things.

James 5:16b says, “The prayer of a righteous man availeth much…”

Prayer is the only avenue that much needed Holy Spirit power can be obtained in order to be successful in the effort. There are many obstacles to face as the process develops. The task is big…too big for human ability. It is tedious work that demands a God given patience that supersedes any human ability. That is the reason prayer support is an absolute must!

The Work of the Revitalizer’s Prayer Partner The prayer partner’s responsibility is to intercede on behalf of the revitalizer and the church.

The process of revitalization is riddled with need. Prayer is the only source of power that will change the trend of a plateaued or declining church. When prayer partners pray, God intervenes through His Holy Spirit to accomplish the work of revitalization.

The following is a short list of what a revitalizer prayer partner should pray about: 1. Binding Satan and Loosing the Holy Spirit in the Process It is most important for revitaliza-

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tion in the local church to honestly face the reality of Satan’s efforts to silence the church and he must be stopped. There is a war raging between God and His church versus Satan and his demons. The intercessor understands that Satan is the enemy of God and he attacks the work of God by attacking the Lord’s body, the church. It is a war for dominance and it effects the Church and its life, health and growth.

Satan must be bound and the Holy Spirit must be given free reign in the revitalization process.

The very concept of revitalization calls for divine intervention.

Revitalization can be defined as “New Life” and if the church seeks to enter a time of renewing its spiritual life, Satan will surely be awakened and he will work tirelessly to stop the change.

He will stop at nothing to cause the church to be ineffective and he must be bound in order for the Holy Spirit to do the work of birthing “New Life” into the church. Satan attacks on many fronts. Sometimes he discourages the congregation causing them to cast doubt on their future. He causes the church to become apathetic toward its real task. At other times Satan fosters a type of pastoral, personal and congregational pride that stops the church from facing the reality that it is declining and on its way to death. Furthermore, Satan can generate a sense of self-reliance that will squelch any hopes for the power of God to be manifested through the Holy Spirit.

By Steve Sells We must always remember that Satan’s greatest desire and constant objective is for the church to fail. As Jesus said to the seven churches in Revelation, “He that hath an ear let him hear.” The consequences of not heeding His warning will be death. As Satan is bound and the Holy Spirit given rule and reign in the revitalization process, the church is set free to accomplish its God-given vision. I Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

2. Holy Spirits Anointing on the Revitalizer The prayer partner prays for God to give a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit to the Revitalizer. The work of church revitalization cannot be accomplished by human effort, ability, wisdom or knowledge. He must be empowered and led by the Holy Spirit or there will be no success. Nothing happens in church revitalization without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is source wisdom and understanding that is needed to lead a church through the difficult process of renewal. If the revitalizer leads from his own wisdom and human knowledge the end results will surely be failure.

It is important that the prayer partner pray for all aspects of the revitalizer’s life. My most important asset is my wife and my relationship with her. The work of a

revitalizer requires absence from home as the ministry is carried out. The prayer partner intercedes for spousal protection and care while the revitalizer is away.

The travel schedule for a revitalizer may sometimes be difficult and physically taxing and should also be a part of the intercession.

Much prayer is needed in the area of finances. This is almost always a challenge in the ministry of a church revitalizer. My prayer partners pray for our ministry as well as personal financial obligations to be met.

3. Holy Spirits Anointing on the Pastor/Shepherd The Prayer Partner Prays for the pastor (shepherd) to become a transformational leader that he might lead his congregation to “New Life.” The prayer partner should intercede on behalf of the pastor that he would receive a sense of passionate boldness to lead the church through what may be some perilous and difficult times. The pastor must understand that he is the key to the success of any revitalization process. This cannot be understated. The pastor is absolutely vital to revitalization. He must be willing to face the present reality about his ministry and the church. The stronghold of pride in the pastor’s life will always hold back the process.

Intercession is made for him that he will begin to preach toward revitalization in his church and that he become a resolute

change agent and a determined visionary for the church. He must know where God wants the church to go and be willing to lead it there. Pastoral timidity toward Church Revitalization will never accomplish the renewal of the local church!

Without the full support and involvement of the pastor in the process of revitalization the church cannot possibly succeed.

The pastor needs the prayers of the intercessor.

4. Holy Spirits Anointing on the Congregation Praying for the congregation to awaken to their need and accept the present reality about their future is essential. The average congregation does not fully understand the overall spiritual condition of the church body. At other times congregations know the need but will not accept the responsibility to make the changes necessary to receive the “New Life.” The church must break the cycle of passivity. They must begin to care about the future and stop living in the past. The church must regain a sense of God’s will and plan for the church and its future. It must seek to glorify God in all that it does as it seeks excellence for Kingdom work.

Conclusion These are but a few of the prayer objectives I ask my prayer partners to pray about. Noth-

ing can take the place of prayer and nothing is more important, from a human standpoint, to the Church Revitalizer than a committed prayer partner who loves the church and desires its success as much as he does. It is a great comfort to know that, as the tedious work of revitalization is being done, someone is lifting you up daily through prayer. This is the work of a revitalizer’s prayer partner and it is indispensable for the work. Any church revitalizer will be wise to enlist as many committed prayer partners as he possibly can. Remember, “The prayer of a righteous man availeth much…”

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. He has led numerous revitalization conferences and projects. 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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Peak Performance Principles for Church Revitalizers Enjoying the Ride Principle The engine fired loud and continuous into my hands as I clutched the tiny roadster for the very first time. Power was at my fingertips that spoke of the unnatural performance that was lying just a few feet away under the cherry redscooped hood. Was this going to be short-lived excitement of passing days of youthful exuberance? I hoped not. Moments earlier I had just finished paying for the tiny car and now while darkness surrounded me, I had the enjoyment of driving it home, where a garage was waiting for its new resident.

There was a small crowd gathered as I fumbled around trying to figure out what each button and switch accomplished. Gone are the days, except in vintage cars, where you must flip switches, pull levers, and push buttons to get an automobile to move. Those around me were asking if I was fearful of driving the “thing,” as they called it, home without having had the chance to give it a complete checkout? Within me was a sense of anticipation of the ride. My mind flashed at the other machines I had considered: Spyder, Cobra 427, Snake, and Invader all with their ominous monikers spoke of prowess and power. Strangely within me was a peace, a sense of guidance, or perhaps contentment that reminded me of days gone by when I had driven a similar machine.

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I encouraged those around, after fumbling to find reverse, and backed it out of the space where it had been displayed. Once it was moving forward and I was applying what I had learned some twenty-five years earlier, thoughts of uncertainty ceased. Humorous

print ads and commercial slogans bounced back across my mind.

One ad was true, which spoke of “Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It!” and I could see my wife as I pulled off a little bit fearful that her usually levelheaded husband, had just taken off in a car that would fit inside her family car.

Sounds bristled as I shook the machine down. “Silky smooth and smokin!” By the time I reached fourth gear it was hauling and I was holding on. It was hard not to smile, since the wind pushed through the cockpit. My clothes were flapping me to death as laughter reminded me just how fun it was, and still is, to enjoy such a ride. Steal string guitars and acoustical instruments played in my head since I could not figure out how to turn on the radio in the dark. Lyrics like, “Do You Want to Drive My Car”, “409”, “Fun Fun Fun”, and “Surfin Safari” flashed around my mind. By the time I reached home my face hurt from the smile of experiencing such a spirited drive. My hair was whipped and what little I have was all tangled.

Like sailors drawn mysteriously to the sea, enthusiastically I drove her (all sports cars have female names, go figure) into her new berth, having sampled the sweet flavor of a ride that was so complete.

Enjoying the Ride is the principle of joyful contentment right in the midst of all that you are doing.

Enjoying the ministry for me is like that drive. It is contentedly enjoying the ride of ministry right where God has planted me. For the called of God, it is the God given strength to be satisfied with the loving supply from God in any and every situation. Though the road

By Tom Cheyney of ministry is often difficult because of its rocks and boulders, the strains and struggles, or even the twists and turns, if you keep on keeping on, you can make it. Yes there are times when potholes are all around us.

There are surprises, accidents, and detours that wait for us along the road. We might sweat and sway a little, but remember; every road has an end. If we hold on in the midst of the strain, God will bring us to the end. To really grasp the principle, we must be aware of the warning signs. Failure to listen will cause us to stumble or perhaps even fall.

One last bit of information about my ride. Listening to the engine is crucial, just a few miles from my house; I stalled the British roadster out and had a rough spot in my enjoying the ride practice. The engine had started to run a little rough and I had a wonderful man stop by and give me a roadside lift in the form of resetting my carburetor. Undaunted and appreciative, I thanked the man for his help, and the good advice he gave me about the machine, and off I went again with joy, only one last leg until home.

Enjoying the Ride Principle “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

One of the reappearing themes of the book of Philippians is that of joy.

It is mentioned in various forms over nineteen times in four brief chapters. To put it simply, Paul admonishes us that a Christ-like mind can bring us Christian joy and contentment. Even in the midst of prison Paul was still joyful. In perhaps the most uncomfortable of circumstances, he was still found full of joy.

There are times granted in our lives when we enjoy the ride more than other times. If we are not careful we will allow things to come into our lives that cause us to loose our joy. Worry has been for many one of those things that rob us of the joy.

Which is probably why the original Old English word for worry was to strangle. Again contentment and joy will keep us humble in lives lot and will free us from strangulation.

When you enjoy the work of the ministry there is that mark of joy for all to see. It has that quality of inner gladness and deep-seated pleasure with what you are doing. Ministry and service should be exactly that.

Fun, full of pleasure, and gladness all rolled up into you! It is that deeper sense of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful and rejoicing heart. That heart that cheers then leads to continual rejoicing behavior. I have said it this way for years: “I choose joy!” In ministry, we can either enjoy the ride or we can gripe and complain at every junction. That might be alright for some, but for me I choose God’s joy!” A friend of mine often tells me that even when I am down, who would know?

Have you ever stopped to notice that the world’s joy is plagued by incompleteness? There is always something that is lacking, unfulfilled, or missing. The world’s joy brings no sense of complete assurance, confidence, or satisfaction. But it is God’s joy that is complete. Take a quick look at qualities of joy found in the Enjoy the Ride principle for Pastors, Preachers, and Church Revitalizers: 1. God divinely gives Joy and Contentment alone.

It is the joy that our roots are based in the Lord. We should learn to rejoice always!

2. God gives us His very own joy and that joy overrides all else.

Circumstances can destroy earthly joy, but when God implants joy into a believer’s heart it dwells deep. He says, “rejoice always” that is, continually; and then we are to rejoice again, that is repeatedly. Joy is the joy in the Lord.

3. Joy and Contentment springs forth from faith.

One who is enjoying the ride and has contentment is balanced (Phil. 2:25). We must be balanced as pastors. I had a man in California the other day say after talking with me for awhile how nice it was to see a fellow brother in the Lord who had a fun balanced life.

Additionally, when enjoying the ride there must be a burden for others (Phil. 2:26-27). Lastly, like Epaphroditus a life that is contented is blessed (Phil. 2:28-30).

What a great brother he must have been! Epaphroditus proves for us today that the joyful life is the life of sacrifice as we submit ourselves to the Lord and to one another in the spirit of Christ.

Joy and contentment involve the mind learning to think rightly.

Wrong thinking leads to wrong feelings while right thinking leads to right feelings.

Right Living (Phil 4:9) Right living is a yielded heart and mind to the Spirit of God. Such will always bring peace.

The great thing about rejoicing is that it places and keeps a person in the presence of Jesus Christ!

No matter what may confront us and no matter how terrible the trial, we know that Jesus Christ our Lord is looking after us. So we know that what ever we face it will never conquer or overcome us. Jesus Christ will give us the supernatural power and strength to over come it. So walk rejoicing in the Lord no matter what confronts us and remember to Enjoy the Ride! (Romans 8:35-39)

Along life’s journey here are some things that will help us become more secure in enjoying the ride: Right Praying (Phil. 4:6-7) We must see the greatness and majesty of God! Bowing before Him as He searches our hearts and minds.

Right Thinking (Phil 4:8)

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What Does Church Revitalization Mean?

Every place I go people ask me for a definition of church revitalization. Church Revitalization is a movement within protestant evangelicalism, which emphasizes the missional work of turning a plateau or rapidly declining church around and moving it back towards growth. It is lead through a Church Revitalization Initiative, which is when a local church begins to work on the renewal of the church with a concerted effort to see the ministry revitalized and the church become healthy. Church Revitalization means that the local church knew how, at one time previously, to renew, revitalize, and re- establish the health and vitality of the ministry. One of the challenges for the laity in the day in which we live is that they have lost the knowledge of church renewal and no longer want to cultivate the skill sets necessary to see their church experience revitalization. Even sadder is when a congregation does not have the corporate memory that there was a day when the local church was reaching people for Christ Jesus and active as evangelistic witnesses into their community.

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ENOVATE R National Church Revitalization Conference

November 7-9, 2017

Speakers Include:

Orlando, FL

Karl Vaters Micah Fries Gary McIntosh Jennifer Bennett David Murrow Tom Cheyney Paul Smith Terry Rials Ron Smith Steve Smith Jason Cooper

(FBC Winter Park)

RenovateConference.org

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Church Revitalization Workshops

25

National Church Revitalization Speakers

4

Breakout Session Opportunities

4

Main Sessions by Revitalization Practitioners

4

Pre-Conference Intensive Subjects

1000+ Fellow Church Revitalizers Working Together

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