The Church Revitalizer

THE

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Sept/Oct 2018 Vol 5 Issue 5

Revitalizer A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue

PERSONAL DISCIPLINES of a Church Revitalizer

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

ENOVATE R National Church Revitalization Conference

Speakers Include: Tom Cheyney Ron Smith Jason Britt Dennis Mitchell Lee Kricher Terry Rials Jim Grant Paul Smith Walter Jackson Jason Cooper Michael Atherton Bill Hegedus Drew Cheyney Chris Irving Amber Irving Steve Smith Jason Cooper Rob Myers Estelle Myers David Lema & Others

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By Terry Rials

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Avoiding Danger for the Revitalization Pastor

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Sept/Oct| Vol 5, No 5

CONTENTS 12

Things I’ve Learned on the Way to Church Revitalization

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

Church Revitalization: It’s Every Pastors Calling

28

By Ron Smith

30

THE LEADERSHIP LINK…

Commanded to Shepherd the People

By Michael Atherton

The Secret Power of Enrollment

By Fred Boone

50

Breaking Up the Logjam

By Bud Brown

The Revitalizer Book Review

By Rob Hurtgen

40

61

Daman, Glen. The Forgotten Church: Why Rural Ministry Matters for Every Church in America.

Chicago: Moody, 2018.

76

Reaching Outward Instead of Gazing Inward

16

Successful Habits In Children Leadership

By Bill Hegedus

18

Fifteen Reasons Why Pastors Cant Lead

By Brian Thorstad

32

Two Non-Negotiables for the Revitalization Pastor

By John Kimball

35

Courage Is His Middle Name

By David Jackson

46

Helpful vs. Hurting: How to Thrive

by Choosing the Best Spiritual Practices

By Bob Whitesel

52

Revitalization Disciplines for the Dog Days of Summer

By Darwin Meighan

56

Staying Focused in Church Revitalization

By Mark Weible

58

Always a Student

By Jim Grant

62

Discipline Impact on Revitalization

By Kenneth Priest

64

74

Perseverance: Staying the Course When the Road Seems Full of Potholes

By Tracy Jaggers The Disciplines of Fervent Prayer and Faith

By Steve Sells

By Lee Kricher

5

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Revitalizer Volume 5, No. 5

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

PUBLISHER Executive Editor Dr. Tom Cheyney Associate Publisher Mark Weible Associate Publisher Circulation & Marketing Tom King Brand Manager Tom Cheyney Magazine Designer & Format Editor Ashleigh Cheyney Director of Advertising Renovate Staff Web Ad Traffic Director Mark Weible For subscription information contact this office at: www.churchrevitalizer.guru/subscriptions.

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Stock images from ISTOCK Photo, Unsplash or where otherwise noted. © Copyright 2018 Renovate Publishing Group

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ChurchRevitalizer.Guru

By Tom Cheyney

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

Most of us as ministers of the Gospel are aware of the spiritual disciplines required of us as believers. Yet, have you taken a moment to think about the personal disciplines of a church revitalizer? There are a series of personal disciplines necessary as a church revitalizer that will enable you and your church to advance towards health and vitality. Have you come to grips with your short comings as a pastor/ leader? Own up to your flaws. You can’t overcome them until you do. It takes discipline to examine and develop a plan. What are the things, as a revitalizer, that consume your time and bring little or no return? Eliminate the distractions.

Avoid bad influences. Develop a weekly church revitalization execution plan. Personal disciplines help you achieve as a revitalizer. Be diligent in this area. Instill a few new productive habits in your daily routine. Do something towards renewal every day. Do not waste the 1000-day journey. Stop setting limits to your willpower and get an extra boost of motivation. Think plan A, but be ready with a Plan B. Backup plans happen in renewal efforts. Celebrate a victory no matter how tiny. Anticipation is powerful. When you achieve your goal, find a new goal and a new reward to keep yourself moving forward. Get over a failure and move ahead. We all make mistakes, admit them, seek forgiveness, and press forward.

Get over the guilt levied your way. Get back in the work of revitalization and refocus on your goal of revitalizing the Lord’s church where you serve.

In this edition I want to look at the Personal Disciplines of a Church Revitalizer. Stay connected, more is coming!

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

Timeless Principles for the Church Revitalizer

By Terry Rials In the process of becoming a successful church revitalizer, and it is indeed a process, certain disciplines need to be established in one’s life. The word “discipline” comes to us from old Latin actually, from the word discipulus, meaning “pupil.” The same Latin word, with a slightly later nuance, shifts its focus to the pupil in the act of following, being a “disciple.” In other words, we in church leadership cannot claim to be followers of Christ if we are not incorporating the personal disciplines required to follow the Lord. These things you already know and prescribe to others, however, I find it refreshing to hear words of encouragement as a part of living the disciplined life.

I find it also necessary to remind those who serve the Lord vocationally that there are key disciplines in ministry that need cultivating. Now, I will not bore you with lists, which I often find tedious and fruitless. Instead, I want to categorize the personal disciplines of a revitalizer. I think you may find some benefit from a look at these categories of behavior.

Speaking about Revitalization The first category I will call speaking, which can be categorized further into preaching and teaching. I know that most people in ministry have no difficulty with speaking. Many in ministry have a spiritual gift from God to do so. Public preaching and teaching are fairly natural and easy for many of us.

The act of preaching is important, but the content of preaching is even more so. For example, Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher of the First Great Awakening, is widely reported to have preached arduously long and meticulous sermons in a monotone voice, the stuff that puts many modern listeners to sleep. So why was Jonathan Edwards so incredibly successful in his proclamation? The Spirit certainly used him to call a nation back to the Lord, and God can use the most unlikely servants to do that very thing, but perhaps we have overlooked something very important. Circuit preaching was customary due to the shortage of qualified proclaimers. Perhaps the people were just really hungry to hear the word. Perhaps it was

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something entirely different – perhaps it was the content of his message that resonated with his audiences, who are reported to have cried out in shame, pleading for Rev. Edwards to stop his proclamation because they were ready to repent.

Too often modern preaching is thimble deep and designed more for the amusement of the listeners than to draw them to repentance.

Whereas sermons deliver a message in order to elicit a response from the hearers, teaching’s goal is to train, equip, and inform. Teach the disciples whom God gives you to follow the Lord and His ways fully. Teach with the same conviction with which you preach. Teach people often about what a church really is and what a church really does. The principles of revitalization are timeless and are not a fad. Teach about what repentance means, what forgiveness is about, what reconciliation is, what the mission of the church ought to be – making disciples, not just attenders.

Writing about Revitalization Dr. Mack Roark admonished us in class one day to write and to publish. He told us that people with bad doctrine and heretical ideas publish often, but those who have the truth rarely do. I have taken my professor’s words to heart. Writing about what God has used your efforts in revitalization encourages others in the endeavor.

Any revitalizer will tell you that they hear this often, “Does revitalization really work?” The fact is – revitalization does work and people need to hear about it. Share your story, tell it often, find opportunities to tell the world that God is still at work and that the work we do as revitalizers really does make a difference. We are truly seeing churches turn around and become vital, healthy, and on mission.

If the church you serve is like mine, you will have more members gone on Sunday than you will have in attendance, which

seems so wrong to me, but I know it is reality. How will the people for whom you are responsible hear what you need to say if that many are gone? The truth is they will not. The church I serve broadcasts its services, but looking at the analytics of our viewership, that improves the situation only slightly. Fortunately, with the advent of websites, email, and social media, we have the ability to communicate to incredible numbers of people, both members and non-members. Written communication has to be important to you in the world of revitalization! For example, if you could reach an additional 200-300 more people than the 100 you had in attendance Sunday, would that not be an incredible game changer? You can if you will write what is on your heart in the realm of revitalization.

Sharing about Revitalization By sharing, I mean communicating the message of church revitalization in ways other than in public proclamation and in writing. Communicate one-on-one and in small groups.

When you meet someone, tell them about Jesus and tell them about what He is doing in the church! The former mayor of Oklahoma City, Ron Norick, was leading a revitalization effort in our city to refurbish old buildings in a dilapidated part of town, riddled with crime and decay. Our city with divided in its support for this new initiative. The mayor and his staff campaigned hard and found ways to talk about this project everywhere they went. The mayor joked to me that everywhere they saw three people standing around, they would go over and try to elicit their support. They tried to get themselves invited to meetings and gatherings all over the city in order to give a positive word. It is a good thing they did; the revitalization measure passed by only a 0.5% margin. Today, our city has a new and revitalized section of town that is family-friendly and one that draws in lots of tourism dollars. The reason it passed was because individuals in the campaign shared the message everywhere they went.

One of the key activities associated with church revitalization is just keeping the process going, which we call the flywheel effect. A flywheel is used to help spinning objects continue in motion. One is attached to your car’s engine. Your car will run without one, but if your car backfires without one, your engine will be destroyed. Put another way, this effect tells us that it is easier to keep something going than it is to stop and started it again. Get the conversation about church revitalization going and keep it going in your ministry context.

Investing in Revitalization Martin Luther is credited with saying, “If I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree.” His point is well taken. We do not know what tomorrow holds, but we are still stewards of it. We may not think this way often, but we are responsible, at least in some part, for the future harvest. In church revitalization we hear pastors say all the time that they do not know if they will be at their churches very much longer. Many pastors are looking for other ministry opportunities, many are going to leave ministry altogether, and many others will retire from ministry. However, all three groups have the exact same responsibility – to leave the church they present-

ly serve ready for what God will do next, after they are gone.

Perhaps those pastors are correct – maybe they will not be at their churches much longer; they still need to invest in those who will continue on with the ministry after they are gone.

It is pure arrogance to think or desire the church to crumble after we leave because the church could not function without us. The truth is – sometimes the church functions better (for a while) without its pastor because the membership has to step-up and do the ministry that the pastor used to do.

Investing in the lives of our successors is biblical. Moses invested in Joshua. Elijah invested in Elisha. Paul invested in Timothy. The best example is Jesus investing in His disciples, leaving His church in their hands. Pastors today need to invest in those who will succeed them in office. Who are you training?

Mentoring? Who will you equip to step into leadership when you are gone? There is an added benefit for doing this besides what it will do for the church. Ronnie Floyd calls this reverse mentoring. This occurs when those you are trying to mentor learn from you and you in turn learn from them, resulting in incredible joy for you.

One church I was helping in revitalization had an obstinate woman who resisted all my attempts to help them. When I warned their church only had twenty-four months to live, so spouted, “This church will be here long enough to bury me!”

I quickly and sharply responded, “Is that the goal? Is that all you care about – that the church will be here long enough for you? Don’t you want to leave a healthy, thriving church to your children and grandchildren?” You could have heard a pin drop but I think I made my point.

Conclusion These personal disciplines are essential in a successful revitalization project. I encourage you to speak about revitalization, both in the pulpit and in the classroom. Write about the need and the process of revitalization in your newsletter articles, your blogs, your social media posts, and in scholarly materials – people need to hear your heart and your story. Share with everyone in your church from the nursery to the senior adult department. Let them contribute to the conversation and listen to them closely. Invest in those who will take over the task of revitalization in the eventuality that God does change your life circumstances. Be sure that your successors know the job and have caught your passion for doing it. May God richly bless you for your personal disciplines.

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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By Bill Tenny-Brittian

Things I’ve Learned On the Way to Revitalization

Things I’ve Learned On the Way to Revitalization

By Bill Tenny-Brittian

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ost of my thirty-five plus years of professional ministry has been spent either starting new churches or turning around existing churches. To be fair, it’s a lot easier to start from scratch and if you have a choice, church planting is my best advice for those idealists who believe, as I do, that the local church is the best hope for the gospel. Church planting is still hard work, but compared to church revitalization, it’s a walk in the park.

If you’re a regular reader of The Church Revitalizer Magazine, you’ve already been exposed to the reality that there is no ministry more difficult than turning a church around and that there is no ministry that is more likely to damage your professional career. Revitalizers put their career and the personal lives at risk whenever they put their hand to the turnaround plow, but for some of us, there is no higher or more noble calling. I work with church turnarounds, as a practitioner, as a consultant, and as a coach because I have no choice. It’s not a calling I would wish on anyone, but it’s a calling I wish was visited upon more strongwilled and savvy leaders. With over 80% of US churches in some state of decline, our Lord knows we need more laborers in this particular field.

Having said that, let me share with you a few things I’ve learned on my way to church revitalization.

John Maxwell was Right – Everything Really Does Rise and Fall on Leadership If you’re the lead pastor of a turnaround church and

things aren’t progressing, the best place to discern where the problem is in the reflection of your bathroom mirror.

It’s easy to blame the culture, limited resources, and either the congregation as a whole or the bullies in the congregation. But as the church’s out-front leader, you are the chief influencer – and if you’re not, then you’re either in

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the wrong job or in the wrong place (and a key to effective leadership is having the discernment to recognize the potential in a situation and the courage to make the hard call: fight, flight, or change careers).

The most important tool a leader has at their disposal is the ability to cast a compelling vision. It turns out, that’s the one of the key differences between successful church revitalizers and those who try and fail. I’m not talking about just the overarching vision – although that’s critical. But would-be effective and successful leaders must have the ability to cast visions for the smaller steps that are between the current circumstances and vision fulfillment. You’ve got to be able to cast a vision to buy the new sound system, to change the vocabulary of the bulletin, to eliminate your office hours, and to get support for your spending no time doing hospital visitation in favor of spending significant time with Chamber of Commerce or at the Jr. College’s student center.

Culture Really Does Eat Strategic Plans for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Although no one’s been able to find the direct quote, Peter Drucker gets the credit for coining the phrase. Business has been taking his axiom seriously for years and there’s plenty of research and anecdotal evidence to prove the point. The statement’s no less true in the church – in fact, it could have been written of the church.

With few exceptions, I’ve never know a pastor who’s taken the helm of a church with the intention of crashing it on the rocks. Instead, virtually every pastor has stepped up with strategies and plans designed to grow their church by serving and reaching people in the community. I currently serve a church that’s experienced a forty year decline. During those forty years, there have been five pastors who have tried to turn the ship around. Each one of

them experienced a short season of success followed by escalating decline. Of these five church leaders, each one came in with their own unique strategies … and each one failed. It would be easy to point at their strategies and conclude that each of them was clueless about how to grow a church, but each of them was able to bring about short-term growth. In other words, their strategies apparently had merit. So, why did the church fall back into decline each time?

The church culture literally ate their strategies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In other words, the leaders were able to get new people in the door, at least for a time. But the church’s culture was problematic enough that the church couldn’t retain them long-term.

Because your church’s culture will eat your strategies, successful revitalizers understand that job one isn’t necessarily church growth. A revitalizer’s most critical job is to revitalize the church’s culture from one of stagnation and decline to one of positivity, welcome, unity, and connectedness.

There’s More Opposition Than You Think Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think search committees mean to lie or to shade the truth, but sometimes it seems like they just can’t help it. Every search committee I’ve ever spoken to has assured me that their church really does want to grow and they’re willing to make the changes necessary to grow. I believe in my heart-of-hearts that they really believe that too, but what they don’t seem to understand is that waiting in the wings of the church is a loosely organized group of people who will do nearly anything to ensure that the necessary changes won’t make it out of the starting gate.

I know this sounds pretty jaded, but here’s the reality. After coaching, consulting, training, and being actively involved in turnaround attempts from coast-to-coast, I find that the vast majority of church pastors are unprepared to face the level of opposition that they encounter in their turnaround work.

When I teach Pastoral Leadership at Phillips Seminary, there’s always push-back from my students when I introduce them to the concept of building alliances in order to ensure their agenda gets accepted and implemented.

It seems underhanded or disingenuous to intentionally stack the deck to ensure the right decision gets made.

But remember, it was Jesus who told his disciples to be as shrewd as snakes (Matthew 10:16) and to use money to make friends (Luke 16:9). If you’re going to successfully lead a turnaround, you’re going to need a cadre of folks you can count on to move your strategies forward and

who will have your back when the opposition arises – and it will arise. When it’s time to challenge the status quo, the opposition will organize. Make sure you have too.

Turnaround Will Take Longer Than You Think A church that’s been in decline for decades isn’t going to turnaround by the end of eighteen months. This is one of the reasons so few churches survive a serious turnaround effort – they don’t have the resources to hang on long enough to change their culture and implement a church growth strategic plan.

When I speak with pastors who want to make a commitment to turning a church around, they seem to think that they can whip the church into shape in three to five years.

The reality is, it nearly always takes that long just to lay the groundwork. You’ve got to reset the mission and vision; discern the values; rotate bullies, controllers, and antagonists out of leadership; wrest control of the day-today decisions from the fists of the board; launch a church member discipling process; connect with the community; and initiate the inklings of culture change – all that before any church growth strategy has a prayer of a chance.

In generally, it takes three to five years to build a foundation you can build on. It takes another two to five years to implement a church growth strategy. I suspect this is the reason Aubrey Malphurs used to say to his church planting classes that there was no one young enough to successfully turn a church around. If you’re seriously planning on implementing a complete revitalization, plan on no fewer than seven years and you might as well figure on being there for twelve or so – because it’s going to take longer than you think.

If, after all that, you’re still committed to revitalization ministry, then you’re probably crazy enough to pull it off.

As you travel the road, let me know how it’s going … I’ve always found it good to travel in packs.

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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Successful Habits in Children’s Leadership

By Bill Hegedus

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veryone wants to have a great children’s ministry. We want to provide the best possible area for our kids to learn about faith. We want our environments to be both welcoming and exciting. A place where kids want to come back week after week and one where parents feel safe leaving their kids in the care of others. These things are great and are things we should strive for as a ministry, but they’re not the only things.

They are not the most important things either.

The most important thing is having spiritually healthy leaders. Especially when it comes to the overall leader of the children’s ministry. The Children’s pastor or director.

I talk to many children’s pastors and directors from churches across the country, the two things I hear over and over again are, “I never get to go to the adult service” and, “I find it difficult to have the time to pour into myself spiritually.” They are not intentionally avoiding the service or wanting to neglect to build their relationship with Christ.

The task and demands of Children’s ministry today can often be overwhelming and keep us in a cycle of busyness. Often times we don’t even realize it’s unhealthy or that we’re in a cycle. It can be very difficult to break a cycle of unhealthiness.

The good news is there are good habits we can put into place that will help us move forward.

I use the word habit very intentionally. Some may prefer the word discipline, but since discipline in children’s ministry tends to bring in a negative connotation, I figured we’d stick with habits instead. We all have habits whether we realize it or not. Some of them are good and some of them are definitely not so good.

The goal is to talk about Godly habits that will

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help us be better in all areas of our life– In the area of ministry and those we serve, in the area of the family at the home that we lead and in the area of us as a person in the way of pouring into ourselves spiritually. Each one of these habits is vitally important to have a healthy and long-lasting ministry. Even more important they will help you in your daily spiritual walk.

We are going use a particular passage in Joshua that points out the three habits. Joshua 1:8 states “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.”

In this verse, God is speaking to Joshua. He is encouraging him after the death of Moses. You’ll notice there are three parts to this verse before it ends in a promise. These three parts are the basis for the three habits we’re going to talk about.

The first part of this verse helps us identify the habit of guarding the words out of our mouth. Here I believe God is reminding Joshua to watch what comes out of his mouth. The hardest thing for most people to control is their tongue. I can say this is an area I often struggle with. My words can be kind to one person and destructive to another. Even in ministry, especially children’s ministry, we find it easier to deal with some children than others. That is just a normal fact of ministry. But when these frustrations start leaking out to others it can come in the form of gossip or just plain meanness. I can think of a few times where frustrations lead me to vent to others in a very negative way. This was something I was not very proud of. So to combat it, I memorized scriptures to help me control the words that come out of

my mouth. The one I cling to most is Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”. Scripture is so important to fight off temptation, break ourselves of bad habits and help us keep good ones.

continues to teach me the habit of focusing on His word all day long.

The third habit deals with our actions. It is the habit of making the Godly choice. God tells Joshua to observe to do what is written in the Scripture. This habit also requires us to pay close attention to our actions and choices. This is vitally important for us who serve The second of these habits is kind of a no-brainer. in the church. The devil would want nothing more It is the habit of spending time daily with God. This than to keep us from spreading the gospel of Jesus is very simple and straightforward but often hard to Christ. We all make mistakes and fall short of the globe consistent. Over and ry of God on a daily basis. over again in scripture, None of us are worthy we see the importance of being in ministry exof taking time daily to cept by the grace of God. meditate on God’s word.

We must always strive to I don’t think anyone make it a habit of making would argue the valgodly choices. ue of spending time in Scripture. The interestFinally, that brings us to ing part of this verse in the last part of the verse Joshua is the fact that that contains the promise states day and night. I “for then you shall make find it interesting beyour way prosperous, and cause often who we are then you shall have good in the day can be difsuccess.” Everyone wants ferent than who we are to be prosperous and evthat night. Early on in eryone wants to be sucmy ministry, this would cessful at what they do. be very true of me as well. Who I was during the The beautiful thing is that God wants that for us too. day at work was often very different than who I was So much so they gave us the roadmap for success when I came home. It was almost as if I would put it even better than that Godly success. In your minison my spiritual self to go to work leading in children’s try, just like in your life, there will be many ups and ministry and then take it off when I came home. The downs. You will have many successes and setbacks things that I thought about during the church day in ministry but through it all, stay true to the godly were not like the things I thought about when I got habits laid out in Joshua 1:8 and your successes will home. My days were for God and my nights were far outweigh your setbacks. I can’t stress the imporhere for me. God has a way of getting our attention tance of this enough especially as we lead the next when we get things out of order, he sure did that for generations of the church. me. Through that difficult time, God taught me and

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” Ephesians 4:29

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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15

Reasons Why Pastors Can’t Lead

In 1976, leadership guru Warren Bennis wrote his attention grabbing, The Unconscious Conspiracy: Why Leaders Can’t Lead.

The typical American evangelical pastor has the same problem which Bennis described: he lacks competence at a skill which is vitally important to the effectiveness of local churches: leadership.

Estimates from Gary McIntosh, Paul Bordon, Gordon Penfold, Aubrey Malphurs and others agree that only about 10% of American evangelical pastors have the leadership skills needed to transition congregations from ineffectiveness to effectiveness.

Fortunately, another 70% (approximately) of evangelical pastors have an interest in and a capacity for becoming effective, revitalization (or “turnaround”) leaders. If you are part of the 70%, please prayerfully consider the following, and know that God has all the power He needs to grow us “70%” guys into real revitalization leaders.

So why can’t pastors lead?

1. They’re focused on the fellowship of the flock, not the mission of the flock.

According to Jesus (Matthew 16:18) the Church is supposed to storm the gates of hell and snatch people out of the flames. But human organizations of all kinds tend to devolve into sources of comfortable fellowship.

The kind of fantastic fellowship experienced by the Philippian Christians (Philippians 1:5) can only be attained by focusing on mission, not by focusing on fellowship. The best fellowship is enjoyed by men and women who are passionately, prayerfully, on mission, together.

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By Brian Thorstad they don’t want to go on dangerous missions to reach lost sheep.

The easiest way for any pastor to be loved by the sheep is to focus on their comfort. But is being loved by the sheep a worthy goal?

3. They’re focused on individuals, not the flock.

One of the quickest ways to ruin the missional effectiveness of any congregation is to put individuals over the health and effectiveness of the group.

We can’t hold Pastor Bob accountable because he’s the founder of our church. We can’t confront Elder Pete about never actually doing anything because he’s related to half the church. It doesn’t take many unaccountable individuals to create a dysfunctional church.

4. They’re addicted to human approval.

Becoming addicted to human approval is easy. Ultimately, it’s more “worldly” than smoking and drinking and gambling because it brings us the pleasure of human strokes, in this life, at the expense of Jesus’ approval at the judgment seat.

5. They weren’t trained for it.

Christian universities and seminaries are increasingly focusing on the value of leadership. In my day, however, leadership was something you heard about from time to time in chapel, but there were no classes on it.

6. They weren’t hired for it.

2.They’re focused on the comfort of the sheep.

Smaller churches in particular, are not looking for their pastors to be leaders.

Sheep want to be led to green pastures and beside still waters. They don’t want change, they don’t want to be sheared, they don’t want to go through scary valleys and

They want someone to comfort them, to pour oil on their wounds and to encourage them. Those needs are best met by teams of lay persons, not the senior or solo pastor,

who is desperately needed as a leader, not a chaplain (and it’s very hard to be both).

13. They believe that their temperaments disqualify them.

7. They’re confused about servant leadership.

There is some truth to the concept of the “born leader.”

Some of us find it much easier to become good leaders than others do.

When Jesus taught his disciples about being servant leaders (Mark 10:35-45), he wasn’t giving them a ministry description for leadership. He was talking about the attitude of the godly leader.

The servant leader serves others by leading them well, for their sakes, and supremely, for God’s glory.

8. They’re not being coached for it.

As pastors, older and wiser coaches who have been where we are now are invaluable. In no area is this more true than in our role as leaders. Great pastors find and take advantage of great coaches.

9. They have guilty consciences.

Here’s one more reason to clean up our lives and get our bad habits and secret sins out of the way. A guilty conscience stifles our prayers as we kneel before God and strangles our confidence as we stand before people.

10. They have a false understanding of humility.

Would-be leaders from certain cultural backgrounds are plagued by this. In my Midwestern, Norwegian-Lutheran, rural background, humility precluded leadership. Anybody purporting to stand in front of a group and say “follow me to a better place” was seen as having a “big head.”

11. They are haunted by past leadership failures.

Just about anyone who has led successfully has also led unsuccessfully. Winston Churchill famously said that “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

Old patterns of failure are not a life sentence! There are many pastors serving joyfully and effectively today, turning their churches from ill health to vibrant, great-commission effectiveness, who took their turn at experiencing failure in the past.

12. They believe that leadership and dependent prayer are incompatible.

Many of us have heard or read something like the following: “I was deeply into reading and learning about leadership but I was still failing. When I got serious about prayer, God starting using me greatly and I repented of my interest in leadership.”

But Christian leadership is a spiritual ministry, which means that it’s powered by prayer. Praying for the success of our leadership doesn’t eliminate the need to offer God’s people good, wise, informed and bold leadership. God, in fact, gives great leaders in answer to powerful prayers.

But the studies of James Kouzes and Barry Posner (The Leadership Challenge), as well as anecdotal evidence demonstrate that ordinary people can learn how to lead.

The character traits can be developed by our all-powerful God and the skills needed can be learned and sharpened over time.

14. They think that it’s not Biblical.

Many pastors believe that the Bible entrusts the governance of churches to elders (Acts 20:17ff; I Peter 5:1-4; I Timothy 5:17ff) it rules out the possibility of one of these elders serving as the leader of the group.

But the best elders know that “groups don’t lead, groups are led” and that churches which become effective are almost always led by capable pastor-leaders.

The team of elders doesn’t need to give up its authority and responsibility when entrusting the leadership of the group and the supervision of the church’s ministry leaders and staff to a godly, competent pastor.

15. They think that congregational unanimity is essential.

Unity is important but 100% unanimity is a dream. Some people are always going to resist the proposals of their leaders, no matter how worthy they are and no matter how carefully they have been presented.

The pastor who will not present the proposal until he’s sure of a 100% positive response will simply never present the proposal.

Have you been unable to lead for one or more of the above reasons?

What can you do to overcome your leadership challenge?

Do you know someone who can guide, mentor and coach you?

Brian Thorstad has completed seven transformational interim pastorates over fifteen years in three states, Brian Thorstad is about to begin his new role as the Church Leadership Catalyst for the Forest Lakes (Wisconsin) District of the Evangelical Free Church. He is the author of Heaven Help Our Church! (A Survival Guide For Christians in Troubled Churches) and Redevelopment: Transitional Pastoring That Transforms Churches.

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The Revitalization Leadership Challenge

By Chris Irving

I am a huge fan of college football. I do not mind the NFL, but for this Texas boy college football is where my allegiances rest. My beloved Texas A&M made arguably the biggest splash this off-season when they pulled Jimbo Fisher away from Florida State, sorry Seminoles friends and fans. The Aggies, for many generations, place themselves in the national conversation every year…yeah in our own minds. The product on the field is less than stellar and quite often down right embarrassing. So the coaching carousel turns and now it is time for Jimbo to do his thing in College Station. The expectations always run high and the reality is usually a bummer. But this coach seems to be different than the last several coaches hired in Aggieland. He is bringing a different demeanor to the field and a toughness not seen since the days of Bear Bryant. Jimbo Fisher is facing an uphill battle at A&M as the expectations are very high for what he and the team will do. But the discipline he brings into the program seem to be what is catching the eye of many in College Station.

Pastoring a turnaround church and a coaching a turnaround team are not all that different. Sure one is a multi-million dollar industry but in both situations, the pastor or the coach must lead with certain disciplines in place in order to find success. Okay…enough football and on to the real topic. What are the keys to serving as a successful revitalization pastor? The answer to this is what I call the revitalization leadership challenge.

Start with Prayer

In my writing and preaching, Nehemiah is a man of God to whom I often turn as an example of leadership in revitalization. Nehemiah began with prayer upon learning of the plight of Jerusalem and her walls. Not just uttering words and sentiment, but Nehemiah felt this prayer for Jerusalem as he fasted and prayed. How often do you pray hard for your church and the work of revitalization?

Nehemiah prayed for several months before he took any action. Prayer often causes us to pause and consider

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His plans, purposes, and timing. Anxiety is squashed when we offer our prayers and supplications with thanksgiving to God as His grace overwhelms our inner being. This is why you start with prayer and it is arguably the most important of disciplines for the revitalizer. You are only as spiritually and emotionally healthy as your prayer life reflects it. Is your faith in God reflected by your prayer life?

So what kind of prayer should we pray? What is the focus of my prayer life? I already mentioned Philippians 4:67 as we deal with the anxiety of revitalization. Anxiety migrates into our life from different places and people, yet we are commanded to “cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us.” You must focus on the God who called you into this work for He is the one who offers freedom from anxiety and exchanges anxiety for peace. Second, you must pray as Jesus prayed.

He prayed for the Kingdom of God to come and for His will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

You pray with kingdom focus because the church is His domain. You must also consider Jesus’ prayer in John 17 where Jesus prayed for church oneness, and that the gospel advance because of that unity.

You and I can echo this prayer and then are tasked to live this out on a regular basis. I am convinced by the Apostle Paul, in regards to unity, that the church ought to pray through Philippians 2:1-11 as we deal with conflict. Praying for the grace of humility might just lead the church forward as you focus your prayer on seeking the Kingdom of God first.

What is a healthy frequency of prayer? I often asked a question of every English teacher when they assigned a writing assignment, “How long does the paper have to be?” My favorite reply was, “How long is a string?” The simple answer is “as long as it needs to be.” Jesus prayed often by himself, removed from the disciples and removed from the throngs of people pursuing His miraculous works. You may not have throngs of people flocking to you as a revitalizer, but you must seek Him often, even multiple times a day if needed. Don’t pray just to check that box off for the day but pray for the relationship and the peace of God. Pray for the antagonist by name. Pray for the vision and direction of the church. Pray for your family and the families of those in the church. Pray for the

it to the context you are facing today.

Finally, repeat your vision as often as you can. As you are planning your calendar, repeat it for each event to make sure the ministries of the church are focused on the vision. Repeat it from the pulpit, and repeat it in the announcements. Print it, share it, and let them see your passion for it flow from God’s Word.

Intentional Conversations lost to come to Christ through the ministry of the local church. Prayer is the one of the most essential disciplines of revitalization as you are powerless without it.

Cast the Vision

The vision for your church is not “Your Best Church Now,” but you will need to be able to consistently present the vision for your church. Andrew Davis, pastor of FBC Durham, NC pointed out in an article in Forbes magazine that vision in business “requires that you clearly see where you choose to be in the future and formulate the necessary steps to get your organization there.”1 Davis points out in the definition offered by Forbes, the visionary leader looks within himself to find the vision but of course in revitalization this is not the case. The vision for revitalization is first from the heart of God and carried out through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God passionately loves the church, so much so that Jesus sends seven letters to seven churches as captured in Revelation. Each one has different issues, but all are loved and given the opportunity repent and find a renewal and gospel fervor. So the vision for the revitalizer is ultimately centered on God’s Word says Davis.

I agree. It is a dangerous thing to pull vision from secular and cultural contexts and try to find a biblical rationale for your vision. So search the scriptures for God’s vision for the church.

One of my weaknesses is books. I love to read and study which means I naturally do not get out of my office. But in the work of revitalization, I have learned it is something I must do to redeem the time given for the church. One thing I must do is have intentional, and sometimes awkward conversations. Often times I encounter discouragement because of changes happening in the church, or on the extremely rare occasion, change not happening fast enough. But a simple reminder and blessing of encouragement to those most affected often can turn the tide of the church. Ministry assassins and antagonists are planted in every congregation. But one thing you must learn is how to respond to the harsh criticism. Paul offers helpful truth in Philippians, a church with conflict between two women. He issues the church the command to have the same attitude as Christ. A humble attitude that calls for less of me and more of thee. A mindset that asks us to pray for the assassin and the antagonist. That we return a harsh word from an opponent with a gentle and humble response.

“Prayer is the one of the most essential disciplines of revitalization as you are powerless without it. ”

The piece of the vision puzzle is that it needs contextualization. The vision for FBC Gonzales where I pastor may not be the same vision for your congregation. See the seven churches of the Revelation as each one of them are in different levels of their journey. The context of each church being different led to different issues yet they all were addressed by Jesus. So there is something in the Bible for your people. Dig and find it in God’s Word. But address it to not only to the context of the text, but apply 1Andrews Davis, Revitalize: Biblical Keys to Helping Your Church Come Alive Again (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2017), 106

Beyond the awkward conversations, you must offer the vision in these intentional conversations. Build momentum and show your excitement for what God is doing. Turn the conversation into an opportunity to build the coalition of support and form up the revitalization team in your congregation. You don’t have to be a salesman, but redeem the conversation for the church.

To end these conversations, offer up a prayer for the church, and for each other. I believe if we prayed for each other rather than opposing each other we would see turn around churches everywhere.

Preach the Word

It goes without saying, but you have a biblical mandate to preach the Word of God. Friends, saturate your church with the Word. Paul gave warning in his letters to Timothy of a day when the church would not tolerate sound teaching and doctrine. That day is now and now more

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The Revitalization Leadership Challenge continued... than ever it is vital that we preach the Word of God with a heavenly calling and conviction. The Scripture contains God’s vision for the church, it gives us the Gospel mandate to make disciples, it reminds us His glory is our aim, and that we must push forward and

by His grace the church will overcome. I advocate for text-driven preaching, or expository preaching, which means the text drives the message not the other way around. God’s Word contains the timeless principles the church needs to grow in Christlikeness. Pastor, preach the Word!

Let me just end this by encouraging you one more time to end your day with prayer. Prayers of thanksgiving, even in the hard moments, trials, and testing of your faith because such times push you forward and grow endurance. I am thankful for the call of God upon my life to pastor the local church. Each church I’ve pastored is a collection of peculiar people, but many of them belonged to Jesus. I am thankful for my wife and children. But above all else, I am most grateful for the grace of God having called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

I believe if you will practice these disciplines in your pastoral life, you will win the race God has called you to run which is the Revitalization Leadership Challenge. “To Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-22

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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Let Your Light

Letting Your Light Shine Before Others

By Joel R. Breidenbaugh

W

hat can be swallowed, or can swallow a person?

It is something every pastor and leader faces at regular intervals. The answer is pride and the question is a type of conundrum in that “swallow” carries different meanings.

can wear a church shirt to show who you represent.

You may get to share a few words about what you do and pray for the teachers. Consistent service by a few people in your congregation can be a huge blessing to the school.

Christians face a certain conundrum—do we perform good works to let others see, only to rob us of any future praise from God? Or do we perform good deeds quietly, hoping we never get recognized, so we may be honored by our Lord in His presence? Of course, there are times we should do things quietly (like financial giving) and there are times we must serve publicly (a peaceful protest outside an abortion clinic, for instance).

Coach a Sport

One of the assignments Jesus has given to us is to be the light of the world and let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to God (see Matthew 5:14-16). I want to share with you some fairly inexpensive ways to serve others in your community and let your light shine so others will be drawn to praise the Lord.

Serve Your Local School Unless you are in a country setting, you have a public school in your community. In metro areas you may even be surrounded by public schools. Consider adopting one and communicating with the principal or designated employee about ways your church can help. Effective ways of serving the local school include the following: volunteer to assist teachers in the classroom, help kids read, after-school Bible clubs, providing school supplies to needy families and serving breakfast to the teachers and staff. While some of those settings don’t allow for a gospel witness, you

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Communities have numerous sports clubs and teams meet throughout the year. They are almost always in need of managers, coaches, team parents and the like. You can pick a sport you like and contact the league administration about volunteering. As a coach or team parent, you can encourage kids to do their best. You may be able to pray with the team. I have led team prayers before and after every game and practice for years coaching my sons and I live in a largely unchurched culture (86% unchurched). I encourage Christian coaches to have end-of-season parties where they brag on the kids and the families for their support. They can also take time to share the gospel in a few minutes. I always tie it back with something like “when I was around your age, I learned the most important truth which impacted the rest of my life… who Jesus is and what He came to do…”

While I know a few guys who have had success at witnessing to middle school and high school kids this way, I have found families of young kids to be most open to consider the claims of Christ and the importance of a church home. It’s almost like they think, “I need help as a parent of this little guy. I wonder if the church can help me. I went to church as a kid and had a good experience. Maybe we will give it a try.” I have seen more families of kids who are 4-6 years old follow up by attending church than any other age group I’ve ever worked with.

Throw a Neighborhood Block Party

Shine

Adopt Your Local First Responders People serving in police and fire and rescue face a great deal of stress. Depending on your community, they may not get many calls or they may be busy around the clock. Here’s where yo and your church can make a difference.

Stop by and introduce yourself sometime. Tell them you are thankful for their service to the community and your church wants to show their appreciation.

We want to bring you a home cooked meal each week (even if it’s leftovers from a Wednesday night dinner). Different people in the church can take turns fixing a meal for a few people. As a pastor, offer your services if they ever need someone to pray with them or offer to be a listening ear.

Provide Food to a Needy Community You probably have a needy community close by your church. Whether it’s a trailer park or a low-end neighborhood, you can meet a big need. You can show up weekly or bi-weekly with a food truck (like Second Harvest Food) and offer food to those who respond.

I have a friend who grills burgers and hot dogs for a trailer park every Wednesday evening for a couple of hours. By talking with the people, they learn about the Lord and their church and several families attend their church because of the connection made through food. They are getting their spiritual needs met once they had their physical needs met.

While I have known churches who throw some block parties on their campus, they tend to reach their own children (unless they have lots of people inviting others). Think about holding a block party in a neighborhood. You may want to use the street outside a member’s home and clear it with your insurance company.

Block parties are fun and low cost. They help you meet people in that neighborhood or community. You can have them register for prizes so you have a way to follow up with them.

Conclusion Let me give you another conundrum. It’s known as the “Trolley Problem.” Imagine you are standing on a train overpass and you observe an out-of-control train barreling toward a group of ten workers on the tracks. They are too far from you to yell out to them.

There is a lever next to you which you can use to divert the train onto another track with only one worker on it. Do you stand by and do nothing and watch ten people die? Do you take action and pull the lever and kill the one person in order to save the ten?

The theologians in us might ask, “Well, if I know the one person is saved, I’ll let him die so the others have more time to respond to the gospel.” But what if we don’t know? Or what if the ten are saved but not the one? Either outcome would be tragic.

Our response to that question may vary but seeking to try different opportunities to serve your community, and to let the light of Christ shine can make a difference in where they will spend an eternity. If you are able to reach them with the gospel as you let your light shine, then their death will not be tragic but a stepping stone to meet and bring glory to the Lord.

Joel Breidenbaugh, PhD, is the Lead Pastor of Gospel Centered Church in Apopka, FL. He also serves as Assistant Professor of Homiletics for Liberty University School of Divinity. You can follow him on Twitter @DrJoelB or view his teaching on Gospel Centered Church Apopka YouTube Channel.

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Church Revitalization:

It’s Every Pastors Calling

By Ron Smith

Leadership

“Set Things in Order” Titus makes it clear that our calling is to set things in order.

So, let’s examine this in light of our duties.

Every living thing needs attention. Everything naturally digresses. Attention must be given to ensure life. Even church plants need revitalization at some point.

The early church in Acts was constantly fighting against returning to Judaism.

For Nehemiah although the wall took only 52 days to complete, the people became discouraged at the halfway point: just 26 days into the project! Nehemiah had to renew their vision. It’s amazing how quickly human beings—and churches—lose their sense of purpose and vision. Refreshing, reminding and revitalizing are not tasks you do once and then forget. You must continually clarify and communicate the work of your church. This is the number one responsibility of leadership.

The reality is this, where there are people there is a need for a Savior. Where these people convert to Christ churches are needed. Where there are churches pastors are a must.

Where do we start?

The Revitalization Process (How to Set Things in Order):

Leadership

Structure

Mission

These three will be your continuous focus for movement.

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Appoint leaders: As a pastor you can raise the commitment of leadership by looking for qualified leaders. Textually and contextually Paul is authorizing Titus to select men qualified to meet the call of Elder, Bishop, Pastor. Titus is appointing qualified men to be called out to serve as Pastors of the new churches established in Crete.

As Pastors we are to pass on the truths of sound doctrine to trustworthy men (2 Timothy 2:2).

If everything rises and falls on leadership then the work of the church will be lifted and carried by selected leaders. It is our job as Pastors to seek out, appoint, train and employ leaders.

As Pastors we must hold firm to sound doctrine in order to give instruction in sound doctrine. Point: We need found, sound leaders who are grounded in the Word of God. I have learned that found sound grounded men have less opinion and more conviction. Conviction moves people toward God’s purpose and plan. Leaders filled with sound doctrine can rebuke opinions that contradict the truth.

Listen, revitalization is not a marketing campaign to polish the churches image. Revitalization is a continual process of remembering our first love, remaining faithful, repenting of sin, strengthening what remains, and keeping the fires hot so we can fulfill the mission.

Structure

As you read further in Titus you will find these nuggets: We are called to teach doctrine, train and develop men of char-

acter. Instructing them to submit to authority for the glory of God. Titus continues – We are called to wait or look, long and labor for the coming of Christ. Declare the truth. And remind believers to submit, obey, be ready and avoid foolishness.

Mission

Our mission is one of “good works,” Titus 2:7.

What are “good works?”

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:9-12)

Good works are our edifying example to our fellow believers.

“In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility” (Titus 2:7).

Good works are the means by which we minister to the needs of our fellow believers. “And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14) Good works are an integral part of God’s eternal plan, and therefore they are our highest responsibility. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

“When you clean up the heart, you clear up the mind.”

What constitutes “good works?” What is the definition of “good works ?“ As we look at Scripture we find that the word “good” is translated to mean that which is by its nature pleasing (that is, pleasing to God), that which is upright and honorable in His sight.

Good works are a believers’ love-offerings to God. Ephesians 5:2 tells us that our walk in Christ, our good works in Christ, are the sweet-smelling aroma of a sacrificial love offering to God. Good works are our witness to the unsaved. The fruit of which Paul speaks here in Colossians is not the saving of souls as such, but rather it is our witness to unsaved souls, which God the Holy Spirit uses as one of the means by which He brings lost souls to faith in Christ. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles [that is, among the unsaved], that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” -- that is, when God brings any of them to faith in Christ because of your witness (1 Peter 2:11-12).

This is the proper nature of good works -- not to please us, but to please Christ. Salvation in Christ is the root, good works are the fruit, and our good works are part of God’s plan for Christians. We are to bear witness to the lost world, and to be an example and blessing to others, especially for the edification of our fellow believers.

Right doctrine leads to good works, and good works makes for healthy followers, healthy followers make for a healthy body. Healthy followers and a healthy body make the truth of God attractive to others. Boom! The Church is alive and constantly being revitalized.

The work of revitalization is the calling of all pastors. When you clean up the heart, you clear up the mind. A clean heart and a clear mind help control the tongue and channel the energy to accomplish the mission.

Our calling is to set things in order: - Appoint Leaders - Instruct people to be sensible – and Encourage good works.

Ron Smith is the Senior Pastor of WaterStone Church in Longwood and Lake Mary, Florida.

Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild. Ron serves as the National Coach for Renovate and the Co-Leader of Renovate One Day with Tom Cheyney.

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The Leadership Link:

Commanded to Shepherd the People

By Michael Atherton

I

t is nearly impossible to discuss leadership, centered on the great leaders of the Bible, without talking about Moses. God used Moses to deliver the Israelite children out from under the slavery of Pharaoh and the bondage of Egypt. Yet, we understand, for Moses to be successful he had to navigate all kinds of challenges. He had to face his fears. He had to return to his enemies. He had to acknowledge his inadequacies. He had to face a number of realities, which I am sure he would have rather just ignored. Such is the case with revitalization leadership. For the leader who is willing to lead in revitalization, the challenges will be great. Looking at Exodus 18, we can find principles from the life of Moses that a revitalization leader should consider.

In Exodus 18, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, comes and offers some helpful advice to Moses concerning how he was leading the people.

We pick the text up in verse 13, where we read:

“The simple truth is that far too many churches are deciding what type of staff to hire, how big of a budget to set, what type of programs to run, and what kind of philosophy to adopt without taking their marching orders from God.

The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.” Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to

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you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

Moses listened to his fatherin-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over ” thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves (Exodus 18:13-26).

1. Practice Prayer (v. 19) I realize the simplicity of the principle yet recognize the depth of the challenge. The simple truth is that far too many churches are deciding what type of staff to hire,

how big of a budget to set, what type of programs to run, and what kind of philosophy to adopt without taking their marching orders from God. To give the benefit of the doubt, I am sure many church leaders are striving to proceed with good intentions. But good intentions are not always God’s intentions. Do you remember when the touch of Jesus restored sight? Do you remember when the voice of Jesus raised men from the dead? Do you remember when just merely touching the cloak of Jesus healed people? Jesus is still in the miracle-making business, but if the church is going to navigate the treacherous territory of this sinful world and accomplish the Great Commission, it is going to come because we have willingly submitted ourselves to the power of God through prayer.

2. Commit to Communicate (v. 20)

As you lead individuals or an entire church through change, the greatest weapon in your arsenal will be communication. Be willing to communicate, communicate, communicate! Beware that as your church is made up of various age groups, their desired form of communication might be different. Some want newsletters. Some want e-mails. Others might want Facebook posts, and still others might desire a simple phone call. Do not become an ineffective leader by mandating that people must conform to your desired form of communication. I have been heard telling my staff, “If someone in the church family would rather hear from you in Morse code, you had better learn it!”

3. Cast Vision You can call it a revelation, a vision, a dream, or whatever other clever catchphrase you wish, but the reality is the church is not in need of another man-made idea.

God’s people need to follow a leader who has received a vision from God, not simply a leader’s wish list that, if accomplished, will help propel him or her up the ecclesiastical ladder. There is far too much at stake to allow our selfish predispositions to get in the way.

From a ministry perspective, vision is the picture of what God wants to accomplish through His Church for His Kingdom’s purpose. Notice the progression in this definition: it is God’s will for God’s Church for God’s purpose. Going a step further, it is only after a church receives God’s vision that the congregation can contemplate the expression thereof through a mission statement. That is to say that the vision precedes the mission (at least on a local church level). Without a vision from God concerning what He wants, you do not have a mission.

4. Empower People (v. 21) As Church leaders, we are in a people business. We are not in a building business, a program business, a philosophy business, or a budget business. To be sure, we use buildings, philosophies, programs, and budgets.

However, each of these is a means to an end, not an end unto themselves. We are in the church for people.

To say it another way; no people, no church!

As such, God has commanded us to shepherd the people in such a way as to empower them to carry out the work of the ministry. Moses did just that. He gave them the responsibility to deal with the matters brought before them, and he dealt with only those things that nobody else could handle.

To be continued…

To be sure, leadership is as difficult a discipline to learn and master as any other discipline you run across. But don’t become discouraged in your efforts to better your leadership. The old adage is appropriate: prac-

tice makes perfect!

Dr. Michael Atherton has served as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, O’Fallon, MO for 15 years. Leading a church in a church merger, he has learned firsthand the challenges of a revitalizer. Mike is the author of The Revitalized Church. Mike leads a Mentored Master of Divinity program at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and is past President of the Colorado Baptist Convention.

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2

Non-Negotiables for the Revitalization Pastor

By John Kimball

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evitalizing any local church is the work of God’s Holy Spirit; however, it requires a very active partnership with the church’s pastor as well. Having revitalized several churches (and coached many pastors on the process), I can tell you from firsthand experience that there are at least two habits that are non-negotiable: Good Sabbath rhythms and persistent intercessory prayer.

Sabbath Rhythms Many pastors simply do not rest well – they do not “decompress” as they should. Some pastors proudly tell of how they limit their vacations or days off for the kingdom work. This is dangerous to their health, their families and their witness. Sabbath itself was the first thing God led man to do once he was created. God made it a command. God takes rest and personal time with Him very seriously.

Pastoring a healthy church is challenging enough – revitalizing a plateaued or declining one requires pastoral reserves that most do not realize until it is too late. Establishing good Sabbath rhythms before entering any revitalization process is mandatory.

Revitalization can lead to burnout for the unprepared pastor. And refocusing a congregation from a state of personal exhaustion is a recipe for personal disaster.

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Things to consider: 1. Do you take your regularly scheduled Sabbath day for real rest and renewing your walk with God? Or do you use it for anything else? Do you regularly skip it?

2. Do you plan intensive prayer and planning retreats (perhaps even with your leaders) at least annually? How much of that time is truly spent on your knees in intercession for your church and community?

3. Have you and your family planned out your vacation(s) for the next 12 months? Is it actually away from the church? And how long does it take you to unwind so that you can be fully present for your family?

Revitalization (along with the angst and conflict it breeds) is among the most stressful but exhilarating work a pastor can do. One can only live off the adrenaline for so long. Good Sabbath patterns are a non-negotiable.

Intercessory Prayer The second non-negotiable for a pastor leading local church revitalization is intercessory prayer. Sim-

ply defined, intercessory prayer is passionate and persistent prayer on behalf of others (sometimes for yourself ) for the will of God to come to fruition in their lives. It is the bedrock of revitalization work.

Keep in mind that all intercession is prayer, but not all prayer is intercession. Paul identifies at least four different kinds of prayer:

ambassadors, ushering in His dominion over soul after soul (Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 5:1721). Real revitalization (that is, something significantly more than just organizational reformation) cannot happen without intercession – and it must be led by Christ’s under-shepherd for that flock (the pastor).

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone…” (1 Timothy 2:1)

Things to consider:

First Paul talks about “requests.” This kind of prayer is akin to making a plea before our heavenly Father – like those instantaneous crisis prayers we make when we hear bad news. Next he mentions “prayers,” or what we might call conversational prayer with our heavenly Father. This is the kind of prayer we do “without ceasing” all throughout our day. Third, Paul references “intercession,” which is the other-oriented “war on the floor” we are called to in order to expand Jesus’ rule and reign over our communities. Finally, “thanksgiving,” or simply expressions of gratitude we lift up all day long as we watch God work in our midst. All of these are critical, but it is often intercessory prayer that remains lacking from revitalization work.

Intercession is one of those tasks that the pastor cannot delegate to someone else. Many can and should be invited to join in the endeavor; however, the pastor must remain in the lead on this one and must demonstrate intercession as a priority for the whole congregation or revitalization will be minimal at best. Revitalization realigns the body with her God-given mission – reconnecting them all with the community. Intercessory prayer’s other-orientation is a foundational component in turning the hearts of the people back to the outside world, and back to the heart of God Himself.

Intercessory prayer fosters spiritual breakthroughs.

It is a primary tool God gives us to demolish strongholds, arguments and pretensions that set themselves up to enslave people and resist the rule and reign of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). It is one of the ways we experience everything God has bestowed upon us for life and ministry, and to literally become more like Christ as we participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4). It is the way we exercise our authority as Christ’s commissioned

1. How much time do you personally set aside each day for concerted, uninterrupted intercession?

2. How are you leading intercession with your church’s leadership team? In what ways are you making intercessory prayer a priority for every gathering?

3. How are you fostering an intercessory prayer priority within your congregation? In Sunday school?

In small groups? At other gatherings?

4. How often does your church family gather for the singular purpose of intercessory prayer for your community? How are you gathering information so you know you’re praying strategically?

There are many other spiritual disciplines that undergird the work of local church revitalization, but these two -- good Sabbath rhythms and persistent intercessory prayer -- cannot be minimized. The work of turning a church around is hard enough with these in their proper place. Without them, the pastor can be rendered ineffective and exhausted.

John Kimball is the lead pastor/planter of Palmwood Church just outside of Orlando, Florida. He is director of Church Development for his denomination, the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, and is a trainer and coach with the Praxis Center for Church Development. John also runs The Beaumeadow Group, a small business helping churches, non-profits and businesses with communication tools and strategies.

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Courage is His Middle Name

By J. David Jackson Two days ago I sat across a table from Charles (not his real name). Charles recently completed two years of ministry as pastor of this 200+ year old church. He told me of his desire to see growth and revitalization come to the congregation, and it was easy to hear the passion in his voice.

When I asked him what was keeping him from implementing his plans, he began to tell me about Mrs. Whitney. A third generation family member of the church with significant influence among many people in the church.

The challenge came when Pastor Charles decided to change a few things about the facility and the worship experience.

Though Mrs. Whitney doesn’t attend very often, she has been vocal and adamant in her opposition to any such changes. This was her church and she wasn’t about to see these changes take place.

Most of us have encountered a Mrs. Whitney or two in our own congregations. They challenge our leadership, and they oppose our ideas. Don’t rock the boat, and everything seems alright. Attempt to change anything, and suddenly the new pastor finds out who has the real influence in the church.

In general, plateaued or declining churches have determined not to change in such situations. But an effective revitalizer knows a church must change.

Consider Joshua, the man God chose to follow Moses. Joshua 1:9 relays the third time in the first nine verses of the book bearing his name that Joshua is told to be courageous. How

would you like to follow Moses, one of the most revered leaders in the history of God’s people? He was essentially the only leader those alive at this time had ever known. But he had essentially taken them nowhere for forty years, just round and round in the wilderness. They were on a plateau of biblical proportions!

God selects Joshua to lead the children of Israel to a new place, in a new way. Three times, he is told he must be courageous and even says “very courageous”! Courage in such a situation is essential. It is necessary. But initiating movement is hard in the face of years of atrophy. It takes boldness. It takes confidence. It takes wisdom. It takes strength.

So, what’s a revitalizer to do? Recognize these things: Personalities change. As with Moses, the change from one leader to the next can be imposing. Longer tenured leaders, especially those dearly loved, leave storied legacies of influence. New leaders build credibility every time they invest in relationships and demonstrate effectiveness in ministry.

Over time, they give evidence to God’s hand upon them.

Even then, they must exhibit courage, like Joshua, in the attempt to affect change, as opposition is certain to confront them. People are different, and every person brings value. As the old adage goes, “Be yourself. Everybody else is already taken.” But that takes courage, in the face of pressure to be like previous leaders. Patient perseverance wins the day.

Methodologies change. With Joshua, God chose to add new ways to move His people forward, including march-

ing around the city of Jericho in a manner different from the ways He had worked in their midst previously. I suspect many of the children of Israel had doubts about the method. Some may have even grumbled and complained. But the evidence of God’s direction upon the life of Joshua seems to have convinced them to follow His lead. Courageous revitalizers remember that methods change, though the message never does. They will lead people to change as needed with the times.

Results change. For both leaders, the results were different.

Moses led a people out of Egypt; but Joshua led a new generation of the people into the Promised Land. Revitalizers can’t measure their success simply by results; they will differ.

They must have the courage to be faithful to God’s calling, and leave the results to God. Trusting in His sovereignty and being content in His control needs to be enough. Only His perspective on this is legitimate.

God and His Word remain the same. Moses and Joshua both learned the importance of obedience to God. When they did honor this with dedication, they were successful in their efforts on His behalf. When they didn’t obey, they and the children of Israel suffered the consequences. They learned that it may take courage to be obedient in the face of adversity, ridicule, or betrayal, but to shrink in cowardice brought a much greater cost. The pastor in a church revitalization effort must acknowledge the same reality: God and His Word do not change. The more ready leadership is to submit to this truth, the quicker it will move beyond doubt and fear to courage and freedom.

Revitalizers are leaders who show courage when dealing with the issues found in the plateaued or declining church.

What are these issues? In my experience, the issues leaders must face often revolve around these four things: Courage to confront idolatry. This takes many forms in churches, from facilities to order of worship to previous pastors, all of which are held by some to be of more value than Christ Himself. These things and others replace the “first love” of our hearts, Jesus Christ, and as such become idols that must be confronted with courage and determination. Idols must be torn down for Jesus to reign supreme.

Courage to confront challengers. Individuals who resist God-anointed leadership, like Achan, are dangerously close to judgement. To be clear, I’m not talking about those who oppose heresy in the pulpit, or self-appointed importance.

I’m talking about opinions and perspective, often couched in the form of “we’ve never done it that way before,” or “we don’t like you or your leadership, so we refuse to follow.”

While unanimous agreement will virtually never happen on any issue of change, revitalizers must have the courage to “speak the truth in love,” have thick-skin, and confront opposition biblically.

Courage to confront apathy. This is the biggest issue in most plateaued or declining churches. They have grown to be “at ease in Zion.” They are internally-focused, do no outreach, and often care little about the lost community around them. In fact, they may intentionally attempt to avoid them, by planning events and strategies to “escape” the evil world.

This apathy or indifference is the antithesis of our Lord’s heart, in leaving heaven to come to earth for us. Revitalizers must confront comfort and convenience for the sake of eternity, and place them on the altar of sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel.

Courage to please God not man. Too many church leaders need people to like them, and as a result, may neglect to speak the truth. The need for approval from others can even lead them to ignore what they know is needed, and rationalize it as necessary to have the ability to minister among their congregation. While they may be able to serve these people who like them, such leaders will never truly lead them without the willingness to confront them when they fail to place obedience to God as the highest priority in life. Only courage will enable revitalizers to do that, a courage that finds confidence in God and fears Him more than man.

So my friend Charles has a choice to make with Mrs. Whitney. Back down in fear, allowing her defiance and idolatry to cause the entire church to suffer, or have courage to step up and challenge her and the rest of the church to follow Jesus forward into a different but secure future, even at the risk of personal loss. That takes confidence in the Savior. That takes strength found in the everlasting arms. That takes courage to confront the obstacles in the way.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run, it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” And it is Jesus, and Him alone, who gives us such strength.

J. David Jackson serves to encourage, equip, and empower church planters, pastors, and churches to partner with the Lord Jesus Christ in planting churches and extending His kingdom throughout the six state region of New England.

He is author of the book ReNEW: Traveling the Forgotten Path which can be found at amazon.com. Jackson can be reached at drjdavidjackson@gmail.com.

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By Steve Smith

Avoiding Danger for the Revitalization Pastor

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hurch revitalization is a spiritual venture. It’s not a business venture. Nor is it a programmatic venture. It is a partnership where God, through you, brings renewed purpose and spiritual health to a congregation who has lost sight of why God brought them into existence in the first place.

You will immediately find that you are working with damaged people. Some are very nice people.

They want to be helpful, but their lack of spiritual life will keep them ineffective. Some are ugly to the depth of their soul and don’t mind showing that side of themselves. They will fight you and do their best to thwart any changes that threaten their power base. Some are potential co-workers willing to join you in the process, but they carry disappointments of past revitalization failure by your predecessors and therefore harbor unspoken fears.

In the church where God used me to bring revitalization, I saw that the congregation was in great need of spiritual renewal before anything else. But before I could address their spiritual life, I myself had to be changed deeply within. I had thought I was okay spiritually, but the experiences of leading a church opened my eyes to how false a belief that was. My lack of spiritual health made me a bad risk for the church. I needed to pursue intimacy with God so I could be healed. I needed to allow Him to address my hidden sins and cleanse me so that the enemy would not use my brokenness to upend all that God would do.

Lacking awareness of the need for personal renewal is a great danger for the revitalization pastor. I watched a number of gifted men crash and burn spiritually even while they seemed to be bringing renewal to their congregation. The stunning effect of a pastor’s failure, be it indulging

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in immorality or just giving up and burning out, has brought churches to their knees—not in prayer, but in defeat. The opportunity was lost. The church went back to ineffective drifting because damaged believers were damaged again.

This is the hidden side of revitalization that pastors can miss because we assume our spiritual lives are okay. My moment of truth came at the end of my second year of ministry at the church. Outwardly things were not going badly at this church—my congregation loved me!—but I realized how deceived I was about myself. I was undone, so I prayed, “Lord, unless you take control of my life, nothing eternal will come out it in my marriage, my family or my ministry.” For the first time in my life, I really pursued intimacy with Him. The critical disciplines that the church revitalizer needs are all about knowing God better. They are more important than mastering new leadership skills, than a renewed commitment to studying the Word, than learning how to build teams or investing in people. Foundational to your effectiveness for ministry—revitalization or any other work in Jesus’ kingdom—is pursuing intimacy with God. There are three spiritual disciplines I practice regularly that God has used to deepen my relationship with Him. I call them the ‘Done Disciplines.’ They are disciplines because believers do not innately do them. We have to practice them until they become as natural as breathing.

They are done disciplines because they allow us to access what God has already done for us in Christ.

They are not about what we already know about God from the Scriptures, but about knowing the One who knows us completely and is able to change us from the inside out.

These disciplines are simple, but they are not automatic. You have to decide that you will surrender to them so that you can know God better. These three are:

Rest: Rest is about being with God without an

agenda. It is being with Him without a prayer list or a devotional thought for the day. Instead, it is about building an interactive relationship, being still to know He is God (Psalm 46:10), listening for His voice (John 10:3), asking Him for mercy and grace for your time of need (Hebrews 4:16). It is coming to Him weary and burdened and being given rest (Matthew 11:28).

I started spending time alone with God. I found a place to go away from my books and the distractions of home so I could listen to whatever He had to say. I worked at this, because it was not something I had ever done before. What was normal was to study the Bible so I could deliver my next sermon. Being alone without that agenda led me to have conversations with God, to worship Him deeper, to recognize His gifts to me, His presence with me, in ways I had never seen. He showed me things about myself I had ignored— things that I would surrender to His reign—to make me progressively into the person He created me to be.

Appropriation: Appropriation is freely taking

the hope, riches and power God has given you (Ephesians 1:18-19) without hesitation. No begging. No fear. Your need filled at the moment you reach out to take.

When I first entered into this spiritual renewal process with God, I was deeply addicted to a number of sinful actions, some of which were already painfully in the process of destroying me.

One actively was sucking time and intimacy out of my relationship with my wife, Shirley. And though I knew this, I could not stop. I was addicted. It controlled me. But then I started appropriating the spiritual power that God had given me. The addiction released its grip on me, and I was free for the first time in years. Not because I fought it with my own strength. Through appropriation, not only was I not acting on my addiction, it no longer controlled my desires. Yet I know I would have never been freed in this and other areas if I had not been willing to admit my need and take

what I needed from what God had already given me for this very purpose.

Meditation on Christ’s love: Meditation is

a deep dive into understanding His changeless love. In Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul prays that his readers would grasp the love of Christ. Paul lasers in on their need for understanding a love that is so beyond them it is humanly incomprehensible. Yet understanding it is necessary for being filled with the full measure of God. The personal grip of His love is your greatest security in this alarming process of renewal. It is the only thing that really frees you so you will rest in Him. His love is what causes you to trust the safeness of God in the middle of your renewal process when you are anything but whole and clean.

Meditating means intentionally taking time— perhaps every day at the start—to focus your thoughts on passages like Romans 8:31-39 and 1 John 4:7-12. You will ask God to show you how wide, long, high and deep is His love for you. Or what His love has done for you. Or why He never stops loving you. As you think on these things, the lies that you have believed about God fade away.

You find God is approachable like the Father He is.

Your trust in Him deepens.

These disciplines will renew you fundamentally.

When they do, you will be ready to be used to lead your church in renewal.

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, a mentor and coach to pastors and young leaders. For more information, go to: www.ChurchEquippers.com

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Dynamic Small Groups:

The Secret Power of Enrollment A Ministry List that leads to Growth and Discipleship

By Fred Boone

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istory has proven that effective growing small groups have adopted the core values that their groups would “reach, teach and minister” to the members of the group.

Every group should see their purpose is to reach people and grow their group to the point that it births another group. The principle is simple “addition = multiplication”.

This brings us to the proven principle of “Enrollment” and how this can impact the success of a group. Enrollment should be viewed as a “Ministry List”, but it should be more than just a list of the group members it should be understood that it is a strategy.

Why should a small group ministry focus on enrollment? It is a tool that will allow your group to reach more people, minister to more people and a powerful way to assimilate new members. Consider this fact: when a new church member is not involved in a small group only eighteen percent will still be active in the church five years later. However, for every member that becomes an active member in a small group, eighty percent will still be active in the church five years later. Enrollment should be the core of a comprehensive small group strategy. It should be the foundation for other practices common in healthy, growing small groups. Consider what Elmer Towns said about the church that fails to have an Enrollment Strategy. “An effective effort was made to pair the roll down to those who actually attended rather than using the roll as a pool from which to draw prospects or visitors. While this was intended to more accurately reflect church attendance, it indirectly contributed to an attendance decline. Attendance suffered because marginal members (those not on roll) were neglected. Enrolling new members was not

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emphasized because all energy was placed on attendance. The enrollment “window of entry” was lost.

The church was left with one less way of reaching people.” Increasing enrollment alone will not grow attendance, but you can’t sustain growth without increasing enrollment.

Let me share with you some interesting facts about Enrollment. Some years ago a major denomination did a comprehensive study of several thousand churches and here are some amazing facts that were learned about the churches that practiced the concept of open enrollment.

By “open enrollment” we mean that the group is not a closed group and new members are added on a regular bases. The group is especially looking for lost members. For every two people enrolled in a group one will attend. In other words you will average 50% in attendance of every person you have enrolled in your group.

One out of every three lost people enrolled will be saved and only one out of every two hundred fifty lost people will be saved outside of the group. Involving the lost person in weekly Bible study proves the Law of Three Hearings which says when a person is exposed to multiple presentations of the gospel there is greater possibility of them making a decision for Christ. When the lost person attends Bible study for several weeks the Holy Spirit works in conviction and the Word works in their heart toward regeneration. This means that the group that has as it’s mission to reach lost people for Christ, is one of the most powerful evangelistic methods known. With this in mind every group should adopt an “Open Enrollment

Policy” that simple says we will enroll anyone, anywhere, and anytime. You are always looking for that next member.

The small group provides a sound method for any church to connect members together and assimilate them into the life of the church. Thom Rainer discovered in his research which formed the bases for his book “High Expectations” that the three most effective assimilation tools for effective churches was 1) a Healthy Small Group Ministry, 2) a New Members/New Christian’s Class, 3) an Emphasis on Relationships. As you can see small groups and relationships, which go hand in hand were key to effective growing churches. When a group is challenged to build their group by enrolling new members they take ownership. The members take responsibility for the spiritual health of each other. They feel obligated to follow-up with absentees and they are more likely to minister to each other. When a person is enrolled in a group four things happen:

into the goals they take ownership for the success of the group. Consider the example of Cornelius, a Roman army officer. He gathered his family and friends to hear the Word of God (Acts 10:24). They came ready to listen and they were saved (Acts 10:33-48). Members will become more committed and excited about the work of their small group as they take ownership with a simple strategy of enrollment. Enrollment goals encompass all members and gives everyone responsibility.

There are several barriers to enrollment that the wise leader needs to be aware of. The closed-membership barrier, which I call the “us four and no more group.” This attitude develops clicks and makes it impossible for new people to connect. The multiple-attendance barrier says that you must attend consecutive sessions without a break before you can be enrolled in the group. The purge-the-rolls barrier implies that all non-attenders will be dropped from enrollment. The lack-of-motivation barrier reveals the heart and vision of the group.

Finally, the enrollment-is-not-important barrier exposes the groups lack of understanding of the power and principle of enrollment.

“As we increase our enrollment we will have more places to sow the seed.”

Intercession: The person can be prayed for regularly whether they attend weekly or are struggling spiritually.

Invitation: The person can be regularly invited to participate in fellowship opportunities where meaningful relationships can be developed.

Involvement: The person is encouraged to engage in Bible Study that strengthens their relationship to God, to family, and to Kingdom service.

Inclination: The person is challenged and more likely to engage in evangelism and outreach than a person not enrolled in a small group.1 Enrollment makes all this possible.

A sound enrollment strategy is measurable and has monthly and annual goals. Every group should be challenged to develop their own goals. But a rule of thumb would be to set a goal to increase enrollment by twenty five percent annually. When members buy

Many years ago two of my mentors instilled in me the importance of enrollment and a need for me to lead my small group leaders to set enrollment goals. I saw every church I served grow through small groups and one principle continued to be a key to growth, ENROLLMENT. But I asked the question: Why? Then one morning during my quiet-time I was reading Psalm 126:5-6 and the Lord revealed to me the “Secret Power of Enrollment.” I call it the principle of the “Burdened Heart.”

In this Psalm we see that the one that sows in tears (we sow the Word of God) will reap with joy! (You will see people saved). As we increase our enrollment (the field is enlarged) we have more places to sow the seed.

ENROLLMENT: a proven law that leads to growth and discipleship.

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

1 Sunday School Mentoring Guidebook, Sunday School/Open Group Ministries Georgia Baptist Convention

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We Either Advance or Retreat

By Chad McCarthy In September of 2003, showman David Blaine attempted an unusual feat. Blaine’s stunt was an attempt to complete a forty-four days water fast.

Voluntarily going without food for a few days can be incredibly difficult. Doing so for more than forty days is beyond difficult. What made this stunt so remarkable was that Blaine attempted this feat while suspended high in the air in a clear plastic box. While fasting forty-four days would be a difficult task in itself, the fact that Blaine did so while locked in a clear plastic box seven feet high seven feet long and three feet wide— all while suspended from a crane— made this feat much more arduous. Doctors anticipated Blaine would lose about approximately forty-five lbs. Not only did Blaine experience substantial weight loss, he also experienced substantial muscle loss. He did so due to muscle atrophy, the result of inactivity. Just as our physical muscles atrophy when not used, so also do our spiritual muscles. Both physically and spiritually, we are either advancing or retreating. We are either making progress or we are regressing.

Anyone involved in church revitalization for any length of time will affirm the mental and spiritual challenges that usually accompany church revitalization. Just as an athlete must regularly train in order to meet the challenge and rigor of his or her sport, so the church revitalizer must practice spiritual disciplines in order to competently meet the challenges that face church leaders given to the task of church revitalization.

Begin by Admitting the Truth While giving his testimony Robby Gallaty testifies how God saved him from a life of drug and alcohol use. He offers familiar advice, reminding his audience that before victory may be achieved, a person must first admit there is a problem. 1 Gallaty speaks on behalf of an SBC focus group intent on coming 1 See Robby Gallaty’s video at Robby Gallaty, “The Leading Factor in the Maturity of a Disciple Is Bible Engagement,” 80by20, accessed July 30, 2018, www.80by20. org

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to a better understanding of church health. While Gallaty’s research focuses on Southern Baptist churches, the value of his research crosses denominational lines. The problem Gallaty addresses is by no means a Southern Baptist problem, it is a Christian problem. According to Gallaty, the Southern Baptist Convention has lost millions of church attenders over the last twenty years.2 The Southern Baptist Convention is not alone. God-fearing denominations and independent church movements all across the industrialized world are facing a similar dilemma. Recent Barna research shows that eighty percent of those attending church do not feel close to God, those who do attend church are attending less often, and of those that attend, only 6% feel they learned anything about God or Jesus the last time they attended.3 Although some millennials will eventually return to the church, some 59% of millennials that have attended church in the past have stopped attending.4 Admitting the truth means we admit that, for the most part, few churches in the western world are doing well at meeting the needs of this up and coming generation. Are you willing to make this admission?

Spiritual Discipline of Bible Engagement Following ten years of research, Lifeway Research has empirically demonstrated the number one leading indicator of spiritual growth in the life of a believer is that of Bible engagement.5 According to Gallaty, Bible engagement “is more than just reading the Bible, it is allowing the word of God and God himself to lead us and change our direction, 2 Ibid 3 Barna, “Americans Divided Over the Importance of Church,” www.barna.com, March 24, 2014, https://www. barna.com/research/americans-divided-on-the-importance-of-church/#.VL09cYh0ycx 4 Ibid 5 Gallaty, “The Leading Factor in the Maturity of a Disciple is Bible Engagement.”

our actions, and our thinking.”6 With less than fifty percent of believers engaging the Bible on a weekly basis,7 there is much room for growth. Gallaty summarizes the significance of Lifeway’s findings by noting that when believers begin to engage the Bible, this Bible engagement begins to spill over into others areas of life. As people engage the Bible they give more, they serve more, they share the gospel more often.8 A big takeaway for church revitalizers is the reality that we ourselves must be practicing the spiritual discipline of Bible engagement before we can lead others to do the same.

Spiritual Disciplines Start with Us As Lifeway Research demonstrates, believers not regularly engaging the Bible tend to lead weak spiritual lives. The family life of church leaders often serves as a petri dish of sorts, showing what happens when we fail to authentically live out our faith at home. Far too often, children of parents in Christian leadership fall to the wayside. This happens so often it has become cliché. There are a variety of reasons why this tends to be the case.

Many agree a contributing factor to this disturbing trend is the frequency with which church leaders focus on ministry in the church above ministry in the home. A Christian leader’s first responsibility is to minister to his family. Just as the Christian minister’s first priority is to minister to his or her family, so the church revitalizer must first commit to walking with Christ before attempting to lead others to do the same. Church health starts with us. As believers and as church revitalizers, we cannot give what we are not ourselves experiencing. Above and beyond all other spiritual disciplines, church revitalizers must commit to personally practicing the spiritual discipline of Bible engagement. Just as our children often get pushed to the periphery, so also our own engagement with the Scriptures often does the same. Healthy church revitalization requires church revitalizers prioritize Bible engagement.

Prayer, Fasting, and Other Spiritual Disciplines It should be noted that spiritual disciplines are ac6 Ibid 7 Ibid 8 Ibid

tivities, not attitudes. Spiritual disciplines are activities in which we intentionally engage for the purpose of developing spiritual strength. The apostle Paul teaches the value of spiritual disciplines in 1 Timothy 4:7, writing, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (NASB). As Paul describes in the above verse, spiritual disciplines serve as a means to godliness— and while a means to godliness, they are not in and of themselves evidence of godliness.9 Spiritual disciplines, when practiced with right intent, develop the believer spiritually as much as physical exercise develops us physically.

As the apostle Paul makes clear in Ephesians 6:12, every believer faces a spiritual battle. No doubt, this is especially true for church leaders involved in revitalization works. While it is true that no believer should minimize the reality of spiritual warfare, arguably, this is doubly true for church revitalizers.

Church revitalizers carry a weight of responsibility not only for their own souls, but also for the souls of those they shepherd. Church revitalizers must not take lightly the need to stand strong in the face of temptation, discouragement and, at times, even depression. Healthy church revitalization requires a commitment to intentionally growing in one’s own walk with the Lord. A critical means of spiritual growth takes place through the activities of spiritual disciplines. As Don Whitney so clearly notes, while these disciplines themselves do not guarantee godliness, they serve as an effective means of growing in godliness— a means we cannot afford to neglect.

9 Don Whitney, “What Are Spiritual Disciplines?,” www. desiringgod.org, December 31, 2015, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-are-spiritual-disciplines.

Chad McCarthy has spent a decade and a half working in church planting in Iowa and Arkansas, followed by time in Wisconsin serving as a preaching pastor. He works as a church revitalizer consultant at large, while finishing up a Ph.D. through Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is particularly interested in the question of how equipping the church to better fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission command to make disciples impacts biblical church revitalization.

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Helpful vs. Hurting Disciplines: How to Thrive by Choosing the Best Spiritual Practices

Having pastored in small, medium-size and mega-churches (as well as planting a church), I realized there were certain spiritual disciplines that when embraced my life and ministry flourished. I also realized that when I ignored them my ministry became difficult and unstable.

Having coached hundreds of churches in the past 20 years, I’ve come to believe these four areas of personal discipline are critical for not only having an impact in ministry, but for being happy as well.

Accountable vs. Being Independent Usually when a church needs to be revitalized, it gives the turnaround leader a great deal of control. And why not, if the church has been failing under its previous strategies and tactics, then shouldn’t the new shepherd be allowed to implement their own approach?

If the turnaround leader did not have much control in their previous ministry, this can exacerbate the situation. I’ve noticed that some leaders may undertake a turnaround because they look forward to having some independence. When congregations are desperate to survive, they may give inexperienced turnaround leaders carte blanche to do what is right the leader’s eyes.

This dual empowerment can be good if the leader is skilled, experienced and equipped to be a church revitalizer. And after all, equipping the church revitalizer with the skills necessary is the purpose of Church Re-

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vitalizer magazine. But if a leader is still learning about the dynamics of a turnaround church, the resultant independence that the congregation bestows upon the leader can be the/ leader’s undoing.

Recent news stories have pointed out that ethical failures in pastors often seem to be the result of too much independence and not enough accountability. The turnaround pastor and a struggling church’s desire for someone to lead the congregation out of its marginalization, can inadvertently give the leader so much independence that the leader does not have the accountability or professional oversight needed.

Solution: If you are a turnaround leader, then seek out accountability. Don’t just seek out like-minded peers who are going through the same professional and spiritual battles. And just don’t seek out one person, but rather seek out a group of individuals that can give you guidance.

One of the thorniest questions the early church had to battle was what to do with Paul’s new ministry to nonJews. This was a substantial and divisive issue. However, Paul submitted not to an individual, but to a council of godly leaders which we know today as the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). Having an accountability to a godly group not only sharpened Paul’s theological insights, but also gave him a platform of accountability that would help most of his detractors overlook his former life as a persecutor of the faith.

Mentee vs. Being a Mentor This means being a mentee, in addition to being accountable. But often turnaround leaders are tempted to be the mentor more than the mentee. In my personal life I found that as my ministry increased, others wanted me to mentor them. Not only was I honored, but I was told I had the gift of teaching and therefore I enjoyed mentoring others.

But the times when I suffered the most were when I was mentoring others but no one was mentoring me. In my town I sought out the lead pastor of a large nearby church. And though we were very theologically different, we became fast friends and he became my mentor. Later he went on to become the president of a nationally recognized theological seminary.

In the times we spent together in his kitchen, I realized the challenges I was facing he had already faced years before, and he had insights from the encounters. In much the way Paul mentored Timothy (1 and 2 Timothy), a more experienced leader can bring needed encouragement to a pastor who is encountering daily frustrations in turning around a church.

the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12-16). When turning around client churches I have found it most helpful to get people’s eyes off of the pastor as expert, and start seeing the pastor as their trainer and equipper. An important personal discipline for the turnaround pastor is to train and delegate to others important tasks rather than trying to do it all oneself. This means seeing the potential in people and even giving them the chance to flounder at times. It means having less perfection in our churches and more opportunity for participation.

Family Time vs. Church Time

“Recent news stories have pointed out that ethical failures in pastors often seem to be the result of too much independence and not enough accountability.”

Solution: Find a mentor and submit to being a mentee.

No matter how long you’ve been in ministry, there is probably someone who has encountered what you are encountering now, and can offer perspective and biblical insight. The New Testament precedent is a one-onone relationship with someone who has already countered the challenges which a turnaround pastor is daily encountering.

Equipper vs. Being an Expert As ministry impact increases, people often start to look to the leader as “the expert.” This can be exacerbated when a church is struggling and looking for any help.

The result is that the congregation and the leader may put too much of the burden upon the leader.

As a result, turnaround leaders tend to undertake the most important things themselves. They tend to do most of the preaching themselves, they tend to do most of the organization themselves, they tend to run the meetings themselves, they tend to do most of the evangelism themselves, etc. etc. An all too common result is a burned-out pastor and a church that feels even less likely to turn around.

Solution: As pastor your job is to equip the believers for

Finally, the fourth area is the important aspect of carving out time with your earthly family and your heavenly family (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). During some of my most successful years in ministry my children were young. And though they have great memories from their childhood, I wish I’d spent a bit more time with them. I could have had more deep dialogues with them. I could have known them even better. And this is good not only for our earthly family, but our heavenly family as well.

Solution: Later in my years as a turnaround pastor I found that I benefited greatly by taking two days off every week to be with my earthly family (recreation) and my heavenly family (in scriptural meditation and prayer). On those two days every week I did no church business. I viewed those days as a sabbatical. If God, the all powerful creator of the universe took off a seventh day to rest (commanding it upon his children as one of his 10 commands) then I need something more regular and restful than a couple of partial days off each week.

These four principles helped me not only survive ministry, but enjoy it and thrive in it.

Bob Whitesel (D.Min. and Ph.D., Fuller Seminary) has been called “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today” by a national magazine and ranks as one of the nation’s most sought after church health and growth consultants. An award-winning author of 13 books, he founded an accredited seminary (Welsey Seminary at IWU) and created one of the nation’s most respected church health and growth consulting firms: ChurchHealth.net

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Does God really set people free?

Or are we just talking?

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

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

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

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

Dr. Phil Phillips, Ft. Myers, FL

The local church is the only organization that can facilitate eternal hope, lasting change, and total transformation in the lives of people and communities everywhere. Even so, today’s local churches are often in desperate need of renewal and revitalization themselves. In The Revitalized Church, Pastor Michael Atherton uses his firsthand experiences to show how a local church community can once again become vibrant. The Revitalized Church shares Atherton’s eighteen-month journey merging two church communities with a common vision and discusses the challenges and the victories he encountered. In addition, he examines the key biblical leadership principles that were used to help sustain the church community.

Breaking Up the Logjam

By Bud Brown

H

is first remark in our coaching session surprised me. He said, “I had an interesting experience. I surprised myself. I was dealing with the typical static you run into when you’re trying to change things. It didn’t frustrate me. I realized that church revitalization lies on the other side of conflict. My job is to lead through it, so the church can grow. That’s a new revelation for me.”

He reframed adversity as a challenge rather than an obstacle. I couldn’t have been prouder of him. This long-suffering pastor turned a corner. Instead of stewing over a problem, he saw it as a challenge. Then he thought of solutions.

Solution Focused

Problems are a given in pastoral ministry. You have problems if you attempt church revitalization. You have them if you don’t. It doesn’t matter if you’ve pastored that church for decades or arrived recently.

Either way, you’ll have ample opportunity to master problem-solving skills.

Revitalization pastors are different than maintenance pastors. They differ in where they focus attention.

Maintenance pastors focus on problems. Revitalizers focus on solutions.

Let me illustrate the difference. I helped a church with a “can do” optimist as its lead pastor. Sudden, explosive growth had overwhelmed them. The staff pastors managed well, managers, but they were poor problem solvers. They knew how to manage when things ran well, but sometimes they stalled when things didn’t.

The problem du jour was a difficult dilemma: the church had run out of space for toddlers. The lead pastor told the staff pastors to figure out how to free up space. He wanted them in a prime location on campus, so parents would feel their children were safe.

They used the space to make coffee. They brewed coffee in this valuable space. From there they carried

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it to stations around the campus. 3,000 Sunday worshippers drink a lot of coffee. The lead pastor’s directive had the potential of wreaking havoc among the caffeinated.

It was fascinating to watch the staff pastors come up with dozens of reasons why it couldn’t be done. They focused on the problem. It stumped them. It frustrated them. And they were angry with the lead pastor for even suggesting it.

When the objections slowed to a crawl I decided to step in to shift their focus. I pointed to the blueprints and asked, “Why do you need that janitor’s closet there?”

It was sandwiched between the men’s and women’s bathrooms in the main lobby. “You’ve got plumbing right there and there’s enough space. Move the prep station there and put the janitor’s closet someplace else.” A shift of focus broke the logjam. Ideas flowed.

They soon found a solution. The burgeoning toddler population had the needed space, the baristas had plenty of room, and the staff learned a valuable lesson.

There’s a reason maintenance pastors fail to lead church revitalization. They focus on problems. They ruminate. They fret. They work up a sense of helplessness. They conclude, “nothing will work in this church.

No matter what I try, it will be futile.” They remain mired in the past because that’s where the problems they’re focused on originated.

Revitalizers focus on solutions. They look to the future.

They’ll think about a problem long enough to gather information. Then they move into solution mode.

This solution focused approach is natural for a small percentage of pastors. The research does not identify how many, but you can find tantalizing hints in the literature. My best guess is that it comes naturally to about 20% of pastors.

The rest of us need to learn the discipline. That underscores the importance of another discipline characteristic of revitalizers. They engage in long term mentoring relationships.

Mentoring Relationship

Rare is the pastor who is capable of transitioning from maintenance to revitalization leadership without help.

Consider the innumerable changes pastors must make in that transition. To be a revitalization pastor, you must acquire new skills, cultivate dormant abilities, adapt new self-perceptions, reevaluate values, and develop new ways of coping with challenges.

These changes must be permanent. You have to keep working on these things, deliberately and systematically. You want these new leadership behaviors to be automatic. If not, you will slip back into your previous ineffective leadership style.

The need for a mentor is obvious. The research tells us that this is a key indicator of whether a pastor makes a successful transition to becoming a revitalization leader. Those who maintain long term mentoring relationships are more effective turnaround leaders. In our practice we have seen that pastors who try to become revitalizers without the benefit of a coach almost always fail. This is why revitalization pastors practice the discipline of engaging with a mentor while their maintenance colleagues typically do not.

Coaches guide us in a process that clarifies our values and pinpoints what we’d like to accomplish. A mentor provides direction and guidance toward mastering the knowledge and skills needed to succeed as a church revitalizer. Since new knowledge and new skills are crucial to becoming a revitalization leader, a mentor is the order of the day.

Time Management

Those who would become revitalization pastors have a lot to learn. To create the time they’ll need for everything they need to learn, they practice time management. In light of all a pastor must learn, the need is self-evident.

To become an effective revitalization leader a pastor must understand adaptive leadership, change management, conflict resolution, self-differentiation, emotional intelligence, cultural competence, strategic planning, ministry alignment, time management, church growth principles, and an array of other knowledge. In addition to mastering such a broad body of knowledge, revitalization pastors must become skillful at wisely applying what they learn to the unique and

often idiosyncratic situations they encounter in their churches!

Current models of training for vocational ministry teach neither this information nor these skills. Pastors must learn all this on the job if they are to learn them at all. For these reasons we strongly encourage our clients to create a learning environment that consists of several key features. First, take control of their schedule to create time for crucial learning activities: •Six hours per week for concentrated reading •Two hours per month for a learning community •One hour per month for mentoring or coaching This schedule creates an environment that is essential to a permanent change in habit: a relationship with a respected authority that believes in you and creates hope, and a routine of regular practice and accountability.

A Disciplined Life

A few years back Forbes told the rest of the world what most pastors already know - and sadly, what most church members don’t: being a pastor is one of the five hardest jobs in the world. The task is even more daunting if you try to lead church revitalization.

Relatively few pastors have the skills needed to turn a church around. If God hasn’t made you with revitalization skills as standard equipment, don’t fret. You’re not alone; the majority is with you.

You, along with tens of thousands of your colleagues, can become an effective revitalization leader. A life of futile ministry is not your inescapable fate. By redesigning your life to master the best ministry and leadership practices that correlate with church revitalization, you can become a turnaround pastor. Start by learning the disciplines of solution focus, time management, and working with a mentor.

Bud Brown has ministered in a wide variety of settings, from small rural to midsized suburban to rapidly growing megachurches. He has trained and mentored international students, intentional interim pastors, doctoral students, and now serves as president of Turnaround Pastors (www. turnaroundpastor.com).

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Revitalization Disciplines for the Dog Days of Summer

By Darwin Meighan

It’s August, it’s hot and Major League baseball is now at the point of the season known by many as the dog days of summer. The 162-game season of professional baseball is one that requires incredibly focused discipline on the part of the manager, coaches, players and entire organization. From the start of spring training, which begins in late February, to the post season of October, there’s nearly 8 months of grueling, intense discipline required.

For the church revitalizer, leading the church toward the long, arduous journey of revitalization and renewal is one which also requires grueling and intense discipline. Perhaps the church you currently serve has experienced many consecutive seasons or years where spiritually it seems as if together you’re going through the dog days of summer again and again, and it’s been relentless. So, what do you do? If you’re the one leading the charge of seeing God turn around your church, remember the importance of practicing these essential disciplines:

Personal Renewal and Holiness The hot, dry, parched dog days of summer within the life of a church can take a toll on your spiritual walk with the Lord. You will experience times of extreme loneliness and isolation. In seasons such as these, remember the spiritual disciplines of your faith. Seek God for refreshment and renewal through reading and meditating on his Word, through prayer and asking God to fill you with his Spirit daily for guidance, wisdom and the strength to persevere through the challenging dog days of summer. God’s promises in Jeremiah 31:25, “For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

Prioritize Marriage and Family My wife and I recently attended a refreshing pastors and wives retreat, which our state convention orga-

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nized and hosted in Tucson, Arizona. Mark and Janet Dance, from Lifeway Resources, were the featured keynote speakers. Mark and Janet clearly communicated the priority of a pastor’s marriage relationship, followed by his family, as being second only to a pastor’s personal relationship with the Lord. So, pastor, date your wife. Spend time with your children. Take your day off.

Go on vacation. Put it on your calendar. Make it happen.

During the dog days of summer, leading your church in the revitalization journey, these are much needed, refreshing relationships God has blessed you with. Besides God himself, your wife and family love you most.

Enjoy God’s wondrous gift of marriage and family.

Commit for the Long Haul Seeing God revitalize your church is a process. It’s not a program. It’s not a one-time event. Revitalization is a spiritual process which happens under the leadership and lordship of Jesus Christ. This discipline for the revitalizing pastor is BIG! During the difficult dog days of summer in your church, there will be days you will want to give up. Believe me, there will be many, many days like this. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned serving the local church in a pastoral role for over 34 years now, it’s this: Turning a church around will not happen overnight. It is a spiritual process from God, and one of the keys to revitalization and renewal becoming a reality is the commitment of the pastor to stay at the church, providing spiritual leadership to the local congregation over the long haul.

Get a Vision from God If you currently serve a church struggling through the dog days of summer, either the church has plateaued, is stuck, declining or dying, and has been doing so for many years now, you must cry out to God in prayer. Perhaps you find yourself in a situation where you are desperate for a breakthrough. Remember, God has positioned your church in your city, town or community “for

sented to the church for affirmation and buy-in from the membership.

Develop, Empower and Release New Leaders

such a time as this,” to serve his purposes. Your church is strategically positioned by God. Your church, your people are not there by accident, but rather by the divine appointment of God. Pastor, you must hear from God the vision he has for your unique context and ministry setting. And Pastor, you are the one called by God to lead God’s people to fulfill his vision. Lead your people through the dog days of summer and on to experiencing wonderful days of refreshment and renewal in the Lord – bringing glory to his great name!

Put Together the Right Team If you’re going to put together a winning team, you need the right mix of players. Team chemistry is a key ingredient for every major league baseball striving to successfully navigate its way through the dog days of summer, toward the goal of playing in the postseason of October. If God has called you to revitalize your church, you need a team. In other words, don’t go it alone. As God begins to reveal to you his vision for the church, ask God for 5-7 people (this number will vary based on the size of your church) to join you to form a Vision Team or a Strategic Planning Team. This team will help you pray and work through what his vision will look like for your church. Pastor, forming this team is a crucial discipline in the church’s process toward renewal and revitalization. Ask God in prayer for his wisdom and discernment.

As you put together this team, you want to make sure you get the right people in the right seats.

Plan Strategically Over a period of 6-12 months, the Vision Team, under the pastor’s leadership will collaborate together toward the ultimate goal of developing a 3 to 5 year Vision Plan for the church. God’s plan for the church will include the church’s mission, vision, core values, goals and objectives, developing leaders and a process for evaluation and necessary adjustments along the way. Once the Vision Plan from the team is formulated, the plan is pre-

To see forward movement in your church, to persevere through and break out of the dog days of summer spiritually, as a church revitalizer you must be disciplined to develop a pipeline of new leaders. The exciting thing is, you need new leaders to fulfill the new vision God has given the church. In your ministry, next in priority to prayer and sermon preparation - raising up, developing, empowering and releasing new leaders is an essential discipline toward fulfilling God’s vision of making disciples, while building a culture of multiplication, making greater Kingdom impact with the Gospel.

Celebrate Wins For a major league baseball team, this is what it’s all about. After persevering through the 162-game season, including the dog days of summer, experiencing post season victories and winning the World Series is paramount. Winning a World Series is something to celebrate! Here’s the truth: As God’s people, we have more to celebrate than anyone else, including the team that just won the World Series. As a church revitalizer, once you’ve navigated through dog days of summer, look often for ways to celebrate as a renewed and revitalized body of believers. You may need to start by celebrating small wins. Perhaps your church has not had much to celebrate for a long time. The discipline of celebrating is a big deal. Teach your people how to celebrate the goodness of the Lord. Celebrate with thankful and grateful hearts. Celebrate wins. Celebrate the vision of a preferable future God has planned. Celebrate the victory we have in Christ Jesus.

Darwin Meighan is currently serving as the Senior Pastor at First Southern Baptist Church of Buckeye, Arizona.

The past five years, he has also been serving 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 a biblical process of renewal and hope. You may reach him by email: darwinmeighan@gmail.com

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Staying Focused in Church Revitalization

By Mark Weible Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) This harsh statement from Jesus reminds us of the serious nature of church revitalization. The plowman has to keep focused on the task at hand and the row ahead. Once he puts his hand to the plow, he is committed, he can’t look back or else he will be plowing crooked rows. If you jump into a church revitalization project, you’ve just committed yourself and the church to something that is going to require intense focus and attention for the next three to five years. If you are leading a church that is committed to going through the revitalization process, then you know how much the church and her individual members have already sacrificed to get to the point of agreeing to change. Now, comes the hard part. The challenge for church revitalizers from this point on is staying focused on the goal while the enemy tries to distract you. It takes a great deal of discipline to stay focused.

Staying Focused on the Future Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

(Phil. 3:13b-14)

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The greatest threat to a church’s future is her past.

As a church revitalizer, you don’t want to allow the church to stay stuck in the past. It is okay to acknowledge the past and to even celebrate the church’s history of accomplishments early on in the revitalization process. But, as soon as you lead the church to focus on the future, there is no time to look back.

So, let’s start with a celebration of the church’s past.

This can be done several ways. If the calendar allows, consider having a blow-out church anniversary celebration or homecoming event.

You can invite current and previous church members to speak and share their recollections of the past.

Consider publishing a church history for all to read. Plan a memorable event so that everyone can get the past out of their system and feel satisfied that history has been duly acknowledged. Have someone produce a visual presentation or video celebrating the church’s better days.

For one weekend and one weekend only, allow the church to go totally retro. Put a time-line up on the wall with significant church events of the past highlighted. Allow church members to write their own memories on the time line that are special to them. Consider making a chart that shows the tenure of previous pastors with an attendance line graph during each pastor’s reign. This will help church members to see where the greatest growth and decline actually took place and will help to silence those who advocate using a previous pastor’s methodology. Archive these things on the church’s website so that you can point people there who are

interested in the past without having to put any additional energy into it. The goal here is to put the past behind you, not by ignoring it, but by honoring it.

Once the church has had a good, healthy party for the past; agree to move on. From this point on, you should be talking up the glory days – not the ones gone by, but the ones yet to come. The church revitalizer must exercise the discipline of redirection whenever members try to bring up the past.

You want to practice saying something like this, “Yes, that is a great memory and we have honored the past, but remember we’ve agreed to focus on our future from now on.”

will do this intentionally and unintentionally. You may have silent opponents who are secretly resisting change and will try to get you to focus on something else. As a church revitalizer, you will have many opportunities to do good things. With a pastor’s heart, you will want to do them. But good things are not always the right things. As Jim Collins said, “Good is the enemy of Great.” 2 Nehemiah realized that he had a great project going on and that he should not stop the work on the Jerusalem wall to go to a meeting with his adversaries. He was wise enough to see what was going on and that nothing good could come from the meeting. So, he said “Oh No to Ono!” What is wrong with talking to people and trying to work out differences? Nothing if that is the goal of talking. While meeting with someone, or even ministering to a person in need might be good, you have to determine what is great. We all want to be liked and if we can function as peacemakers, we should. But it is important to note, that not everyone wants to make peace and they will use your willingness to do so as an opportunity to distract you from the task at hand.

“The greatest threat to a church’s future is her past.”

You start focusing on the future by having one.

The church revitalizer must constantly cast a vision of a preferred future for the church. Vision casting involves painting mental pictures for the majority of people who are not future-oriented.

It is hard work and you have to keep at it. The default setting for most people is to look back, so you will have to keep turning their heads to the future. Brett Eastman said, “People are motivated by vision that is constantly and consistently placed before them by their leaders.”1

Staying Focused on the Present

You have to successfully navigate the present before you can arrive at the future. So, to review, church revitalizers must lead the church to leave the past behind by acknowledging and celebrating what God has done and then agreeing to move forward. Church revitalizers must cast vision and lead the people to a preferred future all the while staying focused on the task at hand in the present.

2 Collins, James C. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make It happens all the time. While you are working on a project that requires a great deal of your atten- the Leap ... and Others Don’t. Collins, 2009. tion and focus, something or someone distracts you from your work and slows you down or keeps you from completing the task at hand. These distractions can come from anywhere: the environment, other people or something going on inside your own head. While keeping the future in view, Mark Weible serves as the church revitalizers also must keep an eye on what Church Planting Director of the is happening right now.

Greater Orlando Baptist Association and the strategic Director “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go of the Renovate National Church down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and Revitalization Conference. Mark go down to you?” (Neh. 6:3) has a wealth of experience as a Don’t let anyone try to side-track you. People church planter and local church 1 Eastman, Brett. https://pastors.com/multiply-thecoach. Mark is passionate about church multiplication, good-life-2/ renewal, planting, and coaching.

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Always a Student

By Jim Grant

“Study to show yourself approved, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God. 2 Timothy 2:15 Personal disciplines carry with it the on-going maturity of the Revitalizer. In fact, the Revitalizer must be a discipler of himself and others in the work of Church Revitalization. The adage “you can’t lead someone where you yourself haven’t gone” is apropos.

A revitalizer must be a student; the aspect of learning most important is Life. In our current cultural setting of continuous change, it behooves anyone who desires to see the Kingdom of God expanded and healthy with new believers and mature saints to continue learning. Pastors are not exempt from this mandate. Once a person obtains scholastic credentials, it does not mean that “School is Out.” As a revitalizer and a pastor, I had to come to the reality that I have committed my life to constant learning. For one thing, seminary or bible college does not and cannot fully equip one for the pastoral ministry, much less the revitalization and restoration of Churches.

The foremost of discipline I had to learn was how to Persevere. Too often revitalizers are in a glass house with everyone watching. This brings many disappoints and successes. The problem seems that we revitalizers only remember the negative set-backs. Revitalization is unlike Church Planting. Most models of Church Planting are geared towards a 3-year window of establishment. It takes much longer to Revitalize an established Church with history and longevity already established. By most expert’s opinion, revitalization work takes anywhere from 5 to 7 years. This time frame must be embraced. Perseverance means determination, not swayed, grit and will power to stay at the work before us.

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Secondly, a revitalizer must take care of himself spiritually. The work of revitalization is long, hard and filled with spiritual warfare. A novice or immature revitalizer will likely make the situation worse for the church involved and cause himself to become bankrupted spiritually. The disciplines in Personal Spiritual Care include daily devotion, prayer, evangelism, worship, and silence/meditation. The revitalizer is foremost a believer, called to ministry and therefore must engage in lifetime of sanctification for oneself.

Nominal Christianity isn’t going to cut it in dealing with changing environments and people who are set in their ways and embracing the status Quo. Yes, we all know that Jesus will build His Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. Recently the media has made sure that any leader/pastor who has failed morally is brought to public attention. If there isn’t a continual pursuit of holiness on the part of any believer, especially concerning ministry leaders – history has proven that failure is a very real possibility; i.e. King David and Bathsheba. In King David’s fall, he relaxed his posture or let down his guard. When he should have been leading in battle against the enemy – He stayed in Jerusalem and the Enemy defeated him from a house top!

Self-evaluation (To thy own self be true) reflects the necessity to view our spiritual life with an outside perspective. If someone were to look at our spiritual life and conduct – would they see a believer under the power of the Holy Spirit? We are commanded to Walk in the Spirit and we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Additionally, Romans 12:3 is sobering advice – for one to think more highly of themselves than they ought; for it is God who had distributed to each one of us the measure of grace.

Humility is the next discipline. A revitalizer must be on guard for his spiritual life and the attack of the enemy. These boil down to not becoming bigger than the work of revitalization. What I mean by this

is being called Church revitalization isn’t necessarily church revitalization.

The revitalizer must incorporate another discipline as they read – that of Discernment. It is not my intention to be critical of what others have been led to write on the revitalization subject, but a personal discipline I have had to hone is to read with objective eyes. A revitalizer must have a discerning spirit, and ask the questions as he reads – “is this from God” and “does this address revitalization or been adapted from another subject to relate to revitalization work?”

This is important because advocating a principle or process that has not been tested by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit can be a disguised work of Man. is a revitalizer cannot allow himself to think he is the one who has caused the success or turnaround of the church. Again, we have been painfully reminded of what happens when someone takes the success as their doing and not the work of the Holy Spirit. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Accountability is another personal discipline that needs to be fully incorporated into a revitalizers life.

No one should do ministry in a vacuum. Everything a revitalizer does will be scrutinized. Don’t give the appearance of impropriety in the work we do. People are suspicious enough already about our motives for changing their church. This leads me to building relationships of accountability through Mentoring and Coaching. I have built into my life a Paul, a Barnabas and a Timothy. I need all three of these people. Paul will keep me on track with the ministry and mentor me in objective ways. The Barnabas is my encourager. We all need someone as out cheerleader; that person we can confide in and vent to when things go chaotic. The final person is the Timothy. The person to whom we pass on what God has taught us in ministry and revitalization work. Paul admonished young Timothy to do this very thing in 2 Timothy 2:2. A revitalizer must know that we serve at the pleasure of our Lord Jesus and that we serve for a season.

Another personal discipline I have maintained is continuing to hone the skills and knowledge from God with others who are doing the work of revitalization. Many articles, forums and books are being written today on the topic of revitalization. A revitalizer must be well read. This coincides with the above mentioned personal spiritual care. Much like Church Planting, Church revitalization has become a buzz word in ministry. The problem of declining and dying churches has reached an epidemic level and captured the attention of many. While it is good that there is recognition of the gravity of the problem, there is the existence of misnomer. Everything that

Two other disciplines are necessary for long term revitalization – Patience and Active Involvement in a revitalization scenario. Patience should be self-explanatory, but so often we get in a hurry for change.

I compare revitalization to a marathon instead of a sprint. Revitalization just takes time. The other discipline, Active involvement, is required because a Revitalizer can quickly become a tactician rather than an actual revitalizer. All revitalizers need on-going experience in revitalization ministry. One thing I have learned for certain is that classroom theory doesn’t always work in application!

The last personal discipline I have had to incorporate into my life is the On-going Dependency of God. No flesh will be glorified. If the Lord doesn’t build the house, the laborers work in vain, and the watchman is wasting his time. It is His church, His work, and His desire that will take His power to be accomplished.

The Revitalizer is an instrument God uses to accomplish His work in the Church. Let’s rely on the power of God not models and methods to revitalize the Bride of Christ.

Jim Grant is the Senior 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 also the Gateway Baptist Association Revitalization Team Leader. Visit PreachBetweenTheLines.com for more information!

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The

Revitalizer LIBRARY Daman, Glen. The Forgotten Church: Why Rural Ministry Matters for Every Church in America.

Chicago: Moody, 2018.

Glen Daman loves the rural church. He wants his readers to love it too. In The Forgotten Church: Why Rural Ministry Matters for Every Church in America Daman masterfully details a theological premise for rural ministry, gives a history of both rural America and rural church ministry, explores the struggles facing rural communities, and finally issues a challenge to his reader to value the rural church. The Forgotten Church is deeply researched, well written and a must-read for pastors and church leaders in rural settings.

Daman strongly argues that rural America, and subsequently the rural church, has been forgotten. Forgetting rural America and the rural church has propagated misunderstandings of both. Ignoring and misunderstanding the rural church leads to a dismissal of rural ministry and people. Daman writes, “When we fail to understand and value a culture and people, we will eventually devalue and probably ridicule them” (30).

Daman argues that those in urban and suburban communities have perceptions of those in the

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rural as idyllic at best and ignorant at worst. Daman writes, “the perception is perpetuated that rural communities are largely Christian and in little need of new strategies of outreach” (66). He makes the case that the idyllic perceptions of rural America have both blinded the influencers of America to the socioeconomic challenges that rural communities face. He further critiques seminaries, Bible colleges, and denominational leaders for neither preparing or encouraging rural pastorates.

“Many classes on church leadership assume that the student will be serving in a multi-staff church. Because few professors in seminaries or Bible colleges have extensive experience in rural ministry, the courses are taught from an urban perspective. Rural ministry is often not even on the radar.

Even when it is, it is typically viewed as a dead end for any up-and-coming pastor” (144).

The final chapter clarifies Daman’s desired outcome and therefore the focus of his book. He writes to the larger suburban church so they would value rural ministry and therefore help support a rural ministry both financially and through acts of service. Daman writes to professors at the seminary and the Bible college so they would understand the struggle of rural churches and rural America. Those pro-

fessors would then therefore both encourage students to pursue rural Rob Hurtgen is the Pastor of First ministry and adapt their training to Baptist Church Chillicothe, Missouri. include the rural perspective among He holds an M.Div from the Southern their instruction for ministry in subBaptist Theological Seminary and is urban and urban contexts. He writes currently pursuing a Doctor of Minto denominational leaders in hopes istry degree in Church Revitalization that they will no longer dismiss rufrom Midwestern Baptist Theological ral churches. Those denominational Seminary. leaders will then invest themselves and resources available to them in is dedicated at the end of chapter ten recognizing rural churches. Finally, he writes to rural churchthe weaknesses of the rural church. Balance was es that they might think biblically and creatively missed. in how ministry is accomplished. He suggests rural churches creating partnerships for outreach Chapter ten is troubling. Daman elevates the events. He recommends exploring the possibility small and rural church by demeaned the larger, of pulpit sharing between congregations. often more urban one. The chapter would have

been better by focusing on the strengths of a rural Daman’s work helped to articulate observations church versus a comparison as to why rural is betthat this reviewer had made of his rural commuter than everyone else. nity. The work has as well served as a launching point for further sociological research for rural Additionally, discussing the section entitled “Rural understanding and advocacy. Chapters three Church Movement,” pages 72 – 73, Daman cites inthrough six are critical to absorb. But not at the fluencers and authors dated to the early twentieth expense of the remaining chapters. Additionalcentury. These sources prompted the question of ly, chapter nine, “Developing a Theology of Rural the availability of more contemporary references Ministry,” counter-punches from the scriptures an to discuss the rural church movement. Either there urban and suburban centered ecclesiology. The were not historical moves towards strengthening work is not however faultless. the rural church in the latter portion of the twentieth century, or the challenges which the early Daman, while attempting to debunk rural stereoauthors addressed are still prevalent more than types, propagates urban and suburban ones. He one-hundred years later. writes, “They [people who attend urban and suburban churches] worship with a group of strangThis reviewer highly recommends The ers and then head home without any meaningful Forgotten Church: Why Rural Ministry connection with others in the congregation. In Matters for Every Church in America. contrast, the rural church is centered on commuDaman is calling for a greater nity” (170). Daman’s nostalgic presentation of the value to be placed on the rurural church in chapter ten even steps so far to imral church. It is evident that ply that those in the rural church have more faith he loves the rural commuthan those elsewhere (164). He proposes that the nity and rural churches. He simplicity of rural churches creates a far more auwants his reader to love thentic worship than “glitz, glamour and polished them too. Daman’s book performances” (165) of those churches who utilize should be added to the stage lighting, lasers, and smoke machines. rural revitalizer’s library.

Daman cried “foul” when urban and suburban church leaders elevated their context yet he has committed the same fallacy in propelling the value of the rural church above others. In what is assumed an effort to create balance one paragraph

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Discipline Impact on Revitalization

By Kenneth Priest In this issue many writers are addressing the personal disciplines of the revitalizer. In my approach, I wanted to share some information with you conducted from 2008 through 2011 as I worked with churches in need of revitalization. Here are three of the questions asked, and the outcome of stated queries conducted during those years:

Q1. How often do you pray?

Multiple times a day ______ At least daily______ Several times per week____ Sometimes______ Not very often______ A1. Majority of respondents indicated: several times per week.

Q2. How often do you share your faith?

Q3. How often do you prepare for sermons?

Daily_____ Weekly______ Monthly______ Rarely if ever______

20-25 hours per week_____ 15-20 hours per week______ 10-15 hours per week______ 5-10 hours per week_____ Less than 5 hours per week_____

A2. Majority of respondents indicated: Rarely if ever.

Let’s explore this information as it relates to church revitalization and revitalizers. First, the research was non-scientific. This was a part of a survey I was conducting to learn more about why churches were in decline. All the questions centered around practices, however, in my framework, these three demonstrate the reason many churches were in decline.

It All Begins with Prayer Since praying is the foundation of a spiritual discipline, it would seem appropriate that a lack of a prayer life would indicate a life of spiritual depth. This seemed to be true for churches which were in decline. Many pastors who were desiring to engage in church revitalization, were not engaged with God through a personal prayer life. This lack of a prayer engagement is what, in my opinion, was the disconnect of spiritual vitality in their respective ministries. Failing to fall on our faces before God and seek his power must be the first

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A3. Majority of respondents indicated: Less than 5 hours per week.

step in revitalization. I believe this is biblical. From the beginning of the establishment of the church one key focus was always on prayer. Think about it. What were the disciples doing in the room while they waited on the Holy Spirit after the ascension of Christ? What takes place after Pentecost demonstrating a unified and expectant church, and a church in which God was adding daily? The answer is prayer. This is not a formula however, it is a spiritual certainty. God moves in the lives of those who are seeking after him. The first discipline we must have as spiritual leaders is that of personal prayer. Through personal times of prayer, we engage with God and seeking his direction for not only our lives, but the direction of the church at this time in history. God will reveal if we listen to him.

Evangelism is Essential I talk about evangelism a great deal. The reason is, this is true church revitalization‌gospel advancement. I

was in a meeting where someone asked, “what metric do you use to determine if the church is revitalized?” I mentioned there is only one metric you can use, and that is professions of faith. Do not get me wrong, there are other markers in revitalization, but true revitalization can only be assessed if lives are being changed by the gospel…meaning professions of faith must be present. There are plenty of churches who want to claim revitalization because they have had a culture shift, the congregation is more open to others than they used to be, etc. However, if the openness of the congregation does not lead to salvations, then I wonder what good is it? It is great to be warm and friendly, I believe biblical to be so. We need to exercise more Christian hospitality with those in our communities.

If we do not see the baptism waters stirred though, I do not believe the church can be considered turned around. You might be turning it around based on the other metrics, but one cannot claim revitalization if you have not seen non-biological growth. This growth is community impact growth. It is this growth which tells us one more person has been snatched from Satan’s influence and is on the path for righteousness.

Let’s look back at the question, most pastors I worked with during those years, in declining churches, rarely if ever shared their faith. This is a problem. This is the problem in my viewpoint. If you are not sharing your faith, how can you expect your congregants to do so? My favorite thing to tell a pastor is, it is your job to share your faith. You literally get paid to witness… how great is that?! What better job could there be?!

The congregation thinks they have hired you to witness…and they are right, and praise God for it! Sorry for all the exclamation marks to end these sentences, but come on…you are paid to witness!

Sermon Preparation Time is Pertinent In my questions, most pastors whose churches needed revitalization spent less than five hours a week in sermon prep. Let me acknowledge, many of these pastors are bi-vocational. As such, I get it. When do you have time to do everything? Working forty plus hours per week, time with family, pastoral care, and you have to preach, plus if you are reading my article apparently I am expected to witness…the questions becomes, when?! When do I have time to do all that I am supposed to do? I really understand. However, you are opening the Word of God for the purpose of life

transformation through the message given to your congregants. “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness,” (Jas 3.1 ESV). We will be held to a higher accountability for our teaching ministry, therefore we must take it seriously and prepare appropriately. In consideration of the pastors which I work with, I developed a preaching for revitalization series which includes video commentary. This allows the pastors to spend less time preparing, but get started right on their sermons. I have attempted to create systems and structures in the model I use to take into consideration pastors of normative churches are essentially bi-vocational. Even if time is tight, use the tools and resources which are available to you to prepare your sermons and spend the necessary time so you open God’s Word with confidence based on the time you had spent in it.

This article has addressed three key disciplines in the life of a revitalization pastor. I believe, if these three areas are developed in your personal spiritual practices, your church can and will experience revitalization.

Pray. Evangelize. Preach. And think about it, you actually get paid to do these things!

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 (MBTS), Kansas City, MO. He serves as an adjunct professor of church revitalization in the doctoral program with MBTS and an adjunct professor of evangelism and church growth with The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY. Please contact Kenneth at kpriest@sbtexas.com.

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PERSEVERANCE

Staying the Course When the Road Seems Full of Potholes

By Tracy W. Jaggers

A

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s a Church Revitalizer, we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God. It’s wonderful when the Lord reveals role models of wisdom that can shape our character and attitudes. I just wish I would consistently assimilate those into my daily living!

Here are biblical examples who have stood firm during the tsunamis of life and responded in righteousness. Nehemiah is my man for strategy and prayer; Enoch, my model for an intimate relationship with the Father; Ittai, (one of David’s commanders) is my symbol of steadfastness and loyalty, Job is a mirror, reflecting perseverance and faithfulness and Jesus is the preeminent example of obedience, holiness and righteousness. For these giants, I am eternally grateful!

How do we do it? Well, we cannot in our own power and intellect. We must have God’s spirit living and working in us. That’s the only way we can endure.

But, in our world, I have encountered spiritual leaders who have come under attack from church members while trying to guide their church to health and fitness. Why would any church member not want their church to be productive and effective for the Kingdom of God? Could it be they are not really one of us, or could it be that they can’t bear the thought of their church changing? Or maybe it’s simply that they are uninformed about what the Bible says about the health and care of His Bride? Whatever causes them to be a barrier, the leader often ends up the target of their refusal to submit to the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Job, when confronted by his wife about his trial, said, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.

Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” Job 2:9 (NASB) Making adjustments to a struggling or declining congregation has never been easy and with a revitalization process it is no more palatable. The process can present the congregation with checkpoints to acknowledge that the church and leadership are moving forward and that the future is brighter than its present.

So, let’s examine the perseverance that is required to be a successful revitalizer. First, what does the term perseverance mean? Merriam-Webster defines it as, “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.” Perseverance is needed for our spiritual success as well as our success in human life. It is a command from God! In Revelation 3:7-8 and 10, He expects us to persevere.

1. Make certain you are following Christ’s plan and be willing to die on that mountain!

A person who has perseverance endures no matter what the trials or how much suffering or grief he or she may go through. It’s from the root word meaning “to remain under.” It means a person would be willing to remain under trials, if necessary, and to honor and glorify the Lord. By enduring such trials, they learn the lessons only trials teach. We need to view barriers and potholes as part of God’s plan. I found personally that when my church was struggling, so was I. They were mirroring the leader’s lack of energy and passion.

So, how do we endure or persevere in the face of scrutiny, opposition or desertion?

Paul states in Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” We have

persistent steadfastness, not because we are invincible, tough and wise, but because we have the power and anointing of the Spirit of God within us. When we are weak, He will exchange His strength for our weakness!

Another way to say it is found in 2 Timothy 1:12 (NKJV). “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” If you are absolutely convinced that you are the leader to walk the church through revitalization and you are certain the direction is His, then stand up, speak boldly and invite your folk to follow your voice!

Okay, here’s one more peg to hang your hat on: Galatians 6:9 (NLT) “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Don’t give up, sit down or shut up if you are certain of His calling and direction.

2. Realize that the tribulations maybe God’s way of knocking our ideas and opinions out of the way so we have only one option - His plans.

The sweetest fruit grows on the outer-most branches of a tree. It is exposed to the abuse of weather, but also receives the most sun. Are you allowing the Son to shine on your situation or are you trying to stay in the shade of comfort and convenience?

James 1:2-6a (NLT) Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.

3. Walk in great faith, knowing to whom you belong!

Perseverance is when we keep coming back, and we never give up. Keep trying, keep knocking and, finally, the door will open. Stay the course (let me rephrase that – “Stay His course”)! 2 Corinthians 4:711 (NKJV) “But we have this treasure in earthen ves-

sels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

4. Don’t give up!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said this, “Perseverance is a great element of success, if you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you’re sure to wake up somebody.” If God is with you, stay in there for the duration. Keep the faith, charge with courage, be tenacious and run with stamina.

His goals are just ahead. They are well within reach.

No one knows how much time they have left, but why should we throw it all away when He is with us?

Many have worked too hard, for too many years to let the legacy and the mission fade away.

5. Don’t be afraid of the faces of those who would oppose you!

Ezekiel 3:9 (NKJV) says, “Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead (the conspicuous part of our head that discloses our direction); do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.” If you are on track, following God’s design, they are not opposing you; they are opposing Him! Remember, stay on course even if the road is loaded with potholes.

Dr. Tracy W. Jaggers is the Associational Director of Missions of Gateway Baptist Association, Edwardsville, Illinois. He has held the Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor, Minister of Music, Youth Pastor and Minister of Education roles. He is a contributing author for the book entitled, Practical Tools for Reinventing the Dying Church. His website is: www.churchoverhauler.com

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The Disciplines of Fervent Prayer and Faith

By Steve Sells

T

here is an inexorable principle about leadership in the secular world that the right person (leader), at the right time will almost always bring the right results. When you translate that into church language it would read something like this…God’s man, in God’s timing will always bring God’s results.

When a church gets to the point that revitalization is the only solution it will take a specially gifted man of God under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to bring new life to a dying church. This revitalizer must be endowed with special personal disciplines.

Nothing of any significance has ever been accomplished in Christian living and Christian leadership without discipline. Success is always the results of self-discipline. The business owner must be self-disciplined in order for his company to be successful. The student must be self-disciplined in order to acquire a degree. The athlete must be self-disciplined in order to excel in their chosen sport. Likewise, the church revitalizer must be self-disciplined in order to help the church find new life.

One such discipline is a fervent and consistent prayer life. Apart from the church revitalizer initiating a strategic prayer team for the ministry, he must maintain a personal and consistent prayer life of his own.

When you examine the life of Jesus you see that it was saturated with prayer. Jesus prayed at different times of the day, in many different situations and in many different places. He spent countless hours with the Father in prayer and it made His ministry eternally successful.

This kind of prayer life should be the number one discipline in the church revitalizer’s life. It is through fervent and consistent prayer that he will gain the understanding, knowledge, ability and direction required for a church in need of revitalization. Involved in that prayer life are three basic elements. These elements are: (1) Asking God – seeking His will and leadership as he leads the church through the revitalization process, (2) Listening to God – knowing when God speaks. And (3) Obeying God – after he speaks simply be obedient

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to his word and leadership. God has a plan for each church that is in need of revitalization. It is the task of the revitalizer to pray for, accept and adopt that plan.

How he prays is important but not nearly as important as how he listens after he prays. James 5:16b says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James is speaking about passion in prayer as he considers the gracious God who hears his prayers and answers. The articulation of a prayer has nothing to do with the effectiveness of a prayer nor does the individual who prays. What makes prayer effective is Holy God who hears and answers the prayer. In John 10:27, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” The revitalizer must have a listening ear when God speaks.

God desires to communicate with his children. He desires to lead us and give direction for living and doing ministry. He communicates with us in various ways.

Daniel received visions from God. A donkey talked to Balaam. A bush spoke to Moses. God can use anything and everything to speak to his servants. The key is for us to have listening ears. He speaks to us through people, through His word, through preaching, through song and a multitude of other avenues. God simply asks us to listen for His voice and to act on what He says.

Isaiah 30:18 says, “And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” Then in verse 21 He says, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” The revitalizer must ask himself, “What is God saying to me? How should I be praying for this church?” Obedience to what God is saying will make or break the revitalization effort.

There was a news article that came out of the Chicago Tribune some years ago about an 81 year-old man who had to land a plane after his pilot friend died at

the controls. The elderly man, Robert Kupfreschmid and his friend were flying from Indianapolis, Indiana to Muncie, Indiana. While in flight the pilot died at the controls and the plane began to nose dive.

rests in the fact that God is working everything out according to His will.

The element of expectation is a real part of extreme faith. Leading with a sense of expectation reveals the heart of faith that is needed by the leader. The revitalizer cannot see what is around the next corner, but God already knows so he must live with the expectation that God is in control and is working His will and plan.

Not having a clue as to how to fly the plane Robert grabbed the controls and began to plead for help on the radio. Finally two pilots heard his plea and responded with instructions on how to take control of the plane and ultimately bring the plane to a landing.

Extreme faith is not just a lot of words or talk, it shows Robert listened attentively to every word the other piup in how we work and lead. It is leaning on God even lots spoke as they instructed him on how to steer and when the circumstances and situations around you land the plane. He circled the airport three times beseem difficult or even imposfore gaining the courage to set sible. It shows up in our praythe plane down on the runway. ing when we pray and trust Emergency vehicles were dis“The articulation of a God to accomplish the work patched to the runway in anticprayer has nothing to do in us that He has begun. ipation of a crash landing. Witnesses stood by and watched as with the effectiveness of Extreme faith has a no-fear the nose of the plane touched a prayer nor does the infactor built into it. A good exdown and bounced several of this is the account of times before the tail hit the dividual who prays. What ample Abraham and Isaac in Geneground. To everyone’s amazemakes prayer effective is sis 22:2-3. God made a very ment the plane came to a stop fearful and difficult request of and the 81-year man got out of Holy God who hears and Abraham. He instructed Abrathe plane uninjured. answers the prayer.” ham to take his only son Isaac to Mt. Moriah to offer him up What made the difference for as a sacrifice. What a difficult Robert Kupfreschmid on that demand from God! What a challenge to faith! What a day? He carefully listened to the voice that gave him fearful request. The command of God called for a kind direction as to how to land the plane. He had never of faith that no human can have within themselves. It done it before but the pilots who gave the instructions called for extreme faith. had. His life depended on his listening. The very life

of dead churches depends on the revitalizer seeking, So, there are many disciplines that a church revitalizer listening and obeying God as he prays for divine wismust possess but there are none more important than dom. Fervent prayer is the life line for those who work the discipline of fervent prayer and its partner disciat revitalizing a church. pline…faith. His time in communion with God undergirds anything and everything else that is needed. He Actually, diligent and fervent prayer requires the revimust cultivate and practice the disciplines of fervent talizer to possess the parallel discipline of faith. Prayer and consistent prayer and faith. They are his lifeline. without faith is worth absolutely nothing. The truth is prayer requires us to call on God whom we cannot see and as we pray we expect Him to answer. That requires great faith. 1 John 5:14-15 says, “And this is the confiSteve Sells is the president dence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing and CEO of Operation Transaccording to his will, he heareth us: And if we know formation church revitalization that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that ministry in Salisbury, North we have the petitions that we desired of him.” That is Carolina. Steve has served in great faith. ministry for 43 years in North To lead a church in revitalization takes not just faith but extreme faith. It takes a faith that, even when you can’t see the way, the knowledge that God is in absolute control gives motivation and direction. The leader

Carolina and Georgia. Dr. Sells is the co-author of the book With Greater Power. He seeks to help churches of all sizes experience new health and growth.

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Reaching Outward Instead of Gazing Inward

By Lee Kricher

I

n 2003, Amplify Church had one foot in the grave. Attendance had dropped to under 200 people. Giving had dropped along with attendance so we had virtually no money in the bank and bills were going unpaid. Our facility was falling apart – the roof had so many holes that every time it rained people were running around with buckets to try and catch the water.

We couldn’t afford to repair the building since were on an “interest only” plan with the bank to avoid foreclosure. Of greatest concern, young people had left our church in droves. We were not reaching our community for Christ. We were only reaching a dwindling number of older members of our community.

With the church in such a state of decline, you would think that church members would have an urgency to reach out. To the contrary, many of our members had a conviction that our greatest need was to look inward. As one person put it, “God is more concerned with quality than quantity. Once we have collectively grown deep enough in Christ, then we can reach out to others.” Of course, we would never have grown “deep enough.” I reminded people that the Apostle Paul started sharing his faith and reaching out to others within days of his conversion.

Growing in Christ and reaching out to others are supposed to happen concurrently!

Elijah is a great example of God’s plan for us to reach out to others, even during difficult times.

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Elijah had just experienced a miraculous victory on Mount Carmel, but he became fearful and despondent when he found out that Jezebel, his nation’s queen, wanted to hunt him down and kill him. He fled for his life in fear and actually prayed that he might die. No matter who you are and no matter how many times God has worked in your life, it is natural to feel fear and despair when you are in season of great trial.

God gave Elijah the strength to keep going and God led him to a cave where Elijah heard God’s “still, small voice.” He came to understand something we should never forget. No matter how difficult of a season you are in, God is with you. He is faithful to see you through.

Here is something we often miss in this story.

What did God say to Elijah in that still small voice? We might expect Him to say, “Elijah, you have gone through a traumatic time and you need to be healed so look inward and focus on yourself.” Elijah could have then crawled into a corner of that cave, hidden away from the world.

But God didn’t tell Elijah to gaze inward. Instead He made it clear that Elijah needed to take action. He made it clear that Elijah was to get up and go – to appoint and raise up a new King of Israel and to appoint and raise up his successor, Elisha. Elijah’s healing and restoration would come not by looking inward, but by reaching

er and Eric Geiger help us put church programs into their proper perspective: “Programs were made for man, not man for programs. If the goal is to keep certain things going, the church is in trouble. The end result must always be about people. Programs should only be tools.”

outward! (I love that a clear part of God’s will for Elijah was to pave the way for the next generation by raising up Elisha.)

The bottom line is that in every season we need to reach outward instead of just looking inward. That is true for individuals and it is true for churches. No matter what situation your church is in, it is never appropriate to gaze inward instead of reaching outward to your community. At Amplify Church, we decided to focus on reaching people instead of just keeping people.

That was a dramatic change of mindset! It required us to redesign and refocus our programs, ministries and practices so that we were not just all about the people already attending church.

We made the decision to dramatically refocus Amplify Church on reaching people we were not reaching. I sincerely wish that everyone at our church had been on board with that decision, but about a third of the people in our church left to find churches that better matched their preferences. Fortunately, most people did not respond in this manner. Most people caught on to the vision to reach people we were not reaching, including the next generation. Since that dark time, the church has grown to over 2000 people with all generations well represented. I am so grateful that our church did not die while we were navel gazing!

What about your church? Would you describe your church as gazing inward or reaching outward? If your primary focus is on trying to keep the people in your church content instead of reaching your community and the next generation, perhaps it is time for a change.

As we learn from the life of Elijah, it is wise in every season to reach outward instead of just looking inward!

“At Amplify Church we decided to focus on reaching people instead of just keeping people”

Because someone champions, nurtures, or defends them, some church programs, ministries and practices continue to exist long after they should have ended. These guardians come by their love honestly. The program they champion may have once had a positive impact, and it may still be having some positive impact. But we need to exercise wisdom and discernment regarding when our church programs and ministries have run their course and continue to exist primarily because of an inward focus. In their book Simple Church, researchers Thom S. Rain-

Lee Kricher is the Senior Pastor of Amplify Church in Pittsburgh, PA, author of For a New Generation: A Practical Guide For Revitalizing Your Church and founder of Future Forward Churches (futureforwardchurches. com.) You can contact Lee at lee.kricher@amplifychurch.com

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