Influence Issue 11

I S S U E _ 1 1 / A P R I L 2 0 1 7 _ M AY 2 0 1 7

ED STETZER / DARY NORTHROP / ALBERTO BELLO

Three Keys to Staying on Track Why Hell Matters Helping a New Generation of Christians Go Deeper in Jesus

> UNDERSTANDING

THE HIDDEN DIVIDE IN THE CHURCH

READ. DISCOVER. PRAY. ENGAGE.

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CONTENTS

8 If You Ask Me The Five P’s of an Engaging Church

10 Get Set Reaching Difficult Places A Q&A with Joe Fauss

14 Like a Leader • Live: For Better and Best — Three Keys to Staying on Track in Your Life and Ministry • Think: Leader, Talk To Yourself • Read: Books Worth Highlighting, for You and Your Team • Listen: Enhancing Your Listening Experience with Podcasts and More • Tech: Apps and Tech That Add to Your Life

24 Playbook • Build: Thriving in the Second Chair • Know: Sermon Length for Growing Churches — How Long Is Too Long?

• Invest: Investing in Your Church Board

32 Perspectives

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Formal or Informal Attire? Does How We Dress Really Matter?

34 The Culture of Poverty: Understanding the Hidden Divide in Your Church Chris and Cara Railey discuss the hidden reality in nearly every church — the culture of poverty. They offer solutions that lead to true integration and spiritual community.

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44 Why Hell Matters

Dr. Mark Hausfeld reminds us that hell matters because it matters to Jesus where people spend eternity. It must matter to us as well.

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56 Abide With Me: Helping a New Generation of Christians Go Deeper in Jesus One of the true prophetic voices of our generation, Dick Brogden, talks about the power of personal prayer and how to help the next generation of Christians go deeper in Jesus.

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64 Multipliers — Planting Seeds in the Desert • Reaching Los Angeles’ Lost Millennials • Overarching Leadership • An Urban Developer

70 Make It Count 8 Steps to Improving Time Management

80 The Final Note Is Ministry Killing Your Marriage?

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MAGAZINE

THE SHAPE OF LEADERSHIP

INFLUENCE MAGAZINE 1445 N. Boonville Avenue Springfield, MO 65802-1894 Influence magazine is published by Influence Resources.

Publisher: George O. Wood Executive Director, Influence Resources: Chris Railey Executive Editor: George Paul Wood Managing Editor: Rick Knoth Assistant Editor: Ana Pierce Senior Editor: John Davidson Designer: Steve Lopez Advertising Coordinator: Ron Kopczick

SUBSCRIPTIONS: To subscribe, go to influencemagazine.com or call 1.855.642.2011. Individual one-year subscriptions are $15. Bulk one-year subscriptions are $10 per subscription, for a minimum of six or more. For additional subscription rates, contact subscribe@influencemagazine.com.

Please send all other feedback, requests, and questions to feedback@influencemagazine.com.

All rights reserved. Copyrighted material reprinted with permission. All Scripture references used are from the New International Version (NIV), unless otherwise noted.

CONTRIBUTORS: Alberto Bello, Stephen Blandino, Mike Bonem, Dick Brogden, Joe Fauss, Mark Hausfeld, David Hertweck, Scott Holmes, Dary Northrop, Ana Pierce, Steve Pike, Cara and Chris Railey, Brian Schmidgall, Ed Stetzer, George Paul Wood

Influence magazine (ISSN: 2470-6795) is published six times a year, in December, February, April, June, August and October by Influence Resources (1445 N. Boonville Avenue, Springfield, MO 65802-1894, ©2017.

Periodicals postage paid at Springfield, Missouri, and at other mailing offices. Printed in the U.S.A.

SPECIAL THANKS: Alton Garrison, James Bradford, Douglas Clay, Gregory Mundis, Zollie Smith, Gary Rhoades, Tim Strathdee

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Influence magazine: 1445 N. Boonville Avenue Springfield, MO 65802-1894

EDITORIAL: For info or queries, contact editor@influencemagazine.com.

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Website: influencemagazine.com Twitter: @theinfluencemag Facebook: facebook.com/theinfluencemag Instagram: @theinfluencemag

IF YOU ASK ME

THE FIVE P’S OF AN ENGAGING CHURCH ne of the most startling trends in culture today is the rise of the unchurched in America. According to George Barna and Dave Kinnaman in Churchless, 43 percent of the population is unchurched, with 10 percent being “purely unchurched,” meaning they have never attended a Christian church service of any kind. Due to globalization and the ever-increasing rate of secularization, the purely unchurched is projected to grow at a dramatic rate in the years to come. While these numbers should concern every church leader, they shouldn’t discourage us. Rather, they should motivate us to seize an incredible opportunity to reach this generation for Jesus Christ. To reach the unchurched in America, our church services must be dynamic and engaging — meeting the needs of people in a complex world. Is your church or organization equipped to meet the needs of an ever-changing reality? Consider the following list — the “Five P’s” of engaging culture — to help you answer that question.

Purpose Driven: Rick Warren doesn’t (or shouldn’t) have the market on this idea; every church should be driven by purpose. People want to know your church is going somewhere — that their investment of time and energy is making a difference.

Positive Outlook: No one gets motivated or inspired to action by listening to sermons that constantly reference what’s wrong with the world. Churches that project positivity and celebration — that champion what they are for, not what they are against — are the ones that will win the hearts of the unconnected.

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Participators Not Spectators: Many churches are becoming spectator churches, when what this generation really wants is to be engaged. Engaging churches find ways for people of all ages to experience new things, encounter God, and participate in the work of God. Pursue Solutions Not Perfection: Truly engaging churches are obsessed with solutions to problems rather than perfection in performance.

Passionate: Boring is unacceptable. In an age of social media, sound bites and video clips, churches don’t have the option to be uninteresting — people will just move on. Passion breeds momentum and engagement, and the gospel demands nothing less.

In this issue of Influence, you will hear from leaders who are applying these principles, and engaging this generation in powerful ways. Dr. Mark Hausfeld revisits an issue that most churches don’t talk about anymore, hell. In “Why Hell Matters,” Dr. Hausfeld discusses the implications of our commonly held theology for a new generation. In another feature article, one of the true prophetic voices of our generation, Dick Brogden, talks about the power of personal prayer and abiding in Christ. Finally, in the cover story, my wife, Cara, and I discuss the hidden reality in nearly every church — the culture of poverty. In this article, we bring awareness and pursue solutions that lead to true integration and spiritual community.

I pray you’re inspired and equipped by these and other articles in this issue to lead engaging churches and organizations that reach this generation.

Chris Railey, D.Min., is the executive director of Influence Resources and the senior director of leadership and church development ministries for The General Council of the Assemblies of God, U.S.A.

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GET SET

5 Questions with Joe Fauss

REACHING DIFFICULT PLACES Joe Fauss, an endorsed AG U.S. missionary chaplain, is the international director of Calvary Commission, a Christ-centered ministry that offers hope and help to ex-offenders.

Influence: What is Calvary Commission and how did you get started in this ministry?

Joe Fauss: In 1974, a Teen Challenge student went to prison for a previous charge. After visiting him, I saw a great need in that prison. I went to the warden’s office and said, “I want to help these men.” He said, “The state pays a preacher to do that.” A prison major sitting in the warden’s office said, “Preacher, if you really want to help these men, help them when they get out.” The Holy Spirit burned those words on my heart as I drove home. I shared my vision with David Wilkerson of a residential center to help discharged or paroled inmates who were drastically changed and on fire for God. He said, “I’ve never heard of that before.”

He prayed over me and gave me valuable advice, and Calvary Commission was born.

What is the meaning of strategic missions to difficult places?

It is challenging the impossible. It is believing with God all things are possible and that no one has fallen too far for God to reach. It is believing and seeing God take prisoners and form them into pastors, 10

missionaries and successful professionals. It is seeing people be prisoners one day and Bible college students the next day after their release. It is building orphanages and giving hope to the abused and neglected children of the world. It is challenging the mountain of communism in Romania and Cuba in the power of God’s Spirit.

What principles or values guide your ministry?

We believe that through God’s grace, people can change; where grace is, transformation will always follow. Second, we believe in patience and diligence. Many of Calvary Commission’s students have been in spiritual darkness for years. It takes time for God to transform their lives. With patience and diligence, God will transform them into mighty Kingdom warriors for Him. Third, we ascribe to servant leadership. We believe the best ministers and leaders know how to be humble and serve others.

How have you maintained your passion for this ministry for 47 years despite the difficulties and disappointments along the way?

My wife, Charlotte, encourages me every step of the way. The call we received in 1969 hasn’t changed. We trust in God’s promises, and He is faithful to remind us everyday of the good fruit He is producing through us.

Because of God’s grace, mercy and kindness, we have overcome disappointment and remain steadfast in this ministry.

What opportunities and services does Calvary Commission provide individuals and churches?

For missions-minded individuals, Calvary Bible Institute offers a nine-month diploma in missions and provides short-term, on-field training. Churches can also invite Calvary Commission teams to assist in their church-planting efforts, evangelism training and outreach.

For more information, visit calvarycommission.org.

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Be Filled with the

Spirit Ephesians 5:18

Resources to engage your church this Pentecost season.

POWER FOR LIFE God is a God of miracles, and He wants to do them in your life, too. In Power for Life, you’ll gain a greater understanding of the Holy Spirit as you begin to see the potential for the supernatural things of God to be released in your life and ministry.

FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH

BELIEVE SMALL GROUP KITS Connect with others who also needed to see God move in an amazing way.

A SPIRIT-EMPOWERED CHURCH Explore the Acts 2 church model that can renew the spiritual vitality of your congregation.

A SPIRIT-EMPOWERED LIFE SMALL GROUP KITS Pursue the Holy Spirit’s transforming power and a deeper relationship with Him.

FOR KIDS AND YOUTH

FAITH CASE: EXTRAORDINARY A•C•T•S Explore the Book of Acts with this detectivethemed children’s church curriculum.

LIVING IN THE SPIRIT, KIDS Help children discover the Holy Spirit’s power through 8 dynamic sessions.

THE WORD AND THE SPIRIT David Hertweck compels youth on an exciting journey into the Bible.

FOR PERSONAL GROWTH

SPREAD THE FIRE This book invites you, the leader, to a new level of teaching and modeling Spirit-filled living.

LIVING IN THE SPIRIT A refreshing look at the challenges and opportunities for Spirit-filled individuals.

CATCH THE WIND OF THE SPIRIT Discover the 5 ministry gifts that are the key to transforming your ministry today.

Some items available in Spanish.

1.855.642.2011 • MyHealthyChurch.com/Pentecost

LIVE

FOR BETTER AND BEST Three keys to staying on track in your life and ministry.

SCOTT HOLMES

hen I was a young boy growing up in rural Oklahoma, my older brother introduced me to snipe hunting. All afternoon, he and his friends filled my head with thoughts of catching a snipe. As the sun set, the adventure began. My evening of snipe hunting was fruitless and frustrating, but my brother found it entertaining.

I now know that a snipe is an imaginary animal. For generations, the snipe hunt prank has been a source of amusement among kids. Of course, catching a snipe is impossible, but on that one night I was determined to bag a trophy specimen. I’ve never again tried snipe hunting. One time of pursuing something that doesn’t exist is enough.

I’ve come to the same conclusion about our culture’s definition of excellence. Like the snipe, it’s an impossible quarry. We often define excellence as perfection, the condition of being free from flaws or defects.

Catching excellence in that form is as elusive as hunting snipe, and just as frustrating.

Even after long seasons of hunting perfection, my life, my family, my marriage and my ministry still have flaws. Those hunting days are over, but settling for mediocrity is not the answer. I can’t abandon the pursuit of excellence, but I need to balance it with biblical understanding. Here are

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three keys to staying on track in your life and ministry.

1. Experience a revival in the definition of excellence. The Bible’s language for excellence includes forward-moving words like “abounding,” “increase,” “exceeding” and “better.” Our culture focuses on the end result of perfection, but Scripture focuses on the progressive movement toward a better life in Christ. Our balanced goal should be striving to improve rather than arriving at perfection.

2. Embrace the effort for better and best. It’s vital to start asking how to make it better instead of asking how to make it perfect. Better is an attainable goal. Better is measurable. Better can move us forward without the frustration of impossible goals. We can have better marriage relationships. We can become better parents. We can move ministry to the next level.

3. Enjoy the journey. Remember that the way of the Cross was joy to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). When stress-filled days and sleepless nights displace the joy of the journey, something is wrong. Faulty expectations of greatness help explain the soaring burnout rate among ministry leaders.

When joy disappears, energy soon follows. If you’re experiencing a time of joylessness, check your expectations. What are you pursuing? What has to change for the joy of the Lord to once again become your strength? As leaders, we can easily confuse the two different philosophies of being productive and bearing fruit. Joy seems to fade in my life when I shift from growing the fruit that honors God to simply cranking out results, completing deadlines and marking off tasks.

It’s not about perfection; it’s about pleasing Him. Scott Holmes is superintendent of the Louisiana District Council of the Assemblies of God.

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LEADER,TALK TO YOURSELF When we talk to ourselves and remind our hearts of the gospel, we find a life that is fuller than anything we ever imagined possible.

DAVID HERTWECK

he late minister David Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure said, “Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself.”

How does a leader stay calm during a crisis or find hope when the sense of loss seems overwhelming? Is it possible to rest and rejoice when there is neither comfort nor joy on the horizon? Do Christians have access to resources beyond good old-fashioned effort, determination or self-help advice?

I believe so.

Martin Luther taught that Christians should preach the gospel to themselves daily. It sounds good, but what does that mean?

It starts by recognizing that everyone is already self-preaching some version of the “good news.” James K.A. Smith in You Are What You Love suggests, “to be human is to be animated and oriented by some vision of the good life.”

I think he is saying we find direction, purpose and energy for life based on who or what we most love and desire. And

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whatever we love — and worship — will inevitably shape our vision of the good life.

In other words: The good news I tell myself becomes the good life I want for myself.

What happens when the “gospel” you preach to yourself is all about becoming a respected influencer? Every retweet, like or new follower is perceived as one step closer to the good life. If the good news your heart most celebrates is outward success, your vision of the life worth living must include a large ministry with all the bells and whistles. If you find your deepest joy in your skill as a preacher, your sense of self and worth is at stake every time you get behind the pulpit.

Some envision the perfect family as the path to lasting joy, but this invites anxiety and fear into the heart at the first sign of marital tension or a child’s rebellion.

When we only listen to ourselves, we lose sight of both the good news and the good life. We deceive ourselves. Timothy Keller in Counterfeit Gods says it this way: “When an idol gets a grip on your heart, it spins out a whole set of false definitions of success and failure and happiness and sadness. It redefines reality in terms of itself.”

Every counterfeit version of the good life will enslave you. At its best, it isn’t enough; you will always need more. At its worst, it will destroy you; you will fail to measure up, and it will have no power to save you. But when we talk to ourselves and remind our hearts of the gospel, we find a life that is fuller than anything we ever imagined possible.

Why? Because the life found in Christ awakens our hearts to the truth that God made us according to His image and redeemed us according to His plan — not based on our performance, but based on the unmerited, unchanging performance of Jesus on our behalf. In the gospel, our hearts gratefully tap into the uniquely Christian motivation for everything we do as leaders: not for approval, but from approval. In the gospel, we finally find something worth saying to ourselves.

David Hertweck is the Youth & Chi Alpha Director for the New York Ministry Network in Liverpool, N.Y.

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DIVINE DIRECTION

Craig Groeschel (Zondervan)

“You are one decision away from changing your life forever,” writes Pastor Craig Groeschel in Divine Direction. His new book examines seven life-changing choices: start, stop, stay, go, serve, connect and trust. Blending personal anecdote, biblical principle and practical wisdom, Groeschel shows how “small choices” can have a “big impact” over the course of a lifetime. This book was written for a broad audience, so pastors and other church leaders will no doubt find it useful for small groups, book clubs or Sunday School classes. However, they might also find it helpful for operationalizing their own dreams for life and ministry.

BOOKS WORTH HIGHLIGHTING, FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM

By Influence Magazine

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CULTURE CARE

Makoto Fujimura (IVP Books)

“[O]ur culture is broken,” writes Christian artist Makoto Fujimura, “and needs care to be restored to wholeness.”

Philosophy speaks of the fundamental values of truth, goodness and beauty. In their efforts to restore culture, Christian leaders have typically emphasized truth (worldview, apologetics) and goodness (moral reform, political action), but neglected beauty.

Fujimura encourages all Christians, but especially Christian artists, to pay attention to the way beauty inspires people to be “open to questions of meaning, reaching beyond mere survival, inspiring people to meaningful action, and leading toward wholeness and harmony.” This is a short, thought-provoking book about an aspect of culture many Christian leaders overlook.

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SPIRIT HERMENEUTICS Craig S. Keener (Eerdmans)

“How do we hear the Spirit’s voice in Scripture?” New Testament scholar Craig S. Keener sets out to answer this question in Spirit Hermeneutics. He argues that “reading Scripture in light of Pentecost” means first embracing “the message that the Spirit inspired biblical writers to communicate in their original setting.” It also means recognizing the Spirit’s guidance as we exegete texts, guidance which includes “highlighting areas where the message applies to us today” and “inspiring our obedience to the message.” This is an advanced theological book by a leading Pentecostal theologian, and it will require careful study.

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By Influence Magazine 1

LEADERSHIP UNIVERSITY PODCAST drcloud.com

Leadership University is a weekly, hour-long podcast featuring a conversation with Christian psychologist and leadership expert Henry Cloud, as well as leaders in other fields. It is “designed to help you learn how to leverage influence, maximize potential, and enhance opportunities in your personal and professional life.” Recent topics include “How Your Style of Leadership Affects What You Get from Life, Leadership,” “Stop Wasting Your Time and Take Back Control,” and “Why You’re Never Done Growing as a Leader.”

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ENTRELEADERSHIP PODCAST entreleadership.com/podcast

EntreLeadership Podcast is a weekly, 45-minute podcast affiliated with Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey that features “lively discussions and tips on leadership and business by some of the top minds in the business.”

Past guests include Marcus Buckingham, Simon Sinek, Patrick Lencioni, Seth Godin and Dave Ramsey himself. Recent topics include “The Value of Investing in Yourself,” “Getting Strategic with Personal Productivity,” and “Developing Trust with Your Team.”

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THE FLOURISHING CULTURE PODCAST blog.bcwinstitute.org/podcast

The Flourishing Culture Podcast is a weekly, 30-minute podcast produced

by Best Christian Workplaces Institute and hosted by BCWI President Al Lopus. It is “designed to equip and inspire Christian organizations to be the best, most effective workplaces in the world.” Past guests include Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels and Ruth Haley Barton. Recent topics include “How to Transform Church Culture,” “How to Align Staff Around Your Mission,” and “How to Move Culture from Toxic to Flourishing.”

Final Note: Check out the Influence Podcast, a collection of inspiring and challenging conversations, aimed at empowering the entire spectrum of church leadership. Episodes drop twice weekly. Monday’s podcast with George P. Wood focuses on theology and culture. Thursday’s podcast with John Davidson focuses on practical ministry issues.

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Ministry wife ~

You are invited!

General Council 2017

Her Green Room Luncheon

Hilton Anaheim Hotel, Anaheim, California, Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 12:30 p.m.

Carol Cymbala

Chrissy Cymbala Toledo

Our special guests are Chrissy Cymbala Toledo and her mom, Carol Cymbala. Chrissy serves at Chicago Tabernacle with her husband, Al, and is author of the book The Girl in the Song.

Carol and her husband, Jim, serve at The Brooklyn Tabernacle, where as choir director Carol has earned six Grammy and five Dove awards with The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.

As we chat like girlfriends over coffee, Chrissy and Carol will encourage you through their experiences and life stories, and bring a breath of fresh air to all who can be a part of this event.

We want to pamper you and bless you! Come join us for the General Council 2017 Her Green Room Luncheon, where you can enjoy good food, make new friends — and even receive a few special gifts! We hope to see you there.

Log in to: generalcouncil.ag.org for more information and to register for this event.

hergreenroom.com

Kay Burnett, National Women’s Ministries Director and event host

By Influence Magazine

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Apps and tech that add to your life 1

PRESENTATION CLOCK

Pastors, evangelists, missionaries, Sunday School and public school teachers, workshop speakers and all others who speak publically, Presentation Clock is a must-have app for all your speaking engagements.

Presentation Clock does just one thing, but it does it extremely well — it monitors time. Presentation Clock counts down the remaining speaking time you have and changes color to warn you when you are nearly out of time. For long-winded preachers, your church will thank you for using this app.

Presentation Clock is beautifully animated, with large, easy to read numbers that change colors (green, yellow, red) at thresholds you determine. When the timer on your iPhone or iPad hits 0:00, the colors invert and continue counting “up,” indicating how long you’ve gone over your time limit.

Presentation Clock allows you to create and save as many timers as you want from 0 to 100 minutes with its fully customizable options and simple touch controls. Timers can be configured to give audible and/ or vibration alerts when crossing a time limit threshold, or use a completely silent countdown if you wish.

Presentation Clock timers can also be connected to an external display using a TV out adapter.

For more information on Presentation Clock, visit your iPhone’s or iPad’s App Store.

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PENULTIMATE

If you are old school or new school, you will enjoy Evernote’s Penultimate, the best digital handwriting app that combines the power of natural handwriting and sketching into one very cool app.

For individuals who prefer to write out their journal thoughts, class, meeting or sermon notes, rather than keystroke them, Penultimate is the app of choice. It brings the practice of pen and paper writing into a more productive and enjoyable digital experience.

With Penultimate, you can work on any part of your page. The zoom feature allows you to see your work up close, and the app’s Drift feature enables the page to move along with you, automatically adjusting to your work pace.

Penultimate also makes finding your notes easy. All your notes are searchable and automatically sync to a designated Evernote folder. You can browse, insert, delete, duplicate and reorganize pages any way you like.

Penultimate worked closely with Adonit to create the Jot Script Evernote Edition precision-point stylus that makes the digital hand-writing experience what it should be.

Pair Penultimate with Evernote Premium or Evernote Plus for bigger uploads and many other great features. This highly-rated free app is available on your iPhone’s or iPad’s App Store.

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Explore the difference you can make through small, doable acts of kindness.

Be inspired to something greater as you explore the seven virtues of manhood.

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Discover how to build a framework for your team that supports your vision.

Gain a greater understanding of the Holy Spirit and the potential for miracles in your life.

Visit MyHealthyChurch.com/AGAuthors today.

1.855.642.2011 • MyHealthyChurch.com

PLAYBOOK : BUILD

THRIVING IN THE SECOND CHAIR Finding the right ways to say “no” and “yes” can help second chair leaders extend their shelf lives.

MIKE BONEM

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oes a second chair leader have a shelf life? Can a person’s effectiveness in a secondary leadership role have an expiration date, like a stale loaf of bread on the grocery store shelf ?

Sometimes second chair leaders face a dilemma: stick around despite decreasing impact and satisfaction, or leave. But these are not the only options. In their best-selling book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, brothers Chip and Dan Heath refer to this as “narrow framing.” It’s what happens when someone narrows a decision to a simple yes-orno question, such as, “Is it time for me to leave?” The Heaths say it’s important to widen your options.

Second chair leaders often find themselves doing all sorts of things that weren’t part of their original job descriptions. New duties pile on, but nothing falls away. It’s like turning on the water to fill the sink. At first, the sink has plenty of capacity for more water.

But unless the drain opens, the water eventually overflows, creating a huge mess.

Saying “no” can help extend your shelf life. Of course, it’s rarely that simple. The most obvious — but often the hardest — option is saying “no” to those activities that clearly do not align with your abilities and priorities. It may be an invitation to show up at every event or meeting. Determining when to say “no” requires self-examination, greater awareness and often an accountability partner who will challenge you to establish boundaries.

At other times, the answer isn’t quite as obvious.

When a real need exists and you have the ability to meet that need, it is difficult to say “no.” But turning down a worthy cause can also free up time for more significant things. Simply saying, “Let me get back to you” may give you the space you need to make the best decision.

In many cases, you can say “not me” without saying “no.” A willingness to pass the responsibility to another staff member or volunteer is a great way to say “no” without shutting down an idea. Like opening the drain on the sink, it keeps your schedule from overflowing, even as new priorities are coming in.

Besides, sharing responsibility develops other leaders and communicates trust in them.

But what about those times when you and the entire team are overloaded, and the new request is

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Second chair leaders often find themselves doing all sorts of things that weren’t part of their original job descriptions. from your first chair? Can you say “no” to your boss?

In many cases, you can. The best scenario is to sit down with your supervisor and review all of the different things on your plate. Explain how the new request pushes you well beyond 100 percent, and ask for help with setting priorities or taking something off your plate. Even better, propose a solution that preserves organizational priorities and doesn’t burden your first chair. While many second chair leaders are reluctant to have this conversation, it often produces a positive outcome. It’s not uncommon for a first chair leader to remark, “I didn’t realize you had so much going on” and then to shift some responsibilities.

Even if the outcome isn’t this positive, it is still the right conversation to have. You know your workload better than anyone else, and you should know the point at which workload becomes overload. You know that your family will pay a price if you don’t say “no.” It’s rare for someone else to say “no” on your behalf.

While each person and context is unique, I am confident in saying that second chair leaders often need to say “no” in one way or another, even in respectful or subtle ways, to their first chair. And I am confident that getting clear about when to say “no” creates opportunities for you to say “yes” to things that may be life-giving and missioncritical. Finding the right ways to say “no” — and “yes” — can help second chair leaders extend their shelf lives.

Adapted from Mike Bonem’s new book, Thriving in the Second Chair: Ten Practices for Robust Ministry (When You’re Not in Charge), Abingdon Press, 2016.

Mike Bonem is a consultant, speaker, church leader, businessman and author of Thriving in the Second Chair and three other books on ministry leadership. For more information, visit mikebonem.com.

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AD Influence

PLAYBOOK : KNOW

HOW LONG, O LORD? SERMON LENGTH FOR GROWING CHURCHES How long is too long?

ED STETZER

o one likes sermons that are too long, but how long is too long?

From my experience, and some anecdotal observation, I believe the answer depends on the content of the message, the context in which it is preached, and the capability of the preacher.

According to an old adage, preachers can either use the Bible as a diving board — spending the majority of their preaching time swimming in a pool of their own ideas — or ensure that the text is their pool, diving into the Bible and spending their preaching time

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expounding the Holy Scriptures that the Early Church handed down to us.

I believe churches that are growing, at least in a biblical sense, are pastored by those who follow the second pattern — pastors who dive into a text and spend the preaching time helping their congregations better understand the Bible, grow in holiness and become more mature in the faith.

Sure, it is true some churches that do not focus on biblical preaching grow; however, I believe it is in spite of (not because of ) their model of preaching. I want to outline three aspects of preaching that I think are 27

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A mature pastor learns the context of the community and lays down his or her personal preferences to preach sacrificially to the congregation. crucial as we consider our preaching: content, context and capability. Each of these ingredients can help us determine how long our sermons should be.

Content Content is paramount. Scripture is a lamp for our feet and a light on our path (Psalm 119:105). The apostle Paul teaches that all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). We should not shy away from teaching theological topics directly from the Bible.

Everyone is a theologian. The question is whether our thoughts about God arise from Bible teachings or from something else. Pastors who teach on God’s holiness, our sinfulness, Jesus’ work of redemption, the place of the Spirit in the lives of believers, etc., are building a people who can speak truth to their neighbors. When we continually explain the gospel to our audience, we remind them of God’s covenant goodness in a world that is anything but good.

Additionally, 2 Timothy 3:17 teaches us that biblically informed sermons rich in theology help equip God’s people for good works.

Theology should influence sermon length. The message needs to be long enough to communicate the key content.

Context Effective preaching must understand the culture of the congregation and the region. Sermons that are applicable to working-class families living paycheck to paycheck probably won’t be identical to those delivered to white-collar congregations, where most listeners are college educated.

As preachers, we must always exegete Scripture properly, but we can still tailor the delivery so the audience can understand and relate to it. Knowing whether we’re 28

addressing mostly singles, young married couples or retirees can make a difference.

A preacher who is unaware of the congregation’s needs is not serving the people well. We must look around and ask, Can I communicate the text in such a way that it meets the needs of this congregation well? Addressing needs will help you reach hearts.

We must speak truth in a manner that will transform lives. We must also be able to understand and reach out to those who are lost and without Jesus.

A mature pastor learns the context of the community and lays down his or her personal preferences to preach sacrificially to the congregation.

Capability Some preachers have the aptitude to compose an hour-long treatise that flows well and makes logical arguments that support a primary thesis. Others find their gifts are in other areas of pastoral ministry, and sermon composition and delivery are a weekly struggle. Churches are best served when pastors play to their strengths.

Instead of struggling to compose a 45-minute sermon, many pastors can better assist their congregations with a 20- to 25-minute sermon that helps their congregants grow in godliness. Getting good feedback on a regular basis from fellow pastors or select congregants can help establish the best sermon length. Most preachers are not capable of preaching as long as they think!

So what, exactly, is a good sermon length?

According to informal research from my friend and former boss, Thom Rainer, most sermons in evangelical churches are between 25 and 45 minutes, with the average sermon lasting 36 minutes. Although this informal data is important to consider, sermon length decisions in growing churches need to focus more on communicating the most important content, within an understanding of the context, and in consideration of the capability of the pastor.

Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is the Billy Graham chair of church, mission and evangelism at Wheaton (Illinois) College and executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.

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LEADING LEADERS: INVESTING IN YOUR CHURCH BOARD Ten leadership investments that are worth the effort.

DARY NORTHROP

or all their differences, every church board has one thing in common: a need for leadership. Through the years, I’ve discovered that investing wisely in our Deacon Team (that is what we call it at Timberline Church) is critical to the health and stability of our team and congregation. Here are 10 leadership investments that are well worth the effort.

1. Meet regularly. We meet monthly at the church, usually the fourth Tuesday evening of the month. We provide a light meal that we order from a nearby restaurant. For the first 20 minutes or so, we simply eat and engage in conversation. This may seem like a small thing, but I have come to understand why Jesus shared so many meals with people. Eating together creates a strong bond.

Occasionally, someone hosts a home meeting and invites the spouses. After the meal, the board members go to another room and meet while the spouses visit. Then we come back and have a closing prayer time.

2. Get away together. Consider having an overnight retreat with your board members and their spouses. We have both men and women on our Deacon Team, and everyone enjoys the night away each year.

Don’t let this time of fellowship turn into a church business meeting. Go to a game, a fun park or a ropes course. Do

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something that will create laughter and memories. End the evening or final morning by inviting each person or couple to share personal prayer requests. I am always amazed at how vulnerable people are when they feel safe in their environment. Take time to pray for each couple. Have others pray into their lives. Conclude by praying for the church and upcoming events.

3. Celebrate the holidays. Our Deacon Team always looks forward to our evening with spouses around Christmastime. We make it creative and different each year.

Through the years, we have planned everything from formal events to fun themed parties.

4. Express thanks. An occasional handwritten note of appreciation or even an email to a board member can go a long way. Find and create ways of publicly honoring people for their service as well. Our deacons serve a three-year term and must be out for a year in between terms. Anyone who serves as a

deacon for three terms receives a specially designed Timberline leadership ring at our annual business meeting. I present it to three-term deacons, as well as pastoral staff members with 10 years of service. Recipients wear the ring with great pride and loyalty.

5. Provide opportunities for personal growth. We invite and pay for our Deacon Team to attend the Global Leadership Summit from Willow Creek each year at a nearby satellite site. This enriches their lives and develops them as leaders.

6. Offer guidance. I highly recommend a job description for board members. Often, they do not know what their role really is when they initially join the team. I also do a one-hour orientation with each new deacon, discussing the expectations and responsibilities.

7. Ask questions. I always try to discover more about each member personally. Do they have children? If so, how old are they? How did the member come to faith? What are his

or her hobbies? Personal information can help you find common ground and give you the ability to care for the team.

8. Pray together. Many times in our meetings, we just stop and say a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s blessing or pray for the needs before us. Don’t personally lead all the praying. I intentionally ask different deacons to lead us in prayer during these times.

9. Lead respectfully. Hear and care for each board member. I never want to push something through and have a team member feel forced into something. Valuing the opinions of others helps create a strong team dynamic.

Don’t introduce new agenda items and demand a vote immediately. Provide good clarity of vision, and set reasonable timelines for work.

10. Give your best. This group of people needs and deserves your best. Be prepared for meetings. Always show kindness and grace. God will bless a team and church that walks in unity.

The above are just a few of the many strategies you can use to invest in the members of your church board. Your investment in their leadership development will be well worth the effort.

Dary Northrop is the senior pastor of Timberline Church in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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PERSPECTIVES

Formal or Informal Attire: Does H Clothing has changed a lot over the years. Fashions come and go at a steady rate. What was in style last year is out this year, only to return in another five or 10. But it’s clear that, for the most part, our culture has traded button-down dress codes for business casual and comfort. Jeans and polos have

replaced suits and skirts in most offices.

The church is not immune to these cultural shifts. Regardless of what was considered proper attire for weekend worship services and office hours just a few years ago, society at large has decided to rewrite those rules. But ministers still

FORMAL ATTIRE hat we wear says something about who we are. I’m glad to wear a suit and tie on Sunday mornings when I’m in the pulpit.

And during the week, I wear slacks and a collared shirt. It’s a conscious choice I’ve made about how I present myself to the world and to God. Let me explain why.

How I dress makes a statement about how I approach God with seriousness and care. He is not an afterthought, but He is in the forefront of my mind and actions. He deserves the respect of my care and attention. It takes time to press your slacks or skirt, to take a dress to the dry cleaners, to starch your dress shirt and knot your necktie.

These all display a willingness to take our professions and relationships seriously.

But this is also about how we relate to a lost world around us.

By grace and the blood of Christ, God makes us holy and calls us to be holy (Hebrews 10:10; 1 Peter 1:15–16). Shouldn’t that include our manner of dress? In fact, a better interpretation of the word

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translated “holy” in Scripture could be “set apart.” And what better way to set ourselves apart than by what we wear?

Consider a basketball team.

Each player on the court wears a tank top and shorts, but the coach

wears a suit and tie. Why? He must distinguish himself as the leader.

And a letter carrier has a unique outfit to distinguish herself from anyone else who may walk onto your front porch. Our dress as pastors can distinguish us from the world around us or merely make us blend in to the background.

When we distinguish ourselves as leaders, we declare to the world we are here to help. We identify ourselves as spiritual leaders who can be trusted. When people need someone to serve and protect them, they look for a police uniform or security guard outfit. When someone needs help at a hospital, a doctor in a white coat stands out. It’s the same with evangelism. When the lost are looking for answers, they want someone with authority over relevance.

In a casual culture, a formal dress code stands out. Jesus has called us to go and make disciples.

That takes authority and leadership. Instead of blending in, we need to make a mark, even if it’s by how we dress.

ONE ONE ISSUE. ISSUE. TWO TWO PERSPECTIVES. PERSPECTIVES.

s How We Dress Really Matter? face a choice every day about what to wear. And what ministers wear matters.

In what follows, we present two different perspectives on what pastors and other church leaders should wear as they lead. One perspective takes a more traditional approach to dress code, while

the other focuses on informal attire. But each perspective takes the stance that dress is a serious matter relating to how we present ourselves to the world and to God. In fact, as you’ll see, clothing is an important component of evangelism strategy in most churches.

INFORMAL ATTIRE oes what we wear matter? On the one hand, 1 Samuel 16:7 says that while people weigh our outer appearance, the Lord looks at our hearts. On the other hand, Jesus said that whatever is in your heart will show up on the outside (Matthew 15:18). So, what we wear is actually an expression of our heart.

In a sense, our clothing is part of worshiping God. In my opinion, informal clothing expresses a sincere heart. In Exodus 3, Moses went barefoot to honor the solemnness of God’s presence. And David dressed down to a simple linen gown in 2 Samuel 6 to worship before the Lord. In other places, people wore sackcloth and ashes in fasting, which is definitely informal attire. Each of these cases represents people worshiping God with a sincere heart.

Worship is both personal and public. When I show up for church on Sunday in casual and comfortable clothes, I’m showing my most sincere self to God and others. But if I were to dress up, I would be putting on airs and hiding behind a mask.

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Our clothing is not just a matter of worship; it also affects our evangelism. Whether fair or not, people judge us by what we wear.

Shouldn’t church be a place where people withhold such judgments?

Those of us who hope to attract the

unchurched usually dress down to show that we accept them regardless of how they choose to dress.

When they see our honesty, even in such a small gesture as our clothing, they feel more at ease and are more open to the gospel.

People who have hang-ups about more traditional religion are immediately more open to a church led by a pastor who dresses casually.

Many people want to go to church but don’t have suits and ties or dresses and skirts in their closets.

So, the prospect of a formal worship service turns them off to the idea of church attendance. When these people find out the dress code is “come as you are” at our church, they are more attracted and more receptive to our message.

Informal dress does not mean sloppy, wrinkled or dirty. Nor does it mean improper or distracting. But it does make a clear statement to the lost. A church without a dress code tells the world that we aren’t judging, that all are welcome and all are respected. That should be the focus of every worship service.

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s n a c i r e m N) O I L L I M

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CULTURE OF

POVERTY UNDERSTANDING THE HIDDEN DIVIDE IN YOUR CHURCH CHRIS AND CARA RAILEY

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e led a growing church in the urban sprawl of Dallas. Our community was diverse, and by the favor of God, our church reflected that diversity. We developed an outreach that grew to thousands of people and became the signature of the church and the focus of our heart for the city. Our efforts in the community led not only to ethnic diversity but also socioeconomic diversity, which brought both blessings and challenges.

We’ll never forget the series we did at Christmas one year where we brought a family struggling to make ends meet on stage to blow their minds “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” style. We pulled the curtain back to reveal a new washer and dryer, furniture and Christmas gifts for all the kids. The congregation applauded, and we felt good that we were faithfully helping the neediest among us.

What struck us in that moment was the father’s expression during our big reveal. He was stone-faced.

The mom and the kids were ecstatic and in tears, but not the dad. We couldn’t understand why he wasn’t as overwhelmed by our grand gesture as everyone else. It wasn’t until later that we understood we had unintentionally reminded this man of his inability to provide these things for his family, and we put his insecurity on display for all to see.

Just as ethnic diversity requires cultural awareness, so does socioeconomic diversity. Our church enjoyed tremendous growth because of our outreach efforts in the community over the years. The more we grew, however, the more we realized we had a growing divide in our church. There was a culture of poverty we didn’t understand, and it was having a negative, albeit subtle, impact on our church. Our well-meaning efforts to minister to the poor created awkward moments and forced us to reconsider how we ministered. The fact is, it’s easier to minister to people from all walks of life than to integrate them into the life of the church and create real spiritual community. Yet a unified Body that grows together and lovingly bears one another’s burdens is what God calls us to become.

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The Nature of Poverty The statistics on poverty in the U.S. are concerning.

In 2015, 43.1 million people (13.5%) were in poverty.

Nearly 24.5 million people (12.4%) ages 18 to 64, 14.5 36

million children (19.7%) under 18, and 4.2 million seniors (8.8%) 65 and older were in poverty. In 2015, the Census Bureau defined the poverty threshold as less than $25,000 for a family of four. Families fitting that description are in virtually every church and community in America.

Per the American Psychological Association, poverty has profound implications on the nation’s housing, education, health and economy. Substandard housing, homelessness, poor nutrition and food insecurity, inadequate child care, lack of access to health

Our well-meaning efforts to minister to the poor created awkward moments and forced us to reconsider how we ministered.

care, unsafe neighborhoods, and under-resourced schools adversely impact families in poverty. Poorer children and teens are at greater risk for poor academic achievement, school dropout, abuse and neglect, behavioral and emotional problems, physical health problems, and developmental delays. The barriers that children and their families encounter when trying to access physical and mental health care compound these effects.

Economist Harry J. Holzer estimates that child poverty costs the U.S. economy an estimated $500

billion a year, reduces productivity and economic output by 1.3 percent of GDP, raises crime, and increases health expenditures.

The absence of a father increases the likelihood of poverty. Among fatherless homes, the poverty rate is 47.6 percent.

With such far-reaching effects, the church must have a response to poverty, not only addressing its symptoms, but also its causes. A better understanding of the culture of poverty will assist the church in this effort. In her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Ruby K. Payne defines poverty as “the extent to which an individual does without resources … the resources that influence achievement: Financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, role models, and knowledge of hidden rules.”

Payne identifies 15 subcultures and illustrates how economic classes ascribe different rules to each subculture. For example, she says that within the subculture of time, the poor place value on the present, the middle class on the future, and the wealthy on traditions and history. Within language, the poor favor casual speech and view language as a survival tool, while the middle class use formal speech and see language as a negotiation tool. The wealthy speak formally and view language as a networking tool. According to Payne, “The hidden rules of the middle class govern schools and work; students from gen-erational poverty come with a completely different set of hidden rules and do not know middle class hidden rules.”

A lack of awareness of these rules can be one more obstacle for the poor in trying to obtain jobs that will lift them out of poverty. Payne says eight areas of 37

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resources — financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationships and role models, and knowledge of unspoken rules — need attention for students to reach their potential at school. Church ministries could also benefit from such a holistic approach. Simply equipping the poor with more financial resources isn’t enough.

How Poverty Affects the Church The Church has always wrestled with how best to minister to the poor. Addressing poverty is expensive, time-consuming, and, often, a moving target.

Churches are limited in their financial resources. In the church that we led, we always had more requests for help with rent, utilities, food, and health care expenses than we had money to give. Every time we had to say “no,” it took a toll on us.

As we began to develop ministries that would truly address the causes of poverty and not just the symptoms, it eased our minds, but those ministries are difficult as well. Just as work schedules and transportation issues affect schools, we saw inconsistent attendance in parenting and financial classes at our church. The desire was there, but the logistics were

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tricky. Those living below the poverty line deal with such issues as inconsistent work schedules, transportation and availability. We realized it wasn’t enough to provide the class and materials; we needed to help families overcome these obstacles. Money isn’t the only answer, because money isn’t the only problem. Poverty has a cruel way of affecting people’s lives far beyond their pocketbooks.

A correlation exists between poverty and the singleparent family, which presents both opportunities and challenges for the church. We saw the toll on children’s ministry volunteers as more families in poverty began to attend our church. Frankly, the children were more disruptive. This was not due to their financial standing, but, more commonly, to the absence of a father.

Of course, cultural ideas about acceptable church behavior contributed to the problem. We often imposed our middle-class values on all the children in our church. We realized we needed to train leaders and volunteers to work with children who were coming with a different set of values and who had faced unimaginable problems. We needed to educate our church about the economic biases we all had and lead the way in becoming unified.

As pastors, we found it more difficult for people to cross economic lines than racial ones.

Any time multiple cultures coexist, tensions and complications can arise. As pastors, we found it more difficult for people to cross economic lines than racial ones.

Churches today frequently discuss bringing together people of different generations and races. Are we as intentional about economic diversity in every aspect of ministry? Are there only opportunities for the wealthy to minister to the poor, or are the poor ministering to the wealthy as well? After all, a lack of financial resources may allow for a surplus of spiritual resources. (We certainly see examples of this in Scripture.) If so, the poor in our church could have as much to offer the wealthy as the wealthy believe they have to offer the poor.

Beyond Outreach to Understanding Understanding the values and challenges of different economic realities is vital for all leaders and volunteers in a church. In healthy churches, people aren’t just sitting next to one another; they are discipling one another, developing relationships with one another, and serving one another. To start cultivating such a culture of unity, the pastor can consider three key questions.

1. What is the economic reality in my community? Consider what led to the poverty in the community. Is it generational or circumstantial? What have community leaders identified as the main contributing factors to the community’s poverty, and what do

they need the church to do to address the causes, not just the symptoms? Study the middle and wealthy classes to learn what career fields are predominately represented. How is the city geographically divided between economic lines? What area is your church located in?

2. What values are represented within each class? Each culture values different things and demonstrates those values in different ways. The leader’s job is to understand each set of cultural values and help people recognize the values they have in common.

3. How are we teaching the people in our church to let go of economic biases? This is a difficult conversation to have. But with prayerful, intentional community building, the church may become the nation’s most unified institution.

The Power of Relationship Payne says, “Individuals who made it out of poverty usually cite an individual who made a significant difference for them.” In other words, relationship is the most important factor in breaking the cycle of poverty.

As the Church, we believe the most important relationship is a relationship with Jesus. Sharing and living the power of the gospel is the most vital strategy we can employ in helping people find 39

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freedom from the strongholds that bind them.

We see a beautiful picture of the New Testament Church in Acts 2:42–47. The Holy Spirit levels the playing field and helps create true spiritual community and authentic ministry. As the story of the Early Church unfolds in Acts, we see that the members certainly weren’t without their social and ethnic issues (Acts 6,11,15). Yet, the Holy Spirit led them not only to deal with those issues, but also to meet the needs of the people around them, while at the same time grafting people from all walks of life into the body of Christ.

We, too, need the leading of the Holy Spirit to deal with the issues we face today. We need spiritual mothers and fathers who nurture spiritual sons and daughters like Paul did for young Timothy and, even more poignantly, for the slave Onesimus. People don’t need to learn middle-class values; they need to learn biblical values — values embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. They need to know Him. Whether they ever escape a financial poverty, they will be wealthy in spirit, which is the greatest Kingdom value. We do know that obedience to God and serving Jesus lead to blessing. We don’t always know what form those blessings will take, but we know Jesus is who we all need, regardless of our financial standing.

While the relationship with Jesus is most important, we have a responsibility to be in relationship with one another as well. It’s good for churches to provide opportunities for their constituents to minister to the poor. It’s better for churches to challenge their constituents to be in relationship with the poor — those sitting next to them in church, at PTA meetings and at work.

Many of us would prefer to minister to poor strangers than develop relationships with the poor who are right next to us. We should feel more responsible for those in our path than those we will only encounter at an outreach.

How Leaders Can Respond 1. Develop leaders. To truly meet the diverse needs of the people in your church, you must go beyond volunteer recruitment to leadership development. Volunteers fill a need, but leaders 40

It's easier to minister to people from all walks of life than to integrate them into the life of the church and create real spiritual community.

help create culture. To truly become a diverse church in every way, you will need more leaders.

Volunteers carry out tasks. Leaders know why they’re doing what they’re doing and influence others to join them.

It’s crucial to share the research you’ve gathered with your leaders so they understand what you’ve learned about your community and why you may begin ministering in new ways. Research will help create new language, and new language will paint a new picture that will both motivate and equip leaders to respond to the needs in your community.

2. Go beyond outreach to integration. What happens when the people we minister to outside the walls of our church become the people inside the walls of our church? Many churches understand the need for evangelism strategies and outreach events, but most are not equipped to handle the corresponding success of those approaches.

Becoming a diverse congregation and integrating people from all walks of life into the life of the church will require a healthy amount of focus and leadership.

If you’re reaching out to people who are from different backgrounds and socioeconomic classes than the people currently in your church, what is the plan for them to interface with one another?

Have you prepared your church to welcome people who are from different neighborhoods? Are your people prepared to invite newcomers into their small groups, and even their homes? They must desire not just to minister to them, but also to be in relationship with them.

3. Evaluate family ministry. Payne notes that many areas of our society operate under the hidden rules of the middle class. The classroom is typically one of these places, and as many children’s ministries are structured as classroom environments, our children’s ministries may be operating under these hidden rules as well. This could make for an environment that is not friendly or even fair to all socioeconomic classes. To better understand these hidden rules, we recommend reading A Framework for Understanding Poverty.

REDEMPTION AND LIFT GEORGE PAUL WOOD

Missiologist Donald McGavran coined the catchphrase “redemption and lift” in Understanding Church Growth to describe the transformative power of the gospel on people’s lives, especially their socioeconomic condition.

More recently, sociologist Rodney Stark provided statistical evidence for redemption and lift in America’s Blessings. Compared to less religious and nonreligious people, people of faith: • engage in less criminal behavior and more prosocial behavior; • experience higher marital happiness and lower divorce rates, while producing more and betterbehaved children; • report more and better sex with their spouse, and less cheating; • experience better mental health, and probably better physical health too; • give more generously in terms of money and time; • and are better educated, more successful and less credulous.

Why does this happen? Because conversion to Christianity entails change in three dimensions of human existence: head (our patterns of thought), heart (our patterns of feeling), and hands (our patterns of action and relationship). A person renewed by the gospel increasingly acts in a self-controlled and selfless manner rather than in a self-serving one, and this produces positive change in their material circumstances.

Consequently, evangelism is a necessary component of Christian compassion ministries to the poor. It helps such ministries move beyond the temporary relief of a person’s acute needs to the long-term development of their whole self — head, heart and hands. As Beth Grant writes in her book, Courageous Compassion, “when just actions and God’s truth are engaged together, they are supernaturally liberating — just as the One who is truth proclaimed they would be” (John 14:6).

George Paul Wood is the executive editor of Influence magazine.

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RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY ON POVERTY GEORGE PAUL WOOD

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor … and Yourself (Chicago, IL: Moody, 2014).

Two evangelical scholars — one a community development specialist and the other an economist — explain why mistaken understandings of poverty lead to counterproductive efforts to help the poor.

Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence: A Practical Guide to Walking with Low-Income People (Chicago, IL: Moody, 2015).

Building on the insights of When Helping Hurts, the authors outline best practices for benevolence ministry through the local church.

Beth Grant, Courageous Compassion: Confronting Social Injustice God’s Way (Springfield, MO: My Healthy Church, 2014).

A veteran Assemblies of God missionary and leader in the fight against sex trafficking offers a Pentecostal framework for how the gospel helps people confront social injustice.

Ruby Payne, A Framework for Understanding Poverty: A Cognitive Approach, 5th ed. (Highlands, TX: aha! Process, 2013).

In this groundbreaking study, a veteran educator explains how members of different socioeconomic classes think differently and why this must be factored into how we help the poor.

A unified Body that grows together and lovingly bears one another's burdens is what God calls us to become.

Conclusion Biblical justice demands that the gospel bring holistic impact to people and places. Therefore, churches cannot ignore the devastating effects within the culture of poverty and its crippling generational implications. As pastors, volunteers, educators, and members of our churches and communities, we need to be aware of socioeconomic diversity and become intentional about understanding and bridging the gap so that the church can effectively reflect the hope of the gospel in our communities and in the soul of each person we encounter.

Robert D. Putnam, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2015).

Mixing anecdotes and statistics, a Harvard political scientist shows what economic inequality looks like in America today … and why there are no quick or easy fixes.

Ron Sider, Good News and Good Works: A Theology for the Whole Gospel (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1999).

A leading evangelical theologian and activist makes a biblical case for why Kingdom work includes both evangelism and social action.

PovertyCure Network, The PovertyCure: A Six-Part Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Acton Media, 2012).

Good for use in small groups or Sunday School classes, this DVD series examines how Christians can effectively help the poor.

George Paul Wood is the executive editor of Influence magazine.

Chris Railey, D.Min. is the executive director of Influence Resources and the senior director of leadership and church development ministries for the General Council of the Assemblies of God. Cara Railey, M.A. has served as an elementary teacher, reading specialist, college instructor, and executive pastor. She currently consults with the National Leadership and Resource Center on gender specific ministries.

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JESUS WARNED PEOPLE ABOUT HELL BECAUSE IT MATTERS TO HIM WHERE THEY SPEND ETERNITY. IT MUST MATTER TO US AS WELL.

MARK A. HAUSFELD

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James Kennedy, in Why I Believe in the Bible, God, Heaven, Hell, Moral Absolutes, Christ, The Resurrection, Christianity, The Holy Spirit, The Return of Christ, tells the story about a man who did not believe in heaven, hell, or God — until he died. He went into cardiac arrest and was clinically dead before the medical team resuscitated him. He awakened with a chilling story. He remembered sinking into a horrifying place of dark shadows, where he found himself pushing a huge stone into a pit. He was in unbearable pain, and there was nothing he could do to ease the agony. As he pondered all this later, he arrived at a startling conclusion.

“I feel that it definitely had to be something other than on this earth, so the only place I can think of is that there must be a hell, and I was in it,” he said.

Hell is real! The realization left him trembling uncontrollably, but it also led him to believe. Tragically, many will only believe in hell when they experience it — and for most of them, it will be too late.

Wishful Thinking Versus Reality Many people today dismiss hell as a myth or fairy tale. But if the Bible is God’s Word, hell is a real place that cannot be ignored. If I could develop my own theology of hell, it would be less harsh, lonely and eternal. However, the truth is that hell is harsh, lonely and eternal.

When I consider how to begin sharing this reality, my thoughts keep returning to the One who is at the center of history and Scripture, the One who spoke about hell more than anyone else in the Bible: Jesus. If the gospel writers had created a belief system to satisfy human sensibilities, Jesus would not have brought up the topic of hell. It’s tempting to skip over the parts of Scripture that don’t fit our personal and cultural preferences. After all, it’s easier to focus on images of Jesus as a baby in a manger, a shepherd 46

tenderly holding a sheep in the crook of one arm, or a gentle man welcoming little children. There is nothing disruptive about a character who is always meek, nurturing and gentle. However, a thorough reading of Scripture reveals that Jesus is also the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19, the One who leads the armies of heaven against a rebellious world, striking down those who reject God’s mercy. As I read Revelation and

What is comfortable relationally, culturally and politically must not determine to what extent hell matters.

the rest of the Bible, I encounter uncomfortable facts that stir up a sense of concern and urgency for a lost world in need of truth. Sin brings judgment, condemnation, weeping and suffering — and leads the unrepentant to a place called hell.

Bible teachers must present the entire message God reveals in Scripture — not just the parts others will find palatable. Jesus warned people about hell because it matters to Him where they spend eternity. It must matter to us as well.

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Hell Matters Because God’s Word Is True In Genesis 3:15, God declares to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Sin entered God’s masterpiece through His highest creation, humankind. Yet God wasted no time in prescribing a remedy. Our first parents’ disobedience brought all that we know as evil into the world, beginning in the human heart. The Garden of Eden might have looked the same in the moment the first couple made their fatal choice, but Adam and Eve realized their hearts were different — something was not right. Why else would they hide from the intimacy they enjoyed with their Creator who was walking in the Garden? With the first twinge of soul desolation, God uttered a prophecy, the protoevangelium, which announced a solution that would bring redemption to generations of fallen people and the ultimate defeat of the deceiver, Satan.

The protoevangelium, Latin for “first gospel,” serves as the first declaration of the good news of salvation. This gospel proclamation comes immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve and shows God’s intent to overcome the devil and provide atonement for sins, which Jesus fulfilled through

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His death and resurrection. The serpent and enemy of our souls now slithers with a wounded head. His power over God’s creation is broken.

Jesus — the baby of Bethlehem, the Savior who suffered on the Cross, the resurrected Lord, and the conqueror of death, hell and the grave — delivered the blow that overcame the devil.

God, through the incarnation of Jesus, fulfilled the prophecy to redeem humanity and defeat Satan. The Early Church referred to Him as “Christus Victor!” He is the victorious Lord and Savior over Satan and evil in all its manifestations. He is the Redeemer of all people who call Him Lord.

Hell Matters Because It Is Central to the Gospel Some people view Jesus as a symbol of love without judgment — like a cosmic Santa Claus who merely winks at human rebellion. They refuse to accept that Jesus’ teachings point to a literal hell, preferring to believe that sin isn’t such a big deal after all. Unfortunately, many preachers fail to

confront such false notions because teaching and preaching Jesus’ unambiguous message concerning hell is unpleasant and could cause visitors and some regular attendees not to return to the church. Their hesitation to preach about hell doesn’t change the truth, however. The reality is that Jesus, the God of perfect love, spoke about hell more than any other person in the Bible. Since Jesus spoke so much about hell, it must be an important subject that spiritual leaders need to address. If it is important to Jesus, it should be important to us. One of the concepts in biblical hermeneutics and the scientific interpretation of Scripture is that when Scripture repeatedly mentions an issue, the reader should take note, understand and communicate the concept.

Hell’s original purpose was for Satan and his demonic forces. Early in the Gospel of Mark, the gospel where we find the most Scriptures on power encounters between Jesus and demoniacs, we read the words of a demon who recognized Christ’s power over Satan: “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are — the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24).

Such fallen entities had beheld the preincarnate Jesus and knew about His authority. They also knew that God would condemn them to eternal destruction. This is also evident in the cries of the two demon-possessed men in the region of the Gadarenes: “‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’” (Matthew 8:29).

God has allotted a time and place to condemn these rebellious beings to everlasting torment. The demons recognized Jesus Christ and understood that they were subject to His condemnation. It seems that even before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the demons were aware of their fate, calling out to Jesus, “Have you come to destroy us?”

(Luke 4:34). Apollumi, the word translated “destroy” in Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34, also means “to ruin or to lose.”

The Greek word basanizo in Matthew 8:29 means “to torture.” The concepts of a place of loss and torment are realities to which the demons testify. Their firsthand account affirms why hell matters.

Sadly, hell is not limited to Satan and his fallen hosts.

Jesus teaches that hell is also for anyone who decides not to follow the One who alone can crush the head of the serpent. Jesus communicates extensive warnings to humanity about hell. The context of the present is preparation for the context of eternity. Again, remember the hermeneutical principle regarding textual repetition. Jesus proclaims that

Jesus, the God of perfect love, spoke about hell more than any other person in the Bible. eternal punishment awaits those who reject Him by living in disobedience to His expectations (Matthew 7:23; 13:40–42; 25:46; Mark 9:43,48; Luke 13:27; 16:24). Our biblical worldview must align with a theological framework for today and eternity. What is comfortable relationally, culturally and politically must not determine to what extent hell matters. We must base our relationship with God on His Word and nothing else.

Evil advances not only through satanic entities, but also through willful human sins as individuals make choices that separate them from God. If evil, sin and hell did not matter, then there would be no reason for the Son of God to suffer as He crushed the serpent’s head. Christ’s sacrifice is a reminder that hell matters. Satan’s demons, along with people who reject Christ, will be separated from Him for eternity. This brings us to another reason why Hell matters: It is the place of eschatological justice.

Hell Matters Because Christ Is Returning The Book of Revelation takes the reader on a prophetic journey through time with a clear focus on heaven and hell. An important indicator that hell matters is the amount of text dedicated to the subject. God is calling us to acquire as complete an understanding as is humanly possible concerning hell. The images of hell in Revelation point to His ultimate triumph.

Revelation 9 provides insight into what will happen at the end of the age. Like the plagues that called the Egyptians to repentance through judgments, the angels blow their trumpets to call human beings to repentance (Revelation 8:6– 9:21). In this portion of Scripture, hell comes to earth. With each trumpet the angels sound, demonic activity in the earth increases. The true 49

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If I could develop my own theology of hell, it would be less harsh, lonely and eternal. However, the truth is that hell is harsh, lonely and eternal.

enemy of the human soul receives seven opportunities to inflict the deep evil that is at the core of Satan’s purpose for humanity. Even as the sinful people of that generation experience hell’s fury, they do not repent to receive the saving message of the Savior and look to Jesus as Lord.

According to Revelation 9:20–21, “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood — idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

The ultimate warnings from the Gospels and the Book of Revelation are calls for those who have not accepted the 50

message of Jesus to repent. The Scriptures are primarily written to the Church to call it to follow Christ in holiness and proclaim the reality of hell to the lost.

Revelation 19 describes the triumph of Jesus over all rebellion in spirit and in flesh. Clearly, no one can defeat Christ because He is the sovereign and triumphant Lord of all.

Revelation 20:1–3 indicates that Satan will remain locked in the Abyss for 1,000 years.

According to verses 4–6, those who resist Satan, receive the message of the gospel, and remain faithful to God will reign with Christ. Following the millennial reign of Christ, Satan will be released from the Abyss. For a time, he will continue to rebel against God and deceive the nations. Even in the idyllic millennial world, people will follow Satan’s last-gasp lies. This is hard to comprehend, but such is the fallen nature of humankind. Environment is not the predictor of human behavior; ultimately, it’s a matter of the heart. When Satan’s deceiving days finally come to a close, he must take his place in the lake of burning sulfur (verse 10).

Revelation 20:11–15 provides the final glimpse of the outcome for all who did not receive the message of Jesus Christ. They come to the stark realization of the proverb, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12). They stand before the Great White Throne judgment, with no more opportunities to repent and no more

PREACHING HELL GEORGE PAUL WOOD

reaching hell is a difficult but necessary component of pastoral ministry. Difficult because hell is terrible to contemplate, and many people doubt or disbelieve it entirely. Necessary because hell names the alternative that God saves people from.

P

To preach hell well, you must consider the following:

Preaching Aims Three of preaching’s most important aims are informing the mind, inspiring the heart and inviting a response.

These aims require accurate biblical exegesis, artful sermon presentation and an authentic call for repentance.

Sermons on hell should give each aim due attention, for they work in tandem to address the whole person: intelligence, emotion and action.

Audience Context Given your aims, you should contextualize your sermon for a specific audience, tailoring your presentation to things such as the age, education, background, belief, emotional state and spiritual condition of audience members.

For example, according to Pew Research Center, if America had 100 people, 55 would believe in heaven and hell, 17 would believe in heaven but not hell, three would believe in hell but not heaven, and 25 would believe in neither.

When preaching hell to Pew’s 25 Americans who don’t believe in the afterlife, show them that the biblical doctrine of the afterlife is reasonable. People cannot choose an option they don’t believe exists, after all.

When preaching hell to Pew’s 17 Americans who believe in heaven but not hell, convince them that hell is real and therefore should be avoided. Alternatively, when preaching to Pew’s three Americans who believe in hell but not heaven, convince them that eternal life is possible and invite them to take hold of it.

Even with Pew’s 55 Americans who believe in both heaven and hell, consider which preaching aim is paramount. Are you preaching for an intelligent explanation and defense of hell? A creative presentation that overcomes hearers’ emotional barriers and moves them to consider eternity anew? A compelling altar call that draws people to repentance and faith right now?

Whatever the case, know your audience and contextualize accordingly.

Biblical Aspects The Bible talks about the concept of hell even when it does not use the word hell (Greek, geenna). For example, it discusses hell in terms of God’s attitude about and action against sin using the concepts of wrath and judgment (e.g., Romans 2:5) It uses three images to describe what happens in hell: punishment, destruction and banishment (e.g., 2 Thessalonians 1:9). And it uses the term eternal to describe the duration of hell, contrasting “eternal punishment” with “eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).

You need to know the wide range of terms regarding the concept of hell to develop a systematic, biblical understanding of the doctrine.

Contemporary Arguments Finally, to preach hell well, you need to know the debates about hell that occur in both the Church and the broader society.

Among Christians, there is widespread agreement that hell is real, but lively debates about its purpose (retributive or rehabilitative) and duration (eternal or temporal).

Three views have emerged: traditionalist, annihilationist, universalist. Traditionalists believe that it is retributive and eternal, annihilationists that it is retributive and temporal, and universalists that it is rehabilitative and temporal. See chart below.

THREE VIEWS ON HELL’S PURPOSE AND DURATION Hell’s Purpose

Hell’s Duration

Traditionalist

Retributive

Eternal

Annihilationist

Retributive

Temporal

Universalist

Rehabilitative

Temporal

Christians also debate whether images of hell — especially images of “fire” — are literal or metaphorical.

Assemblies of God ministers affirm the traditional view as the biblical one.

Finally, you need to understand skeptical questions about hell that circulate in the broader society and affect the debates within the Church. These questions center on the reality of the afterlife and the justice of God in punishing sinners eternally. In a skeptical age, preaching hell requires a pastoral ministry that is contextually appropriate, biblically grounded and apologetically sensitive.

George Paul Wood is the executive editor of Influence magazine.

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opportunities to share the good news. The soberness of this passage is nearly overwhelming.

Even with this truth to remind us of why hell matters, Jesus’ revelation to John has two more climactic statements. It is as if Jesus is saying to the Church, Remember this: I mean what I say! This is vital. I’m not kidding! Don’t take culture’s word for it! Forget political correctness, and listen to what I’m saying.

As John paints a picture of the bride of Christ, the Church, entering the New Jerusalem and beginning to live in the light of eternity, Jesus clearly indicates who will not be in the New Jerusalem: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Finally, Jesus emphasizes one last time who will not be a Kingdom citizen in the New Jerusalem: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Revelation 22:14–15).

Christ could not make this any clearer to His church. Hell matters because people matter to God. Hell Matters Because We Have Work to Do As Pentecostals, we are an eschatological people with the missional mandate to proclaim the message of the victorious Christ. The return of Christ serves as one of the four pillars of Pentecost. The call to prepare for Christ’s return must include a clear warning concerning the reality of hell.

The theme of harvest is at the core of the Feast of Pentecost in the Old Testament. It was not by chance that the Holy Spirit outpouring in the Book of Acts began on the Day of Pentecost. The primary purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for the empowerment of the believer to witness.

The masses of lost people are the harvest to which God calls and empowers us to share the message of Jesus Christ. As people receive the gospel, they become the wheat. Individuals who reject the gospel message are the chaff. The wheat is gathered and bound for heaven’s silo, but not so for the chaff.

According to the words of the Master, the chaff is burned: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).

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Frankly, hell should be a motivator. Scripture presents urgency about time running out. One day, there will be no more time. We must make the most of today. Hell is sobering. Its reality, harshness, desolation and godlessness calls us to measure our efforts as the body of Christ and consider how we engage with people on a dayto-day basis. Hell is part of Christ’s total victory over Satan, demons and all who choose to remain in rebellion against God. As Spirit-filled harvesters, we have this mandate from Jesus: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2).

Our responsibility is to obey Christ by praying that the Lord will send more harvesters. However, we must also do our part as Kingdom harvesters.

Conclusion From the Garden to the Gospels to the glories of John’s revelation, God is speaking through His inspired authors to the people of God — the Church through the ages. The Scriptures declare that hell matters. Jesus’ desire is that no one should perish, but that all people would receive eternal life through Jesus (2 Peter 3:9).

Only the message of the Cross and its acceptance will bring an end to Satan’s ravaging work, both now and throughout eternity. God calls His church to proclaim the whole gospel to rescue the perishing from hell and its torments. This is why hell matters.

Mark A. Hausfeld, D.Min. is the president of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri.

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Abide With Me HELPING A NEW GENERATION OF CHRISTIANS GO DEEPER IN JESUS DICK BROGDEN

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e live in an impatient, hurried and harried age. Our fathers and mothers in the faith talked about “praying through” or “tarrying in the presence of the Lord” — phrases that imply lingering and time investments. In today’s world, such notions often are either intimidating or uninteresting.

Many of us yearn for greater spiritual depth — perhaps the kind we see or remember in older generations. We don’t often admit it out loud, but there is a longing within us to pray, linger in the presence of Jesus, and live with the gravitas of God. Yet we don’t know how to get there.

Finding the time to go deeper is a challenge because our world has sped up. We are busy ministers and leaders, and there is much to do in our broken world. We tend to press on with our manic schedules and diluted disciplines, happy in one sense to be active, but simultaneously anxious, harboring the nagging realization and conviction that we are more spiritually flimsy than our fathers and mothers in the faith. We have the appearance of spirituality, but not the power. We long to share the spiritual depth of our heroes, but we wonder how we can practically get there. Deep inside we know that if we don’t develop a genuine spiritual depth that only comes from extravagant time with Jesus, our ministries will produce wood, hay and straw (1 Corinthians 3:12–13). In other words, the effort will not last beyond us.

I’m not where I want to be, but perhaps I can encourage you by sharing my own experiences. Allow me to describe what my “abiding” time looks like — on a good, nontravel day. My prayer is that it will inspire you to grow in your own personalized abiding in Jesus.

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Desperation I abide in Jesus out of necessity. While discipline is a necessary component, for me it starts with desperation. I know I am a powerless fraud with a wicked and deceitful heart, capable of, and rushing toward, any and every sin unless I daily draw from the wisdom, assurance, guidance, correction, strength and very life of Jesus. My desperation for Jesus empowers my discipline, fuels desire and culminates in delight. None of what follows will be of much help to you unless you are desperate for more of Jesus and make the disciplined and daily determination to lavish extravagant time on Him. It is not easy. If you are going to have the spiritual depth of your mothers and fathers in the faith, you must desire it enough to pay the price to get it. The joy set before you in intimacy with Jesus and divine power in ministry should outweigh the fear of a shallow spiritual life and legacy. Both motivations are legitimate, but joy should lead.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise — and Double–Dipping For five years, I studied the lives of fruitful missionaries. I could not find one who did not abide in Jesus. All of them spent extravagant time in the presence of Jesus, and all of them did it in the early morning. All of them adjusted their bedtimes so they could get enough sleep.

All of them. I’m not naïve enough to suggest that you can tithe your time (two or more hours a day) without giving up something. Start with social media, ESPN, TV and movies. Do the simple math: If you are to have two hours with Jesus every morning before your responsibilities start, think about how many hours of sleep you need each night, work back, set a bedtime, and start chopping expendable activities — ruthlessly.

Personally, I have no problem double–dipping.

My prayer time and my exercise time often overlap.

I learned this from veteran missionary Jerry Spain, one of my mentors. He ran and prayed. I have learned to do the same. You can run (or walk) for an hour and pray the whole time. Besides, if I don’t move when I pray, I fall asleep or start daydreaming. You can wash dishes, do laundry, nurse a baby, cut the lawn, drive to work … and pray. I suggest turning off the radio and using every minute of driving time to steer your heart toward heaven.

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Bible Before Breakfast I first heard the term “Bible Before Breakfast” from Cal Olson, another missionary mentor. Honestly, this is hardest for me. Email and world headlines are my siren songs. Once I open that inbox, the concerns of the day pull me in and away. When I wake up, I try to make prayer the first thing out of my mouth — a brief greeting to Jesus, a simple prayer of thanks and a plea for help.

Then I try to walk right to my abiding place, passing only through the kitchen to make a cup of chai.

Distraction-Free Zone I find it imperative to be in a comfortable place far from my phone or computer. I go to the same place every morning and follow the same routine. It centers me and helps me avoid distractions. I collect everything I need — my Bible, journal, devotional, pen, reading glasses, memory cards and chai — and settle down to hear what Jesus wants to tell me that morning.

Old Dead Guys I start with what my Chi Alpha friend Eli Gautreux calls “the old dead guys.” I spend about 15 minutes reading a short chapter from a man or woman of God who has gone before us. I find that these writers from the past tend to put more in one paragraph than contemporary authors stretch over chapters. I read slowly, mark up the text and reflect. I’m currently reading G. Campbell Morgan’s The Great Physician after recently finishing John Climacus’ The Ladder of Divine Ascent. Pick your pleasure, but men and women like à Kempis, Fénelon, Guyon, Augustine, etc. sure have something to say.

Hidden in Your Heart I encourage you to use a paper Bible and to mark it up with a pen. In his book Brain Rules, John Medina cites research showing that tactile reading — holding and writing in and interacting with a paper book — drastically improves retention. I also think there is merit in having something that contains only the Word of God, not movies, emails, selfies, games or any other number of things.

Legacy-wise, a well-read, well-loved, well-marked-up Bible is also a great gift to leave your progeny. They will be able to see and follow the passages and truths that were instrumental in your journey.

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I studied the lives of fruitful missionaries. All of them spent extravagant time in the presence of Jesus, and all of them did it in the early morning.

As part of my Bible time, I review verses that I am memorizing. I write those verses on a 3-by-5 card that is part of a spiral-bound packet and review them regularly. The spiral binding keeps the verses organized and together, and I can review all the verses in about 5 to 10 minutes. When I have the collection down well, I add another verse.

I have learned over the years that I can’t just stop thinking impure thoughts. I have to replace them.

When distractions draw my mind toward what leads to death, I start quoting the Bible verses I have hidden in my heart. Kind of like croquet, the good thought then knocks away the evil one.

Journal and Reflection I use my journal in one of three ways: 1. I jot down a summary thought from each of the chapters (or group of chapters) I have read. I then try to extract a one-line summary from all the reading — a precept to believe and/or obey — and write it across the top of the page.

2. I write out a prayer.

3. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives me a thought to preach, an idea to develop or a word of encouragement to pass on. I flip to the back of my journal and scratch out a note or outline and then return to what I was doing before the inspiration came. This way, I can harvest and harness what God gives me without losing focus on the overall abiding response.

Praise and Prayer I follow the familiar Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication (ACTS) structure. I aim to spend 15 minutes on each one. Sometimes for my 60

adoration time I will play worship songs on my guitar or plunk them out on the piano. For confession, I not only open up to the Lord about my sins, but I also confess that He is good, strong and faithful. For thanksgiving, I mention every thing and person — good and bad — in my life and worship God for His sovereign goodness in all He does or allows. I try in the prayer time to pray for at least five minutes or more in the Spirit — my acknowledgement that I don’t know what to pray and that I need to cultivate a space for the Spirit to pray through me.

I finish my prayer time with supplication. I have two pages in the back of my journal that help me. On one page (that I have divided out by days of the week), I list the people and nations I am taking to God in prayer. I divide it further into the categories of family, friends, colleagues, pastors, leaders, followers and nations in need of missionaries. Each day, I pray for someone in each of those categories. On the other page, I keep a list of things I am praying specifically for myself. I also list my wife, my boys and upcoming ministry events. I pray over each one.

In essence, then, my preferred morning abiding time takes around two hours. (I don’t time it or watch the clock; I just linger until I am done). Usually the time is arranged like this: 15 minutes with an old dead guy, an hour in the Bible and journaling, and an hour in prayer and praise.

Breath Prayers Not everyone has the ability to spend two or more hours at a stretch in prayer and devotions, but many ministers who arrange their own schedules can make this work. Others will have to learn to abide for a stretch in the morning, over the lunch hour and in the evening.

We all must also learn the state of abiding, or all-day communion with our Lord.

From the fourth century on, some Christians sought to pray all day long by encapsulating their hearts’ desires into a short sentence — usually not longer than seven syllables. They then picked something that happened repeatedly in a day (like the sound of a bell or the chirping of a bird), and when that event occurred, they would pray their prayer.

I live in Northern Africa, so I try to pray my breath prayer (“Be near me, Lord Jesus!”) every time I hear 61

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LEARNING TO ABIDE

My parents taught me to abide. They were pioneer missionaries, church planters and leaders. They were active and energetic, but one thing was supreme: the simplicity of just having Jesus and abiding in Him. To them, abiding in Jesus was both a discipline and a state. The discipline of abiding refers to the daily morning time with Jesus, reading the Bible and praying. The state of abiding refers to communing with Jesus all day long.

My parents called the discipline of abiding their “8 to 10.” By that, they meant they would dedicate those morning hours of 8 to 10 to Jesus. They did not answer the phone or the gate, they removed themselves from distractions, and they took their coffee and chairs out into the equatorial Kenyan sun, where they lingered with Jesus. You could set your clock by it.

Missionary Billy Burr coined the term “a tithe of me.” The premise is that we have a resource that is more precious than money: our time. In a financial tithe, we acknowledge that 100 percent of our resources belong to God, and we are merely returning a portion (10 percent) of what is His, as a sign of trust. He takes what remains and bountifully meets all our needs. Thus it is for abiding. We tithe our time. All of our moments and days belong to Jesus. We merely return to Him a portion of them, and He takes what remains and bountifully blesses it. No one considers the financial tithe legalistic. Abiding isn’t legalistic either when we approach it with a pure and glad heart.

My parents realized the John 15:1–7 methodology of abiding in Jesus empowers the Matthew 28 commission to go and make disciples.

Jesus — somewhat shockingly — tells us that the primary way we make disciples is by spending extravagant time with Him. Abiding is the first priority of the minister and the chief methodology of the mission. Do you want to make disciples? Abide in Jesus!

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When I wake up, I try to make prayer the first thing out of my mouth — a brief greeting to Jesus, a simple prayer of thanks and a plea for help. a loud horn or every time I hit “send” on an email. It starts as a cognitive choice, but over time and repetition, this type of prayer moves from the head to the heart and becomes more reflexive, natural and constant. Breath prayers help me abide with Jesus all day long.

Abiding is by no means restricted to the ideas mentioned here. You may — and should — abide in ways convergent with your personality and wiring. Feel free to dance, draw and sit in protracted silence or employ myriad other ways to linger with Jesus. The baseline includes the Bible, prayer and extravagant time, but abiding times will certainly differ.

As we abide, and as we daily spend extravagant time with Jesus, He will abide with us (John 15:4–5), and we, too, can escape the tragedy of a shallow spirituality and walk with lowly gravitas in the footsteps of the saints who have gone before us — all for the glory of God among all nations.

Dick Brogden was born in Kenya, where his parents served as Assemblies of God missionaries. He has been planting churches in the Arab world for the past 24 years.

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URBAN MULTIPLIERS: PLANTING SEEDS IN THE DESERT These leaders are fervently serving in cities with unique and diverse needs — our urban areas. lbert Camus famously said, “As a remedy to life in society, I would suggest the big city. Nowadays, it is the only desert within our means.” While his words may seem harsh, there is a grain of truth to be found in them. Urban populations are a unique melting pot of people from all different walks of life and worldviews. As a result, it can be challenging to connect in urban areas — both for the population itself, and those trying to serve it.

Consider this: According to U.S. Census Bureau data released in December 2016, the population residing in urban areas experiences higher rates of poverty than those who live in rural areas (14 percent compared to 11.7 percent). Yet urban dwellers are more likely to have a bachelor’s degree or higher (29 percent compared with 19.5 percent). As well, urban areas are much more likely than rural communities to be populated with adults born in other countries (19 percent compared to 4 percent).

Due to the nature of cities, they often attract a conglomerate of individuals — some commuting to a wellpaying job in a high-rise building, while others may sit in front of that same building and ask passers-by for spare change. As such, a diverse population lands in the small spaces that are urban areas; it is often there where our society’s needs are most felt.

While Camus and others consider urban areas a “desert” of sorts, there are many faithful servants planting seeds for change — three of whom you’ll meet in this issue. On page 65, Steve Pike shares the mission

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of Urban Islands Project, a nonprofit organization he serves as president. Urban Islands Project is dedicated to increasing the presence of the Church in every North American urban center.

On pages 66 and 67, Brian Schmidgall explains how he and his family uprooted their lives to move to an area stricken with poverty and racism in North St. Louis.

There, they planted MiddleTree Church, a church that is rich with diversity of all kinds. Schmidgall strongly believes that cities are changed from the inside-out, not the other way around, and it is evident in how he functions there in life and ministry.

Finally, on page 68, Alberto Bello has strayed from the traditional church growth model to reach the millennial population of Los Angeles. He shares some ideas on how you can become involved in urban ministry today.

We hope these stories serve their purpose in encouraging you to make a difference wherever you’re located, and to choose an urban population to keep in prayer.

Ana Pierce is the online editor of Influence magazine.

AN URBAN DEVELOPER Steve Pike is dedicating his ministry to ensuring the presence of the Church is found in our nation’s urban areas.

A Q&A WITH STEVE PIKE

Influence: What’s the state of American cities in general?

Steve Pike: Generally, the actual urban core of most cities is experiencing positive population growth and positive economic trends. At the same time, however, they have become spiritual deserts — as the density of the population increases, the presence of churches decrease.

Why is it so hard to define “urban”?

So many variables affect the definition of urban. Population density is one variable. How many people per square mile qualifies as urban? Another variable is cultural. Are urban tight-knit neighborhoods of people from the same ethnic background or ethnically diverse zip codes clustered around a central business district? What about crime and creativity? Is urban characterized by lots of gangs or lots of entrepreneurs and starving artists? The result is that it’s tough to find a definition of “urban” that everyone agrees on.

What is Urban Islands Project doing to multiply in urban centers?

We complement the efforts of sending organizations (denominations, churches and church-starting networks) to support church start-up teams who are working in the same city at the same time. We facilitate the formation of a real-time peer learning environment composed of church planters and their families. We use urbantweaked metrics that allow us to accurately measure the progress of a church start-up team and coach them toward healthy missional momentum. We are currently working with 17 projects inside the city limits of three major American communities — Denver, Minneapolis/ St. Paul and New York City.

What kind of person are you finding is the best fit to plant churches in these cities?

Urban starters must be tenacious, patient and full of faith. They need to be able to work cross-culturally. And they must be effective at building redemptive relationships with people who are not Christians.

How do urban churches look different from suburban or rural churches?

Surprisingly, in some ways urban churches have more in common with rural churches than they do suburban churches. Urban churches tend to be neighborhoodfocused and typically have a lower average number of attendees than their suburban counterparts. The costs of living and doing church in the urban context tend to be higher than either suburban or rural context.

What difference do you think the church can make in America’s largest cities?

Proverbs 14:34 says that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” City centers tend to be the gathering place of the influencers who are creating the culture and crafting the philosophies that will eventually become the dominant trends in the general culture. In other words, what happens in the city impacts what happens in the suburbs and rural communities.

When the voice of the Church becomes part of the conversation that is taking place in the heart of our cities, the benefits of righteousness will be a blessing to everyone.

Steve Pike is president of Urban Islands Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the presence of the Church in every North American urban center.

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OVERARCHING LEADERSHIP How Brian Schmidgall is using MiddleTree Church to build bridges in North St. Louis.

A Q&A WITH BRIAN SCHMIDGALL

Influence: What’s the history of the church in St. Louis?

Brian Schmidgall: In the 1960s, St. Louis reached its peak population of over 900,000. Today, it has shrunk to a third of that size at 330,000, so you can imagine the vacancy and abandonment throughout the city. Unfortunately, when the people fled the city, the churches followed, and the Assemblies of God was no exception.

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What are the unique challenges of being a church planter in St. Louis?

The decline in the population of St. Louis naturally led to a decline in its tax revenue. Public services like education and law enforcement are underfunded and anemic. A prejudiced history has left St. Louis a sharply divided city both racially and socioeconomically, while crime rates consistently rank it as one of

the most dangerous cities in the U.S. Because of these divisions, we’ve intentionally located MiddleTree Church on the street that divides the city in two, believing that the Church is the one organization with the ability to heal the heart of a city. The biggest challenges we’ve faced are a result of our diversity. Navigating topics like Ferguson or politics can be a bit more challenging than with a homogenous church.

How important is it for urban planters to move into the neighborhood where they’re planting?

If you want to reach a community that’s hurting, I don’t think there’s any other way to plant a church than to live among the community you’re serving. For too long the Church has created a comfortable distance between us and those to whom we minister. We’ve made people our mission instead of making them our neighbors. There is a strong difference between those two approaches to ministry. When you’re a neighbor, their problems become your problems, their hurts become your hurts, and their joys become your joys.

The greatest decision we made was purchasing a home in North St. Louis. We chose to live in a portion of the city that nobody moves into. Our decision to live among poverty in an all-black neighborhood has communicated to the community that we’re not here to give answers; we’re in this struggle with them.

I’ll give you an example of what this looked like for us. I remember the first time I stepped foot into the alley directly behind our new home. There was trash everywhere, and all the vegetation was overgrown. The only thing I could envision were all the unseen little critters running around with the diseases they carry, and in the middle of it all was my growing daughter playing with her new friends. The father in me stood up and said, “We’ve got to clean this up.” So, our neighbors rallied together, and we cleaned the alley. In that moment, I learned that when you make people your neighbor, God will even use your own selfish concern to bless the community.

I also don’t think you get an accurate portrayal of a community until you’re living within it. Each community has its own personality. Urban communities are different in that they treasure the diversity and unique attributes that make up their locale. In fact, anything that hints at the feel of a franchise is often rejected by the locals. You won’t find urban dwellers frequenting

Applebee’s. That’s for the suburbanites who are from the outside visiting. Our urban churches must understand this value. If your church is a cut-and-paste copy of another, it will reek of inauthenticity. If you don’t look like or incorporate the feel of your surrounding community, you’ll be viewed less as a neighbor and more as a corporation.

What has been the key to the success of MiddleTree Church in St. Louis?

One thing that has marked our success is the diverse makeup of our leadership and congregation. In a city so divided that each side has its own parks, libraries and grocery stores, having a place where the two come together to worship is unnatural; it’s supernatural, really. We get to see people who have completely different life experiences and look nothing alike come together to fellowship and break bread in one another’s homes. Hearing them refer to each other as brother or sister is transformative. Jesus makes us family.

What is it going to take to see the re-establishment of the Church in St. Louis?

Since the challenges are so great in St. Louis, the Church at large needs to make a concerted effort to support church plants and other Kingdom efforts. I’m working with an organization called Reach Missouri that is looking to partner with and plant 20 churches in the next three years.

We need selfless, sacrificial leaders, full of the Spirit, who will commit to the city and prioritize the Kingdom over their comfort. We need leaders who aren’t looking to grow the biggest church, but who are looking to change a city.

Brian Schmidgall is the lead pastor of MiddleTree Church (AG) in St. Louis, Missouri.

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REACHING L.A.’S LOST MILLENNIALS Alberto Bello’s urban church plant is reaching Los Angeles’ millennial population.

A Q&A WITH ALBERTO BELLO

Influence: How have you used your personal testimony to attract others and multiply the Kingdom?

Alberto Bello: I came to church planting from the fashion industry in Hollywood, and my wife, Ashley, came from the makeup industry. This gave us a pretty good gauge on the culture and allowed us to bridge our hearts to those in our community through our story. We get L.A. culture, and we understand the implications of attempting to walk out our faith in this city, along with the challenges it produces.

What is the greatest challenge to church planting in an urban area, and how have you overcome that?

I planted in a community that was predominately single young adults from the ages of 24–29. I believe millennials are amazing, but reaching them presents its own set of challenges. They’re very passionate about things and that passion can be deceiving, leading them to make emotional decisions as well as a lack of commitment. Attempting to build a church in a community that doesn’t necessarily place a high value on regular church attendance can be difficult. I’ve overcome the challenges by shifting my perspective, my approach, and how I measure the “wins.”

Explain how your church’s values lead to discipleship and growth.

I quickly realized that most of our growth would not come from a Sunday morning experience. Traditional models that may have worked 10 years ago or in a suburban context were not working for us. I stopped attempting to grow the church from the outside in, and began to grow from the inside out. Knowing that the average 68

church attendance is once every three weeks and sometimes once every four weeks, I realized that it wasn’t fair to count Sunday attendance as the major win. I began to change our focus to how many new people we are serving, how many new people are tithing, and how many new people are making the move into our core. This really revolutionized our approach.

What would you say to another urban church leader who feels discouraged by lack of results?

Stay in your lane, and keep your eyes on your lane.

It’s easy to get distracted by someone else’s results. Stay engaged in what God is doing in you and through your community. Not every story is that of an overnight success, so don’t expect your urban church to fall in that category. Sometimes only the overnight success stories get printed and promoted, so it’s easy to think that what you do doesn’t matter or have value. That’s a lie. What you do matters, and you’re making a difference in the lives of people. Anything of worth and value takes time to build.

What are some ways that anybody can be involved in urban ministry?

As an urban church planter, I know there has always been a need for high-caliber leaders with a vision. It can be difficult to find high-level leaders who are willing to work for free, as many of us must in the beginning, due to the nature of planting in an urban context. Find a planter in your area, and give yourself to serving whole-heartedly.

It will be frustrating at times, but it will be one of the most rewarding things you ever do.

Alberto Bello is the lead pastor of The Gathering LA in North Hollywood, California.

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AN EIGHT-WEEK STUDY FOR LEADERSHIP TEAMS

Week after week, you invest time and energy into making every Sunday count. But you also have to think about staff meetings, board meetings, and meetings with key volunteers and other church leaders.

Juggling so many meetings can seem overwhelming, especially as you think about developing the leaders around you. Effective leaders are endlessly on the look out for great leadership content they can use to develop and mentor other leaders. Make It Count is a great, little tool to help you accomplish just that.

Each Make It Count lesson is easily adaptable for individual or group discussion, allowing for personal application and reflection among your ministry leaders and lead volunteers. The lessons are useful as devotionals in board and staff meetings or in 70

important meetings with your lead volunteers. Studying and growing together is key to building strong and healthy relationships with your team members, and it is a necessary component to building growing, flourishing churches. These lessons can help you make each moment count as you lead and develop the leaders around you.

The following eight, easy-to-use lessons on time management are by Stephen Blandino, lead pastor of 7 City Church in Fort Worth, Texas (7citychurch.com). He and his wife, Karen, planted 7 City Church in 2012 in a thriving cultural arts district near downtown Fort Worth.

Stephen blogs regularly at stephenblandino.com and is the author of several books, including Do Good Works and Creating Your Church’s Culture.

8 STEPS TO IMPROVING TIME MANAGEMENT STEPHEN BLANDINO

ow can we get more done in less time? It’s a common question among ministry leaders.

The to-do list for leaders and teams grows faster than our ability to check things off. Ironically, we’re usually too busy to think about time management.

James 4:14 says that our lives are “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Time is precious, and how we use it will determine whether our legacy vanishes with our lives. It’s in the best interest of each team member to make every moment count. Effective time management not only increases a leader’s productivity, it also multiplies a team’s collective impact.

Most time management strategies focus on efficiency rather than effectiveness. It’s all about getting more done, not necessarily getting the right things done. I want to take a different approach. In the following lessons, I’m going to lead your team through a process to evaluate your management of time, clarify what is most important for each team member, and leverage your time to do what truly matters. I’ll offer some practical tips, but I also want to make sure you’re focused on the right things.

Imagine the impact your team could have if everyone efficiently did what mattered most. Imagine how much more your church or organization could accomplish. The process outlined in the following eight lessons will likely produce some eye-opening discoveries, some enlightening conversations with your team, and some important aha moments to give you greater clarity about time management. It will be worth the time, so let’s begin.

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Editor’s Note We are pleased to make available the Make It Count Discussion Guide in an easy-to-use, downloadable PDF, available through the “Downloads” button on Influencemagazine.com.

Each lesson in the Make It Count Discussion Guide is partitioned into a Leader’s page and a Team Member’s page. The Leader’s page corresponds exactly to the material in the print issue of the magazine.

Print multiple copies of the Discussion Guide for all your ministry leaders and the team members they lead in your church or organization.

Key words are underlined in each lesson on the leader’s page. These underlined words coincide with the blank spaces found on the corresponding team member lesson page.

Team members can fill in the blanks as you progress through each week’s lesson material.

We trust these lessons will help you make each moment count as you lead and develop the leaders around you.

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Adopt A Stewardship Mindset Assess: If you were to describe your attitude toward time in one word, what word would you choose?

Insights and Ideas he time management maze usually positions us to tackle the “more in less” predicaT ment. We’re always looking for the latest idea, the newest technology and the best strategy to get more done in less time. However, the starting place for effective time management is not a tool or a technique, but rather a mindset — the stewardship mindset.

In Matthew 25, Jesus shares the Parable of the Bags of Gold. In the story, a master makes his three servants stewards of three different amounts of gold — five bags, two bags and one bag — while he’s away on a long trip. The first two servants put the gold to work, doubling it before the master returns. The third servant hides the master’s treasure in the ground out of fear.

Matthew 25:19 says, “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” When the accounts are settled, the master deems the first two servants as “good and faithful,” and the third as a “wicked, lazy servant.” From this parable, we learn an important truth about stewardship: It is a trust managed faithfully, not a possession owned recklessly.

The servants didn’t own the money as a personal possession; it was a trust. The servants’ responsibility was to manage the gold that the master entrusted to them. Interestingly, this is not just a money management principle. It applies to all areas of our lives, including how we use time.

Time is a trust. All of us receive the same amount each day. Like the servants, as a team you cannot control how much time you receive, but you can determine how to use it. Our job is to manage time faithfully with the Master’s interests — not ours — in mind. A day of reckoning came for the servants, and the same will be true for each of us. God will hold us accountable for how we used the resources He entrusted to us as leaders, and as a team.

Adopting a stewardship mentality is the first step to developing an effective time management habit. When we acknowledge time as a trust, our hearts will assume a posture of faithfulness, and we will intentionally manage time for our Master’s glory.

Reflect and Discuss 1. When are leaders most tempted to view time as a possession rather than a trust?

2. God is our Master, and He has entrusted us with time. How does this truth convict you or challenge you?

3. What does it look like to manage time with God’s interests in mind?

Apply In the coming lessons, we’ll look at the practical side of time management; however, before you can leverage new ideas and better methods, you must begin with the right mentality — a stewardship mindset.

For the next seven days, begin each day with this prayer: “Lord, help me to see and treat time as a trust from You. Today, give me the wisdom and courage to manage time with Your purposes in mind. In Jesus’ name. Amen!”

You might even gather together as a team and collectively pray at the start of your day.

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Conduct a Time Audit Team Review: Over the last week, in what ways did you feel challenged to treat time as a trust from the Lord?

Assess: On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rank your time management? Why? Insights and Ideas ime is precious. Olympians understand the value of time when they cross the finish T line … in fourth place. Parents realize how fleeting time is when their kids graduate high school. And we all reflect on the brevity of time when we stand at the casket of a friend or loved one.

Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

When we lose sight of life’s brevity, we are inclined to squander time. As a result, we grow foolish rather than fruitful, collect regrets rather than rewards, and become wasteful rather than wise.

Most of us don’t understand how, where or when we waste time. In fact, we often take pride in the number of appointments in our schedule — and the number of events on our calendar — assuming that our busyness equals productivity.

To steward wisely the time that remains, we need to evaluate the time that has passed.

This happens best when we conduct a time audit. A time audit is a minute-by-minute review of how you spend your time over the course of a week (or longer).

When teams track the use of their time, they can mine important lessons. Each team member should consider four things after a time audit: 1. Priorities. How much of your time did you allocate to your highest priorities? Which tasks received too much time, elevating them to an unwarranted priority status?

2. People. What persons, or groups, consumed the greatest amount of your time? Who deserved more of your time than what they received?

3. Patterns. What healthy, and unhealthy, trends have you observed in the use of your time? How are these patterns impacting the rest of the team?

4. Problems. What immediate problems do you see in your current management of time?

Are you consuming too much of a fellow team member’s time?

Reflect and Discuss 1. Why is it so easy to lose sight of the brevity of life?

2. How could a time audit benefit our team?

3. If you had to guess, what negative patterns would a time audit reveal in you (personally as a leader), and in us (collectively as a team)?

Apply To experience the impact of well-managed time, have each team member conduct a time audit. A time audit can happen in two ways. First, if you track your time with a tool or technology, do a quick review of the past two weeks. Second, carefully track your time for the next seven days in 15-minute increments. After conducting your time audit, organize your activities into categories such as “sleep,” “eating,” and “exercise.” As you categorize your time at work, be much more specific. How much time did you spend in each category?

Finally, look at your audit through the review process previously outlined: priorities, people, patterns and problems. Then answer these questions: 1. What surprised you about your use of time?

2. How much time do your team members spend in meetings with one another?

3. What observations would be beneficial to share with the team?

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Clarify Your Priorities Team Review: What were your greatest takeaways from your time audit?

Assess: What do you believe are your most important priorities in life? At work?

Insights and Ideas t’s easy to limit time management to nothing more than a race against the clock. If we I can check off more tasks than we add to our to-do lists, we feel like we’re making progress. But checkmarks aren’t the goal of time management. The true test is whether we achieved our highest priorities. What good is efficiently accomplishing the wrong things?

In John 9:4, Jesus said, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me.

Night is coming, when no one can work.” Two things stand out to me from this passage.

First, our Heavenly Father assigns our work. Second, our time to do this work is short.

That raises a question: What are the works each member of your team should do? What are each member’s highest priorities? True time management might be better described as priority management. When you understand your priorities, you obtain a guide for where to allocate time. Several years ago, I ran across seven questions from John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership curriculum. These questions will help you clarify your greatest priorities.

1. What are you recognized for (the things that fellow team members say you do well)?

2. What is required of you (the things in your job description)?

3. What are you requested for (the things others ask you to do because they recognize them as your areas of strength)?

4. What are you rewarded most highly for (the things that others in your church or organization reward you for when you do them well; the reward may be monetary or verbal praise)?

5. What produces the greatest results (the things that generate the highest return on your investment of time)?

6. What do you rejoice over (the things you celebrate in your role that bring great personal satisfaction)?

7. What do you want to be remembered for (the things you want others to remember you for long into the future)?

The answers to these questions will help each team member create a roadmap to steward time effectively. Furthermore, the answers to these questions will position team members to leverage their God-given strengths for the good of the team. Answers that surface repeatedly are probably a good indication of what your priorities should be.

Reflect and Discuss 1. What is the difference between time management and priority management?

2. How do unclear priorities impact your ability to manage time?

3. What would happen if each member of our team focused time on his or her answers to the seven questions?

Apply Answer Maxwell’s seven questions to help you clarify your priorities. Pay close attention to the areas where your answers overlap. After answering each question, create a list of your top priorities. You may want to categorize these priorities in areas such as your relationship with God, family, work and other important areas. Don’t worry about whether you’re actually pursuing these priorities. Your goal is to gain clarity. We’ll talk about putting priorities into action soon. Be prepared to share your observations with your team.

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Identify Your Gaps

Team Review: After answering the seven questions in the previous lesson, what did you determine to be your highest priorities in each area of your life?

Assess: What percentage of your time would you estimate you are currently allocating to your highest priorities?

Insights and Ideas e often experience gaps between what we aspire to do and what we actually do. This W gap shows up in many areas of our lives. Our actions don’t keep pace with our intentions. The problem is, nobody knows what you intended to do; they only know what you actually did.

James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Deception results from inaction. To believe without action is nothing more than a fruitless wish. Shouldn’t we leverage the time God gives us to accomplish His assignment?

After all, your greatest contribution to your team, church or organization comes from leveraging your time to do what you do best.

After completing your time audit and clarifying your highest priorities, you probably noticed some gaps. I certainly do when I complete these assignments. Becoming aware of the gaps that exist between how you aspire to use your time and how you’re actually using it is a good thing. You can’t close gaps until you bring them out of the dark and into the light.

Your gaps provide direction for your actions. Your gaps pinpoint — with great specificity — the exact areas you need to focus on if you want to manage time more effectively. The starting place for eliminating these gaps is reviewing your time audit and your priorities, and then answering these questions: 1. What are your five (or more) biggest time wasters, and how can you reduce or eliminate them immediately?

2. Where do you add the most value to your church or organization? (How would the rest of your team answer this question?) How can you spend more time on these priorities?

3. What tasks have unnecessarily elevated to priority status, and how can you change this?

4. What people need more (and less) of your time?

Your answers to these questions will help you shift behaviors and eliminate gaps. We’ll explore some practical steps to make these shifts in upcoming lessons.

Reflect and Discuss 1. What is one gap you immediately observe between what you aspire to do with your time and what you’re actually doing with your time?

2. When and how did this gap first appear in your schedule?

3. What systems or expectations in our church or organization make it difficult to focus on our highest priorities?

Apply Do a thorough review of your time audit (how you are using your time) and your priorities (how you should use your time). Look carefully for the gaps that exist between the two.

Then make a clear list of these gaps (in other words, the changes you need to make so that you are using time effectively and efficiently to do the right things). Here’s a good question to wrestle with in this process: What gaps do I need to close to reconcile how I currently use my time with how I should use my time?

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Plan Your Time

Team Review: What were the three biggest gaps you identified between how you’re actually using your time and how you aspire to use your time?

Assess: How do you determine what gets put on your schedule each week?

Insights and Ideas ithout a plan, your time will naturally drift toward the urgent and the unimportant.

W Things that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things will consume your focus, energy and time. Worst of all, unmanaged time will cause you to drift toward your weaknesses.

Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” If you don’t intentionally plan your time, you’ll unintentionally create unproductive time management habits. Consider these five helpful tips for intentionally planning your time so that you can experience immediate traction.

1. Choose the right tool. You need a tool to help you track your time, organize your calendar and schedule what matters most. A simple Google search — or asking fellow team members — will give you plenty of options to choose from. The best tool is the one that works for you.

2. Schedule your priorities. It’s not enough to prioritize your schedule; you need to schedule your priorities. Your priorities and goals are the “big rocks” that get entered into your schedule first. Sermon preparation is one of my big rocks. It’s entered into my schedule as a permanent recurring appointment.

3. Conduct a weekly planning meeting. This planning meeting isn’t with anybody but you, and it should last no more than 15 or 20 minutes at the start of each week. This meeting has one focus: to plan the rest of your week. It’s the most strategic moment in your week to determine what you’ll say “yes” or “no” to. It’s your opportunity to be proactive — rather than reactive — with your time.

4. Block out large chunks of time. In your weekly planning meeting, block out large chunks of time for your highest priorities. Small chunks of time will naturally appear — a meeting ends early, somebody shows up late or a task takes less time than anticipated.

Large chunks of time do not appear unless you purposely create them.

5. Schedule appointments back-to-back. You can easily consume an entire afternoon with just two or three meetings because you put too much time between each meeting.

Scheduling meetings back-to-back gives a hard and fast start and stop time for each appointment.

There are dozens of other time management strategies, but these five will give you an immediate, noticeable boost. Start here, and keep honing your time management efforts.

Reflect and Discuss 1. When and how do you plan your week?

2. Which time management tip represents your greatest strength, and which highlights your biggest weakness?

3. Have each team member share his or her best time management strategy.

Apply This week, put the five time management strategies to work (or a tip shared by a fellow team member). Adopt a new (or better) time management tool, if needed. Have a meeting alone to map out the rest of your week. Schedule your highest priorities first, and allocate large chunks of time to your goals. Do your best to schedule meetings back-to-back, and whatever you do, eliminate your biggest time wasters immediately.

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Delgate

Team Review: How did your first week of planning your time go? What do you need to tweak in your planning process?

Assess: If you could delegate one task on your to-do list, what would it be? Is the thing you would delegate a natural strength for another member of the team?

Insights and Ideas ome things on your to-do list have to be done even though they fall outside of your S natural strengths. It’s not that you enjoy doing them; you simply have to do them. Or do you?

Sometimes we get in a habit of doing tasks and having meetings without ever evaluating whether someone else can accomplish them instead. I often tell our team, “Your first job is not to do ministry. Your first job is to equip and empower people to do ministry.” There will always be more ministry to do than there is money to do it. That’s why it’s critical that our teams focus on equipping and empowering others. Ephesians 4:11–12 says, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

There are certain things that only you can — or should — do, and this list is pretty short if we’re really honest. But if you spend all of your time doing what others can do, your ultimate contribution to your church or organization will be limited. So, to whom can you delegate?

Here are four options to consider: 1. Team members. Who on your team is gifted to do what you want to delegate? Can you trade certain tasks? Delegation is actually the best way to develop other leaders, by testing their ability with new opportunities.

2. Interns. What student could you invite into an internship at your church or organization? Internships are a great way to give young leaders experience and coaching, while simultaneously finding the support you need.

3. Volunteers. Who in your church or organization has the skills to do what you need done? Do a thorough search, evaluate skills, provide necessary training and be willing to release tasks to a team of willing volunteers.

4. Vendors. Can you outsource a task to a vendor or service? Maybe it’s somebody to do graphic design, financial services, administrative work, catering or a host of other tasks. Hiring a vendor is often less expensive than hiring new staff.

Delegation is an essential key to time management. It will help you focus more of your time on what only you can do.

Reflect and Discuss 1. What is the hardest part of delegation? Why? 2. What have you been hesitant to delegate to someone else that you know you should hand off ? Why? 3. Which of the four delegation options is your team not using? How can you leverage each option more strategically?

Apply Make a list of the tasks on your to-do list that someone else could do. Which of the four delegation options will you use to release this task to somebody else? Choose one task you will delegate this week, and create a delegation timeline for the remaining tasks.

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Create Time-Saving Systems -Team Review: What task did you delegate last week? Which task is next on your delegation list?

Assess: What time-saving system do you need to create to become more efficient?

Insights and Ideas ounting the cost is indispensable as disciples of Christ. Jesus said, “And whoever does C not carry their own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).

Then He made a comparison to constructing a building or assembling an army. Jesus said, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” (Luke 14:28). He continued, “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:31).

Counting the cost is essential in time management, too. As leaders, we have to determine how much time critical tasks will take, and we have to look for effective ways to streamline processes and improve efficiency. One of the best ways is to create automated time-saving systems.

Author Rory Vaden asserts that automation is to your time what compounding interest is to your money. When you create a system today that takes care of a task tomorrow, you free up time tomorrow to do what you should be doing. Vaden drives home this principle with an example called the 30x Rule that he gleaned from a business executive. According to the 30x Rule, if you have a daily task that takes you five minutes to accomplish, it will take up to 30 times longer to train somebody else to do the task. Therefore, it will take up to 150 minutes of training to delegate the task at hand. This probably sounds unreasonable at first (after all, it only takes five minutes of your time). But do the math. A daily five-minute task equals 1,250 minutes over an entire year (assuming you take a couple of weeks of vacation). But if you invest 150 minutes training someone to do the task, you would save 1,100 minutes over the course of a year. That’s a 733 percent return on time invested in one year.

Vaden says, “What got you here as a performer, won’t get you there as a leader.”

Performers do the five-minute tasks, while leaders create time-saving systems by delegating tasks.

Reflect and Discuss 1. Consider Vaden’s statement: “What got you here as a performer, won’t get you there as a leader.” How does that challenge you?

2. What systems could we create organizationally to improve our team’s overall efficiency?

3. What’s the next time-saving system you personally need to create?

Apply Evaluate what you are currently doing that could be accomplished quicker by developing a good system. You may need to streamline a process, eliminate unnecessary steps or schedule the time to train somebody else to do a task. This week, create one system to become more efficient in the use of your time. If you need to delegate something, use the 30x Rule to calculate how long it will take to train the right person.

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Establish Boundaries Team Review: What time-saving system did you create last week? How much time do you estimate this system will save you?

Assess: What kind of boundaries have you established for how you use your time?

Insights and Ideas oundaries sound restricting, limiting and even controlling. But the truth is, boundarB ies create long-term health. The boundaries of the aquarium keep the goldfish alive.

The boundaries of a riverbank keep the local city or town safe from flooding. And placing boundaries around the use of your time will cultivate a healthy pace.

Jesus said, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). Why is it so difficult to do this when it comes to time management? Without boundaries, somebody else will hijack our time. But the right boundaries will protect our highest priorities. To establish healthy boundaries, take three steps.

1. Be honest. Talk to the most important people in your life (spouse, kids, friends, pastor, mentor) about two things. First, share your time audit with them, and seek their input and perspective. Sometimes others can see what we can’t. Second, ask them this question: How is my current management of time hurting my personal health and my relationship with you? Their answers should drive you to a place of action. Whatever you do, don’t get defensive.

2. Set boundaries. After reflecting on your honest conversations, identify the three most important changes you need to make, and then set some clear boundaries. Some examples of boundaries might include arriving home from work by a certain time each day (a time that you and your family agree upon); not traveling away from home more than a set number of nights per month; not scheduling meetings more than two nights per week; protecting a weekly date night with your spouse; protecting family birthdays, anniversaries and other special events; and using all of your annual vacation time.

Other boundaries might involve your health, spiritual practices and even financial decisions. Ask yourself, “What’s most important to me, and how can I put safeguards in place to ensure I keep this priority in focus?”

3. Pursue accountability. Chances are, you won’t be able to maintain your boundaries without somebody else asking you the hard questions. Seek out accountability partners to help you stay focused and healthy. You might even secure a coach or counselor to help you cultivate perspective and foster spiritual, mental and emotional health.

These steps will help you clarify and establish the boundaries you need so that you can protect your priorities and relationships.

Reflect and Discuss 1. Why is it so difficult to establish boundaries?

2. Which boundary is your toughest to maintain? What boundary have you successfully maintained? What has been your secret to success?

3. What are some boundaries we need to establish as a team to protect our personal and organizational health?

Apply As we wrap up our study on time management, work through the three steps above to establish clear boundaries. Without healthy boundaries, someone else will dictate how you use your time. Establish a filter that helps you say “no” to the unimportant so you can say “yes” to the most important.

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THE FINAL NOTE

Is Ministry Killing Your Marriage?

SATISFACTION WITH SPOUSAL RELATIONSHIP: PASTORS vs.

U.S. ADULTS 1%

7%

3%

12% 26% 35%

70% 46%

Percentage among Protestant pastors and married adults 18 and older

ALL PASTORS

80

n

BELOW AVERAGE / POOR

n n n

AVERAGE GOOD EXCELLENT

ALL U.S. ADULTS

How do pastors feel about their most intimate relationship — their marriage? An overwhelming number of married pastors, 96 percent, say they are happily married.

In fact, according to Barna’s The State of Pastors report, 7 out of 10 (70%) pastors say their marriage is excellent, and one-quarter considers it good (26%). So, how does this compare to how all American adults rate their marriages? Less than half of all married American adults rate their marriage as excellent (46%), and one-third says it’s good (35%). It is encouraging to note that pastors are reporting greater marital satisfaction than the general population.

The State of Pastors report also notes that pastors divorce at lower rates than the general population. About 10 percent of Protestant pastors have ever been divorced, compared to 27 percent of all U.S. adults.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

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Samuel Rodriguez is a dynamic leader. Be Light is a must-read if you are tired of darkness and want to confront it in all its forms with the clarion call of Christ and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Alton Garrison belightbook.com serluzlibro.com

Assistant General Superintendent Assemblies of God, USA

PROPHETIC ACTIVISM

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Reverend Rodriguez reveals that we are dealing with the clashing of human-interest agendas not far from those my father faced in April 1963. He also proposes to go back to the basic founding principles of our nation, which are biblical.

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Chief Executive Officer The King Center