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February 11, 2009

 

 

 



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night owl

Ray Tetz wrote me last week, "I hope you take that 'Best Book' blog down soon; you are costing me money at Amazon!" Great books, and I encourage you to check them out.

Since we've got a cluster of worship conferences coming up, this week's question is about worship. You've all been in many worship services in your life. Can you remember one that stands out? Some moment when everything came together, and you knew something was happening that you and the congregation would never forget? So, this week's question:

Recount a moment within corporate worship that had an enduring impact upon you and/or your congregation.
To the Point

If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
  - Doug Larson
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
 - Ernest Hemingway
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
 - John Lennon
I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one, for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed.
 - James Thurber
 - The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.
 - Fyodor Dostoevsky
In journalism, two anecdotes are just one short of a national trend.
 - Judith Warner
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.   
 - Theodore Roosevelt
A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something. 
- Wilson Mizner
It is possible to own too much...a man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.
 - Unknown
Motorcycle Evangelism
by Tom Hughes, Newark, OH
Tom Hughes has found a way to make his lifelong hobby an outreach

For the last 42 years I have been a motorcyclist. For the last 30 I have been a minister. It's only been the last 15 years that I have married the two together.

Tom HughesJoining the Christian Motorcyclists Associationwas one of the best things I have done in my ministry. By becoming a member, and serving my fellow Christians and the unchurched, it has helped me to stay in touch with the very core principles of Christianity. Street witnessing to bikers at Daytona or Sturgis helps me "keep it real".

As a minister, I often deal with administrative tasks that take up far too much of my time. But by attending CMA meetings, and helping them to minister to this very special group, I keep my witnessing skills sharply honed.

Once a fellow pastor said "We should start an SDA Bikers club, so we can be the head and not the tail". I thought, how strange to so misunderstand the very purpose of such a group. We are here to serve, not rule. By serving an interdenominational group, you gain access to many denominations and organizations you would otherwise not have opportunities to reach. The relationships you have there are deep, and are not about just sharing our unique beliefs. They are about joining in a cause so vast, the reaching of millions for Christ, that we help and support each other in this great mission. We understand we differ on many things, but we agree that the person bikers most need to know is Jesus Christ, and we are united in our desire to reach them with a personal witness for Jesus.

Jesus was the head, but he bowed down and served those far less worthy by washing their feet, and he said we ought to do the same. A biker once told me he would rather rule in hell than serve in heaven. I would rather serve on earth, that I might imitate my master, and by his grace, serve Jesus eternally in Heaven.

Contact Tom at TomHughes@Columbus.rr.com. Tom writes a blog at http://blog.biblebiker.com.
Reading for Pastors
by Best Practices Editor, Loren Seibold

Monte Sahlin comments on a Time magazine article, about the exodus of pastors from rural communities. (Here's the article he comments on, and a video about the story.)

From Christianity Today: Using Google (inexpensively) for advertising a church.

Is there too much God in football? Quote: "If two men, equally devout, are on opposite teams, how does God decide who wins? And what does He say to the loser? 'Pray harder next time'?"

A good review of unChristian: What a new generation really thinks about Christianity. Quote: "Christians are primarily perceived for what they stand against. We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than what we are for."

"The history of Sunday", by Charles Osgood. Quote: "Judith Shulevitz ... in her upcoming book The Sabbath World, [is] pushing for a return to laws that would shut down businesses one day a week. 'If everybody has to stop working, then they have to, sort of, pay attention to their family, to themselves, to their community,' Shulevitz argues... 'Let's remember the Sabbath. Let's remember what it did for us in the past. And let's think about what it could do for us in the future.'"

Ray Tetz has assembled favorite quotes from his favorite ministry book, The Starting Point of Evangelism, by Robert Warren.

Could you be targeted for your advocacy for an unpopular political stance? That's what's happening to some people who donated money to California's Prop 8.
Resources, Ideas and Events
Compiled by Best Practices Editor, Loren Seibold
  • I'm hoping to join you for a Best Practices Night Owl Café at the West Coast Worship Conference next month, in Thousand Oaks. We'll meet after the evening meetings to talk about ministry. More info coming. I'm looking forward to meeting more of you!
  • The worship conference was a fantastic event last year, and I'm looking forward to it again. Last year I attended the one at Andrews University. I can't recommend it enough - it is an intense, professional event, as good as you'll find anywhere in our church or outside of it! My one regret: through the whole event I kept thinking, "I wish I'd brought some of my lay leaders along!" (This year they're going to be there!)
  • Speaking of which: this is from Nick Zork: "The sixth annual Andrews University Music and Worship Conference is coming up next month. March 26-28, 2009 on the AU campus. Presenters include Dr. Todd Johnson, Associate Professor of Worship, Theology and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary, Dr. Jesse Wilson, Associate Professor of Religion at Oakwood University, and Dr. Wayne Bucknor, Assistant Professor of Piano at Oakwood University. For more information, including a complete list of presenters, and to register: visit www.auworshipconference.org or call 800.968.8428."
  • Randy Fishell just told me about a series of illustrated cartoon tracts for adults, called Truth Unfolded. "My goal was to write and illustrate a 'copy light, graphic heavy' tract for today's reader. A secondary goal was to have something kids would feel good about giving away," writes Randy. You can see them here: http://www.truthunfolded.com/
  • Tim Nichols of the Florida Conference wants you to know about the Direct Hit Mission Conference, March 30-31, 2009, at the Forest Lake church in Orlando. Keynote speaker: Paul Borden, a church consultant and Executive Minister of Growing Healthy Churches. Paul is the author of Hit the Bullseye, about moving congregations back to a mission focus, and Direct Hit, about how to infuse new missional DNA into congregations.
  • One of my favorite young pastors, Mike Fortune, wants to share his ministry ideas by means of an occasional e-mail. Mike is an unusually creative pastor. You can sign up here.
  • The Church Resources Center debuted their new website at Myrtle Beach. It includes training videos, materials, and resources of all kinds. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.vervent.org.
Got a tool, resource, site, article, idea or seminar that you like a lot? Share it with us at BestPractices@ameritech.net.
NAD Events
Do you have an SDA-sponsored event that you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Tell us about it at BestPractices@ameritech.net.
NAD Church RESOURCE Center
Best Practices is an e-publication of Vervent
NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER
Editor: Loren Seibold
Senior Pastor, Worthington Ohio Seventh-day Adventist Church
E-mail:
Best Practices
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