Best Practices
| June 2, 2010
|
|
iFollow Luncheon at the GC - lunch provided
Friday, July 2, 12:30 to 1:29
Convention Center Room B306
iFollow was developed in response to research findings with Adventist pastors who said that they needed discipleship resources. Our best Adventist writers and editors, under the  direction of the NAD Church Resources Center, have created a set of powerful tools for strengthening the vitality of the local congregation and deepening spiritual life.
Come and share a (free) luncheon buffet and get a sneak peek at the overall scope of iFollow, including the special edition of the Pastor's DVD with its complete library of iFollow resources. Attendees will receive a complete set of the inaugural iFollow resources.
Please RSVP to chariolett.johnson@nad.adventist, or call 301-680-6429.
|
|
|
|
Ministry
|  Communicating Beyond the
Bulletin
By Q. Rajkumar Dixit
Associate
Pastor of New Hope Adventist Church, Maryland
How do your church members
get information? Is everything communicated through the bulletin or
announcements at church? Or do you communicate with your congregation through
the email, blogs, phone trees, snail mail, etc? During a recent leadership retreat, the New Hope church team
performed an informal audit of our congregational communication. And we
discovered that we were using over 27 modalities!
We were trying to please
everybody, because some members didn't have access to email, or text message capability. Others never check their
snail mail. However, our attempt to be open with our congregation lead to
wasted time, money and human resources. So our staff developed some new
strategies to redirect the message with purpose. -
Study
your demographics. Twitter and Facebook are all great
social media formats. While they
are the latest buzzwords on the market, they may not be suitable within your
context. Is your
congregation tech-savvy? Consider
the age breakdown. If your church is mainly boomer and builders, you may want
to focus on paper forms of communication.
If it is blended, consider cross marketing with paper and viral mediums.
-
Prune sources of output. We decided to limit our form of communication to 5
methods. Based on our demographics, we focused our attention to our website
(www.lookingforachurch.org), Facebook, bulletin, e-blast, and community life
(announcement time). Because it was hard for us to give up mailings, we
limit them to two times a year (Easter and Christmas).
- Cross
market your information. Don't limit
information to one venue. If you
took the time to write a "focus on a new member" article, use it in multiple
formats. Use the same article in
your paper newsletter, E-newsletter, Facebook note, church website, and
more. The more places you
'reprint' your news, the greater likelihood it will be read.
Discuss this article on the Best Practices Facebook page 
|
|
Reading For Pastors
|
"The Ten Commandments of Preaching" Quote: "Thou shalt not put words in God's mouth." (Thanks to John Bechtel for finding this.)
Not long ago we were praying at the pump, for gas prices to go down. Now, we're praying for oil to quit spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. Are the two related?
From Monte Sahlin's Faith in Context: What are the top needs of Christian teens?
Rural churches:
Seven mistakes I made in ministry, by Thom Ranier of Lifeway Christian Resources.
91-year old Billy Graham would like to give one more sermon. Let's pray he can!
The Bible in Tweets and Legos
Discerning God's Call, including Luther's 8 essential qualities of a minister.
|
| Featured Media | Today we look at chapter two  of the Stained Glass Documentary Series. There are 6,000 Seventh-day Adventist Churches in The United States,
Canada and Bermuda. Every church has a story. This is chapter one of a
four part documentary filmed at the Oakland Grand Ave church in
2008-2009. Watch this episode and look for the young preacher, the
boxer, the smoking evangelist, the executive with a heart for the
homeless, the street volunteer, the blind preacher as they wrestle with
the fact that one out of every hundred residents of Oakland are
homeless. Watch future editions of Best Practices as new chapters of Grand Avenue are released. However if you simply have to see the entire Grand Ave documentary series ASAP you can order it on DVD from AdventSour ce.
With the origins debate escalating within the Adventist Church you may find a renewed interest in the NAD Church Resource Center's In the Beginning. This thirteen episode reality show documents two college students as they travel around the United States looking for answers as to the origins of the universe. In the process they uncover most of the basic questions in the evolution vs. creation debate.The series comes with a leader's guide and discussion questions written by Pastor Stan Hudson. The series is perfect for a small group, discussion group, youth/collegiate group or prayer meeting. You can watch the series and download the teacher's guides here. Or, if you would like the entire series on DVD you can order it here.
 Innovative Impact is coming to Atlanta June 20-23, just prior to the General Conference Session. Come be inspired by Chaplain Barry Black, Derek Morris, Hyveth Williams, G. Earl Knight, Sung Kwon, Bill McClendon, Clifton Davis, Frederick Russell, Mansfield Edwards, Emil Peeler, Carlton Byrd, Roger Hernandez, and Jesse Wilson. Innovative Impact 2010 offers you
and every leader on your team the chance to "pull back" and be
refreshed, inspired and challenged for the great work of the church that
lies ahead. In anticipation of the event, watch Barry Black's presentation at the Adventist Urban Congress.
|
| To the Point
| Mankind's seven social sins: commerce without morality,
politic without principle, wealth without work, pleasure without
conscience, education without character, science without humanity and
worship without sacrifice.
- Mahatma Ghandi
Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.
- W. Somerset Maugham
There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?
- Woody Allen
The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect.
- Esther Dyson
You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.
- Dave Barry
Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.
- Philip K. Dick
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.
- Will Rogers
Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
- G. K. Chesterton
|
News, Ideas & Reminders
|
- From Stanley Patterson: "The Christian Leadership Center of Andrews
University
provides a broad range of leadership training services to Christian
organizations. For information contact Dr. Stanley Patterson, Director,
at clc@andrews.edu. In addition, we publish a research-based but
practical
journal for Christian leaders, The Journal of Applied Christian
Leadership, available
by emailing jacl@andrews.edu.
References
available upon request."
- Atlanta GC
Counselor-in-Residence Program: Being a spiritual
leader can be very demanding work in this day and age. Restricted
time, limited
budgets, stressors of every description can rob a church leader of
vital
energy and sap enthusiasm. Whether you are a pastor, teacher,
administrator,
or staff member, if you find yourself wondering if you might be burned
out - lacking that early enthusiasm that once motivated your
ministry - why not schedule a consultation with one of the
counselor-in-residence staff members while you are in Atlanta? GC Ministerial and Kettering Health Care
are
co-sponsoring a free
consultation program for you. This
could
be an important first step in revitalizing your life. Remember, this is
a
free, highly confidential private consult with a trained professional
team
member. Couples consultations are welcome. Contact program
coordinator, Dr. Bob Peach from Kettering Counseling Care Center at
866-309-9715 or
bob.peach@khnetwork.org
for more information or to schedule your appointment during the Atlanta
GC.
Also, visit our website at www.khnetwork.org/gccnl/ to get info or schedule an appointment.
 Literature evangelists are introducing a children's magazine to English-speaking customers that has been a long-standing hit in South America.My Best Friends has a 50-year history and has grown to a circulation of 80,000 in Brazil. Hoping to reach more families with children between the ages of six and eleven, the Review and Herald Publishing Association partnered with the Brazilian Publishing House to produce the magazine in English. My Best Friends magazine features six fun characters (and two pets) who show children ways to develop social, intellectually and spiritually. Each of the characters have different personalities and unique God-given talents. My Best Friends teaches life skills that embrace everything from nutrition to teamwork. "It's interactive," says assistant editor, David Robinson. "It has crafts, experiments, and mini-language lessons. It has a place where kids can submit their pictures and stories. It's sort of a Bible-based Highlights."
To find out how you can distribute My Best Friends magazine in your community, contact Juliana Savoy at (301) 393-3104. To order a subscription for a child, call the Review and Herald subscriber services department at 1-800-456-3991, or visit .
|
|
Best Practices is a Vervent publication of NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER. Editor: Loren Seibold, Senior Pastor, Worthington Ohio Seventh-day Adventist Church. E-mail:
Best Practices. You are free to republish pieces from Best Practices in your own
newsletter or blog, with attribution to the Best Practices newsletter and the
author of the piece. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
