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Best Practices
June 8, 2011
Rainer Maria Rilke

"Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words"

- Rainer Maria Rilke

IN THIS ISSUE
Roger Hernandez is evangelistically hyperactive
Media: NAD Media Summit On Demand
Reading for Pastors: Should a pastor who's experienced moral failure be restored?
Quotes: "Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils."
News & ideas: New Adventist Parenting e-newsletter
Events: SEEDS Plus 2011
Ministry

Roger Hernandez

Evangelistic Hyperactivity 

By Roger Hernandez

 

2 Timothy 4:5 "...do the work of an evangelist"


A pastor friend of mine, from another country, was called to the union office to be reprimanded.  His leader was not pleased about his approach to church work. He said the pastor was suffering (and I quote), from "evangelistic hyperactivity." As a person who suffers from the same illness, I can relate to this pastor's desire to see more people experience salvation. I believe we need more pastors who become ill, because once you become infected; your life becomes affected (in a positive way). Most pastors would agree that evangelism is both a priority and a challenge, especially in the western world.  Here are some suggestions to become more effective.

Effective evangelism answers the following questions:
  • Who do I think they are?  Successful evangelism begins with a clear understanding of the immense value of all of God's children.  Some of the names we use to describe people that are far from God (even in church, while they are present!) can be offensive and build walls instead of bridges. Terms like "lost," "non-Adventist," "worldly," "outsiders", while true in their literal definition, convey a message of separation. One author suggests calling them "the people God misses the most". How do you treat a child that has strayed from the path?  Remember, those non-christians that you know, they are someone's child.  Treat them as you would like your children to be treated.
  • What do I want them to do?  If my goal is to help people come closer to God, I must use:
    • Truth and experience.  It's not only important for them to think "this makes sense", but "this can change my life".  In the book The Outsider Interviews, a case is made for service as an effective evangelistic tool.  Not just for reaching the people we are serving, but the people we serve with.  It can be life-changing.  Christianity becomes more than just a set of beliefs - it's real.
    • Listening and speaking.  In the same book, the author says that listening has become fundamental in evangelism. In the old paradigm, we speak, they listen.  We know, they don't.  We teach, they learn. We have the truth, they are deceived and don't have much to offer.  In the new paradigm, we listen, we value, we respect.  Then we share. Our message does not change.  The way we deliver it does.
May you catch the bug.

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Media


NAD Media Summit On Demand 

Over 200 attended the NAD Media Summit via the live streaming webinar.Dan Jackson If you missed the presentations you will be able to watch them via on demand video as they are uploaded over the next few weeks. Beginning with today's release of Best Practices you can watch Dan Jackson's opening message, entitled "The Media Ministry Imperative".

 

Allan MartinOne of the favorite presentations was Pastor Allan Martin's brown bag luncheon where he shared some of the social videos and trends that are shaping our culture. You can watch his entire presentation including the videos by going to Vervent's NAD Media Summit channel.   

 

 

 

 

New Adventist Apps  

Want stay connected with Seventh-day Adventist Church news? Download the ANN App for instant updates from the Adventist world churches' official news source, Adventist news Network.

 

Read news stories and features on topics such as religious liberty, education healthcare, church humanitarian work, mission and outreach. Browse the ANN photo gallery, access the ANN glossary and style guide, and join our global community of readers in active discussion of current church decisions and initiatives.

 

BAYDA iServeThe BAYDA-iServe iPhone app that will allow for youth and youth leaders to minister, share, and testify through your iPhone. Post a comment to Facebook or Twitter to share the things that are going on around you with your local church ministry. Take and share pictures of service projects, events that you may b a part of or attend. This app will connect you with other youth and youth ministry leaders from around the world.

Reading for Pastors  

Should a pastor who's experienced moral failure be restored? Good article on the topic from Ministry Today.    

 

Alabama's new immigration law: could this get our churches in trouble? Quote: "It makes it a crime for U.S. citizens to give people a ride if they turn out to be undocumented. It doesn't even have an exception for churches that are providing shelter or food or rides."

 

Interesting interview with Tom Ehrich about "turnaround churches". Quote: "Elected leaders need to stop running churches. Too many lay boards see their role as managing the day-to-day operations of the church, from education to pastoral care to worship to program planning. ... Let the pastor, staff (if any) and key volunteers run the operations. Boards need to be dealing with top-level personnel requirements, what emerging opportunities say about infrastructure."

 

Is this a new entrant in the Sabbath wars? A Duluth church has moved summer Sunday services to Wednesday.  Quote: "While he knows some may question whether changing the day of worship is a biblically correct thing to do, Bagley points to a similar issue raised in the Roman church during the days of the Apostle Paul. According to Romans 14:5-6, he said, 'One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.'"

 

From Monte Sahlin, on Oprah's religion. Quote: "Much of the energy that some Christians put into criticizing popular figures and writers is simply wasted when it comes to communicating 'the truth as it is in Jesus.'"

 

Churches say we could give them more:

  • People want more guidance from their faith leaders about using technology and internet.  
  • UK survey of young people: religious leaders out of touch with issues of sexuality. Quote: "Respondents consider institutional religion a social control mechanism that excessively regulates gender and sexual behaviour, without sufficient engagement with young people themselves. ... What we're trying to encourage is more dialogue with young people as equal partners rather than a top-down approach. Young people need to be listened to. They have experiences and opinions that are sometimes in contrast with what religious professionals have in mind."

 How to protect your church against sexual misconduct claims.  

 

According to Forbes magazine, if you're in ministry to get rich, you're pastoring in the wrong country!

To the Point

 

Here's my observation. Clergy typically fall into one of two camps.Those who, in the face of the brokenness that surrounds them, come to identify their own brokenness and in humility choose to "live with the questions," to borrow the poet Rilke's phrase. This person is reluctant to offer quick answers to the hard questions of life. The other camp is clergy who choose instead to offer confident solutions to life's struggles. The clergy I have watched transgress their ordination vows typically fall into the second camp. The temptation is to shift from speaking about God to speaking for God. When that line blurs in a pastor's mind, all bets are off.

 - Mark Barger Elliott

 

Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, bit by bit, 'with backward mutters of dissevering power'--or else not. It is still 'either-or'. If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell."

 - C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

 

If you ignore your duty as a wife and mother and hold out your hands for the Lord to put another class of work in them, be sure that He will not contradict Himself; He points you to the duty you have to do at home. If you have the idea that some work greater and holier than this has been entrusted to you, you are under a deception. By faithfulness in your own home, working for the souls of those who are nearest to you, you may be gaining a fitness to work for Christ in a wider field. But be sure that those who are neglectful of their duty in the home circle are not prepared to work for other souls.  

 - Adventist Home, p.245


I take the view, and always have, that if you cannot say what you are going to say in twenty minutes you ought to go away and write a book about it.

 - Lord Brabazon


Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.

 - Friedrich von Schiller

 

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
- Louis Hector Berlioz  

 

All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

 - C.S. Lewis 

News, Ideas & Reminders  

Got a tool, resource, site, article, idea or seminar that you like a lot? Share it with us at [email protected].  
Upcoming NAD Events

Do you have an event you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Send details to [email protected].

 

GYC en espa�ol 2011: Firmes y Adelante. Jun 9, 2011 - Jun 12, 2011, Southwestern Adventist University, 100 W Hillcrest Street, Keene TX 76059. Participate in seminars, devotionals and mission work. Connect with ministries and other young people from around the country that share a passion for souls and a vision of finishing the work of God in this generation! All youth and adults who await the soon coming of the Lord Jesus. Phone: Kayla Pi�a (401) 649-9256. For more information, email: [email protected]  

 

Community Services Leadership Development. Jun 11, 2011 - Jun 12, 2011, Blue Mountain Academy, 2363 Mountain Road, Hamburg, PA 19526. Plan now to attend the Community Services Leadership Development "Reach Out" Symposium where you will develop church growth by building a relationship with the community through outreach ministries. Phone: 610-476-4255. For more information, email: [email protected]  

 

Women's Ministries Emphasis Day. Jun 11, 2011, North American Division. Free program materials are available from the NAD Women's Ministries Web site. Phone: 301-680-6427.  

 

SEEDS Plus 2011 Multiplication Movement. Jun 14, 2011 - Jun 18, 2011, Blue Mountain Academy, 2363 Mountain Road, Hamburg, PA 19526. Plan now to attend SEEDS 2011 Multiplication Movement a church planting seminar. Come learn the steps necessary to plant a church, or help a recently planted church grow. Phone: 800-255-7566. For more information, email: [email protected]  

 

Great Controversy Tour - Summer, 2011. Jun 19, 2011 - Jun 30, 2011, Italy, Switzerland, France and Germany. Retrace the Adventist heritage in Europe from its roots in early Christianity, through the Dark Ages, to the Reformation. Tour Host: Dr. P. Gerard Damsteegt, Specialist in Adventist Studies and Church History. Phone: 269-471-5172. For more information, email: [email protected]  

 

PSI International Conference on Philanthropy. Jun 21, 2011 - Jun 24, 2011, JW Marriott Indianapolis, 10 S West Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Planned by and designed for the chief executives and fundraising professionals of Adventist organizations, the conference's goal is to foster vision. Recognized internationally, Principles & Techniques gives you the foundation and inspiration to lead your nonprofit to its financial goals. It provides you with the framework for operating a successful total development program. Phone: 301-680-6133 or 6134.  For more information, email: [email protected].

Best Practices is a Vervent publication of NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER. Editor: Loren Seibold, Ohio Conference. 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.