Best Practices
| November 16, 2011
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 We [pastors] depend entirely upon the Spirit of God to produce actual effect from the gospel, and at this effect we must always aim. We do not stand up in our pulpits to display our skill in spiritual sword play, but we come to actual fighting: our object is to drive the sword of the Spirit through men's hearts. If preaching can ever in any sense be viewed as a public exhibition, it should be like the exhibition of a ploughing match, which consists in actual ploughing. The competition does not lie in the appearance of the ploughs, but in the work done; so let ministers be judged by the way in which they drive the gospel plough, and cut the furrow from end to end of the field.
Charles Spurgeon
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| Ministry |  The Church is a Spiritual Organization
Running a church on human strength and talent guarantees failure
Church is a spiritual organization - with the emphasis on spiritual. When we try to run a church based on human strength and talent only, three things can happen:
God's blocks His blessings
One of the fastest ways of stopping your church momentum is to believe your own press clippings. If you sense that momentum has slowed down or stopped in your life, ministry, or congregation, one of the first questions I would ask is this: Is God getting all the glory? One of the texts that brings this out the best is James 4:6 "But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'"
I have heard people blame the devil for the lack of growth and success, when in fact it could be God who is slowing you down. With all the opposition to the church these days, do we need to add God to that list?
You'll attract unhealthy people
Like attracts like. When a church is dysfunctional, when it is centered on its own needs instead of the community it serves, momentum stops. As a result, dysfunctional people are attracted to it.
When I was a younger pastor I had four congregations under my care. It was then that I first recognized this principle in action. Once in a while we had an event where all churches would come together. At those events, I saw gossipers gravitate towards gossipers, malcontents got together, those with a critical spirit flocked to one side. When the leadership is healthy, healthy people are attracted. When it's not, you don't get the winners, you get the weird. I like different. But weird? Not so much.
People burn out
As a kid, I loved flying kites. Living in Puerto Rico we were almost never short of wind. Once in a while, however, there was a windless day. On those days, if you really wanted to fly a kite, it was much harder. First you needed to go to a big field. Then, get a running start. Follow that with run, run, and then run some more. Kite flying soon became a chore instead of a pleasant endeavor.
The same thing happens in church. When you have people running around, doing things in their own strength, eventually they'll wonder where all the pleasure of serving the Lord went. The only air in those churches is the hot air coming from the saints' mouths as they complain about how it used to be and how no one wants to volunteer any more. Kites fly with almost no effort when there is wind present. Is there wind in your church?
Talk with Roger about this topic on our Facebook page. 
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Resources for Pastoral Spouses
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 Has your spouse seen all of the resources developed recently by the NAD Ministerial Spouses Association? All of the segments of the Keeping It Real TV show are now available to watch online in high definition. They can even be downloaded for future viewing offline. Click the links below to go directly to each segment:
Or watch the entire two hour Keeping It Real show with pastoral spouse hostesses Joanne Cortes and Carin Morgan Villalva.
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| Reading for Pastors | Fat churches: Quote: "In one study of some 5,500 women and men ages 45 to 84, participants were more likely to be obese the more religiously active they were. Each step of the way, from those never attending worship to those attending weekly, greater religious activity was associated with significantly higher rates of obesity."
What good does it do to argue about theology? Dan Reiland thinks arguing theology is the antithesis of leading people to Jesus.
What happens when the treasurer loses the church's money? That happened in Centralia, WA, when the treasurer left the deposit bag on his car and drove off! (Check out this .pdf on handling money from the United Methodist Church.)
According to a recent survey, most pastors believe pornography is a major problem for people in their churches.
Facebook, according to this piece, can do more than make new friends. It lets you eavesdrop on the spiritual lives of your people, so as to address their needs better. Quote: "What happened to me is an example of what some social media experts call 'growing bigger ears', or using social media to become better informed about constituents and what they care about. ... As a ministry tool, the access social networks provide into the lives of our friends and neighbors means we are compelled to see a full picture of them, whether we want to or not." (Along similar lines: according to this infographic, men and women share quite differently on line.)
For you Marilynne Robinson fans, an interview with her on the Duke's Faith and Leadership site. (If you're not familiar with Robinson, she's the author of one of my favorite books, Gilead, a Pulitzer-prize winning novel about a pastor in Iowa.) Quote: In churches "the issue seems to be, 'Should we imitate others?' and it never seems to be, 'How can we be more fully ourselves?'"
Senator Lieberman thinks a day of rest is a good thing - we can assume that he'd prefer the same one we do, fortunately
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| To the Point | |
Outreach Magazine recently asked nine influential pastors this question: "If you could go back and do one thing differently in the early days of your ministry, what would it be?"
Worry less about what people thought. I tried to make a lot of people happy.
-Bob Coy, Calvary Chapel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Ask the church to elect elders earlier to provide greater covering, accountability, and guidance.
- Steve Stroope, LakePointe Church, Rockwall, Texas
Be clearer about the vision of the church. I often said it verbally from the pulpit, but I didn't put it in writing.
- Don Wilson, Christ's Church of the Valley, Peoria, Arizona
Build deeper relationships with other pastors outside of my church.
- Troy Gramling, Potential Church, Cooper City, Florida
Appreciate the people who were present during those tough years.
- Kevin Myers, 12Stone Church, Lawrenceville, Georgia
Be more patient with people in the church, with other ministers and schools of thought.
-Matt Chandler, The Village Church, Flower Mound, Texas
Take time to play; enjoy my family more.
- Brian Tome, Crossroads, Cincinnati
Not be so dogmatic and blunt.
- Robert Emmitt, Community Bible Church, San Antonio, Texas
Make sure from the first day that I was apprenticing other campus pastors and church planters alongside me. It was nine years before we reproduced a campus or a church. That is pathetic!
- Dave Ferguson, Community Christian Church, Chicago
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| Upcoming NAD Events |
Do you have an event you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Send details to BestPractices@Ameritech.net.
Human Relations Sabbath. Nov 19, 2011, Division Wide. `
Welcome Home Sabbath.
Nov 26, 2011, Division Wide. Let's get serious from the start. Programs don't win people back to church, people do! That's why a contact from someone in your local church is vital to getting inactive members engaged in church life again. Welcome Home is a user-friendly guide for personalizing invitations to Homecoming Sabbaths to reach and reconnect with former and missing church members. Phone: 800-328-0525. For more information, email: service@adventsource.org
World AIDS Day.
Dec 1, 2011, Worldwide. Each year, ADRA, along with the worldwide community, commemorates World AIDS Day to show its support and involvement in the global effort to stop AIDS. The fight to halt the spread of this deadly disease is one of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced. ADRA is working to stop AIDS, and we invite you to take up the challenge, too. Phone: 800-424-ADRA. For more information, email: info@adra.org
Bible Sabbath. Dec 3, 2011, Division Wide. `
Pastoral Evangelism and Leadership Conference.
Dec 4, 2011 - Dec 6, 2011, Oakwood University Seventh-day Adventist Church, 5500 Adventist Boulevard, Huntsville, AL 35896. "Pentecost II: Walking in the Rain". Come for a confluence of powerful worship, incredible teaching, transformational experiences and ultimately, seeking a "soaking" in the "rain" of Holy Spirit. For more information, email: lindsay@adventsource.org
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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. |
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