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June 2016
Church Press Newsletter
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Welcome! Please come in. The song is Come, Now Is the Time to Worship by Brian Doerksen. The invitation is to come just as you are before your God. One day every tongue will confess and every knee will bow, but the greatest treasure remains for those who choose God now. To both the believer and the unbeliever the invitation is the same: Oh, come. Oh, come. Oh come. Come, come, come. Great opening service hymn. View the video, listen to or sing the words of this hymn as you come.
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It Doesn't Pay to Be An Ignoramus!
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By Pastor Don Ginkel
A minister had just assumed his duties as a new pastor of a church. The first Sunday morning he decided he would visit some of the Sunday School classes. He entered the first room while the lesson was in progress and heard the teacher ask one boy, "Who broke down the walls of Jericho?" "Not me, sir," said the boy. The minister turned to the teacher and asked in unbelief, "Did you hear what he said?" The teacher answered, "Yes, and if he said he didn't do it, I believe him. I really don't think he did it."
Distressed, the minister sought out the Chairman of the Board of Education and explained what happened. "I'm appalled," said the pastor. "Why, I've known both the teacher and the boy for years," said the chairman, "and I believe that if the boy said he didn't do it, he really didn't do it." By this time the minister was heartsick. At the next congregational meeting he reported this experience to those present, explaining that he thought they really had a serious problem. Thereupon the Chairman of the Board of Maintenance arose and said, "Mr. President, I make a motion that we simply pay for the damages and charge it to upkeep!"
This is the kind of Bible knowledge that we have in many congregations today by members and even by official boards and chairpersons. If they were to take a test on the very basics of Christian doctrine they would fail miserably. Lesson 2 is going to shake us up. It's a rough and difficult Lesson. All the other Lessons that follow are predicated on this particular Lesson. Let's begin. I Have Good News For You About A Bible Which Guides and Frees You." (I Have Good News For You Leader's Guide, p. 39, by Donald F. Ginkel)
Note: This is an extensive Leader's Guide with verse by verse commentary and numerous illustrations. 7" x 10" with spiral binding, 238 pages. #102 $16.95 ($25.00 value). To order click website or email us.
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Just How Popular Is the Study Course "I Have Good News For You"?
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It sells 10,000 copies a year in just the U.S. While it is used primarily for non-members to prepare them for membership in the Lutheran Church, many other congregations have added an important goal: MEMBERS! Here is the story of just two such churches.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE CROSS, Kent, WA, Rev. Kirk Hulvey, Pastor. 95 average church attendance. Pastor Kirk just ordered 40 copies of I Have Good News For You. He said that he used it in high school. Both he and the Elders have been praying that God would open up the flood gates to non-members and members. They are placing GOOD NEWS Flyers (we provide them free) in the bulletins and asking members to attend and bring a friend along to their Sunday morning Adult Bible Class.
ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH, Cumberland, WI, Rev. John Miels, Pastor. 150 average church attendance. Pastor Miels just ordered 40 copies of I Have Good News For You. He has some copies on hand. He recently lost one couple to the local Catholic Church and another couple to a very liberal congregation. He says they had no idea what they were doing. He wants his people to get back to the basics of Christianity. They are placing GOOD NEWS Flyers (we provide them free) in the bulletins and asking members to attend and bring a friend along to their Sunday morning Adult Bible Class.
We salute both churches and their Pastors. To place your order for this important study, click website or email us. Perfect binding #101 $6.95, Spiral binding $7.95. It's important to have a good follow-up when completing this course. The most popular and important study is "Our Awesome God."
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Why You've Got to Know that You (and her) Are Priceless
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By Kristen Welch (Please consider placing this in your Newsletter)
She grew up in a brothel. She was recently rescued from a living hell in the heart of Kolkata, India.
[Can we just let the weight of those words sink deep? Children in bondage. There are thousands and thousands of girls and women still trapped right now in this life and we have to stop and acknowledge this sad truth even when it's easier to skip over it.]
In her first months of freedom, safe with one of our Fair Trade Friday partners, she chopped off her long hair so she would feel ugly. The blunt hairstyle was a harsh warning to any man who might dare touch her again. "I don't ever want a man to look at me again," she said. This is how she protected herself from being hurt again. [read more]
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Ten Sentences That Make Pastors Cringe
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Let me take you behind the scenes again in the life of a pastor. For sure, your pastor is not likely to let you know the pain these brief sentences cause. But, for most pastors, they hurt. They really hurt. Here are ten of the most common painful sentences uttered to pastors by church members:
- "I love you pastor, but . . . " The pastor will only hear the words after the "but." And they are usually painful.
- "Why didn't you visit her?" Of course, she's not a member of the church. She was in a hospital 70 miles away. And she's married to the third cousin of the church member. [read more]
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Stack of Stuff
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Almost Without Fail
If you want to kill a good idea at your church, form a committee. Better by far, put a responsible person in charge and tell them to get the job done.
An Observation on Preaching
Some little old ladies might like wimpy preaching, but most women don't and hardly any men do - they prefer hard preaching that includes conviction with a ton of Scripture.
"Hurt People Hurt People"
Is your critic emotionally wounded? When hurting souls hurl criticism at you, try to defuse them with understanding. Consider the source. Acknowledge whatever that person is facing. Dismiss the criticism. Love the person.
What Complaining About Your Congregation Says About You
"This week ask God to restore in you the sense of wonder and awe and gratefulness you knew when He first called you to your current congregation. And pray that you will serve them obediently and lovingly in spite of your own faults and weaknesses." - Jon Walker
Some Time
in the relatively near future, Church Press will be sold. If you are interested in possibly being a buyer, please email us.
What We Saw
When a 93-year-old woman was spotted trying to mow her lawn, two complete strangers rushed to her assistance, making for a beautiful act of kindness.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."
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Why Consensus Is Killing Your Church
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By Brian Jones
If your church has plateaued it could be because you have tried to lead everything by consensus. There's a colossal difference between pseudo-leadership (leading everything by consensus) and biblically based, godly, unifying, strong, decisive, servant leadership. Brian breaks this down into two categories:
The Consensus Trap In Smaller Churches
The Consensus Trap In Larger Churches [read more]
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Always Keep Eternity Before Them
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By Ann Vosskamp
I once heard the story of a preacher man with a PhD - whose mother died when he was two. When he was two and there were 5 kids in poor Kansas and she grabbed hold of her husband's hand and whispered her 5 last words: Always keep eternity before them. Always! Think of eternity - and live backwards from that. Don't waste a minute of your life on anything less than eternity - and that's. what. love is. Eternal, without end.
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We Are Over-Stocked On A Bible Study
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Soooo, you can take 50% off. The study is A Time To Laugh . . . or Cry, Part 1, by Pastor Ginkel. Student Guide, 80 pages, #154 $5.95. For June the sale price is $3.00 each. Good application of texts in the lives of Christians today. Email us and tell us how many copies you want. A Leader's Guide is also available for $3.00. Will send Media Mail to save on shipping. Ten Lessons:
1. In the Beginning With Adam and Eve
2. In the Garden When Everything Went Wrong
3. At the Flood With Noah
4. When God Made A Promise to Abraham
5. When Abraham Faced the Supreme Test
6. When Jacob Received the Biggest Blessing
7. With Joseph, the Slave, the Prisoner, and the Prime Minister
8. When God Called Moses to Lead Israel
9. When Israel Was Saved by the Blood of the Lamb
10.When God Gave the Law on Sinai
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6 Biblical Ways to Handle Disunity
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By Rick Warren
There's an unseen factor in Saddleback Church's growth that most people overlook - church unity. God blesses a unified church. Many churches have tremendous potential, but they never achieve what God desires because the members spend all their time fighting with one another.
The Bible talks more about unity of the church than it does about either heaven or hell. It's that important. Churches are made up of people, and there are no perfect people. So people get into conflict with each other. As pastors, we need to learn how to deal with those situations. Specifically, we're called to do these six things when disunity threatents our church [read more]
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Six Reasons Why Most Churches Are Lousy at Follow-up
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By Thom Rainer
The church of 150 in attendance averaged two first-time guests a week or 100 year. How many joined the church? Only three. The church had no follow-up in place for guests.
The church of 225 in attendance had a high attendance day of 360, with 75 guests attending that single day. How many eventually joined the church? Only two. The church had no follow-up in place for guests.
The church of 550 in attendance has had a Christmas event the past ten years that draws 1,500 people each year. That's 15,000 in ten years. How many new members can the church trace to the Christmas event? Zero. None. Nada. The church had no follow-up in place for guests.
So what's going on? Why are so many of our churches lousy at follow-up? I can point to at least six clear reasons. [read more]
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From Leo Buscaglia in "Loving Each Other"
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Don't allow anyone to put you on a pedestal. It's too easy to fall off.
Don't be concerned about what you can get from a relationship. Instead, concern yourself with what you can bring to it.
Don't lose touch with the craziness in you. This, with a large dose of caring, will assure that your relationship will never be boring.
Remove price tags from people. Everyone has worth; the excitement lies in the discovery of their value.
Perhaps it's not too bad to do some things you'd rather not if it makes another happy.
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Get People Involved In Your Sermon
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By Pastor Don
I like interaction between preacher and
people during the sermon. We desire not just an intellectual interaction, but also a verbal one. Here is an example. I preached at our Church a few Sundays ago. You could use this intro with almost any text:
I need to learn whether to make this sermon simple or hard for you. To that end I will give you a short quiz. A first grade teacher asked her class old, well known proverbs. She gave the first half of the proverb and they came up with the rest. Here we go. I'll start the proverb and you finish it.
As you make your bed so shall you . . . MESS IT UP.
Better be safe than . . . PUNCH A 5TH GRADER.
You can lead a horse to water but . . . HOW?
Don't bite the hand that . . . LOOKS DIRTY.
An idle mind is . . . THE BEST WAY TO RELAX.
A penny saved is . . . NOT MUCH.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and . . . YOU HAVE TO BLOW YOU NOSE.
Children should be seen and not . . . SPANKED OR GROUNDED.
When the blind lead the blind . . . GET OUT OF THE WAY.
We better keep the sermon simple.
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Getting Closer to God (1 copy special)
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A twenty lesson course by Pastor Ginkel on the basic truths of Scripture for junior confirmands, Christian Day Schools, and adults. Passages are printed out with summary thoughts, suggested passages for memorization, closing hymn, prayer, Bible reading schedule for the week, and challenging worksheet questions.
Student Guide, 128 pages, #145 $9.50. For June a special 50% discount for one sample copy and free shipping. Just email us.
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BUSY is a choice
JOY is a choice
CHOOSE WELL
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