3 Congregational Obstacles to Growth

I'm reviewing the book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask by Dick Hardy. For those of you that are in church work or considering work, you should buy this book. It is filled with practical insights from a pastoral perspective. Here are some of my favorite quotes from chapter 7.

The Past
The senior leader of a growing church will become a student of a church's past. He will appreciate and celebrate it.

While doing so he must position its future as something real and of God...

...set the church up for the greatest of futures.

Use terms that create excitement for the future (55).

People in the Church Think or Say, "We're Big Enough."
...regularly indicate that until every person within the reach of that church knows God, the church is never "big enough."

...anything less than one more coin, one more sheep or one more son was not enough. (56)

The Changing Demographic of the Congregation
God is neither red nor yellow nor black nor white. He is not American, European, African, Australian, Asian or Latino.
Understand that changes in demographics do not happen quickly, but our preparedness for those changes can be put in place proactively, rather than reactively (57).

Something is Missing

I'm reviewing the book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask by Dick Hardy. For those of you that are in church work or considering work, you should buy this book. It is filled with practical insights from a pastoral perspective. Here are some of my favorite quotes from chapter 6.

Growing a church is far more about removing obstacles to growth than implementing a formula or making growth happen. (48)

The Absence of the Understanding of Prayer
Design and implement a time of corporate prayer.
Teach and pray.
Plan for the long haul. (49)

The Absence of Actions Regarding Lost People
The churches that go out on the cultural edge to talk to lost people sometimes find the saints in the church in an uproar. (49)

...church service is not about them, their tradition, their music, etc. It is about lost people. (49)

A telling sign of whether your folks are about lost people is seen in how frequently they request prayer for friends who are far from God compared to prayer requests for finances or physical health (49-50).

The Absence of a Strong Compelling Vision
The vision must be bigger than we are.
Seek the word from God that is unique to the Body you lead.
Make sure the compelling vision is clear from Scripture. (51)

5 Pastor-Driven Obstacles to Growth and How to Remove Them

I'm reviewing the book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask by Dick Hardy. For those of you that are in church work or considering work, you should buy this book. It is filled with practical insights from a pastoral perspective. Here are some of my favorite quotes from chapter 5.

Life comes as growth abounds. Death comes when growth ceases. (p. 42)

The Lack of Growth in the Leader
The church will only grow to the level the senior pastor will take it. (p. 42)

As a leader you cannot expect the body of believers under your care to move poast where you are on the spiritual continuum. (p. 43)

The unwillingness to Lose People
The leader must position his thinking to be willing to absorb loss. (p. 43).

You must move forward knowing that while you reach to the unbeliever you may offend a long-term member. (p. 43)

The Senior Pastor Always See Greener Grass
Quit telling yourself that the grass is greener elsewhere. (p. 45)

Quality of Hires
I recommend you plan to compensate the high-quality staff member at the 75 percentile level of that position's value, regionally or nationally. You get what you pay for. (p.45)

Get good people and keep them. (p.45).

Constant Turnover of Staff
Maintain your senior leadership role. You are not necessarily to be everybody's best buddy. (p. 46).
Lift staff members in the eyes of the congregation. (p. 46)

The 3 Foundational Elements Necessary for a Church to Grow

I'm reviewing the book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask by Dick Hardy. For those of you that are in church work or considering work, you should buy this book. It is filled with practical insights from a pastoral perspective. Here are some of my favorite quotes from chapter 4.

Everything grows or it dies. (p. 38).

Please know that having any or all of these elements in place does not guarantee growth. (p. 38).

Good Preaching
The same openness that exists for all sorts of bad theology and spiritual searches is open to good biblical preaching. (p.39).

Good Music
The most likely group to consider a change and come to the church is the under-40 crowd. Their world is filled with outstanding music. It is your job to make the music at church the best it can be. (p. 39).

Don't settle! Go for the best in your challenge to them (music team). (p. 39).

Good Ministry to Children
There is ministry to children and then there is good ministry to children. (p. 39).

What's Absent?
Ministry to youth is not included. Why is that? Children come before youth. Churches all over the country do it backwards. When a church begins to grow, the first staff person they often hire is the youth pastor. If they were really do it right, it should be the children's pastor. (p. 40).

Discipleship - It starts in the pulpit. Discipleship emanates first from good preaching. (p. 40).

The 3 Cultures Necessary For a Church to Grow

I'm reviewing the book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask by Dick Hardy. For those of you that are in church work or considering work, you should buy this book. It is filled with practical insights from a pastoral perspective. Here are some of my favorite quotes from chapter 3.

The 3 Cultures Necessary For a Church to Grow

These three cultures do not develop on short notices and they certainly do not do so by osmosis...Further, the three cultures are not a magic wand to grow the church you serve numerically or spiritually. (p.34)

Prayer

Start teaching, cultivating, encouraging, and leading the charge to possess a culture of prayer. (p. 35).

How? A little help here? Anyone?

Change

How can you possibly stay the same and grow? Impossible. (p. 35).

So the only thing constant is change. Got it.

The Bible never changes. The manner in which the Bible message is communicated changes all the time. (p. 35).

Your role as pastor is to help coach and teach the Body and other church leaders about the role of change in the life of the church. ...the only thing constant around there is change. (p. 35)

Ok. How?

Ministry to Young Families

Which demographic of people is most likely to make decisions for Christ? Any idea? Children. The younger the person the more likely it is that they will make a decision of this magnitude. The older the person the less likely it is that they will make this decision. (p. 36).

5 Reasons Senior Pastors Don't Lead Their Churches

I'm reviewing the book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask by Dick Hardy. For those of you that are in church work or considering work, you should buy this book. It is filled with practical insights from a pastoral perspective. Here are my favorite snippets from chapter 2.

5 Reasons Senior Pastors Don't Lead Their Churches

...pick your time. Be wise, be deliberate, and be patient. Then confront the detractors to your leadership, and communicate clear and concise leadership. (p. 27)

The stronger the congregational form of government the harder it is for the church to grow. (-. 27).

...start communicating this to the congregation in a growth-excitement manner. Keep them fully in the loop so they feel less a sense of "we are not voting anymore" and more "we still are hearing the inside scoop on decisions." (p. 28).

You are the leader. Act like it. (p. 28).

The pastor/leader cannot be seen as a dictator; he must communicate that input is critical from staff members. However, at the end of the day, regardless of the decision or direction, the team must coalesce behind the pastor/leader. (p. 29).

Nothing is worse than no leadership from anyone. (p. 29).

Buy-in means strong staff leaders hearing, understanding, challenging, debating and owning the pastor/leader's vision or adjusted vision. (p. 30).

If the church wants to lose, then shake the dust off your feet and move on. Where the entrenchment of leadership other than the senior pastor exists, the church lacks vision. (p. 31).

Count Everything

I'm reviewing the book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask by Dick Hardy. For those of you that are in church work or considering work, you should buy this book. It is filled with practical insights from a pastoral perspective. In each post I will take some quotes that stood out to me most and give a short reaction/question.

Count Everything

...in many cases, arguments against numbers are driven by an inability to see results (p. 20).

I struggle with this statement because I have been taught through classes and experience that numbers aren't everything. In retrospect, this normally comes from people that lack vision, purpose, or results. At the same time, I have heard numbers quoted flippantly without regard for the people, relationships, and stories behind those numbers. It is a fine line.

If the church is percolating in children's ministry and youth ministry but their adult Bible fellowship or small group ministries for adults are tanking, it will show in the overall attendance (p. 21).

I appreciate this outlook on attendance. It is more holistic and gives attention to the overall growth in the church while not forgetting the details.

A far better way to compare one year to the previous is to average the 52 weeks up through and including the current week (p. 22).

Maybe this is an obvious question, but does this apply to church plants and multi-site venues as well? If so, how? If not, then what?

Develop a systematic evaluation of the quality of all ministries. That quality will be a direct reflection of the quantity shown in the measurements. (p. 22).

This is a great approach to counting everything. It seems that all ministries would need to be counted and evaluated a little differently so that nuances do not skew what is important.

The more you measure the better steward you will be of that which God has entrusted to you. (p. 23)

So the more you measure, the more God will give you to be faithful in. Sounds like the principle of the servants and the talents.

God wants every person on earth exposed to the gospel. So count. Numbers matter to God! (p. 23).

I appreciate this take on counting everything. People are not just numbers. But each number represents a life in need of Jesus.

Yawning Angels - Wild Choose Chase Chapter 1

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Chapter one of Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson.

Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time (p. 2). I really identify with this quote right now. I have no idea what to do next.

Nothing is more unnerving or disorienting than passionately pursuing God (p. 2). All I can say is, Amen. Do I feel unnerved? Do I feel disoriented? Yes, and yes.

I wonder if churches do to people what zoos do to animals (p. 5). I have asked myself the same question. I think most Christians feel caged and a lot of people wonder why they would want to become a Christian. Do Christians lead a life that others would want?

But when was the last time you asked God to make you dangerous? (p. 6). Danger is not my middle name. I need to take more risks.

...I am sending dangerous people back into their natural habitat to wreak havoc on the Enemy. (p. 6) Are we really? Or do we just challenge people to lead safe, boring lives?

No guts, no glory. When we lack the guts to step out in faith, we rob God of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him. (p. 10) This is very challenging. If we are gutless, then God doesn't get the glory through our lives.

Our greatest responsibility: pursuing the passions God has put in our heart (p. 12). I hope that I can see my life like this. The most important thing I can do is pursue what God has for me.

As we age, many of us stop believing and start assuming. We stop living out of right-brain imagination and start living out of left-brain memory. And we put eight-foot ceilings on what God can do. (p. 12). God help me to remove the glass ceiling from my life. Help me to stop living out of memory and start living in imagination.

The Five S's of my Weight Loss

Several people have been asking me what I've been doing to lose weight. So, here are my "secrets". I call them my Five S's.

1. No Sugar - I've been avoiding sugar like the plague.
2. No Seconds - The hardest one for me. I love to eat, so eating "normal" portions has been a challenge. I've come up with a silent prayer for this, "God, help me to honor you in my eating." It helps.
3. No Soda - I was drinking a lot of diet sodas and other no calorie drinks. When I cut these out, my weight loss took off. This is not to say that I don't enjoy a Coke Zero or sugar free lemonade every once in a while. Just not everyday.
4. No Sitting - I've been walking with friends at work and trying to become more active. The nice weather lately has help with this.
5. Sip Water - Not only am trying to drink a lot of water, I'm trying to drink it throughout the day. This has been a hard one also because sometimes I want to drink something with some taste.

Although I've stumbled on all points here and there, but the important thing is that I've tried to stay on track (another S?). So when I mess up, I get back to the focus of losing weight as quickly as possible.

Perhaps another important point is that I've told people about what I'm going through. I've been posting my progress via Twitter and Facebook. The encouragement and feedback that I receive helps. I also have mini goals along the way. Every 20 pounds I get a small reward. This way the next reward is only a few pounds away and not completely out of reach. When I hit my ultimate goal, I get to purchase an iPhone.

These are the "how's". Maybe I'll do a post later on the "why's". See you in a few pounds!

Mark Batterson's Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity

I'm only one third of the way through Mark Batterson's latest book Primal, and I'm already challenged beyond compare. I agree that the problem with Christianity is not Christ, its us, the Christians. We are not as great as the Great Commandment. I can see instances in my own life where I do not live up to the Love4 (Love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength). It is so easy to compartmentalize our walk with Jesus. And honestly, I have come to the point to where my Christian faith is like stale bread in the middle of the desert. I need to discover new ways of loving God. It is true that people respond to compassion, as Mark calls it, the ultimate apologetic, and that we need to start a revolution of compassion to show the world the real Jesus. Personally, after reading the section about income ceiling, my wife and I are considering ways we can downsize our lives in order to greatly live out the Great Commandment. From the mundane, to the challenging. Batterson sheds new light on the primitive nature of the Christian Faith. We need to get back to our roots. We need to get back to something Primal. Thanks Mark for reminding us.

Modern Day Tower of Babel

I was reminded today that even if you speak the same "language" it does not mean you are "communicating." I'm amazed how the same English words can be interpreted so many ways. Even in our technical age with tools like Google Translate, we still are not connecting with our communication. Perhaps as the whole becomes more global, we are becoming less connected. A new and more powerful but less evident Tower of Babel is emerging. Perhaps on the venue that this comment is being written and read?

Considering a Hospital Chaplain position

Those of you that know me...what are your thoughts? Does this sound like me? https://www5.recruitingcenter.net/Clients/vanderbiltjobs/PublicJobs/controller.cfm?jbaction=JobProfile&job_id=17022

An Age of the Spirit

Harvey Cox in Chapter 1 of The Future of Faith begins with the history of Christianity in three ages: the Age of Faith, the Age of Belief, and the upcoming Age of the Spirit. Briefly describing each, Cox contrasts the difference between Faith and Belief. After outlining these differences, the more lively Age of Spirit is presented. Cox says, and I would tend to agree, that the Age of the Spirit will look more like the Age of Faith than that of the Age of Belief. I must admit that living in the transition between the Ages of Belief and Spirit can be quite difficult. Yet, there is a freedom in living in the Age of Spirit. First of all, having a line list of “beliefs” can be quite burdensome, especially for those (like myself) that have terrible memories. I have always struggled with the “beliefs” because of all the study required to memorize all of those things I am to believe. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against studying, and we should study to show ourselves approved. However, true Faith is not shown just in the study, but also in the deeds.

Another point of tension is how divided the study time can become. We spend a great deal of time studying what we believe, but never practicing/doing what we believe. And the problem with beliefs, especially in the context of our times is that present day Christians are better known for what we believe we are against (homosexuality, abortion, and pre-marital sex) rather than what we are for (faith, hope, and love). Jesus said that people would know that we are His disciples by our love, not by our beliefs.

Cox also describes this coming Age of the Spirit as one that will rediscover “the sacred in the immanent, the spiritual within the secular” (page 2). I agree. People are looking to see how we can live our whole lives as worship unto Jesus. No more compartmentalization – Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength. People are looking for something to live for now, not just the hereafter.

I agree that our Faith in Jesus should be more about a direct encounter with Jesus. After all, I am a Pentecostal. However, my only contention with Cox’s proposal so far is that the Christian Faith is never to be lived in polar extremes. Just as Cox points to the abuses of creeds and party line stances, many can point to abuses of the freedom of the Spirit. A life following Jesus is not just our reasoning out our beliefs, but it is one of weighing out what the faithful hear the Spirit saying. Does it line up with what has already been revealed in the Holy Bible? Yes. I believe and trust and have faith that the Spirit who blows where He wills speaks to us today. Never should we only look to one aspect of our faith. We should always have a healthy, holistic, Spirit filled Faith.

Social Media Article

Interesting article on communication barriers and the influence of social media from a furniture retailer's perspective http://issuu.com/westernreporter/docs/january_09/13

My New Retirement Fund

I earned $0.01 today via Google AdSense on my blog http://montygalloway.blogspot.com/. Now I can retire and live in the lap of luxury.

Harvey Cox's The Future of Faith

Philip Clayton and Harvey Cox both have new books out and they are taking them out on tour. One of the blog tour stops will be here, but as you can see below they will be making their rounds over the next month until they wrap things up in Montreal at the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting. There they will be joined by an illustrious panel including Eric Gregory, Bruce Sanguin, Serene Jones, Frank Tupper, and Andrew Sung Park to share a 'Big Idea' for the future of the Church. These 'Big Ideas' will be video tapped and shared, so be on the look out for live footage from the last night of the tour.

Philip's new book is Transforming Christian Theology for Church & Society and Harvey's is The Future of Faith. Both are worth checking out at one of the many tour stops. If you can't wait you can listen to them interview each other.

I will be reviewing Cox's The Future of Faith. Below are links to the blogs of others that are joining in on the fun.

Joseph Weethee , Jonathan Bartlett, The Church Geek, Jacob’s Cafe, Reverend Mommy, Steve Knight, Todd Littleton, Christina Accornero, John David Ryan, LeAnn Gunter Johns, Chase Andre, Matt Moorman, Gideon Addington, Ryan Dueck, Rachel Marszalek, Amy Moffitt, Josh Wallace, Jonathan Dodson, Stephen Barkley, Monty Galloway, Colin McEnroe, Tad DeLay, David Mullens, Kimberly Roth, Tripp Hudgins, Tripp Fuller, Greg Horton, Andrew Tatum, Drew Tatusko, Sam Andress, Susan Barnes, Jared Enyart, Jake Bouma, Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, Blake Huggins, Lance Green, Scott Lenger, Dan Rose, Thomas Turner, Les Chatwin, Joseph Carson, Brian Brandsmeier, J. D. Allen, Greg Bolt, Tim Snyder, Matthew L. Kelley, Carl McLendon, Carter McNeese, David R. Gillespie, Arthur Stewart, Tim Thompson, Joe Bumbulis, Bob Cornwall
This Tour is Sponsored by Transforming Theology DOT org!

Directionally Challenged by Travis Collins

I picked up this book because this is exactly how I feel...Directionally Challenged. We all feel this way at one time or another and Collins does an excellent job of laying a good foundation on expressing these feelings of "lostness" into words. And yet, lays out a map to finding your way again. Through stories and anecdotes, the author keeps your interest while driving the point home "you may FEEL lost, but there IS a way to the other side." Chapter 3 titled "The COMPASS" alone is worth the price of the book. In it, Collins outlines a guide to find your way in troubled times. Like a real compass, this spiritual map is practical and handy, but does not show you every step of the way. Although the book could have been 100 pages shorter, it is a helpful guide through the muck of mediocrity. Directionally Challenged provides real world examples of those that seemed to wonder aimlessly only to find their place in this world. Not only does Collins' work assist those looking for direction, the book also challenges your direction. We must always remember that our path is one of what Collins labels "follower-ship" in which we are only told to follow Jesus. In this path we are lead to life of courage and mystery.

Contemplating these questions:

What can I do?

What are those things that I am physically, mentally, emotionally, capable and gifted to do?

What I should I do?

What are those things that I am being told by God, my wife, my family, my community, and by society that I should do?

What will I do?

Of these things, (the can and should) which of them am I willing to do?

What must I do?

What are the non-negotiables?

What am I compelled to do?

Which of these do I have a drive/desire/passion to do?

What do I do?

In light of the questions above, what is the next step?

You Can't Teach Interesting

One of my graduate professors told me once that you can't reach a person how to be interesting. You either are or you are not. This may be true. However, in light of a recent conversation with my wife, I'm wondering if this has more to do with the person making the observation of the individual in question. In other words, is it because I AM boring or because YOU THINK I'm boring that makes me boring? Maybe like beauty, boring is in the eye of the beholder. I remember when I was a kid having to hang out with my parents and their friends one afternoon. All they wanted to do was talk! How boring!!! Now that I'm older, I find enjoyment in conversations with friends. Maybe the "un-interesting" has more to do with context than the personality of the individual. Or maybe you've fallen asleep reading this blog. Either way, one man's boring is another man's enjoyment.

Abrupt Story Endings

Genesis 50:26 So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Period, the end. I hate it when books or movies end this way. I guess I'll have to read the sequel "Exodus."