By Bob Thune
Before church planting I worked for a parachurch missions agency that required staff to raise their own financial support. Every year I helped to train hundreds of Jesus-loving, mission-driven, starry-eyed new staff recruits in fundraising. And every year we told them the same thing: “If you can’t raise your financial support within 12 months, that probably means God isn’t calling you to this ministry.”
The logic was simple: if God has called, God will provide. If God is not providing, perhaps you’re misreading his call.
Unfortunately, no one is giving church planters a similar litmus test. We tell them that it’s going to be hard and difficult and they’d better be ready for a beating. As a result, many naïve young men assume ...
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by Jake Chambers
Warning: If you still believe discipleship is a weekly church program just for professionals, you might believe one of the 6 Red Flags in Discipleship below.
Flag # 1 What: The goal is to make a copy of your self. “Yes the world needs more me. I need to make copies of me that are making copies of me.”
Truth # 1 What: The goal is to make copies of Jesus. I am not Jesus. I need Jesus. We need to repent of our self-righteousness and pride when thinking we are the finish line instead of Jesus.
Flag # 2 Where: One-on-one meetings at a coffee joint. Surely if Jesus were here today he would schedule weekly one-on-one hour long coffee dates with each of his disciples. “Yeah I disciple Peter we meet at the Bucks for a mocha on Mondays (satirical ...
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by Darrin Patrick
Sermon Manuscripts
Preachers aren't actors. We don't have to memorize our "script," although many effective preachers take a 12-page manuscript into the pulpit. Likewise, pastors aren't stand-up comedians. We aren't required to "take the stage" armed only with few thoughts scribbled on a piece of paper, though many good pulpiteers use only a simple outline. There are merits and drawbacks to both of these radically different approaches.
A full manuscript allows you to craft more pregnant phrases that tend to stick in the mind of the hearer. The manuscript approach protects you from tangents that might lead you away from the main points of the text. The downside to a manuscript is that you are tempted to interact more with your notes than with God and people. It’s ...
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by Darrin Patrick
Preaching Prep
A lot of preachers I coach want answers to these questions:
Why is my preaching not improving?Why am I struggling to develop my preaching "voice?"Why are people falling asleep when I preach?
One of the answers to these questions might have to do with how often they preach—they need more preaching "reps." But what do you do until then? You need preaching "preps." You need to be preached to every day from your Bible.
Peyton Manning does not just love to throw a football. He loves the football. When he was young he slept with the football under his arm. He knows how his fingers fit around the seams. He knows every contour of the ball. A preacher can't just love to preach, he has to love the Bible.
Good preparation that leads to effective preaching ...
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