Revitalize Your Church

"People of great faith, wait." -- Rick Warren A good quote -- and I need to remember it -- however, on the other hand, sometimes great faith requires us to jump! How about looking at it like this? If you are naturally an impatient "jumper", great faith make you wait. If you are naturally a hesitant "waiter", great faith will make you jump.

Sometimes, after initial success, a leader "downshifts" to play it safe. Monday Morning Insight posted an insightful article by John Maxwell about ramping up again. As my good friend, Famous Dave , says, "Good, better, best, never let it rest, till the good gets better and the better gets best." But Monday is my day off -- so today I AM going to let it rest -- and make the better best tomorrow!

This afternoon, a large crowd met at our church for the funeral service of 34 year old Karine Melby. It was tearful farewell -- but yet, an inspiring celebration of faith and hope. Karine was filled with the love of Christ, and shared His grace with everybody she met. In her last months, she lived by the "Win/Win" philosophy. "If I am healed, I get to stay with my family and friends, and I win! If, on the other hand, the cancer kills me, then I go to heaven to be with Jesus -- and so I still win! Either way, I'm the winner!!" The following is an excerpt from her journal, which she penned shortly before she passed away: Because of the physical pain Jesus suffered on the cross, He can relate to our pain and suffering. He loved his life on earth and asked God if there was some other way -- but God said no -- and Jesus' strength to obey came from His close relationship with the Father. How can we say it's not fair for me to die . . . because I am too young, ...

Although this news has been overlooked by the major networks, a new cartoon controversy has recently erupted. You can read about it here.

My kids are really into Bible Quizzing. In fact, at this very moment, Cathy and the boys are at a quizzing tournament in Iowa, leaving Hannah home with me to "hold the fort!" Ryan (white shirt with green stripe) had an outstanding season, taking first place this year. Luke and Wes (yellow shirts) did great as well, and both qualified for nationals in Omaha. Quizzing has played a major role in the spiritual development of you children. As parents, we have watched them blossom and grow in faith, as they apply the Word hidden in their hearts. We quiz through a huge interdenominational organization -- and hundreds of the nation's top quizzers compete at the regional and national competitions. Bible quizzing is one of the best ways to instill God's Word in the hearts and minds of young people. I cannot understand why so few youth ministries take it seriously. Many youth pastors are far more interested in running cool events and activities than making the effort for Bible...

From time to time, other pastors in our community have accused me of sheep stealing. Now, that is truly an unfair accusation. I have never snuck into another church service and snatched unwitting congregants. I've never hired thugs to zoom into a church parking lot and capture surprised parishoners. I've never stood at a church entrance, and handed out fliers bribing them to my church. It's not that way at all. Our target has always been unchurched people. Any sheep who come to us from other folds, do so by their own choice and legpower. We don't steal sheep -- we just grow green grass. Whenever somebody leaves our church for another, we don't get mad and call the other preacher a sheep stealer -- we examine our own pasture. That reminds me of a children's poem I've read to my kids: Contented Rabbit I have a white rabbit who had the bad habit of leaving his hutch and of running away. I gave him some meat and some cookies to eat; but he just didn't like t...

I picked this quote from Mark Batterson's blog: By the age of 3 children figure out whether your job is to pay attention to them or their job is to pay attention to you. He follows the quote with this profound observation: "I think that same distinction applies to our relationship with God."