Revitalize Your Church

How do you know if you're making the right move?  Bill Blankschaen shared the following 5 questions to discern a life change: 1.  Are you centered on what matters most? 2.  Are you clear on your calling? 3.  Are you growing where you are? 4.  Are you running from ____________? 5.  Are you willing to move forward? Read the entire post here via Ed Stetzer .

An interesting piece that appeared at The Christian Post Blog by Able Baker:   11 Challenges Unique to Rural Pastors.

As Labor Day approaches, I believe it is appropriate to address a significant work related issue. A recent Gallup Poll says 71% of people hate their jobs (other polls even claim figures as high as 80%.) Now, with so much job hating going around, and it seems like something should be done about it. If you hate your job, then you are the somebody who should do something about it. Things won’t get better if you just sit around wishing it would. Now, I understand that some work environments are toxic and intolerable. In situations like that, the best thing you can do is seek an exit strategy. If you really hate your job that bad, then look for another one. Often, however, job dissatisfaction has much more to do with the worker’s attitude, than the dysfunctional environment. It is with this basis of understanding that I propose the following suggestions for learning to love your job: 1) Examine your attitude. Are you allowing negat...

Early in my ministry, I taped the following note to myself on my desk:  "If you go, they will come." In other words, if I go out to where people live Monday through Saturday, I'm much more likely to see them at church on Sunday morning. The view of the world is extremely limited from behind a desk.  Get out there and see the world from the other side.  (As a church grows, the increasing administrative responsibilities make this much more difficult - -though it is still essential for effective, transformational ministry.) In yesterday's sermon, Andreas Schroeter, missionary to the LCO Reservation who is soon departing for his home in Germany challenged us to be both missional and incarnational.  Missional means "joining Jesus in his mission field" and incarnational means "sharing your life and their culture." As my friend, Mike Engle recently noted, " The Gospels recorded 132 contacts Jesus had with people --  6 were in the Temple --  4...

"A former professor at IWU used to say that some of the commands of Scripture were for 'one time' (go sell everything you have), some were for 'that time' (women veil your heads), and some were for 'all time' (love your neighbor). " -- Ken Schenck in a wonderful, thought-provoking post, Look for the All Time . I found this wisdom to be helpful in navigating and interpreting the Bible.  The only challenge is trying to figure out which part is which.

Change is a part of life -- and when you quit changing, you're through!  Though change is uncomfortable, we need to embrace it to thrive.   Those who expend energy maintaining status quo, soon discover it's an uphill battle, going downhill fast. Life is far more rewarding when we live into change rather than shrinking back from it.

Are You Drowning?  Maybe You Just Need to Take a Fresh Dip. I appreciated this recent review from Todd Rhoades of my book, Filled Up, Poured Out: How God's Spirit Can Revive Your Passion and Purpose.