the church revitalizer magazine jan-dec 2015/16

Dec/Jan 2015-2016

Vol 1 Issue 6

THE CHURCHRevitalizer

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.” ~ Tom Cheyney

“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue”

bestof 201

5revitalization

articles

The

70 Church Revitalization Workshops35 National Church Revitalization Speakers 4 Breakout Session Opportunities 4 Main Sessions by Revitalization Practitioners 5 Pre-Conference Intensive Subjects1000+ Fellow Church Revitalizers

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RENOVATENational Church Revitalization Conference

November 1-3, 2016Orlando, FL

RenovateConference.org

Speakers IncludeEd StetzerBill EasumTom CheyneyRob MyersLee KricherLarry WynnTerry RialsRon Edmondson

RENOVATEThe Church RevitalizerSubscribe to our weekly blog post focused around the revitalization of Churches in North America.

The RENOVATERevitalization PodcastSubscribe to our weekly podcast focused around the revitalization of Churches in North America.To subscribe go to:renovateconference.org/resources

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FEATURES December / January | Vol 1, No 6

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A CHANGE OF HEART: The Role of Prayer in the Revitaliztion of the ChurchBy Chris Irving

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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE TO MAXIMIZE CHURCH REVITALIZATIONBy Joel R. Breidenbaugh

PREPERATIN FOR REVITALIZATIONBy John Kimball

32 BARKING DOGS:Sparking Revitalization By Reducing Distractions By Lee Kricher


THINGS EVERY CHURCH REVITALIZER SHOULD DO IN THE NEW YEAR!By Tom Cheyney

Follow RENOVATE National Church

Revitalization Conference

on social media via:

Facebook:RenovateConference

Twitter #RenovateConference

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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Survival Tips for Young Pastors By Rob Arnold

11 Ways to Revitalize the Future of the Church By Ron Smith

THE LEADERSHIP LINK…By Michael Atherton

Repurposed The Nehemiah Model: Nine Strategic Steps for RenewalBy Darwin Meighan

10 Understanding Scaffolding Members By Rodney Harrison

16 Formula for Developing Critical Mass

18 Building Sustainable Student Minis try Volunteer Teams that Last By Drew Cheyney

22 Elements Most Critical for a Church to Turn Around! By Dr. Tom Cheyney

26 When Fraud Comes Knocking By Rodney Harrison

35 Preach the Big MAC? By Rob Myers

38 How to Get Off Stuck if you are Facing Change! By Dr. Tom Cheyney

44 Conflict Avoidance & Resolution Basics for theb Church Revitalizer By Bob Whitesel

50 Danger Will Robinson: Dangerous Threats to the Church Revitalization Movement By Terry Rials

52 Is Ministry Getting You Down? By Estelle Myers

58 The Six Phases of Church Revitalization By Kenneth Priest

60 Relevant Preaching and the Revitalization of the Church By Paul E. Smith

62 Why Can’t People Change? By Glenn Miller

BOOK REVIEWS

The Church Revitalizer Book Reviewer: Rob Hurtgen

57 Can These Bones Live By Bill Henard 57 Advanced Strategic Planning By Aubrey Malphurs

revitalizerLIBRARY

“The only magazine dedicated to Church Revitalization.”

Rob Hurtgen is the Pastor of First Baptist Church Chillicothe, Missouri. He holds an M.Div from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a Doctor of

Ministry degree in Church Revital-ization from MidWestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has been married to Shawn since 1995, and they have five children.

www.RenovateConference.org/bookstoreCheckout our lineup of resources that will help you revitalize your church.

RENOVATE Publishing Group

Your One Stop Shop forChurch Revitalization andRenewal Resources!

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www.RenovateConference.org/digitalaccess

BRING THE 2015 RENOVATE CONFERENCE to Your Staff or Leadership Team

$49DIGITAL ACCESS PASS

Get Access to All 8 Main Speakers of the 2015 RENOVATE conference to share with your spouse, staff or leadership team.

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Welcome to the the Church Revitalizer Magazine: A Church Revitaliztion Retreat in Every Issue!

After a year of having church members and revitalization pas-tors asking would the Renovate Publishing Group consider publishing a magazine exclusively on the subject of Church Revitalization and Renewal, we have launched a bi-month-ly subscriber donation based magazine for the purpose of raising up the conversation regarding this critical need in the local church. This issue is focused around the Best Church Revitalization Articles of 2015. We have been so blessed by the response to this magazine’s focus on church revitaliza-tion and renewal. Pastor’s and laymen alike have resp[onded positively to the many and various articles contributed by some of the countries most gifted church revitalization pra-tioners. Please continue to let us know areas which need to be addressed and specific topics you and your church leaders would benefit.

May I say a BIG thank you to our twenty-five contributors to this magazine! Each one brings such tremendous experience and practial suggestions for the local church working in the field of revitaliztion. They have represented the vital work that is going on within so many different denominational tribes and ministry settings. These writers have Blessed us by their consistent quality of authorship. They have Informed and Inspired us to work that much harder towards the goal of revitalizing our churches. Lastly, they have Given us a tool which is very much a “Church Revitalization Retreart in Every Issue.”

But we are committed to even more. The caue of church revi-talization is so vital that we must stay at the task. Please enjoy this end of our inagural years issue on the BEST CHURCH REVITALIZATION ARTICLES OF 2015. Stay connected, more is coming...

ChurchRevitalizer.Guru by Tom Cheyney

Volume 1, No. 6The Church Revitalizer

is published bi-monthly byRenovate Publishing Group

1906 West Lee RoadOrlando, FL 32810

Email: ChurchRevitalizer.guru

PUBLISHERDr. Tom Cheyney

Associate PublisherMark Weible

Associate PublisherCirculation & Marketing

Linda Goans

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Tom Cheyney

Magazine Designer & Format EditorGerald Brown

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Outside the U.S. add $10.00 per year prepaid.

Stock images from ISTOCK Photo or where otherwise noted.

© Copyright 2015Renovate Publishing Group

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Directional Leader of Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.


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ChurchRevitalizer.Guru by Tom Cheyney

Logos Bible Software delivers insight to you because you deliver insight to others, whether it be your congregation, classroom, or colleagues.

Visit Logos.com to get Logos 6 today.

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Revitalization is filled with bur-dens and blessings, happiness and hurts. One of the most pain-ful hurts revitalization pastors will experience is the pain of faithful members and close friends who jump ship. Ironically, these are often the individuals or couples who made a significant contribu-tion to the church and ministry during the early season of your ministry. During your onboard-ing as a leader, these members provided their encouragement, talents, abundant generosity, support and encouragement. Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin address this reality in their book, Community of Kindness:

… there are two kinds of peo-ple--many are there for just a sea-son, and a few are there to stay long-term. This is a vital lesson to learn, because as a leader it is easy to become caught up in the nurturing of what we lovingly call the “scaffolding people.” Builders of physical structures use a set of scaffolding to erect a building. The scaffolding is not the build-ing, but it is necessary for the construction of the building that will eventually emerge. As the building nears completion, the scaffolding falls away, leaving the permanent building standing. Although Sjogren and Lew-in address this phenomenon primarily as it relates to church planters, I have observed scaf-folding members are attracted to new pastors and churches that are in transition. Scaffolding members are best understood as

home missionaries. Their contri-butions to you and the church are often just what the doctor or-dered. This often involves signif-icant financial resources, time or talents. As a pastor, these mem-bers seem invaluable, so when they call to you announce they are leaving for another church or ministry, the unsuspecting pastor is caught off-guard. A common response is to convince them to stay. This is where a word to the wise is merited, as emotions are running high at this juncture. Any attempt to preserve a scaffolding member is ill advised.

Scaffolding members can often be best identified in hind-sight. However, here are some characteristics observed over the years:

• They show up already saved, and eager to serve

• They bring a long resume of former church affiliations

• They show loose denomination-al fidelity. It is not uncommon for a scaffolding member to work with a liturgical church, then go to a charismatic church, then a Baptist Church and so on

• They show above average hos-pitality or generosity

• They frequently speak of the need and importance of belong-ing

The last characteristics is interesting, because when they leave, scaffolding members will often say, “I do not feel import-ant” or “I need to find a church

where I belong.” Instead of letting scaffolding members send you to the funny farm, consider the following response when they announce they are leaving:

1. Thank them for their friend-ship and service to Christ and the church.

2. If possible, and appropriate, publically acknowledge their contribution and future plans to the congregation. Once I under-stood the scaffolding principle, I was able to minimize the impact of their departure by publically recognizing their contributions and commending them to their next assignment.

3. Do not try to hold on to them. The danger is that you may be successful, for a season. Imagine leaving the scaffolding up after the building is completed. Scaf-folding members who stay will become antagonists and vision hijackers. Let them go gracefully and allow God to accomplish His work through them in another church, trusting him to faithful provide for you and your church.

Rodney Harrison is the Vice Pres-ident for Institutional Effective-ness, Midwestern Baptist Theo-logical Seminary. Harrison is the author of two books on church planting and has written material for LifeWay Christian Resources.

Understanding Scaffolding Members by Rodney Harrison

RENOVATE RESOURCES ALL YEAR LONG

If your church has plateaued, is in decline, or is not moving forward as quickly as you wish, the RENOVATE Church Revitalization Coaching Network is just what you are looking for. This Revitalization Coaching Network is designed to help you and your revitalization team develop a successful 18 month plan to increase church attendance, develop new people for ministry, impact community, solidify finances, become more missional, develop new ministries and deepen the making of disciples within your church renewal effort. RenovateConference.org/coaching-network

Each and every week, the RENOVATE National Church Revitalization Podcast publishes a free audio training covering various aspects of church revitalization and renewal. Hosted by Tom Cheyney, each podcast features content for this week’s edition of his Church Revitalization and Renewal training. Included in this series of equipping tools are interviews with key Church Revitalizers and in-depth commentary and analysis from pastors, revitalization coaches, laity, and practitioners in the field of church revitalization and renewal.

Church Revitalization / Church Planting RenovateConference.org/bookstore

RenovateConference.org/podcast

“A Revitalization Retreat in Every Issue”RenovateConference.org/magazine

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by Rob ArnoldSurvival Tips for Young Pastors

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At a recent denominational meeting, I was told that a church in our community terminated a young pastor after only six months. News of this kind al-ways brings a twinge of sorrow to my heart, especially when it involves a young minister. Inevi-tably, more experienced pastors will comment that if the young pastor had simply heeded some friendly advice or recognized the warning signs he could have avoided his loss.

The probability that a young pas-tor will lose his job is unusually high. According to Thom Rainer, about 1.5 percent of pastors have lost their jobs each year due to forced terminations, which is not terribly high. If, however, 75 to 89 percent of your church is over 60, you are three times more likely to fire the pastor, and if you have virtually no adults under 35, the church is even more likely to force terminate the pastor. Additionally, Rainer warns that if the pastor is under 30 years old, the church is three and half times more likely to let the pastor go, and ‘three and half times’ is a huge statistical variance. Rain-er’s statistics serve as a warning to young pastors and prompts the question, “What can a young pastor do to improve his odds?” I have been in the ministry for 31 years and had some narrow escapes of my own, so I have five tips or suggestions for you to consider for improving your odds at surviving and thriving in your first years as a pastor.

1. Do your homework. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Knowing a church’s history before you arrive can spare you a pound of heartache. Their track record serves as an excellent indicator on how a church will treat you. Do not fall into the trap of being so eager that you fail to discriminate between churches that respect their pastors and the churches with histories of serial pastor abuse. Contact the associ-ational director. Talk to pastors in the community, and if possible, talk to one or two of the previous pastors. Keep in mind, though, that there are two sides to every story. The previous pastors’ mis-takes may have laid landmines that will derail the effectiveness of the next pastor. A search com-mittee will neglect to share the history that subtly affects every area of church life, so unearthing that history may be the differ-ence between your failure and success.

2. Make a long-term commit-ment. Successful church reno-vators avoid the “quick fix” and make long-term commitments. Know the church’s strengths and weaknesses and count the cost. Remember that any great work will require a substantial investment of time and ener-gy, because nothing of eternal value happens in the Kingdom of God without blood, sweat, and tears. Are you going to be a hireling who runs from problems or the shepherd who loves and feeds God’s sheep? As you go into a new church, do not make

the stipulation that significant change must happen immediate-ly. Change takes time, and older churches are weary of young pastors with unrealistic expecta-tions who use their church as a steppingstone to “better” church-es with more people and larger salaries.

3. Earn the trust of the church members. Being the pastor of the church does not automatical-ly imbue you with their trust or authority. If you assume that your authority is automatic with your position, you will discover you are sadly mistaken. Trust in a church must be earned. Furthermore, if the church has suffered through a string of ineffectual pastors, it will be more difficult for them to trust you. To complicate the situa-tion, usually there are lay leaders who have stuck with the church through the hard times, and they may possess de facto pastoral authority. If they are reluctant to yield that authority to you, you will have your work cut out for you. You must be willing, there-fore, to communicate in word and deed a sincere love for the church, a competence in church polity, and a desire to maintain Christian unity. If you do so over time, you will slowly earn their trust and assume the mantle of authority.

4. Move slowly when present-ing new ideas. When you at-tempt to lead an old, established church through change and revitalization, timing and your packaging are critical. An idea,

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no matter how great, is doomed to fail if packaged and presented poorly. The most common mis-take you can make is to move too fast. Remember, a member may think about church once a week, while you think about church ev-ery day. Since this is true, a rule of thumb is that for every day you spend ruminating on a new idea, give the congregation one addi-tional week to mull it over. Con-sequently, if you spend one week pounding out a new idea, allow seven to eight weeks for the con-gregation to assimilate the same idea. This involves an open-door policy of allowing them to talk to you in private and ask questions. You may think this is excessive, but church members need more time to digest new ideas. Additionally, present your ideas one at a time. If you overwhelm a congregation with new ideas and they will reject them all. Be assured, you must become an expert in timing and packag-ing. Your ideas may be flawless, but package them poorly and present too quickly and you will experience heartache and failure.

5. Recognize the warning signs. Churches do not intentionally set out to fire young pastors, but problems naturally arise, and if the young pastor and leaders cannot resolve conflict construc-tively, a forced termination looms on the horizon. A floundering ship will send up flares, and a church in troubled waters will give off warning signs. Learn to recognize, therefore, those warning signs and be proactive. Decisive measures can calm fears

and keep conflict from escalating. Successful pastors and church revitalizers realize that church-es are full of imperfect people with personal agendas. There are power brokers, sacred cows, and the dysfunctional baggage from previous pastorates in every church. Every congregation, no matter how godly, has potential minefields that the new pastor must learn to navigate if he is to survive and prosper. Godly pas-tors will seek the help and guid-ance of more experienced pas-tors or denominational leaders. In contrast, however, if you refuse to seek advice and you ignore the warning signs, you will exhaust the patience and good will of the godliest church. Your ability to adapt, seek help, and respond

constructively to the warning signs will determine your level of effective leadership.

You can add to this list, I am sure, and obviously, these suggestions are contingent on your prayer life, your level of personal integ-rity, and your time in God’s Word; but these five suggestions can help you thrive and flourish in an aging church that is in desperate need of strong pastoral leader-ship, change, and revitalization.

Rob Arnold, is the lead pastor of Lockhart Church and is a frequent breakout leader for the Renovate National Church Revitalization Conference in Orlando. Rob has a heart for bringing the young back to the Son and seeing a renewed relevent church.

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THE JOY OF JESUS AT CHRISTMASCan Help You Both Understand God’s Word Better and Grow in Your Worship of the Lord.

Available for $14.99 on Amazon

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With the busy-ness of the holiday season and the commercialization of Christmas, many people neglect the true meaning of this holy day. In The Joy of Jesus at Christmas, Joel Breidenbaugh takes his readersthrough God’s promises, hints, announcements, fullllment and celebration of sending His Son Christ into the world.

The reader will nd several unique features in this book,including biblical commentary, poetry, application and songs,

in order to underscore the value of worship in light of the Advent of Christ.

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THE JOY OF JESUS AT CHRISTMASCan Help You Both Understand God’s Word Better and Grow in Your Worship of the Lord.

Available for $14.99 on Amazon

Contact the author at: [email protected] Special at RENOVATE Conference$10RENOVATE Publishing Group

With the busy-ness of the holiday season and the commercialization of Christmas, many people neglect the true meaning of this holy day. In The Joy of Jesus at Christmas, Joel Breidenbaugh takes his readersthrough God’s promises, hints, announcements, fullllment and celebration of sending His Son Christ into the world.

The reader will nd several unique features in this book,including biblical commentary, poetry, application and songs,

in order to underscore the value of worship in light of the Advent of Christ.

Available on Amazon for $14.99

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Formula for Developing Critical MassBy Tom Cheyney

Everyone wants to see some sort of growth come back to their dying church. Many a church revitalization effort has been hurt due to the leadership within the church, both lay and clergy, wait-ing too long before they addressed the issue of critical mass. Crit-ical Mass is that size of any church where it has enough members actively working and participating in the weekly work of ministry growth. When a church has waited too long to address the issue of critical mass, it is almost sure the church will die even if for a moment it keeps it head above the water of closure. Here is a quick formula for developing and keeping critical mass in ones church:

1 % of the church membership is in pastoral leadership

Plus 6% of the church membership is passionate about the future of the church

Plus 14% of the churches leaders are in positions willingly and are advocating for the future renewal of the church

Plus 42% of the church are actively participating and willingly following future directions of the church

This simple formula equals a growing critical mass for growth and the eventual revitalization of the congregation.

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Kenneth PriestDirector of ConventionStrategies, SBTC

Nathan LinoSenior Pastor,NE Houston BC

Bart McDonaldExecutive Director,SBT Foundation

Nathan LorickDirector of Evangelism,SBTC

Rod HarrisonDean of Post-GraduateStudies

sbtexas.com/revitalization

9am - 4pmCOST$20For pastors, associational leaders and church leaders with churches in need of revitalization.

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Whether you want to admit it or not, in today’s world of Student Ministry, the Student Pastor who only builds relationships with students and fails to invest into leadership will always find themselves not only behind the curve in their ministry, but also in a position of frequent panic and consistent plateaus. Why you may be asking? Because you cannot have the kind of impact you have been called to have if you are always doing it by yourself. Think about this for a second; what would it be like for you to have 4 hours a week to dream about where your ministry could go? What would it look like to have a plan in place that is executed monthly instead of coming up with things last minute or on the fly? To tell you the truth, most Student Pastors would love to have time to ask the questions yet alone discuss the answers. If you are anything like most Student Pastors in our nation, you have a desire to impact eterni-ties past graduation, you want to teach students how to use their in-fluence to impact people, and hope-fully, you want to see the church and its student ministry thrive.

The complication in this dream however, is that most of us use our energy and efforts striving to be su-perheroes when it comes to Student Ministry instead of leaders of an architectural structure. We plan, plot, problem solve, and hope that if we come up with the coolest new ideas that the climate in our ministries will go from stagnant to impactful. Here is the skinny though, if you are going to have successful student ministries that last, then you must have a deep volunteer team to HELP!

As Pastors, we all want to lead the kind of change that matters, but few leaders in student ministry today are actually willing to take the necessary steps needed to do so. What is the

first step you may be asking? Well it is this: START CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE! It sounds so trivial when you hear it since that is what our job description calls us to do in ministry, but when you think about it, when was the last time you went up to a complete stranger in your church and struck up a conversation that went past “hi” or a passing “hello”? For some of us it is been way too long, and it is for this reason that the leadership in our Student Ministries is going nowhere!

To be clear though, really good lead-ers will not come to you the majority of the time. In fact, the best leaders in your church probably will never even sign a card letting you know they were in attendance yet have a desire to serve. It is because of this that Dan Reiland, Executive Pastor at 12 Stone Church, puts it this way, “If you’re serious about increasing and expanding your leadership, you have to take the initiative to form new relationships. You can’t sit back and wait for people to come to you.”1 Why you may be asking? Because good leaders do not know the potential they have to impact an eternity until you encourage and challenge them with the opportuni-ty to do so. It is because of this fact that you are going to have to find them first!

Finding them though, is just the start of the equation; after finding them, you then need to connect with them. Strike up a conversation, find a reason to have a cup of coffee, maybe eat a meal together. Then you need to do something most Student Pastors get squirmy on, you need to humble yourself and ask people to check out your ministry to see if there is an area they would be willing to help make better. Yes

1Reiland, Dan. Amplified Leadership. Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2011. Print.

you may be told “it’s a bad time right now” or “no thanks, I’m just not that interested,” but you have to at least ask the question. When we fail to even ask the proverbial question, we as Student Pastors are saying “NO” for people. And by doing so, we are robbing them of an opportunity to serve in a much bigger venue in God’s Kingdom. I personally say it like this, “My responsibility as a Stu-dent Pastor is to put as many ‘good people’ in the lives of our students as possible; not perfect people, but people like yourself who are trying for better day in and day out in their lives. Would you be interested in at the minimum checking it out and just seeing if there is an opportunity in Student Ministry for you?” Then I listen to their answer and pay atten-tion to how God works on people’s hearts. Sometimes they want to know more and sometimes they do not, but nothing will happen if we do not at least ask.

Thirdly, it is your responsibility when people do want to be a part of your ministry to put these potential lead-ers in the right places and then in-vest into their lives. It is not your call-ing to plug holes just so you can fill a 7th grade boy’s small group leader position or a registration leaders spot. It is also not your calling to put people where you know they will not succeed just because they want to serve wherever it is. It is our re-sponsibility though, to place people where they can excel and succeed in God’s kingdom. Maybe for you that means letting people be a fly on the wall and trying various opportuni-ties out for 3-4 weeks to see what works. It could also be identifying a certain person’s greatest strength and putting them in an avenue of

Continued on page 36

Building Sustainable Student Ministry Volunteer Teams that Lastby Drew Cheyney

®A DIVISION OF

The local church is the only organization that can facilitate eternal hope, lasting change, and total transformation in the lives of people and communities everywhere. Even so, today’s local churches are often in

desperate need of renewal and revitalization themselves. In Th e Revitalized Church, Pastor Michael Atherton uses his fi rsthand experiences to show how a local church can once again become vibrant.

Th e Revitalized Church shares Atherton’s eighteen-month journey merging two church communities with a common vision and discusses the challenges and the victories they encountered. In addition, he examines the key biblical leadership principles that were used to help sustain the church. Atherton shows how these practical principles can be successfully implemented in any church body, as he outlines the foundational elements that must be woven into a church’s DNA.

Atherton communicates the lessons he learned in order to assist other congregations to connect with Christ and their communities. The Revitalized Church provides guidance to help unleash the power of God in the life of your church.

MICHAEL ATHERTON earned a doctorate of ministry from Midwestern Baptist Th eological Seminary and is a nationally certifi ed church administrator through the NACBA. He has served as a pastor for the past thirteen years in Missouri, Texas, and Colorado, while also teaching as an adjunct professor on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Atherton is the senior pastor at Cornerstone Church in Lone Tree, Colorado. He and his wife, Sara, have six children. Th ey live in Parker, Colorado.

RevitalizedChurch

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Forfeiting Self to Follow God

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Whether you want to admit it or not, in today’s world of Student Ministry, the Student Pastor who only builds relationships with students and fails to invest into leadership will always find themselves not only behind the curve in their ministry, but also in a position of frequent panic and consistent plateaus. Why you may be asking? Because you cannot have the kind of impact

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Texans are fiercely independent. From the begin-ning of their fight for independence from Mexico in 1835 until now, no one tells a Texan what to do. The town in which I currently serve (Gonzales, Texas) is the epitome of Texas pride and independence. Our community flag is one that waves proudly and is known as the “Come and Take It” battle flag with its symbolic Lone Star and iconic cannon. The oppres-sive tyrant known as General Santa Anna forced the hand of the Texans, beginning the struggle for Texas independence right here in my hometown. The people wanted a change. The fight ensued and many lives were laid on the altar of freedom and independence. Texas changed for the better.

When the hand of a tyrant tried to selfishly force change, Santa Anna lost his empire. Let me suggest that you not try the Santa Anna Method to bring about revitalization in your church. Instead, con-sider Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion, which states “everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it”. While not a biblical principle, there is truth in this statement that applies to church revitalization.

Change begins in the heart and soul of the people. How do we, as leaders, change the hearts of men? Simply put, we cannot. But God can! Prayer is a vital component to revitalization because it is through prayer that God speaks to His people to impress the need for change. In an article in “Facts & Trends”, Micah Fries lists 7 essentials for true church health. One of the seven is “prayerful dependence.” When, through prayer, we come to a place of total dependence upon God, revitalization can begin.

In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus teaches us how to pray. The Disciple’s Prayer serves as a model prayer that we can employ for heart-change, which ultimately

leads to revitalized churches. When we pray the Jesus-way, our hearts adjust to His by dwelling in community with Him, our vision and priorities conform to His and we come to depend upon God for His provision of daily needs, forgiveness, and leadership.

OUR HEART CONFORMS TO HISHave you ever noticed when you’re driving in your car and there appears, over time, a slight vibration in your tires? The calibration in the balance of the tires is out of sync, causing the vibration of the car.

In the same way that a vehicle’s tires require calibra-tion, we too need to have our hearts calibrated to God’s. When we pray, “Our Father in heaven,” we ac-knowledge our relationship to Him and His position of authority over us. He is our Father first and He is in heaven on His sovereign throne, in complete con-trol of creation and His kingdom. The truth of who He is and where He is causes our hearts to shift.

The need for revitalization is not always noticeable right away, but like the tire that gradually shifts out of balance, the local church can slip into a place in which revitalization is required. The adjustment must be made as we seek God the Father. The Fa-therhood of God ought to settle uncertainties and give hope as the church prays for revitalization. Change happens as we conform to His will. God’s name, purpose, and priority are most hallowed when the church behaves in conformity to His will. David said it right in Psalm 16:8 when he wrote, “I have set the LORD continually before me.”

OUR VISION CONFORMS TO HISSometimes, the ride of a car is turbulent because the wheels are not aligned correctly. Because the

A Change of Heart:The Role of Prayer in the Revitalization of the Church by Chris Irving

wheels are out of alignment, the tires wear uneven-ly, leading to other serious problems. Our vision can get out of alignment with God’s kingdom purposes. God’s vision for the church is found in the prayer of Jesus. As we pray for the Kingdom of God to come, the vision of the church changes as His kingdom transforms our hearts into kingdom-cen-tered Jesus-followers.

I love the way The Message states Proverbs 29:18, “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stum-ble all over themselves; But when they attend to what He reveals, they are most blessed.” As we pray for His kingdom to come and for the accomplishing of God’s will, our vision should naturally conform to His. If this conformity does not happen in the hearts of the people, any outward change will be short-lived. As the church prays this truth, the vision of the people will begin to conform to God’s kingdom vision and the church will become rele-vant and vital. How can we see what God is doing if we are not spending time in prayer?

Should we continue to pray for our focus to be on evangelism, discipleship and all the other stuff that goes with church life or should we pray for the Kingdom of God to come? To live and pray the Kingdom of God is not a prayer to be prayed in ad-dition to all the other stuff…it is the stuff. Disciple-ship, fellowship, evangelism, ministry and worship don’t happen outside the kingdom; those things are the Kingdom.

OUR NEEDS ARE MET TO FULFILL HIS PURPOSEIn order to thrive and drive, your car has certain needs. Routine maintenance is a must for any car, no matter the make or model of the vehicle. As you journey the road of revitalization, you’ll learn to de-pend on God more and more to meet your needs. This is like God saying, “Hey, I’ve got your back.” God will provide all of the church’s needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Look at what God does for His people while they journey through the desert, leaving Egypt. They are in His will, traveling to the Promised Land and each day He provides manna for them. The “daily bread” they need in order to thrive in their journey falls from heaven each morning.

We need God’s daily provision, but we also need forgiveness from God and to dispense this same forgiveness to others in the church. No doubt you will face opposition to the revitalization adjust-ments needing to be made. But you cannot har-bor the bitterness that naturally comes because bitterness is dangerous poison to the heart of the revitalizer. You too must forgive.

Finally, we need God’s leadership, protection, and deliverance. As you pray for His leadership, pro-tection from temptation leading to failure and for deliverance, God’s providence is evident and His glory is on display. This, after all, is the purpose of the church…to make God known to the nations.

You cannot force change any more than I can force a square peg into a round hole, but you can in-tentionally begin a journey of prayer focused on changing the hearts of the people you serve, thus changing the heart of the church. The result is a healthy and vital church. After all, prayer chang-es people. And who knows but that the heart changed most might just be yours.

Chris Irving is the Lead Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gonzales, TX. Chris has served in ministry for 15 years in Texas. He led a small rural church to revitalization and is currently in-volved in the revitalization process of First Baptist Gonzales. He earned his Masters of Divinity at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his Doctorate of Ministry in leadership studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Ir-ving aims to help pastors equip the lay leadership of the church to serve in ministry. He and his wife, Amber have been married for 14 years and have six children.

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Elements Most Critical for a Church to Turn Around!By Tom Cheyney There are elements and ingredients, which are essen-tial to the turning around of any church. This list can appear to be endless, since each situation is to some degree unique and unlike even a neighbor’s church. What bind these elements all together is the presence of the Holy Spirit and an openness of the people to the working of God’s Spirit. Here are some common elements most critical for church renewal: A Pastoral Love for His People.The role of the turnaround pastor is to be so committed to the people that they recognize his unconventional determination to be one of them, not simply a rescue expert. For a church to turn around the must not be al-lowed to develop a pastor-of-the-week syndrome. The pastor must be able to make an honest and convincing commitment to see the congregation through to the end, whether in success or failure.

Select a New Pastor. In the vast majority of cases, the former pastor is too associated with and injured by the decline to be able to reverse it. A new pastor is usually necessary to create the climate and the plans for a successful resurrection of the congregation. Release the Past. It almost goes without saying that to survive and thrive, a congregation must focus on the future rather than re-live the past. But this is easier said than done. It requires a new or renewed vision. This is another reason why a new pastor is often necessary. You must honor the past but not live in the past and new pastors can make an easier transition towards that outcome then those who have been there for a long time.

Define Outreach. To reverse a decline caused in part by an inward focus of ministry, congregations must intentionally define what outreach the church will emphasize. Equip the Congregation. Intentional outreach will fail to renew a congregation if done only by the only the pastor and staff. Therefore,

the laity must be trained for effective, targeted ministry. If the laity will not embrace their part of outreach the church is in danger of closure even before the revitaliza-tion efforts get launched.

Select a Strong Leader. Declining congregations that hired chaplains, caretakers, healers, managers, administrators, or consensus builders fail to gain ground. The most critical skill of the revitaliza-tion leader is to help the congregation establish a new vision to which all can commit. Hard Work. The pastor and everyone else in the congregation must commit to working hard. This is not to say that Spirit has no role, but that much effort is required to overcome the downward inertia. There Must Be a Prayer Covering.If people don’t commit themselves to prayer, they will not catch the vision.

You Must Preach Quality Sermons, Not Bible Studies. Sermons need not be excellent, but they need to be more relevant and inspired than what they are likely to have been hearing during the later part of their decline. Seek An Outside Perspective. Access to objective, outside opinion is critical. A Committed Core Group. As well as a pastor willing to stay no matter what, there must be a core group of lay people with the same com-mitment.

These are elements and ingredients, which are essential to the turning around of any church. While you might be able to eliminate one or two of them, usually the ones most often sought to be eliminated are those, which take the most work out of the laity. When those are eliminated there is little chance for a church to grow when the laity abandons the work of the ministry.

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As I sit here writing this article, I am spending a few days in Sofia, Bulgaria, as my wife and I are about to take home our four-year-old adopted daughter. She knows all of a couple of English words and that is nearly the extent of our Bulgarian. While she has exhibited a fun-loving spirit through these last few days, I am sure she has been a bit frustrated at times as she tries in vain to communicate some-thing to us.

But it didn’t have to be this way. We could have been learning Bulgarian these last nine months, once we accepted her as a referral. We recently finished hosting a foreign exchange student from Ukraine, and I sat out to learn Cyrillic, the alphabet of both Ukraine and Bulgaria. I ultimately gave into my busy routine as pastor, professor and parent to keep from learning much. Oh, how I wish I would have learned more then to communicate better now!

This issue is one of the main elements of preach-ing—knowing your audience so you communicate more effectively. Too often I hear pastors lament how people “oooh” and “ahhh” over a guest preach-er who delivers a strong message. Such a pulpit guest usually has only a few sugar sticks and he doesn’t know the audience well, preaching in generalities. The local church pastor, however, has a trump card with preaching to his church—he can (get to) know his audience unlike someone filling the pulpit.

I want to share with you a few ways you can get to know your audience better so the message you preach hits a nerve with them. I do not intend to downplay the role of the Holy Spirit in applying the message, but most of us would agree He works most powerfully through the personal relation-ships we have cultivated.

Spend Time with Your PeopleOne of the greatest advantages a church revital-izer has over a mega-church pastor is how much easier it is for him to get to know his audience by spending time with them. I know more than one mega-church pastor who tells other pastors not to waste time visiting with their own church people in favor of spending time finding ways to connect with the un-churched. Church revitalization and growth cannot happen without reaching out to the lost and un-churched, but a pastor, by defi-nition, must also care for the flock the Lord has entrusted to him. So how can you spend time with your people beyond seeing them on a Sunday?

Visit Your PeopleAs a pastor of small and medium-sized churches, I have always enjoyed visiting my church members in their homes. I learn a lot about what they value when I see their flower garden, tool shed, living room, dining room and the like. Some people place greater worth on their things than they do hosting others in their immaculate houses. Others arrange their house in such a way that the grandkids can stop by without notice and pick up right where they left off!

I often get to meet additional family members when I come into church members’ homes. Such meetings allow me to connect with more people than I originally anticipated. Active church mem-bers appreciate their pastor meeting with them, and meeting their un-churched family members is a bonus for me and for them.

Stop by Their Place of Work, If PossibleThose who operate their own businesses or work for customer-relation services are almost offended if you don’t stop by their workplace. Visiting their place of business gives the pastor insight into what they go through on a daily or weekly basis. It also

Know Your Audience to Maximize Church Revitalization

by Joel R. Breidenbaugh

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helps you see their mission field in equipping them to reach others for Christ.

Attend Their Family’s Extracurricular EventsI cannot count the number of sporting events, graduations, piano recitals and comparable events I have attended over the years. I am not suggesting you spend all your time at these outings, or you will miss out on your own fam-ily. Showing up to a game and sitting with the parents and grandparents in the stands speaks volumes to others. The old adage is true: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Have Them in Your HomeNo matter how hard you try, some people will not ever invite you into their home (possibly out of fear they cannot clean it for your visit). You can, however, invite them over to your house. Though you may want to invite a couple of fami-lies over at the same time, getting to know more people, my wife and I have enjoyed hosting Sun-day School classes, potluck style. After enjoying food together, I sit everyone in a large circle and have couples tell us how long they have been married and a memorable story in their lives (it is often humorous!). Everyone enjoys getting to know others better, but as their pastor, I proba-bly get the most out of it.

Utilize Social Media to Connect with Your PeopleTechnology provides us with many benefits unknown to previous generations. Social me-dia sites offer elements of micro-blogging and miniature journaling. While you may not want to spend time listing many of your own life events, scrolling through what your friends and con-tacts have to post helps you learn what makes them tick, whether it is comments and pictures about family, vacation spots, work, favorite teams or various ideologies. Jot down occasion-al notes as reminders for building illustrations and application in your sermon. Although con-fidentiality should mark personal conversations, information on social sites is usually fair game for public use. You probably want to go the extra

mile and obtain permission about sharing someone’s story, especially if they are one of your church mem-bers.

In addition to scanning through other’s posts, take time to “like,” comment or share. People receive en-couragement from others responding to their posts and pictures. It communicates your interest in their lives.

Listen, Laugh and Cry with Your PeopleAs a pastor, you will be talking a great deal more week-in and week-out through your sermons than your members. As you spend time with others, make sure you take the lead in listening to them. If getting them to talk is difficult, use a few key questions to get them started. I like asking people how they came to know Jesus or what brought them to our church. I also inquire how couples met or find out what they do for a living. While listening to people tell their stories, you will sometimes laugh and sometimes cry, yet always grow in your relationship with them.

ConclusionHopefully these suggestions will aid you in know-ing your audience as you preach and shepherd. As you strengthen these relationships, you will find these people—your people—will grow to love you for loving them. That kind of relationship building will not only strengthen your preaching, but it will also strengthen your pastorate, helping revitalize a church in need of a caring pastor.

Joel Breidenbaugh is the lead pastor of FBC Sweetwater where he has led the church in revitalization and renewal. He is a contributing author to a new Christian Theology book due out early next year.

“I often get to meet additional family members when I come into

church members’ homes. Such meetings allow me to connect

with more people than I originally anticipated.”

When Fraud Comes KnockingIt is often the little things that derail revitalization. At Friendship Baptist Church in Holden, Missouri, the revitalization process was being hindered by weekly panhandlers. It will be only a matter of time before someone comes asking for assistance with gas, food, utilities or cash. Often, the person dealing with this request is the least equipped to respond to such situations, such as receptionists, secretaries or volunteers. A typical outcome is to fork over $20 in the hope that the “visitor” leaves.

As Christians, we want to do the right thing at all times. Ironically, panhandlers and scam-mers know that, and prey upon churches that are unprepared when fraud comes knocking.Almost every time I teach about this fraud in the form of con artists and scammers, some-one brings up Matthew 25:35-40. Let’s look at this passage together:

For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’

“And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.

Notice that the King indicates, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” It can be argued that Jesus is speaking of “the brotherhood of man” and the passage applies to anyone who is hungry, thirsty, in need of lodging or cloth. Iron-ically, most members who accept this interpretation expect the church to respond with appropriate benevolence, while they personally never would invite these folks into their homes.

The King in this text is the One who separates the sheep from the goats (v. 32). The best un-derstanding of the phrase translated “brothers of Mine” are the followers of Jesus. As believ-ers, we are responsible to demonstrate brotherly love. This is consistent with Paul’s words in Galatians 6:10, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Earlier in Galatians 6, we are reminded, “Do not be deceived.” With that exhortation, consider ways of responding to those who come knock-ing.

- By Rodney HarrisonThis article is adapted from the new book, “Confessions of a Church Felon: Protecting Your Church from the

Flames of Fraud” by Glenn Miller, Jeff Kick and Rodney Harrison.

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Feature Writer11 Ways to Revitalize the Future of the ChurchThere are common denominators in every renovate scenario. I have found these 11 ways to be proven and practical elements that will change your church now for the future.

1. HAVE THE ABILITY TO SAY “NO.”Clarity not only attracts, it divides. Vision or direc-tion is important because it provides clarity. Clarity helps determine what we say yes and no to.With clarity you will have to say no.

Ever been to the eye Dr? He presents images for each eye and asks; “Yes or no?” “Better or worse?” Asking the right questions and having the right per-spective helps in saying no. Leaders must have the ability to say no. It’s tough to say no, nonetheless, at times we must.

2. GET OUTSIDE THE BOX. Houdini was a master at demonstrating the power of getting outside the box. It may sound counter intuitive but in order for us to get out of the box we must think inside the box first. Before Houdini ever stepped in the box he knew how to get out of the box. Death would come if he stayed in the box. Know how to get out of the box and then do it!

3. QUICK DECISION MAKINGEstablish a culture of decision-making.

4 types of decision-making styles (all four need to be a part of your culture)

1. Command Decisions – when decisions need to be on the spot

2. Collaborative – Team feedback decisions3. Consensus - body decisions4. Convenience – When someone else needs to make the decision

4. FLEXIBILITYOvercome and adapt. “Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape.”

Culture moves fast. Life is predictably unpredictable. There needs to be an awareness of the need for flex-ibility.

If we are not careful we can fossilize in our systems and ways of operation.

5. MAKE THIS DAY THAT DAYOf all the advantages a leader has it is the ability to see where you are going.Seeing what needs to happen in order to move for-ward is a great thing – it helps lay the groundwork.

Start leading, planning, equipping like you are more than what you are – that way when you get “there” you can handle the increase.

Lay the groundwork and the need for: staff, rooms, ministries, events, and budgets.Frequently ask “what if” questions: - What if we see 20 new families? - What if 100 visitors came on a Sunday? - What if we start turning families away because of our nursery, children’s area, and student ministry?

Plan today like your tomorrow is here!

6. BECOME CONTAGIOUS NOT RELIGIOUSFaith is contagious - Excitement is contagious - Joy is contagious. Smile, be happy, be genuine – celebrate not complain – love instead of condemn – lift up in-stead of load down – offer grace instead of grumble you will attract people!

Be a church where people want to invite people to attend.

Ask: If you weren’t paid to go to your church, would you attend?

7. EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIAThe first automobile instructors had a hard time getting people to press the brake. Every new driver yelled Whoa!!! It’s always been difficult learning to ride a new horse.

It may be hard to imagine and you may be tempted to say Whoa – but social media is here to stay.

11 Ways to Revitalize the Future of the Churchby Ron Smith

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Find someone who understands it. Post something once a day on FaceBook: Scripture, pictures, etc.

Have someone take pictures and post them.

Social media is a free public relations campaign in your hands. It’s free fellowship – it’s fast fellowship and yet its effects last much longer than the mo-ment.

8. VALUE EXPERIMENTATIONIf the horse is dead dismount.Remind the church that failure is more common than success.

Did Noah have any experience building a boat?Did Abraham have any experience navigating to the Promise Land? Did Peter know how to walk on water?

We must continually tweak current ministries and try new ones.

9. MOVE FROM MEMBERSHIP TO OWNERSHIPIf you have not studied Arthur Flake then you need to. Arthur Flake was a master for his time. He did more to grow Sunday School than any other man I am aware of. In a book by him I discovered 6 points of Sunday School from Arthur Flake.1)Attendance 2) On Time 3) Bible Brought 4) Offer-ing 5) Prepared Lesson 6) Preaching Attendance.

What Pastor would not be pleased if our church members came to church with that attitude? The point is this – church members at that time had an ownership in the ministry (not just the carpet of a classroom). Teach ownership – get church mem-bers involved in the work of ministry.

10. ADJUST PEOPLE’S PRIORITIES NOT JUST THEIR SCHEDULESThe early church did more than add a time of wor-ship and house meetings to the schedule. The early church changed people’s priorities about God, life, and mission.

Teach the value of living life on mission.Schedule times of living life on mission.Get them serving … often…with impact.Show them a preferred future.

11. PRACTICE 52 QUALITY SUNDAYSAct as if this Sunday is someone’s first. Emphasize Quality and Quantity.

Put your best forward on Sunday. Sunday is the first day of the week. Train your church in this philoso-phy: If we get Sunday right we get the week right. If we get God right we get everything else right.

Sunday needs to be a win for everybody.

Define the win for your leaders, for your members, for your visitors and for your mission.

Ask: What will make an impact on the lives of those who attend? Do not ask: What will they like – what will make them happy?

The Church has a future as you can see. We can follow 11 principles right now and see immediate results.

Ron Smith is the lead pas-tor of FBC Altamonte Springs a church working towards revitaliztion and renewal. Ron is a husband to Rana, father to three girls and Pastor of FBC Altamonte Springs. Ron is the author of Churches Gone Wild. You can follow Ron and receive

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free resources at RonBSmithJr.com. Ron serves as CO-Leader of Renovate Podcasts as well as serving on staff of the Renovate Coaching Network.

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You ask most practioners working in the field of revitalization what are some of the most import-ant characteristics for a church revitalizer and many of these will be offered. Not everyone will have all of these but granted there is a need to possess more than a few in order to have the stuff necessary to turnaround a church stuck in decline and in need of renewal. Here are the following skill sets we deemed necessary:

1. Possess brokenness before the Lord over the situation of the church.

2. Need an active, effective and consistent prayer life.

3. Seek God and get their vision from Him.

4. Need to be completely honest with themselves and with God about their sins and the sins of the people they lead.

5. Are patient plodders who seek counsel, and who also understand the importance of timing-Ec-cl 8:5

6. Make very informed decisions and stick with them.

7. Are passionate people who are completely com-mitted to their Lord, the church, and the revitaliza-tion process.

8. Are hopeful, and not just optimistic.

9. Inspire more than they motivate.

10. Are able to take extraordinary risks in order to achieve their objectives.

11. Are able to handle conflict, opposition, and personal attacks by keeping the objectives in view.

12. Work at effective and honest communication.

13. Have a bias for action.

14. Encourage creativity and are willing to risk failure.

15. Understand the needs of their target com-munity.

16. Have a genuine interest in meeting the needs of people.

17. Keep prospects close and seek to minister to them.

18. Practice freedom and entrepreneurship. There is freedom from bureaucratic policies and red tape.

19. Work diligently to utilize the creativity of small ministry groups.

20. Do the work of ministry through the gifts of its laity.

21. Have high expectations for ministry and give very generous affirmation for achievement.

22. Deliver and express quality programs that provide a perceived value that participants are seeking. These churches are contagious and stimulating.

23. Generate energy rather than deplete it.

24. Keep the main thing the main thing!

25. Focus on what they do best and avoid launching programs that take away from the vision and spread workers too thin.

26. Keep the staff lean and utilize volunteers over hired staff preferably. These leaders keep the church flexible and stable by practicing lean simple forms.

27. Practice creative chaos while adhering to the core values for the vision.

Characteristics of a Church Revitalizer by Michael Atherton & Tom Cheyney

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28. Understand the tension between the creative chaos necessary to do something new while still remaining faithful to the core values of the church.

29. Often referred to as builders. They are indi-viduals that seek to make things better within the church. They believe deep down they can make a lasting difference.

30. Take the time to honor the past so they can move productively into the future.

31. Seek to develop as much knowledge and Bib-lical training from experienced leaders in church revitalization so when they are deployed into the work of ministry they will know how to lead a church that must rise from its deathbed vigil and get it growing spiritually and numerically once again!

32. Must possess a single-mindedness that seeks out life and fosters the ability for others to sense life.

33. Sense God’s call as a leader to develop grow-ing spiritual churches.

34. Refuse to simply go through the motions as a pastor and play church.

35. Seek regeneration over stagnation.

36. Choose life over death.

37. Choose to be reaching out into the community over isolation behind fortress walls.

38. Expend their time on ministries that will grow a church over ministries that are detached from the congregation’s life and ministry.

39. Choose making ministry fun again over one that snoozes on.

40. Choose bold advancement over mild mainte-nance.

41. Choose to be pioneers over patio sitters.

42. Choose to move forward now over tomorrow!

43. Function more as an apostle than a lethargic leader.

44. Their spiritual experience is living and fresh.

45. They know they are chosen and sent.

46. They are not afraid to get help from others in the endeavor.

47. They repel those who are caretakers and man-agers of the status quo and choose those of life and vitality.

48. They are committed to the mission of revitaliza-tion.

49. They have a clear determination to clear new paths and lead the church to new places and reach new people.

50. They grow bored over unchanging routines and maintenance chores.

51. They get their energy from short term challenges and sprints rather than from marathons.

52. They can easily persuade others to jump on the bandwagon.

53. They are personal evangelists and actively par-ticipate in reaching individuals for Christ as a soul winner.

54. They joyfully reproduce disciples.

55. They are not afraid of taking risks for the advance-ment of the Gospel.

The list is complete for sure and yet there are some which rise up to the top as kill skill sets necessary to revitalize a church. While no barometer is complete these are what hundreds of participants have sid were critical skill sets for a church revitalizer.

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BARKING DOGSSparking Revitalization

By Reducing Distractions by Lee Kricher

Amplify Church, located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, embarked on a revitalization journey in late 2003. After years of declining attendance, we were on the verge of closing our doors. Over the coming months and years, we prayerfully put into place a number of change strategies with the hope of turning things around. Thankfully, the church became healthy again. Not only did attendance increase, the average age of those at-tending Amplify Church decreased from 50 to 35 years old. Every generation was and is well rep-resented for the first time in many, many years. I met an elderly pastor of a storefront church several years ago. The church had about a dozen members. I soon understood at least one reason his church probably would not grow much larger.

He told me that he brought his dog to church every week and that the dog would lie down in front of the podium, barking often during each service. The regular attendees became accus-tomed to having the pastor’s beloved pet in church but a visitor mentioned to him that the barking dog was a distraction. He told me that his response to the visitor was, “My dog is my best friend and he stays, even if that means you don’t.”

I am convinced that most churches have their share of barking dogs – things that in some way distract members and visitors from the vision and mission of the church. In 2003, Amplify Church was filled with barking dogs. Here are just a few of the many things that we chose to eliminate:

Stop Making ExcusesIt was Benjamin Franklin who said, “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” We are skillful at the art of making excuses, aren’t we? “I don’t know how.” “I didn’t understand.” “I couldn’t find the right tools.” “The voices told me to clean all the guns today.” “I threw out my back bowling.” “I have a Doc-tor’s appointment.” Do you ever catch yourself making excuses when things don’t turn out as you had expected in your church? Have you ever tried to explain away why you didn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t or simply wouldn’t do something? If so as a church revitalizer, these are subtle signs that indicate you are living a life of ex-cuses, which prevent you from reaching your full potential for revitalization and renewal.

~ Tom Cheyney

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• The small, wooden sign at the church en-trance was literally rotting from weather and age. Anyone who saw it would assume that the church was probably deteriorating, as well. We covered the sign with a canvas sign created by a local printer until we could afford a modern, attractive sign.

• Along with our sign, our church foyer creat-ed a bad first impression for visitors. Bulletin boards and posters lined the walls. On the bulletin boards, anyone could place anything they wanted from business cards to flyers advertising programs in other churches. Many of the things that were posted were outdat-ed. The sheer volume of information hung on these bulletin boards screamed to a visitor that we were an unfocused church. All posters and bulletin boards were removed and per-tinent information was placed in our bulletin and on our website.

• The color of our foyer also gave visitors a bad first impression. It was painted mauve, the same color it had been for more than a decade. It was the color of Pepto-Bismol but had the opposite effect. We painted the foyer a neutral shade of gray.

• One of the church practices we eliminated was the unwritten formal dress code that had been a part of the church since its inception. Because of relaxed dress codes in the work-place and schools, a significant percentage of young men did not even own a suit. To require people to buy clothes so they could come to church seemed to be illogical. Our dress code was a distraction for the very people we were trying to reach.

• One of the many church programs we elim-inated was the training program for evan-gelism that had been conducted for over 20 years at the church. This program required people to attend a class weekly for several months in order to receive an evangelism cer-tificate. One reason we ended this program was that it competed with our new emphasis on small group attendance, which we felt was essential to our vision. Few people could

attend both. It also created an impression for some that the responsibility to evangelize or even invite others to church was primarily carried by those who were “certified.”

It is amazing how many programs and minis-tries can be sustained by a very small number of church members in a declining church. These church programs and ministries often continue to exist long after they should have ended. In their book Simple Church, Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger put church programs into proper per-spective:

Programs were made for man, not man for pro-grams. If the goal is to keep certain things going, the church is in trouble. The end result must always be about people. Programs should only be tools.

Letting Go and Saying “No”We know that in our personal lives we some-times need to eliminate good things – even things that we like – from our schedules so we can focus our time and energy on the most important things. The same is true for churches. Time, energy and resources invested into unnec-essary programs or ministries is time, energy and resources that cannot be invested in those things that will most directly impact your core mission and your ability to reach the next generation.

I realized that we had to be able to let go of many of our current programs and ministries and to say “no” to many good ideas for new programs and ministries. By the way, I found that it is expo-nentially easier to say “no” before a program gets started than it is to end that same program after it gets started.

In his book Deep & Wide, Andy Stanley writes about the importance of being willing to let go of things no matter how meaningful they have been in the past.

Nothing is new or innovative forever. Your best idea, the one that other churches emulate and take credit for, will eventually go the way of handbells and bus ministries. It’s naïve and arro-

Lee Kricher is the Se-nior Pastor of Amplify Church, Pittsburgh, PA - amplifychurch.com and author of For a New Genera-tion – foranewgener-ation.com

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gant to think otherwise. We are foolish to assume that our ideas are transgen-erational. We are equally foolish to assume that we will intuitively be able to sniff out the need for change in our own organizations. If it were that easy, everybody would have made the proper transitions at the proper time. Truth is, the clock is ticking on our good ideas. It’s ticking backward. And it’s ticking faster than we think.

It might seem offensive that church programs, ministries and practices are listed in an article called Barking Dogs. It has nothing to do with how much these things were valued or loved at Amplify Church. They were good things that we felt had become a major or minor dis-traction to our ability to fulfill our vision and reach the next generation.

The reality was that the common de-nominator of many of these programs and ministries was not their link to our vision or mission but that they were housed in our church building. To use another analogy, these ancillary min-istries and programs were like bags of sand holding down a hot air balloon. They had to be jettisoned if Amplify Church was ever going to soar.

The list of things that should be let go varies from church to church, of course. It is highly unlikely, though, that EVERY program, ministry or practice in your church should continue to exist in per-petuity. When all is said and done, effec-tively fulfilling your vision and mission is as dependent on what you choose NOT to do as it is about what you choose to do.

Which programs, ministries and/or practices in your church may be a distraction to those you are trying to reach, including the next generation?

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Preach The Big Mac? By Rob Myers Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. Acts 8:4-6.

One of the greatest difficulties to overcome in the revitalization of the church is the concept that: “somebody else is going to do it for us.” Somebody else is going to tithe, so I don’t have to; some-body else is going to teach Sunday School, so I’m not needed; somebody else is going to work the nursery and finally somebody else will do the Great Commission. If the prime objective of our remaining in this world after our salvation is to do the great commission, why have our churches, produced so few people who have had a first hand experience in leading someone to Christ, baptizing them and then teaching them to do the same?

Sometimes amid the circumstances of life, we tend to vegetate and sit in one place. God did not give us a command to sit, but to go. If we come to the place where we belong to God and we refuse to do what he says to do, he can very well create circumstances that will cause us to move. I say this, because I have to say to you: the great commission is not an option, and God was not joking when he spoke it. It is God’s only plan; there is no plan B, C, or anything else. Verse one of this passage teach-es us that persecution broke out and the church was pushed out and scattered out of Jerusalem. It is obvious; that they had done a great job of phase 1 of Acts 1:8. Jerusalem was turned upside down with the gospel of Christ! Do you think that, maybe God needed to give them a little nudge? Needless to say, Philip the young Greek deacon, preached the Word of God wherever he went. It is interesting that God used the multicultural “Greek Jew” to go into an area that the “Hebrew Jew” would have abhorred, because of the prejudice that they had toward the Samaritan people. This bates the question: “What do I say to a people that I have a “history” with? …I’m saved and changed, but they have years of backlash prejudice built up

against “my kind.” Notice here that Phillip did not negotiate his terms with God… He just went!

What does this have to do with the “Big Mac?” I find one of the most interesting things about McDon-ald’s, and the Big Mac, is that wherever you go in the world the Big Mac remains constant. It always has: two all beef patties, pickles, lettuce, special sauce and a sesame seed bun. I make it a point to buy one wherever I go in the world, because I see the Gospel of Christ and the Word of God like the Big Mac: it is always culturally relevant and never has to be adapted. It is interesting to me that McDonald’s has learned to culturally adapt the rest of its menu, while leaving the Big Mac alone. When I was a kid in the Bahamas, McDonald’s served conch salad as a side item, as well as peas and rice. In Guatemala, you can get with black beans with your eggs for break-fast. I even got a Big Mac beside the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias and they had adapted some Jewish food to it as well, but the Big Mac, as in all cases, remains the same: two all beef patties, pickles, lettuce and special sauce on a sesame seed bun. The lesson learned, is that the Word of God never changes, yet the cultural adaptation is necessary. This is why Phil-ip did not hesitate to go and preach the Good news of Jesus Christ even to the Samaritans.

How then do we get our people to share their faith? My method is simple, review your potential leaders and find the ones who are willing to drop their nets and follow Christ. Jesus did not recruit men whom he had to drag into service, or who were filled with the strongholds of excuses, but he recruited men who knew how to achieve goals - men with aspira-tions to move beyond the mundane of the every-day business of fishing (insert any job type here) to become fishers of men. Ask a man to merely follow you and to serve you, and you will have a co- depen-dent. Ask a man to come with you and become a leader and you will have a world changer. Peter did not sign up to stand by and watch, he signed up to lead! Don’t invite an exciting man to a boring agen-da, rather invite him to explore the power of the Good News of Christ! The Big Mac in our illustration is the Word of God, which is eternally relevant and unchanging. Teach men the stories of the Word of God, pour your life into them and in three years you can re-make or revitalize any church.

Building Sustainable Student Ministry Volunteer Teams that Last - Continued by Drew Cheyney

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leadership that allows that strength to be maximized at its most impactful level. Whatever method you choose, develop the kind of leadership opportunities that allow ‘good people’ to serve in areas that they love and not only will they develop and grow, but they will stay. John Maxwell, Pastor and Author, says this about building leadership teams, “Leaders create and inspire new leaders by instilling faith in their leadership abilities and helping them develop and hone leadership skills they don’t know they possess.”2

This is what God has called us to do if we are going to build Student Ministries that last. We have to con-nect with high capacity people, ask them to partner up with the mission of our student ministries, & develop them to use their influence to impact hearts forever.

2 Maxwell, John. Developing the Leaders Around You. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 1995.

You may be wondering how many times you will have to create this process and the answer is, as many times as you need to have more leaders than you actually need. Most Student Pastors only get the amount of leaders they need to accomplish what they are already doing, but if you are going to have the kind of impact and leadership that lasts, you have to invest into/ recruit more leaders than you actu-ally need. If you do that, you can have a team of volunteers that lasts.

Declining or dying churches and church leaders often makes various excuses for why they are not revitalizing their church. Some fear the failure around them and they make an excuse. Others are embarrassed because of what they thought would happen in there church have not. Some fear the things they must do to bring about the change needed for renewal so they make excuses. Still others lack confidence in their ability to revitalize the church. To eliminate excuses from our lives we must first look at eliminat-ing all traces of fear. Fear traps and locks us away within our comfort zone. Living a life of excuses can have very serious and lasting consequences. Not only will excuses pre-vent you from reaching your full potential,

but they will also hold you back from recog-nizing opportunities, talents and skills you might have, to help you overcome your prob-lems. If you don’t challenge yourself to reach new heights, you will never really know what you’re capable of. New opportunities lie hid-den around every corner, however you will never find them if you riddle your mind with constantly finding reasons to make excuses. Here are some of the most used excuses for why one has not revitalized ones church:

The task is demandingMy talent is inadequateThe time is not rightThe teaching is dangerousI cannot change.

- Tom Cheyney

Drew Cheyney is the Student Pastor at Neighborhood Church in Valsilia, CA and frequest writer on Revitalization of Churches through student ministry.

Why I Am Not Revitalizing My Church!

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The beginning of a new year allows individual churches and individual Church Revitalizers the opportunity to rethink the pre-vious years work and begin on a new note with renewed vigor and ample time of reflection. New Year’s day has always served me as a day of reflection and anticipation. One of the things I do each new years day is look over my very first sermon I ever preached and sense the hum-bling and appreciation that I did not stay at that level. A moment of humbly thanking God for His blessings is a great way to begin the New Year. A day of antici-pation for the upcoming year of ministry opportunity is also a good way to spend the day. In a few days, right after an early morning work out, I will begin my new year and I am so excited about the opportunities it brings for ministry and my individual growth. I could go on, but the emphasis of this blog series is to share some specific things every-one working within the area of church revitalization and renewal should do early in the New Year.

New years are a time for newness and the passage in Revelation 21:5, which says: “Behold, I make all things new,” is a strong remind-er of whom we serve and follow. Yet, beginning early tomorrow I will start seeing lots of people wearing the new clothes they have received as Christmas gifts. Some will have a new coat; others will have ipads or laptops.

Things are new in the New Year. Perhaps the greatest opportu-nity for you is that the New Year offers a chance for a new you as a Church Revitalizer. So here are some things every Church Revi-talizer should do in the New Year:

An Opportunity for a New BeginningNew things give us an occasion to start over. Wise revitalizers challenge their churches early in the New Year to see a compelling vision of what the church could become if everyone decided and committed to work together for the cause of revitalization and renewal. Could there be some things you as the minister could do better than last year? The New Year provides all of us second chances to do something better. Starting anew with a hope of a new beginning. Clean the slates, start over a few things, and learn from previous mistakes.

I heard about a son who called his parents to wish them a hap-py New Year. The dad answered the phone was asked, “Well dad, what’s your New Year’s resolu-tion?” He answered proudly, “To make your mother as happy as I can all year”. Then his mom got on the phone and he asked her the same question, “What’s you resolution, Mom?” She replied, “To see that your dad keeps his New Year’s resolution. Our Lord gives all of us when we enter into a personal relation-ship with Him a new beginning.

Though the passage speaks of the great gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Even those outside of Christ are offered new beginnings and at one time in our lives as believers we were given the greatest gift of salvation through Christ Jesus. But I believe this verse to be an encouragement to all of us as Church Revitalizers of the special blessings we are given through new beginnings.

Create a Sense of UrgencyOur communities all around us are changing and as the Church Revitalizer you can ill afford to grow complacent. We are living in a time of rapid change and only the church, which keeps pace with, its ever-changing cultural environment will advance. As a church revitalizer you must have a sense of urgency to assure that your God given vision stays ahead of the demands of com-munity. Far too many pastors working in churches that need to be revitalized believe that busi-ness is equivalent to urgency. Creating a sense of urgency is more about activating volunteers and lay leadership into the cause of revitalization and its tasks. Strategies must move forward. Objectives must be advanced. Methodologies must be always evolving and executed in a timely manner. Simply, Church Revital-

Things Every Church Revitalizer Should Do in the New Year! by Tom Cheyney

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izers must begin the New Year keeping themselves and their followers on their toes by train-ing the church to look for God’s unexpected and then act upon His opportunities. You as the leader will have much to learn in the New Year and your people will need to embrace the attitude of daring so your renewal efforts might be accomplished.

Take the Occasion to Set New GoalsHealthy churches and healthy pastors set goals, which will provide barometers for how the church is doing in the new year. Church Revitalizers understand that individual drive and a list of goals are key to the renewal innovation. It was the late great Zig Ziglar that said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” At the beginning of my first calendar year here in Central Florida, I asked my staff to turn in individual goals for the upcom-ing year for their area of ministry. You would have thought I had tortured them. It was like pulling teeth. I scratched my head in disbelief. Have they never been held accountable for their area of work? Had a laze fare been al-lowed with no accountability? We work for our network of churches and don’t they deserve goals set and worked towards reaching. Every one working in areas of ministry should set goals for his or her ministry area and then be willing to share them with the rest of the team. I have learned a wonderful lesson, which is that I am (and you are) more likely to accomplish my goals, if I can see other people also working on their individual goals. As a Church Revitalizer, if you have 10

volunteers working in ministry areas, make a goal to get to 20 volunteers. If you are poor with communication, make it a goal to communicate better this New Year. Remember what people are not up on they are usually down on. If you are bad with member follow up and prospect assimi-lation, make it a goal to make a certain number of visits, send out letters, send emails, and make phone calls this new year each and every week. Set new goals to grow spiritually and profession-ally.

Carry a Journal Every-where You GoI usually have a journal with me where ever I go and if not I have one in my ipad. The reason I jour-nal and write things down is be-cause I am often bombarded with not one good idea but many and if you do not write them down they will be lost. Great ideas of-ten are pushed to the surface by a series of really good ideas but not great ones. Ideas are fragile, and our memory does not always work. So I write them down. Poor writers are seldom journal writ-ers. Jess Moody, former pastor of First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach gave me the best advice when I was a young freshman in college at Palm Beach Atlan-tic University. His advice to an 18-year-old ministerial student was to put aside two hours every week, even while in college, and write. He said, “Write good ser-mons and bad ones. Write articles and ideas because if you begin to do this while you are young, it will pay off in great dividends as you mature in the work of the ministry!” He was so right. I have discovered in my journaling

journey that great ideas come in the strangest places, and if you do not write them down, you will lose the idea that could transform your church or ministry. Learn to write down your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and beliefs. Failure to do so just might cause you to regret it later.

This was made so clear to me when the space shuttle exploded on re-entry that horrible Saturday morning. I had just left my house after having breakfast with my wife and children before driving 310 miles to preach in Savannah, Georgia the next day. My Bible was in the front set along with my sermon notes and my jour-nal, as I was prepared for what I thought was a typical Sunday of preaching. Not ten minutes out of my garage as I was listening to the shuttles landing on the radio, I heard from the reporter of the horrible crash. Journaling my thoughts, over the past year had many things useable to allow the Lord to change my message and provide incredible insight and comfort to those church members I would preach to the next day. For the next five plus hours of driving while listening to the tragic event I was able to add to my journal thoughts from the various reporters and when I arrived at my hotel later that day in a few short hours I was able to develop two timely messages for morning and evening of the following day.

Had I not carried a journal with me everywhere I go I would not have had the tools and ideas God had given me over the past months to fashion such timely messages.

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Get Your Hands Dirty by Touching the Ministry Every Church Revitalizer must see the importance of getting ones hands dirty by touching the ministry. Pastors must touch the work of the Lord in a local church as much as they are to lead it. Many declining church pastors admit that they are uncomfort-able with getting their hands dirty in the work of ministry. It is sad because this allows them to appear to be unfamiliar about the changing demands and re-quirements for their local church to be locally relevant as well as globally relevant. Some pastors of declining or plateaued church-es enjoy roaming the sidelines and observing the performance of others, rather than getting in the game and taking a more active role. As a church revitalizer do you immerse yourself in the things, which keep you in the office over the things that get you out with your people and prospects? Church Revitalizers much like church planters must be more entrepreneurial than ever before. As the leader of the flock one must touch the ministry enough so they are better able to anticipate crisis and manage change before circumstances force their hand. Leadership is all about people and if leaders begin to lose touch with those they lead, they will become detached and disengaged with the require-ments of the community and church in which they serve.

Avoid the Tyranny of the Urgent at the Cost of the Vital.

There are always things, which can pull you away from the im-portant work of the Lord. Some it is actually very good but not the best. Are you known as one who can count noses, nickel, and numbers yet lacks the time required to connect with those who long for your presence? Would you rather go to a com-mittee meeting and enlist others

or do the work yourself? Every church revitalizer worth his or her salt knows how to eliminate the distractions so they can concentrate on the true priorities of ministry. I like the little ditty I heard some time ago: “Whoever

invented the open door policy for leaders never accomplished much.” There are times you must speak to the urgent, yet far too many pastors allow the seem-ingly urgent to push away the actually urgent and vital to the cause of Christ.

Know and Understand Who your Church is Called to Reach.International missionaries learned long ago that to reach a people group for Christ, they would need to understand their culture. By understanding the group’s beliefs, traditions, and values, they could eat, drink, and talk like them. Then missionaries could more effectively share the love of Christ within the context of the group’s culture. So whom are you called to reach? Is it a specific people group, cultural pocket, or geographic area? First, define the target group that God has placed on your heart for your church to love and reach. Once you have defined the target group, create a profile describing them. Gather all the information available through community demographic studies, community history, and people group statis-tics. Evaluate the community to determine the flow of people’s lives, what they do on a week-to-week basis, what activities they are involved in, their priorities, musical preferences, values, and beliefs. Learn to understand how the average family thinks, their life issues, challenges, and goals. Then determine what questions people are asking that the gos-pel can answer. There are many resources and activities you can utilize to help you understand

The beginning of a new year allows individual churches and individual Church Revitalizers the opportunity to rethink the previous years work and begin on a new note with renewed vigor and ample time of reflection. New Year’s day has always served me as a day of re-flection and anticipation. One of the things I do each new years day is look over my very first sermon I ever preached and sense the humbling and apprecia-tion that I did not stay at that level. A moment of humbly thanking God for His blessings is a great way to begin the New Year. A day of anticipation for the upcoming year of ministry opportunity is also a good way to spend the day.

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your community. As you under-stand your churches surrounding culture and become experts on your community, then you can develop a ministry plan that fits within the context of your target group’s culture. By doing so, you can increase the effectiveness of your ministry.

Become Impassioned Pio-neers of New PossibilitiesChurch Revitalizers must become impassioned pioneers of new possibilities. One needs to release their passionate quest of excel-lence in order to challenge the status quo and seize previously unseen ministry opportunities to build sustainable momentum within the ministry area. Impas-sioned revitalizers are the real explorers of new potentials and possibilities. The impassioned pioneer of new possibilities is more often able to outperform those who are just trying to get it done but lack the zeal of the other leader. Your leadership as a Church Revitalizer is more about standing for something and tran-sitioning your beliefs into action, and then taking it all the way through to the completed and envisioned end. When pastors are not exploring and press-ing forward, they are playing it safe and can over time become complacent in their role as the shepherd. I have discovered that you will learn more from a pastor that explores than from one who merely floats along. When a renewal pastor explores they challenge everyone on the churches leadership team to get out of their comfort zones and step up their games.

Create a Moment-in-Time with as Many Church Mem-bers as PossibleYour presence with your flock is so vitally important and wise Church Revitalizers develop the ability to create individual mo-ments with church members that express your interest in them. The more your church grows the better you will need to be at this ability. Your interest in them even for the moment in time often will ignite their interest in your and your cause of revitalization. Mo-ments-in-time are mastered over time. This ability and presence requires self-trust, confidence, self-awareness and the ability to navigate the needs of other people. When you are with others your time is focused on them and not on the next thing. Creating a moment-in-time with as many church members as possible re-quires becoming a good listener and the ability to quickly connect the individuals patterns of con-versation in order to detect one’s personal interests, leadership style and personal needs. Mo-ments-in-time is not about you but all about others. These Mo-ments-in-time are about having impactful, long-lasting moments with members and prospects that inspires others to want to know more.

Create a “User-Friendly” Ministry Environment.There are many barriers that obstruct an unchurched person from hearing and receiving the gospel message. Many of these are due to negative perceptions; others are spiritual issues of the heart. Here are four barriers that

an unchurched person must cross to become a Christian:

The Image Barrier—Many per-ceive church as being irrelevant, boring, judgmental, and disin-genuous.The Cultural Barrier—For the unchurched, church culture can sometimes be as scary as it would be for some of us if we walked into a biker bar at 1 a.m. on Saturday night. Culture affects terminology/language, musical preferences, dress code, social traditions, and so forth. Some who are unchurched may not relate to church culture and may quickly decide that church is not for them.

The Gospel Barrier—The Holy Spirit must convict them of their sin, so that they repent and confess faith in the resurrected Christ.

The Total Commitment Barrier— Accepting that a commitment to Christ is a lordship decision involving total commitment and surrender to God. Although many churches say that they care about reaching the unchurched or lost in their communities, they are hindered by inwardly focused ministry practices, which serve as barri-ers to reaching the unchurched. Everything from signage, service flow, dress code, and musical style is determined based on the needs of those who are already members.

Continued on page 54

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The Preperation for Revitalizationby John Kimball

We recently bought a new house. It’s a “fixer-upper” – we knew that when we bought it but are only now realizing how much fixing it needs. The house was first a foreclosure, then an abused rental property and finally was purchased at an auction and flipped. Thankfully, by the time it came to us, we were able to get it at a price that allows us to make the needed improvements while living in it.

One of the biggest issues with the exterior of the house is the lawn – or the lack thereof. We live in a Home Owners’ Associ-ation (HOA) that has been very gracious, but the weeds and invasive grasses are not only ugly on our lawn, they are a creep-ing problem for our neighbors’ lawns as well. Back in Minnesota, I fixed a similar situation with overseeding and lawn treatment for a couple of seasons; however, that won’t work here in Central Florida. When a lawn is as bad as ours, the bad stuff has to be eradicated down to the root first. We’ve been told by several folks that the only fix we face is to kill everything that is there – making sure the roots are dead – and then re-sod the lawn. And the prep work of herbicides and fungicides is critical or the new sod will be invaded by the same weeds within a summer or so.

Crabgrass, Dollarweed, Chick-weed, Corn Speedwell...you name it, it’s in our lawn.

Anyone who is master of a trade will tell you that there are no short cuts when it comes to prep work. Painters know that the enormous amount of time it takes to paper, tape and “cut in” is essential for the actual painting to go quickly and to cover well for a pleasing result. Carpenters know that measuring well and keeping blades sharp are non-ne-gotiable for a good product. Farmers spend a lot of time pre-paring the soil so that their crop’s yield is at its maximum months later. The same principle applies to church revitalization.

Having worked in revitaliza-tion for over 20 years, I can tell you that there is a lot of prep work involved to turn a church around. Much of it is tactical in nature (e.g., vision, values and strategy work), but to my continued amazement the one critical component that most folks overlook is prayer. Every movement in Church history – every revival and awakening – is preceded by a season of fervent and focused intercession. Every one. We can track this histori-cally, and yet it seems to be the one thing Christians and church leaders today forget to employ! If a church family will not humble themselves and pray, they will not experience revitalization. If a congregation will not spend meaningful and ample time inter-ceding for their neighborhood, they will not be able to effectively reach their neighbors with the grace and truth of Christ’s gospel. If church leaders will not gather

specifically to intercede for their church family and her mission, they will not see the needed breakthroughs to overcome bar-riers (personalities, dysfunction, cultural issues…) to the church’s ministry.

My experience has shown that churches who take this call to prayer preparation seriously are churches that rediscover their mission, reconnecting with their communities with great gospel fruit. Experience also tells me that church families who do not do this prep work (for whatever reason), remain stagnant at best. In my opinion, there is nothing else in church revitalization that is as clear and simple as this point. And yet, only about half of the congregations with which I have worked over the years have followed through with respect to intercession.

Pastors, you have to take the lead in this. It starts in your heart before it can spread to the congregation. Your own person-al prayer relationship with the Lord is the foundation for your church’s revitalization. If this is an area that needs work, start there. Pray on your own. Pray with your family. Schedule regular time for intercession with your leaders – weekly if possible (this is not time for “business” – your only busi-ness is praying for your church’s fruitful life, ministry and witness). Preach regularly on prayer and intercession. Provide training on prayer and intercession (most congregants need this because

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they no longer have a frame of reference for effective, answered prayer). Build a cottage prayer movement within your church family, allowing folks to gather in informal clusters around the community to stand in the gap for their neighbors.

Program times of congregational prayer into your church’s weekly schedule and then actually use it for praying. But know this: your congregation will not rise above the level of her pastor in any area of ministry – including prayer. If it’s not an acted upon priority for you, it will not be for your church. And if your church does not practice prayer and intercession, revitalization is unlikely.

My lawn is going to look horri-ble for about 10 days before the new sod can be planted. You might find that you also have a challenging season as you begin the prep work of prayer in your church. But the result will be worth it. It’s not easy, but it is necessary. Don’t rush this. Pray and watch the Holy Spirit show up in your church’s ministry.

Dr. John Kimball is Director of Church Development for the Conservative Congregational Christian Confer-ence. He has nearly 30 years of pastoral experience, most of it in revitalization ministry, and coaches pas-tors and churches through development in his denomination and in partnership with the Praxis Center for Church Development. John serves as the Lead Pastor/Planter of Palmwood Church in Metropolitan Orlando.

Times are Changing, So Change With the Times - Tom Cheyney

People are afraid of change. Times are changing so change with the times. Our God however, is a God of change. We can learn at least two things from scripture about change: initially, we can learn that Christians should not be afraid of change. In Revelation 21:5 He de-clares “Behold, I make all things new” God does all kinds of “new things” in our lives every day. When we first become Christians, we die to our past, are buried in the water’s of Christian baptism and rise up a “changed” person, a new changed creature in Christ. Our God is a God of change, and God can do great things when His people and His churches allow Him the freedom to change their lives. Someone once observed that the only persons who like change are wet babies and even they are not too excited about it either. Churches are notorious for that kind of attitude as well. True spiritual maturity is approached when people turn their at-tention to those outside the church and seek ways to spread the good news rather than exercise their entitlements as members.

Conflict Avoidance & Resolution Basics for the Church Revitalizer: How to Enjoy Change!

By Bob Whitesel

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For 20+ years, I’ve coached church revitalization. And, this usually means bringing about change in a church. So, when I earned my PhD from Fuller Seminary, I decided to study change and how to bring it about in an effective way.

One of the most astounding things I found was that in church leader-ship literature “conflict resolution” was one of the most underrepre-sented topics. That’s right, conflict is probably understudied, under discussed and misunderstood by our church leadership.

We all know that turning around a church will almost always lead to some conflict. Therefore let me suggest what church leaders can do to overcome conflict when it inevitably arises during church change.

Conflict Avoidance: It May be Why There Are So Many Planted Churches and Fewer Turnaround Churches

1.) Conflict avoidance often leads to burnout in the turn-around leader. This is because the repression of stress creates in-ternal turmoil in the leader which does not get resolved. It usually simmers under the surface until an alarm event pushes it to the front. The leader has repressed it so long the leader will often overact and congregants will wonder why the leader is so upset. The level of irri-tation is often so great that sides will be formed.

2.) Conflict avoidance often leads to a great deal of exter-nal church planting (you will

see shortly that because conflict avoidance is the rationale, these plants aren’t often given a healthy start). The senior leader avoids conflict for so long, that staff who are in conflict with him/her wind up leaving the church to plant another church. The planting of the church is actually a conflict avoidance behavior by the senior leader and planter, because in the name of multiplication this tactic distances discordant and innova-tive ideas from the mother church. The result is that mother churches become mono-cultural congre-gations, while at the same time feeling self-satisfied that they are planting churches. But, often the plant becomes mono-cultural too because the avoidance of conflict is a behavior the planted pastor has seen modeled for her/him and often adopts as a coping mecha-nism as well.

3) Conflict avoidance often creates an uncomfortable staff relationship with the senior shepherd, because they don’t know how to address conflict. Often the senior leader will cancel or postpone meetings with staff, if the leader perceives it might involve conflict. Inside, the lead-er may be thinking, “If I cancel this meeting the conflict will get resolved after the person has had time to think about it.” As a result, the staff will feel at the best disre-garded and as the worst detached. The result is turnover among staff who the church needs for revital-ization.

In most of the circumstances the conflict-avoiding senior leader is well liked. In my case study re-

search, the more a leader is liked, the more apt that leader is to be a conflict-avoider. Subsequent-ly, they may be popular among other leaders and asked to share their insights into church growth. Most of that insight will have to do with planting churches. But, if you talk to the pastors of many of those plants, as I have, you will find that they feel leaving the mother church was the best way to avoid an awkward situation where con-flict was avoided.Thus,> The turnaround leader’s avoid-ance of conflict creates an “uncom-fortable” and “awkward” feeling among the staff when they are in conflict with the leader’s ideas. Staff may eventually leave the church instead of helping with church revitalization. > Because the senior shepherd is well liked, the innovators that are needed for church revitalization will usually distance themselves from the conflict avoiding leader by going elsewhere.> Often a new planted church is the result of conflict avoidance, because the leaders don’t know how to resolve their differences. Rather than revitalizing a church, the innovators leave with not only wrong motivation but also the wrong coping-mechanisms for handing conflict in their next church.

Conflict avoidance thus often leads to a proliferation of small/weak daughter churches, less diverse mother churches and a halting of church revitalization efforts.

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What Can Be Done? Learn Con-flict Resolution BasicsTo resolve conflict you need to undertake three simple steps of conflict resolution:

1). Attack a problem, not people. We often demonize the message-carriers rather than look-ing at the problem. A problem can be shared with such emotion by a message-carrier that the mental image of the message bearer can cloud our judgment and lead us to superimpose the problem on the person. While the person may have a role in the problem, it is critical that you separate the problem from the person. Do these three steps.a) Write down the problem. Keep

out anything that has to do with people or their attitudes.

b) Rewrite this problem state-ment until you have separated personalities and people from the problem

c) Now you have a description of the problem, devoid of the people involved.

2) Concentrate on needs, not outcomes. Everyone sees a differ-ent outcome. But, understanding what motivates people (i.e. their needs) is the way you solve con-flict. You begin by figuring out what people want. a) Ask yourself, “What does each

person involved in the conflict want?”

b) Write down what each person wants.

3) Find a “Win-Win” solution, which is one that meets most peoples needs. Take your “de-scription of the problem” (from Step 1) and your “list of people needs” (from Step 2) and write down solutions that could meet both. Then get together both sides and discuss the solutions (do not share what you wrote in Step 1 with them). Because these solu-tions will meet the needs of what both sides want, we call these “Win-Win” solutions.

Most people are conflicted not because they differ on outcomes, but because they are afraid their personal needs will be ignored. Let me end with an example.Tower Park Church (a pseudonym) had two worship services, a tradi-tional service at 9:30 AM in their sanctuary and a contemporary service at 10:30 AM in their fellow-ship hall. To revitalize the church, the new pastor knew he needed to move the 10:30 service into the larger sanctuary. The pastor announced to the board that he was exploring a move of service times and locations. Immediately a flurry of parking-lot and hallway conversations started to polarize the church into factions: those for moving the contemporary ser-vice into the sanctuary and those against it.

The pastor of Tower Park Church knew he had to resolve this con-flict. So he followed the three

Bob Whitesel (D.Min. and Ph.D., Fuller Seminary) is a sought-after speaker and award-winning writer on organic outreach, church leadership and church health; who has been called by a national magazine, “the key spokesperson on change theory in the church today.” Author of 11 books in 12 years, he serves as the founding professor of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University and holds two doctorates from Fuller Theological Seminary. The recipient of two national McGavran awards, he is a nationally respected con-sultant helping churches grow and regain health.

steps above.1) He wrote down the problem:

“The problem is that additional space is needed for the growing contemporary service.”

2) He concentrated on interests, not the outcome. Talking to the traditional service attendees he found they didn’t want to change their service time or to have the altar area filled with contemporary musical instru-ments and their cords. He also found out that the contempo-rary service attendees wanted the larger space and the more accommodating sanctuary to the crowded fellowship hall.

3) The pastor suggested a win-win outcome, that met the interests of both sides. He suggested they move the contemporary service back to 10:45 and leave the early service at 9:30. The altar area would retain its tradi-tional looks (as the traditional attendees requested) and so the contemporary band would hide their equipment behind curtain-ing to retain the formal appear-ance for the earlier traditional service.

Once the pastor of Tower Park Church refused to avoid the conflict and instead find out what everyone “wanted,” he was able to lead them to a revitalization plan that met everyone’s needs. And, so can you.

1 800 991-6011 OUTREACH.com

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Repurposed The Nehemiah Model: (Nine Strategic Steps for Renewal)

Repurpose means to use or con-vert for use in another format or product. Repurposing happens when something has very little or no value, or is only worth throwing away, is suddenly restored and used for significant purposes. Repurpose is exactly what Nehemiah did in the city of Jerusalem. He repurposed broken-down gates and walls. He repurposed a community of faith that was far from God.

Repurposing is a powerful word of hope for churches which have either plateaued, are in decline or might even be on the brink of death. Some people today would consider many of these churches to be of not much value, perhaps only to be thrown away. Instead, it is the passionate desire of Jesus to do a life-trans-forming work that only he can do - returning his people once again to a right relationship himself and to the mission to which he has called his church.

In the Old Testament book of Nehe-miah, under God’s leadership, Ne-hemiah himself leads the people in a timely, miraculous strategic effort to rebuild the gates and walls of Je-rusalem in just 52 days. Shortly after this project reached its completion, an even greater miracle occurred as God brought renewal to their lives spiritually.

According to Aubrey Malphurs, “Strategic planning is the process that a point leader uses with a team of leaders on a regular basis to think and act as to design and redesign a specific ministry model that accom-plishes the Great Commission in their unique ministry context.”

In addition to the Scriptures, there are also many practical reasons for utilizing strategic planning in church revitalization: 1) To discover the church’s strengths, weakness-es, opportunities, and threats 2) To

develop an intentional process for “making disciples” in the church, 3) To align the church’s ministries—getting people and ministries focused and on the same page 4) To create an environment for re-vival and spiritual awakening 5) To develop and implement spiritually healthy change which glorifies Jesus Christ 6) To craft a compelling vision that is simple to grasp and yet has powerful clarity 7) To empower the pastor, church staff, leadership, and people to serve with excellence 8) To be a greater impact and influence in reaching the community for Christ 9) To develop a strategy that reg-ularly evaluates and improves the ministries of the church 10) To be fully used by God as a church locally, regionally, nationally, and globally to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Nehemiah provides nine transfer-rable and timeless principles for today’s revitalizers as they lead stra-tegic planning and much needed spiritual renewal in their churches.

Step 1: Relentless Prayer (Nehemiah 1:4-11) Drawing from Nehemiah’s four months of relentless prayer, there are four prayer principles which stand out - all of which prepare the revitalizer for leading strate-gic planning and renewal in the church. The four principles are: 1) Recognize who God is – God is high and exalted. 2) Repent of all sin (brokenness). 3) Recall the amazing promises of God. 4) Re-quest help from God for success.

Step 2: Recognize God’s Window of Opportunity (Nehemiah 2:1-10)The second step for the revitalizer is to discern God’s window of op-portunity and timing for moving

forward with the process. A win-dow of opportunity is a relatively brief period of time during which an opportunity must be seized or it may be lost. In Nehemiah 2:1-10, as he stood before the King, Nehemiah seizes his God-given opportunity, moving forward toward the project which awaited him in Jerusalem.

Following the example of Ne-hemiah, through much prayer, the church strategic planner and revitalizer first discerns God’s will and his timing in the process. Second, he understands God has positioned him for such a time as this. Third, while praying, he is also planning for the God-sized project at hand. Prayer and planning go together. Fourth, the leader acknowledges God’s providential hand of favor and provision, which ultimately leads to success in renewal.

Step 3: Recovery: Getting Beyond Life’s Ruins (Nehemiah 2:11-20)In this third step, the leader is tasked with the responsibility of inspecting and examining the unique ministry context to which God has called him to revitalize. Questions to consider at this step of the strategic process include, “What really is going on in our church?” “How did we arrive here?” “What would God have us to do?” “What do we really know about the community God has called us to reach?” A thorough examination at this stage uncov-ers the honest, brutal facts – cre-ating urgency for God’s people to change, therefore, propelling the church forward in the journey

By Darwin Meighan

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toward the next step of strategic planning and renewal.

Step 4 - Releasing the Pow-er of God’s Team (Nehemiah 3)Fourth, the revitalizer prayerfully pours his efforts into forming a strategic planning team. In chapter 3, Nehemiah provides an example of the synergy, team-work and collaborative environ-ment God uses, to bring about renewal in the church. Several team principles must be consid-ered: 1) Every team member does play a significant role in God’s game plan. 2) God’s team best accomplishes his work shoulder to shoulder. 3) God strategically positions every team member for maximum impact. 4) Together make the commitment to finish the God-given task.

Step 5—Refocus: What to Do when Attacked by Spir-itual Opposition (Nehemiah 4:1-23)Throughout the Jerusalem proj-ect, Nehemiah and God’s peo-ple were met with external and internal opposition. Likewise, the strategic planning team, in their efforts to revitalize the church, they will be met with strong op-position from the enemy. When opposition does come, Nehemi-ah offers several key weapons for overcoming it. First, is the spiritu-al weapon of prayer. Prayer must be the forefront of every church’s renewal and strategic planning efforts. Second, keep doing the work. Stay focused on the task of revitalizing the church. Satan will do everything possible to distract and discourage God’s leader and God’s people from experiencing

renewal. Third, assign watchmen to pray, while the strategic plan-ning team continues the work. Finally, in the midst of opposition, practice unity, for the purpose of seeing renewal become a reality.

Step 6—Resolving Rela-tional Conflict God’s Way (Nehemiah 5:1-13)Churches who find themselves in need of renewal, over the years have developed unhealthy and unacceptable patterns of behav-ior for resolving relational con-flict. During Nehemiah’s project, major conflict broke out. When this occurred, Nehemiah chose to deal with relational conflict in a scriptural manner.

Church revitalizers must sharpen their skills for leading change,

Continued on Page 56

Be Stong and Courageous!

Church revitalizers need to be willing to take risks for the good of the local church they serve. They need to be strong and of courage. In Joshua chapter one, God instructs Joshua 3 times to “be strong, and be courageous”. Such easy instructions, but how is he to be strong, and coura-geous? It’s easy sometimes to be cocky, and pretend to be brave but what Joshua needed was true bravery, and courage. God not only directs Joshua to be “strong, and courageous,” but he dictates to him how to be so. To live the kind of Life that God wants us to in the society that we live in we too need courage the way that Joshua did. Sometimes it’s hard to be strong, and cou-rageous. God says we are to stand on his promises. If we are to accomplish what God calls us, and instructs us to do, we as well must stand on the promises. The problem is many churches in need of revitalization are sitting on the premises instead of standing on the promises. Like Joshua, we must not turn, not compromise, not become distracted, must not become detoured from what the will of God is. Faithfulness is the key. Lastly, we must start the process of revital-ization and renewal. Many in our declining churches have heard the word of God, sensed his presence, and his leading, but are we still just sitting. What are you waiting for? Now is the time to get going. There is ground to cover, battles to be won, jobs that are unfinished so let’s “be strong and courageous” and do it! Let’s get going.

- Tom Cheyney

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“Danger Will Robinson”: Dangerous Threats to the Church Revitalization Movement by Terry Rials

One could hardly deny that there is a grand new movement in the American church, which crosses geographical, socio-econom-ic, and even denominational boundaries. Interest in the Church Revitalization Movement can be found predominantly among the smallest churches, which are struggling to survive; but there is growing interest in the movement with the leaders of the largest churches, as these leaders have noticed a halt in their church’s growth. In short, the smaller the church, the more interest exists in revitalization with laypeople; conversely, the larger the church, the more the interest is found with the church’s leadership.

Perhaps not since the begin-nings of the Church Growth movement has there been such an excitement among church leaders about the prospects for the church. Admittedly, not every church leader has embraced this new movement, but a substantial percentage see the importance of addressing the decline of the existing church.

It is important to keep the Church Revitalization Movement going and not allow this work to fall prey to the errors that will kill it. If we are wise, we will look to the mistakes of past movements and put safeguards in place now to prevent the premature death of the Church Revitalization Movement. I would like to enu-merate six, specific dangers to the movement.

Correct ChriostologyThe first danger, as we learned from the Missional Church Move-ment, is that any true movement in His church must be founded upon a correct Christology. If we

get the our theology wrong, our ecclesiology will be wrong. Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost say this well in The Shape of Things to Come. They argue that our Chris-tology informs our missiology, which in turn determines our ec-clesiology. If we allow our notions of what the church should be to taint our understanding of what the church should do, we are not authentic disciples of Christ. In essence, if the church’s concen-tration is on its forms, leadership style, governance, furniture, worship style, Bible translation, timing of its services, etc., it is not concentrating on the headship of Christ and His mission for the church. Put simply, how can the church be the church if a church does not do what the church does? What we do and what the church looks like must be based upon our theological beliefs.

Numbers for Numbers’ SakeA plethora (and I use that word intentionally) of mistakes were made in the Church Growth Movement, and yet it is still with us. One of these mistakes is the second danger – an unhealthy concentration on numbers for numbers’ sake. Wide is not deep. Bill Hybels confessed that while his church became broad in num-bers, it was not composed of vast numbers of healthy disciples. As an alternative, we should concen-trate on developing discipleship in the church. Wouldn’t we as church leaders prefer to have a smaller group of dedicated disciples than a larger group of shallow attendees? Church lead-ers always desire more, that is a natural desire, but how we get more is also a critical concern. In the case of the church, the ends do not justify the means. How we

get there is just as important as getting there.

Personal InterestsThe third danger affronting the Church Revitalization Movement is one that plagued other move-ments – the rampant develop-ment of the personal interests of those who led it. In the past, key leaders in thriving churches received an inordinate amount of praise and recognition. They were invited to write books, speak at conferences, and teach in academia. Many of these lead-ers prospered professionally and financially from their success. This is what Thomas O’Dea called the “dilemma of mixed motivation.” Not that any of those things is wrong or improper in itself, however they can be improper motivation, and they often lead to squabbling among leaders about the meaning of words (e.g. revitalization, renewal, refresh-ing) and the future course of the movement. The surprising thing that I have discovered while working in the field of church re-vitalization is that no one person has all the answers. Like a jigsaw puzzle, there are a thousand pieces to the complete picture and no one has all the pieces. I genuinely like the personalities who are leading the Church Revi-talization Movement, but I intend to help keep all of them firmly grounded in humility, so that the only entity that prospers is the church, and the only one glori-fied is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Making the Movement AcedemicThe fourth danger I mentioned briefly before. One way that a movement begins to wane is

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when it is moved into the acad-emy. Church Revitalization is a ministerial practice that involves copious amounts of prayer, personal sacrifice, and personal leadership development. I con-fess that I went to the seminary to understand church revital-ization, earning my doctorate in that concentration. However, I can assure you that academia is not a cure for pastoral frustration; the demands of academic pur-suits may take a serious toll on your ministry; it did in my set-ting. Allow me to say it this way – church revitalization cannot be just an academic pursuit. Instead, it is an applied ministry pursuit, requiring the heart of a pastor and countless hours of hard work on the church field, not just in the church office.

Methodology over ScriptureThe fifth danger occurs when methodology and pragmatism, rather than the dictates of scrip-ture, determine the movement’s course. Concentrating on the process of revitalization can even lead to sequentialism, the belief that if one follows linear, step-by-step processes, then revital-ization will occur in the church. It is common for church leaders, many of whom are excellent strategic planners, to think, plan, and act in sequential steps. This kind of thinking will be deadly to the Church Revitalization Move-ment. Our job as church leaders is not to grease the machinery in order to keep the organization going and growing; instead, our job is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Our job as leaders is not to lay out step-by-step directions for other to follow. Our job is to lead others back to the heart of God and trust His leadership in their

lives. If the church comes back to life and vitality, it will be a spiritu-al process, and not a mechanical one.

The work of God in the ProcessThe sixth and final danger is obvious to me. If the Church Revi-talization Movement is to survive and thrive, we cannot ignore the work of God in the process. Let me emphasize, there is a work that we do (revitalization) and a work that only God can do (revival). I define revitalization as the work we do to ensure the conditions of God are met for revival, so that the people of God are prepared when He begins to move. We need a genuine, Spir-it-led revival in the church – we need God to do what only God can do, revive the church! I be-lieve in the importance and need for both revitalization and revival in the Lord’s church today. Revi-talization is preparatory to revival and subsequent to it. Borrowing from G. Campbell Morgan, we must put up our sail and wait for the wind to blow. When the wind begins to blow, we make use of the wind and allow it to drive us.

I am not a prophet, nor a son of a prophet, but I predict that there will be difficult days ahead for the Church Revitalization Movement, primarily because the enemy will be actively attacking those associated with it. This should not dissuade us from the work at hand, if anything it should com-pel us to press on with an even greater fervor. we should take our enemy’s opposition as proof that we are on the right track. If we are wise, we will recognize the dangers that lay ahead. Those who stand in the pulpit should know this intuitively, but if not, let me remind you again. Sailors who stand out on the pulpit of

the ship were placed there to recognize the dangers under the surface of the water as the ship comes into the harbor, and to warn others about that danger. May we as church leaders watch vigilantly for these dangers and stand ready to ring the bell.

Terry Rials serves as the Senior Pastor of the Crestview Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and he serves as the Church Revitaliza-tion Team Leader for Capital Bap-tist Association in Oklahoma. He is a frequent conference speaker and teacher, leading church revi-talization efforts in his state and nationally. You can contact Terry at [email protected].

Sailors who stand out on the pulpit of the ship were placed there to rec-ognize the dangers under the surface of the water as the ship comes into the harbor, and to warn others about that danger. -Terry Rials

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Is Ministry Getting You Down? By Estelle Myers

Ministry is tough and not for the faint of heart. Many people view ministry from the outside looking in. They see the pastor speak on Sundays, and think that is all he does. I remember one man asking me what my husband does with the rest of his week. There were so many thoughts that raced through my mind of what I could tell this guy, but instead I just said, “Not much, he just relaxes and plays golf all week.” Of course the tone of my voice was extremely sarcastic as I smiled and walked away. People see what they want to see, and most think that the life of the pastor’s family is quiet, peaceful, and uneventful except on Sunday mornings. Of course pastors’ wives know this is not the case.

The truth of the matter is that a pastor’s schedule looks very much like a doctor who has to be on call for his patients 24/7. Most pastors have more families in their congregations than doctors do patients in their practice. The constant day-to-day grind of a pastor’s schedule wears on his en-tire family, especially in situations where funds are low and peoples’ needs are high. Church plants and churches in need of revital-ization typically fit that model.

Consequently, the pastor and his family members are expected to fill the shoes of missing staff members due to a shortage of funds. Churches that are not able to adequately staff for the needs and programs that the church offers within community can cre-ate quite a strain on the wife and children of the pastor. Most men are single minded and are totally committed to the spiritual growth and development of their congre-gations, often forgetting that their wives are also committed to the growth and development of their children. And then there is the need for time for personal growth and rest that is often sacrificed for the needs of the parishners and family members.

Pastor’s and their wives are hu-man beings who have needs of their own. They are not super human. If the pastor’s wife is feeling neglected or overworked by her church and husband, she can quickly become resentful, not only toward her husband, but also toward her church and eventu-ally the Lord. Ultimately, this can become disastrous to the ministry of the church and to the health of the pastor’s family. There is an old adage, “When mama’s not happy, no one is happy!”

Mon’s and dads lead by example, and pastors and their wives are no exceptions. So before we get too caught up in revitalizing the church, let’s make sure our homes are revitalized as well. Having been the wife of a pastor for the last 34 years, and a Church and School Administrator for over 25

years, I have a few suggestions on how a woman can keep her balance walking the tightrope of ministry in her church while at the same time caring for her family.

1)We all need mothering.“As a mother comforts her child so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 66:13, NIV)

“I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (II Corinthians 6:18, NIV)

Don’t forget whom you are serv-ing and that your God is mindful of your needs too. You are the daughter of the King, and as such you can ask what you will and He will meet your needs as no one else can, not even your husband. So do not neglect your time alone each day with your heavenly Father, for He cares for you dearly and wants to nurture you as you nurture others.

2)Your love is supernatural. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kind-ness.” (Jeremiah 31:3, NIV)

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30, NIV)

God gives us the example of what it is to love and then asks us to do the same through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. Natural human love will wane and even-tually burn out. But the love of God is everlasting and supernat-ural; for He empowers us to love as He loves. This is an amazing truth and must be realized in our

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relationships within our home and church. This love touches our mind (commitments), our heart (emotion & passions), our strength (commitments) and our very soul (ultimate intimacy). Learn to live in God’s will and love as He loves, then you will never be put to shame.

3)You are a woman of influence.

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” (Proverbs 14:1, NIV)

Women have the ability to build others up or tear them down, both in their homes and in the church. Your children and church members will follow your exam-ple. You are extremely influential and have the ability to make or break your husband, your family, and the overall ministry of the church. That is a lot of influence! Don’t blow it! Don’t let your legacy be one of negativity, complaining, gossiping, and conflict. Remem-ber your calling and your position in Christ. You are royalty and need to act accordingly. Your family name, Christian, has great mean-ing and you have the privilege to carry on the family legacy. Do it well and with honor. Be a woman of “noble” character for then your husband will sing your praises and your children will call you blessed! 4) No one is perfect!

“We love because He first loved us.” (John 4:19, NIV)

Reality check- there is no such thing as a “Superwoman”- so quit applying for the job. We all make mistakes each and every day. Get rid of your own expectations to be something that you are not.

As you learn to take responsibility for your own mistakes and ask for forgiveness you are modeling to your children and congregation what they need most- to do the same. We are only able to love and forgive others because Christ first loved and forgave us despite our shortcomings. The least we can do is follow His example and seek to love and forgive our spouse, our children, and fellow church mem-bers who may hurt us along the way. This is the golden ticket that wins the lottery for a lifetime of peace and true happiness.

5) Live each day with hope.“Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” (Luke 1:45, NIV)

Remember, in the end, God does not call us to be successful in the eyes of the world, nor does He expect us to save the world (that’s His job), He only expects us to be faithful to Him. Therein lies our hope- in Christ. If we will simply believe and trust God daily that He will do that which He has called us to do, we will be blessed.

So as you travel through this journey called ministry, know that Jesus has your back. This is why Paul could say with confidence that we are not to “worry about anything, but with prayer and supplications make your request known to God” (Philippians 4:7, KJV). Stay connected to God, your family and your friends and learn to live life in light of your ministry, not in spite of it. If you are able to stay balanced in your relation-ships, you will discover that you truly will be able to “do all things through Christ Jesus” and that you will accomplish more than

you could have ever thought or imagined.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, to-gether with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through-out all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!” Ephesians 3:17-21

If church is to be rele-vant than we must be willing to do our part to make it relevant. One of the problems we have as Christians is that we expect the church to awaken us, to get us excited about Jesus, and to motivate us to a new way of life.

-Tom Cheyney

Estelle Myers is the wife of Rob Myers, Pastor of Miami Baptist Church.

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Members normally are familiar with the church facilities and ministries (so they don’t need greeters or good signage), have established strong relationships with other members, and are comfortable with the current cul-ture of the church. New families often find the church experience to be uncomfortable, awkward, and confusing. They ask them-selves, “Where do I go? Where do I take my kids? What do I wear? Will they ask me to pray?” They enter the church doors with hearts racing and sweaty palms hoping to find someone, anyone with whom they can identify. When creating a “user-friend-ly” environment, remember to remove the barriers that may hinder a person from hearing and responding to the gospel.

Many times, people are not willing to give church a try. The barriers, for them, are too large to maneuver, people within a church have hurt them, or they do not see the relevance in attending a church service. So why not go to them? Jesus did it—and so should we. Try volun-teering for community events, coaching Little League, or taking a part-time job at Starbucks. In-vest in relationships with people in the community, and show them that your love is genuine and unconditional.

Become Less Isolated and Be More Integrated with Your VolunteersChurch Revitalizers work towards increasing collaboration with

volunteers. Successful revitalizers know that their success is highly dependent upon collaboration with others. They know they must always improve their ability to mentor, inspire and motivate others. Church renewal and teamwork is recognizing that leadership success comes most to those who are surrounded by people who want their success to continue. Strive to create an environment where everyone has each other’s back. Lack of this ingredient makes the chance for successful revitalization very low. If you as a pastor are a leader who has made the decision to go at it alone, this is often a no-win situation for everyone involved. It is through increased collab-oration that church revitalizers get the opportunity to know and engage with their volunteers well enough to detect and enable their talent potential.

Investigate the Internet and Social Media. The latest study indicates the average American family watches TV and surfs the Internet an aver-age of 10 hours each day. Com-pared to your time in the pulpit of a couple of hours each week, who has the most influence? Un-less pastors and ministry leaders learn the power of the Internet and social media and how to use it effectively, we will continue our Churches not so slow slide into extinction. Discuss movies and TV programs with your congre-gation, and teach them how to properly prioritize the Internet and social media. And think

more about your Internet social media outreach where even the smallest church can create an effective Web site. The battle for influence in your congregation’s life has begun, and you had bet-ter get into the fight.

Begin Something Highly Significant for Your Per-sonal Ministry I talk to ministers and pastors all the time. Many share with me of something big they want to do and achieve. I am often com-pelled to ask of their dream its status only to find that nothing besides a thought has been ac-complished. Stop dreaming and start producing. Begin right now the endeavor you have always dreamed of beginning. Tic Tock stop watching the clock because the clock is ticking, and you are not getting any younger. Some preachers have a book they want to write but lack the commitment and discipline (yes writing is a discipline) to get moving. How about that ministry you have wanted to create? What is keep-ing you from accomplishing that dream? Stop dreaming and start doing. There is no better time than now.

Read More Books, Blogs, and MagazinesIt is interesting that many young-er ministers no longer like to read. Yet for all of us who pro-claim the Word of God each week lack of reading often eliminates our ability to see the power of drama. When we become avid readers and life long learners we

Things Every Church Revitalizer Should Do in the New Year! Continued

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experience the power of drama in our reading, which often is carried over, into our preaching. Read blogs (you can go to our web site and see ones we think are important) books, and other publications. Novels provide you the ability to utilize narrative in ones preaching. Storytelling is an art which when well learned will compel others to listen closely.

Remember Your CallingDo you remember why you were called into the ministry? It is so easy to get caught up in advanc-ing technology, paying the bills, preparing sermons, and the daily grind, we often forget the reason we were called into the ministry in the first place. Chances are you had a dream and calling back then. Was that vision ever accomplished? Cut through the

clutter, and get back to the heart and soul of why you do this for a living. The most precious asset you have right now is not mon-ey or even knowledge it is time. Time is the currency of the most successful people in the world, and you can always identify influ-ential leaders by how they value their time. As a church revitalizer use this coming year to reconsid-er your priorities, cut away the litter, and get back to the heart of your ministry.

Wrapping It Up!Our communities are filled with people who have a need in their lives that only Jesus can fill. Deep down, most people want to connect with their heavenly Father, be forgiven for their sins, and they desire the same for their children. The stakes are high, and

the need is urgent. As you plan for 2014, prayerfully consider how you can reposition your church for greater impact for loving and reaching your community for Christ. As you head into the New Year, you should have great anticipa-tions for your fellow ministry leaders and play a more active role in holding them account-able to step-up their game. As a church revitalizer do not wait for your ministry leaders influence your future more than you may know and you do not want to be the one that regrets not doing anything about it in the long run. You will never have another chance to relive this year, so let us invest this year in what could potentially change the world for the cause of Christ Jesus.

Dr. Tom Cheyney is the Founder and Direction-al Leader of Renovate National Church Revital-ization Conference and Executive Editor of the Church Revitalizer.

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while also navigating and man-aging conflict God’s way. Manag-ing conflict God’s way includes: 1) Yielding to Christ’s leadership and control. 2) Praying and work-ing with the goal of restoration in mind. 3) Resolving conflict privately. 4) If necessary, resolve conflict publicly. Resolving re-lational conflict scripturally is a necessary component for church renewal and revitalization.

Step 7—Reaching Life’s Goals: Enduring Principles for Finishing Well (Nehemiah 6:15-16)In just 52 days, miraculously, with the help of his God, Nehemiah led God’s people to rebuild the gates and walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah chapter 6, verses 15-16, says, “So the wall was com-pleted on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, be-cause they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.” This historical, climactic moment provides several insights for revitalizers who desire to finish well their God-given tasks: 1) Pray continually 2) Commit to God’s purposes 3) Live pas-sionately 4) Plan thoroughly 5) Include people 6) Be willing to persevere, many times even at great cost.

Step 8—Revival: Can It Still Happen Today? (Nehemiah 8-10)

Although God had already performed the mighty work of rebuilding the city’s gates and walls, he had an even more signif-icant work to do, that of, repur-posing and bringing renewal to his people spiritually. In Nehe-miah, chapters 8-10, genuine revival breaks out. These same components of revival are also essential for renewal to transform the hearts of God’s people today: First, is a renewed hunger and thirst for God’s Word. Second, is the spiritual cleansing that occurs as God’s people cry out with prayers of genuine repentance. Third, the behavior and actions of the people begins to consis-tently match their beliefs. Out of genuine renewal, God next calls his church to covenant together, an outward expression of once again allowing God to have first place their lives and in his church. These three signs of revival be-come evident in those churches in genuine and purposeful pur-suit of God’s path of renewal.

Step 9—Repurposed: God’s People Celebrate! (Nehemiah 12:27-47)When God does choose to re-purpose, revitalize and to bring about renewal, this is great cause for celebration in the church. Revitalization leaders today must lead their churches to celebrate wins together, no matter how small or large those wins might be. From the 12th chapter of Ne-hemiah, six celebration principles arise from a renewed people of God: 1) Purpose - Celebrate who

God is and what he has done. 2) Preparation - Get ready to meet God in worship. 3) Praise - Fill God’s house with the praises of his people. 4) Power - The far reaching impact of joy and praise. 5) Provision - Respond-ing with gratitude and thanks-giving to our God who gives to us in abundance. 6) Person - Worship and celebrate the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Regardless of your church’s current spiritual condition, no situation is not hopeless. There is amazing hope in Christ Jesus for every church today. Repur-posed, The Nehemiah Model for strategic planning and renew-al is worthy of every church’s prayers, consideration, and pursuit. The passionate desire of Jesus is that his people would return to right relationship with himself, to right relationships with one another within the Body of Christ - while at the same time also demonstrating in their daily lives faith and obe-dience, toward fulfilling God’s great strategic plan and mission of “making disciples.” Prayerfully seek God’s plan for renewal. Do it – act now!

A downloadable manual,“Re-purposed” The Nehemiah Model: Developing a Strategic Plan to Revitalize Your Church, is available via email: [email protected]

Repurposed the Nehemiah Model (continued)By Darwin Meighan

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talization by Bill Henard is one of those books. Henard, professor of Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Semi-nary, writes as a pastor for the pastor who is either considering accepting a call to a church that is in need of revitalization or has determined that the church they are serving is in need of revitalization. Can These Bones Live? is a must add to the revitalizer’s library.

Henard covers wide variety of introduc-tory material towards revitalization and church health. The foundation of the work is the notion that church health is the thrust that leads to revitalization. What distinguishes church health from church revitalization perhaps should be left to be debated by the academics; Henard’s focus

is on practical strategies and information that both develop the revitalizer and move a church towards revitalization.

Drawing from personal experiences and an extensive variety of church and busi-ness leadership Henard presents a wide swath of issues related to revitalization. He touches on everything from the church fa-cilities to the church’s organizational struc-ture, to why it is important to update the churches nursery, keep spelling typos out of the church bulletin and to streamline the organization in order to engage mille-nials in leadership positions. The chapter entitled “Physical Barriers” – the longest chapter in the book – details not only how the churches facilities prevent growth but also how the administrative structure in place either hinders or enhances growth and everything in between. There does not seem to be one topic between the covers that is not touched; which may in fact be a weakness of the material.

As for the revitalizer himself, throughout the work there are nuggets of informa-tion to process through that will aid in both leading a revitalization effort and developing as a revitalizer. Henard stress-es Church Revitalization greatly depends upon the continually revitalized leader.

Perhaps one reason revitalization efforts fail is due the lack of awareness and understanding on behalf of the revital-izer. Henard’s work combats revitalizer

ignorance. His seven to ten year strategy (pages 89 – 90) outlines what to expect as a revitalizer. The categories of church membership – The Older Thirties (31), The Younger Thirties (35), The Tens (38) and the Newbies (39) – give a framework for the revitalizer to think through in their leadership strategies and techniques. A call for personal spiritual revitalization and dependence upon the Holy Spirit is refreshing. The catchable moments between the covers are tremendous.

Critically, more time could have been spent on developing a Biblical and Theo-logical rationale for revitalization; though this is not his emphasis. Henard makes a strong case for revitalization citing stag-nating numbers, devastating church clo-sures, the number of new church plants matching church deaths only then to be add to the death tolls a few years after launch. There is a subtle call to consider revitalization over church planting along with the exposure, which will be shock-ing to some, that even church plants after five to seven years will find themselves in need of revitalization.

Overall, this is an excellent resource; one the revitalizer should read and then work through with their team. While shallow on a Biblical and Theological rationale for revitalization it is in depth in presenting a ministry philosophy for Church Revital-ization. Henard’s work is a must for the revitalizer’s library.

ization but knowing how to create an indigenous plan for revitalization that is clear, concise and easy to communicate. This is where Advanced Strategic Plan-ning (3rd edition) became an incredibly helpful tool for the revitalizers library.The practical illustrations that arrive from Dr. Malphurs church consulting experiences matched with the wisdom a seasoned professor and practitioner reflect a greater sense of practicality

in the strategic planning process that in the previous volumes. Malphurs demonstrates that he, like the men of Issachar, understands the times and he has learned not only how to navigate them but to instruct others as well.

A warning needs to be included with this work; this is not a book on lead-ership this is a book for leadership. Meaning that book focuses its attention on how to lead the church and become a more effective leader. The process outlined here can, if applied, develop and refine the unique mission and vi-sion the Lord has granted to each local church. This volume takes the reader beyond the simple notion of calen-daring, budget creation and ritualistic planning. Driving past managerial un-derstandings to leadership that presses towards health and revitalization by taking the reader through the process

revitalizerLIBRARY

of thinking and acting that is necessary to navigate the continual nature of change..

Describing the life cycle of every organization Dr. Malphurs employs the use of The Sigmoid Curve. This visual maps the birth, growth, peak, plateau, decline and eventually death of every organization. Every organization unless intentionally acted upon will progress towards death. Every church, every organization, every leader must continually keep an eye on their loca-tion on the Sigmoid Curve in order to know where they are and to gain the insight of when to act.

The chapters on the Theology of Change are refreshing. Revitalizers are change agents. Yet many have not built a theological framework for ...

Continued on Page 58

Book Reviews by Rob Hurtgen

CAN THESE BONES LIVE BY BILL HENARD Occasionally there are a few books that imme-diately become recommended books: Can These Bones Live? : A Practical Guide to Church Revi-

ADVANCED STRATEGIC PLANNING BY AUBREY MALPHURSOne of the great-est challenges revitalizers face is not the passion or seeing the need for revital-

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The Six Phases of Church Revitalization by Kenneth Priest

In working with churches in revi-talization, I have observed some attitudes which are outlined be-low as six phases of revitalization or six stages a church and pastor may go through on the path to revitalization. Not every church will go through all six phases and some will spend longer in one phase than others. ;However, a church in decline does experi-ence several of these phases on their path to recovery. As you read this article, I pray you will consider if your church is in one of these phases, and if so, deter-mine what it will take to move your church through revitaliza-tion?

Phase 1: Disbelief“We are not in decline; God is simply pruning us for future growth.” This is one of my favor-ites, not that I do not believe in pruning. The Gospel of John is clear on this. The follow-up ques-tion I have is, “How long do you think God needs to prune?” I’m no horticulturist by any means, however, I understand pruning

happens one time, during a par-ticular time of the season. Once pruning has occurred, then prog-ress happens during that plants growing season.

Yet, many pastors and churches continue to call themselves in a pruning season for many years. In Southern Baptist Convention life, the denomination I am most familiar with, we simply look at the Annual Church Profile of the congregation to see the “years of pruning.” At some point, the pas-tor and church need to acknowl-edge, there is probably more here than a season of pruning; especially when the “pruning” has lasted for five, ten, or more years. This produces a declining church.

Phase 2: AngerAnger is also known as the blame game. Pastors may blame the congregation for not being mis-sional and open to the communi-ty. The congregation may blame the pastor for “not doing his job and witnessing to the commu-

nity.” I am reminded of a great line in the John Wayne movie “Big Jake”; Wayne’s character, Jake says to the bad guy, “your fault, my fault, no bodies fault.” Thus giving way to the issue; it does not matter who is at fault here, action is needed. Anger and blaming one another accomplish very little. Pastors and congrega-tions need to focus on the unity of the church and come together to address the issues present.

Phase 3: DepressionMerriam Webster defines depres-sion as: “a state of feeling sad;” or “a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way.” This begins the “emotional slump” that is experienced. The “depression” sets in over the pas-tor and members not being able to see any light at the end of the tunnel and uncertain with this few people left, “how will any-thing ever get accomplished?” This emotive slump leaves many

BOOK REVIEWS CONTINUED...

change. In our age we are exposed to extreme rates of change. The technol-ogy that we enjoy on a daily basis has only been with us a few short years yet many cannot imagine life without. The church must navigate its way through the sea of change in order to share the unchangeable gospel. This work can offer the revitalizer a theological frame-work for change that can aid in leading change necessary for revitalization.Personally, this book reminds me that

there are days when I don’t want to be a leader. Days when I do not want to take on the hard extremely hard and emotionally draining work of being a revitalizer. There are days when I just want to show up, do my job and go home. I don’t want to be responsible for what could be and must be. I don’t want to evaluate and implement systems to accomplish our mission. I don’t want to receive the criticism from leading. I just want to show up.

But God will not allow me, or you, to just show up. As a revitalizer you have

been called to be a servant-leader. That calling means never just showing up. It means stepping in the gap of criticism because the right thing is being done. It means always asking not only what can be done but defining what must be done. Revitalizers never have a day that is “business as usual”. They must always do more than show up. Advanced Stra-tegic Planning is a must addition to the revitalizers library. Through it a plan can be developed to where no one ever just shows up.

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in the church feeling a since of hopelessness and sometimes a desire just to limp along for as long as they can, until they need to close the doors.

Phase 4: AcceptanceThis phase truly begins the revitalization mindset. Starting with the pastor acknowledging there is a problem and beginning to analyze options for recovery. The pastor will begin researching what has attributed to the de-cline. Without placing blame, he can now seriously determine a path to overcome the obstacles. The pastor may call other pastors that have led a church through renewal or seek outside consulta-tions. He then begins discussions with key leaders to acknowledge, “something must be done,” in order to turn things around and develop executable steps for change and growth.

Phase 5: ResolveIn this phase, the pastor and church decide they will do what-ever it takes to see the church turn around. This is the most diffi-cult phase of revitalization. When it comes to doing whatever it takes, some are simply not will-ing. Sometimes they have tried things in the past or they feel they are too old and too tired to continue. There could be any vari-ety of factors. However, if a pastor

does not lead his church to adopt the mindset of doing whatever it takes, then the church will not re-vitalize. Moving forward will not happen without the desire to do all the church can for the cause of Christ.

Phase 6: RevitalizationIn this phase, the church is mov-ing forward on a strategic process to see new life. Determining if a church is revitalized is subjec-tive at best. I have worked with churches that did not see numer-ical shift, but have seen culture shift – which is most important; i.e. having a desire to be mission-al and open. I believe longevity is the key to determining a revi-talized situation. Even if there is not any present numerical shift, if the culture shift is becoming more missional, it will ultimately result in a numerical increase. Some churches do experience

numerical growth, but if the culture shift does not coincide with it, the future of the church may have a shortened life expec-tancy. A strong leader can step in and grow a church, but church growth and church revitalization are different. This culture shift is the key. If the church only grows, and the culture does not change, then when the strong leader is called to another church, the present church will likely expe-rience decline again. We must strive for culture shift within the congregations to consider revital-ization as being effective.

So What?!Where does this leave you and your church? As a pastor, are you experiencing and in one of the stages above? Can you lead your church through the phases in order to bring about revitaliza-tion? Do you need help? Let me encourage you to do a couple of things:1. Ask someone who has been

there for advice.2. Go to a conference such as

Renovate (renovateconfer-ence.org) or a local church revitalization conference for encouragement and training.

3. Contact someone in your re-gion, or the Renovate network; [email protected] for assistance.

Churches that succeed actually follow through! Let me encour-age you to do so today.

Kenneth Priest serves as the Director of Convention Strategies for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in Grapevine, TX. Kenneth has been leading revitalization endeavors since 2008 with the SBTC. He holds a Doctor of Educational Ministry degree with an emphasis in Church Revitalization from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO. Please contact Kenneth at [email protected].

A strong leader can step in and grow a church, but church growth and church revitalization are differ-ent. This culture shift is the key. If the church only grows, and the culture does not change, then when the strong leader is called to another church, the present church will likely experience decline again. -Kenneth Priest

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Relevant Preaching and the Revitalization of the Church

Some years past I was leading a conference with Aubrey Malphurs on Church Planting. He spent two days talking to everyone about their, structure, style, systems, statements, strategies, and staff of a Church Planting. The last day, I was to address preaching. Make no mistake about this, “THEY CAME TO HEAR AUBREY”. Yet, as I stood on that day to begin I said something like this, “If your struc-ture, style, systems, statements, strategies, and staff are in place, perfect and pleasing, yet you have “NOTHING TO SAY” how long will they stay”? At least for the mo-ment I had their attention. Per-haps as I have yours now. I want to address some of the things about preaching in this day and time as we trying to revitalize the Church that may be a bit contro-versial, and anti-cultural, but ex-tremely necessary as you fight the good fight of faith in leading your church to be what God intends for her to be; The Bride.

I want to address some of the rel-evant issues in Preaching as well the relevancy of Preaching in our efforts to Revitalize the Church. The question I want to begin with is this one, “Can Preaching be a Defining Moment in the lives of People Today”? We know from a historical perspective that preach-ing was a defining moment. From the prophets of the Old Testament giving a “thus says the Lord” word to the evangelist and pastors of the New Testament providing a current event “thus says the Lord” word, Preaching has provided many defining moments for in-dividuals, communities, cultures, and countries (those no longer in existence as well as those still in existence today). I know you believe Preaching to be a Defin-ing Moment. I know you pray, plan, practice and prepare to be

used by God in your preaching so that it will be a Defining Moment. So, let’s delve into this deeper. Is preaching an event or is it an ex-perience for you and your people? I’m not trying to provide seman-tics, I am trying to get us to think through the potential difference. I have been to events and I have experienced events. I have been to numerous graduation cere-monies in my tenure as a Pastor. I have preached them, hosted them, sat through them, endured them, and enjoyed some as an event. Yet, this past May, I sat in a graduation ceremony in Iowa that brought me to tears as I watched the processional, presentations of degrees, and even the speak-ers address. Lara and I watched our 23 year old, NCAA Wrestling Athlete, walk across the stage to receive the business degree he earned in FOUR YEARS. Still not sure if I was crying because of his accomplishment or the cost. But, I was sure crying! What made this event different from other events of similar nature that caused it to be an experience that brought out emotion for me to cry? Simply Put, IT WAS PERSONAL!

I am concerned today that preaching has become less personal. In revitalizing a Church there are numerous issues that “the People” have in the change that is occurring in “THEIR” Church. Preaching is one of the best and most effective ways to ease those changes in the church when Preaching is Personal. I, of course, am in no way speaking about attacking personal issues in the church. I call that “Pot Shot” preaching. A person stand behind the anointed shining Silver lecture these days, rather than the Holy Wood of the olden days, and feels completely comfortable taking “Pot Shots” at politics locally,

people’s habits, or even prob-lems with people the pastor may have. Making Preaching Personal is letting the Bible address the issues, events, changes needed, relationship issues, and even structural issues with BIBLICAL RELEVANCY. The pathos and ethos of the early presenters of the Scriptures was evident because of the way they received it and were required to live it. I suggest that we need to find away to receive the word with freshness today as if it is not “old news” it is still “GOOD NEWS”. A quick look back into the scriptures as well as history indicates that those who Preached the Word did so with liveliness, emotion, personality, authority, freedom, sensitivity, seriousness, zeal, warmth, urgen-cy, persuasion, and power. The business model presented to a different generation informs us and instructs us as to “what peo-ple will listen to and what they won’t listen to”, and many today or preaching designer sermons based on their audience rather than dynamic sermons based on the audible hearing of God (yes, it should be so loud you can’t miss it) as to what they should say. For preaching today to be Relevant it must be Personal.

Relevant Preaching today must not only be personal, IT MUST BE PRACTICAL. An irrelevant word is a waste of everyone’s time. I have told my people numerous times if they ever want to drive me to my prayer room and fasting, as they have to do is say, “Pastor, that word wasn’t very relevant (practi-cal) today. Making your messages practical is not putting them in the form of How to’s or What for’s. To revitalize the Church we have to revitalize our preaching to make it practical. I know many will argue that the Bible is irrelevant

by Paul E. Smith

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for today. I think those who do argue such are being irreverent to their Calling and Commission. I could spend time, although 1200 words won’t allow me, giving you scripture references where the Bible in it’s own time period was culturally, politically, socially, emo-tionally, and financially perceived to be irrelevant. But, remember, it establishes, promotes, and teach-es about how to live LIFE in a NEW KINGDOM… God’s Kingdom. And it’s practical, relevant, ways are only such in God’s Kingdom. Our task, calling and commitment in revitalization is to Preach and pas-sionately believe that Living ac-cording to God’s Kingdom princi-ples will result in Kingdom Come reality. Aren’t you amazed as how many people believe reality t.v compared to the Kingdom Reality of the Scriptures? I even see and hear more sermon titles from reality T. V. Imagine, and perhaps do it, preaching a reality sermon on John the Baptist. The eating of wild locust, honey, and the dress-ing in camel hair could make even an episode of Survivor look lame. Pray, Fast, and Meditate to make your preaching practical to the people from a Kingdoms Perspec-tive not a cultural perspective.

The last issue I have space to address in this article is Relevant Preaching today must not only be personal and practical, IT MUST BE POWERFUL. Powerful preaching is not determined by emotions, tenor, and volume. Yes, those do play a role at times. Pow-erful Preaching is taking the Word of God and presenting it to the People so they can encounter and experience God. We have judged far to long the effectiveness of our preaching by those who “accept” God’s word. I encourage you to look at the times the Bible men-tions about those who “didn’t

accept” the word and the con-sequences that ensue.

It seems THE CHURCH is always trying to hone, re-create, change, struggle, and adapt with the demands placed upon her by society and cul-ture. Through the years many changes have occurred from times of services, length of ser-vice, days of the week, places where the church meets, songs (remember the worship wars), decor, stain-glass vs no glass, Starbucks vs Folgers (read the book), and many more. I remember a reference in a movie years ago that made a powerful point as to the medi-as involvement in our country and simply said of Ronald Rea-gan, “No wander they elected an actor as the President”. If we are not careful, perhaps the same could, should, and will be said about the pulpits of our churches. To avoid such a charge from the world may not be avoided. However, for us to avoid such a charge from God, we must, as his original pre-senters of the Word did, make the Scriptures Relevant so we can Revitalize HIS Church.

Paul Smith is Pastor of Life Church in Mandeville, Louisiana, a church that has reproduced over 60 new congregations, and is a sought-af-ter speaker on church revival and revitalization. #paulesmith01

Are You and Your Church Evolving?

Relevant ministry is the buzz-word among many church re-vitalizers as we work to help church evolve and stay relevant. Some churches are open to such conversation while others are afraid to think about what their church has become and the steps one must take to allow it to evolve into something much healthier. The world is changing faster than it ever has before, and without sacrificing the Truth of the Gospel, the church needs to change with it. Evolving ones church towards a future which impacts culture and communi-ty is important. There are some things pastors and churches can do to make sure they do not miss opportunities to minister to peo-ple in the midst of a changing culture. Networking ones strug-gling church with a healthy one willing to come along side of you and assist is a tremendous way to begin the journey back towards health. These churches can bring value and support to the mem-bership of a declining church and offer encouragement while giv-ing direction. These networking of churches working to revitalize dying churches help bring fresh vision and ideas back to ones community. Keep in mind is that change is not new to the church. Churches have been evolving in different ways, and for different reasons, since the beginning of time. Stop resisting the neces-sary changes which just might save your church. -Tom Cheyney

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Why Can’t People Change? by Glenn Miller

It has been said that people and organizations will not change un-less, or until, the “pain of change” is less than the “pain of the existing state.” It is both true and sad that most of us are motivated by pain or the avoidance of pain!

In this article, we are going to examine the reasons why people avoid change in hopes of generat-ing ideas on how to address these change “resisters” in our church.

Why Individuals Resist Change:

First, a small percentage of the population has a predisposed attitude against change of any kind under any circumstance. Researchers tell us that it can be as little as 2% and as high as 10% of the population (seems higher in some churches!) It is partly due to personality, and can also be due, in part, to prior negative experiences.

Second, a fear of the unknown, aka “what’s going to happen to me?” This is a powerful de-motiva-tor when dealing with change. By nature, we tend to look at things from our self-serving perspective first, and the organization second. If the impact of change on our situation cannot be measured or determined in advance, that adds to the resistance we feel and act out.

Third, resistance to potential changes can be fostered by a lack of trust in leadership, a prior bad experience in the current organization, or at a previous or-ganization. If a change “looks” or “feels” like a prior bad experience,

it will naturally be resisted.

Fourth, fear of failure in the new environment is also a pow-erful de-motivator. If it cannot be discerned how the individual will fare in the new environment, this will also increase resistance to change.

Fifth, people are fearful of a potential loss of status/job security/wages/benefits, yes, even volunteers! While the fear of job loss and wages and ben-efits is completely understand-able, surprisingly, loss of titles and status outranked a loss of income in research studies where job shifts have taken place. Don’t underestimate the power of folks wanting to “save face.”

Sixth, it could be poor timing in conjunction with events out-side of the organization. This is an often-overlooked reason behind resistance to change. Frequently, we propose a simple change to a ministry and the response is disproportional to the actual change. This could be the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Seventh, fear of losing rela-tionships with friends, staff,

ministry constituents and/or supervisors can play a large role in resisting change in churches. Changing those whom we relate with can cause a high level of anxi-ety and a sense of loss.

Eighth, a lack of personal gain. Unfortunately, because we are all human, if we don’t see how chang-es will benefit us, we tend to resist it. Biblically, we ought to all be servant leaders, serve others before ourselves, place other’s needs before our own, etc. But the reality is that people often place their own needs first.

Ninth, we just don’t see the need for change – sometimes people don’t understand the need be-cause for them, the status quo is working just fine. Why put effort into making a change when, from their perspective, it isn’t needed?

Before we try to make changes in ministry, we should at least attempt to deal with why people resist change. Discuss these points, talk about how to address them, and agree to work on them togeth-er. In the next issue we’ll discuss why churches as a whole don’t change!

November 1-3, 2016Orlando, FL

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Speakers IncludeEd StetzerBill EasumTom CheyneyRob MyersLee KricherLarry WynnTerry RialsRon Edmondson

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