10 Mar Breakfast with Dr. David Jeremiah

Dr. David Jeremiah is having a pastors’ breakfast in conjunction with an appearance in South Bend, Ind., on Thursday, April 2. Perhaps you’re interested. Here’s the description:

All pastors are in need of encouragement and replenishment. Having shepherded a church for more than thirty years, no one knows this better than David Jeremiah. His desire is to build you up and minister to you, so that you might go back to your congregation with a renewed desire to share the Word of God with strength and conviction.

This breakfast will be held at the College Football Hall of Fame.

06 Mar The Berry Bucket Analogy

In a seminar on Church Consultanting, I learned a concept that I found to be very helpful. You may have heard the Berry Bucket analogy before. You have four buckets of berries in your church.

1. The Older Former Berries (those who are older than the pastor and were there when he arrived).
2. The Younger Former Berries (those who are younger than the pastor and were there when he came).
3. The Older New Berries (those older than the pastor but came since the pastor).
4. The Younger New Berries (those younger than the pastor and have come since the pastor).

The Older Former Berries usually want the pastor to be a chaplain. The Younger Former Berries are mostly related to the Older Former Berries and are the “yes but” people. The Older New Berries are on board with the direction of the pastor and they bring some wisdom to the discussion. The Younger New Berries are the “Let’s Go” people.

The former berries can never get heavier. So a great deal of the pastor’s time is reaching and training new berries. And the closer you get to equilibrium, where the new berries equal in number the former berries, the level of conflict increases. You must count all four groups and help them know each other. And there should be a time in one’s ministry where the new berries outweigh the old berries. That, of course, requires reaching new people for Christ.

I found this very helpful when trying to transition Mainsteet Church to be an outward -ocused church whose purpose was to “See Everyone Become a Fully Devoted Follower of Jesus Christ.” How you treat each group is extremely important to the health of the church in transition.

If there are just a few new berries, it’s more difficult to make a significant transition. Some former berries may get on board with transition, but the greatest momentum in the transition will come when there are new berries. Hopefully a good percentage of new berries are people who have recently come to Christ and are being discipled.

04 Mar When Relationships Trump Spiritual Health

Two days ago, I mentioned some things Bishop Ron Ramsey and I have learned during the past four years. Here is one more: People value historic relationships over spiritual health.

In a number of churches, one or two individuals or families use gossip, slander, or position to either attack the leadership or cause division in the church. Rather than stand up and address the sinful actions of these folks, the people tolerate the sin and watch to see how long the pastor can survive it.

My question is, “Why do you tolerate this?”

The church is unhealthy because cancer is ignored or tolerated. The Body, not just the pastor, must be willing to stand up.

Jesus’ desires for his Church should take precedence over how long someone has been in a church or what your personal relationship has been with them if they are acting ungodly. Scripture says to warn a divisive person once, warn them a second time, and then have nothing to do with them (Titus 3:10). Where people have stopped tolerating such actions, freedom and blessing have come.

02 Mar I’ve Learned a Lot

It is hard to believe that almost four years have passed since the Bishop Ron Ramsey and I began this journey together. In our travels and interactions, we have learned (or been reinforced in) many truths about churches. Here are a few.

God can and will bring transformation to the willing.

It has been thrilling to see the power of the Lord released into the lives of people who humbly sought his desires over their own comfort and previous traditions.

Discipleship produces evangelism.

Many churches are trying to do evangelism but are not equipped to walk with people through what it means to be a disciple. But where churches are creating environments where people are truly growing in “grace and knowledge of the truth,” evangelism is the natural outcome. That brings long-term, sustained growth.

People can’t do what they have never seen or experienced.

We can’t assume people know what to do just because they have been told. If they have never seen it, experienced it, or done it, how are they supposed to do it? That is why mentoring and exposing them to other patterns is vital. People do more what they see than what they are told.

There is no power without personal and corporate prayer.

We have found where the pastor and leaders are busy doing rather than being, there is no power. When there is no corporate emphasis on prayer and personal study of the Scriptures, there is no power. Methodologies may change, but the basics never do. Craig Groschel’s book “IT” captures this truth.

People confuse forms and functions.

Some have asked us when God ordered the church to change. As far as functions, he hasn’t. Worship, prayer, study of Scripture, using our gifts in ministry, preaching, evangelism, and giving as stewards are all functions that will never change.But God has called us in Psalm 78 and other places to effectively communicate the great truths about the Lord to the next generation. And to do that, our forms and methodologies must change. We must not confuse the non-changing functions with the need to change forms.

What truths do you see?

28 Feb Two Books for Marriage Counseling

Let me recommend two excellent resources for your premarital and marriage counseling.

• Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas (Zondervan).
• Sacred Sex, by Tim Alan Gardner (Water Brook Press).

In my humble opinion, these are without a doubt the best books I have read on these subjects.They are very biblical in their approach. I used them as reference material whenever I preached a marriage series, but I also used them with the couples that came to me for their pre-marital counseling.

If you’ve been looking for good resources on these topics, you might want to take a look at these two books.