19 Dec Christmas Cheer for a Local Family

The staff with some of the gifts, before we loaded them into Bishop Ramsey’s van (bottom).

The Healthy Ministry Resources staff and the Huntington University graduate school (whose staff are housed in our building) joined forces to buy gifts for a local family. This family includes a father and mother, five kids, and another child on the way.

We hooked up with them through Love in the Name of Christ, a local agency that serves as a clearinghouse and screening agency for churches and other groups that want to help local people.

On Wednesday, Bishop Ron Ramsey and Steve Dennie delivered a van-load of gifts to this family. There were multiple presents for each member of the family, plus a number of food items.

18 Dec The Annual Christmas Staff Getaway

Every year, the Healthy Ministry Resources staff and spouses go somewhere nice for a Christmas party. Two years ago it was the Bluegate Inn in Shipshewana, Ind. Last year we went to the Back 40 in Decatur, Ind. 

This year: the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park near Angola, Ind. With snow falling all around, it was a beautiful place to be. Not much fun getting there, and not much fun driving back home. But snow falling upon a lodge in the woods–nice. 

Before the fabulous buffet meal, we all played (brace yourself) Bingo. Cathy Reich, the administrative assistant, found Christmas-themed Bingo cards. Click on the thumbnail on the right for a large view of the card.

Bishop Ron Ramsey drew and called out the card items, which in this case were like “I Snowman” or “G Holly.” Winners received prizes (though be assured,no actual money exchanged hands). Pam Dennie, wife of Communications Director Steve Dennie, won the grand prize (a four-corners round). 

17 Dec Leaders LEAD

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
One of the things that leaders do is LEAD. 

We desperately need pastors who will LEAD the congregation or ministry area that God has called you to lead. 

You say, “Well, I can’t.” Then, did God make a mistake in calling you? 

You say, “I don’t know how. “Then learn some skills and begin to practice them. 

We tend to think of the Type A personality who is the natural-born leader. If that doesn’t describe us, then we beg off of leading. No! No! No! If God has called you to a position of leadership, then LEAD. If God has called you to that ministry, he wants you to LEAD.

To me, spiritual leadership involves:

• Discovering where God wants to take us.
• Leading in that direction.

How do you discover that? Pray. Read the scriptures. Pray. Read books on leadership. Pray. Study your ministry area to determine what the needs are. Pray. Then LEAD! You may not lead where or how I think you should, but if you’re getting spiritual results, then you won’t get an argument from me.

16 Dec Something To Believe In

Scott Hardaway, pastor of Pathway Community Church, the UB church in Jackson, Mich., wrote a superb blog post called “Something to Believe In.” He talks about how we too often squander laypersons’ time and energy in ministries that lack purpose.

Here are three paragraphs from the middle of the piece. You should read the whole thing, including Scott’s own purposeful goals for himself in 2009.

I believe that churches too often simply assume that everything they do is worthwhile. It might even be true (although, usually it’s not), but I guarantee that the average person in the pew does not make that same assumption. The average person wants to know, “OK, if I give my time to this thing, what difference is that going to make? What’s the impact that my contribution is going to have?” And if we can answer that question satisfactorily, we’ll find people lining up to serve because every single one of us has an innate, God-given desire to make a real difference with our lives.

Part of answering that question satisfactorily, however, lies in our ability to own up to the fact that we have in fact wasted people’s time and efforts in the past. We have invested them in places that really didn’t make any difference. We have created ministries that were not strategic, that were not well-planned or excellently executed. We have mis-shepherded the hearts and lives of our people and put them in positions where they were destined to fail, usually due to no fault of their own.

So we must commit to not doing that anymore. We must solemnly promise (and then, of course, follow through on that promise) to do our part in developing ministries that matter–ministries that really allow those serving to make an impact or an investment in the lives of other people; ministries that tangibly bring glory to God, instead of simply supporting our structure. And the best way to do that is to set clearly defined, concrete goals that spell out plainly what will be accomplished through any particular ministry.

15 Dec A Christmas Thought

Pat Jones, Director of Healthy Church Ministries
I woke up to this amazing thought and had to share it. While there is nothing new in it, my heart was blessed to contemplate it all in a new way. So here is my new, old Christmas thought.

The One who created all things, left that which was comfortable in order to take on a form that was unnatural.
The Creator became created.
The Omnipotent One became dependent.
The One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills was born in abject poverty.
He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we may have life.

And He simply asks that we be willing to leave our position of comfort, enter into the zone of unknown, and tell the world what He has done for us. All by the power of His Spirit living in us.

All I can do is say “Thank you” and “Here am I, Lord, send me.”

13 Dec IAmSecond.com

Here’s a pretty incredible website, Iamsecond.com, with excellent testimonies from a number of people–some of them well-known, some not. They’re communicating that God is first in their lives. 

11 Dec Book: Prayer Coach

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
The book Prayer Coach came across my desk as a freebie from the publisher, Crossway Books. It is written by James L. Nicodem, pastor of a church in St. Charles, Ill. 

I had laid the book, aside but just picked it up a few nights ago. I haven’t read far, maybe 2-3 chapters, but I did skip to the last chapter. It deals with the subject of Satan and how he tries to stop Christians from praying.
That chapter is based on Ephesians 6, where Paul describes the armored garment Christians are to wear. He describes how Satan wishes to defeat us. That chapter alone is worth the price of the book. 

To me, it is a very refreshing approach to prayer in the life of a believer. It is serious and very practical, not stuffy. This type of book would make an excellent study for a group of men. (Women might find it interesting as well but it does have a sports analogy and Bobby Bowden wrote the forward). 

Anyway, I’d like to suggest that you buy this book. You can order it from Healthy Church Ministries, 1-888-622-3019, if you’d like. And I’d like to have some discussions about the book on the BishopBlog.

I’ll wait a few days until you get a chance to get the book, and then I’ll begin offering some observations about each chapter, starting with chapter 1. Then invite any and all who will to engage in the discussion to jump in. Who know–it might be fun as well as profitable. It might be a way to energize our prayer life.

10 Dec One Final Thought on Momentum

Steve Dennie, Communications Director

And now, one final thought on momentum from Andy Stanley. I promise–no more.

Momentum is never triggered by tweaking something old. It is triggered by introducing something new. Human nature prefers the old to the new. So our default action, when we want to become more effective, is to tweak what we’re already doing. More training, different schedule, new materials, whatever. B-o-r-i-n-g.

Perhaps it would be better to think, “What is something we’re not doing, something not even on our radar, that we should try?”

I think of our new church in Grand Ledge, Mich., which held a Vacation Bible School this summer in a trailer park. Rather than ask people to come to the church for two hours of wonderful programs, they took everything right to their target audience.

Imagine the logistics–equipment, food, shelter in case of rain, etc. But they did it, and people were saved. Such a simple idea that makes imminent sense. And it had never before crossed my mind. 

As one of those computer companies says, Think Different. (And don’t get upset by the missing “ly.”)

08 Dec Yet Another Thought on Momentum

Steve Dennie, Communications Director
Here is another thought on momentum from Andy Stanley, adding to the others I mentioned here.

If you have momentum and you don’t know why–you are one stupid decision away from killing it.

I love my church. But right now, I think my pastor and most of us would agree, Anchor lacks momentum. We’re nowhere close to being a dead, status quo, business-as-usual church, and lots of ministry still happens. But momentum? Not so much, right now.

When Anchor (my church) started over ten years ago, we definitely had momentum. But I’m not sure why. And I’m wondering if we did something to kill it. Did we make a “stupid decision” somewhere along the line? I can’t think of anything offhand, but I’m gonna keep pondering.

Can you point to a stupid decision your church made which, looking back, may account for your lack of momentum?

04 Dec Who Owns Your Church? (Part 3)

Pat Jones, Director of Healthy Church Ministries
In the previous two posts:

• We examined the deception of thinking, “This is my church.”
• We substantiated that the church, including the church you attend, belongs to Jesus.

Now: how can you properly say, “This is my church”?

Now that we our attitude is straight, we can rejoice in the following:

• It is MY church because I get the privilege of worshiping there with other believers.
• It is MY church because I can honor the Lord with my finances and sacrificial giving there.
• It is MY church because I get to use my spiritual gifts there to build up the body of believers.
• It is MY church because I have the privilege of speaking things that build up others there.
• It is MY church because I come under the authority of those who are exercising spiritual leadership there.
• It is MY church because it’s where I have chosen to join with others in transforming my community for Christ by reaching lost people with the Good News.

There are many more ways we could celebrate being a part of a church, but notice that they all involve a privilege and responsibility–and not a right of control.

So enjoy your church. Love the church in which you serve. But always acknowledge the ownership of the Lord over your church and don’t allow yourself to get deceived.