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CHILD ABUSE
The AP: "More than 1,500
deaths occur as a result of child abuse every year in the U.S."
Early in my ministry a new baby from a mom in my church died for no
apparent reason. I was suspicious, but said nothing. A second baby
was born, and it, too, died. The mom was caught; she killed both
infants. I should have asked some appropriate questions initially,
but didn't. Please watch for signals of child abuse. You can make a
big difference. - DFG
HYPOCRITES IN CHURCH
An
unbeliever says, "I wouldn't join the church because there are
hypocrites in it." The poorest answer would be, "Oh, no, there
aren't!"
I'm
very sure there are hypocrites in the church. My Lord Jesus had one
who apparently had the rest of the disciples fooled; they entrusted
him with their money. And if my Lord had one out of 12, perhaps we
shouldn't expect any better record. The fact is that the other 11
didn't reject Jesus Christ and His pardon and His gift of heaven
because of Judas! And from their place in heaven today they are very
thankful they didn't. - by Dr. Paul J. Foust
"OH, NO! OH, OKAY!"
One day a teacher hurried into the classroom to find a group of
boys huddled on their knees in the corner of the room. She rushed up
to the boys and demanded, "Boys, boys, what are you doing?" "We're
shooting dice, Miss Jones," said the boys. "Oh!" exclaimed the
teacher much relieved, "for a moment I thought you were
praying."
HANDLING MONEY
I assumed a new pastorate. While cleaning the library shelving
in the pastor's office, I noticed hundreds of opened offering
envelopes hidden behind the shelving. When I showed this to the
church officers, they were shocked. Only one man was in charge of
receipts, and he had been stealing for years.
Divide responsibilities here. Have at least two people take the
offering off the altar. Have at least two count and record the gifts
including appropriate forms for the bank, the financial
secretary, and the church office. Have two people responsible for
disbursements. Have a responsible entity audit the books with a
detailed report to the congregation. Make this a standing
operational procedure, and, be careful that it is followed. -
DFG
WEB SITE FACT
In many communities over 80% of your perspective visitors will
visit your web site first. Does your web site have eye and content
appeal? Ask some folks outside your church for their opinion.
Everything can be improved upon, including your web site.
ARE YOU INTERESTED...
in increasing your worship service attendance? A best seller is
44 Ways to Increase Church Attendance by Lyle Schaller. 44
very practical and effective ideas on what can be
done.
COMMITMENT TRUISM
The greater commitment you ask for, the greater the response
you'll get. The smaller commitment you ask for, the smaller
commitment you'll get. Think about the implications of this for
your preaching, personal, family, and church life. This deserves
some good reflection and then action.
TESTIMONIES COUNT
Periodically have pastor move among the worshipers with a
hand-held mic inviting people to give a brief, several sentence
personal testimony on how God has been good to them. Remind
folks that this should be brief. At the end pastor may lead in a
special prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for all blessings we
daily receive from Him. | |
 Jesus, Our Only
Hope
by Don
Ginkel
Matthew Murray, who
murdered two young missionary students in
Arvada, CO, on December 9th, wrote on the Web two hours before
murdering two more Christians in Colorado Springs: "I'm coming
for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the (expletive) teeth
and I WILL shoot to kill... God, I can't wait till I can kill
you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame; I don't care
if I live or die in the shoot-out."
"Listen to a man who sees no
future: 'We're here to die, just live and die. I live driving
a cab. I do some fishing, take my girl out, pay taxes, do a
little reading, and then get ready to drop dead. You're rich
or you're poor. You're here; you're gone. You're like the
wind... Life is nothing.'" From Can Man Live Without
God, by Ravi Zacharias.
Paul writes, "Remember that at
that time you were separate from Christ... without hope and
without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). Remember
this. Don't forget it. Without Jesus there is no hope
(1 Thessalonians 4:13). [Complete Article]
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 Size
Matters!
What frustrates you about church?
Fred, Jim, Bill, and
John met in the church parking lot. "I called the church
office the other day," John said, "and I got the recording. It
took two days before anybody called me back!" "What frustrates
me," Bill responded, "is that I invited Sam and his family to
church, but they can't come at 10:30 a.m. when we worship,
because their kids have soccer practice every Sunday." Fred
weighed in: "What irritates me is when we have potlucks. I
love them, but we stand in line for 20 minutes. It takes
forever to get the food." "Something happened to me just last
week," said Jim. "We came late and had to park in the side
parking lot. I know we've got greeters at the front doors, but
when we came in the side doors, there were no greeters or
bulletins handed out. We had to walk all the way to the back
just to get our church bulletin." "You know what I get tired
of," added Bill, "the prayers in church that seem to go on
forever. Who are all those sick people anyway?"
And so the story goes.
These are the symptoms. What is the problem? A middle-size
church with small-church thinking. As your church grows, think
about how your church has to change. [Complete Article]
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 Stack of
Stuff
Two new children's
ministries will be carried by Church
Press starting later
this
month: 1. A Sunday School program engaging small
group/large group settings with the focus on Jesus. 2. A
large group setting offering a full worship experience
with an inductive study approach. We'll send more
details by email later this month and in the
Winter/Spring 2008 Catalog.
"Temptations, of course, cannot be
avoided, but because we cannot prevent the
birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that
we should let them nest in our hair." - Martin Luther
Run off a hard copy of this
Newsletter so that you can highlight points
that need further consideration for your life and your
church. Forward it to people in your church and to
friends around the country. Go to "Forward email"
below.
Would you attend your church if
your weren't the pastor?
Want something for next December
that will excite your members and encourage them to
bring friends to your church? Invite the choir or
singing group of a neighboring church to join your's to
present an evening of Christmas music. One church will
host the combined choirs (and instruments) on a Saturday
evening and the other church on Sunday evening followed
by refreshments. Initial planning should begin now. Run
it past your church officers and pastor for their okay.
Frustrated? In need of a huge dose of
encouragement? Here it is. It's a sermon by Dr.
Jerry Nelson of Southern Gables Church in Littleton, CO,
entitled, "Grace for Waiting." On their website, in the
left column, go to "Roman Sermon Series." Chose
December 9, 2007. You may listen online, download, read
or print out the message. We pastors will also benefit -
an A+ job on sermon preparation. Have someone in your
office print it out for you.
Make this resolution for
2008: Each week I will
invest in others and will
endeavor to successfully
invite them to our worship
services.
Is it time to read your Bible through
from cover to cover? Why not go for it? Set
aside just ten minutes each morning before reading the
paper or going to work. Make it a promise to
yourself. We offer this Bible reading
schedule to follow this year - print it off
now. Make additional copies to put in your worship
bulletin next Sunday. Good for you!
John Wesley was once asked how
he drew such crowds to hear him preach. He replied, "I
light myself on fire and people come to watch me
burn!"
Five key principles of The
Starbucks Experience as named by the author, Joseph
Michelli: 1. Make it your own. 2. Everything matters. 3.
Surprise and delight. 4. Embrace resistance. 5. Leave
your mark. How can you apply these five points to your
life and ministry?
"DREAM! Create a template that
includes the following information: 1. What's the dream.
2. Who does it affect? 3. What will it cost? 4. What
will it take to accomplish it? 5. Why is it important?
Scripture says, 'Where there is no vision, the people
perish' (Proverbs 19:18). Dream far beyond what
you know you can do, and create a page for each dream."
- by Paul Allen in Rev! magazine
Do you have a plan for hosts
to greet visitors and introduce them to others at your
coffee hour? Imagine the frustration if guests "just
stand there." Have a responsible person take care of
arrangements for this.
A good parish policy for bulletins and
newsletters: Worship services and Sunday School
will always be held as scheduled regardless of weather.
Please make your own decision for you to
drive. |
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 A Good
Question May Be More Valuable Than A Good Answer
by Craig
Loving
Stop reading for a moment and think about
what you just read. Do you agree or disagree? Why? I'm sure
it's because I'm a slow learner, but only in the last few
years have I come to see how crucial good questions are, and
how, in many instances, they are more important than good
answers. Good questions. Real questions. Open questions.
Get-to-the-root-of-things questions. Uncomfortable, even
disturbing questions.
I graduated from seminary with
the mis-belief that I had to have all
the answers. And, not only all the answers, I
had to have the right answer. The
end-of-discussion answer. The "and no one dared ask him any
more questions" answer. After all, wasn't that what people
wanted in a pastor? I would have made a great adjunct to
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
Today I'm more comfortable with good questions. Here are
some reasons why: [Complete Article]
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Adult Membership
Classes
How many classes in 2008? For medium to large
church we suggest one to start late January, another after
Easter, possibly one in the summer, and one in the fall.
A suggested promotional letter for
your next class is enclosed in Word. Adapt to fit your
circumstances.
A suggested bulletin paragraph a week
before your next class begins (include a Good News
promotional flyer):
"EACH ONE REACH ONE!" This phrase was
popular with evangelism-minded believers years ago. The phrase
is still a good one. If every adult member of our congregation
would bring just one person to the new membership class
starting next Sunday, January 20th at 7:00 p.m. in the
fellowship hall, we would have a class of _______ people!
"Each one reach one!" Possible? Yes! All thiings are possible
with God who wants all men to be saved. Who can you reach and
bring? A neighbor? A friend? Do it!
After reading the article below, encourage your
members to go through this class to get back to the
basics.
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Ignorance Is Not Bliss
Whether you're willing to
admit it or not, the chances are that many people in your
church may have considerable holes in their understanding of
basic Christianity. This is confirmed not only through our
national research but also in those studies done when a church
asks us to come in and peel back the layers of what people in
their congregation believe. The leaders are often astounded to
learn that their assumptions were wrong. Without a firm grasp
of the basic contours of the God they serve or the destroyer
they oppose, Christ followers will hardly resemble the
transformation agents they ought to be.
by David Kinnaman, president of The
Barna Group. Check out www.barna.org for
more.
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A Beautiful Closing
Hymn
Using a familiar tune with new words make for a moving
close to your worship service. The melody is "Hosanna, Loud
Hosanna." And here are the words:
Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt Our feelings come
and go.
Our best estate is tossed about In ceaseless ebb and
flow.
No mood of feeling, form of thought Is constant for a
day;
But Thou, O Lord, Thou changest not: The same Thou art
alway.
I grasp Thy strength, make it mine own, My heart with
peace is blest.
I lose my hold and then comes down Darkness and cold
unrest.
Let me no more my comfort draw, From my frail grasp of
Thee,
In this alone rejoice with awe - Thy mighty grasp of
me.
Thy purpose of eternal good Let me but surely know;
On this I'll lean - let changing moods And feelings come
or go -
Glad when Thy sunshine fills my soul, Nor lorn when
clouds o'ercast
Since Thou within Thy sure control Of love dost hold me
fast.
The benediction spoken by all from Jude
24-25:
"To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to
present you before His glorious presence without fault and
with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty,
power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all
ages, now and forevermore! Amen."
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 Quiet Strength
The
fascinating story of a real-life hero, Tony Dungy.
"I love coaching football, and
winning a Super Bowl was a goal I've had for a long time. But
it has never been my purpose in life. My purpose is simply to
glorify God. We have to be careful that we don't let the
pursuit of our life's goals, no matter how important they
seem, cause us to lose sight of our purpose. I coach football.
But the good I can do to glorify God along the way is my real
purpose. I want to help people see the path to eternal life
through Christ, to enjoy an abundant life now, and to fulfill
their God-given purposes here."
An excellent book to encourage any
one who enjoys footfall. The hard cover sells for $26.99. We
are making it available for $21.99. Just hit email. Include the name of your
church, address, and your name. Lay Christians can order by
phone: 888-772-8872.
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