January 2009

Church Press Newsletter

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thess. 5:16-18)

a sermon on Mark 2:1-12 by Don Ginkel for any Sunday in Epiphany and/or preceding your next adult membership class

Imagine that we are TV sportscasters standing on the sidelines of a football game to give the play-by-play. Scene one: the team nearest us is standing together, heads bowed in prayer with the coach in the center. Suddenly they give a great cheer, and the coach trots out onto the field by himself. The players go sit on the bench.

"What's going on?" we ask as we stick a microphone in the front of a 349 pound guard. "What's the coach doing out there?" "Oh, he's going to play today." "All by himself?" "Sure, why not? He's had a lot more experience than the rest of us. We've got a lot of rookies on this team, and we might make mistakes. This is play-off time. We're all here to cheer and support him, and look at the huge crowd that's come to watch him play!" Bewildered, we watch the opposing team kick off. The coach catches the ball. He charges up the field, but is buried under eleven opposing tacklers. He's carried off the field half-conscious. [Complete Article]

Congregational Recession?

by Kent Hunter

The Church Council meeting was tough. The country and the world are in a recession. Fuel bills had sky-rocketed and now staff health insurance has been raised for the third time in as many years. The Council was looking at three options: 1) delete the coverage for staff spouses and families; 2) move to a plan with a much higher deductible and less benefits; or 3) reduce staff. It seemed like there was no good solution.

Has a recession hit your church? In a recent informal, phone survey conducted by Church Doctor Ministries, we discovered what pastors report about congregational giving compared to one year ago. What do you think we found? A. Giving is up. B. Giving is down. C. Giving is the same.

Answer: All of the above! The answer is not related to Wall Street. It goes back to biblical stewardship and how you choose to look at these economic times. [Complete Article]

Stack of Stuff

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 bulletins for next Sunday. Good for you!

Before starting your next

new membership class, we invite you to send an encouraging letter to all your members two weeks before it starts. We've developed a model letter for your church. Use part or all of it. It's in Microsoft Word. Just click Promotional Letter To Members. We also have a model Promotional Letter To Prospects. Mail this a week before the new class. This effort requires a small amount of money and effort, but pays off in larger new membership classes. Plan now to use both letters. Lift these efforts up to the Lord in prayer at worship on the three Sundays before the class begins.

An amazing video of canine compassion

on a freeway in Santiago, Chile shows the images of a dog wandering on the freeway and getting hit. Later in the video, another dog dodges traffic to run to the side of the injured dog. The rescue dog drags the severely injured canine across traffic as cars swerve around them. No motorists stopped to help either dog until finally a highway crew stops at the end of the video.

In Luke 10 Jesus tells us the story of a man who was beaten and left half dead on the roadside. A priest wouldn't help nor would a Levite - "good church people." Even though it cost him, a Samaritan did help. Jesus tells us to help others even if it costs. There are many hurting people around us. And the worst of the "hurting"? Those fatally injured by sin, who are without a Savior. And, sadly, no church people willing to help - too busy with "church things." Pray to be more like the good Samaritan, to be more like Jesus, yes, even to learn from a rescue dog. To that end read Luke 10:1-37.

Your church email ministry

is extremely important. Emails are fast, cost-efficient, and can be very practical. Here are some pointers:

Emails to your people should honor God and be church-related
Use it for announcements: deaths, those in hospital, anniversaries, special events and happenings
If an article is lengthy, send it as an attachment
Other than special occasions, send your email on a specific day and hour of each week
Assure people that their email address will not be shared with anyone
Have one person in charge
In most cases the pastor should view the email before it is sent out
At Church Press our attendance pad, No. 502, has a designated area for email addresses
Consider sending a hard copy to people who do not have a computer

Words from Andy Rooney -

I've learned... That just one person saying to me, "You've made my day!" makes my day.
I've learned... That having a child fall asleep in my arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
I've learned... That being kind is more important than being right. [Complete Article]

Be DETERMINED to make this year

a year of growth for yourself and your church. One step in this direction is easy and practical. Pastor - every three months have lunch with another pastor (doesn't have to be your denomination, but you pay for the lunch). Each of you share problem solving, brain storming, and goal setting thoughts and experiences. Make a few notes for yourself in advance on a legal pad. The opportunity for growth is huge. Encourage everyone in leadership roles to do this: Church secretaries, church administrators, music directors, youth ministers, teaching staffs, etc. (Get a legal pad out now and make plans on paper to do this in all areas of leadership.)

There are numerous

joys in sponsoring a child on the mission fields. Here is one of ours in two notes from "our" little boy, Jerry, in NE India.

Oh, one more idea for growth in 2009

We have six excellent books to help:

Why Men Hate Going to Church
Comeback Churches
12 Pillars of a Healthy Church
The Seed-Planting Church
How to Treat a Staff Infection
44 Ways to Increase Church Attendance

Order a least one now - a few pastors are ordering all six. Go to Church Growth

Comback Churches

Research shows that over time most churches plateau and then eventually decline. They start strong and experience periods of growth, then stagnate and lose members. The population has increased by 15 percent while the number of "unchurched" has increased by a shocking 92 percent (source: The Barna Group). Leading missiologists Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson surveyed more than 300 formerly declining congregations across ten different denominations which are now growing. They share how God is using these churches to impact their communities with the Gospel. Hard cover, 226 pages #305 $17.99

Daily Message

by Bob Tasler

DAILY MESSAGE is a compilation of messages. In this E-Book there is one DAILY MESSAGE for each day of the year. They are divided into twelve monthly files so that you can place the file of the current month on your computer desktop to be read some time during your day. Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to open and read them.

These devotions are not copyrighted, but if you wish to share them (which I encourage), I hope you will identify its source. If you wish, you can forward the entire DAILY MESSAGE file to others. It is a fairly large file (3 mb), but most of today's computers are able to send and receive it easily. God's blessings to you!

Rev. Bob Tasler, (LCMS) lives in Castle Rock, CO. He writes a weekly message to hundreds of people around the country free. You may contact him at pbt45@ecentral.com

Struggling With Revelation?

by James Knotek (LCMS)

At one time I hesitated to teach Revelation because I simply could not separate the literal from the allegorical and symbolical; and, yet, the Lord says, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy..." (1:3). I avoided the numerous areas that I didn't understand, and they were many! What about the millennium, 666, the mark of the beast, Armageddon and other issues and symbolisms?

For years I was challenged by my parishioners to teach Revelation and, finally, I accepted the challenge. As I began reading commentaries on Revelation, I could not fully embrace many of the interpretations, for they seemed to be in conflict with other scriptural areas. I was disheartened that several authors attempted to fit contemporary events and personalities into the prophecies of the Apocalypse. Sadly, their interpretations have become outdated. [Complete Article]

How to Trim Your Sermons

by Rick Warren

"I hate to tell you this, but your members aren't nearly as fascinated by archeology and linguistics as you are. Do as much background study as you can in the exegesis, but share as little as possible in your sermon. Remember, preaching is not a seminary class. You are preaching for life change. You don't have to explain everything about a text to your congregation. Describing too much detail of the text can actually hide or dilute the power of the text. When you pay too much attention to secondary issues, you miss the point and purpose of the verse. Figure out the purpose of the text and emphasize that... You might as well face it now. You're going to have to trim your sermon at some point this week. In fact, no matter how long it is, ask yourself one question: Can it be tighter? Look at limiting your verses, cutting background material, taking out points, and trimming your quotes and illustrations." (For the entire article go to: MinistryToolBox, Issue #367, 12/10/2008)

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