May 29, 2018
Reposting with kind permission of Josh Reich. After listening to preachers of many different denominations and having been a preacher for over sixty years, I find the following observations by Keith Drury to be particularly cogent. According to him, these are the twenty-one skills of great preachers: The one thing most of us would rather do than preach is hear another great preacher. I mean a “Great” preacher. I’ve learned plenty from hearing the best preachers, especially in a live setting. For most of my life, when sitting under a great preacher, I’ve taken dual sets of notes, including content […]
May 24, 2018
A lot of recently unchurched people are like some of the rowdy kids in school. They’re ditching because they’re not being challenged. by Karl Vaters People who don’t go to church, don’t want to go to church. They’re not rolling out of bed late on Sunday morning wishing they had somewhere more churchy to be. In fact, a growing number of people who do go to church don’t want to go, either. If we don’t give them something worth committing to, they’ll be gone soon. As I mentioned in my last post, People Aren’t as Loyal to a Church Or […]
May 22, 2018
March 20, 2018 My dear friend, I write this letter on John Richard’s 95th birthday. I am seized by his memory. He passed away 17 days short of this rather momentous day. I was fully expecting him to make it and had airline tickets to surprise him with a visit today. Instead, he surprised us! Quite well till the last five days of his life, he entered into his heavenly reward. After a brief struggle, surrounded by loving family, he worshipped His Lord Jesus, whispering St. Paul’s “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course…” and singing […]
May 10, 2018
Shared with kind permission of Leadership Resources. Preaching the content of the Bible is not enough. Content must lead to intent. The Scriptures are purposeful…they were written to a particular group of people with the intention of bringing about a necessary (from God’s perspective) change. Our noble task, as teachers and preachers of God’s Word, is to discern the original aim of the text. Of course, this requires a careful reading of the both the text and the context. Once grasped, the original aim or the shepherding intent of the text leads us to a biblically-driven application for today. God’s aim then fuels […]
May 8, 2018
Shared with permission from The Table podcast In this episode, Dr. Darrell Bock and Dr. Gary Bershears discuss ecclesiology, focusing on the opportunities, challenges, and value of churches of any size. 00:24 Introduction of Gary Breshears 00:44 Topic Introduction 01:08 What kind of Church Drs. Bock and Breshears attend. 03:10 The Church: a building, a people, or a presence? 05:20 How should we think about the church? 07:47 What is the “Social Gospel?” 12:10 How should the church relate to community service projects? 16:50 How should we think about “mega-churches?” 19:40 Is the church for discipleship or evangelism? 24:30 What is the positive impact of the “megachurch?” 33:19 Does […]
May 3, 2018
“The Bible is what God has made. Sermons are what we make with what God has made.” Dr. Ramesh Richard “‘Must reading’ for all who desire to preach the word.” Dr. Charles R. Swindoll Below are three options to purchase this invaluable online eBook download. AMAZON (Kindle) BARNES AND NOBLE (Nook) CHRISTIAN BOOK DISTRIBUTORS (Ipad, Iphone etc.) We wanted to pass on a special promotion good for the month of May ONLY! Listed as one of the “25 Most Influential Preaching Books of the Past 25 Years” by Preaching.com, Preparing Expository Sermons is available as a completely transportable and convenient […]
May 3, 2018
“Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.” Proverbs 9:9 Leadership is critical in ministry as it is for any organization. The success of any ministry will rise and fall on its leadership. Weak ministries can succeed with strong leadership, but strong ministries cannot succeed with weak leadership. If we are to achieve success in the ministries that God has called us to, then we must become effective leaders in order to fulfill His purpose through us. John Maxwell, a leading authority on leadership, says that while […]
May 1, 2018
Post reshared with kind permission of Breeze church. Here’s something I’ve learned recently: Every program, ministry and even church has a life cycle. It’s either picking up steam or running out of energy. It really has nothing to do with how long a church, ministry or program has been around; rather it’s all about energy. A few times a year, we gather key leadership for a strategic conversation. Part of this conversation includes evaluating every ministry and program in our church and placing each in one of four categories. Accelerating Booming Declining Tanking Occasionally, when we all agree that a […]
