Categories
changing lives faith

Why? Making Sense of God’s Will

This week, I read Why?: Making Sense of God’s Will by Adam Hamilton. In this short book, Hamilton addresses three questions of theodicy, God’s justice in the face of suffering, Why do the innocent suffer? Why do my prayers go unanswered? Why can’t I see God’s will for my life? He concludes with a few words about Why God’s […]

Categories
leadership ministry renewing the church

Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results – Review

I recently just finished Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results by Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Tom Berlin. Along with other members of the senior staff, I read this in preparation for our semi-annual retreat today. I have been considering what it fruitful and effective ministry is like, especially in response to Kevin Watson’s post, […]

Categories
faith

The Difference between Belief and Practice

Paul is brought before the city leaders in Athens and preaches the good news of Jesus Christ. In response, “Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.” Acts 17:34 The text clearly states that […]

Categories
changing lives

Invitation ≠ Evangelism

While there is some discussion as to whether the The Missional Church… Simple video is helpful, I found one point particularly helpful. Invitation does not equal evangelism. Inviting someone to show up to church to hear a ministry professional share the good news is quite different from sharing your own story of how you encountered […]

Categories
ministry

2010 Congregational Survey Results for Resurrection Online

Each year, Resurrection takes an anonymous survey of the congregation. This year there were 134 people who took part in the survey that indicated they primarily worship with Resurrection Online. I have completed some analysis of the survey. What do you make of these results? More gender balanced than the rest of the church with […]

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leadership ministry renewing the church

Non-Negotiables for Church Staff

I was inspired by Alexandra Bornkessel to consider What Are Your Non-Negotiables? I have four non-negotiables for church staff. They are: Commitment – You need to be committed to Christ and to the mission of the church. If this is missing, there is really no use continuing a conversation about possible involvement. Passion – You […]

Categories
life ministry renewing the church

Trip to Dallas x2

Over the past month, I have had the opportunity to travel to Dallas twice. One of these trips was to share the story of Resurrection Online and what we have learned to a clergy development group of executive pastors from across Texas. It was a great blessing to be with them and share ideas about […]

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ministry renewing the church

My Response to Top 12 Questions before Launching Online Worship

A couple weeks ago I posted the Top 12 Questions before Launching Online Worship and received the request that I share some of our responses to these questions from Resurrection Online. These will be brief responses. For each of these questions there were long conversations that lead to these conclusions. In addition, the answers to […]

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ministry renewing the church

Ministry Expenditures ≠ Outcomes

This week, I read The Importance of Outcomes by Gil Rendle and Susan Beaumont. I commend this article to you from The Alban Institute and want to share a key quote: “The number of hours, visits, calls, reports, and so on is not a measure of what is produced in ministry but rather a measure […]

Categories
leadership life

Planting Seeds – Part 1

For the past two years, I have sliced and seeded the yard at our home. Last year we had a tree taken out which led to a large bare spot that needed to be covered. Last year I also had to deal with using Round Up on weeds instead of something that doesn’t kill the […]

Categories
church ministry

Resurrection Online Stewardship

This is the first year that we will intentionally collect annual giving commitments from those who worship with Resurrection Online. I am excited to offer this opportunity to grow in faith for those that worship online. This also will help us plan for ministry in the year ahead. If you would like to help support […]

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church

Should a Local Church aspire to be “Real” and “Cool”?

Image via Wikipedia I appreciated some of the concepts presented by The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. Here is a sample from the article: “As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don’t want cool as much as we want […]