Making Church Essential in 2012

January is about over.  The church has selected new officers for the coming year. We have seen our attendance on Sunday mornings go above 140 for the last four weeks in a row.  God is blessing the people known as Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church.

Our goal is to make church essential to the lives of our people this year.  When I talk about church, attendance is not really the main issue.  It is important, but church is much more than attendance.  May God help us to be the people that He wants us to be this year.  As we meet each other's needs and develop relationships for fellowship and ministry, the church becomes essential to our lives.

Recently, I read a statement about making the church essential that caught my eye.  The statement went something like this.  "It ought to be harder to leave a church than it is to join one."  In general, it is easy to leave a church.  Our hope is that we can develop a culture, through discipleship that keeps track of and supports our members.  We must get better at meeting the needs of the body of Christ.

As life changes and life stages change, we must grow in our knowledge of people.  The old adage says, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."  We do care.  Now we need to do a better job of showing it.  Can you think of any ways to demonstrate your care for the body of Christ?  Let's demonstrate that the church (people) is essential (can't live without it) this year.

Passionate People Welcome Here

I am in the process of learning how to understand and accept passionate people. In fact, I intend to do everything in my power to welcome passionate people to our church. God save us from those who don't care about something. As we continue our growth, we are seeking to develop a church culture that values passion.

The idea goes something like this. We start new ministries and try to talk people into participating because it is a good thing to do. After a while, it's like pulling teeth to keep people involved. They need someone to come along and use a bicycle pump to pump up their tire so they can go again. The cycle repeats over and over again. The result is frustration on the part of everyone involved. The need for constant pep talks demonstrates that their hearts are not in the activity.

Our new strategy is to figure out who our people are (What is your passion?) and match them with spiritual activity that is consistent with their gifts and passions. I don't have a desire to increase our participation and service each week by just 20-30%. My goal is to get as close to 100% participation in any given week as possible. (Every member serves God in a tangible way every week). God's people need to know what it is like to successfully serve Him on purpose each week. The satisfaction that comes from pleasing God is achievable by the whole church. To the extent that we can help those who have never purposefully served God on a regular basis see God use them in an area that they already enjoy, we can develop their appetite to be involved in other spiritual activities.

We need to be honest in our expectations and our communication about them. There are more ways to serve God each week than just going on door-to-door visitation, soul-winning, and bus visitation. Though these activities are commendable and a great way to put the command of the great commission into practice, I question the wisdom of acting like this is the first step toward maturity or even the ultimate step of maturity. Serving God has to be a way of life, and it has to be something that can be done no matter where one is or what one's skills or abilities are. Relationship with God is essential. Let's start by helping folks literally take the logical next step. Start where you are. The most important spiritual step that you can take today is the next one.

As to passionate people, passion is not the answer to every problem. In fact, it can create problems in the church. Passionate people don't always get along with other passionate people. Passionate people don't get why others don't share their passion. It takes work to work with passionate people. What is the solution to helping those with passion get along with others, it's the same as the solution to helping those who are not currently serving the Lord. Discipleship.

May God give us a passion to serve Him! Passionate people are welcome here.

Leaders as Servants

The time has come for us look at the way we do ministry.  Leading as a servant is not a new idea.  Books have been written that extoll the virtues of serving the people we lead.  Just about every pastor has read an article or attended a conference promoting servant leadership.  The words almost don’t even mean what the say anymore – we are used to them.  Sometimes, familiarity with a concept keeps us from practicing it.  There is no excitement in it.  Nothing new here.

Others in ministry aren’t convinced that the model works.  To be sure, it doesn’t work for them.  “I’m the leader; now follow me.” Much of the traditional, old-time fundamental movement functioned under this model.  It almost seems as if everyone in the organization or church existed for the benefit of the leader’s ministry. Certainly, there are many casualties that have been left in the wake of this kind of ministry.

To be fair, not every fundamental leader was cruel or egotistical.  Many men served with grace and dignity.  Those whose ministries were patterned after Christ avoided the excess of the caricature.  The fault lies not in conservative theology and practice but in the frailty of humanity. If I get in the way, it’s not Christ.  Ego and a desire for power have no place in the leadership of God’s people.

The approach that we should follow sounds like this, “I exist to serve the people of God.”  Don’t be confused.  This is not an argument to undermine the necessity of leadership.  It is a call to take leadership to the next level. One of the problems with the “old model” is that individuals viewed themselves as serving people by taking them somewhere.  The servant model of leadership would recognize that as backward thinking.

A servant leader helps people go where they need to go and do what they need to do.  The emphasis is on those being served not on those being led.  What’s the difference?  For one, it is an issue of development.  One could use the word discipleship.  Too many leaders are busy developing followers.  Ultimately, the goal is not to produce followers who do not think for themselves.  Servant leadership does not develop a ministry where the leader is essential to the future of the church.  Instead, it produces mature followers of Christ who do not need another leader to draw them close to Christ.

Don’t misunderstand me, God has a special role for the pastor in the life of the believer.  One’s style and method of leadership practiced in grace does not take away from spiritual authority.  What is enhanced is the opportunity to see people take the next step in their spiritual lives.

The emphasis of servant leadership is on serving and not being served.  The life of a servant leader is one of sacrifice and placing another before one’s self. The leader truly is seeking the best for those in his care.  Best is not defined by crossing t’s and doting i's the same way.  Best is defined by assisting people to take the next step in their spiritual lives.  Best takes time. Best comes in small increments. Best is messy.

Sounds like work!

PFEBC New Church Website

Our church website continues to be a work in progress.  After a few technical difficulties, we were able to get it online after the Sunday evening service.  Undoubtedly, there are glitches.  We have been working on them for a while.  If you notice some, please let me know.  We will fix them as quickly as we can.

Many of the pictures are still stock photo's that came with the template.  We will be adding more of our own over the next week or so.  We will also be revealing a membership only section in our services in the next week or two.  Members can expect to be able to see church bulletins, prayer lists, and other member specific information like a church directory.  I am excited about the upcoming events box that is located on the home page.  I trust that visiting the site will become a regular part of our member's week.

If you have a suggestion for improvement, we are all ears.  Some ideas will take longer than others.  Special thanks to Larry Vance for his help in putting the site together and working through some of our technical difficulties.

http://www.pfebaptist.org/

Good News Club

The Lord has given us another opportunity to reach out to our community and make a difference in some one's life.  For the last three weeks, we have been able to host a Good News Club in a local elementary school.  To all those who have believed that it is not possible for a bible-believing church to be involved in the lives of children in the local school system, you should think again.

We arrive at the school by 2:00 p.m. each Friday with the permission of the parents, principal, and school district.  For about 45 minutes, we tutor reading in preparation for the FCAT exam.  After that we give the children a snack and begin our Good News Club.  We are using the CEF program and appreciate their assistance with training and credentials.

The club requires a significant amount of participation on the part of our church and friends, but it has been worth it. Six children have come to know Christ as their Savior in the last three weeks. We are averaging over 30 children in attendance each week.  As we pray that things continue to go well, we are trusting that other churches in the area will be able to host a club next year as well.  Pray with us.

From my perspective, it is time for us to look for ways to be involved in our community.  Too often, our "come out from among them, and be ye separate" has resulted in "us four and no more."  We run the club and control the environment.  I could not be more pleased with the results.

What are you doing to make a difference for eternity where you are?

Dr. Bob Taylor

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet a Godly man.  Dr. and Mrs. Bob Taylor are here in the Pensacola area and attended our church yesterday.  The Life Action Sunday School class gave Dr. Taylor a chance to speak.  It is a good thing for God's people to get together for fellowship.  We are happy for old friends that were able to see each other again.

Dr. Bob Taylor is the former Pastor of the Campus Church at PCC and is also the Pastor Emeritus of the Colonial Hills Baptist Church in the Indianapolis, IN area.  It is our privilege this coming Sunday, February 6, to have Dr. Taylor speak in all of our services.  If you are in the Pensacola area, our morning worship service starts at 10:30 a.m. and our evening service starts at 6:00 p.m.

For local pastors, Dr. Taylor will be speaking at our monthly Pastors Fellowship at Faith Baptist Church this Tuesday, February 1, at 8:00 a.m.

Tell Your Story

God's people need to be more conscious about the opportunities that they have to be a witness for Him. We bring glory to God when we tell the story of what He has done in our lives.  Most people who come to know Christ do it as a result of someone they know sharing what God has done for them.  The question that we have to ask ourselves is whether or not we believe the words of Jesus. Is there really only one way to get to heaven? If we believe that, then we need to tell our story.

It's pretty simple. Start with the phrase, "The greatest thing that ever happened in my life is ..." Tell someone what you were like before you came to know Jesus.  Don't glory in all the details.  Simply paint the picture that you were a sinner and then share what happened in your life that God used to get your attention.  You will be amazed at how people can relate. At this point, explain how you trusted Jesus to be your savior. Make sure you include the important details. You recognized that you were a sinner. You accepted that fact that because of your sin, you deserved to die and spend eternity separated from God. You believed that Jesus died on the cross to take your punishment and pay the penalty for your sin. Then as best as you knew how, you placed your trust in Jesus to be your savior.  Finally, share how your life is different since you became a follower of Jesus. You can be an encouragement to someone else that their life can be different if they will accept Jesus Christ to be their Savior.

Maybe after reading this you say, "That's too simple.  You've got to say more than that to lead someone to Christ."  What I'm talking about is being a witness.  Telling your story can open the door to you getting a chance to lead someone to Christ.  As long as you clearly tell people what you did to accept Christ, then you are giving enough information for them to make the same decision.  If you are really not sure that you have explained it right and the person you are talking to is truly interested, call your pastor or your Sunday school teacher.  There is no greater joy than to be able to lead someone to Christ.

I Love To Tell The Story!