Drifting vs focus

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Several years ago I owned a bass boat and enjoyed fishing in tournaments and in the local lakes and on our river.  My wife enjoys fishing as much as I do so it gave us something we could do together that was a lot of fun.  I learned an important lesson about life in that boat.  The only time I got into trouble in the boat is when I would let it drift down the river while I would fish the banks.  One time I drifted onto a large rock and had trouble breaking free from it.  Another time my motor was wedged in a submerged tree that had been left behind the last time the river flooded.  I couldn't get free and couldn't raise the motor because of the way it was in there.  It took quite a while to get my boat free from that tree.  But, not once did I ever get into trouble when I had either my big motor or the trolling motor running.  See...when the motors were running I was going somewhere on purpose and could steer the boat in the direction I wanted it to go.

Life is like that.  Most of the time when we get into trouble it is when we are drifting.  When we are living life on purpose, when we have a focus to what we are doing, we are much less likely to get into trouble.  When your life has purpose you can steer your life in the direction you want to go.  When you merely drift through life you end up wherever circumstances take you, and sometimes that is not where you want to be.

This is true on so many levels besides just our personal lives.  It is true for businesses, it is true for families, it is true for relationships, and it is true for churches.  The Bible tells us that without a vision the people perish.  Why?  Because without a vision the people are just drifting along without purpose until they finally end up somewhere they didn't want to be and wonder how they arrived there.

Let's just look at churches for now.  How many churches do you know that have a clearly understood vision that has unified the church and that nearly everyone in the congregation not only understands but knows what role they play in that vision?  Some have a vision statement, but that is not the same thing as a vision.  Personally, I know of few churches with such a vision.  Most open their doors every Sunday morning hoping something good will happen, but they've done nothing intentionally to cause something good to happen.  This may well be why we are told 80 percent of the churches in North American are plateaued or declining.  They are just drifting along without focus or purpose, and they are drifting towards irrelevancy.

The most important thing many churches could do between now and the end of the year is to identify a vision from God for the next few years of the church's existence.  The leaders need to begin prayerfully begin a time of discernment as they seek to understand that vision.  Such discernment must include input from a wide variety of people both within and outside the church.  In some smaller churches it should include everyone associated with the church.  It is often helpful to have someone from the outside lead that process.  That may be a denominational leader, a coach, or a consultant.  I have worked with several churches in a process to help them in this discernment process, and it's always exciting to see the light bulbs begin to go off as they draw closer to identifying God's vision for their church.

As long as you drift along you will only go where life takes you.  You will spend your time reacting to whatever life sends your way.  Operating with a vision gives you a focus and purpose that helps you create a preferred future for your life or organization.  That doesn't mean you won't have bumps along the way.  Life does have a way of interrupting even the best of plans, but those interruptions won't derail you.  As you work through them you will return to the vision that is taking you where you want to be.  That is an exciting and much more enjoyable way to live.

What I'm reading

Right now I have the fewest number of books in my to-read stack that I've had in some time.  Obviously, I will have to get some more to be ready for the summer.  I'm occasionally asked by my readers what I'm reading so here's the current list.

Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World Craig Groeschel
Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith Bill Hybels
We Are Soldiers Still Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway

In the past few weeks I read

Platform Michael Hyatt
Tribal Church: Lead Small. Impact Big. Steve Stroope
The Barefoot Executive Carrie Wilkerson
EntreLeadership Dave Ramsey

I found all these books interesting and helpful.  Although my stack is low right now, there are more on the way so I should be in good shape.  I do hope you are finding some good books and resources that will help you in your personal and professional growth for this summer's reading.

Monetizing the blog

If you read yesterday's post you know that I offered a link to a book I recommended in the post.  As I said in the post, if anyone clicks on that link and purchases the book I will receive a small affiliate commission.  I've never made a dime from writing this blog.  It has been done because I love smaller churches and the people who lead them, and I wanted to encourage and resource them in any way I can.  However, after reading Hyatt's book I realized that there would be nothing wrong with offering resources and collecting a small fee for doing so.  Actually, most of the blogs I read have a great deal of advertising on them.  Not only do they have affiliate links but many sell advertising space on the blogs as well.  The question for me was how could I do that and not feel I was taking advantage of the people who read my blog.

One of the things I realized is that I occasionally recommended books and other items in the blog anyway.  The readers would decide whether or not they would purchase those items.  If they were interested in a particular item then my providing a link to that item was a convenience to them.  You can click on the link, find out more information about the item, and then make a decision about purchasing it.  You won't pay any more for the item if you click on my link than if you went directly to Amazon and purchased it (if you find out that is not the case, please let me know).

The other thing I committed to is that I will not provide a link to something that I have not used or read and feel comfortable recommending it to others.  In other words, I'm not going to link to a bunch of stuff just in hopes of earning commissions.  The commission isn't that much, and even if it was I would not do that to my readers.

I hope you see that I gave this a great deal of thought before deciding to offer a link to products on the blog.  I pray my decision to do so will not offend anyone.  I wanted to use my post today to be upfront about what I am doing.  My desire for this blog continues to be to provide resources and encouragement to my readers, and that will continue to be the driving force behind everything I do.

Using social media as an outreach tool

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How does a small church let people know about their ministries?  How can they effectively reach out to their communities?  Few have funds to advertise what they are doing.  Actually, that's OK because many business people say traditional marketing is not very effective today.  Few people will show up any more for the traditional weekly visitation program, and that's OK too because it's increasingly difficult to catch people at home, and the ones who are home often don't like having their evenings interrupted by people ringing their door bell.  The fact is that most of the ways churches did outreach in the 20th century simply are not very effective today.  So, what would be effective?  Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and church blogs might be the most effective way to reach the unchurched people who live in your community.

Most churches tell me they would like to reach new people and share the Gospel with them.  If I ask what groups of people they would most like to reach the answer I usually get is young adults and youth.  Who are the people most likely to use social media?  Young adults and youth.  Are you seeing a connection here yet?  If that is the generation our churches want to reach then it is important that we use the tools they use to let them know about our church and the ministries it offers.

I have promoted the idea of using social media before in this blog, but I still see few churches using it effectively, if at all.  It is possible for even the smallest church to have a website that costs them nothing or very little.  Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter can all be used at no cost to the church.  While you can pay for a blog that offers more bells and whistles, starting out you can have a very nice blog for free.  This blog costs me nothing except the time I spend writing.  Not only do these offer you a means to reach out into your community, they give your church a world-wide presence.  Your church that may not average more than a dozen people on Sunday morning can spread the Gospel all over the world through the use of social media.

You can use your blog or webpage for your primary content.  There is where you want your primary message to be found.  You then use Facebook and Twitter to send people to that message and to develop an on-going relationship with the people who read your Facebook posts and tweets.

Let me suggest a resource for anyone interested in using social media as an outreach tool for your church.  Michael Hyatt has written a most helpful book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.  I devoured the book in two evenings. Although it is written primarily for businesses, it is equally helpful for church leaders.  He presents a very simple step-by-step way to effectively use social media to get your message out to the people.  One of the things I enjoy about the book is that he points out specific resources you can use to get the best use out of social media.  If you are interested in using social media in your church and are not certain how to do it, this is a great resource to get you started.  If you are already using it chances are this book will teach you some ways to use it more effectively.  I've learned a lot from the book that I'm now applying to my own social media sites.

Our churches should not be afraid of using technology to get out the message we've been given.  The Gospel has the power to change people's lives, so let's take that message to where the people are.  For many of them, that will be on social media.

If you are interested in reading Hyatt's book, Platform, you can order it here.  I do want you to know that this is an affiliate link, and if you click on it and purchase the book I will receive a small affiliate commission.  I share this with you to be completely upfront with my readers.  I also want you to know that I will not offer anything that I myself have not personally used or read and would recommend to others. 

The invitation (cont)

Yesterday's post was the most read post I've done and it generated the largest number of comments on my Facebook page.  All of the comments agreed with the post and many of them explained the various ways they give an invitation in their churches.  If you didn't read yesterday's post it focused on the importance of explaining how one can have a personal relationship with Christ and giving people an opportunity to do that through an invitation at the end of the service.  As critical as that is, that is not the only decision people can be encouraged to make.

Growing up I remember several elements of most invitations in the small churches I attended.  In addition to the invitation to salvation, there was an invitation for those who wanted to rededicate their lives to Christ, an invitation to persons who wanted to transfer their membership from another church, and an invitation to those considering a call to "full-time Christian service."  Occasionally, I hear the first three elements in churches today, but I seldom hear the invitation to those who feel called to the ministry.  We need to recapture that.  Of course, I believe that invitation should also include those who feel called to bivocational ministry.

I am in the ministry today because a pastor asked if I had ever considered that God might be calling me into the ministry.  I admitted that I had often felt that call, even as a child, but had never acted on it.  I've often wondered if I would be in the ministry today if that pastor had not challenged me to pray about it and encouraged me by saying he saw ministry gifts at work in my life.  Most ministers who read this blog probably had someone give you a similar challenge, but who are we challenging?  One of the roles of a leader is to raise up other leaders, but I don't see many pastors today raising up those leaders.  Is it possible that one can be in the ministry for a lifetime and never recognize a call of God on another person's life?

We cannot call a person into the ministry.  That is God's work, but we can be an instrument He uses to issue that call.  We can let people know we see certain gifts in their lives that could be used for ministry and ask them if they have ever felt God might be calling them to do so.  We can pray for them and be willing to answer any questions they might have.  We can look for ways to help them explore the possibility of that call.  A few days after that initial conversation with that pastor he handed me a key to his study and told me to feel free to use it and his library any time I wished.  I spent hours looking through his commentaries and ministry-related books, and the time I spent there helped confirm God's call on my life.  He offered to talk to my wife and me about ministry and helped answer some of our questions.  At no time did I ever feel he was pushing me to become a minister, but there is no question that God used him to help me process that call on my life.  You and I can do the same in other's lives.

The church is in desperate need of quality leaders, especially smaller churches.  Studies have found that many seminary graduates will not serve in smaller churches.  Unless we raise up leaders for these churches they will be forced to close.  Due to the difficulty they have in finding a pastor some churches settle for almost anyone when they look for a new pastor and pay a terrible price.  In my three decades of ministry I have met some very dysfunctional ministers who have left a trail of destruction in every church they've served.  Our churches deserve better, but until we raise up good leaders they will continue to call the poor ones.  Identifying persons God has called to ministry and helping them process that call must become a priority for us already in ministry.

Begin to share messages on God's call on people's lives with your congregation.  Identify some persons in your church you believe have spiritual gifts that would qualify them for ministry and meet with them to ask if they've ever felt such a call on their lives.  During the invitation give people an opportunity to make a public declaration of God's call on their lives.  Let us work hard at raising up a new generation of ministry leaders to serve our churches in the future.

The invitation

This past Sunday my wife and I visited a small, rural church led by a bivocational pastor.  I've known this pastor for a number of years and have always been impressed by his life and the way he goes about his ministry.  As the service ended my wife looked at me and said, "For once someone told people how they can ask Jesus Christ into their heart."  As we left the building she told him how often she is disappointed that so many of the churches we visit end their services without ever telling people how they can become a Christian and giving them an opportunity to do so.  She told him how much she appreciated the invitation he gave.  When we drove away from the parking lot she said that I needed a lot more pastors like him in my churches.

She's right.  We visit a number of churches that may give an invitation at the close of the service but at no point does anyone ever explain how people can respond.  I'm old-fashioned enough to believe that people need to be told they can invite Christ to become their Lord and Savior at the end of the service.  The pastor can then pray with those who respond at that time or take them to a prayer room or office to more fully explain what becoming a Christian means.  I always tell the congregations I preach to that I am available to pray with them if they want to come forward for prayer for anything.  I then take that one step further and tell them that even though many Baptists seem to have forgotten the old-time prayer altar there are times when people don't need to talk to a preacher; they just need to talk to God, and I invite them to come forward and kneel around the front of the church and pray about anything that may be troubling them.  I have been surprised at the number of people who do that even though that is not normally done in their church.

I do not understand the mindset of some churches today.  Some churches offer a good worship experience that allows people to connect with God, they have a good message that is biblically sound, but then they fail to give people an opportunity to respond to what they've experienced.  It seems to me that the natural flow of things would be to give people that opportunity at the end of the service.

Is it possible that there are people who attend our churches faithfully who desire to know more about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ but leave each week frustrated that they still don't know how to experience that?  I think it is possible, and it's unnecessary.  I encourage every pastor reading this to spend some time each week telling people how they can experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and then allow them an opportunity to do that during the invitation.

Some might argue saying that everyone who attends their church is already a Christian so such an invitation is not needed.  If that's true then there is a big failure on the part of your church to reach out to the unchurched community around your church.  But, are you sure that's true?  Billy Graham once estimated that as many as one-half of the church members in the US were not saved.  Not only do we have a huge mission field surrounding our churches, many of our churches have a large mission field sitting in their pews and on their boards and committees each week.  Through an invitation God might be able to reach into their hearts and lead them to Him.  We need to give such an invitation each week to those who attend our services and then trust God to do the rest.

Tricks and shortcuts

On the right side of myFacebook page this morning I noticed a list of advertisements offering several tricks and shortcuts to a better life.  One promised a sure fire way to avoid a speeding ticket (don't speed, perhaps?); another one promoted a way for people who live in my state to pay lower insurance premiums; of course there was one offering the best way to meet that special person we are all looking for.  In addition to these great opportunities I read this week how knowing the right 10 words can change an unruly child into an angel and for a reasonable fee I could learn those words.  Believe me when I say that it didn't take my Dad 10 words to change my behavior when I was growing up.

What makes these ads so interesting is that there are people who will respond to them and spend their hard-earned money on these wonderful tricks to improve their lives.  They appeal to the commonly held belief by many Americans that life should be easy and our lives can be improved quick and easy with little effort on our part.  We want the quick and instant fix to our problems.  We give our money to any snake oil salesman who promises to take away any pain or discomfort we may be feeling.

Sadly, that mindset exists in the church as well.  Congregations want to see their church grow, but they don't want that growth to cause any pain.  They want an exciting worship service with preaching that challenges them and helps deepen their faith, but it must end by noon.  Most would like to see their sanctuaries full of people, but they shouldn't be expected to invite their friends and family (after all, one's religious beliefs are private you know).  Every church would like a growing youth group as long as it doesn't contain any youth with problems and the youth who attend knows how to act in church.  When looking for a pastor they always claim they want one who will grow the church with new members, but he or she must keep regular office hours in case a member needs to get in contact, he or she must regularly visit the hospitals and nursing homes in the area to call on the members, attend all the board and committee meetings, and then any spare time can be spent reaching out to the unchurched in the community.  The congregations are looking for a shortcut to a more effective ministry that will grow their church and ease their pain.

Some pastors are just as guilty.  Many go to conferences and attend workshops hoping to find some magic formula or shortcut to a more effective ministry.  I certainly advocate that clergy and lay leaders should attend conferences and workshops, and I lead several each year myself, but the purpose of attending them is not to find some trick that will make your church the next mega-church and you the next superpastor.

The fact is there are no shortcuts to an effective ministry.  Ministry is hard work for both the pastor and the congregation.  There are no 10 magic words that can be uttered; there is no easy way to impact the community for the Kingdom of God without leaving the comfort of your office; there is no way of growing your church without it going through some pain and discomfort.  To take the gospel to those who need to hear it will require that we go where they are.  We can't unlock the doors of our church each Sunday morning and wait for them to come to us.  Someone I once read said we will have to learn to sit in the smoking section if we want to reach people with the gospel.

To effectively minister to many people today will require that we enter into their world, a world that is often filled with pain and a world in which we may not be comfortable.  We may see and hear things that we would prefer to not see and hear, but that is the world in which some people for whom Jesus Christ gave His life live.  It is also the world, in one degree or another, in which you and I once lived.  Someone entered our world, introduced us to Jesus Christ, and led us to a relationship with Him that forever transformed our lives.  That is what you and I are now called to do.  There are no tricks.  No shortcuts.  Just a lot of hard work, but if even one person has a life changing experience with Christ it is worth it.