Friday, August 22, 2014

Michigan Football Redux


I wrote about the Big 10 needing a strong Michigan Football Team back in 2010. I still think that is a necessity.

Finally one of the Major networks has come to the same conclusion.

Below are the links to my post and the link to the ESPN post by Adam Rittenberg.

 

Go Blue! – 9/25/10


 

Paging U-M: Big Ten needs you! - 8/22/14


 

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Church Accountability


Accountability is as necessary in the church world as it is in the business world. Especially so in the area of finances because the church attenders tend to have more trust in the church staff even though they do not receive regular reports detailing the finances and spending of donated funds by the staff.
The following piece by Dan Busby, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, calls out areas that need to be looked at in all churches.
I think in many cases there are non-financial (behavioral) signs or actions that are precursors to financial problems.  
Read this piece and think about how your church would handle these things.
Three Questions to Ask About Your Church's Financial Management


 

 

Friday, May 2, 2014

5 Things to Remember When It Comes to Church Size


5 Things to Remember When It Comes to Church Size

Making growth (or big) synonymous with good is a recipe for disaster because it prevents good from being a higher value than growth. 

Imagine if you gauged the goodness of your family on numbers – number of family members or size of bank account or some other metric.

The same is true for a church – numbers are second and third level concerns, not primary goals with inherent goodness.

5 Things to Remember When It Comes to Church Size

I have had the privilege to serve as a coach to pastors for over 15 years, and I’ve noticed that it does not take long in the coaching relationship for the topic of church size to come up. I’ve also noticed that some pastors approach church growth with health and wholeness while others struggle with (and because of) church size.  If you are a pastor, church planter, or key leader, you need a healthy and theologically sound attitude for dealing with church growth, size, and numbers.  To help you develop such an attitude, here are five things to recognize when it comes to church size.

  1. Growth is not the only good.  Some church leaders lack a biblical imagination that would allow them to envision a purpose for their church other than growth.  Making growth (or big) synonymous with good is a recipe for disaster because it prevents good from being a higher value than growth.  Granted, big and good are not opposites, but there is much more about being a good church than being big.   Imagine if you gauged the goodness of your family on numbers – number of family members or size of bank account or some other metric.  That would be silly and very unhealthy.  Certainly there are numbers you need to look at in order to help your family thrive, but the numbers are not your goal.  The same is true for a church – numbers are second and third level concerns, not primary goals with inherent goodness.
  2. Evangelism may be a mask for egoism.  There are many poor reasons to focus on church growth (ego, consumerism, competition, greed, etc.) and only one good reason to give any attention at all to growth: evangelism.  The sad fact is that some pastors use evangelism as a cover for what is really nothing more than an ego trip – they say they care about souls saved, while in reality they want the church to grow in order to satisfy their own sense of worth.  To be fair, I think the ego-driven needs of pastors are often beneath the surface so that the pastor is not fully cognizant of why exactly they want the church to grow, and sometimes the motives are mixed.  So be sure to reflect very deeply and very often on what is driving you to want church growth.  To help explore your deepest motivations, you might ask yourself, “If God capped the size of our church at where we are now, how would I practice evangelism?”
  3. Pegging your sense of worth to attendance will drive you nuts. Pastors who get up when numbers are up also get down when the numbers drop.  If you feel more worthy, more loved, more hopeful, and just generally better about yourself and the world when the sanctuary is full, then watch out.  Watch out because when the sanctuary is not so full you likely will feel down, pessimistic, less hopeful, and generally worse about yourself and life.  If you let numbers dictate your mood, you will be on an emotional roller coaster that makes a teenage girl look like a stoic.  Numbers are a terrible thermometer, but an even worse thermostat.
  4. Growth solves nothing.  If you think growth will solve some challenge your church is facing, you are wrong.  A leader who thinks that more people, more resources (money!), or more of anything will solve some problem they currently face is interpreting life through something other than a biblical lens.  Growth is not the solution, the gospel is.  If you think growth will solve your challenges, you are likely focusing on the wrong goals and/or you have a very poor strategy for being a church.  There is no biblical evidence for needing more people in order to meet a congregational challenge.
  5. The litmus test for truth is not growth.  I cannot tell you how many times (it’s a lot) I’ve heard a pastor respond to a questionable church practice with something along the lines of, “Yeah, but they must be doing something right.”  If we are not diligent, there is a subtle pragmatism that can seep into our ministry, leading us to do only that which works and discarding anything that does not work.  The problem is that “works” is shorthand for “works to grow the church.”  You could very likely come up with a long list of very bad things that will “work” to increase attendance so my encouragement is to cease using “does it work?” as a way to discern whether a style, strategy, practice or person is of God.  By the way, the flip side is equally true: growth is not evidence of heresy.   Evidence for heresy is heresy; evidence for truth is truth.  If you’re in doubt about these, study the Bible, pray, and read some church history.
My experience with wise church leaders is that they reluctantly embrace growth when it comes, but they do not chase it, they do not fixate on it, and they do not use it as an indicator of anything in any short-term way.  They do look at long-term trends to help identify obstacles to effective ministry, and they certainly celebrate the stories of people who experience gospel-centered transformation.  For the most part, wise church leaders focus on actual people and celebrate names way more than numbers.
What about you?  What have you learned about a healthy approach to church growth, numbers, and church size?  Where have you seen it handled well?  Not so well?


About Chad Hall
Chad Hall is the Director of Coaching for Western Seminary and also serves as a leadership coach for ministry and corporate clients through his role as Partner with Coach Approach Ministries and iNTERNAL iMPACT.


http://www.westernseminary.edu/transformedblog/2014/01/28/5-things-to-remember-when-it-comes-to-church-size/



Sunday, March 2, 2014

Let’s play pretend some more!


Here’s a story I thought you should know about. This isn’t a story that the US Press Corps will report on so you should be thankful that this story has come to light.

 

It occurred in Vladimir Putin’s office in the Kremlin in Moscow. The Kremlin, an important location in Russia, is similar to the US White House. The Kremlin is ominous looking and is a symbol of Russian strength and power.

 

Vladimir Putin is the current President of Russia for a second time. He has previously been the President of Russia and has also been the Prime Minister of Russia. Putin has ties to the former KGB, the Russian equivalent of the US CIA.

 

He is responsible for declaring war on the Ukraine, a country that has significant energy reserves, and just recently sending Russian troops into the Ukraine, a former Soviet controlled satellite country. This is significant because after World War II Russia sent troops into many European countries and took control of those countries and ruled each with an iron hand.

 

So the idea of the Russians sending troops into someone’s sovereign and independent country to occupy or control it is not new and is not something to be happy about. It’s done because a country isn’t cooperating with the Russian desires.

 

**********************

 

Imagine we are walking by Putin’s office. Maybe we are on a tour. Tension is in the air because Russia has declared war against the Ukraine and also sent troops into the Ukraine. The Ukrainian people aren’t cooperating and playing nice in the sand box. The Pro Russian Ukrainian President was chased from office by the Ukrainian people who prefer to associate with the European Union, an economic and political union of 28 member states that aren’t interested in invading the Ukraine.  

 

But back to Vlad.

 

Putin is on the phone. He is laughing with great zest and enthusiasm. Perhaps he has had some Russian Vodka. Maybe a few too many drinks. He is pacing back and forth. He is excited and very animated. His deeply Russian voice is rising with excitement.

 

We aren’t sure what is going on so we try to get a little closer so we can better hear the commentary and we hear the following

 

Vlad is saying: ‘Barack! You are such a kidder. I have so much fun when we play pretend and when we talk.’

 

‘You drew a line in the sand over Syria and said we shouldn’t cross it. Well when I crossed it you acted like you never said it and you just erased the line and drew another line in the sand closer to you. And you didn’t do anything again. I just love it when you tease me like that.’

 

We hear Vlad laughing more.

 

‘And we sent a Russian warship to Cuba last week and I don’t think you said anything. But your government issued a really weak statement that didn’t challenge or question us.’

 

More laughter.

 

‘Then you just said we shouldn’t do anything in the Ukraine. In fact it was so much fun because you acted like you really meant it this time and you seemed so sure of yourself you didn’t even go to a high level meeting in Washington that was called to discuss how the US should react to our move. It was like passing when it was your move in a chess game. I love it when you pretend so well.’

 

‘Especially when the US Press acts like nothing is going on and they go along with this stuff that you don’t do. How did you train or coerce them so well. I could use some pointers on how to get the press and the populace to be so complacent that they never question or challenge me.’

 

More deep, belly laughs with a few snorts.

 

‘Oh Barack this is so much fun. Let’s play some more!’

 

‘Oh and by the way. Don’t send that stiff John Kerry back over here. He doesn’t have any sense of humor.’

 

‘I can’t wait to see what you do after my next move. Let’s keep in touch.’

 

‘Next time we get together for lunch or for one of those big expensive State Dinners I’ll bring Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran. You remember him don’t you? He also likes the way you like to play pretend. No he isn’t going to send nukes into Israel. You have to stop listening to those extremist conservatives.

 

Trust Me!’ Lots more laughter after this statement.

 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

That's All You Got?

Hey guys a women’s magazine presumes to know what things that shouldn’t be said to men and may tick them off. Joe Queenan, an American journalist, critic and essayist, who wrote a piece on this has some interesting observations. Make sure to read the last few paragraphs where he does identify things you shouldn’t say to a man. FYI, vig, in the last paragraph, has to do with betting if you didn’t know.

I have excerpted a small portion below:
Redbook, for whatever reason, is feeding impressionable young women totally false information about the male psyche. No man I know would go ballistic just because a woman said, "Your tummy is so cute." Nor would he lose it if she said, "Well, you are a bit on the chubby side." Or even "My, aren't you the chunky little butterball!"

See the whole piece at the site below.
Words Assured to Tick Off Any Man
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304176904579111343745543778.html

Thursday, September 26, 2013

We all have a part to play


My thoughts on a blog post by Pete Scazzero

Thinking Evangelicalism has the answers to societal problems is the problem. If we taught more people to be disciples and read the Bible there would be more strong and dedicated Christians. We're in a losing battle until the end but we should be doing what Christ told us to do as long as we are on earth - make disciples, baptize them and teach them to obey what Christ commanded (my abbreviated interpretation of Matthew 28:19-20). Anything less makes weak Christians subject to worldly temptations and ineffectiveness for Christ.
*********************
Scazzero was responding to a question uttered by Gordon MacDonald during a recent leadership meeting at New Life. –‘Is Evangelicalism Exhausted?’ It has caused me to wonder also: “Might it be true

Scazzero stated that MacDonald noted three things:
  1. Society is unraveling and evangelicalism has few answers.
  2. Research studies, like Reveal, seem to confirm that mega-churches do no grow deep Christians. Those who do go “deeper” with Christ often leave.
  3. 80% of the quotes in evangelical books are from outside our tradition, i.e. from Roman Catholics and the Orthodox believers.
See Scazzero’s blog for the remainder of his post


 

 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Confident Assurance


Joyce Meyer, who is one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers, according to her book, and author of almost 100 books, is writing about the topic of indecision in the section titled ‘The Misery of Indecision’ in chapter 3 of her book ‘Making Good Habits, Breaking Bad Habits’.

I found the section in italics that is pasted at the very bottom of this piece interesting and I pulled out some of the key points and show them immediately below. These are things that God is teaching us in the book of James.

·         We should ask God for what we need, wisdom for example

·         Ask in faith with no wavering

·         If we waver in our faith we don’t get what we ask from God

·         The indecisive person will be miserable, confused and unable to get God’s help

·         We should approach God in faith and be ready to take action

·         God may not provide direction so he is giving us the freedom to make our own choice

The ideas of faith, decisiveness and confidence were reinforced for me this past weekend. A number of us attended a fund raiser held at a church my wife and I previously attended and was held for a local ministry. The pastor of the church who is now 20 years older than when we attended did not speak until the end of the program when he offered the closing prayer.

This pastor’s heart for people, which has always been visible, was in evidence when I heard him pray at the end of the program and ask for God’s blessing on the ministry, the people aided by the ministry and the supporters and volunteers. I was struck by his calmness and confidence that God would answer his prayer. It was reassuring and comforting. It is evident that he serves God and depends on God to bless his church and this ministry.

I have learned much about being a Christ follower from those whose words match their actions, like this pastor, and especially when those words are Biblically inspired and used to glorify God.

If you haven’t yet, then learn to learn from those who have a strong personal relationship with God and are committed to helping and teaching you and others as well as building God’s kingdom. They model what Christ modeled and that is what we should do.

Excerpt from the book

‘The apostle James, being directed by the Holy Spirit, teaches that if we need wisdom we are to ask for it, and God will give it. Only it must be in faith that we ask with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). If we do waver, hesitate or doubt we become unstable and unreliable in all of our ways and we are unable to receive from the Lord anything we ask for (James 1:5-8). These Scriptures make the position of the indecisive person quite clear. He is going to be miserable, confused, and unable to get help from God. We must approach God in faith, ready to take action when we have assurance in our heart of some direction. If after prayer and waiting we still feel that we have no direction, then it may mean that God is simply giving us the freedom to make our own choice’.