The Pastors Ministry Blog

Ben Jennings Assimilation Pastor Canton Baptist Temple

We had just started our first job in ministry, moved into our first house as a married couple and it was the first time having friends over for dinner. I was excited to grill out for everyone, so I went out and purchased a charcoal grill.

I had never actually grilled up to this point, so I thought it would be easy to light the fire.  I thought I would throw a match on the charcoal and it would just go. 

I remember having the hardest time getting it to ignite.  I ended up using lighter fluid and a hair dryer to get the flame going and consequently we had dinner later than I wanted.  Also, I ruined my wife’s hair dryer. (Sorry again, Megan.). 

Starting a fire was more difficult than I thought it was going to be.

I’ve felt the same thing trying to lead people.  Fire is such a great metaphor for passion, energy, and momentum.  We try and try to stoke the fires of passion around evangelism and ministry. Often it seems like there is so much keeping the flame from igniting in the hearts of our people.

But there are times in ministry where I see God light a fire in someone's heart.  When He does the results are amazing.

Passion is crucial because apathy is typical.  For our churches to be effective, we need  passion for the lost that is a burning flame.

But how can we influence people to be passionate about evangelism and ministry? 

I suggest three elements that are crucial to igniting a passion in your ministry.

Passion is ignited by personal conviction.

Do you have a conviction about your own personal evangelistic ministry?    Do you understand the example you set for good or bad in terms of personal evangelism?  Do you own the stewardship God has given to you of leading your people to reach others? To be effective in evangelism you must have a conviction that the lost must be reached and that you must be personally involved in reaching them.

Passion is ignited by personal prayer.

Nothing of any eternal consequence has ever been done without prayer. If we as leaders are not on our knees pleading to God that our class catch a vision for evangelism, then it is unlikely to happen.

Passion is ignited by personal example.

Do you understand the example you set for good or bad in terms of personal evangelism? Example is most effective when seen.  We must do good.  We must be seen doing good.

We must manage the tension between a desire to influence others with a right example and the desire to be seen of men to be admired.  Providing an example is critical.  Being prideful can destroy the spiritual work God wants to do.  We need the Holy Spirit to guide us through this effectively.

Here is the bottom line:  We can not expect people to be more passionate and involved than we are.  Passionless leaders who go through the motions don’t inspire passion in their followers.

Participate.  Get a story.  Use the story to inspire others.  Exemplify great commission

ministry to those who follow you.

BJennings@cantonbaptist.org

Sam Rainer  President, Church Answers

Not every church leader will face a vision-crushing blow. But they exist. They hurt like a heavy-weight sucker punch. You didn’t see it coming, and it was hard like an Acme anvil. Church leaders (especially us pastors) can overreact. We can cry wolf when it’s just sheep around. There are cases, however, when one event jars everything loose, when something unforeseen grinds the church to a halt. The vision stops. No one moves.

How do you respond when your church experiences collective blackout? How do you lead when you’re shell shocked with everyone else? When it’s impossible to think about a new vision, what are the immediate next steps?

https://churchanswers.com/blog/when-the-vision-stops/

Jeremy Stout Pastor Bible Baptist Church Marysville, Ohio

As a church planter in 2007, I thought that evangelism would be the last thing I would need to worry about getting accomplished.  Knowing my past experience and also realizing the only way people would come to a new church would be if they were invited, I knew evangelism would be vital.  Very quickly, I learned how important it would have to be to schedule and make evangelism times a priority or else it would never get done. Dedicated time for evangelism can get lost in the shuffle of everyday ministry. I remember there was a month early on in our new church plant when I looked back and thought, “Wow, I haven’t led anybody to Christ because I haven’t talked to anybody specifically about getting saved!”  The Word of God (Matthew 4:18) convicted me that if I were really a disciple following Jesus, it would be measured by me fishing for men!! So, in our church calendar, I began to set aside scheduled times to evangelize and reach out for souls. A dedicated time to reach out in evangelistic activities keeps me focused on fulfilling the byproduct of following Jesus. So how do we as pastors create and continue a culture of evangelism?  I think that we must first example it.  There needs to be stories shared and testimonies given from the pulpit of recent evangelism experiences in our own lives.  In 1 Peter 5:2-3, the Bible gives preachers the responsibility of being “ensamples.” An ensample has in its description like a die that is cast and every time it hits the same product is produced. I think we as pastors are not only to have had experiences of personal evangelism and winning people to Christ in the past, but we are to continually have examples of personal evangelism and leading people to Christ. If we are not actively witnessing and winning people to Christ how could we expect our congregation to take that responsibility on?  Secondly, we need to express evangelism to our congregations.  When we hear of church members leading someone to Christ, we need to make sure that we make as big a deal about it as heaven already has! Celebrate it in our bulletins and in our testimony time, not for man’s glory but for the motivation of others to take part in the same. Thirdly we must expect a culture of evangelism.  God is the One responsible for the increase of any evangelistic efforts, so surely it is His will and desire that people would come to repentance and receive eternal life.  If we will stay committed to planting the seeds of fishing for men, then we should expect that God will do what He does as a faithful God in the results of our efforts. Once our church got in the habit of seeing people evangelize and hearing about people getting saved through evangelism, the momentum led to more and more getting involved with the efforts as well.

stoutbbcm@gmail.com

Lewis McClendon, BCMN

Ted House Pastor Bible Baptist Church Mount Orab, Ohio

Today is May 10th, 2020. Mother’s Day. It is our second Sunday having normal, in-person services, and the congregation is excited to be back. The fellowship is sweeter, the smiles are brighter, the songs are dearer, and the love is stronger. In fact, excited would be an understatement. Many people have thanked me multiple times for reopening the church, making it very apparent that our church family is glad to be home!

Before we decided to postpone services, there were approximately 450-500 people in attendance on any given Sunday. For the last two weeks of March, we had 214 in attendance and then the numbers dropped to 192. This is after the buses had already stopped operating. We closed the church during the month of April and live streamed all of our services. On Sunday, May 3 rd , the church reopened for normal services. We had previously scheduled Jeff and Sheri Easter to sing for us that day, so we kept the engagement and enjoyed their performance on our first Sunday back. It was an awesome homecoming time! The services were Spirit-filled and powerful. We had 332 people in attendance for the performance and today, we had 347.

Our live streaming has gone very well, but now that we have reopened the church, viewers have diminished by about two thirds. We plan to continue live streaming throughout July and then discontinue it altogether.

Our buses began their regular routes on our first Sunday back, but are only running half of the regular riders. Safety precautions include having the riders sanitize their hands before entering the bus, sitting in every other seat, and disinfecting the bus after everyone exits.

It is interesting to watch the congregation mingle and fellowship before and after services. Some are serious about social distancing, a few people wear masks, but a majority of the congregation are hugging and shaking each other’s hands.

Our offerings increased the entire time our church was closed. On our first Sunday back in the building, the total offerings were a little over $31,000, which is high even for a first Sunday of the month.

For the time being, we have decided not to host our monthly Senior Citizen’s Luncheon and have also refrained from door-to- door soul winning.

We are located in a rural area with our entire county only containing about 45,000 residents. Our county did not have a confirmed case of Covid-19 until the last week of March. At the peak of the pandemic, we had a total of 16 confirmed cases. As of last week, our local news reported that the county health department does not know of any confirmed, active cases of the virus in our county. Keeping abreast of these numbers helps us make wise decisions about reopening all ministries of the church in a timely manner.

This has been an unprecedented time in the world’s history, and being cautious is a wise thing to do. However, God is still on the throne, and we must place our trust in Him and serve until Jesus comes. I hope that this information will be valuable to all of my friends and that they will see success and God’s blessings on their churches as things return to normal.

pastorhouse@bbcmtorab.org

Ken Braddy  Director of Sunday School, Lifeway Christian Resources

COVID-19. Until a few months ago, I hadn’t heard this name. Now I’d like to forget it! But COVID-19 hasn’t been all bad for our churches. In fact, I’m asking the question, “Could COVID-19 usher in an era of church growth”? It has the potential to do that, and based on another terrible pandemic our nation faced in 1918, it may do just that. I am praying that history repeats itself. Let me explain.

https://kenbraddy.com/2020/05/07/could-covid-19-usher-in-an-era-of-church-growth/

Lewis McClendon, BCMN

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is asking Samaritan’s Purse to pay state taxes after the Christian humanitarian organization discharged its last patient this week — one of the over 300 COVID-19 patients it treated at a temporary hospital in New York City’s Central Park while facing a backlash due to its statement of faith.

https://www.christianpost.com/us/samaritans-purse-gets-tax-bill-after-discharging-last-patient-at-nyc-field-hospital.html

Tim Taylor  Pastor Victory Baptist Church Vergennes, Vermont

In 36 years of being the senior pastor of two churches, the ins and outs of church finances loom large.  While honoring Christ, winning souls and discipling saints are the highest priority, managing the church finances ranks up there.  Coming out of college most pastors have no idea how much management will be required of them.  

The first church I pastored had not had their books balanced in so long that when I got there, I had to work with the local bank manager to sort out the mess. Many churches when you candidate just don’t understand what condition their church is in financially. This is your responsibility.  You must ask probing questions and take time to look at their books.  If they are over your head, ask someone to go through them with you.  You need to know what you are potentially inheriting. As quickly as you can, make things very transparent.  Avoid placing blame if things are bad, but be quick to praise if things are good.  Fan the flame of praise.  It will pay you dividends down the road.

If things are not good financially do not become a beggar. Do not condemn or complain, it will only drive a wedge between you and the people. Begin to manage the money, don’t let it manage you.  Watch every expense and nip out every waste.  Cast a vision for the people.  Show them that you will lead by example.  Make the money that is there work for you.  If people see positive results, no matter how small, it will encourage them to trust you to manage more.  A cleaner, brighter, sharper financial outlook earns you leadership points to help navigate through the deep water.

As you see finances improve some of the hard steps will be learning new management skills.  What do you do when there are surplus funds?  It cannot be overstated how important it is to begin to build reserves.  It wears down a congregation to constantly tell them there is another special offering to cover repairs and upgrades that were obviously coming.  Start setting aside money so you can celebrate with them that the money is there for the new furnace, roof, or sidewalk.  Recently I had an elderly couple come see me. They wanted to give a large check to the church. I had not pleaded for extra funds.  They simply said that they knew it would be used wisely.  I have pastored here 32 years.  When I came here there was a for sale sign in front of the antique shop the church had purchased and was meeting in. The interest on the mortgage was 12%.  The folks were pitching in to pay the bills, on top of their tithes.  This older couple had seen the Lord take the church from nearly closing, through multiple building projects, to a strong ministry both financially as well as spiritually. The people you are pastoring are looking for you to be a wise businessman as well as their pastor.

If you have been blessed to take a church with great finances don’t be so foolish that you burn through it believing that it will always be there.  Earn credibility so that people will continue to give.  Don’t forget, they can stop.  There was a time when many pastors lead their churches into massive debt, then moved on.  This left many lay leaders to carry the burden or leave the church, like the pastor did. Churches closed, testimonies were destroyed and the kingdom was harmed. 

victoryvt@gmail.com

Dr. Daryl L. Franzel  Pastor Capitol City Baptist Church Holt, MI

The need and the art of counseling is far more important today than ever before in the Christian community. There are certain guidelines that need to be observed in deciding to counsel and then in how to counsel. My first recommendation is to understand how to counsel. Some training is best, along with a proper God directed attitude in dealing with other's problems.

The act of counseling is not an inquisition. It is a time of listening, qualifying according to the word of God, and then providing loving Godly advice. Care in counseling must always be at the forefront of all conversations and actions. It is important not to be judgmental nor emotionally attached to the person or the type of situation. We cannot help an individual or couple if we are clouded by personal opinions or preferences. Only when we can remain objective in the situation can we truly be of Christian service. The word of God will always give to us the answer to life's issues; however, it does need to be applied in a manner that seems logical to the problem at hand.

The next thing that needs to be discussed is safeguarding your counselee and yourself in the process of counseling. As a pastor or male counselor, you should never counsel a woman alone, in her home or even in your office. Always have your wife, secretary or someone nearby, and if you are in a separate room make sure uncovered windows are in the doors and your desk is positioned where you can be seen at all times. Many a well-intended pastor or counselor was accused of wrongdoing, mainly because of lack of cautionary steps.

If the need presented is out of your area of training and experience, consider referring the individual or couple to another, better trained counselor. Never allow pride to get in your way. You are there to help the person being counseled, not you. A good Christian counselor’s aim is working himself out of a job. Counseling people is indeed a calling and a gift of God, but a career is not based on counseling one individual for a multitude of sessions.

My final recommendation is this -- keep your sessions short, 20 to 50 minutes at the most. To counsel for a long period of time will wear you and the person being counsel out. As a pastor it is important to establish priorities in your ministry. If more counseling is needed than you have time for, consider using a trained staff person or trained lay-counselor to meet the needs.

DocFranzel@gmail.com

Ken Braddy  Director of Sunday School, Lifeway Christian Resources

This week we all received good news from our president: the country is going to slowly reopen, and that includes houses of worship.

I can guarantee that we will not go back to “business as usual” as acountry, and that includes our churches. If you think we’ll all rush back to church and pick up where we left off, don’t kid yourself – it’s not going to happen. Or at least it shouldn’t happen. We need to think and plan carefully so we do not endanger people simply because we let our guard down and believed that the Coronavirus crisis had passed.

Read more by clicking the link below.

https://kenbraddy.com/2020/04/18/20-questions-your-church-should-answer-before-people-return/