The Pastor Scholar
This article written by Dr. Philip Ryken, senior minister at the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, is a brief history of John Calvin and his amazing ministry. (more…)
Staying on Mission
Over the last several weeks, in our series in the gospel of Luke (9:1-26 “Our Mission” and 9:27-62 “Things that Derail our Mission”), I have been preaching about our mission as believers. The theme of the gospel of Luke is found in 19:10,
“for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Jesus, the first missionary, humbled himself and condescended to our culture filled with sin and all its repurcussions (Phil. 2:1-11). Unfortunately many churches that claim to follow Jesus are not on His mission but have settled for a pseudo-mission of moralism and isolationism which has resulted in an impotent Church that cares more about picketing, the anti-Christ, the timing of Jesus’ return, and conspiracy theories than it does about the lost people Jesus’ explicitly called us to convert into disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).
Because Jesus knows we’re not that smart He made our mission pretty simple,
“Go make disciples…”
In standard fashion we have convoluted this command and in the process we have veered off of our mission of taking the gospel to everyone who is living in separation from God.
As Mark Driscoll so often says, it’s about “taking the timeless truth of the gospel to the lost using timely methods.”
Jesus, Paul, and every effective missionary since has understood contextualization. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Paul makes it clear that he was willing to do anything apart from sin to bring the gospel to his context in a way that resonates with them.
“Contextualization is about making the church as culturally accessible as possible without compromising the truth of Christian belief. In this, what is sought is timeless truth and timely methods. In other words, contextualization is not making the gospel relevant, but showing the relevance of the gospel.” (Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears ,Vintage Church, p. 228)
Why is it that certain segments of Christianity are so afraid of this concept? Why are so many churches, pastors, and Christians content to isolate themselves in their Bible bubbles when we know full well that Jesus engaged His culture? Why do we insist on hanging on to our tried and true “methods” of ministry when we can clearly see they are failing?
Oh and why are those “methods” acceptable but anything that doesn’t fit into our little box labeled “philosophy of ministry” aren’t?
Evangelical Untouchables 2: Seeker Sensitivity
I have been doing some writing for the Internet Monk, a very well read Christian blog ran by Michael Spencer. The series of articles that I was asked to write for is called the “Evangelical Untouchables.” It’s basically a group of pastors from a cross section of Christianity that are answering a common question posed by Michael 3 or 4 days ahead of time. He then posts the answers on his blog and you can read 6 or 7 different guys giving their responses to a question that is relevant to modern Church life.
The second of this series of questions was…
“How has the “seeker” emphasis affected your perception of your congregation’s worship services? Are there changes you have made to accommodate and bring back seekers? Are there changes you would never consider, even if it would put more non-Christians in your service?”.
Check out the answers and the subsequent readers comments here.
Also Mark Driscoll blogs about Easter preaching here.
Real Church
I am really excited about what God is doing in our church. I believe that we are really seeing the fruit of our focus on Jesus, authenticity, and masculinity. We’ve been very intentional about these things and it’s really cool to see God using it to reach our community.
What do I mean by these three specific focus points?
1. Jesus – This means we worship Him and not the people. This might mean that some people get offended because the church doesn’t revolve around them. This might men that self-consumed pseudo “Christians” don’t like your church because they don’t get anything out of it. Of course they don’t…it’s not about them and their narcissistic world. It means that every sermon, Bible study, etc. gets to Jesus because anytime the Bible is taught without connecting it to Jesus is not only a complete waste of time it is completely missing the point.
2. Authenticity – Real people, worshipping a real God. I think Tim Chester from the Resurgence says it really well in an article I will quote but that you can read here as well.
“How can we create communities of grace? Let me suggest seven ideas:
1. Make the connections
We need to teach, speak, sing, and pray grace. But we also need to make connections for people. We can believe in justification by faith for the final day, but doubt justification by faith for the next day. On a Monday morning in the workplace we are still trying to prove ourselves, to find identity in our achievements.
2. Welcome the mess
Welcome messy people. Don’t suppress conflict. Don’t hide problems.
3. Stop pretending
Don’t hide your own problems. You’ll need to exercise some discretion: let everyone know you struggle and let some people know what you struggle with.
4. Stop performing
Don’t put on a show. Don’t push people to perform, to produce results, to get it right all the time. Give people permission to fail. We’ve realized, for example, that polished Bible studies and articulate prayers disenfranchise semi-literate people.
5. Eat and drink with broken people
Jesus eats and drinks with sinners. It’s a powerful expression of community. We think we’re enacting grace if we run projects for the poor, but we’re only halfway there. We still act from a position of superiority, proclaiming that we are able and they are unable. The dynamic is totally different when we eat together. We meet as equals, share together, affirm one another, enjoy one another.
6. Give people time to change
How long did it take for you to become perfectly like Jesus? Of course, you’re still changing. There seem to be some sins we’re prepared to work on over a lifetime, but others where we demand instant change. Why is this? The answer, of course, is that we want people to be respectable. We don’t want a messy community.
7. Focus on the heart
All too often we focus on the behaviors we would like someone to stop or start. But Jesus says our behavior comes from the heart (Mark 7:20-23). Our focus needs to be on the heart. Our job is help people find joy in Christ.”
3. Masculinity – I truly believe that if you reach men you can reach the entire community. Even in this age of blurred gender lines the family still follows the lead of the man. If you can engage men you can affect the whole family. Sadly men do not often feel connected to their church. From the building, to the pastor, to the people there is seemingly nothing that resonates with them. In fact the church for many men is an alien world that has little or nothing to do with the world they actually live in. We have tried to break this trend by intentionally making our church masculine. I desire our building decor to make men feel comfortable and not remind them of their grandma’s house. I think about men as I preach by being…1. bold 2. straight forward 3. honest about my failures. This boldness and candor has created a masculine culture in our church that allows men to be men and not some neutered shell of a man.
Oregon Pastor's Retreat
Andrea and I just returned from a three day pastor’s retreat at Lake Bradley Christian Camp in Bandon, OR. I was asked by Steve Hopkins (CC Salem) to help plan the retreat and to teach one of the sessions; both of which were an absolute pleasure and privilege to do.
We had about 20 couples from around Oregon attend the retreat, and I don’t think any of them were disappointed in the slightest. In fact I’m not sure the retreat could have gone any better. From the teaching (through the book of Ruth), to the sweet times of worship, to the great fellowship, and of course the amazing food put out by the staff of Lake Bradley it was a beautiful retreat that lived up to its name…Refresh!
It’s sad…really sad but most of the time I go home from pastor’s gatherings, bummed and discouraged. But this wasn’t the case here. Because this retreat wasn’t about who has the biggest church, nor was it about worshiping some “big gun” speaker, it was about Jesus. In fact this retreat passed my ultimate test for Calvary Chapel pastor’s events…whose name did I hear more; Chuck Smith or Jesus and there is no question that the name of Jesus was exalted and He was absolutely the focus of our time together!
Andrea and I with Steve and Debbie Hopkins.
Catching Up
Hey all I just wanted to pass along a few links to you and catch you up on some things I plan to write.
Mark Driscoll’s short book on porn – This is very well written and to the point. I encourage every man, especially young men, to read this.
Art Azurdia’s “How to Study Your Bible” class at our church – The audio from all four sessions and a pdf of his notes are available there.
Spurgeon Fellowship Journal - Helpful articles for pastors and preachers.
I plan to write the second part of the Women in Ministry post early this week.
I also hope to write some of my thoughts about some recent events within Calvary Chapel including a new CCOF website.
Women in Ministry (Part 1)
The role of women in ministry is a hot button topic in the Church today.
In light of this I wanted to take some time to explain what I and our church believe.
There are three basic views in regard to this subject:
*1. Egalitarian (liberal)
Men and women are partners together in every area of ministry. All ministries and offices are open to men and women. Gender is not a relevant distinction for excluding any person from any church office.
2. Complementarian (moderate)
Men and women are partners together in every area of ministry. All ministries in the church are open to all qualified men and women with the singular exception of the office of elder, which the Scriptures require to be a male-only office. Women can serve as deacons, teach, lead worship, serve communion, be in full time paid ministry, etc.
3. Hierarchical (conservative)
Women and men are created to operate in different spheres of ministry within the church. Women are not permitted to be an elder or deacon, serve communion, teach men, lead worship, pray or speak in the church service, etc. Women should focus on building ministries for other women and children.
*These definitions taken from A Book You’ll Actually Read on…Church Leadership (Mark Driscoll)
I personally believe that the NT teaches the second of these three views.
I believe the other two views to be extreme and unbiblical. The liberal view must ignore passages such as 1 Timothy 2:12
“I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.”
and other passages such as 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. This view has sought to placate the culture by adopting feminism instead of gleaning their doctrine from the Scripture.
However the conservative view ignores passages such as Galatians 3:28
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
It has declared that men are superior to women and has adopted old school traditional values over the Word of God.
I personally believe there is only one office/position in the church that women are not called to hold; that is the office and position of elder/pastor/bishop/overseer or whatever else you want to call that senior leadership role in the church. However there is no reason women cannot function in any and every other position within the church.
I will talk more about the roles of men and women in the church in part 2 of this post.
Ministry 101 by James McDonald
James McDonald from Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago recently shared these simple truths at the Preach the Word Conference at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA.
He was asked the question…if the older James McDonald could speak with a younger James what would you share that you’ve learned?
James replied,
“I would heed the advice of my dad (who was a pastor)…
1. Feed the people
2. Love the people
3. Be quick to admit when you’re wrong”
Feed the people the Word of God…nothing more nothing less. Love the people with the love of Jesus Christ, being patient with them and extending the same grace that has been extended to us.
And when we fall short of these things we should quickly admit our wrong doing and move on.
Simple…but packed with truth that will make any pastor succeed.
Conference with Gayle Erwin (Day 1)
I am currently attending a private conference hosted by Pastor Chuck Lind and CC Olympia
The speaker is well known author and teacher Gayle Erwin
The conference is very casual…almost like sitting around a living room listening to your grandpa tell stories from long ago.
Gayle has been pretty candid about his opinions regarding worship, preaching, and the direction of Calvary Chapel as a movement.
In Session #1 of Day 1 Gayle spent a great deal of time dealing with worship. He believes that worship has become too slick and professional. Too many lights, loud sound systems, and songs no one but the leader knows. Some of this is opinion based upon his age and background. But we would be wise to evaluate our corporate worship to ensure that we aren’t losing the simplicity of adoring Jesus in the midst of our techy show. He also pontificated about plants and pulpits in the sancturary. He believes that we should remove any barriers between us (the preacher) and the congregation. Apparently that includes the cheesy fake greenery that is as much a fixture in evangelical churches as a cross. Personally I like to use a pulpit. We are in the process of having a new one made out of metal that will be much more modern than our current wood model so I think I will just agree to disagree with Gayle on this one. As to the plastic plants…yeah those should be burned along with any and all Left Behind movies.
In session #2 Gayle shared about preaching. He believes pastors should employ humor but only humor that doesn’t make anyone besides yourself the brunt of the joke. This pretty much puts my humor out of business. 
He recommended puns and slap stick. Hmmm. I don’t think I am willing to stoop to that level to get people to laugh. I will just stick to my sarcasm and self-deprication.
He made some great points about connecting with people; making the Bible come alive by placing yourself in the story, using personal illustrations instead of canned stories from a book, and keeping things simple so that even children can track with you. Gayle has always modeled these principles well in his teaching and it was a good reminder for me in my desire to make the Word come alive for each and every person listening to me.
In the last part of the second session Gayle talked at great length about the Calvary Chapel movement and his desire to see us return to simply loving Jesus and pointing others to Him. He doesn’t understand why our movement is so infatuated with the Emerging/Emergent Church.
“If it wasn’t for Calvary Chapel their 15 minutes of fame would have been up a long time ago…we’re keeping that thing going by talking about it all the time.”
I couldn’t agree more. Just preach Jesus and Him crucified. Let Jesus take care of His Church.
He also warned against being content with what has happened in the past and not pursuing our own move of God in the present. Amen Gayle! I don’t know about you but I wasn’t even born during the Jesus Movement. And while I praise God for the heritage I’ve been given, my desire is to see God do something amazing and fresh in my own generation.
Stay tuned…Conference Day 2 tomorrow.
New Year's Resolutions '09
Ok I know it’s already the 7th of January and this is a little late but here are my resolutions for this year. Let’s see if I can keep this past the 31st.
1. Lose 30 pounds (29 to be exact) – I currently weigh 209 lbs. Which wouldn’t be too bad if I was 6′ but I’m only 5′8″ and although I’m built pretty stocky this is “weigh” too heavy. I’m currently on an 1800 calorie per day diet which should help me drop about 10 lbs per month. I also plan on doing a fairly intense workout regimen. We’ll see how it goes
2. Spend more time in the Word devotionally…it is very easy for me as a pastor to substitute studying for devotions and fail to spend quality time with just my Bible, Jesus, and me…not thinking of how this would make a great sermon but simply seeing it through the lens of my own life.
3. More organized with my time - I am going to schedule certain meetings and appointments early in the week to allow for more study and preparation time later in the week. This is difficult to do as things come up but I need to say no, more often.
4. Read 12 books – I would like to read at least 1 book per month.
5. Take a day off – I take Friday’s off…it’s what we call our family day. But with a Blackberry and laptop I’ve got a mobile office and I need to be more disciplined about turning it off or leaving it at home so that my focus is upon my family and not the “urgent” phone call or email that just came in. This is completely my fault…I can’t expect life to stop on Friday but I need to make sure that I prioritize my life better.
Well that’s it for now…I think 5 is enough. If you feel led you can help keep me accountable.
blessings on your New Year!
9 things to watch for in the Church in 2009
2008 is now officially in the books and so rather than look back in nostalgia at the year that was I would like to look ahead to 2009.
Here are some, 9 actually, trends to look for in the corporate gatherings of Christians in 2009.
1. Mega-Churches will continue to lose numbers as people (not only young people) seek community and authenticity.
2. Due to the economy churches and church leaders will look for alternatives to the big slick attractional methods of outreach.
3. The emergent church will come up with some definitive answers or they will become even more irrelevant.
4. Christians will realize that blogs, facebook, and online teaching cannot replace real live people with whom God has called us to influence and be influenced by.
5. Churches to transition from spectator events to the living organism God intended them to be as church leaderships are forced to rely more upon volunteers to do the work of the ministry.
6. Pastors and churches will attempt to be more relevant and in so doing will become less Biblical.
7. Alcohol will become less of a big deal as Christians continue to realize that its use in moderation is not sinful.
8. Churches that focus on Jesus and the gospel will grow as hurting people seek hope beyond the struggles of this life.
9. There will be a simultaneous increase in division and unity within Christianity as the mindsets and practices that lead to both will perpetuate.
Happy New Year!!
Bible Teaching
My good friend Jeff Stewart from Calvary Chapel Pomona Valley and I talk frequently about ministry and one of the things that comes up often is Bible teaching. Both Jeff and I are passionate about teaching the Bible. It’s something that we’ve both dedicated our lives to and therefore something we think and talk a lot about.
I believe it’s incumbent upon pastors and Bible teachers to be teachable and to continually grow in their gift of teaching. This takes a humble heart that is willing to listen to critique and learn from it. Too often pastors in their stubborn pride refuse to change, but I believe this displeases God and goes against the very premise of the Book we’re teaching.
Jeff wrote an article about a year ago on his myspace page that we have recently revised and I wanted to make version 2.0 available here.
1.TEACH YOUR TEXT – It is not our job to make the Bible say something other than what it says. It is our job to extract the Author’s intended meaning and to make that applicable to our listeners. In our attempt to make the Bible exciting and relevant we end up using it as a spring board to say whatever we want. While this might be exciting and make people say, “wow I’ve never heard that before!” There is probably a reason they haven’t heard it before; it’s not there
2. DON’T BE A FLIPPER - Cross references can be great to clarify your text or substantiate a point, but don’t teach them (ie – spending more time in the cross referenced passage than in your text) and don’t have people flipping all over the Bible trying to find your cross-references. Quote the verse or passage or sum it up in your own words. Our vast knowledge of the Bible may impress people but it can be a very ineffective communication method.
3. STUDY YOUR TEXT BUT PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER YOUR APPLICATION – This is a common mistake, to spend all of the allotted time dispensing information and never telling people what it means to them personally. We must be more than a breathing reference book. There is a small percentage of people who love history, original languages, and big theological words but most people that sit before us are frazzled from life and just want to hear a simple truth from the Spirit of God.
We personally believe that this is a primary way the Spirit desires to use the New Testament gift of prophecy, “he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men”.
Yes the Holy Spirit can and will apply the text to each individual but he desires to use us in that process otherwise just hand everyone a commentary and call it good.
4. YOU CAN’T TELL THEM EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IN ONE STUDY – And if you can you probably shouldn’t be teaching the Bible you should be learning it.
This is common to young Bible teachers and guys that are just starting out, you want to be very diligent and teach the text thoroughly (which is good) however you will end up losing, or boring people , or worse…Both
As Bible teachers it is important that we have a firm understanding of our text. We must do our homework…word studies, history, cross references, etc. This does not necessitate that we dump all of this study upon our people. The hours of study and firm grasp of the text will come across in your teaching without you verbalizing everything you know.
5. BE ABLE TO CLOSE – Remember not everyone is as interested in listening to you as you are. Every pastor struggles in this area because we are so excited about what we’ve learned and we want to give it away. But if you’ve made your point, move on. If you are on point #2 and the Spirit is speaking powerfully to people it may be better for you to end the message at that point and give people more opportunity to respond to the Word. Too often we are bound to our notes and our outline and we feel we must tell them everything we have prepared…why? Know when to end…don’t ramble…don’t feel like you have to fill time…just shut it down and let the Spirit work His Word into their hearts.
6. KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING AND HOW YOU’RE GOING TO GET THERE – And then tell your listeners from the beginning so that they can track with you. This seems self evident, but sadly it is not. If I as the teacher do not know where I am going then chances are my audience won’t either, even when I get there.
7. BE CHRISTOCENTRIC – Ok it’s a big word, it’s a word we don’t necessarily need to use but should practice. It simply means to make Jesus the center and focus of our Bible teaching. Every time we teach the Bible we should be pointing people to Jesus. It is our job to see Jesus and the gospel in the text and then make Him come alive for our listeners. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39)
8. AVOID MAKING STATEMENTS – This point may be difficult to articulate. The idea is that we shouldn’t be making statements intended to impress the audience. Statements that take people 5 minutes to process and by then they’ve completely forgotten the point. Bible teaching is not merely motivational speaking, it’s teaching the Living Breathing Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). If we allow it to, it will make plenty of powerful statements on its own.
9. BE HONEST – About whether or not you connected with the audience. If you did not connect nothing else may matter. Ask other Bible teachers you respect to listen to your teaching and allow them to critique you and then don’t defend yourself.
little church that does BIG things (Part 2)
I think there are 3 main reasons why pastors and churches don’t look beyond their 4 walls to reach their community. And in reality #1 leads to #2 and 3.
1. No vision
2. No money
3. No help
In other words no vision perpetuates itself whereas sensitivity to the Lord, unique ideas, and thinking outside of the box is contagious and infuses excitement into the body. A lack of vision also leads to the lack of funds and help. Why would people want to give their money or time to a church or pastor that has no vision?
Pastors are funny people. We tend to complain about problems that we’ve created. It’s kind of like marriage…men complain about their wives but what they fail to realize is that she is a reflection of them. If your wife is a nagging control freak then take a good long look in the mirror my friend because she is a product of your own stupidity.
But I digress…
I found that when I quit worrying about why soccer families missed so many services and why the church wasn’t growing and I just began to disciple the folks that were there and look beyond the 4 walls the problems that seemed so big to me actually disappeared.
It was during this epiphany that we began to do what for us were some big things…I detailed one of them in part 1 of this post. Some large outreaches that were way over our heads. In the summer of 2005 we began a summer festival called SonFest. My heart in this idea was to create a comfortable atmosphere where families could bring their kids and listen to some music and hear the gospel. We bring in 4-5 bands that play throughout the day. We cook up some hamburgers and hotdogs. We put on a mini-carnival for the kids with jump houses, water slide, petting zoo, and tons of games and candy. This year we added dramas with a clear presentation of the gospel after each one. We hold SonFest in a highly visible downtown park and typically we have 2 to 3 thousand people come throughout the day. We then hold our Sunday morning service in the park the following morning and we usually have about twice our normal Sunday attendance.
In addition to SonFest we also took over a local soup kitchen about a year ago. The former directors were real tired and decided that it was either time to find someone else or shut the doors. They approached us and asked if we would be interested in taking over the management of The Oasis. Initially I thought to myself, “are you kidding! We don’t have the man power or money to take this on.”
But after seeking the Lord and discussing it with our leadership we felt like it was the right thing to do. However the only way we thought it would work was if we hired a person from our church to manage it. At the time the current leaders (husband and wife) were volunteers but I knew that if we tried to go this route we would end up in the same boat they were in eventually. Immediately I thought of a women in our church who had just closed down a restaurant that her and friend ran together. She had food preperation and management experience and she has a tremendous heart for the Lord and people. She jumped at the opportunity and has been doing an amazing job. The Oasis serves lunch to about 50 people a day, 6 days a week. We also give away food boxes and financial assistance through that ministry. It has been a huge step of faith for us but God has provided and we are privileged to reach out to the “least of these” in our community.
In addition to these larger outreaches we have done some smaller scale events and projects. Some have been great successes; like a leaf raking outreach we did a few years ago where we went to different neighborhoods and raked leaves for people and then shared the gospel with them as they looked on dumbfounded.
Some have been pretty major failures, like the “equine clinic” we put on about a year ago…horses are a big deal here so we thought we would be relevant and reach out to the horse people
We brought in a guy who uses horses and horse training as a means to introduce people to the gospel. First of all I don’t know anything about horses so I asked a guy in the church to oversee the event. He pretty much flaked out and dropped the ball on most of his commitments. I had to pick up the slack and things went from bad to horrible. The horse outreach guy did a fair job of communicating the gospel with horses but it came across a bit canned and pretty cheesy. But what was really bad was the concert that followed. We invited this country band to come and play for us to follow up our good ol’ time. Well the problem was that nobody (and I mean nobody) from the community stayed for the concert. We literally had 9 people stay for the concert and all of them were from our church; people who felt obligated to be there. The lead singer of the band kept inviting people to church the next day and then finally realized all 9 of us were members. It was a disaster.
In your attempt to be a little church that does BIG things you will win some and lose others but don’t ever get discouraged. Keep praying, keep seeking God for wisdom and creative ideas as to how you can reach your community with the amazing gospel message.
If there is any way I can help you to implement some of your ideas into your church don’t hesitate to call or shoot me an email.
blessings,
ryan
(541) 416-9009 (office)
ryanATcalvarycrookcountyDOTcom (email)
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little church that does BIG things (Part 1)
My wife and I came to Prineville in the fall of 2001 to start a Thursday evening Bible study that would ultimately become Calvary Chapel Crook County. (we named it that because the area is known by the county more than the city)
Our first Sunday morning service was held on May 5th 2002. We had about 30 people that first Sunday and we quickly grew to 50 people crowding into our little elementary school library (the chairs were Lilliputian made for people without years of carbs in their backside).
After our move to Crook County Middle School in the fall of that year we grew to about 75 people and like most church planters I thought we were going to have a mega church in no time.
However after a few years in the Middle School, and several original families gone for one reason or another, we were still about 75 people and I was getting discouraged.
Why isn’t the church growing? Why do new people come once and never return? Why do key families have to leave the church? Why is this so stinkin’ hard?
It was about this time that the Lord spoke to me and gave me the focus and vision that is at the core of who we are as a church to this day. A vision that looked beyond the 4 walls of our church to a lost community that would much rather sleep in and watch football on Sunday than sing songs to a God they don’t know and listen to some young punk teach a book they don’t believe.
The Lord showed me that He doesn’t need a lot of people to accomplish this plan. He could reach our entire community with a few people who were on fire for Him.
“I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.” (Isaiah 45:5)
He began to put big ideas upon my heart that we didn’t have the man power or budget to pull off.
One of the ideas was an outreach to sportsmen. Hunting is huge here…(shocking right). For this area where less than 10% attend church hunting is the god of choice. I would say that 80-90% of the men (and many women) in this community hunt. Therefore what better way to reach this community with the gospel than by appealing to what is closest to their heart. Quest Outdoors was born out of this vision and several conversations with one of our leaders, Shawn Jones, who owns and operates a hunting/fishing guide business called Go West Outfitters.
Shawn and I had the idea of creating a banquet that would look a lot like other sportsman’s banquets (like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, or Oregon Hunters Association).
The first Quest Outdoors banquet was held in 2004. We put together an awesome catered dinner, a top notch speaker in the field, world class taxidermy and thousands of dollars in prizes. There was no way a church of 75 people should be able to pull this off. But not only did we pull it off but we had about 250 people come our first year and it has doubled since. Each year men and women who would never darken the door of our church come to this event and hear the message of the gospel in a way that meets them right where they’re at.
This local outreach which has become a yearly event has motivated our church to do several other events and outreaches in our community…and has given our church the reputation of the “little church that does big things.”
I remember when I first heard someone describe our church this way. I was offended. Calling a church planter’s work small is like kicking him in the groin. But as I thought about it I realized that it was perfect because people were giving God the glory as they recognized that our little church with puny numbers and a tiny budget couldn’t possibly pull this off without divine intervention.
1 Cor. 1:26-31
Over the years our church has grown but we continue to take steps of faith taking risks for the sake of the Kingdom.
Many of these outreaches and events have bombed big time…some of them have been incredible successes. I will talk more about these things in Part 2 of this post.
grace…ryan
Instilling Vision
Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who used to be my assistant pastor and is now planting a church in Walla Walla, WA.
I am on his board helping him make financial decisions while his church is being established.
I was encouraging him to begin to instill in his small group of people the vision that he has to grow the church and reach the community with the gospel. Often small churches suffer from the “I don’t want a big church” syndrome. The reason we came here was due to the size. We like the small atmosphere and that we know everybody’s name (and their birthdays…and their social security numbers)
The tendency for small churches in small towns is to get comfortable with the few families that are coming and to never want that to change. As a pastor of a small church you must begin to instill your vision to reach the community early on because the longer you wait the more difficult it will be to convince Mr. and Mrs. home school parent that this is a good idea.
Here are some practical ways you can do this.
1. Talk about it from the pulpit (or music stand or folding chair turned backwards) – duh! Share your heart for the lost as it comes up in Scripture. Encourage the people to see themselves as missionaries in their neighborhoods, workplaces, and families.
2. Think big - Encourage the people that you can reach this community with the few people you have right now. God doesn’t need a thousand people to make an impact. I have been saying this since our church first began. As we’ve grown from 25 to 50 to 75 to 100 to 150 and beyond I’ve been telling our body that we can reach this city right here, right now.
3. Pour into men – Without solid mature men with leadership gifts your church won’t be healthy so begin meeting with 1 or 2 guys that have potential for leadership. Share your heart with them. Tell them your vision to reach the community. Bounce stuff off of them. Listen to their ideas. Get their opinions. Pray with them.
4. Start small – Often small churches with tiny budgets and small minded pastors get intimidated to do outreach. “We can’t afford it!” “We don’t have enough people!” Yes and if you keep saying that it will continue to be true. Think of creative ways that your small fellowship can reach out with the love of Jesus. Maybe it’s raking leaves in a local neighborhood and sharing the gospel with the people as they stand on their porch dumbfounded that someone is willing to do what they’ve been dreading for weeks. For more unique ideas see Steve Sjogren’s book 101 Ways to Reach Your Community.
In my next post we are going to look at how little churches can do big things.
Planting a Church in a Small Town
I remember pouring over the map trying to decide where I wanted to move my wife and I to plant a church.
I wanted to go to a big city…because lots of people equals big church and every church planter wants to have a big church. Not to mention big cities have cool stuff to do.
However the Lord didn’t open up doors in any big cities instead he directed us toward a very small town about 20 miles from where I was a volunteer assistant pastor.
Prineville, OR. population 10, 190 (you know you live in a small town when you know the exact number of residents)
It was actually about 8,500 people when we moved here but it’s growing…or at least it was before the economy went in the toilet.
So over the last six plus years I’ve learned a few things about church planting and pastoring in a small town that I would like to share with you if you’re interested.
Here are four things I’ve learned about church planting in a small town-
1. Be authentic – small town folks can recognize a phony from a mile away (from one end of town to the other). Be real. Be genuine. Be yourself.
2. Be realistic - every church planter wants to have a mega church…but if you’re planting a church in a town smaller than many megas you might want to reevaluate your measure of success.
3. Be patient – even though it’s a fruit of the Spirit us pastor types tend to be pretty impatient. We like to see instant results but planting a church in a small town can take years to establish and to see substantial fruit.
4. Be broad (in your focus) – As a small town church planter your vision should be to reach the entire city. You aren’t trying to reach a certain part of town, or a specific demographic. You need to instill in the folks that are coming that you can reach this whole city right now with the few people that are coming.
I plan on writing more thoughts on church planting and pastoring in a small town so stay tuned.
You Can't Say That!
BrianD who writes a weekly linkathon post for the Phoenix Preacher turned me on to this lady, Anne Jackson who wrote a blog post called Keeping Your Mouth Shut where she gives people the opportunity to say things they would never feel comfortable saying in church or around other Christians.
So I decided to write a post where pastors and Bible teachers can say things they would never say from the pulpit or in their Bible study…or maybe things you have said but took flack for or regret.
Now I’m not talking about obvious filth…just things that might ruffle feathers.
Interview
Stewart, our worship leader, and I put together an interview today regarding the history, vision, and philosophy of ministry of Calvary Chapel of Crook County. Go here and click the play button on the home page.
You can also listen to the interview here on the teachings page of the church website or in iTunes under Calvary Chapel of Crook County.
Defining Success
Defining successful ministry can be difficult. Too often a ministry is deemed successful purely on the basis of how many people attend.
How was church? Becomes code for, how many people were there?
Now don’t get me wrong…I believe that numbers are important because each number represents a person for whom Jesus died. In fact in Acts 2 Luke records that 3,000 people were added to the church. Apparently numbers are important to the Holy Spirit as He inspired Luke to give such a detail.
However I don’t think the Holy Spirit intended for us to define success solely on this basis. And it’s services like we had today that remind me of this truth. (more…)
The Perfect Church
Ok we all know that doesn’t exist, but what about the perfect size church?
Is there such a thing? Obviously lots of people like mega-churches (5,000 or more) or there wouldn’t be mega-churches.
Transversely there are a tremendous amount of people who enjoy small churches (100 or less) as there are thousands of them throughout the world. In fact the average church in America is about 75 people.
I’m really enjoying the current size of our church, on Sundays we typically have 150 adults and 50 kids in attendance. There are probably 200 adults and 75 children who are regular attenders. (more…)
Can't we all just get along?
Christianity is not very complicated.
Christians like to make it complicated but it’s really rather simple. For centuries those that claim to follow the Carpenter from Galilee have taken the simple truths of our faith and muddied them up. In light of this convolution the Church is now fractured into a myriad of groups that are divided by such minutiae as which version of the Bible to use.
I wonder what would happen if the Church in America was persecuted like the Church in the book of Acts. What if we had to gather in dark underground cellars crowded around one Bible. I don’t think Christians in Red China are too worried about what version of the Bible their underground Church uses. I’m pretty sure that Peter and the boys were not too concerned with Church politics while Nero was chasing them down and torturing them. (more…)
Pray for Ken Sutton and Calvary Everett
Please pray for a friend of mine, Ken Sutton, as he plants a church in Everett, WA. The church will officially launch on Sept. 21 (my birthday no less) as they begin a Sunday night Bible Study in John called “Thirsty”
Ken has planted and helped plant several churches in the US and abroad and most recently was on staff as the men’s pastor at CCCM.
Ken was asked by Kelly Taylor (CC Lake Stevens) to come up and begin a new work in the Everett area and I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to do in and through him and his family.
Church Chair Infomercial
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFaM_3la2LM]
Here is a video that some guys from church put together as a promo for our new church chairs. Someone in the church stepped up to pay for half of the chairs and we are encouraging the rest of the body to help out if they can. The video was not meant to be serious so understand that going into it.
Burning Questions Week #3
This post is a about a week late so I apologize for that…
The Wednesday before last we tackled the third question in this series.
“What Does Prayer Accomplish?” (Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?) (more…)