Ideas, Opportunities for Pastors?

FredK
1. Jethro gave even Moses some wise advice. Proverbs 11.14 gives practicality - “in abundance of counselors there is victory.” Until the end of his ministry our former pastor annually had informal meetings where members could offer suggestions for his consideration. Most Q centered around the facilities and operations. Good changes came of out it. His only request was that if an idea had to do with him personally, see him personally.

Discussion

I will create a website for Churches who can't afford it!

Christopher
To post this on here is probably not worth it considering you are all using the web, I would assume most of your churches have a website. Anyways My offer is that if you would like me to build a website for your church or a church you know that does not have one because they could not afford it. I would be more than happy to build them one for the cost of:

1. Domain registration usually $11.99

2. Hosting Around $50

3. Love gift for time and effort

Discussion

Removing Praise Team, Song Leaders or Anyone Else Holding Mics or Waving Their Arms

SamH
I have been to some churches where the “song leader” (in all cases male) in the worship service sat at the piano. And for the most part, I was glad the congregational singing was led this way. I am guessing there might be other intangibles, but for the most part I think I was grateful for this kind of song leading because of two reasons which culminated in a third: First, the person “leading” was a capable player. Second, the song leader had a voice which could carry us—guiding our singing.

Discussion

How a Worship Format is Destroying the Evangelical Church

Ed Vasicek

During my lifetime, many evangelical churches in American have moved from Bible-oriented gatherings to music-dominated meetings. Interestingly, both sets of religious gatherings typically bore the title, “Worship Service.”

When the evangelical church was Bible-oriented, this “worship” paradigm was in place:

Discussion

Are Spiritual Gifts often neglected? Is this hindering believers and church work?

FredK
For years I have asked believers the Q, “what is your spiritual gift?” One friend told me it was “selling used cars.” I have no doubt that many believers are uncertain about their particular gift(s). Is this necessary? What does it say about their pulpit and SS class teaching? We know that spiritual gifts are addressed at least 4 different places in NT. Paul was really into them. Why the big reluctance to teach on them?

Discussion

Confronting Racism in the Church

SharperIron

Sermon preached at 2010 IL/MO state conference. Republished with permission from Baptist Bulletin Jan/Feb 2011. All rights reserved.

By Greg Randle

In 1865 General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, to declare to slaves there that they were free. The order that General Granger took to those slaves had been signed two and a half years earlier. So although the people had been pronounced free nearly three years before, they did not know it until the general came and told them. In essence they were still slaves. They thought like slaves. They talked like slaves. They even lived like they were slaves.

Already Free

We have a lot of Christians today who are still thinking like slaves, still talking like slaves, still living like slaves. Although our emancipation proclamation was signed two thousand years ago by the blood of Jesus, we still don’t know how to treat one another in the Lord. God wants us to be able to come together in the Body of Christ regardless of our racial background, regardless of our ethnicity—to come and experience unity and fellowship one with another. In fact, Galatians 2 challenges us about an issue that we’ve been dealing with since the beginning of time: racism. Racism is the institutional power used to hold down a certain race of people through injustice or other unkind means. And the last place we should see racism is in the church of Jesus Christ.

Peter, the apostle to the Jews, and Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, confronted this issue. We see Peter’s failure, and Paul’s freedom to help him overcome his failure.

Discussion