What A Summer

I cannot believe that it has been almost two full months since I last updated this blog. I guess I am not as good at this as I thought I would be.
Needless to say this summer has been a whirlwind! Getting married, my first summer of full-time ministry, and finishing seminary makes for a crazy time. Even in the midst of the craziness of summer (those in Michigan understand what I mean) and the busyness of life, I was reminded last night in our Bible Study that my ministry and my life is not about ME...It is all about the glory of Christ!
Maybe some of you are going through a serious trial, maybe faced with some major uncertainties. Let me encourage you to remember that your life is not about YOU...It is all about Jesus Christ! When our focus is on Christ, maybe just maybe our situations will seem a little lighter!

Building The Core

Our college/young adult ministry is booming! I can sense great excitement in our ministry as we move into the summer months. Our prayer is that we will continue to grow and build our "core group" as the summer passes along. We are trying several approaches on how to effectively build our core, but in my opinion there is no greater way than Bible Study.
Last night we started our first Bible Study (off campus) and we had a great response. We will continue this summer Bible Study with the hope of making effective small groups. We would love to have several small groups meeting during the week for Bible Study, fellowship, and accountability. Prayerfully by the end of the summer we will have two or three small groups for our college/young adults!

1/10

Answer this question: If 10 prospective guests come to a church and only 1 becomes an active member, is this acceptable or not?

I hope you shouted, "Absolutely NOT!" I have concluded that the answer to this problem is intentionality. Churches today need to have a specific plan set in place on how to handle guests from the moment they drive on the property to the moment they drive off. From parking lot attenders, children workers, music, the preaching, everything needs to be on purpose. Even before guests drive on the property, the advertising and marketing needs to be intentional.

As we move into the summer months, we will take an in depth look at our advertising and also how we can be intentional with the guests who walk through our doors. Our goal is to have 5 of every 10 guests become an active member of our church!

Modern Missions

Why would I fly over a mission field in order to get to another one? This question has been burning me up for the past few months. Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to foreign missions, but are we neglecting our local communities for the sake of foreign missions?

My fear is that people in Guyana, Brazil and India know more about our church than people a few blocks away! Does anybody else hear me?