4 Groups in EVERY Church

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Through the years, I served as a pastor of a small mission church in an eastern Kentucky coal camp, a community church in the middle of the Hatfield-McCoy feud area, a county-seat church south of Cincinnati, and a regional church near Louisville. In all of these churches, the four groups identified by Dr. Gary L. McIntosh in his book There’s Hope for Your Church existed. All of these groups demand attention from the pastor, but a wise pastor will use his relational time strategically. A pastor only has a certain amount of time and energy to invest–often church revitalization hinges on which group gains his focus.

. . . church revitalization hinges on which group gains his focus!

4 GROUPS IN YOUR CHURCH

1. VIP’s – Very Important People:  Of course, everyone is important to the Lord, but this group is made up of church leaders who already share the vision of the pastor and will help bring about revitalization in the church ministry. If they are not already in key ministry positions in the church, the pastor seeking to bring about church renewal should work to place them in those positions as quickly as possible.

2. VTP’s – Very Trainable People:  Some people are not ready for leadership, but they show potential. They are the people the pastor should mentor each week and the people with whom he should share his vision.

3. VNP’s – Very Nice People:  The people in the third group are not current leaders in the church and will likely never be leaders in the future. They are loyal to the pastor and share the vision the Lord has given him for the church. They do not cause trouble and are generally supportive of all of the ministries of the church.

4. VDP’s – Very Draining People:  The last designation by McIntosh is a group of people who will be a barrier to church revitalization. They will often cause great pain to those who want to improve the vitality of the church.

If we desire to be a revitalization-minded pastor, we must decide where to invest our time. The natural tendency is to spend the majority of our time with the VDP’s because they want to be heard, but that is rarely productive. Instead, we should invest our time with the VIP’s and the VTP’s which will produce the most fruit towards church revitalization.

For more information about Church Revitalization, see the following posts:

Please contact me at the Kentucky Baptist Convention if we can help your church in any way.

Lessons from Mammoth Cave

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A few years ago our family went to visit the Mammoth Cave National Park.  On our visit, we took a tour through the cave led by a young, female guide.  She made many observations throughout our descent and pointed out nuances the untrained eye would have surely missed.

She asked us to be seated on some wooden benches when we reached the lowest point of the cave.  She instructed us to secure our children and then suddenly, she flipped the switch on the lights.  At that point, she proceeded to describe to us what people experience when they are lost in a cave.

Here’s what I didn’t do next! I didn’t say, “now little missy!  You’ve obviously gotten us lost several hundred feet below the surface of the ground, so step aside and I’ll take over.”  I didn’t recite the Mighty Mouse cry of:  “Here I come to save the day!  I thumbed through a couple of books in the gift shop before the tour began, so I’m now an expert on the cave system!”

…now little missy!….step aside and I’ll take over!

Nothing could have been more ridiculous than this type of reaction on my part!  I have learned the hard way that the same is true in my Christian walk through this dark world.  I should not try to “find my way” on my own while my all-knowing God desires to skillfully guide me.  Our daily prayer should echo the words of the Dorothy A. Thrupp hymn:  “Savior, like a shepherd lead us.”

Prayer – Lord, you are the Great Shepherd and You know all things. I surrender fully to your will and your way even when I cannot see the path. You are trustworthy and You are to be praised! Help me to follow you without hesitation. Amen!

Bring on the Rain

Posted in Church Chat, Discipleship, Life Happens, Running3 Comments

If you see me head out the door of my comfortable, dry house during a torrential downpour, you probably will think that I am BONKERS, CRAZY, CUCKOO, DERANGED, FRUITY, NUTS, SCREWY, UNGLUED…..or just plain WACKY.  But actually one of the things I look forward to most as a runner is running in the rain.

Think about it for a minute.  When you were young, your parents rarely allowed you to venture outside during a storm and even more rarely allowed you to splash through deep puddles in your good tennis shoes.  But now that I’m an adult (I realize that’s still being debated in some circles), I can do whatever I want.  My two or three top running memories all involve the rain, so BRING ON THE RAIN!

One of my favorite Christian recording groups, Casting Crowns, has a song called Praise You in the Storm.  I couldn’t help but think of the following powerful lyrics as I was having an awesome, soggy moment on a recent morning run:

I’ll praise you in this storm and I will lift my hands.  For You are who You are no matter where I am.  And every tear I’ve cried, You hold in your hand.  You never left my side and though my heart is torn, I will praise You in this storm!

BE ENCOURAGED my friend.  The God of the sunshine is also God during the storms of life.  Praise Him in all things for He alone is worthy!

5 Keys to Finishing Well

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I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:17

Many Americans see the Super Bowl as a signal that the 33-race NASCAR season is about to begin. In order to make the final Nascar Chase at the end of the season, consistency throughout is key. But if a driver wants to win it all, he must pull out all the stops and finish the season well. That’s exactly what Tyler Reddick did to win the 2018 Nascar Xfinity Series championship!

One day, all of us who are Christians, will be welcomed home to Heaven. Our race will be complete. I imagine that God will pull out all the stops. No earthly event, regardless how spectacular, will compare to that moment when we first see Jesus! All that will matter at that moment is that we are in His presence and that we have finished well!

5 Keys to Finishing Our Race Well

1.  Be sure we are racing for the correct team. Jesus said that He is the only way to Heaven (John 14:6), so we must be certain that we are on His team. In the end, His team is the only one that will win!

2.  Find our driving style. God made each of us unique. We did not come off an assembly line — we were handcrafted by the Lord. Because of this, we all have a unique design or SHAPE. In order to finish well, we must discover God’s design and purpose for our lives and live accordingly.

3.  Remember who owns the car. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20). We are simply servants and stewards, so we should follow His race instructions.

4.  Stop for regular pit stops. Even the most finely-tuned $200,000 race car cannot run without regular pit stops. Throughout a race, drivers stop for fresh tires, fuel, and minor adjustments. We must stop regularly for Bible study, prayer, worship, rest, etc. if we want to finish well.

5.  Race to the line. We should never quit. We should never give up. We should keep racing all the way to the finish line. So often, I see people give up on the race before the race is completed. We should pace ourselves in such a way that we can race to the end.

Prayer:  God help us connect with You through Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Help us discover how You put us together and help us run our race according to Your plans. Help us race with integrity , with consistency, and with other teammates in mind. Help us to race to the line and finish well for Your glory! Amen.

True Success

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A few years back my family and I watched most episodes of American Idol. Being a musical family, we enjoyed the time together listening to some excellent young musicians.

Ultimately, the American viewers determine who will be the “American Idol” by their votes. “Success” is defined as winning the show or at least releasing a hit song as a result of being on the show.

In America, there are many symbols of success. In golf, success is winning one of the major tournaments: The Masters, The U.S. Open, The British Open, or The P.G.A. In baseball, success is winning the World Series. In basketball, success is winning the NBA Championship. Our culture sometimes defines a successful person as the one with the corner office, the one with the good-looking spouse, the one with the expensive sports car, or the one with the huge house.

Have you ever thought about what success looks like in the Bible? In the 13th chapter of John, just hours before His crucifixion, Jesus gave the answer. Wanting to make a lasting impression on His disciples, Jesus provided them with a symbol of success–the TOWEL.

Success is symbolized by a TOWEL!

“….so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”  John 13:5-5

The towel represented service and service represented success. Although He was the leader and was in fact God, Jesus washed the feet of His followers. He performed the act of a household servant. Think about it, if HE served, we should serve. In explaining his actions, he told them:

“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” John 13:15-17 (NIV) 

Late in life, Albert Einstein removed portraits of Newton and Maxwell from his wall and replaced them with portraits of Ghandi and Schweitzer. For Einstein, it was time to replace the image of success with the image of service. But Jesus went further by demonstrating that SUCCESS IS SERVICE! Reacting to the disciple’s obvious misconceptions about success, Jesus clearly told them:

“….whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave–just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28 (NIV)