Guests-Five Follow Up Principles

Posted by Mike James
on June 25, 2009 – 1:48 pm
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One of the most important things a church does is to follow up on guests who visit the church or any activity sponsored by the church. It is a key to church growth. Each church must customize what works best in their particular setting. Churches today are rethinking the follow up components with guests. Part of the initial follow up could be by e-mail, phone, personal visit with materials about the church, letter, meal with a member, etc.
Churches that connect effectively with guests beyond the first visit focus on serving people well. They also use intentional follow up as a vital part of their overall assimilation process.
When we think about follow up to guests, we make a mistake if we consider all of them exactly the same in their receptivity. A church should handle everyone with great care because that is what Jesus would do, but it helps to focus on those most ready and eager to make a decision for Christ and or join the church.

Gary L. McIntosh says we need to divide guests into two types: suspects and prospects. Suspects are people who visit our church and we suspect that they might be interested in the things of the Lord, but they are actually just looking. Prospects are people who attend our church, and we can tell that they are interested in spiritual things. They are people who are sincerely seeking a relationship with Christ and the church. He goes on to say that a church’s effective follow-up plan depends on being able to separate the suspects from the true prospects who visit the worship service. In general, first-time guests are suspects. They may be interested in the Lord. They may be interested in the church, but then again, maybe not. Guests who return for additional visits are the true prospects. By attending your church again, they are in effect saying that they liked what they found the first time. They are back for a closer look.

Get A Plan in Place
Churches should make contacts with all guests but especially those who are prospects rather than suspects. Church growth studies have found that the average growing church in the United States keeps 16 percent of all first-time guests. In contrast, the average church keeps 85 percent of its second-time guests!

Churches must do all they can to help first time guests become second timers.

One way is to focus on their needs. Do they need to know that you provide great child care? Do they need to know about your women’s or men’s ministry? Do they need some biblical help with their finances? Do they need a clear presentation of the Gospel? As we focus on these folks we need to discover what their needs are and then seek to meet those needs in the love of Jesus.
Today’s guests want their visit to be acknowledged somewhat but they are not expecting a visit from the pastor that afternoon.   As a pastor I found that most people like to visit incognito! Usually it took them two or three visits before they even filled out a guest card. People today are much more guarded about their privacy than in the past and this includes visits in their homes.
In Gary McIntosh’s excellent book, “Beyond the First Visit,” he gives five principles for follow up.
Follow-up is most effective when guests receive …
1. A friendly contact-Offer your friendship. Take care not to offend new people.
2. A personal contact-Focus on the guest’s interests and needs. Nothing takes the place of personal touch in our lonely world.
3. A prompt contact-Contact guests within 24 hours. The longer the time between their visit and a contact, the less effective the results.
4. A non-threatening contact-Put the guest at ease. Guests have a natural uneasiness about new places and people.
5. A continual contact-Follow-up is a process, not an event. A onetime contact is not enough to be effective in our present environment.
How is your church doing in following up with people that the Lord has brought to your door?  Focusing on improving your follow up process will reap great rewards.

Filed under Assimilation |

Discipleship, Doing good, and Shopping Carts

Posted by Mike James
on June 18, 2009 – 10:42 pm
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We spend lots of time searching for God’s perfect will and wondering if we are fulfilling our God given path for life.  A disciple should always pray to be at the very center of God’s will for his or her life.  Sometimes we are not where God wants us to be and sometimes we are just not sure about this God’s will thing.  Most of us have experienced those times where we seem to be in a hall way with a series of closed doors before us waiting for one of them to open so that we can get out of the hall way.   Been there, done that as I am sure you have too.  How do you respond while you are in the hallway? When you are waiting for the Lord to open the door are you still faithful?

Two verses have helped me during those times.  One is Luke 9:23.  “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

This verse reminds us that the very essence of following Jesus is a daily commitment.  It is 24/7.  It is not just on weekends or just on Sundays or when we feel like it or when things are really going well.

Discipleship at its core is following Jesus daily.

Another verse, Acts 10:38, contains excellent advice for what we are suppose to do today and tomorrow even if we are in the hallway waiting for God’s next assignment or new direction.   This verse gives us a specific, direct, and simple two word assignment plan for our day.  The verse reads, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” NIV

Jesus went about “doing good!”  Those two words can change the direction of your life.  Today, I have lots of stuff on my “to do” list.  You probably do too.   Places to go, people to meet, yada yada yada.  But the main thing I must accomplish today is to go about “doing good” in the same way Jesus did.  Our actions and our words represent Jesus to people.  That means there will be some divine encounters where the Lord will send some folks my way so that I might “do good” to them.  It may happen in a restaurant or at the grocery store or on the ball field.

What do you go about doing?  Complaining?  Being negative or bitter? You know what the Lord wants you to do today and tomorrow…just go about doing good.

Churches should do the same thing in thinking of ways they can bless the people (do good) in their community.  They must be intentional and think of new ways to bless and minister and reach people for Jesus Christ.  In other words, to go about doing good on a daily basis. When people see us they should get a glimpse of Jesus in us.

Sylvan Goldman was intentional and invented something we use every week.  In 1937 he observed that shoppers in his Oklahoma grocery store stopped shopping when their wicker baskets became too full or too heavy.  So he got creative and intentional and invented our modern day shopping cart!   Thanks a lot Sylvan!

Today, be intentional throughout the course of your day by “doing good.”  You might not invent something that will change the world, but the Lord might change a person through your witness.  God has called all of us to be a blessing to other people by “doing good” just like Jesus.

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Eight Steps to Reverse Spiritual Death in Churches

Posted by Mike James
on June 11, 2009 – 9:14 am
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Bill Easum in his book “A Second Resurrection,” (Abingdon, 2007) lists eight steps to reverse spiritual decline in churches.  He says that spiritual death doesn’t have to happen in the life of a church.  Even in churches that seem to not have a chance at surviving there is still hope of revitalization.  In order to reverse a dying church, he suggests the following eight steps be implemented. See if these don’t ring true in your experience and context.

Action

Someone (usually the pastor) begins to cast a vision of a different future and gathers together a group of like-minded members to be the leaders of the future. These people may or may not presently be in leadership. Please note: this action is never the result of a committee or board; it will always be one person who decides to become a change agent.

Discomfort

The new vision disrupts the comfort level of the church leaders-a positive step because people are open to change in direct proportion to their level of discontent. The more discontent, the more open to change people are. Rather than trying to smooth over the waters, the leader fans the discontentment of the gathered leaders in whom the Spirit is growing. This is a critical point in the turnaround. If the change agent blinks here, it’s all over. The old guard gains strength and those who hope for change lose their last ounce of courage.

It’s not unusual in this stage for the pastor to create one or two quick victories. Many spiritually bankrupt churches have not had a victory in years, and even the slightest victory challenges the belief that “we’re just a small church and could never do that!” It doesn’t matter how simple these victories might be as long as it is something the church has not been able to do for some time.

Passion

Spiritually alive leaders begin to realize time is of the essence as people live and die without Christ. The new vision instills a passion and urgency that was present in the beginning years of the church. This passion always stems from how the pastor and the growing group of gathered leaders model the Great Commission. Pastors need to know one thing: in the early stages of turnaround if you are not spending most of your time with the unchurched, your church doesn’t have a chance of becoming spiritually alive again.

Change

The second year of turnaround, one of two things must happen: either the old guard leadership has been transformed or they are replaced by the new guard the pastor has been training for the past year. Then the growing number of spiritual leaders initiates a major change that rocks the status quo and leads to growth. This type of change is strategically important to the success of turnaround. To see what this change might be in your situation, I refer you to my book “Unfreezing Moves.”

Excitement about the future

Spiritual leaders begin listening to God and are becoming more comfortable with taking risks. It’s not uncommon at this point that major changes are made in the way the church is organized so that form follows function and people are allowed more freedom in beginning new ministries. But keep in mind that changing the structure without first changing the hearts of the people doesn’t work.

A culture of courage

Leaders realize that in Christ they can do all things, and the pace of the turnaround hastens and worship attendance begins to increase. The leaders become living proof that perfect love does cast out all fear. New people are encouraged and nurtured by being around the leaders and the church becomes an incubator of faith-that is, a place where strangers are welcomed and nurtured in a loving environment. Decisions begin to be made on a much faster basis, and congregational or representative rule slowly shifts back to the staff making the day-to-day decisions and the board holding them accountable.

Growing leaders

All through the process the pastor has been increasing the numbers of spiritual leaders till the number reaches the tipping point where they outnumber the old guard who are not willing to grow in Christ, and it becomes impossible to stop the turnaround.

Explosion of growth

Growth feeds on growth, the minds of church leaders shift from addition to multiplication, the church moves forward on momentum alone, and the turnaround is complete.

Easum says this entire process can take as long as three to five years depending on how spiritually dead the church is in the beginning. And the process usually begins in the first year of a new pastor. Either the church has received a new pastor, or the present pastor has a transforming change.

If churches are going to have a comeback, these steps must be experienced.  Churches in Kentucky and all over the world can experience a resurrection of growth and vitality as the Holy Spirit breathes new life into our people. It begins with prayer as we trust the Lord to do a great work in and through His church.  Remember 1 Corinthians 3:6 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.”

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Discipleship or Great Commision Resurgence?

Posted by Mike James
on June 4, 2009 – 10:02 am
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On May 11, Baptist Press quoted Henry Blackaby on his thoughts about the Great Commission Resurgence.  His answers are very insightful to churches on why we are not growing and reaching this culture with the Gospel.  I am not going to be the color commentator on his comments, or put it in the “spin zone” but just wanted to encourage you to read and let his words sink in to your mind and heart.

“If Southern Baptists want to see a “Great Commission Resurgence,” they need to focus on the relationship between disciples and the living Lord Jesus, not launch a new emphasis on evangelism.  I have felt for a long time that Southern Baptists have focused on evangelism and missed discipleship.

The most important part of the Great Commission is ‘teach them to practice everything I have commanded you.’ That’s discipleship and that’s the heart of the Great Commission. If we want to have a resurgence in the Great Commission, there’s got to be a refocusing on the priorities of Christ for discipleship.”

Blackaby believes that declining baptism and membership statistics in the Southern Baptist Convention reflect not so much a lack of passion for Christ’s command to make disciples as a lack of relationship with Jesus Christ.

“When you hear the Southern Baptist leadership being concerned about baptisms and all that, those are a byproduct of discipleship,” Blackaby said. “When you lead a person … into a relationship where Christ is Lord, everything else follows. You don’t have to convince them they need to spend time in God’s Word or prayer or in the fellowship or on mission. That’s a spontaneous response to a relationship to the living Lord.”

Issuing a call for a resurgence of commitment to the Great Commission triggers the wrong response in Christians who are focused on religious activity, rather than a relationship with Christ, Blackaby added.

“Southern Baptists are program-oriented. We are missing the relationship,” Blackaby said. “When you make a statement like [that], the first thing most pastors look for is, ‘What program’s going to come down the pike to help me do that?’ You don’t need a program to help you do that. You just need the relationship to the living Lord. The reason we are not effective is because we have moved from the relationship to a program activity.”

Substituting activities for relationship also is why many churches are in decline or on a plateau, Blackaby said.

“We are not leading people into that immediate relationship with the living Lord. If you listen to most sermons, that intimate personal relationship is missing,” Blackaby said. “If you talk to many church members, they feel they are in the right relationship to God when they attend all the worship services, they tithe, they go on a mission trip. And many a pastor would evaluate a member, not from the intimate relationship with the Lord, but for how faithful he is in all the activities of the church. And does he tithe?

“It’s activity. Many of God’s people have moved from the relationship to religious activity,” Blackaby added. “We are content to live without the manifest presence, power and activity of God.”

The place many churches need to begin is not with a call to commitment and activity, but with a call to repentance, Blackaby explained.

“We don’t talk about repentance,” Blackaby said. “Repentance is the essence of what God says throughout the Bible: ‘You have lost the relationship. Return to Me and then you will experience Me returning to you.’ When that happens, the manifest presence and power and activity of God is very real.”

Attempts at evangelism without relationship are artificial and yield artificial fruit, Blackaby noted.

“If you try to bypass [relationship] and give them a program, the Roman Road or another pattern for evangelism, you are creating an artificial approach to evangelism. And of course it has that same kind of fruit,” Blackaby explained. “Those who have been led to the Lord on a program are very reluctant to respond to the lordship of Christ.”

Witnessing to the lost is supposed to be a spontaneous response to a relationship with Christ, not an activity, Blackaby added.

“[The Bible] doesn’t say, ‘You are to do witnessing.’ It says, ‘You are witnesses unto Me,’” Blackaby said. “‘Out of the relationship with Me, you will have an enormous witness unto Me.’ If you’re not doing it now just out of relationship to the Lord, don’t look for a program that would help you do what you ought to be doing spontaneously.”

“I would say the greatest single need is to return to the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ and all of the implications that come from that,” Blackaby said. “If a church is in a spiritual mess, the only thing that can get them out of that is a good, solid biblical exposition that leads them into the deepest and most profound relationship with the living Lord.”
“There’s a huge gap in the teaching ministry of pastors. We have put on them a huge sense of the priority of evangelism. We had an evangelist in our church not long ago. He said the thing I thought he would say: that the No. 1 priority above everything else is to reach out to the lost,” Blackaby said. “I would say that’s not true. The priority of every congregation is the lordship of Christ and everything else will come out of that.”

When church members begin living in a vital relationship with Christ under His lordship, baptisms and membership growth will take care of themselves, Blackaby said.

“Anybody coming under the lordship of Christ automatically has a God-given DNA to be on mission with their Lord to touch a lost world,” Blackaby said. “It’s not a matter of trying to get our churches back on the program of the Great Commission, but rather into the relationship with the living Lord who is on mission in our world.”
Henry Blackaby is located on the Internet at blackaby.org.

Filed under Assimilation, Church Growth, Discipleship |

Getting Ready for Guests part 3

Posted by Mike James
on June 1, 2009 – 9:19 am
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Romans 12:13 says, “Practice hospitality.” 

Churches need to be places that are hospitable, friendly, loving, and welcoming.  They should be places where people smile and one can easily see the love of Jesus. 

 

This is part three in this series on making guests feel welcome, but to be honest we will re-visit this subject often because it is such a key to moving our churches forward.  

Unless we improve our assimilation process, create a culture of welcoming, and teach our people the importance of being great hosts, we will probably not reach many people.  

 

THREE FACTS TO KEEP IN MIND…

FACT #1:

Your church cannot grow without guests.

FACT #2:

Your church cannot grow if your guests don’t come back!  

FACT #3

Churches need to be prepared for company.

 

Remember?

Researchers say that church guests decide whether or not to return to the church they are visiting in the first ten to twelve minutes upon entering the church campus. 

So, what happens in the first twelve minutes?

They see your facilities.

They meet your people.

They decide whether or not you can meet their needs.

They decide whether or not to come back.

Before they have heard the music or sermon!

            

Part of this is how your facility and campus looks. 

Have clear directional signage in parking areas and outside of buildings.

Be well landscaped.

Be clean, and well maintained.

Be inviting cosmetically.

Have ample guest parking spaces that are easy to identify and locate.

These should be your best parking spaces!

Have greeters at all entrance points so no one gets in without a warm welcome and a smile.

 

Choose your greeters wisely.  This is a ministry so choose people who are gifted to do this.  Provide them with nametags and train, train, train.

They should understand the value of this ministry.

They should realize the value of a simple smile.

 

Holiday Inn interviewed 5,000 people to fill 500 positions that were needed to open a new facility.  When the hotel managers interviewed these candidates, they excluded anybody who smiled fewer than four times during the course of their interview.  This standard was applied to every available job and to every prospective employee. 

How many of our church members would qualify for a job at Holiday Inn?

Acknowledging Guests During Worship

How we acknowledge our guests during a worship service can either make them feel welcomed or “let’s get out of here quick.”
1. Treat everyone as if they are all first time guests.  Everyone who gives an announcement, sings, speaks, etc. should be introduced. Be specific in sharing information as if everyone is new to your building.

 

2. When you acknowledge your guests, allow them some anonymity.  Most guests do not want much attention so don’t ask them to stand and recite a Scripture verse, pledge to the American flag, and share their social security number! 

 

3. Teach your people to value all guests.

Provide a reception for guests following the worship so they can personally meet the pastor and staff.  As a pastor I found this provided some great benefits for guests who wanted to spend a little time with me and allowed me to get to know them.

 

4. Following Up and Following Through.

Herb Miller gives the following statistics for following up:

85% of guests return if visited in 36 hours

60% of guests return if visited in 72 hours

15% of guests return if visited in 7 days.

The guest card should be handled with extreme care and much prayer. 

 

So, is your church friendly to new people or just to familiar faces?  Do you have trained greeters at all entrance points to your church?  Are you ready for company this Sunday?  What do you need to do to make a great first impression?

 

Our goal: Every guest should feel loved and welcomed.

As you incorporate these and your own ideas into the life and ministry of your church you will be well on your way to becoming a church that is reaching and loving new people for the Kingdom of Christ. 

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Getting Ready for Guests part 2

Posted by Mike James
on May 26, 2009 – 10:18 am
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Getting ready for company is an important element to growing churches.  Growing churches expect guest each Sunday and spend much energy and time getting ready for their arrival.

When the James Gang have company coming to our house I usually do the vacuuming and I must tell you, I am good!  We also do a series of things to make sure the house and yard look great.  Why?  Because we desire to be good hosts to our guests.  We want them to be comfortable and relaxed.  We want to create a healthy environment.  Our heart’s desire is that they will want to come back again. The things we do are rather simple and often mundane, but they are important.  The way we get ready for guests at home translates to how we should get ready for guests at church too.

What do guests see, feel, smell when they drive up to your church?  Does the building need painting?  Does the grass need mowing?  Are there plants and flowers visible?  Do people see adequate signage to know where to go?  Do they see smiling faces?  Do they see an information/guest center?

Here are few things to keep in mind as you get ready for guests.

1. Make sure your curb appeal is positive.  When folks walk up to your entrance do they see Holiday Inn or the Adams family house?

2. Make sure you have some smiling faces at the doors. Greeter ministry is critical if you want to make a great first impression.  Do we let people just walk into our own house without first opening the door with a smile and greeting them? Of course not.  Choose people who have this gift, offer training, and elevate this important ministry in the life of your church.  Remember…You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.

3. Get information without being obtrusive and unknowingly embarrassing your guests.   Today people do not want their privacy invaded and are highly skeptical when we ask for information.  This is the reason most guests will not fill out a card the first time they visit.  They want to see if this is a safe place first.  Some churches have everyone fill out a card so guests do not feel intimidated.  You can have the guest place the card in the offering plate or have them bring it to the welcome desk for a small gift of some kind.  The more personal interaction with a guest the better chance they will return.  Train all your members to be friendly and to shake hands.   Some churches use the “picket fence” idea where people are assigned a certain area (or a few pews) to be on the look out for guests each week in that specific area.

4. Get ready as if you are going to have a few guest angels!

What would you do different if you knew you would have some angels in your church this Sunday?  Hebrews 13:1 says, “Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them-those who are mistreated-since you yourselves are in the body also.”

As we prepare to make guests feel welcome in our churches we should keep this verse in mind.  We might have a few angels show up at the front door of our churches this Sunday!  Will you be ready?

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Getting Ready for Guests part one

Posted by Mike James
on May 13, 2009 – 9:14 am
1 Comment so far

Churches spend lots of energy, money, and time enhancing the worship experience.  We spend some really big bucks on sound, video projecting, lighting, banners, worship music, etc.  That is a good thing, but is it enough?  For that matter if a pastor spends 20 hours preparing for his message on Sunday, is that enough?  Does the worship experience itself cause people to return or are there other contributing factors.  I think that there is more to it than meets the eye.

If we spent just a little more time, energy, and money in getting ready for church guests as we do some of the other Sunday Morning components of worship we would be amazed at the results. 

Most guests decide in the first  five to seven minutes if they will return! 

You mean before the music and preaching? Yes!

As part of the KBC staff I have the privilege of visiting in many of our churches across our state.  This is a new experience for me as a former pastor and church staff person. For some reason they always wanted me to be in my own church each Sunday!  It’s a blessing to see first hand what God is doing in and through our churches.   The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a family of churches connected together by our love for the Lord.  Each church I visit has unique and diverse features.  If you get out much you know that many churches do not look or sound like the church we attend. They all have a unique personality and style. That’s OK because it takes different styles and ministries to reach different people. 

However, there is one factor that is paramount to every church in Kentucky…if you desire guests to return you better be ready for that first visit!  Here are some observations, insights, and suggestions.  I will offer more in part two.

1. Plan and expect guests to attend your church. 

Some churches don’t even expect guests; therefore there is no plan or process of welcoming or greeting them.  A new person could attend and feel really welcomed or as if they had walked into a refrigerator.  It is hit or miss.  The growth of a church is directly connected to your flow of new people.  As a pastor I would quickly find the offering plates after worship but it was not to see the offering, but to retrieve the guest cards.  I knew the future growth of our church depended on a loving, Christ-like follow up with these first time guests. 

2. We are not as friendly as we think!

Churches always tell me that they are a really friendly church and when I visit I often discover they are right, they are friendly, but only to each other not to new people.  It is easy to be a “friendly to a friend” but is that what the Lord wants us to do? 

In some churches I have come in the front door, picked up a bulletin, found a seat, without anyone saying a word to me.  I actually felt I might be in the way. Granted this may have been a Sunday where greeters did not show up or other contributing factors, but I saw lots of people all around me. 

The problem was I don’t think they saw me.  Or if they did see me they were not concerned about me.  At least that was my first impression. 

3. Train everyone to see people, smile and greet.

Training a team of greeters is a key but really every member should understand the importance of being friendly to people all around them.  This is an attitude; it is a skill that we must teach our people.  We usually only get one chance at making a good first impression.  If we blow it, we will usually not get a second chance therefore we must be ready each Sunday to make people really feel welcomed.

4. Guests or visitors?

I prefer the term guest.  We do not have a visitor bedroom at my house but we do have a guest bedroom.  A visitor is someone passing through and who will probably not return.  A guest is some one you want to come back for a second time and more.  Some churches treat new people like visitors and some treat new people like honored guests, when I visit churches I can tell the difference! Your church must strategize and plan on how you are going to initially welcome guests when they walk through the doors of your church and then how you are going to follow up with them after they leave.

So are you ready for company this Sunday?

Filed under Assimilation, Church Growth |

God’s Stimulus Package

Posted by Mike James
on May 5, 2009 – 9:42 am
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Everywhere you turn we are hearing about the economy and the stimulus package.  Honestly, I don’t completely understand what’s contained in this stimulus package, but I do hope it helps our economy and especially my annuity! 

How did we get in this economic melt down?  I don’t have a degree in economics but a major factor was vanity…people buying things they could not afford to impress people they did not know with things they did not even need. 

It happens with purchasing cars and houses and the misuse of credit cards. 

It happens when the advertising industry has a louder voice than God’s Word.

The truth that would have saved us from this mess is found in the Bible.

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”   Galatians 6:7

We know this as the Law of the Harvest.  Simply put…we reap what we sow. 

The antithesis of this law is…we will not reap what we do not sow!  Sometimes churches expect a harvest but they are not sowing! 

I talk to lots of pastors and church leaders whose churches are plateaued or declining and when I ask what are you doing to change this, the answer is…”not much or nothing.”

Churches should be sowing the Gospel and creative ministries that engage people.  What is your church sowing right now?  Are you intentionally sowing the Gospel and making disciples? What are you personally sowing in your spiritual life?

Discipleship is a sowing process.  The results will come as we invest and grow people from converts to disciples.  Discipleship is a process, a journey of faith. 

These disciples will make a difference in our churches.  They will be servant leaders.  They will share their faith, provide leadership, and produce other disciples who will produce other disciples who will produce other disciples, etc.

If we are sowing we should expect a harvest. 

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  Luke 10:2

God has a stimulus package!  In His Word we know that the resources are in the harvest.  Those we win and disciple will provide the energy and leadership to assist us in moving our churches forward in faith. 
When should we start?

Jesus said,

“Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35

God has a spiritual stimulus package for all of us.  Let’s utilize His mighty resources that will never default or need to be bailed out. 

I’m feeling better already, regardless of what my annuity does!

Filed under Discipleship, Spiritual Growth |

Step Up to Discipleship

Posted by Mike James
on April 30, 2009 – 8:30 am
2 Comments so far

Discipleship is a step (decision) followed by a walk.

In the Bible we discover a great one-word description of what discipleship is.  Read the following Scriptures…

1 John 2:6   “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

2 John 6   “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”

3 John 3   “It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.”

Revelation gives us a future prophesy about those who have been faithful disciples.

Revelation 3:4  “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.”

Discipleship is a decision (or step) followed by a life long walk.  This day by day journey begins here and now and continues forever in Heaven as we continue to walk with the Lord!  According to the previous Scripture, it is a walk of obedience, a walk of love and a walk of truth.

Why did Jesus choose disciples?  The reason, according to Mark 3:13-19, is two fold.

1. Fellowship (relationship) “that they might be with Him.”

Jesus desired some other people to walk with Him so He chooses the disciples.  This is the relational side of discipleship. It is also the side that demands the most time, energy, and commitment.  Discipleship does not jump out of a box, the latest best selling book, or a DVD series.  Discipleship happens through authentic relationships that are centered around the Living Word of God.

2.  Task (mission) “send them out to preach.”

This discipleship walk is not only with each other in fellowship and growth but also in mission/purpose.   The disciples then and now are sent out for a task.  The disciples knew what to teach and preach from the relationship they had with the Master Teacher.  They got it! They were well acquainted with a body of knowledge, which changed their lives (the Gospel) and they were eager to preach and teach it.

A question for Church Leaders… “Are we willing to take discipleship seriously and give the time, energy and budget, that is required to disciple people?”  Has your church “stepped up” to discipleship?

A greater question… “What’s the consequence for our church and for the kingdom, if we don’t?”

Lately, how’s your walk been?

Filed under Discipleship |

Miss California and Political Correctness

Posted by Mike James
on April 28, 2009 – 6:23 pm
2 Comments so far

John 12:42-43 says, “Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him.  But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.”

I am sure you have already heard about the uproar concerning the 2009 USA pageant.  A gay celebrity blogger asked a California beauty queen contestant a question about “gay marriage” during the Miss USA pageant, hosted in anything-goes…what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…Las Vegas.

Miss California, though, stood by her Christian beliefs, and some think it may have cost her the crown. Her name is Carrie Prejean, age 21.  She told a nationwide TV audience on Sunday that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman.  She eventually finished runner-up to Miss North Carolina, but she says she has no regrets about her answer.
“By having to answer that question in front of a national audience, God was testing my character and faith,” she told Fox News. “I’m glad I stayed true to myself.”

She told NBC’s “Today” show, “It’s not about being politically correct. For me, it was being biblically correct.” She added, regarding her missed opportunity to win the crown, “It wasn’t what God wanted for my life that night.”

Wow!  I would love to ask this young lady more about her faith and who discipled her.  At some point in her Christian growth she became convinced that there are absolutes.  A follower of Christ, a disciple, lives by these truths.

How often do we deny Christ because we know it will cost us something?  How often do we respond for the “praise from men” rather than the “praise from God?”

I applaud this young ladies’ faith and her strong stand on a very important issue.  She is right…it’s not about being politically correct, but biblically correct!

The challenge for us each day is to stay true to our belief and not deny the Lord at any point in our journey of faith.  Unlike this “flip flop” group described in John 12, our heart’s desire is to “confess our faith” before our family, our friends, our work associates, our world.  This is our mission!

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