Home Sweet Home

This morning I’m sitting in the lobby of the new Hampton Inn in Pikeville, Kentucky after leading an assimilation event last night in the area. As I type, I’m looking up the hill at the Pikeville College campus where I began my formal studies. I spent two semesters at the college…

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Spiritual Maturity Study: Key Findings, Part 3

Today, let’s continue our examination of the key findings from the study of the spiritual maturity of Kentucky Southern Baptists conducted by the Kentucky Baptist Convention and LifeWay Research. (See Spirtual Maturity Study: Key Findings, Part 1, and Part 2 for other key findings). In future posts, we will look closely…

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Spiritual Maturity Study: Key Findings, Part 2

Today, let’s continue looking at some of the key findings from the formal study of the spiritual maturity of Kentucky Southern Baptists conducted by the Kentucky Baptist Convention and LifeWay Research. (See Spirtual Maturity Study: Key Findings, Part 1, for other key findings)…. Kentucky Baptists are weak in the relationship area.…

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Simple Church, Clarity – Part 2

Every ministry needs a blueprint. Providing a blueprint will bring clarity to the church’s ministry process. In this post, we will continue to look at the five essentials of clarity from the Broadman & Holman book, Simple Church, written by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. For more information on Simple Church,…

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Simple Church, Clarity – Part 1

In this series, we are looking at the Broadman & Holman book, Simple Church, written by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. In the book, the writers encourage churches to “return to God’s process for making disciples.” Their research indicated that the healthiest churches in America tend to have a simple process…

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Simple Church, Introduction

In their Broadman & Holman book, Simple Church, Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Resources, and Eric Geiger, Executive Pastor at Christ Fellowship, encourage churches to “return to God’s process for making disciples.” In their research, Rainer and Geiger discovered that the healthiest churches in America tended to have a…

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Give Them A Place to Serve

Today, as I wrap up this series of posts, I will discuss the “G” in C.L.O.S.I.N.G. the Back Door. The “G” stands for Give Them A Place to Serve. See the links at the end of this post for the entire series. The series is designed to help churches with…

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Notice What’s Happening with People

Today, as we near the end of this series of posts, let’s discuss the “N” in C.L.O.S.I.N.G. the Back Door. The “N” stands for Notice What’s Happening with People. Every church needs a way to keep up with people and to track their progress toward successful assimilation. Several affordable, customizable…

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Invite People to Lunch

Okay, let’s look at the “I” in C.L.O.S.I.N.G. the Back Door which stands for Invite People to Lunch. Andy Stanley says, “we are a culture craving relationship.” Oscar Thompson said, “The most important word in the English language, apart from proper nouns, is the word relationship.” Inviting someone to lunch is…

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Start A Membership Class

In this post, I will focus on the “S” in C.L.O.S.I.N.G. the Back Door. “S” stands for Start A Membership Class. See The Importance of a Membership Class for more information. A membership class can play a vital role in member retention. The class should be taught by the senior pastor and he…

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