The weather is warming up, so I’m thinking about wetting a hook! A fresh filling of the bait bucket with live bait always seems to have the promise of a hopeful day of fishing. The bucket of new and fresh bait signifies a day of high expectations of what might bite the bait, new stories to be told of the … Read More
Leading and Revitalizing with Hope
This is a season in which we place much emphasis on hope, and rightly so. Jesus is the hope of the world! This is also a theme that must permeate every aspect of our ministry. It must be sensed by our church family in the way we lead, the manner we preach, and demonstrated in how we serve. Hope is … Read More
Our Evangelistic Imperative
I have been tasked to champion evangelism in all of its forms, from witness training, church strategy, to community saturation of the Good News. To best understand my perspective, let me share a short analogy. We often use imagery to help us define the church and her purpose. For years I have been using the image of two boats. Some … Read More
Revive Us, O Lord
Did you know that for the first time, less than 50% of Americans are a member of a local church and the trends show a steady decline. The data also reveals that only 30% of Americans have ever had anyone personally share the Gospel with them. Roughly 90% of American believers have never shared the Gospel with anyone. It’s astonishing. We … Read More
The Exhibit Hall, New Orleans
At the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in New Orleans this spring, our MTSBC team met hundreds of people. We shared our God stories and asked people to pray for Montana. Our hope is that from this engagement, the Lord will call church planters, pastors, and ministry partners into the harvest fields of Montana. We had Montana swag to give as mementos, and … Read More
Are Your Children Save From Predators?
The statistics are discouraging. According to Ministry Safe 1 out of 4 girls and 1 out of 6 boys will experience sexual abuse before the age of 18. The average convicted offender may have between 50-150 victims. Less than 10% of sexual abusers will ever encounter the criminal justice system. Indeed, sexual abusers are very difficult to spot. There is … Read More
Building a Healthy Ministry Culture
As a young adult, I loved Jesus and truly believed that those who loved and served Jesus would function with joy, enthusiasm, unity, and a Kingdom mindset. I was so naïve. On the outside, all appeared well in my local church. There was the illusion that we all had the same heartbeat for Gospel ministry, but when it came to … Read More
Resounding the Glory of God
One of the benefits of our partnership with the Missouri Baptist Convention is access to their revitalization tools and team. They call it the Resound Network. It is a movement of pastors and churches who partner with regional leaders to engage in a revitalization process. The Resound Network is passionate about infusing new life into churches so that they resound … Read More
Advance the Mission by Developing Leaders
As I interact with pastors, I often see the weariness in their eyes of advancing the mission of the church with little to no team. As we discuss the value of investing in others, the key factors are often time and quality control. It’s true that it takes more time to equip and develop a team than it does to … Read More
Text-Driven Preaching Workshop
A couple of years ago, I went to a preaching workshop in Graham, TX. I had been to conferences before and always enjoyed the content and breakouts. If you are like me, conferences provide an information overload that sometimes leaves me feeling overwhelmed at how to implement what I learn. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the content and … Read More