MIM Ezine, February 23, 2009

-- Purpose-Filled Ministry: So, You're Looking for a New Pastor,by Teena Stewart..

-- Running A.M.O.K. Creative Arts Ministry: Being Bezalel: Using Your Gifts to Serve the Lord, by DC Weiss.

-- In the Huddle: Finding a Vision for the New Year – Part 2, by Tim Burns.

-- BOOK REVIEW:A Shadow of Treason, by Tricia Goyer, reviewed by Teena Stewart.

-- BOOK REVIEW: Revolution in Generosity: Transforming Stewards to be Rich Towards God, by Wesley K. Willmer, reviewed by Tom Hanover.

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As often happens, the start of a new year brings with it changes in church staffing. Many put off looking for new positions until the holidays are over, then the serious job hunting begins. This may be the case in your church where you are now looking to replace a key staff member.

My new article series, “So You’re Looking for a New Pastor” will discuss the ins and outs of the pastoral search. I also plan to write subsequent articles with advice for individuals seeking church placement, so, stay tuned. For the sake of simplicity, I will write primarily with the replacement of senior pastors in mind though I realize there are all sorts of ministerial positions that might become vacant in a church.

Many churches approach a pastoral search much like the secular marketplace approaches hiring an employee. They write up a job position and post it in one of several places: on an on-line Christian job placement directory, in a denominational magazine or newsletter, or they notify a denominational area superintendent regarding the job position. But most secular workplaces have systems in place, like a human resource manager, an office or department manager or even a CEO that serves the HR function, if the company is caught by surprise when an employee leaves suddenly. Though the vacancy may be unexpected and inconvenient, the operation usually manages to stay on an even keel.

The same cannot always be said of churches. When a senior pastor vacates a position, church leaders may find themselves at a loss regarding how to proceed in finding the right replacement. After all, unlike a secular business, many church workers are not on payroll, but are operating in a volunteer capacity. When the captain of the ship leaves, the duty usually passes to the first mate…, which is all well and good, provided there is one. In larger churches, the pastoral search may fall to an associate pastor, but in small churches, if there is no associate, who manages the search?

Laying the proper groundwork can save future headaches. When a senior pastor vacates his/her position for whatever reason it can throw church leadership into turmoil especially if there is no clearly defined process for finding a replacement. Much of the stress that this causes can be avoided by preparing for such a scenario in advance. Even if your senior pastor has been with you for years, and there seems to be little likelihood of the pastor leaving the position, the unexpected can still happen and if there is no clear successor it can seriously disrupt ministry.

Develop a game plan ahead of time as to how finding a replacement will be handled. The United States Presidency has a clear succession policy in place. Should something happen to the President, the Vice President steps in to lead. Should something happen to the VP then the Speaker of the House is next in line.

Map out policies and procedures for your church regarding who will assume temporary leadership of your church should something happen to your commander-in-chief. This person is most likely the one who will also help organize your pastoral search. Consider different scenarios when developing your policies and procedures.

For instance, if your senior pastor is still in position at your church and you must search for church staff (for example, an associate pastor) how will this search be managed? If your senior pastor position is vacated and you have no associate pastor, who assumes the leadership role? Who organizes the pastoral search? Would that be the chair of your elder board, the chair of your ministry team? What if the senior pastor filled those positions? What then?

Focus on temporary pulpit replacements. Pastoral searches can take many months. The temptation is to find the most convenient person available to temporarily fill the pulpit. Many churches fill their pulpit vacancies with retired pastors or missionaries. There is nothing wrong with this, but sometimes it is done because of the money it will save. Dr. John Green may have been at the peak of his game 20 years ago, but can he connect with your congregation today? Sure, he’s a bargain at only $50 a pop but if he’s boring the congregation to tears Sunday after Sunday don’t be surprised when attendance starts to fall.

There is a temptation for church leaders to try to hoard money from the vacated salary so that it can be used for travel and lodging expenses of pastoral candidates or put toward some other church expenses. If thrift is your main goal, then you usually get what you pay for. Don’t be surprised when attendance starts to fall anyway. Congregants tend to church hop when a church is in the process of filling a senior pastor vacancy.

Many churches have members who are good to excellent speakers or teachers. Using them can provide the spiritual feedings your congregation needs until you find a permanent replacement. Don’t be afraid to use several different speakers. It will prevent burnout from your pulpit supply replacements and will make Sunday sermons more interesting.

Adjust for God’s timing. Avoid the “hurry up and fill it” attitude. Many pastoral search committees rush the process because they want to get the job done and get on with their lives but this can be a costly mistake. Often not enough attention is given to important details. If search committee members are not getting a clear signal on a particular candidate, then that candidate is probably not the right one. Many churches have suffered catastrophic results from committees that have chosen a pastor because they were impatient. In one case, I’m familiar with the wrong choice so negatively affected a church that it closed its doors less than a year later.

Keep all efforts covered with on-going prayer. Your pastoral search process should be bathed continually in prayer. Pray with your congregational members and leadership regarding the vacancy and the selection of your search team. Pray for your future pastor. If possible, enlist some of your church’s most devout prayer warriors to keep the process in continual prayer as you move through the search process. You can never pray too long or too hard regarding your church’s ministry including its future leader(s).

This concludes Part I of “So, You’re Looking for a New Pastor.” Be sure and read my next column. “Part II--Determining Your Church’s Needs and Direction.” Feel free to write me with suggestions or additional topics you would like covered. smartwords@embarqmail.com

In case you’ve ever wondered if your artistic talent is anointed by God and useful to the church, consider Bezalel:

Exodus 31:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, (2) "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, (3) and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- (4) to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, (5) to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.

Bezalel was gifted by God for the specific purpose of creating things to be used in worship. This should be good news for all of us with a creative bent. I know many artists who are frustrated because they would love to use their creative gifts in the church but their church sees no need for the arts. I find this amusing. They worship surrounded by stained glass (the work of an artist), read from bulletins covered by beautiful illustrations (the work of an artist), have banners hanging on their walls (the work of an artist), and even the buildings themselves are often beautifully ornate (the work of a strange kind of artist called an architect, an artist who can also do math). There is definitely room in the church for the artist.

The difficulty for some artists is simply that their church leadership doesn’t know what to do with them. This is fairly easy to remedy for the artist. First, pray; ask the Lord to help you find ways to use your gift to worship Him. Bezalel’s story tells us something very plainly. The gifts God gives us, He gives for His glory. If you are an artist, it is because God made you an artist.

After you’ve prayed, go to your pastor and simply say, “I am an artist and I would like to serve the church with my gift.” Sometimes it is that simple - We have not because we ask not. After you ask, be patient, he or she may not be able to think of something for you to do right away, but the thought will linger in his/her mind, (“I have an artist in my congregation, who can I use him/her?”)

Next, find a need and meet it. Children’s ministry is often a great place to start because children’s ministry tends to be the most visually based ministry in the church. My whole ministry started because a pastor asked me to paint a backdrop for Vacation Bible School skits. Projects well done and faithfully executed tend to open doors to more opportunities.

There is one final area that needs to be addressed and this one goes to the heart of the artist. Bezalel was given all these gifts from God for His service, but note what it says in the next few verses. There is a detailed listing of all the things Bezalel and his fellow artists and craftsmen were to make and then at the end of Exodus 31:11 it says: “They are to make them just as I commanded you.” This is a key. Art in the church is not necessarily art for art’s sake. It’s art for God’s sake. It is to be done God’s way, for the glory of God and the edification of the body. This means your art is less about your style, your likes and your “artistic needs” and more about bringing the people and God closer together.

I know some really talented artists who feel as if their gifts are being rejected by the church and that’s just not the case. Rather their style is not compatible with the people they are trying to reach, the congregation. If we are going to succeed as artists in the church, we have to consider the needs of the congregation over our own creative needs. We must learn to submit to those in authority and do as they ask. Bezalel was gifted by God to do some amazing works, but the works that he did were done to very exacting specifications, God’s specifications. The work Bezalel did was about so much more than Bezalel. It was about drawing people into the worship of their creator. Isn’t that what we’re really trying to do when we desire to share our gifts in the church? Be like Bezalel. Use all your gifts for God’s glory and do it God’s way.

DC (David) Weiss is pastor of New Creation Fellowship in Reading, PA and has been a professional in the graphic communications/visual arts field for over 20 years. A few years ago, he felt led by the Spirit to combine his love for art and ministry and A.M.O.K. Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom was born. A.M.O.K. is a ministry dedicated to helping people of all creative disciplines and ability levels to use their God given gifts to serve the Lord in preaching, teaching, and reaching. More information on A.M.O.K. including free and low cost resources for preaching teaching and reaching can be found http://www.amokarts.com.

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It’s the beginning of the year. I’ve grossly over-eaten during the holidays and now I’m a fat disgusting slob. There. I’ve laid it all on the table. And it’s the only thing that’s still on the table, since I’ve pretty much wolfed down everything else.

Perhaps you find yourself in the same predicament. But how, you wonder, did we ever get this way? Is it that we were gluttonous pigs, unable to control our appetites during the holidays? Some small-minded individuals may think so, but I suggest that the reason lies in our generous natures. Could it be that we didn’t want to hurt the feelings of those who made those treats for us? Or, could it be that we were courageously sparing other family members the trauma of weight-gain? I say good for us! The world needs more people just like us.

But before I go any further, let me encourage you by stating that the problem isn’t anywhere near as bad as you think. Let’s say that before the holidays, you weighed in at a comfy 250 pounds. On January 1, you weighed about 280, so now you think you gained 30 pounds, right? Not even close.

Have you considered the fact that bathroom scales wear out? Your scale contains teeny little springs that weaken over time so that, over the years, your scale registers you weighing more than you actually do. I estimate that your scale adds about five pounds to your weight every year. You multiply that number by the 10 or so years you’ve owned your scale and that’s 50 pounds of ghost weight that you need to deduct from your total weight.

Now, let’s take a look at that holiday weight gain again. Before the holidays, you were 250 pounds. After the holidays you weighed 280 for a net gain of 30 pounds. But wait. Now deduct 50 pounds for the 10 years of scale wear and tear, and you have a net loss of 20 pounds!

For those not satisfied with this indisputable logic, the question then becomes, what are you going to do about all that weight gain?

I suggest you try a balanced diet. Let’s say you have a lunch consisting of a turkey sandwich, a yogurt cup, an apple, and a candy bar. See how unbalanced that meal is? Now, let’s add two more candy bars to that meal. There you go. Now your meal is all balanced out. You have three healthy things that you’ll have to somehow force down your throat and three fun things that you’ll really enjoy eating.

You could also try exercising. The other day I heard a fitness guru suggest that I treat myself with a half hour of exercise, instead of gorging on Chips Ahoy. How about some advice I could really use? If I was the kind of person who thought that exercise was a treat, I wouldn’t be overweight, now would I?

I’ve heard people say you need a lot of willpower to lose weight. I used to have lots of willpower but my appetite hijacked it, so now my willpower is applied toward the objective of getting more dessert.

This whole topic is relatively new to me. For years I was that guy who couldn’t gain weight if he tried, but now I find that I really have to behave myself, lest my waistline expand like the federal deficit.

It’s a humbling thing, because I am discovering that this is yet one more area of my life that I really stink at managing. Like just about everyone else on the planet, I would like to think of myself as self-sufficient and capable of handling anything that comes my way, but deep down, I know that it’s not true.

Yet once again I realize that the smartest thing I can do is bow my head and ask the Lord to guide me through the complexities of something as silly as learning to manage my diet. So, don’t look for the next fad diet or exercise plan from me because I’m still trying to figure it all out.

By the way, is it just me, or does anyone else feel like getting a snack right about now?

Have you started planning for your annual stewardship campaign yet? Most churches work on a calendar fiscal year. Consequently, if they are doing a commitment/pledge campaign, it comes in the autumn of the year.

A growing number of churches are moving to a fiscal year that begins in the middle of the calendar year. It is a more natural flow of funding, if the program year kicks off in the fall and winds down in the spring.

There are a number of pros and cons to the change. Spring is an excellent time to raise money. Those who regularly receive tax refunds often find themselves with a little extra money. In most parts of the northern hemisphere the weather is improving from a dreary winter. People feel more upbeat and hopeful. Of course, the celebration of Easter is a wonderful spirit booster as well.

On the other hand, many judicatories function on a different calendar. It could create a number of tasks that have to be done on both fiscal calendars to fit report expectations. It can also affect tax reporting for staff or other purposes.

The key either way is planning ahead. Stewardship should be seen as a way of life or a way of living out our discipleship; not just raising money to pay for the church’s bills. Some of the best times to teach about Biblical stewardship is when you are not in a special campaign.

Lovett Weems, Lewis Center for Church Leadership, recently published some notes on giving patterns in your congregation. (This is a resource I watch: www.churchleadership.com.)

It is not unusual to find a small portion of the congregation giving a disproportionate amount to the church, which includes money, time, gifts, and prayers. This is not a sign of dysfunction or organizational illness, but just the reality of the situation.

It is true for many other areas of life as well. I have a favorite sports team that I follow on radio and TV. I even go to the games, whenever anyone will give me a free ticket, but I am just not enough engaged to make that kind of commitment to the team.

In my town there is a public radio station that plays oldies music, and it is one of several stations on my preset tabs. The station is totally supported by listeners who send in money, and some even volunteer their time to work at the station. I do neither. It is not the priority for me as it is for others, even though I enjoy the service.

So it is no surprise that the same phenomena happen with the local church. Effective leadership will recognize that people come to the church with different expectations and assumptions.

(Abingdon, 1998). Weems in his recent letter (Jan 7, 09) offers three general groupings.

Generous givers often donate more than simply money. They are emotionally engaged in the ministry of the church, even if they are not in a position of leadership. They see giving as a response to God’s generosity of grace towards them.

Some leaders work hard not to give them too much attention for fear of granting them disproportionate influence in the direction of the church. This can be a serious mistake. These are the people most committed to and most invested in the health and vitality of the church’s ministries. Why would a leader want to discount their input?

A second group (active givers) is the people who are connected and involved in the church. They may attend with some regularity. They are generally attracted to some favorite aspect of the church: music, youth program, or athletics. They see giving as paying the bills, such as the membership to the exercise club and the movie club, and look to the church as their spiritual nurture club.

Many of these have the potential to grow into the Generous Giver group, but they will need time to grow and mature in their discipleship.

Nominal or non-givers are bewildered about many of the church’s approaches to stewardship. They may be seeking something in their lives or they may be coming to stay connected to family and friends. If they give at all, it will be with all of the emotional and spiritual enthusiasm of thanking the police officer who has just written you a ticket for speeding. It is a nice thing to do, but why?

There are several ways to evaluate the success of stewardship campaigns. One would be to seek commitments to a wider range of spiritual disciplines. Many churches are using campaigns to invite participants into a commitment to prayer, Bible reading, small group participation, worship attendance, and mission outreach.

A stewardship campaign would then attempt to measure the number of people involved in those ministries. Have commitments increased? Has participation increased? Are there anecdotal stories that reflect changes in people’s lives because they started reading the Bible or volunteered at the homeless shelter?

Financially, stewardship campaigns might seek to measure the number of pledges, the number of people who increase their pledges, or simply the amount of money pledged. To accomplish all of these tasks in one brief campaign may be impossible, if not confusing to the congregation.

Effective stewardship campaigns recognize that the same message does not touch each group in the same way. Most church stewardship campaigns on the market target the generous givers group. This is not a bad approach. This is where the church is most likely to be successful.

What frustrates church leaders is using an approach that targets the generous givers, but measures their success by how many nominal givers increased their pledges. Different messages are needed for different goals with different groups.

Planning the stewardship campaign in advance allows leaders to clarify their target goals and begin to tailor a different message to the different groups.

Next month I’ll share some samples of targeting the message to different groups. And the following month I’ll address the question: “My church refuses to do a stewardship campaign. What do I do?”

Tom Hanover is Advertising and Promo Director of MIM ezine. He has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for more than 30 years, including seven as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southern Ohio. He is currently Senior Pastor of Sulphur Grove UMC, a multisite ministry in Dayton. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University, and the MDIV and DMIN degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton. You can contact Tom at hanover@dbmim.net.

I started the year with four spiritual review questions condensed into one - How am I doing? But as the definition of insanity illustrates, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, is just not good enough. If I flip the review question around, it may look like this: “If don’t want the same results this year, I have to make spiritual and emotional changes in my life to develop a character more like Christ. With that goal in my sights, what must I do differently this year, this month, this week, today? What is the new information I must attain and apply? What is the new answer that I am looking for?”

Discovering a new answer often requires a new question. So as I start a new year, here are my new questions:

“How and why should I actively pursue intentional Christian Community during the next 12 months?”

1. What place does intentional community hold in relationship to current social trends?

2. At this time, why does the “small group,” “home church” or “cell group” model within the church seem to be so effective?

4. How can I pursue intentional community in light of what I discover from these questions?

Last month we considered questions 1 & 2. This month we are considering the final questions.

The short answer is: no. Christian living and transformational Christian life has always, and has only existed when built on a platform including transformational intentional community.

· The early church: they were intentionally communal from necessity. Persecuted from the dominant religious order as well as civil governments, the early church lived together (Acts 1:13-14), were daily moving from house to house (Act 20:20), and sold what they had to share with those in need (Act 4.34-35). What happens in a community such as this? Accountability, encouragement, personal transformation, loving confrontation of sin, construction of a safe environment to repent and change, and the birth of boldness to influence the culture.

· Jesus intentionally picked 12 men and invested in them for three years, which was His goal to change the world. He achieved this through changing and empowering 12 men who would change the world when his work was done.

· The Israelite nation, the people who would receive the Torah and prepare the way for Jesus, was birthed in community. While in Egypt, they lived separately and had their own economy as strangers in a strange land. This intentional community created an intentional identity. They were God’s people first; everything good flowed from that separate-ness and their relationship to their God.

· Israel’s identity as God’s chosen people evolved into God’s backslidden people only after they willingly walked through the gateway described in Judges. With the ease created by economic and cultural success, “Each man did that which was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17.6) The idea of transformational community and personal connectedness to something greater than themselves slowly died as each man pursued individual identity.

I feel like the writer of Hebrews, who after penning the role call of faith says, “What more can I say. Time would fail me to tell of . . .” The list goes on. Every major move of God from the Reformation to the Great Awakening, through Wesley, Whitefield, Finney and more, has been accompanied with the church banded together as a community. When Christians choose to live differently than the world around them intentionally focused on obedience and intimacy to their King and God through prayer and a return to God’s word as the model for faith, they changed the world. Only in America, and only recently, have we accepted a counterfeit idea that transformational Christianity is an individual sport.

I am not suggesting that we sell all our goods and start a communal farm in order to be closer to God. I am not saying that you will be holier if you have less stuff. What I am saying is that intentional community is the transformational catalyst which God most often uses to bring us closer to him, and in the end we become his holy people. By moving in the direction of intentional community, making time for intentional Christian community will change your life. The “change” we need is to stop debating “If” you should proceed, and rather ask the question “How” you should proceed.

2. If not, is your church leadership open to initiating a small group ministry and allowing an intentional community mindset to evolve?

3. Check your local book store for small group materials. Many quality guides are in print. One of the best is Teena Stewart’s Successful Small Groups from Concept to Practice.

4. Are you on your own, yet feel the call to move in this direction. Pray for God to move through you, and then ask friends if they might be interested in getting together for a time of Bible study, prayer, and fellowship in your home. Many books and work books are terrific tools to use as a basis for conversation and spiritual growth. Some you might want to consider include:

The current political climate is all about change, change, change. But the new administration is not the first to coin this motivational mantra.

Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may test and know that good, perfect and pleasing will of God. (Romans 12:2)

If we are going to have a transformational effect on the world this year, we first must allow God’s truth to transform us. Intentional community is a catalyst toward the change we need.

Timothy Burns lives in West Michigan, and has written professionally for six years. Timothy’s writing reflects a deep connection to cultural influences, Christ centered living, and how often unwritten patterns can influence our behaviors and beliefs, because while people differ by continent and decade, human nature does not. The ability to identify the human element or organizational culture sets Timothy’s work apart from what can be otherwise commonplace copy. His writing spans topics of Christian living, apologetics, and the hidden benefits that often surface through personal trials.

Thousands of innocent Spanish civilians are killed or wounded after their towns are bombed by Germans working in collaboration with Franco, his Fascist military leaders and supported by troops, machinery, and weapons from Mussolini and Hitler. On the opposing side are Spanish Republicans working with troops from the Soviet Union and the International Brigade, composed of men and women from many different countries united to fight against Fascism. Thousands of Americans have joined the Republican side in hopes of defeating Franco’s forces.

Goyer’s Spanish Civil War series follows a cast of major and minor characters most of whom were introduced in the first book, a Valley of Betrayal. Rittler Agler, a German pilot, who had escaped with minor wounds after his plane was shot down, accepts a new assignment under the direction of Herman Göring. His new assignment takes him to New York City. Father Manuel, (a native Spaniard) who has witnessed horrific destruction caused by the bombings and their tragic aftermath, is forced to decide his loyalties to a divided nation. He chooses to defy orders from the church and ventures to Paris in order to reveal the truth about who was responsible for the attacks.

Jose Guezureya, and his family have been caretakers for generations of the valuable Lipizzaner horses—descendents of the Spanish stallions from Austria. A desperate need for food and pack animals on the part of the Germans(?) places the horses in grave danger and Jose makes the difficult decision to move the few remaining horses into hiding. Accompanying him is Petra Larios, a young woman from a wealthy family who has lost everything.

Sophie Grace, a young artist and photographer has joined this resistance and has gone under cover to help find a lost gold shipment which may be crucial to winning the war. Having believed her former love Michael has died, she’s stunned to find that he is alive after having faked his own death. In order to gain information regarding the location of the gold shipment, Sophie must reestablish her relationship with Michael, feigning that she still cares for him. But this duplicity jeopardizes her relationship with her new love Philip.

Sophie must get the information to her contact, Walt Block, a newspaper correspondent, before it’s too late but the closer she comes to discovering the gold’s location, the greater the danger. Will she get there in time? Shadow of Treason provides a history lesson about the Spanish civil war while allowing them to gain respect for the women and men who fought for Spain’s freedom against fascism.

Book Review -- Revolution in Generosity: Transforming Stewards to be Rich Towards God

Wesley K. Willmer, Editor, Moody Publishers, 2008, 423 pages, ISBN#-13:978-0-8024-6753-9

Willmer has assembled an impressive panel of authors to discuss stewardship and giving from a Biblical perspective. Wesley K. Willmer, PhD. is vice president of University Advancement and professor at Biola University. He is an author and editor of many publications. His board involvement includes the Christian Stewardship Association, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, and Christian Leadership Association as well as several others.

Revolution in Generosity features 21 writers, in addition to Willmer, sharing insights on “a more God-honoring approach of providing resources-focusing on transforming stewards to be rich toward God.” (p. 17) Each of the writers urge pastors and ministry leaders to turn away from more common secular fund raising and philanthropy towards a Biblical approach. “Transformed Christians will give from their hearts and will truly create a revolution in generosity, in both quantity and quality.” (p. 18)

The ministry leader will find this book a serious work, worthy of a highlighter and a note pad. Some of the chapters are motivational and encouraging. Others are practical and tactical. Many of them include additional resources for the leader to explore to become more comfortable and competent in leading a ministry’s stewardship and financial responsibilities.

Many times a collection of articles such as this can be read like eating a church potluck: a little of this and a little of that starting wherever you please. But it is obvious that many of these writers have read each others’ work. They build on the foundation of solid Biblical teaching and add their own experience.

The reader will discover quickly the book is not just about money. Stewardship is one’s response to God after experiencing God’s transforming grace. Consequently, the writers are teaching the leader to equip people to become generous by conforming to the image of Christ. It is going deeper than surface entertainment to mature spiritual discipleship.

This book ought to be a textbook for every leader who is preparing for ministry. But for those of us who have left the campus long ago, it is a welcomed resource for leadership in uncertain times.

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