Legacy

When you begin a ministry in a new place one of the things you need to recognize is that one day you will leave there.  You may be called elsewhere, be fired, retire, or die, but if the Lord tarries you will one day leave that church, and you will leave a legacy.  People will remember certain things about your ministry in that church.  The person who follows you will either build upon that legacy or have to tear it down in order to build something positive.  The earlier in your ministry in that place you recognize this the more likely it will be that your legacy will be a positive one.  You cannot control what you will encounter when you begin a new ministry, but you can control how you respond to that and the legacy you will leave behind when you leave.  Don't leave a mess for others to clean up.  Make sure your legacy is a positive one upon which the next leader can build.

Glorify God

The very purpose for which you and I exist is to give glory to God, that's what it's all about. Jesus is called the Lord of glory. We are to give Him glory. He deserves it. And it is the mark of a committed Christian; it is the mark of a really genuine disciple that he gives God glory. His life reflects the attributes of God. God is praised by the way he lives.

Vision

The cause of poor giving to a church is a lack of vision.  If the only thing a church is going to do with its finances is pay the utilities and salaries, that is all the money that will come in.  People give to vision; they give to ministry; they give much less to maintenance activities.  In a lifetime of attending smaller churches I've seen it happen numerous times that a church that struggles to pay its bills each month suddenly raises a large sum of money within days or weeks to fund a major project.  That alone proves the church is not without resources.  The problem is that we've not challenged the people to part with those resources for something more exciting than an electric bill.

Maintenance-Mindset

Many of our smaller churches have a maintenance-mindset that has greatly limited their impact on their communities.  These churches have an inward focus rather than an outward one, they seek chaplains rather than pastors to lead them, they work very hard to preserve their resources instead of using those resources for ministry, and they see missions as something they support instead of do.  Most of these churches are either plateaued or declining with the majority of them in decline.  They can often survive for decades in this state, but for all practical purposes they have forfeited their right to call themselves a church.  They long ago forgot their purpose for existence was is to impact their communities with the Gospel.

Inspiring Worship Service

What a great morning at Burton-Richland Center UMC.! So many people are involved in different roles within the church. The music was wonderful and having four different folks who can play instruments is unusual. How fortunate I am to be able to serve as pastor.

Distractions

A church of any size can get distracted from the bottom line of Christians being in the world: love God and love each other. In church, we love God in worship. We love each other inside the walls by getting along. We love those outside the walls by mission. That’s really all there is. The rest is distraction.

Ordinary Me

God doesn’t do greater things exclusively through great people. He does them through anyone who is willing to trust Him in greater ways.