By Phil Cooke
philcooke.com
I love pastors and evangelists, but sometimes someone needs to say. “That’s enough.” Here are five of those situations:
- Stop saying, “Turn to your neighbor and say ____.”
Your church members love you and won’t tell you this, so that’s why I’m here. It feels forced, awkward and very cheesy. Trust me, your church members hate it.
- Stop being confusing.
We forget that a significant part of your congregation didn’t grow up in church. I know churches where 50% of the congregation doesn’t have a church background. And new visitors? Forget it.
So, when did you last talk from the pulpit about why we value and read the Bible? When was the last time you explained why we sing? Never forget that in a typical service, many people in your congregation don’t get things we take for granted.
And that includes posted signs, directions and helpful information. It’s more important than you think. Therefore, do you know what else is essential? Your church communication team.
- Stop ignoring your live-stream audience.
Remember how much work we put into producing live-streamed services during the pandemic, when churches were closed? Now, most churches broadcast their services online but don’t make much effort to connect with that audience.
My recommendations
- Make them feel welcome. During praise and worship, I’d turn to a camera and welcome them in person.
- Place the camera at eye level while preaching. It’s hard to engage in an online service through a camera hanging off the balcony rail.
- Look at the camera during your message and acknowledge the online audience. In fact, I’d consider preaching to the camera almost as much as you preach to the people in the room.
If we’re serious about reaching the world with the gospel in today’s digital universe, we’ll have to use media.
- Stop using “fill in” words — Amen?
It’s my theory that because of our noisy, distracted culture, we often feel that we need to fill in the quiet moments in conversations or preaching. So we use nonsense words — “like,” “you know,” “so,” “amen?” etc.
If you study great speakers, you’ll discover they know how to use silence in a way that makes people think. It can make people sit on the edge of their seats with anticipation. So don’t undermine that moment by using a fill-in word that has no meaning.
You should get comfortable with silence and make sure every word you say in the pulpit matters — because it does.
- Finally, stop ignoring red flags.
I use the term to describe seeing things that could blow up into a major crisis if you don’t deal with them now. In my book “Church on Trial: How to Protect Your Congregation, Mission, and Reputation During a Crisis,” I use examples like a youth director who’s spending a little too much time with a minor in the youth group, an executive pastor that comes in looking strangely like he has a hangover or a couple on staff who seem to work late — a lot.
I’m not talking about being a behavior cop because false accusations can destroy lives. But I wonder how many significant crises we’ve seen reported at churches lately could have been avoided had someone not ignored something that didn’t feel right or dared to ask a senior leader about it.
Red flags are the early warning system for churches in crisis, so it’s time we stopped ignoring them.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by philcooke.com.
Walking with God when times are good
A sign of real spiritual maturity is maintaining a close connection with God when things are going really well.
For so many of us, we draw near to God in times of trial, indecision, disappointment or loss. Which is the right response. God welcomes us in these moments and meets us in our distress.
But far too many of us drift from God when things are good. When we’re comfortable. When all is running smoothly.
“But when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.”
— Hosea 13:6
The measure of a mature Christ-follower is the closeness of our walk with God in seasons of plenty.
Andy Blanks
Author, preacher and speaker
A Christian response to immigration
By Chris Turner
Baptist and Reflector
Here are four ways disciples of Christ can navigate current immigration issues while followinag Jesus’ command to make His gospel known among the nations:
Pray. Pray for the president to have wisdom and lead justly. Pray for legislators to govern fairly. Pray for law enforcement officers to treat people with compassion and dignity as they enforce laws. Pray that internationals living in the U.S. will be spiritually open to the gospel. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers into the harvest that is literally at our doorstep.
Serve. Service begins with love, and love comes from building relationships. See people, and see their needs. Jesus calls us to serve others in love as He served us all in love on the cross.
Proclaim. As you serve, preach. We will never alleviate all the needs in this world, but we can address our neighbor’s greatest need which is hearing a clear presentation of the gospel that leads to being reconciled to the living God. What if a large number of undocumented immigrants were saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship before being deported?
Prudence. Think before you speak. Is what you are doing, saying and posting reflecting the attitudes in your heart?
Yes, we need enforceable immigration laws, and people coming to the U.S. need to abide by those laws. But will those who reach our shores seeking a promised land find Christians ready to seize divinely appointed moments to introduce them to the God who offers them the Promised Land?
“If we look at immigration and what’s going on through a biblical view instead of a political view, that helps a lot,” said Ryan Dupree, who serves as the multiethnic ministry specialist for South Carolina Baptist Convention. “These people are here, and it’s a good chance to set a good example of Christ’s love, especially for those who aren’t Christians. If we can be a force of peace and comfort during this time, that would go a long way.” Dupree said he’s heard from Hispanic pastors whose church attendance has gone down as a result of the recent immigration crackdown.
“The military is surprisingly unchurched,” said Joshua Brown, who planted Pillar Church of Topsail in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, with his wife, Brittany, as part of the Praetorian Project, a family of churches in military communities worldwide. “So you can imagine when a young person leaves home and gets sent to some place like Camp Lejeune, they’re away from their families, away from mom and dad and grandma and grandpa, and they have no support system. If they don’t see a gospel presence, they could very likely find themselves in a dark and vulnerable place. Add to that the fact that people especially in this special operations community are going around the world and facing death-defying situations regularly — having conversations about where they’re going to spend eternity is a very natural thing for us to do in this space.”
Brown added, “If in the short time we have them, we can reach them with the gospel and then help them grow in their walk with the Lord, when the military sends them somewhere else around the world, now they’re a missionary who’s traveling on the government’s dime and taking the gospel into places most of us will never go.”
“I signed on (as SBC EC president) to guide us through these current challenges, not around them but through them,” said Jeff Iorg, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. “My hope is that the leaders in this room (EC meeting), thousands of pastors and millions of Southern Baptists will sign on to go through this together.”
“Honestly, I just took her blood pressure and we sat and had coffee and talked for an hour,” said Jordan Mathis, who leads the First Baptist Church Statesboro, Georgia, nursing ministry, which provides members health-related services and spiritual help and is celebrating its 40th anniversary. She recalled meeting regularly with an elderly lady with many medical challenges. “It was one of my favorite times during the week for three years straight. All the stories she told just pointed to the Lord and His glory.”
“When you are so passionate about something and it aligns with your gifting, you can’t help but acknowledge God in it. If you learn to invite God into the journey with you, this thing becomes something that changes you on every level,” said Jeff Boschman, director of sports for Carson-Newman. He is the university’s new powerlifting coach.
