Jasper

Just came back from a weekend with about 70 Young Adults where we spent time listening for God in the moments. 70+ passionate children of God who saw His glory in the mountains, the hot springs, the wind, the rain and the Word. Praise God.

Lost

Okay, who watched the "Lost" finale last evening and did it answer the questions you had about the show?

I personally liked the last 20 minutes.

Fundraising

In speaking with many of you, the models of fundraising seem to come up often in the conversations whether it is a story from a successful event or just searching ideas for a future cause.

There are some of you who are talented fundraising planners and have a real gift for creative events. It occurred to me that perhaps those of you who have had success stories when it comes to fundraising would like to share them and pass on the blessing to other churches.

Lets hear the stories.

Over the last little while, a relevant topic for youth leaders/pastors and churches has been discussed with more passion of late. It is this;

Should parents be involved in your week-to-week youth ministry? Should they be a small group leader? Should they come along on ministry trips? What role should they take? If any at all?

Love to hear the thoughts around Alberta on this.

Ron

Season

My wife and I are celebrating our 3rd Christmas here in Alberta and it has come at a time when we are seeing a shift in priorities. What I mean by that is our children are now splitting their time with us and families of significant others. It used to be, when they were younger, we could count on a gathering in our home of our immediate family for a day or even a few days where we would eat lots, play games, share stories and re-connect with brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, uncles and aunts. So cool and sooooo much fun!

Now as they get older, these children of ours start to develop relationships with those who enter their lives. These children God gave us to care for and equip for life then try to figure if this person is who God has called them to spend the rest of their lives with. We hear things like “yeah she’s nice” or “dad I really like him so don’t scare him. I want him to come back.” We see these young people holding hands, spending lots of time together, laughing, crying, listening and talking. They are even eating our food and leaving the pantry bare! (My chips are always gone! Or maybe Monique is hiding them from me.) Then crazy things happen. “Like” turns into “like a lot” and then into “love”. An announcement comes and (glee, excitement, more celebration) they marry. And then again, perhaps they do not (and that is a topic for another day).

So those times of past days we held so precious are now split up. As parents, we knew this time would come, but that doesn’t make it easier to accept, (although there are times when Monique and I have said to ourselves, “when are they gonna leave!”)

God built us for relationships and that is why sometimes when we lose some of that time we had, we feel empty. Or if a relationship is strained, we long for re-connection. If distance keeps us from hugging a loved one, we just want to see and feel them again. Sometimes I think when we have tried to keep God at a distance because He doesn’t seem to fit our life right now; that makes us feel empty. So we search for something to fill that God sized opening.

Jesus died for us all. And because we are part of God’s family, together as Christians, we celebrate. We are all sisters and brothers in Christ and this season, no matter where we are, in Alberta, Ontario, New Zealand, Holland, wherever our bond, our connection point, our family is right where we are.

Wherever you are, know that we celebrate with you this season, this birthday of Christ, our saviour.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Leadership and church

Here is an article I would like to share with you about leadership. Love to hear your comments.


One tactic to turn around a churchby Tom Harper 11/5/2009
As I have talked to church consultants, pastors and leaders, I’ve concluded there is one thing any pastor can do to quickly transform his church, no matter how unhealthy it is.
Many authors have expounded on this turnaround concept, so I can’t claim originality. In fact, the Bible itself prescribes it. But it bears repeating, because the church isn’t listening.

The foundation
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of hearing countless researchers and experts decry the Lord’s institution as ineffective, out of touch with culture, full of pride or antiquated.
The reasons for this epidemic of church sickness are legion: passionless church members, bitter congregants, changing culture, undiscipled believers, weak evangelism, fear of change.
Sin, of course, makes people passionless, bitter, weak or fearful. That’s why the precursor to any turnaround effort must be a core group of praying people. It is fruitless to attempt to lead a church without it: “He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built” (Luke 6:48, NIV).
Church growth principles should be practiced only after building this foundation. Asking Christ to bless his church – which you happen to be leading under his authority – is the first step to building it up.
There are many excellent prayer resources. Two recent books I recommend are Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey, and A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller. I’m still reading the latter, and am finding its message refreshing. Miller says we should just talk to God without worrying about getting the words right.
If you don’t focus on prayer, you might as well close your doors. But if you don’t apply the following concept, the life of your church may still be dim.

The structure
This panacea practice is simply leadership.
Leaders of countless churches, parachurches and Christian businesses fail to perform basic leadership practices. I cringe at the weak leadership in so many organizations that are seeking to bring glory to God. Where is the excellence the Lord desires?
I understand what it’s like to learn leadership on the job. It is an ongoing process as we make mistakes, observe others, read books, persevere through difficult times, and take notes when things work.
But there are so many church leaders (not just pastors) who act as if they can’t change and learn. Maybe they feel they’re too set in their ways to learn new tricks, or they think their wisdom is supreme, and everyone needs to just listen.
No matter how old we are, we need to learn. Why? Because we forget. I go back through books like Good to Great to peruse the parts I highlighted, often finding something new to try. I’m surprised how a leadership nugget I’d read many times is applicable in a completely new way. Circumstances change. We change, too.
Leadership excellence is the bricks and mortar of a church. Without it, we have no structural integrity. When the torrent comes, it crumbles down to the foundation.

The key
It is leadership that casts vision and inspires evangelism; leadership that boldly preaches the truth in the face of sin and criticism. It is lay leadership that multiplies the church’s mission and takes pressure off the pastor.
Leadership not only keeps up with culture, it stays ahead of it. It links the mission of the church to the culture of the world.
Even though it does all these great things, church leaders all over the U.S. discount its power. For example, if the community is shrinking around a church, and the church’s numbers are dwindling, the average pastor will focus on how to keep existing members happy and spend some time inviting new people to come.
But decline will usually continue. A true leader will quickly institute change – even if it requires moving to a new location or merging with another congregation – in order to keep the church alive and vibrant. That’s risky and invites criticism, but it’s leadership.

Just lead!
Most pastors have heard the basics of leadership. But it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the daily ministry grind and forget to practice them. Such pastors can’t look past the immediate needs of their flock, often because there’s no one else to meet those needs.
Chronically ineffective leaders cannot stop doing things they know are wrong or inefficient. They say with Paul, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15, NIV).
Paul struggled with personal inertia, like I do. It’s much easier to stay still in our old ways than to do new things. But according to James, when we don’t do the hard things that are necessary, we are actually sinning: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins” (James 4:17, NIV).
Many quality conferences, church consultants and authors teach leadership. An army of ministry coaches work with pastors across the country. As a result, we have tens of thousands of pastoral heads that are filled with leadership knowledge.
Even so, the average church still declines.
James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” I pray that you will be one that leads a church out of a quagmire, whether you are a pastor, consultant or other leader. Pray first – and often – then hurry up and lead!
Your followers are waiting.

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Tom Harper is president of the Society for Church Consulting and publisher of www.ChurchCentral.com, a church leadership blog. He is also president of NetWorld Alliance, a business-to-business publisher and Church Central’s parent. He twitters on leadership issues at @TomRHarper.

Comics

So in a totally unrelated (or maybe it is related) youth ministry conversation, I just picked up and read my edition of "Archie" #600 and I have to say, ...uh huh?!?

(I used to be a bit of a comic nut so I had to pick up this copy)

Have many of you followed the lives and stories embedded with the pages of that various Archie comics titles? Then you know of the ongoing saga of these teens from Riverdale.

I think, and this is only my opinion, that page 3 and the top of page 4 tell us what is going on. (I won't spoil it for those that have not yet read it)

Have a great weekend everyone.

Ron