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I feel like there are two kinds of people in the world.  One type is wired to love English/History. They most likely enjoyed these classes in school and did well in them.  They love that a sentence can mean different things when read in different ways.  They enjoy words and stories. The other type of person is geared toward Math/Science. They performed well and liked those subjects in school.  Ambiguity is frustrating to them.  They enjoy numbers, measuring things, and equations. My husband is this type of person. He is a numbers guy.  Give him a spreadsheet and some formulas, and he will “Excel” at putting it all together. (As you may hav…

My father has been in the ministry for almost 34 years. In many conversations, he has commented on the summer season of church life during those few hot months in between school sessions. In talking with him this week, he said, “Many families are gone over the summer, but we don’t slow down very much. However, the dynamics of our ministry change.” Instead of continuing with the same caliber of ministry activities, they place their focus on summer events for the community and missional engagements such as VBS and Mission Trips. They also use summer months to focus on their teams and committees, even having a short retreat for their staff. S…

When we first started ministry, we didn’t know about the “Summer Slump.” (We also didn’t know about being missional– we had a lot to learn!) We had a fairly good attendance on Mother’s Day, but would slowly start to see our attendance wane in the following weeks. We wondered what had happened– nothing had changed in our services, we were still preaching the Gospel and loving our community. We were holding Vacation Bible School and sending kids to youth camp.  But every Sunday, we were missing several families. Some were on vacation, some were visiting family, and some were just enjoying decompressing from a busy school year. And then, some…

Through college and seminary, my wife and I jumped from rental to rental, often finding the cheapest, most functional places we could. We knew our stay was temporary, so we tried to find rentals with a 6-month lease. Until we finished up our degrees, we lived in a variety of homes. But after moving back to Florida and temporarily staying with family, we began to search for a home to purchase and live long-term. The language of mortgage loans was frustrating for me, and I felt ill-equipped to understand it all. Underwriters and Realtors were helpful, but I wish I had more economical knowledge before running into barrier after barrier. I did…

Have you ever had one of those days where it seemed like nothing you did worked out the way you thought it would? Last week, I woke up late because I fell back to sleep after my alarm went off. The set of scrubs I planned to wear had an unknown stain on them, so I had to grab another pair–  which is when I realized I hadn’t taken them out of the washer the night before. I made coffee then realized we were out of coffee creamer.  I resigned myself to a cup of bitter, black coffee, only to burn my mouth on it. On my way to work, my car reminded me that I had forgotten to get gas the day before and when I finally got to work, my first patien…

The Life Cycle of Ephesus In the podcast this week, our team had the opportunity to have Kyle Bueermann as a guest. His thoughts on Discipleship in a Replant were helpful, and caused me to think about examples of some churches in the New Testament who neglected this important topic. There are many churches mentioned in the New Testament that we don’t know much about. Even in Revelation, Jesus speaks directly to some churches that haven’t been introduced in Acts, and certainly don’t have their own epistles from Paul. Churches like Pergamum are noted in Revelation for holding fast to the name of Jesus and being faithful to the gospel, but we…

If you were asked to define worship in only a few words, what would you say? Is it a time set aside on Sunday morning or does it happen on other days or at other times?  Is it the act of singing songs of praise to God or does it involve more than just singing?  Does it happen corporately only or also privately??  While I would hope that we would describe worship by something other than a specific time, place, or song, I know that the phrase “worship” can be difficult to define. Many of us have been on the frontlines of the “Worship Wars,” and have seen the damage an incorrect definition of worship can inflict in a church. We’ve been in chu…

In another blog, I wrote on the “why,” behind healthy stewardship. But this week on the podcast, we learned the “how” of Stewardship with Rick Wheeler from Stewardship Simplified (Florida Baptist Financial Services). On the podcast, Rick helped us understand how a Replanter or Revitalizer who has few resources can take practical steps to manage a church well for the glory of God. Prioritizing Our Roles When it comes to understanding the roles and titles that many of us carry, it helps to create a distinction between our job descriptions and our role as Christ followers. Before I am an Associational Mission Strategist, and before you are a …

“Exactly how long has this light been on in your car?” The text came shortly after my husband had pulled out of the driveway to run to the grocery store. “Which one?” I replied.   While he was referring to the low fuel light (long enough that I would need to get gas soon but recent enough that the grocery trip should be fine), he might have just as easily been referring to my check engine light or my tire pressure light, both of which had come on that morning. Thankfully, my husband is much better at recognizing a potential hazard and got the engine tested (nothing serious) and put some air in my tires…while he was also filling the tank. …

Note: This is Part 2 in a 2-Part series on Barriers to Discipleship. All Revitalization is Discipleship Last week, we covered three major barriers to discipleship in a church, and today we cover the last three. If we don’t remove these barriers, it can become extremely difficult to work with a church in revitalization and replanting efforts. Discipleship, not numbers, is the measure of success in churches we are working with.  I was meeting with one of our pastors recently who is a young man and brand new to the ministry. A church called him to be their pastor and he’s done exceptionally well in loving and caring for his congregation, but …