Having traveled about the Northwest for the last couple of weeks it becomes very obvious that there are not as many churches as in the Southern states. However, there are churches in the Northwest just not a whole lot of Baptists.
With the very high number of unchurched people in our country (80+%) there is certainly a need everywhere. But I couldn't help but notice how beautiful this part of the country is. The mountains, the trees, the rivers and streams, the wildlife! It is absolutely breathtaking. And in many places the winters are not really very difficult to handle.
It is the people that are most in need of being reached! Many in the Northwest do not have a knowledge of God's free pardon of sin through Jesus. The Northwest is a goldmine for church planters if they will only catch the vision.
David P Smith
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Nagivators
Yes, it's another new word. This one is my own original. "Nagivators" are people who nag you until you go in their direction and buy into their vision. I'm not sure it is a negative as much as it is an aggravational (new word again?) approach to get something done.
Navigators guide vessels through land, air and sea. "Nagivators" guide people by nagging them to the point of aggravation in order to impose their will on them. The downside of this is, once your nagivated enough you will rebel and go in another direction.
I love to be navigated by someone who knows where they are going in life and ministry. But a nagivator is someone that has an opinion of where things ought to go having never been there and aggravates you to the point your ears become deaf and you rebel.
Keep your eyes and ears open to the Biblical navigators who show the way and ignore the 'nagivators' who really don't know what they are saying.
Navigators guide vessels through land, air and sea. "Nagivators" guide people by nagging them to the point of aggravation in order to impose their will on them. The downside of this is, once your nagivated enough you will rebel and go in another direction.
I love to be navigated by someone who knows where they are going in life and ministry. But a nagivator is someone that has an opinion of where things ought to go having never been there and aggravates you to the point your ears become deaf and you rebel.
Keep your eyes and ears open to the Biblical navigators who show the way and ignore the 'nagivators' who really don't know what they are saying.
Short Term Missions Trips
One of the best ways to get churches turned on to missions and evangelism is to encourage pastors and members to go on a Short Term Missions trips.
Until the people in the pew see with their own eyes what God is doing in the world and put their hands on it, they will probably not understand what all the excitment is about.
Part of turning a church around or having a 'comeback church' is being 'missional'. This is a term that simply describes the purpose of the church, like 'scriptural' describes the nature of a church. Being missional is simply getting hold of the Great Commission in a personal and relevant way which engages everyone in the church.
Go on a short term missions trip and be missional. We can help. Call us.
David P Smith
XSTREAM
Until the people in the pew see with their own eyes what God is doing in the world and put their hands on it, they will probably not understand what all the excitment is about.
Part of turning a church around or having a 'comeback church' is being 'missional'. This is a term that simply describes the purpose of the church, like 'scriptural' describes the nature of a church. Being missional is simply getting hold of the Great Commission in a personal and relevant way which engages everyone in the church.
Go on a short term missions trip and be missional. We can help. Call us.
David P Smith
XSTREAM
Start Tracking 100 New Churches
We have issued a challenge to the ABA that we start 100 new churches. We now have our website www.goxstream.org., ready to track new church starts, new missions, new bible studies and new small groups. Yes, we'll track it all. Please spread the word about this and help us find the new churches and groups that are out there. Just go to our website and click church planting and then register.
We have extended our tracking to all kinds of new works so that we can better grasp what God is doing among us. Help us please.
What an exciting thing it would be if we went beyond the 100 mark!
David P Smith
We have extended our tracking to all kinds of new works so that we can better grasp what God is doing among us. Help us please.
What an exciting thing it would be if we went beyond the 100 mark!
David P Smith
Monday, July 16, 2007
Comeback Churches
Just finished an awesome book by Ed Stetzer, "Comeback Churches". It is a must read for any man who finds himself pastoring a plateaued or declining church. What insight this author has!
Churches can comeback from the brink of death or decline, but many choose not to do so. Isn't that amazing? They would rather die holding on to traditions that no longer benefit the kingdom of God than to do what is necessary to become alive and relevant in their communities. I find this very dismaying.
If your church needs to comeback from the edge of decline and death then read this book and make some changes. The changes most needed in our churches are 'heart' and 'attitude' changes.
You can be a "comeback church". Read the book.
David P Smith
Churches can comeback from the brink of death or decline, but many choose not to do so. Isn't that amazing? They would rather die holding on to traditions that no longer benefit the kingdom of God than to do what is necessary to become alive and relevant in their communities. I find this very dismaying.
If your church needs to comeback from the edge of decline and death then read this book and make some changes. The changes most needed in our churches are 'heart' and 'attitude' changes.
You can be a "comeback church". Read the book.
David P Smith
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Simply Starting a Church
The simplicity of the gospel must tell us something.
Church planting has become all too difficult for the average Church to really figure out. If the simple gospel is going to be simply told we are going to have to simply start churches.
All too often our churches have agonized over the expense of starting a new church. For example: raising enough money to partly or even fully pay the salary of a church planter; raising funds to buy land and ultimately build a building. These are legitimate expenses if we choose to start churches the complicated way. That is not to say that at some time in the future these will be real expenses; but who should bear the greater part of this? If it is going to be simply a church then the church that is being started ought to carry the bulk of the burden from the beginning. And when it is ready to buy land and build a building, it will by God's grace.
But simply, why would a new church want to buy land and build a building when it can rent facilities or meet in donated buildings for a lot less than engaging in great financial manuevers. Most unbelievers don't have a church building orientation, therefore they will probably not care if they have their own property unless someone tells them differently. It's the Christian crowd that looks for nice facilities to worship in and that's ok, but who are we trying to reach anyways? Who are we trying to please?
There are numerous places in the free world, including the USA, where churches do not have their own facilities and are quite happy, growing and not saddled with huge million dollar pieces of property. They are simply doing church without all of the trappings. And that's allright, isn't it?
Simply starting a church must be simpler than what some have made it to be.
Church planting has become all too difficult for the average Church to really figure out. If the simple gospel is going to be simply told we are going to have to simply start churches.
All too often our churches have agonized over the expense of starting a new church. For example: raising enough money to partly or even fully pay the salary of a church planter; raising funds to buy land and ultimately build a building. These are legitimate expenses if we choose to start churches the complicated way. That is not to say that at some time in the future these will be real expenses; but who should bear the greater part of this? If it is going to be simply a church then the church that is being started ought to carry the bulk of the burden from the beginning. And when it is ready to buy land and build a building, it will by God's grace.
But simply, why would a new church want to buy land and build a building when it can rent facilities or meet in donated buildings for a lot less than engaging in great financial manuevers. Most unbelievers don't have a church building orientation, therefore they will probably not care if they have their own property unless someone tells them differently. It's the Christian crowd that looks for nice facilities to worship in and that's ok, but who are we trying to reach anyways? Who are we trying to please?
There are numerous places in the free world, including the USA, where churches do not have their own facilities and are quite happy, growing and not saddled with huge million dollar pieces of property. They are simply doing church without all of the trappings. And that's allright, isn't it?
Simply starting a church must be simpler than what some have made it to be.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Indigenous Churches USA
We have been seeing an outpouring of God's Spirit in numerous places around the globle. It has been evidenced in the planting of 100's of new churches in many different countries. Planting new churches is the most effective way to evangelize a city, a country, a continent. But these churches are part of a movement to establish 'indigenous churches'.
To many in the ABA 'indigenous' is a new term. It's not new, just new to us. It means essentially that something can grow, reproduce, and thrive naturally without any outside or foreign intervention. This, we are learning, is working well with the establishment of new churches in foreign countries that are self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating and scripturally sound from the 'git go'.
It is time to adapt these principles of indigenous church planting to the USA. We would be establishing many more churches if we seriously considered allowing new churches to be indigenous from the beginning. It would be cost effective. It would call for spiritual leaders to be raised up from their own congregations. It would solve a lot of problems and maybe create some new ones. But, churches would be started. We can work out those challenges that will come. Let's just begin.
To many in the ABA 'indigenous' is a new term. It's not new, just new to us. It means essentially that something can grow, reproduce, and thrive naturally without any outside or foreign intervention. This, we are learning, is working well with the establishment of new churches in foreign countries that are self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating and scripturally sound from the 'git go'.
It is time to adapt these principles of indigenous church planting to the USA. We would be establishing many more churches if we seriously considered allowing new churches to be indigenous from the beginning. It would be cost effective. It would call for spiritual leaders to be raised up from their own congregations. It would solve a lot of problems and maybe create some new ones. But, churches would be started. We can work out those challenges that will come. Let's just begin.
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