I felt like the "before" picture for effective ministry. You know, like the ones that demonstrate a spectacular new diet by showing how bad the person looked before. As a speaker described all that was wrong with the typical church—declining attendance, limited evangelism results, no visible spiritual growth—I realized he was describing my church.
I love the ministry, but after eleven years, not ...
ARTICLE The Profiler This leadership position, missing in most churches, is key to increased volunteer ministry. Pam Heaton
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"Four ushers, two nursery workers, five AWANA leaders, and a Sunday School teacher, please."
The pastor smiled wryly when he said that to me. The list of ministry openings at our church used to sound like a fast food order—serve up the workers hot and fast.
Seven years on ministry staff taught me we needed a better system of matching available people to ministry opportunities. It also taught me ...
Whether standing tall, bowing low or falling on your face before the Lord, God deserves our honor and respect; and when we say "amen" to his will, amazing things happen.
This month, as we continue our study of how we worship, we're going to look at Nehemiah 8:6 and see what we can learn from the revival that took place there among the people of Israel as they began to worship.
ARTICLE Dance of the God-Struck There's something about worship that can drive even a king to strip down and leap up. Mark Buchanan
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David Dances.
Death looms on one side, barrenness on the other, and between them, in that steep narrow place, David leaps, twirls, shimmies wild-limbed on the air.
He is close to 40. Maybe his wound-haunted fleshtrained for war, hardened through exile-dwelling, borderland skirmishes, and Saul-dodginghas in these later years softened. He doesn't have to get his bread by begging or brigandage ...
As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from earth to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down on it.
At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, "I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I will give it to you and your descendants. Genesis 28:12-13
DEVOTIONS God Of Rest God is not a slave driver who wants us to squeeze out every minute of the day for activity. Ed Rowell
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The lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my ...