Between Monday and Sunday

I posted an article by Keith Hamilton in the pastors area of lifeway.com about Church Credit Card Use . It was very popular with my readers. One response from a reader was interesting, though. She said, "Aren't Christians supposed to avoid credit cards altogether?" My simple answer is, some Christians should avoid credit cards. Howard Dayton of Crown Financial Ministries is a respected voice in this area and posted an article in Baptist Press that is helpful called Should Christians use credit cards?

Interesting article at Christianpost.com Criticism from people outside of Christianity toward the Church doesn't surprise many. But when negative viewpoints are being expressed by believers, it raises a red flag for churches across the country. In the latest research report by Sam S. Rainer III, who heads Rainer Research , only 39 percent of people who dropped out of the church perceived their church as "caring." Meanwhile, 51 percent of them called their church "judgmental." Among other unfavorable views from those who quit their church, 41 percent of them said their church was "insincere." Only 20 percent felt their church was "inspirational;" 30 percent said their church was "authentic;" and 36 percent said their church was "welcoming." The survey was conducted on 18- to 22-year-olds and is featured in Rainer's upcoming book, Essential Church ?. Read the whole article at Churches' Greatest Critics May be Their O...

"What would happen to planet earth if the human race were to suddenly disappear forever? Would ecosystems thrive? What remnants of our industrialized world would survive? What would crumble fastest? From the ruins of ancient civilizations to present day cities devastated by natural disasters, history gives us clues to these questions and many more in the visually stunning and thought-provoking new special Life After People ." (quoted from their website) This television show premiered this week on The History Channel. What I thought about, after seeing this show, was how this same theme could apply spiritually. What would happen if you removed all Christians from the face of the earth. I preached this past Sunday on the Jesus' statement about Christians being the "salt of the earth." For me the main interpretation of His statement is that we are to be a preserving force on a dying and decaying world without Christ. We focused on "the earth" as "you...

In the December 2007, Dr. Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources , spoke to the State executive directors and their church-health representatives and shared "Seven Mega Trends in Church Health" that LifeWay research has identified. Here are the points mentioned in Dr. Rainer’s presentation at the Summit: 1. The disappearance of 18-24 year olds in church. Rainer said LifeWay Research has well documented the dropout trends of this age group, and while the church has always seen a drop as young people transition from school to the workforce, "there are solutions emerging." Read related article Reasons 18 to 22 Year Olds Drop Out of Church 2. The growth in the multi-venue and multi-campus church. This trend is accelerating, Rainer noted. 3. The desire for deeper biblical doctrinal studies. "Those in our churches are asking for preaching with biblical depth in addition to life application," Rainer said. In an attempt to grow their numbers, ...

Quote from BPNews.com: Axletree's E-zekiel, a website builder and host used by churches and other nonprofits around the world, has come out with a video counterpart to its popular service -- E-zekiel.tv , which launched in early November. " E-zekiel.tv is the answer to the question many churches have been asking," said Nix, a member of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. "Many of our churches whose websites are on E-zekiel have been wanting to share videos online, but the option of going to YouTube wasn't an option." With YouTube, a public video-sharing website, a possibility always exists that users could encounter questionable content, Nix said.

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church, Seattle is a third way through a series of sermons responding to questions sent in by text message from his church family. The series is called, "Religion Saves + 9 Other Misconceptions." Over several weeks, people sent text messages with questions and the leadership posted the questions at askanything.marshillchurch.org . Then they allowed people to vote on the ones they wanted address. They had 893 questions submitted and more than 343,000 votes. You can watch the ones he's preached so far online here...

I saw this referred to in John Maxwell's leadership e-newsletter. The article is actually chapter 1 from Michael A. Roberto's book "Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer: The Leadership Challenge." It's a fascinating article on conflict and consensus. I think it would be helpful to look at it from the pastor's perspective as a leader. Be sure to read all three sections of the article, The Leadership Challenge, Decision-Making Myths, and Dissent. The article is available here Remember, this is written from a secular rather than a biblical mindset or word-view so it's up to you to filter it through your biblical world-view.

In a new study released today, LifeWay research is reporting that, "A majority of unchurched Americans are turned off by the institutional church and don’t have a biblical understanding about God and Jesus, yet they believe Jesus makes a positive difference in a person’s life and would enjoy an honest discussion with a friend about spiritual matters." This study, including 1,402 adults who had not attended a religious service at a church, synagogue or mosque in the previous six months, was conducted in partnership with the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research . Read a summary of their findings in this article... Listen to an audio interview with Scott McConnell and Ed Stetzer

My pastor, Bruce Grubbs, and I were brainstorming a sermon series based on Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7. I thought you might like to see what we were working on. All I have are sermon titles and the dates. You might consider getting together with a couple of pastors are develop content together. Jan 13 - The Jesus Sermon: The Foundation for Life (Introductory) Jan 20 - Jesus on Blessing: The Foundation for Happiness 5:1-12 Jan 27 - Jesus on Influence: the Foundation of Doing Good 5:13-16 Feb 03 - Jesus on Sin: The Foundation of Righteousness 5:17-48 Feb 10 - Jesus on Hypocrites: The Foundation of Integrity 6:1-18 Feb 17 - Jesus on Anxiety: The Foundation of Security in Christ 6:19-34 Feb 24 - Jesus on Relationships: The Foundation of Serving Others 7:1-12 Mar 02 - Jesus on Eternity: The Foundation of Good Choices 7:13-27 Note: We are considering following these with a sermon series to coincide with Max Lucado's " 3:16 Church Experience " begin...