Encouragement Archives - Page 5 of 17

Smile When You Talk On The Phone

January 10, 2018 / 1 minute of reading

Why should I smile when I’m talking on the phone? Unless it’s a video chat, the listener can’t see me smile.

Because they can hear me smile.

Yes, you can hear a smile.

The same goes for talking on the radio, a podcast, or while preaching a sermon. Smiling when you talk changes the way your voice sounds.

A smile gives your voice a more inviting, uplifting tone. It welcomes people in. And, for an introvert like me, who has a general dislike of talking on the phone, a smile works its way from my face to my mood.

Our emotions go from the outside in far more often than from the inside out. So smiling while doing something I otherwise dislike actually helps make it bearable, sometimes even enjoyable.
Besides, the gospel is good news. That’s worth a smile.

When you smile, they know it. And the good news starts feeling good to them, too.

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Another Small Church Christmas Eve – Was Yours Not So Merry And Bright?

December 24, 2017 / 1 minute of reading

Christmas Eve has come and gone.

As you scroll through social media, you’re seeing all the rave reports from fellow pastors about full churches, beautiful productions and salvations.

But, while you’re happy for them, you don’t respond. Because, in the small church you serve, yesterday was hard. Again.

Instead of a bigger-than-usual crowd, your church building was downright barren because the church members who left for the holidays were not replaced by visitors.

Instead of a lavish musical production, the one or two musicians you do have (if you have any to begin with) were among those who left town to visit family.

I don’t have any answers for you. But I do feel what you’re going through.

While our small church had a great Sunday this year, I remember those sparse years when there was more to dread about church at Christmas than to look forward to.

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The New Normal: 9 Realities And Trends In Bivocational Ministry

December 12, 2017 / 1 minute of reading

If I could only teach one vocational principle to young pastors-to-be, it would probably be this.

Learn how to pay the bills outside of your pastoral salary. You’ll probably need it.

Whether you want to be a church planter or pastor an existing church, it’s likely you’ll spend at least some of your pastoral ministry being bivocational.

Bivocational ministers (pastors who work outside the church to provide most or all of their household income) may be the most under-appreciated and overlooked leaders in the church.

Here are 9 realities and trends I have picked up from my research, observations, and conversations with dozens of bivocational pastors.

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28 Non-Numerical Signs Of A Healthy Church

November 19, 2017 / 1 minute of reading

If numbers aren’t the only way to tell if a church is healthy, what else is there? Have we really become so obsessed with numbers that many pastors don’t know what a healthy church looks like, outside of crunching the numbers? An obsession with numbers can blind us to essential truths. Not only are numbers

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Don’t Try To Be Successful, Try To Do Good Work

October 4, 2017 / 1 minute of reading

I’ve always tried to live my life and do ministry by this rule:

Don’t try to be successful. Try to do good work.

Not people-pleasing work, God-honoring work
Not self-promoting work, Christ-magnifying work
Not numbers-driven work, Spirit-led work
The one time in my ministry that I abandoned this principle and did things for the numbers, I got numbers. For a while. But the numbers came at a cost. They sucked my soul dry.

Those numbers, as modest as they were, almost killed my church and cost me my ministry. Not because of the numbers. Because I abandoned my principles for them.

Yes, you can honor God and see numerical success. There are a lot of churches, pastors and ministries that do. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

It’s not about size or success. It’s about having and honoring Godly principles, no matter what the results look like.

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Sorry, Pastors – The Growth Of The Church Is Not Up To Us

October 2, 2017 / 1 minute of reading

If the size of my church was up to me, it would have been a lot bigger a long time ago.
After all, like so many of my peers in ministry, I’ve followed all the rules. Preach the Word, train disciples, reach people, remove obstacles, lead and manage it well, and the church will grow. Won’t it?

But then, it doesn’t. No for most of us.

I know it doesn’t make sense. How can a church be healthy and strong, but not grow numerically? It seems counterintuitive and … I don’t know … wrong somehow.

But that’s reality. A lot of healthy churches don’t grow numerically.

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For Every Minister Who Struggles With Your Prayer Life

September 25, 2017 / 1 minute of reading

A healthy prayer life is hard work.

If you’re one of those Christians who finds your prayer life to be easy, joyous and endlessly fulfilling, we’re grateful for you and the role you play in the body of Christ. But that’s not the way it is for most of us.

Pastors are not immune to struggling with our prayer life. In my experience and conversations, plus almost every poll taken about the prayer lives of ministers, pastors who struggle with prayer are in the majority.

So if you’re a minister who is less than satisfied with you prayer life, I hope it helps to know you’re not alone.

Prayer is really hard for most of us. Including me. And I think I know why.

Prayer is hard because the results are long-term.

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