I downloaded and installed a new app today for Bible memorization. Check out the screenshots embedded above for an idea of how it works. It’s called the Verseminder Topical Memory System by NavPress. It costs $3.99, but is well worth it if you want to get serious about memorizing Scripture. The only drawback I see is that it only contains 60 verses.
What tools do you use to help memorize Scripture?
If you’re a pastor, then you have inevitably been asked “what do you do all week?” Besides all the meetings, counseling, coaching, visiting and administrative stuff, we still must spend time preparing for a message each week. And in today’s society, everyone expects the message to be inspiring, motivating, funny, and challenging. I wanted to share a little about my planning and preparation process. I don’t know if it will help anyone, but this is how I get ready for Sunday each week. For me, this process typically takes 10 to 20 hours each week, depending on how much research I’ve done in advance.
And before we begin, the most important thing for any pastor is to stay in God’s Word. If you want to share a fresh message from God each week, you must hear from God and have the courage to share whatever God tells you.
I like to preach in series. When you plan for 4 to 6 weeks at a time, it keeps you from trying to say too much each week. I typically get ideas for sermon series from books I’m reading, from Bible passages that speak to me, and from messages and series that other churches have done. At Cornerstone, we typically rotate between topical series and book series. We like to mix things up to keep sermons from becoming too predictable and boring. Once the series are picked, they are shared with the elders and with the worship team. Currently, we have outlined our series through the first of next year, which is about 5 to 6 months out.
This is where it all begins. I start by reading Bible passages that communicate the principle or truth that we want to convey. I’ll read through several versions and start highlighting key words and phrases. I rely heavily on Evernote to collect and organize my research notes. For key words, I’ll do word studies so that I can understand the context and meaning of the original text. After this is done, it’s time to read through different commentaries to gain insight about each passage. I’ll also read other books that may help me understand concepts or gain additional insight.
This is the point where the message starts taking shape. I’ll read back through my research notes and start organizing my key thoughts. From this, I will determine the main points of the sermon and start forming them into a logical progression. My brain is really wired to keep things in logical order. I have to understand how all the points and thoughts tie together. If not, I feel like I just ramble. Once the main points are written out, I try to write my opening, closing, and transition statements. These will set the tone of the message and determine what I really want to focus on.
By this time, I pretty much know the direction and tone of the message. I like to start adding in personal illustrations and ideas that others have shared with me. I prefer illustrations from the real world instead of illustrations from books or guys that lived hundreds of years ago. By sharing stories from my life, I feel that I am able to let people know that I am not a super preacher man. I’m a real person, with struggles and successes, and I try to give people a glimpse into my life. I’m also talking with the worship team thinking through the flow of the entire service. If we can use a video to help communicate the truth, then we will add it in. But I don’t want to use a video just because it is funny or creative. The first week of any new series is tough, because we’re finishing up all the sermon graphics used on the screens, in the bulletin, and on the web.
My biggest problem each week is that I end up with too much information. So the last thing I do is go back through the progression and organization of the sermon and cut out anything that takes people’s focus away from Christ. This is tough, because it may mean taking out something that I really felt strongly about in the beginning of the process. It also helps focus the message on the main point I want to share each week.
The last step is to boldly proclaim the message that God has given you. And it may even change while you are preaching. If you are prepared, the Holy Spirit can and will change your message on occasion to bring out information that you may have left out. It’s an awesome feeling to see God’s Word transform lives. And for the pastors out there reading this, don’t take lightly your responsibility to proclaim and preach the Gospel. Be bold, be courageous, and be obedient!
Nobody likes to admit that they are greedy and materialistic, yet that is one of our biggest problems in our society today. We buy stuff that we don’t need with money we don’t have. And then we expect someone to bail us out when we get into financial trouble. We are in the middle of a series called In God We Trust at Cornerstone. We’re taking a hard look at how we can really honor God with our possessions and our finances. To help show how easy it is to manage money in a way that honors God, I recruited some high powered help. Check out this video from my little man.
As a father, I’m incredibly proud of all my children, but seeing them learn from an early age about honoring God and saving money is awesome! I even want to share a little story about Drew, the six year old star of the above video. About six months ago, while he was eating a snack in the cafe before the service started, he asked me about one of the offering boxes. I told him what it was and he went on to talk about something else. About 5 minutes later, I glanced over and saw him sneaking over to the box. He made sure no one was looking and he slipped some money out of his pocket and put it into the box. I asked him about it later that day and he just said he felt he needed to give some of his “extra” money back to God. He had already tithed out of his allowance, but he wanted to give more!
If you want to teach your younger kids about handling money, one excellent resource is Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Jr. For your high school and college kids, I highly recommend Joe Sangl’s book What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter THE REAL WORLD
I’ve been to a lot of conferences and I’ve read a lot of books, but seldom do I hear much about rural churches. We are told that we must change culture through reaching the urban cities, but rural America is not as important. It seems that to be considered successful, a church must have thousands of members. But the reality is that most churches are in rural communities and average less than 100 people per week. Communities where everyone knows everyone, and communities where people still need Christ. I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Transforming Church in Rural America by Pastor Shannon O’Dell, and I want to share a few of my thoughts with you.
But before I talk about the book, I need to share part of my story. I pastor in a small city of less than 7000 people. It’s where both my wife and I grew up, and it’s where we plan on raising our children. It’s a city that is full of churches, some that have been in existence for over 100 years. And most importantly, it is a city that I love. I can relate to the people that live here because I understand them. So I am passionate about the rural church. I have even turned my desire to help rural churches learn how to integrate technology and use the internet into a small part time consulting opportunity.
When I started reading this book, I really could not put it down. I read the entire book in two days, while constantly asking myself why there weren’t more books about the rural church. It’s great to read a story of a church that followed a God-given vision and worked through some pretty big problems along the way. It gives me hope that God can transform any community when we get serious about following Christ. The book starts off by sharing some of the “Unwritten Rural Rules”
Like the author, I want to break all the rural rules. I want to see every church healthy and growing and transforming lives. But I also know that rural churches have their own set of problems to overcome. Most pastors have to learn how to deal with family dynasties that think they rule the church, learn how to operate on a very limited budget, and learn how to promote change and share vision with people who are very happy with the status quo. The author talks about the continual process of change-conflict-growth that we will experience in the rural church. I have definitely seen that take place, even in our 5 year old church.
This is a book about leadership, about vision, about change, and about opportunity. This is a very transparent book, one that shares both the successes and failures that the author has experienced in the church. I love the practical ideas for reaching out to the local communities. As a tech geek, I am fascinated by their use of satellite to reach smaller communities through video venues. I see great value in connecting the leadership and vision and resources of stronger churches with smaller churches that need help. It is a great picture of cooperation and I can envision many more similar partnerships and mergers in the future.
Overall I highly recommend this book. If you are part of the leadership of a rural church, don’t lose hope. Read this book and decide if you are willing to go through the process of change-conflict-growth. I’m afraid that too many of our rural churches are content simply going through the motions while the church gets smaller year after year. I want to see churches find their God-given mission and lead people to Christ while transforming their communities. This book will help guide you through the process of becoming that type of church. It doesn’t answer what style or denomination you should be, but it challenges you to truly love your community and find every way possible of reaching it. Here’s a video with more info.
Disclaimer Policy: This was a book that I received as part of a blog contest. See my full policy here.
Our local newspaper, the Galax Gazette recently launched a new website. As part of their new design, they invited community bloggers to submit posts. I plan on sharing at least one post per week about church life in a small town. Blogging is such a great way to interact and communicate with your community. I’m excited about this new opportunity to share online. Here’s an excerpt from my first post called Compete or Complete?
I can never understand why so many Christians spend time criticizing other churches.
Unfortunately, I think too many times it starts with a competitive attitude from the pastor. I will even let you in on a little secret about pastors. Whenever two pastors run into each other, one of the first questions that is always asked is “How many are you running now?” In other words, whose church is bigger.
Maybe I’m naive, but I think the better question is “How can we help each other?”
Truthfully, no two churches are alike. They may have different interpretations of some secondary doctrinal issues, and they will certainly have different styles of worship and ministry, but they each have a role to play in our community. Different types are churches are a good thing, because each church will be able to reach and minister to people that the others can’t.
Hi, my name is Mike, and I am addicted to electronic gadgets. If you ask anybody that knows me well, they would be sure to verify this fact. I like to stay on the cutting edge of technology, but over the past few years I have really slowed down. The reason why: money.
It takes a great deal of money to have the latest and greatest computers, gadgets, and software. And ministry is not exactly the profession to go into if you want to have money. So now, I’m the guy that constantly wants new stuff, only to have to learn the meaning of contentment.
But I have found something unexpected in the process. My 3 year old church laptop is still running great, and my $300 home computer running Windows XP still works fine. Even though my cell phone came out over 3 years ago, it still makes phone calls. In other words, I really have all I need and more. We live in a society that tries to convince us that we need more. If we buy into the myth that we always need the latest and greatest gadget, then have we made technology our God?
Materialism is an ugly thing, and we can become experts in rationalizing our purchases, but I want to challenge you to really ask yourself if you need the latest and greatest version of every new gadget. The question should not be, “Can I buy this?” The better question is “Should I buy this?”
So while I’m lusting after iPads, new MacBook Pros, and new Android phones, I’m learning the true meaning of 1 Timothy 6:17-19. We’re just started a new series at Cornerstone called “In God We Trust: Faith, Hope, & Money” and I will be sharing about honoring God in every area of our lives, including our technological purchases 
Photo Credit: Rutty
Recently I made an interesting observation in how my shopping habits have changed. I love to read and I love hanging out in bookstores. When you find a good book and a comfortable chair and simply relax with the smell of coffee in the air, you can spend hours reading. Most bookstores today have great children’s areas as well, so our family frequents many of the big bookstores. But over the past few years, I’ve noticed that we really don’t buy anything at the bookstores. We pick up a kid’s book every now and then, but for the most part, we just hang out and discover books.
Now, I either order books for my Kindle, or I choose to order several at a time from Amazon or one of the other online retailers at much cheaper prices than the store offers. I simply can’t bring myself to pay full retail price for books. I try to buy a few books from our local small family owned bookstore, but most of my purchases are now online.
So here is the question for you to think about: Can bookstores stay in business considering all the new electronic reading devices? Can they afford to keep such high inventories of books when people can order books online and have them shipped overnight cheaper? What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let me know what you think
I have shared about OpenDNS before, but I wanted to let you know about a new free service they are now offering. FamilyShield is a web filter that blocks out inappropriate sites on your home or business computers. I have used OpenDNS to protect my home network and our church network for the past two years and it has worked great.
FamilyShield is a stripped down version of OpenDNS basic that requires very little setup and no configuration. It works by simply changing a few settings in your wireless router. They keep a constantly updated list of inappropriate sites and there is no software to install on your computer. Since it works through your router, it also protects all computers on your network including any iPods, gaming systems, or other home devices. Check out their site for more information. I highly recommend it.
Over the past year, I have been using Google Voice to handle all my voicemail on my mobile phone. Google announced today that Google Voice is now available to everyone in the US. Before today, you had to receive an invitation in order to use it, so here’s your chance to try out something that is cutting edge.
Most pastors spend a large amount of time on their phones, so this service really works great for them. You can route incoming calls to your office phone, your home phone, your cell, or even straight to voicemail. Google transcribes every voicemail into text so you can read your voicemails over text messages or emails. Although the transciption is sometimes a little crazy, most of the the time you can decipher what the call is about without listening through the voicemail. They don’t have many local google numbers for my area, but they are adding more all the time.
This video explains a little more about the service.
As part of the One Prayer series that we are participating in at Cornerstone, we are asking everyone to go to the One Prayer website each day to read the devotion and prayer guide. Each Tuesday, I have asked that we join with other churches around the world and fast from Sundown Monday night to Sundown Tuesday night. Fasting is a powerful but neglected spiritual discipline that can transform our lives. Fasting helps us to focus on what is truly important and it can clear our minds of daily distractions.
On Tuesday of this past week, our family was at the beach on vacation. Here’s where it gets a little complicated. Even though I was on vacation, I wanted to honor the fast. So Jennifer and I went 24 hours with only liquids and we spent some extended time reading scripture and praying for our church and our community. But to end the fast, we decided to go to an all-you-can-eat-gorge-yourself-on-incredibly-insane-amounts-of-seafood buffet. I literally ate 3 or 4 pounds of crab legs in addition to prime rib, shrimp, and fish. Now it doesn’t take a detective to see through the problem in that.
In our country, we are so used to excess that we don’t even realize what we are doing. The restaurant said they cook over 1800 pounds of crab legs each night! We let food dictate our schedules and we even plan our vacations around where we can eat. And even when we fast, we are thinking about where we can eat next. Lord forgive us for our selfish and extravagant lifestyles. What really bothers me is that most people never even see the problem. We pray for those who are hungry around the world and then eat like it’s our last meal. I am thankful that fasting is teaching me lessons and opening my eyes to where my faith and actions don’t line up.
I am also learning from my friends. Jennifer has also just completed a 21 day Daniel fast, and my friend Ronnie has been blogging and sharing about his 40-day fast. I’ve got to admit, God is really challenging me right now to get serious about prayer and fasting. And not just from food, but from other things that hold control over my thoughts and actions. I’ll be sharing more about my thoughts on technology and fasting as well.
But let me just stop and ask my readers, what have you learned from fasting? Leave a comment and join the conversation.
(if you want to learn more about fasting, check out this site from Campus Crusade. It has some great info on how to get started)
I just finished reading a book by Pastor Pete Wilson titled Plan B: What Do You Do When God Doesn’t Show Up the Way You Thought He Would?
As a pastor, I am invited into many situations where families are looking for answers. Whether it is a family who has experienced tragedy or who have just lost a loved one, pain in life is inevitable. How do we respond when your marriage falls apart or you lose your job or even lose a child? Do we share simple platitudes and quotes and say that God is in control and that everything works for good? Or do we look to God for our strength, comfort, and peace? Everything in life cannot be wrapped up and explained. Sometimes, we don’t understand why things are happening, but we cannot lose sight of God when things don’t work out the way we planned.
This book explores the relationship between shattered dreams and true spiritual transformation. How we can not only survive through pain and suffering, but how we can grow and learn to rely on God. We must learn to give up control of our lives and allow God to direct our steps. So many times we end up in what we consider is a Plan B, and we don’t allow God to grow us and change us through the pain. It was a book filled with examples from the Bible and examples from his own church.
If you are struggling with the circumstances in your life, then get this book. I’ve read a lot of books over the years trying to explain the problem of pain and suffering in the lives of Christians, but this book does a great job of really connecting and making you feel like the author cares. It is not written as a textbook or manual, but as a letter to encourage you. For that reason alone, it is worth your time. Check out the video below for more information.
Full Disclosure: I received this book as part of the BookSneeze Blogger Review Program. You can read more about my reviews here.
Plan B from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.
This week at Cornerstone we joined over a thousand churches in starting the One Prayer series. This is our third year participating in the series and it has been awesome to come together as we strive to be the answer to the prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-24.
I shared a message about Unstoppable Unity. Just imagine what would happen if our churches were fully united in purpose and in love. I also challenged our church to go online and read the devotions each day at oneprayer.com. We will be praying and fasting together as a church during the month of June.
I asked our church to join together from sundown Monday to sundown Tuesday to fast and pray each week. This week we are fasting and praying for unity so that the lost can see Jesus through us. I’m excited to see what will happen when God’s power is unleashed through people who have joined together to fast and pray.
Jennifer and I have slipped away for a few days of rest at the beach. So fasting for us is a challenge when you are surrounded by so many great restaurants . But rest assured, we are joining with you by praying and fasting for our church. I can’t wait to see what God will teach us through this study.
The story begins twenty years ago when some of my friends convinced me to ask a sweet young lady to prom. Fast-forward through the end of high school of four years of college and I found myself walking down an aisle of a little country church fifteen years ago marrying the love of my life. A lot of things have changed since then, but one thing has remained constant, and that is our commitment to God and to each other.
I’ve heard a lot of people over the years talk about how marriage brings out the worst in people, but in my case, Jennifer has brought out the best in me. She is my encourager and friend, and she is an incredible wife and mother. I can see glimpses of her in all three of our children and it reminds me how lucky I really am.
Looking back to our teen years, I don’t think I would have ever imagined that I would end up as a pastor of a church, and I know Jennifer never thought she would be a pastor’s wife. But God knew what He was doing when He brought us together, because we really make a great team. I can’t wait to keep writing new chapters of our life. Jennifer, you are an amazing woman of God, and I am blessed to be your husband
Just finished reading a great book by Larry Osborne on my Kindle. Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page
I liked it so much, that I have ordered copies for everyone on our elder board at Cornerstone so we can work through it together. In a new and growing church, you encounter so many issues that you don’t foresee happening. This book shares a lot of wisdom about what their church learned as they grew. Unfortunately, I have already learned many of the book’s lessons the hard way. But this book has helped me to think strategically about the future of our church and my role as the Pastor. You simply have to learn how to adapt and change leadership style and roles as your church grows if you want to maintain unity.
I think the best way to share what I learned is to share some of my highlights. (This is one of the great features of the Kindle, you can just cut and paste your notes and highlights from the Kindle website.)
This is just a small sampling of what you’ll find in the book. I read it in two days because I simply couldn’t put it down.
Most Christian blog writers tell you how great everything is going in their churches. I want to switch things up and tell you a little about one of our struggles this year in the hope it may help some of my readers. First, I need to give a little background. I started working with teenagers in youth ministry 14 years ago. I have spent countless hours hanging out with teens, riding in 15 passenger vans, and doing way too many gross games that involved food. This blog even started out when I was in youth ministry. But 3 years ago, I accepted the call to pastor the church I’m now at. Since that time, I have juggled youth responsibilities with the responsibilities of pastoring and leading a church, and I haven’t always done a good job.
With the start of this past school year, we made quite a few changes. In hindsight, we made way too many changes at the same time. The effect has been that our Sr. High youth group has really struggled through this school year. In fact, it has been one of the most frustrating years ever for me in youth ministry. So what happened and what have I learned from it.
Looking back, I think our group would have been fine with just one or two of these changes, but when combined, the changes posed some serious problems. We really do have a great group of students, but things just haven’t worked out the way we intended. It is going to take some work to regain momentum for the summer and for the next school year, but I am also excited about the possibilities. I know the teens in our group have a huge potential and God can definitely stir them up to do great things for the Kingdom.
And lastly, it’s not been all frustrating. Our Jr. High/Middle School group has had a wonderful year. It has grown and continues to be strong. We had some great leaders step up and serve (thanks Ed and Veronica!) and I’m confident that it will continue to grow. I’m just a little nervous because my daughter will be in that group next year.
Hopefully this may help some of you who are planting churches and juggling responsibilities. Please share your thoughts on youth ministry in the comments below.
Cornerstone Sermons