The Gift of Christmas

My earliest Christmas memory occured when I was five years old. I remember my brothers (age 4, & 2) and I decorating the tree in our small home in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. We were so excited! Christmas was nearly here. We went to bed that night in anticipation of a wonderful Christmas morning opening presents. We awoke early the next morning before Mom and Dad were up and ran into the living room to discover Santa had come that night! Perfectly gift wrapped gifts were under the tree! That's when my brothers (age 4 & 2) and I had a familiy conference. Our descion: to plunge right in and see what Santa had brought. We jumped right in and began opening boxes. Our first surprise was that the presents were dish towels, tools, shirts and socks--much to big for us. Our second surprise occurred when our parents came into the room with the fury of a Texas tornado.

My brothers and I had jumped the gun. Those gifts we opened were for our extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins! My mother had stayed up late the night before to wrap them. The recriminations began immediately. Being the oldest I was blamed. In my defense I said I was out voted by my brothers (ages 4 & 2). After a stern talking to we now understood that Christmas morning was still a couple of days away.

I think about that first Christmas memory this time of year. All the hustle, bustle and anticipation. As I shop the crowded stores and malls I wonder how many people will miss the true joy of Christmas. As Christians we know the true gift of Christmas: Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.

In 2 John 3 we find this verse: "Grace, mercy and peace be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love." (HCSB) Five great words describe the results of the gift of Christmas: grace, mercy, peace, truth and love.

May these be yours through Jesus Christ this Christmas season!

[This is my last post until after Christmas.}

Do you serve in a Christendom or Missional Church?

For the past few months I have had the privilege to serve with a group of people charged with the responsibility for strategic planning for a regional group of churches. It is challenging task but one wrought with God-sized opportunities. Their ministry area is projected to grow from 625k to over 1.1 million by the year 2030. One of the key issues our group wrestled with was the current state of our churches. We recognized that many churches are still mired in practices of yesteryear and are unable to seize opportunities for ministry in today's world. They are Christendom churches. We also recognized that many churches today ar Missional churches. Some were planted that way in recent years, some transitioned from a Christendom culture to missional mode. What are the differences between Christendom and Missional churches? What kind of church do you serve? Here are a few differences that can help you discover what kind of church you serve:

Christendom Churches: focus on maintaining the institution; Missional: focus on transforming lives.

Christendom churches: make a long-term commitment to the church; Missional: have a new found commitment to Jesus Christ.

Christendom churches: manage through committees and position holders; Missional churches deploy members into missions and ministries.

Christendom churches make decisions (usually for someone else to implement!); Missional churches make disciples of Jesus.

Christendom churches emphasize members training; Missional churches emphasize lifetime learning & growing in grace.

Christendom churches focus on raising money; Missional churches focus on raising people.

Christendom churches discuss internal needs; Missional churches address the unchurched in the community.

Christendom churches have an information-oriented faith; Missional churches have an experience-oriented faith.

Christendom churches are concerned with perpetuating a heritage; Missional churches are concerned with looking toward the future.

Christendom churches talk about church work; Missional churches talk about fulfillment, mission & ministry.

Where did you come out? Do you serve in a Christendom or Missional context.

What kind of team player are you?

Re-reading some material last night I came across Glenn Parker's book, Team Players and Teamwork (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996). Great stuff that is still helpful to many church leadership teams. Parker sites research describing four types of team players that contribute to successful and effective teams:

1. The Contributor is the task-oriented member who enjoys providing the team with good information and data. Typically they push the team to higher performance standards and the wise use of resources. They are often described as dependable, responsible, organized, systematic and proficient.

2. The Collaborator is a goal-directed member who gets the vision, mission or purpose of the team. They are flexible and open to new ideas and are willing to pitch in and work outside their role and are willing to share the limelight with others in order to see the team accomplish its goals. The Collaborator is often describes as cooperative, flexible, forward-looking, generous, open and visionary.

3. The Communicator is the process-orinted team member who is an effective listener who facilitates involvement, handles conflict resolution, a consensus builder and helps creates an informal and relaxed climate. These people are supportive, encouraging, tactful, helpful, patient, informal and considerate.

4. The Challenger is the one member who will question the goals, methods, and even the ethics of the team. They are willing to disagree with the leader or someone in higher authority. They also encourage the team to take well-calculated risks. They are often acribed as candid, honest, truthful, outspoken, principled and brave.

As the leader resist the temptation to stack the deck with people who think, work and react just like you. Look hard for people described with these four characteristics and qualities. Your church or ministry will be better for it and the end result with be a better decision, ministry or project. The best result may just be that each of these people, having bought in because they contributed can gain the support of others who are like them. The result is quicker ownership of the new idea, ministry or product by your whole organization.

Books I re-read every year

Some books deserve to be read only once. Some are used for reference, and skimmed. Yet there are books that deserve to be read and re-read regularly. This year I plan to re-read six books, five I have re-read every year for the last several and a new one I plan on re-reading. Here are the six book I will read again in 2010:

Toward an Exegetical Theology by Walter Kaiser.

I first read this book in seminary have used it for years in my preparation to preach and teach God's Word. When I re-read this book it's like when I take my car in for a 30,000 mile check-up. Every time I read it I feel as if I am being re-tooled for rightly dividing the Word.

Good to Great by Jim Collins.

I believe this is the greatest business book of all time and has much to say to the church of Jesus Christ. If you want your church to go to the next level I can't recommend this book highly enough.

The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren

The farther we go into the 21st century and away from a program driven church this book is foundational for ministry in the future. It was simple before simple was cool. It can help you transition to a process focused ministry and away from a program based ministry.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Ok I confess to being an Anglophile and a lover of C S Lewis in particular. I've read and re-read this since my college days. It's like visiting an old friend you haven't seen for a while and then picking up just where we left off. A classic devotional and apologetic for good reason. The last page is worth the price of the book. It begins, "Nothing that has not died can ever be resurrected...' Great advice for these and every day.

Modern Times by Paul Johnson

An incisive analysis of the 20th century by a prominent historian. It's theme: the struggle for freedom against the forces of totalitarianism and the state. A ready reminder for our world today.

The Reason for God by Tim Keller

A great book by a leading pastor that helps Christians reclaim the intellectual high ground for a Christ-centered conversation with our culture. His book, The Prodigal God is also bless and challenge you.

Well, here's my list. Now I'm ready to get started sharpening my saw!

Is there a lesson in the Tiger Trauma?

Is there a leadership lesson we can learn from the sorry and sorid tale of Tiger Woods? Let me begin by saying that we should pray for him, his wife Elin and their family. Throughout his career Tiger has used his celebrity to make lots of money but also to raise millions in charities that make a difference in the lives of countless prople. Every public event recieves smothering coverage.

It shouldn't shock us that celebrities have personal failure. And in this day of 24/7/365 media coverage that we find out about it. What is shocking in Tiger's case is his pedantic response to the events that have dominated the news since Saturday night. Years ago I heard Bill Gates tell business leaders: 'The good news is that bad news travels fast.' In other words if there is bad news about your business, ministry or in your personal life get it out, deal with it, tell the truth, don't sugar coat it and don't try to spin it. Delay. Delay. Delay, only leads to making a bad situation worse and in Tiger's case becomes a fodder for cable news, TV talk shows and the internet gone wild.

The leadership lesson: get out in front of bad news or it may run over you.

'They ran to the sound of the guns'

So said General Casey, US Army Chief of Staff describing the response of many of our men and women in uniform during the tragic event at Ft. Hood, Texas last Thursday. What an amazing statement. When I heard him say that on Fox News last Friday my reaction was immediate: my throat coked with emotion, my chest swelled with pride and my heart broke for the victims all over again.

Then I had a thought......"They ran to the sound of the guns." Our service men and women do it every single day in Iraq, Afghanistan and on Thursday last, Ft. Hood. Police officers, fire fighters, and nurses so it every day. Those who "run to the sounds of the guns" deserve our thanks, prayers and support.

Christians in the early church "ran to the sound of the guns." They took into their homes those who were homeless.....sick.....dying.....deserted and disaffected. The words hospital and hospitality derived from what these early Christians did.

They understood life and ministry is messy. Too many times today it is too easy to turn away or let another do it.

The next time you have an opportunity to help someone hurting, someone in trouble or whose life is a mess, what will you do?

It's your choice.

"Run to the sounds of the guns."

Can you Change your Church DNA?

In the last 48 hours I heard another report of a pastor forced to resign his church. As far as I know it was not a moral, ethical or doctrinal issue. Why then was this Bible-believing, Bible preaching pastor forced to resign after just four years?

He tried to change the DNA of a 100 year old, county seat First Baptist Church. Now anybody that knows me knows I am not against change. I believe in the maxim: 'Innovate, reinvigorate or stagnate.' But I also believe you can't change the DNA of your church. We all have DNA that is unique to us....it's how God made us. I love to golf but as hard as I try I'll never be Tiger. He has his DNA and I have mine. Some of the best advice I ever recieved was as a pastor in a rural middle Tennessee church and went to an early 'Purpose-Driven Church' conference. At the end of the conference Rick Warren said, "If you pastor an established church: Don't try this at home!"

It was and still is great advice. Most of us aren't innovators anyway. Be a reinvigorator. Reinvigorate your Sunday School (especially if your church is over 100) instead of focusing on small groups. You need to focus on one or the other but your church DNA ultimately makes the decision.

Some choices we make. Some are made for us. If we break it, we own it.

MGT

Death of a Prayer Warrior

On Friday, October 9, 2009 Winnie Norwood walked through the 'Gates of Splendor.' I first met Winnie Norwood in the summer of 1987 when I became her pastor. She was a school teacher who went back to work when she became a widow. She was a strong supporter and encourager to her young and inexperienced pastor. She was gracious and forgiving.

But the best thing Winnie ever did for me was pray for me everyday for over twenty years. That was spiritual heavy lifting! During the five years I was her pastor she prayed for me every morning at 5:00 a.m. as she started her day with the Lord.

Winnie soon joined my wife and I every Sunday for lunch. It was just Cheryl, Winnie and myself. I cherish those time of fun and fellowship. When God led my family and I to a new ministry challenge she supported our decision and continued to pray for us daily.

Through the years and several other moves to other parts ofthe country she continued to be my Prayer Warrior. We would see her every few years and talked to her on the phone regularly. I want to close this tribute to her the same way I would end our phone conversations:

'Love you Winnie. I thank God for you. Talk to you again soon.'

And so I will.

MGT

Conflict in the Church

I was reminded last week that celebrity worship in the church is not a new thing. Paul had to deal with it in the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 1:12-13 Paul writes:

'What I am saying is this: each of you says: 'I'm with Paul,' or I'm with Apollos, or I'm with Cephas, or I'm with Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul's name?'

What do we know about the conflict in Corinth?

It wasn't about doctrine. It rarely is.

Paul, Apollos and Peter didn't encourage them.

The Corinthian Christians did place too much stock in high profile leaders.

Human prestige and power was at the heart of the issue.

Social friction contributed to the conflict (rich/poor; Greek/Jew).

How does Paul handle it" Three simple questions:

Is Christ divided? Of course not! But what Paul reminds them is that Jesus is not one among many. Paul shows the lunacy of elevating one leader (or methodology, or strategy) over another when we have been called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ.

Was Paul crucified for you? No human leader is the source of our salvation. Jesus alone is our source because He alone was crucified for us. Paul affirms that only Christ can atone for sin.

Were you baptized into the name of Paul? Paul knows how absurd this question is. Once again he reminds them and us, that our allegiance can only be to Christ.

In his message at THE NINES conference by Leadership Network Rick Warren challenged us to address the spiritual immaturity of the church. Maturity is essential for unity, mission and purpose. Let's get on with it.

How the Mighty Fall & the SBC part 2

This is the second part of our review of Jim Collins book, How the Mighty Fall and we will examine the second stage he discovered in his research: 'The Undisciplined Pursuit of More.' Does his analysis match reality with the Southern Baptist Convention. I believe it does. One of Collins's markers for this stage is "unsustainable quest for growth, confusing big with great.'

The Second World War was the impetus for a great population migration. People moved to find jobs to support the war effort. They moved from the farm to the city, they moved from the south to the north, from the east to the west wherever the war took them. This led to an enormous increase in the number of Southern Baptist churches. New churches sprang up where Southern Baptist had never be before: California, Ohio, and other states in the mideast and midwest. This was a good thing. However many of those churches were the mirror image of their home churches in south. Most of the members were displaced southerners. It meant these churches would and some still do struggle. I remember when I graduated from seminary I got a letter from a church in Toledo, Ohio that began this way, "We noticed your wife is a nurse...." In other words come to our church and serve for free. I know there are people in Toledo who need Jesus but starting dozens of churches that will constantly struggle and always do so is not the answer. The sheer quest for more led to bad strategic decisions.

To support the postwar expansion the SBC created three new seminaries in the 1950s: Golden Gate in northern California; Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City and Southeastern in North Carolina. That was an expensive decision that committed millions of bucks to buildings and infrastructure. It was also an attempt to replicate a church culture that worked fine in the south but not elsewhere. Perhaps a better strategy would have been to negotiate and establish a 'House of Southern Baptist Studies at Gordon-Conwell (Boston); Conservative Bapt Seminary (Denver) and Western Seminary (Portland). This would have speeded up the process of raising up indigenous leadership. NAMB's Strategic Focus Cities is a step in the right direction. Wish it had happened fifty years ago.

Finally, our unquenchable thirst for more led to some faulty evangelism training. In the last 30 years we used EE, then CWT which we ripped off from James Kennedy, and lately FAITH. If there's a letter in the alphabet related to evangelsim training I've had it. That's good but it's only good when it becomes our story. The main problem with our evangelism in the last thirty years is that its focus has been on the decision side rather than the disciple-making side. Conversion is not the end, it just the beginning. It should be reflected in how we share the good news.

Johnny Hunt is right: a Great Commission Resurgence must be personal; it must begin with us. Then we can make smart, strategic decisions as a denomination and fulfill the Great Commission.

How the Mighty Fall & the SBC part 1

It's been nearly two weeks since I've posted a new blog. Sorry about that but my life has been going at warp speed. In the last ten days I taught leaders at The Church at the Cross in Grapevine, Texas and Oakland Heights Baptist Church in Longview, Texas. The subject was adult Bible study. Great time with leaders & learning. Yesterday, our family helped our oldest son David move into Brooks Residential College on the campus of Baylor University in Waco. We're proud of him and excited to see God at work in his life. Finally, I just completed a new resource for the churches we serve: a Children Ministry Assessment for First Baptist Church, Lewisville, Texas.

As I wrote in a previous post I'm beginning today with a five part discussion of Jim Collins book, How the Mighty Fall and if there is application between his findings and the health of the Southern Baptist Convention and its churches, agencies and institutions. To briefly review, Collins has identified five stages of decline in businesses and organizations:

Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success

Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More

Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril

Stage 4:Grasping for Salvation

Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance and Death

Today, we begin our discussion of stage 1: Hubris Born of Success. Nobody questions our success. In the years following the Second World War Southern Baptist became the biggest denomination in America, expanded our reach outside the south and southwest, saw record enrollments in our seminaries and supported a growing numbers of missionaries in the world. I am grateful to God for His blessings and for those who have gone before us and provided leadership during those times. Godly men and women like Baker James and Eloise Cauthen, Gaines S. Dobbins, Harry Piland and pastors like R. G. Lee and W. A. Criswell. This is not a criticism of that generation. But we must ask the question, "What happened?" Is our stagnant state the result of external or internal factors, spiritual or institutional?"

Collins and his research team discovered four markers that characterized each of the first four stages:

• Success entitlement, arrogance. This happens when people begin to believe that success or growth will continue no matter what the organization does. If it is true that nothing succeeds like success it is equally true that success can and often gives birth to pride. Many Baptist at all levels thought and acted like our growth was "automatic, and would continue on and on unabated into the future." I once heard a denominational leader brag that in one new work state in the midwest we had a church in every county. It wasn't true and he should have known it. It was a terrible strategy! That kind of church planting was blind to the millions of people in that state were living in the urban areas within that state. Pride blinds us and will lead us down the wrong road.
• Neglect of a primary flywheel. When this happens leaders neglect the "growth engine" in our case church planting and evangelism. A church planting strategy that refuses to focus limited resources to critical areas dissapated time, energy and resources. Evangelism training became programs. In so many ways our lay people were miles ahead of us. In the past 30 years I have had evangelism training through Evangelism Explosion (E.E.), Continuous Witness Training (C.W.T.); an EE Baptist rip-off, Romans Road and FAITH----if it's a part of the alphabet I've had evangelism training using it. It was great. It was helpful but unless it is personalized and becomes our story it can sound like an Amway presentation. To rebuild our growth engine we should do two things: start less churches with more committed resources in strategic places and our evangelism should be conversational and personalized.
• "What" replaces "why." Collins says what happens is that the rhetoric of success replaces understanding and insight. Denominational leaders for the most part missed the mega-church phenomena. Many believed Sunday School could grow on autopilot refusing to acknowledge the societal changes impacting our churches, i.e. a growing number of women in the workforce and increasing mobility, just to name two. Ed Stetzer is right:"facts are our friends.
• Decline in learning orientation. In too many areas we kept our heads in the sand, refusing to listen to our own people. Some were concerned about a lurch to the left in some of our seminaries and were simply laughed off. Insolation in our churches, agencies and seminaries led to institutions with short memories. That always leads to trouble.
• Discounting the role of luck, (since I don't believe in luck, I'll call it discounting God's sovereignty and blessing). We (I'm including myself) not only took our eyes off the ball, we took our eyes off God, thinking that we had built the denomination's success not not God Himself.

Pride eventually marginalizes businesses, ministries, churches and denominations. Repentance for our pride and institutional arrogance must occur before the renewal begins. I pray it so.

Let the conversation begin!

Back in a few days with more. See ya then.

How the Mighty Fall....Does it Apply to the SBC?

In recent months there has been alot of discussion about the state of the Southern Baptist Convention. The recent action to approve the Great Commission Resurgence demonstrates the concern many of us have for the health of our denomination. Concerned Southern Baptists at all levels are sharing their views and opinions on the subject. Last week on his blog Sam Rainer tipped me off to a new book by business writer and researcher Jim Collins that could shed some light on this topic. Collins the author of the best-selling book, Good to Great has just published How the Mighty Have Fallen looking at some of the same companies that were going great guns just a few years ago. Collins believes his research has identified five stages of decline that businesses, institutions, organizations, churches and denominations can experience. According to Collins the five stages of decline are:

Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success

Stage 2: Undisciplines Pursuit of More

Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril

Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation

Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

Over the next ten days I'll examine each stage with a post. I encourage you to give me your feedback. Let the discussion begin!

Until next time......

Our Iceberg is Melting

John Kotter and Holger Rathberg have written a great book for leaders: Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Suceeding Under Any Conditions. Nothing may be more important for leaders today than the ability to lead change. The book is a parable in the genre like Who Moved My Cheese? The authors illustrate eight steps to lead the change. The principles apply to those who lead in the church today:

1. Reduce complacency and increase urgency. Leaders who lead change cannot be content with the status quo and spread a contagious case of holy restlessness.

2. Pull together a team to lead the change. To bring the change necessary is to understand you can't do it alone. Who should be on your team? When working with churches I use the "mission to Mars model." Who would best represent your church on a mission to Mars? That's your team.

3. Create a vision of a new future. Begin with the end in mind and preach it, teach, share it and model it everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

4. Communicate the vision all the time. No I didn't jump the gun with #3! My point is you can't overcommunicate the vision.

5. Make everyone feel empowered. That's the best way to win allies for change and get people on board. Want change? Let people be the change.

6. Create short-term wins and celebrate. One of my mentors Ron Lewis use to remind us, "process always preceeds product." Celebrate those small victories along the process. It creates momentum.

7. Don't let up. Keep going. I served once with a minister of music from Mississippi who often said, "I ain't never been licked! just set back a time or to!" Be unconquerable. Never! never! never give up!

8. Ensure the change will not be overcome by hard-to-die traditions. Protect the change by making it part of the new culture in your church. This will take time and diligence but it's worth it!

Be the change. Lead the change!

Until next time....

What do you need to unlearn?

John Balboni, a columnist for HarvardBusiness.org recently wrote a column entitled "Never Let Your Ego Stop You from Learning." In the article he tells a story about Jim Collins the author of Good to Great understood that as he entered his forties he needed to relearn his climbing technique. Collins came to realize that "the most important lesson was not what I needed to learn but in what I first needed to unlearn." Collins had been climbing since his teen years but had to learn new ways. After much difficulty Collins relearned how to climb better. In honor of his 50th birthday he climbed Yosemite's famed El Capitain 3000 foot vertical face in 19 hours, an event that most experienced climbers required 24 hours! Only by unlearning was he able to climb higher!

So that story got me to thinking, "what does the church need to unlearn in order to climb higher? What do I need to learn in order to climb higher?" The state of the church in North America requires we unlearn in order to climb higher. Here are some of things we should unlearn:

• Pastor, we tried that years ago and it didn't work.
• Those folks aren't our kind of people.
• We could never do that!
• Dual Sunday Schools? It'll split the church.
• We need to get our act together before we can reach out.

What do I need to unlearn to climb higher?

• Why would I twitter at all?
• What will people this if I tried to do that?
• Done too much ministry by myself, need to delegate and share the victories.
• Learn form life's disappointment and defeat.

What do you need to unlearn? What does your church or ministry need to unlearn? Only by unlearning can we climb higher!

Until next time......I'm climbing higher!

A Different kind of church planter?

Just finished a long working lunch with my friend Jack. I've known Jack over five years. We were both involved in planting a new church. Both of us had pastored before but were involved in different ministries. Both of us love the movie Bucket List. One of my favorite scenes is the parachuting scene when Jack Nicholson tricks Morgan Freeman into exiting the plane. In the past twelve months Jack and I have experienced something similar. Both of us got shoved out of the plane----both of the ministries we worked for decided they could do it without us.

Now both of us are following the passions God gave us in exciting new ways. For my friend Jack, that meant planting a church. But Jack doesn't fit the profile or should I say stereotype for church planters these days. Why? Because Jack is in his mid-fifties and began his church with almost no other support. The good news is however God is blessing. People are hearing the truth, lives are being transformed. Things are going well. God provides....even when you're shoved out of the airplane!

Why Sunday Schools Are Closing

In the June 26th edition of The Wall Street Journal, Charlotte Hays bemoans the decline of Sunday in our culture. She writes, "By my own childhood, Sunday School was taken for granted." I certainly concur. My mother taught second grade sunday school in our church for twenty-two years. My Dad was a consistent outreacher for his adult class. My own memories of Sunday's as a child include Sunday School, worship and Sunday lunch (in the fall you can add Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys!). I still remember Bill & Linda French's 6th grade class at First Baptist Church Carrollton, Texas. I don't remember a lesson they taught, but I knew they loved God, the church, the Bible and me.

Why are Sunday Schools closing around the country? There is no simple answer: lack of Christian education emphasis in seminaries, focus on worship at the expense of Sunday School and the fragmentation of the family. Yes, among the other social pathologies of the decline of the family is the negative impact of divorce on Sunday School and church attendance.

Can we reverse this trend? Yes! Will it be easy? No! Maybe the recovery of vital Christian education in the local church will begin with a return to sound biblical teaching concerning marriage and proper relationships. What do you think?

Lessons Learned

As I am now entering a new and exciting transition in ministry I thought I'd reflect on what I've learned after consulting with over 300 churches in the last fifteen years. I've been in mega churches, and small churches, urban, suburban and rural churches. I've reached five conclusions about healthy churches:

First, healthy churches understand their community and church context. Healthy churches understand their environment. They are students of their communities. Healthy churches understand their mission field is here and now. Their leaders mine demographic and psychographic data as a means to reach and disciple the people around them. But there is more: noble and healthy leaders understand their church culture as well. They take the time to understand their history, rythmns and DNA of the churches they serve. Unfortunately it took me a couple of pastorates to learn this! (and I've got the scars to prove it!).

Second, healthy churches execute an appropriate strategy for obeying the Great Commission. In nearly every church I visited and worked with were hard-working, Jesus loving, Bible preaching, faithful men and women. Most of them however are what I call adopters. That is they've adopted someone elses model, strategy, program and failed to understand their own ministry context. So what's the problem? What we need are hard-working, Jesus loving, Bible preaching, faithful men and women who are adapters. It's great to learn from others but we must strategically adapt what we've learned to match our own unique opportunities. I may try very hard to pattern my golf swing after Tiger Woods but realism demands I must realistically think and act strategically about how to get the ball into the hole!

Third, healthy churches share a life changing message with the world. Not every mega church is a healthy church. A church cannot be healthy if it is consumer driven sweetness all the time or a Carrie Nation rally gearing up for a fight. Regardless of size, healthy churches maintain a faithfulness to historic Christian teaching and resist the temptation to preach pop psychology or political correctness. Healthy churches know the importance of preaching the 'Whole Counsel of God' and that our message is 'Good News!'

Fourth, healthy churches are filled with healthy Christians who understand that the Christian life is a journey, not a destination. In healthy churches pastors and staff take Ephesians 4:11-12 seriously---to be equippers---so that the Body might be built up. Healthy Christians live out what they believe.

Finally, I've witnessed the growth of coaches and consultants. Used rightly this can be a great tool for a pastor and church. Technology has amped up this trend. With instant communication at our fingertips, coaching and consulting should continue to grow exponentially.