A Pentecostal Vision of Pastoral Excellence

• Consistent practice of spiritual disciplines
• Maintenance of the pastor's physical, emotional, familial, and financial health
• Ministry and leadership in covenant with other pastors and believers
• Effective preaching and teaching of the Word
• Compassionate care, discipleship, and spiritual direction for hurting and searching people
• Effective leadership and administration of local church ministry
• Multiplication of ministry by mentoring and coaching others in a shared journey of mutual development

[by Dr James Bowers]

Happy Birthday - John Maxwell

How To Fund a Church Plant

Here are a few tips that will help you raise the funds that your new church will need to launch and become healthy as soon as possible:

- Pray over, plan and polish your vision and strategy before you start trying to raise funds. Nothing says "I won’t be a good steward of your financial support" like not having a plan. The more serious you are about the process, the more likely others will be to take you seriously.
Put together a list of everyone you think might possibly have a heart for what you’re doing, complete with their contact information. You never know who might be willing to support the new work until you begin asking. Intentionally carve out time on your calendar to call, call, visit and call some more.

- Ask clearly and boldly! Remember that you’re giving people an opportunity to invest in God’s Kingdom work – don’t back into the question about financial support or say no on their behalf. Paint the picture of what God is doing, ask boldly, and await their answer.

- Don’t let "no" defeat you. If God has called you to start a new church, He has also made available just the right resources to fulfill that calling. When you’ve clearly and boldly asked and someone says no, move on to the next person on your list.

- Be creative to expand your list of potential supporters. When someone says ‘yes’ and agrees to support your new church, ask them if they know of two or three others who may be willing to partner with you. When someone believes in you and your work, they may very well know others who will too.

- Don’t burn your bridges. That church that wasn’t willing to partner with you two months ago (before you had anyone else on board), may be willing to help now that they see others doing so. A "no" today doesn’t necessarily mean a "no" forever.

- Over-communicate your gratitude. When someone agrees to partner with your new church send them a handwritten thank you note immediately. That shows that you truly are thankful and serves to reinforce the commitment they just made to the new church. And send another note (with an update on the work) each time you receive a check from them.

A mentor of mine told me many years ago that, "If you’re the lead pastor (or church planter), you ARE the chief fund raiser for your church … Get over it!"

[from Nelson Searcy - Renegade Pastor - Church Leader Insights - Church Growth and Evangelism by nsearcy]

Let VISION Be Your Guide

What is your destiny? Where will you be in five years? Or 10, or 30? Of course, no matter how hard we search, no one can answer that question with certainty. But while we can’t know our destiny, we CAN know and change our direction. The journey toward destiny always begins with VISION. Vision is the roadmap.

[John C Maxwell]

Wife of Pastor Benny Hinn Files for Divorce

Suzanne Harthern Hinn, the wife of Pastor Benny Hinn, has filed for divorce from the high-profile minister, citing irreconcilable differences.

Don Price, longtime senior adviser to Benny Hinn Ministries, said the divorce filing took Benny Hinn by surprise. "Pastor Benny Hinn and his immediate family were shocked and saddened to learn of this news without any previous notice," Price said.

MORE ...

[Strang Media Group]

Moral Values are Changing

Recent research reveals that:

• Fifty-nine percent of teens and preteens now feel that "gay or lesbian relations are OK if that is the person's choice." In 1989, only 31 percent believed that "homosexual relations are OK if that is the person's choice."
• Only 30 percent of 7th-12th graders now believe that homosexual relationships are never acceptable because it is unnatural, compared to 56 percent who felt this way about homosexual relations twenty years ago.
• Twenty-five percent of teens and preteens believe that "abortion is all right if having the baby will change your life plans in a way that you will find hard to live with." In 1989, 33 percent felt this way.

The survey was based on a nationwide sample of 3,263 students in grades 3 through 12, of whom 1,833 are in grades 7 through 12. Click here for the complete report, which also deals with attitudes about such topics as smoking, sex before marriage and suicide.

[Click on image to enlarge.]

Eight of the 10 Americans once detained in Haiti have landed at Miami International Airport

Eight of the 10 American church workers jailed for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake were freed from their tiny cell today after a Haitian judge ordered their release.

[The Church Report]

Abortionists Are Upset About Super Bowl Ad

Focus on the Family has purchased time during this year's Super Bowl broadcast to air a compelling pro-life ad featuring Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and the decision his mother made 23 years ago to give birth to her unborn son when doctors were urging her to abort him.

CBS has come under withering fire from the left for its decision to air this ad. Joy Behar of "The View" even said abortion would have been an appropriate choice since there was no way for Tim's mom to know that he wouldn't grow up to be a "rapist pedophile."

The hypocrisy here is thick. Abortion proponents claim to be all about choice, but they are outraged over an ad that features a woman exercising her right to choose life for her baby son.

Unfortunately, CBS sent a signal this week that it would be willing to accept "responsibly produced" ads that promote abortion or homosexuality. But a message that promotes death or sexual deviancy is not the moral equivalent of a message that celebrates life, and CBS must be urged to reject any such advocacy ads.

If you choose, you may E-mail CBS Chairman Les Moonves and CBS Entertainment President Nancy Tellem in support of their decision to air the Tebow Super Bowl ad.

Haiti's Prime Minister Wants to Prosecute Americans

Haiti's prime minister says it's clear to him that the ten U.S. Baptists who tried to take 33 children out of his quake-ravaged country without permission "knew what they were doing was wrong." But Prime Minister Max Bellerive says his country is open to having the Americans go before courts in the United States because Haiti's judicial system was devastated by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The purported Baptist "rescue mission" has become a distraction for a crippled government trying to provide basic life support to millions of earthquake survivors.

But Bellerive said some legal system must determine whether the Americans were acting in good faith as they claim or are child traffickers in a nation that has struggled to fight exploitation of children.

Meanwhile, Idaho's congressional leaders say they're closely monitoring the safety and health of the ten Americans arrested in Haiti Friday while trying to take dozens of children out of the country. Nine of the people detained by the Haitian government are from Idaho and members of Baptist churches in Twin Falls and Meridian.

Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and Congressmen Mike Simpson and Walt Minnick say they're keeping in touch with the U.S. State Department to ensure that adequate food, water, and medical care are provided.

The detainees were arrested by Haitian police near the border after failing to show proper documentation to take the children from the country. They've said they were on a mission to rescue abandoned Haitian children and get them to an orphanage being set up in the Dominican Republic. But some of the children say they were misled and have parents who survived the earthquake.

Also in Haiti, Haitian police at the Port Au Prince airport, refused to allow a private plane load of medical supplies from doctors in Miami unload without paying a bribe to police. The more the Haitian government is allowed to resume control, the more of these stories come to light.

Please pray for all Americans in Haiti.

Today's Quote

"Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use." — Earl Nightingale

Does this bother you? Comment below.

Top 5 Deadly Sins of Leaders

1. Arrogance and insensitivity to others - Whether it’s yelling, screaming, and berating, or a more subtle approach to letting everyone else don’t they don’t matter, everybody can’t stand an arrogant jerk.

2. Not listening - Not listening is another way of displaying arrogance and insensitivity, even if you don’t mean to be.

3. Manipulative - Getting things done by manipulating people shows a lack of authenticity and keeps people guessing what your true intentions are. It fosters a lack of trust.

4. Lack of integrity - Lying, cheating, fibbing, blaming others for your mistakes – it only takes one mistake to ruin a reputation for life.

5. Selfishness - A "me first" approach, inability to collaborate or build a team, and unwillingness to collaborate.

Leaders of these sins seldom know it. They always deny them. They will read this and say, "Right on. I know people who should read this." The only way to know if one is guilty is to actually listen to others, maybe even someone we do not like.

If you've ever been told you display any of these traits, then do yourself and everyone around you a big favor – get some help!

Unfortunately, a lot of very "successful" and experienced leaders shrewdly use these very same characteristics to their advantage. You can achieve short-term success by lying, cheating, and abusing your power. However, at some point, it’s going to catch up to you. In the meantime, you’ll end up "lookin" like a fool.

[from Great Leadership by Dan McCarthy]

Legal Answers - Church and Super Bowl

Pastor Ed Young says Washington is Broken

The Rev. Dr. Ed Young of Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, brought politics to the pulpit this past weekend as he preached on what he calls "a broken Washington."

"Far too long we have been in a valley, a deep, dark valley that's been brought on by the indifference and lethargy of the people and by those who are willing to exploit us on so many levels at the highest realm of government – city, state and national," he said.

His sermon is part of a series on "Healing Broken America." When viewing America today, Young sees what was recorded in the early days of biblical history – that is, a broken Jerusalem.

"We either learn from history or we repeat history," he told thousands at the multi-site church. America is on the latter path, he indicated.

Just as King Solomon from the Old Testament began as a faithful believer and later turned away from God and became an idolater, Young sees many in Washington, D.C., doing the same, placing God on a shelf and making everything of the world an idol.

"Our government is trying to make us into a secular God-free society," he said. "Our government should be secular. I'm not for theocracy. But secular government is ... taking God out of every area of our life."

Moreover, Washington is not listening to the people, Young asserted on Second Baptist's large stage.

Though the majority of Americans claim belief in God, "the courts and much of our legislatures are doing everything for us to be politically correct and to get God out of everything in our life," he noted.

"Washington is not only not listening but they're exercising poor discernment," Young said, alluding to the unstable economy and the current health care reform legislation.

He charged members of Congress of governing by fear and bribery, noting that a number of senators changed their mind to support the health care bill after some "back room" conversations.

Government, Pastor Young told Second Baptist congregants, is getting bigger and bigger with every administration.

The solution, he said, is to go back to the worldview, namely a biblical worldview, from which documents like the Constitution were drawn up – documents that clearly state that the power is primarily vested in the people.

"It looks like this: creation (we were created in the image of God; I am special); fall (all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God); and redemption (the answer; salvation)," he explained.

"This is the grid upon which we have to operate. It's the grid upon which our Constitution was drawn up. ... It is the worldview that must be reactivated – a concept of the dignity of man."

Second Baptist Church claims a membership of over 53,000 with campuses in five different locations.

[By Audrey Barrick, Christian Post Reporter]