Today's Quote

“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.”

– Walter Elliott, American Roman Catholic Priest and Missionary

Today's Prayer

God, today, I want to make time to pray for all the people I see on a regular basis: my family, my friends, and my neighbors. You know every need they have. I pray that You would give encouragement to the discouraged, good health to the unhealthy, money for the financially needy, peace to the restless, guidance to the lost or searching, and that You would meet any special needs that each of these people may have right now. God, I pray for their spiritual as well as physical needs. Work through me as you see fit to accomplish your plan and meet these needs. Please give me wisdom and guidance to know your will and help me to realize where there is a need to which I can minister. I thank You God, for hearing this prayer and for your answers. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Busy Pastor

"The poor man," we say. "He's so devoted to his flock; the work is endless, and he sacrifices himself so unstintingly." But the word busy is the symptom not of commitment but of betrayal. It is not devotion but defection. The adjective busy set as a modifier to pastor should sound to our ears like adulterous to characterize a wife or embezzling to describe a banker. It is an outrageous scandal, a blasphemous affront.

Hilary of Tours diagnosed our pastoral busyness as irreligiosa sollicitudo pro Deo, a blasphemous anxiety to do God's work for him.

I (and most pastors, I believe) become busy for two reasons; both are ignoble.

I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important. Significant. What better way than to be busy? The incredible hours, the crowded schedule, and the heavy demands on my time are proof to myself- and to all who will notice- that I am important ...

I am busy because I am lazy. I indolently let others decide what I will do instead of resolutely deciding myself. I let people who do not understand the work of pastor write the agenda for my day's work because I am too slipshod to write it myself ...

... we find ourselves frantically, at the last minute, trying to satisfy a half dozen different demands on our time, none of which is essential to our vocation, to stave off the disaster of disappointing someone.

But if I vainly crowd my day with conspicuous activity or let others fill my day with imperious demands, I don't have time to do my proper work, the work to which I have been called. How can I lead people into the quiet place beside still waters if I am in perpetual motion? How can I persuade a person to live by faith and not works if I have to juggle my schedule constantly to make everything fit into place?"

[Eugene Peterson]

Key To Church Planting

The real key to church planting doesn’t lie in the individual church that is planted, but in the incubators that produce churches, according to Bob Roberts in his book The Multiplying Church: the new math for starting new churches. Roberts argues that church planting movements are second-tier movements to Jesus movements. Jesus movements travel through social networks, and they take time to establish themselves. They are led by disciples, not church planters, and they are led by the young.

According to the author, none of the usual reasons for planting a church is sufficient in itself: obedience to the Great Commission; conducting evangelism more effectively; communicating more relevantly; conducting research and development in new church styles; establishing bases to reach more people; reaching future generations; and impacting existing churches. The only real reason worth starting a church is to achieve transformation in the lives of people and communities. So the dreaming should start not with the church, but with the people outside the church.

Chapter 8 encourages us to start with the society, not the church, and to think like a community developer. We need to know what is going on in the society in the domains of economics, agriculture, education, medicine/science/technology, communication, arts/entertainment, governance/justice and family. Churches emerge when the gospel intersects these domains and people begin to follow Christ.

National Evangelist Michael Willingham Receives International Attention

National evangelist Michael Willingham is continuing to receive more attention as his ministry reaches internationally. Evangelist Willingham is a revivalist of many years. He left a long and successful pastoral and translocal ministry to follow his passion for an evangelistic ministry that spans denominations, and now continents.

In late 2005 and early 2006 God began to deal with his heart with a Missionary/Evangelism call for the churches in America. He sincerely felt that God was desiring to send a revival of awakening, refreshing and encouragement to the church in America. He felt that God desired to use our gifts/calling to further this call to awakening.

In March of 2006 he resigned the church he was serving in Louisville, Kentucky and began this walk of faith. God has rewarded in many ways with wonderful outpourings of the Holy Spirit. People are being healed, both physically and emotionally; saved, delivered, encouraged and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Evangelist Willingham desires to be an instrument in the hand of God as He reaches out to the people of our world. He recently stated, "God is releasing His love, grace and mercy in some awesome ways and we want to share His Good News everywhere we go."

Contact information:
Mailing address:
8013 Adams Run Road
Louisville, Kentucky 40228

Home Phone: 502-962-8964
Cell Phone: 502-797-1130
Email: michaelwillingham@insightbb.com

Today's Prayer

God, I come to You seeking Your face, searching for answers so I can do something about the problems. There is so much turmoil in the world. There have been so many disasters, many beyond man's control. I pray that You will broaden the minds the people affected by each incident and open their eyes to see what You want them to learn. And I pray that they will respond in the right way.

I know that You sometimes allow pressures in my life to bring attention to an issue You want me to take care of too. I pray today, that You as my Loving Father will make known anything that stands in the way of fellowship between You and I. I want to turn from any wrongdoing, and "step up to the plate" to do the right thing, no matter how great or how simple it may seem.

I praise You for Who You are, for all You do, and for the fellowship we share through prayer.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Video Summary - COGOP Assembly

Church Planting Requires Passion

Passion for People - if you love people and want to see them come to Christ you will plant churches. Otherwise you just want to build your kingdom.

Passion for Place - I hear from church planters all the time about how they just knew that they knew this was the place. You gotta love it where God plants you or you’ll be moving on soon.

Passion for Planting - Church Planting grows out of a Pastor’s heart and vision. It will not come from laypeople, it will not come from other staff members. It will come when a Pastor is so fired up for a people and a place that God won’t let him rest until he does all he can to reach the area where God has planted him.

"We Will" - Music Video

Adam Herod at the 2008 International Assembly of the COGOP in Nashville.

Harvest - A Priority

Pastor, here are 10 ways to make your altar invitation stronger:

1. Truly believe in the power of the gospel to change lives.
2. Recognize that not everyone is saved (including some people who have been members of your church for years).
3. Hate sin. Explain repentance. Preach Christ.
4. Don’t promise a better life. Promise a better eternity and the Holy Spirit to lead you through this life.
5. Preach as if this is someone’s only chance to hear about Christ. It might be.
6. Present the gospel in every message.
7. Call for a decision.
8. Trust that the Holy Spirit has already been at work in someone’s life.
9. Believe people will be saved.
10. Worship God when they are.

[Craig Groeschel]

Preacher - Remember These Three Things

The mind battles that are fought before and after a message are intense. Some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows are while a message is being prepared, delivered and the days (and even weeks) that follow. Here are a few pieces of advice …

#1 - Get alone with God and let Him set you on fire.

John Wesley once said, “I just set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.” We NEED that in our speakers today.

I’m afraid too many of us are dominated by the thought, “what is so and so going to think if I say this.” And we become WAY more obsessed with not offending people … and in doing so we are perfectly willing to offend Jesus.

Get ALONE with God and let Him absolutely put a message inside of you that absolutely burns your very soul … and you feel like you will explode if you don’t get what He’s put in you out of you!

One more thing before I move on … FIRE BURNS! If you preach what God has burned into your heart, God will use it to purify some … and burn others! You should never be so concerned with people’s comfort that you neglect God’s command.

#2 - Know That People Will Sometimes Misunderstand What You Say … And Even Get Angry!

It will not be intentional, but you will offend people. Someone will take just a small piece of what you say and blow it COMPLETELY out of context.

People will tell you AFTER you speak what you should and should not have said. Anyone can be an “arm chair quarterback” and “call the plays” from the comfort of their living room. But, once again, allow God to get you on fire, to put HIS WORDS in YOUR HEART, don’t feel like you need to throw out a disclaimer for every other statement.

#3 - Keep The “One Day” Principle In Mind.

Hebrews 13:17 is a verse that every pastor SHOULD memorize.

One day we will stand before God and be held accountable for how we lead and communicate.

Every message I prepare and deliver I have to say, “Would I be willing to stand in front of the Almighty right now with a clear conscience in regards to this message?”

You see, when we preach – HE is the ONE we are called to honor … not the deacons, church board or the largest giver!

One day we will stand in front of God … and if you are settled in your heart in regards to that – then step out and speak with confidence and conviction, knowing that you cannot always please God and man.

By the way … before I close let me say that I am FULLY CONVINCED that it is a great idea for pastors to bounce their messages off of a group of people for the purpose of clarity and getting new ideas and thoughts … but, they will not stand beside you one day when you go before God … it will be you and Him … so always make sure that you are doing what you do for His honor … HIS ALONE!

[Perry Noble]

Who Were Those Cheering People at Saddleback?

Last week, Pastor Rick Warren hosted a presidential forum at Saddleback church. Who were all those cheering people?

According to Pastor Warren, 95% of the seats were actually given away to Saddleback members. According to an email to the Saddleback congregation, Pastor Rick Warren explained it this way ... "The moment McCain and Obama were announced as this month's Civil Forum guests, we were overwhelmed with thousands of requests from partisans who wanted to fill our auditorium with their troops. To prevent them from taking all the seats we did two things: First, we reserved 95% of the 5000+ tickets as FREE to our Saddleback volunteers who faithfully serve our family. We then sold 5% - less than 250 seats - to other members and outsiders in order to defray the expenses of this (now) national event. I didn't want our tithes and offerings paying for this event ... "

Pastor Rick said that one untold story is that "We invited the principals of schools in the Santa Ana district to select some worthy students to attend for free in order to experience the American election system. 22 students and 2 chaperones had been awarded seats."

Pastor's Pay Rises to More than $80,000

The average senior pastor in U.S. churches today makes more than $80,000 a year, a recent national survey shows.

Compensation packages, including benefits such as retirement, life insurance, health insurance and continuing education allowances, have increased to $81,113 per year for the average senior pastor. And pastors who hold a higher academic degree are paid up to $30,000 more per year than pastors without any post-secondary education.

The statistics come from the 2009 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, an annual analysis of compensation packages at churches across the country, and at a time when churches begin planning their budget for the next year. This year, 4,800 U.S. churches, representing about 11,000 employees, were surveyed between January and March by the Your Church Media Group at Christianity Today International.

According to the survey, churches that draw 101 to 300 people each week pay senior pastors $72,664 per year, including benefits. The pay increases to $88,502 for pastors at churches that average a weekly attendance of 301 to 500 people, and then to $102,623 when attendance averages 501 to 750 people.

Compensation also increased among executive and administrative pastors who now earn an average of about $60,777 at churches of 101 to 300 people and $76,671 at churches of 501 to 750 people.

Pastors who lead music, choir or worship earn an average of about $51,954 at the smaller churches and $64,781 at the bigger ones.

Senior pastors, full-time secretaries and administrative assistants in the New England states have higher compensation compared to those in other regions, the survey also found.
Compensation is highest in suburban churches with suburban senior pastors making an average of 50 percent more than their rural counterparts. The pay is lower with churches in metropolitan areas, small towns and then in rural communities, respectively.

Meanwhile, executive or administrative pastors, bookkeepers and accountants earn the most in the Pacific region and administrators fare best in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Pay also differed among denominations. Pastors leading in Presbyterian and Lutheran churches earn the most with over $100,000 in compensation while executive and administrative pastors make more on average with independent and nondenominational churches ($80,469) than any other denomination.

The 2009 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff provides a complete analysis of 13 church positions and includes breakdowns for part-time, full-time, church size, income budget, and geographical setting.

[By Audrey Barrick - Christian Post Reporter]

The Importance of Ministry to Youth

New Ellison Research asked 1,007 American adults to report on their attendance at worship services. Results of the study showed that the traditional definitions of "churched" — people who attend services monthly or more often — and "un-churched" — people who do not typically attend frequently enough to be considered "churched" — often doesn't tell a complete story about how often people actually attend religious worship services. If adults in America are placed in more realistic categories based on their normal behavior, attendance stats at religious services would look like this:

• Attend more than once a week (11%)
• Attend once a week (22%)
• Attend two to three times a month (14%)
• Attend once a month (5%)
• Attend occasionally, not on a regular basis (9%)
• Attend only on religious holidays (10%)
• Do not attend at all (29%)

The study also showed that if an adult attended worship services regularly at some point before the age of 18, there is a 55 percent chance that person is currently attending once a month or more. If the person never attended prior to age 18, there is only a 21 percent chance that individual is currently attending worship services on a regular basis.

Church Technology