5 Types of Pastor

All pastors could perhaps be placed in one of the following categories:

The Catalytic Pastor: The catalytic pastor is wired to stir things up. They’re gifted in the prophetic and tend to be charismatic leaders. These pastors have lots of energy and are focused on the mission of the church … that is, reaching the community for Jesus Christ. In the “right” church, they’ll grow it without a doubt. In the “wrong” church, they’ll create conflict, they’ll be frustrated, and they’ll either burn out or they’ll move on … assuming they’re not fired first. Catalytic pastors are ideal church planters but often lack the finesse and patience for church transformations (except in those VERY rare churches that are truly willing to do anything to reach the community for Jesus).

The Cultivating Pastor: The cultivating pastor is wired to break up hard ground, plant seeds, nurture the fields, and are both willing and able to bring in a harvest. They’re gifted in big-picture understanding, systems analysis, and systems manipulation (in a good way). Because of their systems understanding and their patience, they are able to cultivate change and transformation over time. However, they’re tenacious and are used to getting their way in the long run … because they know how to deal with obstacles that get in their way. Cultivating pastors are well suited for church transformations in churches that can afford to effect gentle change that takes significant time … as many as seven to ten years.

The Conflict-Quelling Pastor: The Conflict-Quelling pastor is exactly the type that the name implies … they’re the guys and gals who are natural or skilled peacemakers, mediators, and/or conflict managers. These pastors are wired differently than any of the other pastoral types. They’re not catalytic and they’re distinctive from chaplains. Instead, these folks can walk into a congregation and in short order assess the situation and instinctively seem to know who the major players are. They are affable and able to build bridges. They tend to be quiet and reflective … when they speak, they do so with conviction, wisdom, and certainty. Conflict-Quelling pastors make excellent interim pastors and/or troubled-church pastors.

The Chaplain Pastor: The Chaplain pastor is wired for peace, harmony, and pastoral care. This is the type of pastor that has been produced by seminaries for several decades, though a few … a very few … seminaries are retooling. Chaplain pastors eschew change and value status quo. They don’t want to stir the waters; rather, they want to bring healing to hurting souls.
They are excellent listeners and tend to be good networkers within the community, primarily so they can extend their ministry, but also so they can refer those in need to oasis’ of help. Chaplain pastors don’t grow churches. In fact, a Chaplain pastor will hasten a congregation’s demise because they tend to focus on those within the congregation rather than in bringing new converts to Jesus Christ. Churches that have very little hope of transformation and church growth do well with Chaplain pastors who serve as hospice care.

The Catatonic Pastor: This type of pastor is, frankly, either lazy or sick. There are far too many of these pastors. They take refuge in their offices ostensibly to do sermon preparation, create brochures, sum up numbers, and so on, but ultimately they’re spinning their wheels and accomplishing very little.

They may or may not do the hospital visitation, but they seldom miss an opportunity to have a meal with one of the inside buddies. Catatonic pastors tend to be well liked by the power holders in the church, because the Catatonic pastor is easily manipulated and seldom, if ever, makes waves … except when they need to accomplish something and fail to meet even the lowest of expectations. Indeed, Catatonic pastors may remain as the senior pastor of a church for many years because they know how to schmooze their way into grace.

Churches that hate change often end up with excellent examples of Catatonic pastors. Catatonic pastors may spend a lot of time “at work” but any congregation that sets performance goals for their Catatonic pastor will quickly discover that time in the office does not guarantee results. Of course, Catatonic pastors do not grow churches, are poor chaplains - even poor hospice chaplains, and they pretty much destroy wherever they root … and they’re more like crabgrass or bamboo that, once established, is almost impossible to eradicate.

[Bill Reichart]

Church Gets $3 Million in Lotto Winnings

PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. (Aug. 28) - A New York pastor says one of his congregants donated a winning lottery ticket worth $3 million to his church.

Pastor Bertrand Crabbe of the True North Community Church in Port Jefferson says the donor, who asked to remain anonymous, donated the "Ba Da Bling" scratch-off ticket immediately after realizing he won.

Pastor Crabbe says the donor said "This was why God put the ticket in his hands."

A state Lottery official said Wednesday that the independent Christian church will get a little over $100,000 a year through 2028. The amount could be higher if withheld taxes are refunded because of the church's nonprofit status.

Pastor Crabbe says the 650-member church will give the first year's proceeds to other charities.

[The Associated Press]

Would you accept lottery proceeds at your church?

[Click "comments" below.]

Free Background Loops

Courtesy of Church 2.0 - check out these Free Background Loops for your Sunday morning worship.

[Bill Reichart]

Today's Prayer

Dear God, I'm reminded today of that frailty of life. When we see tragedies beyond human control (like the Tsunami), horrors (like humans under the wrong control, killing their own children), and people dying from cancer and car wrecks, that reality is really brought home.

I pray that in the days I have on this earth, you would give me the strength to stand firm. Let nothing move me from the tasks and purpose you have for me. Give me the desire to always give myself fully to your work, and remind me that my labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

And I pray for peace, comfort, and direction for those whose lives are changed by the frailty of life. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

America's Fastest Growing Cable Network

FrontGate Media, the largest Internet and event entertainment media group reaching the faith and family audience, today announces an exclusive agreement to create and coordinate digital promotions, sponsorships and online advertising for the Gospel Music Channel web site in the faith-based market. Called "VH1 for the Christian market" by The Wall Street Journal, Gospel Music Channel, now in 40 million US homes, is television's fastest-growing network; the first and only 24/7 all Christian/Gospel music channel. The GMC site at http://www.gospelmusicchannel.com/ is the leading fan site for Christian/Gospel music lovers.

For the last two consecutive years, Jack Myers' Emotional Connections Study ranks Gospel Music Channel as the #1 Network in overall Emotional Connection ahead of key competitive networks including Lifetime Movie Network. Building on the strength of GMC's emotional connection, FrontGate Media has debuted exclusive TV & Web "E-motion" promotions limited to a maximum of one or two artists, authors or organizations per month. These promotions combine the reach of TV & the Internet into a powerful multi-platform connection for any brand, product or service, building results through GMC.

The exclusive E-motion promotions feature extensive online and email exposure as well as affordable on- air opportunities for TV and VOD exposure over the course of two to four weeks. The promotions reach the full spectrum of the Gospel Music Channel audience: 40 million US homes, up to 1,000,000 web site views, and more than 100,000 email subscribers.

Philip Manwaring, GMC's VP digital media, commented, "FrontGate Media's creativity, connections, and credibility make them the ideal partner for us in this space. Together we've created promotional opportunities that combine extensive online coverage with affordable on-air exposure, creating a unique value proposition for those seeking to reach the faith-based entertainment audience."

GMC promotions have proven to positively impact album and tickets sales, online traffic and awareness. For the Music Builds Tour featuring Switchfoot, Third Day, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, and Jars of Clay, the promotional partnership resulted in ticket sales increases of between 20% and 50% following exposure through the Gospel Music Channel. Additionally several leading artists across all music styles have observed week-on-week sales increases according to SoundScan from 20% to 57% following coverage on GMC, including Natalie Grant, Karen Peck and New River, David Crowder Band, Marvin Sapp, Trin-i-tee 5:7, and Casting Crowns just to name a few.

"The Gospel Music Channel played an integral part in the tremendous success we've experienced on iTunes with Hillsong Live: This Is Our God," states Chris Estes, director of digital marketing for Integrity Music (Provident-Integrity Distribution). "In the first week of release, we've seen the album rise to No. 4 on iTunes' All Genre, Full Album download charts ahead of major mainstream acts like Lil Wayne and Rihanna. Without a doubt, we know that the digital support and marketing initiatives through the Gospel Music Channel helped us hit this mark."

Gospel Music Channel is the most recent faith-branded leader to join the exclusive FrontGate Media group, home to the largest and most loyal faith-based consumer entertainment brands available including http://www.hearitfirst.com/, http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/, http://www.itickets.com/, http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/, http://www.videorocket.com/, and the largest events in the country including the Biola Media Conference, the Boarders For Christ tour, Creation Festival, Creation Festival: The Tour, and Spirit West Coast just to mention a few. FrontGate Media also serves as the exclusive syndicator of Faith content across the Vidshadow Online Video Network, one of the Web's fastest growing online video networks.

"Gospel Music Channel delivers the most emotionally connected consumer audience available," says Scott A. Shuford, founder and CEO of FrontGate Media. "Their addition to our media group reinforces FrontGate Media as the must-have, first call for strategy and promotion for any entertainment marketer."

[Christian Newswire]

Lee University VP Chairs Commission

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) has appointed Lee University Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Carolyn Dirksen as chair for its Chief Academic Officers Commission. Dirksen has previously served as the vice chair of the commission.

The commission is made up of eight chief academic officers from the 101 schools in the CCCU. As the chair, Dirksen will help plan the upcoming conference and the Forum which takes place every four years involving teams from all the CCCU schools.

"I believe in the work of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, so I am very pleased to be involved in their work at this level. They are a strong support for Christ-centered higher education and have been an important reference group for Lee," said Dirksen.

Carolyn Dirksen is a veteran of the Lee University faculty. She has been teaching at Lee since 1968, and has long been a well-loved colleague and respected advisor and mentor.

She received the Lee Excellence in Teaching Award in 1972 and the Excellence in Scholarship Award in 1992. She also served for twelve years as chair of the Department of Language Arts and for three years as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Since 1999, she has served as vice president for Academic Affairs.

Dirksen's teaching career has included being a supervisor of Lee's Semester in Europe at Cambridge, a one-year visiting professorship at Henan University in China, and two summers at the Russian-American Christian University in Moscow.

Founded in 1976, the CCCU has spread out across the nation and reached affiliate schools in 24 other countries. Working as a non-profit organization out of Washington, D.C., they've made their goals to focus onn the advancement of Christ-centered higher education and relating scholarship and service to biblical truth. They provide over 100 programs to help serve the association's mission and support the needs of Christian colleges and universities.

[T.J. Wright]

So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore

Jake Colsen is the author of So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. Jake Colsen does not exist. Rather, he is a pseudonym for the combined work of Dave Coleman and Wayne Jacobsen. You may recognize Wayne Jacobsen as one of the founders of Windblown Media, the company that published a little book called The Shack — a little book that has gone on to sell well over a million copies.

At the moment, So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore is ranked #259 in Books at Amazon and #4 in Religious & Spirituality Fiction (placing behind three editions of The Shack).

So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore is a story about a man named Jake (the book is meant to be fictitiously autobiographical where the author, Jake Colsen, writes about his own experiences). Jake is an associate pastor at a fast-growing mega-church. In the book’s early pages he encounters a man named John whom he comes to believe may just be the Apostle John (though this question is never actually resolved). While he does not have much of an opportunity to interact with John at first, he hears words which set his heart and mind reeling. He realizes quickly that his Christian faith is almost hopelessly rote and anemic.

“Although I had been a Christian for more than two decades, I had no concept of who Jesus was as a person and no idea how I could change that.” This book covers a span of months or years which sees him grow from a pastor of immature faith to a man of wisdom and mature faith.

The predominant theme of the book is issues surrounding the local church. The overall teaching is that the church as most Christians understand it is a human institution and one designed primarily to gain and to protect power. The Bible, according to the authors, does not teach that Christians should be part of any kind of institutional church. This is not to say that we should leave mega-churches to join smaller house churches; rather, we should abandon this kind of church model altogether. While the authors do not clearly or precisely share what Christians should or can do in its place, it seems that it would look something like this: “Instead of trying to build a house church, learn to love one another and share one another’s journey. Who is he asking you to walk alongside right now and how can you encourage them? I love it when brothers and sisters choose to be intentional in sharing God’s life together in a particular season. So, yes, experiment with community together. You’ll learn a lot. Just avoid the desire to make it contrived, exclusive, or permanent. Relationships don’t work that way.”

The book’s appendix is a pamphlet written by Jacobsen which addresses his view of church life. Here he says, “Fellowship happens where people share the journey of knowing Jesus together. It consists of open, honest sharing, genuine concern about one another’s spiritual well being and encouragement for people to follow Jesus however he leads them.” By the book’s closing pages, Jake has left the church and now meets irregularly with an irregular group of people from his community. This is presented as being a form of authentic spirituality that is closer to the biblical model than that which is practiced by the vast majority of Christians today. It is the better alternative to church as most Christians know and experience it.

Beware that this book is fiction and you may not agree with all its conclusions if you belive that the organized church in America is not in trouble or in need of change.

[Dr. Albert Mohler]

The Spiritual Descendents of John Wesley May Number 75 Million

According to Mary Jacobs, "To gather all of the spiritual descendents of John Wesley for a family reunion, you’d need one very large tent — big enough to hold more than 75 million people."

“The entire Methodist family is much larger than the United Methodist Church, by a factor of seven or eight times,” said the Rev. William B. Lawrence, dean of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

Among the millions who call themselves “Methodists” are members of the United Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the AME Zion Church, and independent Methodist churches in other nations, such as the Korean Methodist Church or the Methodist Church of Mexico.

The tent gets even bigger when you add denominations without “Methodist” in their names but with historical ties to Methodism and John Wesley, including the Wesleyan Church, Church of God, Churh of God of Prophecy and the Pentecostal Holiness Church.

“Most United Methodists may know about the AME or the AME Zion churches, but they don’t have any clue that denominations like the Church of the Nazarene or the Salvation Army are direct descendents of the Methodism movement,” said Dr. Doug Strong, a church historian and dean of the School of Theology at Seattle Pacific University. “The term ‘Wesleyan’ is much, much larger than the United Methodist Church.”

You can read more here...

[Todd Rhoades]

Reality Always Wins

How an organization conducts it's business (from the top down) is a clear sign as to what is expected of people.

If people see leadership acting in a self-serving, self-centered, dictatoral manner where qustions are not allowed, it is usually because it is in their short-term interest to do so, or they are covering up unethical behavior.

To promote ethical begaviour from the bottom to the top of an organization or movement, practice the following:

Don’t invite transgressions. Combining impossible goals with tantalizing rewards invites cheating, since there is likely to be no return for playing fairly and achieving. Avoid this bad mix of negative incentives.

Establish a culture of trust. There is a fine line between judicious oversight and spying. It is important to have good monitoring systems in place so that people act responsibly with the organization’s assets and recognize the proper management of those assets as a corporate value. Too loose oversight invites the wasting of assets, or worse. Under too strict oversight, people will fail to see stewardship as a privilege entrusted to them.

Underscore the how in addition to the what. What is fun is trying to figure out how to best satisfy people's true needs, knowing that if this is done properly, the “what” will follow. Concentrating solely on the “what” may not only encourage aberrant behaviors to meet objectives, but also result in self-defeating behaviors as well.
trust
Model appropriate behaviors. Ultimately, the measure of anyone — and especially anyone called to lead — is in what he or she does. Remember: People are watching and how you conduct yourself in public will have immeasurable effects on others. Leading with kindness includes acting with integrity — consistently adhering to ethical standards of conduct and the organization’s core values.

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.