It’s official. My new assignment is Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. The church voted to call me as their senior pastor yesterday. Cheryl and I are excited.

Immanuel launched as a church on February 1, 1909 with 33 people. Today the church sits on a 22-acre campus located in the heart of Lexington, Kentucky and in close proximity to the University of Kentucky campus. It’s building has 217,000 square feet of usable space. The recreation center houses two full-size basketball courts, an indoor-walking track, aerobics room, cardiovascular workout room and a full- service café known as the Solid Rock Café. They have soccer and baseball fields.

Immanuel has a strong staff who seem eager for leadership and are already functioning as a healthy team. More than that, Immanuel’s people have a heart for missions and service and they truly want to reach Lexington for Christ. Immanuel has a great mix of seniors and youth, and I look forward to learning how to bridge the multi-generational gap for more effective ministry.

Although Immanuel is considerably smaller than my current church, I have never seen a church with more potential!

You may be wondering, what about my current church…and…have I abandoned church planting?

A couple weeks ago, I shared with the church I planted, Grace Community Church, that I was resigning. (You can watch that video HERE.) Leaving Grace is one of the hardest decisions Cheryl and I have ever made and it will always hold a piece of my heart. Grace started with 11 core families and a staff of 3 in our living room about 7 years ago. We’ve seen God do extraordinary things, now averaging over 2,500 in our worship experiences each week.

Grace is in good shape for the future. I don’t believe I would sense God releasing me otherwise. In the providence of God, I recruited a partner in this, my second, church plant. Chad Rowland is fully equipped to lead without me. The staff, who are some of our best friends in ministry, is strong and the team dynamics are extremely healthy. The best days are ahead for Grace.

As for church planting…yes…I love it and always will, but what about church revitalization? To me it’s the same heart. My heart is to see people come to know, love and be like Jesus. I love how that is happening in church plants around the world. As long as I’m breathing I’ll be encouraging church planters and assisting new church plants.

But, what about the older, established church? Who is going to help them thrive again? My heart breaks for church histories, church buildings, and bodies of believers who are mostly being underutilized in their Kingdom potential. I want to play a part in helping an older church see new life. I will begin knowing it will be harder work at times, but confident God is able to work His will in Immanuel through my leadership.

God has been at work at Immanuel for over 100 years. I feel unworthy, humbled and honored to join them in their history, look forward to their future, and celebrate with them what I believe could be their best years still to come.

Prayers appreciated. We will start officially at Immanuel in mid June, but first we want to finish well at Grace, sell a condo quickly and buy a place to live in Lexington. Will you say a prayer (or two) for us in this transition?

Do you have any examples to share of older, established churches that have been revitalized?

Should your church be involved with social media? I get asked that question frequently. I was recently in a church that didn’t have a website. I scolded them for that. Seriously, I don’t see how a church can expect to meet new people without a website. The majority of people these days will check out a church’s website before they ever visit the church. If there is no website…no visit.  (That speaks to the quality of the website also.)

I’m not sure I can answer that question of social media for every church though, so I will try to guide you towards a decision that’s right for your church.

Consider these 3 questions:

Do you want to reach younger people? – If you want to reach people these days, you have to go where they are at and younger people hang out in a world of social media. The number one way people under 40 reach me is with a Facebook message. Twitter is growing. Email is still common, but not growing at the rate of the other two.

Will someone maintain it? – My friend Scott Williams says, “For a business to not have anyone responding to their social media streams is equivalent to not answering the phone.” You can’t simply have a social media presence and expect results. You have to commit to it and work it. Not being active in social media may be worse than not doing it at all.

Can you afford not to? – Again, I can’t answer that question, but can you reach the unchurched people you are attempting to reach without social media? If you can, perhaps you don’t need it. If you’re not sure, perhaps you should give it a try.

One suggestion I have is to find the person or persons in your church who are already active in social media. Get them to volunteer to help the church in this area. You don’t have to assign this to a staff person who isn’t interested or doesn’t understand. Find the right person, give them authority and responsibility, and let them help build the Kingdom through your church and social media.

How well is your church doing in social media?

Name a church you think is doing a good job in this area.

When it comes to making changes…

Whether at home….

In an organization…

In a business…

In a church…

The way you introduce change is equally important to the change you introduce.

If you want the change to be effective, you’ve got to invest time in doing it well.

This is a guest post by Patrick Morley and his team at Man in the Mirror Ministry. I fully support the work they have done and are doing to reach men for Christ. The book by Patrick Morley had a profound impact on my life and I encourage you to consider this new opportunity.

Here are some thoughts from Patrick Morley from Man in the Mirror:

See if you agree with this…

• Can you see any way of ever getting society right unless we get the church right?
• If that’s true, can you see any way of ever getting the church right unless we get families right?
• If you’re still with me, can you see any way of ever getting families right unless we get marriages right?
• And, can you see any way of ever getting marriages right unless we get men right?

Sure, every now and then you hear about a woman who rips her family apart, but even then it’s usually after years of emotional neglect. It really is about the men.

How can we help get men right? To become a disciple of Jesus is the highest honor to which a man can aspire. To be born again and not become a disciple is like joining the Army and getting a rifle that you never learn how to clean and shoot.

The good news is that thousands of leaders and churches are learning how to disciple men so they can walk with God in our kooky culture. How do they do it?

For my PhD dissertation I studied the question, “Why do some churches succeed at men’s discipleship while others languish or fail?” I wanted to know from a management perspective, “What are the factors that lead to success or failure when implementing a men’s discipleship program?” And I wanted to discover, “What are successful pastors doing differently than the pastors of ineffective or failed ministries to men?”

To get at the answers, I employed multiple-case-study research to compare and contrast churches with effective men’s discipleship programs to churches with ineffective or failed programs.

The factors that differentiated the highly effective churches were….
1. A senior pastor with the vision to disciple every man in the church,
2. The determination to succeed no matter what, and
3. A sustainable strategy to make disciples.

I’m so tired of watching men go to events, get all amped up, charge out determined to do better, soar briefly, then glide (or crash) back to earth. In my experience these men are deeply frustrated that they can’t sustain the change. It doesn’t have to be that way. Thousands of churches have figured it out. But how do we get the word to those churches that are still in the dark?

At Man in the Mirror, the ministry I founded 25+ years ago, we’ve launched an initiative to hire 330 full-time Area Directors located throughout the United States to help churches more effectively disciple their men. Each Area Director will have a territory of 1,000 churches, which will put “boots on the ground” close to churches and men. We have a lot of early momentum, and the first 30 Area Directors have been appointed.

Now we need to surface scores of new candidates. We’re praying for men who are passionate about Christ, men’s discipleship, and who love the church. You can find out everything you need to know HERE. Join us in our fight to save our society and build the Kingdom.

Go HERE now to join this effort.

Editor’s Note: For 25 years Pat and his organization, Man in the Mirror, have focused on men’s discipleship. They’ve trained thousands of church leaders. In 2009 they reached the milestone of impacting 10,000,000 men for Christ. Their new goal is to see “10,000,000 new men leading powerful transformed lives in Christ by 2020.” Their new Area Director strategy is putting “boots on the ground” close to churches and men.

I was in a church recently that struggles with disunity. The pastor has a great vision and is supported by most everyone, but the church has two dominant factions, mostly split over a denominational issue. In working with the church, I quickly assessed they had a unity problem. I felt like a genius consultant, but the truth is I only discovered what they already knew.

The problem wasn’t discovering the problem, it was in finding solutions. The church needs to come together if they hope to move forward and complete all the opportunities God is sending their way.

How do you create unity in a church?

Here are 7 thoughts on creating unity:

Avoid the core DNA when making changes – There are some things that are not worth changing; especially until unity returns. It makes no sense to create further disunity in an area where the church is already unified. For example, if the church is overwhelmingly supportive of Sunday school, but you are a proponent of small groups, don’t try to make that change now (if ever) until unity is achieved.

Find common ground – What do people agree upon? Again, maybe its Sunday school, but perhaps it’s reaching the community’s lower income families. It could be a ministry of adoption or homelessness. There are probably numerous ministries or interests within the church about which everyone is passionate. Find some and pour energy into them. The more of these you can identify and rally people around, the more unified the church will become.

Plan group activities – This can be an ice cream social or a ministry opportunity to one of the common issues, but it should be something that will involve people from both sides of the divide. It would be best if you could get someone from each faction to the planning table for these events. Most likely there are some who, though they have chosen a “side” to support, are mature enough that they can work with someone of a different opinion to plan a function.

Celebrate success – Something about celebrating brings people together. Find small wins and celebrate them. Celebrate the things that people agree upon. Often this will be the history of the church or the heart the church has for missions or ministry.

Challenge the few objectors – There are usually a few people who are naturally divisive. This number is usually smaller than it appears, but these people are critical of everything and usually bring down the morale of others and the church. You may have to pull them aside, ask them to cooperate, and, if they will not, work to remove them from power. (This is obviously the subject of another blog post, but a necessary part of creating unity.) The unity and vision of the church is more important than appeasing those whose only mission is to disrupt.

Embrace the influencers – Just as there are a few who are negative, there are usually a few who are positive about unity and who have influence over others. I believe in the “each one reach one” practice. Spend time with these influencers, help them understand the importance of unity, then encourage and release them to help shape an atmosphere and culture of unity, one person at a time. Keep these natural influencers and encouragers close and informed and empower them to help create unity.

Communicate effectively – Communication is always important, but especially during times of disunity that information flow freely. When people don’t have information, they assume you are keeping it from them intentionally. Keep people informed and they feel more like they are part of the team and the vision.

Obviously every situation is unique. Don’t be ashamed to seek outside help. Creating unity takes time, prayer and hard work. Keep in mind that the process involves relationships, so it can be messy. Unity will likely involve people granting forgiveness and releasing the right to have things their way. Depending on the severity of the division in the church, these issues should certainly be shaping your teaching during this time. It may be subtle or more direct, but certainly deliberate.

Finally, for an illustration purpose, you might treat the process as you would if you were counseling a couple, only on a larger scale, of course. Identifying the underlying problems and offering small, steady steps to improving the relationships before you address the issues of division will help create unity.

What suggestions do you have for creating unity?

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’m releasing the findings of a survey I did last month involving the health of pastors and ministers. There were 466 responses. Honestly, I’m not surprised by some of my findings, but they are serving to confirm some of my suspicions. I interact with people in ministry everyday. More are struggling than we might imagine.

I’d love to have your input. You can read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.

Here is Part 3 of the survey results: (At the blog, you can click on a picture to enlarge it.)

Give me your thoughts on this information.

Here are some of mine:

• 30% are dealing with an unhealthy relationship. That’s a lot of pressure.
• Only 60% are confident they would attend their church if not employed. Is this sad to you like it is for me?
• 45% are looking…if the right opportunity comes along.
• Pay is an issue, even for those in ministry.
• The majority feel supported in their role. That’s a blessing.

What do you see?

I love the opportunities I have to invest in young pastors. I’m encouraged by what I see in this generation of pastors entering church work. They want to learn and grow from older leaders.

I consistently try to convince them I’m not the guy to listen to, but they keep asking for advice, so I keep sharing.

Here are 7 pieces of advice I give to young pastors:

Become a wisdom seeker – You’ll be looked to for lots of wisdom and answers. Make sure you are surrounding yourself with wise people. Obviously, you ultimately want to hear from God, but He encouraged us throughout His Word to seek wise counsel. Also, make it a point to always have mentors in your life. (If you need help, read THIS POST.)

Prioritize your life – You’ll be pulled in many directions. Make sure you have a plan for your time and center it around what you want to accomplish and where you want to be in the years to come. Don’t neglect your family for the ministry or destroy your ministry for temporary pleasures of the world. (You might read THIS POST about protecting your family in ministry or THIS POST on balance.)

Learn the secret of contentment – You’ll need it. There’s a draw in ministry towards bigger and better. You’ll be encouraged to count numbers (and I think numbers matter, but not they are not most important.). Most likely, unless your name is Stanley, or Furtick, you won’t have one of the largest or one of the fastest growing churches. Learn to be content with who God has made you to be and what He has called you to do.

Intentionally invest in others – You can’t call yourself a disciple-maker unless you are personally making disciples. I understand the fact that your teaching on Sunday will be building disciples, but the Jesus model involves intentionally investing in a few people at a time. Jesus concentrated most of His energy on 12 guys and even more on three in His inner circle. Shouldn’t we do likewise? Always be intentionally and personally mentoring a few. It will keep you close to people in the trenches of life and help you build more solid leadership in the church.

Keep moving forward through the disappointments of life – You will have plenty of setbacks. Life and people will disappoint you. At times you may fail to understand what God is allowing to happen at the time. Keep the vision of your overall calling to God in mind and push forward, regardless of the obstacles that come your way.

Ground your theology in Jesus – There are plenty of theological methodologies around. Someone will be happy to shape your theology for you. I’m not suggesting you can’t script it if it makes it easier for you to understand, nor am I saying not to grow in knowledge. You should always be growing. I am suggesting you never get beyond the simple child-like, overwhelming awe of who Jesus is and how He loves you. Center your beliefs firmly and completely around the person of Christ. Set Christ as your end goal, desire to be like Him, discipline yourself, then push forward. Invite others to follow likewise. Let the grace, glory and goodness of Jesus shape your life and ministry.

God knows best – As a pastor, there will be plenty of voices in your life. You’ll have plenty of advice from deacons, elders, Sunday school teachers and flower committee members. Appreciate the suggestions of everyone, but on matters of utmost importance, hold out for a word from God.

Of course, this is good advice for all ages (and not just pastors), but the majority of questions I receive are from younger pastors. I’m not sure what that says about us older pastors, but it is been true in my ministry that the younger a pastor is the more willing to heed advice. (Have you seen that to be true?)

What advice do you have for young pastors?

Since beginning Grace Community Church I have personally led a small group study, many times meeting in our home. Cheryl and I have loved each of our groups. Some of our best friends in life have come from these groups. I hear from pastors who don’t want to lead a group or feel that they shouldn’t, but from my experience, I think it is best when a pastor does.

• It models groups for the church
• It keeps a pastor close to people
• It helps a pastor know the real thoughts of people with the church

Of course, the pastor, as a small group leader, leads the group in Bible study, but there is so much more than helps a group be successful.

Here are 5 suggestions for pastors leading a small group:

Fellowship – We don’t just do group with our group. We do life with our group. Recently we went to a ballgame together, because one of the members of our group coaches the local university baseball team. We periodically suspend group just to fellowship together. The closer our group grows to each other, the more relevant our Bible studies seem to be and the better we are at sharing our hearts with each other.

Serve – With our most recent group, we started serving together once a month. We help feed families at a local ministry. It’s been a great commitment for our group and we’ve grown closer together and learned to better appreciate all God has given us as individuals and as a group.

Access – With a large church, I can’t always be available to everyone in the church, but those in my small group always have access to my time. They have my cell phone and permission to contact me at anytime. We’ve walked through multiple tragedies and struggles with people in our groups. They begin to see me as a fellow group member during those times, far more than they see me as their pastor.

Be authentic – I have flaws too. Hopefully my preaching reveals that also, but my group especially knows it to be true. Cheryl and I don’t hide the fact that we have personal struggles. The longer our group is together the more real they find us to be. In fact, they realize we aren’t that different in our struggles from the struggles life brings them.

Let others lead – I try not to have all the answers. The expectation at first may be that I do, but I don’t. This is not the time for me to show my Biblical knowledge. (Some in my groups have had as much or more than me.) This is the time to learn the Bible together, without the pressure on any of us to be smarter than the others. I like to hand off teaching responsibilities when possible. It raises new leaders, spreads the responsibility around the group, and emphasizes the fact that everyone is part of the discipleship process.

Pastors, jump in the middle of this ministry. It will help you and your church!

What do you think? Should pastors lead a small group Bible study or not?

What do the following people have in common?

• Perry Noble
• Bishop Walter S. Thomas, Sr.
• Casey Graham
• Clayton King
• Joseph Sangl
• Mike Madding

ALL are tremendous church leaders who have seen their vision become FULLY FUNDED!

AND, the great news is that ALL of these great men will be speaking LIVE at the Funded And Free Church Leader Conference in Charlotte, NC on Thursday, April 19, 2012!

Bishop Thomas will be able to share how New Psalmist Baptist Church completed a major building project in the middle of The Great Recession – and continued to see tremendous ministry growth!

Perry Noble will share how NewSpring Church built a youth facility, children’s facility, and launched multiple campuses during 2008 – and continued to pour tremendous amounts of money and resources into missions and outreach!

Mike Madding will be talking about how The Cove Church has been able to equip their people to win financially even in the face of a tremendous economic downturn in their area – and their church has grown by leaps and bounds.

Casey Graham will be sharing how to increase your operational giving through the implementation of proven biblical systems.
You don’t want to miss this one-time only event!

Want even better news? Injoy Stewardship Solutions has partnered with some other great organizations to provide this conference absolutely FREE for church leaders.

Here are the details:

DATE: April 19, 2012
LOCATION: The Cove Church – Mooresville, NC (North Charlotte Area)
TIME: ONE DAY (9AM – 4PM)
COST: $0 (thanks to the kindness of our sponsors!!!!)
FOOD: Provided (and it is free too!)

Space is limited – so register immediately to secure your spot for this amazing day! Click HERE to register now.