The big sign outside the church building reads, “30 Minute Worship – Guaranteed.” It’s a new concept of church for busy people. They advertise, “It’s all about the quality, not about the quantity.” They offer worship for 10 minutes, the word for 12-15 minutes and response for 5 minutes for those that don’t have much [...]

Yesterday I talked about my vision for the church in Childress. Let me continue those thoughts today with a dream I have for this church. About a week ago I did something I usually don’t do. I looked to see what the men serving communion were wearing. This used to be an issue years ago. [...]

Vision is believing it CAN be done! And, we must have vision to see the great things God can do through us. In Numbers 13 we’re told of twelve spies who went into the promised land of Israel to see how to conquer the land for Israel. Ten spies didn’t have any vision but two [...]

It seems that there are 3 kinds of people in our churches today: Risk Takers, Care Takers and Undertakers. Risk-Takers: These are the people who are willing to try something different to reach more people with the message of Jesus. Risk-takers aren’t worried about being traditional, only being scriptural. Risk-takers are willing to go outside [...]

Can you believe it? It makes no sense to me, but A CHURCH IN DALLAS WANTS TO BUILD MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUILDING IN ORDER TO “KEEP UP” WITH OTHER CHURCHES IN THE AREA (and they still owe 9 million on the one they’ve got). I just had to share a story with you that makes no [...]

Here are a few phrases I hear periodically that just don’t make sense to me… “LORD, WE HOPE WE’VE DONE THIS IN A WORTHY AND PLEASING MANNER.” I understand what’s being prayed when we say this, and I’ll be the first to say, “Let’s do things respectful and right,” but sometimes I think we think [...]

MY DREAM IS FOR UNITY. It’s time that we grow up and stop fighting. If Jesus prayed for unity (John 17) among his followers, and Paul preached it (1 Corinthians 1), I think we should start doing it. We’re all in this together and our goal is to take as many people with us to [...]

I’ve heard of comedians being heckled, but never a preacher. It was this past Sunday that I knew immediately during the evening sermon I’d said the wrong word. I made the statement, “If you don’t drink enough water you’ll get hypothermia.” As a preacher and a paramedic I immediately knew it was wrong. I meant [...]

When he stopped me in the store he said he needed to talk. In his words, he needed help, “Big time.” He had been struggling with alcohol. He couldn’t pay his bills. He was about to lose his job, get kicked out of his house, and to top it all off, his wife was threatening [...]

I got an email yesterday from a friend and regular blog reader about our discussion on how we should be “dressing for church.” She had an idea about what she wants to wear to church. Her story touched my heart so I asked her if I could share her story. She said yes. I hope [...]

A friend asked me recently what my opinion was about “how to dress for church.” I’ve been giving it a lot of thought on how to answer her, but I haven’t really come up with any solid answers. So I thought I might ask for your help and opinion today on this subject. I grew [...]

I’m really confused. It makes me angry. And it makes no sense to me whatsoever. A church here in Texas dropped all their mission works from their budget and told their missionaries that they were supporting, “We’re sorry, but your support ends at the end of the year” … WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? Simple [...]

One of the most frequent reasons given for someone not attending church is because the services are boring. I think the only place there should be boring churches is in Boring, Oregon where I’ve found, with the help of Google, that there are actually 25 Boring churches. Here are a few things that I believe [...]

It’s no secret that for the last few decades most mainline churches have seen a sharp decline in attendance. Too many times in the past, the things that held churches together and kept them strong were not things Jesus would applaud: impressive buildings, doctrinal formula, worship tradition and membership loyalty. What people are longing for [...]

When searching for a new church we’ve looked at “Churches to Avoid” and we looked at “Churches to Consider,” but there are a few things we still need to do … PRAY ABOUT IT: Ask for the Lord’s wisdom, guidance and blessing as you search. Be specific, ask where you can be used best, and [...]

When looking for a church home there are some things you need to consider. While there are definitely some churches you need to avoid, what are some positive things that you need to be looking for in a church? CHURCHES TO CONSIDER: A WORSHIPPING CHURCH: The primary reason we meet together is to focus our [...]

God has created us for community. It’s called “church.” Church is where we grow, encourage one another, share our spiritual gifts and become accountable to one another. It is where we praise God together, pray together and worship together. Recently I was asked by a friend who had moved to a new community and was [...]

We’re doing a WATS (We Are The Sermon) service this Sunday. Instead of having a Sunday evening service and sermon we’re going to take the sermon to the community. We’ll be going out Sunday afternoon working in the community and showing the sermon to others. I think it’s going to be awesome watching the church [...]

As I read through a few blogs this morning, I came across an interesting post titled, “Should I go to church today?” It provides an interesting perspective on reaching out to those outside the church. The part that caught my attention said …. “I don’t know any non-Christian who wakes up and thinks, “Gee, I [...]

I was in a Lubbock McDonald’s yesterday following a funeral. I had gone there to have coffee with my good friends and fellow bloggers Matt & Crystal James. While there, I also ran into blogger Kathy, who was in Lubbock visiting family. It was an amazing little blogging reunion. A crazy thing happened while standing [...]

Christianity Today has a good article on seven ways to measure your church’s ministry. The article states that “that most people rate church atmosphere within the first 15 minutes of their first visit.” The below seven areas will most likely contribute to how people rate your church’s atmosphere on their first visit: Sensing the presence [...]

Want to see 10 of the most amazing church buildings in the world? I mean “jaw dropping” amazing? Click here But I can’t seem to get enough of this discussion: Is church supposed to be a place that you GO TO or BELONG TO, or is it more about BEING something or someone? We get [...]

The church is full of “the guy on the left.” What we need is more of “the guy on the right.” Which one are you?

I love watching the Special Olympics. Recently while watching, they interviewed one of the young ladies who volunteers every year to help. She said she signs up for the same job every year and loves it. If you ask her what she does she’ll tell you “I’m a hugger. Every person who participates in any [...]

Tony Campolo is one of my favorite storytellers. He has the amazing ability to touch your heart with stories that challenge you. He tells the story “Party for a Prostitute” and not to long ago he told about a homeless man he met on the streets of Philadelphia. The story goes like this: One day [...]

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as [...]

We’ve been needing to remodel our church auditorium for some time now. As of Thursday morning, the remodeling project has begun, like it or not. You see sometime during the night Wednesday, a water valve broke in the balcony above the auditorium and flooded the balcony, auditorium and basement of the church building. Major water [...]

Many people are uncomfortable with the words change and church being in the same sentence. Some people are comfortable with the way things are, and don’t want anyone changing things up. Many Christians want things only done one way. Because of this many people have often come to blows over change in the church. Some [...]

I love a good quote. I have a lot of favorite quotes … here are four of my most favorite: “Preach always, if necessary use words.” ~ Saint Francis The biggest difference between you and God is that God doesn’t think He’s you.” ~ Anne Lamott “Lord, I crawled across the barrenness to you with [...]

I heard it again this week. Someone was speaking negatively about the church. Seems lately it’s the “in” thing to beat up on “church.” For example, recently a lady told me, “I love God. I love Jesus, but I don’t see any need for the church. Besides, the church is nothing but a bunch of [...]

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42 (sermon link) Sunday I talked about how the early church was a “devoted” church. One of my points is that “church” to them was not a fad, it was a committment. Fads have come [...]

Here is a quick question for you to think about today. Is there such a thing as “Christian Maintenance?” Do we maintain our Christianity? Notice I didn’t say “maintain our salvation” because I know I don’t maintain my salvation … God does. But what about maintaining my spiritual growth? I preached this past Sunday about [...]

Thought I’d share a favoring story of mine told by a great storyteller, Tony Campono. You’ll forgive me for the length of the story once you start reading. It’s well worth your time. Campolo, tells a story of being in Hawaii a few years ago for a Christian conference. It was 3:00 in the morning, [...]

I’d like you to meet Cooper! He’s my 5 year-old son. Last Sunday on the way to church, Cooper revealed to me something that I didn’t know about him. He looked up at me with all seriousness and said, “Dad, I’m sorry, but I just don’t like church.” I was floored, shocked, and had I [...]

I was recently reminded by my children that we have forgotten what “real church” is. While traveling on a trip they kept pointing out all the “church buildings.” “Wow, dad look at the size of that church building,” was their constant comment. We put so much emphasis on church buildings that we have forgotten what [...]