Tag Archives: ministry

Who Is Increasing In Your Life?

By caryschmidt | July 30, 2010

The final message of Spiritual Leadership Conference 2010 was brought by Dr. Don Sisk and entitled “He Must Increase, I Must Decrease.” It was awesome! It profoundly impacted me, and I wanted to share a synopsis of it here. Perhaps it will encourage you.
Taken from the statement of John the Baptist in John 3:30, Dr. [...]

Posted in christian life, leadership | Also tagged biblical living, devotional thoughts | 3 Comments

Are Revolutionaries Starting to Recant?

By caryschmidt | July 27, 2010

It’s no secret that in the past few years, George Barna and people like him have given up on the local church (the flawed model they invented) and have documented a revolution of people leaving the organized church to simply go and be the church. While there are a lot of biblical problems with this [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach | Also tagged biblical living, church staff, local church | 1 Comment

Spiritual Leadership Conference 2010

By caryschmidt | July 15, 2010

Spiritual Leadership Conference 2010 wrapped up last night. God gave us a fantastic week. Today, in the midst of decompressing, I couldn’t help but sit down and journal some of the highlights of the week for me. Here’s what God used to impact me the most:
1. The Preaching. Every single message was a grand-slam home [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach, uncategorized | Also tagged church staff, leadership, local church, striving together | 3 Comments

Communication on a Winning Team

By caryschmidt | June 12, 2010

Communication is about sharing information with those who need it. But often communication is what is lacking the most on ministry teams. When we don’t communicate, we aren’t working together, and that causes things to break down. Here are seven quick principles that the Lord has challenged me to work at. I pray they will [...]

Posted in leadership | Also tagged church staff, communication, leadership, productivity, team | Leave a comment

Influence vs. Control

By caryschmidt | June 3, 2010

Sometimes we get mixed up in ministry. We forget that our responsibility is not control it is influence. God never gave us control of people, their lifestyles, or their choices. He created free will, and gives each individual responsibility for their choices. I fear, out of good intentions, some spiritual leaders cross the line and [...]

Posted in leadership | Also tagged biblical living, counseling, danger, leadership, local church | 3 Comments

Costs of Pastoring a Growing Church

By caryschmidt | June 3, 2010

The June Spiritual Leadership Podcast from Pastor Paul Chappell
The June edition of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast has posted from Dr. Paul Chappell. This lesson is entitled “The Costs of Pastoring a Growing Church” and it challenges spiritual leaders to embrace the cost that comes along with ministry fruit. So often we want “success” but we [...]

Posted in books and resources, leadership | Also tagged church staff, leadership, podcast | 1 Comment

Skeptics, Spectators, and Servants

By caryschmidt | May 19, 2010

In John 11, the amazing story of the raising of Lazarus unfolds. Not long ago, I was studying this passage and it occurred to me that there were three distinct groups of people at this resurrection, and those groups are still pretty much “alive and kicking” in today’s local churches.
Picture the scene—Jesus has waited for [...]

Posted in christian life, ministry & outreach | Also tagged biblical living, devotional thoughts, leadership, local church, team | 1 Comment

Why Ministry127.com?

By caryschmidt | May 14, 2010

Two months ago, we launched a new website—Ministry127.com. It has had a wonderful start. Friends and co-laborers from all over the world have written and expressed appreciation for the site and the resources it contains. Contributors have continually sent in submissions that are practical and helpful. The site has been overwhelmingly received and used in [...]

Posted in books and resources | Also tagged church staff, leadership, local church, media & tech, music, podcast, team, technology | Leave a comment

New Podcast—Partnerships of Ministry

By caryschmidt | May 10, 2010

The May edition of the Spiritual Leadership podcast has posted from Dr. Paul Chappell. This lesson is entitled “The Partnerships of Ministry,” and it focuses on developing and maintaining the right kind of strong relationships while serving in the ministry. Key statement from the lesson—the Devil tries to ruin all spiritual relationships! Great lesson!
The Spiritual [...]

Posted in leadership | Also tagged church staff, communication, leadership, podcast | Leave a comment

New Data on Church Drop-Outs

By caryschmidt | April 29, 2010

USAToday featured an article today that stated 72% of 18-29 year olds say they are more “spiritual” than religious. You can read the original article here, and it’s filled with plenty of discouraging data. But I wanted to draw out two positives that jumped off the page at me. These two things greatly encouraged my [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged adolescence, local church, student ministry, teen life | 1 Comment

The Hidden Values of Preparation

By caryschmidt | April 14, 2010

Have you ever conducted an event that was ill-prepared? Have you ever been disorganized or caught off guard in some ministry environment? There’s nothing worse than being thrown off balance by a lack of preparation.
I could fill the pages of a book with tough lessons learned through a lack of preparation. Even after years of [...]

Posted in leadership, productivity | Also tagged leadership, local church, organization, productivity, teaching | 1 Comment

Re-Igniting Apathetic Teens

By caryschmidt | April 1, 2010

Recently, a youth pastor asked about some thoughts on how to respond if the youth group is apathetic. My first thought was, we live in a spiritually apathetic world—apathy toward spiritual things is rampant, even among Christians. It’s nothing new, and as long as we serve in ministry, we will be fighting apathy. It’s what [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged local church, student ministry, teen life | Leave a comment

Introducing Ministry127.com

By caryschmidt | March 29, 2010

For many years, God has placed a passion on Dr. Paul Chappell’s heart for independent Baptist leaders to strive together for the faith of the Gospel (Philippians 1:27.) In that spirit, our team has been working for months on a new resource website called Ministry127.com (based upon Philippians 1:27.)
Just as the annual Spiritual Leadership Conference brings [...]

Posted in books and resources | Also tagged church staff, leadership, local church, podcast | 1 Comment

Before You Criticize Your Pastor…

By caryschmidt | March 15, 2010

Ever noticed that some people relish the criticism of pastors? Like kids and candy—they addict themselves even though it’s rotting something in them. While choosing voluntarily to stay under his leadership, they commit themselves to finding and exploiting every possible imperfection. I’ve never understood this thinking. Selecting a pastor, only to proceed to condemn the [...]

Posted in christian life | Also tagged biblical living, church staff, danger, leadership, local church, satanic, team | 8 Comments

Problems with Fun-Focused Youth Ministry

By caryschmidt | February 15, 2010

Is your youth ministry Bible-focused or fun-focused? It’s easy to focus more on making the youth group fun than on making it biblical. I’m all for having a good time with students in the right context, but we have a much higher calling. How easy it is to fall into the trap of spending more [...]