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NEW THIS MONTH!

• ChurchGrowth Factoids – The Impact of Christianity
• Three Recent Posts on “HighPower Thoughts”blog
• Four Principles of Confrontation
• FamilyFaces Church Directory Software
• Prepare-Enrich Marriage Seminars
• Five Ways to Keep your Preaching from Becoming Boring
• Book Review:  Putting Jesus in His Place

Factoids

Three Factoids about CHRISTIANITY for which to give Thanks!

1.  Population of Christianity

More than 2 billion people worldwide -- about one-third of the world's population -- claim allegiance to Christianity in the year 2000, according to researchers David Barrett and Todd Johnson.

(Towns, Elmer & Warren Bird. Into the Future. Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 2000, p. 222.)

2.  Weekend Worship Totals
According to the Barna Research Group, on a typical Sunday more than 75 million adults attend worship services at Christian churches. That is more than triple the number of adults who will tune in to football games on a typical Sunday during the regular season.

(Evangelical Press News Service, September 6,1998, quoted by Towns, Elmer & Warren Bird. Into the Future. Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 2000.)

3.  Worldwide Growth of Christianity
According to Missions Frontiers magazine...
worldwide, Christianity is growing at the rate of 90,000 new believers every day.

(Clegg, Tom & Warren Bird. Lost in America. GROUP: Loveland, CO, 2001, p. 26.)

These and other Factoids can be found at ChurchGrowth Factoids

HighPower THOUGHTS  Blog

WHAT I'M LEARNING RIGHT NOW in the areas of Ministry Coaching, Simple Church, Church Growth & Church Health

Recent Posts:

• LOCAL CHURCH COACHING CERTIFICATION
• This blog details the steps our church is going through to provide Coaching Certification through Bob Logan’s coaching organization for our entire congregation.
  
  
• CONFRONTATION: Speaking the Truth in Love
  • This blog covers the four principles of successfully confrontation, which is included in this month’s eNews.
    
    
• APPLYING SIMPLE CHURCH
  • This blog covers the four principles of Simple Church, and the steps our church has taken to apply Simple Church to our local congregation.

Check out the Blog here.

Coaching

Most relationships, especially those of a supervisory nature, require a time for confrontation.  This is a word that many people have a hard time identifying with.  The Scriptures use this phrase which is quite helpful:  “Speaking the Truth in Love” (Ephesians 4:15).  That is probably the best definition of confrontation one could ever find. 

But then the question arises, how do I speak the truth in love?  Wayne Cordeiro in his great book The Dream Releasers has some great guidance for confrontation, or speaking the truth in love.

Four Principles of Confrontation:

1. Confrontation must be based on relationship
2. Confront the error, not the one who erred
3. Aim for a win-win result
4. Assure the other person of their value

Let’s break that down: 
1.  Confrontation must be based on relationship. 
That is, you cannot confront (successfully, that is) based on your position.  Just because you are the ‘boss’ you may be required to confront, but if you want a successful confrontation (as a Christian), then you need to confront the person based on your personal relationship either with each other, because you care about each other, or because of your relationship with the organization (for most this will be your church), or your relationship with Christ.  The person you are confronting may or may not care about you or your feelings, but s/he may be confronted about what their behavior or attitude is doing to either the organization, or to the name of Christ.  If they do not care about the reputation of the church or Christ, then you have a whole other issue to deal with.

2.  Confront the error, not the one who erred
This means, ‘Don’t get personal!’  Focus on the behavior displayed, not the personality flaws of the person you are confronting.  Unhelpful, “You really have a problem with the way you talk to people!”  Helpful, “When you speak to people in such a surly tone, it upsets them, and makes you seem unfriendly and uncaring.”  Keeping the focus on the behavior helps people respond better to confrontation.

3. Aim for a win-win result
No one wants to feel like they have lost the battle or lost face.  Protect their dignity while you are confronting, or speaking the truth in love.  Find a way that you can get the behavior that you want, and find a way for them to feel like a success in the process.

Let’s go back to the example of our surly staff person.  Maybe after some dialogue, you discover that s/he really wants to be liked by people.  You can coach them on how to be more liked by people.  You can help this person to speak in gentle tones and to look people in the eye, and to smile, and as a result of that you will soon be able to bring back reports of how much s/he is appreciated for their new tone.  You win, by not angering the flock;  the staff person wins by earning more appreciation and friends.  Win – Win.

4. Assure the other person of their value
This is really the heart of it all.  People want to know that they are valuable and appreciated.  If the confrontation is done in such a way that the people feel undervalued, then you have over-emphasized the ‘speaking the Truth’ part, and have under-emphasized the ‘speaking in Love’ portion.  You need a perfect balance between the two when you confront. 

Speak the Truth in Love, and you will help your church, and help your people.

That’s all for now,
Dr. Bill

For FREE Ministry Tools for Coaching, check out this.

Software

Family Faces Photo Directory software

Click on www.HighPowerResources.com/Software to download your new Demo today.

Seminars

PREPARE-ENRICH GROWING TOGETHER SEMINAR

“Growing Together” is the large group couples seminar curriculum from the “Prepare – Enrich” people, Life Innovations.

We faced a common problem with growing churches – too many people getting married!  That’s not really a problem, but it does put a stress on the pastor’s counseling time.   We were scheduling individual counseling appointments with each couple, but it was getting very tough to schedule appointments and still allow time for the pastor to prepare sermons!  We have solved this problem by providing a group marriage preparation class called “Growing Together” based on some curriculum by Life Innovations.

This is a great seminar for couples which will equip every couple with new communication tools to improve their relationship.  By making use of the Prepare - Enrich Couple Inventories each couple receives a dynamic 'snapshot' of their current relationship, including strength and growth areas.  Throughout the Growing Together Couples Seminar each area of their relationship is explored and strengthened. 

There are six goals of the Growing Together Seminar.  In order to achieve these goals there are also six corresponding couple exercises designed to help couples improve their relationship skills. 

The classes work really well.  I’ve been teaching them for 7 years, and I believe that they are more effective than individual counseling sessions.  The reason is that when everyone is gathered together in a large group session, the couples discover that there are often very similar ‘themes’ to the problems that everyone is facing.  The women oftentimes discover that this or that personality ‘quirk’ of their guy has more to do with him being a guy, than him being odd or different in some way.  And the same goes for the guys about the girls. 

Sessions include the following elements:

• Video of other couples being counseled, prepared by Life Innovations
• Large Group discussion on of topics
• Individual Couples having discussions with each other
• To deal with the issue of couples who need individual care, we also schedule a one hour session with each couple privately to discuss their issues.

The whole system works out really well.
Check it out on our "Growing Together" page.

Click on HighPowerResources.com/Seminars to learn about more HighPower Seminars

Sermons, Dramas, Bible Studies

Here is a great article by Larry Moyer of EvanTell on making your preaching interesting:

Five Ways to Keep Your Preaching from Becoming Boring

Dr. Larry Moyer President/CEO EvanTell, Inc.

A church wanted to increase its Sunday morning attendance.  They decided to try a new marketing idea.  The sign on the front lawn read, “Have trouble sleeping?  We have sermons – come hear one.”
No preacher would want that said of his sermons – here is one to sleep by.  I know of no preacher who steps into the pulpit and says, “I think I’ll be boring.”  The unfortunate truth, though, is that many are.  So how do we keep our preaching from becoming boring?
Let’s look at five ideas.  These won’t solve everything, but they will be a strong start in the right direction; plus, they are all interrelated.
 
Communicate, don’t just speak
Speaking is when the words of my mouth enter the openings of your ears. Communication is when what is understood in my mind is understood in yours.  Communicators are not boring.  Only speakers are boring.  I’ve never heard one person say, “He is such a boring communicator.”  That means everything we say has to be so understandable, so relevant, so applicable to life where our listeners are living that they are watching us instead of their watches.
That, in my opinion, is why preachers need to be expositors.  Our words may not be correct, meaningful, or penetrating; His Word promises to be so.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Your exposition of Scripture needs to be clear.  The passage you studied and tore apart, needs to be put back together before you enter the pulpit.  The pulpit is not the place to do your exegesis.  Our audiences are not impressed with how much Greek or Hebrew we know.  What they really want to know is how the passage we’ve studied relates to their lives.
That’s one reason I am personally committed to speaking in such a way that the audience could take the passage I’ve spoken from plus my entire message and reduce it to one sentence.  I want them to be thinking about that single truth as they leave the church, enter the workplace the next day, drive home and converse with their family.  Among other things, that will assure they come back to hear what I have to say again.  Relevant truth powerfully and clearly delivered is never boring.
If you want to keep from being boring, don’t make it your goal to speak.  Make it your goal to communicate.  Now, here is what that demands.
 
Study! Study! Study! Work! Work! Work!
It takes study and work, both of which can be tiring, to put together a good message. I became distressed years ago when I came across a survey that revealed the average preacher spends 15 minutes of preparation per message. 
My mentor and good friend, Haddon Robinson, has said it well, “Thinking is hard work; thinking about thinking is even harder work.”  As a preacher, you have to think:  What is the passage of Scripture saying?  What exactly does it mean?  How can I explain it in a way my audience will understand?  How can I get them to think about their lives, their behavior, their needs, etc?  That’s hard work. 
Speaking takes 15 minutes of preparation. Communication involves hours of preparation that can leave one spiritually energized and physically weary from the work.  I personally figure on at least 20 hours per message.  A good work ethic is a must in preventing you from becoming a boring speaker.
That’s why, to keep from being a boring speaker (particularly if one has a sizable church), he has to be a good delegator.  He delegates things to other people so he can give adequate time to study and preparation for speaking.  Remember the principle in Acts 6. Others were given responsibilities so those teaching the Word could give themselves to “prayer and to the ministry of the Word.” (vs. 4)
Study and work will help you in a third area.  
 
Use Great Illustrations
We are not talking to a reading generation; we are talking to a watching one.  It’s been said, “People think with pictures in their head.”   That means to be an interesting speaker you have to use effective illustrations, a few of which are even spiced with humor.  One way speaking has changed from 30 years ago is that the number of illustrations needed per message has increased.
Jesus Christ was a master communicator.  He communicated, not merely spoke.  How often is it said of him in the New Testament, “And he spoke to them a parable”?  He used stories to communicate divine truth.  Aggressively build an illustration file so that when it’s time to speak, you have a whole file to draw from.  Trying to find the illustration you need without a file to choose from is difficult and often impossible.  The internet will “bail you out” but it will not replace your own illustration file.  If I’m speaking from a passage about discipleship, I want 20 to choose from, not two.  That way, from my vast reservoir that approaches discipleship from different angles, I can choose the “ringer”, the one that fits just right.  Illustrations enliven the audience and keep you from being boring.
Understand though, it’s not just content that keeps you from becoming a boring speaker.  It’s also how that content is delivered.  Two more ideas must be stressed.
 
Use Variety in Voice Tone and Speed
Variety in voice tone and speed is what helps to keep a message interesting.  Avoid developing a rhythm in your speaking.  Use pauses for effectiveness.  At times, raise your voice for emphasis, at other times lower it.  Speak faster in one sentence and slower in another.  This allows the audience to enjoy an effective communicator; the audience doesn’t feel like they’re listening to a lecture.  They are apt to say to you, “I benefit from what you say, and I also enjoy your delivery.” 
 
Be Enthusiastic
Enthusiasm is engaging and contagious. If you’re not excited about the content of your message, the audience is not likely to be either.  You are not a huckster who says, “Take this or leave it.”  Excitement communicates, “This is something that could change your life.  Here’s how and why.”  If you’re not excited about the content of your message, the audience is not likely to be either!
Sustained enthusiasm demands physical fitness. Coach Vince Lombardi was once asked why he drove his players so hard toward physical fitness.  He answered, “Because fatigue makes cowards out of all of us.”  Fatigue also produces a poor speaker.  He may start out strong in his introduction, but his lack of physical fitness produces a lack of sustained enthusiasm.  If you want to keep your speaking from becoming boring, the discipline of a regular vigorous exercise routine is essential.
 
Conclusion
These five ideas will go a long way in preventing you from becoming a boring speaker.  I personally do not know of any preacher characterized by these five ideas that I would call boring.  May God help us to so communicate that people ignore their watches - and even forget they have one.  Your people will probably want to put a sign on the front lawn of the church that reads, “Warning – our pastor’s sermons are so interesting, they won’t allow you to sleep”!
 
(Dr. Moyer is President and CEO of Evantell, Inc.  You are invited to peruse a breadth of free or affordable materials on the resources section of the Evantell website.)

Books

Putting Jesus in His Place, Ed Komoczeski  
This is a very readable, but thoroughly theological look at the deity of Christ.  It is the second book in a three book set which Ed is writing.  It, along with the other two in the series, are part of an extended theological answer to the recent attacks upon the deity of Christ by the likes of Daniel Brown and his DaVinci Code, and the slew of other like-minded books which have sprung up because of it.

The first volume in the series, Reinventing Jesus, provides the direct answers to the claims of the DaVinci Code.  This newest book does not refer to it directly.  Putting Jesus in His Place is a extensive theological treatise on the deity of Christ.  It uses the H.A.N.D.S acronym to take us through the book.  “HANDS” stands for
Honor
Attributes
Names
Deeds
Seat

Each of these are a reference to some unique aspect of who Jesus is.  The book is filled with Biblical references and quotations.