Are You a Preacher or Motivational Speaker?

Some preaching that is considered great by many is nothing more than a motivational speech. It might be true, it might even be helpful. It may help you succeed at work. But too often all one has done is changed the title from the latest pop-psychologist’s seminar from “how to succeed” to “hot to fulfill God’s purpose” where God’s purpose is defined as “succeeding in this life.”

It is almost rampant in some circles. In fact some see this as the epitome of “relevant” preaching. The person comes and learns a skill or a mindset that will help them finally break the boundaries that keep them from that promotion. Maybe others finally decide to go back to school or change their career. Perhaps others find ways to become better planners and thus are more effective in their financial life. And then the preacher sits down. Sometimes the people shout other times they sit there contemplating the message, but in too many cases what is missing greatly outweighs the benefits of these messages.

When a sermon is merely a motivational speech, what is missing? At least two things:

The Cross is Missing

The first thing that is missing from this kind of preaching is the cross. Sometimes the preacher may tack it on at the end, but even in those cases the cross is reduced from the pinnacle of God’s work on behalf of humanity to simply a mechanism to help me do better at work. The cross both Jesus’ and ours is totally missing. The idea of our sin causing the death of Christ in some way is totally absent from this message. The idea that we are to take up our cross and follow is also absent.

In short, the Gospel is missing from many of these presentations and thus no matter how eloquent or well visited, this kind of preaching is missing the real power that comes from preaching “Christ and Him Crucified.”

The Coming Kingdom is Missing

In many of these sermons, the idea of God’s coming kingdom is totally missing. Whether it be how we are to prepare for the coming kingdom, or whether it be how the coming kingdom is different from the current “kingdoms,” this aspect of true preaching is often missing from the “motivational preaching” sermons.

If you are not preaching the cross and the coming kingdom, then one must ask oneself, what are the eternal consequences of my present preaching? If someone comes to your church after hearing about the cancer diagnoses, what does your sermon about being a success have to do with that one? If someone is in the midst of despair and needs to hear a word about the coming kingdom where righteousness reigns, what does your message that mistakes American middle class values for the Gospel have to say to them?

People can get motivational speeches in any number of places, but when they come to church they have come to hear a preacher. There is a time and place for the motivational speech, but if you as a preacher use up all of your time being simply another place, then you have not done your duty. For a preacher to degenerate into a facsimile of Oprah Winfrey or Tony Robins is to step down from the height of speaking God’s words to humanity to speaking good advice gleaned from the best human thinkers.

Sherman Haywood Cox II is the director of Soul Preaching. He holds the M.Div with an emphasis in Homiletics and a M.S. in Computer Science. More from Sherman Haywood Cox II or visit Sherman Haywood at www.soulpreaching.com

The Ten Minutes After Church Rule

By Rev Bill Hutchison

One of the biggest challenges for people trying to find a new church is connecting with the people at the church. We heard this rule from our Pastor at church this last Sunday to help people who are new at your church connect with the people there:

    “Ten Minutes after church your friends will still be here. Take those ten-minutes to meet and get to know someone new or someone you have not spoken to before.”

I thought that this was a terrific rule for people of your church congregation to follow after the church service. This will help to make your church much more “seeker” friendly, and feel a lot less “cliquey” to people who are new to your church. It’s hard to feel welcome at a new church if everyone is talking with someone else and no one talks to you or gives you the time of day.

The ten minute rule can also help your congregation get to know other members of the church, rather than the same group that they always gravitate towards. This can be great in developing church unity and a greater sense of church family. People will have a much greater desire to stay a part of your church if they have that feeling of unity and family.

When looking at overall church growth we need to not only look at new people coming in, but also look at retention of current church members. The ten-minute rule can help both of these areas by providing a more inviting and friendly atmosphere for both the new and the old people at your next church service.

Don’t Send Your Ducks to Eagle School

by Jim Rohn

The first rule of management is this: don’t send your ducks to eagle school. Why? Because it won’t work. Good people are found, not changed. They can change themselves, but you can’t change them. You want good people; you have to find them. If you want motivated people, you have to find them, not motivate them.

I picked up a magazine not long ago in New York that had a full-page ad in it for a hotel chain. The first line of the ad read, “We do not teach our people to be nice.” Now that got my attention. The second line said, “We hire nice people.” I thought, “what a clever shortcut!”

Motivation is a mystery. Why are some people motivated and some are not? Why does one salesperson see his first prospect at seven in the morning while the other sees his first prospect at eleven in the morning? Why would one start at seven and the other start at eleven? I don’t know. Call it “mysteries of the mind.”

I give lectures to a thousand people at a time. One walks out and says, ‘I’m going to change my life.” Another walks out with a yawn and says, “I’ve heard all this stuff before.” Why is that?
The wealthy man says to a thousand people, “I read this book, and it started me on the road to wealth.” Guess how many of the thousand go out and get the book? Answer: very few. Isn’t that incredible? Why wouldn’t everyone go get the book? Mysteries of the mind…

To one person, you have to say, “You’d better slow down. You can’t work that many hours, do that many things, go, go, go. You’re going to have a heart attack and die.” And to another person, you have to say, “When are you going to get off the couch?” What is the difference? Why wouldn’t everyone strive to be wealthy and happy? 

Chalk it up to mysteries of the mind and don’t waste your time trying to turn ducks into eagles. Hire people who already have the motivation and drive to be eagles and then just let them soar. 

An Except from THE RIGHT TO LEAD by John C. Maxwell

By John C. Maxwell

What gives a man or woman the right to lead? It certainly isn't gained by election or appointment. Having position, title, rank or degrees doesn't qualify anyone to lead other people. And the ability doesn't come automatically from age or experience, either.

No, it would be accurate to say that no one can be given the right to lead. The right to lead can only be earned. And that takes time.

The Kind of Leader Others Want to Follow
The key to becoming an effective leader is not to focus on making other people follow, but on making yourself the kind of person they want to follow. You must become someone others can trust to take them where they want to go.

As you prepare yourself to become a better leader, use the following guidelines to help you grow:

1. Let go of your ego
The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people. Perhaps that is why Lawrence D. Bell remarked, "Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things."

2. Become a good follower first
Rare is the effective leader who didn't learn to become a good follower first. That is why a leadership institution such as the United States Military Academy teaches its officers to become effective followers first - and why West Point has produced more leaders than the Harvard Business School.

3. Build positive relationships
Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today's generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.

4. Work with excellence   
No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They bring into play not only their skills and talents, but also great passion and hard work They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.

5. Rely on discipline, not emotion   
Leadership is often easy during the good times. It's when everything seems to be against you - when you're out of energy, and you don't want to lead - that you earn your place as a leader. During every season of life, leaders face crucial moments when they must choose between gearing up or giving up. To make it through those times, rely on the rock of discipline, not the shifting sand of emotion.

6. Make adding value your goal   
When you look at the leaders whose names are revered long after they have finished leading, you find that they were men and women who helped people to live better lives and reach their potential. That is the highest calling of leadership - and its highest value.

7. Give your power away
One of the ironies of leadership is that you become a better leader by sharing whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You're meant to be a river, not a reservoir. If you use your power to empower others, your leadership will extend far beyond your grasp. In The Right to Lead, you will hear from and read about people who have done these same things and earned the right to lead others. Because of the courage they found and the character they displayed, other people recognized their admirable qualities and felt compelled to follow them.

The followers who looked to these leaders learned from them, and so can we. As you explore their worlds and words, remember that it takes time to become worthy of followers. Leadership isn't learned or earned in a moment.

One of the Most Dangerous Things You Can Do in Ministry?

Assumptions

 

What is one of the most dangerous things you can do in ministry?

 

It’s easy. 

 

“Assume.”

 

An assumption is taking something for granted.  It’s supposing something to be a fact.

 

It’s deadly.

 

Why?  Because many of our assumptions are wrong.

 

I was having lunch recently with my friend Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church.  He shared how he and his staff worked through some of their assumptions and came to realize they were making three huge ones – and each was wrong.

 

First, they were assuming that people were going to show.  This meant that they were assuming that once people became part of the church family, they would show up every week. 

 

In reality, a frequent attender probably averages twice a month, if that.

 

Second, they were assuming that people were going to know.  This meant that they were assuming that people who attended the church knew the church’s basic vision, mission and values. 

 

They often don’t.

 

Third, they were assuming that people were going to grow.  This meant that they were assuming that people were going to take the message and use it as a springboard to pursue personal development and increased intimacy with Christ on their own.

 

Most stopped thinking about the message by the time Sunday lunch was over and they had settled in for the kick-off of the football game.

 

Perry and his team are smart, and as a result, developed strategies and processes, next steps and bridges, to help people really show, know and grow - as opposed to believing the assumption that they were just going to do it on their own.

 

What are you assuming?  Here are a few to consider:

 

*your members and attenders are actually inviting their friends and family to attend

 

*your weekend service would engage an unchurched person

 

*people will take “next steps” based on making that step known through an announcement

 

*most people are comfortable joining a small group

 

*the most effective means of worship is singing, and people want to sing for long periods of time

 

*the people listening to you believe in the Bible’s accuracy on the principles it teaches

 

*an hour on Sunday, by itself, transforms the other 167 hours of the week

 

*that most people who say that they are Christians actually are Christians

 

These are just a few of the assumptions made by thousands of leaders.  Just my two cents, but I would argue that for the typical church, and for the typical person, each one is false.

 

And you will be a wiser leader, and build a healthier church, if you own that they’re false, too.  Then you’ll roll up your sleeves and do what’s needed in leading, developing and teaching for each assumption to be a safe one.

 

James Emery White

 

 

Sources     

 

For a more fulsome list of “assumptions,” specifically related to church growth, see chapter 14 in What They Didn’t Teach You In Seminary (Baker, 2011).

Statistics Why Pastors Leave the Ministry

•  90% of the pastors report working between 55 to 75 hours per week.

• 80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families. Many pastor's children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.
• 95% of pastors do not regularly pray with their spouses.
• 33% state that being in the ministry is an outright hazard to their family.
• 75% report significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.
• 90% feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands.
• 80% of pastors and 84% of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged as role of pastors.
• 90% of pastors said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they entered the ministry.
• 50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job.
• 70% of pastors constantly fight depression.
• 70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.
• 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
• 40% report serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.
• 33% confess having involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church.
• 50% of pastors feel so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
• 70% of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
• 50% of the ministers starting out will not last 5 years.
• 1 out of every 10 ministers will actually retire as a minister in some form.
• 94% of clergy families feel the pressures of the pastor's ministry.
• 80% of spouses feel the pastor is overworked.
• 80% spouses feel left out and underappreciated by church members.
• 80% of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose a different profession.
• 66% of church members expect a minister and family to live at a higher moral standard than themselves.
• Moral values of a Christian are no different than those who consider themselves as non-Christians.
• The average American will tell 23 lies a day.
• The profession of “Pastor” is near the bottom of a survey of the most-respected professions, just above “car salesman”.
• 4,000 new churches begin each year and 7,000 churches close.
• Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year.
• Over 1,300 pastors were terminated by the local church each month , many without cause.
• Over 3,500 people a day left the church last year.
• Many denominations report an “empty pulpit crisis”. They cannot find ministers willing to fill positions.

#1 reason pastors leave the ministry — Church people are not willing to go the same direction and goal of the pastor. Pastor's believe God wants them to go in one direction but the people are not willing to follow or change.

Statistics provided by The Fuller Institute, George Barna, and Pastoral Care Inc.

Colonel Sanders And Church Growth

By Rev Albert Kang

Colonel Sanders

Did you know that Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, was a devout Christian? Apart from being a successful Christian, he was also a very successful businessman. He testified that it was his faith in the Lord that provided him with the motivation to succeed even when he was already 65 years old. He had since gone on to be with the Lord in 1980 but the testimony of his success continues to inspire many till this day.

Colonel Sanders started out in the food business when he opened a restaurant to complement his automobile service station. He was quite a creative cook and one of his culinary inventions was a Southern fried chicken. He had marinated this with his own special blend of herbs and spices. Being a curious person, he sought after new ways and methods to improve his cooking. Soon he learned about a newly invented cooking pot known as the pressure cooker. It was said that this appliance could reduce his cooking time drastically. At that time, his existing customers were already complaining about the food preparation time being too long. So he decided to try out frying his chicken with this new invention. To his pleasant surprise, his chicken tasted much better when prepared in this way. His restaurant business blossomed and grew even beyond that of his automobile service station.
 

Just as he was about to enjoy the success of his restaurant business, a crisis hit him. He was forced to close his restaurant and automobile service station because a new interstate highway had redirected most of his customers elsewhere. He was then 65 years old and had nowhere else to go. He could be like many of his aged friends, who had retired and lived off the government retirement benefits. However, that was not the kind of life for the Colonel! He knew that his special recipe would be his next key to success. Colonel Sanders made a bold decision. He took his recipe and pressured cooker and traveled around the United States looking for restaurants that were willing to buy his franchise.
 

In the 1950s, this idea sounded as crazy as it sounds today. Imagine an old man with a chicken recipe-franchising scheme, driving around selling franchises that no one ever ask for. This just did not make sense to most people during that time.

Countless restaurant owners rejected Colonel Sanders' franchising scheme. It was said that not less than 1009 restaurant owners turned him down before he was able to make his first sale. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had signed up more than 600 franchisees and later sold his business for a huge sum of money. The rest of the story is history.
 

What has the story of Colonel Sanders to do with our church growth? Here are some interesting principles that we can learn from this courageous man:
 

Colonel Sanders and his KFC Restaurant Franchise

The Colonel Believed In What He Had
Belief is a powerful motivation. Colonel Sanders believed that his chicken recipe was unique and probably the best in the world. He believed that to be a fact even when no one else did. Today, Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants are found worldwide because of that singular conviction.
 

The church in the Book of Acts was a believing church. It went through dark time of persecutions and attacks but it triumphed because the apostles and the early Christians believed in what they had.
 

Do you believe that your church has a unique and powerful message to share with the world? Of course, you do! When you believe that God has raised your church for more than being a ministry to your community but also to the rest of the world, then you are activating the mountain-moving faith with you. This will inspire the whole church to be a powerful soul-winning entity.
 

The Colonel Acted On His Belief

It was said that Colonel Sanders often slept in his car while he was out selling his franchise. He even ate the very chicken that he cooked as samples for the restaurants. He did not just expound a theory but acted upon his belief. He was willing to sacrifice so that he could succeed.
 

Many years ago, Nehemiah believed that the wall of Jerusalem should be built and set out doing it. In spite of tremendous opposition from the enemies, Nehemiah was willing to sacrifice. The citizens believed and stood with their leadership. They acted together upon that belief. The end result was that the wall was completed and the will of God accomplished!
 

When your church acts upon the belief that you are a powerful soul-winning church, God will open doors of opportunity for you. What you are doing may be a time-consuming venture but it will be worth your efforts. 

The Colonel Refused To Respond To His Limitation 

Most 65 year-old folks think that they are too old to launch any new projects. They are intimidated by the magnitude of these new challenges and so they simply give up. As for the Colonel, he refused to respond to his limitation but only to his potentials. Age was never a barrier but an asset. He felt that he was more experienced and wiser to fulfill his dream.
 

In the Bible, Caleb was one of the older Israelite generals who refused to surrender to the limitation of his age. Instead, he believed that the Lord would bless him even at that ripe old age of 80 (Joshua 14:7-14). He was a dreamer who sought only after his potentials.
 

We must learn from these testimonies. We do not need to surrender to our limitation either. The Lord wants to bless our potentials and we should maximize them for the glory of the Lord. Join a ministry today and be active for the kingdom of God.
 

The Colonel Was Willing To Try New Method
One of the primary reasons for Colonel Sanders' success was his willingness to look for new ways to do things. By taking advantage of new inventions, Colonel Sanders produced a winning formula that became the key to growing his business.
 

Peter, Paul and the other apostles were willing to preach to the Gentiles even though it was a completely new concept. They learned to obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit even though they had to do what they had never done before.
 

Your church should continue to explore, research and develop new approaches to evangelism and ministries. There will be critiques sitting at the wings, ready to mock when you fail. However, you must never allow the fear of failure or embarrassment to prevent your church from using new methods to achieve God's objectives.

Colonel Sanders Would Not Be Defeated

When the highway destroyed his business, the Colonel went on fighting. That's the kind of fighting spirit we must have. When one door is closed, let's trust that the Lord is opening another door. When the restaurant business closed, Colonel Sanders came out with the chicken franchising scheme.
Even when he was on the road, the Colonel proved to be a tenacious fellow. He did not give in to difficulties at all. After being rejected 1009 times, he went to sell a franchise to the 1010th prospect. Could you imagine what would happen to KFC if Colonel Sanders had given up after being rejected by prospect no.1009?
 

The second temple took the Israelites twenty years to complete. They could have finished building in a few short years but there were much objections and resistance from the enemies. However, the Israelites under the leadership of earnest dedicated men like Zerrubabel, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah, refused to be defeated. Their tenacity paid off and the second temple was ready for consecration in the spring of B.C. 516, twenty years after their return from captivity.
 

Tenacity when applied positively will get us over the "River Jordan." Let's do not pretend that growing a church is that easy. If it were that easy then you should have done it years ago. The journey will be tough! There will be criticisms, objections, and even rejections. Whatever the cost, as long as you are patient and willing to pay the price, you will make it.
 

Every believer has to continue in inviting friends and loved ones to church and cell meetings. Many of them will turn you down. Do you give up? No! You just need to work wiser and harder. You will not use anything as an excuse to fail because you know that, by the grace of God, you cannot be defeated!

You may face hardship but as long as your church leadership is resolved to lead the congregation to overcome every mountain and obstacle, your church will be victorious. God is giving you the "Promised Land" and you will be facing "giants". The going will be tough but you must never, never, never give up!