7 Traits of Pastors Who Lead Breakout Churches

7 Traits of Pastors Who Lead Breakout Churches

If you want to experience an "a-ha" moment about revitalizing churches, this research may be the near the top.

Most of you have heard the dire information and statistics about congregations in North America. Indeed, I have been among the purveyors of the negative news. For sure, the overall picture is gloomy. There is no hiding from that reality.

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My uttermost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, Are you ever troubled

John 14 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Jesus comforts his disciples

14 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.’

Jesus the way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’

6 Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’

9 Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit

15 ‘If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever – 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me any more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.’

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?’

23 Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 ‘All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 ‘You heard me say, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.” If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

‘Come now; let us leave.

There are times in our lives when our peace is based simply on our own ignorance. But when we are awakened to the realities of life, true inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus. When our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace, because the words that He speaks are always “spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Have I ever received what Jesus speaks? “. . . My peace I give to you. . .”— a peace that comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment.

Are you severely troubled right now? Are you afraid and confused by the waves and the turbulence God sovereignly allows to enter your life? Have you left no stone of your faith unturned, yet still not found any well of peace, joy, or comfort? Does your life seem completely barren to you? Then look up and receive the quiet contentment of the Lord Jesus. Reflecting His peace is proof that you are right with God, because you are exhibiting the freedom to turn your mind to Him. If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. Allowing anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you either causes you to become troubled or gives you a false sense of security.

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Mark Driscoll Steps Down From Mars Hill Pulpit

Mark Driscoll Steps Down From Mars Hill Pulpit

Controversial Seattle megachurch founder Mark Driscoll will step down for at least six weeks while church leaders review formal charges lodged by a group of pastors that he abused his power.

The 43-year-old pastor has been under fire in recent months for plagiarism, inappropriate use of church funds and improper behavior toward subordinates.

Returning from vacation Sunday, Driscoll addressed Mars Hill worship services through a pre-recorded message.

"I want to say to my Mars Hill family, past and present, I'm very sorry. I genuinely mean it," Driscoll said in his address. "I'm very sorry for the times I've been angry, short or insensitive. I'm very sorry for anything I've done to distract from our mission by inviting criticism, controversy or negative media attention."

Driscoll said he will not do any outside speaking for the foreseeable future and postpone the publication of his next book.

"I have begun meeting with a professional team of mature Christians who provide wise counsel to help further my personal development and maturity before God and men," Driscoll told the congregation.

Mark DeMoss, an Atlanta public-relations consultant and former adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, has been brought in to work with the congregation.

DeMoss, who represented the late Jerry Falwell Sr. and now Franklin Graham, said he attended the services in Seattle today on his own expense as Driscoll's friend.

This gay-friendly makeover of the miners' strike is deeply patronising, Telegraph

This gay-friendly makeover of the miners' strike is deeply patronising

 Modern culture is obsessed with the idea of gays giving straights a moral makeover. Apparently gays are really politically switched-on and super-fashionable – not to mention dab hands at interior design! – and so they are encouraged to grab straights by the scruffs of their badly dressed necks and turn them into better people. You see this trope everywhere these days: in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; in the Aussie reality TV show that sent a busload of drag queens to “educate” the beer-swilling inhabitants of South Australia; in Glee, in which pretty much every storyline involves a monosyllabic jock having his prejudices corrected by a shy, erudite gay kid. The TV Tropes website describes this kind of character as the “Magical Queer”, who has “all of the wisdom in the world because he is gay” and who is often charged with “bringing culture to his heterosexual brothers and sisters”.

  

Well, now the “Magical Queer” is being sent back in time to give a moral makeover to historical figures. Consider the striking miners. These angry, blokeish fighters for jobs and pay of the Eighties are clearly seen as being a bit too macho for our soft, caring times, and so they are being made over in an attempt to make them more palatable and sympathetic to modern sensibilities. Who is making them over? Gays, of course! There have in recent years been two major mainstream movies about the miners’ strike, and it is surely not a coincidence that both of them have had strong gay themes. We’re witnessing the gaying of the miners’ strike. (There have actually been three mainstream movies about the miners’ strike – we’ll get to the third in a moment.)

I grew up in the 1980's and although I remember the miner' s strike, I don't remember any Gay activists having a great impact  on  the strike. 

Read more here:

Smashing the Myth of American Church Success

Smashing the Myth of American Church Success

There is a myth of church success in America that says, "The bigger the building, the bigger the budget, the bigger the attendance, the more successful you are."

In the sight of man, this might equal success. But in the sight of God, it may have nothing to do with success. In fact, it might simply be the beautiful facade hiding all kinds of spiritual rot and decay.

To be clear, I have had the privilege of preaching in some of the finest megachurches in America, replete with large buildings, big budgets and multiplied thousands of attendees. And I can personally attest to the fact that some of these churches are healthy in many ways: focused on Jesus, reaching the lost, making disciples, and giving themselves to prayer.

And some of them are doing this at least as well as many smaller churches and house groups.

So, I'm all for "big" as long as that "big" equates to maturity in Jesus, effective outreach to the lost, compassionate giving to the poor, life in the Spirit, and a powerful expression of the Great Commission. It is in that context that Acts records the growing numbers of disciples (see, for example, Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7).

A Tribute to Lord Attenborough

On Saturday,  I was watching the World War 2 British Film,  “ In which we serve”  starring the screen greats  Sir Noel Coward and Sir John Mills,  the film is based on the real events of the sinking of HMS Kelly, commanded by Lord Mountbatten.   In this film,  a young sailor abandon’s his position under enemy fire,  the Captain despite this man’s cowardice forgives him in front of the crew, later on in this film, this young sailor dies of his wounds after the ship sinks,   the actor who played that young sailor was Lord Attenborough in his first credited screen role.

While watching BBC news on Sunday Night, it was announced that Lord Attenborough had died a few days before his 91^st Birthday.  I like many of you have watched films where Richard Attenborough has either directed or starred in.  Every time I watch him in the Great Escape,  I keep wishing he escapes the trap that the German’s have set for the character he played  Sqn Ldr Roger Bartlett RAF ("Big X"), later on the film 50 of the 73 escapees are shot by the German’s,  including Sqn Ldr Roger Bartlett. 

In some ways because they’re on TV on a regular basis,  I feel that I’ve grown up watching Lord Attenborough’s film’s,  his stand out role as RSM Lauderdale in the Guns of Batasi particular sticks in my mind.  I remember  when I was part of the Christian Union in  Secondary School we went to see Richard’s Attenborough’s classic film Gandhi starring Sir Ben Kingsley as the Indian Independence Leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,  I remember being very moved and challenged by that film,   although he retired from acting in films and he went on to direct films,  he later returned to acting both in the two of the Jurassic Park films playing John Hammond and in the 1994 remake of the classic “The Miracle on 34^th Street” playing Kris Kringle/Santa Claus.

Lord Attenborough was an inspiration to many people,  and his bravery when one of his daughter’s and one of his granddaughters died in the 2005 Tsunami was inspirational in the face of that  heart wrenching loss stands tall,   he is survived by his  widow, two of his children and his brother Sir David Attenborough. 

Lord Attenborough we salute you and thank you for both entertaining, informing and challenging us for 60 plus years.

Read the Daily Mail Tribute  to Lord Attenborough here:

Glee-Don't Stop Believin' (Full Performance) +Video for Will Schuester

Views, Visions and Values.: Marriage

Views, Visions and Values.: Marriage

Views, Visions and Values.: Marriage

Views, Visions and Values.: Marriage

Swansea 1-0 Burnley: Nathan Dyer hands his side all three points by scoring an early goal at the Liberty Stadium. Daily Mail

Swansea City follow up their surprise win against Manchester United by beating Premier League new boys Burnley

Nathan Dyer nets in the 23rd minute to give his side all three points in Swansea's first home match of the campaign

Burnley rooted to the bottom of the Premier League after back to back defeats against Chelsea and Swansea

Sean Dyche tossed his jacket aside soon after this match started and he’s now going to have to roll up his sleeves if Burnley are going to stay in the Barclays Premier League. 

That’s two games and two defeats for the promoted side. Granted, one was against Chelsea and this was away from home against a side who beat Manchester United last weekend.

But already, at this extremely early stage in the season, the Ginger Mourinho looks like he needs a few more creative thinkers on the pitch. Time and again they held possession – 45 per cent, according to the statistics – but lacked the wit to find a way through a backline that is not as strong as it might need to be. 

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Man who DELIBERATELY sabotaged Starbucks pay-it-forward line that had gone on for 10 hours and 457 customers , Daily Mail

A pay-it-forward chain at a Florida Starbucks ended when a man opted not to buy the coffee of the person behind him in the drive-through line.

Peter Schorsch, customer number 458, ordered two Venti Mocha Frappuccinos and was told that one of his drinks had been paid for by the previous customer and asked if he'd like to do the same for the next customer.

Schorsch declined, saying he felt the phenomenon was a marketing ploy for the company and no longer a spontaneous act of kindness when the barista asks the customer to pay it forward.

  

'I just don’t want to be forced into doing something,” Schorsch told ABC News.

'This is turning into a social phenomenon and I had to put an end to it.'

He had heard about a 'pay it forward' streak at the same Starbucks the previous day that ended on customer 359.

Schorsch didn't end the chain to be stingy, he said, adding that he tipped the barista $100.

Read more here:

Commando Comic Welbike

Brian Wilson: SNP’s NHS scaremongering won’t work. The Scotsman

SOMETHING OF a pattern is emerging, is it not? The Nationalists’ claims have now become so cynically outrageous that non-politicians, who probably did not want to be drawn into the debate, are feeling obliged to rebut them in the plainest possible terms.

Last week, it was the Bank of England that issued a magisterial put-down when an SNP press release in John Swinney’s name claimed that “technical discussions” were taking place about currency union. It was untrue, and Swinney now says that he did not mean to give that impression. Doubtless he will be dealing internally with whoever took his name and reputation in vain.

Then Sir Ian Wood had a good shot at being even more magisterial with his remarkable interview in which he hazarded that Alex Salmond’s fabrication workshop had overestimated future North Sea resources by around 60 per cent and short-term revenues by 40 per cent. Chunky numbers, indeed, when translated into schools and hospitals.

Salmond’s audacity had provoked Sir Ian Wood into going far more public than he might otherwise have done, with his conclusion that, in economic terms, “the case is heavily weighted towards Scotland remaining in the UK and getting the best of both worlds. I want the best for future generations of Scots”. You don’t get much more unambiguous than that.

While currency and oil might be regarded in some quarters as fair game for misrepresentation, it is the Nationalists’ appalling behaviour over the National Health Service that merits the greatest contempt. In this case, the woman who headed the Scottish Government’s own cancer reduction strategy has felt moved to hit back at the pernicious nonsense they are promoting. By her own account, she would not have intervened if the claims had not been so outrageous.

Dr Anna Gregor said: “The thing that made me decide to talk about this subject is that both the politicians and, to my chagrin, some of the clinicians are now scaremongering and telling the voters and patients that the only way to protect our NHS is to vote Yes. That is a complete and utter lie.”

Read more here:

Victory over the parking cowboys: Hospitals ordered to ban bullies and give the seriously ill free parking. Daily Mail

  Jeremy Hunt to set out new strict rules blocking huge fines in car parks

  Cancer sufferers and patients whose treatment overran were ripped off

  Health trusts now responsible for private firms that run 3/4 of the car parks 

Hospitals must offer free or cut-price parking to the seriously ill, the Health Secretary will announce today.

Setting out strict new rules, Jeremy Hunt will say cowboy parking operators can no longer be allowed to impose huge fines for trivial infringements.

His intervention is a major victory for the Daily Mail’s campaign to protect vulnerable patients. 

The outrageous behaviour of some parking bullies has sparked a mass of complaints. 

Cancer sufferers and patients whose treatment has over-run are among those who have been ripped off.

‘Patients and families shouldn’t have to deal with the added stress of unfair parking charges,’ Mr Hunt will say.

‘These clear ground rules set out our expectations, and will help the public hold the NHS to account for unfair charges or practices.’

The guidance to health trusts makes clear they will be responsible for the actions of the private firms that run more than three quarters of hospital car parks.

They will have to act against rogue contractors and not sign contracts ‘on any basis that incentivises fines’.

Read more here: