Breaking All the Rurals

No one has ever taught me what makes up a great staff member or overseer of ministry. When I was interviewing at a church in Oklahoma they gave three requirements: 1) Seminary Education 2) Five years of Ministry Experience 3) Must be married...Jesus, couldn't get a job at that church!

Here are the requirements for a great staff member or pastor:
1 Timothy 3:1 "Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart ...

1- "Becoming obessed with what people think about you is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about you." Craig Groeschel
2 - "We are to be in the world, not of the world...many in the church are of the world, but not in the world." Christine Caine
3 - "Ministry is "brutiful"...brutal and beautiful." Ed Young Jr.
4 - "Being relevant is just catching up with the culture...the ...

I believe more prayer takes place in a casino than in many churches. "Please God"..."I promise you if I win I will believe you are real"...I say this because God has challenged me to pray more and more specific. Mark 11:17 "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made it 'a den of robbers." Why do we rob God of communication:

1) ...

Why is it that we have Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong, Dixie Jackson in SBC life, but we don't use women in ministry as pastors? I am not saying as senior pastors, but as leaders and pastors in our churches? We commission and send them all over the world as missionaries to lead children, villages, college ministries, and orphanages. I am just a young pastor with passion, but I believe The ...

Exodus 18:21 "But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens."

If I was standing there that day which assignment would receive. What qualified a man for thousands? What qualified a man for tens? These are the qualifications I believe are imperative leading thousands:

1) Passion and Drive
2) Red Hot Marriage ( with ...

Monday often is the most dreaded day of the week, but it is the day my wheels are spinning the most. Rural America has a lot shut down on Monday, haircuts, some restaurants, and ATV shops (interesting). Monday in Slavic tongues generally means "day after Sunday." Phrase Monday morning quarterback is attested from 1932, Monday being the first day back at work after the weekend, when school and college football games ...

Cindy and I love Valentines Day (three of our children were born in November)!!! I am a romantic at heart and so is our God. Love is what changes lives. "For God so loved the world..."

Almost every "major" holiday we celebrate is a derivative of Christianity. I wondered about Valentines and so I did a little research for you. I think you will enthusiastically purchase more candy after reading ...

Pornography, sex, lust and no sex is the elephant in the church. Everyone thinks they are the only one who struggles or the only one who has needs that go unmet. This weekend will be a refreshing look at Jesus perspective on pornography and more importantly porneia. 44% of Christians have said they want their pastors to teach on sex and sexual issues. The inventor of sex wrote the Bible and ...

Last week I began my sixth year of ministry (and mayhem) here at Brand New Church.  Cindy and I are passionate about this fellowship and the need for healthy church in rural America.  I want to share my preconceived successes and obvious failures during this short amount of time.

Failure - Took down the Sunday School Record board from the "vestibule".
Success - Established Community Groups.
Failure - Believed that ...