Pastors Sin
Pastors Sin
Posted by Atiba de Souza Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Retrieved from here on June 17, 2009
[This blog was so good I had to share it with you. I include an excerpt below but you should click on the link and visit the website to read it in its entirety.]
In the last 7 days I’ve been confronted with the truth that 2 men that I respect have resigned as pastors of the churches they helped plant because of secret sin.
One is a closest enough friend that he called me so he could share the reality with me. What I’m not going to do is rehash the particulars of either of their situations, honestly I don’t care and you should not either.
What we do need to learn from are the realities of their situations because there are some principles that are easy for us to ignore or take for granted.
Here they are:
- As pastors we need accountability. Not just the is our church growing are people getting saved are we teaching the Word accountability. We need personal, moral, and ethical accountability. We need best friends, other pastors who we can let our guard down around and say my stuff stinks. Someone who can see through our hiding and call us out.
TO READ MORE VISIT THE COLLISION BLOG AT
Protect your brand
Whether it is your name or the name of your church or business name, you should take the necessary measures to protect your name or brand. Facebook and twitter have made this easy for you and it’s free. If you wait, by the time you get around to needing it, your name will already be taken by someone else. You also don’t want people to have your name and start fraudulently communicating with others under YOUR NAME. It may not happen but why take the chance.
If you have a Facebook account, on the top of the screen it will give you the option to create a user name. It only takes a couple of minutes to select the name you want. Twitter may take five minutes but it is well worth it. Protect your brand and your name by getting them while they are available and while it’s FREE.
For more valuable social networking tips for churches and ministers visit my blog at www.vcaaoffice.wordpress.com
ABC’s of Church Management series
I recently had to pay a visit to a chiropractor. It was my first visit to one so I was curious and I really didn’t know what to expect. The staff at Fulton Family Chiropractor were very good. They took the time to teach me all about their practice and what chiropractors did and what they didn’t do. I highly recommend Fulton Family Chiropractor because I left their offce more knowledgable about my spine and how the spine impacts on the nervous system. I won’t make the same mistakes I made in the past concerning my spine and I will be a healthier person and probably have a better qualilty of life simply because I received information I didn’t have before and I put it into practice.
I shared that story with you because that is the same thing Julie Nance does with her program called the ABC’s of Church Management. It provides an internal framework of processes and systems to establish good health and excellence to the inner workings of the churches we love. Like a good chiropractor she helps us make the neccessary ‘adjustments’ so that we can enjoy a longer quality of life.
If we are honest we will admit that some of our churches have some shabby inner processes. We may not keep the best records or we may not even know what records we are supposed to keep. Perhaps it was like that when you inherited the church or you don’t think you have enough volunteers to make sure that every I is dotted and ever T is crossed. Maybe you think that God will protect you from the prying eyes of the IRS.
Well there is no time like the present. Through a series of short articles, Julie Nance, the author of ABC’s of Church Management will share information and tips to encourage you to regain strength and establish a system of excellence in the areas of church management. Stay tuned to this blog or set up an rss feed so that you don’t miss this valuable information.
I am always looking for new topics of interest. If you have an idea for a topic that you would like to see published on this blog please send an email to info@vcaaoffice.com.
For more information on how you can use Virtual Christian Administrative Assistance, Inc. at you church or to set up a free no obligation consultation please give me a call at (410) 799-2503, option 3.
visit www.vcaaoffice.com for a complete list of our services and products.
FULTON FAMILY CHIROPRACTOR
11845 Rte 216
Fulton, MD 20759
301-490-8550
To Twitter or not?
I’m laughing while I’m writing this because I know that some Pastors are going to think I am crazy for telling them there is one more thing they should be doing. First of all you need to understand that I am a lay person. I am not ordained, I’m not licensed (yet) and I have not been to seminary. God just put a passion in my heart for churches and pastors that I can’t shake. To be honest, I wouldn’t get rid of it even if I could. I think Pastoring is one of the most noble positions a believer can have. In my eyes it is right up there with Parenting. How ironic that Pastoring and Parenting both start with the letter P and they both have the same number of letters….but I digress.
Pastors have a hard job, I know. Most of the Pastors I know have families and they work a secular job just to make ends meet. Most of the pastors I know work far too hard and I am sorry to say they may be on the verge of burning out. I believe my purpose in life is to see how I can help those Pastors hang in there a little longer by providing them with a little administrative support at a very reasonable cost.
Back to the subject at hand. Twitter is a social networking tool that was created only a couple of years ago. It was designed so that people could keep in touch in real time by allowing users to send short (140 word) answers to the question “What are you doing?”
I recently attended two workshops in my town on the subject. The first workshop was sponsored by Glenn Garnes a relationship marketing expert and a friend I met while networking in and around Howard County. The second workshop was taught by Tanya Taylor of Rising Star Ideas and hosted by the Howard County Center for Business and Technology.
In both workshops I learned that Twitter is a social networking system that is worth investigating. Not only can it help you to grow your business but you can use Twitter to meet people in your community and to communicate with your congregation.
Tanya explained that facebook is a way to connect with people you already know but Twitter is an opportunity to meet people you don’t know. Everyone with a Twitter account has a unique Twitter website address. If for no other reason, it is important to create a Twitter account so that you can capture your churches or your personal Twitter handle before someone else does.
Twitter has the ability to circulate information to THOUSANDS of people in a matter of seconds after it receives a tweet (statement) that others find important enough to re-tweet (RT). Tanya used the example of what happened when the plane went down in the hudson. Within four minutes of the distress call a rescue person on a ferry on their way to the scene sent out a tweet about the crash. Everyone on Twitter knew even before the news media. They even received the first photos of the airplane in the water because it was taken by someone nearby and uploaded to Twitter using a cell phone.
The statistic I was given was that mostly adults between the age of 25-45 are on Twitter. Unlke facebook where you have to send a friend request and hope it is accepted, on Twitter you will follow people and they will in turn follow you. Following is just another term to mean that they will receive notices about anything you want to say to them. It may pop up on their computer or on their cell phones. What would you say in 140 words or less if you have 200 people following you throughout the day? What would you tell members of your church if they were following you?
Keep in mind that anything you say on the internet is considered public information but the opportunity to have that kind of an audience is intriguing. Stay tuned to this blog for more information about twitter and facebook workshops for pastors and ministers in the near future.
To answer the question to Twitter or not…..I say Tweet Tweet Tweet.
You can follow me on Twitter @MyVCAA
www.jeffwhye.com
If you are a member of a church in the CDP district you have another reason to be proud today. Our very own Jeff Whye has launched a new website at www.jeffwhye.com. Jeff was raised in Columbia Maryland where he attended what was then known as Long Reach Church of God. Jeff has long been a treasure to those of us that were priviledged to see up close how God can useto know him and his family. I have been a fan since he came out with his first video called Ninja Jeff back when he was in high school. As a matter of fact I have a complete set of the Ninja Jeff series in my basement.
Jeff recently married the lovely Nikki and they live on the West Coast. We don’t get to see him as often as we would like but now we can enjoy his special brand of humor on the Jeff Whye website which is complete with videos of previous speaking and comedy engagements.
As the website states “Jeff has a calling on his life to help people live out their purpose and their mission.” Jeff we are praying for God’s blessing and favor for you and Nikki as you move into this new season in your life together.
Much love my friend….we hope to see you in the district real soon.
Church kiosk fraud
When I first saw this article I thought it might be a joke but I’m not laughing anymore. As difficult as it is to believe that someone would actually come into the church to pull a scam, it’s even more disappointing that so many churches fell for it.
I was recently in a church that had a computer in the lobby. The idea is that members and visitors can come in and read announcements and information about the church on the computer screen. It sounds harmless enough and is very imaginative and creative. What happened to several large churches in Washington, DC. is a shame and we can all learn from their mistake.
Click here to read the article which explains how the scam works to make sure your church is not next on the list.
The invisible church
Many small churches have opted for various reasons not to have a website. Perhaps they feel the cost is prohibitive or they underestimate the value of being on the internet. What they fail to realize is that if your church does not have a website your church is essentially invisible to the persons looking for a church just like yours.
In the past people relied more on word of mouth when looking for a church home. Their neighbor or friends would talk to them about how wonderful their church was and the individuals would visit the church to check it out for themselves. It could be months before they knew enough about the church to make an intelligent decision about whether they wanted to join.
Today people are turning more and more to the internet for information and to purchase all sorts of goods and services. If that same neighbor told you about how great their church was the first thing I would do is google the name of the church for more information.
It is not uncommon for a church to have more visitors to their website in a week than they do in their church on Sunday. The church website can become the go to place for the community if it includes information about job offers, items for sale, school announcements, HOA meetings and other pertinent community related information.
Including items like a video or audio recordings the Pastor can be available to share the passion of the church to anyone who visits the site 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The church calendar can help keep members abreast of important meetings and activities to increase attendance.
In 2010 there will be more than 22,000 jobs relocating to the area as a result of BRAC (Base Realignment And Closures) happening around the United States. “BRAC Migration to Maryland has begun” was the title of an article in the Baltimore Sun in January 2009. Where do you think those families will start their search for their new church home? If you said the internet, you are correct.
There are free and low cost options to create an internet presence for your church. Call me to set up a free consultation and we can discuss all the options available to help you get more exposure for your church and how you can use your website as a ministry tool for your community.
(410) 799-2503
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Red carpet hospitality
I remember when I first became serious about my walk with Christ. I was depressed and lonley. I didn’t have any friends because I just relocated to Maryland from New York. The only thing I knew for sure was that God loved me. I wanted to get my life right with him and I knew in order to do that I had to join a good bible teaching church.
The denomination of the church didn’t matter as much to me. I just made up my mind to visit all sorts of churches in hopes of finding the right one. In my search I went to this one church in Howard County. Is seemed to be just the right size church for me, I think they had about 200 members.
Remember I said I was lonely, depressed and I needed friends. When I walked through the front door of the church there was no one to greet me. No one even spoke to me after I sat down. I watched as members scurried around greeting eachother and ignoring me. I thought things might change after the sermon but after the benediction everyone just got up and it was like I didn’t even exist. Of course I did my best to smile as I left but I never went back. This was probably an extreme situation becuase I never experienced anything like that before or since.
Before you judge this church ask yourself how you greet visitors when they come to your church? Do they feel welcome? Do you have discerning people who can really minister to those that walk through your church doors for the first time. The hug or handshake we give may be the only human touch that person has had all week long.
If you want some ideas on how your church can roll our the red carpet of hospitality for your visitors, check out this website by the evangelism coach or download his free copy of “Avoid first time visitor nightmares: Red carpet hospitality” You can get a free copy by clicking on this link
http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2007/free-article-avoid-first-time-visitor-nightmares
First Time Visitor Nightmares
