http://www.stephengray.org Stephen Gray Blog RSS Feed misc@bitsculptor.com (Eric Schlange) Tue, 27 Jul 2010 2:59:34 CDT Bitsculptor RSS OAF v1.0 http://www.stephengray.org/img/logo-rss.gif http://www.stephengray.org http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Evangelism-through-church-planting%2E/id/83/blog.asp Peter Wagner stated some 25 years ago that church planting was the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven. His statement still rings true today. New churches, by a large margin, are reaching new people with the gospel with far greater efficacy than their established counterparts. That may not be a very popular statement, but research has verified Wagner's assumption. If that i... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Sin-and-failures-in-our-spiritual-life%2E/id/82/blog.asp Normal.dotm 0 0 1 1034 5894 General Baptist 49 11 7238 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Perceptions/id/28/blog.asp The power of perception can never be underestimated. Once an individual forms a perception about your church, it is very hard to undo. Richard Reising in his book Church Marketing 101 states that good marketing is the management of perception. Why? Because too often perception becomes reality to those outside the church. Whether their perception is right or wrong, how an individual perceives your ... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Fade-Away/id/25/blog.asp In 1979 Neil Young came out with a song on his Rust Never Sleeps album called, My, My, Hey, Hey. Now, that song my not ring a bell with you, but out of that song comes a lyrical phrase that most have probably heard, Better to burn out than to fade away. That phrase became even more popular after it was found April 8, 1984 in the suicide note of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana. In both cases, t... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Dont-Marry-The-Church/id/81/blog.asp Dont be married to the church? What? Why would anyone ever blog about that? As a preachers kid I understand this problem in ways I wish I didnt. As a pastor of 21 years I have not only experienced the effects of this problem in my life, but also helped to promote it in many ways. In my fathers generation, it was widely accepted that the church always came before the family. Why? Somehow his s... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Assaulting-The-Gates-Repost/id/66/blog.asp Just started reading Paul Borden's book Assaulting The Gates: Aiming All God's People At The Mission Field. Haven't gotten far into the book yet, but he has already peaked my interest. I highly recommend the book to anyone seeking to move toward becoming a missional church. The thought that started my mind racing has to do with what Borden calls the Pacification of the church. His words ring too ... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Satisfied/id/43/blog.asp If Only... Those are two of the most haunting words in the English language when joined together. If only I hadn't..... If only I could..... If only it would..... If only I was able to ..... Fill in your own ending to those phrases. We all have them don't we? Even in our ministry we tend to look out over the horizon of things to come and gaze behind us saying if only.... If only God had giv... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/A-Thousand-Voices/id/24/blog.asp In 1976 Sally Field starred in the Emmy Award winning movie Sybil. Sybil was a young adult who suffered severe abuse as a child and as a result developed a coping mechanism that enable her to disassociate with the reality of her pain. Over the course of her young life, Sybil developed thirteen different personalities. Some of these personalities made her appear psychotic; some of them made her app... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Failure-is-a-great-teacher%2E/id/80/blog.asp Failure? Can we say that word? Isnt it anti-spiritual to talk of failure when we speak about the things of God? While we may not come right out and say that, we think it! A few years ago I was with a group of pastors talking about how we should handle failure as leaders. After the session was over, one of the pastors cornered me and was quite furious that I could ever claim something of God co... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Life-In-The-Fast-Lane/id/79/blog.asp Church planting requires focus, and hard work. Never a dull moment and never a moment of peace. The demands grow greater as the church begins to grow and soon we find that every waking moment is spent doing something in the church. Its our baby and we have to make sure it survives and thrives. We have invested our lives into this work and so we get busier and busier trying to make it better a... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Should-We-Celebrate-When-Church-Die%3F/id/78/blog.asp Churches die. Thats a fact. Yet, many of us have bought into the idea that our church was meant to last until Jesus comes. That is simply not the case. Too often churches struggling to stay alive pursue the search for the fountain of youth. Many believe that if they cant find that fountain of youth, the doors will close and they will be considered a failure. While we may mourn the passing of ... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Three-Big-Questions/id/77/blog.asp Every church planter, or even pastor for that matter, needs to ask three big questions about their ministry. 1. Why do people need Jesus? I know that is a simple question, but it strikes at the very heart of our faith. Your picture of Jesus will in large part determine how you answer that question. Why do we need Jesus in the first place? Why do we need what he has to offer? Why cant we be... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Changing-Our-Language/id/21/blog.asp Churches operate through volunteers. That is a fact! If a church doesn't have a good base of volunteers to run its every day and weekly activities/ministries the church will not function well. This isn't simply true of the church, but also true of any non-profit organization, polictical campaign and para-church organizations. Here is a question to ponder. While volunteerism is imporrtant, is it a... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/What-Does-A-Church-Planting-Movement-Look-Like%3F/id/76/blog.asp Normal.dotm 0 0 1 444 2534 General Baptist 21 5 3111 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Stepping-Out-In-Faith/id/75/blog.asp Have you ever felt like Abraham? Called out to an unknown place, sure when you've arrived, and uncertain what the future holds? Yet, Abraham left knowing that God was in control. I am sure many of you have found yourself in that kind of a situation a few times in your life. For me, however, this is a first. Through 23 years of ministry I have always known where God was leading. It was always ... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Moving-At-Light-Speed/id/18/blog.asp Church planting requires focus, and hard work. Never a dull moment and never a moment of peace. The demands grow greater as the church begins to grow and soon we find that every waking moment is spent doing something in the church. It's our baby and we have to make sure it survives and thrives. We have invested our lives into this work and so we get busier and busier trying to make it better and s... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Sanctified-Excuses-Part-4/id/74/blog.asp Excuse #4 - We are suppose to be different from the world. Normal.dotm 0 0 1 439 2503 General Baptist 20 5 3073 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Sanctified-Excuses-Part-3/id/73/blog.asp Normal.dotm 0 0 1 297 1697 General Baptist 14 3 2084 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Sanctified-Excuses-For-Non-Growth-Part-2/id/72/blog.asp Normal.dotm 0 0 1 337 1926 General Baptist 16 3 2365 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Sanctified-Excuses-For-Non-Growth-Part-1/id/71/blog.asp Normal.dotm 0 0 1 457 2609 General Baptist 21 5 3204 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Why-smaller-churches-find-it-hard-to-grow%2E/id/70/blog.asp Normal.dotm 0 0 1 1043 5949 General Baptist 49 11 7305 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt ... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Historic-Drift/id/69/blog.asp Normal.dotm 0 0 1 741 4229 General Baptist 35 8 5193 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Four-Essential-Leadership-Traits/id/68/blog.asp Good leadership is essential for any organization to move forward. In hard times, it is even more important. What traits does a leader need to posses in the midst of hard times? /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Saving-The-Titanic/id/67/blog.asp On April 15, 1912 the unthinkable happened when White Star Lines unsinkable ship, the Titanic, sank. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 of the 2,223 people on board, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. Could the Titanic have been saved? Could this disaster have been averted and what lessons can the Church learn? Many mistakes were made by those who... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Movements-vs%2E-Institutions/id/65/blog.asp I have been reading The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. I would highly recommend this book to every pastor. Alan spends a great deal of time talking about the missional drive of the church. He gives us a stark reminder that if we dont keep the main focus before us, we will quickly become an institution guided by rules and bylaws, rather than a movement driven by passion and vision. Hirschs descri... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/To-Merge-or-not%3F/id/26/blog.asp Merging is an option many declining churches consider, especially when two or more churches of the same denominational family exist in the same urban landscape. In fact, it seems to be a growing trend. Some, like United Methodists, use mergers as a denominational strategy. Yet, rarely do mergers produce the expected results. Stories do exist of powerful instances where a merger was a saving grace,... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/School-of-Hard-Knocks/id/19/blog.asp Church planting reminds me of the Indiana Jones movies. Every plant is a new adventure full of excitement and potential doom. Indiana was always chasing the elusive prize and never knew what pitfalls he would face around the next corner. None the less, he pushed ahead and faced each problem in a new and creative way. Remember the scene in the third movie where Indiana was standing on the side of... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Fade-Away/id/15/blog.asp In Feb 09, my new book Full Disclosure: The F-Words of Church Planting, will be releaed from ChurchSmart Resources. In this book Barry Smith, my co-author and I speak about the dangers of Fade-Away. What is fade-away? It is the constant and unfortunate fading of vision, most churches suffer. Below is an expert from this book. If you like what you see, you can pre-order the book in the store. In 1... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Eating-The-Elephant/id/64/blog.asp Ever been in a situation where the Elephant in the room was obvious yet no one wanted to address it? If you have been in ministry for any length of time, the answer to that question is YES! So often we want to change things or to see things change but have little courage to face the Elephant head-on. We walk around it, ignore it, point in another direction or blindly walk into it time after time. ... http://www.stephengray.org/w/title/Haiti-Earthquake/id/63/blog.asp As most everyone knows by now a massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, January 12th. The damage to buildings is extensive and the number of deaths is estimated, by the American Red Cross, to be upwards of 50,000. World Vision, a Christian humanitarian charity organization, is on the ground rushing emergency supplies to survivors of this catast...