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Blog
Monday, April 02 2018

With Easter upon us, my mind has been drawn to the question that I am so often asked, “What causes some churches to grow and others NOT?” There are a lot of different ways to approach that, but ultimately, I find the basic distinction is a loss of mission…churches are designed and designated by the Savior to “seek and to save that which is lost”…to “make disciples.” The local church is one of the only missions on the planet that exists for the sake of its non-members. I believe churches have forgotten why they exist.

The truth is, there is a “gravitational pull inside almost every church to sacrifice the church’s mission by catering to the church’s members” writes Pastor/Author Carey Nieuwhof. As a pastor, you can’t ignore the needs of your members, but all of Scripture indicates clearly to us that the BEST way to become spiritually mature is to stop focusing on YOUR needs and begin focusing on CHRIST and OTHERS! My friend L.D. Campbell, minister of the First Church of Christ in Burlington, Kentucky once remarked to a woman who complained she wasn’t being fed, “It’s time to take off the bib and put on an apron!”

Simply put, churches have become more focused on INSIDERS than OUTSIDERS. How can you tell? Here are a few suggestions that Nieuwhof gives:

1) LONG announcements. If they are longer than 3 minutes, then you are probably geared more to insiders than you realize.

2) Trying to get everyone to do everything. Practically speaking most people can only do one or two things beyond regular attendance, Bible Study, and giving. If you want most people in your church to do nothing, keep suggesting they do everything.

3) SAVED SEATS. Nothing says church is for insiders quite as loudly as “you can’t sit in my seat.”

4) INSIDER SPEAK I find that Christians often have a language all their own….If somebody has to learn code to join your church, you likely won’t have many people joining your church. We need to consider OUTSIDERS and talk clearly and talk the same way at church we do on Monday at the office, or while shopping at Kroger. Our challenge INSIDE the church is to REDUCE the human barriers that keep people from Jesus, not to erect new ones. Being weird doesn’t mean you’re being faithful. It just means you’re being weird.

5) MUSIC that lacks GUTS. Every generation has a heart song. Sometimes it is style, but often it is more substance and genuine passion. In an attempt to please everyone in a church many church leaders please no one and the outside world is left with the impression that we simply don’t care about them.  

     My hope is that we just stop and consider some of these elements. Not to argue, but to genuinely reflect, is our language, our music, our surroundings reflective of the “WELCOME HOME” that God wants people to feel and sense? WE need to be doing everything within our power to make sure that from the way we keep our grounds, to the signs we put out, to the way people are greeted, to the elements and language of our services to help people find their way back to God. THAT is what really matters, not our preferences.

Following Him,

Jim

Posted by: AT 02:32 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Wednesday, January 31 2018

At age 57, I DO repeat myself now and again…;) But as we are in the midst of 40 Days of Prayer for NKY (January 24-March 5). A daily devotional/prayer guide is available on our website for each of the 40 Days: www.nkbaptist.org  These are also on our Facebook page (Northern Kentucky Baptists) as well as a newly created page 40 Days of Prayer for NKY. We also have a limited number of prayer guides for spiritual awakening published by the Kentucky Baptist Convention available through the NKBA office. Simply call Lori to set them aside for you to pick up.

 

We will celebrate an Association wide Spiritual Awakening Conference on Friday and Saturday night, March 2-3, at 7 PM at Burlington Baptist Church. Sam Schmidt, Lead Pastor at Edgewood Baptist Church in Nicholasville, KY and one of the bright young leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention will be our guest speaker. We will have GREAT music and testimonies about what God is doing around the NKBA. Please plan to attend! This period will culminate in our Spring NKBA Executive Board meeting on Monday, March 7 at 7 PM at First Baptist Church Highland Heights. During the day we will hold a Pastors Round Table at FBC Highland Heights from 10-2 with Pastor James Welch, Lead Pastor at Harbor Community Church in New Orleans, LA, one of our strategic partners. James is a gifted speaker and God is using he and his church to reach those who are lost and far from God in one of THE most difficult cities in the world (New Orleans is 94% unchurched)! Mark these dates on your calendar and plan to attend!

 

I thought this article I wrote in a previous year would be worth repeating as it strikes the tone I want to set as your Lead Follower during this 40 Days of Prayer for Spiritual Awakening in our region/nation.

 

Dr. Ronnie Floyd has written, “There is no great movement of God that has ever occurred that does not begin with the extraordinary prayer of God’s people. The time is now for us to come together before God in clear agreement, visible union, and in extraordinary prayer for the next Great Awakening and for the world to be reached for Christ.” 

 

“…and my people, who bear my name, will humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and will heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14 (CSB) We need to plead with God for spiritual revival personally, revival in the church, and the next Great Awakening in the United States. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes:  And in movements of the Spirit the first thing that happens and which eventually leads to a great revival is that one man or a group of men suddenly begin
to feel this burden and they feel the burden so much that they are led to do something about it (Revival: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, p. 163).

 

It has been over 100 years since the last great move of God occurred in our nation. It was in 1857 and 1858 that a movement of prayer led to 1 million people becoming Christ-followers from 
a population of only 30 million in our nation. This movement of prayer was begun in New York City by a layperson named Jeremiah Lanphier. After failing to minister effectively to the immigrants in his church’s neighborhood, Lanphier was moved to pray.

 

At noon on September 23, 1857, in the Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street in New York City, Jeremiah Lanphier knelt alone. Before 1 p.m. six men joined him. Within a month, 100 men joined him daily. Soon, thousands of men began to pray each day at noon around New York City. This resulted in 1 million Americans coming to Christ within a two-year span, as well as another 1 million converted to Christ in Great Britain and Ireland. The church was revived. Christians were never the same. The advance of the gospel to the nations of the world was profound. Men like David Livingstone, J. Hudson Taylor, Charles Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, and William Booth were impacted and their impact is still being felt.

 

While it has been over 100 years since the last great movement of God upon our nation, we cannot ignore the moments when the Lord has still moved upon our nation powerfully. For example, in the early 1970s, the Jesus Movement touched a generation, including many of our leaders today. Through this work of God, thousands came to Christ, followed by many of them being called into ministry, myself included. A team from Asbury University came to my church in Midway, KY to bear witness of a REVIVAL that began in a chapel service and lasted for weeks/months and spread across America! The greatest year of reaching and baptizing teenagers in our Southern Baptist history occurred in 1972, all due to the influence of the Jesus Movement. Sadly, we now have a generation or more of people who have never experienced anything close to a movement of God with this level of impact.

 

It is past time for this to change. God is ready, are we?  PLEASE JOIN ME IN 40 DAYS OF PRAYER AS WE PRAY FOR EACH CHURCH, EACH COUNTY, EACH PASTOR TO SEE PEOPLE LOST AND FAR FROM GOD COME TO THE SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST AND THAT THEY WOULD BECOME DISCIPLES THAT MAKE DISCIPLES!


Following Him,

JIM

Posted by: AT 12:00 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Tuesday, December 05 2017

I have been very reflective as 2017 ends and I look forward to 2018. So many crazy things have transpired in 2017 that I could never imagined happening, but they did. Some bad… others SPECTACULAR! I saw God repeatedly perform miracles in the lives of people physically, emotionally, and spiritually! No matter what happens, seeing someone go from DEATH to LIFE NEVER GETS OLD!

The constant is prayer. My friend Dan Reiland recently wrote, “There is no wrong way to pray. Perhaps the only mistake in the realm of prayer is not to pray at all.” WOW…that is simple, yet profound. In looking back over 40 years of serving Christ in the local church the one thing that I am constantly amazed by is the lack of confidence that Christ-followers have in prayer…and how to pray. I believe we adults make it a lot more complex than necessary and we need to replace that with the promise of life-changing power.

In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus gave a famous lesson prayer…53 words long…SIMPLE…In this prayer Jesus reminds us that prayer is an invitation to experience intimate communication with God. It’s an invitation to develop your faith. It’s an invitation to change the world! Again, children get it; adults complicate it. Prayer is something anyone can do anytime.

With that in mind I am asking ALL of our NKBA churches to begin 2018 with a STRONG emphasis in prayer. I am asking every church to join together in a 40 Days of Prayer Emphasis starting January 24 going through March 4. I consistently find myself repeating II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

We have never faced the level of spiritual warfare and evil than we are seeing today. John 4:35 tells us to “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.” Our churches have the greatest opportunity that we have had in a lifetime. There have never been more lost and far from God…addicted and enslaved to all kinds of things that our enemy has leveraged to drag as many lives down as possible. We have the opportunity to change the world and our communities and I believe it ONLY begins when the people of God are broken about the things that break the heart of God.

SO, I want to exhort you to PRAY BIG! Jesus prayed “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus died for the whole world and His Kingdom Agenda indicates that God “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9)

On March 2-3 the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association will gather for a Spiritual Awakening Conference at 7:00 PM at Burlington Baptist Church. I am inviting all our churches to come together to worship and to align ourselves with the heart of God to go into this harvest and see God do a new work in our lives and in our communities. We need to ask God to stir a spiritual awakening in our country from the White House to each of our doorsteps.

PRAY BIG and PRAY SPECIFIC. “The more focused and specific your prayers are, the more confidence you’ll gain when God answers. (Reiland)” Pray for people BY NAME you know who are lost and far from God. Expect to see a great harvest!

Finally, PRAY NOW and PRAY WITHOUT CEASING! We will provide resources on our website and a new Facebook event page on our 40 Days of Prayer. But, please, I plead with you, join together in this effort and let’s see what God will do in our day and time! Merry Christmas to you all! I look forward to a great 2018!

Following Him,

Jim

Posted by: AT 10:19 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Tuesday, October 31 2017

WOW! If you missed this years fall meeting of the NKBA you missed one of THE most dynamic services with former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Fred Luter speaking. It was out of this world! He and Dr. Richard Gaines, from Consolidated Baptist Church in Lexington led our Pastors Conference and it was a GREAT day! If you want to see any of either, you can go to our Facebook page (Northern Kentucky Baptists), or our website (www.nkbaptist.org) and we will have the day sessions as well as our evening sessions loaded on the NBKA YouTube channel. We will adding a number of training events held at the NKBA on our website/YouTube channel, so subscribe to the YouTube channel and check out the growing resources on our website.

I am VERY excited about upcoming mission opportunities. Right now, I am recruiting skilled work teams to go to Houston to rebuild houses. I had hoped to have a team go in November, but that does not seem likely now. SO, we are aiming for the weeks of January 8-12/13 (Mon-Sat), January 14-20, January 28-February 3, or February 18-24. If you have a strong skill level in carpentry, plumbing, laying floor, electrician, and or painting, we need you. See which of these weeks work for you and contact the NKBA office to set it up. We have partners ready on the ground to provide housing and food. You will only need to secure your travel and a few limited meals. Limited resources are available to help with supplies for drywall (takes about $1500 per home). Again, this is SKILLED labor…If you are interested CONTACT ME RIGHT AWAY!

The NKBA will have a Christmas Open House for all of our churches, pastors/staff/members on December 7 from Noon-7PM. Drop by for a bite to eat and to celebrate the season!

If you still haven’t put a Christmas backpack together for distribution to our NKY/Greater Cincinnati area churches, you can! Our goal is 500 and statewide it is 5000! You can help make a child’s Christmas and each one will be delivered with a personal Gospel invitation to Christ! Backpacks are still available at the NKBA (at no cost). The list of what to fill them with can be found here: http://www.kybaptist.org/item-list,2377

Please put the following items on your calendar and make them a matter of prayer as we move ahead to 2018!

I am asking all NKBA churches to join together for 40 Days of Prayer in 2018! This would begin January 24 and end March 5. Prayer Guides will be available on our website and printed books available to guide this time for each church at the NKBA office.

To culminate this time, we will have an all-association Spiritual Awakening Conference on Friday and Saturday evening, March 2-3 at 7PM at Burlington Baptist Church. It will be two nights of worship, prayer, and the preaching of the Word together. Dr. Joel Carwile, Lead Pastor at First Baptist Church, Athens, AL. Joel spoke at the NKBA fall meeting in 2016 and is the former Lead Pastor at Valley View Church in Louisville.  

Our spring meeting will be held at First Baptist Church Highland Heights on March 5 and will begin with a Pastors Conference, then an evening business session and worship service featuring Dr. Chuck Kelley, President of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

One more thing….Kentucky Changers is coming to NKY! June 16-22 we will have hundreds of missioners coming to NKY to work on mission projects throughout our region. Please read the adjoining article and help us make this a time of great impact in our Jerusalem!

It is a great blessing to serve as your missionary.

Following Him,
Jim

Posted by: Lori Orne AT 04:02 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Tuesday, August 08 2017

Recently I read a blog from a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, where I graduated from MANY years ago (Dr. C. Moore). This post hit me so hard I have sent it to all our pastors, but I also want every NKBA Executive Board member and leader to read this. It is posted on our Facebook page (Northern Kentucky Baptists) and now it will appear on my blog page on our website (www.nkbaptist.org).

“Professor Mark Buchanan talks about visiting the famous Tuesday night prayer meeting at Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. Thousands of people have been gathering there every Tuesday night for years. Buchanan calls it “3,500 God-hungry people storming heaven for two hours.” On the Tuesday he went, he had dinner with Jim Cymbala, the pastor. “In the course of the meal, Jim turned to me and said, ‘Mark, do you know what the number one sin of the church in America is? … It’s not the plague of internet pornography that is consuming our men. It’s not that the divorce rate in the church is roughly the same as society at large. … The number one sin of the church in America,’ he said, ‘is that its pastors and leaders are not on their knees crying out to God, “Bring us the drug-addicted, bring us the prostitutes, bring us the destitute, bring us the gang leaders, bring us those with AIDS, bring us the people nobody else wants, whom only you can heal, and let us love them in your name until they are whole.”

Mark Buchanan said that in the face of such a statement he had no response because he’d never prayed like that. So that night, he went home, repented, and began to cry out for those nobody wants.

There is no shortage of those people; the fields are full of them, Jesus says. There are fields full of people who desperately need someone who will claim the power of Christ over their broken lives, fields full of people whose salvation story has not yet been told. There are people still out there — in our own country — who haven’t been reached, who more than anything need a fair account of the gospel and a generous dose of grace. And we have lost touch with our heart for them because we have forgotten who we are.

It is time for American Christians to remember the Spirit we have and our call to the Harvest. It is time to cry out, to get on our knees and cry out for a neighbor or co-worker, for a brother or son-in-law … or I don’t know … maybe for your own soul. It is time to cry out for the people we tend to judge most and to seek God’s heart for them. It is time for us to set down our unrighteous judgment and begin crying out for the ones Jesus came to save.”

Friends, it is time for us as a people to get together and PRAY. I am calling on pastors and churches to begin with any warriors who will stand with them to meet weekly for prayer. I am going to ask our pastors/executive board members to work out a time in the Association schedule for us to have a service, or series of services across Boone, Kenton, and Campbell (and Grant) Counties, for the sole purpose of praying for the lost in our communities. The number of lost is somewhere between 68-85% of the folks who live in our area. Look for updates on this. We have done this in my first year of service, but I believe it should be done at least annually. Would you work and pray with me toward that end?

There is much to do…it can appear overwhelming, but let’s do for the one what we would do for the many…let’s begin to BLESS:

BEGIN IN PRAYER (for at least 5 lost people God has placed in your pathway of life.

LISTEN TO THE HURTS of the LOST

ENGAGE directly (invite neighbors for a meal, have coffee)

SERVE SACRIFICIALLY (find a way to serve to meet needs)

SHARE YOUR STORY (TELL HOW CHRIST HAS CHANGED YOUR LIFE!)

Following Him,

JIM

 

Posted by: Lori Orne AT 09:28 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Tuesday, July 11 2017
I am writing this on the first day of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) taking place in Phoenix, AZ. I became a Southern Baptist some 30 years ago because the denomination I had grown up in had lost sight of its mission and was drifting. 
 
Bob Russell, founding Pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville always says, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” If I may add, “…and the main thing needs to be the PLAIN thing!” Our MISSION must be CLEAR! As people of the Book (that IS what we are known for as Southern Baptists), the Bible indicates that the main thing for the church is “making disciples” (Matthew 28:19-20)…to follow Christ’s example in “seeking to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10)!”
 
The mark of genuine Great Commission progress is not how many dollars we give to missions, or how many who hear the Gospel, nor is it simply making the Gospel known to an ever-growing number of people. According to the Matthew 28, new disciples who are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who know and obey the commandments of Jesus, and who are themselves engaged in making disciples…THAT is the truest measure of progress!
 
In 2015-16 the SBC had the smallest number of baptisms since 1946, the smallest number of members since 1990, and the smallest number of people in worship since 1996.  And those smaller numbers are in spite of a steadily growing number of churches (479 more this past year). Dr. Thom Rainer, President and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources said, “It’s clear that evangelism and discipleship are waning. I don’t believe it is due to the lack of opportunities, though. Instead, there is a lack of engagement.”
 
This “mission drift” also known as APATHY is rampant in the SBC and is stagnating and killing churches and contributing to our lack of relevance and impact on a lost and dying world. My friend, Ed Stetzer, former VP with LifeWay Research and now Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College said, “Statistically, our light is dimming. We’re losing our saltiness.” What needs to change? 
 
Acts 1:8 reminds that “…you will receive power when the Holy Sprit has come upon you, and YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES in JERUSALEM (our immediate area) and in Judea (in areas adjacent to us) and Samaria (across the United States), and to the end of the earth (our World).” Those are the RED LETTER words of Jesus friends! It does not get any clearer than that! Does it? Or am I just over simplifying things? 
 
WE make the mission foggy and unclear when we ADD our agendas (political and otherwise) to the core mission of Jesus and the Church. We have made IDOLS out of our politics and preferences (i.e. music styles)! God is not a Republican or Democrat, Calvinist, Arminian, or some other variation of man-made devices! Friends, we are guilty of the same thing the church at Ephesus was in Revelation 2:4 “…you (WE) have left your (OUR) FIRST LOVE.”
 
C. S. Lewis said, “You can’t get second things by putting them first, you get second things only by putting first things first.” Lewis knew what the SBC has often forgotten: priorities often determine effectiveness. I salute the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and International Mission Board (IMB) on their emphasis toward reaching unreached people groups, particularly in our cities! Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati is a part of the Servants Equipping New Disciples (SEND CITY) initiative! This is ON POINT! I URGE continued support to the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong (EASTER) offering for North American missions as well as the Lottie Moon (Christmas) offering for International missions. (It is still not too late to give to our NKBA Missions Special Offering focused on supporting NEW CHURCHES in the NKBA!)
 
We MUST GIVE ATTENTION TO OUR JERUSALEM! Look at where your church’s budget is invested. Where is your TIME and HUMAN RESOURCES invested? How much of it is going toward reaching your Jerusalem, instead of sitting in meetings? While we must resolutely seek to reach our Judea, Samaria, AND the utter most parts” of the world, WE CANNOT FORGET OUR JERUSALEM! Let me remind you that 68% of Boone County, 75% of Campbell County, and 85% of Kenton County are unchurched! People are going to Hell on our watch! I don’t know about you, but I can’t live with that! 
 
If we are going to change this trend, we must be LASER FOCUSED ON MISSION! There is no room for drifting into areas that are not centered on the purpose for which Jesus placed us here. Not traditions, preferences, politics, or anything else! 
 
Finally, we must learn to listen. The late Henri Nouwen once said “…without listening, speaking no longer heals.” He’s right. When all we do is talk, our words become a monotone melody heard only by ourselves. We must LISTEN to the hurts of people in our JERSUSALEM and SHOW them Jesus, TELL THEM about Jesus, BE THE HANDS AND FEET of Jesus! It is only when our MISSION is THAT FOCUSED that we can be the SALT and LIGHT that this world so desperately needs!
 
“Life eventually brings bad news to everyone. As followers of Jesus, we DO NOT have to be afraid of it…run away from it…blame somebody else for it…or ignore it! DO let it change your behavior! This is a CALL TO ACTION more than a call to judgment.” (Dr. Chuck Kelley, President of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary)
 
I look forward to seeing you at our summer meeting July 16, Sunday night at 6:00 PM at Living Hope Baptist Church (formerly Highland Avenue Baptist Tabernacle) 1080 Highland Avenue, Ft. Thomas. I will be sharing with you what God has laid on my heart for the future of the NKBA. Pray for me and for one another as I do for each of you and your churches. May we as a people come together ON MISSION and accomplish what Jesus has set forth for us to do. I still believe our greatest days are ahead and I believe we are BETTER TOGETHER!
 
Following Him,
JIM
Posted by: AT 12:05 pm   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Wednesday, May 31 2017

I am ceding my article this month to Dr. Thom Rainer, President of Lifeway Recourses, former Dean at the Billy Graham School at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and leading church strategist. I do not think there is much I can add to this succinct word to the church. I pray we will heed the call.  (Personal commentary in parentheses JW)

 

Change or die.

 

That is reality for churches today.

 

Of course, I am not talking about Scripture, doctrine, or spiritual disciplines changing. Those things are constants, never to be compromised.

 

But much of what we do in our churches must change. And, unfortunately, many church members and leaders resist change. They seek stability and comfort over obedience and sacrifice.

 

Let’s look at five key reasons why stability is bad for a church:

 

  1. A stable church is not a church on missionThe very nature of the Great Commission means our churches should be in constant change. A church member blasted a pastor for his efforts at leading the church to reach unbelievers in the community. She castigated him because “those people are messing up our church.” Sigh.
  2. Comfort is the enemy of obedienceReview all the examples of obedient persons in the Bible. In every case, they had to get out of their comfort zones. Too many church members want stability because they don’t want to experience the discomfort of obedience.
  3. Stable churches are not reaching their communitiesThe communities in which churches are located are changing. Many are changing rapidly. If a church seeks comfort, it is not willing to make the necessary changes to impact the community it was called to serve.
  4. Stable churches do not create new groupsShow me a stable church, and I will show you a church that is not creating new groups or Sunday school classes. Show me a church not creating new groups, and I will show you a church that is inwardly focused. The members are spiritual navel gazers.
  5. Members of stable churches want the focus to be on their preferences. They want church “the way it’s always been.” They are more concerned about getting their way with music style, room temperature, and precise starting time of worship services. In their latter years, they are able to sing, “I did it my way” rather than “I did it God’s way.”

 

There is nothing biblical about a stable church. In fact, the stability is really just an illusion. Those churches that seek stability will ironically change the most rapidly toward decline and death.

 

(C.S. Lewis said, “The church exists for nothing else but to draw men to Christ. If they are not doing that, everything else is simply a waste of time.” The time is at hand for our churches to get down to business with God like we have never done before. We must pray like we’ve never prayed, serve our Jerusalem like never before, and make Christ known in every way we can with an urgency that recognizes our communities are most lost now than in previous decades. Stability is not an option. Churches/Pastors/Leaders must be willing to do “whatever it takes” to reach a progressively lost and dying world to the transforming power of Christ alone!)


Following Him,

Jim

Posted by: AT 11:00 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Tuesday, May 02 2017

    This month we will be celebrating a Week of Prayer for  Associational Missions May 21-28. 
    Our goal is $25,000.  We have already had anonymous ministry partners step up and have offered up to $10,000 in a matching gift for this offering!  The offering will be used 100% for Church Planting in the NKBA! 
    We have church plants under way in:

  • Dry Ridge (at Mercy Ridge Community Church with Pastor Josh Hildebrand), 
  • Fort Mitchell (with Pastor Van of the Zion Chin Baptist Church/Burmese), 
  • Florence (with Pastor Joshua Kim at Good Shepherd Church meeting at Florence Baptist’s Greenview Campus), 
  • Erlanger and Covington (with Pavel Urruchi at Erlanger Baptist and South Side Baptist Churches), 
  • Walton (Bill Page at Crosspoint Church), 
  • Covington, Redemption Church (Pastor Ben Brown) which meets at Ashland Avenue Church and will be adding services and ministry in the fall at what was the Oakland Avenue Baptist Church. 

    We have another ministry partner, Mike Rowe at The Avenue/Cornerstone Community Church in Covington who packs out two services at a storefront each Sunday morning!  People are coming to Christ on a regular basis through this ministry!  Mike has spent 20 years serving there and is from Erlanger Baptist Church.  I’m writing this after just left a meeting with leaders who will begin hosting a Chinese Bible Study every Tuesday night at the NKBA office and a Chinese School which will meet at our site on Saturdays (where Bible and Chinese culture/language are taught to children all born here in America) beginning in May!  We need additional funding to help these new works and partners to grow and become stronger! 
    SO, the first thing to do is PRAY!  “You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed!”  A guide for the week of prayer is available by insert on the NKBA website (www.nkba.org) or by request to our office.
    Offering envelopes will be available and mailed to you upon request, you can also give ONLINE on the NKBA website…a video link will be available next week to promote this emphasis with your church at services, on your Facebook page, and on your church website! 
    God is at work and moving in NKY!  The NKBA needs your support to see this good work continued as we continue to assist new work get started in our Jerusalem!  It is a joy to serve as your missionary!    

Following Him,
Jim 
Lead Follower/Director of Missions 

Posted by: AT 08:11 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, April 18 2017

In a follow up to my March newsletter article blog “WHY MORE PEOPLE DON’T MEET JESUS AT YOUR CHURCH.” I’m going to seek to write each month for the remainder of 2017 about instilling a “WHATEVER IT TAKES” mentality in our churches. Be advised that whenever I highlight or use that phrase, I am talking about all that is within the boundary of Scripture. I can tell you now, that you are not going to agree with everything I write…but I DO promise you that each word will be prayed over intended to challenge the church to BE CHRIST in the communities where you serve. 

I’ve cited many times a Lifeway study that indicates that 8 out of 10 of the approximately 4000,000 churches in America are declining or have stopped growing/plateaued. Ground is still being lost despite the pace for new church plants (which ARE seeing growth in reaching people who are unchurched). SO, if this is true…what can we do? WHATEVER IT TAKES!!!

I have always been a student of trends and in this case it is studying what do churches do that ARE growing versus churches that are not? Let me first say this and say it clearly, Scripture and experience are clear: 1) God intend that living things grow. 2) God causes true growth to happen. 3) God works through people to accomplish His mission, to cast vision for the future, and to disciple people for His glory.  94% of churches aren’t growing as quickly as the communities they’re in. Now, let’s talk about the tension of what growing churches are doing today (Thanks to Dr. Thom Rainer, Lifeway, Dr. Ed Stetzer, Rich Birch, Carey Nieuwhof, and Brandon Kelley for these insights). These are NOT in order of priority.

1. Staff Led, Elder Protected Governance Structure.
Look at the statistics across America and you’ll discover that growing churches have very few congregational votes. They voluntarily limit voting to the development of an annual budget, on the appointment of leaders who oversee the work of the churches (committees, teams, staff), calling a senior pastor, and on anything that has to do with adding debt, sale/purchase of property. These congregations have one-two “business meetings” per year. These churches are staff led or led by a team of Scriptural Elders (Acts 14, I Timothy 3, 5, Titus 1, 2) instead of purely congregationally led. I know this isn’t always an easy transition for churches to make, but it is a clear principle in looking at churches of all sizes that are healthy and growing today.
 
2. Courageous Leaders Who Pray Boldly And Take Bold Action. Church leaders shouldn’t JUST be PRAY-ers they should be DO-ers. PRAY and OBEY for there’s no other way.
 
3. A Genuine Heart for the Lost and Desire to Embrace the Mess.
The gravitational pull of human nature is toward SELF, NOT TOWARD OTHERS. Growing churches aren’t just conscious of the lost, they pursue them and are ready to take on the messes of life they may bring. Inward-focused churches are dying churches. To pursue the lost will often require church members to give up preferences/traditions on the altar of “WHATEVER IT TAKES!” “When your preferences keep unchurched people from the promise of Christ, it’s time to change your preferences (Nieuwhof).”

4. Engaging, Gospel-Proclaiming Preaching. 
Preaching in growing churches engages people on multiple levels (spiritual, intellectual, emotional) and is a tool to proclaim the Good News of Christ. “Preachers who can’t that “Good News” to the unchurched will speak to an ever-shrinking crowd because one day only unchurched people will be left (Nieuwhof).”

5. Children’s Ministry that Kids Don’t Want to Leave. 
This goes far beyond fun and games, but those are a part of it. Imagine kids being in an environment that allows them to understand God’s love for them while being invested in by caring adults who partner with parents to disciple them!

6. A Clear Path to Guide Guests to Become Regular Attenders.
Develop a clear and easily identified path to help guests make a “next step” to get connected at your church.

7. Leader Development and Empowerment.
EQUIP THE SAINTS (Eph. 4:11-13)! Scripture tells us to do it, but what does this really look like? Leadership development is something we know we need to do, but so many are at a loss when it comes to practically doing so.

8. An Intentional Small Group Strategy (that MAKES DICIPLES).
This can be Sunday School, small groups, life groups, discipleship groups, whatever your church’s small group strategy is called, these groups MUST be about teaching the Word of God and LIVING out a Christ-centered life together in COMMUNITY. “People are more connected than ever but feel more disconnected than ever (Niewhof).” You must have a clear strategy to “make disciples.”

9. A Clear Path to Guide Regulars to Become Members. 
To me, church membership is more than just agreeing with a church’s beliefs and showing up on Sunday’s. It’s about GENEROSITY…in serving, investing, and being a part of Christ’s mission. 

10. Shareable Church Communication that Inspires and Informs.
Too many churches do a poor job of communicating past Sunday morning. We can and MUST DO BETTER! Whether it is updating a website, starting a website, using Facebook, or other social media, or simply making a printed newsletter available in digital form.

As your Lead Follower, I am going to do all I can to provide opportunities to equip your churches/leaders to become more effective in each of these areas. Our BEST DAYS ARE AHEAD AS LONG AS WE DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to bring a lost world to the saving knowledge of Jesus.

Following Him,
Jim 

Posted by: AT 10:44 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email
Friday, March 17 2017

You have heard me quote that somewhere between 80-90% of churches in America are either plateaued or in decline. This is true regardless of size, denomination, style, or geographic location. The bottom line is that churches are simply not moving in the right direction when it comes to growth.

The Unstuck Group has research that says churches in America are only baptizing around 5% of their weekend attendance on average annually. In other words, a church of 500 is seeing an average of 25 people take the step to profess their faith in Christ and follow Christ in baptism. We had 22 churches reporting NO baptisms. Surely by God’s grace and our intention we can baptize over 500 people in an area where 68-85% of those living in our counties are unchurched, lost, and searching for God.

We CAN do better and WE MUST DO BETTER!

Paul Alexander, from the Unstuck Group identifies FIVE BIG REASONS WHY MORE PEOPLE DON’T MEET JESUS AT YOUR CHURCH.

  1. CHURCHES ARE INSIDER FOCUSED. You’ve heard/read me say that most churches in America make decisions based on who they are trying to keep, instead of who they are trying to reach (Andy Stanley). THAT is the definition of INSIDER focused. Churches are some of THE most change resistant groups anywhere! Our practices, preferences, ministries, the language used, and the way we spend our money demonstrate we care more about people who are already in the church as opposed to people who have still not met Jesus. I’m concerned that we have salved our conscience by giving to world missions (which IS vital) but have totally neglected our own backyard (our JERUSALEM). It is impossible to deny the declining baptisms over the past 10 years.
  2.       LACK OF INVITATION. Many people never say “YES” to following Jesus because they aren’t given the opportunity to do so. While a majority of churches talk about Jesus, fewer and fewer churches are INTENTIONALLY sharing the GOSPEL and giving people an opportunity to come forward and say “YES” to following Jesus, both IN our services and more importantly when we are ON MISSION IN OUR COMMUNITIES. 
  3.       CHURCH HAS BECOME UNINSPIRING. Too many churches have taken the most incredible, inspiring, and life-changing news about Jesus and the hope of forgiveness, freedom, peace, and redemption, and turned it into an academic conversation. Facts don’t change lives. We must not be afraid to FEEL our FAITH…CELEBRATE our FAITH…and let our FAITH MOVE US…sometimes to tears…sometimes to lift a holy hand…people in today’s world need to see and want to be a part of something that has REAL POWER and changes lives! Jesus changes lives.
  4.       PEOPLE ARE EMBARASSED TO INVITE THEIR FRIENDS.  Many are embarrassed that our facilities look like the 1980’s or earlier…they are afraid that their lost friends will not be welcome and will be treated poorly…they’re also afraid the music will be dead and the sermon will be boring.
  5.       THE CHURCH HAS FORGOTTEN ITS MISSION. Church is not for Christians. It doesn’t exist for the people INSIDE the church. The church exists for people who don’t yet know Jesus.

You may not like this list, but it is true. It simply doesn’t have to remain true. The local church proclaims THE ONE WHO IS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD…JESUS! May we repent of our coldness, and choosing our preferences/comfort over the mission of Jesus.  Pastor Josh Butler said, “Our problem is not that we’re reaching for God while He refuses to be found, rather God is reaching for us while we’re clutching our idols.” OUCH…

…BUT GOD…

Following Him,

JIM

Posted by: Lori Orne AT 09:50 am   |  Permalink   |  0 Comments  |  Email

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