When I have ministry friends ask me how church is going, I always brag on our church and tell them how thankful we are to be at FBC. I tell people that we have a healthy church. Now, no church is perfect because every church has people in it, and people are sinful. However, I feel like we have a healthy church. After serving 20+ years in the ministry, I can tell when I am in a place of health or unhealthiness.
Why do I mention all of that? Well, first I am thankful to be here and to serve in a place where there is both joy and health. A person can show up on a Sunday morning and tell that we like each other. That sounds so simple, but I have been in fellowships where one group disliked another group and made sure people knew it. I have been in fellowships where individuals were always jockeying for power and position. Unfortunately, it created tension and turmoil. I served in a place where the pastor and worship pastor did not get along nor like one another. I served in another place where I was consistently gossiped about and rarely supported by the pastor. Honestly, "going to church" became a chore and burden. It was not a place I ran to where I would walk away encouraged and filled with joy. The second reason I mention this is that I read a blog earlier this year by Chuck Lawless titled, "10 Marks of a Happy Church." I hope you will read his article and ask a couple of questions. One, is this us? Two, what am I doing to help our church become this?
In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor FBC Jacksonville, AR
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Faith Sharing Opportunities
I have heard over the years that waiters/waitresses do not enjoy working on Sunday's. The reason is not because it is Sunday and they want to go to church or have a day off. They don't want to work Sunday's because of those who eat on Sunday's. Yep, they don't like dealing with Christians who eat at their restaurants. Why is that? Well, I have heard there are three primary reasons. First, they let their kids be loud and obnoxious. Second, they complain and gripe about the food. Third, they don't tip very well. Ouch!!!
That's quite an indictment against us, but I would agree it is accurate from my outings with fellow friends after church on Sunday. I have been embarrassed when kids begin to act uncontrollably, and I have cringed inwardly when someone I was with began to abrasively complain about food to our waitress. To be completely honest, we don't eat out much on Sunday afternoons. We have never been able to afford taking a family of six out to eat every Sunday, and even if we could, we did not want to spend our money that way. By the way, I'm not saying it is wrong to take your family out to eat with friends every Sunday. It is a good thing, and even biblical, to share a meal with fellow believers. However, let me present to you that it can be an opportunity to both share and model your faith for someone who is not able to worship on a Sunday because they are busy serving. Most of those who wait on me when I go out to eat are trying to put themselves through college or working to help ends meet at home. Both of those are admirable.
Now, if you are not going to tip well then don't do this...haha. The reason is what you say and what you do will not agree. Oh by the way, leaving a witnessing tract is not a tip. It is an insult. So, what can you do? The first thing I do is make sure I get the waiters name and use it when talking with him. Secondly, after the person takes my order, I tell him we are going to say a prayer to bless our food. Then, I ask him if there is anything I can pray for him about. This is so simple, but it opens the door to have further conversation.
I remember being with staff members at lunch when we did this with our waitress. She was moved to tears and even came and sat with us while we ate. She was having a difficult time, and we were able to love on and minister to her. Shannon and I had dinner at a steak place about a year ago when we asked our waitress if we could pray for her. It was so cool that she shared with us how her and her husband were recently married, and he was about to be deployed. Normally, we pray as soon as we get the bread to snack on. However, she asked us to pray with her after she brought the food. I will never forget how she stood next to our table as we prayed for her. A simple meal can be used as an opportunity to share our faith, encourage a waitress, and bless those around us. Try it next time you go out eat.
In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor FBC Jacksonville, AR
That's quite an indictment against us, but I would agree it is accurate from my outings with fellow friends after church on Sunday. I have been embarrassed when kids begin to act uncontrollably, and I have cringed inwardly when someone I was with began to abrasively complain about food to our waitress. To be completely honest, we don't eat out much on Sunday afternoons. We have never been able to afford taking a family of six out to eat every Sunday, and even if we could, we did not want to spend our money that way. By the way, I'm not saying it is wrong to take your family out to eat with friends every Sunday. It is a good thing, and even biblical, to share a meal with fellow believers. However, let me present to you that it can be an opportunity to both share and model your faith for someone who is not able to worship on a Sunday because they are busy serving. Most of those who wait on me when I go out to eat are trying to put themselves through college or working to help ends meet at home. Both of those are admirable.
Now, if you are not going to tip well then don't do this...haha. The reason is what you say and what you do will not agree. Oh by the way, leaving a witnessing tract is not a tip. It is an insult. So, what can you do? The first thing I do is make sure I get the waiters name and use it when talking with him. Secondly, after the person takes my order, I tell him we are going to say a prayer to bless our food. Then, I ask him if there is anything I can pray for him about. This is so simple, but it opens the door to have further conversation.
I remember being with staff members at lunch when we did this with our waitress. She was moved to tears and even came and sat with us while we ate. She was having a difficult time, and we were able to love on and minister to her. Shannon and I had dinner at a steak place about a year ago when we asked our waitress if we could pray for her. It was so cool that she shared with us how her and her husband were recently married, and he was about to be deployed. Normally, we pray as soon as we get the bread to snack on. However, she asked us to pray with her after she brought the food. I will never forget how she stood next to our table as we prayed for her. A simple meal can be used as an opportunity to share our faith, encourage a waitress, and bless those around us. Try it next time you go out eat.
In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor FBC Jacksonville, AR
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Town Hall/Building Recommendation
Church Family,
First, I want to thank everyone that filled out one of the polls last Sunday. We appreciate your thoughts and your honesty. We had scheduled a town hall meeting for this Sunday night, April 7. However, we want the building committee to have time to review, process, and discuss the comments expressed in the poll. Due to busy/conflicting schedules, we will not be able to meet this week. Therefore, we are going to postpone the town hall meeting until after Easter. I will let you know as soon as we set a new date.
Now, if you will indulge me for a few moments, I want to share some thoughts in regards to some of the comments and common misconceptions about building. I want to make sure everyone in our church sees the big picture and is processing with the same information. I had breakfast last week with a gentlemen who works for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. The heart of our conversation was centered around churches building Family Life Centers (FLC). I want to share with you some of his thoughts as well as the results of research done by the State Convention. I hope you will take time to read through this and click the links (all research done by Arkansas Baptist State Convention) I am attaching so you can see the research for yourself. I thought it was interesting when I told the man we were thinking of building a FLC that he said the first thing he does when church's talk to him is try to convince them to not build a FLC. This comes from a man who has served on staff at a church as Recreational Pastor for several years.
Let's begin with a general misconception about buildings. One of the most famous quotes from "Field of Dreams" is, "If you build it, he will come." Some believe the same is true of church buildings. If we build it, people will come. People do not come to church because of buildings. They come because of relationships. The gentleman I had breakfast with shared with me that research shows why people attend a church. The answer is relationships. One poll even discovered that only 2% of people attend a church because of the pastor. I thought that was funny and humbling. People come to church because they are invited by a friend or have a relative that attends that church. It is about relationships. If we want to reach our community, a building will not do that. If we want to reach our community, we have to be serious about building relationships with people and sharing the Gospel with them. In addition, the gentleman shared with me that if a church is growing at a 3% rate before a building, then that same church will grow at a 3% rate after the building is completed. Us being intentional about building relationships to share the Gospel is what grows a church. That does not change with or without a building.
I want to dovetail another thought with that. While buildings do not stimulate growth, a building can cap/prevent growth (click here point #1). Any building/space has a limit it can hold. We even have fire codes that set a limit to the number of people who can occupy a space. In our culture, we have personal space bubbles that we don't want others to invade. Because of that, research proves that only a certain number of people will comfortably occupy a shared space. Whenever that space is 80% full, then growth will not continue to happen in that space. Here is a link to show the statistics. Currently, our nursery is running at 80% capacity. Statistics prove that if we do not create more room for our children, then we are going to cap/prevent any more growth in that area. I'm glad that an overwhelming majority who filled out a poll agreed that we need to remodel our children's area. I want to be very clear. Remodeling the children's area does not mean growth will happen (paragraph above), but if we do not remodel, then we are resigning ourselves to no further growth in that area.
A misconception about building a FLC is that it will attract young families. I had a conversation with a pastor-friend about a month ago. He served in a church several years ago that was considering building a FLC. He contacted the Southern Baptist Convention to inquire further. They told him that FLCs do not attract young families, and here is why. Young families can't utilize the space because they work all day, and then they attend their children's extracurricular activities at night. As a parent of four children, I can attest to that. Our kids are always at practice or having games at night. The only way to use the FLC to attract younger families is to have ministries for young families (read earlier paragraph about relationships attract people). Click here to see research. To do this effectively, a church must hire a recreational pastor at least one year in advance (point #3 on research). Honestly, our church does not have the resources to hire someone at this point. We could, but that would mean we have to let another staff member go or reduce some staff to part-time. In other words, we would begin a ministry at the cost of other growing ministries. You can also click here to see a checklist before building a FLC. I could only say "yes" to a couple of the questions.
My final thought in regards to misconceptions is the idea of building something and then creating ministries for it. That concept is completely backwards, and that is what we would be doing with a FLC. Let me give you an example. I am not a carpenter, and I don't have tools to be a carpenter. How do you think my wife would respond if one day I told her I wanted to begin doing carpentry work? I want us to take a loan from the bank so I can build an elaborate shop and equip it with the tools I need to be a carpenter. If you know Shannon, you know she would roll her eyes at me and then laugh. Why? Because it doesn't make sense. If I was a carpenter, then it would make sense. Now, let's apply that to church life. Why would we build an elaborate building for ministries we don't even have? It doesn't make sense. We need to make sure our buildings are designed, equipped, and utilized for the ministries we already have. The right way to move forward for a church is to create ministries and then build a building to make those ministries more effective. Isn't that what was done for our current building? Why would we do something different now?
Here is one other link that is a good read.
I knew from the beginning this would be a painful process for our church, and that is why I mentioned so much about us coming to the Lord in prayer. I urge you to continue to seek His face in this matter. Let me remind us all that our personal desires do not matter. We need to be obedient to the Lord and honor Him. That means more than our final decision. This includes our conversations and attitudes as we work through the process as well.
In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor of FBC Jacksonville, AR
First, I want to thank everyone that filled out one of the polls last Sunday. We appreciate your thoughts and your honesty. We had scheduled a town hall meeting for this Sunday night, April 7. However, we want the building committee to have time to review, process, and discuss the comments expressed in the poll. Due to busy/conflicting schedules, we will not be able to meet this week. Therefore, we are going to postpone the town hall meeting until after Easter. I will let you know as soon as we set a new date.
Now, if you will indulge me for a few moments, I want to share some thoughts in regards to some of the comments and common misconceptions about building. I want to make sure everyone in our church sees the big picture and is processing with the same information. I had breakfast last week with a gentlemen who works for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. The heart of our conversation was centered around churches building Family Life Centers (FLC). I want to share with you some of his thoughts as well as the results of research done by the State Convention. I hope you will take time to read through this and click the links (all research done by Arkansas Baptist State Convention) I am attaching so you can see the research for yourself. I thought it was interesting when I told the man we were thinking of building a FLC that he said the first thing he does when church's talk to him is try to convince them to not build a FLC. This comes from a man who has served on staff at a church as Recreational Pastor for several years.
Let's begin with a general misconception about buildings. One of the most famous quotes from "Field of Dreams" is, "If you build it, he will come." Some believe the same is true of church buildings. If we build it, people will come. People do not come to church because of buildings. They come because of relationships. The gentleman I had breakfast with shared with me that research shows why people attend a church. The answer is relationships. One poll even discovered that only 2% of people attend a church because of the pastor. I thought that was funny and humbling. People come to church because they are invited by a friend or have a relative that attends that church. It is about relationships. If we want to reach our community, a building will not do that. If we want to reach our community, we have to be serious about building relationships with people and sharing the Gospel with them. In addition, the gentleman shared with me that if a church is growing at a 3% rate before a building, then that same church will grow at a 3% rate after the building is completed. Us being intentional about building relationships to share the Gospel is what grows a church. That does not change with or without a building.
I want to dovetail another thought with that. While buildings do not stimulate growth, a building can cap/prevent growth (click here point #1). Any building/space has a limit it can hold. We even have fire codes that set a limit to the number of people who can occupy a space. In our culture, we have personal space bubbles that we don't want others to invade. Because of that, research proves that only a certain number of people will comfortably occupy a shared space. Whenever that space is 80% full, then growth will not continue to happen in that space. Here is a link to show the statistics. Currently, our nursery is running at 80% capacity. Statistics prove that if we do not create more room for our children, then we are going to cap/prevent any more growth in that area. I'm glad that an overwhelming majority who filled out a poll agreed that we need to remodel our children's area. I want to be very clear. Remodeling the children's area does not mean growth will happen (paragraph above), but if we do not remodel, then we are resigning ourselves to no further growth in that area.
A misconception about building a FLC is that it will attract young families. I had a conversation with a pastor-friend about a month ago. He served in a church several years ago that was considering building a FLC. He contacted the Southern Baptist Convention to inquire further. They told him that FLCs do not attract young families, and here is why. Young families can't utilize the space because they work all day, and then they attend their children's extracurricular activities at night. As a parent of four children, I can attest to that. Our kids are always at practice or having games at night. The only way to use the FLC to attract younger families is to have ministries for young families (read earlier paragraph about relationships attract people). Click here to see research. To do this effectively, a church must hire a recreational pastor at least one year in advance (point #3 on research). Honestly, our church does not have the resources to hire someone at this point. We could, but that would mean we have to let another staff member go or reduce some staff to part-time. In other words, we would begin a ministry at the cost of other growing ministries. You can also click here to see a checklist before building a FLC. I could only say "yes" to a couple of the questions.
My final thought in regards to misconceptions is the idea of building something and then creating ministries for it. That concept is completely backwards, and that is what we would be doing with a FLC. Let me give you an example. I am not a carpenter, and I don't have tools to be a carpenter. How do you think my wife would respond if one day I told her I wanted to begin doing carpentry work? I want us to take a loan from the bank so I can build an elaborate shop and equip it with the tools I need to be a carpenter. If you know Shannon, you know she would roll her eyes at me and then laugh. Why? Because it doesn't make sense. If I was a carpenter, then it would make sense. Now, let's apply that to church life. Why would we build an elaborate building for ministries we don't even have? It doesn't make sense. We need to make sure our buildings are designed, equipped, and utilized for the ministries we already have. The right way to move forward for a church is to create ministries and then build a building to make those ministries more effective. Isn't that what was done for our current building? Why would we do something different now?
Here is one other link that is a good read.
I knew from the beginning this would be a painful process for our church, and that is why I mentioned so much about us coming to the Lord in prayer. I urge you to continue to seek His face in this matter. Let me remind us all that our personal desires do not matter. We need to be obedient to the Lord and honor Him. That means more than our final decision. This includes our conversations and attitudes as we work through the process as well.
In Christ,
Mark Smith, Pastor of FBC Jacksonville, AR
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