Race Horse

1. Overview. In a nutshell, tell us about your church. What was it like when you came? What is happening now?

Sherwood was a traditional, legalistic, Southern Baptist church that ministered primarily in the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods in Northwest Albany. We owned 6 acres of land on the main campus and another 8 at our Christian school. Today, we draw people from 30 surrounding communities and 13 nations, and we own 120 acres on three campuses.

2. Victories. What were 2 or 3 real moments of victory for you?

When we broke out of legalism. In fact, as I tell in my book Prepare for Rain we had a backdoor revival. Over the course of a few years, we had three major “exoduses” from Sherwood. We never had a church fight or a business meeting–folks just decided they didn’t like the changes. It wasn’t easy. The reality was, if we were going to stay a legalistic, lily white church in a community with the majority of residents African American, we were going to die.

Another breakthrough was when we started our annual ReFRESH Conference (www.refreshconference.org) and God began to bring winds of revival in our midst.

Obviously the movie ministry at Sherwood opened doors we would have never imagined.

3. Failures. We learn from these. Tell us what didn’t work.

One failure was taking too long to deal with staff that weren’t carrying their weight or living up to expectations. I let a couple of staff members stay around when their ministries were dying, they weren’t motivated, and they were pulling the rest of the team down. I learned it’s easier to cut the dog’s tail off one time than to keep trying to cut it an inch at a time. Not everyone is going to take the trip with you. Some staff left shooting over their shoulder, which always creates confusion. We survived it but it took a while.

4. Learnings. What have been some of your big ones. What you have learned along the way?

• Learning you can’t orchestrate the Holy Spirit. He will not be manipulated. Walking by faith means it’s not going to happen the way you want it to happen, but the way God wants it to happen.
• Trusting God with the invitation. It’s not my responsibility to get people to make decisions. It’s my responsibility to clearly teach the Word of God and call people to the altar. After that, if they refuse to repent or respond, it’s their responsibility.
• Calling staff and making sure their wives are on board. A staff wife can kill a man’s ministry and kill a church. They need to be fully engaged in prayerfully supporting their husband. It’s sad but true, 95% of my problems have been staff related, not laity or deacons. The great news is that we’ve had a stable, solid staff for ten years. Longevity is a key component to growing a church.

5. What most pastors need to know? What are the take aways? What can we learn from your story?

Preach the Word. We are trying to be too cute. The Bible is the most cutting edge book ever written. We are caught up, too often, in our technology – and trust me we use technology here – but it’s the Word, the Truth, that turns people’s hearts. What you reach them with, you keep them with.

Bathe the ministry in prayer. If a church doesn’t have a prayer ministry (I mean more than praying over those in the hospital on Wednesday nights), it’s not going to be pleasing to God or powerful. The ingredient I see lacking in the overwhelming majority of churches is a vibrant intercessory prayer ministry.

Promote your Sunday School. That’s where folks connect. I’ve served with pastors who only talked about worship. The church will have a lid on it if you don’t talk about the importance of getting connected in a small group or Sunday School class. That’s where they stick and find relationships that last. That’s where accountability comes in.

Don’t give up on Sunday nights. Make them powerful, not a rehash of Sunday morning. I’d rather preach Sunday night than Sunday morning. It’s where I can speak to the heart of the church. Our greatest services have been Sunday nights. We will have 60% of our Sunday morning crowd back at night. Why? We tell folks it’s important. Remember this, never move a fence until you find out why it’s there. Once you move it, it’s hard to put it back up. Once you cancel something, it will be almost impossible to start it up again.

Don’t be afraid to talk about money. Promote the offering. Take love offerings. Expect people to give. Show them you are giving by putting something in the plate every Sunday, even if it’s a couple of dollars.

Don’t be caught in the snare of the “fear of man.” Too many preachers and ministers are disobeying God because they are more worried about job security than pleasing God. The fear of man will take the joy out of your ministry and ultimately cause you to have no ministry. You’ll just be a hireling.

http://www.sherwoodbaptist.net/

Overview. In a nutshell, tell us about your church. What was it like when you came? What is happening now?

The Lord called me to FBCLG in January 2002. The church had approximately 250 in Sunday School and almost 300 in worship. Our annual budget was $537,328. Today we average 510 in Sunday School and almost 600 in worship. Our annual budget is $1,216,173. In 2002, we had two worship services with one Sunday School hour sandwiched between them. Today we have two worship services and two full Sunday Schools and one partial.

During the first year, I made no changes at all to anything in order to fulfill a commitment to the church when I became pastor. After the first year, we commissioned a Long Range Planning Team. It was obvious that we were out of parking, worship and Sunday School space. During that time we cleaned out several Sunday School classroom which were serving as storage rooms and started new classes in them. Within a year we grew to over 300 in Sunday School. The church voted in relocate in 2004. By 2005 we moved our eleven o’clock worship to our gymnasium in order to accommodate the growth. We continued to start Sunday School classes in every place we could find. We started one off-campus class during the regular Sunday School hour but that did not work very well. Before we physically relocated in 2008, we hit a high of 417 in Sunday School and we were averaging about 360.

All of our preschool classes as well as children’s classes were in rooms around the gymnasium. There was little control or security due to accessibility directly from the gymnasium. Today, we have a preschool department that has a secure, check-in desk with a dedicated hall for our preschoolers. The most explosive area of growth once we relocated was our preschool department. The preschoolers brought their young parents with them.

We went from few, if any, Sunday School high attendance campaigns to at least one per year. Before relocating this really stretched our capacity. It created a lot of excitement and accentuated the need for additional space.
Today we have two morning worship services and three Sunday School hours, two complete Sunday Schools and one partial. Our church continues to be blessed.

Victories. What were 2 or 3 real moments of victory for you?

I can point out three decisive, clear victories for the church. The first one came during my first year. One evening during a revival service twelve young men accepted Christ. When I presented them and announced their decisions to the church, the church politely applauded. In her DNA, the church was rather reserved. After the presentations, I sat down beside our evangelist. He asked me if he could challenge our church to really celebrate the salvation decisions. I was thrilled that he would do so. He stood before our people and in a very loving, gentle manner chastised our people for not rejoicing in the most important decision in the lives of these young people.  I could sense our church family was cut to the core. After just a few minutes of sharing, he asked our church to really rejoice over the salvation decisions. Our people were not only ready to rejoice, they began rejoicing. As they did, they stood and the applause began to intensify. Then someone shouted. The vocal praise became contagious. People began to whistle while others vocally praised the Lord Jesus. Most of us began to weep. It was a breakthrough from which we never recovered and I pray we never do! We learned that evening that God inhabits the praise of His people. Today when someone makes a public profession of faith, our church family really rejoices!

The Second key victory for the church was the vote to relocate & the actual relocation. First Baptist was constituted in 1825. She relocated to her third home in 1916. That had been her home for over 88 years. We held a number of town-hall meetings prior to the vote. We also decided that the vote would need to be at least 85% affirmative. The church voted by ballot with 86% affirmative. It was a victory for the Kingdom of God. Coupled with that was the actual relocation which took place four years after the vote. Only God could do this.

The third key victory came in the decision to begin a second Sunday School hour upon relocating. We had the Educational space to remain in one Sunday School upon relocation. But I could see that we were going to saturate our educational space within a year. I did not want our people to relocate and then experience another major change in less than a year. So, prior to relocating we planned for a second full Sunday School. It was a tremendous success. We would have easily outgrown our Educational space with only one hour. Having two full Sunday Schools allowed us to grow uninhibited for several years.

Failures. We learn from these. Tell us what didn’t work.

After being in our ‘new’ facilities for two years, we had saturated our primary Sunday School hour. I challenged our Minister of Education to begin Sunday School classes at the 11:00 hour. That just didn’t work well.

We had two years of stellar participation in our FAITH Evangelism program. The third year, I made an assumption that we would not need to personally enlist people to participate. Wrong! We went from over forty participants each Semester for the previous two years to under ten participants. General announcements and a “Ya’ll come” approach does not work. Individual, personal enlistment has proven to be the most effective means of ensuring excellent participation in anything we want our people to be involved in.

Learnings. What have been some of your big ones. What you have learned along the way?

Three huge lessons. First, years ago I read in Effective Evangelistic Churches by Thom Rainer that the best way to grow a church is to grow the pastor. God really spoke to my heart. Instead of my primary focus being on growing the church, I focused on deepening my walk with God. As I grew in the Lord, my priorities about ‘church growth’ began to change. I realized that success is not based on the size of the church but on our personal obedience. As I grow in Christ, my sensitivity to His leading heightens, my love for people deepens and my contentment in His service widens.

Second, I learned that it is best to let the church defend her decisions. It is unwise for a pastor to use the pulpit to defend a decision the church body has made. The people of God can defend what they have decided themselves. Otherwise, the pastor becomes the lightening rod. Fortunately a good friend shared this with me before I made this blunder.

Third, I learned, and I’m still learning, that it takes a long time to make changes. It is best to sow seeds in the hearts of people and allow the Holy Spirit to germinate them in His people. The germination process may take months or it may take years. Two years before we called a full-time Minister of Children/Preschool, I planted the seed in the hearts of our Personnel Committee members. I planted the seed the year before we called him. On the third year, the Committee was past ready to add this position.  As you do this, God will honor you as long as you don’t care who gets the credit for the idea.

What most pastors need to know? What are the take aways? What can we learn from your story?

First, go where God leads! First Baptist had a reputation of being somewhat “reserved” and “traditional.” But, my wife and I were convinced it was the will of God to go to First Baptist of Locust Grove. He changed the climate of the church in His timing and in His way. The take away is this – don’t become pastor of a church because you think it will be great – become pastor of a church because you and your wife are convinced it is the will of God, regardless of the obstacles.

Second, I was really scared when we voted to relocate. It was a do or die vote. I felt it would change the future of the church. As I began to worry, I began to pray. The more I prayed the stronger and clearer the voice of God was to me. God spoke to my heart and basically said, ‘This is my business. You are my servant. I’ll take care of the vote, you just make sure you remain humble before me.’ Once I learned that, God gave me complete peace. The take away for pastors is don’t be anxious about major decisions the church makes. God sits on the throne and He will have His way. Even if the vote goes against what we believe is God’s will, He can and will use it.

Third and most importantly, never replace a personal walk with Jesus with ministry. We can get so caught up in ministry and growing a ‘work’ that we miss the very purpose we exist – to have an intimate, loving relationship with our Lord. Men can lose their marriages and their health while seeking to gain a ‘successful’ ministry. Prioritize your time with Christ.  Real success isn’t based on the size of the church you pastor but the depth of your walk with Christ.

Craig Bowers

http://www.fbclocustgrove.com/

Ft. Caroline Baptist Church, Jacksonville, FL

Overview. In a nutshell, tell us about your church. What was it like when you came?

The church is located on 5.6 acres of property and was formerly an elementary school when the members first met with me there was about 15 people left, four deacons and their wives plus a few senior members. One of the deacons’ wives was a realtor and the property was on the market for sale. I really felt the Lord leading me to come to the church which was actually the first church I ever served at and the place I had announced my call to preach. As the deacons begin to meet with me I knew the Lord was leading me to Harbor Lights, I felt I saw their hearts and they were willing to do what ever it took to see the church survive, and they were. The first Sunday morning we met with about twenty people including my wife and my two teenage daughters, it was great. I was where God wanted me. The first few weeks as we began to visit our neighbors many people were less than friendly, I had expected some negative feedback because of the years of many people going through the church but not a lot of lasting members who were committed to the study of the Word of God. We met and begin to talk about changing the name of the church and just trying to start over but as I prayed about it all I could ever get was “God is bigger than this.” The Lord sent us some help right away to start Sunday Schools classes, we had three teachers from deacons and wives and the lord sent more as we began to grow. We started AWANA with no budget and seven kids, God kept sending material and children so we started feeding all the hungry kids that came on Wednesday nights. There have been so many things we have saw happen in the last four and a half years it would fill up a whole book. The roof was leaking everywhere because the building had not been taken care because there was no money. God gave us a $28,000.00 roof in two offerings. When the van died that we picked children up with the Lord provided a 78 passenger bus free and clear. Guess I better move on.

What is happening now?

Now we average 90 children in AWANA, Eleven Sunday School classes averaging 88.

God has called a preacher and many soul winners out of our congregation. We are in the lower income area of town sitting in a neighborhood that God has given us to minister in. We have adopted streets where we visit our neighbors and know many of them and their prayer needs. We pray for those who live on those streets by name and share the gospel with them on visitation nights.

There was a time when mortgage payments were missed or put off and the those few members who were left sacrificed much to keep the doors open, now we’re just 22 months from paying the note off.

Victories. What were 2 or 3 real moments of victory for you?

-A Fall Revival that was scheduled for four days ran for twelve days and 28 professions of faith were made. We learned what prayer and preparation as well as follow-up were about.

-ICE Event sponsored by the NW GA Baptist Association. Event coordinator Mark Yoho was the evangelist who also preached our Revival. He spent a lot of time with us training prayer walkers, soul winners, and following up on the decisions that were made.

-When all the leaders of the church committed to teaching or attending Sunday School. We lead by example, never ask people to do anything that the leaders are not committed to do. By the way those who didn’t commit resigned shortly there after.

-The Lord sent us a Hispanic bible teacher to minister to families that could not speak English well. Or at all.

Failures. We learn from these. Tell us what didn’t work.

-A second revival, without the same prayer and preparation just expecting the Lord to move because we were growing. Never assume last weeks work is enough for this week.

Learnings. What have been some of your big ones. What you have learned along the way.

-Gimmicks don’t grow Sunday School, enrolling new Christians to study God’s Word does.

-Praying specifically for people who make professions of faith and baptizing them soon after makes a difference in the amount of them that stays in church.

-Never assume that someone has a relationship with Christ just because they attend weekly.

What most pastors need to know? What are the take aways? What can we learn from your story?

-When God sends you people with experience that you don’t have learn from them. Old preachers are not fixtures they are mentors absorb all of their knowledge you can.

-Most churches will have to change before they can change communities.

-New Christians don’t know how to act, dress, or talk in church, but they know when they are loved. LOVE them.

Jim Powell

http://www.harborlightsbaptist.com