Reaching Families
This week our theme is “Reaching Families.” We’d like to share ideas for reaching not just children but entire families with the gospel and seeing them come to know Christ and join the church. One outreach ministry that targets families is
More Fun with Sermon Templates
This week we are featuring a series of articles by Pastor Jamie Hart on using technology in ministry. By Jamie Hart In a previous post, I showed you how to create a sermon template by modifying the heading styles in a Word document. As I mentioned, using the heading styles unlocks some amazing functionality. Let [...]
Ministry in the Cloud
This week we are featuring a series of articles by Pastor Jamie Hart on using technology in ministry. By Jamie Hart I’m a Microsoft guy for many reasons—not the least of which is the fact that, as a software instructor (I’m bi-vocational), the MS Office applications help me pay the bills! But when it comes [...]
Outlining in Microsoft Word
This week we are featuring a series of articles by Pastor Jamie Hart on using technology in ministry. By Jamie Hart If you use Microsoft Word, chances are you have a love/hate relationship with the application. And if there is any part of MS Word that you hate, chances are it’s the numbering and outlining [...]
Why the GARBC Needs Old People, Part 2
I’m pretty impatient. I’d rather get something done today than have it drag out for months. It probably comes with the territory of being young. As we consider why we need older people in our lives and we delve deeper into the concept Nat so ably illustrated, what wisdom can we gain from older people? One [...]
Weddings: Using God’s Word as the Foundation
A marriage between a Christian couple whose foundation is based on God’s Word is a joyous thing. As a result, many Christians saturate their wedding ceremonies with Scripture. Even vows have come to include the Word of God. What a better opportunity to publicly declare a couple’s commitment and to proclaim Christ. Here’s just a small list of [...]
Weddings: Whom Will Your Church Marry?
The summer wedding season is almost upon us, so this week on The Quest we are going to focus on questions and issues related to wedding ceremonies. I’m starting this off by asking the following questions and providing our church’s policy for each one. 1. Whom will you marry, or whom will you allow [...]
Where Do You Get Your Graphics?
It’s possible that you belong to a church that has a media minister of some kind who designs the graphics and images for church ministry use—PowerPoint presentations, promotional materials, etc. Some of you might even have your own sweet skills in graphic design. However, it’s likely that most of us search online for quality images [...]
Scripture for Funerals
Last weekend I had the privilege of officiating the funeral of a church member. (No, the picture to the right is not of me nor of the funeral at which I officiated.) As an assistant pastor, this isn’t something I do regularly, so in preparation for the funeral I compiled a list of Bible [...]
Great Song: “Because of Your Love”
Cody Crigger, music and administration pastor at Willow Creek Baptist Church, West Des Moines, Iowa, has found and used a wonderful new song. The following is his description of the song, the song lyrics, and links to the song on the artist’s website and iTunes. Because of Your Love The beginning of ”Because of Your Love” beautifully explains unique [...]
Creative Congregational Christmas Caroling
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year! I believe this to be true in large part due to the music of the season. There is nothing better than hearing the songs of the season in malls, restaurants, radio stations, and most of all in church. It seems that at Christmastime, a worship leader never needs to [...]
Church Management Software Chosen!
A while back, I posted an entry concerning church management software. At that point, our church was trying to decide between three different options. My associate was doing the legwork of research, and he gave a brief synopsis of each program. After weighing all the pros and cons, we finally landed on our choice. Drumroll. . . [...]
Which Blogs Do You Follow?
Like many of you, I subscribe to various and sundry blogs in order to keep up on what’s out there in theology, church ministry, and Christianity at large. Which blogs do you follow? Mine are listed below.
Great New Song
This new song from Sovereign Grace Ministries combines rich theology with congregational singability. The song, “All I Have Is Christ,” was written by Jordan Kauflin, who is the son of Bob Kauflin. Bob is a well-known name in the music world, and it looks as if his son will carry on his father’s tradition. We used this [...]
Church Management Software Choices
A very helpful resource for church ministry in our day is church management software. A shift has taken place in this field. It used to be that a church would purchase software that would be loaded onto the church’s computers. Now the best church management software is being offered as an online service that is paid for [...]
Worship/Ministry Resources
As you certainly noticed, this section is called “Worship/Ministry Resources.” You are probably marveling at the amazing scope of topics that this heading covers! We are aware, and it was intentional. This section covers many of the practical or methodological sides of ministry. The term “worship” can be interpreted in many different ways. Our goal [...]
Mentoring Opportunity
Growing in ministry skills is a desired learning outcome of pastoral mentoring. John Greening and Jim Vogel are inviting a group of seven men under the age of 40 to join them in a six-month mentoring relationship. The men must be either currently in vocational ministry or preparing for vocational ministry (college or seminary level). [...]
The Quest: The network has started
It didn’t start with a bang—some flash in the pan, make a lot of noise, get ‘em all riled up event. It did start with prayer and a meeting in one of those classic back rooms somewhere. Not where a group of “powers that be” decided something. But where some young men and some more [...]
