Why Not Try This – Using Your iPad for Visual Preaching

A few months back, I decided to try using my iPad for preaching. When I speak, I don’t use a manuscript, instead relying on the sermon graphics as visual cues. My problem was that when we moved into a new facility earlier this year, the screen on the back wall was too small for me to read from the stage, and the congregation’s screen is almost directly overhead. So I had to print out my slides with a color printer, which added a significant extra step to my preparation and limited last-minute changes.

The iPad offered a promising solution to the problem, while adding some nice features. First, the large, bright screen made it easy to read the slides. Furthermore, when presenting with the iPad you have 4 different possible views, which you can change on the fly: current slide, next slide, current and next slide side-by-side, and current slide with speaker notes.

Second, you actually control the Continue Reading…

Why Not Try This? – 21st Century Discipleship Methods

By Juleun A. Johnson, Hillsview church, Birmingham, AL

Source – Best Practices for Adventist Ministry

There is a divine mandate given to us to preach, teach, and baptize. While we may be excellent in exposition and get many baptisms, I believe we still lack one thing: the element of discipling new converts and believers. At our church we’ve attempted to close the back door with some new methods that are also reasonably priced. Do you like free? I do. The Lord has helped us gain new converts through these new, simple discipleship methods. I have baptized many before, but not like this.

I’d been searching for a new way of modeling the ministry of Jesus, to do something different. One method that has worked in my church is to meet people in a neutral environment. Jesus taught his disciples in a place of comfort for them. For many today Starbucks is a place of comfort. It’s a place to relax and talk, a place to be themselves. I embarked on a discipleship journey with someone at Starbucks before they were interested in being baptized. We would meet once a week and talk about life, being a man, sports. Eventually that led to him asking what he had to do to join our church. We started having weekly bible studies at Starbucks. He did get baptized. But after his baptism we still meet at Starbucks to talk about life, being a man, and sports. This encounter has lead to others joining us.

The second method that we have been using in our church as a discipleship project is a church fantasy football league. As many know, fantasy football is often used to bet, gamble and most of all talk trash. We instead use it as a positive way for the men to bond. But more than that we reach out to those that Rick Warren would describe as on the fringes of the church. It’s attracted both men and women.

After a few months one of the men on the fringes who was in the league asked for Bible studies and was baptized. He said he never felt prodded or pushed to make a decision to join the church. He said he just felt like he was a part. We use the fantasy football league to encourage positive fellowship with fellow believers. I wish I could say that on Sabbaths all that is exchanged are normal Sabbath pleasantries. But the important thing is that the league is a way that people use to find common ground, a springboard for conversations about, life, kids, work and the week. The camaraderie that has developed in the group has built anticipation and assisted us in fulfilling the gospel commission.

Why Not Try This – Sequence Preaching

Written by Derek Morris

Have you ever found yourself staring at a blank sheet of paper or at a blank computer screen wondering what you’ll preach next week? If so, then consider sequence preaching. Preaching a series of sermons has advantages for everyone. The preacher isn’t starting from ground zero every week, and the listeners have a sense of direction and purpose.

It is not difficult to convince most preachers and listeners that sequence preaching consists of a good idea. What may be more challenging is to know where to begin.

A simple five-step process follows, field tested in a local church, that will help you craft an effective sermon series.

Step 1: Select a sermon series theme

Sequence preaching can be expository or topical. One option includes picking a book from the Bible and preaching either the whole thing or a portion. A second option would be to Continue Reading…

Why Not Try This – How to Eliminate Boring Sermons

There is a world of difference between preaching a sermon and living a sermon. No amount of study can compensate for deficiencies in your life. You can “study it” but if you aren’t “living it” it’ll ring hallow. The opposite is true as well. Jesus’ teaching was authoritative because it was backed up by his life. You can’t back up your sermons with a seminary degree. You’ve got to back it up with your life. My advice? Don’t just get a sermon. Get a life. Then you’ll get a sermon!

Let me be blunt: if your life is boring your sermons will be too.

If you have no life outside of church—no hobbies, no friends, no interests, no goals—your illustrations will feel canned, your applications will feel theoretical instead of practical, and your sermons will be lifeless instead of life-giving.

The greatest sermons are Continue Reading…

Why Not Try This? – New Year’s Resolutions for Your Worship Ministry

By Nicholas Zork

There is something about a new beginning — on a calendar or otherwise — that inspires us. We are invigorated by an opportunity to “do better this time around.” We all know, of course, that January 1 rarely ends up being the watershed moment we had envisioned. But making New Year’s resolutions continues to seem like a reasonable idea. We realize that there are at least two or three simple things we could do every day — exercise, chip away at that long-term project, read the Scriptures — that would drastically change our lives. So what happens between January 1 and our failure by the end of February (or, more likely, January 4)?

The reality is that even the most important and least time-consuming activities are impossible in a life that is already too full. Looking at your worship ministry, here are two things I suggest you resolve to remove. This intentional inaction will not only create needed space in your personal life but help you prioritize in your ministry as well:

1. Give yourself and your worship team several weeks of extravaganza-free worship gatherings. The Advent and Christmas Seasons are generally the busiest in the church year. Between special events and all the additional work that goes into seasonal worship services, December is hardly a vacation month for church leaders and musicians. With little time for restful renewal, the human resources in your leadership team have likely been depleted. The ecology of a worship ministry cannot sustain the effort required in high liturgical seasons. Enjoy a few weeks of simplicity as a matter of

Why Not Try This? – Tell Your Kids the Truth About Santa

What we tell our kids about Santa by Mark Driscoll

‘Tis the season . . . for parents to decide if they will tell the truth about Santa.

When it comes to cultural issues like Santa, Christians have three options: (1) we can reject it, (2) we can receive it, or (3) we can redeem it.

Since Santa is so pervasive in our culture, it is nearly impossible to simply reject Santa as part of our annual cultural landscape. Still, as parents we don’t feel we can simply receive the entire story of Santa because there is a lot of myth built on top of a true story.

Redeeming Santa

So, as the parents of five children, Grace and I have taken the third position to redeem Santa. We tell our kids that he was a real person who did live a long time ago. We also explain how people dress up as Santa and pretend to be him for fun, kind of like how young children like to dress up as pirates, princesses, superheroes, and a host of other people, real and imaginary. We explain how, in addition to the actual story of Santa, a lot of other stories have been added (e.g., flying reindeer, living in the North Pole, delivering presents to every child in one night) so that Santa is a combination of true and make-believe stories.

We do not, however, demonize Santa. Dressing up, having fun, and using the imagination God gave can be an act of holy worship and is something that, frankly, a lot of adults need to learn from children.

What we are concerned about, though, is lying to our children. We teach them that they can always trust us because we will tell them the truth and not lie to them. Conversely, we ask that they be honest with us and never lie. Since we also teach our children that Jesus is a real person who did perform real miracles, our fear is that if we teach them fanciful, make-believe stories as truth, it could erode confidence in our truthfulness where it really matters. So, we distinguish between lies, secrets, surprises, and pretend for our kids. We ask them not to tell lies or keep secrets, but do teach them that

Why Not Try This? – Evange-oween

Every month Pacific Press Publishing sends our Ministerial Department various children’s Sabbath School items. They don’t send a lot, just one Primary Treasure, Our Little Friend, or Junior Guide. We don’t use them in my department so I never know what to do with them. I hate throwing them away because I feel like someone out there could use them. But who would I give them to?

Most Christians don’t like Halloween. The reasons are obvious; devilish costumes, horror movies, infatuation with the dead, etc. Last Halloween, my family, and a lot of friends I know, hid away in our house with the porch lights turned off. Did I miss a good witnessing opportunity by trying to ignore this holiday that has become increasingly popular over the years. I think I did.

Linda LaMunyon, a friend of mine, did something different (see story below). From her story, I’ve already decided to start saving all the children’s Sabbath School Quarterlies I can find for next year because I now know what to do with them. What can you do? Ask your children’s ministry leaders if they have any extra children’s materials, my church had a lot and they were more than willing to share.

Here is Linda’s story:

Halloween – A Day I Despised

Growing up I loved Halloween. Various years I dressed up as a princess, a clown, even a raisin from the tune, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”…remember?? In our nightly transformations, we kids scoured the neighborhoods in hot pursuit of candy. By the end of the night each kid had amassed a paper grocery sack filled to the brim.

Fast forward ten years. I became a Seventh-day Adventist. I learned about the origins of Halloween and the evils of the night. Soon a strong belief concerning Halloween became lodged in

Why Not Try This? – Top Articles of the Last 12 Months

If you missed them you might want to read them now. Here are the top 5 most viewed articles in the “Why Not Try This?” category during the past year. Please add your additional comments at the end of any of these posts–

1. Why Not Try This? …Preach a Sermon on the Second Coming of Jesus
2. Why Not Try This? …Don’t Let Anyone Steal Your Joy
3. Why Not Try This? – When the Mormon Missionaries Ring Your Doorbell, Invite Them In
4. Why Not Try This? …Help A Struggling Marriage
5. Why Not Try This? …Add a “Local & Global Mission” time to Your Sabbath Morning Service

Why Not Try This? – Why Men’s Prayer?

by Mark Huckstep

Why should men pray together? Especially, why should men group together to pray (at certain set times) only with men? Shouldn’t our prayer meetings reflect our heterogeneous, mixed-gender society and Christian community?

Certainly the Jews and ancient Armenians separate men and women for times of prayer, but should we, Bible-believing Christians have meetings with only one gender represented?

The Bible instructs men to lift up holy hands in prayer – should not this be read as generic ‘people,’ ie ‘men and women’?

The benefit of praying together at certain times as men lies partially in the fact that men are put together differently to women – seeing the world through ‘masculine’ lenses – perhaps less intuitive than women, focusing instead on the structure of a problem, its relationship to other issues, and moving swiftly to proposed solutions. On the spiritual level men are more naturally warriors and can delight in spiritual warfare rather than simply enduring it.

In mixed-group settings, men can be spiritually dormant, especially on the key issue of

Why Not Try This? – 3 Ways Your Church Should Never Use Technology

The church has rarely been seen as an early adopter of technology. In past decades we tended to stand on the sidelines when something new entered the marketplace and waited to see the implications of the technologies use in the world at large. Of course, there have always been the forward-thinking early adopters looking for ways to use new technology to spread the gospel. But the vast majority of churches seem to wait until technology is forced on them.

Today, I see a lot of progress in the realm of technology and the church, especially with the Internet. I have also seen us start to explore a few ideas without fully understanding where we, as a church, fit in. We can hurt our effectiveness if we don’t understand why people are using these technologies and what they expect when you use them as well.

Specifically, here are three online technologies that are getting misused by many churches. Let’s look at the infraction and see if we can’t figure out a way to use them correctly.

1. QR codes. These square, barcode-looking tags can be found everywhere around you look these days—direct mail, realtor signs, magazine ads, even milk cartons. So why would these handy little marketing tools make it on a list of should nots? In fact, you may point out that our team at SermonView offers these little codes free on our printed materials. And you would be right.

The issue is not with the code itself, but with how it gets used. Proper QR code usage has become synonymous with the idea of “bonus.” The goal for the intended user is to get something that they could not get without the code. This drive to receive, or see, something special impels people to download a QR code reader, and to view your content. If your content does not deliver the goods, people’s expectations are not met—and you’ve lost both their interest and their trust.

QR codes are not simply for Continue Reading…

Why Not Try This?…Is Anyone Answering Your Church Telephone?

It is essential to have someone answer your telephones especially on Sabbath. When people have found your website or telephone number, this is the time when people may inquire for spiritual direction, desire driving directions to your church, or inquire about community resources. The Barna Group, in their article “Most Churches Did Not Answer The Phone,” researched a random sample of 3400 Protestant churches, and found 55% of these churches did not answer the phones, or even had a answering service. As a result, Barna noted, “instant communication has become second-nature in our world, with cell phones, instant messaging, and other high tech means of facilitating immediate contact with others, organizations that seemingly defy people to penetrate their fortress quickly become an after-thought in people’s lives. Busy schedules, competitiveness and questions about the user-friendly quotient of churches make it increasingly unlikely that consumers – especially those who are not connected or only marginally associated with a church – will endure the frustration of difficult communication to pursue a church. If ministry is based on relationships and interaction, then many churches might find it easier to penetrate the community if they were more accessible to the people who are showing an interest in the church.” The Barna Group of Ventura, California www.barna.org

1. Does anyone answer your church telephone?
2. Do you have an answering service for your church telephone?
3. Is your church in the phone book? (Yellow pages, White pages)
4. Does your church have a website, blog, or facebook address?

 Message from Ivan L. Williams Sr.,

Ministerial Director

Telephone: (301) 680-6419

Fax: (301) 680-6464

Email: Ivan.Williams@nad.adventist.org

Why Not Try This? – Allow More People to Serve in Local Church Leadership Positions

Local churches can do more to accommodate a variety of people in leadership roles as they elect church leaders.

This is something to consider now as many Seventh-day Adventist churches globally are electing leaders during the fourth quarter of the year to serve the following year. The procedure to elect church leaders is clearly outlined in the Chapter 11 of the revised 2005 17th edition of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual.

Here in Zambia, for instance, there is a trend in most churches in which the same leaders are usually re-elected year-in and year-out, thereby leaving out talented people, especially the youths in their congregations.

Youths have fresh ideas and leadership skills, which could help improve church operations, especially in the area of evangelism. Yet the young people are usually left out of the leadership.

While continuity in leadership is also important, churches should create an environment where fresh leaders could be elected as opposed to maintaining the same people who in most cases are not accommodative to new ideas.

There are a lot of church members who are not involved in any church leadership. Yet such members possess skills which could be very useful in church leadership.

For instance, the positions of church elders are usually reserved for older people, thereby leaving out youths.

According to page 50 of the revised 2006 17th edition of the Church Manual, the local elder must be one recognized by the READ MORE

Why Not Try This?…7 Lessons from 10 Years of Ministry

Ten years ago, my life changed.

Back then I had big plans for my life. I had tried pastoring early in my career, but found it stifling. (I was also pretty bad at it.) So after working in public relations for a few years, I earned an MBA and went to work in high-tech product marketing. I worked for a Fortune 500 company, as well as some little Internet startups with big plans. My goal was to hit a home run, retire young, and go start a church plant.

God had other ideas. And ten years ago, almost to the day, instead of just letting me pursue my own plans, he drew me into a job where I got to serve pastors and local church leaders. I loved it. And out of that experience, SermonView was born.

As I reflect on these last ten years of serving local churches, here are some things I’ve learned:

1. Effective is more important than innovative.

There are always better ways to do something. The world around us is constantly changing, so we have to continue to innovate in order to keep up.

Personally, I enjoy innovation, and in the beginning I pushed churches to do things in more innovative ways. But I came to realize that the ultimate goal is not innovation for its own sake; the goal is effectiveness. Just because it’s a new way, doesn’t mean it’s a better way. Maybe I’m turning into an old fuddy-duddy, but I now believe that if something is working, don’t change it. Especially when you’re dealing with volunteers running ministries on a weekly basis, there had better be a good reason to make a change. If it’s going to make you more effective, then make the change. Otherwise, leave well enough alone.

Similarly, I had some ideas for marketing evangelism meetings that were really innovative. But we tested some of them, and they didn’t work as well. I never in a million years thought I would ever say this, but if the beasts of Daniel and Revelation on the cover of a mailer are effective (and for some prophecy seminars, they really are), then use them.

That said, you must continue to innovate, or your effectiveness will drop over time. But I no longer innovate for its own sake; the goal of innovation is effectiveness.

2. Problems are God’s, not mine.

God is a whole lot smarter than me. It took me a while to figure it out, but when I let God work through me to do His work, things get a whole lot easier.

A few years back, I read about an encounter someone had with Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. As the story is told by his son, a reporter from a Christian magazine asked him, “Dr. Bright, share with us a problem from your life that READ MORE

Why Not Try This – Focus on Workplace Witnessing

Christians are called to be salt and light in the world. They are to be examples of Christ’s character in the marketplace and on the job. How can a Christian employee witness effectively to coworkers? The following articles from the Adventist Review archives will give you some creative ideas and insights.

Salt and Light in the Workplace
Christians should be the best employees in a secular organization.

What if Jesus Were CEO
Truth, honesty, service . . . can they really part of our reality?

Slaying Your Golden Calf
An excerpt from Faith at Work: Overcoming the Obstacles to Being Live Christians in the Workplace.

Cross-Purposes
What can Adventist business people bring to the job?

Witnessing Without Words
How should Christians handle difficult coworkers?

Gutting Gossip
How to kill the poison grapevine at work.

There Is a Doctor in the House
This Adventist physician helps to shape the future of American health care.

Work for the Church? Absolutely!
Four young adults share their stories.

Decoding the Apprentice
A Christian critique of a television show that tries to define success.

Conquering Lust on the Job
Jeff Wright and Mick Bates offer salient advice for keeping workplace relationships in balance

Why Not Try This…Sing, Don’t Thud!

Thump-Thud, Thump-Thud
from Shaped by God, by Max Lucado

“When a potter bakes a pot, he checks its solidity by pulling it out of the oven and thumping it. If it ‘sings,’ its ready. If it ‘thuds,’ its placed back in the oven.

The character of a person is also checked by thumping. Been thumped lately?

Late-night phone calls. Grouchy teacher. Grumpy moms. Burnt meals. Flat tires. Youve-got-to-be-kidding deadlines. Those are thumps. Thumps are those irritating inconveniences that trigger the worst in us. They catch us off guard. Flat-footed. They arent big enough to be crises, but if you get enough of them, watch out! Traffic jams. Long lines. Empty mailboxes. Dirty clothes on the floor. Even as I write this, Im being thumped. Because of interruptions, it has taken me almost two hours to write these two paragraphs. Thump. Thump. Thump.

How do I respond? Do I sing? Or do I thud?

Jesus said that out of the nature of the heart a man speaks (Luke 6:45). Theres nothing like a good thump to reveal the nature of a heart. The true character of a person is seen not in momentary heroics but in the thump-packed humdrum of day-to-day living.

If you have a tendency to thud more than you sing, take heart.

The true character of a person is seen not in momentary heroics but in the thump-packed humdrum of day-to day living.

There is hope for us thudders:

1. Begin by thanking God for thumps. I dont mean a half-hearted thank-you. I mean a rejoicing, jumping-for-joy thank-you from the bottom of your heart (James 1:2). Chances are that God is doing the thumping. And hes doing it for your own good. So every thump is a reminder that God is molding you (Heb. 12:58).
2. Learn from each thump. Face up to the fact that you are not thump-proof. You are going to be tested from now on. You might as well learn from the thumpsyou cant avoid them. Look upon each inconvenience as an opportunity to develop patience and persistence. Each thump will help you or hurt you, depending on how you use it.
3. Be aware of thump-slump times. Know your pressure periods. For me Mondays are infamous for causing thump-slumps. Fridays can be just as bad. For all of us, there are times during the week when we can anticipate an unusual amount of thumping. The best way to handle thump-slump times? Head on. Bolster yourself with extra prayer, and dont give up. Shaped by God

Remember, no thum is disastous. All thumps work for good if we are loving and obeying God.

From Shaped by God (original title: On the Anvil). Copyright (Tyndale House, 1985, 2002) Max Lucado