Confessions of a Former Preacher

By Dan Bouchelle at Confessions of a Former Preacher:

While I don’t fully understand my anger, here is my current best shot at explaining it. I am angry because I couldn’t force the church to live up to my image of what it should be even when they implemented most of the changes I wanted. I am angry because I thought I had a contract with God: if I did ministry the right way, he would make me feel successful and fulfilled. I am angry because I could not shake the feeling of failure when I was doing everything I knew to do and I could not get the church to post the measurables I needed to validate my ministry. I am angry because the church I was building was too much a figment of my imagination detached from sustainable reality. I loved the people in my church and I enjoyed ministry with them. But, as a congregation—which is an abstraction in many ways—I could not reconcile what was with what should be. I am angry because other preachers who used what I thought were inferior approaches to serve inferior visions saw their churches grow while mine was plateaued or declining. I am angry because I could not solve the problem of church, as if churches are problems to be solved instead of people to be loved and developed. I am angry because I looked to my ministry for self-validation instead of modeling self-denial. I am angry because I wasn’t willing to obey what I heard God calling me to do and trust the outcomes to him instead of expecting something specific in return.

Stop Stealing Dreams

If our kids are the future, like we always tell them, why do we still teach them like they are all going to be factory workers?  Please take a few minutes and read Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin.

Sermons

Never think you have really preached a great sermon based upon lots of people saying how wonderful you did.  That might be the sign that you actually failed to communicate anything important and long lasting. Quit boring me with how relevant you think you are.  It's only a great sermon if someone's life is transformed.

Humble Leader?

You can lead with authority but not if you don't serve with humility.  Many leaders believe they can lead by consensus without serving.... the easy route... Others believe they can dictate and separate themselves from serving and loving. It's rare to find a leader who can drive people forward, yet do it by humbly serving people.

Here's What a Church Does When its Leaders are Lost

Does your church look like this?  Has the leadership been talking for years about growing and reaching out to the community?  What do you think it's going to take to wake up your church leadership?

9 Reasons NOT to Plant a Church in 2012

9 Reasons NOT to Plant a Church in 2012

9 Reasons NOT to Plant a Church in 2012 (Part 2)

The Most Uncelebrated Person in Church

The most overlooked and uncelebrated person in church, believe it or not, is not the pastor. Pastors put up with a lot of bull, but overall they also get all the perks. People tell pastors how much they appreciate them, they get tickets to sporting events, invited out to lunch/dinner, the best seats at a community event, a paycheck and a super-flexible schedule with little or no accountability. Overall it ain't a bad gig if you love people and have integrity.

Volunteers are the ones who get the crappy deal. It takes an amazing force of volunteers to make a church great, yet over the years I have seen people overlooked and under-cared for in so many ways. Wonderful people come to serve, with little thought of anything in return - and that's exactly what they get - very little appreciation and not much celebration.

I live in a small town of about 8,000 people on the coast of Oregon. After living here 7 years, I've talked to dozens of people who used to go to one of our more than 20 churches. When I ask them why they stopped going, almost every person in one way or another volunteered and contributed, but quit church feeling unappreciated and uncared for. They didn't serve and work to earn a paycheck or get their names in the paper, but for many of them there was not even a simple sincere "Thank you! You are important to us and we appreciate you!"

Volunteers quietly spend hundreds of hours in church each year doing all the little dirty details that help a church run smoothly and let the church staff concentrate on the spiritual life of a congregation.   In the inner circles of must church staff are discussions of why the church isn't growing and why aren't people coming.  Hello!!!  If you don't take care of the people you have, why would you think God would give you more?  Do something to show the people you have that they are loved and appreciated!  Church staff... reach into your own wallet and buy a coffee gift card, plan an event with your volunteers, have them over for dinner at your house where you have to invest and give like they do in God's house.

Do you want more people involved in volunteering and serving at church?  Show them how much they mean to you!  One warning - showing means you have to invest YOUR time, YOUR money (not church budget money) and YOUR heart in your volunteers.  If it's cheesy and easy, it'll be seen as a fake ploy and will leave your beloved people feeling hurt and unmotivated.  It's not rocket science.