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Issue #367
12/10/2008
How to trim your sermons
by Rick Warren
Pastors like to preach. And most of us would love to use everything we dig up in a week of studying when we deliver the sermon on Sunday. But as attention spans get shorter, the truth is a shorter sermon is often more compelling. In this issue, we’ll look at four ways to trim your sermon to make it more effective. [more]
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Celebrate Recovery Kit


The Purpose Driven Church Conference on DVD

 
 

  
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

How small groups change everything (part two)
by Larry Osborne

In the last issue, Larry Osborne revealed what it takes to reach critical mass in building your small group network, and he cautioned against falling for the Holy Man myth. In this issue, Osborne debunks the Holy Place myth and explains how a churchwide commitment to small groups will empower your congregation to make a significant ministry impact. [more]

One Great Truth: Finding Your Answers to Life
Jonathan Falwell (Howard Books, 2008)  

After his father’s surprise death, Jonathan Falwell was handed the pulpit of one of the country’s largest and most influential churches. During those trying times, Falwell learned to lean on one particular truth from God’s Word, “Not I, but Christ.” This book chronicles that journey to grapple with an enormous new responsibility in the midst of grieving his father’s death. The book would be great to give anyone who’s been handed great responsibility or is going through difficult times.

 
   


"There will always be more people willing to do ‘great’ things for God than there are people willing to do the little things. The race to be a leader is crowded, but the field is wide open for those willing to be servants." - Rick Warren


"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task." - 1 Corinthians 3:5 (NIV)


Angel Tree Ministry - Organized by Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministry, Angel Tree helps children of incarcerated parents around the United States by providing Christmas gifts on behalf of the parents. Find out how you and your church can participate on this site.
Escaping the trap of comparisons - Do you often find yourself comparing your ministry to those who serve at bigger churches or seem to have more exciting ministries? This article from Focus on the Family’s The Parsonage can help you get some perspective.
World hunger map - According to Christianity Today, 35 countries face malnutrition, food shortfalls, and huge price spikes.
Advent Conspiracy - This is a challenge pastors across the country are giving their churches this Christmas – worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all.
Keys for overcoming your church’s financial crisis - This article provides some time-tested strategies for overcoming a church-wide financial crisis.
Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Conference - Are you ready to focus your youth ministry around God’s purposes instead of programming from one event to the next? Do you want to learn transferable principles that will work in any setting? Then register to attend the Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Conference March 24-27, 2009, at Saddleback Church in California.


Seven keys for gatekeepers called to unity - Tom Demaree

Five mentoring mistakes to avoid - Sam Simmons

President George W. Bush awarded the “International Medal of PEACE” on World AIDS Day - A. Larry Ross Communications

The simple beauty of Christmas - Mary Southerland


According to a 2003 article by David Cutler in the Journal of Economic Perspective, Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food. Also, according to the same article, Americans spend less than half an hour preparing meals on average. Those totals are far lower than they have been in the past. They are also lower than several countries with better eating habits and health than the United States. - (Source: Michael Polian, In Defense of Food, Penguin Press, 2008)

“Remember that you are not called to produce successful, upwardly mobile, highly educated, athletically talented machines…Giving your children great opportunities is good; it is not, however, the goal of parenting. Christlikeness is. Above all, seek to raise children who look and act a lot like Jesus.” - Chip Ingram, Effective Parenting in a Defective World (Tyndale, 2006)

One quarter of American workers who use the Internet on company time visit pornographic Web sites. - (Source: Newsweek.com, Nov. 29, 2008)

An alleged church-offering thief was nabbed recently because he handed in a visitor card the previous week at the Lakeland, Fla. church with all of his contact information. - (Source: Associated Baptist Press, Nov. 20, 2008)

“Few sinners are saved after the first 20 minutes of a sermon.” - Mark Twain

“These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.” - G.K. Chesterton

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