When preparing a one point message I use Andy Stanley's approach laid out in Communicating for a Change. Here's the five parts to cover in a one point message: The ME section. In the ME section of the message you share how you personally relate to the topic. The WE section. In the WE section of the message you share how the audience relates to the topic. In this section you want to pose a question your audience wants answered, create a tension they need resolved, or point to a mystery they … [Read more...]
Preparing an Expository Message
Here's an eight step process I created for developing and delivering an expository message: Decide. First, you prayerfully decide what passage you'll preach on. Dig. Second, you study (dig) like crazy! Discover. Third, you discover the big idea (what's this passage about in one sentence). Divide. Fourth, you divide the passage into points (when applicable). Develop. Fifth, you develop each point by explaining it, illustrating it, and then applying it. Detail. Sixth, you detail the sermon … [Read more...]
Choosing a Website
When we first started New Day I built our first website myself on my Mac. This is not how I would recommend starting, but this is how we started. As the church grew I transferred everything over to a company that offered templates for a nominal monthly fee (can't remember their name right now). My main reason for switching was that the new site looked more professional. The new site was inexpensive but had limited features, so as the church continued to grow I eventually switched us over to Site … [Read more...]
How We Use Fellowship One
When I was in my senior pastor coaching network with Nelson Searcy, over the course of the four years I heard the following repeated a number of times: Fellowship One is the best of the worst. What I understood this to mean is that no church management software does exactly what you want it to, but that Fellowship One comes closest. Here's what I like about it: At New Day we always try our best to build on proven foundations (things proven to work well by others) and as I looked into it, … [Read more...]
When to Take Your Day Off
I know everyone in ministry has a different schedule so while I don't want to make a blanket statement I think it's a mistake for many pastors to take Monday off vs Friday. Let me share four reasons why: When you take Monday off you're playing catch up the rest of the week. Instead of getting ahead, you start the work week off one day behind. When you take Monday off you're pushing sermon prep to later in the week. And as we all know, the closer we get to Sunday without the sermon finished, … [Read more...]
Prayerlessness
A couple months ago I went to a leadership intensive at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham Alabama. It...was...awesome! But sadly, I could relate all too well to the following three comments by Chris Hodges: One of the side effects of not spending enough time in prayer is that you'll begin loving crowds, but not people. We ought to have a relational prayer life with God and not just a rescue prayer life. In a relational prayer life you spend time with God just to nurture the relationship. … [Read more...]
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