Archive for the 'Giving/Stewardship' Category
A Letter To Pastors
Dear Pastors,
I am one of you. For 39 years I have served as a pastor of a local church. The last 29 of these years I have served the same church. Even though I began when I was very young, God was and has been faithful to protect me all the way.
In the past few weeks, I have felt compelled to write you this letter. These are words that any local church pastor can identify with in life and ministry. Please consider these words, place them before the Lord, and then apply as needed or as He desires.
First, put Jesus first in your day. Start your day early with God and if early is not your deal, at least start your day with God first. Yes, first things first. If we do not begin our day with Jesus, then we forfeit the privilege to lead His people. Please begin your day with God; otherwise, defeat in life and ministry will become normal for you.
Second, renew your belief in the power of God. He can do anything, anytime, anywhere with anyone. He can do this with you and through your church. Refuse to dissect what He can and cannot do. Receive what He is able to do with you and through you. Begin to teach and preach about the power of God to your church. They need to begin to believe again.
Third, bring prayer back into the worship services of your church. Get beyond the, “Bless me prayers”, into appealing to the God of Heaven to manifest His presence to the people of God. Weekly, call out to God before your people. They need to hear you pray with both confidence and conviction. At times, move your people to pray together in groups around the room. At other times, call them to their knees in humility. Pray for revival to come to the people of God and for the next Great Awakening to occur in America. Prayer always precedes great works of God.
Fourth, prioritize evangelism again into the life of your church. Celebrate the reaching of the lost and the baptizing of new followers of Christ. Discover places in your community where the gospel has never been shared. Resolve to take the gospel into these places. Study the demographics of your city. Strategize how to win your city to Jesus Christ. Then, you will not cease evangelizing.
Fifth, call your people to support God’s work financially. Unashamedly, model and teach God’s people about giving the first ten percent of their entire income to their local church. Call them to give beyond this and challenge them to live life in the lane of generosity. Then, as a church, give to advance the gospel across the world exponentially. Give sacrificially and generously to forward the gospel throughout the entire world by planting gospel churches and supporting missionaries globally.
Sixth, stand upon the Word of God courageously. Our biblical Christian worldview is in constant conflict with the culture. Do not coward down to our culture nor cuddle with it. Stand strongly and courageously upon the Word of God. This will call you to be against some issues, when it does, communicate it in love.
Seventh, value each person in the world today. Stand for the dignity of each person and for the sanctity of life. Reject racism in any form. Renounce abortion in every way. Stand for the dignity and the sanctity of human life from the womb all the way to the tomb.
Eighth, learn from criticism. It will come. Count on it. Determine to outlive it. Refuse to become bitter toward any person being critical of you. Do not let anyone outside of your circle of love.
Ninth, lead cross-generationally. Do not be influential with just your generation; develop relationships with the generation before you and the generation behind you. Otherwise, your leadership will be limited and any potential legacy you may have will become short-lived. Invest in all generations. This is biblical.
Tenth, be humble before other people. When you are humble, God will raise you up. The way up is down. When you humble yourself before God, you can more easily humble yourself before others. God is not attracted to pride, but He is to humility. He lifts up those who are humble before Him.
Thank you Pastor for living for Jesus. Fulfill the calling God has given to you in your life. Please know I am with you in this battle and praying for you daily.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Money Will Follow Vision in the Southern Baptist Convention
When vision is clear, concise, and compelling, people engage it. When the clear, concise, and compelling vision is shared consistently and effectively, people begin to embrace it. When people engage and embrace the vision, they will support it financially.
Our Vision
170 years ago, the Southern Baptist Convention began with a clear, concise, and compelling vision. In our founding charter the focus was singular: “for the purpose of eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the Baptist denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the Gospel…” This is why we came into being in 1845.
Reaching the world for Christ is the way we communicate this vision today. When you visit our convention’s website at www.sbc.net you will find this phrase at the very top. According to our 2014 Annual Church Profile, we have 51,094 churches and congregations that unite around our vision as Southern Baptists.
Personally, as a pastor and as the current President of the Southern Baptist Convention, I am absolutely thrilled we are communicating our vision like this. It is who we are and what we are about. We are 51,094 churches and congregations that come together to reach the world for Christ.
We Need to Come Together Around Our Vision
Our churches, associations, state conventions, and entities need to come together around our clear, concise, and compelling vision: Reaching the world for Christ. When we communicate our vision consistently and effectively, we will lead others to not only engage in our vision, but also embrace it.
Peter Greer and Chris Horst spent two years studying organizations including businesses, educational institutions, parachurch ministries, and churches. The result of their work is Mission Drift, which analyzes stories of organizations who have undergone mission drift and those who have remained mission true.
When we drift away from our missional vision of Reaching the world for Christ, we also drift away from God’s power. Whenever we drift away from the power of God, we will inevitably drift away from our vision.
Our churches, associations, state conventions, and entities can communicate one thousand different things. However, there is only one common vision that has served as the gospel thread to keep us together for 170 years: Reaching the world for Christ. This is what we need to communicate consistently and effectively to one another and to this world: We are a network of 51,094 churches and congregations that come together to reach the world for Christ.
Money Will Follow This Vision
I am convinced money will follow the vision of Reaching the world for Christ. People will give more money to our churches when we accomplish and forward this vision regionally, statewide, nationally, and internationally. Churches will give more money to our associations when this vision is being accomplished in our communities. Churches will forward more money through the Cooperative Program when they are convinced that state conventions and entities are supporting and assisting our churches in this grand, singular vision of Reaching the world for Christ.
Churches do not exist for the Southern Baptist Convention. Our associations, state conventions, and entities exist for our churches by supporting and assisting our churches in Reaching the world for Christ. Our vision is not and cannot be about saving our convention. Together, we cooperate to accomplish the singular vision of Reaching the world for Christ. Money will follow the vision.
This is Not About…
This is not about my church or yours. This is not about an association, state convention, or entity. This is not even about the Southern Baptist Convention.
Together, we cooperate in working toward forwarding, advancing, and completing this vision of Reaching the world for Christ. Therefore, each church, association, state convention, and entity as well as all of us must do all we can where we are with what we have to Reach the world for Christ.
If We Truly Believe
If we truly believe in the gospel, we understand that people without Jesus are lost spiritually and in need of personal salvation in Christ alone. Therefore, we cannot have any greater vision than Reaching the world for Christ. When we believe this convictionally, this conviction will get ahold of us.
And when it gets ahold of us, money will follow this vision. More money will come from people to churches, from churches through the Cooperative Program, and from state conventions through our Southern Baptist Convention, and from our Southern Baptist Convention to the world.
Reaching the World for Christ… Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
President, Southern Baptist Convention
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.7 million members in over 51,094 churches and congregations nationwide.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.