Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
11 Minutes to 1 Hour on Sunday, September 11: Focused Prayer for America During Church Worship Services
As a people of faith, many followers of Christ would love to see prayer become part of our schools in America again. But I would suggest we first bring prayer back into the churches of America. The vast majority of churches in America give more time in their worship services to promoting their next event than they give to practicing prayer.
This Needs to Change on Sunday, September 11
Sunday, September 11, needs to become the day thousands of churches move from prayerlessness to prayerfulness. The subject at hand is one thing: America!
You may have given up on America, but God hasn’t. As the foundation of our nation is cracking and our culture is crumbling before our eyes, never and I mean never in our generation, have we needed to call out to God in prayer more than on Sunday, September 11.
Why Sunday, September 11, is a Key Day
Fifteen years ago on September 11, terrorism struck our nation in a devastating manner. A total of 2,996 people were killed in America on that day and more than 6,000 others were injured by the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. It was the most devastating attack on American soil since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor seventy-five years ago, December 7, 1941.
On September 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of 9/11, with great conviction, I want to ask each pastor and church in America to allocate the day to praying for our nation. The churches of America need to pray for our country in our worship services. Not just mention it, not just pray, but pray extraordinarily.
What You Could Pray About
There are so many things we could pray for our nation on September 11. A few of these are our upcoming elections, our President, our Congress, our Supreme Court, our governors and state legislative bodies, our mayors, city councils, and school boards, our first responders, our schools and universities, our military, our law enforcement officers, and the racial crisis in America.
Additionally, we could pray for our own church and for all the churches in America to be revived by the power of the Holy Spirit and for God to bring the next Great Spiritual Awakening in America. Make no mistake about it: America’s greatest need is the next Great Spiritual Awakening. Only revival in the church, a gospel explosion through the church, and awakening in the nation will turn around the church and nation. We need a Jesus revolution in America!
If we truly believe the Bible, we must apply the Bible. We need to live and pray for a moment like in Acts 4:31,
“When they had prayed, the place where they had assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak God’s message with boldness.”
Surely, as the churches in America, we can agree on one major thing: America needs prayer now! Surely we can unite on this day to call out to God for our nation. In this desperate hour in America, we need to see Sunday, September 11, as a day to pray for America: From 11 minutes to 1 hour… you determine it… your church determines it… let’s just come together for this strong day that could change America and change us into being more of what God wants us to be!
Pastor and Church Leaders, Lead Your Church to Pray for America on September 11
So many pastors and church leaders have said a service devoted entirely to prayer was the greatest day their church has ever had! Pastor and church, you will not regret it!
We have no right to prognosticate doom about America, upon evangelicals, upon the church, or anyone else unless we are willing to humble ourselves before God and pray.
Prayer brings the walls down! Prayer crosses over the perceived barriers of ethnicity, race, and generations, bringing down the walls that divide us. Let the walls fall down! Our sinful choices have built these walls, but Jesus’ work on the cross has brought them all down.
God is Calling Us to Him on September 11
I believe the polarization and division in America, the multiple crises in America and across the entire world, and the extreme division occurring in the church of America is a strong call from God to us: Come back to Me!
We need to wake up! We must come back to God! On Sunday, September 11, we need to give our worship services or at least 11 minutes in each service to praying for America.
Now is the time for us to repent, return to the Lord, plead for mercy, and call our nation back to God. Let me be more than clear: The church cannot call America to repent until the church repents. We need to repent of our prayerlessness. We need to repent of our unbelief. We need to pray for ourselves to get right with God and right with one another.
The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher!
The stakes couldn’t be higher in America. Now is the time for the church to be the church, praying for our nation!
Our hope cannot be in politics, parties, positions, possessions, or people. Our eyes need to be fixed on Jesus alone. Our hope is not in Washington, DC or your state capitol, but in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Yes, make no mistake about it. While the stakes could not be higher in our nation today, my faith is becoming stronger each day. Why? How?
I believe that our God can do anything, anytime, anywhere, with anyone. God can do more in a moment than you could ever do in a lifetime.
Imagine this for a moment: Thousands of churches praying on the same day for America on September 11, for 11 minutes to 1 hour in each Sunday worship service.
Just think what God may do!
Now is the Time to Lead and to Pray,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
Immediate Past President, Southern Baptist Convention
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, immediate past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and founder of the Cross Church School of Ministry.
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.
Guest Post | The Challenge of Church Staff by Jeff Crawford
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Dr. Jeff Crawford. Dr. Crawford is the President of Cross Church School of Ministry and a Teaching Pastor at Cross Church.
One of the greatest joys and one of the greatest challenges of pastoring is church staff.
I have had the privilege in my ministry of working alongside and being able to hire some of the finest men and women called to ministry in our country. Some of my closest friends are those I’ve served with for a season and they have now moved on. Some of my dearest friends are those I serve with currently. But at the same time, any pastor will tell you that staff consistently create some of the most difficult moments in ministry. Staff can be immature. Staff can make poor judgment calls. Staff can under perform. Staff can be called away. Staff can break the law. All of the above and more are the reality of any senior pastor or senior leader in ministry.
One of the not-so-secret secrets to avoiding the challenges of bad staffing is to start by hiring good staff. Sounds simple but, oh my, it is anything but simple. I’ve never hired a staff member who I ever believed would be anything but a success. But it does not always turn out that way. Sometimes my own poor leadership has contributed to poor staff fit, and sometimes I, or the church, just hired the wrong person.
I firmly believe that everyone called of God has the “right” place for service. But lots of things can get in the way of getting the right people in the right place. Church staffing services make money trying to help staff and churches make the perfect fit; and even they don’t always get it right. It’s not an exact science.
So let me suggest some very non-scientific but common sense thoughts on how to approach staffing your church:
1. Determine the call. Simply put, are they called by God to vocational ministry? Do NOT take this for granted. Go down deep on this. Get the story of their call. Find out how they have fleshed that out in real life and where they see God taking them in the future.
2. Determine the fit. Every church has its own culture. Chemistry with the culture and with the other staff is key to the success on any new staff member. In short, know your church and do all you can to know who you are interviewing. Do not be afraid to walk away if all else looks good but the fit just is not there.
3. Determine the competency. Can they do the job? This is not a reflection on character, integrity, godliness, or holiness. It’s a simple evaluation of the ability of the person to do the job you need done. Hopefully they know themselves well enough to know their limitations, but you need to vet this out by talking to their references.
4. Determine the reputation. And speaking of references, check them! Check them all and check references that they don’t give you. I am continually amazed at the number of churches I am aware of that hire staff and do not take the time to check references. This is where competency and reputation can be discerned. And absolutely speak with people they have served with previously.
5. Determine the pace. The old adage is: Hire slow and fire quick. Most churches reverse this. Pace yourself when hiring staff. I know how it is. When there is a staff vacancy, things aren’t getting done. People’s needs aren’t being met. There is no growth. And other staff carry extra duties. So the temptation is great to move quickly. Too quickly. Fight the temptation. It is far better to suffer for a season than to hire the wrong person.
So there they are; just five common sense principles to live by when hiring staff. At Cross Church, we have developed a unique training program to grow up called and competent staff. Our Cross Church School of Ministry is a one-year residency program designed to train leaders in life, ministry, and Gospel advancement globally. If you have a young man or woman in your church who needs to be trained, consider sending them to us for a year. We will pour into them and send them back to you. If you are looking for good staff, check with us each summer as we prepare to graduate our group and see if God might have the perfect fit just for your church.
You can learn more at: www.CrossChurchSchool.com
Dr. Jeff Crawford
President, Cross Church School of Ministry
Teaching Pastor, Cross Church
@JeffCraw4d
@CCSchoolofMin
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.