Can You Hear Them Cheering?

I have never been a very athletic person. I was on the soccer team in high school, but in all the time I was on the team we never won a game! Of course, that wasn’t ALL my fault. Let’s just say I was not the only one on the team that did not excel in sports. But I can say I lettered in a high school sport……sort of……

But I was not a total loser in high school. I excelled in academics instead and that has served me well through the years. I’ve earned a doctorate and have written several books. I think I turned out okay.

Imagine my surprise some years ago when my two sons decided to join the football team. Neither of them had ever played football before so they had a steep learning curve those first few weeks. I admit, I was a bit concerned if they could do it, given my own lack of athletic ability. But both of them developed quite a knack for football and both eventually served as captains of the team.

Though I didn’t understand most of the game, I went to watch them play each week. Even for a non-football fan like myself, when one of my sons would catch that ball and take off like a lightning bolt down the field, it was a thrilling moment. I’m not much of a shouter, but when one of my boys was running the ball down the field, suddenly I was on my feet cheering with hundreds of other parents.  Can you image what it was like for my sons to hear all those people, most of whom were strangers, cheering their names and shouting encouragement to them?

The entire experience reminds me of Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (HCS).” Once one of my sons caught that ball nothing was going to stop him from crossing the goal line. Everyone was cheering him on and sharing in his excitement. The Christian life is much like that. All the saints cheer us on and encourage us not to quit until we cross the goal line. Can you hear them cheering? Can you see the goal in sight? Don’t drop the ball, run it right into the end zone for Jesus.

Dr. Terry W. Dorsett has lived in New England since 1993. He has been a pastor, author and denominational leader. He currently serves as the Executive Director of both the Baptist Convention of New England and the Baptist Foundation of New England.

Creating Authentic Mission Statements

In my ministry role I often assist pastors and churches trying to revision what the future might be for their ministry. Often they find themselves in a challenging moment and they know they cannot continue with the status quo. They know they need a fresh vision to take them to a new level of ministry. They often have an idea of what that vision should be but need help articulating it in a way that people can rally around.

I also get to work with a lot of new churches. These new churches are in a unique position where they get to craft a brand new vision instead of trying to rediscover or revitalize an old one.

Both scenarios are very exciting to me and it is fulfilling to watch a vision emerge from a group of people united in faith and service to Christ. Many churches, whether new or old, choose to express that vision with some catchy mission or vision statement that encapsulates all they are trying to express in some succinct way.

Normally these statements are catchy and creative, worthy of being on a bumper sticker or a twitter post. But I must confess, there are times when I find mission statements less helpful than they should be. For mission statements to be helpful, they have to actually express the real mission of the church. They can’t just be lofty theological statements that sound good to theologians but mean nothing to the community. It has to be a statement the typical person in the community who has not been to seminary and might not be particularly religious will understand. 

For example, recently I saw one that said "to the glory of God and for the advancement of his kingdom we will take the gospel to every corner of the earth." To a seminary student that actually sounds like a wonderful mission statement. But to the average person on the street who is not quite sure what the glory of God is or what the advancement of His kingdom means, it is just a bunch of nonsense words. Even to a long term Christian who understands what the words mean, there is a real question about whether this church can really take the gospel to the farthest corners of the world. If they are like most churches, they are probably thinking more about how they can solve hunger right in their own community or address homelessness in their own community, rather than around the world. I’m not saying that a church should not have a huge world wide vision. I’m just saying that an effective mission/vision statement has to be something the people in the community can grab hold of. Unless your community is an international community that thinks about the whole world, a world wide vision might communicate far less effectively than you think.

If you are going to craft an authentic mission statements, start with an examination of stuff your church has actually done frequently in the last six months. Then look at how your church spends it money. Those two things will reveal your REAL mission. If you real mission is not what it should be, a catchy phrase of what you wish it would be won't change much. You will have to go deeper and change your real values before you can create an authentic mission statement. That may take longer than you want it to, but it will be a better statement in the end, one you will actually work toward achieving.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

The Difference Between Pastors and Missionaries

Acts 1:8 “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 end of the earth.”

Missions. Just the word alone put images in our minds. For many people it means that someone leaves their home in the United States and goes to live in a grass hut in a Third World undeveloped country and eats monkey brains for breakfast every day. For other people it means a person must learn a foreign language so they can communicate with some exotic people group. 

But when I think about the word “missions,” I think more about the focus of one’s ministry, not the location of that ministry. To me missions means that we are focused on reaching non-believers with the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of where they live, what language they speak, or what they eat for breakfast. We need far more missionaries than we currently have if we are to impact both our local community and the farthest corners of the earth for Christ.

I think being a missionary is different than being a pastor. Pastors primarily serve believers in the local church by equipping them to do ministry effectively. It is important work. We need more healthy effective pastors doing the work that pastors are supposed to do. Good pastors strengthen their local church and then that church is able to send out missionaries. They might send them across the street, to the next town, the next state, or to other countries. 

Missionaries focus on reaching lost people for Christ. That does not mean they do not disciple people or strengthen churches, that is just not their focus. Pastors focus on discipling believers. That does not mean they do not engage in missions, of course they do, that is just not their focus. For example, while a pastor is thinking of how he will lead another small group Bible study, a missionary is thinking about how he will reach another community with the gospel. One is not better than the other, it is just different. And both are needed. 

Sometimes missionaries become pastors. And sometimes pastors become missionaries. But most often, they discover a calling from God and remain in that primary calling for most of their ministry. We need both pastors and missionaries working in partnership to fulfill the Great Commission. We need lay people to support their pastors and to support the missionary programs that their church has set up. Both are needed and both need prayers, volunteers and funding. They should not be in competition, but in partnership together so that they whole world might hear the glorious gospel of Christ.

Lord, raise up pastors and missionaries to help lead the church to be all that You want it to be. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

The Call to Ministry

Ezekiel 33:7 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.” (NIV)

I remember when I first began to feel a calling to ministry. I was in the eighth grade and attending a Christian school. In the chapel service they suggested that God would not have us in that school unless He wanted us to be involved in some kind of ministry. They challenged all the young men to be willing to surrender to the ministry if God should call them. I remember thinking that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a pastor. I wasn’t sure that God was calling to ministry. But I didn’t want to be disobedient to God either. Over the next few days I thought about it a lot and one night before I went to bed I prayed about it. I told the Lord that if He ever wanted me to be in ministry I do it. But I was also happy to just be a lay person in the church if that was what God wanted me to do.

Fast forward serval years and I found myself a counselor at a Christian camp. I was 16 years old. One evening in my personal devotions was reading a passage from the book of Ezekiel about becoming a watchman to the house of Israel. As I read that verse I sensed something happen in my spirit. It was as if it God had written that verse specifically to me. Somehow, deep in my inner being and I knew God was telling me that I was to be a watchman warning others to turn from their sin and to the Lord. 

From that point forward I altered all of my plans and goals in life to focus on training for ministry. During the years since, I have served a children’s pastor in a mega-church, a youth pastor in a medium sized church, as the pastor of a small church and as a church planter. I have also invested much of my time in ministry as an administrator in the denomination I am part of. My ministry to an entire geographical region gives me the opportunity to spread the Gospel much farther than I could if I was only serving a single church. Who would have thought that an 8th grader from a small Christian school in the Midwest would be called by God to impact New England, one of the most influential regions of our nation? But when a person is called to a certain ministry, that person cannot imagine doing anything else, and that definitely describes my life.

If you are thinking about ministry, you do not have to figure it all out at once. Like my experience, you may find yourself in a variety of ministry experiences that will work together to prepare you for the special ministry to which God has called you. And once you find it, you will be the most fulfilled you have ever been as you serve as one of God’s watchman turning others to the Lord and away from their sin.

Lord, please call many people into Your service, in a variety of different types of ministry, so that our nation might be turned from their sinful ways and follow You again. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

Watch Your Words!

Proverbs 18:4 “The words of a person’s mouth are deep waters, a flowing river, a fountain of wisdom.”

I opened up my Facebook page and cringed. A fellow pastor had posted an inflammatory statement on his Facebook page. I think he thought he could challenge people’s thinking and perhaps change a few of their minds on an important topic. What actually happened was for the next three hours there was one negative post after another as people argued with each other on his thread. Lots of anger was displayed. Very few attitudes that would reflect Christian values were displayed. If his goal was to prove a point, he failed. If his goal was to stir up controversy, he was amazingly successful. If his goal was to speak a word of the Lord and advance the cause of Christ, I would also consider his post a failure.

I think pastors must be particularly vigilant when they use social media. When used correctly, social media can be a powerful tool in advancing the cause of Christ. When used incorrectly, it can set back several month’s worth of ministry in a matter of minutes.

While I do not consider myself to be a social media guru, in my experience I’ve learned that best use for social media includes:

1. encouraging others with positive words and Bible verses
2. staying in contact with others by expressing genuine concern and care
3. promoting worthwhile ministry events
4. sharing humorous moments in my life

I find that most people respond positively to these four things and enjoy interacting with me about them. A long time ago I determined that social media was not the place to discuss controversial issues or to get too preachy to the masses. There are other avenues in which we can discuss controversial issues and push our more preachy ideas. Social media is simply too brief to say all that needs to be said regarding controversial subjects. It misses body language and context, which often is just as important in our communication efforts as the words we use.

While I think this is good advice for everyone using social media, I think this is particularly important for ministers and key lay leaders in the church to understand. Social media can be a great ministry tool, if Christian leaders use it correctly.

Lord, help us use the technology You have enabled us to create for Your glory. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

Does Church Membership Matter?

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”

The first church I served after I graduated seminary ran between 200 to 250 in worship on Sunday morning. But we had over 900 members on the roll. That means we had three times as many members missing on a typical Sunday than we had present. While some of those missing members were elderly and no longer able to attend, hundreds of them were simply missing in action. Some of those missing members were still in the community and would occasionally show up for Easter or Christmas services. But many we had not seen in years. I am not sure the FBI could have found half of our missing members! Yet they remained on our membership roll. I remember wondering why we just didn’t cross all those names off our roll.

Though at the time I would not have wanted to admit it, I suspect that the reason that we kept all those missing members on the role was because it sounded a whole lot better to say we had more than 900 members than to admit we only had 250. Years later I look back on that experience and realize that the goal of our church was not just to add names to the roll, it was to multiply Christ-followers through evangelism, discipleship and missions. Adding names to the roll did not accomplish that goal. For a name on a roll to have meaning and purpose, the individual represented by that name has to be really involved in the church and growing in their faith. Our church had a lot of names on a roll, but most of those names meant little to the life and vitality of that church or to accomplishing the mission God had given that church. As harsh as it may sound, those names were empty of meaning and value.

There are millions of people across America who have their names on the roll of a church but who do not attend with any degree of regularity. My encouragement to those who find themselves in such a situation is to return to your church, roll up your sleeves and become active. Not just active in the organization of the church, but active in fulfilling the mission of the church. Be the Christian you claim to be! My encouragement to those who are in leadership of a church is to ask yourselves if it is time to meet with your long-term inactive members to determine their real commitment to Christ and the mission of your church. If they are no longer committed to the mission of the church, remove their names from the roll. Not out of anger or spite, but out of integrity and honesty. Membership should mean something. But if we continue to carry more names on the roll who are not active than who are, we have devalued membership and made it mean little. We must fix this. It might make our churches smaller on paper, but is highly unlikely to reduce the number of people actually involved. In fact, I think it will increase the number of those who are involved because when inactive members are challenged to become active again, some of them will rise to the occasion and accept that challenge. And that is good for both the individual and the church.

Lord, help our connection to our church be meaningful both to the church and to us. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY