California City, Rural Vermont, Not that Different

Recently I was in California for the oral defense of my doctoral dissertation. As I sat on a hillside overlooking the city of San Francisco, I could not help but think of both the contrasts and the similarities between the “big city” in California and the “rural” area where I live in Vermont.

The differences are many. For example, the greater San Francisco metro area has nearly ten times as many people as the entire state of Vermont. The average house price is 3 and ½ times the average price in my area. Clearly the people in California are much more interested in style, fashion and fancy hair than most people in Vermont. There was a wide range of races represented in California, where as Vermont is one of the “whitest” states in America.

But for all the differences between the two, there were many similarities as well. The area in which I stayed in California has one of the lowest populations of evangelical Christians in America, and Vermont has the absolute lowest, according to the most recent Gallup poll. The people in California seemed to attempt to fill the emptiness in their lives with recreation and possessions, which is not that much different from how people in Vermont try to fill the void in their lives.

In the end, it does not matter where you live, people still need Jesus. Rich or poor, young or old, city or rural, people need the Lord. What can we do this week to share Jesus with the people around us?

Open Minded or Closed Minded

I have noticed an interesting trend the last few years, which seems to have intensified in more recent months. The trend concerns people who consider themselves open minded but actually are quite close minded. Normally it begins with a conversation I initiate with someone about faith. The person I am trying to share with will indicate that they are not a Christian. Though they are not Christians, they do think of themselves as experts on how Christians think and feel. In each conversation they feel quite comfortable telling me how judgmental and narrow minded Christians are. In each case, I listened patiently to these people, in the hopes that they would see that I was an open minded Christian.

But the trend I have noticed is that when they finally quit telling me how they perceive the world, and I assume it is my turn to share my perspective; they quickly cut the conversation off. I find it interesting how these people who consider themselves to be so open minded are actually so close minded about hearing any view other than their own. They are happy to share their views. They are happy to tell me how they think I feel. But they are not willing to hear my own views. It is sad that these people not only are missing the joy of the Christian life, but they are so close minded about hearing others talk about that joy , that they have deceived themselves into believing they are something that they are not.

This is the world in which we live in. This is a world in which people talk about being open minded and tolerant, but in reality they are close minded and intolerant. This is the world we have created for our young people. I can’t help believing that it might not be too late to change that world and leave our kids something better.

Touching Eternity

The other day I was sitting with my father in law in a rocking chair on his porch. Mr. Jonas has been a committed Christian for many years, though by his own admission there was a period of time during his younger days when he didn't walk with the Lord as much as he would have liked. Since retiring, he has become involved in a number of local ministries and has also been able to participate in several mission trips to Haiti. During our conversation he said that he realized his time to serve the Lord was growing short as he advanced in age and that from this point forward he "didn't want his hands to touch anything that would not touch eternity."

Since our conversation I have been thinking a lot about that statement. I have been asking myself how many things do MY hands touch that actually have eternal value. I think it is so easy to get busy doing things that may be okay to do, but which have no actual eternal significance. I rejoice that my father in law came to learn this valuable truth and has been able to apply it to his life even if it was not until he retired.

I have been wondering what would happen if Christians could learn this truth at age 55, or 45, or 25 instead of at age 65. Imagine learning this truth at age 15! Imagine having an entire life ahead to touch eternal things. Wow, what a life that would be!

The only way to have that kind of life, is to start living it today!

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett is a pastor, husband, father and author who has been serving small churches in New England since 1993. He often finds heavenly truths in everyday experiences and writes about them in his blog.

The Language of Youth

The language of today’s young adults is music. Churches that understand this new language will be able to effectively reach young adults. Many churches think that if they add drums or guitars to their worship services then they will automatically reach young people. While it is true that young adults prefer music that is more upbeat, the real secret to understanding their music is the emotions that their music displays.


Young adults often express their emotions best through music. They sing about their experiences and how those experiences make them feel. Their music is very personal. They often write music of their own. Their music comes from deep within them.


They use music to communicate how they feel about themselves, other people, politics, nature, and even spiritual matters. When it comes to spiritual matters, young adults prefer music that allows them to talk “to” God instead of just “about” God. Though they may prefer the music to be upbeat, what is more important to them is that it is filled with spiritual passion. They want to feel God not just know facts about Him. Worship services led by young adults display a passion for connecting to God that few other generations can fully comprehend.


You may not always like their music, but if you listen to it, you will come to understand them in very real ways. If your church can learn to speak the same “language” as these young adults, you may be surprised just how many of them may come to your church.

What is Truth?

In the midst of a recent great discussion with a group of teens about spiritual matters, one astute young man asked how spiritual matters affected those who do not believe in God. He referred to a group of people who did not accept a certain spiritual truth as really being true. This led to an interesting discussion about truth. I used the illustration that a person could sincerely believe that snow did not exist, yet if that person walked outside the building we were meeting in, they would find snow everywhere. No matter how sincere the person believed there was no such thing as snow, it would not change the truth that snow was real and there were mountains of it outside our building. We then went on to discuss how the same thing would be true for a person who lives near the Equator and had never experienced snow. That person would have never seen snow, no one they knew would have ever seen snow, and in their own personal experience they would not be able to see how something like snow could possible exist. Yet, that person’s experience would still not change the reality that snow does exist and there are still mountains of it outside our building.

I went on to explain that God has declared certain things to be true. No matter how sincerely a person believes that those things are not true, they will remain true. Even if a person had no personal experience with God and couldn’t imagine a God who has the power to declare certain things to be true, truth would still be truth.

That young man, and so many of his peers, are caught up in the postmodern idea that each person can determine their own definition of truth. It makes a person feel good to think that they can decide what truth is for themselves. But when you look at it objectively, it just does not make sense. Truth is truth, regardless of whether I like it or not. Let’s help young people understand the truth; let’s introduce them to the Truth by reminding them that Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

How Should Churches Invest Their Money?

There was a day when churches that wanted to grow would build a new building. It almost seemed that growth came automatically with a building expansion. The “secret” to church growth could have been borrowed from a movie, which was “if you build it, they will come.”

While new buildings still attract a lot of attention, they no longer automatically produce church growth. In a recent survey I conducted on my blog not a single respondent indicated that they felt that churches should invest more money in bigger or better buildings.

What do people think churches should invest their money in?

• 11% percent thought churches should invest money in paying a more professional staff
• 22% percent thought the church should invest more money in programs that would help members be better Christians
• 66% thought the church should invest more money in helping the needy

How a church invests the money available to them may not always equal church growth, but if they want the church members to be excited about the church’s activities, then it might be prudent to think about the results of such polls.

Perhaps the wave of the future for churches that want to grow is helping those in the community in need. What a novel idea! Sure sounds like the New Testament church described in Acts 4:34-35 “For there was not a needy person among them, because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet. This was then distributed to each person as anyone had a need.”

If our churches want to grow, it is time to get off the latest church growth fad and just start doing what God told us to do in the Bible to begin with. It does actually work!



Dr. Terry W. Dorsett is a church planter in New England. He also writes books and leads seminars on how to help churches be more effective in their ministries. Check out his resources at:
http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY/

The Word of God or Human Opinion

“Dear Pastor Terry,” the email began, “I have not attended church since I was a teenager, and that’s been twenty years ago. I have felt like I have been drifting through life and needed direction. For some reason I felt drawn to enter your church. The scriptures that were read and explained were an ‘aha’ moment for me. I look forward to coming back next week.”

I received this email earlier this week, but over the years have received many others that offered a similar message. People often drop out of church when they are in their teen years. Many will never return, but some do. The ones that do return are seeking something real that can give direction to their lives. In my experience they are seldom interested in being spoon fed thin theological porridge. They have lived enough to know they need something real.

By God’s grace we have something real to offer. As the Word of God is spoken, hearts are transformed by the power of the Spirit. Sadly, the people who send me messages like this often say the reason they dropped out of church to begin with was that they did not hear much at church that was relevant to their lives. I believe the Word of God has always been and will always be relevant to life. That means that if church was not relevant in the past, or is not relevant in the present, then the Word must not have been spoken very clearly.

I want to encourage everyone in church leadership and who has teaching responsibilities in church to make sure they focus on teaching the Word and not human opinion. The Word changes lives; human opinion simply can’t do that. I join the apostle Paul in saying “Preach the Word, in season and out of season!”