Mark Batterson of National Community Church (Washington, D.C.) recently expressed some random reflections on preaching. They are not mere musings but contain some practical tips on how we can all preach more effectively. Four notable insights include:

1. I honestly think one hour of prayer is worth two hours of sermon prep.
2. I’m more and more convinced that the best messages have one organizing metaphor. It is the law of scope–more is less and less is more.
3. I always hope that what I say is timeless–based on the eternal truth. But I also want it to be timely–the right word at the right time.
4. I still believe content is king. You’ve got to preach every sermon like it’s the last sermon you’ll ever preach!

A number of churches equip their greeters and first impressions team with umbrellas to escort church attendants during rainy Sundays. Now a better umbrella exists thanks to European designers. The SENZ umbrella claims to be the first umbrella that will never go inside-out. At the moment, the SENZ umbrella is only available in the European Union, but they are working to expand their distribution to the United States.

Related Resource: the double umbrella

[via CoolBusinessIdeas.com]

The Center for Missional Research conducted a study led by Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor to research what characteristics were shared by growing churches plants. They discovered 10 factors associated high attendance.

1. Location
   >> Church plants that begin in school facilities have some obvious benefits, such as visibility, access, parking, classroom/worship space, and usually low costs.
   >> Longer-term (after the first year) church plants meeting in both schools and movie theaters exhibit higher attendance. They find these locations conducive to reaching people and accommodating continued growth.
2. Ministry
   >> High attendance church plants know that reaching children is one effective way to reach families. Special children’s events such as a fall festival or Easter egg hunt help church plants gain and sustain attendance.
   >> High attendance church plants also conduct block parties as an evangelistic outreach.
   >> High attendance church plants use holidays or other opportunities to attract people and to be attractive to those who are already attending.
3. Promotion
   >> High attendance church plants mail invitations to services, programs, and events. They keep community awareness high, which keeps their visitors, attendees, and members involved and informed.
4. Training
   >> High attendance church plants provide training for new members and communicate clearly the expectation that they participate.
5. Expectations
   >> High attendance church plants require new members to sign a church covenant. They know that it’s imperative for new members to take their commitment to the church seriously as soon as they’ve committed their lives to Christ.
6. Financial
   >> High attendance church plants are very intentional about financial stewardship.
   >> High attendance church planters receive financial compensation and health insurance, allowing them to focus on the church’s growth, not their own basic needs.
7. Staff
   >> High attendance church planters are assessed for their suitability and are full-time, not part- or half-time.
   >> High attendance church plants have multiple staff from the beginning, facilitating steady and more sustainable growth.
8. Missions
   >> High attendance church plants look for missional opportunities and start at least one church within three years of their own plant.
9. Leadership
   >> High attendance church plants conduct leadership training, build their leadership base, and delegate leadership roles to church members.
10. Achievement
    >> High attendance church planters have a vision of what God wants to do, and they don’t get distracted from the accomplishment of that vision.

[via The Christian Post]

Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) recently shared with The Christian Post six physical factors about church buildings that affect a worship service. Here is a summary:

1. Lighting
   Lighting has a profound effect on people’s moods. Inadequate lighting dampens the spirit of a service. Shadows across a speaker’s face reduce the impact of any message.
2. Sound
   It doesn’t matter how persuasive the message is if people can’t hear it in a pleasing manner. A tinny, fuzzy sound system can undermine the most gifted musician and incapacitate the most profound preacher. And nothing can destroy a holy moment faster than a loud blast of feedback!
3. Seating
   Both the comfort and the arrangement of your seating dramatically affect the mood of any service. The mind can only absorb what the seat can endure! Uncomfortable seating is a distraction that the Devil loves to use.
4. Temperature
   The temperature can destroy the best planned service in a matter of minutes! When people are too hot or too cold they simply stop participating in a service. They mentally check-out and start hoping for everything to end quickly.
5. Clean, Safe Nurseries
   If you want to reach young families, you’ve got to have sanitized and safe nurseries. There should be no mop-buckets in the corners and the toys should be cleaned each week.
6. Clean Restrooms
   Visitors may forget your sermon but the memory of a foul smelling restroom lingers on … and on … and on! You can tell a lot about the morale of a church by checking out the quality of the restrooms.

Without question environment and atmospherics influence people’s behavior. But it is also worth noting that the quality of environment needed for a church to effectively reach someone is largely dependent on the average quality of life to which that person is accustomed.

In third world countries, people rarely are bothered by the quality of a sound system, and just having one is impressive enough. When I went to Africa, hot temperatures were expected. When I lived in Peru, strange restroom smells were considered normal. In these circumstances, less than ideal environments did not affect the impact of ministry because they were expected.

It comes down to the expectations of the people you want to reach. Although the United States has its share of poor areas, most U.S. churches are trying to reach people with high expectations compared to the rest of the world. And if your church is trying to reach the affluent who are accustomed to posh restrooms, there is a good chance that anything less than posh will turn them off.

The bottom line is:
Know who you are trying to reach and create an environment one step above their expectations.

Wired reports that IDC, a technology research firm, announced that the world generated 161 billion gigabytes of digital information last year. That is equivalent to:

• 161 exabytes
• 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun
• 3 million times the information in all the books ever written

University of California estimated 2003’s production of information at 5 exabytes, which means that our information production for 2006 was over 32 times more than that of 2003.

What does this mean for ministers?
It is truly a privilege to have access to such a wealth of knowledge today. At the same time, this privilege comes with responsibility.

Ministers must remember that this wealth of knowledge is an accessory to the Holy Spirit. God’s guidance should be the road map and blueprint for what we do. Man’s knowledge is only helpful if it helps us better do what God wants us to do.

I see two key responsibilities for ministering in an age such as this:

1. Keep doing what God wants you to do.
   God’s plan is always better than the wisest of man’s plans (1 Corinthians 1:25). Book smarts cannot compete with God smarts. Follow His guidance.
2. Identify what knowledge can help you better fulfill God’s plan.
   Just because God’s wisdom and guidance is superior, does not mean you should stop learning. Instead, continually seek to learn new things that can help you better accomplish what God is leading you to do. Doing what God wants you to do requires learning how to do it. Your church has a unique calling so what works for one church may not work for your church. Fortunately, God’s guidance will keep you on track as long as you continue to pray and keep Him first.

USA TODAY recently reported on America’s religious illiteracy. The article included the following interesting statistics that shed light on how well Americans know the Bible:

• 60% of Americans can’t name five of the Ten Commandments
• 50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married
• 8% of public high schools offer an elective Bible course

Remember that America is now a place of distorted truth and little knowledge of the Bible. If part of your sermon only references a Bible story, there is a good chance that people in the congregation may not be familiar with it or may assume it is about something completely different.

LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) launched a new billboard campaign promoting how much Satan hates LifeChurch.tv (SatanHatesLife.com). The bright red billboards feature quotes by Satan:

• LifeChurch.tv is killing me.
• LifeChurch.tv is making me sick.
• Boycott LifeChurch.com.
• I was robbed at LifeChurch.tv.
• LifeChurch.tv sucks.

And, of course, they also include the url SatanHatesLife.com. This new approach to church billboards is guaranteed to get some attention, and its controversial nature will likely generate a bit of publicity.

[via Swerve]

Need a definition? Try Visuwords for a fresh approach to looking up words. It produces diagrams for each word you search for so that you can see how words associate.

[via Information Aesthetics]