October 2019 » GProCommission

October 29, 2019

Teach the Church to Pray

Reshared with permission from the author Learning to Pray With Scriptures Praying with Scripture is not a new concept. The use of Scripture for prayer has been around since the early church fathers and it gained momentum during the Monastic period. Some Christian traditions kept this practice in their liturgical worship and Lectio Divina. However, this practice is generally lost to most of us evangelical Christians due to our disproportionate emphasis on spontaneous prayer, thinking that this approach to prayer is much more sincere than prayers that are being read out. The Four Movements in Prayer This book combines methods […]

October 27, 2019

Resource highlight: Oasis Africa Study Bible & App

Imagine preparing for a sermon without a Bible. Yet, sadly, many pastors don’t have access to the Scriptures, much less understand how to study it! This month we want to highlight an amazing resource, the Africa Study Bible (ASB), that helps African pastors overcome those challenges specifically in Africa—the fastest-growing region for the Christian Faith. Watch our video interview with Dr. Matthew Elliott, president of Oasis International, to learn more about the ASB. Then learn how you can receive a digital version of the ASB via the ASB App for FREE!** Be encouraged, and learn how you can get your […]

October 24, 2019

Designer Shoes

This article “Designer Shoes” is reshared from RREACH. Searching for worship music and sneakers on the internet, a young man started noticing a strange occurrence. Several Christian pastors wore rather expensive sneakers in the pictures on their church websites. The shoes ranged from $600 to $3,000. This trend alarmed him, and he asked a question, “What is OK as far as optics … as far as pastors wearing hype or designer clothing?”. His Instagram post started a blaze of comment from the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times and several other media outlets. Public criticism is an occupational hazard of Christian leadership. […]

October 22, 2019

Pain: The Gift of Leadership

Guest Post by Dianne Ogle, reshared with kind permission from Leadership With Questions Is there such a thing as being thankful for pain in our life? As Samuel R. Chand says in his book Leadership Pain “Reluctance to face pain is your greatest limitation. There is no growth without change, no change without loss, and no loss without pain. Bottom line: if you’re not hurting, you’re not leading.” If we are really honest with ourselves, it is through pain that our growth and development flourishes the most IF we yield into and ask ourselves tough questions. What can I learn through this season of pain? […]

October 17, 2019

Healthy Church Systems

Many leaders and couples get into church planting or leading in a church because we care about people and want to see their lives changed; marriages healed, past hurts redeemed, addictions broken. This is why we labor, pray, vision cast, have meetings, preach sermons and sacrifice like we do. But how does that happen? The work of the Holy Spirit is one, but the other part of that is through relationships and systems. God is a God of systems and relationships. We see in Genesis 1 both of these. God creates man and woman in His image, and we see […]

October 15, 2019

Millennials Leaving the Church

In this classic episode, Darrell L. Bock, Kat L. Armstrong, Sam Eaton, and Nika Spaulding discuss millennials leaving the church, focusing on how to better engage with this demographic. Transcript below: Dr. Darrell Bock Welcome to The Table. I’m Darrell Bock, executive director for Cultural Engagement at the Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary. And our topic, today, are Millennials’ take on the church, and this is a response to an article by the man sitting at my left, here, Sam Eaton, who wrote a piece called “12 Reasons Millennials are Over Church.” Sam Eaton Well, I wrote it […]

October 10, 2019

5 Things Preachers Should Stop Doing

Resharing with kind permission from Carey Nieuwhof. Today’s post is written by Mark Clark. Mark is Senior Pastor of Village Church in Vancouver, a close friend, and co-creator of the course The Art of Better Preaching. By Mark Clark I have the great opportunity to not only communicate as part of my job – as a preacher, writer, conference speaker, etc., – but actually help train up preachers and communicators in different settings (church ministry, marketplace leaders, etc.,) Here are five things I tell them to stop doing! 1. STOP PRETENDING Authenticity is the new currency of leadership. So stop pretending. Stop […]

October 8, 2019

Preaching to Make the Bible User Friendly

Have you ever listened to a sermon and thought, “Wow, I could never get as much from that Scripture text as he did”—as if the preacher was a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat? I have. When the preacher is biblically faithful, this can be a beautiful demonstration of God gifting the church with shepherds and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). It may also expose a flaw: the preacher may not be training his flock how to read the Bible through his preaching. Preachers need to see the preaching event as a key moment in church life that makes the […]

October 3, 2019

How To Stay Spiritually Healthy This Ministry Season

Good grief this fall is busy! Is anyone else tired? And, we’re barely into the ministry season. Maybe it’s the combination of ministry and leadership plus all that’s going on with my kids getting older, playing more sports and being involved with more at school, but this season feels a little crazy to me. Earlier this week, I had lunch with a good friend, who is also a pastor in my city, and we were talking about the busyness of life. We were laughing about all the nonsense that comes with soccer, football, cross-country, homework, tired kids, quirky volunteers at […]

October 1, 2019

Building Successful Teams

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 We all enjoy watching individuals achieve success in sports, business or entertainment through hard work, dedication and perseverance. It’s often called the American way because […]