The Columbia Partnership

Hope White

A Story of Mission and Possibility

A Travel Free Learning Article

by Ken Kessler, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership

Voice: 804.338.5058, E-mail: KKessler@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

Download Kessler, Hope White, 11.29.11 Edition

Listen or download the Travel Free Learning Dialogue on this article:

TFL Dialogue, Ken Kessler on Hope White

Do you remember the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? The movie that Walt Disney made was a favorite of my boys when they were small children. Do you remember the characters?

· Snow White: the innocent, beautiful princess who is banished to the woods by her evil stepmother, the Queen.

• The Wicked Queen: the jealous and envious stepmother who is always concerned about her beauty.
• The Dwarfs: Happy, Bashful, Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy, Doc, and Sneezy are Snow White’s companions in the woods as she survives the evil shenanigans of the Wicked Queen.
• Prince Charming: the young prince who plants the kiss that awakens Snow White for her deathly stupor, and with whom she lives happily after.

It’s a cute story that warms our hearts and makes us feel good all over. It has been adapted and changed from the original story by Brothers Grimm by the Disney culture.

FaithSoaring Churches

A Synergy of Vision, Relationships, Programs, and Management 

A Travel Free Learning Article

By George Bullard, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership

Voice: 803.622.0923, E-mail: GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

Download Bullard, FaithSoaring Churches, Overview 11.15.11 Edition

Listen or download the Travel Free Learning Dialogue on this article:

TFL Dialogue, George Bullard on FaithSoaring Churches

Summit Heights is a FaithSoaring Church. Christ the King is not. Nesmith, a smaller membership congregation, is a FaithSoaring Church. Lake Avenue is trying to be. We do not know yet if Midtown will be a FaithSoaring Church. Trinity once was a FaithSoaring Church, but not anymore. First is struggling to understand what FaithSoaring is all about.

FaithSoaring Churches are congregations who choose to soar with faith beyond ordinary ministry toward extraordinary ministry in a quest to achieve exceptional ministry. They respond to the pulling of God and journey to places of inspiration, imagination, and innovation. They lead their congregations through processes of missional formation and engagement that continually transforms the capacity of congregations to reach their full kingdom potential.

Write Before Christmas

A Year-End Invitation for Connecting Church Guests

A Travel Free Learning Article

By Gary Straub, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership

Voice: 502.320.4336 Email: GStraub@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

Download Straub, Write Before Christmas, 11.14.11 Edition

Download Straub, Guest Holiday Letter, 11.14.11 Edition

Download Straub, Infrequent Member Letter, 11.14.11 Edition

As Thanksgiving approaches, your congregation may have a lot for which thanksgiving is due. It doesn’t take long to assess all the good reasons that imaginative ministries were launched on a shoestring, hurting families quietly helped, and audacious mission project finished in the black because generous volunteers gave even more than time and talent. Most all of the ministry numbers that measure affectivity are showing up on the hallelujah side of the ledger, except one: additions.

While there is a steady flow of first time guests and an astonishing percentage of returning guests, year-end approaches with no appropriate tools or strategy for gathering up these potential commitments in a simple, personal, and meaningful way. Many congregations have an identifiable group of folks who continue to attend worship, participate in activities, and to all appearances seem quite interested in the congregation but haven’t yet joined. Here is a simple, straight-forward approach to the matter: ask!

Habits to Save Your Soul

Self-Care in Demanding Times

A Travel Free Learning Article

By Gary Straub, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership

Voice: 502.320.4336 Email: GStraub@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

Download Straub, Habits to Save Your Soul, 11.8.11 Edition

Ministry can be as rewarding as it is stressful; never more so than in those critical kairos moments of congregational transition and transformation.

When crunch time comes, how do we as leaders of congregational transformation continue to be transformed? This concern is particularly poignant when transformation wracks our church family system with anxiety and leaves our core leader’s equilibrium unsettled. Transformation reads well in textbook form, but when we actually hit that stretch of the journey when the tectonic plates are shifting beneath the pews it is not uncommon for primordial fears of reactionary chaos to shake our own inner peace. “Steady On” is superb navigational advice; but no easy course to steer the good gospel ship when it is your watch at the helm.