The Columbia Partnership

Daily Update for Transforming 2012: Pathways to Vital Ministry—An Online Virtual Learning Experience

Go to www.Transforming2012.info for more information and to register

Ready to Register? Click HERE now.

Wednesday, May 30th

Gene Wilkes has been the Senior Pastor at Legacy Church in Plano, TX for more than 25 years. The church has a heart for the community and its emerging international population. Gene personally has a significant personal ministry as a cyclist. Click HERE to learn more about Gene and his ministry.

Gene is a prolific writer. One of his books, co-authord with Steve Pate--is Evangelism Where You Live: Engaging Your Community. This will be the subject of his webinar and the dialogue that follows. "Many U.S. corporations and a few churches have discovered the importance of serving the community through civic organizations. For corporations the result has been growth and increased revenue. For the limited number of churches, the members have actually been able to experience being a part of an Acts 2 church, fulfilling the Great Commandment and Commission. This book envisions, motivates, and gives effective handles to the pastor and church leaders to implement a biblically based philosophy of ministry."

Bullying in the Church

Recognizing it and Stopping It
A Travel Free Learning Article

By Eddie Hammett, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership
Voice: 828.458.8954, E-mail: EHammett@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Website: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org  

Download Hammett, Bullying in the Church, 5.29.12 Edition

Bullying is a growing issue in our culture—schools, businesses, organizations, families, and communities.  There is also a major problem of bullying in churches and other religious organizations.  It often hides in the shadows of being right, politically right, getting control/power, or this is the way I/we like it done. 

Church bullies are growing across the country as churches struggle with decline in numbers—attendance, membership, participation, impact, finances and loyalty issues.  So often church bullies surface and target the pastor and staff, blaming and often falsely accusing their leaders for the decline in their church’s metrics or status. While certainly leaders do bear some of the responsibility. More often than not these diminishing numbers and impact is a pulpit, pew and cultural issue.

Transforming 2012: Pathways to Vital Ministry

An Online Virtual Learning Experience

June 19-20, 2012

Eleven Webinars followed by Dialogue with Presenters

Go to www.Transforming2012.info for details

Go to https://www.wepay.com/events/transforming-2012 to register

Ticket sales are now live and will close on Monday, June 18th at 2:00 p.m. CDT.

Sponsors

The Columbia Partnership

assisted by

American Baptist Churches of Greater Indianapolis
American Baptist Churches of Indiana/Kentucky
Chalice Press
Christian Church [Disciples of Christ] in the Southwest
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Eastminster Presbytery [Ohio]
General Assembly of the Church of God in Michigan
Grace Presbytery [Texas]
Lucas Park Books
Midwest District, The Christian and Missionary Alliance
Muskingum Valley Presbytery [Ohio]
Reformed Church in America

Pastoral Leadership Failure

What if it Really is the Pastor’s Fault?
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, What If It Really Is the Pastor's Fault, 5.22.12 Edition

Listen to George Bullard dialogue with a group of this article and other related matters:

TFL Dialogue, George Bullard on Pastoral Leadership Failure

Some years ago when I arrived at my office on a Monday morning I already had a message from Wilson. The day before his church had voted down a proposal to sponsor a Korean congregation. He was devastated. I was in shock. He wanted to know if I could come to his church and talk with him about it. I left the local denominational resource center where I directed the missional engagement focus and drove to Wilson’s office.

On the way I reviewed our process. Several months earlier an experienced Korean pastor from another part of the United States had visited with me about the possibility of starting a congregation among Korean people in our city. He was relocating to a seminary a couple of hours from us to pursue another degree, and wanted to start a new congregation while he was in the area. Our city had the largest concentration of people of Korean culture in the state. Would we agree to sponsor his work?

Who's Killing Our Congregation?

Not So Hidden People Undermining the Health of Your Church
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, Who's Killing Our Congregation, 5.17.12 Edition

Read/Download previous article: Download Bullard, What's Killing Our Congregation, 4.3.12 Edition

Maybe you are killing your congregation. It is possible you do not mean to; but it happens. Your motives could be commendable. Yet perhaps you have fallen victim to EGO which is Edging God Out according to management guru and Christian leader Ken Blanchard. It could be that you are trying to reimage your congregation in your image of what it should look like rather than allowing it to be reimaged in God’s image.

In many cases, the classic Pogo cartoon is right when it suggests we have met the enemy and it is us. Often we discover that the person who is a fault—even killing our congregation—is the one we see in the mirror each morning as we put on makeup, shave, or brush teeth.

If you are undermining the health of your congregation, you may be the last to acknowledge it. Others around you may realize it long before you do. Maybe they are afraid to tell you, they have told you several times and you do not hear and understand it, or they have told you and you have protested.