“Get Paid to Go to Church.” This headline appears in classified ads all over Missouri, and it’s catching the attention of unchurched individuals everywhere. It’s not a gimmick or a scam. It’s a mystery visitor program designed to provide feedback to church leaders on how their worship services are experienced by first-time visitors.
No doubt as investors or participants in an employer’s 401(k)or IRA retirement fund, many congregants are used to perusing financial statements that affect them. They may or may not understand the fine details, but many a financial advisor has remarked at how good people can be at getting to the bottom line.
On a recent Sunday morning at my church, I saw the future of content and publishing in the face of a woman named Laurie, one of the members of the adult Bible study I teach. At the end of our class time on this particular Sunday, Laurie approached me with her latest purchase, a sleek new Kindle 2, the popular electronic book reading device produced by Amazon.
There are opportunities, believe it or not, for churches and other faith-based nonprofits in an economic downturn. In order to survive, churches have no choice but to continue striking a balance in conducting ministry initiatives, relationship-building and business.
Cecil Murphey is known as “The Man Behind the Words” in his role as the author or co-author of 112 books, including the New York Times bestseller 90 Minutes in Heaven (with Don Piper), on that list since October 2006. His books have sold millions and have given hope and encouragement to readers around the world.
Michael Leahy knows of what he speaks. He was addicted to pornography. On the first page of his introduction of his latest book, Porn @ Work: Exposing the Office’s #1 Addiction (Northfield Publishing, 2009), he notes that “70 percent of all online porn access occurs during the nine-five workday.”
In the age of social networking, face-to-face connections are more important than ever to America’s churches. One way congregations seek to preserve personal relationships among members is through the creation or maintenance of a photo directory.
You’ve heard of the 10/40 Window, an area of the world with great poverty and the largest population of non-Christians, extending 10 to 40 degrees from the equator across North Africa to China. But there is another window opening on the world, one that many in the church have grown so accustomed to, we don’t even think of its being there. It’s the 40/50 Window.
I’ll never forget the phone call I received from Joel Osteen to let me know his father — long time Houston pastor John Osteen — had passed away. It was January 1999, not a great way to start a new year. John Osteen birthed Lakewood Church on Mother’s Day 1959 in the most humble possible way — a rural feed store outside of Houston.
Step back and think about branding a church that still worships in a building built in 1891 (that’s not a transposition of numerals either) and in the center of that sanctuary stands a pulpit 118 years old. Then add the geographic context of being located in a city that is home to so many great churches.
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