admin, Author at Church Executive

This issue includes an interview with Ken Whitten, Senior Pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church, Lutz, FL. Also included are features on Bible literacy and a resolutions for leaders checklist from Sam. S. Rainer III.

Problem giving

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generosity, Giving, mission, tradition

January 3, 2012 at 9:00 am.

“People don’t have a giving problem; they have a

When to change your auditor

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adminstrator, audit, budget, FINANCE, financial

January 2, 2012 at 9:00 am.

Should you change audit firms? If so, when? Neither not-for-profit nor public companies are required to change firms at set intervals.

It’s no longer your father’s capital campaign

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Capital Campaigns, Communication, fundraising, stewardship

January 2, 2012 at 9:00 am.

How technology and communications are changing church fundraising.

New year brings renewed Bible engagement

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adminstrator, community, congregation, LEADERSHIP, management, pastor, staff, stewardship

January 2, 2012 at 9:00 am.

There’s a renewed focus on the Bible in churches these days, as biblical literacy is making a comeback in congregations and publishing houses in the U.S. “What’s really encouraging to me is that deep Bible engagement within the congregation is eminently doable,” says Paul Caminiti, vice president of church and Bible engagement for the publishing firm Biblica. “But people today realize that we’re in trouble and that we’ve not given the Bible its due,” says Caminiti, himself an expert in this area. “There really is a Bible engagement vacuum in the church. I’ve watched lives transformed when pastors treat Bible engagement like a varsity sport. I’ve watched congregations transformed when instead of little camp fires, a big Bible engagement bonfire is built in the middle of the church.

Language changes translations

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Bible, community, culture, language, society, translation

January 2, 2012 at 9:00 am.

“Every generation needs to go back to the source and put the Bible in the English idiom for themselves.”

Meet Ken Whitten

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adminstrator, business, church, Communication, congregation, LEADERSHIP, ministry, pastor, stewardship

January 2, 2012 at 9:00 am.

Ken Whitten admits that his weakness can be that

Who says small, rural churches can’t grow? Not Shannon O’Dell

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Communication, community, congregation, leaders, LEADERSHIP, management

January 2, 2012 at 9:00 am.

Ever tempted to think “we’re just a country church of 30 souls, we’ll never grow much larger”? Or you’ve thought, “There’s no way we will ever see our church at 3,000 people.” Don’t tell that to Shannon O’Dell, senior pastor of Brand New Church in the small, rural church of Bergman, AR. O’Dell tells about his experience of raising up a church of 30 to 3,000 over just six years in Transforming Church in Rural America: Breaking All the Rurals (New Leaf Press, 2010). He talks about “the rules” about the rurals — “the unspoken but clearly understood values that permeate American Christianity’s beliefs about churches in the boonies.” Bottom line, he says, is “forget the rules.”

Church Executive shared some questions with Pastor O’Dell:

Describe the area in which the church is located; what is “rural” about the area? Bergman, AR, population 407, just got a Dollar General! There are no major employers in this town, but a great school and wonderful people. The Klu Klux Klan is headquartered just a few miles from our campus, but has no impact on slowing down the love of God to every race in our community.