5 Reasons Your Church Should Serve Single Moms

Single Mom

With an estimated 15 million single mothers in the United States and numbers increasing daily, it is imperative that the local church have a thriving single mothers program. It is estimated that 67% of single mothers do not actively attend church.  As the church – the body of Christ – this should pain us. It should keep us up at … [Read more...]

Tell the Truth

Truth

We live in a generation where knowledge is power.  It seems that if you know the most, you have power over those who know less.  We esteem information over just about everything else.  This is why we are often consumed with learning how to do things better.  We spend hours and days in training and seminars learning how to do many … [Read more...]

How Can My Small Group Serve Together?

servetogether

While often in a group we emphasize care, connection and application, service is an important part of group life. As a smaller expression of the church, I believe that every small group should include all five biblical purposes: connect, grow, reach, serve and worship. (More on reach and worship on another day). While individual … [Read more...]

WYD Open – Interview with Matt Hamilton

wydopen

WYDopen is dedicated to helping people apply their talents & gifts to serve others. WYDopen captures volunteer information and information from organizations that are looking for volunteers. Organizations can embed opportunities on their website as well as recruit volunteers from the WYDopen site. WYDopen uses social networking … [Read more...]

Your Church – God’s Hope for Orphans

Adoption-Pic

You were an orphan once. You may have grown up with a father and a mother. Physically, you may not be an orphan. But you were a spiritual orphan. You were a spiritual orphan until you were adopted by God. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus … [Read more...]

Shawn Lovejoy on The Measure of Our Success

The Measure of Our Success

We recently caught up with Shawn Lovejoy between breakouts at Exponential. His new book, The Measure of Our Success, was debuted during the conference and we see it as one of the most important reads for Pastors in recent times. Shawn candidly and transparently shares from his own mistakes and issues a challenge to Pastors to determine … [Read more...]

Video: Your Church’s Involvement in Caring for Orphans

Orphans

Embedded media from Saddleback Media Center At Saddleback orphan care is one of our signature issues. We have a goal of 1,000 families from our church adopting orphans – 500 from overseas and 500 from the United States. We’re already halfway to this goal! Some of those Saddleback families have even adopted two or three kids. You … [Read more...]

Pluck and Plop Evangelism or Flip and Flow Evangelism

Pluck Plop

What's your approach to evangelism and disciple making? Dr. John DeVries, founder of Mission India, introduced me to the concept of "pluck and plop" evangelism. It's the most common form of evangelism practiced in the West. It's also the main reason not a single county in America showed a net increase in Christians in the past 30 … [Read more...]

It’s Okay to Be an Uncool Church

Light.World.Jesus

Is your church defined more by its reaction to “boring” churches than by its response to a needy world? I had to sympathize with rock singer Bono when he discovered he was uncool. Uncool? The frontman for supergroup U2, one of the biggest bands in the world? The activist who travels the globe and meets with kings and presidents? … [Read more...]

Free eBook: Stories of Sifted (Exponential)

freedownload

This book is an important resource for men and women of all ages in all church contexts. By thinking about suffering as a process to participate in and actively embrace instead of a season to avoid, we can learn to recognize God’s hand in our lives, moving from discouragement to joy and peace that transcends adversity. “Planting a … [Read more...]