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(Reprinted from Church Leader Magazine)
As all of us know, it is difficult to raise children. To complicate this issue, throw in the rising cost of everything. The cost of living is rising, and it looks like that trend will continue for several months or even longer. To help families, some churches might want to offer a class on “Raising Children on a Shoestring Budget”. This will not only bless the families in your church but will be beneficial to the unchurched community as well. If planning to do this type of ministry/class, here are some things to remember:
1. Set the date and put it on the church calendar.
2. Publicize it on social media (consider an inexpensive ad on Facebook).
3. Offer childcare.
4. Find a good communicator who is fluent in the subject.
5. Invite those who attend to your services and a small group.
To register yourself or your church group, please contact the CRBA office or visit www.crbanc.org/events.
Phone: (828) 437-0137
Email: admin@crbanc.org
Our Ladies Ministry is working to bless families during our upcoming BurkeChangers event this summer by collecting items to be included in a hygiene ministry bag. These bags will be distributed to families in Burke County at the 4 Block Parties conducted by our students. We need your help. Consider collecting the below items over the next few months and bring them to our CRBA office by April 25th.
Items to be collected include:
- Bars of Soap
- Washcloths
- Combs or Brushes
- Shampoo and Conditioner (travel size)
- Hand Sanitizer or Wet Wipes (travel size)
- Toothbrushes
- Toothpaste (travel size)
- Dental Floss
This is a great “Easy Button” mission project for any size church. Please let us know if you will be helping us with this ministry or if you have any questions.
EQUIP 2022/Spring Meeting will be a great event/conference where you can choose to equip yourself for ministry. Please put March 15th, 2022, on your calendar and make plans to be there.
Some of the classes we will be offering in the evening include (but are not limited to):
- Helping Churches with Technology
- Starting (and Re-starting) Small Groups
- Nuts and Bolts of Deacon Ministry
- Youth Ministry 101
- The Worship Leading Choir
- Better Together (Mergers and Church Fostering)
- Help, I’m the Church Treasurer
- Developing Disciple-Making Disciples
- Missions Ministry in Cincinnati
- Prayer on Purpose
- Fostering Opportunities in Burke County
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To register yourself or your church group, please contact the CRBA office or visit www.crbanc.org/events.
Phone: (828) 437-0137
Email: admin@crbanc.org
5 Shifts To Make In Your Hospitality Team This Year
by Danny Franks
Copied from www.churchanswers.com
It’s the beginning of a brand-new trip around the sun, and all of us are experiencing some form of renewal, restarting, or rebranding. No matter your personal take on resolutions, there’s something about a fresh page on the calendar to make us think about what could be.
If you serve or lead in any capacity in your church’s guest services or hospitality ministry, I’d like to offer you five shifts to consider this year. You may already be doing one or all of these, but they’re a good litmus test for the maturity of your ministry.
Shift 1: from “all about the weekend” to “all about Jesus.”
I don’t fault people who use the term “It’s all about the weekend.” I’ve used it myself, many times. I get what they’re getting at. But it’s easy to slide into the mindset that what we do in a Saturday and Sunday service is more about our quality, our organization, and our giftings than it is about the One we should be all about. We can never assume that Jesus is the centerpiece, the foundation, the beginning, and the end of everything that we do. When we start to assume Him is when we start to overlook Him. Let’s hold Jesus high to our volunteers, to our guests, and to our own souls as we desperately cry out to him to do what only He can do.
Shift 2: from “visitor” to “guest.”
If you’re still using the dreaded “v-word,” stop it. Stop it right now. Knock that junk off. I once had a friend show up at my house at 8:40 pm. I didn’t know he was coming. There was no crisis that precipitated the visit. He just … showed up. And he stayed. Until 12:19 am. That night my friend was a visitor. I didn’t expect him, and I didn’t know if he was ever leaving. But the people that come to your place on the weekend? You should know they’re coming. You should have a plan. They should feel like you wanted them to come and can’t wait for them to come back.
Shift 3: from “guest” to “family.”
Someone recently took me to task on my use of the term “guest services.” I’ll dig in a bit deeper in a future post but let me speak out of both sides of my mouth for a minute. Side one: we seek to create weekend experiences where everyone is treated like a guest. From the brand-new family that just moved in all the way up to the lead pastor, we want to greet and treat everyone like an honored part of the weekend. But there’s an obvious side two, and that is the reality is people don’t need to stay in a guest mentality. We need systems to move people into action. We need plans to get them off the sidelines and into the game. We need to move them from connected to committed.
Shift 4: from “come and see” to “go and tell.”
I am not at all against “come and see” (i.e., attractional models of ministry). I wrote about that fairly extensively in chapter four of People Are the Mission. The problem comes when we focus only on “come and see” to the neglect of “go and tell.” This is a shift we’re praying about, thinking about, and strategizing about this year on our teams: how can we take our current roster of volunteers and help them beef up their personal evangelism? How can we make sure that the gospel isn’t just being preached on the stage, but shared in the parking lot? How can we help our teams have an evangelistic mindset lanyard and head back to their real lives?
Shift 5: from “leader of volunteers” to “leader of leaders.”
Before you dismiss this because leader isn’t in your title, hang with me. I don’t care whether you are on the payroll at your church or if you do what you do for free. If you have relationships, you have influence. You are – in some way – a leader. And you can exercise that leadership influence to be a taskmaster, calling other people to embrace a job description and a checklist. Or you can use your influence as a leader to raise up other leaders: to cast vision, to call out gifts, and to create a perpetual cycle of growth where your gifts are multiplied into those who come after you.
This article was originally published at ChurchAnswers.com. Thom S. Rainer serves as founder and CEO of Church Answers. Dr. Rainer publishes a daily blog and podcast at ChurchAnswers.com and can be found on Twitter @ThomRainer and at facebook.com/Thom.S.Rainer.
Church News
Amherst Baptist is seeking a Pastor.
Antioch Baptist is seeking a bi-vocational Pastor.
Icard’s Grove Baptist is seeking a bi-vocational Pastor.
Mull’s Grove Baptist is seeking a bi-vocational Music Minister. Please send resumes and questions to brodruemgbc@att.net.
Pleasant Hill Baptist is seeking a part-time Worship Pastor/Leader.
Southside is seeking a Church Secretary. All questions and resumes should be sent to rlawrencelaw52@gmail.com.
Wilkies Grove is seeking a full-time Associate Pastor. Please send resumes and questions to:
Mr. Chris Bortnick
(WGBC Pastor Church Committee, Chair)
5780 Wilkies Grove Church Rd.
Hickory, NC 28602
bortnick@charter.net
828.413.0060
Partner News
Blue Ridge Christian News is seeking someone to distribute their monthly paper throughout Burke County. If interested in the position, please contact Brian Barrier at 828-413-0506.
Stantonsburg FBC is seeking a pastor and is located 50 miles east of Raleigh. If interested, please send resumes to:
SFBC Pastor Search Team
PO Box 356
Stantonsburg, NC 27883
FBC Hildebrand is seeking a Pianist, Organist & Part-time Music Director for our church. This is a paid position. This will require you to be here for Sunday & Wednesday services and any special services; revival, cantata, dramas, etc. Please submit your resume to the church office by mail at PO Box 220, Hildebran NC 28637, or you can email your resume to Kendra Arrowood ministry@fbchildebran.com.
First Baptist Hildebran is also prayerfully seeking a full-time pastor. First Baptist Hildebran is in the Foothills of North Carolina in the town of Hildebran. Our church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Catawba Valley Baptist Association. We are seeking a Pastor that adheres to the Baptist faith and has a Master of Divinity degree (or equivalent) or is in pursuit of a degree with a conservative evangelical faith. To learn more about our church and see a complete list of qualifications, please visit www.fbchildebran.com.
Resumes may be sent to:
First Baptist Hildebran
Senior Pastor Search Committee
PO Box 220
Hildebran, NC 28637 or
ministry@fbchildebran.com
Glenwood Baptist Church is seeking a man of God to be our full-time pastor. If interested, please submit your resume to:
Glenwood Baptist Church
Attn: Pastor Search Committee
PO Box 218
Glenwood, NC 28737
Or online at glenwoodbaptistchurch@yahoo.com.
In February 2022, Baptists on Mission will host a series of Regional Mission Rallies across the state. These rallies (10 of them) will highlight the variety of opportunities NC Baptists have to be involved in missions across our state, in our nation, and around the world. Featured will be worship, testimony, mission video, and a prayer time for missions. These rallies are for anyone in your church who is interested in missions. A main focus of these rallies will be state, national, international partnerships and projects (including Disaster Relief) and the NC Missions Offering. https://baptistsonmission.org/events/region-rallies
The Catawba River Baptist Association is associated with Region 8. Below are the details and links to register for this event.
Region 8
Monday, February 21, 2022
Mt Ruhama Baptist Church
3273 Mt Ruhama Church Road
Maiden, NC 28650
Directions
To register, please click HERE.
The cut-off for registration is a week before the event.
Baptists on Mission Disaster Relief Training
The one-day spring trainings are for anyone who wants to be certified for the first time or for those wanting to update their badge date.
Training is valid for three years. If you need to update your valid certification date in Feeding, Recovery and/or Assessment and you have served on a disaster relief deployment in that ministry you may update your certification online. You must update your certification within the year that your badge expires for a specific ministry. As a part of the online certification, you will need to get a current background check and watch a short video. Click HERE to begin your online certification for the classes mentioned above. After completing these two steps you will be mailed a new badge. The cost for online certification using only the video is $20. If you do not wish to certify online you are welcome to attend one of the regional trainings listed below and take the in-person class again. Click on the detail/register button to choose your location.
ALL TRAINING REGISTRATION closes on the Monday prior to each training weekend.
Saturday: 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
The cost is $40 per person.
Region 8 DR Training – First Baptist Church, Hickory, NC – Saturday, April 30