THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 21 "THIS ONE THING DO RIGHT"

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 21 "THIS ONE THING DO RIGHT":      IF there's one thing King Hezekiah did right, was HE PRAYED.  Twice in our text today we read, in response to Hezekiah's prayer...

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 20 "SATAN'S TESTIMONIALS"

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 20 "SATAN'S TESTIMONIALS":      I WAS not around approx 3000 years ago when this situation took place with the King of Assyria, but I sure do recognize the voice and t...

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 19 "DID PAUL SAY HE WISHES THEY WOULD ( ...

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 19 "DID PAUL SAY HE WISHES THEY WOULD ( ...:      DID Paul really write/say that he wishes they would emasculate themselves? The Message translation writes, " Why don't these a...

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 19 "DID PAUL SAY HE WISHES THEY WOULD ( ...

THE ONE YEAR BIBLE CLUB: SEPTEMBER 19 "DID PAUL SAY HE WISHES THEY WOULD ( ...:      DID Paul really write/say that he wishes they would emasculate themselves? The Message translation writes, " Why don't these a...

Church Growth: IS MORALE A VIRTUE OF GROWTH?

Church Growth: IS MORALE A VIRTUE OF GROWTH?: I was reading recently about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off one of their worse seasons ever. What struck me most about the article i...

IS "MORALE" A VIRTUE OF GROWTH?

I was reading recently about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off one of their worse seasons ever. What struck me most about the article is one of the players describing the morale in the locker room. He said it was unbearable.  It was one thing to lose, but to have to deal with the atmosphere in that locker room was worse.  It made me think, here is a locker room full of qualified, super athletes, they have excelled past the best in high school, excelled past the best in College, now they are in the Professional Football League, the best of the best, but yet, they can do nothing right.  A room full of high caliber men, reduced to nothing, but losing; and not for lack of talent or ability but due mainly, to low morale.  It made me think of why some Churches struggle and seem to have a very hard time putting together a game winning plan, the reason, low morale. You can have the best athletes on your team, but if the morale is low, you will have a loser team. You can have a church full of talented and gifted men/women, but if the morale is low, they will be unproductive and will hardly have the heart to get involved and engage their talents and abilities. I was always taught in business, always bring out the negative and finish with the positive.   Never correct without also telling someone what they are doing right. If all people’s efforts ever brings them is correction, condescension and criticism, people will give up and stop trying. I don’t care if you’re 5 years old or 50 years old, this principle applies. Many Pastor’s, Leaders & Laymen are destroying the very work they want to build, by this action. Proverbs speak about the foolish woman, who tears down her house instead of building it. Well, the Church is the Pastor’s House (so to speak), the Pastor’s Baby, he is travailing to give birth to that Church and nurture that congregation and it can very well be, that he is tearing down the very thing he’s trying to build up, unknowingly, ( I hope) by creating an atmosphere of very low morale.  If you find yourself in an atmosphere where nobody wants to rise up, get involved and venture out to do something, then you have to sit back and ask yourself, why? It is either you have landed yourself a congregation full of misfits, rebels and sloths or more realistically, you have a church where morale is low and then you have to ask yourself, “why is the morale so low?” The answer to many Pastors, according to statistics, is take the next flight out, to another Church, ascribe to the fallacy that the grass is greener on the other side, rather than stick it through and task yourself to bring morale back to that congregation. Most Pastors, who leave one Church to go to another, will find themselves dealing with the same issues they left in their previous congregation, only to find, they uprooted their families and lives, in search of a greener, easier pasture, and did not find it. Perhaps, we get a quick surge of adrenaline and testosterone surge when we “go off” and “let them have it!”,  “I’ll show them who’s in charge” but often times, the only person leaving that meeting feeling good is the one that “vented all his anger, disappointment and frustration”. One thing, Pastor’s, Leaders & Laymen must never forget;  The Church of Christ exists solely on a “volunteer army”.  It is not a corporation where you are paying a high profile executive with expectations of high profit and output from that individual, otherwise he’s out and on with the next. The Church of Jesus Christ functions by the free will offering of the Saints, their time, energy, talents and money.  And although, most Pastors understand their members aren’t going anywhere because the members are too intertwined in the congregation, by extended family, children & friends, a Pastor should never take that for granted and exploit that.  And if it is exploited or manipulated enough, the unthinkable can happen. The Church that grows is a Church that has high morale in the locker room (so to speak).  It is a Church where you are not afraid to try, not afraid to fail, not afraid to mess up or do something wrong. It is a Church where efforts are encouraged, people are uplifted and edified when they come to Church, not put down and condemned.  What atmosphere is in your Church? What atmosphere, Pastor, Leader, Laymen are you creating in your Church, ministry or Youth Group?  Is there no desire for anyone to rise up, take risks, get involved? Then perhaps you ought to take a thermostat out and take a reading to see what level the morale is at, in your Church, Ministry or Youth Group.