God’s people are no strangers to adversity. You don’t have to read very far into the stories of the Bible to find people created in the image of God facing trials of tremendous proportions as they sought to dwell in a world plagued by sin. Abraham, Moses, David, Israel, the disciples and the early Church
Could Adversity Serve Aa A Catalyst For Church Revitalization? Read More »
In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins states that one of the critical pieces of leadership is getting the right people on the right seats of the bus. If you are thinking of building an Associational Revitalization Team to serve your churches, you have determined that you need a bus; but who will be
Staffing an Associational Revitalization Team Read More »
From the people in the pew to the professor in the seminary, an enormous amount of energy is being focused on the burning question of the day: What do we do to help declining churches? In fact, there is hardly a place in the Christian life where the topic of church decline and demise is
6 Benefits of an Associational Revitalization Team Read More »
The other day on my drive to meet with a church I pulled up behind a sporty-looking car that seemed to have much more horsepower than my 4-cylinder, lightweight engine. It was a sleek 2-door with low profile tires, a carbon fiber spoiler and everything you would expect a high-caliber sports car to have. But
Aren’t Church Revitalization and reSTARTing the Same Things? Read More »
Have you ever tried to drive a car while your front windshield was completely fogged? I remember riding in my friend’s 1964 Ford Mustang early one morning and we continually battled fogging windows. It was such a reoccurring problem that my friend kept an old rag tucked into the corner of the dashboard for easy
Helping a Church See Their Current Reality Clearly Read More »
Sans Souci Baptist Church turned 92 in 2018. Like many churches it is a church that has seen great heights, particularly in the 1960s and 70s when it was one of the largest churches in Greenville, South Carolina, but it had experienced a significant decline over the past decade. Sans Souci is located in a
What Is Restarting? Read More »
“I don’t want to see my church die.” These were the words of a faithful member who was added to the “cradle roll” of her lifelong church months before she was ever born. Her whole religious life was recorded in the history of this South Carolina Baptist church. Her parents were founding members of the
Reinvestment For New Beginnings Read More »
When you start a conversation with your SC Baptist team, the following steps will be utilized by our team and partners to determine the best option for restoring hope to your church. Exploration (Initial meeting with leadership team) The goals of exploration are to establish a relationship with the leadership of the church, gain an understanding
Church Consultation Process Read More »
I was recently invited to worship and consult with a congregation that has dwindled down to about a dozen members in spite of meeting in a prime location with thousands of people passing by their worship center every day. They sang the hymns of old with a remnant ensemble, their interim delivered a stirring call
3 Pathways For Restoring Hope to At-Risk Churches Read More »
In Spartanburg, SC, Hub City Church and Oak Grove Baptist Church recently merged, bringing together two congregations that were going through a revitalization process. The merger came after seven years of existence of Hub City Church, when the church plant felt stuck and unsure of what was next. Through the revitalization process, Hub City Church
Revitalization in Spartanburg Community Read More »
