Advance

Today we are going to address the issue of vision. It’s a term that gets bounced around all the time. We all can quote the scripture in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there Is no vision, the people perish.”, but how it effects us is very different. Some of us get super excited when we hear that term, and others want to run the other way. So how important is vision really? And if it is so important, how should we go about defining it, and pursuing it as a church? To help us work through this topic of vision I am thrilled to welcome Tom Tulberg, networking director at Eagle Brook church in the Twin Cities. Eagle Brook is an amazing story of the importance of vision. 

• Many of us have heard of Eagle Brook, but give us a 3 minute version of the Eagle Brook story and what specifically do you do as part of the Eagle Brook team.
• I sometimes get the feeling that we are confused as to what Vision really is. How would you answer that confusion?
• What is the church’s biggest problem with vision. Is it having no vision, not playing out vision, or confusion with vision, or something else?
• If we need to start thinking through vision, where actually should we start? Are there a couple of tools we could sort of launch our discussion/evaluation of vision?
• If there is a church listening right now that would love to work on vision thru the EBA how could they connect.
• Quick commercial for Church Unique

Today we are going to be addressing the issue of prayer in relationship to a healthy church. Last episode we said that preaching the Word was one of the foundational pillars of the church in Acts 2. Another of those foundational pillars is prayer. In Acts chapter six, pastors and elders are encouraged to focus on prayer and the Word in their ministries. We read in 1 Thessalonians 5 to “pray without ceasing.” In Ephesians 6, the armor of God is put on with the covering of “all prayer and supplication.” I could go on and on. Prayer is essential for church health. Unfortunately, there is no ministry of the church in America, no spiritual discipline in the life of the believer that is more difficult to sustain and grow than the prayer. Is it any wonder that so many churches in America are declining. But I believe there is a way forward for us as churches in this critical area of prayer. I believe we can, in fact, see the temperature of prayer raised in our churches. On this episode, I have asked Pastor Dana Olson, pastor of a multi-campus Converge church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to join us. Dana, not only has been pastor for many years, he has been a major voice in our movement regarding the issues of prayer.

• Give us the 2 minute Dana Olson story.
• “The church that prays together stays together”. How are we doing?
• Why do you think it’s so hard to pray?
• You’ve coined the term “Healthy Desperation” as it relates to prayer. Tell us what you mean by that term?
• Can you share a brief personal story of how you’ve seen a church pray with that kind of healthy desperation?
• You often talk about “raising the temperature of prayer” in our churches (another phrase I stole). What are two or three ways we can raise the temp?

Scripture is clear that the proclamation of the Word is one of the most important things we do as a church. Acts two speaks of it as one of the foundational pillars of the church. Paul encourages Timothy to not shrink away from preaching the truth of scripture, just to name two. However, in the midst of a myriad of things we need to be doing as pastors, sometimes the preaching ministry has taken a backseat. To help us talk about the issue of preaching, I have asked Pastor Jeff Dryden, Pastor of a multi-campus Converge MidAmerica church in Michigan, to join us. Jeff has not only been an effective pastor for several years, he has become a major voice of the importance of the priority of preaching in our churches. 

• In Acts 6:4 we are given the call to prioritize the Word and Prayer as pastors. How are we doing as pastors with the “Word” part?
• I just watched a documentary on the life of Martin Lloyd Jones, and watching it reminded me that preaching was really an “art” form. Jones’ sermons were so well crafted that they became classic books. I’m not sure how many of our sermons are “book” worthy. Has the “art” of preaching changed? How should we view preaching in 2020?
•  We should all recognize the need to improve our preaching, so if you would, why don’t you give us two or three things we should be thinking about to improve our preaching.
• Tell us about Fellowship of the Word, and how can our listeners find out more about it.

This is episode 2 of the podcast, and today I’m grateful to welcome back Dr. Bruce Hopler, Executive Director of Church Strengthening with Converge.

• Today, let’s talk about evaluating the health of the ministries within the church. How do church leaders go about evaluating that?
• How does the church cycle bell curve work?
• How do you need to lead a ministry depending on where it is on the bell curve? 
• We’ve talked a lot about individual ministries - how about evaluating the church as a whole this way?

 Bruce shares how listeners can contact him for coaching and consulting.

An introduction to the Advance Podcast. Each episode will have an interview with a pastor or leader who will be encouraging us with content that God has specifically used through them in significant and effective ways. The content will be rich, yet concise enough that it can be shared at staff meetings, board meetings, or with other pastors you are connected with. I believe we are better when we are learning together, so see these episodes as conversation starters that will help your church, and the churches you collaborate with to be increasingly fruitful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is our first official episode of the podcast, and we’re kicking it off by dealing with the question all other episodes will be trying to answer, “What Is A Healthy Church?” To help us answer this 30,000ft question, I am excited to welcome our first guest, Dr. Bruce Hopler. Bruce is the Executive Director of Church Strengthening with Converge, our parent organization. Not only is Bruce an experienced and gifted leader in our movement, he is also my friend. This episode answers the following questions.

• What is Converge, and what is Dr.Hopler's role within Converge.
• 85% of churches in America are either declining or plateaued and plateaued really means declining most of the time. A short discussion about the reasons for this statistic?
• What are the most important pillars for a to a healthy church to build around?
• How important are numbers (3 B’s) in church health? What’s more important, quantitative or qualitative health?
•  If a church is in that 85% of declining churches, what’s the first thing they should think about?