Eric Hoey

Ironman opportunity

The Louisville Ironman is coming to town for the third year in a row. A local paper states that 3000 people from all over the world will line the streets of the route. However some of the locals in Oldham County are not happy, including one pastor. He says that he is concerned about “the safety of the drivers and bike riders.” Half of their usual attendees show up for Sunday service because the church is along the route of the Ironman.

I am embarrassed that the paper used the pastor and church attendance as an argument for not having the Ironman. Is church attendance really a safety issue like he originally states? Or is the pastor upset because his service is disrupted? I wonder what would happen if the church heard that God was calling them to be the “hands and feet of Christ” during the Ironman!!!

What would your church do?

How Bone Marrow Transplant is like Evangelism

 

I don’t even know his name. He is a 39 year old male who is dying from acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. What will save his life is a bone marrow transplant from a donor. Recently I discovered that I am a perfect match for this patient. After reading, listening, signing, and offering blood samples, (I began to feel like a soda fountain!)  I will offer my life saving marrow for this patient on Sept. 3^rd. 

Bone marrow transplants are not what people perceive. Today, to be placed in the registry, it only takes a simple cotton swab to get your tissue sample. My offering to the patient is to take a medicine by injection for 5 days (doctors have been using this on leukemia patients for over 20 years) to boost the stem cells in my blood. On the day of collection, I will be hooked up to a machine that will separate my blood, they harvest the stem cells, and the rest goes back into me.

How do I feel about being able to take precious time and blood to save a person’s life? I am elated!  And yet there is seriousness to it.  Once I begin my injections, the patient is undergoing chemo therapy to destroy every cancerous cell in his body. If he does not receive my stem cells, he will die. There is no backing out once the process has begun.

What if evangelism is like this?  People around us, people we don’t even know are dying spiritually, every day. We have this opportunity to participate in giving life by sharing our faith with others.  If we refuse, everybody loses.  Spiritual death occurs.

 My prayer for the church is that more people will offer the life transforming news of Christ to others.  Let’s getting going, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”

Personality Based Evangelism

Ever wondered if there was more to evangelism than being offensive and confrontational? Check out my review of a new book called, Got Style? Personality Based Evangelism. This book is a must have for anyone who is afraid of evangelism. You will determine your own specific evangelistic style, learn the biblical support, the pros and cons, and how it is used in the Body of Christ. This book is an excellent resource for the church.

www.pcusa.org/goodnews

The Gospel in Three Minutes

Sounds crazy right? Is it possible to explain the Christian faith in three minutes?   Check out James Choung's attempt at presenting a new approach to the tradional models of evangelism.  The Big Story is one of my favorite resources because it is a new fresh approach to the old traditional models of evangelism.

Check out the video below and let me know what you think.

A powerful video from the other side

The largest barrier to sharing my faith is me. When I am caught up with my own issues and problems, I seem to enjoy wallowing in self-pity. Every now and then, God takes a hold of me and gets my attention. I am always invited to see things from God's perspective. When I do, the world become a different place. I am no longer worried about my own issues, but God is at work in the world around me. All I need to do is listen to God's voice of how I am to respond. Let the following video see life from the other side:

Taking Ownership in Evangelism

I found a 1996 Presbyterian Panel Survey that made a summarizing comment:

 Pastors and laity tend to have different perspectives on which group has major responsibility for membership growth and decline. Pastors are more likely to see laity in that role, while laity are more likely to see pastor’s in the role.

I wonder if the survey occurred today if the result would be any different? I would imagine not much has changed in 12 years. There seems to be a clear divide between who is responsible for the growth and decline of the church. We love to blame everyone else than to look at ourselves to see if we are the problem.

In our own constitution, it says, "The Church is called to present the claims of Jesus Christ. leading persons to repentance, acceptance of him as Savior and Lord, and new life as his disciples." (G-3.0300b) Evangelism with respect to church growth must be done first, and church growth will be the natural outcome of our Church's faithfulness to the evangelistic call. If we have done our evangelism, church growth would not be a problem. But it is a problem. We are declining rapidly. Membership growth through evangelism must be the call to the whole church both elders and pastors. Let's stop pointing fingers, and point more people to Christ Jesus.

Presbyterian Presence: An Outdated form of Church Growth

The other day, I was driving by a university where my host told me about the campus and what religious entities were on the campus. He told me that the Catholics has a strong presence with the Newman Center and the Presbyterians do not have any presence at the campus. If I were a proud Presbyterian, I would be thinking, “Why not, we should be leaving our mark everywhere!!!”

With new church developments of yesteryear, Presbyterians planted churches with the strict intent to be a “Presbyterian presence” in the community. We built big buildings in the most prominent places to tell the community that the Presbyterians are here! People flocked to us. However, today, everything is different. We cannot plant churches the way we used to 50 or 100 years ago. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having such a significant influence in the society that if your church were to disappear tomorrow the whole community would mourn. What I am saying is that in an era of limited funds and lack of institutional trust, “Presbyterian presence” is NOT a good rationale for planting churches.

We must be planting churches where God desires us to participate in what God is already doing in a community. Prayer, seeing the community with God’s eyes, great demographics, and leadership with the right mix of gifts that match ministry in the context of the community, these are all aspects of ministry every church needs to consider in order to be relevant to our changing context. Once we have these mastered, the Presbyterian presence will come.

Book Review: It by Craig Groeschel

IT.
Some ministries have IT. Some don’t.
Most churches want IT. Few have IT.
When a church has IT, everyone can tell.
And when a church doesn’t…everyone can tell.
(It: How Church Leaders Can Get It and Keep It, Craig Groeschel, p. 8)

     A new book for 2008 that captured my attention from cover to cover was Craig Groeschel’s, It. Intrigued by the title and the concept, I quickly learned that he wrote a book about what every church leader is trying to find. It is a book about how to put vibrancy and health back into a congregation. It is a leadership book about seven contributing factors of congregations that have it.
     Written in a contemporary style of authenticity, simplicity, and highly illustrated with stories, and pictures, the book is about the author’s journey to put vibrancy back into his own ministry. After studying the 13 campuses of  Lifechurch.tv, he found certain characteristics in many congregations that was missing in his own church. Craig Groeschel admits that he had lost it in his ministry and what he did to get it back.
     The substance of the book is found in the seven contributing ingredients to it. Key factors include:

· Vision: You Can See It Clearly
· Divine Focus: You Know Where It is Not
· Unmistakable Camaraderie: You Enjoy It with Others
· Innovative Minds: You’ll Do Anything for It
· Willingness to Fall Short: You Fail Toward It
· Hearts Focused Outward: You Want Others to Have It.
· Kingdom-Mindedness: You Share It

     You might consider his “factors” to it as overly simplistic, but the strength of the book is the discussion questions found at the end of each chapter. I feel that every leadership team needs to read this book and take the time to assess their own congregation through the discussion questions. Read It. It is a quick and easy read. The implications for our churches could change the landscape of our denomination forever.

Evangelism Coordinator for the PC(USA)

Do you have a love and passion for evangelism? Would you be interested in working in Louisville KY, coordinating and promoting the work of evangelism for the PC(USA)? Do you enjoy training others how to share their faith? Would you like to be on the cutting edge of setting strategies and inspiring middle governing bodies and congregations on how to do evangelism? Do you enjoy surrounding yourself in evangelism resources to determine what is the best fit for a given PCUSA congregation. Are you willing to work with a diverse team of leaders who are passionate about helping our churches grow? We have the job for you! Please follow this link, Evangelism Coordinator, and send us your resume.

Change: From Comfort to Wellness

At a recent hotel stay, I was given the keycard for my room in a folder that promoted the hotel’s BrainBodyFitness program. The purpose of the program was to offer its guests throughout the hotel opportunities to exercise their body and mind. Inside the folder were puzzles for the mind and exercise routines for the body. Everywhere I went, I ran into some aspect of their BrainBodyFitness program. Even the coasters for the drinking glasses had puzzles to emphasize their commitment to help me live a healthy life. Gone are the days where this particular hotel chain emphasizes that it will cater to my every need and become my home away from home. In this program, if I think about a healthy lifestyle, I am to think about this hotel. This is a radical shift in marketing. To a certain extent, I was envious because they had made the shift in from luring me with comfort to luring me to a place that is best for my needs. They want to change my life! In the same way, the Presbyterian Church needs to learn from this. We must make a severe paradigm shift in our thinking. The church is no longer a place where one can feel comfortable being with other Presbyterians, but a church that is faithful to the calling of Christ upon our lives and ministry. We must become a church that is relevant and offering better spiritual health for those outside the church walls.