From Sampler to Sower

The Title Slide from Sunday's Message

This Sunday our church tried something different.  That in and of itself would be enough for me to love our church — we have no problem at all trying something new.  However, in the famous words of Ed Valenti, “But wait. There’s more!”

Pastor Phil Rogers spent all week telling people they did not want to be late for church this Sunday because something was in the works that has never happened at our church.  And we could tell something was different from the first moment we entered the sanctuary.  The customary greeters met us at the doors and handed us a packet of sermon notes that had been sealed, along with a stern warning not to open the folder until we were instructed to do so.

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OK, so maybe he’s not talking specifically about youth ministry, but I think there might be some applications we can draw.

Yesterday, Tim Sanders, author, speaker and former Chief Solutions Officer for Yahoo!, published a post on his blog entitled The Recovery is On!  In it he summarizes a speech he delivered recently to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s CEO Forum.  During that speech he gave advice to business leaders about how to lead their companies out of the recession, based on research on what made the difference between successful and average companies coming out of previous recessions.

Granted, it’s not your typical youth ministry blog fare, but I strongly suggest you head on over and check it out.

I couldn’t help but wonder what applications his advice has for churches in general and youth ministry in particular.

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