Four Types of Churches by Jose Cortes, Jr. & Brian Ford
There are different types of churches. Some of them are successful, while others are not. What type of church do you have? Watch this video to find out. Learn how to identify different types of churches and ways to help refine or maintain your current type.
Jose Cortes Jr. is Associate Director of the North American Division Ministerial Association. He leads in the association's areas of Evangelism, Church Planting, Global Mission, Church Growth, and Mission to the Cities for the Adventist Church in North America.
Brian Ford is Director of the North American Division eAdventist Membership Services and eAdventist Membership Services
Portfolio Careers in Music and Ministry: A Conversation with Anwar Ottley
“The traditional path of a student specializing in music studies has aligned itself with a few key areas—performance, pedagogy, and education. However, as a society evolves, so do the needs of its people, and this has posed a broader pool of professional opportunities for those seeking a career under the umbrella of music.”
Worship and Healing: An Interview with Richard Hickam
“The core of the social practice of music is connectedness. God is triune and also desires a relationship with His creation. We are also wired this way, and the arts in worship contribute with wide-ranging benefits, including healing our spirit. When we come together and worship God through music, we participate in a way that is physical, mental, and spiritual—the trifecta experience!”
Learning and Worshiping Together: An Interview with Adriana Perera
“What I am most excited to share with the community who will be coming to the Worship Leadership Certificate in August is the extraordinary opportunity to engage with music resources, training, inspiring worship experiences, and a network of nationally and internationally prominent worship scholars and leaders.”
Remembering the “Why” of Worship
“We seek holistic transformation and pursue “best practices” in our lives and ministries—including worship. But we do this not so that God will love and accept us but because God already does.”
A Cultural Intelligence-Emotional Intelligence Approach to Cross Cultural Conflict
As the pastor you are facing an accusation that there’s discrimination taking place in the church. What do you do?
To handle this problem, it’s important that the apostles not react in attack mode but instead exhibit some of the recognized qualities of high emotional intelligence
The Bible says the apostles gathered, which means they chose the culturally intelligent low power collaborative approach that sought an immediate outcome.
Bonus for Living in a High Cost Area
If you own a home in a high cost of living area, you are more likely to have a greater net worth.
Blacks, Hispanics, and Women have a higher net worth than White Men, likely because they tend to live in a high cost of living area.
While pastors can’t change their race/ethnicity or gender they can change their zip code.
Forgiveness and Loving Well in Cases of Abuse: a Brief Interview with the Authors
There remains a deep misunderstanding in religious communities that conflates forgiveness with immediate reintegration.
Unfortunately, in these situations, pastors very often get it wrong and end up supporting the manipulative abuser who presents like a victim.
A place where pastors can help mitigate the effects of abuse is by not contributing to double abuse.
NAD Women Clergy Retreat
339 women clergy currently serve in the North American Division.
The Ministerial Association is hosting a division-wide women clergy retreat October 9 through October 12, 2023.
Registration fee is low because this is a gift to our women clergy, but it goes up on May 31.
The Volunteer Lay Pastors Program by Walter Castro
Walter Castro talks about the Volunteer Lay Pastors Program in this Church Planters Bootcamp 2021 presentation. He says that the Volunteer Lay Pastors Program is a new trend that is moving fast across the North American Division and how much the laity is needed for churches to be planted, grow, and multiply.
Walter Castro is the Volunteer Lay Pastors Director for the Florida Conference of SDA
The Lifebridge Church by Dustin Serns
In this video, Dustin Serns presents the process of planting the LifeBridge Church during the 2020 pandemic. Serns talks about following the PLANT acronym as he started his church: P - Pray and recruit. L - Layout a vision. A - Activate ministry. N - Navigate worship. T - Train and send. Today the LifeBridge Church is a thriving community of believers that reaches the unchurched, and the young families and young professionals in University Place, Washington. Watch the full story here.
Dustin Serns is the Senior Pastor of LifeBridge Church in Washington
Adventist Identity in the Context of Communicating with Muslims
How can we best identify ourselves when talking with someone who is Muslim?
The answer is to “hear” what the other person is hearing.
Note four possible options to share and their implications.
Leading Your Church Through a Renovation: Tithing
Building or renovating a church can be daunting.
Read one experience of tithing while fundraising.
Have tips from your own experience to share with other pastors?
Owning Your Own Home
Owning your own home is the most influential factor in a pastoral family’s net worth.
Over half of pastors’ anticipated net worth will come from home equity.
Pastors who haven’t yet purchased their own home should discuss it with their future selves.
How Our Church Attendance Tripled After Covid
Read about the moving of the Holy Spirit in this Adventist church during and after the pandemic.
Their children’s ministries department grew from 5 to 70 children.
Seven specific areas made such growth possible.
Why Revitalize? by Bill McClendon
A lot of people think that declining churches don't want to grow. But that certainly isn't the case. They want to grow, but they need to learn how which can become overwhelming. There is almost an acceptance that this is their fate. They are dying and don't know what to do about it. In this presentation, Bill McClendon invites you to consider two questions: "Why do church plants grow faster than existing churches?" And "Why do existing churches reach a point and stop growing?" Would you like to learn more? Click on the link below to watch the full video.
Bill McClendon is Bill McClendon is the Vice President for Administration and Evangelism Director of the North Pacific Union.
From 30 to 120 in Attendance by Jose Cortes Jr.
Back in the day, nobody talked about church revitalization. Still, at some point in ministry, many pastors have been part of a church that was either plateauing or declining and have participated in its turnaround. In this video from the Church Revitalization Bootcamp, Jose Cortes Jr. tells his personal story of revitalizing his first church as he began his ministry and how it grew from 30 to 120 in attendance. Watch the video here.
Jose Cortes Jr. is theAssociate Director of the North American Division Ministerial Association. He leads in the areas of Evangelism, Church Planting, Global Mission, Church Growth, and Mission to the Cities for the Adventist Church in North America.
So You're Leading Your Church Through a Renovation, Huh?
You, like me, may be a bit green to the process of church renovations. If so, keep reading.
Check out one pastor’s success with raising funds.
In reality when the members are sold on the vision, the goal seems achievable.
Spousal Income
Adventist Pastors whose spouses earn more than they do, anticipate a higher net worth upon retirement.
Pastoral spouses who choose to volunteer full time to support their partner in ministry should realize that while it may be a noble cause, it could negatively affect retirement net worth.
It is never too late for a pastoral spouse to upgrade his/her occupational chops and step into a higher paying job.
Answers
We have to consider the theological assumptions of the person we’re taking to, not assuming they are the same as ours.
Here we learn why it’s important to know the Islamic theology of hell and divine retribution.
“Do Adventists worship Jesus?” It was a loaded question and I needed to respond addressing their assumptions of shirk to clarify the matter.