Church and Ministry
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Pastors vs. Deacons: Brethren, This Should Not Be
The role of deacons in churches varies significantly, with healthy churches viewing them as supportive leaders and unhealthy ones seeing them as burdens. Properly serving deacons enhance a pastor’s ministry and promote church unity. Biblical definitions and duties emphasize their servant leadership, assisting the pastor while addressing practical congregation needs. Continue reading
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12 Church Revitalization Lessons from Nehemiah
The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem through the leadership of Nehemiah is one of the most remarkable stories in the Bible. In 52 days, he traveled home from a foreign land, surveyed the dire situation, developed a strategy, motivated the people, and finished the project. While I don’t pretend to know your church’s situation, Continue reading
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The Dumbing Down of Church Membership: An Emerging Crisis in the Modern Day Church
In an effort to receive new members, many struggling churches in America have neglected the Biblical and historical model of what it means to be a member of a local body of believers. Entrance into church membership ought to be covenantal, restrictive, and worthy of careful discernment. If a church becomes desperate to receive new Continue reading
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The Least Prayed Prayer and Satan’s Most Consistent Lie
I have always been humbled by the story of Baptist missionary William “Bill” Wallace. The son of a physician in rural Tennessee, Bill was more interested in auto mechanics than going to the foreign mission field. On a hot summer July afternoon as he was in the garage trying to get an old car Continue reading
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Church Member: Are You Unintentionally Killing Your Church?
When I was a little boy there was a kid that lived in my neighborhood who stopped by the house one day to show me the new kittens that his cat recently delivered. With excitement he took each of the kittens out of the basket he carried proudly showing them to me. In the weeks Continue reading
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5 Steps to Create Missional Alignment in your Church
About once a year I will notice that my vehicle has a tendency to pull in a certain direction while I am driving. While it is my intent to go straight, it seems that I struggle to keep the wheels from veering to the left or right. When this occurs I know it is time Continue reading
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Has Your Church Lost its Desperation?
Bottom line is this: The overwhelming majority of declining churches in North America are ineffective simply because they have lost their sense of desperation for Kingdom impact. Oh sure, every evangelical church (I would hope) will say that they want to see people saved, baptized and discipled. You will not find a minister or lay Continue reading
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The Christian Dilemma: Balancing Grace and Truth
In 1997 pastor Ken Smith of University Reformed Presbyterian Church sat down and wrote a letter to the most unlikely recipient. Dr. Rosaria Champaign was a tenured English professor at Syracuse University and widely renowned as a scholar in feminist theory. Dr. Champaign was a lesbian, a LBGTQ activist and outspoken critic of the “religious Continue reading
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Why Plant New Churches?
This was a question posed to me in a phone conversation with an associational leader. I didn’t call him to speak about church planting, but I guess he just needed to vent. “I have many established churches that are struggling to keep their doors open. We need to focus more on revitalizing these churches and Continue reading
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Five ways to make your church”Guest Ready”.
Is your church “guest ready”? Most church members never consider this question because they assume the answer is YES! However, after visiting a number of churches over the past few years it is my observation that most churches are not very “guest ready”. The best advice I have seen pertaining to this subject is Continue reading
About Me
I have been in ministry for 31 years serving in various capacities including senior pastor, youth pastor, education, and associate pastor. I serve at Samford University as Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the Ministry Training Institute. I am co-author of the book, Cultivate Disciple Making and my new book, Repairing the Missional Breach, will be released this summer. I received my Bachelor’s Degree from Samford, a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a Master of Theology from the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. My D.Min project was in the area of church health and revitalization. I earned my Ph.D. from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. My dissertation title, An Analysis and Critique of Disciple Making Within Ecclesial Movements in the United States, 1970-2020, With a View Toward Implementing a Faithful New Testament Missio Ecclesia.
Dr Kevin Blackwell 