Being a pastor I am surrounded by preachers and have the opportunity to go to church all of the time, but I seldom have the opportunity to sit down in a church and listen to another brother preach. That is why I am so excited about the upcoming Bible Conference at Southern Hills! It takes place January 27-29 and it will be a blast. We have invited 4 preachers from across the country who will be bringing the Word of God.
God has given us the incredible gift of speech yet there are certain things you should never allow to escape your lips. If you do these fatal phrases will hurt you or those around you.
Today many are disappointed. Today many are overjoyed. Today the election is over. We have either placed all of our hope in our re-elected president or our hopes have been dashed by the Electoral College.
I never get over how strong the temptation is to preach religion instead of preaching that which I am commissioned to preach, Christ!
I Corinthians 1:23, II Corinthians 4:5, Colossians 1:28
Currently I am preaching through a sermon series called Heroes: 8 Stories of Incredible People. The second sermon was slated as a charter study of the life of Peter. When I study the life of Peter I see an incredible walking contradiction, a man of incredible strength and epic weakness. At one moment he is walking on water and the next he’s slipping into the waves. It seems no apostle is more commended and subsequently corrected than Peter, many times all within the same passage.
Watching my father, Dr. David Teis, plan the church calendar every year while growing up was the inspiration I needed to become a planner. His dedication to his church continues to this day with 35 years of ministry and 850 members. I have also learned planning skills from reading a multitude of books on the subject, but the idea for Vision Sunday came from a pastor-friend in California named Paul Chappell. For the last 25 years, he has used vision night to keep his congregation on track as he lays out the plans for the coming year. This is the fourth step in my annual planning process… so… here we go…
I hate to admit weakness! In fact I’d just like to assume that if I had any weaknesses I overcame them years ago. Moreover, I’d like you to assume that I had none. Alas, ’tis not the truth. In fact those that know me personally can attest to many more weaknesses than the one I am about to share with you.
Being on a church staff can be one of the most exciting things or one of the most frustrating things in the world. Although there are many factors that go into developing a healthy church staff, planning and communication are indispensable to the process.
I’ve got to be real with you! Among my favorite things in life, I would include sitting in front of the television with a bucket of popcorn in my lap while watching a shootout between the bad guys and the good guys. I love to chill, relax, and think about nothing! So, left completely to myself, I would never get anything done unless I planned to get it done. Therefore, I plan. Over the years, I have developed a 4-step planning process that has helped me tremendously in planning for the coming year and staying on schedule throughout the year.
So I thought, over the next few blog posts, I would share with you my process for annual planning. (My 4 steps: Personal Planning in August, Staff Planning in September, Men’s Leadership Planning in November, Vision Sunday on 1st Sunday of January)
