When I was 19 years old I preached my first sermon in my home church, Northside Bible Church. This is the same church at which I have served as lead pastor for the past 18 years. With my knees literally knocking, I preached from 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:3 and titled the sermon "The Four Classes of Men." The sermon was based on a doctrine class which I had attended during my first year at Southeastern Bible college. I learned from Dr. Alden Gannett that the text describes four types of men on earth: the natural man, the spiritual man, the carnal man and the baby Christian. The natural man is un-spiritual and disconnected from God's Spirit and God's truth. The spiritually mature man is described as one who discerns spiritual truths with help from the Holy Spirit. The carnal Christian is described as one who lives like the natural man despite the fact that he has the indwelling Spirit. Apparently the carnal man does not listen to the Spirit, but instead listens to his flesh.

Then there is the baby Christian, or "babes" as the Apostle refers to them. Paul has helped plant the Corinthian Church and spent a year and half teaching and ministering there. About two years later he wrote a letter back to those same Corinthian believers, all of who would be young converts and scolded them for being immature. Paul explained that he should be able to write to them as spiritual and mature, but instead (and he is not happy about this) he has to feed them milk like babies. When I was a kid on the playground at my elementary school, one of the biggest insults you could throw out verbally was, "Big baby!" 
 
If you do really conservative math, Paul expected the believers at Corinth to be mature within two or three years. Here is a big important ministry question: How long do you think our churches in America take to "mature" a believer?  My answer is "way too long!" In fact, for over 38 years of ministry I have worked with some really old "babies" in my church experience who have never matured and have no desire to do so.  

One of my greatest mentors in my last several years, Robert E. Cochran, who is with the Lord today, used to teach a retired men's class. Several times he, much like Paul, would bemoan the level of immaturity that he found in men who claimed to know Christ for 30-50 years of their life. He used to jest with me that "it is annoying to have to move their whiskers out of the way to give them a milk-bottle for the Sunday school lesson." 

So let's get real for a few minutes. Francis Chan reports from the churches in China that the youth are praying for mission opportunities in their own country that may actually cause them to be imprisoned or martyred. (Letters to the Church, Francis Chan). If you are a pastor, let's get serious about putting our church members into service roles. Why shouldn't they be serving if they are two years old in their faith?  In fact, I would argue that Jesus put His converts into ministry roles almost immediately. The Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 went from being an immoral, bigoted rude woman to a missionary to her whole town in the course of an afternoon. The blind man in John 9, who was likely uneducated, was witnessing for Jesus among Pharisaical lawyers the same afternoon after He had met the Messiah. The chain-breaking, crazed Gadarene man with no real identity because he was filled with many evil spirits, was commissioned by Jesus that same afternoon to "go tell his family." He went to nearby towns and witnessed like crazy! 

So why do we wait so long to let people serve or testify? Is it our professional training that makes us want to professionally train new converts? Is it our prideful desire to protect them by giving them insight from our years of experience? Is it our thought that "we've never done it that way before?" Whatever the deal, let’s look at the New Testament examples, and let’s get to work putting our church members to service.
 
THREE STEPS TO GET BABIES GROWING: 
 
STEP 1: I would recommend every believer be taught how to share a simple 3-4 sentence testimony. At our church we call it our "elevator testimony" which means you can share it quickly. We use this in our membership class and it is fun, fast and effective. It’s meant to intrigue, not teach theology. It is so simple even a cave man can do it because the blind man in John 9 did it. My staff at 614ministries.org will gladly send you a pdf or a Word document outlining the three easy steps to train Christ-followers how to share their elevator testimony. Reach out to us at 614rebuild@gmail.com and request the elevator testimony steps. 
 
STEP 2: Make sure every believer finds something at church that they can do for the church. Tell them to develop some courage and "just do it!" Serving is what I call “miracle grow” for believers. When they begin to serve in the various ministries of your church, they feel compelled to read their daily devotions more faithfully, to listen to your teaching more intently, and to study verses they have previously ignored. Some begin praying more. Some begin to share their testimony more often. Find ways for young Christians to join with you as you do nursing home visits, hospital visits, community events. Make sure they are helping serve juice for the youth or helping clean up before and after an event while connecting with the other mature believers who are serving. Serving is everyone's calling from God (Romans 12:1-2). Let's get those babies serving. 
 
STEP 3: Remind the believers they are to be maturing as missionaries. Every true Christ-follower is a missionary. Each believer who professes a love for Christ at your church should consider themselves bi-vocational missionaries. Missionaries have pictures of friends and groups they are ministering to each week. Missionaries have stories of how God is working through them and in them. Can your average church member share stories and give a good "missionary slide show?" I believe we are all suppose to able to do that! I believe instead of making excuses as to why we don't do that, we need to get busy fixing the issues. Challenge the young believers to find someone in the church they admire in the faith and attach themselves to that person. Help them find a healthy mentor. Young missionaries need older missionaries to train them up.  Encourage your young believers that you are looking forward to hearing their stories from their future mission work and even from the training they are receiving. 
 
At 6.14 Ministries we are committed to helping community church leaders be strengthened and encouraged for effective ministry. In the next 10 years it is estimated that 300,000 churches may close and/or become ineffective. We want to see struggling churches renewed in their mission and passion. Find out more at 614ministries.org. 
 
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Please stay tuned to this blog as well. Your comments are most welcome!

Here's a short list of things you can do to help support the ministry of your church and your pastor. I would suggest these are things your pastor will never ask you to do, but would love for you to do. I know you think that he wants you to tithe more, show up on time to every service, and get a haircut (smile). But those are not the best ways for you to support him. (Side note: Please tithe more and show up on time.)

1. Ask him what you can do to support or help this week and then keep on asking.   

The skeptical nature we pastors tend to have, combined with the accumulated years of experience when people ask and do not follow through, means we will likely blow you off the first time you ask and say "Um, just pray for me." In truth, while this is important, you should pray for him anyway, EVERY WEEK! EVERY DAY! What he really needs is friends who sincerely seek to help him in his ministry task. Can you come by the office and join him in a hospital visit or a home visit? Can you make the hospital visit for him? Can you make some calls and organize a group he needs to gather — maybe a work crew or people for a specific meeting? Can you go pick up something for the church: groceries, paper goods, bookstore supplies that somehow ends up on his ever-growing to-do list? By the way when you first ask to help, he will likely not have a clue how you can help and you may need some smelling salts to revive him when he faints. But persistence will help him to understand your sincerity. 

2. Find ways to care for and minister to his family. 

One of the greatest gifts you can give your pastor is to befriend every member of his family. Do not assume the youth workers or children’s workers are doing this important task. Get to know them all, learn their likes and dislikes, and their needs. I think this is likely what Paul means by “double honor” in 1 Timothy 5:17. Honor his family. If his children are young, babysit for them. Give the pastor and his wife some "together time." Some days you could call and ask if you could pick up the kids from school or take them to ball practice. There were many times I had to go get my kids from school and get them to practices, work, or home and still had to make a hospital visit or meeting. Just someone to occasionally help with the crazy transportation can be a big bonus. If your kids go to the same school as his kids, it is even easier to assist him with transportation. Make sure each of the pastor's kids are well loved at the church. I believe it is vital to the health of the spiritual leader at your church and therefore vital to overall church health that the pastor's family is well loved by the church. Men of the church need to know the boys in the pastor's home. What sports do they like? What are their interests and hobbies? Can you help support them academically? Likewise the ladies of the church need to connect with the pastor's daughters. What are their interests and hobbies? Could you take them for a girls’ day out?  If the children are older, it is still important that they are well loved and cared for by the church family. Help them through every stage of life. If you want your pastor to feel connected and lead well, and keep the church stable, support his family. He will never want to go. 

3. Tell your pastor things you like about the church. 

Good pastors love the local church. Their love for the church is very strong!  So complimenting the church builds up the pastor’s hope and faith that God's work is going forth. Compliment the good things that are going on at your church. If you experience good friendships there, make it known to your pastor that it is a safe place to find friends. If you experience genuine love there, let him know. If you are growing in your understanding of who God is and who you are, praise the Lord and tell your pastor. If you are learning to serve others and not think so much about yourself, let him know. Most pastors do not need a personal compliment to drive them through a month, but complimenting the work of God he is leading, can go a long way to encouraging his heart. And remember, the pastor hears a lot, repeat... a lot of negative criticism. It goes with the work of the ministry and he knows that. But one of the healthiest things you can do for the whole church is to compliment the work of the Lord. 

4. Be sure the leaders are monitoring his off-days and vacations. 

Most every pastor I know is a true work-a-holic. "Hi, I'm Stan, and I am a work-a-holic." It's the truth. Most pastors cram 60-70 hours of church work into their week and give the leftovers to family. The pastor's "day off" is a mythological day, one which usually only happens in conjunction with the flu or, in my case, the shingles. Many churches are not good at watching out for the pastor's overly busy schedule. How many meetings in one week do you expect him to attend? Did he take a morning off if he attended a meeting that went late the night before? Does he have a regular time he can get away for personal refreshment? How does he recharge his batteries? If you are a deacon, elder or on a leadership team, be sure someone has the task of monitoring his work schedule. If you are not, read this section to a trusted lay leader at your church and ask him to help. This may save the leaders from dealing with a burned-out pastor. And, let’s be honest, who really wants to deal with a burned-out pastor?

5. Be sure his financial bases are covered.

This one is very sensitive, so tread lightly. Let a trusted friend who is the pastor's accountability partner keep you informed if the pastor has needs that he is not sharing. But, to the best of your ability, be sure that his needs are being covered to the point that he has security with your church family. Just checking the condition of the tires on his vehicle can send the message that he is valued. If they are in need of replacement, ask him if he has the necessary funds. If he does not have the funds, help by donating or find someone who can. What about his furniture? What is the condition of his couch at home? Does his mower work well? There’s nothing more stressful than not being able to start a mower in the intense heat of the summer! It’s enough to make a preacher….well, you get the idea!  And what about those "vacations" he should take? Can he afford an occasional trip out of town with good restaurants and good hotels?  

At 6.14 Ministries we are committed to helping church leaders and lay leaders serve one another well and serve the community. If your church could use some encouragement or help, please contact us at 614rebuild@gmail.com and visit our site at 614ministries.org for more information. If you leave a phone number, we will return your call or you can leave us an e-mail address. We want all church workers to be encouraged and to pursue the work God has called them to with diligence and enthusiasm. We would love to hear from you!

I am writing this to all my ministry friends, full time pastors, part time pastors, bi-vocational pastors, volunteer ministry staffers and good hard- working church members. Some weeks of ministry are much harder than others. Some months of ministry are much longer and harder than others. We can often glamorize ministry in our minds, and when we gather around with other fellow ministers we can walk with our heads held high, but there are days (usually every Monday) when a part time job at the local fast food establishment seems like a good idea... no a great idea. (I picture myself being great at sweeping and cleaning a fast food dining room.) Some of you have been at the same ministry post for years, faithfully serving, sowing seeds of truth, casting divinely envisioned visions, loving unlovable people, discipling men for countless hours and the fruit from your "field" has yet to be harvested. Sometimes great families feel "led" to leave the church. Someone decides your preaching style is just too "quiet" or too "loud." Over the years, I've been told I'm not funny enough and I've been told I spend too much time being funny. Someone doesn't like the way the music minister sings. Someone else thinks the youth pastor wears inappropriate clothes or makes inappropriate posts on Facebook. Someone else thinks your church family is great and you are a great leader, but his job calls him away.  Someone doesn't like the way you pray. One church member or family thinks you are caring too much for another family and neglecting them. Someone in your church family thinks you spend too much time studying to preach, while another thinks you don't spend enough time studying and preparing. Ministry is just plain hard. God has entrusted you and I with caring for his people and some days, some months, some years are just really difficult. 

The good news is the great Apostle Paul, mighty church planter, had the same kind of days and months.  In truth much of his "fruit" was after he was either in prison or dead.  Consider this great insight into how his year of ministry was going. 

"I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27  in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29  Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30  If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." — 2 Corinthians  11:23-29 ESV

My lists would not include physical lashing, but ooohhh the tongue lashings. I have not been shipwrecked or stoned. I do identify with the sleepless nights and there was that time my board allowed me to go to jail for the church, which is a story for another blog post.  (For now, let's just say there is a reason I am known as "chainsaw" at summer camp!) Then after Paul lists all these difficult physical things, he says "there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches." That one I get! Daily pressure - YES!  Anxiety for the church body - YES!  Who is weak? YES, Paul, I am weak. Who is made to fall? YES! YES! YES! So Paul did not have a glamorous ministry either at times. It helps me to remember Paul's list. Maybe you need to re-read it as well! 
Here are a few other ways to get through the discouraging seasons.