Recently, on this website, we've been addressing this subject. (There are, scattered throughout the nearly 2,000 articles on this blog, occasional writings on pastors and search committees.) Last week we talked about what the search committee looks for when they show up in your congregation on Sunday and then, prompted by a pastor's wife, what the pastor is looking at when visiting that church "in view of a call."

Another friend mentioned something we've never addressed: What about a beginning preacher--not necessary a youngster--who is about to become a pastor? He finds himself sitting across from that search committee for the first time with a hundred questions eating at him. How does a beginning preacher deal with a search committee?

Since the world has changed in the nearly half-century when I sat in that boat, I asked my friend (David) to jot down specific questions. (Did he ever! He sent an even dozen. He's serious about this!)

So, here, in the order in which David posed the questions, are my responses--such as they are--regarding a beginning pastor squaring off against a search committee. (Athletic, competitive terminology tongue-in-cheek.)

There is only one answer to this, my friend: The Holy Spirit tells you and them the same thing.

Some would add that "it just feels right," or "it's exactly the kind of church you were praying for" or "the church vote was unanimous." None of those do it for me.

If you have trouble deciphering the will of the Lord in this matter, as an older, more seasoned pastor for his counsel.

2. Since the committee will visit with us as a church member, not as one presently pastoring, how will we deal with the committee?

They will want to hear you preach, so you'll ask your own pastor to let you fill the pulpit some Sunday night or to find a preacher-friend who will. If distance is an issue and you and the committee need to meet in the middle, you may need extra help finding a church. Usually your pastor can help.

When the committee wants a sit-down with you, simply call your church and arrange to use a meeting room.

The committee chairman takes the initiative in the meeting, since they asked for this time. Even if it's in your church, it's their meeting. Usually, toward the conclusion they'll ask if you have questions of your own or anything you'd like to share with them.

A few times, after the committee and I met and they were convinced I was God's man for their church, I asked for one more meeting to clear up some matters. In that meeting, I took the initiative.

3. How can we prepare our family for the transition from secular employment to church employment?

If the wife and children are excited and supportive, you're halfway home. If one or more children is balking, it can become a big problem.

If you are moving into church-owned housing in another city, involve the children as much as possible after your first visit. (The first visit, you and your wife check out everything and make plans to get the children excited.)

Do not put a lot of demands on the family at first, but let them ease into full involvement at their own rate. Enlist committee members with youngsters the same age as yours to welcome them and show them around.

From early on, you should pray with each member of the family separately and then together, so all will feel a sense of God's call and of being privileged to do this service for Him.

4. How can we keep from being overwhelmed by the thrill of being courted and keep a cool head in order to hear from God?

Nothing will cool things down for you quicker than being turned down by a couple of committees you had been excited about.

Otherwise, the answer is: Much prayer to keep your eyes on the Lord.

5. How do I get ordained?

As soon as a church "calls" you, ask them to make an official request of your present (or home) church that you be ordained. Your present pastor then works with you on the scheduling, to set up an ordination council and followed by a service of ordination a day or more later.

Ideally, leaders from your new pastorate should attend the service since one feature of most ordination services in SBC churches is a "charge to the church" on their responsibility toward the minister. (You may need to invite them; not all churches know this.)

6. Is it all right to apply to a church where I do not meet the qualifications they specify they're looking for in a pastor?

Sure. All they can do is ignore your resume.

We might add that in most cases--again, this is the Southern Baptist way--you do not want to "apply," but have someone write that church with a recommendation of you and include your resume.

Many churches start out with grandiose visions of what their next pastor will look like, sound like, etc., but eventually as reality sets in they toss aside their list of requirements and begin listening to the Lord of the Church.

7. If the church invites us, how do we negotiate salary, benefits, etc?

Negotiate is not a bad word. But, talk over or work out would be a better term. After all, the committee knows full well that pastors need to be paid and they are prepared for this discussion.

In most cases, you will listen as the chairman tells you (usually not at a meeting of the full committee, but one on one) what the church offers in the way of salary, housing, car allowance, health insurance, and such. When he finishes, he will ask you how this sounds. You may want to write down what he has told you and ask him to give you 24 hours to think about it, discuss with your wife, and pray about it.

Preachers doing this for the first time can be fooled by these numbers. Adding all the benefits up may produce an impressive number, a number which some chairmen are likely to bandy about. But as the head of your family with mouths to feed, a family to clothe, etc., you want to think about the actual dollars in your pocket and whether you can live on that. (If a church provides a home and utilities, they will frequently figure out what that is worth--say, $20,000 annually--and tell you the "total package" is such-and-such. But once you deduct that figure, deduct the amount for insurance, car, books, convention etc., what's left is your "take-home." And that is the most important number in the discussion.)

Do not hesitate to say if the salary figure is too low for you to provide for your family. If you are confused, take the information to your pastor-mentor for a quick discussion.

8. Okay, I'm going to begin on a certain date. What scriptures should I begin preaching from first?

This is the fun part. You will usually start by preaching your favorite texts, the ones you love the most, that have ministered to you best, that you are most familiar with. What you must not do is delve into a long series of sermons on anything, not until you have established a rapport with the congregation and "gotten the feel" for preaching there. After a couple of months, you'll sense what the Lord wants you to preach to them much better.

Here are a few other "no-no's" for those first few sermons:

--Do not make these messages about yourself (your vision for them, your story, your hopes and dreams). II Corinthians 4:5 applies to new pastors as well as veteran ones.

--Do not establish any new directions for the church yet. You are new there, and still learning who they are. Only when they trust you will they be willing to follow you.

--Do not pledge yourself to a grandiose program of visiting every member or preaching through the entire Bible or anything else too ambitious at first. Give yourself a little time to get your bearings.

9. How much should I limit the geographical area of my search for a church? If I'm most comfortable with southerners or with blue-collared folk, should that be where I'm most open?

Each veteran preacher might give you a different answer, but mine is: Do not limit your search at all. Now, if you need to stay close to your dependent, elderly parents, that's a consideration. But if you are simply hesitant to go somewhere different, I suggest you attack that head-on. Otherwise, your "comfort zone" will shrink and shrink until it's the size of your bedroom. Get out, expand, grow.

Last night on the plane from Dallas, I sat beside a young woman who has taken a job in sales and being assigned to the "northshore" above New Orleans. She expressed fears about leaving her comfort zone, even though it's not more than 30 miles from her house. So, it's all relative, I suppose.

10. Should I insist on being able to continue my education in some way so I can keep growing?

Maybe insist is too strong a word. Ask is probably the operative term. Put it out there--"I'd like to continue my education from time to time, and I'd like to know how the church would feel about that"--and get their reaction. More than likely, they'll ask what this means (whether you are asking the church to pay your tuition to Tulane or will be studying online or traveling out of state for classes), so you should be prepared to respond.

You will never ever want to stop sharpening your skills and growing.

11. I know we're to be gaining wisdom from our pastors concerning the calling on our lives, but what would one do if the pastor is the 'out of reach' or 'unavailable' sort? This is a question I often hear around the campuses I attend.

I'm not sure what this means, David.

If you refer to your home church pastor's not being available to talk with you about this new ministry, even though I find it puzzling--surely he's proud of you and wants to encourage you--I would suggest you look around for another mentor or two.

12. How much education should a minister have before he begins pursuing a ministry position? Is there a minimum?

You want all the education you can get. But you must not wait until your education is complete before beginning to minister in a church.

My experience was probably fairly normal. Before coming to seminary--and just after graduating from college--I took a secular job and began pastoring a tiny church. Then, 2 years later, as a new seminary student, I was invited to pastor a church about twice that size. Having the first experience proved to be a real asset, and was probably the determining factor in the committee's interest. Then, by the time I finished seminary with the masters degree, I had some 5 years of experience in pastoring.

Five years later, when I was back on campus to work on the doctorate, I bumped into a classmate in the cafeteria. He had recently received his Ph.D. but was having trouble finding a church to pastor. "I made a mistake," he said, "in waiting until I finished my schooling to pastor. Now, the churches ask me, 'If you're so good, why do you have no experience?'"

The reality was that, for search committees, he was overqualified for a beginning pastorate but underexperienced for a larger, more demanding one.

Finally, my young brother....

This week, a friend with a lengthy history of excellent service in the Lord's work told me he has planned the idea trip for his wife and him. "I want us to visit all the churches we served in our early years." I nodded. Good suggestion.

But he wasn't through.

"...and apologize."

We laughed. I knew exactly what he meant. Those first couple of pastorates were difficult for us and tough on the members too, as we were learning our way. Every new preacher makes mistakes. If he is blessed by a patient, mature congregation, he is blessed indeed.

I wish that for you, David.

The church selects and commissions a small group of its finest as the Pastor Search Committee. Their job, in brief, is to sift through the resumes and letters of recommendations coming their way in order to find a few good men (in our denomination, pastors are almost always male) and prayerfully whittle the number down to the one they present to the congregation as "God's man."

Now, you're a pastor. You've been serving the Middlesize Baptist Church in Smalltown, USA, and mostly loving it. You've been there several years, your wife is settled in, your kids are well-established with friends and activities, and the church seems reasonably satisfied with you. You have no reason to want to leave. But something happens.

A phone call informs you that the pastor search team from Bigtown is interested in you as a possible pastor since Doctor Reverend Powers retired. At their request, you send your resume, they follow up your references, and phone calls are exchanged back and forth. The committee visits your services several times, and last Thursday night, they met with you and your wife.

Today, the phone call from the chairman informs you the committee wishes to invite you to Bigtown. If you agree, one Sunday soon, you are to preach in their pulpit, after which the congregation will vote on you becoming their next shepherd. The salary, which you are just now learning, is only slightly more than what you're making now. But that's no matter.

You and the family begin making arrangements to be in Bigtown that weekend. You secure a pulpit replacement for that Sunday, you tell one or two of your leaders what you're up to (pledging them to silence!), and you get serious about praying.

The decision you and that church are about to make is critical. Since one road leads to another and there's no returning to this spot to start over, you want to act cautiously and to seek God's will in every detail.

When you get to Bigtown Church, here's what to look for.

1. Generally speaking, does this church seem a good "fit" for you and your family?

That's hard to quantify. Mostly, it means, "How did you feel there? Did you like the people you met? Can you see yourself serving in that church?"

As a pastor searching for ministers for staff positions, a few times I have turned down good men for the simple reason they would have been a good fit with our staff and/or membership. It may have involved a lack of education (He used poor English) or manners (he stuck his gum under the plate in the dining room) or too much interest in social position (country club membership, e.g.) or a poor understanding of the ministry for which he was interviewing.

2. Does the pastor search committee seem representative of the church family as a whole?

Pastors will tell you, this is a biggie. Now, churches will always want to put their best people on this committee, and that's fine. But it's not uncommon for the committee to run far ahead of the congregation and make promises that they are not able to fulfill later. (I suggest to pastors that as matters are formalized, they ask the committee for a letter of employment in which the terms they discussed and agreed on are spelled out. Get it signed by several leaders. Since lay leadership comes and goes, you don't want misunderstandings later.)

3. Walk around the church. Look at the facilities.

What's your general impression? How's the "curb appeal?"

a) The condition of the childrens and nursery areas will speak volumes about the church. If your church is to reach young families--and what church doesn't feel a strong need to do this--this area is of critical importance.

b) Are the facilities well kept? Bathrooms clean? Well stocked?

We've discussed on these pages before that no area speaks so eloquently to visitors and guests as do the bathrooms.

4. In the worship service--regardless of its type (traditional, contemporary, etc)--do members of the congregation enter in?

If the people are not singing, if they seem bored and unengaged, this is no reason for you not to come as pastor, of course. But how much more excited you will be to find that members of the congregation seem glad to be present, fully involved in the service, and reluctant to leave when it ends.

5. How are decisions made in this church?

You're probably not going to know this by observing. You'll have to ask around. And not just the chairman of the search committee.

If the church has a ministerial staff, you will schedule a time to visit with them separately from the search committee. This is when you can ask about decision-making and the role of various groups within the membership. Listen closely, not only to what is said but what is not said.

No matter what you find out, these are not deal-breakers. But you will want to go in with your eyes wide open.

6. How are the people dressed?

One pastor's wife said, "I want to know if those who are dressed up and those who are poorly dressed are both treated with respect."

The congregation where every man on the premises is wearing a suit and tie is usually very conservative in its approach to all matters. Likewise, if no one is wearing a tie and most men are dressed as though they just came in from a game of touch football outside, you will know a great deal about this church, too.

7. Does the church plant seem user-friendly?

Notice the signs. As a first-timer, could you tell where to park and which door to enter? If you were looking for the nursery, could you find it easily?

Are greeters out front, are they smiling, and do they seem to have time to help out a questioner?

Inside, does the worship bulletin give newcomers the information they need?

8. Get copies of the printed materials the church makes available. Take them home to study.

a) The Sunday worship bulletin will speak volumes about the church if you study it closely. (If other printed materials are available, ask the chairman to have someone assemble a packet of it. You do not want to appear to be sneaking materials into your coat pocket.

b) You will want a copy of the Constitution and By-laws. Inquire discreetly if the church abides by them or are they woefully out of date? One pastor suggested you also ask for printed copies of the last several church business meetings.

If you are unfamiliar with Bigtown, pick up a copy of the Sunday newspaper on your way out of town. Keep the real estate section. These days, fewer and fewer churches provide homes for the minister, but give him an allowance to purchase his own. So, you'll want to start early studying the housing market.

9. What is the role of the deacons in this church?

No Baptist church I've served--there were six--did deacons the same way. Sometimes they were the board of directors, other times they were spiritual ministers and prayer warriors. In the earlier, smaller churches, they didn't seem to know what their function was.

Either way, as pastor, you will want to know what you will be dealing with. Some of the best friends and encouragers I've ever had in ministry were deacons. Some of the meanest people I encountered over four decades of pastoring were deacons. So, try to learn who the deacons are in this church and what they do.

10. During the standing-around time, what is the main topic of conversation?

One pastor said, "If they are talking about nothing but fishing or golf or yesterday's ball game, that's a signal to me they're not particularly invested in what's happening here at church." That might be a little harsh--I talk about the ball game myself sometimes--but if that's all they speak of, he has a point.

Laymen reading this might think we are suggesting if a church is not all it ought to be, the prospective pastor should decline the invitation and remain in Smalltown. Not so. We're merely saying the pastor needs to know how things are.

If, for example, he finds that a small group of unelected leaders call the shots in that congregation and that they ran off the last three ministers for refusing to cooperate with their plans, that would be a vital piece of information to have. (Just before declining!)

It's all a matter of going into our assignments with our eyes wide open.

"I told our committee, 'I want us to bring in a handsome pastor, someone who will look good behind our pulpit.'"

Had she slapped me, the blow would not have hurt more.

That shallow assessment of what they needed in the next pastor turned out to be rather symbolic of where most of the committee stood.

How does that old line go: "Too late smart, too soon dead."

Most search committees, I want to assert with no evidence at all other than my own convictions, do not take that superficial an approach to their task. Most of them--at least in their own minds and hearts--really do want to find the person God has chosen for their church.

Just as long as God's person is a male, between the ages of 35 and 50, with a doctor's degree from somewhere official-sounding, and with a beautiful wife by his side who clearly adores him.

Sorry for the little cynicism there. I'm really not disparaging what they do. Most committees, once they find "the" person, even if it's not what they originally set out for, are willing to change their requirements and go for it. That's why sometimes a committee will bring in a 27-year-old as pastor and sometimes a 70-year-old. Sometimes they decide this preacher is so fine the absence of a doctorate is not that big a deal. And once in a while, all requirements are jettisoned and they really do go "outside the box."

All that being said, there is one huge reminder which needs to be passed along to pastors now at the point in their ministry where they are courting search committees.

Here is what the pastor search committee is looking for when they visit your church.

That could be indicated in a hundred ways: the power of the sermon, the strength and freshness of your announcements or casual remarks, the way you lead the total worship experience, or even your greeting before or after the service.

In the car on the drive back home, someone in the back seat will volunteer that, "I just felt the Lord there today." Or not.

2. The committee is looking for signs of a healthy church.

The only way they have of anticipating the kind of ministry you would have in their church is by looking at the congregation you're presently leading. They look at the finances, the attendance, the appearance of the buildings from the outside (what realtors call "curb appeal"), and the general mood of the congregation as they arrive and depart. They take the worship bulletin home with them and study it closely for signs.

3. The committee is listening for God to speak through your sermon.

Now, some will have a narrow definition of what that means. They will have been conditioned by their previous pastor to believe all sermons must be expository or topical, timely or timeless. Nothing you can do will change their expectations. What you can and should do is focus on being true to the Lord, the message He laid on your heart, and to yourself.

Others--hopefully most--are more open to God's voice to be heard in any way He pleases. This is something not measurable, not quantifiable. Committee members will speak of whether they "felt" God or not.

4. The committee is trying to decide on the character of the man in the pulpit.

Do they like you? Do you come across as someone they can trust? If you tell a joke that disparages women or relate something which puts your wife in a bad light, that is one search committee you can forget about. They'll not be back.

If you are desperate and change your style in order to impress your visitors, they will know it. Don't do it.

Be yourself. Otherwise, if they end up calling you as pastor and you are not the person they thought you were, nothing good will come from it.

5.The committee is studying your congregation.

Fair or not, they want to know who makes up your membership. They wonder if the people are supportive of your ministry. Do they value your preaching and follow your leadership? When you open the Word, do they open theirs? Do you claim their whole-hearted attention?

Are the people in your pews discerning? Could they tell heresy if they heard it? Do they appreciate and encourage depth in sermons?

6. The committee is looking at your church plant.

Is the bathroom clean? Do the walls need a fresh coat of paint? Do the front steps need the leaves cleared off?

No one expects the pastor to clean toilets, paint walls, or sweep steps. But a clean building reflects well on the organization a pastor has put in place. Likewise, a poorly maintained campus says his mind is not on the job.

7. The committee has something else in mind too. But only they know what it is.

One committee I dealt with years ago was being guided by the unseen hand of their recently retired pastor. He was on a fundamentalist kick and was seeing liberals behind every tree. When the committee asked for my views on the Bible, sensing what they were searching for, I refused to play the game. I used every strong word in my vocabulary to testify to my love for, belief in, and commitment to the Bible as God's Word. Every word except the one they wanted: "Inerrant." And true to form, the old man assured his spies on the committee that I was dangerous and they moved on. In so doing, they saved us both many a headache and heartache.

When David Uth was pastoring the First Baptist Church of West Monroe, LA, a committee from the First Baptist Church of Orlando came calling. As they drove around the city the night before, they found it unimpressive. One man said, "I don't think there's anything for us here."

Another man said, "Let's give him a chance. In fact, I've laid out a fleece. If the preacher uses the word 'mission' tomorrow, that will be a sign to me that we are to go further with him."

What these people had no way of knowing was that each year, Dr. Uth prayerfully chose one word as the theme of his ministry for the coming year. And, this being the first Sunday of the year, his one-word-theme for that Sunday morning's sermon was "Mission."

David says the Orlando committee which entered their church hoping to hear "mission" spoken once, heard it a hundred times in that sermon.

He is enjoying a fruitful ministry in Orlando, by the way.

And so, pastor, you're anticipating that committee from Bigtown next Sunday? May I pass along a suggestion or two? First, stay on your knees and close to the Father. Seek to please Him above all. Second, go over that sermon repeatedly so you will know it so well, the distraction of distinguished guests in the worship center will be no hindrance to you. And third, pull together a small team and walk over your campus to make sure it's clean, attractive, and welcoming to all visitors.

Come to think of it, do those things every week. You might begin enjoying your ministry so much, you'll want to stay right where you are and tell the Bigtown committee is keep on going. (It's a wonderful feeling to be in your rightful place and know it.)

But, it occurs to me, it might be helpful to address some of the things we do not know about prayer.

See if you find any of this encouraging.

1. We do not know how to pray as we should.

That's Romans 8:26. "Likewise, the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Man, is that ever right!

This does not stop us from praying. It only assures us that our perfectionism--a killer in most endeavors--does not apply here. Prayer cannot be done perfectly in this life. So, we do what we can, pray as well as we're able, and leave it to the Father to sort it out.

2. We do not know what God is doing in answer to our prayers at any given moment.

Nothing is so much about faith as praying. Not only are we addressing a Deity whom we cannot see or prove, in most cases we never know whether our prayers were even answered or not. And yet, we keep praying. Talk about faith!

You pray for the President of the United States, for a missionary on the other side of the globe, and for your child who heads off to school this morning. In no case will you be there to see if and how your prayers are answered. The president gets a sudden inspiration and makes a wise decision, the missionary is protected from harm while walking through a dangerous neighborhood, and your child figures something out the teacher has been trying to get across. Your prayers were answered. The only problem is....

You never know it.

If you are careless, you will conclude your prayers are accomplishing nothing and you will go on to other endeavors. As a result, the world grows more dangerous and the people you love more vulnerable because you quit praying.

"In due season we shall reap if we do not quit" (Galatians 6:9).

3. We do not know who else is praying.

Elijah is not the only servant of the Lord who felt like the Lone Ranger (I Kings 19:10). Many times we all get that isolated sense that "I'm the only one left."

It's not true, thank the Lord.

There is no room in the Kingdom of God for the pessimism that drops our chin to our chest, gives up hope, and leaves the playing field before the final gun. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), veterans of the same wars we are presently engaged in; they are watching and cheering us on. Furthermore, when we finally turn in our badges and report to our Heavenly assignment, we will be overwhelmed to discover the size of the regiment to which we belonged (see Revelation 5:11 and 7:9, for starters).

Stand strong, Christian. You are in good company.

4. We do not know how things would be if we had not prayed.

In the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," George Bailey was given a gift, the ability to see what the world would have been like had he never been born.

The rest of us are not given that present. We don't even get to see how things would have been had we not been faithful in praying.

We have to take it by faith, at least for the present. The day will come, we are assured, when we will "know as we are known." We see through a glass dimly now, but "then face to face" (I Corinthians 13:12).

We will be so glad we were faithful. Or, so pained that we quit early and left the field.

Jesus asked, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8) Nothing tells the tale on that like our praying.

We pray by faith, disciple of Jesus, or we do not pray at all.

5. We do not know all God did as a result of someone else's prayers.

As a 19-year-old college sophomore, I made the single most important decision of my life, one that changed everything from that day to this: I joined West End Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. As a result of that one simple act--and it was simple--I was baptized, called into the ministry, and ordained in that church. I met a host of friends who remain in my life to this day, including one in particular, Margaret Ann Henderson, to whom I will have been married a half-century this April 13. Everything in my life since hinges on that one act in September of 1959.

What I wonder is a) did I pray about the decision? and b) who else was praying?

There are no answers. My strong hunch is that joining that outstanding church was not related to my prayers but to the intercession of someone else. Was it my mother praying? Another friend or family member? or did the Lord just sovereignly decide to do this without being asked? Or all of the above?

No way to know. But whoever prayed for me, I am forever in their debt.

No one will pray who must have all his/her answers before they begin.

No one will pray who depends on his/her feelings as indicators of God's presence and whether He is hearing and answering.

No one will pray who cannot live by faith and wait upon the Lord for answers.

No one will pray who waits until they can do so perfectly.

No one will pray who uses the prayerlessness of others as an excuse for his own rebellion.

We will pray by faith or not pray at all.

Brethren, let us pray.

Pray or quit.

Pray or grow discouraged and drop by the wayside.

Pray or weaken and wither away.

If I were the devil, I would do anything within my power to stop God's people from praying.

If I were the devil, I'd be patting myself on the back about now, since it would appear that very few are praying. Well, praying in any sort of meaningful, situation-altering way, anyway.

No one believed in prayer the way the Lord Jesus did.

Perhaps no subject so permeates the four gospels like prayer. Jesus exhibited it, taught it, reminded His disciples of it, and told stories of people who did it well.

Pray or else, disciple of Jesus.

"Those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8).

We have a choice every day of our lives, in every task we undertake: to work in the Spirit or in the flesh. To do it on our own, looking to ourselves for our resources and wisdom, or to turn to Him.

The process of turning to Him is called prayer.

2. Pray or else you will contradict Jesus.

"Without me, you can do nothing," our Lord said in John 15:5.

We are as dependent on our Lord as the branch trying to bear fruit depends on the larger branch (or vine) from which all sustenance comes. To say otherwise, is to call Jesus Christ a liar.

3. Pray or else you are planning to fail.

To the disciples at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, our Lord explained why they had been unable to help the little boy who had been brought to him for help. "This kind comes out only by prayer" (Mark 9:29).

Why did our event fail? There may be many reasons, but if you did not lift the matter and yourself to the Lord in prayer, I suggest you put the blame there. "You did not ask," is how James 4:3 puts it.

4. Pray or else you will grow discouraged, lose your way, and we'll have to send out a search and rescue team for you.

The Lord who wants nothing so much as to bless us will not force His will upon us. In one of the most fascinating promises to be found in scripture, Jesus comes right up to the front door with Heaven's blessings and knocks. He says, "If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him...." (Revelation 3:20).

It's up to us.

He will allow us to go our way, work in our strength, and to fail--if that's what we choose.

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. (Isaiah 1:19-20.

5. Pray or else you will find your success hollow, your joy meaningless, your riches empty.

To the rich, myopic, gentleman farmer of Luke 12, God said, "You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?"

The wasteful, rebellious son of Jesus' parable in Luke 15 found how limited his wealth was, how fickle his friends were, and how fleeting his fun was. Only in the hogpen did he come to his senses and get up and come home to the waiting father.

6. Pray or else you abandon those depending on you.

"Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you," said the Prophet Samuel to the nation Israel (I Samuel 12:23).

One night, walking my usual route through the neighborhood, praying and planning and thinking and going over sermons, God spoke. "Who do you think is going to pray for your children if you will not?" He said. I will not soon forget that intrusion of the Almighty into my reverie.

7. Pray or else you are on your own.

In prayer we are saying, "Lord, thy will be done." In refusing to pray, we are demanding that our will be done. And that request, we might add, will be granted. The Lord goes nowhere He's unwanted.

The old hymn goes, "The arm of flesh will fail you; you dare not trust your own."

God lets us learn that lesson the hard way in the school of experience.

The flip-side to "Without me you can do nothing"--the sum of all the "or elses" above--is Paul's eloquent testimony: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

In my four-plus decades pastoring six churches, I've seen the following (and plenty more, too, let me add) up close and personal....

--a senior staff member addicted to prescription drugs

--staffers using the computer for online porn.

--associate ministers who were protective of their turf, who resented anyone--including the pastor!--intruding to tell them what to do.

--Staffers who wanted to be left alone to do their work and not be asked to cooperate with anyone else

--Staffers who were angry at me about something and shared that little bit of gossip to laypeople in the church before telling me.

--Lazy staff members.

--Ministers who delighted in smutty stories and had flirty ways.

Wow. I'm imagining someone reading this and wondering if I ever worked with a single godly servant of the Lord! Of course I did. The great majority of them were sincere, hard-working, sweet-spirited men and women with servant hearts. And even these above were not bums. Most had endearing qualities about them and had served well in previous churches, according to the recommendations we received on them.

If you add to these the ministers I've known not in my church but in others nearby, we could add adultery, homosexuality, embezzlement, and a host of other conditions to this list.

Any one of these could wreak great damage to a congregation once it gets out that the minister (or one of the ministers) is engaging in such a practice.

Here is my offering today on how to solve a great majority of these conflicts either before they occur or at least before they are allowed to wreck a good church.

I think of this group of unelected leaders who hold the unqualified respect of the entire church as a foundation and strong underpinning of the congregation. If they are there and serving well, although quietly in the background, your church has a strength for whatever comes along.

Second--and this is what this article is about today--you need a great personnel committee.

In most cases, these articles of ours are said to be most helpful to smaller churches, and that's fine. Because larger churches tend to have better and more experienced leadership, they will almost always have structures in place to deal with personnel matters normal and abnormal.

The church with a staff (full-time or part-time) but no personnel committee (by whatever name) is asking for trouble. But not just any committee. You need the best hearts and sharpest minds in the church for this assignment.

Ideally, if you have a member who directs human resources for a business in your town, he/she is perfect for this committee. They will have training and bring experience that the rest of the members will benefit from.

The committee should be put on a rotating basis, otherwise you are setting up a "super committee" to which the staff may eventually be held hostage.

In selecting members, look for mature Christians, wise minds, and a history of positive support for the pastor and staff. Every church has critics of the ministers who would love to be on this committee. To put them there would be a disaster. Even if they volunteer and politic to be appointed, avoid it at all costs.

The committee needs to write a complete personnel policy and have the church understand it, adopt it, and abide by it.

Here are matters to be considered in writing personnel policies....

1) Contact other churches requesting copies of their personnel policies. Usually these are in booklet form.

2) See if your state denominational office has someone on staff or as a resource who is knowledgeable about writing personnel policies. If so, call them with questions that arise.

3) Write into the policy a foundational statement on which everything governing staff is based. For instance, it might include the following:

--This is the Lord's church and does not belong to the pastor, staff, deacons, or church members. (Matthew 16:18 and Ephesians 5:25)

--Our only question in matters of operation is "Lord, what would you have us do?" (Acts 22:10)

--Whatever we do for the church, Jesus takes personally. (Acts 9:3; Matthew 25:40,45)

--The moment any one of us begins thinking the church owes us anything (respect, honor, appreciation, position), we become part of the problem.

--The primary responsibility of the personnel committee is to make it possible for our leadership to do the work to which the Lord has called them, and to encourage them in it. (I Corinthians 16:15-16)

--Our goal is for each minister and worker in our church to look back on their time with us as being the most wonderful and productive years of their entire ministry.(Philippians 1:3-11)

If I were chairing a personnel committee and we had the above in our policy statement, I would make sure we read this aloud several times a year. From time to time, we would publish it in the Sunday bulletin just to apprise the congregation on our work, our priorities, and commitment.

4) How will this committee and the pastor work together?

Certain matters concerning their working relationship must be worked out, but cannot be spelled out here. It may well be that this cannot be written into any personnel policies because so much depends on circumstances and changing leadership roles.

--When staff members are to be added to the church, who takes the initiative in seeking them out and interviewing them?

--What will be the process for this committee and the senior pastor cooperating?

--What if the committee wants to bring in a staff member whom the pastor does not favor?

--And, perhaps as important as anything, what will be the procedure for terminating staff members? (The procedure for removing a pastor should be spelled out separately and more difficult to accomplish.)

Bear in mind that if a staffer can be removed only by a vote of the church, you are asking for major problems. That staff member can hold you hostage because of the disruption such a business meeting could cause. As a rule, even the most ineffective staff member will have supporters in the church. If he/she can be removed only by the congregation as a whole, you have set the individual apart from any supervision by or accountability to the pastor and created a situation due to fail.

Bottom line: Conflicts between people is human and natural. No one can establish rules to keep it from happening. What we can prevent to a great extent is conflicts among church leadership becoming major church-damaging events.

We've not said a word about how often this committee would meet, how its members would be chosen, or a hundred other considerations.

What we are urging here is a solid team of committed laypeople working in union with the pastor to build a solid corp of leader-servants for the church.

The pastor wants to begin living by the constitution rather than the whims of a few self-appointed decision-makers. They are up in arms; who does he think he is, a dictator? That's their role.

A Sunday School teacher refuses to cooperate with her church's leadership. She and her little class have been together all these centuries; they certainly do not need to change. Everyone is upset at the high-handed way of the education minister.

The pianist has served that church forty years and now "owns" that little corner of the sanctuary. She has been faithful--let's give her that--but now, at the hint that the pastor might be wanting to replace her with someone actually qualified, her family and extended circle of friends rise up in arms.

An influential member of the congregation gets upset with the pastor for unknown reasons and lets it be known he wants the man replaced and will not take 'no' for an answer. Since he employs half the church, people are afraid to buck him.

Congregations watch in stunned silence as their beloved church tries to self-destruct when a few angry members threaten to bring the whole house down.

What's a pastor to do?

There is an answer, and this is it.

The solution is in godly leadership.

When the Jerusalem church was threatened by division, the apostles told the congregation, "...select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty" (Acts 6:3).

That's the beginning and ending of the problem of internal church strife: Leadership.

Much of the history of the Old Testament, particularly in the days of Moses and Joshua, deals with selecting and training leaders for handling whatever came up in the life of the nation.

When the Lord Jesus began His ministry, He chose twelve whom He would train as leaders.

When churches were established, pastors (teaching elders) were not the only ones chosen and commissioned to the work of extending the Kingdom of God. Leaders of all kinds and callings and abilities were included.

There are two kinds of leaders in every church, each critical to its success.

There are those officially chosen as leaders: pastors, deacons, teachers, and other officers. They plan the ministry, carry out the program of the church, and have the daily responsibility for the care and health and effectiveness of the congregation.

Then, in most churches there is a smaller group of godly and mature men and women of powerful influence who lead simply by the lives they live. They are unofficial leaders, the second layer.

Often, there will be some overlapping of the two.

The panacea for church ills--that is, the means God has established for His church to deal with life-threatening viruses--almost always includes the second group.

Let me admit up front I do not have "a verse" to support this assertion. Yet, I believe it to be consistent with the entirety of God's Word. (This is not to say there is no such scripture; only that one does not occur to me at the moment. Do we need such a "verse"? I think not.)

How do we find and choose this second tier of church leaders?

We don't.

They rise to the forefront of a healthy congregation like cream to the top of a pail of milk. (This farm-boy analogy is probably lost to 90% of our readers. Sorry.)

In almost all congregations there are a few people of great influence who are the heart and soul of that church. Here are some ways of recognizing them:

--First and foremost, they don't know they're in that group.

If you told them they were, they would scoff at it. Good sign.

--They have a great love for God's Word, believe strongly in prayer, and love their pastors, no matter who they are.

As team players, they are supportive of the leadership, even when they don't always agree with them. You will never hear them complain.

--They are reluctant to speak up in church business meetings. But when they do, the room gets quiet because everyone wants to hear what they have to say.

--They never run for an office, and yet if it is thrust upon them, they do it well.

When you leave them, you know something special has just happened. You felt "the Presence" about them. (But I guarantee you, they don't have a clue you feel that way. Remember, after weeks in the presence of the Almighty on Sinai, Moses did not know that his face was shining when he returned to the congregation. --Exodus 34:29)

What are such leaders to do in protecting the Lord's church from division?

They are to do nothing until called upon. (There is an exception or two; see below.)

The worst thing they can do is take the initiative upon themselves and investigate every rumor, quell every dissent, stifle every outburst, rebuke every wayward member. To do so is to create a small Gestapo within the membership of the church, making them a bigger problem than the issues they were addressing.

When the pastor--always this is preferable, but sometimes not feasible; sometimes the pastor himself is the problem--and another leader or two call for their help, they should respond.

Here are some random principles about the work of this group.

a) This second level of leadership is always loosely formed, never an official group. Therefore, it should not be necessary to assemble each and every qualifying person to participate in its activities.

b) This second level of leadership may go for years without meeting. If the church is healthy and people are faithful, they will not be summoned to deal with internal problems.

c) The test for inclusion in the group is a simple one: "Do we need his/her wisdom?" A second test is: "Will he/she be upset if left out?" If the answer to the first is "yes," get them there. If the answer to the second is "yes," leave them out; they do not qualify.

d) Often, all the pastor will need from this group is their wisdom and insight--their counsel on what to do, how to handle a situation, or the assurance that what's being done is good.

e) In extreme cases only, several members of this group will be needed to handle a bad situation directly. They go into action only when a) the problem within the church is the official leadership or b) when the normal leaders are ineffective for some reason.

If the pastor himself is disobedient to the Lord and is hurting the church, there may be an official team in place for working with him. If not, this is the time for the "second layer of leadership" to act.

There is another time when they may want to act unilaterally....

When a faithful pastor is being battered by the unfaithful and rebellious, this "second layer of leadership" should go into action.

Sometimes pastors are reluctant to ask others to step up and defend them. I suspect their motives are noble ("no one should have to fight my battles for me"), but they are misguided. This is not simply about the preacher. It is about the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is about the work of God on earth, it is about the health of the congregation and whether it stays on course to bring the gospel to the lost.

If a little group is allowed to tear up the fellowship of the church and destroy its peace and unity in order to have their way, the church's mission grinds to a halt. The ministry of a good pastor is possibly ruined for years, leaders are disheartened, disappointed members disperse,and the lost and unchurched in the community are abandoned.

This must not be allowed to happen. The stakes are too high.

Write this in stone: Attacks on the preacher are not about the preacher.

The preacher is the visible representative of the Lord Himself. That is to say, God chose him and sent him. (Acts 20:28.) For someone to oppose him simply because they don't like him or a personality conflict or they want someone else in his place should be seen for what it is: rebellion against God Himself and an attack on the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When it becomes obvious certain ones in the congregation are attacking the preacher without just cause, lay leadership should go into action immediately.

Lay leadership handles internal problems better than the preachers do.

Not all pastors agree with this. Some will cite examples of times they called on a troublesome member who repented and all was well. The exception does not disprove the principle, however.

1) The pastor is vulnerable since his livelihood is at stake. A disgruntled but powerful church member can get the preacher fired and cause a major disruption in his ministry for years. This must not be allowed to happen.

2) But that powerful church member cannot fire another church member. That's why lay leaders deal with troublemaking church members best.

3) After a long bout of dealing with internal church conflicts, a weary pastor will sometimes simply resign and move to another church. On the surface, it would appear the conflicts have ended, but not so. They are merely lurking beneath the surface. Cancerous members will soon be working their magic on the new preacher.

That's why the laypeople--those who will be staying in this church and are not threatened by the damning work of a an evil few--must be the ones to deal with these problems.

4) There are no textbooks with all the answers. There are no guides for solving all internal church disputes. But there is something better: The Holy Spirit.

No one without a love for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and the courage to stand up for Him should ever be called or chosen as a leader of the Lord's people. Sooner or later, he/she will be called into action to demonstrate both that love and that courage.

Let them be ready and able to function well.

The stage actor has said those lines precisely 568 times before audiences and an untold number in rehearsal and in front of his bathroom mirror. He has to really work at his craft, lest he "phone it in."

The teacher has gone over those lessons each year for the last two decades. She could do it blind-folded while making a grocery list. If she's not careful, she'll "phone it in."

Our Lord warned of religious people using "vain repetitions" in their prayers. Putting the mind in neutral and the mouth spouting out those words and phrases we've all learned, as though the Lord hears and answers based on sheer volume. Phoning it in.

You're a retired pastor and travel a good bit. You get invited to guest-supply in various pulpits and speak to congregations that have never heard any of your best stuff. By the third year of this, you've boiled your preaching down to a solid one dozen messages. You're having more fun than you've had in a lifetime of ministry.

And no deacons meetings to attend, no church business conferences to moderate, no angry church members to deal with. You preach, accept a check from your host, pray the Lord's blessings on him and his ministry, and go back home. Next week, another drive to another church to deliver a similar sermon.

Question du jour: How does a minister keep from robotically and mindlessly mouthing the same platitudes over and over in a sermon he has preached ten, twenty, fifty times?

It's Sunday morning, three a.m., and that's my challenge for later this morning. Fortunately, I know the answer. (What, you ask, are you doing up at this hour of the morning? Answer: I'm a preacher and I'm delivering a sermon in a few hours. That's what I'm doing up at 3 a.m.)

1. Pray.

These twelve sermons are not concoctions I whipped up in a seminary library one Saturday afternoon. These are messages which God gave me in embryonic form many years ago and has continued to add to, improve on, develop, and strengthen through these many years. (How many years? Next December will be exactly 50 years since my ordination. Forty-two of those years were spent leading churches, five as the "director of missions" for the SBC churches of metro New Orleans, and nearly three in retirement work.)

As soon as an event goes on my preaching schedule, I begin praying for the Lord to prepare me and to prepare those who will be hearing me. "Lord, I do not want to waste your time, their good will, and my opportunity. Please show me what to preach and prepare the hearts of all who will hear."

2. Love.

I love the Lord, am committed to the work to which He has called me, and--even though I've not met anyone in this congregation where I'll be preaching in eight hours except the pastor and his small family--I honor the Lord's church. My heart's desire is to honor the Lord, bless these people and be used of God in their lives, and acquit myself well.

3. Rehearse.

Driving from our home in suburban New Orleans yesterday to this sweet little community in South Central Georgia, a jaunt of 520 miles, several times I went over sermons new and used. I talked to the Lord about what to preach and went over familiar ground, seeing if this was still the right thing to say.

A generation or more, Professor and Pastor Clyde Fant made me aware in his book "Preaching For Today" that preaching is an oral art, not a written one, and that some of the best preparation the preacher can make is to speak the sermon out loud. Until that moment, I would sit at the typewriter (anyone remember those?) and compose the best message I could, go over it time and again, and then think I was prepared. But I wasn't.

Saying the words out loud activates the mind in ways that staring at printed words on a page can never do. And, even though I have quoted this text a hundred times before, this scripture is God's living Word which means it never gets old or trite or stale. Even though I have preached this sermon multiple times, the challenge is to keep it fresh.

4. Experiment.

Is the way I've been delivering this sermon the best way? What if we moved that story from the first to the end? Perhaps one of the scriptures to which we refer in the body of the sermon would be a better beginning text from which to launch the message. What if I tried that.

So, in going over the sermon while driving, I'll try various ways of preaching it. In deciding which is best, my only guide is the Holy Spirit within. That is, having asked the Lord to show me His way, as it comes out of my mouth, I pretty well know if this is working or "pushing it."

5. Living It.

Professor James Taylor told our class of young seminarians this very thing nearly a half-century ago at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, but it didn't "take" with most of us since we were just beginning in the work. The way to keep a sermon fresh after preaching it numerous times is to experience it anew along with the congregation each time.

The Word of God is alive. And if the message I preach is His Word, then these will be living words too.

God help me to do it well. To be faithful. To be strong and courageous, to look these people in the eye and tell them the truth in love. To extend Heaven's invitation with all the force I would if the Lord Jesus were in the audience--He is!--and to expect people to respond as though He were preaching it.

I hope He is.

Piece of cake, right? Not so fast.

The executive director of the International Baptist Convention, my hosts, pointed out in a recent email a thing or two I might want to keep in mind.

All the retreat participants speak English, but they are not all Americans. Therefore, guest speakers from the States have to be careful not to use idioms and references that only those from Yankeeland (my term, not his) will understand.

I knew that, but I had not thought of it.

So, I started going over some of my choice stories. These are tales of growing up in rural Alabama, of small church preachers and narrow-minded Baptists and Southern ways. Uh oh. We might have a little problem here. I'm going to have to revisit all my messages and stories and illustrations. And even then, once we begin in Italy, there will need to be some fine-tuning and tweaking.

What happens when the preacher does not make an attempt to learn the culture of his audience and adapt to it?

He messes up royally.

It's about bridge-building, Stott writes.

A bridge is a means of connecting two peoples who would otherwise be shut off from one another. Bridges make possible traffic between the two. The chasm between the two--that which the bridge spans--represents the "gulf of mutual incomprehension" between the two groups.

For us, the gulf is 2,000 years (or more, in the case of the Old Testament) which Scripture spans to connect us with the message of Christ.

Stott identifies two errors which we preachers make. The first is to withdraw from the world altogether, to banish the culture to hell, and to make our entire ministry about the Bible.

This is the mistake we Bible-believers are more likely to make. "We believe the Bible, love the Bible, read the Bible, study the Bible and expound the Bible." And if we're not purposeful, we end up insulating ourselves from the culture.

He says you can tell from our preaching that we have withdrawn and are insulating ourselves from the world. How? He says we quote Spurgeon a lot. (I didn't say that, Stott did!) But mainly, we misconnect with the very people to whom we're bringing Christ's message. (see the four brief stories at the end)

The other error is to join the culture, to surrender to it. This is the mistake of liberals, Stott says. "They find it congenial to live on the contemporary side of the great divide." They are always up to date with the times. They know the latest novels and movies and celebrities. What they may not know is the Scripture.

Such preachers who have joined the world, Stott says, have given up the biblical revelation. Where they get their sermons, "heaven alone knows."

To be fair, Stott adds, "Those of us who criticize and condemn liberal theologians for their abandonment of historic Christianity, do not always honor their motivation or give them credit for what they are trying to do. The heart of their concern is not destruction but reconstruction." That is, they look around and see large numbers of people dismissing Christianity as a relic of the past that is irrelevant to their lives. And, in an attempt to make it relevant--to restate the Christian faith in terms which are intelligible, meaningful and credible to their secular colleagues and friends--they give away far too much.

So, each minister of the gospel must choose. First, we can retreat into our studies and come out on weekends to preach the revelation of God with no thought as to how the people in the pews are processing this Word. Second, we can spend all our time with the people and none in the study and so bring messages entirely of their understanding and approval but with little of God in them. Or, third, we can try to study the culture in order to speak God's eternal word to it.

That middle ground is our territory. There will often be tension in those trying to occupy this spot of earth. Should I join this club or see this movie? Is there value in learning Greek and Hebrew? Should I attend that Mardi Gras ball if it would enable me to invite my hosts to our church's revival?

Finally, I want to share Stott's fascinating little stories on preachers who failed miserably to connect with their audience for lack of thought as to who is listening and how to address them.

The first comes from British author George Eliot.

We should not follow the example of the Reverend Maynard Gilfil, the Anglo-Catholic curate of Shepperton, whom George Eliot introduces to us as "an excellent old gentleman, who smoked very long pipes and preached very short sermons." In fact, "he had a large heap of short sermons, rather yellow and worn at the edges, from which he took two every Sunday, securing perfect impartiality in the selection by taking them as they came, without reference to topics."

Second. A chaplain who visited the construction works on the Great Dam being built on the Upper Nile.

His congregation consisted of men who had to endure great heat, extreme isolation and the strong temptations which assault people who have too much time for recreation and too few facilities for it. So what do you think he preached about? "The duty of observing all the saints' days in the church calendar--as if they had been a group of the devout widows and spinsters in the home congregation."

"He was a first prize idiot," comments W. M. McGregor, who tells the story.

Third illustration from Stott.

Then there was the Cambridge don of whom E. L. Mascall tells in one of his books who "began his sermon to a group of Cambridge bedmakers (college servants): The ontological argument for the existence of God has in recent years, largely under Teutonic influence, been relegated to a position of comparative inferiority in the armoury of Christian apologetics."

One more.

Yet even this crass stupidity was exceeded by Bishop John Wordsworth of Salisbury (1885-1911) who, in his sermon at a confirmation service at Sherborne School, "vehemently implored the boys, whatever else they might do, on no account to marry their deceased wives' sisters."

After that, I am speechless. Which makes this a good place to end.

When I did an article on this page about "how churches show you are not welcome," among the comments it generated--and on Facebook, it pulled in more than here at the website--was one asking me to do the reverse: 'Tell us how churches show you are welcome." Great idea.

So, I posed that question to the 4,200 or so FB friends I've managed to amass in the last couple of years. And the comments began flying in.

Oddly enough, however, all the comments on how a church shows it wants you boil down to the same thing.

Nothing else is more important than this in communicating to first-timers that they are welcome in this place and wanted to return.

But, it's how a church communicates that welcome which tells the story. Not all agree, of course. Some who overdo the friendliness will smother newcomers, while others trying to respect their privacy will leave them with the impression they are unwanted. It's impossible to get it right every time with every visitor.

That said, we will posit our list here and encourage pastors and other leaders to prayerfully select what works best for them. Keep in mind, unless we do these things in the power of the Spirit and for the glory of the Lord, nothing here will work.

1. They make everything clear in print, in sermon, and in announcements. (I Corinthians 14:8)

Without overlooking the regulars or boring to death those who come all the time, church leaders will make certain that theological language is explained, that meeting places are clearly spelled out, and that people being identified are adequately named. There will be no coded messages in print or from the pulpit. All are welcome in this place and no theological degrees or official endorsement from the "in" group will be required before visitors are made to feel at home.

2. The signage is clear and just right.

The worship center of my church is oddly shaped. Doors open into the building from every side. However, only half of them are "correct;" the others open into obscure hallways. Therefore, some years ago, after a visitor called our attention to this--"I don't know which is the main entrance"--we painted "entrance" over several doors. One or two members chafed at the way it messed up the decor, but guests appreciated the help.

Our church has several parking lots and a small drivethrough enabling motorists to drop off guests under a covered portico. Some years back, we sent a team of our people to Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, a church that had been recommended as having "gotten their signage right." They came back, made appropriate recommendations, and we made the needed signs.

Longtime church members do not need signs. First-timers will love them.

3. They have great rest rooms. (For some reason, I'm unable to find a good scripture for this!)

Here's another thing we did. When our worship center was constructed in 1983, due to the "oil bust" which was leaving many of our people suddenly unemployed, the church cut back on expenses. Consequently, the rest rooms were too small.

Now, as we all know, women need larger bathroom facilities than men. And since, the architect had placed a small "pastor's office" next door to the "women's," as soon as our church paid the final installment on the debt, we tore down the partition between these rooms, and doubled the size of the ladies' room. (The pastor's true office was in the educational building; this tiny one was a luxury for the preacher to have a cubbyhole a few feet from his pulpit.)

Men and women alike appreciate well appointed, clean, and properly furnished bathrooms. I can guarantee that visitors will make conclusions based on their visit to this room in your church.

4. A few learn your name and call you by it. They show a genuine interest.

It's the sweetest sound in the universe, we're told: your own name. (See Isaiah 43:1 and John 10:3.)

Now, not everyone has the ability to learn names the first time or two they hear it. And not everyone enjoys walking up to strangers and greeting them. But the good news is you don't have to have a crowd. A few who do this well can make a world of difference.

For those who struggle with learning new names, there is no substitute for simply listening intently, asking them to repeat it, saying it yourself, and then using it a time or two. And if, five minutes later, you've forgotten it, smile at them and say, "Please help me out. I have forgotten your name! Sorry." They will laugh and tell you again. (This time, though, remember! Otherwise, to ask them again will be a poor reflection on you and them.)

5. They invite you to other things. (Revelation 22:17)

A church that really wants you will not be content with your occasional visit to their Sunday morning worship service. They have other events going on, suppers and training and studies and concerts and missions, all of which will give you insight into the identity of this church and help you to decide if this is the church for you.

The church blessed with a multitude of good inviters is fortunate indeed. The best invitation in Scripture that I know of is "Come and see." The Lord said it to two disciples who wondered where He was staying (John 1:39). Philip said it to Nathanael who wondered if anything good could come out of Nazareth (John 1:46). The woman of Samaria said it to the townspeople when she met Jesus at Jacob's well (John 4:29).

What I like about the "come and see" approach is there aren't a lot of promises involved. Just, "come and decide for yourself." I once invited a new neighbor to my church. He responded, "We're small church people." I said, "Well, just come once and I'll not bug you about it." Then I said, "But I want you to come to Sunday School. Because that's where you meet people." He said, "I'll come one time."

I still recall what Jimmy McCay said the next Sunday morning as he walked from Sunday School into the worship center. "That was the greatest Sunday School class I've ever been to in my life!" And he was hooked.

6. They respect you, and do not push themselves on you. (Revelation 3:20)

A criticism you and I have heard about over-friendly churches is that they fawn over you, they begin hugging you from the moment you walk onto their premises, and they drive you away by being too aggressive.

To be sure, some people love that and need it.

Most do not appreciate too much physical contact too early in the relationship. They should be respected, and allowed to decide for themselves how much is just right.

7. They have greeters outside the front doors, not inside. (Psalm 84:10 You knew I was going to use that, didn't you?)

Have you ever driven past a church on Sunday morning and wondered if they were open for business? The cars in the parking lot would seem to say so, but you don't see a soul on the grounds. They need a couple of greeters and they need to be visible.

Greeters need to be on the outside of the sanctuary. They are doing this for the benefit of first-timers who will see that a) the church is open and ready for them, b) someone is there to meet and greet them, and c) they know where to go.

But what about in inclement weather? Where should the greeters stand then? Answer: on the outside. Unless it is known beyond a doubt that no guests are going to be coming, they should be visible. If it's raining, they should have umbrellas and assist people getting out of cars. Ideally, a church will have additional men lined up for rainy days, all carrying golf umbrellas, and wearing rain gear.

8. They give you an opportunity to respond, to ask questions, and to join. (Acts 8:36)

Now, as church leaders, you could wait for church guests to ask questions. But it's a great way to open a conversation with someone who has come a few times: "We're so glad you folks are here. Do you have a question about anything?" I'm betting they do.

Why do you put the offering at the end of the service? Why don't you have communion every Sunday? Why does the pastor not wear a robe? (or why does he?) Who is the man who sits on the platform near the pastor every Sunday but never does anything in the service? (He's left over from the previous administration. JK) And then, there is everyone's favorite question....

"How can I join this church?" Or, its variation: "What must I do to be saved?"

BTW, when sharing your faith with someone whose mind seems to wander and whom you sense would rather be anywhere else in the world than here, a good technique is to stop and ask, "Is this making sense to you?" That gives them the opportunity to say, "No" or "To tell you the truth, I'm not interested," and to abort the interview. After all, respecting their right to decide for themselves (that would be Joshua 24:15 and I Kings 18:21) is always the correct thing to do.

9. They contact you during the following week. (Acts 14 14:21-22 and 15:36).

A phone call, a personal visit, or at the very least, a letter should be coming to the homes of first-timers in the days following their visit.

In making the phone call, half the time you'll get their answering machine. That works almost as well as reaching them. You identify yourself, tell how pleased you were they worshiped at your church, and leave your number in case they have a question.

A letter should be personal and not a form letter directed to "dear friend." If you the leaders are too busy to send personal notes to people who came to worship with you, you're probably too busy. A volunteer can be enlisted to handle this well.

As for personal visits, these days, the near-unanimous opinion is that you should call ahead. Let the individual decide whether a visit would be appreciated.

10. They get back to you with the information you requested.

In my seminary pastorate, someone interrupted a Bible study I was leading to ask a question I could not answer. I said, "Let me check into that and get back to you." A short time later, a man in the group called me off to the side. "Pastor, you might want to know that your predecessor would make that promise--I'll look it up and get back to you--but he never did. So, don't say it if you don't intend to do it."

I never failed to get back to them with the information.

From time to time, newcomers will ask questions about the community or your church's theology or some individual within the membership, none of which you know. Now, there are two bad things to do: a) tell them you don't know and drop the subject; and b) tell them you'll find out and then forget it.

Instead, no matter what the question is, if you can dig out the answer or the correct person for them to contact, do that and you will have made a friend.

Finally, we need to say that these quick points are just that, quick. If your church is in severe need of renovating its welcoming process, I have two suggestions:

God bless you as you make your church a receptive place for newcomers. God is on your side; He wants this far more than you will ever.

As a retired pastor who preaches in a different church almost every Sunday, a fun thing I get to do is study the church bulletins (or handouts or worship guides) which everyone receives on entering the building. You can learn a great deal about a church's priorities and personality in five minutes of perusing that sheet.

As an outsider--that is, not a member or regular here--I get to see how first-timers read that material and feel something of the same thing they feel. I become the ultimate mystery shopper for churches. That is not to say that I pass along all my (ahem) insights and conclusions to pastors. Truth be told, most leaders do not welcome judgments from visitors on what they are doing and how they can do it better. So, unless asked, I keep it to myself. And put it in my blog. (smiley face goes here)

Now, in all fairness, most churches are eager to receive newcomers and want them to feel at home and even consider joining. And the worship bulletins reflect that with announcements of after-benediction receptions to meet the pastors, the occasional luncheon for newcomers to learn about the church and get their questions answered, and free materials in the foyer.

Now, surely all the other churches want first-timers to like them and consider joining. No church willingly turns its nose up at newcomers, at least none that I know of. But that is the effect of our misbehavior.

Here are ten ways churches signal newcomers they are not wanted.

One church where I was to preach has a lovely front facade which borders on the sidewalk. The front doors are impressive and stately. So, after parking to the side of the building, I did what I always do: walked to the front and entered as a visitor would.

Except I didn't go in.

The doors were locked. All of them.

After walking back around the side and entering from the parking lot, I approached an usher and asked about the locked door. "No one comes in from that entrance," he said. "The parking lot is to the side."

I said, "What about walk-ups? People from the neighborhood who come across the street."

He said, "No one does that."

He's right. They stay away because the church has told them they're not welcome.

One church I visited had plate glass doors where the interior of the lobby was clearly visible from the front steps. A table had been shoved against the doors to prevent anyone from entering that way. I did not ask why; I knew. The parking lot was in the rear. Regulars parked back there and entered through those doors.

That church, in a constant struggle for survival, is its own worst enemy. They might as well erect a sign in front of the church that reads, "First-timers unwelcome."

2. The functioning entrance is opened late.

Even if we understand why a rarely used front door is kept locked, it makes no sense that the primary door should be closed. And yet, I have walked up to an entrance clearly marked and found it locked. The pastor explained, "We unlock it 15 minutes prior to the service."

If that pastor is a friend and we already have a solid relationship, I will say something gracious, like, "What? Are you out of your cotton-picking mind? A lot of people like to come early. Seniors do. First-timers like to get there early to see the lay of the land. That door ought to be unlocked a minimum of 45 minutes prior to the announced worship time."

If the pastor and I are meeting for the first time, I'll still make the point, although a little gentler than that.

3. The church bulletin gives inadequate information.

The announcement reads: "The youth will have their next meeting this week at Stacy's house. See Shawn for directions. Team B is in charge of refreshments."

Good luck to the young person visiting that day and hoping to break into the clique. He has no idea who Shawn is, how to get to Stacy's house or what's going on if he dares to attend.

So, the youth does not return. Next Sunday, he tries that church across town that is drawing in great crowds of teens. For good reason, I imagine. They act like they actually want them to come.

4. The pulpit is unfriendly to first-timers.

The pastor says, "I'm going to call on Bob to lead the prayer." Or, "Now, Susan will tell us about the women's luncheon today." "Tom will be at the front door with information on the project."

By not using the full names of the individuals, the pastor ends up speaking only to the insiders. Outsiders entered without knowing anyone and leave the same way.

5. The congregation sends its own signals.

Is visitors parking clearly marked? And when you park there, does someone greet you with a warm welcome and helpful information? Or, do you find a parking place wherever you can and receive only stares as you approach the entrance?

Did you get the impression that you were sitting in someone else's pew today?

Did anyone make an effort to learn your name and see if you have a question? Or, was the only handshake you received given during the in-service time as announced in the bulletin? (Those, incidentally, do not count when assessing the friendliness of a congregation. Only spontaneous acts of kindness count.)

This week, a pastor and I had lunch at a diner in downtown New Orleans which I've visited only once and he not at all. We were amused at some of the signs posted around the eatery. One said rather prominently, "Guests are not to stay beyond one hour." My friend Jim laughed, "I guess they're saying we shouldn't dawdle."

Churches have their own signs, although not as clear or blatant as that. Usually, they are read in the faces, smiles (or lack of one), and tone of voice of members.

6. The insider language keeps outsiders away.

Now, I'm not one who believes we should strip all our worship service prayers and hymns and sermons of all references to sanctification, the blood, justification, atonement, and such. This is who we are.

However, when we use the terms without a word of explanation--particularly, if we do it again and again--first-timers unaccustomed to the terms feel the same way you would if you dropped in on a foreign language class mid-semester: lost.

We signal visitors that they are welcome in our services when we give occasional explanations to our terms and customs which they might find strange.

7. No attempt is made to get information on visitors.

Now, most church bulletins which I see from week to week have the perforated tear-off which asks for all kinds of informations and even gives people ways to sign up for courses or dinners. But I've been amazed at how many do not ask for that information.

So, a visitor comes and goes. The church had one opportunity to reach out to him or her and blew it.

A church which is successful in reaching people for Christ will use redundancy. That is, they will have multiple methods for engaging newcomers, everything from greeters in the parking lot to friendly ushers to attractive bulletins and after-service receptions.

8. No one follows up on first-timers.

One of the ministers of my church helped me with this. He said, "Asking people to fill out a guest card implies that there will be some kind of contact with them afterwards." He pointed out that our pastor informs them "no salesman will call," but even so, "Someone phones many visitors and letters go out to most."

The first-timer who visits a church and does everything right has a right to expect some kind of follow-up from a leader of that congregation.

We're frequently told that people today cherish their privacy and do not want to give their name and contact information until they decide this church is trustworthy. My response to that is: it's true, but not universally true. Many people still want to be enthusiastically welcomed and will respond to invitations to give given the grand tour and taken to lunch afterwards.

In most cases leaders can tell from guest cards whether a visit will be welcomed. If not, at the very least a phone call should be made. If the caller receives an answering machine, he/she leaves the message and may decide this is sufficient for the first time. (Every situation is different. There are few hard and fast rules. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you.)

9. Intangibles often send the signals loud and clear.

In one church I served, a couple roamed the auditorium before and after services in search of anyone they did not know. Lee and Dottie Andrews greeted the newcomers, engaged them in conversation, and quickly determined if an invitation to lunch would be in order. Almost every Sunday, they hosted a visiting family at the local cafeteria. At least half of these joined our church.

In another church, a husband and wife who sold real estate brought their clients to church with them. Some of the most active and faithful members who joined during my years in that church were introduced by Bob and Beth Keys.

Often, it's nothing more than a great smile that seals the deal. Or a warm, genuinely friendly handshake.

A friendly, "Hey, have you found everything you need here?" may be all that's needed.

Some churches install a newcomers desk in the foyer, where visitors can meet knowledgable leaders, pick up material, and get questions answered. Those can be great, but there is one caveat: you must have the right people on that desk. Individuals gifted with great smiles and servant spirits and infinite patience are ideal.

10. What happens following the service can make the difference.

You the newcomer have enjoyed the service, you were blessed by the sermon, and you would like to greet the pastor and begin an acquaintance with this church. Most churches are set up for you to do just this. But not all.

I've been in churches where within 5 minutes after the benediction, the place was deserted. People were so eager to leave, they hardly spoke to one another, much less guests. The signal they send the visitor is clear: "We don't care for our church and you wouldn't either."

Healthy church congregations love each other and welcome newcomers and their people are reluctant to leave following the end of services.

One wonders if pastors and other leaders realize just how scary it can be for a person new in the city to venture into an unfamiliar church. It is an act of courage of the first dimension.

How much more should a church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The lazy-overachievers push themselves night and day in a vain effort to convince themselves they are not lazy, not sloths or couch potatoes or blights on humanity. But most lazy people are under-achievers of the first order.

The workaholic has his own demons to tame, so we will leave him to them.

The rest of us are just cotton-pickin' lazy.

Who would have thought that the ancients would have identified sloth as one of the deadly sins? It looks so tame, so benign. It doesn't hurt anyone, but just lies there on the couch doing nothing. How could that be a sin?

The sloth rises from the bed at 10 am and whiles away the day, then rises from the couch at 10 pm wondering where the time went. Where the time went is into the trash bin, into deletion, never to be recaptured.

The sinfulness of sloth is that it wastes life. It denies that "this is the day the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24). It takes what is God's and buries it. Sloth is life-denying, and thus rebellion against the purposeful Creating God.

I know about laziness. You too?

Now, I'm known as the guy who rises early and works late, who gets up in the night to tweak something and stays at it for hours.

As a young minister, I went for years without a vacation or taking an off day. From the outside, it looked noble to everyone except my longsuffering family. On the inside, I was living in fear. I was afraid of being accused of laziness, of not doing enough, of not earning my pay.

From the outside, that does not look like sloth. But my heart is where sloth resides.

In the same way that some part of me is an unbeliever, a thief, a liar, and an adulterer, I am lazy. The urge is ever-present, the all-too human tendency toward rebellion and indulgence. Staving it off is a never-ending chore.

Now, one reason we know laziness is so prevalent across humanity is that Scripture--particularly Proverbs--has so much to say on this subject, none of it good.

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise (Proverbs 6:6). The ant, says Solomon, is worthy of our study. Unlike the ancient philosopher-king, we have seen nature films depicting colonies of ants working and cooperating and fighting. We stand in awe of this little critter.

Now, Solomon clearly knew nothing approaching what today's scientists have learned about ants. And yet, what he said is exactly on target. The ant, as well as the squirrel in my back yard, puts us to shame.

The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly (Proverbs 26:16). The person who does not get up off the couch to run the vacuum or wash the dishes or to earn his pay in the office always has reasons and excuses.

For the record, here are the Proverb references to sloth and laziness: 10:4,26; 12:24; 13:4; 15:19; 19:15; 20:4; 26:14-16.

First, let's say what laziness and sloth are not.

The overworked engine needs to be shut down occasionally and allowed to rest. The cowboy rests his horse from time to time, otherwise the animal is permanently ruined.
Humans need to rest, and sometimes that means sitting on a front porch doing nothing but watching the sun set over the mountains.

The sign at the gas pump says, "When refueling, turn off engine."

The mechanic working on your car first turns off the ignition.

Idleness is necessary if we are to be refueled and restored.

Sloth is not boredom.

Boredom can be great. We find ourselves with time on our hands and our mind wants to accomplish something, to find something worthwhile on which to invest our time. Recently, author and columnist George Will wrote of the devastating change that technology has brought to our youth. The time it takes for them to be bored is now in the milliseconds, he says. In previous ages, it would have taken hours.

A bored person may decide to find a book to read, or start putting in his shop or take a walk in the neighborhood. Something good can come from any of these. They are not laziness.

Sloth is not rest.

A minister friend finally took the vacation he had been wanting for years. He and his wife rented a cabin in the Colorado mountains and for three weeks, did nothing. Now, I did not question him about it, but I know and you know they did not do nothing. They slept and rose and ate and took walks and read books. They laughed and went for drives and they talked. Which sounds to me like the perfect vacation.

There's nothing wrong and everything right with taking a break from hard work for deep restful relaxation. The Lord told the disciples to "come apart and rest awhile" (Mark 6:31).

Sloth and laziness have their own peculiar expressions.

How often have you heard these? Worse, how many times have you said them?

"I could not care less." "I don't give a d--n. Leave me alone." "Who cares?"

"Let someone else do it." "What's the use? It's all to be done over anyway."

"Everything's going to turn out all right. Just leave it alone."

"You worry too much. You need to take a break and rest more."

"I'll do it later." "Aw mom. You nag me too much."

Sloth affects every profession, every kind of human.

A lazy teacher prepares his/her lessons for this year and thereafter regurgitates the same boring stuff every year. A great teacher is always learning, ever growing, never pausing in a pursuit of excellence in her field and with her students.

A lazy pastor will find ways to postpone sermon study until Saturday night, when he hastily digs through Scripture in a vain attempt to produce a sermon that works for the next day. Lazy preachers spend too much time on the golf course or fishing, too little time knocking on doors or on their knees or with their people.

A lazy father indulges his own pasttimes, but has no patience with his wife or children. He comes alive only when watching his team play ball, then rebuffs his son's invitation to come outside and toss the ball around.

A lazy mother cannot wait until the children are out of the house in the morning so she can watch television or play on the computer or get with her friends for coffee and gossip. She grows irritated if a sick child has to stay home and needs mama close by.

What sloth (laziness) looks like. (Just so you'll know it the next time you see it.)

A sloth is a spectator. He does not run for office, grow a garden, build a house, or prepare his taxes early.

A sloth is a procrastinator. He puts off everything to the last minute and beyond, if possible.

A sloth is a prevaricator. A liar. He has excuses and rationalizations and justifications for his life on the couch. But only he believes them. Everyone else knows the truth.

A sloth is a complainer. Life is unfair, he says. The government is on our backs, all politicians are crooked, hospitals are unsafe and doctors are not to be trusted.

A sloth is always looking for shortcuts. Rather than make a serious effort to take charge of his life, he goes for promises to "lose 20 pounds without dieting," "learn Spanish without all that memorization," and "get a degree without studying."

A sloth is the most egotistical individual on the planet. He is interested in one person only, himself, and in only one aspect of himself, his appetite. Whatever pleasures him is first on his agenda each day.

The spiritual sloth has joined your church and fills half the pews, pastor.

Half the members of the typical church never read their Bibles, attend no weekly class to learn Scripture, and are engaged in no personal ministry. They come to church occasionally and when they do, only as spectators to fill in a pew as though somehow or other, worship will "happen" to them.

Ask them to come to a Sunday night meeting, to attend a church business conference, or serve on a special task force and you find out in a hurry who the real workers are in your congregation.

I sometimes urge pastors to invite worshipers to get up from the pew and meet him at the altar for a time of prayer on their knees, just to see the kind of response he will get. In even the most spiritual of churches, no more than half will respond.

Slothful members are known by...

...their unwillingness to make a commitment. Sign a pledge card? Not in this lifetime. Commit to giving a certain amount to a building campaign? No thanks.

...that glazed over look in their eyes during the sermon. They are far afield and completely uninvolved in what's going on in church. They might just as well have stayed home.

...their philosophy that attending church is their primary obligation as Christians. They are in for a rude awakening when they stand at judgment.

...their promptness in criticizing the service as though their disapproval equates to God's thumbs-down.

The cure for sloth? That one is simple.

"Awake thou that sleepest! Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Ephesians 5:14, quoting the Prophet Isaiah).

Sloths are sleep-walking through life. The cure is to awaken. Even a rude-awakening is better than no wakening at all.

Sloths are spiritually dead. The remedy is to come to life. (Are there spiritual defibrillators? Maybe a good shock would do the trick.)

Jesus said, "The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25).

Since we sloths like things simple, this ought to do it. What could be more simple than awakening and coming back to life?

And it won't even take 30 days to do it?

Someday I need you to help me understand why we are told when we pray and believe our prayers will be answered. Then people die in spite of our pleas for health. I know it is within God's will but why ask if His will is what is going to occur anyway? I know thousands of prayers were said for (a friend who died some years back) and for my friend I saw buried today. Thousands are being said for (a friend with cancer) yet she is in a battle for her life.

We are told "you have not because you ask not." Maybe this would be a good blog topic. I can't be the only one who struggles with these thoughts.

If you only knew, Nancy.

On this blog, I probably have fifty articles dealing with prayer in one way or the other. And--truth be known--most of them skirt around the edges of this subject.

So, let's try to meet it head on.

Let's start by this upfront admission: Things are not as simple as they seem at first.

Frankly, as one who likes things simple and cut-and-dried, this is painful to admit.

The Bible actually does say things like: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives...." (Matthew 6:7-8) And this: "Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it" (John 14:13-14).

There are plenty more, but those two are sufficient to establish that the blanket promises are out there.

What are serious disciples of the Lord Jesus to make of such prayer promises?

Had they interpreted such promises as "get-out-of-jail-free" cards, they would have cashed them in. At the first sign of trouble, they would have "named it and claimed it" and poof! all is well.

That is not what we see happening in the early church.

Instead, we see Jesus Himself enduring great "contradiction of sinners against himself" (Hebrews 12:3) to the point of going to the cross and submitting to death at the hand of sinners (Philippians 2:8 and I Peter 2:21ff., among other places).

We see the first generation of disciples undergoing great persecution, even to the point of death. In fact, not only does it seem that they did not "cash that card," they actually "rejoiced that they were found worthy to suffer shame for His name" (Acts 5:41) and used the suffering as a means of "pimping" (sorry for this word!) their witness (Acts 16:25ff).

There is not the first place in any of the rest of the Bible that I can think of which indicates that the apostles interpreted Jesus' statements as blanket promises to anyone who believes and asks.

I grant you that's what those verses in the gospels say, and--can I apologize for this in advance?--were it left to us, most of us would tweak such passages to clear up any misunderstandings.

I say this cautiously, recognizing that my words sound suspiciously like I'm criticizing the Lord. I'm not. If anything--in my mind, at least--I'm being critical of the way the gospel writers left these promises hanging. Remember that the Apostle Peter made a similar statement concerning Paul's writings in II Peter 3:15ff.

2. The solid accepted way of interpreting God's word has always been to compare scripture with scripture.

"No scripture is of private interpretation," said the Apostle Peter in II Peter 1:20. Now, that could mean no individual is to go off on a tangent by his lonesome promoting his own personal interpretation. Or, it may be saying that scripture must not be taken out of context and isolated, but interpreted within the fullness of revelation. Or both. Or, even additional things.

Almost every Bible teacher I've ever known of any denomination holds that every promise of Jesus (or any other passage) should be placed in its proper setting alongside the rest of the Bible's revelations on each subject.

Scripture has much to say about which prayers God answers and which He doesn't, why some are answered and others seem to go into God's file 13. Here are a couple:

"Your iniquities have separated you from God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2). Sin blocks the reception of prayer.

"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16). Prayer should be fervent and the pray-er should be righteous.

3. The biggest element in our praying must always be faith.

"The prayer of faith will save the sick" (Jas. 5:15).

"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6).

The Lord said to the disciples, "Why did you fear; where is your faith?" (Mark 4:40) And to a distraught father, Jesus said, "If you can believe, all things are possible" (Mark 9:23).

But there is a major problem here. We can believe as strongly as it's possible to do, and sometimes the heavens are silent. This has given rise to all sorts of abuse as unscrupulous charlatans who know more about conning people than they do Scripture browbeat their victims into believing prayers are unanswered because they do not have sufficient faith.

Some years ago, a professor at Oral Roberts University wrote a book which helped me a great deal. "From the Pinnacle of the Temple" by Charles Farah points out the vast gulf between doing something by faith--that is in obedience to the Word and to the leadership of the Spirit--and doing it presumptuously (God has not promised it, commanded it, or desired it).

Just because we have faith, we do not get all we ask.

The Lord who promised that "if you had faith as a grain of mustardseed, you could move mountains" (Luke 17:6) clearly does not hand out answers to prayer according to the size of one's belief.

And, as if we needed further complications, sometimes in the Word, Jesus responds to the faith of one person by blessing another. Mark 2:5 is a perfect example. It was the faith of the four pallet-bearers that impressed the Savior sufficiently so that He forgave and then healed the paralytic. Not a word about the faith of the sick fellow is mentioned.

We always do well to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As some has stated it, this means: "With all I know of me, I put my trust in all I know of Him."

4. Even if all the other elements are present, the ultimate deciding factor is the will of God.

Imagine for a moment the chaos which would follow if God gave you and me a divine formula, which, when followed, could end all disease and extend life indefinitely.

No one would ever die. No one would stay unemployed longer than a day. No child would go hungry. No heart would ever stay broken.

It would be heaven.

Exactly. And this world is not heaven. It is a fallen world where sin and evil are at work, where the prince of darkness is on the job, and where mysteries you and I cannot imagine come into play.

Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3).

Commit that to memory, Christian. You're going to be needing that in your toolbox. There will be times aplenty when that is the only answer you can give: God knows what He is about.

This is not to say God wills for that young mother to die of cancer, leaving behind those little babies.

God does not will for the infant to be run over by that truck in the mobile home parking lot or the father of three teenagers to die in his 40s.

So, why does it happen?

Underline this one, my friend, and burn it on your heart: Not everything that happens in this world is God's will.

My friend Nancy asked, "Why should we ask if His will is what is going to occur anyway?" Others put it this way: "Since God's will always gets done, why bother to ask?"

God's will does not always get done. If it did, then we could say that everything going on in this world is the will of God. It isn't. To repeat, this is a fallen world and sin is afoot. Satan has much to account for.

It's easy to discount sin. Many of us do it all the time. We speak of babies coming into the world as blank slates and ready for us to write on them. We speak of this as being the best of all possible worlds. We sing of how "this is My Father's world."

We must not forget the snake in the garden. He is at work charming the gullible, fooling the blind, and misleading the smarties.

6. Utlimately, we say, "Even so, Father, thy will be done."

Whatever you decide, Father, let's do that.

Corrie ten Boom (and countless others) have commented on how this life is like a weaving, the underside of which being all we ever see. The master weaver blends in dark and gold for a pattern only he sees. Eventually, but only when we get "on top," we will see the pattern. Until then, we will walk by faith.

We said in "Number 3" above that the biggest element is our faith. But the greatest expression of our faith is submission to the will of the Father.

In Gethsemane, Jesus wanted the Father to save mankind by any other method if one was available. But there wasn't. He prayed, "O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39).

That's where we have to leave this subject.

We are to ask Him. We are to ask in faith. We are to submit ourselves into His hands to do with as He pleases. But we are not to demand, not to be presumptuous, and not to claim what He has not promised.

Nothing about this is simple. If it were, good people would not differ.

Someone once said, "We read the Bible and interpret it away to nothing. One of these days, someone is going to come along and read it and believe it, and the world will be changed forever."

That sounds so good, I promise you it will garner a truckload of "amens" at a preachers' meeting. The only problem is it's wrong.

God's word always has to be interpreted. It must not be taken out of context and made to mean what was never intended.

Let the people of the Lord demand that their teachers and pastors give them the whole teaching of God and not isolated bits and pieces which they've turned into panaceas. Let the people of God grow up in their love for all the Word and their appreciation for ministers who cater not to the fancies of the shallow but will obey the Lord who said, "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17).

In the meantime, while we are in this world with needs galore all about us, my friends, let us be faithful in praying. Let us pray in faith. But let us then leave the results in the hands of the Lord, giving thanks for all that comes, whatever comes.

Big assignment. Not because there aren't zillions of needy people there and not because you are not committed and zealous.

The first problem is you don't know these people, do not speak their language--actual or cultural--and have no idea how to connect with them.

So, we come back to our question on penetrating a culture: "Where would you get started?"

Our initial answer was: "Ask Questions."

But questioning is useless without this: "Be very quiet and listen."

If you are not there to learn, no surface respect for their traditions and no superficial asking of questions will make a bit of difference.

Nearly a year ago, Chris and Kassy brought their two small children from Kansas to New Orleans to start a church.

They did it right.

So, where do you think they started?

They began by visiting churches. They walked into ours one weekday when the pastor was out, so I invited them over to my cubbyhold and we chatted an hour or so. They had not taken my (ahem) little online course on "engaging the culture" (the one you are taking now; smiley face goes here), but they instinctively did it right.

They did not arrive determining to show the other churches how to get the job done. Even if they were able to manage that, it's not the way to get started.

They came asking questions.

They wanted to know about the different neighborhoods, the churches, the opportunities and obstacles as we saw them.

And they listened.

Listening: The second most important aspect of engaging a culture foreign to you.

A few weeks ago, Chris came by to thank me for something I had said in the course of our conversation that day many months ago. According to him--I have little memory of the details--I talked about a neighborhood that is seriously unchurched but with tremendous need and opportunities. That became the site of their new church. They bought a home there.

Oh, and did I tell you that Chris and Kassy are not of our denomination?

All the more admirable it was for them to walk into this church to get acquainted and to learn.

That is the trait that struck me most about them. They wanted to learn about the area, not to teach me anything. (I have no doubt, however, that Chris will someday be teaching church planters how to make an impact on this city for Christ. We just hope they....listen.)

Listening is more than hearing. It involves intentional focusing and silent reflection on the data being received.

Any pastor can tell when people are really listening to him. They are involved. Their face reflects that they are "with you," taking in what you are saying and visually responding. I'll tell you, also, that most of us preachers unconsciously seek out those faces when we are preaching, and direct our message to them.

A great many in every congregation take in the words, but do not process them, and therefore cannot be said to be listening. This must be what Scripture has in mind: "Seeing, they do not see, and hearing, they do not hear" (Matthew 13:13) and "If anyone has an ear let him hear" (Revelation 13:9).

The best listeners often take notes. They keep files.

A great reason for taking notes in church is to help us retain what was said. Even if we never refer to the notes again, we will be more likely to internalize what we heard than if we did not write them down.

In penetrating and learning to bring the message of Christ to a new culture--Miami Beach or New Orleans or the bayou country downriver or the factory world of Smalltown, Ohio--we do well by going in quietly and humbly, to receive first before we are allowed to give, to ask questions and to learn.

By making notes and filing them orderly, the "missionary" (whatever that means to you) will begin to make connections and gain insights.

The way to tell when you are making headway (inroads) is when one of your new friends compliments you with, "Hey, I didn't know that. You know more about my religion (or town or state) than I do and I've lived here all my life."

That's what my co-worker Roger said one day. I was a first-year student in New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and working each afternoon in a local bottling plant. As the only Protestant in the place, to some it seemed I had just arrived from Mars. This was 1964-65, and as a child of rural Alabama and West Virginia's mining camps, I was definitely the odd man out.

I set out to learn. I was friendly and respectful to everyone in the huge office. I kept quiet and listened. I went to the seminary library to read up on Catholicism and took the daily paper and asked questions. The day Roger paid me this compliment was the morning I went to mass with him. The next Sunday, he drove out to St. Charles Parish and visited the church I had begun to pastor.

My quarter-century connection with this city began that way.

In any field, not just in cultural evangelism, learners do these two things: they ask questions and listen.

Look at the ministry of Jesus. As the crowds flocked to Him and took their places on the hillsides to hear Him speak, they came questioning and listening. The listening provoked more questions which encouraged more listening.

It's hard work, listening. It requires us to button our lip, to turn off the television, to turn aside from the computer, to put down the newspaper. We give eye contact and process what we are hearing. Only then can we be said to be listening.

I am the only man in my immediate family not wearing a hearing aid. My three brothers were much younger than I when they caved in and bought theirs. I am well aware that I'm postponing the inevitable. The day is coming, and getting much closer.

Sometimes, particularly with Margaret, I have to ask her to repeat what she said. Then, I get up and turn off the television or lay aside the newspaper and walk into the room where she is standing and say, "Sorry. One more time please."

Listening. It doesn't get any easier as we get on in life.

I think I'm about to find that it gets much more expensive too.

"We're beginning an amazing ministry to England," he said, without any idea that I had just returned from there.

"What we're going to do," the young man said, "is to invade that country with the gospel of Jesus. We're going door-to-door and show those dead churches how to do evangelism, how to build great churches. We're going to bring the dead back to life again."

I said, "Uh, my brother, have you ever been to England?"

The fact that he had not did not seem to bother him. He was sure that the approach to Kingdom-building that had worked for him in rural small-town Mississippi provided a template workable anywhere, in any culture.

The conversation went downhill from there. I recall telling him that several ministers in the London area had told us how they resent know-it-all American evangelists arriving in their country with all the answers. One said, "We do not mind their coming to help us. What we hate is that they are not interested in anything we have to say, not in learning the customs or traditions. And if we don't get behind them and support them, we're opposing Jesus."

Arrogance is not the exclusive property of young ministers, although I can tell you from personal experience, it seems to find the ideal elements for incubation in those who are uninformed but zealous, untrained but certain. I will spare you the numerous stories of my own presumption and foolishness in judging faithful workers in the Lord's vineyard for not producing more fruit when I had very little idea what I was talking about.

There is a way to make an impact on any culture, thankfully.

And there is a way to begin. May I suggest that way is: Begin by enrolling as a learner.

There are several questions we will want to ask again and again as we begin the process of bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world where He has sent us.

What?

"Tell me about yourself. What do you do?"

"How does your church worship? Tell me about your town."

"What do people do for fun in this town." "How are decisions made?" "Who are the employers?" "Where do people work and live?"

"What are you doing that is really working?"

"What have you tried that didn't work?"

You are learning the elements of the culture.

Why?

"Oh, that's an interesting approach. May I ask why you do that?"

"Why do all the people go to this arena on Saturday nights? What do they get from this activity?"

"Why do the people of your town put up with delinquency? Have they done anything about it?"

"Why do they root for this team, but not that one?"

"What would happen to someone who tried to change the culture? Why?"

You are learning the history of the people.

What if?

"What if your church were to stop doing that?"

"What if you went into that community and knocked on doors and offered to help?"

"What if someone were to build a school here?" "A church there?" "A community center." "A rehab program."

"What if we were to go to the mayor and asked what we can do to help with this problem?"

"What if I wanted to make a difference here? How long would it take to be accepted?"

You are learning the (probably unseen) prejudices and fears of the community.

Who?

"Who is making a difference for good in the community? Let's go see them."

"Who has tried something and had it fail? Let's see what they can teach us."

"Who is the problem?"

"Who are the influential people, the newsmakers here?"

"Who is allowed to join this group?"

"My name is Joe. Who are you?"

You are learning the avenues and dead ends of the culture.

What now, Lord?

It's time to pray.

Even if you knew all there was to learn about the community where you've been sent to minister, had the full confidence of all the leadership, and had the means to do something world-changing, you're not ready.

The question is not: "Where can I make a difference?"

You can always find a way to make a difference. The question is: "Where does the Holy Spirit want me to begin?"

Until then, you take a job and go to work and get to know people and wait on the Lord.

Trust Him. He knows.

If it is true that every smalltown of this country has a uniqueness about its culture--its ways of doing things, its history, its powerbrokers and its scapegoats, its pride and its shame--how much more true it must be of entire countries where we the Lord's people go to bring the gospel.

It can be done. But not by nightfall.

Go as a learner, as a student. Respect the people and honor those to whom honor is due. Wait on the Lord. Build friendships. Stay faithful. Encourage the ones doing good and treat the others carefully. And plan to stick around. This is going to take someone who will be "the Word made flesh," who can "dwell among them."