Ministry Encouragement Podcast

Ministry Encouragement Podcast – Episode #096 7-10-14 Your Host: Rev. Jim W. Hollis Sponsored by: Proactive Ministries (www.proactive-ministries.org) Hello! Thanks for joining me for this ninety-sixth edition of The Ministry Encouragement Podcast. Your presence in sharing in our podcast and discussions is a tremendous encouragement and my prayer is that you will be encouraged spiritually through the Community that God continues to build among us. The purpose of this podcast is to spiritually encourage all Christ Followers who are actively engaged in ministry to find new hope, spiritual motivation and practical strategies for being more like Christ each day. We talk about ministry realities, strategies for initiating and building new relationships and growing together in Christian Community. Today I will be focusing on the the topic: How Can Dying Churches Become Revitalized? There is a growing expression across many mainline, denominational churches today in the United States, “We want to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” This is appearing in massive percentages of publications, promotions and being discussed in both pulpits and classrooms. Yet, upon closer inspection of the current reality of these churches, on average, 60 – 65% of them have not received one person on profession of faith in Jesus Christ in the past 12 months or longer. In some districts, even in the Bible Belt of America, up to 70% of these churches are in serious decline. The pastors and leaders in these churches want reach others and grow but don’t know how. They know there is serious trouble and yet they are clinging to hope in Christ. WHY? There are two major reasons why we are so reluctant to share our faith and the love of Christ unconditionally with those we don’t know: Reason #1: Fear of personal rejection Reason #2: Not knowing what to say or how to initiate a new friendship with someone we don’t already know Out of the hundreds of churches we have worked with across the nation over the past 21 years, we have proven statistically that the above reasons shake out as Reason #1 and Reason #2 in 99% of surveys given in local churches. So what’s the answer to this major crisis in so many churches today. The answer it three fold: 1) We want to create powerful times of worship and praise in which we can share the good news that God has sent the Savior of the world, who took on humanity, and loved every one of us enough to die on the Cross that we may have not only eternal life but abundant life each day. 2) We can learn Biblically based, common sense, relational strategies of HOW to reach out beyond the walls of our churches and initiate new, authentic, lasting friendships with persons and families in our community that we have not yet met. Some of them we can meet in restaurants as they introduce themselves to us as Servers. Others we will meet as we drop off our clothes in the Dry Cleaners. Still others we will get to know because they work as cashiers in check out lines at Home Depot, Publix or other retail shopping stores. 3) As we find the spiritual empowerment through the Holy Spirit to learn this kind of ministry and we begin to live this out consistently, we will see God begin to use us to actually reach others as they choose to become authentic disciples of Jesus Christ today. So new ministries must emerge that will cause us to risk ourselves in new and exciting ways as we go where the Spirit leads and discover how God will use people like us, with our many limitations and struggles to make an incredible difference in hundreds of lives. What now? Pray and talk about the opportunity to have us in Proactive Ministries come and share outreach ministry experiences with your congregation. The process can bring spiritual renewal and the initiation of many new friendships across your church and your community. There IS hope for dying churches. They can become revitalized. Will you take action to see this become a reality? Give me a call soon and I’d love to hear about your personal walk with Christ, the ministries you love and your desire to see more of the presence of Jesus in your life and congregation. You may reach me at: Ministry Offices: (770) 803-9988 Email: jim@ministryencouragementpodcast.com Facebook: Jim W. Hollis LinkedIn: Jim Hollis OR leave a Voicemail right on this page, on the right side click on the voicemail button with your mouse and use your computer microphone to speak and it will record your message and send it directly to me. Until the next time, may the Lord of all life bless you and keep you. May Christ make his face to shine upon you and give you peace and joy. In Christ’s Grace, Jim

Ministry Encouragement Podcast – Episode #094 – 6-9-14 Your Host: Rev. Jim W. Hollis, Executive Director of Proactive Ministries Ministry Website: www.proactive-ministries.org Hello and welcome to another episode of The Ministry Encouragement Podcast! I’m so glad that you have taken time from your busy schedule to join me in this time. The purpose of this podcast is to encourage all Pastors, Leaders and Christ Followers as they live out their faith daily. Proactive Ministries works with churches and businesses across North America to provide motivation, teaching and encouragement in practical areas of Christ-led ministries. Today we will be focusing on the Priorities of Pastors. I will be suggesting three areas to significantly increase in pastoral ministry and three areas to seriously decrease as Pastors. Being called by Christ to serve as an effective, fruit-bearing Pastor is challenging and can provide one of the greatest joys in life. Yet many Pastors today are not living in joy but frustration and discouragement. There are strategic adjustments that can be made by Pastors to raise the joy of ministry and lower the discouragement and despair. Here they are: Pastors – MORE of these: 1) Comprehensive Prayer Ministry 2) Initiation of New Relationships (inside & outside) 3) Direct and consistent investment in Leaders Pastors – LESS of these: 1) Counseling Time with Individuals 2) Being infected by drama & trivia in too many meetings 3) Bogging down in the overall Leadership Structure Some of the keys to doing the suggestions listed above is to avoid certain pitfalls when you step up with spiritual courage to make those changes to the overall ministry of the congregation are these: Don’t give high priority to negative persons in Leadership – replace them Someone will say, “We can do those in-house.” If you could have, you would have already done it. Get outside coaching. The changes listed are not minor – they are foundational and will bring significant transformed lives and the making of disciples Thanks for riding, biking, running or driving along with me for this episode today. Would you be so kind as to share this with your Pastor(s) that they may be encouraged with some fresh ideas and views of how to move forward? And consider carefully the possible “take-away” or “action steps” following what I shared with you today: 1) Give me a call and let’s talk about HOW to effectively transition from decline to growth. Our office number is: (770) 803-9988. 2) Email me at: jim@ministryencouragementpodcast.com This comes directly to me. 3) Use your mouse to click on the Voicemail box on the right side of this blog page. Use your computer microphone and talk away, up to 45 seconds. This comes directly to me. 4) Find me and our ministry on Facebook: Jim W. Hollis OR Proactive Ministries page. Take care until the next time we share time in thinking through ministry possibilities together. I would love to hear from you! Blessings in Christ, Jim

Ministry Encouragement Podcast – Episode #92 5-18-14 / Our Sponsor: Proactive Ministries (proactive-ministries.org) Your Host: Rev. Jim W. Hollis Welcome today to the Ministry Encouragement Podcast. This podcast is for the purposes of encouraging all Christ followers as they seek to draw closer to Christ and be engaged in ministries to others. There is far too much discouragement in Christian ministry today. So, in this time, it is my hope that you will find some encouragement which will touch you and that you would choose to share with others you know. Today’s topic is: The 24 Hour Spiritual Transformation 1) What am I referring to as The 24 Hour Spiritual Transformation? 2) How did this amazing blessing that has taken place across America get started and continue to grow to this very day? 3) What are the keys to this particular transformation recurring so strongly? 4) How can this happen in your local church and what are realistic, expected outcomes of this in your congregation? 5) What ACTION steps could you take to bring this to reality in your own life and church setting? It’s my prayer that you will catch the vision of what God can do in ANY local church who truly wants to begin to reach others relationally in their community. The church can be new or old, small or large, urban or rural and the Pastor & Leaders will definitely not want to count on “business as usual” or “maintaining the status quo” to deliver the growth to the congregation’s reach. I hope you will share this with your fellow Leaders and Pastor. The 24 Hour Spiritual Transformation can happen where you live in your life and the lives of those who lead and belong to your congregation. Are you up for being an Agent of Change for Christ and ministry excellence in your own setting? Hope to see you share this podcast with your Pastor, other key Leaders and friends you know. It can truly make a profound difference in so many lives and relationships that it’s incredibly powerful. Until our next epsisode, may God truly bless and empower you for greater ministry ahead! You can be the catalyst for change! Get in touch with me today and let’s talk it over: Email: jim@ministryencouragementpodcast.com Ministry Offices (Atlanta, GA, USA): (770) 803-9988 / Fax: (770) 803-9989 Facebook: Jim W. Hollis / LinkedIn: Jim Hollis OR use the Voicemail TAB on the right side of this page, with your computer mic and mouse to leave me a voicemail. It will come to me personally. Blessings, Jim  

Ministry Encouragement Podcast – Episode #090 – 4-29-14 Our Sponsor: Proactive Ministries Your Host: Rev. Jim W. Hollis Hello and welcome to the ninetieth episode of the Ministry Encouragement Podcast. I’m delighted that you have taken part of your busy schedule to share in our community that God is continuing to build around the podcast. We are celebrating experiencing Spring and the ending of a very hard, long winter. Temperatures are moving far above freezing and sunny days are coming on strong. This is the time of the year when millions of us will begin to move back outside for two very popular activities – Fishing and Hunting. For this episode I will be having us take a scriptural look at Fishing and Hunting. The topic for this episode is: God’s Affirmation of Fishing and Hunting Across nearly 40 years of ministry I’ve found that far more people have experienced fishing than hunting. After all, there’s no adventure or joy quite like taking a child or a young person fishing for the first time. When they put bait on the line and a fish gets o the hook – regardless of the size – seeing the joy on their faces is incredible. Let’s take a look at some things the Bible says about fishing and hunting and see if we can relate it to ministry and the community of faith today. We can start with a text in Jeremiah 16:16-17, where we find these words: Jeremiah 16:16-17 New International Version (NIV) 16 “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. 17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. I can recall growing up as a young boy and my Dad taking me fishing near my home in the eastern part of the state of Georgia in a little place called Hard Labor Creek State Park near Rutledge, GA. And I’ve continued to fish all my life taking our own two sons early on in their lives and now our three grandchildren to experience the joy of fishing. There are some things that we can learn from our fishing experiences that relate to us as Christ Followers today: 1) For too many years in churches, we have been doing the wrong kind of fishing. We’ve fished as what refer to as “Bait Casters.” When you’re fishing as a Bait Caster there are some things that are incredibly limited and restrictive. 2) It’s my counsel that we need to graduate from Bait Casting to Bass Fishing. Here in the United States there is a group of people who fish that are often called, “Bass Masters.” They are very different from Bait Casters. When we pause and think about how we have been doing outreach and evangelism in most congregations across North America for the past 50 years, we have been much more like Bait Casters than Bass Masters. Jesus spent much of his ministry time with fishermen. Some of this own disciples were professional fishermen who made a living fishing. Simon Peter, James and John came to Christ through experiences of fishing on the Sea of Galilee. And they left being mere fishermen behind to follow Jesus as disciples. Jesus made disciples out of fishermen. Jesus told them, “From now on you will be catching people rather than fish.” And their lives were never the same again. 3) A parallel comparison be seen in the area of hunting. In the text for today, Jeremiah 16:16-17 (in the notes for this episode) – God sends persons to not only fish but to hunt as well. I learned much about hunting growing up in a rural area. Early on as a young person I was introduced to deer hunting. Many of men in our town got excited about deer hunting. And they decided to teach me how to do it. I never was good at deer hunting. I started young and it just didn’t make sense to me. With this less than positive experience of deer hunting, by my second year in high school I decided to graduate to a different kind of hunting – quail hunting. Quail hunting is very different that deer hunting. 4) In too many faith communities across North America, particularly those that are mainline, established churches – we have been doing the wrong kind of hunting. We have been deer hunting rather than moving up to hunt quail. The Bible does give many examples of fishing and hunting that we can learn from. The key to benefiting from it is to know that it’s not the fish and the game or the sport of it all that matters – it’s walking with Christ where Christ is at work in that unconditional love in order to connect with others in caring, authentic relationships, grounded in Divine Grace. This is relational evangelism. ************************************************************** Thanks so much for joining me again for this podcast. You are an encouragement to me and our ministry. As always, for you to contact me by email, phone, or voicemail right off this blog page – means so much. I love it when you take a moment to share with me what you received from the podcast and to let me know of suggestions on how I can make this more meaningful to you going forward. What are some topics that you would like to see covered on here? Until next time, I invite you to keep the ministry of this podcast in your prayers, share it with others you know and take heart in knowing that I’m praying for you as well. May the Lord bless you in what you’re doing for the Kingdom. Blessings, Jim To contact me: Email: jim@ministryencouragementpodcast.com Phone: (Offices, Smyrna, GA, USA) 770-803-9988 Fax: (770) 803-9989 Voicemail: Using your mouse & microphone, click on the button on the right side of this page and leave a message. It comes directly to me! Facebook: Jim W. Hollis and please, LIKE our Proactive Ministries FB page LinkedIn: Jim Hollis          

Ministry Encouragement Podcast – Episode #088 – 3-31-14 Your Host: Rev. Jim W. Hollis Our Sponsor: Proactive Ministries Hello and welcome again to the Ministry Encouragement Podcast. This is the 88th Episode and it’s my hope that you will know how much I appreciate your presence here. God continues to grow our podcast community. Today I’ll be covering a major teaching on Leadership: Five Leadership Development Keys There are volumes that have been written on Leadership. Today I’d like to share five major keys on how to move your Leadership Team to an entirely new level. While some of these are basic, as we get involved in projects, growing pains, and increased success – it can be easy to let these basic core elements of Leadership begin to slip. The five are: Key #1: The letter “I” is not in the word, “Team” – focus on using “We” / “Our” Championship leaders give credit to their Team members Key #2: Choose words thoughtfully, but be careful with the tone spoken Poor words can wound, but the tone can sometimes kill Key #3: Let’s each check our “Default Expectations” as leaders – Lazy leaders, poor leaders, and negative leaders default to expect the worst of their fellow Team Members. Excellent leaders, Courageous leaders, and Caring leaders default to expect the best from their Team Members. Key #4: The shortest route to building deep trust with a Team Member is to travel across “The Bridge of Story” – speeding up the crossing by Listening Work consistently to listen & understand – trust will follow Key #5: Excellent Leaders live passionately as Servant-Leaders – Excellent leaders ask these questions, “How can I help you be your very best today?” and “What can I do for you?” Any of these five keys can be done occasionally. Those who are taking their becoming a great leader to an entirely new level commit themselves to do all five keys consistently. Consistency of effort over time produces phenomenal leaders who others desire to follow. ******************************************** The Leadership Keys I shared with you can be effectively applied to groups or teams of leaders in a multiplicity of organizations – from churches to corporations. These Keys also can be incorporated into our lives as individuals, producing growth that will grow individuals closer to reaching their individual leadership potential. It’s my prayer that you will take a couple of minutes and share today’s podcast with others you know. You may wish to use it in a small group or other organization that you participate in. Have you considered Personal Leadership Coaching? Part of the joy I have is to provide Personal Leadership Coaching with individuals or sometimes a small group of leaders who wish to grow together in their leadership effectiveness. If you’re interested, feel free to contact me soon. You may reach me by: Email: jim@ministryencouragementpodcast.com Office Phone: (Georgia, USA) (770) 803-9988 Facebook: Jim W. Hollis OR Like our “Proactive Ministries” Page LinkedIn: Jim Hollis Voicemail: The “tab” on the right side of this page – you can click it with your mouse and use your built in microphone to leave me a personal voicemail message. It will be delivered directly to me. Until our next time together, continue to live in the joy of Christ. May you become a wonderful leader in touching lives through sharing Christ’s love, grace and hope with others each day! Jim