2008 CBAmerica Summer Summit
The 2008 CBAmerica Summer Leadership Summit is being held at First Baptist Church of Fort Collins, July 23rd - 25th. The goal of the Annual Leadership Summit is to bring together leaders from the regions to encourage networking, build relations and train for effectiveness. This year's Summit will focus on equipping regional leaders in the process of church assessment. Dr. Bill Hoyt, President of NexStep Coaching and Consulting will be facilitating the training sessions.
On Thursday evening a Celebration Service focused on the theme, Share the Life will be led by First Baptist Church at 7:00 p.m. which is open to the general public at no cost. This service will include a time of praise and worship singing, Chaplaincy Reports and First Baptist Church Pastor Mark Hanke sharing the process and impact of becoming an externally focused church. You and your church members are invited to be a part of this time of celebration.
Preach the Word
by Stan Rieb, Associate Director Paul warned his ministry companions of impending change. Listen to his words of warning and see if you can identify the days of which he speaks. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3-4:
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
A time was coming, it had not yet arrived, but it was coming. History would bear out that there have been many such times of change in the church such as the one that Paul was going to describe. I tremember in my fundamentalist days - uh, oh, now you know that I am one of those guys - this warning going forth from the pulpit quite regularly.
What would be characteristic of these coming days? It was that people would not put up with, endure or embrace sound doctrine. Instead they would go shopping for truth. In a true 21st centrury consumer mentality they would seek to suit their own desires, they would look for those who would scratch where they were itching, ultimately willing to sell their souls for made up stories - myths.
Using a very broad brush, let me make a few observations from Paul's letter to Timothy.
To view Stan's three observations, please go to "Worth a Look"
UPCOMING EVENTS
2008 Ministry Retreats
Retreats are planned to bring ministry singles and couples together for refreshment, relaxation and recreation. Plan to attend one of the following in 2008:
MINISTRY RETREAT Monday-Wednesday, September 15-17, 2008 at St. Malo's, Estes Park, CO
Click for the Retreat brochure and registration form.
WY/MT FALL MINISTRY RETREAT:
Sunday, October 26th - Tuesday, October 28th at First Baptist Church in Powell, Wyoming. Mark your calendars today and make plans to attend.
Colorado Ministry Fellowships
The location for the Ministry Fellowships has yet to be determined. We would encourage you to put the dates and time on your schedule. Notices will go out as soon as the locations are secured.
Denver Metro - 11:30 a.m., October 14
Northern Colorado - 11:30 a.m., October 16
Southern Metro - 11:30 a.m., October 20
“This is what the kingdom of God is like.
A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
All by itself the soil produces grain
—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Mark 4:26-29 (NIV)
Natural Church Development (NCD) is a way of understanding church health and growth that views the church as a living organism. The focus is not on numerical growth, but on improving the health of the church, with the understanding –impressively documented by research– that when a church is sufficiently healthy, numerical growth will follow. These concepts are explained in the book Natural Church Development by Christian A. Schwarz.
The Natural Church Development survey measures the health of a local church in eight areas that have been found to be essential to healthy church growth. Developed by the Institute of Natural Church Development in Germany, this survey grows out of what was probably the most extensive study of church growth ever conducted, involving over 1000 churches in 32 countries on every continent except Antarctica. This study revealed a clear positive correlation between these eight Quality Characteristics and church growth.
NCD is all about releasing the potential God has already implanted in our lives. Based on research in more than 50,000 churches on all six continents, NCD describes universal principles that are applicable regardless of culture or spiritual style.
(CLICK here for the NCD story.)
