Sermon prep is difficult work. It’s long, arduous, and tedious. Because of the difficulty inherent to prepping a gospel-centered, culturally-intelligible, Biblically-saturated sermon, many opt for other types of “sermons.” Some preach creativity.

Some preach comedy.

Some preach social observations.

Some preach practical pep-talks.

It’s simply easier to “preach” these other things than it is to open God’s Word each week, find a fresh sermon for God’s people, and put spiritual food on the table.

We live in a culture largely void of honor. In short, honor is dead, both in our culture and in our churches.  We use our freedom of speech to dishonor public officials, people in positions of authority, and anyone else we choose without giving it a second thought.

While this should not surprise us culturally, the commonplace nature of dishonor amongst Christians is, frankly, shocking.

Psalm 71:8"My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day."

I read this the other day and immediately asked myself, "What's in my mouth throughout the day? Is my speech continually marked by a constant praise of who God is and what He's done for me?"

The obvious answer was of course, "No."

We started Redemption Bible Church believing that Biblical leadership would be crucial to planting and pastoring a healthy church. We believed both then and now that the health of our church would directly relate to the health of our elders. If you do not know, elders are the senior leaders of the church also called pastors, bishops, and overseers in the New Testament (Eph 4:11; 1 Pet 5:2; Acts 20:28). The elders are men chosen for their ministry according to the clear biblical qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. In addition to these Biblical qualifications, there are three specific traits we look for in potential elders:

At Redemption we are meticulous about keeping track of our numbers. This is NOT because we find our identity in, nor measure our worth by the numbers, but because behind every number is a name.  Every number is a life that has been influenced and impacted by Jesus.

Last week we had a members meeting and Ashely Herr, one of our elders, put together a presentation that served as a celebration of God's grace in and through our church, as well as an incredible blessing to our church family.

Here are some of the things we celebrated in a few areas of focus at Redemption:

I was frustrated - which in and of itself is not an abnormal experience for me, unfortunately. I was in the midst of one of the few short walks I take each day, trudging around the neighborhood next to my office, wrestling through one of the many leadership issues every pastor faces on a regular basis. In this particular situation I had tried everything I could think of. I did not know what to do. I was tired of trying to figure it out.

Connection Essential #3 - A Mechanic

It does not matter how nice of a vehicle you drive, at some point it requires a mechanic to keep it running. The same is true of your connection vehicle. No matter how clear the next steps and how fine tuned the system, someone has to keep it running.

Connection Question | Who is going to keep the connection vehicle running?

Connection Essential #2 - A Vehicle

Once you have determined where you are trying to go, you are ready to design the vehicle by which you can help people get to this desired destination.

Connection Question | What are the necessary next steps?

Connection Essential #1 - A Destination

No one ever sets out on a journey without first determining their desired destination. Therefore, the planning of every trip starts with a basic question: “Where do we want to go?”  A similar question is necessary in the planning of an effective connection strategy for your church:

 Connection Question | What exactly does “connected” look like at my church?

There is no shortage of reasons people leave one church to attend another.

• “My last church wasn’t Biblically faithful.”
• “My last church didn’t offer the programs I wanted for my kids.”
• “My last church had unqualified people in leadership.”
• “My last church had cutting edge worship strait out of the 1500s.”
• “My last church was amazing, but my job moved me away.”

Obviously, some of the reasons a person leaves one church to attend another are good while others are selfish, consumer-driven, and disobedient. Sometimes people leave churches because of their own sin and often times people leave because of the unrepentant sin dwelling within the leadership of the church itself.

One of my goals for this year has been to pursue growth in my prayer life. To do so, I have been reading, studying, and most importantly, praying. By God's grace I am seeing growth and have found these three things to be crucial to the consistent increase of fervent prayer.

Preaching is draining work. A faithful Bible preacher labors week after week to carefully and prayerfully craft sermons in a way that are faithful, helpful, and clear.

All the while they see the faces of actual people God has entrusted to their care. They see their victories, their trials, their suffering, and their sin. They hear their fears, doubts, and their prayers. All of this adds to the weight of bringing a word from God that will build them up, encourage them, feed them, and challenge them.

If you have ever wondered why it is so important we fight to reach this new generation of young men with the gospel, here's why...

If you are a preacher, you have done it. You have been right in the middle of preaching your sermon and used that illustration you had a feeling might flop, but decided to take the risk anyway. Then it happens.

It detonates in your face and all you want to do is sit down and let the band come back on and play. Maybe it was unnecessarily offensive, distracting, or not thought through. Maybe it made no sense, confused people, or wound up serving no purpose whatsoever.

I love reading the stories of those God has used throughout history. The diversity of those He uses is staggering. There is no one personality type, ministry philosophy, nor theological tribe God has been limited to. All of this serves to make much of God and breed humility in us.

Outside the Bible, biographies of the people God has used to make a lasting impact tend to be my favorite reading. The stories of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, D.L. Moody, C.H. Spurgeon, and A.W. Tozer have all served my soul, my marriage, and my ministry. Besides the amazing nature of these stories, there are three primary reasons I read these great books:

One of the great mistakes a Christian can make in his, or her life is to overcomplicate prayer. Prayer is not complicated. Prayer is difficult for most of us, sure, but it's not complicated. At the root of all our petitioning of God in prayer is really the same prayer:

This past Sunday at Redemption was one of the most stressful and most amazing experiences I've had in 12 years of being involved in church planting to various degrees. When we arrived at 7:30am to begin set-up, we noticed another event also being set-up on the football field of the high school we gather for worship at. One hour later the entire parking lot was full...not just crowded full...like not a single spot available full!

The school had booked this event without informing us and just over an hour before our people were to begin arriving there was literally nowhere for them to park.

"I can't do this anymore..."

"What's the point of this..."

"I think it would be easier to just give up..."

These are the types of thoughts that mark seasons of weariness in our lives. Weariness is the state of physical, emotional, and spiritual depletion. It's a fatigue that extends to every facet of life and remains a reality  all Christians face. The prophet Isaiah meant to make this clear when he pictured the strongest, healthiest, highest capacity person he could and said even they grow weary.

The truth is, apart from God, creation is hard-wired for weariness.

I can't tell you how many Christians have come to Redemption after leaving previous churches because they "just didn't get anything out of the Sunday service." Sometimes this is because they have come from a church that has abandoned the preaching of God's Word, but many times these are people that have come from great churches where the preaching is not the problem. I would argue that a big part of the problem is not our churches, not our preaching, and not the style of music used for worship. I would argue that a big part of the problem is