Tag: Church Growth

Better Than Ten Sons

grateful-1990396_6401 Samuel 1:2 – 8

2And he [Elkanah] had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there yearly:

4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:

5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb.  

6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.

7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?

A Yearning for More

I was reading this passage this morning (March 2, 2018), and the highlighted words of Elkanah jumped off the page at me as if God Himself were making a sort of plea with me. In what I believe to be with the best of intentions, since we started Turning Point in October of 2011, I have sought the Lord for growth for our small church. We’ve had pockets of success, and I would not classify our church has having been barren. We’ve seen people in our altars filled with the Holy Ghost. We’ve baptized a couple of dozen in our short life span, but there is a yearning within me as a leader, as a pastor, as a servant of God to produce more.

I’ve made great strides in this area of my life in terms of trusting God for growth, as we plant and water, He always brings the increase. But, there’s a divine discontentment within me for more. I will say, I believe there needs to be a balance in these sort of prayers. On one hand we need to be reaching for that next soul, but with the other we ought to be gratefully, and faithfully feeding, nurturing, and loving those God has already blessed us with.

Hannah’s Prayer and Elkanah’ Plea

When I read passages like Hannah’s desperate pleas for a child, specifically a son, I have been quick to dismiss another plea of sorts made, almost in passing here in verse 8, “Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?”

Here I got a glimpse into the nature of our Heavenly Father in the face of our desperate prayer for “more sons” in the Gospel. While I’ve prayed and sought God for more growth for our church, I’m ashamed to say, I’ve had pockets of envy. There has been no real provocation on the part other pastors of successful churches, but the “enemy” of my soul, as well as the loud self-sabotaging voices of my own, scream in the face of the Father to “remember me…”

My pleas are for more workers for the Kingdom; more soul-winners, more bible teachers, more preachers, leaders, worshipers, true laborers for the work God has called us to start. But, this passage by Elkanah stopped me in my tracks this morning, “Am I not better to thee than ten sons?” 

It’s About Relationship

Tears started to flow, as I had the spirit again come over me as if I had insinuated my God, and all He has done for me and our small church, is not enough. Hannah was given a “worthy portion” or a “double portion” and Elkanah’s unwavering affection and devotion. While this didn’t answer the yearning in Hannah for a son, it does beg the question, has my relationship with God been more a function of producing a result, a.k.a. a son or new convert, new laborer for the work of our church? When much like Elkanah, God is asking the question, “Am I not better than all of this?” Our prayer life isn’t required to be result-driven, as much as it is to be relationship-driven. When the relationship happens, the results will take care of themselves.

May my prayer never insinuate, or outright accuse my God of not being enough. He’s more than enough. He always supplies what’s needed. And, He’s always on time! He’s better to me than even ten sons! – RDM

100 Book Challenge Week 4 Progress – 8 & 9 of 100 (Plus 1 Bonus)

The exciting aspects of this wisdom quest unfolded tremendously this week for me. One of my favor authors and non-denominational speakers is Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Church just outside of Atlanta, GA. His writing and speaking have a credibility and consistency that seems to be lacking in many mainstream religious leaders and communicators. He’s well respected not just in religious circles but in the circles of business and leadership too. For these reasons I have begun to build a collection of his works.

My current collection includes:

I will be adding soon

  • Visioneering
  • Communicating for Change
  • Choosing to Cheat
  • Ask It
  • Best Question Ever

8. Deep and Wide by Andy Stanley – By far my favorite book to date by Andy Stanley and 1460489103227the most exhaustive of his works regarding planting a church, designing environments to attract unchurched people, crafting messages for unchurched people and church people alike. Andy’s approach is very methodical and intentional.

Chapter 6 gives great insight into North Point’s concept of Spiritual Formation, which they use to quantify spiritual growth as follows –

They describe it as 5 Faith Catalysts which are 5 things God uses to grow your faith.

  • Practical Teaching
  • Private Discipline
  • Personal Ministry
  • Providential Relationships
  • Pivotal Circumstances

Chapter 7 Describes these in detail and provide excellent leadership advice on how best to position people based on one of these 5 catalysts.

One of the major moments for me stood out in Chapter 13…

“Marry your mission.

Date your model.

Fall in love with your vision.

Stay mildly infatuated with your approach.”

Andy does a wonderful job at mapping the mission to the programming as follows –

MISSION —VISION—MODEL—PROGRAMMING (see page. 286)

This skims the surface of this excellent book which reads like a manual on the North Point Systems Based approach to church leadership.

9. Creating Community by Andy Stanley and Bill Willits – I am investigating the feasibility of small groups for our church. I have surveyed a half dozen pastors and have received opinions in every direction. This book cleared up a great deal. I’m not 100% sold on the idea…yet.

51obh1fz6ql-_sx336_bo1204203200_Much of the first few chapters were spent convincing the reader of the importance of community. The authors state God literally created us for community. In fact, they use Creation when God said, “It is not good that man should be alone,” as evidence God wants us to have companionship. While I agree companionship is wonderful and beneficial, I personally felt that readers who may be single, and may have resigned themselves to that fact, may be out of line their opinion of God’s view on being alone. Many biblical leaders, even Jesus was never married, so this comparison should be drawn very carefully.

I did however like the way they correlated the Starbucks Business model to community. They’re not just in the business of selling coffee, they’re in the business of creating community. And, if you think about it, that’s so true. Their environments are conducive to conversation and connection which go great with coffee.

Now, from a church standpoint, I am a strong proponent of community. I can see the benefits of doing life together. Great examples were given in the book of how small groups impacted the lives of people who would have otherwise fallen between the proverbial cracks.

This book was filled with practical reasons on why, and a little on the how, as it applies to small groups, but left me wanting more in the way of a formal process. It could be done using the book, but would involve a great deal more trial and error, and would require high degree of tolerance on behalf of the people you would be asking to sign up for these groups.

Bonus Book(s): Finished Leviticus and began the Book of Numbers. I was so enamored with the Deep and Wide book I re-read several chapters several times. Once I cracked these books open by Andy Stanley, it reminded me of 7 Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner, and I dug up a few chapters from there because they were reference by Andy in Deep and Wide.