Pastor's Blog

Pastor's Blog

Archive for July, 2019

Going with the Gospel…All Summer Long

Though we send Inglesiders to go with the gospel throughout the year, the summer affords us several unique mission opportunities. I know you will celebrate with me that the gospel was proclaimed in the following places around the world: Myrtle Beach – Our Student Sessions choir of 49 students and leaders shared the gospel through outdoor concerts and an arts camp held at a local church. Macon – 48 high school students and leaders did gospel-sharing ministry in our city for a...

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The Value of a Warm Welcome

One of the challenges that face large churches on a weekly basis is providing a welcoming atmosphere to guests. In a church like ours, where 2,000 or so people worship on a Sunday morning, it can be easy for a newcomer to be lost in the shuffle. One of our goals as a church is for guests to feel warmly welcomed from the moment they pull into the parking lot until the moment they drive away. Perhaps a verse from Scripture would connect this practice theologically and put an exclamation...

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Improving Your Serve

  I’m not sure if you follow tennis, but the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon, is well underway this week. You might be amazed that over the course of the event more than 473,000 people attend, 23,630 pizzas are served, over 50,000 plants are on display, and that players have to follow a “predominately in white rule” in regard to their clothing and accessories. How about the fact that the fastest serve ever at Wimbledon was in 2010 when...

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Long Pastorates & Healthy Churches

In his ground-breaking book, The Purpose Driven Church (1995), Rick Warren recounts a study he made a few years ago of the 100 largest churches in the United States.  He writes:  “Although I discovered that large, growing churches differ widely in strategy, structure, and style, there were some common denominators.  My study confirmed what I already knew . . . :  Healthy, large churches are led by pastors who have been there a long time.  I found dozens of examples.  A long...

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