Thom S. Rainer

Latest

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  Jun 15, 2013

  What Do Non-Christians Really Think of Us?

  Christians look at everyone else as if they've got targets painted on their foreheads. Nobody likes being hunted down or treated like someone else's project. Love does not seek to create clones of itself. Selfishness does.

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  Jun 11, 2013

  What People Really Think About Southern Baptists

  I arrived on Saturday, so I have already had an opportunity to interact with a number of people. Most of those I have spoken with are here for the SBC. A few of them, though, work in Houston. I would like to share summary comments from two of them.

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  Jun 7, 2013

  Seven Things Pastors Would Like Church Members to Know about Their Children

  I was serving a church in St. Petersburg, Florida, when it hit me hard. One of my young children had playfully fallen on the floor in the foyer after a worship service. A deacon in the church came up to me and spoke forcefully: "You need to tell your kid to get up. Pastors' children aren't supposed to act that way."

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  Jun 4, 2013

  Only 15 Percent of Millenials, Born 1980 to 2000, Are Christians

  My burden to see struggling churches become turnaround churches grows daily. There are an estimated 100,000 churches in North America that would be deemed terminal by most pundits. There are another 100,000 to 200,000 that are very sick and could soon be on the deathwatch.

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  May 28, 2013

  Twelve Ways Pastors Went from Burnout to Vision

  There are few vocations that can engender burnout like the pastorate. The demands on a pastor's time, emotions, and energy can be overwhelming. When I was a pastor, I often felt at least the symptoms of burnout.

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  May 25, 2013

  Seven (Plus One) Deadly Sins of a Church Website

  Most church leaders don't grasp the value of a website to get guests to their churches to hear the gospel. Most church websites are terrible

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  May 24, 2013

  Seven (Hopefully) Helpful Hints after Seven Months of Visiting Churches

  So what have I found these past seven months? I could give you a fairly extensive consultation report about the churches, but I prefer to distill my words into just a few helpful hints. Each of these issues clearly needed addressing in most of the churches I visited.

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  May 17, 2013

  Eight Signs of Fearful Leadership

  Over the past few years, I've heard the phrase "courageous leadership" used to describe the trait of those leaders who are making a difference today. Unfortunately, we also know many who are in leadership positions where that courage is not apparent. Indeed, they demonstrate leadership that is fearful.

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  May 13, 2013

  Five Ways to Avoid Lying about Church Attendance

  I have used these lines many times in speaking venues. I ask the audience if they know how Baptists count weekly worship attendance. The knowing smiles break forth on most faces. I then began counting each person in the conference by saying 2, 4, 6, 8 . . . As the audience waits for the punch line, I say that every believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, so each person counts as two.

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  May 8, 2013

  Five Reasons Your Pastor Will Not Ask for a Raise

  My recent blogpost on pastors' salaries drew a lot of attention. There are indeed some heated emotions on both sides of the issue. Much of the concern expressed about the pay of ministers seems to focus on those cases of real indulgence and abuse. But it's those cases that get the most attention and, sadly, hurt the vast majority of ministers who are faithful stewards of God's money.