What Every Pastor Should Know (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes, as we�re called by the

Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and yes, Fred, this is a new show.

We are in a series. Now churches, the church growth type of churches, that they have a series four to eight weeks or so, they have a really cool graphic, a really catchy title, and everything fits underneath the rubric of this really cool, snazzy title.

Can we go no -kill on you just for a minute? I hate that. Hate. Dopey.

Maybe there are a few exceptions, because you could do it rightly, but when churches feel compelled, when there�s a built -in, this is the way we market this, when

I go to websites, and sometimes you all send me what church you attend, and the website, and I forget what that are, friends websites, et cetera, and I want to know about a church.

I�m not kidding. The first thing I do when I go to a church website, in the old days, I would see the cool graphic layouts and stuff like that, and in the day, we had the

BBC, really dark backgrounds, and it was the look and the style over utilitarian function, and now

I don�t really care about any of that other stuff. The bells and whistles in the Elevate Church, Mars Hills, gizmos and gadgets, boring, can�t be bothered.

Why waste the time? I want functionality. See, I must be getting older, at 55 years old, trying to figure out how to break into that 25 -year -old bracket.

Only guys less than that age, 25 and younger, either force them to listen here at the church or the family, or Taylor at the

Master�s College, he listens once in a while, and Kofi, I think in the

UK, Kofi, how old are you? I don�t know, you seem younger to me, seem younger than 30, probably younger than 26, maybe right around there.

I don�t know. How old are you? Anywho, what are we talking about today on No Compromise Radio?

I go straight to the section on either media, or I prefer if it says sermons, and then

I pull up the sermons and see what they�ve been preaching through. Of course you can do a message on a topic as long as you deliver it properly and expositionally and exegetically you�ve got it right,

I�m not against that. I prefer the Eric Alexander approach where if you�re going to talk about regeneration, you do some exposition in John 3 or Titus chapter 3 verse 5, and then you round out the edges of the doctrine of regeneration with other passages.

So there�s some exposition, and you talk about context and flow and what the author is intending.

That�s the way you teach any topic, you just don�t jump around football audibling, American football audibling, 426, 618,

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner Chain Reference Study Bible, that would be something cool.

As you know, my musical style is a little more alternative than Warren Zevon, but I thought he had a couple of good songs, probably had some inappropriate songs too, so it�s a disclaimer.

When I go to a church website and you have these eight, four to eight week,

I think there�s probably a science to it, you know, eight weeks is probably as much as the people can take, and there�s a certain theme with a cool graphic, and that graphic is everywhere at church, just insert dope slap here, dopey.

So that�s what I think. I could be proven wrong with some exceptions, but the exceptions, my friend, prove the rule.

Today we�re doing part two on what every pastor should know, 101 indispensable rules of thumb for leading your church by Gary McIntosh and Charles Arnn.

I�ve read 75 pages of it, there�s 101 indispensable rules of thumb, I guess they aren�t really rules, if they�re rules of thumb, you don�t want to be too strict, and I last time said to you that even though some of these

I didn�t particularly like or agree with, they weren�t gospel -centered, they weren�t word -centered, they were pragmatic and church -growthish.

I did like the fact that we�re to call visitors guests, I like that, so let�s start calling people guests.

Number 10, a church needs the same number of guests each year as its average worship attendance in order to grow.

So if there�s, I don�t know how many people at Bethlehem Bible Church, 4 ,000, how many are here?

I�m not sure, it�s hard to count, 300 is probably more accurate, you know,

I�m prone to exaggeration, I know, but if I pastored 4 ,000 people, you would be more impressed with me than if I pastored 30.

Why is that? It�s a different subject but needs to be addressed. Why is it that if we say, �Hi, my name is

Mike Abenroth, Bethlehem Bible Church, I�m here at Gospel, I�m together for the Gospel or the

Shepherds� Conference.� Oh, great, how long have you been there? Eighteen years.

Where did you go to school? Master�s in Talbot and Southern.

Tell me about your wife and kids. Wonderful wife, married 26 years, four kids, Haley, Luke, Mattie, Gracie, 22, 19, 16, 14.

Loves of my life. When they want to ask the question, �How big is your church ?�

�Why ?� �Well, it�s a big church. Why ?� You can be a compromiser and get 50 ,000 people and you can preach faithfully and have nobody.

Ask Isaiah, hardened heart ministry, 10, 15, 30, 50.

Are you in New York City or are you in the middle of the country someplace out in Hoboken?

Hoboken maybe is not so much in the country. Saskatchewan. North Platte.

Some small little place. Aye, aye, aye. So if there�s 300 people there at Bethlehem Bible Church, 350, something like that,

I don�t even know the numbers anymore, that means 350 people need to visit per year for us to grow.

Well, see, I�m after church growth and you should be after church growth too. But what we�re after is the church growing in respect to maturation.

That�s what we�re after. We�re into that kind of growth. Growth in grace and in the knowledge of the

Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3. There�s nothing wrong with church growth, but nine times out of ten, church growth is discussed in terms of finances, budget, a number of people, and outreach footprint.

When I read Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 4,

I say to myself, look at the Lord, He, Jesus Christ, takes captives and He gave gifts to men.

He takes enemies, to use the Psalm 69 language and the language of triumph, the

Roman triumph. He takes captives, enemies, of the gospel.

He saves them, gifts them, and then gives them to the local church.

He gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor teachers, or shepherds and teachers.

Who says shepherds and teachers here? This is ESV. To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up the body of Christ, for building up the body until we attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the

Son of God, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine and eight -part series sermon in a church -growth church.

Does it say that? Is that ESV here? By human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes, rather we are speaking the truth in love, speaking the truth in love.

Number 11 for what every pastor should know. I'm not going to go through 101 of these.

We're just doing a couple of these shows because I don't know what else to talk about. I'm kind of low on the pastoral.

God hasn't told me what to say, so I'm having to make stuff up. That's a good book subtitle.

Number 11, give high priority to second -time guests than to first -timers, as to third -time guests than to second.

How would I do that? Returning people, do you know percentages of visitors who stayed?

If they have one visit in a non -growing church, 9%, in a growing church, 21%, two visits, 70 % in non -growing, 38 % in growing, and then three visits in six weeks in a non -growing church, 36 % of the time they'll stick around.

But in a growing church, 57 % of the people will stick around.

The more often people visit, the more likely they will stay. I better correct the authors. The more often guests guest, the more likely they will stay.

Number 12, know what visitors are looking for and provide it. See, this is where the wheels fall off.

The wheels of the bus go round and round and take you into the ditch of humanistic, psychological

George Barna, Peter Wagner, and this is just the

Kooks and the Barneys award right here. Here you have it, Kooks and Barneys. I was riding an

SUP the other day, not an SUV, an SUP stand -up pedal board, SUPD. And I finally was catching some waves up in York Beach in Maine.

Sometimes the waves are so choppy, it's hard to just stand and balance. And so I was working on the core and there was a workout and I was outside and I was loving it.

Water was pretty warm, mid -60s probably in Maine, it's pretty good. And I thought, all right, well,

I need to catch some waves and the waves, you know, two to three feet breaking irregularly, fairly good.

I was catching the waves. And I would stand not like you would a surfboard because it's a paddleboard.

So you're side to side and shoulder width apart. But then when you want to actually catch the wave, as you're catching the wave, you're going down the wave, you need to jump sideways like you would a regular surfboard.

And I would do that and fall. I thought I'm my own Kook and Barney. That's what

I am. It was the weak sauce, but I caught a few, was all happy. I was learning. And I thought, if these boards weren't so heavy and I lived closer to the beach,

I'd give me a couple of them boards. So we need to have our own no -co stand -up paddleboard team, basically.

And, you know, then we can have 10 of my friends buy one. Then I get one free, see, so I can make money off the back of my friends.

It's kind of like Tupperware, you know. Number 12, know what your visitors are looking for and provide it.

Didn't they just call them guests? Aren't you supposed to call them guests?

Except that's not as dumb or as unbiblical as the sentence it's in.

Regarding its theology. If guests and visitors are looking for a

Bible teaching church, okay, then I kind of get it.

But I don't think they are. I don't think they're looking for that. I think they're looking for a pastor who's got a skull on his desk.

I just saw this out of the corner of my eye. The old email from Daryl back in July 10th.

This is the most convoluted pile of nonsense I've read in a long time. The human skull is used in Satan worship.

Is that what you are doing and slapping a Christian sticker on it? You've been to too many of your buddy

MacArthur's regen conferences where Satan is openly worshiped. But I expect it to be just as it is since you have been made into a two -fold more child of hell than your master at the master's seminary.

Or is it cemetery? Well, that one's going to go down in the ages.

So I probably have to say things in a King James fashion so a dude Daryl can understand it.

He probably wouldn't like it when I take my seminary students to the cemetery so they can preach to the tombstones for a little illustration of unless the spirit of God moves in the hearts of people, it's like preaching to the dead.

And when you're preaching to unbelievers, they're dead unless God quickens them through the word.

Sovereignly. Why is it child of hell? Where's the good news?

I used to be, but I'm not. God has saved me in spite of myself. And when you start hearing some chanting in Necrolatin, I just made that up by the way.

It's cool. You hear me starting to worship the skull on the desk.

I'm looking at it right now. What would it mean if it was not a real human skull? That's 1800 bucks.

I guess we could try a GoFundMe for my real skull.

But this is the $25 version. So would I be more satanic if I had the real human skull?

Skull or less? Would I just say skull? That's like Charles Barkley saying terrible.

It's terrible. Terrible. We are to worship God and God is very precise.

You ought to read Leviticus 10. Are all of Leviticus, and ask yourself this question.

Does God prescribe how we should worship? Is God concerned about the particularities in worship?

Do we make stuff up when it comes to worship? Or do we do exactly what he says?

And so that is why here at No Compromise Radio, we teach in a general sense.

Maybe there's some little nuances here and there that we might argue about. Generally, I'm more

Presbyterian than Lutheran when it comes to the regulative principle. Scripture regulating worship.

So I know probably my TR friends, my Truly Reformed friends, don't think I am.

Get to know me. Number 13. Have an easily accessible location where church and visitor information can be obtained.

You know what I thought would be really good? I'm going to be in Rome soon. And I'm going to just walk around the catacombs, seeing how it'd work there.

Some of these things here. Are you a guest? Are you a visitor? Do you have some visitor information here where I can understand if I become part of a group, how soon

I might be killed? This would really work well in the catacombs. Catacomb Bible Church. The authors,

McIntosh and Arnn, say, Here's an idea that takes gift giving even further.

Give three different gifts. One to first -time guests, one to second -time guests, and still a different one to third -time guests.

A growing church in Baltimore uses three different colored gift bags. Red, white, and any guesses? Skull blue.

Depending whether you're a first, second, or third -time guest. They didn't tell us what people get for their fourth visit.

Maybe offering envelopes? Wink. The Information Center host said they put items worth $15 to $20 in each bag, such as a

CD, a copy of The Message to you, Starbucks gift certificate, a nice pen.

And she said the value of bags increases with each visit. I want to know where that is.

I don't think that's my friends down there at Baltimore Bible Church. I don't think that's my friend

Tom League just outside of Baltimore. Because I've been to that second church and I got no swag.

I think I got an old donut. We're taking donut gifts visiting one, two, and three times to a whole new level.

As what's the dude's name who is an apostate? His father was a

Southern Baptist preacher, big church now. He does a pastor fashion thing.

What's his name? I don't know. Josh Groban just popped it in my head, but I know that's not his name.

It's at the tip of my tongue. At least you get The Message Bible when you go there. But I'd like to just go three times and then

I'd get $60 worth of stuff. And then I could use it someplace else. What if I like Pete's Coffee?

Ministry Rules for Worship is the next chapter, number 14. A healthy growth rate in worship attendance is 7 % or more each year.

Okay. I guess if we want to be attractional and not missional, then is it truly the contention?

Their contention, and they state that it is primary indicator of a church's health is its worship attendance growth rate.

I mean, I don't know whether to cry or laugh. And you say, yeah, but that's because you got a small little church. No, I say it because that's just the truth.

Years ago, my wife said, honey, you never have to worry about pastoring a mega church because of your personality.

She's so romantic. But contrary to what she says,

I think we're going to pull out all the stops. Just imagine the imprint, the footprint, the reach.

No co -radio could have if there are 4 ,000 people here. Come on. Make it happen.

15. Effective preachers spend at least 15 hours in sermon preparation each week.

We finally got one. Finally got one that I like. Broad ingredients for a successful sermon.

Let's see if they continue on the finally something I like program. One. Identifying the topic and the issues that connect with the people in the congregation.

Well, let's see. Genesis to Revelation. Doesn't really connect too much.

You know, Samson. Delilah. David Bathsheba.

Cicero. Tent peg. Phinehas, maybe.

He does a shish kebab between the other two people. That's not so good. Day of the

Lord. Joel. Fury. Wrath. Not just on the nations like Edom said, but on Israel.

Unless you repent. Now, what would be better? Marriage.

Sex. Finances. Relationships.

How can we talk the Old Testament out of context? By the way, if I attend a worship service and they say, turn your

Bible to the Old Testament. Now, there's some people that I would trust. But nine times out of ten,

I'm telling you what I'm thinking right away. They're going to manipulate this thing. They're not going to do authorial intent. They're going to use this as a little, some story, some little illustration.

They're just totally not going to get it. You know, be like Esther. Be like Ruth and stuff like that.

It is crazy. Number two, organizing the content in a logical way that hearers will understand and remember.

Now, I think actually people that come from my background with a lot of exegetical emphasis and authorial intent, we don't put the ingredients on the plate very well.

When I watch MasterChef and they plate the food, if you're going to teach a Bible study,

Sunday school, your kids at family worship, preach on Sunday morning, Sunday night, go to the rest home, you should figure out how to take this truth and present it well.

Preaching is true through personality and you should try to present this well. Plating is important.

Otherwise, God would just have you read the scripture. That's what I would do if I was God. Get up and read the scripture. Sit down.

Read for 30 minutes. Sit down. Don't mess it up. Practice it a few times the night before. Don't mess it up.

Number three, presenting the message in an engaging and persuasive manner.

Like biblical, theological, redemptive. Here's a brief glimpse at how two noted orators prepare their messages.

John Stott does this and then John Piper, he says, does that. I find it fascinating that they use those two men.

By the way, the Between Two Worlds book by John Stott says, choose the text, meditate on the text, isolate the dominant thought, arrange the material to serve the dominant thought, add the introduction and conclusion, write down and pray over your message.

That is great advice, by the way. That is great advice. I just don't know how it's fit into this man -centered, humanistic, church growth, missional, engaging book.

Oh, I was going to quote something where they quote the message in a visitor -friendly way.

Number 17, I think we're about done. An additional worship service for a new target group will help you reach more people.

So we've got the services for the goats and now we've got the services for the almost goats, the pre -goats, the old goats.

I just say that. And the pre -sheep, the wannabe sheep. New services is new growth.

A new service will help your denomination survive. And forget how the Lord builds the church, right?

Identify appropriate themes. Less threatening to people who haven't been to church lately. And on it goes.

What every pastor should know. Instead, I would beseech you to do this. Read 1

Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. And also read what's called sometimes the fourth pastoral epistle, 2

Corinthians. And I think everything you need is right there before your very eyes, in your hands to be a quote -unquote successful pastor.

We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.