Let me ask you a question. If your church suddenly disappeared tomorrow, how would it affect, or not affect your community? That’s one of the questions I ask when I do church consulting. I’ve traveled extensively working with church communities to help them become healthier and more effective at reaching their community. Often that question…
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June 13, 2021 marks the conclusion of Rev. Jim & Ronda Stumbo’s ministry at Helena (MT) Alliance Church. Jim and Ronda have served full-time in the RMD for nearly 47 years – in two churches : Greybull, WY and Helena, MT. Jim and Ronda are “finishing well” – a term heard often these days, but not often lived out. I…
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Every church needs volunteers. It’s no secret that in most churches, the area of ministry that requires the largest number of volunteers is in children’s ministry. Often, we recruit out of desperation. When that happens, we don’t take the time to think through the kind of people we want serving with kids. I believe that…
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Have you had this experience? You have a church member who has a great heart, is very influential and loves to serve in the church. You think to yourself, “This is a potential leader.” Many pastors aren’t sure what to do next and default into placing someone like this in the most needed leadership role,…
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This past week as I was leaving the house to run some errands, I rounded a corner one block from our house and thought, “Did I close the garage door?” While it was tempting to assume that I did and just keep driving, I just couldn’t shake the thought of my tools sitting there with an…
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Over the course of a lifetime, the one word question, “Why?” gets asked many, many, many times. Often times it is in the context of heartache, pain, sorrow or some deep troubling situation. On a few occasions it might be said proactively, in the context of an entity figuring out, for instance, “Why do we…
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Every church needs more leaders. The problem is there are only three ways to get more. 1. Buy them, by hiring them. 2. Steal them from other churches. 3. Train them up yourself (the most difficult of all). So how do we do this? The Bible tells us to take what we have learned and teach it to others, that…
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I attend and serve in a small rural Alliance church in Iowa. While our town looks very much like it was an inspiration for one of Norman Rockwell’s paintings, looks are deceiving. Drugs run rampant in our little town. Brokenness and trauma mark nearly every family and person in this town of 5,500 people. Our…
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This week, Lori and I got back into the swing of things in the Rocky Mountain District. We are thankful for a few months of sabbatical where we enjoyed a wonderful time away with the Lord, our family and our beautiful country. We had the privilege at Christmas to see most of our kids and grandchildren. We…
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Jesus gave us the commandment to make disciples of all peoples and consequently the Church (including your church) has been pursuing that goal ever since. Therefore, it’s helpful for us to be able to step back and ask the question, “How are we doing?” While there are a number of different lenses through which we…
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