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How to Make a Portable Baptistry for a Small Church

Baptism is a beautiful moment as new Christians celebrate their transformation & new life in Christ… but what happens if you’re a small church without a built-in baptistry?

Sure, you could use a creek.  But what if you live in Oklahoma City and you don’t have a creek?

You could go out of town and do a lake — but then you sacrifice some of the chance that your new Christians will invite their family and friends, and get them to witness their testimonies.

So, maybe you purchase a portable baptistry.  But… those things are expensive!

A few years ago, I decided to make one of our own.  Watch the video to see how we did it.

And here’s a video of our baptistry in use in a recent baptism service:

A Word from Our Sponsor:

SermonSubscribe - Providing Quality Preaching Through Video for churches who have lost their pastor

This video series is brought to you by SermonSubscribe, providing quality preaching by video.

Are you burned out as a pastor? Need someone to help lift the preaching load for a time? Do you need a sabbatical, but not sure how you will fill the pulpit?

Are you on a pastoral search committee, but you’re struggling to find a good candidate, and make sure someone is able to preach every weekend? Did your pastor retire, and you’re looking for a new one… but you have to bridge the gap until you can hire a new pastor?

You need to check out SermonSubscribe (www.sermonsubscribe.com). Each week, I preach live in Oklahoma City, edit the High-definition video, and send it to churches across the United States. By the middle of the week, those churches have a quality Biblical sermon to download, handouts to print out & copy… and all of this for far less than it costs to bring in a special speaker or interim pastor.

Have questions?  For pricing, or common questions, please visit www.sermonsubscribe.com.

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One Huge Key to a Pastor’s Emotional Survival

Being a pastor of a church can be emotionally exhausting.  At times, it really does feel like riding an emotional roller coaster.

small church pastoral emotional frustration and health burnout

In a single week, you can cover.

  • rejoicing with a new convert who is growing in their faith
  • hurting with a young couple who lost a baby
  • conflict with a board member
  • preaching and feeling like you really connected
  • learning that your illustration really offended someone
  • guilt about how much family time you’re spending
  • excitement about a new tither
  • frustration with your building

Nah, never mind.  That can all happen in ONE DAY.

There’s a lot to be said about the topic of how to handle the emotional ups and downs of pastoring… and I can’t cover it all in one video.  But here’s one key that I think is crucial:  Your ability to handle, embrace and even rejoice in chaos.

For more, here’s today’s 5 Minute Mentoring Video:

A Word from Our Sponsor:

SermonSubscribe - Providing Quality Preaching Through Video for churches who have lost their pastor

This video series is brought to you by SermonSubscribe, providing quality preaching by video.

Are you burned out as a pastor? Need someone to help lift the preaching load for a time? Do you need a sabbatical, but not sure how you will fill the pulpit?

Are you on a pastoral search committee, but you’re struggling to find a good candidate, and make sure someone is able to preach every weekend? Did your pastor retire, and you’re looking for a new one… but you have to bridge the gap until you can hire a new pastor?

You need to check out SermonSubscribe (www.sermonsubscribe.com). Each week, I preach live in Oklahoma City, edit the High-definition video, and send it to churches across the United States. By the middle of the week, those churches have a quality Biblical sermon to download, handouts to print out & copy… and all of this for far less than it costs to bring in a special speaker or interim pastor.

Have questions?  For pricing, or common questions, please visit www.sermonsubscribe.com.

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Church Revitalization Coaching Session #3

Putting Your Outreach Plan Into Practice

This goal with this session was to make it inspiring as much as it is informative…

A discussion of how to get your church over the hump of INACTION, and a discussion of how the church in Acts moved forward when they were faced with the question of putting THEIR plan into action…

Below, you’ll find the handout and video for the month!

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Lowering Your Sunday Morning Stress

Ray Stevens, the great musical comedian, once wrote a song called “Sunday Mornings.”

Chaos, mayhem, panic and disorder
Even worse when we were cursed with not enough hot water
We broke most of the Commandments and a host of the heavenly warnings
Trying to get the family to church on Sunday morning

If you smiled at that, it’s probably because you can identify.  We’ve all been there.

But honestly, is that the mindset you want heading into worship?  Do you think that frustration or discouragement or stress shows up in how you lead a service?  How you preach?  How you handle those E.G.R. (Extra Grace Required) people?

You bet it does.

Since my wife and I were blessed with our 7th child (6th boy) a few weeks ago, I’m feeling the need to take my Sunday morning routine to a new level to lower the stress level.  For me, step #1 is re-instating a ministry in our church that fell off the wagon sometime back when a volunteer experienced some physical problems and had to step down.

So it’s appropriate that today’s 5 Minute Mentoring Video be a piece on how to lower your stress on Sunday mornings, when the “performance pressure” is on.

Here’s the details on the system that I’m tweaking and re-installing:

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How to Reduce Pastoral Stress With Systems

5 Minute Mentoring

I am OK with some kinds of stress.  Performance stress is good for you, since it raises your awareness and sends adrenaline coursing through your body…

how to be less overwhelmed in 15 minutes

But I hate most kinds of stress.  It lowers joy, saps energy & creativity, and is a continual “white noise” in the brain when you need to think clearly.  I don’t think it’s possible to eliminate all stresses from your life.  But I don’t want to deal with one bit more than I have to.

The biggest single secret for reducing stress I’ve found (outside of prayer & faith) is SYSTEMS.

Here’s your 5 Minute Mentoring Today:

A Word from Our Sponsor:

SermonSubscribe - Providing Quality Preaching Through Video for churches who have lost their pastor

This video series is brought to you by SermonSubscribe, providing quality preaching by video.

Are you burned out as a pastor? Need someone to help lift the preaching load for a time? Do you need a sabbatical, but not sure how you will fill the pulpit?

Are you on a pastoral search committee, but you’re struggling to find a good candidate, and make sure someone is able to preach every weekend? Did your pastor retire, and you’re looking for a new one… but you have to bridge the gap until you can hire a new pastor?

You need to check out SermonSubscribe (www.sermonsubscribe.com). Each week, I preach live in Oklahoma City, edit the High-definition video, and send it to churches across the United States. By the middle of the week, those churches have a quality Biblical sermon to download, handouts to print out & copy… and all of this for far less than it costs to bring in a special speaker or interim pastor.

Have questions?  For pricing, or common questions, please visit www.sermonsubscribe.com.

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Changing Your Church Wisely

Everyone knows that change is “make or break” for leadership.

The test of leadership isn’t how many people voted for you, or how many will cry at your funeral… it’s whether or not you can lead people to change.

John Maxwell says,

But which changes?  Too often, as leaders, since we “own” the change (i.e. we came up with the idea), we fail to understand the emotional cost of change for those who follow us.

Today’s 5 Minute Mentoring Video helps clarify how choosing changes wisely can boost your trust — or break it.

What do you think?  Share this quote below if you agree:

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Church Revitalization Coaching Session #4

Preparing for Guests & Getting Them to Come Back

Hey there, church leader!  Thanks for being a part of Church Revitalization Coaching!

This month, we’re talking about how to get ready for guests at your church… and how to help them feel welcome and get as many as possible of them to come back again and again!

Below is the video and file downloads for this month:

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5 Minute Mentoring: Getting Permission To Make Changes

The relationship of trust to change...

I remember when the professor stood in front of our class, and passed out copies of the 5 year vision plan of a young, visionary pastor he had known.  It was detailed, multiple pages… and quite ambitious.

Then the prof read the resignation letter of the chairman of the church board.  And another board member.

And then, he read the resignation letter of that young, visionary pastor.

None of you want to be that person… big dreams, no ability to get people to follow.

So how can we build that ability?  Demonstrating character & competence in our decisions over time.  That’s what today’s 5 minute mentoring video is about, inspired by a concept in a John Maxwell book.

Check out the video below:

#4 – Getting Permission To Change Things from Darrell Stetler II on Vimeo.

A Word from Our Sponsor:

SermonSubscribe - Providing Quality Preaching Through Video for churches who have lost their pastor

This video series is brought to you by SermonSubscribe, providing quality preaching by video.

Are you burned out as a pastor? Need someone to help lift the preaching load for a time? Do you need a sabbatical, but not sure how you will fill the pulpit?

Are you on a pastoral search committee, but you’re struggling to find a good candidate, and make sure someone is able to preach every weekend? Did your pastor retire, and you’re looking for a new one… but you have to bridge the gap until you can hire a new pastor?

You need to check out SermonSubscribe (www.sermonsubscribe.com). Each week, I preach live in Oklahoma City, edit the High-definition video, and send it to churches across the United States. By the middle of the week, those churches have a quality Biblical sermon to download, handouts to print out & copy… and all of this for far less than it costs to bring in a special speaker or interim pastor.

Have questions?  For pricing, or common questions, please visit www.sermonsubscribe.com.

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5 Minute Mentoring: Leading Change More Effectively

Leading change in a local church is a tough task.  Just about any pastor has one of these stories:

goldfish seeking a change
  • a needed change that crashed and burned after it was presented to a church board…
  • a “church boss” who couldn’t bear to see their pet program canned…
  • a brilliant plan plan shot down by failure to process it properly with key leaders…

An indisputable fact: Change COSTS.  Financially.  Spiritually.  Emotionally.  Chronologically.

So how can we help ourselves know which changes to take on, and help people process them?

Here’s a helpful chart shared with me by my “brother in the Gospel” Darrell Underwood (MS, USAF, Ret.), who pastors a church plant in Clovis, NM called Servant’s Heart Chapel.  From his years of work in Process Improvement for the Air Force.

#3 – PICK Chart: Leading Change More Effectively from Darrell Stetler II on Vimeo.

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5 Minute Mentoring: The Time Management Matrix

When was the last time you felt like you had ENOUGH time?  I’m guessing it was on the 12th of Never.

Time management is one of the toughest things about being a pastor. Preaching, family, discipleship planning, worship… Demands on your time are never-ending, and time-wasters abound.

Have you ever:

  • Fielded phone calls that took you off on a wild-goose chase?
  • Lived most of a month in “crisis mode?”
  • Found yourself mired in work that doesn’t contribute to your goals?
  • Suddenly realized you wasted more time than you should have on other people’s priorities?

Few things are more frustrating than getting to the end of a week, and feeling like “I’ve been busy, but I didn’t get the most important things done.”

Today’s video gives a helpful tool from Steven Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.  It’s a time management matrix that helps you sort out the volume of roles & tasks, to help identify which ones help you live with more intentionality and less stress.

Check out the video below:

#2 – 5 Minute Mentoring – Time Management Matrix from Darrell Stetler II on Vimeo.