Go to church and preserve your marriage!

I've been reading a recent article "The Christian Divorce Rate Myth (what you've heard is wrong)". We've heard that the divorce rate among Christians is the same as in the general population. There are things that will act to lower the divorce rate for Christians. One, which the article noted, was being connected and active in a local church. It isn't enough just to attend once in a while. We must put church as a regular in our weekly schedule. Faith does matter. Do your family a favor- go to church and invite others to join you.

Watch for details concerning our Marriage Conference 2011.

Home Field Advantage for Ministry

Sometimes in ministry, you have to make a "home field advantage.' No one gives it to you. Usually this means two things: building leaders and encouraging members. No ministry runs on "auto pilot". Every month if not every week, you need to contact every leader and make sure they will be there. No matter what their responsibility is, they have to show up. If it is to make coffee in the classroom, hang out with students or check families in at the preschool. We have to get good at showing up. Showing up can be as important as breathing: inhale... exhale. Inhale information, exhale people skills. But we have to be there!

How should we encourage members? Encouragement is spelled T-I-M-E. We have to invest time. At times, it requires us to invite people into our lives. We don't have time, do we? But, we do shop. We go places. We eat and drink coffee. We do errands. There's our time. If we want home field advantage in ministry, we take someone with us. Jesus seemed to always have three and usually 12 guys hanging around Him. These guys saw Jesus do everything. They saw the drama. They felt the pain. They experienced the struggles. They did life together.

In short: you don't have to plan a program. Just invite people into your life. That's home field advantage!

First Steps

Sam is walking! Our adopted grandson has taken his first steps. Can you remember watching some child take their first steps? As Christian, we are continually taking "first steps" in the process of becoming Christ-like. I would like to offer a great first step for you this new year.

Perhaps you have never thought about spending one-on-one time with another Christian while you each

share joys, struggles and mysteries. Men spending time with men. Women spending time with other women. Today we hear words like "mentoring" or "accountability partners".

Regardless of what we term it, life is best when we share it with others.

None of us are perfect. No one has all the answers. That should motivate us to spend a weekly time with another like-minded Christian just sharing life. I discovered years ago that accountability is a balance. At college, I wanted to be part of an accountability arrangement. A Christian friend and I started meeting once a week. At first we took turns talking about the struggles of the week. We soon began to challenge each other in some spiritual disciplines. That went well until one of us started to slack off on some activities. The relationship soon turned to a "nagging" time which soon made weekly meetings a pain to make.

From that I learned that accountability isn't me telling you what I think you need to do. It is you telling me what you would like to do and then I could just be a reminder of what you said you wanted to become.

Each of us have different areas we would like to work on. Habits, hang-ups or hurts may dot our lives. Accountability could be the next step for us in 2010 as we work toward being what Christ wants us to be.

Camping at the base of Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs, CO. 2009