One of my mentors in ministry recently left this earth for his eternal residence. I was working in retail management when Pam and I joined Pastor Jim Whorton’s church. I went to work in the church right away. Jim told the Director of Missions I’d make a good youth minister for one of the churches in the Dayton area. The Director of Missions gave my name to a local church, within weeks I was serving as Youth Pastor.

I look back on my time as youth pastor there and realize though I had served in youth ministries of churches for eight years, I had no idea how to lead a fruitful youth ministry. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very fruitful youth ministry. We had five teens my first Sunday as Youth Pastor. By the end of two years, forty-five were involved in the weekly activities. Sunday morning Bible study attendance grew from five to twenty, one class to two. Our church saw several teen baptisms each year. Despite my pedagogical teaching style on Sunday mornings, God grew His kingdom.

God has taught me and blessed me every place He has led me to serve. All the credit goes to God, for I know from whence I came. Oftentimes in ministry I believe we rest heavy on the side of rationale and short on relevance. Our teaching may be relevant to God’s word, but not relevant for practical application in the lives of our members. Christianity is not only learning about God and His desire for our lives. All teaching to which we ascribe should lead people to apply each week.

Most pastors would tell you that is the way they teach. Yet our churches are falling short. From not sharing our faith, not voting biblical values, lifestyle choices, our teaching is not translating to transformed lives. Regardless of the time (years) spent in church, the outside culture has more influence on the lives of “Christians” than the church. Pastors would also lay the reasoning at the feet of the believer, “It’s their fault.” While certain responsibility indeed falls on each believer, my contention is that as leaders we must provide opportunities for learning through application if we want to change the culture inside the church and have any Godly affect on the culture outside the church building.

Most of Jesus’ teachings were not in a classroom or behind a pulpit. His teaching came in His daily living, sitting in the living room of a crowded house, at a meal, beside the seashore or walking along the road. He practiced as He taught. His Disciples watched Him in action as He interacted with the world. Then He sent them out to do likewise. While you cannot walk with every member of your church or class, as leaders we must find opportunities to serve our communities – in ways that have grown unaccustomed to our nature. Remember, many of Jesus’ methodologies went against the traditions of the religious leaders. We are not called to be religious leaders, but shepherds and followers of Christ. How will you challenge yourself to be more of a Jesus leader from this day forward? Jim Whorton was a Jesus leader.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Through this pandemic of 2020 God has given us many opportunities to be the church. Unfortunately, only a few churches have taken advantage of these opportunities. The ones that have embraced God’s opportunities are sharing stories of regeneration, new people coming into the church, people being baptized. One church in Kentucky baptized 156 people from the day in May when the re-entered worship through the end of August. How? The people of the church went after family, friends, and coworkers with the gospel. It was not the Sunday morning preaching, according to one of the lead pastors. It was the people. And I would venture to say that church, the people, will not stop.

In recent weeks I’ve shared about reaching out to the business community. This is one area God has certainly opened doors of opportunity for the church in 2020. You never know what impact you might have on someone. Let me share a story with you that was shared on a recent Zoom meeting with several pastors and denomination leaders. A friend of mine, Mike Stewart, Associational Mission Strategist, shared this story and gave me permission to use it.

Mike was serving as interim pastor of a small church. Following a Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study, the church members decided to a restaurant for food and fellowship that they had been missing. Upon deciding where to dine, that evening they walked into an empty restaurant, ate, enjoyed their time, paid their bills and left. Since the restaurant was easy to get to, had good food, and no waiting line, the members decided to go again the following Wednesday. They continued to frequent the restaurant on Wednesday nights.

Fast forward a few weeks, Mike is visiting the bookstore next door to the restaurant. The bookstore owner approaches Mike and inquires, “Aren’t you the man who leads the church that has been going into my friend’s restaurant next door?” Mike replied that “Yes.” He was. Not knowing what was coming next, good or bad, Mike was not expecting the next statement out of the bookstore owners mouth.

“I want to thank you for saving my friend’s business.”

Think on that for a second. If that does not render Holy goose bumps on you, you’ve become numb to the workings of God and Christ, our Savior. Mike admitted on that Zoom call that the church had not given a thought to the opportunity in front of them or saving someone’s business. Their whole intent was to have fellowship. And all the time God was working, using that little church. Mike’s perhaps regret was that he and the church members did not capitalize on more opportunities to be intentional in that restaurant and other businesses in the community.

You never know whose life you will impact. But don’t wait until the opportunity is gone. Take advantage of what God has given us today the great opportunities of 2020. Get out in the local business community, talk to businesses, listen for the God-ordained opportunities for you and your church family. Then spring into action. Stop wringing your hands about doing church and Be the church. For more ideas on prevailing opportunities, read last week’s blog post. Whom Does God want you to impact for eternity?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

One topic that has come up in several Zoom and in person meetings recently has been how to get the church going again, five months into this pandemic. While most inquirers and responses have been about getting people back into the church facility, I have been offering a differing view. Should our main focus be about getting people back into the building or equipping them to serve in life’s arenas? Gathering, socializing, and learning together is an important physical and mental need that God has built inside each of us.

However, as I read scripture, I sense that Jesus’ focus for us was to be on sending rather than gathering. “Go into all the world…” people will always learn more through doing than sitting and listening. It has been said that, “Experience is the greatest teacher.” While I relent that The Holy Spirit is our teacher, no amount of classroom or pulpit instruction holds a candle to learning through experience. With that being said, we must teach why to serve and how to grow in Christ.

This past Sunday, my church engaged in an act of service. I smoked 54 pounds of Boston Butt Pork shoulder. Others made Mac-&-cheese, baked beans, and cookies. Some purchased buns and other accessories. After service Sunday morning a group gathered to pull the pork, mix it with B-B-Q sauce and plate the meals. Children of the church colored and decorated Thank You cards to go with the meals. Then several families, couples, or individuals set out to deliver the meals to the households of some of our long-serving senior saints.

The idea was to involve many different people in the church to show gratitude for those who have served in & through the church in recent decades. A secondary idea was to involve people in an act of service to open our hearts and minds to more service ministry projects. Ideas have been tossed around about doing for other groups in the church and community. Thoughts were shared for serving businesses in the community. Some of these I have shared in Zoom meetings over the last few weeks and in documents for religious organizations. Consider these.

Businesses are hurting. Lost income has hit very hard. Small businesses have been severely impacted. While your church cannot reimburse local businesses for all their loss, there are ministry opportunities abounding outside your church door.

• Offer counseling or a listening ear for business owners and employees
• Ask for an appointment with local business owners (one on one) or managers. Simply go to listen & offer to pray. Listen for opportunities your church can serve that business. Then serve!
• Offer to prepare a meal for every employee in a small business (Hair salons, banks, local gov’t office, water company, knick-knack shop, the list goes on and on)
• If not a meal, what could your church offer to show you “care” for the community
• Adopt a business as a church. If your church is large enough each group in the church (worship team, Bible study groups, staff) adopt a business and search for ways to show you care because God cares.
• Frequent small businesses in your community to boost their economy.

Each one of these offers opportunities to teach and practice discipleship. Each will help build bridges to the community & gospel conversations. Get farther outside the box than you’ve ever gone before and if you need some thinking help, contact me.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

I began last week’s post with the statement, “As healthy environments promote healthy individuals, so unhealthy environments promote abnormal or unhealthy interpersonal behavior within the culture.” There are many environments within a culture. The church is but one of those environments. Also stated  was the fact that the church in North America has failed to maintain its percentages compared to the population growth, let alone any increase. This week our focus is on creating an environment of the church in ways that can truly affect the culture in which we live.

We would have to admit in many churches compliance and conformity are placed at the highest value, overlooking and ignoring the value of God-given potential of each individual. Are we not creating an unhealthy environment/culture if we are teaching sound theology, yet not creating an environment with ongoing opportunities for people to fulfill their God-given purpose? I understand and agree with the need for sound theology. I have also heard the thought process, “They should know what to do.” That was not the question. The question is, are we as a church creating the environment, the ongoing opportunities to use their knowledge, wisdom, and giftings?

What makes a successful lemonade stand? Is it one child who decides to sell lemonade? It takes much more than a thought. Before the lemonade can be sold, a table and or materials for a stand must be available. Someone had to manufacture the product that made that stand. Promotional signs must be made. Someone must manufacture poster board and markers to write with. Each of those must be purchased from a distributor (retailer). Cups, pitchers, ice , lemons, and sugar must be purchased. Aside from this, somewhere, a lemon farmer is growing a large orchard of trees to produce the lemons. A treatment plant is cleaning the water and sending it through miles of pipe to the homeowner.

Every person along that list has had a part in the success of the lemonade stand. Just as the thought of one person for a successful lemonade stand is the beginning, teaching sound theology is only the beginning for creating an environment for succeeding in fulfillment of The Great Commission. In each local congregation, this type of environment, valuing and empowering each person’s God-given talents with ongoing opportunities to flourish individually and corporately is needed. Until we do so, we will continue to have declining, unhealthy environments feeding off the outside culture rather than influencing that culture.

It is not taking in information that creates a disciple. Even Jesus’ Disciples true growth came when they were sent into the world. Their true growth came as He invited them to get actively engaged through practicing His teachings.  These Disciples continued growing in spiritual maturity not only while Jesus was with them, but throughout their entire lives. Read the book of Acts with an eye for their learning experiences.

A person growing in spiritual maturity will develop mental, emotional, and spiritual health, will desire restoring and building healthy relationships inside and outside the church, and will move toward his/her God-given creativity in fulfilling God’s purpose. God has not given us a box of lemons in 2020. He has given us a world of opportunities. Go and make some lemonade! Change the environment, change the culture.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

As healthy environments promote healthy individuals, so unhealthy environments promote abnormal or unhealthy interpersonal behavior within the culture. “Negative environments raise negative and broken children.” Erwin McManus. Within any culture you can have both healthy environments and unhealthy. Every entity within a culture will lead to healthy or unhealthy individual behavior. An entity can be each home, school classroom, business, media, or other institution. When any one of these is not promoting and fulfilling a healthy role in the community, the culture will suffer.

We are witnessing widespread dysfunction today and we can point fingers at any number of negative environments within our society. Let us focus on one, the church. As stated in an earlier blog post, while the world’s population has increased from one billion to over seven billion in the last seven decades, the church in North America has not kept up with the increase. In fact, the church has been in decline for the past at least four decades.

One thing the church should understand is that it is far more significant to shape the values of the culture than to write its laws. Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Oh, how we are seeing this played out in front of our very eyes. It has happened on our watch ladies and gentlemen. The church in North America has failed to influence the culture with biblical values the last 50-70 years.

Can the church shape the future? Absolutely! But not in and of itself. The church is the bride of Christ. We cannot allow the church to remain as it has been for the last 70+ years. If God’s team is the winning team and the church is declining, its influence fading, we must ask ourselves, “Are we truly on God’s team?”

We have tried programs and priorities, shaming people and enticing them. We’ve tried deeper, richer Bible expository. All this and more, yet, the church is still in decline, the culture moving farther left of center from God’s will. What are we missing?

One thing perhaps missing is our understanding of God’s directive. We understand God’s directive to be The Great Commission. We preach it, teach it and go after it – in our 21^st century comfort, politically correct ways. What we are missing is the hunger and thirst of the church found in the book of Acts. I’m not sure that reading the Acts account or studying it is enough. We’ve been reading and studying it for years.

We need to die to self as these early believers did. They were known as the Way. They created a movement that flipped the world upside down. We need a pivotal change in our thinking and our way of living. We need to plead with God to change our thinking and lifestyle so radically that He can create within us a movement unlike any since the early church in Acts.

The choice is yours. The choice is mine. Choose you this day whom you will serve, the Gods of the church of the 20^th & 21^st century or The Lord of Lords, God Almighty.

Join us this Wednesday for the first “Conversations in the New Reality“. See photo header for information & registration. It’s free!

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

There are many questions floating around in our nation about churches, reopening, how to carry on, getting members back into worship services. There are also quite a few voices. Most of those voices are legitimate and truly want to help the church. Though, I’ve seen a couple that were more in line with late night infomercials. Where do you turn? To whom do you listen?

The first place to turn is the Holy Scriptures. The ultimate voice to listen to is God’s voice. Yes, He has many people He has equipped, and experienced to help. Listening to more than one is, in my opinion, wise and can lead to wise decisions. Follow God’s lead and practicality, not only “big name”, best selling authors or speakers. Here is a couple of questions to ask yourself.

Who understands and speaks to the demographics in our church and community?

Who is aligned with our doctrinal stance?

From these blog posts over the last four months have arisen conversations about the church for the remainder of 2020 and beyond. I am blessed and honored to have been able to write and asked to speak with different groups (via internet) about current issues surrounding the church.

Out of these conversations I have asked two gentlemen to join me in delivering some healthy conversations for church leaders in what we are all dealing with in these times. Let me introduce them:

David Stokes is Associational Mission Strategist for the Central Kentucky Network of Baptists. David has led in the transformation of the association of churches and is a practitioner with a heart for seeing God’s success through the local church.

Mark Gainey is Lead Pastor of Fultondale First Baptist Church, just north of Birmingham, Alabama. Mark is passionate about the Gospel, Discipleship, and helping churches. Also, Mark is the founder and main voice of Church Leadership Podcast and can be seen in many videos on his youtube channel (Mark Gainey).

I pray you will join the three of us on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 11:00AM Eastern Time, 10:00AM Central, & 8:00AM Pacific Time for our first in a series of “Conversations in The New Reality.” It is free, though you must register to receive entrance code for that day. Please register today at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TWaPBQ7pS_yjGNlbPDLlCA

“Conversations in The New Reality” will be Zoom based and are truly interactive conversations about the issues you are facing as church leaders today. We will discuss issues as those mentioned in the first paragraph of this post, draw on our own experiences and those of others, including some on the Zoom meeting that day.

Whether you are a church leader or denominational leader, you will gain insight in helping your church(es) in navigating the twists and turns of Life’s highway in 2020 and beyond. Click the link above and register today as participation is limited by Zoom guidelines. Then pass this on to other church leaders in your circle of influence. There is no cost and no sales pitches! Any questions, please contact me.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

“I don’t like change in the church.” I hear this statement and several like it from churchgoers across our nation. Even, “We don’t need change in the church.” Are these truly valid statements? In my opinion, no, they are not valid. The fact is since its onset the New Testament Church has been an agent of change for the culture. Even before the initiating of The New Testament Church Jesus upset the applecart of Jewish religion – all religion.

I love the wording Erwin McManus uses, “Jesus deconstructed the religion of Israel and ushered in the religion of God.” We must admit a fundamental characteristic of The New Testament Church is uncompromising change. Jesus’ ministry pointed out the heresies of the people’s religion trading the word of God for the traditions of Man.

The early church was birthed out of Jesus’ transformational ministry. If you still are not convinced that the early church was about change, consider one of their actions. Saturday for centuries was the sabbath, a day of rest and worship. Even before they were known as a church, the earliest of believers set not Saturday, but Sunday as their day of worship. Why? Were they trying to anger the religious leader even more? No. They chose Sunday because it was the day Christ rose from the dead. Christ’s mission was not completed on Friday’s cross, nor in Saturday’s tomb. It was on the third day, (our) Sunday, Resurrection Day. With this one move the early church has influenced worship culture ever since.

These early believers were not considered a church until years after Christ’s return to heaven. They were simply known as The Way. I like that term. The Way indicates progress, forward advancement. The Way is a movement. Today’s church has become an institution. I personally do not believe God ever intended the church to become an institution.

Some call marriage an institution. While the bride is part of the marriage, she is not the institution. Neither should the bride of Christ be considered an institution. I believe God’s intent for the church was not to be an institution, but a movement, as initiated in the opening chapters of the book of Acts.

An institution is a fixture, an established (fixed in place) organization. Or a place of confinement (as asylum). Either way, I do not believe God ever intended His New Testament Church to be an institution.

A movement is the activities of a group of people to achieve a specific goal. For the New Testament Church would that read, every step we take is to fulfill The Great Commission as the Bridegroom, Jesus, stated?

True, God may have instituted the church. That is, He established its origin, He initiated its existence for His purpose and cause. But He never reconciled the church as an institution.

Thinking in terms of the church as a movement, what are your first words to God today in regards to the way you have perceived His bride and your role in His movement? What will you change?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

In our last post I shared that Jesus did not initiate the church as an institution, rather as a movement. What we read in the book of Acts is a movement, not an institution. In fact, it was not called a church for several years. It was known as “The Way”. The Apostles of Jesus, the early church leaders, and all believers of The Way had a passion to love and follow God. Their following God was in human minds, following into the unknown. You see, a movement is started and fueled by passion.

Abraham was a devout believer in God Almighty. One day God told Abraham to get up pack up his wife, servants and livestock and leave his father’s land. This was not a common practice. Families stayed close, helping each other. The one detail God left out was where He wanted Abraham to go. Paraphrasing, when Abraham asked God where he was to go, God said, “I’ll tell you when you get there.” Now, this had to be very peculiar. Yet, what did Abraham do? He got up and left, just as God said. Abraham would later become the father of a great nation, and by God’s own word, would bless every nation on earth.

In the new Testament, the Apsotle Paul and his traveling companions were taking God’s story to various cities, towns, and nations. Yet when they attempted to go to Asia. Acts 16:6-7 says, “They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in Asia. ⁷ When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”

I share these stories from scripture with you to say, it is okay to not always know where you are going as long as you know why and that why begins with passion. When we passionately follow in obedience to Christ, God’s purpose will always be revealed along the journey. Abraham, the father of God’s people Israel, the most talked about person of the Old Testament and the Apostle Paul, perhaps the greatest missionary of all time, through whom God inspired over 1/3 of the New Testament writing. If God used these two men in such a mighty way and yet led them without sharing all the details, how foolish are we to think we must have the details?

God has not given any person, leader or follower, the ability to know the future. He reveals it to us at His discretion. God’s leaders (apostolic) realize it is not talent but the motivation to move forward even when you cannot know what’s around the next corner. An institution cannot do this, only a movement can. It is time to stop looking at the church as an institution and once again recognize the church is a movement.

What is the first item you realize you personally must take to God in prayer in order to adopt the mindset of His movement? Who will you turn to for help in leading your family of believers into God’s movement? Your obedient passion will lead you to God’s purpose.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

“I’m at my rope’s end. I’ve tried everything and our church isn’t growing.” This scenario plays out more than the average person knows. Pastors and other church leaders are weekly relenting similar statements. Could this be part of the reason so many pastors change churches every three years? Certainly. Countless times I have had pastors say to me over the years, “I’ve taken this church as far as I can take it. It’s time for me to move on.”

To expound on those statements, most would admit they realize church growth is not up to them, but to God. Their rationale is that God is apparently finished with them at their current church and wanting him to move on. My thought is this is not always the case. I usually attempt to coach the pastor in determining God’s true desire. Yet, second year frustrations and that third-year wall seem insurmountable to many pastors.

Is it possible what we need today is more Apostolic leadership? Every generation needs apostolic leadership. You might query, “But, we have spiritual leaders. Isn’t that the same?”

Many are called into spiritual leadership. Church/spiritual leadership does not always equate to apostolic leadership. Spiritual leadership can be interpreted as someone who studies to properly expound the Word of God. While this is absolutely needed, expounding the Word does not always indicate Apostolic leading. To be honest in some churches, a spiritual leader is a preacher who brings a message from God’s word Sunday morning and evening, leads a prayer meeting on Wednesday, and does little to ruffle the feathers of congregants. Let the sleeping dog lie so to speak. If feathers are ruffled, pastors are asked to leave.

Apostolic leadership is more than preaching and teaching. Apostolic leaders not only strive to move the needle forward in carrying out God’s purposes in their own lives, they also learn how to motivate others to do the same. An Apostolic leader is more than a spiritual figurehead for the local church, he will be motivated to carry the torch and bring others along, even if it starts with only one or two.

Entrepreneurially he knows you build from one or two and allow God to provide the growth. You find those few willing and motivate them to join you. You plant the seeds, water, cultivate, and allow God to provide the growth.

Not only a spiritual teacher, torch bearer, motivator, and entrepreneur, an Apostolic leader is also a spiritual catalyst. A catalyst is a promoter, facilitator, and spark plug to ignite and channel the fuel for progressive effective ministry. To be a catalyst you must by God’s Holy Spirit capture the hearts and creativity of believers. Thus, moving believers into intentionally and continually striving to fulfill God’s directives by their own convictions. Bring them along, train them up.

This is what gets the wheels of the train on the right track and moving in the right direction – forward movement. After all the church in the book of Acts was not an institution but a movement. What can you do this week to begin the forward movement of the church in Acts back into your life and your church? You are not at your rope’s end, but at the beginning of a new rope of God’s work.

What would you add to an apostolic leader’s description?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

It is said that in a moment of emergency crisis fifteen percent of people will freeze, unable to move or think coherently. Eighty percent will flee in panic, running away from the heat of the crisis. Five percent or less will charge immediately into the crisis to help. In recent years I have read and watched video accounts of such emergency crisis moments as mass shootings, earthquakes, fires, and other tragedies. I’ve read, watched and studied for the purpose to verify or challenge these statistics. From what I’ve been able to tell in all accounts, those percentages are very real.

Many times, those in the fifteen percent that freeze do not fare very well. They leave themselves prone to fall to the crisis or to be trampled by the eighty percent fleeing in panic. If they survive, this fifteen percent also face harder post traumatic syndrome aftereffects. The eighty percent that flee may not admit that they acted out of panic, but rather for safety. Yet, in most cases their flight was with no regard to others, only to get out alive with any loved ones with them.

Whether you are a leader or follower, you fit into one of these three categories. When asked almost 50% would say they would be in the five percent who would run headfirst into the challenge. Yet, reality clearly demonstrates otherwise as is revealed in the statistics. Our society is rapidly changing, new, unexpected changes come our way almost daily, especially right now in 2020. Many people are having trouble coming to grips with the fact that what was once “normal” may never be realized again. What we live in is not the old normal or a new normal as we often hear. I agree with and borrow the phraseology of Dr. Rick Lance,[i] “This is our New Reality.” Our new reality is continually changing.

To not be overwhelmed by the sweeping changes in our society one needs to be foundationally grounded. Not only in your beliefs, but also to know where you are going, why you are going there, and to move forward with resolution. Caution: resolution does not mean without bending. Because things are changing so rapidly, we must be flexible in our approach and methodology, even in our deployment. To move forward with resolution is to carry out the vision and mission without being led astray or distracted from the work at hand. (Read the book of Nehemiah)

What is needed today are revolutionary leaders who are not afraid to run headfirst into the crisis at hand. Not as a Kamikaze pilot on a suicidal mission, but as one leading the charge of building the kingdom of God and growing disciples of Jesus Christ. There are to be no lone ranger leaders. Contact your peers or contact someone for assistance in strategically planning for an effective ministry organization. Who is that first person you can contact today to assist you? Will you?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

[i] Dr. Rick Lance is Executive Director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions