Daniel Ausbun
  • Home
  • About

Five Secrets to Making More Friends at Church

11/12/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture
When a church has multiple services, multiple Sunday School times, online services, and a variety of different ministries to be involved in - it becomes tempting to know fewer and fewer people at church. You'd like to know more folks, but you don't know how.

Being connected at your church is a must. Your spouse and children should have friends and look forward to seeing those they know on Sundays and Wednesdays. If you have family members in your home and they don't know anyone, you should help them cultivate friendships and connections.

I can look at someone's circle of friends and tell you how happy they are attending church.

Here are five secrets that remind us that we don't "find friends" we "make friends.":

1). Arrive 10 minutes early, hang around 10 minutes afterwards. If you arrive after the service has started and you bolt for the door when it's concluded - you will speak to very few (if any) people. Arrival / Departure time will determine the effectiveness of making friends.

2). Do not sit down. You're likely to speak to more people standing up - you're free to move around. If you sit in a chair (or pew) and pull out your phone, you're saying, "Off Limits." Sitting down is isolating.

3). Attend Sunday School. Small groups connect - they're conversational, casual and you'll discover other people who have things in common. Make sure you join the class' email list - speak up when the teacher asks questions. Volunteer to read Scripture - go to lunch with the class after worship.

4). Don't talk about yourself. Asking questions, sharing encouragement, and listening always wins friends. People love talking about themselves, their travels, their children & grandchildren - use that to your advantage.

5). Come with a, "I'm here to serve attitude." If you arrive with an evaluation attitude, your thought pattern will be:
  • "She didn't speak to me."
  • "I didn't get anything from the sermon."
  • "I don't like this kind of music."
  • "This is an unfriendly church."

This should be your thinking while at church:
  • "Who can I speak to?"
  • "Who can I pray for?"
  • "Who needs encouragement?"
  • "What need can I meet?"
2 Comments

Your Christian Heritage

4/29/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Former Vinesville Baptist Church - now New Rising Star Primitive Baptist Church
Everyone needs to know their Christian heritage. My grandparent's "family church" - meaning the church with your Christian heritage handed down through generations is called, Bethsalem Baptist Church in south Chilton County, Alabama. You'll find "Ausbuns" buried in the church's cemetery.

Vinesville Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama is also part of my heritage. This church has transitioned into New Rising Star Primitive Baptist Church as the community changed. My father was saved and baptized there.

Having a Christian heritage doesn't mean you're saved, but it does mean you have a legacy of great-grandparents, grandparents, and a mom and dad who taught you the Scriptures and made church attendance a priority.

Every believer has a heritage, from the first person who shared Christ with you to your parents bringing you to Sunday School.

Not only do you have a heritage, but you give a Christian heritage when you share the Gospel with a non-believer. Every evangelistic encounter is beginning a new Christian heritage. Someone shared the Gospel with the Ausbuns centuries ago - and that legacy continues today.

0 Comments

7 Things Churches Must Repent Of

3/12/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Have you ever sensed something is wrong at your church? You read your Bible and in Acts the apostles are sharing their faith, devoting their time to prayer, churches are exploding and people are placing their faith in Christ. If you attend church, here are seven things you and your church might need to repent of:

1). Not sharing your faith. If you really believe Christianity is the best message to the world, why are so few believers telling non-believers how to be saved? Your church must equip and train its members how to share their faith, how to overcome objections, and how to share their personal testimony. This might be the reason SBC baptisms are the lowest since 1948.

2). Not tithing. The Cooperative Program is the unifying mission of the Southern Baptist Convention. If your church doesn't give 10% to the CP, you're robbing God (Malachi 3:8-10). Why would a church ask for members to tithe, when the church isn't tithing? Jesus called this hypocrisy. God might not be blessing your church financially because your church is robbing Him.

3). Not supporting their pastor. Any member can destroy their church and their pastor's reputation through gossip, slander, not praying for him, and refusing to listen what the Lord has placed on his heart each week. If you don't support your pastor, you should prayerfully ask God to change your heart or consider another church.

4). Neglecting corporate prayer. Jesus said my house will be a place of prayer (Luke 19:46). Is your church known for its prayer ministry? Does your church have a prayer ministry? If your church is ineffective, this might be why.

5). Neglecting orphans and widows. James 1:27 is an often forgotten Bible verse, but it reminds us that pure religion involves ministering to orphans and widows. I visited a widow in our church this week who told me she was lonely. Children of divorce struggle with their family being incomplete.

6). Neglecting the community. Does your church have a benevolence fund? Does it help non-church members in the community? Its hard to go to the nations when you're not going across the street. Most likely the reason your church was planted in your community decades ago was to reach your community.

7). Neglecting the nations. Jesus commissioned His followers to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19).
He didn't start a mission board or collect an offering to send others overseas. Your church should be giving, praying and learning about international missions.

0 Comments

3 Books I'm Reading this Thanksgiving

11/28/2013

0 Comments

 
I enjoy reading. I make it apart of my devotional time. I have a personal goal of reading at least one chapter a day, and I'm usually reading 5 to 8 books at once. I typically will read anything except fiction. I've found that reading the right books will actually help your personal growth and knowledge of God's Word. Christians who refuse or can't find time to read likely remain stagnant in their spiritual lives. Thanksgiving and Christmas usually allows me more time to read.

Here's three books I'm reading this Thanksgiving:
Picture
Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay, wrote I Am A Church Member. Our church's staff, deacons, praise band, and church council are all reading this book right now. I wish every member of FBC Moreland (and every church) could read this. One of the things I've seen in nearly 9 years as pastor is people get saved, get baptized, get excited, and then ask, "What's next?" How they answer this question determines if they remain involved and the level of involvement at church. This short book explains the function of a church member.

Picture
I love Billy Graham. I remember in 1999 when I was a youth pastor at First Baptist Church, Largo, Florida - I drove across Tampa Bay to look at a monument of Billy Graham's first sermon. He began preaching on the streets in downtown Tampa while at Bible college. Earlier this month Graham turned 95 - I remember seeing him preach once in person in Nashville, Tennessee in 2000. Next Thursday, our Boy Scout den will be at our home and we're showing the "My Hope America" DVD to the young men and their families. Graham's message is always the same: Jesus Saves. His newest book: The Reason for My Hope: Salvation makes an outstanding Christmas gift.

Picture
Our women's ministry is beginning a new Christmas study on Wednesday. The Women of Christmas is a biographical study of three ladies in the Christmas narrative: Elizabeth, Mary & Anna. Character studies are important because they help us remember that people in Scripture were real people; experiencing the same challenges, disappointments, emotions, and surprises as we do. Another outstanding character book study is John MacArthur's Twelve Ordinary Men.

0 Comments

3 Signs it's Time for You to Change Churches

12/11/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
Because of my job I'm not able to church hop - but changing churches has become the norm. In this USA Today article, it claims 80% of people who join megachurches will be gone in 2 years, even if they complete a new member's class.

Church hopping is truly the "all about me" experience. Attend the Beth Moore study at First Baptist, Youth Group at First Methodist, and the Saturday night Weekend Worship at Community Church. Why attend one church when you can pick what you want from 3 churches?

When you change churches frequently, you avoid the ABCs of church membership: Accountability, Buildup (a "B" word for Growth), and Commitment.

If you do change churches, here are 3 signs it's time for a change:

1). Your church doesn't preach or teach the Bible. I could stand up on Sundays and Wednesdays and read the newspaper, share about a book I'm reading, tell funny jokes I found online, complain about the Democratic Party, and share illustrations of great Americans from the past.

Jesus did not preach this way in His most famous sermon in Matthew 5-7. He quoted Scripture, taught against sin, and boldly shared the narrow way of salvation. The church you attend must preach and teach God's Word.

2). Your church isn't engaged in ministry and missions. The church in Acts 6 was so involved in ministry, they had to appoint deacons. Why? Because there was too much work for the disciples. The Bible says the number of disciples multiplied greatly.

If your church isn't making disciples of all nations, it's not a Great Commission church (Matthew 28:19).

3). Accepted Immorality. If you attend a church and there are open homosexuals telling everyone they were "born gay" and there's nothing wrong with their lifestyle - and the pastor and church leadership refuses to confront it, instead pretending it doesn't exist - 1 Corinthians 5 offers instructions on how to address immorality within a church.

If a church won't discipline people, the people won't grow as God wants them to. Hebrews 12:11 says God disciplines us for our own benefit - and it produces fruit.

Resources

9 Marks of a Healthy Church
Movement towards Larger, Contemporary Churches (LifeWay article)
When Is It Time to Leave a Church? (Albert Mohler audio)
1 Comment

    A resource for Christian ministry, leadership & life issues!

    Archives

    November 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All
    Addictions
    Adoption
    Alcohol
    Bible
    Calvinism
    Children
    Church Membership
    Culture
    Discipleship
    Divorce
    End Times
    Evangelism
    Leadership
    Marriage
    Ministry
    Missions
    Money
    Parenting
    Pornography
    Prayer
    Preteen
    Seminary
    Sin
    Social Media
    Students
    Sunday School
    Women

    RSS Feed