If, in the real world, a mechanic took almost two weeks to gather the information about our automobile’s needs and wants, we would have fired them by now. But of course, this is not the real world this is the virtual world, and we are not analysing motor vehicles, we are analysing a ministry, or [...]

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Morning Campers!
Are we all in our places with bright shiny faces? This is the last in the diagnostic exercises, so don’t despair, we are almost ready to analyze and discuss next steps.
How are you spending YOUR time? Time to pull out your calendar and do a budget of how you spend your typical week. We [...]

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Yesterday’s assignment was to do a time and energy budget of your ministry’s activities. Did anything immediately leap from the list as you wrote it down?
If not, then maybe today’s exercise will help. Take your same list and next to each row write whether or not this activity is inward or outward. Next, write [...]

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Good mechanics, and even the not so good, check all of the systems in a car. My stepfather, who was a fine connisseur of used vehicles, used to announce the systems he had checked before the purchase. "Yes," he’d drawl in his Odessa, Texas accent, "This is a fine auto-mo-bile, I had the points, plugs [...]

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A pastor writes:
I wanted to share with you my experience on my "coffee-walk" yesterday.
When I began my walk, I must admit I was both excited and skeptical. Since becoming the Lead Pastor here in June (I was the Worship Pastor for three years before doing so), I’ve really begun to feel & experience the weight [...]

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If you have been playing along with the home game of JumpStart church, then you are beginning to compile quite a bit of information. It is probably stored in a notebook, or a computer file, or on a digital voice recorder, if so, then excellent.
The information should be stored somewhere other than your brain! You [...]

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You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.

If you have a great relationship with the Holy Spirit, then you probably have some very clear ideas for your ministry. Maybe you are here because you can’t get anyone to go along with [...]

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Are you getting into the swing of things? Are you beginning to see what we are doing? We are slowing down, gathering information, listening to the Spirit to speak, listening for the divine diagnostician to give us insight into our ministries.
In Doug Murren’s 1990 book Baby Boomers, he makes this statement:
"the…first questions any pioneer [...]

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When I was asked to fill a pastorate in 1995, the person doing the asking asked the question: Do you have a vision for ________________ ? I had to tell him, "No." Over the next few weeks as events unfolded I began to hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit. Part of the transition process [...]

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How did the mall-walk go? No, I was really serious about that. If you haven’t done it yet, then do it today. If we don’t slow down long enough to feel the pain of our community, then compassion will not have a starting point.
Many times in Jesus’ ministry he was "moved by compassion." We [...]

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