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Showing posts from December, 2022

Give Us This Day — Trusting God with Our Needs

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  by Bart Denny Have you ever noticed how the Lord’s Prayer shifts gears? It begins with God — Our Father… hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. It’s all about His holiness, His priorities, His will. But then, without skipping a beat, Jesus invites us to pray something incredibly down-to-earth: “Give us today our daily bread.” — Matthew 6:11 That’s not just a request for food. It’s an invitation to trust. 1. Trust God Daily — He Knows What You Need Jesus could have said, “Give us a year’s worth of provisions,” or “Fill my retirement account now.” But He didn’t. He taught us to ask for daily bread. It’s a reminder of how God fed Israel with manna in the wilderness — just enough for each day, no stockpiling. Why? Because God was teaching them to depend on Him one day at a time. We like to plan ahead. We want the five-year blueprint. But Jesus says, “Live in the now. Trust Me for today.” Practical step: Each morning this week, pause before you check your pho...

Successful Revitalization of Small Evangelical Churches Hinges on Leadership Development

My doctoral dissertation, focused on how successful church revitalization pastors act to develop and empower next-generation leaders. A Phenomenological Study of Pastoral Leadership Development Behaviors in the Revitalization of Small Evangelical Churche s Available at https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/4002 Abstract Church revitalization has received renewed interest in the last several years. Rainer (2014) says that a congregation’s failure to develop and empower next-generation leaders is one of the leading contributors to church closure. Likewise, Clifton (2016) and Stetzer (2007) highlight the importance of developing next-generation leaders during church revitalization.  The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the leadership development behaviors of senior or solo pastors who successfully led revitalization in a small evangelical church. This study defined a small church as one averaging 65 or fewer in attendance at the beginning of the past...