Getting Down to the Nuts and Bolts of Evangelism

"He that winneth souls is wise." - Proverbs 11:30

Winning souls is of high importance.  It is a priority for the Christian and the local church.  In order to win souls, you have to be engaged in some aspect of evangelism.

In many cases, we have regulated evangelism to a few generalized activities rather than a broad range of diverse activities that impact and influence people to engage in a relationship with Christ.  Truthfully, evangelism is a mixture of both of these.

According to Vine's Expository Dictionary, "evangelize" means to proclaim glad tidings; preach the gospel (Luke 1:19; 9:6; Acts 21:8).  When we participate in activities that share the gospel, the "good news" about Jesus Christ, we are involved in evangelizing.

Our evangelistic activities should span beyond simply inviting people to worship services and events at our local church.  All that is saying is that someone has to come onto our territory in order to get what we have to offer.  That is not the type of evangelism that wins souls.  That simply gets them through the door for the pulpit and the choir to do the work of the soul winning.

Charles Spurgeon said it profoundly when he said:"Our main business is to win souls." Winning souls is work.  The Bible references good works as a means for opening the door for winning souls.  For example, in Matthew 5:16, we see that by letting our light shine, others will see our good works and call upon the Father in heaven.  As we do good works, we begin to get people engaged and interacting with the people of God for a good cause.  As we do more good for those around us, it will begin to get the people who benefited from those good works to look beyond us and to our source of support and strength.

In 2014, we will look at more of the nuts and bolts of evangelism.  We will begin to discover that we can do more and discover the power that God has given to us to influence, inspire and impact our fellow man, just by letting our lights shine before men.

Stay tuned for more on this topic as we engage in an ongoing effort to strengthen the church and the Christian to do more with what God has already given to us.

And So On and So Forth

“Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. ” 

― Charles H. Spurgeon

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

-Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

We can look at a new year in many ways.  most of us tend to take it one way or the other.  Either we see this new year as an immense opportunity to spread our wings and fly in new directions and to new heights or we see it as another 365 days to get through with a more-of-the-same type of attitude.  Some see adventure, while others see adversity.  Some see opportunities, while others see obstacles.

How will you see 2014?

Let's look at 2013 first, though.

What we did in 2013 included:

• Brush up our online bookstore in preparation of some new and upcoming releases for 2014
• Added some new articles about fundraising and churches doing good works
• Spent a great deal of time agonizing over poverty and its impact on folks around us and around the globe
• Wrote about unity and the power of working together to serve and save our communities
• Spoke up about youth leadership development in our churches and throughout our communities

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.- Colossians 4:3 (NIV)

I have been seriously praying for God to lead us in a new direction and steadily along the path that He has outlined for us to take in 2014.  Surprisingly, I have discovered that God has pointed out that I have yet to do many of the things that he has already bestowed upon me.  As I look upon the incomplete, unfinished and never attempted things on my to-do list and agenda from on high, I feel convicted.  I know that I could have been a better servant than I have been in 2013.  I know that I could have been a better steward than I have been in 2013.

So now is the time to go on with what He has already given.  I have to go on and go forth.

I have to knock on doors that have yet to be opened to me.  I have call upon those who will not recognize my voice.  I have to proclaim Him to many who have yet to have an introduction to who He really is and what who the world has made Him out to be with its skewed and slated views.

If you want to join me in making the Word known throughout this world, here is how you can join in as we embark on 2014:

1. Start dreaming again and do something with your dreams
2. Start by reading a New Year's Resolution Guide
3. Understand how to start your day on a positive note

Then, once you have started on that track, continue to follow this blog as we discuss 2014's ventures and furthering the Good News.

Fish for the Lost of the World

And Jesus said unto them,  Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

- Mark 1:17

Jesus expects us  to become fishers of men.

Have you been fishing lately?

How can you reap if you do not sow?

How can you have an expectation if you do not make an effort?

We are to fish for the lost by seeking them out and sharing the gospel with them.
No one can get saved if you never share.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

-Romans 10:13-15

Read my latest article on Spending Time with God

Extreme Experiences of Edification

Key question: Have you built a ministry that builds up people to be better servants of the Lord?

Take your time.  Think about all of the people who serve under you.  Let things play back in your mind. 

We need people experiencing edification.  We need people being built up within our midst.  We need to get busy building folks up.

Why?

Their responsibility is to equip God's people

to do his work and build up the church,

the body of Christ.

- Ephesians 4:12 (NLT)

We are called to do so.  We have been commissioned to do so.  It is our calling.  Let us live up to it.

Give the people who come to you an extreme experience.  Offer an edifying experience.  Take people to the edge by standing on the cutting edge as opposed to the status quo.  Let people experience Christianity beyond the stuffy, Sunday morning sermonized Savior that seems so distant that He could not have possibly walked on earth.  Give them the real deal when you share about the Savior.  Show them the Jesus who saves.  Share the Jesus who sacrificed for the sinful.  Provide an opportunity to experience Jesus in spirit and in truth.

Look at some examples of radical Christianity. . .

Help us Help Youth

Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.-
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life Path Ministries & Services is launching a four-month sponsorship drive for its Youth-N2-Action program.  Youth-N2-Action targets at-risk and low-income youth in grades 10 and 11 for community service, leadership development and tiered mentoring.  Our goal is to teach and train a minimum of 50 youth entering into the 11th grade next school year with leadership skills, mentoring support from community and business leaders, and offer community service and service learning opportunities over an 18 to 24-month campaign period for the class of 2013.  During 2012, we plan to expand the program to include 10th graders and have our Difference-Makers Camp offered for both classes as an excursion of education, exposure and empowerment.

We believe that today's youth are tomorrow's leaders.  It is imperative for today's leaders to teach and train today's youth for tomorrow's leadership opportunities.  Join the effort to help us help youth in San Diego take charge and take action.

Go to the site: http://200club.chipin.com/200-club-youth-sponsors and donate a one-time sponsorship of $200 or a partial sponsorship of $100 during the campaign.  Forward the link http://200club.chipin.com/200-club-youth-sponsors and/ or this post to 5 other people who are concerned and compassionate about the issues facing our youth today and the leadership gap that will exist if the youth are not taught and trained today.

Makeover for Mondays

Got a case of the Mondays?  Much like the lead character played by Ron Livingston in Office Space, you may find yourself in such a predicament.  You may dread getting ready and going in to work.  That may be your issue with Mondays.

Change that malfunction into a makeover.  Approach Mondays with a new freshness.  Try some things that may get you going on Mondays.

• Schedule your catch-up time at the end of the day Monday (after lunch may be best).
• "Monitor of Motivation": Adjust your screen saver and the settings to where an inspirational or motivational message scrolls across the screen when you come in on Mondays. Be sure to change it every Friday.
• Schedule a special lunch (with your wife, old buddy from high school or a retired mentor).  Get out of the office and strike up a conversation about anything but work
• Sunday Set-Up: Set your mind on work some time Sunday evening- maybe right after 60 Minutes.  Get your first orders of business together for the next day.  See if it helps .

Tomorrow's Leaders

Today's Youth = Tomorrow's Leaders

We adopted that as the tagline for Youth-N2-Action during its inception.  It is a simple but profound concept.  We may see them as youth today, pants sagging and iPods or cell phones connected to their ears, but see past the present.  See them as the future.  One day they will lead the way.

Look at the 2008 presidential campaign. President Obama did something extraordinary.  He got people out to vote.  He rallied others to get others to vote.  Yes, he utilized modern technology for raising funds, but he also utilized it as a medium and means for getting younger voters involved in the political process to bring about change.  Such a change led to a change that brought forth the change of a Black U.S. President, raising the level of achievement for those who have been short-changed and hamstrung in the past and the present by achievement gaps and other socioeconomic indicators.

Believe in today's youth.  Seek to reach them through diverse programs.  They need everything from academics and athletics to the arts and sciences. Let them freely express themselves with everything from poetry to pottery, from rap to scrap booking. Allow them to develop into the well-rounded people we want leading our nation and embracing globalization. 

The last thing we would want as tomorrow's senior citizens is for today's youth to look at us with blank stares and ask: "Who are you? Now that you need me to step up I can't because you you didn't step up when I need you."

Let us not let that be the case for our collective futures.

Action Steps

"Action expresses priorities."- Gandhi

There is a time for analysis.  You study and survey the current condition, and then you become aware of what is really going on within and around your organization.  That's analysis and it leads to awareness.  From there, you will need to take some form of action.

Taking action doesn't mean just jumping out an doing something.  You have to be sure to do the right thing.  Taking the right action is critical.  When you step out to do whatever, you are guaranteed to get whatever in return.  You want to be precise with which actions are necessary and deliberate in taking those actions. 

Your goal is to identify the right action steps to take in moving forward.  You need a plan.  You need action steps to guide you in accomplishing your plan.  Too many people simply do and end up making due because they are working without a plan.  They are just shooting from the hip and taking on whatever comes their way.  That leads to disaster.

Identify 3 things that you can do about an existing problem this week.  Think like you need to get started today. What's the immediate action? What's the next step? Finally, what will be the follow-up to those action steps? Taking action requires accountability, too.  You have to ensure that the assignment is followed through until the end.  Review what needs to be done, and then keep track of what you do and its impact.  You may need to do more to get to the solution.

Discipleship and Development

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

-Ephesians 4:11-16 (NKJV)

We should strive to reach perfection. As we work in ministry, building up and strengthening the believers under our care, we are to lead them with teaching and training that guides them to become a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Our work is cut out for us. We are to work with imperfect people as imperfect people, helping one another to become more like Christ day by day despite our sinful nature. Like the Apostle Paul, an internal war wages within us with two opposing sides- our new nature versus our old nature. At times, we must rely upon the strength of the Lord to continue in striving. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in your development as you assist in the discipleship and development of others.

You are called to oversee what happens with the people under your leadership.  You must intercede on their behalf.  You may not always feel up to it.  You may not always feel appreciated.  You are called to serve as a leader. 

Disciple your people.  Teach your people.  Train your people.  Do all so that your people will mature in perfection towards the  perfect man that they are destined to become in His name.  It is part of your calling.

Flip Your Script

I recently picked up a copy of Raving Fans.  It is the book that falls somewhere in the mix with Blanchard and Bowles other collaborations.  Part of what I discovered was that customers have wants and needs that have to be met and exceeded in order to make them fans.  You truly have to read the book and get an idea for the concept.  However, all who train others on how to deal with and work with customers and vendors should try to flip the script as they teach and train staff and volunteers on serving others. 

What do I mean? Flip the script!

Set up trainings that involve role plays and scenarios based upon actual customer complaints in your industry.  Are you running a volunteer-driven homeless shelter or youth center? Get your staff and volunteers geared up to truly help people by working through some real-life situations.  Try to work in some time where staff and volunteers are imagining things through the eyes of the customer.  Help them to gain insights into how to serve from the heart with real understanding.

What about the script?

Look at the scripted lines of responses in outdated handbooks that most nonprofits and churches have on their shelves.  Walk through your telephone script for soliciting donations for your organization.  Have your staff and volunteers hear it read aloud, and then let them see it acted out.  Next, have them read a printed copy of the script, and then use a red marker to alter the script.  Collect them back and review them together as a team.  See how far off you or your team may be when it comes to customers... I mean fans.

Flip the script

C3 Connections

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. - Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)

Read Colossians 3 and you will discover about the "new" life we are to have in Christ.  The words used by Paul clarify the roles and responsibilities of believers in Christ.  To take it even further, the modern church needs to connect with its community and corporations.

C3 Connections connect: Church, Community and Corporations.  The Church is the body of believers in a local region.  They are called to live out their faith in the midst of the community.  Community, as far as we are concerned here, includes local schools, elected officials, volunteer centers, and even college and university campuses.  Corporations are separate in the C3 concept due to their nature and structure.  You can engage local corporations small business from to major corporations like Fortune 500 and other industry leaders headquartered or operating in your area by various means.  The point of C3 Connections is to establish and maintain connectivity between the Church, Community and Corporations.

You may be a pastor or ministry leader, even a community activist or school teacher, but you want to get connected to others in your area.  Organize with other like-minded people and some people who may not usually work with you and your comrades.  Set up a meeting and invite others from within the community to come out and share their interest in getting involved.  Once you have your interest meeting, you can determine who is on board and what is the level of activity that would seem feasible for your initial efforts. 

Don't become alarmed if some doesn't jump on board until you get going.  Some people don't make a move until they see movement.

Calendar Considerations

To everything there is a season...- Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV)

Your calendar should not determine your actions. Use your calendar to distinguish your actions. You need to identify what time you need to plan and perform, even perfect, what you are are doing daily, weekly and monthly. Your calendar should include your quarterly and annual activities, too.

Your daily planner may work for identifying things to plan as well as things to perform. Franklin Covey and Day Runner make some great planners. As far as technology, I prefer using Google Calendar online as opposed to MS Outlook or any other program. Google Calendar interfaces with my Gmail account and offers me present reminders as well as collaboration with my contacts in Gmail or other emails. I just prefer it to other online and software alternatives.

Let your calendar help you keep up with appointments and assignments like meetings and special events. Schedule your daily and weekly activities in a monthly view. Print out copies of your next three months to get into view what are your regular meetings and activities as well as what special events and activities you have coming up on the horizon.

Cookie Cutter Crisis

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

- James 1:22 (NIV)

Ministry is not one size fits all. In fact, we see discipleship as a connection rather than coursework and evangelism as a calling as opposed to cold calling. Ministry is about putting your endowed spiritual gifts to work with the talent and abilities that God has afforded you in accordance with other believers to accomplish God's plan and purpose.

We need more doers of the Word. We have too many people searching for a mega-church model and seeking simplistic, bullet-pointed solutions on a PowerPoint or a webinar. God provides us gifts and puts us in position for the work of the ministry. If God can write 66 books of the Bible through the Spirit-led men of the past, He surely can provide the local church with skilled and able Bible teachers and writers to develop Bible lessons and children's programming.

We need to stop ordering the box and get back into the Book. Stop ordering evangelism in a box, VBS in a box, and discipleship in a box. If you discover that there is no relevant materials and resources that speak to your church's needs, pray for God to reveal the way in which you need to proceed. There may exist gifts and talents buried within the pews of the congregation. Pray and see what God wants you to do with His Word.

There is no "one size fits all" solution. There's no short list of quick fixes. We are called to be "doers of the Word." Go on and do as He leads you by His Spirit with what He has equipped and empowered you to do with His Word. Start by dropping the cookie cutter.

Keeping Pace in Making Changes

Bringing about change may require you to be patient. Change has a a pace of its own. Change can come about in various ways. The whole point is that you have to be ready for change no matter how it comes at you.

Change can take place:

• Swiftly
• Slowly
• Steadily

Depending on the need for change, the conditions and circumstances may vary. Remain open and ready.

Three for Change: Identify 3 people who can help you promote change in your organization.

T.C.B.

But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

- Psalm 9:17 (NIV)

T.C.B. = Taking Care of the Bewildered

We read in numerous passages and verses in the Bible. The Law of Moses addresses it. The prophets speak out about it. Jesus Himself shared about it. The poor and the needy, the oppressed and neglected, are due our attention. We are to offer them hope and help, even healing. Our neighbors include those who many have stepped over and some have sidestepped, even avoided on their Christian journey.

Christ desires us to take care of the bewildered. He shared with His followers that their concern for the poor was not the focus of the moment as He was anointed with expensive perfume in Matthew 26:6-7. The Bible says that His followers called it a "waste" and that they even became indignant about the matter, saying that the perfume could have been sold and shared with the poor.

The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.- Matthew 26:11

(NIV)

As you serve in ministry, whether it be through missions, soup kitchens, shelter, recovery or re-entry centers, or some other means of reaching the poor and the needy, understand that the Lord wants you to take care of them. Offer your services with loving care and receptive hearts. Meet people where they are and help them transition from where you meet them to where the Lord has destined them. Most people are down and out because many have failed to help out where the lord has directed us to be of help to our brothers and sisters.

Take care of the bewildered, the down and out, the poor and the needy. Take care of them with concern and compassion. Take care of His dear sheep and lovely lambs as wise stewards of the Good Shepherd's flock.

Special Event Basics

You harvest what you plant, whether good or bad.- Proverbs 14:14 (CEV)

You probably have heard it expressed one way or another. It may have been a teacher in your early years or one of your first supervisors when you started working as a kid. Even your pastor or a guest preacher probably sermonized it into a three-point sermon with alliteration and all.

You reap what you sow.

It makes sense. It really starts to make even more sense when you start looking at the results from your special events. You have to look at what you do in the early planning stages as the seeds for the fruitful results for what you can potentially get out of your special event when everything is said and done.

Collaborate

Don't try to do everything yourself. If you are part of a mega-church or a network of local churches, work with others to get your event running smoothly. Work with them on a timeline and recruiting volunteers as well as promoting the event.

Coordinate

Schedule and set up your event, taking everything into account. Think about vendors, trash, recycling barrels, and all that may be involved with the event. Coordinate with the fire department, police department and city zoning/ special event permits. The last thing you want is to have your event shut down because you didn't take care of the little things.

Communicate

Use social networking like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Walk the block and pass out fliers and invitations. Email your congregants and past guests and visitors. Get the word out to your team and volunteers. Make it known what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Saintly Social Service Strategies

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. - Francis of Assisi

The church used to be the hub of of American communities. It was the meeting house and the social gathering place for most towns. The church served as the center of the communities in which it existed.

Churches have a unique opportunity to serve their communities beyond offering meeting space for homeschooling and Moms Of Preschoolers (MOP). Churches don't have to end their service at housing Christian preschools and day cares. The church has some saintly social service strategies that it can implement as the church or as a faith-based nonprofit entity as an extension for the church.

Prevention Programs

• Charter schools
• After school programs
• Family counseling services
• Substance abuse prevention programs'
• Pre-marital classes
• Gang awareness workshops for parents & educators
• Drop-out prevention programs
• SNAP-ED screening and eligibility presentations

Intervention Programs

• Couples counseling
• Family literacy programs
• Food pantry
• Substance abuse counseling
• Gang intervention/ diversion
• Continuing education courses
• GED classes
• Supervised visitation
• Family mediation
• Health intervention and support groups (diabetes, obesity, etc.)

Recovery Programs

• Family reunification
• Prison re-entry
• Job readiness skills training
• Substance abuse recovery
• Grief counseling

Pray over what else the Lord may lead you to do. God can use you in a miraculous way to reach your local community. Let Him speak to your heart about the needs that exist around you and your church.

What is Your Ministry Built Upon?

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.-Matthew 7:27 (NASB)

One key and vital question in ministry today is both simple yet profound: what is your ministry built upon? Is it built upon rock or sand? What sort of foundation is your ministry standing upon? Is it something solid? Is it something that allows you to sleep well at night? Or, is it something that keeps you up at all hours of the night?

Before rising to new heights, let us first establish a firm foundation.

It may sound remedial or even rudimentary, but it is a highly critical question to ask of yourself and your ministry. You must identify where and upon what type of surface you have built your ministry. You have to clearly see if all your hard work has been based upon hearing and doing what the Word of God says. Or, have you been hearing the Word of God and making up your own blueprints along the way? What have you built your ministry upon?

Why do I ask this? It is simple. The foundation of any structure determines the longevity of the structure. There is no mystery that pyramids have withstood the test of time and weather in the Valley of Kings in Egypt, whether you believe in global warming or not. Such structures have a solid foundation. The same could be said of the Great Wall of China. It goes back to the foundation of the structure. If the foundation is weak, the entire structure is bound to collapse sooner than later. If the foundation is solid, then the structure is likely to stand the test of time and weather the storms and rain.

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23(KJV)

Lazarus Mode

Dear Pastor/ Bishop/ Elder/ Reverend XXXX:

The church that God has blessed you with is sick.

Sincerely,
Concerned Christian

Can you imagine that popping up on your Blackberry Messenger app right before Sunday services? How about if it was a note passed up to you via the ushers or deacons just as you are getting ready to start prayer meeting? Either way, it is alarming. In either case, you are taken aback at least for a moment. You may even be startled.

Someone didn't send you an instant message on your mobile. No one within your church or outside of it scribbled you a message about it. God didn't set a bush on fire nor did He send an angel to deliver you the news. It's been swimming and swirling around in your gut for some time now. It has preoccupied your sermon preparation and personal devotion. The signs are all around. There's something drastically wrong with your church and your ministry. In fact, it may not just be sick. It may be debilitating to the point of near-death. It may very well be in Lazarus Mode.

When I posted Signs of a Dying Church, I was already prepared to go further into it by addressing Lazarus Mode. The scenario is similar to the story. There are plenty of churches who are like Lazarus. The Lord loves them, but they are "sick" and closer to death than they think. Unfortunately, unlike Lazarus, this sickness may not glorify God at all. Such churches and ministries are in need of a "spiritual wake-up call." You don't want to look up and discover that your ministry has been declared dead by the Divine.

Keep aware of the signs. Be sure to make the necessary changes. Stay on fire and keep blessing and boasting on the Lord.

Sites for Support

I am an avid "web-crawler." I search the web for sites that can help me with my work and ministry. I have discovered some sites that truly can support you as you seek to enhance and expand your ministry for greater effectiveness in this day and age.

Here is a short list of sites for support:

• http://www.outreach.com/ Great resources from banners to do-it-yourself templates; be sure to take a look at http://blog.outreach.com/ for tips and ideas on a wide range of outreach topics and http://www.outreachmagazine.com/ for articles and information on outreach. Look into their church-planting resources, too.
• http://www.lifetreecafe.com/ If you are in ministry or seeking to get one started, here is a possible resource that will cause you to be "missional." Check out what this conversational and casual gathering can do for your church and the un-churched. Read what it's about. It will take some planning and strategies on your part.
• http://www.lifechurch.tv/ This church is taking multi-site ministry into a whole new era. You have to check out their online worship experience as well as their resources and messages (even those that are not live.) Open is a great resource for downloads of templates and forms that will help administration and ministry leaders. YouVersion has to be one of my favorite sites on the web. With everything from "live" worship and the audio Bible to Bible reading plans and the means for sharing via Facebook and Twitter, this site will rock your world. Church Metrics is a cool free tool that allows you to track everything from attendance to commitments and baptisms. It's web-based and even has a mobile application for on-the-go ministry and small group leaders.
• http://www.urbanministry.org/ Tons and tons of information and resources for "street ministry" and beyond. I use the Word Press blog application for Saved2Serve, our network for ministries, faith-based organizations and parachurches. You have to check out their Church Grants and Volunteer sub-sites. This site is a real winner.
• http://www.ebase.org/ I like E-Base for nonprofits and donor tracking because it does something different than Church Metrics. This download allows you to track donors, volunteers, and other things such as outreach campaigns. It allows you to see what works and what doesn't in a data storage format almost like CRM software for business.

These sites are useful and worth exploring. I see them as mechanisms for strengthening and supporting your work in ministry. Be sure to visit our web database for the free download of "When the Laborers are Few." This will help those who have few "workers" for the harvest that is before them in their part of the vineyard.