Students from the Circle, Roosevelt, the Medical Center, the University of Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, even Northwestern in Evanston, and many other colleges attended Circle Church regularly. Church-related or religious schools, including Moody Bible Institute, North Park College, Emmaus Bible School, and distant Wheaton and Trinity Colleges were often represented. After several months of operation, we affiliated with a denomination, the Evangelical Free Church of America, and were quite happy with the relationship.

As the days passed, an alternate choice demanded our attention. Either we could have a part-time staff and a full-time building, or a part-time building and a full-time staff. Because the Teamsters’ hall was adequately meeting our needs and the cost of urban properties was quite prohibitive, we chose, at this point, to place our emphasis on manpower. In September of 1967 we forfeited any immediate plans for property when the church voted to take Sherm Williams on the staff part-time to direct the music program.

On a volunteer basis, Sherm had built our miniscule choir from the miniature congregation to a size too large to tuck behind the piano in the corner of the auditorium from which we conducted the services. The group of from fifteen to twenty, sometimes nearly as large as the audience, now sang from behind the congregation.

Unintentionally, we discovered that this simple adjustment enhanced our worship. Personalities no longer interfered with the message being sung. Musically gifted, the choir always sang a cappella, and this harmonious blend of voices floating across us as we worshiped was a unique and satisfying experience. Occasionally soloists would sing from this position also.

We’re continuing to learn key lessons that will prove critical to the development of our distinct philosophy of ministry. I’m sharing these lessons with you in the hope that they will prove useful to you. How grateful we remain for the great outpouring of God’s grace that enabled us to give birth to a new work of His grace in downtown Chicago in the turbulent 1960’s. Please join me, as I continue this narrative.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about? Or, what will you preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon? David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help you learn how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons. Just click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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Every preacher has his or her personal flaws. Even the finest minister struggles with certain temptations.

Maybe, like me, you are a recovering workaholic. An attractive lady pastor might admit to a struggle with pride. This man, whose sermons everyone raves about, tries to keep hidden the fact that he has a terrible temper. Another dear man-of-the-cloth is a known procrastinator.

So what do you do when your preaching text for a given Sunday is about a temptation you obviously haven’t mastered? Do you quickly arrange for a guest preacher? Maybe you just pretend like your life lines up with what the text is calling for.

My personal conviction is that authenticity is what you should strive for. Being authentic allows for a wide range of disclosures. It may mean nothing more than including a simple statement that says, “I found today’s text to be quite convicting.” On the other hand your sermon could include an extended illustration of your personal battle to know victory in a certain area of your life.

To make no reference whatsoever that you recognize this to be a problem makes you appear guarded, naive, or hypocritical, none of which is seen as a positive trait. I believe it’s better to openly recognize that you are human and therefore still a work-in-progress.

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You can learn how to develop highly relevant Sunday sermons that grab the attention of your congregation and help your listeners respond effectively to the deep truths of God’s Word. David Mains and Mainstay Ministries have a whole range of helpful solutions. Do you need to prepare a Topical Sermon, an Advent Sermon, a Christmas Sermon, an Easter Sermon, a Sermon Series, or any other Sunday Sermon? You can find help on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons. Just click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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Our growth physically was steady, but not phenomenal. In fact, on Labor Day weekend in 1967 (seven months after beginning) we were twenty-eight again! Contrary to normal city church patterns, in five more months we reached one hundred fifty and had registered two hundred by September of 1968.

All throughout the ten years I served as pastor, there was never a morning service, but one, without visitors. (The exception was the Sunday following the rioting precipitated by Dr. Martin Luther King’s death, when the National Guard patrolled our streets.) The visitors usually came because they had been invited by friends.

We had no roadside sign reading, “Jesus Saves,” to identify our location (if any banner flew, it usually proclaimed, “Vote for Mayor Daley”), and there had been little publicity or visitation initiated by ourselves. Consequently, because we built the congregation on spontaneous personal invitations, the congregation usually included 8 to 10 percent non-churched.

The average age of the group was slightly under thirty, and about 15 percent who attended were nonwhite. Our first two baby dedications were a beautiful illustration of this mixture. Each time, three sets of parents presented their children to the Lord—one white, one African-American, and one Chinese.

We differed from one another in background and economic status, in ethnic and cultural experience, and in educational training. Some were new converts, while others were raised in Christian homes. Children accounted for about 10 percent of the congregation. Two-thirds of us lived within a ten-mile radius of the Union building. And, because the expressway system was at our door, a number came from the suburbs.

I invite you to return to this blog. I’m sharing with you some of the key lessons we learned during the time that God used us to give birth to a new work of His grace in downtown Chicago in the turbulent 1960’s. Please come back.

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Pastor, when “sermon prep day” rolls around each week, do you face the task of preparing another sermon with a frown on your face? If so, you’re not alone. Many pastors literally dread preparing their Sunday sermon. There just doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. The good news: David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help, whether you need to create a Topical Sermon, an Advent Sermon, a Christmas Sermon, an Easter Sermon, a Sermon Series, or any other Sunday Sermon. For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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Many parallels exist between establishing a business and establishing a church. The main similarity seems to be that in both ventures it is necessary to employ every resource—physical, emotional, financial—to its fullest potential. We gave every extra penny that we could, and we know that most of the people involved were living on the fine edge of insecurity themselves.

After waiting years to hear me preach regularly, my wife, Karen, found herself committed to children’s church, Sunday school, and nursery responsibilities. In the first nine months she attended very few morning services.

It was strictly a do-or-die effort. Every weekday morning at 7:30, little baby Bruce would arrive at our doorstep. That was often before our own two sleepyheads had arisen. Karen might be expecting people for a pancake breakfast or for a sit-down dinner—we had guests in our home constantly. After the first two months we figured that we had entertained over two hundred people for one meal or another.

Had we been pulling alone, it might have become unendurable, but, we were aware of the combined strength and assistance of the total group. Each one of us was keenly conscious that our very existence was precarious. Yet we wanted so much for this precious dream to succeed, and the bond created by our efforts has left us very close indeed.

I’m walking down “Memory Lane” a bit in this series of blog posts that describe how God used us to give birth to a new work of His grace in downtown Chicago in the turbulent 1960’s. I hope you will join me for the next post as I share with you some of the key lessons we learned.

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Whether you need to create a Topical Sermon, an Advent Sermon, a Christmas Sermon, an Easter Sermon, a Sermon Series, or any other Sunday Sermon, David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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