I previously mentioned that Circle Church having reached the magic number of 200 in the summer of 1968, we contacted the District Superintendent to inquire whether any churches within our own denomination, the Evangelical Free Church, would welcome our assistance. There were three. Two exist to this day without our help. The last died with our help! Its name was the Zion Evangelical Free Church.

Zion Church was located in the explosive Austin area of the city which is racially altering and was at this time deeply embroiled in conflicts stemming from the busing of school children. In a period of three to four years, the church had dropped from an average membership of 350 to a dismal thirty, as members regularly exited to the suburbs.

It is difficult even now to describe adequately the events which took place in our disjointed union, since the emotions, personalities, and relationship involved tend to color clear thinking. In many ways we felt the whiplash of crashing into failure for many, many months, even years.

Because of the drastic outcome of this venture, we have examined our motives to see if they were as honorable as we thought they were. Personally, and I sincerely believe I speak for the rest of the membership, I was not trying to build a huge kingdom of my own—for example, one of the nation’s ten largest Sunday Schools. In fact, I was studiously avoiding it.

My heart yearned for the city and I longed to see Christ walk its concrete canyons. How better could this be effected than by seeing His church experience renaissance—lights coming alive in neighborhoods citywide? We were willing to forego a powerhouse base of our own, if we could only play a role in this overall renewal.

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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, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

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.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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When pastors ask me for my evaluation of a message, I have determined to always be gracious but honest.

I recall a conversation where I told someone that his sermon was effective, but would have been better if the text he used had actually supported what he was saying. He was using an Old Testament story that really didn’t teach what he was saying.

After an initial discussion, his response was, “Well, I agree that I stretched my text a bit.”

“You did more than that,” I replied. “You made the narrative say something it wasn’t saying at all!”

“But did you see the response of the people to the sermon?” was his counter.

“That’s because what you were saying was biblical, and your presentation was strong, especially your closing illustration. But, don’t get into the habit of making Scripture say something it doesn’t!”

There were any number of texts that would have worked for him. The one he chose didn’t. I caught this, and I am sure some others did as well. In the long run, this kind of error, if repeated, will undercut his ministry.

I’m glad people responded that morning to his preaching. But, I believe God used what he said in spite of more than because of.

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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, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

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.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Approaching the end of the school year in June of 1968, we at Circle Church were almost a year and a half old and our attendance hovered constantly around the 200 mark. With the remarkable enthusiasm present, we projected that it was quite feasible we would pass 300 by the end of September, which was alarming because we had a “number hang-up.”

Now most church staffs want to lift off the roof, shoot for the sky, and break last year’s attendance record. But, we had committed ourselves to a small church philosophy because it seemed more adequately to facilitate intense interaction. Two hundred was the magic number beyond which we predicted the bond of person-to-person fellowship would be stretched unbearably. In anticipation of this, we had decided previously that we would either begin a. branch work or split off part of the group to infuse new life into a dying city congregation.

Seeing that the determined point had been reached, we began making overtures in various directions. Several possibilities were explored.

1. Maybe there were leftover buildings vacated by extinct congregations. We found, however, that none were free for the asking.
2. We investigated establishing a branch work, but the undertaking of financing even a minimal staff seemed prohibitive.
3. We contacted the District Superintendent to inquire whether any churches within our own denomination, the Evangelical Free Church, would welcome our assistance. There were three. Two exist to this day without our help. The last died with our help!

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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, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

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.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Being time conscious (as usual) at first I felt that the Circle Church groups shouldn’t go any longer than an hour.

I eventually learned to relax. And, if certain ones wanted to be together longer after refreshments were served, I was certainly not going to get nervous about that, as long as the hostess didn’t. As a result, it was not unusual for the groups to continue from 7:30 in the evening until 10:30 or 11:00.

What did we learn through the prayer cells? Well, a great deal about being honest, about expecting God to answer us, about sharing, about responding to need. We learned that to be involved together made it seem natural to call one another any time through the week and ask to be remembered in prayer regarding a matter.

We learned that, with the assistance of a group, we could step out on the thin edge of faith. We learned about simplicity of expression and about acceptance. In short, in our prayer groups, we learned about prayer.

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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. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

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.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

Share and Enjoy