The Unofficial Mentor Role

August 26, 2014 by admin

Last week during a casual lunch conversation with a fellow preacher, he asked me if I ever have doubts about my faith.

My answer was that I have always had certain aspects of my faith that confused me, but I kind of assumed that went with the territory. Faith and certainty were not always compatible.

“What do you do about doubts?” this person wanted to know.

“I kind of keep them simmering on the back burner…” was my response. “…Try not to fixate on them or give them more attention than they deserve.” But at that point I wanted to know if he was asking more an academic question, or one that was personal to him.

His response was that he was struggling with whether or not he still believed everything he had always been taught.

What followed resulted in a really good tip for our waitress, because we occupied one of her booths for a good two hours. That talk also revealed that his concerns really had little to do with doubting. It’s just that this was his obtuse way of getting to the heart of what it was he really wanted to talk about.

The experience made me aware that sometimes pastors need a fellow minister to listen to them talk—someone who will keep asking them questions until they finally get around to the actual topic that’s troubling them. I was glad that on that given day I was able to be such a person for this friend.

Maybe this is a role God will also have you play on behalf of a fellow minister in the near future.

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

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

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Preaching’s Bottom Line

August 19, 2014 by admin

He seemed a likeable person. Then when the young man started to preach, the impression his initial words made was one of sincerity and humility.

There’s no question that his listeners were following him. There were frequent “Amens!” And, when he finished giving a personal illustration of his own failure and brokenness, some even stood to their feet and applauded. His sermon was no more than 25 minutes, and he not only stuck to his text, he made it come alive.

I’m sure most people would say his message was very good if not exceptional. I would like to be in agreement—except that I don’t think anyone’s life will be all that different as a result of hearing him preach.

I know I harp on this a lot, but preaching’s bottom line is changed lives. And I don’t think anyone that morning will be all that different as a result of what was heard. In short, there wasn’t a “transformation factor.”

Granted, I don’t know how I’m all that qualified to judge the results of this person’s message. But that’s just my point: His words were so general that there was no way to measure their impact. Unfortunately, that’s true of most of the sermons I hear.

I don’t know how many times I’ve written this, but early on in the sermon-preparation process, a preacher needs to determine not only the “Subject” his or her sermon is about, but the specific “Response” he or she wishes from the listeners. With this young man’s message I would speculate that it was to “Hope in the Lord.”

What that means or how the listeners were to make that happen in their lives was never made clear—at least, not for me, as I listened, it wasn’t. In other words, not only did the young preacher offer no clear expected “Response,” he didn’t offer any “How Tos.” He gave no suggestions to help the listeners make the truth he was preaching come alive in their own lives.

So, I left the service thinking, I hope there’s someone along the line who helps this young man, because he has real potential as a preacher. That’s important, Lord, because if he doesn’t improve, the best he’s going to get from listeners is “That was very good” or “Very interesting” or “Very helpful” or “Very challenging.” But, he’s not going to know the joy of seeing lives transformed because of powerful words spoken by one of God’s well-taught servants!

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

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

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A Different World

August 12, 2014 by admin

Two conversations this past week made me aware that my ministry world is changing dramatically.

The first talk was with the chancellor of a major state university. I mostly listened as this educator explained some of what is happening in higher education. Students no longer just feed back what their professors teach. They are involved in the process of deciding their course of study and also how their learning will be framed.

My mind kept relating what I was hearing back to the church world and especially the Sunday morning service, where participants have little if any say in what goes on and would appear out-of-place if they interrupted a sermon with a question or comment.

The second conversation was with a seasoned Christian church leader in California who shared with me what, in truth, were marvelous breakthroughs he was experiencing in his ministry. He was interacting regularly with the kind of Millennials who would seldom ever attend a traditional worship service.

His basic approach was not one of preaching or teaching, but more one of asking questions and careful listening. Even so, he was being incredibly successful in his evangelism efforts. It was also obvious that he was enjoying his success and optimistic about the future. Most of all, he was concerned that those who attended his lessons felt loved.

I found myself wishing I could have had way more time to have learned from him.

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

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

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You have our deepest gratitude!

August 6, 2014 by admin

Several months ago when we started planning the Kickstarter Campaign with our son Randall Mains, head of Pathmaker Marketing, we went back and forth wondering what amount would be best to set for our Project Goal—that critical point where no funding is received if the Goal is not reached.

When we evaluated our financial needs to republish 3 books against our perceived capacities of a crowd funding channel, we actually wondered if $6,000 would be too much to reach for!

Here we are at the end of our Campaign with $38,316 in pledges sitting at # 14 in Kickstarter’s all-time Most Funded Children’s Book projects, from over 2,994 projects on Earth!

This is deeply moving to us because we wanted this effort to honor our son, Jeremy Mains, and his love for the wide variety of people on this beautiful yet tragic planet. The three books of the Tales of the Kingdom Trilogy, as long as they are in print, will stand as a memorial to Jeremy who died November 5, 2013 of an acute and rare lymphoma. He was 41 years of age, and as theologians often say, was filled with amor mundi—love for the world.

When we read through the Backer’s list, we are also touched by the generous support from old friends and from new! THANK YOU!

Throughout this Campaign there were email exchanges and Facebook comments that shared with us of the value and impact of these books – reminders that we humans often work beyond our own capacities through that strange and undefinable activity called God-given inspiration.

Simply put, the impact of these three books on many readers is more than our creative energies combined could produce. So, we look back with gratitude to have been present at their inception and nativity. Like Jeremy, going out into the world he loved, they continually surprise us. And as we prepare this special 30th anniversary edition for you to receive before Christmas 2014, we pray and hope they will continue to surprise and delight your family for many years to come!

Thank you deeply for giving us this opportunity! Thank you deeply for letting us honor our son!

David & Karen Mains
To the King! To the Restoration!