Planning A Preaching Calendar

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So, I am spending a few days “away” to plan a preaching calendar for the rest of the year.  Each year at about this time, I try to get away and spend a few days doing exactly this.  It is a great exercise for me, and a lot of fruit often comes from it.

Why a preaching calendar?
I believe that preaching the Gospel is the first and foremost objective of the church, and I take my responsibility in that very, very seriously.  In fact, I believe that I will be held accountable one day for how I stewarded the responsibility of preaching. So, I make sure that I get away a couple of times each year to pray, read, write, and plan for the coming months.  In addition to this, I go to conferences periodically, and I read and study everything I can about preaching.  During any given week, I spend between 10 to 15 hours preparing an individual message.  Somebody once said that each sermon comes with a price.  Either the pastor pays the price with advance preparation, or the congregation pays the price in having to sit through it!Read More

Where is God NOW? (Part 03)

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Lifegroup Discussion Questions
Guest Posting by Susan Farnham

In Sunday’s message Steve spoke of the experience of God being a moment by moment ongoing practice rather than an epic series of experiences. Steve referenced this as ‘spiritual breathing’. Listen to the message and get the questions after the break.Read More

3 Steps to Incarnational Ministry

Many people confuse “going to church” with “being the church.”  The difference is Incarnational Ministry.  It is for you.  Watch this video description.

Fresh Start

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Did you ever have a time in your life when you just needed to start over?  Maybe you blew it at work or at home.  Maybe the spark died out and you needed to rekindle the fire.  Maybe you lost hope.  Whatever the case, you knew you needed a fresh start.

That’s what I’m doing here on this blogsite.  I’ve been blogging on and off since 2009, and have kinda fallen into a rut of inconsistency and inattention.  As a leader, even in a tiny little town in the mountains of North Georgia, I believe God calls me to leverage my giftings and my resources to influence others for His sake.  So, look for some changes here… Starting with a brand-new site address, www.stevedusek.com.  This will be a great tool for untangling my thoughts, communicating, and casting vision.  My initial goal is to try to post around three times per week… There will be text blogs, video blogs, guest blogs, and other stuff, too.  Some will be devotional, some practical, and some just… Random, I guess.  I’m planning to write about whatever interests me at the moment.  The whole point is to influence others for the sake of the Gospel.  That’s what God has called me to do.

If you are a believer, how are you influencing others around you for Jesus?  Are you praying for friends and neighbors, looking for ways to engage them with the Gospel?  Do you connect people around you into a deeper walk with Christ?  How does that work in your life?  Let’s talk.

Where Is God NOW? (Part 02)

It’s hard to believe that we started this series RIGHT before the shocking bombings in Boston.  Where was God when the bombs went off? Surprisingly, Jesus himself asked a similar question.  Do you know what his answer was?  Listen to this week’s message to find out.

Tweaking this new blogspace for expanded use in upcoming months.  Look for some big changes very, very soon!

Where Is God NOW? (Part 01)

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We started this brand new 3-part message series this morning in church. You know, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday just a couple of weeks ago, but where is he now?  I need him in my life TODAY, but he doesn’t seem to answer when I call him.  Where is God NOW?

 

 

 

Baptism Discussion Questions

If you missed the message, you can get it on iTunes, or listen on our RSS Feed.

In this week’s sermon, Steve talked about “signs.” What kinds of signs do we hold up about ourselves on a daily basis? (clothes we wear, words we speak, car we drive, attitudes we convey, etc.) What do these things say about us as individuals?Read More

Church Membership

To help you and your group with this past Sunday’s message, I thought I’d post a blog entry from Jonathan Leeman, the author of an upcoming book on The Church here. He walks us through several key Biblical points about church membership.Read More