Jim Putman – Real Life Ministries
So far they have over 7000 people in small groups, over 8000 in attendance on weekend in a community of 100,000. They have planted several churches, and the majority of their leadership is home grown.
Quotes:
You must quit focusing upon conversions and start focusing upon making disciples in everything you do.
A better show does not attract unsaved people. Unsaved people don’t like us. A better show attracts people from other churches.
In the last three years 31 million Americans have left the church.
2-3% of churches are growing by conversion growth.
80% of Christians say that they are not experiencing God in the church that they attend.
We need to quit talking about what isn’t working, and start focusing on what Jesus wants us to do.
Will come along side churches in order to mentor them in implementing a plan to make disciples.
Bob Russell – How to implement change without alienating old timers
Observations:
1. Revolution in worship is more than music
2. My preferred style of music is not the majority
3. The conflict does not decrease in intensity with time
4. The disagreement is usually generational, but not always
5. Flexibility is necessary on both/all sides
6. Motivations are positive and negative
7. It’s possible to make changes, and not lose harmony
7 Ways to make change
1. Include a hymn or two in every service and sing one in original arrangement.
2. Respect different expressions of worship and don’t demand someone change, ie don’t ask everyone to clap.
3. If involved in leading worship dress modestly and mute suggestive movement
4. Keep amplification and volume reasonable. There is power when people on stage can hear congregation and vice versa.
5. Avoid repetition. Edit songs, old and new, so that they aren’t too repetitive.
6. Leave people wanting more. Limit singing and standing to 10 minutes. “When a member of the body suffers we all suffer.”
7. Take time to listen to people. Even schedule meeting times with multiple generations.
345 arrested, kids rescued in prostitution busts
Email this StoryJun 25, 6:59 PM (ET)
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
(AP) FBI Director Robert Mueller, center, with Ernie Allen, president and chief executive officer of the…
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USInfoRegistry.com/Criminal_WASHINGTON (AP) – Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution.
The Justice Department says it targeted 16 cities as part of its “Operation Cross Country” that caps off five years of similar stings nationwide.
Many of the children forced into prostitution are either runaways or what authorities call “thrown-aways” – kids whose families have shunned them. Officials say they are preyed upon by organized networks of pimps who lure them in with shelter or drugs, then often beat, starve or otherwise abuse them until the children agree to work the streets.
“We together have no higher calling than to protect our children and to safeguard their innocence,” FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday. “Yet the sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes in this country.”
(AP) FBI Director Robert Mueller speaks during a news conference at the FBI headquarters in Washington,…
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In all, authorities arrested 345 people – including 290 adult prostitutes – during the operation that ended this week. Since 2003, 308 pimps and hookers have been convicted in state and federal courts of forcing youngsters into prostitution, and 433 child victims have been rescued, Mueller said.The cities targeted in this week’s sting are: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Md.; Oakland, Calif.; Phoenix; Reno, Nev.; Sacramento, Calif.; Tampa; Toledo, Ohio and Washington.
The problem of child prostitution has taken on a new urgency in recent years with the growth of online networks where pimps advertise the youngsters to clients. The FBI generally investigates child prostitution cases that cross state lines.
The cases aren’t easy to convict.
In April 2006, for example, charges against a Nevada man resulted in a hung jury after his 14-year-old victim refused to testify against him. Months later, however, a second jury found Juan Rico Doss of Reno, Nev., guilty of forcing two girls – ages 14 and 16 – to sell sex in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland.
A University of Pennsylvania study estimates nearly 300,000 children in the United States are at risk of being sexually exploited for commercial uses – “most of them runaways or thrown-aways,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“These kids are victims. This is 21st century slavery,” Allen said. “They lack the ability to walk away.”