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Denny Wayman recently recorded a training video on "Breaking Barriers to Church Growth." A dozen pastors showed up at our Pasadena church on December 18th and had a good time discussing the topic. Denny plans to continue on a variety of taped topics. The next taping will be partnered with Larry Walkemeyer on "Being a Missional Church” - we’ll keep our readers informed through the website for times, should you like to join in on the discussion and taping.

Additional questions and thought provokers that Denny provided to pastors for consideration:

• What are the specific barriers keeping our church from increasing?
  
  
• What is our “action plan” to resolve those barriers so that our church can continue to fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission?
  
  
• In answering question #2 “What is our action plan…” consider how you are going to train your congregation/committees/board to understand the barriers and be ready to make the changes needed to break through what is holding the ministry back. Denny would recommend that in this plan you propose having a “strategic meeting” in which you show this training video and discuss these two questions, or in which you create your own presentation for your own unique situation and discuss these two questions.
  
  
• If you don’t believe your congregation is being held back after viewing the training video, then create a report using statistics of your congregation to show that you are a healthy, multiplying congregation. This report should name the new ones being baptized, the new discipleship groups/Bible studies being formed, the people being equipped and placed into ministry, the community ministries being provided, as well as demonstrating an increasing generosity to missions.
  
  
• And what if considering these concepts are taking me (as a pastor/minister) away from "real ministry"... is this a waste of time?
  
  Denny's response:
  
  "I understand the pressure of ministry. All pastors feel it. The problem is that we can work VERY long and very hard in ways that are ineffective. Training allows us to work more effectively as we understand what is blocking our progress. Our hard work is then more effective in accomplishing our vision of being “healthy biblical communities of holy people multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and churches.” I like the old story of the young logger who challenged an older man to a duel – “who could chop down the most trees in a day?” The older man accepted and they began early one morning. The younger man did twice as many hits as the older man, and after a short time the older man sat down to rest. The young logger knew that he had him, for throughout the day, the older man regularly sat to rest. But, at the end of the day, when the trees were counted, the older man had felled many more than the younger. Since that was counter-intuitive to the younger man, he questioned how that could be since the older man stopped all the time and rested. To which the older man answered, “Yes, but when I was resting I was sharpening my axe.” My desire is to help all of us become sharp in our work so that what we do is effective. This training is to help make us all effective in the accomplishing of God’s Great Commission."