TomMesser.com

Coffee With Neal Jackson

Last week in Pensacola, I was able to spend some time with a friend, Neal Jackson. Neal has been involved in church work for several years and recently concluded nearly three years of service as the campus church pastor at Pensacola Christian College. It is refreshing for me to get together with guys who, like myself, love the heritage of the independent Baptist movement.

I am encouraged by these regular conversations I've had with younger leaders who are solid in their doctrine and able to think through and talk candidly about the issues of today.

I'm excited about doing ministry with guys who are beyond taking sides or worried about labels, but who are moving forward, committed to God's word and His mission to reach people.

Audio: Session On Transition

Here is the audio of the session on Transition I taught last week (the audio quality isn't the best, it was being recorded with a hand-held device they provided). You can follow along with the presentation by scrolling down and clicking through it in my blog post from a few days ago. Again, I'll do my best to answer any questions or comments you leave below.

Suggested Resources For Leading In Transition

After teaching on transition earlier this week, many requested some additional resources on the topic. The audio of this session should be up in a few days. Below is a quick list (in no particular order) for you that I have personally read or that have been recommended to me:

• Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer
• Leading Change by John Kotter
• Dying for Change by Leith Anderson
• Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson
• Article - 25 Signs of a Healthy Church by Marvin Owen

I welcome any additional recommendations in the comments below.

Recap of the Florida Baptist Pastor's Conference

I had the opportunity to teach at the Florida Baptist Pastor’s Conference held at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. It was a great opportunity to connect with so many pastors and church leaders, many of whom have been my friends for many years.

Before my breakout session, I sat through an early morning session with Pastor Ken Whitten of Idlewild Baptist Church in the Tampa Area. Ken has an incredible passion about the need for churches to rethink men’s ministry.  The thoughts are still fresh in my mind and I look forward to fleshing them out in the days ahead. I welcome your comments on this.

One of the most encouraging parts of the conference was to see those whom our ministry has impacted over the years. I talked with Terry Yerby, who was a teacher in our academy and deacon in our church, and is now the pastor at First Baptist Church of Bryceville, Fl. I also spent some time with Paul Daniels, former Trinity member, who during one of our world missions' conferences, surrendered to God’s clear calling on his life to enter ministry. After doing graduate work, he took the pastorate at Flemington Baptist Church in the Ocala area. I reconnected with George Smith, who taught on our academy faculty in the 1980s, and is now pastor at First Baptist Church of Lloyd, Fl.  Part of the music for the conference was led by recent Trinity Baptist College graduate, Justin McLaughlin, of First Baptist Church of Central Florida.

I never take for granted the privilege it is for our church to have influence on helping prepare people for life and ministry.

Transition: Leading the church to adapt for greater effectiveness

I'm speaking Monday, November 9, at the Florida Baptist Pastors Conference in Pensacola, Florida. My session is entitled "Transition: Leading the church to adapt for greater effectiveness"

This is a topic I'm both passionate about and have been living out. I've embedded the presentation for you to take a look at. I'd love to see any comments you have and I'll do my best to answer any questions in the comments. (By the way, this presentation was done in Prezi. It's a great tool you might consider taking a look at http://www.prezi.com )

4 Questions For Friendship

I have had several followup thoughts and conversations about my message about "Friends" on Sunday night.  If you didn't get a chance to hear it, these thoughts may not make complete sense, so you need to download or listen to it first.

• Kelly Johnson has VERY good reasons why he only has  688 Facebook friends (you can ask him).
• Dr. Willinger has a lot of people who are willing to be his Facebook friends.
• These four questions are key to you moving from a hearer to a doer.  Please take my challenge to answer these.
• Parents are a key to their children having healthy friendships
• Someone made a very insightful comment to me after the service about how they understand the value of having five deep friendships vs. hundreds of shallow friendships.  I wholeheartedly agree.

Friends have been a powerful influence in my life, and they can be in yours as well if you will let them.
 
On another note, I spent some time yesterday preparing for a session that I will be doing next week on the subject, "Transition: Leading the Church to Adapt for Greater Effectiveness."  I have not had a chance to speak with this group of pastors before, and am looking forward to the opportunity.  Also, today I will be speaking to another group of pastors on the subject, "Key  Questions to Consider Before You Build." It is encouraging to have opportunities like this to connect with pastors on a personal basis.