As often is the case, my Equipper blogs are either directly or indirectly related to ministry areas I led in the past or am currently ministering in. After almost 25 years with BBM, helping churches through difficult transitions, we have never seen a church close the doors. 

One of the realities of “Riding a Wave” in ministry is you are likely to find critics. Some will say you are following “man’s ideas,” or you are just doing this because you want to be contemporary. A lesson I have learned after decades of ministry is, if you do something new or different you will find the critics.

 In our last Equipper Blog I talked about riding the wave of the multi-site church movement. One of the advantages of multi-site churches is the offer of hope for churches in the stagnation or dying stage of a church life cycle.

     Over 4,000 churches are closing each year in America. Two of the main causes are lack of finances and a lack of effective visionary leadership. The multi-site church can be a major help in both of these areas. First, financially a multi-site church can operate on a much lower budget than a traditional model. Secondly, a church with a proven strategic vision is uniquely positioned to use their model to revitalize a struggling church.

I am an old-school pastor who has tried to be open to see what God is using. Rick Warren's illustration of “riding the wave” is a lesson God has been using in my consulting and coaching ministry for many years. The illustration is simple: God creates the wave, we do not, but we can learn to ride the wave.