Greg Stier

Latest

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  Jun 24, 2014

  10 Ways to Shrink a Youth Group

  If you're dead set on shrinking your group then refuse to intercede for the teenagers in your youth group and community. After all it's God who produces the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6.) Stop talking to him and it will shrink for sure (in all the wrong ways.)

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  May 30, 2014

  Vampire Churches Among Us

  This breed of church flies into town and announces their arrival with a flashy marketing campaign and an entrancing stare (Lights! Camera! Action!) Then they steadily, and probably unintentionally, sink their fangs into the necks of the smaller churches in that community and drain them dry. The results are church members, offerings and involvement sucked away from these smaller churches and the vampire churches increasing their own size, budget and strength.

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  May 20, 2014

  Is Your Church Lying?

  But, when it comes to evangelism, a mission statement can turn from big black letters on a church marquee to a little, white lie that the church is telling the community. Strike that … it's a big lie. If a church claims to be making evangelism a central priority and the people in that church are not actively sharing their faith then the mission statement of that church is not just a joke, it's a lie.

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  Apr 15, 2014

  Do We Really Need More Churches Planted in America?

  Right now there are over 300,000 Protestant churches in America. Think about it this way: there are just over 10,000 Starbucks and well over 300,000 churches! So Starbucks can saturate the United States with caffeinated drinks but almost 30x's more churches can't saturate the United States with the Living Water. Seriously?

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  Mar 6, 2014

  10 Reasons Why Youth Ministry Is a Strategic Career Choice

  As I travel the nation I meet a lot of young people (high school/college age) who are thinking about going into youth ministry as a vocation. I also meet a lot of youth leaders who wonder if they should have chosen a different ministry career path because of hassles and heartbreaks they have endured in their current season of ministering to teenagers.

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  Feb 26, 2014

  American Poor, the Gospel and Theories of Social Justice

  I don't pay much attention to Christian theories of social justice that minimize the Gospel message in the whole process of ministering to the poor. I would guess that many experts who've been perpetuating these theories have never been poor themselves.

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  Feb 21, 2014

  5 Roadblocks to Building a Gospel Advancing Ministry

  When you seek to build a youth ministry that advances the Gospel deeply into the heart of your community (and in the process, deeply into the heart of your teenagers) you will face roadblocks.

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  Jan 16, 2014

  A Simple Strategy to Rescue the Next Generation (In Light of the Recent School Shootings)

  In light of Tuesday's school shooting in New Mexico, last month's school shooting in Colorado and the long string of school shootings which have buffeted this nation since April 20th, 1999 (the Columbine massacre) it's time for the church to act decisively, strategically and effectively.

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  Jan 15, 2014

  Sex Trafficking and 'The Church Lady'

  She's sweet, frank, oh yeah and did I mention sweet? Margaret, with full support of her husband Larry, is like a super hero for the kingdom. At times she is the Hospitality Manager for Betenbough Homes. But at other times she she is doing stakeouts, finding sex trafficking spots and rescuing victims who are trapped in "the trade."

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  Jan 1, 2014

  Marijuana, Teenagers and Youth Ministry

  On January 1st my home state of Colorado will allow recreational marijuana sales and usage by anyone 21 years of age or older. Although this technically doesn't include sales to teenagers many in our state (including me) are bracing themselves for the inevitable normalization more and more teenagers smoking weed.