​​For some time now, I have noticed that many of my pastors are discouraged and sometimes depressed because the usual metrics of ministry “success” – increasing numbers of bodies, budgets, and baptisms – are not happening. In fact, those numbers – with the possible exception of budgets – are not only not increasing, but they are generally decreasing. ​

In “The Gospel-Driven Church,” Jared Wilson, Author in Residence, Midwestern Seminary and Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry, Spurgeon College, Kansas City, MO, challenges churches to measure more than “bodies and budgets” because there is nothing uniquely Christian about these types of increases. He says businesses grow in these ways. Heretical ministries grow in these ways.  I think he makes a valid point.

​Many of you already know the importance of pastors gathering with pastors in small groups for peer learning. I learned the importance of it from some of you several years ago. But I believe there are a number of Associational Mission Strategists (AMSs) who do not have such groups in their associations yet. I encourage you to prayerfully consider implementing such a ministry. It has been very well received in my association.
 
Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another. Pr. 27:17 (CSB)
 
Peer learning groups – usually of 3-5, though that number can vary – are wonderful ways to experience and apply Pr. 27:17 if the focus is on sharpening one another spiritually, emotionally, and missionally. ​

This month’s blog is the second of a series based on a chapter by the same title that I wrote in a new book SBCAL has coming out this spring: The Baptist Association: Assisting Churches. Advancing the Gospel. Be on the lookout for it!
 
 Why the Descriptor: Associational Mission Strategist
     How did the blue-ribbon Study Team, after months of prayer, research, and study, come up with this new descriptor, Associational Mission Strategist (AMS)?[i] The title came out of the 17 Proficiencies that were agreed upon as most helpful for an associational leader to be successful, regardless of context.

​“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (CSB)
 
In my Quiet Time this month I am reading and praying through Proverbs.  Each year I take one month with 31 days and read a chapter in Proverbs each day that month.  I have waited until the last month this year because while going through other books of the Bible earlier this year, they always seemed to carry over from one month to the next.
 
Today being the fourth, I read Proverbs chapter 4.  The verse that stood out to me was v. 23.  I am reading from the new Christian Standard Study Bible, and I highly recommend it.
 
In the study notes, it says to guard something is to make sure that it does not get away and that it is safe from attack.  I was reminded that I need to guard what I allow my eyes to watch, see, and read, and what my ears listen to each day.  By doing so, I will not let my heart stray from God’s Word, and I will protect myself from the fiery darts of the evil one.

​Jason Lowe’s recent survey of associations confirmed what many of us have thought – a number of pastors, staff, and lay leaders of churches do not consider their association to be relevant.  This should be a great concern to associational leaders.