Summertime, and the pews are empty....sing with me!

Summer can be a tough time to be in ministry. Ever since the production automobile hit the scene to whisk people away to exotic sandy locations churches have slumped in the summertime. Maybe the gas prices this summer will be a help to our growth this year, who knows!

The question I had is what do we do with that? What do we do in the summer knowing that people are just going to be in and out and that our attendance will be affected, our volunteer pool will be affected, and our operating income will be affected?

Im gonna talk to church leaders now. What does it mean to persevere through the summer slump?
As churches, we start looking at the fall and planning events and marketing to get people in our doors in the Fall, but what do we do as leaders?

The church will be here and ready to go when the Fall hits, but as leaders what are we doing to get prepared?

2 Timothy 2:2 says "So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!— to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did."

What are we doing to prepare ourselves as leaders to speak into the lives that will walk through the door in the Fall? What are you reading? What are you listening to? What are you studying? What are you filling yourself up with that can be poured out onto others in the Fall?

We need to take time in the summer and get filled up. We need to prepare and pray that God sends our churches people that can be raised up as future leaders. We need to be ready to pass on encouragement, knowledge, passion, vision.

Throw yourself into Jesus this summer and use it as a time of refreshing and re-filling so that you can be replicating yourself in a good way in the Fall! Its a choice that I have made. I am not going to be discouraged by the numbers this summer. We are gonna do our thing and do it well, but I am going to use the summer to grow and be ready to hit it hard in the Fall!