Bob Mayfield

New eBooks Available

We have taken the two series I put together called "31 Days of Sunday School" and also "31 Days to a Better Sunday School" and put them in ebook format for you to download free. Combined, this series of practical suggestions about having a quality Bible study ministry gathered over 10,000 hits. I had several people ask if we would put them on the web, so we did. My assistant Tiffany did a great job reformatting everything.

Just click here on our Missional Resources page and these new eBooks are available now for download.

We also included an e-version of last year's book, Missional Pivot Points as well. Pivot Points is also available on the Missional Resources webpage.

While you are there, you will also find podcasts, PowerPoint presentations, and some inspiring videos for you to use as well.

My New (First) Book Is Available

My first book, Missional Pivot Points, has just been released. Okay, I'll confess it is no 400 page masterpiece. That one is coming later. Instead, Pivot Points is 44 pages long. It is that length because I wanted something that would be easy for a regular person to read. By regular person, I especially mean lay church leaders. Missional Pivot Points is about transitioning from a 20th century evangelistic mindset to a 21st century missional mindset. I discuss 10 key pivots that I believe are important for churches to cross the bridge into the postmodern era.

Pivot Points is available for $2.00, and we already have churches ordering them in bulk to give to their church leadership. Each of the ten chapters are followed by discussion questions to help a leader or a small group implement each pivot point.

You can order your copy through my office, by emailing me at [email protected] or call 405.942.3000, ext. 4656. I wish I could say that  by purchasing the book you are helping put my kids through school, but... you're not! You are helping me stay under budget at the convention though! (In other words, I'm not making a personal profit).

By the way, we have also just finished our first reprint of Pivot Points.

Oklahoma ME's respond to my new book...

This past Thursday, we had our annual workshop for Oklahoma Baptist Ministers of Education (OBMEA). We had a great group with 34 people attending from every corner of our state. Brett Selby, the leadership guru of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (tired of these long names yet?) led our group through what he is doing with our state's pastors regarding "learning communities". After explaining the process to us, we did a sample learning community. We were sitting at 6 table with 5-6 people at a table. And for our learning dialogue, we used my new book Missional Pivot Points: Gaining Leverage for Meaningful Change.

Let me say at this point that I was a little nervous about this idea. We had mailed every ME in Oklahoma a copy of the book the previous week. It is a little tense having other people discuss what they think of your writing - in your presence!

Brett had each table discuss two chapters. With 10 chapters and six tables, he had the last table dialogue the introduction! After allowing 20 minutes for table discussion, we had each table give a report. One hour later we cut off the discussion.

We brought 650 books with us to the meeting. We sold all 650 books and brought orders for more back to the office. Here is what the ME's are doing with the book:

• Several are going to introduce the book to their church staff for a staff dialogue;
• Most are going to use the book to train their small group or Sunday School leaders. Each chapter has discussion questions designed to help small group leaders dialogue with their group;
• One ME is going to use the book at his Sunday School leader retreat.

One key factor of Pivot Points is that although there has been considerable dialogue among pastors, staff, and other church leaders about the missional movement; there has been virtually no discussion among lay people about being missional. Pivot Points was written to help bridge this gap and help church leaders introduce missional discipleship to their congregations.

Another key factor, as Scott Badgett from Chisholm Heights-Mustang, and Chris Bell from Immanuel Baptist-Duncan both stated, "It is short (44 pages) but full of information. It will be easy for our leaders to read, but it will challenge them."

To order your copy, email my office at [email protected]. The book is $2.00.

Missional Pivot Point #10 – From Institutional to Individual

I have had the opportunity to observe some original works of art in my day. As I look upon what an artist has painted on a canvas, my own mind draws a picture of the artist creating his masterpiece. The care, the attention to detail, carefully and expertly transferring the colors on his brush to the bare canvas and bringing it to life so that the painting itself speaks into our inner soul.

By comparison, the word “Institutional” does not have this kind of effect on most people. Institutional food is code word for tasteless. Institutional ideas come across as uncreative. Maintaining the institution does not really capture the idea of originality, does it? But it goes further. Institutionalism drains our humanity. A look at chapters 2 and 3 in the book of Genesis reveals that we were created as individuals. In these two chapters, the phrases “the man” and “the woman” are used 24 times. God did not create “a man”. He created “the man”. We were not mass produced on an assembly line. Instead, He created us individually. He labored over each of us. God spends our first nine months creating a work of art. We have a fingerprint that is ours alone. Each of us has a retina that is unique. His own Spirit breathes life into us. It is an intensely personal creative act. Ephesians 2:10 even states: “For we are His workmanship" (Greek: poema – work of art). This is why institutional feels so cold and impersonal.

Our attempts to organize ourselves often lends itself to institutionalism. There is nothing wrong with organization, it is often a more effective and efficient method to get a lot of work done. The tipping point however, occurs when the survival of the organization overshadows its cause and the people who belong to it. At this point, the institution is more concerned with itself than its mission.

For much of the past 50 years, the church has become increasingly institutional in its approach. In many churches, members are asked to sacrifice through attendance, finances, or commitment to help the church “grow”. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these three areas of life, when we are asked to make these sacrifices just to maintain an organization for the organization’s sake, we have lost our way. Church growth is generally measured in attendance and finances. Honestly, is attendance and money the best measure of spiritual growth?

For the church to re-establish itself around mission and people, a different dynamic must be applied. Scripture clearly teaches that the church consists of God’s people. God uses organic words like vine and branches, body, people, and new creation. Buildings and budgets are not the church; believers are. When individual believers are growing, then the church is growing. Our appeals to growing our church should not be centered around institutionalism, but on the individual. In other words, we want people to come to small group Bible study – not so that the church can keep its numbers up – but because it is an effective way to grow a deeper follower of Christ.

In Mark 5, we find Jesus surrounded by a crowd of people, all of whom are touching Him and calling His name. But it was not the crowd that got Jesus’ attention, it was one person. It was an individual. It was someone who needed healing and cleansing. Ultimately, it was an individual, a woman who had an issue of blood that caused Jesus to stop in His tracks and provide ministry. Our churches will impact lives when our attention turns from the appeal and allure of the crowd and we focus on the individuals in our midst who need personal attention and a touch from God

Missional Pivot Point #9 – From Assembly Line to Customized

Henry Ford changed America in the early 20^th century when he invented the assembly line. Ford Motors rolled Model T’s off that assembly line and made automobiles affordable to the American public. When asked about the availability of colors in the Model T, Ford’s response is now a classic American line: “You can have any color you want, as long as it is black”.

Compare how Henry Ford made automobiles to how Dell makes computers. You can either call Dell or go online and tell the representative what you want on your computer and how you are going to use it. You can tell Dell what color of computer you desire. Dell will customize it just for you and ship it – the next day!

This customized approach is everywhere in the 21^st century. We customize our mobile phones with special ringtones for certain people. We can set our phone’s wallpaper with pictures of our family.

 

This change from assembly line to customization is a cultural phenomenon that we must understand in the local church and in our denominations. For much of the 20^th century, American churches have used an assembly line approach to developing followers of Christ. Our Sunday Schools used the same curriculum. Our discipleship process was similar. For the most part, a person could relocate to just about any region of the country and find Southern Baptist churches in their new home that used a similar approach and resources. This approach was very effective until our nation began a cultural shift about 25 years ago. Our country is a more diverse nation with a variety of cultures and languages. A “one size fits all” approach to ministry, evangelism, and missions is no longer appropriate for the world in which we live.

 

Any missionary that relocates to Kenya would be foolish not to study the Kenyan culture and present the gospel in a culturally sensitive context to that nation. Our churches must transition to a missional approach to evangelizing our culture and growing disciples of Jesus Christ. When a church looks at its surrounding community the way missionaries look at their new country, it is becoming missional. When a body of believers engages their community with the gospel in a way that is biblically sound and culturally relevant – they ARE missional.

We used to have (and actually still have) church study course plans that were the backbone of the Southern Baptist discipleship process. These plans were an outstanding way for previous generations to equip their members. But in the era of customization, a new approach is needed. Personal spiritual growth plans are emerging that enables a disciple of Christ to be equipped in a way that best fits their spiritual gifting and cultural context.

 

An additional advantage of customizing your message to your community is that it inspires creativity. Many of our youngest and brightest leaders have left our denominations today because the assembly line approach to evangelism and missions does not inspire them. Assembly lines may reduce costs, but they are not very personal. God did not create His church to be automatons, but to be individuals who are inspired by their creator to display His greatness through creative and personal expressions of faith.

Missional Pivot Point #8 – From Attractional to Incarnational

It is one of the most crucial verses in all of scripture. John 1:14; And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory… It is called the incarnation. Jesus Christ taking on human form. The incarnation is also the key element of living life as a missional Christian.

 

For much of the 20^th century, the church used an attractional strategy to reach its community. The key was to attract people into the church’s facilities through a program driven approach. Toward the end of that century, many churches perfected this approach with impressive facilities and outstanding programs. But as the new century began, the attractional model of evangelism is having fewer results.

In his book, The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch states that only 12% of the population can be reached through come and see programs by the local church. LifeWay Research has the figure closer to 20%. Regardless of which number is more accurate, the fact is that American society has changed. Programs and events attract fewer lost people. At least eighty per cent of Americans are unlikely to be reached through attractional events. But research does indicate that they can be reached, and reached effectively, through what is called “incarnational” evangelism.

 

Simply put, incarnational evangelism is recognizing that the church is comprised of people and wherever God’s people are, the church is there as well. Biblically, wherever a follower of Christ may find his or her self, they are an extension of Jesus Christ ministering to the community through them. There are at least four key reasons why God’s people need to recognize the importance of incarnational ministry and evangelism.

 

First, it is the example of Christ Himself. In spite of the creation and all of God’s handiwork, mankind just does not recognize his Creator. Romans 1:19-23 explains that although God has plainly revealed Himself, the human race does not acknowledge Him. Christ Himself is our model of incarnational ministry in Philippians 2:3-11, where He left the comfort of heaven and took on the form of a man and lived among us. Jesus did not do the bulk of His ministry on earth from the safe confines of the Temple, but by living and moving among the people. He ate and ministered among the ordinary folk of His day. After dining with Zacchaeus the tax collector, He states, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). When our ministry focus is on our facilities, we tend to lose the seeking part of the gospel. Buildings do not seek, people do!

Second, incarnational ministry is biblical. All of the Great Commission texts of scripture clearly teach God’s people to go into the fallen world with the message of the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, John 20:21, Acts 1:8). In fact, the word “mission” actually means “sent”. Our concept of being sent by God is critical to our understanding and practice of evangelism.

 

Third, incarnational evangelism was the pattern of the early church, which had no buildings and no programs for 300 years. The mission trips of Paul and Barnabas, the ministry of Philip the Evangelist, and the spread of the gospel through the Roman Empire clearly indicate an incarnational approach to evangelism. When persecution drove many of the early believers out of Jerusalem, the gospel spread even faster; to Antioch, Berea, Samaria, and Caesarea for a few examples.

Finally, living incarnationally helps deepen and personalize our faith. Living our everyday lives as the hands and feet of Jesus in our communities encourages us not to trust in our buildings and programs, but to trust in Christ alone. People do not ask questions of faith to our facilities, they look to God’s people for those answers. We begin to recognize the many things that we rely upon instead of our faith. Buildings and programs are nothing more than tools that we use to help us share the gospel, but they should not become a replacement of our faith in our Savior.

 

We began this article with some rather discouraging information. But on a positive note, LifeWay Research has discovered that although many unbelieving Americans are skeptical of the institutional church, 88% would like to have a meaningful conversation with a Christian about Jesus Christ. As followers of Christ, our personal testimony takes on a new perspective when we share our beliefs with an unreached person.

Missional Pivot Point #7 – From Protecting to Planting

One of the most joyous moments in life is the birth of a child. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, older sibling or a friend, the birth of child is something we rejoice over. Through all the issues of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth comes a tremendously joyful moment and the realization that here is a new life. This life will have dreams and gifts and abilities that have been given by God. Imagine what would happen, however, if 96% of the women in America refused to bear children. Society as we know it would end!

In his book Organic Church, Neil Cole states: “Southern Baptist research indicates that only 4% of the churches in America will ever plant another church.” The statistics indicate that most of our churches have become so protective of the church that they are unwilling to begin new churches. In order for a church to truly become missional, a church must transition from an attitude of protection to an attitude of planting.

This planting attitude must become more than just something the missions committee recommends once every decade or two. Planting must become part of the very culture of the church. Planting must include not only the planting of new churches, but also the planting of new Sunday School classes or small groups.

Planting is necessary for a number of reasons, but the main reason is planting helps God’s people live by faith. Whether it is starting a new class or a new church, stepping out in faith that God will provide leaders and resources is a vital part of our growth as a Christian. The reason many churches are so protective is this very reason: they lack faith. Churches that choose to live as protectors have replaced God as their provider. These churches are communicating they are unsure that God is big enough or rich enough to provide for their needs. So, they end up doing it themselves. What a contrast to Philippians 4:19 which states, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” When we choose to live by faith, we are able to tap into God’s treasure chest instead of protecting our church assets.

But planting does even more. Just like a newborn baby brings life and vitality to a family, new churches or new groups bring fresh focus to the church. We remember who we are and why we are here. We plant so that we can reach new people. Generally, we do not plant churches for people who are already here (those are called church splits). We plant churches and start new classes in order to make disciples of people we have yet to reach.

For too long, our promotion of new classes and new churches has been linked to numbers, it is how we grow. But we plant new starts because it is an incredibly effective way to transform our world. When a family has a newborn baby, the entire family is transformed. New starts transform lives. New leaders emerge and are transformed. People who are reached by the gospel are transformed. Ultimately, as the new plants emerge throughout the city, entire communities are transformed.

The psalmist states that like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the children which we bring into the world. However, ultimately an arrow is not meant to remain in a quiver. Arrows are meant to be aimed and shot. The dream of every parent is the day that their child has become a responsible, contributing member of society. Our goal as a church is not for us to keep our people protected in a quiver, but to release them into the world. Planting new churches and starting new groups is one of the most effective ways we have to transform our society. If we truly want to see Jesus Christ exalted in our communities then we must release the arrows in our quivers and begin starting new works.

Missional Pivot Point #6 - From Members to Missionaries

For years American Express has advertised its card as the best for a consumer to have. Its reason: “Membership has its privileges”. It has the best rewards, the best travel deals, the best partners, and the best investment services. Famous people, including Dennis Hopper, Tiger Woods, and Tina Turner promote their memberships. Of course, you can also have different membership levels. Although American Express memberships may be great for consumers, one thing is certain: “Membership has its privileges” does not belong in the missional church!

 

As Christians, our membership privileges in God’s eternal kingdom make those of American Express pale by comparison. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 tells us that we will have a celestial crown that will not fade and never needs renewing. However, until that day we wear an earthly membership in God’s kingdom.

Over the years, unfortunately, many of us have the mistaken idea that our church membership has some type of earthly rewards program attached to it. As a minister, I have heard many comments from church members expressing their membership privileges. We want to vote on the color of the carpet  and whether or not the church can start a second Sunday School. Members insist upon their own style of music in church and if the youth group should charter a bus for the ski trip. The mindset that causes many consumers to shop credit cards looking for the best airline miles and lowest interest rates has spilled over into church members who shop churches looking for trendy programs and stylish buildings.

 

We even transfer this membership concept to the church, where we have regular church members; ministers; and then the ultimate – missionaries! Missionaries do not insist on their rights as members. They are more concerned with the lost condition of the people in their community than they are their privileges. Missionaries who travel to foreign countries yield their rights as citizens and serve at the whim of their host nation. Missionaries must learn and adopt the language, dress, and culture of their communities. They live among the people they are trying to reach with the gospel in order to connect with them, and to communicate the message of Christ in such a way that their host community can best understand it and receive it.

 

My friend Ed Stetzer humorously suggests that Southern Baptists have a patron saint, and her name is Lottie Moon. Years ago, Miss Lottie left the comforts of her home to live in China. Lottie revamped the way Southern Baptists did missions in other countries. Instead of living in the missionary compound, Lottie lived among the Chinese people. She dressed similarly to her new friends. She ate their food, learned their language, and adopted their culture. When famine and war gripped China, she starved alongside her Chinese friends. Lottie Moon had a dramatic impact on her community with the gospel because she chose to forfeit her rights as a church member and let the gospel live through her as a missionary.

For the church to have a powerful impact upon our culture, we must adopt the attitude of missionaries instead of members. Missionaries understand the value of starting new churches and new Bible study classes. A “missionary” is not the equivalent of a platinum church membership status attainable only by a few. Instead, we are all clearly called to be missionaries in our neighborhoods. And just imagine how wonderful “church” will be when we have all forfeited our rights and have adopted the model of Christ, who came “not to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many”.

 

For some biblical reading about living as missionaries: Philippians 2:3-11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Mark 10:45; John 20:21.

Missional Pivot Point #5 - From Incremental to Exponential

A church sign recently caught my attention: “Reaching people one life at a time”. As I continued driving and reflecting on that sign, I thought: Do we have time to really do that? I’m not talking about 24 hours in a day kind of time, I mean time, as in time to change a community with the gospel kind of time before it totally drops off the deep end! Can an entire church really afford to reach its community at such a slow pace?

 

My team leader recently showed me a video produced by Sony that shows just how fast things are moving in our world. For instance, it took radio 38 years to reach a market of 50 million people and television took 13 years. The iPod had 50 million users in three years and Facebook reached that number in two years! My grandfather was a letter writer back in the day. I got our mobile phone bill on the day of this writing – my daughter sent 2,464 text messages last month alone.

 

Download Technology  (click to view video - 5 minutes)

 

My friend Ed Stetzer says that if the 50’s ever come back again Southern Baptists will be in great shape – because most of our churches are already there. Unfortunately, we have thought that changing to keep up with the culture meant having contemporary worship and home groups. Our culture blew by those issues two decades ago. Our unit for measuring the growth of our churches is incremental; our culture measures growth exponentially. The church uses single digits for growth; the world we live in measures growth in gigabytes! We rejoice when World Magazine reports that on an average day last year 79,000 people worldwide converted to Christ as Savior. Then we see that the world’s net growth rate per day is almost 300,000 people. Exponential!

 

How serious is this issue of incrementalism? Averaged over the past 50 years, it takes 400 Southern Baptists a full year to enroll just one person in Bible study! Now are you sure that you want to reach your community one person at a time?

 

Christianity has not always been this way. Instead of lagging the culture, Christianity has often led it. Christians were at the forefront of one of the most informational inventions of all time – the printing press! Gutenberg’s first printing was the Bible, and John Wycliffe and the early reformers used the printing press to make the gospel available to millions of people in a short period of time. The Reformation and the First Great Awakening soon followed. They were leading the culture and they were exponential in their approach.

 

Glimpses of hope are appearing. Chisholm Heights Baptist Church in Mustang, Oklahoma; Sun Valley Community Church in Gilbert, Arizona; and other churches have formed groups on Facebook. They not only stay in touch with their members, but also use it as an avenue for their members to direct their friends to the church’s Facebook group where they can begin interacting with the gospel.

 

For pastors and staff: the Missional Ministry Conference on March 12-13 is addressing some of these issues.

 

For more information and to register, go to www.bgco.org/missionalministry or go to the Missional Ministry Group on Facebook.

Missional Pivot Point #4 - Biblical AND Relevant

You have heard their slogan and perhaps wondered if it is possibly true. It is the motto of the fastest growing and most watched cable news program on the planet – FOX News. Their slogan: “Fair and Balanced”. For anyone who has even a shred of cynicism, you have to wonder, “Can this really be true?” This channel anchors one of its primetime news hours with both a conservative and liberal. Research from the recent political campaign revealed that FOX News really was the most fair and balanced network in covering both of the presidential candidates.

 

Churches can learn much from FOX News. No, I don’t mean that we need to include pagan rituals in this Sunday’s worship. But we do need to learn how to balance our commitment to biblical truth along with our society’s need for social ministry. The desire of the missional church is “Biblical and Relevant”. In other words, we must maintain biblical integrity while at the same time understanding the culture in which we minister. Our temptation is to emphasize one at the expense of the other.

 

First, we must hold a high view of God’s Word. Although this is always an imperative for our churches, it is doubly so now. The younger generation of adults has grown up with a plethora of faiths. As a church, in our worship and in our small groups we must be biblically faithful to teach the whole counsel of God’s Word. People today not only need to learn good doctrine, research reports that they crave it. However, focusing only on Bible teaching without proper application results in the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees. Outsiders begin to view God’s people as judgmental and uncaring.

 

So we realize that our society needs the soft touch of social ministry too. Look at the example of Jesus. He healed the sick, cast out demons, and fed the multitudes. Quite often Jesus would combine social ministry with evangelism (EX: Mark 2 and John 9). The old saying still holds true, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. Joined with this: did you know that there are over 1,000 verses in the Bible dealing with social injustice? The entire book of Jeremiah is ripe with God’s anger at the social injustices of Judah . But focusing on social injustice alone leads liberalism and unconverted souls.

 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon is known as the Prince of Preachers. Spurgeon is greatly respected for his outstanding preaching abilities and his commitment to preach the Word of God in season and out of season. But Spurgeon’s church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, was highly engaged in social ministry. The “Met Tab’s” robust social ministry balanced its powerful preaching ministry. The Met had an orphanage and a school. The church fed the homeless daily, and provided a clothing closet. At its height, the Met Tab had over 100 social ministries. It is no wonder that this church was respected all over London . It was biblical and relevant.

 

Our world is desperate for people to rise up whose actions and beliefs match. A world where the truth that is preached on the inside of the stained glass is lived out by its people in the shattered glass of the streets. Your church and small group must strive for this balance of biblical integrity and social justice. One of the reasons I particularly like class mission projects is that they help our Bible study groups practice their biblical knowledge in their community.