Continuing to look at the unique challenges of ministry in a small town:

#3 — Most people do not desire to come to Mayberry.

Crap…it doesn’t matter that you are a large church doing cutting-edge things. When they see where you are, it might as well be Siberia.

Seriously, unless there is a connection here or in one of our multi-site towns, people just don’t want to come to smallsville. Come on, we have stoplights (4 to be exact).

The feeling that bigger is better is rampant. And while there are benefits to being in a metro area…I bet you can’t leave your car running and unlocked to go into the store, and if you have a heart attack while inside, the car will still be there, just out of gas when you go back to pick it up.

What have we done to combat this? We are working really hard to raise up and train leaders from the inside. It is working so far…we are having many people commit and step up, and some of these people I would put up next to anyone in America! It takes time and patience to develop from within. Be prepared!

Some of our staff struggle at times due to lack of experience and leadership skills in a larger organization(as do I:), but we are making progress every year…slowly but surely. All farm team here…very few free agents! Since we are growing and doing some cool stuff, I have had a few friends come or desire to come join our team, but again, there was a connection.

As a matter of fact…I am heading to a mentoring session right now with a guy who was far from Christ a year and a half ago, whose talents are off the charts and will be on our team one day…stay tuned, more to come tomorrow.

Blessings and peace!
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Doing ministry in a small town? Check out the sticks conference coming in just 2 weeks!