The July/ August issue of Outreach is devoted to the small church.  I find it interesting as to what is defined as small.  Ed Stetzer defines small as any church that is 300 or less.  For many pastors reaching 200 would be a significant milestone, but I digress.

One of the articles was written by Dan Kimball.  Dan at one time was part of the staff at a mega church, but then became involved in church plant.  In this he has learned some things that he believes are helpful for those who fit the definition of small church.  If your demographic is larger I believe what he addresses can also apply to you.

In the article there are five statements he makes.
1.       Small does not mean less impact
2.       Large does not mean greater impact
3.       Small does not mean more spiritual
4.       If you lead a large church, consider how leading a small church feels.
5.       Focus more on percentage and changed lives than on size and big numbers.

There is one of these I would like to focus on; the reference to impact.  There is an assumption in our culture that big is better.  It is true that larger churches can provide more ministries, but the issue is not about how many ministries a church has, but what impact are they having in terms of glorifying God and transforming lives.  Willow Creek in a very candid self assessment revealed that while they had learned how to attract large numbers, they fell short in developing committed disciples.

Since smaller churches have fewer resources they have to be wise in how to maximize impact.  First Baptist in Whitehall, WI, recently made the front page of the local paper.  Sending the youth on a mission's trip has been a high priority for this church of around 200.  However these trips can be pricey, especially in this economy.  This year it was decided by Dan Norman (Youth Pastor) to go AWOL (Absent Without Leaving/ A Work of Love).

The youth and several adult leaders packed up and camped at nearby Harvest Home Ministries.  Their goal was to tackle several major projects in the local area.  At the end of their AWOL week projects in three local communities were completed.  They did painting at a public school, a public park, two senior citizen facilities, plus landscaping and other projects at three homes and a dairy farm.  The minimal impact is an opportunity to show that being a believer does not make one so heavenly oriented they are no earthly good and ultimately, an open door to communicate the gospel.

The challenge for all of us is no matter the size of church, region (NCCBA), or association, CBA is to make an impact that leads to transformed lives; the unsaved to become new creations in Christ and the saved to be continually conformed to the image of Christ.

CHAPLAINCY:  Don't Believe Everything You Hear!

I keep getting e-mails and questions about the limits being placed on our chaplains. One recently said Navy Chaplains were not allowed to pray at any public meeting. This is Nonsense! Let me share several stories with you. Greg Uvila, one of our active duty Navy chaplains is assigned to a Naval Marine Construction Battalion in Afghanistan. This battalion has some 600-700 personnel called "Seabees" assigned to it. He leads two chapels a week along with a Bible study in the gospel of John. He also leads a reading group working through "The Purpose Driven Life." Greg recently was asked by one of his Seabees, "Chaps, I just want to know how I can have God in my heart?" Our chaplain writes, "It was such a privilege to lead this Seabee in a prayer of personal commitment to our Lord and Savior." Pray for Greg's safety as he ministers to these Seabees and as he travels to several detachments scattered around Afghanistan. He has a counseling load of some 12-15 people a week. Pray for his family back in the Pacific North West.

Another of our active duty Army chaplains recently directed a VBS on his Army Installation. They averaged some 225 children. Out of this group of kids there were 27 who made decision for Christ. I get many reports from our chaplains of baptisms, rededications and stories of people having their lives changed by the good news of the gospel.

You can pray for our nation's leaders as they decide what to do with the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for allowing openly practicing homosexuals into the military. Many endorsers and senior chaplains have written letters to the Under Secretary of Defense and the Armed Forces Chaplains Board requesting them not to overturn this ban. Please pray with us and for our leaders to be wise in their decision making.

We held a chaplains conference in Chicago July 12-15 and had a great time in the word with Pastor Marty Geise (Park Rapids, MN) as our Bible teacher and Dr. Harold Rawlings as our guest lecturer who taught us "How We Got Our English Bible." He had many ancient copies and translations of the scripture for us to see.

We are in the process of putting all our chaplaincy records and files on computer and going paperless. Stan Rieb brought out the necessary equipment we need and our daughter Joanne is doing the transfers. Please pray for her as she works on this project.

I have changed my e-mail address for chaplaincy. The NEW address is chapruss@cbamerica.org . Please make the change in your records if you send us e-mails. We will use the OLD address of chapruss@earthlink.net until the end of August and it will cease to exist. Please note the change.

If you would like to know more about chaplaincy or have a presentation in your church or Sunday School class contact Al Russell at 218-776-2813 or chapruss@cbamerica.org