bless your community

One of the resources that our Church Ministries team provides is pastoral mentoring and training–including helping churches become more effective in their local community impact.

Over the past year, Rick spent six months providing leadership training to two groups of pastors.  He also provided one-on-one mentoring to several of those pastors. Their topic involved helping traditional churches become missional in their community outreach.

In Jeremiah 29:7 the LORD says, “Also, seek the peace & prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Jim has been sharing a sermon entitled “Bless Your Community”, based upon the Jeremiah 29:7 referenced above. He has noticed that many communities have three sectors or networks that often aren’t connected well together. He invests significant time in connecting with these sectors and helping them connect with each other.

This includes being part of Bemidji’s Rotary Club, being part of Beltrami County’s Anti-Trafficking Task Force, and by him and his wife serving as foster parents. Jim co-hosts “The Global Leadership Summit” (www.globalleadership.org/global-leadership-summit), which is a key tool for encouraging local community leaders and pastors as they seek to grow as leaders and address community problems together.

Rick & Jim are on the leadership team of Bemidji’s pastors & ministry leaders fellowship, which is called the Net of the North. This ministry network sees themselves as the Church of Bemidji with multiple congregations. Regarding community engagement, their network realizes no one can be involved in everything, but are seeing themselves increasingly as a team, each with strategic roles and opportunities of involvement.