Mike Hammer

Mike is a man that I want to be like, and in more ways than just wanting his last name. He started his ministry in a pack of RV's traveling through the country and using dramas with hard-hitting sermons to reach people in churches to make hard decisions. He went from traveling evangelist to set-in-a-place pastor by realizing that God was preparing him for deeper relationships and long lasting ties to the people he ministers to. In doing this, he soon found that to be a successful church plant you have to be soul-winning and hard-working in it. He went on without being a "traditional church". He uses seminars for all ages and arcades for teens, which is not too surprising when you find that he started at a golf course after his RV ministry. His seminars are marketed to non-church goers who are "spiritual" but not neccessarily christian. It teaches life principles to all ages for three days (the weekend). One thing I may disagree with, even though I agree with him on most aspets of ministry, from what I can tell, is that he said "You can only take people where you've been", and I believe that the "only" should not be in there, thanks to heavenly wisdom. I did very much enjoy his talk, and I hope that I see his church in the future.

Sam Masteller

From one night of listening to Sam, I already can say that I love this guy. He's very nice, seems to be energetic and to have the ability to change with the needs of the time, which is a very useful life-style that I see in him. His church (Freedom Life) is very steered towards evangelism for new believers. He says evangelism is not an event, it's a style that they keep in the church at all times. Events are used, however, such as a harvest party (alternative to Halloween), Luaus, and comedy nights. His huge thing is relevance. Relevance is what controls whether or not he is listened to. If he can create a message that's relevant to the audience, that's something they can connect to, he can finally get them to listen to the true message of God. If something that seems "weird" to a new believer or to a brand new person, he'll explain it, but won't apologize. He will do an alter call each week, one part for salvation, one part for existing members and growth in them. Non-christian people are involved in the church in the ways of greeters and ushers. Recently saved people are pushed towards children's services teaching so that they can learn the bible stories that they are teaching the kids. The general way he might reach those who are objecting to christians is with authenticity. He realizes so much how people need the message to be relevant to their understanding. The way he focuses in on it just impresses me. His services have been cut down and made more connecting. He keeps track of numbers with a sheet he gets every week and his win is when all those numbers are going up and he's truly seeing something change because he's onveying God's word in a real way.

Bethel AG Church Rating

The Church What Church did you visit? Bethel AG What city or town is this Church located? Littlestown, Pa What date and service did you attend? February 8, 2009 - sunday night service

Evaluating How would you rate this church? highly. Please provide ratings based on your own experience. Yes, I realize this is subjective and your '1′ might be someone else's '5′. That's ok. It's your rating and I really want your opinion. Rate the following from 1 to 5. 1 is not effective, 5 is very effective! Overall: _____4______ Friendliness _______4______ Singing ______2______ Preaching ____5_____ First Impressions Outside: Was the building easy to find? It seemed to be, although I didn't drive. Was it difficult to find parking? no, there were spaces open, although the slant of the spaces made it a bit strange. How about the interior or exterior signage- what would you do differently? Maybe I would make the sign a little more surrounded by welcoming things. The sign seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. What did the appearance, style, or construction of the building communicate to you? Very churchy, but large. There was a lot of pink, so I assumed it was a women-driven church. Before the service: Did anyone approach you and speak to you before the service got underway? Yes, in the meeting time we had. If someone did speak to you, how did you feel about that? I liked it, I thought it was very nice to have someone want me to be welcomed. Can you share their names? No. Did you know them before the visit? No. General observations: As you observed the people "doing their church thing", what went through your mind? I felt like it was a little fake, but in the same way it may have just been a different style. I really didn't feel much more passion there besides the pastor and the main worship leader, though. Were you able to understand why they do what they do? There was little need for explanation, but mostly, I could, yes. Do they seem sincere? Some did, I felt like many of the congregation (which I understand was mixed that night) didn't, however. What do you think about the overall presentation of the service? (the liturgy, program or flow of the service) The presentation was great. The service seemed to be perfectly mapped out, but it still had the ability to move if the spirit chose to do so. Bulletin and communications: Is there anything in the church bulletin that you find confusing or offensive? I didn't receive a bulletin. If this were your "business", how would you improve the communication part of it- the bulletin especially? If I had a bulletin for something, I would want it to be extremely short, eye catching, and obviously not dull. Were announcements clear, and interesting (did you want to sign up for anything)? I'm not sure that there were announcements. Children's Ministry Does this church appear kid-friendly? yes, very. Did you bring any children with you to the service?no. If so, ask them about their experience. What did they tell you? Music and Prayer How would you describe the music? too quiet. I love the control they have, but it seems to be abused with the drums, I couldn't feel much passion at all in the worship. Did you enjoy any of it? I believe one song was high in energy and I enjoyed that one. Did you feel like you connected with God during any part of it? If I blocked the rest of the church out, I felt like I could connect. How was it different from what you are used to? Quiet, not very energetic. Would you enjoy worshiping like that often? no. What did you think of the prayers that were offered in the service? great, very well done by Mr.Johannes. As you listened to the prayers, what did you learn about how that church might think of people, or of God? Since the prayers were from Johannes' mouth, there was little to interpret about the church alone, but I felt that Johannes was very in tune with God, and what God would want. The Speaker's Presentation

Did the Pastor or speaker seem likable?
Yes, Johannes is very likable. Jim Ruddy seemed very nice as well.

Is he/she a person you might enjoy having coffee with? Why?

Jim Ruddy seems like he would be great to hang out with because of his energy.

Did he/she seem engaged/sincere/condescending?
Jim seemed very engaged and sincere. not condescending at all. He just wanted to praise God.

Were you motivated to do or think anything differently because of the talk?
Yes, I started to think much differently about healing thanks to Johannes' talk.

What could they have done to make it more enjoyable or useful?

Not to much, maybe add a loud noise to wake up some people =]

Please erase any of the following descriptors that did not apply to the talk: Enjoyable, Thought-provoking, Boring (only in some cases), Relevant, Energetic(the sermon was), Credible, Upbeat, Humorous, Useful, can be Life-changing, funny

The Message

What was the main idea of the message?

Forgiveness.

What action did the speaker want you to take or consider taking?
He asked if we wanted to break out of our shell and start forgiving and to receive healing.

Did the talk itself (the subject matter) hold your attention?
Yes.

Did any part of the talk stand out to you in a positive or negative way?

I enjoyed it as a whole, I believe.
Besides when someone said that Jesus is the only one who died on a cross.....not true.

What is the one thing the speaker could do that would improve his/her presentation?
I'm not sure, Johannes does a very good job. He should ride a Harley into the sanctuary.

Do you think that you particularly will remember anything that was taught?

Yes, forgiveness is a direct cause for healing.

Do you understand God or people better because of it?

yes.

Did it make you feel like you wanted to preach someday yourself ?
I've felt that way for a while without any prodding.

Wess Shortridge

Wess runs a church of about 250-300 people in Virginia. He planted this church with only himself, wife, and his kids. His major objective is to create relationships with his new comers. The church is, from what I can tell, about 90% catered to new comers. He does almost nothing but cater to them. He says that people can only be saved if they're saved into a community. He is a king of organization and everything I've seen has been planned and executed to the smallest point. Attributes of this church include things like small groups - which is the community he's referred to in his only saved by community statement - , bridging events - things to get people connected- , they also do friends day. A big outreach is the internet. The web, according to him, is where he puts most of his energy. That energy goes into facebook, Wess' personal blog, MySpace, google adwords, facebook ads, etc. The demographic is more of completely new people than churched people. The service is hard, 25 minute worship, 35 minute sermon, and out the door. The orginization of all of it is more amazing than I think I could have even thought of. The anouncements are either weaved into the sermons or not anounced. The building is old and the atmosphere is friendly. The whole thing makes my life seem like it has the organization of a garbage dump. He has had much experience and it has served him so, so well. The experience is clearly complimented by God. His casual dress, often and harley shirt and jeans, his adressing of the needs of the community such as money, relationships and addictions, his small groups, or the offering bucket right inside the door instead of passing a plate, he has done amazing things that God has clearly had his hands in and I got more and more impressed as I listen to him talk.

Response to Jon and Anna Kvist (Luke Stoltzfoos)

Jon and Anna Kvist have been many places throughout their missions, from Bulgaria to South Africa. Anna, specifically, has been to 7 countries that she listed in our class(Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Lesotho, South Africa, and Thailand). Throught their travels they have learned that one main thing to reaching people is that you have to meet them where their at, try to find where their treasures are (because their hearts are also there), and you will connect on a personal level with mass groups of people. This is coupled with not starting to be about yourself, use relationships with your culture and the target audience's. For example, Jon said he used that he was so white and he's been sun burnt so much, perhaps it would be a better thing to be dark-skinned, and he used this in a culture where most would be dark-skinned. Examples of the couple's connectability would be that they can list how certain cultures can be reached with certain details about God. Specifically, God is a loving god, but even though muslims have ninty-nine names for god, all characteristics of god, not one of the ninty-nine is for love, so you can use God's love for reaching them. Jon had gone to S.O.S. ministry school and gave examples of what they do or what they have at least tried to do to reach people in that community (Sweden). Some of the things included: baking a cake for neighbors and trying to get invited into their home to become connected, sports tournaments with five minutes of gospel, cultural exchange parties, etc. They feel called to missions and work two average jobs to fund their trips. The jobs also fund Anna's school in which she's studying to become a nurse. They say to remember that without compassion you will fail, and I find that to be a great and amazing statement, not to mention true.

Interview with Jan Workman Response (Luke Stoltzfoos)

Jan Workman is a great, fantastic woman of God, very close to my heart because she's one of the people who raised me to be who I am now. She works with children on a level that I have never even seen before, and I personally know it to be effective. The greatest thing that I heard her say, I think, is that you need to treat kids like they aren't kids. We should be taking their individual talents and plugging them right in to ministry, and that's how she runs her bigger events for kids ministry. She took the kids who were extremely outgoing and had a kid's meet and greet team, there was also a drama team of children all under the age of ten. She took the kids who don't have specific talents to speak of, and makes them clowns or stage crew. All the raw talent she has for this was unexpected to her though, seeing as she didn't want to be a children's pastor, and didn't feel called to the field at all. She filled the need that our church had, though, and now she's thriving in this field of ministry, and I believe she enjoys it. The belief Jan has is that we dictate to much to kids, when we should be letting them decide, and pulling it out of them, we want them to learn how be thinkers, not mind-rotting TV starers. First thing's first, you need kids to have the ministry, so how can you outreach? Jan knows that outreach can be cheap, such as getting balloons and face paints. She's powered through everything to do what she's done. Not marital issues, sexism, nor spiritual battle have stopped this power from god surging through her. Jan workman is an amazing woman who, if possible, I would love to have back at our church working with kids like she does.

Recently Saved Friend Interview (Luke Stoltzfoos)

Kate said she came to know christ through a combination of things.She's had a life of her Grandmother taking her to Easter, christmas, etc., services. Vacation Bible School has played a big role in her journey, too, since she attended every summer for over 5 years. She attended a bible study every Tuesday for a long time as well, which seemed to be the single thing that strengthened her the most in Christ. She still remembers at least one specific topic that the study had included, even though it was 4 years ago. This was what helped her finally get over that line and get interested in being on fire for God (I believe she still has some work on that, but she's making progress from what I can tell). The greatest advantage she sees from becoming a follower of Christ is that she now had guidlines and structure, to which I mentioned and she agreed that we all need structure to live healthy lifestyles. She had another great answer for the next question: "maybe studying...I have a hard time doing that". This was, of course, answering what was hardest for her in following Christ. She very nicely said that my family and I have been the thing that's helping her grow the most. Relationships with healthy and stable Christians (not necessarily describing me) are, to me, clearly what is best for growth, besides a relationship with God. The last question was the most exiting for me. She said that someone like me should start advertising youth group in our school, as well as possibly start a group that meets in between school and sports practices, which would be 2:30-300pm. I was really impressed by this and I thought with her organizational skills she could definetly be plugged in well with almost any ministry. I can't wait to see the response of what she does in the future.