The Rural Think Tank
…It's Different Out Here.
Hebrews 12:1-4 (ESV) Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith 12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before …
This post was originally published on my other blog, MinistryPlace.Net Numbers 13:31-33 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had …
This post was originally published on my other blog, MinistryPlace.net In my workshop at the 2018 RHMA conference, one of the examples I gave for the need to network for ministry in your community is a windmill field. These things seem to be everywhere that it’s flat for more than 50 acres in the Midwest. If you …
2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Galatians 5:14 ESV 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Colossians 3:13 (ESV) 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each …
This post was originally published at my other blog, MinistryPlace.net So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. – 1 Corinthians …
I read an interesting article that makes a ton of sense, yet many of our small town employers have not implemented the idea – reaching students in High School early in their experience to help them see local opportunities. In this WSJ article by Dante Chinni, He quotes a local HR manager in a small …
Ephesians 4: 11-16 11 And [m] he gave the [n] apostles, the prophets, the [o] evangelists, the [p] shepherds and teachers, 12 [q] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for [r] building up [s] the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to [t] the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, [u] to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of [v] the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may …
Does it look like the neighborhood? 1 Peter 2:4-10 4 As you come to him, a living stone [n] rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 [o]you yourselves like living stones are being built up as [p] a spiritual house, to be [q] a holy priesthood, [r] to offer spiritual sacrifices [s] acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:[t] “Behold, …
What does the foundation look like? Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Matthew 28:16-20 16 Now the eleven disciples [f] went to Galilee, to the …
What happens when a generation leaves the rural area to seek education and employment in other parts of the country? The Southern Illinoisian Newspaper did a series looking at the students that leave small communities in that region. The article does a great job of pointing out that we are training our best and brightest …