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The Rural Think Tank

…It's Different Out Here.

Category: Rural Church Planting

Rural church planting resources. Starting new churches in small-town and rural America. Strategy, challenges, and lessons learned.

Embracing Technology: Reaching Rural Communities with the Gospel

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

Why technology matters for rural ministry Rural communities face real barriers to connection. Distance, limited broadband, and small populations make it harder to reach people with the gospel using traditional methods alone. But technology, used thoughtfully, can extend the reach of a small church in ways that were not possible a generation ago. This is …

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Reaching Hearts in the Heartland: Spreading the Gospel in Rural Communities

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

The Heartland Is Not a Mission Field Somewhere Else When most people think about evangelism, they think about distant places. Foreign countries. Urban centers. Places where the gospel has never been heard. And those places matter. The Great Commission is global, and the church must be global in its vision. But there is a mission …

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Rural Thinktank Podcast Episode 47: Does it look like the Neighborhood?

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

This message was given 2/21/2021 at Morey Chapel Church of Christ in Westville, IL.  Sources MinistryPlace.net Rural Think Tank

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Rural Thinktank Podcast Episode 16: Changing Media Consumption and Rural Ministry

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

This episode talks about changing media consumption habits and how they affect the ways that we present the message of the Gospel through our ministries.  Links to things I mention in this episode: The Rural Think Tank – http://ruralthinktank.com RightNow Media –http://rightnowmedia.com FaithlifeTV – https://faithlifetv.com/ Rural Youth Ministry 2nd Edition Book at Amazon – http://bit.do/rym2 Supporting this podcast …

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Red Wing Shoes and Ministry Consulting…

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

This post was originally published on MinistryPlace.net. What a shoe store can teach the church Sometimes you learn life lessons in the strangest places. I learned a lesson about church consulting at a Red Wing Shoe Store. There are some high standards for selling shoes that have the Red Wing logo. And those standards have …

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This is not DiY – #6 Making the King proud!

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

Isaiah 60:1-7  The Future Glory of Israel  1  [b] Arise, shine, for your light has come,and [c] the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,and thick darkness the peoples;but the Lord will arise upon you,and his glory will be seen upon you.3  [d] And nations shall come to your light,and kings to the brightness of your rising.4  [e] Lift up your eyes all around, and see;they all gather together, they come …

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This is NOT DiY – #5 Rebuilding, Restarting, or Starting Fresh?

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

When the Foundation Needs Repair Hebrews 12:1-4 — “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, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our …

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Grasshoppers!!!

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

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 …

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Windmills…

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

Lessons from a windmill field 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. There are some lessons we can take from these pieces of wonderful technology as churches. They have a purpose that is simple …

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This is NOT DiY- #4 Time For Repair

August 9, 2026 by Brent Lacy

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 …

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