by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith
“Must you always complain!” I wanted to say. There I was again, listening to another person who seemed to have the spiritual gift of complaining. This one was taking it to an art form!
“Now the when people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, the Lord heard it [...]

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At its inception, the church was a Mega-church (Acts 2). Granted, as it was being planted it started small (the twelve), but it grew (the 70) until it reached a solid core (120). Bathed in prayer and empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter preached and the Church of Jerusalem grew to 3,000 plus in membership. [...]

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by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith PhD
One of the key secrets to great growth – individually and corporately – is the issue of accountability and the change that comes from it. In fact, when we evaluate based on  the core values, vision and mission statement we have created a simple and effective means of ensuring focus [...]

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by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, PhD

If you know me at all, you know that I am a Star Trek fan – all genres. One of the most important lessons I learned in leadership came in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. When asked how he came upon the amazing engineer, Geordi LaForge, Captain [...]

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by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, PhD
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With [...]

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by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, PhD
Faith is all about seeing what God has placed before you. Vision, in other words, is our faith employed through our attention to the details God has placed before us. But the question is, ‘What are we looking for?

First, we need to look up! In worship we discover the heart [...]

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by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, PhD

For the past few years I have been praying and dreaming about what a healthy church ministry would look like. At this moment, as I am between ministries and looking ahead in anticipation of the next five to ten years of ministry, I find there are eight focal points to [...]

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by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, PhD

Many churches and ministries that are stagnant or in decline often follow a cycle of destruction to their death. It would be bad enough if the organization went through this cycle only once. However, beyond the realms of sanity, toxic groups seem to repeat this process time and again before [...]

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by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith

So you’ve decided to begin a new ministry in an established organization. You have high hopes that God will do wonderful things. As you unpack your things in your new office, it helps to know that in every new ministry there are five phases to the transformation process.
Phase 1: Enthusiasm and [...]

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Mary Kay is purported to have said, “There is an invisible sign hanging around every person’s neck and it says, ‘Encourage Me!’” Over the years I have discovered that the people who speak encouragement into my life and seek me out to lift me up are the people I call ‘friends.’
The old hymn talks of [...]

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