[00:00:00] Welcome to the STOKE IT UP podcast, everybody. A podcast encouraging you in your journey
[00:00:06] with God. I'm Alan Stoddard and I am your STOKE host and I am excited to talk to you
[00:00:13] about a topic that I don't think it's brought up very often. What do you do after Easter?
[00:00:18] So this is called Resurrection Sundays Over. Now what? What do you do after Easter is over?
[00:00:27] Welcome to the STOKE IT UP podcast. I appreciate you guys out there sharing this content anywhere
[00:00:33] you can. Leave a review and Apple or Spotify. And just thank you for stoking things up.
[00:00:38] Sunday Easter, what a great Sunday. Everybody loves Sunday. Easter Sunday. It's awesome.
[00:00:47] We went to Grandbury Baptist Church here in Grandbury, Texas and the party was high
[00:00:55] for the Lord Jesus Christ celebrating his resurrection. People just want to come in and say he is
[00:01:01] risen and he's risen indeed. Well, I want to talk to you about what do you do after the Resurrection
[00:01:09] Sunday and what do you do after? It's crucial that you do five things I think to get the most out
[00:01:18] of Easter Sunday. So number one, you need to review your Sunday. That's the hardest part. I hate
[00:01:27] listening to myself teach the Bible. I hate watching myself because it gives me a picture
[00:01:34] of reality when I see and hear myself preach. I think I'm Billy Graham when I actually watch
[00:01:41] myself. I go, why am I even doing this? So review your service though as hard as it can be
[00:01:50] it could be like going to the dentist but it can be very beneficial. Sit around the table with
[00:01:56] your leaders preferably this week. Next week at the very latest, but it'd be great if you could
[00:02:02] do it this week and sit around around some coffee and give yourselves one hour max to say,
[00:02:08] let's evaluate what we did. What could we have done better? What could we have done at all? And
[00:02:15] what should we stop doing? Review your service. I don't think it's good to do this all the time,
[00:02:24] but I do think Easter and a couple of other key times during the year. It's good to look and say,
[00:02:31] what was the result? What was the execution of our service? How did we do with this? What worked and
[00:02:40] what didn't work to quote Haddon Robinson? So think about what you need to do not only next year
[00:02:49] for Easter and do that, but also use this time as an opportunity to say, what do we need to not
[00:02:58] do again? What do we need to do? So review your music, your environment, your fellowship. Should
[00:03:08] you have done small groups or should you have just called those off for a Sunday? All those things
[00:03:13] put everything on the table and go what worked and what didn't work. So there's number one, review
[00:03:19] your Sunday. Ask some people in the church not only leaders but also regular folks who will give
[00:03:27] you an honest answer. You want to review your Sunday so you can do better next time and plan for
[00:03:34] the future. I'm going to talk about that in just a moment. Next, think through what is the purpose
[00:03:40] of Easter services? I think we come and some people will say, well, the purpose is to be evangelistic.
[00:03:49] I agree with that. But what are you doing at church where the evangelistic opportunities are not
[00:03:55] as ripe as in other places? How do you do evangelism then? You want to look and define the purpose,
[00:04:05] the purpose of Sunday morning. Of a Easter Sunday morning is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ
[00:04:13] and to some effect, I say some effect, I think for the most effect. You've got to key in on the
[00:04:21] resurrection. It's funny. I got on YouTube and I listened to different sermons and I just wonder if
[00:04:28] some of the preachers really realized that he rose from the dead and that should be a big part
[00:04:33] of the message on a Sunday morning, though resurrection. He did for us on the cross what we needed
[00:04:40] for our sins. He does for us in the resurrection, what we need to overcome death. He died and was
[00:04:49] raised again to eternal life. We want to define the purpose as the purpose to be declarative
[00:04:56] with the resurrection or is the purpose to be evangelistic? If it's to be evangelistic or number
[00:05:04] three, maybe it's a combo. Maybe it's a combination of saying we need to be evangelistic but we also don't
[00:05:11] want to get too ridiculous with our expectation. I think sometimes our evangelism, sometimes we think
[00:05:24] we're failures at it if we don't have a huge harvest on Easter Sunday. I'm all for the harvest on
[00:05:30] Easter Sunday. I think it's wonderful but define the purpose of why you come. I know some churches they
[00:05:37] come just to teach the word and there's no expectation of gospel proclamation. They don't see
[00:05:43] people saved or baptized and then if you don't see that, then the discipleship flow is going to be
[00:05:49] out of order. There's churches like that. There's other churches that every time they come together,
[00:05:55] it feels like it's an evangelistic revival meeting every Sunday. I like that but the problem is
[00:06:04] you can beat people down with it so you've got to do other series, other messages, other books in
[00:06:10] the Bible. The gospel is always present I believe and I think there ought to always be an opportunity
[00:06:16] for people to receive Christ but the manner in which that's executed doesn't always have to be
[00:06:23] any evangelistic revivalistic feel. I hope that makes sense if it doesn't let me know what you
[00:06:30] think about that. Define the purpose of your services. Why not only Easter but why do you
[00:06:38] meet and what is the expectation? How can you balance teaching, preaching with evangelism
[00:06:44] and disciple making? I believe they all go together and this is more about tone than it is
[00:06:52] the execution of certain content. Number three, you've got to follow up on those visitors.
[00:07:00] You've got to think about that. I'm a big visitors person. I like using a guest card. We use QR
[00:07:06] codes now. I'm noticing in church. I'm not against that but oftentimes we don't leave up
[00:07:11] the QR code long enough or we are not focusing on that QR code to say if you're a guest, pull
[00:07:21] your phone out. We've got to say things like that I think. I think we're assuming especially with
[00:07:26] an older culture. You've got to help them get to the point where they realize oh I can pull my
[00:07:31] phone out in church. How about this? When you follow up on guests what is your follow-up philosophy?
[00:07:38] When you follow up on them are you going to text them? Are you going to offer to buy them coffee?
[00:07:43] Are you going to send them a handwritten note? Do you have the address? Do you have their email
[00:07:48] address? Are you going to email them or maybe you do a general blast out in social media that says
[00:07:55] if you were a guest we just want to say thank you. I think that would be very beneficial not
[00:08:00] just for people who are guests and they may not see it but people in your church will see that
[00:08:06] hospitality and it will create within them even more permanent spirit for hospitality. You've got
[00:08:15] to follow up on those guests. How are you going to do it? How about this? What have you used Easter
[00:08:21] as a way to get a handle on what do you do for guests on Sunday morning? That is such a touchy
[00:08:29] thing. I've gone back and forth on it. We want to try to be not confrontational and welcoming
[00:08:36] guests. Some churches don't even do that. I think you ought to be hospitable. I don't think
[00:08:41] you should ever put them on the spot. I think the time of putting people on the spot like raise
[00:08:46] your hand if you're a visitor or stand up. I know churches that say stand up if you're a visitor.
[00:08:53] It may work for that church. I don't think it works for most churches now. I think people want to
[00:09:00] keep in anonymity for the most part and then what you could do is say if you're a guest
[00:09:06] fill out this card, keep the pen. It's a gift from us to you and use a nice little pen that
[00:09:11] has your church name on it. That'd be very cool. Then have them give the offering card during
[00:09:18] your offering or if you don't pass the plate, you can have people give the guest card back through
[00:09:25] on a goth pay box or an offering box. What if you had people also you say what if you also had them
[00:09:33] go by your guest center and you said hey we have a gift for you. Go buy and get our gift bag
[00:09:41] and just as a soft way for us to say we appreciate you coming to the church this weekend.
[00:09:47] That's not only for Easter. That's for every Sunday. Easter can be a time where when you review
[00:09:54] and evaluate your service and you define the purpose of your service, you're really doing that as
[00:10:00] a way to say this is a great season for us to look at what we do overall and to ask what can we
[00:10:06] do better. What should we not do and how could we and here's a phrase that I picked up not too
[00:10:17] many years ago. Excellent honors God and inspires people. Excellent honors God and inspires people.
[00:10:27] Now I've thought about that and I've thought authenticity. Authenticity honors God and inspires
[00:10:35] people. That may be the new word but authenticity can have an element of excellence in it. In other
[00:10:42] words we're going to give you something we want to bless you, we want you to know that you're valued
[00:10:48] so follow up on your visitors next. How about following up on those who made decisions for Christ
[00:10:56] in your service? When you do this it's going to make you have to answer the question did we share
[00:11:03] the gospel in the service? There have been times where I've gotten done preaching not very often
[00:11:09] but there have been a few times where I left going I didn't share the gospel clearly. I was more
[00:11:15] focused on the passage and I totally let it slip through that I didn't share the gospel clearly.
[00:11:24] The gospel is Christ died for our sins he was buried knee-roes again from the dead
[00:11:30] and repentance and faith in Christ repentance from sin and faith in Christ give us a relationship with
[00:11:39] God that is abundant and eternal. Now that's a short little paragraph of sharing the gospel
[00:11:47] I think you could take this time and say okay let's evaluate how we share the gospel in our
[00:11:52] services are we clear with it? I see people use the phrase accept Jesus into your heart I'm not
[00:12:00] against that phrase but the problem is that's not what the Bible says is the gospel. We know what
[00:12:06] we mean by that but does the person in the pew and and more importantly is that what God has said
[00:12:15] is the good news so maybe we use that accept Jesus into your heart is actually repentant belief
[00:12:21] the good news is Christ died for our sins and was buried he rose again on the third day that's
[00:12:27] good news so maybe you evaluate how do you share the good news in your services maybe you're a
[00:12:34] preacher that you are not overly evangelistic you would say well you need to work on that I would
[00:12:40] say but what if you actually had someone else come up at the end of the service and share the gospel
[00:12:47] and to do it very briefly very relationally very effectively and clearly and say if you would like
[00:12:55] to know Christ today come up after the service and we would love to share with you how you can
[00:13:00] cross that bridge something like that what if you said it in your welcome going back up to
[00:13:07] review and Sunday and follow up the the guest part what if you said during your welcome hey guys
[00:13:14] today if you've never received Christ the Bible says this is the gospel you state the gospel and
[00:13:20] say if you would like to cross the bridge and no Christ come up and let us know so now earlier in
[00:13:26] the service you've said something about the gospel well follow up on those who made decisions for
[00:13:33] Christ it will make you do this if you address that question you're going to have to say how do I
[00:13:38] extend an invitation I watch Skip Heights egg today and Skip Heights it always does a classic come
[00:13:49] forward out of your seed invitation he will share the gospel he will have people raise their hands
[00:13:56] and then he will say I want to pray with you and he'll have them come to the front of the auditorium
[00:14:01] I noticed many churches did that I noticed that Calvary knew harvest in Albuquerque
[00:14:08] and Los Luna's actually did the same thing I saw other churches that said come forward
[00:14:15] and I want to give you some resources and I want to help you solidify your decision for Christ
[00:14:22] other churches will use cards the pastor will share the gospel from the platform and then use a
[00:14:28] card that's in the seat in front of the person I actually on Easter especially I like to give people
[00:14:36] a card every person gets a card and a pen and I try to use those to get people to make decisions
[00:14:45] sometimes I've had a good response with that sometimes I've had a mediocre response from that
[00:14:50] I don't know that I've ever had no response from that and it's a way to go fishing we ought to
[00:14:57] be fishing in the church I believe churches ought to be gospel proclaiming verse by verse teaching
[00:15:03] but gospel proclaiming a missional communities that if somebody comes in they're not going to be
[00:15:09] manipulated they're not gonna be manhandled from the pulpit they're not going to be done wrong
[00:15:16] they're gonna be handled right but we also need to be bold we need to proclaim the gospel and not
[00:15:22] be ashamed sometimes nobody will come sometimes if you do a come forward altar call or if you do a
[00:15:29] go out the back and meet somebody at a table altar call there it doesn't matter the method there's
[00:15:34] going to be those Sundays where no one's gonna come forward and receive Christ that's okay because we
[00:15:41] must we must sow the gospel in order to reap a harvest of the gospel and I think about all those
[00:15:49] churches out there that sowed the gospel yesterday and many small churches probably didn't see any
[00:15:56] kind of response on Easter well I would say keep sewing the gospel because God's made a promise
[00:16:03] if we so we will reap and so you may not have had a harvest yesterday but there's one coming your
[00:16:11] way when you share the gospel and sow the gospel follow up on guests follow up on new believers
[00:16:18] and think about how you shared the gospel and how you harness the decision appropriately in your
[00:16:24] context how about this one you could ask yourself today how did we do on asking for baptisms if
[00:16:32] you baptize anybody did you challenge anyone in the seats to receive Christ or maybe they've
[00:16:40] already received Christ but to say you've received Christ now would you make a decision on Easter
[00:16:46] Sunday put them on the spot on Easter Sunday would you receive Christ excuse me would you who have
[00:16:55] received Christ would you commit to being baptized I would say there's always someone in the auditorium
[00:17:06] in every church in America as far as I'm concerned who would say I will make the commitment to be
[00:17:11] baptized or they'll say something like I will do it in the future they don't have to know the date
[00:17:20] you could use that on a card also so we're following up on guests we're following up on those who
[00:17:28] made decisions for Christ and we are fishing for people to help them following baptism how about one
[00:17:34] more on Easter Sunday you know I this is a this is a tough one I don't know that you can fit it in
[00:17:42] but it could be a part of it we are called all that I've said so far in follow up we are disciples
[00:17:48] of Christ we are not just attenders so we could make a soft challenge to people to say God wants you
[00:17:56] to live the resurrected life to grow in the Lord in disciple making well that's number three
[00:18:04] how about number four number four is ride the momentum ride the momentum no matter what happened at
[00:18:12] the church on Easter on yesterday you've got momentum I would come back next Sunday and say wasn't
[00:18:20] Easter great I would definitely mention Easter Sunday I would say man it was wonderful and this
[00:18:25] and that to stoke up the resurrection feel you won't be sorry you did that now number five is
[00:18:34] make changes make the changes that you probably have had on your mind but you need to make these
[00:18:42] changes so that the church of Christ where you are will move forward I want to encourage you to
[00:18:50] to help your church be a change agent in the community I want to encourage you to make changes
[00:18:57] that God has put on you from your review from Sunday of defining the purpose of follow up things
[00:19:03] of follow up ride the momentum and slingshot into the late spring and into the summer and say God
[00:19:10] pour your spirit out on the church and make changes make changes in your own life and in your
[00:19:20] ministry well there are five things about what to do when resurrection Sunday is over now what what
[00:19:29] do you do after well I'd be interested in helping you in any kind of way if I can help you I'm
[00:19:35] writing a book on new believer follow up called new believer how to disciple new believer
[00:19:40] and I would love to help you in any way most churches have no plan for discipling new believers
[00:19:48] only one out of ten new believers gets discipled after crossing the line of faith and God wants to
[00:19:55] use you he wants to grow you and if I can help you and or your church in any way find a way to
[00:20:03] contact me well find what I mean by that is contact me let's find a way for me to get connected to
[00:20:08] the leadership of your church appropriately I'm willing to help because God's called me to do that
[00:20:15] well love you guys I hope you tune back in next week for the stoking up podcast we got more coming
[00:20:22] your way thank you for sharing this around know that God has a plan for your life I am a part of
[00:20:28] the Calvary Global Network media network and would love to have you share this and go and like
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[00:20:41] it means to be Calvary Chapel ask me I'll talk to you about I would love that go to Calvary Global
[00:20:47] Network on the web and check us out there we love you guys we're crazy about you and whatever you do
[00:20:55] keep stoking it up God bless see you next week
