We need to approach this with biblical wisdom. We cannot and should not ever underestimate the power of prayer. We must pray against opposition from both spiritual warfare and mankind’s sinfulness. I believe prayer thwarts harm more often than we realize.

We agree on prayer for safety, but what is our responsibility to prepare for safety?

The story of Nehemiah is one of prayer, pragmatism, and faith. In Nehemiah 4:7-20, foreign nations despised the Israelites and planned to harm them, but the Israelites sought God in prayer, posted guards, and rebuilt the city walls while trusting God to fight for them if trouble came.

Nehemiah 4:7-20
(8) And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. (9) And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

(15) When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, (17) who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. (18) And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. (19) And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. (20) In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

I love that Nehemiah and the Israelites sandwiched their responsibility between prayer and faith. They asked God, did what they could, and trusted God to do they rest. They weren’t lazy. They didn’t invite trouble. And they certainly did not have a false sense of security. Instead, they realized that God was the key to safety.

Pastors need to spiritually and physically protect the congregation just like a shepherd protects his flock.

This doesn’t mean that we go to an extreme by shutting ourselves off from the world in order to be safer. We are called to be in the world but not of it, and that comes with risks and sometimes violent persecution. At that same time, we shouldn’t wrecklessly go out looking for trouble. We must be Spirit-led in our outreach and in protecting the flock.

7 Critical Areas for Church Security

ACTIVE Faith’s free ebook covers 7 critical areas for modern church security.

• Background Checks
• Check-in System
• Disarming Friendliness
• Emergency Action Plan
• Triage Teams
• Emergency Response Team Kits
• Emergency Communications

The larger a church body becomes, the more important is to have systems in place to discourage wrong doing, prevent evil, and respond well to crisis. But in whatever you do, be sure you do it with much prayer and faith in God.

Download 7 Critical Areas for Church Security (PDF)

Special thanks to ACTIVE Faith for supporting Church Relevance by sponsoring this post.

Hendrickson Publishers has merged the King James Bible with my favorite commentary to create The Matthew Henry KJV Study Bible.

Completed in 1611, the King James Version has been the translation of choice among many Christians over the past 400 years. However, today’s KJV Bibles are almost exclusively the edited text of the 1769 edition of the KJV.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Overall, the Matthew Henry Study Bible has good readability. While the type isn’t large, the kerning and full justification makes each word and letter stand out crisp and clearly. At the same time, it almost spaces things out too much, which slows down quick skimming. The words of Christ are in red.

The layout features cross references in the interior margins, and the study notes’ sans serif typeface is a bold, crisp, user friendly choice that drives home the points.

The black flexisoft leather cover is soft yet firm to the touch. It is a good balance between cost and quality.

The Smyth-sewn binding is complemented by a gold ribbon marker, and the gold-gilded page edges are dotted with helpful thumb index tabs.

Book introductions, footnotes, and in-text quotations from Matthew Henry’s writings are woven throughout the Bible. It is a well-thought-out balance between study tools and portability.

Other special features include 8 pages of full-color maps and a concordance.

Translations: King James Version (KJV)
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (2010)
ISBN: 9781598565461
Language: English
Cost: $79.95

Cover: Flexisoft Leather (black)
Pages: 2,336
Type: black type with words of Christ in red
Dimensions: 6.5″ x 9.25″ x 2″
Special Features: Matthew Henry commentary, concordance, 8 pages of full-color maps

This post features a complimentary review copy and Amazon affiliate links.

On June 28-30, 2013 in Silicon Valley, the Code for the Kingdom hackathon will take place with technologists from companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, and eBay working together to create the next big tech tools for God’s Kingdom. But the questions is…

If you had access to over 100 of the best technologists in the country, what Kingdom challenge would you ask them to address?

You can submit your challnge via the Code for the Kingdom survey.

And if you are a technologist wanting to take part, visit CodeForTheKingdom.com for more information.

Here are the latest trends in good church website navigation and headers.

Logo: Horizontal orientation. On the Left. Links to Home.

Most websites place their logo in the top left corner. The center (with navigation on either side) is also a viable option, such as in the case of Terra Nova. Tips include:

• Link logo to home page: Even if you choose to have “Home” as a navigation element, the logo should still link to the home page. Users expect this functionality.
• If you have both horizontal and stacked versions of your logo, you will want to use the horizontal version in most cases because it uses up less vertical page real-estate, which allows room for more site content before users have to scroll.
• Stacked logos still can work if (1) you have a longer name (Celebration Church), (2) your navigation bar is higher than normal for another reason such as subtext (The Chapel), or (3) your logo is compact (City on a Hill).

Dropdowns: No Longer a Best Practice

Dropdowns are still popular, but user experience architects, designers, and SEO experts are increasingly discouraging their use. Reasons why include:

• Studies have found that many people find dropdowns annoying.
• By not having them you drive people to higher level pages first which give them a broader context before drilling down further.
• You can still have subpages, just display them on the section page instead of in the website’s global navigation.
• Dropdowns dilute rather than focus the “link juice” from the home page. If not coded properly, Google may struggle to understand them at all.
• Dropdowns tend to encourage the creation of too many pages (I’ve been guilty of this in the past). Not having them encourages clarity and brevity through combining of the most important information up front.

Creative alternatives to the dropdown menu include:

• Longer home page with the subnav included in each section (see Hillsong London). University of Colorado Denver (where I’m attending grad school) takes this a step further and adds a floating nav bar which jumps you up and down the page.
• Provide the user with the context of an entire page simply through hovering over the navigation. For an example, hover over the main navigation on Gateway Scottsdale’s website.

Secondary Navigation: Use to Cut Down on Main Sections

The secondary navigation is used as way to cut down on primary navigation sections by moving a few frequently sought after pages into a smaller secondary nav bar. Common examples are Give, Contact, Login, Search, Calendar/Events. Tips include:

• Use smaller text
• Try to limit to 3 (not including Search)
• Also a common place to find a locations dropdown or campuses button/link.

Social Icons: Move out of Header

Though a number of sites still displayed social icons in the headers, more and more of them seem to be moving them to the footer, a sidebar, or beneath the slider.

Navigation Subtext: Use Only When Truly Helpful

Subtext is an option, but it runs the risk of making things unnecessarily cluttered. Tips include:

• Only use it if additional context is truly needed.
• Avoid using if you have more than 5 sections.

GOOD USAGE: The subtext is helpful and allows for the condensing of sections without loss of understanding.

• JESUS It’s all about Jesus
• VISIT Locations : About
• CONNECT Groups : Ministries
• SERMONS Training : Music
• GIVE Donate : Serve

POOR USAGE: The subtext provides no real additional value and makes things unnecessarily busy.

• ABOUT Who we are
• CONNECT and get involved
• NEXT STEPS for your journey
• EVENTS to enjoy
• GIVING back to the Lord
• CONTACT Drop us a line

Church Website Navigation Examples

Fairhaven (Centerville, OH) – 4 sections

Gateway Scottsdale (Scottsdale, AZ) – 4 sections
Note: Great use of subtext with fewer navigation options. Upon hovering over navigation a page-wide dropdown with a contextual large image and list of subpages appears. Feels like visiting a new page without having to click on anything.

Grace Community Church (Simi Valley, CA) – 4 sections

Austin Stone Community Church (Austin, TX) – 5 sections
Note: Example of a “Show Campuses” link.

Brainerd Baptist Church (Chattanooga, TN) – 5 sections
Note: Though their sections built around vision/mission are creative, their meaning is less intuitive to the visitor.

City of Grace (Mesa, AZ) – 5 sections

Eagle Brook Church (Minneapolis, MN) – 5 sections
Note: The campus links in the upper left above main nav work well with this simple header. On a less simple header, you might want to use a single dropdown, link or button.

First Baptist Concord (Knoxville, TN) – 5 sections

Rock Church (San Diego, CA) – 5 sections
Note: Another great use of subtext.

The Chapel (Chicago, IL) – 5 sections

Celebration Church (Jacksonville, FL) – 6 sections

Central Christian Church (Mesa, AZ) – 6 sections

Christ’s Church of the Valley (Los Angeles, CA) – 6 sections

Christ Church of the Valley (Peoria, AZ) – 6 sections

Church of the Highlands (Birmingham, AL) – 6 sections

City on a Hill (Melbourne, Australia) – 6 sections

Elevation Church (Matthews, NC) – 6 sections

Glide (San Francisco, CA) – 6 sections

Highpoint Church (Memphis, TN) – 6 sections

Imago Dei Community (Portland, OR) – 6 sections

LifeChurch.tv (Oklahoma City, OK) – 6 sections

Potential Church (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – 6 sections

Terra Nova Church (Troy, NY) – 6 sections

Central (Las Vegas, NV) – 7 sections

Central Baptist Church (Jonesboro, AR) – 7 sections

Christ Fellowship (Miami, FL) – 7 sections

First Baptist Church (Woodstock, GA) – 7 sections

Glad Tidings Church (Omaha, NE) – 7 sections

Scottsdale Bible (Scottsdale, AZ) – 7 sections

The City Church (Seattle, WA) – 7 sections

For more church website inspiration, check out Church Relevance’s list of Great Church Websites.

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  Ekklesia 360 is a sophisticated church website content management system. If you want a custom look plus a user-friendly admin panel that has been tailored for churches’ needs, check out Ekklesia 360. When I used to run a web development shop, it is what we used.
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  CCB is a web-based church management system which unifies core management tools, critical people-driven data, and social networking tools into a single solution.

If you would like to learn more about sponsoring Church Relevance, check out our sponsors page for the latest rates, options, and traffic stats.

With almost 200 seminaries to choose from in the United States, the luxury of choice can actually be problematic. There are no standardized quick facts sheets that let you easily compare one seminary to another, so it usually takes a lot of digging to properly vet out if a school is right for you.

To make it easier to choose the right theological seminary, we’ve created a list of prominent U.S. seminaries that can be compared by denomination, location, and cost.

Thomas Nelson offers a delightful NKJV Chronological Study Bible. The way it weaves Scripture and study aids together chronologically offers one of the best resources I’ve seen for better understanding the Bible from a historical perspective.

It is fascinating to read the Bible chronologically – to segue from Saul’s attempt to capture David at his own house in 1 Samuel 19:15-17 to David’s plea in Psalm 59 for God to “deliver me from my enemies.”

The NKJV translation is a modern adaption by Thomas Nelson Publishers of the 1611 KJV Bible that seeks to ease vocabulary and grammar while upholding the original core of the 1611 KJV Bible.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

I love the design layout. Unfortunately, most Bibles struggle in this area. Yet the Chronological Study Bible has solid aesthetics, balance, efficiency, and pragmatism in the way it weaves transition notes and study aids throughout the actual Scripture text. The 10 point type is kind to the eyes and the full-color pages are another nice yet seldom seen touch.

I am not to fond of hardback Bibles with glued binding because the craftmanship is known to fail. However, as with any Bible, it is best to store them horizontally vs vertical so that the weight on the pages do not pull on the binding.

The dust jacket is a bit overzealous with Photoshopping and marketing pitches, but underneath, the cover itself is actually quite nice. The hardcover is a rich, faux-leather burgundy with gold foil embossed type.

Obviously, the biggest feature of this Bible is its arranging of Scripture by the order in which the events actually occurred. But the Bible is also rich in many other features including full-color illustrations, maps, time panels, and charts as well as in-text cultural articles, translators’ notes, and historic insights.

Translations: New King James Version (NKJV)
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2008)
ISBN: 9780718020682
Language: English
Cost: $44.99

Cover: hardcover (burgundy) with dust jacket
Pages: 1,728 full-color pages
Type: 10 point black type
Dimensions: 9.8″ x 1.8″ x 5.9″
Special Features: chronological order of Scripture, full-color illustrations, maps, time panels, and charts, and in-text cultural articles, translators’ notes, and historic insights

This post features a complimentary review copy and Amazon affiliate links.

So instead we settle for measuring things that only hint at the possibility of spiritual fruit – church size, growth rate, influence, church planting, etc. Unfortunately, a church can have all the trimmings of success by excelling at man’s metrics while actually yielding no spiritual fruit.

Not all big churches are fruitful. Not all fruitful things will grow big. But usually fruitful ministry does cause numerical growth.

Our current church metrics only weakly measure the probability of spiritual growth. I’ve grown tired of things labeled as quality Christianity while they dilute its principles or are devoid of it all together. In response, I’ve personally begun measuring the probability of ministry effectiveness with 7 questions.

1. How well do you love others?
2. How much do you pray?
3. How much do you talk about Jesus?
4. How much do you use Scripture?
5. How joyful are you?
6. How hard do you work?
7. How much do you give God the glory?

These metrics are still flawed and vague. They don’t produce a finite number. But I do think they give a better answer as to the probability of ministry effectiveness.

What questions would you ask? Please share in the comments of this post.

Big Sponsors

• Active Faith (Fellowship One)
  Fellowship One has long been a powerhouse of church management software. Now as part of the Active Faith technology network, they have the team, resources, and momentum to continue pioneering church tech innovations.
• Church Office Online
  An affordable cloud-based church management software for Mac and PC, which also offers a 60-day free trial of their service.
• Elexio
  Merge your church management and communications. Elexio’s Amp Fusion church management software gives you website, database, mobile, check-in, and creative design services all in one suite of tools.
• Graceway Media
  For the cost of one custom design, you can get access for a year to Graceway Media’s library of over 10,000 graphic and motion designs. Want a free sample? You’ll get an assortment of free designs just for creating a free membership.
• Shelby Systems
  Shelby is one of the top choices among church management software. They offer multiple products to better suit your needs, and their 9,000 customers represent organizations of under 200 persons to well over 80,000.
• Thrive
  Thrive is a service offered by Axletree Media, which simplifies the creation and delivery of your messages to your members over multiple devices, platforms and mediums (website, mobile, social media, email, text, print).

Sponsors

• Church Community Builder
  CCB is a web-based church management system which unifies core management tools, critical people-driven data, and social networking tools into a single solution.
• Ekklesia 360
  Ekklesia 360 is a sophisticated church website content management system. If you want a custom look plus a user-friendly admin panel that has been tailored for churches’ needs, check out Ekklesia 360. When I used to run a web development shop, it is what we used.
• Leaders Book Summaries
  You can learn more in less time by subscribing to Leaders Book Summaries, which condenses notable leadership books down to 10 to 20 minute summaries. I use them.

If you would like to learn more about sponsoring Church Relevance, check out our sponsors page for the latest rates, options, and traffic stats.

AMG Publishers offers a NASB Key Word Study Bible with an annotated Strong’s Hebrew-Greek dictionary built in. The NASB is considered to be the most literal translation among all of the 20th-century English Bible translations.

Based on the 1901 American Standard Verision, The New American Standard Bible (NASB) began translation in 1960 and was completed by 1971 with the most recent edition released in 1995. It is esteemed for its word-for-word reliability and fidelity to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Of course, this also challenges the average reader’s comprehension.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

This isn’t classified as a large print Bible, but the type size is very generous. The type size is complemented by extra spacing between lines and wide margins for notes, which gives a very breathable, easy-to-read study experience. However, one downside of these unconventional layout proportions is the design aesthetics aren’t tight and polished, which can make the Bible seem cheap. The type is black with the words of Christ in red.

The cover is a rugged black genuine leather. While the leather has deep grooves, it still bends nicely even fresh out of the box. The Smyth-sewn binding will help it last through rigorous study. And it comes with one black ribbon marker and a printed bookmark referencing the Key Word Bible’s grammatical codes.

The paper is thin and waxy with modest gold-gilded edges that seem a bit less bold than other gold gilded Bibles.

Aside from having an annotated Strong’s Hebrew-Greek dictionary built in, the Key Word Study Bible also features extensive commentaries, a concordance, color maps, and wide margins for notes.

Translation: New American Standard (NASB)
Publisher: AMG Publishers
ISBN: 0899577539
Language: English
Cost: $79.99

Cover: genuine leather (black)
Binding: Smyth-sewn binding with 1 black ribbon marker
Pages: 2,156 pages with gold gilded edges
Type: black type with Christ’s words in red
Dimensions: 8″ x 2.1″ x 9.9″
Special Features: an annotated Strong’s Hebrew-Greek dictionary, commentaries, concordance, color maps, and wide margins

This post features a complimentary review copy and Amazon affiliate links.