PURSUIT.ORG

Web links from Cornerstone Christian

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:38:00 PST

We really appreciate the Pursuit materials and would love to share any (hopefully) good ideas that we have. Of course, please feel free to use any images/info from our website.

As far as the invites, the cookies and paper invites were pretty straightforward. What took a little effort was the following:

Tins - http://www.containerandpackaging.com/item.asp?item=M523

Labels - http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/wl-ol375.htm

Custom Printed Coasters - http://foryourparty.com/coasters.php?gclid=CMS6kKK75pcCFQrFGgodShAGCw

Hope that helps and God bless,

-Matt Wright

Invite kits from Cornerstone Christian

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:29:00 PST

Hi Ron,

We are starting our MADE campaign and wanted to pass along our idea for invitations. We created "Invite" kits with the MADE theme, an invitation, a cookie and a coaster. Take a look at http://cornerstoneddupage.com/made/made_invitations.html.
Just thought I would pass along,
Matt Wright
Cornerstone Christian

WHY> Campaign Testimony

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:58:00 PST

WHAT IT'S All ABOUT!! READ BELOW:

Ron,

I again want to thank you and your church for the "Why" program which our church receintly had the opportunity of participating in. We are a small United Methodist church in the "thumb" of Michigan with an average attendance of 100 in our Sunday worship. We started "Why", in Sept. and were very excited to have five small groups and 35-40 in weekly attendance. I felt that was awesome! We had several people who have just started coming to our church get involved in the small group discussions.

Something even more exciting is that as of this date- all five groups are still meeting and really seem to becomming small family groups. That's something I've been hoping for ever since I came to this church six years ago. I and our evangelism chairperson are hoping to start another study/discussion topic with sermon support, right after the first of the year. And with God's help we'll add one or two more small groups.

Thanks for the materials and your team's support.

In His Service,

David Pratt, Pastor
Heritage United Methodist
Snover, MI

Worship House Media - Campaign Videos

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:37:00 PST

You might have noticed our ministry partnership with Worship House Media. We love those guys, their heart and their content.

Below is a list (not exhaustive) of suggested video content for each of our campaigns. If you're looking for some great suplimental weekend service content, you might want to check some of this stuff out. We've even negotiated some special discounts for Pursuit Campaign customers.

WHY> Campaign - Video Content

The Bible:
- BIBLE - DRUG PARODY

Jesus:
- WHO WAS JESUS?
- JESUS SAID
- WHO IS JESUS
- HE CAME

Pain and Suffering:
- BAD THINGS

Science:
-DESIGN

Creationism:
- I AM

Existentialism:
- DESIGN

Evangelism:
- EVANGELISM: HERE I AM LORD, SEND ME

Apologetics:
- PSALM 139

Sharing Your Faith
- WIN A FRIEND TO JESUS HOTLINE

MADE Campaign - Video Content

Design:
- TREES
- SMART

Creation:
- EVERYWHERE

Spiritual Gifts:
- IGNORABLE CALLING

Serving:
- MARK 8
- WHO DO YOU SERVE

Joy:
- THE BEST MEDICINE

Personality:
- ONE WORD
- ME NOT ME 4: UNLESS
- NOT ME 2: DRESS UP

Forgiveness:
- NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD
- THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

Redemption
- ALL THINGS NEW

Getting Over Your Past:
- I (AM)

Finally, be sure to search some of your own topics. You'll probably find some great stuff we haven't. When you do, be sure to post information about what you've found back here!

The Pursuit Team

An Awesome WHY> Campaign Website

Wed, 3 Sep 2008 16:33:00 PST

Check out this site that The Church at Holly Springs in North Carolina built to support the WHY> Campaign. They're going all out. It's awesome to see the creativity and desire to leverage the campaign to its fullest. We can't wait to hear back after the campaign! Typically, churches that work and plan this hard get wonderful results. We often hear that it's one of the greatest ministry intiatives in the history of the church.

www.wonderingwhy.org

Ministry Partners Can Help with Campaigns

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:16:00 PST

In an effort to see you get the most out of a Pursuit Campaign, we're proud to have linked up with some of the best church support in America. They are professionals at helping churches and meeting their unique needs. Here are some links if you want to find out more:

Supporting Pursuit Campaigns and with bulletins, mailers, posters, banners, invite cards and more.

Supporting Pursuit Campaigns with banners, posters, large format graphics, and more.

Supporting Pursuit Campaigns with additional service programming content including award-winning videos and more.

Great WHY> Story: First Saints Community Church

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:52:00 PST

Here's a story from a church that recently went through the WHY> Campaign. These notes keep us going!!

The Why> Campaign went extremely well and was well received by all. Our church has an average worship attendance of about 425 - 450 and we have consistently maintained about 25 small groups. For the Why> Campaign, an additional eight (I think) small groups were added and most of them continue to meet regularly even though we finished up with the Why> Campaign back in mid-June. We worship at three different campuses and at the two smaller campuses small groups have never been an effective tool for discipleship yet during this campaign, we had leaders/facilitators travel from the main campus to the geographic vicinity of the other two campuses and discovered some wonderful 'cross-pollination.'

Prior to the campaign we stressed repeatedly that the Why> Campaign was a two-pronged initiative: (1) to equip those already connected into the life of the church to share their faith more effectively and (2) to explore issues of faith with those who had/have virtually no church connection. I believe we meet both objectives. There was a lot of 'buzz' after each week's worship and the discussions seemed to be lively and right on focus.

In all honesty, we were not as well prepared to launch Why> as we would have liked to have been yet we saw God at work during this campaign in spite of us. Members of our church family have many new stories and testimonies now. The materials from Pursuit are very effective and pointedly address the questions people are wrestling with in their lives today.

Thanks for your prayers during our campaign and may God continue to bless your ministry,

Keith Schukraft
First Saints Community Church
Leonardtown, MD

Fresh Resources for a New Season

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:18:00 PST

If you're like most pastors, you'll soon be researching topics and resources for the coming ministry season. You'll want to check out our sermon and service resources at Ministry Direct if you're looking for some great service content. It's all from Central Christian Church, and they do a great job keeping it fresh and relevant.

We've added several series and graphics packages that will allow you to use our content as a basis for a sermon or series of weekend services. The graphics packages include the core artwork for the series and allow you to make the series your own.

We're also about to go live with full blown support from Outreach Media Group for most of our sermon series, including the very popular Happiness series. Keep looking for the official announcement to come soon. An easy way to stay up to date with developments is to sign up for our eNewsletter.

Check the stuff out, and let us know if you have any questions.

Peace,
Bart Rendel

An Incredible Year at Central Christian Church

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:36:00 PST

As many of you know, Pursuit is a ministry of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, NV. I've written several times about our relationship here in the blog.

This week, Jud Wilhite, Senior Pastor at Central, shared some stats and information about the 2007/2008 ministry season that are really astounding. As he told the staff, it's important to remember that numbers represent people.

This past year at Central:

� 15% Growth in Attendance (Now Averaging over 13,000)
� 1,415 Baptisms (4,593 Baptisms Since September 2003!)
� 2,150 Decisions for Christ (11,684 Decisions for Christ Since September 2003!)
� 8,400 Small Group Gatherings Throughout the City
� 16,956 Homeless People Fed
� 24,810 Nursing Home Visits
� 11,925 Bags of Food Donated

He also envisioned the future:

� 3 Additional Campuses around Las Vegas
� An Internet Campus (Coming Very Soon!)

It's incredible what God is up to in Vegas. Jud and the team at Central are serious about telling as many people as possible about God's uncensored grace in one of the craziest, most unlikely, places on the planet.

We're proud to be linking arms - telling their story to as many pastors and churches as possible. We also feature many of the resources that are a part their incredible ministry to Vegas. (Excellent, creative, and practical to the core!)

If you want to learn more about Central and hear directly from their leaders, think about attending Central Uncensored on Nov. 9/10, 2008. It's a behind the scenes, all-access look at what one national magazine editor called "the most evangelistically successful church in America." I interviewed Jud and Mike Bodine, Central's Senior Leader, about the event. You can hear it here.

Give us a shout at Puruit if you have questions or we can help your ministry in any way.

Peace,
Bart

WHY> Helps Another Church

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 15:41:00 PST

If you're thinking about a church-wide journey of some type, our Pursuit Campaigns offer a great option. We continue to get stories back (although it's tough sometimes because everyone in ministry is so busy!!) about how the campaigns have ignited some really cool stuff in churches.

Here's another one from Wentzville Christian Church in Wentzville, OH:

To Pursuit Ministries,

I wanted to thank you for assembling this curriculum. The WHY> Campaign was a huge success in our church. We were able to get a lot of people involved in small groups who had not been involved before. It opened doors also for a lot of communication and discussion with individuals who were closed to some of the topics we discussed.

In Christ's Service,
Kris Hagemeir

Short and sweet, but a great story. We continue to hear about how a campaign can really move people into classes and groups. And the "sticky" rate for people after the emphasis continues to be high - over 70% in most cases stay in the class or group. Very cool.

Send us your story if you get the chance. And check out the campaigns if your looking for a great spiritual emphasis this year.

Peace,
Bart