Getting Perspective in 2022

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The headlines about how many people are getting COVID have been disconcerting as we read about setting daily records of the number of positive cases.  One Wall Street Journal headline today reads, “Unable to Get Covid-19 Tests, Americans Carry On, Go to Work, Get on Flights.”  That headline suggests to me that the number of daily cases will
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The SHIFT is ON!

By Doug Talley One of my goals when I first came to Indiana Ministries as State Pastor was to accelerate the multiplication of churches by implementing the following shift:  From Indiana Ministries planting churches while most congregations watched to congregations owning the responsibility for planting churches while Indiana Ministries provides support and resourcing.   Full disclosure:  There have
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What I’m Thankful For

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By Doug Talley I’m wired to see problems and to anticipate what could go wrong.  I would call it being a realist or thinking ahead, but someone extremely close to me says that I can be a pessimist.  Maybe.  God has certainly wired us all a little differently, and I am thankful for that.  Imagine how boring life would
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Annual Meeting Recap

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By Doug Talley We had excellent in-person attendance at our recent annual meeting and had several people who joined us online.  I am so thankful to the Indiana Ministries staff for all their hard work on the ordination service and the annual meeting, as well as the Madison Park Church Staff for their assistance and for
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Mission 120 Update

By Tom Planck For a few years now, we have been operating under an important assumption. That assumption is that church multiplication movement happens when churches are making disciples to multiple generations of reproduction. Disciples who make disciples is the engine that drives churches planting churches.  Said another way, disciple-making is an accelerator for healthy
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Reasons People Are Drifting From or Leaving Church

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By Doug Talley I recently read a blog by Dan Reiland (Executive Pastor at 12Stone Church in Atlanta, GA) in which he writes about people drifting from the church during the pandemic.  You’ve probably noticed this in your church.  Though I’ve not done a formal study, I hear from pastors that their attendance right now is
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Ministry and Exhaustion

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By Jeff Matas It was a beautiful Sunday morning in southern Indiana as I pulled into the church parking lot. After a two-hour drive from Fishers, I arrived at one of the most picturesque settings in the entire state. Rolling hills, rivers, lush pastures, forests, and a beautiful country church where I was to speak
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Update on United City Church

By Doug Talley Ministry is challenging.  If you are a pastor or lay leader, you know that.  Church planting is challenging on steroids.  Starting a church from scratch, gathering people, developing leaders, developing finances, developing and casting a vision, launching.  All of those pieces are critical aspects of planting a church and can be overwhelming.  Imagine launching a church and
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Navigating the Times

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By Doug Talley Now that COVID infection rates have dropped significantly in the U.S. and summer is in full stride, many are so desperate for a return to normalcy that they want to ignore the impact of what happened over the last 17 months.  We’d like to shake it off as a bad dream or maybe
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This Summer is For Self-Care

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By Doug Talley  People are coming back to church.  Tony Morgan, in the A12021 Unstuck Report, says that in-person attendance is down 28% but online service views are up 123%.  Giving is up almost 2%. Even though there is encouraging news about vaccinations and areas of the country reopening as people try to establish some semblance of
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