LifeWay Research recently finished a survey that reveals the ministry priorities of pastoral leadership in churches of various sizes in the SBC. The study, "Critical Ministries and Their Leadership," surveyed 801 Southern Baptist pastors about what they believed were the most critical ministries in their churches, whether those ministries have effective leadership in place and how they relate to those ministry leaders. Mark Kelly unpacks some of the data in an article written for Lifeway news.

When pastors were asked to list up to five ministries in their order of importance, the largest group (24 percent) identified evangelism/outreach as the most important. The next six ministries identified as most important were Sunday school/Bible study/small groups (17 percent); worship/specific worship services (13 percent); preaching/proclamation/preaching (10 percent); children/youth (9 percent); discipleship/spiritual growth/mentoring/counseling (7 percent); and prayer/prayer ministry/prayer groups (5 percent).

When a list of the five ministries mentioned most often was compiled, however, children/youth moved to the top, identified as one of the five most important ministries by 85 percent of the respondents. The other four most-mentioned ministries were evangelism/outreach (68 percent); Sunday school/Bible study/small groups (53 percent); discipleship/spiritual growth/mentoring/counseling (37 percent); and worship/specific worship services (33 percent).

One of the interesting finds what that the size of a church determined which of the ministries described above were considered most important. Churches with fewer than 100 in worship attendance are much more likely to see evangelism as a critical ministry than churches with 250 or more in attendance (72 vs 60 percent). Churches with worship attendance between 100 and 249 are more likely to list children's or youth ministry as critical compared to smaller churches (90 vs 83 percent).

Larger churches (worship attendance of 250 or more) are more likely to include worship or worship services as a critical ministry (46 percent) compared to small (30 percent) or midsize churches (33 percent), McConnell noted. Smaller churches (worship attendance under 100) are significantly less likely to include missions or Sunday school/Bible study/small groups among their most important ministries.

The study (and Kelly's article) goes on to examine effective leadership. Read the article, it's all very interesting, and come back to discuss.

Churches of differing sizes have different ministry priorities. Is this good or bad, or is it just the natural and/or necessary prioritization that stems from the nature of a local church and it's size?

Teachable moments are important things.

When I taught at Southern, I (occasionally) attended chapel, talked to some brilliant theologians, learned from some great missiologists, and even read a few books. But, one of the more important teachable moments came in a brief conversation with Hershael York.

Hershael and I were talking one day and he told me of a practice he had with his children. Hershael told them (when they were young) that he would take them on trips at certain ages:

• When they were 10, he would take them anywhere they wanted to go in the United States.


• When they were 15, he would take them anywhere they wanted to go in the world.

And, he explained how these were pivotal times for children and time with their father was an important part of that. It was a teachable moment for me.

I stole the idea and started telling my oldest, Kristen, the same thing. I told her when she was 4 (knowing that she would never be 10).

Well, kids do grow up... and Saturday she is 10. (That sure happened fast.)

So, she picked:

• Disneyland


• Riding to the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible, and


• Yosemite

Hershael was right: there are key moments in your children's lives when you can talk about things that matter, far away from the rush of life. Children have those teachable moments, too. They happen everyday, yes, but you can also find special times to be together and talk. And, thanks to a bunch of frequent flyer and frequent stayer points, this is a way I can spend special time with my daughters.

That's what Kristen and I are doing today-- and it is much more important than all the speaking, writing, and leading that I might otherwise do.

Anyway, if you like some pictures, you can follow the adventure on Twitter (the pic is from the Twitter feed).

So, back to the car, the sunglasses, "tweener" tunes on the CD, and another day in the park taking pictures of flowers, trees, and mountains with her new birthday camera...

Updated-- Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today (from the Twitter feed):