Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing all results

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... Questions keep parent and child engaged in an on-going, living, growing relationship. Church consultant Lyle Schaller has published over ninety books for Abingdon Press. Warren Bird has recently put together a sort of festschrift to celebrate Schaller’s impact on the church entitled Wisdom from Lyle E. Schaller: The Elder Statesman of Church Leadership (2012). Among his personal quirks, as revealed by Warren Bird Schaller, is an extensive T-shirt collection. Before he consults with a church in person, he ...

2. Unstoppable Determination

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... people cannot be successful in the present because they are still living in the past. Pastor and author James W. Moore was in a workshop one summer at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. The leader was the nationally known writer and consultant Lyle Schaller. One morning Schaller put before the group this fascinating question: “What is the single most powerful influence in the decision-making process? For example, if you are in a group, trying to make a decision about something, or trying to plan an event ...

3. There's an Elephant in the Room and Her Name Is Katrina

Exodus 14:10-15

Sermon

James W. Moore

... a lot better than being trapped out here. We never did it this way before! Let’s go back! A few years ago, I was in a workshop one summer at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. The workshop leader was the nationally-known writer and consultant, Dr. Lyle Schaller. One morning, he put before us a fascinating question. He asked us: “What is the single most powerful influence in the decision-making process?” i.e., If you are in a group… and you are trying to make a decision about something… or trying to ...

4. The Devil's Sermon

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... look in the mirror and be so smug? Few of us, deep down, can stare in the mirror without being horrified. All of us know that life is "change, or be changed." Because life is change, nothing ever stays the same. Lyle Schaller, Cokesbury's best-selling author and the top church consultant in the country, asks: "What is the number one issue facing Christian organizations on the North American continent? Dwindling numbers? Money? Social justice? Leadership? Television? Sexuality?" After three decades of study ...

5. Tenders Of The Sacred Fire

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... bells ringing in unraised steeples." 1. William McNeill, Plagues And People, (Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1976), p. 108. 2. On the chapel wall of Country Club Christian Church, Kansas City, Missouri. 3. Stephen L. Carter, The Culture Of Disbelief, (New York: Basic Books, 1993), pp. 3-23. 4. Lyle Schaller, Strategies For Change, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), p. 10.

6. Small Church Communion

Acts 2:42-47

Sermon

Steven Burt

... . They have a sense of who they are together as the “family of God.” William Willimon and Robert Wilson don’t pull any punches in their book, Preaching and Worship in the Small Church (Nashville: Abingdon Creative Leadership Series, Lyle Schaller ed., 1980). In a section praising the latest printed Communion materials they say: Simply stated, these new services illustrate that contemporary liturgical renewal is taking its cue from the period before the church became big, successful, and respectable ...

7. Fish Bait

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... the bait. Amen. 1. Bible Illustrator for Windows, (Hiawatha, IO: Parsons Technology, 1994) 2. Pastor Bill Mains, Trinity Lutheran Church, South Milwaukee, WI, sermon entitled, "Fishin'", via Ecunet, Sermonshop Sermons, Note #4333, 2/5/04 quoted from "The Parish Paper: A Resource For Congregational Leaders" edited by Herb Miller and Lyle Schaller, vol. 11, no. 7, January 2004 3. Warren Times-Observer, 2/7/04, C 3 4. Henry Holt & Co.: New York, 2002 5. Ehrenreich, p. 36 6. ibid., pp. 68-69

8. A New You in a New Year (Part X)

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Eric Ritz

I think ministers must be on the mailing list of every conceivable organization and charity in the United States of America. Much of the mail I receive at the church office (about 50%) is what is commonly called "junk mail." Dr. Lyle Schaller, a church consultant, urges ministers to review their mail over an open garbage can. Check the upper left hand corner or backside of the mail and look to see where it came from. About 35% of the mail never gets opened. This week as I was thumbing through the "bulk ...

9. Yet Alive....Are We?

Romans 12:1-13

Sermon

John E. Harnish

... rather than the paramount issue for the conference. The Detroit Conference mission statement says we are a "healthy branch on the tree of life," but when the doctor gives the diagnosis on our health, we laugh all the way to the graveyard. Bill Ritter used to quote Lyle Schaller who said any organization will quietly tolerate a decline of about 1% per year without response until it dies. I guess he was right. I don't mean to be a dour prophet of doom, and I will call on humor in the face of tragedy just ...

10. Do Not Be Quickly Shaken

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Sermon

Donna Schaper

Several years ago, Lyle Schaller made the observation that ministry, once a "high status, low stress" vocation was now just the opposite: "high stress and low status." Why? Clergy have a double calling, both to secure and to shake people up. They need to be prophetic and pastoral at the same time. Most people want ...

11. What Is the Future of United Methodism?

John 2:12-22

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

... . So bear with me as I voice a sobering concern by asking, “Is there a future for the United Methodist Church?” The answer is, “Yes, if…” I. THERE IS A FUTURE FOR UNITED METHODISM IF WE RISE FROM DENIAL. I sat with renowned researcher Lyle Schaller a couple weeks ago who began his two-day lecture on the future of Methodism by saying our denomination is terminally ill. Being the statistician that he is, he backed his premise up with these numbers: 1. Our membership has declined 22% in the last ...

12. Mary and Martha: Nine to Five and Five to Nine

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... connoisseur of things even more important — things intellectual and spiritual, things of lasting and even revolutionary value, things that will reverberate throughout history long after this excellent dinner is digested and forgotten." I would imagine Jesus might note with sociologist Lyle Schaller that the primary place for socialization now is not the home, but the workplace. I imagine he might point out how our homes are designed to eat and sleep and watch television, but not to converse and share and ...

13. Wimps Become Warriors

Acts 2:1-13

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... borrowed power. Then when they ask, tell them where the power comes from. Notice in verse 11 what the disciples were telling people on the day of Pentecost: They weren't discussing their own credentials. They were proclaiming God's mighty acts. The prolific writer Lyle E. Schaller was asked some time ago, "Isn't the hope of the United Methodist Church the young adult?" He replied, "No, that's heresy. The hope of the United Methodist Church is the Holy Spirit." God and God alone can save a soul, transform a ...

14. "yes, And..."

Luke 24:44-53

Sermon

King Duncan

... , Raising a Modern-Day Knight (Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family Publishing, 1997), p. 12. 4. "Uncurb Your Enthusiasm" by Martha Beck, O, The Oprah Magazine, September 2003, p. 82. 5. "Tina Fey's "˜Aha!' Moment" by Tina Fey, O Magazine, June 2003, p. 64. 6. Randy Frazee with Lyle E. Schaller, The Comeback Congregation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), p. 16.

15. Till Death Do Us Part

Matthew 19:1-9

Sermon

James Merritt

... you are married, or one day will be married, let your first words and your last be, "Till death do us part." 1 Cited by Angela Elwel Hunt, "Shattered Generations: The Long-range Affects of Divorce," Fundamentalist Journal, June, 1985, 31. 2 Lyle E. Schaller, The Seven-Day-A-Week Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), 71. 3 William J. Bennett, The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators: facts and Figures on the State of American Society (New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 59. 4 Michael J. McManus ...

Showing 1 to 15 of 15all results