And we believe that the parents bear the sole responsibility.

Not the children's pastor
youth pastor
senior pastor
teacher
principal
coach
or anyone else.

Parents.

So if you want godly kids, follow what Scripture commands:

1. Fathers, take the lead (Eph 5.23).

2. Mothers, learn from your husband (I Cor 14.35).

3. Both parents, invest wisdom into your children (Prof 1.8-9).

4. Teach them in every moment about God (Deut 6.6-9, 20-25).

5. Train them in the way they should go—the way God wants them to go (Prov 22.6).

6. Point them at the target of Christlikeness like an archer aims his arrow (Ps 127.4).

It's simple, not easy.

But obedience to God's Word is always the right choice.

I'm helping our sending church, Open Door, with next year's theme planning.

The theme is "Sent," taken from Romans 10.15:

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Theme? Basic.
Presentation? Mind-blown.

Let me show you graphics then break down why they matter:

Here's a breakdown of why:

1. Sent theme branding

   • Arrow theme conveys action, a target to hit, and family discipleship (Ps. 127.4)

   • Footprint theme conveys a distance to cover, going, and service to the world (Is. 52.7)

2. "Scent" parody line of scented products to pre-launch the real theme through the months of Nov-Dec

3. Clear transition from the parody to the real theme ("Sent, not scent")

4. Handing out "Scent" line items throughout the year

5. (Not pictured) Family-focused small group strategies to tie in the arrow theme

6. Rotating main theme branding throughout the year to match the seasons and sermon series emphases

Bottom line:

Every church that has a theme should actually use the theme all year.

Get creative.

Have fun.

Buy our new cologne.

That's the conclusion I came to with Pastor Ryan.

>> For context, our sending church Open Door Baptist had a Trunk or Treat Sunday night.

We invited thousands of local families, and we had hundreds of people registered.

And originally—

The goal was to use this as a huge opportunity to invite our guests back this coming Sunday for our Community Day... Free pancakes at 9, Sunday School at 9:30, service at 10:30. The works.

However...

Ryan and I decided that instead of just hoping we can get some of our visitors to come to a service, we can guarantee they hear what we tell them the night of.

So...

We set up speakers and a mic.
And presented the Gospel every 10-15 mins.

Because a Trunk or Treat without the Gospel is a waste of time.

Invites to a Community Day are asking the world to come to us instead of us going to the world like Jesus said.

So we went on the Gospel offensive.

Besides, we have their contact info and I've already sent an email with the landing page link for Community Day.

Offering them what Open Door has to offer is the wrong play. We opted to show them what Jesus has to offer.

And I'm praying we see a harvest from that sowing.

Before I begin, I want to note that you can view our church's full doctrinal statement of faith at capernaumbaptist.com/doctrine.

The first section outlines the six major tenets of our theological approach: Evangelical, Fundamental, Baptistic, Dispensational, Provisional, Compassionate.

Let me quote the second-to-last:

Provisional
We are not Calvinist and not Arminian. God does not hand-select who will and who will not be saved, but He does draw all men to Himself (providing grace to all, thus provisional). All must then choose to yield to that drawing by faith in the Gospel to become a Christian.

And much to my shock literally one minute before writing this, I thought I'd look up Provisionalism, since I've never seen it called that (most pastors just say they're not Calvinist or Arminian, "We're balanced," they say...).

Much to my shock, I discovered there is a similarly-named theology, and I feel compelled to canonize my refusal to ascribe to it.

There is a heretical theology called Provisionism. This is different from our POV, Provisionalism. Note the spelling differences in the latter half:
ProvisionISM (bad)
ProvisionALISM (good)

If you want to read about the heresy called Provisionism, you can click here.

The first point of this post is to say we DO NOT ascribe to Provisionism.

Now to the second point of this post...

So what do we believe?

Provisionalism (the good one) holds to these major tenets of soteriology:

• God is just, merciful, and sovereign. By His own character, He must punish sin (Romans 6:23a), He must love sinners (Romans 6:23b), and He must have sovereignty over all things (Psalm 103:19).

• God's sovereignty allows for humans to make choices (free will). Arminians assert that free will means a man can seek God, but that's not true. "There is none who seeks after God" (Romans 3:10). However, God seeks us first (John 6:44 and John 1:7, 9; Romans 11:32; Mark 7:14; Romans 5:6; John 12:48).

• God provides salvation for all (provisionalism's namesake) and wants all to be saved (Jn. 3:16; 12:32; 1 Tim. 2:4, 6; 1 Jn. 2:2; 2 Cor. 5:14; 2 Pet. 3:9). Although Calvin would argue that the "ransom for many" proves limited atonement, he must have forgotten that "many" is still part of "all."

• So, if God is in control, He allows us to make choices, and He provides salvation for us, Mankind must be able to accept or resist God's grace (Rom. 1:20; Acts 7:51; John 12:48; 2 Pet. 2:1).

Bottom line:

God provides grace for all to be saved. He even draws all men unto Himself. And many will listen to that calling and repent of their sin. Those who don't will have rejected God's salvation and will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.

To quote our statement on the Doctrine of Salvation:

Jesus Christ's sacrifice for the entire world on the cross and bodily resurrection three days later allows people to believe in Him after the drawing of the Holy Spirit, thereby gaining access to the Father. Without this faith in Christ, unsaved people suffer eternal separation from God. With salvation by faith through Christ, God adopts Christians into His own family.

So no, we're not heretics.
And no, we don't just call ourselves "balanced" as a cop-out.

We believe Scripture.
And God wants you to be saved.
Accept the calling.

Repent.

1. Focus on people, not outcomes.

2. Structure for where we are, not the future.

3. Unapologetically preach the Word as-is, not gatekeep the "tougher" parts until after they're saved.

That's it.

That's because some guys just talk at you.
They think that you should listen because they're preaching Scripture.

But that same Scripture tells us that pastors must be "Apt to teach." That means capable. And a capable teacher resonates with his audience.

So here's the one commonality I've found among every preacher I enjoy and learn from...
(And it's missing in the ones I don't)

Stories.

Pastors who tell stories keep the audience's attention.

More importantly, they teach the audience Scripture.

And I think this is really valid because storytelling is Jesus' main method. Even non-parable messages contained mini stories.

If you want my hypothesis and implements, they're below. If not, just go tell better stories in your preaching.

Hypothesis

The Bible is a grand narrative. God used a massive, cosmic story to tell us He loves us and wrote a great ending for us, too. Jesus used stories. The apostles used stories. Scripture is a compilation of smaller stories, with mini stories embedded within. And the end times are stories still to unfold, which keep us waiting attentively for God's next move.

Speaking physiologically, we're wired to remember stories, not just facts. We're wired to remember locations (the scenes of stories), not just items. So if I tell you a story and paint a clear scene all around you, you'll remember that story way clearer and longer.

So my hypothesis is that God wired us to value stories.
And that's why we remember them better than facts.
So we can leverage that to help our audiences.
Below tells you how...

Implementing this

1. Write your sermon as you normally would.

2. Tie every point together with a transition sentence or two.

3. Reorganize anything that doesn't naturally flow.

4. Throw away anything that can't be organized.

5. Then take every point and illustrate it with a story.
   FOR EXAMPLE:
   I could say, the average Christian school teacher scores a 41% on a Christian worldview test. Or I could tell you about how my office is in the corner of a school gym, and I'm surrounded by Christian school teachers and hundreds of Christian school students. "What do those red and black uniformed students learn every day in math class? Is it about how God is a God of order and numbers? You'd think so, since they're in a Christian school, right? Wrong. Because the average teacher at our school would get only 2 questions right on a 5-question test about God. And that's scary. Would I send my daughter here? What would I score? What would you score? Would it be above 41%?"
   
   Same stat.
   Different approach.
   Story.

6. Paint the outcome of your sermon tangibly (by telling a mini story about the audience).
   If you don't know what it looks like in physical words, how are they supposed to?
   Instead of, "We need to be giving people," say, "In 5 minutes, we'll pass the offering plate. What you do will reveal who's the god of your money."
   OR:
   Instead of, "There's a better way than the world's way" (vague), say, "Jesus offers us peace. You know how sometimes you can't sleep because you're worried about xyz? Well if you trust Jesus, you can sleep all night without worry."
   
   Paint a clear picture.
   They can't follow a blurry one.
   (By the way, this is what I'm doing now)
   

7. Take your whole sermon, then preach it like one long story.

Every book I've read about church growth describes how to grow PAST 100 members...

But they never address how to get the first hundred.

And I think that's because they assume you just used plain Gospel to start.
"Now it's time for tactics."

>>> THE GOSPEL IS ALWAYS THE TACTIC.

I don't think you need a funnel,
webinar,
platform,
event,
host,
ad,

to spread the Good News.

I think you just need to share the Good News.

"Well Charlie if that's what you believe, why didn't your church grow?"
Because the Gospel wasn't always my primary focus.

That hurt to type.

Anyways, I think instead of focusing on the perfect event or relying on great leadership skills, the path to the first 100 members is sharing the Gospel with 100 people.

Practically speaking, there are a few ways to make this easier (that I will be implementing):

1. Construct an environment that doesn't allow for distractions.

I'm amazed how dumb I am for not doing this before.

If your only choice is to work on the ONE thing you need to work on...
You will.

For example, if I wanted to get in shape, I'd go to the gym.
Not Popeyes.
Not Youtube.
Not a notebook to plan everything I'll do when I get too strong for the current equipment at the gym I plan to go to someday but haven't actually been there yet rabble rabble blah blah.

So, if you want to invite 100 people, go where you can find people.

The right ones.
The ones in your town.

Go where God sent you.

2. Pray that God gives you opportunities.

"Here am I, send me."
Okay, now you've been sent.

Now, "Pray the Lord of the Harvest that He will send forth laborers into the harvest"
Okay, check. You're physically in the community God sent you to.

Now, pray "that God would open to [you] a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ,... that [you] may make it manifest, as [you] ought to speak" (Col. 4.3-4),

and "that utterance may be given to [you], that [you] may open [your] mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,... that in it [you] may speak boldly, as [you] ought to speak" (Eph. 6.19-20).

So basically...
Ask God to bring you opportunities.

3. Pray that their hearts would be "good ground."

Instead of praying that your event works,
Pray that God lets you lead someone to Him.

I'm not saying events are bad—there's some merit for this in the "COMPEL them to come in" command.

But I feel like the main message of churches has become "Come to our thing so we can have a chance to tell you the Gospel" instead of "I'm going to do whatever it takes to show you Jesus... Including talking to you."

If events are more about community reputation than Gospel ministry, cancel the events.

Instead, major on talking to humans.

It's almost like that's what Jesus and Paul did.
They talked to people.
And God gave fruit.

So pray for fruit.

To summarize:

Go where God sent you.
Pray for opportunities while you're there.
And pray for fruit.

It's almost like that's what Jesus told us to do in Matthew 28.

So lock in.
Go before you get distracted.

Get 100.
Then another 100.

Make Heaven crowded.
Go.

This is a season of rest.
Of waiting on the Lord.
Of renewing my strength.

I spent a lot of time praying about this.

And I decided there are three things I need to do right now:

1. Provide for my family financially

2. Serve where I am

3. Become the best Christian man I can be

Here are the actions I’m taking to do this:

1. Working full time at Open Door and building a business on the side. I coach pastors in fitness, and they are absolutely crushing it.

2. Serving full time at Open Door. The specifics beyond my work week are TBD.

3. Working on our marriage and parenting, as well as taking time to study and pray more.

And these have been refreshing.

Although I want to be pastoring and preaching, this is where God has me.

If Moses can shepherd in the wilderness for 40 years, I can serve quietly for 2.

PS – If you know of a pastor who would find value in a free community of other pastors in fitness, send them my way.

Why we hit pause on the Hammond Church Plant

“How’s the church plant going?”

I’ve been asked this a lot over the last two months. It's time to answer publicly...

Short answer: we’ve paused Sunday services.

Our plan is to relaunch stronger in a year or two.

Here’s why:

• Location confusion. Even with a “How to Get Here” video, thousands spent on signage, and texting visitors directions, everyone said it was hard to find us. Another church moving into the same building added more confusion.

• Family needs. Silas’s arrival has been wonderful — and stretching. We need time to grow as a family before we can pour fully into planting.

Bottom line: pressing on without growth would be poor stewardship of God’s resources.

Next step:
We’re building a nucleus of 20–50 committed people. When we have a strong core, we’ll relaunch Sunday services. That could be 12–24 months — God’s timing, not ours.

Your part:
You can still join what God’s doing:

• 👥 Join the SERVE Team

• 💳 Support financially

• 🙏 Pray for us

Some will call this quitting. It’s not. Our decision was made with wise counsel and confirmed by spiritual authorities. Faithfulness sometimes means stepping back, reevaluating, and preparing for long-term health.

We’re grateful, excited, and ready for what’s next.

— Charlie & Skyler