27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask

Last month at our annual pastor's conference, the founder of The Hardy Group, Dick Hardy, spoke. The Hardy Group is a growth consulting company for pastors, and has had tremendous success across all kinds of denominational, social and regional lines.

What struck me most was how practical and down-to-earth Dick Hardy was. Though he's helped hundreds of churches, from the biggest to the smallest, he was approachable and accessible to everyone. He even gave his personal cell phone number to the entire audience! That was impressingly genuine.

But what I'm most thrilled about is his newest book, 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask. He made copies available to us, and asked us to write a review. Well, it didn't take long to find something valuable inside the cover of 27 Tough Questions, before I connected.

Lately at our church, we've been seeing a groundswell of interest in prayer. We made a small adjustment to our bi-monthly prayer meeting, and overnight the attendance shot up! But that's not all! The results of our prayers shot up too!

After one Sunday evening prayer meeting--where we prayed for new families--we saw 16 new families the very next week! 16! Prior to this we averaged about 5 total per month. Wow!

So, back to the prayer closet we went. After the next prayer meeting--again praying (among other things) for new families, we saw 6 new families the following week! It was amazing! However, upon further investigation and follow-up, we discovered that of these 21 new families, only 5 were from the local area. The others were out of towners. So, now we're praying more specifically: "God, please send new families--from our area--that need You, and Your presence."

What's this have to do with 27 Tough Questions? No sooner did I open the book and begin working through the easy chapters when I came across this statement: "There are three cultures that are critical to the success of any church. They are...A culture of prayer...A culture of change...and a culture of ministry to young families." (pp.34-36) As excited as I am about the spike in the culture of prayer, we need to foster the other two cultures as well to see the growth numerically and financially--in addition to spiritually.

Thank you Dick for your valuable insights and assessments. I've already gleaned a lot, and will keep 27 Tough Questions on hand to glean much, much, more!