In this unabridged audio download of Ethnic Blends, multi-ethnic church pioneer Mark DeYmaz provides an up-close and personal look at seven common challenges to mixing diversity into your local church. Through real-life stories and practical illustrations, DeYmaz shows how to overcome the obstacles in order to build a healthy multi-ethnic church. He also includes the insights of other effective, multi-ethnic local church pastors from around the country.Increasingly, church leaders are reco...

Well-meaning church leaders and planters often set out to radically transform their communities for Christ-kingdom causes. Their aspirations and visions are limitless. However, often the best-laid plans fail to yield results of any consequence—they become frustrated, and pull the plug leaving behind the remnants of all their best intentions.Does it have to be this way?Is it possible for a local church to become so influential in its community that it becomes a life-giving a...

Current church planting, growth, and development strategies cannot be sustained.We need to work smarter in our rapidly changing world.We must become disruptive.And yet we typically hesitate to embrace change. We like our traditions. We prefer our familiar patterns and comfortable ruts.Still, America has dramatically changed. And make no mistake, such change is affecting the church, a...

Our entire understanding of funding and sustainability must change.Tithes and offerings alone are no longer enough to provide for the needs of the local church, enable pastors to pursue opportunities, or sustain long-term ministry impact. Growing financial burdens on the middle class, marginal increases in contributions to religious organizations, shifting generational attitudes toward giving, and changing demographics are having a negative impact on church budgets...

Through personal stories, proven experience and a thorough analysis of the biblical text, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church illustrates both the biblical mandate for the multi-ethnic church as well as the seven core commitments required to bring it about. Mark DeYmaz, pastor of one of the most proven multi-ethnic churches in the country, writes both from his experience and his extensive study of how to plant, grow, and encourage more ethnically diverse churches. He argues tha...

Reflect and inspire the peace of Christ in a world torn by conflict, division, and broken relationships.In today's chaotic and polarized culture, many people quietly ask, "What difference can I make?" Instead of reacting with frustration or retreating in silence, what if you could reflect the peace of Christ in ways that ease tensions, inspire others, and encourage healthy conversations? In Make Me an Instrument of Peace, thought-leading pastor an...

Reflect and inspire the peace of Christ in a world torn by conflict, polarization, and broken relationships.In today’s chaotic and polarized culture, many people quietly ask, “What difference can I make?” Instead of reacting with frustration or retreating in silence, what if you could reflect the peace of Christ in ways that ease tensions, inspire others, and encourage healthy conversations? In Make Me an Instrument of Peace, thought-leading pasto...

Our entire understanding of funding and sustainability must change.Tithes and offerings alone are no longer enough to provide for the needs of the local church, enable pastors to pursue opportunities, or sustain long-term ministry impact. Growing financial burdens on the middle class, marginal increases in contributions to religious organizations, shifting generational attitudes toward giving, and changing demographics are having a negative impact on church budgets...

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Across North America, many pastors are excited to see churches growing as they achieve their mission to connect the message of the gospel with the community at large. Still others are equally frustrated, following the exact same model for outreach but with lesser results. Indeed, just because a "missional breakthrough" occurs in one place doesn’t mean it will happen the same way elsewhere.One size does not fit all, but there are cultural codes that must be broken for all churches t...

The development of meaningful relationships, where every member carries a significant sense of belonging, is central to what it means to be the church. So why do many Christians feel disappointed and disillusioned with their efforts to experience authentic community? Despite the best efforts of pastors, small group leaders, and faithful lay persons, church too often is a place of loneliness rather than connection.Church can be so much better. So intimate and alive. The Connecting Church te...

The development of meaningful relationships, where every member carries a significant sense of belonging, is central to what it means to be the church. So why do many Christians feel disappointed and disillusioned with their efforts to experience authentic community? Despite the best efforts of pastors, small group leaders, and faithful lay persons, church too often is a place of loneliness rather than connection. In this revised and updated version of his best-selling book, Randy Frazee s...