Best Practices: Examples of Effective Ministry from Alumni

Published December 7, 2016

Consistent Experiences

Barry Kilmer (’86)
Earned: B.S.
Became: Lead Pastor at Bridgewater Church, New York and Pennsylvania

“’Best practice’ is a term I was first exposed to in the world of business. It was the anthem of my John Deere territorial manager that all dealership groups establish practices that could be implemented at each of their locations to improve customer service, productivity and profitability.

“When I transitioned to lead pastor of a church that functioned as a multisite ministry, it was essential that we find the most successful way to reach our community for Christ. In my first few months, our staff grew weary of meetings to define the best practices for our five campuses. At times, it was a painful journey to critique our sites, but the journey has led to a quality and consistency throughout our ministry. We have taken the best of each campus and have instituted ‘best practices,’ which have strengthened each of our campuses.”

Engaging Communication

John Elton Pletcher (’91)
Earned: B.S. and M.Div.
Became: Lead Pastor at Manor Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

“Two things help us market smarter and reach more people for Christ. First, we increased social media involvement, including the BIG three of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our approach is two-fold. First is my own regular engagement as a leader with a personal account on each platform. In addition, the church maintains a presence and posts multiple times each week. Social media marketing wonderfully multiplies our ability to communicate what’s coming up, what’s exciting and how Christ is working.

“Second (and this one’s vital!), we are constantly talking with next-generation disciples about what they do and don’t find effective about marketing. A bonus with these two practices: they are virtually free or involve just a tiny expense.”

Faithful Service

Maximilian Pera (’15)
Earned: M.Div.
Became: Senior Pastor at CityView Newark Baptist Church, Newark, New Jersey; GM at FleetFuel & Services

“I believe that there is no one secret to church growth. Scripture clearly states that God promotes the growth of His church (1 Cor. 3:6). Then what can we do to see growth? The simple answer is faithfulness to God, passion and diligence for the mission He gave us. At CityView, we faithfully pray for opportunities to share the gospel; we preach and teach Christ through expository messages, and we empower believers through intentional discipleship. All of this is accomplished through regular worship meetings, small groups, outreach on-the-job training, community engagement and parenting a daughter church. We challenge our people to be servants, not volunteers; according to Jesus, a proper attitude towards servanthood is vital (Luke 17:7-10). Commitment, self-sacrifice, perseverance and obedience reveal our faithfulness in the service to the Lord.”

Community Collaboration

Ben Rudolph (’98, ’02)
Earned: B.S. and M.Min.
Became: Pastor at Church at Denver,
Denver, North Carolina

“One of the ways we’ve seen God work in our church is by collaborating with other churches in our community. We recognized early on that even though we were growing and planting churches from our own local church, the lostness of our city was too much for us to tackle alone. We’ve partnered with over 14 churches to meet physical needs, impact lostness and strategize to touch every man, woman and child with the gospel of Jesus Christ. One simple way we’ve built a more collaborative network is that we have lunch or coffee with at least one other church leader in our community every week. The foundation for working together is establishing trust, and over the last 10 years we’ve been able to see incredible growth in our love and trust for one another as church leaders.”