Articles & Resources

Church Strengthening

Church Health
Converge MidAmerica Team

Together Groups

Written by Dan Proctor My name is Dan Proctor and I became the Church Strengthening Director in the Southeast region of Converge MSC about 9 months ago. Before that, I

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Church Health
Converge MidAmerica Team

Thoughts From a Sabbatical

By Bryan Moak, Converge MSC, VP of Church Strengthening Recently I finished my first sabbatical with Converge. It was three months long, and it was wonderful. I firmly believe that

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Church Health
Converge MidAmerica Team

Church-Health Month is Coming!

By: Gary Rohrmayer May is the season in our calendar where we encourage churches to take a close look at both the quality and the quantity of their church’s ministry

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Converge Cuba

The Lord is opening new doors for Converge MSC. A 2018 UN report showed that only 10% of the Cuban population is evangelical. According to an article written by Michael

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

Healthy Churches have Healthy Pastors!

Healthy Churches have Healthy Pastors! “If the pastor isn’t healthy, the church isn’t healthy.” This statement has never been truer than it has been in the last couple of years.

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

Converge Celebration Banquet

Thank you for joining us for our 2023 Converge Celebration Banquets in Chicago and Orlando. Our Chicago Banquet and the inaugural Southeast Banquet were both incredibly successful because of your attendance

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

God is Moving: Hope Arabic Church

On the far right of this photo stands a man from Kuwait whose search for the Christian faith brought him to our doorstep. With burning questions and a deep desire

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

May is Church Health Month

In an effort to promote healthy, missionally engaged churches we are encouraging all of our churches and church plants to join us in establishing a church health rhythm.    Why

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

High Hill Christian Church and their NCD experience

Pastor Robert Gentry from High Hill Christian Church (High Hill, MO) speaks on his experience and journey with the Natural Church Development Survey, what he has learned and identified as growth opportunities and his

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Rise Church Building Fund: Will You Give?

Many of you have been following Converge’s Church Planting in Michigan. In the last twelve years, we have grown from 50 churches to 78 churches. Rise Church in Romulus, MI, led

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Grace Church is Battle Ready

This article was originally authored by NCD International. Grace River Church in St. Peter’s, Missouri doesn’t sound at all like the kind of place you’d find bloody wars or even

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Reaching More for Christ: Hope Arabic Church

In August, one of our Converge MidAmerica pastors Avdal Boktor, Lead Pastor of Hope Arabic Church, hosted the Evangelistic Live Free Festival for the first time ever in Windsor, Canada.

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Revival and Hope for Hope Arabic Church

This past August, Hope Arabic Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan, held a large three-night outdoor event in tents for the first time in the church’s history. Over 1,800 people showed

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

God is at work at Mosaico!

God is at work at Mosaico Church!  Mosaico Church is a church plant launched in July 2021 in Nashville, TN. Pastor Ramiro Cruz gave Converge MidAmerica an update on the

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Perseverance for the Long Haul

This article was written by Rob Nash, a pastor at Sawyer Highlands Church. This article originally appeared on Converge.org. Have you read that “The average pastoral tenure in a church

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

Why Participate in an NCD?

My name is Gary Ricci and I am the pastor of New Hope Christian Community Church. Our church was planted in 2009 in Round Lake, Illinois. I was the associate

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

What God Can Do With Small Things

This story was written by Pastor Jerry Troyer at Eastport Baptist Church in Eastport, MI. We are a small church located in northern lower Michigan. This past weekend we saw

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Announcement
Converge MidAmerica Team

The KINEO Center

Converge MidAmerica|Southeast|Caribbean is thrilled to partner with the KINEO Center, a ministry created just for pastors and church leaders. With so many pastors suffering from depression and burnout today, KINEO’s

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Church Strengthening
Gary Rohrmayer

Let’s Dare to be Dangerous

Max Lucado wrote, “This my God is my prayer. Draw me from Your fire, form me on Your anvil, shape me with Your hands and let me be Your tool.”

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

Great progress, greater opportunities

Written by Ben Greene Outside South Carolina’s first Converge church, Hurricane Florence was thrashing pines and palmettos. But inside, Source Connection was worshiping Jesus for the first time. Pastor Paul

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

What should I do when no one shows up?

Leadership is lonely. It’s easy to feel alone as a church planter, especially in the early days. It can be difficult to pour time and energy into an event or

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Celebrations
Gary Rohrmayer

Reflections on Connect 2021

In 1852 when Gustaf Palmquist started the First Swedish Baptist Church in Rock Island, IL. In 1856, the Swedish Baptist Churches came together for their first gathering in Illinois. Did

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

Going out into all the world!

When you think of the Bahamas, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Beautiful beaches? Crystal blue water? Relaxation? While most view the Bahamas as a place for

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Celebrations
Gary Rohrmayer

Defining Moments…Examples to Follow

Twenty years ago this fall, Converge MidAmerica experienced a breakthrough moment in launching four church plants within five weeks of the attacks at the World Trade Center on 9-11. Up

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

For God’s Glory!

Located in Sterling Heights Michigan, Hope Arabic Church was launched in November of 2014. The church began from just 27 people attending the first service to 247 people attending right

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

God is changing lives in Mexico!

On a recent trip to Mexico, Jessy Padilla and Ernie Cabrera had the opportunity to experience how God has been at work through the local church in Los Luz and

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

God never stops working!

On a recent trip to Haiti, the president of Converge, Gary Rohrmayer and the vice president of church partnerships, Ernie Cabrera, had the opportunity to experience for themselves what God

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Capital Campaigns
Converge MidAmerica Team

God’s Love at Mercy Road

This month we are focusing on the ministry of Mercy Road Church in Redford, MI. Established on 10/10/10 at 10 AM, Mercy Road had a unique beginning as a joint

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Church Strengthening
Danny Parmelee

Next Steps Orlando

This past week 27 pastors, church planters, and church leaders came together to learn about Next Steps for their church. Bryan Moak kicked things off with a high-energy training on

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Capital Campaigns
Converge MidAmerica Team

Tending the Orchard: A Capital Campaign Story

This month’s highlight is on The Orchard Church in McHenry, Illinois. Established in 1994, The Orchard’s vision has remained the same throughout the years it has existed: Making Fully Functional

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

You say you want a reformation…

I am seven years into my first tenure as a senior pastor. The congregation I am blessed to serve in that capacity consists of roughly 300 souls near the urban

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

The History of Converge & St. Croix

On December 3, 2020, Pastor Will Woods celebrated his 51st year as pastor at Altona Baptist Church on St. Croix. Last week, our Converge MidAmerica team caught up with Pastor

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Adapting Our Church in the Pandemic

Grace Bible Church has been a part of Converge long before I became the pastor as they were founded and led by the late Pastor Rod Walker. I became pastor

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Defining Our Next Steps

When our church celebrated our one-year anniversary, I realized that we were actually going to make it as a church.  We had all the things going that a healthy church

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Church Strengthening
Gary Rohrmayer

It’s Church Health Month

For several years now, we have been declaring May is Church Health Month! In Converge, we are sold out to church planting as well as very serious about church strengthening.

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Celebrations
Converge MidAmerica Team

100 Years of Life Change

Believe it or not, Berkeley Community Church launched right of the last pandemic, the Spanish Flu. A women’s bible study in the Detroit area wanted to start a church in

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

Ways to Appreciate Your Pastor

Pastors are a gift from God. That’s why we love that the month of October is Pastor Appreciation Month. This year has been extra tough on them. I can only

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Church Planting
Kirsten Andreson

Maintaining Our Focus

Remember Dug, the talking dog from the movie “Up”? He had a device that allowed his master to hear and understand him. What we discover is that as much as

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Church Online
Kirsten Andreson

The Gospel Every Day

In this sermon, Bryan Moak shares about how to keep the fundamentals of the Gospel at the forefront of your life as found in John 12.  Below you can download

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Church Online
Kirsten Andreson

Forgetting What Is Behind

In this sermon, Bryan Moak shares how we can forget what is behind and live in the hope of Christ, as found in Philippians 3:4b-14. Below you can download the

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Church Online
Kirsten Andreson

Church Essentials

In this sermon, Bryan Moak shares about church essentials as found in Acts 2:42-47. Below you can download the video for use in your church service.  We hope this video

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Don’t Forget to Pray

As much as I would love to hit the reset button on 2020, that isn’t going to happen. So instead of focusing on what “isn’t” right with 2020, I have

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Church Online
Converge MidAmerica Team

Relaunch Coaching Cohorts Reach 100+ Churches

Over 100 churches participated in our 4 -week Relaunch coaching cohorts.  Using Zoom, all participants gathered in a large group, focusing on insights of relaunching in light of COVID-19. The real power of the coaching

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Church Planting
Wanda Manning

Join us for a Prayer Gathering

https://vimeo.com/425333558 “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

The Principle of Sowing and Reaping

In taking this evangelistic journey, we will take a close look at the Three Spheres of Outreach which include: 1) The leader and the people they connect with during the week, 2)

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

Three Stages of Outreach

The next step is to help leaders understand the spheres of outreach that exists within their community. Today we are going to move from understanding to implementation. If we, as

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

Raising Your Evangelist Temperature

If a leader is going to raise the evangelistic temperature of their church they will first need to understand the three spheres of outreach: Level 1: These are people who

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

Do you need a wellness check?

We recognize that life and ministry are stressful and being compounded with the COVID-19 pandemic. To help with this reality, we compiled a listing of MAP Counselors throughout our region who

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

Ten Biblical Principles for Healthy Relating

Overview Our mission is a relational mission.  Doing mission with others involves trust.  Building and maintain relational trust is critical for any church to succeed.  Gary Rohrmayer walks us through

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Church Online
Converge MidAmerica Team

Hacks for Improving your Online Services

Maybe you’ve been hosting online services for ages now, or maybe (like many others) you’ve been forced into online church by COVID-19 restrictions. Either way, we want to help you

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

Steps to Licensing Guide

Overview Prior to granting a license, a church should establish policies regarding the licensing procedure. Get the Free Download [email-download download_id=”4619″ contact_form_id=”723″]

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

Steps to Ordination Guide

Overview Because of the growing number of Converge MidAmerica churches, there is a need for a guide that will assist churches in evaluating potential candidates for ordination and a suggested procedure for

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Church Planting
Gary Rohrmayer

Spiritual Warfare

This ebook provides fourteen devotionals built around the tactics the enemy uses to attack the church and provides the scriptural antidote to overcome them. Could your leadership team identify how the enemy is seeking to attack the church?

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Church Strengthening
Gary Rohrmayer

Ten Marks of a Coachable Leader

Overview This ebook is designed to be used in a leadership setting with your church board, church staff, ministry team or even in a small group setting.  Our prayer is that God

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Church Strengthening
Gary Rohrmayer

Nine Prayers for Missional Leaders

Overview Prayer is more about bringing our desires, passions, needs, concerns and circumstances into missional alignment, rather than for our own personal fulfillment. In this short book on prayer our

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

This Week’s Zoom Links

We are offering 7 different breakout opportunities throughout the week. You can jump in on any of these Zoom calls for an opportunity to encourage each other, share ideas and

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Never Preach to an Empty Room

I never thought the day would come, that due to COVID-19 every pastor in America would be forced to do what I’ve been doing for the past 10 years. You

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

Strengthening Your Prayers through Fasting

Strengthening our prayer life through fasting helps us align our lives and our churches in what God is doing around us. There are several biblical reasons why one should engage

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

3 Indicators of a Healthy Church

My bookshelves are filled with books on church health. Most claim to hold the key to seeing your church break the “code” for effective ministry. There is not one pastor

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

Minister’s Assistance Program

Fourteen years ago, our family decided to use the Ministers Assistance Program (MAP). Our daughter Kallie, who was a teenager at the time, was struggling emotionally with a tragic event

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

Creating a Culture of Generosity

If you are going to grow a church significantly one of the skills you are going to need is to learn how to create and shape the culture of your organization. So how does one build a culture of generosity?

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Church Planting
Danny Parmelee

All In Resolution

We believe that every healthy church should play a role in multiplication. Would you prayerfully consider how God can use your leadership to lead your church in this multiplication effort?

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

6 Tips for a Year-End Offering

December is the largest giving month for most churches and non-profit organizations.  Early in my ministry, I learned that most non-profits see 25% of their giving revenue come in during

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Church Strengthening
Converge MidAmerica Team

Finding Rest in Busyness

EXHAUSTION I am a married pastor with six kids. Life is busy with vehicles breaking down, house projects never-ending, deadlines needing to be met, and to-do lists filling my time

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Church Planting
Converge MidAmerica Team

How to Get the Most out of Connect

You may be wondering what to expect at Connect, how to take full advantage of the conference, or why you should even attend. Here are a few tips to help

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