Tim Halbfoerster

Churches have conflict issues. Tim said a certain church that he was involved with was one of the hardest two 1/2 years of his life/ministry (Penn Del district). He had the idea of having a conflict resolution ministry in the district-now they have a ministry across the state & Delaware where they train ministers and congregations how to manage and resolve conflicts.

Bridge Builders ministry

Tim: "I encourage new ministers to strike a strong relationship with your senior pastor."
Tom: "What if you think your pastor is a jerk?"
Tim: "Commit or get out- it won't work unless you're with your senior pastor. Without him/her nothing will get done and it will ultimately be a lose-lose scenario."
Tom: "what if a member of the congregation approaches you with criticism about the Senior Pastor?" and what if you agree with them?"
Tim: "the most important reason you are @ the church is to help the Senior Pastor carry out his ministry-if you happen to agree with the congregant, then don't ever let them know it."

Tim has used pyrotechnics to enhance the delivery of ministerial drama. They never charge for anything because you never see any biblical model use "fund-raisers" to benefit the church. If you're going to do an outreach do 2 or 3 events over the course of 2 - 3 days (it builds with momentum for reaching people)=reaches hundreds of people.

Ideas: mechanical bull, sumo wrestler outfits, face-painting, Velcro-walls, handouts of literature, free coffee, cake, baked goods, pizza…etc.

Light the Night: during Halloween- puppets, dramas, games & activities- however, Tim noted that they evaluated this particular outreach and it was not resulting in a good turnout.

Evaluation: Evaluate what was good, what was bad, and what was confused.

Questions Concerning Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Tim says he doesn't know how a church can effectively minister the Word of God without an active Baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, I felt he used this term synonymously with a more specific gesture of "Speaking in Tongues". My question is: "Can he therefore not see how a church can effectively minister the Word of God without speaking in Tongues?"
There are many denominations who do not emphasize "Tongues" to be synonymous with being Baptized in the Holy Spirit (i.e. Salvation Army, Baptists…etc.) Billy Graham did not speak in tongues, or at least from what is known of him. I just wonder how much more effective is a Pentecostal in ministry to the world in reaching the lost for Christ than the non-Pentecostal denominational churches who also greatly impact the world for Christ.

How can we get past the comparison of Pentecostals over Non-Pentecostals to be somehow more "enabled" to minister the Word of God. Can you be baptized in the Holy Spirit without the evidence of Speaking in Tongues?