Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening: 4 Ways to FISH for Men

When I was 12 years old, an incoming freshman in high school, we lived in a Barrio (village) called Buenavista

At that time, going in out of our village, going to and from the town feels like taking forever.

The roads are unpaved, the bridge is half done.

Almost whole year round, me and my childhood friends would swim the rivers that isolates our village from the town

On summer nights when the moon is bright, we will play games such as “harayang taga” and “hide and seek”

Speaking of “hide and seek”, this reminds me of Pastor Sam Talaver.

The shepherd of the “Bible Baptist Church” in my home town.

Because I remember hiding from him many times, but he never gave up seeking me

This servant of God will walk from house to house, knocking on peoples’ doors.

He was literally on foot with his accordion keyboard wrapped around his chest.

After knocking on doors, he will play a song or two, if the home owner welcomes him in, then he will start sharing the Gospel.

He will play a

He will invite them to his church.

He didn’t have any plan of missing a house, he saturates every house in the block until he reached ours and that was how we met.

From the day we met, he started inviting me to their church (take note of my age back at that time), but with my catholic background, heeding to his invitation is not easy for me

At the beginning of our friendship, I really felt good listening to the things he shared to me.

That was how we met.

From the day we met, he started inviting me to their church.

Over time however, I started feeling bored.

Obviously my heart wasn’t ready.

So, I started hiding from him.

Whenever he will come to seek me, I will hide from him.

14 years and many life seasons after, when my wife Joan and I, along with our first 2 children, Aj & Jaja, were “under tension” and “in transition”.

When we literally lived in a dirty kitchen of one of my brothers.

Where our make-shift walls are made of nylon canvas just to protect my family during the rainy season

We have no money.

One night there was no food on the table.

Joan and I are staring at each other, while we look at our sleeping children.

I remembered Pastor Sam.

So, I told my wife, let’s visit Pastor Sam’s church this Sunday.

Sunday came, we were dragging ourselves going to the church.

We were kinda anxious about what to expect.

Do you remember how you felt when you were invited to a birthday party where you know no one there except for the person that actually invited you to come?

That is exactly the kind of feeling we had..

Being invited to a church, and coming for the first time could be very difficult for people specially those who have not been in the church in their entire life (the unchurched), or may have been in a church but not for a very long time (they’re called the de-churched)

But because God had prepared our hearts that day, we were able to overcome our fear with courage

So, we made it to the church, we sat on the rear most pew where we could easily push the eject button, should we decide not to stay, and quietly disappear without anyone noticing

But! the church people was very welcoming, love was in the air, and the atmosphere was very friendly, so we managed to hang tight and see what happens next

When the worship started, they started singing hymns.

Behind the pews are song books for reference if anyone wanted to sing along with them

It wasn’t very difficult.

All you need to do is to shout the lyrics of the song, and sing at the top of your voice, and as loud as you can (hahaha)

But seriously, as the singing continued, as the choir brought it down to mellow songs, I began to feel something is going on, something is happening inside me, water started to drip from my eyes until tears started to roll down my cheeks

And then Pastor Sam offered and invitation to accept Jesus as Lord & Savior

I was dragging my feet when we came to the church, I was mocking their songs deep inside me.

But when Pastor Sam did an altar call, my feet was raising against each other, rushing to the altar

And right there, I accepted Jesus as my Lord, King and Savior.

Then things were never the same for us after that.

Because there was once a Sam Talaver who willingly gave himself to be the feet, to be the mouth and to be the ears of Jesus.

A wretched like me received the amazing grace of God.

I was once lost, but now I am found, because in spite of my hiding, someone decides to keep seeking

This was back in 1993 and here is a picture of the late Pastor Sam (show photo of Pastor Sam)

BREATHE!

Zig Ziglar said… “The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist” (show quote)

Now, let’s take a look at the state of health of the body of Christ

The Bride whom the Groom had died for.

The Bride that one day, the Groom will return for...

Let me just define some of the terms I will used to make sure that we understand each other clearly

Churched People - People who attended a church service in the past 7 days are classified as “churched people”

Unchurched People - People who have not attended a church service for the past 6 months (not including special events such as weddings or funerals)

Dechurched People - are those who formerly either very, somewhat or minimally active churchgoers, but have not attended a church service in the past 6 months (not including special events such as weddings or funerals)

Based on Barna’s most recent data, almost 4 in 10 or 38 % of Americans are active churchgoers

5 of 10 or 43% are unchurched

And around 1/3 or 34% are dechurched

BREATHE!

Top 5 of the list of the most churched cities in America are: (show table churched)

Chattanooga, TN (59%)

Salt Lake City, UT (59%)

Augusta, GA (57%)

Baton Rouge, LA (57%)

Birmingham, AL (56%)

Top 5 of the list of the most unchurched cities in America are: (show table unchurched)

San Francisco, CA (60%)

Reno, NV (59%)

Springfield, MA (57%)

Boston, MA (56%)

Las Vegas, NV (55%)

And finally, the Top 5 of the list of the most dechurched cities in America are: (show table dechurched)

San Francisco, CA (47%)

Boston, MA (46%)

Seattle, WA (45%)

Portland, ME (45%)

Springfield, MA (43

5

BREATHE!

The Christian church has been a cornerstone of American life for centuries, but much has changed in the last 30 years.

The Christian church has been a cornerstone of American life for centuries, but much has changed in the last 30 years.

Americans are attending church less, and more people are experiencing and practicing their faith outside of its four walls.

Millennials in particular are coming of age at a time of great skepticism and cynicism toward institutions—particularly the church.

Add to this the broader secularizing trend in American culture

Americans are attending church less, and more people are experiencing and practicing their faith outside of its four walls.

Millennials in particular are coming of age at a time of great skepticism toward institutions—particularly the church.

Add to this the broader secularizing trend in American culture

Almost three quarters of Americans say they are christians (show table How American Affiliate)

If 73% of Americans says they are christians, but only 38% are actually active in church, where are the remaining 45% (these are the unchurched and the dechurched people)

BREATHE!

Every year more than 4,000 churches closes their doors compared to only 1,000 new church starts

Every year 2.7 Million church members fall into being inactive

Half of all churches in the US did not add any new members to their ranks in the last 2 years

If we, the followers of Jesus will not do anything about this trend, we can see the figures on American attendance dropping to 15% by 2025 and 11-12% in 2050 (show table The Future of American Church)