Revived: How Stagnant or Declining Churches Found New Life

Thinking Big

Heart of the Valley Christian Fellowship
Visalia, California
Senior Pastor Brian Salber

On my very first Sunday, June 15, 1995, the congregation had 15 adults and 16 kids. The church had gotten to a really depressed place and was going to close if we hadn’t accepted their invitation. My family and I felt it was God’s calling for us to be here. We made some changes, and the church began to grow and get healthy.

Growing up, I went to a larger church and had what I call a big-church mentality. It seemed like the people in the church had a small-church mentality, so some of the things they did were kind of hokey, like having an usher stand at the front of the church counting people. There were only 15 people, but he was counting them. Another usher was chewing tobacco—just some crazy stuff you don’t do.

The first area we focused on changing was worship. They had a trumpet player and a guy playing guitar—no singing. So I told the trumpet player to put down the trumpet. He and his wife started singing, and then my wife and I joined them. We added some drums and started a worship team. I told the ushers that people don’t want to feel like they’re a number when you’re counting them. We just kind of initiated the whole concept of trying to understand what people see when they came in to the church. I tried to give everyone a little bit of purpose to what we do. Whoever greets, they’re preaching a message. If you’re ushering, you’re preaching a message.

It seemed like we just got to a place without even trying where things got healthy, and people started inviting their friends, and it just kind of took off. I think people sensed a change. I remember hearing someone say, “This feels like a safe place to invite people.”

Looking back, vision played a big part in the change, though I didn’t realize until later how important vision was because I really didn’t know anything about casting it. But I knew I wanted to tell them: “Hey, we’re going some place. This ministry means something. God has a plan, and He’s not done with the church and the ministry.” Our second Sunday there, I expressed to our congregation that God had a plan and a purpose for us, and that this church was going to be in a prominent place both in a physical and spiritual sense. And now we are.

The hardest part of mobilizing people to get to that place was getting them to think big. Because they had always been a small church, they couldn’t see past being small.

In addition to giving them a big vision, I also went to the churches around us that were growing and thriving and met with the pastors. I didn’t have two dimes to rub together, but I’d take them out to lunch and find out what they were doing.

I know that if I had given up early on, I would have missed out on where we are now and seeing people’s lives changed.

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