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	<title>MethodistThinker.com &#187; Church Growth</title>
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		<title>MethodistThinker.com &#187; Church Growth</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com</link>
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		<title>United Methodists are well-liked, but to what end?</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com/2012/01/11/united-methodists-are-nice-but-do-we-still-have-the-message-of-new-life/</link>
		<comments>http://methodistthinker.com/2012/01/11/united-methodists-are-nice-but-do-we-still-have-the-message-of-new-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MethodistThinker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christian/Methodist History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evangelism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Methodist Church]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://methodistthinker.wordpress.com/?p=18785</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The following commentary is by Riley B. Case, associate executive director of the Confessing Movement Within the United Methodist Church. Dr. Case served for many years as a pastor and district superintendent in the UMC&#8217;s North Indiana Conference (now the Indiana Conference). He is the author of Evangelical and Methodist: A Popular History (Abingdon Press) [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=methodistthinker.com&amp;blog=4447145&amp;post=18785&amp;subd=methodistthinker&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">MethodistThinker</media:title>
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		<title>Adam Hamilton: How the UMC can have &#8216;a future with hope&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com/2010/10/11/adam-hamilton-umc-can-have-a-future-with-hope/</link>
		<comments>http://methodistthinker.com/2010/10/11/adam-hamilton-umc-can-have-a-future-with-hope/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Oct 2010 08:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MethodistThinker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Church Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Renewal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Preaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Methodist Church]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://methodistthinker.com/?p=14875</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To reverse the United Methodist Church&#8217;s decades-long membership decline in the United States, local UM churches must embrace innovation and commit themselves to constant improvement, according to Adam Hamilton, leader of one of the UMC&#8217;s largest and most successful churches. Hamilton, founder and senior pastor of  the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR) in [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=methodistthinker.com&amp;blog=4447145&amp;post=14875&amp;subd=methodistthinker&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://methodistthinker.com/2010/10/11/adam-hamilton-umc-can-have-a-future-with-hope/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
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			<media:title type="html">MethodistThinker</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Four things the UMC must do &#8216;to serve the present age&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com/2010/05/27/hunter-to-serve-the-present-age/</link>
		<comments>http://methodistthinker.com/2010/05/27/hunter-to-serve-the-present-age/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 May 2010 16:40:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MethodistThinker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Church Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Renewal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discipleship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Doctrine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Georgia Conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Methodist Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UMC]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://methodistthinker.com/?p=11724</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post is by Richard Hunter, senior pastor of Snellville United Methodist Church (North Georgia Conference). He holds a doctorate in parish revitalization from McCormick Theological Seminary (Chicago) and teaches on the adjunct faculty at both Asbury Theological Seminary and the Candler School of Theology. — Ed. I want to be a part of renewing [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=methodistthinker.com&amp;blog=4447145&amp;post=11724&amp;subd=methodistthinker&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">MethodistThinker</media:title>
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		<title>Adam Hamilton: &#8216;We are in desperate need of excellent preaching&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com/2009/10/12/adam-hamilton-desperate-need-of-excellent-preaching/</link>
		<comments>http://methodistthinker.com/2009/10/12/adam-hamilton-desperate-need-of-excellent-preaching/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MethodistThinker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Church Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Renewal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discipleship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Preaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Methodist Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Audio]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://methodistthinker.com/?p=8802</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At the 11th annual Leadership Institute, held last week at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, host pastor Adam Hamilton urged pastors and lay preachers to focus on improving the quality of their preaching. &#8220;We are in desperate need today of excellent preaching,&#8221; he said during the conference&#8217;s Oct. 9 morning [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=methodistthinker.com&amp;blog=4447145&amp;post=8802&amp;subd=methodistthinker&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://methodistthinker.com/2009/10/12/adam-hamilton-desperate-need-of-excellent-preaching/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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			<media:title type="html">MethodistThinker</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Bishop Robert Schnase on &#8216;The Five Practices&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com/2009/01/14/bishop-robert-schnase-on-the-five-practices/</link>
		<comments>http://methodistthinker.com/2009/01/14/bishop-robert-schnase-on-the-five-practices/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:01:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MethodistThinker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bishops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Renewal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discipleship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Doctrine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evangelism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stewardship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Methodist Church]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://methodistthinker.com/?p=3414</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Bishop Robert Schnase (Missouri Conference) has done a great service for the United Methodist Church with his book, The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. The United Methodist News Service notes that &#8220;[p]ublisher Abingdon Press has sold nearly 75,000 copies of the Five Practices book, and demand is hot for the companion leader manual and media [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=methodistthinker.com&amp;blog=4447145&amp;post=3414&amp;subd=methodistthinker&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://methodistthinker.com/2009/01/14/bishop-robert-schnase-on-the-five-practices/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>For the pastor on your Christmas gift list</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com/2008/12/16/for-the-pastor-on-your-christmas-list/</link>
		<comments>http://methodistthinker.com/2008/12/16/for-the-pastor-on-your-christmas-list/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:32:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MethodistThinker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Church Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Renewal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Discipleship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Doctrine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evangelism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Preaching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stewardship]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://methodistthinker.com/?p=3046</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Looking for just the right gift for a preacher? I suggest Warren Lathem and Dan Dunn&#8217;s book, Preaching for a Response: Leading New Believers into Spiritual Maturity, released earlier this year by Bristol House. The authors (Lathem has served as a pastor, district superintendent, and seminary president; Dunn has been a pastor, associate pastor, and [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=methodistthinker.com&amp;blog=4447145&amp;post=3046&amp;subd=methodistthinker&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>New research: What Americans really believe</title>
		<link>http://methodistthinker.com/2008/10/01/what-americans-really-believe/</link>
		<comments>http://methodistthinker.com/2008/10/01/what-americans-really-believe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>MethodistThinker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Christian/Methodist History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Church Renewal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evangelism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Methodist Church]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://methodistthinker.wordpress.com/?p=1580</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This graph, based on research by social scientist Rodney Stark, appears in the October issue of the AFA Journal: As you can see, United Methodists are among those who ought to &#8220;read &#8216;em and weep.&#8221; The Methodist Church had almost 59 members per 1,000 people in the U.S. in 1960. By the turn of the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=methodistthinker.com&amp;blog=4447145&amp;post=1580&amp;subd=methodistthinker&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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