If you’re like most people, chances are that your NCAA March Madness bracket is beyond busted at this point (UMBC who?).
To many Americans, the annual bracket challenge is fairly superfluous, drafted through weighing a variety of random determinants, such as mascots, geography or team colors. Items that have no bearing upon performance.
Having grown up in the heart of North Carolina, where college basketball reigns supreme, my annual bracket is typically filled out with monk-like reverence. I must confess, in my younger days, I would spend more time than I ought, anchored within the cloister, analyzing team stats and mid-majors, considering the commentators who really know their stuff, and doing my best to ignore Charles Barkley. While it is difficult to fathom what will transpire in the Big Dance, generally speaking, the more research I gathered, the better my bracket faired on average.
Why? Because information matters. Having the right data and insight, when dealing with a decision, can make a world of difference.
In Luke 14:28, our Lord said, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” In Proverbs 18:15, we read “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Considering particular realities, factors, and sources of wisdom, and weighing these aspects in proper congruence is essential to making sensible decisions.
As all leaders do, church planters and pastors are constantly making choices and judgement calls. While there is no better council than God’s word for spiritual matters, we would like to offer some help for our network pastors, where knowledge from other theologically astute pastors/elders can be sifted for your benefit.
At the Pillar website, we have created a page called The Archives. This subpage houses many pertinent documents you will find useful as church leaders. We have writings from several of our more academic members, discipleship materials per our regional structure, and lots of accrued sources that were previously housed in our network’s dropbox/cloud account. 38 topical folders include real world documents such as church constitutions & bylaws, counseling, family ministry, budget forms, ordinances, job descriptions, membership processes, small groups, homosexuality, church plant prospectuses and much more!
Due to the varied authorship of many of these sources, we have password protected this page. If you’re a pastor or staff member of a Pillar church and would like access, please email me at kevin@thepillarnetwork.com.
It is said that today, we live in an information age. An era with terabytes of knowledge a mere thumb-swipe away. And yet, there is a conditional factor with regards to information. It is only advantageous if properly harnessed prior to making a decision. I can assure you, several Division I basketball coaches were reminded of this reality last weekend.