Dear Friends,

On March 23, 2011 at 9:44 p.m., our father and friend, Billy Hornsby went to be with the Lord.  Billy’s passion for God, family, life, and leaders around the world will be long remembered.

This verse from God’s Word says it all:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8 NLT)

Words cannot express how much you mean to us. We are grieving, but not like the rest of men who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).  On behalf of my family, thank you for your love and support.

Chris Hodges

Tribute to ARC

Highlands Wednesday Night Message from Greg Surratt Plus Special Message by Billy Hornsby

Struggle Well

Go Ahead, Make Me a Disciple!

We discovered in my last post that the average Christian is only exposed to 15.6 hours of Bible teaching per year if they attend the Sunday services 60% of the time. (60% is the national average) So, what can the local church do to increase the number of hours for discipleship? Here are a few suggestions. (each of these would occur weekly except reading of the Bible which would be daily)

1. Provide a mid-week meeting where there is one hour of expository Bible teaching. Stream it live to those who can’t attend. (1 hour)

2. Provide small groups that meet for teaching scripture and have discussion of a biblical topic. (1 hour)

3. Encourage the reading of the Bible such as the One Year Bible plan. Do it as a congregation and encourage them often to participate. (1.5 hours per week)

4. Encourage everyone in the church to discuss their questions about scripture and Christian living with a more mature and wiser Christian friend. (1 hour)

5. Look for opportunities to make discipleship a lifestyle rather than just another service in the week. (? hours)

Adding numbers 1-4 to the discipleship regimen of your church would add 234 hours per year of increased discipleship opportunities. The total would rise from 15.6 hours per year to a total of 249.6 hours per year. Then if you employ point number 5 a few times per year you would pass 250 hours per year…Just a thought.

Call me crazy…

Billy Hornsby

Disciple Me on Sunday

Disciple Me on Sunday

Can I be successfully discipled by attending Sunday services regularly? So much attention is given to having a great Sunday service that you would hope that the event could reach the lost and disciple the believer. Of course, much attention should be given to preaching and reading of the Word on Sundays as well as any other times Christians gather together. But Sunday alone could never “make disciples” in the real biblical sense. Act 5:42…”And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” Daily in the temple and house to house was the key to New Testament discipleship.

For the sake of comparison I calculated how many hours a year the average Christian sits under the teaching of his/her pastor. This will shock you.

15.6 hours per year!

Where do I get these numbers? Simple: There are 52 Sundays in the year – the average message is ½ hour (30 minutes) – and the average church has only 60% of its congregation in attendance on any given Sunday. If you multiply 30 minutes by 52 Sundays you get 26 hours, then take the 26 hours by an average of 60% attendance (some will never miss some will come occasionally) you have that average of 15.6 hours per year…. That’s if the average member of your church attends 31 services in the year. Amazing.

This does not take into consideration the power of the worship experience and the presence of the Holy Spirit…it is purely crunching the numbers….just over  a half of a day per year.

Consider these stats from the Nielson Company – Per year the average American watches 1800 hours of TV, spend 360 hours on the internet, 36 hours watching video on the internet and 36 hours watching video on their cell phones. Wonder why we might be losing the war in the spiritual?

This makes for a great case for small groups, mid-week teaching services and anything else you can do to make disciples of church members.

Billy Hornsby