Welcome
The Church & Good Business Guide has been serving the Hampton Roads Christian community since 1990. In 2005 it became Hampton Roads monthly Christian newspaper in order to better serve God’s Kingdom purposes here, to give Him His glory, and to more thoroughly be of service to the Christian community.
The Church Guide newspaper is distributed as a FREE publication throughout the seven cities making up Hampton Roads. It is packed full each month with Christian book reviews; upcoming Christian musicians and groups in concert; forthcoming speakers, workshops and conferences; movie reviews recommended for the family in the theater and on DVD; spotlights on local ministries; ordinary people doing extraordinary things; what's happening in/at local churches; world, national and local news with a Biblical perspective; local support groups and assistance; and recognition of successful businesses and individuals ministering in the workplace. We invite contributing writers to submit stories and articles for consideration, and seek feedback and suggestions on what we must do to serve our Christian community of readers with excellence and Godly significance.
Ministering To One Million
As publisher of the Church Guide, I recently had the privilege of being “the guest” on “The Specialist Radio Hour.” Chris Kettner, the face behind the name and host of the program, is an author, speaker and sales/management consultant. He has a daily radio program on WPMH 670 and 1450 AM at 5:00 pm, where he interviews local, successful business people. I remember Chris asking me towards the end of the interview, “What is the goal of The Church Guide ten years from now?” My response was that this Christian newspaper would be available at every shopping center, restaurant, office building and Christian school in Hampton Roads, and that the Church Guide would have made a significant impact upon the community for the Kingdom of God.
Surprisingly, the very next day while attending a Power Lunch meeting of the Christian Business Network, Tim Callahan with Trust Title (the speaker) gave an excellent presentation on achieving all those things you have set out to do. Again the question came up, “what is your goal for three years from now?”
Most consultants and trainers always speak of five-year, or ten-year goals, but as Tim pointed out, let’s be realistic. There are too many unforeseen variables and unaccountable things that get in the way to realistic plan a five- or ten-year goal. You can actually plan and achieve a much closer and realistic three-year goal.
My answer again was to significantly skew national statistics concerning the numbers of people attending church here in Hampton Roads.
Now granted, it’s not the attending of church that’s important, it’s the numbers of people who have given their lives to God and have an intimate relationship with Him. But what does the secular world know about that? They live by sight, not faith. So it’s the surveys, the numbers and the statistics that they identify with, so it’s those numbers I seek to change.
Year after year, approximately 40 percent of Americans tell pollsters that they attend church every week. (National Opinion Research Center: 38%; Institute for Social Research’s World Values: 44%; Barna: 41%; National Election Studies: 40%; Gallup: 41%.)
However, Kirk Hadaway a minister for research and evaluation at the United Church of Christ’s Board for Homeland Ministries conducted a similar survey and found that only 20 percent of the Protestants were attending church. Furthermore, instead of 50 percent of Catholics attending church, he found 28 percent. In other words, actual church attendance according to his findings was about half the rate indicated by national public opinion polls.
Sociologist Stanley Presser at the University of Michigan—co-authored a study entitled: “Data Collection Mode and Social Desirability Bias in Self-Reported Religious Attendance,” and his research showed that the actual percentage of Americans attending church to be about 26%.
And there are even more studies showing similar results.
So what does all this mean to us?
According to the last census results for 2000 (quickfacts.census.gov):
That’s a total of 1,366,705 people living in Hampton Roads.
- 210,834 people live in Chesapeake
- 146,878 people live in Hampton
- 181,647 people live in Newport News
- 214,747 people live in Norfolk
- 99,617 people live in Portsmouth
- 73,515 people live in Suffolk
- 439,467 people live in Virginia Beach
What does that mean in terms of evangelism or fulfilling the great commission?
Well, if you use the broad statistical averages of the first group of pollsters, you find that approximately 820,023 people aren’t attending any church on a weekly basis.
But if you use the refined statistics of the second group of polls, you will find that approximately 1,025,028 people are not attending church weekly in Hampton Roads.
Over one million people... Every week.
One million people in Hampton Roads have no ongoing, loving relationship with the Father. One million people aren’t worshipping, aren’t praising, aren’t tithing, aren’t seeking to know Him better every week. One million people just here in Hampton Roads aren’t prepared to receive salvation.
Praise God for missionaries, but our calling, our work is right here in Hampton Roads.
The mission of the Church Guide is to transform Hampton Roads to the Kingdom of God.
Now you might ask, “can a little ole’ Christian newspaper change and transform an entire region for Christ?” Of course it can, with God’s help.
But how much quicker and how much greater can that change be when other Christians get involved … Christian churches, Christian schools, Christian businesses, Christian ministries.
Presently, we are under staffed and under financed to make an immediate impact regionally. It costs lots of money to purchase the news boxes we desire to place throughout the shopping and business districts of our cities. It takes lots of time to distribute each issue monthly and to gather information of God’s loving presence and work in Hampton Roads.
It’s interesting that the very group that we seek to serve is often the group that hinders our (God’s) progress -- the church. So this is an appeal to the on fire, Holy Ghost, Word-of-God Christian churches in Hampton Roads to allow us to help you. We have one million souls to reach, to save.
Your support through news articles, information on your assistance and help ministries, advertising of your special events and conferences, promotion of the special ministries and callings of your church, distribution of the paper to the faithful, are all needed for this newspaper to help you make a difference in God’s Kingdom of Hampton Roads.
Christian businesses and Christian schools, we are here to serve you also. Parents want to ensure their children are receiving a sound education, which doesn’t contradict their biblical beliefs and standards. Consumers want to patronize the services/gifts of Christian business owners and professionals in the area. Perhaps you have an office or a location that we could place our papers monthly for the public to pick up and read.
A majority of what the Church Guide offers is free. FREE! All you have to do is submit it to our email address, churchguide@usa.com. Our advertising is inexpensive when compared to other secular publications and media. And after all, it’s ALL God’s money, so keep it in the Kingdom Bank.
WE (that’s you and the Church Guide) have one million souls to reach. They ARE NOT in the church.
They ARE in the workplace. They ARE in the hospitals. They ARE in the restaurants. They ARE in the shopping centers. They are in the places that the Church Guide is reaching out with an invitation to come to know God. The Church Guide gives them hope. It gives them an invitation to attend a local church and to pursue a relationship with the Lord. It gives ALL the glory to God.
God has given us authority and dominion over Hampton Roads to pursue His work and build His Kingdom. With your help, your support, your contributions, your advertising, your inspirational messages and feedback, we can more quickly make a difference.
PublisherYou can read each month’s printed Church Guide newspaper right here on this Website.
