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What is a 50-Day Spiritual Adventure?
What is unique about the 50-Day Spiritual Adventure?
How will I benefit from the Adventure as a pastor?
How will my church benefit from the 50-Day Spiritual Adventure?
How can my church get involved?
What denomination or religious affiliation are you a part of?
Who writes your material?
What denominations use your material?
How much does the Adventure cost?
What do participants need to do the Adventure?
What do pastors, church leaders need to facilitate the Adventure?
Can I return unused materials?
What age levels of materials do you have?
Can people share journals?
Can we reproduce materials?
Why 50 Days?
Why the word "Adventure"?
What is the time commitment for journaling each day?
When can you do the Adventure?
What is your Statement of Faith?
Do we have to do all 50 days?
I don't like canned programs so how can the Adventure work for me?
What percentage of my church can I expect to participate?
What if I am unsatisfied with your material or my board shoots it down?
What denomination is David Mains affiliated with?
What are my responsibilities as a pastor doing the Adventure?
Should I take on all the responsibilities of the Adventure by myself?
Who can help me should there be any problems?
How do I justify the cost of doing the Adventure to my church leadership, board, elders, staff etc.
What comes in the Deluxe DVD package?
What can I do to re-direct resistance from my people to doing the Adventure journal?
What is a 50-Day Spiritual Adventure?
The 50-Day Spiritual Adventure is a church-wide journey into the life-changing Word of God, lasting seven weeks within eight Sundays.
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What is unique about the 50-Day Spiritual Adventure?
The 50-Day Spiritual Adventure is a proven, practical way to help entire congregations explore God's Word and learn to "Do what it says." (James 1:22b)
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How will I benefit from the Adventure as a pastor?
The 50-Day Spiritual Adventure is designed around the "Mainstay Model" for life-changing communication, which helps pastors improve sermon retention and sermon application, so your listeners better remember and apply what you preach, so that measurable life change results.
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How will my church benefit from the 50-Day Spiritual Adventure?
The 50-Day Spiritual Adventure, The Remarkable Revelation, gets your entire adult congregation on an adventure into the life-changing Word of God. Adults and teens can get involved by using their Bible-study journals and the book, The Day that Changed America. For most people, participation takes about 10 minutes a day. The journals get people into God's Word with an emphasis on learning how to apply the Word to everyday living. Practical application steps equip users to learn to "Do what it says." (James 1:22b). The Adventure also coordinates the journals with the eight Sunday services in the Adventure. The goal is to provide practical ways to help churchgoers remember and practice what your pastor preaches on Sunday mornings. In this regard, Adventure Sundays are designed to be as life-changing and transforming as possible. The goal is to equip listeners to recall and apply God's Word in practical ways on Sundays and beyond. Then they can experience the transforming presence of our risen Lord on a consistent basis, overcome the sins that regularly beset them, and become more righteous and holy, like Christ, while living here on earth.
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How can my church get involved?
Simply order the Deluxe DVD Package for starters, then place your order for congregational journals and books later.
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What denomination or religious affiliation are you a part of?
None. We service pastor and churches from nearly every denomination.
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Who writes your material?
We either write material using our internal writing and editing staff, or we hire experts in their fields of specialty to write for us. Also, many written components of our manuals are contributed voluntarily by pastors from all across North America.
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What denominations use your material?
Churches from nearly every single one, including Salvation Army, Methodists, Evangelical Free, Church of God Anderson, C&MA, Presbyterians, Baptists, Wesleyans, Nazarenes, Lutherans, and numerous others.
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How much does the Adventure cost?
Your Deluxe DVD Starter Package will cost $149.95. After that, it depends on the size of your congregation and what resources you decide to order. A typical church of 125 will order about $650 of Adventure journal and book resources, and pay for them via sales or donations they receive from their participants to cover the costs.
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What do participants need to do the Adventure?
An adult participant needs their Bible, one journal and the Adventure guidebook, The Day that Changed America.
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What do pastors, church leaders need to facilitate the Adventure?
Pastors need the Deluxe DVD Starter Package that contains the Pastor's Manual of sermon and worship helps, the Implementation Guide for your Administrator, PowerPoint graphics, projection video, sample journals and more.
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Can I return unused materials?
Participant's resources are returnable for an Exchange Credit of 85% of the purchase price.
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What age levels of materials do you have?
We have journals for adults and teens. The "Revelation" subject material is a bit too strong for children.
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Can people share journals?
Not effectively. We recommend every individual have their own journal to record their own spiritual progress and to write down what the Lord is saying to them on a regular basis.
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Can we reproduce materials?
You CAN reproduce content for use within your own church from the Pastor's Deluxe DVD. You cannot sell or distribute any of our content to other churches. You CAN"T reproduce journals or books. Since we run this ministry primarily from the sale of these resources, we usually don't grant "FREE" permissions. Once in a while we bend this rule.
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Why 50 Days?
Experts say it takes 21 days to build a habit, so the Adventure provides ample time for participants to break unhealthy spiritual habits, or to make healthy new ones.
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Why the word "Adventure"?
The Christian life is an adventure-a journey or exploration of learning to overcome sin in our lives and learning to become more like our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is holy as God is holy.
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What is the time commitment for journaling each day?
The Adventure takes about 10-15 minutes each day to accomplish, with more time needed to achieve the life-application steps.
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When can you do the Adventure?
Most churches find there are five seasons when the Adventure is most appropriate to use: as a New Year series, leading up to Easter, following Easter, during the summer, or in the Fall back-to-school season.
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What is your Statement of Faith?
It's clearly articulated online at www.sundaysolutions.com/info.html
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Do we have to do all 50 days?
It takes the full seven weeks for people to establish healthy, new spiritual habits like daily bible study, consistent prayer, Scripture memory and meditation, regular church attendance, sermon application, and learning to do what God's Word says (James 1:22b). It can take even longer for people to overcome negative, unhealthy habits. So, yes you need to commit yourself to the full 50 days. Any effort that's less than this is nearly sure to fail to accomplish any successful outcome—which we define as truly transformed spiritual lives.
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I don't like canned programs so how can the Adventure work for me?
If you think the Adventure is a "canned program" that you have to rigidly follow and methodically perform, it won't work for you, so don't bother using it and complaining about it later. If you view the Adventure as a church-wide journey into the life-changing Word of God, then you'll see its potential to impact your church much more clearly. It contains a proven model for life-changing Sunday communication, and numerous life-application resources to help your listeners better remember and apply your sermons so that God's Word can be bringing about life-transformation within your congregation. The Adventure is a resource full of unique sermon helps, but you always supply the unique sermon style.
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What percentage of my church can I expect to participate?
Most churches see 60-70% of their congregation use the journals or join an Adventure small group to get involved. Some get nearly 100%, but it's rare. Also, many adventurers will not complete the entire journey, and of those who do get to the end, fewer still will be able to permanently incorporate what they've learned during the adventure into their ongoing lifestyle. But when it's all said and done, a half dozen or more will have experienced an incredible transformation within their spiritual lives because of the Adventure and your sermons during it. They will have literally re-oriented themselves spiritually to overcome sin in their lives, and become more like our Lord, Jesus Christ, on a regular ongoing basis.
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What if I am unsatisfied with your material or my board shoots it down?
To be completely honest, most churches that are unsatisfied with the Adventure after it's done have failed to implement the Adventure properly. That's a shame, but it happens. The Adventure is a "reap what you sow" kind of event. If you prepare little, publicize and announce it little, do not undergird it with prayer, fail to get your leadership on board, and only preach the sermons, it's unlikely you'll experience any life-changing impact. You may even hear people complaining about the Adventure. But, if you properly invest the amount of time it requires to implement this church-wide journey into God's Word successfully, it will nearly always deliver for you steady, reliable results. Over 20 years of doing Adventures in churches of all types across America and Canada have demonstrated that God consistently uses this tool to transform people's lives. If you "sow" the proper amount of implementation effort, and it is still received poorly, then it may simply not be an appropriate fit for your congregation at this time. If your board is unhappy with the resource before you have even begun, return any materials you've purchased within 30 days for a full refund.
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What denomination is David Mains affiliated with?
His ordination is with the Evangelical Free Church.
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What are my responsibilities as a pastor doing the Adventure?
To preach the eight sermons. To plan eight services that support your messages (or delegate this to your worship leader or service planner). To delegate administrative leadership to your secretary or other Adventure coordinator. To be the top spokesman for getting your entire congregation involved. To do the journal. To lead by example.
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Should I take on all the responsibilities of the Adventure by myself?
If you do, you will almost surely fail. You must delegate responsibility to others—usually this includes delegating administrative tasks and publicity efforts to competent helpers.
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Who can help me should there be any problems?
Any one of our staff consultants can assist you in working through any issue, dilemma or concern that you might have. Call us at 1-866-998-4136.
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How do I justify the cost of doing the Adventure to my church leadership, board, elders, staff etc.
The easiest way to do this is by simply pointing out that most churches request a simple donation or purchase amount from their participants who want to get journals and guidebooks. For church families, the cost ends up being about the sum of a fast-food dinner. For the church, this process will usually recover 85-100% of the cost of purchasing Adventure materials by your church. In the end, you will most likely not require any funds out of your budget to do the Adventure. If any sum is required, the amount should be exceptionally small in comparison to the depth of ministry that will occur in the life of your congregation.
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What comes in the Deluxe DVD package?
Our Deluxe DVD has comprehensive sermon and Sunday service ideas, extensive PowerPoint graphics, 14 video illustrations you can use in church or Sunday School, promotional ideas for your website, a sample Bible study journal and copes of the books, The Day that Changed America, and Salt and Light.
sample journal for adults, 6, a sample Guidebook, Leadership Training Guides and the Administrator's Packet for successful implementation.
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What can I do to re-direct resistance from my people to doing the Adventure journal?
Good question. It's a nearly identical question to "What can I do to re-direct resistance from my people to reading their Bibles." The Adventure is simply a life-application Bible study that is coordinated to your Sunday sermons for seven consecutive weeks. Emphasize how much careful preparation you put into your sermons, and much you desire for your people to get the most out of them as possible by using the journals daily. Emphasize the importance of being in the Word of God consistently. When we draw near to God, he will honor our efforts and draw near to us in return. By reading his Word, we learn what he desires for us and we can begin to "Do what it says" (James 1:22b) Emphasize the importance of regular meals. We would all think it foolish to exist on only one physical meal each week. Likewise, my Sunday morning sermon isn't sufficient as your only spiritual meal of the week. You need to be feeding yourself spiritually at home, daily by getting into God's Word. Use the Adventure journals to get this habit started. If you already have a daily study, use the Adventure journals to add a life-application emphasis to your study of God's Word.
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