I’m Steve Lawes
Certified Church Consultant
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Utilizing a process we call “Virtual Church Consulting” we work with you through a series of steps to help pinpoint problems and offer solutions. This all online church consulting method is effective and affordable.
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Internet Impact
Your website is the “digital foyer” for the church. It is the first impression for almost everyone that visits your church.
Community Statistics
Demographic information is helpful in getting an overview of what is happening in your community.
Church Health Survey
A church health survey/assessment is a helpful tool that will give you information on the overall health of your church.
Effective Outreach Ideas
An outreach strategy is a specific set of tactics intended to ultimately attract new people to your church.
Church Consulting & Coaching
We offer a wide range of Church Consulting and Ministry Coaching Services. Our desire is to help pastors and churches thrive so that they are able to fulfill the calling that God has on them for their community.
Church Marketing
Think of church marketing as a tool to help people who are in need of what your church offers to be able to connect with you. We are not trying to sell something people don’t need. We are trying to connect them with the One who changes everything. Click on this link to read more about developing a Church Marketing Strategy.
Church Revitalization
Church Revitalization is the process of leading a dying or declining church back to a healthy place so that it can continue to carry out the calling and purpose that God has for it. Steve Lawes is certified in Church Revitalization with Church Answers.
Ministry and Pastoral Coaching
We offer a wide variety of Coaching Services for pastors and churches. For more information go to Church Encourager.
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Partnering with the Jesus Moment Bible Institute and Seminary we are able to offer a wide variety of Discipleship Training opportunites for pastors and churches.
Meet Steve Lawes
Steve Lawes is a Certified Church Consultant. He has been the lead Pastor of Keys Vineyard Church in Big Pine Key since 1992. He has a Bachelors Degree in Bible and Theology from Berean University and Masters and PhD Degrees from Atlantic Coast Theological Seminary. He lead the Cuba Missions Team for Vineyard Missions from 1995-2005 and traveled to Cuba more than twenty times helping to plant churches and build up local leaders. He served as the South Florida Area Leader for the Association of Vineyard Churches for ten years. He also founded the Jesus Moment Bible Institute and Seminary in 2014 which has a student enrollment of over 1800. He has written three devotional books, Daily Psalt Intake, Daily Sage Intake and Daily Strength Training which are now out of print but are currently available as free e-books.
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Recent Posts from Church Consultant
Fruit of the Spirit – Gentleness
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
In today’s climate the idea of being a gentle person might be hard to imagine. Our current culture is anything but gentle and the prevailing idea is that gentle people will get pushed around and walked over.
What is Gentleness?
The dictionary defines the word as: mild, moderate, soft, and delicate. The word in the Greek is often translated as meekness.
There is something we need to understand when we speak of gentleness or meekness. Meekness is not weakness, in fact the Greeks used this word to describe strong animals that were brought under control.
There are only two individuals in the Bible who are described by this word, Jesus (three times) in Matthew 11:29; Matthew 21:5; and in 2 Corinthians 10:1, and in the Old Testament, Moses in Numbers 12:3 is described as meek.
I love this. Both Moses and Jesus were rescuers. They were part of God’s plan to set us free from slavery and bondage. These gentle men were in no way pushovers. Jesus invites us to live this life of gentleness with Him.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
He says, “Come unto me, all you weary and burdened and I will give you rest. The Lord invites you and me to walk alongside him, literally, to yoke up with him, and he’ll teach us this gentleness.
How is gentleness expressed in our lives?
It happens as we yield to Holy Spirit. We yield our personalities. We yield our words. We yield our expectations. As we do, we allow the Holy Spirit produced fruit of gentleness to be activated in our day to day lives.
Gentleness comes from a life committed to yielding to the Holy Spirit. True gentleness is power and strength that’s been brought under God’s control. Gentle people have been transformed by the surprising message of God’s grace, and they delight in showing that grace to others.
Steve Lawes is a Church Consultant and also provides coaching for pastors, churches, ministries and church planters.
Fruit of the Spirit – Faithfulness
Galatians 5:22 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Faithfulness is believing that God is who He says He is and that He is completely trustworthy despite the trials we face in life. Faithfulness means that we trust what God says in the Bible, we trust He work out everything for good, and we trust that our situation on earth is nothing compared to the hope we have when everything is made new. This type of faithfulness is made possible in us by Holy Spirit. The Spirit makes us faithful and all of this is possible because God is faithful.
God is Faithful
We can see God’s faithfulness in the order and constancy of nature. There is a design to things.
Psalm 119:138 (NIV)
138 The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy.
We can see His faithfulness in the way He keeps His Word and His promises.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NIV)
3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
How is faithfulness expressed?
It is first expressed in our faithfulness to Him. He has done so much for us, He has been so faithful to us, our response should be to be faithful to Him.
Being faithful to Him means that we must follow Him daily.
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
We need to be spending time in the Word and in prayer being open to the leading of Holy Spirit.
Our faithfulness is also expressed in how we act towards others.
Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Ultimately, faithfulness gets us back to loving God and loving others, which Jesus has told us is what really matters.
Steve Lawes is a Church Consultant and also provides coaching for pastors, churches, ministries and church planters.
Fruit of the Spirit – Goodness
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Goodness is a word that we use in a lot of different ways, so it is little difficult to define. I had a good day is different than I had a good cry. We can move towards finding a definition by looking at how the word is used in the Bible.
In Genesis 1 God looks at all He has created and says, “It is good.”
Genesis 1:31 (NIV)
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning–the sixth day.
So, we might assume from that verse, that goodness is something that pleases God.
We also know from the Bible that God is good.
Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
What is it about God that is good? We know He is love, pure, holy, forgiving, generous and so much more. As His children, empowered by the Spirit, these characteristics should be true of us as well.
I think I have a definition that works well for goodness and allows us to live out ‘goodness’ in practical ways. Goodness is living by doing the next right thing.
What does goodness look like in our lives?
Doing what is best for others. This is what the Bible refers to as “good works or good deeds”. But in our culture, I would say that the prevailing attitude is more like “I’ll do what I think is right and what is in my own best interest!”
The Spirit produced fruit of goodness is the polar opposite of that cultural idea.
Romans 12:20 (NIV)
20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
What is the goodness (next right thing) in this verse? Feeding the hungry and giving the thirsty something to drink.
And what is the awesome outcome?
Romans 12:21 (NIV)
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
This amazing fruit of the Spirit, goodness, doing the next right thing, is the way to overcome evil.
Let’s add to love, joy, peace, patience and kindness – goodness (living by doing the next right thing).
Spend some time meditating on these verses:
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.Steve Lawes is a Church Consultant and also provides coaching for pastors, churches, ministries and church planters.
Testimonials
“Steve and his team at Keys Vineyard Church have built a church that has done an inspiring job reaching their community. Steve is a treasure trove of experience and has continued to prioritize learning and growth throughout his more than 30 years of ministry in a way few pastors have. You’ll get a lot out of connecting with him!”
“I watched first hand as Steve experienced the devastation of hurricane Irma in his town of Big Pine Key, Florida. The town was destroyed, the church building rendered unusable and the staff impacted personally. I watched a leader rise to the need of his community and minister in a situation that not very many could. He has a powerful voice of experience and wisdom earned the hard way.”
“Steve Lawes is a valuable coach/ mentor. I’ve watched Steve over the last thirty years build a substantial outward focused church with disciples who do what Jesus did. He has inspired leaders of churches with simple/tested ideas to develop leaders and grow churches.
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“Steve Lawes is an outstanding coach. He is authentic, creative, and personable. He has more cutting edge ideas than any pastor I know in regard to evangelism and meeting the needs of people in his community.”
Interested in Becoming a Church Consultant?
We are pleased to be partnering with the Jesus Moment Bible Institute and Seminary to be able to offer Free Church Consulting Training. Even if you are not looking to become a certified church consultant, the free church consultant training will be beneficial for your personal ministry.
One of the greatest questions Jesus asked was “Do You Want to Get Well?”
I t would seem that the answer was obvious. But getting well for the man who had been not well for a very long time meant that he would have to do something different. It is not easy to change, but it always starts with a first step.
Take that first step now by sceduling your no obligation, free thirty (30) minute Zoom meeting with us today. You have nothing to lose and it may be your first step to a new and healthy way of doing and being the church.
Don’t Wait Any Longer. Take The First Step Toward Getting Well Today!
