In Sermon Illustrations: "Boring Sermons"

State Of The Unchurched: Since ‘91, The U.s. ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

State Of The Unchurched: Since ‘91, the U.S. adult population has grown by 15%. During that same period the number of unchurched adults has nearly doubled, rising from 39 million to 75 million–a 92% increase! The latest Barna Group study shows that the percentage of unchurched adults has risen from ...read more

Tags: Church General

Porn: Reuters Business Insight Reports That Only ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Porn: Reuters Business Insight reports that only 1.5% of Web sites contain adult-oriented content, but those sights reaped 66% of all online content revenues in ‘01. The adult entertainment industry is estimated to be worth at least $2.5 ...read more

Tags: Addiction

Prayer Helps: A Recent Survey By Aarp And The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Prayer Helps: A recent survey by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving finds that 75% of U.S. caregivers cope with the demands of Caregiving through prayer. 61% talk with friends and relatives, 44% read books on Caregiving, 41% exercise to work off stress and 33% cope by going on line for ...read more

Tags: Prayer Adoration

Online Gambling Has Soared Ten-Fold In The Past 6 ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Online Gambling has soared ten-fold in the past 6 years to about $4.2 billion. (Revenue Vol.1 ...read more

Tags: Sin General

What A Difference A Century Makes! In 1904: ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

What A Difference a century makes! In 1904: ►The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years. ►Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub, 8% had a telephone. ►A 3-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11. ►There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and 144 miles of paved ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Fewer Churchgoers Since ‘91, The Adult Population ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Fewer Churchgoers Since ‘91, the adult population in the U.S. has grown by 15%. But during that same period, according to a new Barna Group study, the number of adults who do not attend church has nearly doubled, rising from 39 ...read more

Tags: Church General

Pastor's Bible Preference: A Poll Of Pastors ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Pastor’s Bible Preference: A poll of pastors conducted by Ellison Research, finds 31% prefer the NIV, 23% --KJV, 14%--NRSV, 13%--NKJV, and 10%--NASV. Pastors of small churches, over age 60 and in the South tend to favor the KJV. The NIV is strongest in the Midwest and West, while the NRSV scored ...read more

Tags: Bible Influence

Morals Sub Par: One Thing That Most Americans Can ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Morals Sub Par: One thing that most Americans can agree on is that moral values in the U.S. are less than good and are getting worse. Older adults are particularly critical of the state of moral values today. Overall, only 19% of Americans describe moral conditions in the country as “excellent” or ...read more

Tags: Christian Values

Marijuana: The Average Age Of First-Time ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Marijuana: The average age of first-time marijuana users in the U.S has dropped from 19 to 13. A recent Gallup poll indicates 34% of Americans favor legalization, the greatest support since ‘69. In ‘01, 50,000 people were sentenced to prison for marijuana violations. In some states with ...read more

Tags: Addiction

Dating Web Sites Drew 20 Million Unique Visitors ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Dating Web sites drew 20 million unique visitors in December ’03. (Foster Letter ...read more

Tags: Marriage General

One Seventh Of All Radio Stations In The U.s. Are ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

One seventh of all radio stations in the U.S. are Christian, just under 2000 in all. (Foster ...read more

Tags: Entertainment

Mompreneurs: Today, Upwards Of 430,000 People In ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Mompreneurs: Today, upwards of 430,000 people in the U.S. alone (more than are employed worldwide by GE and Procter & Gamble combined) earn a full or part-time living on eBay selling everything from fashion to farm equipment, with the highest-sellers grossing up to $1 million a month. Of the ...read more

Tags: Coincidence, Parenting

What We Believe: A Recent Newsweek Poll Gauges ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

What We Believe: A recent Newsweek poll gauges Americans’ opinions on the Book of Revelation and end times: *36% believe the Book of Revelation contains “true prophecy,” while 47% say it is metaphorical. *55% think the faithful will be taken up to heaven in the rapture. *74% of Americans believe ...read more

Tags: Apologetics The Bible

Weighty Matters Americans Who Spend Even A Little ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Weighty Matters Americans who spend even a little time sitting in a pew are more likely to be overweight than those who never darken the door of a church, according to research by Purdue University sociologist ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

Youth Pastor Burnout: The Bridges Project, A ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Youth Pastor Burnout: The Bridges Project, a research study of the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, has identified several factors common to youth pastors who experience burn-out or a lack of success in ministry: ►Inability to shape healthy work relationships ...read more

Tags: Church General

Marriage Decline: Between ‘75 And ‘02, The Share ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Marriage Decline: Between ‘75 and ‘02, the share of Americans who had never married increased from about 24% to 29%. ...read more

Tags: Marriage General

Islam Is The 2nd Largest Religion In The U.s. And ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Islam is the 2nd largest religion in the U.S. and in Europe. Muslims outnumber Methodists in England. 43% of Muslims live in Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and India. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world while there ...read more

Tags: World Religions

Public's Confidence: Gallup's Annual Measure Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Public’s Confidence: Gallup’s annual measure of public confidence in institutions reports the military is #1 followed by the police and the church. Banks are #4. While the military’s rating is lower than in ‘02, the church has been slowly recovering from the sharp decline in confidence it ...read more

Tags: Church General

Inmates 4 Times As Many Prisoners Are Released ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Inmates 4 times as many prisoners are released into society today as 20 years ago. An estimated 600,000 U.S. prisoners will be released in ’04 (over 1,600 are released daily). The Justice Bureau of Statistics estimates that 2 out of 3 released inmates were “rearrested within 3 years,” wreaking more ...read more

Tags: Sin General

Father's Day Is The 4th Most Important Retail ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Father’s Day is the 4th most important retail gift holiday, after Christmas, Mother’s Day, and Valentines. 55% of Americans celebrate the day with a gift, according to new Unity Marketing research the typical gift-giver ...read more