Articles
Self-Care for Leaders Who are Barely Holding On
Self - Care For Leaders Who Are Barely Holding On This is harder than I expected. All of it. From the lockdown to this weird middle ground, to whatever’s coming next, the sense of constant uncertainty is wearing on me. No, I’m not sick. And none of my loved ones are....
Enemy Mode: Your Brain on Narcissism
Enemy Mode: Your Brain on Narcissism God designed a complex network of neurological circuits to work together to help us stay relationally connected and attuned to each other. When these relational circuits are running as designed, we call this “Relational Mode.” Our...
Take the First Bold Step
Take The First Bold Step Some of you reading this are standing at the edge of something new and contemplating your first step across the border. I want to remind you that God has already gone before you. Stepping out may stretch your faith, but God is already...
A Faceless Christianity: Will we return to church in a building?
A Faceless Christianity Church attendance has been on thin ice for some time with many Millennials asking, “Why should I go to church at all?” One often-repeated comment about church is, “I love Jesus. It is church people I don’t care for.” Church life hasn’t produced...
Love No Matter What (10 Ways)
Pastor Resources · Love No Matter What (10 Ways) Have you ever winced upon learning that a long-time member has left your church? Even harder, does that individual appear to doubt some or much of what he or she used to believe about God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, the...
It’s Time to Think About Your Mission, Vision, and Strategy
Pastor Resources · It’s Time to Think About Your Mission, Vision, and Strategy Defining each one can help your church make a greater impact I learned to drive before smartphones with GPS were commonplace. If I wanted to go somewhere new, I needed to do a little...
How Churches in Vacation Destinations Can Survive COVID-19
Pastor Resources · How Churches In Vacation Destinations Can Survive COVID - 19 Churches in vacation destinations face unique struggles. They tend to see fluctuating attendance, with many visitors coming in during the vacation season and then attendance dropping in...
God Sees You!
Pastor Resources · God Sees You! God’s words are powerful because within His words there is a love we don’t have to work for or strive to maintain. God loves you. He says it, and you can experience that love on a daily basis. Particularly if you are a words of...
A Solution for Pastors who Feel Overwhelmed
Pastor Resources · A Solution For Pastors Who Feel Overwhelmed Earlier this year I began a mastermind group with other small-town pastors, and even though I’m teaching and facilitating the group, I feel like I’m learning just as much as they are. One of the biggest...
The End of Time
Pastor Resources · The End Of Time It certainly seems like we live in a day when everyone is interested in the end of time. This appears to surface in every period of history that has seen trying times as preachers, teachers, and parishioners try to make sense of what...
Why, Lord?
Pastor Resources · Strength For Cancer You have cancer. Whether you have been walking closely with the Lord or running hard on a path far away from Him, those words stop you in your tracks and then bring you to your knees. Cancer—could there be a more unwelcome, more...
Believing You Matter
Pastor Resources · Seen Known Loved Excerpt When we talk about God, it is important to realize that we are not talking about some idea of our own making. We are talking about the God who created roaring seas of wonder, covered the mountaintops with swirling snow, and...
Self-Emptying, The Mystery of Our Salvation
Pastor Resources · Self Emptying If I want to be full, open to receiving abundant grace—more human, selfless—first I must be emptied. He must increase, and I must decrease (John 3:30 ESV). The word I discovered is kenōsis. Oh, it’s not that I never heard the word. On...
Memory and Mercy at the Table of the Lord
Pastor Resources · Memory And Mercy At The Table Of The Lord How do we remember well? How do we recall the pain of history without reinforcing its trauma or repeating its mistakes? How do we memorialize without sanitizing? In the wake of monuments tumbling-- in some...
How to Debate the Bible—and Win
Pastor Resources · How To Debate Most often, when we debate the Bible, we make secondary things primary. When we love our opinions, perspectives, or judgments at the expense of loving people, we are at risk for not loving people at all. C. S. Lewis put it like this,...
Compassion & Conviction
Pastor Resources · Compassion & Conviction No one makes political decisions from a neutral position. To make a policy decision is to choose certain values and goods over others. Political decisions are inevitably informed by a certain worldview or outlook. When...
Wherever, Whatever
Pastor Resources · Wherever, Whatever When I first gave my life to Jesus, I remember saying to him, “Wherever you want me, whatever you want, however and whenever you want it—I am all yours.” Honestly, I think that kind of response is just what love, in fact, does. If...
Leading: What’s a Leader to Do?
Pastor Resources · Leading: What’s a Leader to Do? Let’s just put it out there: the word evangelism is usually a turnoff—and not only to non-Christians. I’ve taught classes on evangelism to undergraduate and graduate students at three Christian colleges, and I’ve seen...
Unlucky Charms: How Flattery, Favors and Alliances Lead to Abuse
Pastor Resources · Unlucky Charms “You are the smartest person in the room.” “I was hoping you could do me a favor,” “You and I have more in common than you think.” Tactics of charm, like flattery, favors, and...
Redemption
Pastor Resources · Redemption The musical Hamilton resonates with me more than any piece of art I have ever experienced, primarily because it teems with the most important themes of my life. Engaging these themes of grace, shame, forgiveness, and...
