Articles
The Danger of Ugly Duckling Theology
I was looking at the results of a major survey of pastors the other day and noticed a trend. Pastors of small churches are more likely to be less energized by their ministry than those who serve large churches. They are also more inclined to question their calling....
Getting Honest About the State of Our Witness
How would you characterize your own witness efforts? A characterization must be accurate enough to truly name reality, but short enough to be memorable and useable. Getting to a place where you can honestly characterize your own witness efforts should take some time...
This is your wake-up call…
beep…Beep…BEEP! Your alarm clock goes off. Do you… __groan and go back to sleep? __press the snooze button? __get up ready for action? How does your answer mirror your reaction to what’s happening to the church today? Well, we just got a wake-up call: According to a...
How to Practice Compassionate Curiosity
1. Be Interested Birds of the same feather flock together. We typically are interested in others who have something to offer us or have something in common with us. To be interested we need to notice the dirt path off the side of the four-lane highway of our lives. We...
THE DOMINANT FAMILY INFLUENCE
My mother chuckled as she penned her poem, a parody of “The Church in the Wildwood,” entitled, “The Wild Woods in the Church.” In our small congregation, three separate and unrelated Wood families occupied the pews. While the other two Wood families consisted of only...
3 Ways to Fight Negativity and Slander in Your Church Community
As a former church staff member, I’ve seen it happen over and over. A growing congregation, fully unified and working toward the same goal, starts to slowly splinter off into pockets of like-minded people. Those pockets live in harmony—for a while. But then, you start...
When Church Conflict Happens QA
You write that conflict is something to be expected as part of our human experience—that wherever there are human relationships, sooner or later, there is conflict. What makes conflict that happens in a church more complicated than conflict in other contexts? Most...
7 Ways to Avoid the Summer Slump
June 20th is the first day of summer. I can barely contain my excitement. It may sound like I’m being facetious, but that’s not the case. After enduring a spring that was filled with dogwood, blackberry, and cotton britches winters, I’m ready for some warmer weather....
Chicken Little
In the story of Chicken Little, an acorn falls on the head of a young chicken, causing him to panic, feeling that the sky itself is falling. Armed with this myth, Chicken Little sets off to systematically convince his friends that the world is ending. Each friend...
The 95 5 Principle
Many years ago when I was in seminary, I was given an assignment to write a research paper on any problem a shepherd (pastor)/staff may face on a regular bases. After several weeks of interviewing multiple shepherds and staff I began to see a pattern emerge that I...
For the Love of Jesus
Why do we serve? Why do we give of ourselves, day in, day out, week after week? We all know the answer: because of love. Right. But what is the object of our love? Whom or what do we love in order to allow ourselves to be given? Once again, the answer seems obvious:...
I Considered Your Church, And Passed
Isn’t one of a pastor’s unspoken fears that lurking about in the community are unknown people who have given your church—the place you sacrificially pour out your soul to grow—a preliminary examination and decided visiting wasn’t worth the bother? Ouch, that’s harsh!...
The Power of Praise!
This is something we are super passionate about in Planetshakers, and something that Ps Russell and Sam Evans are always teaching and showing us. It’s something they have carried to a generation. I can honestly say, that it was as a young person going to Planetshakers...
Build a publication from the ground up.
Have you ever had to start a church newsletter from scratch? If not, you may face that challenge someday. Maybe you’ll accept a job at a church that’s never had a newsletter. Or a publication might become so outdated that church leaders ask you to start over. Or a...
The Challenge in Preaching: Do They Know What We Mean?
I have a missionary friend who has been uniquely used by God. But, I confess one thing: he does annoy me. When he is conversing, he frequently interjects a phrase, “Do you know what I mean?” Almost seems like an elongated “uh” or “um.” However, upon further...
Announcements, Bulletins, and When to Say No
“Can you announce that the mission team is having a barbeque fundraiser this Saturday? The ladies quilting group won’t be able to meet next week either. Make sure to get that in the bulletin. Oh and by the way, last Sunday you forgot to mention that the Richardsons...
Atheism on Trial
Like all the major arguments against God, particularly the Christian God, the problem of pain has been with us for thousands of years; and yet, when it comes to this specific argument, there is a great irony. In the early church and Middle Ages, when disease and...
Why Religious Leaders Need to Cultivate Self-Control and How to Do So
The Bible describes self-control as an invaluable trait. However, it isn’t something you’re born with. It is a skill that needs to be cultivated, especially in religious leaders. But what exactly is self-control? Why is self-control so important? And how can you...
Every Church Welcome Needs These Five Elements
Hi, welcome to the blog. My, that’s some weather we’ve been having, isn’t it? This is unfortunately how many churches welcome people to church. It doesn’t connect with people. It doesn’t communicate value, and it’s not even that welcoming. We have to do better than...
Read this Before You Go Live on Facebook
There are now over 2.2 billion Facebook users across the world. A staggering number, and one that continues to grow year after year. If you’re doing ministry in a small town or rural setting, it may have taken a little longer for the Facebook craze to hit, but at this...
