Articles
Getting Guests Back
Easter is coming! You’ve been exhorting, imploring, and challenging your congregation to invite about everyone attend your Easter service. The guests are on the way. Your congregants will be on their best behavior. The church is looking nice. The service is planned in...
Developing a Gospel-Centered Identity
How does one know whether their core identity is centered in the truth of the gospel or something else? The key is where a person gets their sense of worth. How do they feel when achieve certain accomplishments? It is appropriate to feel good about our achievements,...
Getting from here to there!
Last week I was driving down I-44 in the middle of a rain storm and I went to pass a semi truck that was going 65 in a 75 mph zone. Just after I passed his rear dual axels, things got dicey. He veered into my lane and I immediately took to the shoulder and became...
Three Ways to Engage Givers and Increase Giving
If I had to name the biggest leadership struggle currently in the church I serve, I believe I would choose the area of giving. How many of you can relate? It’s not that they’re not generous, most of them are. It’s just that small towns and rural communities typically...
People Over Process – Improving Church Outreach
In a recent Pastor Resource’s survey, church leaders responded that outreach is the number one need felt in the church. This need is no surprise since nearly all churches consider themselves dedicated to spreading the word of God and include the term outreach in their...
Path
noun: way of life, conduct, or thought; route or course May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God’s love and Christ’s endurance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 In the Pacific Northwest, we love to hike. It’s exhilarating. We hike trails...
WHY WE DON’T ASK, AND WHY WE SHOULD
Our cultural reluctance to ask for things is certainly a hurdle for our spiritual life. So we need to spend a little time thinking about how we can carve out a different path than the one our culture encourages when approaching God with requests. First, we need to...
Aligned
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you and your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) The Holy Spirit unites with our spirits the moment we receive Jesus as our Lord and savior. Because of this union, we can’t help but feel what the Holy Spirit within...
3 Ways a Lenten Fast Can Transform Your Church
Easter used to sneak up on me. Growing up in a Protestant pastor’s family, I was grateful for Jesus’ death and resurrection. But my soul was overwhelmed by the noise of my life, and I struggled to enter the narrative of His victory. I imagine many people in your pews...
Mindfulness and the Pastor
Mindfulness is a big deal in today’s culture. Businesses such as Apple, sports figures such as basketball player Kobe Bryant, and the popular press such as Time magazine have all given it their stamp of approval. Governments are spending hundreds of...
Discipling as Coaching
We typically think of discipleship relationships in the category of mentoring. A mentoring relationship is where someone who has more experience or knowledge seeks to transfer that information to someone younger or less mature. One person, the mentor, sets the agenda...
We Need to Talk about Self-Control
I know what happens when you mention self-control. It’s like sucking the oxygen out of a room. When I told people that I was writing a book on the topic, I heard a lot of sighs and groans. “Oh yeah, I should be better about that,” they would say, their voices tinged...
Awe-Inspiring Creator
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light...
Ministry is Hard – 4 Ways You Can Stay in the Race
Ministry is hard. I hate saying that because it sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m actually just stating a fact. According to the statistics, between sixty to eighty percent of those who enter the ministry will not make it past ten years. Less than fifteen percent...
FIVE WAYS TO OVERCOME FEAR
“Why should I be afraid?” Israel’s King David once asked. I could give him plenty of reasons, from a pulmonary embolism that could have taken my life to a succession of less threatening but still uncomfortable and debilitating ailments, most recently the need for...
Man, the Glory Mirror
Man was created to worship God’s glory, and we saw in that earlier list of experiences that our appetite for God’s glory is one of the most foundational motives in our lives. We have longings. It’s one of the things that sets us apart from the animals. But here’s...
Missions with Accent
Yes, it may indeed be difficult to learn a foreign language, but one thing that English does not have is accent marks! Although English doesn’t really like to obey all the rules, English-speaking learners of other languages find those accent marks to be rather pesky....
God and the Experience of God
I google the word “prayer” And there I am, Hands raised, Eyes closed, Silhouetted Against a backdrop Of God’s warm and welcoming glory. Clicking through these search results might get me re-thinking my prayer life a bit. Perhaps my prayers are lacking because my arms...
A Clear and Personalized Path to Discipleship
“If I am honest, I’ll admit that I don’t really know how to make disciples.” I remember when those words came out of my mouth. I had been in the pastorate for almost a decade, and despite sermons, programs, Bible studies, and small groups, many of the people I...
God’s Will
“God's will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin” (1 Thessalonians 4:3 NLT). “Rejoice always. Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV) Often we diligently seek...
