2015
There was a lot of pain and suffering in the world last weekend. Caused by horrifyingly evil acts.
Our church prayed for France, Lebanon, and Kenya yesterday.
You've heard about France. But you may not have heard about Lebanon and Kenya.
In Lebanon, 43 people were ...
My heart hurts for Paris and the nation of France.
When I stand in the pulpit on Sunday, the images of horror will be fresh in all of our hearts.
As pastors, many will look to us to set a tone for how to react to such evil acts.
In situations like this, the title of ...
When something matters to us, we measure it.
That is one of the unquestioned premises of the church growth movement.
Unquestioned premises should always be questioned.
When we do so, we discover that church metrics don’t measure the things that matter. Because ...
Big churches tend to attract passive, anonymous audience members.
Small churches tend to attract control freaks.
Big church pastors are aware of the problem of anonymity, so healthy big churches work very hard at small groups.
It’s hard to be an anonymous audience ...
I like quirky churches.
And I’m pretty sure God does, too.
Just take a look at the astonishing variety of churches in the New Testament. Not to mention the churches and church leaders he’s used in the last 2,000 years.
Some churches stay small because they’re ...
We make church harder than it needs to be.
Why? I think a lot of it has to do with our size obsession.
We’ve convinced ourselves that it’s not possible to become a great church without becoming a big church. But the truth is, any church can become great. No ...
Are you a small church pastor? Me too.
Have you ever felt like that’s not enough? Me too.
Today I have good news for both of us.
Your church is big enough.
Right now. Today. At its current size.
Your church is big enough to do what Jesus is calling you to ...
It’s one of the mantras of the church growth movement. "We count people because people count."
It also happens to be true. Most of the time.
But that that’s not the only reason pastors count people.
As I wrote in The Grasshopper Myth, some pastors ...
Being small does not mean that something is broken. But if something is broken, you can’t fix it by making it bigger.
Those principles were reinforced for me recently in a surprisingly unlikely place. Reality TV.
On their TV shows, Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant: Impossible, ...
I reached my limit last week.
It was a recent Facebook post that did it. A pastor wrote that "today’s church has turned its back on God", then went on yet another indiscriminate rant about what’s wrong with all of us – except him and his church, ...
“There are no small churches.”
I've heard that all my life.
But it's not true.
Of course there are small churches. Lots of them. And it's okay, not just to acknowledge that reality, but to celebrate it.
Here’s why.
Well, that was ironic.
Last week I wrote a post, Six Church-Insider Issues I Don't Care About Any More. It resulted in more readers than any previous week this blog has ever had.
Apparently, being passionately apathetic is contagious.
As promised, today's post ...
The gatekeepers are gone.
Just a couple decades ago, if you wanted to get your message to a massive audience, you had to work your way up a very hard, long ladder.
And every step on that ladder had a media gatekeeper who could stop your progress.
Publishers said “no” ...
People become pastors for so many wrong reasons.
They like the status. They like speaking in public. They like arguing theology. They come from a long line of ministers. The list goes on.
If you’re debating becoming a pastor, here's a list of wrong reasons to ...
Is it possible to be passionately apathetic?
If so, count me in.
I grew up in the church. But in recent years I've found myself caring less about many of the issues I used to think mattered so much. I’m not just apathetic about them, I’m passionately apathetic. ...