August 2016
A healthy church is a great place of healing.
But an unhealthy church causes problems for everyone who touches it – including the pastor who’s called to help turn it around.
More people get sick in hospitals than anywhere else. Because that’s where the sick people ...
I read another one of those church growth blog posts recently. You know the ones. A list of steps your church can take to break through whatever growth barrier you’re facing.
It was a very good list. Every one of the principles was about church health. In fact, as I read ...
I love dialog.
It’s great hearing and reading other people’s opinions. Even when they disagree with me.
Because good communication matters to me, I want to enhance all of our dialog – especially online – with a friendly word of advice to a particular group ...
If you’re a missionary, evangelist, or someone else who spends time trying to get in touch with pastors on the phone, I feel for you.
Pastors are notoriously bad at answering or returning phone calls.
I admit, I’m one of them.
It’s not because we’re lazy, ...
The push to build bigger churches continues full steam ahead.
I regularly get cries for help from small church pastors because of the damage this push is causing.
Today I’m posting two of them.
Because of the personal nature of these messages, I’ve left the names off. ...
There are a lot of books and articles about how a healthy church should behave.
That’s appropriate. We should always have a picture of our desired future in our hearts and minds.
But what does a pastor do with an unhealthy church?
I’m going to propose a radical idea ...
Every time I preach there’s a chance I’ll say something stupid.
Sometimes my mistakes are harmless, like when I quoted God at the burning bush telling Moses, “Take off your feet, you’re standing on holy ground.”
Other times people get hurt. Sometimes ...
Show me a spiritually healthy church and I’ll show you a spiritually healthy pastor. Show me a spiritually unhealthy church and I’ll show you a spiritually unhealthy pastor.
If you’ve been the pastor of your church for five years or longer, it’s time to ...
Our churches are filled with normal people.
Normal to us, that is. Normal like you and me.
The church is also filled with freaks and weirdos. Some churches are filled with freaks and weirdos sporting tattoos and piercings. Others are filled with freaks and weirdos in suits and ...
I don’t like meetings.
Planning meetings, board meetings, staff meetings, committee meetings…
If I could jettison one aspect of pastoring, that’s what I would get rid of.
So why do I have them? Because, when done well, ministry team meetings are an essential ...
What would the world look like if all the megachurches disappeared tomorrow? Would it be a better place? Or worse?
I propose it would be worse.
But, by the way some of my fellow small church pastors talk (and the way I used to talk), you’d think that if all the megachurches ...
What kind of culture does your church have?
For many years, the denominational tag told people everything they needed to know before they walked in the door. And not just theologically. Even the style of clothing and music were similar throughout each denomination.
In recent years, ...
Criticism is a valuable tool.
When it’s done right it can, and has, changed hearts and minds.
Martin Luther did it with his 95 Theses. Martin Luther King Jr. did it with his I Have a Dream speech. Long before both of them, Jesus did it with the Sermon On the Mount.
Criticism ...