2018
Excuses are the enemy of effective ministry.
Yesterday, my wife Shelley and I had the chance to worship in a church that could have offered about as many excuses as any church imaginable. But they’ve refused to do so and have, instead, become one of the most influential ...
No one is hiding anything from you.
There was a long season of ministry in which I had to tell myself that a lot. I had gone through a near breakdown after trying, but failing, to see the kind of growth in our church that I had been assured was inevitable if I only did the right ...
Today is the day!
You can now buy your copy of my new book, Small Church Essentials, for yourself or for a church leader you know.
Small Church Essentials is the result of all the time I’ve spent writing for, speaking with, and – most importantly – listening ...
The vast majority of the leaders in the church growth movement are good, godly, passionate people who truly want to advance Christ’s kingdom and be a blessing to other churches.
They write books and speak at conferences because they have a passion to share what they’ve ...
Imagine a hallway full of doors, all of which lead to the same destination.
All your life, you’ve seen people go through one particular door, so you use it, too. But one day you try to go through that door and it won’t open for you.
What do you do?
Insistence says, ...
Leading a church is often a lesson in managing and overcoming frustration. Hopefully not all the time. But there are those seasons...
This week I’ve learned a great lesson about triumphing over extreme difficulty and frustration from a very unlikely source – a hotel ...
(Today, Billy Graham went to be with Jesus. I wrote this article three years ago. I repost it here now as my tribute to the man and his legacy.)
Most of us have never known a world without Billy Graham.
Graham came to international prominence in the historic Los Angeles Crusade ...
It’s Sunday evening as I write this blog post.
And I’m feeling a huge flood of emotions.
Strong emotions are normal for pastors on Sunday afternoons, no matter how Sunday services went. But today is different for me.
Plus, there's the added quirk that I’m ...
God’s timing is perfect.
When he does something in our lives unilaterally (as in, he doesn’t ask for our permission or cooperation) his timing is often quick, surprising and sometimes painful. It’s only when we see those events in the rear view mirror that we ...
Jesus’ church will never die.
But individual congregations are never given that promise. No matter how faithful they may be.
Last week, I wrote a blog post about honoring those who care for congregations as they face the last years or days of their ministry life.
Most of ...
Local churches have a life-cycle.
Some barely make it out of the starting blocks. Some last a generation or two. Some are still active after hundreds of years. But, even with constant renewal, the evidence from 2,000 years of Christianity shows that every congregation will, at ...
The persistently growing congregation is a relatively new phenomenon – and an even more recent expectation.
Aside from the grand cathedrals of Europe (which were often the result of politics and power more than faith), it wasn’t physically possible for local congregations ...
Big churches need bold mission statements.
Small churches? Not so much.
If a small church has a mission statement, it’s probably because a church growth expert said you needed one. But it’s unlikely that having a mission statement has changed anything for the church, ...
It was a sunny, California Wednesday morning.
We were having our weekly staff meeting, innocently sorting out the details for an upcoming service, when I mentioned an illustration I wanted to close out my sermon with.
Then it happened.
One of the staff members spoke up. “We ...
For many generations, people who went to church would attend every Sunday no matter what. Whether out of habit, culture, tradition, denominational identity, fear of reprisal, or a sincere commitment to Christ and his church, when the doors were open, they were going to walk ...
Read More from Karl
