2018
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 ...
As I talk with pastors and other church leaders, one question that pops up regularly is “it’s getting harder to get people to lead and/or attend our Sunday School classes (or Sunday night services, or prayer meetings, or VBS, or…). How do we fix this problem, ...
Ah, social media. You beautiful, hideous beast.
One of my least favorite current trends is the growing number of my Christian friends posting memes, blog posts and videos with headlines like these:
- “Young Student Humiliates Atheist Professor Who Tried To Tell Him God Isn’t Real!”
Hi, I’m Karl, and I’m still a small church pastor. But I won’t be in the first chair much longer.
On Sunday, my long-time youth pastor, Gary Garcia and I presented a plan for him to become the lead pastor of Cornerstone. I will stay on staff at the church, assuming ...
It’s hard when people leave a church.
It’s hard to leave. It’s hard being left.
Most who leave don’t make that decision lightly. They deal with some serious pain when they finally make the decision to go. As a pastor I’m more familiar with seeing ...
Read More from Karl
