2018
Celebrating small churches is great.
Doing it by putting down our brothers and sisters who attend, worship, serve and lead in larger churches?
That’s just wrong.
But it keeps happening.
Because I love and promote the value of small churches, well-meaning people keep coming ...
For over 25 years I’ve lived and pastored in Orange County, California.
In the last 50 years this county has experienced as much megachurch success as anywhere else on earth. We’ve given birth to the Crystal Cathedral, Calvary Chapel, The Vineyard, TBN, Saddleback ...
One of the biggest frustrations faced by small church pastors is a lack of resources, including so-called human resources. “If only I had more money, a better building, more people or the right people” we complain, “then we could really get something done at ...
William Vanderbloemen is the CEO and Founder of Vanderbloemen Search Group. a recruitment and consulting firm for churches. Previously, he served as the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Houston. Recently, William interviewed me for his podcast and I interviewed ...
Does God’s vision for our life, church and ministry have to be big to be real?
I keep hearing that it does. Sayings like “if your vision isn’t big enough to scare you, it’s not from God” have been popular for quite some time now. Apparently we’re ...
Small church pastors are some of the hardest-working, most passionate and sacrificial people anywhere.
They serve without fanfare, helping in ways most people will never see. And they face challenges that many will never experience.
In over five years of writing, speaking and ...
Where did we get the idea that small churches are small because there’s something wrong with them and/or their pastors?
There are millions of small church pastors doing great, kingdom-building work with little or no budget, little or no facilities and little or no salary. ...
So, my last blog post stirred up a lot more response than I expected.
In The Biggest Mistake Teaching Pastors Tend to Make – And How To Correct It, I encouraged pastors to move from being a teaching pastor to an equipping pastor, based on the Pastoral Prime Mandate of Ephesians ...
If you are a teaching pastor, I have a gift for you. I’m going to share one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in 35+ years of pastoral ministry.
It happened when I recognized that I was commiting what is probably the biggest mistake most teaching pastors ...
Better churches become bigger churches. Right?
Maybe not.
That’s been the rule of thumb for businesses, too. And it’s no more true there than it is for us.
As it turns out, constant growth doesn’t work for the majority of churches or businesses. Yet they can still ...
By far, the most common question I’m asked about small church ministry is “if your church is healthy, why is it so small?”
It’s a valid question, for sure. And one that I’ve answered in several previous blog posts, including these:
There are two equal, but opposite mistakes churches regularly make regarding money.
Especially for smaller churches, these are the main ways that finances (or lack of them) stop us from doing the ministry we’re called to do.
(This is part of an ongoing series, Money and ...
Money is in charge of too many of our churches.
So many good congregations want to do great ministry, but their limited finances cause them to make too many decisions based on what they can or can’t afford, instead of what God is calling them to do.
It’s a trap that ...
Social media has no moral component to it – except the ones we give it. It's just a tool.
A very powerful one.
And we’re only beginning to grasp its impact.
When used well it can connect, inform and entertain us. But when it’s used poorly, as it so often is, ...
Uh… Wow.
Every 30 years?
Yes, those are the stats, according to a church renovation expert I heard at a recent conference.
By the time his company is called in to help a church renovate their sanctuary, lobby, exterior or anything significant, it’s been three full ...
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