2018
The pastor’s office is a time-honored tradition whose moment has come and gone for a lot of us.
Over the last 35-plus years of ministry, I have spent thousands of hours in my office. Joyful, frustrating, heartbreaking, boring, wonderful, life-changing hours. Hours spent ...
Pastors fall into one of three groups when it comes to money.
- Pastors who hate talking about money at all
- Pastors who talk about money obsessively
- Pastors who have discovered a biblical balance
Most pastors I’ve met, maybe two out of three, are in the first group. We want ...
When it comes to the issue of Money And The Small Church, (or money and big churches, money and family finances, money and business, etc.) there is one principle that stands high above all the others.
It’s so basic, I almost feel silly having to write it. But it is Job ...
Many people have a love/hate relationship with money.
Including me.
I don’t like thinking about it, talking about it, teaching on it or worrying about it.
And I really don’t like asking for it. (No, this article isn’t me asking for it.)
I don’t like what ...
When a building is being repaired or erected, scaffolding is the temporary structure that is built around or inside it to give workers access to the construction site. But when the building is completed, the scaffolding is removed.
Every church program, building, denomination ...
There’s a lot of conversation going on about megachurches.
In my context of ministry to small churches, much of the conversation surrounds this question. Are megachurches actually reaching new people for Jesus, or are believers gathering into ever-larger groups, leaving ...
In recent years there’s been a lot of talk about the impending demise of the megachurch.
But is the era of the megachurch really drawing to a close?
I have four answers to that question:
- Yes
- No
- I hope so
- I hope not
Let’s look at these four contradictory responses one at ...
Yesterday, I was back in my home church after being gone for a month doing conferences and taking some vacation time with my wife, Shelley.
We’ve taken time away before, of course, but this time it was different. Because when I came back yesterday, for the first Sunday ...
Drawing a crowd to church may not be the best way to start people on a path to discipleship.
In fact, I’m beginning to think that it may hurt our discipleship efforts more than help them.
For at least a generation now, the predominant thinking in most of the pastoral training ...
Wouldn’t it be great if Easter wasn’t called Easter? If everyone knew it as Resurrection Sunday instead?
But they don’t.
Our church uses both terms. But, as you can see in the artwork above, Easter is our church’s go-to term, not Resurrection Sunday. Especially ...
Small churches can have a big impact.
Especially today, with the power of social media and other new ways of communicating.
But also, because so much of our lives are lived online, people are having a renewed longing for more personal, tactile, face-to-face experiences. These ...
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 ...