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Have you ever wondered why virtually every church leader is constantly writing and speaking about change? Including me?

Because we live in the fastest-changing culture ever. Change is not just an ocassional reality. It’s the water we’re swimming in.

For instance, every ...

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Sometimes you write something and you know people don't care much about it, because nobody responds. Other times you write something and you know people don’t care because they tell you they don't care. Vigorously.

Last week’s post on the difference between ...

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The church I pastor isn’t like your church. If it was, one of them would be unnecessary.

Our church probably shares many traits with yours. Starting with core biblical theology, I hope. But we are uniquely us. And you should be uniquely you.

Here’s a short metaphor ...

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Fear of failure kills the innovative spirit. It's one of the main reasons many churches don't try new things.

But failure is a part of life. And ministry. It's especially a part of doing innovative ministry, because we can’t know if something will fail ...

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It’s not easy to create a culture of renewal, change and adaptability in an existing small church.

But it is essential.

There needs to be a renewal process in place or the changes will be random, unsettling and ultimately, unsuccessful. We'll end up work harder ...

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What are we afraid of?

So many churches and pastors act in fear and stay on defense when we should be acting in love and staying on offense.

I’m not saying that we need to be offensive. Quite the opposite.

A church on offense – a church that is aggressively offering ...

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Some people love to put others down.

The church is full of them.

For instance, here are some titles of recent online posts:

• ‘10 Serious Problems with (name of new Christian book)’
• ‘The Problem with (preachers name)’
• 'Christians Should Stop Reading (name of Christian blogger)’

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If I could only give one piece of advice to seasoned pastors to help make our Sunday messages more effective for how people live and listen today, it would be this.

Stop making your sermon notes rhyme.

(If you want more than one idea, check out Why You Need to Change How You Preach ...

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Only Jesus can make a church great. But he allows us to participate in that process.

Behind every great church, large or small, is at least one pastor who stayed long enough to outlast the bad times and build on the good times.

It is the most common thread for great churches. ...