The Internal Revenue Service announced it has increased the optional standard mileage rate that employers can use to reimburse employees who drive personal vehicles for business purposes.

The IRS increased the rate to 55.5 cents per mile for travel occurring between July 1 and December 31.

The rate was 51 cents for January 1 to June 30.

Many pastors and staff members ...

When I start to feel drained of energy, or when I snap at people or feel resentful when I'm asked to help, these are my clues that my life is out of shape. Usually saying yes to too many opportunities is what pushes me over the edge. When life starts feeling like it's getting out of control, it's time to stop and assess priorities. Here's a check-up I use ...

One of the things I tend to neglect (and I know many leaders who struggle with this as well) is fully utilizing vacation time. I underestimate the value of rejuvenation that happens when I disconnect my mind from my usual routine and responsibility. I too easily miss the importance of time with family and friends, laughing, playing, and resting. And oftentimes my vacation ...

I frequently work with churches that are located in communities with multiple needs and issues. In urban neighborhoods, and more frequently now in suburbs and rural communities, you might find the following issues:

• high levels of unemployment, with families struggling to meet basic needs as a result
• an achievement gap between children who live in poverty and those who don't, resulting in lower graduation rates and college attendance for youth from poor families

Recently, my church experienced its first-ever Five Day Challenge, an initiative launched several years ago by Willow Creek Community Church. The Challenge encourages people to eat only small portions of rice and beans at each meal as a tangible experience of the hunger that the bottom economic half of the world endures daily.

Like any good leader, I prepared my team in advance. ...

I swore I wouldn't sign up for Twitter. It seemed like a nuisance. I had already given in to Facebook and started my personal blog. I didn't need one more thing!

But I quickly realized that as a leader in a church with a population of primarily Generation X and Y, I needed to engage this medium if I intended to influence them. Little did I know that less than a year ...

I am not sure the North American church in general does the right thing on Mother's Day or Father's Day. Then again, I don't always attend church on these feel-good holidays because frankly, they don't make me feel so good.

As a 38-year-old woman who married in her mid-30s, my biological clock ticks on and my womb and arms remain empty, at least for now. I focus on seminary, ...

Have you ever led a small group in which the following type of scenario took place?

You're excited because you invited a new person to your small group–perhaps a young co-worker or a student you met on campus–and this person is not a believer. He or she lives with their boyfriend or girlfriend and is very much immersed in the secular world, but you've had some promising conversations ...

This week I received an email that began, "I know you must be crazy with Holy Week...." The writer, of course, was referring to the phenomenon of church leaders fried by the frenzied business of leading a church during Easter. But the phrase stayed near to me, even as I succumbed to the relentless demands I impose on myself that insist I must do it right–especially this week. ...