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About Bill Tenny-Brittian

Bill is the Managing Partner at The Effective Church Group. He began ministry as a church planter in the early 1980s and over the past 35 years he's grown churches from one side of the nation to the other. In 2002 he joined Bill Easum's consultation group and began partnering with churches and church leaders to help them reach their fullest potential. He is the author of nine books and the editor of Net Results magazine. Reach Bill here.

“Big Church” is for … Whom?

I’m not talking about mega churches or even large churches. I mean, who is your Adult Worship Service designed for?

If your choir is singing in robes, it’s probably for Senior Adults who have lots of church experience.

If your band sounds like Peter, Paul, and Mary with guitars and a keyboard, it’s probably for Boomers. […]

Growing Churches are a Pain

Almost every church leader I’ve met tells me they want to grow their churches.

Be careful what you ask for.

A growing church brings problems. LOTS of problems. To be honest, a growing church is a pain in the neck, back, backside, and pretty much everywhere else.

Why?

Because a growing church demands change. Real change. Painful change.

Imagine […]

Doorway to ??

It happened again. I was visiting a church on a Sunday morning and apparently parked in the “wrong” parking lot. You know the one, it looks like it’s near the main entrance, but the main entrance isn’t really the main entrance (because “everyone” knows that “everyone” enters through the side entrance on Third Street). […]

What’s Excellent?

There’s an old axiom that goes something like:

Those without a destination are doomed to never arrive.

As I was pondering that the other day, a corollary to the axiom came to mind. “Those who don’t define excellence are destined to never achieve it.”

Most church leaders I know are invested in delivering excellence in all their […]

Who’s Bulletin Is It?

Let me start out with a thought … if you’re using screen technology, a worship bulletin is a colossal waste of resources. Why do you need a bulletin to follow the Responsive Reading? I mean, it’s up there on the screen? Besides, your office manager probably spent an hour typing it up, proofing it, […]

Next Steps?

Carol joined the church a month ago. She’d been attending worship for several weeks and liked what she heard and what she experienced. She’d even made a new friend or two. Joining the church seemed like a good thing to do.

But that was last month. Carol still liked worship, but she was a […]

Don’t Stop … Thief!

One of those ten commandments is about thievery. The Bible generally frowns on stealing stuff from others. Although neither Israel nor Christians ever condoned cutting off a thieve’s hand as punishment, there were some pretty stiff penalties for thieves.

On the other hand, the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us:

What has been will be again, […]

Unplugging from Cable

I was with my grandson … 13 years-old … yesterday and he asked grandma and I, “Do you have cable?” I admitted we did and he responded:

How can you stand cable and all those commercials? I hate commercials!

To be fair, so do I. In fact, my Kansas City apartment is completely unplugged from commercial […]

When Will You Hip Hop?

Do you remember the fight your church had when you added a drum kit to the sanctuary’s platform?

Well, that’s nothing compared to what’s coming.

Maybe you haven’t heard the news: As of 2019, Hip Hop is the number one selling music genre in the US … it surpassed rock-n-roll rather handily.

So, when will you […]