As church leaders there are a few holidays that must be observed faithfully and treated with the utmost respect they deserve. There is Christmas, the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Then there is Easter, the day we recognize Jesus’ resurrection three days after being crucified. These are momentous […]
Many churches have taken a stand against any kind of the celebrating Halloween because the darkness the day and night may promote. “Because Halloween can be traced to distinctly pagan sources, it is reasonable that many believers would find some aspects of its celebration disturbing”. According to Focus on the Family’s founder, Dr. James […]
One of my favorite movies is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In it Harrison Ford’s character is faced with difficult trials in order to regain the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus used at his last supper. One of the tests he has to endure is to make a seemingly impossible leap across a […]
Let’s face it, Father’s Day is the Rodney Dangerfield of holidays. It’s the, “I get-no-respect” little brother to Mother’s Day. Interestingly, the American version of Father’s Day was first proposed in 1909 by a grateful daughter, Sonora Smart Dodd. Her father, a Civil War veteran, singlehandedly raised six children after his wife died in […]
I saw a post on Facebook this week that reminded me of a very practical church growth principle. The image said, ’The best gift you can give your Mother for Mother’s Day is to sit with her in church.” Behind only Christmas and Easter, Mother’s Day brings the third highest attendance each year. People […]
It was over twenty-five years I walked into a tent that
would revolutionize the way I would forever pastor a congregation. Soon after
being called to the First Christian Church of Norwalk California, I began
hearing about a church in Orange County that was doing big things. The church
was Saddleback Valley Community Church and I decided to […]
Pastors
of churches all over our country continue to ask the question, “Where are all the men”? Women comprise more
than 60% of the adults in the typical worship service in America. Some overseas
congregations report ten women for every man in attendance. Volunteer ranks are
heavily female. No other religion suffers the enormous gender gaps that plague
Christianity. […]
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Following in the footsteps of his father, in February 1948, at the age of 19, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. entered the Christian ministry and was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. In 1954, upon completion of graduate studies at Boston University, he accepted a […]
New Year’s Eve is
an interesting holiday differing from others because it does not commemorate an
event, like Easter or a person like Christmas. New Years is a holiday that
celebrates the inevitability of the passing of time. We make New Years special
only by being reflective of the year that has passed and proactive about what
we want […]
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