Culture Change Starts at the Top

Years ago, I took a business management course and I believe it was Tom Peters who drilled it into my head that when leadership determines the need for a culture change, that it begins and ends with leadership – starting in the C-Suite and spiraling out from there. He went on to assert that the […]

Spiritual Checkup 2023

For years as the pastor of a growing congregation I would take time at the end of each year to be quiet and asked God to bring to my mind the significant things He wanted to teach me about the last year. I would also ask God to impart to me what changes He […]

Scripture Verse of the Year

As each New Year approaches, I take a day to get away to pray and ask God to put on my heart a Biblical verse that is to be my personal scripture verse of the year. I memorize it, meditate on it, preach on it, and seek to live it out in practice throughout […]

The Two Ways of Church Transformation

There are two ways to try and grow a church.

Plan A has years of tradition behind it: Convince those in the pews to get off of their blessed assurance and move out into the mission field to make disciples. Pastors have been trying to do that for longer than any of us have […]

12 Days of Christmas Tools

“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10b NIV). 

Christmas is the good news of great joy for all people. Christmas should be a party — a birthday party for Jesus. It’s the reason we say, “Merry Christmas.”

So how do we as church leaders keep Christ in […]

Getting Unchurched Bob and Barb Into Church

Think about the implications of that statement. If you’re committed to growing your church, that means:

The people you’re trying to reach intentionally didn’t want to go to church.

And more to the point: They didn’t want to go to YOUR CHURCH.

There are a LOT of reasons why the unchurched “say” they don’t want to […]

Christmas Sunday 2022

Remembering back to when I was pastoring a growing church, I had to face a particularly issue in both 2005 and 2016. Those were years when December 25th fell on a Sunday. This year, 2022, Christmas day is also on a Sunday.

So how should your church plan services as Christmas day is Sunday, knowing […]

Bucks, Butts, or Disciples?

To become a part of the Next Level for Church Growth Pastors Group (a private Facebook Group), a pastor has to answer three questions. Question #2 is about Church Growth. It’s always amused me (not Ha Ha amusement) when some pastor pushes back and accuses me (and The Effective Church Group) about being one […]

The Role of the Transformational Senior Pastor

Over the years, there has been a good bit of talk about what a senior pastor is “supposed” to be doing when it comes to leading a church. However, it’s clear that the lead pastor’s tasks must be driven by whatever “stage” a church finds itself in. If the pastor is leading a traditional […]