All Good Things Must Come to an End
Many of you know that for the past two decades I have been obsessed with offshore billfishing. It’s impossible to give justice to a description of the feeling one gets when a 400-pound blue marlin is coming toward your bait. You see the fin, then the bill, then the crash as the Blue attacks the […]
How to Undermine Church Leadership in One Easy Step
The church had done all the hard work of building a solid foundation. They identified their mission, vision, and values and they developed both membership and leadership covenants. It looked like they were ready to move to the next steps of growth. Enter the nominating committee. There were several leadership positions that needed to be filled, but […]
The Secret to Finding People Who Don’t Go to Church
Jesus said to “Go!” and make disciples. But where do we go? A big issue in contemporary church is that most Christians only interact with other church people. If you are a follower of Jesus, how many friends do you have who don’t go to church? Do you need to change that? I recently did […]
6 Steps to Spiritual Conversations That Change Lives
Jesus sent out 70 people to prepare the way for his coming by proclaiming peace to people’s households. Those people were likely Jews who were eager to have a conversation about the possibility of The Messiah. It seems that our context today is very different. How does God send us out? There seem to be […]
Christ-Centered Pastors Don’t Make Disciples or Care for People
That’s right, you read it correctly – Christ-centered pastors don’t make disciples, nor do they take care of people. Instead, they do what Jesus did: they equip others to make disciples and to care for people. These pastors would rather equip ten people to make disciples than to make disciples themselves. Disciple-making and caring for people […]
How to Effectively Lead a Staff
This article is a follow up to the previous article on staff management. Learning how to lead a staff is one of the most important aspects of a pastor’s life if that pastor wants to be an effective leader. Every study shows that the vast majority of churches grow based on their leader and how […]