The Primacy of Preaching
I’m reading a fascinating book, Preaching and Preachers, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I must confess, I’ve never read anything by him before and that’s a shame. The book is an excellent read. His premise is that preaching is the primary thing a minister does. He gives three reasons. One, because preaching is primary in the […]
One Person, One Passion, One Position
I’ve yet to enter a congregation where their biggest complaint was that they had too many leaders and not enough ministry for their leaders to do. Obviously, the opposite is the rule. However, over the years I’ve discovered that, except in churches embroiled in conflict or in some other downward spiral, churches generally have all […]
Too Busy to Grow Your Church
I just returned from a training event for a church that’s dwindled down to less than fifty in worship and has less than a dozen committed leaders. They were pretty much in the desperate mode, which is never a good place to be. When they turned to 21st Century Strategies to help them find a way […]
Every Leader Needs One
When I went to seminary many moons ago, the study of leadership was one of three glaring omissions in seminary curriculum (the other two were conflict resolution and financial management). About the only leadership advice I got was this analogy: “Today’s pastor must be like a modern-day rancher who uses a helicopter to fly over the […]
Anti-Terrorism Prescription
My wife (Dr. Kris T-B) and I go on a date on as many Fridays as possible. On our dates we go to lunch and catch a movie matinee. Last week we went to see Joyful Noise, which was a good movie and showed the church and the faith in a positive light (for a […]
What Do You Measure?
The old adage, “you get what you measure,” holds true both in business and in the church. Obviously it might appear to be easier to develop measurement metrics for a business than a church, but is it? I don’t think so. When I was a pastor, we always measured elements based on our vision. Our […]