Teaching Your Parish to Pray
Most Christians learn to pray from two sources. First, those who were raised by Christian parents may have learned from them. Sadly, many Christian parents simply don’t have a good handle on prayer themselves, so after their children memorized “God is great, God is good” and “Jesus tender, Shepherd hear me, bless this little lamb […]
Focus Groups
Some churches still find Focus Groups helpful in identifying the ministry needs of the market place. Here is my take on Focus Groups.  The purpose of a focus group is to identify the attitudes, concerns, issues, hopes, dreams, and needs of the group of people you have brought together for the focus group. From this […]
What You Know Doesn’t Matter
I’m a fairly smart guy and I’ve got the degrees to prove it, so when I was in a seminar and the presenter made the assertion, “What you know doesn’t really matter,” well, it got my dander up and at least in my head I crossed my arms and thought, “That’s bunk.” But the speaker […]
Spiritual Habits for Real People
Easter is literally just around the corner and church leaders are gearing up for one of the most visitor and alumni attendance Sundays of the year. There’s so much to do: neighborhood Easter Egg hunts to organize; the Easter Cantata to publicize; ecumenical (or not) Easter Sunrise Services to coordinate; visitor follow-up programs to massage; […]
Mentoring is Different Than Friendship
Mentoring is all about eliciting the hidden potential in others, and challenging their self-perceptions. Many people think that they must first establish a friendship with another person before they can mentor. In fact, establishing a friendship often blocks your ability to mentor. First, friendship by its very nature accepts a person as they are. It can blind the mentor […]
Growing One Micro-Culture at a Time
The New Testament model of church growth had little to do with converting individuals or assimilating members. It was all about reaching micro-cultures for Christ. A micro-culture is a definable, describable demographic or lifestyle segment. The apostles targeted Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, and other cities … and then different neighborhoods, economic and professional groups, and so on. […]