A Lesson in How to Be Hospitable to Strangers
In June I attended a workshop on “Managing Creativity” sponsored by Leadership Network and the Disney Institute in Orlando. Although I didn’t get to see much of Disney during the day and half I attended the workshop, I was introduced to enough of it to have some interesting thoughts. I first shared my initial reactions […]
A A Lesson in How to Be Hospitable to Strangers
In one of the congregations I worked in last year I ran across a story that had become legendary in that congregation. It seems as if the pastor had told the story many times so the detailed authenticity of the story is suspect. However, I have learned that some of the most profound truths are […]
A Time for Giving
Two of the most important celebrations of the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas, happen at this season. During these times, workers jockey for time off, families come together from all over the country or world, food is prominent, and hopefully a good time will be had by all. I know, this isn’t starting out as my […]
Working Around the Pareto Leadership Principle
One of the most frequent concerns we hear, when working with congregational transformation, is “We don’t have enough people to do all the ministries.” Interestingly, when we investigate, we’ll hear these same words from both staff and volunteers – as well as from church members who are only marginally involved. Using the Pareto Principle as […]
The Expanding Web: Don’t Let Your Church Miss Out
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to work with advising several churches on their marketing strategies. These churches ranged from quite small to rather large – but they all had one thing in common: they were investing their bulk of their marketing dollars in mediums that brought them exactly zero results. Take […]
Guess Who’s Coming for Easter – It’s Probably Not Who You Think
When it comes to Easter, churches tend to roll out the red carpet for visitors. Already, major marketing plans are underway to attract the unchurched masses. Anticipating a larger-than-usual crowd, what with the economic situation, pastors and worship teams are meeting to discuss themes, strategies, and tactics to invite the unchurched to consider the gospel, […]