Why You Shouldn’t Show Individual Staff Salaries

The Secret to Ending Church Conflict

I’m often asked if the church budget should show individual staff salaries and without hesitation I always say, “NO, not on your life!” Here’s why. First showing all the salaries encourages mediocrity. Why? Because the same mindset that publishes individual salaries also wants to give across the board raises, which is always a horrible thing […]

5 Questions to Discover If You Honor the People God Loves

do you honor the people God loves?

We talk a lot about honor in our culture in regards to public service and acts of bravery.  But why don’t we speak more about honoring one another in daily life? Think about it.  How do people perceive you?  And in regards to church, does your congregation honor every precious child of God? I feel […]

Spending Time Mentoring Staff

How to Effectively Lead a Staff

Spending time mentoring staff is one of the most important things a pastor can do. When I suggest to a person I’m coaching that he needs to spend more time mentoring or training his staff, he usually asks, “What does that look like?” Here’s my response. First, you should see yourself as the head coach of a ball […]

All Good Things Must Come to an End

The Missing Piece to Spiritual Maturity

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

This won't happen again

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

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 […]