ATTRACTING NEW VISITORS FOR VALENTINE’S DAY.
Cultural holidays are wonderful opportunities to attract people to your church. Take last weekend’s Super Bowl as an example. For years the church I pastored would host ‘Football Sunday’ and we would encourage unchurched people, especially men, to attend services wearing their favorite team’s jersey or colors. As a part of my message on a […]
Five Steps to Encourage a Guest’s Return Visit
An important step in the growth of any church is to do whatever you can to encourage your first time guests to return for a second week. Notice I use the word ‘guest’ not visitor. To treat first time attenders as a welcomed guest, there are five things I would like to suggest that you […]
The Basic Law of Congregational Life
Over the past twenty-five years I’ve worked with almost seven hundred churches of all sizes and locations. Most in the U.S. but some in Canada, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and Ghana. And one overarching truth has emerged from my experiences in these churches – I call this truth The Basic Law of Congregational Life. It […]
First Week of the New Year
No matter what, most resolutions are broken before the second week of January rolls around. Good intentions pave the road to yesterday’s results. If you’re committed to changing things in your church, now’s the time to begin. And it all begins with you, pastor. Here are five-and-a-half practices that guarantee that the end of this […]
Christmas Eve on Sunday
Christmas Eve, the most important time of the year to reach the unchurched (yes, it’s more important than Easter these days), is fast approaching and far too many pastors will be enticed by their church leaders to make one of the most fatal mistakes possible. And this year that enticement will be even more likely […]
The Long Game
One of the most frustrating realities about a turnaround is that it takes more time to get ready for a successful turnaround than it does to grow a church. Let me explain. There are Several Ways to Grow a Church Give me a big enough budget and I can fill your church I don’t care […]