From Doers to Equippers – Part Three
What happens during the transition? The pastor must carefully and slowly chip away at destroying the dependent culture and establishing a growth culture. For eight years, I chipped away at changing the culture to one of equipping. I spent those 8 years filtering out whom I had to see and get fired and whom I […]
From Doers to Equippers – Part Two
Making the transition from doers to equippers is perhaps one of the hardest transitions to make. So, let’s take it step by step. Step one begins with the pastor. The pastor has to demonstrate this change or no one else will. Why is this change so hard for pastors? Because it’s easier and less time-consuming […]
Multiplication Ripples
I’ve been writing a lot about church multiplication because I believe it is the way Jesus would want us to lead our churches. At the heart of multiplication is the shift from an addition culture of gathering and accumulating to a multiplication culture of releasing and sending. In other words: starting self-propagating churches that result […]
The Sad State of Discipleship in the U.S.
Only 20 percent of Christians are involved in any kind of discipleship activity, according to the Barna report that just came out. Unfortunately, making disciples is the number one job of every Christian, not just of the clergy. Jesus didn’t mince words. Some of his last words were, “Go make disciples of all people groups.” […]
How Christians are Called to Curb Racism, Gun Deaths, and Cure All the Rest of Our Social Ills
There was another terrible gun tragedy yesterday. This time, though, the Facebook posts have been slightly different. Yes, there are still the politicos who demand full disarmament on the one side and arming every man, woman, and child (with careful screening and gun safety training) on the other. And there was the typical pouring out […]
Does Your Church Really Care?
Perhaps you’re wondering why some churches grow and others do not. The more I consult and coach the more I realize that the answer isn’t so much what churches do. It’s why churches do what they do. Churches grow because they have a deep-seated love for people who don’t know Jesus. And that kind of […]