The Two Ways of Church Transformation

There are two ways to try and grow a church.

Plan A has years of tradition behind it: Convince those in the pews to get off of their blessed assurance and move out into the mission field to make disciples. Pastors have been trying to do that for longer than any of us have […]

Getting Unchurched Bob and Barb Into Church

Think about the implications of that statement. If you’re committed to growing your church, that means:

The people you’re trying to reach intentionally didn’t want to go to church.

And more to the point: They didn’t want to go to YOUR CHURCH.

There are a LOT of reasons why the unchurched “say” they don’t want to […]

Christmas Sunday 2022

Remembering back to when I was pastoring a growing church, I had to face a particularly issue in both 2005 and 2016. Those were years when December 25th fell on a Sunday. This year, 2022, Christmas day is also on a Sunday.

So how should your church plan services as Christmas day is Sunday, knowing […]

Bucks, Butts, or Disciples?

To become a part of the Next Level for Church Growth Pastors Group (a private Facebook Group), a pastor has to answer three questions. Question #2 is about Church Growth. It’s always amused me (not Ha Ha amusement) when some pastor pushes back and accuses me (and The Effective Church Group) about being one […]

The Role of the Transformational Senior Pastor

Over the years, there has been a good bit of talk about what a senior pastor is “supposed” to be doing when it comes to leading a church. However, it’s clear that the lead pastor’s tasks must be driven by whatever “stage” a church finds itself in. If the pastor is leading a traditional […]

A VR Reformation

I’ve got a birthday coming up and for years when my wife Debbie would ask me what I wanted as a gift my response was always the same. ”Nutin”. I did elaborate by saying, “I don’t want or need a thing.” And I really didn’t. When she asked me that question this year, I […]

The Secret to Ending Church Conflict

As a pastor for 30 years, I have many sad stories about destructive church conflict.  I don’t think anything makes Jesus cry more than when his people injure one another and others.

The really sad thing is that such conflict is the norm for so many churches.  It is usually just a few people.  But […]

“Crazy” Busy

If you feel busier now than ever before, and if you wonder if you can keep up this pace much longer, you are not alone. Most of us in ministry feel slightly bewildered, realizing we have more to do than we have time to do it.

In the church we seem to equate busyness with […]

Let Go…

We live in a world of constant change. As we go through our daily lives, we live in uncertainty, never knowing for sure what tomorrow could bring. Forget tomorrow, often we don’t know what the next hour will bring.

In addition to uncertainty, we deal with the speed of a fast and furiously paced life. […]