Scripture Verse of the Year
As each New Year approaches, I take a day to get away to pray and ask God to put on my heart a Biblical verse that is to be my personal scripture verse of the year. I memorize it, meditate on it, preach on it, and seek to live it out in practice throughout the […]
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 been […]
Getting Unchurched Bob and Barb Into Church
Think about the implications of that statement. If you’re committed to growing your church, that means: There are a LOT of reasons why the unchurched “say” they don’t want to go to church: All those are probably as good of reasons as you can get. But in the end, they’re not really honest of accurate […]
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 of […]
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 church […]