I just got off the phone from a delightful conversation with Ralph Moore, pastor of Hope Chapel in Honolulu. Ralph is a 70-year-old, humble hippie who is planting the third Hope Chapel and is responsible directly or indirectly for more than 1,000 church plants. I was struck by his humble, straightforward way of sharing both himself […]
I had a conversation today that caused me to think. This pastor had a lot of balls in the air. In fact, too many. So a thought came to me about another two rules of management (click here to read the first five rules).
Point Number Six: Never be too busy to lead. Sounds like a […]
One of those ten commandments is about thievery. The Bible generally frowns on stealing stuff from others. Although neither Israel nor Christians ever condoned cutting off a thieve’s hand as punishment, there were some pretty stiff penalties for thieves.
On the other hand, the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us:
What has been will be again, […]
“I’m tired of training staff only to see them leave to work in another church.” I heard pastors say this a lot when I was consulting. I always wondered what would happen if they didn’t train them and they stayed long term.
“My staff is so competent that I’m afraid some church will steal them […]
Bill Easum
Too many Christian leaders working with children these days still think it’s 1980. As a result, the children’s ministry in most churches is one of the most boring experiences in the life of a kid. And if a kid isn’t happy with your Sunday School, the parents seldom return.
So, how do we address […]
Search committees are always looking for pastors and additional staff, but they need to know the difference between mission-driven leadership and maintenance-drive leadership. Here is the first set of distinctions you need to make in your interviews:
Do you love the church? Do you desire to be with Jesus?
Philanthropy to do good stuff Mission to […]
I was asked recently, “How do I start a conversation with an unchurched person? Should I just ask about their church home or whether or not they go to church?”
Let’s think about this. If you ask an unchurched person whether or not they go to church, you’re effectively cutting off further conversation because their […]
Search committees are always looking for pastors and additional staff, but they need to know the difference between mission-driven leadership and maintenance-drive leadership. Here is the first set of distinctions you need to make in your interviews:
Maintenance Mission
Serving the church Serving the Mission
Serving the membership Serving Christ
Care Taking for members Care Giving to strangers
Equipping to do […]
My denomination, The United Methodist Church, has just initiated a program called “Praying Our Way Forward.” This is a denomination wide program that begins with Phase One, which is encouraging all the Bishops to agree to spend 15 minutes a day between now and mid-November. So far 84 Bishops are signed up.
Now calling for […]
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