The Burden of the Suburban Church

My last twenty-four years of local church ministry were spent in an up-and-coming suburban church. Like most suburbanites, many of my flock were into getting ahead, building fences around their homes, chauffeuring their children to this-and-that, and distancing themselves from the rift-raft of the world. .  Most of the members were content with living […]

Leadership Multiplication

I’m constantly asked what it takes to raise up more leaders or, to put it biblically, to make more mature disciples. And that’s good because leadership and discipleship multiplication are some of the most important ministries church leaders can undertake.  So I’m going to brush stroke the basics of a leadership culture. If you want […]

Easter Evangelism

As I looked over the crowded sanctuary my heart was instantly gladdened by both the lack of comfortable seating and the colorful array of Easter attire. There seemed to be a glow of warmth that was infectious as we launched into our annual retinue of Alleluias and Up From the Grave singspiration. A bonnet […]

Why Your Church Can’t Afford Mass Media Advertising

Over the past couple of years, we’ve been telling church leaders that getting into the mass media advertising game is, by and large, a colossal waste of money – unless your church can afford to spend upwards of $25,000 per campaign (per event you are advertising).  Some of the reasons for this are pretty obvious, […]

Managerial Aspects of Leadership

By Bill Easum

Being the pastor of a church requires many things not taught in seminary. One of those things not taught is the managerial aspects of leadership. Whereas leaders look outward to the future, managers look inward to the moment.

In a small church the pastor has to be both manager and leader if the […]

Friday Nights for Jesus

Fasten your seat belt, friend, because this is the most high powered approach we have. I do not know anything that works better than giving Friday nights to Jesus. Giving Friday nights to Jesus will reach more people in less time than any method I know. In fact, if you give Friday nights to […]

Church in the Post-Pandemic World

The other day, ECG Partner Scott Musselman shot me a note about something I’d written that referenced the post-pandemic church. He said that his church wasn’t post-pandemic yet! And of course he’s completely correct – the Great Pandemic of 2020 hasn’t given up its ghost and doesn’t seem like it will any time soon. […]

Mentoring Moment

We all know that churches grow when they create a flow of experience that draws seekers into a process that shapes disciples. The language to describe this is something like, “Welcome, Grow, Send”. I refer to the fives steps of “Change, Gift, Call, Equip, and Send”. The graphic you see on any given website […]

Missional Small Groups

One of the key elements of most discipleship pipelines I’ve seen is what I call missional small groups. The problem is, when most people hear “small groups” they think of Bible studies, which is far from what is meant by missional small groups. So let’s look at the difference.

Most ineffective small groups are primarily […]