The Missing Piece for Making Disciples

It’s common for church people to resist the “ways of the world” when it impacts how we do church together.  At The Effective Church Group, we are always ready for push back when we express practical advice which arises from the reality of how human nature works.

We hear “It’ll never work; or it’s not […]

It’s Out! (And What People Are Saying)

Our new book, Effective Staffing for Vital Churches, is now on sale in print, for Kindle, and maybe for Nook on November 1. Many have pre-ordered and we thank you. We believe it is one of our best books to date.  Rick Warren thought so too, writing, “This book is a winner.”

 

We are getting […]

A Helpful Hint to Pastors

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that pastors, for one reason or another, are the most disorganized group on the planet. I know because I’m one of them. Once, years ago, I was supposed to have dinner with a member of the church, and I forgot. Did I ever have […]

Tough Questions

I received a post from person on our advanced leadership forum inquiring what questions he should ask while at a search committee interview for a new church position as lead pastor. Here is what I said.

What is their vision for their church?
How many pastors have they had in the last 20 years?
Why did […]

Is Church a Verb or Noun?

Is the word “church” a noun or a verb? How you answer this question explains whether you understand the Gospel or have totally missed its point.

So let’s start by asking a question –“Which image best portrays a church?”

Which one did you pick? By the conversations of most Christians it would appear to be the […]

Directness Wins… at Least for Me

I’ve never been very good at catching subtle hints, but I was pretty good at laying them out there. For years, I worked with churches and tried to lead with gentle-ish suggestions, but little changed. It was in Loganville, Georgia where I intentionally made a change.

I was the pastor of a historic church on […]

A Guest-Friendly Website

Recently I was asked for recommendations for remodeling a church’s website. In response I wrote a too-long email, but a just-right blog post. So I thought I’d share it here. A tiny bit of this is pretty technical, but even a novice will find some tips to help tighten up their site. (BTW, we do […]

What Mainline Pastors Can Learn from Non-Mainline Planters

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been conducting interviews with pastors of church planting churches, and a couple of things keep reoccurring in all of the interviews. I thought I would single them out and show what mainline denominations could learn from them.
Church Planting Common Denominators
A Kingdom orientation is the number one thing […]

The Path to Becoming a Successful Church Consultant

I don’t know what the deal is, but over the past couple of weeks we’ve been inundated with requests from current pastors who have become interested in becoming church consultants. I’ve responded personally, but I think there’s enough interest that I wanted to set the record straight about what it takes to be a […]