July 23, 2015

Why me?

Have you ever wondered that? I guess we all do at some point.

Usually, it’s in reaction to something negative. An unexpected disease, loss of job or some other tragedy.

Lately I’ve been asking that question about something very good.

Why me? is the question I asked Drew Dyck, the managing editor of Leadership Journal (LJ) to answer for all of you, the readers of NewSmallChurch.com. Why was I asked to be the first-ever Leadership Journal blogger? It’s a big step – and a bit of a risk – for such a highly respected publication to take.

Here’s how Drew answered that question:

“In 2013, Leadership Journal conducted a “Listening Tour.” We met with groups of pastors in six different cities across the U.S. One message we heard over and over again: we’re tired of resources—books, conferences, websites—that are all designed for doing ministry in a big-church context. These pastors weren’t down on large churches. But most of them, like the majority of pastors, led smaller churches—and they found the resources being offered simply didn’t work in their context.

Leadership Journal has always been a champion of pastors. And we seek out contributions from large and small church pastors alike. But hearing the hunger for small-church specific resources made us realize we needed to do more for these leaders. When we reached out to people in our network, the name Karl Vaters kept popping up. Here was a guy who was leading a small church and successfully connecting with other small church pastors. After many conversations with Karl we invited him to be our first Leadership Journal blogger. We’re excited to see what this partnership will bring! We’re thrilled that we’ll be working with Karl to inspire and equip pastors from every kind of church in the days ahead.”