If I was only allowed to give one piece of advice to pastors about how to make their Sunday messages more appealing to a younger audience, it would be this. Stop making your sermon notes rhyme. For generations, rhymes and alliterations were expected from public speakers. It made them seem credible, authoritative and prepared. And […]
Why I Don’t Trust Sermon Notes that Rhyme – And What I Do Instead Read More »
“How do you stay fresh and open to innovation after more than 20 years leading the same small church?” I get asked that a lot. There are a variety of factors of course, but today I want to tell you about one that has functioned almost subconsciously for me. When leading, especially when leading for
Bungee Cord Leadership: Using Tension to Guide Your Church Through Change Read More »
“How do I get my church to grow?” That is the #1 question asked by pastors today. I used to ask that question a lot. I take an entire chapter of The Grasshopper Myth to tell how pursuing the answer to it nearly killed me and my church. I don’t ask that question any more.
Forget Being Culturally Relevant – Let’s Get Contextually Real Read More »
They’re the same. So what do you think?
What’s Better? 5,000 In a Megachurch? Or 5,000 In 50 Small Churches? Read More »
“Delegate pastor, delegate.” I’ve heard that wise advice hundreds of times – literally. Ron Cook was the chair of the pulpit committee that brought me to the church I’ve pastored for over 20 years now. In the first few years here, whenever he’d catch me doing something myself instead of training someone else to do
How to Delegate When There’s No One Around: Six Lessons I Learned the Hard Way Read More »
I love hanging out with innovative, passionate Small Church pastors. They have such great stories and they can’t wait to tell them. The more I listen, the more I learn. We all know the value of hanging out with people who share our heart, don’t we? If we’re honest, most of us who attend ministerial
Hanging Out Is Holy – And Healthy Small Churches Take It Seriously Read More »
Megachurches are awesome. How could we not be grateful when thousands of people voluntarily gather together every week to worship Jesus? Everything about that is good. But… (you knew there was a “but” coming, didn’t you?) But while it’s wonderful to see 3,000 to 30,000 people meet to worship Jesus in one massive church, it
Megachurches are Not Normal – And That’s OK Read More »
We learn more through our failures than our successes. I don’t want that to be true. But it is. Today’s post was written by a long-time friend who, like me, has had his share of frustrations in ministry. Lee Fruh (pronounced Free) has the rare gift of taking those frustrations, hurts and downright failures and,
Three Self-Evident Principles of Christian Leadership (A Guest Post) Read More »
A healthy church does not inevitably mean a growing church. I used to believe that it did. After all, I’ve read about the “truth” of inevitable church growth in every church leadership book written in the last 30 years. I even taught it myself.
I don’t believe it any more. It’s a myth. The reason I no longer believe that numerical growth is inevitable for a healthy church has to do with one problem that kept presenting itself…
The evidence stubbornly refuses to back it up.
The Myth of Inevitable Church Growth Read More »
“Jesus wants the church to grow!” I agree. How can I not? Jesus was the one who said, “I will build my church,” and I’ve found that arguing with him is not a recipe for health or happiness. “Jesus wants your church to grow!” Wait just a second. We often make that second statement as
Does Jesus Want Every Church to Be a Big Church? Read More »
