Articles + Podcast
Do You Have a Leadership Pipeline to Nowhere?
"Leadership Pipeline" remains a popular buzzword in business and ministry, and for good reason. We do need to be developing leaders at all levels of our organizations. Active, growing, thriving organization cultivate leaders in order to fill new positions, replace...
Leave It Better Than You Found It
There’s something genuinely disappointing about being out in nature—on a beach, in the woods, above tree line on the way to the top of a mountain—and discovering that someone had left behind a bottle, wrapper, container, cigarette butt or the like. You many not feel...
10 Ways to Burn Out Your Team
A church's most valuable asset is its leadership; so you must be careful not to burn out your team. In our collective decades of ministry and consulting experience, we have seen again and again how churches that lack healthy leadership eventually struggle. To be...
How Preaching Can Change Lives
Those of us who are regularly teaching and/or preaching in our churches do so to encourage life change on the part of the people who sit under our ministries. And as we are preaching or teaching life changing principles from God's word, our desire is that these truths...
10 Ways to Maximize Fall Church Attendance
Back to school, back to church. Throughout the country, churches of all sizes and denominations experience a bump in fall church attendance. Congregations benefit from people wanting to get back into the rhythm of "normal" life after the crazy summertime pace. The...
5 Myths About Leadership Accountability
Churches without leadership accountability have a one-way ticket to organizational implosion. This isn't an overstatement. It's the truth. When pastors lack effective accountability, eventually the ministry will fail. That's why leadership culture is one of the...
9 Reasons People Are Not Coming To Your Church
“Why aren’t more people coming to worship with my church?” To some extent, I think every pastor and servant leader in the church has asked this question at one time or another. It is natural. You want to make a greater impact. But everyone experiences a lull at some...
10 VBS Ideas to Infuse Strategic Thinking Into Your Church
As a kid, I have very few memories more vivid than of spending a week in Vacation Bible School. I would attend two weeks: one at my church and one at my best friend’s church. I remember the week at my friend’s church the most because it was different. As a part of...
10 Deadly Church Planting Mistakes
10 Deadly Church Planting Mistakes There is a never-ending need for new churches to be planted. From sea to shining sea, there is no community in America where we can hang a “mission accomplished” banner and stop planting churches. Wherever God is calling you to plant...
Why Churches Are Too Busy And 5 Ways Church Leaders Can Respond
Your busyness diminishes your productivity. When your church does everything, it usually ends up doing few things well. When you get involved in everything or focus on too many things at once, you end up accomplishing less of what you wanted to do. You begin to see...
A Good First Impression Starts with Clarity
We've all had the experience of being a first time guest at a church. Hopefully it was good, but maybe it wasn't. Just like with any first impression, you should aim to make a good first impression of your church, even in the little things. A good first impression...
5 Ways Pastors are Preparing for Strategic Planning in the Church
Every church our team works with consistently asks what they should do next. It is hard to have it all figured out. Pastoral ministry is tough. Maybe you don't know what to do next yourself. Pastors often find the concept of vision clarity and strategic planning...
11 Steps for Developing Strong Church Leaders
Pastor Bill Hybels once said that Christ’s church is the hope of the world, and leadership is the hope of the church. In light of this, we discover that the reason so many churches are struggling in North America and beyond results from poor or nonexistent leadership....
8 Ways Healthy Churches are Killing the Church to Save the Church
So many people fight for the survival of their church at all costs. I'm sure most mean well, but what's wrong with killing the church to save the church? I should probably explain...as many will undoubtedly voice concern about why we should save the church. But what...
14 Ways to Better Understand Your Community
One of the best ways to reach your community is to take the time to understand your community and what makes it unique. In Acts 1:8, Luke writes that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and therefore we are to be witnesses to our communities...
15 Characteristics of Healthy Church Leaders
A healthy church begins with healthy church leaders. It's easy to assume someone serving "in ministry" has things all together, but you and I both know this can certainly be far from the truth at times. Church leaders are human, which means they are fallible (*gasp!*)...
5 Indicators That You Do Not Need A Church Consulting Firm
What are the indicators that you do not need a church consulting firm right now? We hear all sorts of talk about the newest tool a pastor of our church can use. Sometimes you'll read a blog post about the three, five, or seven best of whatever to fix a certain area of...
15 Church Security Tips and Resources for Pastors and Church Boards
Church security has risen to the forefront of our minds in recent years. From school shootings around the country to shootings in churches in Texas, South Carolina, and more--Americans are increasingly concerned about safety in public places. We need a healthy balance...
10 Ways Church Leaders Create a Culture of Equipping and Training
"How do we get from here to there?" is a question that I get frequently. Church leaders want to transition their church from where they are to where they would like to be. Many, many church leaders would like to transition from constantly shepherding, visiting, and...
10 Ways Pastors Balance Life and Ministry in Their Schedules
I’m addicted to seeking advice from older, wiser, spiritually-healthy pastors—those with godly attitudes and a long history of balance, healthy families, and personal fruit. Of the many questions I like to ask, this one is my favorite: “How do you build your ‘normal’...
Creating Simple and Effective Volunteer Job Descriptions for Your Church
To lead others well, a leader must know what is expected of those being led. In businesses, the leader or HR department creates a "job description", which attracts qualified candidates for a given position. That job description helps the leader determine who would be...
5 Things You Must Do Before You Plant a Church
“I think I want to start a church one day. Where do I start? What should I be doing now?” This is a frequent question that comes from potential church planters. I think it's awesome that so many people are interested in church planting. It takes work, but it's worth...
6 Steps to Building a Leadership Pipeline in Your Church
Leadership pipeline development in churches isn't a new fad or trend that only applies to multi-site or church planting contexts. A church's leadership pipeline cultivates the God-given spiritual gifts and abilities each person has. It requires a redesign or...
9 Tips for Effective Church Technology
I’ve spent the last 18 years supporting small business computer networks. Most things crossover well into effective church technology; however, special considerations do exist for church networks. Every entity is budget conscious when it comes to technology, but...