Church Strategy
-
Should you start, fix or just trash that ministry, event or idea?
Two the hardest questions in leading in ministry are Should we start doing this new thing? Should we stop doing this old thing? The reason these are challenging questions is the answers are almost always subjective, based on the emotions of the people involved. We start a new ministry because something someone has a passion…
-
Four Opportunity Killing Mistakes Young (and old) Leaders Make
I love investing in younger leaders, and as I get older almost every leader I meet with is a younger leader. Younger leaders are the ones who change the culture, change the trajectory and change the world. They are less afraid to fail and more likely to try things that seem impossible. Younger leaders don’t…
-
How to Handle a Moral Failure (Part 3)
In case of emergency, don’t panic My goal in writing this series of posts is to help churches with a situation I hope they never face, the moral failure of a key leader. Unfortunately few churches are adequately prepared for this type of emergency and in a state of near panic make devastating decisions. I…
-
How to Handle a Moral Failure (Part 2)
Lessons from the front lines As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series this has become very personal topic for me over the past couple of years as I have stepped in as interim pastor at two different churches dealing with a moral failure by the lead pastor. No church thinks they will face…
-
How to Handle a Moral Failure (Part 1)
The text said, “Call as soon as you can, I have to talk to you today.” I knew my friend wasn’t texting because he had awesome news to share. Two hours later we were sitting outside a Starbucks as he confessed that the addiction he had assured me was in his past was no longer…
-
Why women can’t lead in your church
As I have watched the scandal unfold at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary over the past few weeks I have been struck by the underlying tone of men’s treatment of women, especially women leaders, in the church world. It is a world where often men lead and women follow, a patriarchy that feeds how women are often treated…
-
Elephant Pee and Five Things to Do After Easter
One Easter I was working for a church that did an “illustrated sermon” each year on Easter complete with sets, costumes and live animals on stage. This particular Easter the decision was made to include a small elephant in the pageant. I’m not sure how an elephant fits in the passion story, but it seemed…
-
Five Things Pastors Need To Do Before Easter
One spring a church staff member informed me he was taking Easter weekend off. (It felt like Tom Brady telling Bill Belichik he was skipping the Super Bowl to take Gisele skiing.) He said he didn’t think missing Easter Sunday was a big deal, at his last church Easter was just another Sunday. Why did…
-
Five words your church should ban
I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled Ban These 5 Words From Your Corporate Values Statement which reminded of a mistake I often see in a church’s list of core values; many of the items aren’t core values. It’s not that the items are evil or bad, the problem is their…
-
Does Your Mission Statement Suck?
Why do you do what you do? Recently Sherry and I were in a pre-service meeting at a church where we were speaking that morning. The young lady leading the pre-service meeting of core volunteers asked, “Who knows the mission of our church?” There was some nervous laughter and feet shuffling, but no one had…