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Fruit on Other People’s Trees: The Legacy of Bob Buford
A couple of days ago Bob Buford stepped through the curtain of mortality into the the presence of Jesus. I am happy for Bob as he is now free of the disease that plagued his final years on earth, but I am sad for all of us who lost an incredible leader and friend. You…
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Bill Hybels and the challenge of finishing well
The first time I heard Bill Hybels speak was at Willow’s 1994 Prevailing Church Conference. I sat on the right side of the old auditorium, by the windows that overlooked the pond. Bill’s topic that morning was People Matter to God. It was the first time I heard words like seeker, excellence and relevance in…
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How to work for a church AND love God
Every time I interview someone for a job at a church I always tell them that working for a church can be challenging to their faith. There is a price to be paid for working where you attend church, and it is eye opening to discover that your new co-workers have a lot in common…
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Three Keys to Having An Abundance of Volunteers
The number one question Sherry and and I hear from church leaders all over the world is, “How can we find enough volunteers?” The primary reason most church struggle attracting enough volunteers is they recruit to need. A good appeal to need will impact 20% of the people, a great appeal will impact 25%. The key to…
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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…
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An Exciting New Season
2018 marks my 36th year of vocational ministry. Over that span I have served in almost every capacity with local churches including youth pastor, family pastor, multisite pastor and senior pastor. I’ve been honored to work with congregations of every size, from 30 people in a church plant to 30,000 people in a mega church.…
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Together: A Guide for Couples in Ministry is about to launch!
Together launches January 9, but you can preorder your copy here today. Together is our story of doing marriage and ministry together. We (Geoff and Sherry Surratt) have over 30 years of experience in a wide variety of ministry roles, but we aren’t the Facebook ministry couple with perfect hair, perfect skin and perfect children. We…
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When what you see isn’t real
My alarm went off at 6:00 am on Saturday morning, as it does almost every day. But Saturday was different. As I rolled over to turn off the alarm everything began spinning violently. It took several seconds to figure which of the phones blurring in front of my eyes was the real one. I laid…
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10 Commandments for Great Discussions
One of the things I love to do is facilitate discussions. This is WAY different than teaching or running a meeting, but many people miss it. Team meetings, board meetings and small group meetings are often less effective or helpful because the leader isn’t effective at facilitating the exchange of ideas. Over the past 30 years of ministry…
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Lunch with a Heretic
I recently attended a heresy luncheon. That wasn’t the official title, but I’m pretty sure the speaker would have been burned at the stake in another age. Doctrines such as original sin, substitutionary atonement and election were tossed aside along with inerrancy of scripture. This was the Super Bowl of revisionism. One of the wrappers…