It is an old joke, one that is still told too often. You go up to your pastor and say, “I wish I had your job; you only have to work one hour each week.” It is likely your pastor…
Five things that might happen if your church never got another member
By Derek Penwell My dad was six-foot-one-a fair sized man. As a child I thought he was pretty much what God intended when creating men. Big. Strong. Smart. Obviously, my dad was a lot of things I wanted to be….
Top 10 unhealthy negative reasons people are NOT leaving Your Church
Who in your church do you wish would leave? Yes, I know, that is not a Christ-like attitude. But it is true. Everyone has someone they wish would leave. The church would be a better church without them. There is…
One sentence that pastors and church staff hate to hear
The moment they hear it, they feel the “cringe factor” throughout their body. Even as the first few words are spoken, the recipient feels his or her emotions plummeting. It is the one sentence that is uniformly dreaded by pastors…
Vision and venture at Advent
By Bill Wilson It was Vaclav Havel who described the dilemma every leader has with the issue of vision: Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must…
Top ten healthy, positive reasons people are NOT leaving your church
Surely you have heard the organizational management idea that you want to get the wrong people off of the bus and the right people on the bus. Well, this is an article on why the right people stay on the…
Rethinking the ‘stand and greet’ time
This past week I posted a short excerpt from a Thom Rainer article where he discussed the disdain that many people have for the “Stand and Greet” time that is a part of many Sunday morning worship services. He argues…
20 questions you should ask to see if your minister is any good
By Derek Penwell If you ask most churchgoers whether their minister does a good job or not, they will fall all over themselves to give you an opinion. Good or bad, they make judgments about the service their pastor renders…
Why people are NOT leaving your church
The Internet is full of articles about why people are leaving church—or never attending church in the first place. Some are called “nones” and recently many people are using the term “dones” for those who are finished with church—at least…
Images of the Kingdom
By Aileen Lawrimore “I’m going to move over here by Ruby so she can hear me,” Edna said as she stood, stepping over so her voice would project directly into her friend’s ear. “How’s this?” she asked. “Can you hear…
6 very avoidable reasons you’re losing high capacity volunteers
The following is a best-of post that I hope helps you lead your volunteer teams better than ever before. It’s a reprint of the most popular volunteer post I’ve written on my blog. If you’re interested in taking your volunteer…
8 elements of a healthy small church
What does a healthy Small Church look like? It looks like a healthy big church – in all the ways that matter, anyway. No, a healthy Small Church is not just a miniaturized version of a healthy big church. Pastors…