Three Problems with Small Goals
If you lead a team, you don’t serve the team or the individuals well if you offer them easy or boring goals. Even worse if you offer them no goals at all. If you fail to rally them around a God-inspired, overarching vision, you fail to lead them well. Here are three problems with small […]
The Pain of Disunity
One of the greatest hindrances to a church making an impact on the community around her is a lack of unity—a lack of Christian love and passion focused together in the same direction. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). […]
Three Keys to Defining Your Ministry Process
Defining the process is formulating a strategy. It is agreeing to a blueprint. And this blueprint describes not only the kind of disciple that will be built but also how. Church leaders must define more than the purpose (the what); they must also define the process (the how). My coauthor of Simple Church, Thom Rainer, […]
Safe, Not Soft
“Abhor what is evil.” A gospel-centered community acknowledges the presence of sin and welcomes the confession of sin. But a truly gospel-centered community never reduces the severity of sin. To “abhor” describes the way a believer should react to sin. The word means to “shiver in horror,” the way your body reacts to an […]
A Pharisee and a tax collector
When Jesus wanted to tell a parable about the condition of someone’s heart, he chose a story about two people praying: a Pharisee and a tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Pharisees were the religious elite. They fasted twice a week. They tithed. They prayed regularly. They were serious about their faith. Mothers wanted their children to […]
Four Reasons Church Leadership Is Tougher Than “The Real World”
Before becoming one of the vice-presidents of LifeWay, I served on church staff teams for 17 years. I still serve as teaching pastor at a local church, but my responsibilities are far less than they were in the past. Many times I have heard businessmen in churches reference “the real world” as if those of […]
Choosing the Title of Doulos
People love job titles. One corporate executive revealed to me that to keep employees happy, her company is overly generous with titles. The title “vice president” is attached to many positions. The corporate brass knows that titles motivate people. And it is easy to give a title to someone who is willing to work longer […]
Gospel-Driven Awe
In reference to the gospel of our salvation, the apostle Peter wrote: Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic […]
Three Common Mistakes Pastors Make
I was recently honored to discuss leadership on a panel at the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference with Greg Matte, Rodney Woo, and Jack Graham. People submitted questions beforehand, and one of the questions that Pastor Greg sent my way was “What are the most common mistakes pastors make?” Here are three: 1. Not offering clarity Marcus […]
How To Respond When People Aren’t Responding
Church leaders have often asked me how to handle a staff or a congregation that is not exactly eager to follow pastoral leadership. How do we respond when people are not responding to our leadership? First, we must realize that leadership is not easy. It is extremely difficult. One of my mentors once told me, […]