What does drinking have to do with re-opening the church? Since this is already a divisive conversation, I will just go ahead and make it a bit more divisive with this real-life illustration. When I first became a pastor, it was common in some church ministry circles to hear conversations against the use (any use)…
The Importance of Living and Leading with Two Emotions Simultaneously
How are you doing today? You could get two different answers depending on when you ask me. I can look at a difficult situation and, in some moments, aggressively quote Scripture at the situation – “If God is for me, who can be against me?” Bring it on. And then in other moments, I can…
The Foo Fighters and the future of Large Gatherings (and Corporate Worship)
The word “when” is a word that seems to be filling more conversations lately. When will our kids go to school with friends again? When will our favorite restaurants fully open? When will there be large gatherings again? And so on. The word “when” in those questions denotes a sense of hope and longing. The…
When Are You Going to Re-open?
I am getting asked this question with increasing frequency, from people in our church, from ministry friends, and from other church leaders. I shared earlier in the week that there are differing viewpoints on when a church should re-open. Because our viewpoint (not just mine but thoughts we have worked through with our leadership team…
2 Reasons Re-Opening the Church Will Be More Challenging than Closing the Church
When organizations and governing officials provided guidelines for gatherings and later gave “stay at home orders,” the overwhelming majority of church leaders made the unprecedented decision to stop gathering physically. Leaders pressed pause on following the biblical mandate to “not neglect gathering together” in order to “submit to governing authorities” and “love our neighbor” (also…
What Have You Learned From “Online Church” That You Will Keep When Gatherings Resume?
The title of the post is one of the most insightful questions I have been asked by friends in ministry during this season. Several have texted or called and posed, “what are you learning in this season during your online gatherings that will continue when you gather again physically?” I have started asking other leaders…
5 Reasons “Church at Home” Worship Service Times are Shorter
Last week I posted a poll on Twitter asking pastors to respond about the length of the weekend worship services at their churches during this season – the season when we are not gathering physically but are relying solely on online worship services. It is one thing to stream your physical worship services and quite…
3 Thoughts for Church Leaders on the Increasing Struggles with Mental Health
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought significant disruption to community, structure, exercise, and meaningful work. Therefore, the pandemic is having a devastating impact on people’s mental health. People we love in our churches and in our communities are struggling. While we were rightly concerned about surges in Covid-19 cases, we should also be concerned about the…
Covid-19 and a Pastor’s Concern for Our Mental Health
As a pastor I am deeply concerned for the rising struggle with mental health in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. I recently sat down with two clinical psychologists, two Christians in the church I serve, Dr. John Townsend and Dr. Buddy Mendez, and they shared with me that “whatever level of stress, anxiety, or…
How Are You Thinking About Re-opening Church?
One of the most common questions ministry leaders are asking one another in this crazy season is around “re-opening church gatherings.” While none of us can really answer with any certainty “when” we can re-open church gatherings, we can think about “how” we will re-open church gatherings. As leaders, we cannot know when things “will…