Recently I shared four cultural changes that are impacting ministry leaders and thus should impact how we train and develop ministry leaders. The article came from a lecture I gave to professors at Biola University about preparing students and future leaders for the changing cultural context. Not only has the culture surrounding the local church…
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4 Cultural Realities Ministry Leaders Must Be Prepared For
I recently spoke in a faculty forum at Biola University on the changing cultural context ministry leaders who graduate college and seminary are entering. I did not speak from the vantage point of a scholar or educator (there were scholars and educators in the gathering) but from the vantage point of a pastor who observes…
Church Leaders Must Think Flock Strategy and Sheep Strategy
Over ten years ago, I worked closely with Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer to evaluate the research behind Transformational Church—a book that came from a massive study across many churches where we sought to discover characteristics that God was using in the churches to bring about transformation in the lives of the people they served….
Strategy and the Local Church: What Must We Remember and What Can We Learn
In the book, Your Strategy Needs a Strategy, the authors evaluate different approaches to strategy and encourage leaders to employ the approach that matches their context. The five approaches to strategy, according to the authors, are: Classical: Build a plan and execute it rigorously. (Companies with robust strategic plans and operational excellence, such as Wal-Mart,…
4 Common Fears and How to Fight Them
Psychologists make a distinction between healthy and unhealthy fear. Healthy fear helps us make wise decisions such as preparing for a test or wearing a seatbelt. Unhealthy fear can paralyze a leader from making decisions or cause someone to be untrusting of others. Below are the four common and unhealthy fears I have seen. I…
When to Pull and When to Feed a Church Program (A Framework)
When I was consulted by other church leaders, I was often asked to offer suggestions about what church programs they should eliminate. “Hey Eric, you wrote Simple Church, what should we get rid of?” I often frustrated leaders because I would answer, “This is your context, not mine. I don’t know. But you should evaluate…
Escape Rooms and Jesus Promising a Way Out
My daughter Evie loves escape rooms. She has designed escape rooms at our house for her friends. She has been to more than 20 of them. Whenever we are in a new place, she asks us to look one up and go to it. One time we went to an escape room in Sacramento and…
10 Problems With Church Programming and 1 Perspective Shift
Here are ten observations from my church resourcing days that I think most church leaders would agree with about church programming—the number of programs, events, and activities a local church offers: 1. More activity does not mean more godliness. While preachers have long said “if the devil can’t get you to sin, he will just…
3 Ways to Fight the Entitlement That Is Fighting Enjoyment
Research has shown that feeling entitled increases feelings of distress and disappointment—but you likely don’t need research to know that. You have experienced it. I have. There was a season when I was traveling for speaking/consulting engagements so frequently that I would be regularly upgraded to first class. Sadly, my heart came to expect the…
Entitlement Is Fighting Against Enjoyment
Gratitude and entitlement cannot coexist. Parents know this. There are two opposing phrases we often hear when raising kids. We love to hear one and bristle at the other: “Thank you,” and “It’s not fair.” Parents love to hear “Thank you” from a child because it shows the child realizes a gift has been received…