Throughout the Old Testament, we see God expressing deep disgust with some of the empty gatherings and routine worship offered to Him. At one point, He tells His people He hates their religious feasts and won’t listen to their showy, insincere offerings of worship (Amos 5:21–24). In another place He asks His people to quit…
Church Leadership
Worship as Supernatural Encouragement
Not only does our worship as rescued sinners reflect an eternal reality, God also supernaturally utilizes our corporate gatherings to mature and encourage His people in ways not available anywhere else. God designed our faith to be communal and interdependent—and markedly supernatural. When believers gather together as a worshipping community, we benefit from all the…
Google Reader, Focus, and Church Programs
The reaction by many avid users to Google’s announcement that they are shutting down Google Reader reminds me how difficult it is for a church leader to end a program, event, or ministry. Google stated, “There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we’re pouring all of our…
Naming Your Ministries and Programs
At some point most church leaders are going to sit in a room and discuss what to name a ministry or a program in their churches. For many churches the naming process is haphazard and unintentional, and the resulting hot mess of names only confirms the lack of coherent strategy in the church. To help…
Dieting and Church Strategy
There are many different diet strategies that work. For example, one person may use the Weight Watcher program—counting calories and increasing fruit and vegetable intake—and see great results. Another person may go the low-carb route, an entirely different approach, and also see great results. The key, of course, is picking a strategy and sticking with…
Designing for Spiritual Growth
Church leaders must craft opportunities where people will encounter the grace of God. Simple church leaders are designers, not programmers. They excel in designing a ministry process that leads to spiritual growth and vitality. Spiritual growth is a process. It always has been. Thus, it would make sense for church leaders to design their churches…
A Pastor’s Job Description
Last week I mentioned the holy cause and effect found in Ephesians 4:11-13—the reality that if church leaders will train people for ministry, then the church will be healthier. And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of…
Main Event Church and Theological Schizophrenia
Several years ago a few of my friends and I decided to post a job on churchstaffing.com. We were bored watching football on a Sunday afternoon, so each of us chipped in some money and created a job that did not really exist. Now churchstaffing.com is a serious site that churches uses to seek a…
A Caution in “Evaluating Worship”
Multiple summers, while living in Miami, massive spots in my lawn were completely parched. I am not referring to small spots that can be corrected with a few patches of grass; I mean embarrassingly ruined sections of my lawn that caused my neighbors to cast looks of sympathy my way because my house had potentially…
The Unity of Babel
In Genesis 11, our triune God intervened and confused the language of the people of Babel who were building for their own namesake. In their own effort and for their own merit, they were attempting to achieve security (a tower to protect them), community (a city with people), and identity (a name for themselves). Because…