3 Reasons Some Churches Struggle to Empower Younger Leaders

Intuitively church folks know that their churches must empower younger leaders. Simply stated, if a church fails to engage new generations, the church will eventually die. Yet while people know a church must empower younger leaders, some churches struggle to do so. They struggle to hand significant responsibility to younger leaders, to empower younger leaders […]

5 Ways to Lose Your Ministry

It is deeply tragic when ministry leaders lose their ministry, when sin sidelines them for a season. Not only is it painful for the leader, but also it is painful for the people who have been impacted and influenced through their leadership. Because sin is always crouching at the door and because Satan prowls around […]

Pain Motivates the Body to Act

“Pain is good. This is good, Eric.” I remember a friend of mine, who is a chiropractor, telling me that when I was sitting on his table in intense pain. I really wanted him to adjust me as quickly as possible to relieve the pain, but he wanted to talk to me about my health […]

5 Thoughts on Leaders and Insecurity

I recently preached a sermon on the struggle and destruction of pride. Afterwards a man in the church joked with me that he “never, ever, ever struggles with pride because humility is something he has personally mastered.” Clearly our struggle with pride is real and consistent. In the same way, leaders often wrestle with insecurity […]

3 Savvy Ways to Bury a Church Event

When a church starts, typically the church focuses on doing a few things. But if a strategy for making disciples is not established, a church quickly drifts to complexity. When there is a clearly defined discipleship process, church leaders can focus resources, time, and energy on that which most helps people mature and develop. If […]

The 8 Stages of Leading Good Change in the Church

I am honored to lead the Resources Division at LifeWay and serve with a team of leaders who are passionate to serve the Church in Her mission of making disciples. Each Wednesday, I share the heart behind one of the resources our team has developed and give an opportunity for you to register to win a free copy of […]

10 Proverbs for Leaders

While the Bible is not a book about leadership (it is God’s self-disclosing story of His creation, pursuit, rescue, and restoration of a people for Himself), there are incredible nuggets of leadership wisdom within the Bible. Because our faith should impact every aspect of our lives, including our leadership, we find great truth within the […]

Darkness, Being Anonymous, and Church

Does darkness and anonymity impact one’s behavior? Researchers from the University of Toronto conducted a series of experiments to discover the impact of darkness on one’s perception of being anonymous. In one experiment, the researchers placed participants in two different rooms and instructed them to complete math problems and reward themselves with allotted money each […]

Four Common Errors in Church Strategy

A church benefits from both spiritual and strategic leadership. The latter must not overpower the former, as spiritual leadership must trump strategic leadership—but both serve a church well. When a ministry leader leads well, the ministry will receive strategic direction, even if a different term is used. As ministry leaders seek to organize the work […]

Two Reasons Our Churches Aren’t Making Disciples

Today’s post is from my good friend Robby Gallaty. Robby is the senior pastor at Long Hollow Baptist Church. Every time we get together I walk away motivated and challenged about our mission of making disciples. The first act of obedience for a Christian after baptism is to make disciples. I believe the purpose for […]