5 Thoughts to the Staff at a Growing Church
Last week I spent some time on a Skype call with a staff at a church that was planted several years ago and has grown to more than 1500 in attendance. The Lord has done and is doing a great work through the pastors and staff. I shared with the team these five thoughts about […]
Simple Church Epilogue Part 1
Almost eight years have passed since the initial release of Simple Church, and to say that we are overwhelmed with the response would be a vast understatement. Our shock with the response is not a statement of humility (unfortunately) but the reality of the nature of the book. Let’s be honest—it was a nerdy research […]
Airplane Churches
When the apostle Paul wrote the believers in Philippi from prison, he told them: “I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:3-5). The word for partnership in the original language is […]
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 […]
Five Resources on Multiplication
Each month, in conjunction with the Creature of the Word book that I wrote with Matt Chandler and Josh Patterson, we list questions and action items for church leadership teams to consider on the Facebook page. We recently listed some of our top resources on multiplication. Here are several that have impacted me: The Master […]
Ministry Is a Cruel God
I took my first full-time pastoral position right out of college. I was serving as a full-time student pastor and desperately wanted to see students meet Jesus, live out their faith, and grow in the Lord. But at some point in my first few months, I became unhealthily obsessed with the ministry. It was likely […]
Church Culture and the Gospel
Will Mancini is the founder and leader of Auxano, a consulting group that helps church leaders navigate growth with vision clarity. Since Will and I are often pigeonholed as “strategy guys,” some have viewed us as pragmatic types. But we are guys who deeply love Jesus and believe the gospel must impact everything a church […]
Offensive vs. Defensive Discipleship
There is mammoth difference between offensive discipleship and defensive discipleship. And a leader’s approach reveals his theology about the heart of people. Defensive discipleship plays to not lose the hearts of people to the world because defensive discipleship believes the hearts of people are pure. Consequently defensive discipleship focuses primarily on protecting people from influences […]
How to Gracefully Kill a Church Program
Last Friday I was privileged to speak at The NINES, an online leadership conference sponsored by Leadership Network. In this five-minute video I talked about how to gracefully kill a church program. After writing Simple Church several years ago, it is one of the questions I have been most frequently asked.
Why Your Pastor Needs a Sabbatical
In a church I served years ago, I was in a committee meeting where some members were bemoaning the fact that my senior pastor was taking “a sabbatical.” One man boldly proclaimed, “The devil does not take a day off; if we want to make a difference in this community – how can our pastor […]