Today’s guest post comes to us from StartCHURCH. What does it take to start a church or ministry? It may seem simple at first. But once you factor in all the paperwork, legal procedures, and finer details, the process becomes overwhelming. The fact is there are so many details involved in creating a new church or nonprofit organization. You have … Read More
Managing Stress Monday: Loneliness is a Ministry Killer
The below excerpt is from my book The Renegade Pastor’s Guide to Managing the Stress of Ministry. There is little doubt that loneliness is one of the biggest problems facing pastors today. Every survey reports that most pastors experience this emotion, often on a regular basis. This may sound strange to many people. After all, aren’t we pastors surrounded by people … Read More
Leaders Will Be Blessed
All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. —Revelation 21:7 (NLT)
McIntosh on the Concerns of the Unchurched
“Most unchurched people aren’t walking down the streets of your community thinking about the eternal destiny of their soul. But they are thinking about something, usually something of immediate concern or interest: their jobs, relationships, health, kids, finances, hobbies.” – Gary McIntosh, Professor of Church Growth and Leadership
How to Mobilize Your Church to Pray for the Nations — Here and There
This week’s guest post comes to us from Terry Sharp for ncbaptist.org. Prayer isn’t just an essential key in the life of the church — it’s also a huge part of the mission of God. It changes our hearts and helps us to accomplish His mission. It’s also a tool that can initiate spiritual awakening in our lives, individually and … Read More
Filling Your Groups: A Weekly Database Email
The below excerpt is from my book Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups. This revised and expanded edition shows church leaders how to make their small groups work. As all good marketing professionals know, repetition works. People need to hear the same thing over and over again before it registers and translates into action. As such, you simply … Read More
Why to Make Time Management A Game
The below excerpt is from my book The Renegade Pastor’s Guide to Time Management. When you were a kid, games were an important part of learning. You learned how to interact with other people by playing with them. You learned how to play baseball or basketball or some other sport through playing it. But as you and I got older, many … Read More
Renegade Pastor Tip: Put Your Phone Away
The below excerpt is from my book The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life and Ministry. What are the pressure points that you are constantly running into with your spouse or children? Those are generally good indicators of where you need to lay down some boundary lines. Think about something that frustrates you and your family, then back off … Read More
Managing Stress Monday: The Way God Works
The below excerpt is from my book The Renegade Pastor’s Guide to Managing the Stress of Ministry. You can see something good come out of stressful situations. We don’t want to come across as preachers here (even though we are). But it might be helpful to remind ourselves that God is in the business of bringing good out of even the … Read More
Leaders Learn to Self-Discipline
“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” —1 Timothy 4:8 (NLT)