Avoiding Burnout

Today’s guest blog comes to us from Matt Perman for Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Matt is former director of strategy at Desiring God and is author of the new book What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way. I know a pastor whose congregation expected him to treat his email like the phone, constantly monitoring it and responding immediately whenever something … Read More


Nelson SearcyLeadership, Ministry

McGavran Monday – Self-supporting Ministry

In honor of Dr. Gary McIntosh’s new biography of Donald McGavran, here’s today’s Monday moment: “Rapid discipling of entire tribes should be accompanied by an even more rapid production of an indigenous, self-supporting ministry.”  – Donald McGavran Secure your copy of the book at 40% OFF plus insightful bonuses here. (the above quote is from p. 113 of The Bridges … Read More


Nelson SearcyChurch Planting, Ministry

An Interview with Gardner C. Taylor: Remembering One of America’s Best Preachers

Today’s guest blog comes to us in the form of an interview conducted in 1981 by Terry Muck and Paul Robbins for Leadership Magazine.  In a 1979 story, Time magazine described Gardner C. Taylor as one of the seven best preachers in America. Yet Taylor, pastor of the 10,000-member Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, admits preaching has never been … Read More


Nelson SearcyMinistry

I Ran a Successful Business, Why Can’t I Run a Successful Church?

Today’s guest blog comes to us from Karl Vaters, pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, CA. Karl is the author of The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and the Small Thinking that Divides Us and is a regular contributor on NewSmallChurch.com. Much of today’s ministry training takes its lead from businesses. Maybe businesses should be taking their … Read More


Nelson SearcyMinistry

McGavran Monday – The Bridge of Faith

In honor of Dr. Gary McIntosh’s new biography of Donald McGavran, here’s today’s Monday moment: “ … the coming to Christ of Greeks at Antioch was unplanned and depended on the burning faith of some unknown Christians who were organically linked with both Jews and Greeks, thus forming a bridge between the two peoples…. This bond of relationship was the bridge over which … Read More


Nelson SearcyMinistry, Preaching

Top Reasons Pastors Quit Ministry

Today’s guest blog comes to us from Cathy Lynn Grossman, senior national correspondent for RNS, where she specializes in stories drawn from research and statistics on religion, spirituality, and social and biomedical ethics. Sometimes a call from God is not enough to keep a pastor in his post. Many evangelical pastors who quit before retirement age found “another calling” either … Read More


Nelson SearcyMinistry

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The World is More Religious Than Ever

The following post comes to us from Steve Addison, church planter and author of Movements That Change the World; What Jesus Started; and Pioneering Movements. Rodney Stark is Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University. I read just about everything he writes. His latest is entitled The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever. Here’s … Read More


Nelson SearcyMinistry

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