Congregation
You've taken the survey, I'm sure. You know the one -- where you find out if your gifts in ministry put you in the apostle, prophet, poet, or pastor category. I always want to be the apostle. I can see it now, all my emails begin
Community
My friend Josh is pastor of a church in Monrovia, California. It's a new church, planted because of an encounter with God. Josh tells the story this way: "I was a youth pastor at a church near Monrovia. Each Wednesday I would spend the morning with my
Congregation
Our church is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Yep, we've been around since 1857. We're inviting former pastors (those still living of course) to speak. To kick off our celebration which began on the last Sunday in January, Dr. Rand Forder preached. Rand was pastor
Community
I can see stuff you can't. No, I don't mean I can see stuff like Haley Joel Osment -- "I see dead people." As my three-year-old grandson said about stuff like that -- "Too scawy." He meant scary. You had to be
Congregation
Rick Warren talks about preaching for "life change." Others speak of "transformational" preaching. The goal of every preacher I know is to bring an effective message, engaging the worshippers and leading them to a new encounter with God. It's the "how-to" part
Congregation
If you're keeping up, you know that our church is celebrating its 150th anniversary -- our sesquicentennial year. Try making that announcement on Sunday morning! Anyway, our committee is doing a wonderful job of inviting former pastors, musicians, and members, and gathering photos and other memorabilia for our
Congregation
I was out-of-town for the weekend and attended an Episcopal church today. The church is much larger than mine, but had a similar gothic design so I felt at home in the sanctuary. I love the Episcopal liturgy, but was concerned I might not be familiar with what this church
Congregation
Tom Holland and I have been emailing back-and-forth about how small churches keep their members. Tom and I have both experienced families leaving our churches to go to larger churches where the programs are a draw. If the two of us are dealing with this issue of "closing the
Congregation
"I imagine our congregations becoming smaller, not bigger, yet teeming with the life of his body. And I hope there are more of them, so many of them in fact, that they become the alternative to the Starbucks of our day. I hope our churches become known for servanthood
Congregation
Lyle Schaller, my favorite church consultant, led a retreat for the Atlanta Baptist Association when I was pastoring in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Schaller said two things I remember from that conference: 1. Act your size. Average US church attendance now is about 90. If your church is larger, you'
Congregation
If you read my post, Don't Quit!, you know that I left the ministry for 13-years. Much of that time I spent trying to get back into the pastorate, and that was hard. But the really hard part was finding a church where we could worship and fellowship.
Congregation
A couple of years ago Debbie and I were watching a fashion program on A&E or some other cable channel that we didn't ask for but that the cable company gives us anyway. The fashionistas were discussing the hottest, latest, hippest clothing lines, when one of