Community
"I'm the most unsuccessful pastor in Pacifica," Jonathan Markham observed four years ago. Markham's church in affluent San Mateo county southwest of San Francisco was growing spiritually he thought, but not numerically. Church attendance hovered around 15-20 each week with few visitors attending. Located
Christian history
We probably wouldn't think of asking someone today, How is it with your soul?, but maybe that's exactly what we should be doing. Of course, the question itself sounds outdated and very 19th century, certainly not the kind of question we would ask anyone in this
Church news
The arrest of 10 Southern Baptist church members on a self-styled rescue mission in Haiti provides churches with a sobering reminder -- even if your motives are pure, you must know and follow the laws of the country you are in. Members of the Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls,
Culture
According to a new survey, over 84% of mothers online -- some 27-million women -- can be grouped into 5 "digital mom" categories. However, these tech-savvy mothers use the internet, social media, gaming, texting, and other online content in different ways and for different purposes. Churches can benefit
Community
The National Outreach Convention is a great event for small churches. On Wednesday I led the Small Church Discussion group and we had about 50+ participants with great ideas and opportunities for ministry. Today I led the Small Church Idea Forum where we walked through the process of designing, conducting,
church as abbey
I am speaking tomorrow at Duke Divinity School to students in the Rural Ministry Colloquia, a monthly gathering of students involved in, or interested in, rural church ministry. I have been asked to tell our story of how we started a community center, community music school, and several other projects
Congregation
Russell Rathbun, pastor of House of Mercy, has authored a new book, nuChristian: Finding Faith in a New Generation. Rathbun's title riffs off Kinnaman and Lyons' book, unChristian, both visually and topically. Rathbun knows what he's talking about because he is one of the founding
bless the world
"Here's a foolproof evangelism program that requires no budget, no training, and can be implemented immediately." That's the way I introduced one of my seminars at The Billy Graham School of Evangelism last week. Participants suspected there was some kind of catch, but showed
Church news
I'm back at The Cove this week leading conferences for the Billy Graham School of Evangelism. Yesterday we covered "Keys to Thriving in the Smaller Church." About 150 pastors, spouses, and church leaders attended the back-t0-back sessions and offered great stories from their own small churches.
church as abbey
For many of us who care about church, it is becoming increasingly apparent that church as we know it must change in order to maintain its mission in the 21st century. This change will not be cosmetic. This change will not be a debate about traditional worship versus contemporary worship,
church as abbey
Les Puryear posted an interesting list of small church distinctives this week. His list got me to thinking about the possible differences in "old" small churches and "new" small churches. By "old" I mean what we typically think of as a small church whether
Community
I'm trying to do more with video, so here's a quick under-4-minute clip about what and how we're doing our community VBS this year. This will not win an Emmy, but maybe you'll get some useful ideas. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/