invite others
I led a couple of seminars at the Billy Graham School of Evangelism this week, but we're the ones who received a blessing by being there. Everything about the week was encouraging to the participants, including Debbie and me. The School of Evangelism staff was wonderful. This was
Leadership
Tonight Cliff Barrows concluded the Billy Graham School of Evangelism at The Cove. In the auditorium filled with pastors and their spouses, Cliff Barrows spoke from the heart. He has to speak from the heart these days because macular degeneration is robbing him of his eyesight. His hair is white,
Leadership
Debbie and I are at The Cove this week. Today I led "Keys To Thriving in the Smaller Church" during two sessions this afternoon. I was told that we had the highest attendance of any of the afternoon seminars, which was great! Lots of small church pastors here
Community
The accusation of sheep-stealing has been made by pastors for as long as there have been at least two pastors in existence. And, the standard reply from the accused to accuser is, "If you were feeding your sheep, I couldn't steal 'em!" But, that silly
Leadership
I'm leading the Small Church Idea Forum at the National Outreach Convention 2009 in San Diego, CA on November 4-7, 2009. The NOC09 blog tour is stopping by today to leave some questions in the comment section. Click on the tiny number beside the "quote balloon"
Community
Today this blog went over 200,000 views! Of course, you get all the credit because without you -- and a couple of hundred-thousand others -- Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor would never have reached this milestone. So, thanks for stopping by, or for reading by feedreader, or email, or
lifestyle
The old joke is that pastors work only one hour a week -- Sunday morning at 11 AM. If I could get a gig like that, I'd take it, but the reality is that pastors, and other church leaders have very busy work schedules. I was thinking about
Culture
According to the General Social Survery, confidence in religious leaders is at an all-time low. Or to put it a different way, used car salesmen and members of Congress need to slide over and make room for us because only 20% of Americans (that's 1-out-of-5) have a "
Community
A friend of mine challenged me today by asking, "What are the elements of sustainable ministry?" Dennis then pointed to the Ojibwa tribe of Native Americans who considered the impact of their decision-making on the next seven generations. Talk about sustainable community, they had it. Our church was
Leadership
Tim Avery at Christianity Today's Off The Agenda asked me to write an article on the way small churches are viewed by others. The result is Small Churches Need a Brand Revival, and I hope you read it. Here's how it starts: After the presidential election,
Congregation
"Students don't want to serve in the local church when they graduate; they want to do something more exciting." -- Southern Baptist seminary administrator A prominent seminary administrator made that comment to me several weeks ago. I've been rolling it around in my head
Congregation
While church leaders usually think of church conflict as bad, conflict can produce benefits. Dr. David Augsburger, professor at Fuller Seminary, recently shared "what people want in conflict." Here's his list: 1. Voice. Church dissidents often just want to be heard. Like a child who isn&