Community
Things in our small town are changing -- some for the better, some not. The town drugstore, Woodfin's Pharmacy, closed earlier this summer. A big drugstore chain bought them out, and moved all the prescriptions two miles out of town to the new store on US 29, a
Congregation
About this time of year, if your church is like ours, you're scrapping around for folks to fill church jobs. You need teachers, committee members, and church leaders. And, if you're like us, you'll fill a lot of jobs. But a few of those
Community
Where Faith & Culture Meet -- a DVD-based missional resource "Jesus is already present, working in every human culture." That's how Andy Crouch begins Zondervan's new missional study, Where Faith & Culture Meet. I got hold of a preview copy -- DVD and leader&
Community
Exterior and interior of our community center. Construction on our community center is moving along. If we were building a church building instead of a community center, I would use the same design criteria we developed. Here's what we wanted in a building: 1. Flexibility. We wanted to
Community
MTV and the Associated Press recently surveyed the happiness of young people ages 13-24. Guess what they found? Young people who consider spirituality the most important thing in their lives are happier than those who don't. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that only
Congregation
ChristianityToday.com has a great article on reporting church statistics -- how we count members, attendance, baptisms, and so on. Frank Page, president of the 16-million member Southern Baptist Convention, is quoted as saying, "The FBI couldn't find 5-million of our members." Pretty funny, but true.
Community
A church about 50-miles away made the local TV news recently because they constructed a $3-million children's indoor amusement center. Kids play video games, shoot arcade basketball, fire laser guns, and climb the rockwall in the indoor playscape. The children's pastor proudly spoke about this state-of-the-art,
Congregation
Yesterday, July 29, our church celebrated the last of "seven sesquicentennial Sunday celebrations." Try saying that seven times! Anyway, we set aside the last Sunday of each month from January through July to commemorate 150 years of ministry and service. Here are six of the best ideas we
Congregation
Repurposing is interior design jargon for using accessories or space in a new way. I learned that by watching HGTV, but churches can repurpose things, too. Sunday School might be one area that repurposing could revitalize. Think about these 5 ideas to repurpose your Sunday School: 1. Take the school
Congregation
Diana Butler Bass is one of my favorite writers. Today she writes about "Sock Puppet Church" and you have got to read it. Here's a good quote -- "My mother is nearly 70, has had two heart attacks, and is slowing down. When I think
Community
Me enjoying VBS, taking a break from my small job as a helper. This week is Vacation Bible School for our community. Five small churches, like ours, have partnered each year to do what we could not do alone. What's my job this year? I'm a
Community
If you want a great example of how non-profits and churches, including small churches, can work together, go to Collaborate for a Greater Cleveland. This new blog was created by The City Mission of Cleveland to foster on-line communication with individuals, churches, other non-profits, businesses, and the civic community in