An Open Letter to [Insert_Your_Church_Here]
Everyone wants to feel like they had a part in accomplishing something big. When nobody knows what they’re hoping to accomplish, it’s much harder to bring them around to participating in much of anything.
Author: Anthony Anderson
Sabbath Quo
What if the sabbath day looked less like attending and more like living?
Let’s Talk Legacy
Shame says “I am a mistake and I must do something to change that or forever be forgotten.” Pride says “Building a legacy is about forever being remembered.” Jesus says “Let people see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Leadership Quick Hits – March 4, 2015
Leaders, allow me to make a suggestion: when looking to maximize and empower new leaders, please don’t approach it from the standpoint of “I can already do this well, but I’m willing to let it take a hit and give that away to someone else to own.” While this may, in fact, be true in […]
The Heart of a Mentor
You can be doing all the coaching, teaching, modeling in bits and pieces as schedules allow that you want. If you’re not present when… things… hit the fan- if you’re not already involved in their life before things get bad, the only thing you’re really modeling is how to be absent. Everyone runs to a car crash. Everyone looks on when a house is on fire. We need more people already in the building carrying people out. I don’t want us to be known as a people who were simply not there.
Problem 3: Are We Telling People What They Should Do or Inviting Them Into What We Are Doing?
Sign up for this program. Join a small group. Work in the children’s ministry. If we aren’t careful, the very things that truly could be beneficial to the congregation turns into a mandate that is accompanied by a guilty conscience if their response is in the negative.
Problem 2: Are We Seeing Church Needs or Seeing Individuals?
Last week we continued a conversation begun previously about the struggle between numerical church growth and the problems it inherently creates. This week we look a little deeper. I’ve spoken to a number of good-hearted, talented churchgoers whose attempts at stepping into the process of building the Kingdom consisted of a public call from a […]
When Grief is Not Our Own
I have friends who are wrestling with some pretty heavy stuff. Disappointment and conflict at their jobs, disillusionment with their church, unplanned pregnancies, loved ones lost. And my natural tendency in everything is to want to fix it. I want to identify the problem, analyze it, and provide an optimal solution to improve the situation […]
Problem 1: Are We Building an Organization or Disciplers?
Last week we started looking at a growing epidemic in today’s churches and set the table for a continuing discussion on the subject. This week we’ll tackle the first of four problems at the root of our troubles. Jesus jukes and John the Baptist quotes about “he must increase and I must decrease” aside, the […]
And The Lesson Is…
I’ve had a rough go of it the past month. For starters, my car got caught up in a freak flash flood which left me stranded, soaking wet, for 3 hours on the other side of town from my home and my family. One tow truck and four days later and I find that my […]