So you're a leader. How are your management skills? Too many leaders think management is below them, and as a result they fail as leaders. "Visionaries" have been known to have their heads in the …

What are the financial facts in your congregation? For example: What are the trends in giving and expenses? What is the giving pyramid – how many givers do you have at successive giving levels …

They were simple instructions. My wife delivered them to our four-year-old granddaughter, Kimberly: "Please pick up those toys and take them back down to the family room." Reluctantly, little Kim …

The accusation of a lack of vision has become as common of grounds for pastoral dismissal as irreconcilable differences is to the divorce of couples. It is the catch all excuse for boards and …

The number one complaint I hear from churches is, "We seem to have plateaued." Are these churches really standing still or is their perception of where they are a little skewed? It's possible...just …

Warning: This post will challenge some of your assumptions about vision in the church. Across the North American church landscape this year, many pastors will articulate a vision and compel people …

Does your church experience a drop-off in tithes and offerings during the summer months when many members go on vacation? What about in the winter when some of your members head south to escape the …

In an earlier blog I wrote about how leaders become weary of putting out fires, ("Smelling Like Smoke, Feeling Like Hamburger") but there is a fire that we ought to welcome, fuel, and fan when it …

I was a starter on a state champion high school basketball team. That sentence likely prompts one of two reactions. If you don't know me well, you could assume that I was bragging—that my …

The weeks between Easter and Pentecost are more of a time for church leaders to celebrate than fast. But I'm thinking about fasting as a spiritual practice. While fasting from food has its place, I …

Mined from the fragments of an ancient Greek poem, Jim Collins has famously used the image of "the hedgehog concept" to help millions of readers find their "sweet spot." While foxes are wise about a …

I love getting new ideas from leadership books. Right now I'm reading Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney, by Lee Cockerell. Lots of great tactics for leading …

John Thielepape, Director of Missions for Parker Baptist Association in Weatherford, Texas, recently led a group of directors of missions through 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity training …

What was once a downtown church building is now a unique restaurant. Tables and booths now occupy the space where pews sat. The area that held the choir loft has been refurbished into a bar. The …

Is it me? Are we just trying to figure out ways to make people believe we're not their grandmother's church anymore? In a quick internet search of five of some of America's largest congregations, I …

In regard to a person's life, what is it that defines greatness? Obviously when talking definitions, we could go right to Mr. Webster and ask but true greatness in a person cannot be found in a by …

I wrote an article after my mother died about what I'd learned from her that had benefited me in my ministry. My father turned 90 on Sunday, and I decided I'd like to think about this before he dies …

The MOST Important Chapter: Chapter One – UNORIGINAL SIN The BEST 12-pages from the Visual Summary : The VISION FRAME The NEXT tool we are creating: The Unique 19 – "The Top Church List …

"What you runnin' these days?" Cookie asked his friend from across the valley in a low and easy drawl. "Oh, I dunno, maybe 200" was the subdued response as the cowpoke lobbed his tobacco juice into …

Sermon Illustration: 20 Symptoms of Financial Bondage By Pastor Brian Kluth, author of www.GodIsYourProvider.com and the www.GenerousLife.org 30 & 40 Day devotionals Over the course of my …