Pastor, Church Communications Guy, Church Website Designer & Blogger
Ever watched a really good idea crash and burn? Me too.
Here's some brutal honesty... entire movements have gone down in flames because of boneheaded approaches to good ideas. This isn't to say we can't afford to make mistakes. In fact, the only way to know we're taking risks is to make mistakes. We can't …
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Being loud doesn't make you a leader. Neither does being popular. Leadership is influence, and influence means taking people in a direction they wouldn't otherwise be going - hopefully forward. Ambition isn't enough to qualify you to lead. There is more to the equation.
You need to be led before you can …
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I'm currently reading Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church by Mark DeYmaz. It's one of several books I've read on the subject because it's a big area of concern for me as a Pastor who is planting a church in a community that is diversifying much more quickly than the churches within it.
But I hope the …
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Sometimes someone comes to Grace Hills from a larger church because they're "looking for something smaller." My reply is always the same. "You're welcome here, but I hope we let you down." It's not that we've set out to be a "big" church or a megachurch. But we also haven't set out on this journey merely to …
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I want the church - your church and my church - to grow. I'm encouraged when I see the church effectively demonstrating the love of God and communicating the good news of Jesus to a culture with an ever-evolving language. I'm concerned when I see the church struggling to connect with people who are far from …
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I've started to write this post quite a few times, and each time, I've deleted it. It's hard to know what to say when someone you admire and love goes through something as tragic as what Rick and Kay Warren have endured the last few days. Their son, Matthew, ended his own life at the age of 27 after battling …
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Ministry is a marathon. This is true for church leaders, for volunteers, and for the church body itself. When we drive and push people to sprint all the time, burnout is inevitable. You can grow a large church by constantly creating mountain peak experiences and pushing for the top. But you will create …
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On the radio this morning were two different stories about major moral issues in American culture. On the abortion front was the story of North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple signing into law two of the strictest anti-abortion bills in the country: one that bans abortion when a fetal heartbeat can be detected; and …
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I get the feeling that churches like left-brained people more. I don't think it's intentional, but we tend to gravitate toward people who have teaching and organizational gifts rather than creative gifts. Organizers help us structure the church for numerical growth in logical ways and typically like rules and …
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In the Bourne series, the assassins (who are the central characters) are referred to by their controlling agency merely as "assets." Sometimes I fear that within Christian ministry, we fall into the terrible habit of treating people as assets - instruments to help us get ministry done successfully rather than …
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I'm madly in love with Angie Cox and my two kids. And I'm loved and forgiven by an infinitely gracious God! I'm a Pastor, Church Planter, Editor, and Community Facilitator.
