In many churches, staff members play a crucial role in accomplishing the mission. They are seeing and solving problems. They are working in the trenches of ministry day after day. The investments we make in the …
A Tailor-Made Approach to Change
How do ideas spread? That is the question behind Everett Rogers’ classic book, The Diffusion of Innovations. As church renewal leaders, learning the art and science of change is crucial to our work. Developing those skills by reading …
When Something Blocks Your View of the Son
Right on schedule at 3:13 p.m. yesterday, everyone in Cleveland looked up to the sky and gasped in delight. Almost 240,000 miles away, the moon moved into perfect alignment with the sun. Because the moon is …
How To Engage “ChrEasters” and Reverse the Decline in Attendance
Pastors sometimes joke about “ChrEasters” or “CEOs” (Christmas/Easter Only attenders), but the reality is no laughing matter. The frequency of church attendance nationwide continues to drop at an alarming rate. The Household Pulse Survey revealed that 49 …
Pastor, How Are You Doing?
An unlikely post on X went viral last week when Elmo posted: “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” The simple question from Sesame Street’s lovable red Muppet quickly received almost 20,000 replies. People …
Reading for Renewal
I am always a little intimidated in conversations about how many books one reads in a year. I love to read but I tend to read a bit slower than most people, so the volume …
Renewal leaders and the need for greater agility
A lot has changed with respect to ministry planning in the past few months. A year ago, a congregation’s ministry horizon was, generally speaking, 3-5 years into the future. Major decisions demanded attention but they …