After 31 years of ministry, the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to his protégé, Timothy. In this letter, which we call 1 Timothy, Paul wrote: Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. – I Timothy 4:16 Watch your life closely. Examine it. Review […]
Recent Articles
13 Ways to Make Halloween a Time for Outreach and Church Growth
Are you conflicted about how your church should handle Halloween? Some families enter in while others strongly don’t. If your church does something to celebrate, are you giving ground to the evil one? Those are valid concerns. In our earliest years, we went back and forth on the issue. But with the benefit of experience […]
5 Secrets of the Best Christmas Offerings
What would you do with another 4-10% of your annual budget to use to honor God and expand ministry? We began having Christmas offerings eight years ago and through them have funded church planting and marketing for outreach, building out new offices and a prayer room, updating our lobby, and benevolence for military families. The […]
How to Grow your Church with a Great Guest Speaker
Host a great guest speaker to attract newcomers to your church. Twice we have had Michael Franzese as a guest speaker. Michael is a former Mob Captain with the Colombo crime family who now travels the country sharing the story of how he came to Christ. Both times have been amazing weekends for us. Thanks to […]
How to Preach Better this Weekend
Would you like to preach just a bit better this weekend? And even better the next weekend? What if you had the tips, ideas, insight, coaching and feedback to become a world-class preacher? That would be cool, right? Without turning your back on what you learned in your preaching class in seminary and from the master preachers in the […]
How to Use Board and Staff Retreats to Accelerate Evaluation and Growth
Do you know how to use Board and staff retreats to accelerate evaluation and growth? Doctors know that the best way to evaluate a patient is to look at his vital signs and to ask him questions. The vital signs quantify health; the questions clarify health. For pastors, there are eighteen numbers that will help you […]
A Pastor’s Guide to an Easy, Successful Israel Tour
You can Lead a Tour to Israel Have you ever thought about leading a tour from your church to the Holy Lands? But you didn’t pursue it because you didn’t know how to make it happen? It’s another pastor-skill that you just don’t learn in seminary. I’ve led five tours and thought I’d share the […]
9 Easy Ways you can Develop Leaders in your Church this Summer
Leadership development is a series of tiny, nearly invisible, steps. You can develop leaders in your church this summer if you think in terms of lots of small progress. “If I only had more leaders,” pastors tell me, “my church would grow, too.” I agree. It takes leaders to move church life forward. Where I […]