Prioritize the wife and children. Each of the groups above need pastoring but none more so than the wife and the children of the fallen man. Bizarrely, the wife is sometimes a target of blame when a pastor falls.  This can even come from the fallen pastor, as was the case a few years ago when... Continue Reading

“Most Americans don’t know first-hand the overall story of the Bible—because they rarely pick it up,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “Even among worship attendees less than half read the Bible daily. The only time most Americans hear from the Bible is when someone else is reading it.” Only 11 percent of... Continue Reading

When, however, the church observes Asparagus Fest or otherwise confuses culture with worship (secular with the sacred), it impinges upon the Christian conscience because Christ has not authorized such an observance. Attendance to public worship is mandatory. Therefore the church needs to take special care not to obligate Christ’s people beyond that which he has... Continue Reading

Fixing these errors may not bring numerical growth. There are plenty of healthy, missional, strategic small churches that have none of these issues, but still find that their greatest contribution to Christ and his church comes in a smaller package. Numerical growth is not the goal. Health is. Sometimes that health will produce numerical growth,... Continue Reading

“There are probably many things to say about this subject, but I have identified five reasons why I think this is such a struggle for Christians—and Christian leaders in particular. Additionally, I’d like to share several practices I believe the Lord has led me into to work against this tendency in my own heart, as... Continue Reading

“In the past three to four years, more and more Chinese ministers have started practicing expository preaching week after week. The consequences have been remarkable and encouraging: congregations engage more with worship because they can anticipate the passage that will be preached the coming Sunday; people see the beauty of scripture and the gospel, which... Continue Reading

“Accept a gift with unreasonable expectations. The most recent was the offer of a $10,000 gift if the church signed a document agreeing to keep fresh flowers on his grave in perpetuity. I assume he meant the request to be posthumous.”   “I need you to do a funeral for my cat.” Yes, that is... Continue Reading

“Some today have used the term Gospel Fluency to describe a similar work (see Jeff Vanderstelt’s Gospel Fluency). In short, ones who are fluent in the gospel have their mother tongue in the gospel. They see and hear the world through the gospel filter and demonstrate an ability to speak the gospel into the everyday... Continue Reading

One of the ways that we prepare ourselves is by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and not on our experiences. We have to guard our hearts from getting too excited about the highs and too discouraged by the lows. I have had some of the highest highs and lowest lows literally occur a day... Continue Reading

We seem more concerned with the amenities of our buildings than the God we have gathered to worship. Instead of thinking about the message of our buildings we focus on HD jumbotrons, a bigger parking lot, an organic coffee shop.   Your church building preaches a gospel whether you know it or not. It portrays... Continue Reading