Seeing With A New Vision
We are living in a world today that is filled with so much uncertainty and as we continue to celebrate Jesus in the midst of a pandemic; we must realize that things have changed. Church ministry does not look or work the way it use to work. All throughout scripture…
9 Ways To Improve Search Team Results
Search teams are the most common method that churches use to find and hire new pastoral staff. Virtually all members of search teams are well intentioned and willing to sacrifice many hours for the privilege of playing a strategic role in finding the best person to be their next beloved…
Ezra, the NFL and A Pandemic
“How is your current church attendance compared to your pre-pandemic attendance?” If you’re like me, you’ve grown tired of that question. Yet, I can’t ignore it. I’ve crunched the data to answer it. I’ve even asked it. However, asking that question alone can leave us stuck in a potentially unhealthy comparison game. I recently returned to a biblical account that reminded me of the pre and post pandemic church attendance comparisons. The…
How’s Your Vocabulary?
I have three daughters, ages 14 years, 10 years, and 22 months. Before you ask: I don’t know what we were thinking and yes, that is a big gap. But lately I’ve been amazed at just how quickly my youngest daughter has gone from pointing and yelling “dat!” while we…
My Favorite Idol
My favorite idol is busyness. Allow me to explain. It’s not that I like being busy. It’s that I have built my life around it. Maybe you have, too. You might believe that God has called you to pastoral ministry. I certainly do. You might also believe that he has…
Leading From Second Place
This is a follow-up to my very first blog post on this site, 5 Things Your Number Two Needs From You, where I encouraged lead pastors and other leaders to make sure that they are being intentional with how they lead the leaders under them. If you’re in a place…
Shred It
Has anyone else spent time this past year thinking about what other career they could be doing besides ministry? The thought entered my mind a few times, and I am certain I am not alone. Many of us have experienced an exodus of people, hurtful comments, betrayal, depression, abandonment…you name…
Deconstruction Discouragement: Please Lord, Not Another One…
One of the most painful experiences of my life was the discovery that someone very close to me, with whom I had served in a local church setting for many years, had “deconstructed” and no longer considered himself a Christian. I initially responded poorly by getting personally offended and aggressively…
Leading Through Pain
By a show of hands, how many of you have experienced some type of pain over the past year or so? I know I can’t see them lifted, but humor me and do it anyway? For the record, both of my hands are lifted pretty high. With all sincerity and…
Choose Your Adventure
Many of you are most likely familiar with the Choose Your Own Adventure, or Secret Path Books. In these series of children’s books, where each story is written from a second-person point of view, the reader assumes the role of the main character, and makes choices that determine the outcome…
When The Leaders Are Tired
I’m tired. I’m really tired. My guess is many of you are tired too. The last thing we need is to rehash all the things that have worn us down. We also don’t need more theology on rest. This isn’t some sort of devotional to inspire you not to…
What’s Your Next Move?
“You’re like a chess piece that God has moved around the board.” What was I supposed to make of that comment as I interviewed for a middle school pastor role in my forties? Rewind many years. In the Lord’s sovereign grace toward me, he has disrupted my plans and my ambitions at many points in my life. To say that my vocational pathway has been like taking the scenic route is a huge understatement. However, when I landed…
