Author: Patrick Bradley

“It’s Too Loud!”: Responding to Volume Critics at Your Church
by Rich Birch: The scene is set. It’s a Sunday morning, and the band is cranking through the second of a four-song set. You loved the latest Hillsong or Bethel song and things are moving in the right direction. However, at the back of the room is an individual you’ve […]

The Power of Your Story
by Craig Etheredge: You have a powerful story. Believe it or not, you already have a very effective tool that will help you point people to Jesus Christ. That tool is your personal story. Every believer has a story, and when you tell how Jesus encountered you and changed your life, […]

Help Activating Guys In Your Church with Regi Campbell
by Rich Birch: Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. This week we’re sitting down with Regi Campbell, founder of Radical Mentoring, an organization that equips and engages men and their churches to raise up the next generation of all-in-Jesus-followers and leaders. Grab a seat and a cuppa while we talk […]

The Three Distinctive Roles of the Discipleship Process
by Jim Putman: Recently I sent out an email to my readers asking them to share their number one problem when it comes to making disciples. I received many, many emails. A number of different themes came up as I read through them. One thing that particularly stood out to me was the […]

7 Things They Didn’t Teach You in Seminary About Funerals
by Rich Birch: Performing funerals is a reality of being the pastor of a church of any size and style. Even if your church is primarily filled with young people, from time to time you will be called upon by families to perform a funeral. These moments, while incredibly touching, […]

What Happens When You Don’t File a Nonprofit Annual Report with Your State
by Patrick Bradley: Almost every state has an ongoing nonprofit annual report requirement for nonprofit corporations such as churches. This is business you need to take care of regularly. Or this could happen… Almost every year I get a panicked phone call or email from one of my churches. They’ve […]

CNLP 230: Pete Scazzero on Why So Many Successful Leaders Are Emotionally Immature, How to Tell Whether That’s You, and How to Become Emotionally Intelligent and Spiritually Mature
by Carey Nieuwhof: Pete Scazzero will be the first to tell you that while he was successful on the outside as a leader, he was immature on the inside, and his wife had had enough. That moved Pete on a journey to figure out what was wrong and how to […]

Nine Systems Within a Church Planting System
By Ed Stetzer: Looking across the spectrum of church planting networks and denominations, there are nine basic systems that make up a typical Church Planting System in a North American church planting network. Prayer A prayer strategy is the lifeline of any church planting network. One example of this is a […]

The Single Best Way To Fully Motivate Your Team
by Carey Nieuwhof: See if you recognize this. There are some kinds of leaders (often in churches and not-for-profits) who are wonderful with people, but whose organizations don’t produce great results. Often there’s little accountability, a general drift, poor metrics and just a lack of overall excellence. But the leader’s a […]