Blog Posts
8 Phases of Moving Guests from Anonymity to Community at Your Church
by Rich Birch: What is the process by which guests transition from unfamiliarity with your church to becoming raving fans? How do they move through those phases, and how are we helping them at every step along the way? Understanding how guests transition along the spectrum from stranger to advocate […]
Why Church Leadership Is Such a Crazy Emotional Roller Coaster
by Carey Nieuwhof: Life is emotional. But if you’re in ministry, it feels like it’s even a little more emotional. As in, crazy-emotional-roller-coaster emotional. That’s true even if you think of yourself as more rational than emotional. Sometimes you get surprised by how intense ministry is. I started out in my […]
What Real Rest Looks Like for a Pastor
by Brandon A. Cox: Resting isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. Our traditional definition of rest is simple enough: Do less. A more fleshed-out, biblical understanding of rest, however, is a bit deeper than merely doing less. It’s really doing less to allow time and space to become more. And […]
5 Follow-Ups for First Time Guests
by Tyler Smith: Creating an inviting and warm experience for first-time guests before, during, and after worship services and events is important. A primary goal for church staff and volunteers should be to help guests feel loved and welcomed throughout the week as well. So how does your church make certain […]
Do You Have the Passion Level of a Successful Leader? How to Tell
by Carey Nieuwhof: If there’s one characteristic I see in successful leaders in growing churches and organizations, it’s passion. The more church leaders I connect with, the more I see this trend: leaders of growing churches (and growing organizations) have a white hot passion for their mission. You can hear […]
Shifting From Gospel Presentation to Gospel Presence
by Jason C. Dukes: How do you think of “the Gospel”? How would you summarize it if you had to? Do you think of it as “Good News”? Is it the most important message to you? While Jesus certainly intended us to present a “Good News” message to a world full […]
It Feels Good When Your Team Is Winning
by Peyton Jones: The leaders of microchurches don’t tend to do all of the heavy lifting. The burden is shared like the moving a piece of heavy furniture. The same piece of furniture that threatened to break the back of a solo lifter reduces to the weight of a peanut […]
Recruiting Volunteers With the End in Mind
By New Churches Team: When Jesus began His ministry, He chose 12 men. He gave His life to them by pouring into them, teaching them, and training them. Now Jesus didn’t have to do that. He didn’t need volunteers to accomplish His work. But we do. As you recruit your […]
Inventing the Longer Lasting Church Plant
by Peyton Jones: The race to create a longer lasting light bulb didn’t happen overnight. Thomas Edison poured in thousands of hours through trial and error to deliver a household item to the world that most of us take for granted. Relentless and determined, his constant mantra to his tireless […]
What if Everyone Leaves Your Church…to Plant More Churches?
By Ed Stetzer: People in your church are going to be nervous. They’re going to say, “Now, wait a second. If we send people out, won’t our church decline?” Statistically, the most likely scenario is that it won’t. Jeff Farmer (researcher and professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) did a […]