Notice I did not say IF you lose confidence in yourself. I said WHEN you lose confidence in yourself. It’s going to happen. You WILL lose confidence in yourself. Multiple times over the years in fact. It is not a matter of IF but WHEN. The question is why? In my experience, Senior Pastors lose confidence in themselves when they are unable to lead their congregations … [Read more...]
The Lie We Tell Ourselves
This is a picture of Tom Brady as he was preparing to be selected in the 2000 NFL draft. I want you to look closely at this picture. Brady was picked in the 6th round. He was picked #199 by the New England Patriots out of a total of 256 possible picks drafted that year. It was obvious that nobody, including the Patriots, had high expectations for Brady. Then, in what … [Read more...]
The Unintended Consequences Of Sleeping In
Leaders grossly underestimate the price they pay when they continually hit the snooze button on their alarm clocks. In fact, I always wince when a Senior Pastor tells me they're a self-proclaimed "night owl." To me, that's always code for a lot of things, and none of them are good. Historian Nial Ferguson said, “The law of unintended consequences is the only real law of … [Read more...]
The High Price Of Inaction
I guarantee there's a decision you've been putting off that if you postpone it any longer, it is going to cost you dearly. How do I know this? Because I have an earned doctorate from Harvard in the science of “I’m so stressed right now and have so many things coming at me and I’m kinda afraid of the potential backlash so I’m going to choose to put _______, ______, _____, … [Read more...]
Five Changes Worth Making
This week I received an encouraging email from a friend I coached last year. For those of you serving churches 200 and under, I thought you would appreciate his perspective on the five changes he’s made in his church and life that made the greatest impact. Here’s what he sent me (with my comments): Five Changes Any Senior Pastor Should Make Hey man, hope you’re well. … [Read more...]
The “Close To The Pastor Syndrome”
One of the primary reasons churches under 1,000 fail to grow is their Senior Pastors have never called into question, then systematically dismantled, the "close to the pastor syndrome" in their churches. The “close to the pastor syndrome” is a wonky dynamic where long-time members feel that for "the church to feel like church" they need open, unfettered access to their … [Read more...]
11 Ways To Make This Your Most Generous Giving Year Ever
Here are eleven specific things that churches around the country are doing that could help you make this year your church’s most generous year to date. As you well know, people give to vision. Period. But sometime the reasons people don’t give is because a church is not up to date with how 21st century people prefer to give towards vision. Here are a few things culturally … [Read more...]
Do One Thing At A Time
Try it. Before you start something new, finish the thing that you’re working on. Things Unfinished Finish that book you so desperately needed three weeks ago, but now languishes on your nightstand. I don’t mean feel the need to finish every book you start (because we pick some lemons from time to time, don’t we?). I mean “finish” it. “Finishing” a book, to me, means I … [Read more...]
Becoming A Minimalist Pastor
We would all agree that the worst possible rut to ever be in as a Pastor is living in a perpetual state of distraction, overwhelm, and superficiality. Yet, if someone were to ask us how we’re doing, we’d be lying if we didn’t say that’s how we spend the majority of our week. We race from one “oh that’s good enough” partially finished task to the next. In his book The … [Read more...]
4x4x4 Coaching Process: The Key To Helping Staff Lead At The Next Level
I’ve never met a Senior Pastor who didn’t have the ability to do an outstanding job leading their staff, but I have met quite a few who didn’t have a clear plan in place for making that happen. I would like to share with you a very simple framework for coaching your staff that will make your job, and theirs, much easier. I call it 4x4x4. A 4x4x4 coaching process is when a … [Read more...]
The Passion Myth (or, what Senior Pastors can learn from artisans)
If you feel like you’ve lost your passion for ministry and can’t seem to regain the excitement and motivation you felt in earlier years, that’s a very good thing. Where in the Bible do we see any of the early church leaders praying to “get their passion back?” The idea that “passion for the ministry” is an indispensable requirement for long-term effectiveness is a lie the … [Read more...]
How To Create Compelling Sermon Titles
Here’s a quick and easy process to follow that will help you generate compelling sermon titles every week: 1. Title Your Message Only After You Preach It. Jesus said there are three sins that are worse than all the rest combined: (1) hurting children (2) the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (3) and Senior Pastors who presume to know what their sermons should be titled before they … [Read more...]
Leadership Evangelism: How Your Church Can Double In Three Years (or Less)
What I am about to share with you is the single most important church growth principle I have ever learned for Senior Pastors of churches under 1,000 in size. I call it Leadership Evangelism. Leadership Evangelism is the process by which Senior Pastors single-handedly ignite a movement within their church that will cause it to double in size in three years or less. Here’s … [Read more...]
How To Finish Your Sermons By Noon Monday
Everything I was taught about preaching in seminary was backward. Between undergraduate school and seminary, I took eight preaching courses. Each of them was taught by amazing people who loved God and poured themselves into me. For them, I am grateful beyond words. The problem, looking back, is that the classes focused on the wrong thing: their goal was to make me a … [Read more...]
How Senior Pastors Can Schedule Their Week For Maximum Impact
One of the first things I do when I begin coaching a Senior Pastor is lead them through a process of redesigning how they schedule their week to ensure their highest ministry priorities get consistently accomplished. It is the same process whether they serve churches of 50 to 5,000. Here’s what that process looks like: Draw A Weekly Calendar The first thing I have … [Read more...]
How To Reach Searching Catholics
One of the greatest joys of my life is serving my friends and neighbors who grew up in the Catholic Church but are now, for whatever reason, looking for God outside the church of their youth. Knowing how to reach searching Catholics has been a huge learning experience for our church. I must admit that when I was growing up I didn’t know too many Catholics. That’s … [Read more...]
50 Limiting Beliefs That Hold Senior Pastors Back
It's the time of year when many of us in ministry are thinking about how we can improve ourselves and our ministries in the coming year. Here’s a list of fifty of the most common limiting beliefs that hold Senior Pastors back from leading at their full potential. See if you can recognize some of these in how you view yourself and the church you lead. 50 Limiting Beliefs … [Read more...]
The 12 Most Important Things To Read, Watch Or Listen To As You Start 2017
Whenever I discover something that moves/inspires/challenges me, I save the link in a Chrome folder and share it with my staff the following week. Here in no certain order are the 12 most important articles and podcasts I spent time with in 2016 that could make your 2017 so much richer and focused. 1,000 True Fans - Kevin Kelly The renowned futurist and tech guru Kevin … [Read more...]
What Is The Best Sermon Topic To Follow Christmas Eve?
A friend recently asked me a great question: “With all of the visitors you gain on Christmas Eve, what would be the best thing to preach at the next worship service (in our case January 1)? I have heard it said that the most important Sunday of the year is the one after Christmas or Easter when some visitors return to see if church is different than the boring thing they … [Read more...]
5 Reasons Churches Don’t Break The 400 Barrier
If your church has been running in the 290 to 490 attendance range for more than five years, you are stuck at the 400 barrier. In my experience, more Senior Pastors reach out for help at this size range than any other. That's because the complexity of issues they get hit with at this size are fundamentally different than what had to be addressed to break the 100 and 200 … [Read more...]
