I’m seeing a disturbing trend. As of late a number of highly gifted Senior Pastor friends of mine leading smaller to medium-sized churches have come perilously close to burning out. Now, there has always been burnout in ministry as long as there have been Senior Pastors. But my read on this is that the stress placed on the shoulders of leaders in the trenches is … [Read more...]
Why Senior Pastors Have Affairs (And How To Prevent Them)
In 1995 my wife and I helped launch a new church in Dayton, Ohio. Five and a half years later when we felt called to move to Philadelphia, the church was thriving, in its own building, and looking at very bright future. Finding the right pastor to follow me was essential. After an exhaustive search we felt God brought us the right replacement. He was a leader, full of … [Read more...]
Three Ways To Increase Staff Meeting Effectiveness
Here are three thoughts for making staff meetings work better for your team: 1. Know that the larger your church gets, the smaller your staff meetings must become. At first, all new or smaller churches are like start-up companies in someone’s garage. The problem is Apple would have never become the organization it is today by staying at that stage. Each stage of church … [Read more...]
Be Careful How You Blow Off Steam With Your Staff (Or, Pursuing The Spiritual Discipline Of Joy)
A few years ago I was in a meeting with a group of Senior Pastors from the East Coast. Someone thought it would be a good idea to get all of us together and suffer for Jesus in Orlando for a week. Amidst the great food and laughter, we broached some serious topics related to leading a growing church. One issue that struck me in particular was the way we senior leadership … [Read more...]
9 Things Senior Pastors Need To Say “NO” To (Or They’ll Regret It Later)
One of the hardest disciplines for any Senior Pastor to practice is the discipline of letting our “Yes be Yes” and our “No be No” (Matthew 5:37). How many of us have said "yes" to someone in the spur of the moment, not wanting to hurt their feelings, only to regret it later, all because we couldn’t muster the courage to say the seven least heard words in a Senior Pastor’s … [Read more...]
