Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders
Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders
3 Marks of a Faith-Fueled Work Ethic
The gospel flips the way we think about the people with whom we work. Once you realize you work for Jesus and your first responsibility is to follow him, then you realize your job isn’t just about you anymore. Your job becomes an arena in which to...
The Substance & Theology of Love: Lessons from 1 Corinthians
Love is a way of being as a person, a way of thinking, acting, and living. It is, in fact, being Christ-like or (given the first-person singular in 11:1 ) even being like Paul, who has shown us what this looks like in his own life in chapter 9 and...
The Path to Discernment in the Local Church: Thoughts from Scot McKnight
In general , I am thinking of what a local church or a local denomination does in order to discern how best to live out the gospel in its day and in its way. While personal discernment for my own life is important, that is not what I have in mind...
Establish Friendship Before You Correct
Friendship is far more important to God than we often realize. We tend to think he puts top priority on performance, purity, and perfection, and we assume relationship is the eventual reward for those things. In other words, the more like Jesus we...
Crash Course in Biblical Authorship - Who Wrote the Bible?
When we approach the Bible, our first question is usually, What does it say? Now that’s a good question. But we need to ask another question first: What is the Bible? This is a big question, so we’ll break it into three separate questions: Who...
Rebuild and Celebrate - Book of Nehemiah
One of the greatest lessons I personally learned as I wrote a book about the process of rebuilding based on Nehemiah was the need to celebrate. Nehemiah celebrated when the task was finished, but he also celebrated as they were building the wall of...
Raising Passionate Jesus Followers
Pastoring a church isn’t a 9 to 5 thing; it’s a lifestyle job—24/7! There will always be more to do than we can ever get done, and more people we ought to spend time with than we possibly can. Raising Passionate Jesus Followers In the throes of it...
The Secret to Leading Like Jesus
Jesus had a team. His team was the disciples. Jesus knew the secret and never got seduced by numbers and stats. He was explicit about his desire to equip his followers to do the heroic: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the...
Singles vs. Married Couples in the Church - Party of One
The language we use in the church, from innocent questions to the names of the singles ministries, reinforces some damaging and demoralizing lies surrounding singleness and marriage. We need to consciously work against handing out false hope (“God...
Hearing the Voice of Mercy in the Depths of Grief
Once my life had a lofty purpose—to speak to churches and write books about God’s goodness so that people would want a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. But Scott’s death robbed me of the story I had told myself to make sense of my life. I had...
How Can We Steward Creation Faithfully? Here are 3 Aspects of Biblical Wisdom
by Douglas J. Moo and Jonathan A. Moo, adapted from their new book, Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World. Three aspects of wisdom will help guide Christians who are seeking to steward the creation faithfully: learning about our...
2 Common Misunderstandings about Our Knowledge of Jesus, And How to Answer Them
by Terry G. Carter, J. Scott Duvall, and J. Daniel Hays, adapted from their new edition of the classic textbook, Preaching God’s Word, Second Edition: A Hands-On Approach to Preparing, Developing, and Delivering the Sermon. When you preach from the...
Understand the First Two Barriers to Church Involvement
by Stephen Grcevich, MD, adapted from his new book, Mental Health and the Church : A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions. Churches represent subcultures...
How to Answer 2 Common Misunderstandings about Our Knowledge of Jesus
by John Dickson, adapted from his new book A Doubter’s Guide to Jesus: An Introduction to the Man from Nazareth for Believers and Skeptics . I once chatted to a highly intelligent woman who asked me about the sources of our knowledge of Jesus. I...
“Our Father, who art in heaven…”
by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., excerpted from his book The Prayer That Turns The World Upside Down: The Lord’s Prayer As A Manifesto For Revolution Jesus’ reminder to pray regularly against temptation reminds us just how prevalent and dangerous the...
10 Essential Questions about Taxes and Finance for Churches and Nonprofits
by Dan Busby, Vonna Laue, Michael Martin, and John Van Drunen, adapted from their new book Zondervan 2018 Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide (For 2017 Tax Returns) . Tax exempt status. Should our church or nonprofit file for tax...
Free Resources
Using How (not) to Save the World with your church or small group?
Here are some tools to help:
The Small Group Tool Kit includes two mobile-friendly invitation cards, reflection cards to enhance your small group experience, and a worship song playlist curated by Hosanna Wong that can beplayed during small group meetings or personal Bible study time.
The Church Tool Kit includes a downloadable poster, bulletininsert, invitation card, and Power Point slide.
Is your church talking about anxiety, depression and mental health issues? You should be.
Shawn Johnson, lead pastor of Red Rocks Church, gives a
searingly honest portrait of anxiety and depression and shows readers how to fight back and live free. He also has put together three free tools pastors can use to help their congregation have a productive conversation around mental health, including a discussion guide, sermon notes and key Scripture verses.