Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders
Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders
Why Grace-Based Families Are So Important
Like it or not, there’s a cause/effect connection between the relational health of the families showing up for church on Sunday and your church’s capacity to have substantive Kingdom impact. That’s why churches can’t be accidental when it comes to...
The Leader’s Greatest Commandment
Leadership is hard. It’s a difficult calling and responsibility. If I finish my life and haven’t left a mark or made an impact that was significant to another person’s life, I won’t be content with that. It’s my “holy discontent,” the term Pastor...
The Number One Problem in Marriage (And How a Pastor Can Fix It)
Of the thousands of spouses who have written to us and our marriage ministry, the common thread that runs through almost all of them is that, in one way or another, it could be concluded that the number one problem in marriage is communication . ....
The First Step in Responding Well to Radical Islam: Q&A with Nabeel Qureshi
We sat down with Nabeel Qureshi, bestselling author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus and the new book Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward . Q: As a child, you grew up in a Muslim home with several family members having served in the U.S. Military....
What Every Leader Needs to Know about Fraud Risk
Every employee in the church or nonprofit ministry plays a part in preventing fraud. Many times, we think that fraud only happens in large corporations like Enron or WorldCom, but it can happen to small nonprofit organizations too. Unfortunately,...
How God Used My Alcoholism for Ministry
Since the beginning of time, men and women have searched for happiness — usually in all the wrong places, trying all the wrong things. But there’s only one place where we can find tested-and-proven, absolutely-gonna-work principles that will lead...
Is There a Healthy Dose of Challenge in Your Small Groups?
Simply placing ourselves in a small group does not automatically make us disciples. Indeed, sociology can never supplant the work of the Spirit when it comes to discipleship. The structure simply creates the context for growth to occur—in this...
Preaching that Unchurched People (and Churched People) Will Love
by Andy Stanley, adapted from his new book Deep & Wide, Expanded Edition . The key to successfully engaging unchurched people in a weekend message has more to do with your approach and your presentation than your content . If you’ve ever heard...
Marriage Isn’t Something Leaders Can Fake
My wife and I were out of town, visiting the church where my son and his wife attend. I had just spoken at a marriage conference at a different church, so we stayed over another night to visit with our children. After the service was over, a...
The First Step Towards a High-Performing Small Group Ministry
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make when it comes to either launching or reengineering a small group ministry is a failure to carefully align both vision and methods. The result is often a ministry that functions much like an automobile with...
5 Reliable Steps to Powerful Church-Community Partnerships
The work of mission “out there” is largely owned and operated by organizations. While there are a small but growing number of pioneering organizations exploring more collaborative ways to partner with the local church, most organizations still want...
God Will Prepare You (A Biblical Encouragement for Pastors)
Have you ever questioned your ministry ability? Moses, one of Israel’s greatest leaders, did. The Lord of all creation selected and sent Moses on a mission to go to God’s people and communicate his message. But the prophet was not a ready and...
The Blueprints of Sermon Design (Part 1)
What blueprint shall we use to design and structure our sermons? Though many design models exist, I recommend structuring your sermon using a broad framework of a story. Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication known to man. Often...
Steps for Planning Effective Scripture Readings
The congregation is both active and passive in worship. In one real sense, they are receiving what has been prepared by the ministers for that particular week. Presentation is, therefore, no trivial matter. Our desire is for believers to hear his...
Saving Marriages Before (and After) They Start - An Interview with Psychologists and Authors Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott
Churchsource: Does this new generation still believe in marriage? Les: Here’s what we know for sure: 87% of young adults plan on being married eventually. Leslie: And, perhaps more striking – in the face of a staggering divorce rate that most young...
A Sermon for Busy Pastors: The Forgotten Participant in the Christmas Story
May this sermon help you improve the quality, freshness, and variety of your pulpit ministry, and better meet the spiritual needs of those in your congregation. Sermon Title: Personalities of Bethlehem – Joseph Text: “And they went with haste, and...
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.