by Bob Dale | Oct 16, 2018 | healthy ministry
In the Industrial Age, national and regional denominations had a religious monopoly, producing and providing programs for local churches. Pre-planned activities and structures, like gumballs, were placed in the chute in Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, or...
by Bill Owen | Oct 9, 2018 | leadership
Today’s church faces great uncertainty and risk. To be alive and well calls for trusted leadership. Imagine two lists: One contains the qualities that a pastor should have, and another that includes the attributes most pastors would say they wouldn’t choose to lead...
by David Hull | Oct 2, 2018 | Christian, Uncategorized
Not many people quote Chuck Colson and William Sloane Coffin in the same breath. That is one of the problems in the church today. We draw lines in the sand between liberal and conservative and tend to camp out on one side of the line or other. However, if we really...
by Bill Wilson | Sep 25, 2018 | leadership
I recently had the privilege of teaching a week-long Doctor of Ministry seminar in a seminary to a group of very bright and thoughtful students. Our topic was leadership that is adaptive, visionary, innovative and entrepreneurial. We read some fine books on the...
by Joel Snider | Sep 18, 2018 | layperson, Uncategorized
I have known dozens of churches well. Some I served; some were served by colleagues. Others were neighboring congregations. A few of these churches handled difficulties well. They took the initiative to deal with problems in the earliest stages. They set...
by Barry Howard | Sep 11, 2018 | pastor search committee
When a congregation welcomes a new pastor, it is an exciting time, a new beginning for both the congregation and the new minister. To maximize this new beginning, it is important to prepare spiritually, cognitively, and emotionally for a new chapter. Once a call to a...
by Barry Howard | Sep 4, 2018 | Uncategorized
Here’s my confession: I enjoy piecing together jigsaw puzzles. I’m still not sure whether my affinity for puzzles parallels my work as a pastor, but I have discovered that bringing order to the chaos of this fragmentation is both relaxing and reflective. As an...
by Bill Wilson | Aug 28, 2018 | change, Uncategorized
As part of our work with congregations who are engaging in the process of imagining their future, we invite them to first look back and connect with their past. One effective tool for doing that is to create a timeline that includes significant events from the life of...
by Tracy Hartman | Aug 21, 2018 | conflict
Conflict. Just the word gives many of us a sinking feeling. And it seems to be everywhere these days: in our homes, our churches and other ministry settings, and in our national and global interactions. Two weeks ago I had the privilege of spending a week in Israel...
by Joel Snider | Aug 14, 2018 | communication
In part one of this two-part column, I wrote that healthy churches give considerable attention to a full process of communication that includes: quality of decisions, quantity of messages, accuracy of information, and consistency of practice. In part two, I will...
