The world of ministry is evolving rapidly, and one of the most transformative developments in recent years has been the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). For many churches and pastors, this technology has opened exciting new opportunities to spread the gospel, streamline operations, and engage more deeply with their congregations. At the same time, AI…

A lot of church leaders I interact with seem to express how they hit plateaus at times, and sometimes … even decline. Needless to say, this can be extremely frustrating! Have you been there? Or maybe you’re there now, and you feel like you’re doing all the right things … Your church is friendly. The…

Ever wondered what it takes to move your church to the next level — how to cause your ministry to improve — to make it better and more effective to mission? It happens only when you are willing to take the specific steps necessary to examine all ministries of the church and set your mind…

Church board members are one of the greatest gifts given to a pastor and a local church. These wonderful servants of the Lord lift the arms of the pastor and help advance the vision and mission of the church. The wise and discerning pastor is always intent on fulfilling the charge in Ephesians 4, to…

Can you imagine—if people began to catch on? What if they began to realize we don’t have to come to church to worship—or, better said, what if they began to realize church isn’t the only place we can worship? What if we helped them grab on to a truly biblical model of worship that empowers…

Once God began opening my eyes to the transformative power of spontaneous worship, I immediately started to educate our teams and our community on its biblical origins. If there was any hope of grafting spontaneous worship into our worship culture, we would need to establish relevant biblical affirmation right from the get-go. The following are…

The kind of worshipers the Father seeks are those who don’t need their cultural or stylistic preferences catered to. Diversity has become a serious buzz word in our world, especially in the last ten years. And of course, this means the Church has largely wrestled with its definition (as it should) in light of the…

 Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most overlooked rehearsal component for every worship team is transitions. You know, those often-so-awkward spaces between the songs, loaded with key changes, tempo changes, patch changes, pedal changes, and wardrobe changes—wait, no. Scratch that last one. Let me set the stage. We’re cruising along brilliantly through one…

Before considering the HOW of running your worship rehearsal, you must consider exactly WHAT you are going to rehearse. Identifying the most important elements for rehearsal up-front keeps us from wasting precious time and goes a long way toward boosting team morale. Let’s take a look at eight of the most important things to rehearse:…

Once you’ve established the plan for WHEN you will rehearse, you can begin to implement the plan for HOW you will rehearse. I highly recommend beginning each worship rehearsal by first gathering the team for some type of spiritual-growth activity. Following this, you’ll want to keep everyone circled up briefly to communicate—or reiterate—the plan for…

In The Language of Influence and Personal Power, author Scott Hagan states, “There are two types of leaders. Those who love power and those who love people.” Not surprisingly, it’s easy to shift the focus of caring for people to the bottom of the ministry to-do list—unintentionally. Our tendency is to continually aim to love…

Assimilating New People Suppose I come to visit you and you’re going to show me the town. Included in that is a visit to a new restaurant that just opened up last month. Let’s do this, wild and crazy guy (generically speaking) that you are … I’m game. So here we go – off to…

If you want to connect people in the church, the path for connection must be clear. If you’ve ever wondered why people aren’t connecting, it’s always good to evaluate the process through which you hope they will connect. Oftentimes, the path is not clear. Let’s illustrate with a hiking trail. There’s something about going into…

Easter is just around the corner! Now’s the time to prepare your church for Easter and all that God wants to do through you. This is by far one of the greatest weekends on the church calendar. We have pastors all the time ask us, “What are best practices in getting the word out for…

Trendy vs traditional marketing… We’ve all seen the catchy one-liners and puns posted on church signs. Sometimes they’re funny. Sometimes they’re thought-provoking. What you can always count on, however, is that they get a response. Because they’re posted publicly for anyone to see, these signs naturally draw people’s attention. Occasionally, they even go viral. These…

Leaders of churches are some of the finest people to ever walk the face of the earth with the lead pastor. They help carry the vision and mission of the church forward to reach spiritually lost people with the Gospel. The best church leaders are truly the result of pastors taking seriously the charge in Ephesians 4 to “…equip…

[NOTE: This blog is focused on the major event on the church calendar – Easter.  It’s principles articulated herein are applicable across the spectrum of church events and seasons.] Today, I want to get you the perfect follow-up plan for your church. If you read the blog I did entitled “Blunder #1” I talked about…

(NOTE:  I’m using Easter as the illustration big event.  Put yours in and your good to go!) Ever said to yourself after Easter, “Where did everybody go?” I remember talking to a pastor/friend of mine after he had asked that question and he was ready to quit the ministry and go be a truck driver.…

When I was in seminary, one of my professors brilliantly pointed out, “It doesn’t matter what discipleship system you use – just use one!” Guest follow-up goes right along with that same principle – it doesn’t matter what system you use for guest follow-up; just use one! There are plenty of options to pick from…

A friend of mine told me his daughter (Lexie) and son-in-law (John) had moved to a new city and spent a short amount of time looking for a church. They did find one quickly and enjoyed the pastor and atmosphere. Just one small problem … They never gave the church their contact info. It wasn’t…