Hospitality

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…

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…

[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…

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…

At the time of this posting, pastors everywhere are looking at reopening churches following COVID-19. They’ve spent the last two months doing everything possible to keep the Body connected. And from the contacts I’ve had, these pastors have done an amazing job. Now, it’s time to get back to meeting in person. The Church has…

These can be trying times for church leaders as they try to figure out how to do kids & youth ministry during COVID-19. But with keeping the proper perspective and making the most out of every opportunity, we can continue to minister to congregations and families represented in the church.  With social distancing, keeping connected…

There are some reading this blog today that live for systems. They eat, sleep and breath the whole world of order, a place for everything and everything in its place, and do “a” first, “b” second and “c” third … then you’ll get results. I’m suggesting you put in place systems to do the thinking…

After 2,014 churches took the Church Marketing Strength Assessment, we discovered 8 specific breakthrough findings that will help you see the growth you desire. What are growing churches doing? And what are flat or declining churches not doing? That’s what you’ll see in this brief summary of the 8 breakthrough findings revealed. (NOTE: To our…

You’ve likely spent a number of hours this year praying about ways your church can reach more people. You’ve probably already read a few books, blogs, and maybe even attended a church conference. You may have a few new outreach ideas that you and your board are praying about doing this year or next. Reaching…

What does it mean to stay connected in ministry? How can your preaching affect this? Well, it’s safe to say preaching does contribute to a person’s desire to come back to church, although it may play less of a role than one might think. So maybe a better question is: If your preaching is good…