Systems

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…

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…

[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…

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…

As pastors and church leaders, we all know that your follow-up strategy is essential. Have you ever wondered how to intentionally ensure that the follow-up strategy you are developing and using is effective? I recently read a book called “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.” The author of this book grew up in a Muslim home and…

What does it mean to rethink Easter? Ever wonder where all those guests from Easter went the Sunday after Easter? I’ve been at this for years and it is a perennial challenge for churches everywhere. This blog, alongside Top 8 Steps to Prepare Your Church for Easter, will help you answer this question. The leadership…

Easter is an exciting season of celebrating the victory and salvation we have in Jesus, as well as a time of spiritual growth for our churches. Many churches have their highest attendance and their greatest opportunity for sustained growth during the Easter season. We know that many people who don’t normally attend church are open…

How to know when to cancel church due to Coronavirus… What to do about it and how should the Church respond? After talking to a couple of pastor friends of mine in Dallas and Denver, I thought some words of encouragement might be in order for pastors. Fear Not “Do not be afraid!” is the…

After talking with thousands of pastors and church leaders on ministry teams, some of the common statements I’ve heard are: “I have a great team. They are great people. But I still feel like I’m doing all the work.” “I’ve tried to put training in place for my staff or volunteers only to have them…

Some reading this blog are like my son, Jonathan. The guy is more organized than an Amazon Fulfillment Center. He dots more i’s and crosses more t’s than anyone I know. Then there are guys like me. I’m fairly organized but nowhere near Jonathan. I mean, its much easier for me to “wing it” than…

If there is any single given in church ministry, it is that volunteers make the church go ‘round. Where would we be in the church without the faithfulness of men, women, boys and girls who give of themselves in service to it and to the Lord? I’ve been in church leadership for a few decades…

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…

When churches work hard and try new things to get the word out, I love it! But sometimes things don’t pan out the way pastors think. Many times that’s simply because the approach could have been different. Marketing mistakes in ministry are all too common. This is not an indictment on churches. We love the…

Over the last few months The Hardy Group offered the Church Marketing Strength Assessment for pastors and church leaders. 2,014 churches responded giving us the most comprehensive analysis on that subject out there today. In the Assessment we asked 20 questions with three-answer (Yes, No, Don’t Know) options to each question. I want to zero…

You know how important location is for any organization. We hear it all the time — location, location, location. In fact, you’ve probably seen good businesses in your community go out of business simply because of crummy locations. Here, we are discussing digital church real estate. Now what if I told you that you can…

It’s amazing what companies all around the world do to enhance their positions with their customer bases. Each company views their mission as important enough to make what and how they do business high priority. National and international companies like Chick-fil-A are constantly examining their relationships with their customers and how those customers feel about…

< The impact of communication in ministry is huge. In many ways it can make or a break the effectiveness of a new initiative or a ministry change. On today’s blog, I recommend a systematic approach to communication that can eliminate headaches and save you time in the long run. It all starts with understanding…

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…

When a pastor or church leader surveys the landscape of the church, they normally see a plethora of wonderful ministries that are truly effective in fulfilling the mission of the church. That last thing they are thinking about is to stop ministry. However, there are times when that same leader suspects that an effective ministry…