Building Healthy Leaders & Teams Archives - Page 2 of 4

Leading Significant Churches in Smaller Places

This week’s blog is a stump for my podcast interview with Jim Graff. Jim is a new friend. A former missionary, he set out to lead a large church that could support missions in a big way–however, God had a detour in mind. After his stint as a missionary, Jim led a small congregation, in…

A Selfish Sort of Kindness

Recently came across a scripture that I’ve somehow managed to overlook for decades. It got me thinking about the personal benefits of heromaking. Think of it as a selfish sort of kindness (selfish in a good way). “A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.” Proverbs 11:17 ESV What you…

Here Comes Another Podcast…

I’ve decided to produce a podcast. I find myself coaching a lot of younger men and women who are deeply committed to ministry. As I do, it seems that many share the same set of ministry challenges. This is true of church planters, but also of everyone facing a culture that is increasingly immune to…

Was it Really a Mistake?

“A mistake is not something to be determined after the fact, but in the light of the information until that point.” The above quote if from Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb. He’s the guy who first came up with the black swan concept—everyone in Europe knew that there were no black swans until somebody…

Consumers as Content Providers… in Your Church

I’ve always been intrigued by the “house to house” element in the church immediately after Pentecost. My question, “How could the ‘apostles teaching’ have been paramount when there were only a dozen apostles available to 300+ home meetings?” In churches I pastored we approached this with strong Bible-centric teaching on the weekend followed by highly…

Integrity and Relationships vs Event-Sponsoring

Had an interesting email exchange about integrity in ministry. This is one of the most integrous people I’ve known—yet he’s concerned about “phoniness” in his own life and in churches he’s experienced. Good to stay concerned as it’s one of our best course correctors, keeping us on the right path. My friend focused on his…

Ralph Is A Much Older Man . . .

Bumped into an interesting experience on a trip to Sydney, Australia that points toward the role of one generation supporting the next as we plant churches and take the gospel to the nations. Had a great time with some very nice people but one thing caught my attention—I was described as “A much older man.”…

Raising the Love Quotient in Your Church

This morning I awoke to two emails regarding two very different pastors. One positive and the other negative. One rejoices that 12 people showed up for the first meeting of the church he is planting in an agnostic European nation. The other complains about the shrinking church he leads (what he doesn’t seem to notice…

Church Planting and a Screaming Need for Trust

Our first church planting venture was a near disaster. There was no sending church. The church we came from took an offering to help us, but that was all they could afford. They sent no people, although one couple did drive a 90-mile round-trip twice on Sundays just to put money in the offering. The…

Our Unfaith – Part 2

The church in America is in stasis. Growth is offset by churches (and people) dying. We need to ramp things up if we intend to live as salt in the earth. A look at the earliest Christ-followers is revealing. We’ve become disqualifiers for ministry instead of equippers. If you see the early church as an…