Which of these bad habits hinder your work?

What happens when pastors stop competing with one another and become friends instead? God’s work multiplies!

The fifty-year veteran of shepherding has much to offer the newbie through mentoring. Unfortunately, mentoring can often be more haphazard than fruitful. It doesn’t have to be this way. How can older pastors mentor younger pastors in a way that is helpful for the congregation? Here are 3 ways.

I have a high view of church membership, and I hope to lead my church to have the same view. I believe the best starting point for setting high expectations of every church member is a new member class. Whatever descriptor you use for the class, whatever time slot you choose to teach the class, every new member class should communicate three key points about your church: information, doctrine, and expectations.

Every church has a pace built into the culture of its people. Some churches move more slowly. Some move more quickly. While most established churches likely need to pick up the pace, a slow pace does not necessarily mean the church is complacent.

Recently, we commissioned two cross-cultural missionaries from West Bradenton. They are friends. They are family. We’re sending them to work among a hard people in a hard place. With God’s mission, we should celebrate the sending, even when the leaving hurts.

I sat in an empty conference room going through church files. One box contained hundreds of leads from a long-gone Tuesday night outreach program. I called in a couple of deacons.

“What should we do with these?” It may be the dumbest ministry question I’ve ever asked.

I enjoy a little friendly competition. Last October I used my kids as a front to scope out another local church’s Fall Fest. That, and they had a large amount of free candy. My affinity for candy corn sucked me into their festivities.